It's been a good while...

...since I've been over here (what? 10 days shy of a year?)...

Does this mean I'm back?
Honestly, I don't know. It means I'm back right now, this minute.
What I'm really doing is procrastinating. Actively.
I should be getting my filing cabinets in order, or, more accurately, getting the stacks (yes, plural) of papers filed in the filing cabinets where I can actually find something when I need it.

So, because I hate really dislike filing, this is much more fun. I even changed the winter pictures to springtime and maybe it will mean my blogging hibernation is over, too.

Maybe.

It's a sign...

I think maybe the guy making the sign should be fined, hmm?

Indefinite Hiatus

Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I'd been writing anything.
My response was immediate: "Supply Orders."

So, rather than have a nagging guilt over neglecting this blog, I've decided to make the hiatus official.
I'm still over at The 123 (and I do have just enough recreational writing going on to keep myself sane).
When I have more time, I'll be back over here, too.

Birthday Quote...

...worth saving:

"Dude, that's not syrup, that's grease."

Yum.

Phone Etiquette

Technology seems to have killed phone etiquette.

While etiquette is not something that I am overly concerned with, I can't help but to be appalled by what has become acceptable:

-A call comes in from I-know-not who and the caller says, "Hey."
I don't even know who it is, but clearly I'm supposed to. Caller ID is not necessary, except when I get a phone call like this. Which happens more often than it should.

-I've gotten lots of phone calls from people who say stuff like, "I don't know who I'm calling, but I missed a call from this number."
If it was important, I will call you back. Or someone else used my phone and I don't know what you're talking about.

-Last night (and this is what prompted this post), I got a text from someone that read: "Who is this?"

I realize that phone etiquette is going to change as technology changes, but some of this stuff is just rude.
I also realize that this makes me sound old.
Screw it: I am old (relatively speaking, of course).

I have tried to teach my children good phone manners, but they are convinced that I am a dinosaur. To them, it's perfectly acceptable to grunt as a greeting and they expect a phone call back from someone they called even if they didn't leave a message. As a matter of fact, leaving a message is uncool - the person you're calling already knows who it is, or at least your phone number.

Generational differences widened by technology. How far do I lean in toward the gap? I won't jump over, but obviously a certain amount of understanding is required.
On both sides.

Health Care (or A Bunch of Shit)

Argh.
I won't get into all that I think about this subject (it would take several days), but I just wanted to post a couple of effed-up examples that have had a personal effect:

I have an employee that needs surgery. Not life threatening, not dangerously, but at some point it will probably be necessary (more so than now). She was lined up for surgery before she started working at The 123 and some public fund was going to foot the bill.
And then she got the job here.
Once she had income, the funding for this surgery disappeared. Nothing.
So, what should she do? Quit? So she can have health care?
Hmmm.....
Let's reward those who don't work and screw those who do. Wonderful.

A few more details that irk the shit out of me:

• She started here at minimum wage and that was enough to cancel health care funding entirely. (Minimum Wage! She's supposed to pay for surgery on minimum wage!?)
• She's still working here (that's not the part that irks me - I love her and hope she wants to work for The 123 forever) and she still doesn't have health care. She's a hard worker and she's smart. She's the perfect employee.
• The 123 cannot offer health care (yet) because it's too expensive and we're too new and small.
• I (and my family) don't have health insurance right now either (so it's not like I can afford it for me and not for my employees), which brings me to the other thing...

My family and I don't have health insurance. We lost it along with my husband's job. Sure, we can continue with the COBRA plan, but it's not affordable.

Just how not affordable is it? It is more than $1,400. per month.

Yes, you read that correctly: $1,400. per month.

The amount for which my husband is eligible in unemployment compensation is less than that.

So, we can do a couple of different things:

1. pay for health insurance with the unemployment check (actually, after taxes -yes, they take taxes out of an unemployment check- it won't quite cover it for the month) and not eat or pay the bills

or

2. not have health insurance.

The health care system definitely needs some help.

People who work need coverage - even if they work at McDonald's.

McDonald's has a better opportunity of supplying health insurance to their employees than The 123 does just because of their size. However, there is no incentive to the corporation to take care of their employees.

I want The 123 to offer health insurance to employees at some time in the future. That would mean that I could have it for my family and my employees could have it, too.

I doubt that the CEO of McDonald's or Wal-Mart have to worry about health insurance.

We need to give them incentive to give it to employees, too, and we need to make it easier for small businesses to insure their employees.

Alright, I'll stop now, because this rant is headed for all the other problems of the health care system: filthy rich pharmaceutical companies, health services that cost more when you pay them out of pocket with no insurance, drug dependence....

I'm not posting this for sympathy, because quite honestly, we are much better off than a lot of families right now. As a matter of fact, The 123 is doing quite well. We're staying busy and getting busier, so we'll be just fine, as long as one of us doesn't break a leg or otherwise need medical attention anytime soon.

Icicles

Winter (& more blabbering)

Damn groundhog.
It's snowing.
Again.
And it's supposed to continue.


Did you know that 13% of Americans admit to occasionally operating power tools while drinking?
I didn't either, but that little tidbit was tacked onto the end of a news report this morning.
Why?
I have no idea.
I admit to drinking beer and mowing grass.

Railroading Night at The Grafton 123

I know I have some cross-traffic over here from The Grafton 123 site and from The Taylor County Blog Project, but I also have a few folks who visit here regularly that don't read The 123 goings-ons.
SO- today I will call attention to The 123 goings-ons:

Tonight is Railroad Night
Tomorrow night is Live Music.

Go over there and check it out.