Posted on July 9, 2014
Today Earl and I headed north in Michigan on our mid-summer vacation. Drove to Ludington where we plan to catch the car ferry to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, tomorrow morning at sunrise.
We haven’t been on a road trip or any kind of trip together in the last nine months. I’ve been hither and yon, while Earl has stayed home for various reasons. But today we’re doing one of the things we do best: travel. And criticize other drivers for not signaling and tailgating and taking too much time to merge. And look for local establishments for snacks and read highway signs to each other. Seems we’re easily amused.
Posted on July 8, 2014
I’ve been pondering who I am. Not in the philosophical sense; I think I know. Rather in the consumer sense. For instance, when am I a passenger, a guest, a client, a patient, a customer, or something else?
It’s not clear-cut. At the same time, I think there are parameters to the various titles.
Passengers seem to be involved in transportation of all sorts: busses, planes, cruise ships. Guests belong in hotels and spas. Clients often have psychological issues; patients have physical problems. And customers? Well, they’re everywhere retail is. Or everywhere some other synonym hasn’t been commandeered. And I’m sure there are titles I’ve forgotten: clientele, travelers, invitees, etc.
What I find most interesting is that each of us accepts these titles and moves among them with ease. We would never say we are customers in a hospital setting, nor would we say we are patients at a nail spa.
Maybe it suggests how complicated our language is and how sophisticated we are in its usage.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Things to Ponder
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Posted on July 7, 2014
I’m afraid the paragraph is going the way of the dinosaur.
When I learned to write, words were the building blocks of sentences. Sentences were the building blocks of paragraphs. And paragraphs were the building blocks of a coherent article or essay or short story or even Gone With the Wind.
Today it’s the list that seems to be in vogue. I cite one website, www.myfitnesspal.com, as an example. The email that arrived today boasts of six foods to eat, ten snacks under 200 calories, and five filling breakfasts. Last week’s version included 29 fast and easy recipes, 20 low carb recipes, and 60 new chicken recipes. (Really? There are that many NEW recipes for chicken on the planet?)
The list is everywhere: writers’ websites, magazines at the check-out counter, television ads. A friend just sent me ten things writers should know, and Earl forwarded “14 Brilliant Pieces of Literature You Can Read in the Time It Takes to Eat Lunch.”
The problem with the list is that it doesn’t make for wonderfully flowing prose where one paragraph segues into another. Instead, each item on the list is its own mini-thought, not necessarily connected to the thought in front or in back of it, except for the headline.
Taking this tack, here are five things about Gone With the Wind that summarize the plot
- Scarlett O’Hare, the heroine, lives during the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction.
- Although she is not particularly beautiful, she has several beaus and three husbands inside one thousand pages.
- Scarlett is one of the first women’s libbers, surviving horrendous conditions by her wits, running her own company when ladies were expected to be demure, and kowtowing to no one.
- In the end, her third husband, Rhett Butler leaves her; but her spirit is unbowed.
- The final line in the book is, “Tomorrow is another day.”
Now be honest. If you’ve already read GWTW, do you honestly think this list is as good as the real thing?
And if you said “No,” please do your part to save the paragraph.
See more 10 Minutes in category Writing
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Posted on July 6, 2014
I have had a love/hate relationship with the swimming pool at the new health club I joined last December. Love the pool itself; love the lockers and the showers; love all the windows that bring the outside in.
Hate the temperature of the water. It reminds me of Lake Michigan in winter. So I’ve made excuses these past six months for avoiding getting into it. Today, I decided, was the day I quit excusing and start trying to love the pool for which I’m paying a fairly hefty monthly fee.
Gathered my fins and goggles and float board, my shampoo and other hairstuff, my cosmetics and body lotion. Headed out. Promised myself I wouldn’t think about the water temperature, but instead I would just jump it. After all, it is pushing the middle of July; and if there is ever going to be a good time to overcome my wimpiness this was it.
Arrived at the health club and settled into my locker. “I’ll just take off my shoes and check the temperature before I jump in,” I thought to myself. Which is exactly what I did. The water felt perfect; the air temperature felt perfect; and the windows made everything exceedingly bright, something my old swimming pool at the other health club never accomplished. In anticipation I took off the rest of my clothes, confident that the water and I would soon become one.
Then it hit me. I’d brought my brush and comb, my club membership card, and a plastic bag for my wet swimsuit. There was still one thing missing. One thing you can’t swim without.
My bathing suit was still on the bed at home.
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Posted on July 5, 2014
At exactly 6:35 PM last night power was restored to our humble abode. We had heard that it could be another two to four days. So when the lights came on, it was unexpected. I was watering flowers, and Earl yelled “Power’s on.” I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.
But I had. I came inside and we just laughed. Laughed because we’d survived it. Laughed because it was over. Laughed because we could replenish our freezer and fridge and do laundry and dishes and watch TV and even have air conditioning if we wanted.
At the same time, I learned a few things in the blackout. I learned that there are many activities I like that don’t require electricity – playing piano, reading, washing my car, watering my plants. I also learned Earl didn’t find those things so satisfying. But he managed with his super-duper smart phone and his equally super-duper iPad.
So now that we’re reconnected, I’m thinking I’ll limit the time I spend on my computer so that I can read, play piano, write, garden, and generally hang out. Thank you, Electric Company.
And thank you too for giving Earl’s TV back to him.
See more 10 Minutes in category Technology
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Posted on July 4, 2014
Earl and I are sitting in a café charging our various electronic devices and using the free WiFi, since we are still without power at home.
I’m feeling a kinship to those who signed the Declaration of Independence 240 years ago. Maybe they didn’t charge cellphones, but I bet they filled lanterns in anticipation of their day’s needs. Maybe they didn’t have electric stoves and dishwashers, but I bet the women behind those men were figuring out how to prepare a meal and clean up afterwards. Maybe there was no instant communication, but “One if by land, two if by sea” got the job done.
Due to our lack of modern conveniences, Earl and I have more in common with them than usual today. It heightens my appreciation of what those men and women did in a pre-technology world.
A wonderful little book titled Signing Their Lives Away by Denise Kiernan and Joseph chronicles what eventually happened to the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence. It should be mandatory reading on this day.
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events, Technology
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Posted on July 3, 2014
I have the distinction of having survived a four-day power outage last November and am currently surviving another as I write from a local café whose Internet is intact. It’s a dubious honor; but, for what it’s worth, I can make a comparison between winter and summer in this situation.
First, November’s outage meant the temperature in our home slowly went south. And, since I was still working the Internet was crucial. So Earl and I packed up and went to the local Holiday Inn Express; he got television reception in the deal and I got to keep working. He also went out and bought three battery operated lanterns that have proven invaluable.
Each day we’d return home to check on things, lanterns in hand. The days are short and dark in November, and it wasn’t pleasant at the house. Still, by visiting regularly we caught that the ice in the freezer was turning to water and slowly seeping from the dispenser in the door. There was a mini Lake Michigan pooling on the kitchen floor; had we not been vigilant we would have had a worse mess.
Fast forward to this week. We lost power Monday night when a most spectacular lightning storm came through the area accompanied by thunder and wind and rain in equally spectacular amounts. I, who usually sleep through these events, saw the entire thing.
It’s not fun to live without electricity for an extended period of time. But at least the weather cooperated this time, so we’ve stayed put. I’m no longer employed, so the Internet isn’t as crucial. And Earl now owns an iPad, which has become his entertainment center. We also knew enough to remove the ice container from the freezer early on.
In some ways winter and summer outages are alike. We’ve lost most of the food in the freezer and fridge both times. We are completely in the dark regarding what’s going on in the world at large. We search for outlets to charge our cellphones. Earl’s becoming a regular at his real estate office; for the price of a coffee I rent a table at the local café.
But the main factor in summer being more pleasant than winter when it comes to losing electricity is that we have been blessed with gorgeous weather that makes it bearable in our home. If it were ninety degrees, we would have closed the windows long ago and headed back to the Holiday Inn Express.
See more 10 Minutes in category Annoyances
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Posted on June 23, 2014
I’ve had my cellphone for maybe two, three years; and I’m due for an upgrade on July 28.
I think my cellphone knows its days could be numbered, because it’s acting oddly. For example, it doesn’t always ring when I have an incoming call even when I have the volume on super high. It doesn’t hold a charge as long either; what once lasted a week or so now only lasts a day.
I’ve never been a cellphone person. In fact, all the wireless Internet features on my phone are turned off; and I can only call or text on this machine. I can’t determine the weather or answer email or get the location of the nearest Starbuck’s. So I refer to it as my dumb phone and like it that way.
What bothers me most about my cellphone’s new behavior is that I suspect telephone companies wire them in such a way that they begin to fail just when one’s contract is up. I can’t prove it, and my cellphone isn’t revealing any secrets; but, being the cynic that I am, this seems logical.
July 28 is more than a month away; could it be that the telephone company even programs the cellphone to fail in enough time to make the customer (That would be me) really frustrated and willing to purchase some new, over-the-top edition that probably can’t be called a dumb phone?
I’ll keep you posted.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Technology
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Posted on June 21, 2014
I’ve moved from my Delta rant to thinking about this weekend as found time. Friends and family members thought I was out of town, so my calendar is blank for four days.
Ironically, a gentle book crossed my reading path at the same time Delta was upending my travel plans. The book is The Art of Doing Nothing: Simple Ways to Make Time for Yourself. I’ve read it cover to cover and am implementing its suggestions during this unexpected vacation at home.
Actually, there’s nothing at all in the book about doing nothing. Even if you’re just sitting in a glider on your patio, you can listen to outdoor sounds, watch clouds, and feel your body rock back and forth. But this is precisely author Veronique Vienne’s point. There are so many ways to get time for oneself, which equates to doing nothing in our achievement-oriented world.
Vienne offers creative ways to watch a sunset, sip a cocktail, and capture the present without hiding in a spa or flying to Fiji. She comments on the merits of taking a bath, listening to others, perfecting the art of yawning, and learning to live with the inherent trait in humans to procrastinate.
So, if you ever find free time on your hands, I highly recommend this little gem. And if you don’t find time on your hands, then you need it even more.
See more 10 Minutes in category Things to Ponder
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Posted on June 20, 2014
A year or so ago, Delta Airlines and I got into a major tiff; and I vowed I would never fly that airline again. There have been opportunities since then, but I’ve kept my word. Because why would one want to fly an airline whose customer service is worse than abysmal?
Sheepishly I raise my hand.
I succumbed to a $130 flight to Albany, New York, because the next cheapest ticket was over $700. And, yes, the bargain was on Delta. I was to have left yesterday morning to catch a plane from South Bend to Detroit and then another one to Albany. Instead I’m sitting in my home and renewing my vow.
It was typical Delta. Call me in the middle of the night to say the first plane was rescheduled and I couldn’t make the second one on time. Offer no options. So I moved my plans from yesterday to today. Guess what? Got a second call in the night for the same reason. At this point, I’m rescheduled for next weekend, but have a back-up plan in case that third call in the night comes. I’ll drive to Detroit and get the flight from there.
In the past, Delta has cancelled flights; usually run late; almost left my son and his partner in Rome; made Earl and me wait twelve hours in LaGuardia; and forced Earl to stay an extra night when he attended an out-of-town funeral. This should have been enough to alert me that things probably wouldn’t go smoothly, but I ignored them for for $130.
There’s an old saying: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” I guess I’m the fool this time.
See more 10 Minutes in category Annoyances, Travel
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