The 3/50 Project

My niece in Wake Forrest, NC is soon opening a new business. On her facebook page, she referenced the 3/50 project. What she said sounded interesting, so I looked it up.

What three locally owned business would you miss if they were gone?

The key is LOCALLY owned. The project has statisticts about what dollar amounts remain in a community from purchases at a national (or even multi-state) chain as opposed to a fully local business.

They then encourage you to spend $50 per month at the LOCAL enterprises.

More figures follow as to the dollars that remain in the community.

The web site also has flyers for the local businesses to use to promote the concept.

I spent over $50 today at a local business. My gym is local, and my membership each month is $40. Of course, the Country Club is locally owned. We pay our monthly dues, and probably more than $50 a month on food and beverages (small club, no resturant, no food minimum)

But I suggest that you google "the 3/50 project" It could be the start of something very, very good in your community.

Yes, it's the little things....

When the joker took my purse, he also took my course card with my number for entering my golf scores! Damn!! He could be posting scores to my number and messing up my handicap!!!

So many, many details to consider.

Had to re-key the house and the car. Had to get a new dirver's license. Luckily, our proof of insurance expired on Saturday and we had not yet put the new ones into our wallets. So that was one item that DIDn't cause a problem.

Thought Bank could just put a watch/hold on the series of checks that were in the check book. No such luck. Tomorrow, I have to get a new checking account. Only problem is direct deposit of my pension. Found PIN in retirement paperwork to change routing numbers.

Had to buy a new purse and wallet. Normally, a new purse is a long-considered purchase. I like to really, really think about a main purse and how it and I fit together. Not this time. Cheapo that will do. For now at least. Who knows, I may learn to love it.

Only other potential problem is medical insurance card. And I have a Dr. appt on Monday, the 30th. Don't know if I have a duplicate card here somewhere or not.

But, on the VERY bright side, George's neice Christina and her husband Peter will arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday for an extended stay! Life really does look good!!

Sometimes we encounter these little problems...

My purse was stolen today. I was at the food bank for a photo of us getting a check from a local group. The food bank itself was not open. We work out of the annex (rec room) of a local church. The seniors were having an event to box cookies to send to the troops. Thanks to the mail drive, we had gotten in a truck load of food that was totally eclectic. After the picture was taken, some of us who work with the food bank were moving the food drive into the storage room, trying to sort it out an stocking the (almost) empty shelves.

I left my purse on a table in the front (public) area.

Later, my purse was missing.

Two of the other people had seen an individual who was not affiliated with either group (the food bank or the seniors) who was sitting by the door. Someone even asked him what he was doing there. "Waiting for my ride" That individual is the prime suspect. My purse was leather, and could be either a purse or a back pack.

I spent the afternoon calling credit cards, banks, gas cards, etc. Mostly a pain.

George has currently forbidden me from returning to the food bank.

First thing tomorrow, we have to go to the bank, tell them what outstanding checks are valid, and get a new checking account. Of course, his Social Security and my pension are direct deposited. FUN!! Then, since my car keys are also missing, as well as the remote keyless thingie, must call and find out how to re-key car (a Saturn, with nearest dealership 90+ miles away now) etc.

Oh yes, did I also mention that my drivers license is gone? Another thing to replace.

What else was in there? An OLD folding umbrella, a tube of SPF 30 sun-screen, a picture of George taken in 1964 (which I can't replace), my CA bar card (maybe THAT will give someone pause) and, unfortuneatly, an address book. I have to e-mail a bunch of friends to ask them to re-mail me their snail-mail addresses.

Fun, fun, fun.

Thank God, I hadn't taken my cell phone with me!

First hope was that the jerk had only taken the cash and would toss the rest. No such luck. He (?) was on-line, down-loading stuff and charging it to one of my cards when I called to cancel that card! Of course, with a down-load, you need at least an Appellate Court decision to get the ISP to divulge any information. Fat chance!

So now, I need to re-key my car, the truck and my house. In the meantime, the house alarm is set at all times!

Ain't life grand?

Some of My Best Friends Are....

Why is the above phrase indicative of a bigoted mind?

I took to analyzing it. A person I regularly have contact with had commented on an event which involved a member of a minority. The comments my contact made regarding that person were, frankly, racist. I knew, if called upon it, the person would respond, "Some of my best friends are (minority)". And, I will acknowledge, this person does have 'best friends' who are (minority). So, why is the phrase bigoted?

I changed it. I changed it to match ME. "Some of my best friends are redheads" What does that mean?

1. Redheads are (somehow) inferior to me.

2. I am a 'good' person because I associate with them.

Some of MY best friends are NOT hetrosexual!!! Therefore, I am OBVIOUSLY a great person for associating with these 'degenerates'!

BULL AND PUCKY!!!

People who are my friends are just that -- MY FRIENDS. Their color, their sexual orientation, their gender, their hair color, their lack of hair are simply ways of describing them.

Try this one "Some of my best friends are bald" That's really great if you know someone undergoing chemotherapy!!!

Turn the mirror around. Look at what you are saying from the other side. Yes, sometimes we all are sexists or racists or follicle-impairedist. I will be humanist -- Most of my best friends are people. (A couple of others are cats!)

As Winter Approaches

Cold weather makes me want to start baking. I have recipies for bread, for cake, for pie. And of course, I have a trove of cookie recipies.

What else do I want to cook?

I have a lovely recipie for oxtail soup. It takes two days to make, and now I have two refrigerators, so I can let it chill overnight to de-fat. I also turned my recipie for chile verde into a really good green chile stew. My beef stew I just do in the crock pot.

What shall I cook?

I collect recipies. I keep notebooks of them. Many I have never tried. Sometimes I deliberately take out and try something new. Sometimes I'm inspired to see what I can do with what I have on hand. Sara told me about a web site where you put in the ingredients you have available and it gives you recipies using those items. I've got to ask her for the web address on that one.

I need to find a good recipie for rabbit stew. Of course, a lot of people don't like hare in their stew. Sorry, I just had to!

Why do I cook?

In a sense, this blog is me exploring me. So, I yam what I yam -- sorry Popeye, you don't look like a sweet potato to me.

Why do I enjoy cooking?

Cooking is a form of art. It is creative.

There are a couple of differences between cooking and traditional art.

1. Once the audience experiences the cooking art, it is gone. An ultimate performance art. The experience, the appreciation extinguishes the art.

2. Like bad art, bad cooking (like good cooking) comes out as shit in the end.

To analogize to acting --- cooking is live theater. Painting is filmed performance. One exists ONLY while being experienced. The other is around for millions to enjoy. One is for the few, the other is for the many.

They can't even be valued the same. Every year, George and I watch Casablance on Valentines day. Every year, I make lasagna for George's birthday dinner. Maybe they are the same, because every year, they are also different. Our lives infuse values to our experiences. I may bake the same recipie for something many times. But each time it is eaten (whether by me alone, by me and George, or by me and a group of friends) the experience is different.

Who is my audience?

Am I writing for you or am I writing for me?

Am I writing for me and granting you voyeur privlidges?

After all, if I know there is an audience, won't my strip-tease be more seductive?

Ok, Ok, I heard you all laugh. I'll put my metaphorical clothes back on.

The question is still there. Of course, it's tied to the previous post. (There! now I've include bondage and exotic dancing in a description of writing! How me!)

So this is one post that, while it might make you smile, won't do a whole lot to improve the world.

Why Blog?

Why did I decide to start a blog? "Why not?" is the easy answer. What am I trying to do here? Record my thoughts for the benefit of all? So what? Why are my thoughts any better than yours or perhaps those of Samuel Pepyes?

I always equated keeping a diary for future generations as a hope for empty imortality.

Do I truely believe that someone, somewhere will read my words and become a changed or better person for it?

HAH!!

All right. Our Puritian heritage (whether or not any of our ancestors came from New England) has so permeated our culture that we all seem to believe that we have an obligation to 'improve' some part of the world around us. Our music, our education, our recreation is all tinged with the 'make it better' syndrome. "Make a difference!" That's a frequent slogan of improvement associations and drives.

So, I am writing a blog to improve the world around me.

B**ls**t.

There are people; entertainers, scientists, politicians, crusaders who can and do make a difference to large numbers of people. There are people who change the world. Their names are known, elementary schools in their home towns are named after them, if they do enough, streets in ever major city in the country are named in their honor.

Hello! That ain't me, and it probably ain't you.

Do I, can I make a difference? Yes, BUT. I'm not going to change the world. My contribution, like those of most people is smaller. It is individual. I can bring pleasure to people around me (Ok, I can bring grief too)

So I blog to let myself know where I am, perhaps where I have been, and where I might go next. By blogging, I may manage to occasionally record those thoughts I really don't want to loose. And by blogging, I give my friends the access IF THEY WANT IT to those thoughts also.

It is a little, tiny way of improving the world. I share my thoughts, you add yours to them, and perhaps, just perhaps, we create a change in one or two minds, that changes from a negative (It's getting dark and dreary so early) to a positive (did you see last nights sunset --breathtaking!)

So there my friends, is my blogging "Mission Statement"

I want to twist your mind to the "Bright Side" of the force!

Roblogin-robin starts

Well my friends, and woe, my foes!! YES Some things are so easy even I can accomplish them! Hence, THE BLOG OF ROBIN! now aren't you sorry I have your e-mail address!!