Migraine Pantie Packs

I had a horrible headache today. It felt like twin chisels being pounded into my temples. I mentioned this on Twitter and a helpful tweep suggested that Magnesium is a natural muscle relaxer and works great for headaches.

Good to know. I could have used a handful today.

Note to self: Buy Magnesium.


So I mention this to my friend Andrea who suffers from migraines a lot. She tells me about cervical injections that the AZ Pain Center offers for permanent migraine relief.

Apparently men may be on to something when they suggest that sex relieves headaches.

Andrea confirmed this - orgasms are a proven natural remedy for migraines (she is the expert) but the pain returns when the afterglow fades.

So this gets me thinking...

If orgasms cure headaches the manufacturers of those vibrating panties should jump all over that.

Yes, I am a marketing genius (actually, Andrea and I are a formidable team when presented with an opportunity - watch out world).

Imagine this... Migraine Pantie Packs!

Each kit includes: One pair of vibrating panties, one bottle of Magnesium, Valerian (another herbal known to help with headaches), Sprite (for the accompanying nausea), caffeine pills, a heating pad, ice mask/light blocker, ear plugs and a sign for your doorknob that reads "Go the F*@& Away, RIGHT NOW!"

Frequent migraine sufferers could have one Migraine Pantie Pack at work and one at home.

I'm thinking that the panties and Magnesium might come in handy for particularly stressful days at work period, headache or no... (just sayin').

K is for Kleenex Karma

I am all for cost savings and going green, but I draw the line at tissues - and you should too.

See? My nose came clean off...

This week I've been battling a cold and my nose has been running non-stop. Lots of sneezing, flem and snot... you get the picture. Grossness all around.

In fact, I would have called in sick for work yesterday, but I figured I'd get more rest driving two hours and working all day than I would at home alone with a 3 1/2 year old.

Office services at work has been trying to save money and go green. I'm all for it, except that this included buying 100% recycled "green" tissues. Not only does the term "100% recycled" not sound at all healthy or sanitary next to "tissues", but 100% recycled tissues are (as you may have guessed) about as soft as fine grit sand paper.

Yesterday my red nose and I marched downstairs to kindly suggest that cost savings and going green should not extend to tissues. Chris, the normally very nice boy in Office Services, was not as sympathetic as I might have hoped. Instead he went on and on about saving money and attempting to go green. Blah blah blah.

So, I did what any self-respecting, sore-nosed, snotty, feverish, grumpy person might do, I cursed Chris with a cold. "Mark my words," I said between sniffles, "you will have a cold by the end of April!" Oh yes, my friends, Karma is real.

Then I grabbed his box of Kleenex and fled.

My Group Project Rant

Group projects are dreaded by many A-seeking, hard working college students. Invariably there’s at least one member that you simply never hear from, another who does the bare minimum, often there’s one that just doesn’t understand the assignment and turns in work that’s unusable and then there’s the team leader who, because good grades are important to him or her, ends up doing the bulk of the work herself, or with the help of one other like-minded team member. Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about these group assignments is that they really don’t teach people how to work in groups in a work environment. That appears to be the point, but the concept falls short in many ways.

For some, getting a “C” and coasting through college putting in the bare minimum of effort is fine; they’ll still get the same degree with all “C” as they would with all “A”s. In a work environment a team member can try to coast through, but his performance is not tied to a grade letter, it’s tied to a performance evaluation, raises and even continued employment; and continued employment means paying your bills. So while there are “slackers” in a work setting, the rewards and punishments for poor work are completely different. If anything, group assignments in college teach bad behaviors, primarily that if one doesn’t put forth any real effort, someone else likely will and you’ll still get a good grade. I would argue that it even pulls down the “A” students and makes them question whether putting forth the effort so that others can coast through is worth it or fair. It’s de-motivating and demoralizing, and teaches not cohesive group behavior, but that the only person you can count on is yourself.

In a school environment there is no “boss” and the only recourse the other team members have are peer evaluations, if they’re even used. Some people realize early on that if they don’t do the work others will. Different things motivate different people, and a good manager understands and capitalizes on that, in a work environment. He also understands that some people work very well in a team environment, and others don’t; successful managers know their people. So if there’s anything to be learned from group assignments in college, perhaps it’s that team projects don’t always work out the way they should, and sometimes people get left behind, and that’s ok. You reap what you sow.

I've been a-salt-ed!

No really, it's true. Here's a story from the realm of WTF? I swear, as creative as I think I am, I couldn't make this one up.

One day last week Elizabeth and I were in a class all morning, along with virtually everyone else in our division local to Tempe. When we returned three hours later I noticed that my chair was covered in white specs. I have an embarrassing dandruff problem, so that was my first thought although there really was a lot of it. I went to brush it off and it actually hurt my hand. The white specs were salt, I'd guesstimate about a teaspoonful or more.

I called Elizabeth over and she looked as puzzled as I was. I also think she thought I was just a little bit nuts. I told her that I hadn't eaten anything salty in I don't know how long, and even if I had nothing would have left salt like that all over the seat of my chair. Oddly enough the first thing that crossed my mind was witchcraft. When I mentioned this to Elizabeth I think she thought I was even crazier.

I admit to a certain amount of craziness, it adds to my charm. *wink*

Anyway, she went back to her own chair and immediately called me over to her desk. Sure enough her chair was also heavily sprinkled with salt. I admit that my first reaction was relief. Being harassed at work is so much easier to bear when you're not the only victim.

We checked around and no one else had been a-salt-ed (don't you just love it?!). Pretty crazy huh?

I called my Wiccan friend and asked her what she thought. She told me that salt was used as a purifying agent, something you'd use to cleanse an area prior to casting a spell. Or used to dispel negative energy.

So our final conclusion was that either someone was trying to dispel our negative energy, or that someone thinks we're slugs and would melt on contact. Really, what other message could they be trying to convey? Had it been a not so subtle jab about my dandruff problem, they'd not have included Elizabeth who isn't similarly afflicted.

This is where my old friend irony drops in.

Two days after the a-salt, Elizabeth had a belt shred in her car on her way home, causing her to loser her power steering and scaring the heck out of her.

In my case, I've had two car accidents this week. On Wednesday I ran over a metal plate in a construction zone that flipped up, damaged my car and shredded my tire and Friday morning I was rear-ended on the way to work. I'm fine, no worries. The car wasn't badly damaged and the guy's insurance will cover the repairs.

Here's the fun part. I know enough about magic and karma to know two important things... First, if you expel negative energy to cast a dark spell part of that energy will be returned to you in kind. Karma is a bitch - what comes around goes around. Secondly, for witchcraft to truly affect you, you have to believe in it. Elizabeth doesn't believe, so she's safe enough. I believe, actually, but I'm also confident in the the resulting backlash.

So, if there was witchcraft involved, the witch will be having car troubles soon and I will get a small, perhaps not so secret, delight in seeing that happen.

Really, it's just too funny. :)