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The two-crossword Friday

Friday, April 20 at 12:01 AM

This Speakout has not been edited

By Sharon DeRouen, Castle Rock

First a little background: Pre Husband, I used to read the paper every day; from cover to cover. At least all the headlines. Actually a lot of the articles as well.

Pre beautiful baby girl, I used to read the paper on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now, post husband and child, I savor the Friday paper because, if nothing else, I manage time to squeeze in the large, play-with-me-on-and-off-all-weekend, crossword puzzle.

This is not to be confused with the small, daily crossword tucked in with the comics puzzle. We are talking about the BIG, half page, come-to-mamma, hanging out with the books and Dear Abby section, only shows up on Fridays, crossword. (Take special note here as this bit of info will come in handy later.)

Now, a little foreground: This week is special; this Friday, 04/13/2007, everyone (husband and child) has to be where they usually are on Friday afternoon, EXCEPT me. I stand on line at the local grocery with my paper and $0.50 in hand, giddy with excitement at the prospect of spending an entire afternoon, uninterrupted time, doing my crossword. I find the perfect spot in the perfect restaurant; along with the perfect beverage and my favorite perfect mechanical pencil. I settle in. I sip my beverage. I peruse the headlines. Purposefully avoiding the book section. Saving even a glimpse of my crossword, the best, for last. Ah, there it is. I pull the page and, as has become my ritual, gently fold in half, then half again.

Making a nice cushion for Mr.Mechanical pencil to ride evenly without tearing. Now, with an Ed Norton wrist and pinky flourish, I prepare to begin my salvation.

Houston, we have a problem: WHAT?! NO!! This can NOT be??!!! This is my entire afternoon! This is my one shot for the next several months! Possibly years! HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? Some idiot at the newspaper has published the crossword WITH THE ANSWERS!

The devastation. The horror. What kind of insensitive oaf could do this to ME???? Would this happen at the New York Times? I call the newspaper. “Yes, we know. We are very sorry.”

But you don’t understand, this is my one chance. I plead. I cry. “Why don’t you just print it from our web site?” … I can do that? I don’t have to stand on line every Friday? I can just go get it, for free? “Absolutely.” I’m amazed. I have to check this out right now, I’m running out of time. Wait. This is the little crossword.

“Yes, absolutely.” But I’m looking for the come-to-mamma, take all afternoon, most of the weekend, size. “We only have one crossword.” No, on Fridays you have two. This Friday, specifically, one published with completed answers and o ne without. “If you want the crossword puzzle, it’s on our web site. Have a nice day.”

Ah, Houston… ?

READER COMMENTS

Some people are thanking Dick Notebaert for saving Qwest. Thank him???

Come on, we are getting suckered again! He is making millions just like Nacchio did only he is doing it on the backs of employees and retirees. He has never granted a cost of living retirement increase, he has taken much of the retiree’s health benefits away from them and he has even stripped the retirees of burial insurance they worked 30 years to earn.

Dick Notebaert is another billionaire in the making. He has the same big ego, the same fancy corporate jets, the same big executive perks and the same huge stock packages that Nacchio had. NO DIFFERENCE!!!! Plus he has already been involved in a scandal at AT & T. Google it!

Notebaert is propping up Qwest with rental services much as Nacchio did when he swapped cable routes to make it look like profit. Notebaert will look good and reap huge stock options and bonuses and perks as long as his rental business works. The stock will even increase as the suckers buy.

Under Notebaert, Qwest has few assets. The first thing he did was sell the only big money maker the company owned: the Qwest phone-book unit. Qwest owns no internet provider service- Notebaert is reselling (renting) customer internet service from MSN. Qwest has no wireless facilities- he is renting all the wireless service it sells to its customers. All Qwest has as assets are telephone land lines and they are going away at a fast rate. What happens when there are no land lines? Only wireless, cable and satellite? Qwest has nothing! That is why there are no big companies clamoring to buy up Qwest. It is a loser and so is Notebaert! He is just another temporary CEO/Chairman getting rich while he can. I've seen them come and go at Mountain Bell, US West and Qwest for the last forty years. Many left their company poorer and in worst shape than when they started, but no CEO ever left themselves poor on the way out the door.

A Boise Retiree

Posted by Qwest Retiree on April 20, 2007 12:06 PM