Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Finally, you can't beat me

Good Morning to the Internet!

OK, that's it. I'm done. You can't beat it, so might as well revel in it.
I'm talking about the cold here people.
I turned on the TV this morning and was hammered over the head about how cold it was out there.
With the supposed wind, it was going to be like -500 degrees or something like that.
So, I sat there lamenting the cold and what it's doing to my PECO bill (really, can't you just see the PECO big wigs sitting around their conference room lighting cigars with $100 bills).
Finally, I said, "The heck with it." (OK, I used other words, but supposedly you can't print them.)
It's time to take this cold and shove it.
Bring on the wind and the negative temperatures. Bring on the snow. Bring on the ice.
Mother Nature, you can't get the best of me.
I'll dress in layers. I'll wear gloves. I'll put on a sweater.
Now, somebody tell me why I should get out from under the covers.
It's so nice and toasty in here.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

That drive and those drivers

Good Morning and let's start dreaming about spring!

So, I know my vehicle (Mazda MPV) is not real good in the snow. I slide around a bit and have trouble getting up snow-covered hills.
Still, I stayed at work until about noon yesterday, thinking the roads wouldn't be so bad.
Of course, I was wrong. Anybody who drove anywhere yesterday knows it was tough going. The weather hit quick and lasted forever.
I had to get home, though. I once stayed all night at the office and, well, it wasn't much fun.
So, I reached Garrett Road pretty easy (there was some sliding heading up the hill at Springfield Road, but I was able to keep it moving.
It was OK until it was time to get back up the hill on Garrett Road. The tires were spinning, but the van was barely moving.
I knew from past practice I'd make it up the hill, but it might take a little bit.
Of course, the drivers behind were not patient. A couple went around me on the shoulder. One (OK, I'll be nice) driver, decided to stop next to me on the hill, open his window and start cursing about my slow pursuit of the hill.
My question is: What was I supposed to do?
Leave the vehicle on the road? Slide backward? Jump out and push?
Look, it is frustrating when the van didn't move. Believe me, it was more frustrating inside than out.
How about we all calm down a bit.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Great, now get out of the aisle

Good Morning and how about that winter!

So, I don't mind doing my food shopping. Sometimes, it's fun to walk down the aisles and check things out.
It's just that I don't understand people.
Case in point: Last Thursday evening, I was in the Giant in Havertown. I had my cart and my list.
Now, the store wasn't packed with people, but there were enough around.
In aisle 4, somebody left their cart in the middle while they checked out the chips. I enjoy looking for new things as much as the next person, but, come on, you have to leave the cart in the middle of the aisle? You couldn't move it off to the side? It was too much work?
Two aisles later, a couple of customers who hadn't seen each other in a day or so (my guess) decided it was a good time to chat while they blocked the way with their carts. It's not like they couldn't move to the end where there was enough room. It's not like they couldn't have put both their carts on one side while they chatted about cats.
No, they had to stand side-by-side.
I said, "Excuse me, I'm trying to get through."
As I squeezed past, I heard one shopper say to another: "Gee, some people are always in a hurry."
I think I'm going to start shopping at 2 in the morning.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Taking the work out of homework

Good Morning and welcome to the place you always wanted to be!!

Yes, I still remember when I was in school.
Yes, I still remember watching out my window as the rest of the children in the neighborhood played while I dilly-dallied with my homework.
Yes, I still remember the very last thing I ever wanted to do was homework.
All these years later, I still don't get the whole homework thing.
Seriously, the students are in school for long enough all day, why do they need homework.
Can anybody explain how homework is anything more than busy work? Is it the teacher's attempt to show you how tough it is to teach?
I don't know. All I know is, I'm sick of fighting the battle.
The homework will get done, but maybe not every night and maybe not to the full extent it's supposed to be.
Tell you what, if we get rid of all the testing, I'll re-evaluate the homework thing.
That's a pretty good deal.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Curious Case of the Disappearing Cookies

Good Morning and welcome to the rain!

Most times, I like to make my own cookies at home. With the holidays over, though, and the winter doldrums setting in, there was just no energy to make cookies.
So, when shopping last week, I picked up a box (is it a box or a thingy) of Oreos. The were on sale and Oreos make a nice treat once in a while.
When I got home Sunday night, I saw the pack and opened them up. I ate one cookie. Yes, one cookie. It sounds odd, but that's all I wanted at the time. Other times, I might go for a whole row, but this night one did the trick.
I then put the rest on the top shelf and, figuring it was homework time, nobody would be looking for cookies.
Anyway, I usually leave the boys in the house doing their homework while I walk up the block to welcome the youngest one off the bus.
I was gone, maybe 10 minutes.
Later last night, I decided to have another Oreo (OK, this time it was going to be more like 3, but who's counting).
I pulled down the box and it felt kind of light. I figured that was from all the weight-lifting I've been doing.
There was one cookie left in the box.
Is it possible for a teen and pre-teen to eat nearly a whole box of Oreos in 10 minutes?
Do I have a cookie-eating ghost in the house?
Guess it's time to head to the spy shop.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Video game redux

Good Morning and let's just all agree we should end winter now.

I remember when we first got video games in our house.
Suddenly, I could play pong and space invaders on the television (Thanks Atari) instead of waiting to go to the mall.
It was a good time.
As I got older, I found it was more fun to head to the mall and hang out at the arcade. Don't think that had as much to do with the games as being able to just hang out.
The arcades soon went the way of the dinosaurs (well, except for the down the shore) when the games at home got cheaper and better.
Now, it's all about the games.
My biggest threat for good behavior is I'll not let them play games. Sometimes it works, other times it just gets worse.
I pull them off the computer and they start playing on the phone.
I take the phone away and they are lost.
So, what can we do about this? How do we unplug teens and pre-teens?
Time to pull out the basketball.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Yeah, we get it, it's cold!

Good Morning and welcome to a new year!

So, it's cold outside today. Yeah, I know, it's winter. Uh huh, it's cold.
Yep, I get it. Please stop telling me it's cold outside.
Tell you what, I was expecting it to be worse, but from the house to the car and the car to the office, it wasn't that bad.
Bundle up and sing these songs to yourself and everything will be OK.

or
or
Finally, of course:

Thursday, December 19, 2013

People ... AAAAHHH

Good Morning and here we go again!

I hate shopping.
I hate food shopping. I hate birthday shopping. I hate Christmas shopping.
I, well, OK, I kind of like beer shopping, but that's another story.
Anyway, I was reminded how much I hate Christmas shopping last week at the mall.
After taking a ridiculously long time to get there, I found there were hardly any parking spaces. That's good, I thought, must mean the economy is coming back.
So, I went into the mall and quickly wished I didn't have another 15 minute walk to get back to the car.
There were just too many people around. Now, mind you, I really enjoy interacting with people most of the time. I want to hear your stories. I sometimes just start talking in elevators.
This was different, though. It was just people standing around.
What possesses you to stand right in the middle of the walkways to talk to a neighbor you see every day? Why do you walk the opposite way of the crowd? Why do you leave the cart in the middle of the aisle to check out the latest Elmo? Why do you smell?
Geez, no wonder I did mostly everything online.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Lights and that Christmas spirit

Good Morning and how about that sun???

I admit to being very lax on the Christmas decorations this year.
One day I hope to have a Griswold-like house, but time always seems to get away from me.
I decorated one tree and put a couple of lights around the door last week, but the snow and the cold kept the rest in the garage.
So, when I saw more snow was coming last weekend, I figured I had one shot Saturday morning to do something before the ice/snow mix.
Getting out there early in the morning, I strung the lights along the bushes and generally made it look nice.
I tested it all and half the string was out.
Now, I know some people use those extra lights that come with the pack and try to find the bad one, but that's not me. I pulled them all off and tried the next strand.
The other half lit on those.
By the way, why is it half light all the time. Just all go out at once, it would make it far less frustrating.
Finally, after a quick jump to the store, we had lights.
Next year, I'll do it all up.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Ugh and double Ugh

Good Morning and, OK, let's just call it winter.

I had a great idea to write about today. I had it all planned out. I had searched up some cool videos to back up my point. I was going to end with some good music.
Then I got the alert: "SCHOOLS CLOSED TODAY!!!!!"
(OK, I might have added a little punctuation.)
I'm not so old enough that I don't remember snow days.
Looking out the window and seeing unpassable roads was like my little slice of heaven.
I remember spending the whole day out in the snow sledding and building snowmen.
Of course, that was before I had to work full time or drive or make sure there was enough toilet paper in the house.
Oh well, time to make the best of it. Pass the hot chocolate.


Monday, December 9, 2013

Great, Big Thank You

Good Morning and, sure the snow looks nice, but come on?

There are many reasons I do not like winter weather.
The major reason is it seems to be my luck it always hits when I am at work.
Now, on the surface, that might not seem so bad. What's the difference if you are safe at work or safe at home? Yeah, OK, that's one thing.
It cuts even deeper than having to slog through our parking lot.
I always get nervous about shoveling. The last thing I (or anybody I think) want to do is work all day, then get home to shovel. Especially when I'm working on a Sunday and I just know the rest of neighborhood was out hours earlier clearing the sidewalks.
So, that was on the top of my head while I sat in the office and watched the snow fall yesterday. I figured I was here until late into the night, because it was a better option than driving in the mess (not to mention the mess of Delco drivers).
As I pulled onto Providence road at about 10 p.m. (took a good 30 minutes to clear the car after sitting all day), I figured I'd have to get home and pull on the boots.
By then the roads were certainly passable, so it didn't take that long to get home. As I pulled in front of the house, I couldn't help but smile.
My great neighbors had cleaned off the sidewalk.
I thought I lived in a great neighborhood, now I know for sure.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The next one's on me.
Of course, I'll probably be at work when it hits...

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

About that Healthcare Web site

Good Morning and what crazy traffic!

There's been a lot of talk on those 24-hour news stations about Healthcare.gov and how it works and what side of the political spectrum you are on and whether this is a good thing or not.
To me, it seems like so much noise.
Anybody who has ever worked on a Web site (or even visited one) could have predicted Healthcare.gov was going to crash as soon as it came online. No server can handle that crash or users. Anybody who thought differently was just fooling themselves.
Now, I am lucky enough to not need healthcare, but I know tons of people who do. One just the other day said, although they never even attempted to try Healthcare.gov, they knew it wasn't going to work.
Why, I asked.
Then this person told me how they heard it wasn't working and you had to pay tons of money just to sign up. In other words, there's a lot of misinformation being fed from both sides (OK, mostly from one side).
I went on the site yesterday around Noon. I found it easy to navigate. It took me about 5 minutes to see which plans I could purchase.
So, much like most things politically motivated, I would suggest you check it out first and not listen to the rhetoric.
Let me know how it goes.

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Tree Dilemma

Good Morning and enjoy that sunshine while it lasts!

"So," I asked, "what should we do about a Christmas tree this year?"
The boys shrugged their shoulders. Pretty much the same thing they do every time I ask a question.
What do you want for dinner?
Shrug.
What did you do in school today?
Shrug.
What color is the sky?
Shrug.
Do you want $100?
Shrug. ... Wait, what?
It was pretty obvious they were going to be no help. As long as it didn't take too much time away from their video games, how the tree got to the house didn't matter.
That's when the boss spoke up.
"We should go to Linvilla and cut our own," said the just-turned 9-year old girl. "That's what we are going to do."
Of course, the first thing that entered my mind was the Griswolds. The second thing was "I have to use a saw?"
The third was, if it will make a just-turned 9-year old smile, then that's what is going to happen.


Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Shopping

Good Morning and I'm glad I didn't get caught in all that 'ponding' this morning!!!

I remember years ago heading to the King of Prussia mall on Black Friday. It wasn't so much of a family tradition where we all got excited about going to the mall. It's just something that happened.
We got in the car, went to the mall, ate lunch and went home.
When the whole early-morning Black Friday explosion hit about 15 years ago, I didn't take part.
Really, I never needed a $10 microwave, so getting up early didn't appeal to me.
Neither did the crowds. It's became like a zombie takeover out there with people pushing and shoving for no reason than they could push and shove.
I understand people liked the party atmosphere. They made it a family thing and got all their Christmas shopping done by 9 a.m.
Bully for you.
Now, stores are opening up Thanksgiving night. I think I just heard Toys-R-Us will be open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Of course, there's a bit of a stink with people complaining about letting workers stay with families. Give them a day off.
Sure, that's great.
I won't be shopping Thanksgiving night. It's not because I am making a political protest. It's just that I don't like shopping.
If people want to work. Let them work. If stores want to open, who cares?
I think we have long passed the point of return on that.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

War and Rememberance

Good Morning and watch out for that rain!

I had a high school history teacher who always said the greatest risk of another World War was going to be when we get people in power who didn't remember what war was like.
His theory, and one I believe more as the years go by, is those that lived through World War II didn't want to see that again. It didn't solve anything. It just killed a whole lot of people.
Well, we are pretty much in the era he warned about now.
Which, makes this video even more disturbing:

Monday, November 25, 2013

Like a cold slap or just shaking your head

Good Morning and I guess the heat has to go on!

This morning, while doing my usual stuff on the Web site, I happened to have the Channel 10 news on in the background.
Like most days, I use half an ear to listen to the news while working. Mostly, it's just to hear if there are any traffic troubles. Most of the rest of the morning news is just a rehash of stuff that happened yesterday.
Then the guy on TV started talking about a storm we are going to see later this week.
It's the same storm that's been dumping a lot of snow onto the Midwest.
So, of course, they showed video of cars skidding in the snow and people shoveling.
Then they cut to the weather guy who said we were going to see all rain out of the storm.
Yes, I know it's just a minor thing, but don't let me believe it's going to snow until, you know, it's actually going to snow.
Oh yeah, and don't bring the snow unless it's a day I have off.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Winter blahs already

Good Morning and, yes, I know it's not officially winter yet.

I tried to put off turning the heater on, but that was busted before Halloween. I tried to take the weather in stride, you know, since I can't really do anything about it.
Yeah, but I still want to complain.
I've decided I'm going to hate the cold this year. It has nothing to do with the flu-like thing that's floating through the office.
OK, I lied, it has everything to do with that. If you are sick, stay away from the office.
We have now windows in here. It's worse than an incubator.
Then I step outside and it's like 30 degrees.
How long until spring?

Monday, November 4, 2013

The hot and the cold of it

Good Morning and it is nice to see the sun before 7.

Driving around after a cool birthday party Saturday (Laser Tag!), I was hit about how nice and warm it was for Nov. 2.
So, I asked my passengers what they wanted to do.
"Let's go the mall," said one.
"I want to go home and play video games," said another.
"I don't know," said the third (yes, he's a teenager).
OK, to me, when you can wear short sleeve shirts outside in November, well, you better take advantage of it.
So, my first thought was a playground. That would be fun ... for about 15 minutes. Then the older ones (OK, just the teenager) would start moping about things being boring.
I remembered a miniature golf course from days go by. We were close, so that was the idea.
We played (yes, there are always arguments), but the warmth and the sun made it pretty nice.
Then came Sunday.
I knew when I first woke up and heard the wind it was going to be cold.
That playoff soccer game at 3 was going to be downright chilly.
I wasn't ready for the winter, though. My light jacket wasn't going to be enough, but I didn't want to miss the game.
So, I froze, but watching the team of 10/11-year olds play their hearts out made it feel just a little bit warmer.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Time to get the candy

Good Morning and welcome back to the Internet!

I was flipping through the TV last night, hoping to find a decent horror movie in honor of Halloween. Since last week I watched 'Halloween,' I was looking for something different. My choices were 'Nightmare on Elm Street 3' and 'House of 1,000 corpses.'
I, for some reason, settled on the latter. Guess I should have just gone to bed early. That was 2 hours, I'll never get back.
By the way, why do TV stations have to talk about healthy Halloween? There's nothing healthy about Halloween and, really, there doesn't have to be.
For the most part we eat healthy, but there are a couple of days better to have at it.
Halloween is one of those days.
So, bring out the pizza and don't get between me and the bag of Reese's.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Halloween: Then and now

Good Morning and welcome to Halloween week!

OK, so maybe it's not an actual holiday (at least not in the good, ole' US of A), but Halloween is certainly a lot of fun.
Sure, it's changed over the years. I remember dressing up and going door-to-door for candy, but there wasn't a whole lot of difference between houses.
You knocked, they answered, maybe joked around and gave you some candy.
When I was in, I think, 7th grade, a neighbor's father up the street started dressing up and answering the door. It was great fun. Everybody laughed and that was it.
I like to take that to the extreme. I try to make a little Halloween party in the front yard. I'm not as crazy as an old friend was who turned her whole house into a Halloween adventure every year. It took a month to set up and and month to clean up.
I want to be part of the fun. Now, I just have to decide on a costume.