Saturday afternoon as we were getting ready to leave the house:

Cassidy: Mom?
Me: MmmHmm
Cassidy: I kinda might have accidentally got gum in my hair.
Me: Wha?
Cassidy: Gum.
*flips hair over head to show me LOTS OF GUM IN HER HAIR WE ARE WALKING OUT THE DOOR IN TWO MINUTES*
Me: How?!
Cassidy: Well, you know in Willy Wonka how Violet sticks the gum…
Me: You stuck gum behind your ear?!
Cassidy: NO!!
Me: Okay? So…
Cassidy: Well, I thought she stuck it to her NECK. So when I got up this morning…
Me: You had GUM stuck to your NECK ALL NIGHT?!
Cassidy: Well, yeah. I had to scrub it off and my hair was stuck to it and look.
*flips hair over head again*
Me: Yes, I see it.
Cassidy: I didn’t know she stuck it behind her ear, I thought she stuck it to her neck.
Me: Gum goes one of two place. IN YOUR MOUTH. IN THE TRASH. Those two places ONLY.
Cassidy: Okay.

Nana cut the gum out later that afternoon. We were already running late and lucky it was UNDER her hair. Silly, silly child.

Our company recently started monitoring even our AOL instant Messenger Chats using a new service called “Akonix L7″ (feel free to google). It basically logs everything you and your chat partner say. On the first outbound message to someone, they’ll receive a notice as described below. Some may say, well, that’s infringing on our personal privacy!!! But, this is company equipment, and as such, company internet, so, they have every right to do what they are doing. However, this email exchange below HAD to be posted (grin)…

One of my coworkers recently posted this to our group about it:
“…..I’m sure we have had possible email and IM monitoring for some time now but just recently others are getting messages about it when talking to me on various IM programs. The standard message says something like: “Administrator: Your communications are being monitored by the Akonix L7 system managing the person with whom you are connected.” Just a friendly FYI for those who discuss personal things over IM. I would be careful about what you share over IM if you don’t want others to possibly know :)….”

To which my boss responded:
“….Yes, we’ve been monitoring all of your communications for a couple of years. Managers get logs of every IM, chat or e-mail conversation you have on company equipment. But since you guys are spending most of your time chatting online, there is no way for me to sift throught he thousands of logs I get each day on you all. So I have to filter the logs for key words or phrases. Right now I only look for a few things. If the communication contains any of the following, the system flags them for me so I can investigate:

“I am giving this information to ATI”
“I hate my boss”
“I am going to come in on Sunday night and change all of the picks on the board” (*)
“How much can I make at your company”
“?????? is gay, not that there is anything wrong with that”
“I’m going to call in sick tomorrow so I can take my car to the track”
“I am going to go postal”
“George W. Bush is the best thing that ever happened to this country”
“How do I get to the next level in WoW?”

Even with this limited number of phrases, I can’t keep up with all the logs that get flagged, so you all my be safe for now.

:^)…..”

* Some lab folks exchange opinions and money on sports events

Three of the of the folks in the lab take their cars to the track, some are really into Seinfeld, some play World of Warcraft…, he truly is… the coolest boss ever.

A conversation I remember having now that I’ve posted and saw my ’stupid ants’ post.

Sitting at our computers:
Ben: *snickers*
Me: What?
Ben: *laughs*
Me: WHAT?!
Ben: How do you spell marching?
Me: M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G
Ben: But how do YOU spell it?
Me: M-A-R-C-H-I-N-G (!!)
Ben: But if you BLOGGED it, how would you spell it?!
Me: I DON’T KNOW! WHY!? How did I spell it?
Ben: M-A-R-T-C-H-I-N-G.
Me: I did?!
Ben: *laughing at me* Yes, you did.
Me: *tries to think of a witty response*
Me: Oh, well… WHATEVER!
Ben: *laughs harder*

I always wish I could be one of those people who think of something pun-tastic to say at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately I’m not. But Ben is. And this often leaves me at the losing end of what could be a pun-ny conversation.

I need to work on this..

Me: Hurry up and change clothes so you can get your homework done.
Cassidy: But mom I’m STTTTAAAAAAAARRRRVING.
Me: Go figure.
Cassidy: Can I have chips?
Me: While you do homework?
Cassidy: Please?
Me: Okay, but I better not see ONE trace of cheese on your homework or ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE HOUSE.
Cassidy: Duh mom, I totally lick my fingers.

When the hell did she start talking like a 16 year old?!

(+10 bonus points for recognizing the food item in the title. There is a clue there. AND GOOGLE IS CHEATING!!!)

On Monday at Pasand I told Cassidy that the Simosa’s and Kima Nahn that she loves so much contain lamb. She recoiled.

Cassidy: They take the blood out first though, right?
Me: There is not blood in the meat Cassidy.
Ben: It’s like beef only it’s meat from lambs. You know where beef comes from right?
Cassidy: From Happy Cows.
Me: *start to laugh at what I know is about to come next*
Ben: And where do Happy Cows come from?
Cassidy: CALIFORNIA!!! *laughs at her own joke*
Me: Ahhhh, American media at it’s finest.
Cassidy: *still laughing at herself*
Me: I should blog that.

I find myself saying that far too often about these little conversations and not actually taking the time to sit and write them down fast enough so I forget about them.

So yesterday after we dropped Ben back off at work after taking the deposit to the management company for the NEW HOUSE(!!) Cassidy was being REALLY chatty. She’s been REALLY chatty for about the last two months. TWO. MONTHS.

Cassidy: Mom?
Me: Yup.
Cassidy: Did you blog about that time when Ben said where do happy cows come from and I said california and you laughed and Ben laughed and I laughed because I was really funny?
Me: No, I didn’t. We’ve been really busy.
Cassidy: Are you GOING to blog about it because it was really funny and I think it should be on your website.
Me: Do you?
Cassidy: MmmHmm
Me: Well, we’ll see. Let’s just get home and check your homework and get the stuff done we NEED to get done and we’ll see, okay?
Cassidy: Okay.
*2.4 seconds of silence*
Cassidy: Can I put it on MY website?
Me: *oh no. Not this. Not this conversation.*
Me: Well, your website is kinda broken right now and we are going to be REALLY busy with the move IN A WEEK and my birthday this weekend and our internet connection will go down the 12th and we won’t have it again till when we move into the new house.
Cassidy: So you can fix it then?
Me: *grumble* Yes. I suppose I can.

I changed the subject right away. I wanted to talk to Ben to see how I should handle the rest of the conversation. Last night at dinner I told him about it.

Me: *recounts the conversation in the car*
Me: So then she asked me if SHE could blog on HER website and I might have had a semi freak out moment.
Ben: Does she even know what ‘blog’ means.
Me: She seems to!
Ben: Cassidy, what does ‘blog’ mean?
Cassidy: It’s when you write things on your website in your blog about… things… and stuff.
Me: !!!
Ben: Well, you can write things on your website but FIRST you have to write them down on paper and show us.
Me: *I’m dating the smartest, most level-headed, brilliant man EVER*

She wrote on the table at Macaroni Grill (they GIVE you the crayon’s and the table cloth is PAPER so don’t look at me like that!!):

“I am in second grade. I have friends. I like my friends. My friends are nice.”

And a blogger is born. I’ll get her site up after the move, disable comments, and the girl can blog…