I Don't Get It

Have you ever watched a play and did not have a clue what the play was about? Have you ever read a book and when finished with it did not understand what the book was about? Have you ever sat in a meeting or had a conversation and knew nothing about what was discussed? Have you ever been in a classroom and the lecture the instructor was giving the class was going completely over your head? If someone tells you they can explain cloud computing, adaptive-learning software and smartphone apps they think they get it but they do not.

I have found that the older you get it becomes less and less important to get it. When you are a teenager or a young adult, if you don’t get it you just act like you do. In your twenties and thirties and you don’t get it, you not only act like you get it but also explain what it is all about.

But now as one grows older, who cares. I don’t get it and I even admit that I don’t get it. Too bad other aspects of life are not as easy to ignore or deal with.

DEAR RINK RATS:

The other day I wanted to get in contact with a friend, I telephoned his home, he was not there so I left a message on his answering machine. The next day he left me a text message on my cellular telephone. I returned the call to his cellular telephone, he was not there so I left a message on his cellular answering system. He sent me an email the next day to my gmail account and asked that I send him an email to his Hotmail account, for which I proceeded to do. He then posted a message to me on his Facebook page and asked that I respond via his Twitter account. Weeks have gone by, through various platforms and I have not been in contact with him yet. How do I speak to my friend?

--Frustrated With Technology

Dear Frustrated With Technology –

I don’t get it!

--Rink Rats

DRIVING THE WEEK - Strauss-Kahn to enter a not-guilty plea this morning and will probably make bail ... The federal government is likely to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling today leading to a series of moves by Treasury including tapping federal retire programs to temporarily fund operations. But a debt limit deal appears no closer with House Speaker John Boehner saying yesterday he has seen "no real action" from the VP Biden-led talks ... Per Mike "Playbook" Allen, House Budget Chair Paul Ryan will push back hard today on Medicare, the social safety net, taxes and more at the Economic Club of Chicago ... Fed Chair Ben Bernanke speaks at conference in Washington today on the government's role in innovation ...

SUMMER TRAVEL TIPS – The cheapest plane tickets are on the following days: Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Best day and time to purchase a plane ticket is Tuesday at Noon, this is when airlines post and free up seats.

APPLE IS WORLD'S TOP BRAND - Apple has overtaken Google to become the world's most valuable brand with an estimated brand value of more than $153bn ... For the last four years, Google has dominated the BrandZ Top100 ranking of the most valuable global brands, compiled by Millward Brown, a subsidiary of advertising company WPP. ... Thanks to the success of the iPad tablet and iPhone mobile - among both consumers and corporations - Apple's brand value has surged in the last year to overtake that of the search engine company.

WHAT HAPPENED? - L.A. Times A1, "A bond torn over time: From friends and others come differing narratives of how the Schwarzenegger-Shriver marriage eroded," by Robin Abcarian and Mark Z. Barabak: "Some close to Schwarzenegger spoke of a loving marriage that slowly broke apart over time. Friends of Shriver portrayed her as trapped for years in an unhappy relationship that reached a breaking point after the deaths of her parents and a difficult transition back to private life."

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN - Queen becomes Britain's second-longest reigning monarch - Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday became the second-longest reigning monarch in British history, clocking up a total of 21,645 days on the throne. Only Queen Victoria, the current monarch's great-great-grandmother, has reigned for longer. Elizabeth, 85, acceded to the throne on the death of her father on February 6, 1952, and has reigned for 59 years and 95 days plus 15 extra leap-year days, totalling 21,645 days. ... Victoria ... reigned for almost 64 years before her death in 1901. Queen Elizabeth II will surpass her record in September 2015.

WORDS OF THE MONTH –

quaff \KWOFF; KWAFF\, intransitive verb:
To drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.

transitive verb:
1. To drink (a beverage) copiously and heartily

noun:
1. An act or instance of quaffing.
2. A beverage quaffed.

siempre, adverb
always

Lo de siempre, por favor.
My usual, please.

BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Yogi Berra (86), Bill Dillhoefer ...best practice swing in golf, Barbara Colley …famous entrepreneur, Reggie Jackson (66), Shelly Lamotte …famous consultant and Cornell grad., Stan Mikita (71), George Strait (59), Mike Wallace (93), Stevie Wonder (61).

COMMENCEMENT 2011 - HOWARD FINEMAN ('70) commencement address Saturday at Colgate University, in Hamilton, N.Y., "Carrying the Torch in a Digital Age": "Being informed is no longer a passive process, if it ever was. You have to be an active participant in becoming and staying connected to the world. Here is my brief guide about how to do so. It's journalism 101 for civilians ... The best antidote to propaganda is skepticism. Never rely on one source, be it a person, a newspaper, website, tweet, or a government official. ... Leave your comfort zone; read the 'other' side(s). If you watch MSNBC watch Fox, too. And vice versa. It won't kill you. Scan websites as far away from your own thinking as you can stand ... As Nietzche said, whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger. OK, maybe you should avoid Glenn Beck. ...Talking to people face-to-face -iris-to-iris - is indispensible because, sadly, it is increasingly rare; traveling to distant countries and cultures ... is crucial because doing it virtually is way too easy now."

HOCKEYTOWN MOURNS – Both of Rink Rats picks to play in the Stanley Cup Finals have been eliminated in Round two of the playoffs, Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings. Detroit’s season is over but so many things to be hopeful about came out of this series even with the disappointing end: Jimmy Howard, Pavel Datsyuk, Nik Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg. There’s plenty of reason to look forward to next season already.

We were impressed by the class showed by the Red Wings in their defeat and play in the seven game series with San Jose. This cannot be said for the Los Angeles Lakers classless exit from their playoff series with Dallas. Why is the NBA so popular? I don’t get it!

Next week, our monthly review of economics and finance.

Until next Monday, Adios.

Claremont, CA
May 16, 2011
#II-3