2137 I'm not sure I've ever seen one

I took one of those "which sports car are you?" I was a Mazda RX-8--but the photo image was too wide for my space, and there was no way to narrow it, so I took it down.

"You're sporty, yet practical, and you have a style of your own. You like to have fun, and you like to bring friends along for the ride, but when it comes time for everyday chores, you're willing to do your part."

2136 Let's go to a carnival

I don't participate in any of the carnivals, but I do occasionally take a peek, because you can find all of a kind at one site and click and read. Carol, the Median Sib (her whole family blogs) mentioned the Carnival of Education. I'm pretty much out of that loop, but still like to check in on the teacher blogs. When my children were in school, I was a holy terror. Not only did I expect my kids to do their job, I thought the school should too!

Yesterday I had coffee with a friend who retired from teaching last year. Now she teaches every day as a substitute, because she says it's fun. She doesn't have to do the paper work, and can even be choosy about what classes she'll teach. But she still does have to look at them--studs in their noses, lips, eyebrows, tongues and died pink hair. All the research is in--students learn better in schools that require uniforms, and even same sex classrooms, but school administrations don't seem to have a backbone when it comes to improvements in education that by-pass learning theory to get there.

For some reason, yesterday was a school holiday so my friend didn't teach and was free to have coffee like a real retired person. We have a number of friends who are retired, but stay regularly employed in warmer climates as subs while living on their pensions in vacation communities. They've had no education courses, weren't teachers by profession and one probably only had one year of college.

2135 Doctors who become nurses

Drop this one in the "unintended consequences" category. Immigration to the United States for nurses is much simpler than it is for physicians. Consequently, since 2000, more than 3500 Filipino physicians have taken accelerated nursing courses and have left for nursing jobs abroad. More than 4000 physicians are now in nursing school, not just new physicians, but internists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, family practitioners, and subspecialists. Now, the U.S. recruits nurses from abroad, creating crises in those countries, and depresses wages here at home. Sometimes it seems the more laws you make to protect one labor group, the worse you make it for someone else. (Story from New England Journal of Medicine, v. 354:5;529.)

Brain drain
Filipino nurses
Unintended consequences

2134 Thank your fairy blog mother week

While reading Uisce this morning, I learned it was Thank your fairy blog mother week. Like a lot of holidays, it has gotten out of hand. It used to be one day, now it is a whole week, which allows those of us who clicked in late to participate.

My fairy blog mother is PJ, a very talented and pretty professional writer I met on Usenet. It's possible she considers me her out-of-weblink, rather-forget-you bundle of grief whose daddy was the article in the Wall Street Journal which rated five blogging hosts. She's liberal and I'm conservative, and she sends me you did good love pats if I write sweet, endearing memories, but she defintely doesn't like my political/social/cultural take on the day to day things that matter.

Things were getting mighty nasty in the Miscellaneouswritingville (MWville) neighborhood back in 2003 and 2004. Gangs of thugs patrolled the streets. A Brit particularly was harrassing me. I had to block his e-mail--still do. So I tried blogging where I'd have the control, but had a few hitches in my get-along when I started and e-mailed PJ for help. She graciously threw a few hints my way and I was off and running, or blogging. Now I have seven blogs, but this is the one that gets most of my attention.

2133 My public library

has one title (1964) on the Lutheran church, but has The Complete annotated Grateful Dead lyrics. I don't know how many dead heads there are in Upper Arlington, but there are several thousand Lutherans.

Lutherans
Grateful Dead
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Librarianship

Thirteen magazine subscriptions you’ll find in NORMA’s house for which we have to find shelf space and/or a disposal route, usually our local Friends of the Library book sale. This isn’t all of them, but these are either worth passing on for a second look by someone else, or they are the keepers. 1. Home--stuff. 2. Metropolitan Home--more stuff. 3. Architectural Digest--over the top decorating, houses and places you’ll never visit and people you probably wouldn‘t feel comfortable with. I save the Hollywood issues, the ones that show REAL glamour from the 1930s and 1940s. The March 2006 is fabulous. 4. Residential architect--often features a regional, residential architect who does fine work but you’ve never heard of him. 5. This Old House--Few magazines retain their original format and style over the years, but this one has stayed with its roots. Why change success? 6. Fine Homebuilding--really fine. A real pleasure to look at. 7. Preservation--sometimes the “what not to do” photos are the best. After Steve Jobs (Apple) got permission to tear down his 80 year old house, a judge retracted the order. . . 8. Renovation Style--I look at this if there’s nothing else around. 9. Wired--probably the best buy out there--$10 for 12 issues, and always fascinating. 10. American Artist--we’ve subscribed for years--it began as a “bread and butter” thank you gift. 11. American Artist Watercolor--a spin-off; if owning a magazine could make me a better painter, this one should do it. Breath taking. 12. Columbus Bar Briefs--this came with another publication which has recently gone to e-mail, so I probably won’t see it anymore, but it is very interesting. No advertising, and odd bits of law you’ve never heard of without all the legal jargon. 13. Mind (Scientific American)--a quarterly, probably not worth the cost. I didn’t resubscribe. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Carol is first. 2. Nicole 3. Uisce 4. Killired 5. Matthew 6. Kelly 7. Lazy Daisy 8. Leesa, 9. Mar in Spain, 10.Nancy, 11. Janne, mother of 9, 12. Rough draft, 13. Courtney, 14. Colleen 15. Renee 16. Lindsey 17. Frog Legs 18. Jane 19. Joe Norman who loves musicals 20. Valbee 21. Ma 22. D. Visit my magazine blog to find out why I collect them.

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2131 It's no wonder Americans don't save money for retirement

The government makes it very difficult. My daughter called me yesterday about her plans for a Roth IRA for 2005 and 2006. She's read all the instructions three times and talked to her accountant, and still won't know until she has a professional do her taxes, whether she can do the entire $4,000. I picked up a tax preparation book at the library and leafed through to the IRA section. It was impossible to understand.

In 1995 the total pages of federal tax rules were 40,500; in 2004, 60,044.

In 2000 the number of IRS tax forms were 475; in 2004 they were 529.

In 1994 there were 16 loopholes for education and training; in 2004 that had risen to 28.

In 1995, 50% of taxpayers used paid tax preparers; in 2003, 62%.

In 1995 Americans spent 5.3 billion hours filling out tax forms; in 2004, 6.5 billion.

In 1995 there were 84 pages in the 1040 instruction book; in 2003 there were 131.

To complete the 1040, A,B, and D schedules in 1995, it required 21.2 hours; in 2003 it took 28.5. [figures from CATO Handbook on Policy, p. 120]

Roth IRA
Federal tax reform
Savings accounts

2130 The writing class assignment

This week for our writing group, our topic "tickler" is a memory evoked by a Norman Rockwell magazine cover or that of another famous illustrator. Those of you familiar only with today's run of the mill, same-face-of-the-day covers (Brad or Jen or Angelina or mix and match on five different covers), might wonder why a magazine cover would evoke a memory. Yet for the first 60-70 years of the 20th century artists competed to be on the cover of business, current events, fiction and general interest magazines, particularly, Collier's, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, Ford Times, Country Gentleman, Boys' Life, and Literary Digest, to name a few. And Norman Rockwell was one of the best and the most famous, and probably the richest, if commissions tell the tale.

However, by the time I was a young adult, snobbery had set in, and because of his success, his topics, or the building war in Asia which made us question and doubt anything pro-American it became popular to turn up your nose and sniff at Rockwell's populist and cliched paintings. If you look at his composition, his use of light and value, his humor, his pathos, his occasional caricature or pulling the viewer's nose, and his technique, he really is in a class with the painters of the Renaissance. (Look at one of his April Fool paintings in the 1940s; is it a joke or isn't it?)

Through no fault of his own, he became a target of art critics and art history teachers who couldn't agree on the value of realism, or whether art should tell a story, but were quite pious about their own favorites in modern and abstract art. Snooty, snooty, snooty. And a lot of us fell for it, even me. We learned to love (or at least hype) the ugly and profane. Middlebrow all the way. That was me. Afraid to say the emporer had no clothes.

This will be my topic for the class, never to see the light of day, of course.

Norman Rockwell
writing topics
American artists

2129 Has anyone heard from David?

Sometimes a blogger drops out of site and you wonder what has happened to him or her. David Durrant, the Heretical Librarian, is not exactly in that category, but his blog is quiet for now. One of the few conservative librarians in the blogosphere, he took off his sensible shoes and traded them in for army boots (well, National Guard, actually). He had a brief moment of fame in September when he had an article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education:

"Much has been made of the left's domination of college and university faculties. Yet in terms of political composition, the library profession makes your typical Ivy League faculty look like the Heritage Foundation. Had the 2004 election been confined to librarians, I firmly believe that the presidential race would not have been between Kerry and Bush, but between Kerry and Nader.

When David Brooks did some research into political donations by profession for his September 11, 2004, column in The New York Times, he found that for librarians "the ratio of Kerry to Bush donations was a whopping 223 to 1." By contrast, the corresponding ratio for academics was 11 to 1. As one of those rarest of beasts, a conservative librarian, I can attest firsthand to the stifling left-wing orthodoxy of modern American librarianship." The loneliness of a Conservative Librarian

In October he began his North Carolina National Guard training, and in January 2006 left for basic. He says he will blog again later--possibly April with some great stories we hope.

librarianship
David Brooks
political donations

2128 Judging a book by its cover

You've heard the old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." This book has a nice cover, interesting content, and it is very personal, like scrapbooking with a purpose. Sarah's Daughter tells about a type of "hope chest" for today's young woman, a 3 ring binder with articles, ideas and tips for the time her daughter leaves home. But Mom has made a nice cover for it. She wrote, "I printed some articles from the internet about purity, modesty, and godly girlhood. I was a bit disappointed, since there wasn’t much that was appropriate for a thirteen year old." Yes, mommy, the internet is not a good source for these topics--not even your public library will yield much. There are wonderful sources on the internet--the craft sites just amaze me, but its biggest money maker unfortunately is pornography. If just the Christians stopped using porn and its accouterments today, the industry would be in trouble tomorrow.

HT Mrs. Happy Housewife who says she's not desperate. Also at her site I read about Randi's on-line quilting class.

If you had a daughter about to leave the nest, what tip would you add? Or would she know it all by then?

2127 Coffee and cream to the extreme

Many years ago I'd order a scoop of vanilla ice cream with my coffee and I'd take a teaspoon or two of the ice cream and stir it into the coffee. That's actually how I started drinking coffee with cream, because before that I always drank it black. After awhile, it just didn't taste right black.

But this is a bit over the top, no pun intended.

2126 The Food Pantry

Today I volunteered at the Food Pantry, and frankly, I'm bushed. Almost too tired to blog. Almost. Standing, walking, stocking, and helping clients for five hours on concrete floors is sort of tiring--I don't feel old until I have to do something physical I don't usually do.

I haven't quite figured out the schedule, but I think our church takes responsibility for one week, staffs with volunteers, and then others fill in as needed. For instance, I was working with a lovely Baptist lady who lives in the area and just walked in and asked if she could volunteer. It's extremely well run by a former business executive, and is set up differently than when I volunteered a few times in the late 80s. There are several types of food--government surplus, grocery store surplus and past due date items, items purchased by the pantry in quantity, and donated food from local churches.

Everything that comes in has to be sorted, stored and shelved, or put in the coolers to keep them fresh. Fresh items vary. Today, for instance, everyone got 10 lbs. of potatoes and 5 lbs. of apples and as much bread as they wanted. At one point, volunteers from various churches who had picked up surplus and day-old items at bakeries around town arrived in their vans, so we all went outside with palettes and grocery carts and unloaded the vans. Then everything was repacked in boxes so they could be stored, with things that wouldn't keep well--birthday cakes, pecan and fruit pies, tortes, etc. going immediately to the shelves. When we had a lull, we'd sort and fold sacks, or break down boxes, or restock shelves. Sixty nine families were served at this location today.

2125 Ray Nagin vs. Pat Robertson

in the battle to say dumb things about God, who's winning? Here's a funny from The Sacred Sandwich

via Know Tea, whose site was just redone by SmockLady.

2124 Opening first class mail

"Leahy asked Gonzales if intelligence officers had the authority to open first-class mail, and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California asked if the Bush administration had other secret programs. Gonzales said he couldn't comment on hypothetical questions." Gonzales testimony

Today on Rush's show a caller mentioned that his 92 year old mother's job during WWII was opening first class mail. She brought down a 7 member German spy ring. Now, I can't verify this story--maybe he's talking through his baseball cap. But opening first class mail by government order 60 years ago did happen and may be the reason you're reading this today. Or maybe you're reading this because of more recent surveillance which stopped something.

2123 The Super Bowl Ads, My Take

I thought the Burger King commercial was the most disgusting, anti-woman piece of trash I've ever seen on TV, billboards or magazines combined. Whopperettes? Women dressed like 50s models in 50s type make-up being thrown into sandwish buns to create a Whopper? The leering old King? If this was a parody, a 1950s style lynching in a commercial would be a parody.

Ah, and the Rolling Stones. I left my computer and sat down in the living room to watch this one.
"Who are these guys?" my husband asked.
"Those are the Rolling Stones, they are about our age," I informed him, "See that black haired guy? I think he's deaf."
"They sound just awful, let's change the channel," he said.
"No, honey this stuff is history--Mick's been prancing like that at least 40 years--it's Super Bowl XL, you know."
"Why are they cheering this nonsense," he grumbled.
"Because it's a boomer thing, I think," I said.

How not to marry a jerk

There was a radio discussion of an upcoming book as I clicked through this morning that had a title something like this. So I thought I'd make up my own list. Mind you, I've never been married to a jerk, but I know a few people who have, and the signs were like billboards down that road to the church.

He might be a jerk and you should be cautious if

• either one of you were not legally, morally or emotionally free to date
  
• he bought your ring at a pawn shop
  
• he expects you to pay for the honeymoon
  
• he cares more about you than his kids
  
• you've met his parents and his dad is a jerk
  
• you've met his parents and he's a mama's boy
  
• he's had several jobs in the last year and it's always someone else's fault that it didn't work out
  
• he wants to move in with you before marriage, "to save money"
  
• he spends more time in front of the mirror than you do
  
• he has no hobbies--you're it
  
• he has a bad credit rating and a lot of credit card debt
  
• he doesn't like your kids and thinks they're spoiled and you spend too much time with them
  

He's definitely a jerk if

• he's never introduced you to his family and has told you nothing about his background
  
• he lies about missed appointments, income, friends, employment
  
• he exaggerates his importance, his skills, his talent, his abilities, his grades, his job reviews, the important people he knows
  
• he's unemployed and not looking or training for something else
  
• he's always borrowing money from you or his other friends, or is "just a little short this month" and expects you to pick up the tab
  
• he talks about the importance of his faith and values, but never goes to church with you, or invites you to his
  
• he suffers from road rage over minor infractions of other drivers
  
• you're embarrassed to play golf or tennis or cards with him because of his temper tantrums and poor sportsmanship
  
• he expects you to change your religion even though he isn't observant in his own
  

He's beyond jerk-dom and you need to run the other way and get some counseling if

• he's ever been physically abusive or takes pleasure in ridiculing you or making you the object of his "just kidding" stories
  
• he has a prison record or was in prison when you met (i.e., he was needy and you were the savior)
  
• he has a drug or alcohol problem he's not addressing with regular meetings and a support group
  
• he never sees his kids or is behind in his child support
  
• he has no friends, or won't introduce you to those he does have
  
• he's cruel to animals or abandons his pets
  

Do you have other suggestions to add to this list?

Women give signals too, but I'm not as familiar with those. Will take suggestions.

marriage advice

Monday Memories

Did I ever tell you about The day I had 80 people for brunch on a Spring day? This is my list of instructions I taped to the inside of a cabinet door, so I could check our progress as we went along. My daughter, son-in-law, and their sister-in-law were helping me. I found this list going through my files today and thought it made a nice "memory" blog. The menu was breakfast egg casserole, tender crisp fresh asparagus, rolls and muffins, mixed fresh fruit, and beverage. I used china and silver, but did use paper napkins. Food 2 baked breakfast casseroles (which my daughter prepared at her house) here by 10 a.m. One bacon, one no meat. Start 4 casseroles in the oven at 350 at 10 a.m. Two sausage, one bacon, one no meat. Start 2 casseroles at 11 a.m. Baking time is about one hour, and can sit awhile to firm up. This means the oven is on for 2 hours. If it gets too hot, open the kitchen window. One fruit mixture has strawberries. Use it first; large glass bowl. Other has apples. Keep water at near boiling temperature and cook asparagus as needed in large saucepan. Keep 2 vegetable bowls rotating for asparagus. There are 8 doz dinner rolls, 47 muffins, 16 sweet rolls, 10 pumpkin-cranberry, 19 coffee cake. Use the large glass plate and put only two types on a plate--have another plate prepared in kitchen, ready to go; do not put out a selection of all. Margarine and butter. Home-made jam. Beverage Coffee urn serves 30; ask Peggy to make. Decaf in maroon caraffe; make in 12 cup drip. I think the coffee will go fast, so we might want to make a 12 cup to keep ready while the 30 cup is re-brewing. Sweet 'n low, sugar, creamer, half n half, skim milk. Glass cups--15-20; we'll need to use styrofoam for backup (cups that match china are too difficult to use away from a table). Tea bags and cappuccino in kitchen with hot water next to dining room door. Orange juice on buffet in glass pitcher. Plastic cups for oj. Flatware and china 20 plates and flatware on table; when this is used, put out green pattern plates from kitchen counter. Meanwhile (son-in-law) collect used plates, scrape and wash and replace on table with clean flatware. Napkins inside cabinet. Kitchen Keep south counter for stacking clean dishes. Wash left to right with space immediately left of sink for dirty dishes. Leave north counter clear for fruit and bread preparation. Use dishwasher top next to stove for casseroles and asparagus preparation. Keep trash container under sink. Dirty pans go to laundry room--wash later. All food prep and serving in kitchen; carry to dining room Seating By 11:30 it should be warm enough to be sitting on the patio. 2 tables, 12 chairs. 3 director's chairs with snack table on driveway side for smokers. 4 chairs in den. 9-10 in office. 11 in living room. If looking for a place to sit, can also use my office, or the guest room upstairs. Hang coats in front closet. Addendum, Feb. 2006: It was a fabulous day; everything went as planned; everyone had a great time and plenty to eat. And the hostess had a good time. If it had rained. . .there would be a different blog here. Links to other Monday Memories (If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below) 1. Joan, 2. Running2K, 3. Kimmy and Jacob, 4. Ladybug

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2120 If we were as touchy as Muslims

would we be burning down buildings over the "Beauty Buyable?"



From the Amazon reviewer: This book has not even been released yet and has already sold hundreds of copies. If you haven't heard, it will be published with fifty free samples and coupons including many prestige products. The samples and book will be packaged in a box. Yes ladies, a box filled with products and discounts that you can only get with the book!

"Free" and "coupon" are the magic words. Yesiree, folks, these companies exist to give their products away. The original coupon was a wooden nickle. Now they look like credit cards, and we call them loyalty cards.

According to Galley Cat, the Buyable contains masstige brands--mass market + presige. This word first appeared around 1996. ". . . masstige brands have particular appeal to urban consumers, who are always striving to be trendy but aren't above a bargain. Target was one of the first to push masstige with its introduction of Mossimo and Michael Graves products." Word Spy.

2119 Super Bowl Hype

Friday's USAToday had a bonus sports section E as well as it's regular sports section C, and a front page story all on Super Bowl XL. But it was also covered in the Money section B. And that's where the Super Bowl stories should always be, on the Money page. I read that the ads were running $2.5 million for 30 seconds. I think I saw that Dove was running its real women have curves ad--for guys drinking beer and shouting at the TV?

So don't ever tell me that what kids see on TV or movies or computer games doesn't matter or control their brains. The advertisers know better or they wouldn't be spending this kind of money on adults. Why don't parents know this?

2118 Sometimes it just smells like death

"When I admit a new patient from the ER who reeks of cigarette smoke,. . . I watch his oxygen requirements closely and keep cancer in my differential diagnosis no matter what the reasons for his presentation." "Becoming a physician: the physical exam and the sense of smell," A. Bomback, NEJM, v.354:4;327

"Among U.S. cigarette smokers, African Americans and Native Hawaiians are more susceptible to lung cancer than whites, Japanese Americans, and Latinos." "Ethnic and racial differences in the smoking-related risk of lung cancer," NEJM, v.354:4;333.

It appeared to me that the authors of this study really struggled to find a socioeconomic reason for the discrepancy between ethnic groups for lung cancer. But the findings were not explained by diet, occupation or socioeconomic status. And after 30 cigarettes a day, it was a level graveyard anyway.

My son is on a new plan to give up, or at least cut back on, the cigarettes. It's a killer of a habit, and he started at 14.