Just found out that my issue of Ghostbusters is out this week
Posted By Kathleen David on October 20, 2010
This is the one that Peter and I wrote together. I am quite pleased how it came out.
(Yes, this is a rare second posting by me)
No Strings Attached
Kathleen David's weblog
Do You want a Shot with that?
Posted By Kathleen David on October 20, 2010
Starbucks, in hopes of reinventing itself, is talking about brewing (or having brewed) beer and wine that it would sell in its stores. Bad idea. Alcohol and Coffee makes for a rather awake drunk as my brother (Doc Whoopee) would attest to having the Java Café party at ChattaCon oh so many years ago.
If they do it, it is going to be very limited since each and every one of the stores would need a separate liquor license and in many states, they would have to hire someone who has a license to sell alcohol which is not the same as the license to pour in some states. And there are still dry counties in some states in the US where there are Starbucks.
I think this is a brilliantly bad idea. Starbucks is concerned because their numbers are down. Part of it is the economy because one of the first things you drop when funds are limited are the 5.00 to 10.00 coffee drinks. Also they now have competition with McDonalds and their McCafe. Dunkin’ Donuts has been pulling from them for a while. Now it seems that there are plans for both Burger King and Wendy’s to try to tap into our need for caffeine.
Starbucks tried to reinvent themselves in Seattle with new stores that didn’t look like a Starbucks. I don’t think the experiment went well. They are trying to sell their ambiance and brand to a country that is just not buying it.
Did anyone at corporate stop and think that maybe, just maybe, there are TOO MANY STARBUCKS! These things are everywhere. In our area we went from one to seven in less than a year. Their problem is saturation has been reached and then the recession made it easy to walk away.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I don’t patronize Starbucks that often. Once a month, if that, as the end of a sushi dinner with the girls. I only buy Starbucks coffee if it is my only shot at real caffeine. I find it a bit more bitter than I like my coffee (French roast is my usual blend). I have bought their various teas and their coffee like drinks are not bad but rather calorie laden.
However I think that adding alcohol to the mix is an incredibly bad idea on corporate’s part. Between the permits and the new insurance that they would need to carry, I don’t think they can afford it in the long run. Starbucks has branded themselves rather nicely. There has to be another way to improving the brand. Oh, may be not make your coffee so bitter it peels paint might be a start.
I am grateful for strong coffee but not necessarily obnoxiously strong coffee.
That Loveable Rascal So and So
Posted By Kathleen David on October 19, 2010
I can remember as a kid trying out the argument well so and so’s parents let her/him do it. It didn’t go over very well or at all. My parents weren’t going to budge no matter how many children had their parents’ permission or that had told me that they had their parents’ permission, I was not going to. That’s it, end of story. And I thought that when I was a parent, I wasn’t going to do that to my child.
Now that I am a parent, I do get the so and so argument from my daughter. And I shut it down probably just as fast as my parents did to me. There are some things I have let her do because I didn’t know she was interested in them until she informed me along with the so and so argument. Those I do allow her to do but also inform her that the so and so argument is not the way to go about getting permission.
Recently there has been some talk about the Internet and playing on the computer. She earns time to use electronics by reading up to a certain amount each day. I have talk about her a lot on the Internet but I am very careful where I let her on the Internet. Until recently this was one of those non-issues but with her reading becoming so much stronger and some of her little friends starting to do games that are interactive with other computers, this is starting to become an issue that we are going to have to sort out.
She loved going on the Hasbro “My Little Pony” site. She would play the games and print out ponies to draw. That along with Nick and Disney were the only sites she wanted to go to. I controlled where she went on these sites and kept her off any social network aspects of them. All passwords and e-mail went to my mailbox or Peter’s. Caroline does not have an e-mail nor will she in the near future. She doesn’t need one.
The other day she went onto the site that she has been visiting for a number of years to play the My Little Pony birthday game only to find that it didn’t exist anymore. She informed me that she couldn’t find any games on the site and asked me to look at it. I did and followed the links to a new site set up for the new Hub channel (formerly the Discovery Kids Channel) and the game she wanted to play was still not there. In place of it was one of these immersion games that are rather popular these days. You create a pony and then let it interact with the other ponies that people have created. I said no. I do not let her play those sorts of games at this time. Maybe when she is older but right now it is a very clear no. She sulked a bit but went onto something else after a while that I would let her do.
The next day I got the so and so’s parents let her play the new My Little Pony game and she says that it is fun and safe. I said that is fine for so and so but not for Caroline. She pushed the issue a bit and then a bit more but stopped when she got to the countdown. We had some sulking and then she wandered off and played with Fig for a while. She then pulled out her my little ponies and had an adventure with them and some of her littlest pet shop characters on the kitchen floor with Fig bouncing in and out of the play area. I much prefer her doing that than playing online on a site that I can’t control what happens to her.
I know eventually she will be on the Internet without me to guide her. I hope that I can teach her what she needs to know to be safe there.
I am grateful to my parents teaching me boundaries so I can teach my daughter about them.
Oh Good Grief, I am a Morning Person!
Posted By Kathleen David on October 18, 2010
I prided myself for years on my nocturnal habits. I was a creature of the night. It was useful in my career as a stage manager among others. But now I seem to be a morning person. I wake up and can get more done in the first three hours of my day than I seem to be able to the rest of the day.
Case in point, this morning I woke up about 7. I got up and went into the kitchen to take care of Fig. Fed Fig and cleaned up the kitchen including the dishwasher exchange clean for dirty. Got Treat his medicine and fed him. Pulled a load of laundry out of the dryer, put the last load for this week in the dryer, folded all the clothing and put them away. Got Caroline ready for school, repacked her backpack, remembered to put a note in her folder telling the teacher that I will be picking her up from school. Made coffee. Got Caroline to the bus. And now I am typing this entry.
After I finish this, I have a couple of things I might do depending on how the spirit moves me.
The only downside is that I tend to fade out about between 11:00pm and midnight if not a little earlier. Staying up late doesn’t work for me anymore. I guess I am headed for fogeydom. If needed I can still push beyond that time but I really pay for it on the backend.
The upside is that the schedule my body is on is the one that works the best for the life I have today. I need to be up for Caroline in the morning. I need to get things done during daylight hours more than I need the ability to stay up all night until the sunrise. It was a useful skill to have but I now bid it adieu and embrace my morning person rather than threatening it with serious bodily harm.
I am grateful that my body seems to work out when I need to be awake.
Honestly I am angrier at Fox than Cablevision
Posted By Kathleen David on October 17, 2010
Right now the Giants are playing the Lions. I’d love to be watching the game. I can’t because Cablevision has a monopoly out here on Long Island. Fox has decided to play “hardball” with Cablevision and yank all the channels off of Cablevision. What Fox wants is rather in the realms of the absurd. And I have read both sides of the argument. It’s the same doggone argument that happened with ABC and NBC and CBS. But Fox has to prove that they have the biggest something.
So there goes House, Simpsons, and Glee along with Good Guys which we were enjoying a lot. And there is a sub argument with Hulu over anybody who has the triple play advantage (cable, phone and interweb) through Cablevision can’t access the Fox shows on Hulu while this silliness is going on.
It’s enough to drive one to a good book. Got any recommendations?
I am grateful that I do have means to watch what I want to watch.
