What a wonderful world we live in, I just can’t seem to see it on TV
Not to long ago, people didn’t have running water or electricity in their houses. Personally, I would go absolutely crazy.
Not too long ago, we didn’t have telephones, much less cell phones that fit into the small right side pocket of our jeans. I could do without the phone, but it’s important and most everyone couldn’t live without theirs.
We all know how our vehicles have evolved over the past 106 years since the day that Henry Ford rolled the first black, hand-cranked car out of his shop. I don’t know a person that wouldn’t want a car.
The world has launched numerous astronauts into space and actually had them return to earth. THAT is amazing.
We have thousands of satellites that circle the earth at thousands of miles per hour that help us watch our TVs, make our calls, and help us direct our cars in the right direction when we are traveling or lost and refuse to ask for directions.
America, alone, is full of technology and promise. When you add all of the other countries in the world that are contributing to our global progression, one would think that there is nothing we can’t accomplish.
Then how is that after my kids get hold of my remote control, I can’t find it?
Days will pass until I can change the channel on my TV while sitting on my couch.
Military missiles have laser tracking built in so that you can see where they are going and remotely steer them to their target. Why then doesn’t my remote have some sort of locating device? Something that at least beeps. How hard would that be?
I have tried to place them in areas of the living room that I can easily get to them, but the kids can’t. They somehow always find them and want to use them.
Nash, my one-and-a-half year old, likes to get her hands on it and run around the house pointing it at everything that has a little power light. She has stood in front of the TV pushing buttons and has recorded shows and almost signed us up for some unwanted channels.
I’m not sure what it would take to change a remote’s design in order to have a device in there that will allow us to find it when it is “lost.”
It can’t be that hard. There are devices that allow a person to walk into a room, clap their hands, and watch their lights turn on. Let me do that with my remote.
Maybe I just want it all or maybe I just hate getting off of the couch when I have to change the station.
I think that one of these guys that can figure the trajectory of a space probe that is going to travel halfway across the galaxy and land on a planet that has the opposite rotation than the earth and also account for daylight savings time and leap year should be able to devise something for a remote on his lunch break.
Ultimately, I think it is up to me to just find a better hiding place. After all, I would probably also need a key fob that I would have to find and push a button to make my lost remote “beep.”
On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, my daughter can figure it all out, well, after she is done ordering all of the movie channels on Direct TV.
Bryan Pinkey can be found searching through toy boxes and under beds for his remote or at bpinkey@nccox.com.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
3-19-09
Leave me alone, or I‘ll sic my little sister on you
Jessica Pinkey has been my sister and personal bodyguard for the last 30 years. I have never paid her and have never been asked to.
I was taught at a young age to never pick a fight, never hit girls and unless your life depends upon it, walk away. The latter was always easier said than done.
When my sister came along, I think my young frame of mind changed. I was told to always take care of and watch out for my sister.
I didn’t ask for her. Why was I responsible for her well-being? Didn’t she have parents?
As we grew up, I learned to care for her, keep her safe and make her get me things that I was too lazy to get for myself.
My mother and father say that I let her get away with anything. She would hit me, climb on me, take my stuff and generally treat me like a human trampoline.
I guess as I got older, I learned to let things roll off my back a lot easier. Friends would argue with me and it didn’t bother me. Neighborhood kids would want to play with something of mine, take it, and I would usually let it slide.
It just wasn’t worth it to get into a fight over something dumb and I knew that if I got into a fight with a girl, my tail would be lit. As I said, Dad had made it clear to me that there was no excuse for hitting girls.
One day, the relationship between my sister and me changed. It was a change that would be a turning point for the both of us for the rest of our lives.
Lisa Fowler was a tiny, short, super small, little girl that lived next door to us in Clinton, Maryland. I think I was about eight or so and had a group of about seven friends, including Lisa, that I ran with non-stop. We did everything and there always seemed to be one or two of us fighting on any given day.
One day, Lisa was mad at me. I’m sure I did something to start the fight, as this is still a curse that has been cast upon me to this day. I made her mad but I think her mom didn’t have the “don’t hit boys” talk with her.
Lisa found the biggest pieces of driveway blue-stone that would fit in her tiny, little fists.
I began dodging rocks as my tail went between my legs and I made a bee-line for my front door as I yelled for my mom.
Mom asked what was wrong and I told her about the events and how they unfolded. I am sure I spun it in my favor but that didn’t matter.
Jessica was standing there and was listening intently. The next thing I remember and Mom says she remembers is that Jess went storming out of the glass and galvanized metal storm door with a letter “P” in the middle. (Don’t ask how I remember that)
By the time we got outside and found Jess, she was ringing the doorbell on Lisa’s house. By the time we made it halfway across the front lawn, Lisa had opened her front door. By the time Mom and I made it to the edge of Lisa’s lawn, Jess had her hands on Lisa and was dragging her from the front door and had laid her out with a few swift punches to the face and trunk.
Did I mention that Jessica was only about five years old and Lisa was seven?
Now, I don’t condone fighting, but I am all for sticking up for someone, especially family. Jessica showed her true colors that day like a gangster with her first “job.” This loyalty has been a binder between my sister and I to this day.
When Jess met Leigh for the first time, the three of us were out for lunch. When I left to visit the rest-room, Jess put her drink down and calmly asked Leigh, “What are your intentions with my brother?”
Leigh couldn’t wait for me to get back.
Jess is getting married this summer. She has a family of her own now and takes great care of her fiance and her son Justin. Note: She loves me so much that she named her son after me; my first name is Justin.
Jessica, to this day still looks after me and my brother Josh. She has always been there for us and stuck up for us. She has interrogated all of our girlfriends and tried to hit on all of our “cute” friends.
Now that we are older and don’t get into many fights, we just reminisce about the past when we get together.
Jess reminds me of beating up Lisa and she reminds Josh of the time that she beat the school bus bully that was tormenting him and his friend on a daily basis. She waited at his bus stop and when the bus driver opened the double hinged yellow doors, she went running on. The person she was after knew it and took off out the back fire escape door. I won’t bore you with what happened after that.
We owe her big and she makes sure that we know it. She can take both my brother and I in arm wrestling and has pinned us down during all-out wrestling matches that seem to take place around Christmas time late in the evening after a few to many cups of eggnog.
Things like this have a way of repeating themselves.
Now that I have a little boy and he now has a little sister, I try to teach him the same lessons that I was taught at his age. Don’t pick fights, never hit girls and walk away when it isn’t important.
Nash climbs all over Ethan, pushes him off of toys and chairs, hits him and snatches stuff left and right. He takes it on the chin and continues to look after her and love on her whenever she lets him.
He makes me proud but I know that one day he may get a “fist-full of rocks” thrown at him but I am sure he will be quickly vindicated by his little sister, Just like I was.
Jessica Pinkey has been my sister and personal bodyguard for the last 30 years. I have never paid her and have never been asked to.
I was taught at a young age to never pick a fight, never hit girls and unless your life depends upon it, walk away. The latter was always easier said than done.
When my sister came along, I think my young frame of mind changed. I was told to always take care of and watch out for my sister.
I didn’t ask for her. Why was I responsible for her well-being? Didn’t she have parents?
As we grew up, I learned to care for her, keep her safe and make her get me things that I was too lazy to get for myself.
My mother and father say that I let her get away with anything. She would hit me, climb on me, take my stuff and generally treat me like a human trampoline.
I guess as I got older, I learned to let things roll off my back a lot easier. Friends would argue with me and it didn’t bother me. Neighborhood kids would want to play with something of mine, take it, and I would usually let it slide.
It just wasn’t worth it to get into a fight over something dumb and I knew that if I got into a fight with a girl, my tail would be lit. As I said, Dad had made it clear to me that there was no excuse for hitting girls.
One day, the relationship between my sister and me changed. It was a change that would be a turning point for the both of us for the rest of our lives.
Lisa Fowler was a tiny, short, super small, little girl that lived next door to us in Clinton, Maryland. I think I was about eight or so and had a group of about seven friends, including Lisa, that I ran with non-stop. We did everything and there always seemed to be one or two of us fighting on any given day.
One day, Lisa was mad at me. I’m sure I did something to start the fight, as this is still a curse that has been cast upon me to this day. I made her mad but I think her mom didn’t have the “don’t hit boys” talk with her.
Lisa found the biggest pieces of driveway blue-stone that would fit in her tiny, little fists.
I began dodging rocks as my tail went between my legs and I made a bee-line for my front door as I yelled for my mom.
Mom asked what was wrong and I told her about the events and how they unfolded. I am sure I spun it in my favor but that didn’t matter.
Jessica was standing there and was listening intently. The next thing I remember and Mom says she remembers is that Jess went storming out of the glass and galvanized metal storm door with a letter “P” in the middle. (Don’t ask how I remember that)
By the time we got outside and found Jess, she was ringing the doorbell on Lisa’s house. By the time we made it halfway across the front lawn, Lisa had opened her front door. By the time Mom and I made it to the edge of Lisa’s lawn, Jess had her hands on Lisa and was dragging her from the front door and had laid her out with a few swift punches to the face and trunk.
Did I mention that Jessica was only about five years old and Lisa was seven?
Now, I don’t condone fighting, but I am all for sticking up for someone, especially family. Jessica showed her true colors that day like a gangster with her first “job.” This loyalty has been a binder between my sister and I to this day.
When Jess met Leigh for the first time, the three of us were out for lunch. When I left to visit the rest-room, Jess put her drink down and calmly asked Leigh, “What are your intentions with my brother?”
Leigh couldn’t wait for me to get back.
Jess is getting married this summer. She has a family of her own now and takes great care of her fiance and her son Justin. Note: She loves me so much that she named her son after me; my first name is Justin.
Jessica, to this day still looks after me and my brother Josh. She has always been there for us and stuck up for us. She has interrogated all of our girlfriends and tried to hit on all of our “cute” friends.
Now that we are older and don’t get into many fights, we just reminisce about the past when we get together.
Jess reminds me of beating up Lisa and she reminds Josh of the time that she beat the school bus bully that was tormenting him and his friend on a daily basis. She waited at his bus stop and when the bus driver opened the double hinged yellow doors, she went running on. The person she was after knew it and took off out the back fire escape door. I won’t bore you with what happened after that.
We owe her big and she makes sure that we know it. She can take both my brother and I in arm wrestling and has pinned us down during all-out wrestling matches that seem to take place around Christmas time late in the evening after a few to many cups of eggnog.
Things like this have a way of repeating themselves.
Now that I have a little boy and he now has a little sister, I try to teach him the same lessons that I was taught at his age. Don’t pick fights, never hit girls and walk away when it isn’t important.
Nash climbs all over Ethan, pushes him off of toys and chairs, hits him and snatches stuff left and right. He takes it on the chin and continues to look after her and love on her whenever she lets him.
He makes me proud but I know that one day he may get a “fist-full of rocks” thrown at him but I am sure he will be quickly vindicated by his little sister, Just like I was.
Monday, March 9, 2009
3-12-09
My wife is doing dishes, the recession is officially here
Money is tighter than ever, now. We have been in a recession ever since Leigh and I moved to North Carolina.
I have talked about our life in Maryland before, and how we sold our house there right before the housing bubble burst and quickly switched to a buyer’s market.
We were building our house over the course of a year and a half. During this time, the recession kept creeping up on us and everyone else in America.
So far, we have made it through, but things are always tight. We have always tried to save and make things stretch as far as we can.
Eating out has been put on the back burner as well as taking trips up to Maryland to visit with our friends. Lights get turned off behind me by Leigh sometimes before I even make it out of the room I am leaving.
I give her a hard time, all in good fun, but she and I both know that she is the major reason that we are able to save money. This isn’t because I waste money, she just has a knack for making sure every dollar works as hard as it can.
A good example of this was when she heard about turning off items in the house that consume needless power. I think it was from an episode of a morning talk show or something. We tried to unplug all the appliances in the house that used power even while they were not in use. The TVs, DVD player, and home stereo. During that two month period, we were even turning off the hot water heater at night and during the day while we were at work.
After two months, we reviewed our electric bills, there was no savings that we could find.
We now live like normal people once again. We can just walk into the room and hit “Power” on the remote and see a show instantly instead of plugging in hard to reach cords and bringing our house back onto the Duplin County power grid.
Recently, I have been feeling like we had things under control in our household. We just make it through each month but we are not going hungry and every once in a while, we can squeeze in a family dinner out. I even get to have my “midnight snack” on the weekends.
My “snacking” consists of frozen food. I have a soft spot for frozen burritos, seasoned french fries, or chicken patties. Anything frozen, pre-cooked and has the potential to raise my cholesterol level, I love it.
A normal Saturday night for me, consists of me covering my trusty baking sheet with a layer of tin foil, throw a few snacks on for a 12 to 18 minute baking session. I, then, get my plate, fork and seat ready and tune the TV in for Saturday Night Live or the History Channel.
The great thing about frozen food, baking sheet and tin foil is that you can eat with your hands and when you are done, you just throw away the mess. There is nothing to clean.
A few nights ago, I was on my Saturday night auto pilot mode and Leigh told me to “Stop.”
“Just use the baking pan. Save the tin foil.” She instructed.
I quickly told her that “I don’t want to clean dishes. This is why I have always used tin foil.”
“We need to start saving a little more money,” Leigh informed.
“It is just a small piece of tin foil,” I interjected.
“But it adds up.”
“Not that much.”
“Yes it will.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“I will do the dishes.” Leigh finished and I am sure mentally stomped her foot. “Just cut back on the tin foil.”
I now sound like I’m struggling with a junk food addiction and need an intervention. Maybe I do, but that’s for a later story.
A side note: When Leigh and I first started dating, I went to visit her in Boston for the first time. I remember her having a mound of something under a kitchen towel in the extra small sink in her extra small North End apartment. Tucked in, was a pile of dishes that were supposed to be hidden so well that I would not notice that she absolutely hated doing dishes.
“Deal.” I agreed.
As I said, Leigh hates doing dishes. She hates doing dishes like I hate a broken arm. If she says that she will do dishes, then I can’t say anything to cutting back on foil. I don’t see where a Sam’s Club size box of tin foil that costs $11.98 and lasts us about... oh.... a year, will make that much difference.
I think this cutting back will do a lot of good, probably as much as taking our house off of the power grid, but part of me is wondering if our water bill will increase more than $11.98 over the course of... oh... a year?
Money is tighter than ever, now. We have been in a recession ever since Leigh and I moved to North Carolina.
I have talked about our life in Maryland before, and how we sold our house there right before the housing bubble burst and quickly switched to a buyer’s market.
We were building our house over the course of a year and a half. During this time, the recession kept creeping up on us and everyone else in America.
So far, we have made it through, but things are always tight. We have always tried to save and make things stretch as far as we can.
Eating out has been put on the back burner as well as taking trips up to Maryland to visit with our friends. Lights get turned off behind me by Leigh sometimes before I even make it out of the room I am leaving.
I give her a hard time, all in good fun, but she and I both know that she is the major reason that we are able to save money. This isn’t because I waste money, she just has a knack for making sure every dollar works as hard as it can.
A good example of this was when she heard about turning off items in the house that consume needless power. I think it was from an episode of a morning talk show or something. We tried to unplug all the appliances in the house that used power even while they were not in use. The TVs, DVD player, and home stereo. During that two month period, we were even turning off the hot water heater at night and during the day while we were at work.
After two months, we reviewed our electric bills, there was no savings that we could find.
We now live like normal people once again. We can just walk into the room and hit “Power” on the remote and see a show instantly instead of plugging in hard to reach cords and bringing our house back onto the Duplin County power grid.
Recently, I have been feeling like we had things under control in our household. We just make it through each month but we are not going hungry and every once in a while, we can squeeze in a family dinner out. I even get to have my “midnight snack” on the weekends.
My “snacking” consists of frozen food. I have a soft spot for frozen burritos, seasoned french fries, or chicken patties. Anything frozen, pre-cooked and has the potential to raise my cholesterol level, I love it.
A normal Saturday night for me, consists of me covering my trusty baking sheet with a layer of tin foil, throw a few snacks on for a 12 to 18 minute baking session. I, then, get my plate, fork and seat ready and tune the TV in for Saturday Night Live or the History Channel.
The great thing about frozen food, baking sheet and tin foil is that you can eat with your hands and when you are done, you just throw away the mess. There is nothing to clean.
A few nights ago, I was on my Saturday night auto pilot mode and Leigh told me to “Stop.”
“Just use the baking pan. Save the tin foil.” She instructed.
I quickly told her that “I don’t want to clean dishes. This is why I have always used tin foil.”
“We need to start saving a little more money,” Leigh informed.
“It is just a small piece of tin foil,” I interjected.
“But it adds up.”
“Not that much.”
“Yes it will.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“I will do the dishes.” Leigh finished and I am sure mentally stomped her foot. “Just cut back on the tin foil.”
I now sound like I’m struggling with a junk food addiction and need an intervention. Maybe I do, but that’s for a later story.
A side note: When Leigh and I first started dating, I went to visit her in Boston for the first time. I remember her having a mound of something under a kitchen towel in the extra small sink in her extra small North End apartment. Tucked in, was a pile of dishes that were supposed to be hidden so well that I would not notice that she absolutely hated doing dishes.
“Deal.” I agreed.
As I said, Leigh hates doing dishes. She hates doing dishes like I hate a broken arm. If she says that she will do dishes, then I can’t say anything to cutting back on foil. I don’t see where a Sam’s Club size box of tin foil that costs $11.98 and lasts us about... oh.... a year, will make that much difference.
I think this cutting back will do a lot of good, probably as much as taking our house off of the power grid, but part of me is wondering if our water bill will increase more than $11.98 over the course of... oh... a year?
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