Monday, February 28, 2011

Libya vs The Oscars...hmmm

Which would be more fun to talk about?  Well, since I'm not an expert in world affairs, and I think I know a bit more about women's clothing, I'll take the Oscars!  Maybe it's a cop out, but we cannot do more than we are doing in Libya.  We can and do have the opportunity to "dis" people at the Oscars, and there's no retribution! 

This year it seemed that everyone pretty much knew the outcome of who would win what.  I'd bet the odds makers in Vegas were having a bad day, or not.  Don't really know how good or bad odds affect their earnings.    So let's go after something there is almost just as much talk about...the clothes!  And primarily the clothes the women are wearing!

I thought the majority of the gowns were stunning.  I would not wear most of them, as I'm a bit more modest, and not as slim as most of the folks there, but I saw alot of extremely pretty dresses.  The two glaring mistakes (to me anyway) were Scarlett Johannsen & Madonna.  Madonna's daughter looked fine, but the old lady...not so much.  Ms. Johannsen...just not my cup of tea, plus the fact that her underwear did show through and it did not match!

Depending upon who you listened to, the fashion gurus disagreed almost to the dress, as to which one was great or not so great.  One would think a dress was out of this world; the other would absolutely hate it.  The fashionistas tried to talk about the guys' tuxedos, but if you've seen one, you've seen them all, pretty much!

One comment that made me think, was the fact that there was not a lot of "bling" on the stars.  No jewelry worth millions of dollars on each and every star.   You know, this would mean that they needed less security, as there are people there just to watch to make sure the diamonds don't disappear.  That would mean fewer jobs!  You don't think those out-of-work bodyguards went to Libya to help out Quaddafi, now do ya...on Day 95?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Got gas???

Or are you like me, and getting a headache, watching the price go up on a daily, nay, almost hourly basis!!!  Of course the Middle East is to blame.  Heck, we can blame them for our economic downturn also, can't we?  If we weren't spending all that money on a no-win war, where would we be today?

Well I can't speak for Andy because he's got a solid job, has had for years, and probably has a heck of a retirement, and if he were smart, his blue chip investments have recouped most of their loss over the past year.  I can speak for the majority of us, though.

When I bought my car, a fill-up of gas cost me $16.00.  Yesterday that same tankful, in that same car, cost me over $40.00.  I only wish my income went up as much.  Unfortunately it hasn't, as I'm one of the millons of unemployed!  I've been unemployed for a year.  Should I take a "cut in pay", and drive further than I had been, with the price of gas going up substantially? 

Granted I made my own choices, and probably have not made the best choices when it comes to employment, but there are myriads of those who didn't have the choices I did, and they are in the same boat.  I'm just trying to be their voice.  I'm SOOOOOOOOOO glad to hear that bank big wigs are getting record bonuses.  The reason being "the only way to keep good help is to pay them"  Oh yeah?  I thought I was a good employee.  Six years, and not one sick day!  Before that almost 13 years, and only 2 days off due to a car accident that was not my fault.    And I wasn't bitching about jumping ship because my pay was not "adequate to my capabilities."

I got gas today, for $3.12, but everywhere else its runnning closer to $3.17, so its just a matter of time before that station hikes their prices too...on Day 94!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Penny candy...

Remember it? 

YES Virginia, we did have penny candy at one time.

This all came back to me when I bought a piece of paper with candy dots on it.  Remember those?  The small dots, in pastel colors, arranged in rows on a sheet of paper?   I bought one of those recently.  It cost me a dollar.  Of course this was not the usual candy store (it was in, of all places, JoAnn Fabrics) so the price may have been a bit inflated.  It was also wrapped in plastic.

Penny candy was just that, a penny a piece.  You could get licorice sticks, a piece of Double Bubble gum, a paper with those dots on it, a wax bottle with juice in it, a pair of red wax lips that you chewed for the flavor, and on and on.  And some of the candy was even TWO for a penny, such as banana splits. 

Most of this candy did not have wrappers on it either.  We were subject to, omigosh, GERMS.  And we LIVED in spite of it!  But then the candy was made in the U.S., not imported from wherever, and potentially tainted with whatever.  

Think we'd sell more candy, if we dropped the price a bit, sold it individually, and made more of it in the USA?  There's a job I'd take, on Day 93!

Who cares about Billy Long?

I mean really...

The FBI was in the area to investigate another blogger who has a negative blog running about Long.   I don't care enough to even waste more space, than this, about Billy Long.  In my view he got in because he spent a ton of money, and this is a mostly Republican area.  I didn't read the blog about him, but was it scary?  Did it really come across as a veiled threat? 

I'd rather the FBI looked into things like the kid who shot Gabriel Giffords.  He seemed to be a loose cannon.  Of course he didn't spend thousands of dollars, to let people know his viewpoints.  And I don't think anyone  blogged about him.  But there were accounts of people complaining about his unusual and threatening behavior.

Now I must admit, Billy Long did have scary behavior...ever been to one of his auctions?   Just my thoughts on Day 92!  

Boo hoo John Boehner

Seems old John wants to cut defense spending.  A noble idea.  However, in his home district in Ohio, GE has a big defense contract to make some sort of jet engine.  If their funding were to be cut, there would be (gasp) jobs lost, etc, etc.  So what's old John  to do?  Cry "The Devil made me do it?"

Sorry John, the Devil made me write this on Day 91!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

R.I.P. Pontiac

I was browsing some of the magazines at the grocery store yesterday, and I saw magazines for Mustangs, Corvettes, and...gasp...Pontiac!  With a GTO on the cover!  A newer GTO!  Maybe I should have bought the magazine as that, along with the car, which already is, will be defunct!

GM is pushing Buicks instead!  Oh yeah, how many Buicks do you see going down the road?  And how many Pontiacs do you still see?  Huge disparity.  And it may stay that way.  I read GM wants to make Buick their new "luxury car" to compete with Lexus, I guess?  And to appeal to who, the baby boomers?  Speaking of which, many of the Boomers lost a bit of income with the market crash, and bank shenanigans, so they may not be able to afford a Buick/Lexus-type vehicle.   I'm a boomer, and the last car I ever thought I'd buy would be a Buick.  I love my Pontiac, and when it finally takes its last tour of the countryside, I'm going to find something...probably...foreign!  No kidding!

Besides my Pontiac, I do drive a very American car, a sports car, but when it comes to everyday, Buick will not be it!  I may even buy an older, used Pontiac.  That may help GM with their aftermarket product sales, if they manufacture them, but not with new car sales.

I find it interesting that Camaro and Charger were afforded an upgraded look.  Why didn't the Firebird get the same respect?    Don't see Buick coming out with some sort of "fun car."  Sorry GM...you lost me way before Day 90!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Egypt's off the radar...damn...

...because you know it's back to politics!

One of today's topics on NPR  was the cost of the next presidential political campaign.  There was mention, if I am correct, of spending upwards of a billion dollars.  That could buy Superbowl ads for the next 4 years, I believe. 

Personally, I'd MUCH rather be watching the Superbowl, as I'm sure may other "voters" would be too...on  Day 89!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Here's your sign!

Oops...bipartisanship is NOT alive and well in Springfield, Missouri!  In fact it's under severe scrutiny...

Last fall, two of the Republican County Commissioners, appeared with  the Democratic Commissioner, Dave Coonrod, for whom the sign was made.  He was running for another term as commissioner.  The wording on the billboard read "tried and true."

One of the Republicans, Roseanne Bentley, is now being chastised for her participation on the billboard, because the Republican party thinks it looks as though she were endorsing the Democratic candidate.    The Greene County Republican Central Commmittee basically wants her to resign.

Personally I saw the sign as a show of support for a Commission that needs to have everyone on it striving for the same goal...the good of Greene County.  I thought it was a win-win for everyone on the sign, regardless that it was an endorsement for Coonrod.

Ultimately, Coonrod lost the election, so why is the brouhaha still brewing..., on this Day 88!

How much is TOO much when paying an athlete???

The other day, President Obama gave Stan Musial, a very reknowned baseball player, the Medal of Freedom.  In his speech, he said that Musial was making the grand sum of $100,000, and was not happy with his level of play, and had thought of not taking the money.  WOW...how things have changed...

Today, as in the past few days, Albert Pujols is in the news for not talking to the Saint Louis Cardinals about what salary he wants after his current contract expires.   A figure offered in the article was $300 million over 10 years.  Break it down to $30 million a year. 

Albert is 31.  Do we believe he'll play to the same level when he's 41?   Do we think he'll need that kind of salary to "get by" after he retires?  I do realize that professional athletes have a shorter career span than most people, but are their salaries commensurate with that span?  There are many, many people who would not even come close to making $30 million during their entire career, even if they retire at 65!   Let alone 41 or earlier...

There is a petition on the internet to try to convince the Saint Louis Cardinals owners to keep Pujols at any cost!  They want him to remain a Cardinal for the rest of his career.   Would they want it if the price of tickets doubled?  If the price of those Pujols jerseys doubled?  If the price of a beer and peanuts at the ball park doubled?     If they lost their jobs and were on unemployment?

If Pujols loved his job, and the city he plays for, he'd play for the fun of it.   If he were smart, he should already have enough money to keep him in a nice lifestyle for the rest of his life.   If he were greedy, he'd hold out for a mega-salary and hold St. Louis hostage. 

Professional sports is getting a lot more complicated, and expensive, on this Day 87!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Women behave badly too...

Couldn't just bash the men yesterday (with the exception of Paris Hilton.)  Women act badly too;  they just seem to get a pass from the "acceptable behavior " police.

Case in point, "R&B singer Cassie, girlfriend of P. Diddy" just had yet ANOTHER nude photo of her show up on the web.  Oh me, oh my, how embarassing...  Oh, Diddy was semi-nude too.  But this would appear to be his first time, so perhaps he's not as newsworthy?

As one comment read, after the article "...if you don't want nude photos to show up, don't have nude photos taken!"  WOW, there's a flash of introspection!   Whoops, that's probably too big a word for poor Cassie to wrap her brain around! 

Oh yeah, her career hasn't been so stellar in recent times, so any publicity is better than no publicity?  I think not...on this Day 86!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Men behaving badly...yet again...

Okay, some senator from New York, two-term representative Christopher Lee, just announced that he was resigning his post because it was discovered he posted pictures of himself on Craigslist to solicit...well, you figure it out!  Regardless, WHAT WAS HE THINKING???

In today's overabundance of "social media" why are people using it, whom we would think have half a brain???!!  This guy's a millionaire.  How'd he get that way?  Inherit it?  Because if he's heading a Fortune 500 Company, and acting this way...sheesh...

Brett Favre would be another example.  It's never been "proven" (to me anyway) that he sent sexually-oriented pictures to someone via his phone, but again, if it's true, ...WHAT WAS HE THINKING???

This is not limited to men, re: Paris Hilton and the sex tape.  Is she (or I guess she was) that dumb not to think it just MIGHT get released by her less-than-scrupulous bed partner?  WHAT WAS SHE THINKING???

You're all in the public eye.  You're successful people.  Your lives are the envy of many of us.  What more do you want?  Try getting a REAL life,  and not an articifial, superficial one, via the web,  this Day 85!







Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Definition of classy??? *&^%$ no!!!

I just finished watching, or rather over-hearing, some sort of reality TV show about Beverly Hills Housewives?  I wasn't paying close attention because I'm in the process of sewing up some quilt pieces.  It's snowing, yet again, and I'm rather house-bound, so this passes the time.  The TV is on just for background noise.

That being said, there was a party at one of the wives' houses.  One of the gals started swearing up a blue streak (all bleeped, so I'm unsure what she said), probably would put the proverbial soldier to shame, threw over a dinner table, and stormed out. 

Then the camera catches her in a more private place, and she says "...I'm a very classy woman!  I'm Italian, and we have tempers!" 

Oh yes, that tirade was OH so classy!  I'm sure women all over the world, hey, maybe even Queen Elizabeth talks like that when she gets mad at one of her servants.  Michelle Obama probably spouts off like that.  Dontcha think?  PROBABLY NOT!!!

Oh wait, they're not Italian.    I think this puts all the Italians in a bad light also!  Wonder if all the Irish are mad because they got displaced as "people with tempers."  Or the red heads..again, "people with tempers."

I think it's hard to respect someone who cannot speak in full sentences without some sort of curse word, especially in front of "the world" (remember this is reality TV) and the fact that there were children present.  Oh yeah, I forgot that fact.  Again...classy...right?

Is Reality TV is just giving us TMI (too much information) on this Day 84!

Cairo and more...pleasant diversion???

Should I say "thank God for the unrest in Egypt?"  Probably not, as people are getting hurt, but...at least it keeps our own political brouhaha out of the news! 

I am SO sick of hearing about the past election, the next election, the future elections.  As soon as there's an election and the results are posted, the news is all about what the political parties need to do to win the NEXT election.  How about  dealing with the issues at hand?  Is anyone doing that?  Or are they just looking into such things as they pertain to if they, or their party, will or will not get re-elected next time around.  They'll even use unrest in Egypt as a reason to be elected, or not...  The biggest problem I have with Egypt is that everyone wants to know what and how our president feels about it.    We have enough problems here without trying to solve world problems with countries that may or may not have much more wealth than us!  I don't know what their GNP is, but they are an oil producing company...nuf sed there...

 SHEESH!!!  It's none of our business.  I say, let them sort it out in Egypt.

I feel sorry for the Egyptian people having to endure all this unrest, that puts their lives and livelihood at risk.  I hope they get the problems resolved, in a way that benefits all of them, regardless of race, religion, or sex.  But we are NOT the ones to tell them how to live their lives.  We have enough to do, here in the states, and NOT on how to get reelected...on this Day 83!

Monday, February 7, 2011

How cheap can Wal Mart get???

...and I'm NOT talking prices either!!!

I just heard, from a former employee, that Wal Mart is going to phase out profit sharing.  Well, not completely.  If an employee wants to put some money in a 401k, Wal Mart will match some of the funds.  But they are not going to automatically start a 401k, or retirement fund for an employee, as they had in the past.

Since the majority of Wal Mart employees live from paycheck to paycheck, they surely won't be putting much, if any money, in a 401k.  So any retirement will probably be in the form of social security, which has it own limitations.   Wal Mart saves billions!

Not exactly the way Sam saw it.  Again, memories of one of Sam's tenets fades fast!  He wanted to "share the wealth" with the employees.  When Wal Mart first went public (i.e. traded on the NYSE) and you were employed at the time, your retirement benefits became huge.  Wal Mart shares split several times, and people were retiring millionaires!!    Now the only millionaires are the CEO, CFO, COO, and other "titled" people.  And they get those millions, and millions more, year after year after year...

Wal Mart used to give out merit raises too.  Now they're loathe to pay minimum wage, and they've capped the salaries of the employees!  Therefore, if you work there long enough, you may never get another raise!  Now there's incentive!  NOT! 

Of course they will say "You can always opt for management."  Oh sure, everyone who walks through the doors is management material and/or wants that headache.

Oh yeah, they do community service; thay say they want to be environmentally friendly; they don't want to go where they're not wanted (remember that battlefield in Virginia?) etc, etc.   They talk the talk, but do they really walk the walk?

I'm taking more and more of my business elsewhere.  Other stores are becoming more and more competitive, AND they have better customer service, because they have MORE PEOPLE WORKING at any given time.  Ever notice how you can walk all through a Wal Mart and not find someone to give you a hand? 

True, no one's forced to work at Wal Mart.  And as long as they have the kind of turnover, which correlates to cheaper wages (i.e. no raises), and/or quality of help they seem to be leaning towards, they can continue their quest to conquer the consumer world, but not with all my dollars any more, and hopefully fewer of yours...on this Day 82!





Super Bowl... or was it Souper Bowl?

WOW...although I'm a BEARS fan, I did root for Green Bay, as we have friends who are huge Green Bay fans, and rather than argue the point, we root for whomever is on top at the time.  The game itself was interesting, and entertaining,  with a few nail biting moments.

Soup to nuts though, the ads, on the other hand...lacked the quality of previous years, IMHO (in my humble opinion.)  I really enjoyed the Audi ad, at the beginning, but it may have been a bit too high brow for most people.  It was a take-off on a jail break, at a rather upscale jail. When the jailer saw what was going on, and said "Send the hounds..." to get the escapees, the hounds proved to be Afghan Hounds.  Not exactly the dobermans we probably thought were coming!   I did get the gist of the ad though, and knew it was touting the Audi automobile.  Maybe because my brother owns one.

I also enjoyed Joan Rivers coming out as the next Go Daddy "spokesgirl" opposite Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels and thought we might see more of that commercial, or different versions, perhaps like installments on Joan's progress. 

That being said, the absolute best ad I saw, never made it to TV.  It seems Pepsi and Frito Lay had a contest for amateurs to come up with a Super Bowl ad.  The ad selected concerned a church asking its congregation to come for free chips and pepsi.  These were handed in at a "communion-type" setting.  The church was generic, and the servers were generic...no particular religion was indicated.   From all the comments I read, on the interenet, this was a very popular ad, but it did not air during the Super Bowl because the powers that be thought it might offend some people. 

I did read, I believe, that the "winner" got their fair share of the prize money that should have/would have gone to this ad.

But the losers, are the millions of fans, who were held to mediocre ads, and probably would have loved to see this ad.  We can always good a good laugh, and this would have provided one.  And maybe garnered a few more liturgical fans who are always looking for ways to increase their flock!

Besides the game, we were all looking forward to seeing really meaty, tasty, full-menu gournet ads, but instead we got soup, plain old soup, watered down soup, to be sure...on Day 82!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Gotta gun?

If not, why not?  The headlines these days make you think everyone has one, or should have one, just in case...  Now they're even espousing carrying guns on campuses, and into classrooms...

You never know when you're going to be a the Mall and there's gonna be a madman shooting.  So, you should be able to shoot back.  Right?  If you hit a few innocent (or non-gun toting) bytstanders, well, you were just protecting yourself.  Right? 

How about just teaching some respect for human life?  How about stopping the violence depicted in video games?  In music videos?  In school?  How about spreading trust, respect, admiration, love? 

Nah, it's easier to sell guns and ammunition.  More profitable too.  So to hell with you, and excuse me while I ignore common sense, and stock up on 22 shells...this Day 81!


Thursday, February 3, 2011

What happened to good old aspirin???

Not all that many years ago, if you had a wisdon tooth pulled, you were given a prescription for extra-strength tylenol.  Or excedrin.    Before the advent of tylenol, we used aspirin to control pain.   Now if you get a hang nail, physicians seem to want to prescribe oxycontin.  And all we hear about in the news is how addicting it is.  So who's getting paid off to prescribe this drug?  The doctors and drug companies would appear to be in cahoots, in a big way!

I have a bad knee.  I finally went to the doctor and got a prescription for something other than over-the-counter ibuprofen, or naproxen.  I got hydrocodone.  NOT what I was expecting.  I used it, with little success, and let the doctor know.  I then got some extra-strength naproxen.  Works well enough, but I can get the same pain-free advantage with extra-strength excedrin, so I use that instead.   It's cheaper, and I'm not interested in having a bunch of prescription pill bottles around.

Every single person I talk to, who volunteers the information that they got some pain pills from the doctor (for whatever reason), they get oxycontin.  And almost every one I talk to (again, the information is volunteered) say they get "funny feelings" when using this stuff.  But they keep taking it!  With the exception of one person who said he just took "tylenol" (surprise, surprise) to get rid of the pain (of a wisdom tooth extraction.)  The oxy made him feel itchy; I guess a common side effect.

Do you wonder why you or your child is addicted?  Ask the doctor who prescribed the oxy!   Glad to say I could pass ANY drug test on this Day 80!