hodgepodge

i've had an overactive brain lately and have been frozen in place trying to figure out where to start first. here are my recent thoughts in no particular order...



* pool safety: if you own a pool (and when i say pool, i don't mean the kind you blow up), in my humble opinion, it would behoove you to learn and be able to correctly execute CPR & first aid. especially if (but not limited to) you have young children or grandchildren who will be swimming in said pool. and specifically if any of said children are the fruit of my womb. although i know that (the general) you would never do anything to intentionally harm our children, please accept the fact that accidents do happen...even at your house...even when you don't mean for them to.



* customer service: if you work in some area of customer service (you'd be surprised how many people do), please remember that although the customer may not always be right, the customer is always the customer. learn how to say things with a smile (even when it is your 11th of a scheduled 12 hour shift of listening to people complain about ridiculous things that you have no control over). watch the tone of your voice. listen to how you talk to people and what you say to them. is it the way you would like to be treated? if not, either change your attitude or find a new job.



* general niceities: puh-leese say please and thank you. if you see someone in need, help them if you can...hold the door open for someone who has their arms full... smile at the mom/dad in the grocery store with their 4 kids who looks like they're going to pull their hair out...sometimes, if you're able, pay for the person behind you in line somewhere -- you'd be surprised how receiving a cup of coffee that a perfect stranger paid for could change their day...if you see someone on the side of the road stranded for God's sake, don't let them in your car, but call help for them...every once in a while, send out "thinking of you" cards or emails to let your friends and family know that you love them and you are thinking about them...volunteer (anywhere).



* etiquette: a friend of mine called to tell me a story about how they had recently had houseguests for a long weekend (5 days)...we'll call my friend "dorothy" for the sake of this story. so, dorothy, her husband and their kids hosted her husband's sister & her husband, and their dog...and their new baby. dorothy and her husband had really been looking forward to the visit...although they don't live far from each other (about 1/2 a day's drive), they don't see each other much. anyway, their guests arrived and all was well...for about the first day. their guests had lots of things they wanted to do...places to go...places to eat...places to shop...but, as you may know, everything costs money and the guests never seemed to be interested in paying. they also didn't seem to be very interested in taking care of their baby or dog. for example -- they were all out on the deck one night waiting for supper to cook on the grill when they heard the baby on the monitor waking up from his nap...but no one moved. then, dorothy's SIL asked if dorothy could go get the baby. now, of course, this isn't a lot to ask, but SIL was just sitting in a chair reading a book and drinking a beer. the in-laws didn't even pick up the dog poop while they were there...my friend and her family don't have a dog...so they don't have poop to pick up. the in-laws never even offered to help cook or do dishes. they went to visit and expected to be waited on hand and foot.

the moral of the story is...please be considerate of others...even if they invite you to their house...other people don't expect to be your personal servants while you visit their home. offer to help cook...or if you're not a good cook, offer to do the dishes. you're more likely to be invited back and your hosts are less likely to hate having you there. if you have a dog (or other pet), for crying out loud, pick up after them! be a good guest!



* gasoline: can anyone explain to me why when one of the futures guys on wallstreet even thinks that the price of oil might go up, the price of gas shoots up by 30 cents per gallon or more? but when the price of oil actually goes down, it takes almost a week for the price of gas to go down 25 cents per gallon? just wondering. i thought maybe someone out in internet-land might know the secret formula.



* swingsets: recently we brought our old swingset to where we live now so the kids can use it again. they LOVE it! i didn't realize how much they missed it until we brought it here. we've all been swinging on it. it is the swingset that my sisters and i had when we were little girls. my dad bought it from the parks department where we lived, so it is huge and sturdy. it's awesome! we had to buy sammysosa a new baby swing...the ropes on the other one were unraveling (i thought that might present a safety problem).

*voluntarily coaching young children in voluntary sports: ok, well, i would think that this would go without actually having to say it, but apparently not. if you are a coach of something (anything, really) and there are young children involved, please keep the following in mind:

• not all children are born with a mitt in their hands or leotards on their bodies
• treat each child as you would want your child to be treated
• you don't have to coddle them, but you don't have to be a complete sports psycho with them either...they're 7 & 4. give me (and them) a break...this isn't the olympics
• maybe the child you're looking at (with disdain and annoyance because she just did the exact same thing wrong even though you've already told her how to do it the right way 10 times already) mustered up every ounce of strength and courage she had to make herself try something new today...and maybe you're ruining it for her. maybe your'e ruining it for all of us
• maybe you should try to remember what it was like to be a child again...wanting to try new things (because the other kids are doing it and it looks like they're having fun), but being afraid of failing or looking silly

that's enough about that. i have to go have a piece of chocolate now. until later...