When I heard about the new comedy “Outsourced” my first thought was, that’s not funny. At all.
The sad reality that jobs are being taken from Americans and being outsourced to India, is now a comedy? How is that funny? Unemployment is at an all time high. People can’t find jobs. They are losing their homes. Their savings. Their everything.
And it wasn’t just someone. It was a whole group of people, and then a whole network, thought a show about people in India, who now have jobs that were taken from American’s was… Genius! Cutting Edge! Hilarious! One that would sell lots of advertising! From companies that moved all their American jobs to India. And we would still buy their products. Paradoxically.
“Hey, did you see the one episode where Sally in Cleveland is let go from her job of 30 years to Gupta in India, because it’s cheaper to hire there. And the new employee, Gupta, flourishes while Sally’s bank forecloses on her home and her unemployment benefits run out and she can’t find another job and the strain on her marriage is too much and she ends up divorced and her kids won’t talk to her anymore. HILARIOUS!”
And weirdly, this comes from the same network that gave us great, smart, well written comedies like 30 Rock and Community.
Oh, I know! Outsourced should have been a “reality” show. That way one camera could follow Sally and one follow Gupta and we could see how “outsourcing” affected their lives. Oh the drama!
Oddly, you never hear about jobs lost to India much in the press. Even companies considered ‘Good ol’ American’ like Target have outsourced jobs to India. Target quietly ends jobs here and re-hires for the same job in India. And we unknowingly bounce along and keep buying their products. Cute little doggie mascot! But even if we DID know, what are we going to do about it? Individually? Pointless. As a mass? Maybe. But, where will we buy our goods? Where will we go to buy everything in one place? And I guess we need to keep those people in India employed. It is a global economy, right?
For Americans to laugh lightlheartedly at shows like Outsourced and continue to flounder foward, makes me think of that film, Idiocracy.
Hey, while were at it, why don’t we make a comedy about Catholic priests who fancy little boys. Or how about one where women aren’t allowed to get an education or drive a car and get stoned to death for small crimes. Or how about one where a whole country is so poor, the people don’t even have clean drinking water. HILARIOUS!
I could get Arnold Schwarzenegger to play himself! Genius!
It’s not the show that’s the problem, if only it were make believe, but it’s not. It’s about something tragic that is happening across America. Or maybe it’s all in how you look at it. Maybe the writers secret mission is to bring attention to, and make more people aware of, the problem. Then I would think the show was genius.
Before I wrote this, I watched one episode. I thought it was only fair to watch at least one if I was going to mouth off about it. And nope, watching it didn’t change my mind at all.
Is this cute or what? Dog is confused by the escalator.
I can’t help it. It’s like an addiction. I must have pumpkins! And I like the ones that are unique the best, when I can find them. This first one doesn’t look real. It looks like it was painted this way. Like someone took a paint brush and splattered it any which way they felt like. There were only two in the bin at the store so I’m glad I didn’t miss out. And as dogs do, Pixie and Stella were following me around the house. That, or they just really wanted their picture taken.
Pixie and Stella were instantly drugged by the good warm sun. I tried to tell them they could stay there, but they insisted on following me around the house.
This green pumpkin isn’t all that unique, but I liked the shape of it and the little yellow spot of sunshine on the bottom.
And of course, I have my fake pumpkins that I love too.
Stella had an itch that seemed to last forever. Well, at least long enough for me to watch her for awhile, decide to go find the camera, come back and find her still at it. Silly dog.
I was never really that in to how food tasted. Really. I used to eat tuna out of the can for lunch because it was easy, low fat and tons of protein. What did I care how it tasted? I was done eating in less than 10 minutes.
The reason behind that kind of eating, started when a friend in High School took me to her gym after school to work out. She introduced me to the world of sweat, grunts and aerobics.
With that, came eating healthy. I remember sitting down to dinner one night and proclaiming “I’m not eating that anymore!” Much to my parents dismay and confusion, they eventually went along with it. I sat there with my cottage cheese and tomatoes while they ate deep friend chicken nuggets and french fries. OK, that sounds dramatic, but she did used to make that as a meal once in awhile. To her credit, most of the meals my mom prepared were budget friendly and pretty healthy.
However at that time, eating healthy to ME meant one main rule: NO FAT. I now know that is the wrong way to go. Think of all the good fats that are essential in things like almonds, avocados, olive oil. Back then I would have said “No” to all of them.
When I really got in to weight lifting, I even ate plain baked potatoes. Like it was an apple. That was when I was really in to working out and weight lifting. I mean really in to it. Who would ever eat a plain baked potato!? Yuck. But, hey I did pretty good at reaching my goal. I was squatting 245 lb and benching 100 lb with 11% body fat. Not bad, right?
I certainly don’t do that extreme work out or eating routine anymore. Oh no, I’ve acquired taste buds and enjoyment from a good meal. Nor do I care to ever spend that much time at a gym again.
In fact, this weekend I whipped up a new yummy recipe. This time of year always gets me in the kitchen baking or cooking. That fall air blows in and suddenly I find myself standing in the kitchen saying “Where’s the beef?”
Well, I happened to have 1 lb. of organic beef that was to either be eaten or thrown in the freezer. And my new crockpot was still sitting in the box where it had been all summer. And the yam I bought was starting to sprout wings.
I figured a meatloaf had to be pretty easy. I’d only made a weird turkey version years before, but really, how hard could it be? Well, it was even easier than I thought. After looking around on-line for a good recipe and realizing there were so many variations, I decided to come up with my own. And we loved it, so thought I’d share:
2 eggs whisked
add: 1 lb of beef
1 C breadcrumbs
1/2 C chopped onion and garlic mix
1/2 C steak sauce
salt and pepper
Mashed it all together in to a loaf shape with my hands and put it in the crockpot on high for about 3 hours. Next time I make this, I plan to add sliced mushrooms and feta cheese. Yum!
For the yam, I just peeled, sliced, drizzled with 2 Tbsp. of butter and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Covered and baked in the oven at 375 for about 30 – 45 minutes.
Bon Appetit!
