Hearing that the groundhogs have predicted six more weeks of winter weather, all I can say is “Oh yeah, THAT’S what I’m talking about!” The weather has been uncharacteristically wonderful around here the past few days; I have to suggest that maybe it was a delayed January thaw. Regardless, I would be thrilled if the rest of the winter is like what we have had so far around here. Warm and mild. Just the way I like it!
How much longer can it last?
by Mary AnneWhen I listen to the news about how the U.S. Postal service is struggling to stay afloat, I think about all of the competition that it faces – the UPS and Fed Ex are the largest competitors for packages, and for letters and documents the competitors are fax machines and the World Wide Web. People nowadays have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to delivery services. Sometimes I start to wonder if actually putting mail in our residential mailboxes might become a thing of the past.
I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if home delivery of the mail was cut down to only a couple of days a week, or even eliminated completely in favor of people having to pick up their mail in a central location like cluster mailboxes at the intersections of their roads, or like commercial mailboxes in a post office or a general store, like in the old days when the post office was just delivering mail by pony express. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we would revert back to ponies, just that the mail delivery would end at the posts office and people would have to come get it from there.
Don’t taste the rainbow!
by Mary AnneIn the local Sunday newspaper, in the “strange but true” section, I was shocked to read of the misfortune of a New Haven Connecticut eighth grade honors student.
This honor student, who happened to be the vice-president of his class, bought a bag of Skittles candy from a classmate in school. This was a violation of the district-wide wellness policy implemented in 2003! Somebody apparently did not like this poor kid, and turned him in to the “authorities” for buying contraband candy.
This poor kid got suspended from school, was barred from attending an honors dinner, and was stripped of his title of class vice-president!
All because he wanted to “taste the rainbow!”
I think the punishment is a little bit harsh for this crime, don’t you?
My hearfelt prayers to Turkey’s earthquake victims
by Mary AnneI have been hearing about Turkey’s recent earthquake, and the devestation it has caused. What terrible, tragic news. Seems as if every time I turn around some terrible disaster is hitting someplace! Sometimes I wonder if the tragedies are coming faster and harder than they used to, or if I’m just now becoming more aware of them. If it’s me, I wonder if it is just because I’ve been so focused on my own little corner of the world that I haven’t paid much attention to anything beyond the boundaries of my own yard, or if it is because the information age is making it so much more “in your face” than it used to be.
Spread the word
by Mary AnneI can remember in college, taking a course in marketing. I found that course extremely interesting, and considered trying to change my major to marketing and get a job with an Advertising Agency when I graduated. I love to be creative, and like to think that I can be persuasive. When I was single I used to help my future husband and his boss John dream up of ways to advertise their business. The business was a small retail store called “Maine Audio” and it was in Waterville Maine.
Their biggest competitor was a company called “New England Music” and the competition was fierce! This was back in the 70′s, way before the Internet existed, so the biggest media for advertising back then was the newspaper, radio, and television. The advertising budget was very limited, however, so much of the marketing was “word of mouth.” But we had a lot of fun with local promotions, sponsoring events and contests. Not long after my husband and I married, he changed his career path and we lost touch with John. We heard that he died in a terrible automobile accident and the business closed up. That was very sad news to hear.
Today I was talking about my blogging with a lady at work; she suggested that I apply for a copy-writing job with a local catalog sales company. She told me that she used to work part time for them, helping them to write their catalog entries. I was intrigued with the idea, but it brought back memories of a “Jerry Seinfeld Show” where Elaine was working for a catalog company, helping to write their ads. Just the thought of doing something like Elaine did made me laugh!