The old days

Before my division was purchased, things were dismal at my former employer. Sure, the future for me and my team is once again bright, but I think of those days a couple years ago when I was back and forth to Virginia every couple months. It was actually looking pretty good in those days. Not like now when they would probably avoid window replacement Richmond VA style, and go with the more cost-effective “cover the busted windows in the office with plywood approach. The sites and sounds of America!

Do they teach irony in public school any more?

My 10 year old son told me the other day that one of his friends (also 10) said “Obama is turning America into a Communist State.” Now, my son is exceptionally bright and he has no idea what Communism is. I mean, he recognizes the word and all, but he has no understanding.

I happen to know this friend, and more to the point, his father, and thus I know just who the young man was quoting.  I asked a few pointed questions and determined this had something to do with healthcare…again, something about which my 10 year old is blissfully ignorant.

So I pieced it together – Obama’s healthcare initiative equates to Communism…? Now I think the more accurate complaint would be to call Obamacare (hate that term but it seems the only description many citizens recognize – before they go ape shit) socialism. And that would probably be accurate if Obamacare was more like the socialized medicine in every other developed nation in the world. Indeed! Socialism it is.

Except then it wouldn’t cost us anything. I mean, we wouldn’t NEED private insurance. Instead, our healthcare needs would be taken care of through taxation. And if you really think private insurance is giving you better care for less cost, well… it’s all unicorns and rainbows isn’t it.

So here’s the thing, though. Not only does this kid (thanks to his Dad) fail to understand the important differences between Communism and Socialism, he doesn’t even have it right with his complaint.

Of course, what do you expect when both father and son were educated in the local public school system.

By the way – public school? That IS socialism.

Boy, did I have a good laugh with my 10 year old about that one.

Can’t wait until he starts asking about Creationism.

Hmmmm.

I go to the Farm Market and see the (relatively) local produce and honey and baked goods and sausage and flowers and think what a marvelous thing it is that we have such dedicated people willing to spend their lives growing and producing the best stuff we could ever hope for. We have CSAs and Farm Markets and…well, all sorts of opportunities for those of us who want to participate in some small way in making things better. Not just on our own tables, but for the environment and our communities in general.

It makes me feel good. Maybe a little proud. Maybe even a little smug.

But just now, something dawned on me. Most of the world doesn’t live on high fructose corn syrup drenched crap. Most countries in this world don’t subsidize the greed of massive corporations that erode not only our indibidual health, but our overall sense of community.

In most of the world, the thing we call organic sustainable farming (as we pat ourselves on the back) is just called dinner.

Maybe I’m late to the game. Maybe you all figured it out a long time ago. Maybe I did too. But this afternoon I had one of those brief lucid moments as I was looking at the Website of the CSA we’ve participated in for many years – we invest so much of ourselves into cleaning up our act, just to get to a level that is more or less in line with the bulk of the nations on this planet that we, as Americans, scoff at and belittle.

Hmmmm.

Waterproof-ish

It’s not quite Spring in the North East. April Fool’s has come and gone, but it was well below freezing this morning, so I’m in no rush to bust out the sun tan lotion and Tiki torches. Still, I was eyeing the back deck, and thinking about the championship job our little outdoor table has done. even though I don’t have round fitted table covers and I just let that poor thing gets piled on with feet of snow all winter long, it’s still standing there like a champ. There’s paint from numerous arts and crafts projects, two colors of splashed deck stain and one splash of house paint. There’s rust on the umbrella stand underneath because I never got around to drilling that drainage hole 6 years ago.

Good table. Very good table. I promise, you’ll be out of your misery soon.

Umbrellas

Here’s the thing with free shipping on patio umbrellas… it makes you want one even if you don’t need one. It’s the psychology. Patio umbrellas are big. Really big. So shipping would naturally have to be rather expensive. So when the shipping is free, of COURSE you want to take advantage, right?

But is it really that simple? You have to ask yourself who benefits when shipping is free? Did they just jack up the price of the umbrella to effectively roll in the shipping and trick you into thinking it was free?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Recalling the Fire

That’s a lyric. Totally irrelevant to this post except for the recalling part. As I rant about the large numbers of stay at home Mom cum Marketing Geniuses out there, I recall a couple years ago. At that point, it seemed that half of the underemployed Moms I knew bought $1000 digital cameras and were suddenly Professional Photographers. I’m not saying they couldn’t take a nice picture, and I’m not saying that some of them didn’t start a nice little business for themselves. But having a tool and being able to rock with it are two very different things. Just because I can buy a nice pair of Lowa Tibet boots, I’m not suddenly a qualified Sherpa.

Unless you’re willing to pay some big bucks for a guide, ‘cuz then I’m TOTALLY the Sherpa for you. I’ll get you a business card.

Mr. Not PC

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I need to point something out. This comes from exposure to a lot of volunteers in a lot of volunteer groups. In fact, a lot of parents we deal with on fundraising duties and the like. the reality is that most of these people are really wonderful. They are selfless and hardworking and giving a million and one for their kids. Truly. But there are always those few that just really drive me nuts. While they lack anything that could be called relevant real world experience, the fact that there are plenty of available print shop websites that can hook you up with business cards with any title they like, suddenly everybody is a marketing professional. Seriously. Does anyone out there have ANY respect for actual study, training, discipline, or experience? Just wondering.