Casual Commentaries

Deep thoughts.....

2008-11-06T15:39:38Z

I found this CNN Video link this morning attached to one of the posts on scholars and rogues (http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/)
– and it’s pretty powerful. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/11/05/ec.brown.ron.clark.school.cnn

As explanation….

I guess I hadn’t really deeply thought of what it means that we have an African American President Elect – beyond the topical “that’s pretty cool”. The fact is - I have always been able to look in history books and see white presidents there. Presidents who look just like me. As far as race is concerned – I’ve never felt the sting of knowing I couldn’t attain a goal simply because of what color my skin is. About halfway through the video – a boy comes on explaining what Obama winning the election means for him. The person who posted the link explains it like this:

The video linked below is mostly trite, but after the halfway point there is a young man trying to express his feelings about Obama’s victory. When I saw that Obama had won, it had a profound effect on me…but my tears came from thinking about a generation of black children who will now look up on the classroom wall and see a presidential portrait that doesn’t look like, “a sucker who doesn’t give a fuck about me.” (Ice Cube)

It made me start thinking about how different children are today then I was when I was younger – how full of potential they are – and how truly amazing it is that we now have an African American man as President Elect. How will this change generations of children – to no longer have such a barrier? I mean it’s one thing to say that times have changed and racism isn’t as big of an issue now as it used to be – but you know what – I think we only say that because we’ve never really been victims of it. It almost sounds like a cliché – but this truly is a historical event.

Oh my!

2006-12-13T14:14:13Z

Who knew! Merry Christmas.


	Crystal Rose was the cause of the apocalypse.
	... afterward, Crystal Rose got into a car accident while talking on a cell phone.
	'How will you be remembered in history books?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Pantyhose getting the hose?

2006-12-11T14:16:38Z

Pantyhose getting the hose?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Dec. 10) - Here's a little secret, guys: Wearing pantyhose is no fun.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/pantyhose-sales-sag-as-trends-change/20061210155409990001?_ccc=6&cid=842

This article astutely articulates what I've been thinking for years! It talks about trends in the workplace that are making pantyhose a thing of the past. Whether it's attributed to generational differences or the "casualization of the workplace", this trend has hosiery makers nervous.

"I have a love-hate relationship with pantyhose," said 34-year-old LeeAna S. Valkovschi, a marketing specialist from Charlotte who wears nylons two or three times a week. "I love that they are complimenting to any imperfections that I may have. I hate that by the end of the day they are so binding."

When I started at my last job, they gave me a copy of the dress code. It said that bare legs and feet were not acceptable -- on the acceptable side of the list, it said pantyhose/dress socks. Now for anyone who knows me, you know that I hate wearing anything on my feet. Yes, of course, I have to wear shoes, but sandals rock as do wearing fun heels without the nylons. I got on this big kick of trying to prove that wearing pantyhose can be hazardous to women's health and therefore may lead to a decrease in productivity. I searched legal cases to see if anything had gone through regarding dress codes/pantyhose - but I didn't find anything. So, having to wear pantyhose became an irritant to me. I chose to wear pants much more often and tried to get away without wearing pantyhose as much as possible. There were a few times my boss would mention that I had better not let our director see me -- because I was wearing a skirt without nylons - in spring/summer mind you.

At my new job, there is no dress code. On occasion I'll do the nylon thing (near the 1.8 times a week the article mentions). I'm still dressing the same as I was before, I still feel weird dressing down to much, even if I can. However, knowing that come summer time I won't "have" to wear pantyhose makes me a happy camper.

It's great to know that I'm not alone in thinking that although pantyhose do make your legs look better (a tan will have similar effects - btw) they are just too much of a hassle to deal with on a constant basis.

Oh dear lord - Eeeewwww!

2006-11-06T20:36:05Z

This is great. It was listed on aol's strange but true news.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/naked-man-arrested-for-concealed-weapon/n20061104004409990006?cid=936

So the paroled con is just sitting on a tree, taking care of business, with a six inch metal awl up his rectum.

Not that I want to spend too much time thinking about this, but what is wrong with him. I seriously don’t think that he has anything going on upstairs. Again, Eeeewwww!

Sweeping winds of change

2006-10-27T16:37:25Z

Wow! What a week. In the past week, I have started a new job, moved to a new apartment, which happens to be two and a half hours away from my friends, and had a discussion with the guy I was seeing resulting in us not seeing each other anymore.

I know that change is supposed to be good, but sometimes I wonder if it's worth all of the stress.

heavens_rose @ 2006-10-03T12:40:00

2006-10-03T16:41:29Z

Can I just say.....older is better.....

Polls

2006-08-22T23:00:43Z

Not that I give a whole lot of credence to polls, but some interesting numbers.

In September of 2001, Bush's approval rating stood at 90%. In April of 2006 it stood at 31%.

Need I say more?

Ahh Haa!

2006-08-22T22:27:17Z

I was looking up materials that I might be able to use in my First Year Experience class when I came across information on private speech and thinking out loud.

The discussion starts with how thinking out loud comes about – when we’re children, we speak out loud in order to show what we know and gain acceptance by being correct. As we get older, we learn to censor ourselves by not actually speaking the words out loud. However, when we come across a challenging concept or something that is new to us, we still tend to revert to private speech.

http://www.studygs.net/thinkingaloud.htm

Think about it, and admit it, you do talk out loud to yourself. At least I do. When we engage in private speech we only verbalize the concepts that are foreign to us. We don’t verbalize the parts that we already know, just the new stuff. Saying it out loud helps us take ownership of the concept.

A Generational Difference

2006-08-15T16:55:33Z

I'm not sure if anyone under 50 would even think about doing something like this.

William Fogarty paid a parking ticket. Not much news there, but wait, the ticket was from 1946.

http://news.aol.com/strange/story/_a/man-pays-1-ticket-from-
1946/n20060810183009990005?cid=936

This Rocks!

2006-08-15T16:46:38Z

A 78 year old man from England had the most viewed video on youtube last week.

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/articles/_a/senior-citizen-a-surprise-youtube-star/20060814070109990001?cid=936

He wanted to see what this was all about, so he created an account and just shares stories about his past, historical recollections, and memorable stories

Got me....

2006-08-10T19:17:45Z

Through work, I completed this test created by the Gallop organization. It's called StrengthsQuest.

(As a side note; it's actually a wonderful tool that will greatly benefit our "customers".)

I learned that my top five strengths, or my signature themes, are (in order) Focus, Relator, Competition, Achiever, and Futuristic.

In short, here is what they are.

Focus - Every day I ask where am I headed....and without goals I get cranky and frustrated

Relator - I try to further develop relationships with those people I already know

Competition - I like to win, not just win but outperform others

Achiever - I have a constant need to achieve something, only momentarily satisfied once I reach the end goal

Futuristic - I see "what could be" and try to get people to share in that vision

So what does this all mean? Right now, in the cynical, antagonistic, petulant mood I'm in, I think that all together it means that I am doomed to never be satisfied with where I'm at or what I'm doing.

And you know what, that really isn’t very fun!

Will someone please remind me to not be proactive at work!

2006-08-02T22:30:24Z

We have offices in two locations....about 15 minutes apart. The location I work at is about 2/3 the size of the larger location. This means that the majority of our management team’s time is spent at the larger location.

Over the past few months there has been a change in atmosphere over here. People have been “tattling” on each other and gossip has been much worse then normal.

Now I have a few ideas on where the concern is originating, but I am not one to do the tattling.

Then one of my colleagues....from “the other” location mentioned to me that our director had come to him and told him that things over here were really bad and she didn’t know what to do with us. So, being me, I tried to think of a solution. I met with someone from another department and we thought about what we should do. We decided we would have a voluntary meeting to talk with everyone, figuring if we were all together we could gain a consensus on if everyone was getting the same vibe and if they had any ideas on how to solve it. We went into with the thinking that if we could make things better we wouldn’t have management scrutinizing us and talking about us to coworkers at the other location.

I was concerned about having the meeting. I had thought the two of us should meet with the director to have a more candid discussion, as she had admitted to not knowing what was going on or what to do. The meeting’s focus, or course, would be on how to make things better, not on placing blame for what went wrong. But we opted for the meeting, even with my concern. But, finally decided that there shouldn't be anything wrong with trying to work things out together and as long as there was careful mediation, we could have some very positive outcomes.

The meeting went really well. It lasted around half an hour, during a dead time. We came up with some great ideas on how to improve communication and how we could develop more interaction/bonding within the group.

I emailed my manager as soon as the meeting was over, with all the details of what had happened, what suggestions came up, and that we’d like to talk to management about some of the ideas that came up.

I got an email back today, mainly saying that holding the meeting was bad and that any meetings held should be approved by management.

It’s one of those things. I knew it would happen, that’s just the way things are here. However, I had maintained that smidgeon of optimism that they would recognize this as an interdepartmental proactive interaction that could, if given managements support, greatly increase the productivity of this location.

So I sit here, asking myself, why do I care or bother to improve anything. If management doesn’t care, why should I?

Well Ok then....

2006-07-24T14:18:02Z

I finally saw Pirates Two this weekend.....so I was in the mood.....

You scored as Mary Read. You are very unconventional, you defy the rules as often as you can and like to take as many risks as possible. You will probably end up living happily under a bridge somewhere laughing at all the unsavory deeds you once instigated.

</td>

Mary Read

92%

Captain James T. Hook

83%

Will Turner

75%

Long John Silvers

75%

Black Beard

58%

Sinbad

50%

Morgan Adams

42%

Captain Jack Sparrow

42%

Captain Barbosa

33%

Dread Pirate Roberts

33%

What kind of Pirate are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

What an "Eggs-cellent" idea...

2006-07-18T22:41:30Z

CBS will be marketing their brand by having their logo and different television show slogans lasered onto eggs. They are trying to reach consumers in a different way and to catch them in their every-day life.

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/cbs-hopes-to-beat-other-networks-with/20060717131009990001?cid=461

I think this is a tasty idea and definitely outside of the box....

Go Bucky Go!

2006-07-15T15:22:16Z

People are in an uproar in my hometown.

Here’s the situation, as I’ve heard and seen it:

Bucky Phillips, a convicted felon, escaped for the second time in his career, from the Alden County Correctional Facility by using a can opener to cut open a ceiling tile. He allegedly (please notice I use this word, although State Troopers don’t follow the “innocent until proven guilty” process) shot a State Trooper, wounding him. The Trooper is now home, doing well.

You would think that people are scared of Bucky and what he might do. However, this is not the case.

On an early Sunday morning at the end of June, the ring of “We just got Bucky” was heard on home police scanners. Sadly, it wasn’t Bucky they shot and killed, but a 25-year-old ex-marine Bradley Horton from Sheridan. (Who, by the way, just got back from Iraq.) Brad had been at a party, after a wine tasting festival, when he decided to ride his four-wheeler home. Now, this might not have been the smartest thing to do, but in this area, not abnormal.

Apparently Brad was stopped by State Troopers, but the four-wheeler he was riding was not registered. He thought he was going to get a ticket, so he tried to take off into the woods. Thinking it was Bucky, one of the Troopers grabbed onto the back of the four-wheeler and said that his “belt got stuck”. The State Trooper then shot the driver three times in the back. Yes, I said he shot him three times in the back, instead of unhooking his belt, as long as his hand was already near his waist. But, this isn’t the worst. After he was shot, no State Troopers went to him, no ambulance was called. The victim was able to make two telephone calls. Brad first called his wife, told her that he loved her and that he was dying because he’d just been shot. He then made another telephone call, to 911. 911 traced his location through the GPS on his cell phone, and found him. Well, that along with his blood trail. Brad made it to a local hospital and then was moved to a hospital in Buffalo where he passed away. I wonder if he would have lived if he would have been given medical treatment at the scene by the Troopers.

Now, about the Trooper who said he was dragged for a mile or more, he was taken to the hospital and was back on the job that night.

http://forums.speakupwny.com/showthread.php?p=122050

I think this is just the first installment of this blog. Next will be the community concerns with the Troopers.

Ouch! That must sting a little

2006-06-16T13:54:05Z

Stackhouse's hard foul on Shaq last night, didn't seem to bother Shaq at all. In fact, here's a quote from him about the foul.

"My daughters tackle me harder when I come home," he said. "I'm one of the last players from the old school, you just have to take a hard foul like that and keep on moving. It actually felt pretty good to get hit like that. Thank you, Jerry. Appreciate it."

http://sports.aol.com/nba/story/_a/wade-stars-again-as-heat-tie-finals/20060615122009990001?cid=942

Great quote, but if you're Stackhouse, being compared to two small girls has to hurt just a tad bit.

The Heat felt a little cold last night

2006-06-12T14:32:16Z

Poor Shaq!

Only five points and then fined $10,000 for not showing up for the post game interviews. I can't say I really blame him though. Although being double and triple teamed, he worked super hard to get open. And when he did, his teammates either didn't see him or they lobbed crappy passes, only sometimes in the general vicinity of where he was.

Howard and Stackhouse though....wow. I’m not really a Mavs fan either way, but they played great last night. They were quick, they were patient to set up good plays, and their defense rocked. I truly enjoyed watching the game.

In the first half, they did a segment on Howard and how he stayed in college to finish his degree instead of moving up his senior year. He said he did that because that’s what his mom and grandma wanted him to do. That was pretty neat, it made me like him that much more. Seems like a genuinely good kid.

It’s kind of fun to watch a normally good team just get more and more frustrated leading to more and more mistakes. It’ll be interesting to see what they change for Tuesday’s game.

I wonder how they explain this one...

2006-06-05T21:21:04Z

I'm wondering what kind of change up they have at the prison...who gets fired, who rotates where....who do they blame the whole thing on?

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-06-05T170130Z_01_L05741657_RTRUKOC_0_US-GREECE-ESCAPE.xml

ATHENS (Reuters) - A helicopter landed in the middle of the high security Athens Korydallos prison, picked up two prisoners and flew away in a Hollywood-style escape that has left Greek police stunned.

A criminal on the run hijacked the helicopter Sunday to get his brother out of prison, police said. Vassilis Paleokostas, 40, who was serving a 25-year sentence for kidnapping and bank robbery, and an Albanian convict escaped.

"The guards thought it was a surprise inspection by ministry officials and did nothing," a police official said.

The helicopter pilot, who said he was forced at gunpoint to undertake the mission, flew the inmates to a nearby cemetery and they made their escape on motorbikes. Greek police have launched a manhunt for the convicts.

21 Signs that you have grown up

2006-05-31T17:49:25Z

These rock! (Especially 2, 5, and 18)

1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.
2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.
6. You watch the Weather Channel.
7. You go from 130 days of holidays to 14.
8. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up."
9. You're the one calling the police because those %&@.. kids next door won't turn down the stereo.
10. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
11. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
12. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
13. You take naps.
14. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
15. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
16. A eur4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good sh*t."
17. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
18. "I just can't drink the way I used to" replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again."
19. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
20. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
21. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking "Oh shit, what the hell happened?"

Bonus:

22. You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry old a$$.

Made for TV

2006-04-24T16:25:23Z

On her way to our friend’s house to watch movies, she was cornered in her car by her ex-fiancé. We were going to watch Two For the Money because we had just had a chat about Matthew McConaughey and the fact that there were some great scenes in the movie. All of us were sitting in the living room waiting for her to show up. We were helping another friend write a letter to her bosses, trying to let them know nicely that one of their employees is committing insurance fraud. Then the phone rings.

The first time I met her, we were downtown for East End Fest. They close off a bunch of streets and they have food, drink, and entertainment. I remember that she had a great orange shirt on, that really showed off her tan. She is definitely one of those girls who is the life of the party. You can’t help but like her. It was a fun...yet long night. The next morning all of us were on our way to breakfast, when we got a phone call. It was her, telling us that the cops and ambulance were at her house because her boyfriend had just beaten the crap out of her. He had punched her so hard in the head that she lost control of her bladder functions. Her sister was there too, so he went after her sister next. It was official, they were over.

A few months later, we all met out for chicken wings. She was proudly flashing her engagement, from the supposed ex-boyfriend. A little shocked, I listened to her go on and on about him and how wonderful he was.

On again, off again. I was never sure what the status of their relationship was.

Fast forward, a couple of weeks ago a mutual friend broke up with his significant other. We took him out to lunch to remind him that he deserves better, that “once a cheater, always a cheater” and that the other person was selfish and didn’t want to change. All of the things you say to someone who is hurting to remind them that they can get through it. She was right there with us, telling us how she had to learn all of this stuff the hard way and that if she could break up with her ex that our friend could do it to.

So last night, we get the phone call. She had asked him to come over and get all of his stuff. She put it outside and locked all the doors. He came over with one of his friends, loaded the items, and then started banging on her door telling her how much he loved her. She didn’t answer the door or his phone calls. They left, and she got in her car to meet us. As she pulls out, there he is. He follows her down the road, calling her and telling her to pull over. She says she’s going to call the cops if he doesn’t leave her alone. He passes her and pushes her off the road and then blocked her in. He gets out of the car; she locks all of her doors and starts calling 911. With one attempt, he rips the door handle clean off. While shouting to her that he loves her/get off the phone/marry me, he starts hitting the driver’s side window trying to punch it in.

So, how does it end? It doesn’t. We spend all night on the phone with the cops, after a warrant for his arrest, text messages saying he’s going to do what he should’ve done a long time ago....God help him.....pepper spray and a mental health arrest, who knows how the story ends.

She spent most of the night, trying to convince the cops that she was serious and that all they have to do is look up the records. They keep telling her that he really seems ok, he’s calm, and they don’t see a problem. Is she sure that incident took place earlier in the day?

Not for nothing, she has two Master’s degrees, works as a teacher in a prison, and has a great family and circle of friends.

Today she is changing her phone number and getting an order of protection against him.

Come to find out, he is actually a client of ours at work. Is it wrong to think about all of the ways I could mess with him and cause him to lose ground, without him ever knowing.....

New Marketing Opportunity

2006-04-18T23:27:50Z

What a great idea!

"The NBC Universal Television Stations group and VST Media Network are partnering to deliver customized local news, weather, sports and entertainment video and headlines to on-pump screens at gas stations in markets with NBC owned-and-operated stations."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6325558.html?display=Breaking+News

I really think there could be potential to this. Think about it. When you're pumping gas, where do you look? You may look at people around you, but very rarely do you want them to see you looking at them. You can always watch the numbers moving, thinking about how ungodly expensive it is....but that's no fun. All in all...a very good idea. Wish I would have come up with it.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

2006-03-28T22:56:41Z

Man Accidentally Divorces Wife in Sleep

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles?id=n20060328094209990003&cid=936

As if that weren't bad enough, the second to last paragraph says this "The religious leaders said that before remarrying, the couple would have to be apart for at least 100 days and that the wife, Sohela, would also have to spend a night with another man and then be divorced by him."

Apparently, there are still some things I just don't understand.

'Dog sh*t' ham

2006-03-27T23:47:07Z

An employee at H R Hargreaves & Son fired one of their employees after he listed Dog Sh*t as one of the ingredients on a packet of ham.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1704736.html?menu=news.quirkies.badtaste

This makes me think of a story one of my high school teachers told me. He was working one of his summer jobs in college, line work manufacturing doll houses. He and some of his friends got bored, so he took his sandwich out of his lunch and put it in the doll house, then packaged it up to go. Ok, so they aren't the same thing, but I still think both are pretty funny.

Hee hee hee

2006-03-21T22:30:43Z

It may just be the day.....but I think this is really funny.

Woman Charged With Biting Off Man's Tongue

CELINA, Ohio (March 20) - Police accused a northwest Ohio woman of biting off a man's tongue. Chad Ringo, 29, remained in intensive care Monday at St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima after unsuccessful attempts to reattach about 30 percent of his tongue, Celina police said.

A hospital spokeswoman said he was in fair condition.

Police charged Emily Mescher, 25, with felonious assault after Ringo was injured Friday night. She was freed on $10,000 bail following a hearing Monday in Celina Municipal Court.

Police said Mescher and Ringo had been involved in a relationship.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles?id=n20060320223309990001&cid=936

I'm just wondering how this happens. I mean was it pre-meditated? I'm thinking he would have had to been willing to have his tongue out there, right. So what happened between that and the biting off of the tongue?

Why didn't I think of this....

2006-03-13T23:56:16Z

Well, ok....even if I had thought of it....I wouldn't have done it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Real-cold-wet-SNOW-yes-snow-Made-in-Buffalo-NY_W0QQitemZ6030430941QQcategoryZ20598QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem