Random Thoughts (not procrastinating)

I'm not procrastinating this time -- I'm just relaxing, or chill-axing, as my daughter Emily says.

I think I have one, maybe two actual people out there who read this blog so it's almost a private exercise like writing in a journal. Who can explain the inclination to publicize our thoughts or to eat in restaurants with total strangers or sit in movie theaters with hundreds of people we've never met, laughing and, sometimes, crying together? I can't, except to say that we definitely like being part of a pack, no matter how much we value our individuality (and I certainly value mine.)

So many random thoughts recently with so little time to flesh them out for blog entries.

Full Body Scan vs Intimate Pat Down: Is this really necessary? We all accept a certain amount of risk when we fly, or when we drive down the street, or when we step out the front door. I would be more at ease knowing that they are using El Al interrogation techniques on suspicious individuals than knowing that everyone on the flight has been seen naked or felt out. Neither method will detect items hidden internally. There is no fool-proof method.

When you cross nto the United States from Canada, the border agent asks a series of questions like: What was the purpose of your visit? Did you purchase anything while you were in Canada? etc. On our recent trip, the agent also asked what time our ship was scheduled to depart -- not because he wanted to know, but because he wanted to see if we were really on that ship. He wanted to catch us in a lie, if we were doing anything criminal. Maybe TSA agents could be similarly trained. That's how they do it in Israel, and they've been dealing with jihadists a lot longer than we have. El Al is the world's most secure airline because of its security protocols.

Snow:
Last weekend we had 15 inches of snow overnight with no media fanfare. For the past 24 hours we've been anticipating a major blizzard, which materialized on cue at 5pm and fizzled out (at least temporarily) about midnight after eight inches of accumulation. Now some of the windows in our house have oval frames of snow on them like fake flocking. This is the perfect kind of weather to have just before Thanksgiving because it makes you grateful for basic things like shelter and family and warm socks.

Hair color and the hijab:
I was shopping at Walmart recently and got in line behind a small Muslim family in the express lane. I noticed that the woman was wearing a simple hijab, or hair covering scarf. I could not see even a strand of her hair, so when I noticed what they were buying I was surprised: three boxes of hair coloring product. WOuld I color my hair if no one would ever see it outside of my own household? Probably not, but I admire her for it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Musings While Procrastinating

This is my relatively simplistic cell phone. It has a camera I do not know how to use and very few other features, which is just fine with me.


I have two stories overdue at the newspaper, so you know I am going to blog because I am a terrible, terrible procrastinator!

We had picture perfect weather for a few days last week, but now it is cold and blustery outside. Everything is wet.

I've officially decided that flowering pears are my second favorite trees when all lined up along the edge of a road. All of the roads leading to our house are lined with them. In the spring they're covered wth blossoms and in the fall they're multi-colored oranges and reds blended with green. One medium-sized leaf can be blotched with all three. Gorgeous! Of course maples are stunning and much taller and they bend over the road, while pears grow straight up, so maples would have to be my favorite. (Reminds me of my son, Tom, and how he always used to list for me his favorite foods, especially when food items moved positions. The foods he's always disliked: celery and onions.)

Why does every human being on the planet (myself included) carry a cell phone? I can count on one hand the number of people I know who do not use cell phones, and I admire them. Cell phones are everywhere and not just in pockets or at the bottom of purses (where mine usually is). Who needs to be in constant contact? It reminds me of the "nuclear football" the Secret Service carries around with the president in case the United States should come under attack.

It's like we can't be alone anymore and we won't be inconvenienced. If I want to call you, you must be availabel to talk to me N*O*W!!! My phone was dead this morning and I was momentarily panicked. I plugged it into the electric socket in my van as I ran errands, comforted by the knowledge that it was recharging. When you need a cell phone, you really, really, really need one, but most of the time you simply don't. (My son,Tom, for example, just interrupted this blog post to call me from his cell phone to ask me a minor cooking question.)

And who needs a cell phone / mini-computer / GPS unit all-in-one? My husband does. When he hands me his phone to place I call, I look at it dumbfounded. When he hands it to me to see something on the screen, the image always disappears before I've seen it because I touch some button on the the edge somewhere, or tilt the screen to its side. It drives me crazy! All I can say at such times is "I hate your phone!"

If it were up to me, we would have dials again and cords, just to keep it extra slow and anchored in one place. And when you stepped outside you couldn't hear the phone ring and when you went for a ride in the car you really couldn't hear the phone ring and you were free.

Nothing else to kvetch about...Don't make we focus on my articles! Alas, I must go.

No One Asked My Opinion, But I'm Giving It

Once or twice a year I get to express myself at the ballot box.

I haven't been interviewed by any polsters this election, but I have a lot more than usual to say. On local matters I'll say it all at the polls, but here are some of my stream-of-consciousness opinions (unsolicited) on a variety of other political figures:

on Nancy Pelosi - She SHOULD be ashamed of several things: suggesting that that protesting "Tea Partiers" were wearing swastikas, motivated by racism; linking arms with other Congressmen to march up the Capitol steps through a crowd of angry protestors with an oversized gavel in her hands to pass hugely unpopular welfare reform, a 2000+ page bill no one had read. She did not have to walk up the steps beaming from ear to ear - it was just one more way to demonstrate her power.

on Christine O'Donnell (Delaware senate candidate)-- I believed the early anti-hype about her (her shocking lack of experience, etc.) but when I heard her speak so eloquently and with conviction, I was reassured that she would be a good senator. The polls indicate she will not win.

on Meg Whitman (California gubernatorial candidate) -- A whore? Oh come on! I am extremely impressed with her on every level and can NOT imagine how Jerry Brown could possibly win. He is the west coast version of Joe Biden and a total joke. If Californians are stupid enough to vote for Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown, I hope the federal government will not bail the state out as it continues its inevitable decline. Elections have consequences, as the saying goes.

on Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) and Karen Angle (Nevada senate candidate) -- I'm sure Harry is a fine man, but he's always wrong politically and has to go. Karen Angle has been unfairly criticized becasue she is a normal citizen and not a lifelong political hack. I will admit that when I first heard her interviewed on the radio by Laura Ingraham I was not impressed with some of her positions, but I hope she wins (and I think she will, barring election fraud, which is a very real possibility.)

on Marco Rubio (Florida senate candidate) -- Wow! I heard him speak for the first time a week ago and he is definitely a future presidential candidate. His biography is inspirational all by itself. He should win today.

I hope Obama's senate seat goes to Kirk in Illinois and that all of Ohio goes Republican.

From sea to shining sea, people are justifiably enraged! Thank goodness for midterms!!!!!!