Word of the Day

Instigator (n.), do-it-yourself reptile kit. Just add water.

I went to the post office yesterday to send off a letter to my daughter and buy more stamps. A trip to the post office is always a fun people watching activity. What else can one do when they're trapped waiting for their number to be called? Even after the Christmas rush, it was amazing to see all the angry and bored people waiting in line for whatever reason. Why they actually wait in a line is beyond me. They have a number. Of course it might be nice if the USPS provided benches for people to sit on but go hold up a wall and people watch like I do. Actually, I wandered back and forth in front of the stamp wall in an attempt to figure out which stamps I should buy. I didn't think it would be too cool to send Air Force Academy stamps to my daughter at Marine Boot Camp. #1 son didn't think it was a good idea to send Purple Heart stamps either. I ended up buying magnolia blossoms, roses, cranes, clouds and more flags. Variety is the spice of life.

My sister called yesterday to tell me that she and her husband finally got their first cell phone. Another couple of lemmings have joined the crowd on their merry way to the cliff. I only say this because, despite the fact that HTP and I have a cell phone along with two of our kids, some of our friends, some of my family and extended family members as well, I really, really, hate cell phones. Like everything else in life, there are always going to be some persons out there who can't figure out the difference between use and abuse when it comes to cell phones. There are just times cell phones should not be used. Can you imagine being trapped in an airplane with 100 people all talking at the same time on their cell phones? And there are just some people who shouldn't be allowed to own cell phones. I swear it's like giving a beer to an alcoholic. Some people just can't seem to spend one moment without a phone glued to their ear. What in the world do these people have to say and for so long? These same people are noted for plowing into the car in front of them because they're too busy dialing their next victim (the poor person who has to listen to them talk about nothing for untold wasted minutes on their own cell phone) to see that the car in front of them has stopped. These same people, along with those people who have a cigarette in their hands as they drive, rarely use their traffic signals. And then...there are always those people who drive, talk on their cell phones, and smoke. I won't even go into how many of these same people feel that they have to add food and beverages to this mix. Unfortunately, these people are the same people who have trouble doing even one thing at one time much less two or three or more.

So, if I hate cell phones so much, why do I have a cell phone? I have a cell phone so my kids or the rest of my family can reach me in case of an emergency when I'm not at home. I have a cell phone because now that cell phones exist, pay phones have become scarce and more expensive. I have a cell phone so I can call for help if I need help. I have a cell phone for when HTP and I are traveling. I maintain a pay-as-you-go plan with 175 minutes remaining on my phone until I need to add more minutes at the end of this month. Any minutes that I don't use in 90 days "rollover" into my next 90 days when I'll add $10 more to my account so I don't lose any minutes I haven't used up from the previous 90 days. I just keep on amassing more and more of these extra minutes. Barring any change in my phone habits or failure to refill before my time is up, these minutes will last me for the 90 days until my next refill and beyond. I can't figure out why I'd want to pay someone as little as $40 dollars a month to talk 1000 minutes when I can't even use the amount of minutes I already have in 90 days for $10. I really can't imagine talking to anyone for 1000 minutes. Even my daughter. Of course, I do maintain a land line. When I have enough to say to any one person at any given time, I'll wait and use that phone. I can't imagine that anything I have to say that would take up hours to say would have to be said on a cell phone. I suppose if I could get rid of my land line, I could justify a monthly cell phone service as long as we could have two cell phones. HTP and I aren't always joined at the hip, so we'd both need to have a cell phone. So...I think I'll just keep my current cell phone and wait. Maybe they'll make me an offer I can't/won't refuse.

Murphyism of the Day

Cohn's Law

In any bureaucracy, paperwork increases as you spend more and more time reporting on the less and less you are doing. Stability is achieved when you spend all of your time reporting on the nothing that you are doing.