Shane and Cassandra
September 7, 2010

Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

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I Know How I’m Going to Die

June 17, 2010 3:00 pm by Cassandra Crawford

I’m going to fall down the stairs. Maybe at home, maybe on the way to work, maybe somewhere I’ve never been before. But it will be stairs. Don’t worry – it’ll probably be when I’m old and brittle and not in the foreseeable future. But it’ll happen. I will end up at the bottom of some stairs in tiny broken pieces.

How do I know this, you ask? Because of the panic I feel almost everytime I walk down stairs. Maybe I’m the only one but I am often happily taking one stair at a time when I look down and fear that I’m about to take one and half stairs – which is bad for staying upright. In an instant I see me falling all the way to the bottom of the stairs up until I feel my foot land flatly and firmly on the next step. One day it won’t end so well.

At which time you’ll want to know what to do with my body. Shane knows this but I very specifically do not want to be buried in the ground in a casket. Cemeteries are one of the great inefficiencies in our society. What a waste of space to put bodies in the ground that could be put to productive use! Living in an area where land is at a premium I get agitated when I see large cemeteries. And they only get bigger with time! Why do humans feel the need to hold on to bodies after the soul is gone? The body is useless. And stinky. So grind me up, burn me, or just throw me in the ocean, but don’t spend money on a casket and don’t bury me in the ground. I don’t need my name on a headstone to know my life mattered.

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Playing Favorites

April 11, 2010 6:04 pm by Cassandra Crawford

With kids, you aren’t supposed to have favorites. I’m sure parents do, but they can’t talk about it. You probably admit it to yourself, you might tell your spouse, but you never tell your kids and you certainly don’t write about it on the internet.

But I have dogs, so things are different.

When we just had Ajax, I thought he was the perfect dog and no other dog could ever be as lovable. He was calm, friendly, well behaved and had quite unique markings for a greyhound. He was a successful racer so I could brag about him, but he was low energy so there was no headache about dealing with a hyper dog. Any other dog would surely have something that wasn’t quite right, so I would always love Ajax the most – or would I?

Then we got Tiki and she was a racing school dropout which meant she was very young and never competed. She was a female when we were hoping to get another male. She has the most common markings for a greyhound (red brindle) and was nothing unique. She was much more rambunctious, not as affectionate and was very shy and reserved around new people. This dog was nothing like Ajax – how could I possibly love her as much?

For the first few months, she was difficult. She learned the stairs very slowly. She never wanted to eat – there was always something more interesting than food. And for a dog that had no room to lose weight, this was scary. She wanted to put her nose on everything, started barking at every dog she saw (although in a friendly manner, it scared all the other dogs), and was generally much more work.

But lately – about 7 months after we picked her up from the greyhound store – she’s really started to grow on me. I love her face: petite, bright-eyed and beautiful. She’s very graceful and slender and now at the perfect weight. She’s overcome the stairs and is now even better than Ajax at them (she can actually change directions in the middle of the stairs!). Her playfulness is now an asset. She makes me laugh every day as she gets a running start to pounce on her toy of choice (as of now this is a small bird) and scoots along the wood floor. She has a really cute ritual of taking every toy out of her toy box one by one, playing with it for 30 seconds, and going for the next one until the box is empty. Even if I start to put them back, she’ll continue in perpetuity. She even has an adorable trick we like to call “dance” where she’ll prance around in a circle on command.

So could this dog actually be as good (or even better) than the perfect Ajax? It remains to be seen. But she’s certainly gaining ground and might almost be even with the dog nobody could beat. At least in my mind. Shane might have different ideas.

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McStupid

December 29, 2009 1:36 pm by Cassandra Crawford

Me: I want a side salad.
McDonald’s: we don’t have that on our late night menu.
Me: you don’t have one in the refrigerator?
(Pause)
McDonald’s: I can make that for you. How many do you want?

Idiots.

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Posted in Boston Scene, Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Why I’m Sad

October 14, 2009 11:54 am by Cassandra Crawford

It’s that time of year where, even though the trees are beautiful in New England, I have to start looking at the low temperature for the day instead of the high temperature. Summer was way too short!

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Is Green Good?

June 14, 2009 6:01 pm by Cassandra Crawford

Shane and his dad are making me a desk for my elf room (the little loft at the top of our house with a skylight). The room isn’t big enough for Shane to fit in standing up, so it immediately became my room – the elf room. For little people.

So this desk is being made and I want to stain it a green color instead of a traditional wood stain. I think it’ll be unique and pretty, but I get lots of negative reactions towards it when I tell people the idea.

Here’s a sample of the stain on the wood being used for the desk. What do you think???

Green Stain on desk wood

Green Stain on desk wood

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Posted in Hobbies, Thoughts | 4 Comments »

Stopped Escalator = Stairs?

March 18, 2009 9:57 am by Cassandra Crawford

Maybe I missed something, but isn’t an escalator that is not moving the equivalent to stairs?

On the way to work this morning, I was entering North Station. To get to where the trains arrive, you must go down either an escalator or walk down some stairs. The stairs are situated right next to the “down” escalator. However, this morning (for whatever reason) the escalator was not moving but was not blocked off. There was a herd people trying to get to where the trains come and go this morning since a commuter rail train had just arrived at North Station and dumped off a large number of likely stupid people. It seemed obvious to most that using both the stairs and the non-moving escalator would be a good idea, but one particular woman got very perplexed. As she approached the escalator (which I assume she used on a regular basis), she realized it was not moving. “Ugh”, she said with disgust, “I have to use the stairs”. She proceeded to suddenly change direction and walk perpendicular to the herd, cut off several other people (including myself), and walk down the more crowded stairway which probably took her twice as long.

I can’t figure out why this woman would have avoided the less crowded escalator and disgustedly used the stairs other than she is an idiot. In the words of Mitch Hedberg: “An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You would never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.”

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The Right Way to Write

June 19, 2007 3:49 pm by Cassandra Crawford

I’ve had a problem keeping up this blog. Initially, I started it to have a place to share my thoughts with anyone who cared about reading them. But the problem is that I never think my thoughts are interesting enough. Or at least I can’t make them sound interesting enough with my writing style. I read what Shane writes and I’m so impressed because it is funny and you can tell it has required at least one entertaining thought. I know that I think entertaining thoughts despite the looks I get from Shane sometimes, but I have trouble putting them into words that convey what is really going on in my head. I noticed that I really enjoy when authors write in a way that follows a natural train of thought. But why am I unable to put exactly what I think down in words? I think I stumble too much on trying to make it sound right or be funny or be something that it really isn’t. I try too hard to make it interesting to everyone instead of being assured that my thoughts are interesting enough on their own to merit being shared with the world.

So, I’ve decided to change my writing style. I don’t know exactly how this will work or for how long. But I need to be more free and open when I write instead of so reserved (which is kind of how my personality works sometimes). So, this will be a challenge, but one I am more than ready to face. I am tired of having to think, worry, and toil so much before I write. Why shouldn’t I be able to write out my thoughts exaclty how they come out of my head with no censor?

You might be able to tell, but this is my first attempt at my new writing style. To give it a whirl here a few things I’ve been thinking about lately.

The last week at work has been interesting. First of all, I didn’t even get to tell my team that I was leaving since someone decided to blurt it out for the entire office to hear. I came back from jury duty on Wednesday and everyone already knew. That person is a lot of the reason I am leaving. That person hasn’t even said anything to my face about me leaving, but has made sure to talk about how sad it is that I am leaving loud enough for everyone to hear, but nothing directly to me since she found out. I’ve been getting a strage vibe from people as they come to talk to me about my new job. I can’t tell if they are jealous because I am the one getting out, or if they resent me for leaving since they thought I was a lifer, too.

I want to start growing plants. I want to get some flower pots, soil, and seeds and see what I can do. I think an herb garden would be really fun. But I don’t know if we have enough light anywhere in our apartment to make sure the plants can grow. Shane doesn’t like it when I lift up the blinds and let the sunlight in.

Shane is going to Texas this weekend (leaving Thursday morning) which leaves me at home by myself for 4 days. I don’t know what to do with myself. Some things I’ve been considering: going to the beach, cleaning, reading, playing SimCity, going to the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party (got free tickets), shopping for clothes for my new “no dress code” job, and doing nothing at all.

I’ve evaluated what I have written above and determined that I still need more practice on this new writing style. I’m pleased with the effort, but I also realize I have more work to do. Hopefully writing more often will help tone my skills.

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Posted in Thoughts | 3 Comments »

Guide to Revolving Doors

May 22, 2007 12:04 pm by Cassandra Crawford

Now that I have worked in the city for about a year and a half I have noticed that revolving doors can be the cause of many awkward situations. I have documented and named each of these situations below. Hopefully someone else will know what I am talking about here.

The Sqeeze-In
This occurs when someone you don’t know – a complete stranger – tries to hitch a ride behind you in the same section of the revolving door. This usually results in a much slower pace and an odd shuffling of feet trying not to make contact with you. In some rare instances odd “Eeking” noises are also heard.

The Simulataneous Multi-Directional Entry
This situation happens when two people try to enter the same revolving door at the same time, but from different directions. It usually does not do too much damage, but it can slow down your through-time. You both need to enter at the same time and this need for timing creates some stutter stepping and awkward glances.

The Simultaneous Uni-Directional Entry
This is my favorite beacuse it creates a competition between two strangers as they both try to get to the door first. If two people are very stubborn this could also result in the Squeeze-In.

The Simultaneous Exit and Enter
This situation usually comes down to a timing issue. You want to get into the same section as someone just left, but disaster can occur if you go to soon. If you are too late you miss that section and have to wait for the next to roll around.

This one or the next one?
This situation can occur even if you are alone at the revolving door. You must make the decision to squeeze into a small hole to get in the farther section and push less or take the section that has a larger opening and avoid the squeeze but take longer to get through the door.

The Speed Gap
This happens when one person using the revolving door wants to go at a snail’s pace and another wants to get through as fast as possible. Usually causes the slower person to get a little bump in the butt during their commute through the door. This can be complicated further when one tries to carry rolling luggage through a revolving door. Quite an interesting situation…

Screw It
There is a long ling to go through the revolving door so you use the doors on the side which explicitly state “Please use revolving door.”

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Posted in Boston Scene, Thoughts | 2 Comments »

Caffeine Free Cassandra

March 20, 2007 4:35 pm by Cassandra Crawford

For those of you who know me, I bet you were instantly surprised at the title of this post. But it is true. I am writing this to share my experience with this drug and what effect it can have on your life.

Starting in November or December, I started having mild nausea every once in a while (probably every other day). Nothing too serious and it didn’t really interfere with my day too much. But gradually over the months it got worse and worse, where I would be nauseous once or twice a day and I couldn’t get anything done in the situation.

One night, I was working at a Celtics game and it was exteremely unbearable. For 5 hours straight I couldn’t think of anything except the pain in my stomach. I made a decision that night. No more caffiene. Within 3 or 4 days the nausea was gone. I haven’t had a Dr. Pepper since.

It’s been pretty hard to stay away from caffeine, expecially Dr. Pepper, but it has been worth it. All I have to do is think about how lousy I felt when I did drink it.

Immediately after quitting caffeine, I started sleeping better and feeling better. I went through very minor withdrawal symptoms, but nothing serious. Even though my caffeine consumption was on the low end when compared with other Americans, it was still too high.

I would highly recommend to everyone to quit or lower their caffeine intake even if you aren’t having any health problems. I think it can do no harm.

Sadly, there is no caffeine free Dr. Pepper in Massachusetts. There are currently 17 states that sell it and they are all very far from here (http://www.freenewyork.net/dpfaq.html#q2.7).

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Does Texas Miss Me, Too?

April 7, 2006 2:14 pm by Cassandra Crawford

Althought there are things about Boston that I truly love, I’ve been missing Texas lately. Besides spending time with friends and family from Texas, here are the top things I miss the most:

Real Thunderstorms: The best storms are accompanied by thunder and a lot of lightning. They are best viewed from the back door of my former home in Mineral Wells, Texas. There is never snow with the thunderstorm. I could watch storms for hours as they pass through north central Texas.

Mexican Food: Real Mexican food is never served with jumbalaya. Enough said.

Ultimate: It’s warm enough in April to wear shorts a t-shirt to play ultimate. You never have to consider the snow forecast (yes, in April) when making plans to play.

Sports: I miss going to the Ballpark (where it’s comfortable to sit) and the American Airlines Center (where there are absolutely no yellow seats). I miss hanging out with other Mavericks, Rangers, and Cowboys fans.

Weather: In Texas people think 50 is cold and 90 isn’t hot. That’s the way it should be.

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