328 The Last Oldsmobile

A sad day last week. The last Oldsmobile rolled off the line in Lansing MI. Was there anything prettier than a bright red Cutlass convertible of the late 60s-early 70s? I heard a guy on the radio say it stood for

Old
Ladies
Driving
Slowly
Mostly
Over
Bridges
Into
Lake
Erie

327 Are they really like family?

When I was the veterinary medicine librarian at The Ohio State University, I witnessed a huge shift in the English language. Small animal medicine became pet animal medicine and exotic animal medicine which then became companion animal medicine during my 14 years there. Dogs, cats, parrots, ferrets, sugar gliders, pot-bellied pigs, bunnies, etc., all went from being animals that could be owned, to companions and members of the family. Cats and dogs were no longer purchased or selected, they were “adopted,” as though the person or couple had tried to physically give birth to one and couldn’t so they went the adoption route!

So imagine my shock and surprise today when I saw a poster at Panera’s advertising for a new home for Brady and Maddy because their “parents” were splitting up. The “D” word, divorce, was not mentioned, so I assume these “parents,” gay or straight, had “illegitimate” puppies who no longer fit into their lifestyle scheme of things.

These cute Beagle mixes weighing 45 lbs. (one with German Shepherd and one with Coonhound, although they looked much the same in their photographs) were caged trained for 40 hour work weeks, each had CAR chips (security), up to date shots and medical routines, and were accustomed to a long list of grooming aids and lap sitting during TV time, which were listed on the poster. The owners, I mean parents, even listed the name and address of the veterinary clinic which Brady and Maddy really liked.

And I’m all teary thinking about those two little Beagle mixes, sitting in their cages 40 hours a week, waiting patiently for their “family” to come home to play. And this is their reward? They would have been better off to be dogs.

326 Meeting code with Braille

My grandmother was blind and raised nine children on the farm with no electricity or running water. I don't believe she ever learned Braille, but she did enjoy her Talking Books, loved listening to her Chicago Cubs on the radio, and had a small business she did by telephone.

However, even as amazing as she was (knew her huge flock of grandchildren by voice), I doubt that she could have used the instructions in Braille on the baby changing table in the ladies restroom. I'm not sure what they say--probably something about not leaving the child unattended. I noticed the instructions on a newly installed table at Caribou yesterday, because if used, the table would block the door.

Think about it. If a mother with a babe on hip makes her way into the building from the parking lot, through the restaurant/store/coffee shop to the ladies room, feels along the wall until she can find the folded up table, pauses to read the instructions in Braille, pulls it down and clicks it into place, manuevers around between the stalls and sinks to find a place for the diaper bag, would she be so careless as to leave the baby there alone?

Even in the 1980s, Grandma said life was easier and safer in the 1920s when she was raising hers on the farm.

325 Jobs picking up, just as predicted

The jobless recovery must be over, because the news recently has been about the turnaround. Maybe good service will be next? I know three young men, ages from the late 20s to late 30s who all say the same thing--"Corporate doesn't care about the customer anymore--just the bottom line."

One is a salesman for medical cleaning supplies,

one is a cowboy on a ranch, and

one is a service manager for a foreign car dealer.

Beats me.

324 Second Chancers

I've seen three articles in the Wall Street Journal this week about career women who stopped working to raise their children and who are now going back to work--either because the children are starting high school or college, or there is a divorce looming on the economic horizon.

One former executive ($100,000 in 1996) said she couldn't afford to take the $40,000/year salary offered for an entry level job because of child care costs for her 3 sons, 8, 4, and 2. Really? She wants to cheat another woman out of a living wage so she can go to work? I remember seeing a cartoon about this in one of my grandmother's old Ladies Home Journal from the woman's suffrage movement days of the early 20th century.

I have a suggestion for Ms. Picky Executive. Take the $40,000 job, pay 2/3 of it out in child care, new clothes, gasoline, lunches and taxes. Figure it as "reentry fees" or "dues." It's a small price for having been able to enjoy the kids for a few years--something a lower paid clerical worker or teacher probably didn't get to do. Then in a few years when you're worth more because you've retooled, caught up and gotten an attitude adjustment, go for the big one.

323 New Households--loosely defined

The Daily Reporter, Columbus' only daily business and legal newspaper (est. 1896) comes to us on Thursday, because of the AIA information. There is a column called "New Households," taken from the records of marriage licenses applications of Franklin County. Today's paper listed 55 applications. However, according to the addresses, 36 of the couples were already residing at the same address.

322 Cheap date

Last night we went to the 50 cent Tuesday Movie with our neighbor to see Miracle with Kurt Russell, the story of the 1980 Olympics Team USA hockey win. She is recently widowed and misses her spouse of 50+ years and we miss our parents who were of her generation and experience, so we're good for each other. None of us know much about hockey, but we enjoyed the story of team building, hope and surprise as a young, inexperienced group of self-centered college kids put aside old hurts and gripes to become champions who boost the self-esteem of an entire nation. As the credits roll at the end, it was interesting to see the one-sentence bios of the players many of whom have done quite well in finance and real estate.

321 Bookclub selections for 2004-2005

Our final meeting of the bookclub calendar is in May--we have a shorter session, then select books for the next year. Each member has the opportunity to recommend a book (or two) she has read and then promote it for about 90 seconds. Absentees can send along a book and recommendation with a friend. Then we vote and the top nine are selected. This group will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year--I joined in October 2000, when I retired. The list for next year is

Seabiscuit

Upside down World, with author as guest

In but not of

Secret life of bees

Eats, shoots leaves

The living

Evensong

Ship of gold

#1 Ladies Detective Agency

Hush, a children's book will be a special meeting with the illustrator as a guest.

Sounds like a great year!

320 Got a hot date?

The President got rave reviews for the time spent with the 9/11 panel. The media tried to make hay the day before, but the sun just didn't shine. USAToday in reporting it buried the remarks about full cooperation and "extraordinary" in the middle of the article, then padded it with a rehash of the Richard Clarke book. WSJ described it--first paragraph--forthcoming, candid, gracious and friendly.

However, a small item was buried in yesterday's paper: two Democrats on the panel, Kerry and Hamilton, left the 9/11 commission's meeting with President Bush early to attend "previously scheduled appointments." What would that be exactly? What would be more important than a private meeting with a United States President, more important than national security? Shame. Shame.

319 Librarians are not babysitters

Those of us who grew up in small towns, who walked to the library during the limited hours it was open, who knew it was a special place safe for children find it hard to imagine some of the issues today's public librarians have to deal with.

The sub-headline in today's Columbus Dispatch looked a bit startling, "no pets or children under 7," but the story was about unattended children in the Columbus Public Library system. New rules. No children under 7 without a parent or caregiver.

The reporter included a story about a child young enough to have dirty diapers left with siblings and a sack of McDonald's hamburgers while Mama went off to the shopping center. Now, if the staff can't find the parent within 30 minutes, they will call the police. One mother interviewed for the story said her own limit for leaving children alone at the library is age 14. Other parents (and staff) thought the age limit for unattended children should be set higher.

I'm not sure what the rules are at my suburban library--if I'm there (rarely) after 3 p.m., I see many unattended children whose parents use it as an after-school day care program. I haven't seen any behavior problems, just a little competition for the computers, but I don't think libraries are any safter than supermarkets for unattended children, and with the internet access, they may be less safe.

318 Macho-fashion

The Wall Street today featured an article on the clothing style I mentioned in #316--ultra-masculine dressing for women. It's not called "dress for success" as 25 years ago, but "dual gender" dressing.

It is Annual Report time for our investments. I always flip through and look at the names and photos of the officers and board members. No matter how women dress (and usually they look more casual and cutesy than the men of the same level), they are poorly represented or stuck in the feminine ghetto of PR, HR or "consultant." I've already tossed some, but here's the current batch results.

AMBAC has many women in the photos, but none in the Directors' offices, one out of ten in the executive suite, and eight out of thirty-nine among senior officers.

ManorCare has thirty-eight Directors and Officers, six of whom are women.

Fording Coal Trust identifies all officers by initials, but includes Mr. or Dr. before the name. No women in the photos, except for Jackie Gentile, who operates some coal machinery.

Home Depot has twenty seven on its Leadership Team, with four women; the Board of Directors has eleven white men and one black woman, a two-fer. Photos that include women staff (about 1 in 4) show them either wearing the orange apron or doing volunteer work on behalf of the company.

ExxonMobil lists all officers by initial (with no Mr.), but the Directors' photo shows nine white men, two white women, and one black woman.

Nextel has nine men and two women on its Board of Directors, and two of the twenty-one Officers are women.

Apache's cover shows eleven men in hard hats in Qasr, Egypt, who are various geophysical experts and operations managers. The leadership photo shows two guys, the Founder and the CEO.

Everest Re Group has seven men on the Board of Directors and sixteen male Senior Officers. This company is in the reinsurance business, so I'm not sure why it is such a tough area for women.

Healthcare Realty Trust has eight on the Board of Directors, the one woman is a consultant. Of the other twenty four corporate officers, seven are women.

Pactiv has sixteen Directors and Officers, only five of whom, all men, showed up for the class photo. Two are women, and one of those is an "advisor."

My church has thirteen on its leadership team--all men.

317 The New Life Crisis

Today's Wall Street Journal called it a second mid-life crisis, but you can't go through the middle years twice, so it is either another transition, or it is a "new life" crisis--i.e., retirement. Apparently, seniors are getting face lifts, buying Harleys, and finding themselves. Silly.

However, we are looking to buy a Mercedes, a luxury car--leather interior, etc. Ok, so it is a 1970 and doesn't have as many perks or bells and whistles as my Dodge mini-van. See? If you wait long enough, the standards of luxury of a previous generation will become common place.

It is also called SKIing--Spending the Kids Inheritance.

316 A Teacher by any other Name

IBM had a huge 2 page spread in today's Wall Street Journal. On the left was Nancy DeViney, a "cross-industry learning innovator." She also looked like a cross-dresser. The handsome pants suit appeared identical to a man's dress suit, but also she was sitting on the edge of a desk, one leg dangling, the other touching (barely) the floor. The typical, casual, guy pose. Thinking they were trying to impress readers with a female executive (and she is the head of a huge division), I then read the large text on the second page. A "cross-industry learning innovator" is an educator--in the corporate setting--she helps businesses train their staff.

Women teachers. Who knew?

315 Bloom along the bough

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough.
A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

It’s beautiful walking around the condo complex. The mature flowering trees (some probably 25 years old) are so graceful. Their petals are building snowdrifts where I walk. After 20 minutes, unpleasant work called inside the house. A painter is coming tomorrow to give us an estimate, and it is time to do something about the electric yellow guest room with the black carpeting, and mountains of drapes. We took down the drapery material fastened to the wall and measured it: any ideas for 10’ x 17’ of lined black and forest green check fabric, completely lined? E-mail me.

314 Such a wonderful description

Joseph Epstein, who wrote Envy (2003) has an article in the WSJ today about the gloom and doom attitude of many Conservatives. He describes a speaker with the following wonderful sentence:

So devastatingly gloomy was his prognosis that it could have plucked the smile out of Christmas, the cliches out of the Fourth of July, the joy out of a beagle puppy.

And later he mentions "double parking at the wailing wall." Isn't that great--the writing, I mean, not the speaker.

313 Exercise and mental fitness

A small note in USAToday and a long article in the Columbus Dispatch today noted that Ohio State researchers have determined that exercise helps older people maintain mental sharpness. The study involved people with COPD and it is assumed the results will translate to healthier older people. Still, I was a bit surprised to see the juxtaposition of skills listed:

follow a recipe

keep track of pills

learn computer programs.

So I went home, took my pills, walked for 20 minutes, then turned on the computer.
On-line version of USAToday article.

312 A Plug for McDonald's

While on the road last week, specifically at an exit near Brighton, MI, I had the new McDonald's Cob Salad with grilled chicken. Pillowed with field greens, the chicken, blue cheese, bacon, chopped egg and grape tomatoes with a peek-a-boo sliver of carrot was a tasteful $3.99 in a nice plastic salad bowl with cover and a choice of dressings by Paul Newman. It was so good, I ordered it on the return trip. The greens were fresh and the chicken was hot, and it felt so good to get out of the car. It has 270 calories (I assume without the dressing), 9 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of fat, and 33 grams of protein. I use only about 1/4 of the dressing package.

To be accurate, this is the description on a McDonald's site

Grilled Chicken Breast Filet: Boneless, skinless chicken breast filets with rib meat containing: up to 12% of a solution of water, seasoning [salt, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, spices, whey, flavor (maltodextrin, natural flavors (vegetable source), dextrose, monosodium glutamate), partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, Romano cheese (Romano cheese {milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, calcium chloride}, nonfat dry milk, disodium phosphate), parmesan cheese powder (enzyme modified parmesan cheese {milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, calcium chloride}, nonfat dry milk, disodium phosphate), xanthan gum, cheese flavor (dehydrated cheddar cheese {cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes}, maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract), extractives of paprika (color), potassium sorbate (preservative), citric acid, and less than 2% silicon dioxide added to prevent caking], partially hydrogenated soybean oil and partially hydrogenated corn oil with citric acid (preservative), sodium phosphates. May contain wheat from contact with Crispy Chicken Breast Filet. Salad Mix: Iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spring mix (may contain baby red romaine, baby green romaine, baby red leaf, baby green leaf, baby red swiss chard, baby red oak, baby green oak, lolla rosa, tango, tatsoi, arugula, mizuna, baby spinach, radicchio, frisee), carrots. Bleu Cheese: Bleu cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), powder cellulose to prevent caking, natamyzin to protect flavor. Bacon bits: Cured with water, salt, smoke flavoring, sodium phosphate, seasoning [gum acacia, smoke flavor, maltodextrin, hydrolyzed corn protein, natural flavor (vegetable source), autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed corn, wheat, and soy protein, modified cornstarch, contains less than 2% of disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, natural flavor (vegetable oil), salt, succinic acid, xanthan gum], sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite. Chopped boiled egg. Grape tomatoes.

Newman's Own® Cobb Dressing:
Water, soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, blend of parmesan, Romano and granular cheeses (part skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, whey, lactic acid, citric acid), corn syrup, corn starch, salt, spices and natural flavors (fruit and vegetable source), egg yolks, olive oil, anchovy* (dextrin, anchovy extract, salt), maltodextrin, xanthan gum, basil, lactic acid, garlic*, red bell pepper*, parsley, oregano, molasses, Worcestershire sauce {distilled vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, water, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices, tamarind, natural flavor (fruit source)}, onion*, yeast extract, oleoresin turmeric, oleoresin paprika. *Dehydrated

311 Why Women Like Kerry

In today's USAToday (April 27) is the snapshot "Who Would Do a Better Job of Managing the Economy Over the Next Four Years?" 35% of women say Bush, and 48% of women say Kerry. I wonder why that is? Maybe they can identify with him.

He hasn't owned a business or been a CEO of one, or been part of a management team in business.

His spouse has more assets than he does.

He believes that reassigning money he hasn't earned to "do good" is the best way to solve societal problems.

He likes to change his mind on issues and can talk both sides of an issue without coming to a conclusion.

He's got great hair.

310 Magazines look at bloggers

While researching one of my other blogs In the Beginning about premiere issues, I noticed this tid-bit in Folio about trends in magazines and how the net is affecting everything from content to design of print magazines.

But the new news on the Net is blogging, which fills an evident need for storytelling (on the part of the reader as well as the writer). Maybe magazines will take the hint and return to telling stories. The New Yorker, once commercially dubious, has roared back to life with the narrative form. Now all we have to do is attach an art director to this idea. To tell picture stories. That might get people to pick up more magazines. Here's another novel solution to the newsstand (and subscription) problem: originality in design. "The Trend is--there is no Trend," by Roger Black, Folio, March 1, 2004

The entire March 1 issue deals with design, attractive, functional and inviting. The articles are well worth reading because the principles apply in other areas too, particularly buildings and landscape.

309 Festival Report #3

I went to two presentations by Lauren Winner, author of “Girl meets God,” an autobiography by a 24 year old Orthodox Jew who converted to Christianity. She was the only presenter (of the sessions I attended) who prayed publicly before her presentation, and despite her young age (I think she is under 30) was the only woman presenter (of the sessions I attended) who dressed like anyone would care about her appearance. She is now Anglican, so perhaps her modest appearance is from her Orthodox life. However, when she was paired with a rather bombastic male author, Stephen Bloom, author of “Postville,” and a former press secretary for a politician, she seemed to quietly disappear from the stage as he took over the discussion.

Notes for writers (of memoir): Your siblings will remember it differently. Notes about life: On balance, protecting family and friends outweighs historical accuracy--and don’t forget about the lawsuits.

James Calvin Schaap (pronounced SKOP) was chosen because I got lost and couldn’t find the presentation I had marked. (Lovely campus; horrible signage) What a wonderful serendipity. He is a professor of English at Dordt College in Iowa and explained how he used ideas from his career as a journalist to be fleshed out in his fiction. If you are homesick for Iowa (or any of those flatter Midwestern states) we were treated to a 12 minute CD of his photography called “Chasing the Dawn; a Meditation,” which I think is available through Dordt College Press.

Notes for writers: “Great stories are in your neighborhood--use experience and imagination.” Notes about life: He is currently writing a book about Laotian Christians, relocated in the USA. Working through a translator, he interviewed a Laotian woman about her job in an Iowa meat packing plant, a job he thought too terrible to even imagine. She told him she loved her job because, “In Thailand I had to butcher the entire cow.”

I went to two presentations by Laurie R. King who read an original midrash which she said will be part of a collection of stories--readable, but which will contain source material. She also appeared on a panel with two other mystery writers, Michael Malone and Terence Faherty. I almost never read mystery fiction--King's being the exception because of book club--but after listening to these three I just might start.

Note for readers: Readers go to mysteries to get the great novels of the 19th and 20th century. . . You can bring the world in. . .moral, social concerns. Note for writers: many mystery writers on the best seller list.

These three probably had the best advice for writer-wannabees of any of the authors I heard. Malone was the head writer for "One life to Live," a day-time soap, which is how he supported himself between books. Fans keep the memories alive. Faherty keeps two series going, the Owen Keene series about a failed seminarian and the Scott Elliott books, set in post WWII.

I also attended a presentation by James Ransome, the illustrator of children's books who visited Highland School here in Columbus a few weeks ago. Nathan Bierma, who appears on my blog roll gave a presentation on blogging which was well attended. My goodness, he is young!