Dr Saxe

Who Are Your Neighbors?

Thinking about my fellow Americans, I wondered what the numbers would show if I looked at the Census Bureau’s website and considered some basic statistics. Their web site has a population clock that shows as of tonight the total population for the U.S. is 305,247,965 people.

Of the number, looking at the country as a whole, which may or may not be reflected in you own neighborhood, about 60% of Americans are between the ages of 18 and 65, and about a quarter are under 18.

The country is divided almost equally between genders, with females (50.9%) just barely outnumbering males (49.1%).

What is changing and won’t be truly reflected in the data until the next official census, is the rate of growth of the Hispanic population. Current estimates shows that the black population is about 12.3% and the Hispanic population is now slightly more than blacks. Hispanics are 12.5%. Combine all the other minority races, including American Indian, Eskimo, Asian, etc, and all total is about 12.5%. The rest are white.

Do these percentages reflect the population characteristics of your neighborhood?

Cards for Kids

A lot of stores are thinking about and ramping up for the Christmas holidays already. The primary holiday displays are based on Halloween, of course. But there are also aisles of products for Christmas, with some stores beefing up the toy selections already.

The only thought I’m willing to give Christmas this early in the year is for Christmas cards. I like to order preprinted Christmas cards and have them delivered early enough that I can write a personal note to several of the recipients and have them all addressed and ready to send out no later than the week of Thanksgiving. I order my cards online from a company called “Prudent Publishing” who has a web site called “Gallery Collection.”

These are top quality cards with lined with foil and printed with your choice of verses and a large variety of types of cards, including recycled cards and environmentally friendly cards. They are sorted into all kinds of categories, like Wildlife, Patriotic, Wreaths, Business Holiday Cards, etc. that it is very easy to focus on the design or type of card you want if you are looking for something specific. Personally, I like the wildlife designs and already have my favorite card selected for this year.

I also read that this company is donating 1,000 Christmas cards to the Texas Children’s Hospital this year. Their goal is to help brighten the day for all patients who have to spend their Christmas in the hospital. I’m sure that will help many children and their families find a bright spot in a very difficult time.

New Soda Flavors

Did you try the new Mountain Dew flavors that came out this summer? They brought out 3 flavors for a limited time as a unique product testing method. Based on the total sales of the each of the new flavors, two of them will be discarded and the most popular flavor will continue in production as a new flavor added to their line.

Today I spotted another new flavor of Sierra Mist that has a splash of cranberry juice in it. This flavor came out last winter for a short period as a Christmas holidays flavor and then after the first of the year it was discontinued. But now it is back and also in a diet version. It’s pretty good – give it a try of you are sick of colas.

Designing a Game Room

In my house, even though I have a nice family room that is open to the kitchen, when family and friends stop by to visit, we always seem to end up on the kitchen end of the house, with me fixing something to eat and my guests sitting on the Counter Stools instead of over on the sofa in the family room.

So when I finish off my basement into a game room and spare bedroom, I’m going to put in a wet bar and either a nice bar height pub table or an actual bar. I haven’t made up my mind on that, other than I want at least four Bar Stools for my guests and someplace for my to fix the drinks, keep a refirgerator stocked with all the juices and cold drinks, ice and garnishes. I want it to be fully stocked and ready for a party at a moment’s notice.

I plan to go shopping for my new billiards table this weekend in case it needs to be ordered. I think the contractor will be finished with the carpet installation next week and they don’t need much more time to finish up the construction end of the game room. So if I can get the new billiards table delivered in the next 2 – 3 weeks and the new Bar Furniture in place by the end of the month, I might be able to throw a great Halloween party this year.

Two Thumbs Up!

Tonight’s season premiere of NCIS was really good. I was wondering how they were going to find a way to reunite the team. And I don’t like to brag, but I figured out the twist to the ending on my own with about 15 minutes left to the show. I should write these things.

The new show, The Mentalist, was pretty good. It had a few nice twists to it and the main character is really very endearing. I can see a lot of women becoming fans of this detective show even if they’ve never really liked the cops and robbers before.