The Daily Dinosaur

I just subscribed to our local newspaper.  For the first time in 5 years and in the early morning hours, I am getting a newspaper delivered to my door for my reading pleasure.  Every morning and afternoon this past week, I have plopped myself at the kitchen table and read the paper with great interest.

I've scoffed at some of the articles, laughed at others, and even tried to work the crossword puzzle, of which I'm clearly out of practice.  Even though the newsprint makes my eyes itch and causes me to sneeze, I have enjoyed reading that paper every single day section-by-section and cover-to-cover.

In this digital age, I have been getting my news by going directly to each large news organization's web page, instead of through that old archaic method known as the daily paper.  Most people have been predicting the newspaper is going the way of the dinosaur and will soon be extinct, but after my return to the paper platform, I hope their predictions are wrong.

The newspaper, for me, is enjoyable.  I've tried reading it online and the enjoyment gets lost as I try to navigate the pages while not smearing breakfast on the screen of my phone or getting breakfast crumbs on my keyboard.

With the cutbacks at many of the major newspapers, a lot of the characters and personalities of the past have been removed from the paper.  With the loss of Erma Bombeck and the retirement of Dave Barry, the Lifestyle section of the paper has lost some of its humor.  

While these 2 great personalities can never be duplicated, I greatly looked forward to reading their form of dry wit and humor in the paper a couple of days a week.  As a matter of fact, I memorized which days their columns appeared and would go directly to their columns on those days.  I miss that.

My husband loved the sports columnists.  Whether he agreed with them or vehemently disagreed with them was a subject of great debate in our house.  The newspaper was our conversation starter and it was something we could read at the same time without breathing down each other's necks or fighting over who gets the computer first.

Recently while sitting in the customer lounge at the car dealership, I perched myself in a corner spot where I could observe the behavior of the other 12 waiting customers (yes, I counted).  In this lounge, there is free Wi-Fi for those who want to play on social media, a bank of computer docking stations for those who need to work, a soundproof playroom for kids (my eardrums thank the dealership every time I'm there), 3 different wide screen televisions which were set to 3 different television stations, as well as a coffee table filled with multiple copies of different newspapers, and a number of magazines covering a wide range of interests.

For all of our focus on being connected every second of every day to our digital devices, 8 of the people in the waiting room were reading the newspaper, another was thumbing through a magazine, 2 were watching ESPN and discussing sports stats, and the last person was talking loudly on their cell phone about an impending child support court date.

It was surprising to see two-thirds of the people reading the newspaper, even though their cell phones, iPads, or laptops were also available.  How can the newspaper business be going extinct if 2/3rds of the people chose paper over digital?

The memories I have as a kid of trying to beat my brothers to the paper so I could be the first to read the Sunday comics are priceless.  The newspaper has also been a source of comedy for our family for years as we remember back to the day when one of my brothers was reading the comics on the living room floor, only to have our new puppy walk over and piddle on The Wizard of Id.

I know you can get the very latest update online and the newspaper's stories will always be a little bit behind due to printing deadlines, but, in a world filled with a need for convenience, what is more convenient than having everything laid out nicely right in front of you.  Oh, how I hope the newspaper industry doesn't go the way of the dinosaur and die off. 

Written by Christie Bielss

Looking for the Helpers

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”  To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." A quote by Fred Rogers, aka Mister Rogers.

When I was growing up, my parents always told us something similar: "There is good in every situation.  Sometimes you have to dig a bit deeper and look a bit harder for it, but there will be good."

The events of this week have been mind-boggling.  Every day has had an event occur which is so horrific, it has knocked me off-kilter and made me question where mankind is headed.  And then I see or hear about "the helpers" and my faith is restored.  I think we all could use some "helper" stories.

Monday I sat and watched the Boston Marathon bombing as it unfolded on the news.  The chaos and horror before my eyes was surreal.  I watched as the news camera was showing people running away from the bombed areas to safety and saw the look of panic and fear on their faces...... and I felt helpless.  I live across the country from Boston, so there was nothing I could do to help at that moment.  

Within seconds of seeing people fleeing the area, I then saw people running toward the injured.  They were like fish trying to swim upstream as they negotiated their way through the crowds of people running away.  But, by the looks on their faces, they were determined to help those who needed it so desperately.  A lump developed in my throat and my heart jumped as I shouted "THERE THEY ARE!  There are "The Helpers"!  These "helpers" started grabbing the temporary fencing that had been used to block off the sidewalk from the runners and were flinging it aside to get to the injured people trapped underneath it.  Men were taking off their shirts to use as gauze and whipping off their belts to use as tourniquets.  Others were quickly carrying, or racing wheelchairs loaded with injured people to ambulances and a triage area.  With little thought to their own safety, these people went back time after time to the affected area.

And just when you think the horror is over, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas explodes with enough force to register as a 2.1 magnitude earthquake and level part of a community.  Scores were injured and an unknown number were killed.  As my mind tried to wrap itself around this latest event, my heart leapt when I saw scores of communities from all over the state immediately send fire, police, EMT's, Careflight helicopters, and many others to assist this community.  There are "the helpers"!  A call went out that everyday items were needed to assist these families who had lost everything.  Within a few short hours, West was inundated with every item they'd requested from people around the state who had dropped everything they were doing, hopped in their vehicles, and immediately delivered it to this devastated community.  These are "the helpers".

As I sat down last night to watch the evening news, they showed a clip of the Boston Bruin's game as they were performing their opening ceremony for the first time since the bombing.  The National Anthem was being performed and all of the fans, players, and coaches were singing their hearts out.  It was one of the most powerful and patriotic versions I have ever heard.  If you haven't heard it, or you've only heard a small clip, then here is a link to the posting on youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzMsagY7oRs.  They too are "the helpers".

If you know of more "Helper" stories, share them.  Help others find the good.  We all need help sometimes finding "the good" and "the helpers".  By sharing more of the good, you then become one of "the helpers", and we can all use some good.

by: Christie Bielss

Under Surveillance

No matter where you go these days, you almost always see security cameras.  My kids' favorite are the ones with the video monitor positioned so you can see yourself.  My kids like to make silly faces or dance a little jig and then laugh at one another.  It's a pretty funny sight and one I should videotape myself to use as parental blackmail later on in their lives - like before their first date.

As for me?  Those monitors always make me want to run and hide.  When I see my reflection, I usually have a grey pallor to my skin, have circles so dark under my eyes it looks like I've been on a 6 month drinking binge, and somehow there's just enough shadowing so it looks like I've grown a beard.

Both my bank and credit union have installed 2 way cameras  at all of their drive-through kiosk lanes.  It's  very disconcerting to see myself straining against the anaconda-like stranglehold my seatbelt has on me as I'm trying to reach out of my car window to grab the little banking canister.  I certainly understand them needing to see me but why on earth do I need to see myself?  If I want to see myself, isn't that what my rearview mirror is for?  I'm pretty sure the Department of Public Safety's driving manual says: the rearview mirror is for applying lipstick, quick hair checks, swiping under the eyes for dropped mascara, making sure there are no salt remnants left around your lips after eating some McDonald's french fries, and the occasional check to see who is actually driving behind you. 

When I look at my reflection in these bank cameras it makes me wonder if I really do have a chin that extends halfway down my chest, but I'm pretty sure it's just camera distortion.  If I did have that kind of double/triple chin, does the bank really think I'd want to look at that while I'm waiting for my money to be deposited or withdrawn?  If they're going to force me to look at myself, can't they at least supply me with a single use lipstick, blush, and a hair brush? They could place it in one of the slots right next to the blank deposit slips in the drive-thru.  They could even label the slots so all are aware "Checking Deposit...... Savings Deposit...... Christie's Video Banking Enhancement set".

The thought also crosses my mind that should something happened to me, the police could retrace my path for the day and discover this tape.  It's enough of a fright to make me want to avoid the bank altogether.  I can already envision the local television news anchor's description of the tape:  "Please watch the bank's videotape of this missing woman and see if you can help the police locate her.  As you can see, she was at the bank and had pulled a little too far forward and is having to perform a gymnastics backbend with a full twist using one hand to hold the car door slightly open while keeping her foot on the brake and grasping the bank canister with her other hand.  I'm sure that 2 foot long flap of skin below her chin is just camera distortion and the unflattering angle they positioned the camera.  I bet the lack of make-up and unkempt hair is pretty close to accurate though.  Back to you, Jim.".

The only thing worse would be if someone found me because I looked exactly like the bank's videotape.  The tv news reporter would be interviewing "Bubba" who found me: "Ayep.  I's found her up yonder a'ways.  Durned if she din't look 'xactly like dat der bank camera thang.  E'en had dat der 2 foot long turkey wattle under her chin jist like da camera showt.  She wuz mumblin' incoherent-like sumtin 'bout bank cameras.".

No, I would prefer it if they showed a picture of me when I was 25, slender and had 1 chin, with a caveat from the news anchor saying the photo was "not recent and from a few years back".

Obviously these new surveillance cameras are the wave of the future.  Maybe I could be more open to all this new technology if the security cameras came equipped with some preferred features........ like an "enhance image" icon where all you have to do is touch the screen and the circles under your eyes disappear, your hair is smoothed, a bit of blush is added to your cheeks, and it clones out the turkey wattle.

Or maybe an even better idea would be to give me an option of allowing me to superimpose a really great looking actress over my reflection.  I'm a redhead, I think Julia Roberts would be my perfect twin.  Why, that might even make me want to roll all of my kids' pennies, just so I could go through the bank drive-thru.  It wouldn't surprise me if I became a daily customer:  "Why yes, I'd like to deposit 1 roll of pennies into my account.  And I'd like to select Julia Roberts as my reflected image for the day.".   And if I really wanted to be adventurous, I could be Jennifer Anniston or Sandra Bullock that day.  Now this could be a security camera system I would most definitely support!

by: Christie Bielss