It dawned on me recently that the old "bell curve" comes into our lives off and on. In school, we obsess about the bell curve and our grades. And as I've gotten older, I am again faced with the bell curve, but now it's called "the hill" and I'm on the wrong side.
It's really odd when you realize that you're past your peak. You spend your life trying to grow, change, improve. You work to improve your lifestyle, your looks, your job, whatever. And you can improve these things. Then, all of a sudden, you realize that you will never be quite as good as you are today. You're over the hill and today is as good as you'll ever be again.
I know that sounds depressing. It is depressing. I'm not doing anything different, yet I'm not in as good of shape as I was just 5 years ago. I injure myself now and don't know how it happened. My skin is changing. Everything is changing and the changes aren't good anymore.
So, how do we move from day to day in this new world order? What goals do we have? How do we feel useful? What makes us want to get up in the morning? It's hard. It's so easy to be swept away by these changes and just sit down and act old.
Last May I injured my right knee. I don't know how. I didn't take up rock climbing or anything. I stopped jogging a few years ago because I kept having to take a break because a knee was bothering me or something. I think I do a good mix of cross training with weights and step and pilates and nordic trak, etc. But it took 6 months before I could resume normal activity and workouts. 6 months! And I don't know what I did!
So, I guess this is my new reality. So what's my point? My point is that this stinks and you have to work to keep yourself motivated and interested in life and to enjoy yourself. It's way too easy to have a big pity party and just slide down the wrong side of the bell curve.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
No more trickling down ... PLEASE!
As I listen (and listen and listen and listen) to the political rhetoric from both sides, there are things that I agree with on both sides and things that I don't. But I realize more and more as I listen to McCain and Palin that they are talking the same old trickle down economics that hasn't worked since forever.
You give a millionaire money and he/she doesn't put it back into circulation ... at least not with their employees. They put it all in THEIR bank account and they and their families go shopping and traveling while laying off employees. Cutting their taxes doesn't encourage entrepeneurship. It doesn't do anything for the middle class. It just makes the rich, richer.
Making the top money makers pay their share of the taxes is distribution of burden and I think it's about time.
You give a millionaire money and he/she doesn't put it back into circulation ... at least not with their employees. They put it all in THEIR bank account and they and their families go shopping and traveling while laying off employees. Cutting their taxes doesn't encourage entrepeneurship. It doesn't do anything for the middle class. It just makes the rich, richer.
Making the top money makers pay their share of the taxes is distribution of burden and I think it's about time.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ready for election day
I am so ready for November 4th. I want to know the outcome so we can start moving forward. Of course, I say that, hoping with everything that I've got that it will be Barack Obama. I have been disappointed in McCain during this election cycle, but I don't worry about him winning except for the Sara Palin thing. I do not want her being VP. I do not want to risk her being President. She does not represent me or what I want for our country.
I am not nearly as well spoken as Colin Powell in why I want Obama for president. When I listened to Mr. Powell's endorsement, it's like he was reading my mind. He said all the things that I wasn't able to articulate nearly as well. I actually misted up listening to him. He was awesome.
I don't know what anyone can do about our current state of affairs, but Powell made feel feel hopeful. Obama makes me feel hopeful. I listen to him and he makes me feel like we can actually do it ... we can recover.
I want a sound country for my grandson to grow up in. I was him to have opportunities. I want him to be proud of his country. But I don't want him paying for our mistakes.
I am not nearly as well spoken as Colin Powell in why I want Obama for president. When I listened to Mr. Powell's endorsement, it's like he was reading my mind. He said all the things that I wasn't able to articulate nearly as well. I actually misted up listening to him. He was awesome.
I don't know what anyone can do about our current state of affairs, but Powell made feel feel hopeful. Obama makes me feel hopeful. I listen to him and he makes me feel like we can actually do it ... we can recover.
I want a sound country for my grandson to grow up in. I was him to have opportunities. I want him to be proud of his country. But I don't want him paying for our mistakes.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sad storey
I was watching Inside Edition tonight and they had a story about a couple who has fallen on hard times financially. He had to retire early because of a back injury, they ran out of money, lost their home ... pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
Then, to top it off, when they lost their home they found an apartment but the apartment doesn't allow large pets. They had 3 labs that they raised from puppys. So they have had to give up their dogs. The dogs live at a shelter right now and they go visit them every night. Even the shelter manager is crying about the situation!
Here's a link to the story. http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=2249
I hope someone hears/sees their story and is able to help somehow. It's just all so sad. It would be so great to hear a happy ending in this time of unrelenting bad news.
Then, to top it off, when they lost their home they found an apartment but the apartment doesn't allow large pets. They had 3 labs that they raised from puppys. So they have had to give up their dogs. The dogs live at a shelter right now and they go visit them every night. Even the shelter manager is crying about the situation!
Here's a link to the story. http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=2249
I hope someone hears/sees their story and is able to help somehow. It's just all so sad. It would be so great to hear a happy ending in this time of unrelenting bad news.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
More reason to hate HOA's
I went to an HOA meeting yesterday. I am stunned at how polarizing these meetings are. I have yet to see the value of these organizations. All I see are the fights that they cause between neighbors as everyone interprets the confusing legalese. Some of the "discussions" are scarey ... they are all uncomfortable to listen to.
There is a woman who lives next to a house that has been abandoned. The owners apparently had 10 dogs and they weren't good at keeping up with their pets. As a result the house is "destroyed" to use her words. She wants to know what the HOA can and will do about it. Obviously, the HOA can't help her. It is a legal issue. The bank has to foreclose on it, blah blah blah. So having an HOA didn't help her. All it does is let the busy bodies complain that someone's grass is 1" longer than it's supposed to be. It justifies neighbors snooping on neighbors.
I really think they are the most un-American thing I've ever seen. I'm amazed at how many people are so willing to just give up so many of their rights/freedoms as property owners. It's a slipper slope they are chosing to go down. One woman asked me why we purchased property given how we feel. Despite the rudeness, I replied. I said that we can't afford to custom build a house on a piece of property. If we want to live in a new home, we have no choice because it's the new yuppy trend.
Rest assured, if I win mega millions ... we are outta here. And I think I'll build a community that has no HOA for others like us who want to enjoy all the freedoms of owning their own home.
There is a woman who lives next to a house that has been abandoned. The owners apparently had 10 dogs and they weren't good at keeping up with their pets. As a result the house is "destroyed" to use her words. She wants to know what the HOA can and will do about it. Obviously, the HOA can't help her. It is a legal issue. The bank has to foreclose on it, blah blah blah. So having an HOA didn't help her. All it does is let the busy bodies complain that someone's grass is 1" longer than it's supposed to be. It justifies neighbors snooping on neighbors.
I really think they are the most un-American thing I've ever seen. I'm amazed at how many people are so willing to just give up so many of their rights/freedoms as property owners. It's a slipper slope they are chosing to go down. One woman asked me why we purchased property given how we feel. Despite the rudeness, I replied. I said that we can't afford to custom build a house on a piece of property. If we want to live in a new home, we have no choice because it's the new yuppy trend.
Rest assured, if I win mega millions ... we are outta here. And I think I'll build a community that has no HOA for others like us who want to enjoy all the freedoms of owning their own home.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Awesome use of technology
I'm sick of bad economic news and bad political news and just bad news in general. And that's all I seem to see and hear. I was just checking out what's new at CNN and saw this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/12/elephant.text.message.ap/index.html
Who could resist a headline that says an elephant sent a text message?! Just when you start loosing faith in your fellow man, you read something like that. Nice.
Now I just need another Redskins win and I'll consider this a good day. :-)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/12/elephant.text.message.ap/index.html
Who could resist a headline that says an elephant sent a text message?! Just when you start loosing faith in your fellow man, you read something like that. Nice.
Now I just need another Redskins win and I'll consider this a good day. :-)
I don't get it
I just don't understand everyone's hang-up with gay marriage. What difference does it make? My daughter was raised without an awareness one way or the other about gays. They exist. Just like trees, clouds in the sky, birds, men, women, christians, jews, the list goes on. She is a great mother a good christian, a good citizen, a good tax payer and she still doesn't care of notice whether someone is gay. It did not challenge her faith or her concept of family to know that gays exist.
Gay couples are just like any hetero couple. They are as much a family as hetero couples. They love and care just as deeply. They help their kids with the homework. The biggest difference is that gays are probably better at teaching their kids tolerance of others because they have to teach them how to handle someone treating them and their family with lack of tolerance.
They have all the negatives of being a couple/family ... disagreements, keeping relationship from falling apart, sick partners/family members, money problems. Let's allow them some of the benefits too.
I am disappointed that politicians try to play both sides by saying they are FOR civil unions but AGAINST gay marriage. It's the same thing people. If churches don't want to perform a marriage ceremony for gay couples, that is the church's right. But we have separation of church and state in this country, so they have the right to go to a courthouse and get married just like I did. I don't call my marriage a civil union just because it occurred at a courthouse. I'm married. Period.
People seem to think they are SAVING the definition of family by denying gays the same basic human rights that hetero married couples have. Like the right to inherit property. The right to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner. The right to have family health insurance. Gays are not challenging what a family is ... they are enforcing it. The care for each other just like we do. They support each other just like we do. They pay taxes just like we do. They join neighborhood watch groups just like we do. They take their kids trick-or-treating just like we do. It's not like their lives are different than ours.
The rolls are basically the same, they are just being carried out by 2 men or 2 women. It really is that simple. We need to stop reading more into it than it is. We need to stop teaching our children intolerance, you are just making their adulthood more difficult for them. This is the world they will live, work and marry in. You are crippling their coping skills by focussing on people who are different.
Everyone who cares, you are free to be negative and make your childrens' lives more difficult as they move into adulthood in a world that is not what you teach. Your church will support you, so that's where you should hide. But I ask that you stop trying to deny people their rights based on religeous belief. That is NOT what this country is about. That is NOT what this country was founded on. That is NOT good manners.
I know that in these scarey times since 9/11 people have run hysterically towards religion. It's been done before and it will be done again I'm sure. And that's wonderful. That's what our faith is for. It helps us though difficult times. But it is very important that we don't go overboard with it. Stop blaming lack of religion in schools and government as the source of our problems. That is DEFINITELY NOT the case. I am 56. I was raised without prayer in school and I am not gay nor a terrorist. I learned prayer where I was supposed to learn it ... in church and home. School was for facts and arts ... and phys ed. That's what our ancestors came to this new land for ... religeous freedom. They separated church and state so that people weren't judged and treated by their government based on religion.
I think they were pretty smart. I look at countries that have been fighting for generations and the biggest difference that I see is that they have not separated religion from politics. That makes politics much more personal and volatile. I do not want that for this country or my grandson. I want him to have the same experience that I had and that his mother had.
This is a great country. It has been a great country for over 200 years. I think what we've been doing so far has worked pretty stinking well. Let's not mess it up. Ok? Disagree with me about whether or not gays are just like us. But please, don't mess with my country. I like my country just the way it is ... a melting pot that has been set up to be as impartial towards its citizens as possible.
Gay couples are just like any hetero couple. They are as much a family as hetero couples. They love and care just as deeply. They help their kids with the homework. The biggest difference is that gays are probably better at teaching their kids tolerance of others because they have to teach them how to handle someone treating them and their family with lack of tolerance.
They have all the negatives of being a couple/family ... disagreements, keeping relationship from falling apart, sick partners/family members, money problems. Let's allow them some of the benefits too.
I am disappointed that politicians try to play both sides by saying they are FOR civil unions but AGAINST gay marriage. It's the same thing people. If churches don't want to perform a marriage ceremony for gay couples, that is the church's right. But we have separation of church and state in this country, so they have the right to go to a courthouse and get married just like I did. I don't call my marriage a civil union just because it occurred at a courthouse. I'm married. Period.
People seem to think they are SAVING the definition of family by denying gays the same basic human rights that hetero married couples have. Like the right to inherit property. The right to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner. The right to have family health insurance. Gays are not challenging what a family is ... they are enforcing it. The care for each other just like we do. They support each other just like we do. They pay taxes just like we do. They join neighborhood watch groups just like we do. They take their kids trick-or-treating just like we do. It's not like their lives are different than ours.
The rolls are basically the same, they are just being carried out by 2 men or 2 women. It really is that simple. We need to stop reading more into it than it is. We need to stop teaching our children intolerance, you are just making their adulthood more difficult for them. This is the world they will live, work and marry in. You are crippling their coping skills by focussing on people who are different.
Everyone who cares, you are free to be negative and make your childrens' lives more difficult as they move into adulthood in a world that is not what you teach. Your church will support you, so that's where you should hide. But I ask that you stop trying to deny people their rights based on religeous belief. That is NOT what this country is about. That is NOT what this country was founded on. That is NOT good manners.
I know that in these scarey times since 9/11 people have run hysterically towards religion. It's been done before and it will be done again I'm sure. And that's wonderful. That's what our faith is for. It helps us though difficult times. But it is very important that we don't go overboard with it. Stop blaming lack of religion in schools and government as the source of our problems. That is DEFINITELY NOT the case. I am 56. I was raised without prayer in school and I am not gay nor a terrorist. I learned prayer where I was supposed to learn it ... in church and home. School was for facts and arts ... and phys ed. That's what our ancestors came to this new land for ... religeous freedom. They separated church and state so that people weren't judged and treated by their government based on religion.
I think they were pretty smart. I look at countries that have been fighting for generations and the biggest difference that I see is that they have not separated religion from politics. That makes politics much more personal and volatile. I do not want that for this country or my grandson. I want him to have the same experience that I had and that his mother had.
This is a great country. It has been a great country for over 200 years. I think what we've been doing so far has worked pretty stinking well. Let's not mess it up. Ok? Disagree with me about whether or not gays are just like us. But please, don't mess with my country. I like my country just the way it is ... a melting pot that has been set up to be as impartial towards its citizens as possible.
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