Flowers
I bought myself flowers today. Why shouldn't I? Do flowers have to be symbols of romantic love, friendship, sympathy or best wishes? No! On the most basic level, they are not symbolic of anything. They are beautiful and, occasionally, fragrant. They are pleasing to the senses.
As I walked past these flowers, I was first struck by some large, peach-colored roses. It is my mother-in-law's birthday and I knew they'd be perfect for her. Then my eyes wandered toward some beautiful stems of unique, white flowers. I don't know what they are but I know I adore them. I have a thing for white flowers. I found some beautiful rust/red flowers to accent both of the other bouquets and took them home.
I snipped them to the right length under some warm water, gave them their flower food and arranged them admirably. Maybe I'll tell my husband I bought them "for him" to make him feel appreciated. He needs to be more appreciated around here. I'm not easy to live with when I'm pregnant. True story.
Clueless Employees
I am one day shy of 20 weeks pregnant and loving it. This is a crazy journey and I felt like an absolutely inhuman monster during my first trimester. I'm human again now (but still hard to live with) and looking forward to May with excitement and trepidation.
Those who know pregnancy will know that "20 weeks" means more than just a halfway stepping stone to delivery. It means an in-depth ultrasound to see if baby is growing the right way and to make sure everything looks healthy.
It's hard to explain this amazing experience to somebody who hasn't witnessed it. It's the point at which the blob of seeming-fat on your front side is suddenly a living human being. It's proof that two individual cells can come together and miraculously turn into a variety of specialized cells, tissues, bones, blood... It's one of those amazing moments that just floors me.
Today is my 20-week ultrasound. I've been looking forward to it for about 18 weeks now and didn't want to miss a moment of it, so I went to the store to buy a DVD-R to record it for my children and family. I was stressed because the ultrasound tech told me a very specific type of DVD to buy. I think she said a "DVD minus" (DVD-R as opposed to DVD+R) but called the office to confirm. The receptionist sent me to an answering machine. Dang.
An employee was next to the DVDs, stocking shelves, and I hoped he might have something to shed on the subject. (Really, I just wanted a little reassurance but wasn't hoping for much.)
I asked, "Do you know the difference between the two types of DVDs?" [Edit: My actual words were, "Do you know the difference between the DVD-R plus and the DVD-R minuses?" but I was too lazy to type that out until a comment made me realize I was being ambiguous....]
"There's no difference," he replied. "They're made by the same company, but some of them are made in a different factory." He looked at as if he was letting me in on a big secret and shrugged. "They just package them differently. Stupid, really."
I squinted my eyes at him just a little in disbelief, dropped my jaw and tried to control the facial expression that I knew I was about to form. I am a big believer in being straight-forward with people and this guy was clearly way off in left field. I appreciate honesty in others so I don't have to second-guess myself or them. But there are times when it's just not polite (and completely unnecessary) to clue people in to your mental process. This was one of those times.
I tried to adjust my face to appear thoughtful for a moment*, smiled at him and quietly said, "Thank you." Then I wheeled my cart away and hoped I was buying the right thing.
* Like Steve Martin in the movie "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" when he is being hit in the leg that he claims is paralyzed, is in terrible pain but trying to mask his pain by looking intensely thoughtful. Great stuff.
To be fair, he's right about the different brands being very similar in quality and perhaps even manufactured at the same plant. I think if you'd asked him what the difference between the plus and minus R were, you might have gotten a different answer. Then again, most electronics store employees ARE clueless, so I could be totally wrong on all counts!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I was paraphrasing for simplicity. I asked him, "Do you know the difference between the DVD-R PLUS and the DVD-R MINUS?" But I didn't want to type that all out for the blog entry.
ReplyDeleteAnd he said they are the same brand, but manufactured at different locations, not the other way around. Just to clarify.
I think the more important question here is, are you going to find out what you're having??
ReplyDeleteI think he was right, actually.
ReplyDeleteAs of June 2006, there is no physical difference between a DVD-R/-RW disc and a DVD+R/+RW disc. (from http://netforbeginners.about.com/cs/multimedia/a/DVD_explained_2.htm)
The difference comes after you record onto them. But if the doctor's office told you to get one, and you showed up with one labeled the other way, they might not have even tried to use it, so it was smart to get it right. Or maybe this info is wrong; I may just have been lucky the few times I've bought discs and gotten the right ones without checking.
Congratulations!
DVD-R is the older technology. DVD+R has several improvements, but the two types are not compatible. Most recently manufactured DVD drives support both formats, but some pre-2004 drives only support DVD-R. It is likely that the equipment attached to the Ultrasound machine is older and thus required the older media.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-R
Hey Jules!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say that I love the picture of you and your boys on your blog, and I think you and Josh are great!!
Hope you had a great Christmas(although it was no doubt a little stressful). Hope to see you again soon!!