http://www.musebooks.com en Barbara J. Hamby Copyright 2010 Barbara J. Hamby 2010-07-29T04:51:52+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/the_entitled_generation/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/the_entitled_generation/#When:04:51:52Z I fear life will be very hard for many of the youngsters who are now in school or just graduating from college. These kids have had everything money could buy provided by overworked, overstressed parents. Some have traveled to places I’ve never been, had toys, including electronic gadgets, I’ve never even seen, and been hauled around to athletic events, dancing lessons, etc. Suddenly they are required to compete for scarce jobs with people who’ve already been in the market and have experience. In addition, the latter group doesn’t have expectations that the world will provide for them, as the entitled folks do. Today I swam outdoors in a cool pool while the indoor pool is closed for maintenance. It took me several hours to get warm again. The indoor pool won’t open again until Saturday. I hope we get warmer days with fewer cool breezes between now and then. Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-29T04:51:52+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/news_weather/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/news_weather/#When:03:28:02Z There’s a really sad story on the news about a concert in Germany where a huge crowd stampeded, killing a number of people and injuring around 300. It’s unlikely I’ll ever be in such a situation. The older I get, the more I hate to be in crowds. Most modern music leaves me cold, as well. Apparently more than a million people were crowded into a space that could only be entered or exited through an underpass and they panicked for some reason. On this second day of 90+degree temperatures, we’ve managed to keep this apartment under 80 degrees by opening everything up at night and closing windows and sliding doors when the outside temperature equals the inside in the mornings. So far, I’ve only run fans and not had to use the air conditioning. The ladies I meet for lunch on Mondays usually get together in Laurelhurst Park in good weather. So far this year we’ve had to meet indoors at a café. It’s looking like tomorrow will be a good day in the park. It should be fun. We now have two slim HD television sets in good working order. My son-in-law installed both of them—the second one yesterday. So Floyd can watch his sports and I can watch whatever the mood strikes. The choice is pretty limited in summer. We’ve been enjoying fresh cherries and berries for weeks. The cooler than usual weather hasn’t seemed to have too bad an effect on the fruit. Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-26T03:28:02+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/random_observations/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/random_observations/#When:04:34:24Z Today I heard on the news that President Obama is considering hiring his daughters out as babysitters at some time in the future. I wonder what the Secret Service thinks about that? I have a picture of a baby sitter arriving at a parents’ doorstep with a Secret Service agent in tow. I admire the concept of teaching the girls to earn some money of their own, but can’t imagine how complicated the details might be. So far I’ve only turned on our room air conditioner for a few hours on one or two days this year. July is nearly over and most days I’ve worn sweaters indoors nearly all day. I’m also wearing a winter bathrobe. It’s too cold for the summer cotton version. However, we are promised a couple of 90 degree plus days this weekend. That would be good timing, since our indoor pool will be closed four or five days next week for repairs. The outdoor pools should be fairly well heated after a couple of hot days. If all goes well, tomorrow my son-in-law will install our new television in the living room and put the relatively new one that’s in there now in the spare bedroom/office.  In the morning, I’ll need to start clearing space in the office for him to work. He’ll have plenty of room in the living room. I’ve been enjoying movies and a few isolated television shows on Hulu, projected on my computer screen. My tiny speakers don’t produce wonderful sound, but it’s adequate. I’m not sure projected is the right verb in this instance, but I’m also not sure what the correct verb would be. Today I read two interesting snippets on the internet. One reported, at some time in the past, that Kate Gosselin was feuding with Sarah Pahlin, vowing to sell more copies of her book than Sarah sold and bad mouthing Sarah’s writing. Next, I read that Kate and her brood will be camping for television in Alaska, at Sarah’s invitation. Can you believe anything you read these days? Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-24T04:34:24+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/rerun/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/rerun/#When:19:39:59Z This morning I read through a bunch of old blog entries looking for one that might qualify for a contest. I was happy to note that some of my own writing made me laugh. Some I thought might be worth repeating. So, here comes a rerun from several years ago: Born Too Soon When my son was in kindergarten, we lived a few houses away from Ainsworth Pharmacy, on Northeast 30th. That store still had a soda fountain and sold coffee for five cents a cup at that time. Granted, it was a loss leader, but it drew people in. Since my then husband always had a 32-cup pot of coffee going, we didn’t buy it down at the corner, unless we just wanted to socialize. Now I read that Starbucks in Seattle is trying an experiment and will be selling coffee for $1.00 a cup.  The dollar cup is smaller and contains coffee only, no frills. That may well be a loss leader also, but it appears to be a response to a drop in business. I wouldn’t want to blame our obesity epidemic on Starbucks, but all the additives in their specialties certainly pack on many calories. As a former Seattleite, and an American, I realize it’s disloyal to dislike Starbucks’ coffee, but unfortunately, I do. So sue me. I’m not sure whether my taste buds or my psyche find it objectionable, but I prefer cheaper brands. Maybe it’s my trailer park background, who knows? Anyway, that tidbit of news caused me to reflect, once again, on inflation. The price of Starbucks’ coffee is probably not even on the bottom of the list of worries for many Americans, especially those who are jobless and/or homeless. Our news the past few frigid nights focused on temporary “warming” shelters for the homeless in Portland. I can’t help but comment on the person who complained vociferously about a church in her neighborhood taking in homeless who, she claimed, littered the streets with the Styrofoam cups they were given full of hot beverages to help keep them warm as they left in the morning. How about just putting out a few trashcans, lady? Back when I lived down the street from Ainsworth Pharmacy with a grocery store across the street, my yard was constantly littered with candy wrappers, cigarette butts, etc. tossed by people walking back to their homes. It’s the American way, or at least the way of some of us. Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-21T19:39:59+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/possessions/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/possessions/#When:17:10:24Z Looking around me in all the rooms of this apartment, the questions come to mind. Are all these possessions necessary? Were they ever? Do I possess these belongings or do they possess me? The prospect of sorting and discarding is overwhelming. I need to do it now before I grow any older and more tired and achy. I don’t want to dump the job on my kids who definitely don’t want that burden. I tackled one small dresser drawer last night. One down, I don’t want to know how many to go. Closets, drawers, cupboards, shelves, all full to overflowing. It’s unbelievable that I’ve accumulated so much when I’ve moved so many times. Some dresser drawers have been moved numerous times without having been sorted through. I’ve told myself it’s time to toss anything I haven’t used and/or or looked at in the last year. Next I have to decide in which direction to toss the stuff—charity organizations, landfills, or ??? I have a strong need to simplify my life. Movement in water is much more comfortable than on floors or sidewalks. So to minimize walking around indoors I need to have a lot less stuff to keep track of. Reducing the quantity of stuff is a major goal for this year. Finishing memoir stories is the other. They’ve been dragging on a long time. Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-19T17:10:24+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/lazy_summer_days/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/lazy_summer_days/#When:03:10:57Z We’ve had a couple of delightful days—dry but not too hot. I get lazy and want to sit on the deck and read or nap. Life’s little projects get in the way from time to time, but I do manage to laze away a few hours. I have a strong urge to simplify my life—get rid of most of my books and all the clothes that don’t fit any more. I’ve been working on it, but I find that, like my old body, my brain gets tired quickly of making all those decisions. To some extent I can empathize with hoarders, but in my case it’s not because I want to be surrounded by stuff. I just get tired of deciding where to send it. Is this outfit good enough for Discovery Shop, where they want “gently used” clothing or should it go to Goodwill where they can make it into rags if they think it won’t sell? Should those books go to a library or Goodwill or perhaps even be sold to Powell’s? As many times as I’ve moved in my lifetime, I am appalled at how much I’ve managed to accumulate and drag around with me. No wonder I’m tired. For the third time I’m reading Orwell’s 1984. I ran across an old paperback edition in the King City library. I read it with great curiosity the first time shortly after it came out in 1949, again in 1984, and now I’m about a third of the way through it. So I wonder, is texting the reincarnation of newspeak? I notice “Orwellian” is a recognized word in a paperback dictionary on my shelf. It is interesting to wonder and compare some of the things the book predicted with what goes on in our society today. When I finish it, I’ll have to find Brave New World and re-read it. I remember being surprised to learn that the Huxley brothers graduated from Reed College here in Portland. When I first moved here, I lived near Reed. According to Wikipedia, Aldous Huxley wrote another novel in 1962 that I don’t remember hearing about. I’ll have to look that one up also. Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-17T03:10:57+00:00 http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/monthly_musical/ http://www.musebooks.com/barbara/hamby/info/monthly_musical/#When:05:01:03Z I’ve missed the free monthly musical programs here in King City the last few months just because I haven’t been paying attention. Our T.O.P.S. club was invited to prepare and serve refreshments at the program that took place this morning, so I couldn’t forget about it. I had to be there. The main performer, Elena Ferguson Sheldon, is a singer I’ve seen several times before—here in King City and at Eldorado Villas, the mobile home park where I lived before. She is a young country singer/songwriter who’s starting to make it big in Nashville. She does a great impersonation of Patsy Cline and did a couple of her songs today. She also sang two songs she wrote herself. She was an ideal choice for introducing T.O.P.S. club. When I first saw her, she weighed well over 200 pounds and she’s probably lost nearly 100, by adopting healthy eating and doing regular exercise. Her recording company wants her to lose another 30 or 40 pounds. I think she looks great now, but that’s show biz. I went to her Facebook page when I got home and found numerous pictures of her at various sizes. I also was able to listen to her sing a number of songs, including Crazy, probably my favorite of Patsy Cline’s repertoire. I sent her a thank you note on Facebook and she replied. According to her bio, she grew up in Banks and now lives in Garibaldi. She’s working on a new CD, but the flooding in Nashville has delayed production because recording companies lost a lot of equipment. I’m really exhausted tonight and will head for bed soon. I’m struggling to keep my blood pressure regulated. It’s been going very low this week, making me light headed and low energy. I sent my doctor an email today to see about adjusting my meds. Volunteers from among my peers at T.O.P.S. turned out in a large enough number to make the catering job run very smoothly. However, my feet don’t take kindly to standing and walking for most of four hours. If we do it again, I’ll suggest that half of the committee do the set up, all help serve, and half do the clean up. That way none of us should get over tired. Today was much cooler and that was helpful. Tomorrow should be slightly warmer than today and we’ll gradually get back up into the 80’s. No rain is forecast for the next couple of weeks. I can manage well if we stay out of the 90’s, but I’m sure we won’t get through the whole summer without a few of those days. Barbara J. Hamby's Blog 2010-07-13T05:01:03+00:00