Conversation style and another "special" word

That hurricane "Sandy" is really making a mess on the East coast. The damage and devastation is mind boggling. On the other hand, the resilience, determination and hard work of the people affected by Sandy is incredible. They survived the storms of last year and they'll survive this year. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.


"Oppositional Conversation Style"

Just read about that. It describes someone that will correct, nullify, embarrass and belittle you during the course of a conversation, even if they agree with what you say. They are simply combative, lack empathy or concern and are always more interested in making themselves the fountain of knowledge on whatever subject is being discussed. Do you know anyone like that? I do! It seems they become much more obvious as the political elections draw near. It would be a blessing to have caller ID right about now. Otherwise completely likable friends seem hell bent on saving me from my total lack of ability to make a rational decision when voting. If they had their way they would walk right into the voting booth and guide my hand to the proper dots to mark. I pulled that description right out of "Reader's Digest" Knowing what they are called probably will not prevent those folks from being so confrontational but at least I can get some satisfaction from knowing I'm not alone. "O.C.S." has a certain ring to it doesn't it? Sits right there next to "C.R.S."

With the progress of hurricane Sandy the local and national weather people are hauling out the big words again. It happens every time we experience a weather event of this magnitude. regular words don't work at a time like this. Nope! Something memorable other than the storm itself I guess. And, I'm sure you've seen the silly reporters standing on the edge of a beech somewhere along the Atlantic, wind blowing so hard they are almost standing perpendicular, the microphone is so muffled and distorted we can hardly understand what is being said, waves splashing high in the air and suddenly, actually predictably, one of those waves knocks the reporter and all that expensive TV equipment into the next county. Exactly how valuable was that news report?  Then, the picture fades to the meteorologist in the studio, face all wrinkled and distorted showing false concern and magnifying everything that is said so as to validate their own importance, after all, even the news is entertainment these days, background monitors showing devastation everywhere, bringing us to the edge of our seats, carnage and destruction similar to that shown on the silver screen years ago in the movie, "The Day The Earth Stood Still." We can't help but feel the winds, flooding, building collapses, electrical outages, overturned vehicles, uprooted trees and resulting homelessness will all fall onto us too. Any minute! Glued to our sets we await the next words from our meteorologist, she looks into the camera, eyes wide with worry, face contorted with concern, lips part and the word hits us like a falling comet: This storm is "EXPONENTIAL in magnitude!" Aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh! I gotta go now. It's time to lock myself somewhere safe with water, batteries and toilet paper. Lots of toilet paper because of my own exponential nature when it comes to stuff like this.