Life Made Easier

Our lives today are enhanced by the numerous inventions that man has created. So today I salute those men and women who have made our lives just a little easier. I'm not talking about the obvious inventions like electricity, the wheel, telephone and television, I mean the ones we don't readily think about. So I say thank you to the people who made the following things:

1. The little plastic rings at the end of shoe laces so they don't come unravelled.

2. The navigation system. Now those men don't have to swallow pride and ask for directions.

3. The home water filter.

4. The Smoothie King

5. The power outlet you can plug in your car to charge things

6. The tape dispenser.

7. Condoms

8. paper clips

9. The tip card

10. Pill boxes

11. Velcro

12. Thank you Eli Whitney for making the Cotton Gin!!

13. 3 ring binders

14. recycling

15. baby powder

16. Video Games

17. flash cards

18. The vacuum that sucks all the junk out of your computer keyboard

19. QVC

20. The Food Network

21. File Cabinets

22. white out

23. Time-Out

24. disposable diapers

25. Epidurals

26. Anesthesia

27. upholstery

28. carpet

29. bug spray

30. the new energy saving light bulbs

31. George Foreman Grill

32. Bluetooth

33. email

34. text messages

35. websites

36. the Internet itself

I could go on for hours but who has that much time?

Language Disconnect

In my job I take calls daily from families interested in adopting children. I have the children logged according to numbers and letters. When I get these calls I ask for the last 4 DIGITS of the id number. Most often than not the caller responds...010B. When did the letter B become a digit? So I respond so the last 4 Digits are 3010? Yes, that's it, they respond. When it happened yesterday, it started me to thinking about other things we do and say that are just backwards. For instance:

1. Mash that Button: You Mash Potatoes, you press buttons

2. Cut out that light: You cut vegetables, you turn off lights

3. I'm fixin to: Fixin to what? Don't you fix items or food?

3.5 Hey, you don't fix food! You prepare food, you fix things that are broken. LoL!

4. I have a great ideal: opposed to great idea.

5. Why is daytime drama called Soap Operas?

6. Why do we look at the radio when we are really listening as though we can see the image or see through the radio into the studio?

7. Why do we talk louder when the cell phone is cutting up as if the louder volume will make the other person understand better?

8. Why do we say the cell phone is cutting up instead of saying the signal is fading.

9. Why do we talk louder when we can't hear someone. They aren't the ones with the problem.

10. Why do we always nod our heads, smile and say yes when we don't understand what someone is saying to us. We could be agreeing with anything.

11. Why are bill collectors nasty and rude. Don't they realize that pissing people off doesn't get the bill paid?

12. Why do people call you back when you tell them you will call them back?

13. Why do people call you with nothing to say? Stay off the phone!

14. Why do people answer text messages but not the phone?

15. Why do we walk all over the house looking for the television remote instead of getting up to change the channel?

oops, forgot one!!

16. Why do we yell at the television during sporting events as though the player and/or coaches can hear us?

This is all I can think of at this moment. If you have more, please leave a comment and lets share a laugh today!

Something for Nothing? Don't Think So!

With the economy being what it is, this blogger has seen her fair share of heartache and debt. I feel like I keep playing an LP with a scratch in it ( like my Michael Jackson Off the Wall where it was scratched on Don't stop Til you Get Enough after he said Wooo!...Wooo!, Wooo!, Wooo!.) by continuing to blog about this stuff, but someone has to keep drawing attention to it or the powers that be will continue to ignore us.

Again, with the economy being so bad everyone is looking for ways to make extra income. With that being said, Con artists are taking advantage of our desire to get ahead and make life comfortable for our families. I'm not talking about those stupid emails you get promising you exorbitant amounts of money if you give them your bank acct number and help them cash these supposed checks that their country can't cash. Anyone who falls for that is very stupid. Well, maybe not stupid, but more so desperately desperate and at the end of their rope. Well, wait a minute...that's 6o% of Americans. Unemployment is on the rise, Gas is astronomical, Food prices are ridiculous and salary raises are stagnant. So I guess, its easy for us to become targets of buffoonery.

Every time we check our faxes or open our emails our in boxes are full of emails advertising...Work for home, Make thousands a week, get into the real estate game, Live the life you want, Hollywood wants you to be in their next movie, claim your free Dell computer, we got your resume, Visit Orlando, Daytona and Mexico for $99/ per person etc. How is all this possible? Its not. Let's pick these examples apart...

1. Work From Home: I admit, yes me, the wise one has been burned by this one on more than one occasion. First, it was stuff envelopes and we'll pay you so much a week for how many envelopes you stuff. So my mom and I sent the money order in for the kit. What came in the mail was a list of companies we could work for and a tutorial on how to place an ad in the paper and get other fools to do the same thing we just did and get paid for it. Meaning, the person that sent us our kit got paid to mail our kit to us. Get it...stuffing envelopes. Never mind that they portrayed themselves in a manner that led us to believe they would mail us a thousand pieces of mail and a thousand envelopes and it would be our job to assemble and stuff and mail. What happened? Nothing, the bank wouldn't stop the money order because a police report was needed, the company had an F rating with the Better Business Bureau with hundreds of complaints from others they had scammed out of their monies.

On another occasion, I got an email to work from home, making calls for an insurance company. They had a website, with so-called testimonies from satisfied users and copies of supposed checks. Problem... F rating with Better Business Bureau, unsatisfied users and no customer service number available to call. Needless to say I ran far, far away and deleted all correspondence.

2. Live the Life you Want: Again, these people try to get people to sign up to get the "secret" to wealth and how they are all so happy. Problem, only the company is getting rich because the consumers are paying for the "secret" and the "secret" is a big "Gotcha!" The consumer can't get their money back in most cases and the website owners are laughing all the way to the bank. Come to think of it, those photos and testimonies probably are real, they are the website/companies owners bragging on how they have scammed thousands of people out of their hard earned dollars. Bustas

3. Hollywood wants You: Well, well, well, yours truly got burned by this one too. Being that my friend is an actor and has worked on several movies as an extra in his day, I felt this one was safe. However, I didn't think about the fact that he has an agent that sends him on these jobs. I got an email saying I could have a Hollywood website where agents would see me and I would get notifications about movies being filmed in my area and could go be an extra. I took the bait cause in my day I've worked on a movie or two ( through the film commission mind you) and made $150/day or more. So, I knew it was possible. So I signed up for the special offer of $1.95 to get started and get your site. What they failed to tell me was that my credit card would continuously be charged month after month for $49.95 and they would not send not one listing. When I tried to cancel the membership, I was told that those were the terms and I should have paid more attention. However, there were no terms, you had to sign up and pay first and get correspondence later to read over..like 2 days later. Why was I so stupid to fall for it? Because I wanted extra income to help cover mounting, never ending, household bills that my job nor my Bachelor's and Master's Degrees aren't paying. I wanted to work in the field I went to school for, get paid and network so I could stay in the field. I was totally taken advantage of because of my desperate desire to succeed. Again F rating on the BBB! Happy Ending though, my credit card company did shut it down. Amen!

4. Claim Your Free Dell Computer: We've all fallen for this one. We get an email claiming we've won something spectacular. Something we probably can't afford to just buy outright. So we click on it and see what it says. Well, guess what? You have to answer 50 different surveys and join offers and advertisements so people can start telemarketing you and you never make it to the damn prize, but what has happened? About 20 different companies now have your name, address and phone number and they start calling you 30 mins after you get tired and close out the email. This really started happening after we all called the "Do Not Call" number and deleted our numbers from the telemarketing database. This was a slick way for companies to get us back because hey...we signed up for it right? I don't know a sole that actually got any product advertised. What we have gotten is Brad calling from xyz insurance with great quotes or Kevin from See and Do Orlando who has a great vacation package for us to pay for.

5. We Got Your Resume: Just today I got an email from a company that I sent a resume to off Career Builder. Me thinking that this is a reputable employment website and the companies represented were reputable I applied for a job. I got an impressive email stating they received my resume and they were very impressed. So much so that they had forwarded it to upper management and were seriously considering me for an interview next week. Sounds great right? Wrong. In order for them to finish "processing" my resume within their company I had to sign up for and receive information about higher education, IE..online universities. "Because the company values the desire to further education within their employees and compensate for this and provide tuition reimbursement". So, I signed up against my better judgement and started the surveys. It was page after page of universities not offering the degree I wanted, so I got annoyed and stopped. What happened? I got a call about an hour ago from Kevin in the higher education department wanting to speak with me. Any word from the supposed job? Heck no.

Since I applied for quite a few jobs, I got another email from a jewelry company( that I never applied to) saying they viewed my resume on Career Builder and wanted to hire me. Impressive. Well, its a jewelry manufacturer in Europe and they pay $85,000 base. Base? That means commission job or something. The email ended in...email me back if you want more info on the job and don't reply to this one but to this email instead. Also, there was no phone number to call or a company address or nothing. Why do people keep playing with my emotions?

6. Visit Orlando/ Daytona etc.: Boy do I really feel foolish after writing this. I've learned just how gullible or naive I really am. I got a fax at work about a wonderful vacation package to Disney for 7 days and with it came 3 other vacations to Daytona, Vegas and Jamaica. Since my friend and I had just come from Jamaica and definitely wanted to go back, I jumped on the offer. It cost me $354.00. Needless to say, we never got to use the package, because when I called to use it, I couldn't reach anyone, blackout dates etc. The package expired, although if I had paid an additional $75 I could have extended the package for another year. I didn't. But what I did do is like a fool, is accept another package and agree to pay another $125 for a year and got a whole slew of new vacations. Problem...they charged my acct when they were not supposed to and I had to fight to get them to give me my money back and I cancelled the package. The lady that sold me the package called me and told me how she lied to me when she sold the package and told me that she and her daughter had gone and loved it. She lied about how easy it would be to use it and how many satisfied customers she had. I actually was her third call of the day and all of her customers were very unsatisfied and wanted their money back. Realizing that she was representing a fraudulent company she vowed she was leaving before the Feds shut down the company and hauled her off the jail with the management. Laughable. She was a sista from NC. Why are these companies able to get away with this stuff? Because the Feds don't care cause we, the consumers, don't speak up. I'm actually looking at an offer fresh off the fax this morning...

11 Day Magical Vacation... 5 days and 4 nights in Orlando plus 3 days and 2 nights in Daytona Beach and F. Lauderdale, plus 3 days and 2 nights Bahamas Cruise with a Bonus: 5 days Cancun or 7 days Puerto Vallarta..All this for $99 per person. Sounds Too Good to be true right? It is!

The only people getting rich are these bustas scamming the rest of the hard working public. I'm beginning to think that there are not any more legitimate jobs available other than the dead end, no paying ones we are currently working. Everyone wants to be able to call their own shots and be their own bosses cause the ones we work for are crazy and credit stealing, but is this really possible?

Is There Really a Such Thing as an Affordable Vacation?

With everyone singing the same sad song of seemingly never ending brokeness, is it really feasible to take your family on a full filling, fun-filled vacation? My answer is no. Every time you turn on the television you see commercials for vacations...Disney, Vegas, Jamaica etc. Steve Harvey is forever telling us we can afford to travel in style and treat our families. He is also telling us we can afford to eat healthy, but that's another blog by itself. I understand the tourism industry trying to stay viable in this day and time but what about the working family? Our finances aren't viable enough to actually pull off these vacations. Now I admit, a few years ago, I was balling out of control...taking trips to Jamaica, LA every year, Vegas, Santa Fe, Albuquerque etc. It was fun and I had the time of my life. I really did. But, I should have savored the moments because I haven't been on vacation in 2 years now. The economy has quickly crumbled into the molting mound of debt and heartache it is today. Even the tears of the many can't reverse this action and Disney wants us to spend 1600 for a family of four for 7 days. In normal times this may not be bad but now...forget about it! Unless you live in the Orlando area you will spend much more than that because you have to get there in the first place.

So maybe my sights are set too high in wanting to take my son to Disney. So how about a trip to Myrtle Beach? Well, let's see.

Gas round trip and there: $175 - at current Gas prices of $3.85/gallon

Hotel Accommodations (2 nites): $270 - at average hotel prices not including taxes

Spending Money $200 - including food, and attractions- no shows

Total for a 2 day wknd- 2 1/2 hrs away $645- for me and my son alone.

For me to pull this off I would have to either not pay the rent, which would cover it, or not pay the light bill, the car payment, and the cell phone bill. Then I could pull it off. That's a shame.

So how do we achieve that much needed rest and relaxation without breaking the bank and neglecting household bills? My guess is aim low, plan small and simple. I suggested a camping trip to my neighborhood state park. I have Sesqui park right across town. So let's figure up that trip...

Gas round trip: $ 35 - can get there and back on 1/2 tank or less

Tent $ Free- my job has one I can borrow

Food $ 75 - including grill, and hot dogs with fixins

Bedding $ Free - I own a blow up mattress

Cooler $ Free - I own one

Camping fee $ 25

Total Cost of neighborhood camping trip: $135.00 for me and my son alone

Now will this trip provide much rest or relaxation? Probably not because my son is scared of the dark and there won't be a night lite. He's scared of bugs and hello, its in the woods. He's full of energy and there won't be much to do but run around. There is no power therefore no movies etc. But hey, its cheap and its a getaway!

Is this what we vacation enthusiasts have been reduced to? Camping in your seemingly backyards? God please help us. I want to go back to Vegas, visit Hawaii and go to my sister's graduation in Los Angeles soon! There has to be rest for the weary that's not six feet under. Actually a friend told me they don't dig six feet anymore, so maybe 4 feet under. But who wants to vacation that way? Anybody got any suggestions?

Its Blazing Hot....Why?

For the past few weeks, many of us have been experiencing record breaking temperatures, which have altered our daily lives. We are carefully planning activities that require being outside as little as possible. I think we can literally fry an egg on the sidewalk with a side of bacon. I'm sure our electric company is loving the extreme temps cause that means more money for them. But, why is it so hot? Well, I have a theory...flow with me.

Some of the most amazing events of our lives have been happening and shocking the world. All we can say is Damn...that's hot. All of this heat has to manifest itself somewhere. Don't believe me? Read on....

1. Sen. Barack O'Bama won the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States. That's huge, historical, electricity and excitement building. In other words...Damn...that's hot.

2. Hillary Clinton lost. A Bush or Clinton will not be on the Presidential Ballot. (They thought they were shoo-ins didn't they?) Damn....that's hot.

3. The Lakers and the Celtics are in the NBA Finals!! Need I say more. Damn...that's hot!

4. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson got divorced. Damn...that's hot!

5. Gas prices are so high we are walking and biking. Damn...its hot!

6. Angelina Jolie is having twins adding to her already multi-ethnic household. Damn...that's hot.

7. Jay-z and Beyonce got married making them a super duper power couple. Damn...that's too hot.

8. Jill Scott designed the Butterfly Bra for us Beautifully Bodacious Sistas. Damn....that's so hot.

9. The Kelly J. Hunter Group was introduced to the world. Damn...that's on Fire!

10. Serena Williams is on the Cover of Ebony Magazine and looks like a real girl. Damn...that's making the guys hot.

So with all this hotness in the world, its no wonder we are blazing out here. Question is just how much hotter can it get before we explode?

The Life of a Single Mother

Why is life so hard and complicated for the single mother? It seems as though many doors are closed to us and many people look down on and penalize us for being one. What everyone needs to realize is that Single mother's are some of the hardest working individuals in today's society.

We, single mother's can't catch a break. Daycare is outrageous and there aren't vouchers available unless you are unemployed. Why would an out of work woman need daycare? The school system looks at us as though we don't care about the education of our children. I make it a point to be at every parent/teacher conference and I call regularly. I'm also a school volunteer who travels with my son on field trips.

The work ethic of the single mother is often impeccable. We work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet because we most likely don't have support (emotional or financial) from the baby's daddy. So, we are left in unique positions...sink or swim. However, I feel we are being punished by society for doing it by ourselves. What if we don't want a man or have a man or require a man? Isn't that our prerogative? The Government is trying to say a family consists of a Man and a Woman- married. So my son and I are not a family unit? I need a man to have a family? I think not. The number of children in foster care who will actually achieve permanency is affected by this. Why? Because the married couples most likely have all the children they want unless they are unable to have kids and in this instance they want infants. So that leaves the school aged and adolescent child. They are mostly adopted by single women who don't have plans to marry but who want to be mothers, thus making them Single Mothers. They are now grouped in a class of low lifes even though they signed on to save a life. Yes, I said low lifes because that is how society views us; as if we just decided to lay down, spread our legs and have babies without consequences. Who knew that dead beat was gonna run?

"I still don't understand the penalty", you say. Example. I went to get my nails manicured yesterday, the receptionist asks, "Do you have someone to sit with your son cause he's not allowed in the back?" I said, "No, he can't sit on the bench?". She says, "No, sorry." So I turn and leave. Damn, a sista can't even get her nails done without a babysitter? Same thing when I went to get my hair relaxed. I didn't even get in the door before I was met with a sign: NO CHILDREN ALLOWED IN THE SALON UNLESS THEY ARE BEING SERVICED! What? What am I supposed to do? Pay a babysitter to get basic services? So unfair. If the salon owners were single mother's I bet they'd understand and be empathic to our plight. I understand they don't want bad a$$ children running around their shop, but in that case ask them to leave. Don't ban all kids based on the actions of a few.

How do we fix this problem? Instead of looking down on single mothers as though they are fungus on your feet, uplift them and applaud their efforts. Single mothers have raised some of the most prominent people in society, just look at Sen. Obama!

Commercials We Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNW4Rnx0kxk

Name that Commercial…

1. Five, Five Dollar, Five Dollar Foot Long!
2. What is the inverse of Jan. 3? Answer: September 19th.
3. Uh, my car broke down up the street. I need to come and use your phone.

4. So Easy, Even a Caveman can do it!
5. Look 36 just put braces on his boy!
6. Hey, I need some of those cushiony NBA Socks for my footsies
7. Life comes at you fast.
8. In my Toyota Corolla, So Fresh
9. Priceless
10. It.
11. It’s the choice of a new generation
12. Who you calling cootie queen you lint licker!
13. Phylicia, those are her whites in the dryer.

Are these commercials really helping these companies sell their products or are they just must see tv for the consumer? With the economy being in such bad shape as it is, my guess is that they’re pure entertainment. We like to follow story lines and chronical the lives of characters. Remember the Taster’s Choice Commercials with the two neighbors falling in love? What ever happened with them anyway? We love the catchy little tunes and beats (F R E E, That spells free credit report.com baby) and if they make us laugh, we’re hooked. But we aren’t hooked on the products, just the commercials. Don’t believe me? Let’s test it: Did you run right out and switch your car insurance to Geico because you fell in love with the Cavemen? Probably not. I did however get a caveman, sunvisor in Gamecock colors. I do love watching to see what they will do next. The disco caveman is too funny to me, the show was crap though.

Did you go out and buy a Serta mattress to get rid of the counting sheep? I think not. Do you shop exclusively at Macy’s because that’s where the stars are? Who can afford to? By no means am I saying that commercials never work. I truly believe in product placement and brand recognition. What do you think of when you see a black and white cow? However, we can’t always take advantage of these outstanding products because of lack of funds to spare. So we are truly entertained by the comic relief they bring but the company’s 4th quarter projected sales suck. Thus Economic Stimulus! Hmmm! Millions of dollars spent to make us spend money we don’t have.

Does this mean the companies should cease from making brilliant commercials? H no! What would we talk about the Monday after Superbowl Sunday? Plus, I have to admit. I’ve had my share of $5 footlongs! I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan… you get the idea!

Answers:
1. Subway
2. Netflix
3. Orkin
4. Geico
5. Serta Mattresses
6. T-Mobile
7. Nationwide
8. Toyota
9. Mastercard
10. Ebay
11. Pepsi
12. Orbitz
13. Cheetos