I won't start swearing about loyalty points but I don't like 'em.
I get loyalty points at four grocery chains and I also have Air Miles and Aero Plan. I may have some other loyalty cards but I'd have to look.
So loyalty cards are meant to suck us in. They are meant to put a little hook on us so that we keep coming back. In the old days my Mom bought stuff that contained mugs or cups or tea towels. It seems to me that these were mostly in soap. Of course, they were in sets so that she had to buy more stuff to get the set.
Now with loyalty points the more you save the bigger the loot you get. If you redeem points for little stuff it doesn't seem worth it. So keep on building up the points.
With Air Miles you need a tremendous amount of points to just get out of town. Now there are fewer places that give you Air Miles. One also has to search very hard to find things that you would like for your points. I did buy my camera with aeroplane points but the price was much more than I would have paid for it on sale. Aeroplan now takes points away when your account is not used I filled up with gas the other day just to keep the stupid account open. I had to do a search to find a gas station that gives Aeroplan points (Esso)
Grocery points are a rip off. You have to make sure that you have the card and then that you give it too them. If you check your points total you will find that they sometimes miss giving you points. The card sometimes does not scan. I wish that would happen when they run my groceries through the scanner.
Now I wonder how much would I save on my groceries if they weren't giving away those stupid points. I also know that points can't be stupid.
So there's my little rant for the day!
I imagine there are worse things than loyalty points.
Since today is Labor Day I decided to look a few things up about the day.
Everybody knows that Labor Day is to celebrate and recognize people who work. Labor Day has a long history and I think is recognized in about 80 countries.
I thought back to what Labor Day means to me personally. Labor Day is observed on the first Monday in September. So since most of my life has been in education it's synonymous with school opening. The first Monday makes it awkward to set a school year. You don't want to open schools before Labor Day but sometimes if you don't you don't get your legislated days in before June 30. Opening school before Labor Day means that some kids are still away on holiday so you make class lists and pass out books and lay down the rules and some kids aren't there.
I admit that I didn't do anything special as far as Labor day is concerned in my classes. No excuse. I just didn't think about it.
A a little kid Labor Day brought some mixed emotions. I didn't want to go back to school and end my summer of freedom yet I wanted to go back and meet my friends. I also felt that it was the end of summer and summer fun. Since I was a farm kid, long weekends didn't mean anything. We didn't go away for a holiday and didn't stop working.
My dad, being a farmer and harvesting at the time was not happy to hear about Labor Day. It was not a holiday for him. He was not enthused about some people taking the day off with pay and he still had to work very hard.
Since I've retired I've had time to reflect on Labor Day. I realize that there is an important message in this special day. There are some parades and celebrations. There are some official ceremonies. All of this is to publicize the importance of people who labor. I now look on Labor Day as more than just a day off.
One thing that still puzzles me about Labor Day. Why don't we say Happy Labor Day like we do for thanksgiving and other holidays?
I hope everybody had a good weekend and that you're now ready for school or the coming fall season.
I just finished a very tough book to read. Usually books classified as tough are those that in some ways are complex. For me, mysteries are hard to read.
But the book today is a tough because of the subject matter. It deals with Alzheimer's
I've known a few people with Alzheimer's and visited with them. I've never had to deal directly with Alzheimer's.
In this book the writer has Alzheimer's. His mother has Alzheimer's and his grandfather had Alzheimer's.
On Pluto: inside the mind of Alzheimer's by Greg O'brien is a detailed realistic firsthand account of dealing with Alzheimer's and having Alzheimer's.
Greg describes in detail the challenge of looking after his mother who has Alzheimer's while at the same time he has early onset Alzheimer's. Looking after an elderly parent is always going to be challenge but one having Alzheimer's is much worse.
When Greg's mother dies he suddenly has to face the stage his own Alzheimer's. Greg describes in detail his dealing with physicians and denial and anger. It's very direct and authentic.
Along the way you will learn much about the very epic struggle people have with Alzheimer's.
This book was tough to read because of the horrible experiences Alzheimer patients go through.
I highly recommend this book as you will learn much about Alzheimer's. It's not a book you will enjoy but is well worth while reading.
Now most of my readers know that I am an avid cyclist. You know that at age 75 I still ride at least 1000 km (625 miles) per summer. I would ride more if the weather cooperated and if my schedule allowed. I have ridden since 1984 when they started putting in excellent cycling trails in my town. I've been at it ever since. I've ridden about 40000 km (25000 miles). some years I've ridden much more than my goal and some years I just reach my goal. the first few years I did not have my goal of 1000 km. I'm on my third bike and it's just about worn out. I replace bikes when safety becomes an issue.
I don't have recent cycling photos. These are from 2009.
Now I just recently heard of naked cycling day! I had never heard of it before. Apparently this has been going on since 2002. Apparently many local groups organize a nude cycling day and away they go. Most naked cycling days are in the spring. I wonder why?
The other day 3000 nude cyclists in Philly road through a wedding party photo shoot! This couple will have something to remember about their wedding.
So since I keep up on cycling I can't understand why I missed these exciting cycling events.
Maybe I should organize one in my town for next spring!
I know , I'm always posting about skating, but I have to keep you and myself on track with the season.
Today many bloggers commented about the waning summer and the approach of fall. It's a milestone in the year. The weather is still nice but it's changing.
Well, skating marks an important change in the year for me. I was surprised that I had lots of zip after not skating since April. It was a fun afternoon. Now only five of us skated but it wasn't well publicized.
Now I didn't get photos of skating. Everything I took I dumped. I still have a few things to learn about taking photos of skaters.
It's a little difficult to put on clothes for the rink. It's really hard to remember your gloves.
This morning was an extremely busy morning in my backyard as far as birds go. I saw 12 species from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM.
I live in a very regular urban subdivision. We have many trees in our yards. We have open spaces for parks that have lots of trees. As nice as this environment is , it's not great bird habitat. All these plants and trees are not natural and the birds know that. Once in a while you get lucky and see many birds in a short time. Usually we see a few chickadees, nuthatches, house sparrows and the odd other bird most days. It's not an active bird habitat. I see from 30 to 35 species per year in my yard.
Now the fall migration of songbirds is at it peak. So this morning many of these birds found my backyard, and vegetable garden in particular, a good place to have breakfast.
From 7:30 to 9:30 I saw: White throated sparrows, white breasted nuthatch, red breasted nuthatch, house wren, yellow warbler, black capped chickadee, blue jay, house finch, house sparrow, hummingbird, robin and white crowned sparrow. There were a couple of LBJ's that I couldn't identify and also a couple of warblers.
The white throated sparrows put on a great show. They run at a tremendous speed and scoot around under the heavy garden vegetation. They chase each other.
The humming bird spent a whole two minutes with me today.
Various flocks of robins will pass through for the next 6 weeks. Some will stay all year. Robins from further north keep coming south. Robins have been found nesting on Banks Island in the Arctic. It will take them a long time to get this far south.
And yes , you're going to have to trust me on this one. I did not get one photo. I was looking through my window into the light and into a dark garden. That's not the best light for photos. There also was a nasty reflection in my window glass. If I went outside , that would have ended the bird visit immediately.
There will be more song birds coming through for the next month. I'll be watching. I'm expecting three species of black birds and lots of yellow rumped warblers. The yellow rumps seem to stick around for most of September.
At this time of year millions of parents are taking their children away and not bringing them home. Yes, it's that time of year when College starts up and children leave our home for the first time.
Martha at Ploughing Through Life posted about attending an open house. My neighbor across the street has been worrying for the last year about her son leaving the nest.
We have our kids for 17 or 18 years. We do the best to raise them so that they become responsible and independent adults. However, that process can not happen with the snap of a finger. Growing up and maturing is a process that happens over a long period of time. It's not finished at 17 or 18 years of age. For some the process is faster and an end or plateau is reached where they become responsible adults contributing to society and raising their own children. For others it's a much longer journey. For me, it was the much longer journey. I was sidetracked many times and had to try things that were just plane unproductive and destructive.
When we leave our kids out there, there are many things they have not experienced. Peer pressure goes to another level. They are entering a whole new world and want to be accepted. Anxiety can rise and kids become vulnerable.
On the other hand when we leave kids somewhere for the first time, the learning curve is very steep. They're on their own and can't fall back on familiar supports.
Parents have a tough time to drop kids off and leave them. It's a major change in the family. It's a loss and we all know that a loss is a challenge. We love our kids and don't want to see them leave.
Kids put on a brave face and want to leave and have many reasons to give for "getting away." But deep down they are just as anxious over being dropped off. I was very homesick when I was dropped off. I'd only been in a city half a dozen times. I came from a one room high school. I was dropped off in big time and had to sink or swim.
So I hope that everybody has the best parting possible. Both parents and students will experience growth in the process. The first weekend they come back will be joyous. When they go back and the house is quiet we will heave a sigh of relief.
My kids are 43 and 45 and I still remember them leaving for the first time. I didn't like to see them go.
Do you remember being dropped off? Or did you leave on your own time?
