Letters from North
America
Besides
root canals (which I’ve
never had) the two times
of the year that really
hack me are the times
when you have to change
your clocks to adjust
everything for daylight
savings time. I can’t
remember if the one we
do in the fall is to put
us into daylight savings
or to take us out of it.
I just know it’s a big
pain in my rear. When I
was growing up, I think
we had one alarm clock
and then another one
over the stove or oven
or whatever you call it.
Today we have a clock
everywhere. The
television has one. The
thermostats have one,
the microwave has one,
the stereo has one, the
oven and alarm systems
have one. The cameras
have one, the DVD has
one …and on and on. And
then we have the ones in
the cars. You used to be
able to just turn a knob
to reset the ones in the
car, but now you have to
have a degree from M.I.T.
or get a kid to show you
how to push four buttons
at the same time to
adjust the time.
I tried keeping count of
the clocks I had changed
and finally gave up when
I started getting mad
and disgusted at the
time I was spending on
this activity. And just
think I won’t have to do
it again for almost six
months or so. Tell me
these are labor saving.
This got me to thinking
about all of the so
called new inventions
that are supposed to
make our lives easier,
but in fact actually
make it more difficult.
Take for instance the
tape that provides the
security for a cd. By
the time you get the
sticky stuff off the top
of the plastic case and
your fingers you’ve lost
the mood to play the
thing for any reason.
The tape sticks to you
like a small piece of
plastic that holds on
your fingers by static
electricity. You just
can’t shake it off. You
see people going down
the highway shaking
their fingers…..it’s
that plastic. You could
buy illegal cd’s….one
good thing about those
is that they don’t have
all of that sticky stuff
to contend with. Of
course there can be
major issues with buying
those as well, such as
having a blank disc with
zero music on it. Can’t
take’em back for a
refund can you? You pays
your money and you takes
your chances.
Another great pieces of
modern day technology
are those plastic cases
surrounding just about
anything I want to buy.
Need a printer
cartridge? Inside of one
of those hard plastic
shells. Need a software
program for your
computer? Inside of one
of those hard plastic
shells. Need some pens
or pencils? Guess what?
Get that pair of shears
out so you can open the
package and use whatever
it is that you’ve
bought. I’d bet the
packaging costs more
than the product in a
lot of these things.
I’ve got garden shears
that won’t cut these
boxes open. You have to
almost use a blow torch
or something equally as
drastic to get your
stuff out. I bet the
landfills are full of
brand new things because
someone got disgusted
and gave up and just
threw the thing away.
More trouble than it’s
worth. I can relate to
this. You probably can
as well.
My last point for this
week concerns recipes.
I’m not sure how I made
the move from daylight
savings time to recipes,
but it happened anyway.
I love to cook and get a
lot of the things I cook
from the internet. No
problem unless they call
for some ingredient that
you’ve never heard of or
can buy in our part of
the world. Examples of
these are: Ads iswid?
Daikon, Zafrig. These
sound more like exotic
diseases rather than
food items.
Even worse than this
would be the
instructions for cooking
something you can’t find
down at the local
supermarket….try this
one on for size…. Cut
the flippers off from
the oogruk. Put the
flippers in fresh
blubber. Let them stay
there for about two
weeks. Take the loose
fur off the flipper.
Then what? I’ll pass on
cooking this one up.
Don’t expect to see it
at my house. One more
thing…is it just me or
why is there such a
shortage of shredded
Swiss cheese? Is it
against the law to shred
this stuff or what? Ten
or fifteen kinds of
every other cheeses but
not but one of Swiss.
What’s with that?
I’m done for this week,
found another couple of
clocks that need
changing.
Comments go to
pperry@austin.rr.com
