You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish!

We got a piano the other day... for FREE!!! Have you heard of Freecycle.org? It's fantastic!!! There's all kinds of free stuff on there, from tomatoes, to guinea pigs, to TVs that don't work (or TVs that do), to jarred baby food, etc. Anything you can imagine... People who have something they feel it would be bad to throw away--they give it away, instead, on Freecycle. I love it! I've been watching for a piano for a few weeks, and I almost got one earlier last week. But the chick who posted the piano neglected to update that the piano had already been picked up. So I had called her and left two messages about how I wanted it and was lining up movers (for at least $125), etc., when she finally called and told me I was too late. Well, by that point, I wanted a piano so badly, I could TASTE it! So I posted that I was looking for one, and later that same day, someone e-mailed me and said they had one, already in their truck, and they'd bring it by later that same day. Oh, and the guy also tunes pianos and he's going to give me a two-for-one on my first two tunings! What a great guy! Now I'm going to post a few things that we're going to give away. It's just fun! (I have someone lined up already, too, to teach the girls lessons!)

New piano in the Husker Room

The girls were junior cheerleaders again last night. This is their 2nd time doing that, for Lincoln Southeast High School. (They've also been junior Shirettes twice--the Shirettes are LSE's dance squad.) The girls had SO MUCH FUN doing this! I think they'll make great cheerleaders when they actually get to high school!

Best friends!

Lindsay's middle row, 2nd from right, Poser Girl!

Rah! Rah! Go Team!

Not much else new. We're just enjoying the beginning of the new school year. We've started calling Donovan "Cowboy X" (from Sesame Street--click the link to see it on YouTube), because he goes all around the house--indoors and out--with either sidewalk chalk or crayons, writing all over the walls, furniture, phones, etc. He knows, now, that he's not supposed to do this. So he's gotten to where he'll write on a wall or something (mostly outside, now, since the sidewalk chalk rinses off), and then he'll point at it and shake his finger, making a stern face and saying, "No, no, no!"

Cowboy X, always gotta be "writing".

Random Testing

I got this e-mail the other day, and below it are my thoughts on it.

THE JOB - URINE TEST (I sure would like to know who wrote this one! They deserve a HUGE pat on the back!)
I HAVE TO PASS A URINE TEST FOR MY JOB... SO I AGREE 100%.

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job.. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck,

I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem.. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their butt, doing drugs, while I work. . .. . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? Pass this along if you agree or simply delete if you don't. Hope you all will pass it along, though .. .. Something has to change in this country -- and soon

 

Actually, it seems to me that the person who wrote this is a little uptight (and could use a hit or two off a joint! ha! ha!). Seriously, though, I think most places that do random drug checks are places that have some sort of machinery involved in the job (i.e. factories, construction,etc.) where people could actually be HURT if working while under the influence of drugs. Whereas, I had to take a drug test to get hired at my last full-time job, but they apparently don't give a crap if their employees start or resume using drugs once they've been hired. (It's no be feat to quit smoking pot -- or doing whatever -- for two weeks to get it out of your urine... or to drink vinegar water or take goldenseal to get it out quickly. Most users know about all of these techniques.)

Sure, I think it's a funny message, but I think the author is way off base on what's wrong with our country.

I totally disapprove of people using drugs if they're working with machinery--they not only put themselves at risk, but those working with them, and possibly even the recipients of whatever they're working on. I also totally disapprove of people "taking advantage" of the welfare system, etc., AND using drugs while they're doing it. But do we have numbers on how many people are doing that? I'd hate to make people who are truly in need of financial help subject themselves to anything further humiliation (like passing a random drug test) after all they've already had to go through in order to receive that financial assistance! Obviously, the person who wrote this has never had to accept help from the government or probably anyone else, and they are overly self-righteous about that fact. It is an INCREDIBLY humiliating thing to have to go apply for food stamps or WIC or some other form of government assistance (and yes, I know, there are some people who DO take advantage of it or who are born into it)... Having to pass a urine test on top of that would be, to me, punishment for something that is, more often than not, out of a person's control. (When I was a senior in college, I had to get on Food Stamps and that was so very painful and humiliating... I felt horrible and am still scarred by it!)

I see the point the author of that e-mail is trying to make: if you've got the money to spend on drugs, you should get off your butt and get a job, not suck money off the government. I can dig it. But to force every single person on government assistance to submit to a drug test??? I mean, seriously, that seems like an invasion of privacy and an total infringement on a person's rights as a citizen.

Plus, one other thing I'd like to point out is that people KNOW they're applying for or working for a company that requires drug testing (whether scheduled, during the hiring process, or random, once hired). They still VOLUNTARILY work for that company. Drug testing is not something required by every single place of employment! It's something each company decides upon and then each potential employee is notified of that... they get to decide, then, whether or not to go for that job. On the other hand, wouldn't mandatory drug-testing of welfare recipients be sort of, I don't know, fascist or communist? It just seems un-American to me.

**Addendum**

Okay, I have this feeling I'm going to be inundated with e-mails from people asking me if I was smoking pot when I wrote that. No, I was not, and I do not.

I feel like I need to make it clear that I do not condone the use of drugs, whether it be by people on welfare, construction workers, white color workers, the President, etc.

To simplify even further (because I can't seem to let it go), why can't we just give people the benefit of the doubt?