Speed and Accuracy

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I’m assuming she didn’t have to perform her outstanding typing skills with her feet or in that bathing suit during the contest. I don’t know, though. This appears to be her ninth win.
This makes me think of my grandmother. She was a 21 year-old mother of five when she got The Telegram during WWII – no skills, no high school diploma. The Army sent her to business school to learning typing and dictation to support all those fatherless children. I don’t imagine it paid for much, but it did throw my war-widow grandmother in the path of a few unmarried professional men.
That’s how it was done, really. I seriously doubt Gram’s typing skills netted that doctor she soon married. I believe she relied more on youth and an uncanny resemblance to Jane Russell. I also believe that’s what the Army had in mind all along.
Post-war, typing skills were many times the means to a happily married end. She’ll tell you that herself. She’ll also tell you the times called for being gainfully married, so it definitely mattered where a girl did that typing. Gram says she typed like the wind, but in the end it was more important which sweater she wore to the office. A mother of five had to be practical about such things.
If you’d like to test your words-per-minute, try this online typing test. You’ll be tested on your laptop rather than your Remington, but at least you don’t have to wear a bathing suit.

One Street Typewriter-Poet and My Retirement Plan

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I’m in grading-mode right now and have banned myself from All Things Distracting. I saved this little ditty a few weeks ago for just such a moment. I’m thinking about retirement and moving to Eureka Springs forever so I can be a typewriter poet in front of the cafes. If gas gets any more expensive, I may have to find a folding table and get to work sooner. Enjoy the video.

The Taxman Cometh

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Break out the bubbly, folks. For the first time in six years I’m actually getting a tax refund from the State of Arkansas. This is quite an accomplishment and I couldn’t be more pleased. Those revenue guys have been raking this gal over the coals for some time now. In six to eight weeks I’m assure that there will be a check in the mail. For five dollars. That the refund. Five bucks.

And I don’t care that the check won’t even buy lunch at McDonalds. At least not if I want something to drink.

But wait. There’s even more good news. The Federal Taxman has ALSO given me a break. Sure I owe money, but this time it’s just double-digits. I have enough mathematical acumen to understand that still puts me in the hole overall, but this year it’s more like a divot. I can replace a divot. It’s the cavernous, echoing Yellowstone-like holes that make me quit breathing, and you can bet I’ve been to the precipice and looked over the edge.

I’m going to cash that five-dollar check and spend it all in one place. Shouldn’t be hard to do. My head is spinning so with the thought of such a windfall that I scarcely know how to spend it. I’ve got six to eight weeks to think about it, though. If you have any suggestions just let me know.