Wanderings of a Small Mind

I know many of my DW friends are tea drinkers so I figured this would be the place to get an informed opinion. Several of the folks I work with drink tea and we have sampled tea from many purveyors of fine teas. We have a clear favorite but we also realize that others may have something to offer that we just haven't hit on yet. After all it is difficult to sample all teas from all sellers so the chances of missing something special are pretty high.

( What's your favorite cuppa? )

Making the January return to work with no holiday time off in site bearable.

( The bear necessities )

Still reeling from the bullying of the bus monitor video and the apathetic response of a young (barely legal) man in our office. He basically shrugged and said it was no big deal. He said "That stuff goes on all the time and it's only a big deal because the press got ahold of it".

No! F'N NO!! It's WRONG when anybody does that to anyone else whether the press get ahold of it or not!!!! It is a big deal!!!!

He said it happened all the time when he was in school and when I asked him what he did about it he said nothing. Basically because it happened all the time and was no big deal! When I asked him if he thought it was wrong he just shrugged. How can you be so apathetic to another person's pain?

I was bullied when I was a kid and I know that a certain amount of that will always go on. I was fortunate that I had great parents that taught me not only how to deal with it but to stand up for others who were being bullied. I realize that not all parents are wise in that way but I don't think teaching your kids decency and respect for their fellow human is anything extraordinary.

I also know I am of a different generation and a bit old fashioned but I don't feel I am an exception to a rule. This goes straight to matter of human decency and I find it completely mind boggling that parents are not teaching their kids this kind of stuff.

Which brings me to the question of where are the parents of these kids? Not a peep from them in the press. If I'd have done that my parents would have been all over this. They would have made a very public statement and made sure I made not only a private apology, but a public one as well, and I probably would have been working for that woman for free into adulthood!

And then there is the child behaviorist who said that public embarrassment and punishment would be counterproductive. WHAT! It's that kind of bull-thinking that raises kids that would do this kind of thing! Then what does she suggest?!?!? Here , go sit in your comfortable air conditioned room with your cell phone, iPad, computer, TV, mini fridge, iPod, etc. etc, and think about what you've done. And the scary thing is, the kid would probably feel that this was an overreaction and that it is truly a punishment!

I'm not sorry to say that some kids need a good spanking on a regular basis. Spanking mind you, not beating, there is a difference and we have lost sight of that.

And how do you discipline a child when they fear nothing. You touch me and I'll call child service on you. Send me to my room, I'll tell them you lock me up and don't let me eat or use the bathroom. We have protected them to the point of creating monsters and I am not sure there is a way back, we may have reach a point of no return.

The world really is coming to an end. Or at least it should be when kids are treating people in that manner and see nothing at all wrong with that. It's appalling enough when adults do it but when our children see nothing wrong with it the end is nigh!

So much more I could say but I'll step off my soap box for now.

As with many folks I have made New Years Resolutions and one of them is to get in here and post more often. I also made a resolution to not give up on resolutions just because I haven't accomplished them from day one of the new year. So here we go...

And unfortunately I start with a rant.

( Sensitive folks may want to turn away now )

Into the stew. :|

As is always the case, since taking up residence here my schedule is no better than before. I am almost hoping for an early, winter filled with lots of snow so I can remained trapped at home and catch up on all things web.

I am still figuring out the lay of the land here and I apologize to anyone I have not granted the right privileges to yet. I'm not even sure there is a way to PM or email me here but a post here will do the job too.

Here is an amusing story that could help explain at least part of the astronomical rise in health care costs over the last decade or so.

( At no cost to you! )

A drabble. Completed January 11. 2007.

Title: Mom
Fandom: House MD
Characters or Pairing: Young House and his mother.
Rating/Genre/Warnings: Anyone and everyone, Gen, and none.
Summary: A young House wishes he were somewhere else.
Disclaimer: As long as we're just having fun it's okay right. Right?! I don't own House MD and do not intend any infringement or disrespect to those who do.

( Mom )

I know I've dropped off the planet since my last post. It was not my intention but RL took an interesting turn (more on that later). But today I wanted to pop in and do a test as well as show off my new baby. No, not a real baby, that's not the "interesting turn", but my new Dell Mini 9 netbook!

I know, you're thinking 'What's the big deal'? The big deal is I took the plunge and got it with Linux Ubuntu instead of Windows. Right now I am just checking my regularly visited sites, getting them bookmarked, and making sure I can see and use them in Firefox.

I know most sites are compatible these days but there are still some place out there where one can encounter problems. Luckily, right now, I am batting 1000! Everything has worked as before.

Well, it.s off to bed early and a cold, snowy weekend of experimentation. I'll be back in a few days with my RL story, my review of the Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu, and maybe, just maybe a short fic.

Okay, so we didn't build. I said the hell with it and went looking for someone else's used and rejected home. A year. pardon me, much more than that if you consider all the time between the idea of burning down the old homestead and actually closing on the new place, has passed since I started the search for home answers.

I'm still here somewhere! RL is a crazy thing you know?! And being the closet perfectionist that I am, I need to research every minute detail before I actually move forward with anything ( I've been planning on building a house now for three years!). After all, if my name is going to be on it, it has to be perfect! LOL! Wouldn't want people to think I'm uncivilized ;)!

Besides that, it goes right along with my procrastination streak. Kind of like the chicken and the egg thing, I'm not sure which came first (of my tendencies that is, the chicken was obviously first). Of course this is all in direct correlation to my "fear of failure" tendencies! If I never start it, I can't fail at it! Brilliant, I think I'll have a Guinness. What complex beings we humans are! So smart yet so dumb.

Anyhow, for those interested or looking for relief from insomnia, I started this place mainly because I wanted to joined some communities here at LJ and had no clue what to do with this, still don't really. I'm not even sure what this is other than a personal webpage/blog area. I'd appreciate a better explanation if you've got one.

Yeah, right now you're thinking "Who's this pathetic old fart?" or "Woohoo, fresh dumb meat to play with! Let's bookmark it and poke it regularly with a big pointy stick. Later we can use the sun and a magnifying glass and..."

But I have to believe, from my experiences elsewhere at LJ and across the web in general, that there are a ton of really great, helpful, kind people out there that will tolerate my beginners ignorance and kindly guide me in the ways of the web.

I am truly open to any real help or legitimate suggestions (go ahead and be goofy, just not stupid and sick).

And thanks runawayhouse for prodding me back into working on this!

Seeking a Sensei (WOW, does that sound like a line from a desperate personal ad or what?!)
rt