Work

Since all I ever do is work, school work and take care of my family; that will most likely be what most of my blogs are about. I truly hope that it isnt too boring for those of you who read it.

Today was hopefully the end to a very busy shopping weekend. I work for a call center for Best Buy and I take calls for bestbuy.com. As most of you know, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. However, some of you may not know that if you are a Reward Zone Premier Silver member, you get access to what is called Black Monday. This the Monday before Thanksgiving and it gives the RZ Silver members access to Black Friday specials, early. So OMG Monday was crazy!!! Placing the orders isn't the hard part, the hard part is dealing with the customers who do not understand why something is sold out. You try to explain to them when we have an that is $200 dollars off, it is going to go very quickly. But they dont seem to understand why we cant have one of everything for everyone of our customers that could take advantage of this sale. Its crazy. I mean seriously. It is first come first serve or first recieve.

Or we will have customers that call in, mad, because we have an item that is available in some stores but not theres and that dont understand why we still have the item on the website. I try to explain to them that the website is viewed by people all over the country and since it is still available somewhere we still have to have it on the website. And boy do they get mad to hear that some one else will have the oppurtunity to buy when they dont. I understand some of the customers frustrations, like if there is website error or something along those lines. What I don't understand is the customers who expect us to pull something out of thin air when we are sold out or the customers who expect us to pay to have a washer fixed when it is broke and they purchased the item two or three years ago, and if we dont fix it they tell us they will shop else where. As much as I hate to hear customers say that, but if there is nothing I can do, then I guess they will have to.

Mother asks for child to be tased.

I recent read a story about a taser being used on a 10-year old child in Arkansas. Reportedly, the mother called the police when her daughter became defiant and combative. When the officer, Dustin Bradshaw, arrived he found the girl screaming and crying on the floor. When the girl refused to follow her mother’s instructions, the mother told Bradshaw to use his taser. Officer Bradshaw then carried the girl to the living room and told her she was going to jail. The girl then reportedly struck the officer in the groin with her legs and feet. Bradshaw then administered what was reported as a “very, very brief” stun with a taser, put the girl in handcuffs, and carried her to the patrol car. She was then taken to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter.

I read this story and I was very appalled. I could not believe someone would use a taser on a child. Not to mention the mother telling the officer to use it on her child. I understand that some children can be out of hand and be very combative. I used to work in a home where we took in children from families that was experiencing a crisis, as well as, children awaiting foster placement. At times these children could be very combative and abusive but never would I suggest or even think they need to be tased. There are other ways to handle children like this. Unless the child is armed themselves and is truly a threat to themselves or others with said weapon, then it may be permitted. I truly think that this officer was upset that the girl kicked him in the groin. If I was a guy I know that would make “lose it.” I would die if someone tased my child. They would probably have to tase me in the end.

This isn’t the first case reported about kids being tased. In another article I found on the National School Safety and Security Services website, it mentioned several instances where children were tased. In Orlando, Fl a 14-year old girl was tased, twice, by a sheriff’s deputy, after she reportedly went after her boyfriend with an 8-inch chopping knife in hand and the turned on another deputy who did direct her to stop and drop her weapon. Reportedly she had written a note on her notebook reminding herself to bring the knife, and she had also told friends that she was going to kill her boyfriend. She went after her boyfriend as soon as they exited the school bus and before the officials at the school she attended for emotionally challenged students could conduct their weapons search.

In this case, I am not sure how I would react. The child did have a weapon but she was attending a school for emotionally challenged students. I do not how challenged she was but I could not imagine having to tase her twice. That can be good for someone who apparently already has emotional problems.

As if the H1N1 virus isn't bad enough.....

According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic H1N1 flu virus has spread to 206 countries since its discovery in March. There have been more than 6,250 deaths to date, most of which have been in the Americas region. This pandemic has lead to criminal gangs, mainly in Russia, to take advantage of the panic stricken consumers and sell fake flu drugs over the internet. This was discovered by a web security firm-Sophos-on Monday. This firm intercepted hundreds of millions of fake pharmaceutical spam adverts and websites this year, many of which were trying to sell counterfeit antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu. The top five countries buying the fake Tamiflu and other medications on the internet were the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, and France. The Geneva-based WHO declared H1N1 a pandemic in June, updated the guidance to doctors last week to inform them that antiviral drugs should be given even before tests conclude that the patient had the pandemic flu. Two of the websites that was found to be selling counterfeit drugs were branded as the “Canadian Pharmacy” and “Glavmed.” There are plenty more sites like these out there and they are said to earn more than $100,000 a day!

I read this story and it made me angry. Angry that people would prey on consumers trying to stay healthy so they can attend work and pay their bills. In this economy today and the job market, no one can afford to get sick. When you try to stay healthy, you take a chance in still getting sick by purchasing fake drugs. Several of my friends at work have told me to take over the counter drugs such as Zicam and related products. With an article like this it makes you worry if the medicine you’re getting is the real thing or if you have just spent time and money at the doctor and then time and money at the pharmacy, to what, to get sick any way because you have take fake drugs.

My kids were sent home a couple weeks ago because they had a fever. I thank god that the medicine I gave them was the real thing. I do not what I would do if my children were infected with the H1N1 virus. Not to mention if they were infected and the medicine they were given didn’t work and they just got worse. I would be devastated. I don’t know how these parents of children who have been infected with the H1N1 virus handle it. Hopefully, we get a handle on all this soon. The fake drugs and the virus itself.

Hope for breast cancer patients.....From pigs?

Women who have lost one or both breast to cancer may start to see light at the end of the tunnel. In Australia, Professor Wayne Morrison, is experimenting with pigs to grow breasts in hopes to introduce it to woman who have had breast cancer. For the past two years Professor Morrison, working with a team at the Bernard O’Brien Institute in Melbourn, has successfully grown breasts on pigs by inducing the animals’ own fat cells to reproduce into molded chambers that are implanted under the skin on their chests. These chambers are then sown with a piece of fat no bigger than the size of two adult fingers, which is taken from the patient’s own body. A blood vessel is then looped through the fat, allowing it to recruit more fat cells until the chamber is filled. After six to eight months the chambers are removed leaving perfectly formed, functioning breasts, with their own blood supply. However, the process could take longer in humans than in pigs because humans stop growing at adolescence. The professor stated that if this works then this method could be used to contour any defect, rather it is the breast, a congenital deformity or trauma where someone has lost chunks of themselves. After three years of trial, if successful, this could be used in breast cancer patients. However, it could take a decade for it to be ready for cosmetic purposes. This institute is also responsible for growing working heart tissue.

I read this story and I was astounded. It is amazing how far the medical industry is coming. I have never experienced breast cancer and thankfully know one in my family has either. But I think it is awesome. I read some of the reviews on this story, and there were several commits about the fact that the testing is done on pigs. I believe animal cruelty is wrong, however, I know that a lot of the medicine and medical procedures were first performed on animals to perfect them for human use. The pigs they are experimenting with, I believe, aren’t going through any more pain and suffering than a breast cancer patient has to endure. I just think this is amazing. Hopefully, this is able to be performed on humans, if and when I get breast cancer. I worked in nursing homes where some women after a mastectomy just lost all will to live. It made them feel less of a woman. Even though they weren’t they always told me that is how they felt, as well as they did not feel attractive any longer. So I think any thing to improve the quality of life is good.

Gunned down at a gas station.

On Sunday, investigators captured a man they believed to have opened fire on a car parked at a gas station that killed three women. Three children inside the bullet-riddled vehicle were able to escape without harm. The ages and the relationships to the woman were unknown. At least one of the women knew the gunman. Most of the injuries were sustained in the torso of the women and later died at the hospital, stated Illinois State Police Officer, Lt. James Morrisey. Jay Makhuf, a co owner of the convenience store where the shooting took place, stated he heard around 14 gunshots. He ran outside to offer medical assistance but the women were already dead. Makhuf stated it appeared that one of the women had covered one of the children with her body to shield the child. Police in St. Louis arrested the suspect Sunday night at an apartment after an intensive search for the vehicle he was driving; white, four-door 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis; he allegedly drove to and from the shooting. The name of the suspect was not released because charges had not been filed.

The exact cause of the shooting isn’t clear at this time. All that is known is that the women and children were sitting in the car around 9:30 pm on Saturday when the suspect drove up, exchanged words with at least one of the women and then began firing with what appeared to be a handgun and the sped away. Sunday night the gas pump where the women were gunned down was like a memorial, covered in flowers and a teddy bear. One of the women’s fathers stated the women were good friends and that his daughter had three sons, it is still unclear if they were the three children in the car.

I could not imagine if this was my friends or family. I could not imagine what would make someone so mad that they would have to kill over it. I mean it is just words. The old saying is “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Apparently, whatever the women said to him hurt him bad enough that he believed he had to kill them. My heart goes out to these families and the children who may have lost their mothers.