Posted on February 18, 2009
Today I returned home to St. Joseph, Michigan, after spending three days in New York City on business. Usually I take my computer along and work in the evening in my hotel room after a busy day at the company warehouse. But this time I decided the computer would not tag along. Given the reasons I was in New York in the first place, it didn’t seem I’d be on my computer very much.
And, truthfully, I managed my job perfectly well without computer connections. What I learned, however, was that I’m addicted to the Internet connection. I found it difficult not to have the computer on alert when I returned to my hotel room where Wi-Fi is the norm. I found it strange not to check email for three days, and even stranger not to respond to those messages in my inbox.
On the other hand, I found more time to read, more time to become organized for the days ahead, more time to decompress. More time to feel less stressed. So I guess these are the benefits of temporarily becoming unplugged.
The ultimate question is: Is the Internet a time-saver or a time-waster. A stressor or a stress-reliever? I wish I knew.
Posted on February 16, 2009
I’m in New York City today and tomorrow stripping old wallpaper. Which isn’t exactly my idea of a great time in the Big Apple. But I have no one to blame but myself.
In my “professional” life, I’m the finance manager for Fred Flare, Inc., the retail business my entrepreneur son and his partner created ten years ago. I handle contracts and leases; banking issues and credit card processors; lawyers and accountants. I’m responsible for balancing the company’s various checking accounts to the penny.
But when my son, Keith, was little I loved to wallpaper. So when he and Chris opened a retail store, they decided to have a paper mural on one wall and change it every quarter to match the seasons. They called and offered me the job because it meant I came to New York, and we were able to work together for a couple days and then enjoy leisurely dinners in the evening.
I’ve learned I still love to put up wallpaper, but I do not love stripping the old to make way for the new. By today’s end, my best jeans were covered with glue; my fingernails were sticky; and wallpaper bits clung to my shirt and hair. Thinking of a great dinner in a charming bistro was what kept me going.
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Posted on February 9, 2009
So how did I spend part of my weekend? I got hooked on a Nicholas Sparks’ novel and read its entire 211 pages cover to cover in a couple sittings. Not that this is hard to do. Sparks is a mediocre writer, but he has a winning formula. He can evoke an emotional response from the reader despite his writing style.
Over the years, Sparks’ several books have climbed to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List. I’ve read three, and my reaction to all three has been the same. They usually involve a flashback technique to flesh out a love story which then ends with the death of one of the lovers. The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Nights in Rodanthe(this weekend’s feature) all follow this pattern. They are almost predictable; but what Sparks has going for him is his ability to hook you in, regardless of the clichйs, and make you feel genuinely involved with his characters. It might not be great writing, but it’s great pathos. He gets me every time.
Which makes me wonder: What is great writing? Is it the ability to bring the reader to tears or the ability to create an appreciation of the author’s art? Or both? I’m not sure. I just finished another novel, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, which is beautifully written, quite engrossing, but not one that made me cry even though I was as engrossed in the story as I was with Nights in Rodanthe. What I liked most about Horan’s work was her ability to control the written word and avoid clichй while still being most readable. Like Sparks, her work has ended up on the New York Times Bestseller List.
And what about those works that don’t shine on a Bestseller’s List? I’ve read many of them and found more than one gem. Some have made me think; others have moved me to wonder; still others have left me wishing I could write like that.
I guess in the end great writing is in the eye of the reader.
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Posted on February 4, 2009
Who isn’t familiar with the old adage that “No news is good news.” I certainly agree, but this time of year I would change the saying to “Snow news isn’t good news.” As I write, I can see serious snowflakes falling nonstop in the graying dusk of winter. We’ve been under a storm warning or watch (I always get them confused) all day, but as five o’clock turned to six, I thought we might be spared. Now I’m not sure.
We already have a couple feet on the ground, and this is the treacherous time of year. Not because of more snow, but because Mother Nature sometimes decides to send warmer days our way as the ultimate tease. It means snow today, but melt tomorrow. It means going from twenty degrees to forty just like that. Which also means the potential for flooding rivers and flooding roads and flooding basements is great. We’ve weathered this before without a drop of water inside our house. At the same time, it’s not something we enjoy.
Personally, cold weather and snowy conditions don’t really bother me, although I prefer them served with a modicum of sunshine rather than a dose of cloudy grey. What does get to me is the possibility that the weather will heat quickly and melt the snow just as quickly. It’s not a good thing in the long run, which makes me profess that “Snow news isn’t good news.” Neither is the promise of a short, warm reprieve.
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Posted on February 1, 2009
Early last week I came home from somewhere to find Earl had purchased a warm, wooly hat for me. No reason; just that I had once expressed an interest in a really warm hat to replace my black wool knit cap. After all, Groundhog Day is tomorrow and I don’t have much faith in the Groundhog this year. I suspect we’re in for at least six more weeks of winter.
The hat is called a Russian Trooper Hat with faux fur trim. Supposedly it’s trendy and durable and great for the skip slopes. I only know it’s warm and that it elicited a lot of response the two days I wore it to the gym. “I love your hat,” several people said. “Cool hat” was another version of the same thing.
Then I went to Starbucks where the barista looked at my hat and said: “I almost bought that hat at Kohl’s, but my daughter said if I did she’d never speak to me again.” To which I replied, probably too irreverently, “That wouldn’t be all bad.”
I hope I didn’t wear out my welcome at Starbucks!
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Posted on January 31, 2009
I just read where Postmaster General John E. Potter has said that budget deficits could force the post office to cut one day of mail delivery each week to help stem the tide of red ink. And, based on analysis, he’s saying that Tuesday is the sacrificial day. Additionally, in case this happens, he’s asking Congress to set aside the 1983 rule that the US Post Office must deliver mail six days a week.
Excuse me! Why is this a big issue? In today’s world of text messaging and instant communication and doing business online, do we really need to have snail mail delivered six days a week when it means the post office is running in the red? It’s a drain on finances, but a drain with a solution. The answer: Cut delivery.
Case in point: I do my entire bill paying online, so I can schedule payments long before the actual paper bill arrives at my door. I understand there are many who are not computer savvy and who therefore rely on the US Postal Service. At the same time, cutting one or two days a week shouldn’t really create a hardship once the public gets used to it. It would mean credit card companies offer less time to pay by a day or two and newspaper subscriptions which arrive daily would come in clumps. But it would also mean less running to the mailbox and waiting for mail.
Personally, I would take it a step further than the Postmaster General. I would limit snail mail delivery to three days a week — Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Most organizations don’t work on the weekend, so why should the US Postal Service lose money for us by working on Saturday. In addition, just think of the time the general public will save not running to our mailboxes on the off days.
It might mean those citizens who are not hooked to computers are at a disadvantage; and I suspect most of them are elderly. Yet, if they are informed of the new delivery schedule, might they not be able to adjust and handle bills as they come on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday? I think so.
The only downside I see to my proposal is that the US Postal Service might need less postal carriers, which means some will be let go and possibly added to the unemployment rolls. Regardless, we can’t keep pumping money into things that don’t work. So, even though Earl calls me a liberal, I subscribe to bailing the country out in a practical way. Postal woes? Sure. Postal solutions? I’m not an economist, but I say ‘Probably.’
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Posted on January 30, 2009
Tomorrow Earl and I are driving to Chicago to attend a funeral. My longtime friend Judi just lost her father, and we want to be there as he is laid to rest.
I met Judi’s father, Lester Corso, only once, at a Little League ballgame at least thirty years ago when her son and mine were on opposing teams. Somewhere someone might remember which team won, but I do not. What I remember most is that Judi’s father and my mother, also deceased, occupied many hours of conversation between us over the years. Ours were cantankerous relationships with our respective parent; yet, in the end, both of us were a primary support to a dying parent. And to each other.
I called Judi last night to see how she was faring since I know we’ll not have any personal time at the funeral. Spontaneously we began to reminisce. Not just about parents, but about the fact that the funeral home where her father will be waked is right where Judi and I worked together many years ago. We talked about Randhurst, the indoor mall where we shopped back then. Now it’s being torn down. We talked about such mundane things as Euclid Avenue and Palatine Road. And Memorial Gardens, where Judi’s mother awaits her father.
Judi and I met in 1971. It’s been a rocky road since then in many regards (not about our friendship, but about circumstances); yet we’ve both survived. Back then, it was about struggling to meet mortgage payments, enrolling youngsters in kindergarten, and getting together on Saturday nights. Today our children have grown up and left the family home; our parents have aged and died; and we’ve reached retirement age ourselves. We’re both still working too, for what that’s worth.
Since we don’t live close enough to get together regularly, Judi and I have a standing date to talk every other week with our cocktail of choice in hand. We talk about our current concerns and current affairs and books we’re reading and recipes we want to try and what the future hold. We provide solace with and without advice. We listen. We offer telephone hugs. I hadn’t thought about it until Judi’s father died, but what we’re really doing is holding each other close in spite of the physical distance between us. We’re staying connected. We’re there. It’s worth the effort, because the passing of time makes old friendships even more dear.
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Posted on January 29, 2009
I rarely listen to the Fox radio or TV stations, even though they proclaim to be “fair and balanced.” Who wouldn’t want to be known as fair and balanced? I find, however, that the talking heads on Fox are so strident, so hostile that even if their story is fair and balanced, I’m turned off by the bombastic delivery. It seems to me one’s case is better argued in a quiet manner, rather than in an “I ask the hard questions here” one.
That disclaimer put out front, I sense a louder tone, a more aggressive delivery in the past ten days from “Foxers” since Barack Obama became President. It’s as if there is fear in Foxland, as if — just maybe — some of the heads are concerned that their position of righteous rightness is losing favor in Middle America. Limbaugh’s “I hope he fails” and Crowley’s nicknaming Obama “The Bama” are two examples of over-the-top rhetoric.
I’ve endured eight years of George W. Bush. But never, not once, did I curse him or call him some inappropriate nickname. Never did I wish he would fail, although I suspected he might. Never did I rely on emotion over fact. So, liberal that I am, I’m disappointed in the right (which may not really be) and in its ability to step back, at least momentarily, and be quiet. I suspect ratings are driving some of the mania, but I also suspect desperation is driving it too.
It’s often been said we could hear each other better if we talked more softly; I subscribe to that theory. Bill, Rush, Sean, Monica, etc. — think about it.
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Posted on January 25, 2009
I was in our local independent bookstore when The Reader caught my eye. I’d read the novel when it first came out, and it impressed me. But somewhere along the corridor of time between that first reading and now, I loaned the book and never saw it again.
I don’t know if the current hoopla about the movie staring Kate Winslett and Ralph Fiennes subconsciously brought my eyes upon the book. I do know the current cover features Winslett, but I prefer the original one shown above. I don’t know if I’ll even see the movie, since I usually don’t like films adapted from novels. I do know, though, that it was like greeting an old friend.
I promptly purchased a new copy, came home and re-read The Reader. In its sparse telling of an unusual love story, it impressed me just as much now as it did the first time.
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Posted on January 21, 2009
This time last night I was watching snippets of the various official inaugural balls and hoping to catch a glimpse of President and Mrs. Obama dancing. Dancing as if all was wonderful.
Maybe for the evening it was, although the reprieve was short-lived. Already today, I caught other snippets of two conservative talking heads — not that I wanted to listen, but I ended up overhearing Earl’s favorite daytime programs temporarily — whining about cabinet appointments on one hand and the rendition of a song at the inaugural on the other.
I didn’t expect conservative talk shows to disappear overnight, but I did think the hosts might attempt to be more gracious than usual, more patient, more willing to take a wait and see attitude rather than start the nit-picking right away. I was wrong. Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh are back at it. I can only guess that being a conservative talk show host this week could be risky business; because what if people buy in to Obama’s message? Not just the liberals, but even conservatives and independents. What might that do to O’Reilly’s and Limbaugh’s and their ilk’s ratings? It’s a lot to ask, but I’m hopeful that Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and others will someday soon be dusting off their resumes.
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