52 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-16-16”

  2. Aj, are these your birthday swans?
    Morning all
    Welcome to Monday.
    My gift package was found on the porch of the home I own, but only lived in for six weeks in 2004. So how did they figure to send it there when it was addressed to my po box? A mystery

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  8. As I told you yesterday, this weekend was filled with events. Saturday night I attended a party for Junior (the 24 year old I work with) and his fiancee’. I sat next to Donald Trump’s Northeast Regional Campaign Manager. He said he is about 6 layers down in the organization. Very interesting conversation. He went to college with Junior. Obviously he is a fan, but said what you see is what you get and that most of Trump’s employee’s have been with him for decades. I suppose that says something….I’m not there yet.

    Also the party was hosted by several couples. When someone told me whose house we were at, I asked who the host’s parents were because it was a name I recognized by the wife’s name was off. When they told me I lost my filter and blurted out, “Oh THAT John Smith!!!”. Well that caused the person to go back and tell someone, so Junior came over to find out how I knew the host. From a really loooonnnnnggggg time ago. I admitted that I hadn’t seen him since I was about 20. It was back when I hung out with the regatta set. “John’s” parents had an antebellum house on the coast in Mississippi. I was such a Prissy Miss that when we stayed there I go the Master Suite (not with the Master or the Master’s son, mind you—all to myself).
    He has turned into a really nice man. He has 4 children. His son has Cerebral Palsy. They moved here after Katrina hit the coast. He used to deliver yachts to the 1% which reminded me of how they really are. He said the last yacht he delivered they got ready but the buyers changed their minds, so they did a $750,000 redecoration of it before they ever delivered it and THEN the man accused them of cheating him out of a $15,000 ladder. I am familiar with the process….

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  9. I’m sure it’s because you suddenly realize what a grotesque amount of money you are spending and have to find a culprit somewhere. That ladder, pushing me over the top!

    My brother was inducted into the Pioneer Cable TV club I over the weekend in Boston. Sort of a club for the early sellers and adapters of cable tv. My sister-in-law sent me a video of the acceptance speech and it was sweet to hear him tell tales of our father–who truly was a character in the early days of cable tv parts sales.

    That was even as he was selling phonograph needles. I have quite an entertainmen-tech heritage, starting when my grandfather built a business on how to repair radios based on a book he got out of the library.

    Well, at least I inherited the library component from the gene pool!

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  10. My nephew, upon hearing we canceled cable several years ago, was bewildered. “How can you be in this family and not have cable TV?”

    The DirecTV sales guy doesn’t understand either: “Forgive me, Ma’am, but I don’t think you can be very familiar with the world or successful in life without cable TV.”

    This is when I trot out the big guns over such an insulting sales pitch.

    “Well, in all my free time I did write a NYTimes best seller.”

    Silence.

    “Well, ” he finally said. “Then maybe you are not so ill informed. Do you have the Internet, then?”

    Lol

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  11. There was one of those Facebook things going around the other day about not laughing at people who mis-pronounce words because they likely read it in a book. I much prefer a book to TV of any sort. Mr. P was getting irritated the other day with the elections coverage. He really was getting riled up and on a soapbox about it. My solution? Turn the TV off. LOL

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  12. Michelle,

    In Chicago I generally watched ER. When it was a show featuring sex between the characters (which periodically they chose to do), I turned it off, but my TV viewing probably still averaged out to an hour a week, because I watched when extremely important news happened–for example, I watched the returns on presidential election night, and I watched on 9/11. I don’t waste my time watching news.

    So, one day a cable person called. “We have 832 5/8 channels, and wouldn’t you like to have that many choices?”

    “Not really. I watch TV about an hour a week.”

    (Telemarketer looks at script, scrolls down to find “Customer says, ‘I really don’t want much TV.'”)

    He came back with “But even with the limited amount of TV you watch, wouldn’t you like to have more choices?”

    Um . . . no. But thanks for asking! (Then I moved to Nashville, where my average probably plummeted to 10 minutes a week.)

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  13. We don’t have cable available, but I am most grateful for satellite television. The choices are wonderful to have, although the number of selling channels blows my mind. The sports channels are watched a couple of times a year when one of my SILs or grandsons want to watch them.

    I also love being able to record shows. It is a wonderful way to enjoy shows when it is convenient. I know it is used by parents to watch shows that are inappropriate to have on when children are present.

    I never thought I would like satellite television, since I was not a big viewer, but have found the opposite true. I also find television can be a wonderful gift when someone is too weak or tired to actually read.

    To me it is another gift, just like any other technological advancement. Is it exploited by the evil one. Of course. Since the Garden of Eden that has been happening and it will be until Jesus returns.

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  14. I was up briefly at 4:30, could not get back to sleep, read for about 30 minutes, then promptly went back to sleep for 2 more hours.

    🙂

    And that’s the story.

    So Trump has to now convince both Paul Ryan and Kim. …

    It helps to remember we’re only pilgrims here — which explains why it all seems so strange sometimes.

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  15. Our children were offered the use of a computer located at a grandparent’s home way back when they were in grade school. I am thinking in the 1980’s. Their aunt was upgrading so gave it to be used by all the children. It had a program in Basic they could learn.

    The aunt was a key-punch operator when computers filled rooms. She worked with computers all her working life. When she first told us about computers “talking to one another” and share-ware, we were amazed.

    When my husband’s job offered free internet and our oldest was in her third year of college, (mid 90’s) we bought a used one from my sister. We took some classes offered at my husband’s job. What a savings email was compared to the eighteen cents a minute that long distance was at the time!

    The advance of this technology has been amazing. The multiplying of it is overwhelming. We truly can understand men being perplexed in the end times.

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  16. I have to agree, TV is generally bad, even horrible, but cable (or satellite) actually gives you some decent viewing choices. There are still some very good films and shows being made, despite what Ricky may say. 🙂

    But tastes differ, too.

    And as a die-hard news hound since my teens, I really would be hard-pressed to be without cable news channels I’m afraid, especially during election years.

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  17. Interior designers seem to have the same issue with some of their clients. Such stories make me want to make doubly sure I am treating those I hire with respect and fairness.

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  18. I do shudder when I see what is available to watch. I shudder when I realize so many children are left to their own choices. That makes me sad, too. 😦

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  19. Donna– If you’re still looking for a new story you might consider my brother–and my father who ran his business out of your town his entire life. I can get you an email address, though no guarantees an interview! LOL

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  20. Thanks michelle 🙂 I still remember when cable was *new* (to me, in the 1980s) and my roommate at the time was so excited as it had finally come to our area and would I want to get it, we’d each pay half. I figured why not, I guess. But I barely knew what it was.

    In the early days I remember being intrigued with C-Span.

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  21. I have DirectTV ad like it for the most part. But I rarely watch anything other than sports, NatGEO, AnimalPlanet, or the like. I find most network TV to be crass and distasteful, so I avoid it.

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  22. My brother has also been a cable guy for years and years. He often asks when I am going to get cable, and I remind him no one has put one in around here so he might want to get that done first.

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  23. I thought, so this is what they meant by “pay TV,” something we heard about as kids. I assumed it meant we’d have to put quarters in the TV to watch it in the future.

    Of course, then there was the rumor that if Nixon were elected we’d all have to go to school on Saturdays.

    See? My childhood was filled with terrifying visions of the future.

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  24. The reason I got cable in the early seventies was so that I could get a picture without shadows and having to move the antenna for different stations.
    I only watch foxNews, Fox Business, and OAN. I watch football in the fall.
    Elvera watches a religious station out of Greenville. Almost exclusively.

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  26. Good cold and rainy Monday….Lulah wants to play in the rain…I do not want to smell a wet dog…I win….
    We don’t have cable…we have an antenna…way high up in a tree!! 🙂 We have limited channels but more than enough to watch the news when we desire to see what’s happening around Denver….and we have an old movie station which entertains occasionally…Comcast is slowing installing the infrastructure in our region that is being financed by some of us homeowners….we will take advantage of internet service…but not cable….
    Beautiful birthday swans AJ….!

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  28. There are things I miss, but I couldn’t justify paying $85 a month when we didn’t watch that much television. I get breaking news on the Internet now and we watch movies on Amazon Prime or from the library.

    Even with all those stations, however, we, somehow, could never seem to get PBS without having to pay a premium. We’ve looked at getting an old fashioned antenna, but we live in the shadow of a mountain, with no direct sight to San Francisco, so, we just visit relatives when we want to watch something!

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  29. Since I don’t really go out to eat or to movies much anymore, it’s essentially the only item on my ‘entertainment’ budget. 🙂 It’s come to this .

    Trying to shake the gardener loose to replace my front and back hose spigots (which he promised to do in November). Ugh. Then I’m trying to gear up to get some estimates on roof, patio/front porch frames, paint … .Not looking forward to any of it, but it’s got to get done.

    Lamenting my 4:30 a.m. wake-up, I’m dragging because of it today even though I did get back to (a light) sleep.

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  30. We had cable early on, but dropped it because of its cost. Our television does not get good reception so cable would be nice for that, but husband gets plenty of TV shows without cable so I just hear him complain when reception is bad. Ha! People pay in one way or another.

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  33. Our new roof was $10K; we’ll get a rebate of about 10% because it’s energy star and while it IS light in color, it’s not bad. We’re optimistic it won’t be so hot upstairs this summer since we don’t have air conditioning.

    The last time I had my house painted–the old one about six years ago–it was under $3K. It was complicated and required a lift to reach some of the high spots so we coordinated with the guys who were replacing the windows at the same time so we only had to rent the lift once.

    As I recall your house is one-story, perhaps you can find some poor college students to paint it for you? Ask at your church.

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  34. A friend of mine told me yesterday workman’s comp wanted to deny her ACL repair because she was over 50 and therefore could live a more sedentary life.

    She pointed out she worked at a camp in the hills and needed to be able to hike.

    It took a YEAR to fight it through but they eventually paid.

    So, someone could just decide my quality of life is such because of my age that I shouldn’t have a simple surgery to fix it?

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  35. I have lived most of my life without television, and the times I’ve had it, it has been more of a disappointment than entertainment – when it came to watching news on TV, I found it shallow in comparison to the radio coverage I was accustomed to. When I lived in the city, I had access to cable television. The selection was terrible, and I was not impressed by any of the programing. The few shows that were mildly entertaining were also forgettable and I don’t miss them.

    6 Arrows, to answer your question from last night, I’m the third of four. Second sibling did take piano lessons, but she always struggled with hand coordination while playing. When finances got bad one year, she volunteered to give up her music lessons. She can read music and very occasionally will play simple arrangements, but she never resumed lessons and has been quite content to do other things.

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  36. Roof estimate from friend of gardener who was going to do it on weekends back in December was $8,000+ — which I see is the median price for roofs in LA.

    But that’s the last I ever heard from him.

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  39. We switched from dish to just an antenna a couple of years ago. My husband’s idea, and I was proud of him for making the choice. I’d never paid for TV in my life, but could hardly trounce into his life and demand he give up his English football. But he decided he didn’t want to pay for it anymore, and most games he can watch on TV or on the internet, and that works. Other than that, we mostly use TV as a place to watch videos, and sometimes watch a game show.

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  40. There’s been a mess out here with one cable provider getting the Dodger games (to the exclusion of all other providers). Eventually the business model will change as more people get frustrated, overcharged and decide to just pull the plug. There also are alternative platforms like Netflix, although the cost for those are rising as well.

    So today I’ve interviewed one political candidate (3 more to go), another guy about growing up in the port in the 1940s (doing a story on his old family home being refurbished), the owner of a local audio studio whose creating a tour app that will be used at the Pearl Harbor memorial (narrated by a 95-year-old survivor I should be able to interview later this week); and I went back and forth with a school district rep to set up an interview for tomorrow

    I was also invited to ride in a “1946 Navy Duty jeep” in the armed forces day parade on Saturday, but I’m going to have to pass on that one due to work conflicts. 🙂

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  42. Third of four, Roscuro. That sounds familiar, now that you mention it. I just couldn’t think of where you were in the order, though I know you’d told us before.

    Today I am enjoying the richness and beauty of the human voice. I heard this lovely piece on MPR earlier this evening, sung by Conspirare. It makes me miss singing in vocal ensembles.

    “Sure on this Shining Night,” by Morten Lauridsen.

    Good night to you all.

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  44. There were some really neat looking old cars in the church parking lot which were used for filming the scenes in the Watergate movie. I heard that the area right outside the church library\media center was used for makeup.

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  51. AJ needs to gram that header photo. I have a decorative plate with similar swans painted on it.

    It rains for a few minutes and then quits and then starts up again. That’s about like me this morning. I got up at 5 a.m. and started coffee and a load of clothes in the dryer. Then I decided to write a card to son and include two recipes I found, Guacamole Deviled Eggs and South of the Border Corn and Rice Chex type mix. I thought those would be good for summer get together. Now I am back in bed and on my tablet.

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