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Posted by Lizzie on Sep-5-2008
There’s a lot of talk about women’s issues this election cycle. Thanks to Hillary Clinton, and now Sarah Palin, we’re back in the spotlight. In that vein, Congress is pressing for a revote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which failed to pass previously. McCain has come out again it:
“I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,” the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. “This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.”
I’ve recently engaged in a half-hearted IT job search - in anticipation of my eventual graduation from the Tech program. There seems to be a little available, but I’ve heard that women are not treated favorably in the IT industry. It would please me, and thousands of other women, tremendously if this actually became law. Would I know that my male counterparts were making more than me? Probably not. But this act would give me recourse should I find out about a pay discrepancy after the fact. As a woman hoping to work in a male-dominated field, I would feel just a little better knowing I had a safety net.
There was some talk that this law isn’t necessary. I beg to differ. I worked with a company (unrelated to the tech field) that cut me a mystery check. When I inquired to what the purpose of the check was, I was told that it was to make up for a pay difference between me and my male counterparts. I had no idea that the men were making that much more per hour than I was, but there was a lawsuit and the settlement agreement was that this company would pay the hourly difference to each female for whatever period of time they agreed to (I think it was 3 months, even though I’d been there for over a year at that point). I left that company not long afterward, but my eyes had been opened. The reasoning for the lower pay was that women are mothers and so are prone to miss work because of their sick children. Men, on the other hand, are more reliable and should be rewarded. Really?
At a time when a major political party has nominated a self-proclaimed “hockey mom” to be vice president, there should be no more “she should get less because she’s a mom”. This woman is seeking a job while parenting 5 children (and potentially helping parent a grandchild) so the reason listed above would apply to her and her pay should be cut significantly. Right? No. Wrong. Her husband will be able to tend to the children while she runs for office and he can tend to the children while she continues to govern Alaska (except that he’s got a full-time job plus an extra job on the side in the summer, but that’s not this issue). It’s only fair that the rest of American women enjoy the same equality in pay as the women who govern them.
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Archive for February, 2008
Feb
19
Posted by Lizzie
Recently, I was watching a commercial about alarm system monitoring and it scared the beejeezus out of me. I’ve been known to be paranoid about the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. Since I’ve been on the Elavil, I sleep very deeply. Because of that I’ve taken to sleeping with my bedroom doors open- so I can hear the alarms if they go off. I’ve also purchased some fire escape equipment that we keep upstairs in case we can’t get out.
Now I’m worried about burglars. I live in a small town that’s not too far from a big town and some of the criminals from there come here to take advantage of the local naiveté. Every so often I’ll read about car and home break-ins going up in certain neighborhoods around here and know that it’s because the drug dealers from the North have seen how easy it is to make some money down here. I always make sure the doors are locked before I go to bed, but what if it’s not enough?
I don’t know when I got to be so paranoid/skittish. There was a time when these sort of thoughts didn’t live constantly in my head. I didn’t make sure that the front door was locked before I went out the back door. I didn’t consider that open window downstairs a safety hazard (in the summer, of course). Now I’m getting almost obsessed about it. Is it a side effect of my drugs? Do I watch too much television? Is our little community really that tainted now?
I’m evaluating our budget as we speak. I want to install an alarm system and get a rottweiler. Of course, Grump has a more, um, interesting idea. He wants to buy a small farm in the boonies. What criminals are going to come out there to steal a tv? Well, I’m not too sure they couldn’t stop by on their way from some other place. An alarm system would suit our current living situation a lot better. And a rott would be a good companion for our overly-friendly lab.
I used to live in the town north of us. I lived in a really bad neighborhood- complete with S.W.A.T. raids and hookers - and was never this paranoid. I knew how to handle myself then. Actually, I slept with a hunting knife close at hand and never did gardening (if your home looks rich on the outside, the criminals are more likely to target it). I knew better, and slept better at night. Now, well, I’m like a scared old lady just waiting for something bad to happen.
I’m thinking it’s the drugs and/or the S.A.D. I don’t care. I’m looking into one of those alarm systems. Hopefully my paranoia will wane a little. And won’t rub off on my kids. I want them to have some kind of street smarts (because, really, the naiveté does set you up as a prime target), but I don’t want them to think bad things are always right around the corner. And I don’t want to turn into “Monk”.
Maybe a farm is the best bet. Yup, a couple of cows and a goose would most certainly do the trick. But I’m not going to do the milking. I’ll be training the German Shepherds.
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Feb
19
Posted by Lizzie
Something that is really bothersome about our house is that we don’t have a bathtub. That’s right- we only have a shower. It didn’t seem so bad when we were buying the house, because we loved so many other things about the place. It’s not really a problem, until it’s time to wash Mags. We went through a couple of different shower faucets before we found a decent dual-head model. One was stationary: one was connected to a hose. We mounted the hose one to the wall toward the floor so that it would work with Mags and it did well (I won’t even get into how we manage getting her clean *sigh*).
Then it broke. The little thing in the junction of the two heads stopped turning, which meant that the water was coming from both faucets at the same time. This would have been ok, except for the washing of the little one. Then the top faucet went kaput and, I’m not sure what happened, caused no water to come out anywhere. Grump and I are not plumbers and had no idea what to do. So we called Poppy.
Luckily, Poppy was able to rig that bad boy up so that water shoots through and we can all get clean again. Sadly, there is no longer any way to control the water.
Now what are we going to do about this mess? We could just leave it alone, like most people without the funds would do, but that doesn’t work for us. My experience with being uber-poor tells me that the longer we leave something like this alone, the worse it gets. It’s cheaper to scrape together a fix than it is to put it on the “worry about this later” list. Our plans are to install a second faucet- which would be separate from the main one.
The good thing is, Poppy will help us because Mags is his favorite grandkid. So, we’ll just have to pay for the pipe and shower head. Then we’ll drill a hole, cut the pipe, glue the pipe, fix the hole and voilà. Mags will have her own little shower and we won’t have to worry about the dual heads anymore.
By the way, we are planning on a tub at some point in the future. The problem is that’s not a cheap fix- anyway you look at it. So, we’re going to make due for now with our dual shower faucets and a little bench for the crickety old lady and the cute little preschooler. 
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Feb
12
Posted by Lizzie
For the last few months our little burg has been all aflutter about a new building going up down by the mall. That’s where all the “good” corporate restaurants are built, so it’s kind of like the hangout for us. There was a rumor that it was going to a Starbucks or maybe another one of the Quiznos (there’s a local franchise here and they’re building like crazy all over the county). I was hoping for something more interesting, like a Bahama Breeze or Rockne’s. Alas, everyone was wrong.
It’s an Aspen Dental office. Complete with a drive-thru window. HUH? Why does a dentist office have a drive-thru? I really, really don’t get it. I’ve seen ads from other places about dentures in a day, etc, so could this be dentures while you wait? What’s going on?
It certainly is a sad state of affairs when all the good talk around the town centers around a little building on the edge of a mall parking lot, huh? I guess it’s better than reading about John Smith’s car breaking down on Main Street or the clog in Jane Doe’s sink last week. Oh? You didn’t realize that newspapers print that kind of stuff? Our does. Believe it.
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