Read the Book, Don't Wait for the . . .

So Borders entered Chapter 11. I don't mean of one of their tomes, either. Three local stores will be closing. I did get a very nice email from the CEO telling me that just because they can't make it in this economy doesn't mean they won't still be selling books. You can visit here for more information. They blame the economy and the electronic reading devices for the failure of the brick-and-mortar stores. People just aren't reading the way they used to. Sure, they read, just not paper. There are some old-fashioned holdouts like me who like paper copies. It's partly because I like the tactile experience, but more because I'm cheap. Sure some e-books are free or not expensive to download, but I don't want to pay for the reader. Not when I can buy library discards at 5 for $1.50 like I did a couple days ago.
I was also pondering: I had a conversation with someone recently about children who are more likely to read. If a family has many books, a child is more likely to read, even above children who are taken to the library. The logical conclusion is that books must be important if one is going to keep them around. Even more important if you bring copious amounts home only to take them back within a couple of weeks. So what does this mean for a person whose library is inches thick? I could download all 3,000+ books, without taking an inch of shelf space; I've paid for them, but is my child going to see that? Hmm. . . Just pondering.

Your Wife's a Phenomenal Asset

Why do I suddenly have the lyrics for "Rainbow Tour" from Evita running through my head? And why would you go overseas for your husband's birthday--without him? Maybe I just don't understand politics.

What's the Deal?

Deals just aren't what they used to be. Remember the days when a restaurant coupon was "Buy one dinner (and maybe 2 drinks) and get one free"? Like, say, last year? Now it's buy one, get one for $4.99, $5.99; something that isn't much of a deal at all. I'm not an economist, but I'm guessing that the driving factor behind these poor deals is the economy. They need to make money, too, and giving away free meals isn't going to do it. On the other hand, in such an economy, a person is less likely to take up the offer. Five bucks when it used to be free? No, thanks.
Now comes the worst deal I've stumbled across yet: Hometown Buffet charging for drinks. Sure, again they've got to make money, and this is a way to not raise the buffet price but still make money. Honestly, though, adding an Icee machine and a cappucinno machine to a formerly free beverage bar doesn't seem to justify the $1.79 (plus tax). Now you can blame me, we went there, we paid for the buffet and the beverage bar. On the other hand, I had a coupon the terms of which, incidentally, stipulated that one had to purchase the beverage bar to recieve the advertised price. What a deal.

A Refugee, Slain

Coming from a war-torn country to America. You'd expect this story to have a happy, prosperous ending in the land of the American Dream. This story broke my heart. A family flees a war-torn country only to have a 15-year-old son gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
Parts of the story stuck out in my mind. "Many of them don't have dads, but [the refugee students] write about them as if they were still alive." Here are families who had dads, but they're dead, not dead-beat. Widows and orphans.
"All sought the roomy and cheap accomodations of the apartment complex. . .in a neighborhood that did not always welcome outsiders and is known for its violence." The refugees have struggles finding housing for their large families without credit or work history, so they take what they can get.
"Those close to [the victim] described him as the self-designated man of the house and an honor roll student sho talked of college and eventually going back to Eritrea to improve his home country." Here is the kind of person who wants to work to make the world better.
Why did it take a whole month for this incident to get front page press? You can put on your "Visualize World Peace" and "Coexist" bumper stickers, but until we face the realities of strife, we cannot solve it. This incident happened not "somewhere over there" but within my own metro area. Sure, it's easy enough for me to sit in my little suburban home and blog about it. Let it be known that my indignance is enough for me to sit here and blog about it. What will it motivate you to do? One person's motivation can be another's and another's and another's. I hope it will motivate someone to welcome a refugee instead of shooting them. Forget that which divides us and let's start living as people in a civilized country where we are above gunning down teenagers who fled warfare in an uncivilized country. I'd put that on my bumper sticker, but it won't fit.

Spare and Spoil?

To spank or not? A new article affirms not. Spanking, it asserts, is ineffective. My generation (Gen X) was one that was hit-or-miss with spanking. My parent's generation, that was another story. Yet, my parents' generation was more respectful (on the whole) to their parents than mine. Was it because we weren't spanked? Not really. It was because our parents had that "question authority" period known as the '60s to change their minds. Is it any wonder their kids began to question their authority? "Who are you to tell me what to do?" The reaction was not, "because I'm the parent" but rather, "I guess I can't make them do what they don't want to, that's not fair/nice/reasonable." Over the years we've paid for it--just look at school discipline--when I was doing teaching practicum in college, a student at one of the practicum schools threw a desk (no kidding)! Would a spanking have helped? He probably would have called the authorities and accused the spanker of abuse. Resentful kids know all the tricks.
Here's a thought, though: If you aren't going to spank, DO SOMETHING. (Pardon the all caps, but there is still discipline between spanking and nothing.) Kids will not behave on their own. They need guidance. Not lectures, not empty threats, not letting it go until it gets to a point where it can't be ignored. Here's my shameless plug: try Love and Logic. My parents didn't know about it, but they followed many of the principals without knowing it. Sure, they spanked too, but they knew a spanking was not a cure-all for every misbehavior. Let me tell you about the pile of rocks we picked up because we were misbehaving--on second thought, maybe I shouldn't admit so much.

Vocation

I am not desirous of disparaging our brave military personnel. They put their lives on the line every day to protect freedom.
I will, however, bring up the question of women in the military. I think of the line from The Pirate Movie where the father says, "With women leading our armies, we'll never have another decent war again." I'm not saying women don't have the ability; however, is it something they should be doing? Take this case: why should women have to choose between family and military? I don't think we should point the finger at the military, however. One who enlists basically knows what they're getting in to, and families will have to be left behind. There seems to be a growing trend of single moms enlisting because of the economic benefits; yet, what about the children left with others while mom goes into potentially deadly situations. Sure, dads do that too, but usually there is a surviving parent. Not so with single moms (ok, sure the dad may be around somewhere, but obviously not involved with the child's life).
Those who push for women to be equal to men (not equality but EQUAL) would reject this antiquated notion, but just because "we girls can do anything" doesn't mean we should. Maybe that's just another sign that my thinking hasn't evolved.

My Pick for Oscar

I want Up in the Air to win. Mostly because it was filmed locally and has a story line apropos to the times. I have a feeling that Avatar will win because it has all the special effects and the story line leans more to the direction in which those voting for the awards prefer.

I can't truly say which movie has more cinema qualities like acting and story line and the like, as I have not actually gone to a movie in a theater since 500 Days of Summer, which was the first I'd seen since I don't remember when. Hence, I can only base my opinion on the reviews I have heard and read. Maybe that's a poor reason to pick a movie for an Oscar, but it seems that some of the best movies always just miss winning the Oscar. Perhaps Mr. Clooney can remember that when the largest grossing movie of all time takes the little statuette.