Cell phones have got to go.
I don't care how it's done really just so long as it takes place and is done before I have to buy my nine year old daughter one. Does anyone agree?
Here's my point. Ten years ago, when I left for work, I'd be driving along the road, humming to the music ( I'm old now and listen to talk radio), mumbling under my breath about other drivers, or just thinking about the day that I was about to face. And then, a thought "Oh no, I left my wallet at home!" I might mutter a swear word or two and then look through my change and see if I had enough for a pop (soda for people on the East Coast and a coke for you Southerners) and continue with my drive. Disappointing yes, but manageable. Not a problem.
Now, if I'm driving along at the start of my day and discover that I left home without my cell....well, good God! That can't happen! I'd hang a u-turn in the middle of the street and race back home so that I can grab that little baby. It's like I left a part of my anatomy back home on my kitchen counter.
And why do I feel this way? So that I can have an electronic mind control device to call my own? So that my brother can text me about things that I don't want to text about? I swear. If I'm going to have something on my possession that can control me that much, it had better turn me invisible too and get me in contact with the dark lord Sauron himself.
I used to love the History Channel. However, now all they have on are shows about the coming of the new apocalypse in 2012. First, we have to live through Y2K ( remember that one?) and the horror and destruction that world was going to face because my computer didn't know it was the year 2000 and not the year 1900. Now, some Meso-American native group that disappeared into the jungles of Central America around 700 ad., is telling me that I won't get to see my kids graduate from high school because their calender stopped at the year 2012. Then, it's that's not enough, Sir Isaac Newton is getting on this prediction thing and is betting that we won't make it past 2060 because of his innate ability to interpret the bible of all things.
Seriously. The History Channel needs to start showing old documentaries about German Panzers running over Poland or the history of beer making again. You know. Cool stuff. Granted, the Mayans were pretty out there for their time but I'm guessing that if they couldn't see the end of their own civilization, then predicting the end of the world is pretty much a stretch for them. Maybe they just ran out of room on their calender? Mine only goes up till next year after all.
As for Newton, it's hard to argue with the man who wrote the Principia and the Laws of Motion. Still, the guy did work with a lot of mercury in his day and as Lewis Carroll's Madder Hatter shows us, that stuff does go to your brain after a while.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Random Thoughts
My daughter brought home an American Doll book about a girl named Kit who grew up during the Great Depression. For a children's book, it was very insightful about what it was like for a child growing up during that the 1930's in America. Sad stuff really. No toys (I can't even go down in my basement without worrying about tripping over some random toy that my children have scattered like so many a land mine) . Little or no food. Not quite as uplifting (I'm being facetious) as what the Joad's went through on their way to the promised land of California, but depressing non-the-less for a children's book. Still, even then, most families stayed together.
I often wonder what's it's like for the kids who's parents have lost their jobs or worse yet, their homes in this, The Great Recession ( or whatever historians are going to call it), and for those parents looking back at their kids as they try to explain what is happening to their family. "Well Suzy, your father lost his job because the bank he worked at made too many sub prime loans to people who really couldn't afford the payment on a $750,000 home and so the bank needed to make some room on the balance sheets by laying off half of it's work force blah, blah, blah......"
I read that on Sesame Street, Elmo's mother lost her job too. Good God. Is there no end to this madness?
Speaking of stuff. Are today's high school students going to look back on their first ipods with the same reverence that I look back on my first Walkman? (circa 1981) Really though, you can't compare the two. After all, I couldn't get through both sides of Jouney's Escape without the batteries dying on that piece of junk . Still, I wish I still had that thing... bad head phones and all.
That and my first digital watch.
Better things.
I watched our high school girls volleyball team play last night. They lost. However, as I was watching, one thought came through to me as clear as day. If you took those girls and took them back in time and had them play against my high school's volleyball team, it wouldn't even be close. It would be utter destruction in favor of the girls of today. The girls now are just better athletes than in my time( thank you Title IX). If my high school team got the ball over the net in an orderly fashion, heck, it was a pretty exciting game. There is no way the could have had rally scoring when I was in high school, most of the points would have come from service errors. No lie.
I'm sure that the boys of today are better athletes also, I just don't want to admit that... and since it's my blog. I don't have to. :)
The opportunities that my daughter has growing up now are ten times what her mother had, which makes me feel good as a father.
Top Ten things that my daughter likes to do with her dad.
10. Go shopping. (Dad's an easier mark than Mom is)
9. Play cards for big money
8. Watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johny Depp version of course)
7. Swim at the pool
6. Get Chippers at Widmans
5. Listen to the Splendid Table on the radio
4. Debate the meaning of God and the Universe
3. Stay up late with while her brothers are sleeping
2. Go to hockey games (Hey, Sioux, Sioux!)
1. Cook and bake with her old man
Well. The tomato's await and there's canning to do.
I often wonder what's it's like for the kids who's parents have lost their jobs or worse yet, their homes in this, The Great Recession ( or whatever historians are going to call it), and for those parents looking back at their kids as they try to explain what is happening to their family. "Well Suzy, your father lost his job because the bank he worked at made too many sub prime loans to people who really couldn't afford the payment on a $750,000 home and so the bank needed to make some room on the balance sheets by laying off half of it's work force blah, blah, blah......"
I read that on Sesame Street, Elmo's mother lost her job too. Good God. Is there no end to this madness?
Speaking of stuff. Are today's high school students going to look back on their first ipods with the same reverence that I look back on my first Walkman? (circa 1981) Really though, you can't compare the two. After all, I couldn't get through both sides of Jouney's Escape without the batteries dying on that piece of junk . Still, I wish I still had that thing... bad head phones and all.
That and my first digital watch.
Better things.
I watched our high school girls volleyball team play last night. They lost. However, as I was watching, one thought came through to me as clear as day. If you took those girls and took them back in time and had them play against my high school's volleyball team, it wouldn't even be close. It would be utter destruction in favor of the girls of today. The girls now are just better athletes than in my time( thank you Title IX). If my high school team got the ball over the net in an orderly fashion, heck, it was a pretty exciting game. There is no way the could have had rally scoring when I was in high school, most of the points would have come from service errors. No lie.
I'm sure that the boys of today are better athletes also, I just don't want to admit that... and since it's my blog. I don't have to. :)
The opportunities that my daughter has growing up now are ten times what her mother had, which makes me feel good as a father.
Top Ten things that my daughter likes to do with her dad.
10. Go shopping. (Dad's an easier mark than Mom is)
9. Play cards for big money
8. Watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johny Depp version of course)
7. Swim at the pool
6. Get Chippers at Widmans
5. Listen to the Splendid Table on the radio
4. Debate the meaning of God and the Universe
3. Stay up late with while her brothers are sleeping
2. Go to hockey games (Hey, Sioux, Sioux!)
1. Cook and bake with her old man
Well. The tomato's await and there's canning to do.
You had your time. Now go away.....
So. Former president Jimmy Carter believes that President Obama is having a difficult time with things and that the prevailing reason for his problems is racism. Hmmm. Honestly. It could be. Generations of middle aged white guys (of which, I am one) have now lost the presidency to a black man and feel that maybe, just maybe, they're going to lose out to a whole generation of Americans who happen to be of color?
Of course, I'm on the outside looking in, but I doubt that's going to happen because of the whole
" You need to be richer than God to run for office in this country thing." Still, door knobs like Joe Wilson need to remember how to play nice....especially when you're being video taped while the president is making a speech before the whole nation. We teach little children not to yell out while others are making speeches in school. Just because you get free mailing because you're a congressman, doesn't mean that you're special.
In my opinion, former President Carter needs go away. End of story. You had your day in the sun and didn't do a very good job at it...if I remember right. My advice to Mr. Carter is to simply go home to Plains, Georgia, look at your Noble Peace Prize on your desk, build some habitats for the homeless, and call it good. Heck, you can even do another interview for Playboy if you want to. Just go away and leave President Obama to fight his own battles.
Of course, I'm on the outside looking in, but I doubt that's going to happen because of the whole
" You need to be richer than God to run for office in this country thing." Still, door knobs like Joe Wilson need to remember how to play nice....especially when you're being video taped while the president is making a speech before the whole nation. We teach little children not to yell out while others are making speeches in school. Just because you get free mailing because you're a congressman, doesn't mean that you're special.
In my opinion, former President Carter needs go away. End of story. You had your day in the sun and didn't do a very good job at it...if I remember right. My advice to Mr. Carter is to simply go home to Plains, Georgia, look at your Noble Peace Prize on your desk, build some habitats for the homeless, and call it good. Heck, you can even do another interview for Playboy if you want to. Just go away and leave President Obama to fight his own battles.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Good Grief....
Hmm. What to blog? Is that not the question?
Generally, it seems as though most people have an opinion about what is going on around them and they blog about it because they're so damn smart and they know the answers to all the world's problems.
I could blog about politics...that would be cool. I could blog that I think that both political parties have lost their freeking minds and that all common sense has gone the way of the dodo. Where have all the moderates gone? Either you're way too far to the right for me or you're way too far to the left. Lefties scare me because they always want this and that, but they want someone else to pay for it....like the next three unborn generations of Americans.
Righties scare me because they're always packing guns to prove a point. I seriously think that most Righties sit around at night talking about how they miss the cold war and Reagan. " Ah, I know that we were all close to nuclear destruction at a moments notice back in the 80's, but damn it, at least you knew who your enemies were...."
Darn goddless Commies.
Like that freak in Minneapolis last week. Good grief. Packing two guns to a presidential rally for health care is not a good way to draw attention for the lack of use of the 2nd Amendment by Americans. Never, not in a million years, would some ultra conservative Rush Limbaugh loving right wing nut go to a Bush rally to packing a concealed weapon.
Maybe I could blog about my job. Teaching is really the ultimate in it's never the same thing twice. Especially with my students. Most people who are not in the profession think that they're experts because, ta-da....they went to school at one time in their life. To me, that's kind of like considering yourself a chef because you can cook rahmen in a microwave oven or saying I know all about being an accountant because I have a check book and a bank account. Or maybe I'm just full of myself.
Generally, it seems as though most people have an opinion about what is going on around them and they blog about it because they're so damn smart and they know the answers to all the world's problems.
I could blog about politics...that would be cool. I could blog that I think that both political parties have lost their freeking minds and that all common sense has gone the way of the dodo. Where have all the moderates gone? Either you're way too far to the right for me or you're way too far to the left. Lefties scare me because they always want this and that, but they want someone else to pay for it....like the next three unborn generations of Americans.
Righties scare me because they're always packing guns to prove a point. I seriously think that most Righties sit around at night talking about how they miss the cold war and Reagan. " Ah, I know that we were all close to nuclear destruction at a moments notice back in the 80's, but damn it, at least you knew who your enemies were...."
Darn goddless Commies.
Like that freak in Minneapolis last week. Good grief. Packing two guns to a presidential rally for health care is not a good way to draw attention for the lack of use of the 2nd Amendment by Americans. Never, not in a million years, would some ultra conservative Rush Limbaugh loving right wing nut go to a Bush rally to packing a concealed weapon.
Maybe I could blog about my job. Teaching is really the ultimate in it's never the same thing twice. Especially with my students. Most people who are not in the profession think that they're experts because, ta-da....they went to school at one time in their life. To me, that's kind of like considering yourself a chef because you can cook rahmen in a microwave oven or saying I know all about being an accountant because I have a check book and a bank account. Or maybe I'm just full of myself.
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