5 Things That Drive Me Nuts

Just because!

Pushes
I love my fun websites better than the average bear. BUT it seems that I have managed to sign up with a website (Polyvore) that sends me text messages DAY AND NIGHT. It is driving my nuts. I can not find a place to unsubscribe although I will continue looking. Did I mention that it is driving me nuts and I hate being "pushed" around. In case you don't know what a push is:

push:  In client/server applications, to send data to a client without the client requesting it.... Increasingly, companies are using the Internet to deliver information push-style. Probably the oldest and most widely used push technology is e-mail. This is a push technology because you receive mail whether you ask for it or not -- that is, the sender pushes the message to the receiver. (from Webopedia) 

This annoying practice is being used more and more.

Suggested Reading
Many of the women that I follow write for Huffington Post. It drives me nuts that Huff Post recommends such tacky, low to the ground stuff to me. Today, they were pointing me to why white guys marry black women and the most awkward couple in-the-world. Really?  I know that Huff doesn't pay their authors and writers are honored to have things published but when I see that kind of material, I find myself running in the other direction!

Repetitive News
About the news...I know that there has to be something interesting happening in this world but where is it. Here in Arizona they can beat a subject to death. The football issue for example...what am absolutely idiotic thing to impose on us. I wish that Arizona were the only state that does this but I know this is happening everywhere.

People Complaining about Paying Taxes
I read somewhere recently that even when people get old, they still care about what happens after they die. So why to people resent the taxes they pay for the education of our children. Don't they know that the future of the world depends on how we educate the young people? It drives me nuts.

Misc. Stuff
There are a lot of other things...my computer, dust, a wrinkled bed, people with very high voices and pain....

I don't complain very often so when I vent I usually get it over with. I'm done.

It time for my wine and an episode on Netflix...I will be fine. Really I will!

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The New York Times and the 99 Cent Deal!

The New York Times logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

or Please, Cancel my Subscription

Oh my gosh, I think I need a good rant...no, I know I need a good rant. You see, I love the NYTs but I cancelled my online subscription today anyway.  My ongoing love affair with the newspaper may be coming to an end soon. After this latest experience I have decided I just don't like the way they treat their subscribers.

The NYTs was costing me $20 a month and I really don't make that much money online. I knew they didn't play fair with subscribers but I didn't realize what their game was.  Imagine my surprise when I found out how much I could have really gotten it for if I had known the rules and called sooner.

I decided to take the online version twice in the last few years. I think the first time I took them up on the $.99 a week offer I ended up paying almost $30 a month when the grace period was over with. After I called the paper at the mystery number hidden on a page with many Q&A options and tried to unsubscribe they reduced the price to just under $20. I complained about the price. I should have just quit loving the paper right then. Later I did quit taking the paper.

Last year I re-subscribed (I know, I am nuts) and was actually offered the $20 deal after my $.99 a week grace period elapsed. Today I decided to unsubscribe AGAIN. This time when I called, the very nice lady offer me the .$99 a week deal for 10 weeks or more. I have paid $20 a month all of this time when all I had to do was cancel and they would offer me the $4.00 a month rate for 10 weeks? My goodness NYTs, do you really understand what you are doing?

Now I am wondering if I called someone else and cancelled something, would they give it to me at a lot less? My internet service is very expensive. I might try them first. I don't know about you but it makes me mad!

I'm just saying.

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Note: Remind me to bookmark this post as a reference when I decide to take the NYTs again...because you know I will.  I love that newspaper!

Will you just RETIRE already? There is a line waiting!

Since when did retirement get to be such a big deal? I mean, really folks, when the time come, be prepared and, as Nike would say, just do it. It is not rocket science.

Because I am old, I remember when people worked their required 30+ years and then they retired to do what retirees do. They went fishing, took care of the grandchildren, bought groceries and worked at what ever they wanted to work at.  It was natural and right!

Now there seems to be a trend toward working forever and staying young forever. People live beyond their means so retirement becomes a race to make enough money so they can keep on living beyond their means. Heaven help us all! Halting the passage of time forever is about as possible as a 20 month pregnancy or putting a rock on you child's head so he will never grow up. Some things CAN not be changed. We should grow up, do what ever grown ups do, let our children do the same and get on with our lives.

This is what I do in retirement...the picture is what I make it!

Have you ever thought that retiring as we grow older is a natural progression in our lives? It is a part of the cycle of life and as we grow old, we move over to give some space to our children or grandchildren. I often wonder if the unemployment problems we are in today are a result of the boomers thinking that, if they just keep working, they will not have to face themselves or even their home life. They are a little afraid of the next step and they take the cowardly way out. They keep going to work everyday while young people go without jobs.

I liked a post that Satisfying Retirement put up yesterday describing How to Retire. As Bob Lowry says, retirement is not simple. He points out that it is complicated and even hard. I agree. There is a sense of grief because of the loss the retiree may experience. Living with your spouse can be a trial that would drive a saint wild. The list goes on. But, my friends, take heart. You are tough and smart.  You can do this. You left your home when you grew up and it was hard. You probably are a parent and maybe you had problems. That was hard. You may have lost your parents or a sibling. That was hard.  You are aging and your body is doing what a body does as it gets some miles on it. That is hard. So what makes you think that retirement is going to bring you to your knees?

Life is a sequence of ages and stages. While we would all like to skip some of those stages, it is not going to happen. As those of us that blog from the experience of retirement will tell you, it is not about what life hands you, it is how you see what life hands you! This latter stage of your life can and should be one of the best. It allows you to make choices and live out some dreams...and it is not about money. Really, the simplest things are the most fun.

There, I said it!

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