Cell Phone Etiquette.......Revisited

I know it is improper, impolite and maybe illegal to repeat a post from long ago, but sometimes a topic is so important to the well-being of humanity that it has to be revisited. I apologize to whose of you who are loyal enough to still be coming around since I wrote this post last December, but I hope you agree that this is too important to ignore and it seems that there are still some people I know who have ignored it.
(This repeat has nothing to do with the fact that my blog brain has been mush lately...well, almost nothing)

There's a lot of talk about cell phone etiquette, but I have an issue that I never hear discussed and I think it needs to be addressed. When you are talking to someone and one or both of you are on a cell phone it is not unusual to be talking, talking, talking and suddenly realize that no one is listening. The call has dropped.


Here's what usually happens with me when a call is dropped. I realize I'm talking to no one, so I immediately call back the person I was talking to. The call goes right to their voice mail because, of course, they are trying to call me back, getting my voice mail because I am trying to call them back. I think, oh, he/she is calling me back, so I wait a minute for the phone to ring. He/she thinks, oh, she is trying to call me back, and they wait a minute for the phone to ring. When the phone doesn't ring within a few moments, I think, oh, he/she is waiting for me to call back, so I call and he/she........well, you get the picture.


I'm suggesting an easy solution that will save us all a lot of time if only you will accept me as the Queen of Cell Phone Etiquette and follow this rule: The person who placed the original call is ALWAYS the one to call back. Simple. Easy. Problem solved.




I hope I don't end up going to blog jail for this repeat, but if I do I will consider it worth it in the spirit of public service.

Five Question Friday

1. How many pets do you have?
We have one dog, Dodger, who in the less than one year time we have had him has taken over our hearts and our lives.

2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be? 


I would love to go back and be myself on a day when my kids were still young. But just for one day.

3. What is your favorite money saving tip? 

The best money saving tip for me would be to stay away from Starbucks, but that's not likely to happen.

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up? 

My kids are grown up and they are all one of the most important things they can be-really good parents.


5. What is your favorite quote?

 

It's Fun To Stay at The YMCA

My oldest daughter, Jill, and her family spent a few days before school started at a really great place, the YMCA of the Rockies. It  is kind of like camp for the whole family. I really wanted to get something posted besides those old picutres of me, and I thought the picture above was a fun one.  (Do you love or hate the old Village People song.?)

They stayed in a small, rustic cabin, they were allowed to bring their dog along, and they had all kinds of fun things to do.

                                  Fishing in a beautiful setting 

                                                        

Elk joining them at their picnic spot

Cool crafts

 

And everyone's favorite, archery

September is just around the corner and YMCA of the Rockies will soon be covered with snow, but next summer I want to sing YMCA just like the Village People and have my picture taken with that statue.

A Blast From My Past

I haven't been able to get my scanner to work for a while and I (ok, my daughter)  finally got it working again. I have been going through old pictures that I want to save so I practiced with a few last night. These are all me from long ago and far away at ages 19, 20 and 21, I think. I apparently used to wear dresses a lot more than I do now.

I thought that the 80s were the era of really big hair, but these look like it was around as far back as the late 60s.

Baseball Birthday

My youngest grandson, Wil, (youngest for at least a few more weeks until our new little boy is born) is turning 5. He had his birthday party today and it was all about baseball for this little guy. He just started kindergarten, loves it, but says he can't remember what he does there. He knows a lot about baseball (just ask him), and shows signs of being a math whiz.

He played some baseball.

He had a Colorado Rockies cake.

 

 

Making a wish before you blow out the candle takes some thought,

but you know when you got it right.

There were lots of cousins and friends there.

It took some strong arms to get these 2 two year olds to hold still for a picture.

Even Jared was a little camera shy after he tried to catch a baseball with his nose.

(It didn't bleed for long)

The baseball pinata was a bit "hit" with everyone.

I Think My Brain Is Fried

I think my brain may be a little bit fried. There has been no air conditioning in my office this week and the temperature was in the high 90s today. We can't open any windows and the nearly floor to ceiling glass just serves to add to the sauna effect when the sun shines.

At least that is the excuse I am using for this post of random  thoughts.

School supplies

When I went to school and when my kids went to school the list of school supplies included things like paper, pencils, spiral notebooks, folders, 3-ring binders, and usually a box of Kleenex. This year I've read about kids being required to bring things like computer paper, dry erase markers, Clorox wipes, liquid soap, sandwich bags and toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper. I know that schools need to conserve funds for teacher salaries, but toilet paper? What kid can't wait to show up for the first day of school toting a warehouse size package of toilet paper?

Typos

I hate it when I leave a comment on someones blog and immediately see that I have made a glaring typo. Two college buddies, Benjamin Herson and Jeff Dick apparently hate typos even more than I do. They set out on a trek across America with the purpose of finding and correcting typos, misspellings and grammatical errors on signs along the way. When they found a typo they would stop the car and try to find the person to talk to about correcting it. Though they met with some resistance, they were often able to correct the error on the spot with their "typo correction kit". They tell their story in their book The Great Typo Hunt. I say "you go, guys"

Addison Update

If you haven't met Addison, you can click on the logo on the top of my sidebar.

Addison has just begun a particularly difficult two month phase of his three year treatment for Leukemia. They have been told to expect nausea, low immune system, fatigue and possible hospitalizations during this phase which is called Delayed Intensification. Please keep this very brave little boy in your thoughts and prayers.

Gone With The Wind Dresses Are In Danger Of Being Gone With The Wind

It seems that the dresses worn by Vivien Leigh playing Scarlet O'Hara in the movie Gone With The Wind are falling apart. The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas is the current home of some of the most well known gowns from the movie, but  they have become too shop-worn to be exhibited.

                                                             

The museum is trying to raise $30,000 to restore the gowns to their former glory so they can be part of an exhibition planned in 2014 celebrating the 75th anniversary of the movie. It seems that dresses made for a movie are made to last as long as it takes to make the movie, not for 75 years, so these dresses need a lot of repair.

Among the dresses is the "Green Curtain Dress,"  a symbol of Scarlett's determination, made from the curtains at Tara when was trying to convince Rhett that things were well, when in fact she was desperate.

They also include the wedding dress Scarlett wore when she married Charles Hamilton,

and the burgandy ball gown.

I am as big a fan of Gone With The Wind as most people, but I am not sure that I would get my checkbook out to contribute to the restoration of the dresses, though I guess I hope it gets done.

I might however consider a small contribution to restoring the dress Carol Burnett wore in a  parody of the "Green Curtain Dress" from Gone With The Wind  in a sketch entitled Went With The Wind on her TV show in 1976. This dress made from curtains with the curtain rod still intact is a true classic.

 

I Just Wanted To Change My E-Mail

My son has been trying to get me to change my E-mail from AOL to Gmail for a long time. As a creature of habit I have resisted, but when over the weekend AOL decided I was a spammer or low-life of some sort and started periodically blocking me from sending e-mails I decided to make the change.

The picture above is the result. I thought it would be simple, but it has not gone well. I got the Gmail account opened, and went about changing my e-mail address in all the places I thought it needed to be changed. It turns out that a Gmail address cannot be a primary address for Blogger (who knew?).  I'm not really sure what that means, but it has left me having to sign into my blog with my old AOL e-mail address, but using my new Gmail password. Can you even guess how long it took me to figure that out? I also have to go into Blogger through sort of a back door from the way I used to go in. I figured that out after being told over and over that I do not have a blog.

As it stands now, I still have both e-mail accounts and am getting all of my e-mails, I think, and am getting blog comments in one or the other or sometimes both of them. AOL still tells me from time to time that I am a scumbag spammer and won't let me send an e-mail.  I will get some help to get it all figured out, but I called my son so many times over the weekend that he started answering his phone "Tech Support".

If I don't respond to a comment or if I reply three times to the same comment or any other strange e-mail thing over the next few days, please forgive me. (If I send you a blank reply, well, that is just normal...I seem to have been doing that a lot lately).

And, yes, it is okay to laugh.

Don't Bug Me

I not a very grumpy person.....really, I'm not. There aren't a lot of things that bother me, but it seems like today I have run into several of the things that really bug me, all in the same day. I shouldn't let these things bug me because either they are none of my business or there's nothing I can do about them, but, well, tell me what you think.

A passenger's bare feet on the dashboard or hanging out the window is just something I don't really want to see. I guess it's better than the driver's feet on the dashboard.

Having another driver honk, give me a dirty look or yell at me (this guy did all three) when I thought I was driving perfectly well. I think he must have just been having a bad day.

Finding a flier left on my windshield in a parking lot. I consider it littering.

Sprinklers running during a rainstorm.  What a waste.

Isn't everyone bugged by those stickers on all the fruits and vegetables we buy at the grocery store. One more reason to go to the Farmer's Market.

Okay, I'm done now. 

Thanks for letting me get that out.

It has actually been a pretty good day, all in all.

I would say "have a nice day", but I've heard that it bugs some people to hear that.

Photos from Bing Images

Walk Softly and Bark at a Big Stick

There has been a big stick in the open space behind us threatening our house for the last few days. At least our dog, Dodger, seems to think it is threatening us.

Dangerous stick

When Dodger, ever alert, first spotted the stick he barked at it like crazy, and Dodger is not usually a big barker. When his most fearsome bark didn't scare the stick away he switched to a new tactic, crouching down and creeping toward the door, very low to the ground, going for the surprise ambush before he let out a bark. Again, the stick showed no fear and stayed put. Even in his failure to chase the stick away, Dodger has remained valiant, keeping vigil at the door with his eye on the stick. He has tried a couple of other tactics, like dozing off from time to time, trying to fool the stick into thinking his alertness had waned, or even walking away for a while and returning to try the barking or sneaking up maneuver.  Alas, the stick and Dodger remain in a standoff.

I guess tonight I will have to take him out to the field to have a go at the stick, or at least to lift his leg on it so that stick will know who is in charge.