I kind of feel about Twitter the same way I feel about the massive vampire craze. Which is to say that maybe these are the first things that I am supposed to be "old" about. You know? "Those new-fangled things are just for kids!"
Except, I don't think I want to have that old attitude yet. I mean, I don't even have kids so how can I already be uncool and not on top of the times? (And no, I am not going to get into the vampire thing!)
So, is Twitter cool? I think I would enjoy following *some* celebrities. But is it like a big popularity contest where you have to try to get eleventy billion followers? I don't even know how many people that I know have Twitter accounts.
What's the dealy yo?
Showing posts with label huh?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label huh?. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Disappearing Middle Class
I don't usually go all politico on you but with the State of the Union address to be taking over the airwaves (that is, if you watch network TV) tomorrow night, I figure this is the one time to go rogue and get on my little soapbox.
We happened to catch a few minutes of the news last night and apparently President Obama is going to discuss his middle class tax breaks plan during the State of the Union.
**disclaimer** It might help if I explain a bit about myself. I feel completely and totally alienated by both political parties. I guess I lean a little bit more toward being a Democrat (I voted for Kerry and Obama in the last two elections) but at the same time, I read an article written by Ron Paul about everything that is wrong with today's GOP and I adore his ideas and wholeheartedly agree that if the Republican party can go back toward it's roots (i.e. small government, not so pro-big business), I'd probably swing slightly more to the right. In other words, I'm a political mess! I want more green, meaning that I want the government to care about the environment and I want to pay less for that so I can have more green in my pocket! **
The only thing they really outlined that is part of the middle class tax plan is a big credit on childcare for families that make less than $85,000 combined. When I heard that, I practically felt my aforementioned low blood pressure skyrocket! Let's examine this further.
If you are using childcare (enough to get a tax credit) you are probably a dual-income family. I can tell you already that there is almost no way that Adam and I would ever be able to qualify for that tax credit (not that we particularly would want to need full-time daycare) at this point in our "careers" (haha, career, that's funny in reference to me). Most people in our generation are choosing to wait to have children until their late 20's/early 30's. By that time, you are usually relatively established in your career and you aren't making the standard just-out-of-college-$20000-to-40000 a year job. If you have two people that each earn, say $44,000 annually, you are already out of the running for this tax benefit.
You have to remember that at my current (and I use that word very loosely) job that I can barely hope to ever gross more than $45,000 annually due to our labor contract and the fact that your income tops out at 14 years of service and we are limited in the hours we can work in a month. But in a more mainstream career, in the grand scheme of things, isn't $45,000 a number on the lower end of the spectrum for a person in their early 30's? Are doctors and lawyers not considered middle class anymore? What about teachers or engineers? Lots of school districts pay up to $40,000 if you have a masters degree and that is for teachers just starting out. According to this tax credit, if you had a lawyer and a teacher dual-income family, they are no longer considered middle class. Don't forget, this $85,000 number is almost certainly pre-tax! Say an ER doctor and a nurse are married with two kids. They work crazy hours and probably need childcare. They almost certainly make above $100,000 but are they not middle class? What about the probably hundreds of thousands in student loans that they are working to pay off? Why can't they get a childcare tax credit too?
It's not that I'm saying that $85,000 is at the poverty line or anything but I really feel that that is a number for a dual-income-therefore-childcare-necessary family is pretty low. You can read in a multitude of sources that our salaries here in the U.S. of A. have not kept up with inflation and I think this is a perfect example of that. $85,000 might have been closer the top of the middle class back in the day, not when gas was more than $2.50 a gallon on the regular.
Ok, now I'm off my soapbox. Maybe I'm completely out of touch with reality on this one but maybe I'm actually on to something!
**disclaimer number 2** I hope to be in a position someday to not necessarily need childcare but I still feel strongly about the issue for a number of reasons. First of all, if a woman wants to go back to work after having babies, she should be able to go back without having to worry about if she makes enough to justify the childcare expense. Plus, many families need that second income just to maintain their quality of life. And I'm not talking an extravagant quality of life. Isn't the American Dream to own a home? That's expensive!**
We happened to catch a few minutes of the news last night and apparently President Obama is going to discuss his middle class tax breaks plan during the State of the Union.
**disclaimer** It might help if I explain a bit about myself. I feel completely and totally alienated by both political parties. I guess I lean a little bit more toward being a Democrat (I voted for Kerry and Obama in the last two elections) but at the same time, I read an article written by Ron Paul about everything that is wrong with today's GOP and I adore his ideas and wholeheartedly agree that if the Republican party can go back toward it's roots (i.e. small government, not so pro-big business), I'd probably swing slightly more to the right. In other words, I'm a political mess! I want more green, meaning that I want the government to care about the environment and I want to pay less for that so I can have more green in my pocket! **
The only thing they really outlined that is part of the middle class tax plan is a big credit on childcare for families that make less than $85,000 combined. When I heard that, I practically felt my aforementioned low blood pressure skyrocket! Let's examine this further.
If you are using childcare (enough to get a tax credit) you are probably a dual-income family. I can tell you already that there is almost no way that Adam and I would ever be able to qualify for that tax credit (not that we particularly would want to need full-time daycare) at this point in our "careers" (haha, career, that's funny in reference to me). Most people in our generation are choosing to wait to have children until their late 20's/early 30's. By that time, you are usually relatively established in your career and you aren't making the standard just-out-of-college-$20000-to-40000 a year job. If you have two people that each earn, say $44,000 annually, you are already out of the running for this tax benefit.
You have to remember that at my current (and I use that word very loosely) job that I can barely hope to ever gross more than $45,000 annually due to our labor contract and the fact that your income tops out at 14 years of service and we are limited in the hours we can work in a month. But in a more mainstream career, in the grand scheme of things, isn't $45,000 a number on the lower end of the spectrum for a person in their early 30's? Are doctors and lawyers not considered middle class anymore? What about teachers or engineers? Lots of school districts pay up to $40,000 if you have a masters degree and that is for teachers just starting out. According to this tax credit, if you had a lawyer and a teacher dual-income family, they are no longer considered middle class. Don't forget, this $85,000 number is almost certainly pre-tax! Say an ER doctor and a nurse are married with two kids. They work crazy hours and probably need childcare. They almost certainly make above $100,000 but are they not middle class? What about the probably hundreds of thousands in student loans that they are working to pay off? Why can't they get a childcare tax credit too?
It's not that I'm saying that $85,000 is at the poverty line or anything but I really feel that that is a number for a dual-income-therefore-childcare-necessary family is pretty low. You can read in a multitude of sources that our salaries here in the U.S. of A. have not kept up with inflation and I think this is a perfect example of that. $85,000 might have been closer the top of the middle class back in the day, not when gas was more than $2.50 a gallon on the regular.
Ok, now I'm off my soapbox. Maybe I'm completely out of touch with reality on this one but maybe I'm actually on to something!
**disclaimer number 2** I hope to be in a position someday to not necessarily need childcare but I still feel strongly about the issue for a number of reasons. First of all, if a woman wants to go back to work after having babies, she should be able to go back without having to worry about if she makes enough to justify the childcare expense. Plus, many families need that second income just to maintain their quality of life. And I'm not talking an extravagant quality of life. Isn't the American Dream to own a home? That's expensive!**
Monday, January 25, 2010
three things I learned about myself today...
I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon but seeing as how I have been to the doctor/hospital more in the last month than probably in the previous 27 years of my life, I have gained some new insights about myself.
I have a "normal" body temperature that is not at the regular human 98.6 degrees. This doesn't really surprise me because my mom is the same way. I hover closer to 98.0 or 98.2. So when I have a 101 degree fever like I did with the H1N1 in May, it's extra brutal.
I also have wicked low blood pressure. Today I was 90/56. Which according to some (probably horrible) online research I just did means that I actually sit in the "hypotension" range and they think I should be constantly feeling dizzy or fainting. HA!
These two factoids go a long way to explain why I am constantly (during winter or extreme A/C conditions) freezing and why my extremities turn into popsicles, or as Adam calls them, my ice talons. If only it could also explain why I sweat like a monster and basically live summer in an uncomfortable state of overheat. I think I might just be a freak of nature because I have the world's worst internal temperature regulation. Can I get in the Guinness book for that, you think?
The third fun fact about Jen for the day is that I asked the doctor to measure me for height at the end. Have you ever noticed that once you past a certain age (18 maybe?) they stop measuring you and only weigh you? Like you want or need to be reminded of your weight, thanks. I decided to take matters in my own hands and make her measure me because I tried to figure out myself at the gym last week but measuring your own height is a futile effort. I currently measure at 62 1/4 inches. HAHA! I've been thinking forever that I'm only 5'1! So apparently I've grown a whopping 1.25 inches since I was 18. Good times! Again, this isn't really a surprise to me because I'm pretty sure that my mom did some growing after she turned 18 too.
How excited are you to know these things about me? My doctor is doing a bunch of bloodwork since it was essentially my "annual physical" (which is kind of funny because I'm not sure if I've ever had a physical, let alone an annual one, I don't count the stupid stuff I had to do to get hired by United as the work of real doctors). I'm interested to see my cholesterol and lipid levels because again, I've historically had freaky low levels of that too. It's been probably 4 years since I had any of that stuff checked because I kind of gave up giving blood after the third time that I thought I was going to faint and/or not be able to finish the bag. Not fun times.
So yeah, I guess this makes me officially an old person that has to go get physical exams and bloodwork done. When did this happen?
I have a "normal" body temperature that is not at the regular human 98.6 degrees. This doesn't really surprise me because my mom is the same way. I hover closer to 98.0 or 98.2. So when I have a 101 degree fever like I did with the H1N1 in May, it's extra brutal.
I also have wicked low blood pressure. Today I was 90/56. Which according to some (probably horrible) online research I just did means that I actually sit in the "hypotension" range and they think I should be constantly feeling dizzy or fainting. HA!
These two factoids go a long way to explain why I am constantly (during winter or extreme A/C conditions) freezing and why my extremities turn into popsicles, or as Adam calls them, my ice talons. If only it could also explain why I sweat like a monster and basically live summer in an uncomfortable state of overheat. I think I might just be a freak of nature because I have the world's worst internal temperature regulation. Can I get in the Guinness book for that, you think?
The third fun fact about Jen for the day is that I asked the doctor to measure me for height at the end. Have you ever noticed that once you past a certain age (18 maybe?) they stop measuring you and only weigh you? Like you want or need to be reminded of your weight, thanks. I decided to take matters in my own hands and make her measure me because I tried to figure out myself at the gym last week but measuring your own height is a futile effort. I currently measure at 62 1/4 inches. HAHA! I've been thinking forever that I'm only 5'1! So apparently I've grown a whopping 1.25 inches since I was 18. Good times! Again, this isn't really a surprise to me because I'm pretty sure that my mom did some growing after she turned 18 too.
How excited are you to know these things about me? My doctor is doing a bunch of bloodwork since it was essentially my "annual physical" (which is kind of funny because I'm not sure if I've ever had a physical, let alone an annual one, I don't count the stupid stuff I had to do to get hired by United as the work of real doctors). I'm interested to see my cholesterol and lipid levels because again, I've historically had freaky low levels of that too. It's been probably 4 years since I had any of that stuff checked because I kind of gave up giving blood after the third time that I thought I was going to faint and/or not be able to finish the bag. Not fun times.
So yeah, I guess this makes me officially an old person that has to go get physical exams and bloodwork done. When did this happen?
Friday, November 20, 2009
I don't really get this whole vampire thing!
Two posts in one day? Done and done.
Currently watching NBC Nightly News, which I could write an entire post about, why do I torture myself by watching the world's problems for 30 minutes everyday? It's depressing! But I digress, they are doing a story on the "New Moon" phenomenon. It made a cool $26 million in only the midnight showings last night that people waited in line for. When I was flying, tons of co-workers were reading the Twilight series. More recently, lots of my friends have picked it up as evidenced by the constant discussion over Facebook statuses. The Twilight kids are all over every tabloid. And that series is really just scratching the surface. I feel like every book and TV show that has come out lately has something to do with vampires (with the exception of Going Rogue by Sarah Palin, although I haven't read it so there may actually be vampires involved, she's crazy).
Am I alone here or are there others that just don't get it? Those teeth are NOT HOT! And all the waify kids in the Twilight movies are just not that attractive. I'm so sick of seeing them that I almost wish that Octomom would have another 10 kids (almost, but not quite, I can't stand her).
Currently watching NBC Nightly News, which I could write an entire post about, why do I torture myself by watching the world's problems for 30 minutes everyday? It's depressing! But I digress, they are doing a story on the "New Moon" phenomenon. It made a cool $26 million in only the midnight showings last night that people waited in line for. When I was flying, tons of co-workers were reading the Twilight series. More recently, lots of my friends have picked it up as evidenced by the constant discussion over Facebook statuses. The Twilight kids are all over every tabloid. And that series is really just scratching the surface. I feel like every book and TV show that has come out lately has something to do with vampires (with the exception of Going Rogue by Sarah Palin, although I haven't read it so there may actually be vampires involved, she's crazy).
Am I alone here or are there others that just don't get it? Those teeth are NOT HOT! And all the waify kids in the Twilight movies are just not that attractive. I'm so sick of seeing them that I almost wish that Octomom would have another 10 kids (almost, but not quite, I can't stand her).
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Have you been lately?
www.thisiswhyyourefat.com
They have some really sick ones right now. There's been about 3 pages of updates since I last checked. Some are SOOOOOO nasty!!
My submission of a Rolando's Super Taco hasn't made it yet but I will keep checking and maybe take better pictures the next time we go (which will be in about 2.5 weeks!!!)
They have some really sick ones right now. There's been about 3 pages of updates since I last checked. Some are SOOOOOO nasty!!
My submission of a Rolando's Super Taco hasn't made it yet but I will keep checking and maybe take better pictures the next time we go (which will be in about 2.5 weeks!!!)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Swine What? and I heart Canada
I had a totally crazy trip this weekend. I checked in really early on Saturday morning to fly to San Francisco, then on to Vancouver. I was a little over-excited about it because we switched hotels in YVR and I have heard only the most fabulous things about the place. It's so awesome that I got a text from my friend Christen, who must have seen the trip in my line, asking me to get some extra shampoos from the housekeeper's cart. In our line of work, it's the simple things like in Vancouver where the hotel has rockin' amenities and is actually within the airport, which means: 1. No hotel van to wait for! and 2. No driver to tip when he takes your bags, therefore saving 2 dollars. Don't get me wrong, hotels within the airport aren't the best thing ever but when you have a relatively short layover all that hotel van time just eats away at sleep, which is about all I want to do after a long day of flying.
Our layover was supposed to be around 15 hours, which is my ideal length. It gives me just enough time to stop in to the gym, shower, eat, dry hair (which for me is a mega-project) and get plenty of the aforementioned sleep. I did my whole routine and yes, the room was FAB-U-LOUS. I remember sitting in the bathtub, which was about the size of Dad's hottub, watching Canadian TV (more on that in a minute) and thinking to myself, "wow, it's too bad we have to leave so early in the morning. I could definitely stand to take another bath in this lovely tub." And for the record, I'm not a huge bath person, this tub was just plain amazing.
Since I am an idiot and therefore jinxed my entire crew, of course the phone rings at midnight. I'm confused and think it's my wake up call until I look at the clock and realize I can't remember the last time I made it through an entire night at the hotel without a call from the crew desk. One of my favorite nighttime crew deskers (and I say that dripping with sarcasm), Sally, lets me know that our 6:30 a.m. flight cancelled and now we'll be working a 1 p.m. flight to San Francisco. In my incoherent state, I try to process this and do the math in my head and realize that instead of getting home at 12:30 that it will be no earlier than 10 p.m. now. Ug. Turns out we ended up home at 2:45 a.m. Hip hip horray for glorious Chicago weather. When it rains a drop, the whole airport goes insane. Two days later, I'm in way better spirits about it but at the time I was PISSED. On the brighter side, I had another really great workout (Wii fit says I'm down 3 lbs!) and got in another bath.
But back to the real reason for this post. I have a completely irrational love for Canadian TV. I can't decide if it's because all of the news anchors sound like Robin Scherbotsky from How I Met Your Mother when she gets all Canadian or if it's because I have an extra reliance on the TV to escape boredom in Canada since Sprint charges you for your first born child if you make calls while outside the country. Either way, I love the TV there. It's awesome. It makes me remember the days when international flying was actually a possibility for me. Even though in most Canadian cities you are within an hour of the border, it's still a foreign country and therefore bears a tiny bit of mystique. They also have BBC World, which makes me want to punch Comcast and RCN (our local cable companies) in the face for not carrying the channel.
Since I had all that extra time and I was in the airport so it's not like I had anywhere to go, I got my fill of swine flu coverage. I hadn't even heard about it before I got there. I'm hoping that I don't get assigned a Mexico City trip during all of this hysteria. In Chicago, it's just a turn anyway, meaning that you go down there and come back all in one day, which makes for a sickeningly long day compounded by the fact that you arrive at the international terminal and have to clear customs (unlike awesome Canada, where you get to do that before you leave). It's a barfy trip to start with and I want no part of face masks and sick peeps. I guess I'm lucky because I've never even had the regular flu so I have no idea what kind of suffering these infected people are dealing with. I hope that there continues to be no fatalities here in the U.S or else mass hysteria might break out. I'm not a believer in hand sanitizer to start with (there's nothing like good ole water and soap) but I saw on the news today that stores in Chicago are selling out of the stuff. Sure enough, I headed out on my almost-daily trip to our local Walgreens and some girl was all bent out of shape with the cashier because they were all out of the travel sized sanitizers. People crack me up. That chick is probably the same person who schedules a 30 minute connection and wants to yell at me about how far away the 2 gates are. Idiots.
Our layover was supposed to be around 15 hours, which is my ideal length. It gives me just enough time to stop in to the gym, shower, eat, dry hair (which for me is a mega-project) and get plenty of the aforementioned sleep. I did my whole routine and yes, the room was FAB-U-LOUS. I remember sitting in the bathtub, which was about the size of Dad's hottub, watching Canadian TV (more on that in a minute) and thinking to myself, "wow, it's too bad we have to leave so early in the morning. I could definitely stand to take another bath in this lovely tub." And for the record, I'm not a huge bath person, this tub was just plain amazing.
Since I am an idiot and therefore jinxed my entire crew, of course the phone rings at midnight. I'm confused and think it's my wake up call until I look at the clock and realize I can't remember the last time I made it through an entire night at the hotel without a call from the crew desk. One of my favorite nighttime crew deskers (and I say that dripping with sarcasm), Sally, lets me know that our 6:30 a.m. flight cancelled and now we'll be working a 1 p.m. flight to San Francisco. In my incoherent state, I try to process this and do the math in my head and realize that instead of getting home at 12:30 that it will be no earlier than 10 p.m. now. Ug. Turns out we ended up home at 2:45 a.m. Hip hip horray for glorious Chicago weather. When it rains a drop, the whole airport goes insane. Two days later, I'm in way better spirits about it but at the time I was PISSED. On the brighter side, I had another really great workout (Wii fit says I'm down 3 lbs!) and got in another bath.
But back to the real reason for this post. I have a completely irrational love for Canadian TV. I can't decide if it's because all of the news anchors sound like Robin Scherbotsky from How I Met Your Mother when she gets all Canadian or if it's because I have an extra reliance on the TV to escape boredom in Canada since Sprint charges you for your first born child if you make calls while outside the country. Either way, I love the TV there. It's awesome. It makes me remember the days when international flying was actually a possibility for me. Even though in most Canadian cities you are within an hour of the border, it's still a foreign country and therefore bears a tiny bit of mystique. They also have BBC World, which makes me want to punch Comcast and RCN (our local cable companies) in the face for not carrying the channel.
Since I had all that extra time and I was in the airport so it's not like I had anywhere to go, I got my fill of swine flu coverage. I hadn't even heard about it before I got there. I'm hoping that I don't get assigned a Mexico City trip during all of this hysteria. In Chicago, it's just a turn anyway, meaning that you go down there and come back all in one day, which makes for a sickeningly long day compounded by the fact that you arrive at the international terminal and have to clear customs (unlike awesome Canada, where you get to do that before you leave). It's a barfy trip to start with and I want no part of face masks and sick peeps. I guess I'm lucky because I've never even had the regular flu so I have no idea what kind of suffering these infected people are dealing with. I hope that there continues to be no fatalities here in the U.S or else mass hysteria might break out. I'm not a believer in hand sanitizer to start with (there's nothing like good ole water and soap) but I saw on the news today that stores in Chicago are selling out of the stuff. Sure enough, I headed out on my almost-daily trip to our local Walgreens and some girl was all bent out of shape with the cashier because they were all out of the travel sized sanitizers. People crack me up. That chick is probably the same person who schedules a 30 minute connection and wants to yell at me about how far away the 2 gates are. Idiots.
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