Among the strategies I have developed for saving money in my own life in 2009are:
(1) I buy peanuts rather than the more expensive walnuts, pecans, or almonds at the supermarket.
(2) I drive my car to a self-service car wash facility.
(3) I have discontinued my minimal cable-television service, which means that I am not able to watch any television shows anymore inside my residence.
(4) I am only purchasing Lipton tea bags these days, since Lipton teabags are considerably less expensive than the more exotic types of teas also available in the supermarket.
(5) I am striving to drink more glasses of tap water inside my private residence. Drinking water is cheaper than drinking tea or drinking fruit juice.
(6) I have stopped going to movie theaters as a customer. If I need to watch a movie, I can always trade in a used VCR movie tape I currently own for another used VCR movie tape.
(7) I avoid driving more than 10 miles outside of the city limits of Austin, Texas.
(8) I am pursuing a diet aimed at losing 20 to 30 pounds. The diet is helping me to reduce the size of my abdomen and minimize the amount of food I need to eat in order to feel full. This, in turn, will help me to reduce the amount of money I spend on groceries and also help me to significantly reduce my medical bills.
(9) For most or all of 2009, I have delayed either getting my current used bicycle repaired or purchasing another used bicycle. I have completely dropped bicycling from my leisuretime exercise options in 2009.
(10) If I purchase any additional clothing at all for myself, it is strictly to comply with requirements imposed on me by any given employer of mine. I am finding that this work-only "fashion" emphasis allows me to redefine devotion to fashion as something that I strive for in my career.
(11) Whenever I purchase an additional work-related uniform for myself, I first visit a Goodwill store to attempt to find that item on sale there at a very low price. If I can't find that clothing at Goodwill, I will drive to a department store that sells clothing at an inexpensive rate.
(12) In 2009, I have dropped out of my personal membership in any and all civic groups and non-profit groups that do not provide me with a solid, tangible, verifiable, significant benefit to myself. In particular, I have dropped out of any and all civic groups that do not provide me with very important and significant financial discounts to myself that I expect to actually make use of, or that do not tangibly and significantly help me to significantly improve my own quality of life.
(13) I am not purchasing any books these days, and instead am relying exclusively on the public library for any additional books that I choose to read.
(14) I have chosen not to replace my pineapple-design "Welcome Mat" in front of my private residence. Had my finances been different, I would normally have replaced that welcome mat in 2009. I am not fond of that particular "Welcome Mat" that I purchased several years ago primarily because it was the cheapest "Welcome Mat" I could find inside a discount store.
(15) I try to minimize the total of amount of time each week in which I keep my front patio's porch light on.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
My Belated Identification with Heracles (Hercules) of Ancient Greek Religion Fame
In recent weeks, I have finally acknowledged to myself that the one character from the religion of ancient Greece who is most like myself may well be Heracles (more commonly known today by his Roman name of Hercules).
Heracles's gargantuan feats in putting an end to rampant violence by various monsters of ancient Greece, helped to make the entire world safe for humanity.
My realization about my being more like Heracles (Hercules) than I had previously realized, has once again reminded me that I made the right choice during my youth in reading several books about ancient Greek religion. The religion of ancient Greece has proved to be very applicable to my own life of today.
My own life ever since May of 1987, in particular, has necessitated my pursuing a series of law-enforcement-minded feats, including through my filing of criminal-law complaints and, on occasion, civil-law legal complaints, that demanded Herculean effort and diligence on my part.
There is every hope that my efforts of the last 22-year period have helped to make the world safer for honorable and honest and conscientiously civil and law-abiding human beings.
I don't claim to have the bulging muscles of Hercules. However, I have noticed that I've got more muscles on my legs and thighs, for instance, than I had during my college days at The University of Texas at Austin.
One obvious point of contrast between myself and Hercules is that I myself will of course always pursue a consistently civil and law-abiding and straightforward method of combatting modern counterparts to the violent "monsters" of ancient Greece.
Another surprise to me in recent weeks has been my realization that the Sirens of ancient Greek religion have played a larger role in my own life than I would have ever expected.
The Sirens were the seductive female creatures of ancient Greek religion who sang incessantly to sailors on their ships. That continuous, relentless, non-stop noise pollution by the Sirens triggered insanity in many of those sailors and fatal shipwrecks for nearly all of those sailors.
Odysseus reportedly ordered the crew members of his ship to plug their ears with wax in order to avoid being led astray by the noise pollution "music" generated by the Sirens.
In my own life this summer, I received a signed medical statement from a first-rate ear, nose, and throat specialist, Dr. David Tobey of Austin, indicating that I have sustained a statistically significant permanent hearing loss and thereby incurred a cited "medical disability" to myself resulting from my involuntary exposure to noise pollution in Austin, Texas, on a continuous year-round and multi-year basis.
Dr. David Tobey helpfully assured me in person during my most recent medical appointment with him on April 21, 2009, that I myself did not authorize or cause or generate that noise pollution in the background, he stated.
I am very grateful to the nationally renowned Dr. David Tobey of Austin, Texas, for his very kind willingness to share his medical findings about me with any media company, any business owner or businessperson, any religious group, any educational institution, any government official based anywhere in the United States or in a foreign nation, any government agency (the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Travis County District Attorney's Office, the Travis County County Attorney's Office, the State Bar of Texas state agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Qualty state agency, the Texas Department of State Health Services, or the Office of the Attorney General of Texas state agency, the United States Attorney's Office, or the Justice Department, for instance), or any government-owned institution (or any civic group or any individual, for that matter) that or who might ever at any time choose to contact Dr. Tobey about this matter at his "Austin Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic" along Angus Road in northwest Austin.
The office phone number for Dr. David Tobey's medical clinic is: (512) 346-5562. The mailing address for Dr. David Tobey's medical clinic is: Austin Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic, 11623 Angus Road, Suite 20, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Any and all phone calls or letters of inquiry about this very alarming matter for myself----and, I might add, ANY factual information that anyone is willing to volunteer to myself or to my very fine ENT medical specialist, Dr. Tobey, in regard to the alleged "source" of that baffling noise pollution in Austin, Texas---will be greatly appreciated.
As a metaphorical sailor these days, I am determined to not myself get "shipwrecked" by continous, year-round, and injurious noise pollution in Austin, Texas.
Heracles's gargantuan feats in putting an end to rampant violence by various monsters of ancient Greece, helped to make the entire world safe for humanity.
My realization about my being more like Heracles (Hercules) than I had previously realized, has once again reminded me that I made the right choice during my youth in reading several books about ancient Greek religion. The religion of ancient Greece has proved to be very applicable to my own life of today.
My own life ever since May of 1987, in particular, has necessitated my pursuing a series of law-enforcement-minded feats, including through my filing of criminal-law complaints and, on occasion, civil-law legal complaints, that demanded Herculean effort and diligence on my part.
There is every hope that my efforts of the last 22-year period have helped to make the world safer for honorable and honest and conscientiously civil and law-abiding human beings.
I don't claim to have the bulging muscles of Hercules. However, I have noticed that I've got more muscles on my legs and thighs, for instance, than I had during my college days at The University of Texas at Austin.
One obvious point of contrast between myself and Hercules is that I myself will of course always pursue a consistently civil and law-abiding and straightforward method of combatting modern counterparts to the violent "monsters" of ancient Greece.
Another surprise to me in recent weeks has been my realization that the Sirens of ancient Greek religion have played a larger role in my own life than I would have ever expected.
The Sirens were the seductive female creatures of ancient Greek religion who sang incessantly to sailors on their ships. That continuous, relentless, non-stop noise pollution by the Sirens triggered insanity in many of those sailors and fatal shipwrecks for nearly all of those sailors.
Odysseus reportedly ordered the crew members of his ship to plug their ears with wax in order to avoid being led astray by the noise pollution "music" generated by the Sirens.
In my own life this summer, I received a signed medical statement from a first-rate ear, nose, and throat specialist, Dr. David Tobey of Austin, indicating that I have sustained a statistically significant permanent hearing loss and thereby incurred a cited "medical disability" to myself resulting from my involuntary exposure to noise pollution in Austin, Texas, on a continuous year-round and multi-year basis.
Dr. David Tobey helpfully assured me in person during my most recent medical appointment with him on April 21, 2009, that I myself did not authorize or cause or generate that noise pollution in the background, he stated.
I am very grateful to the nationally renowned Dr. David Tobey of Austin, Texas, for his very kind willingness to share his medical findings about me with any media company, any business owner or businessperson, any religious group, any educational institution, any government official based anywhere in the United States or in a foreign nation, any government agency (the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Travis County District Attorney's Office, the Travis County County Attorney's Office, the State Bar of Texas state agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Qualty state agency, the Texas Department of State Health Services, or the Office of the Attorney General of Texas state agency, the United States Attorney's Office, or the Justice Department, for instance), or any government-owned institution (or any civic group or any individual, for that matter) that or who might ever at any time choose to contact Dr. Tobey about this matter at his "Austin Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic" along Angus Road in northwest Austin.
The office phone number for Dr. David Tobey's medical clinic is: (512) 346-5562. The mailing address for Dr. David Tobey's medical clinic is: Austin Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic, 11623 Angus Road, Suite 20, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Any and all phone calls or letters of inquiry about this very alarming matter for myself----and, I might add, ANY factual information that anyone is willing to volunteer to myself or to my very fine ENT medical specialist, Dr. Tobey, in regard to the alleged "source" of that baffling noise pollution in Austin, Texas---will be greatly appreciated.
As a metaphorical sailor these days, I am determined to not myself get "shipwrecked" by continous, year-round, and injurious noise pollution in Austin, Texas.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Try Googling Your Mother's Name or Your Father's Name
This week, for the first time that I can recall, I pursued a Google search on the Internet using my Mother's married name and the first letter of her maiden name as her middle initial.
Much to my surprise, the third item that appeared on the screen was a citation to a 1951 "Yosemite Nature Notes" scientific article about Yosemite National Park --- an article in which Mother was specifically cited in an "Editor's Note" at the end of that article as having verified information contained in that article.
The article noted that Mother made that accuracy-verification on behalf of the Herbarium of her public-university employer at that time, the University of California at Berkeley.
When I recently discovered that article on the Internet, I wished that I had done that Google search in the early 1990s or 1980s, when Mother was still alive and fully alert.
It would have made a very nice present to Mother had I printed out that article and then handed it to her or mailed it to her.
That belated insight on my part has also prompted me to reflect on some of the many various ways in which I could have done more for my biological mother during her lifetime.
(1) I could have specifically praised Mother in a variety of ways on more occasions.
I could have commented on her great talent at getting along well with a wide variety of people. I could have praised Mother for her very gracious and friendly and very polite style toward nearly everyone who made a phone call to Mother's and Father's home. I could have praised Mother for the delicious German-style Sauer Braten and Swedish Meatballs and Rice Pilaf, among other dishes, that she very diligently prepared for herself and her family on a year-round basis in the 1970s.
(2) I could have purchased for her a photo-illustrated guidebook to the greatest nature trails for hiking outdoors in the United States and Canada. I don't believe that Mother ever owned a book that type, but she delighted in hiking outdoors and admiring the plants and wildlife. It often seemed, in fact, that Mother was at her happiest outdoors amid the flora and fauna, including when she and her husband and family were on a camping trip exploring scenic western states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and California.
(3) I could have asked Mother in the 1970s, for instance, which foreign nation she most would like to visit.
I don't remember asking her that specific question. If I did ask her that question, I failed to then find a way to help Mother have the opportunity to visit that favorite foreign nation of hers. I don't know for sure whether Mother would have cited Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia, Canada, or Germany as the foreign nation she most wanted to visit. Mother was half-English and half-German in ancestry.
(4) I could have found a guidebook to each of the political-theme and government-theme museums of English-speaking nations. I could then have asked Mother which of those museums appealed to her the most. She was very keen on politics and government, and would have appreciated the opportunity to reflect on which was her favorite of the political and government-theme museums she hadn't yet visited.
(5) I could have pursued research to find out whether the League of Women Voters, a favorite non-profit organization of Mother's for many years, or her own cited religious denomination, a religion based in Massachusetts, owned a historical museum that Mother might have wanted to visit. It is also likely that Mother would have appreciated the opportunity to visit and tour the "mecca", or headquarters city, of her own cited religious denomination---that city, for herself, having been Boston, Mass.
(6) I could have pursued some research to find out if there were any annual contests for crossword puzzle hobbyists that appealed to Mother. If so, possibly Mother might have enjoyed attending a crossword puzzle contest and competing at it. Otherwise, Mother might have enjoyed attending a Crossword Puzzle Hobbyists Fair or exhibit or convention of some type.
(7) I could have pursued research to find out if there was any organization for individuals with in-depth knowledge of botanical mushrooms.
Father had told me several times in the 1970s or 1960s that Mother had particularly excelled in the study of mushrooms and lichens during her prior days as a herbarium staff member at The University of California at Berkeley. Despite this, I never sensed that any professional scientific organization serving mushroom experts and mushroom devotees ever sent any literature to Mother or invited her to attend any of its annual conventions.
(8) I could have pursued more research aimed at offering Mother an opportunity to actually speak with or receive signed photographs from each of the various professional journalists and political leaders whom Mother admired the most.
They included Jim Lehrer of the "McNeil-Lehrer Report" (right name) of the 1970as and 1980s that was sponsored on television by the Public Broadcasting System; Walter Cronkite of CBS Evening News; Jimmy Fidler, the kindly meteorologist of Channel 7 CBS station in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s; Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota; and a male environmentally-minded U.S. Senator from Oregon whom Mother particularly admired in the 1970s.
As it turned out, I did succeed at persuading Jim Lehrer to mail to Mother a signed photograph of himself in the 1980s or 1990s---and Mother was thrilled and elated by that particular present. In fact, Mother posted that signed photograph of Jim Lehrer on the wall a few feet from the miniature television set situated on a counter in her kitchen where Mother devotedly watched Jim Lehrer's news-reportage and news-analysis programs over a multi-decade period.
I'm not so proud, though, of a Greek cookbook that I gave Mother as a Christmas present in the 1970s. Mother had not told me at the time that she loved Greek cuisine.
I had purchased that cookbook because I myself love Greek cooking and I myself had collected Greek postage stamps for several years of my youth. The inscription I hastily wrote inside that Greek cookbook present to Mother, "Hoping that you will incorporate this in the McMillan family cuisine," has since reminded me of an important point.
It's best to purchase or make a Christmas present for another person that matches his or her actually stated or conveyed keen affinities of the present. It's also best, of course, to take the time to write out a thoughtful and affectionate and fully empathetic message accompanying a Christmas present to one's own mother or father.
Much to my surprise, the third item that appeared on the screen was a citation to a 1951 "Yosemite Nature Notes" scientific article about Yosemite National Park --- an article in which Mother was specifically cited in an "Editor's Note" at the end of that article as having verified information contained in that article.
The article noted that Mother made that accuracy-verification on behalf of the Herbarium of her public-university employer at that time, the University of California at Berkeley.
When I recently discovered that article on the Internet, I wished that I had done that Google search in the early 1990s or 1980s, when Mother was still alive and fully alert.
It would have made a very nice present to Mother had I printed out that article and then handed it to her or mailed it to her.
That belated insight on my part has also prompted me to reflect on some of the many various ways in which I could have done more for my biological mother during her lifetime.
(1) I could have specifically praised Mother in a variety of ways on more occasions.
I could have commented on her great talent at getting along well with a wide variety of people. I could have praised Mother for her very gracious and friendly and very polite style toward nearly everyone who made a phone call to Mother's and Father's home. I could have praised Mother for the delicious German-style Sauer Braten and Swedish Meatballs and Rice Pilaf, among other dishes, that she very diligently prepared for herself and her family on a year-round basis in the 1970s.
(2) I could have purchased for her a photo-illustrated guidebook to the greatest nature trails for hiking outdoors in the United States and Canada. I don't believe that Mother ever owned a book that type, but she delighted in hiking outdoors and admiring the plants and wildlife. It often seemed, in fact, that Mother was at her happiest outdoors amid the flora and fauna, including when she and her husband and family were on a camping trip exploring scenic western states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and California.
(3) I could have asked Mother in the 1970s, for instance, which foreign nation she most would like to visit.
I don't remember asking her that specific question. If I did ask her that question, I failed to then find a way to help Mother have the opportunity to visit that favorite foreign nation of hers. I don't know for sure whether Mother would have cited Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia, Canada, or Germany as the foreign nation she most wanted to visit. Mother was half-English and half-German in ancestry.
(4) I could have found a guidebook to each of the political-theme and government-theme museums of English-speaking nations. I could then have asked Mother which of those museums appealed to her the most. She was very keen on politics and government, and would have appreciated the opportunity to reflect on which was her favorite of the political and government-theme museums she hadn't yet visited.
(5) I could have pursued research to find out whether the League of Women Voters, a favorite non-profit organization of Mother's for many years, or her own cited religious denomination, a religion based in Massachusetts, owned a historical museum that Mother might have wanted to visit. It is also likely that Mother would have appreciated the opportunity to visit and tour the "mecca", or headquarters city, of her own cited religious denomination---that city, for herself, having been Boston, Mass.
(6) I could have pursued some research to find out if there were any annual contests for crossword puzzle hobbyists that appealed to Mother. If so, possibly Mother might have enjoyed attending a crossword puzzle contest and competing at it. Otherwise, Mother might have enjoyed attending a Crossword Puzzle Hobbyists Fair or exhibit or convention of some type.
(7) I could have pursued research to find out if there was any organization for individuals with in-depth knowledge of botanical mushrooms.
Father had told me several times in the 1970s or 1960s that Mother had particularly excelled in the study of mushrooms and lichens during her prior days as a herbarium staff member at The University of California at Berkeley. Despite this, I never sensed that any professional scientific organization serving mushroom experts and mushroom devotees ever sent any literature to Mother or invited her to attend any of its annual conventions.
(8) I could have pursued more research aimed at offering Mother an opportunity to actually speak with or receive signed photographs from each of the various professional journalists and political leaders whom Mother admired the most.
They included Jim Lehrer of the "McNeil-Lehrer Report" (right name) of the 1970as and 1980s that was sponsored on television by the Public Broadcasting System; Walter Cronkite of CBS Evening News; Jimmy Fidler, the kindly meteorologist of Channel 7 CBS station in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s; Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota; and a male environmentally-minded U.S. Senator from Oregon whom Mother particularly admired in the 1970s.
As it turned out, I did succeed at persuading Jim Lehrer to mail to Mother a signed photograph of himself in the 1980s or 1990s---and Mother was thrilled and elated by that particular present. In fact, Mother posted that signed photograph of Jim Lehrer on the wall a few feet from the miniature television set situated on a counter in her kitchen where Mother devotedly watched Jim Lehrer's news-reportage and news-analysis programs over a multi-decade period.
I'm not so proud, though, of a Greek cookbook that I gave Mother as a Christmas present in the 1970s. Mother had not told me at the time that she loved Greek cuisine.
I had purchased that cookbook because I myself love Greek cooking and I myself had collected Greek postage stamps for several years of my youth. The inscription I hastily wrote inside that Greek cookbook present to Mother, "Hoping that you will incorporate this in the McMillan family cuisine," has since reminded me of an important point.
It's best to purchase or make a Christmas present for another person that matches his or her actually stated or conveyed keen affinities of the present. It's also best, of course, to take the time to write out a thoughtful and affectionate and fully empathetic message accompanying a Christmas present to one's own mother or father.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
"Texas Friendship Day" (8-2-09) Ideas on How to Become or Remain a Personal Friend for Someone
As Texans throughout our state prepare to celebrate Texas Friendship Day on Sunday, August 2, 2009, I would like to offer a few suggestions on how you can protect your own credibility as a prospective or current friend for another person.
Official information about the 2009 "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132, authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on the final day of the regular session this year, can be found at either or both of the following links:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132
The following are my personal suggestions on how you can help to convey to another person your own enthusiastic desire to either become or remain a mutual-consent personal friend for that individual:
(1) You might include that individual in your list of persons whom you invite to social parties you are hosting.
(2) You coud consistently return phone call messages from that individual.
(3) You could send prompt and polite reply messages in response to E-mail letters you receive from that individual.
(4) You might make a point of smiling while talking with that individual in person.
(5) You can strive to be helpful to that individual, such as by offering that person constructive and polite ideas or suggestions on how that person could improve his quality of life or his financial earnings capacity.
(6) You could express interest in the medical health of that individual, which conveys your devotion to that individual having the best possible medical health and medical longevity or lifespan.
(7) You can offer sincere and honest words of praise to that individual that refer to a variety of traits you admire that you have observed in that individual.
(8) You might invite that individual to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
(9) You could inquire about that individual's favorite hobbies or pastimes. You can then keep that in mind if you ever happen to learn about a cultural event in town that relates to a favorite hobby or pastime of that individual. You can then share that information with that individual.
(10) You could refrain from using sarcasm or profanity, or from verbalizing threats, in your comments to or written communications addressed to that individual. This will convey a friendly style toward himself.
(11) You could pose questions to that individual which convey an interest in his values, beliefs, and his platonic (non-sexual) passions as a human being. If he adores the foreign nation of Sweden, for instance, you can ask him if he has identified a favorite Scandinavian-style dish from the menu offerings of any of the restaurants in your city or town or geographical area. If so, you could invite him to join you for a meal inside that restaurant.
Official information about the 2009 "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132, authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on the final day of the regular session this year, can be found at either or both of the following links:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132
The following are my personal suggestions on how you can help to convey to another person your own enthusiastic desire to either become or remain a mutual-consent personal friend for that individual:
(1) You might include that individual in your list of persons whom you invite to social parties you are hosting.
(2) You coud consistently return phone call messages from that individual.
(3) You could send prompt and polite reply messages in response to E-mail letters you receive from that individual.
(4) You might make a point of smiling while talking with that individual in person.
(5) You can strive to be helpful to that individual, such as by offering that person constructive and polite ideas or suggestions on how that person could improve his quality of life or his financial earnings capacity.
(6) You could express interest in the medical health of that individual, which conveys your devotion to that individual having the best possible medical health and medical longevity or lifespan.
(7) You can offer sincere and honest words of praise to that individual that refer to a variety of traits you admire that you have observed in that individual.
(8) You might invite that individual to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
(9) You could inquire about that individual's favorite hobbies or pastimes. You can then keep that in mind if you ever happen to learn about a cultural event in town that relates to a favorite hobby or pastime of that individual. You can then share that information with that individual.
(10) You could refrain from using sarcasm or profanity, or from verbalizing threats, in your comments to or written communications addressed to that individual. This will convey a friendly style toward himself.
(11) You could pose questions to that individual which convey an interest in his values, beliefs, and his platonic (non-sexual) passions as a human being. If he adores the foreign nation of Sweden, for instance, you can ask him if he has identified a favorite Scandinavian-style dish from the menu offerings of any of the restaurants in your city or town or geographical area. If so, you could invite him to join you for a meal inside that restaurant.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
"Texas Friendship Day" Revives Statewide Tradition of 1920s, 1930s, 1940s
The statewide "Texas Friendship Day" celebration this August revives and expands upon a people-friendly Texan tradition that was previously celebrated in early 20th Century Texas.
That annual tradition, known as a Texas "Friendship Day," was reportedly celebrated on March 7 of each year for several decades beginning in the 1920s.
The statewide "Texas Friendship Day" that was unanimously approved this year by the Texas House of Representatives has been scheduled by that governing body for Sunday, August 2, 2009. That Texas Friendship Day resolution, H.R. 3132, was authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes of Austin.
Official information about the 2009 "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132
Information about the previous Texas "Friendship Day" tradition is contained in an official March 5, 1947, gubernatorial proclamation by Texas Governor Beauford Jester. In that proclamation, Governor Jester declared that Friendship Day in our state had been annually celebrated on March 7 for many years.
The content of Texas Governor Jester's proclamation was cited on July 28, 2009, and July 29, 2009, by a spokesman for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.
Texas Governor Jester in his 1947 Texas "Friendship Day" proclamation reportedly praised Texan civic leader Eleanor Brackenridge of San Antonio for having initiated the annual statewide Texas Friendship Day idea on her 80th birthday in
1921.
It is not clear from historical archives when the statewide Texas "Friendship Day" tradition of the early and mid-20th Century was discontinued.
More information about that early 20th Century celebration of a "Friendship Day" or "Texas Friendship Day" in Texas can be obtained by contacting the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.
That annual tradition, known as a Texas "Friendship Day," was reportedly celebrated on March 7 of each year for several decades beginning in the 1920s.
The statewide "Texas Friendship Day" that was unanimously approved this year by the Texas House of Representatives has been scheduled by that governing body for Sunday, August 2, 2009. That Texas Friendship Day resolution, H.R. 3132, was authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes of Austin.
Official information about the 2009 "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132
Information about the previous Texas "Friendship Day" tradition is contained in an official March 5, 1947, gubernatorial proclamation by Texas Governor Beauford Jester. In that proclamation, Governor Jester declared that Friendship Day in our state had been annually celebrated on March 7 for many years.
The content of Texas Governor Jester's proclamation was cited on July 28, 2009, and July 29, 2009, by a spokesman for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.
Texas Governor Jester in his 1947 Texas "Friendship Day" proclamation reportedly praised Texan civic leader Eleanor Brackenridge of San Antonio for having initiated the annual statewide Texas Friendship Day idea on her 80th birthday in
1921.
It is not clear from historical archives when the statewide Texas "Friendship Day" tradition of the early and mid-20th Century was discontinued.
More information about that early 20th Century celebration of a "Friendship Day" or "Texas Friendship Day" in Texas can be obtained by contacting the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Texas Friendship Day (8-2-09) Reflection: My Own Pet Peeves About Personal Friends
"Texas Friendship Day," a statewide civic event that is scheduled for Sunday, August 2, 2009, poses a grand opportunity to each of you Texans of today.
Not only are you being invited by the Texas House of Representatives to reflect on which personal attributes and personality traits you DO want to see in personal friends of ours.
You are also being implicitly reminded by the Texas House of Representatives to reflect on which personal attributes you DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO SEE in a mutual-consent personal friend of yours.
More information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by you and your Texas House of Representatives colleagues on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132
Among my own pet peeves about prospective new personal friends in my own life are:
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to pranks, "surprise parties," anonymous communications, fraudulent communications, lies, deliberate torture, or criminal mischief.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to deliberately subject me to what he knew at the time to be a false or fraudulent or trumped-up allegation or accusation against myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to non-stop, continuous, noise pollution on a multi-hour, multi-day, multi-year, or multi-decade basis.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to incessant or continuous noise pollution that is later determined by a first-rate ear, nose, and throat medical specialist whom I myself consult on a multi-year basis, to have inflicted a significant amount of permanent damage to my own hearing capacity and my own medical health.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who ever physically beats or physically whips myself or any other person, or who himself either condones or "supports" or knowingly permits or authorizes any such conduct.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who is physically violent toward others.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who repeatedly comes across as being either ungentlemanly or, if that individual is a woman, unladylike in that she is habitually abrasive and combative and ungracious and petty and humorless and vindictive.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever pursue actions or make comments indicating that he seeks to harm myself or anyone else.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to drive a motor vehicle after he becomes inebriated or intoxicated.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to condone or partly finance or wholly finance or support or knowingly participate in a planned snuff movie featuring the alleged planned murder or actual murder of myself or any other cited victim.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to withhold from me any factual evidence or hunches or impressions that friend ever has about which person or persons allegedly seek to harm me or injure me in Austin, Texas.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who expresses contempt for, antipathy toward, or defiance of law-enforcement officers or the law or the American legal system.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to criticize me incessantly and on a year-round basis.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who fails to ever once on any occasion offer honest and sincere and substantive words of praise and appreciation to myself, and, when referring to me while talking with others, about myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to repeatedly subject me to profane and vulgar and obscene language.
------I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to attempt to censor me or to censor me at any time.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to invite me to consume marijuana or any other illicit drug in any context.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to urge me or pressure me into consuming any illicit drug.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to talk with me incessantly or repeatedly about sex or sexuality or sexual identity or gender identity per se.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever urge me or pressure me into violating the law, or to ever order me to violate the law.
----I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever at any time subject me against my wishes to involuntary or unwitting consumption of marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever express anger toward me or disparage me or verbally abuse me because I myself lead a permanently illicit-drug-free, permanently alcohol-free, lifelong-tobacco-free, clean-talking, facially cleanshaven (no facial hair), tattoo-less, recently-certified-HIV-negative and recently-certified-STD-free, platonically polite, longtime celibate, honest, law-abiding, non-gambling, and crime-deterrence-minded lifestyle.
----I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who himself ever on any occasion consumes any marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time after he has reached age 30.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to attempt to brainwash myself or anyone else.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who supports or condones compelled relationships, arranged marriages, sadomasochism, or slavery.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who fails to honor the legal and Constitutional right of another human being to reject himself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to repeated, incessant communications or repeated, incessant comments about individuals whom I have already rejected from my own life and life circumstances.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to exhibit a contempt for or defiance of my own or others' Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Mutual-Consent Association legal rights, or privacy rights.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to tell me that he favors complete solitude and isolation for me in my own life.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to indicate to me that there is no circumstance in which he would ever be willing to introduce me to any of his friends or relatives or his romantic partner.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to repeatedly state to me that he will call me back on the telephone, and then never call me back on the telephone.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to state to me that my ability to continue as a personal friend of his is contingent on my own socioeconomic status or my own income level or my own level of "intellectual attainment" or "intellectual aptitude" or or "intellectual development" or "intellect" or "intelligence quotient" or my own "cultural accomplishment" level being regarded by himself as "sufficient" or "high enough" or "adequate" or "impressive enough" to meet his own cited expectations.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to criticize or attempt to restrict or undermine or prohibit my own legal right to myself associate with any honest and law-abiding legal-status adult person whom I directly enjoy associating with in person and whom I myself directly choose to associate with in a mutual-consent context.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to pursue any conduct indicating to me that he is intolerant toward my own right to have political and religious and personal views and beliefs that differ dramatically from his own.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever say "Shut up!" to myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to slander me or libel me or subject me to character assassination on a frequent or habitual basis.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to make comments or pursue actions that repeatedly indicate that he fails to acknowledge that I am, in fact, honest, conscientious, friendly, consistently civil, and law-abiding.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to withhold from me evidence he has obtained that one person or group of persons, or one media company or another, has possibly libeled me or slandered me or victimized me through character assassination of myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to express defiance of my human and legal and Constitutional right to set my own priorities and set my own course in my own life.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever state to me that if I myself choose to move to another city or U.S. state, or if I choose to lawfully emigrate to a foreign nation, that choice of mine automatically prevents him from continuing to be a personal friend of mine.
Not only are you being invited by the Texas House of Representatives to reflect on which personal attributes and personality traits you DO want to see in personal friends of ours.
You are also being implicitly reminded by the Texas House of Representatives to reflect on which personal attributes you DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO SEE in a mutual-consent personal friend of yours.
More information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by you and your Texas House of Representatives colleagues on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132
Among my own pet peeves about prospective new personal friends in my own life are:
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to pranks, "surprise parties," anonymous communications, fraudulent communications, lies, deliberate torture, or criminal mischief.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to deliberately subject me to what he knew at the time to be a false or fraudulent or trumped-up allegation or accusation against myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to non-stop, continuous, noise pollution on a multi-hour, multi-day, multi-year, or multi-decade basis.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to incessant or continuous noise pollution that is later determined by a first-rate ear, nose, and throat medical specialist whom I myself consult on a multi-year basis, to have inflicted a significant amount of permanent damage to my own hearing capacity and my own medical health.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who ever physically beats or physically whips myself or any other person, or who himself either condones or "supports" or knowingly permits or authorizes any such conduct.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who is physically violent toward others.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who repeatedly comes across as being either ungentlemanly or, if that individual is a woman, unladylike in that she is habitually abrasive and combative and ungracious and petty and humorless and vindictive.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever pursue actions or make comments indicating that he seeks to harm myself or anyone else.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to drive a motor vehicle after he becomes inebriated or intoxicated.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to condone or partly finance or wholly finance or support or knowingly participate in a planned snuff movie featuring the alleged planned murder or actual murder of myself or any other cited victim.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to withhold from me any factual evidence or hunches or impressions that friend ever has about which person or persons allegedly seek to harm me or injure me in Austin, Texas.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who expresses contempt for, antipathy toward, or defiance of law-enforcement officers or the law or the American legal system.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to criticize me incessantly and on a year-round basis.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who fails to ever once on any occasion offer honest and sincere and substantive words of praise and appreciation to myself, and, when referring to me while talking with others, about myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to repeatedly subject me to profane and vulgar and obscene language.
------I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to attempt to censor me or to censor me at any time.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to invite me to consume marijuana or any other illicit drug in any context.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to urge me or pressure me into consuming any illicit drug.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to talk with me incessantly or repeatedly about sex or sexuality or sexual identity or gender identity per se.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever urge me or pressure me into violating the law, or to ever order me to violate the law.
----I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever at any time subject me against my wishes to involuntary or unwitting consumption of marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever express anger toward me or disparage me or verbally abuse me because I myself lead a permanently illicit-drug-free, permanently alcohol-free, lifelong-tobacco-free, clean-talking, facially cleanshaven (no facial hair), tattoo-less, recently-certified-HIV-negative and recently-certified-STD-free, platonically polite, longtime celibate, honest, law-abiding, non-gambling, and crime-deterrence-minded lifestyle.
----I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who himself ever on any occasion consumes any marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time after he has reached age 30.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to attempt to brainwash myself or anyone else.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who supports or condones compelled relationships, arranged marriages, sadomasochism, or slavery.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who fails to honor the legal and Constitutional right of another human being to reject himself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to repeated, incessant communications or repeated, incessant comments about individuals whom I have already rejected from my own life and life circumstances.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to exhibit a contempt for or defiance of my own or others' Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Mutual-Consent Association legal rights, or privacy rights.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to tell me that he favors complete solitude and isolation for me in my own life.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to indicate to me that there is no circumstance in which he would ever be willing to introduce me to any of his friends or relatives or his romantic partner.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to repeatedly state to me that he will call me back on the telephone, and then never call me back on the telephone.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to state to me that my ability to continue as a personal friend of his is contingent on my own socioeconomic status or my own income level or my own level of "intellectual attainment" or "intellectual aptitude" or or "intellectual development" or "intellect" or "intelligence quotient" or my own "cultural accomplishment" level being regarded by himself as "sufficient" or "high enough" or "adequate" or "impressive enough" to meet his own cited expectations.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to criticize or attempt to restrict or undermine or prohibit my own legal right to myself associate with any honest and law-abiding legal-status adult person whom I directly enjoy associating with in person and whom I myself directly choose to associate with in a mutual-consent context.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to pursue any conduct indicating to me that he is intolerant toward my own right to have political and religious and personal views and beliefs that differ dramatically from his own.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever say "Shut up!" to myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to slander me or libel me or subject me to character assassination on a frequent or habitual basis.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to make comments or pursue actions that repeatedly indicate that he fails to acknowledge that I am, in fact, honest, conscientious, friendly, consistently civil, and law-abiding.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to withhold from me evidence he has obtained that one person or group of persons, or one media company or another, has possibly libeled me or slandered me or victimized me through character assassination of myself.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to express defiance of my human and legal and Constitutional right to set my own priorities and set my own course in my own life.
---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever state to me that if I myself choose to move to another city or U.S. state, or if I choose to lawfully emigrate to a foreign nation, that choice of mine automatically prevents him from continuing to be a personal friend of mine.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
In Search of a Ketchup Without High Fructose Corn Syrup
The other day I discovered that a bottle of Heinz Ketchup I recently purchased contains "high fructose corn syrup" as an ingredient.
That sobering discovery has prompted me to wonder if there is any reasonably priced ketchup available in the supermarket today that contains no high fructose corn syrup.
I have read in recent years that it is advisable to minimize consumption of high fructose corn syrup, and this reminds me that I also need to find out more about the medical basis for that advice.
One update on this: This Saturday, August 1, 2009, I was pleasantly surprised to note inside an H.E.B. supermarket in northwest Austin that the San Antonio-based H.E.B. supermarkets are now offering an H.E.B. brand of ketchup that contains no high fructose corn syrup. That is very good news for ketchup lovers such as myself.
At least one health-minded nationwide restaurant chain, the Beaumont, Texas-based Jason's Deli, has posted announcements on its dining tables that announce to all customers that Jason's Deli is nearing its goal of eliminating high fructose corn syrup from all Jason's Deli menu offerings and beverages.
Heinz Ketchup has long been a personal favorite of mine partly because my beloved mother several decades ago (and I forgot to ask Mother if that was in the 1950s or 1940s) won either first or second place in a nationwide "Why I Love Heinz Ketchup" essay contest.
Mother was awarded a free can opener from the Heinz corporation based on her essay, she modestly told me one day inside her kitchen. Mother added that this was the only contest she had ever won in her entire life. Looking back, I wish that Mother had received more recognition for her writing talents; but of course I am grateful to Heinz Ketchup Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for having honored Mother for her skill at writing.
That sobering discovery has prompted me to wonder if there is any reasonably priced ketchup available in the supermarket today that contains no high fructose corn syrup.
I have read in recent years that it is advisable to minimize consumption of high fructose corn syrup, and this reminds me that I also need to find out more about the medical basis for that advice.
One update on this: This Saturday, August 1, 2009, I was pleasantly surprised to note inside an H.E.B. supermarket in northwest Austin that the San Antonio-based H.E.B. supermarkets are now offering an H.E.B. brand of ketchup that contains no high fructose corn syrup. That is very good news for ketchup lovers such as myself.
At least one health-minded nationwide restaurant chain, the Beaumont, Texas-based Jason's Deli, has posted announcements on its dining tables that announce to all customers that Jason's Deli is nearing its goal of eliminating high fructose corn syrup from all Jason's Deli menu offerings and beverages.
Heinz Ketchup has long been a personal favorite of mine partly because my beloved mother several decades ago (and I forgot to ask Mother if that was in the 1950s or 1940s) won either first or second place in a nationwide "Why I Love Heinz Ketchup" essay contest.
Mother was awarded a free can opener from the Heinz corporation based on her essay, she modestly told me one day inside her kitchen. Mother added that this was the only contest she had ever won in her entire life. Looking back, I wish that Mother had received more recognition for her writing talents; but of course I am grateful to Heinz Ketchup Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for having honored Mother for her skill at writing.
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