Beautiful Lengths

My eye was not the only thing to get cut this past weekend. Jeff has been growing his hair out for about three years now with the idea that when it was long enough, he'd donate it to charity. There are a number of charities that accept human hair to make wigs for patients with cancer. They each have their own standard length needed. So this past week Jeff decided that he had reached the proper length and made an appointment to get his hair chopped off.

On Saturday morning Jeff was a little nervous before setting off for the salon for a noon appointment. I had decided to go with him to offer whatever moral support I could. But he sat down like a champ and told them where he would like it cut. The stylist slid a hair tie up to the proper place and then using the office scissors (so she wouldn't damage her own) proceeded to cut just above the tie. Jeff might have closed his eyes once but he sat patiently while she took it all off. I bound up the hair and put it into the plastic bag (this was before my fear of ziplocs) to be shipped off. And of course I had to take before and after pictures of him. In total Jeff will donate about 9 to 10 inches of hair.

After the stylist had cleaned up the rest of Jeff's hair, his grimace of having it cut off turned to all smiles. His hair is now shoulder length and he loves the look. We left the salon with him running his fingers through his now shortened hair while I carried the bag with the pony tail. I then took him out to lunch at Famous Dave's to celebrate his new look and to celebrate his generosity. I hope his hair brings as much joy to someone else as it brought to him.

PS, Jeff is donating his hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. For more information on how to donate your own hair please see Pantene's webpage or the Locks of Love page.

Light at the end

There is a light at the end of my work tunnel and I'm pretty sure it is not a train. Things have been very busy here. I've been working more overtime in the last four weeks then I worked all last year. And I'm finally almost done. Just in time for this trip. I spent most of the evening packing after getting back from dinner with my parents. They came back from London today and we head out tomorrow. Bon Voyage. 

Things have not been slow though this week. My car melted down, requiring a total rebuilding of the engine. Needless to say I was not excited. The car was apparently burning oil. About three weeks ago my car had been making all sorts of terrible noises. I drove it to work and back but kept waiting for it to breakdown. I got home and checked the oil level to find that there was not a drop left in the engine. I added oil and took it in. I guess my piston rings have been sticking and my car has been secretly burning its oil. I learned the rebuilding an engine is not quick or cheap. Ow. 

On Sunday I ran errand and ended up getting a disastrous haircut that my sisters made into something cute. I'll try to post pictures. It's far far shorter then I've ever gone. On a strange positive I now own barrettes and headbands. Who would of thought that I could be a girly girl? 

I did a rather large presentation at a professional developers conference this morning. I'm not much of a public speaker so this thing has been keeping me up nights recently. It went fine and for a moment I had the impression that I might actually be okay at this job. Or at least can fake that I know what I'm talking about. 

Sadly I have done no reading or writing in the last three weeks. I even have a stack of magazines that I haven't had time to read. I have three books I'll be taking with me on this trip and hope to read at least two while I'm there. I'll have pictures and stories when I get back. Right now I'm just tired. Thanks for your patience with me. I'll be back to regular posting in about a week. Until then, take care.