Some Blog Site

I was going to write a post about how annoying the hot-air hand dryers in public bathrooms are, and how I wish every restroom offered paper towels as an option at least. But, as is often the case with the internet, someone has already written about it.

If you don’t want to leave Some Blog Site, here are my sentiments: hot-air dryers are bad, paper towels are good, and continuous-roll towels are scary.

If a bathroom has only hot-air dryers, how can you wipe up a spill? Especially if the spill is on the edge of the sink and if you lean against the sink it will soak right into your clothes at sink level and make you look incompetent (okay, that’s the right word) at using a bathroom.

If a bathroom does not have paper towels, what are you going to use to grab the door handle and remain clean of hand? Especially with small children who insist on beating you to the door and touching as much of it as they can before you get there and tell them “Do NOT touch the door. Let me open it. Slow down. No… don’t…I will get the door!”

The other option is to stand by the door and wait for someone else to open it as he enters the bathroom so you can slip out before the door closes or at least get your foot in there so you can kick it open the rest of the way.  And hope no one else is watching.

No, I was not this concerned about germs and public places before I got married. I was happily oblivious to the dangers that are out there.

“I shall wash my hands in innocence, And I will go about Your altar, O LORD,”
– Psalm 26:6

Don’t get a pet that you can’t take out by yourself. “Take out” does not mean a nice evening on the town…

Pets, deep down, are wild animals. They may behave nicely most of the time if they are domesticated, but they are still animals. They may decide to do something uncivilized and start harming people. Animals just do that from time to time. The bigger animal you have, the bigger gamble you are taking with your life or someone else’s life.

Growing up on a farm-like setting, I was able to see various animals and pets in all stages of life. I got to see day-old kittens – very precious. And I saw kitten parts scattered over the lawn after some predator (maybe a hawk, maybe a grouchy tomcat) found the kittens too. All that was good, because it made me realize what exactly animals are and what they do.

If you don’t have a well-rounded view of animals, then you run the risk of ignoring the problems. If all you’ve ever had are cute housecats, you might not realize that it is not a good idea to take a cute baby raccoon into your house.

If you do want an animal as a pet, consider what would happen if the animal decides to be undomesticated one day. Would you be able to control it? Would you be able to win if you had to fight for your life (or a friend’s life, as the lady with the chimp had to do)? That’s why cats and parakeets make good pets. And fish and turtles too. But not chimps or lions or panthers or elephants.

“But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,”
– 2 Peter 2:12

Our church had a work day on Saturday, February 14th. It was just in the morning, and it was for people to help maintain/improve the church – painting, sawing, etc.

One thing I noticed was that just about everyone drove separately. I’m not talking about different families car-pooling – most of the spouses drove separately.

For the work day, most of the wives were in one area and most of the husbands were in another area. Not that our church requires men and women to work separately, but people generally just do that. At the end of the work day, which was lunch time, I noticed that there were a few wives who came to the husband’s area and said something like “Okay, I’m going home now.” To which the husband replied something like “Okay, I’ll see you there.”

I guess I expected more togetherness on Valentine’s Day. And these weren’t young couples either – most of them had grandchildren.

Yes, my wife and I also drove separately to the church. Since our anniversary is in February, we celebrate that and ignore Valentine’s Day. Plus I had to go into my day job for a couple hours before heading over to the church. So we had good reason to drive separately. I’m sure everyone else did too, but I didn’t question them. I just thought it was an interesting observation. At what point do couples trade the joy of togetherness for the practicality of logistics? Probably somewhere around the second child.

“Then Esau said, ‘Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.'”
– Genesis 33:12

Since we own a couple of vehicles, we occasionally get mail about those vehicles.  Usually the mail has to do with vehicle maintenance or warranties.  Today I am sharing one of the warranty notifications with you.

The reason for sharing this letter is to show how to tell it’s not a good program. Take a look at the whole letter, above, and then look at this particular excerpt, below.

For those who can’t see the image: it says “Due to the nature of this program, we can only authorize your vehicle for 72 hours from the receipt of this notice.”

One of the reasons to distrust it is that it pretends to be related to a dealership by using the words “Dealer Warranty” prominently.  But it’s not from a dealership at all.  It’s similar to those coin companies that have the words “US” or “Federal” or “Mint” but are not related to the actual US Mint at all.

Anyway, these guys are offering to extend my factory warranty (with their own warranty).  But our vehicle has been out of warranty for about 30,000 miles and 2 years.  Oh, and only my vehicle qualifies, so it must be an exclusive program that I should feel privileged to join.

If you look at the whole letter, you will not find a date anywhere. How do I know when the 72 hours expires? What I forgot exactly which day I received it? How do they know what time my mail arrives?

It’s not 3 days – it’s 72 hours … from when I receive the notice. They can’t know when the offer expires, but I need to “call immediately”. That’s one of the ways to tell a scam – being told that urgent action is required and being pressured for a decision. That’s especially true when the person applying the pressure is the one who will be taking money from you (or getting you to give them your money).

Hey! Isn’t that what’s being done with the president and congress right now? “We need a stimulus package, and we need it right now. We need to take 800 or 900 billion dollars from the taxpayers, but we don’t want to think about it too long. Don’t delay, vote now! Urgent action is required.”

Unfortunately, I can’t just toss the government’s requests in the trash like I do other junk mail.

“For wisdom is protection {just as} money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.”
– Ecclesiastes 7:12

I have the driving habit of avoiding bits of paper or plastic that are on the road, especially if they were just kicked up by a vehicle in front of me.

Sometimes a vehicle will drive by a piece of trash sitting in the road.  The wind from the car will swirl around the debris, causing it to tumble or dance along the road.  If it’s near the lane markings, I will swerve slightly in order to avoid it.  If it’s in the middle of the lane, then I just run over it.

Either way, after I have gone by the spot where the thing was, I watch my mirrors carefully to make sure that it didn’t get stuck on my car somehow.  I will keep checking both the side mirrors and the rearview mirror until I see the paper or whatever it was.

I have seen another car with a plastic grocery bag stuck to the bottom of the car.  And the person’s just driving along with no clue that they have it.  And I don’t want that to be me.

If I do see the debris in my mirror, then I can relax and continue with my drive.  If I don’t see it after several seconds, there’s not much I can do.  So I keep driving.  I don’t do anything differently, but I do like knowing that nothing’s stuck to my car.

I had that problem once.  A fast-food sandwich wrapper ended on my antenna, and I did not find it until I stopped at my destination.  So I had been driving down the highway with paper stuck to the middle of my antenna, like a flag on a flagpole.  I wasn’t embarrassed while I was driving, because I didn’t know that was there.  But it was rather embarrassing to see my car once I got out of it.

Oh well.

“Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking and he demonstrates to everyone {that} he is a fool. ”
– Ecclesiastes 10:3

My earlier post had been about how sports seasons need to be distinct seasons and not last the whole year.  This post applies that same idea to holidays, mainly Christmas.

What prompted this was the local radio station‘s switching to the all-Christmas-music format on November 1st.  At least they waited until after Halloween.  But I’m still boycotting them temporarily.  Until Thanksgiving, I am skipping right past them (and any other Christmas-music stations) during my normal station-flipping during my drive home each day.

My favorite line from The Incredibles is something like “When everyone’s special, the no one is.” For the record, that line appears twice, but in two different forms.  The first one is by Dash, who says, in response to being told that everyone is special, “Which is another way of saying no one is. ”  The second one is by Syndrome, who says “And when everyone’s super, no one will be.”

That line, combined with the example of Marie Antoinette, gives a good idea of why seasons need to be short.  The longer they’re drawn-out, the more diluted they become.  Marie Antoinette, for those who don’t know, is attributed with having everything she wanted, so she was quite bored (“nothing tastes“).  Life was not enjoyable for her, because nothing was special.

Keep Christmas (and other holidays) special: don’t start anything Christmas-y  until after Thanksgiving.  I know some of you may think this post violates that principle.  I’m not saying don’t mention Christmas until then, just don’t promote it or start celebrating until then.

“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
– Romans 8:25

Harrison Bergeron should be required reading.  It’s a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and it helps show why personal responsibility and achievement should remain more important than government programs.  The government should protect freedom of opportunity and a level playing field, but it should not enforce equality of achievement or a level outcome.

The government should be like a referee – ensuring that everyone plays fairly, but not making every game end in a tie nor making sure the teams are evenly matched.  So be wary whenever you hear anyone, especially a politician, speak favorably about redistribution of wealth.

“For the Scripture says, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.’
– 1 Timothy 5:18