Amy Currioman

From what I understand the groundhog is calling for a late spring. I hope he is wrong, but I have to say that the winter has been much milder than usual this year, so if it stays this mild then I really won’t care about how late spring is. There have been fewer school cancellations because of winter weather this year so far, which I’m sure upsets the school children to no end. It has been a long time since school cancellations affected my family, but I can imagine the disappointment that a lot of kids would be sharing if they don’t get the chance to build at least one snow man or snow fort and have a good snowball fight!

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that for at least the past ten years I’ve been hearing my friends and families tell me that they are no longer getting raises at work because the employer is claiming that they can’t afford to give out raises and keep the doors to the business open.

They are not even being given cost of living adjustments, so their purchasing power keeps decreasing while the cost of living keeps increasing. I keep hearing on the news that there are a lot of people living in illegal tent cities around the country because they can no longer afford to live in a house or apartment. And the police keep rousting these tent cities. Where are these families supposed to go? The shelters are full, or in some cases refuse to take them because many of these people are disabled and can’t work and the shelters won’t take anyone that won’t or can’t look for work.

This is so very sad. I don’t know what the answer is, but this is really a tragedy on our own soil.

One of the things I enjoy watching on YouTube is the different flash mobs. I would love to participate in something like that some day. Sadly I also saw a video about how in some cities (specifically Philadelphia) the flash mobs are turning into violent rumbles, which is not exactly what a flash mob is supposed to be! But the police are calling them flash mobs and that is going to give them a bad name. They really should be called rumbles – there is a difference!

I think it is a very sad commentary that so many people get so worked up over saving some money by going shopping on Black Friday that the mob mentality takes over and people get trampled in human stampedes. Last year it was a death at Wal-Mart, this year it was people injured in a stampede at Target! These are good examples why I prefer to stay home on Black Friday!

The human body certainly is a fascinating thing. Here is a youtube video I just found that shows a little girl that will certainly have an unusual life!