tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77628053747083073062024-02-07T22:15:57.259-05:00Spinning Straw Into GoldLife in New England: Quirky ramblings from a new arrival in New EnglandAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-89377092953313393822014-10-11T13:23:00.002-04:002014-10-11T13:28:40.270-04:00New siteFor my faithful readers, I keep www.spinningstrawintogold.blogspot.com live because it still has Hotel Life, which some of you have told me you still wish to read. It also has the beginnings of Loft Life, about our move from our hotel room to our loft apartment.<br />
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But, just to be clear, Spinning has moved!! There is a brand new website now, with many more offerings than simply our life in New England--which by the way is now Ramblings on the River, about our new river house.<br />
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So here are the URL's. But for some reason blogger doesn't let me make them live. Please visit www.readmstradinger.com and CLICK ON MENU.<br />
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http://www.readmstradinger.com<br />
http://www.spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com<br />
http://www.lunchwithmarjorie.readmstradinger.com<br />
http://www.pray4ourtroops.readmstradinger.com<br />
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Please visit my new site and enjoy!<br />
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Thanks to you all for making my site even stronger.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-40315536089885701602014-04-13T16:16:00.001-04:002014-04-13T16:16:39.233-04:00Old person, new world<div style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
It’s amazing how huge changes in our behavior sneak up in small steps. When I look at even the vocabulary I use today, I realize that even as recent as a couple of decades ago words like mouse, desktop, icons, footprint, kindle, application, tablet, and so many more, meant something completely different than they do now.</div>
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I no longer have a home phone. I don’t subscribe to cable TV. I have no print. I rarely buy a hard copy or paperback book. I don’t collect coupons, or print coupons and loyalty cards are now on my keychain.</div>
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I do not have a GPS device on my windshield and rarely use paper maps. Why would I when that helpful woman’s voice, sometimes irritating, tells me where to turn and gets me, usually, to my destination. <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-7.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-7.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown-7" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-67" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-7.jpeg" height="131" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-7.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; height: auto; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="157" /></a><a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pge.jpg.png" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pge.jpg.png" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="pge.jpg" class=" wp-image-68 alignright" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pge.jpg.png" height="238" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pge.jpg.png" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: right; height: auto; margin: 7px 0px 7px 24px; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="223" /></a></div>
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I listen to news on a tablet in the morning or on the Internet radio station available on my Apple TV, and I don’t have to be sitting in front of a TV to do this. A tablet is quite portable.</div>
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In the early ‘60s I read a TV guide article about the future. I was excited about tall tales of being able to get any movie you want on demand through some touch screen. I couldn’t wait to have an audio greeting telling me I have messages, or reminding me to shop or call someone. Now I am frustrated if the movie I want isn’t yet available on Netflix or Amazon Prime. If it isn’t there now, though, it will be soon, I am confident.</div>
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Jeff Bezos stated in an interview that it is his intention to have (almost) every book every published available on Kindle. That is quite an ambition. I expect he will soon say the same thing about movies on Amazon Prime. <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-8.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-8.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown-8" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-69" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-8.jpeg" height="90" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-8.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; height: auto; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="103" /></a> <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-9.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-9.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown-9" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-70" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-9.jpeg" height="127" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-9.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; height: auto; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="131" /></a></div>
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I still sometimes prefer the feel of a paper book in my hands, but for travel, there is no question of Kindle's convenience over lugging heavy books on a trip where we are now so limited by airlines on cost of baggage.</div>
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Modern life is ever changing, and APPLE, Amazon and Netflix have truly changed our behavior on a large scale. How many people have PC’s but still have the Apple products for phones, tablets and Apple TV? Right?</div>
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It’s getting as though you have to think twice before you purchase almost anything—DVD’s of TV series that are free online make purchasing DVD series so unnecessary. And at this point, if the season I want on a series I am following isn’t out yet, I switch to a different series until it is. The selection is so vast, I wouldn’t have time to see everything anyway. And, unless I need to watch a live sports game, I have no idea why I would pay $100 a month for cable or Dish.</div>
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I just heard that the stats on people giving up a home phone have risen dramatically. We gave ours up ten years ago. The only people who ever called it were telemarketers and long, lost relatives, who if we wanted to talk to, would know our cell numbers. <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-10.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-10.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown-10" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-71" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-10.jpeg" height="123" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-10.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; height: auto; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="123" /></a> <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-11.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-11.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown-11" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-72" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-11.jpeg" height="119" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-11.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; height: auto; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="119" /></a></div>
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Technology is so amazing that it connect over generations, gender, and even people with vastly different interests. Where but on Facebook, for instance, can you instantly find out which of your friends has a new grandchild, or a birthday, or needs prayer, or wants you to Like some cause they believe in--even if they are thousands of miles away. I don’t always act on everything there, but I am glad it is there.</div>
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The down side of all this is obvious. Privacy and quiet time are rare. I was unnerved to see my photos are waiting to upload to Twitter and Google Circles. I don’t remembering setting that up and don’t want to.</div>
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But, when I want to share photos, like asking my contractor friend to look at an inspection report on a house, it was amazing to be able to discuss that with him, having instant pictures and the report and being able to go over it line by line. No down time. At Christmas, I wanted to give my son-in-law a picture of a train that my daughter took. It took my son and his girlfriend about a half hour to help me get it to CVS in Los Angeles, so it would be awaiting me at the store by the time we arrived there the next day. Then I could buy a frame and have it ready for Christmas, rather than the old days of film, developing, waiting, printing, paying for copies, etc. This was amazing to me. <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-12.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-12.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown-12" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-73" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-12.jpeg" height="119" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Unknown-12.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; height: auto; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="133" /></a> <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1003147_4894137400773_1868205741_n.jpg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1003147_4894137400773_1868205741_n.jpg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="1003147_4894137400773_1868205741_n" class=" wp-image-74 alignright" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1003147_4894137400773_1868205741_n-225x300.jpg" height="240" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1003147_4894137400773_1868205741_n-225x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: right; height: auto; margin: 7px 0px 7px 24px; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="180" /></a></div>
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For all it’s downside, I love technology, and am so happy to have the efficiency of digital copy and paste, scanning, digital bank deposits, Amazon grocery delivery and countless other conveniences I never realized have crept into my life as normal, everyday activities. They say a million dollar idea is one that changes behavior. I can’t wait to see which one I can come up with, but for now, I will enjoy paying for or accepting for free the myriad of ideas that have changed mine--mostly for the better.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-15386839234388107172014-03-19T11:13:00.001-04:002014-03-19T11:13:54.159-04:00LOFT LIFE: Taking pHun to a new level<div style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You all know I am into green smoothies, organics, antioxidants and the like. But when I began reading about how to do the pH thing, I was overwhelmed. Learning all about the balance of alkaline and acid for the body seemed foreign to think about. <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/51doKJVk1vL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-bigTopRight0-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4BottomRight122_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/51doKJVk1vL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-bigTopRight0-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4BottomRight122_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="51doKJVk1vL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_" class="size-full wp-image-38 alignright" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/51doKJVk1vL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-bigTopRight0-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4BottomRight122_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" height="300" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/51doKJVk1vL._BO2204203200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-bigTopRight0-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4BottomRight122_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: right; height: auto; margin: 7px 0px 7px 24px; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="300" /></a></div>
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I dabbled with the idea, but really had no idea what to actually eat. The whole idea of it reminded me of the chemicals we used to clean our swimming pool (when we lived in California).</div>
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But, I began to do more than dabble when my “California girl” daughter texted me a picture of her sore throat, gross as it was, and told me she thought she was getting strep. Rather than rush to the urgent care center, she decided to completely change her food for a couple of days to alkaline foods. The throat redness left, her fever left, and she was well in three days. Wow! This got my attention, big time.</div>
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So when I started to feel some flu-like symptoms, I did the same thing and it all went away. Health.</div>
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I read up on what foods are alkaline. I started making sure my daily 8 to 10 glasses of water all had a squeeze of lemon. My daughter was buying alkaline bottled waters and was concerned with the expense. I told her to go to Costco for a bag of lemons, and make her own. Much cheaper, tasty and easy to do. You can get 8 wedges from one large lemon, which does the daily dosage for both alkaline food and water. I mean, really. If drinking lemon water can give me a flu-free season, why wouldn't I do this. <a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Unknown.jpeg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Unknown.jpeg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Unknown" class="size-full wp-image-42 alignright" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Unknown.jpeg" height="139" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Unknown.jpeg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: right; height: auto; margin: 7px 0px 7px 24px; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="189" /></a></div>
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The research tells me that, although lemons and other citrus are acidic, they become alkaline when ingested.</div>
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On the other hand, animal protein becomes acidic to the body, So, next I cut down dramatically on how much animal protein I consume.</div>
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Greens, ala green smoothies, are also alkaline.</div>
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I have to say, that barring having all the overwhelming reading to do, these three simple steps--lemon water, less animal protein, more greens--have gotten me through flu season with no symptoms of flu and a really robust health, even with our extreme winter.</div>
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The pH people claim that it is the acidic diet that most Americans eat that increases inflammation in the body and they say inflammation is what leads to disease--and not just flu, but disease like cancer and other gnarly stuff. The toxins and waste that accumulates in our bodies because of our high-acid producing diets are also the culprits in decreasing energy and even speeding up the effects of aging.</div>
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Getting myself to learn how to maintain the ideal pH of 7.4 is more of a challenge, since it requires me to learn way more. But, the benefits claimed seem to warrant at least considering doing this.</div>
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If it is this simple, why not try it? It is easier and cheaper than medication, and has the benefit of not only warding off disease, but creating health. Rather than a cure, why not go for the preventive?</div>
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The answer for why most of us don't attempt this seems to be tied to the whole idea of the modern American eater. I am sure our grandparents weren't dealing with the problem of trusting food companies and restaurants, because they didn't eat packaged foods and seldom went "out" to eat. They didn't have the soft drinks daily, if at all, and they weren't eating snacks we think of as normal (donuts, candy bars, giant sugary drinks). They had gardens, they canned veggies and fruits for winter. So when this seems like going to a lot of trouble to eat more like they did, it is true. It is a lot of trouble changing over to the former ways. But, did they have the health problems we think of as normal? Were they generally obese?</div>
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I am still in process on this, still reading, thinking, changing my diet. But, I will now hunker down and really read the book that claims miracle powers of a balanced pH eating plan, and I will begin to make permanent changes where it just makes sense to do so.</div>
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Let me know what you think about this, please.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-90694861027337582762014-03-04T11:50:00.003-05:002014-03-11T11:30:08.552-04:00ANNOUNCEMENT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvVs5wbja1gvXurJd9qLN7D3JoCTG6lcOwvDQxtcOuT1jAxXyLyTJkJ4XVTrms9plu9z3q2kJaK6WntKwoTv-cScdhL1ja66t9fNxgn0jZ35aw5TNPX-L1TTNet6AbJfzgmm1RaeUOfY/s1600/IMG_0549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvVs5wbja1gvXurJd9qLN7D3JoCTG6lcOwvDQxtcOuT1jAxXyLyTJkJ4XVTrms9plu9z3q2kJaK6WntKwoTv-cScdhL1ja66t9fNxgn0jZ35aw5TNPX-L1TTNet6AbJfzgmm1RaeUOfY/s1600/IMG_0549.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
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<br />
For all you faithful readers--about 300+ of you from literally all over the globe--I am now redirecting you to my new HUB website: www.readmstadinger.com. When you click on MENU, you can see ALL of my writings in one spot, and I am updating constantly.<br />
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With the MENU button, you can find Spinning Straw into Gold (I may continue to post it here also for awhile, but want people to make their comments on my new site, please). Also, you can find Lunch with Marjorie, my newspaper column about people's lives--an inspirational wealth of stories about ordinary people and their great significance. And, my travel blog City Cites is also there.<br />
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In the future I will have my downloadable Resume workbook. Its techniques have been used successfully by thousands of people over the 35 years I have been doing resumes.<br />
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And my Pray for Our Troops bookmark will soon be available in lots of 10 for a donation of $1 each ($10)--as soon as I figure out PayPal. :)<br />
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Lastly, for now at least, I plan to have my Sourdough cookbook as a downloadable eBook, containing authentic sourdough recipes from my grandfather in the early 1900s, when he was a US Marshall on the Santa Fe Trail.<br />
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Happy reading! Your comments always make my day. www.readmstradinger.com<br />
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PS, I am thrilled with my new affiliate Blue Host. They are the most helpful, customer-oriented hosting site I have ever worked with. If you plan to start a blog or website, please check them out through my site: www.readmstradinger.com<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-12589165348133488442014-01-28T15:40:00.003-05:002014-01-29T14:15:59.027-05:00LOFT LIFE - Angel update<div style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Thanks so much to my readers for all of your wonderful Angel suggestions. I decided to start with making my Christmas angel into a Valentine angel.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo2.jpg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo2.jpg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="photo" class=" wp-image-15 alignleft" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo2-225x300.jpg" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo2-225x300.jpg" height="240" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left; height: auto; margin: 7px 24px 7px 0px; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="180" /></a></div>
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This wasn't as easy for me as for you very creative types, but I took my All Recipes friend Pam B.'s suggestion to visit the Dollar Store, which she advised the toy department, and that was very helpful.</div>
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Of course, upon entering the store mid-January, all of the Valentine stuff met me at the door, so I did not need to proceed to toys yet.</div>
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I purchased $6 worth of hearts, ribbons, and, for some reason (probably the fact that I didn't have my glasses on), rose petals.</div>
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Returning to my loft, I made a pattern for a "heart dress" by tracing the wooden angel shape and cutting it out of the red heart of swirls and flowers. I, all by myself, created a paper-doll dress for Angel dear.</div>
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Now when I was a young girl, I really didn't get into playing with dolls much, but I did like dressing them, and my mom made beautiful clothing for my Mary Hoyer. But, I was more comfortable with paper dolls, I guess because I could mess them up and not be out the price of an expensive doll.</div>
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So this exercise brought back that memory, and I think I may be able to keep that going for other seasons and holidays.</div>
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I found out, after I got home, that some of my hearts, little pink ones, had two-sided sticky stuff on their backs. You know folks, to most of you this probably seems very elementary, but to me it is an entirely new adventure on which I would never have embarked without the encouragement of Pam.</div>
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So I stuck the pink hearts on the wire frame to cover up where Christmas balls had been, and presto, a Valentine angel was born.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo.jpg" href="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo.jpg" style="color: #24890d; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="photo" class=" wp-image-12 alignleft" data-mce-src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo-225x300.jpg" src="http://spinningstrawintogold.readmstradinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/photo-225x300.jpg" height="240" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left; height: auto; margin: 7px 24px 7px 0px; max-width: 474px; vertical-align: middle;" width="180" /></a></div>
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I used the same patterned red heart (the package had two) that I had cut the dress from, and stuck it on my door. That took a bit more work, since there was no two-sided sticky tape on that. I created my own double-sided tape, but it didn't stick well. I used some Scotch tape, finally, out of desperation and also made a hole in the top of the heart, inserted Valentine ribbon, and hung it over the door. That worked better, although because the heart is edged in black, the Scotch tape shows. Do they make a clear red tape? <br />
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Anyway, this should serve until St. Paddy's Day, for which I will return to Dollar Store to get green stuff.</div>
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Thanks Pam. Thought you all might want to see my solution.</div>
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Let me know how you like it, and please don't laugh too hard (at me).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-25353279149362086202014-01-13T17:04:00.001-05:002014-01-24T16:13:41.400-05:00LOFT LIFE - What do we celebrate?<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">On my walkabout today around the inside of our apartment building (15 rounds is three miles), I was noticing the Christmas decorations on the doors of floor two. That got me to thinking:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRO49carGYmdjfZCn1Xuu7s6j2J-8TDzRnxzgHW5BqJX0ARCbACOsieyBLUoDbsQzUVIySV4gOudhFdo2Lt80R3Znm8rbt_NDjg8R5SNUoVyYkM5vAoWEUDpmueTt0g40KZo3nMWQVoGc/s1600/IMG_0623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRO49carGYmdjfZCn1Xuu7s6j2J-8TDzRnxzgHW5BqJX0ARCbACOsieyBLUoDbsQzUVIySV4gOudhFdo2Lt80R3Znm8rbt_NDjg8R5SNUoVyYkM5vAoWEUDpmueTt0g40KZo3nMWQVoGc/s200/IMG_0623.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I, too, still have my Christmas angel, bells and wreath decorating our apartment door. And, I keep wishing I could move on to the next season, but really think the earliest I would do that would be Valentine’s Day. But, then Valentines would be a very short-lived decor, unlike Christmas which at least lasts about a month.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, what is the decor for January? What do we celebrate after Christmas and before Valentine’s Day?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Really there is nothing. Well, there is nothing that Madison Avenue or Hallmark tell us to celebrate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So have we come to this? We can’t figure out how to or what to celebrate unless there is an advertising campaign for it? I find that a little disturbing that I am so dependent on them for this, rather than looking into my own heart and life for motivation to celebrate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I thought about just celebrating “life” and putting up decorations for that. But, that seems like it’s more of springtime and Easter. And, welcoming spring before it is time goes against my whole reason for loving living in a place that has all four seasons. I like the winter months. They give me time to contemplate, to visit friends, to turn in a bit and do some soul searching which doesn’t seem to happen in the good weather months (or in California ever when I lived there).</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsJPrufMV8tdIDqQ8IyvMuPpL5f8Vvioc5ybtKTQ2WKDUCNGhs8fWmyUah9cXqjGwxN4pwRtCuCZbDi_y-AJT5tkxtu3xDP4_7E2BTJxZ9qEsTvbsBpxhWBctlUbMRooPMYE_sgIBc40/s1600/IMG_0624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsJPrufMV8tdIDqQ8IyvMuPpL5f8Vvioc5ybtKTQ2WKDUCNGhs8fWmyUah9cXqjGwxN4pwRtCuCZbDi_y-AJT5tkxtu3xDP4_7E2BTJxZ9qEsTvbsBpxhWBctlUbMRooPMYE_sgIBc40/s200/IMG_0624.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some people have their favorite football team logos out. I guess that would be appropriate for January and early February. But, my heart wouldn’t be in it. Don’t get me wrong, I like football. But, I don’t get into it enough to use my door to cheer on my team (which has already lost).</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are no leaves on the trees. There is still some snow and more to come. It is raining and, though not so cold as last week, it’s winter. So I don’t know what to replace my angel, bells and wreath with. Maybe a wreath of twigs?</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ctNwsFHCIGeAt22Yind9OZhcBuTdycfjkyCzofgyxOI0BEPJzWanXft-mDcEvaVygd8un5BxmsrucSw7R7guiQqxwHogv5q4i20jD_th_MQF9Dl4L3xoifAh0t5mo8cfsZ3fpQFXVwA/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ctNwsFHCIGeAt22Yind9OZhcBuTdycfjkyCzofgyxOI0BEPJzWanXft-mDcEvaVygd8un5BxmsrucSw7R7guiQqxwHogv5q4i20jD_th_MQF9Dl4L3xoifAh0t5mo8cfsZ3fpQFXVwA/s200/Unknown-1.jpeg" height="133" width="200" /></span></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I will keep on considering this, but I am open to your ideas. I’m really not very creative about this area. And, decorating has never been my strong suit. But, I do seem to choose friends who are both creative and artistic. What is it we celebrate in January that could have a decor to go with it? Bring it on readers. I welcome the good winter ideas.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-90690392301079543992013-12-17T14:38:00.004-05:002014-02-18T14:59:45.905-05:00LOFT LIFE: Women are natural shoppers<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Maybe learning life lessons from Hollywood isn’t a reliable standard, but, I have to say, I really have learned a lot from the movies. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzeHhLlrHhwzn2Q-ayGZIjD1qGjmOKgbE11W0rTiS3re3tzojby3I-lxRS1FS644X5DyIJmWpUtuMSantvEWT6MrDtL-7YQp8GuziAT7ygJlWDWst68eiFEfhm3TeiIFaKXvPFoyUJSZQ/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzeHhLlrHhwzn2Q-ayGZIjD1qGjmOKgbE11W0rTiS3re3tzojby3I-lxRS1FS644X5DyIJmWpUtuMSantvEWT6MrDtL-7YQp8GuziAT7ygJlWDWst68eiFEfhm3TeiIFaKXvPFoyUJSZQ/s200/Unknown.jpeg" height="200" width="161" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">For instance, Judy Benjamin, the lead character in the 1980 Goldie Hawn film, <i>Private Benjamin</i>, had to decide on what her Army career duty choice would be, and it just seemed obvious to her that women are natural purchasing agents.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So when I told my sister-in-law, Lisa, that I do not like to shop, it started me thinking about whether this is an accurate statement.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Really, what I mean by not liking to shop, is that I am not one to browse, hang out at Walmart, or run around to bricks and mortar stores to find bargains--which today seem to be all made in China, so not really bargains in my opinion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, I do enjoy being the family purchasing agent. I think much more like a purchasing agent than just a consumer. I mostly shop online</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Purchasing agents look at the big picture more than whether they save a dollar on one item. This becomes very interesting when the economy is bad, prices are skyrocketing, and quality is suffering. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What does this look like in my real life?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I shop in bulk for many food items that I use regularly. I do this not only at <i>Costco,</i> but more and more at <i>Amazon</i>. I have used their subscribe & save grocery store, and not only do I have regular shipments of things like oats, coconut oil, raisins, coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and nuts for my granola, cultures for my yogurt making, soup blends, veggie stock, almond milk, coconut water, and dried beans, free trade coffee, cocoa, chia seeds, hemp hearts, hawthorne tea, and more, but these things arrive at our apartment so that hubby gets to carry in the heavy boxes, rather than me straining to get things from the car to the door. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also get a 15% discount and because I am a <i>Prime Member</i>, free shipping! I don’t have to hunt these things down, and they are always in stock. Awesome. Saves on gasoline too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also, I no longer make the $180 milk trip to <i>Costco.</i> I now have everything in stock, so I only need to go to the store for fresh produce and the occasional item I know I need. I get in, and get out. Simple now.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazon is great also for some clothing and household stuff. I recently found a Tommy Hilfiger hooded, down coat ($400 retail) for $79.00, free shipping. I did look at many stores for this, and nothing even compared in style or value to what I got online at Amazon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">For 40 years I have been an <i>Amway</i> distributor, and I buy all my household products, beauty supplies, nutritional supplements, and various other things, from my own store, at wholesale prices, and am assured they are high quality and “green.” I really miss things like Scrub Buds, SA8, LOC and other essentials when I am traveling, because there is nothing like them on the shelves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, since my hair stylist had surgery, I have switched to having my color and cut done at a beauty school. I was a little apprehensive at first, but both the color and cut were very well done, and the cost is one quarter of my usual salon. That means I can get my hair done, have manicures, a monthly massage, and even have hubby’s haircut for the same cost as just my hair cut and color. That is pretty irresistible. And, they have late hours so hub doesn’t get all frustrated rushing home from work for his monthly cut. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hardly ever go out to eat anymore unless I have a Groupon or Living Social discount. With restaurant dining becoming way more expensive (we don’t do fast food), we can still enjoy lovely meals at half price. We also use these companies for weekend getaways, and I have bought Egyptian cotton sheets, a Sherpa blanket, and other items with extreme discounts. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I am not just looking for cheaper stuff or services. These are the same quality products and services I used to pay much more for, with much more convenience and less stress.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">For most shopping, it has to be something I really need, really have wanted for a long time, or something I am giving as a gift. I don’t look for ways to spend. I look for ways to get what I need at savings without too much effort. And, yes, I think <i>Private Benjamin</i> was correct. For most women, this attitude comes pretty naturally. Yes, some women do like to browse and shop recreationally. But, I don’t know any women who don’t make smart purchasing decisions. They seem to have it in their DNA to ferret out the good prices.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The whole coupon idea is big business, and probably because women see the value. I have never been big on clipping coupons for three reasons: usually it takes a lot of time and planning to be of value, most items are processed food, which we don’t eat much, and storing and remembering which coupons are where is a big deal and often involves going physically to many stores to find brands. But, I understand those who do this. I used to pay my kids 10% on weekly savings to do the clipping and match coupons to our menu. That was fun, and they enjoyed the income when they were too young to earn other ways. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, no, I don’t usually love shopping. But, yes, I do enjoy the art of purchasing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Would love to hear your stories.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-4866891045754092982013-11-20T16:56:00.002-05:002013-11-20T18:37:26.841-05:00LOFT LIFE: The heart of the matter<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">I’ll start right out with the disclaimer that I do respect doctors, nurses, medical personnel and health care workers of all kinds--if they have the heart to help. When you really need them, they are </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large;">wonderful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">The problem is, even with good hearts, bad teaching and vested interests sometimes get in the way of people even when they have the intention to help. I guess we all help with a bias, hopefully a bias created from truly believing in something.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Okay, so what am I talking about?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Well, when you are over 60, and deem it necessary to walk into the medical system, you should know they have a bias. It’s medicine. They believe in medicine. They have been taught to believe medicine is the answer. It is a rare doctor, or even nurse (most of my friends have been nurses, and the others are usually in health care of some kind), who can see </span>other<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> options. Of course, chiropractors and naturopathic health people do not believe in medicine. But, the medical people write these people off as quacks and ignorant do-gooders.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So when my very, I say very, very goodhearted ophthalmologist suggested I may be developing glaucoma in my right eye, he proceeded to give me three options for treatment--if it did, indeed turn out to be glaucoma. The three options are: eye drops, which he says would have to be used every day for the rest of my life. I hate the statement: you have to do this every day for the rest of your life. I think to myself, Well, what if God heals me? How will I know if I am lowering my eye-pressure with eye drops? Treatment two is laser surgery, which they say only lasts about three years before having to be repeated. So I figure that would maybe work out if it bought me time for them to perfect and legalize medical marijuana, which would really be my first choice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">NO! I have never used it, not even without inhaling. But it is a natural, plant-based treatment, which seems better to me. But then my doctor told me he wouldn’t prescribe it because using it would entail being “stoned” 24/7 or it wouldn’t work. *sigh.*</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then he added another layer of confusing choices. It seems that having glaucoma in only one eye is extremely rare, and so he thought it would be a good idea if I just had a brain scan, “just to be sure nothing else is going on,” AND a second opinion from a glaucoma specialist. Also, I seem to have convinced my doctor that when the med books say that in 97% of cases blah, blah, blah, but in a rare 3%, blah blah, I am ALWAYS in the rare 3%. Always have been. So he believes me and thus the second opinion thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, sorry to make this long story even longer, but then, how are you going to really understand the dilemma unless you have these details, right?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I thought, probably I will get the second opinion before I have the brain scan. No sense dabbling around the brain if the specialist says absolutely you do have glaucoma in one eye.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I called her office, and they reacted strangely. They first ask your birthday--before any other questions. So the secretary says, “Oh so you’re on Medicare, right?” “No,” I say. That seemed to throw her even when I told her I would pay cash up front.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Well, I will have to ask the doctor. I don’t know how she wants to handle this,” she said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“What’s to handle?” say I. “I am paying cash.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">She seemed very, very irritated at me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I received a pre-invoice for $1200, which I am sure raised both my eye pressure and my blood pressure. Oh, did I tell you I have been monitoring my blood pressure and it has been mildly to moderately high some of the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I stewed about this whole dilemma for a few weeks. In the beginning of October I called my own eye doctor’s office to tell them about my bad reception at the second opinion doctor, and about their invoice, which I have a hard time imagining is the “self-pay” cost for what my own doctor does for half that. My sweet Whitney at Dr. E’s office sympathized and said she would call them to see what was what.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the meantime, I had read about and ordered Hawthorne tea to see if it would reduce my blood pressure. It did, along with my walking two miles a day and drinking more water. The blood pressure is now completely normal 120/80 when I do all three, which is almost daily. When I don’t do all three--skip the walk, the water or the tea--it goes back to about 140/89, which isn’t probably life-threatening, but I want it lower.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I called Whitney back after a couple of weeks of this treatment and said, “So do you think I will die of my brain tumor or go blind before January?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">She laughed at me. They get me there. No runaround. No huge combat experience because I am not on medicare. She said, “Marjorie I don’t think you have a brain tumor, and I think if the doc thought it was urgent, he would be pushing harder.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“‘Cause I want to save up my HSA deductible for once, and if I spend $1200 for a second opinion, $1200 for a brain scan, and $1200 for laser surgery (which I was still considering), I will never get this saved up. And,” I told her, I am also seeing my blood pressure back to normal with my Hawthorne tea, and I am thinking, maybe it is also lowering my eye pressure. NOTE: eye pressure is supposed to be 10-20 somethings, and mine is smack in the middle, 14, making my “possible” one-eyed glaucoma what they call “Normal Pressure Glaucoma.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Then I was listening to a health station on my Internet radio and the guy was talking about HEMP HEARTS! HMM. I Wondered if hemp hearts could possibly do what marijuana does without the “being stoned 24/7” effect. So I ordered hemp hearts from Amazon with my order of Hawthorne tea.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I am also thinking that between the hemp hearts (which have only recently become legal in the U.S. because they were so much like pot, they were outlawed) and the tea and the walking and the water, I just may get my eye pressure down to 12 and impress Dr. E. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whitney said that would be okay and to call in January or February. (Don’t you all think that from July to November--and then to February--I would have some brain tumor symptoms if that were a problem?) I am asking. Your input is welcome.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Okay, so I am gambling a bit with my life. But, I ask you, if I can bring my blood pressure down 20 to 40 points with tea, why would I take gnarly blood pressure meds with really bad side effects? And, if I can (we will find out) lower my eye pressure with natural, non-stoning plant-based solutions, why would I take eye-drops or have surgery? </span></span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">The only reason I can think of is that we have somehow deified the medical route beyond all reason. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, it may be a gamble, But so are those medicine side-effects. I would rather gamble on this, and keep thinking health and not disease. Whitney assures me that if these natural methods do, indeed, reduce my pressure the same way eye drops would, Dr. E. will count that. He just wants the best for me, which I really do believe.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-87942729961080956352013-10-28T11:50:00.002-04:002014-03-27T16:28:14.901-04:00LOFT LIFE: Shootout at the Ware Groupon lesson<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I promised you the full story of my very first shooting lesson, which hubby dear was very excited about. As previously mentioned, he grew up on a very large cattle ranch in South Dakota, where guns, shooting, and generally keeping “critters” in categories of pests, profit-makers, pets, and wildlife are just a part of life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> “Popping” prairie dogs, as they call ridding the ranch of these pests, is not considered to be cruel. In fact, not “popping” prairie dogs and letting those sweet cows break their legs in the holes left by the pests, would be considered cruel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> I might want to add here my disclaimer, that this is a perspective of a city girl who has only visited the ranch a dozen plus times, and the opinions expressed here have not been approved by the ranch owners or their relatives, or their South Dakota, non-city-people neighbors. I heard a nasty rumor that the ranch folks think I actually hate the ranch, being a city girl and all, which is </span>absolutely<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> untrue. I love the ranch. I just need to learn how to do ranch life, which no one seems to think I am ready for.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> That said, I found it somewhat amusing that when hubby dear, who loves guns, “popping” prairie dogs, hunting, and eating deer, bear, pheasant, and the like, discovered that he had sired a daughter who would say things like, “Aw, look at that poor (whatever the present roadkill was) creature. Can’t we take her to the vet to maybe save her?” hubby would look at me and wonder how in the world to answer such a strange question.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> Her compassion for animals has since shifted a bit, mostly to cats, and she loves the ranch, and has learned to enjoy shooting--so her father is proud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> But, I have steered clear of the gun thing for our 33 years together, until I received a Groupon for a shooting lesson. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> This seemed to be a sign, and I decided it was time, in light of all the fuss over second amendments and rights and such, to at least pick up a gun, figure out how to hold it, and maybe take a shot or too. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Arriving at the Ware Gun Shop, the outside was extremely different than I had imagined. This was a little house-like place, very rural, and not at all looking like a school for shooting lessons. Not that I really know what that would look like. Of course, we ventured in, Groupon in hand.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The owner, Mike, refused to introduce himself, or confirm that I had talked to him on the phone, and seemed to want to hurry us out of the main retail area, if you want to call it that (the place didn’t have a shiny, clean appearance).</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was fine with being escorted down the stairs to the basement area where there was a lot of open space with targets all around. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But when Mike began to do his lesson thing, I found him rather fascinating in a grumpy kind of way. He started with a casual interview on why we wanted to have a lesson. Of course I told him I hate guns, but sweetie loves ‘em and I was doing my wifely duty learning a little. I pointed out that my cowboy husband probably didn’t need a lesson but was there to support me. Mike look dubious.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Next was the laser gun with the red dot thingy, that as he was about to hand to me, I asked, “Um, have you germicided that?” He didn’t answer, and you could feel the humorless countenance beginning to boil behind the eyes. “I mean, how many people have touched that?” I clarified.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Mike looked at Jay and said, “Is she serious?” Jay of course smiled and explained I was sort of “pulling his chain.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Later Jay, also a pretty non-sarcastic sense of humor guy, tried to explain to me the irony of asking about germs while holding a lethal weapon, to which I, of course, replied, “That’s why it’s funny.”</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I</span></span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> guess not to everyone.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> In any case, Mike had threatened to return our Groupon investment and tell us to leave if I proceeded with any more questions like that. I think he had real people coming in after our lesson, and there would be no more silly questions to waste his time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> Just so you know, when I get anxious, which happens when holding a gun for the first time, I get funny (or try to be). Since this was lost on Mike, and somewhat on Jay, I figured since I had no audience, I would shape up. I was, after all, here to do something sweet for hub.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> I used the practice laser gun and didn’t feel a whole lot more confident, but cowgirled on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> When it came time to move on to the big guns--well in my case a .22 or something like that, I started getting serious, especially when Mike began to lecture us on muscle memory, and the three important areas to train.That reminded me of Jack Reacher, and having read the first four books, this lesson began to take on some challenge for me. Jack won’t even shoot until he gets his heartbeat under control. I thought I would try that, if I could remember to while training my muscles to shoot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> I am, as you regular readers know, extremely audio and Mike is such a clear teacher that the input into my audio file was really very thorough. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> So, my first ever attempt to shoot a real gun resulted in the cluster you see here. I think both Mike and Jay nearly fell over that this nutty city girl, obviously nervous, scared and worried about germs, actually did quite well. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Jay was ecstatic to a point where even annihilating his virtual rat wasn't quite as exciting as seeing his wife take seriously the thing he enjoys the most--except for motorcycles.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I was a bit proud of the old gal myself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Mike seemed somewhat tamed after that, and after realizing we shared the same eye problem--only seeing out of one eye at a time--he told me that on another occasion he would show me how to compensate so I would move slightly to the right and cluster right in that target area. I think that was a compliment. And did I detect an open invitation in that "next time" comment?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I read the Goggle reviews for Mike and his gun shop and most people found him rude, not customer-oriented, and not even in favor of the second amendment (which I doubt). My guess is that he just doesn’t prefer to converse with the public. Not sure why he is in business, but the bottom line for me is that his teaching style was perfect for my learning style, and I learned what I had come to learn. And I did well--especially in the eyes of the one for whom I was there picking up my first .22.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-49746205663984107432013-09-27T12:42:00.001-04:002014-03-11T10:59:57.764-04:00LOFT LIFE: Opposites attract, but...<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think it is a testimony to God having a sense of humor that, to a person, we seem to choose someone as a mate who is our direct opposite in many important areas:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I like cool crisp September weather and hate hot humid. My honey likes hot, humid summer weather, and the minute he sees 40 degrees F. on any gauge, he instantly goes into what I refer to as his annual winter depression.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“But, it’s not even freezing, I say. “But, it’s gonna be,” he replies. I think he relives his South Dakota ordeal of feeding the critters in sub-zero weather.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">He says, “We should move to Florida,” and I say, “How about Maine. He says, “How about New Orleans;” I say, “Alaska!” We have for some reason agreed that someday it will the desert--so hot and not humid. We’ll try it. I love Montreal.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the same note, my sweetie piles up about six blankets (only three in summer) and I am kicking off my half’s three and swinging my leg out on top of the sheet to get cool--we’re still talking winter. They turn the heat on in our manufacturing building loft--central boiler room furnace--so we don’t even need to turn the heat on ourselves. He comes home and 20 seconds upon entering the apartment, he makes a bee-line for the thermostat to turn it up. I think the shivers runs in his family--maternal side. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuXzxDAoN5cCNYWJZPrY3ifadnZuWbIRGsBOLGP5xRLQJJpROmKd0_dlKP6zEPsC-dZwl9fxW9eR_9CJVQM0GkJGR2yZTlbcSPLOFztUax0A0eCXaG44TIeRVY4rJfQ_lL2SnkT3ZrSg/s1600/Unknown-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuXzxDAoN5cCNYWJZPrY3ifadnZuWbIRGsBOLGP5xRLQJJpROmKd0_dlKP6zEPsC-dZwl9fxW9eR_9CJVQM0GkJGR2yZTlbcSPLOFztUax0A0eCXaG44TIeRVY4rJfQ_lL2SnkT3ZrSg/s1600/Unknown-3.jpeg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then there’s noise. He likes it. I like calm. He likes motorcycles. I like to go slow. He likes motors. I like quiet. He likes rock music (he is 90 percent deaf, so I think the drumbeat is all he can perceive). I like Chopin and Jewel’s </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNUkHYhLYhIQq9lKAk2LZLmX5Ob9jX1x2pUT6OQ-TUkES1lwutBl7u6bZYaliAdQNnwSVndHe5ifD4q04djTqiQUgVjIhRXCLdURmEwO8QYOtDq3yNHQ01RFajuB1mVyqorUHkmjm4gqE/s1600/Unknown-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNUkHYhLYhIQq9lKAk2LZLmX5Ob9jX1x2pUT6OQ-TUkES1lwutBl7u6bZYaliAdQNnwSVndHe5ifD4q04djTqiQUgVjIhRXCLdURmEwO8QYOtDq3yNHQ01RFajuB1mVyqorUHkmjm4gqE/s1600/Unknown-5.jpeg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24VU4UcBBhOO2xmUSXdBwexb-TPpvRXdB1WZURkWVIIyBSTabZZaY0Pd0c5NQ92hepNdLf99fpnlLe2POn8aBX1SKED-0eMeu69dBxEVZJ9y-ZseBucXs4JVgl-MKODc0iMkdXYkk0ZI/s1600/293298f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24VU4UcBBhOO2xmUSXdBwexb-TPpvRXdB1WZURkWVIIyBSTabZZaY0Pd0c5NQ92hepNdLf99fpnlLe2POn8aBX1SKED-0eMeu69dBxEVZJ9y-ZseBucXs4JVgl-MKODc0iMkdXYkk0ZI/s1600/293298f.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBpFf6jjp2LaaD5RRhLggpR0r4W7iHML1472YL-8WmGkEByb8J5AWwvTGuSN8qPnCqXyFoKC0DcDrp6Jfzspnz1AKDyqTlGIZXEy4pR2wYI9PiZP3XM5pLcT62yG23ve4hTn45kwBbgJI/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBpFf6jjp2LaaD5RRhLggpR0r4W7iHML1472YL-8WmGkEByb8J5AWwvTGuSN8qPnCqXyFoKC0DcDrp6Jfzspnz1AKDyqTlGIZXEy4pR2wYI9PiZP3XM5pLcT62yG23ve4hTn45kwBbgJI/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhur4zkB5TQc4IWRvfVYDnvQxHD3eXI1U-BAIigZXp4Q4SZP9ihfz1Aka-I4ue3fHxG2RVRovea-Lab55oJXcdf1ahcR2NPtlofnLEAXvtI9FnlR-tR66iyaAUphNcDSA5mDuWHPg3HUE/s1600/Unknown-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhur4zkB5TQc4IWRvfVYDnvQxHD3eXI1U-BAIigZXp4Q4SZP9ihfz1Aka-I4ue3fHxG2RVRovea-Lab55oJXcdf1ahcR2NPtlofnLEAXvtI9FnlR-tR66iyaAUphNcDSA5mDuWHPg3HUE/s1600/Unknown-4.jpeg" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When we eat in a restaurant, I call him a fat magnet. He will peruse a menu filled with healthful choices, and opt for anything with sausage in it. And, even though he has agreed to our going more plant-based, he tries my quinoa casserole with roasted veggies and mozzarella cheese or goat cheese, and he says, “It’s really good. Needs sausage.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is by no means an exhaustive list. For instance, I can’t tell you the joy it brought hubby dear when I signed us up for a Groupon shooting lesson. He is a sharpshooter, and I never held a gun in my life--being a city girl. He grew up on a cattle ranch in South Dakota. Guns are just part of ranch life. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I will never forget the light in his eyes when he watched me hit the target--with pretty good success for a first-timer. Maybe I’ll give you the whole story in another post. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjojqiX_miGUMwbSENp_GedKccSMlMcq4IwYwfrTlFqfbRJAKPn8Uy4C3ZaDXpICxrzntJ-pNLGNkN4S4ynRsjxVN3qjr3dv93EJUl0C_gyuts8E0kkddAdxMr74WG6dK57ENaI3u0aXi0/s1600/marj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjojqiX_miGUMwbSENp_GedKccSMlMcq4IwYwfrTlFqfbRJAKPn8Uy4C3ZaDXpICxrzntJ-pNLGNkN4S4ynRsjxVN3qjr3dv93EJUl0C_gyuts8E0kkddAdxMr74WG6dK57ENaI3u0aXi0/s320/marj.jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Suffice to say, we actually have very little in common. But after almost 32 years, we are more in love than on the first date. He says, “We live in amazement.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I ask you, Isn’t this proof of God’s sense of humor. This opposites thing forces us to compromise, which I suspect is the heartbeat of love and the path to unity. Left to ourselves, we would be, well, selfish.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So in the end, it’s a good thing we are paired with one who brings out our complete other, and who forces us to consider that the preferences of another are valid and valuable too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I just wish we could move to Montreal. I would be okay with the six blankets. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-48798285049917056212013-09-04T15:22:00.001-04:002013-09-04T18:13:38.978-04:00LOFT LIFE: We're Sears people<div style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">I was adopted. For some reason, my mother had a hard time not reminding me of that in oh so many ways. She seemed upset that I like the finer things, and was bent on letting me know that was not OK with her.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I was 16, I was out shopping in one of our Philadelphia suburban strip malls, and came upon the Bonwit Teller’s, a very fashionable department store in that decade. I went in and drooled over a $35 blouse, which, of course, I knew I could not afford. This was the ‘60s, and a $10 blouse was pushing it.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHIvH2ajLSy5oSiGnDtdIT59AYqpV52FIqEcVYHdwUlQWW6ArwOT_V0Nwgc9cdtLgQKSsGI86-GPRQWZ9swdb8skYBkBci0TVIPOh7xQcOnxWeJBbNMlCRK3lamE-cAJzkcPmOW4DlVw/s1600/Bagatelle_BonwitTeller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHIvH2ajLSy5oSiGnDtdIT59AYqpV52FIqEcVYHdwUlQWW6ArwOT_V0Nwgc9cdtLgQKSsGI86-GPRQWZ9swdb8skYBkBci0TVIPOh7xQcOnxWeJBbNMlCRK3lamE-cAJzkcPmOW4DlVw/s200/Bagatelle_BonwitTeller.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I made the mistake of telling my mom I had seen a beautiful blouse at the little shop and she literally spent about fifteen minutes telling me in no </span></span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">uncertain terms I was not to even imagine such a purchase from such a shop.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I guess I didn’t learn this lesson, becaus</span></span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">e wh</span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">en my girlfriend Grace bought a beautiful cardigan from Strawbridge & Clothier for $12, I saw how good it continued to look for as many times as it was laundered. My cardigans cost around $5 and I got three for Grace’s finer Garland one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">When I told my mom I would be happy to have the better one, that didn’t “pill” after one machine wash, and that I didn’t need three that did “pill” after only one wash, she was very indignant at her recalcitrant daughter.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“We’re Sears people,” she pontificated, with the hidden, but not really well-hidden, message that if I were to be “one of them” I would stop my “highfalutin’” ways, sooner, rather than later.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">My internal response was, “WELL, YOU may be a Sears person, but I am not.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I now realize I should have agreed. “Yes, you are.” And. left it at that.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I had a discussion with my girlfriends recently about the wisdom of paying $100 for a Coach purse, one of them responded much like I did, that her cheaper purses wore out and showed wear after a few months, where her Coach purse, which she now buys one of annually, looks great after the year.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, now I realize, there are Sears people, and there are Strawbridge & Clothier, Bonwit Teller, Coach people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now I am not trying to be snobbish. I still maintain it is a matter of enjoying quality vs. quanity. Someone who buys a $15 Walmart purse three times a year, and has to throw them away after use, isn’t really saving much over the person who waits for the Coach outlet savings, and purchases a beautifully made purse for $65 that will still be in style and look good the next year. But, there really are people who pride themselves on preferring the cheaper product, and they would rather have quantity than quality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This seems to be true in so many ways. I marvel that some people open a restaurant or a gift shop or a yogurt shop or any kind of business, and know how to make it look really “classy.” Other people seem to go out of their way to keep things as mundane and non-descript and undistinctive as possible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I owned and managed a Christian bookstore, I found beautiful Christmas cards from Abbey Press. They were very sophisticated, and had a clean design. I still purchased some “regular” greeting cards from American Greetings, which looked so much less attractive. Guess which ones were more popular? Right!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is it that some people really prefer that? Or are they afraid to “look” richer? Or is it just what they are used to? Or is it a lack of a sense of value?” I really don’t know. Maybe I am a snob.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Suffice to say, I AM STILL NOT a Sears person. I almost hyperventilate just walking into Sears, reliving the humiliation of my Bonwit Teller lecture experience. I realize I am over-reacting a tad. And, I know it takes all kinds of people to make the world go ‘round. But, I ask you, wouldn’t you prefer a better, higher quality item if you could have it? And, should a girl get a lecture and feel punished for “just looking” at that better quality?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">These and other things my inquiring mind wants to know.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-41169224777426725512013-08-13T12:12:00.003-04:002013-08-13T14:05:13.740-04:00LOFT LIFE: Self Talk<h3>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;">I have to say right out that I am a natural entrepreneur, so I may be a tad impatient with those who may be more insecure about starting a business.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> But, let’s think about this. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px;"> We are in a bad economy, and people are jobless. That hurts us all, but especially those who somehow believe it is up to the government to make sure they have a job. Really, it isn’t!</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay, now I am going to get mail. But anyway....</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It is NOT the job of government, or even corporations to make sure you feed your family. In my 33 of doing resumes for people, teaching career workshops, training people for interviews, I can tell you, most people feel very dependent, rather than independent, or even interdependent.</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you all know that we existed for centuries before "employment" was even a standard? People traded, created, trained, and learned how to offer others something of value in exchange for what they needed. This isn't a new idea.</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And, for those who believe having a “job” offers more security than having a business, well, take a look at the last five years. Or ask anyone who got axed after their 24th year at a company, just before they would be able to collect their retirement package, or even the ones who got laid off because they used their health care, or had a workers’ comp claim.</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I challenge you to give this some serious thought if you are in the job market. I believe almost everyone is capable of producing some product or service that has some value to others. When my husband was out of work for 27 months, we went door-to-door in our neighborhood with a flyer telling everyone that he could repair any motor.</span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6eKWlRPJeJ7sjpgqGiAn1ggNaCZhWkRHaYMDlzBejqzQY9ayGVvjjIsmfWOXK1dwlyzdnfBJiO-8WTBIgq2pqfE8h8_YlJtogO9BO5Ti5iAIMIh71RpTtj3kcWCyZ49tOIl7qMNOEbVI/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-weight: normal;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6eKWlRPJeJ7sjpgqGiAn1ggNaCZhWkRHaYMDlzBejqzQY9ayGVvjjIsmfWOXK1dwlyzdnfBJiO-8WTBIgq2pqfE8h8_YlJtogO9BO5Ti5iAIMIh71RpTtj3kcWCyZ49tOIl7qMNOEbVI/s200/images-2.jpeg" width="110" /></span></a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Well, I want to tell you, I can interview anyone who is willing and find in them some talent or idea that can produce income. So I am not saying everyone knows how to start a business and will succeed. What I am saying is, with some help and guidance, most people can do this.</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> For instance, I was doing a resume for a gal who wanted an accounting job. After spending two hours interviewing her (my process is very intense and not about typing up job history), I said: “You don’t want to work for someone else, you want to do accounting in your own business.” She replied: “You know, you’re right.” So I did a brochure for her instead of a resume, and she went out and discovered that many businesses can’t afford a full time employee but needed her services. She landed a job with an owner of five stores, and worked out of her home on his books. She was happy as a...okay, I know...clam. (Why are clams so happy? Is it because they know they have the potential to create a pearl?)</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> We all have potential to create, because the Creator made us in His image. We all have the potential to produce something of value, because we are here for a purpose.</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Please stop whining, moaning, crying, and, for some of you, just getting into the rut of doing not much, and get to work on who you are, why you are here, and what you have to give. Your self talk makes a difference. What you believe is what you tell yourself, and if you believe and tell yourself you are stuck with nothing, or need someone else to “give” you a job, just change your attitude, and give my theory a try. What if I am right?</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I am not saying employment is a bad thing. I am saying it isn't your only option:</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Walk dogs, cook meals, drive old people to appointments, visit the poor, the widows, and the orphans, bake cookies, write resumes, sew children’s clothes, sell things on eBay, write a manual for something you know how to do, teach, dance, sing, help animals, or do whatever it is you love.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> You can make a living doing any of these things, and many, many people do. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-48376075111858064642013-07-08T12:43:00.001-04:002013-07-16T14:03:10.842-04:00LOFT LIFE: Weekend Capers<span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember reading a Mary Higgins Clark mystery which took place in Cape Cod, and thinking, oh what an elaborate, charming vacation spot that would be. Then, of course, I grew up with the Kennedy’s retreating to their Hyannis Port compound, and admiring the jet set who could join them. It seemed so out of reach in my middle class, suburban Philadelphia life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We’ve now been to Cape Cod four times. We live two hours away, so it is an easy weekend destination. I have found out a lot about my fantasies of the area, and also learned things I would never have imagined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Each time we visit we get more acclimated to the area. We are learning things about the islands. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not to get too technical, but I thought I might share just a few tidbits, from the viewpoint of a newbie, an outsider, to arm you for your own visit to The Cape, and these might make it more enjoyable.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RgucmPyDId6jxWyV0kyTfOmFqRkcvd6HCHgGJ8uH5U1zf9H9K0CZcAAHSbjEAXukHYOjfvYDHStbbEUAiCb5zqaKmbEM0abfqjpVhh6afj66FSSb9pc4WpTzqA7ICstenRfEiOqEGaY/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RgucmPyDId6jxWyV0kyTfOmFqRkcvd6HCHgGJ8uH5U1zf9H9K0CZcAAHSbjEAXukHYOjfvYDHStbbEUAiCb5zqaKmbEM0abfqjpVhh6afj66FSSb9pc4WpTzqA7ICstenRfEiOqEGaY/s200/images-2.jpeg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> First, Cape Cod is only referred to as an island because of the Cape Cod Canal, cutting through the peninsula to allow all but the stickler geographers to call it an island. This is why you must enter The Cape by auto over either the Bourne or the Sagamore Bridges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But, beyond its geography, its dunes, its sandy beaches, its lighthouses, and its national landmarks, we have found it’s important to learn the language of this Boston escape.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For one thing, no one except the tourist and uninitiated would ever refer to the area as Cape Cod. It is <i>The Cape</i>. Like many Massachusetts names, it is abbreviated, i.e., Northampton is Hamp, avenues are aves, and even the state is called Mass by its natives. The Massachusetts Turnpike becomes the Mass Pike, and Massachusetts Avenue is Mass Ave. If you don’t normally talk this way, they know you’re a stranger, a visitor, a tourist, or at least from someplace else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The insider track to The Cape is way more complicated. Upper and Lower Cape for instance, are not intuitive. Upper Cape would be, for the logical, the northern part of the island, but it is not. Perhaps that is because The Cape lays mostly east to west, with Provincetown (P-Town to those who know) stretching north. Still the far eastern and northern towns are in Lower Cape, and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket lie to the south across the Nantucket Sound. But, since we have not ventured to those yet, let’s stick to The Cape for now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9R4tR4L8ZSPp3Y7CdP3F6HIanpxeQu4kIJNUPVotq1RPDOgXVRTEnJbN_6PeGDidsgdc4VzLf13JRrLiGG8zfO3sQQkbvwzXpJqmT204rskgI2R8mvANvSLWUHX8LAvoVDdiMhHgtRI4/s1600/data=VLHX1wd2Cgu8wR6jwyh-km8JBWAkEzU4,kwRJ-kkBVTBVCzVFfGeZ82p-LyO5nGAnrFwxF4_p21A2RjEci43ve-3NioItbV_JaistBP7QFPpDIbY8ZLOqGfhMlsORtweL3mIvRgQn_N7vX-emSMnQSazLN7C2pFLPNs-KhC4q8CfDdB4_C_p_ecyV53WNPzYvx2y_MtKh-0zu5aad5_yuIiC9ajE-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9R4tR4L8ZSPp3Y7CdP3F6HIanpxeQu4kIJNUPVotq1RPDOgXVRTEnJbN_6PeGDidsgdc4VzLf13JRrLiGG8zfO3sQQkbvwzXpJqmT204rskgI2R8mvANvSLWUHX8LAvoVDdiMhHgtRI4/s200/data=VLHX1wd2Cgu8wR6jwyh-km8JBWAkEzU4,kwRJ-kkBVTBVCzVFfGeZ82p-LyO5nGAnrFwxF4_p21A2RjEci43ve-3NioItbV_JaistBP7QFPpDIbY8ZLOqGfhMlsORtweL3mIvRgQn_N7vX-emSMnQSazLN7C2pFLPNs-KhC4q8CfDdB4_C_p_ecyV53WNPzYvx2y_MtKh-0zu5aad5_yuIiC9ajE-1.png" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We’re finding a kind of elitism when we talk to our friends in Mass about The Cape. When we tell them we are going for the weekend, they don’t say, “Oh we love The Cape.” They say, “Oh, where?” So the first time, when we were going to Falmouth in the Upper Cape, they simply smiled and said, “Oh that’s a nice town.” When we confessed to Mid-Cape Dennis as our second destination, they indicated that maybe we would want to venture further next time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So when a Living Social deal came up, and our time shares in Falmouth and Dennis were not available (really the only reason we selected those towns), we thought, “Hmm, maybe Eastham will impress them more. Okay, I guess we might care just a tad that we have moved from, “Oh we are going to Cape Cod,” to “Oh, we’re going to Eastham on The Cape this weekend.” So rather than a few raised eyebrows, there were some definite nods of approval.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After our first Eastham visit, where we discovered the Atlantic Spice Co. in North Truro, some great coffee places in P-Town, and the PB Boulangerie Bistro in Wellfleet, up the road from Eastham, we were beginning to see why the snobbery about town choices. The people of Falmouth were lovely to us, and Dennis was fine. But, we are getting attached to Eastham, Wellfleet, and North Truro for their beaches, their shops, and their community spirit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAJWWMtxVuD1fgiphhVPpXZB63T4-sbAlUW_u4q5o40Alv4LqFcxZN4Jcn5DDJcQbTHipodlnA1SK3rKXifXqHbXzkCWA6dGjGxRhKPqmKNy1e8qj9rQz5gpXDyWlsMtkgKeXab-XL2Q/s1600/DSCN1274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAJWWMtxVuD1fgiphhVPpXZB63T4-sbAlUW_u4q5o40Alv4LqFcxZN4Jcn5DDJcQbTHipodlnA1SK3rKXifXqHbXzkCWA6dGjGxRhKPqmKNy1e8qj9rQz5gpXDyWlsMtkgKeXab-XL2Q/s200/DSCN1274.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHTo5D3SfMXtDyaHjlfyAXI625u0t4Dua5Fe9hOrRbmMxzZ9oT2ilO5Yem7KMZ8oNtzVJZrgUtXPBUrcnrM5-0lRnC3OKx4OX8PTW_gIOiBjeL-cUC_rMoU75GsVHyOVel1tEGEk8Lwc/s1600/DSCN1279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHTo5D3SfMXtDyaHjlfyAXI625u0t4Dua5Fe9hOrRbmMxzZ9oT2ilO5Yem7KMZ8oNtzVJZrgUtXPBUrcnrM5-0lRnC3OKx4OX8PTW_gIOiBjeL-cUC_rMoU75GsVHyOVel1tEGEk8Lwc/s200/DSCN1279.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Town Crier Motel didn’t sound like a solid choice, but it turned out to be lovely, well-run and very homey. It is also next to Arnold’s, which we were to find out is one of the favorite seafood places. We love their beet salad, with arugula, candied walnuts and goat cheese. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On our second visit to Town Crier, this time in June instead of October, we found Arnold’s much more crowded, so the two seats at the end of a long table, looked attractive. We begged to share the table with two women who gladly welcomed us to bring our beet salads and salmon to join them. Who says New Englanders are cold? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After a half hour of friendly conversation, worth way more than a Tourist Center stop, we found ourselves nodding when this mother and daughter bragged that they had already been to Arnold’s three times in this summer getaway. The mom was from Eastham, and it was obvious she wished she had never moved away, and was glad to be back as a resident and town official.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our Living Social included the buffet breakfast, which on Saturday morning was abbreviated from a full cooked breakfast to Continental fare, which we figured out happened because there was an important town meeting at 10:00 a.m. The owner, Judy, and Margaret, her front desk person, had been working hard to get votes for city water. Evidently there had already been lawsuits from contaminated well water problems. The vote failed by a small margin, much to their dismay. Judy even said she would have been willing to pay more than her share if the poorer residents couldn’t handle the levy to improve the water. This passion for their town allowed us to see how much this resort is also a residential community, with year-round living for locals who deeply care about community, safety, health--the things we from less fantastical places care about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Since we are only weekend Capers, I am sure without this insight from our Arnold’s dinner and our breakfast at Judy’s place (Town Crier) we would have not appreciated this view.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We loved the perks Judy offered her Living Social guests--breakfast, Ben & Jerry’s up the street, bicycle rental, and a covered swimming pool. The rooms are clean and quiet, and the general maintenance is excellent. We lost our key at a visit to Pump House surf shop in Orleans. I had forgotten my bathing suit, and we were happy to find it open till 7 p.m. with a good selection for me to remedy my loss. The sales person, Jami, had delivered our key back to Town Crier by that evening, which told us, again, that this is a close-knit community. They know each other. Judy’s son said, “Well, we would have done the same thing for her.”</span></div>
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We were fortunate that our weekend was sunny--October had been rainy, so we decided to see Coast Guard Beach in Eastham first, and then ventured back to North Truro to see the HIghland Lighthouse. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ifKlFwIIYXQ2kRsORoZ9-azyIJXL_vtdmOhfwZ-jyjeMywq6JxLhr17x8n5orkG9a0BPLyKxcohqweW4pl8aikvVj9RvwcQsRx0j35GPfivoRA63JcDEH9CG2zOc7SB17AuJOUEr1y4/s1600/Highland_Lighthouse_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="letter-spacing: 0px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ifKlFwIIYXQ2kRsORoZ9-azyIJXL_vtdmOhfwZ-jyjeMywq6JxLhr17x8n5orkG9a0BPLyKxcohqweW4pl8aikvVj9RvwcQsRx0j35GPfivoRA63JcDEH9CG2zOc7SB17AuJOUEr1y4/s200/Highland_Lighthouse_5.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">All of this makes us feel more attached. We were welcomed warmly, but we know it will take more visits to get to know these people better, and we plan to do just that. The Cape is no longer a fantasy. We are so blessed to make it a regular destination.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-11880446030617059032013-06-16T15:25:00.001-04:002013-06-17T12:13:49.437-04:00LOFT LIFE: Coffee, Starbucks and the marketing game<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I drink Starbucks coffee at home because I buy the Kirkland version of their breakfast brew. I drink Starbucks coffee at their stores mostly because I have a loyalty card with dollars on it that, for some reason, I advance them money for. What a great marketing game! </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When we had the whole Year 2000 scare that life as we know it would end when the computers and clocks of the world came to a halt, my son said: “You need to stock up on guns and coffee. Coffee, because many people can’t live normally without it, and guns to protect your coffee."</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The marketing gimmick at Starbucks is a curious human behavior psychology though. There is other coffee. There is other coffee I like, and even prefer to Starbucks--Panera Bread’s coffee, for instance. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Panera Bread doesn’t make me jump through hoops to get a free refill. They offer me as many free refills as I can drink on a visit. I don’t need to advance them money, or get stars, or any of that. And their coffee isn’t bitter. But there aren’t many Panera Bread’s at airports, which gets me back to the fact that the Starbucks loyalty card is really convenient.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I do like Starbucks’ new Refreshers, especially the lime one. These are the ones with green coffee, which I think don’t really have any nutritional benefits, as I understand it, because the green beans are roasted. *sigh*</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently I read that Starbucks is granting a star for any Starbucks product purchase, whether in their stores, or somewhere else--like Costco--where their products are available, and that all you have to do is follow directions to get the credit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I bought two pounds of coffee at Costco, and then discovered that I was five days too early for the launch of that program. No stars. Then I purchased a case of refreshers at the Costco near my daughter’s home in California, kept the receipt and tried to put in the receipt code on my Starbucks account. Nope. I need the code from some special STAR on the package--which, of course, I didn’t realize then, so it is back in Los Angeles, probably in some trash heap by now.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I tried to purchase another case of Starbuck’s Refreshers here in Connecticut, ‘cause I like ‘em, but guess what. Connecticut people didn’t buy enough for Costco to carry these here. So, still no stars. That’s three starless Costco purchases so far. And, the other downside of the Starbucks retail store refreshers is that they don’t come in the two flavors offered at the Starbuck’s stores.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So really, why am I so hep to get more stars, to get from the Green to Gold Starbucks level? Ummm. they give you a free cup of coffee if you are gold. At least I think they do. Not totally sure. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, oh, and I had 24 stars toward the 30 I needed to get to gold, and somehow they all disappeared recently and I had to start over. Something about an expiration date.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This seems like a lot of work and complication just to get a free cup of coffee that I don’t even prefer. But, still I keep that card on automatic reload. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you think I should just wait until I see a Panera Bread at the airport and chuck the whole Starbucks prepaid card thing?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Oh the power of marketing.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-32428591625184677132013-05-20T14:12:00.001-04:002013-05-20T23:50:51.229-04:00LOFT LIFE: Connections<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I should have known complications were on my itinerary when my son-in-law questioned my wisdom in booking three connections from Windsor Locks, CT to Burbank, CA. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I’m trying to fly into a closer airport so you don’t have to drive to LAX,” I defended.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">On a previous trip he had requested I do this. But, I think he believed I could do it in no more than two airplane connections. And, that was before he had spent three years getting used to California freeways. You do get used to the freeway crawl, believe it or not.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, the trip out found me delayed in Newark, which added three hours to an already long ten hour day in flight and in airports. That meant I got to Burbank at 8:30pm, instead of 5:30pm. Oh well.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">After a lovely five-day visit with my daughters, including a Culver City lunch patio lunch at Tender Greens, with all three, </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> and some wonderful excursions with my youngest, </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">which included good old California cuisine, Japanese boba tea (or as the newbies would call it, bubble tea), a cheese shop in Topanga Canyon </span><br />
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where celebrity sightings have been known to happen, a macaroon shop in Beverly Hills, </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">we made a trip to the gym to celebrate my youngest’s new membership. We skipped the cold pressed smoothie-juice bars. You know while Southern Californians are deciding on which type of smoothie shop to visit, we in New England are trying to find somewhere that actually makes healthful smoothies. The pickings are slim, as they say.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also had a wonderful Mother's Day Sunday starting at Bel Air Presbyterian Church where the memorable guest preacher was Carlo Campo, President of Regent University in Virginia, </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKRvhUiT91BS4rAUkyKY3k8YTn5fiNGWZhRnbE_whTzzlA40tL4Qz1lEsNhpFS5PwJKqW0UPn3vURSd7p0YEbxy9uLvGOb4tU-8UQwZ8jmoChxEB7DgzPshPuc40aQyxMUCImxAAH2t4/s1600/campo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKRvhUiT91BS4rAUkyKY3k8YTn5fiNGWZhRnbE_whTzzlA40tL4Qz1lEsNhpFS5PwJKqW0UPn3vURSd7p0YEbxy9uLvGOb4tU-8UQwZ8jmoChxEB7DgzPshPuc40aQyxMUCImxAAH2t4/s1600/campo.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">and followed later by a fantastic dinner at Fleming's, of lamb chops and a berries and cream dessert. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIK_nzSCopgxCMZgTg3e-P0fzIFfAPcm_V48PPREsgYcaAhCQjHn2jiLd2W00iaO431MPArqxEdZi3UAibDI9HgAfck0jkGb6JUWh_VlC1t7Brg48DDChsOcBmdEOGLQIjwJnVf220KAE/s1600/pd-offer-pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIK_nzSCopgxCMZgTg3e-P0fzIFfAPcm_V48PPREsgYcaAhCQjHn2jiLd2W00iaO431MPArqxEdZi3UAibDI9HgAfck0jkGb6JUWh_VlC1t7Brg48DDChsOcBmdEOGLQIjwJnVf220KAE/s200/pd-offer-pic.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyhoo, back to airplanes, it was on my plan for a red eye back home where I began to agree with son-in-law. Maybe it was my daughter’s scolding on the way to leg one of three, at Burbank, “Mom, don’t ever do this again. We will drive to L.A.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was early for my 6:00 pm flight from Burbank to San Francisco. Finally, we boarded at 5:30 pm, sat on the tarmac, apparently waiting for something or someone. About fifteen minutes after boarding the pilot came on the P.A. “Not good news,” he said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So there are two “pins” in the cabin door, and one of them was missing. The pilot called to see if we could fly with one, and, I guess, was told that “the airplane has many parts, and we need all of them to fly.” I pictured the cabin door bursting open mid-flight, kind of like when the Muppets made their fly-through-the-air landing, and figured that being delayed would be a better option.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So we all deplaned from the regional jet, and stood in line to be re-booked, just in case, right!, they couldn’t get the part quickly. They couldn’t. I ended up on the shuttle to LAX to try to get my second connection,the red eye, to Newark.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazingly, even with a 10 pm flight from LAX to Newark, instead of a 6 pm one, from Burbank to San Fran, I DID make the connection. So this only made my 10 hours into fourteen hours. This is the house of cards result of my elaborate three connections.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But had this not happened, I would not have met John Fortune, a jazz-blues musician, originally from Haiti. I went to John’s website, www.john4tune.com and was delighted to listen to previews of his albums. I love Blues Jam from his Hand in Hand album. Check it out. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was concerned about not making my Newark connection, but the shuttle driver assured me I would. He told me to relax. I asked his name, and he said it was Chris, but I pushed and got his real name, Hacheek. He was an Armenian Christian, and we had a lovely chat about Armenia and the faith there. He continued to tell me to relax, and I did make it on time, as he said I would, even with the extra stop to drop off John at his home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">All in all, I agree with Hacheek. It is best to just relax and enjoy the journey and all its serendipities, which really can be fun if you look at it that way.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-1355227999142720722013-04-30T13:56:00.001-04:002013-04-30T14:18:22.825-04:00LOFT LIFE - A few of my favorite things<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hey, if Oprah can list her favorite things, why not moi? The difference: well, the obvious that I have about 300 in my audience, albeit, I seem to be gaining quite a few in Germany for some reason, and she has millions, and I do not have financial gain from my touting of my favs (unless you count Google ads which haven't</span></span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;"> resulted in a check yet).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So here is my partial list and my reasons why:</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/include/20130417194333/images/ban_enterpriseLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Enterprise Rent-A-Car" border="0" height="35" src="http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/include/20130417194333/images/ban_enterpriseLogo.jpg" width="175" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Enterprise.</b> I want to say, I can’t really understand why any other car rental company is still in business. For decades we have used Avis, Budget, National, Alamo and the occasional lower budget ones. These were not usually positive experiences. I am not sure why we had never tried Enterprise, but now we have, and the difference is astounding! Not only do they pick you up and drop you off, their whole attitude is almost in the hard to believe category. Here’s an example:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I rented an Enterprise car in Rockford. They allow a grace period for returns of a generous one hour. I was two hours late. I got lost--yes, amazingly I turned on Harlem instead of Mulford going to State Street and somehow got as far as the Harlem TOLL ROAD before I realized I was not going to see State Street any time soon. I was shaking, looking at the clock, realizing this would add another day’s charge to my bill, and still not sure how to get back to State Street.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I arrived at Enterprise, I was pretty rattled. My friend Gail was already in the parking lot, waiting for me to return my paperwork and pay up. Then she noticed me standing at the counter making gestures like throwing up my hands, looking like I was very, very upset. What I was actually saying was: “But, you have to charge me more, because I am two hours late.” To which John, the Enterprise fellow said, “No, no, it’s okay.” I continued ranting about how I owed them more and they didn’t need to be so generous. At that point Gail came in to comfort me. She’s a marriage and family therapist. She threw her arms around me and gave me a sustained calming hug, during which I said, “but I owe them for being late and they won’t let me pay.” She dropped her hug hands and said, “Is that why you’re upset?” She started laughing. I started laughing. John started laughing. I didn’t pay more.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, tell me? Is that your typical car rental agency?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bay State Hospital</b>. As you all know, I don’t do interstates. So, every time I am a passenger riding through Springfield, MA, I try to envision what would happen if we had an emergency that required ME driving to the hospital for someone in trouble. Surface streets could work, but it is a roundabout way and very long, not good for emergencies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, it happened. My dear hubby had an event that by 11:00 pm resulted in the need for a hospital. From all of the stories I have heard, the only hospital nearby I would risk allowing to treat someone I love is Bay State. But, even at 11:00 pm, I don’t do interstates. I paged through the church directory looking for someone somewhat close to Enfield, and landed happily on Joe’s name. He’s a professional driver and lives in West Springfield.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was awake, happy to help, came to get us, and delivered us to the emergency area. I found out it could be a six hour wait (people tend to use emergency rooms for things they probably should have taken care of before 6:00 pm at an urgent care center--people like US), so I told Joe to go home, go to sleep, and I would call him in the morning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In general, I hate hospitals, but when you need them, you want a good one. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqndtCROnMXZ3s3gQNIp2eD9IurzZZAsGUBlLzQk6FJrFoHTksR2k_kFBV-psOhQNTbHYOwFSQqe_HXGdBmAVf2j0DjiAOL91z0P0S3oSXFjdSev3twKhT0vq5EJVrb-egfnFcEL8lPVU/s1600/Baystate_Medical_Center,_Springfield_MA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqndtCROnMXZ3s3gQNIp2eD9IurzZZAsGUBlLzQk6FJrFoHTksR2k_kFBV-psOhQNTbHYOwFSQqe_HXGdBmAVf2j0DjiAOL91z0P0S3oSXFjdSev3twKhT0vq5EJVrb-egfnFcEL8lPVU/s200/Baystate_Medical_Center,_Springfield_MA.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">After hubby had his forms filled out, his vitals checked and we had waited about two hours, most of his symptoms had corrected--mostly he wasn’t doing the pernicious vomiting anymore, so even though we had gotten sort of checked in, I went to the desk and said, “We seem better. Can we change our minds?” The staff at Bay State ER is amazingly caring, friendly and professional. They said, “Sure, and if the symptoms return, be sure to come back.” I asked what the charges were, and they said, “Well, you haven’t officially been admitted, so nothing.” I called a cab at 2:00 am and we went home. Not one of the most fun dates hubby and I have had, but Bay State made it as pleasant as it could possibly have been. Thank you staff.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bigelow Commons.</b> We live in an old carpet mill factory that has been converted into loft apartments. The architecture is awesome, with exposed brick, 20 ft. ceilings, huge windows, lots of light, and a really pleasant layout. The office and maintenance staff are amazingly attentive, kind, thoughtful, and really try to respond to our requests as quickly and efficiently as they can. This is a carefree life. We have two swimming pools, an exercise room, a weight room, tennis court, racquetball court, and even exercise classes, if we want them. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlmFV9IdZ2TkiFUn4jFGNdKQ31ey2NnSyu5ME9P8MqG3Y-_Yj2UHZicm5B33_ArcxNO0M4cHmjRGp5yvecdnaefH4rIG4Y4VxC1JItHTx2FVJaPLrMnVIkxDshYOPxYpB_5Prp4wMDys/s1600/1264616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlmFV9IdZ2TkiFUn4jFGNdKQ31ey2NnSyu5ME9P8MqG3Y-_Yj2UHZicm5B33_ArcxNO0M4cHmjRGp5yvecdnaefH4rIG4Y4VxC1JItHTx2FVJaPLrMnVIkxDshYOPxYpB_5Prp4wMDys/s200/1264616.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">We never have to shovel snow, mow grass or even change a light bulb. They have community barbecues, chili cook-offs, parties and are open to suggestions for other events. They provide the beverages, the paper products, the large screen TV, and do all the planning. What’s not to like? We are very glad we moved here.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mystic.</b> We travel a lot. We go to Cape Cod, Sturbridge, Stockbridge, West Dover, VT, and many other New England treasures. But, we always come back to Mystic if we really are deciding on a great day trip. We just love it there. We like strolling through the town, having coffee at Bartleby’s Cafe, pizza at Mystic Pizza, and we love the Seaport, B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill (the only remaining steam-powered cider mill in the U.S.), and we also love our walks around Old Mystic.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-9jHDy7wrsqufpxmu6Fog5yjNdinqI4ykeLQxIg2wB83bzcWqSBGQ-E0n_lnvHMxH7K-9HtQFxcDQowrK48ByJ4hlVYT3G39Q1UsLNnbS1bTDehQCJsCu-s_xSVNAyjnIigX973tqmCc/s1600/hp-mystic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-9jHDy7wrsqufpxmu6Fog5yjNdinqI4ykeLQxIg2wB83bzcWqSBGQ-E0n_lnvHMxH7K-9HtQFxcDQowrK48ByJ4hlVYT3G39Q1UsLNnbS1bTDehQCJsCu-s_xSVNAyjnIigX973tqmCc/s400/hp-mystic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Whether it’s the gorgeous New England fall foliage on the journey from our place to Mystic, or the sea breeze on a warm summer day, or the blossoming trees in the spring, or even the coziness of a B&B, and a wine tasting in the winter months, we love Mystic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So there you are. Four of my favorite things.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-56737715589783008302013-03-24T12:27:00.002-04:002013-03-26T12:03:38.981-04:00LOFT LIFE - Forming community is easier with help<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have learned something recently. In the three and a half years I have been publishing my blog here, I have probably resorted to begging for people to sign up as followers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I don’t have a problem getting thousands of “reads” on my blog. I have, or at least I perceive, a problem with getting that little “follower” counter to increase. I ask myself, how do I get 7200 reads and only 72 followers?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Part of the answer is that I am solo in forming this community for my blog.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So a serendipity happened that taught me an important blogging lesson:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I began posting my SAME column on <a href="http://www.allrecipes.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">www.allrecipes.com</span></a> as a premium member of that community, and amazing, my comments almost quadrupled. Lesson? </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuBEkldAZuV00zlFgEHK64n07-Z0XkDMROotYOtHi4sBMMocjym4H-wvpKsdYf_TOoD4RVysBWur2IpcnooIcik12ev8aZ4224Fgi6K60rX8r1NPncqvO8Y3XQXs05rLuu7TLs8JpJs8/s1600/ARlogo_topnav.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="65" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuBEkldAZuV00zlFgEHK64n07-Z0XkDMROotYOtHi4sBMMocjym4H-wvpKsdYf_TOoD4RVysBWur2IpcnooIcik12ev8aZ4224Fgi6K60rX8r1NPncqvO8Y3XQXs05rLuu7TLs8JpJs8/s200/ARlogo_topnav.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">They already have community. It’s that simple. I plug into an already formed community and my own community expands. Good news.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also find friends and friends’ blogs there, like Petey’s Home on the Range blog, about farm life, with fabulous photos and stories about the animals, and some really, really good recipes, and Baking Nana’s rant about the poison in our food. I have found a good friend in her. The site itself is wonderful, filled with good recipes, good friends and good reading. I especially like Chef John's video cooking lessons.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the ideas I have used from Pat Flynn, who publishes some of the most helpful articles, blogs and podcasts for us bloggers and online entrepreneurs on <a href="http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">www.smartpassiveincome.com</span></a> is to work with other bloggers. I love <a href="http://www.daisygirlproductions.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">www.daisygirlproductions.blogspot.com</span></a> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrgx-vjJEcCPjQManlVL65KVSr_XzrE2Toocgr5INWyzHwkNJDFi7d989N0CdWe3t9Q01REiqnOAcUgowh-xi0EwGT432D-N6MzNma3a4rXy5Yyh1ZH_P3nZw8VXHQT4pSp15ZbLG-34/s1600/IMG_5599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrgx-vjJEcCPjQManlVL65KVSr_XzrE2Toocgr5INWyzHwkNJDFi7d989N0CdWe3t9Q01REiqnOAcUgowh-xi0EwGT432D-N6MzNma3a4rXy5Yyh1ZH_P3nZw8VXHQT4pSp15ZbLG-34/s200/IMG_5599.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">and have formed an alliance with her for our blogs. We chat, we share, we leave comments, and now we even play Words with Friends on FB. Community. Ain’t it great!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pat Flynn also has really great information on forming affiliations. I will take his advice very soon. And. he publishes his online income statements monthly just so we can see where his sources are. That alone gives him a solid following. More community.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So rather than re-inventing the wheel in forming my own community, I am now learning to attach to communities who have cross-networked with me, and that is working much, much better.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-12949247043485622712013-03-07T15:42:00.002-05:002013-03-07T15:44:01.698-05:00LOFT LIFE - Life<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I probably should wait a few weeks before writing this. During deep emotional response to life’s little losses, isn’t always the best time to express raw feeling. But,then if I wait a few weeks, the raw feeling will get analyzed, objectified, and dried out--so maybe it is better to write during the feeling time.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s about a series of losses I have had lately. These aren’t losses of important things, like people. But, the accumulative effect of the losses seems to be almost as though it were more important than just mere things.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’m the kid that collected Nancy Drew books, dusted them daily, and went out to replace any book that had even a scratch or a torn cover. This may appear to be some OCD reaction, but I don’t really think so. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I was adopted. I didn’t feel much sense of belonging in my family. Long story. Another time. So there was some sense that in this collection, I was building a heritage. They were mine. They were precious. I took good care of them with a deep respect that they might get passed down to my children and grandchildren.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgpUdQCnepGBUUGL22wrdeBQhbr_ioX646Qzyu-1hbx-I-frRKPM0cqSv3Zi7Ka5plKIWwIGlE1ynGjtbWLURGJAIISUhzsyorfKh0T4M_0EusHKpZWE30yzS8irucaRR3r0QhwJjH-Xc/s1600/drewpc1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgpUdQCnepGBUUGL22wrdeBQhbr_ioX646Qzyu-1hbx-I-frRKPM0cqSv3Zi7Ka5plKIWwIGlE1ynGjtbWLURGJAIISUhzsyorfKh0T4M_0EusHKpZWE30yzS8irucaRR3r0QhwJjH-Xc/s200/drewpc1a.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now, one of those books is missing. I’m not blaming. I’m just saying. I kept my 36 Nancy Drew books in pristine condition for decades. Now they are not in good condition. They have been boxed, moved, stored in basements, attacked by moisture, people, movers and age.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then I was given three antique chairs, two ginger jars, and a carved wooden horse, all really valuable and to be treasured. Two of the three chairs are still in good shape, but the third is missing. Somehow in one of our moves it just got left. Again, not blaming, but I think of it. The ginger jars are cracked--again from misuse by others, not me, and the wooden horse got broken. It’s claim to value was that the carving was from a single block of wood. Now it’s in three pieces.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I lost two boxes in the move from California to Illinois, and in those boxes were kitchen things which included a bread knife, a gift from my dad, who died shortly after he gave me the knife. I am sad every time I slice bread.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But, I think it was the losses from the past few months that has gotten to me the most. Last winter, I was shopping for groceries and when I got home, I went to put my rings and my gold bracelet on my dresser, where I always put them, every time I return home, but this time, no bracelet. This was a 14K solid gold bangle of gold given to me by my bio mom who wanted to give me a token of her love after we had been separated for the first 28 years of my life. I have worn it for the last 30 some years every single day. I remember right after she gave it to me, I was asked to remove it at the airport because it “dinged” in the metal detector. Taking it off and placing it in an airport tray, I felt like I was losing my mother all over again. But I was able to put it right back on, right after the metal detector area. Not so this winter. It is gone. It probably got knocked off with the handle of a plastic grocery bag, and since it was winter and under my coat sleeve, I didn’t see it happen. I wore this token for three decades. I miss it. It feels like I’ve lost my mother because it was the symbol of our reunion.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQR-NqZs86KFJhGStg9k2vV3uOEQJR4r95YXePrc_Coun6iETT97lhnZ8LzsIZmf7bJykypVQdkpaKBmEo2nqZDKjSjexLkw6i7PTvCgLnsij2OQ8AQjMuLDifugUkYNW-Kt-O_IDqMA/s1600/B6013301_0_cartier_bracelets.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQR-NqZs86KFJhGStg9k2vV3uOEQJR4r95YXePrc_Coun6iETT97lhnZ8LzsIZmf7bJykypVQdkpaKBmEo2nqZDKjSjexLkw6i7PTvCgLnsij2OQ8AQjMuLDifugUkYNW-Kt-O_IDqMA/s200/B6013301_0_cartier_bracelets.png" width="200" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And, now, this past snowstorm, where our cars were under two feet of snow in the apartment complex parking lot, someone used a tool to steal my Jaguar cat ornament from my car. I feel some kind of shock. The car has been in this lot for four years. Why now? Yes, it’s only a car. It’s only an ornament. It means little to me. Except, I am beginning to wonder if the girl who dusted off her books every day just isn’t supposed to have treasures on earth. </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I mean this is not important, is it? I have friends who are losing husbands, mothers, fathers. These are just things. I keep telling myself this. I know everyone has losses. Everyone has these stories. But, it doesn’t really lessen my sadness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It doesn’t feel like just things. It feels like I just can’t hold onto things I care about. I am trying to see the lesson. I can pontificate with the best of them. I know the lessons about moth and rust and earth and heaven. The closer I get to heaven, the less I even care about most of my things. I want to get rid of most of this stuff.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I just want my bracelet back. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It’s not gonna happen. So I just want to stop feeling sad about it.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-91320078658726180662013-02-16T13:53:00.001-05:002014-02-07T10:26:41.578-05:00LOFT LIFE: That sounds like Anita<br />
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<b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Funny how some things you think are going to be bad experiences can turn out to be life lessons that improve you.</b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Our great T-Mobile saga, which I have to tell you became a source of great irritation and another big corp, impersonal bureaucracy disappointment, turned out better than expected for a couple of reasons. But, first the saga:</b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We had been T-Mobile customers for more than five years. Thought that might mean something. Wrong. </b></span><a href="http://s.tmocache.com/content/dam/en-p/cell-phone-plans/phone-plans-hub-tile-d/plans-category-tile-family.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Family Cell Phone Plans" border="0" class="cq-dd-image" src="http://s.tmocache.com/content/dam/en-p/cell-phone-plans/phone-plans-hub-tile-d/plans-category-tile-family.png" height="200" title="Family Cell Phone Plans" width="109" /></a><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>When their reps repeatedly made our upcoming upgrade date sound more like bad news, more fees, and not the devices we really wanted, we made a decision. But, we first confirmed, in the store, and over the phone, that our contract expiration date was September, 2012. </b></span><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; min-height: 16px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We waited until October, 2012, and spent the extra month researching phones, and companies. We did this in our usual super analytical style. We visited both AT&T and Verizon stores, cornered a knowledgeable salesperson, and asked away at our many questions.</b></span></h4>
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<br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>When we found out that Verizon would soon be switching their platform to the one AT&T uses, that made our final decision for us. We didn’t need to go through that transition with them, so opted for the company that had already established that platform. </b></span></h4>
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<br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Then we had to choose phones. We were excited. We seriously considered the Androids, but after much prayer, thought and comparison, we decided to jump into the new world full bore and get the iPhone 5’s. We were elated, we were giddy. This was a big step for old folks. Now we had better phones than our children--for once. We could now sync with our Macs, our iPads, and we could Face Time, and access the iCloud (once we figured out how to to that), and many other amazing feats of modern America, modern Globe.</b></span><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; min-height: 16px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We merrily used our new devices, and even whittled down our monthly bill to only double what our T-Mobile one had been. (See changing my reality post).</b></span><a href="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; 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Our elation burst like the proverbial hot air balloon snapping in mid-air and falling to the ground.</b></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We did NOT AGREE that 2013 was the end of our contract. That was big news, and so we went to war. I immediately went in to my heretofore really friendly T-Mobile store and found them less than friendly--almost hostile. They couldn’t access my account, so they said. They suggested I call customer service. I did it right there. It ended badly. They couldn’t help either. They insisted our contract had been extended two years from August, 2011. I insisted I had no knowledge of that. They insisted I had to now work with their contracts department.</b></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>My son-in-law suggested eHow’s recommendation of certified letters to the company explaining my dilemma. I certified all my mail to them after that.</b></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: -0.4px;"><i> How to Win a Complaint Dispute With T-Mobile</i></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i> By Alexander Cequea, eHow Contributor</i></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><br /></b></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>I also went online to read about T-Mobile contracts department. Amazing how many published letters of complaint were posted that sounded exactly like what I was planning to write.</b></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>In my utter frustration, on one of my trips to Costco, I stopped at the customer service desk for an unrelated question and found myself talking to Anita, who was kind, listened, even though she had nothing to do with this, and said, “Why don’t you work with the Attorney General’s office.”</b></span></h4>
<h4>
<br /><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I would have never thought of that. </b><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I went home, drafted my letter to the AG, and copied it into my email to T-Mobile’s contracts department.</b></h4>
<h4>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>To shorten the story, I eventually, after another email and two certified letters, received confirmation that, amazingly, yes, I was right, and now if I would please pay the final bill of $211, we could part ways. They credited the other $576.</b></span></h4>
<h4>
<br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>So I returned to thank Anita, but couldn’t remember her name, and she wasn’t in that day. I told the customer service person there that I wanted to thank the kind person who cared about my problem, even though I did not get my phone at Costco. I said I didn’t remember who it was. After explaining how much she listened and helped, the rep said, “Oh, that sounds like Anita."</b></span></h4>
<h4>
<br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>You know, that stopped me short. Imagine being the kind of person people can identify just by the description that you listen and are kind and helpful. Not only did she save me almost $600 with her wise suggestion, but she taught me an important life lesson.</b></span></h4>
<h4>
<br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>I want to be like her. I want to listen better, be kind, be helpful, even when it isn’t my problem.</b></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Thank you again, Anita. Bless you.</b></span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; min-height: 16px;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-18914646237727989612013-01-09T16:47:00.001-05:002013-02-16T13:29:59.694-05:00LOFT LIFE: The Big Easy wasn't so easy this time<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We live in Connecticut. Our children and grandchildren live in California. So how did we end up in New Orleans for Christmas?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s complicated. That seems to be the catch all phrase to explain away totally irrational and uncomplicated reasoning. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We chose New Orleans for three good reasons that seemed rational at the time: 1) I am a writer. I need to visit places to write about them; 2) we had a time share available for Christmas week--no small feat to accomplish with last-minute planning; 3) my husband assured me he would have a business trip to California or somewhere in December and I counted on using my free airline ticket to visit the kids, during his time away.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Well, I guess two out of three isn’t terrible. I did gather some stuff for my writing; we did stay in a time share condo in the Garden District. December The business trip never happened, so I will have to look into January of February for my trip out to SoCal.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We decided not to rent a car, and, after a taxi to the condo, we visited Walgreen’s for our 10 Jazzy Passes--NOLA’s answer to bus and trolley fares by the day. That worked out well to visit the French Quarter almost daily--which was only two miles from the Garden District, but not really a carefree walking area.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This trip, I had the foresight to ask hubby what his expectations for the trip were--like what did he want to do. This is different from my usual airtight planning where I forget to ask him what he wants to do. The asking part is a better plan. We did all he hoped for and more.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One request was to revisit the New Orleans School of Cooking on St. Louis Street in the French Quarter, which I found an online coupon for. We had done this about twelve years ago on our first trip to The Big Easy.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBniMcb1N4-OoCNBe2xa6vAvfNYFnpzoEbHL4o_H6nXgLpYbSGTZM0I7QvNMSfwNHDEH1KN7KlYScWypcjkb2vdVTKCQRifaO2uhtaA0DxZKskE0Xv9wc8rr04igFFwRaQ9SvJ_OYOr50/s1600/IMG_0069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBniMcb1N4-OoCNBe2xa6vAvfNYFnpzoEbHL4o_H6nXgLpYbSGTZM0I7QvNMSfwNHDEH1KN7KlYScWypcjkb2vdVTKCQRifaO2uhtaA0DxZKskE0Xv9wc8rr04igFFwRaQ9SvJ_OYOr50/s200/IMG_0069.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The class, taught by Michael W. DeVidts, was even better than we remembered it. This time, since I no longer eat chicken (</span><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Eat for your blood type</i></b><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> advice to B types), we opted for the alternate menu of shrimp and artichoke soup, crawfish etouffee, and pralines. The last time we had gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding and pralines. There is beer and lemonade included also.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_gGdonJ9CBpc0pqXpF7_WTC563foBRyS2UObgY0oPxbRytjZZXcdhYY2ls2N2icbnHWJHRXO9wEwtuXPMD9Bq4o0BywriMGLp7YpOqhlWYu4j8KIQlJtTKAyee_Q83B-jlaMbG7Y8Ac/s1600/michael-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_gGdonJ9CBpc0pqXpF7_WTC563foBRyS2UObgY0oPxbRytjZZXcdhYY2ls2N2icbnHWJHRXO9wEwtuXPMD9Bq4o0BywriMGLp7YpOqhlWYu4j8KIQlJtTKAyee_Q83B-jlaMbG7Y8Ac/s200/michael-150x150.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I caught the chef on his way in to ask if there would be any chicken or chicken broth in our menu. He said it was too late for the soup, but immediately, cheerfully, ordered the kitchen staff to switch to veggie broth for the etouffee. Later he thanked me for my request, even saying he had learned something--that veggie broth tastes better with the crawfish than the chicken broth he normally uses. That made my day. I was feeling guilty for changing the ingredients for the whole class.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Michael has an outrageous sense humor, and added to his obvious talent in Creole-Cajun cuisine, attendees can expect a great history and culture lesson peppered with lots of wit and wisdom.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The meal was delicious, and really, there was no need after that to find these dishes, since we imagined that we had already had the best in NOLA.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbW4PXiyzLQnxGDqPrpMmWhGnfbN8kOump1JlE3S-cjcFMh_nb6scGCz1DA_3nxx86vG-QtXbK3bWaKVLpiqYP1EzWt2unYwAYqQvwPib6u_8zpKZi7nmCLr_uAY1aEY3XwZExIhLWUd8/s1600/IMG_0087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbW4PXiyzLQnxGDqPrpMmWhGnfbN8kOump1JlE3S-cjcFMh_nb6scGCz1DA_3nxx86vG-QtXbK3bWaKVLpiqYP1EzWt2unYwAYqQvwPib6u_8zpKZi7nmCLr_uAY1aEY3XwZExIhLWUd8/s200/IMG_0087.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We had other good experiences too. Walking along Decatur we discovered Key West Hats, where I was able to give Jay his other Christmas gift--a Fedora. Really, I think he looks great in this hat--so we got two. Here is one:</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN3yvsO_Eh2bO0_fKPceoeJcOR_BfEoobzUjYnXztyjvZEZOJctKYRnNwipj3vhl5VKoztHf3d5WYXRtyMEpsTcasgv1RYATg89yt2IvUGc6KoRQ30HCcrjfvoC_YLbQIvAp6tpJ9joKs/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN3yvsO_Eh2bO0_fKPceoeJcOR_BfEoobzUjYnXztyjvZEZOJctKYRnNwipj3vhl5VKoztHf3d5WYXRtyMEpsTcasgv1RYATg89yt2IvUGc6KoRQ30HCcrjfvoC_YLbQIvAp6tpJ9joKs/s200/photo.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I expect to start hearing blues music any minute when I see him in this one. Beau, our salesperson, was very helpful. We let him know that our Fedora attachment came from watch Matt Bomer on White Collar, which I am sure has increased this trend for others too. Hey, if you haven’t seen this one, it’s on Netflix, and is really a good series. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Of course we had the beignets, the chicory coffee, and Jay had to have that gumbo I deprived him of at the cooking schools.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But, really our overall feeling in NOLA was that we wished it were California for Christmas. It’s not that we didn’t have a good time. It was just that the food was very different from how we eat, or at least how I eat (see my July 2012 post, <i>It’s not easy being green</i>). Therefore I ended up gaining back almost HALF of the weight it took me a year to lose. Thankfully, back on green smoothies and sensible fresh food, I have shed half of the half gained, so all is not lost. And, it’s just that we aren’t spring chickens anymore, you know, so staying up late to hear the 10p.m. sets of live music really didn’t fit our metabolic rates anymore. And, it’s just that the French Quarter is not a cheery place to be even in the daytime, and at night, well, we weren’t so ready to venture there every evening by bus. The trolley wasn’t running from the Garden District to the FQ.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We ended up strolling down Magazine Street in the Garden District on a couple of days, and found a great pizza place with a Mediterranean menu for things like warm pita with humus, roasted red peppers, olives and pine nuts, and great pizza with focaccia crust, and spinach and gorgonzola with sun dried tomato toppings. This too was more a California than a Creole cuisine. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One evening we walked to the Trolley Cafe a block away from our condo, and I had the best crab cake I have ever had, loaded with crab and not loaded with bread stuffing. This was a pleasant surprise.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We also had dinner at a French restaurant, where I had pappardelle pasta with crimini and shitake mushrooms in a garlic and olive oil. I had just read about parpadelle in Patricia Cornwell’s Port Mortuary, so I was amazed to be offered a pasta I had never heard of the same week I read about it. It was fabulous. I also had red fish, which was also great.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But, three evenings we stayed in walking distance to our condo, choosing to eat at Houston’s, where we found California cuisine like ahi salad, kale salad (truly yummo), sirloin tips salad, with citrus dressing--a true masterpiece. We really prefer the Mediterranean and California cooking, so it doesn’t make sense to choose NOLA, where at least half of the charm is that heavy fried, bready, fatty, and saucy rich food.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At Houston’s we did order the barbecued ribs for Christmas eve dinner, and had soup so we could not be hungry and save half of our entrees for Christmas Day dinner, because, believe it or not, even in this touristy locale, most restaurants are closed on Christmas. “People in New Orleans cook at home,” our taxi driver informed us. So OK. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I sound like I’m complaining. I am grateful we get to travel, try different things, and have these adventures. I truly am. We are blessed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But as we ate our bbq in our condo and relaxed all Christmas Day, we were mostly thinking about how much we missed the kids.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-35292964935367115392012-11-29T12:57:00.003-05:002012-11-29T17:00:27.544-05:00LOFT LIFE: We have the Willys<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Jay and I decided it was time to explore some more New England history for our long Thanksgiving weekend. So we decided on Sturbridge Village. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Well, actually, we didn’t exactly decide it that way. I had a Groupon for a hotel in Sturbridge, which I remembered as Stockbridge (I do get these easily confused). So after explaining to Jay that we would be staying at the Red Lion Hotel, then go to Norman Rockwell (which frankly we have done enough that there’s not much left for us to see there), he agreed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then I looked at the Groupon, the address, and the MAP (which I had earlier claimed to be an expert at), I realized it was NOT Stockbridge or the Norman Rockwell area at all. Whew. That prevented spending another $300 at the Lee Outlets too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was Sturbridge, in the Sturbridge Village area, which we have never been to. The hotel was not the Red Lion of dim memory (mine) at all, but the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center. A good deal all around with discounted tickets to the historic village.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, it wasn’t until we were walking around the rustic, historic Massachusetts site that we realized why we felt so at home there: we both have ancestors from Massachusetts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jay’s more famous relative is Willy Dawes, </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">the one who got through the lines to warn that “the British are coming.” Family lore has it that Longfellow knew it was Dawes, not Revere who made it through, but that Paul Revere sounded better in a poem. Hmm. Also the family says Willy pretended to be drunk, so got through--but that he probably didn’t really need to pretend. Jay’s Granny Mac, recently died at 101, and was the oldest living Dawes, of the William Dawes Who Rode legacy. Quite a family history, Dawes is, including the VP under Coolidge, Charles Dawes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Charles Dawes</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, that is Jay’s Willy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">Mine, who may or may not have as illustrious a claim to fame, was Willy Russell, a Massachusetts farmer from Cambridge, born in the 17th century, who lived in Concord, and decided to go to medical school and become a doctor. He was a handsome chap, the family says, and the women in the town would feign illnesses so they could get in to see the tall, dark doc. He ended up saying this was a lot of hooey, and went back to farming.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So we have Willy’s from Massachusetts, and felt that explained our at home feeling when we are in a historic Mass. locale.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">We enjoyed many facts of our visit, including standing to watch the Shooting Match with those flint muskets, with costumed men shooting at targets for prizes of sheep and such. I was standing next to Mike, from Torrington, and we had a lively conversation about his being a practicing Puritan. Fun.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">We had our pork loin with apples and pomegranate at the OxHead Tavern, on the hotel premises, a homey establishment with an illustrious history of its own. We loved the crackling fireplace, good service, good values and friendly people there, including a table visit by the manager, the aproned-Giuseppe Fasulo, who couldn’t have been more cordial.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Sturbridge Coffee House (The Fireside Inn) in Fiskdale, up the road on Main Street, was also a real treat. Though perhaps not historic in its current form, we loved the coffee and treats, and had two breakfast there, wishing they were closer to us in CT.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">All in all, we felt like we had returned to our history, and atThanksgiving, the perfect time to visit Mass. as descendants of the Mass. SOR (Sons of the Revolution) Willys.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-74863446701501944512012-11-02T12:15:00.001-04:002012-11-02T21:08:04.322-04:00LOFT LIFE: Changing my reality<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">My husband and I finally worked out our decision to replace our T-Mobile serviced- non-Internet touch phones with AT&T service for the iPhone. This was a huge decision really, because we are of an age group that still thinks a phone is a phone, and that paying more than $150 per month, not to mention hundreds for the phone itself, is just not within the realm of practicality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have many friends who brag that they are not on Facebook, not using the Internet except for an occasional email, and not spending their time in technology. They read, they garden, they visit grandchildren, they travel, they watch television, and they talk on their land-line phones.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I, on the other hand, am not such an anti-tech-y. I actually pride myself on thinking young, keeping up with technology relatively speaking, and enjoying the benefits of international communication, free calls to Spain through SKYPE, Face-timing my L.A. daughter, syncing my MacBookPro, my iPad and my new iPhone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I do confess, even with my somewhat savvy approach, I was hit with a blow to the gut, when the AT&T salesperson, Oliver, suggested 1G would not be enough to share with two phones, and also that I could actually save money by including my iPad in the data plan we were purchasing, which would only add $50 a month. The iPad data plan by itself would cost $30 for every month in which we were traveling and wanting 3G of data capacity. Whereas including it with the phones would only add $10 per month and with the 4G for the 3 devices, should be adequate, since we don’t use our phones for movies, TV shows or other data rich media. I am considering, however, podcasting from my iPad, and that might change the game radically. For now though, we email pictures, use GPS app maps, and browse the Web for news, travel info and other practicalities when we travel. The rest of the time we are on Wi-Fi. (Anybody lost yet?) </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Oliver made a throwaway statement, when I balked at spending more than $150 for a phone bill, that maybe we all need to change our “reality.” That got me thinking.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Truly, I am willing to examine my reality. I depend on technology. I used my old phone for calls, message texting, viewing the date and time, setting an alarm now and then, maybe using the tools (calculator and stopwatch) and not much else. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But with an iPhone, things have, in reality, changed dramatically. Now my phone is synced to my MacBookPro and my iPad, and I can quickly get a message, check weather (more extensively with an app than with just seeing the daily temperatures on my old, non-Internet, phone). I can show my FB pictures to friends without having to load in my iPhotos, I can listen to music, I can have retailers scan purchases, I can Face-time my daughter and others, and on and on and on. If I wish to, which I don’t at present, I can watch a movie or a TV show, I can purchase things, read my Kindle, my Nook, my eReader, I can sync my calendars and appointments, and on and on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So my new reality: this is not a phone. This is a mobile media center. Yes, so is my iPad, and in som</span></span><span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">e ways they are redundant. But, having that choice of screen size is also a benefit. I can travel with both, and use whichever is more convenient. For instance, the iPad was really handy in viewing maps on the GPS app as we traveled from Princeton, N.J. to Connecticut on a route that was altered from our original plan, for which we had printed maps. Using the GPS on the larger screen, that turned to a black screen with lighted maps for night driving, was amazing. I don’t want a GPS that is stuck to the windshield with adhesive, partly because it is a common cause of auto break-ins and theft. This GPS goes with me not my car.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">If I want to get a list of local restaurants when we travel, the smaller iPhone screen in just fine. If I want to get on a plane, my iPhone has my boarding pass, so no more paper. I can load my Starbucks card, I can transfer funds from bank to bank, and I can take really good pictures and email them to my laptop. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I adapt my life around new technology, I have to think that perhaps the money I am saving from the new way of living, equals if not surpasses the increase in my phone bill. For instance, I seldom use my printer, when I have a screen to view, which saves on printer toner and paper. I no longer need to buy checks, because I only use bill pay. This has the added advantage of my not having to shred bank statements, etc. constantly, because I am on paperless systems. I seldom mail a letter, because my friends mostly seem to enjoy texting, emailing, and calling. Really even emailing is becoming far less common, since texting is shorter and faster. That distresses my two or three friends who like the snail mail thing, but I try to accommodate them, even though my letters and notes are far fewer than if they would allow for technology.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">OK, so what is the point here? I am changing my reality. I am going to enjoy the benefits of iPhone and not feel bad about paying for it. I will readjust our budget to accommodate more than doubling our phone bill. In the end, I actually expect to save money. I will not be buying paper books, CD music, or software for most things. I will use my free Kindle books, the occasional Kindle or Nook purchase, the library, and use Pandora and my vast collection of already purchased iTunes and CDs. I will not be purchasing any DVD’s, since Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, You Tube and other streaming sources fill that need just fine. Those things alone will save hundreds per year over what we used to spend. (We can’t find those diamond needles for the stereo anymore.) </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can compare purchasing many things--for instance the Amazon screen shields, which are incredibly cheaper than those at the AT&T store. I had instant confirmation of that online and so could easily pass up impulse buying of a screen shield at $25 instead of $6. Two day free shipping makes the Amazon purchase very convenient.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I also noticed my new MacBookPro does not have an internal DVD/CD drive. I found that curious at first until I realized the rationale. It is thin and the drive takes up space. And, I have not had much reason to insert a CD or DVD lately, since most of my viewing and listening is from streaming, as mentioned above, and most software is downloadable from the Internet. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Life is changing. We must decide whether to go with it, even stay ahead of it a little on the cutting edge, or to dig in our heels and insist on the “good old days,” which, frankly, weren’t always so good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">That reality shift actually began some time ago, without my realizing it, and is why I started this blog. I am a journalist. Newspapers are dying. I don’t want to die with them. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks for reading. As usual, would love your comments on your realities concerning the new world of technology.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-76708655216342589152012-09-30T20:43:00.000-04:002012-10-02T07:54:46.528-04:00LOFT LIFE: September<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I come alive in September. It restores me in so many ways: the humidity and heat of summer are waning and the crisp, cool air of fall enters into my being, invigorating everything in me.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0px;">I do not do well in summer, with weeks of high humidity. In fact, this summer, I sat by our apartment poolside for hours with my sun-loving friends, visiting from more overcast sections of the country. This, for me, was a sacrifice of love, because besides this year’s very high humidity, I do not usually enjoy sitting for hours with sun beating down on my head, neck, face and limbs.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I could cover myself up more, block the sun, in addition to my SPF 45, but then I remind myself of the grotesque picture of (me) in Dan Greenburg’s (meant to be) hilarious book, <i>How to Be a Jewish Mother</i>, where (his) mother is seated on her chaise at the beach under her umbrella, clothed, hat-ed, and covered-up at a level that clearly cries out: <i>I am not, nor will I ever be, a beach sort of gal</i>. That’s me. But, I try to pretend, so as not to resemble me too much.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In any case, I did do the sun thing several days this summer, resulting in what I thought was sun-heat-induced eczema, breaking out all over my neck and scalp. Very depressing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I looked up the condition online (always a mistake) and decided it must be seborrhea. I have a good friend at church who is a dermatologist, and I knew I should be going to him professionally to get the real diagnosis, but I resisted, because I don’t like medication and online it said it would be steroids.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I bought some cortisone cream, which worked somewhat, but what really did well was the concoction my herb-wise friend Linda, who, when I told her I had eczema, put together for me, a salve of olive oil, comfrey and arbor vitae. She’s my herb-mountain lady. She got the recipe from her own herb-wise friend.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few days later, I ran smack into my dermatologist friend at a church barbecue; so what was I to do? Even though I had decided it would be wrong to ask him for a diagnosis outside of his professional office, here he was, right in front of me. I told him about my self-diagnosed eczema; he took a look at the blotches on my neck and informed me it was <i>not</i> eczema. “You have polymorphous light eruption,” he said, with a straight face, which amazed me. I love having a disease no one has ever heard of, if it’s not terminal or lethal. Ha, Ha. He referred me to a dermatological website written by New Zealand doctors, where I read all about my ailment. My doc friend told me women from places like Norway get this skin condition when they holiday at the Mediterranean and sit in the sun and are not used to sun. So, here I got this European woman disease right here in Connecticut, and didn’t even get to go to the Mediterranean. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Linda’s salve did work on this, as well, even though we had believed it was for eczema. (Linda also warned that some think arbor vitae can be poisonous, so the recipe is important.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In any case, September rolled around, bringing cooler temperatures, fresh air, lower humidity, and with those, the real cure for my polymorphous light eruption: September. The P.L.E. is gone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Besides better skin, in September, I think better, feel better, walk more, and generally feel energized. I start to believe again, as I do every fall, that I can do almost anything--even live longer. I get more creative, do more for my businesses, feel more inspired. September is my tonic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I love September.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-56224047124529439852012-08-30T12:05:00.004-04:002013-01-21T15:23:36.980-05:00LOFT LIFE: Really?<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You guys know I used to be a food critic, right? True. In California, I was invited into the inner sanctum of the California Restaurant Writers Association. They audition you--I mean you have to go through an interview, screening and acceptance, and then you have to follow a set of guidelines, one of which is that you never trade your review for any goods or services. They want to make sure you are incognito, that you are truly giving an opinion not traded for gain, and that you are a real critic, not an advertiser. It is really quite an honor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I say all that to let you know that I passed! That means my food reviews have some credibility. Oh, don’t start laughing.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is just to introduce to you how much I love food, talking about food, eating food, criticizing food, etc. I also subscribe to a few food sites, where they send me recipes. The best of these is <a href="http://www.allrecipes.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">www.allrecipes.com</span></a> where they have formed a truly meaningful community around sharing food stories, recipes, and even blogs. (My Spinning blog is on there.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today I received a recipe from Cooking Light, the magazine of which I used to read. Today’s recipe was for, get this, Cobb salad pizza. The name screams, “What?”</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWmGccwcBiDoERT_34xjC-3-ezYt5Qz0kD5TsQlptzmmekugIS1TwvUNLdmUZeDezla4LGaxFPyKmZGd0rjoEeDh0fjxrzfETBjp5KMz-5jd2_oG100fpielOCzZwXPT8ofEFxzuTWZ0/s1600/cobb-salad-pizza-ck-x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWmGccwcBiDoERT_34xjC-3-ezYt5Qz0kD5TsQlptzmmekugIS1TwvUNLdmUZeDezla4LGaxFPyKmZGd0rjoEeDh0fjxrzfETBjp5KMz-5jd2_oG100fpielOCzZwXPT8ofEFxzuTWZ0/s320/cobb-salad-pizza-ck-x.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe it’s just me, but that strikes me as hilarious. I mean, if you want a salad, why add bread underneath it, and frozen pizza dough bread even? Wouldn’t you want a nice, crusty whole grain aside your Cobb so you can enjoy the salad, fresh and cold without the baked white bread?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It also calls for mixed baby greens. So I had to do this research in order not to lose what of my mind I may still have left. Here’s what wikipedia says:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Various stories of how the salad was invented exist. One says that it came about in the 1930s at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Derby"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">Hollywood Brown Derby</span></a> restaurant, where it became a signature dish. It is named for the restaurant's owner, Robert Howard Cobb.</span><span style="color: #0645ad; letter-spacing: 0px;">[1]</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> Stories vary as to whether the salad was invented by Cobb or by his chef, Chuck Wilson. The legend is that Cobb had not eaten until near midnight, and so he mixed together leftovers he found in the kitchen, along with some bacon cooked by the line cook, and tossed it with their French dressing.</span><span style="color: #0645ad; letter-spacing: 0px;">[2]</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> This version of the story (dated to 1937) is retold in episode 3, season 2, of comedy series <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_Your_Enthusiasm"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Curb Your Enthusiasm</i></span></a>, when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_David"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">Larry David</span></a> searches for evidence to prove that another character has falsely claimed that his grandfather invented the salad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Another version of the creation is that Robert Kreis, executive chef at the restaurant, created the salad in 1929 and named it in honor of Bob Cobb, the owner.</span><span style="color: #0645ad; letter-spacing: 0px;">[3]</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> The same source confirms that 1937 was the reported date of the version noted above, with Cobb making the salad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And here is what the original ingredients supposedly were:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">iceberg lettuce, watercress, endive, Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, Roquefort cheese, red-wine vinaigrette.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> Does this scream, please put frozen pizza dough under me?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The pizza Cobb deletes the original kinds of greens, substitutes the more trendy “mixed baby greens,” deletes the hard-boiled egg, substitutes blue cheese for Roquefort, which is not the same, and drizzles the whole mess with a white-, not red-wine vinaigrette, and the pizza salad version includes Dijon mustard.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now I’m not saying you can’t adapt a recipe. I’m not even saying some might not find this pizza thing tasty. I’m just saying, it’s not a Cobb. Now, I ask you? And, Why? </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now your turn to opine.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06370518994926764708noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7762805374708307306.post-66559241168507380822012-08-23T15:59:00.001-04:002012-08-23T17:34:09.705-04:00LOFT LIFE: I'll trade you 3 Tweets for 1 blog comment<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Remember when you used to while away your free time writing a letter, playing a board game, chatting on the phone, or maybe reading a book? Ah, those were the days.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Forgive me if you are a reader here under 30 or a tech savvy senior even, and this next bit of info is obvious. But those days are gone for a lot of us. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s not that we don’t have choice in how we spend our free time, or even our revenue-producing time, for that matter. We do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">But, it is the age-old dilemma of whether we will choose to be dinosaurs and luddites (</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The <b>Luddites</b> were a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_movement"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">social movement</span></a> of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested—often by destroying mechanized <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loom"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">looms</span></a>—against the changes produced by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;">Industrial Revolution</span></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">...), or whether we will step into the “new world” and learn new things.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Such a dilemma is challenging me lately, namely, “to Tweet or not to Tweet.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some of you will just say, “I don’t want any part of that waste of time. Others will say, “Duh, why not! How hard can it be?” And, still others, my dear friend, will say, “I don’t want to lose the old-fashioned art of real, personal, communication.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Those may all be valid concerns, but here is my dilemma:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I do marketing, advertising. I claim to have expertise in communications. So doesn’t it “behoove” me to include every efficient, effective form of communication for what I do for my clientele? I think it does. (Don’t worry, I still know words like <i>behoove.</i> lol)</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So lately, I have begun to explore other people’s blogs--younger people--who know the Twitter game, and other social networking, social marketing tools.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let me tell you, this is VERY time consuming. I can attest that in my practice tries, over the past few days, I have become better and better at this.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Twittering requires spending a lot of time checking and rechecking your Tweets and responses. That is OK, because to do my job, I have to be online most of the time, and the checking is a few seconds, or maybe a couple of minutes if a response is called for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, the element of giving exposure on Twitter I didn’t count on, is how <i>reciprocal</i> this communication needs to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In other words, if I ask you to read and share my Tweets, and then forward you on to my blog, for instance, I am feeling r<i>eally obligated </i>to read your stuff and comment as well. Getting my “followers” and “comments” to increase, requires a certain amount of trading with those from whom I am seeing follow me and make comments. This can become as time-consuming as I wish it to be, or maybe more. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">One rule-of-thumb I am learning from other marketers, is that over-Tweeting is a no-no. Whew. That’s a relief. Wouldn’t want to over-Tweet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Like anything we learn to do, eventually, we get better at it, and learn to discriminate, to select the good input, and leave the fluff. But, in that learning period, there is a lot of <i>information overload</i>. Big time!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember where I was when I first looked at a PC and a monitor, and wondered whether I would ever learn to use this new medium effectively. That was in 1981. Today, I can’t imagine life without my MacBook Pro, my IPad and my Kindle, email, texting, and now Tweets. (Haven’t succumbed to a smart phone yet, but I know it is in the cards, because the culture is USING these for things we need to do, like buying things. Is this the mark of the beast some ask?)</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bottom line: I have to learn new media, new networking and marketing techniques, if I expect people to pay me for my expertise. I have to keep up, become savvy about social networking and marketing with these tools. So even though I might prefer relaxing more, leaving technology for a few hours every day, the truth is, it fascinates me to see how quickly these new modes have taken over, and it is amazing to experience their power.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">For instance, I Tweeted teasers for my blog (this is my test to see how it works for my clients before I do it wrong on their stuff), and I increased my readership more than SIX times what it has been in ONE DAY. That is incredible to me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you know there are Tweeters who specialize in re-Tweeting? I follow one such person, and she faithfully re-Tweets my posts. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amazing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In all sales, if you develop third party resources who will multiply your efforts by promoting your services to their networks, you are way ahead of the game.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The downside: I still wonder about negative responses where you multiply complaints. For my clients in small towns, that could become serious. I have avoided creating Facebook pages for them for just this reason. I know I can monitor and moderate these comments, but that requires daily perusal to make things current.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am still learning. I need to get better at this. I need experts and experienced social media people to tell me what pitfalls to avoid. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since there is no dearth of help on these questions for the avid, consistent researcher, I am sure by next month, I will find answers to these. One of the new market niches is obviously people to help us newbies navigate it all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please let me know what your thoughts are and your experiences with using social media for business.</span></span></div>
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