"Foster Care" written by Janelle on estrip.org

Category: life

02/19/08 09:31 - ID#43388

Foster Care

Could anyone with foster care knowledge (i.e. work in the foster care system, know someone who does foster care, have done foster care yourself) e-mail me--I have questions for you.

Thanks.

Permalink: Foster_Care.html
Words: 32

Category: life

01/05/08 07:22 - ID#42759

secret sorority success

So, I've been relentlessly attending the meetings and parties of two chapters of this social sorority as you may recall

Today, I dragged myself out of bed way too early this morning cursing and swearing as I drove all the way out to the furthest out suburbs to the meeting for the chapter that I really like so I can get into the chapter. It ended up worth the effort when I had the following two conversations:

sorority sister A: Didn't we just vote you into the group?

Janelle: Uh, I'm not sure. If you did, I'm not sure you're supposed to say yet.

sorority sister A: Oh, well, I'm just horrible with secrets!

Sorority sister B: I would have loved to have met your mom (who is also in said sorority) when she was in town.

Janelle: Well, she will definitely be coming out for my initiation...if I get initiated, you'll get to meet her (hint, hint).

Sorority sister B: Well, she may want to plan to come out in March then (wink, wink).

Sweet, looks like an invite should be in the mail shortly!

Permalink: secret_sorority_success.html
Words: 193

Category: life

01/01/08 11:43 - ID#42706

2007 into 2008

2007 ... the year of changes ...

We left Pittsburgh. Traveled to Vietnam. Bought a house in Buffalo. I reconnected with a childhood friend who lives here now. Childhood friend helped us make new friends. We met a ton of new people through estrip. I started blogging for the first time ever. We started at a new church that we really like. I started a new job. My last job I loved, but I came home angry and frustrated. This job, I don't love, but I come home with a happier disposition at the end of the day. I now have time to do the things I enjoy because I'm not utterly exhausted from work. My mom declared she was divorcing my dad, an act that sent our little family into a tailspin. We celebrated the holidays in our home with my family and it turned into a mini family reunion. In 2007, I have been the happiest I've been for several years.

2008

I want more changes for 2008. I'm going to make a plan for work...go back to school, switch jobs, do something...but I need to make a plan for the future. I'm going to consider being a commissioned lay pastor, so I can serve a church in a way that won't conflict with my husband being a pastor. I offered to teach piano lessons to children at Massachusetts's Avenue Project and I am going to try to make it happen. I'm going to travel to Bulgaria in July, hopefully.

I hope a few things stay the same. Share my life with (e:Drew). Live in Buffalo. Stay connected with our friends and church.

Here's to another year!

Permalink: 2007_into_2008.html
Words: 276

Category: life

12/14/07 02:57 - ID#42518

"Just Say No"

...applies to more than just drugs!

Permalink: _quot_Just_Say_No_quot_.html
Words: 19

Category: life

12/06/07 08:47 - ID#42413

Birthday Ramblings

I overheard a great conversation last night at the vet, sitting next to an older man talking on a cell phone.

"What did I tell you to do? Huh? He does that to you again, you tell him, I'm gonna smash your face in. Then you do it. Bop him in the nose. Tell the teacher about this. Did you tell the teacher? And then the next time he does it, you bloody his nose good. Don't worry, he's not going to do anything back once you give him a good bloody nose. He's gotta learn his lesson."

It was hard to keep a straight face during that conversation.

On another note, today's my birthday. I'm turning 25. I've been turning 25 for a few years now. I wonder when I'm going to turn 30? So far, it looks like a nice birthday is ahead. My wonderful husband is making me birthday casserole and is going to watch my favorite musical, Oliver, with me. Just got it from my parents for my birthday. Good day, indeed.

ladycroft writes at 04:50:10 12/07/07 - Comment #28963: happy happy birthday!

drew writes at 07:07:51 12/06/07 - Comment #28954: metalpeter, I think the second idea sounds more fun.

jim writes at 06:45:24 12/06/07 - Comment #28952: Happy Birthday!

metalpeter writes at 06:39:14 12/06/07 - Comment #28951: I admit I have never heard of Oliver the musical sorry. But as long as you like it and have a good time that is all that matters.

(e:dre) I'm not sure if you should be classy and get a glass or just grab the entire Bottle and pretend you are Janis Joplin with a Bottle of Jack Daniels. Hope it winds up being a great time for you both.

drew writes at 01:29:01 12/06/07 - Comment #28943: I'll need the wine to get through Oliver :)

jason writes at 12:37:32 12/06/07 - Comment #28941: Well done! Have a glass of wine or three.

museumchick writes at 11:49:45 12/06/07 - Comment #28937: Happy (approximately) 25th birthday! I hope it's a great day for you.

james writes at 11:11:35 12/06/07 - Comment #28932: Pretend you are in prison and have Drew bake you a birthday cake with a file in it!

lauren writes at 10:40:49 12/06/07 - Comment #28930: Aww Happy birthday Janelle! You are only one year older than me! :)

And yay for Oliver..Food Glorious Food!

drew writes at 10:31:08 12/06/07 - Comment #28929: 25 was a long time ago for (e:janelle), too.

We are going to have a talk about lying tonight.

leetee writes at 10:29:06 12/06/07 - Comment #28928: Happy Birthday, Janelle

paul writes at 09:29:03 12/06/07 - Comment #28925: Happy birthday!

mrmike writes at 09:21:26 12/06/07 - Comment #28924: Ah, 25. I remember it, long damn time ago. Enjoy, hope you have the best day.

Permalink: Birthday_Ramblings.html
Words: 173

Category: life

11/09/07 09:34 - ID#42055

I wanna be a sorority girl....

(e:drew) is going to TMBG concert with our friends and I'm going to something he defines as "lame". But we're all going to party hard after the concert, so it's cool.

I'm going to the meeting of an elite women's social group. It's actually not that elite, but it's fun to pretend it is. It's basically a sorority for women. I never did the social sorority thing in college, but this sorority is a business/social organization that supports women in education. My mommy was in it and she is sponsoring me. But sort of like sororities, I have to go to meetings at all the different chapters in the area and I have to be invited to join a chapter...and oh, the drama!

After only 2 meetings, I was invited to join chapter A. But, oh, this isn't the chapter that I want to join. I want to join chapter B. So I'm going to all the events and meetings of chapter B in hopes of securing an invitation from this chapter. But meanwhile, I don't want to decline chapter A's invitation quite yet because maybe it's the only invitation I'll get. So I have to dance around any questions from chapter A about why I haven't accepted their invitation while I'm dropping hints to Chapter B, that I want to join them.

So, therefore, I am sending my husband and friends off to the TMBG concert without me.

Permalink: I_wanna_be_a_sorority_girl_.html
Words: 252

Category: life

11/06/07 09:15 - ID#41998

I didn't read the fine print

and got totally duped by NY Times...

This weekend after a long break from the Buffalo News, I picked it up again and remembered why I stopped buying it. There are a lot of things I like about Buffalo, the local paper is definitely not one of them. And I WANT to like the local paper, because I like to keep up on the local news. But I give up. I'll just catch up on local news via Buffalonews online.

So I wandered over to the NY Times and it seduced me all over again. In my lust for a good Sunday paper, I failed to fully comprehend the rates. It really looked like the price was $3.25/week for the Sunday paper and for the first 12 weeks you would get it at 50% of the rate...turns out $3.50 is the 50% off the rate price. After 12 weeks it jumps to $6.50. Stupid, stupid me. I can get it for $5.00 at the General Store on the corner. So now I have to be smart enough to remember to cancel it after 12 weeks else I'm going to be paying $1.50 for the privilege of having it delivered to my door instead of walking down the street less than a block to buy it for $5.00.

Permalink: I_didn_t_read_the_fine_print.html
Words: 208

Category: life

11/01/07 09:11 - ID#41925

Halloween

Halloween was a great deal of fun this year. It's the first year in probably 10 year that I got to hand out candy to little kids ... and we had a lot of kids. So many that we had to run down to the Lexington General Store to buy handfuls of their penny candy.

Halloween is even more fun when you get to share it with a person from Malaysia who has never seen or heard of Halloween before. We went all out and carved pumpkins, toasted seeds, and coached him in handing out candy to the little ones. It's fun to see Halloween through the eyes of someone who has never participated in it before.

Here's our pumpkins!

Permalink: Halloween.html
Words: 120

Category: life

10/14/07 12:16 - ID#41633

Celebration, come on!

<walks out on stage and stands on soapbox>

I lost 5lbs after being conscious about my eating habits and getting back on the exercise machine. I'd like to share this accomplishment with friends because I worked hard.

But do I? Nope. Not even with my closest of girlfriends. Because most people make disparaging comments about me losing weight...you're so skinny, you could use a little weight on you, whatever...

Well, ya know what....It's my body and I get to have control over it. And I have a preferred weight where I look my best and feel my best. I would love to tell people that I gained 10 lbs after college and loved those ten lbs that went straight to my hips and ass and made me look smoking hot in those hip huggers. But it's hard when they're so busy judging me.

But now I put on another 10lbs, I don't feel as good about how I look, my pants are horribly tight, I'm in between sizes right now, and don't care to replace my wardrobe. So, I'm trying to lose those 10lbs and I refuse to be apologetic about it, because it's my body.

And you know what else I get tired of? The nasty remarks people make towards me when I turn down candy or only drink diet soda. It's your own damn assumption that I don't do those things to avoid weight gain. I'm actually quite careful about sugar because I'm unbelievably prone to cavities and I'd like to keep my teeth for as long as I can. So shove it!

<steps off soab box, bows and exits>

james writes at 10:40:05 10/14/07 - Comment #26226: Rock on Ms. Janelle ^_^

fellyconnelly writes at 10:18:05 10/14/07 - Comment #26220: here here!
one of my store locations is next to a hostess outlet store, and i swear the people who work there want nothing else but to eat sugary cake all day! and they wonder why you won't accept any!

i tell everybody that its really more about that funny thing called 'health' - you are not meant to have that crap shoved down your throats! and that is why i chose to eat salads and wraps rather than the cheeseburgers and fries that they get.

but yes it is also about the desire to reverse to the time when i could fit into those jeans that i refuse to throw away. don't tell anybody though!

congrats to you for your healthy habits!

tinypliny writes at 01:32:01 10/14/07 - Comment #26210: /*claps lustily*/

Did you know that teeth were so prized in the 17/18th centuries that grave robbers preferentially dug out the bodies of the young and the able, not because they had coprophilia, but because they wanted the un-rotted teeth of the deceased.

The basic reason behind the creation of the tooth fairy was the preservation of one's teeth for one's afterlife. Because, apparently, every myth pointed to the fact that dentists never made it to heaven. As a result, you needed to have unrotten preserved teeth to get on with chewy life in heaven.

At one point in the past, people kept a complete tooth-set made of cedar wood so that they could replace all the cavity-ridden teeth with the wood ones as soon as they could seek treatment from one of the rare traveling teeth-doctors.

With such a complex history and evolution of teeth-paranoia among the human race, I am constantly surprised at how people totally neglect teeth care and hygiene. Sugar is perhaps the No.1 enemy of tooth-health. Not brushing long enough or at all ranks pretty high among causes for lost teeth. Sticky food residue contributes to a BIG chunk of cavities

\m/ Rock on Janelle. \m/
Teeth-hygiene is indeed the new godliness. :)

Permalink: Celebration_come_on_.html
Words: 277

Category: life

09/03/07 11:18 - ID#40906

Labor Day Ponderings

Some thoughts as we celebrate Labor Day with barbecues and low, low prices at the stores!

US companies like Google and Wal-Mart are actively fighting current attempts by Chinese labor activists to reform Chinese labor laws that would afford Chinese laborers labor rights similar to those rights in the United States.

Los Angeles is close to replacing New York City as the sweatshop capital of the world.

Made in America labels are meaningless. One case in point below:

The US territory of the Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands is exempt from the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards act and is partially exempt from the Immigration and Naturalization Act and gets to put Made In America Labels on the clothes produced in the territory.

Social workers, English professors, clerical staff/secretaries are just a few of several professions that had relatively higher pay in the days when those fields were dominated by men.

Alright, (e:peeps)! You can catch Drew and I at the Amvets on Elmwood Ave today trying to fight the man by buying thrift store clothing! That's our Labor Day celebration, lol!

janelle writes at 10:54:20 09/03/07 - Comment #23782: (e:mike): Look a little deeper into the North Mariana Islands and it gets a lot worse than exemption from minimum wage provisions and "Made in America". 16 hour work days; abort the baby you're pregnant with or you get shipped back to China; substandard housing condiitons; and oh so much more of interest for a place that is a US territory.

mike writes at 09:18:16 09/03/07 - Comment #23773: that is very interesting on the made in america in those island things. I bet nothing is actually made here anymore!

jason writes at 08:31:03 09/03/07 - Comment #23761: Wowsers, I am very, very impressed. Your compassion is admirable, Janelle.

I do not expect people all over the world to behave like we would like them to. It isn't true when it comes to Iraq, and it isn't true in many, many other applications. It is when the workers have literally no dignity, a la the labor camps, a la forced labor, a la diamond workers, garment workers, and many other people, when we should really become enraged. The thing is, most people are compassionate with their mouths and not their hearts or wallets. Made in China is ubiquitous.

Incidentally, my fave Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11, and it is impossible to not think of them when you read it.

janelle writes at 07:40:03 09/03/07 - Comment #23757: Wow,
I should have let you write the post ;) Your work sounds interesting. I'd be interested to hear more about it. maybe in a post?
Wal-Mart stifling labor activists was just recently in the Buffalo news-either this past Sunday or the previous Sunday. The paper ran a lengthy article about China being on the brink of some major labor reforms. Major US companies, including Wal-Mart and Google, actively lobby the government not to pass the reforms. It is up to the Chinese government to pass the labor law, but it must be difficult for them when Wal-Mart and Google threaten to move to India if they do. But it sounds like you have much more knowledge of labor in China, so maybe you can give some insight on that.
I, agree, that paying Chinese workers in China according to US wage standards is not going to happen. Do people still think that's for real? I think maybe I thought that way up until highschool when I learned a few things about economics. I just think it would be nice to improve their work environment, working hours, etc... And I don't think it's the United States business to do that, but I also don't think US companies should exploit weak labor laws in other countries. And I have the right to express my concern by not shopping at Wal Mart.
The biggest issue that I don't like is sweatshop labor in the US. It was hard, but but after reading about the sweatshops in New York City fueled by illegal immigrants from the Fuzhou province of China, I finally made a commitment to almost exclusively buy thriftstore clothing. Ocassionally we shop at Marshalls/Big Lots when we really need something and we make this compromise under the impression that the company is still taking some loss by selling their clothes to a discount store.
Drew and I are both passionate about "oppression of workers" and I try to think about how I treat the staff I supervise. One of my favorite bible verses is James 5:1-6.
And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment.
All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you've done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.

joshua writes at 05:55:54 09/03/07 - Comment #23751: Its funny how a few of these items are right up my alley - I am a social compliance auditor and we are the #1 auditing firm for the Big Gray Box in North America... and we regularly audit in China. Without saying too much, I can tell you that by FAR the largest issue that comes out of China relates to working hours. Almost every company in China has double books and its on nearly every single audit report that our company writes.

I'm unaware of any attempts by Wal-Mart to try to stifle labor activists in China. To be honest, ultimately those sorts of decisions are made by the Chinese government, and I can tell you with virtual certainty that the Chinese government is interested in some reforms, but not widespread. Wal-Mart could decide to simply not source from China, but that is a virtual impossibility. To a degree I think Wal-Mart is interested in social compliance but the code is extremely weak in comparison to codes like SA8000, WRAP, Levi Strauss and FLA. When it comes to issues like payment, alot of people are idealistic about the idea of paying Chinese workers American wages (also known as "fair" wages) - its simply never going to happen.

LA IS the sweatshop capital of the world. We work there a ton. If not LA, then definitely a couple cities in Pakistan could measure up. LA's garment district is shocking. The biggest issue in LA usually revolves around the legal status of the workers that are there, but ultimately we aren't the INS. We only report about whether or not the I-9 forms are filled out properly - that is the extent of our jurisdiction when it comes to legal status, but its an important enough issue that if we aren't satisfied then it means a virtually guaranteed revisit and another $2000 fee that the company pays us as a contractual obligation to companies like The Big Gray Box.

I'm not surprised that the FLSA isn't applicable in that island group you mentioned. The thing about labels is tricky - its actually illegal to domestically import something and not have the correct country of origin on the tag. We've seen it before, and companies that do this can get into a world of legal trouble - the doors can be closed and we've also seen that. The rules in between are a bit of a labrynth, but what I can say is that "Made In America" is a dying concept and I've personally been to dozens of American suppliers that are now out of business due to Chinese competition.

Activists drive our industry, and I'm glad that they are around, but ultimately they really don't know a whole hell of a lot about social compliance, how it works and the limitations... which at times are very real and very frustrating.