Category Holidays

Small is the New Large

Michael Leave a comment

A couple of years ago I uploaded a post “Large is the New Small.” This one has nothing to do with that but it was a pretty nifty concept so if you’re not busy, feel free to search for it.

Nope, today’s post is all about Small Business Saturday. Now it so happens that a couple of years ago I also posted Thank Your Local Businessman (November 27, 2014) and that too was pretty nifty. I definitely think you should go back and re-read that sometime before you plan your attack on the Christmas Specials to follow this week’s Thanksgiving Feasts. It’s a simple enough idea. Businesses with less than 20 employees make up over 89% of American businesses. Not all of them are retail but a big chunk of them are. Boutiques, hardware stores, bike shops, outdoor stores, local theaters, and jewelers are just a few places where I have bought Christmas presents over the years. And bars, restaurants, barbers, and skating rinks are some of the privately owned spots where I took refuge from the rigors of holiday shopping.

I’ll be there again this weekend and probably even before, I have a most horrible cold or I would have gone on for several hundred more words. So my discomfort is to your benefit. And to the benefit of the locally owned drug store up the road where you’ll find me this afternoon.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

 

Finding America

Michael Leave a comment

Happy Columbus Day. Sort of. Traditionally in the United States Columbus Day was established on October 12 commemorating the day when Columbus landed on what is now San Salvador in the Bahamas. But then the greater American tradition of moving as many holidays to a Monday to create 3 day weekends overwhelmed the quaintness of memorializing an event on the date the event happened so we are celebrating it on the second Monday of October, October 10 this year, instead.

Now we can contrast that with the traditionally traditional argument that we shouldn’t be celebrating a Columbus Day at all, on a Monday or a twelfth day, or an any day. We should instead recognize the contribution of Leif Erikson who landed on what is now Newfoundland almost 500 years before Columbus made his pitch to Ferdinand and Isabella. To that end we have Leif Erikson Day celebrated on October 9, every year. Nobody really knows exacnewworldtly when Leif wandered past Baffin Island so somebody picked that date because it is the day an organized group of Scandinavian immigrants reached New York City in 1895.

One thing that is certain is that even though Columbus made 4 trips from Europe to “The New World,” the only time he actually landed on continental soil he was somewhere around modern day Honduras, fairly far from Washington D.C. where all the fuss about what day to celebrate emanates. On at least two of those voyages, the first and the fourth, his expressed intent was to land on land bearing resemblance to Asia or India. On the second and third voyages he at least partly intended to colonize the islands he had previously visited. None of the four were huge successes but he did well enough to warrant all federal employees getting an extra day off and have a city in Ohio named after him, all from a country within whose border he never trod.

A bit less certain is if Leif even meant to sail past Baffin Island. Leif was the second son of Erik the Red, who established a settlement on Greenland in 980. We don’t know if he was born there or on Iceland from where the family moved, perhaps urgently. Around 1000, Leif Erikson sailed from Greenland to Norway, hung out with King Olaf I for a while, converted to Christianity, and was to return to Greenland to spread the new faith. Many believe that Erikson’s landing on the north coast of Newfoundland was due to missing Greenland on that return. Whether he missed it or intentionally detoured his return to find new lands for subsequent explorers, he eventually made it to the settlement on Greenland and never returned to the continent. But that one stop made him the darling of anti-Columbian agitators and gets him a day of observance and a presidential proclamation every year, all from a country within whose border he never trod.

Continuing to contrast, it can be argued that it’s inappropriate to recognize anybody’s discovery of America since there were already people living here. How they got here is somewhat fuzzy due to the lack of record keeping from 10,000 years ago but they came from Siberia, Australia, or the Middle East depending on your source and/or obsession.

Then again…archeologists can deduce American societal findings dating earlier than the 25,000 years ago that migration would have been practical and there are indeed native cultural formations.It could be that those who place original settlements in America to a time the world began its exit from the most recent ice age (and the beginning of global warming?) may be the ones who should get an extra day off in October.

Whatever camp you belong to, don’t look for mail this morning.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Man At Work

Michael Leave a comment

Happy Labor Day America. That wonderful holiday when we celebrate the people who work by making people work so others who aren’t working can take advantage of another day, weekend, or month of sales. A day when the people who aren’t working complain that they might as well be at work because it will be twice as busy on Tuesday when they get back and a day when the people who are working complain that they are working while collecting twice their normal pay. You gotta love those holidays.

There are a handful of people who are working today who aren’t complaining about it. They will get tomorrow off. Actually they’ll get every tomorrow off from their current position. Those are the people at the Bangor, Maine Howard Johnson Restaurant. So why are they special? When they close there will be only one Howard Johnson Restaurant left in the country where once it was the largest hospitality chain with over 1,000 restaurants and 500 motor lodges.

I remember eating in several Howard Johnson’s but one in particular still pops into my head now and then. In 1925, Howard Johnson (yes, there really was a Howard Johnson) borrowed $2,000 and bought a pharmacy in Quincy, Mass. There he installed a soda fountain and brought enough business in to open a sit down restaurant by 1929. In 1940 the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened using the abandoned South Pennsylvania Railway tunnels and rights of way connecting Irwin in the west with Carlisle in central Pennsylvania. Eventually the turnpike mainline was completed from the Ohio to the New Jersey borders through the southern part of the state. Why are these two things related?

Although only 360 miles from east to west (or west to east, even), a distance that can be travelled comfortably in a less than a single workday today (if you felt like working on Labor Day), in the 1960s the trip just halfway across the state was far from a comfortable day’s drive. In the western part of the state the mountains made for slow climbs, challenging twisty downhill runs, and constant stoppages while new tunnels were being blasted through the Allegheny Mountains. I know because I was then a back seat passenger with two sisters while the parents rode up front each summer on our trek from Western PA to Eastern MD. A high point of the turnpike portion of the journey was the Howard Johnson Restaurants at the turnpike service plazas.  After lunch we would be allowed to splurge on dessert and have one of the famous 28 flavors of ice cream. For some reason I always picked chocolate.

Howard Johnson’s were fixtures on the Pennsylvania Turnpike from its opening in 1940 until the 1980s when the full service restaurants began to be replaced by fast food chains and their familiar counter service. The PA turnpike restaurant was the first restaurant the Howard Johnson Company would open on its way to becoming the largest restaurant chain along American toll roads.  In 1979 the Howard Johnson Company was sold and eventually many of the familiar orange roofed restaurants on and off the turnpikes were converted into other brands. By 1986 all of the former company owned Howard Johnson Restaurants were closed or rebranded and only the franchised restaurants remained open. The motor lodge business was divested entirely in 1990.

Today, where I once was served my hamburger on a plate at a Howard Johnson Restaurant along the Pennsylvania Turnpike I have a choice of picking up a pizza or a Whopper and carrying it back to a plastic table in a reconstructed service plaza holding two fast-food restaurants, an ice cream stand, a coffee counter, a gift shop, and a dirty bathroom. Elsewhere there are only two Howard Johnson Restaurants serving comfort food and comfortable memories. Tomorrow there will be only one.

Labor Day had already been celebrated for 3 years before Howard Deering Johnson was born in 1897. When Howard opened that first store in 1925 the Mount Rushmore site was dedicated before construction began on the mountain which would be completed in 1941. That was just in time for Howard Johnson to start opening restaurants along highways that would be packed with hungry families on holiday weekends.

That must be why I always manage to have a quart of chocolate ice cream in the freezer on Labor Day.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

(If you want to see the last remaining Howard Johnson Restaurant you have to get to Lake George, New York. You should hurry. It already closed once in 2012 and reopened just last year. Rumor has it that Rachel Ray worked there as a teenager. No word on if she still stops in.)

 

You have the right. . .

Michael Leave a comment

I don’t listen to satellite radio often, but when I do I prefer the commercial free channels. The funny thing about satellite radio is that on the channels that are not commercial free, a great many of the ads are for credit repair, an unusual sponsor for a service that charges hundreds of dollars a year in subscription fees. Or maybe not. One in particular caught my ear lately.

It began, “You have the right to reduce your debt.” My first thought was, no you have an obligation to reduce your debt and it’s called bill paying. Actually, my first thought was to switch channels but I fought that off, not because I need to reduce my debt but that once upon a time I was so heavily in debt that your average homeless person had a higher credit score than I. I reduced my debt by stopping indiscriminate buying, selling off assets, paying off creditors, and closing credit cards. I was pretty sure the fellow espousing my rights to un-indebtedness didn’t have those notions in mind.

I’m sure there are many reasonable ways to reduce debt. Just because most governments haven’t figured out a way to do it doesn’t mean that we have lower ourselves to their levels. Especially on this weekend – Labor Day weekend. Huh? The thing is, you don’t want to reduce debt that’s going to cost people their jobs. Huh?

It doesn’t matter if a business is a 12 seat diner owned by the guy down the street or a multi-national banking business run by a bazillionaire. If you take money away from them they will work out a way of making it up. Either that means raising prices or lowering expenses – and the biggest expense of any business is its human resource.

Yes, you have a right to reduce your debt. It’s not right up there with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But then again, maybe it is. If it makes you happy, you should reduce. You also have a responsibility to reduce honorably. When you sign an agreement to accept the terms of credit it includes the expectation of repayment. It’s what the people who lend you money deserve.  And it’s what the people who are paid their salary based on the money you pay them deserve.

Back to that ad – while most of it was playing I was mentally drifting thinking about most of what you just read. But I came back to earth in time to hear the tag line – “Don’t let the credit card companies trick you into thinking that you have to pay them what you owe.” Huh?

Happy Labor Day.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Do You Believe In Chocolate?

Michael Leave a comment

Happy World Chocolate Day all you chocolate lovers! The appropriate method of celebration is, naturally, eating chocolate. So don’t just sit there. Go grab a chocolate bar while I regale you with tales from the dark side of chocolate.

The first tale to be told is yes, today is indeed World Chocolate Day, aka International Chocolate Day.  True chocolate lovers, and there have to be at least 7 billion cChocNuggetshoco-locos out of the 7.4 billion generally assumed to be wandering the earth about now, are certain that we had a chocolate day of some sort already, or not yet, or both. And all three are right!

Pay attention here. Things might get a little crazy. February 9, April 22, July 7, September 12, October 27, and October 28 all lay claim to Chocolate Day. Want some crazier? Bittersweet Chocolate gets its own day on January 10, Milk Chocolate Day is July 28, and September 22 is White Chocolate Day.  And let’s not forget special days for Chocolate Souffle (Feb. 28), Chocolate Mousse (May 2), Chocolate Chips (May 15), Chocolate Eclairs (June 22), and Chocolate Cup Cakes (Oct. 18). And those are only the ones that I’ve ever been able to track down. Yes, I’ll look high and low for any reason to add chocolate to my diet even if for just a day. (or two) (or thirty)

Oddly enough, none of the aforementioned days are sponsored by any chocolate or confection company. A couple are the brainchildren of a trade group or another and the September date does correspond with Milton Hershey’s birthday, but none are blatantly commercial.

Can there be truly one official Chocolate Day. Well, today actually commemorates the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550 by the explorers to Central and South America. So they say.

Good enough for me. Have a bar!

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Bombs Bursting ‘n’at

Michael Leave a comment

I couldn’t wait for the Fourth of July this year. It is a Monday and that coincides with RRSB day and I knew exactly what to say. I was going to let all those people who think they know they’re way around the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and elections and the “noboby’s taking my rights away from me” crowd a thing or two. And then this 0730102118 (2)weekend I read a letter to the editor and darned if it didn’t make all that seem as trivial as it really is.

Many Americans will be out tonight enjoying a fireworks display. Some of us will be in boats on rivers or lakes looking up at them, some will be on mountains and overlooks looking down at them, some will be in recliners watching them in living color on big screen TVs, and some in bleachers or on park lawns watching them across the way. And we’ll truly enjoy them.

At some point, we’ll make our ways home and many of the many will want to continue the celebration and will pull out our home stashes of fireworks, the kind made by the company the letter writer works for. And that’s where his letter comes in. If I may quote from it:

As the Independence Day holiday approaches, Phantom Fireworks would like to remind its customers, friends and all those who use consumer fireworks to be mindful of the fact that some veterans can be startled and upset by the noise of fireworks.

Chelsey Zoldan, a licensed clinical mental health counselor and special consultant to Phantom Fireworks, advises that there is the potential for some veterans to be reminded of combat situations when they hear the loud sounds of gunfire and fireworks. Combat veteran Henry Jiminez, on a broadcast news piece aired on KABB-TV in San Antonio, Texas, indicated he found the unexpected blasts to be the worst. … Zoldan indicated that unexpected fireworks booms can cause some veterans increased anxiety that could be difficult and challenging for them. …

The bottom line is that giving veterans a heads up that you will be lighting fireworks seems to be the most helpful. Vets aren’t necessarily scared of or by the noises but the unexpected can trigger unwanted symptoms and distress. Please show courtesy to those military veterans who served so your freedoms could be protected.

William Weimer Youngstown, Ohio
The writer is vice president of Phantom Fireworks.

From: The Tribune Review, Pittsburgh Edition, Trib Total Media, Inc., July 1, 2016 (A7).

(Read the whole letter here.)

So let the air be filled with the colors and sounds of these rockets of joy as reminders of the rights that we have to celebrate as we wish. But remember also how we got and keep those rights.

Happy Independence Day!

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Remembering What We Remember

Michael Leave a comment

Today is Memorial Day. You can’t forget. Across America every newcast’s open, every paper’s headline, every Internet site’s banner will include an exhortation for us to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom. For the past several years I have joined them here in this blog. Please take time today to remember those who did, and please take some time to remember why they did.

Getting close to 240 years ago, 56 gentlemen met in Philadelphia and declared the United States of America free and independent and in support of that pledged “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” Eleven years later another group met for four months to frame the governing philosophy in the Constitution of the United States. Eight days later the first twelve amendments to the Constitution were presented. Ultimately ten would be ratified and known as the Bill of Rights. Over the next 229 years seventeen other amendments have been approved by the states.

These documents define the United States of America. It is to uphold these that every serviceman pledges his or her life to protect and defend. And in the 240 years that those ideals have been protected and defended 1,196,541 lives have been lost doing just that.

So take some time today and think of them. Then later on this week when you walk out of your house and go to your places of work and learning and worship, think of them. Then later this month when you take your vacation or plan your long weekend, think of them. And later this year when you go back to school or decorate for the holidays, think of them.

But please take some time before all that passes and read the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights and understand why those lives were lost.

You might find a whole new appreciation for them. (I’ll let you decide which the antecedent is.)

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Gilding the Lily

Michael Leave a comment

With less than a handful of days until Easter Sunday I saw my first lily yesterday. I was wondering what became of them. Lilies at Easter are like poinsettias at Christmas. The day can go on without them but they would be missed.

Even though I live alone and my most frequent visitors are the mailman and the UPS driver, I still have the place properly decorated for the season. I have my plastic eggs nestled in my plastic grass in my plastic basket. The plastic wreath is bedecked with silk flowers. It’s quite a display, just missing a lily or three. Now they have finally hit the stores I can pick up one or two and finish off the scene at my front door.

Why, if I have no compunction to displaying artificial anything and everything else, do I wait for the real thing when it comes to the Easter lily? Because those other things are merely the lead to the great day itself. The lily is the first symbol of new the life this time heralds and by Sunday will be joined by other welcoming signs of the season.

The Easter lily is said to have been born of the tears Eve wept as she was leaving the Garden of Eden and were the first signs of repentance, which is the whole idea of Lent leading to the great day itself. It is also said that they grew where Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed before His betrayal after the Last Supper. In both occasions they symbolize purity, innocence, and hope of a new life.

Yep, it’s a good thing those racks of lilies have finally shown up at the greenhouses and flower shops and supermarkets. You wouldn’t want to miss them this weekend.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Filled with Passion

Michael Leave a comment

I had a post all written, proofed, rewritten, mulled over, written again, and ready to upload when I stopped there and walked away from the computer. Something wasn’t just right with it and a wait of a while or so wouldn’t hurt it any.

So I stopped, had a late Sunday dinner, read a bit, turned on the TV, and started watching the musical Passion on Fox. And then I realized what was wrong with my post. It sucked. It was trivial, dull, and rambling. Not much different from most of my posts but it didn’t belong here today.

See, this all started in my mind Saturday evening at the Palm Sunday vigil. Last year I never got to do any of my Easter traditions. I was in the hospital through the whole of the Easter season. So for me there was no Ash Wednesday, no Lent, no Palm Sunday, no Holy Thursday, Good Friday, or Easter Vigil. And no Easter. Oh they happened but I hardly took part in any of them. Even though for me I actually looked forward to the Easter holy days they never held the big recognizable traditions of say Christmas. Yet without Easter we’d not have Christmas.

Later on Saturday night I wondered if I could turn the beginning of Holy Week into a blog post. After all, Easter is as universal as Christmas. Nobody minds if anybody clogs up the blogways with Christmas stories. Easter should get just as much play. But, I couldn’t come up with an angle. So by Sunday afternoon I was penning several hundred words on why it was snowing on the first day of Spring. I’m nothing if not unoriginal.

Then after having written and proofed and mulled and written again, I hesitated. Walked away. Let it sit. And was glad I did.

I don’t know that I planned on watching the Passion. I don’t think I actually planned on watching anything at all. As I scrolled through the guide it seemed like if nothing else it would be entertaining and it hadn’t started yet – always a plus for me when I watch a program. So I sat back, tuned in, and became amazed.

Nobody needs to be reminded of the Passion. It might be the most told story in the world. It touches almost every culture and if you don’t know the story you probably know most parts of it and didn’t know they came from the Passion. From the four gospels to thousands of articles, books, symphonies, movies, art, and opera, the Passion has been written, sung, played, and painted. But whoever put together Fox’s offering did something nobody else had. They started with pieces that weren’t ever meant to be part of the story. And from that they created a powerful story, perhaps the greatest story ever told. Or at least this year.

None of the music was written for this production. The locations weren’t selected because of their ability to mimic first century Jerusalem. The crowd looked like they wanted to be there. Nothing like any traditional Passion play. And they hit it.

If you didn’t see it, go find it and watch it. I couldn’t come up with the right angle but I didn’t have to. It was already out there.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Potpourri du Jour

Michael 1 Comment

I had a heck of a time figuring out what to write for today’s post. Not because the possibilities were endless, let me tell you. In truth, they were somewhat limited but terribly diverse.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, or as some people prefer, St. Valentine’s Day. One would think referring to the Saint (or Saints if you wish since there were actually three of them) gives the holiday more credence. This is both true and misleading. The Roman Catholic Church removed St. Valentine Day from its calendar in 1969. They are still Saints, just not with a specific feast day. Thus yesterday officially was Valentine’s Day.

The fact that those guys were real people who were canonized has made Valentine’s Day a holiday non-grata in some parts of the world whatever you want to call it. There are places where Christian traditions are seen as contrary to other religions and religious traditions.  You’d also think that the church and state separatist nuts in the U.S. would also prefer plain Valentine’s Day to St. Valentine’s Day and perhaps they do because you never hear anything about the ACLU suing anybody over giving away cards and chocolate without a Saint being involved. Then again they seem to get just as drunk as every else on St. Patrick’s Day so who knows what they think.

Another one of potential topics for today is the abrupt end of commercialism of holidays including Valentine’s Day. We might have a 10 or 12 week marketing run-up to the holiday but once it gets here, it’s done for. Just a day before television, radio, print, and electronic ads touted candies, flowers, fruit, jewelry, even pizza for the one you love. Today those same ad spots were pushing life insurance, disposable diapers, tires, and toilet cleaners.  After noon you couldn’t even find a decent rom-com without downloading it from a ppv service. Where did the love go?

Another possible topic for today’s post is another American holiday that isn’t – Presidents’ Day. Officially today is Washington’s Birthday. Even though was have a firm date for George’s birth, February 22, we don’t celebrate it then because the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 pushed four federal holidays (Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans’ Day) from their fixed day designations to specific Mondays thus ensuring at least 4 three day weekends for federal workers. (Which calls to mind, how many people work for the federal government? About half of them. Ha, ha, ha! Geez, I crack myself up!)

Anyway, when that happened although nobody of any importance, certainly nobody in Congress, changed anything else about Washington’s Birthday. Still, all of a sudden it became Presidents’ Day. Some people claimed it was the perfect time to recognize the contributions of all of the U. S. Presidents and their accomplishments. If you ask me, I think the only President we ever had who was really cognizant of his responsibility to the country and its citizens was George Washington. Everyone who came after has been less respectful than the one before until we have now reached the pinnacle of disrespect by being given the choice between one to the current crop of Democrat idiots versus one of the current crop of Republican idiots. And they expect us to make that choice without throwing up all over the ballot.

Now that I’ve given this all some thought I don’t think any of these are worth the effort. Good thing today’s culture makes disdain so effortless.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?