How Mary Ann peels a potato.

I love Gilligan's Island, and if you've ever watched the show, you know Mary Ann was the best cook on the island. The actress, Dawn Wells, is a pretty good cook herself. A few years ago, she even wrote Mary Ann's Gilligans Island Cookbook.

More recently, Dawn got herself a gig with the Idaho Potato people, and in this short promotional video, she demonstrates a quick and easy way to peel a potato.



The contest she references will be long over; the video was first posted in 2008.
Cute idea, though, isn't it?

Billboard Special Tribute to Lennon

A few months ago, Billboard celebrated what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday with a special section.

Along with eight pages of editorial content - including an interview with Yoko Ono and a preview of several album re-releases - the issue contains a number of full page tribute advertisements.

I don't know why I'm receiving Billboard; I figure I must have won it in a sweepstakes. I don't usually hold onto them, but I felt this issue was special.

I like the Beatles, but I wouldn't really call myself a fan; a true fan would be able to name all their albums, know all their music and their history, and I just like hearing it on the radio. So, rather than keeping this issue any longer, I decided to give it away to someone who will appreciate it more.

MANDATORY FIRST ENTRY:

Comment on this post with the title of your favorite song by the Beatles or John Lennon.

No, your favorite song by Wings or the Traveling Wilburys doesn't count.

If your email is not visible on your GFC profile, please leave it in your comment.


EXTRA ENTRIES: For each item you complete, leave another comment here and be sure to include a link to your comments and tweets.

• leave a relevant comment on any non-giveaway post on Rhymes Schemes and Daydreams (1)
• follow Rhyme Schemes and Daydreams on Google Friend Connect
• visit my Crazy Kitty Chick blog and leave a relevant comment on any non-giveaway post (1)
• *visit my Hurricane Safety blog and leave a relevant comment on any non-giveaway post (1)
• *follow Auriette on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (1)
• *follow CrazyKittyChick on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (1)

You can earn a maximum of seven entries per household. Eligible comments must be made no later than 11:59pm ET on April 8, 2011. Entrants must be 18 or older, with shipping addresses in the United States or military APO/FPO addresses. One winner will be selected by random drawing no later than April 10 and notified by email. Winner must respond to the email with mailing address within 72 hours or another winner will be selected. The magazine will be packaged and sent media mail.

Health Care in America

Today, I read a newsletter from my congressman, Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida. It got me fired up. You can read the newsletter online. Here is my response:

As a constituent and a United States citizen, I respectfuly request that you and other Republicans cease to refer to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as "ObamaCare." The use of this moniker is just a fragment of the partisan propaganda that aims to disrail the national health care plan.

President Obama's health care plan may not be perfect, but neither is our current system of health care, which is controlled by big business instead of by medical professionals. Instead of spewing generalities and party rhetoric, politicians who oppose certain aspects of the plan should offer concrete and positive suggestions that will lead to the creation of a workable health care program that's good for everyone.

In your newsletter, you wrote: "[Democrats] continued to use voodoo mathematics to support their bizarre claim that government run health care would save the taxpayers money."

In what way?

You wrote: "Under ObamaCare, taxes will be imposed on individuals who try to use their Health Savings Accounts to purchase over-the-counter medicines."

What taxes? Do they apply to everyone or only those in certain income brackets? Do all Health Savings Accounts now allow use of the funds to purchase over-the-counter medications?

Republican politicians have had a year to read and study this law, but still, you never give specific reasons why the program is bad. You never offer viable alternatives. Why don't Republicans create a document that gives the wording of each section of the Act followed by a plain-English explanation? Don't forget to include the contents of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and please, take full responsibility for any changes and amendments added by the Republican Party.

I sent the above to Rep. Miller via the contact form on his website. I do not expect to get a response.

What do I think would work to improve health care in the USA? Sweeping overhaul of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, which are at the root of the health care problem in the United States.

**Eliminate insurance companies completely.
Right now, insurance companies are for-profit corporations who answer to their stockholders first. They allow profits to dictate what medications they cover, what treatments are allowed, and which doctors you're allowed to see.

**Require pharmaceutical companies to sell the same medications for the same price everywhere.
If a drug company can sell a tablet in Africa for $1.00, they should sell it to people in the United States for the same price. These unequal values contribute to rising insurance costs and to insurance companies refusing to cover certain prescribed drugs.

**Require insurance companies to cover any drug prescribed by a physician.
Right now, it doesn't matter what the doctor thinks will work best to treat the patient. Insurance companies, working directly with pharmacies, can decide to send a generic, a completely different medication or simply deny coverage.

If these three changes could be wrought, I believe we would see an improvement in medical care in the United States. These suggestions of mine certainly wouldn't solve all the problems, but they would help.

What do you think?

Please, don't just repeat something that you've heard somewhere else. Read the summary on Wikipedia. Find a truly unbiased article from a legitimate news source (FOX News doesn't count). Spend some time learning about the Act, then share what specifically you don't like and why. What alternatives would you suggest? Make this a positive discussion, not a rant or a slam against whichever party you don't like.

What do you think is the biggest social issue facing America today?

I was recently asked to complete a survey with two primary questions. The first is in the headline, and I found it very difficult to choose one social ill in the United States as the top issue facing the country.

Finally, I decided on this response:
The social issue with the most repercussions is that children are being raised by cell phone with videogames as their constant companions, and they seem to be growing up self-absorbed, wild, and sociopathic. They are a danger to themselves and to others.

The second question was: What do you think could be done to resolve this issue?

I'm not of the "marriage should only be between a man and a woman" ilk, but I do believe that children should have complete families with two parents. Some people will say it's cruel or harsh, but I don't think people should have children who cannot afford for one parent to be home with them instead of being focused on their careers, dating (in single parent households), and "me time." Sure, parents need some "me time" too, but the child should be the parents' first concern.

That's all I said in the survey, but I will say a bit more here.

BABIES DON'T SOLVE PROBLEMS

I've known several women who got pregnant because their relationship was in trouble. They thought having a child would force the man to "start acting responsibly." I suppose, in a few rare cases, some people who unexpectedly find themselves "with child" have done a complete 360 and changed their whole outlook on life, but I wouldn't count on it.

The problems in the relationship are typically going to be amplified by having a baby. Any money troubles are going to get worse, because kids are expensive. If you think you don't have time for a proper date night when you're childless, what's going to happen when you have a baby who needs constant care?

THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE IN COMMON

My husband and I both like science fiction, and we've both known people who were forced to (or at least expected to) give up their collections or their hobbies or their friends because the spouse (typically the women) didn't like it. In another case, a women who went to all her boyfriend's sporting events while they were dating thought that, once they were married, he'd stop playing on those teams.

Here's a tip: You should date people, and definitely marry someone, with whom you have something in common. It gives you something to talk about and enjoy together because sex and having a date on national holidays does not a strong marriage make.

Talk about the issues and events of the day. If you're shocked and heartbroken by the events in Japan and he's cracking jokes about it, maybe he's not the right man for you. If she likes to go to the gun range on Saturdays and you think that individuals shouldn't be allowed to own firearms, guess what? It's probably not going to work out. You won't know that if you watch a football game together, have sex and go home, because she's probably only watching the game because she knows you want to, and she'll be offended if you want to spend your Saturday on the couch once you're married.

STUDY YOUR FINANCES BEFORE PAINTING THE NURSERY

Let's say you have really good insurance that will cover the pregnancy, birth, and pediatric child care. You still have to buy special food, and clothes, and toys, and baby gear, and dishes, latches for the cabinets, and a locking gun cabinet for her firearms. Some of the expenses will go away as baby becomes toddler becomes student, but they'll quickly be replaced with new costs.

Look at ways that you can adjust your spending. Can you live in a less expensive home or apartment to reduce monthly rent/mortgage payment? Can you make do with one vehicle instead of two, to save on insurance and maintenance costs? Which one of you is going to clip coupons (or print them from the internet)? Do you really need cable TV? What other monthly expenses can you reduce or eliminate to pay for what the kid needs?

Because what the kid really needs is a parent to guide him or her. A child learns from the parent. You can put them in school, but the teachers aren't supposed to teach morality any more. You need to be the one who explains what bullying is and why it's wrong, who tells your child to take a few steps to a trash can instead of throwing a drink cup or bottle on the ground. Plus, teachers can't give your child the personal attention that a stay-at-home-parent can: one on one reading help, going over math problems one by one until s/he gets it.

In a single parent household, the parent usually has to work. I applaud that. I certainly don't want my tax dollars going to pay for someone else's mistake. The solution is to abstain or use protection in order to avoid an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy, to use common sense in selecting a suitable lifemate, and to provide a two-parent family for the child. In cases where the mother or father is widowed, I am truly sorry for your loss. Those are the situations where extended family and good friends are important to providing adult guidance for your child.

In many two-parent households, the money earned by one of the parents is "gravy." It pays for the extra vehicle s/he needs to get to the job, for the child care while both parents are at work, for unnecessary luxuries like store-bought cakes, iPods, cell phones with unlimited texting for every members of the family, and so on. In the great scheme of the universe, are those things, those inanimate objects, worth more than personal pride, integrity, honesty, cleanliness, a good work ethic, appreciation for diversity - those intangible things that come from fathers and mothers spending time face-to-face with their offspring?

Of course not.

If you've wondered why you're hearing more stories of children killing each other or their parents or their grandparents or the neighbor's dog, I believe it's a direct result of parents not being actively involved in their children's lives every day. And with each successive generation getting less attention and education from their parents, it's only going to get worse.

And that's why I answered the survey questions the way that I did.

What do you think?

If I could eat the spam in my inbox, I'd never go hungry!

Somehow, I have ended up on at least one spammer's email address. I can't quite figure out their gimmick, unless it's phishing. I've been offered free Southwest Airline tickets, gift cards for completing surveys, and a free home security system. I'm receiving offers for free grant money for school, learn-at-home opportunities, electronic cigarettes, and great deals on 2010 automobiles. Each offer comes two or three times a day, at least, from different email addresses. They all kind of look alike.

I guess maybe they think I'll eventually fall for their trap and fill out a form that gives them all the information they need to steal my identity.

I just forwarded 107 spam emails to the government's address - spam@uce.gov - in hopes that they'll investigate and stop these jerkwads. I had sent a few more, with full headers copied and pasted into the forwarded mail, however at least two of those bounced for containing a blacklisted URL (ya' think?).

I've tried using the blacklisting/whitelisting/graylisting feature provided by our ISP, but it ends up stopping legitimate mail, too. I'm already mad enough at Powweb (they promise unlimited email, but what they mean is that you can have as many email addresses as you want, but they won't allow you to keep much email on the server), without them stopping the emails that I want to receive.

Let me just verify - I'm not forwarding to the spam address any newsletters or sales documents sent from a legitimate company or retailer from whom I have requested information. They usually have an unsubscribe button, and if it doesn't work, I contact the company and tell them. The ones I'm reporting are obviously scams or phishing schemes or rip-offs in one respect or another.

I'm not sure how I got on this list. Did I enter the wrong giveaway? Are they finding it online through my blog? Did a "legitimate" giveaway sell my information to a list service? Or did Facebook or Google sell my address?

Here's what I'm considering doing. Tell me what you think of the idea.

I'll get my own domain and email service with "unlimited emails." Instead of creating one email box, I'll create one for every sweep I enter. I'm not saying it won't take time to set it all up. Or maybe I let all those "random" addresses feed into a catch-all mailbox that I'll check. So, when I sign up at the official Hershey chocolate site, I'll use hershey@mydomain. When I sign up at a freebie site, I'll use thisfreebiesite@mydomain. With that naming pattern, I will easily be able to track who sold my information, and take good solid action against them. I can try to contact their ISP and forward very specific information to the government's spam address, so that hopefully, they'll be blackballed. I can confidently report the issue to the sweepstakes website I use, and maybe their "giveaways" won't be listed anymore.

Do you think this could work?

Day 9: Why I Want the OED

Today's topic in It's Gravy Baby's 31-day photo and post challenge is to write about your most treasured item. Since I'm not sure I can pick just one item from my treasured Star Wars collection, I turn to my bookshelf to find one of my most beloved books. 

I'm reading a book right now called The Glamour of Grammer, in which the author, Roy Peter Clark, says that his two favorite dictionaries are The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language and The Oxford English Dictionary.

The AHD 4th edition,
was published in 2006.

I have an AHD, 3rd Edition, which I dearly love, because it doesn't just define words, it gives some word history and peculiarities of usage. Here's an example that I remember because of a personal story.

My parents grew up in Pensacola, Florida, and it's colloquial for people to use the word "carry" in connection with giving someone a ride. My mom used to talk about how, when she was in Spain, one of her good friends poked fun at her about it. The friend needed to go to the commissary or exchange, and my mom said, "I'll carry you up there." Of course, she meant that she'd give her a ride in the car, not that she'd physically pick her up and carry here there. That usage of "carry" is regional, and the AHD explains that. It makes the dictionary cool.

Yes, I am one of those people who can pick up a dictionary to look up one word, spend three hours on digressive journeys into word meaning, usage and history, and maybe, by the end of it, I'll actually get around to looking up the word I started out to look up.

I don't recall what I was trying to look up the day I learned the words "putti" and "étagère." I think putti was one of the guide words at the top of the pages. It's the plural of putto, which is an Italian word for a little cherub. I found étagère because of the lovely illustration of an ornate piece of furniture with shelves, and I see it all the time now on multi-lingual boxes containing plastic shelf units. A far cry from the gorgeous antique piece pictured in my AHD.

StatuaryPlace.com has a whole lot of
putti on its étagère.

I discovered these two words on the same day, while working in our family-owned craft store. We had little ceramic cherubs and we had shelf units, and so, I used my new words in a sentenced and with a related action. I put the putti on the étagère. Go ahead. Say it.

It's fun isn't it?

It's been at least 15 years since our store closed, and my husband and I will still point to an angel figurine on a shelf and comment about the putti on the étagère.

I can't remember exactly how I got the AHD. I won a box of books from American Family Publishers, and I remember a red Webster's Dictionary in there, and the AHD might have been part of it, too. I know when I worked at B. Dalton Booksellers later, we had the same edition on the shelf and I used to recommend it when someone was looking for a good dictionary, especially if it was a graduation gift or something special, because it was $75.

While I was working at B. Dalton, we also had a two-volume set of the OED that came with a little magnifying glass because the text was so small. I want to say it was $150 or $200. I always kind of wanted that one, too.... Until I discovered the real OED. The one with 20 volumes.

All those words!

The OED covers word history, and usage, and includes quotes to show the words in usage. Oh how I would love to own a set. The closest I ever got was when an online store offered a set on sale for $500. It's going for about twice that right now on Amazon, and I think the price has come down; perhaps because a third edition is in the works or maybe because print is going by the wayside. It might as well have been five million dollars, as Scarlett O'Hara sort of said about the taxes on Tara, because we didn't have an extra $500 to spend on an overblown dictionary.

Sometimes, like this evening, I plug the title into my favorite search engine to see if any sales come up. I will own an OED someday. And I'll read it, too.

In the meantime, if you're looking for a good dictionary, I recommend one of these.

Why I Oppose the "Road Rage Act

Today in Tallahassee, state lawmakers heard the first reading of Florida House Bill 177, the Motor Vehicles/Highway Safety Act.

While some portions of this bill sound like a good idea, I am opposed to its passage in its current form. Here’s why:

We have a lot of roads in this area that have two or three lanes of traffic flowing in the same direction. This proposed legislation would make it illegal to drive in the left lane if anyone else wants to drive faster.

Here’s a scenario. I own some property on the Nine Mile Road in Beulah. It’s a rural two-lane road where people routinely drive 10, 15, 20 miles over the speed limit. There’s been talk for years of widening the road due to increased traffic from housing developments and the Navy Federal Credit Union call center. It’s very unlikely that a turn lane will be installed in front of my driveway. That turn-in leads to three pieces of property and two are currently uninhabited. Other nearby driveways are the same. When you get to the neighborhoods and the call center, which are congregated east of my place, it’s a different story.

So, I get off the interstate and turn west. My property is a few miles down the road, on the south side. I have to turn left, and to do so, I take my life in my hands, because the, um, numbskulls that want to drive 70mph in a 55 zone certainly don’t want to slow down. They blow their horns, they pass on the shoulder.

If the road is widened to four lanes, my inclination would be to get in the left lane when I get off the interstate. It’s not that far to my turn, and if I get in the right lane, there’s a real possibility that I will not be able to get into the left lane when it’s time to make my turn. If they won’t slow down for me now, when there’s only one lane going west, what makes you think they’ll be willing to slow down or move right when I change lanes in front of them? The other possibility is that a steady stream of speeders in the left lane will effectively block me from getting over anyway.

Let’s look more closely at what the bill says:

1. On roads, streets, or highways having two or more lanes that allow movement in the same direction, a driver may not continue to operate a motor vehicle in the furthermost left-hand lane if the driver knows, or reasonably should know, that he or she is being overtaken in that lane from the rear by a motor vehicle traveling at a higher rate of speed. Paragraph (a) does not apply to a driver operating a motor vehicle in the furthermost left-hand lane if: The driver is driving the legal speed limit and is not impeding the flow of traffic in the furthermost left-hand lane;

In other words, if I’m driving the speed limit, I’m allowed to be in the left lane, unless someone else wants to race past me. Then I’m required to make it easier for the speeder to break the law.

2. The driver is in the process of overtaking a slower motor vehicle in the adjacent right-hand lane for the purpose of passing the slower moving vehicle so that the driver may move to the adjacent right-hand lane;

Now wait. If there’s a bus or an older person driving less than the speed limit in the right lane, I’m allowed to pass on the left. But am I required to wait until all the Speedy Gonzalezes are past before I can move into the left lane? Can I impede someone else in order to avoid being impeded?

3. Conditions make the flow of traffic substantially the same in all lanes or preclude the driver from moving to the adjacent right-hand lane;

I guess if both lanes of traffic are moving at about the same speed, it doesn’t matter which lane I’m in. But, if only speeders are supposed to use the left lane, then how did the traffic get backed up in that lane?

4. The driver's movement to the adjacent right-hand lane could endanger the driver or other drivers;

Okay, I’m not required to hit another vehicle in order to get out of Speedy’s way.

5. The driver is directed by a law enforcement officer, road sign, or road crew to remain in the furthermost left-hand lane; or

I hope this includes Florida’s mandatory rule that you move into the left lane when passing a law enforcement or emergency vehicle parked on the right shoulder.

6. The driver is preparing to make a left turn.

Ah, here we go. I’m allowed to be in the left lane to make a left turn. From I-10 to my turn on Nine Mile Road, it’s probably two or three miles. Is that too soon? Is five miles away too soon to get in the left lane, if I know that traffic usually gets heavier near where I need to make my turn?

Moving on, the next section is pretty convoluted with statute numbers, so I’ve removed most of those to make it easier reading.

Section 5. Section 316.1923, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
Aggressive careless driving.
(1) "Aggressive careless driving" means committing three, two or more of the following acts simultaneously or in succession:
(a)(1) Exceeding the posted speed;
(b)(2) Unsafely or improperly changing lanes;
(c)(3) Following another vehicle too closely;
(d)(4) Failing to yield the right-of-way;
(e)(5) Improperly passing or failing to yield to overtaking vehicles;
(f)(6) Violating traffic control and signal devices.

A few years ago, a truck full of people who I don’t think had been driving in this country for long, was weaving in and out of its lane and, I felt, putting me at risk. I sped up a little to get past them. It was a 45 zone dropping to a 30 zone and there’s a traffic light in the middle that was yellow when I passed under it.

The truck full of immigrants turned left.

The policeman hiding on a side street pulled me over and ticketed me for speeding and for speeding up to run a red light.

He was old, his hands were shaking so much I’m surprised he was able to write the ticket, and he gave me no opportunity to speak. I wanted to fight the red light portion of the ticket in court, but my husband was certain the judge would take the cop’s side over mine in a he said/she said, and we’d have to pay court costs on top of the tickets.

So, under the proposed legislation, I would have received an additional ticket for Aggressive Careless Driving. The immigrants would have qualified for the same and were certainly driving more dangerously than I was, but I was the easy catch.

And that’s what’s going to happen with this law. A law enforcement officer looking to boost his ticket count at the end of the month is going to be looking for an easy mark so he can tack on that extra “road rage” ticket.

The rest of the month, law enforcement personnel will do what they do now. They’ll talk on their cell phones while vehicles race through red lights in front of them. They’ll ignore the tailgaters and the speeders, and they won’t even bother to use their own turn signals.

If there’s any chance the driver really is exhibiting signs of road rage, they’ll quickly turn off, because they won’t want to deal with someone who’s already steaming mad even before they see the blue lights in their rear view mirrors.

If lawmakers really want to cut down on dangerous driving, here’s what they’ll do:

• Make it easier for drivers to report the reckless behavior of other drivers. I don’t think law enforcement does anything to investigate that kind of complaint right now. They can’t write a ticket based on a civilian’s report and the typical attitude around here is that the perp will be gone before they can respond, so why bother. The rule could be something like if they get six or ten complaints about a certain license plate number, they need to check out that driver, watch for him, and see if they can catch him at it. Road rage is probably regular behavior for that type of person.
• Pass a law against using a cell phone while behind the wheel of a car. Period. No talking. Hands-free or not. No texting. No reading the message. No listening to voice mail. No surfing the internet. If you need directions, pull over, then make the call. If the phone rings, wait until you can pull over and then call them back. Unless you’re a transplant surgeon waiting for a donor organ, it’s probably not anything that can’t wait five minutes.
• Encourage law enforcement officers to do their duty every day and not just the last few days of the month. If they put down their phones and pulled over the people who are twenty feet from the intersection when the light turns red and they still go through it, a lot of people would learn to slow down and stop in time, and that would help reduce the frustration that builds into road rage.
• Conduct more license and registration checks - I haven’t seen one of those in years – and don't advertise the locations in advance or allow people to turn around and get out of the line. The point is to nab people who are driving illegally before they cause a wreck.

This legislation is unnecessary. It's somewhat ambiguous. And I believe it holds more opportunity to hurt the average person than to stop any truly dangerous and aggressive drivers.

Six Songs for Sweepers

Here's my lucky playlist: the songs that make me feel lucky, the songs I hum when I'm feeling happy about a win or just dreaming about one.

1. "Something's Coming" from West Side Story [full lyrics]

This song is on my list because it's all about anticipating something good coming to you. What sweeper who's checking the mailbox, reading email, spotting the message light flashing on the answering machine, can't identify with this sentiment:

I got a feeling there's a miracle due,
Gonna come true,
Coming to me!

Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great! 

2. "Luck Be a Lady" from Guys and Dolls [full lyrics]

We all want luck to be good to us, don't we? Here's how the chorus to this song goes:

Luck be a lady tonight
Luck be a lady tonight
Luck if you've ever been a lady to begin with
Luck be a lady tonight.


3. "The Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)" from Gold Diggers of 1933 [full lyrics]

I know this song mostly from the stage musical 42nd Street but Ginger Rogers sang it first in the 1933 film.

 It's the tune I hum or sing when I get a really good cash win, and not nearly as often as I'd like. All together now....
 
We're in the money,
We're in the money;
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!
We're in the money,
The sky is sunny;
Old Man Depression, you are through,
You done us wrong! 

4. "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover" [listen here]

This cute little ditty was written in 1927, and it's very short, so I'm going to print all the lyrics here.

I sing it to myself when I'm looking for four-leaf clovers and especially when I find one. 

I'm looking over a four-leaf clover
That I overlooked before.
One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain,
Third is the roses that grow in the lane.
No need explaining, the one remaining
Is somebody I adore.
I'm looking over a four-leaf clover
That I overlooked before.

5. "Money (That's What I Want)" [full lyrics]

Apparently this song was most famously recorded by a group called the Flying Lizards. I know it because it's on the Josie and the Pussycats movie soundtrack.

Don't the song's opening lyrics say it all for the sweeper on a quest for cash prizes?

The best things in life are free,
But you can give them to the birds and bees.
I want money!

6. "I Wanna Be Rich" [full lyrics]

This is the refrain that comes to mind when I'm buying a ticket to Lotto or Powerball.

I want money, lots and lots of money
I want the pie in the sky
I want money, lots and lots of money
So don't be asking me why 

And those are my favorite songs about luck and money. Sorry, I couldn't come up with four more to make it a top 10 list. Do you have any songs to add to the Sweeper's Playlist?

Day Seven - My Day

I woke up this morning at 7:08am. Actually, I woke up 15 minutes earlier than that, but I have the bedroom clock set ahead, so those are the numbers I saw. I got up a few minutes later, and just a few minutes before the alarm was set to go off.

Remy made a diarrhea, which is good, because it was his first bowel movement in several days. He appears to have an enlarged colon, to go along with his abnormally small liver, and the x-rays last week showed that he's kind of impacted right now. Now, in addition to taking a syringe full of Clavamox, he also gets a syringe full of a laxative. He starts drooling when he sees the syringe.

I woke up with my shoulder aching, and my back knotted up even more the closer I got to work. With a major fundraiser coming up plus subscription renewals beginning soon, plus all the usual stuff, it's just an extra stressful time. One person was taking a vacation day and another was out sick, so it was pretty quiet. I did get a little bit accomplished, but not as much as I'd like.

We were hoping we'd see signs that Remy went to the bathroom more, but nothing in the boxes was soft, so he probably didn't go any more. Tim and I will both feel better, I'm sure, when he's cleaned out and hopefully back to normal.

After doing the evening medicating, feeding, my shower, calling mom, I finally had a chance to sit down. Then I found problems with our email service online. I've got to find a new service. My husband says use Gmail because it's got unlimited online storage, which is what I need, but I figure if I'm paying someone to host my domain and provide me with "unlimited" email, which should that mean unlimited email addresses but a cap on how many messages I can have in my box. So I ended up spending time trying to make sure that the mail I already had downloaded won't disappear like the last time I tried to download anything. I hope I have it set up now. I lost a lot of irreplaceable messages from friends and my late father when Thunderbird "synched" with webmail and deleted everything that I had downloaded. Stupid me, I didn't think I had to keep it online AND offline. I thought the point was to be able to download the mail to keep it.

Dealing with all that (and the memory of what I lost and my anger that I had set everything up to download the mail so that we could change ISPs, and it turned out to be for nothing because my husband renewed the hosting package anyway) has only made me more tense.

Then I started trying to check my current mail and enter my sweeps for today. And now, look at the time, it's already tomorrow. Like sands and all that.  My day.

Day Four - An Experience That Made Me Who I Am

In the late '80s, I attended some major science fiction conventions and a bunch of smaller ones. Here are the highlights:

• 1986 - World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), Atlanta, Georgia
• 1987 - Official Star Wars 10th Anniversary Convention, Los Angeles, California
• 1988 - WorldCon, New Orleans, Louisiana
• 1989 - WorldCon, Boston, Massachusetts
• 1991 - WorldCon, Chicago, Illinois

Most of the big cons were attended by publicity reps from the major Hollywood studios. (The only name I can remember is Jeff Walker from Warner Bros). Remember, back then, you couldn't go to YouTube or Apple to see upcoming movie trailers. You had to wait for publicity stills to be published in a magazine (probably three months after the studio released them). When the studio reps did their slide shows about upcoming science fiction, fantasy or comic book-related films, the rooms were packed.

I thought that would be the coolest job in the world. Of course, I'd already graduated from college, and I don't even know if UWF had a public relations degree back then. (They have a great program now.)  I have no idea what these guys did when they weren't traveling to science fiction conventions to talk to geeks about movies.

A few years after my first convention (that Atlanta WorldCon), I was offered an unbelievable opportunity to live that dream.  A friend of mine (we met at the Star Wars con in '87 and later worked together at Walt Disney World) brought me a flyer for the Sci-Fi Channel. Imagine! A television channel that would show SF movies and TV shows all day, every day. (Too bad we don't have one now.) This was something that I'd dreamed of, but I certainly didn't have the money or connections to start a TV network. I wrote a passionate letter saying that I'd love to work for them, and they offered me a job!

This was before the Sci-Fi Channel ever got on the air. First, the cable companies had to be convinced to carry the channel. You have to have an audience (or at least a potential audience) before you start broadcasting. SFC reps would travel around talking to all the different cable systems, large and small, rural and urban, and try to get them to sign an agreement to put the Sci-Fi Channel on their line-up, if and when the Channel launched.

It was my job to encourage fans to write to their cable companies, demonstrating their interest in watching an all-sci-fi network. I spent all day, every day responding to letters from interested people, taking phone calls, making calls and writing letters, mailing packets of flyers to conventions and fan clubs, and speaking at conventions, mostly the ones in Central and South Florida within easy driving distance of Sci-Fi HQ. It really was a dream job.

It also led me to my husband. One of the conventions I was able to attend as a Sci-Fi Channel representative was the big one, ChiCon, the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago in 1991. Several fan club leaders I'd been working with were going to be there, so it was chance to meet them face to face; distribute flyers, posters and buttons; and to answer questions at my very own panel. (I didn't have a slide show.) The president of a big Doctor Who fan club in the midwest was an SFC supporter, so I had arranged to meet him, and when I went up to his room, his wife and a couple of friends were also there. One of those friends and I hit it off, and two weeks later, we were engaged.

Over the next few months, USA Networks decided to buy the Sci-Fi Channel (which consisted primarily of all those signed agreements from the cable systems), and I didn't know if I'd have a job or not. I wasn't sure I wanted to live in New York anyway (I'd spent a couple of days there on my home from the Boston WorldCon, September 1989, and it smelled). So, I resigned, got married, and moved to Missouri, where they never feed you snakes before ripping your heart out and lowering you into hot pits.

Fast forward and I'm now working in the public relations field again. The whole ball game has changed, and I don't know if the studios still have people who travel to conventions to present slide shows (if so, now they're Powerpoint presentations), show video clips, and tell the fans all the wonderful things happening in Hollywood. I'd still love to have that job.

I can safely say that I am who I am, a happily married wife and a public relations professional, because of my experiences at those conventions a long time ago in states far, far away.

Day Three - The People Who Make My World Go Around

My mom (in Mansfield, Indiana; left), because she's always been so supportive of me. She's also a little crazy, and I think it runs in the family.

My husband, for making me laugh, for encouraging me, and for always making me feel special.

My friend Liz, because we're so different and yet so alike, and because she is such a strong, smart, vibrant personality.

Day Two - My Favorite Show

I am participating in It's Gravy Baby's 31 Day Photo & Prompt Challenge. For Day 2, the prompt is to tell you about my favorite show.

This one takes me back a bit.

My favorite TV show of all time is Gilligan's Island. I loved the show when I was a kid, and when it came out on DVD in 2004, I bought all three seasons, 99 episodes plus the original pilot with a few different actors.

I love the show because it's funny on several levels. I pick up on things as an adult that as a child, I either didn't understand or took it to mean something else. I also love it because you really can learn something from the series.

Here's an example from real life. Co-worker A was getting married. I asked co-worker B if she was going to the wedding. She said no, she had other stuff to do, and she wasn't invited anyway. That made no sense to me. So I went to co-worker A and said, "Co-worker B told me that she didn't receive an invitation to your wedding. Did you not send her one for some reason? Or did it get lost in the mail?" He assured me that she had been sent an invite and he'd send her another one to make sure she got it. She didn't come anyway, at least not that I saw (it was a huge wedding), but at least maybe her feelings weren't hurt.

How is this related to Gilligan's Island? In one episode, the Howells are throwing their annual ball (The Howell Cotillion) and everyone's excited about it, except that on the way to deliver the invitations, Mr. Howell tripped, and he lost the one for the Skipper. So, the Skipper didn't get his invitation, and he's all bummed and one by one the other Castaways decide that the Howells are just being snobby and they're going to have their own party instead of going to the Cotillion. Then the Howells feel bad, because no one came to their party. It all gets worked out in the end, of course, but the viewer comes away with a valuable lesson. If someone who should have received an invitation to the party doesn't get invited, just go ask the host if it was deliberate or a mistake. Of course, the episode would have been over in a minute-and-a-half if Gilligan or Ginger or Mary Ann or the Professor had gone to Mr. or Mrs. Howell and said, "Hey, what gives? Why wasn't the Skipper invited?"

Gilligan's Island also taught me the scientific name for aspirin, explained the gold standard, illustrated gold fever, and taught me the definition of a reverse tsunami. Okay, that last is a stretch. I've heard the media use the term "reverse tsunami" a few times in recent years, and I wonder how many of those reporters have the phrase in their minds because they saw Gilligan's Island when they were kids.

See, in the show, Duke the surfer (Denny Miller) rides a tsunami from Hawaii to the Island. He spends a few days there building up his strength and impressing the girls. The Professor predicts that a reverse tsunami will be coming along and that Duke could surf it back to Hawaii and send a rescue party. By that time, Duke wants to stay in the island paradise with Ginger and Mary Ann, and hilarity ensues as they enlist the Professor and Gilligan to play their boyfriends in order to drive Duke away. He takes off on the reverse tsunami, but as he glides into the harbor, he bangs his head, and he can't remember where he was for the past two weeks. Awww.

As a kid, I took their word for it that a tsunami or tidal wave was an actual hang 10-style wave, and I accepted that if conditions were right, a reverse tsunami could bring the wave back the way that it came. After the events of December 2005, I think we all know now that a tsunami is a tidal surge, a wall of water that brings the ocean onto the coast.

A quick search of news events turned up a "reverse tsunami" story from Southern California; in that case, instead of flooding the coastline, the ocean receded very quickly, basically like a really fast and really low, low tide. You can view ABC 7 News coverage here.  In 2006, a dam broke in Hawaii, and the water flooded across land to the ocean, destroying homes and killing seven people. In an AP wire story, witnesses described the effect as being like a reverse tsunami. I don't think anyone could have surfed it to another island.  Of course, Duke wasn't just anyone. He was one of Hawaii's greatest surfers.

So anyway, that's why I love Gilligan's Island.

Day One - 31 Day Challenge

I read about It's Gravy Baby's 31 Day Photo and Prompt Challenge over at Robyn's Online World, and I decided to participate. The first challenge is to post  a photo of yourself with 10 facts. 

   1. I love Star Wars, and I collect the toys and memorabilia.
   2. Nine cats call me Meowmmy.
   3. I don't get enough sleep.
   4. In high school & college, I studied Spanish (3 years), German (2 years), French (2 years), and Italian (2 years). Today, I can fluently speak English.
   5. I worked for the Sci-Fi Channel when it was just a concept.
   6. I used to be in Mensa, until I couldn't afford the membership dues.
   7. I started first grade when I was four years old.
   8. I adore actor/director/writer Kenneth Branagh and traveled to England twice to see him perform on stage.
   9. I've been to Tatooine. (Really! Okay, it was Death Valley where they filmed some of the Jawa scenes for the very first Star Wars film.)
  10. My favorite play by William Shakespeare is Hamlet.

If you have a blog, you can join the 31 Day Photo and Prompt Challenge by clicking the button on my sidebar. There are NO rules.  You can participate one day or every day.  You can simply put up a photo or you can write up a long post.  Just have fun with it.

The Credit Monitoring Nightmare Continues

The day after I posted An Open Letter to My Credit Card Company, my husband answered the phone. The conversation went like this:

Husband: Hello?
Caller: May I speak to [my name as it is on my card]?
Husband: She's unavailable at the moment.
Caller: I'll call back another time.
Husband: Wait! Is this Bank of America? [You may as well know.]
Caller: Yeeessss.
Husband: Is this a 'courtesy call'?
Caller: Yeeessss.
Husband: Is this in regard to a credit monitoring program?
Caller: Oh, no, [mumbles something about a free credit report]
Husband: Uh-huh. Over the past week she's told two people by phone to make sure she's on the no-call list and she filled out the form on the website. We're now investigating what legal action we can take if this harassment continues.
Caller: Oh. I'll make sure that your account is updated to show that you've opted out [or something like that].


Since then, I haven't received any calls. Or maybe they just called when we weren't home and didn't leave a message. I'll keep you posted.