Things I Don't Understand: Debt

This is totally just me here.....a lot has to be the way my parents raised me. I just don't understand debt. I mean I know what it is. I just don't understand the embrace of it.

I was listening to the radio yesterday and a commercial for a "debt elimination" service came on. In the ad, it said something like this (quoted to the best of my flawed memory) "Sometimes you find yourself in debt because of lost job, divorce, natural disaster, or just bad luck". Bad luck? What's that mean?

"Um I'll take the 52 inch TV. I don't know how I'm gonna pay for it when I get the bill....that must be some bad luck right there." How do you get into debt by bad luck?

I know there are lot of people who have lost their jobs recently and are wondering how to live their normal every day lives. I know that a lot of people have lost a lot of money from their retirement funds and investments etc. I in NO WAY want to make light of those situations. Please hear me on that.

At the same time, I look around and see A LOT of people who have dug themselves this really deep hole of their own free will and they can't see the shovel in their hands. It can't possibly be their fault.

Again for clarifications sake, I know that there are a bunch of people who see the error of their ways and are seeking good council and working through this. I don't want to pour salt on your wound here.

However some of their companions realize their in a heap of trouble and just want to start over. They won't do anything differently, but they want to start over.

The church has been pretty good (thank you Larry Burkett) at teaching budgeting over the past years. Some in the church have listened, others have not. I wonder what is being taught outside the church? How did we get here? It seems like it's almost like a gambling problem. I'm going to pay off one credit card with another. I'm going to pay the minimum amount on all my cards even though interest keeps building up and I never get further out of debt.

Again, a lot of this has to do with what I grew up with. I can't get my brain to understand buying something that I don't have the money for....except perhaps a house...or maybe college loans. I think a lot of it has to do with our idea of instant gratification. I want it now. Why shouldn't I have it now. I'm a good person, I should have what I want now.

I guess I've just had a few conversations lately with people who are totally fine embracing debt with both arms. Well I'll just put that on my card. I'll just get it now and pay it off later.

How? If you don't know where the money is going to come from....it's not going to come from anywhere. I just can't wrap my head around it.

More Things I Don't Understand

Here once again are things I don't understand. For those joining the game late, these are just lists of things I just can't get my head around. Some more serious than others. Here and Here are the last episodes if you need to catch up.

-Speed Limits: Now it's not that I don't understand the function of Speed Limits. But I guess I don't understand what they really ARE. The word limit mean: The point, edge, or line beyond which something cannot or may not proceed. Ok so we're dealing with a definitive cap. But that's not how it works. If the sign says 50 everyone knows you're allowed 5 over. So we drive at least 55. So is 55 really the speed limit? But if they raised the speed limit to 55 we'd all go 60. And we all know that the Speed Limit signs on a high way mean we can go even a little faster than the "5 over" theory. So maybe Speed Limit signs should just say "somewhere around 40ish".

-Smoke Detector Batteries: Why is it that smoke detector batteries only fail at or around 3am. You start hear that annoying "hey my battery is starting to go, you should change me really soon" beep. It wakes you out of a full on sleep and instantly into slight panic mode because you wonder if this is actually the alarm going off. You wonder if you need to crawl on all fours, or just stumble around stubbing your toes on furniture. Then the task of figuring out which smoke detector is actually the perpetrator.

-Battery Packaging: Along the same line of smoke detectors....why is packaging for batteries so hard to open? The pack I bought to change into our smoke detector was a solid cardboard back with a tiny hole in the middle. The hole was right where the battery, and smaller than a dime, so there's no way you're sticking a finger in there and ripping it out. There isn't always perforation, there isn't a smooth way of opening it without dumping batteries on the ground. You would think that in the age we live we could do better than that.

-Truck Commercials: To be fair, we don't have TV. However, on spending time with relatives, or friends I have noticed this. Why is it that every truck commercial has video of large, random objects being dropped from great heights into the back of a pick-up truck? Who does that? Are there guys that just say, "Yeah, let's lift this giant bail of fencing up another 10 feet and drop it into the bed instead of just sliding it in the back." Is the point of the bed of the truck to see if it is actually a trampoline? I just don't get it.

-4 Wheel Drive Around Town: Currently the downtown of Warren is being torn up in a "beautification project" (which I'm bitter and cynical about anyway). But in the process several streets are closed, and on the few that are open you have to drive over some dirty paths where they've cut chunks out of the road. Why is it that people in big pick-ups or 4x4 SUV's drive over these dirt paths at 5 mph? YOU HAVE A TRUCK!!! We live on the edge of a national forest and there are tons of trucks here...I get that.....so drive it!! Why would you buy a 4x4 and be afraid of a bump in the road? I'd use that thing as a jump.

Little Kids Eating: Marjorie and I try really hard to expose our children to a wide variety of food. We prepare a variety of foods with different textures, flavors, vegetables, meats, fruits, you name it. Why is then, that kids gravitate back to their loves of Mac N Cheese, Pizza, Hot Dogs, etc. We definitely don't push those things. We definitely encourage other things. Why are those things the staples of little kids (if they were allowed to). The other night Tobiah and I were on our own and I just casually said, "What shall we have for dinner?" "MAC". He can barely talk and he's bugging me for mac n cheese.

Duck Face Pictures: This is a particularly girl thing to do. For some reason when girls get their picture taken it's cool to pretend you're a duck (see photo). Maybe they're ptretending they're kissing thing air. Regardless. I don't get it. It looks silly to me.

Along the same lines....Rural white kids flashing gang signs. I've been to New York, but only as a tourist. I've never been to LA. However I know enough to know that wearing certain colors, or flashing certain hand gestures will get you killed. Why is it that very white teenagers in the very rural part of the country are wearing gang colors and flashing signs in pictures? Seriously? What you own the turf out back of your daddy's barn?

Botox: Butt fat huh? In your face huh?

Flag stealing: We bought an Ethiopian flag to hang on our front porch. Someone stole it. Flagpole and all. Who seriously wants an Ethiopian flag? Like what are you going to do with that?

I'd love for you to share things you don't understand as well. It'll be like group therapy.

Things I Don't Understand Again

If you missed the first installment of Things I Don't Understand, you can find it HERE

-Why do some older ladies not have any sense of smell anymore? They must shower in perfume. Their scent lingers minutes after they've passed you like Haley's comets tail or something.

-If wood glue makes things strong that wood itself....why don't they just make things out of wood glue? It seems logical. Please note that this is not the same argument that some people use to say "just make the whole plane out of the little black box" You can't do that because the material is extremely heavy and expensive. Completely impractical. But with wood glue you could easy pour it and shape it. Can you drive a nail into a wood glue board?

-Other than jacks....what is the point of jackballs? I yell at Corban if he plays with it in the house because he'll break something.....but he'll lose it outside. What's the point exactly?

-Why is it called Deodorant? It doesn't really take the smell away, it really only covers it up. Maybe it should be called Stink Mask. It was pointed out to me that no one would buy something called StinkMask. However if from the beginning of the deodorant era, if we had called it StinkMask instead of Deodorant, we would think it normal. We would think the idea of calling it Deodorant is silly since it doesn't perform that function. I'm just saying think about it....Stink Mask for Men.

-I do our laundry. It's been winter. We use 3 times more dark clothes in winter than we do in summer. Is it a mood thing? Is it the dreariness of winter? Is it the warmth of dark clothes? Are manufacturers making warm clothes dark?

-Where did peanut allergies come from? Growing up I never met one person with a peanut allergy. Not once did I hear any problems with me taking PB&J to school. Not once was I told to wash my hands after eating said PB&J...other than to get the stickiness off. I never remember a special table in the cafeteria that was Peanut Butter free. I didn't have any friends who had to carry around an Epipen in case they accidentally ate nuts. So how did peanut allergies all of a sudden appear?

-While I appreciate restaurants and public buildings having urinals for little boys to use....I don't understand why the don't install sinks for little boys to use AFTER they've gone. So he does his business, and yet I still have to pick him up and dangle him over the sink to wash his hands before I wash my hands all the while telling him not to touch anything.

-In the early 1900's or even the 1700's or the 500's for that matter.....did people with Sleep Apnea just not get any sleep before they were told to wear a oxygen mask to bed?

-While my dad and my friend J, swear by it (as well as countless hippies) I don't understand the Neti Pot. So I take a tea kettle and dump water in my one nostril, and snot and water come out my other nostril, and I fell better? Really?

-Tight pants. Is this the 80's again? How do you get your feet into these super tight jeans when the ankle is tight to your ankle? Why would you want to?

Things I Don't Understand

-Why would anyone use Classmates.com? You have to pay to get into the "inner circle" to view anyone's profile. You don't have to search hard on my blog to know I haven't been the biggest fan of Facebook. I'm on it. I use it. I don't fully understand why some people are obsessed with it, but I can see how it might be functional. I just don't understand why anyone would use Classmates. I've had a couple people contact me and the only place you can find them is Classmates....which basically means you can't find them. Basically you can't stalk them, like you can on Facebook, but if you don't want people finding you, then stay off the internet. Ok rant over.

-Why can't you have your cake and eat it too? If someone makes me cake, I'm eating it. I am a firm believer that you can have your cake and eat it too.

-Why do the makers of onesies put the snaps around the head/neck region in the back? They could make them look like a polo, but instead they hide them in the back. But when there's no words or major design, you don't know which way is forward. I can't tell you how many times I've put Tobiah's clothes on backwards.....unintentionally. I actually took Tobiah to the doctor with a backwards onesie the other day. I didn't know it was wrong until Marjorie came home and made fun of me.

-Why do more and more places have tip jars? You're doing your job, which you get paid for, why do I need to feel guilty because I'm not giving you extra money? If I ever find a tip jar at McDonald's I'm stealing it. Flat out.

-I don't understand why churches still have worship wars. Like really? Is this 1985 still? By this point your church is probably either has a contemporary service, or is blended, or is neither....and won't be. I encountered someone who still is upset that there is contemporary music at church......and it's been happening for YEARS.

-Why is there a guy in this coffee shop that has a blue tooth device in his ear....yet he has his phone up to his OTHER ear and talking very loudly?

-Classmates.com rant back on...I've thought of more....Why would you want to be associated with one class? I have no interest at all to be associated with Warren High School class of 19XX. Who cares? If you haven't gotten over high school yet, you really have other issues going on in your life. Classmates? Really? Come on.

-Why does Major League Baseball really not want parody? Granted, the Rays last year were amazing, but it's reached a ridiculous point between the haves and the have nots. The Pirates, Royals, Marlins, Nationals, etc are expected to compete when their team salary equals 2 or 3 players on the Yankees? How is this fun? Beyond the fact that it's an incredibly slow game to begin with. (note here: I frankly don't care because I quit following baseball when I was like 13 or 14)

-I just noticed this....why does one of Tobiah's onesie sleepers have pockets in it? What do they think an infant will be putting in their pockets? Particularly while they're sleeping? A little over kill there.

-How do they know that dogs can't see colors? I have yet to hear a dog say anything.

-Why all of a sudden when Marjorie e-mails me from work are they arriving two days later?

-Someone from Altoona PA checks my blog every day. To my knowledge, I don't know anyone I know no one from Altoona. Someone suggested that someone has an ISP in Altoona that checks it. Someone fess up.

-Why is there an Easter Bunny....but we hunt eggs. Someone along the way flunked biology class or something.