Modern Day (Small Town) County Fairs

I've lived in a few small towns and this is probably the smallest one.  I took my eight year old to the local County Fair last night and was shocked at how much it costs to go these events now-a-days. For starters each ride was one ticket and each ticket cost $3.25.  Now, you could buy 10 tickets for $25.00 and that would make each ride $2.50.  If you have a family of four and two people want to ride the rides it could cost $50.00.  Now, I bought her five tickets because I didn't have the $25.00 for ten tickets and I knew she wouldn't ride all of the rides anyways.  So, for five tickets it cost me $16.25.

Crystal rode the Spider, the Cliff Hanger, the Carousel, and the Farris Wheel.  She had five tickets, but they wouldn't allow her to ride the Farris Wheel by herself, so she wanted to use the extra ticket so I would ride with her.  I swallowed my vertigo and went on the ride with her only because they had the Gondolas and not the traditional seating.  Had they had the traditional seating I would have had to decline riding with her.

On the spider and the cliff hanger, she had a look of terror on her face during the ride and gave me the thumbs up after she got off the ride.  I thought this is the start of our next adrenaline junkie!

Now wait, there are still the games.  Each game was two tokens and each token was a dollar.  Crystal played six games for a total of another $12.00.  The nice thing about the games is that; one, you no longer have to give the game attendant any money as there are "token" machines in front of each game and two, you actually get to play on some of the games until you win.  Here is my thought on playing until you win; is this because our kids are so spoiled today that we are afraid to see them "disappointed"?  What happened to competitiveness at these games?  Like, the horse race where you roll the ball into the colored holes in order to see your horse advance and hopefully win or the dart game where you try and pop the balloon so you can win a cheesy prize.

I guess that is all out the window with these games today.  Crystal had a blast and walked away with like six prizes and didn't have to feel the pain of defeat for not winning any of the games.

I did get upset at the Carousel ride when the guy taking the tickets told a grandmother of a two year old that she could ride the ride with him, but it would cost her a ticket.  Really? When did this change come about?  That was just wrong.  I spoke with the Grandpa and he said he thought it was a rip off too, but what are you going to do when the children want to ride the rides?

The total budget for the trip was $20.00 and we ended up spending $28.25; the the $8.25 coming from the left over laundry money for the day.  All-in-all, she had fun and even got to see some sheep, goats, and bucket calves, so her day was a good day after all.

Cell Phone Etiquette

I'm not the best at always answering my cell phone, but I do really try hard to answer my phone calls when people call.  Of course, there is the occasion when I just can't.  I understand that we are all busier, running faster and longer, etc., But, would it really kill anyone to at least within a week acknowledge that you received a phone call?

I found this article titled "12 Unwritten Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette" and I was surprised to find out that there is such a thing.  The article discusses everything from screening your calls to talking in public and more.

Item #11 caught my eye, because with the age of technology comes long drawn out processes when calling someone.  It states "If I reach your voicemail, don't you think I already know you can't take my call right now and want me to leave my name, number, and a brief message? Do you need to waste my time telling me that? The whole process of leaving a message to begin with is too long. The last thing I want when I finally reach your personal greeting is a lengthy description of what you want me to do. We've been using cell phones long enough to know the drill. Just as you want my message to be brief, so too do I want you to keep your personal greeting short."

This can also go for those automated phone systems that the majority of companies incorporate because they don't see the need to pay anyone minimum wage to sit and answer the phone for them.  Please don't get me started on the hilarious phone systems that take how many prompts to get through before I finally get the person's voicemail.  I think I should leave a lengthy message just because of how long it took me to actually get through to your extension.

Well, off to call my landlord again to see if they can fix a broken light fixture.  Hey, maybe my daughter will have light in her room by next year when we have to move again!