Memorial Day

This is Memorial Day. When I was younger, it was celebrated on the last day in May and not necessarily on a Monday.

Now that Memorial is part of a three day weekend, it seems to have lost its meaning. Most people celebrate it as the unofficial start of summer with the ending of school, and the start of outdoor swimming and barbeques.

How will you celebrate Memorial Day? Will you honor those who have died?

Playing duplicate bridge

This week has been the regional duplicate bridge tournamnet here in Champaign. People come from all over, especially Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis to play duplicate bridge and compete. It is intense, but fun, and you see many of the same people each year.

What is your favorite card game?

Travel destinations for this summer

I hope you will read my latest article on www.youngmoney.com

This Young Money article is about
Travel Destination with a Money Theme.

Check it out. I welcome your comments.

Day trip to Six Flags

Each May, our middle school 8th graders take a day trip to Six Flags in St. Louis. It is the highlight of the school year.

When I was in grade school, I remember taking fun and educational field trips to Springfield, Illinois.

What have been your favorite school field trips?

High School Yearbook

The yearbook at the high school here costs $50. That sounds expensive.

How much does your high school charge for the yearbook?

Painting a house

I have been painting the exterior of my house and garage, including the porch floor and steps. I find outdoor house painting relaxing and satisfying.

What is your favorite house project?

Raising chickens

I read in the local news today that the city of Champaign wants to make it legal to have backyard chickens. In neighboring city Urbana, this has already been legal.

It's an interesting idea. I have a thriving garden that makes me increasingly self sufficient. Raising chickens would produce eggs and good fertilizer.

What experience have you had with raising chickens?

Wants versus needs

Wants versus Needs: Determining the Difference
A guide to living green and living clean in today’s world
By Debra L. Karplus

You barely stayed awake during that Introduction to Psychology 100 class back in college, but you can still visualize the Maslow Triangle. In 1954, Abraham Maslow presented his hierarchy of human needs that is still used today. At the wide base are the physiological needs that everyone needs such as air, food, water, sleep, and homeostasis. At the next level, Maslow states that people require safety which includes health, employment and security. The next level identifies human nature to require love and belonging. Esteem is a requirement at the next level. Finally, at the tip of the triangle, is self-actualization. It seemed incredibly logical, but you never made any connection between Maslow’s findings and your own needs. That semester you were going through a messy relationship break-up and had a nasty case of bronchitis that lingered.

Back in junior high, you learned about the food pyramid which has been revised many times since then. It identifies your body’s daily requirements for eating grains, vegetables, fruit, and oils, foods from the milk group, and meats and beans. You crammed for this test as you munched on bags of salty pretzels and liters of caffeinated soda. You ultimately aced the exam. The food pyramid looked neat and tidy and made good sense, but it had no impact on your own eating habits.

Until a of couple years ago, before the economy became shaky, buying whatever you wanted was so easy. Investments almost promised positive results and there was always something new you needed, such as a faster light-weight computer or a trendy new pair of shoes. When the Dow started slipping in 2008 and return on investments plummeted, while efforts to go green accelerated, people began to re-evaluate when they truly needed go get through their day.

Some people of all ages, denominations, and demographics, all over the world, celebrate a Sabbath day every seven days, on the weekend. Professors often go on sabbatical, taking a break each seven years. Taking such breaks from daily lives is restful and helps gain perspective on what matters. Schedule a day when you will not be at work to go through your entire day with only the necessities. You might learn more about yourself and what you actually need, necessary for survival, versus the things you want that perhaps make life more interesting and fun, but that perhaps you can live without.

CEASE THE C’s!

Cancel coffee. Would you really be mourning that morning mocha? That five-dollar- a- day habit becomes a fifteen hundred dollar a year expenditure. You do the math. If you can’t start your day without that java, then buy a big can of the generic coffee at the discount store or supermarket and after it is brewed, flavor it with vanilla or cinnamon. Drink it in a cup from your favorite morning coffee spot. The folks at work will not know the difference and neither will you.

Cool it on the cable TV. Why pay for many more channels than you need? Most of them are not things you would ever watch anyway? Spend your evenings interacting as a family, helping with homework, playing board games, doing a group project, or reading.

Could you function if you were to sell your cell phone? Most families cannot imagine life without their cell phone. But take the time to calculate how much your cell plan really costs. Maybe you don’t need so many phones or so many “free” minutes.

Compare using cursive writing instead of the computer. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone, such as your grandmother? Email is handy for confirming the time of tonight’s soccer game, but people of all ages still enjoy getting a letter the old fashioned way, via the US Mail, that someone hand wrote. Try it. You may be surprised at how much pleasure it gives.

Change using the car and instead use a backpack to haul your cargo by bus, bicycle or on foot. Sure, it’s handy to hop in the car and drive to the grocery for a head of lettuce. But, if your feet provide the transportation via biking or walking, you save money, avoid polluting the air, and get some exercise too. You might even find some therapeutic psychological value in this slower pace.

Avoid costly cosmetics and create a beautiful inner you. When you visit any online or retail store, you will find a myriad or products for women and men intended to make your appearance “more desirable”. Why not make peace with the hair, face and body you have, and relish the streak of gray hair or well-deserved age lines.

Needs and wants vary from person to person depending on many variables in your own life. Most people don’t have the luxury of not working. Many jobs require the cell phone and the computer, for example. Get serious with yourself about what’s really important and life may take on a whole new more genuine meaning.

Occupational therapy: a great career choice

Become an Occupational Therapist and Really Make a Difference
By Debra L. Karplus, MS, OTR/L

You were curious about the lady who came into your second grade classroom and worked with the boy beside you who used a wheelchair and the girl in the front row with cerebral palsy. They you broke your arm doing gymnastics. After the cast was removed, Mom took you to the clinic three times a week. You did fun exercises working with a man in that same profession. His nametag read “occupational therapist”. After a few weeks, your arm “magically” became stronger. That impressed you. You certainly knew about doctors and nurses; but being an occupational therapist (OT), looked like a career that you might enjoy.

A recent interview with an experienced OT shared insights into what it’s like to be an occupational therapist.

Interviewer: What do OTs do?

Occupational therapist: OTs do many different things to help people of all ages who have disabilities, diseases or injuries to become stronger and more independent. OTs evaluate and set goals, do treatment, fit people for wheelchairs, help patients use adaptive equipment to do more of their own self care such as dressing themselves. Some OTs even assess disabled people and order specialized equipment so that they can drive a car! Treatment involves strengthening muscles and training patients to do activities of daily living (ADL), such as bathing, dressing, or eating. For example, a person who’s injured one hand will need to learn to cut meat. It’s very exciting to see a patient master a new skill and say “I did it”!

Interviewer: Where do OTs work?

OT: Some work in medical settings, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and sports clinics. Many OTs work in schools. Some OTs visit people’s homes such as homebound older people; OTs also do home visits to families whose baby needs therapy. OTs work with other medical professionals. In medical settings, they work closely with doctors, nurses, and other kinds of therapists such as physical therapists or speech and language pathologists. In schools, OTs work closely with teachers and parents.

Interviewer: So, why is it called “occupational” therapy? Does it have to do with someone’s work or occupation?

OT: When occupational therapy first became a profession, during World War I, therapists trained injured soldiers returning from war to learn a new occupation. The name “occupational therapist” stuck, even though OTs today do much more than help people learn job-related skills.

Interviewer: Why did you become an OT? When did you decide?

OT: I didn’t really know what I wanted to be when I grew up. The summer before college, I worked as a camp counselor. I told my supervisor that I enjoyed working with my hands, creating new things, teaching, and psychology. She told me that she was an occupational therapist and thought that, with my interests, I might enjoy occupational therapy as a career. And, the rest is history.

Interviewer: What is your favorite work setting?

OT: Though I’ve enjoyed working in most places in my many years as an OT, when working with young people in schools I feel I can really make a difference. I find that extremely satisfying.

Interviewer: How does someone become an OT? What schooling do you need and how long does it take?

OT: After you earn your Bachelor’s Degree, you need to enroll in one of the approximately 150 occupational therapy master’s degree programs in the US. Though there are two-year community college programs to become an occupational therapy assistant, best job prospects are for those who complete the Master’s Degree program.

Interviewer: What kinds of classes do you take?

OT: Science and medical classes such as anatomy and physiology, design classes, psychology classes, group dynamics, followed by approximately a year of internships where you are a “practice OT” working closely with a supervisor, an experienced therapist.

**

Becoming an occupational therapist may be one of the best decisions in your life. It’s a career where there’ll always be jobs, because there’ll always be people needing therapy. The pay is reasonable. But most important, you really make a difference in people’s lives.

Here are some activities you can do to learn more about becoming an occupational therapist:

1. Ask your teacher if you can watch the school OT while she works with students. Prepare some questions to ask this therapist.

2. See if your parents can schedule some after-school or weekend time when you can visit the rehabilitation department of your local hospital to observe OTs working with patients in a medical setting.

3. Question any of your relatives or friends if they have ever received therapy from an OT and ask them what they did during therapy.

4. Create or design a device for someone you know with a disability that will make their life easier.

5. Read books about occupational therapy or check the Internet for more information.

Amazon has excellent customer service

I love Amazon.com. I order a variety of items from them and have never had a problem.

Recently, I bought a restaurant gift certificate from Amazon and had it sent as a gift. The recipient had a problem with this gift card.

Saturday night, I sent an email to Amazon to inform them of this situation. In just three days, my credit card was reimbursed for the full amount.

If you can buy it on Amazon, I strongly recommend it!

Technology: yesterday and today

Tech Talk: It’s Not Your Grandmother’s Gadgets
By Debra L. Karplus

Mom and Dad have been acting goofy since they organized their fifty-year high school class reunion. Every time you talk with them they go retro, transporting back in time, like in the 1960 movie, Time Machine. Eisenhower was President, two stars were added to the flag as Alaska and Hawaii became states. Annual household income was approximately $5,600. A new house cost $12,700, or you could rent for $98 monthly.

A new Desoto cost $2,600. Like cars of that era, it lacked seat belts, air conditioning, or power steering. It did have a huge ash tray; it seemed cool to smoke, (less than $.30 a pack). You could fill your gas tank for $.25 per gallon. People weren’t thinking about energy, conservation or the environment; resources seemed unlimited.

In 1960, postage was $.04, which was great because people enjoyed receiving letters in the mail. You could buy a magazine on the corner newsstand for $.15. And, people were excited that the Dow had just hit 540.

ROCK and ROLL is HERE to STAY

In 1960, you could dance The Twist to records such as Elvis’ new album, It’s Now or Never ($ 4.85). Called 33s, albums spun at 33 1/3 RPM (revolutions per minute). Cassettes tapes, 8-tracks and CDs were yet to come. Everyone owned a phonograph, a portable record player. A transistor radio using a 9-volt battery, cost $10 - $20, and had clip for your pocket and ear phone to listen to your favorite radio station. Who needed an IPod?

On the home entertainment TV system ($550), kids enjoyed Howdy Doody. TV wasn’t on all night; late at night you could stare at the test pattern, a large non-moving picture of an Indian head. There were only three channels, CBS, NBC and ABC.

TALK TO ME

Telephone party lines, especially in rural areas, were the chat rooms or social networks of 1960. No one ever received long distance calls; but on the rare occasion that you did, everyone ran to the phone and gathered around. If you needed assistance making a call, a pleasant-voiced lady, the telephone operator was always available to help. All you had to do was dial “O”.

Girls often kept diaries, but they were considered private, and usually had a small lock and key. No one journalled or blogged. Even if the technology had existed, it would have been an invasion of privacy.

People enjoyed receiving and sending chain letters. If you followed the instructions carefully, you’d end up with hundreds of letters when your name came to the top of the chain; nobody ever saw results of any chain letter, (spam 1960-style). Today’s forwarded email and jokes has been much more successful.

If you needed cash quickly, Western Union could wire money. There weren’t ATM, direct deposit or electronic transfer. And before there was texting, there was Morse code’s system of dots and dashes for sending telegrams, the quickest way to spread news.

Good manners were essential. All adults were addressed as Mr. or Mrs. And you might get your mouth washed out with soap for cussing, such as if you said something horrific like “he smells”.

IT’S MY PARTY

After school, you could get a hamburger at the corner malt shop; most of them had a Juke Box. Drop in a coin and listen to a Hit Parade song. Weekends, you could see a movie at the theater, maybe a double feature, for $.25. Popcorn cost a dime. Drive-in movies were hip, but nobody expected to really watch the movie.

A new fast food place with golden arches was attracting families. You could get a hamburger on a bun ($.18), but you had to go inside. There was no drive-up window.

In 1960, party was always a noun, never a verb, and there was always at least one set of parents chaperoning any house party. But if you wanted to have a neato time away from home, places had pinball games ($.25 to play). What a gas! Who needed video games?

SCHOOL DAYS

Walking to school, you carried a school bag or brief case, not a backpack. You used the QWERTY keyboard on your Smith Corona manual typewriter for school term papers, if you needed a few copies, you used carbon paper. A special typewriter eraser, helped correct errors.

Those in the engineering program used a slide rule ($15). Calculators had not yet been invented. Offices often had bulky adding machines.

STUCK on YOU

Students passed notes in class. Who needed texting? Your parents had been high school sweethearts. Most of their friends today had met and married right after high school. Relationships weren’t as ambiguous as they are today.

Schools had stricter dress codes that were enforced. Nobody would’ve considered wearing a T-shirt or clothing with writing or visible labels, or jeans. In fact, girls always wore dresses or skirts, never slacks. Underwear and lingerie, and knees never showed. No one ate or drank in class either. (The only ones to drink from a bottle were infants!)

Prices and devices used to communicate, educate, placate and date have changed greatly in the past fifty years. But perhaps people are still the same. Was 1960 really a kindler and gentler time? Ask your parents and grandparents what they think.

Start a Babysitting Club

The Babysitting Club
by Debra L. Karplus

When our children were young, like other families, we had little money to spend for a babysitter. Sometimes, we wanted to go out to a movie or enjoy some quiet time without children. To save money, our family organized a babysitting club with seven other families who had children of the same age. Every month, each family selected a Friday or Saturday night to be the host house. Hosting involved opening your home from seven o’clock in the evening until eight o’clock the next morning to anyone in the club who wanted to drop off their children. The guests could stay the entire eleven hours, or just part of the time. The hosting family provided a healthy evening snack, a safe place for the children to sleep, and a nourishing breakfast. No advance commitment was required to use the babysitting club.

The convenience of not having to search for a competent, available babysitter each weekend, in addition to the money saved on a babysitter was just one of many benefits of being in the babysitting club. Also, the children were in a safe home with responsible adults. The children felt comfortable with each other and many friendships between the children and also their parents, evolved from the baby sitting club. We remained members of the babysitting club for several years until our children were old enough to stay home without an adult.

Dump your Garbage Service

Five Steps toward Dumping Your Garbage Service
By Debra L. Karplus

How much of your hard-earned income are you spending toward garbage hauling service? Most of our neighbors have trash pick-up twice a week. A more economy-minded family can sign up for minimal garbage service which requires the use of one’s own trash container for once a week pick-up. In our Midwestern town, population 100,000, minimal hauling services cost approximately $320 per year, plus miscellaneous surcharges. For that same amount of money, you could purchase things that are much more enjoyable such as a desktop computer, a round trip air ticket to someplace interesting, or bicycles for a family of four.

How did we trash our hauling service? We compost, burn, recycle, reuse, and we reduce what we bring into the house. Admittedly, once a month we may have a small sack containing some plastic bags and grocery packaging. We toss it into the supermarket dumpster, before stocking up on more bulk food items.

1. Compost your organic materials.

Kitchen disposal systems can be installed easily and inexpensively in the sink and are useful for discarding small quantities of kitchen food waste. However, if you have a garden of any size, outdoor composters can be purchased at your local home improvement or garden store or can be bought online for under $100. They can be situated in your yard in an aesthetic as well as functional spot. By composting, your soil will become richer each year.

2. Burn your paper and wooden scraps.

I’ll preface by stating that we have a wood burning stove in our living room. For scraps from woodworking and household projects, non-glossy newsprint, or trash from the daily mail, this serves the dual purpose of getting rid of litter while simultaneously keeping us warm in the winter. The ash that we clean out of the stove each morning is added to our compost. And, we have devised a way to organize our paper waste during the summer months until the fall burning season approaches.

Know your city codes for burning! Some municipalities permit open fires, such as bonfires or campfires on private property. Others towns will allow you to burn outdoors in a fire pit or other protected area. In our city, outdoor fires are strictly banned.

3. Recycle all that is recyclable.

A growing number of communities now have drop-off centers for recyclables. Our Recycling Center is open 24/7 and accepts paper, cardboard, glass, and plastic. Additionally, we have a landscape reclamation center which accepts most yard waste. We have places in town that take used motor oil. We are also lucky enough to have regularly scheduled places, at least annually, to bring old electronics devices such as computers and stereo equipment, and also another drive which collects unused household chemicals such as paints and adhesives. Most of our supermarkets and smaller groceries have places to return and recycle plastic bags.

4. Reuse, use again, and use one more time.

Using items in your house as many times as is safely and functionally possible is even better than composting, burning or recycling. Plastic eating utensils and sandwich bags, if properly sanitized, have can have more lives than a cat. If fact, why use those disposable items at all? We never buy facial tissue. A packet of white men’s handkerchiefs will last for many years and can be purchased inexpensively at any discount store. We entertain frequently, yet we never use paper napkins or plastic plates or utensils. Instead, we use our regular dishes, forks, knives, spoons and cloth napkins. After dinner, people offer to help wash the dishes; this adds to the socializing.

5. Say “no, thank you” in order to save the earth and save money, too.

When you start thinking like a non-wasteful person, you will be amazed at how many items are unnecessary to accept. Bring your own cloth sack when you shop for groceries and when asked “paper or plastic”, you can respond with “neither, thank you”.

Contact your employer, your bank, the investment company where you have mutual funds and retirement accounts, your utility companies, credit card companies and other places that regularly send you mail and sign up for as many paperless transactions as possible such as direct deposit, online bill pay and online statements. Banks insist that the paperless systems are at least as safe as those using paper and are quick and easy to manage.

Do everything you can to eliminate glossy advertisements from your daily newspaper and also junk mail. There are a few web sites where you can sign up to remove your name and address from junk mail lists and databases.

You needn’t have earned a PhD in sanitation in order to throw away your trash hauling service. Be calculating and deliberate in what you bring into your house from the start. Reuse what’s left whenever possible. Compost, burn or recycle the rest. In short time your household, too, can be a garbage-free zone.

Parkland Chorus sings

Last night was our end-of-semester concert for the Parkland College chorus.

I have been in the group nearly ten years and love singing a wide variety of music from opera to show tunes. I especially enjoy singing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.

We have sung in many languages including German, Italian, French and Hebrews. People seem impressed with that, but I can remove the mystique by saying it is just syllables, and really, anyone can do that!

What music do you enjoy singing?

Jobs for teens

Most of the teens I speak with have jobs working in fast foods.

What jobs do teens have in your area?

The Chorale concert in Champaign

We were so fortunate to attend the Chorale concert this past weekend. They will be on tour this summer, but their next local concert is November 7.

Stay tuned!

Private versus public: What's the Difference?

I Just Overheard that it’s Okay to mention my Unmentionables?
By Debra L. Karplus

“….thanks for paying my rent again, Sweetie…and helping with my daughter’s college tuition…I’ll pay you back in my usual way”. (Giggle, blush).

The redhead wearing strong perfume, “Val”, was seated behind me, waiting at the airport gate, speaking loudly and emphatically on a cell phone that appeared to be surgically attached to her right ear. It was as if the passengers on Flight 4030 to Cleveland were intended to be included in her drama. Too preoccupied with her conversation to notice my eavesdropping, Val couldn’t have known that I was best friends with “Janet”, successful attorney and soon-to-be-ex-wife of “Danny”, Val’s sugar daddy and current love interest. It was easy for me to make that connection, thanks to Janet’s flawless description of Val.

I settled into Seat 12A, hoping for no seatmate and some quiet time, until Val plopped onto Seat 12B. I didn’t acknowledge her, but without preface, she delivered a monologue to me, a presumed stranger, with embarrassingly explicit details about boyfriend Danny. Apparently, Val had met Danny in a chat room. The concept of chat rooms perplexes me; confiding with strangers in a virtual place about topics that would be taboo with real friends. When I was in preschool, my imaginary friend Clara served that purpose. I felt relief when our plane landed.

At the hotel, the reservations clerk, who answered all my questions with “No problem”, was clad in a sheer blouse cut lower than her lingerie. A naval ring sparkled on her midriff. Her way-too-snug designer jeans revealed a panty line. Why even bother to wear outer garments, I pondered. She might have done well to consult with the career attire shop at the mall.

Exhausted from travelling, I unpacked my suitcase and turned on the TV, hoping to catch the news. Instead, I was entertained by a local talk show; the guest was announcing to viewers that her husband was clueless about her love affair. She must’ve assumed that nobody watched the show or that they just wouldn’t blab to her hubby. I flipped the channel to some reality show. Was I the only person who’d never watched a reality show? I felt uncomfortable, as if guilty of voyeurism.

It’s ironic that we are paranoid about becoming victims of identity theft, yet we’ve managed to blur the line between what’s private versus public. Social filters seem to have eroded. How and when did this lack of good taste and etiquette creep up on us? Where are the values of propriety and decorum? Did the concept of privacy gradually slip away while we were preoccupied, or did it just disappear one day like pay phones? We’ve nearly forgotten that it’s not “all about us”, that we must co-exist in the world and be courteous.

I’m wondering where we go from here. I don’t imagine modern society can ever return to a world where private issues remain private. So what next? Here’s one possibility; I think directions for fastening seatbelts on all air flights is unnecessary. Maybe, they’ll abolish those instructions and replace them with short bios of the passengers.

“Jonathan in 3D is flying first class and exploiting his company’s expense account. Don’t let him hoard the hot towels.”

“Liza in 14C is en route to interview for a job for which she in unqualified. The “L” on her sweater stands for ‘loser’.”

“Heather in 18E left her husband home with their four kids and told him she will be visiting her college friend Chris. But, she didn’t tell her husband that Chris is a he and not a she.”

Martin is 21B is a recovering alcoholic who has fallen off the wagon twice. His friends call him “Martini’. When the beverage cart rolls by, make sure he sticks with the soft drinks.”

“Bart in 26A has a terrible problem with motion sickness. Can someone seated near the lavatory please trade seats with him?”

Maybe, the few people who still have land lines for their home telephones should request that party lines, like those before the 1950s, be re-installed.

Perhaps, it was always a myth that we ever had any privacy and that we’ve really just gone full circle.

MOMIX at Krannert Center

We really enjoyed the MOMIX performance as Krannert Center winds down for the season.

Ifyou ever have the chance to see MOMIX perform, go for it!