Live and Let Di

A 13-year old's perspective

My son is consumed with sports, has been since, well, since he was born probably. Started reading the sports page every day when he was in Kindergarten. He wants to be a sportswriter when he grows up. The following is what he recently posted on Facebook:

These are trying times. America is going through the worst economic decline in 26 years. Unemployment claims are over 7%. The majority of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, constantly afraid of being laid off. There’s no stock market to speak of, you can’t make money off of short-selling due to the ban on it, and no one has any money to invest in stocks, so the market keeps dropping.

Then there’s Manny Ramirez. Huge amounts of money are practically being thrown at him. There’s Alex Rodriguez, “A-Rod” practically cheated his way to a 27.5 million dollars contract. There’s Albert Haynesworth, who signed a 100 million dollar deal, 32 million of which will be paid in the next 13 months, and he’s a defensive tackle who has shown to play his best in contract years and not really care when he’s guaranteed money.

Yes, there are the honorable people in the sports world, but they’re few and far between. There’s Roger Goodell, who yes is getting paid millions of dollars, but recently took a 20% pay cut. There’s Josh Hamilton, who put up astronomical numbers last year, while getting paid the league minimum 400k dollars. There’s J.P. Hayes, who didn’t get caught, but admitted to cheating (unlike some other athletes Cough A-Rod Cough), and cost himself one million dollars for just being on the tour as well as spots in 10-12 tournaments.

Why don’t people start looking up to the honest, hard-working, responsible players instead of the overpaid drama kings that command and destroy sports today?

Could I be any prouder?

Di

Nobody Leaves a Numeric Page!!!!!

Have you noticed that when you get someone's cell phone voice mail, after the greeting, the electronic voice comes on and says, "To leave a message, press 1 or just wait for the tone. To leave a numeric page, (blah, blah, blah...an explanation of a bunch of things I wouldn't do anyway).

In order for me to press 1, I would have to take the phone from my ear, click on the button for the keypad and then press 1. Obviously if I ever wanted to leave a numeric page it would be even more complicated.

I would like to conduct a non-scientific poll here and ask, "Does anyone leave a numeric page?" Can we just get rid of the voice and after our greeting have it go straight to the tone?

Actually this isn't really a big deal with me because most of my friends don't even listen to their voice mail. They just look at their phone and see that I have called (see, no need for a numeric page...I come up on their recent call lists!) and call back without leaving a message.

Oh...and if anyone actually listened to our suggestion, I would suggest an option that says, "To hang up and dial this person on another of his/her multiple phone numbers, just say HOME, OFFICE, HUSBAND'S CELL, etc."

What do you do when you get someone's cell phone voice mail? What suggestions do you have to improve the system?

Di

Avoidable Tragedy

This morning the ubiquitous hotel gift of the USA Today did not show up outside our room. So I stopped by the front desk and they gave me a copy of the local newspaper, the Charleston Post & Courier. You know I can't start my morning without a newspaper, any newspaper.

The headline on the front page was 3 Dead in Boating Nightmare. Several people who live on a small island which is only approachable by boat were returning home when their boat capsized 15 feet from shore. None of the passengers were wearing life vests and none knew how to swim! The tragedy is magnified by how preventable it was. An 11-month old baby survived because he was in a boat seat, but by the time help got to him his body temperature was in the 80s and his survival is still uncertain.

If you live on an island that has no bridge linking it to the mainland, shouldn't learning to swim be a priority? And failing that, shouldn't you scrupulously abide by boating laws requiring life vests? I admit that I have ridden many times in boats without wearing a life vest. But I am a good swimmer. Arguably, I should still wear one in case I am knocked unconscious in a boating accident. But I don't. So I'm being kind of hypocritical here. I admit it.

The final piece of the story that left me pondering people's choices and the solutions they posit was this:

Smalls, the injured infant's grandfather, said he hopes residents will reconsider the need for a bridge after this deadly accident.

Residents fought attempts to build a bridge from mainland in the 1990s, arguing that it would open Sandy Island to development. They said they preferred to go back and forth by boat.

Is the way to prevent this kind of tragedy a matter of taxpayers paying millions to build a bridge or for residents of the island to take responsibility for themselves and learn how to swim and adhere to boat safety rules?

Di

Thunder!

When we first moved here in 1999, someone told us that there is an old wives' tale in the South that if it thunders in winter, there will be snow in 9 days. We thought that was pretty silly!

The following January we woke up to a thunderstorm and sure enough, within 9 days it snowed 17 inches overnight...an unheard of amount for North Carolina.

Well, it just started thundering. I'll keep you posted!

Di

What exactly does this complement?

Someone paid someone to confuse "complementary" with "complimentary" in this e-mail promoting these Olay products.

Di

I call this work?

Before I retired, I worked for a fresh produce sales company...for my husband. I love my husband. The people who work for my husband usually love him. I don't love working for him. But while I was there, I worked closely with his sales force, one of whom is Kevin. Kevin went out on his own about three years ago and is doing great. The company is called Farmer's Friend...since he works with farmers to get their produce sold to people who need it. Over the past few months, he's been thinking of hiring someone and has mentioned to Hurley that he would love to have me work for him. I pondered it, but wasn't ready to make the leap.

Then a couple weeks ago, I called him on a Monday. We talked about the business and what I could do to help. The conversation ended with, "When can you start?" I said, "Tomorrow!"

Our office is basically an apartment over a free-standing detached garage at his home. And in the garage? Our corporate gym! Yes, he has a stairmaster and all kinds of weights so employees can work out during the workday. I guess my title is Sales Assistant, but sometimes I tell people I'm VP of everything Kevin doesn't want to do. So I'm making it up as I go along. Initially it's a lot of computer set-up, looking at the current systems and seeing if they need to be changed, QuickBooks stuff, etc.

All in all, it's a great working environment. I'm pretty much overdressed if I wear jeans and a sweatshirt. Make-up is absolutely optional. Kevin is glad to have me on board and willing to work around the flexibility that I need. Plus his daughter Lily (5) has fallen in love with me and comes up to the office regularly and gives me hugs.

I'll probably end up working 30 or so hours a week, which is fine for me. Here are some pictures of my workplace:

 

This is my desk. Yes, that's a plasma TV behind my chair. So far we haven't had the TV on, but it's an option.

 

This is the view from my desk. On the right is Kevin's desk area and on the left is the corporate kitchen. Kevin regularly supplies yogurt which is really nice.

 

Opposite my desk is a couch and behind that the stairs that lead to the exit and to the corporate gym.

 

And how about this? The corporate nap room? Yes, there is a bedroom off the office, so conceivably, if I got really tired I could lay down for a quick nap. But since I don't know how to take a nap of less than two hours, I don't think I'm going to chance using it.

Di

Working Girl

About 6 years ago, my husband and I decided it was time for me to quit my job. I called it "retiring" but that sounded kind of silly since I wasn't quite 40 at the time. Silly or not, I still called it "retiring."

Recently, a chain of events led to my reconsideration of retirement. It was a combination of things. In this economy, I don't think you can take anything for granted, so a second income is a good idea. Plus, I have always taken great pride in my work and get incredible personal satisfaction from it. I have also enjoyed the positive reinforcement from my employers. In the past 6 years where my job was stay-at-home Mom, I've noticed a certain lack in both the personal satisfaction and the positive reinforcement.

It's just hard to summon up personal satisfaction for repetitive work that is actually never completed...like laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, making beds, etc. And the older my kids get, the less positive reinforcement I get from them. I know that's not their job. They shouldn't be expected to say, "Wow Mom, you got four loads of laundry done in one day!" or "It is so cool that our lights and phones stay on because of the amazing work you do paying bills!" I do get some satisfaction when they say, "Good dinner Mom!" But more often than not, I hear, "I'm not hungry" or "I don't like this."

So, I decided it was time to become a:

Well, without the big hair, Jersey accent and "bod for sin."

Tune in tomorrow for more on this story...the hows, whens and whats!

Di

Rebates Suck!

Today I took $12.13 and threw it in the trash can next to my desk. I am not accustomed to throwing money away, although some may argue that the purchase of my Prada shoes was pretty impractical. But I defend that decision over two years ago to this day as they are still the most amazing shoes EVER. Did I digress? It's OK because it's a Prada digression, so it doesn't count!

Just to prove the foolish thing I did, here is photographic evidence:

It's not my fault!!! You see, when my son's cell phone contract came up for renewal, he was eligible for a free cell phone. Free my ass! It has now cost me $12.13. You see, it would be unthinkable for them to just give it to you free and send you on your way. No, they have to charge you $49.99 and then send you a rebate. Not just any rebate, a credit card. Not a check that you could just deposit in the bank. I didn't think much of it and used it the next time I was purchasing something, leaving a balance of $12.13 on the card.

I kept meaning to use it at Starbucks or somewhere that my balance would be such a small amount, but never got around to it. Then yesterday I decided to use it online only to find out that it expired December 31, 2008. It got me wondering just how much money AT&T is making on unused funds on rebate cards. I'm guessing it's no small amount. It sucks. It's bad customer service...but AT&T is the only company that supports my iPhone and we know we're not going THERE!

I think the reason this struck a cord with me was that this week I took my son to the eye doctor and he got new contacts. We had found that his monthly lenses bothered him when he played baseball, so the doctor suggested getting several sets of dailies that he would wear and dispose of just for baseball. Probably dust and stuff was getting on his contacts during baseball rendering them uncomfortable for the remainder of the month he was supposed to wear them. Sounds logical to me.

As I was leaving, the cashier handed me a rebate form...which I, of course, can't find for the life of me...for $100 back on the dailies!

I paid over $300 for the assorted contacts that we got and went on my way. But why can't they just take $100 off my bill? Why do they have to put me through this BS where I now have to take the ends off my son's contact boxes, fill out a form, mail it in...and probably get another fucking Visa card that I won't use to its fullest!!!

Rebates suck. They suck your money from you. They prey on your lack of motivation to fill the thing out, get the appropriate documentation required, mail it in and then spend the non-cash funds they send you.

Could somebody fix this? Thank you!

Di

Say it ain't so, N&O!

Everyone knows I LOVE my morning paper. But today, as I was walking up the driveway, looking at the front page, I noticed a severe case of unnecessary quotation marks! The biggest headline above the fold read:

Obama: Stimulus key to avert 'catastrophe'

In my humble, grammar geek opinion, by starting the headline with Obama followed by a colon, they have already indicated that they are quoting or paraphrasing something Obama said. Putting "catastrophe" in quotation marks is redundant and unnecessary.

The REALLY interesting thing is that I think they caught it too...after the paper went to press. I was looking at the News & Observer on-line so that I could link to the actual article. I was nicely told by an N&O editor that I was not welcome to scan an article and post it on my blog. That's cool. I have no problem with that. When I found the article, the headline had changed to:

Obama defends stimulus plan

You be the judge...grammar gaffe or were they just trying to check to make sure I am still reading the paper every day?

Di

Top Books of 2008

So what have you been reading?

Because I’m kind of geeky, I started an Excel spreadsheet in 1997 listing the books that I read, keeping track of date read, who recommended it and a 1-10 rating. At the end of the year, I enjoyed sorting through what I had read and doing a top 10 list. When I started my blog in 2006, it became an annual staple. 12 years later, I have a spreadsheet listing over 800 books that I have read…so rest assured that if you need a book recommendation, I’m a good one to ask!

This year it seemed like writing and building a house and actually working (albeit temporarily) kept me from reading at my usual frenetic pace, but I still read enough to have some good books for my list. So, here are my top 5 fiction books and top 6 non-fiction books  (sorry, I just couldn’t narrow it down!) that I read in 2008. I hope you find something that will inspire you to pick up a book you might not otherwise have read. (The links provided are to my reviews of the books.)

TOP 5 FICTION
PLEASE LINK THE URLS TO THE BOOK TITLES…THANKS!

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (thanks to my sister Linda for the recommendation)

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski (thanks to Stephen King for the recommendation)

In the Woods by Tana French (thanks to FSB Associates for sending me a free copy to review)

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (thanks to my BF Amy for recommending)

Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward

TOP 6 NON-FICTION

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (thanks to Andrea who tried to recommend it, but I never called her back and eventually found it myself being the Carrie Fisher-stalking loving person I am )

Comfort by Ann Hood (not sure, but if I had to guess I'd say Amy)

Comeback by Claire & Mia Fontaine (Andrea again! Andrea, if you are reading this, please leave a comment with your last 5 book recommendations....Andrea was off her feet for 6 weeks after surgery and probably read a ton! I'm sure with your 2008 track record, my readers want to know.)

In an Instant by Bob & Lee Woodruff (thanks to FSB Associates again. Book bloggers, if you are getting books from publishers, my opinion is that FSB Associates has the best record of sending books that you actually might like.)

Escape by Carolyn Jessop (Vicky...who recommended this ages ago, I bought it well over a year before I read it...and I loved it)

Strong at the Broken Places by Richard Cohen (I didn't mark down who recommended this, but Richard Cohen is Meredith Vieira's husband who has suffered with MS and colon cancer.)

I would LOVE to see your comments about what great books YOU read in 2008. It might give me books to add to my 2009 list! So far, the two books I've read in 2009 have scored an 8 and a 10...and the one I'm reading looks promising!

Di