I wish this was a deeper blog.  But I'm tired, so it's going to be VEEEEERRRRY superficial.

You know how I said I was traveling the past few days (or like all freaking week)?  Well, here was my means of transportation:

Yeah.. THAT'S RIGHT!  It's the company jet!

So when I told y'all I got a promotion a few months ago, you didn't realize it was like THAT did ya? :)

OK, so I might be exagerrating my awesomeness and the level of my promotion... I'm not THAT cool. 

Basically I had to travel with 6 other managers in from my office to 6 research stations and 4 production stations in 4 days.  That's 10 different cities in 4 days.  Which equals 12 flights.  Did I mention that the cities were in 5 states?  Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. 

I'll admit, I feel kind of like a rockstar when I say that.  Only a rockstar would say "I'm going on tour, I'll be in 10 cities in 4 days!"

It really wasn't that glamorous though.  The jet has 8 seats.  They're in 2 groupings of 4.  So of the 4 seats, 2 face forward and 2 face the back of the plane... which means for the duration of the flight, you're staring at someone.  It's not awkward at all.  Especially when they fall asleep with their head back and you can see straight up their nose.  True story.

To drop all the sarcasm, it was fun and exhausting and overwhelming.  Before this trip, I had never been to any of these facilities.  I honestly didn't even know that much about the research/production side of our business, which I'm a little ashamed to admit.  So I took this as a great opportunity to learn as much as I could and annoyingly asked about 5,000 questions.  If you want to know the dumbed down version of plant breeding and production, let me know, I can muddle my way through it.  And the people I travelled with were alot of fun.  We're not exactly the shy type that doesn't talk.  Nooooo, we're the type that has the sense of humor of 12 year old boys and laughs at stupid things and makes fun of one another incessantly.  So it wasn't boring.

Another funny story that demonstrates the sense of humor that we had.  We have to sign into all the sites we went to.  When one guy was checking us in, he noticed that someone that had signed in previously had the name of "Dick Kass".  Say it outloud.  Say it fast outloud.  Get it?  We seriously laughed about that for like 15 minutes.  Granted that was on day 3 when we were all a little loopy and exhausted so maybe it's not as funny as I thought it was.

So that was my week.  I learned alot, ate a TON of amazing food, flew on the company jet, got to know some cool guys alot better, and generally had a good time.  But I'm glad it's over.  I'm glad I'm home.  And I'm happy it'll be another year before I have to do that again.

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!!!!!!!

In celebration of this day, I have a funny "boy" story to share. 

So Caleb came into work today because some of the ladies here love to see him.  I mean, what's not to love?  He's adorable.

One woman in particular, we'll call her J, just loves kids.  So whenever Caleb comes in, we go pay her a visit to make her smile.

When we got over there today, she had a story for Caleb.  It went a little something like this.

Caleb, I have a great story for you.  This story is about my children and the funny things they do.  I have 2 kids, a daughter that is in 6th grade and a son that is in 4th grade.  Well, my daughter, she can be mean.  She can say some really mean, awful things and she hurts my son's feelings.  So one of the days she said something really mean to my son and he got really upset, so he decided to play a trick on her.  You wanna know what he did?  He saw her nice clothes all laid out in her room and ready for school and...

He put TOOTHPASTE in her PANTS! 

At this point, I burst out laughing and started asking questions.  Which went something like this.

Me:  Wait, he put toothpaste in her pants?!?! 
J:  Yep.

Me:  Did she notice?  I mean she had to notice!  She didn't wear them to school like that, did she?
J:  Well I think it must've been around the knee area or below and I think it was like that gel toothpaste b/c it didn't dry out all day, it was just wet and sticky.  She just kept wondering why her pants felt wet/damp all day long.

Me:  THAT IS BRILLIANT!  HOW DID I NEVER THINK THIS UP WHEN I WAS A KID!!!!  Your son got your daughter to sit in pants with TOOTHPASTE in them ALL DAY at school! 

Caleb: (totally ignoring us and trying to play with the keys on the filing cabinet)

*sigh* this just takes me back to the days of my youth.  Being in a family of 6 kids, there is some creative stuff that is done in the name of revenge.  Like when of my sisters glued my eyes shut.  True story.

I just had to share and hope that you all get a smile from it like I did.  I hope that Caleb grows up with even half of the creativity displayed by J's son.  BRILLIANT!

So I just got these photos from Chris:

Wow.

First I laughed REALLY HARD.

And then I cried.  (but don't tell anyone, it'll ruin the tough chick image I've been working so hard on)

I cried because it was so unexpected, this display of support. 

I mean, they SHAVED THEIR HEADS!  Being an "experienced" bald person now, I totally get how FRIGGIN COLD it is to have a bald head during winter.  And no, Afghanistan is not the desert where it's 80 degrees in the winter, it's like 50s and 60s there right now.  So I hope you all have some hats!

Let me just say, all you guys rock.  This picture is now the background on my computer so I will see this every single day and know that people all over the world are cheering for me to kick ass. 

Blessings come in so many unexpected forms and both Chris and I are blessed to have so many supportive friends, family members, and coworkers.  I don't think we can say thank you enough for everything that everyone has done.  I know I say this alot, but we are truly blessed.

So here I am at work.

Taking my normal 10 minutes to blog stalk (that's code for read my friend's friend's blogs) and I found one blog that pointed me to this website.

Damn You Auto Correct!

Basically as I understand it, the iPhone has something called Auto Correct, which is kind of like spell check for texts?  I dunno, I don't have an iPhone and none of MY phones have the kind of dirty mind that AutoCorrect apparently does.

Anywho, this made me laugh really hard.  And since this whole blog is about laughter, I wanted the share. 

Be forewarned... AutoCorrect is seriously perverted so many of the texts have some sexual innuendo.  This is NOT for the faint of heart ;)

Hope you have a wonderful day!

PS  Click on the "Parents Shouldn't Text" option on the menu bar... that was hilarious too!  And maybe a little less perverted...

OK, I'll pick myself up off the floor and get back to work now :)

For anyone who doesn't know me well, I have a little boy.  He is almost 2 years old and is in the process of learning how to talk.

As any parent can attest, this means endless hours of entertainment as you learn your kids language.  Every child has a few words that they just seem to have difficulty with.  As a parent, you learn what those words mean and you can respond accordingly.  So basically you learn a whole different language just so you can communicate with your child.

It's amazing how such a small human can train a grown adult :)

Anywho, one of the words that Caleb just cannot master is "bye".

Instead, when you say "Bye Caleb", he responds with "DIE!"  And he tells everyone to DIE with a big, sweet smile, a little wave, and maybe even a blown kiss.

I can't figure out why he has so much difficulty because he CAN make the B noise and his favorite song is "Bringing home my baby bumble bee".  I mean, he can say "baby" and "bee"!

But he still tells each of us to "DIE!" as we walk out the door.

Plenty of people (who aren't his parents) find this really funny.  I admit I chuckle at it too. 

But in light of the fact that I've been diagnosed with cancer and his daddy is currently in a war zone, methinks I need to have a little conversation with my son about this :)

I imagine it will go something like this:

Me: "Caleb, please don't tell me to die.  I really want to live FOREVER so that I can torture you when you bring your first girlfriend home with the many, MANY emabarassing videos and photos I've collected of you so far.  Seriously, I might have to set aside an entire night and do a whole video montage and slide show... what do you think?"

Caleb: "DIE!"

Me:  "Hmmmm... ok so maybe I deserved it that time."

It's little things like this that make me laugh.  My son loves me, he wants me to be around forever, but the irony of that one word is...well... priceless.

Much love and again, thank you for all the fun and funny gifts and cards I've recieved.  I feel infinitely loved and cared for.  Thank you.

Yes.  You read that right.  I am like Harry Potter.

Bear with me, it's gonna take a little time for me to get to my point, but I personally think it's worth it :)

So this past week, I've been opening up to people in my office and in my life about the fact that I have cancer.  Due to holidays and doctor appointments, I've been in the office for 3 days this week.  I've spent at least 2 of those days having "the conversation". 

I've gotten many reactions from "I'm sorry to hear that, how often are you going to be out of the office?" (which is actually the easiest converation I had) to lots of tears and even one person who questioned me for about a half an hour on every single detail of everything.

It's been emotionally draining and exhausting.  I think I should've been allowed a nap after every single conversation.

But back to the point, there is ONE main thing that I've noticed in all of these converations.  People hate to say the word cancer.

It's almost like they feel that if they say it, it makes it worse.

Like maybe the cancer (cue scary music) will find them and kill them and their entire family.

Kind of like Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series :)  Yes, I'm a Harry Potter geek and I'm OK with that.  In the books, almost everyone refers to Voldemort as "He-who-must-not-be-named".

I kinda feel like people treat the word cancer the same way. 

I've had it referred to as my "illness" and my "situation" and loads of other euphemisms that all refer to cancer without actually naming it.

I am Harry Potter.  I am unafraid to name my foe.  I will refer to it as cancer and not be scared of it!

But there are days when I feel like maybe I should name it something for those that are uncomfortable with the word.  Maybe it'll make them feel better? 

Would it be odd if I named my cancer?  Like maybe Fred.  Or Bobo.  Or shall we simply call it "the-illness-that-must-not-be-named"?

I personally still intend to call it cancer.  But if it makes you feel better, you can call it something else.  Just clue me in to the name so I know you're talking about cancer and not some long lost classmate or family member. 

Or just submit suggestions in the comments and I'll choose my favorite!

Let the naming of my little disease begin!