Window Shopper

I just have to get this off my chest. And I am going to talk about my trip to the hospital because I cannot stand people who will not do their jobs right simply because it’s either more fun to do it badly or just being hateful. What am I talking about?

I was in that hospital for 4 days. During that time, I was treated like most people in that facility and became someone’s pin cushion daily. Yes, they wanted blood over and over. The first day, the lady was really good although I did get the expected bruises. She said it would do that. She took an amazing amount of blood in my right arm in two places.

Right before that, a nurse came in and put in a heplock. For those who do not know what that is, it’s the little device that allows them to hook you up to the IV solutions when necessary. Because I am a touch stick, they decided to put it in my right hand. I AM right handed so that was a bit unhandy, not to be handing out puns today. No really.

By Sunday night, I had already had three blood draws. It could have been more, I admit, but that was more than enough. Then the worst happened. The heplock slipped out. It meant that I had to endure another one being put in. The person who tried to do this had no idea how to do so and that hurt a lot. She did try to put it in in several places but to no avail. She finally got a person who actually had the capability to do it.

After that, I got moved out of that unit into a regular room. I had so many sore spots and places that were bruised that I could not stand one more. All day long, no one came to get any blood. I thought I was home free. That night or rather at 5:30am, some woman came into my room, said my name so loud that I am sure that the neighbors were awake too. Then she proceeded to snap on the brightest light in the room. Both my husband and I were very much asleep. And then we were not. Very rudely not.

This woman was so rude that I told her NO when she wanted blood. She did not ask. She was simply going to take it. NO!!! I SAID NO!!!

A person like that has no business, I said NO BUSINESS being in health care at all. She needed to be reported. I probably will do this. Does this person not have a clue that people are in the hospital???? That they are sick? Some are elderly. Is it possible to scare someone to death? I’m certain that is possible. And rude women like that do not belong there.

There. That’s my gripe session for now.

A while back, I noticed a deal called Entrecard which uses the idea of traffic generation by way of “dropping cards” on all those who have the Entrecard widget on their blogs. Thought it was a great idea so I signed up. At first, traffic really did increase. Actually, if I did everything I could do, traffic would still be higher than it currently is on this blog.

What’s the problem here? With this particular traffic generator, you have to take the time to drop up to 300 cards a day per blog signed up. You can drop zero too. The idea is to generate the traffic and eventually find new readers. What usually happens is that I get a quite a bit less traffic than I give out, that is, I drop the required number but get less than a third coming back to me. If that was all the problem, I sure wouldn’t be talking about it. That’s just a matter of finding people who want to be on the blog. No problem there.

No, the problem is more in the nature of how Entrecard has changed to suit the few…themselves. A dropper gets what they call “EC” or Entrecard Cash. You get a point for each drop you make. The EC add up. And things weren’t too bad before this radical change was made. When you had enough EC, you were able to buy advertising on the other blogs depending on how much EC you had on hand. The more you have, the more you can spend on some of the really top ranked blogs. The downside to that was that you could never get in to their list. It was always full. Yes, there was a cap.

Today, it’s a completely different situation. I believe it has gone from bad to worse. Now there is no cap. So the price of the more popular blogs can be quite high, over 8000 EC. Yep, there is a problem there. If you drop 300 EC each day, it will take you a mountain of time to save up enough to buy advertising for ONE DAY on those really expensive blogs. At this point, it’s important to take note of this. When you buy advertising, you do not get the payback exactly. Entrecard takes most of your profit for themselves. In the real world, the lion’s share would go to the one who advertises and gets their payback on it. In Entrecard world, they get the big payback and the blog owner gets the shaft. The EC that rightfully belongs to the blogger is actually going to gather EC for the Entrecard company. Is this nuts or what?

Folks, the money is virtual. What the heck is that about? When the company gathers the VIRTUAL EC, they then put it up for grabs. Of course, the people who want the EC have to pay for it with REAL cash. You can get 1,000 EC for $9.50 and 5,000 for a whopping $47.50. And what do you get when you spend them? One whole day of advertising on another blog. One day. And as I stated before, there are blogs that cost over 8,000 EC to advertise.

Any comments here? Does this look even remotely sane? People are paying almost $50 to acquire a few EC that you can get for free. Granted, you really have to work for those little buggers but they are free. The problem is that it takes forever to gather them. Then you really do not get value for your bucks….either way.

Entrecard is definitely not all that. I will keep it for information purposes but it’s doubtful that I will spend a lot of time on site anymore. Just not worth the incredible effort it takes. Sigh.

I suspect you have already heard about puppy mills but it really does not hit home unless you are really active in trying to stop them. I know. It’s so easy to just forget they exist. It’s so easy to not care about that part of life. It’s so easy to just go about your business because it isn’t happening to you or your pets. But that’s how they get away with so much.

What is a puppy mill? It’s usually a large dog breeding facility that does so under bad conditions. They sell on the internet and to pet shops. If you were to see the conditions that they breed puppies, you would not ever buy another animal online or in a pet shop again. EVER!

The difference between good breeders and puppy mills is that a good breeder uses the best of everything. They love their animals even if they are in a cage part of the day. The cages are clean, neat and are spacious. The food is nutritious and healthful. A health guarantee is also usually given. The dogs have their shots and are seen by a vet periodically. They will check out the person wanting to have one of their dogs. The breeder is careful in all respects concerning the animal and the new owners. The breeder often stays in contact with the new owner to make sure that the dog is properly cared for and will usually take the animal back if things do not work out.

On the other hand, puppy mills have the dogs in small cages, are unclean, food is cheap, inadequate water, no vet sees them, they are not allowed to walk outside of the cage at all. Very often, the cages are outside in the elements; hot, cold, rain, etc. The females have their litters in cramped cages and she lives in that cage until she dies or is too old to breed good puppies anymore. When that happens, she is killed. Females are often forced to breed every time they are able. Puppies are weaned much too early for best profits. With poor breeding comes impure blood lines and the pedigree is in question as well. Many times the papers are faked. And there is a high rate of death in this type of situation. Puppies from such beginnings usually have unusual health problems.

It certainly is time to stop the puppy mills! This horror cannot continue. Unless you are completely sure of the pet site that you are wanting to purchase from, please do not buy online. Reputable dealers and breeders are more than willing to give you all the information that you desire. They will show you what their facility looks like. They will take you on a tour of it and show you the records for the pup you desire. Be sure to visit the place from where you are purchasing. Do not automatically assume that the breeder is reputable without completely checking them out. This is very important. Stop puppy mills by not buying them online. Join those groups that are working toward the elimination of puppy mills altogether.

I do not have to tell you this. You already know the pain that is going on at the pumps. The problem is that we could have a few solutions but the congress will not deal with this like the American public needs. They seem to have stopped doing anything about this. Maybe I am wrong about that. But the last thing I heard was when the senators were a bit indignant that the CEOs wanted more tax breaks after having posted record profits last year. Unbelievable that they had the gall to want that.

One of the solutions to this problem is more economical cars. Want a laugh? As I started driving some years ago….ah hem…many years ago, the cars then were getting somewhere between 25-35 miles to the gallon. We had heard of test cars that were getting above 45 miles to the gallon. Yep. Then somewhere along the line, and here I would check out 1972 when the lines at the gas station were huge, they stopped trying for economy.

Lately, the car companies are seeing that big oil is turning against them (who would have seen that coming? Anyone with a brain) so they are scrambling to get more gallons per mile out of those new cars. The wonder is that they are thinking that 30 miles to the gallon is great. Uh no!!! All we need to do is go back to the older cars that get more mpg than today’s cars and we have it made. Well, see there’s the rub.

What’s the problem? When those cars were getting that great gas mileage, they were using actual gasoline. I know the difference. You could smell good gasoline at the pump. It had a distinct smell. Now, the gas smells funny and not good funny. They have changed the gas of today so much so that it took out most of the good fuel economy away.

And lets talk about using up our food to put in our tanks. Doesn’t anyone see a problem here???? We are not planting enough food to get us by for the rest of the year as a country. Yet, we are growing a vast majority of food plants to refine into fuel. Does NO ONE SEE????? What kind of stupid does it take to make this the solution to the problem? We are sacrificing our food for fuel!! COME ON!!! Get a clue, someone!!!

For the record, I have no intentions in using ethanol unless and until there is no other way. I refuse to be part of the massive stupidity that has come out of this so-called solution. NO, NO, NO!!! Someone please get a grip on reality here. If we use up our resources to make fuel, we don’t eat, our kids don’t eat, massive famine. What happens then? We start looking like a third world country. Hey, I do know we could get our belts tighter because most of us need to lose some weight anyway but not at the sacrifice of our children. Someone PLEASE think!!!! Stop the insanity!!!

A college just 70 or so miles from us recently went through the big ordeal of changing it’s mascot. Why? Because the original mascot was an indian. Now, that particular mascot had been with the college for many years and many of the alumni were quite fond of the indian mascot. They even had the “Indian family” go to the football, basketball and baseball games. It was tradition.

But something happened. Some folks started objecting to the mascot as “politically incorrect”. It was hurting the native American. This would be the same ones that had never had a problem with it in years past because of the reverence that was shown the Indian family. But that did not stop them. And so, the officials at this college needed to change the image so that others would not object.

Finally, they came up with a great new mascot. It’s a red wolf. For days, on the news, we heard about how the college needed to and were actually changing all the signs to the red wolf signs from the Indian signs that had been standing for years. They could not seem to find them all for a while. But, at this point, it appears that they…the officials…have finally found all the offending Indian signs. And now, the red wolf stands for the college. The unfortunate fact is this red wolf appears to need drug rehabilitation because he appears to be on something. I wonder why the college allowed such a picture for their mascot. But they do seem to be proud of what they have accomplished.

My niece had been attending this college this year. She came home because of being close to birth time. It would be better for the baby, certainly, that she not have to see those really angry red wolves everywhere. It is a bit more peaceful at home.

Over the years, the girls have brought home birthday invitations from their friends at school. Sometimes, the things are very straight forward, easy to read and basic. You can buy these at any store that sells party supplies or greeting cards. Like I said, basic. Where is it? What time? For how long? Present or no present. What day? Who is having the party? A contact number. All of those questions are usually answered right there in the basic invitation. However, sometimes someone gets really creative and the invitation is a lot of fun…or not!

What I do not care for is when the person who wrote the invitation (and thought they were being creative), leaves out some really basic thing like…..when is it??? We have actually gotten one that did not have the date it was supposed to be held. Oh yes, the contact number was missing too. Ah well. That’s informative. Or how about it gives you the start time but when does it end?? Quite recently, the invitation stated that it started at 3pm at a bowling alley. We assumed that the party would go for about 2 hours. That seems to be standard these days. I guess it was a good thing that it was checked since it was only an hour. The poor kid would have been waiting for an hour to be picked up again. BAH!!!

Why don’t people make sure the thing is accurate before they send them out? That would be so helpful to those of us who have little to no clue.

See, I cannot actually afford a laptop but I really need one to do my work. It’s too hard and long to explain this so I will simply say that I have actually needed one for a while but that need has gotten rather acute lately. So, that “ChipIn” widget on the sidebar there is my shameless asking for funds to help me on my way to a nice, not necessarily new laptop. I am grateful to anyone who would be willing to help me along the way with my quest.

Looking for laptops has sort of been a hobby of mine in the last year. I have seen some totally dream machines that unless I win the lottery will not reside in my house anytime this century. The problem is that I really need to settle on what my best shot at a good, cheap machine. So, I figured I could do a directbuy online IF I can find that one, just right for me, computer with all of what I need on it. Doesn’t have to be a fantastic machine, just something that I can work on somewhere besides my desk. With my back hurting so much, I cannot stay in the upright position in front of my desktop computer. Sad but true. And so my quest continues.

I have no idea what most theaters that show movies look like inside now because I do not attend movies at the theater anymore. For one thing, I really do not like the seats. Most of them are too small. If that isn’t the case, they have gum on them, popcorn from the previous showing or whatever else the cleanup crew did not bother with. When people around you watch these things, they want to talk through the movie. If it isn’t that, they move their heads around so you cannot see at all. So I no longer go. I buy DVDs.

But, in my hometown, there was this awesome theater. They showed movies there but they also had live shows with celebrities coming in and entertaining people. I had the honor of being an usher in those days. We had a lot of good entertainers come to our town. For instance; Bill Cosby, The Smothers Brothers, Bobby Vinton and many more entertained us.

Now the thing I loved the most about this theater that I actually have not seen since, was the chandeliers they had. Those were awesome. They were hanging in the lobby of the theater and in the theater itself. Beautiful crystal that must have weighed hundreds of pounds each were hanging from the ceiling of the lobby. Smaller but equally beautiful chandeliers were hanging inside the theater. The only time you saw those was when there was a live act on stage. They would glisten in the spotlights. Sometimes, I wish that those days were back…if only for a little while.

It has been a hectic month so far. I really do think that it’s a good thing February is about to go away. Recently, our area suffered a pretty devastating tornado, an EF3, which took out a large number of businesses and homes. The businesses were the lifeblood of the community. The small town of Highland, Arkansas, simply does not have that many businesses. When the storm hit, it dug a path of destruction for some time. This particular storm started in Atkins, Arkansas, and traveled 123 miles before ending it’s destructive path.

I talked with a couple of people who saw, first hand, why you want to stay out of the storm path if you are able to do so. One lady was standing in her back yard only a few hundred feet from where it continued it’s damage. She said that her ears were hurting and popping. When she looked up, she saw headlights from cars swirling around up in the air. That’s how she was able to see where the tornado was.

My husband’s brother saw the storm first hand as well. He thought the storm was still a ways away and was driving straight into it. It picked the van up into the air and tumbled it before setting it down upright with only some dents and the windows completely blown out of it. He walked away with a couple of scratches on his forehead.

Frankly, I do not know about this for sure but there were rumors that people were calling their insurance agents to get life insurance quotes before such a thing could happen again. The problem with this storm was that it was a freak. Our tornado season is not upon us as yet. This was a total freak of nature. Before that, about a few days, it had snowed. The kids were out of school for a day because of it. It was cold. Then, warm air came up and we had spring type weather. It was strange.

And now, the people in our area will not allow this to defeat them. Businesses are in temporary quarters, already back in business. Some are fixing the damage and opening up in the same locations. Others will have a slightly tougher time but will come back better and brighter than ever before. And that’s saying something for the willpower of those who live here in our community.

It’s one thing to slam the veggies I like to eat. It’s another thing entirely to slam my fast food. Now they have a study out that says that fast food can cause liver damage. Well sure if you eat it 24/7 but who does that???? What the study said was that if you eat a burger, fries and coke and have no exercise at all, you will get liver damage if you eat that menu for thirty days. BAH!!!

For one thing, no one in their right minds actually would eat that much fast food. Or at least, I don’t think they would. Maybe I live in a dream world. When I was much younger, I would have eaten fast food most of the time so maybe they would do that. But after a while, ya gotta take a break from it. It gets really boring. At least with me, it was a variety of fast food. See, the study had people eating at the SAME fast food joint every time. Why??? Variety is the spice of life. You know, I do believe that except for people who are married. They do not need that much variety…except in eating fast foods, of course.