Godspeed, Tony Snow

I've been praying for Elizabeth Edwards ever since I heard about her returned cancer last week. Now the news of Tony Snow. I know that this is one of those things that so many people have to deal with in this life, but I have a deep respect for Mr. Snow and I'm very saddened to hear about this. Please keep him lifted up in prayer.

Sources:
MichelleMalkin.com
CNN.com

These are a few of my favorite things...

All The Hits Q-100 had a neat segment this morning. A few of the DJs discussed some of their "favorite things", and I received some pretty cool tips! I think we should spend more time sharing ideas with our friends and even complete strangers if they're interested. Here's my list:

Best Soap: Caress Body Wash (you could actually skip the moisturizer after using this in the shower)
Best Moisturizer: Oil of Olay (helps you appear 20-something, when you're already 30-something, if you're shallow like me and care about stuff like that)
Best Frozen Entree: Stouffer's Lasagna (I've tried and failed to make lasagna this good)
Best Perfume: Narciso Rodriguez (When I wear this, a minimum of 10 people-per-day stop me to find out what fragrance I'm wearing)
Best Area of Town (metro-Atlanta) to Hangout: Downtown Decatur - (Best local eateries! Taqueria is my favorite)
Best Restaurant Breakfast: Cracker Barrel (it's all about the Old Timer's Breakfast)
Best New Television Show: Wedding Bells (Teri Polo is AWESOME)
Best Foundation: MAC (Studio Fix; you'll always be camera ready)
Best Place to Shop: North Georgia Premium Outlets (best clothes and bags for the best price)
Best Blogs: LaShawn Barber's Corner, Michelle Malkin, Patterico, Josh Cook, Ankle Biting Pundits, Digg, and One Hour Craft
Best Place to buy Shoes, Belts and Sunglasses: ALDO (people like me who are on a budget don't always have to look like it!)
Best Hotel on a Budget: Tie: Wyndham Garden and Homewood Suites (always have reasonable rates)
Best Burrito: Chipotle
Best Chinese Food: House of Chan
Best Eyeliner: MAC (eye kohl colors ROCK)
Best Part of Town (metro-Atlanta) to Live: Roswell (combination of beauty, proximity, and friendliness; love it!)
Best Coffee: Dunkin Doughnuts (tip: in addition to your morning cup-o-joe, buy the 1-lb bag of ground coffee from them for home use; it'll be the best start to your morning)
Best Mascara: Lancome L'Extremme (gives you movie-star lashes)
Cheapest Gas: Kroger (sometimes they run neck-in-neck with QuikTrip, though)
Best Thai Food: Surin of Thailand (better known as just SURIN; Thai Diner is a VERY close second)
Best Burger: Fat Burger (originated in LA; in Buckhead for a few years now)
Best Lip Color: Stila (way too expensive for regular use, but definitely the prettiest colors)

Weekend Roundup

The Good:

Work - This was an exceptionally productive week. I got about 10 different tasks completed this week that were each slated to take close to a week each to finish! Actually, I put in a lot of time in the evenings this week since I couldn't sleep due to Cassie's cold. Turner got their money's worth and then some out of me this week! :-)

Home - Cassie is feeling MUCH better now. This morning, I noticed that a molar is cutting through, so I wonder if that was a major contributing factor to her horrible cold. Praise God for two healthy kids! Also, Chris finally completed his oral argument this morning in front of a few judges. He called me to tell me that they were very impressed with him!! YAY!!

Church - Tomorrow might be the first day that I get to teach Sunday School in over a month!! You would really have to be in my shoes to understand the sadness that takes over me when so much time goes by without me seeing my kids. They are so honest, and full of innocence (regardless of their individual situations, they are still pure at heart at this point in their lives). I also miss my adult friends that I have very strong bonds with. My life has had a huge void for quite some time, and I will pray that this much time never passes without me seeing my extended family.

The World - I was very encouraged by the way political pundits on all sides have come together to lift up prayers and send well-wishes to Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, who just found out that her cancer has returned in an incurable form, according to doctors. I am NO fan of John Edwards as a politician, but I was very proud of the way he and his wife stood together with such strength when making the announcement to the world. I wish God's blessings over the both of them as well as their family.

The Bad:

Work - Since I got so much accomplished, I've finally been pulled into the most high profile task going on at CNN.com in several years. This is great news to me, but I'm absolutely terrified due to the strain it has taken on several of my co-workers who are the best we've got at CNN. Do you believe that a few of them have actually quit due to the stress this task has caused? And they don't even have children!! YIKES!

Home - The house is a complete disaster. A wreck. The kids are napping, so once I post this, I will try to begin cleaning up this place.

Church - I feel very out-of-the-loop since I've been away for so long. I haven't been to any of the kids' plays, and I won't be able to attend ANY retreats this year since I've already used half my vacation time in the first quarter of the year! This makes me really sad. :-(

The World - Cathy Seipp passed away this week. She was a well-known freelance writer of the weekly column "From the Left Coast" for National Review Online. She succumbed to lung cancer on Wednesday, March 21, 2007. R.I.P. Cathy. My prayers go out to her family and friends. (Note: I'll post more about Cathy Seipp a little later. She and I definitely have something in common in our personal lives).


Wow, I hate to end on a bad note like that. Um, let's see...it's 82 degrees outside and I'm wearing summer clothes WOO HOO!!!

The Lenox Stroll

I took about an hour from the office to dash up to Lenox Square Mall for some new perfume. By the way, I must have been high on perfume this past weekend when I made the decision to buy a fragrance called "Very Sexy for Her" by Victoria Secret. Last year, my friend Chrissy and I were hanging out in the mall and I'm pretty sure that I smelled the fragrance for the first time and thought it was awesome! We went back to the mall this past weekend, and we smelled it again only to scrunch our noses up in displeasure. There's a pink bottle and a red bottle of Very Sexy perfume, so I convinced myself that the red bottle smelled okay on the smelling strips. Chrissy gave me a slightly apprehensive glance when I let her smell the paper, and I should have taken heed. Ladies, always listen and pay attention to your true girlfriends; they will never lead you astray! Unfortunately, I didn't heed this advice and I am now $55 poorer, and have been sneezing for the last 5 days! Very Sexy For Her perfume smells crappy!! There. I said it!

Back to the original story. In case you're unfamiliar with Atlanta, Lenox Square Mall is one of the malls that was built and designed with the fashion conscious, lofty-incomed individual in mind. It's the 1 of only 4 or 5 malls in all of metro Atlanta where I can find my favorite fragrances, shoes, and makeup. They have all of the "top of the line" items that I purchase and generally only use on special occasions.

This is the second time since I've been working at CNN that I have gone to Lenox to shop. This is also the second time that I have noticed some interesting things about a lot of the other shoppers that were there at high noon on a weekday:

1) A disproportionate number of shoppers were black women

2) Most of them were drop-dead gorgeous

3) Most of them were sauntering through the mall, browsing at their leisure

4) Every other car/truck I saw pulling up to valet park had a young gorgeous black woman at the wheel.

Get my drift? Not yet? Okay, stay with me. Here are the facts. I am aware that most black women are not housewives; most black women are out working during the day. It's just a fact. Almost every woman I saw this afternoon was flawless from the top of their perfectly brushed heads to the bottom of their well-manicured toes...in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. The fact that most of them were taking their time, looking around trying to decide where to go next suggests that they didn't have somewhere to be within the next 60 minutes, like work. Land Cruisers, Hummers, Benz's, one after another with flawless, young black women dropping off their keys at valet parking.

Yeah, I think you get my drift now. I just realized that Chris and I got into a conversation about this a few years back when he and I went to Lenox Square. Back then, he pointed out all of the things that I note above. My side of the coin? I figured it was obvious that these are the girlfriends/wives of very wealthy men that have nothing better to do than spend their boyfriend/husband's money. Chris laughed. Of course, Chris is WAY more astute than I am on any given day, so that's not a surprise.

Still at a loss? Find a friend and ask them about it or email me. :-)

Super Doctors

Cassie has had a nasty sounding cough and low-grade fever for the past day and a half. So, I took her to her doctor this afternoon. Here's a quick history of the doctor's office she and Olan go to:

From birth through age 18, I had the same pediatrician...Dr Bland. He was SUCH an amazing doctor. Most of his clients back then were middle to upper-class blacks who lived in the Northwest Atlanta area spanning from Peyton Road to the well-known Cascade/Ben Hill area. All of the black bourgeoisie in Atlanta had Dr. Bland as a doctor. Well, while Chris and I were pregnant with Olie we had to decide on a pediatrician for the kids. My first and only choice was Dr. Bland, of course. Turns out that he was still a practicing pediatrician, but only part-time, so we chose another doctor within his practice. Needless to say, that area has changed a HUGE deal in 12-15 years. Many of the aforementioned black bourgeoisie that used to live in that area are much older, and their children have taken up residence in upper-crust areas in Southeast DeKalb County, such as Lithonia and Stone Mountain/Snellville where at the very minimum you must own a few horses, and a few Benz's to fit in.

So where does that leave the doctor's office in Northwest Atlanta these days? It IS what it IS. A typical example was this wonderful conversation between a girl and boy two seats away while Cassie and I were in the waiting room this afternoon:

Girl: I know what you did, so don't even front.

Boy: What? I don't even know what you're talking about.

Girl: I know you gave that ho' those food stamps when I could've used 'em for the baby.

Boy: Whatever, shawty, you ain't see nothin' so shut all that up.

So, at this point, I just stopped listening and spent the remainder of their 15 minute conversation cringing. Then, about 15 minutes later, the same boy and girl (who, by the way, apparently have a child together, who happened to be sitting right there with them in a stroller) began arguing about what to give said child to play with so he'd "shut the hell up". Oh, and said child is all of 9-months old. I even saw the girl draw her fist back at the baby twice when the baby cried as he dropped the cell phone they had given him to play with. It was as if it was all she could do to keep from punching the baby in the face. I stared in horror, and she must have caught my glance because when we made eye-contact she looked away very embarrassed. If she is drawing up her hand in a fist toward a friggin' 9-month old, what is she going to be doing to this poor boy when he starts talking in less than a year? Dear Lord.

These are standard goings-on at this particular facility. Why do I continue to take my children there? Because you cannot find better doctors anywhere in these 50 states. They are among THE most qualified and THE most attentive doctors around. Your next question may be, why would such qualified doctors work in an area such as this? The answer is that they simply care about these people that don't have enough money for non-government funded healthcare and that use food stamps to buy their groceries. They don't look down their noses at these people who smoke, curse, and yell in front of their kids, even though these doctors themselves are in the top 1% of the most educated of all their peers of any race or income level in this country. No, they want to show these people that someone is going to always be there for them and love them, even if they don't know how to love themselves.

These are my kids' doctors, but they are truly MY heroes.

Get Thee To a Football Game, Rugby Match, or something!

Update: 3/19/06 - 8:20pm
Looks like this video has been removed by whoever originally added it. Darn. Oh wait...here's another link to it. :-)




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I'm NEVER speechless...but I came pretty darn close after watching this. This kid can't be anymore than, like, 7.

Disney creates first black princess

In 2009, a new Disney animated film will be released entitled "The Frog Princess". It will feature a 19 year-old, beautiful, black chambermaid named Maddy. Read more here.



I'm not really excited one way or another by this story. I mean, of course I think it's really cool. I've done some surfing around recently, and apparently there are a lot of little black girls that grew up in my generation that wondered why none of the beautiful princesses looked anything like them. As a child, I never dealt with this issue. Personally, I was all about ballerinas. I even was one for about 11 years! But even when I saw blonde and blue-eyed princesses, queens, etc,...as a child it just never occurred to me that I was excluded from this group. Never. I always thought that I was just as pretty and elegant as they were.

I can't help but wonder if this new creation from Disney is based on pressure from various "groups". Disney doesn't have the best reputation regarding race relations. I'm not sure if you know the story of Mr. Walt Disney, but he was not a jolly, happy-go-lucky guy sitting around whistling while drawing pictures of Mickey Mouse. No sir. You may not know this, but there is actually a standing rumor that Walt Disney was anti-Black and anti-Jew. There is a book written by Walt Disney biographer Neal Gabler entitled "WALT DISNEY: The Triumph of the American Imagination". It doesn't appear that the rumors get put to rest in this bio, either. Gabler states that Walt thought hiring African Americans would "have spoiled the illusion at Disneyland" and that Walt's anti-Semitic reputation is due largely to his membership in an executive organization that was famously hostile to Jews. So waiting until 2007 to create a black princess for release in 2009 doesn't seem so far-fetched. Maybe there will be a Jewish Disney princess created by 2010. :-)

Where to go from here

You know, sometimes you go on a vacation and come back feeling all relaxed and full of fresh energy. Then there are those vacations where you come back and realize that you need a break from your vacation! I think the latter describes where I am right now.

Chris and I have frequented Orlando theme parks since we got married, but this is the first time we've ever gone as a family of four. Neither of us anticipated this trip draining us of all energy, but that's essentially what happened. Spending 14-15 hours per day (for 6 straight days) picking up, chasing after, and soothing a tired 3-year old and 1-year old is not exactly sittin' on the dock of the bay watching the clouds roll away. It was taxing, and even though we enjoyed being with the kids and each other for an entire week, Chris and I are really beat.

Despite our minds and bodies being completely fried, life does go on. As I type this, Chris is putting the finishing touches on an 10-page appellate brief that needs to be turned in today. No, relief will not be in sight once he finishes this because within the next few weeks his oral argument project will be due. Also, things at my job are about to shift from neutral to high-gear. I am right in the middle of some pretty serious projects, and I have a mammoth one to get involved with sometime within the next few weeks. Something pretty huge is in the works with CNN.com, and I'm due to jump on board any day now.

Speaking of work, I feel that I'm at an impasse right now. You see, I decided last Fall that since Chris was going to be a full time law student, I would continue to work at CNN up until he finishes school. Once he graduates and gets a job, the plan is for me to discontinue working immediately and focus on the family entirely. With that being said, I forthwith stopped stressing about anything at my job. "I'm only here for another 3 years", I would say to myself constantly. No more concerns about being the "shining star" and hoping to be promoted as a reward. I decided to bide my time, and do my job as required with no extras.

Lately, I have realized that there are flaws in this thinking. First of all, what if Chris decides somewhere along the way that he hates law school and doesn't want to be an attorney? And secondly, people with my personality can't afford to take a mediocre, blasé attitude about ANYTHING. I am an "all-or-nothing" kind of woman. I'm either giving you my everything, or you're getting zilch. If you know me well, and think for a moment about different areas of my life, you will know that I speak the truth.

So...where do I go from here? Well, Chris is about 7 weeks away from being done with his first year of law school. If I spend the next 2 years at my job giving the most that my potential has to offer, that can only be good for myself, my family, and the company that pays this wonderful salary that allows us to live comfortably on one income. You know what? I think I'm ready for that. I said "I think". :-) We'll see.

No Place Like Home

What a wonderful adventure. But all good things on earth must come to an end. Here's a quick summary of Day 6 and Day 7:

Day 6 (Wednesday) - Vegging Out
We stayed in bed until around 9am. The kids woke up, came into our room, and hopped into our beds around 9:30am. My parents came over from their bedroom at around the same time completely dressed, and ready to leave for breakfast. They were going to be visiting Animal Kingdom and MGM. (I secretly wanted to go SO badly, but I didn't say anything) Chris, the kids and I continued to lie in the bed for another 45 minutes or so, until the kids made it clear that it was time for breakfast. We quickly bathed, dressed, packed up the kids' on-the-road bags and were out of the door by around 11:30am.

After a rapid meal at the IHOP down the street from the villa, we all started feeling pretty lethargic. Cassie began getting fussy, Olan was a little irritable, and Chris began slightly stressing about a huge paper that's due to be submitted this upcoming weekend. We still had a day left on our "Magic Your Way" Disney passes, and a part of me wanted to go to Animal Kingdom or MGM. But after assessing everyone else's moods, and taking my own fatigue into consideration, we just decided to drive to Downtown Disney to pay a little extra and upgrade our Disney Passes so that they wouldn't expire. This way, we can use those passes another time, preferably about two years from now at the earliest. The kids and I waited in the car while Chris took care of this.

Once Chris returned to the truck, we just decided to go back to the villa since everyone was obviously in need of some time to veg out. On the way, I decided that I wanted to go buy some S-Cables for our DVD player that we brought down with us. I figured that while Chris was working on his paper, and the kids were busy with their new toys, I needed to busy myself with something. We took a longer route down Hwy 535 to get to Orlando where we knew that a Best Buy was located. There, we bought the cables, along with the first season of Entourage (we don't have HBO, and Jeremy Piven is one of my favorites). When we got back to the villa I put the kids down for a nap. Chris went into the bedroom to work on his paper, and I stayed in the living room and watched "The Devil Wears Prada". AWESOME movie! I also spent the day washing clothes and packing the suitcase here and there.

We ended the day by getting some takeout from the T.G.I.F. down the road from the villa, and lamenting on the fact that our vacation was coming to a swift end.

Day 7 (Thursday) - And, we're out...
Woke up at 7:30, finished packing, and got the heck out of the villa by 10am. (Note: The villa charges you a $200 fee if you checkout after 10:00). We all went to Golden Corral for one last breakfast together in Orlando. Afterward, we said goodbye to my parents who were headed directly home. Chris, the kids, and I stopped by the Books-A-Million near Universal Studios so that I could buy some very expensive, but useful computer programming books in addition to the 6th installment of Harry Potter (The Half-Blood Prince). Chris also bought some very cool Christian books. We left the bookstore, and drove all the way to a town just outside of Valdosta to have lunch at Sonny's. VERY nice people there, and that includes the workers and the other patrons. It reminded us of why we love small towns and hate the city so much.

We finally made it back to Atlanta around 9pm. As soon as Chris unlocked and opened the door, the fresh pine scent hit us. I felt a warm fuzzy feeling take over. Before I could say anything, Chris said "There's no place like home". Amen to that. No matter how nice your vacation is, there's nothing like the feel of walking on your own carpet, and being in your own bed.

I'm adding pictures from the trip to facebook. Enjoy!

I'm Back!!!

Sorry about the absence from cyberspace there. There's a little thing called hosting fees that you have to renew every year or so. Who knew? :-)

I will now resume my regularly scheduled...whatever it is that I have been doing here.

Orlando Vacation: Days 3 - 5

I don't even know where to begin, so I'll just keep typing as things come to me.

Day 3 - Sunday(Magic Kingdom) - First of all, let me just say that we woke up to one of the most beautiful days that I may have ever seen. Once I looked out of my window and saw the palm trees red from the gleaming sunrise, I knew that nothing could go wrong. We went to Golden Corral for breakfast, and afterward went directly to my favorite place on earth: Magic Kingdom!! As we were driving, I kept thinking, "Can't this truck go any faster??" That's how anxious I was. I was anticipating the kids' faces when they walked under the Main Street overpass, turned the corner, and had a direct view of Cinderella's Castle. I still remember how I felt as a 9 year-old the first time I saw it. We rented a couple of double strollers, and off we went. Under the overpass, right around the corner,.....nothing. I looked at Olan and Cassie as I jumped with excitement, and said, "Look kids, it's the CASTLE!!" Cassie giggled a little. Olan simply said, "Disney." He watches Disney movies all of the time, and he recognized the castle from the Disney movies. So that was all I got out of the kids for a first reaction. I knew that it would probably go downhill from there for the kids, since anyone who is captured by the "magic" of Magic Kingdom is usually the most taken in by Cinderella's Castle.

To recap the rest of Day 3, we had a very nice one, to say the least. The weather was PERFECT. The kids enjoyed posing for a picture with Tigger. We rode a few rides in Fantasyland, which the kids seemed tolerant of. :-) Their favorite was obviously Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. My favorite as well; that ride ROCKS!! We left the Magic Kingdom by 7pm. My parents arrived, so we picked up some dinner and met them at the villa. We had kept it a surprise from the kids that my parents were coming, so they were thrilled to see Grams and Pop Pop all the way here in Florida!

Day 4 - Monday (Downtown Disney) - Another great day. I actually enjoyed this experience much more than Magic Kingdom, to be honest. Downtown Disney has the Marketplace and Pleasure Island which surround a big, beautiful, crystal blue lake. The kids were able to run around a little more this day, because there weren't very many people there, and the kids couldn't get away from us as easily as they could in one of the theme parks. The weather was a little chillier, but it still got up to about 70 without one single cloud in the sky. Highlight of the day: We stopped by Haagen Daaz/Wetzel for lunch while in Pleasure Island. I tasted the Almond Crunch pretzel for the first time. OMG!! That is the best thing I've ever tasted! I will be searching for Wetzel locations when I get back to Atlanta. Ended the day with dinner at Golden Corral and all of the adults staying up until midnight chatting about politics. Good times. :-)

Day 5 - Tuesday (Universal Studios) - Best day yet. I have officially become a Disney traitor. Or maybe I'm just getting old. Whatever the case, the entire family was MUCH happier at Universal than we were at Magic Kingdom. The kids' favorite attraction of the day was Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast. Mine was Back to the Future (duh). Chris's favorite was Nathan's Hot Dogs. :-) He LOVES those hot dogs so much, and they're hard to find in Atlanta. My parents mostly enjoyed hanging out with their grandchildren and watching them giggle and cheer. Yeah, Chris and I decided that Disney World is much to overwhelming for us and the kids at this point. From the dancing characters as soon as you enter the park, to the people dancing down the street with hats and umbrellas, with thousands of other screaming kids within feet of you...it's just a little much. The pre-Mommy Tami can handle it. The current Tami cannot. Universal will be getting our money exclusively for at least the next two years. We got back home around 8:30pm and turned in around 9:30 for the evening.

We're done with theme parks for the week. Today is our last full day here. If anything interesting enough to report happens, I'll post tomorrow night once we're home. Wow, we'll be back in Atlanta tomorrow. This vacation is quickly coming to an end.

Orlando Vacation: Day 1 & 2

For those that didn't know, the hubby, kids and I hopped in the truck yesterday and took off for a week in Orlando, Florida. We have been looking forward to this trip for months now, and I can't believe it's finally here!

Day 1 (Friday) - Travel
The kids spent the night at my parents' house, and we picked them up from there at 9:00am and were on the road by 9:30. We made a couple of stops (1 in Moultrie, 1 in Lake City, and once on the Florida Turnpike). We were all settled in at the villa by 6pm. I took picutres along the way, and want to share them, but the laptop I'm on doesn't have Photoshop or any program that will allow me to resize these images to reasonable dimensions. In a nutshell, the road trip was fun, and the kids love the villa that we're staying in. They spent most of the day running around exploring. They have their own room, and are enjoying sharing a room for the first time! Went to bed excited about Magic Kingdom the next day!

Day 2 (Saturday) - Rethinking Magic Kingdom
So I couldn't sleep for most of the night. I had pre-Magic Kingdom anxiety! I was up thinking about what we would ride first, where we would stop for Mickey ice-cream, etc,...The sun rises in Orlando at 6:45am. At around 6:40 am I saw the light start to reflect off of the curtains, so I jumped up to wash my face, brush my teeth, and grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen. The master bedroom has a sliding glass door which leads to a terrace that contains a table and chairs. I couldn't wait to sit our there with my coffee and watch the light of day make it's appearance. I was out on the terrace by 7am. It was very chilly and the skies were completely gray. My heart completely sank. My vision of this Disney trip didn't include 50 degree temps and sunless skies.

During the next few hours, I felt myself drifting into pout mode. By the time that Chris and the kids finally woke up at 9am, I was a borderline emotional wreck. Chris and I discussed the fact that we could go grab some breakfast from I-Hop (our favorite place to eat here in Orlando) and make plans based on what the weather looks like afterward.

We got to I-Hop, and there were people waiting outside trying to get in just to put their name on the waiting list (the wait itself was 45 minutes). We looked across the street and saw a Sizzler advertising a breakfast buffet. We knew it wouldn't be Golden Corral, but figured it wouldn't suck as badly as the Ponderosa Steak breakfast buffet we had last time we were in Orlando. Our assessment was correct. It was nothing to write home about, so I'll stop writing about it. :-)

Long story short, the temp kept rising and dropping in 10 degree increments. We came home after breakfast took a nap, and got back out to have lunch at T.G.I.F. (superb as always). We've been in the villa for the rest of the afternoon and evening, watching the kids run around and play. We'll probably get back out in another hour or two to go to a bookstore, to grab some dinner, and maybe drop by the mall before it closes to get some Haagen Daaz ice cream on a cone.

There is good news, though. I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO. And in addition to that, tomorrow's high temperature is predicted to be 71 degrees with no rain in the forecast. We'll see if we can squeeze in Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom tomorrow. I will not get my hopes up until I am walking down Main Street. :-)