I don’t think that they ever did a show specifically about how to buy plants online, and the computers that they showed being used were not as small and handy as they have now become and they didn’t show that you could get on a computer and find plant care information and instructions from various websites like wikipedia and ehow.com, just to name a few. But if you didn’t get the chance to see The Jetsons back in the day and if you can find the re-runs on your current cable and/or satellite listings I would really urge you to check it out and see what it was all about. I think you will be surprised to see how much they portrayed the way that we live our lives in today’s high-tech world as we know it.

In a sparsely populated state such as this one, any type of job loss is a bad thing – unless it is voluntary retirement! The company tried for several years to “downsize” through “attrition” which is a bunch of hooey – forcing early retirement on some employees and then not bothering to replace them with new workers. The remaining employees are not able to pick up the slack, and customer service suffers. When customer service suffers, the customers complain. When the customer complain, the company loses business. When the company loses business, then the company has to get rid of more employees. It is a never-ending cycle of destruction, and it is really a terrible blow to the entire local economy.

Fortunately, there are smaller companies, like ABC Telecom, that are poised to pick up the slack and do some of the hiring and some of the work. It won’t be very long now before the entire telecommunications industry is completely broken up and no one will be able to talk to their folks in the rural areas because none of the phone companies will want to spend the money on the maintenance of the infrastructure out there.

If this video does not bring a tear to your eye, then I don’t know if you are paying attention.

I thought long and hard and honestly cannot remember when was the last time I actually picked up a VHS tape and put it in the machine to watch the movie. In fact, all of the favorite movies have been bought on DVD as replacements for the VHS tapes, but I never got around to disposing of those old VHS tapes in my collection.

Some of my favorite movies are like old friends. I cannot imagine just throwing them in the trash, but I can’t think of anyone who would appreciate them and actually use them, either. I guess I will toss them all in a box and drive to Good Will to see if they would like them. I would rather donate them to Good Will than throw them out.

I suppose that Good Will might be able to sell them for a dollar or two. I’d like to think that someone will like to have one and enjoy watching it.

The annual Christmas letter always has several paragraphs about each family member, the highlights of their life that year, and the wonderful vacations they have had, and the wonderful vacations that they are planning to have later in the year.  Seems that they never go to the same place twice!

This year their planned adventures include spending two weeks in some luxurious beachfront resorts in Turks and Caicos. To be honest I had never even HEARD of Turks and Caicos! So I decided to go online and find out where they were. My first thoughts were that they were somewhere near Greece! And to be honest, I had to wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to spend a couple of weeks in that part of the world right now – there is so much unrest! But then I found out that they are actually part of the chain of the Bahamas Islands, and then it all started to make perfect sense. A tropical island paradise sounds like a great vacation spot to me! You know what, just between you and me, sometimes it gets very difficult to NOT be jealous of friends that have such a wonderful charmed life! Of course I know that everyone has their own cross to bear, but it sure would be nice if our family could catch a every break now and then as well!

Toontrack

Next year he heads off to college, so seeing him this Sunday may be the last time see him for some time. I want to make sure that I either sit next to him on Easter or at least close enough to have a decent conversation with him while I can.

Sadly, their families have turned their backs on them, saying that they should go to the Social Services branch of the Government and get help. The Social Services turns them down, saying that they should go to their church or their family. And the church is turning their backs, saying that they should go to their family for help. (That one REALLY upset me – the pastor quoting the Bible, saying that the adult children should care for their elderly parents. Of course they should, but what to do when the adult children refuse to do that?)

Community Service seems to be the best solution to helping out these types of situation. So when I find a company’s website has a link that goes to a page indicates that the company participates in community service programs, I often bookmark that site under the category of service that the company provides. For example, when I was looking at the website for CSI Tech Staffing I saw that they support the Make a Wish Foundation in Nashville, I sent a link to the website to my sister (who lives in Nashville) AND I bookmarked it for future reference if and when I might need to get more information about staffing services. Kudos to them for giving back to the community!