"Ebola Scare" in Mobile

So, this evening there was an "Ebola scare" in Mobile, i.e. just across the bay, i.e. way too close for comfort.

It turned out NOT to be Ebola (thank goodness).  Just an abundance of caution and a little confusion due to a language barrier, apparently.  Better safe than sorry, as they say-- though you have to wonder, with all these false alarms across the country (and around the world), at what point people will begin to let their guard down. With something this deadly, I hope that won't be an issue, but human nature being what it is...

Even though it seemed likely from the beginning that this case would be ruled out, it was still a bit of a shock to think that It could be so close to home-- and yet, why not?  Of course it could show up practically anywhere, in theory.  Not at all likely, no, but still well within the realm of possibility.


...Gee, I sure am glad we've decided not to restrict travel from West Africa!  Makes so much sense...

Major Pet Peeve: Just Report It!

Dear local weathermen/women, anchors, etc.:

I know you're trying to put a personal touch on things, but please, just report the weather.  Don't feel the need to subjectively judge every weather forecast.

I'm so tired of hearing that, hey, it's great news!  No rain for a week!  And oh boy!  Isn't it wonderful that the rain we were expecting today has shifted toward the west, so we'll only get scattered showers?!  YAY!

Everyone hates rain, right?  So everyone will be happy happy happy that there's no rain!

Um, no.
I wanted that rain.  My plants needed that rain.  I don't particularly care if it's scheduled to fall on a holiday weekend; I wanted my darn rain!!  We've been waiting a long time for it, and I'm tired of watering plants with the garden hose.

*SIGH*
A little thing, I know, but it's grating on my nerves.

Could they just stop assuming that everyone hates the rain as much as they apparently do?

Oh, and when winter's rolling around, y'all can just not even start complaining about the cold weather, okay?  Some of us have been praying for it to finally get back below 80 in the daytime. 

*grumble*

Rant: Government Waste & Personal Responsibility

WKRG did it again!  They tweeted a FB link with the teaser, "Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?"  The link goes to a story with this headline:  "Free Lunches for Mobile Co. Students".  Ooooh, freeeeeee.  Wow-ee.  There really is such a thing as a free lunch, after all.  Cool, man.

...But then you start to wonder... Well, but who is paying for it?  Are the owners of the Food Factory-- you know, that place where all the food gets cranked out, day after day-- donating all these meals out of the goodness of their hearts?  (Nah, just kidding.  Most of these people never think that far.  They hear "free" and, hey, why question it?  Just stick your hand out and grin.  Well, or you can gripe, instead, if your Free Stuff isn't to your liking.) 

For the relatively few who bother to read the article, this is what they'll see:

MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA -      No need to pack lunch money for students in Mobile County this year. All students will eat lunch for free, and Mobile County is not picking up the tab. The money will come from a federal program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Mobile County Public School System qualified for the Community Eligibility Provision. This program enables schools with free meals if 75% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Parents will not have to fill out any paperwork for the free lunch. More than 59,000 students attend the 89 public schools in the Mobile County school system. According to the school system, they served 7.8 million lunches last year.

Reading the (FB) comments below the story is a (sadly, unsurprising) revelation of the kind of... ignorance?  stupidity? whatever-it-is that has put our country where it is today.

Some people, mysteriously, are not thrilled that their federal tax dollars are going to fund this program (among so many, many others).  (I agree, and I'll get into why, later.)

On the other side of the issue are the respondents (because I can guarantee you that not all of them are "readers", since they couldn't be bothered to read two paragraphs before throwing in their two cents) think it's wonderful news.  Free food!  For the children!  And no-one can complain, because the county isn't "picking up the tab"!

Then you have those who are annoyed with the complainers.  "Didn't y'all even read the story?  Gah!  It's free!"  Or to use one person's exact words: "Did any one read the article?!  Mobile county received a agriculture grant to pay for the free lunches... And what that means is that all mobile county school children will receive free lunch for this year."  Someone else replied, "So glad you pointed this out!!! It's a GRANT not costing the tax payers one dime and it's for one school year!!  These people are killing me."

...~sigh of soul-deep weariness~...

Ladies, where, exactly, do you think this magical "GRANT" money comes from, anyway?  Who, precisely, do you suppose funds grants provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, hmm?  Here's your answer.  Take that first part-- "U.S."-- remove the "dots" (some might call them periods, but in this modern age...)... Now what does that leave you with?  "US".  Yep, us.  We're the ones paying for this.

You're welcome to have your own reaction to this news, but please, for the sake of my sanity, don't persist in this ridiculous notion that the lunches are, ooooh, miraculously FREE, and that the rest of us have no stake in the matter.  We do. 

There's another type of person commenting, too-- those who acknowledge that taxpayers are footing the bill, but think it's great that our tax money is going to this project instead of "War" or "Big Oil", as it surely would, otherwise.  (Yep, those are the three options: War-Making, Big Oil, or Feed the Children.)  Anyone who questions this spending is a bad, selfish, stingy, awful person-- the kind of person who lives to complain about welfare and delights at the thought of snatching food from the mouths of children.  How dare you call yourself a Christian, in fact?!

Well, if we weren't funding grants of this kind-- and others that, I'll admit, are even more infuriating, wasteful, and unnecessary-- we'd be paying less in taxes to begin with.   How about we get to keep more of our own money and spend it as we see fit?  Maybe more people would be able to feed their own kids, then.

Sidetrack:  Seriously, though, how much does it cost to pack a lunch for an elementary-aged kid?  They don't eat that much, at that age.  My parents paid for three kids' lunches-- and breakfasts, suppers, and snacks, too, of course-- all through our childhoods.  I usually brought lunch from home, and I was fine with that.  (Honestly, most of the time, I preferred the contents of my packed lunches to whatever the cafeteria was serving.)  Mom shopped carefully to stay within a budget.  My parents did what had to be done to ensure we were fed.  I'm sure that sometimes that meant they didn't get to do or buy things they'd have enjoyed, but they had a set of priorities.  Why, oh why, can't almost all other people do the same?

If you are truly needy-- elderly, infirm, beset with unpredictable problems, temporarily unable to provide for yourself-- I don't have a problem with our collectively providing you with the necessities.  I do expect that you be truly needy, though-- not wasting money on "wants" and then sticking your hand out when the cost of providing for those "wants" leaves you with too little to pay for "needs".  Also, whenever possible, I expect that you work toward getting off welfare.  It should be a stop-gap measure only. 

I will not be happy to provide for you if you look upon welfare as an entitlement.  I will not give cheerfully if you are careless and have more children than you can support-- often getting pregnant again when you supposedly can't feed the children you already have.  (I will be furious, actually, if you raise your brood of children to believe that this-- living on welfare-- is the way things are supposed to be-- that there's nothing better to strive for-- unless you're lucky enough to win the lottery or make it big in sports/entertainment.)  I will be angry if you're buying expensive luxury items with your welfare card.  (If we can make do with cheaper foods, by golly, you'd better be doing the same.  You make that money stretch or you give it back.) I will be really angry if you're scamming the system-- selling your welfare card to someone for cash, for instance.  That's theft, plain and simple, and I don't take kindly to being robbed.

Because I am unhappy about the current state of our welfare programs, I guess I'm just not Christian enough.  Oh well. ...Also, I guess I missed that Sunday School lesson that teaches you to keep giving and giving, without consideration to how it's being used.  Charity is part of Christianity, it's true, but charity should be tempered with common sense-- and if it's taken from you against your will, it's no longer really charity.  (It's not doing the recipients any long-term favors, either.  Living on welfare for too long makes you complacent-- takes away the will to work for something better.  If you grow up on the system, you may not even realize that there's another, better way to live.)

Lately, I find that charitable impulses wither in my heart.  It's hard to feel charitable when you see the waste-- the sense of entitlement.  It's not easy to feel like giving of your own volition when the government forces you (through taxes) to "donate" so much to causes and people you don't support.  ...I'm sorry, but if that makes me a bad person, I'm getting worse by the year!


P.S.  And to those who so kindly remark that anyone who has a problem with this is the type of person who would actually be happy to see these poor, innocent little angels dropped straight from HEAVEN go hungry, just to spite their irresponsible parents...  Here's the thing:  I don't believe for a minute that most of these parents are incapable of feeding their kids.  If it comes down to it, most can make adjustments-- even a sacrifice or two-- and those kids will be fed.  (Maybe they'll think twice before having another kid, too, if they know the rest of us are done filling in for the deadbeat baby-daddies.)

For the ones who honestly can't provide a lunch, yes, you need to have a safety net in place.  (Very, very few people would be willing to see a child go hungry and not stop to help.)  The key is that it needs to be a sufficient but spartan and temporary safety net-- not a perpetual bouncy-house.  And yes, I know that I am SO MEAN for not wanting to support millions of someone else's kids forever. 

"Political Diversity"

RED ALERT!!
This is a politically-themed post.  If you're here for photos and innocuous garden-based posts only, you'll want to skip this one.  :o)

- - - - -

I don't know if WKRG hired a new "media consultant" or one of the existing employees got a bee in his/her bonnet, but someone has been posting a lot more often on Twitter, lately.  (...Well, unless I just started following their account recently without noticing it. Which is possible, during some of that bad weather we had a month or two ago...)

Anyway, this morning's Twitter link back to the dreaded FACEBOOK was this:  "If you live in Baldwin County you may have noticed a common theme with the upcoming election.  Do you think there is enough political diversity in Baldwin County?"

(And then there was a terribly blurry and amateurish photo of some of those ugly "candidate signs" that people stick along the roads before elections.  I mean, seriously, anyone with even a moderately-intelligent smart phone could take a better photo with their eyes closed.  Someone could probably draw them a better picture with a box of Crayolas.  (g)  But that's all beside the point...)

First, the very way they pose that question irks me.  Hm.  I wonder what they think the answer should be... (More on that in a minute.)

Second, since they ask about "political diversity" I assume they're referring to the fact that this is primarily (and by "primarily", I mean "far and away") a conservative/Republican county-- in a "red state", to boot.  But really, it doesn't matter what kind of diversity they're oh-so-subtly suggesting might be lacking... because my answer is that, no, I don't care about diversity or lack therof in this matter.  (Actually, enforced diversity doesn't appeal to me at all, in most matters.)

As far as I know, nothing and no-one is stopping anyone else from running for these offices (or other offices, when those positions come up for grabs).  Now, possibly the reason that there aren't many (any?) democrats running this time is that they are familiar with the local political waters and know that they don't have a serious chance of winning, if they run as democrats.  Do I care?  NO.  If it mattered that much to me, I'd probably have to move somewhere else, because (again) democrats are out-numbered around here.

That brings me to things that do worry or concern me...

-- I am concerned that with so many people flooding into our county, its character (political and otherwise) is bound to change.  I worry that I won't recognize the personality of this place-- the only place I've ever lived!-- in another few decades.  I don't want people bringing us down with a whole fleet of other sinking ships, and I'm afraid they will... (That may sound funny, coming from a woman who married "an outsider" from a country that's very different from the U.S., politically.  (g)  Yes, but I made sure of his personality and beliefs beforehand. ;o)) 

-- I do worry that "Republican" doesn't mean what it meant 30 or 40 years ago.

-- I'm frustrated that I can't believe what candidates say they stand for.  Instead, I'm convinced that many (if not most) would tell a thousand lies without batting an eye, if they thought it would advance their political careers.  I'm disappointed that politics is a lifelong career for so many of these people-- and that they still turn around and expect us to honor them for their so-called "public service".  Yeah, it's not "public service" anymore, for most of you.  You make a career of it, and you are generously recompensed in the form of pay, power/influence, and shady inside deals for you and your families.  You will not get my automatic respect and gratitude, too.

Meanwhile, WKRG asks, "Do you think there is enough political diversity in Baldwin County?"  There's an implied answer.  ("No, of course there's not!  A democrat should waste his time and money in a hopeless bid for power!")  Really, how are you supposed to answer "yes" to that?  "Yes, I think there's enough political diversity, even though you just pointed out in your previous statement that there's a 'common theme with the upcoming election'."

We know that diversity is all-important, these days-- even more important than qualifications and just deserts and getting the best person for the job.  If you aren't for more "diversity", then there must be something deeply, horrifyingly wrong with you.  How can you ever have enough diversity?!

Another strike against you, WKRG.  I find myself tuning in to your news coverage less and less frequently, and this latest delight isn't changing my mind.

Brace for WINTER STORM LEON!!!

(Hello, random post out of nowhere!)

I tried not to get my hopes up for snow, this time, because last time they were oh-so-sure we were probably going to get snow, it failed to appear.  Evidently, I didn't do a good enough job of hope-suppression, though, because I'm disappointed that (at this moment) they're saying it'll probably be "wintery mix"... or sleet and freezing rain and maybe a few flurries.  Ok, maybe there'll still be snow, but it'll be ten miles to our north.  ;o) 

I'm charging the cameras, and I'll take photos of whatever we see.  Probably just ice, if anything.  Oh boy.  *sigh*

Apparently, The Weather Channel has named this weather event "Winter Storm Leon".  ...Leon?  Really?  I'm sure they have some system behind the names they assign, but... Leon?  I'm offended.  (I'm not really offended.  Just humorously miffed.)  The Northeast gets storms named Hercules and Janus.  The names of ancient pagan gods and/or demigods for every snow storm that blows through-- the kind of storms that Real Northerners would've yawned at, back before the media ushered in its Age of Hype and Hysterics.  (I was going to make fun of the goofy names, back when Janus was still around, but everyone else in the world beat me to the punch.)

So-- to get back to my point-- Northeastern storms are crowned with colossal names.  And yet, upon the approach of the first potentially significant winter weather event we've had in decades, the Gulf Coast gets measly little "Leon"-- reminiscent of that guy who gets his kicks hanging out at the local gas station for an hour or two in the mid-morning.  (No offense, all you Leons out there.)

Yeah, yeah, I know.  Northern snow storms are bigger and badder than ours-- but I defy any Northerner to provide a more dramatic (and entertaining) reaction to snow than your average born-and-bred Southerner.  We treat every single pathetic little melting flurry like the miracle it is, y'all.  We make snowflakes feel like "special snowflakes". 

...Ok, maybe not all of us.  But enough of us do.  Plus we have no experience driving in snow and ice... and our cars don't have snow-tires... and our cities don't have snow-plows or sanding/salting apparatuses...

Anyway.  All this fuss, and it'll probably just turn out to be a little cold rain!  (And yes, I'll be obsessively checking until all chance of snow is past.  With cameras at the ready!)

No Thank You, Wind Power.

Well, at least there's some good news, today. 

I only hope they'll hold steady. I know I don't want those huge wind turbines anywhere near my house-- and letting them build an ugly, noisy "wind farm" anywhere in the county only increases the likelihood of that happening...  It's bad enough that we have a cell phone tower marring the view and making that ominous roar on windy days.  (Yes, I'm a horrible person, standing in the way of technological progress and green energy, throwing back my head and cackling an evil laugh into a perfectly turbine-free sky.  Ha!)

Penny Sales Tax

I heard this morning that our county superintendent has said that if we don't renew the "temporary" penny sales tax (B-------n Amendment 2), they'll "have to" close five schools, consolidate four others, fire teachers and other employees, and cut programs.  The five schools they'll "have to" close include both the local R-------n Elementary and the school where I went as a child-- E------r Elementary.  I guess both would be diverted to R-------e, instead.  

That whole situation just makes me mad.  Tell people you'll tax them for three years, then when the three years are up, tell them that-- whoops!-- you apparently don't own a calendar-- didn't plan ahead-- whatever.  The point is, you need more money for the children.  What kind of awful person wouldn't support a measly little penny tax for the sake of the children?  Even if you don't have children or grandchildren in the school system, yourself, don't you have fond memories of your own school days? Where's your school pride?  Do you really want that schoolhouse to sit empty... doomed to eventual decay or demolishment?  They know that many will hear these sob stories and begrudgingly vote in favor of the tax-- just like when a city needs more money and the very first thing at the very top of their "To-Cut" list is... you guessed it, police and firemen.  Oh no!  But we gotta have our police!  It's not safe, otherwise... Gosh, give 'em all the money they need-- whatever they ask for!  ...Whew!  That was a close call!"

It's amazing how the school systems always need more money, yet we also keep hearing that (no matter how much money they get) student performance isn't where it needs to be... It's almost like we've reached a point of diminishing returns or something... Like there's this mysterious point at which more money doesn't really improve the quality of education... Hm.  

It's strange how children of the past managed to get an education in a one-room schoolhouse, often with only one teacher to tend to the needs of students of all ages and abilities.  Alright, I'm not saying that's ideal or that every student would get the best modern education from such a situation... but look how far we've come from those days-- and yet we get too many graduates who can barely write a coherent paragraph.  

Seriously, look at the "School Exhibition" in Little Town on the Prairie.  Those kids parsed sentences and did long division in their heads.  No paper.  No blackboard.  Just sharp-as-a-tack minds and an incredible command of the necessary skills.  How much do you think it cost to educate them, adjusted for inflation, etc.?  How many pennies per every dollar we spend today?

I think most of us can agree that there's waste-- and frills that simply are not required when providing even an excellent education.  And yet we're bad guys if we can look at the quivering, pouty lips and teary eyes of children and dare to say NO.  

*SIGH*

Isaac Changed His Mind

Well, it seems that Isaac won't be coming this way, after all!  (This is why we shouldn't waste time and energy worrying, though that's easier said than done.)  Looks like Louisiana will have to deal with it, instead, though the local weathermen/women are still holding on to hope ;o) that we'll get something out of it all.  Meanwhile, schools as far east as the Florida panhandle have cancelled classes (some as many as Monday through Wednesday)... So enjoy those free days, kids!  (You'll be making them up later in the year, though, I guess.)

Ok, I guess it's still possible that we'll see more than a few drops of rain and a breeze, here, but it feels less and less likely as time goes by.  Better safe than sorry, etc., but there's caution and then there's a Henny-Penny-level sky-is-falling over-reaction.  For some reason, the media has made a bigger deal of this particular storm than it appears likely to merit.  There's no denying that a lot of people were hoping Isaac would disrupt the RNC even more than it already has, so it got a lot of coverage from that angle-- and now (despite the fact that it missed Tampa altogether) they've already worked themselves up to such a fevered pitch that they can't just admit that (comparatively speaking) it's not that big of a deal.  (Even if it is headed toward New Orleans on the anniversary of Katrina.  This is not another Katrina, and even if it were, I fervently hope that people have learned the importance of evacuation from low-lying areas and preparation/self-reliance until things get back to normal.  Possibly?)

Mobile Bay, Hurricane Magnet

 

So.  Trying not to worry too much.  The projected track could (will) shift between now and whenever, and even if it followed this exact path,  a weak category 2 isn't another Ivan... but I can't deny that my stomach has been more prone to knotting over the past few days...

No time's a good time for a tropical storm / hurricane, but we've got company* from overseas coming sometime in early September... and the people building our garage were tentatively planning to start bringing in materials on Monday.  Somehow I get the feeling they'll want to put things on hold for a few more days, now.  ;o)

* Speaking of our company, the last we heard (on Thursday or Friday), they were planning to stay on in the Florida Keys until either today or tomorrow. (I think Donald said Monday...)  I guess a mere tropical storm is something of an adventure when you don't have property damage to worry about and can easily pick up and leave at a moment's notice.  (I do hope they won't get stuck in traffic trying to get out of town, but apparently the locals weren't worried, so there likely won't be a traffic jam.)

Disgusting Excuses for Human Beings

(With a post title like that, you know I'm in a good mood this morning!  Actually, I was... and still am, apart from my reactions to the news, including this dismal reminder of the existence of evil people.)

Re: "Woman killed after confronting men in car about speeding in West Mobile":

Some people simply don't deserve to live... and sadly, right now I feel that also applies to some of the idiots in the comment section for that story, too.   

To Blog or Not to Blog...

Lately, I've pondered whether I should just close down this blog altogether.  I've simply had no interest in posting anything here-- or when I do, it's fleeting, and it seems like too much effort to be worth it.  I'd rather crochet or read for fifteen minutes than blog.

I guess I'll leave the blog up for the time being.  It's (probably) not doing any serious harm, just sitting here like this...

 - - - - - - -

In the meantime, Romney was in Mobile this morning, and apparently (according to Twitter, because I was out poisoning ant beds ahead of the rain... and wouldn't have thought to turn on the TV for it even if I hadn't been) it was pouring rain when he spoke.  Excellent timing, guys.  "Come to Mobile-- part of 'The South', where people say 'y'all' a lot, everyone eats grits three times a day, and there's a permanent torrential downpour.  Yay, Alabama!"

But hey, if MSNBC is anything to go by (which I fervently hope it is not, for many, many reasons), there may not be many people who can even find Alabama on a map, so why worry?

- - - - - - -

I finally blog again, and this is what it's about... I'm truly in top form.  No wonder I've stopped blogging. (g)

Watch Fresh, Watch Local

This report made us laugh last night. The subject matter (a meth lab bust with children on the scene) isn't at all funny, but then there's the "creative" reporting/camera work (keep watching; you'll know it when you see it) and Boomer (who "kept an eye on them").

Donald initially thought this should be brought to the attention of the people behind the "hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife" and "I'm backin' up, backin' up" auto-tune videos, but sadly, I don't believe there's enough there to merit it.  Well, we'll keep a look-out for more promising reports. 

Naïvité

I'm probably just being naive, but the comments on this story surprised me.

Am I heartless for not feeling all that sorry for the mother?  I mean, obviously I don't know all the circumstances.  Possibly she's been a decent mother, over all.  Maybe there was just some awful mistake-- or there was a one-time lapse in judgment that led to the drug being in her home... Though one wonders how her kid knew where the drugs were, what the stuff even was (unless she saw someone using it and calling it by name), and um, why an 8-year-old wouldn't know it was illegal and shouldn't be brought to school and given to the teacher.  (Any chances she wanted her mother to get in trouble?  ...No, probably just not a very savvy kid.)

However, mostly it's this:  Seriously, woman, how hard is it to just not use or possess marijuana?

You know, I sometimes feel that I lack willpower.  I can't seem to make myself keep the house and yard in the sparkling, perfect order I would like.  I've failed to exercise consistently.  I still haven't made myself learn Swedish.  But at least I manage to not use harmful (oh, and also illegal) drugs, even though there are no young, corruptible children to witness it if I did.  Go, me!  ;o)

(What?  Too smug?)

Told Ya So. ;o)

Well, ok, not really, but some of yesterday's storms were nasty-- worse than your average run-of-the-mill thunderstorms.  There was a tornado (EF2) in Mobile (well, Theodore-- close enough) and (the last I heard) what was likely another EF2 tornado in Silverhill.

Weather being what it is, we had hardly any wind at all at our house (thank goodness).  It was much windier a few hours before the storms came through than during them, I think.  It did pour buckets of rain, but that's nothing out of the ordinary.  The local TV news people (meteorologists in particular) were very excited, though, and spent probably the whole first half of the day on the air.

On the way to grocery shopping, I drove through Silverhill this morning and saw some damage to property on the main road (104)-- trees ruined on either side of it, roofs with shingles ripped off, smaller tree limbs piled on the edge of the road for pick-up.  (This was on the eastern edge of the town, by the way.)

Anyway, it's all over now.  The sky is bright, north-windy blue and we're back to highs in the 60s (for a day or two, until they creep back up into the 70s again).

ETA:  Maybe I should've mentioned before that as far as I've heard, there were no serious injuries from yesterday's storms.  (Journalism students everywhere shuddered when I left it out that first time.  They never saw this blog, but somehow they just felt that something in in the universe was Wrong.)

ETA again:  Ach!  Um, that should've been "EF2"-- not "E2"...  So I've gone back and fixed it.  Because this is the type of thing that gives me no peace until it's rectified.  Because it's obviously so important.  

How Original.

Can we please come up with our own slogans from now on? 
Seriously, how hard is it?

Two Random News Stories (Now With Links!)

Hey, a local news story made it to the "big news" (eyeroll):
"Alabama Town's Failed Pension Is a Warning"
(Of course it would be an extremely negative story, but what else is new?)

And if you want to survive 2012, apparently you need to pack up and move to some "magic" mountain in France.  Sounds like the locals are none too happy about this "sudden deluge of New Age pilgrims"-- but what else are the "pilgrims" supposed to do?  After all, this mountain "was endorsed by aliens as a safe place to survive the demise of civilization".  (It was awfully nice of those aliens to provide their endorsement, wasn't it?  Too bad they couldn't just have done something to prevent the demise of civilization, though.)

P.S.  Can I really be the only one to loathe all these "end of the world" predictions?  They are such a downer, even to those of us who don't believe anyone really knows when the end will come.  So please, world, cease and desist with all this "the end is nigh" stuff.  Don't you have anything better to do?

Random Topics

(Not likely to interest anyone very greatly, but at least it's not about my driver's license!)

Gulf Oil Leak:
I'm glad it's sealed, obviously, and happy that (so far) it doesn't seem to have been quite so catastrophic as feared-- but I'm still not convinced that we know the full extent of the damage.  I hope and expect that things will continue to improve, but in the meantime I feel like I'm waiting something out...

Some would not agree (a few might even be furious and say that people of my opinion are hurting their businesses), but personally, I still don't feel completely comfortable with the thought of prolonged time in the water or a diet filled with local seafood.  I'm probably being overly cautious, but what's the point of pretending to feel otherwise?  The fact is that we hardly ever eat seafood, anyway, so my abstinence will not hurt the local economy.

I will admit that for all I know, our local seafood on a bad day may be safer than much that is imported on a good day.  I never said my instincts were right-- just that they are what they are.  The "smell test" doesn't feel like enough to me, at the moment.  I believe that (even if something were to slip past the safety checks) you can probably eat the occasional meal that is contaminated and still not feel any long-term ill effects-- but what's the point of eating something when you have no appetite for it?  (Okay, I think I've made my point, so I'll move on.)


Politics in General:
I'm not particularly happy with a lot that's been going on, but that's not surprising.  I try not to worry about it (not always possible), but I also feel obligated to stay somewhat aware of what's happening.  I wait for my next chance to vote and hope (and pray) that enough of my fellow voters see things the same way I do to effect real Change We Can Believe In^TM.


Moving:
It's those irritating new neighbors of ours.  We're outta here!  ;o)

Alright, not really.  We're not moving.

The blog's not moving, either.

But there's another blogger I follow...  I gather that her husband designs and builds (or oversees the building of) homes-- one at a time.  I haven't seen her ever spell out their lifestyle, but it definitely seems like this is the pattern of their lives:  They live somewhere temporarily while he builds the next house.  When it's finished, they move in-- settle in.  She decorates the home beautifully with their belongings.  She writes about what a brilliant job her husband did on the house-- how much she loves this or that feature.  The house is home and school to their two sons.  (She homeschools.)  Meanwhile, the husband locates another site and begins the process all over again.  If they sell their current house before the new one's done, they rent until they can move into the new place.


I don't know about you, but that sounds fairly torturous to me.  I could look on the bright side and say that life would never get dull-- you'd get to experience a lot of locations-- learn what you really like in a house, etc.  But the truth is that it sounds excruciating to me.  Moving everything in your house every couple of years (or less)?  Just when you're starting to feel "at home" in a house, having it sold and moving on to another?  You could never really put down roots-- never feel completely that this place is yours-- never make and execute long-term plans for a place.  I don't think I'd like that, at all.

Maybe it's an unavoidable situation for them, but I'm doubtful...  They must like it.  To each his own way, of course, but I'm so thankful that's not how we live.  I like a little more stability, a little less moving.  (Or, ok, a lot less moving.)


Tropical Whatever-It-Is-Now:
It's no secret that the "news people"-- and especially the "weather people"--  tend to go a little crazy when there's something unusual stirring in the atmosphere.  You can't really blame them.  It's their time to shine!  I have a greater-than-usual interest in weather, myself-- but lately they've really gone overboard.  I've gotten used to the more frequent "severe weather" watches and warnings.  What I'm not used to is the fuss they make over even the humblest of tropical depressions.

There's one out in the Gulf right now (for those of you who don't live around here-- because if you did, you could barely escape knowing all about it).  There was one a month or so ago, too.  That one turned out to be nothing.  Unless you live right on the water and get a little extra wave action or slightly higher than normal tides, these depressions usually pack less punch than we get in an average afternoon thunderstorm.  But because they're "tropical", we're supposed to be sitting on the edge of our seats.  I do want to know the latest-- but that doesn't require an all-day crawler of information about a tropical depression.  They started yesterday (afternoon? evening?), and we're not even supposed to get rain from it until this afternoon, at the earliest.

Does it hurt anyone to have the news crawler / warning map across the bottom of the screen?  No, not really.  (Though it can be annoying when they cover the important portions of the TV program you're trying to watch.)  However, it does seem excessive, given the weakness of the "storm" and the fact that most people have access to the Internet, where they can go for weather updates 24 hours a day, if they wish.  (Oh!  And there are also two local channels that are devoted almost entirely to weather!)  Worse, when they make so much noise about little, no-account depressions, they desensitize people to the threat of truly dangerous weather.  It's a perfect example of the old "don't cry 'wolf'".  When something big and bad does come along, some people might not take it as seriously.

Does everything have to be Big-Huge-Awful, these days?  It certainly feels like it, sometimes.  If it's not potentially The End of the World, no-one will care, so let's hype it up!


The Guy Who "Escaped" Down the Chute:
(I'm referring the bizarre flight attendant story that's been in the news for the past day or two.)

What?  Is this guy really being hailed as some sort of folk hero?   I just don't get it.

Look, I'm sorry that the man's mother has... lung cancer, is it?  That's truly awful.

I'm also sorry that the passenger he was dealing with was behaving like a spoiled brat.  Maybe if the flight attendant hadn't made such a spectacle of himself in response, she would have been the one facing legal troubles.

However--  There's a right way and a wrong way to deal with life stresses and unruly customers.  Cursing someone out over the airplane's intercom system is not the right way.  Opening the emergency exit and fleeing the plane (with beer?!) wasn't the right way, either.

I keep hearing about how the man will be sure to get some money for his story, because obviously everyone wants to hear all about it.  Honestly, I don't.  It sounds like he was being a bit of a diva.  I don't know if he should face the exact charges that have been pressed against him, but yes, some sort of reprimand is in order.  Did he put the passengers in danger?  I don't know.  It seems unlikely, but possible.  Certainly I wouldn't handpick him to be a flight attendant on any plane I ever fly on.  (I prefer someone with a cooler head, thank you very much!)  He definitely didn't behave in a professional manner, and there's no telling how much his little outburst will end up costing the airline and society at large.

All in all, not very heroic, in my humble opinion.

All the Tweets That're Fit to Print!

In this age of Twitter and Facebook, instant feedback is king.  Even for the more reluctant (such as myself), it is fascinating (not to mention addictive) to see what people around the world are thinking and saying right now.  (Unfortunately, this knowledge often doesn't do much for your faith in humanity, but that's another matter entirely.)

As always, people are jostling to keep up with the times.  No-one wants to be left behind.  This carries over into the business world, too.  Which is fine.  It's just one more way to keep in touch with customers and let everyone know what you do and how well you do it. 

And then there's the local news. 

I don't know if this is happening everywhere, but I suspect it's a widespread phenomenon.  At least one of our local news channels makes a habit of incorporating into their stories the tweets and Facebook comments of random people who respond to the channel's own tweets and Facebook writings.  This inclusion would seem to indicate that the news writers think these comments are newsworthy.  You might be surprised how rarely this is the case (or then again, maybe you wouldn't be).  Instead, what you get is a telegraphic version of the old "sound off" columns in your average small-town newspaper.  It's pointless.  It's not even news!

Here's a good example of what I'm talking about. There's a story about a benefit concert that's going to take place soon.  The tickets were available for free, and apparently they disappeared within ten minutes of becoming available (only to pop up later for sale on eBay, etc.). 

Part of the story went as follows:

Shortly after posting that the tickets were gone on [news channel]'s Facebook page, several viewers vented their frustrations.

[Random Local Male] commented: "grrrrrrrr I wanted tickets." 

[Random Local Female] added: "Many of us southerners who waited for hours online only to miss out on tickets are extremely pissed...."

Wow, that's some earth-shattering news, right there.  I 'specially liked the "grrrrrrrr" part.  ;o) Why not just write that people were upset that they didn't get a chance at a ticket, only to find them snapped up by people who intend to profit by them?  (Is it even necessary to say that much?  It seems fairly obvious.)

I don't know why this is so particularly irritating to me.  It's not that much different from the silly polls they've been doing for years.  I suppose it's not even worse than when they go out and interview people at random, trying to get "reaction" to this or that story.  But for whatever reason, it just elicits my very best eye roll.

Bullet Point List

Things from 'round here.

• This week, Donald bought a "snake tamer", a small shotgun specially designed for snake-sized problems.  (Of course, it can cause some damage to non-snake-sized problems, too, so potential violent intruders beware.) 
• We did a little practice shooting the evening we got it.  It was my first time firing anything more powerful than an air rifle, and I have to admit, even that relatively small kick was enough to rattle me a little.  After one shot, I was done for the night.  I definitely need more practice, as I wasn't aiming correctly and ended up shooting holes in the leaves of one of our satsuma trees instead of "killing" the cardboard snake target.  Eek.  I feel jittery just remembering it.  (I will improve, though, intruders, so stay away.)
• What prompted us to finally go ahead and get a gun for snakes was that a couple weeks ago our neighbor down the easement came to show us a sizable rattlesnake he'd shot not far from our yard.  I think he had this same kind of "snake gun". . . and I believe it's similar to the one my parents have, too.

• The continuing oil leak in the Gulf is big news around here, as you might expect.  Some of those beaches you keep hearing about in the local news?  That's where my family used to go for Saturday afternoons of playing in the sand and searching for seashells.  I remember Friday nights parked in the car, eating pizza, listening to the radio, and watching the water, then taking a moonlit walk just out of reach of the waves.  I go through phases of anger, sadness, and disgust over it, even though at the moment it seems unlikely to affect us directly.  We don't live on the beach.  We rarely even go to the beach, these days. We don't earn a living from the Gulf or tourism, directly.  Still, I'm sure it will have a domino effect on the local economy, and some of our family may suffer financially, even if we don't. . . If nothing else, I care about the beaches that are woven through my memories of growing up in this place, and I want them to stay as much the same as possible, for future generations to enjoy.  I believe that the area will recover-- with any luck, sooner than many predict-- but I don't think it's possible for anyone to know all the damage that's being done.  I think it will be years before I'll feel that the beach and seafood is as safe (as far as toxins go) as it was before, no matter what the "experts" may say. 

•  My Project 365 is still creeping along at a snail's pace.  I will finish it, imperfect though it is, but I don't think I'll try to do it again-- not right away, at least.  I think I take and post photos less spontaneously than I did before I started.  Most of my photos these days tend to be halfhearted and fairly boring.  If I could ever just catch up to the current photo of the day, I think the project would be more interesting.  It's hard to feel excited about taking a photo that I "can't" even post until I work my way through two or three weeks of old photos.  I need to take an evening or weekend afternoon and just plow through the backlog of photos. 

• Did I mention that we've painted the kitchen?  I can't even remember. . . Well, we did.  We bought the paint back before we had visitors. . . which was. . . in March?  Anyway, it had been a while, and I guess I had kind of. . . forgotten what color paint we'd bought.  (I know.)  I had been remembering it as a slightly goldenish almondy color.  Not so!  It was much more golden and much less almond than I'd recalled.  Not almond at all, in fact.
• When we start painting, I like it well enough, though Im startled to find my memory has been so wrong.  Still, it looks rich and warm compared to the pale lemony yellow we originally painted the kitchen (soon after the house was built).  Pale lemony yellow can be nice, too-- but that tint had always tended to look a little more greenish than we'd expected, and it was so pale that there wasn't a pleasing contrast with the new, white beadboard wainscoting.  We wanted something to make the white "pop", and this new color certainly does that. . .
• By the time we've finished painting, I've begun to wonder what we were thinking when we chose this color and why isn't the paint almond like I'd remembered?!  In certain light, the paint feels greenish-mustardy-yuck (if such a color is even possible), and I begin to suspect that I hate it with a fierce and passionate loathing.  
• Donald suggests we should just paint it a different color altogether, if I am that unhappy with it, because paint is fairly cheap.
• I suggest that it would be ridiculous to do so until we've waited to see what it's really like, because ok, it looks better now, so maybe that was just some really bad lighting before. . . 
• But on the other hand, why is this not almond?  Why did we choose this color at the last minute?  After months of looking at aquas-- then weeks of looking at sand and almond colors-- why had we gone psycho at the last moment and chosen this goldy, macaroni and cheese color?  WHY? I HATE MACARONI AND CHEESE COLOR (like we have in the office... which I guess is ok for an office, but definitely NOT for our kitchen/breakfast room)!!  Macaroni and cheese color should die a slow, torturous death!!!
• Donald argues that we considered this color longer than I seem to remember us doing, then demonstrates that it's not the hated macaroni and cheese color, but says that if I really hate it that much, we should just repaint.  It won't take that long.  Look, the masking tape's even still up-- all the countertops are cleared.  Let's go get the paint chips out again and get an almond color--
• No, that would be a waste of time and money.  We have to at least give this color a try first.  Ok, see?  It looks better with this lighting. . . And once I put some things on the walls, it won't be so overwhelming. . . Maybe some aqua or blue touches will balance it out. . .
• (And so on and so forth.)  
• Well, we kept the paint, and it's grown on me.  Donald thinks maybe it looks different now than it did when we first painted, as though it's shifted a bit after drying more permanently or something.  I'm doubtful that it's changed.  I think we've just gotten used to it. . . and it was never really bad to begin with.  It was just such a shocking contrast from what I'd been picturing for months. I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself for making such a big deal over the color of paint, but oh well.  It seemed important at the time.  I'd promise never to overreact again, but I doubt I could keep my word.  
•  There will be before and after photos, once the "after" is done.  We still have crown molding to put up-- just a narrow bit to match what's on the kitchen cabinetry-- and wall art / hooks / etc. . . . and curtains. . . and oh yeah, I still need to paint the kitchen cabinets white.  Maybe I'll show "before and in-progress" photos.   If I wait until "after" photos are ready, there's no telling when you'll see them!

•  It's only the beginning of summer (despite the fact that Sweden will be celebrating "midsommar" next weekend), but I'm already tired of summertime heat and humidity.  There's really not much more to say about it than that.  It's hot.  It's sticky.  It's thundery almost every afternoon (seems like).  Grass and weeds grow so fast you can almost see them shooting up before your eyes, and this is the heyday of the snake and the insect.  In brief, it's just not my favorite time of year.  Let the countdown to October begin!

Young Boozer & Our Gal Twinkle

One of these days, I'll probably blog again.

For today, here are a couple of names we've been hearing on local TV and radio spots (though not necessarily the exact ones linked below)-- Young Boozer and a lady named Twinkle are running for office in Alabama:

Some might say that I (of all people) really shouldn't comment on other people's names.

So I'm not saying a word.  Nope, not a word.  ;o)