A Great Week at Work

I'm happy to say that last week ended up being a rather good one for me at work.  It was National Engineers Week and two colleagues and myself were asked to represent our company at a local high school. We provided a presentation during each of the 3 lunch periods to young men and women in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Academy there.  During each presentation, we got up and talked about our education and professional engineering background, gave a brief description of our job, showed a brief movie, and then took questions from the audience.

Here I am giving a presentation to the students:

Mae Giving an Engineering Presentation to High School Students

Here is another picture of me presenting in the front of the lecture hall:

Mae Presenting at the Front of the Lecture Hall

The students were very attentive and asked good questions.  It was good to see that many students, especially young ladies interested in engineering! 

At the end of the last presentation one of the students asked if he could have his picture taken with us, which I thought was very sweet.  Here is a picture of all of us and the student:

The Grande Finale

All in all it was a very rewarding experience being able to interact with these students!  Hopefully our presentations will help more of them to decide to go into engineering careers, preferably with our company.

On Friday a group of us was asked to attend a meeting regarding a formal design review that we had just finished earlier on this month.  It ended up being an awards presentation for those who worked on the design review.  I coordinated the design review and it was a huge amount of work and often a three ring circus.  I ended up getting two awards and upper level management really made a big fuss over the work that I did.  It really made me feel really good!

Hopefully when impending lean times arrive, upper level management will remember all of my work!  All any of us can do is work hard and pray.

A Tragic Beauty

I just recently became friends with a very attractive lady on Facebook.  She enjoys taking really sexy pictures of herself in mini skirts and high heels.  This garners the attention of numerous people, and understandably so as she is gorgeous!

What I am truly wondering is how many of the hoards who are lusting after her have even bothered to read her "About" statement, where she says some pretty significant things about herself.  My bet would be that not too many of these people have bothered to look behind the curtain.  But I have looked behind the curtain, and what I see is a tragic beauty.

In her "About" statement, she says that she projects this dolled up and sexy image to escape her past, which haunts her every day of her life.  I wonder if she equates the sexual adoration that she receives on Facebook with love, and if this is due to abuse that she endured as a youngster or later on in life.  The thought of this makes me very sad for her and all others who might have suffered from abuse, myself inclusive.

I may be all wrong about this, but I really don't think that this is the case.  I hope that one day she can come to terms with what happened in her past, learn from it, and then leave it behind forever.

So here is a song that I am dedicating to my you, my dear tragic beauty:

I hope to get to know her better and reassure her that she is a very special person.

The times, they are a-changin'

Bob Dylan really hit the nail on the head with his song "the times, they are a-changin'! Things in the world, the US and my life in general are a-changin' and nobody can stop it because time marches on, with or without us. Most people don't like change, but instead of kicking and screaming to resist it, we need to embrace it and adapt as much as required to survive.

The economy has been affecting many jobs in the workplace and this will likely increase over the next year or so. Although I don't think that I will be affected, I still need to be proactive by updating my resume and networking with colleagues.  I really don't want to have to move again for a good while, but will do so if necessary to put food on the family table.

Some of my relationships are changing as well.  My daughter used to call me several times a week and we would talk on Facebook often.  Now I'm lucky if I hear from her every few weeks.  She just got married last Summer, is settling into married life and doesn't really need Mom so much anymore.  It was Valentine's Day yesterday and for the first time in 10 years, I didn't get any flowers from my significant other. In years past I always got roses, no matter what. I did get a beautiful dinner and a card as always, so I'm not complaining, but the lack of flowers is somewhat telling.  Maybe it is due to the "Facebook Horror Show" that I referred to in a previous blog, but I really hope that this is not the case!

Here was what the dinner table looked like at our house last night for Valentine's Day:

The Valentine's Day Table

Dinner was lobster stuffed with crab meat along with garlic seasoned turn vegetables.  It looked beautiful and tasted delicious!  Here is a picture of our V-Day dinner:

Valentine's Day Dinner

Lastly, I'm changing as well.  I'm getting over a hang-up that I had for around the past 18 months, which is good.  I've been reaching out, trying to banish the intellectual and emotional loneliness that has had me in its grip for the past year. I have also increased my devotion to physical fitness and it is starting to pay off, which is so good for the way that I feel about myself!  I want to make new friends, but keep the old, which reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was young and in the Girl Scouts.  The song goes like this:

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
and the other's gold

Here's to keeping as much of the good that you can and also bringing in the new!

That's all for tonight, so until tomorrow . . .

The Facebook Horror Show

I enjoy getting on Facebook daily to see what is new with family and friends.  My husband absolutely hates the fact that I get on Facebook.  I have had a Facebook account since around April of last year and he has dogged me continually about it since then.  He said that he thinks that I am addicted to it.  Last night he told me that the way that I look at the computer screen while I am on Facebook reminds him of a horror show!  Isn't that great?  I'm starring in a Facebook Horror Show!

I work really hard all week to support my family and I sacrifice alot in their name. I am not on Facebook looking for sex or anything like that.  All I want to do is keep up with my family and talk to friends!  I have made some friends on FB and enjoy talking with them about music and other topics.  There isn't anything dirty about that!  Sometimes I think that marriage is just like living in a cage . . .
 . .
In other news, it was very sad to find out that Whitney Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 PM today at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on the eve of the Grammys.  She used to be such a beautiful and classy woman until she hooked up with Bobby Brown.  He was her undoing.  Here is, in my honest opinion, one of the best songs she ever sang:

Rest in peace, you beautiful lady!

Roller Coaster

Here is how I feel today:

The only difference between this roller coaster and the one that I am riding is that mine is fueled by hormones and it is not a fun ride!

I am also feeling a bit confused and sad about a friend.  I have not known this friend very long, but it appears that during the past week or so that their identity has changed drastically.  This is absolutely none of my business, but it bothers me quite a bit!

I can't help but think that making a life change this drastic in such a short amount of time is very dangerous!  I spoke with this friend today and they told me something that seemed at odds with a gut feeling that I have about them. I get the feeling that this friend has been hurt by somebody close and may now be taking drastic measures to try to blot out the pain.

I am getting some really bad vibes about this whole thing.  I truly hope that my friend will be okay!

Take a Look at Yourself

It was a long and rather annoying day at work today.  Thank God it's over!  I finally extracted myself from work at around 5:20 PM, and as I was driving home, I looked at my iPhone and saw that I had a new friend request on Facebook.  The person looked to be nice, so I accepted her request.  After I got home and got situated, I looked at my new friend's FB page.  She seems very nice and I enjoyed looking at her pictures. But what really made an impression and caused me to write about it on my blog is what she has listed as her "Favorite Quotations". She has several different ones, but these two caught my attention right away:

"The only people you need in your life are those that prove they need you in theirs".

"If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be truly fulfilled". ~ Lao Tzu

These quotations really got me thinking, mostly about how much energy I have wasted caring about people who went out of their way to prove how much they didn't need me in their life.  They also made me realize how much I don't want to do this again.  I also need to look more inside myself for fulfillment and less to others.  So thank you to Eve, my new FB friend for helping me to take a closer look at myself and what I  need!

This reminds me of a song from back in the early 70s by a band called Uriah Heep called "Look at Yourself".

Here are the lyrics to the song:

I see you running
Don't know what
You're running from
Nobody's coming
What did you do that was so wrong?

Look back and turn back
Look at yourself
Don't be afraid, just
Look at yourself

If you need assistance
Or if all you need is love
There's no point in hiding
Tell me what you're frightened of

You've got a friend. just
Look at yourself
Don't be afraid, just
Look at yourself

Here is the video:

There comes a time in life that we all just need to take a long look at ourselves to become self-fulfilled and move ahead in life.