Category Life

Multi-tasking To Go

Michael Leave a comment

We suppose the current politically correct term is distracted driving, but some people do it so effortlessly they consider it an asset rather than the liability that we as innocent bystanders see. It was only a few days ago that She of We saw what has become the new benchmark that bystanders throughout our city will be on the lookout for.

We don’t like to make excuses and the fault quite heavily lies on the doer, but the car manufacturer may be responsible for some of the odd behavior we see during each day’s rush hours.  If it wasn’t for tilt steering wheels it would be more difficult for someone to spread the morning paper out before himself to read on the way to work.  Yes, every morning He of We is passed at about the same spot on the highway by a man guiding his little Lincoln while eschewing the radio version of the news so he can read all about it.  Fortunately (?) he just reads and doesn’t attempt the crossword puzzle.  Smooth rides, cruise control, and lighted vanity mirrors make make-up application, though not new, popular.  They also facilitate a close shave (in more ways than one) on the way to work in the morning.  Texting might be an issue for the teen drivers but the over-achievers make use of the generous center consoles on which to mount their notebooks and laptops to extend their workdays.  On their slower days you can see them returning e-mails on their tablets giving the heavy workload some time off.

So none of that is particularly new and we and you certainly have seen much similar activity.  What could it have been that She spotted that was so out of the ordinary that it would actually prompt this discussion?  Well…………

The latest, the newest, the most unusual of all rush hour driving activities seen to date (drum roll please – and that would be very appropriate) is driving through town while playing a clarinet.  Yes, the full size woodwind, made famous by the likes of Goodman, Shaw, and Fountain, in the hands of one also using his hands to steer his minivan through downtown traffic.

It gives new meaning to the concept of “Swing!”

That’s what we think.  Really.  How ’bout you.

 

The Family That Plays Together

Michael Leave a comment

Sports are a great example of sibling rivalry gone good and good things passed on from generation to generation.

Start with the current Stanley Cup Playoffs with parts of the Staal and Sutter dynasties facing each other. They hope to join the 10 of 73 families who have played with or against each other for the cup. You don’t like hockey? Let’s move to the other playoffs going on, the NBA. There have been over 25 pairs of brothers playing in the NBA, 4 of them this season. A like number of fathers and sons have dribbled across the hardcourt.

Moving outside, 8 sets of brothers are playing baseball this year. There is even a set of umpire brothers out there, safely stated. Football is tops in family gatherings. In its history, 348 sets of brothers played in the NFL. And before researching this we came up just with the Mannings.  That put us 12 short of the brother sets who were on the field last season.

All of this was brought to mind when we sat down to watch this year’s Kentucky Derby. Brothers Jose and Irad Ortiz saddled up together, each for his first run for the roses. Had that ever happened before? In a sport where the horses could all meet at the same family reunion and where owners and trainers routinely qualify for a family plan, the riders mounting the stars of the show are quite often unknown outside the racing world. We found out that the Ortiz brothers will be the fourth set of brothers to have run in the 140 runnings of the Derby, the first in 30 years when Eddie and Sam Maple rode their mounts around the famed track in 1984. Other brothers appearing at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May were Chris and Gregg McCarron in 1976 and Angel and Milo Valenzuela in 1960.

There are a bunch of reasons to say family matters!

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Smile, You’re Protected From Candid Camera

Michael Leave a comment

Before we begin please let us assure you that we are all for the presumption of innocence, civil rights, and the protection of privacy. But every now and then something comes up that makes us go more than hmm. Something that we’re certain Tom, John, Ben, and the gang in Philadelphia in 1776 really hadn’t had in mind.

Somewhere in Pennsylvania there is a young high school sophomore who has been the target of bullying. The school district in which he is currently a sophomore claims it takes all manner of precautions and discipline to provide a safe environment for its students, including protection from physical, verbal, and psychological abuse dealt by bullies, not unlike the rest of the country.

This young man had claimed to be the victim of a bully since the school year began. He brought his concerns to his mother who in turn brought them to the school per the district policy. Yet the bullying continued. The young man’s mother couldn’t even confirm if her concerns were ever addressed with the “alleged” bully and/or the “alleged” parents of said “alleged” bully. The district claimed that would be an infringement on the “alleged” bully’s “alleged” privacy if they were to disclose if they spoke with him or his parents about the “alleged” conduct.

Let’s fast forward to this spring. Young man has had enough of the bully and not having any positive response form the school decides the best way to convince them that he is being victimized is to show them the victimization. And so, with his cell phone, he records the bully bullying him. He takes this recording to his mother who takes it to the school who promptly has the young man arrested and charged with wiretapping for recording the “alleged” bully without his consent.   About a week later the young victim is actually convicted under the wiretapping statutes of Pennsylvania and ordered to pay a fine and court costs, hopefully unlike the rest of the country. At least he didn’t get jail time.

Fast forward again a few weeks. There is discussion over this. The district attorney’s office gets involved and decides that perhaps this wasn’t the best outcome and asks for the conviction to be vacated. However, it will stay on his record until he requests, and pays the attending court and legal costs, to have his record expunged. The school district is not in any hurry to apologize and actually stands by its decision to have the young man charged since it wants to provide a safe environment for its students including the expectation of the right to privacy, apparently the “alleged” privacy of the “alleged” bully. And public opinion is pretty much split 50/50 on who is right and who is righter.

So we suppose the next time you’re walking through a store, or a parking lot, or used car establishment, or perhaps a bank or post office and you see the sign, “Smile, You’re on Camera,” you have the right to say, “No, I’m not.” Of all his inventions, it’s a shame the camera wasn’t one of Ben Franklin’s. Then we’d know for sure.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Made With Pride

Michael Leave a comment

Last week She of We spent a day at the self-proclaimed basket capital of the world. (We’ll wait while you look it up. We can’t tell you everything!) Among the acres of baskets, table accessories, wrought iron, pottery, and more and more baskets were acres of baskets, et. al. signed by the constructing craftsman. That takes pride in one’s work to put one’s signature on it.

Signing work is nothing new. Proof marks, builders’ marks, foundries, and forges have through the years identified themselves proudly on the goods turned out by their artisans. It is through these marks that many of today’s antiques treasures can be confirmed treasure and not just old. But not so much today. Now it seems that along the assembly line a robot pastes a sticker somewhere inside your car that claims it was “Made with Pride” by whatever union local finished it up. No name, no signature, not even an “Inspected by No. 7” graces that finished product.

Back to the baskets. Or more appropriately, to the weavers. Can you imagine the quality of hand made products if everyone who had a part in their construction claimed their piece of the work? Can you imagine the quality of machine made products if everyone who had a hand in prepping, aligning, calibrating, and finally running the machines claimed his or her responsibility for that assembly? Companies are always talking about accountability but other than that limited warranty everyone prints on the package (and in real small print), just what are they taking account of?

The basket weaver, pewter smith, wood wright, or one of many other artisans knowing he or she is at the top of the game and is really making it with pride will take accountability. So much so that he or she wouldn’t think of not signing the work.

Maybe your work isn’t of the type that you can literally “sign” what you do, but you can work with that same amount of pride that at the end of the day you can proclaim that your work is worthy of your mark. Would you rather be a sticker hidden inside the door frame just waiting for a recall to happen, or would you rather be a signature, as large as John Hancock’s, proclaiming to the world that what just happened you will always recall as your best? (We’ll wait while you decide. It shouldn’t take long.)

Yep, we thought so.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Written with pride by She and He.

 

The Twittering of America

Michael Leave a comment

Not too long ago we posted a post that posed the thought that everything has turned large.  (See “Large is the New Small,” February 3, 2014).

We have rethought that thought and now think that we think there is one thing not so large anymore.  America’s attention span.

In the course of her everyday business, She of We often sends out forms to be filled out.  But she always makes sure there are detailed instructions so one doesn’t get lost along the way.

Invariably, the first 2 or 3 of those are followed to the letter and then after that the recipient fills in whatever, wherever, and for who knows whyever as he or she wants.

In the course of his everyday business, He of We often presents training sessions on new or changed company policies.

Just last week he presented such one and began as he always does with “This information comes from the new policy on blah-blah-blah.  You will find a copy in your packet.”

Within the first five minutes, one of the attendees asked “is this stuff some new policy or something?”  Within the next five someone else asked if she could have a copy of the policy.

Have you noticed how many commercial breaks on TV are no longer the standard two minute breaks?

Now they stretch over as much as six minutes and even in the shorter ones, there will always be at least one commercial repeated within that break.

What has happened that all of a sudden people aren’t paying attention anymore?

We’ve come to the conclusion that they are still paying attention.  But only to the first 140 characters.

Somewhere we’ve also created a new vocabulary for old symbols.

Years ago (like maybe two), when calling a phone with an auto-attendant, prompts would include things like, “Please enter your account number followed by the pound sign.”

Today, Mr. Attendant invites you to press the “Hash Key” when finished with your entry.

We’re fine with micro-blogging.  It’s entertaining, brings people together who wouldn’t otherwise, and fills up lots of time that would otherwise be used doing work.

We just don’t want people to stop at 140 characters if the information runs to a few hundred words.

So that’s our thoughts for today.  Some of the paragraphs are more than 140 characters.  Feel free to split them if you think you might be mi

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

Sorry, We’re Closed

Michael Leave a comment

There’s another cold spell coming.  This morning’s local newscast had the crawl across the bottom of all the schools and activities delayed or closed because of the snow and cold.  And tomorrow it gets colder.

In our part of the world, two hour delays are very popular for schools.  We don’t recall having delays when we were in school.  Either you went or you didn’t.  We don’t recall buses either.  We walked to school.  Through the snow.  Uphill.  Both ways.  (Actually He of We had to cross a little valley between home and school so he really did get to walk uphill both ways.  Just in case you were wondering.)

We suppose schools use delays so the day still counts as one of the 180 school days our state requires while giving a break to those waiting for a bus.  It’s a good idea when there is snow.  Those two hours give the road crews a chance to get the streets in shape for the school bus.  And when the temperature pre-sun-up is in the teens they give the air a chance to warm up post-sun-up so the children aren’t quite as cold.  We’re somewhat confused though as to exactly the benefit of a two hour delay when at 7:00 it’s 3 degrees and at 9:00 it’s 5 degrees.  Seems they might want to rethink that.

But we didn’t intend to write to about school delays this morning.  It’s those other things.  The closings.  And not schools.  Among the school delays and closings there are always other closings.  Day care centers, adult activity groups, even Meals on Wheels.  These confuse us even more.  Shouldn’t these services be the first ones to make certain they are up and running when it’s single digit air temperatures with wind chills below zero?

If the Meals and Wheels don’t get through because of the cold do we want our older neighbors navigating their own ways to the local diners for lunch in that same cold?  We understand many of these services are themselves manned by older volunteers but they also have paid staff to direct and control activities.  Perhaps these should be the days those staff members take control.

There are always fire departments that march across the crawl and say “closed.”  We know that’s not true.  We’ve seen the news stories about fire fighters fighting fires in artic conditions.  Exactly what’s closed when a fire department is closed?

When a day care center closes because of inclement weather where do the children go?  Most of them stay home.  They stay home with the parent who should be at work but can’t be because there is no place to put the child.  Of course there is always the chance that anyone can call off unexpectedly due to illness but when a string of cold, snowy days stretches across most of a week, the ones left alone at work grumble a lot.  The question has to be asked, if the day care center is just the ticket for dual working parent families when it’s 70 degrees and sunny, why is it not when it’s 7 degrees and falling?

We realize that when the weather gets bad it gets bad for everybody.  Yet there are some essential services we seem to be missing as essential.  Helping neighbors and fulfilling obligations should be at the top of somebody’s list.  Just saying no isn’t the answer.  On the other hand, there are certainly those who serve better when absent from work than present.  But hey, we can’t all be bosses!

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Return to the Paper Standard

Michael Leave a comment

Who hasn’t heard of the debit card fiasco at Target?  That story broke almost immediately after its discovery in December and still commands news space today.  Just as the most furious of the stories were waning about Target we heard that Neiman Marcus had a similar breach only this one was three months before its news release.  And just this past week we have heard that Michael’s card processing program was also a victim sometime last summer.  At least Target had the good sense not to hide its problem for six months.  We’re still not going to use our debit cards there ever again but we do appreciate their notice.

A couple of years ago we commented on how the lack of using real money has desensitized us to the true costs of many everyday items.  (See Paper or Plastic, Feb. 23, 2012.)  Then we said that money no longer seems to mean terribly much for many people.  Make your selections.  Swipe your debit card.  If you happen to swipe more times for more funds than you have money in the bank many bankers have overdraft protection pulling funds from savings accounts or automatically debiting lines of credit.  The bankers love that system.  What they collect in account fees and overdraft fees is more than enough to keep them from ever having to shop at Target.  In 2012 banks collected over 29.5 billion (with a B) dollars in overdraft fees.  That’s $29,000,000,000.00 charged to people who didn’t have enough money in their accounts in the first place.

There are certainly times when checks and debit cards are appropriate.  You could pay a bill with a money order if you could find someone who still writes money orders.  The banks still do for hefty fees.  Dropping a check in the mail is still the easiest way.  And if you want to do your banking by internet or through monthly auto-drafts, the debit card is indeed the way to go.  But maybe it’s time to rethink everyday shopping using money.  You remember money?  A funny shade of green, pictures of presidents and statesmen, can go through the wash relatively undamaged when you forget that it is in your pocket.   That money.  Real money.  Money that means something to you when you see it disappear into a cash register never to come back to you but that’s ok because you traded it in for something you really wanted or needed and you won’t have to keep one eye on your on-line bank account to make sure nobody else is using your money.

A couple of years ago we closed a similar post with, “Never actually seeing cash get handed over person to person has clearly kept rising costs out of sight.  Not recognizing the consequences of this lack of concern has clearly put us out of our minds.”  Today the rising costs aren’t just at the register.  Today we see the rising costs in losing control.  It makes one wonder who will be the next retailer to call a press conference over a security breach.  And how it will be our fault for not keeping better watch of our money.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

How to retire on a million dollars a day

Michael Leave a comment

We know our reader demographics fairly well and unless there might be a huge chunk of you who have retired early we’d say most of those who read (and write) these posts are quite some time from taking a permanent vacation.  At least by American standards which are now reaching closer to not beginning until age 67 and certainly even later for those with birth dates from the 1990’s.

Not so long ago on one of the television financial “news” programs, the hostess repeated her oft told opinion that if one plans on a happy and successful retirement, he or she must have at least a million dollars in a retirement account.  Even though we aren’t close to retirement we also aren’t close to having a million dollars in any account, particularly not one that will be left untouched for quite a few years yet to come.  Had we a million dollars in all of our combined accounts we’d probably die of shock and never get around to the retirement anyway.

Where, we would like to know, with houses costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, cars costing tens of thousands of dollars, and bacon costing $4.00 a pound, does one manage to cut back sufficiently to save a million dollars.  We suppose if we were a television host and hostess and making six or seven million dollars a year, we could easily scrape up a million in 40 years of working.  We might even save a few bucks from the radio shows, books, syndicated newspaper columns, and commercial endorsements.  We might be able to save a million dollars for every year of retirement.  Maybe for every day!  But we aren’t.  And we suspect if you are reading this (please, we mean not to pry) you probably aren’t saving at that rate either.

As we said, we aren’t close to retirement ourselves but we know many people who have retired.  Some at the traditional retirement age, some a little earlier, some a little later.  The one thing they all had in common is that they didn’t have a million dollars saved and yet they have managed to live happy and successful retirement lives.  How does one do it living in such abject poverty that comes with having less than a million?  Let’s start with having the big things paid for before hitting retirement.  The mortgages are gone.  New car warranties of 10 years or 100,000 miles are used in entirety.  Clothes last for more than one season.  Dinners out are held to no more than once a week, sometimes even less.  Vacations are instead long weekends.  Credit cards are for true emergencies.  Better still, hard won savings are for true emergencies.  Frugal is not a bad word.  It can be done.

Will anybody ever really need a million dollars to retire?  Probably to the financial pundits who in their working lives are making six or seven million dollars a year, a million seems to be the bare minimum.  Thank goodness they’ll still be eligible for social security.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Marching Onto the Third Hundred

Michael 2 Comments

On New Year’s Eve we published our 200th post.  The first hundred came quicker than we thought it would.   The second hundred, slowed by He’s Lost Summer took longer.  On average, everything seems to be just right.

When we began we promised to always keep our blog real, exploring real reality.  Like reality itself we are sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes observant, and sometimes a little off-kilter.  It is like us, who we are.

It was tough to pick favorites with just one hundred posts from which to choose.  It’s twice as hard with two hundred.  It’s like asking which is your favorite child, a difficult decision even for parents of only children.

We’re not sure what makes a favorite.  There are some particularly well written, some particularly humorous, some particularly insightful.  We guess it’s whatever you might be looking for at the time.  It could be the brutal honesty of “Weddings Held Hostage” or the joyfulness of “Weddings Gone Wild.”  Maybe it’s the peek into our weekends in “Family Time” that brought a smile to your face.  Or perhaps it was the ramblings of our favorite holiday in “Proper Attire Required” that made you just shake your head for 6 more weeks.

All of these are from our second hundred and there are still plenty from the first hundred that we’re particularly fond of.  “How Would You Like Your Toast?” “Star Polisher,” and the “We’re On Vacation” series come to mind. We even expressed our opinion of those television reality shows in “Unreal” and our opinion of some real show stoppers in “That Play’s The Thing, That Thing They Do” in the first hundred posts.

There might be somebody who has read all of our posts.  We’re not sure why but we bet there is.  If we were going to pick a “best of” list we wouldn’t be able.  Yes, we liked them all but more than that, we liked what they all said about us.  What gets said in the third hundred might be completely different.  But it will still say this is who we are and what we do.  You can figure out the why.  Really.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

Revolving Resolutions

Michael 1 Comment

For the last two years we have explained why we don’t get around to making our New Year’s resolutions until sometime in March.  No, procrastination has nothing to do with it.  Out logic is flawless.  The holiday season stretching all the way back to Halloween is just too hectic during which to make logical, sustaining, life altering decisions.  (See “Be It Resolved,” Jan. 2, 2012 in Life.)

The rule is about to have an exception.  A couple of them even.  She and He have both already resolved at least once for 2014.  He started planning changes for 2014 at the end of October.  She reached her epiphany while doing some between holiday cleaning and verbalized a resolution for next year almost before Christmas was over.  That’s when the light bulb went off, the penny dropped, and realization came into focus.  It’s never the wrong time of the year to improve oneself.

Holy resolutions! What a profound statement.  It’s never the wrong time of the year to improve oneself.  When something significant arises it would be silly to wait until March – or January – to do something about it.  And that’s another reason we’re against New Year’s resolutions at the start of the New Year.  One can’t just pick once a year to start improving.

Now there are always going to be those non-resolution resolutions.  Eat less, exercise more, stay off the couch, don’t nag, don’t drink, lose weight, gain height, avoid sharp objects, don’t insult the boss in public particularly when the boss is part of the public.  Some people just can’t make it through a New Year’s Eve celebration without spouting something seemingly profound in the cloud of champagne and confetti.  Go ahead and make those.  They are the ones that die on January 2 anyway.  (Hopefully at least the one about the boss.)

But real life changing challenges shouldn’t be restricted to one day.  It’s never the wrong time of the year to improve oneself.  Except maybe January 1.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?