respublica

Just one more 2020 humor

This should have been added to this post.

2020 It's a Puzzle!

I received a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas from my sister. I like doing jigsaw puzzles and have done quite a few, but this year I haven't done any. It was just too crazy a year and lots of work involved with the move from the seminary to Collinsville. But I am going to start this one today.

Click to enlarge to see all the 2020 things. I will probably get some puzzle glue when I'm finished and frame this thing.

Good-bye 2020

One more day of 2020 and the year will turn 21. That in itself should give us pause. 21-the number conjures up so many things.

Some amusing thought I've seen recently:

On 12 a.m. on January 1st, for the first time ever, Hindsight will actually be 2020.

What's the difference between Humpty Dumpty and 2020? One of them had a great Fall.

I don't know what animal 2020 was in the Chinese calendar, but I'm pretty sure it has rabies.

 

New Laws for Illinois in 2021

There will only be 3 new laws for Illinois this year plus a provision in an older law. This is amazing! Only 3.

1. The minimum wage will rise from 10 dollars an hour to 11 dollars an hour. This is part 3 of a staggered wage hike which will end in 2025 at 15 dollars an hour.
2. A senate bill caps out-of-pocket insulin costs at $100 per month for all patients using a state-regulated insurance plan. The measure makes Illinois the second state in the U.S. to limit prescription insulin co-pays.

3. A House bill amends the Missing Persons Identification Act to allow law enforcement agencies to obtain a DNA sample of a missing person or a DNA reference sample from family members’ DNA, once a missing person report is made. The law also provides that law enforcement cannot retain DNA samples from family members or the missing person after the person has been located.

There is also one more thing and I don't know if it is a new law or a provision to an older law, or if one of the others is a provision.

House Bill 2818 allows survivors of sexual assault and stalking to keep their home addresses confidential to reduce the risk that their attacker may locate them.

The gift that keeps on staying put

I've mentioned too many times to count about how frustrated and disappointed we were with the gift I'd ordered for our grandson Connor. It never came even when ordered the first week in December. The present was a DribbleUP basketball which works with technology. There is something in this ball which connects wirelessly to an iPhone/pad or a smart TV which turns its use into a virtual basketball trainer. It sounds very cool and those who have actually gotten one, rave about it. Connor is playing 7th grade basketball so this sounded like something he would really like. Check the link to see for yourself.

It comes with a stand to hold the phone or ipad so you can watch and copy the drills. Even better is connecting to the smart tv with the bigger picture.

In any event our order is still someplace in New York. Last night my obsession with this issue had me looking at the dribble up facebook page and there were posts telling people about the latest things possible with this basketball and many raves from those who have one. So I commented that "we still have not received ours."  I did not expect much from my comment but it wasn't 5 minutes before someone from DribbleUp answered my comment.

He apologized, explained the issue is with the US postal service without being critical of them, and asked me to message or email him for the email address I used to order. I did that and 15 minutes later he'd found where our package was (same place in New York I'd found). He was still hopeful the USPS would eventually deliver but...Then came the best part- "Just to be sure that you'll receive one, I just submitted a replacement order - free of charge. You'll receive a new tracking number once your order ships the next business day. In case you receive both orders, feel free to let us know so that we can send out a prepaid return label for the extra."

I have to say this is customer service at its best. How many businesses have someone working during the night to get back to people immediately? I am very impressed and now have hope a cool basketball will finally get here.

Talking trash again

I'd bet we all have a lot more trash and recycling this week than normal because of Christmas. In Collinsville each property owner gets two large wheeled carts, one for trash and the other for recycling. It's surprising how much can fit into these carts, but Christmas refuse can overfill it. So, I was interested in the advice and information a man who works as a local refuse pick up driver in Collinsville had to to give.

First some of his photos.

These are over loaded carts. The driver explained why these will not be picked up. "The lift arm on residential trash trucks gets to a height of nearly 14 feet from the ground. At about 9 feet it turns inward toward the hopper at a 45 degree angle. Any loose trash or other objects protruding above the lid, will not make it inside the truck!!! Imagine the resulting mess on the ground, if your driver tries to dump containers like the ones pictured."

But all is not lost because...

During the Holiday Season, your residential drivers will reload your containers (within reason) ... Please make sure all trash is contained, easy to handle & bags are tied!!

Loose trash & untied bags will not be taken.... “DO NOT” pile your overage too close to the container. We must first dump the container in order to reload it!!

 

Examples of how you can add extra trash for pickup the right way.

 

It's really great to learn we can put more trash out than will fit in the cart as long as it's bagged correctly.

 

 

 

Advertising logos you may never have noticed

Ok, I admit it. I have never every looked all that closely at advertising logos so this is totally a surprise to me. Parts of the design of these product logos feature something hidden in plain sight which is important to them. Take the FedEx for example:

Do you see it? There is a white arrow between the E and the x which probably signifies the company's promise to zip the delivery.

And then Tostitos, something I buy all the time but have never paid attention to.

Between the two T's is what symbolizes a bowl of salsa with two people fight over one Tostito.

And I am embarrassed to say I have never noticed this from Baskin Robbins, the home of 31 ice cream flavors.

The 31 is right in the middle of the capital letters.

There are more amazing ad secrets here.

 

 

 

 

This is inexpicable

We've had our issues with Christmas gifts ordered online and not been delivered. At my count at least 3 have been languishing in the USPS ether, no where to be seen, not delivered. However, last night, Saturday, I ordered a few bars of soap we like and can no long find in stores. Call me weird, I can live with it. In any event, one day later I'm sitting on the front porch to get some air after clearing up dinner and who pulls up, but the Amazon van with my soap. One day!

Go figure that something small like this gets here in one big hurry and the important things are stuck in who knows what city.

This is why the US Postal Service is so frustrating

We all know by now that the post office has not been able to deliver many thousands of Christmas gifts on time, even when mailed or shipped in November. We all have missed deliveries, we have. But the stories in the news about this mess and our own stories make one thing pretty clear. Whoever is running logistics with USPS, needs to hire someone smarter. If FedEx and UPS can manage huge numbers of deliveries, why can't USPS with all the man power and money at their disposal.

My sister mailed a package to us from St. Joseph, Missouri many weeks ago and after tracking it, she learned it went from St. Joe to Kentucky then on to Pittsburgh, to St. Louis where it was last seen. Why would a package mailed in Missouri make a round about trip like this? Why would it not go directly to St. Louis and then on to Collinsville?

And there is this person's story as told to the AP . 

"Joanna Goldstein ordered Christmas ornaments online Nov. 17 for her 10-year-old son’s soccer coach and her son’s friend. She figured it was ample time to arrive from a store about 80 miles (128 kilometers) from her home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. All appeared well Dec. 11 when she received a notice from the Postal Service that the ornaments had been received in Columbus, Ohio.

But then the package made a journey through distribution centers in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Lansing, Michigan, before apparently getting stuck in Detroit. On Wednesday, she received another notice that delivery would be later than initially anticipated."

And a personal story. The first gift I ordered this year was the day after Thanksgiving and was for one of our grandsons. I received emails telling me it was shipped on December 14 and on its way. A few days later I was notified that the box was ARRIVING TODAY!  But it never got here. I looked at the tracking number and learned it has been in RONKONOMA, New York! After that nothing. But how nice, along with the tracking info from USPS, I can get USPS Premium Tracking. For a price.  I am not paying the post office money to learn this box is still in RONKONOMA, ny.

My point in the many stories like this is who is running the USPS and believes all the country wide travels each package takes is efficient? Have they never heard that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?  Sure we understand the huge number of mailings this year, but this way of doing things makes no sense at all.

 

Look!

Walk up to a Nativity Scene and you'll see all the figures looking at the baby Jesus. Stand a little closer and you'll see the baby Jesus looking at you. As He still does. With love.