I'm listening...

I decided that I should listen to President Trump's speech to Congress this evening, even though I'm not a fan and didn't vote for him. I accept that he is my president, and I must admit a lot of what he is saying sounds positive, and, I might add, positively presidential. I know he's right about the stock market being stronger than it was. Now I guess we wait and see if all of his promises can come to fruition. Of course, in fairness, in all my adult years voting for presidents, I don't remember any one who didn't make promises or any one who was able to deliver on all of them. This speech was so much more controlled and thoughtful (and dare I say well thought out) than some of his off the cuff comments and tweets. I'm still not a Trump fan but I do hope this is a sign of a new, more presidential attitude.

Thunder and crazy geese

Considering the very mild February we've had this year, I'm not feeling too bad that a trip to Florida that some friends and I had tentatively planned is not going to work out. It's feeling like spring can't be too far away, even including the really unexpected thunderstorms.  I'm evidently not the only being sensing that spring may be coming. The geese have been crazy around here, honking and squawking  and carrying on. I wouldn't mind this so much except, for some reason, they seem to fly in huge groups around my apartment building at midnight. Why midnight?  They always sound like they're having a great time. Who knew that geese had such a wild night life?

Oscar's anyone?

While flipping through the channels this evening I happened upon the Oscars just as the three stars form "Hidden Figures" were making a presentation for best documentary. I watched for a little while because I really liked "Hidden Figures" However they moved on to a different category, 'best supporting actress' and the winner, who wasn't anyone I was rooting for, launched into a thank you speech that went on and on and on, reminding me of why I don't watch the Oscars. Total Oscar watching time this year about 17 minutes, which may be a new record for me. I can't remember ever watching that much of the Oscars before.

Another opportunity missed

I love to watch "Antiques Road Show" but it always leaves me daydreaming. What if if found a fabulously valuable painting tucked in the rafters in my attic? What if one of many pieces of old silver or glassware handed down from my grandmother is really a rare old piece of incredible value? Is there a forgotten piece of jewelry tucked away somewhere? Then reality pops the 'what if'' bubble. I don't own a house so no rafters for things to hide in, I don't have anything particularly old and valuable, although, even as I say that I realize that, considering my age, anything I've owned since my youth is rapidly approaching antique status. Maybe all I need to do is wait a few more years. In the meantime, maybe I'll buy a power ball ticket - about the same odds of great wealth, I think.

something else going the way of the dodo bird?

I walked into the salon where I get my nails done this morning, and asked to borrow their phone book. The receptionist, who is not that young, looked at me blankly, then stammered that she didn't think they make phone books any more. Then she amended that to say she didn't think they had a phone book. However, when I explained that I needed a particular number because I thought I had left a credit card behind at the business I had just left, she quickly looked the number up on line and I was able to make my call.
I know that they do still make phone books because I have one from August 2016, but it only contains business phone numbers. Gone are the days when you could pick up a phone book and leaf through it to see if anyone in this town had the same last name as you. And, it's sad but true that, thinking commercially, it is much easier to Google a business phone number and get the phone number, driving directions, hours of operation and so much more information. Now I'm wondering, will there be a 2017 paper phone book? If not, at least we'll be saving a lot of trees.

It must have been an interesting sight

I said sure, I would pick up the balloons we were using for centerpieces for a church lunch this weekend. After all, it sounded like a pretty easy job. I went to Dollar Tree on Monday to order 48 large, shiny foil balloons and the little weights to attach them to for table decorations. Well, the decorative little weights were no problem. They were all in one bag that fit nicely on the passenger side floor of my car, The balloons, on the other hand, took up a whole lot of space in my little Fiat. The very helpful clerk helped me carry them out to my car and then we pondered how to get them all in. She had tied their strings together so we wouldn't loose any. To get the job done, she climbed into the back seat of my car pulling the balloon bundle behind her. As she crawled across the seat coaxing the balloons along, I stayed out side pushing more and more balloons into the car. She got out the other side, slammed the door, then ran around to help me stuff the last few into the car. We did get the door shut. Then I got into the driver's seat to drive downtown.. There were balloons beside me, behind me, all around me, which was fun except for the fact that it sharply restricted my side and back views as I drove. I do have a nifty back up camera that shows what's behind me but I didn't feel like driving the whole way in reverse. I made it safely to church, than goodness, but any other drivers glancing my way as I drove into town may have wondered what was going on. Maybe they thought I had the ultimate in multi color, always inflated airbags.

A perplexing statistic

I heard this comment on a morning news show earlier this week. They were expressing concern about the travel bans in or about to be put in place and concerned that foreign medical professionals would not be able to enter the United States. The statistic they quoted was "One in four doctors in the US is foreign born." Really, one in four??? I guess if someone had asked me I would have guessed one in ten.  One in four makes me wonder why their aren't more American born doctors? Don't our kids want to be doctors? Is the work too hard? Or could it be that this is one of those questionable statistics? A very wise person once said to me, "50% of all statistics are made up on the spot." Think about it.