Don't call me; I'll call you

My sister told me recently that she'll know she's really getting really old when her kids start calling her every day. Which, of course, is very funny since we're always saying to each other that we rarely speak to our kids unless we do the calling. I have one son who calls me about every 6 or 7 weeks and tries to time it when he knows I won't answer my home phone. This way he can leave a message and doesn't have to hear how I'm doing. He just always assumes I'm okay; if not, he'll hear from his brother or sister otherwise. And my sister is so right. Because I used to make my perfunctory phone calls to my parents once a week when they lived in Florida. But once we moved my mom out here to California in her 90s, I was calling her every day. So for right now, I just giggle from the fact that my kids have their own lives, are busy working, driving their kids everywhere, cleaning the house etc. and it's hard to take the time to make small talk with me. And I'm content with knowing that I'm still able enough to call them and not have to wait for them to call me.

53% of who?

It has been 10 months since I have "ruminated" anything on my blog site. And I have been asked repeatedly why I stopped blogging. I have no answer except that blogging takes time, at least for me, and since I started working 6 days a week, I spend most of my free time eating, sleeping and watching Law and Order. So speaking of work, here goes my newest blog and newest rant.

I am a progressive Radio Talk Show aficionado and listen to Air America, or Nova whenever I'm going to and from work. Invariably I get very involved with the topic on hand and hate having to park my car in the parking structure at work. I am just at the point when the guest speaker is exchanging some very important statistics with the talk show host, or a person calls in with unusual information when I have to enter the parking structure. It's like "Well, you know Tom, 53% of all --and I lose the signal. WHAT? I'm missing the most important stat due to complete static for 4 floors until I reach the 5th floor which is outdoors (employee parking.) It happens to me everyday 6 days a week. It's as if the most important bit of information is being given out as I enter the parking garage. Sometimes, although rarely, when no one is behind me, I just let my car idle at the point of entry to hear the rest of the comment. It's no different when I get off the freeway sometimes and I have to go under the freeway bridge to get to the main street. I mean, men and women fly to the moon, astronauts are floating in space making finite adjustments to the Hubble Telescope, we can fly to the east coast in 4 1/2 hours; but no one has found a way to get better reception when we're in parking structures! I drive an Acura and can't hear squat inside. If any readers drive a Lexus or Infiniti or BMW, please let me know if you have better luck. Until then, yours in static.