I've been looking into a program called the Ohio Benefits Bank. It's supposed to help the sort of people who fall through the cracks of other help systems. In that sense, no, it's not for the needy. It isn't meant to be. The truly needy have other helps available.
Ohio Benefits Bank reads like a really great program. It seems to be a sort of bridge group, meant to help people who don't qualify for some help, who are overqualified for other programs, and who just need a boost in certain areas, like prescriptions.
The idea is good, the idea of the agency is good, but I have to tell you -- their execution is lacking.
I'm not sure how this works in other areas. I'm not even sure how it works in my area, because, quite frankly, I have been given the runaround. This runaround is preventing me from even applying to them.
First, I could apply by mail.They would send an application. The application stated that I'd need to do an in-person interview.
Next is a phone call, and that led me to discover that they would come once a month to the county capitol, and to apply in person I would have to go there. At the time, I had no car. So, I would have to arrange for someone to take me on a certain day within certain hours. Okay, that could be done.
The person I talked to had a suggestion that seemed even more helpful. Do it online.
Wonderful idea.
So I did.
Pages and pages and pages, I filled it all out. In the end, they needed me to send copies of a couple things, ID papers and income, and that was fine. Doesn't take a lot to send three or five pages in an envelope.
Except that they didn't offer me that option. I had to fax the documents. Right then.
I also had to print off and sign the application and fax it back to them. With the proof documents. Right then.
Huh?
I don't have a fax at home.
Public faxes cost from 1-3 dollars a page. Sending or receiving.
So, okay. I can't really afford it, but I can do all that at the library.
Except for one thing.
When I reached the end of the application, after having noted documents I'd need and everything, the computer program I was using informed me that since I refused to comply with the fax, they were terminating my application and they would not be able to assist me.
I'm no worse off than I was before. (And I have been at times.) In my case, this is just a glitch. I can, if I choose, reapply from a library or something, although the cost may be a burden.But I can't help but think of others, who don't have my options. Someone caring for an ill person and can't get away. Someone having no car or someone to drive. Someone themselves having come down ill and not able to get out for many reasons. Someone who has temporarily lost all income, and can't pay for public faxes without sacrificing something else -- a meal or two, or electricity.
Ohio Benefits Bank -- how about helping the people you are meant for instead of working the fringes? Why make it so difficult to access?
You've got a GREAT idea, why not make it a GREAT program?
Friday, March 30, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Bad Medicine
How do you find out if a minor health problem is a possible health crisis? Where do you look up information on how to tell the difference? When and how do you reach the decision that it's time to stop waiting for people to get back to you and to take action on your own?
My husband has a nosebleed. Now, this is not a big deal -- one can hardly term it a health crisis when the blood is not pouring down his face, his shirt front, his lap. It's not that kind of nosebleed.
I've called his doctor's office. Yesterday they said someone would call me. Today they said someone would call me. The recording that answers their phone say "if this is an emergency, call 911" Please help me, people, I am trying to find out if it is an emergency. Just tell me that, okay?
Someone advised me to keep calling the office -- she suggested every half hour. It takes twenty minutes to just get past the computerized answer center, and then you have to tell the answerer all the information they have already supposedly sorted you into the category where they should know.
And then they tell you that if this is an emergency, you should call 911 or go to the ER.
I just want to know, need to know, if the problem is serious enough to justify an ER visit, because this is not something that should be done lightly. EVER. By anyone.
Other people have these problems. Mothers with young children, for example. When does a fever, vomiting, headache warrant that trip? How can we know, how can we find out?
There are call centers for some insurance companies. Bethesda Hospitals used to have ask-a-nurse programs.
I used those once or twice. Do you know what they tell you? "Maybe you should go to the ER just in case." And then the insurance company will refuse to pay the bill, or their fair share of the bill, because no one was in actual danger of dying.
The excuse is that no one is qualified to give medical advice by phone. They won't/can't risk the liability.
Why have the program then? What good is it?
This whole situation is an example of the problems in our health care systems. We can't get advice. Doctors don't call. Insurance companies don't pay, even when the insured does what they were told. No one wants to waste anyone's time, working on a patient that doesn't need to be seen, just counselled. But no one wants to offer just counselling.
I just want some advice. Knowledgeable advice. It's up to me to act (or not) on that advice, but I'd still like to have it.
Isn't medicine supposed to be about making informed decisions?
Where's the information?
My husband has a nosebleed. Now, this is not a big deal -- one can hardly term it a health crisis when the blood is not pouring down his face, his shirt front, his lap. It's not that kind of nosebleed.
I've called his doctor's office. Yesterday they said someone would call me. Today they said someone would call me. The recording that answers their phone say "if this is an emergency, call 911" Please help me, people, I am trying to find out if it is an emergency. Just tell me that, okay?
Someone advised me to keep calling the office -- she suggested every half hour. It takes twenty minutes to just get past the computerized answer center, and then you have to tell the answerer all the information they have already supposedly sorted you into the category where they should know.
And then they tell you that if this is an emergency, you should call 911 or go to the ER.
I just want to know, need to know, if the problem is serious enough to justify an ER visit, because this is not something that should be done lightly. EVER. By anyone.
Other people have these problems. Mothers with young children, for example. When does a fever, vomiting, headache warrant that trip? How can we know, how can we find out?
There are call centers for some insurance companies. Bethesda Hospitals used to have ask-a-nurse programs.
I used those once or twice. Do you know what they tell you? "Maybe you should go to the ER just in case." And then the insurance company will refuse to pay the bill, or their fair share of the bill, because no one was in actual danger of dying.
The excuse is that no one is qualified to give medical advice by phone. They won't/can't risk the liability.
Why have the program then? What good is it?
This whole situation is an example of the problems in our health care systems. We can't get advice. Doctors don't call. Insurance companies don't pay, even when the insured does what they were told. No one wants to waste anyone's time, working on a patient that doesn't need to be seen, just counselled. But no one wants to offer just counselling.
I just want some advice. Knowledgeable advice. It's up to me to act (or not) on that advice, but I'd still like to have it.
Isn't medicine supposed to be about making informed decisions?
Where's the information?
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sandals hurt
Last summer, there was article after article about how wearing sandals hurt your feet, or are bad for your feet. (Yes, just like they keep saying about high heels.) The articles had a lot of bullcrap explanations for why this is so.
Yes, bullcrap. Sandals are not bad for our feet because they lack support -- we were created to walk barefoot upon the earth. Where's there support in bare feet? Sandals are not causing back injury because they make us walk without support. Support for walking is usually a cane or a crutch, although more and more injuries are requiring a 'walking boot' device. (Which might not be needed so often if the patients had ever walked barefoot and let their muscles support them.)
Not one article even suggested what I think is the true cause of sandals causing problems. Not one.
It is the way the sandals are made. No, I take that back. It is the material used in making them. That awful rubber stuff. I don't know what it is, or how it's made. Sometimes it looks to have been rolled out in sheets and cut off to conform to the feet-shapes. Other times it looks extruded or injected between layers of materials.
I don't know if this rubber-stuff is used to make materials last longer, or of there's a delusion of support, or exactly why it's being used. In every pair of sandals designed or created for the last several years.
What I do know is that when I wear sandals with this material, it hurts me. Walking on this bouncy stuff throws my back out, splays my hips (that's how it feels), ties my thighs in knots, and cramps my calves. And that's before I get to the car!
Every time.
Every pair.
The sad thing is, I can't find any sandals that do NOT have this filling. Occasionally I'll run across a pair of huaraches that are made of natural materials, but they are usually beyond my budget.
Let's not blame the sandals for our pain. We could blame ourselves, I suppose, but the real blame belongs to the makers. And to doctors who want to blame us instead of doing what it takes to find the real cause.
Let's walk away from summer sandal pain.
Yes, bullcrap. Sandals are not bad for our feet because they lack support -- we were created to walk barefoot upon the earth. Where's there support in bare feet? Sandals are not causing back injury because they make us walk without support. Support for walking is usually a cane or a crutch, although more and more injuries are requiring a 'walking boot' device. (Which might not be needed so often if the patients had ever walked barefoot and let their muscles support them.)
Not one article even suggested what I think is the true cause of sandals causing problems. Not one.
It is the way the sandals are made. No, I take that back. It is the material used in making them. That awful rubber stuff. I don't know what it is, or how it's made. Sometimes it looks to have been rolled out in sheets and cut off to conform to the feet-shapes. Other times it looks extruded or injected between layers of materials.
I don't know if this rubber-stuff is used to make materials last longer, or of there's a delusion of support, or exactly why it's being used. In every pair of sandals designed or created for the last several years.
What I do know is that when I wear sandals with this material, it hurts me. Walking on this bouncy stuff throws my back out, splays my hips (that's how it feels), ties my thighs in knots, and cramps my calves. And that's before I get to the car!
Every time.
Every pair.
The sad thing is, I can't find any sandals that do NOT have this filling. Occasionally I'll run across a pair of huaraches that are made of natural materials, but they are usually beyond my budget.
Let's not blame the sandals for our pain. We could blame ourselves, I suppose, but the real blame belongs to the makers. And to doctors who want to blame us instead of doing what it takes to find the real cause.
Let's walk away from summer sandal pain.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Citizen Journalism: Don't Do It
One thing that makes me really angry is the claim so many media outlets are making to have citizen journalists. Most of theses claims start out fine and good, but they end up being nothing but crap.
No, they end up less than crap. They end up being nothing.
Nothing at all.
I don't know what happens. The person responsible for overseeing that moves on, gets bored, finds another job and doesn't train a successor. Maybe the successor gets bored and finds another job.
I signed up for our local writers group to be a 'citizen journalist' in two of the local papers. One Brown County paper (The Brown County Press), one Adams County paper(The People's Defender). I'd write the articles, and submit them online (for the online editions of the paper.) The person at the other end had to approve the articles and then okay them before they could be posted.
I have no problem with that. If there isn't some regulation, anyone would say anything, and respectable newspaper sites would soon all look like Topix sites. Even Citizen Journalists should be concerned with concepts that at least resemble news instead of middle school name-calling.
The problem occurs somewhere down the line, when things change at the other end of the process. The CJ blogs in the Brown County Press lasted just under a year before the editor at the other end just quit approving things for publication. Nothing was going through. It wasn't just our articles that weren't going through, it was anyone's. Everyone's.
No Citizen Journals were being furthered, but the blurb remained on the website encouraging sign ups.
The People's Defender stated that after they got a feel for your writing, if all was well, they could and would set the articles to auto-approve. I could write them, and they would post. Good deal.
Except that within three months, no one there was approving anything. let alone setting anything up for automatic. It was, and is, very much like throwing one's words into a black hole.
I have a lot of articles submitted and never approved. What am I to do with these articles? True, they are no longer timely, but that isn't always an issue. These are my words, my work, and I crafted them as carefully as I could. They were intended, after all, for a journalistic website.
I can't use them anywhere else, since they more or less belong to the papers they were intended for. Even if that isn't strictly true, I can hardly take the articles elsewhere. What if someone decides to go ahead and publish them, even after all this time? How does that make me look, as a writer striving for professionalism?
If you are thinking of signing up somewhere locally as a citizen journalist, please consider these points. Check out the editor, check the execution. Don't let your work go to waste in someone else's database.
No, they end up less than crap. They end up being nothing.
Nothing at all.
I don't know what happens. The person responsible for overseeing that moves on, gets bored, finds another job and doesn't train a successor. Maybe the successor gets bored and finds another job.
I signed up for our local writers group to be a 'citizen journalist' in two of the local papers. One Brown County paper (The Brown County Press), one Adams County paper(The People's Defender). I'd write the articles, and submit them online (for the online editions of the paper.) The person at the other end had to approve the articles and then okay them before they could be posted.
I have no problem with that. If there isn't some regulation, anyone would say anything, and respectable newspaper sites would soon all look like Topix sites. Even Citizen Journalists should be concerned with concepts that at least resemble news instead of middle school name-calling.
The problem occurs somewhere down the line, when things change at the other end of the process. The CJ blogs in the Brown County Press lasted just under a year before the editor at the other end just quit approving things for publication. Nothing was going through. It wasn't just our articles that weren't going through, it was anyone's. Everyone's.
No Citizen Journals were being furthered, but the blurb remained on the website encouraging sign ups.
The People's Defender stated that after they got a feel for your writing, if all was well, they could and would set the articles to auto-approve. I could write them, and they would post. Good deal.
Except that within three months, no one there was approving anything. let alone setting anything up for automatic. It was, and is, very much like throwing one's words into a black hole.
I have a lot of articles submitted and never approved. What am I to do with these articles? True, they are no longer timely, but that isn't always an issue. These are my words, my work, and I crafted them as carefully as I could. They were intended, after all, for a journalistic website.
I can't use them anywhere else, since they more or less belong to the papers they were intended for. Even if that isn't strictly true, I can hardly take the articles elsewhere. What if someone decides to go ahead and publish them, even after all this time? How does that make me look, as a writer striving for professionalism?
If you are thinking of signing up somewhere locally as a citizen journalist, please consider these points. Check out the editor, check the execution. Don't let your work go to waste in someone else's database.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sun on the Line
This time it's official. It's spring. The sun lined up with the Equator this morning at around 1:30 local time.
I've often wondered what it was that makes the weathermen say "Spring began at 5:15 am."
Now I know, thanks to the wonder of the Internet. Spring begins when the sun balances itself over the Equator.
This concept sends my imagination off in a couple of different directions.
One: Jimmy Dean commercial. I mean, can't you all just see that man in a golden ball doing a high wire act, eating a sausage croissant or something? With every teetering step he takes -- or maybe a little jouncy-bounce -- big old flowers wearing people faces look up at him and "Oooooh!" Or maybe just uncurl and stretch, stretch, stretch. And Mr Sun hands them out sandwiches so they can start their time off right.
Two: The definition of the Equator is an imaginary line around the earth. At least. that's the definition in the article I read. Doesn't mention anything about the imaginary line being there to divide north from south, or to measure the fattest part of the globe, or anything like that. Just that it's an imaginary line around the earth.
Think what we could do with that! An imaginary arbitrary line someone drew around the earth. Think of the possibilities! For instance, if we've had a really bad winter and want to be done with it, we can drop that imaginary line a few degrees south. Then we can announce that it's an early spring! Never mind that Buffalo is still buried, Detroit is digging out, and all that. It will be Spring, because the sun (on his Balance Beam, mebbe?) has lined up with the repositioned Equator.
It will be Spring.
In reality, this year the weather is midsummer. The winter nearly wasn't.
Suns and Equators have had little to do with either, but anything that can present such charming scenarios to my idle mind can't be all bad, and are worth sharing!
Happy Spring, for those of us in the North. Happy Autumn to those in the South. For this day, we will all enjoy the same Day.
Maybe that's the most wonderful part of the day.
I've often wondered what it was that makes the weathermen say "Spring began at 5:15 am."
Now I know, thanks to the wonder of the Internet. Spring begins when the sun balances itself over the Equator.
This concept sends my imagination off in a couple of different directions.
One: Jimmy Dean commercial. I mean, can't you all just see that man in a golden ball doing a high wire act, eating a sausage croissant or something? With every teetering step he takes -- or maybe a little jouncy-bounce -- big old flowers wearing people faces look up at him and "Oooooh!" Or maybe just uncurl and stretch, stretch, stretch. And Mr Sun hands them out sandwiches so they can start their time off right.
Two: The definition of the Equator is an imaginary line around the earth. At least. that's the definition in the article I read. Doesn't mention anything about the imaginary line being there to divide north from south, or to measure the fattest part of the globe, or anything like that. Just that it's an imaginary line around the earth.
Think what we could do with that! An imaginary arbitrary line someone drew around the earth. Think of the possibilities! For instance, if we've had a really bad winter and want to be done with it, we can drop that imaginary line a few degrees south. Then we can announce that it's an early spring! Never mind that Buffalo is still buried, Detroit is digging out, and all that. It will be Spring, because the sun (on his Balance Beam, mebbe?) has lined up with the repositioned Equator.
It will be Spring.
In reality, this year the weather is midsummer. The winter nearly wasn't.
Suns and Equators have had little to do with either, but anything that can present such charming scenarios to my idle mind can't be all bad, and are worth sharing!
Happy Spring, for those of us in the North. Happy Autumn to those in the South. For this day, we will all enjoy the same Day.
Maybe that's the most wonderful part of the day.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
My Strange Addiction
A&E has been plugging a new program this weekend. My Strange Addiction, they are calling it.
Really? I haven't seen anything on the commercials that look like an addiction, except possibly the girl drinking nail polish. There's a man in love with his car to the point of intimacy with it. I call that a perversion. A woman who is 'addicxted' to her finger- and and toe- nails. How does that work? What is she addicted to about them? Does she eat them?
These things are behaviors, they are not addictions. An addiction is a bodily medical function. Yes, there;s often a psychological or mental factor, but the primary cause and cure are physical. Deviant behavior, however mild, should be treated, but should it be lionized in this fashion?
Why is A&E giving these people fame for their perversions and delusions and willful acts?
A&E has, over the year, introduced many serious problems and helped the incomprehensible be understood. Hoarders, Intervention, Scared Straight. These are all good ideas, good programs, and no doubt, in their day, they helped a few families. Maybe even more than a few.
But they -- A&E -- don't know when to stop. Intervention has become a roll-your-eyes cliche, Hoarders has become an excuse, and Scared Straight programs have been so demystified that they have now had to go Beyond Scared Straight. That helps no one.
Needless to say, I will watch none of these shows -- they've outlived their usefulness. The only reason they are on is for viewers to feel superior and/or to be titillated by how some people (of lower class, of course, live.
If you think like I do, please don't encourage this type of programming by watching this (or these) programs. It puts money in their pockets, anyway, if you watch and then write a letter of protest, and then watch again to see if your letter had any effect.
If you don't agree with the content, DON'T WATCH.
Really? I haven't seen anything on the commercials that look like an addiction, except possibly the girl drinking nail polish. There's a man in love with his car to the point of intimacy with it. I call that a perversion. A woman who is 'addicxted' to her finger- and and toe- nails. How does that work? What is she addicted to about them? Does she eat them?
These things are behaviors, they are not addictions. An addiction is a bodily medical function. Yes, there;s often a psychological or mental factor, but the primary cause and cure are physical. Deviant behavior, however mild, should be treated, but should it be lionized in this fashion?
Why is A&E giving these people fame for their perversions and delusions and willful acts?
A&E has, over the year, introduced many serious problems and helped the incomprehensible be understood. Hoarders, Intervention, Scared Straight. These are all good ideas, good programs, and no doubt, in their day, they helped a few families. Maybe even more than a few.
But they -- A&E -- don't know when to stop. Intervention has become a roll-your-eyes cliche, Hoarders has become an excuse, and Scared Straight programs have been so demystified that they have now had to go Beyond Scared Straight. That helps no one.
Needless to say, I will watch none of these shows -- they've outlived their usefulness. The only reason they are on is for viewers to feel superior and/or to be titillated by how some people (of lower class, of course, live.
If you think like I do, please don't encourage this type of programming by watching this (or these) programs. It puts money in their pockets, anyway, if you watch and then write a letter of protest, and then watch again to see if your letter had any effect.
If you don't agree with the content, DON'T WATCH.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Baby Mommy
My grand daughter has just been for a brief visit. It was a surprise visit to us all -- Her pappaw said Monday "Let's go get Hailey for a couple days." So we did. He even drove to go get her.
She's 3 1/2 now, and starting to learn letters and count and ask endless questions and wonder about everything. She has two favorite questions. "What's that, Mammaw?" and "Who's that, Mammaw?"
Parents and grandparents have long known the entertainment value of a picture album. Let me tell you, that entertainment value triples when it's a computer slideshow. Hailey will stop what she is doing and sit in the computer chair and watch the pictures change. If she knows the person, she identifies the person. If it's her, even her baby pictures, she says. "That's me! That's me, Mammaw!" Sometimes, just for variety, she will ask, "Is that me?" instead of telling. Maybe she wants to be sure.
If she doesn't know the person, question number two is in effect. "Who's that, Mammaw?"
Thank goodness that for now all I need to do is give the person a name. A half centruy and more of two lives amble across my screen. My people I know, his I'm not so good with, but I can come up with a name, and all is well in Hailey's Mammaw House world.
Some of the "Who's that, Mammaw?" photos are my daughters as they were growing up. Hailey has no problem with pictures of when Mommy was a little girl. But she happened to see a picture this time around that totally floored her.
A baby picture of her Mommy.
"Is that me, Mammaw?"
"No, that's your mommy."
Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "A baby Mommy?"
Whoever heard of such a thing. Now she watches for the picture to return, and squeals when it does.
I don't think she believes me.
She's 3 1/2 now, and starting to learn letters and count and ask endless questions and wonder about everything. She has two favorite questions. "What's that, Mammaw?" and "Who's that, Mammaw?"
Parents and grandparents have long known the entertainment value of a picture album. Let me tell you, that entertainment value triples when it's a computer slideshow. Hailey will stop what she is doing and sit in the computer chair and watch the pictures change. If she knows the person, she identifies the person. If it's her, even her baby pictures, she says. "That's me! That's me, Mammaw!" Sometimes, just for variety, she will ask, "Is that me?" instead of telling. Maybe she wants to be sure.
If she doesn't know the person, question number two is in effect. "Who's that, Mammaw?"
Thank goodness that for now all I need to do is give the person a name. A half centruy and more of two lives amble across my screen. My people I know, his I'm not so good with, but I can come up with a name, and all is well in Hailey's Mammaw House world.
Some of the "Who's that, Mammaw?" photos are my daughters as they were growing up. Hailey has no problem with pictures of when Mommy was a little girl. But she happened to see a picture this time around that totally floored her.
A baby picture of her Mommy.
"Is that me, Mammaw?"
"No, that's your mommy."
Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "A baby Mommy?"
Whoever heard of such a thing. Now she watches for the picture to return, and squeals when it does.
I don't think she believes me.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
ENJOY!
It's supposed to be 80 today. Not even the middle of March, and eighty degrees. And it's nice. So often eighty is hot and sticky and just plain miserable.Not today.
Today has that "it's summertime and the livin' is easy" feel to it. Enjoy it while it lasts. If we're getting a comfortable 80 degrees before the middle of March, it's not going to be long before the' hot and sticky' sneaks in. Too soon the eighties will be the uncomfortable low temp, while thunderstorms rumble and tornadoes strike in the night.
I sit on the porch and watch my granddaughter playing in the yard. The grass is green, the trees are budding, the neighbors are dragging out their porch furniture and sorting it into front porch and back porch. It's a sunshiny day, with a kiss of breeze.
It's summertime, and the livin' is easy.
Enjoy.
Today has that "it's summertime and the livin' is easy" feel to it. Enjoy it while it lasts. If we're getting a comfortable 80 degrees before the middle of March, it's not going to be long before the' hot and sticky' sneaks in. Too soon the eighties will be the uncomfortable low temp, while thunderstorms rumble and tornadoes strike in the night.
I sit on the porch and watch my granddaughter playing in the yard. The grass is green, the trees are budding, the neighbors are dragging out their porch furniture and sorting it into front porch and back porch. It's a sunshiny day, with a kiss of breeze.
It's summertime, and the livin' is easy.
Enjoy.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
I Concede to Spring
Much as I wanted to put it off, hoping yet for a Big One to wrap up winter (not impossible but unlikely), I have to give in and admit that it's Spring. Tornadoes have already been wiping out whole towns and taking bites out of others. Temperatures are getting warmer. The clocks have been set forward in the yearly joke that doing so creates more daylight in a 24 hour day. (That one day is a 25 hour day -- maybe it's that hour of daylight they are thinking of.)
But none of these are the deciding factor for me. These things are all indicators of Spring, but they are not the boiled-down essence of Spring.
I admitted it might be Spring when I came home from the grocery store with two boxes of flower seeds.
I conceded that it is indeed Spring today when the man across the street mowed his lawn.
I observed, long ago, that the definitive signs of Spring are when women start talking flowers and men start talking mowers. This is a general rule of thumb, not a defining of genders. Go to a bar, a diner, a store and listen to the bull talk sessions. Then, you'll know it's spring when women talk flowers and men talk mowers.
When they actually do something about it, then it really is Spring.
But none of these are the deciding factor for me. These things are all indicators of Spring, but they are not the boiled-down essence of Spring.
I admitted it might be Spring when I came home from the grocery store with two boxes of flower seeds.
I conceded that it is indeed Spring today when the man across the street mowed his lawn.
I observed, long ago, that the definitive signs of Spring are when women start talking flowers and men start talking mowers. This is a general rule of thumb, not a defining of genders. Go to a bar, a diner, a store and listen to the bull talk sessions. Then, you'll know it's spring when women talk flowers and men talk mowers.
When they actually do something about it, then it really is Spring.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Lesson Learned.
I recently saw an online ad for classes about alternative medicines. This is a subject I've long been interested in, and the thought of online classes is -- kind of interesting, especially now that I'm not working, and my husband's no longer in a health crisis. So, two weeks ago, I signed up for info.
When I signed, I did see that I had to give the school permission to call me, and that was okay. I might have questions for them, once I reviewed their online programs or looked at their literature. Follow-up phone calls are a fine thing, in most cases.
Oh. My. God.
What a mistake that was.
Not just a small mistake, either.
I have gotten phone calls.
And phone calls.
And phone calls.
Since 12 noon yesterday, until 12 noon today, I have had twelve phone calls from one number. This is after I put the number on the reject list because they have not stopped calling daily for two weeks. The calls started immediately, and have not lessened.
I have not received one e-mail from any of these schools. (Apparently there's a list of affiliates with a variety of courses, although I was applying for specific classes.) I have not received any type of information other than these incessant psycho calls. (Seriously, if these calls were being made by an individual to an individual, they would be considered psycho calls.) No e-mails, though that had to be on the sign in. No pamphlets in the mail, although mailing address had to be included.
Just phone calls.
Sorry, Ashford University.
Sorry, Kaplan College.
I don't care for the way you do business. So, I won't be doing business with you.
I do not need financial aid until I've decided when I want to take classes and what classes I might want to take. I won't know what those classes are until I see what is offered. See. With my eyes. So I can look and consider, re-look and reconsider.
I want information about what I'm interested in, not about everything else that's out there in the world. I know there's a lot of good interesting stuff out there. But I signed up to find out about a specific field, not the whole world.
If I want to hear from you, after I've seen what you have to offer, I'll call you.
Don't hold your breath.
When I signed, I did see that I had to give the school permission to call me, and that was okay. I might have questions for them, once I reviewed their online programs or looked at their literature. Follow-up phone calls are a fine thing, in most cases.
Oh. My. God.
What a mistake that was.
Not just a small mistake, either.
I have gotten phone calls.
And phone calls.
And phone calls.
Since 12 noon yesterday, until 12 noon today, I have had twelve phone calls from one number. This is after I put the number on the reject list because they have not stopped calling daily for two weeks. The calls started immediately, and have not lessened.
I have not received one e-mail from any of these schools. (Apparently there's a list of affiliates with a variety of courses, although I was applying for specific classes.) I have not received any type of information other than these incessant psycho calls. (Seriously, if these calls were being made by an individual to an individual, they would be considered psycho calls.) No e-mails, though that had to be on the sign in. No pamphlets in the mail, although mailing address had to be included.
Just phone calls.
Sorry, Ashford University.
Sorry, Kaplan College.
I don't care for the way you do business. So, I won't be doing business with you.
I do not need financial aid until I've decided when I want to take classes and what classes I might want to take. I won't know what those classes are until I see what is offered. See. With my eyes. So I can look and consider, re-look and reconsider.
I want information about what I'm interested in, not about everything else that's out there in the world. I know there's a lot of good interesting stuff out there. But I signed up to find out about a specific field, not the whole world.
If I want to hear from you, after I've seen what you have to offer, I'll call you.
Don't hold your breath.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Mother Nature on a Rampage
Usually I try to vary the topics of my entries, but this week has been a little two sided. (I would say one-sided, but there are two subjects going on.) Weather and trees. Towns and tornadoes.
The trees I'll have to put on the back burner for now -- or maybe not. Mother Nature decided to give a head start on some of the tree removals. Just ripped and twisted and tossed the trees around a bit. Maybe she's upset with the puny men who are trying to undo her work, or who think they can do her job better than she does.
The puny men (USDA) have requested that anyone with damaged trees inspect them for the beetle. Don't know why they can't do this part of their job themselves, now that Mother has made it easier for them.
And residents and workers are wondering if they are supposed to suspend operations and wait for these people to approve their labors.
Will people have to remain homeless and powerless -- certainly in more than one sense of the word -- while the government contractors twiddle their fingers waiting for others to do their jobs for them?
They are already onsite, or close enough. You would think they'd be in there before the rest. Just think of all the extra man-hours they could bill taxpayers for, under the circumstances.
Moscow Ohio, Clermont County, on the river, was hard hit. Moscow has been around for close to 300 years, but the historic town is said to have no two story buildings anymore. The brand new business that was building now has no building to finish up. Time will tell if they rebuild. Time and insurance, probably.
More damage was done in the Felicity-Bethel-Hamersville area. How lovely. That's exactly where my sister lives. She was driving home from Hamersville.
There was serious damage in other places as well. The Weather Service declared a tornado emergency in Clermont County, in Ohio. Most of us, including the meteorologists, had no idea what that even means. It took help from my brother in Kansas and the weathermen making phone calls before we knew it means multiple twisters from the same storm on the ground at the same time.
We don't get that here.
It's been an eventful week. Between Big Brother and Earth's Mother, our metaphorical and metaphysical family has kept us hopping. And some are hurting for their actual family. My family was fortunate. Most of the people I know were fortunate.
But some weren't, and I don't think they will be worrying about bugs in trees. They have Life and Death to deal with.
The trees I'll have to put on the back burner for now -- or maybe not. Mother Nature decided to give a head start on some of the tree removals. Just ripped and twisted and tossed the trees around a bit. Maybe she's upset with the puny men who are trying to undo her work, or who think they can do her job better than she does.
The puny men (USDA) have requested that anyone with damaged trees inspect them for the beetle. Don't know why they can't do this part of their job themselves, now that Mother has made it easier for them.
And residents and workers are wondering if they are supposed to suspend operations and wait for these people to approve their labors.
Will people have to remain homeless and powerless -- certainly in more than one sense of the word -- while the government contractors twiddle their fingers waiting for others to do their jobs for them?
They are already onsite, or close enough. You would think they'd be in there before the rest. Just think of all the extra man-hours they could bill taxpayers for, under the circumstances.
Moscow Ohio, Clermont County, on the river, was hard hit. Moscow has been around for close to 300 years, but the historic town is said to have no two story buildings anymore. The brand new business that was building now has no building to finish up. Time will tell if they rebuild. Time and insurance, probably.
More damage was done in the Felicity-Bethel-Hamersville area. How lovely. That's exactly where my sister lives. She was driving home from Hamersville.
There was serious damage in other places as well. The Weather Service declared a tornado emergency in Clermont County, in Ohio. Most of us, including the meteorologists, had no idea what that even means. It took help from my brother in Kansas and the weathermen making phone calls before we knew it means multiple twisters from the same storm on the ground at the same time.
We don't get that here.
It's been an eventful week. Between Big Brother and Earth's Mother, our metaphorical and metaphysical family has kept us hopping. And some are hurting for their actual family. My family was fortunate. Most of the people I know were fortunate.
But some weren't, and I don't think they will be worrying about bugs in trees. They have Life and Death to deal with.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Saving the Healthy Trees by Cara Bowen, age 11
Saving the Healthy Trees
by Cara Bowen, age 11
Can you imagine hundreds of thousands of trees being cut down in one little area? Well that's what our government wants to do thanks to a little bug called the Asian Longhorned Beetle.
Bethel is having a big problem and the Asian Lonhorned Beetle is its name. The people of Bethel could have hundreds of thousands of trees cut down and about seven thousand are already cut. We have this group called the ALB Citizens Cooperative. They have meetings almost every week to talk about the trees. They also make plans for us. The plan now is they're trying to talk the government into chemically treating the healthy trees and only cutting down the infested ones.
There are alot of reasons why they should chemically treat instead of cut. Cutting that many healthy trees would mess up our eco system, all the trees gone will cause flooding and dirty water, and lots of animals homes would be taken away.
I have a woods in my backyard and it's probably getting cut down too. We use our woods for many reasons. We hunt in it, stack wood in it, and my friends, family and I play in it. We build forts in it, we go exploring, and we have our favorite clubhouse in it. What kind of fun can you have if you can't climb trees?!
Another reason is our beautiful view. If all the trees are gone, deer, turkey and other animals won't come. When it rains we'll have a big mudhole in our backyard, and our creek won't be a beautiful stream with flowers and green leaves around it. It would be a big mudbank with water running through it.
So Bethel is really going through alot right now and so many people already have what I just explained. For example, some people just moved to Bethel from New York City to a live in this beautiful house with trees lining the driveway and now it's a giant mudhole. So if you agree with me you should contact your government officials and help try to stop what they are trying to do. And if you are interested and want more information you can go to www.BethelALB.com.
by Cara Bowen, age 11
Can you imagine hundreds of thousands of trees being cut down in one little area? Well that's what our government wants to do thanks to a little bug called the Asian Longhorned Beetle.
Bethel is having a big problem and the Asian Lonhorned Beetle is its name. The people of Bethel could have hundreds of thousands of trees cut down and about seven thousand are already cut. We have this group called the ALB Citizens Cooperative. They have meetings almost every week to talk about the trees. They also make plans for us. The plan now is they're trying to talk the government into chemically treating the healthy trees and only cutting down the infested ones.
There are alot of reasons why they should chemically treat instead of cut. Cutting that many healthy trees would mess up our eco system, all the trees gone will cause flooding and dirty water, and lots of animals homes would be taken away.
I have a woods in my backyard and it's probably getting cut down too. We use our woods for many reasons. We hunt in it, stack wood in it, and my friends, family and I play in it. We build forts in it, we go exploring, and we have our favorite clubhouse in it. What kind of fun can you have if you can't climb trees?!
Another reason is our beautiful view. If all the trees are gone, deer, turkey and other animals won't come. When it rains we'll have a big mudhole in our backyard, and our creek won't be a beautiful stream with flowers and green leaves around it. It would be a big mudbank with water running through it.
So Bethel is really going through alot right now and so many people already have what I just explained. For example, some people just moved to Bethel from New York City to a live in this beautiful house with trees lining the driveway and now it's a giant mudhole. So if you agree with me you should contact your government officials and help try to stop what they are trying to do. And if you are interested and want more information you can go to www.BethelALB.com.
Blown away -- Mild winter to Wild Spring
I guess it's official. The Winter that wasn't is over. We had tornadoes across the middle of our country yesterday.
Tornadoes! In February?
All too often, the result of a mild winter is a wild spring -- and summer, and fall. I've seem tornadoes into November. But starting in February? Even in tornado alley, that's unprecedented.
And they came at night, roaring into and through the lives of the sleeping, turning night time into a time of horror and dread. How many people, old and young, are going to have PTSD at bedtime for the rest of their lives.
Tornadoes scare the hell out of me. Night time tornadoes, like these, are terrifying to think of. Way too many people had to live that terror -- and some of them did not survive it.
The big news is Branson Missouri, a town that made itself into something newsworthy. It's big claim to fame is that they can put on big shows with big stars. Fortunately -- let's all take a big sigh of relief -- it's not yet 'the season' and there were no celebrities to be displaced or disturbed or wakened. Thank God for that! Let no one, not even Mother Nature, disturb the stars.
In the meantime, Harveyville Kansas, Harrisburg Illinois, Elizabethtown Kentucky are among the places digging out the dead and injured and just plain stuck. These are among the places trying to find where to even start digging out. These are among the places that may have had F-4 or F-5 twisters, and whose towns have been permanently marred.
But, Let us all be happy that Branson (where the storm was F-2) hasn't been destroyed and suffered relatively minor damage. The stars still have a place to play come summer.
Thank goodness everyone is not so blind as the media. Rescue efforts are underway and helping hands being extended to ALL the places and people in need. I'd like to especially commend Lowe's, who must keep a rescue team ready. They are already responding with donations and helping hands, to crossroad towns and small cities alike. Thank you.
And thank you to everyone who is doing what they can, if it's only a brief prayer between pouring cups of coffee or changing diapers.
It's going to be a long season. Keep ready, everyone. Don't be caught sleeping.
Tornadoes! In February?
All too often, the result of a mild winter is a wild spring -- and summer, and fall. I've seem tornadoes into November. But starting in February? Even in tornado alley, that's unprecedented.
And they came at night, roaring into and through the lives of the sleeping, turning night time into a time of horror and dread. How many people, old and young, are going to have PTSD at bedtime for the rest of their lives.
Tornadoes scare the hell out of me. Night time tornadoes, like these, are terrifying to think of. Way too many people had to live that terror -- and some of them did not survive it.
The big news is Branson Missouri, a town that made itself into something newsworthy. It's big claim to fame is that they can put on big shows with big stars. Fortunately -- let's all take a big sigh of relief -- it's not yet 'the season' and there were no celebrities to be displaced or disturbed or wakened. Thank God for that! Let no one, not even Mother Nature, disturb the stars.
In the meantime, Harveyville Kansas, Harrisburg Illinois, Elizabethtown Kentucky are among the places digging out the dead and injured and just plain stuck. These are among the places trying to find where to even start digging out. These are among the places that may have had F-4 or F-5 twisters, and whose towns have been permanently marred.
But, Let us all be happy that Branson (where the storm was F-2) hasn't been destroyed and suffered relatively minor damage. The stars still have a place to play come summer.
Thank goodness everyone is not so blind as the media. Rescue efforts are underway and helping hands being extended to ALL the places and people in need. I'd like to especially commend Lowe's, who must keep a rescue team ready. They are already responding with donations and helping hands, to crossroad towns and small cities alike. Thank you.
And thank you to everyone who is doing what they can, if it's only a brief prayer between pouring cups of coffee or changing diapers.
It's going to be a long season. Keep ready, everyone. Don't be caught sleeping.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)