April 2007

I guess I asked about a “Hot Topic” yesterday and that’s why my question caught Rosie O’Donnell’s eye when she was scanning through her “Ask Ro” section on her blog.

Rosie was unable to come to terms with ABC to extend her contract (she wanted a one year contract, they wanted a three year), so she has decided to leave “The View” at the end of her current contract on June 21 of this year. She has said on her site all along that it was up to a family vote, and her family voted for a one year contract or none at all.

I stand by my statement yesterday in that I believe she can be a more powerful voice without the constraints of ABC, Barbara Walters (et al) and the FCC through her blog and perhaps a satellite radio talk show or pay-per-view show like “Politically Incorrect”.

Best wishes to Rosie and Kelli and their family. I look forward to keeping up with the O’Donnells through her blog. Call me about lunch.

Vidcast

I am sitting at the Acura dealer waiting for the RSX to pass it’s yearly state inspection. It’s rare for me to be sitting at a car dealer actually waiting for my car, as I usually drop the car off the night before and pick it up after hours when the work has been completed. Since I’m a full-time student now, I get to experience this new perspective on auto service.

One of the interesting aspects of this experience is that my mother works at this dealership. She works in the office as the main receptionist for the entire operation here and her voice is often heard throughout all buildings as she makes pages over the intercom. I’m having flashbacks to my teenage years when she used to yell through the house, “Supper’s ready!” and “John, do your homework!” When my sister and I would get her fired up she’d yell at the top of her lungs, “I’m going to scream!” That would usually send us running. For extra effect she might have grabbed a wooden spoon off the kitchen counter, but I don’t remember ever getting swatted with it. You know, it’s funny but we never really thought she meant “no” unless she rattled every dish in the house when she said it.

She doesn’t use that same bullhorn approach here at the car dealership.

Since the dealership is going out of their way to make their customers comfortable, they have some cushy ergonomic type chairs here in the waiting room. They’re currently in use. I’m wondering if it would be rude of me to slip into one of these chairs while the businessman currently using it steps away to talk on his cell phone. I’ve already overheard two of his conversations and both of them had to do with golf. He’s been trying to put together a foursome. No tee-times are available until 3:00 p.m. today. It might be raining then. His buddy is going to try to pull some strings.

The other nicety they have in this waiting room is a 27-inch television, though I would be really impressed if it was plasma or LCD (it’s not). I’m watching “Today”. It’s my first time seeing Meredith Viera on the show. I guess she’s o.k. One thing that’s frightening is that Gene Shalit is reviewing “Hot Fuzz” and I noticed that his mustache and my former mustache were very close to the same style. I don’t find it attractive on him.

I’ve often mentioned that I am a *huge* fan of Rosie O’Donnell. She gives a lot to the world, especially children, she’s concerned about our country, she does positive things with her celebrity status and I believe in much the same way she does on many topics.

I often visit her site and occasionally submit a question. Imagine my surprise today:

While I am quite content in submitting a question to Rosie and getting it answered, I really wish that Earl and I could sit down and with Rosie and Kelli for lunch someday, just for lunch with no gushing, no pictures, no autographs and have a simple conversation.

“What can we do to help further your charitable causes?”

As a full-time college student for nearly a semester, I’ve been noticing something on campus that is relatively disturbing.

Some of the staff here are just downright rude to students.

Now I have not observed any instructors being rude to their students, however, it seems that there are some support staff that are just plain cranky.

When I first registered for classes in January, I had a few questions that needed to be answered. After all, I had not been to college in 20 years and I wanted to make sure that everything was in order so that I would start the semester on the right track.

When I went to the registration desk, the attendant there acted like I had just stepped off of a garbage truck and I had hunks of wilted lettuce hanging from my ears. I consider myself to be a fairly nice person, but this woman wasn’t buying into my pleasantries, she didn’t smile back, she didn’t say “please” or “thank you” and quite frankly it seemed that she just didn’t care to be there.

I chalked it up to a bad day on her behalf.

Unfortunately, I have noticed this trend continuing with various people on campus. For example, today I went to the library to finish up some research for one of my class projects. One would think that the person at the “Information” desk would be a helpful person, full of friendly advice and tips on the Dewey decimal system. No. I was wrong. When I asked a question about one of the research databases she threw a tattered piece of paper in my direction and said in an exasperated, “you’re a moron” voice, “It’s all right here.” Of course I kicked into Sarcasmo mode and said, “You’re absolutely right. Would you like to read it to me?”

She was not amused.

So I politely thanked her and walked away.

It seems that some of the support staff on this campus are bothered by the fact that there are students milling around here in these halls. I find this disheartening. If I’m feeling this much disrespect as a 38 year old student, I can’t imagine to think how the younger students are being treated.

We scream that the younger generation has no class or respect for their elders. It’s a shame that there are many that choose not to lead by example.

Today is April 22 and that means it’s Earth Day. Always trying to do my part to make the world a better place and to humbly respect our Universe, I replaced all of our table and desk lamp incandescent bulbs with the compact fluorescent variety. These types of lightbulbs are more expensive to purchase, however, they last much longer than regular bulbs and they use considerably less electricity. They also generate less heat. I intend on replacing all our lightbulbs with this variety as our budget permits.

I do worry that I’m starting to show my age by doing this lightbulb replacement routine, as I distinctly remember my maternal grandmother replacing all her table lamp lightbulbs with these odd mini-ring type fluorescent bulbs that flickered a little bit and made a barely perceptible high-frequency whine. She did this several years before slipping into dementia and I’m pretty certain the two weren’t related.

She was just ahead of her time when it came to saving the Universe.