During this time of retirement, I have given some thought to the issue of how men treat women. I went to Blockbuster a few weeks ago and opened a door for a woman. She walked in and was surprised. She told me that guys normally don’t open the doors for her. She was not very attractive and she was overweight.

During my retirement, I thought about this event. I have asked myself some key questions about how men should treat women. I wondered if other men were opening the doors for women who were not attractive and overweight. I thought to myself that maybe if I stopped opening the door for unattractive and overweight girls, I could save a little time. I would have more time to post.

My mom made me open the doors for other girls. I had to open them for my sisters and I had to open them for my mother. Every time I saw a girl, I was required to wait for her to walk through that door. I had to open the door for the girls in the car too.

I noticed at work recently a guy was trying to intimidate a girl with his size. He was talking with a strong demeanor. She called down to ask me if I would help. So I walked into the room and she told me later that he acted totally different with me in the room.

Is chivalry dead?

While I have been in retirement, it has given me some time to think about things I normally wouldn’t think about.  It has caused me to think about the nature of retirement and the location of retirement.  During retirement, it appears to me the best location to keep as a home is Florida.  I have always wanted to live in Florida.  I have visited there a handful of times and I have always enjoyed my stay. 

While thinking about Florida, I couldn’t help but to think about privacy.  According to foxnews.com, a little community has set up cameras to catch drug dealers.  The people in the community were tired of the crime in their area.  So they set up a camera on private property that overlooked public property.  The people in the community monitor the camera for illegal activity and report it to the police.  The police are saying that they will get a direct feed from the camera to help fight crime.  Some are calling this a violation of privacy.

If a camera was set up in your community, would you feel that your privacy was being violated?

Many of you are probably wondering what a person does in retirement. Some I am sure go fishing. For me, it has been work. Have you ever heard someone say that they were busier in retirement than they were when they were working? That is how I feel.

I tried starting up a new blog. I decided to start from scratch and see if I could make the blog work without asking any of my friends to comment on it. Well no one commented on it. I started it yesterday and I got three comments. I had it today and got 10 so far. It was depressing. I thought it was one of my better post.

I also watched the Miss America Contest on Saturday. My wife likes to watch it but I think it is boring. But they did have the swimsuit competition. The women walked out in their bikinis. My wife said to our youngest daughter, “Here comes the the shameful exploitation of women.”

Is the swimsuit competition a shameful exploitation of women?

My time on xanga has come to a close.  I have enjoyed the time I have spent on here but I realize it is time to go.  I would like to thank all the people that have stopped by and commented.  I would like to thank my special friends who have IMed me.  I would like to thank xanga for this wonderful idea they have come up with in order for people to network with others.

I have been really super busy at work for the last few months.  I need to cut some things out and this had to be one of them.  I am grateful for all of the encouragement I have received.  I started xanga at the worse time in my life.  I was going through a time that I thought I would never survive.  I started my xanga to help people but the reality is that most of the people helped me far more than I could help them.

I would just like to say thank you to everyone. 

Goodbye.

Dan

Yesterday we talked about the driving age of young people. I asked if a young person should have to wait until 18 to begin driving. In the comment section, someone mentioned another thought. They asked if at a certain age if people should stop driving. I think that is an interesting idea.

We all have seen individuals who were probably at a stage in their life where they should stop driving. I think you couldn’t put an age where they would stop driving. However, I am wondering if at a certain age a person should have to prove they can still drive.

Should a driving test be required once a person reaches a certain age?

Usama bin Laden has offered us a truce.

Should the United States negotiate with Usama bin Laden like they would for a leader of another country?

I like for us to always look at issues and see the practical outworking of those issues. It is one thing to talk about the environment but it is another to do something about it.

Paper or Plastic?

I have a theory that children are more likely to respect a parent based on how consistent that parent was in the area of discipline.  So I wanted to look first of all at which parent you respected more and then which parent was more consistent with discipline.

Which of your parents did you respect more, your dad or mom?

When I first started to drive, I was only 16 years old.  I was out speeding and driving crazy.  I had friends riding in the back of my truck while I was driving 85-90 mph.  I think now that I was way too young and immature to be driving.  Now my oldest is 12 and he is only 4 years away from being able to drive.  It just appears to me that a 16 year old does not have the maturity to drive a vehicle. 

I can understand the thinking that it is good for the young people to get some driving experience while living at home.

Should the legal driving age be raised to 18 years old?

My mom always hated to work outside the home.  Most of the years she worked in the home.  But she came to a place where she thought she needed to get a job outside the home.  I always noticed that there was a tendency for mothers who were in the home to make indirect comments about women who worked outside the home.  They would sometimes indicate that the mothers were less committed to their children.  Then there were mothers who worked outside the home that would act as if some mothers who stayed at home were not doing anything with their time.  These statements were often indirect and usually more implied than direct.

Do you think the typical woman would prefer to work in the home?