Posted by: dcarnes | January 21, 2010

Since I’ve been gone…

Well folks, I’m not sure if there are many of you left out there. I became a bit discouraged about a month ago when my daily numbers that hovered almost at a hundred a day plummeted to about five. In the middle of a new job, and feeling overwhelmed and overtired, I figured I would deal with it later.

Later has arrived and I’ve decided it’s time to give it another go. Once I completely get my act together, hopefully within the next couple of days, I will regularly start posting again. If you’re out there, give me a shout and let me know. It would really make my day.

Talk to you soon!

Posted by: dcarnes | December 14, 2009

Profile of a holiday shopper

If you’re a people watcher, there’s no finer time than the holiday. Every year I scratch my head in wonderment as to where many of these folks migrate to the remaining 361 weeks of the year.

Look ma, me and thousands of my closest friends out for a fun day of holiday shopping?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not much of a shopper throughout the year, but I can assure you I’m not holed up in my house 361 weeks a year just counting the days until I can join the throng of lemmings participating in the annual mall crawl.

I’m an equal opportunity disliker. I dislike the mall every week of the year, not just when it’s so damned crowded. But add all those people to the mix and I find it almost unbearable, even if it does make for good people watching.

And, while I’m not a profiler by profession, and I have no scientific background, I do believe there are at least four solid profiles of the holiday shopper.

Profile #1 – Tortured soul. He/she isn’t really there to buy much. She secretly loves the frenzy of the crowds and feels she’s missing out if she’s not in the thick of things. To her, there’s nothing worse than not being a part of it, whatever “it” is. Who knows when the gloves will be marked down another 40 percent so you can snatch up a lime green pair for Aunt Milly – the same Aunt Milly you haven’t seen for 10 years.

Profile #2  – Grab and go. Now, this is probably closer to who I am. She comes with a list. She hates crowds. She’s annoyed by parkers trolling the lot for the best parking spot, when the fact is finding a parking spot is the best you’re gonna get. She doesn’t dilly dally or get pulled off track, except for on the rare occasion. Focus, focus, focus – that’s the mantra. Get what you came for and get out. Now, that’s a person after my own heart!

Profile #3 – The Wanderer. She has no idea what she’s getting anyone for Christmas. She plans a full day at the mall because her experience is that it always takes a long time to get just the right gift for everyone on her list – and her list is usually pretty long. She likes to compare items and prices. It means nothing to shop from one end to the other, only to return and buy the first item she considered. It’s about being thoughtful and thorough. The crowd distraction does not get in her way. After all, she is the wanderer, and she’s a warrior.

Profile #4 – The Non-Shopper. I see them even in the off-season and I simply don’t get it. Why would you come to the mall to shop when you really have no intention of shopping? The non-shopper spends several hours pretending to shop, but  very little, if anything, is purchased. The non-shopper usually comes out several times during the holiday frenzy, pulled by the need to be where the shopping is. In the end, she actually buys very few Christmas gifts, but thoroughly enjoys her shopping experiences.

Profile #5 – The Frenzy and Frazzled. Too many kids, too little money and too little time. Sometimes the partner is in tow, but he too looks harried. The brow expresses stress; the mouth depicts frustration and sometimes anger. You envision the growing credit card bill in their name, as Tattoo Barbie and Barbie’s camper, join MindFlex, razor scooter, Crayola cutter and Zhu Zhu pet in the cart.

Ah, the joys of the holiday season. There’s good reason to spike our eggnog, don’t you think?

Posted by: dcarnes | December 1, 2009

Please come back

I’ll admit; I’m way behind on posting to this blog. But, it’s been a little busy.

First, there was wrapping up the old job. I always think it’s going to be so quick and easy to wind down and walk out the door. Maybe it’s me, but I always feel compelled to work up to the last minute so everyone left behind isn’t cursing me the minute I walk out the door.

Next came Thanksgiving. For someone who gets no satisfaction in cooking, hosting and serving 17 for dinner is more than stressful; it’s sometimes painful. Don’t get me wrong; I love friends and family and I’m grateful they all came. I worry more about them going home and whispering to their neighbors about the horrible food they were served on Thanksgiving. I don’t think that was the case. In fact, I thought it actually came out pretty well. But nonetheless, it totally stresses me out. Thankfully, wine helps.

Then, yesterday came the first day of my new job. It’s my third new job in the last two years. After nearly 10 years at the same job, perhaps you can understand that I’m not all that used to all this job change. I admit I did it to myself. I went to work for an incredible gubernatorial campaign candidate because I believed in her (our governor) so much and because I needed to make a change and take on a challenge I’d never been faced with. It was an incredible experience and an amazing yet completely exhausting success.

From there I spent six months unemployed and was thankfully offered a wonderful opportunity. But….I have to admit there is nothing worse than being underemployed. I blame it all on our tanked economy and its trickle down effects.

While I was incredibly thankful for this incredible opportunity, it’s hard to not want more when you have so much more to give. So, when my current employer wanted to chat, I wanted to listen.  Long story short, I made yet another move that began on Monday.

I say all this because I’ve been preoccupied and not focused on this blog. But, while doing so I’ve apparently lost pretty much each and every person who might have even glanced at my blog. How else can I go from nearly 100 visitors a day to 5 today? Look, I’m no party crasher or recent tree crasher, but sometimes I think I have some interesting things to say. So, my hope is I haven’t lost all of you, just because my posts have been a bit irregular.

I’ll try my best to do better, if you’ll promise to try and visit again.  Will you please come back?

Posted by: dcarnes | November 18, 2009

Who’s that knocking on our door?

There are many things you shouldn’t sell door-to-door. Two that come quickly to mind are vacuum cleaners and religion.

I’m not so sure if anyone sells vacuum cleaners out of their trunk these days. My guess is there’s no market for it. That niche has been gobbled up by big box stores, the internet and infomercials that convince you if your vacuum can’t suck up a bowling ball it’s just not doing its job. I’ll admit that with a husband, a child and a dog I often suck up some significantly-sized debris but I can’t say I’ve ever discovered bowling balls or their equivalent in weight and size just lying around. The day that happens is the day I need to take a serious look at my housekeeping methods.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t say I have any of these laying around, waiting to be vacuumed up.

If I recall, my mom bought her Kirby from a trunk, so to speak, along with Avon products, Salad Master pots and pans and those evil, pyramid scheming Amway products that even back then probably subliminally communicated some whacky religious messages when you used them.

Even the school sales have slowed down these days, with schools strongly discouraging kids from asking people they don’t know if they’d like to buy candy, wrapping paper, cookie dough, magazines…I could keep going. Instead, they encourage kids to collect their orders online and contact those long lost, rich relatives spread across the country and provide them an easy opportunity to order at their leisure and give your little Betty or Billy credit in the process.

That’s a good trend. I’m all for nixing the whole door-to-door thing completely, But, there’s one little thing that for some reason a few people still think going door to door is the way to sell it, and that “it” is religion.

As a kid, we lived in an area that was ripe for religious sales, or at least they thought. I grew up in a fairly rural part of the country, lived about a mile out of town and up off a highway. You had to make a concerted effort to come to our house, but religion has no bounds. And those Jehovah Witness folks just kept on coming. I guess there were enough of them that they could rotate and share in the rejections, because they never stopped trying, even though the answer was the same every time, with slight colorful variations depending on the family responder.

W e were never a religious family, but Jehovah Witnesses are about as far from my beliefs as humanly possible. No holidays. No birthdays. No enjoying the weekends. No jewelry. No music. No movies. No fun. And for what, to get ready for the Second Coming, which I really have no idea if that’s bad or good, but it doesn’t matter because the only thing that’s coming in my book is something tangible like the ice cream truck or a snow storm.

Selling religion door to door feels about as passé as selling vacuums.  But, two young men approached our door recently and I politely said I wasn’t interested. I really wanted to scream, ‘Stop with the God sale, go out and have some fun, enjoy life. Quit hawking goods that 99.99 percent of us have no interest in buying.’

That may sound harsh, but I’m a realist. I don’t need a vacuum that picks up bowling balls and I don’t need my soul saved by a pimply-faced teen. Case Door closed.

Posted by: dcarnes | November 15, 2009

Take it from the kids; use your words

I guess we just never know what our days will bring. But, there are some things I can always expect, one being my daughter’s allergic reaction to mornings. She acts allergic to opening her eyes and I tend to react, thus resulting in a frequent allergic reaction occurring around 6:45 a.m. every weekday morning. Therefore, I often dread getting out of bed myself, knowing what lies ahead. Honestly, there are mornings when I feel like I’ve put in nearly a full day before we’ve ever left the house.

In the waking process it’s not unusual for me to have read a couple of chapters out loud, blabbered on about the exciting events ahead in the day, created my best family dog story and told it in my perfected canine voice (something like the talking dogs in Up), and allowed our dog to jump on her and lick the night’s drool from her face. My creativity is often stretched, looking for new, effective ways to wake the sleeping zombie.

After my series of antics maybe, just maybe, Payton will open her eyes and say a few words. That’s just the beginning. But eventually, after an exhaustive process she’s dressed and headed out the door, always a little late.

Wednesday of last week happened to be a pretty good day. For some reason she popped up fairly quickly, didn’t have a clothing breakdown or a shoe crisis. No tears were shed. No lives were taken. We were off to a good start…until we drove up to the entrance to the morning daycare. You know it’s not going to be good when you see crime tape. Cops and crime tape. Damn it; it was going so well.

tape3_lrg

I first have to say that my daughter goes to a wonderful daycare before and after school. It’s the same one she went to before she was in school and I consider it a model for how daycares should be run.

The only teeny weeny little drawback of the daycare is that the very short street that leads to it contains a questionable business on the right – Fast Time Eddie’s Sports Bar. It’s on the back side in the sub-basement of what was once a casino, until it recently closed. It’s the kind of place that appears to fill up quick right after 5 p.m. and not the kind of place you’d want to meet your husband or best friend for a beer.

That was confirmed for me early Wednesday morning when apparently a little fight turned into a bigger fight, leaving one stabbed to death and one other in critical condition. It, of course, didn’t occur inside the bar, it occurred in the middle of the little road leading to the daycare.

All of us dropping off kids were forced to snake through the bowling alley parking lot which was the next left. Taking a circuitous route through the lot led to a little back road that allowed us to trek down the hill to the daycare.

In hindsight the inconvenience was minimal, because the fact is it’s not the kind of thing you want to drive by and have your kid ask, “Mommy why is there blood all over the road?”

From here, the conversation would go something like this:

Me: “Oh honey, there was another stabbing at the bar last night and this time it didn’t turn out so good.”

Miss P: “You know, David and I have fights at school sometimes but we use our words to resolve it. That’s what Mrs. Crimson taught us. Maybe she could help the people at Fast Eddie’s stop their people from fighting.”

New rule at the bar people: words only. Kids are at play up the street and it’s time you all put your big boy pants on, because next time we see crime tape we’re bringing in Mrs. Crimson.

Posted by: dcarnes | November 11, 2009

Goodbye guns, goodbye shouting lady…

Last week I informed my employer that I would be leaving. Having been there such a short time, only five months; I experienced a lot of guilt as I contemplated my early exit. In the end, I had to weigh the offer that had come before me, which I had not sought, and my longer-term future and career happiness.

As I’m now beginning to reflect on my time here, serving a number of electeds, it’s difficult not to think about what I’ll miss and what I won’t. I’ll definitely miss working in the core of downtown. I love being so close to so much and often in the center of the action.

How many people can say they’ve watched a botched bank robbery from the corner office of the floor where they work? It doesn’t hurt that we’re directly across from police headquarters. When something goes down around here, it goes down fast and furious. Honestly, I’ve never seen so many big guns, and SWAT units in action, except during maybe a CSI episode or some other show involving cops and crime. And, if you’re going to rob a bank, my suggestion is do it a bit further away from police headquarters. Basically, the attempted robbery happened less than half a block away from a building full of cops and it just so happened that one of our finest was doing his personal banking two lines over.

The teller had the wherewithal to signal him that a robbery was in progress, and it was all over for Mr. Robber who fled the bank, jumped in the waiting cab, threatened the driver to drive, and…the driver instead ran, leaving Mr. Bank Robber to jump in the front seat and attempt to escape.

Mr. Robber’s day was already starting to go very badly so the fact that he couldn’t get the car in drive seemed pretty consistent with his day. He too decided to run without success, along with another of his accomplices, who has more success, leaving the third one in the car. The SWAT team pulls the BIG guns on her, demands her to exit (she doesn’t), uses some non-harmful pellet gun to break the glass in the back window of the cab and finally, she comes out, but even then she doesn’t really cooperate very well for having so many guns on her.

All in all, there were 8 cars and about 25 officers surrounding the scene. Quite impressive! But, Mr. Fleeing Accomplice in the dirty pink backpack was still on the loose that day. I have yet to hear if he was caught, but I’m still on the lookout for that dirty pink backpack – just in case.

So, I’ll miss the excitement that tends to occur in the area, whether it’s a bank robbery gone bad, a flaming car next to the Municipal Court, a suicide attempt at the prison, a major car accident right under my window or just the regular hustle and bustle of the day.

But, the one for sure thing I will not, never ever, no way miss is the shouting lady that does her thing either below my window or directly across the street in front of the Police Station a couple of times a week.

She’s clearly not of sound mind, although she doesn’t really look dangerous and she looks like she must have somewhere to sleep at night.  Her deal is that she orates, I guess. She delivers passionate, or should I say ranting speeches to her imaginary audiences. She needs no mic. She needs no real audience. All the world is a stage and she’s found hers near the corner of Cherry and Fifth.

As far as what she’s ranting, I really don’t know. While she’s very loud, and quite annoying, I couldn’t tell you what’s coming out of her mouth – none of us really can. But she yells with conviction, darn it, even if it is laced with anger.

I’m sure she has a purpose, and perhaps someday someone on this floor will figure out exactly what that is. Until then, goodbye shouting lady. Yell on yelling woman, because I will not miss you.  But, I do feel for the next person who takes my office and quickly discovers it’s really not the calm, quiet corner one might expect.

Posted by: dcarnes | November 3, 2009

Halloween still makes me happy!

Another Halloween has passed and our decorations still adorn the porch. Spider webs, lights, skeletons, a witch that cackles, a doorknocker with springing eyeballs, a couple of bulb-lit pumpkins and one real pumpkin all sit silently waiting to be tucked away in their plastic bin or thrown into the compost bin. Sunday should have been my un-decorating day (I think I just made up a new word) but I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye to one of my favorite holidays.

I can’t quite relate to the folks who get all worked up about Halloween being tied to Satan or a time to worship the dead. My theory is they’ve either sat in church too long or watch way too much TV. People, it’s just a holiday. And, it’s become such a secular holiday that Hallmark is one of its prime embracers. And, if Hallmark embraces it you know it’s okay.

Yes, Halloween has a history, but from what I know, it’s typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain from the Old Irish and means roughly “summer’s end”. The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the “lighter half” of the year and beginning of the “darker half”, and is sometimes regarded as the “Celtic New Year.”

Now here’s the spooky part that gets the religious types up in arms – the celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became almost non-existent on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family’s ancestors were honored and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. Supposedly, the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks with their purpose being to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit in order to avoid harm. Very, very tricky and maybe a little treaty!

The bottom line is that Halloween is what you make of it, but all one needs to do is look around today and see that it’s a great time for kids and adults alike to have a little innocent fun, put on a costume if they like and go door-to-door begging for some decent candy. Okay, I don’t believe in or condone candy-begging by adults. It’s embarrassing to witness and I imagine extremely embarrassing to actually attempt. I have my limits, even on this wicked, evil holiday!

It’s been a few years since I’ve actually put a costume on as an adult or attended an adult Halloween party, but we decided this was the year. Mr. Tom, Payton and I ordered up the disco family costumes and we did not disappoint! The only reason I’d call them scary is when I thought about the fact that in the 70s we wore that kind of clothing it truly frightened me. And, seeing how they fit I’m guessing that I could have warded off a few harmful spirits during Samhain.

First came my daughter’s fall festival at her school on the weekend before Halloween. Among the festivities was a costume contest for the kids. And Payton, in her disco dolly outfit took the top prize for cutest costume. Don’t worry, we left our costumes home that night. A school function was NOT the place to debut.

Then came the Friday night before Halloween where we all decked out in disco and headed to a murder mystery fundraiser/Halloween party for kids and adults.

Mr. T., unbeknownst to him, but certainly known to me, became a suspect in the night’s murder. When he was called to the front and questioned he decides to immediately channel Tony Manero (aka, John Travolta) from Saturday Night Fever. When asked where he worked, Mr. T told them the hardware store, while also sharing that he still lived with his parents. At one point he did a couple of Saturday Night dance moves. I was mortified, laughing and crying tears at the same time. In the end, he wasn’t chosen as the murderer but it was one of the most memorable moments of my 2009 Halloween.

Oh, but there’s more. One of the “actors” that night kept coming by our table and early on had named me “Shiny Lady.” His name was Juri Sonavich (I’m glad that one went over all the kid’s heads). Juri was there auditioning untalented people for his reality show. So, lucky me, he calls a handful of women up to the front, including me, the “shiny lady.” At this point, I’m mortified. He asks us each to scream in High C. The irony is I wouldn’t know High C from High B, D, E or F. I cannot, let me repeat, cannot carry a tune. And, while he’s getting us all ready to scream it just so happens that my daughter spills her pop at our table located in the front slightly to the right. So, she jumps up to go grab some napkins but has to make a couple of trips in front of all of us. On the second trip, Juri says something about “Oh, there’s another one of you, there’s Shiny Lady Number 2.” I felt like it really had become a bad reality show but I’ll admit I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

DSCN1008 A

Disco Family gets its groove on – Shiny Lady No. 2, Tony (Mr. Tom), Shiny Lady No. 1

Next up was the actual Halloween night. We again adorned the disco garb. And, while I stayed home to answer the door, Mr. Saturday Night and Disco Dolly, aka, Shiny Lady Number 2 headed out into the neighborhood. I had kids come to the door, some accompanied by adults who apparently were in the crowd the night before, resulting in a couple of “shiny lady” shout outs. And, I was told by one parent that Mr. Saturday Night was cavorting in the neighborhood. How dare him!

Now you tell me, does any of this sound satanic and evil? I can’t wait to see what Halloween 2010 brings – scary, shiny,  spooky – bring it on!

Posted by: dcarnes | October 25, 2009

I won the Best Buy battle, and it feels great!

It all began back in early August when my much-loved MacBook Air started developing a crack on one end of the hinge. Knowing how to turn on a computer and proficiently use a few programs makes me far from any kind of technical genius. I know nothing about the hardware, so I figured the crack was nothing serious and I’d eventually have to take it in. But within a few days it started making a popping noise at the hinge every time I opened and closed it. Never did I think this little crack would soon result in a completely non-functioning computer. Again, I just use the computer; I leave the hardware knowledge to others, and as it turns out, I’m not sure those supposed experts are as knowledgeable as I used to give them credit for.

But, I’m not worried. I’m thinking, ‘Hey, I have a two-year warranty on this machine and it’s not my fault the hinge is defective.’ Okay, it apparently wasn’t my most brilliant thought because little did I know that Best Buy and the infamous Geek Squad will do anything before they are forced, silently kicking and screaming to cover a customer’s warranty.

I’ll admit I made a crucial error early on. I signed their paperwork that authorized them to evaluate my computer, but I didn’t read their 8 pt. notes in the upper portion of it that said, “computer looks like it has been dropped.” First of all, I asked Mr. Geek Squad what I was signing and he said, “Oh, it just allows us to evaluate your computer and determine what’s wrong.” Fair enough. NO, NOT FAIR ENOUGH. I’d had a lengthy conversation with the guy where I made it clear that I hadn’t dropped the computer. I explained how it started as a small crack in the hinge area, blah, blah. And, turns out he really was hearing me say “blah, blah..” as he typed in “…appears that customer dropped computer.” He may as well have written, “this woman is crazy if she thinks that her warranty is good for anything in this store…”

I could draw this thing out as long as it took me to resolve it so instead I’ll attempt to hit the highlights. First, they made me pay $150 for an external hard drive to pull off my data because they couldn’t guarantee they could salvage it. Again, I was sure the problem didn’t have anything to do with the hard drive but I really, really didn’t want to lose all my data. Yes, I’ll admit it, I had no backup. So, I paid the money and waited, and waited and waited.

After a couple of early calls made by me, I was told it was still under evaluation. Then came the phone messages that they could repair my computer for $1,099 and to please call and authorize the repair.  Right, when pigs fly. I promptly called back and said no, nada, never gonna happen. I asked to speak to the supervisor who conveniently only works hours that the rest of us work, so making a call into him and being put on hold for who knows how long is super duper convenient and so customer-service oriented.

Two days later when I spoke with Supervisor Joe, I explained to him that Nadine (name changed to protect her stupidity) said that because the paperwork said I had dropped it they couldn’t retract that and therefore couldn’t consider fixing something under warranty if it had been dropped. I must have told Nadine way too many times that it had not been dropped but she then brought to my attention that in the 8 pt. type it did say “it appears to have been dropped.” And, the only way to retract that would be to send the computer and paperwork back to the store and have them change it there. I must have laughed a little too loudly when I reminded her that they were dealing with technology in the 21st century and why on god’s green earth would they have to physically ship something back when it could all be handled electronically. She said she would make a note to hold the computer and that I would be contacting Joe.

Joe the supervisor who seemed very normal and actually did all the right things found in customer service 101 – empathetic, admitted they could have handled it differently, etc, but then proceeded to tell me that the computer had already been shipped back but assured me more than once that I didn’t have to do anything. He also admitted that there had been a service recall from Apple on its defective hinges found on Macbook Airs. Imagine that. And, that they would fix it under warranty. He was very reassuring but finally admitted that he would be leaving for a three week vacation, but swore his copious notes would be passed on to Jay Jay in his absence. He was so reassuring I fell for it.

Two weeks later I checked in – again. I ended up with Nadine (remember her?) who said the computer was still sitting in Seattle and she couldn’t find anything from Joe, but did remember the issue. I came unglued and told Nadine that enough was enough. Get the computer back and get it fixed. She said she would contact the local store and have them overnight it back.

A week later the computer was somewhere between Seattle and Dubai or Iowa. I have no idea where their repairs are done. Finally, I’m told it’s been checked in but there’s no repair schedule as of yet. With another call I learned that a new screen had been ordered.

A few days later I check online and it says something about the customer has been contacted. I had not been contacted so I called the local store and learned that they would be replacing my computer.

So, after two months and 10 days, 20 calls, a letter from the store at one point indicating my computer had been sitting there for 30 days and I needed to pick it up, and more frustration than any one human being should have to endure for a damn computer, I left the local Best Buy yesterday with a brand new MacBook Air.

newcomputerHere it is. Perseverance does pay off! Best Buy be damned!

Having a new, shiny toy should make me feel better about Best Buy, but it doesn’t. I’m disgusted beyond words at the lengths they went to so they wouldn’t have to honor this warranty. In my estimation, it was a BAD BUY from BEST BAD BUY, and I will do everything in my power to never spend money in that store again. And, I will continue to hold out hope that the economy will recover and with it will come big box stores that can provide much needed competition for BEST BAD BUY.

Posted by: dcarnes | October 18, 2009

Balloon Boy grounded before airing

There’s little question that reality TV has become a national obsession. Just take a quick scan through the weekly TV Guide and today it seems reality TV outweighs drama, comedy and pretty much any other category.

Gone are the days of prime time featuring brilliant writers churning out history-making shows that had us scheduling our lives around each week’s episode.  Now, it’s all about learning who’s the Biggest Loser for the week, what star is forced to hang up his dancing shoes because of an injury, whose lost their travel documents in a race around the world, what gross, disgusting food will the Survivors be subjected to this week, will Kate plus 8 (minus John) finally do the right thing and stop filming the show, and what crazy parent will force her Toddler to stick on a tiara and parade on stage as if they’re a grown adult. The evidence goes on and on that reality TV rules today’s airwaves.

Enter Balloon Boy and his crazy, self-centered, star-obsessed, f%@cked up parents and you know that obsessions can clearly drive people to do things not of this earth.  And, now that the balloon has landed and the dust has cleared, we learn these storm-chasing, alien-finding people have displayed to the entire country why those brilliant writers of yesterday need to take back the TV airwaves.

It’s hard to fathom that two adult people with any type of functioning brains can think they could get away with building some spaceship-shaped helium balloon, let it float into the air, call the authorities and claim their son is aboard and watch the story unfold on national TV. And, it’s not enough thinking they could get away with it, but it’s also the fact they thought this kind of action would ultimately land them their own reality show.

It seemed unreal from the beginning, but got weirder and weirder as the story unfolded. Once we learned they’d already done two stints on Wife Swap, it wasn’t difficult to know this story wasn’t over. Then, when the dad holds a press conference to announce he’s leaving out a question box for those still seeking answers and he’ll be back later to respond, I think we all knew it was only a matter of time.  Can anyone say “HOAX?”

Conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, attempt to Influence a public servant – all felonies. Now that’s no hoax, that’s the Heene’s new reality show  - soon airing daily from a Colorado penitentiary.

Posted by: dcarnes | October 11, 2009

A random act of kindness

I’ve never doubted that people, for the most part, are inherently kind. But these days, it seems like you encounter more anger, disrespect and downright despicable behavior from those who somewhere along the way decided that it’s okay to treat people like they themselves would never want to be treated. I think it’s when the opposite happens to you that it leaves a lasting impression.

I remember about a year ago experiencing a “pay it forward” moment in the drive-through Starbucks line. I had heard about one probably a year earlier that went on for several hours before someone broke the magic.  On this particular day the barista at the window, who is still there and still as fun, kind and perky as ever, said I was No. 25. I, of course said I’d pay for the person’s drink behind me. I suppose I was lucky she wasn’t ordering for the entire office that day, but even then I would have still paid. Price aside, it leaves you with a good feeling that you’re doing something for someone else you don’t know.

And, while we give to charities and do as much as we can during the holidays, I’ll admit that I fall into that category of not being all that random with my acts of kindness.  It’s not that I haven’t thought about it and pondered numerous times about wanting to help someone, but I’ll admit I often over think it. “Is this the right way to help?” Are there more effective ways?”   By the time I’ve run through all the scenarios in my head my spontaneous moment of reaching out has passed.

Maybe that’s why I feel compelled to share me witnessing an incredibly random act of kindness last night. I was headed to our local QFC to pick up a few items for dinner. I drive up to my favorite spot at the front corner of the store.  I’ll admit it’s my favorite because nobody can park on your right side so it’s easy to get in and out and the risk of door dings it almost non-existent.

Sitting at the corner of the store, right in front of my car is a man with a sign that read something like: “I’m homeless, and yes, it’s totally my fault. I’ve made mistakes. But, if there’s any way you can help I’d appreciate it.”  I have to admit I read his entire sign and thought it was a pretty interesting approach. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an alleged homeless person’s sign actually be accountable for his/her problems.

He looked a little weathered, but lucid. He was reading a novel and he wasn’t actually speaking to anyone who passed him; he was just sitting. The fact is, he was located on the end of the store with not much foot traffic, so he’d chosen a pretty, quiet unassuming place for his “ask.”

My first thought was to ask him what he needed so I could buy it, but I didn’t. Then, when I came out I pondered whether I should give him money, but I’ve always steered away from that because of the risk of contributing to an ongoing problem, rather than actually helping.

 In the meantime, another gentleman came out and handed him a bag of groceries. He said something about how he hoped it help. He then asked him where he was staying. The guy said he was camping. Mr. Random Act then asked about him about staying warm. “It’s going to get cold tonight, do you have a coat, and do you have blankets?” I couldn’t hear exactly what Mr. Homeless said but something about he would try to stay warm. Mr. Random Act then asked whether he could use a coat. Mr. Homeless must have nodded. Mr. Random opened up his pickup and tossed him a down coat, saying he had two. It wasn’t just any old coat, I’m sure it was the coat the guy often wore. Not that he didn’t have another one, but I’m telling you it wasn’t some sort of hand-me-down.

That encounter was an incredible Random Act of Kindness, and I couldn’t help but give the guy a nod as he drove away. I followed him down into my neighborhood. 

This week will mark three years since we’ve lived in this community. I liked it from day one, and that short but significant interaction reinforced for me that people around here really are good and kind. So, to Mr. Random Act, maybe I’ll actually see you around the neighborhood and if I do, I’ll be sure to not hesitate in commending you for doing something that people like me wish they would do more of. You’ve given me the motivation to stop over thinking those kinds of moments, and simply help someone if I think they really need it. Thank you. You made my night.

Older Posts »

Categories