Well it’s over. HUM is officially stable and signed-off. I had a sign-off meeting today and though there are a couple of issues, it is over, everyone is satisfied, as satisfied as people get in the corporate world. When I hung up the phone, I felt an incredible relief, a huge weight lifted off myself. I was surprised. I sent out a closure message which, of course, included a shoe reference. I am proud and thankful of and for all my cool team members. I’d even be willing to do it again…

I found a great quote on CNN in an article about a lesbian couple who was voted ‘cutest couple’ by their senior class. There was much ballyhoo but all ended up well. One senior had the following warming comment to share, “This isn’t 1952 anymore. I think people need to realize there are different people everywhere,” says Rachel Urban, a 17-year-old Crete-Monee senior. “If 15- and 17-year-olds are mature enough to handle this, the rest of the country can.” And I agree. I think High School is, in many ways, way tougher than any corporate shareholders meeting or government committee meeting.

Here is an amusingly little fact for you…if a month starts on a Sunday, there will be a Friday the 13th.

I believe that I have spoken about how much I enjoy surrealism, before. I am not referring to the bad ‘everything at the office is chaos’ kind but the ‘sitting on the train with my noise blocking headphones on, listening to Like Spinning Plates by Radiohead.’ This song gives you (ok I don’t know that for sure but it certainly does for me) the sensation of floating and with the motion of the train with no other sound but the music, and all that motion, it’s like a dream sequence when you are awake. It’s beautiful. More calming than shoes even.

I am reading a book called ‘No Logo’ by Naomi Klein. She makes me feel inadequate. The book is about the increasing abuses and interference by multinational corporations in our lives and the development of 2nd and 3rd world countries. She is the same age as me. I sell Inkjet Cartridges and she writes a fantastic book about sweatshops making Gap sweatshirts in Bangladesh. In the latest chapter she was talking about how major industrial accidents have started to get more attention. She was talking about the Monsanto disaster in Bhopal India and quoted 2000 people dying immediately and 5000 more having died as a result since. And yet, they still exist. And what have they done to make up for their ‘error’? Not a lot according to the sources I read. Then it really hit when Patrick asked me again how many people were killed. I reread the numbers, and he said ‘More than the WTC’, and I replied ‘And we are about to start a war over that’. Don’t get me wrong, what the terrorists did that day is beyond comprehension, but that doesn’t mean Bhopal was any different. Maybe you all might think about writing a letter to your Congressperson or Senator, reminding them about that?

The outfit is rather low-tech. Got the CBGB shirt at the Virgin Megastore in Manhattan. Sort of cheesy, I know. But wore with respect for what started there, not a wish to be one of them. Skirt is of many years back. Shoes are my cool kitty cat Mary Jane’s. They even have a tail on the side.

We leave for holiday on Wednesday. I can’t wait. I can hardly pay attention at the office as it is. I am a little nervous about what to do for 24 days. That is how long we will be gone. Amazing. So I am sitting here with hair dye so I look fresh and my clothes are piled on the bed waiting for Patrick to fold them into the suitcase(s). It’ll be great. Cheers.