... Continued from yesterday: If I ever hear a real-estate agent say, "You just need to pull up the carpeting" I do believe I will run many miles in the opposite direction. Just kidding. Maybe. I expect the root of my problem with pulling up the carpeting in my in-laws' house was two-fold: 1. In my 64 years on the planet I'd never pulled up carpeting before, and 2. On my first try at it I had to pull up carpeting that was almost as old as I was, though the problem wasn't so much with the carpet,
From decades of being trod upon I suppose, the padding was stuck to the floor and so had to be scraped up, but carefully so as not to damage the wood.
Our shoes and clothes were were coated with red dust,
Still, we managed to get all the downstairs carpeting, living room and dining room, pulled up in about 4 1/2 hours. (All right, I say "we" loosely, as , since the house had no WIFI, I took off after about 2 1/2 hours - my bad - and headed for the local Panera to get my 2/4/2016 blog finished and sent out). By then were way ready to eat again and, as Tom's brother Andy was on his way in from Rochester, New York and would be arriving in Richmond Heights in minutes, we arranged to meet him for dinner. We met up with Andy in the nearby town of Highland Heights at Crostatas Pizzeria, a popular family-owned Italian restaurant,
 ...where the food was phenomenal.
After dinner the guys returned to the house for a few finishing touches, a final sweep and staple-check, while I went out to the grocery store for some snacks and breakfast provisions.
By the time I returned to the house it was late and our long day - which began for Tom, Tommy and me with our 3-hour trip from Columbus to visit Tom's Dad, followed by a 1-hour trip on to Richmond Heights, then hours of carpet-pulling - was done. It had been a separate-but-equally long day for Andy, who'd driven 5 hours from Rochester and would start digging into the house work tomorrow. There'd be plenty more where this day's came from.
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But since their father moved out Tom, his sister, and his two brothers, who among them live from one to five hours from Richmond Heights, have been making the trip back regularly to clean out their parents' house and make arrangements for its sale. They were told by the team of real estate agents handling the house that the house should sell for a good price,
...and its vintage style,
...but that all the carpeting needed to be pulled up and the wood floors beneath polished, the drapes removed, woodwork cleaned, and all the furniture removed except for a key piece or two in each room. So last Thursday Tom, Tommy and I drove to up Richmond Heights to the house to dig into the prescribed tasks. On our way the house we stopped to visit Tom's dad at his assisted living, a lovely place,
...with a beautiful view from the common room of lake Erie. 
...and talking about some old photos around the room,
After we said good-bye to Tom's dad we headed for the Richmond Heights house. As the house was about an hour from the assisted living and it was past lunch time we decided to stop at one of the little mom-and-pop restaurants along the way. We picked a promising-looking little place called Chris' 
...whereas I broke my own restaurant rule, which is this: order from the menu only from among the items that appear to be indigenous to that restaurant. In other words, don't go into an Ohio Americana mom-and-pop place called Chris' and order a Greek gyro,
After lunch we continued on to Richmond heights and the house. Tom and his siblings had already cleared most of the furniture and other things from the house,     ...including all the things that had been stored over the years in the now spanking-clean basement,    ...and so we grabbed our carpet-ripping tools , took a deep breath,
So, have you heard of SwanLuv yet?
...the function of which is to give young engaged couples money - up to $10,000 - to help pay for their dream weddings. The money is free. And it never has to be paid back. Ever. So long as the couple stays married. But if the couple ever gets divorced, whether after a month or 50 years, the money has to be back in full with interest. With 40% of marriages in this country ending in divorce, Avy figures the statistics are on his side. The first funds will be given out to the first participants in the middle of this month and in a few years the profits should start rolling in when the first marriages start to break up, then continue rolling in like a river as all the subsequent marriages break up. According to Mr. Avy , which applicants are chosen to receive wedding money, how much they'll receive and how much interest will be charged is determined statically. He says , "We leverage online data and algorithm software technology to quickly assess applicant risk to determine funding offers". SwanLuv has not, however, shared how many couples have applied for wedding money so far or how many will be receiving money when the first funds are distributed 10 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes and 50 seconds from the time this sentence was written. (The swanluv.com website displays a count-down clock to the launch moment). Though it's not exactly clear how the initial funds are being raised prior to the divorce funds of the future. Mr. Avy mentions investors and advertising. But if the SwanLuv model takes off - and if it does it's pretty likely that other similar marriage gambling companies will soon be springing up - and becomes a popular option, one can't help but wonder if the existence of this sort of option might not cause a kind of weird dynamic between couples planning their wedding. For example, if a couple doesn't want to sign up, might it not seem that they doubt that their marriage will last? Or, as Scott Avy verbalized the question they might ask themselves: “Should we be getting married if we’re not willing to sign up?” And what about those couples who do sign up for SwanLuv and who are chosen to receive money? They'll always have hanging over their marriage the knowledge that they only received their SwanLuv money because they fall into the category of those who are statistically likely to fail as a couple. Might not that knowledge cause some anxiety and stress later down the road when they face the difficult times that no married couple is immune to? Might not the prediction made by the SwanLuv prognosticators turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy? Still, Scott Avy puts a sort of optimistic/altruistic philosophical spin on his venture. The money that comes in from the divorces will fund new marriages, he says, thus those whose marriages fail should take comfort from knowing that the money they must pay back will make possible a beautiful wedding for two other people who may end up living happily ever after. Along the lines, I suppose, of the seeds that fall to the earth from dead flowers making possible beautiful new flowers. Avy makes it clear, though, that if a marriage breaks up over abuse, the abuser alone will be held responsible for repayment of the wedding money plus interest. Avy also hopes to be able to make enough money from the interest to eventually pay for free marriage counseling to help couples stay together. Even the name of the company,
…evokes swans, who mate for life,
.... who are promiscuous as humans.
In fact when you think about it, it probably would have been more ingenuous on the founder’s part to name his company DuckLuv. References: 1. "This startup will pay for your dream wedding — but only if you’re willing to bet you won’t get divorced"' by Jacob Demmitt, Geek Wire, December 10, 2015 2. "This startup bets up to $10,000 that your marriage will end badly", By Danielle Paquette, The Washington Post, December 16, 2015 3. http://www.businessinsider.com/swanluv-fund-wedding-refund-divorce-2015-12  Yesterday morning during the post-Iowa Caucus round-up the news broke that, while Hillary beat Bernie by a micro-skinny three-tenths of a percentage point, factored into that win was the fact that at six different caucus precincts the Bernie-Hillary vote was tied so at each one a coin was tossed to decide who won the delegate from that precinct. In all six cases Hillary won the coin toss, leading some to conclude that Hillary won the delegates and, subsequently, the Iowa Caucus, unfairly by chance. But by late last night whether that story was the truth or not depended on which media source you were reading or listening to. This morning the voices on 610 WTVN, the local Fox News station, and the New York Daily News were upholding the Hillary-won-the-Iowa-Caucus-By-Coin-Toss-Luck narrative, while NPR and CNN held that those six coin-tosses in Hillary's favor would be insignificant even if there had been only six coin tosses and they'd all come up in Hillary's favor. These latter sources stated that besides the six that made the news there were other precinct caucus ties whose outcomes were determined by coin flips and some of those others were won, or probably won, by Bernie. But nobody would swear on a Bible how many precincts were won by coin tosses, or how many by head counts, short straws, fist fights, the light of the moon or a puppy dog's tail. Let's be honest, does anybody really understand how the Iowa Caucus works? Still, the word is out there that Hillary won Iowa by six coin tosses that came up in her favor and that Bernie is now calling for an investigation into the possibility that those six impossibly lucky coin tosses were somehow fixed in Hillary's favor, mayhaps by a shrewd flip of the tosser's wrist, or something. I think this situation bodes well neither for Hillary nor for Bernie. If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, and especially if she goes on to win the presidency, the Hillary-won-by-luck-or-dishonesty narrative could go down in historic legend. If Bernie pursues the cheating accusation, raising a fuss over Iowa folks flipping coins, this could look on his part like a trivial pursuit for someone seeking to lead the free world. Here's what I think Hillary and Bernie should do: I think Hillary should split the six disputed coin-toss delegates, giving three to Bernie and keeping three for herself (she'll still be the winner) and I think that Bernie should accept the three delegates, drop talk of an investigation and concede no foul no harm. That way the whole coin-toss affair would be put to rest for good and Both Hillary and Bernie would be showing some class. And seriously, folks,could not this election use a little class? References:
1. "Hillary Clinton won six back-to-back coin tosses against Bernie Sanders in tight Iowa precincts despite miraculous 1-in-64 odds", By Nicole Hensley, New York Daily News, February 2, 2016 2. "Coin-Toss Fact Check: No, Coin Flips Did Not Win Iowa For Hillary Clinton", Domenico Montanaro, NPR, February 2, 2016 3. "Hillary Clinton Won 6 Iowa Precincts Thanks To Coin Tosses", Inside Edition, February 2, 2016 4. "No, Hillary Clinton did not win Iowa because of a coin flip", By Robert Yoon, CNN, February 2, 2016 5. http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/02/bernie-wants-an-investigation-into-the-iowa-coin-flip-catastrophe-video/
Not that it's not probably great to be a Hawkeye - a resident of Iowa - all the time, just as it's great to be Buckeye - a resident of Ohio - all the time, but I have to imagine that it's especially sweet to be part of the Hawkeye nation in the months leading up to the Iowa Caucus, that first big winter social/political event that is the opening night kick-off to the presidential election.
During the months leading up to last night's Iowa Caucus the state and its citizens were, as always, saturated with media attention and the love and affection of the candidates - a mega dose this year, as there were a good dozen candidates going a-wooing - as they crisscrossed and re-crisscrossed Iowa, singing the praises of its residents and showering them with gemütlichkeit and God's blessing. Then there was last night, the night of the Caucus itself. I can't imagine being an Iowan and not participating in one's local caucus, the Democrats, as I understand it, meeting in schools, halls, even homes to politic and hash out amongst themselves who to vote for, while the Republicans, well nobody really knows what they do as they have some sort of secret ballot process, but it still sounds like fun. Then there's the morning after, the day-long reading of the runes among the media, pollsters and political junkies as to the significance of the outcome of the Iowa Caucus, though by dawn's early light this morning the candidates and their entourage were long gone, hurrying off the next well-loved state - New Hampshire - and the Iowans went back to being just Iowans, maybe feeling just a tad of post-Caucus let-down, though knowing that they'll always be important every four years for that one moment in time. But if the Iowa Hawkeyes have seen the denoument of their chapter in the 2016 election saga, after July and the Democratic and Republican conventions we Ohio Buckeyes will come into our ascendancy. This is because, as everyone knows, during a presidential election Ohio is the state to win, the premier bell weather among the swing states. As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Or so goes conventional wisdom and popular opinion. Especially here in Ohio. And since we are the state to win, that makes us the state to court and spark. Soon we'll be the darling of the media's attention and the candidates' love. During the presidential elections the candidates and their entourages practically pitch camp in Columbus, they're here so often. Back in 2008 I got to hear Barack Obama speak in Columbus twice, Michelle Obama once, and if I'd been able to snag one of the limited number of tickets always required to get into a McCain rally, I'd have gone a time or two or three to listen to John McCain and his zany sidekick Sarah Palin. People pour into Ohio from all over the country to hit the bricks for their candidate, sometimes from all over the world, even. When I campaigned for Obama in 2008 in the downtown Columbus headquarters there were several Canadians among the ranks and even three young men who'd flown across the pond from the UK to work on the Obama campaign. When I asked one of the Englishmen why it mattered so much to him a who won the American election he replied, "Oh, it's very important to us who wins this election. When America sneezes the UK catches a cold." And which was the most important state to win? Ohio, of course. Oh, not really, of course. One state can't win a presidential election. But it's nice being treated for a while as if we can. |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY Archives
May 2025
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