Saturday, November 20, 2010

Crazy & Interesting Shit







After having a good deal of time to read through news sites this morning I found three stories that were of interest to me and my life. The first being that many people are dropping cable.

We are among those people. It has been over a year since we cancelled our cable and we really don't miss it or the huge ass bill.

"Cable companies believe that the departing customers are either switching to satellite or abandoning television altogether, but a much more realistic possibility than the latter is that they're simply choosing to watch shows online; according to Ian Olgeirson, a senior analyst at SNL Kagan, "It is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss the impact of over-the-top substitution on video subscriber performance, particularly after seeing declines during the period of the year that tends to produce the largest subscriber gains due to seasonal shifts back to television viewing and subscription packages."

Read more: http://techland.com/2010/11/19/why-are-people-abandoning-cable-tv/#ixzz15pq4lVRg

When we first got rid of it we were really bummed about missing basketball, but since we really don't have any good basketball in our area any longer it really is no loss. If there is a pro game or college that we want to watch, well there are plenty of sports bars to go to. This is a college town after all. Many of the games are on regular networks anyway.



"When an institution so central to human experience suddenly changes shape in the space of a generation or two, it's worth trying to figure out why. This fall the Pew Research Center, in association with TIME, conducted a nationwide poll exploring the contours of modern marriage and the new American family, posing questions about what people want and expect out of marriage and family life, why they enter into committed relationships and what they gain from them. What we found is that marriage, whatever its social, spiritual or symbolic appeal, is in purely practical terms just not as necessary as it used to be. Neither men nor women need to be married to have sex or companionship or professional success or respect or even children — yet marriage remains revered and desired. "

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2031962,00.html#ixzz15pfxeI5J


Aside from the very religious I think my generation may be the last to see getting married as what you do as a couple. If I were younger, and dating or in a relationship, I am not so sure that I would see it as something we would need to do as a couple. It really does not seem so necessary. Many jobs with benefits offer them to your partner. Marriage is no longer a requirement. Many people hyphenate their last names and they give both to their children, so again it is not needed just to name your kids.


Finally, we just could not end the post without a crazy bit from our favorite kook, Sarah Palin.



I laugh at many of here statements, but the fact that she calls herself a regular housewife makes me ROTFL!! Aside from the fact that there really has not been a typical housewife since the 1950's I think that she is just trying another snippet sound byte to capture the attention of her beloved Tea Party and religious conservatives that still believe that women should be barefoot and pregnant while totally submitting to their husband and his wishes etc.

She really needs to think about referring to herself as what she really is..... a reality television personality. I don't think that she can even call herself a serious politician any longer. An oxymoron if ever there was one!!









Thursday, November 18, 2010

Growing Like a Weed & The Slow Burn






She is only three months old, but already has such gangly legs and a unique personality. People who have dogs know that everyone of them is so different from the last. Our last Golden was raised with our Lab, Cady is the first pup that we have raised as a single dog. We have always had two, so this is making for an unusual situation as we are teaching her things that she would have learned much faster with an older dog leading the way.

Now that the hubby is in Brazil I am back to single dog duty. Luckily she will sleep at night and seems to housebroken with only a rare accident.

This has all allowed me to get back to reading and looking into what is going on in the world and around my corner as well.

I am doing such a slow burn over the state of politics in general. I am sick and tired of the extreme on all sides. Happy to still have my health plan I am mad as hell at the cost increase! Between my taxes and cost of health care I am making only 1/3 of my actual pay!! Yes, I could put my kid back on, and as a responsible parent I feel that it is something good that I can offer him, it also took my share to nearly $500 a month!! I told him that he will have to pay his own co-pays, but at least he has it.

Considering the way Obama has been rolling out his,"Hope and Change", I have become quite disillusioned. That doesn't mean that I am ready to get on board with the Tea Party or back Palin, but it means that I am reading as much as I can and the look at who might be the lesser of two evils.

As someone who has totally supported Strickland and voted for him I became so displeased with him and the way things are in Ohio, we do not need any high speed rail, no one will use it!! Why waste the money? According to reports you could drive there in less time than the train would take! People just will not use it, so let it go! The jobs they talk about would only be for a short time.

Looks as if I will have to have the carpal tunnel surgery after all. One last test on Dec. 10th to check the extent of my nerve damage and then I will schedule the operation. Damn! I was really, really hoping to avoid it, but at least the same doc that did John's knee surgery will be able to do mine. I would have to use a week of vacation time, but that would be a treat!! A full week off......delicious!!

It is getting busy here at Panera and I have to whisk myself off to physical therapy, so I'll douse the burn for now and head off to Whole Foods this afternoon.