within their jurisdiction and then I sought to report this business to the Better Business Bureau. It was at this time that I discovered that the city had no Better Business Bureau.
Throughout the course of this year, I was increasingly reading in the newspaper about various newly approved English curriculums in the United States public and secular school system. One program read about, termed “Ebonics”, was approved for a large school district on the West Coast of the United States. I remarked to spouse that this language was a conglomeration of languages and slang that would likely render the students handicapped when the time came to seek a job to provide a living for these former students. I also was becoming confused and disoriented in communicating with some young people. Slang and the “bastardization” of the English language, made it extremely difficult to understand what was being spoken by some youths.
One began to recognize that many people were purchasing “take out” meals perhaps due to a perceived lack of time to cook a meal at home. One stated to spouse that by the time a meal is ordered over the telephone combined with a waiting time issued for “pick up” by the food business together with driving time to retrieve the meal, a person could easily have prepared a warm meal at home saving money, time, and a degree of aggravation.
One weekend day, I watched on television a potato peeling competition that I thought to be akin to corrupt. Participants in the contest were given a barrel of potatoes to peel and the first person to finish peeling this barrel of potatoes was the “winner.” Contestants used a paring knife instead of a vegetable peeler as a tool to accomplish this goal. I was disgusted to view the contestants removing most of the potato along with the skin for discard. I remarked to spouse that apparently product waste was not a consideration in the formulation of rules for this debased televised contest.
During this year, I was disturbed to view in the area of our residence in South Florida a large shopping mall built in the middle of the 1980’s being demolished to erect another shopping mall. I thought this action to be insane and wasteful.
I decided to purchase a curio cabinet to safely display family heirloom figurines and other porcelain and crystal items. Delivery men employed by the furniture store delivered this piece of furniture to our home and placed it in the desired location. They also set several glass shelves in place using shelf pegs. Pleased with this purchase, I placed the above items into the curio cabinet. A short time later, I heard a crash coming from the location of the new cabinet. Running to this area, I found to my devastation broken figurines and other cherished items. The delivery men neglected to put the total amount of pegs required under each glass shelf.
Spouse and especially I were involved in son’s many sports activities. One activity was track where son competed with a team of students from the Catholic school of his attendance against other students from other Catholic schools. On occasion and after school, I provided transportation to son for track meets that were a considerable distance away from our area of residence. At one track meet, a fierce thunderstorm began just prior to the time of the event. Expecting the event to be cancelled, I was