Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I'm sorry Michael (not really)
I wasn't gonna blog tonight because I'm really tired, BUT, I just had to say something about the KU-KSU basketball game. Mike, I hope you are swallowing this bitter pill gracefully -the KSU Wildcats beat the Jayhawks for the first time in how many years? 20 some years? Isn't that right Michael? And the pill is even more difficult to swallow because, oh let's see, isn't this KU's first loss this season? Mike? You there? (snort)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Why I won't buy Charmin toilet paper
A quick blog note today. It's bright and sunny-a fine day weather-wise is in store. AND, I'm going to get to visit "the babies" today! (And the babies' parents too...I don't want them to feel left out.) My nephew and his wife-(would she be a 'niece in law'?) have an 18 month old daughter and an almost 2 week old son, whom I've not met yet, so the nephew's mom and I are traveling up to see them. Woo Hoo! It'll be fun. My house is a mess, my laundry needs doing, there's a million and three things I could do today, but playing with babies takes the priority this day.
I posted a Jeep Liberty commercial earlier on my blog, which brought about a little discussion on my uncle's blog concerning the plethora of commericals, and how annoying they are. Actually, I agree with that-most of them are awful-repetitive, intrusive, and just plain irritating. So it's a breath of fresh air when one comes along that's entertaining. Of course, what's entertaining to one is not to another, so there ya go. I will say, along this line, that recently, the most offensive commerical I've seen (which I don't think they are airing anymore, thank God) was a toilet paper commerical with the animated bears on it, so I think it was Charmin, touting the 'long lasting roll', and the music playing during this commerical was, (here comes the offensive part), Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from the famous oratorio, The Messiah. The first time I saw that commercial, I was (here comes my favorite word) aghast. The second time I saw the commerical, I muted it. And the third time I saw it, I changed TV stations. I resolved to never buy Charmin toilet paper while that commerical was on TV. And I still may never buy it, I'm still up in arms about using that music to promote toilet paper of all things. I wondered if that music is now public domain - it has to be. I don't know who in their right mind with an appreciation for that sacred work would give permission for it to be used in that way.
Well, it's off to visit "the babies". Hope your day goes well.
I posted a Jeep Liberty commercial earlier on my blog, which brought about a little discussion on my uncle's blog concerning the plethora of commericals, and how annoying they are. Actually, I agree with that-most of them are awful-repetitive, intrusive, and just plain irritating. So it's a breath of fresh air when one comes along that's entertaining. Of course, what's entertaining to one is not to another, so there ya go. I will say, along this line, that recently, the most offensive commerical I've seen (which I don't think they are airing anymore, thank God) was a toilet paper commerical with the animated bears on it, so I think it was Charmin, touting the 'long lasting roll', and the music playing during this commerical was, (here comes the offensive part), Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from the famous oratorio, The Messiah. The first time I saw that commercial, I was (here comes my favorite word) aghast. The second time I saw the commerical, I muted it. And the third time I saw it, I changed TV stations. I resolved to never buy Charmin toilet paper while that commerical was on TV. And I still may never buy it, I'm still up in arms about using that music to promote toilet paper of all things. I wondered if that music is now public domain - it has to be. I don't know who in their right mind with an appreciation for that sacred work would give permission for it to be used in that way.
Well, it's off to visit "the babies". Hope your day goes well.
Monday, January 21, 2008
A heartbreak
10:30, Monday night. There's a thin layer of ice out on the streets, and the temperature is bitterly cold. I'm thinking about getting out to go to work tomorrow-and hope I don't have to drive on streets that are untreated. I just hate driving on ice. The only good thing is that I drive an old car, so if I'm hit, I won't lose a lot financially.
So I haven't written about work in awhile. I do have some interesting cases this year, and one situation in particular has been most challenging. When I was going to WSU to get my degree, much discussion in classes had to do with nature vs nurture theories of development. There are smart people on both sides of the argument, and many straddling the line. I think about this as I work with a young student at one of my schools. "Robbie" (not his real name) is growing up in a far from ideal environment, and there is much that needs to happen in Robbie's homelife in order to bring it up to a minimal standard of what is good for children. However, I've been acquainted with many children who do not live in good environments, and in all my years of working with children and families, he is one of the most ill-adjusted children I've ever had the privilege of knowing. If you were to see him, you might assume that he was truly a "wild child", reared in the jungle by wolves. He is aggressive and angry - striking out at other students and teachers. He does not use words to express himself, but screams and swears. Robbie's caretaker is detached from him, and is in denial regarding Robbie's difficulties. Although Robbie's environment has truly contributed to his problems, I also believe that he has some sort mental malfunction-I think there is an organic cause to much of this problem.
I told someone that when you look into his eyes, you don't see a little boy looking back at you. You see something or someone else. It IS our responsibility to educate him-but the sad truth is, before we teach him colors, numbers, and shapes, we have to teach him to use the toilet, to communicate with words instead of kicks, bites, slaps, and punches, and to follow those norms of school like standing in line, waiting his turn, and following the leader. We even are working with him to eat his snack like a person instead of like a dog. The big picture is that this little boy is not just the school's problem, he is society's problem, and all of us are affected. The awful truth is, school is the best thing he's got going for him but we aren't miracle workers. I suspect that unless he has intensive interventions immediately, in addition to what we can do for him at school, he will not ever contribute positively in society. Our local child welfare agency has been notified but as of last week, they saw no reason to intervene. In the future, the rest of the story will unfold, but not without pain and heartbreak on every side. I'll keep you posted on his progress.
So I haven't written about work in awhile. I do have some interesting cases this year, and one situation in particular has been most challenging. When I was going to WSU to get my degree, much discussion in classes had to do with nature vs nurture theories of development. There are smart people on both sides of the argument, and many straddling the line. I think about this as I work with a young student at one of my schools. "Robbie" (not his real name) is growing up in a far from ideal environment, and there is much that needs to happen in Robbie's homelife in order to bring it up to a minimal standard of what is good for children. However, I've been acquainted with many children who do not live in good environments, and in all my years of working with children and families, he is one of the most ill-adjusted children I've ever had the privilege of knowing. If you were to see him, you might assume that he was truly a "wild child", reared in the jungle by wolves. He is aggressive and angry - striking out at other students and teachers. He does not use words to express himself, but screams and swears. Robbie's caretaker is detached from him, and is in denial regarding Robbie's difficulties. Although Robbie's environment has truly contributed to his problems, I also believe that he has some sort mental malfunction-I think there is an organic cause to much of this problem.
I told someone that when you look into his eyes, you don't see a little boy looking back at you. You see something or someone else. It IS our responsibility to educate him-but the sad truth is, before we teach him colors, numbers, and shapes, we have to teach him to use the toilet, to communicate with words instead of kicks, bites, slaps, and punches, and to follow those norms of school like standing in line, waiting his turn, and following the leader. We even are working with him to eat his snack like a person instead of like a dog. The big picture is that this little boy is not just the school's problem, he is society's problem, and all of us are affected. The awful truth is, school is the best thing he's got going for him but we aren't miracle workers. I suspect that unless he has intensive interventions immediately, in addition to what we can do for him at school, he will not ever contribute positively in society. Our local child welfare agency has been notified but as of last week, they saw no reason to intervene. In the future, the rest of the story will unfold, but not without pain and heartbreak on every side. I'll keep you posted on his progress.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Enjoy!
I LOVE this commercial! I do not own, nor do I intend to buy a Jeep Liberty but...I...I...I have no excuse, it just makes me laugh!
Trivial and not so trivial
Oh my. January 5 was last-Saturday. I'm still alive, still here, but apparently, I've been WAY too busy to post anything. Of course I haven't, and I've been thinking about it, but you know-when there's nothing to say, there's nothing to say.
It was sort of an eventful week, but all trivial stuff, except for one exciting moment when Gabriel John made his appearance on January 7-that's my mother's birthday. I'm no genealogist, that would be my sister's job, but I believe Gabriel would be my great nephew. I'm no great aunt, I'll just be happy if he recognizes me once in awhile after he gets older.
I was glad to make connection with Jay this week and to hear that his new job is going well. My dryer died last Saturday, and so this past Thursday, he and Kevin came over and helped the Husband install a new dryer vent in preparation for the new dryer, which was delivered yesterday. (I made them dinner in payment. That kind of bill I can handle.) We're down a vehicle, as my oldest son's truck is in the shop beginning the second week tomorrow and he has borrowed our pickup that our youngest son usually drives. Oldest son works more than full time out of town, youngest son works part time at WSU, so guess who has a worse need for a car. Last week, elaborate plans had to be made about getting youngest son to work-who would take him, who would pick him up, all complicated by my daughter's dental surgery which had to be attended by someone as she was having general anesthesia. We used our "safety net" - we had family we could call upon to help us during this time while we were being a safety net for our kids who needed us to help them.
Many of the families I work with at the one school I'm assigned to have no safety nets. They've either been burned or used up. With no car, no money, no family to help-how do you get to work at your minimum wage job when you have no transportation, or get home repairs completed if you have no one to help? I'm very grateful for that strength in my life.
It was sort of an eventful week, but all trivial stuff, except for one exciting moment when Gabriel John made his appearance on January 7-that's my mother's birthday. I'm no genealogist, that would be my sister's job, but I believe Gabriel would be my great nephew. I'm no great aunt, I'll just be happy if he recognizes me once in awhile after he gets older.
I was glad to make connection with Jay this week and to hear that his new job is going well. My dryer died last Saturday, and so this past Thursday, he and Kevin came over and helped the Husband install a new dryer vent in preparation for the new dryer, which was delivered yesterday. (I made them dinner in payment. That kind of bill I can handle.) We're down a vehicle, as my oldest son's truck is in the shop beginning the second week tomorrow and he has borrowed our pickup that our youngest son usually drives. Oldest son works more than full time out of town, youngest son works part time at WSU, so guess who has a worse need for a car. Last week, elaborate plans had to be made about getting youngest son to work-who would take him, who would pick him up, all complicated by my daughter's dental surgery which had to be attended by someone as she was having general anesthesia. We used our "safety net" - we had family we could call upon to help us during this time while we were being a safety net for our kids who needed us to help them.
Many of the families I work with at the one school I'm assigned to have no safety nets. They've either been burned or used up. With no car, no money, no family to help-how do you get to work at your minimum wage job when you have no transportation, or get home repairs completed if you have no one to help? I'm very grateful for that strength in my life.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Phew!
It's a beautiful day-I'm so glad to see the sun! The warmer weather is a blessing, and it's nice to not get blown away in the wind either.
My son is back from his trip over the break to visit a friend in Wisconsin, so once again my home is filled with big feet tromping up and down the stairs, music flowing from his upstairs sanctuary, different flavored coffees in the coffee pot and various cups sitting on the counter waiting to be rinsed out, and the sound of his keyboard as he practices those finger exercises. It was different not having him home, but something I think I could get used to...
In reviewing my sister's blog, her latest post had to do with the election-that sometimes we may tend to vote for a candidate who will do the least damage - vote for the "least of the worst", as it were.
I got to thinking about that, and, I feel like wading into "dangerous" territory, so here we go. Generally speaking, it seems that of the more conservative folk I know, there is usually a, oh, I don't know what to call it, perhaps it can be described as a "yuck factor" which is applied to selecting candidates-as if the political process we have in this country is something akin to stepping into a fresh cow pile in a pasture-yuck! And, we vote for the person we perceive has the least amount of "pile" clinging to his (or her) cowboy boots-the person who will track the least amount of offensiveness into our lives.
One hypothesis for the yuck factor is that most conservatives like the least amount of government intrusion possible-the less government running our lives the better. But I think another factor is that religiously conservative people do not view any mere human to be the "salvation" of this country-and alongside of and supporting that viewpoint, is the notion that things will ultimately get worse in the future. And because things will get worse in the future, all of the candidates running for office are poor choices-it's just that some candidates will make things worse faster than others. If you believe that the future is bleak, and that overall, society is declining on a downhill slope to hell, then you most likely will not be able to hope that any candidate will make positive changes, and, you will be employing the yuck factor in your candidate selection, IF you care to select a candidate at all.
The spouse in my house is a disgruntled conservative. "There's nobody that's NOT waffling! There's no leadership! There's no 'political statesman' who will stand for the values of the GOP!" As you can tell, he's a person who doesn't compromise. He's gonna be examining boots for pasture mud. And holding his nose in the ballot booth.
My son is back from his trip over the break to visit a friend in Wisconsin, so once again my home is filled with big feet tromping up and down the stairs, music flowing from his upstairs sanctuary, different flavored coffees in the coffee pot and various cups sitting on the counter waiting to be rinsed out, and the sound of his keyboard as he practices those finger exercises. It was different not having him home, but something I think I could get used to...
In reviewing my sister's blog, her latest post had to do with the election-that sometimes we may tend to vote for a candidate who will do the least damage - vote for the "least of the worst", as it were.
I got to thinking about that, and, I feel like wading into "dangerous" territory, so here we go. Generally speaking, it seems that of the more conservative folk I know, there is usually a, oh, I don't know what to call it, perhaps it can be described as a "yuck factor" which is applied to selecting candidates-as if the political process we have in this country is something akin to stepping into a fresh cow pile in a pasture-yuck! And, we vote for the person we perceive has the least amount of "pile" clinging to his (or her) cowboy boots-the person who will track the least amount of offensiveness into our lives.
One hypothesis for the yuck factor is that most conservatives like the least amount of government intrusion possible-the less government running our lives the better. But I think another factor is that religiously conservative people do not view any mere human to be the "salvation" of this country-and alongside of and supporting that viewpoint, is the notion that things will ultimately get worse in the future. And because things will get worse in the future, all of the candidates running for office are poor choices-it's just that some candidates will make things worse faster than others. If you believe that the future is bleak, and that overall, society is declining on a downhill slope to hell, then you most likely will not be able to hope that any candidate will make positive changes, and, you will be employing the yuck factor in your candidate selection, IF you care to select a candidate at all.
The spouse in my house is a disgruntled conservative. "There's nobody that's NOT waffling! There's no leadership! There's no 'political statesman' who will stand for the values of the GOP!" As you can tell, he's a person who doesn't compromise. He's gonna be examining boots for pasture mud. And holding his nose in the ballot booth.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
January 3. Back to work and it's 2008. The years certainly fly by - can it be 8 years ago that we had the big Y 2K scare? Sometimes I really don't like thinking about this - the future can be a scary thing to consider. But the older I get, the more I really understand the temporal nature of things in this life. The definition of temporal is: enduring for a time only; temporary; transitory (opposed to eternal) (www.dictionary.com). There comes a time in your life that you leave things to your children's generation, just as your parents left things to you, and their parents left it to them.
It's a new year, and so it's also the time some of us think about renewing our commitments to those things in life which are important. Have you decided to make any changes? Do you feel you're growing? Comments?
It's a new year, and so it's also the time some of us think about renewing our commitments to those things in life which are important. Have you decided to make any changes? Do you feel you're growing? Comments?
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