Ah, the songs that have been written about that big ball of warmth in the sky.
The aforementioned Beatles tune that titles this week's column. "The Warmth of the Sun", "Sunshine Superman", "Sunny Days", "We'll Sing in the Sunshine", and on and on and on.
As I get older, the more I'm learning that I can't ignore the healing power of sunblock or tanning lotion.
I was reminded of this last Saturday when I was home alone that afternoon. The backyard hammock, which has been little more than a playground for my soon-to-be-three year old daughter, was beckoning me to seize the moment.
"C'mon Ken...you know you want me!"
Oh, yes...and I would do it again!
Having finished mowing the grass, and my wife and daughter were still out shopping, I had nothing pressing that needed attended to at the moment, and I had to assist at a promotional event for the radio station I work for in a few hours later that day. Surely I could lay out for a little bit?
Just a little bit.
Sunscreen? No need...they'll probably be home in the next five minutes and my efforts will have been in vain.
I couldn't have possibly been out there more than an hour tops.
All I can remember is thinking that perhaps I should be next to that selection on the restaurant menu that says "Market Price".
O...M...G.
Ow.
This was just a preview of what was yet to come for the week.
The next day, I felt a soreness in my throat. Margie had relapsed from a bout of strep throat Memorial Day weekend.
But I brushed it off as just another sore throat. The following morning, I felt it intensifying, I had problems swallowing, and learned to like soup, as it went down pretty painlessly.
Much to my wife's chagrin, I might add. She hasn't been able to stomach the smell of broth since her pregnancy.
My wife urged me to go to the doctor Wednesday after my energy was all but sucked dry. Remembering that George Washington died of a simple bout of strep throat, I gladly called my doctor.
Fortunately, our family doctor is my age, so I have an appreciation for his dry humor.
"Ugh, it hurts just to look in there," he said into my gaping yap.
Uh, thanks???
He wrote me a scrip for Amoxycillin that he told me to get filled immediately and to take one as soon as I had it in hand. I snatched it from his hands with a ravenous greed that would likely raise the eyebrows of a heroin addict. That's how badly I wanted this out of me.
I got all three doses for the day in by bedtime.
Thursday I started to feel better.
Friday, I felt it was out of me.
Saturday, it was like nothing happened.
But now I have a toothache and a couple cold sores on my lips.
However, I can still get out of bed, I have ibuprofen, Orajel, and Campo-phenique as my besties for now.
NEXT WEEK: Uh, didn't you read the last columns? I'm off next week!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The List
Craigslist.org.
It's the best thing since sliced bread if you're looking to buy or sell something.
However, I would advise against personal ads or help wanted ads on this particular internet vehicle. Google these keywords with craigslist. You'll see what I mean.
They say one man's junk (by that I mean unwanted possessions) is another man's treasure. As I get older, more and more things in my home are finding their way out via Craigslist.
I hate just throwing things away arbitrarily. It goes against everything I believe in.
When my paternal grandfather was still alive, he often worked as a neighborhood handyman. Anytime something broke, he could fix it.
This was long before the whole 'green' thing became chic.
If someone junked a car, threw out an old automatic washer, or TV set, he was on it and stripping out any salvageable parts for future use, for himself or a neighbor in need.
It was a community service in a sense. He saved a lot of people a lot of money by not having to call a repairman or buying something new.
We've become a throwaway society. TV sets and other major appliances were only discarded when a vital component broke on it and parts were no longer available or the repair costs would almost render buying a replacement a better value.
Clothes were mended, not simply thrown away because of one little hole or threadbare spot.
This wasn't just because the value system was different, but simply because we were more careful with our money back then.
It was most often a single-paycheck household. Dad went to work. Mom did not work outside the home. Her business was raising the family, making sure the bills got paid, and everything else that Dad didn't have time to worry about.
The money Dad earned went further when not a single penny was taken for granted, and 'waste not, want not' was the order of the day.
And the day was LONG, I might add.
My wife Margie often threw things away without giving it a second thought. But then I would say 'let me see if I can sell it on Craigslist.' Or even eBay.
She agreed. She knows what kind of family I come from...so she had no problem with it.
Thus far, I've sold water-skiis, old kitchen cupboards, an Intex pool kit, two old bathroom mirrors, and gave away a bathroom countertop after I had no luck selling it for cash.
I don't make a fortune by doing this, nor a living for that matter. But if what I can turn useless junk into cash, hey...why not?
I myself have bought an amplified DJ speaker system, workbench, a baby swing for my daughter, another one for when my in-laws watched her shortly after she was born, just to name a few.
Not everything I own has to be brand-spanking out-of-the-box new. I can get 'like new' for much less, and have more money left for other things.
I personally would rather see something of no use to me get used by someone who would have a use for it. It's always better than ending up in a landfill.
And not only that, it's better to save money by choice, rather than necessity.
Thanks, Grandpa.
NEXT WEEK: Getting my burn on
It's the best thing since sliced bread if you're looking to buy or sell something.
However, I would advise against personal ads or help wanted ads on this particular internet vehicle. Google these keywords with craigslist. You'll see what I mean.
They say one man's junk (by that I mean unwanted possessions) is another man's treasure. As I get older, more and more things in my home are finding their way out via Craigslist.
I hate just throwing things away arbitrarily. It goes against everything I believe in.
When my paternal grandfather was still alive, he often worked as a neighborhood handyman. Anytime something broke, he could fix it.
This was long before the whole 'green' thing became chic.
If someone junked a car, threw out an old automatic washer, or TV set, he was on it and stripping out any salvageable parts for future use, for himself or a neighbor in need.
It was a community service in a sense. He saved a lot of people a lot of money by not having to call a repairman or buying something new.
We've become a throwaway society. TV sets and other major appliances were only discarded when a vital component broke on it and parts were no longer available or the repair costs would almost render buying a replacement a better value.
Clothes were mended, not simply thrown away because of one little hole or threadbare spot.
This wasn't just because the value system was different, but simply because we were more careful with our money back then.
It was most often a single-paycheck household. Dad went to work. Mom did not work outside the home. Her business was raising the family, making sure the bills got paid, and everything else that Dad didn't have time to worry about.
The money Dad earned went further when not a single penny was taken for granted, and 'waste not, want not' was the order of the day.
And the day was LONG, I might add.
My wife Margie often threw things away without giving it a second thought. But then I would say 'let me see if I can sell it on Craigslist.' Or even eBay.
She agreed. She knows what kind of family I come from...so she had no problem with it.
Thus far, I've sold water-skiis, old kitchen cupboards, an Intex pool kit, two old bathroom mirrors, and gave away a bathroom countertop after I had no luck selling it for cash.
I don't make a fortune by doing this, nor a living for that matter. But if what I can turn useless junk into cash, hey...why not?
I myself have bought an amplified DJ speaker system, workbench, a baby swing for my daughter, another one for when my in-laws watched her shortly after she was born, just to name a few.
Not everything I own has to be brand-spanking out-of-the-box new. I can get 'like new' for much less, and have more money left for other things.
I personally would rather see something of no use to me get used by someone who would have a use for it. It's always better than ending up in a landfill.
And not only that, it's better to save money by choice, rather than necessity.
Thanks, Grandpa.
NEXT WEEK: Getting my burn on
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The People's Voice Needs to Shut Up
AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Old School Dad" and "Ken's Korner" will be on hiatus the week of June 24th.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this week's column are strictly that of the author.
I'm not going to single this guy out by name. Or anyone else for that matter. We all know the players in this ongoing game.
"I represent the working class," the man says. "Not the country club class."
Look pal, I'm part of the working class. You don't speak for me.
Not now, not ever.
"The man" is a one of the top elected officials in our county's government.
He campaigned on a platform of governmental transparency, accountability for taxpayer dollars, tax fairness, and support of social welfare programs, to name a few.
Don't get me wrong. These elements by themselves aren't bad. It's good to stir the pot every once in a while. It keeps everyone on their toes.
What is bad, however, is when this same individual, a Democrat, uses this agenda to get himself elected to office, and then performs a series of deeds that have made even the most liberal of liberals say "what just happened?"
Racking up a laundry list of expenses that he said he would fight to control, yet vehemently protested when his two fellow board members successfully voted to make his (and their own) expenses more readily available to public scrutiny.
This came after he singled out a department head for overspending for hotel accommodations at the state capital for a recent conference.
I will also point out that this man also accused one of those board members of using his connections to cover up a drunk driving charge by granting a substantial raise to another department head, whose husband just happens to be a state trooper that was investigating said incident.
In Pennsylvania, with the exception of juvenile court, all criminal records are open to the public, whether they're summary or felonious in nature.
Those of you who know what I do for a living, know that I know how to find out these things.
I have to this date, found no evidence of a DUI arrest against the accused. Nor any of a cover-up.
Now he's been sued in civil court by his fellow board member and the second department head for his very public accusations.
And he wants the taxpayers to pay for it. The very same taxpayers to whom he promised accountability for their tax dollars.
But it's not his fault, so he says.
"I'm entitled," he went so far to say in a public meeting.
He says his remarks were part of his official job duties, while not keeping in mind that these remarks, when unfounded, are libelous and actionable.
"They want to sue me and take my house and everything I worked for away," he complains bitterly.
And they shouldn't? Because you singled them out by name and sullied their otherwise-clean reputation and put their integrity in question?
Public officials have a hard enough time keeping constituents happy as it is. The last thing they need is one of their own making unfounded statements that not only hurt them, but the board's reputation as a whole.
The man complains about everything and advocates nothing.
The accused has helped raise money for a World War II monument honoring local Merchant Mariners, and while voting in favor of only half the man's request amount of money to pay for a police dog, the accused has pledged that he would again help raise money to make it happen.
And a week later it did happen.
The man makes no effort to be friendly with his associates or fellow board. The other two men on the board are a different matter.
The accused..."Hey Kenny...how's that little girl of yours?"
The chairman...."Good morning, Ken. How are you?"
And I get a handshake from both. I don't even get so much as a 'by-your-leave' by the man. Neither does anyone else.
Social ineptitude doesn't cut it in public service.
Someone in the county's upper ranks once summed up his feelings on what recent public meetings have become.
"It's a circus now," he said.
I would have to disagree. I say this because the accused volunteers as a clown for Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children.
Proof that even clowns have class to some degree.
Thus I digress. No circus.
We're in freak show mode.
Whatever the case, it's not a laughing matter.
NEXT WEEK: Ken's List
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this week's column are strictly that of the author.
I'm not going to single this guy out by name. Or anyone else for that matter. We all know the players in this ongoing game.
"I represent the working class," the man says. "Not the country club class."
Look pal, I'm part of the working class. You don't speak for me.
Not now, not ever.
"The man" is a one of the top elected officials in our county's government.
He campaigned on a platform of governmental transparency, accountability for taxpayer dollars, tax fairness, and support of social welfare programs, to name a few.
Don't get me wrong. These elements by themselves aren't bad. It's good to stir the pot every once in a while. It keeps everyone on their toes.
What is bad, however, is when this same individual, a Democrat, uses this agenda to get himself elected to office, and then performs a series of deeds that have made even the most liberal of liberals say "what just happened?"
Racking up a laundry list of expenses that he said he would fight to control, yet vehemently protested when his two fellow board members successfully voted to make his (and their own) expenses more readily available to public scrutiny.
This came after he singled out a department head for overspending for hotel accommodations at the state capital for a recent conference.
I will also point out that this man also accused one of those board members of using his connections to cover up a drunk driving charge by granting a substantial raise to another department head, whose husband just happens to be a state trooper that was investigating said incident.
In Pennsylvania, with the exception of juvenile court, all criminal records are open to the public, whether they're summary or felonious in nature.
Those of you who know what I do for a living, know that I know how to find out these things.
I have to this date, found no evidence of a DUI arrest against the accused. Nor any of a cover-up.
Now he's been sued in civil court by his fellow board member and the second department head for his very public accusations.
And he wants the taxpayers to pay for it. The very same taxpayers to whom he promised accountability for their tax dollars.
But it's not his fault, so he says.
"I'm entitled," he went so far to say in a public meeting.
He says his remarks were part of his official job duties, while not keeping in mind that these remarks, when unfounded, are libelous and actionable.
"They want to sue me and take my house and everything I worked for away," he complains bitterly.
And they shouldn't? Because you singled them out by name and sullied their otherwise-clean reputation and put their integrity in question?
Public officials have a hard enough time keeping constituents happy as it is. The last thing they need is one of their own making unfounded statements that not only hurt them, but the board's reputation as a whole.
The man complains about everything and advocates nothing.
The accused has helped raise money for a World War II monument honoring local Merchant Mariners, and while voting in favor of only half the man's request amount of money to pay for a police dog, the accused has pledged that he would again help raise money to make it happen.
And a week later it did happen.
The man makes no effort to be friendly with his associates or fellow board. The other two men on the board are a different matter.
The accused..."Hey Kenny...how's that little girl of yours?"
The chairman...."Good morning, Ken. How are you?"
And I get a handshake from both. I don't even get so much as a 'by-your-leave' by the man. Neither does anyone else.
Social ineptitude doesn't cut it in public service.
Someone in the county's upper ranks once summed up his feelings on what recent public meetings have become.
"It's a circus now," he said.
I would have to disagree. I say this because the accused volunteers as a clown for Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children.
Proof that even clowns have class to some degree.
Thus I digress. No circus.
We're in freak show mode.
Whatever the case, it's not a laughing matter.
NEXT WEEK: Ken's List
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