A Sage Soul…

My addiction to the show Forensic Files has paid off. Sort of.

The organization I work for is having an all-staff retreat and booked a resort in St. Michaels on the Chesapeake Bay. For three days we’ll be working on organizational goals, team building, personal growth goals and stuff like that. Probably not exciting to most of you reading this but I’m looking forward to it because I’ve never worked for a place that actually has such things. Of course, the evenings will be filled with fun activities that will lend me the opportunity to see what many of my co-workers are like “off the clock” and vice versa.

I have, however, discovered something about the resort at which we’re staying that rattles me a bit. One of the many Forensic Files reruns that came on what is now called TruTV (gag, CourtTV was much better) aired a few weeks ago. While it was one I had seen before, it aired just a few days after checking out the website of the resort so as I watched the first few minutes of this episode, I noticed the pictures of the cabins looked eerily similar.

At that time, I didn’t really think much of it. For obvious reasons, the show can’t mention the name of the business so I essentially forgot about it. A couple days ago the office got an email update about our trip, thus reminding me about the show. I decided to Google the name of the resort with “murder” added in, and sure enough it’s the same place!

On Valentine’s Day in 1998 a couple were staying at this place and the wife decided to kill her husband, but I can’t recall exactly why. She staged the scene to make it appear an accident… that he fell asleep while reading porn magazines and smoking a cigar that ignited the mattress and thus burned him to death.

This is what I love about Forensic Files: The show highlighted that it was almost believed to be an accident until a barely visible point of origin (of the fire) was found and the autopsy confirmed no soot in the husband’s lungs, proving he was dead before the fire even started.

So, yeah, this woman got caught. There has been at least one true crime novel written about the murder. In case you’re curious, her name is Kimberly Hricko and the resort is Harbourtowne. Google it if you wish.

Over the past several months, I guess mostly due to the neighborhood where my job is located, I’ve made an observation.

Men are quite blatant in the way they check out women. Especially their backend parts.

It isn’t like I’ve never seen a man stop and stare at a woman’s ass. That kind of thing has been happening for decades… maybe centuries in some areas. I’m not opposed to checking them out myself from time to time. If a woman is walking in front of me and has a nice bum, I’ll appreciate it from afar. Really, it’s the sway of her hips that catch my eye, but I’m not writing my next erotic story here so I won’t get too detailed about that.

I’m not painfully obvious about it, though. What I’ve witnessed on a several-times-a-week basis lately is the men walking in the opposite direction, and as they pass these women, they’ll literally stop, turn around and stare until the woman has continued too far from view. When I’ve been within earshot of these incidents, the staring is usually always accompanied by a groan or a shake of the head and a “damn!” comment.

Being that I can’t relate because I’m not the type of woman whose ass attracts unwanted stares and also being that I’m not one of those “stop objectifying women” feminists, I find this more comical than anything else.

If any of you have strong opinions one way or the other on the subject, I’d be interested in hearing them.

Current Mood: Amused

Why do so many who live a life of privilege assume they’re entitled to more, and that they are above following certain rules?

I was at the lab again today for more blood work (yes, I’m ok, just getting my iron levels checked to ensure I’m not anemic). There were several signs posted both outside on the door and in various places of the waiting room forbidding the use of cell phones. There was an older man sitting a couple seats away from me, dressed in a suit and with a stethescope resting on his lap. The waiting area was small enough that I could hear parts of his conversation with the woman next to him, I assume a colleague or his wife, about dialing in on a conference call for a patient of his. He proceeded to do so… with his phone on speaker mode.

Almost immediately after the recording for the conference line started, the clerk behind the desk stood up and said, “Excuse me, sir, but cell phone use is not allowed in here.”

The man said, quite annoyed, “I’m a doctor and this is an urgent call.”

Clerk, still professional in her demanor: “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to step out in the hallway.”

The doctor stands up and walks to the counter, he lowers his voice and mumbles something that doesn’t make its way clearly to my ears. However, the clerk still responds in a tone loud enough that I can hear, “I’m sorry, but it’s company policy so you must step out into the hallway.”

At this point, I’m watching and listening intently - along with the five others in the room.

The doctor says, “Fine, then I will use one of your phones,” and starts to walk around and behind the desk. This whole time, his phone is still on speaker mode.

The clerk at this point is becoming annoyed, and rightfully so in my opinion. She raises her voice noticeably to stop him from proceeding completely around the desk and says, “The best I can do is place the phone on the counter for you to use, but you cannot come back here.”

I guess that wasn’t enough for the good doctor, so he walked out in somewhat of a huff and conducted his business in the hall.

I could be wrong, but from my perspective, the doctor seemed to think because he was a medical professional, he was removed from the rules set forth by the lab. Clearly the call wasn’t a private matter if he was going to conduct it right there in the lobby, so I see his lack of consideration of those around him and the disregard of the company’s policy as he felt he was entitled to something more.

Sadly, it’s nothing new.

Current Mood: Awake