Black Friday Madness – I have a choice (and so do you)

November 22, 2012 · Leave a comment ·

Christmas seems to be spilling into our lives earlier and earlier each year.

It is now common place to see Christmas decorations before Halloween. The only thing that held the advertisements off this year was the contentious election. Once we elected a president all bets were off.

Now I hear that some stores will be opening ON Thanksgiving Night. My first reaction is disgust followed closely by outrage. Stores shouldn’t be ALLOWED to do that!

“Time and a half baby!”

The argument is made that some people are thrilled for the holiday pay. I’m not sure I buy that most WANT to be working. Even if they don’t have family, the holiday season is crazy enough for retail people with out working Thanksgiving night. Retail stores starting planning for December displays and sales back in July. People work on Thanksgiving Night because they don’t have a choice. They need the job. If they refuse to work, they’ll lose their job, or they will be penalized in some way. What about management level employees? They don’t get overtime pay.

A theme on one side of the election this year was reducing government intervention in business management. To an extent, I favor this, but I can’t say I trust business operators to run in a safe, respectful manor. Profits ALWAYS come first.

Hmmm, let me think about this for a second. It’s like one of those crazy high school math problems.

Profits come first.
Businesses make money when I spend money buying the goods and services they offer.
What if I didn’t shop on Thanksgiving night? Then my money does not support a business who’s practices I disagree with. If enough people disagree, and don’t shop on Thanksgiving Night, then the stores won’t make money. In fact, the stores will lose money on salaries and utilities.

By staying home on Thanksgiving Night, and Black Friday, I might miss a few bargins, but I’ll gain a whole lot of peace of mind. I can’t control what other people do, but I know I’ll choose peace of mind over another gadget any day of the week.

Happy Thanksgiving.

P.S. Interesting piece on the economics of Black Friday. Hat tip Allison Worthington for the link.

Boys and Guns

November 7, 2012 · 6 Comments ·

Mim is 8 and recently, his focus has switched from Lightening McQueen and Cars to Luke Sky Walker, Star Wars and Nerf guns.

The dog does her part to discourage the Nerf guns by nibbling on any foam bullets that get left on the floor (I take them from her before she swallows them), but it’s not even the shooting that he’s that enamored of. It’s more about holding the gun, cocking it. He has a Nerf rifle (a gift given to him by a family member with my permission) and the other day, I watched him cock it by dropping it to his side, like some macho military hero. Oh dear Lord I’m raising a Terminator!

Before you jump down my throat. I’m not anti-gun. I’m anti-careless gun use. We don’t have a gun in the house, but that doesn’t mean I think you shouldn’t have a gun it yours. So long as guns are cared for and treated with respect, I’m fine with them.

Respect is the issue I’m struggling with. How do I teach Mim to respect guns and their power. I don’t want to restrict his imaginary play by saying “No guns”, but I want to inform it. I understand the feeling of power when you hold a gun. He’s 8, he has so few opportunities to be all powerful and in control, he should be able to do so in his imaginative play. At the same time, imaginative play is where kids work out the issues they are struggling to grasp. It’s where they role play and try on different personas. It is were they practice being citizens of our society. I need him to understand that real guns come with responsibilities and if you aren’t responsible with a gun, there can be real and dire consequences. How do I do that in an age appropriate way?

I also worry in today’s bully aware society that a child who plays at pretending to shoot a gun and says “I’m going to kill you.” could land in real trouble. Mim is not a malicious kid, but he is not always as aware of the feelings of those around him as he could be. At times, he’s downright oblivious. I’d hate for some other child to be scared of him or worse take his play as a serious threat.

There is so much gun violence on TV and in video games. I don’t believe either is inherently bad, but like anything too much exposure to fantasy without any comprehension of reality is unhealthy and counterproductive to functioning as a successful individual in society.

I welcome feedback on this issue so long as it is respectful. You are entitled to your opinion, just as I am to mine. I don’t have to be wrong for you to be right and vice versa. The underlying question I am trying to address is how do I foster a healthy respect for guns in a manor that is age appropriate for an 8 year old and going forward? Be warned, I will delete comments I believe to be inflammatory. It’s my blog, I can do that 🙂

Do it! DO IT NOW!

November 6, 2012 · Leave a comment ·

'I Voted 2004' photo (c) 2004, Dawn Endico - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

We live in a free country. Many have lost their lives at war abroad and even at war at home (women’s suffrage) to protect that right. VOTE! Today, there is nothing more important.

BOO!

Image · October 31, 2012 · Leave a comment ·

Life, The Universe and The Election Process

October 30, 2012 · 1 Comment ·

Hey! How ya doin’?

We survived hurricane Sandy with minimal damage. The power flickered, but never went out. We are without cell service, but AT&T Wireless has been notified and life goes on.

I’m writing. I’m writing many words, just not here. I had some deadlines, for our town paper and for Albinism Insight, and I’ve been plowing away at the fiction piece I’m working on.

I ran into a reader last weekend who commented on my more informational posts of late. I have opinions (heaven only knows) but the recent focus has been the election and I don’t want to discuss my politics here. I will say I’m am disgusted by the commercials from both sides and the major news outlets really aren’t any better (ANY of them). I am taken back to my college days where as a communications major, I perfected my analytical skills for dissecting for what I hear and read. The idea was that if you could analyze commercials, or press releases you could better understand what would work for your perspective clients.

The skill set actually has broad application in everyday life. It doesn’t matter if it is a commercial, or “news”. My mantra these days seems to be “what’s your source?” I am overwhelmed by it all, I don’t want to just follow party lines. I really want to understand the views of the people who are running for office at every level. This is very hard to do, especially, when the candidates spend their time pointing fingers at their opponents rather than talking about their own plans and beliefs.

A note to all political candidates. STOP telling me what you think I want to hear. START telling me what YOU stand for. I’m not undecided, but I like to be sure of my choices. I want to understand the other side’s position so I know what I’m voting against as well as I know what I am voting for. Not an easily attainable goal these days that’s for sure.

There is only one week left and I doubt the campaigns will change their tactics now. I’ll vote. I believe it is a privilege not to be taken lightly. But, I’m not sure I’ll be happy regardless of the outcome of any of the races that impact me.

I welcome comments on the election process, but please, keep it civil.

Making Strides

October 23, 2012 · 1 Comment ·

Last week, we participated in the American Cancer Society’s local Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event. The dojo where the kids and I workout organized a team. The kids would each get a blue star signaling community service for their efforts. There were several options for participating but A-man and I decided that walking as a family made the most sense. My mother and his mother have both battled breast cancer and won. Not everyone is so lucky.

This past June, the mother of one of Mim’s classmates lost a valiant battle with breast cancer. She left behind, a devoted husband, a 10 year old and an 8 year old. She also left behind an army of people committed to raising awareness and money for breast cancer research. Lula’s Peeps was the largest team walking with 110 walkers and they raised almost $22,000. Lula would have been proud. She was an amazing woman who never met a stranger. The world is most definitely a lesser place without her, but there is hope that she did not die in vain.

Our walk had more than 6,000 people and it was announced yesterday that New Hampshire is the largest fundraiser per capita for the Making Strides Program. Before the walk, Fish and I took a walk around and noted the local businesses who sponsored teams. I also made note of some of the more humorous team names.

More than a Handful

Fighting to Save Second Base

Hakuna Ma Ta Ta’s

Save our Weapons of Mass Distraction

Thanks for the Mammories

Walkers for Healthy Knockers

A First

I’ve contributed to Making Strides before, but never walked it. It was incredibly well run and despite the slightly soggy weather, I enjoyed it. The kids held up well too. As we walked, we talked at different times about the importance of what we were doing. Who it would impact and how. We talked about being tired but not stopping because Lula was tired and she never stopped, she couldn’t. We talked about euphemisms, who says them and why and what they mean. We talked about the importance to maintaining good health.

According to my fitness tracking app, we walked almost 6 miles and burned 566 calories. Ours was but a very small contribution, but together we can all make a difference.

We are Ready for Halloween Part II – The Mime

October 17, 2012 · Leave a comment ·

Fish is getting to the age where the interest in Halloween wanes. Ohhh the desire for candy is there, but the motivation to create an original costume and travel from house to house is diminishing. I have mixed feelings about the passage of time, but respect it for just that, a passage of time.

This year it was more of a struggle for her to come up with a costume idea than in years previous. She’s had exactly two pre-made costumes, she was a cow when she was 18 months old and when she was six her Grammy bought her a genuine Tinkerbell costume. Thankfully, she believes that half the fun of Halloween is the invention and creation of the costume.

I took a quick spin through the costume aisle at Target looking for ideas and I was horrified at what was being sold under the auspices of “tween” costumes. Google it and see what you come up with. It’s all racey, lace and short skirts. No. A can-dancer? Just NO!

Eventually she decided she wanted to be a mime (thank you French class).

Costume Parts:

A striped shirt – I had a purple and black striped turtle neck that wasn’t too big on her.

Black pants – Wardrobe staple of a 12 year old.

Red suspenders – Red Duck tape $4.50

White Gloves – $4

Beret – $8

White make-up – $4

Black eyeliner – $1.99

Red lip stick – I had some on hand.

Total cost $22

The most amazing thing was that she was actually silent for 2 plus hours 🙂

We are ready for Halloween Part 1 – The Jedi

October 15, 2012 · Leave a comment ·

As I’ve mentioned previously, Halloween is a big deal ’round these parts. This year Mim wanted to be a Luke Skywalker. I looked at buying a costume, but $35 for a piece of crap that likely wouldn’t last the month just doesn’t work for me. Fish helped him find a picture of which iteration of Master Skywalker he wanted to emulate and I plotted a way to create it out of items we have or could acquire at a relatively low cost. It is important to note here that I am in no way, no how crafty. Basically, I can use tape and operate a stapler. This had to be easy.

Black jeans and a slightly oversized black shirt would provide the base. For accessories, we needed a cape, boots, a belt and a light saber. The light saber was solved by an $8 purchase at the fair. Fish was tasked with creating the boots and the belt out of duck tape and brown, paper grocery bags and some velcro. For the cape, I went to Goodwill and bought a brown, mens, extra-large, hooded sweatshirt. The plan was to slice it right up the middle and use double sided tape to finish the edges, but Grammy stepped in and stitched the seams.

Light Saber $8

Gorilla Tape (couldn’t find Duck tape in Black) $8

Hoodie $10

Black Shirt $5

Boys black jeans $14

Total Cost $45

So, I actually spent $10 more than the pre-made costume, BUT, the jeans aren’t modified in any way, so he can wear those to school. He needs to wear the costume at least 3 times (maybe 4) and I’m confident even with his rough and tumble ways the clothing will hold up. The light saber, is iffy, but for the month of October, the light saber is ONLY for use with the Halloween costume.

He was pleased with the outcome and in the end, that’s truly all that matters.