Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Monthly Archives: January 2010

• Alex Tests My Mental Attic

  Posted at 6:31 am by kayewer, on January 27, 2010

  I’m fresh from taking the Jeopardy quiz online.  Each year the popular game show offers a computerized, timed challenge designed to find potential new contestants.  The adults are usually summoned to take the challenge around this time of year by the confident voice of host Alex Trebek on the air during the televised shows.  He exudes a lot of confidence and know-how, and the notion of being good enough to share one’s own knowledge on nationwide television for cash and prizes is very tempting when he puts such a nice spin on it.  This is my third attempt.  Maybe the third time is the charm.

  The first year I took the challenge was nerve-racking.  The questions speed by in 15-second intervals, and I was so nervous my brain felt as if all my years of education had been siphoned away.  Last year I had a total brain drain on the name of a popular Broadway musical featuring two rival gangs, lots of dancing, and a girl named Maria.  I was singing the song in my head trying to get the name of that show in 15 seconds, but I could only manage one third of it and typed in “Story” at the last moment (the “West Side” part came to me afterward, of course).

  The quiz is designed to provide questions in many different categories, so I didn’t feel bad about blowing off the sport questions (especially stats and names) or passing on anything having to do with naming parts of countries in which the names have changed more than once in the past ten years.  This year’s challenge felt good, and I typed in some answers right away.  Only once did the timer run out on me, so I didn’t waste any precious seconds struggling for an answer.  I guessed, too.  It never hurts to try.

  The questions for the contestant search quizzes are always harder than those on the show, or at least it seems that way.  Maybe if I can get on the show I’ll be able to do well enough to let the men answer those sports questions.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged game show, jeopardy

• Invoking Logic and Ramblings

  Posted at 2:45 am by kayewer, on January 24, 2010

  The President recently announced that aid to Haiti, in the aftermath of the earthquake, could be written off 2009 taxes though it’s being contributed in 2010.  If the government can afford to offer a tax credit, why can’t it just lower the taxes to start with so people can afford to contribute more money out of their take-home pay?

  I don’t have any issues about contributing to good causes, and I give to a few myself.  However, being poor I can’t afford to give to every organization that sends me junk mail (most of it around the holidays) begging to save everybody and everything.  I don’t understand why the need for contributions is greater during the holidays.  People don’t go into some type of hypersleep from January until December, then magically awaken and immediately start thinking about their hunger or the lack of warm shelter or clothing.  The evils of the world go on every single day and, unfortunately, money goes into causes to fight those evils everyday, but we don’t seem to make much headway.

  We–Americans and the world in general–tend to need a well-placed smack upside the head to get us to act on issues, or we need a carrot like an incentive.  Free merchandise is often used as an incentive, such as free t-shirts or tote bags.  I usually go into the market and forget to take my bags in with me, probably because it doesn’t make sense to take something into a store when your intention is mostly to walk out with something instead.

  I have a tote bag from the Nature Conservancy:  it’s a popular picture of a bizarre looking bird.  The person who assembled the bag made a mistake and gave a mobius strip style twist to one handle before it was sewn to the body.  That bag has served me well for years now, the bird makes me laugh, and I don’t mind the defect because, in essence, we are all defective in our own way, and it’s all okay in the long run.

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• The Roof Overhead

  Posted at 2:49 am by kayewer, on January 17, 2010

  I don’t understand the whole housing thing.  Builders today seem to erect nothing but the most expensive dwellings–at least in this country–and who can really afford them?

  Who really needs a house with ceilings twice one’s height, which sap all the heat in winter (because heat rises) and collect dust bunnies where the average dry mop can’t reach?  How much floor space does a person need between the side of the bed and the closet?  Unless you’re a public figure, such as an actor or television personality, do you need that closet to be the size of a garage?  And how many average citizens plop a bag from the local drive-through onto that must-have kitchen preparation island instead of actually preparing a meal on it?

  In addition to those over-padded palaces called single family homes these days, the alternatives are limited.  There are people who make, in a week, only a third of the amount needed for the average apartment’s monthly rent, yet housing in this land seems to cater only to the upper echelon.  In states like New Jersey, the cost of living is forcing residents to relocate elsewhere.  In California houses stand empty while families with women and children live in tents.  In the poorest cities, the lower income families get some aid, but for the rest of us in the middle of the curve, keeping a roof over our heads is a nightmare.  Mortgage problems were just the start of the crisis, and the price gouging is not solving the issue of where to put people who just can’t afford what is currently on the market.

  Where are the houses for the increasing population of single persons over 25 and under 55?  I see a lot of housing projects going up for seniors, and those 18-24 get their share because they often room together and split the cost, but there is a growing niche being left out of the basic right to shelter.  I’m one of them, and I have met quite a few people in the same situation.  We want to downsize if we’re couples, or just live in a few comfortable rooms if we’re alone.  The post-war tract homes were perfect for so many families, and could be just the right size for the new generation, but new construction is obviously not geared to the middle class.

  The United States gives readily to the world when disaster displaces people from their homes, but sapping huge sums of money from our own citizens for expensive housing nobody really needs is hedonistic, wasteful and a disgrace when so many of our own people need a place to live.  There should be housing at a level affordable to any working citizen based on take-home income.  If one has a job here, they should have an inalienable right to a place to live here.  It shouldn’t be too much to ask for a safe, efficient dwelling with running water and electricity.  Once the housing power brokers understand that, the problem may begin to turn around.  Meanwhile, the roofs over our heads are leaking pennies every second, and the people standing out in the cold can’t catch them to put them to good use.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged housing, mortgage crisis

• There Are Nice People Out There

  Posted at 2:26 am by kayewer, on January 10, 2010

  We’ve had plenty of news lately about people wanting to blow things up and kill us just because we are this or aren’t that, but I actually came across some nice people in the past week and decided to share the good news.

  I’ve been having an issue with my commuter pass lately.  If you have one of those electronic gizmos that enables you to use turnpikes or bridges with a special “no-toll” gate or discount rate, you know what I mean.  Every time I go on vacation I have to contact the customer service department to have a hold put on my account, to be resumed when I start using the pass again.  Last time I went on vacation, though, something went wrong:  the note that entitled me to the special plan didn’t re-activate, so every time I went through the toll plaza I got the wrong charges.  Of course I didn’t realize it until my statement came in and I found that my bill was way more than usual.  Of course I called, and they said they would look into it, but four weeks later my next statement still had the same overcharge activity.  I called for the third time and got transferred to the nicest supervisor, who took one look at my account and said, “Gee, we shouldn’t be charging you while this is under investigation, so I’m going to reactivate your discount right now:  can we call you back with the results, or would you like to call us back when it’s convenient for you?”  Now that’s customer service.

  This afternoon I made a quick stop at the local market, which was filled to capacity with vehicles in the parking lot.  A total stranger saw me pushing a cart toward the entrance (actually it had been left in the parking lot and was making it hard for cars to fit into the spaces, so I was taking it back up to the cart return).  She said, “It’s really not bad in there, the checkout is moving fast.”  Imagine somebody volunteering that information casually for no real reason except that she felt it would be good for somebody going into the store to know they wouldn’t be held up too long.

  I’ll bet none of those extreme terrorists who want us dead would even do something half as nice to their own people.  That’s another thing that makes us good people.

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• What Talking Takes Out of You

  Posted at 2:03 am by kayewer, on January 3, 2010

  Talking, that gift of oral communication, is having a crisis.  People don’t seem to do much face-to-face chatting anymore.  Texting, email and phone chat have taken over that activity.

  I have another problem with talking which evolves around being alone in a crowded room.  The nearest desks to my mine at the office are yards away, and then all I usually hear are conversations associated with the job. 

  Working in a call center makes it tough to get any social interaction.  It’s also the reason for the high obesity rate in the place (one can eat and talk, but not talk socially and conduct business too).  Cell phone use is banned everywhere except the cafeteria:  they even had to install a sign in the restroom to ban phones in there.  I don’t know about some folks, but I wouldn’t want to know, or even get an inkling, that the person on the other end of my phone conversation was sitting on the loo.  I have heard some rumors that ancient Romans did not object to talking while emptying their wastes, but nobody is able to confirm or deny that at this stage in history, and I’d like to think that bathrooms in Roman days were much like Roman baths:  comfortable, congenial places that did not offend the average citizen.  If I were an average Roman citizen, just the sounds of relief would offend me.

  Anyway, Discover television personality Mike Rowe is featured in a Ford commercial in which two BFFs (best friends forever) text each other with joy at learning of their discount on a year-end clearance vehicle.  Not a word uttered in the six inches between their stick-like bodies.  I like Mike Rowe, but this particular ad disturbs me.

  I’d like to know how much of the texting the average American does is actually important, as in involving a family emergency, a traffic problem or a need to stop at a market or pharmacy before going home.  When it reaches a point at which state and local authorities have to remind drivers not to text or use the cell phone while driving, haven’t we gotten the message that we are losing touch with reality?  I think we’re forgetting how to talk, and behind that will come forgetting how to read.  That would be a tragedy.

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