This and That

There was an article in a local paper about a 44 y.o. woman in another part of the state who was arrested for drunk driving. At the time of her arrest she had her six grandchildren in the van. The article stated the children were all under the age of ten. Almost all the people commenting on the article were taken aback by the fact that she was 44 with 6 grandchildren. I was taken aback by the fact that she was driving drunk with her grandchildren in the car. Anyway,I have a story that beats that one.

After Jason was born I had to return to work when he was only a couple of months old. I decided that I couldn't take the pressure of a secretarial position (yes, that was before secretaries became personal assistants) so I applied at a local factory for a job that consisted of mind-numbing, repetitious tasks, but I could work my eight hours, leave, and not have to worry about working overtime with no extra pay and I didn't have to deal with government contracts and bureaucrats.

While working there I met a young woman who was 28, only a few years older than I was at the time. She mentioned that she had a new grandchild. I was dumfounded and my tact slipped a bit when I said, “How can that be? You are far too young to be a grandmother!” She said, “I was 14 when I had my daughter, and she was 14 when she had this baby.”

That means that the 44 y.o. could have been a grandmother when she was 34 if she and her child were 17 when they they had their first child.

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Things have certainly changed in the internet world. When I was introduced to this wonderful technology, I could play games for hours (I could hit over a million points playing Cubis) without paying. Now you can only play shortened versions of most games or pay for the games. You can play full versions on some sites but with interruptions for advertising. Everything seems to have a price attached.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Fixit and I were in the car with the radio playing. The song playing was “Bette Davis Eyes.” I have a particularly hard time understanding the lyrics. I said to Mr. Fixit, “It's sounds like she's singing about making “a crow blush.” That can't be right. I'm going to check the internet for the lyrics." Imagine my surprise when I found that while I could read the lyrics at all the sites I checked, I couldn't print them except on two different sites and all the sites were selling the music as ring tones. Geesh, I remember when you could download music from Napster without paying until the courts declared that wasn't quite kosher.

Now you have to subscribe to a lot of online newpapers, too. Years ago, I could read newspapers from my hometown. Now I would have to pay if I want to read anything published in the county. I can understand that, but please don'T make me pay and then make me crazy with those pop-up ads that blocker doesn't stop.

While I'm complaining, I would also like add a snotty remark about the crap (links that have nothing to do with the article you are reading) that pops up when you accidentally slide your cursor over highlighted words in news articles. That really drives me nuts! If the word “car” is highlighted, you get a little box with a link to Ford Motor Company or some such thing.

Now for a little positivity (is that a word?). There was a comment on my last post that was in Chinese. I tried something new. I highlighted the comment, right clicked and then hit “translate” on the menu, and almost instantly there was the translation. I was a bit disappointed that the comment was a bit strange. Maybe it lost something in the translation. But imagine, instant translation! Astounding!