I believe in music

I love music. Music can lift me out of a funk and take me anywhere I want to be. And . . . it has to be loud. Unfortunately, loud music has taken a toll on my hearing long before there were any warnings for the new generation and their iPods. When my world seems to be falling apart, I think I am stressed beyond repair and too tired to lift my foot another step, I just pop in a favorite CD and within minutes I am energized.

Many years ago, when cable came to our house, I'm pretty sure I was the only mom on the block that watched MTV all day instead of the soaps. My youngest son was raised on Elvis and the Beatles, we always had music going in the car or on the stereo and about the third word he said was Cher.

My cousin Ted plays and sings professionally, but other than that my family are what I call closet musicians, they only played and performed for their own enjoyment. My grandfather played the banjo and sang, my dad played the guitar and sang, and my mom did some mean yodeling in her time, waayyyy back in the days when yodeling was the in thing in country music.

My folks gave me every opportunity to develop some kind of musical talent of my own. At one time or another I have probably had lessons on just about every instrument there is (excluding the tuba and harp because they wouldn't fit in a car). The lessons gave me just enough knowledge of music to be dangerous, and after all the lessons, I still play (play meaning a little chording on the guitar or piano) better by ear than any other way.

In the mid seventies we had a little band going Lee and the Hearts of Dixie that played at picnics and grand openings. When people stopped eating at the picnics and the businesses put up going out of business signs the first day . . . we took the hint and called it quits.

I tried to pass the musical baton on to my youngest son who started playing drums when he was in elementary school, then in high school he sold his trap set and switched to guitar. I don't like to take much credit for how well my son turned out, but I think his love of music came from my love of music, or at least I hope so, in part.

I have a favorite quote, A house without books is like a room without windows. I am not sure who the author is, but I could say the same thing about a house without music. Every child should have the opportunity to learn about or listen to music, to share in the joy it brings.

One thing I love about blogging (other than getting away with starting a sentence with and, but or because) is that you can just bore people to death with mundane subjects. So keeping with that thought, I am going to share my favorite songs below. They are not in any special order. If you are interested in any background on the songs follow the links provided.

I have to add for the record that John Lennon is my all time favorite artist and the drums are my favorite instrument so if you are familiar with some of these hits you will know they are heavy on the drums.

Rock
My Sweet Lord, George Harrison
Free as a Bird, Beatles
Come Together, Beatles
(Just Like) Starting Over, John Lennon
She's Got Betty Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes
A Whiter Shade of Pale, Procol Harum
Fools Rush In, Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley
Me And Mrs. Jones, Billy Paul
Crying Time, Ray Charles
Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett
Lay Lady Lay, Bob Dylan

Country
There Won't Be Anymore, Charlie Rich
Drinking My Baby (Off My Mind), Eddie Rabbitt
Every Which Way But Loose, Eddie Rabbitt
Help Me Make it Through The Night, Sammi Smith
For The Good Times, Ray Price

Inspirational
Original Grace CD, Grace Community Church

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The new AT&T, the saga continues

One morning last week I woke up out of a dead sleep and looked at the clock . . . 6:00. Someone was knocking on our door. It wasn't quite light out so I popped on the porch light and opened the door with the safety chain still on. A county police officer stood in front of me and scared me half to death. He immediately said "This isn't an emergency, but we had a 911 call that your mom's phone is out. I just left her house and she asked me to stop here and let you know."

I think I thanked him, but since I never really function until after 1:00 p.m. I am not sure what I said. I do know I wouldn't recommend being awakened in that manner to anyone with a weak heart.

After I rallied a little I threw some clothes on and went down to check on my mom. She was in the same shape as I was, since my dad is in the nursing home we both had the same thoughts when we saw the officer. What I couldn't figure out at the time was who called 911, so thinking it might be the nursing home trying to reach my mom I made a quick trip down the highway to check on my dad. He was fine.

I had been up exactly 30 minutes when I returned home to make my call to the AT&T repair service. It wasn't a pretty picture I can tell you that (see previous blog for prelude). When the rep told me the phone would be fixed by 7:00 p.m. I lost it. I actually said an eight letter word that isn't in my vocabulary, but I told her I was tired of them screwing with us and I wanted to speak to a supervisor RIGHT NOW!! And, I got a supervisor . . . right now.

I went through the entire last six months of my mom's phone problems with the supervisor. I know my tone of voice showed my anger, and my frustration. The supervisor promised to get the repair tech out before noon.

Living in a small town does have its advantages. I hopped in my car and chased down the repairman at our local sub-station. I confronted him with the "squirrel eating through the wire" theory and told him I didn't believe it. I have to say he was really nice, so I tried to calm down.

I told him "if" it were squirrels causing all the trouble that we can't possibly be the only place in the nation with this problem, there has to be a solution. The repairman admitted there are protective guards (expensive he said) that can be installed, but for the first time he also said it is strange that they only eat on my mother's line. He promised he would call his boss right away and check into a solution.

About 45 minutes later he arrived in his repair truck with great news!!! AT&T is going to replace all the wires on our hill and the main one that crosses the valley to the top of the hill. This . . . he says will surely fix the problem because our set up is old. For right now he was going to put a band aid (my word, not his) on things so my mom would have service.

You bet our wires are old. Nothing has been upgraded in at least 35 years. My friend Nancy hit the nail on the head when she said they let things go on our hill so long because there are only four houses.

When I left for the office I couldn't believe it wasn't even 8:00 yet, I felt like I had been up half a day. I actually ended up coming home early . . . I felt like I had been run over by a semi. A combination of the shock knock and my anger.

Not that I will ever make excuses for the new AT&T, but I asked the repairman how he liked working for them. He said they were good to work for, he actually had started out with AT&T years ago and then got caught in the split and had to stay with Southwestern Bell. He had been working for the phone company for 20 years.

I don't think it was my fit throwing that solved all of this, I think that the repairman just finally stood up to whomever and told them things had to be fixed right. For that I am very appreciative.

Interestingly enough I asked our chief of police how we could find out who made the original 911 call and he said that in some instances when a line is out of order the phone company's computers generate the 911 call and 911 contacts the local police to follow-up. That's kind of nice to know.

I hope this is the last time you see anything on my blog about the new AT&T . . . and I'm thinking you hope so, too.

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Welcome to the new AT&T, an exercise in anger management

My mother's phone was out of order again this week. That's about the fifth time in ever so many months, but this time getting the repair service was just a little different.

When I tried to access the SBC repair service online I was redirected to the new AT&T website. I have to admit I became hostile immediately. I didn't like it when Southwestern Bell and AT&T split years ago and I like it a lot less now that they have connected again.

After I clicked around and finally found the repair service I had to have a number off of my mother's phone bill (I suppose they think we carry our phone bills with us at all times) to log in so I gave it up and decided to call instead. That was my first mistake.

The automated system which reminded me again that I had the new AT&T went through a jillion options. I must have missed a number because I got payment information instead of the repair service and when it said enter five to return to the main menu I was obedient and did just that . . . only to find that there wasn't an option to report repairs.

I hung up. I am now fifteen minutes into my lunch hour and not a happy camper. Brilliantly, I get out the old SBC phone book under my desk and look up the repair service number. Whoo hoo . . . I got SBC's automated repair service. I entered all the requested information and waited while a recording said they were checking the phone number to see if it was working . . . duh . . . isn't that why I called?

After ten more minutes I finally got a nice lady who was actually more frustrated than I was. She explained their computers were not working now and they were unable to check to see if they could fix the problem right then. Her promise was (now note here she didn't say probably, or maybe or if we get to it, because this will come up later) it would be fixed by 7:00 p.m. that evening. Great! I have three minutes to eat my lunch.

I arrived home at 6:45 p.m. I ran down to my mom's house to check her phone. No dial tone. Okay, I am a patient person (hmmmm) so I wait until 7:30 and when the repair man still hasn't come I call the repair service again. Checking on the status of the repair I get a recording that says the phone will be repaired by 7:00 p.m. Well, I'm confused or living in the wrong time zone, but decide to give it another 30 minutes.

At 8:00 I call again and this time I try options until I get put on hold to speak with a representative. Twenty minutes later, and an ear full of the gawd awful-lest music I have ever been subjected to, I hear a human voice on the other end. It is now 8:20 in case you are not keeping up. The representative tells me she will check on the status of the repair, please hold on. My arm is asleep and my hand is stuck to the receiver which is stuck to my ear . . . as if I could hang up if I wanted to.

Between 8:20 and 8:40 the representative comes back to me several times to make sure I am okay, she is trying to locate the tech assigned to the job. Finally, I am informed that the tech is tied up (gosh, I hope to a tree) and won't be able to make the repair tonight but will get it tomorrow. I confront the rep "why did they say it would be fixed by 7:00 p.m. if they couldn't get to it?" Her reply "Oh we NEVER say a repair will be done by an exact time because we never know what might come up."

Okay, okay . . . I found I could pry the phone off my ear if I really wanted to and I slammed the receiver down. Probably broke her ear drum. No, I didn't feel guilty.

The next day the tech came and repaired my mother's phone before noon. He told her a squirrel had damaged the wire. This is the same story we got last time. Mind you now, there are four houses on our street and two poles and we are all hooked up to the same poles but the squirrel picked out my mother's wire twice, not any other wires, to chew on. Give me a break. Something needs to be fixed, all the wires are old, but there's probably no chance of the new AT&T spending any of their budget to fix them.

I am still angry. I hope the squirrel (if there is a squirrel) knows how angry I am and will stay away from my mother's wire for awhile, because if I have to call the new AT&T again . . . they may have to carry me away.

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Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy help

On April 12th, 13 Missouri state employees won a $224.2 million Powerball jackpot. According to the Missouri Lottery website the jackpot was the largest ever won in the 20-year history of the Missouri Lottery and the seventh largest Powerball jackpot awarded in the nation. The age range of the winners were 36-68. Eleven of the winners contributed $5 each to the winning ticket (payoff of $8.5 million each before taxes) and the other two pitched in $2.50 ($4.2 million before taxes). When reporters asked one of the winners what she planned to do with the money her first answer was "pay-off some bills." Surprisingly, "pay-off bills" is the first thing most winners think of, not buy a new car, or buy a new house, or take a trip abroad (all of that probably comes later), but the fact that in the beginning the most important thing to winners is to get out of debt.

Most of the people I know that play the Lottery play it for fun and for hope. They buy a $5 ticket a week. Their hope is not that they can live a life of luxury, but that they can pay medical bills, provide (not buy, it's not about buying . . . it's about providing) some things for their family that they can't now afford.

If I won the lottery I don't think it would make me a bit happier than I am right now in my life, because we all know, money does not buy happiness. It would give me great pleasure to be able to; pay a private nurse to help my mother care for my dad, afford the best and newest medications and health care for my husband, replace the 25year old roof on our house; help all my kids a little, and see that all my grandkids get a few extras. Life will go on without any of these things happening and we will probably never be the worst for it. But . . .

Attribute this to my "grey area" or liberalism . . . I don't believe buying a $5 lottery ticket a week is a sin. I think if you bought $500 worth of lottery tickets and your family didn't have food on the table . . . it would be a sin. Unfortunately, I am not proud to say I sin every time I order a steak and eat until I make myself sick.

Many of us spend $5 a week on Big Macs, ballgame tickets, or other recreation (bottled water and diet Dr. Pepper are my downfalls), what is the difference in spending $5 on a lottery ticket. For some it's fun, it brings them hope and maybe . . . just maybe . . . it will provide them with a little extra help.

To get back to the Missouri Lottery news. According to the website, from February 19-April 12, out of the $22 million in Powerball tickets that were sold, approximately $8.6 million of those sales will go to Missouri's public education programs. If we could just get some of that money for state health care programs . . . we would be on a roll!

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