Window Shopper

Welcome back!

Have you ever had that opportunity? You can sign up online to become a Nielsen family for several things. But we got a call from the Nielsen folks a couple of weeks ago asking us if we would like to be one of the families to do a television diary for them. Of course, we loved the idea and told them yes!! The man on the phone assured me that they were grateful and that it would be for “sweeps week” which is really exciting too.

We received the diary a couple of days before the big start which was last Thursday (November 13th). All we had to do was list all of the channels we could watch, who is in the house, how many televisions we have (they send out a diary for each set regardless of whether it even comes on or not). And then the big day came. Of course, Thursday is not the greatest day for us since we often don’t watch anything but Stargate SG-1 on the Sci-Fi channel. Friday, ditto. Saturday and Sunday are great days to watch movies that we already own or others that are rented. Sometimes we do rent though not very often.

But our brightest day, television wise, is Monday. Those shows are awesome. We always either watch or tape to watch later. And we love the shows so much. Whoever would think of a secret agent working in an electronics store in the mall? Chuck is an intersect, called that because his so-called best friend (who is secretly…what other kind is there???…a secret agent) sends him a disc. He plays it on his computer and all of a sudden has the top secrets of the country in his head. The disc then was destroyed in classic Mission Impossible style. Now Chuck is being guarded by two agencies of the government, the FBI and the CIA. One is a guy and one a lady, both very good at their job. We love this show!!!

Next up is what I can only call a strange but really fun show called Heroes. An eclipse happens and suddenly some people have abilities they never had before, some quite harmful, others good. You are allowed to see into the lives of some of these heroes. Actually, not all are heroes as you soon find out. Some are villains with evil in their hearts those abilities help them with their evil deeds. They are in the third season. Excitement is still high. We still want to know what is about to happen next. Both of those shows are on NBC.

Finally, we look in on Boston Legal. For years, we have watched as Denny Crane and Allen Shore take on the world, so to speak. The combo is good with William Shatner in the role of Denny Crane who has “mad cow” disease. He has little trouble telling people about it and less trouble showing it. The reality is that he might have Alzheimer’s disease, his worst fear. His comedy sidekick, though he announces that he is the star of the show (they do that whole “fourth wall” thing which is totally hilarious), is Allen Shore who is a brilliant attorney who takes a different road. He definitely does not do the normal. If I had a lawyer like that, I would have sued at least a couple of places and people in my life and won! Backing up those two are some sane lawyers who also have unconventional ways but tend to win their cases. All in all, a really good show. The sad part is that ABC has canceled the show at the end of the season. We disagree and say so on the diary. We are assured that the network people look at that.

On to Tuesday where we have one favorite show there called Eli Stone. This show is in it’s second season and I hope it runs for many years. Another lawyer show, this one is highly unusual in that Eli has found out he has an aneurysm in the brain that, apparently allows him to see future and could be future events by putting him into the vision. At first, he thought he was in the activity in the vision but realized, somewhat after ducking an airplane that wasn’t really there and acting in court like he saw things that were not there, that those were future events and not reality. That changed his life. Seeking help, he finds a man who does acupuncture. The really strange part of that is that the man used to be a friend of his father’s who also had such visions. This is an awesome show and I hope they don’t take it off the air for a lot of years.

Wednesday, the reprisal of Knight Rider with Kitt, the car that talks, brings all the technology with it and puts it into the car. Updated abilities of the car and the new characters are what make it as exciting, and often more exciting than the original show we loved so much. Knight Industries have come a long way, baby! Kitt and company are up to their fenders in dangerous missions each week. Kitt now has the ability to change his appearance so much that you would not know it’s really a mustang. He can change color, change into an SUV or an attack vehicle. Just say the word. But he has his “human” side too or is trying to learn it. That is somewhat reminiscent of Data on Star Trek, The Next Generation, the android that wanted so much to be human. Kitt does not take it that far but is trying to understand humans.

So, on Wednesday night, we will finish up the diary, seal it and send it off to the Nielsen people. We will have our say in what people watch. I love that. Haven’t you sat there watching a show you wish they had never made? Or watching one you just know they will cancel but wish they wouldn’t? We can hope that our opinions matter.

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Hey, I realize that this is way overdue and late to boot. But if you can remember it for next year, that works too. In this amazingly bad economy, it boggles the mind that anyone would want to go to such places in the first place but if you do that, you need to know a few things that might help you. This particular subject and post are happening due to someone who commented on another post here. So, I will try to help in any way I can. That person said that they wanted to spend as much as they could when going to the fair. Yes, I understand that. However, there are things unseen going on there. One really big thing here, I am not talking about permanent amusement parks. This is about traveling carnivals only.

For instance, that carnival that has all the rides and games is only there for one thing, to separate you from the money in your wallet. That is it. No other reason. They do not care whether they entertain you or not. That is a side benefit since it brings people back for more. The food is high priced but you will probably eat it anyway because it’s unique to that time and place…more or less. Most of those things can be fixed in your own kitchen but I suppose it’s not the same. One thing here, a foot long hot dog is only 9 inches long. Thought I would share that.

Games are there so you can lose. Yes, people do win occasionally. And if they win a large stuffed animal, unless they had whatever they were tossing right on the mark, it took them much more money than it cost for the thing in the first place. Most games are rigged for the house. Big shocker. All of them are rigged to not lose much at all. Little kid games will get you little bitty prizes. Big kid games almost always get you little bitty prizes. The trinkets cost less than a few cents. The stuffed animals cost much less too. Often, the win or lose is a judgment call by the person in the game booth. These people have to pay the boss if they lose some of the “plush” so they try very hard not to do that.

Rides in most states are not regulated enough to be safe. Some states or local governments do not have rules in place for the safety issue. Some do. Some are very strict but most are not. There are no real regulations on the games either. But let’s take a closer look at the rides. These pieces of machinery are painted, repaired and packed up at the beginning of the season, carted around the country, set up temporarily at the site where they are going to operate for a few days up to ten days. The people that the owners use to assemble these large, heavy pieces of machinery are usually from the town or city where they are setting up. These folks have zero clue what they are doing. That is not safe. But the carnivals rarely have enough people to do the job themselves. At the end of the stay, the rides are torn down in less than 6 hours usually, packed up and heading for the next stop.

In the beginning, they are well repaired, look fresh and crisp. Don’t let that fool you. Those rides are usually pretty old. They have a new paint job. After they have been on the road all season, are usually in need of repair they will likely not get until they go back to winter quarters. They are dangerous in the beginning and worse at the end of the season. And those who love carnivals will not pay one bit of attention to me on this but they should. It might save a life or some injuries some day.

Just my two cents worth for today.

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I like the word autumn better than the word fall. Autumn sounds like a fun time, full of hay rides and campfires. Fall sounds like someone had an accident or just the leaves coming off the trees. We usually have some awesome scenes of autumn here. This year, it is not quite a colorful as it has been in the past. As I understand it, that’s because the trees did not get as much rain as they needed to produce such colors. But there are some pretty scenes here nevertheless.

On the other hand, we do have some winters that are worthy of comment. A few years ago, we had the snow and the ice and the cold. Now, I realize that some places have all that and often. My daughter called from Iowa last year and let me know that the winter was not planning on leaving anytime soon. She was getting tired of it all. It had snowed fairly often for most of the winter. The cabin blues can really get to you. But we do have some reasons to get ready for winter a tad early this year. With that in mind, perhaps getting out that car cover for your really nice ride would be in order. We have plenty of homes around here that have no carport or they do but there’s already a car in it. So covering the car is a good idea especially if we do happen to have a bad winter. And of course, getting the lawn furniture in is also a good idea or cover it. Drain the pool. Pick up the toys. Get the yard mowed one more time this year. That pretty much takes care of it. Oh, I don’t have a pool to drain, toys to pick up or lawn furniture but we do have a car. Not too bad.

Oh, I do NOT want to think about winter. Frankly, I was just getting used to the idea of spring and summer. And now autumn is upon us already. This year is going by so fast, I am not ready. We do live in a tourist area, you know. They did not stay. But it seems that more and more are moving here. Some of the stores are much busier than they ever were before so the secret is getting out, isn’t it. This is the place to come for a better place to live, at least for the weather. Well, there was that one tornado that came through here earlier this year. Ah but don’t be concerned about that. It was only a 123 miles for it’s travel. And we are recovering from that nicely.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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