NonEssentials

I have a new toy. It's a GPS system that goes right on my windshield, under my rear view mirror and my toll pass. What a high-tech windshield I have! I don't need this device much, but when I go somewhere unfamiliar, it's better than driving while sneaking glances at my Google map printouts as I navigate strange neighborhoods. So, my first real attempt to let this talking device help me was yesterday. I was going about 30 miles from home to a South Dallas courthouse. I programmed my destination and smiled as the disembodied voice told me to turn out of my development. Once I was on the highway, I knew I had to go quite a distance, so I turned on the radio. Then I heard the voice saying something to me (Was my radio too loud and she couldn't think?) I turned the music off and listened carefully. Turns out, at every intersection of roads, the device would tell me to stay on the road I was on. Problem was, I was told this 1 mile before, then 1/2 a mile before, then whe...

I don't know how I stumbled on this -- Spring Break, free time, etc. It's a long video, but you have to watch it all the way through for the unexpected moments of hilarity.

I'm doing my best to move this economy...I just bought an automatic hose-reeler to go with my not-yet-realized vegetable garden. I was in the nursery yesterday buying flowers (not perennials, but annuals - see?...again another example of contributing to the economy--in 2 months I'l have to buy more plants) when I overheard a woman telling another shopper how she tried and tried to grow tomatoes, but had no luck. Damn! This isn't the first time I've heard this, yet in my garage is the making of some unique tomato plants that you hang up and they grow down. (I don't understand it either. Look for an update when I try to figure this thing out.) In my eagerness to become a farmer, I started a compost heap in the backyard, which is doing quite well. I do have one concern though: it's hard to know when your compost heap is "done," because it never is. When I took a class on composting, I saw these big bins where you use screens to separate the already-comp...

Maybe I'm showing my age, but there's one commerical on TV that just sets my teeth on edge. It's the Sprint commercial where a family is visiting the Museum of Natural History in NY. The kids are taking pictures and sending them to Grandma. One of them is texting non-stop. It's a depressing snippet of how family communications have gone down the toilet. No one talks to each other. Dad slips away to score Broadway tickets as a surprise for his wife, but I'm thinking she might be pleasantly surprised if he just flat out asked her. This black-and-white commercial demonstrates how cell phone technology has undermined the family unit. It's ironic because the intent is to show the opposite. Poor Grandma is sitting in front of a computer watching these pictures, but I can't help thinking that maybe she'd prefer to hear her grandson's voice telling her about his trip to New York. What do you think? Do you have any commercials that annoy or irritate you? ...