An Ounce of Prevention

An Ounce of Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.                                                                     Meaning:

·       You use this proverb to say that it is much easier to do something to prevent a problem than to deal with it after it has happened. 

·       This proverb expresses a similar idea to that of A stitch in time saves nine.

Example:

·       I strongly recommend backing up your data at least once a day. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

·        This vaccine costs $25, but it would cost you at least $1500 if you caught the disease and had to be treated in a hospital. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. ~ dictionary.com

At the risk of jinxing myself I will tell you that I have always been blessed with great health.  This isn’t a testimonial for the vaccine controversy but I can give credit to my mother for making sure that I had all my vaccinations while young and continued the habit after I grew up and left the nest.

I can point out to the fact that right around 1951 there were almost 60,000 cases of Polio in the United States and it definitely was a motivator for mothers to vaccinate their children.  In my small circle of friends, I had one friend that had Polio, and in my elementary school I was aware of two others that wore braces due to Polio.

Washington State Department of Health reports that the 2016-17 Influenza year records 46 deaths due to the flu.  Any preventative effort taken is worth the effort in cutting down the risk.

Many members of my immediate family have come down with the flu this season and are fully recovered or recovering as I write this.  While standing in the middle of it all serving as a caregiver to my family, I have not yet caught the flu this last year or any of the last 5 years (fingers crossed).

Up until 8 or 9 years ago, I didn’t think that I could benefit from the annual flu shot especially that the vaccine doesn’t always cover the strain of flue that will hit on anyone given year.  It is, however, estimated that the flu shot has an 80% possibility of protecting the public of the strain that is affecting the population on a given year.

I’ve been known to be stubborn, but then again, I also have a reputation for being sensible.  One day it just seemed to make sense that I should take a chance on the flu shot.  My (lady) doctor whom I only visit twice a year for checkup and lab work convinced me that I should try it out.  Haven’t had the flu since.

If you haven’t tried it, take it from me (I get mine free from my care provider) nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Remember an ounce of prevention is worth a week or two in bed recovering (or worst).  The best is yet to come……….

Silver Lining

Silver Lining

This year (2016) even more so than other recent challenging years, seems to be affecting a larger portion of the United States population than ever.  Whether it be the internet false news phenomena, the post truth era being discussed on news programs, the election, the Russian hacking, terrorism acts, WikiLeaks, are any of numerous other distraction/events going on in society.  To one degree or another everyone is being affected.

Silver lining

·       Use the term silver lining when you want to emphasize the hopeful side of a situation that might seem gloomy on the surface.

• ·      The common expression "every cloud has a silver lining" means that even the worst events or situations have some positive aspect. 
•     You are most likely to remind a sad or discouraged friend that there is a silver lining as a way of cheering him up. 
•     The origin of the phrase seems to be John Milton's 1634 poem "Comus," which includes the line, "Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud/Turn forth her silver lining on the night?"

Where do I start?  Campaign 2016, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, whether you voted for any of the candidates or none.  The results are what they are.  At this point it no longer matters if you are happy with the outcome or not. The results are in.  The Silver lining?  It seems that many in the country have been clamoring for change, well, hang onto your hat because change is here.  One of my favorite sayings is, be careful what you wish for.  Wishes and prayer have one distinctive thing in common:  They seldom manifest themselves exactly as you imagined them.  

Many of our politicians seem to get comfortable once elected, and almost immediately forget who sent them into office.  Furthermore, they start campaigning for reelection as quickly as they start their term.  Slightly more than 16 years ago our senators and congressmen/congresswomen started stonewalling instead of passing legislation. On that note I agree that we are way overdue for cleaning up the slate. 

I pray for positive changes.  My idea of change is to analyze the problem and repair or replace the broken parts “only.”  It’s seems that we are headed in the direction of discarding all that we have in place and starting over from scratch whether and improvement is made or not, only time will tell.  Just join me in praying daily for good results.

All the other problems and concerns can directly or indirectly be attributed to our country’s leadership and direction.  Please always remember that I am remaining out of the political sides.  I vote at every election, but like in anyone’s case, that is my right and duty, and shall remain confidential.  I don’t want to influence anyone to my way of thinking.  I just want to encourage my readers to continue to stay involve.  The best is yet to come…….

Reality Check

Reality Check

I woke up Christmas Eve 2016 at 4:40am with the thought that I needed to reexamine my life and determine that I had been true in most instances to family tradition.  I almost immediately found at least three occasions where I had strayed from tradition not because I was rebelling but because society changes and so must we as individuals if we want to excel (improve past family performances).  I imagine that if I spent more time analyzing my life I would find that in many instances, I at least tweaked family traditions to allow for the changing times.

One major tradition that I changed, and the jury is still out on whether, it is right or wrong (for the benefit of family improvement), was to concentrate on my children’s chances for success, by making their first language English.  To understand my point of view, you have to know that I come from long line of proud Mexican Culture.

The way that I was raised, I would speak English in school, and was punished (corporal – smacked with a yardstick) by the nuns, if I was caught speaking in Spanish.  Yet, when I got home all I spoke was Spanish.  I could expect no assistance at home with my school homework, the lesson there is that I became self-reliant.  I performed very well despite the internal battle with two languages at the same time.  To this day, if I have a tough problem to compute, I think in Spanish and the answer comes out in English.

I decided to improve my children’s lives by not burdening them with the two languages at the same time. They grew up very successful, but I have forever been criticized if not chastised for not teaching them their cultural language when young.  Of all my children only one speaks Spanish as well as I do or better, and the others get along just fine.  They picked up Spanish in the educational system.

Another tradition that I broke away from was maintaining close ties with family and friends.  I am not talking about just close family and friends. That tradition I still do.  I’m talking about 2^nd, 3^rd. and even 4 times removed cousins, and friends that were met at work on the first job I ever had 30 or 40 years ago.  My mother and step-father traveled back to Texas from Washington State once a year to visit family, and even crossed into Mexico to visit family and friends.  I don’t mean dropped by on the way through, they actually stayed at their homes for two or three days at a time.  Even when I visit sisters and brothers out of State I insist in staying at a hotel and renting a car for my own transportation.  After all I am the one on vacation not them, they still have their daily routines to perform.

My wife and I decided to concentrate on starting our own traditions (more normal), major holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and others centered more around the grandchildren are based at the good ole home where everyone was raised (we still have the wall with all the markings and dates of progressive height of the family members, even grandchildren now).  Traditions for us are about maintaining close family ties, and includes close friends.  Our children have already started some of their own traditions like visiting with their in-laws on the holidays after our get together or before.

We enjoy seeing someone that we haven’t seen in 15 or 20 years, but life is so much busier for us than it was when our parents were young, as an example my step-father’s job was as a head-foreman on a 10,000-acre farm, and because we lived in the Northwest he normally had about a two-month flexible time where he could wander around the country visiting family and friends (which he loved to do).

There are other traditions that we tweaked to accommodate the changing times but for the most part we try to toe the line.  The best is yet to come……

Disappearing Acts

Disappearing Acts

Once upon a time not that long ago there was the wonderful developing technology where you could throw your voice to anywhere in the world (the telephone).  Not every household in the USA had one because of cost or even accessibility.  Telephones were connected by wires that had to stretch over “telephone/electrical” poles all over the land.  If you lived out in the country, you would be required to pay a high cost (somewhere in the thousands depending on distance) to run the lines to your property from the nearest phone pole.

For the multitudes that couldn’t afford a telephone at home, there came the payphone.  So interwoven was the payphone booth into our society that even Superman used the phone booth in the storyline every time that he had to change from Clark Kent to Superman.

About the same time the television technology was emerging (black and white at first).  Horrible reception in the beginning, more snow than content.  Transmission capability (towers) were limited at first and most prevalent in areas of dense population (cities) where you could reach the most people with the least number of transmitting towers.  Initially there was only 3 major television networks competing for viewership.  Programing was also minimal for the number of hours of broadcast.

While there was progress being made on all fronts of technology, new emerging technologies were coming to the forefront.  Imagine being able to send documents across the country within minutes to complete transactions that required your signature.  The fax and fax machine slowly worked into every one’s life and eventually would become indispensable.  At the start of this phenomenon you would go to a central location to send and receive faxes.  Eventually the more affluent (businesses to be sure) would acquire their own fax transmitting machines.

Audio recording media has gone from vinyl to 4, and 8 track cartridges, cassettes, CD’s. and now digital with the leap to the latest (streaming).  Video rentals have pretty much disappeared because you can now rent DVD’s out of a red box or better yet stream from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video or iTunes.

But wait! There’s more; the latest rumor is that televisions sets will be the next to disappear from your retail shopping.  The best way to catch your favorite movies at present and on the run is iPad, Tablet, your PC or your cellphone.  It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was striving to outdo the Joneses to the largest television screen possible.  I presently have a Home Theater projector for up to 100 inches and more.  The best is yet to come……….

Life and Building Bridges

Life and Building Bridges

I consider myself a very optimistic person, however, I would debate with anyone that our state of society is at its best ever.  You would almost have to be in my age group in order to look at society in our life span and compare apples to apples.

For starters, survival skills are one thing and survival instincts are yet another and not to be confused with one and the other.

Survival skills:  The ability to hunt for food, grow your own food, fix your own car, start a fire without matches (or lighters), how to navigate without a compass or GPS, build a raft, make your own home repairs, etc., etc.

Survival instincts:  the ability to read people, to anticipate a confrontation and how to avoid it or deescalate it, knowing when to take action or when to compromise, assessing the unseen dangers (example: undercurrent in a stream or river, making split second decisions, etc., etc.

Many of the skill that we developed in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s was the difference between success and failure, but today our society for the most part consider those to be the skills of dinosaurs (unimportant or at the very least antiquated), and unnecessary. 

Today’s younger generations are so dependent on technology that if a power outage takes place they are dead in the water.  Have you ever seen a young retail clerk struggle to make change for a dollar when their cash register fails?  We are so dependent on GPS that if you go into an area of limited or no cellphone signal a young person can’t find their way around because even if they had a street map they wouldn’t be able to read it.

How about the wonderful communication skills (writing or reading) of our youth due to their prevalent use of texting?  The youth are not the only ones to blame, the educational systems in some States are dropping the required cursive writing, because it is no longer needed or relevant.  The unskilled educated can’t grasp the big picture:  Who is going to translate or decipher our historical records (documents) in the future.  Cursive writing may as well be a foreign language to any one that is proficient in, WTF, LOL, LMAO, etc., etc.

My children and grandchildren are still being raised the way I was raised.  I insist in teaching them the old survival instincts, and skills, and even more important, I am teaching them to be competitive.  In other words, there are winners and there are losers, we all need to strive to prevail (win).  Nothing wrong with 2^nd place but 1^st place is the objective.

When my children use to complain to my wife that life wasn’t fair, their mother’s gentle response was “build a bridge and get over it.”  If you didn’t get that saying, it's ok, it took my children a few times to get the real meaning also.  My grandchildren don’t only get it, but I hear them saying it amongst themselves now and they are still young.  The best is yet to come…….

Careful What You Wish For

Careful What You Wish For

Idiom Definitions for 'Be careful what you wish for'

• If you get things that you desire, there may be unforeseen and unpleasant consequences.
• ('Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.' and 'Be careful what you wish for; you may receive it.' are also used.)

How many of us remember telling our parents in our growing up years: “if only I can have this one thing I want, I will never ask for anything else.”  Without exception soon after we got what we wanted something better came along that we wished for. 

One of the things that I remember wishing for was my first car, well, guess what with it came responsibility.  Buying the fuel and maintenance for it, paying for insurance.  Tires, and rims, not to mention tighter restrictions.  Even though I could go anywhere (transportation wise), I wasn’t allowed.

My personal budget got so that I had to plan what I wanted to do for the weekend, because I may not have the flexibility to catch a movie, eat out or go roller skating all on the same weekend.  My friends that didn’t have their own wheels were everywhere, just like I used to be, even if their parents had to drop them off.   I guess if you don’t mind the consequences, it was still ok, because I didn’t know it then (until Happy Days came out) but I was the Fonzi of my crowd.

The same applies to everything in life, try if you can to look ahead at all possible outcomes beyond the obvious because there are consequences to everything we do.  Consequences are also known as side effects (unplanned outcomes), and the worst part is that in some cases, once a decision is made, you cannot get a do-over.

The best is yet to come….

Losing Its Luster

Losing Its Luster

Luster

Noun                                                                    A position of exalted widely recognized importance:    distinction, eminence, eminency, fame, glory, illustriousness, mark, notability, note, preeminence, prestige, prominence, prominency, renown.

Luster is one word that I could think of to describe the level of importance to certain holidays growing up.  Consider that the holidays have remained pretty much unchanged, but in our eyes and mind (which have matured) the holidays are losing their luster.

I totally love all holidays, but number one and number two have to be Christmas and Thanksgiving.  Occupying third place would have to be Memorial Day.  Memorial Day has different relevance to a multitude of people for different reasons:  1) a day designated for remembrance of loved ones that have gone ahead of us, 2) a day to celebrate and recognize and honor our military heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice, 3) of great importance to young people in high school and college; the signal to the beginning of Summer and start of school vacation.  Secondary but also important are the wonderful family and friend get togethers for BBQ’s, and just plain ole catching up.

I still remember being young and looking forward to bed time on Christmas eve, because I knew that by Christmas morning Santa would have come by and left me some presents.  My parents always managed to surprise me and exceed my expectations. 

I can only think of one Christmas when it almost ended up being a total disaster, but instead turned out to be the most memorable Christmas ever.  Check out the post:  Unexpected Best Christmas, http://www.being50.com/2013/06/unexpected-best-christmas.html

I wish I could tell you at what age I stopped believing in Santa Claus, but I honestly don’t remember.  I do know that I had my suspicions about whether he was real or not for a few years, but I didn’t dare not believe, just in case.  After that holiday lost its luster for me, it wasn’t until, I was a married young adult with children before I started to enjoy seeing the same look of amazement in the little faces of my children.

Now, once again the clock keeps ticking, and my babies are now adults with children of their own.  In recent years that same look of amazement can now be seen in the little faces of my grandchildren.  The luster of the holiday is never lost it just gets passed on from generation to generation.  It’s up to people like you and me, to continue to encourage it and keep it alive.  You could even say that as grandparents we would do well to look at Christmas through the eyes of our grandchildren and great grandchildren.  The best is yet to come……..

Locker Room Banter (NOT)

A real locker room talk

Seems that lately “Locker Room Banter” is dominating the news media and it makes me wonder where I’ve been growing up.  Enough people are coming forward to attest that that is exactly how men behave when women (and/or young ladies) are not around.  One person I saw in the news went as far as to accuse the female reporter: “that is exactly how women behave and talk over a glass of white wine.”

I tried to recollect all the occasions when I found myself in a locker room or office setting with male friends outside of the hearing range of women, and was unable to come up with anything that compared to the locker room banter presently in the news.  I do remember where one coworker tried bragging about his caveman approach to women, and I and most of the males in the room walked away and eventually shunned that person from our gatherings.

There is the one time where I unwillingly became involved in a prank (played on me) that went so bad as to almost break up a marriage.  I was on my third year into a mid-management position with one of the larger corporations in its industry.  The business was linen supply, and we handled the supply of linens to hotels, and restaurants, as well as, industrial uniforms to auto dealerships, gas stations, hospitals, etc., etc.

I was already successful enough to indulge in my passion for muscle cars.  If I must be honest I loved the second glances that my car got everywhere I went.  One day after work I was driving home on a beautiful sunshiny summer day (beach resort town in California), when I stopped at a crosswalk to let people have the right-of-way.  The people at the crosswalk were staring at my car and laughing almost hysterically while pointing at the front end of my car.  It bothered me so much that as soon as I could I pulled into the parking lot of a Frosty Freeze to see what it was they were pointing at.

I couldn’t believe what I saw, hanging from the front license plate was a very large bra (I don’t really know bra sizes) but it was abnormally large.  I quickly removed it and put it in the trunk of my car to try to determine who at work would have done that to me.  It’s not at all unusual to see men’s and women’s undergarment come into the linen plant with the bags of soiled (dirty) linen from hotels.  So I immediately thought of my coworkers.

The very next day at a coffee break one person quickly asked me if anything exciting happened to me when I got home.  Naturally I said no.  I asked should something have happened?  The Sales Manager couldn’t contain himself because he thought he was so slick, and that I would get in trouble when I got home.  He figured someone must have removed it before I saw it.  First chance I had I took that bra and placed it in the glove box of his car.  The sales manager (we shall call Larry) was a very nice almost shy kind of person.  He loved and feared/respected his wife and they had a little girl about 3 years old.  His wife was a high level bank executive, and dressed like Jackie Onassis (gloves included).  The car Larry drove was an Avocado green Ford Gran Torino.

The months went by and nothing was ever said about the extra-large bra so I assumed that like me he just got rid of it and moved on.  Approximately four months later I heard while on a coffee break that Larry and his wife were separated and getting divorced.  I went to Larry immediately and told him that I had just heard about the separation.  I asked him what the cause might be.  He explained that he didn’t know but that his wife was accusing him of messing around without providing him with proof.

I went directly to the bank where his wife worked, and asked to see her.  After about a 20-minute wait I was escorted to her office.  She greeted me very professionally, and I wasted no time in telling her that she was making a big mistake in divorcing Larry.  She explained that while she appreciated my attempt at intervention, she didn’t involve outsiders into her personal affairs.  I asked her if her separation was brought about by a lacey large black bra placed in the car of his glove box.  She reacted with anger in her facial features, and asked me how I knew.  I explained how the whole incident started with a prank being played on me.

Since she hadn’t told her husband the details of her suspicions, she knew that he and I couldn’t have shared information.  To make a long story short Larry and his wife made up but I lost a possible friend since his wife prohibited her husband from socializing with me because I was such a terrible influence.  My lesson at that early age was that acting like school boys playing pranks could have life changing outcomes.  As far as I know Larry never even found out about the large bra that I placed in his glove box.  Boys will be boys is not a good enough excuse for misbehavior or even locker room banter. The best is yet to come….

Social Tipping Point

Social Tipping Point

As individuals go, we can be extremely different or fairly similar, we are a conglomerate of diversity, and yet unique at the same time.  Personally, I am multifaceted: some of my self-description comes from what I think of myself, and as described by people around me.

In my early adulthood, I was so involved in my community that I could be considered an activist (I even ran for elective office).  I lettered in three different sports in high school so I could be described as athletic, I also carry all the typical labels: son, brother, father, friend, boyfriend, husband, etc., etc. Depending on who you are and what roles you played in my life, I’ve also been described as: nice, friendly, considerate, a lover not a fighter, smug, mean, inconsiderate, etc., etc.

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that as humans and inhabitants of Planet Earth, we adapt well to our surroundings (mostly for the sake of survival).  I prefer to be nice, peaceful, respectful, kind, considerate.  Most important, I prefer to be a survivor, and protector of my loved ones.

I own a firearm, but early in my marriage my wife convinced me to keep it in a safe and away from the children.  Some of my adult children would be shocked to know that I own a gun and that I am licensed to carry.  Over the years I’ve been observing our society spiral out of control.  I’ve been patiently standing on the sidelines observing, and making sure that neither I or my loved ones get dragged into the mix.

In all honesty, it is getting harder and harder to stay safe and out of the mix.  Earlier this summer, we had a motor vehicle stolen from our driveway.  The vehicle was recovered within 2 weeks with minimal damage, but it caused me to upgrade our existing home security system.  Within the last week there have been instances where three acts of fatal violence occurred in our country (USA) that has been covered on the national news scene.  Just last night a second incidence of violence at a shopping mall within a week happened within 100 miles of my residence.

Society is continuing to move in the wrong direction for my liking.  If you are familiar with the comic character “The Hulk” he is a mild mannered individual who gets pushed too far and turns into an angry green monster that strikes back.  I for one am running out of patience and tolerance. Don’t expect me to turn green any time soon, do however, expect Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson to accompany me when I go into public places that offer questionable safety and security.  Bad Guys beware, for your own survival, be more selective of who you pick on to victimize!  The best is yet to come……

Expect The Unexpected

Expect The Unexpected

Despite all the progressive changes in our wonderful United States from one day to the next, not to mention from one year to the next and especially from one decade to the next.  Life in this country can still be taken in stride.  Understanding our society progression and history we can assume that big progressive strides are in our future and even expect things to change.

But if you were to be coming out of coma after 12 to 18 months, you would not recognize the changes that have occurred in the political landscape.  I am making reference in particular to Election 2016.  Unless something changes to return us to more familiar times, I can’t begin to predict where our society is headed.   Not a good thing to be sure. 

Through hundreds of years of political experience, we have come to expect that if we pay close attention, we can catch a politician telling a lie here and there.  Well, it seems we finally are reaching the point of no return in politics: in today’s political scene (2016), if you pay close attention, we can catch a politician telling a truth here and there.

You would have to really be in my age group to remember a scene and quote from the movie Planet of the Apes (1968) Charlton Heston’s character (astronaut George Taylor) walking on the beach comes around a bend and is confronted with the view of the broken Statue of Liberty and a demolished New York City skyline, and he realizes that the whole time he was back on earth in a future time from when he left on his space mission.  He screams, “You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” My reaction when I first saw that scene, was that it was extreme and that it was great fiction that could never really happen.  Well, as politics go, that scene while extreme is becoming more and more appropriate.

I never thought that I would live long enough to vote on the basis of selecting the best of the worst. While I feel that my vote is important, I also consider it my business, so I will keep it private.  If you live in this United States, still the best country in the world, I urge you to exercise you right to vote, and stay involved.  It’s getting harder but we can still turn it around.  The best is yet to come……….