Peace Offering

I apologize for neglecting my blogging for quite some time now. What can I say? I've been very busy. But that's no excuse. I'll just try to do better from now on.

Ironically, I don't have much time right now either. But I will leave this small peace offering. It's a segment from The Daily Show, and it's hysterically funny. Enjoy!


-e

Grocery Store Gripe

I hate to start out the new year griping, but I just had to get this off my chest because I'm so very annoyed.

My gripe is with the self scanning lane at the grocery store. Every time I think I'm going to run in and run out, I usually get held up in the self-scanning line. You see, it is my understanding that those lanes are there to expedite checkout for those that only have a few items. And it's a great idea in principle, but it rarely works in practice. Why? Because people who have no business in the self scanning lane are ALWAYS in the self scanning lane in front of me.

I love senior citizens. I do. I hold doors open for them, I wait patiently when they stop me to hold conversation with my daughter (you wouldn't believe how often this happens), and I've been know to crouch down to grab something off the bottom shelf for a few simply because they asked me to do so. The other week, I helped an elderly lady lift an item out of her shopping cart and into her trunk because she couldn't find a store employee to help her. Yes, senior citizens are wonderful people. But they usually have no business in the self scanning lane. There are several reasons for this:

1. The elderly are rarely in a hurry. There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking your time. But leave the self checkout lanes for those who need to be somewhere else within the next few minutes.

2. Their vision isn't always the greatest. This means they have to take more time trying to read the screen, especially when it's time to pay. This also means they are constantly calling the attendant over to help. This constant need for assistance cancels out the idea of doing it yourself.

3. There is sometimes a technology gap. The self scanners are designed to be simple to use, but they are ultimately just computers. Sure, you know how to type a letter and send an email. But if you never figured out how to program your VCR or how to connect your DVD player to your television without help, the self scanners are probably not for you.

And, just so you know this isn't a question of ageism, seniors aren't the only ones that I believe should be barred from the self scanning lanes. Idiots should be banned also. I've been behind people who constantly have to ask the attendant stupid questions, the answers to which are usually sitting right there on the screen. And, by the way, if you can't read beyond a second grade level, the self scanners are not your friend.

I was behind someone the other day who got an error message on the screen that said "clear conveyor belt and scan last item again". Of course, she felt the need to call the attendant over because "I don't know what it wants me to do." Hmmm...I'm just guessing here, but I think it wants you to clear the conveyor belt and scan that last item again.

What do you think? Are my expectations unreasonable?

-e

Black Friday Tips for Next Year

It's strange to me that retailers are claiming an increase in Black Friday spending this year. Strange because the deals, for the most part, really sucked this year. So much so that this was the first year in more than a decade that I wasn't standing in someone's line in the middle of the night.

The only possible explanation for this year's sales being so successful is that they were pounced on by amateurs. Now, if you are one of those that rushed out this Friday, please don't get offended. All I'm saying is that those of us who are frugal all year looked at those pitiful offerings and scoffed. In fact, if you were paying attention (and I am always paying attention even when I pretend that I'm not) you could have gotten many of those same deals, better deals, or within a few dollars, in the few weeks prior to Black Friday. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Sears advertised a Sharp 46" 1080p LCD television as a door buster on Black Friday for $899. Best Buy advertised the exact same television (same model number) for the exact same price the week before Thanksgiving. Now, Sears has a price match policy. So, had you gone to Sears a week before Black Friday and shown them the Best Buy ad, you could have purchased that television for $899 minus 10% of the price difference (it was its regular price of $1300 at Sears that week). So, you would have actually paid less than the Black Friday price, and you wouldn't have to stand in those lines.

Don't get me wrong; there were a few good deals to be had, but none were worth standing on line for hours in the cold. In fact, Radio Shack was offering a Uniden DECT 6.0 4-phone system. It was one of the few items in this year's ads that I considered making a serious effort to get. However, did I really want to get out in the wee hours of morning just to squeeze into that tiny box that is characteristic of a Radio Shack store, get pushed and shoved by the other sardines, and hope that I was able to grab the item for which I came? Nope.

I'm going to share one of my secrets with you, so keep it between us, okay? Okay. You know those 2-day sales that happen after Thanksgiving? Well, they magically turn into 3-day sales online. Most items (not the door busters, though) are offered online on Thanksgiving Day or sooner. So, I ordered the phones from radioshack.com for the same price on Thanksgiving. I even got free shipping, so they're sending them right to my door. No standing on line, no being shoved, no tiny cell of a store, no dashed hopes.

The only ad that I thought was pretty decent this year was Wal-Mart's. But I avoid them on Black Friday like the plague. Yeah, the deals were good, but not good enough to have to deal with Wal-Mart's Black Friday clientele. I spoke about this Thursday over Thanksgiving dinner. Then, as if to illustrate my point, this happened on Friday:



Now, I'm not trying to lessen the responsibility of the shoppers who trampled that poor guy to death. But Wal-Mart could have prevented it.

Consider this: Best Buy has people lined up sometimes for days to get into their store of Black Friday. But you hardly ever hear of horror stories about mobs at Best Buy. Why is that? Because Best Buy knows how to control the crowd. They know exactly how many of each of their door busters are available, and they pass out tickets starting at the front of the line for those items a couple hours prior to opening the doors. This does two things: 1. it keeps people from rushing the door for those items since they won't sell them to you if you don't have a ticket anyway, and 2. it keeps people from rushing the door to get inside because those people who have been camped out for these items can now go sit in a warm car until the store opens.

But not Wal-Mart. They create this feeding frenzy atmosphere. It doesn't matter that you were first in line. What matters is how fast you can find your item once you're inside. So you might have been first in line, you might have been there for 12 hours, but you still might not get that item you wanted because the people behind you run faster. I won't even go into the pushing and shoving and the taking things out of other people's carts (though, admittedly, those aren't unique to Wal-Mart shoppers). It's crazy. And it keeps me out of Wal-Mart on Black Fridays. It's simply not worth the aggravation.

In conclusion, I offer the following tips for next year:

1. Your Black Friday shopping should begin several weeks before the actual day. Check sale prices of your desired items in advance to get the best deals.

2. Just because an item is a door buster doesn't mean it's a great deal. Do your research, and watch the sales ads.

3. Get deals online early. Shop the big retailers on Thanksgiving. If you can't get everything, you'll feel less pressured if you can take even a few items off your list. Plus, you'll be able to concentrate on door busters.

4. Get networked. You'll have a better chance of getting what you want. Usually, we have people at Best Buy, someone else will go to Toys R Us, someone will go to Target, etc. (None of us went this year because the deals sucked, though.)

5. If you really want something, get there early. Know what you're getting into. Don't show up at Best Buy an hour before they open and expect to get that uber-cheap laptop you saw in the ad. For that matter, don't show up at Best Buy at 2am and expect to get it either.

6. Don't waste your time on minuscule savings. In other words, don't camp out at Best Buy for 18 hours to get a web cam for half price. The doctor's bill for treating your pneumonia will more than negate the $15 you save.

7. Keep your cart with you, and don't turn your back on it. Guard your door busters like you guard your life. Like I said, I've seen people take things out of someone Else's cart. Heck, I've seen people take the whole cart!

8. Get in and get out. Black Friday is not the time for browsing. Know what you want before you get to the store. Grab your items, pay, and go on to the next store. Unless you're in Best Buy. You'll be there for hours...which is why you should seriously consider tip #4.

9. Stay the hell away from Wal-Mart until they get their act together. Just trust me on this one. But, if you insist on going there anyway, make sure you heed tip #10.

10. Leave the kids at home. This is especially true for Wal-Mart (if you must go). Kids can easily get trampled. I've even seen baskets with babies in them nearly toppled by eager deal-seekers. And you might have to stand in long lines, which requires an amount of patience that most children don't possess.

11. Take advantage of price matching policies. This is a good way to save money and time. There's no sense in going to 3 more stores to get deals if you can get them all at the same store.

12. Keep your receipts. Yeah, that game was a great deal when you got it for $25. But you'll be ill next week when you see it on clearance for $8. No biggie. Just grab the $8 one and return the higher priced one.

-e

McCain: Epilogue

Before too much time passes, I need to comment on John McCain's concession speech the other night. Most people I've talked to or read are in agreement that he was both magnanimous and gracious in defeat. I think so too. But I think I also detected something else.

To me, the man actually seemed relieved. He seemed more at ease and delivered his speech with a sincerity that his presidential campaign clearly lacked. He seemed more like the man who, in the 2000 primaries before he sold his soul to the neo-con agenda, many of us were hoping would beat out G-Dub for the nom.

A few weeks ago, I was watching some of the pundits on one of the news-at-all-hours channels. They were discussing Senator McCain's lack of eye contact with Obama. One of the pundits stated that he had it on good authority from someone who's known Senator McCain for years that the reason he wouldn't - or couldn't - look Obama in the eye was because doing so reminded him of all that he had compromised to become the GOP nominee. The pundit said he was told that McCain had become the type of politician he, himself, detested.

I thought of that as I watched his speech the other night, and I wondered if that wasn't why he appeared so content with the loss. Maybe he took some solace in the fact that the person into whom he'd transformed himself, the kind of politician that would do and say anything to win, was not the people's choice for President this time. Perhaps this was some sort of validation for the person he'd been all those years, his true self.

Admittedly, I could be reading way too much into it. It could be that what I saw was an aged man who was happy for a little downtime after months of keeping up an extremely frenetic schedule. Maybe he was just elated that the election was over, whatever the outcome.

I guess I'll never know.

-e

The Journey

This morning I slept for 10 whole hours. It's been a long while since I've gotten a peaceful night's sleep. When I woke up, I was startled that I'd slept so well and for so long. And then, suddenly, my grogginess cleared and I instantly knew the reason.

Barack Obama has been elected 44th President of the United States.

I hadn't realized how anxious I'd been about this election until I woke up this morning and missed the ever-present uneasiness that had occupied my mind for all those months.

It all started more than a year ago when I was channel surfing and happened upon C-Span. They were showing an Obama rally. I was immediately taken by the things this man was saying. It was as if he had seen into my thoughts, arranged them in eloquent succession, and validated them by speaking them to that large crowd.

Who was this guy? The bottom of the screen read "Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill". I remembered him. He's the guy that wrote those books, the best sellers I had been meaning to read. And I think he's on MySpace. He's running for President?

Not only did I go to the bookstore the next day, I began actually searching for interviews and speeches and added him as a friend on MySpace. It didn't take me long to realize that this man should be President.

I believed he should be President, but I didn't believe he could be President. I even resorted to the old, long-held justification that if he actually became President I would fear for his safety. Then Barack Obama appeared on the Tavis Smiley show. He stated that people shouldn't be so concerned for his safety that they don't vote for him. He said he had considered and discussed the dangers with his family, and they had all decided that this was something he needed to do. Since that was my last obstacle, I threw my support behind Obama.

Now, Tavis Smiley had asked Barack if he really thought he had any chance of becoming the Democratic nominee when he was trailing so far behind in the polls. He said he did, and that he was confident once he made his case to the masses they would vote for him. I chuckled. Did he really believe that? Naw, I concluded, but he has to act like he does. So, while he had my support, I wasn't very confident that anything would come of his candidacy.

A couple months later, during a telephone conversation with my mother, all hell broke loose. My mother, who was supporting Hillary Clinton at the time, said she was certain that I, too, was behind Hillary. I told her that I, in fact, was not. I said Barack was my guy. She went ballistic on me, and gave me every argument as to why I should support Hillary over Obama. I successfully rebutted each one. Then she said that, even if Obama were to win the party nom, there was no way he could get enough votes to win the general election. I agreed with that assessment, so she asked why I would waste my vote on someone who couldn't win. My answer was simple: Because I have to.

And I did have to because I believed in this man wholeheartedly. Ordinarily I hate politics, so I necessarily abhor politicians. But there was something different about this one. I felt like he understood what it was like to be me on a basic level. I felt his sincerity.

So I told my mother that Barack had my support, but that I'd end up voting for Hillary in the general election anyway. I had nothing against her. I just didn't feel her the way I did him. My mother got angry, didn't speak to me for two weeks, and -- although I can't prove it -- I think she briefly wrote me out of her will.

Then Obama won the Iowa caucuses and people really started paying attention to him, including my mother. My mother, a Texas resident, did cast her vote for Hillary, but she confided in me several weeks later that she wished she'd had that vote back. She now saw in Barack what I saw in him.

Ever since the Iowa caucuses, when it became clear that there was a real chance he could win the party nom, I've been anxious. Anxious for each caucus and primary result, for him to secure the nomination, for the convention, for the general election. I didn't even know I was so wound up until this morning when suddenly I wasn't.

I know that African-Americans everywhere are rejoicing in the history that is the first African-American to ever get elected to the highest office in our land. My mother called me in tears last night when they called the election for Obama, because she grew up in the Jim Crow south, where she wasn't allowed to go to school with Whites or even use the same bathrooms. She never thought she'd see this in her lifetime and was overcome by the moment. I understand that, and, though I never had to deal with Jim Crow, I felt every bit of that history last night.

But it was deeper than even that for me. For once in the past 8 years, the issues actually mattered. So much so that this country was able to look beyond its prejudices and elect the best person for the job.

And so I slept.

But this nation still has a long way to go. Last night was not a victory against prejudice and bigotry, as some have proclaimed. Instead, for a large group of people, it was bittersweet. As this country showed it could look past a history of preconceived notions about one group of people, it also demonstrated, at least in those states that denied gay couples the right to marry (especially in progressive California), that it is still willing to justify discrimination against another group.

So today we celebrate President-Elect Barack Obama. But there is clearly still work to be done. Our journey continues.

-e

p.s. Here are more photos from last night's acceptance speech:

Yes, We Did!

Wow! I'm overcome with the magnitude of Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the United States of America. I'll drop some wisdom on y'all about it tomorrow, when I can gather my thoughts more clearly. Besides, I'm completely spent tonight.

Meanwhile, here are some photos of America's new First Family:

The Candy Nazi

Did you hear about Shirley Nagel, the evil Candy Nazi lady who, on Halloween, refused to hand out candy to children of Obama supporters? In case you missed it, here she is in all her self-righteous glory:

As it turns out, this icky itch lives in Grosse Pointe Farms. My daughter and I were in Grosse Pointe trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

Shirley The Psycho and I have something in common: fortune smiled upon both of us when we did not cross paths that night.

You see, I have a temper. She clearly has no sense. That's a bad combination. Had she been mean to my child, had she caused my child to cry, you probably would've seen me in that video too...in handcuffs. And that McCrazy lady would've been trying to talk to that reporter through a broken jaw and missing teeth.

I know, I know. I'm supposed to turn the other cheek, rise above it all, be a better woman. Nope. Sorry. Mama don't play when it comes to her baby.

It has since been discovered that Shirley The Shrew was a Michigan delegate to the Republican National Committee this year. Now, I've been reading blogs where people are saying that this is "typical" of McCain/Palin supporters. Let me assure you, it is not. It's not even typical of McCain/Palin supporters in the Grosse Pointes. In fact, we trick-or-treated at several houses with McCain signs in their yard. They were all nice to the children and cordial to the adults. No, this was the unilateral action of a lunatic.

And, get this, she used to be a school teacher. How scary is that? Lucky for her she's already retired, because I'm certain there would have been thousands of angry letters from parents demanding her dismissal.

But, since she dodged that bullet, I offer the following information:

Shirley Nagel
465 Belanger St.
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236
313-884-2598

I'm not saying she should get bombarded with mail, but it wouldn't hurt for a few thousand people to express their indignation at the way she treated those kids. Clearly the neighbors can't stand her either. You saw how quickly they gave up her name to the press.

Anyway, I'm tired of thinking about that insane wretch. After all, Keith Olberman already named her Worst Person In The World. I'm going to put her out of my mind directly...right after I finish counting my lucky stars.

-e

Maybe It's Just Me

At some point, after John McCain announced he was pulling ads from Michigan, I figured I'd be spared the bitter back-and-forth that had previously overtaken my television set. Boy was I wrong.

Every state has their ballot initiatives, and Michigan is no different. But ours tend to be controversial.

Enter Proposal 2.

Now, even the name garners bad blood in Michigan because the last significant controversial ballot initiative that I remember was also called Prop 2, and it was seeking to end affirmative action in the state. Believe it or not, that bullshit passed by a 58% to 42% margin. I won't get into the specifics of that battle or the reasons why it slid through, but suffice it to say there was a significant amount of race-baiting and fear-mongering involved. That was two years ago.

This latest Prop 2 seeks to add a constitutional amendment which would allow for embryonic stem cell research in Michigan.

Now, as a science enthusiast myself, I am usually all for research. And, with two of the best medical schools in the country, Michigan State University and University of Michigan (U of M also ranks near the top for medical research), it seems appropriate that the state would adopt this amendment.

But, there are two sides to every story, and the other side has been making its case for months. Also, I like to make sure that I familiarize myself with the language before making a decision, as these ballot initiatives tend to be confusing and sometimes misleading.

Then this came on my television:

Did you see that? They invoked the Tuskegee Experiment. Maybe it's just me, but I think they did it for one reason: they hope to elicit a knee-jerk, emotional reaction from the many African-Americans they know will be voting in this state to help them defeat the proposal. Then, I find out that the ad is running in heavy rotation in the Detroit area, but not so much anywhere else in the state. Hmm...

Well, it worked on me, but not the way it was supposed to. I don't like to be manipulated. If I believe someone is trying to maneuver me into doing something, I will do the opposite just because. Before that commercial, I was willing to give the anti-Prop 2 folks a chance. Now, after that shameful, race-baiting, fear-mongering ad, I know I have to go with my first mind and vote 'yes' on Proposition 2.