Four For Friday

Q1 - Names: Here in the U.S., the parents of a three-year-old boy have branded a supermarket "intolerant" after it refused to decorate their son's birthday cake with his name: Adolf Hitler Campbell. The couple, from New Jersey, asked ShopRite staff to decorate little Adolf's cake with his name, which he shares with the deceased Nazi dictator, and were outraged after staff refused to on the grounds that it was inappropriate. Do you think the supermarket's bakery staff made the right decision or does every little boy deserve to have his name on their birthday cake regardless of what their name is?

Though the idea of naming a child after such a dictator is totally beyond me I do believe those parents have a right to get a cake with their child's name on it. The store has no right to refuse as these are paying consumers and it was not something that was illegal. The child did not pick the name...when he gets older he may choose not to keep it, or he may choose to do something great that will give the name a new meaning...

Q2 - Grumble: What are your top five beefs?

Well, let me see...Okay, I can't stand when women put their makeup on in the car. Come on people get up early enough or put it on at work, but not in the freaking car while you are driving...please. I also can't deal with people holding the darn phone to their ear in the car...we have so many tools at our disposal today to talk hands free...and they are not expensive. Get on already so the rest of us on the road don't have to worry about you hitting us. Okay, another is a freaking adult talking baby talk all the time. What is up with that? I mean, is there any real reason they should speak this way? I also don't like it when someone blows their own horn...it just annoys me to no end. Let someone give you praise and be modest about it. I believe our self assessment that we give our supervisor and when applying for a job are the only legitimate times to blow our own horns. My last one is people that drive around during dusk, dawn or in the rain without their lights on...what, are they conserving energy? At my expense? Who gave these idiots drivers licenses?

Q3 - Layaway: As everyone knows, it's shopping season once again, but we all know times are a little tough this year. A new ABC News poll this week found that many Americans are feeling the financial strain, resulting in a lot of us spending a lot less on holiday gifts. So perhaps it's not a big surprise that we would see the resurgence of a more conservative way to shop... the layaway. If you could put one item on layaway for up to five years that you absolutely intended to incrementally pay for in full, what would you choose to put on layaway?

It would have to be a service if you could put a service on layaway. It would be laser eye surgery so I don't have to wear my glasses anymore. Yeah, that would work. I could pay about 800.00 or so a year and in five years have the surgery done and not have to wear these things or spend money year after year on new glasses...

Q4 - Memories: How will you remember 2008?

Well, 2008 would be the year that I moved to Mississippi, no longer a supervisor...a good thing, half the distance to my parents...a good thing, but left all of the convinences of a metropolitian area behind...a bad thing. I will remember that in January we lost a cousin that was only 27 and still had so much to give this world in both music and in the medical community as I was sure he was not done figuring out what he wanted to be...he had been a social worker and had just graduated with his nursing degree. This will also be the year that my bffl and I grew closer once again. We have really been through it over the years, pulling apart and coming back together. I am not sure what has caused the change this year, but it has been nice to have her in my life again on a more regular basis.