#108 - Running for Office=Must Be Wealthy

When our founding fathers sat down and brainstormed about what to include in the Declaration of Independence, I do not recall seeing an amendment stating that an individual needed to have a lot of money.  I thought our country was founded on the principle that ANYONE could run for public office.  Anyone, meaning any person who felt a calling to serve their country in a selfless way.  What has happened since 1776??!!!?? Because as I see it, not just anyone can run for office in 2011, as evidenced in a news report the other day, how one candidate spent $10 million in a presidential campaign in ONE STATE!!!! That translates to the following for me:

1. You must be very wealthy to run for office.

2. You must be a millionnaire to run for office.

3. You must be a multi-millionnaire to run for office.

4. You do not necessarily need to have a calling to serve the public.

5. If you have a desire to serve but no money, DO NOT run for public office.

6. Our election process has lost its focus.

7. Only a rich person will be president, in which case, he or she may not even begin to understand the average person they have been elected to serve.

8. We need to scrap the current system and go back to the original plan.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

                                                                          



#107- Paper or Cloth?

I heard a report on the radio this morning about using paper towels.  Now over the last few years we have all heard how using paper towels is more hygenic than using a cloth hand towel due to the bacteria that builds up on cloth hand towels.  You wash your hands, dry them with a cloth towel and the towel sits there, waiting for the next usage, whereas a paper towel gets thrown in the garbage after you use it.  I have never quite understood the theory that bacteria forms on the cloth towel (not being a chemistry or biology major, I chalked it up to ignorance on my part), since you just WASHED your hands with soap and water.  You did not wipe dirty, bacteria filled hands on the towel, so why should bacteria then grow after you dried your hands.  Well apparently experts (not sure who these experts are) have found that paper towels are LOADED with BACTERIA, especially recycled ones. You just can't win! I'm not sure if the news report was trying to tell us not to use paper towels, but my suspicion is someone from a cotton manufacturer leaked the report, to encourage a run on cloth towels at Sears or Kohls!  Wonder if Bounty or Scott stocks will drop today!

                                                                      

                                                                

#106 - Speed Pass on Christmas

I've already covered the "to light or not to light" on Christmas decorations.  My next peeve is the speed with which some people take down their decorations.  As a Christian, I follow the Christmas season from December 25th through Epiphany, the feast of the 3 Kings. That means my decorations stay up until January 8th or beyond, depending on when the feast of Epiphany falls.  Now I realize everyone does not follow that same principle, so I do not expect all people to keep their decorations up that long.  When, however, I see a Christmas tree thrown out in a front yard at 9am on December 26th, I have fodder for my pet peeve post!  I mean, come on.  December 26th is Zweiten Weihnachten (2nd Christmas) in Germany, and Boxing Day in the UK and Canada.  The lights are still warm on my tree from having them on non-stop for days leading up to Christmas!  We haven't finished opening presents with our adult children and their families because of all the extended in-law families and the celebrations that go with them!  There are still Christmas cookies on platters in my kitchen. I haven't even sent out my Christmas cards yet!  You may have figured out by now that this is the same neighbor who puts up lights and then only lights them for 2 days.  So, I think I may send them a suggestion or two for next year.  Recycle the tree into furniture for your home or cut out some beautifully decorated pictures of homes from magazines and tape them in strategic places around your home and call it a day!

                                                                           

                                                                            



#105 - End of Year Car Commercials

Why is it that every other commercial on TV at this time of year is a car commercial????? OK, so one or two in the course of an evening is one thing, but 6 during a half hour show - ridiculous!!! As if seeing those big-ram-like-a-rock trucks plowing through the snow is going to make me run right out before New Year's Day and buy one!  I guess car manufacturers think we in northern Virginia, get a truckload of snow at this time of year, and are just chomping at the bit, waiting for between Christmas & New Year's sales on 4 wheel drive vehicles.  We live in Virginia, not Vermont!

                                                                             

#104- Christmas Decorations: To Light or Not?

Why in the world do people go to all the trouble of putting up Christmas decorations, specifically, lights, and then NOT LIGHT THEM!!???!!! We have neighbors who do this every year.  First of all, they take 2-3 days to get the lights up, due to the fact they run out of strings of lights as they are doing them.  Call me OCD or anal, but I write little post it notes when I pack up our decorations, so in case I kick it before next Christmas, my husband will know what goes where (like he would even put anything up!!!).  Anyway, back to the neighbor's lights. So, they finally get the lights up in some semblance of wonder and awe (I stand in awe, and wonder what some people define as beauty!), and they turn them on for one or two nights, and then that's it!  The show is over!  Darkness. Nada. Nil. No lights come on for the rest of the Christmas season.  It's as if they left the country for Christmas vacation, but I know they didn't because I can see their 60" TV on at 4am when I wake up in the morning!  Maybe they only budget for 2 days of extra electric each year, but if that were my situation, then I would put a single candle in the my window and forego the lighting extravagancy that doesn't light anyway!

                                                                



#103 - Unclear Web Sites

It is very frustrating at times when you go to a web site for info and it is incorrect.  I have a head cold.  No fever. No bronchitis. Just a head cold.  I had an appointment to give blood, which I have done many times over the years.  I go to the Red Cross web site and look under colds/flu and here is what I find:

Wait if you have a fever or a productive cough (bringing up phlegm)
Wait if you do not feel well on the day of donation.
Wait until you have completed antibiotic treatment for sinus, throat or lung infection.

I had none of the above, so I leave work @ 2:35 to get to donation place by 3pm. I waited for about 25 minutes before getting into the cubicle with a nurse and the 50 question questionnaire about my life. Have you had hepatitis? No. Have you been in contact with someone who did? No. Have you had sexual contact with someone who had sexual contact with a male? No. And then I coughed. Is that a lingering cough? Well, no, not exactly, but I do have a head cold. Oh, then we can't take your blood today.  I explain the criteria on the web site.  Well, the web site is not right. We are concerned about the donor, not your blood infecting a recipient. I am fine, I tell them.  I just have a head cold.  No, no, we cannot run the risk of you getting dehydrated from giving your blood.  Dehydrated!?!?! I drank over a quart of water at work, which I do every day!  We're sorry.  So, am I, to have wasted your time, when if the web site had just said don't come if you have any type of cold, I wouldn't have come! Oh no, we don't mind.  Please help yourself to cookies and a drink and a soup mug which we are giving out to all donors today.  Now why in the hell would I take a soup mug when I didn't donate any blood, is beyond my comprehension, so after 45 minutes, I took a bottle of water and left, to reschedule a donation at a future date when I do not have a cold!

                                                             

#102 - Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice

Along with the decorations and cards and parties at Christmas comes the baking.  It generally goes hand in hand with the season.  I don't know why.  Maybe because we all figure that we are running around like loons, so it is a good time to stuff our faces with things we don't usually eat, and we will work it off.  Working for a church is like working at a doctor's office.  People are sick and in pain and come in looking for something to make them better.  And they form a bond with the staff.  And they bring baked goods at Christmas! LOTS AND LOTS OF BAKED GOODS.  Cookies in all shapes and sizes.  Nut breads. Banana breads.  Ginger breads. And the boxes of candies!  My peeve is not with people for baking.  Nor is it with the bonding.  What I would like to see is all of this sugar and spice spread out over the course of a year, instead of a month.  So, before you bring a baked good or sweet to the office, could you please call ahead and we'll give you a number (1-12) that will determine when you are to bring your decadent delectable. 1 being January and 12 being December! You can figure out the rest.