Cheer up, or screw you

Welcome to Electric Avenue

When did it all get so complicated? I mean really. When did it all get so complicated? We live in such complex times with such complex issues. Wouldn't it be better if all we had to worry about was working the farm and bartering our produce for the produce of farmers within a few miles of us? Oh, but I guess science would help with improving yield, and the Internet would help with finding the best bartering ratio, and FedEx would help with being able to barter with farmers further than 5 miles. And I guess we'd need governors to organize stuff, and lawyers to manage the inevitable coruption, and on and on and on.

Alright, forget about it. Things aren't more complicated now, just different.

I digress.

"Her name was Lola... she was showgirl" (Barry Manilow)

Insane Item of the Day:

I just paid my local Verizon phone bill. I use them only for my regional calls in the NY area (about 5 area codes). The math adds up and they are not scamming me, but that doesn't mean they're not screwing me.

Monthly charge for dial tone:                6.11
Verizon local calls:*                        4.52
Additional line:                             6.11

FCC line charge:                            11.41
Local number portability:                     .46
Federal tax:                                  .94
NY state/local sales tax:                    2.59
911 surcharge:                                .70
Federal USF surcharge:                       1.10
Surcharge(s):                                1.17

Anonymous call rejection:                     .00
Caller ID:                                   7.99

Federal tax:                                  .25
NY state/local sales tax:                     .70
Surcharge(s):                                 .48

*Itemized calls:                             4.52
10.6 cents flat charge * 38 calls at peak time
40% off the 10.6 cent fee * 3 calls at the discount time
65% off the 10.6 cent fee * 8 calls at the deeper discount time

I was away from NY for most of this billing period, hence the low call numbers.

My question - with only $4.52 in actual calls, and caller ID, how do I get a phone bill of $45.07???

From Self Awareness to Individuality

Mike Sanders keeps and excellent blog which attempts to "explore life though the blog." I recommend everyone read it and keep track of his blog. In the most recent set of posts, he has been discussing issues of self esteem, arrogance and self awareness. I'd like to go on a tangent from those ponderings.

In recent times it has become more and more important to become "part of the group," to lose individuality and define oneself more in terms that mesh with the public. Political correctness is a big component of this. Everyone must be equal. Anyone should be allowed to sue to do anything, irrespective of personal issues which may be at odds with what they decided they want to do out of some sense of "I'm not gunna let that stop me." I'm all for the paraplegic mute climbing Everest but there is a difference between that and what I'm talking about.

It is important that we look inside ourselves for the purpose of improving upon our weaknesses. It is important that we realize our place in a greater context. It is important we strive to better ourselves, become more whole, well-rounded and more caring and productive human beings. This doesn't lead to arrogance, this leads to completeness. "Leading to" is important because completeness is probably unattainable. As in many things, the journey is what benefits us, not the destination (which is boring, aside from unreachable).

When we do this we realize that we are not like everyone else. In fact, none of us are like anyone else. And that's great. That's beautiful. That's what makes us rock. That's what differentiates us from dolly the sheep. We should celebrate what makes us individuals, not cure arrogance or individuality by trying to redefine ourselves into homogeneality.

Similar to how you feel when you find someone truly special who you really connect with, there are other fun synchronicities in the cosmos.

For example, read this article and then listen to this MP3. Sorry, the article is no longer available.

Let the pondering begin!