For the Golfers in the Family

You probably need to be an avid golfer to really appreciate this, but I thought it was funny.

Why Women Live Longer Than Men

These are from a power point presentation, but I couldn't put the presentation on here, so here you are. You may have seen them before, but they are still relevant to the living longer discussion.

The Wonders of the Internet

I was posting a comment on Dave's Raves and started thinking about the wonders of the Internet, and decided it was long enough and of possible interest to enough people (perhaps I delude myself here) to post as a new topic here on Enscussions.

I would be interested in comments from anyone with positive or negative experiences--except Betty--I am afraid we would run out of storage space if she related her problems with the Internet... :-) (JUST KIDDING--WE LOVE YOUR STORIES, BETTY).

I constantly amazed at the Internet. Two weeks ago I went to Turbo-Tax online, signed on, and it brought up last year's tax return. I made a few minor adjustments, then added the ID numbers for the companies for which I worked in 2005, and up came my W-2's, neatly filled in on my return. I checked to see that I had a refund coming and decided not to fiddle with filing a Schedule C, as I did not make any significant money from self-employment, and I would have to stretch to justify expenses.

I checked it all over, created an electronic signature, and clicked a button to send it off to the IRS. A week later my refund showed up in my bank account. So much better than filling out forms by hand, mailing it in, waiting 6-8 weeks, then getting a check I had to carry to the bank.

Every morning I check my bank account online to verify there were no checks or electronic withdrawals I forgot about, then I authorize payment of any bills due. The only thing for which I write a check is the rent.

Recently I discovered I was eligible for a small retirement payment each month from my early days at the airlines. I was able to go online to the Benefits site, make my selection, and authorize payments to begin. Due to IRS rules, they had to mail me a form to sign and mail back, but other than that, everything was done online, and the monthly checks will go directly into my bank account--no checks to get lost in the mail.

I shop online for everything from books to clothes. Research is phenomenal—it is literally like having the libraries of the world at your fingertips. I am often on the phone with friends and we will discuss an old movie and wonder who played some memorable role. A quick search of the Internet Move Data Base (IMDB), and our questions are answered.

I have heard more than one prominent thinker say that the rise of the Internet is the single most significant and life/society altering invention/development of the 20th century. I have mentioned the positive things, but of course we know the negative such as making terrorist networks easier to form and communicate, the deluge of porn that reaches to the very young and vulnerable, and the rise of electronic junk mail with its attendant irritation, not to mention scams.

If anyone else (including Betty) has thoughts on this, or anecdotal frustrations or successes, I would love to hear them. I am interested in reports from students, and how the Internet has affected study and research, and school in general. I would have given anything to have this tool when I was in college.

Personally, I think something as simple as this Blog is amazing. It has brought together distant relatives from around the world, and yet is simple enough that any of us can figure out how to post text and pictures to share with the rest. And what is truly amazing is the process of setting up the Blog and maintaining it is FREE!

A little trivia to end on. Technorati.com, a site that tracks Blog traffic and usage, is currently monitoring 29.5 million Blogs around the world in every major language. Pretty amazing, considering the ability has been here less than 10 years.

When Uncle David (or simply David to his friends and siblings) posted that humorous cartoon about work; it made me start thinking about how stressful work can be, and how useful a little comic relief can be every now and again. As I work in retail, the most amusing thing to me is the customers and some of my coworkers. It is, of course, rude to laugh at them, but when they are not around, I will surely share the anecdote with someone else, merely as a de-stresser of course...Anyway, here are some amusing things that have happened at my job:

1. The time a coworker of mine tried to put an entire packet of new blades into the top of a box-cutter that is meant to hold one. There is a little section in the handle of the tool for the extra blades, but she was trying to load them all at once into the place where the blade you use goes.
2. The time a customer asked me if tampons have an expiration date.
3. The man who came to me for fashion advice at two in the morning. First of all, what do I know about fashion?
4. The sweet and crazy little old lady who spends hours each night shopping for absolutely nothing and wasting our time. I know she just wants the company, but it can be taxing at times trying to answer all her questions. One night she pulled her shirt up so that I could see the kind of bra she wanted to buy...
5. This one is both amusing and annoying, but the customers actually try the diapers on their children prior to buying them...
6. The time a co-worker threw a toy lizard that feels real onto another associate and made her jump about ten feet and scream loud enough to be heard across the store.
7. The guy that no longer works there partly because he was a thief, but partly because he thought it would be cool to get a teardrop tattoo on each cheek, both of which subsequently turned into gangrene. I know it is not funny, but the idiocy of it astounds me.
8. The amusing antics of Nikki, our resident drag queen...
9. The time some guy decided to strip down to a thong and walk around the store...
10. The guy who put on a ladies longhorns sweater that was too small, an orange Wahl's-brand jump-suit, and a backwards longhorns hat and wander around the store...
11. The guy who wanted to know how many cans came in a twenty-four pack...
12. The customer who asked my co-worker, who was in full uniform, if she worked there, to which my response would have been, "No, I just think I look fashionable in a big blue vest!" but I, thankfully, was not there...
13. The phrases that my co-workers use to tease each other, such as, "All night to do that?" and "Waste of payroll!"

What are some things that have made work funnier to any of y'all?