Kids Get Fall Break Nowadays

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Not that I am any kind of geezer who complains about the “Good Old Days,” but it bothers me a little that today’s kids go to school on a totally different schedule than what I had to observe when I was in school. Around here, they start back to school the first week of August, which is more than a month earlier than when we started back the day after Labor Day, and that ends their “Summer Break.”

Then, the kids here get off two weeks for what they call “Fall Break,” then they get “Winter Break” and then “Spring Break.” Notice the pattern? They have removed references to holidays. Also, they have shortened what we called summer Vacation to just 2 months, instead of three. That is because they spread that other 4 weeks out during the year to give them longer “breaks.”

Maybe the kids like to have “Fall Break,” but what on earth do all the parents who work do with their kids being home for two weeks in October? I don’t know many employers who are going to happily let the moms stay home for two weeks, especially no one who works in retail when they are ramping up for the Christmas shopping season. There is not much to do in October – it’s too cold to go swimming or fishing and there are no festivals or fairs or anything fun to do with kids.

I think the school administrators are trying to gradually force year-round school on everyone and by sneaking in a few days here and there they are hoping that nobody notices. That annoys me greatly. I don’t agree with year-round school and I LIKE having the kids out of school for three months in the summer. And I like having time for the kids to play sports, go visit family, and just have fun being kids. What do you think about year-round school?

Bored With Facebook

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Facebook has been a part of my daily life for over 3 years now. I actually don’t remember when I first discovered Facebook and signed up. I do know that I am not as eager and enthusiastic to reconnect with people as I was when it first came out. To be honest, I have purged my friend list down from close to 600 friend to a more manageable and peaceful 200 friends. The purging was hard to do, but necessary for my sanity. Too many trolls and nasty people polluting my wall every day. And those people who post YouTube videos every two minutes for an entire night drive me COMPLETELY NUTS!

But once I deleted all the drama people and the troublemakers, Facebook has become boring. Maybe I’ve just gotten my use out of it and it is time to move on to something else.

Last of the Re-Runs

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I don’t know about you but I am pretty much sick of the reruns on TV. I think it is ridiculous that I pay a huge cable bill – about $200 per month to Comcast for cable and internet – and there is not one damn thing that I want to watch on TV. How many channels are there now? Three hundred cable channels with TV shows? How many movie channels? And then there are the music channels, On Demand, Sports, etc. I don’t even know how many total channels but the numbers on the remote go way up over 1,200. And there are re-runs and the same old, same old crap movies.

Thankfully, some of the shows I like are having their premiere TV series shows next week. The one I am looking forward to the most is the new season of Sons of Anarchy. I am curious to see how the story line develops. I know that the writer, Kurt Sutter, had no idea he would be writing this series for 5 seasons when he started this. It was actually obvious last season that he was burned out on his original storyline and was just grasping at straws to give us something that made any sense at all, as long as people were getting shot and stabbed and beat up – he didn’t care of it made any sense any more.

There will be a handful of new shows coming out over the next couple of weeks that looks interesting from the previews they have been running. Nothing particularly comes to mind, but I will have to start paying attention and write out  a calendar of show premieres that I want to watch so I don’t inadvertently make plans on a special premiere night and miss one.

Even so, I don’t like much of network TV anymore. The cable channels are putting out the best new shows. I’m looking forward to SOA, Person of Interest, and then a long wait for the next season of Games of Thrones. Anything after those three shows are really just mind gravy for me.

Big Cook Out Plans for Labor Day

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Tomorrow is the first holiday this year that I am actually looking forward to. This is one holiday that needs no travel, no expensive gift giving, and I can just relax and enjoy good food with good friends. That is what life is supposed to be about, and I intend to do more of just that!

This weekend has been just like every other weekend, but tomorrow is Labor Day, and my neighbors are throwing a min-block party with kegs of beer, everyone grilling, and people showing up with salads and covered dishes.

I am grilling corn on the cob for my part, and also bought a bunch of melons and spent almost 2 hours today carving out the watermelon, honey dew and 2 kinds of cantaloupes to make a melon salad for everyone. It takes a long time using that little half round melon ball scoop! Usually I just cut melons into chunks for eating at home, but since this is a big party, I thought I would go fancy and make them into melon balls and then put them back into a carved watermelon rind. The carving is not real fancy, but I was able to make it look somewhat like a basket. I should take a picture and post it on Facebook tomorrow after I set it all up.

Looking forward to chilling with friends and neighbors and chowing down tomorrow afternoon. Not much chance of rain, high’s in the 80’s and it should be a perfect day!

Tried a Glass of Fresh Lemonade Today

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On my way home tonight I noticed some kids a few blocks down from my street had set up a lemonade stand and were trying to wave down all the people driving by on their way home. I figured I would be a good sport and stop the car to check them out.

They had a little folding table and a beach umbrella set up by the driveway and a poster board with letters too hard to read from a distance. When I crossed the street from where I pulled over and parked my car, I found that they were selling red solo cups full of fresh squeezed lemonade for $1. Of course, in my day you could get a little Dixie cup of lemonade for 10 cents, but times have changed. And to be honest, you can’t buy much of any cold drink for less than a dollar at the convenience store or fast food joints anymore.

So, I forked over the $1 and got a cup of very tart and tangy lemonade. It was not very sweet, but it was cold and wet and definitely lemon. Kinda cool that the kids were so enterprising. I hope they made a few bucks and try it again – I’d stop again if I see them out there.