It is Sunday, May 17 and there are only 48 days until July 4^th, so get your sparklers and fireworks ready.  Today we remember the birthdays of Sandro Botticelli, Dewey Redman and Brigitte Nielsen.  On this day in 1792 24 merchants formed the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street, in 1883 Buffalo Bill Cody’s first wild west show premiered in Omaha and in 1989 Vincent Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr Gachet” was auctioned for $82.5 million.  In Norway it is Independence Day and in Cuba it is Agrarian Reform/Peasant Day.

When I read about the Van Gogh piece being sold for $82.5 million, I thought that I should look at it, thinking that it must be one magnificent piece of artwork.  I pulled it up on my computer and thought, “Are you kidding?”  Let me first admit that I am not an expert in art, nor do I profess to be able to discuss the quality and workmanship of someone like Van Gogh.  Having said that, when I looked at the picture I was puzzled as to what made it worth over $80 million.  Take the time to look it up and tell me if you think it is worth that much.  I realize that it is a Van Gogh, but come on.  Even if I had that kind of money, I would not have spent it all on that picture.

This portrait is one of Van Gogh's most well known since it holds the distinction as the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. “The Portrait of Doctor Gachet” was sold within three minutes for $82.5 million (U.S.) to Ryoei Saito, Japan's second-largest paper manufacturer. This record remains unbeaten, but an ironic footnote to this sale is the recent news that Christie's has purchased the work back from Mr. Saito for one-eighth the price he paid for it.  So it appears that Christie’s didn’t even think it was worth that much money.  

I am sure that I have mentioned this in the past, but I am constantly amazed by people and their smart phones.  They are constantly looking at them, texting, tweeting, googling and who knows what else.  Part of it may be that I do not have a smart phone, I have a dumb phone.  I can make and receive calls and I can send and receive texts, but that is all I can do.  As hard as some people find it to believe, I am still using a prepaid program.  I pay a fee once a year and that is it.  I really do not need much more than that.

I do not use my phone often.  Generally, no one calls me because very few people even have my number.  When they ask what it is and I explain that they can’t send me pictures or group texts, they usually say, “Oh.  Never mind.”  The lovely Elaine calls me once in awhile to remind me to pick up something at the grocery store.  My doctor’s office uses it to remind me that I have an appointment.  I do not know why they don’t just use the home phone like they do for Elaine’s appointments, but they call my cell.

My brother Jack sends me text messages to let me know what is going on and I usually end up calling him because it is easier to talk.  Keep in mind that it takes time for me to send a text.  When I type, I use two fingers.  I never learned how to type and I am not about to start now.  I use two fingers, generally.  When I text, I have to hold the phone with one hand so I can only use one finger to type.  I have watched others text with their thumbs and marvel at the speed with which they can get a message out.  I cannot.  I tried it once and was smart enough to read it before I sent it.  What I saw on the screen was not what I thought I was typing.  Apparently, my thumbs are not capable of only hitting one letter at a time.

So one finger it is.  The lovely Elaine says it is painful to watch me text.  She claims that my mouth is open as I slowly type out my message.  It may be.  I am so busy concentrating on getting the words spelled right that I am too busy to notice that saliva is running into my beard.  Part of my problem is that I feel that I have to use proper punctuation, so it takes extra time to press the function button and then find the right key for what I want.  

Why can’t people just talk to each other.  I see this all the time when I am people watching.  Someone is walking along texting to another person.  Their head is down and they are typing rapidly.  They stop, presumably because they have sent their message.  Soon they receive a reply and start to send the next text.  This goes on and on – head down, typing, looking at the phone waiting for the reply, typing some more, waiting some more – and so on.  Wouldn’t it be simpler to just call the person, walk with your head up so you can see where you are going and just talk to them?  I am amazed that more people do not walk into each other because they are so busy looking at their phone and not where they are going.

I find texting less than satisfying because you cannot express yourself completely.  The recipient does not know what mood you are expressing, they cannot always identify sarcasm or humor and it is not always apparent when the conversation is done.  I always wonder if they are waiting for me to text more or if we have finished what we were texting about.  I suppose I am old fashioned in that way.  The only good thing is that, because I don’t text a lot and have had carpal tunnel syndrome will not be a big problem for me.  Besides, I’ve had it corrected in both hands already and do not want to go through it again.  The lovely Elaine has said that the two medical fields to go into are treating people with neck problems and people with carpal tunnel.

This week our fact tells us that it costs more to buy a new car today in the US than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake three voyages to the New World.  Of course if he had spent the extra money he could have gotten the GPS package and actually found the Indies.