I'm in good company...

...after just listening to a piece on TV about the baby boomers not being able to find jobs, and in fact their jobless numbers are rising.  Plus, when you take in to account the number of college graduates (yours truly included) there's a lot of disparity in the job market!  Lotsa talent, no positions!

But the stock market is up.  Perhaps we should all become day traders? 

So there are no jobs because no one is spending money.  Of course we can't spend money, because  we don't have money.  And, the cost of gas has gone up far faster than any raise I ever got at a job.  In fact, my last two employers had salary caps on the hourly employees!  No salary caps for the CEOs though...they get fat bonuses if they keep costs in line.

So take away job opportunities for Boomers, take away their medicare, deplete their social security, and what do you have...not a pretty picture, Day 143!

I'm a jealous person.

Or maybe just envious?    Webster's says jealous is defined as: very watchful in guarding or keeping; resentfully suspicious of rivals; envious.  Envy is defined as: having hatred or ill will; a feeling of discontent due to someone else's possessions, etc.  Hmmm, think I'll just use the term jealous, as hatred seems way too mean! 

I'm jealous of people who are thinner than me.
I'm jealous of people who are heavier than me and are not bothered by it.
I'm jealous of poor people, because they often seem happier than I think they should be.
I'm jealous of rich people, because I think they can buy happiness, even though we know better.
I'm jealous of black people because they experience things I will probably never know, i.e. prejudice.
I'm jealous of foreigners because they are usually bi-lingual; their language and mine.
I'm jealous of people who have the same car as me, only a different color. 
I'm jealous of people who have newer cars.
I'm jealous of people who have the same, but older cars.
I'm jealous of people who can throw together an outfit and look great at all times.
I'm jealous of people who don't care what they're wearing; they're just happy to be clothed.
I'm jealous of young people because I'm not.
I'm jealous of older people because they have more wisdom than me.
I'm jealous of people who never forget a name

And the list could go on forever.  I could find something about anyone or anything to be jealous about.  But life's too short to lose sleep over these petty jealousies.  Some of the above-mentioned items, I can rectify.  Some I'll never know.  Some I do not want to know, but at the end of the day, I'm still feeling pretty good about myself. 

 I wouldn't mind if  people were a little jealous of me, on Day 142!

NOT AGAIN!!! But yes, AGAIN!!!

Sheesh, if I only wrote about important men behaving badly, I could probably write MORE than a blog a day!!!  Perhaps the repetition would open some male eyes!  Then again, perhaps not!  They appear to be VERY slow learners!

The latest, as of this writing, at almost 5 p.m. CST, is that New York congressman, Anthony Weiner, ADMITTED to sending strange (bare-chested man, among others) photos to various people on his Twitter account, and I believe Facebook.    There were also allegations of phone sex, etc, etc.  AND this paragon of the community is MARRIED!!!  For how long, we can only guess...

I would put some words in italics rather than caps, as caps is considered shouting, but how else can we get these fools to listen???   Your behavior is abhorrant and you WILL get found out!!!

 I'm shouted out on Day 141!

2 birds, 1 stone

Wal Mart has been in the news recently because (boo hoo) their U.S. stores are not making as much "profit" as they were intended to.  Of course they want to blame the new CEO, Mike Duke, for not taking better care, or taking charge, after Lee Scott left.  Probably won't make Mike Duke miserable, if he's released with a few million in his pocket as "severance pay."  But afterall, that's probably what his contract called for.  We should all get contracts from our potential employers, that if we don't work out, we get oodles of money to make our fall from grace easier.  More of a "green slip" than a pink slip!  Oh there's already a term for it...golden parachute. 

But I digress...

There's another problem afoot, too.  Unemployment appears to have stagnated at 9% and may even be rising...again.   So here I am to solve both problems.  Even though I harbor no love for Wal Mart any more, I have plenty of friends who work there. 

Wal Mart should start buying American again!!!  Just like Sam wanted!!!  If the goods aren't available, then we'd need more manufacturing.  If we had more manufacturing, there would be more jobs.  More jobs would mean more money in the economy, and probably more money for Wal Mart, and their anticipated customers.  And the quality of their goods should go up, or at least the perception of quality, and people would give them a new and less-jaundiced look!  !  It's a decided WIN-WIN!!

But there are even further reaching implications!  The people in China are starting to get the idea that they can demand higher wages.  Sooner or later, it will be just as cheap to manufacture at home.  But by that time we'll have absolutely NO workers who know how to do anything except draw unemployment or welfare.  If we start now, we would even save on the amount of money we're spending on energy to get those goods shipping all over the world.   Geez, another new concept...saving on fuel consumption!  

Two birds/one stone, or maybe 3 if you count the energy savings, and I do NOT want anything from Wal Mart now or after Day 140!

Ellen Barkin is living with a 26 year old...

...and if you must know, she's 57.  And I say "so what??!!!"

If this were reversed, and the man were 30 years older (or more in some high-profile duos) no one would even consider it headline news.  They'd probably be wanting to pat the old codger on the back.  The men, that is.  Women, make that mature women, probably don't want the old man.   And if they are closer in age (say 5 years or so) they've probably already aware of his shortcomings and want nothing to do with him, a big bankroll nonwithstanding.. 

Sexism still seems to reign supreme in the headlines, in the 21st Century, in 2011, and probably long after Day 139!

Technology works...sometimes...

I'm writing this as I'm extremely frustrated with my computer and with my blog-master, or whatever they are called.  I'm not computer-literate, save for turning the computer on and off.  Whenever I get a message that I might be doing something wrong, I'm never sure how to respond.  I have a couple other blogs that I write, and one of them has not been letting me post.  It says I've posted, but when I try to actually read the post, on the blog, and not the version to-be-edited, I get thrown onto a page that has nothing to do with my blog, or my life, for that matter.  

I do not believe every kid in school knows how to fix these problems either.  They may know how to have one gadget talk to another, and use every eletronic device available to mankind, but actually fixing them is not in their bailiwick.  The actual nerds are far and few between.  But if you can turn on the button, everyone thinks you understand the lingo.  Of course there are no humans to talk to, just endless e-mails/help sessions/FAQs to wade through to see if there is an appropriate answer to your woes.    That's probably part of the problem...I can't express myself properly, so they can't identify my problem properly?  Now that sounds like a real Catch 22!

This has been one frustrating week for me...and it's continuing long after Day 138!

Genderless baby...I don't think so!

Good grief!  A couple were "outed" on the internet, for not wanting people to know the gender of their newest child (although their parents and of course the other sibs do know.)  People are up in arms.  How can they do that?  It's not healthy.  It's sick.  It's...inhumane? 

Personally I think it's an interesting choice!

When the gender of a child is evident (usually by the color of the clothing at the earliest stages) I do believe people react differently.    They start talking about what they'll be when they grow.  They want to buy what they consider appropriate toys/gifts!  No boy child should be without a train set; no girl child should be without a doll.  Boys wear blue; girls wear pink.  End of discussion.

Isn't this a bit of bias on the part of all of us?  We assume certain things right out of the womb.  We dictate what the child should do, right out of the womb.  We don't want them to be independent; we want them to succumb to what we all consider to be "normal" for their sex.  We even want them to think certain ways.  Boys/men protect and serve.  Girls/women nurture, and cook.  Boys go out into the world.  Girls stay home.

We're overcoming some of that mentality, as per the Equal Rights Amendment, but why not start it at birth, rather than  when we enter the job market?

I commend these parents, and after a while, everyone will know the sex of their child anyway, so who cares!  You raise yours your way, I'll raise mine my way!  If they end up to be kind, loving individuals, what more could any one ask for...at the end of Day 137?