Category: Society

Thoughts on society in America. This could also involve media.

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Life in these United States Marriage Society

Monday’s Collection O’ Goodness

georgia football After about two months of posts, I usually end up with a bunch of little blog-ellas that aren’t really worthy of their own, entire blog. So here’s this month’s Blog-ellas. May they bring you much peace and happiness.

  • When you hear about frown lines and laugh lines and worry lines, you think, “Eh, it’s all part of getting old. There’s nothing I can do about that.” But nobody ever said anything about “pillow lines.” Yes, I have a wrinkle now from sleeping on one side all the time. It’s where my chubby cheek folds up against my honker (my nose Romi, My NOSE!) as I lay on my pillow.
  • We played one of the Veggie Tales movies for the kids on the way to church this weekend and now I have the song, “Oh, I need to tell you sumthin’….I don’t got a belly button‘” song running through my head (and I keep laughing about it!)
  • My football team, Alabama, completely rolled over #3 Georgia this weekend…and then almost blew it in the 4th quarter. But we held on and that makes it all good, for an ENTIRE YEAR!
  • I told you about my little cigar hobby. I am a rank amateur…there, I said it. But, I do know that a humidor doesn’t really work if you don’t put any solution on the little spongy thing, so I dropped by a cigar shop on Sunday to pick some up. How do I explain it? Have you ever been politely told that you’re an idiot without the words “Idiot” ever actually being uttered? Well, that’s how I felt when I left. I think I need to find a different cigar shop to give my money to…that or either purchase everything online. Thank the Lord for the Internet. It’s an introvert’s best friend!
  • Here in Atlanta, we have a severe gas shortage. I spent 1.5 hours in line waiting for gas this weekend and as I drove to work this morning, I must have passed five stations with lines down the street. I’d like to address Congress and tell them to forget bailing out the morons who mismanaged all their financial assets and instead bail out Exxon! I’m pretty sure that in 35 years when I retire, my savings will have recovered, but I need GAS NOW!
  • My sister is getting married on November 1. For many and various reasons, I am not attending, and I feel horrible about it. I went to my other sister’s wedding, which perhaps makes it even worse. CareerMom has a weeklong trip the week leading up to the wedding and she’d literally have to get off one plane and get on another for us to make it in time. Also, we’d have to miss Halloween and though normally I couldn’t care less about that, but this year MLI is really excited about it. He’s to the age now where he can appreciate candy…and does.

I think that’ll do it. But the week is young. We’ll see what other exciting new things pop up!

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Society

"It seems my hypocrisy knows no bounds…"

DaddydaycareAs I admitted (gasp!) to CareerMom this weekend after she scolded me for saying, “Dammit!” in front of the boys, I’m not perfect. I drink a beer in front of them every now and then. I get annoyed when they keep asking the same, or similar, questions time after time. And OMG! When MLE starts crying in the car, I could scratch my nails down a chalkboard and find a happier place. I’m not perfect, I’ll freely admit it.

I am also, I’m discovering, a sexist and a hypocrite to boot!

See, despite my, “Hey, men are just as qualified as women to be child-care-givers,” attitude, I’m finding myself having a hard time accepting the fact that a man now runs our daycare facility.

What happened is, our daycare, which was previously run completely by three generations of women (they all worked there at the same time) has apparently made so much money off us parents that after only five short years, they are selling to a national chain of daycare centers (sounds like, “Grids R Grids”). We actually found out about this poorly kept secret this past weekend, and it was confirmed this morning as CareerMom greeted the new daycare owner, a man, in a wedding-reception-like gladhanding session as she dropped the kids off.

And I’m not too thrilled about this. I think part of it stems from the fact that another large chain of centers in our area (sounds like, “Snoddard School”) is also run by a man who just creeped the hell outta me each time I visited there; so much so that right after enrolling MLI after he was born, we pulled him out based almost entirely on the “creep vibe” the dude put out. So, I was already biased against men running daycare centers.

Call me crazy, but I can’t for the life of me, figure WHY a man would WANT to run a daycare center! I’m pretty sure that I lack several a gene that I consider prerequisites to caring for children over extended periods of time, such as:

  • the “sit on the floor and endure hours of monotony” gene
  • the “don’t react violently every time one of the kids swings something at crotch level” gene
  • the “fix three different really good things for lunch/dinner only to have them go and try to eat the dog food” tolerant gene

…and there are others I’m sure.

So here I am, finding myself railing against my kids going to a daycare run by a man, when some of the most well-adjusted men I know, are stay-at-home dads. Admittedly, running a daycare is probably more about project management than it is hands-on with the kids, but still…I can’t shake the bad feeling. I can’t shake the feeling that a man is more likely to cut corners if it’ll save a buck than a woman would.

See, hypocrite. That’s me.

What do you folks think?

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Dad Blogs Family Life in these United States Society

What’s NOT in my wallet

credit-cards.jpgFor years, my bank of choice was Bank of America (BOA). I had my checking and savings account with them for nigh on eight years. Due to selling a house, and a couple of rather nice tax refunds, a few times I had enough money in my checking account (albeit temporarily) to qualify for a “Gold” account. Rather than asking me if I’d like to upgrade, they just did it. Subsequently, after I moved the money, usually within a matter of days, they turned around and fined me for not meeting the “Gold” account’s minimum. After the third time they did this, I got fed up and canceled everything I had with them.

If you track financial dealings at all, you’ll know that BOA is now one of the largest players in the banking industry. My last credit card (a Platinum rewards card) issuer was bought out by BOA last year and because I liked the card, I stuck it out with BOA. Until recently.

I made a payment on the 8th of last month, then I made another payment on the second of this month. Unfortunately, my billing cycle apparently runs wonky and rather than having made two payments in two months, I made two payments in one month. To make a long story short, BOA ticked me off with a late fee that they refused to remove, so I quit them…again.

I need a credit card for sundry monthly expenses and just because these days you need a credit card. So, I went online to a couple of these Credit Card compare Web sites and eventually settled on a “Diamond” rewards card from Capital One with a fairly low rate. I applied, and thanks to my 784 credit score, was approved immediately.

When I got the card in the mail, I reviewed the details. Everything looked hunky-dory until I got to the “Credit Limit” field and it said, “$1,000.00.”

A thousand dollars? I couldn’t even buy a refrigerator with that, much less book a vacation or finance my takeover of a third-world country. Thinking that maybe this was some kind of introductory, “Call us and let us try to upsell you a toaster, and while you’re on the phone we’ll up your limit” kind of thing, I called their no-customer service line only to be told that nope, $1,000 is my limit. When I asked what they based it on, they said my credit score and my credit history with Capital One.

Well, I DON’T HAVE a credit history with Capitol One, so I guess that outweighed my perfect credit. So, I told the fellow on the phone to cancel this card too. He was staggeringly unconcerned, “Thank you sir for calling Capital One, is there anything else I can do for you?”

I hung up.

Without going through the litany of debt I have held and/or paid off over the last 15 years, and my current situation, $1,000 is an insult. Though I’ll admit, I never thought I’d get upset over not being offered enough credit. I often scoff at the commercials that use the buzz phrase, “Get the credit you deserve” thinking it stuffy and pretentious, but I’m coming to realize that I fit that demographic. At this point in my life, there are a few things I think I deserve:

  • 15 minutes of quiet bathroom time each day (What? I read…)
  • A guilt-free day of golf once every month and a half
  • A fine cigar if I’m out with the guys
  •  Good running shoes

AND some friggin CREDIT!

Otherwise, what the heck am I working so hard for?

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Dad Blogs Family Society

It’s Christmas for Goodness’ Sake

Nativity Scene

Despite whatever doubts I may have as to the validity of all of the things I’ve been taught regarding Jesus of Nazareth, and his time here on earth, the fact remains that I do believe. Down in whatever dark place I’ve pushed so many other things in my life, the belief that there is a benevolent God out there watching over my family (how else do you explain all the good things I have?) remains a small beacon of hope that if I’m not too bad here on earth, and if I don’t commit the same sins over and over one too many times, that maybe, just maybe when I die, I’ll end up somewhere happy and warm with my family and all of my dead pets.

I don’t believe in much; I have to be honest with you. I feel that the glass is perpetually half-empty and that given half a chance at getting away with it, most people will screw you over for $100. It’s a crappy way to live life, but hey, I’ve lived a life of facts and reality and my reality has shown this to be true for the most part.

I suppose then, this is why I take Christmas to heart like I do. I love Christmas. Oh, I’ll admit that I love the decorating and the cold weather and the fires and the gifts and the food (oh, the food!) more than I really enjoy sitting in church for two hours listening to the pastor try to come up with some unique spin on the Christmas story that no one has ever covered before, but it all goes hand in hand. So much about religion is really about how you feel about it anyway, so why should Christmas be any different?

Given all of this, I’m really offended, not just pretend-offended like so many people—I’m actually offended when non-believers relegate this time of the year to just “The Holidays.” And why do Jewish people get so offended over Christmas? I don’t know which faith first proclaimed this time of year their own, but can’t we all just get along? Can’t we all agree that, “Hey, something deeply moving and spiritual happened at some point in the year, and since we can’t really pinpoint the actual date, we’re all just going to be happy around December.”

To all the non-believers I say fine, you want to celebrate the Holidays, then do it on MLK and Valentines Day. On Christopher Columbus and President’s Day, go all out and decorate. Just let us Christians, for whom you have to thank for this time of year anyway (OK, and maybe Coca Cola is partially responsible too), enjoy this time of year without your having to pee in the punch bowl.