Boomers Botch Up Halloween

Halloween. KIDS! Trick or Treat? Spooky costumes. At least it used to be. Back when we were children. We Boomers, that is. And our parents before us.

But what is different now? A Walgreen's commercial is a perfect example: the bus driver is dressed up like a trauma patient; a man in an elevator is a huge caterpiller; a young woman is a mermaid on a park bench tossing back a burger. Get the picture? They're all adults! Adults co-opting what used to be a kids' holiday.

C'mon Boomers--grow up! You're running out of time. Let's see--the oldest of us have passed the Big Six-Oh. The youngest Boomers are already FORTY-THREE!!! I have an idea--why don't we let the kids--or in many cases, our GRANDCHILDREN, have their little holiday back? And after that, maybe we can start making up for lost time with being the adults we should have been thirty years ago.

So this Halloween go with your children and grandchildren. Take THEIR pictures in THEIR cute little costumes. Leave the pumpkin and ghost manicures for the under 11 set. Forget dressing up like you're still carrying the candy bag door-to-door. You're old enough to buy your own candy if you need your sugar fix. And for crying out loud, stay home!! You're too old to think you're still at an age where it's "groovy" to be walking the streets and going to costume parties. Those are no longer appropriate adult activities.

Shame on NBC

Have you ever finally got to sit down and turn on the TV to watch a "favorite" show? Last night, after House, I turned to NBC (nbc.shows@nbcuni.com )to catch an episode of Special Victims Unit. By the half-hour mark I was steaming so bad I had begun to take names of sponsors and begin googling them to complain. This episode portrayed the United States as the Bad Guys--the worst of all Bad Guys ever!! The antagonists were Americans who had tortured the poor "victims" in Iraq who were terrorists. But was the real-world situation ever given lip service? No way! All the faces on the screen of these supposed "victims" were people who were obviously moslems--or mohammedans as George Washington called them. They were shown as shy, "reflective", randomly selected for torture and abuse by American doctors who were doing their job and enjoying it while in the military. It was such a piece of propaganda Hitler could have been proud. How could the actors have let their names be associated with such drivel? With such lies? And the media wonders why they have no credibility! My only hope is that switchboards all over the country lit up with complaints for littering the airwaves with this junk. As my grandmother was fond of saying, "It's a dirty bird that dirties its own nest!" Here is a copy of the email I sent to NBC along with six of the sponsors I managed to copy down before the show ended.

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 23rd, and I have watched one of my usually favorite shows, Special Victims Unit. I'm half-way through it and have to write and express my distaste at the blatant anti-American storyline. At a time when so much of the media loves to portray us as bad guys and an embarrassment to the free world, I can't stand turning on a fictional TV show that is using Americans as OFFICIAL torturers and murderers is disgusting. Why do you do this? You want to undermine the good we have here in this country? The whole issue of torture is only being tried in the liberal media--the jury is still out. Why don't you show brutal beheadings or the common degradation of women by these Moslem countries? No--you go out of your way to portray them as "good" and "helpless victims". Their religion is portrayed as "noble"--Christians are portrayed as pond scum. I'm really sick of it. Sick of NBC. Sick of all of you. You should be ashamed. And now I write the sponsors. Mucinex; Town House Toppers; Kentucky Fried Chicken; Ziploc bags(Glad products) Lindt chocolate; Hasbro/PlaySkool Toys--rose petal cottage.

Is It Me or Is It THEM??

Why can't things get done right? Why is nearly every transaction screwed up? My chronicles of incompetence continue. Today's story is about Kodak photo developing on-line.

While I was checking in at a KOA on my trip I noticed a very enticing stack of coupons put out by Kodak and appealing to KOA campers. It very prominently promised a FREE 20-print introductory photo album to KOA users who would try the Kodak printing for the first time. Examine the coupon--pretty simple, pretty clear. So, I stuffed it into my purse and didn't fish it out until I got home. "What's to lose," I wondered. Of course I shouldn't have bothered but some small part of my psyche still thinks companies don't lie.

I spent about one hour going through my vacation digital pics and choosing my favorite pictures of all the grandchildren. I thought a nice "Grandma Album" that I didn't have to print out myself would be good. Also, if I liked their work, it would be nice to sometimes get the printing done by mail rather than have to sit at the computer and print out my own shots.

I was a little suspicious when I had to sign up for a Kodak account to access the coupon's value but I'd done such things before. I spent another hour finally getting my 20 files uploaded and then it was check-out time. Sure enough, there was a space for me to enter my "special" code that would cancel out the usual album charge.

Hmmmm--that's odd; the total still read $23.50. Where was my free album? No place to email them with a question. No phone number where you can talk with a real person. At least I'd used Discover creditcard and they are fantastic about disputes.

QUANT. ITEM UNIT PRICE SUBTOTAL---------------------------------------------------------- 20 5 x 7" prints $0.99 $19.80---------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal: $19.80 Tax: $1.24 ------------- Shipping, US Postal Service: $2.49

RECIPIENT TOTAL: $23.53----------------------------------------------------------

Sincerely, KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery

Did you see anything about my coupon discount?? NO--it isn't there!
Now here's where it stands: Kodak MEANT that I would get a $6.00 discount applied towards my next order!!! Check their coupon again. Trust me--the back of it says nothing. Not one place does it say a dollar amount towards subsequent orders! It says FREE PHOTO ALBUM.

I will keep you posted on this issue. Kodak wants me to "refuse shipment" when the photos arrive and send them back. THEN they will credit my Discover card. What miserable cheapskae phonies they are. Did someone say BOYCOTT BABY?????

So, I am now fussing with Kodak pictures as well as Home Depot. Except Home Depot is easy! I've already told the painter to use any brand of paint he wants as long as it's NOT HOME DEPOT!

Future blogs will be about incompetence with Dell computers--although that one is such a huge example of total incompetence and Customer (non) Satisfaction that I will really have to be more succinct in the re-telling of it. Meanwhile--don't buy one!

Take 2 Aspirin and AVOID HOME DEPOT

Ok Home Depot--you are in the crosshairs now. After taking about 2 months to finally get all the ancient dark blue wallpaper off the kitchen walls, we were ready to look for paint samples. I sent Mr. T out to get some samples and he ended up at Home Depot. The poor man was told the smallest amount of paint they could possibly sell him was a GALLON! At least he was smart enough to only come back with two light colors--all a version of antique white.

This won't work--have you seen the atrocious colors that people are putting on walls these days? I can't bear it but do realize the need to make the kitchen look somewhat updated. After much painting and comparison the sad realization was that none of the four samples was suitable.

It seemed to me that the Behr paint called Pale Bamboo was a very likely contender.

Pale Bamboo

Big Mistake! Behr is brand from Home Depot. As sick as I have been, I was so eager to start the kitchen that I drove the twenty minutes to Home Depot. I asked for a quart--which, of course, they do sell--of Pale Bamboo. When I returned to pick up my paint I was given the quart, paid my money and drove home. Exhausted.

Imagine my shock to open the can and find some sick shade of salmon pink! And not just pinkish--it still had pure red paint on the rim of the can and on the lid. "Well, " I thought, "maybe it will look green on the wall. After all, all the other samples had looked completely different once they got on the walls." This should have been a clue I had no business painting but I set to work doing one small kitchen wall. Yikes!!!! It really was PINK!!! Anybody ever seen PINK bamboo???

I called Home Depot and tried to get to talk to someone--not going to happen. I finally got hold of Victor, some kind of floor supervisor. I told him about their screw-up and he didn't know what to do. I told him he could have someone bring me the correct paint sample. Why should I have to use my gas and my (now) expended energy because they don't know how to mix paint? Victor said he would get back to me. "Promise??" I asked. "I PROMISE," Victor lied to me. So I had to call back on Tuesday. I had to explain the same problem. Again, Victor is pulling the language card as if he doesn't understand enough English to help me. We finally agreed that Victor would bring me the right paint this evening on his way back from work. Of course he never showed.

So, this is the first of EX-Po-says on the incompetence that seems an epidemic whenever I try to get something done. I have checked with others who also report that nothing can done right the first time. I asked the handyman about all the transactions he must have to contend with every week. I asked him how many required him to correct others' mistakes. His answer? NEARLY 100%!!!! Sigh.....I am sadly finding out that nearly everything I've tried to do can't get done right the first time! My next blog will address the now-laughable experience with Dell computers. But that is a headache for another time.

Finit

Sometimes life deals so many lemons that lemonade is a joke--just dodging the lemons without bruising--yourself, not the lemons--is the only goal. I will leave a brief summary.

1. Ellensburg was a typical liberal, party-line spouting, non-original pinko, socialist, anti-American berg. A man driving behind our RV became absolutely apoplectic! He shouted at us! Shook his fist at us!! It took me about 5 minutes to realize this was not a place I would ever live. And it went downhill from there.






2. The KOA was in a beautiful place on the Yakima river but the same old tired stereotypical central-casting lib character as manager. You know the type, tree-hugger tee-shirt, scrawny moustache--or attempt at facial hair--and total lack of sense of humor. He must be as welcome in town as the local Bible saleman.

I continued to get sicker and the Minnie had a run-in with a tree. No more needs to be said about that incident. Rip my heart out! Cut me with daggars! But the Minnie sustained a great wound. Bound up with white duct tape we booked it back to Bakersfield nearly non-stop.
I saw nothing of Oregon--I was too sick and bouncing around on the back bed. But I knew when we crossed over into the California!! The roads became so poorly maintained that it was difficult to stay bed-bound rather than airborne! We finally got to Bakersfield and reveled in the 80 degree plus weather! The house seemed HUGE!!! And how quaint that the house is in the same place everyday!
So--to sum up this venture: the Minnie is in the repair shop. It also needs new tires and a new awning. Ouch. We have begun the process to put our house on the market. It is absolutely silly to live in one area, have Mr. Toccata work in Northern California and Houston and try and know where you are when you wake up in the morning when you didn't even think you had gone on a trip!

Would I do this again? NO WAY!!! I should have listened to the doc and stayed home. But----I saw beauty, experienced cold, saw snow flurries and gained a much greater appreciation for California. Right now I'm still doing bedrest and hoping for a speady recovery and for the meds to finally kick in.
And I am playing with the idea that after getting the house is ready for sale, I'll take the Minnie and move into a trailer park in Barstow for the duration. The desert air is good for the lungs--or so I hear. And just think of the blog possibilities!