April 2010 - Page 3 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

No, I’m NOT Doing Kill Your TV Week

The annual tradition of encouraging people to forgo their television viewing is upon us again. Frankly, I had forgotten this until my wife sent an e-mail.

Have you thought about how much TV you have watched this year? I think you will be surprised to see the statistics on this web site. For example the number of hours the average youth spends watching TV in a year is 1500 hours! YIKES!

National Turn off the TV week begins today. See if you can challenge yourself and your children to “turn off” to TV and “turn on” to reading!

This is all well and good. The problem is this: I LIKE TV. I don’t get to watch it all that often, sharing it with The Wife and the Daughter. Not that the Daughter watches it all that much either. She watches maybe 15 minutes in the morning, when she’s getting her hair done, then less than a half hour at night when she takes her medicines, including using her nebulizer. The average youth may watch over 1500 hours a year, but our youth sees less than 300. And all of it, on PBS Kids and Nick, Jr. with some legitimate educational content; I’m actually all right with that. In fact, in honor of Earth Day, Nick, Jr. is going to have a series of new shows on the topic which I had recorded for her.

So when the Wife came home Monday night and said to the Daughter, “Hey, how would you like it if I read you a story while you nebulize instead of watching TV,” and the Daughter frowned and said, “I don’t want to do that,” I was a bit sympathetic to the Daughter. I told the Wife that she had to sell the concept. So, a half hour later, AFTER I HAD WATCHED THE NEWS, BTW, the Wife repeated what she said before. The Daughter said, “Daddy doesn’t want to stop watching his news, does he?” Well, no, actually he does not.

By “selling it”, I mean to find the key to MOTIVATE the Daughter not to want to watch TV. There was this article a book review, really, in TIME magazine a couple months ago. Regarding Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, the piece begins: “Whether you’re a manager, a parent or a civic leader, getting people to change can be tricky business. In Switch, brothers Chip and Dan Heath–authors of the best-selling Made to Stick–survey efforts to shape human behavior in search of what works.

“Lesson No. 1: tell people what you want them to do in a way that will make intuitive sense to them.” Not watching TV, rather out of the blue, made no sense to her. She was going to get a story anyway before bed. Perhaps discussing how others were also doing this across the country, aligned with some reward, might have worked.

Besides, since I watch very little in real time with the DVR – even the news is taped – I don’t really want to give it up myself. Does no TV mean that we just fill up the DVR and watch more NEXT week? The DVR’s hovering around 50% full already.

In parenting, we really try to do the united front thing. But in this case, my heart simply wasn’t in it.

ROG

N is for New Zealand

I have not traveled extensively. I’ve been to about 30 US states. Outside of the country, I’ve only been to Canada, Mexico and Barbados, only the former more than once. So I get to “travel” through a number of blogs.

One of the blogs I visit is Nik Durga’s Spatula Forum. Nik is “an American journalist who now lives in New Zealand with my kiwi wife and son.” Somehow, this led me to http://amerinz.blogspot.com/. Arthur is another American expat living in New Zealand, of longer tenure, who writes: “I moved to New Zealand from Chicago in 1995 to be with my partner. I’ve worked in the printing and publishing industries for about twenty years.” It’s possible I found Arthur through Nik’s appearance on Arthur’s podcast, but I don’t recall.

Regardless, Arthur celebrated the third anniversary of his podcast last month, March 28, to be precise. In honor of that, he posed 20 questions, for which he kindly also presented the answers, which people were supposed to send him in order to win a “Kiwi prize pack”; alas, I did not win. Being a tad librarianish, I decided to send along links with the answers, which was not required. It later occurred to me that those links could be the basis of THIS VERY blogpost.

The information will not be in the order that Arthur gave it, since his was intentionally all over the place chronologically.

The Waitangi Treaty was signed February 6, 1840. This “extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her royal protection, and imparts to them all the Rights and Privileges of British subjects.”

The First_Taranaki War, fueled by a land dispute between the Maori and the Europeans,
began on March 17, 1860 and ended on March 18, 1861.

The New Zealand Cross was created on March 10, 1869, important “because New Zealand’s local military were not eligible for the [British] Victoria Cross.”

“New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world where women had won the right to vote” on September 19, 1893.

The Brunner mine disaster took place on March 26, 1896.

New Zealand achieved dominion status on September 26, 1907.

There are 453 New Zealand World War I memorials.

An agreement of Australian-New Zealand cooperation was signed in Canberra on January 21, 1944.

The Wahine Shipwreck disaster occurred on April 10, 1968.

The Homosexual Law Reform Act was signed on July 11, and went into effect August 8, 1986.

The first Kiwi to win an Academy Award took place in March 1994, the 21st in Los Angeles, when Anna Paquin was named Best Supporting Actress for “The Piano”. Anna was born in Canada, but raised in New Zealand.

The Prostitution Reform Act was passed in 2003.

Nationwide elections in New Zealand are held every three years, “or earlier, should it be necessary.” At this writing, the ruling party is New Zealand National Party and the leading opposition party is the New Zealand Labour Party.

There are about 13200 km from Chicago, IL US to Auckland, NZ.

As at Tuesday, 20 April 2010 at 02:58:46 am (local time), the estimated resident population of New Zealand was 4,364,669.

Most of the questions Arthur got from New Zealand History online, which celebrated its 11th anniversary last month.

ABC Wednesday

ROG

35 Questions Meme, Part Two

Sunday Stealing, redux.

36. If you suddenly became single or are single, do you think you could last in a relationship for 12 months or more?

I’d like to think so. Probably.

37. Do you forgive or forget?

Forgive, usually; forget, seldom.

38. Do you trust people?

Probably less than I used to. That said, probably more than more people. I had the laptop in the hotel, and one of my sisters suggested that I lock it up somewhere; it would not have occurred to me.

39. What are you not looking forward to?

Painting the attic. It’s HOT up there by fairly early in the day.

40. Do you get mad easily?

I don’t think so. But when I do, it can be furious, so don’t push it.

41. Tell us about the last time you were told you that you have pretty eyes.

I don’t recall. There was this woman about 25 years ago.

42. Do you have strange dreams?

Oh, goodness YES. Sidebar: I gave up caffeinated soda on March 16 because I wasn’t sleeping. More correctly, I was going to sleep, but I wasn’t STAYING asleep. Then I prettyy much NEEDED the caffeine so that I didn’t fall asleep at my desk.

So now, I still wake up in the middle of the night, but I roll over and go back to sleep. And all these latter-part-of-the-night dreams innvolve distorted versions of my childhood, and all sorts of mayhem that are so vivid, yet so ALMOST plausible that I have to recollect it and realize that it COULDN’T have happened.

43. Ever licked someone’s cheek or forehead?

Undoubtedly, as some sort of torture.

44. Tell us about the last time you fell asleep in someone’s arms.

As opposed to just cuddling, I suppose. It was probably the Wife, and I was probably ill.

45. When did you last play a game?

Uno, Saturday with the Daughter.

46. What do you have on you at all times?

My wedding ring.

47. Do you go out in public without getting all dressed up?

I’d do it more often, if i could get away with it.

48. Do you like fruity or minty gum?

Mint – spearmint.

49. Favourite musician or group?

Beatles.

50. Do you like anyone?

Define “like”. I like quite a few people. Even love a few.

51. Favourite computer game?

Backgammon, except that when I play with someone, they often bail too early. Hearts with no real opponents I can at least finish.

52. First album you ever went and bought with your own money?

Beatles VI.

53. Think back five months ago, were you single?

No, and not 5 months before that either.

54. Do you believe in celebrating anniversaries?

Goodness, yes. Of all kinds.

55. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?

How could they not?

56. Last thing you bought?

Lunch on Friday.

57. Are you a jealous person?

I tend not to be, though there have been moments in the past.

58. Does it take a lot to make you cry?

Not really. A beautiful piece of music can make me cry.

59. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to?

Yes. Actually, for the longest time, about 90% of my best friends were female; now, it about 60%.

60. Have you ever had your heart-broken?

I mean, if you haven’t, you are really lucky, I think.

61. Have you ever done something while drunk that you still cannot believe you did?

Back when I would drink in college, I was very flirtatious, but no, I don’t believe

62. Is there anyone you secretly wish you could be spending your time with right now?

No secret. Myself. Don’t get enough Roger time.

63. Do you text?

Generally not.

64. Do you wish someone would call or text you right now?

Sure, why not? And if they call me and I DON’T want to speak with him or her, well, that’s what Caller ID is all about.

65. Is your life anything like it was a year ago?

Pretty much.

66. Go back one year on your blog. Leave us a link to your favorite post.

M is for Money.

67. You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life, what is it?

Ginger ale.

68. Tell us about someone that you have lost contact with someone you wish you didn’t.

There are so many people I manage to regain contact of, some of whom I had lost contact with. But there was this woman named Diane in college; actually mostly after college when I was still hanging out in New Paltz. We used to just talk, play board games and generally hang out. Totally platonic. Lost track of her. She isn’t in the alumni directory that came out in 2006, can’t find her in Google, and I wonder how she is, WHERE she is.

69. What is the last thing you said out loud?

Good night, sleep tight.

70. Will this year be better than last?

Difficult to say. Last year was pretty good.

ROG

The Health Report

Had my physical this week. Other than too much weight (no surprise) and too high “bad ” cholesterol, I’m OK. My last “annual” checkup was in November 2008. I took Lipitor for a couple months at the time, then forgot to get a blood test, which I needed to get befoe getting a refill, but forgot and let it slide. I’ll do better this time.

Even before this, though, I made a major change. I had become, if not addicted, then habituated to caffeinated soda, usually diet. It had the annoying habit of allowing me to go to sleep, but then had me wake up in the middle of the night, brain on overload, unable to sleep. Then I “needed” a soda while I was at work lest I fall asleep at my desk. Vicious cycle. But when I last gave blood, on March 16, and my blood pressure upper number was 138 – it’s always been between 110 and 125 – I becan to worry, and I quit the soda cold turkey. After about three days of utter exhaustion, I’m actually sleeping better.

I wonder if it was the soda, or merely SAD (seasonal affective disorder) that made me feel crazy in February. Someone said something that annoyed me greatly – and I had a right to be annoyed – but it seemed to have captured me for about a month, with me withdrawing from things, feeling melancholy and alone. It’s passed, even before quitting the soda, but it was very peculiar.

Thus endeth “true confessions”.
ROG

Privacy, identity

My daughter went to the pedetrician she’s seen since she was born last week for her annual physical. The ofice required proof of her insuance – it has not changed, but OK – and proof of identity for her or her parents.

This week, I went to see my primary care physician for MY annual physical doctor. I’ve had this doctor for over 15 years. The front staff know who I am. In fact, when he asked me for MY ID, the staffer said, almost giggling: “We KNOW who you are.” I also prsented my insurance card, though it hadn’t changed.

Now I understood it when I went to St. Peter’s to get X-rays; I’m not exactly a regular.
***
A bit off topic, but it did get me to think about issue privacy and personal information. The type of info I hate giving up is the type I believe will harm me. For instance, one of my providers STILL uses my Social Security number as my patient identification. This makes me VERY nervous. And isn’t that in violation of the HIPAA law?

Meanwhile, there are members of Congress complaining about the “invasive” Census. Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed that, with all the money being spent on it, they didn’t ask for more.

Newspapers, when I write a letter to the editor, require my name, address, and phone number. But if I write to their blogs, I can hide under a pseudonym and say pretty much what I want. The blogger can block it, but still the conversation is far more incidiary than the print letters. I’m not sure that folks online shouldn’t be subjected to the same rules of contact as their pen-and-paper cohorts.

***
The question: what issues of privacy do YOU worry about? Census, online transactions, the restaurant worker with your credit card ?