daily Hazel #67

Hazel is relieved that we passed the Great DTV test here under the Big Top…actually I think she is into her rainforest themed bouncer…the flashing lights are sooo pretty.

people get ready

I hope pretty much everyone is aware of the great transition from analog to digital television come February 17, 2009. At least I hope most folks are aware. Here in my neck of the woods the build-up is not unlike the big preparation for Y2K over 8 years ago. Remember that one? I swear some folks reacted as if the world would come to an end. It didn’t. We all survived Y2K and I hope are better people for it. At least I know some folks in the Bay Area who might be a little better prepared for the next big earthquake with their stock-pile.

Meanwhile the nervous anticipation for the great switch to DTV is building up all the more here in my neck of the woods. A local station is preparing for a big DTV test tonight. They are even having a countdown during their evening news broadcast before they make the big switch-off of their analog signal.

Will we be ready? Will we fail?

Or will we pass?

In less than an hour we will find out. I’m all a-quiver with nervous excitement. ..not really. Frankly, I would rather they devote this airtime to the real news of the day.

and the moral of the story i guess is don’t say “get a job!”

As the Federal government is bailing out banks and other financial institutions, the “it’s-not-a-recession” seems to becoming life threatening. Near my neck of the woods, a man was shot for refusing a panhandler’s plea for money. I know desperate times call for desperate measures but it still doesn’t make this woman gunning down a disabled man for refusing to give her money right. Still it does give one pause as to how they might respond to the average joe-schmo panhandler on the street.

Do you give money to people on the street corners of your ‘burg who hold up the makeshift signs begging for money?

As a rule, I don’t. I do struggle with that but that is the way that I roll. I prefer to share my money with local groups I know who provide generously for the homeless’ needs, especially, families. Still, I struggle sometimes. I have shared here before that my brother is homeless. Unlike some who are just struck with bad luck and hard times, he is homeless by choice. Still I worry about him.

While I doubt my bbrother would ever come to a point of desperation where he would pull a gun on the average joe who turns him down, it does distress me a little to hear this news story. Those of us who choose to give through agencies and charities who provide for many in need rather than the average homeless guy on the street who may or may not take the money and get some  cheap-assed booze or whatever might think twice when confronted by the average homeless dude on the street.

Do they have a weapon?

Are they in that dire of straits that they might respond to my polite :”no” by pulling out a piece and direct it towrards me?

The only definite answer I have right now is two-fold. Number one is I will still give regularly (and genrously when I can) to the local shelter for women and homeless families and number two is I will never, ever suggest to the average panhandler, who hits me up say outside my local Walmart, that they should just go and get a job. Times are tough all around here, there and everywhere. Some folks are losing their jobs or getting their hgours cut in the wake of bankand financial institutions collapsing and beggin for government bailouts. People are just trying to cope. Teens are discovering that the elusive summer or seasonal job is nothing but a fable as able-bodied, out-of-work adults are quickly snatching up those jobs. Even if we turn down a panhandler would it be wise for us to chide them that should just go and get a job?

I’m thinking, oh hell no!…at least in my neck of the woods…even if that is just the way that it is.

So what do you do when confronted by a homeless person asking for a buck or two?