Free things to be thankful for

List 25 free things that I am thankful for. This is a creative writing exercise that hopefully will come easy to me. And even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I am thankful for things year round. So, here goes:

1. Hugs
2. A warm bed
3. Friends and family (not exactly third on the priority list)
4. My health
5. Creativity
6. Summer rain
7. The first snow
8. Autumn smells
9. Good stories
10. Idea collaborators
11. Nature walks
12. Silence
13. Music
14. Art
15. My five senses
16. Cool pillows
17. Doggies
18. Lightning bugs
19. Sunny days
20. Photographs
21. Water
22. Jacket weather
23. Exercise
24. Polite people
25. Soup

Okay, that wasn't so bad. I thought of others that could be seen as controversial given the "free" element of this exercise. While I left some out, I decided with others that free equals whether I paid for it. So no, I did not pay for my soup. It was given to me by a polite person in a music filled court yard under sunny skies.

Black Friday abstinence

There is an increasing trend of people vowing to abstain from shopping on Black Friday. Retailers have been attempting to up their game by increasing shopping hours, which have spilled into Thanksgiving. But should we abstain from shopping on Black Friday. Is it right to get on our anti-consumerism soap box?

I have never been a Black Friday shopper. I just see no need to claw and fight for item that I did not even think I wanted. Many adults have also never shopped on Black Friday. The statistics tell us that more people aren't heading out in the wee hours after their holiday dinner, however there is growing competition for their dollars. Plus, the deals are said to be not great this year. The Black Friday bubble is about to burst. People have had too much. 

Those who are against Black Friday shopping often cite the injustice that the workers face. They are required to work instead of spending time with their families. I roll my eyes at this. I feel that if we want to pitty workers and take a stand, we should do it across the board. Retail workers are certainly not the only people who have to work instead of spending time with their families. Still, there is no wide movement to convince people to not go out to dinner or to not watch a newscast on the holiday. That is the injustice, the uneven application of American sympathy.

I come from a place of experience on this point. I have had to work holidays because the news always goes on. As a journalist I was required to work a summer holiday (Memorial Day, Independence Day, or Labor Day) and a winter holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Day). Sure, we got to pick which day we wanted to work, but in the end our manager would give us the holiday he wanted us to work. Mine was Christmas and as such, it is not my favorite holiday or even one that I celebrate. The double whammy here is that I had Thanksgiving off but could not spend it with my family. Thanks for giving me the Thursday off, but requiring me to work on Black Friday to report on all of the crazy shoppers, traffic jams, and car crashes. That brief time off was a teaser and resulted in me not being able to properly celebrate yet another holiday. To make matters even worse (as if I need to make this worse), I worked the over night schedule, so I had to go in to work at 11pm on Thanksgiving. I do not see much difference in this than in the case of the retail worker required to report to work at the same time.

This is why I suggest that if we want to take a stand for something we should take a stand for the whole problem. We shouldn't be able to pick and choose who deserves to spend the holiday with their family, especially when that decision is based on your habits. By doing that, people are making a value judgment on the lives of others. Retail workers deserve to eat a large dinner with their family and be thankful, but those who work in news or public safety, or in the restaurant business are not worth it. The decision to tell others to not shop on Black Friday is easy for those who do not want to shop. That's a cheap way to take a stand for something. 

My signature cookie

Every baker needs a signature cookie. This is a go-to recepie that is a crowd pleaser. When I decided to find my signature cookie, I decided it should be a take on a classic, a slight variance to the recepie that changes the entire taste experience. My signature cookie is oatmeal blueberry.

My oatmeal blueberry cookie recipe has surprised many. I don't think people expect me to be a good cook, for some reason, let alone an inventive one. They are sweet with a layer of sweet tartness that is the blueberry. It is a complex flavor and one that seemingly couldn't possibly come from my kitchen. However, it is my signature cookie.

I signed up to bake my signature cookies for a Thanksgiving luncheon at work. To my dismay, I could not find the ingredients I needed/wanted to make my masterpiece. I know, I could have easily gone to another store to find my wares in stock. Running around the city looking for cookie ingredients is not in the cards. Thus, people will have to suffer through oatmeal chocolate chip. I'm sure it will be hard to handle. Afterall, no one likes chocolate chips.


In case you are wondering, I am not giving out my recipe on here. What good would my cookies be if everyone knew my secret!

Book review: The Invention of Wings

So, the new book club is off and running and I have already finished the first selection. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd was an easy and compelling ready. I was not able to put the book down. The author weaves together the lives of two people who are a little more than casually entwined. The book takes place in antebellum South Carolina and follows the life of Sarah and her lady in waiting Hetty, a slave. Sarah resented the gift of a human for her 11th birthday as she had develop and would continue to develop a more enlightened view of slavery in America.

The book tells the story of the two girls as they grow up and become humans. Their stories are separate but are always tied together with a common thread. Through a mutual respect, the girls find themselves in each other's hearts. They watch out for one another, care and protect and guide each other.

This is a work of fiction inspired by a true story. However, Kidd heavily researched before writing a single word. So while the events may not have happened exactly as reported in the book, they happened somewhere to many slaves. The book was truly enjoyable and the author's notes at the end only made me appreciate it even more. The Sarah, mentioned above, was a real person who ended up advocating for abolition and more. This is an inspired story. I recommend it to anyone.

Movie review: Veronica Mars

Directed by: Rob Thomas

Starring: Kristen Bell 

Rating: B

Veronica Mars is a fun murder mystery movie that puts a PG-13 spin on the crime drama genre. The movie is pleasantly not dark or gory, but it is still full of intrigue and mystery. There is danger, but not in a sinister way. The plot line is plausible and surprising, clever and mysterious. Veronica Mars was a television series years ago, so it is nice to see that the director maintained some of the integrity of the show and made it accessible to those fans by not going for an R rating. 

One thing is left unresolved in my brain. I'm not sure why Veronica compared herself to a marshmallow at the beginning of the movie. Yes, I get it that her last name is found in the word. However, I do not think she holds the characteristics of a marshmallow. She's not fluffy, personality or otherwise. She's not sticky. Finally, she's certainly not mushy. Perhaps this is a reference to the television series that went over my head because I didn't see more than one episode of the show. 

At a Redbox near you!

Movie review: Men, Women, and Children

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer

Rating: B+

Men, Women, and Children is a very thought provoking movie. There are a number of items that are handled and explored under the umbrella of technology and how it can have negative effects on the lives of children. At the same time, one of those arching topics is how a totally restricted and controlled life can also have an adverse effect.

I enjoyed seeing how the lives of all of the characters are interrelated and how the situations that are affecting them lead to other consequences. In addition, the decisions made by the parents to either over protect or corrupt their children has far reaching consequences as well. Most of all, I loved how this movie made you think about the implications of our online actions and how they are affecting generations to come.

I couldn't help but think of Fast Times at Ridgemont High during portions of this movie. The same issue seems to be tackled for some, growing up too fast. Actually, I had Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" playing through my mind at the end. This is truly a tale of coming of age in a tech world. 

Futuristic inventions

What are five things that will have been invented by 2058? The five items listed in this article will be game changers, they will change how we function and interact with one another. Simply put, in 100 years people will comment that something is the greatest thing since sliced _______________. I will fill in that blank now.

A change of clothes in a briefcases. Sure, that sounds pretty ordinary. It's something we already do (stashing a change of clothes in a bag or suitcase) and doesn't need to be invented. However, there's more to this idea than meets the eye. This will actually be a series of briefcases, Iron Man style, that will transform you into whatever the day calls for. Football uniform. Check, and no need to waste time suiting up! Just step into the shoes that are in the briefcase, press a button and there you go.

Meal pills are not a tablet you swallow with water. They are actually dehydrated meals encapsulated in a clear gelcap. They're all ready to transform a surprise hunger pang into a delicious meal. Just heat and hydrate. To make things even easier, the meals are color coded by type or style of food, so there's no worry about mixing things up and accidentally

Taco Bell will deliver in the future. I mean come on, why hasn't this happened in the past? College kids everywhere would be lining up for this service. It isn't an invention of a product but an invention of a business model that Taco Bell can use to profitably deliver food to hungry chewy, crunchy, cheesey lovers. When I was in college I envisioned a slide system, like shoots and ladders, that would deliver the goodness right to my dorm room for those times when I was too lazy to get food myself.

People will love using the new heat bubbles. They work simply with the concept of someone figuratively stating that they are in their own bubble. A person would be able to zap a climate controlled bubble around themselves that will sustain itself for that winter walk to work, or the blustery hot commute to pick up the dry cleaning after a long day. The climate controlled chambers will allow people to skip the worst weather and it will result in no more weather complaints.

In the future people will be able to buy things simply by allowing a eye scan. The eye scan is linked to all accounts and aids in the need to never carry a wallet again. The retina scan is more safe than cloud base wallet systems because it is not hackable.

There will be many inventions between now and 2058. This list is a short compilation of the first things that came to mind when considering the creative writing question. I may have oversold in the first paragraph, promising that the inventions will be game changers. I had to catch your attention, right? The feasibility of all of the inventions is not necessarily sound, however they are all useful ideas that address pain points.

Movie review: In a World

Directed by: Lake Bell

Starring: Lake Bell

Rating: B

This Netflix find has been on my radar for a time. I first knew about the movie after watching a trailer in a movie theater, however the movie is much better than the catchy trailer leads viewers to believe. The movie has substance, a complicated story line, suspense, quirkiness, and above all the main character is relatable. She is not relatable in that we are all voice over actors, but her life is a bit of a mess. She comically stumbles through her days trying to navigate adult life. We can all relate to that on some level. As she stumbles along in life she happens to solve the life problems of her loved ones and provides them with a little comic relief during their personal tragedies. Above all else, this movie is charming.

BTW: Interestingly, this movie reads like a one woman show, the Lake Bell show. She wrote, directed, and starred in this film.