Mean Girls

I dip into the Twitter-verse a few of times a week. A few sites I tend to follow, like The Talk, Food Network, HDTV and several of their hosts or programs. But I am often tempted to abandon the field altogether when an epidemic of mean-spirited vitriol erupts.

Heaven knows I can be as volatile and short-tempered as anyone. But the shriveling spitefulness of some of the threads on Twitter sickens me. Why? Why verbally flay someone, not just for their opinions but for their appearance, education, sexual proclivities, ethnicity? Why eviscerate everyone who is the slightest bit different? Why shame those whose bodies do not meet your arbitrary standards?

I confess. Most people walking the planet earth do not measure up to my unspoken "standards". I don't like boring. I don't like bigots. I detest the obnoxiously persistently stupid. I expect my friends to have robust senses of humor. I like people willing to leave me alone until I am in the mood to socialize. But that does not mean I am ready to consign all others to the bottomless pit of anonymous character assassination. I just try to gently break away (except when I am angry and let them have it with both (figurative) barrels).

As a misfit during the four most socially miserable years of my life (high school), I was well acquainted with mean girls. Fortunately most of them "married young and then retired". But some of them, and their male counterparts, have found a place on Twitter making the experience occasionally quite unpleasant for the rest of us.

I abandoned Reddit several years ago because the unforgiving, consistently condemning level of coment bore no resemblance to constructive discourse. Really trying to stick it out with Twitter but there is a limit to the bull-shit I can stomach.

Your Computer is Infected Telemarketing Scam

At 8:50 a.m. I received a call from "outside the area". After the usual robo call hesitation a voice with a foreign accent informed me he was from the "Windows Certified Technical Department" and very quickly described how my computer license ID was sending out a loud signal indicating it was infected with a virus and he would now tell me how to let him take over my computer to fix the problem.

I said I would call Best Buy with whom I had a maintenance contract to fix it. He said that would not work because they had nothing to do with this issue.

I said, then I will call Microsoft. He said Microsoft did not handle this problem, his company did.

I began to ask him specific questions. He kept interrupting me with a long, involved spiel. He said the Computer License ID # was being transmitted to the "global routing system" "global server".

I told him to stop interrupting me and speak more slowly - by this time I was shouting to be heard over his ramble - so I could write down what the problem was. He asked why I needed to write it down. I said so I could verify his information with other sources, including the FCC.

Click. This unwelcome intruder was gone.

A Google check revealed this is a fairly common scam.

I gave the detail to give a heads up warning on the "spiel" characteristics.

Be careful not only "out there" but also in your own home!

Updating Pictures and Other Stuff

I probably should update my blog picture. It is about 5 years old and life has really taken a toll on my visage since then. On the other hand, I actually LIKE how I look in this picture - so screw it, I will sacrifice accuracy for vanity!

Today was kind of a red letter day for me. 365 days ago I came very close to not seeing 364 days ago.  Thanks to a highly excellent cardiology team at Albany Medical Center, led by Dr. Anthony Nappi and the prayers and positive thoughts of more people who cared about me than I ever suspected, I survived.

This has been a challenging year. The fall of 2012 saw numerous trips to the emergency room and several hospital stays. A 50-year enslavement to nicotine ended - and yes I do still often want one. My husband and I sold the house we had lived in since 1978 and moved to Florida, to join our oldest daughter's family. This meant leaving our youngest daughter behind in New England - a painful choice. My 98 year old mother finally had to give up first her driver's license and then her ability to live independently and moved into assisted living, also in Florida.

I don't watch the news much anymore. I decided screaming at the television was not contributing to improved health. I watch a lot of cooking and home improvement show and have discovered "Kelly and Michael Live" , "Let's make a Deal" and "The Talk" (love all the ladies but ADORE Sharon Osborne). Spend time with the grandchildren. Work when I cannot avoid it. Miss a few very dear friends in upstate NY (are you reading this Art, Mary Ann G., Yetta Jean, Mary Ann McG, and most of all Wanda (Louise) and Bill? )

Things might change, but I don't think I will be ranting much in the future. Right now I am just feeling good about being alive and near people who care about that.

Justice for All - Even the Marathon Bomber

Some folks on Facebook and elsewhere believe our country's defense is best served by denying the surviving Marathon bomber his Miranda rights and access to a lawyer. Senator Lindsay Graham (whom I used to admire) thinks he should be given a military trial rather than a civil one.

People. This is totally not working for me! This 66-year old grandmother still believes:

That the Bill of Rights is our last, best defense against tyranny and totalitarianism.

That our system of justice and a trial by a jury of our peers is one of the best ways to achieve justice.

That torture debases what we stand for and has ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE as an investigative tool.

I desperately want to learn what caused this young man and his brother to commit these heinous acts. And if they had accomplices or were part of a larger movement.

But I believe to the depths of my soul that the best way to determine this is through skillful interrogative techniques that have little to do with torture and much to do with an intrinsic understanding of the human psyche.

And then, I admit it, I would like to see a trial by jury, conviction and death sentence like we saw in the case of the Oklahoma City Bomber.

My omission of the names of the terrorists is intentional. May they be stricken from the memory of the human race.

"Tips from Former Smokers" are NOT helping

Another pr abomination is permeating the airwaves. It is labeled "Tips from Former Smokers" and features "public service" notices by former smokers in the final stages of what are labeled as "smoking related" diseases.

These ads are GIVING ME NIGHTMARES. If anything, they make me want one more last drag on a cigarette before I expire from the hideous conditions they graphically describe!

I smoked cigarettes for 51 years before finally giving them up last September as the result of a major, severe, death-defying heart attack.

My heart disease is something I will live with for the rest of my life, whether it be measured in months, years or decades.

Cardio-vascular disease is scary. It can result in amputations, heart seizures, lots of very very bad stuff. It runs in one side of my family. Smoking probably makes it worse. But this sanctimonious ad campaign is hitting me personally at the ABSOLUTELY WRONG TIME!

I had a maternal great-aunt who never smoked a day in her life but who suffered from vascular disease and lost first her legs, then her arms, her mind and far later than she would have hoped her life! Every time I see the ads about vascular disease they remind me of her and make me wonder if this also is my future.

I had another great-aunt, another non-smoker, who lost control of her bowels and her bladder long before her mind faded. These insidious ads also remind me of her and her suffering.

I have no idea who the self-righteous, self-satisfied individual who made the final decision to use these ads was. But I wholeheartedly wish them to hell and back for the disgusting, painful and TOTALLY UNPRODUCTIVE suffering their precious sense of self-justification has caused innumerable persons who did not deserve this. You can take your "nanny" state and stick it up where the sun don't shine.

Table Talk - Thanksgiving

As I prepare to join loved ones for the Thanksgiving Holiday I try to remind myself:

1. The people I love best do not all hold similar political viewpoints.

2, Digestion and politics do not always mix well.

3. My family tends to be a tad diverse in its political philosophies (as in some voted for Obama and some really, really wanted Romney to win).

4. We all love turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, Mom's gravy and REAL mashed potatoes.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

As Time Runs Out

I recently learned something interesting about myself. If I think I have very little time left, I will spend what time I do have trying to tie up loose ends!

Does this make sense? I am really not in a position to judge. I can only say that trying to make things easier for my loved ones down the road and attempting to fulfill the earthly obligations I believe I am responsible for, is more important to me than almost anything else.