Frustration, thy name is....

digital hearingaids. Gaaaaaaah. Supposedly newer hearingaids are better, but the audiologist put off talking about new ones (even though I went into her office from Day 1 with the intent) until today. I knew these weren't working for me. But apparently they don't make analog hearingaids anymore, because the sound is sooooo much better with digital. So now I just have the choice of spending $$$ or $$$$$. I can get hearingaids with wider frequencies, with more programs, etc, etc. They have more sophisticated programs, etc. But the thing that just drives me bonkers is that I just want amplification. I don't want things with umpteen kajillion buttons, or have to remember, ok program 5 is such and such. I just feel so frustrated. These 'mute' the sound when it gets different frequencies going on... I don't want muting. I don't want to feel like I am hearing less. I don't care about the damn feedback management system, my hearing threshold is low enough that my hearing needs to be on the edge of feedback all the time. And feedback management is horrible.

And I also HATE the damn phone switches. *sigh*

I'm just feeling frustrated. Because it seems like what will help is to get more complicated, but it may also be ending up as more issues for me, and more damn tweaking.

End of year gifts....

Wheee! Its that time again. Time to collect $$ and give gifts. I have ideas, I do... I like giving more than just a gift card.

Gabe, if you are reading this, stop NOW. Do not pass Go, do not collect 200.


Ok.

Lets

give

some

space

so

he

doesn't

inadvertently

see

anything.

There is a problem with gifts for Mr Gabriel. Its not that he is picky, its getting stuff that is 'enough' for the choir, because they want BIG. But I'm not always happy with just a gift card, I want to do something well-thought out, that he will like and use. (I don't like gift cards because I never use them, I just don't). I know what he will get for his birthday... but have no idea what to get him this year as an end-of year gift. Part of it depends on how much folks give, too. I know he collects roosters/chickens, masks... which actually gives me an idea for next year, if I can get his partner's cooperation. He collects something else, which I am blanking on... He likes sunflowers... hmmm, he might need luggage...I'll have to remember to ask one of the guys...

I like doing it, but it can be tough, when you only know someone casually, to get him something he will like.

I'd also like to do something for the Vallis boys, but not sure what. A signed program once it comes out, maybe? For each. Or a signed, framed photo of the Vallis choir for each...that might work.

Its Smurfalicious!

So I was digging through the bags at the Library the other day, looking for a DVD from the main for a patron, and I found, lo and behold, that we own the Smurfs on DVD. Now of course I HAD to take that out...just for the cheese factor alone...

And I'm watching it, and its cheesy, yes, but some of the messages there are odd, when you think about it. Smurfette was created by Gargamel, with black hair. When she was transformed into a real smurf, she became a blonde. hmmmm. Subliminal messages much?

And don't you wonder how Papa Smurf got to be a Papa without a Mama Smurf around? Maybe they grow like mushrooms....

There were some valuable lessons in the Smurfs, though. Language (usage of real words, like integrity), friendship, doing for others...

But its amazing sometimes how we've gotten shaped by TV and the TV shows of our childhood. TV has taken the place of the traditional oral tradition, or telling stories around the campfire, or the stories in religion, the oral transmission of where we come from, and what shapes us. Kids today, as evidenced by my CCD class, come from a larger world, and yet have, in some ways, less sense of where they came from. They have more pieces to put together, because they have more stories to learn from.

What did you learn from your childhood TV shows? What stories do you have to share?

What happens at the Library stays at the Library?

Not always. This is what happens when a nine year-old gets bored while waiting for his sister...

Stories of the Ancient World

So I'm half watching a story on books that were excluded from the Bible. And one story amused me. Apparently written around the first Century BC, it involves Joseph and his wife, the daughter of an Egyptian priest. Its a love story, involving a miracle that enabled them to marry.

What they did not mention in the program is that there was a growing tradition of love stories around that time... (I took a class on the Ancient Greek Novel in college). Love stories involving the fantastic and amazing, where love generally triumphed. (And in the Ancient Greek Novel, the Adventures of Baron Munchausen would have paled in comparison). I do wonder how that would have tied in...

It just demonstrates some of the problems with overspecialisation. Something can come from a Biblical tradition and a popular tradition as well, and there was much more interaction around the ancient world than most people realise, yet it all get pigeonholed. Which does annoy me.

Green ponderings...

So much of our lives these days are being greenwashed. I found myself, this morning, watching a commercial for Clorox's green cleaners, and thinking:

Is it better for me to buy green cleaners from Clorox, when so much else they do causes harm to the planet, or wouldn't it be better to buy from truly environmental companies? On the one hand, if you buy the green cleaners from Clorox, you encourage them to see that is what people want, but are you also encouraging greenwashing?

Greenwashing is the process whereas companies pay lip service to the organic/natural movement, but really continue in making toxic products/services that only seem green.

I saw another ad, another megacorporation, which is apparently using methane/landfill gas to power a factory. Yes, that is wonderful, but look at the products that are made in that factory. Toxic cleaners and air fresheners. Lovely. Yes, its a step forward, but are the products made in that specific factory labeled as such? So that consumers can buy those products that are made at less harm to the environment? Or is this company greenwashing? Is it just one factory? Or are you doing this in all your factories?

And why not team up with Clorox, make the Green cleaners in the Green factories? Then I'd buy them.