Tony Brewer

I was looking on the Internet for a timer to buy for my mother that would alert her to several different time settings during the day.  I wanted to do that because my mother needs to be reminded to take her medications several times a day, and she has been having trouble remembering to do that.  So I found a great invisible clock on the low vision assistive technology webpage of the Enablemart.com website.  It can be set on vibrate to discretely alert her when she should take her medicine.

This website is dedicated to providing assistive technology products to people who have physical impairments.  It sells items such as large key computer keyboards and talking watches, screen magnifiers and many more non-computer related products to assist people to perform their daily activities.

I find it extremely hard to understand what is going on in India right now!  I know that there was a terrorist attack, and that hundreds of people have been killed.  According to the most recent report that I was reading on the Time.com website, the police feel that it will only be a matter of a few hours before they take the remaining suspected terrorists into custody, or will have killed them.  From what I was reading, it is more likely that the suspects will not survive the ordeal.

What I find so hard to understand is why so many people get so wound up about things that they turn to the type of activity that terrorism entails.  It must take some extreme brainwashing techniques to convince these people to die for their “cause.”  There’s some serious hate going on, and that really is such an awful, sad situation.

I was reading an article in the May 2008 Smithsonian magazine that I found lying around the house last week about whether or not New Yorkers are rude.  The article was making the argument that New Yorkers are NOT rude, but that they won’t put up with other people’s being out of line.  There were several hypothetical anecdotes included that were designed to prove the point of how unique New Yorkers are.  To be perfectly honest, however, the anecdotes provided sounded very much like every place I’ve ever been, so I’m really not convinced by the article that New Yorkers are or are not rude.

The few times I’ve been to New York, I have found quite a few of them to be unfriendly and pushy.  And by that I mean if they can find a way to cut in line in front of you, they will, and if you object to it they will cuss you out and intimidate you into silence.  So in my opinion, the New Yorkers that I’ve met are a little bit more brazen than most of the other folks I’ve met.  Whether you want to call that rude or not, is up to you!

But on the other hand, there have been times when I’ve found them to be friendly and sociable.  For instance one time Teri and I went to Central Park and we had her portrait drawn by one of the artists set up there.  Lots of people stopped and chatted and commented positive comments on the picture.  So in that particular instance, they were very friendly.

In conclusion, I think that New Yorkers are pretty much the same as everyone else.  If they are under some kind of pressure (only have an hour for lunch and have to get errands done quickly) they tend to be irritable and pushy (like most people I know) but if they are spending a leisurely day in the park, then they are relaxed and friendly.  Aren’t most people like that?  I think so!

I had forgotten how much I like apple cider! Teri bought a 1/2 gallon of it a few days ago when we went grocery shopping, thinking that we might want to drink it when we have our turkey meal this weekend. Well, I went ahead and opened it this morning and had a cup of hot apple cider with my breakfast this morning. Teri cooked bacon (in the microwave, it’s healthier cooked in the microwave, did you know that?) and fried up a couple of “over easy” eggs (my favorite!) and toasted a leftover biscuit for my breakfast. Have you ever taken a leftover dinner biscuit and cut it in half and toasted it? Quite tasty! Anyway, the hot apple cider really hit the spot!

The only problem that I have with apple cider is that several years ago it was brought to my attention that some of the companies that sell it put preservatives in it to prolong the shelf life, and I really would prefer just having some nice fresh apple cider without preservatives. Every now and then I can find the non-preservative apple cider for sale, but it gets harder every year to find that.

I would really like to buy a hybrid car the next time we buy a new car.  I’ve always thought they were a good idea, saving fuel is not just an economic issue for me but it is also an environmental issue.  I really like the Prius a lot, and am leaning towards choosing that for my next new car.  I’ve been looking at a great website that sells a lot of Prius parts and accessories; I didn’t realize that there were so many different accessories you could buy for a Prius – several of them are Fuel Saving products that improve efficiency and performance even more than the car comes with!  One of them makes the car run on electric only until your speed reaches 34 mpg.  I thought that was really cool!

They sell a Ground systems for battery performance that also promotes better torque and better fuel efficiency, and a Hyper Voltage System that increases your horsepower, makes your headlights brighter, extends the battery life, and also increases fuel efficiency.  The site also sells great gift items such as bike racks, ski racks, floor mats, and green car care and natural cleaner products.