Vanessa Alter : random thoughts

I just watched a documentary (”Walmart :  The high cost of low prices” - available to watch instantly on Netflix) that talked about many of the unethical practices of Walmart.  It covered various things such as the fact that many of its employees are underpaid and living with incomes well below the poverty levels, employees being forced to work without overtime, the lack of humane conditions in their overseas factories, the measures the company takes to try to keep their employees from forming unions (and therefore getting more rights and higher wages), and many, many other disturbing things that the company practices in order to keep money rolling in.  In the documentary, they spoke to many former walmart employees.  Many of them were managers who talked about the unfair and unethical practices that they were forced to do because it’s what the corporate offices told them to.  For example, they were taught how to anonymously change peoples time sheets so that it wouldn’t reflect any overtime they may have worked.  I personally don’t like to shop there even if they can offer better prices on some things.  I often complain about the long lines and lack of open check-out lanes.  Apparently, this is part of the plan.  If you’re short-staffed, then less money gets paid out to employees and more of it goes towards the sales for the store.  I had heard about some of the bad practices that Walmart uses to keep costs down, but I had no idea the extent.  I also don’t like the fact that their mere existence tends to close down locally owned shops that have been open for years.  I happened upon this website that talks about some of the things that were mentioned in the documentary.  I found the documentary pretty distrubing.  It’s pretty surprising that such a wealthy company shares so little of its wealth with those people who work day in and day out to keep them making money.  One thing that struck me was the part about the overseas factories and the working conditions and amount of (or lack thereof) pay the workers receive.  One example shown in the documentary was for a toy where the cost to assemble it (includes materials and payment for worker) was 18 cents and then Walmart turns around and sells the item for almost $15!  That made my jaw drop.  And those factory workers are fearful of losing their jobs, so they can’t complain.  Ugh!  I just got so annoyed after seeing that documentary!

I went to the movies to see “Marley and Me” with Grandma and Mom today.  I haven’t been to a theater since I saw “Ratatouille” with Nathan and Sean a looong time ago.  We usally rent movies and watch them in the comfort and quietness of our own home.  Going to the movies today reminded me that it really is nicer to watch movies at home.  Why are there always THOSE people (you know who you are!) who feel the need to offer their opinion on scenes throughout the movie???  There’s really no need to say OUT LOUD, “that was really funny!”  when we’ve all already had a good laugh and it’s on to the next scene.  And for those who have seen a movie before already, you don’t need to offer your viewing partner the “You gotta watch this!” advice at the better parts of a movie… It kinda spoils the surprise, and yes, we came to the movies to WATCH it.  One thing I was surprised about was that people actually paid attention to the “turn off your cell phone” warnings.  I didn’t hear a single ring the whole time.  Now one thing I will say is that there were 3 different warnings in between the previews.  I wonder if there has been a study done and maybe 3 is the optimal number of times that people need to have a warning message sink in.  Maybe one or two warnings is too few and more than three just annoys people to the point that they turn their ringers on full volume just to be spiteful.  I don’t know.  Also, what’s with the dude a couple rows back who was obviously hacking up a lung for several minutes at one time and then onand off throughout the movie?  After a few gross coughs, maybe it’s time to hie thee to the lobby and finish your hacking there.  I’m sure the person sitting in front of you would have appreciated that, especially.  Also, maybe you shouldn’t come to the theater if you have Tuberculosis.

I’ve just passed the 35 week mark… Just a handfull of weeks until my due date.  Things are going well, but I’m very busy going from appointment to appointment every week.  I’m still dealing with the gestational diabetes, and that’s being managed okay, although my sugars were off this past week due to having a cold, but nothing really major, thankfully.  Right now, they’re having me come in for fetal Non-stress tests twice a week, ultrasounds for aminiotic fluid index every week, ultrasounds for checking baby’s growth every 4 weeks, and now I’m seeing my doc every week for prenatal appointments.  Lots of trips to the clinic and hospital each week!  But all the appointments are making the time fly by even faster.  I’m getting big.  I can no longer close my winter coat over my belly!  All the testing is going fine and baby seems to be doing well.  She’s often very active during the ultrasound appointments, so I’ve not been able to get a really good ultrasound picture of her.  The issues with my placenta being too low have resolved as well, so that was good to hear that I wouldn’t be required to have a scheduled  c-section.  I finally started packing my bag for the hospital.  I can’t decide what clothes to bring for baby to come home.  I can’t remember: is it okay to have baby wear a onesie when they still have the umbilical stump or should I bring a t-shirt instead of a onesie?  Nathan and I toured the new OB/Labor & Delivery/Mom and baby units of the hospital.  They’ve got nice, all PRIVATE rooms now.  With Sean, they only had a certain number of private mom/baby rooms and they were filled when I was admitted, so I had a shared room.  Nathan couldn’t stay with me since it was a shared room.  This time, he should be able to stay with me overnight and they even have daybeds and sleeper couches to rest on.  Glad I don’t have to be alone during the first nights… I remember that was pretty hard.  Nathan and I were also talking about how women often say they “forget” how painful having a baby is.  Well I said that too, but during the tour, when they showed us the beds in the labor/delivery rooms, it reminded me how much I appreciated the anesthesiologist who gave me the epidural.  I just remembered pain… lots of pain when I saw the beds.  haha!  So that’s what’s going on.  Not much longer to go.  We’re excited to meet this little girl and I can’t wait to hold her in my arms.

In case you were wondering… having a cold when you’re 8 months pregnant is pretty miserable.  Yeah, so there.

I was leaving Target the other night and a couple teenage boys came up to me and started their story, while trying to hand me a couple candy canes wrapped in ribbon.

“Excuse me, my grandma is in the hospital and I’d like to give her a Christmas present.  Would you like to buy some candy?”

I kept saying no, and he kept asking. Me: “No thanks.” — Him: “She’s in the hospital…” —Me: “No.” — Him: “buy candy?”— Me: “No.”  He finally stopped because the security guard came up on the Target security segway (I know, pretty sweet!).  The guard said “There’s no soliciting allowed in the parking lot”.  The kid said, “no what?”— guard: “no soliciting in the parking lot”. — kid:  “no what?” — guard: “no…you can’t try to sell things in the parking lot.” — kid:  “oh.”

It made me realize that there may be a large percentage of the population that do not know what “soliciting” means.  We have a “No Soliciting” sign on our door and people still come to the door and ring and try to sell us things or give us free samples, or whatever.  Either those people don’t know or they just don’t care.  Either way, it’s annoying.  Nathan and I have tried to come up with ways to get the point across when they ring the doorbell and we accidentally answer it.  One thing is to just stay silent and as they continue through their scripted pitch, point at the sign.  Maybe even shine it and pretend I’m straightening it.  Then wave and close the door.  Another thing is to do something completely off the wall, like open the door and when they start the sales pitch, hold up a finger as if to say “hold on” and then go get a handfull of dried beans.  Go back to the door and hand them the beans, and when they start to talk again, say “shhh, they’re listening.” then close the door really slow like you’re looking out for something.

I also found that there’s a better sign available that can clear up any sort of confusion over what a solicitor is.  Maybe we’ll try that out.

We’ve gotten to eat out at 2 places int he past week that we’ve never been to before.  Both score very high on the Yumiliciousness scale.

Athens Ecclectic Greek Restaurant in the Far North shopping center of ABQ (San Mateo and Academy Blvd.) is this cool restaurant with beautiful blue paint all over the walls and beads over the windows.  While I liked the decor of the place, I liked the Gyros even more.  Best Gyros I’ve had since my beloved Koury’s deli closed down. *sniff, sniff… I still miss you, Koury’s!*  Nathan had tha Falafel Gyros.  While I’m not usually a fan of the falafel, I really liked theirs.  The falafels were so yummy and moist on the inside.  Previously, falafels I’ve had reminded me too much of the hush puppies you get at Captain D’s… ick!  But the Falafels at Athens were moist and flavorful and sooo yummy.  They also brought out a complimentarty dish of pita and hummus.  Very tasty… Sean hogged most of the pita and hummus.  So go eat there… Nathan and I are hoping the restaurant doesn’t die.  We were the only ones there for lunch last Saturday.  Hopefully it was just because people ware still recovering from their turkey hangovers.

Last night, we ate at Independence Grill.  We got the table right by the Constitution.  Nathan and I were trying to see if we could remember the preamble to the Constitution and Sean was coloring the American flag while we were waiting for our food.  They have very patriotic and historical type theme/decor, in case you’re wondering.  Go there for the burgers.  Pretty yummy and right now there’s a coupon for “buy one burger, get one free” and more information available here .  I had the “Bacon Avocado Jack Burger”… yep, pretty much tastes as good as it sounds.  Also, try out the Pineapple coleslaw… it’s coleslaw with pineapples in it.  It’s a little sweeter and tangier than regular coleslaw.  Yum!  They supposedly use American Kobe Beef in their burgers.  Now I don’t know my different types of beed very well, but I know that the food was tasty.  Go eat here for dinner after you have lunch at Athens… keep this place open.  They have a less than ideal location on Montgomery right behind a laundromat… if you blink, you’ll miss it.  I’d like to go back some time and try some prime rib or something else really meaty like that.  I like meat.

Since the animal food/melamine fiasco about 2 years back, I’ve been giving my cat subcutaneous fluids prescribed by her veterinarian.  I’ve recently had the idea to try to purchase the saline fluids online and found that they were WAY cheaper than the vet’s office.  What I would have spent $43 on at the vet’s office, I would have been able to purchase online from an animal supply/pharmacy website for $8.88, plus free shipping with a coupon code.  When I found that out, I jumped at the deal.  The only catch was that the website had to contact the vet’s office to verify the presciption.  I got a call from the vet’s office today stating that they would price match the online price if I would bring in a copy of the prices.  Why don’t they just give you an honest price to begin with???  That was annoying.  Anyways, I purchased from the vet’s office at the lower price, and I didn’t have to wait for the shipment to come in.  They also said, they’d always price match supplies if I would just bring in a current print out of the price from online.  It just makes me wonder… how many other things am I buying locally at an insanely overblown price that I might be able to get price matched with an online vendor?  I know that some stores won’t even price match things that they sell on their own website for a lower price.  They say that they need to pay for the shipping.  One example is Walmart.  Walmart will price match products that are advertised for lower prices in their competitor’s circulars, but they won’t price match their own website.  What’s with that?

We began using foaming handsoap since Sean has trouble getting the regular soap well distributed on his hands.  He does a much better job washing his hands if the soap is pre-foamed.  I was about to run out and buy some foaming handsoap refills when I remembered that we had some regular hand soap left over.  After looking on the internet, I found out that you can make your own foaming handsoap by mixing regular handsoap with water and putting it into a foaming handsoap dispenser.  It’s nothing special about the handsoap mixture that makes it foam.  It’s just the dispenser.  So if you spend a buck on a new foam soap dispenser, then you can refill it cheaply with regular hand soap + water.  The Internet concensus seems to be soap + water in a 1:5 to 1:7 ratio, although some recommend 1:10 ratio to be extra frugal.  I found the 1:10 to be a bit too watery though.  Some people even add a bit of rubbig alcohol to the mix to make “anti-bacterial” soap.  That seems like overkill to me, especially after  reading this.  Need a review on how to properly wash your hands?  Just remember, “Happy birthday to you…”

Okay, I have Gestational Diabetes, which means I have to watch my intake of carbs and starches.  I LOVE mashed potatoes and since I was making mini meat loaves tonight, I thought it would make a good side dish.  But since I have Gestational Diabetes, I thought I’d look for a healthier alternative.  I found this video and tried it out, but tweaked it just a bit.  Instead of adding milk at the end, I added garlic and herbs gourmet spreadable cheese (about a cup or an 8 oz. container, Rondele brand, available in the special cheeses section of the grocery store).  This gave it a wonderful garlic mashed potatoes flavor, and made it nice and creamy.  I asked Nathan if he noticed anything strange about the potatoes or if they tasted different.  Since he knows I’ve been using Splenda these days, he asked if I put some in the potatoes… silly man.  Then he tasted the potatoes again and said they just tasted like mashed potatoes.  He was surprised when I told him it was actually potatoes and a head of cauliflower.  So there you have it.  If you’re brave enough, try it out.  I might even try just mashing cauliflower next time and leaving out the potatoes all together.  The dish is higher in fiber, lower in starch, but still really tasty.  This side went really well with the mini meat loaves I made.  I made mini ones since they’re quicker to cook than a whole meat loaf (25  minutes in the oven).  Yay for quick dinners!

I was reading the news on Cnn.com, and Sean saw a picture of John McCain.  He said, “who is that, Mommy?”.  I told him it was John McCain and that he wants to be the president of the country.  Sean looked at me and said, “I’m John McCain and I approve this message.”