BLOG CASTS. Archives - Page 3 of 5

September 28, 2022September 28, 2022

Whine With That Cheese Please!

Humans are selfish. When we think of the happenings going on in the world we always think how they affect “us.” It’s natural. Our world revolves around what is happening in our life. So, while there are many things exploding in the world, I must still take a moment and complain.

My grievance is the treatment I received from the car rental place, actually I should say the website for the car that I rented as I was misled.

You want the story in a nutshell. I’ll give it to you in a walnut, that might be big enough. I traveled 1200 miles to see my sister who is not well. We are both in our seventies, and I don’t know how many more times I can make this trip. I normally drive, but it has gotten too much for me, so I flew into Toronto and rented a car.

I made all my arrangements online. And when it came to renting a car, I did the same thing. I figured the drive from the Toronto airport to her place in Orilla was easier to make then the drive from my home in Kansas to her home in Canada.

There are always hiccups in the road aren’t there? So, when I rented my car in August the Internet website handled it very well, I foolishly thought. The printout that I received stated that I could drop this car at the Best Western Plus Hotel at the airport and take their shuttle to the terminal if it was after hours. The fee was $10 to $20 to me. I felt the extra fee well worth it as I would have to drop my car off at 05:00am in the morning as my flight home was leaving Toronto at 8:30am.

Here comes the hiccup. Before I left the car lot, I stated as a question that “I could drop the car off at the Best Western Plus Hotel as I was leaving at 05:00am on September 22^nd and take the hotels shuttle to the airport.”

The car rental staff person looked at me like I was foolish and stated that “No I had to bring the car back to the lot and put the keys in the box and call a taxi or Uber to pick me up and take me to the airport.” Let me say that this lot was in a very industrial, busy area 15 to 20 minutes away from the airport. This business expected a 71-year-old woman to come to their lot at 05:00am, sit in the dark, call an Uber or taxi, and hope that they arrived in time to get me to my flight.

My big concern was would I be able to sit there safely, let me say that again, safely in this car while I waited for some unknown person to pick me up and take me to the airport.

I was dumbfounded. I said to the guy that the printout said that I could leave the car at the Best Western Plus Hotel after hours and catch their shuttle. He said, “Show me” at which time I pulled out the paperwork and showed him where it was printed from this website that I could catch the shuttle and leave the car at the Best Western Plus Hotel at the Toronto airport. The staff person said, “No that is wrong, you have to bring the car back here.”

Believe me had I known this ahead of time I would not have rented from Zoom or used the website that I used to rent the car. I would have gone a different route.

If there’s anybody out there who has ever driven around Toronto on the highways, you will understand my upset and fear at the thought of trying to return that car at 05:00am in the morning. The traffic is horrendous and there are lanes of stopped traffic all along that route.

I was in a state of shock. Here I was far away from home in an unknown area upset that now I had to figure out a different way to bring this car back or bring it to the lot and figure out how to get transportation at 05:00 o’clock in the morning back to the Toronto airport.

The Toronto airport is one hell of a busy place. You must be there very early to get things done. I spent my whole time with my sister worrying about getting that dam car back to the lot.

My final decision was to return the car a day early and stay at a hotel the night before. I cut my vacation a day short and spent $364.83 Canadian on a hotel room that I stayed in for seven hours to drop this car off in the daylight and feel safe that I would be able to get to the airport on time. The car rental place did not even refund my early return. And then they balked at even taking me to the hotel as it “wasn’t at the airport.” he said.

Their suggestion was that the shuttle person could take me to the airport, and I could take a taxi to the hotel. I am not kidding you. They wanted to drop me at the airport and leave me to find my own way to the hotel. What terrible people!

Let me say, as it turned out, the hotel was only about 10 minutes from their car lot. There I stood in their lobby with tears pooling in my eyes over the fact that these cruel men would expect me to find my own way to the hotel after driving through horrific traffic to return my car a day early.

There are monsters among us, unkind, heartless people

Finally, they decided to take me to the hotel as there were five new clients coming into the lobby to rent cars, and I am sure they did not want an old woman standing there crying over the dilemma she found herself thanks to them.

Now, I’m not looking for sympathy. I want you to understand that I was going by the paperwork that I had from the website which included me dropping this car off at the Best Western and taking their shuttle to the airport. It did not include me sitting out in the dark at 05:00 in the morning waiting for somebody to come and pick me up, somebody I wouldn’t know, somebody who would know I was a tourist, and who I should trust to take me safely to the airport to catch my flight back to the states.

What I want is for you to feel as outraged as I do when you hear their the websites response regarding this miscarriage of justice. They told me there is nothing they can do to get a refund for me, then they sent me a copy of a voucher that left off the part about returning the car and included only four pages. In this email they stated, “It doesn’t say anything about pickups or drop offs.”

My copy has six pages and is directly from their website. I printed all the documents as soon as I completed the transaction. This website is all over the world. How can they be so deceitful? They sent me a fake printout. It is not what was available to me at the time of the booking. I have copies and sent them pictures of what is in my printout.

At this point what I expect is a full apology, and a full refund. What do you think will happen?

I guess the lesson that I’ve learned that I want to share with you is that no matter what it says in print on the Internet I would say that you call and verify every single detail before you make a trip far from home. No one should be expected to sit in the dark somewhere in an unknown place and try to find transportation anywhere. Not with the world wide web at our fingertips, or at least that’s what I thought.

Fool me once but you will never fool me again. I shall not use the internet to plan a trip ever as I am sure there are many, many other people out there who have lost lots of money over similar situations. For me, I will go directly through the business I will be dealing with and hope that in the end they will be truthful and trustworthy. What do you think my chances are?

Oh, and by the way, the hotel that my sister and I stayed at in Windsor refused to give me a refund when we left a day early. We had made the trip from her home to Windsor to see family. She is on oxygen and can barely get around. I had to push her everywhere in a wheelchair. It about killed us both.

The casino hotel in Windsor said they could not give me a refund as it was “prepaid.” Hotel.com got me a refund and were quite wonderful. At least I got lucky once. How about you, have your gotten lucky on your trip?

Thankful I made it home safely, and as to you, I hope you have a wonderful day, you and I deserve it.

Things will always get better, love you grammy.

June 26, 2022June 26, 2022

Ranting About Abortion

Hi, this is Kris, welcome to my blog. I don’t usually do back-to-back blog pieces, but I really wanted to talk to you about this topic as there are so many rallies going on right now

I have wanted to share my feelings about abortion for some time, and even though I may be a day late, that’s OK, sometimes a little voice is heard more than the voices of many. I hope this will be the case.

I would like to start with a poem I wrote which will be the only words I transcribe into this blog; the rest will be me talking because I have a lot of ground to cover. So, just look at my poem, sit back and hear what I have to say. Afterward I would certainly like to hear from you so send me an email through my blog page.

I think my poem says a lot. I’d like to suggest you read it several times.
Every time I say the words out loud, I am surprised by their power. It’s very intense, and I think it says it all right there in just a few words.

I do not write poetry. This poem came to me after watching some folks on television picketing against abortions and their counterparts preaching a “women’s right to do with her body what she wants” which makes me sick. So here is my poem because sometimes we just need to say what is in our hearts.’

I have a poem

Some say My Body, My Choice.
Then comes coupling, obscuring the voice.
one heartbeat, then there are two.
One must die, who will choose.
Little voices screaming in my head.
You can’t be here, you are dead.
Bits and pieces on the floor.
How can you stand all that gore?
My Body, My Choice.
Can’t you hear its tiny voice?

(I have attached the whole document in case you wanted the whole transcript)

Going-on-a-Tangent Download

June 26, 2022June 26, 2022

Blogcast 2: A Philosophical Tangent On Abortion

I am going out on a limb here, but I have been up all night with these thoughts rambling around in my head. Finally, I couldn’t take it and decided to put my thoughts on paper.

When does the “me of me,” become me? At what point in the development of this ball of cells does the “me” enter into the equation?

No, I am not kidding! When do I enter the picture? When does the “me of me” become me, and where am I until that moment?

Do I enter this creation of cells at the moment of impact when sperm meets egg? Or the first doubling of the cells? Or do I enter after the hundredth? Or is it at the millionth?

When does the “me of me”, the feeling, sensing, thinking part of me come into this great ball of replicating, developing cells?

Where am I until I become the “me of me?” Do I exist at all? At what part of this developing creation do I enter? At what stage?

Science can not answer this question. No one can. The greatest minds have never been able to answer the question of when the “me of me” becomes me, during this life giving process in the development of a human being.

This form that is sitting here typing out these questions was specifically created for me. The I of me was placed inside of this huge mass of cells. It is me but, where is that part of me that feels, thinks, remembers, cries, loves, and creates? What is my location inside of this mass of cells? Am I in every cell? Am I inside my brain? Am I inside my knee? Or am I inside my heart? Where am I in this mix of cells? No one can answer these questions!

Do you know that some research has said that the human body is 1/2 to 1 pound lighter right after the moment of death! Is that me leaving this pile of cells? Or is the poo leaving my colon?

Science argues over the description of life and when it matters. It argues over when it is okay to destroy that ball of cells. It argues over when it is viable. But, it never mentions when it becomes “me” as the cells are churning and creating a human being. It never mentions when the “me of me” becomes part of these cells.

So, when you take those deadly sharp instruments and hack away at the cells inside, do you know that you are destroying the “me” of those cells as well! The “me” of those cells that was specifically created for the “me of me.”

How many abortions occur a year? What is the current statistic? A million, tens of millions, how many?

I worked college health for over twenty years and I can say for certainty from my own experience that over 90% of the young women who came into our office for information on abortion felt ” it just wasn’t the right time.”

These young women were not victims of rape. They were not giving birth to deformed monsters they didn’t want. They didn’t have a clue, ” it just wasn’t the right time.!”

The moment a sperm meets an egg and implants is that moment of creation. What becomes of that creation is up to nature, and the woman carrying that creation.

Abortion should not be used as a form of birth control. There are plenty of other options to use, abortion should not be a choice.

It seems that sex is in the news all the time in some form or other to sell everything from magazines to underwear. Every time I open yahoo someone is posing nude to ” show off their beach body”, so why are we so uncomfortable with our bodies, and what occurs at the time of intercourse, that we don’t take responsibility for that moment when creation occurs, and say to our partner, ” hey wait a minute.” It could save a life.

I would never have wanted to miss this moment.

I know many of the responses to this question, ” we didn’t plan it”, it was a one night stand”, “I don’t even know him or her that well,” ” I am not ready for a baby,” and on and on goes the merry go round.

Sadly what abortion has allowed to occur is that no one is responsible. You can just rake it out, dead or alive. No worries, ” it’s your body.”

I think as a society we have failed our young. We must educate them that intercourse can and will result in the creation, let me say this again, in the creation of another human being if we are not careful. That is what nature intended. Intercourse is the method, most times, by which another human being is created. It is how human beings continue on this earth, usually.

Do we tell our children that intercourse can and will result in the creation of another human being? Do they teach that in school? Do they USE those words.

It is not just about what disease they may catch, it is about what can and will occur if they have unprotected intercourse.

I have heard all the arguments so spare me. I know the drill, but along with my questions about the “me of me,” and when that begins, I want to ask another philosophical question or two!

What is your purpose in life? Who were you meant to become once the “me of me” entered your pile of cells? How do you know what your role will be in the creation of the “me of me” should you create another human being, if you just rake it out?

Who decided the time was right at that moment when you were created? Was it really an accident or planned? Is life just one great big random moment in time?

Millions and millions of abortions a year! Millions and millions of ” me” that will never exist. Think about it! Could you have been a ” me of me” that did not exist? Was it the right moment for your sperm and egg donor to have a ” me”? Ask yourself that question!

I believe that most of us were just moments in time. Not planned at all. We just became the ” me of me” once those cells started replicating. So where is the ” me of me” until it meets it’s great big pile of cells? Who will take responsibility for that creation of life? Think about that? And as I always say, have a great day, you and I deserve it.

June 6, 2022June 6, 2022

STOP THE CHAOS

Silence from my end is not a good thing being a poor blogger but my excuse, if you even care, is that I have been in a total state of shock as I have watched and listened to the stories of violence and destruction that have exploded all over this country.

How do I even have a conversation with you when there are so many earth-shattering events occurring? The feelings that are surging through each one of us, every single day is so toxic. I’ve sat back for months watching, listening, crying, shaking my head so disturbed by what has been happening that I am left speechless. Frozen. I move through the day like a robot functioning on auto pilot.

I ask myself is there anything of value that I might have to share? Who gives a shit what some no name individual thinks or feels? Who am I to talk about any of this it is so horrible.?

I want to know how do we overcome these wounds? How do we heal from these profound injuries to our hearts? How do we stop the chaos?

I know that anything I might say to you has probably blown through your mind at one time or another just as it has mine. Somehow, some way we must come together.

There is so much hatred spewing out into the world I can’t even imagine how we can contain it. We humans are so vile to each other in so many ways that I fear for my life. For your lives. For my children lives. The fear is unimageable.

Stories pour out of every news outlet available. Some offer vivid pictures if you can’t imagine it yourself. I have no doubt everyone is talking about all the destruction that is and has been occurring. There can’t be anyone who isn’t shocked, ashamed, and disgusted by what one human can inflict on another.

I move through my day-to-day business in a state of shock. I interact with my family and friends. I go to work, pay my bills, but there is this impending feeling of doom inside my chest that is so new to me that I can’t even grasp how to express it or to eliminate it. This fear is embedded deep in my heart.

Saying we must come together is not enough. The words are meaningless. The horror that has happened in the last of couple years has shaken all of us to our very core. Sometimes I stand and just stare at the television feeling like a trapped animal. I don’t know how to make things better. I don’t have any answers on how to change it except for platitudes like “We need to love each other. We need to help each other. We need to come together. “ Bullshit, we need to stop the violence on all spectrums, against ALL PEOPLE.

I know that there are great individuals out there doing wonderful things. There are organizations and groups of people that are plugging along trying to make it a better place, but I think we all feel so helpless, and for me it’s not a feeling that I’ve often felt, so I am frozen and frightened and don’t know where to turn. Our leaders don’t have an answer, and the tide keeps moving in. How is it going to end? How can we make it end?

How do we as individuals, and as a group take control of this violence? How do we step into the storm of hatred and bigotry to bring an end to this? People are dying, children are being murdered, strangers are assaulting strangers for no other reason than they feel hate at what they see before them.

The color of one’s skin is something to hate. The nationality of another is something to loathe. People’s sexuality is despised. Rich hate poor, and poor hate rich. Your religion is a reason to hate despite what your holy book preaches, and someone just doesn’t like the way you look.

I’m not a religious person. I don’t go to church. I have not had great experiences with preachers who run churches, and although I was raised a Catholic, I gave that up because the nuns and priest looked down their noses at the poor in our parish with no money to give. We were a very poor family. Not a good experience for us.

In the past I was not one to believe in the end of the world theories told by religious leaders to keep us all in tow. Discussions by those leaders that the world was going to come to an end in fire and brimstone. These preachers and such liked to fire up the fear and hysteria in its congregants. It was part of the reward of being a “leader” the power to evoke sinners to be less sinful. But after witnessing all this violence. The hatred. The bombings and wars. Murders, rape, and genocide, I think those prophets who have said the world is going to end are correct.

We humans are going to be the catalyst that ends our world. This world that has been given to us is going to be destroyed by us because we are so foolish and stupid that we let our extremism, our extreme racism, are extreme sexism, extreme religiousism get in our way of appreciating all that has been given to us. I mean you add any ISM to any bigoted idea that you have and that’s what we’ve become, a people of intolerance and hatred who disrespect their world and each other with total disregard for human life, total disregard for the animal kingdom, total disregard for the oceans of the world, and the planet that God gave for our safe keeping.

Despite my personal feelings I will share with you that I do believe in a higher power. I do believe in a God, and I think it is time for all of us to come together and offer up a prayer to our God for the strength, knowledge, and courage to evoke a change in our world right now.

I ask that together we stop everything that we are doing and say a prayer in whatever language we speak, asking whatever higher power we pray to, to help us heal this world. Those of a scientific mind probably are aware that there have been many studies that verify that prayer can and does make a difference. Put aside your doubt and be open to that fact that as a massive world of people we can come together in prayer, and perhaps jump start our humanity back on track.

I will pick a time and together we will say a prayer to bring these horrible events to an end and bring all of us back into balance because right now, we are tilting out of orbit as humans.

Let us get together tomorrow at sunrise, or any sunrise that works for you as (there are 7,868,872,451 people on this planet right now as listed on google so there will be a multitude standing by your side whatever time you say your prayer.) Get up, face the rising sun, and offer a prayer to God that sanity will be restored to our people. Image the multitudes standing beside you as you say your prayer for our world and each other as well. And as I always say, have a great day today, you and I deserve it.