Current mood:

contemplative

Nothin' Special
Pringles, Pampers, Oil of Olay, Crest, Scope, Tide, Always, Tampax, Folgers, Bounty, Pantene, Charmin, Downy, Iams:

All Procter & Gamble products, and there are many more. Because I actually know those names and figure just about everyone I know has at least one of those brands in their house, they were my first (and only) single-stock purchase back in summer 2001.
I know what they make. I can point at it. I doubt people will stop wanting the classes of products offered, even if other brands gain favor. It made me feel safe.
And as of a couple of weeks ago, the stock SPLIT. I went from owning 3.939 shares to 7.878. I'm still in disbelief. I feel very lucky.
But before I selected P&G, J turned me on to companies like it who offer DPPs (Direct Purchase Programs), which allow me, Little Person, to buy stock directly from a company without a brokerage house (and its fees). It's a remarkably simple idea that helped a neophyte like me actually own stock easily (I think it was a 1- or 2-page form) and with only $250. No bank or investment institution cares about people who can only scrape together $250.
Not only does P&G have a DPP, but it's a DRiP, Dividend Reinvestment Program. So, instead of cutting me a check, which in my case would be teeeeny, they take the dividends they pay me and automatically reinvest them in P&G stock, upping my number of shares on a regular basis, even if I need three digits past the decimal point to see my increase. ;-)
And they allow you to add new cash investments every quarter with only a $100 minimum, which is not an inconsequential amount, but so small for anyone trying to get specific stocks, rather than mutual funds or bonds.
I just find the whole thing so cool. So non-threatening. So do-able. For Nothin' Special people like me who look at banks and find that they want at least $1000 to make it worth their while to bother with you, and often much more than that for any attractive programs. And that's before they start taking out their fees.
I don't know much of anything about investing, in terms of making specific choices and why, but I do know that this has been a nice initial foray. And that I am intrigued by Warren Buffet, if only b/c his strategies are outside the pack mentality that seems to pervade markets.
Oh, and I respect P&G for taking Census demographers' work on brain-gain and brain-drain cities seriously, along with Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class, which led them to try and make Cincinnati a more brain-gain place. They want to grow and are tired of losing Case Western Reserve U's best and brightest.


The 20-week u/s revealed the location of my placenta (wait: is it mine or Vengeance's? Both?), and found it on the anterior, i.e. front, navel side of the uterus. Which has freaked me into wanting to learn tons of NCB and other birthing techniques. B/c that is a horrible place for a placenta if I have a c-section. My OB reassured me that they'd be careful and, in agreement with the NICU nurse who is gestating with me on the Nov Mommies list, said that it's very fortunate that everyone knows where it actually is.
However, I am now stuck with an (unrealistic) image of the blood-rich cord getting nicked in the process, spurting blood everywhere, and waving around the OB OR like a rogue garden hose. Um, no, thank you.
People who hate Bradley (turns out I'm not the only one who was turned off by his attitude) say that Susan McCutcheon does his thing, but comes across as likable and reasonable. So, I might start there.
The challenge will be finding an NCB birthing class, cuz I don't where to start. No idea. I only know the basic birthing class the hospital offers, which seems more about birth mechanics and letting you know about different interventions that one might choose and/or need.
I'll have to tap Maria from Pasadena, the American woman, and mother of two, I know at my gym. She has been a great resource since I told her I was pregnant and lost in Guelph and OHIP.
silveraspen is right: I need to get out and meet some other young (in reference to the child's age) parents here. I want to, and it's why I have been planning on joining our city rec center's Mommy & Me "exercise" classes (sorry, they look fun, but not a workout) since I found them in 2002.
But a birthing class would involve partners, too, so there'd be double the chances of connecting, in the sense that I might connect with woman from Couple A while J might connect with the guy from Couple B. Plus, it's not like one can meet too many people.

It's just kind of hard, cuz I've been feeling...not introverted, exactly, but just very focused on what I need to get done and doing more observing than participating. I watch the different cliques at the gym, at work, and yet don't see how to jump in and become part of the group. Never have. I don't feel like I fit in, even with people I really, really like. Never have. So I've been feeling like an island. But I'm not shy, nor a loner. I do OK and can be very self-contained, but I do like being with people and interacting with them, when I feel I can be myself. (Or even in H&R Block-ish situations, when I feel I can really help someone, can see their situation and understanding improve. Very gratifying.)
It's why I'm going to MI for my birthday: Being with people like J, Jenni, NiCole, and my family relaxes me, releases tension that is so constant I don't realize it's there until it's gone, and I feel completely unmasked. So, I'm letting my parents fete me. :-)