I came across one of my poems I wrote when I was a wee lass! Reading it now makes me laugh to think that at that age I thought I was at the stage we call “middle-age!” When we are young, the thirties and forties seem so far away and so old. Now forty is the new thirty. I am so glad my perspective has changed regarding age and what it truly means to live life. Here is my immature mind at work below:
When I saw my first love, I was not in love with her. She looked old and tired. She had faded paint; her engine needed some work and her tires were not in great shape. You see, I was in my sophomore year in college and needed a vehicle to get from my classes and to my jobs. My dear mother decided to “sell” me her first car, Betsy. Betsy was a 1973 Ford Torino and she looked old. I protested that I didn’t want an old broken down car. Mother reminded me that I had very little credit and no money.
She said she was being kind by only charging me $500 and I can “pay” her in installments. This pretty much meant that she was giving it to me. I reluctantly submitted to her suggestion and I grudgingly accepted Betsy. That’s when my brothers went to work. They stripped Betsy’s paint off and gave her a new paint job: lime green with pin stripes (flames at that). They pulled her engine apart and gave her new parts; they made the engine more powerful. They gave her mag wheels in the back. They had to take out the front seat and put steel plates down to build the seat high enough for me to see over the steering wheel. Yes. I’m that vertically challenge and this was before automatic seats!
When my brothers were done with Betsy, she looked so new. I couldn’t help but do my happy dance and gave them hugs. Throughout the process, they gave me lessons on how cars worked. I had to learn about the carburetor, the camp shaft, pushrods, air filter, oil filer, transmission, gas line, pc valve, solenoid starter, water pump, and most of the parts on a car. They taught me how to change a tire and change the oil. They wanted me to know how to care for Betsy before they sent me out on the road, on a drive more than two and half hours away. To this day, I am grateful to them that I know how to change a flat tire whenever I am forced to do so.
Betsy was a powerhouse. When I turned the keys to start her up, her V8 engine roared to life. Because of her weight, she sat so well on the road and the ride was so smooth. The only challenge was in the snow. Betsy was a rear-wheel drive, thus prone to spinouts on wet and snowy surfaces. Other than that, we work great together. My friends called her the Green Hornet because of her color. Sometimes I could fit 10 of us inside Betsy and go college hopping. She was our limo when we went from town to town visiting different campuses.
I got my first speeding ticket in Betsy. I was late for class and I had an exam that day. I was flying down the high way when I saw the flashing light. At first, I wasn’t sure that it was me the cop was after until he got on his speaker and told me to pull over. When he came up to ask me for my license and registration, he was amazed that I was driving the car. He said, “What is a little lady like you doing driving such a big car? I clocked you doing 75 miles in a 55 zone.” I guess it didn’t help that I said: “ You see how I handled her!” I got the ticket. L I should have been happy, I know I was doing pretty near 100 at some point!
I used to love drag racing in Betsy. Yeah, you read it right. What else was there to do in Albany, NY! The place was dead except for the colleges. Besides, there was an area in the mostly suburban (if you want to call it that…more liker rural) part of the town. After 8 p.m. there was hardly any traffic. That’s were we would race. I chalk it up to being young, dumb and bored…not a great combination for longevity.
One night our friend Timmy came to visit. He had graduated the year before and gotten a swanky job at Wang, a technology company that paid him a lot of money. He bought a DeLorean. I challenge him to a race. Poor Betsy, by the time she got to 90, Timmy’s DeLorean was all the way up the highway. She did give it her best though.
When I graduated from college, Betsy was having some trouble. She kept breaking down and costing me so much money to fix her. I guess all the racing and highway driving finally got to her. It almost broke my heart when I sold her to one of my coworkers. It was like losing a friend. No matter how many cars I have had since Betsy, she will always be my first love!
I went to a seminar that was hosted by the Information Technology and Telecommunications Group. This group is a part of the Southern Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (SFMSDC…try saying that ten times fast, dare ya!) of which I am a member. There was no title for the seminar but this description (Resources and topics to be discussed include: Market Research, Funding, Mentor Network, CleanTech IP Catalog and much more) led me to believe that I would hear more about IT and Telecommunications as it relates to Sustainability in these areas.
Well it wasn’t quite that at all. When the presenter, Andrea Wesser, Co-Program Manager, of MegaWatt Ventures and Florida Cleantech Acceleration Network (what’s up with these long organizational names?), explained the content of the presentation. She said her presentation was about the UCF program that helps to promote startup companies and small businesses that have created products for renewable energy production or something related to renewable energy. Quite a few people opted to go to the other seminar about Creative Selling instead. Guess it was too heavy duty for that time of day. My curiosity got the better of me, so I stuck around.
Andrea told us that the Federal Government is offering millions of dollars to help fund organizations to develop technology that supports renewable energy. They want to put in place the programs that will help startups and small businesses monetize, produce and sell these products. These companies must not only have a proof of concept for the products, but also the products marketable. What good is developing a product that costs too much and companies won’t adopt them? Ms. Wesser states that her group is creating a program that will not only serve Florida, but the southern states as well. They are involving venture and angel capitalists in the program to help with funding and mentoring these companies.
Somehow, mid-way through the seminare, we went off tangent (thanks to me) and talked about what is the best battery for backing up a data center. She talked about lithium batteries, but one of the attendees and I both said that lithium is finite. What else is there? Then we jumped to nuclear energy. We acknowledged that nuclear energy isn’t going away anytime soon. My fellow attendee said that the Bill Gates (remember him) is actually investigating building micro-nuclear plants instead of the mega ones that exists today.
The larger facilities have the potential of cause more damage, i.e. Fukushima’s meltdown, while the smaller ones can generate energy with low potential of affect a huge area. Andrea shared with us that scientist are experimenting with a substance that when placed in suntan lotion will protect us from radiation poisoning. Whaaaaaat? Now you know my mind started asking a bazillion questions. What about the air we breathe? What about the plants and animals? What about the soil? Are they for real???? By the time I put on my suntan lotion my innards would be toast.
Overall I enjoyed the meeting although it had nothing to do with IT or Telecom. And now that I have bored you out of your right mind with this info…I have completed day 17 of the 30-day challenge for the #SMCSFBlogOff. Seriously though, if you want to learn more about the FL-Can program, here is a little blub on click th FL-CAN to go to the website: www.flcleantech.com.
A few weeks ago, my friends and I attended the Art Walk Miami monthly event. It involves strolling from one art gallery to another in the Design District of Miami. At one of our stop we saw a female DJ spinning on one of the new digital system. How things have changed since I was a DJ back in college. We had turntables with vinyl records and worry about spinning the records just right to mix the beats. Now most of that is digitize.
I didn’t set out to be a DJ. My girlfriend, Miranda was the head of the Urban Contemporary segment and she recruited and trained me for the school radio station. Of course you can’t be a DJ without a cool name. I don’t think mine was so cool: “Sapphire.” There was so much to learn. How to use the control panel, set up the various advertisement tapes, setting the needle just at the right spot to transition from one song to the other. Most important one had to learn to have “No Dead Air.” This means there should be no silence for a long time.
I had a lot of fun being a DJ on the air and off. As people got to know us, they would request that we play at different events. Even though I was underage, I would get into the clubs because I was one of the DJs playing the event. I was getting paid for having fun. If we didn’t get paid, we got in free. Another perk was getting free drinks (don’t tell my son that part). When someone wanted us to play a request, sometimes they would buy us drinks. Is that considered a kickback or a bribe? I am in Miami now, I have to make sure I use the right terminology. Ha!
I did have some challenges as a DJ. I had a guy who would stalk me. Sometimes I would have the 2-4 a.m. shift, and he would be outside. He turned out to be harmless. Then I would get tons of fan mail, but a majority of them was from the prisoners from the county jail. My girlfriend enjoyed delivering the bags and dropping them in front of me with a smirk on her face. I must say some of them wrote really well and had beautiful penmanship! It was some of the content that was the problem.
My trip to the Miami Art Walk took me on a journey back to those DJ days; they are now fond memories. My poor mother is now stuck with a stack of crates filled with my vinyl records lining one wall. Maybe one day I will pull them out and see if her turntable still works. The biggest challenge would be to find needles that will work. I think one of the first records I would play is “Request Line” by Rock Master Scott. Click title to listen.
I confess I am hooked on Amazon as my go-to place for shopping. Most people complain that Wal-Mart is a big conglomerate that pushes local stores out of business. They are mostly right. But I dare say if others are like me, perhaps Amazon is the new Wal-Mart. I know that there are other sites where I can do my shopping. I also know I can now shop online with the brick-and-mortar stores, but Amazon makes it so easy to shop with it. Besides,Amazon was one of the first sites that said “Hello, Marlene,” whenever I logged in. (Yes, I have sucker written on my forehead, too!)
At first I started buying books through Amazon, then some small electronics. Now it seems like I jump on Amazon’s site to price check everything before I purchase a product elsewhere. I joined the Prime Account program to get the free two-day shipping. It was worth spending the annual feel to waive the shipping costs, because I was buying so many books for both the graduate program that I was in and my son’s undergraduate classes. Amazon also upgraded my account to a Student account that cut the Prime Account fee in half. Needless to say, my shopping with Amazon increased.
The convenience of buying beauty products, books, music, movies, print cartridges, etc., and having these items delivered to my doorstep (okay the lobby) two days later without getting in my car is wonderful. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but that one-click to purchase feature is another thing I like. I don’t have to fill out all my information over and over again. At first I was worried about security, but now I know even the most secure sites experience fraud. Fraud can happen anywhere; I can go to a restaurant and someone can steal my credit card info. My concern lessened enough to sign up for the one-click-to-purchase feature.
I am able to download “free” books, movies and music because of my Prime Account. I find that Amazon’s prices are much softer on my pocket book than the Apple store; therefore, I would buy my music on Amazon download it to my laptop and play it on iTunes. While I am not using Amazon’s Cloud Solution, I know they have heavily marketed this product/service to many businesses.
I wouldn’t be surprise if an announcement comes out that Amazon is buying a TV or cable station along with a telecommunications carrier. After all content is king and you still need a way to get the info to the end-user. Google bought a wireless provider to shore up it’s control of its content delivery method, but I don’t buy my beauty products from Google. I don’t know who knows more about me: Amazon, Google, or Facebook. I suspect Amazon may have the edge on the others due to my shopping habits.
