Random Thoughts About Numbers

Tonight the President is going to talk to us about numbers - serious numbers relating to our current economic crisis - and that led me to being aware of numbers in other aspects of my life today.

1. I got an e-mail from BER today. They are cutting back the number of days each foreign language presenter will work next year due to huge cutbacks in school districts' budgets. I was scheduled for 25 days, now will have 20. They are not going to any city next year that didn't have a high enough number of participants this winter....and they simply ran out of cities! Bummer! (Being an eternal optimist, maybe Ken and I can take the cancelled January work week and go somewhere warm! Numbers in the 80's sound much more pleasant than numbers in the 10's)

2. Then BER sent me my numbers for next week's seminars and I had to count out my handouts for those groups: how many business cards, how many puzzles, etc. I even counted out the little candies I use for "prizes" - don't want to carry 100 candies if I only need 50!

3. Because, after all, the airlines depend on numbers: no more than 50 pounds per bag, no more liquid items than will fit in a quart size baggie, no liquid more than 3 oz.---and don't forget the $15 charge for each checked bag.

4. Friday is "auction day" at Rosewood. The residents get "money" each time they participate in any activity and they get lots more "money" when they win a game. Mom has LOTS of money this month - in part because friend Barbara who moved gave Mom all her "money". One of Mom's disabilities is that she can't manipulate numbers any more, so today I counted her cash in preparation for Friday's big event. She has $36,000....and there's still two days to go! She should be able to buy quite a number of valuable items at the auction!

5. On my way home from Rosewood I stopped at the cleaners to pick up two pairs of pants that had been shortened. I'm 5'7" tall and have been the same height since 8th grade. It is on the tall side of average. For most of my life I had a hard time finding pants that were long enough for me. Recently, I always have to have pants shortened. There are probably a number of reasons for this change. Most of our clothing is made in other countries where the metric system is used. Am I shorter in centimeters? The U.S. tailors have formed a lobbying group that is bribing the clothing manufacturers to make longer pants so that they get all the lucrative shortening work? Even though the ERA has not passed, the government is guaranteeing that average height women must put up with all the annoyances that petite and tall women have always faced? Is it a plot???

6. The number 40 starts tomorrow - 40 days of Lent. How can that happen when my pointsettia is still blooming beautifully?

7. I also made an ATM stop today. What would my father think about going to a machine, putting in a number code and magically getting money? What about hitting the numbers 5/3 on my computer (the strange name of our bank), entering yet another number series to access my account, then entering more numbers to magically pay our bills. When he was a young man, my dad would take his check to the bank on his lunch hour and get it all in cash, then pay his bills in person and in cash!

8. When I came home, I read our new congregational "profile" in anticipation of the first Call Committee meeting on Thursday. The last 20 pages or so were full of numbers giving data on the four communities that represent most of our members. Can a prospective Pastor get any idea of who we are from a listing of house prices, dollars spent per child in the schools, number of miles people drive to work, or percentage of Republicans and Democrats? Someone must think so.

9. Then, of course, are all the numbers that I have forgotten. Good thing I just have to push 2 on the cell phone to find out when Ken will be home tonight! A few numbers have gotten easier!