A Modern Day Fairy Tale

Tags

courage, Fairy Tale, miranda, modern fairy tale, pepper spray, Prince Charming, writing

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Miranda, who was blonde haired and blue-eyed and live a very regimented and orderly life as the daughter of two police officers. Miranda grew up in a very secure environment – she was often surrounded by safety officers, detectives and even a constable or two. Miranda became a lovely young woman with a bright smile and a trusting nature.

When the time came for Miranda to go away to a university in another town, her parents were concerned just as any good parents would be. The university was far away and their daughter would be alone without their protection. As they watched her depart, they stood together and waved goodbye. They hoped they did a good job training her to be independent and strong.

At university, Miranda quickly made many new friends and became popular with her classmates. She was known as a nice, quiet and reliable girl with an infectious smile. She also caught the eye of one boy in particular, Chuck, who lived one floor above in her dorm. Felicity, however, was not happy that her boyfriend Chuck seemed to find Miranda so endearing and charming. She began to spread nasty rumors about Miranda and plotted against her.

One night when Miranda was walking alone from the library back to her dorm, a masked mugger jumped out from behind the bushes and stopped her on the path. Miranda swiftly laid out the attacker with a jab-cross-hook and roundabout kick, and then she thoroughly pepper-sprayed the thug.

When campus police arrived, they unmasked the assailant to find a gasping and struggling Felicity. The jealous girl had only intended to frighten Miranda so she would leave university and go home. Felicity was immediately expelled and the tale of Miranda’s bravery soon became known all across the campus.

Miranda’s parents were proud of their daughter’s courage and sent her a stainless steel, engraved pepper-spray holder. In addition, the campus police were so impressed with her quick-thinking actions that they asked Miranda to teach a self-defense class to the student body. And Chuck, a criminal justice major, was so awed with Miranda’s skills, which made her seem even more enchanting than before, asked her to the Homecoming dance.

The End.

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Cherry, Cherry Vanilla, Lime, Orange, Lemon, Raspberry or Regular?

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autonomous vehicle, CocaCola, Coke Zero, Freestyle, musings, technology

Some people call me a cynic. I prefer skeptic, as I don’t always assume the worst. I appreciate things in life that present a thrill and make me smile, so I’m not all bad. I may be calm and collected on the outside, butinside I’m having palpitations and my mind is abuzz with wonder.

I’ve worked at several companies that brought forth new technology, and often I had to stifle my enthusiasm for fear of appearing too easily impressed in front of superiors. Why couldn’t I look amazed when an autonomous 10-ton vehicle followed a pre-programmed route (without anyone inside or anyone remotely controlling it) around a 5-mile course and not run into or over any planned and/or unplanned obstacles? It simply wouldn’t do to be impressed by outstanding work. Instead, I sat quietly with the executive team, nodded my head and said, sure, it was supposed to do that. Inside, my mind was blown and I had to save my enthusiasm for when I later told my young nephews all about it and showed them the pictures.

Now I feel less inhibited to be in awe of new technology. Today, I came face to face with the Coca-Cola Freestyle touch screen machine for the first time. Dazed, I stood for a moment while I got my bearings straight. From the initial 25 options, I chose Coke Zero, and then another screen appeared offering seven Coke Zero flavors. I paused, finger in mid-air, momentarily stunned. Seven Coke Zero flavors? Inconceivable! I didn’t even know three of them existed! Thankfully, no one was behind me while I paused and pushed and paused, although I was so distracted I forgot to add ice first.

This is one piece of technology I will make sure my nephews experience. They’re the customers who, when presented with a soda fountain, like to mix all the options into one cup. I can’t wait to hear how127 mixed flavors taste!

 

The Coca-Cola Freestyle machine

A Collective Accumulation

Tags

garages, green, hoarding, musings, stuff, suburbia

As I pass through neighborhoods in the great land of Suburbania*, I have observed what I think is a disturbing trend. I cannot help but notice the number of open garage doors and what is inside those spaces. It usually isn’t cars but stuff. Stuff. Not just a little bit of stuff but a whole LOT of stuff. And I mean a ton of items either thrown in pell-mell and stacked haphazardly, or carefully packed to the corners and stacked to the rafters with only a small path wide enough to pass through the garage from the house door. It’s stuff consisting of chairs, tables, toys, boxes, and a lot of other items not traditionally found garages. So much stuff, in fact, that the owners must park their cars (one each for mom and dad and one for each offspring over 16) in the driveway. In newer suburban areas of 2-3,000 square feet homes with three-car garages, the tragedy comes in that there still isn’t enough space. It’s excessive consumption and an area Americans really seem to excel. And apparently, by keeping the garage door open all day, we make sure neighbors and passerbys know exactly that the homeowner has so much stuff they can’t possibly fit it all inside and must showcase it  – “Look at me and how much stuff I have!”

This obsessive collecting is surely a waste of resources and money because it’s obvious the stuff isn’t being used or enjoyed. However, keeping the garage doors open to expose the whole stash is what confuses me most. If I had a bunch of stuff just all packed together in a pile, I would not show that off to my neighbors. If I could stand the stuff, I’d be a closet hoarder. But it seems like throwing open all three garage doors and showing off your collection of stuff has become some weird badge of honor. It’s almost like a refined version of the show “Hoarders” but in a less disgusting way – “You will not find us cooking rotten food or housing thousands of rats on our property, but we have three tons of stuff piled in our garage!”

I had an aunt who was a hoarder, although we didn’t use that term back then. We just said she “kept things” and she “never threw things out.” So much so, in fact, that when the family returned to the South after 20+ years in Wisconsin, they found boxes that had never been unpacked from the first move. The boxes were loaded into a fishing boat and trailer not rated for such a high payload – because the moving van was already filled to capacity. (Thankfully, all were safe on the journey.) After my aunt’s passing, her family was still reluctant to throw away the boxes no one had opened for 40 years. So now my uncle, who is a very tidy and orderly man, must slowly and covertly thin out a garage full of stuff. A garage, I might add, that at one point housed a four-foot long snake no one was able to catch because you could not make your way inside.

I wonder why or how homeowners need all that stuff. In 2008, Time magazine put out the “How to Live with 100 Things” article. People were looking at adopting a minimalistic lifestyle and by paring down all items to 100 was an extreme way to start. Recently, I read about a celebrity couple who met at an environmental conference. At their wedding, they were so “green” there was only one bag of garbage at the end of the reception. That’s impressive. I’m wondering if I can get any of my neighbors to pare down to only one box or bag and then close their garage doors. Imagine the exhilaration they would feel if they were able to park in their garages and never, ever have to worry about a snake living somewhere in there.

* My own word

A Mourning Place

Tags

musings, oak creek, remember, sikh, wisconsin

Roger was shot outside a fast food restaurant after coming to the defense of a girl bothered by another man. He never fought with anything other than his fists, which proved useless against steel and gun powder at close range. Although surrounded by friends who tried to sustain him until rescue personnel arrived, his 21 years tragically came to an unexpected end. Now, nearly 25 years, later it continues to have a profound effect on me, and the memory of receiving the news is still vivid. Each time I hear or read of a shooting death, I am reminded of the pain, the sadness and the despair felt by those left behind. Today it has been quite difficult to concentrate on anything other than the terrible events that unfurled at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek. I am irritated I had to watch national cable networks for the press conference as the local NE Wisconsin stations must think I would not find the update more important than The View. I am constantly scouring news sites for new information. Call me simplistic but any time one person murders another I believe it is a hate crime and therefore all murders are hate crimes regardless of race, religion, gender or other differences. Following the recent Colorado shooting, this is a sad age in our lives. From these events, there may be a subtle or a bold shift in our perceptions that diminish faith and trust. Just as after the 9/11 events, no matter where each of us go – to church services or a movie premiere or an airport terminal – we may be looking more closely at those in our vicinity and wondering what kind of harm we hope to escape that day.

prayers for one and all.