MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024 - EMPLOYMENT

 MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024 - EMPLOYMENT????

I’ve pretty much always had a job.  In the past eight years, I have been working part-time.  

I like working.  

Since I officially retired and took Social Security at age 69, I’ve worked at:

Kohl’s Department Store - Holiday Season 2016

St. Dominic Savio - substitute teaching - spring 2017

Coventry Homes - substitute sales rep - spring 2017

Tutoring - 2017 to 2020

<break - for major surgery>

University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley - online teacher - 2018

Southwestern University - statistic teacher - fall 2019

Election Clerk - Williamson Country - 2020, 2022

<break - for COVID>

Substitute Teacher - Georgetown Schools - spring2021

Wesleyan Homes - September 2021 to September 2023 

Independent Consultant for Wesleyan Homes - September 2023 to present

*****

I don’t like to watch television, read books, or listen to audiobooks. I have other options to keep me busy, like writing this daily blog, my weekly bridge blog, playing tuba, bridge, and granny basketball.

However, somehow, my name is on LinkedIn, and I am an active job seeker.

****

My current part-time job will end in the next few months. I’ve been with a senior lady for 2.75 years, and she is slowly dying. (I have appreciated my time with her.)  

My bias is that if I stay home all day, I will be like a flower without water—I will wilt and die. I need a reason to get up in the morning. <grin>.

*****

I’m not sure what I want to do.  I like being with Trudy (my current “job”).  Should I stay working with seniors and in senior homes (assisted living, nursing homes)? 

Right now, I visit Trudy four evenings a week and help her eat dinner (that is, I feed her).  It’s nice.  I am paying my sister back for her time with my parents.  It has been flexible as I work around concerts and other events. 

*****

Okay, I’m a dilettant.  A dilettant is: “a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.”

I’m an educator.  I want to educate.  I’m a lover!!  I want to preach and live “Love Wins.”  

There are jobs that I don’t want to do. Lifting and carrying things doesn’t fit me at 76.

And (believe it or not), I don’t want to volunteer.  I want to get paid.  It doesn’t have to be much.  It is my “gas money,” my “take Mary to lunch money,” and my “mad money.”  There is a long story here - but it goes back to having students take internships - and I didn’t like them taking unpaid internships.

House sitting?  Okay

Pet sitting?  Okay.

Aide seniors?  Sure.  

Customer Service?  Maybe

Voting clerk?  Sure

But at this stage, I won’t decide until I’m back from vacation, about June 12.

****

But I will not be alone at my apartment watching television!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, May 20, 2024

SUNFUN-MAY19-2024 - FUN

 SUNDAY FUNDAY

MAY 19, 2024

WARM UP

I wanted to challenge you this week with some puzzles - some are easier than others (and the answers at at the bottom).

PUNS

I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can’t put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

*****

DINNER TIME LOGIC PROBLEM 

At a dinner party, there are three women, the chef, nanny and maid.  They have three different hair colors (Dark, blonde, and Red), They have three different aprons on (blue, green and red). 

Figure out who has what job function, hair color and apron color.

Clues: 

The redhead is the chef

The maid has dark hair

The dark headed lady is wearing a green apron

The blonde lady isn’t wearing a red apron

The lady in the blue apron is carrying the baby

*****

SHORT LOGIC QUESTIONS

1. Bill has as many sisters as he has brothers.  Are there more girls or boys in the family?

2. A man pushed his “car” to a hotel and says “I’m bankrupt”.  What is going on? (Hint game)

3. You are in a room that has three switches and a closed door. The switches control three light bulbs on the other side of the door in the next room.   How can you definitively tell which switch is connected to which light bulb? 
   
   

4. I left my campsite and hiked south for 3 miles. Then I turned east and hiked for 3 miles. I then turned north and hiked for 3 miles, at which time I came upon a bear inside my tent eating my food! What color was the bear?
   
   

5. A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, “Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who was in the photograph?
   
   

6. Job, Polish, Herb - what’s different when they are pronounced with or without a capital first letter.
   
   

7. Forrest left home running. He ran a ways and then turned left, ran the same distance and turned left again, ran the same distance and turned left again. When he got home, there were two masked men. Who were they?
   
   

8. A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?
   
   

9. You’re escaping a maze, and there are three doors in front of you. The door on the left leads to a pit of lava. The door in the center leads to a room filled with deadly gas. The door on the right leads to a lion that hasn’t eaten in three months. Which door do you choose?

10. The water in a reservoir is very low.  But it is doubling every day.  It is full at 20 days.  When will it be half-full?
    
    

ANSWERS:  

1. There are more boys than girls.  If Bill has three brothers and three sisters - when he gets added in, there will be four brothers.

2. The man is playing Monopoly and lands on Boardwalk (or other property)  without enough money

3. Answer: Turn on the first two switches and leave them on for five minutes. Once five minutes have passed, turn off the second switch, leaving one switch on. Now go through the door. The light that is still on is connected to the first switch. Whichever of the other two is warm to the touch is connected to the second switch. The bulb that is cold is connected to the switch that was never turned on.

4. The only place you can walk south for three miles, east for three miles, north for three miles, and end up at your starting point (where your campsite is) is the North Pole. The bear is a polar bear!!!

5. The man in the picture is the man’s son.

6. The words are different - Job (like Job in the Bible) becomes a job - your employment; Polish (country) becomes polish (like making your shoes shine); Herb is a man, while herb is a seasoning

7. Forrest is playing baseball - the two masked men are the catcher and umpire

8. An hourglass with grains of sand.

9. Choose the door with the lion that hasn’t eaten in three months - the lion is dead!!!

10.  Since it doubles every day - and it is full at twenty days, it will be half full at 19 days!!

WRAP-UP

Last week was a great week.  In eight days, I’m driving to Arizona for a vacation.  My sister’s birthday is June 1st, and I have never been to the Grand Canyon and other places.  

Karen Anne White, May 19, 2024

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2024 - GRADUATION SPEECH

 SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024 - GRADUATION SPEECHES

Tis the season for graduation - and graduation speeches

I never gave a commencement address, and my doctorate was earned (not an honorary doctorate from Rocky and Bullwinkle’s College—“WhatsAMatter U”). However, I did give two fall “Welcome to Campus—New Freshman addresses” at Quinnipiac.  

It was unusual for a professor to give two of those welcome addresses.  I gave one in 2012.  In 2013, the administration had a speaker picked out - but at the last moment, he was unavailable - so my second welcome-to-campus speech was as a “player off the bench.”

But, thinking about graduation speeches, today’s quotes are motivational quotes and stories.

*****

In my 2013 talk, I used Michael Phelps as a motivating person. 

Michael Phelps is a former American competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and decorated Olympian, with 28 medals. Phelps also holds the records for Olympic gold medals, Olympic gold medals in individual events, and Olympic medals in individual events. (Wikipedia)

*****

So, let’s consider Michael Phelps. He is probably a lot like you—except he has 28 Olympic gold medals.

How did he do that?

Phelps swims at least 80,000 meters a week in peak training phases, which is nearly 50 miles. He practices twice a day, sometimes more if training at altitude. Phelps trains five to six hours a day, six days a week.

Now, let’s think about that. He swims five to six hours daily—six or seven days a week. That seems to be a lot. He gets up in the morning, goes to the pool, and swims for maybe three hours. He then gets out, dries, and goes to his “everyday” life. In the afternoon, he goes to the pool for another three hours.  

Five to six hours every day—every day. He still swims on his “days off,” but not at the same intensity. (Between the Athens Olympics (2004) and the Beijing Olympics (2008), the reports are that he swam EVERY DAY.)  

*****

Hold it - Time Out

  

Five to six hours of swimming every day - for years and years?  Just so he could win a couple (okay, twenty-eight) medals at the Olympics (okay, not just medals - but GOLD medals).

And, the races he swam in were short - 4 or 5 minutes!!  So, he trained six hours daily to swim in a 4-minute race?  

*****

WOW - such dedication.

*****

Okay, Karen - get to the point.  (Yes, we can see it coming).

What’s important to you? Your family? Do you spend five or six hours a day, seven days a week, working on improving your family?

Your job? If you are like most people, you spend eight hours a day at your job. Are those eight hours productive? Are you getting better? As a professor, I wanted every class to be my best ever, and I kept trying.  

Your faith? Do you pray and study scripture six hours a day?

Your hobbies?  Do I spend six hours a day practicing or in rehearsals?

Your health?  Do I spend six hours a day exercising?  

*****

Malcolm Gladwell wrote about a 10,000-hour threshold. If you spend 10,000 hours doing something, you should be good. Michael Phelps spent six hours a day swimming—or about 2,000 hours in a year. In five years, he reached that elusive 10,000-hour barrier.  

Caitlin Clark (the women’s basketball phenomenon) spends about 3 to 4 hours a day shooting baskets and more time lifting weights, doing squats and running.  

*****

Okay - what’s important to you?  Are you making it a priority?  If not - why not?

I’m visiting my sister in Arizona in two weeks and then going to some National Parks (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Capitol Reef).  I want to do some hiking - but guess what?  My meager walking routine of three miles daily doesn’t get me too far.  Yes, I know I’m 76, yes, I know I can’t make it to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up - but I want to do some hiking.  And I’m not in shape to do much.  Oh my!!  I guess I’ll enjoy the scenery like a typical tourist - and do what hiking I can do without overdoing it!!!

*****

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Am I spending five to six hours a day on making LOVE WIN?  (Some days - yes).

Karen Anne White, ©, May 18, 2024

FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024 - LOVE WINS???

FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024 - LOVE WINS

Love wins - what a concept.

On Friday, I generally write about spiritual things.

Love is a spiritual, emotional, rational, and utterly appropriate item.

****

A little review:

Scientists have estimated over 8 trillion galaxies (8,000,000,000,000) - and each galaxy can have millions of stars. “The Milky Way galaxy contains between 100 billion and 400 billion stars”.  “In physical extent, the Milky Way’s stars span a diameter of about 130,000 light-years.”  A light year is the distance light travels in one Earth year.  So, if we could travel at the speed of light, it would take us 130,000 years to get from side to side in the Milky Way. Just imagine the vastness of this cosmic expanse, a testament to the limitless power and creativity of our Creator. 

IC 1101, a giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo constellation, is estimated to contain over 100 trillion stars. (100,000,000.000,000) This makes it the largest known galaxy in the observable universe and 250–500 times larger than the Milky Way, which has an estimated 200–400 billion stars. IC 1101 is about a billion light-years away and is 5.5–6.0 million light-years across, with a mass of nearly a quadrillion suns.

With a 6,000,000 light-year diameter, no galaxy’s stars cover more extraordinary lengths than the Alcyoneus galaxy. 

Hey, the university is huge, and these numbers are what we know now with our current telescopes and Technologies.

Some people like to say that life was an amoeba that split and became two and that split and became four. If we put this in the context of stars, there must have been more amoebas than one could ever count!  

I think of this as “intelligent design”—that some super-intelligent beings, like gods (lowercase “g”), have created it.  I also think of this as not being accidental - but with ONE GOD putting it all together.  (C’mon Karen - one God to do this?  What have you been smoking? Karen answers - how many cooks do you have in your kitchen?  Somebody has to be the “boss"- that is human thought).

*****

So, there (at least to me) is some divine being - and I’ll call it GOD.  

Okay, Karen, get to the point.

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." "Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love."  I John 4:7-9

Time out

God is LOVE?  

Yup - that is what I believe.

Love one another, love your enemies, love the Chinese, the Russians, the Mafia, the gang members, the drug dealers, the criminals.  

*****

Time out again.

Am I to love everyone?  Yup.

“Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

*****

But, I don’t want to love <some person>.  

Too bad—God is love, and if I don’t love a person, then I’m violating my first priority, which is to LOVE GOD.

We love God because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

*****

Time Out (a third time)

A good friend said, “I don’t know why God is letting my mother suffer so much.”

I don’t know why God isn’t intervening and healing her.  

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9

It doesn’t make sense - God spoke the world into being (or somehow created trillions of galaxies and stars.  One thought from God would heal my friend (and my friend's mother).  One tiny thought - much less than creating a galaxy or two, much less than keeping the Earth circling the Sun.  

****

Okay, Karen - so God’s ways are not our ways.  

The traditional thought is that this planet is outside of the average reach of God - from when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil - and basically, Adam and Eve gave control of the planet to Satan.  I’m not sure that is quite right - but it seems like ALL of us have struggles - ALL of us have to die - ALL of us. 

John 2:24 - But Jesus himself did not trust the people. He knew what all people are really like.

For one day, people are all standing on the streets cheering as Jesus rides into town, and by the end of that week, the people are all yelling “Crucify Him” 

*****

For now, we see only a reflection in a mirror; then, we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.   And now, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.

Okay, I don’t understand.  So, I’m out here saying, “Love always wins” - and it sure doesn’t seem that way.  

Oh well, 

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

I can only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.  (So, I HAVE TO LOVE - AGAPE LOVE)

Karen Anne White, © May 17, 2024

 

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024

 THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024 - MARKETING CONTINUED

Marketing is basically telling somebody how much they need an item. Marketing leads to sales, sales leads to jobs, manufacturing, trucking, delivery, employment for sales reps, costumer service reps, and online phone reps. 

The basic principles of marketing are the four Ps:

Product

The product or service being sold should meet the needs of your target customer.

Price

The product should be priced at a level that meets consumer expectations.

Place

The product should be available in the suitable locations for customers to buy it.

Promotion

Customers should be informed about the product's availability, price, and location.

*****

Marketing is changing. Artificial Intelligence is going to shift marketing into top gear.

When I’m online, I’ve noticed that the ads are more tailored to me. Yes. I’ve been trying to manipulate my ads. When I got my first bra ad (probably after a Google search for bras). I clicked on the ad, and I got more. When I searched for IPL devices (intense pulse light), I got a lot of ads. Some transgender women get laser hair removal. I couldn’t afford that, so I shave daily- although my beard growth isn’t much. The IPL devices supposedly remove hair follicles. And, in general, it has worked.  

(Sorry for the next). There have been just a few times with incontinence - so as I search for that term, I get ads for all kinds of solutions.  

I’m making a trip to the Grand Canyon, Zion. Bryce, and Arches Nationa Parks in June. I have been getting ads for sightseeing and businesses in those areas.  

-*****

I bought Sparky (my Chevrolet Spark) in 2021, so I’m guessing that car ads will start to appear more frequently.

I get ads for Barry Manilow’s and Herb Alpert's concerts (I don’t get ads for music that appeals to a younger crowd). I guess my age, gender, and activities determine my ads.

I rarely get ads for pet foods (I don’t have pets). 

*****

What if the marketing people knew pretty much all about you? 

Let’s say they have copies of my credit card purchases, grocery lists, shoe size, TV programs I watch, sports I follow, alcohol consumption (and if so, what), exercise, job, investments, family, children, spouse, and health record.  

Maybe I would get a text message like this:

Hey Karen, your Spark just hit 50,000 miles. We know you want a newer car with more legroom and headroom. You need something more significant to take your tuba and friends Mary and Bonnie to your concert. I know you talked about acTesla in the past. With your credit rating, we can get you a new Tesla for 2.9% interest. 

****

Humor - but maybe not so funny:

ORDERING PIZZA IN THE FUTURE

CALLER: Is this Gordon's Pizza?

GOOGLE: No, sir, it's Google Pizza.

CALLER: I must have dialed the wrong number. Sorry.

GOOGLE: No, sir, Google bought Gordon’s Pizza last month.

CALLER: OK I would like to order a pizza.

GOOGLE: Do you want your usual, sir?

CALLER: My usual? You know me?

GOOGLE: According to our caller ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called, you ordered an extra-large pizza with three kinds of cheese, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and meatballs on a thick crust.

CALLER: OK, That’s what I want ...

GOOGLE: OK, could you order a pizza with ricotta, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives on a whole wheat gluten-free thin crust this time?

CALLER: What? I detest vegetables!

GOOGLE: Your cholesterol is not good, sir.

CALLER: How the hell do you know!

Google: Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have your blood results for the last seven years.

CALLER: OK, I do not want our rotten, vokable pizza! I already take medication for my cholesterol.

Google: Excuse me, sir, but you have not taken your medication regularly. According to our database, you purchased only a box of 30 cholesterol tablets once at Drug RX Network four months ago.

CALLER: I bought more from another drugstore.

GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.

CALLER: I paid in cash.

GOOGLE: But you must withdraw more cash according to your bank statement.

CALLER: I have other sources of cash.

GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your last tax return unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law.

CALLER: WHAT THE HELL!

Google: I'm sorry, sir. We use such information only to help you.

CALLER: Enough already! I'm sick to death of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and all the others. I'm going to an island without an Internet connection or cable TV, where there is no cell phone service and no one to watch or spy on me.

Google: I understand, sir, but Alexa says you need to renew your passport first. It expired six weeks ago.

*****

Scary and not too far away in the future!!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, May 16, 2024