Bad Behavior Has Consequences!!!
Finally, three prominent examples of how bad behavior will not be tolerated. First, radio host Don Imus is presently unemployed by his network after making disparaging, not to mention sexist and racist remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. It took a week or so to happen, but he did indeed get fired today. After most of the show's major sponsors (American Express and Staples, to name two of them) withdrew their advertising. MSNBC had already pulled the plug on simulcasting his show on TV.
Next, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed out some suspensions for bad behavior off the field. He expressly pointed out that playing in the NFL is a privilege, NOT a right. Allen "Pacman" Jones has been suspended without pay for the entirety of the 2007 season. Chris Henry has been suspended for eight games (half the season).
I must say that I'm very impressed with Commissioner Goodell. For being a new guy (on the job about a year if I recall correctly), he's definitely setting the tone for how he will expect things to be in the league. Strong leadership and definite guidelines for acceptable performances along with concrete consequences for failing to follow through. Consequences which are actually meted out too. There is nothing more ineffectual than threatening a punishment and failing to follow through.
So, kudos especially to Commissioner Goodell and, to a lesser extent, CBS. (They get points off since their motivation was primarily to save advertising revenues, not to make a statement about Mr. Imus' behavior. Until the advertisers pulled out, CBS had intended to only suspend Mr. Imus and that suspension was likely to have been *with* pay.)
Crummy Spring Weather is *GOOD*, especially for the garden!
Lowe's had a whole lot of perennials, shrubs and annuals heavily discounted today. These are plants which were frost/freeze damaged over the past week/weekend. I picked up two Boston ferns in hanging baskets for $1 each. I also have two shallow planter pots of annuals ($2 each), plus five Nandina shrubs ($2), four asparagus ferns and three upright dracenas (50 cents each), two heath plants ($2) and two artemisias ($2). Tomorrow I'm going back for some dwarf holly bushes. Instead of putting boxwood around the perimeter of my deck I am going to install a holly hedge. It'll also grow to about 18 inches tall and should fill out to be a nice solid little hedge. Then again, by tomorrow after work I may change my mind and decide to leave the deck as it is so the birds can hang out underneath it. (I am also reminded of the NON-CODE electrical drop that the previous owner ran from the house to the pool pump. This electrical line runs somewhere parallel to the north side of the deck and will, no doubt, get cut at some point in the shrub installation. I really should hire an electrician to fix that and bring it up to code....)
Anyway, I would need about 18 plants. At $2 each, instead of $8 each. That's a pretty good deal. I might pick up two non-dwarf holly bushes for the back corner of the yard too, to plant along the fence.
I still need to find a shade tree for the back yard, next to the house. Right now there is no shade there at all in the summer and no attenuation of the wind in winter. It would be nice to plant something like a maple, elm or hackberry there. The trick will be finding out where the septic tank is so that I don't end up causing myself problems down the road.
Next, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed out some suspensions for bad behavior off the field. He expressly pointed out that playing in the NFL is a privilege, NOT a right. Allen "Pacman" Jones has been suspended without pay for the entirety of the 2007 season. Chris Henry has been suspended for eight games (half the season).
I must say that I'm very impressed with Commissioner Goodell. For being a new guy (on the job about a year if I recall correctly), he's definitely setting the tone for how he will expect things to be in the league. Strong leadership and definite guidelines for acceptable performances along with concrete consequences for failing to follow through. Consequences which are actually meted out too. There is nothing more ineffectual than threatening a punishment and failing to follow through.
So, kudos especially to Commissioner Goodell and, to a lesser extent, CBS. (They get points off since their motivation was primarily to save advertising revenues, not to make a statement about Mr. Imus' behavior. Until the advertisers pulled out, CBS had intended to only suspend Mr. Imus and that suspension was likely to have been *with* pay.)
Crummy Spring Weather is *GOOD*, especially for the garden!
Lowe's had a whole lot of perennials, shrubs and annuals heavily discounted today. These are plants which were frost/freeze damaged over the past week/weekend. I picked up two Boston ferns in hanging baskets for $1 each. I also have two shallow planter pots of annuals ($2 each), plus five Nandina shrubs ($2), four asparagus ferns and three upright dracenas (50 cents each), two heath plants ($2) and two artemisias ($2). Tomorrow I'm going back for some dwarf holly bushes. Instead of putting boxwood around the perimeter of my deck I am going to install a holly hedge. It'll also grow to about 18 inches tall and should fill out to be a nice solid little hedge. Then again, by tomorrow after work I may change my mind and decide to leave the deck as it is so the birds can hang out underneath it. (I am also reminded of the NON-CODE electrical drop that the previous owner ran from the house to the pool pump. This electrical line runs somewhere parallel to the north side of the deck and will, no doubt, get cut at some point in the shrub installation. I really should hire an electrician to fix that and bring it up to code....)
Anyway, I would need about 18 plants. At $2 each, instead of $8 each. That's a pretty good deal. I might pick up two non-dwarf holly bushes for the back corner of the yard too, to plant along the fence.
I still need to find a shade tree for the back yard, next to the house. Right now there is no shade there at all in the summer and no attenuation of the wind in winter. It would be nice to plant something like a maple, elm or hackberry there. The trick will be finding out where the septic tank is so that I don't end up causing myself problems down the road.
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