January 12, 2007
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - Gift Cards: The National Retail Federation says that we spent $24.81 billion this past holiday season on Gift Cards, and that each one us spent more on gift card contributions last year than the year before (the average consumer, says the NRF, spent $116.51 in 2006 vs. $88.03 in 2005). Did you purchase a gift card for someone last year? If not, did you receive a gift card from someone as a holiday gift?
Q2 - Email: When you open your email in-box for the first time each day, which messages do you read first? Do you read them in reverse chronological order or do you pick and choose which ones to read first based on a different priority?
Q3 - Weather: The current El Nino weather anomaly that can create atmospheric havoc around the world should continue into the spring, extending unseasonably warm temperatures in North American through March, the U.S. National Weather Service predicted yesterday. How has the weather impacted your life these last few months? If you live up north, are you receiving more or less snow; and if you in the down south, is it cooler or warmer than normal? Despite whether (no pun intended) you normally receive snow or not, are you happy, sad, or indifferent about your area's current weather?
Q4 - National Guard Service: For the first time since President George W. Bush mobilized the National Guard and Reserve (after 9/11), the Pentagon is abandoning its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty. Until now, the Pentagonís policy on the National Guard and Reserve was that membersí cumulative time on active duty could not exceed 24 months. That cumulative limit is now lifted; the remaining limit is on the length of any single mobilization, which may not exceed 24 consecutive months. In other words, a citizen-soldier could be mobilized for a 24-month stretch in Iraq or Afghanistan, then demobilized and allowed to return to civilian life, only to be mobilized a second time for as much as 24 additional months. In your opinion, is the Pentagon's change fair, and furthermore, do you think it's called for?
Posted by Mikal at January 12, 2007 5:38 AM
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1) This holiday season I did not purchase a single gift card for anyone, neither did I receive any gift cards. In fact, I spent the holidays with 24 family members and not a single one of them gave or recieved a gift card. Maybe we are just strange, but I think not. Perhaps the NRF is just trying to persuade people to buy gift cards because 20% of them are never used and retailers get money for nothing.
2) I generally read oldest to newest. But I always start with a quick scan to see if there is anything really interesting to start off with.
3) I live in UT and the weather is a little erratic. One day it will be 60 degrees and sunny, and the nest day it is 20 degrees and snowing. I enjoy all four seasons, but I wish mother nature would pick one and stick with it for a few months.
4) I don't think the Pentagon changes are fair because when people sign up for the National Guard, they agree to certain terms and conditions including the 24 month service limit. To change the limit on people after the fact is wrong.
1. I didn't purchase any giftcards this year, but I received several from my mom for stores of my choosing.
2. I usually pick and choose. First is usually the Quote Du Jour, followed by those sent by family members if they aren't obviously forwards or "hey look at this cute picture, ain't it cool?" mails. After that, I get to them when I get to them.
3. The weather in Indiana is unseasonably warm with occasional 3 day long cold snaps. just enough to help get you good and sick if you'er not careful. I kinda miss the usual cold and snow though. I don't think I'll appreciate spring nearly as much this year.
4. Well, 'fair' and 'called for' are two totally different things in this case. While I sympathise with the guardsmen and their families and think they're getting a raw deal, I'm sure that if they had bothered to read the contract they signed upon enlistment, a provision was included to allow just such an extension. Fair? Not really, but I imagine that it's legal. Any person who's ever been burned by the terms of a contract that they didnt' bother reading completly will tell you that ignorance of the terms does not make the contract any less legally binding.
As to being called for? Since Bush cannot get enough warm bodies to enlist even by dumbing down the standards and even HE isn't so abysmally stupid as to call for a draft, I suppose Georgie needs to do something to keep his trainwreck fully staffed. What's truly uncalled for is the entire undeclared and unwinnable war he's gotten us mired in, but at least for the short term we're stuck with it.
1) I bought a gift card for my wife. If she wants clothes, it's the only way to shop. She gets exactly what she wants in the size she wants, and I get to avoid strange looks when I duck into the Women's section. I also received more gift card credit than I've ever received before--well over $100 worth. Strange enough, though, they were all iTunes gift cards, and I'm running out of download ideas. Any thoughts on how to spend my last $40.00?
2) Chronological order in my work Inbox, and I pick and choose my favorites in my hotmail box.
3) Weather only made my life significantly interesting last month when I had to travel on I-80 through most of Wyoming. We were stuck with white-knuckle conditions through almost the entire state. We plowed through everything from ice to snow to snow blowing across the road.
It's hard to tell how much snow we're getting compared to last year. In Utah, we get huge snow storms that for no more than a day, and we get them at the most unpredictable times. I'll have a better answer sometime in April.
I'm definitely not indifferent about the weather, but I'm also incredibly ambivalent. On some days, I love waking up to a world wrapped in a soft, white blanket. On other days, I literally mutter curses at the weather under my breath as I pedal my bike to work with half-frozen legs.
4) Obviously, there's something that smells to high-heaven about that situation, especially for those who are effected by the changed AFTER they've been in the military for a while. Those guys didn't know EXACTLY what they're signing up for. At the same time, you don't sign up for the military expecting vast amounts of convenience, so you gotta expect some garbage like that to happen. Of course, should these guys be punished just because the military can't meet their recruiting goals? This is making my brain hurt. I'm gonna go curl up into fetal position and suck my thumb for a while.
1. I never buy cards, and I'm not a big fan of receiving them. However, for the extremely rare times I do decide to give a card, I have a WordPerfect (yes, WordPerfect) template that I created back in the '90s that I use.
2. I'm a first come first served kind of guy. Chronological.
3. I was born in San Diego. I have always wanted to return since the time I was about 10. Nothing to do with a "desire to return home." I'm just a comfortable weather kind of guy. I am not a fan of hot or cold.
4. My opinion is tainted, but here it is. When I joined the military I knew that when I signed on that I was now government property and would get treated as such. My desire to serve my country had to be strong enough that I was okay with that, otherwise I never would have joined. Maybe it's just me, but when you are "owned" by the government, you just do what they say. You do take an oath to obey orders, and if the order is, "You go serve for 24 months, come home for a 3 day break, then go serve another 24 months..." well that really sucks. But if the military came and asked me to do it, I'd pack my bags and do what I was told without a single word of dissent. Serving my country means that much to me, and it should be to everybody in the service. But I'm a realist as well, and understand that their aren't nearly enough warriors in our society to maintain a strong military. This move will undoubtedly decrease recruitment for the Guard. I may have preferred to simply increase the 24 month limit to, say, 48 months or something.
1. Yes, I bough a few gift cards. Sometimes I just don't know what to buy for people, but I know where they like to shop, so I get a gift card. Also, they were recommended by the receiver. I don't mind getting them myself, it's like free money at my favorite store. But a personal gift is always best. I did receive several for Christmas.
2. I read my emails according to title and who it is from. If it's a forwarded message I usually read it first, then I move on to the rest.
3. We've had unusually warm weather here in New England. It was over 70 degrees last Saturday. This winter has felt more like a cold fall. No snow at all. I guess I kind of miss a real winter, but I like the warm weather better, so it hasn't really bothered me. Though it is quite cold now.
4. I think is sucks that they changed the time frame for the National Guard. It's only happening because they need to keep people in to fight W's war. Not very fair, but like others have said, the gov't owns you once you sign those papers.
1. I received 3 gift cards. I liked them because they were from people who would normally give me something I can't use or have to take back. This way I was able to go get exactly what I wanted at my favorite stores00book store, scrapbook store, & Wal-Mart. I did not give any. I listen to people all year to hear things they like and then try to get them that.
2. I pick and choose. Some I never open. I"ve worked hard to cut down on the junk mail I get but occasionally one gets through.
3. Indiana has been unusually warm for this time of year. That's been fine with me. I'd choose San Diego too if it was affordable and we had family in that area.
4. I think it stinks but I also know that when you sign up you sign your life away. I have friends who have been out of the service and not part of the guard and were called back. The one thing that I think the Government should have to do is work out a way for them to make the money they were making while employed in their civilian job. I know that means lots more money. The companies and the Govt should have to work together to keep the pay the same. MAYBE THAT WOULD MAKE EVERYONE THINK REALLY HARD ABOUT CHOOSING WAR. I don't think making people go back so many times is called for, but then I don't want a draft either. This whole thing is such a mess that I wonder if anything we do (leave or stay) will really make a difference. But do we want those 3000+ to have died in vain? Reality says we are in deep doodoo and there is no greaceful way out. Hope wants to say that maybe there is still that --hope.
1. I purchased, but did not receive any, gift cards this holiday season. I like them, but, for gifts, I prefer to use the stored-value/pre-paid VISA cards. That way, the gift money may be spent at any variety of retailers.
2. Normally, I read the daily prayer list from the church firrst, then proceed to strictly personal emails, then Jaycee stuff, then The NY Times, then work stuff, then others.
3. My parents and my older brother were without power, due to the recent spate of ice & snow storms, for 8 and 9 days, respectively. I hosted a variety of friends and my brother's friends at my house for meals & showers because I had power most of this time. I was without power only for a single night, about midnite to 10am.
4. This policy is so unfair that some in Congress are re-thinking the ban on gays & lesbians serving openly in the armed services, simply to ease the burden on those whose terms of service have been extended. The broader solution is to set firm timetables for withdrawal of troops in and around Iraq.
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