Friday, September 18, 2009

it's been a while

been a fairly long time since i've written anything real here. i can't really put a finger on just why. I guess i can blame writer's block. but i think in order to catch that disease you have to be a writer. and i doubt i have those credentials. so rather than blaming it on writer's block i'll blame it on what i call "lack of inspiration".

sometimes where you're my age it's hard to get inspired. if i get inspired once a week or so, that's plenty. and on top of that the current news trend is so uninspiring. recent news headlines include . . . jimmie carter says the republican senator who accused president barry o of lying did so because he's a racist. now just a minute now you silly old peanut farmer. how can you tell from that one statement that the guy's a racist. cause i'm thinking the same thing. the health care plan does not expressly preclude coverage for illegal aliens. not from what i've read. so me having the same thought, mister ex-president peanut farmer, does that make me a racist? i guess so, but i never felt that i've been racist. ask my buddy jimmy easter. last i saw of him he's still a black man, and a very good friend. that type of headline will uninspire anyone.

more of the same in today's headlines. obama now claims health care anger is not motivated by his race. good. good that someone realizes that. but printing that garbage as a headline makes most wonder if the anger may actually be racist motivated. why even address it if it isn't happening. it's like saying "the city water system was tested and found anthrax free." reading that wouldn't you wonder why they tested it in the first place? was maybe it laden with anthrax earlier? just starts stuff that doesn't get started.

yahoo's most prominent headline right now says "barrymore's hair matches her odd dress". forgive me if i didn't read the article, for i find no possible interest in the content. what i find peculiar is that this is the headline and story that yahoo chooses to be it's focal point. boy, our society could be in big trouble.

here's another headline i find curious. former miss california defends position on gay marriage. well, first of all, she's no longer miss california, so why is this an issue. secondly, she should not need to defend her position on this issue no more than those that believe in gay marriage, but are not in the public eye, have to defend theirs. it's what you believe. or, in her case, what she believes. should those in the public eye be called upon to defend their position if they believe in gay marriages? no. and neither should she. it's an opinion.

we all know michael jackson died (unless you're one of those that thinks they snuck his live body out of neverland or wherever the hell he was living at the time) cause it was front page news for a month or more. some of us may have noticed that walter cronkite died. cronkite was the most respected and beloved news reporter this country has ever seen. and we were reminded of his life and death for a couple of weeks. not nearly for as long as we were innundated with the king of pop's details. and who can honestly say that michael jackson had nearly as much impact on our society as a whole, on the course our media has taken, than walter cronkite. and cronkite was "normal".

speaking of death. mary travers died. that's very sad to me. peter paul and mary. puff and others. there will never be such an inspiring folk group. alas, the demise of the group may mark the demise of the music genre. very sad.

a few of us noticed that henry gibson died. if you're not my age or a little older and weren't acquainted with rowan and martin's laugh in, you didn't know henry gibson. but short little comedic actor who seemed like a pleasant enough fellow. even the day of his death he wasn't front page material. page 10 for henry gibson.

not much of a plot. not much of a theme. just some things i needed to get off my back.

and, oh, i got a new computer. toshiba laptop. with a numeric keypad. know how handy that is on a laptop when you do anything at all with spreadsheets? well, it is. and i'm liking this new laptop pretty well except about every 10th browser page locks it up. i'm told it's vista. that being the case, i don't like vista.

another new item since the last post is a new cell phone. my cell phone life has been a little zany lately. alltel, the carrier i use, is generous enough to give you a new phone every two years in exchange for you renewing your contract for another two years. or you can pay a little for a phone and get an upgraded model. well, i did that in april. got a phone with a camera (don't really need that), slide out full keyboard so i can succumb to the kids request and send and receive text messages, and even access e-mail and web browser right there on the phone screen. pretty nifty, eh?

well, it was. but this phone didn't fit in my phone holster, so i just carried it in my pocket. one day i changed my pants at mid-day (sunday, i'm doing laundry, wanted to wash the ones i was wearing) and an hour or so later wondered where my phone had got off to. and i figured it out. went on an adventure through the washing machine cycles along with my pants. cell phones don't like that kind of adventure. it quit working.

so now i'm kind of hooked on texting and e-mailing and browsing on my phone. so i call alltel and tell em my phone quit working. they asked me if there was a little red mark under the battery. yep. well, you 've gotten it wet. not covered under our warranty. i knew that, but would have listened if they'd told me it was covered.

so they've given me a free phone, they're not gonna give me another, so i gotta buy one. and i find the perfect one. motorola q, whatever that is. camera,e-mail, browsing. perfect. and priced pretty cheap. i buy it. i receive it. it doesn't work. not since alltel is merging with verizon. won't work. so, to make a long long story a bit shorter, i got another one. a blackberry. and it does it all. not sure i like it, cause it buzzes all night long to indicate i've got an e-mail message, text message, whatever. but sure makes it nice to check e-mail when you need to. now if i could just get the kids to quit sending those darned text messages.

2 comments:

  1. Hai there, i like your family picture on your blog. Please visit my blog also

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  2. Thanks for the 'inspiration' - I wrote several pages on the topics you brought up.

    But stay away from, "I have black friends" - it's a meaningless 'throw away' line that only reflects poorly on the speaker.

    P.S. Sorry about your cell phone....

    ;-)

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