ID

Okay, so here is the question:

For what type of things should a photo identification be required?

I'll be honest.  It's the whole voter ID question that is raising it for me today, but let's face it, there's a lot of different places where the question could be raised.  Medical care, perhaps?

And the problem with raising the issue over voter ID is that apparently there is a whole lot of other issues at stake.  And I respect that the application of a law could be discriminatory even if the law itself on the face of it is not discriminatory.  If I remember correctly, this is a good legal argument to use in front of the Supreme Court.

BUT, given that we're required to provide a photo ID for just about everything else in life, including leasing a property, banking, cashing a check, obtaining a marriage license, and sometimes even to receive medical care, it seems that someone who does NOT have a valid photo identification at this point in life is missing out on a whole lot more than possibly just voting.

In Canada, a photo-ID is required to vote.

I was shocked, frankly, when I first showed up to vote and wasn't required to provide a photo ID.  And I'm in my 40s.

I think, long-term, a photo identification should be required to vote.  There may be legitimate arguments against requiring photo identification.  And I think we should address these arguments.  In the meantime, however, I think we should provide some sort of step-up system so that we reach that long-term goal, but we address the short-term issues.  For example, if the issue is that the people can't afford to get IDs, let's set up a fund that will help pay for the photo IDs.  Let's allow people to use Medicare cards for the next x number of years, since I admit, often that was enough for some medical care providing.

In a hundred years, perhaps, we'll only need our retinas to provide positive identification...

SCAM! Please, please, avoid....

I'd like to think all of you are smarter than this, but clearly there are some unknowing victims who fall for these phone calls that they continue.  And, the operators sound quite insistent and firm that they are legitimate and not scam-artists even when told to their face (well, it's by phone, so not "face") that no, thank you I'm not interested in your scam.  "No, ma'am, this isn't a scam.  This is legitimate".

I didn't have a home phone back when I was most recently living in the states, and my cell phone number used to belong to a woman who apparently applied for a lot of pay period loans and was surprisingly behind on her credit cards, so I didn't answer my phone unless I knew the caller.

But now, for some reason, I get amused answering the home phone.  My wife thinks I'm nuts to participate in these calls, but I get some sort of amusement.  Until I get pissed that is.  Maybe that's the part my wife worries about? Nah.

I love the ones that call insisting my computer is having a problem, and they are the ones to fix it.  Since, gees, I got my computer oh, several years before I ever arrived here, and my wife didn't have a computer that she used before I came, so I know there is no computer registered to this phone number here.

But this morning they called again telling me that Microsoft has not been able to update my computer.  Amusing, really given that yesterday when I shut it down it did update.  So, I called him on it.  He said, quite insistently, that no, there was a problem, and if I would let him, he would gladly show me what is wrong with my computer.  I was quite clear there was no way I was allowing him to remotely access my computer, thank you very much.

He never gave in.  Eventually I bid him a good day and hung up on him.  But I know there are people who actually believe them.  In fact, when we went to the RCMP to get fingerprints for me, there was a guy ahead of us in line who was stopping by to make a complaint about having been scammed just like that.

It is tough, in this day and age, to figure out sometimes what is and what isn't safe.  My wife is surprised that I don't have more apps for games downloaded given how much I enjoy playing them - but the reality is that I'm scared to download apps much because even though there hasn't been much on iPhone viruses, I don't want to be one of the first to find out.  Ideally iTunes and the App store would weed out damaging apps, but I still am anxious.  I don't download stuff if I don't know where it's come from, for the most part, but it is impossible in today's day and age to always be that careful.  Sometimes there is no choice.

But people, PLEASE, take basic common sense in dealing with the electronic world and with the real world.  Ask questions.  Don't just take some stranger's word for it.  Use your own head and trust yourself.  And if you don't know, ask someone else you trust.

Please.

But in the meantime, if you want to be amused along with me by the idiots who try, then please, be my guest.  :)

:)

Mmmm....

CSI: Cooking and Pancakes

So, as a single gal, cooking has to be something you enjoy in order to do much of it and eat more than processed and pre-prepared foods.  Because cooking creates mess.  It just does.  If you do it right, apparently.

And I'm not exactly the best about cleaning up messes.  So much of what I eat while my wife is at work is pre-prepared.  Leftovers from the night before, or easily prepared foods that are nuked and don't create much mess.  Because I hate cleaning mess.  I'm good at creating it.  Apparently, not so good at cleaning it.

I was really proud of myself the other morning, though, when I decided to make pancakes.  The first morning I made them was over the weekend when my wife was around to help clean up after.  Cleaning up with her is much easier than cleaning alone.  Hence, no fun cooking and eating alone.  More fun cooking and eating and therefore cleaning with others.

Well, we all know that pancakes aren't that big a deal.  In fact, I'll admit, this is even the mix that is just add water.  This way when I'm having a craving for pancakes, I'm not dependent upon whether or not I actually have eggs in the house.  Single-secrets.

Anyway, no problem making pancakes when my wife was around.  She doesn't actually let me cook much when she's home.  She was involved in something else at the time, though, and she didn't want pancakes, so I just did it.  OMG!

So, on Monday morning, buoyed by my success over the weekend, and craving more pancakes, I decided to make some on my own.

And I admit, I'm the kind of girl that washes the dishes for the day moments before my wife comes home.  I put stuff off. But when you cook, you're better off cleaning sooner than later, because stuff gets caked on and harder to clean.

So I was proud of myself.  I made myself a delicious yummy breakfast, and then, I was really good.  I cleaned up immediately.  All done quite quickly.  Much relief off my shoulders not waiting until the last minute to clean up.  My day was free.  It was all good.  I made progress and cooked on my own, and even cleaned up.  All was good.

My wife came home and unlike usual, there were no obvious signs as to what I had been up to.  Again, I'd cleaned.  And done it well.  Despite my annoyance in cleaning, generally, with cooking, I had a success I was ready to build upon.

Until we were washing dishes that night.  Suddenly dishes that were washed by my wife were suddenly streaky after I dried them.  Apparently, I had left pancake batter on the towels.  And she said that she detected batter on the floor, and in the vents, and on the ceiling and the light fixture.  Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it seemed that she found traces of my criminal, er, cooking activity wherever she went.

My wife is the CSI.  Each day when she comes home, she takes a quick examination and she can tell what I've done during the day.  Mind you it isn't challenging. It isn't as if I do a lot during the day, but, still....

So, here I find myself craving pancakes but wondering whether or kitchen can take it...

Except I know the answer my wife will think, if not say, when she reads this... Don't worry, I'll make sure it's fine and clean... Just, um, Borg, try to keep it out of the vents, okay? Thanks.

Something like that...

Impetus

Recently I have been contemplating the impetus for writing.  Or in this case, not much writing.  And I can't help but wonder if I need to be depressed, or in some overly dramatic place in order to write?  Must I be lonely? Surely that can't be true.

But, the "problem" is that I am happy.  Those are strange words to type or to say.  That happiness is a "problem".  Because it isn't.  It's wonderful.  It's good.  It's all those things we hope for and hope it will be.

Is my life perfect? No.  Do I have everything I want? Ehh... yes and no.  The most important things, most definitely.  But it would be nice, for example, to have the CHOICE to work or not work, rather than just not work.

Although, if I were smart, I'd realize that at the moment writing apparently IS work... and then I'd just do this.

I'll get back on the horse.  When I started this blog, I thought about the things I liked most in a blog and tried to keep them there.  One of them was frequency. You hate to find someone whose voice you enjoy and then have them not write very often.  You want to read it frequently.  It's like handwritten letters found in a mailbox.  It's nice to receive them. (I get very few now here in Canada... postage has become QUITE expensive!)

The other thing I tried to remember when I first started writing this blog was that not all my entries were going to be winners.  And that it was okay.  I'd rather have a few bad posts than no posts at all.  So, I'll try to get better about reincorporating this as a habit.

Forgive me my absence, dear readers.  I am not dead...

"Social" Media

So, one of the things I have been pondering lately is the friending of spouses. Once you go to the trouble of finding a spouse suddenly all these people come out of the woodwork and want to friend you. Whose overtures and invites to friendship do you accept?

It is awkward on the other end too. I has found myself friending spouses I have never met or at least wanting to on occasion but refraining because it might seem weird.

It is not just the Facebook phenomena but also in real life too. How much of a friend are you supposed to be to the spouse of your good friend.

What is the protocol?

It is tricky to navigate. At one level such overtures from a spouse to a friend could seem overprotective. Domineering. In some circumstances it might seem sweet - taking an interest in those your spouse cares for.

But then you create a triangle and potential problems. What if your friend now bitches about the spouse you have become friends with. Whose side do you take? What if you realize after spending just a little time with your spouse's friend you recognize how toxic he or she is - do you say anything?

Then there's the insecurity that these two might become better friends with each other than they are with you!

In "How I Met Your Mother", Lily used to have a front porch swing test for the people Ted was dating. Would she want to sit on the front porch together when they were old? Lily went so far as to sabotage any relationships Ted would have with women who didn't fit her vision of the future.

Making friendships - any relationships - entails a certain amount of risk. But which folks should immediate red flags of danger rise?

Something to continue to ponder..