oldi's Blog

I truly believe that we are living in the era of 'entitlement'.

Take a close look at TV commercials, if you don't believe it.

Loreal is probably the most obvious, with their line "I'm worth it!"

McDonalds is famous for "You deserve a break today."

Nationwide is on your side.

Have it your way. (Burger King)

Puffs Tissues "A nose in need deserves Puffs indeed."

There have been very many companies that use "You deserve _____________"

This has even been used in politics.

Just watch commercials on TV. Now that I've warned you, you are going to be able to identify the entitlement tag-lines more frequently.

The reason that I'm bringing this up is that it is destroying the fiber of our society. I have been given many entitlement messages from well-meaning people, and I've been given these messages in a number of different ways.

I've been told:

Live a little.

Life is too short.

You deserve it. (of course)

Don't be so hard on yourself.

When someone gives me this kind of message in person. I tend to go into analytical mode. I ask myself why this person has this message for me.

If if is a relative that truely loves me or the message comes from one of my doctors, I might feel that the message comes from concern. I have had stress related medical problems.

If the message comes from a person that I don't know very well, I consider it neutral.

If the message comes from a person that is working in sales, I become hyper-alert, because this person is trying the entitlement psychology advertising on me.

Unfortunately, this is one of the most effective advertising methods that has ever been created.

The reason that I'm very wary of this, is that we are becoming lazy and developing entitled attitudes.

This is the reason that people no longer have common sense about what they can actually afford. More people are in debt and don't save today.

This attitude has also discouraged most people from bringing a healthy lunch from home.  I remember a time when most people carried a lunch box with a thermos bottle to work. We don't see that very much any more.

There was a time when people would save money until they could afford what they wanted. I remember that well.

I also remember when people were more likely to admit that they can't afford it.

Has anyone else noticed that we are being bombarded with entitlement messages?

Please give me your examples! 

The story below does not surprise me at all.

(Apparently, this was in the Star-Telegram)

Arlington Fumbles Financing of New Stadium
Submitted by betchison on Sun, 09/21/2008 - 7:17pm.

The city of Arlington is finding that they fumbled the financing for the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington. The stadium, which was jointly financed by Jerry Jones and the city of Arlington is finding itself in the same predicament of many homeowners around the state as they have suffered the sting from a variable rate on the bonds that they used to finance the stadium.

Certainly you would think a city like Arlington would not take a risk on variable rate bonds. The city had already taken a hit on the way they used eminent domain just to secure the land needed for the new stadium. However, at the time they were advised that the savings associated with a variable rate bond would be tremendous. I'd imagine they won't be using that financial adviser again any time soon.

In order for Arlington to terminate the current agreement and put in place a new agreements with a locked rate it is estimated to cost the city $23 to $28 million dollars. If you break that down per citizen of Arlington, a city of about 330,000, that is $84 per person. That is a valuable tank of gas. If you were to look even further and break that cost down per tax payer the number would be astronomical.

While I am all for progress and bringing that business and tourism to this part of the metroplex, it should not be done by wasteful and mismanaged spending on part of the city of Arlington. I'd venture to say that when the voters of Arlington approved those bonds for the stadium they didn't do so with the undertanding that $28 million would be thrown away. Clearly Arlington has fumbled the financing of its soon to be moneymaker.

(moneymaker??????????? - It already has a horrible track record)

You can find the story here:
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/916955.html<
/a>

robert.cluck@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER MEL LEBLANC DISTRICT 1

Mel.Leblanc@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER SHERI CAPEHART DISTRICT 2

Sheri.Capehart@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER ROBERT RIVERA DISTRICT 3

robert.rivera@arlingtontx.gov 

COUNCIL MEMBER KATHRYN WILEMON
DEPUTY MAYOR PRO TEMPORE
DISTRICT 4

Kathryn.Wilemon@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER LANA WOLFF
MAYOR PRO TEMPORE
DISTRICT 5

Lana.Wolff@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER ROBERT SHEPARD
DISTRICT 6
AT LARGE

Robert.Shepard@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER JIMMY BENNETT
DISTRICT 7
AT LARGE

Jimmy.Bennett@arlingtontx.gov

COUNCIL MEMBER GENE PATRICK
DISTRICT 8
AT LARGE

Gene.Patrick@arlingtontx.gov

I was shocked to see that hurricane Dolly has caused so much destruction in Ruidoso.

I grew up in El Paso, Texas and Ruidoso is one of the vacation spots that we used to visit.

The report that I saw showed collapsed bridges and campers tents floating down a river. Campers were actually woke up by the movement of their tents. My family used to camp there!

I just did not believe that a hurricane could keep causing so much destruction for such a long distance. This makes me believe that we are all vulnerable to more crazy weather than I ever thought possible.

These are questions for the meteorologists:

What is the record for damage caused by a hurricane once it has gone inland?

Is there a record for miles travelled while still causing damage?

The city of Arlington has Pleasant Ridge closed for construction, and it is a mess right now. I really feel sorry for the people that live in the construction areas. There are some alternate routes for them, but those routes are very time-consuming. This has been one of my favorite detours when there have been major wrecks on I-20. I always liked this street anyway, because it is pretty and tree lined. A lot of the trees have been taken down.

It will not be complete until January 2010.

I had a feeling that El Paso, Texas and possibly part of New Mexico would be flooded this week. When I watched the weather it appeared that Hurricane Dolly was going in that direction. None of the local meteorologists said anything about El Paso being in danger.

It turned out that the street flooding was pretty bad and some houses were flooded in El Paso.

The trans-mountain highway (that goes through the Franklin Mountains) was closed due to rock slides caused by flooding. I loved driving through that highway. The view is gorgeous.

There was a traffic fatality in Las Cruces, New Mexico when an SUV hit a puddle and overturned. A passenger died and the driver and two children were hopitalized.

Ask any person from El Paso and we will tell you that the rest of the state of Texas does not treat us like we are part of Texas.

I considered the above story important enough for some air time.

Some awareness ribbons represent as many as 50 different causes or organizations.

Black represents:

• Amish Support
• Anti-Terrorism
• Gang Prevention
• Gun Control

• Melanoma
• Mourning
• Narcolepsy
• POW/MIA (alternative color: Yellow)

• Sleep Apnea
• Sleep Disorders
• Students for Gun Control
• Trauma

Black and Blue represent:

• Loss of a Brother
• Loss of a Male Child
• Anti-Terrorism
• Mourning a Brother
• Mourning a Son

Black and Pink represent:

• Loss of a Female Child
• Loss of a Sister
• Mourning a Daughter
• Mourning a Sister

Blue represents:

• Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
• Alopecia
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Arthritis
• Brachial Plexus Injuries
• Child Abuse Prevention
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Colitis
• Colon Cancer
• Cororectal Cancer
• Crime Victim's Rights
• Crohn's Disease
• Drowning
• Dysautonomia
• Dystonia
• Education

• Epstein-Barr Virus
• Erb's Palsy
• Familial Polyposis
• Free Speech
• Guillian Barre Syndrome
• Huntington's Disease
• Hurricane
• Hurricane Katrina
• Hystiocytosis
• Ichthyosis
• Interstitial Cystitis
• Langerhans Cell Hystiocytosis
• Leukodystrophies
• ME/CFIDS
• Myositis

• Police Lost in Duty
• Rectal Cancer
• Restless Legs Syndrome
• Reye's Syndrome
• Save the Music in Our Schools
• Short Bowel Syndrome
• Steven Johnson Syndrome
• Teens Against Smoking
• Transverse Myelitis
• Victim's Rights
• Water Quality
• Water Safety

Light Blue represents:

• Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
• Alopecia
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Arthritis
• Brachial Plexus Injuries
• Child Abuse Prevention
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Colitis
• Colon Cancer
• Cororectal Cancer
• Crime Victim's Rights
• Crohn's Disease
• Drowning
• Dysautonomia
• Dystonia
• Education

• Epstein-Barr Virus
• Erb's Palsy
• Familial Polyposis
• Free Speech
• Guillian Barre Syndrome
• Huntington's Disease
• Hurricane
• Hurricane Katrina
• Hystiocytosis
• Ichthyosis
• Interstitial Cystitis
• Langerhans Cell Hystiocytosis
• Leukodystrophies
• ME/CFIDS
• Myositis

• Police Lost in Duty
• Rectal Cancer
• Restless Legs Syndrome
• Reye's Syndrome
• Save the Music in Our Schools
• Short Bowel Syndrome
• Steven Johnson Syndrome
• Teens Against Smoking
• Transverse Myelitis
• Victim's Rights
• Water Quality
• Water Safety

Brown represents:

• Anti-Tobacco
• Colon Cancer
• Colorectal Cancer
• Familial Polyposis
• Tobacco Awareness

Gold represents:

• Childhood Cancer (alternative colors are pink and light blue)
• COPD
• Embryonal Rhabdomysarcoma

Grey represents:

• Allergies
• Alpha-1
• Antitrypsin Deficiency

• Aphasia
• Asthma
• Brain Cancer

• Brain Tumors
• Diabetes
• Mental Illness

Green represents:

• Bipolar Disorder
• Bone Marrow Donation
• Cerebral Palsy
• Childhood Depression
• Depression
• Environmental Concerns
• Eye Injury Prevention
• Fanconi's Syndrome
• Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
• Freedom
• Glaucoma
• Growth and Rebuilding
• Homeopathy
• Kidney Cancer

• Kidney Disease
• Kidney Donation
• Leukemia
• Literacy
• Living Organ Donation
• Manic Depression
• Mental Health
• Mental Illness
• Mental Retardation
• Missing Children
• Mitochondrial Disease
• Nephrotic Syndrome
• Neural Tube Defects
• Neurofibromatosis

• Open Records for Adoptees
• Organ Donation
• Organ Transplant
• Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
• Safety Driving
• Safe Darfur
• Spinal Cord Injuury Research
• Stem Cell Donor
• Stem Cell Research
• Tissue Donation
• Tourette's Syndrome
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Von Hippel Lindau
• Worker Safety

Lime Green represents:

• Lymphoma
• Lyme Disease
• Muscular Dystophy
• Ivemark Syndrome
• Sandhoff Disease

Orange represents:

• Agent Orange effects
• Cultural Diversity
• Cat Spaying and Neutering
• Hunger
• Leukemia
• Lupus

• Melanoma
• Motorcycle Safety
• Racial Tolerance
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS)
• Self-Injury Awareness

Pearl represents:

• Emphysema
• Mesothelioma
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinema

Periwinkle represents:

• Eating Disorders
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Esophageal of Stomach Cancer
• Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Spastic Colon

Pink represents:

• Birth Parents
• Breast Cancer
• Cleft Palate
• Nursing Mothers

Pink and Blue represent:

• Pregnancy
• Loss of an Infant
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Male Breast Cancer

Purple represents:

• ADD
• ADHD
• Alzheimer's
• Animal Abuse
• Colitis
• Crohn's Disease

• Cystic Fibrosis
• Domestic Violence
• Fibromyalgia
• Leimyosarcoma
• Lupus

• Pancreatic Cancer
• Religious Tolerance
• Testicular Cancer
• Thyroid Cancer
• Victims of 9/11 (Including Police and Firefighters)

Light Purple represents:

• General Cancer Awareness
• Epilepsy
• Foster Care or Foster Parents
• Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis
• Rett Syndrome

Puzzle represents:

• Autism

Red represents:

• AIDS and HIV
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Congenital Heart Disease
• Congestive Heart Failure
• Courage and Inspiration
• DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
• Diamond-Blackfan Anemia
• DUI (Driving under the Influence)
• Epidermolysis Bullosa
• Evans Syndrome

• Factor XI Deficiency
• Heart Disease
• Hemophilia
• High Blood Pressure
• Hypertension
• Long Q Sydrome
• T Sydrome
• Love
• Lymphoma (alternative color: lime green)
• MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers)

• Marfan Syndrome
• Project Red Flag
• Stroke
• Substance Abuse
• Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT)
• Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
• Tuberculosis
• Von Willebrand's Disease
• Wolf-Parkinson-White (WPW)
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy

Patriotism (red, white and blue) represents:

• Patriotism
• 9/11 Heroes
• Support of our Troops
• Fireworks Safety

Silver represents:

• Children with Disabilities
• Mental Illnesses such as
  • Severe Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Anxiety Disorders
• Parkinson's Disease

Teal represents:

• Cancers Types including:
  • Cervical
  • Ovarian
  • Uterine
• Myasthenia Gravis
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
• Sexual Assault
• Tsunami Victims

White represents:

• Adoptee
• Adoption
• Anti-Child Pornography
• Anti-Pornography
• Anti-Stalking
• Anti-War
• Blindness
• Bone Cancer
• Bone Disease
• Child Exploitation
• Child Sexual Abuse/Assault

• Community Support
• Congenital Cataracts
• Elderly Affairs
• Hernia
• Holocaust Remembrance
• Hope and Support
• Innocence
• Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE)
• Molestation Survivor
• On-Line Sexual Predator Awareness
• Opposition to the War

• Osteoporosis
• Peace
• Postpartum Depression
• Retinobiastoma
• Right to Life
• Safe Motherhood
• Salvation Army
• Scoliosis
• Student Sexual Assault
• Teen Pregnancy
• Victims of Terrorism

Yellow represents:

• Adoptive Parents
• Amber Alerts (Missing Children)
• Bladder Cancer
• Endometriosis
• General Symbol for Hope
• POW/MIA (alternative color is black)
• Suicide Prevention
• Spina Bifida

Whew, what a long list!!!

I_S,

We're sure gonna miss ya! Are you sure that you want to give up blogging? You always wrote some really interesting stuff!

I know, from my recent rotator cuff surgery that you will not even be able to use a computer without pain after the surgery. The first 3 days are absolutely the hardest. Take your physical therapy seriously and do all of the 'homework' that your physical therapist gives you.

I'm praying for your recovery and hope and pray that others do too.

I tried to leave a comment on The Real Estate Lady's blog. (She gives awesome advice and information)

I tried three different times on her blog site and the comments would not post!

I had the same problem when I tried to post a comment on "Happy Feet Macarena" Dallas47_Rocks

Is anyone else noticing that some blog sites are a little bit messed up?

  I am in favor of some ideals/policies of the Democratic party and some ideals/policies of the Republican party. To me, the perfect candidate would be compassionate of the working class, single moms, and the retirees.

At the same time, the perfect candidate would be strong in the defense of the Country. (I think I counted 6 video clips of President Clinton saying that he would find and prosecute the terrorists - I actually became sorry that I voted for him at that time)

The perfect candidate would not stomp on the rights of any person to practice the religion that they please. Many confuse the separation of Church and State. That doctrine was enacted, because our founding forefathers did not want for the United States to have a State Church, like The Church of England. They did not intend for any church to be persecuted, nor did they intend to forbid "prayer in school".  

click below to see the waffling politician.  

 http://www.johnmccain.com/videolanding/documentar
y.htm

I have several family members that have signed oil & gas leases. I have some tips to help you get the best deal.

Do not be too quick to sign directly with the oil companies. They knock on a lot of doors and try to get victims to sign their oil & gas lease contracts. They will try to make you believe that you are running out of time. Actually, they are the ones that are running out of time. They want to get you to sign before the neighborhood groups get to you. Even if the numbers sound good, the contract might have something in it that will make it very expensive to try to sell your home. You also do not need to lease your mineral rights.

When the oil companies start canvassing your neighborhood, you need to do an internet search to find the neighborhood group that has organized to draft a fair contract for the homeowners. All of the neighborhood groups that I am familiar with have attorneys drafting the contracts. You will eventually see signs in your neighborhood that have information on the neighborhood group for your area. There will also be signs advertising the oil companies that are purchasing oil leases.

My husband and I just signed an oil & gas lease and our sign-on bonus was $25,000.00 per acre with royalty payments of 25%. Our lot is extremely small, but it was still a large sum of money. (a lot more than what we owe on the house!) All of our family out here (that owns their property) lives on the Barnett Shale. I'm convinced that if the oilmen are paying such huge sign-on bonuses, they fully expect to extract oil! I have been told by a very reliable source that the average royalty payments in my neighborhood will be around $170.00 per month. They have not started drilling out here yet.  

One of my husbands friends owns 152 acres in Burleson, TX. His sign-on bonus came to $4,104,000.00! He just resigned from his job, and I don't blame him. If they strike oil in his area, the money will just keep coming because he gets the 25.25% royalty payments. It must be nice.  

We have 7 house payments left, and I have never been sure of whether I wanted to stay here. This new situation will keep me here.

I know that any of you that watch all of the news programs will remember this story.

Parkland Hospital obviously sent press releases to all of the news outlets, bragging about their five 'nominees' for the Great 100 Nurses ceremony. With cookie cutter precision, all of the reporters sounded alike. I believe that they read those press releases almost verbatim! I sat there thinking about my old days in broadcasting and how sad that they missed an opportunity to go to the ceremony and actually see who won!

In case you're curious, the link to the actual winners is below. We have a lot of special nurses in region 3 & region 4 of North Texas!

http://www.tnad4.org/images/2008-Great-100-Nurses.p
df

I would also be willing to bet that there are some good interesting news stories if the reporters will explore this list.

I will probably be a grandmother by this evening. My oldest daughters water broke and she is at the hospital right now.

She told me that I should go ahead with my plans for today. I have physical therapy this morning. I had rotator cuff surgery recently and I'm not working yet.

My youngest daughter had a seizure at work and had to be rushed to the hospital because she remained unconscious on Friday.

First of all, I should explain that I work in a jail. Baggy britches make my job much more easy. First impressions are very important. with baggy britches, you know that the person wearing them is:

1) not very bright

2) possibly a gang banger  

3) not going to run very fast

4) easy to take down in a fight

I'll explain each point.

1) you can't be very bright if you wear pants that are so baggy that you have to hold them up with one hand. this decreases your efficiency at doing anything!!!

2) let's face it! baggy pants identify the gang bangers.

3) how can anyone run very fast from the po po when they have those pants flapping all over the place?

4) since the gang banger is probably holding pants with one hand, they don't fight very well. when they let go of the pants, they are very easy to trip and take to the ground.

Ya gotta love em, if you have to deal with the little punks.

As most of you know by now, I am a sewing maniac. I have been very busy making maternity clothes and baby items for my oldest daughter. I was working on a pair of maternity slacks for her when my old faithful sewing machine quit zig-zagging. It did some really freaky things when it died. I was zig-zagging a seam edge when the setting moved by itself. I tried to make it zig-zag again and all it would do is straight stitch.

I called my favorite sewing machine mechanic and told him what had happened. He said that it would probably cost around $150.00 to repair it and I could easily get a new machine for that amount of money. I thought long and hard about what to do. I had my eye on a lot of the sewing - embroidery combination machines. I was not sure of what I would do. The following Monday I put the sewing machine into the repair shop. They told me that they had a back log of work and would not even get a chance to look at it until the next Monday. I have had a chance to think about what I want to do. Since I have a lot of add on gadgets that will only work with my old machine, I will just get them to fix it and I'll keep it. I figure that I can afford $150.00 much more easily than I can afford $1,000.00 for one of the low-end embroidery-sewing machine combos.

This did not stop me from shopping and seeing what is out there. I went to some of the high-end sewing machine dealers and was shocked at what these machines can do. They have little windows that allow you to preview your design. The controls that select the designs and fonts are right by the little windows. With some of them, you use a little stylus to move the design or letters around. If you really want to go high end, you can get a machine that threads itself. I watched two of those machines thread themselves. They were way out of my price range! ((((($5,000.00 and up!)))))) All of the machines that I looked at had USB ports to be hooked up to your computer. This way you can download designs into your machine. There is a digitizing software that will allow you to convert photographs or clip art into embroidery designs. I have never wanted anything so bad. I have had dreams about embroidering my grand-daughters name on some baby items. (I am going to wait until she is born - due date 05/13/08 - just in case her parents change their minds about names)

I have been afraid to spend a lot of money, because right now I have several medical issues and I'm having to spend a lot of money on medical care (even with good insurance)!!

If I get a large sum of money out of sources unknown, I will consider it a sign to buy the low-end sewing-embroidery machine.