Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birth...well, not exactly to me, but to my blog, or to be more precise, my web log. Sort of an abbreviated version of a journal. Happy Birthday to my web log. (Doesn't really have the same sort of ring to it does it?)
So, here I am, blogging. Seems that several people in my life have been bugging (or is that blugging) me to start a blog or at the very least publish some if not all of my writings (musings) that I find appropriate for me at the time and the subject but never thought that anyone else would be particularly interested in. Today was, I suppose, the straw that broke the camels back. (Does the younger generation understand the references to half of what we grey heads take for granted anymore?) For example: It's a doggy dog world. (Could that even possibly be: It's a dog eat dog world.) There are so many more examples that I have heard that counting them all would be a full time job for someone. (That is STILL a 40 hour work week spread over 5 days isn't it?)

I need to know things. Like, why are apartments called apartments when they are smack up next to one another? Why is a piano, by it's real name, called a Pianoforte. I mean, in music, (which is what a piano is all about), piano means soft and subdued and forte means loud and expressive. So we have a musical instrument named "Soft and subdued Loud and expressive thingie". Just an Oxymoron or are there more diabolical forces in play here? And while I am questioning, what is the big deal over the conversion of SDTV (not a sexually transmitted disease) but stands for standard design television to DTV, digital television. It's not the TV that is the problem, but the way the signal is received and translated to the inner brains of the TV that is the issue. Someone figured out a way to get more money out of supposed free transmission television that they sort of missed with the technology boom. Digital signal receiver boxes is the answer to that. It is a national security issue apparently. One that deserves millions of dollars of advertising on all the networks during prime time and other times of the day for the less than 13% of all TV watchers in this country. Breast cancer screening and awareness doesn't get this time nor money nor government sponsorship. Is it because not having a digital converter box will kill more people than breast cancer? Or colon cancer or diabetes? It seems that if you still use the(God forbid) antennas or even worse, RABBIT EARS, the government will kick in and you can get a government coupon for money off on the purchase of a new converter box. I suppose then that you could say that those who are still stuck in the last century (That was the 20th, remember) that this is sort of part of your government bail out or stimulus package. I mean after all, you will spend your money on what the government wants you to spend it on, the converter box, remember?

I wonder if those people who do the polls on television shows and movies and all that had anything to do with say, putting in the smart chips in the boxes. You know, (at least those who are paranoid) tracking what shows you watch, how much you watch, what times of the day your TV is on etc. Sort of a big brother in a box. I wonder if the same people are making the computer chips that are going into all new cars per government mandate. Hmmm, well I suppose that if you were not a little paranoid before, then perhaps you might be now. At least it is something to ponder. Also, don't waste time looking for a government coupon for money off for a mammogram or colonoscopy, or diabetes testing. I guess that these causes are not as important as Digital Television converter boxes.

I guess you might be getting the feeling that this blog is just a rant session or a soap box for issues that you may or may not already believe. There are many many other topics that will be expounded upon in future installments. Just thought that I would get this off my chest right out of the gate.

A little lighter note now. Here is a little poem that I wrote to describe our present culture.

A Three Line Poem:

This is a poem with only three lines,
It is short and it rhymes,
We just call it a sign of the times.

Thanks for tuning in,
Roy