Comments

Please please please comment on Jaime's blog. I love comments - even if it's someone hating on something I wrote.

I failed....

I promised 3-4 quality posts and I only delivered two. This I know. And I sincerely apologize for this. I was working too hard on the 25 things I've learned - soooo not an excuse. But it is what it is. I won't make campaign promises I cannot keep from here on out. I've learned the hard way....

I'm Cheating....

So, as I have mentioned - I work at the Sun-Times. I have my regular columns I read (Roeper and QT, to be precise). However, my parents subscribe to a *cough* OTHER newspaper. I'm ashamed. I should disown them. I should write them out of the will.

Anyhow, my mother VERY regularly saves me articles from said newspaper. Eric Zorn had a pretty good column on January 3, 2008 about 50 things he has learned in his 50 years of life. The few that jumped out at me:

--The medium isn't the message. Those who issue blanket condemnations of any form of communication - be it TV, tabloids, text messages or blogs - simply aren't paying attention.
--Don't waste your breath proclaiming what's really important to you. How your spend your time says it all. (Jaime's sidenote - I can't help but think of every character out there who mentions how he or she is 'all about family' on this one)
--If you're in a conversation you're not asking questions, then it's not a conversation, it's a monologue.

Maybe I will answer Eric with 25 things I have learned in my 25 years in about a week....

Readers are Leaders

So, I made some goals for the year 2008 - NOT new year's resolutions, but perhaps a rose by another name. These goals include, but are not limited to:

--drink milk semi-regularly (what can I say, those mustache campaigns got me)
--lift weights
--learn more about the computer
--read ten books

I am a little behind the eight ball on this last one. I don't know why. I like to read - but two things that hamper my book reading: 1) I read the newspaper daily, and 2) I subscribe to multiple magazines. That, and with all the celebrity gossip I read - I'm sometimes 'read-out' by the end of the day. That, and I have no time left. I always read the newspaper and magazines before books so I don't fall behind in all my regular columns. Also, I have an absurd number of books because my workplace provides one of the best perks in the business - $1 brand new hardcover books. I also have a terrible habit of starting books and not finishing. I don't know what's wrong with me - when I was much younger (like 12), I could read a 200 page book a day!! Anyhow - as of right now, I have read "The Secret to the Secret" by Karen Kelly and I'm in the process of reading "Microtrends" by Mark L. Penn. On the 'to be read' roster: "Women & Money" by Suze Orman, "The Death of the Grown Up" by Diane West, "The Terror Dream" by Susan Faludi, and "Basic Black" by Cathie Black.

Wish me luck!

Delinquent

Yes, I do realize I named this blog 'Daily Ramblings' and only ramble two or three times a week. I apologize. (However, you must admit, when I ramble, I ramble a LOT). I was over-ambitious in the naming process. Also, yes, I do realize this may seem to be a pointless post - but it's not; it's my honest and sincere apologies to my five or so readers that I have not provided more material. There will be more material within 36 hours - I'm talking like three or four quality posts! So keep watching!!

Politics Part 3

Politics Part 2

So, for once in my life, I am in agreement with Ann Coulter. Bear in mind - I score in the high 90s on a 'how liberal are you' political quiz. I am someone who feels sorry for conservatives - and I mean that in the nicest way.

Let me start with a sidenote: I secretly LIKE Ann Coulter - not in spite of her bitchiness but BECAUSE of it. Ramming her head up against that glass ceiling in the REPUBLICAN party - which she HAD to do to get where she's at - she must secretly not believe in half the theories she's pimping. If you ignore everything she actually says - she's mildly tolerable.

Anyhow, the crazy bitch said the Republican party is trying to employ the same strategy the Democratic party used in 2004 - take a non-controversial, non-objectionable, non-personality as the candidate and hope the other party's polarizing, strong personality turns more people off than on - and hope to win the election on that alone.

I don't know about you, but I hope it works as well for the Republican party this year as it did for the Democratic party in 2004!

Let's make it happen!

Politics

So, I am into politics. Specifically, I like offensive political jokes. In 2004 from February through November, there was a Bush joke of the day in my AIM profile. I'm almost gonna miss Bush - no president or presidential candidate will ever provide as much comedic material as he did. These jokes included, but were not limited to:

--Let's bring complete sentences back to the White House in 2004

--George H. Bush - Voodoo Economics; George W. Bush - Doodoo Economics

--There's a birthday card with W. on the cover, saying "I've got three words for you", the inside "Happy Birthday!!"

--John Kerry for president - because hoping the rich hire more maids is not 'creating jobs'

Sigh. Hill, Barack and John all have their quirks - but there'll never be another Bush....knock on wood!

Thought of the day: John McCain saying something to the extent of 'well, economics isn't my strong point'.

My friends...my friends...my friends...discuss!!

eharmonizing

So, I must say, I have a plethora of friends/acquaintances who have at some point tried various dating networks. I personally don't see anything wrong with it. Hey, I'm a single gal - let me say firsthand - it's hard out there!

That being said, I will never participate in said networks. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll agree -it's hard to meet someone - generally speaking, other than work, the bars, or through a friend - there aren't many places to meet someone.

It's not that I think it's 'screwing with fate' (I think it's fine to try something new and make an active effort toward finding someone). It's that these sites COST MONEY! A lot of money!! I had no idea until recently, when a good friend who shall remain nameless took the plunge. A year subscription is nearing $500!!

Now, although I don't find these sites to be screwing with fate - I do believe that when it comes to love, you absolutely cannot force things. And don't get me wrong - I am happy being single - because I feel I have the opportunity to be with someone I'm crazy about at any given moment. The reason I'd consider joining would be for the opportunity to meet a lot of new people that I might not come across in my regularly daily routine.

However, I feel if I were to join eharmony, I'd be trying to get into a relationship simply so I could unjoin as soon as possible!! I'd be trying force something simply to save some moolah!! And, although I'm sure everyone has his or her own reasons for dating whomever he or she is dating - I think 'so I don't have to be on eharmony' would universally be the wrong one.

Feedback

Ok people - I love feedback. I love comments. Let's make this a discussion. Yesterday, Jaime's blog got it's first piece of serious, hard-hitting feedback from quite possibly its biggest fan:


Hi sweetie -Ok, so i read your blog and i understand you're really ticked off by that woman who wants an apology, but must we swear? ...i think you can get your point across w/out it...

I think there's no need to mention who, exactly, that feedback comes from.

But on a serious note - feedback, please.


Also, I have heard there are questions on how to post a comment if one isn't currently a blogger (THIS must explain the lack of comments on the blog thus far). Here's how it goes:

1) Click on the underlined bottom right corner where it says the number of comments. A small box will pop up.
2) Type your comment in the box.
3) Type the weird word identification thingy.
4) Choose Name/Url as the option (if the blogging world hasn't gotten you yet - and trust me, it will sooner or later!)
5) Type your name (no URL necessary!)
6) Click my favorite button ever - PUBLISH!

I feel so accomplished when I publish. Sigh.

As my employer would say "Let's get into it!"

Bad Parent!

Ok, since this topic is about a rather, ahem, litigious individual, I'm going to speak very vaguely. In fact, this blog is not about a specific individual. This blog is completely and totally hypothetical.

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, there was a woman who left her two year old daughter in her running car to step away for four minutes to donate some money to charity and was then ticketed by the police for child endangerment. She was put in handcuffs and given a potentially large fine.

Now, let's get one thing straight before anyone goes crazy on me....do I think she was being an irresponsible parent? Do I think she was disregarding her child's safety? No and no. She claims she was taking a 'calculated risk' - which is probably the case. She claims the car was never out of her sight and therefore she felt everything would be all right.

There have definitely been times when I have taken similar calculated risks. Like, if I take out the garbage and leave my apt door unlocked because I don't want to take the extra five seconds to lock and then unlock the door. The door is always within my sight and it seems like a reasonable calculation - although my mother would say something at this moment about what good would it do to be able to SEE as the burglar entering the door as I'm 50 feet away from it, etc. - probably the same amount of good it would do for this hypothetical mother to SEE the carjacker drive away with her car and hypothetical 2 year-old daughter.

Here's what I do know - if the police were able to approach the car (and possibly go unnoticed to the mother), so would a carjacker. Again - do I think this was bad parenting on her part? No, not necessarily. But, this situation COULD have had much worse consequences than a citation.

She fought the ticket and she will not have to pay the fine - I think this, too, is ok. Here's where all my beefs come in. Getting let off the hook for the fine was apparently NOT enough for this overgrown baby. It should, in theory, end here. However, she would like an apology from the police and she's REALLY upset she's not getting it.

This is where I come in and say that I would like a million dollars - but sometimes in life, gasp, we don't always get what we want. I don't think necessarily think the police were wrong. Maybe a little excessive. Granted, this is all very subjective. So I think the police dropping the charges but not apologizing is a reasonable compromise that this woman SHOULD be happy with.

However, this obviously isn't the case. She is filing a lawsuit against the police. Because they won't apologize. Really? How much money is said apology worth to her? Right now, 'an unspecified amount'. Second, when this said citation incident took place - it had never crossed my radar. This might now sound like much, but I probably taken in more daily news than 95% of Americans, seeing that I work at a newspaper and watch MSNBC more than any other channel. She is trying to claim she was 'publicly humiliated'. Funny, since I hadn't heard of her until she agreed to do interviews for various large-scale media outlets. She may have been humiliated - but she's bringing the 'public' aspect completely on herself.

To me, this whole situation begs the question - what kind of example is she setting for her daughters? When you don't initially get EXACTLY what you want, throw a very public tantrum until you do? Never hesistate to seek profit off someone you disagree with?

Even if she does sincerely feel she was wronged by someone - in life, sometimes we are wronged and do not get anything to make up for it. And, sometimes, more often than not, we should know when to stand up, brush ourselves off, be adults and move on with our lives. There are going to be times when this woman's elementary school daughters are wronged - bullies may take their school supplies, someone may cut them in line, etc. And they're not going to get one damn thing for it and they're going to have to live with it. We don't always get the apologies we want. Sometimes, things are taken from us and we don't get them back. It's life. Love it or leave it.

Also, what else gets me is this woman is pimping out a charity for her benefit. She got out of her car to put money in a salvation army drop-bin - fine, ok, nice, wonderful - but if she had gotten out of her car for the same period of time and walked the same distance away from the car to buy a pack of cigarettes - she'd be paying the fucking $2500, no two ways about it.

The fine was dropped. She needs to get over it. I regret that I am even giving this very 'non-news' news item attention. This is yet another example of the fact that even though we may age into adulthood, some people never really grow up. If this lawsuit goes through, it is yet another example of all that is wrong with our legal system - even if one does experience 'suffering' - who out there decided there should be a price tag on it, and who out there decides exactly WHAT that price should be? All I really know is that there have been times I have felt upset or offended by people or incidents - and I did not seek any financial restitution from it.

My final thought on this ridiculous situation - this woman spoke of how this "ruined her entire family's Christmas". Yes, I'm sure it may have put a damper on somethings. However, as I stated earlier - if the police were able to approach the vehicle, a carjacker would have been able to as well. And had a carjacker gotten in the car and driven away with her daughter - then she'd really have something to cry about. That ruined Christmas would make this ruined Christmas seem like two weeks in the Dominican Republic.

Barack and Roll

"Barack Obama Makes Great Speech"

I'm just curious - how often has/will said headline (or a very close variation) come up between last January and this coming November?

Let's make things interesting...anyone want to place any bets? Anyone willing to tally?

Joey Tribiani was Right

So I was raised Catholic. As many know, it is Lent right now. Every "Good Catholic" is making some form of sacrifice over this period of 40 days.

I have many many thoughts on this matter. However, there's not enough time in the day/space on this website for all of it. I will say this - to my understanding, it is supposed to be a sacrifice. Highly ironically, every female I know who participates in this sacrifice-making has given up something to the extent of chocolate, sweets, fried food, etc. SOME FORM OF FOOD.

Now, call me cynical (I guarantee you won't be the first...) - I kind of think there's a bit of an ulterior motive on some people's part. As Joey on Friends once said - there's no such thing as a selfless good deed. It's not that it's so wrong to think - hey 'two birds, one stone' - BUT, in a way, this is supposed to be a sacrifice, an inconvenience - NOT that chance to finally kick that extra ten pounds.

I am not saying there's anything wrong with people giving up, say, chocolate. I understand that even though it might benefit oneself, it is still quite a sacrifice for some and the whole aspect of saying no to cravings is ever-present. However, seeing there isn't a vast 'chocolate shortage' - i am wondering - who, other than oneself, benefits from said sacrifice? Again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with doing this, I'm just questioning if there's actually anything right with it either.

So, I guess I wonder, if one is sacrificing and no one is benefiting - is this the same idea as a tree falling in the woods? Is this tradition relevant in today's society? What is the benefit of said practice, other than 'following tradition'? Either one is giving something up for Lent to benefit oneself (which is selfish, and not the point of the holiday) or one is giving something up to benefit no one (which, perhaps, is pointless).

Sigh

Today at work, a woman posed a question:

Woman: Jaime, do you mind me asking how old you are?

J: Almost 25.

W: OH. Really? (why someone would ask really, I REALLY have no idea....)

J: Yeah....

W: You have a very (long pause) mature quality to your looks.

Looks like I need some age defying make-up.

She then segued into 'so you probably are starting to get a lot of pressure from your family that you need to get married and start having children soon....'

This was my day in a nutshell.

First Blog

Ok - so I am new to this blog thing....so bear with me. I'll try to update daily (hence the name), but I don't think we'll all be that lucky. Haha. Please enjoy. I know I will.