THIS & THAT #5

Didn’t Plan to Write

Anything of Value

We just returned from the US National Table tennis Tournament in Las Vegas, and the highlight of the four-day stay, was standing among other like-minded individuals while the next president of the United States, roused his audience. More about the Trump rally later.

This leads me to the conclusions that I don’t think that I will write anything truly creative and world shattering, there’s too much of that in the daily news.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Learned in the December 6^th newspaper, that the local Grey Bears senior group will be holding its special after-hours Holiday Thrift Store Sale.  There will be refreshments, music and everything is half off, but only on Thursday, December 3 from 4pm to 7pm.

PLAN AHEAD WITH LOVE

An advertisement appeared in the same newspaper with the engrossing headline, “Holidays Are About Family.” To show this to be so, there’s a lovely photograph of five, smiling family

members ranging in age from a toddler to two elderly people.

The body copy reads, “Learn how you can give them an unexpected and meaningful gift. Attend our free lunch and learn.”

The free lunch and advice comes from two Bay Area funeral homes.

I find it interesting that the first three letters in the word “funeral” spell “fun.” I first noticed that fifty years ago when I was driving around the city of Detroit one night. Because some light bulbs weren’t working, the sign in front of a funeral home read, “BRADY’S FUN       HOME."         

ZIPPITY DOO DOUGH

If you wanted to become really wealthy, you should have moved to ZIP code 94027 years ago. That Atherton, California ZIP has had the most expensive homes for the past three years, and the median price was $10.6 million last summer.

Not to be outdone by too much, a friend put her home on the market a year ago in ZIP 94028, and the winning bid was $500,000 more than the listed price, and offered by several bidders.

THE US POSTAL SERVICE WILL NOT SURVIVE

When we went away to Las Vegas, we neatly filled out an “Authorization to Hold Mail” card, and checked off Box B which reads “I will pick up all accumulated mail when I return.” That sounds easy enough, and when we returned on December 19^th found for pieces of mail in our box, mail that was supposed to be held. We then drove to our nearby Post Office, just five minutes from our home. We were at the end of a long line, as  dozens of others were waiting, not to pick up their mail, but to send holiday gift packages out.

We patiently waited and when we got to the counter, we were given a phone number on a piece of paper and told to call the Scotts Valley Post Office for our mail. It seems that in their infinite wisdom, the USPS decided that it was easier for them to hold all mail in the county at one location. That location is ten miles away from our home, down a congested highway, even more so during the holidays.

We did call Scotts Valley, and they promised to deliver the accumulated mail on Monday. When we turned in the hold card, it would have been nice to learn of their new, convoluted non-delivery plans.

The USPS had a net loss of $5.1 billion for the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2015.

WHAT WAS JUST SAID IS SAD

After a closer look at what words have filled this post, I believe that I have followed my intuitive, initial writing projection that was defined in the second paragraph, almost to perfection.