Pobrecita

Yesterday, I returned from a lovely (and too short) Thanksgiving break in time to run some errands before returning the rental car. And, of course, rather than leaving immediately after unloading my stuff from the trip, I dillied and dallied for a bit. This ended up being a rather unfortunate mistake, because I failed to remember that it is the downtown lights season, and I live in downtown. And my street has free parking after 6:00, which means all the visitors are going to park there.

Forgetting all of this, I moseyed out and did my grocery shopping (it is so nice to have a car when grocery shopping) and really stocked up. And, of course, when I got home, there was absolutely no street parking. Since I don't have a car, I opted not to pay for parking in my complex every month, so I rely on street parking when I rent cars. The closest I could find was a church parking lot across the street, and I then had to haul all of my groceries from the parking lot (and not one of the closest stalls), across the street, through the locked gate, to my building, through the locked door, and into my house. I figured it counted as my daily workout, so at least there was that.

Then, during one of my trips, the keys to the car fell out of my pocket. I retraced my steps all the way to the car, didn't find them, (had this terror that someone trying to be helpful picked them up and turned them in to a lost and found somewhere, which would not have been helpful), walked back to the apartment, and lo and behold, they were on the lawn outside my building where I completely missed them (not sure how!) when I started my search.

Groceries unloaded, I treated myself to some food, and in slicing my English muffin (even though they are supposed to be pre-sliced. They never really are), also sliced my finger. Not the worse I've ever seen, but it's a good half inch long, right on the joint of my index finger. And weirdly, today the knuckle below the one with the cut is sore.

After that, I think I gave up on doing anything productive other than returning the rental and unpacking, very late, before going to bed. Oh, and looking at cars. Not because I felt like everything I did was ending up a disaster. Just because it was a Saturday night and I'd just gotten back from traveling, and that is always really sad.

The Unscandalous

I know there has been a lot in the news the last couple of weeks about awful and despicable males. These people should be held accountable for their actions. There is no excuse. But, lest we despair of fifty percent of the human population, I just want to go on record as saying that this is not normal behavior. I know a lot of men--not millions, or even thousands, but I have lived and worked in the same environment of a number of men, and I don't know a single one who would think it acceptable to behave like the males in the news have. Not because they are afraid of getting caught. The men I know wouldn't do that because it is beneath them, because they respect themselves and others, because it is flat out wrong whether they are going to get called on it or not. 

This is normal human behavior and I hope that we will make that clear moving forward. But let's not throw everyone with an X and Y chromosome under the bus simply because of their genetics. The world needs good men and they are out there. Yes, there are scummy ones, for sure. And it is good that they are being called out, because they should NOT be seen as the standard of manhood. And maybe I'm overly optimistic, but my experience gives me reason for that optimism. I have seen so many good brothers and husbands and friends who don't fit the media stereotype. I want to be married to a man, and I certainly wouldn't marry someone who would behave like these men in the news have. I don't think many women would. 

I know it's not the cool thing to stick up for men right now and it might seem like a defense of manhood is a betrayal of women. But virtuous, good men are one of the best ways to support the cause of women.*

And maybe I just won some kind of lottery to know so many good men (and women! I just know good people!). If so, I'm happy to share the wealth. Anyway, I just hope that we don't forget that the rotten apples in the media don't represent the whole crop. 

*And vice versa.

The Magic Touch

At work today I was called on to solve no less than five tech problems. I dread tech problems because I have a very limited bag of tricks. I managed to solve all five, but really, I didn't do anything special: I had 2 reboots, one checking the cord, one retyping the URL, and one where I just did the same thing the patron did, it just worked for me.

When I solve a tech problem, the staff who called me in are typically impressed. I keep trying to tell them that I just glare at the computers right, and I'm sure they just think I'm being modest. And as long as they keep asking me easy to solve problems, we'll be good. But the truth is if my basic bag of tricks (rebooting and trying the same thing everyone else did. And I suppose a couple of other cheats I've picked up) runs out, I'm in big trouble because then I really have no idea what to do.

So, here's to easy fixes and tech that I can glare into submission!

Are you going to stand for that?

***Warning: the following post contains ranting and getting on soapboxes.***

So, among the big news in the last couple of weeks has been Facebook, Google, and Twitter testifying before Congress about the Russia hacking fiasco. I haven't read a ton about it, but I've skimmed here and there. Just for the record, yes, I think the Russia hacking thing is a problem, and yes, I think that it's high time Congress realize the influence of big tech companies have. However, am I the only one who is also highly offended by their attitude towards everyone else in America?

I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person. Not a genius by any means, but I can typically reason my way through an argument. So I can't help but be more than a little offended at the attitude of these Big 3 and Congress, who seem to assume all Americans are too dumb to question what they see on social media.

That isn't to say that we all did question what we saw on social media. From what I hear, a lot of Americans, particularly voting ones, didn't actually take time to think through the arguments. But, let's be honest. That's on us. Not on Facebook, or Twitter, or Google. And I'm not a huge fan of a lot of their work, so it pains me a little to say that. And the journalists do exactly the same thing. They talk about us like we are so intellectually barren that if they weren't there to tell us what to think and believe, we wouldn't even know how to put our pants on. And I get that we have to get information from somewhere, and these are the places we get it. But we are responsible for weighing that information.

Could our information providers have done better? Yes. But ultimately, who is responsible for handing over their thinking to algorithms and social media platforms and the press? That one's on us. And since no one else is going to hold us accountable, maybe we should hold ourselves accountable. Let's expect better of ourselves. We deserve it.

Soapbox out.