If You Like Your Lightbulbs....

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If I were running for president today, I would run on the platform "If you like your light bulbs, you can keep your light bulbs."  After all, that particular line worked pretty successfully for one particular president when it came to his health care bill.  So what if it was a big colossal lie.

Thanks to the ruling elite who know far better than the rest of us what types of products we should have and use, effective January 1st, the United States will ban the production of an item that has been in American homes for over 100 years, the incandescent light bulb.  Thomas Edison must be spinning in his grave. You'll still be able to buy them until existing inventory sells through, so stock up now.

George W. Bush proved that he was no real conservative when he signed into law the bill that phases out the traditional light bulb.  Sure compared to Barack Obama, he is a right wing nut job as my liberal friends would say, but no true conservative would take a safe and reliable product used by nearly everybody and force people to have to go to more expensive, and in some cases, more hazardous products.  That is not how the free market works.

Granted, the choices we will now have will last longer and save you on your electric bill, but the initial outlay is a bit much for the average person's wallet, especially those who live paycheck to paycheck.  It is really going to be a hardship for lower and middle income families.  I am not crazy about any of the options the government is forcing upon its citizenry.  Just another little bit of our freedom being taken away from us.

English: Compact fluorescent light bulb (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The compact fluorescent bulb, or CFLs, are the most affordable of the options that we will have to choose them.  Frankly, I hate them.  I hate there twisted curly-q shape.  Sure, there are some that have the twisted bulb nicely encased in a more traditional light bulb shape, but even those still have their problems.  They are dangerous.  CFLs contain mercury, which is such a horrible toxin that states, including Maryland, have banned the use of mercury in thermostats for your home cooling/heating system.  If you happen to break a CFL, you might need to call in a hazmat crew.  If you think I am exaggerating, just check out what is on the Environment Protection Agency's website regarding cleaning up a broken CFL.

The other option that folks have to choose from are LED lights.  LED lights apparently aren't much safer as they may contain arsenic and lead.  Again, there are very detailed instructions on cleaning up an LED light if they break.  One site I saw said to wear gloves and a mask when cleaning up a broken LED light and to use a broom, no vacuum.  Then dispose of those gloves, mask, and broom after cleaning.  Also, LED lights are extremely expensive.

Today, I did my grocery shopping at my local Wegman's Supermarket.  I decided to pick up a few packs of incandescent bulbs.  Unfortunately, there was only one 4-pack of 60 watt bulbs available.  I looked at some of the options available to me and was saddened.  Some of the LED lights were nearly $20 per bulb.  I conservatively have about 20 light bulbs in my house.  When I do have to replace them, they usually come in bunches.  That is not an outlay of cash that I am prepared to make.  Hopefully, there will be something more affordable.  Until then, I will be stocking up on my incandescent bulbs while I can.

Related articles

• 'Take that, government!' Americans stock up on incandescent bulbs while they still can [pics]
• American ingenuity bypasses incandescent ban
• In January, the government will finally kill Thomas Edison's light bulb

Spread Some Joy--Say Merry Christmas

The Christmas holiday season can be a time of great stress for some people.  I am not immune from the stress of the holidays.  My son has been home from school for the Christmas break since Friday.  I am already stressed about trying to get him back to school on January 1st.

I should explain what happened on the Thanksgiving break with our son.  From the time he got home for that break, he refused to leave the house.  Even though he talked about going to my brother's house for Thanksgiving dinner, when it came time to go, he refused.  We ended up having dinner at home.  Thankfully, I had bought a small turkey that my wife planned to cook the day after Thanksgiving so that we would have "leftovers."

When it came time to take our son back to school on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it was one of the worst experiences in some time for that task.  We fought him for most of the afternoon before giving up for the night.  He hit me so hard in the ear that my ears rang and I had some residual hearing issues for several days after.  My wife finally got him back a day late but it was a monumental task.

So what has me stressed a few days before Christmas?  You can probably guess from the preceding two paragraphs that so far during the break, my son is refusing to go anywhere.  I offered to take him out to lunch for hamburgers, no luck.  Same thing with trying to get him to go for a ride to look at Christmas lights.  So far he is saying he is going to go to my sister's and my in-laws houses for Christmas.  Let's hope he does.

Sunday mornings is one of the days that I usually use to take care of my grocery shopping.  I left the house to go take care of the groceries and it was pouring down rain.  I got in the car, with everything on my mind and headed to the store.  By the time I got to Wegman's, the rain had slowed to a trickle, so at least I wouldn't get drenched going from the parking lot to the store.

My stress did not subside once I got inside the store.  In fact, it started to increase.  One of the first things that I was looking for in the meat department was out of stock.  It was going to be dinner tonight so I quickly came up with a Plan B.  The store was particularly crowded, and the aisles of the store were stacked with merchandise so maneuvering through the aisles was difficult at best.

As I was nearing the end of my shopping trip, I am sure that my face was not the friendliest it could be.  It was then that I pushed my cart pass another father pushing a car with his little daughter in the seat.  She leaned over and with the biggest smile on her face squealed to me, "Merry Christmas!"

My demeanor instantly changed and the frown on my face melted and was replaced with a smile.  I look at her and cheerfully said to her, "Well Merry Christmas to you too!"  She laughed with delight.  So do yourself and someone else a favor and put a smile on your face and tell somebody "Merry Christmas."  You just might make someone's day.

My Solution to the Washington Redskins Name Controversy

Redskins primary logo 1972-1981, 1983-present (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I grew up a Washington Redskins fan.  For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of the team.  My earliest recollections were in the late 1960's when they were a horrid team.  I lived through the George Allen years, and thankfully, the Joe Gibbs era.  I have remained a fan even through the mostly bad years of Daniel Snyder's tenure as owner of the team.

Now, these days, my beloved Washington Redskins are under attack.  I live in the DC area, and it seems like you can't watch a local news broadcast without somebody bringing up the team name.  Even President Obama, when he should be more concerned about the government shutdown, is chiming in saying that the Redskins should consider changing the name because some groups think it is racially offensive.

This isn't the first time that the question of whether or not the Redskins should change their name has been brought up.  It is the first time that it has gained the traction in the media that it has.  Naturally, those that stoke the fire are the liberal, politically correct, elitists of the world.  I don't have to tell you how little use I have for that crowd.

Years ago, when Tony Kornheiser of ESPN was still writing for the Washington Post, he suggested that rather than change the name of the team, the team should change their mascot.  Instead of the noble looking Native American that adorns the helmet, he suggested to change the logo to a potato, as in redskin potatoes/  A humorous concept but then we would have to re-write the team fight song. Here is my first pass at it:

Hail to the Redskins, Hail to Victory, Spuds on the Warpath, Fight for old DC.  Run or pass and score, we want a lot more. Bake 'em, Fry 'em, Touchdown! Watch the point soar. Fight on, Fight on, til you have won, Spuds of Washington!

It just isn't the same.

Instead, if things persist, my suggestion would be for the Redskins to take a page from the musician Prince.  Remember when Prince decided to change his name to a symbol?  Until he went back to using the name Prince, everybody always referred to him as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince."  The Redskins could do the same thing.  Instead of the Washington Redskins, they could become the Washington the NFL team formerly called the Redskins.

Quite frankly, I hope it doesn't come to that.  I am so tired of the liberal mindset where anything that is offensive to anybody has to be forbidden.  I find the name Barack Obama offensive but you don't see me calling for him to change it (though I thought about Tweeting that).  If the NFL does cave in and forces the Redskins to change their name, I may be done with the NFL.

Hail to the Redskins!

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I Think the Coffee Machine at Work is a Dude!

Flavia Machine via dickster1961

We have a Flavia machine in my office.  For those of you who do not know what it is, it is a single serve brewer that uses individual pouches to brew a cup of coffee or tea.  It can also be used to make cappuccinos and mochaccinos by combining two different pouches.

Unlike my Keurig K-Cup brewer, the Flavia machine has a sensor under the spout to prevent the brewer from brewing if there is nothing beneath the spout to catch the hot liquid.  I hate to admit this, but there has been more than one occasion when I began brewing a K-Cup and forgot to place a mug under the spout.  What a mess!  Sometimes you just operate on automatic first thing in the morning, and accidents happen.

Recently, I have been having a few issues with the Flavia machine at work.  As you can see in the picture above, when the machine is brewing, the liquid flows straight down, directly into the mug.  On more than one occasion, the machine has been a little less than accurate with the brewing of my beverage.  Instead of the drink flowing straight down into my mug, the drink sprayed either behind the mug or off to the side.  Not only do I not get a full beverage, but then I have a mess to clean up.

It reminded me of my when my son was learning to urinate in the toilet.  Let's just say that his aim wasn't the best.  Not that I myself am not subject to occasional bad aim, especially if I wake up in the middle of the night and need to relieve myself.  Sure, I have all sorts of reasons...er excuses.  Perhaps I didn't turn on the light because I didn't want to disturb anybody, perhaps I was sleepwalking, or I just didn't put on my glasses and couldn't see.  So that is the reason I think the coffee machine at work is a dude.

Is Customer Service Dead?

I started working when I was 15 years old.  At that time, the concept of customer service was instilled into my psyche.  I was taught that the better I treated the customers, the more they would return, resulting in more hours for me, and therefore more money.  Consequently, I tend to spend my money at businesses where I am treated well.  Conversely, I avoid those places that don't.

My wife and I have recently had some very bad experiences. The first occurred when my wife went to get her eyes examined.  She had her exam and got her prescription from the doctor. She picked out a set of frames and wanted to find out how much her glasses were going to cost before committing to purchasing them.  The customer service representative refused to help her saying it would take too much time to figure it out if my wife wasn't going to buy the glasses.  We took our business elsewhere.

On another occasion, my wife and I went out to eat at a local brew pub.  We have been regular visitor of this brew pub since they opened several years ago.  Over the years, I have built up a sizable collection of pint glasses and t-shirts from the various seasonal beer launch parties that they have every month.  Unfortunately, after our most recent visit to this establishment, we will never be back.

I ordered a salad and my wife ordered the seafood cannelloni.  When they brought our food, my wife's dinner wasn't hot.  She complained about it and asked to have the dish remade.  Our server was very apologetic and seemed willing to help.  Unfortunately management wasn't so helpful.  He came out and told us they could not remake her dish.  Instead, he argued with us, telling us that the dish was made correctly, brought out hot, and the best they could do was reheat it for us.

We objected saying we wanted a fresh dish as a reheated dish would not be as good as a fresh dish.  Eventually, the server came back out with another plate.  This time the food was hot and you could see steam coming from the sauce.  Unfortunately, it became obvious that it was the same dish heated in the microwave.  The pasta was overcooked and hard.  The cheese looked like a frozen dinner that had not melted completely.

We came home from dinner and I went to the corporate website and sent a complaint detailing what had happened during the evening.  In the past, whenever we have complained about service in a restaurant, we have either received a written apology, and in some cases gift certificates to visit again to give them another chance.  This time, we received no acknowledgement that we had a problem.  We won't be back to that establishment ever again.

Still Around

I have not been around here in the blogosphere much lately.  It isn't that I haven't had anything to talk about or that I have decide to abandon blogging. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or have had anything disastrous befall me.  I just have been busy doing other things.

I have been very active in other areas of social media and interaction.  Twitter has been my main form of communication in that arena.  There is just something about being able to share brief thoughts quickly that has been appealing of late.  The ability to see an article I like, share it with my followers with a brief comment, without having to sit down and write a blog post has fit in with everything else that I have been up to.  You can find me on Twitter at dickster1961.

I have also been doing a lot of reading lately.  My Kindle is by my side constantly.  I make it a point to read during my lunch breaks at work and in the evening.  There have been so many free and bargain books that I have downloaded from Amazon that I have really enjoyed.  Mostly, I am reading theology and Christian living, but I am also enjoying books by Brad Thor and James Rollins.

Last year, when it became apparent that Mitt Romney was running an ineffectual campaign and that Barack Obama was going to get re-elected, I made the decision to cut back on my consumption of political news.  I instead decided to pursue things of a more spiritual nature.  Now, instead of listening to conservative talk radio like Sean Hannity, I am listening to Family Talk Radio and pastors Michael Youssef and RC Sproul and their radio programs.

Just before the election, I made it my goal to read through the Bible in a year.  I have read the entire Bible in the past, but not as part of a dedicated reading plan.  I downloaded the Bible App from YouVersion on my tablet and used one of their Bible in a year plans.  I am happy to say that I actually finished reading through the Bible in about 9 months.  If you want to read the Bible, a highly recommend the YouVersion app.

Still, I have neglected this blog for too long and it is time for that to change.  About a month or so ago, one of my old blogging buddies from the Adgitize days sent me a message through Twitter to check up on me.  I assured him that I was alive and well.  He also helped me to work through an unnatural links penalty from Google.  You can find a link to his website Ask the Blogster in my blogroll.

So, I hope to be updating this blog on a more regular basis.  I don't think that I will ever get back to updating nearly everyday like I did when Adgitize was up and running, but I do hope to update it at least two or three times a week going forward.  I also have another project that I hope to start soon which I will share here when it is up and running.

 

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Not so Family Friendly Family Channel

I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination.  While I consider myself a conservative Christian, I fully appreciate that not everybody in the world shares my views.  As such, I am not easily offended by viewpoints in popular culture that run contrary to those beliefs.  Those that do not share my beliefs are free to express their own beliefs, but I feel it should be done in the proper place.

I bring this up because of something that I saw yesterday while visiting my son at his school.  Most of his dorm mates were off on an outing, but several kids stayed behind.  We gave our son the choice of going out for lunch or having a pizza delivered.  He decided that he wanted to stay in the dorm, so we went ahead and had a pizza delivered for our lunch.

While we waited for the delivery to arrive and while we ate our lunch, the other kids in the dorm recreation room were watching some Disney movies on the ABC Family station.  At one point, I was watching the television and I saw two women engaging in a romantic kiss.  The station was promoting one of their new programs which features a lesbian couple raising a family together.

I was shocked.  Not because there was such a show being produced, but because it was being promoted and shown on a station that proclaimed to be a "family channel."  I was even more shocked because the promo was occurring during kid friendly Disney movies.  Had the advertisement occurred on a station like Lifetime or Bravo, I wouldn't have batted an eye.

It used to be that subject matter of a more controversial or mature nature would only be shown later in the evening when kids would typically be sleeping and not watching television.  Promotions for those shows would never be broadcast during what would be considered kid friendly programming.  I guess those standards no longer apply.

I am not one of those who would call for a boycott of the channel or those that advertise on it. I don't watch the ABC Family channel, nor do I watch anything on ABC.  After seeing the promotion yesterday, I am more inclined not to watch anything on those stations.  It just shows that the entertainment industry is continuously trying to promote their liberal worldview on us, and forcing it on our kids with no regard.

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• An Open Letter to the Disney Channel (herlifeinspired.com)