Thursday, August 23, 2007

Bumper Stickers and Window Clings

I've often wondered why people enjoy displaying bumper stickers and window clings on their vehicles. Have you ever given it a thought? Perhaps the people that display these mobile bulletin boards think this is a good way to voice their opinions. I really don't care who you support in the next election or who you voted for in the last election. I also have no interest if you are pro-life or how you feel about the U.S. government or President Bush. Certainly, much can be learned about the type of bumper stickers or window clings an individual chooses too display. Some of the combinations are laughable. Of course if you notice a large number 3 window cling, there will also be number 8 on the opposite side of the window. Unless you live in a cave, you know that the numbers 3 and 8 are synonymous with the late Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jr. respectively. They were/are fan favorites in NASCAR auto racing. Dale Jr. will be assigned a different car number next year (since he changed teams). It will be interesting to see how people react to this change. It's a good bet that these people also have a rebel flag somewhere on their vehicle.

Jan and I have 4 adult children. They were usually honor students in elementary school. We always encouraged them to do well in school. One thing Jan and I agreed with was to not display bumper stickers that told the world that "our" kids are honor students. What is the purpose to proclaim that you have intelligent kids? There are plenty of children that have difficulty in school. There never is a need to brag about how well you do in school.

In recent years parodies of the honor student bumper stickers have surfaced. I'm sure you've seen them. My kid beat up your honor roll student etc. Perhaps these were humorous the first time, but after that they became annoying.

The latest fad is the the high school sports window clings. Soccer moms taxi their athletes around town in their mini-vans and SUV's. The back window of the vehicle is wall papered with clings such as soccer balls, softballs, basketballs, megaphones etc. Underneath the graphic is the kids name. Now, let's say you have 3 kids and they play 3 seasons of sports. That equates to 9 window clings. A little of this goes a long way. For crying out loud, who really cares that Tommy plays soccer or Amber plays the flute in the marching band? Just go to the games, cheer for the kids and support them without advertising, please.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Why Me?--Again

Nothing much exciting has happened lately at least until this past Thursday evening. We just got home from shopping around 8:30 pm. When we got home, I went to the kitchen and Jan was in the living room. All of the sudden Jan yells, "Somebody just broke our window!" Taken by surprise I ambled to the living room. Jan opened the front door and there was glass everywhere. Some of the glass remained in the storm door window frame. Tempered glass was falling like a dripping faucet. Jan and I looked at each other in disbelief. Jan then called the police so we could file a report. I waited on the porch until the officer arrived. He took out his flashlight and surveyed the broken window. He pointed to an area in what was left of the window. He said, "It looks like somebody shot a pellet or bb at the window." He continued, "Do you see this small hole and irregular break pattern?" I nodded half hearted and replied, "Yeah". I really didn't care how it happened, I was more concerned why it happened. The officer then asked me, "Do any of your neighbors have a vendetta against you?" I thought to myself vendetta? We rarely talk to anybody around the neighborhood and pretty much keep to ourselves. Vendetta was a strong word for a fricking broken window. A vendetta is usually associated with a mobster not some punk vandal. Anyway, I replied, "Not that I'm aware of." The officer then took my name and phone number in case the vandal's were located.


After the cop left, we began the clean up in the dark with the porch light on. Believe me, there is a lot of glass in 3' x 5' window. Jan brought out the kitchen waste basket to the porch where I began loading it up. It wasn't long before the plastic bag inside the basket was full of broken glass. I pulled out the filled heavy bag and put a fresh bag in the basket. I proceeded to carry the full bag to the back of the house. Between the 2 cars in our driveway the bag sprung a leak. It seems that sharp pieces of glass and plastic trash bags don't co-exist very well. Again, glass was all over the driveway. Now it's around 10:15 pm, it's humid and I'm tired. I kick it into second wind and cleaned up the mess.


We've been fairly fortunate living in the "ghetto" over the last 30 years. We've had flower pots stolen from our patio, misdirected bottle rockets puncturing holes in our vinyl siding, and a failed attempt of our gas grill being pilfered---and now this.


Of course I began thinking why this happened. Was this just a random act of stupidity, or someone that really hates our guts? Most of the time, I would have been sitting on the porch--but not this time.

I found out today that our insurance is $250.00 deductible. I have no idea how much the broken window will cost. We're in no hurry too replace the broken window. In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled for the next exciting episode in our wonderful neighborhood.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Multitasking

Multitasking is defined as the ability to perform 2 or more tasks simultaneously. I believe the advent of the personal computer signaled the beginning of multitasking as we know it. In my lifetime, long before the computer was around, I was a multitasker. Although, at the time, multitasking was unheard of. I could watch the television, read the newspaper, eat a sandwich and listen to the radio simultaneously. But that was quite a few years ago. Now I have trouble staying awake just watching the television. I guess as we grow older we lose some brain cells and also the desire to see how much we can do all at once. It could be once you reach a certain age ADD (attention deficit disorder) kicks in.





I have no desire to try and keep up with all the multitasker's of the world. However, multitasking is difficult to avoid in our daily lives. Our jobs now require us to do more than one task. This is due to most company's down sizing. There are simply not enough people to get the job done. You must be a "team player" for your company or you'll be gone in a blink of the eye.





If you look around you will notice people chatting on their cellphones while speeding down the highway. They're probably also listening to the radio, and smoking a cigarette at the same time. How in the heck can they concentrate on driving with all of these distractions taking place? Pull the car off the road if you need to talk on your cellphone for crying out loud.

Certainly, cell phones can be considered as multitasking instruments. A few weeks ago, I stopped into a cell phone store to see what was new. It is virtually impossible to find a phone that is just a phone. They all have text messaging, cameras and are web capable. In fact the newer phones now have GPS. I'm far from being a technological fuddy duddy. All I want is a telephone that works. I don't need all the features (add ons) that cost an arm and a leg that I will rarely use.

I believe multitasking is here to stay, but I don't feel like participating. For sure it raises the blood pressure and stress levels for those who are multitaskers. I've often been told that there are three kinds of people in this world. Those that MAKE things happen, those that WATCH things happen, and finally those that WONDER what happens. I guess I'm content in being one that WATCHES things happen.