About those fundraisers....

As my partner will tell you, I'm a regular viewer of the cable listing menu provided by my crappy cable service. You never know when something interesting is going to turn up on an obscure channel. OK, I admit. It's rare for something interesting to turn up on any channel. Nonetheless, being the eternal optimist that I am, hope springs eternal and I continue searching.

Have you ever noticed that the only time Public Television has something worth watching is when they're trying to raise money? I long ago gave up trying to watch any of these shows. At least with commercial television, the commercials are rarely longer than 60 seconds. The begging on Public Television drones on for 15 an 20 minutes at a time. No thanks.

I made the mistake a while back of donating to a charity for a cause I was happy to support. And so it began. Because of that one little donation I received countless telephone calls and mailings asking for more. I have also made the mistake of contributing to universities on behalf of former professors and colleagues that set up scholarship funds when they retire. I'm happy to support the wishes of these folks, but end up being sorry I did because of all the calls I receive year after year asking for still more.

I now have calls from unknown numbers blocked, and routinely screen my calls to avoid calls from telemarketers. My number is on the National Do Not Call registry, but charities, politicians and pollsters are exempt. That's just another reason you can call me...

The Crotchety Old Man