EXPLORING THE SEMANTICS OF UCO

      Curious, is it not, that The Rag, AKA the Reporter to some, can be both an official and unofficial newspaper. When one questions the sense of hiring an ad person for over $12,000 a year, we are told that this "paper" is independent from and of UCO. Curious, is it not, when we are told in an article in that same fish wrapper that it is the "official" paper of UCO and the Village.
     Even more curious is the ratio of pages of ads to pages or articles of news, information and alright, I will even include the recipes! The first thing that Joy Vestal ever mentions when reporting on her paper - but never a biased paper as she says she has never been influenced by anyone - uh-huh! - is the number of ads that they have secured. It seems that the raison d'etre of the paper or rather, rag, has become the garnering of ads, as opposed to true works of journalism. In fact, it has become a gathering of recycled articles, copied articles, late and old news,  already exposed and written about months and weeks before by the blogs and The CV Messenger and urgent information for associations that again, had already been disseminated by the above fore-mentioned avenues of the media.  And do not forget the ode to David Israel prefacing his so unnecessary article on the gathering of metadata. Roads vs. metadata and NSA. Pools and lake problems vs. metadata and the NSA? Huge increase next year of fees vs. NSA and metadata. Deterioration of our infrastructure vs. metadata/NSA? Financial issues vs. NSA issues? Get the picture?
     It is also replete with often inaccurate or not quite true information. For example, Pat Sealander asks for volunteers - again - this time for the front desk at UCO. Uh huh - Pat, just give me a call and we will set up mutually agreeable hours for me to volunteer. People, do not hold your breath on this one!
     This lack of verification, lack of drive for the truth, for originality, for accuracy, also finds its way to UCO ads. Right now I am quivering with excitement, agog at the thought of "road stripping". What could that mean? Does it mean that the trees and hedges, the very swales, will be treated to a burlesque show of the roads undressing? And what does that mean? Does it mean that we will finally be doing the roadwork the proper way, stripping it down to bedrock, milling, etc.? Somehow I doubt that!
     So what else could it be? Aha!!! This will be an event, possibly a new fad that UCO has dug up, wherein people gather, like in a flash mob, to strip on the road. I assume that David Israel will be sure to be there and call for 911 so make sure Al or another security guard is there to hear his high pitched call for PBSO. Somehow the idea of this event does not take off in the mind, so what else could it be?
     Aha! It is a simple and ignorant spelling error and one that should have been caught way before it reached public airing. Once again I offer free tutoring to these "proofreaders' at UCO who obviously have never learned the clues and hints and rules of doubled letters and the various sounds, long and short, of the vowels and how the doubling of letters, consonants, is a great big red sign as to proper pronunciation and meaning. So....the question here is, if one cannot get the spelling correct so that we do not have to wonder at the meaning of an announcement, what else does this portend? Does it mean that this is the same carelessness with which we read and draw up contracts? With which we read and misread contracts, much to our detriment and that would certainly explain things around here!!
     So, after we finally get the stripes on the road in proper shape, perhaps we can then turn to the pools - again. After spending approximately a quarter of a million dollars on the residents' pool at the Clubhouse, there are problems at the pool, some of which are quite off-putting. First, check the chairs at the pools there and ask yourself why they are so filthy and no, this is a nature problem and a lack of cleaning as the birds poop and we have nowhere to sit! Why are these chairs not wiped down on a daily basis? And why were there so many bugs IN the pool, so much so that they were actually clumped on the floor of the pool and in the water. Too much for there to have been a proper cleaning. Perhaps there are seasons where cleaning has to be more often. Finally, what is with the new pavers or tiles or whatever they are called. They are just TOO hot to walk on, actually causing people yesterday to cry out in pain and remember, one is not supposed to leave their shoes by the pool sides so what should they do - wear the shoes and then chuck them back to their seats and then when they get out have someone chuck them back? It is absurd, just the image of it!
    I am not sure which is funnier - the image of flying shoes or the road stripping event! People, we have got to make and have and enforce sensible rules and when planning things we must plan properly, think ahead to possible issues that might arise and plan for those, better even if we avoid them!
     Welcome to Chelm, the legendary city of Jewish folktales where the residents are just too  foolish to ever think things out. The only thing is, folks, that city was not real but our CV is and we bleed money and suffer consequences from foolish deeds and lack of forethought and simple proper proofreading! Ahhh, the joys of life at CV, a full service community which even provides the humor necessary for good health.