Aaron Ewer

Funny how we were just talking about this the other night and then yesterday I come across a story in the daily newspaper about the very same thing: concocted words.

I hear words in everyday conversations that drive me nuts because there is not such word. For example: conversate. I’ve never heard a white person use this word in a sentence but I hear it more and more and it gets under my skin so bad I want to slap the person using it and put a “stupid sign” around their neck.

The press is guilty of a lot of this concoction. Words like “Brangelina” and “Baby Bump” are ridiculous and yet these smiling talking boobs toss them about in all the celebrity gossip shows and columns. I’m so sick of it!

Read these forum comments from the Chicago Tribune site for other concocted words. You will be surprised at the hundreds of responses to their question, “What made-up word drives you nuts?”

The past week I have been watching the cost of gas creep lower and lower. Thank God we have a little relief from the cost of transportation!

I hate to say it out loud and put a hex on the situation, but we have seen the price of gas drop from over $4.09 per gallon last month down in the “Land of Excess” where I work, to $3.19 per gallon at the little BP station down the road from my house. There is a price difference of over 12 cents per gallon between the stations at the highway exit by my house to the cheaper stations about 2 miles from the highway in the neighborhood shopping areas. It pays to check with Gas Buddy online before heading out for a fill up.

I would love to see the price get down below $3.00 again. That would make a huge difference in my household budget. Too late to resurrect the vacation plans we had to cancel, but at least we can get back and forth to work with a little less pain to the wallet again.

Back to school means shelling out the big bucks for school supplies, plus in this area the kids all have to wear clothes that meet the county’s strict uniform guidelines. There was a lot of controversy about implementing a school uniform policy, but it worked out OK last year.

Most of the schools have an approved list of school supplies for each grade, and they provide these lists to the local Wal-Marts and Targets about 3 weeks before the first day of school so parents can take advantage of the tax-free weekend shop around the different stores for special prices and sales.

The school supplies lists are very specific, often including the only acceptable brand usually offering no explanation for things like “two folders, one red and one black” or “backpacks with one pocket and no wheels.”

On the list I’m working with, the kids are required to bring three boxes of 24 count Crayola brand crayons. We are not allowed to put our child’s name on them, as evidently all crayons are put into a community sharing box for all the children to share amongst themselves. What?!?! If everyone is “sharing” then why am I sending three boxes at the start of the school year? For the bussed in kids to “share” my kids stuff? If that’s what they plan, why hide behind this list and not just come out and say they want me to provide free crayons for two other kids in the class?

Evidently, not all the supplies are to be “shared” and these items are to be labeled with our child’s first and last name before sending them to the school. There were no further instructions as to what type of labeling is required. In my house, labeling means using a DYMO Labelmaker and printing out the name on the different color tapes that come with the machine. I worry that I’ll use the wrong color tape and meet with the teacher’s immediate disapproval, resulting in a bias against my child for the entire school year.

Perhaps if I donate one of the labelmakers to the class we will be forgiven? They are so handy to have for so many things around the house and office, I bet the teacher’s would appreciate having one in the classroom to label the items for children who’s parents neglected to put labels on their supplies, plus they can label items within the classroom to help stay organized. Well, that’s the plan then.

Sitting at a stoplight down in the Land of Excess, all of a sudden there was a lurch forward as somebody ran into the back end of my SUV. I was at a complete stop and the guy behind was slowing but I have no idea why he rammed into me.

Jumped out and ran to the back to look at the bumper and see if there was any damage. Thankfully, I have a trailer hitch and heavy duty bumper on mine and there was not even a tiny dent on my vehicle. But the other guy’s entire front grill had collapsed and popped loose. Lucky his airbags didn’t go off. Even luckier, neither of us was hurt.

Bad news for people in the news business. This past week a lot of the big publishers have fired or laid off a big chunk of their staffs.

The USA Today organization announced that they were eliminating 1,500 jobs. The Chicago Tribune let go 600 people, and The Tennessean laid off around 500 people.

Not only are they slashing payroll and passing other expenses on to their vendors and independent contractors, now they are raising the price of the daily newspapers, too. The daily Tennessean has cost 50 cents for years and it’s much cheaper if you subscribe. However, next month the single copy price will increase to 75 cents. I wonder if these changes will chase away more readers and actually contribute to their demise?