Tuesday, October 26, 2010

We are only here to protect you from your own stupidity


I bought a couple of new towels today. After removing about a bazillion tags from them before throwing them into the washer, I stopped to read the care tag before selecting the water temp. and wash setting. It was actually a miracle that there were written instructions in a language that I could understand. Have you looked at the majority of care tags, especially on clothes, lately? They now use only symbols to tell you how you should care for your washables. Like we have time to study and remember this type of information? The stupid part is that the "master list" of clothing care symbols is not something that your average person has floating around in their brain. Perhaps they are teaching this stuff in school now? I actually had to go online and look up what these symbols mean. A couple of them are pretty easy to figure out, like the one that obviously means no ironing or no machine wash. But since when does a triangle mean the international sign for bleach? And how am I supposed to know that 1 dot = 30 degrees Celsius and 6 dots = 95 degrees Celsius? Argghhhh!!!!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Jury Duty

I got a summons last Tuesday for jury duty today. They don't give you much time do they? I figured it was karma biting me in the butt because one of my friends got picked a couple of weeks ago and I laughed at him. Actually, I don't mind jury duty. It is a privilege that we live in a country that allows us to participate in the legal system and I think that a lot of people forget that. It would never even occur to me to "not" go. Just like voting... I will never understand why people do not vote when given the opportunity.
Thank God I live out in the country in a small county. It is easy to get to the courthouse, parking is free, and there are no long lines to wait in. If I had to go down to the Harris County courthouse in Houston and sit around for 7 years with all the other people waiting for jury duty.... I might have different feelings about it. The only bad thing about jury duty is that I ALWAYS get picked. ALWAYS!!!! They never even ask me any personal questions during the selection process outside of the basic name, age, and occupation. They just pick me. I guess that is a small town for you. If they really wanted to know my political and religious views they might have second thoughts about putting me up there because opionated is my middle name. Child of a Catholic and Jewish household with very vocal conservative yet occasionally extremely far to the left views anyone? Probably not...... Anyways, I show up and was juror number 203 which is good considering they only summon 250. I would say only about 40 people showed up and I ended up in the last row in the courtroom with only 2 people after me so I felt I had a fighting chance to not be chosen...... until I started looking around at some of the potential jury members. Yep, I was going to be called. There were some real "unusual" looking characters in this group and they would be shown the door quickly.
The judge entered the courtroom and gave us a little speech about what an honor it was to serve, yada yada yada....... and that he had good news and bad news. The good news was that we had all made it on time and that he was glad we were here. The bad news was that we had all made it on time, were here, and that the case had been settled outside of court 15 minutes earlier. Bad news my ass!!!! YIIIPPPEEEEEEEEE! We all looked at each other like "Thank God!!!!" and scurried out into the beautiful sunny day. No jury duty and a paid day off from work. Score!!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Cheap thrills

I did not know that you could even buy a song on itunes for 69 cents!!!! Well worth it!!! I just love this song and I had forgotten all about it until I heard it on the 70's station on Sirius this morning. My parents were really into music and I think I heard almost every 70's and some 60's songs growing up as a kid. I think there is just a small streak of granola hippie lurking inside me somewhere.



Saturday, October 2, 2010

Them

I stopped in Hobby Lobby tonight to pick up a few extra touches for my Halloween decor when I overheard an interesting conversation. I was looking at some Halloween themed cupcake liners when this child (who looked to be 8 or 9), her mother, and I am guessing her grandmother stopped near me to admire some Halloween tchotchkes. The little girl told her mother that they were not allowed to bring Halloween treats to school or say "Trick or Treat"
or else they would be sent to the Principal's office. What the fucking fuck????????? The grandmother gave the child a horrified look and the mother kind of just stood there a minute with this disgusted look on her face and said "I have no further comment on their policy towards Halloween (apparently, judging by the look on her face, she had probably already had plenty to say about this already) but I am giving you permission to tell your teachers and your principal that we do not say "Happy Holidays" at Christmas time. We celebrate Christmas and by God you will wish people "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays. You are not being raised to become one of "THEM." You are to stand up for what is right and not be afraid of offending anybody." I wanted to start clapping and cheer her on but I settled for walking up to her and telling her how refreshing it was to hear what she had just said. I definitely do not want to be one of "THEM" either. I hate hearing "Happy Holidays" as well. Say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or Merry Whateverthefuckitisyoucelebrate!!!!!! Just stand up for what you believe in and stand proud. As for this whole Halloween business that the little girl was talking about? Just one more reason why any child of mine would not set foot in the public school system.