Some Random Thoughts

 

It’s one of those times when there are just too many subjects on my mind to pick one. So, Here are some of my thoughts at large:

•Just when I was feeling more and more sorry for the people that are the outdoor human signs, I noticed that there are now automated signs taking their place. Now I feel sorry for those folks that are being replaced by the robots.

•I know that Billy Fucillo gets mixed reviews. He’s done a great deal for the community while making annoying Kia TV commercials. My only complaint with him really is that he needs to learn how to pronounce Florida. It’s spelled with an O Billy. It’s not Flarida.

•Do you notice that there are some restaurant locations that are just jinxed it seems? I’m thinking of one on 47^th Terrace that has had at least 5 incarnations and is now repainted readying for another. It makes me very sad.

• I know that I watch too much television, so I shouldn’t complain about the commercials. Here’s the thing. Would the stations even be able to stay on the air without the trade school and college commercials? Sometimes there are 3 different ones back to back. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know about Heritage Institute?

•I hear jokes everywhere about “mom jeans,” but I have no idea what they are. How can I be sure I don’t buy any?

•Is it just me, or do other boomers hate having attractive women labeled “hot?” It just sounds so sleazy to me. I would have never found that a compliment.

•I’ve seen most of the Oscar nominated movies, and can’t wait for the show. There were so many good performances this year, that it’s been hard for me to fill out my ballot. I will say that if you haven’t seen “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” do rent it. The two lead actors are superb and they have no previous acting experience. It’s a most unusually, wonderful movie.

• I was really encouraged when I read in USA Today that the hottest demographic in movie-going was “mature women,” – defined as women ages 30 and older. I want to believe it, but the local cinema offerings sure don’t reflect that. This mature woman doesn’t go for the supernatural.

•So the iron has been replaced by a cat in the Monopoly game. I was happy to hear that people still play board games and care about such high-touch vs high-tech items.

•I love the name for all those ads that come in the snail mail on Monday: paper spam!

• Note to newscasters: The word “absolutely” has been beaten into the ground. It’s second only to “basically.”

•One of my readers wrote to complain about the female sportscasters who he feels are hired as “eye candy.” He finds many of them totally unqualified.

• I’m not qualified to comment on the sportscasters, but as long as we’re continuing the riff on broadcasters, my complaint is with the cocktail wear, plunging necklines, and jewelry that the newswomen feel compelled to wear. I applaud Candy Crowley of CNN for her professionalism and ability to eschew all of that.

•To end on a nostalgic note, one of my readers wrote of her sadness that her grandchildren won’t know the joy she felt of going to the neighborhood roller rink. I suppose they have gone the way of the drive-in movies. She remembers the organ music, the pom poms on her skates and the friends she would make from other schools. Before the consumer craziness of the malls, the roller rink was a place away from the parents and into a parquet world of our own.

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Saturday Mail

I’ve had a box of stationery sitting out now for over a week. My intention is to write a letter to my nephew’s wife in Michigan. She sent me a beautiful 4-page letter with updated family pictures some time ago. It meant the world to me, as my family is so small, and I have no exceptional children or grandchildren – only an exceptional grand niece and grand nephew.

My nephew and his wife work for the postal service, so naturally we correspond my mail, rather than e-mail. So, today when I read about the loss of Saturday mail, I thought about how it would affect them, more than me. I put in a somewhat frantic call to my nephew who was on his rural route in the snowy North.

Like most of us, I wondered why would they continue with package service and not the mail. Aren’t the carriers going out anyway? He cleared that up right away. On this normal day, he had 15-20 packages and 450 houses to call on. So, the theory goes that after doing his route with packages only, there would be time to do 2 or 3 more routes. So, manpower is indeed saved. Why, I asked, are they still doing the packages on Saturday? He didn’t really know for sure, but said it had to do with politics – whatever that means.

He also told me that someone had made the decision to prepay postal employees’ health insurance through retirement to the tune of 11.2 billion. Folks, I haven’t fact-checked that, but I couldn’t help thinking about all the dollars the service spent sponsoring Lance Armstrong’s cycle racing team. Wouldn’t you love to know how these decisions are made?

Did you know that all postal employees are unionized – even some management? There are all kinds of protections for them, but they last only as long as their contract. The current one is in effect for 3 more years.

My nephew and his wife were both honor students in high school, and my nephew, is a bit of a mathematical genius. I was a little disappointed 18 years ago when they announced that they were going the postal route. I asked him in this conversation if he had it to do over again, would he work for the postal service. He said his wife definitely would, as it has worked well with their child-raising and other aspects of life, but he wouldn’t. He regrets not finishing college. He’s just 44, so my thinking is that he could have another whole career since our life spans keep getting longer and longer.

I started thinking about years past when there were so many shootings and horrible incidents that gave rise to the term “going postal.” Remember that? It’s been a while since one of our shootings has taken place within the postal service hasn’t it? I remember talking to them about it back then, and they had some real horror stories about treatment by their superiors. They told me that a real jerk of a boss was replaced by a very nice one, and that after a few weeks he was called in for not giving enough disciplinary write-ups. The theory was that he was probably being too easy on his staff. The truth was that people were happy to work for him and did a better job because they wanted to please him.

So, it’s 10 years and many bosses later, so I asked what percentage of them were miserable to work with. He said about 20-30% of them has been impossible in their 18-year careers. I don’t know if that’s higher than the national average or not. I’m guessing that most twenty-somethings don’t even know what “going postal” means. That’s a good thing.

Now, back to me. How do I feel about losing Saturday service? Even though I seldom see my mail person, I like knowing that there is a real person who handles all that stuff. I have great fear that we will lose the Postal Service in my lifetime. I am in the forefront of the high tech vs high touch culture. I remember reading in Megatrends 2000 that the more high tech we became the more high touch we would crave. Do you suppose that’s why Asian massage parlors seem to be cropping up everywhere like weeds?

Owning a Handgun

I’ve never owned a handgun, but throughout my life, I’ve often thought that I would like to. I grew up around rifles and shotguns, as my dad and brothers were ardent hunters and skeet shooters. The guns were kept in a closet right off the living room, and I remember one instance when my brother confronted a window-peeker/prowler with one of them. It made a big impression as I recall.

Now the same sort of weirdos among us are called stalkers. Which brings me to a story about the sister of a friend of mine. She lived alone and had a fenced yard. Unfortunately there was a weirdo who lived in her neighborhood who would climb over her fence and look in her windows. Police and security systems did not deter him. So, she took classes, did target practice, and bought herself a lovely pink handgun. The next time she saw him climbing over her fence, she fired at the ground in front of his feet and yelled that the next one wouldn’t miss him. After 2 years of fear, it came to an abrupt stop.

So, what about hand guns? We never had them in our house, but when I was in my 30’s and living in Detroit and driving all over the city regularly, people started suggesting that maybe I should buy a gun. I was – and still am – proud of the fact that I lived in and loved a big, dirty, dangerous city, and made the most of what it had to offer. I have only fond memories of my years there, zipping around in my black firebird and feeling so fearless. I know, I know, I was lucky. The worst that ever happened was an attempt to steal my mag wheels. (They were locked, and the dirtball was unsuccessful.)

My three closest female friends all own hand guns and know how to use them. They’ve done the classes and target practice. So, of course I think maybe I should have one too now. Problem is, my significant other it strongly against it, and if I needed to take it out of my car for some reason, I know I couldn’t bring it into the house.

Our generation grew up playing cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians with toy guns, and no one thought a thing of it. A male friend told me that a BB gun under the Christmas tree was every little boys dream in his time. Then of course he graduated to an air rifle or pellet gun. Small animals were not safe anywhere in the 50’s it would seem. Though it’s now politically incorrect to buy toy guns for the younguns, they can shoot and kill anything they want with the video games that are now popular. I would be very interested to hear from readers how they feel about their kids and grandkids playing these games, since I’m out of that loop, having none of my own.

Yesterday I decided to do a little research, and went to a pawn shop in Cape Coral just to see what handguns cost and what I would have to do to own one. A very nice guy named Don showed me their selection and explained what might be the best use of each one. They ranged in price from just under $200 for a .22 caliber to as much as $700 for the more sophisticated.

To purchase one, I would have to first pay for it, and then they would run a background check with the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, and after a 3-day waiting period, the weapon would be mine.

Somewhere I had read that this process was more simple in Texas, so I called my gun owner friend Jerry who lives in Lubbock to get the inside story.

Jerry owns 3 handguns, and tells me that he walked into Cabellas and other gun shops, and after an instant background check, walked out with his purchases. The entire process took less than a half hour.

Jerry’s gun ownership is a fairly recent phenomenon. It sprang from the road rage he had observed in his trips to San Antonio. Knowing that most of his fellow Texans were armed, he felt he needed a level playing field. He went the extra mile and took the classes to obtain a concealed weapon permit. He sometimes carries his handgun in a holster under his jacket.

As an aside, Jerry told me that a few days ago while in a gun shop to buy ammunition, he learned that the AR15 semi-automatic rifle has recently tripled in price, and that shop owners had long waiting lists for any new arrivals.

As you can see, my jury is still out on all of this as I try to inform myself about every detail of gun controversy. But, I had WINK news on as I typed that sentence, and learned that an area man will be charged in the accidental death of his toddler who shot himself while playing with a loaded handgun. Coincidence?

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