Sunday, November 20, 2005
Decline of the holiday
Mass. Warns Whole Foods on Thanksgiving - Yahoo! NewsMany of the state's Puritan-era blue laws, passed in the 1600s to keep colonists at home or in church on Sundays, have been repealed, such as a ban of liquor sales on Sundays. But one that remains in effect requires all stores, except convenience stores and gas stations, to close on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
I'm amazed, a state government actually upholding a law to keep businesses closed, no matter how absurd the law is to some people. I'm sure that I've talked about it on here befor, but the decline in businesses respecting some traditional holidays is attributing to the decline in society. I'll admit, it's convenient to be able to run to the grocery store on Thanksgiving to get the cranberry sauce you forgot, or go to the store Christmas morning to get batteries, but we have gone too far.
Far too many businesses are closed for holidays. It was one of my biggest complaints when working retail...how I'd have to work all the holidays. What is the use of having Labor Day if the only people that have the day off are the people that aren't making crap money? Why not give the day off to the hard working everyday people grinding away making low wages?
I'm so happy now to be able to get holidays off that I would normally have to work. Why our capitalist society feels the need to wring that last dime out of a holiday is beyond me. Last night we ate dinner at Chic Fil A, and it is one of the few companies that appears to respect the holidays. Hell, they aren't even opened on Sunday's. While that my be a little out of the norm for our society, it is something you have to respect. They are losing millions by being closed over 50 Sunday's a year, but I'm sure that the employees appreciate always having at least one day a weekend off.
Another company that does a little extra for it's employees is Menards. They give their employees an extra $2 or so an hour over the weekends. That may only mean an extra $32 a weekend for the employees, but in my eyes it helps to offset the employees working on the weekend. Believe me, working on the weekends is a drag. I don't miss working weekends one little bit. I work one weekend a month doing Army stuff, and that is enough for me. I value the weekends, having time for my family and myself.
Now, I'm not total conservative when it comes to this. I think that the old law Indiana forbidding buying alcohol on Sunday is pretty stupid. What is the big deal if you buy your case of beer on Saturday or Sunday? Oh well, maybe it will change sometime.
Yesterday, Amanda and I watched Saw 2. It wasn't too bad, kind of comedic in a couple places. Somehow seeing people acting stupid just cracks me up inside. It's definitely not a horror movie, it's not designed to scare you...more like just keep you interested. I can't think of the last scary movie that I watched...but it certainly wasn't Saw 2.
Nothing else really excited went on yesterday. E's sister came over, she was having some problems. One of them was her car...her headlights weren't working. Her little switch is bad, and I couldn't get it to work. When she came over, I was laying down to take a nap...I was just dozing off when the doorbell rang. I bet I looked like a raving lunatic when I opened the door.
I went to bed around 12:30 or so last night, so it was good to get a decent nights sleep. This morning we got around and went to church. On the way home we picked up Chipotle and came home and watched Survivor and ate our burritos. I'm not sure what I fee like doing right now...a nap would be nice but I'm not very tired. I know that if I laid down I would go to sleep though. I'm going to stay up and see what happens. I still have to watch Star Wars 3, and I have a ton of TV to watch. Uggg, I just need one extra day to the weekend and everything would get done.
I'm so sick of apartment living...I've been in an apartment since I was like 19. I can't wait until we get a house and I don't have to share walls with someone else. I want a basement, a garage, and plenty of space. Hell, I even want a yard to mow and leaves for Amanda to rake. I think that apartments kind of eat at your soul or something. They take away your individuality since you are forced to conform on so many different things. Your front door looks like everyone else, you can't listen to your music loud, you can't decorate how ever you want, no dogs over XX pounds, pay the pet fee, etc. The list just goes on and on. It's not that the place we live is that bad, we both like it here, but it's just not a house. You know what I mean? I want a white picket fence and neon green shutters...someplace to call my own.
Yesterday I was reading one of the many news sites that I read, and I came across an article that looked good. I thought to myself "I need to talk about that one", but I was tired and didn't worry about marking it and now it's gone. Hopefully I find it, because I don't know what it was about, but it seemed pretty good! Ok, time to get on with the rest of my day.
