Creative Endeavors, The Home of BoxcarOkie.com

May 30, 2012

History Lesson

Filed under: Blogging,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,Uncategorized,writing — ldsrr91 @ 5:42 AM

Do you know what happened 151 years ago this fall… Back in 1851?

California became a state.

The people had no electricity.
The state had no money.
Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
And, there were gunfights in the streets.

So, basically nothing has changed except that back then,

the women had real breasts and the men didn’t hold hands.

That, my friends, is the history lesson for today ….

This graph was snatched from my dashboard.  It is something that I find interesting.

As most of you know we went to a policy of writing shorter posts about a month ago, and by the stats, it appears that it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to the readership.  If the material or subject matter is long, the readers are there, if it short, concise and to the point, the same thing.  It is not in the numbers it is in the “quality of the material or the subject matter.”

Regardless of current attitudes, I have found it stays fairly consistent day to day … As for myself, the shorter version is much easier to write and less work for me, but it doesn’t matter really, long or short, what I pound out and throw down on the page, is what I feel for that day.  It could go either way.

See you at the water-cooler

OOO

 

May 10, 2012

Spell Checked and Approved.

Filed under: Blogging,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,Uncategorized,writing — ldsrr91 @ 12:03 AM

We are rapidly finishing our first week with the new “leaner and much improved” Creative Endeavors.  A dedicated effort has been made to shorten the posts, and try to make them more interesting and not so verbose (keep them under or around 500 words).

It aint been easy … But it seems to be working.

Or it was until this morning, when I got a two page Email telling me basically … “that I suck.”  And I am fairly sure, this person is not hitting the like button any time soon.  Ceste Le Vive … Or for our Spanish Readers …. LaVita Loca.

Such is life.

As we approach 1.2 million visitors on this site, I am prone to think back to a long time ago, or rather, to a point in time that seems like a long time ago, when we first started.  Not knowing a whole lot of about any of this, we just kind of rolled up our sleeves and dove into it headfirst.  It was not easy by any means (something I am sure most of you can readily relate to) and at times, it was a real head scratcher.

One of my first comments came from a “English Professor” from some prestigious body of education back east.  He read my offering for the day, then promptly entered into the comments section “Now, that was depressing.”  Not very encouraging and it did tend to irritate the fizz out of me, but we kept on chopping and watched where the chips landed.  (Ironically, we are still here, he is however, long gone.)

He did show me something tho.

He illustrated to me the power of the comment, how it can be either for good or for bad, how it can make a day or drag one down.  It showed me that you should always make your comments “positive in nature” and that you should make a concentrated effort to encourage and not tear down.

This week, for instance, I read a post that had 4,773 words in it and the author was lamenting the fact that only 4 people had “liked the piece.”  I am somewhat surprised that they even managed to get thru it, yet alone liked it.  Yesterday I read where someone was saying “that the Oklahoma courts aloud someone to do this” which we all know should be “allowed” but over and over, there it was, “aloud.”  In either case I did not respond or try to correct … It is not my job to do this, it is not YOUR job to do this.

You want more readers?  You want more comments?  Then develop a kinder gentler attitude online and help a person up.  Encourage instead of discourage, you will be better for it, and in the end, the one on the other end of the line, will be too.*

OOO

*In case you are wondering, this came in at 515 words or thereabouts.  If you are not completely satisfied, please let us know, and we will cheerfully refund your purchase price and all shipping and handling.  It is after all the very least we can do.

December 1, 2011

You Suck!

Filed under: Life,Oklahoma,writing — ldsrr91 @ 7:39 AM
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Now and then, you get an email or find something in your site that cracks you up and really makes you smile.  Here is an example, this is for real, found it in my spam folder today.  It reads:  “how do i start a blog with a fictitious writer, parody/comedy/comment on current affairs politics etc?” Which really made my day, I like stuff like that it always makes me smile.

And then there are the other types of comments or email, they are not so pleasant in nature.

One of the bad things about hosting a webpage and having an email link, is sometimes you receive rather unflattering or uncomplimentary missives from people who are not fans or appreciate what it is that you are attempting to do.  Often because of a lack of a good working vocabulary, they will send you something that is short and sweet, to the point, such as:  “You Suck. You are the worst writer I ever read!”

I suppose it is important to have opinions, be them good or bad.  The age and time we live in almost demand them.  We live in a constant, instant communication, Facebook-Twitter kind of world now.  All of them Internet hotbeds just waiting to generate a comment or an opinion.  I have seen one post on Helen & Margaret generate upwards of 1,600 comments and/or opinions.

When you run a webpage you have to weed your way thru the critics and nitpickers.  And it is beneficial to have a thick skin to a certain degree as some critics, comments and/or opinions are not so smart or original, others downright nasty in nature.  Unfortunately there are days in life, when we must stand on the curb and clap as the parade rolls by.  Contrary to popular belief … Not everything you put up is going to go down in the annals of time as a winner.

On the Internet, opinions are pretty common place.  It used to be, we would be weigh what it is that we were going to say, before we said it.  But our new information age, instant communication, call it what you may, doesn’t lend to that.  The sad thing, as I see it, often it is posted before it is considered, and as most of you know, once it is out there, it stays there.

Our so-called “opinions” have become like Big Mac’s … Just thrown together, quickly and hastily and then served by the billions, and often they are hard to swallow and not all that good for you.  Personally, I liked it better the old way, before all this unfounded instant urgency to communicate became so popular.

So here we are.  “You Suck. You are the worst writer I ever read!”  Another fan has been located; stick a bright red pin in the map.  I get a little uncomfortable with the label “writer.” A writer knows all about verbs, nouns, sentence structure, paragraphs, all that other organization/compilation of the English language stuff.  A writer knows (or is supposed to know) how to do this in the correct fashion.  Me? I am a hack, I just hammer it out, and that is about it. I am a “writers” absolute worst nightmare.  Bottom line (as if anyone really cared) I am a story teller … Never have really considered myself a writer.  So I guess that should be: “You are the worst STORY TELLER I have ever read.”

That might be closer to the truth.

Life despite it all, 
is still being good to me, 
I can still maintain a healthy outlook on things in general.
  Unfortunately,
I have suddenly discovered I suck
 … Exactly why no one knows.
  And I am somewhat miserable
 … I suppose just flat outta luck.  I cannot complain,
 I am doing alright.
  My lawnmower still starts on the first crank
  Bills are paid
 … Have a little money in the bank … my favorite Internet numb-chuck sent me his link.  Rest is available to me when I need it.
  My health is improving.
  Still have my cake,
 but because of diabetes,
 I can no longer eat it.  That is how it often goes.
  First your money and then your clothes.  No more phone calls or emails, I believe we have a winner!

“You Suck. You are the worst writer I ever read!”  Now like MasterCard sez, “isn’t that priceless?” 

Another fan has been located; stick a bright red pin in the map.

This bozo probably wouldn’t recognize good writing or genuine talent, if someone handed it to him on a business card.

OOO

April 22, 2011

Lost And Adrift

Filed under: Life,Oklahoma,Recent,writing — ldsrr91 @ 2:57 AM
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The other day I was looking at some of the links to my webpage others have put up, and one of them said, “Creative Endeavors, Life Observations, Humor.”  I had never considered this a commentary on life, but it appears to have been labeled so by a few.

That is kind of nice.

Often in the morning, I sit here and try my best to come up with something new and refreshing for the day.  Every now and then I hit one over the fence, most of the time, I have to admit, I just try to get on base with a hit.  This morning, being no exception to the rule, I find myself sitting in front of an empty screen and wondering what it is that we will talk about?

This week I read an interesting book by Donovan Hohn, which was the true tale of 7,200 shipwrecked rubber ducks that rolled of the deck of a container ship in the stormy North Pacific about 15 years ago.  The ducks are not the story, only part of it.  It is about a quest in life, a passion that had to be fulfilled.  The author was so obsessed with finding out what happened to all these ducks that he quit his job as a English school teacher and set out to discover everything that he could possibly find out about these small lost rubber ducks.

Where they had been, where they are now, what was their final destiny after being shipwrecked.  That is passion my friends.  When was the last time you were curious, I mean “Really Curious” about something.  In my case, it has been awhile, I have to admit.

Following these ducks took him to the Northwest passage, Alaska, China and many places in between.  Who would have ever stopped to consider that chasing a flock of lost rubber ducks around the world, would lead to such a thought provoking work?  If you desire more information on this book, “Moby-Duck, The True Story of 28,000 bath toys lost at sea, you can find it at Viking for about $28.”

At 63 years of age, most of my passion in life, sad to say, has been used up.  I find that my get up and go, has gone and went, and my curiosity for the most part has peaked.  I am no longer thinking of moonwalking with Einstein, have lost the art of trying to remember everything that there is to remember in life, and lately, I have developed a little hitch in my giddy-up that tends to make me seek out the Aspirin bottle in the late afternoons.

Life … What happens when you are not paying attention.

When is the last time you stepped out of the box?  Ventured into something totally new and off the wall.  When was the last time you got truly excited about something that you were never excited about before.  If you are like me, it has been some time, an ocean of time.

I read where others struggle with this too.  Fun? Passion? Nope-nada.   Spending a little time on the net you can find other writers struggling with it too.  Are You Having Fun Yet?   No excitement in their lives, nothing left to shoot for, like my old man used to say, “I have done it all.”  I suppose that is the way of life sometimes, you cannot have your cake and eat it too, but a lot of us, would like it that way.

What is it about life that drains our passion, to the point, that we no longer even feel it remotely in our life.  What is it about life, that we no  longer wish to drink at the fountain of it, but rather just gargle.  Why is it that with age, we lose the drive the incentive to seek out new adventures, just sit back and do our best to be “just comfortable.”

I don’t know, I certainly do not have all the answers, most of the time, I have to admit, I don’t even remember the questions.

Perhaps I need to drive up into someone’s yard, get out of the car, grab one of their plastic lawn ornaments (Flamingo’s or such items) and take it on a trip around the world.  Photograph them in all these exotic locations (The Pyramids, Great Wall of China, Eiffel Tower) and make a scrapbook of it and return it (and the book) to its rightful owners a year later.  It is a neat idea, certainly nothing original it has been done before, just not by me.

What is it that I need?  What is it in my life, this inescapable “bucket list item” I have forgotten?  Do I need to find a seemingly impossible rocky crag and scale it … Locate one un-dammed river in this country and run it … Simply because they are there.  Perhaps it is time to make a road trip and burn some expensive fossil fuels.  Take my grand-kids on a trip and one more time, try and explain to them why history and why geographic monuments erected by the hands of man are important in this day and age.

Why Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Tweets, Facebook and MTV are not.

Might be time to devote some serious time to study my root problem and find a solution.  Lay back in my hammock and take a well-deserved nap and consider something of an adventurous nature to do in the sunshine years of my life.  Which right now, seems to me, an impossible goal.

One constant in all this, and that is the weekend.

If it did not exist before now, I would have to invent it, because it is something that we all need.  A time to recharge, to readjust our priorities in life, or just “get away from it all” for a brief respite from what life has to offer.

Please enjoy yours, I am going to do my best to do the same on my end.

OOO

March 30, 2011

Armed and Dangerous

Filed under: Life,Oklahoma,writing — ldsrr91 @ 3:58 AM
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I have a friend, Rita she is great, but she is kind of a feminist in her nature.  If you see a woman driving a dump truck for instance (not a common everyday sort of occurrence) and you make casual mention of it, my friend, will launch into this song and dance routine she has … “Anything YOU can do, WE can do better … naner, naner, naner” and so on.

Sometimes spending quality time with an extroverted feminist is not an easy thing to do.

Which brings me to Victoria Cowie who will almost always be the smartest person in the room,  She is an 11 year old from England, who they say was extraordinarily bright from an early age, starting out by reading elementary school books as a toddler.  Recently she shocked everyone when she scored 162 on an IQ test.

This number surpasses such notables such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and Stephen Hawking.

Incidentally, I took a IQ test once, confident I was a lot smarter than I actually was, I quickly found out I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.  Freely I admit, this set me back a little bit, but I eventually got over it.  (No, I will not give you the number)

Back to Victoria I digress.

She said that it was quite daunting to be compared to great minds, but it feels good also to be thought of as that clever.  She says that she really enjoys science and doing experiments, loves acting and dancing and playing musical instruments.  She does theater workshops and loads of sports, really likes swimming.  She aspires to be a vet when she gets older because of her love of animals and she readily admits that she is not afraid of blood.

All that and she is only 11 years old.  When I was 11 it was a major undertaking by BOTH of my parents just to get me to clean up my room.

What else do I have for all of you this morning?  Oh yeah, I liked this one.  Another winner gone bad.  Bad week for former Survivor winner Richard Hatch who turned himself in to federal marshals this week to begin serving a 9 month prison sentence for failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won on the reality show.

Hatch, has already spent three years behind bars for tax evasion, and is said to currently owe the IRS some $2 million in back taxes.  Now that would be kind of bad, go to prison as an avowed homosexual and have a name like Dick Hatch.

That is kind of scary.

Right where they want you.  You ever wonder why U.S. Corporations are not hiring?  Actually, many of them are.  They’re just not hiring Americans.  In the two years after the Wall Street meltdown triggered the Great Recession, large American corporations slashed payrolls by a net 500,000.  At the same time, they hired 729,000 workers overseas.  As globalization transforms the world economy, in fact, many U.S. companies are shifting the balance of their workforces overseas.

Ford for example reported in 1992 that 53% of its employees worked in the U.S. and Canada.  By 2009, it North American workforce made up only 37% after expanding to Mexico.  There is no such thing as job security in this country now.  We keep buying their cheap crap made oversea’s and they keep taking our jobs.  The old shooting yourself in the foot strategy is now being applied.  Things are no longer peachy and keen in the Heartland.

On top of all this, when you are replaced, the American company brings in the new foreign new-hires and expects YOU to train them (your replacements) and if you do not, they withhold your severance payments.  Is this a great country or what?  Now tell me again, how it is, that you believe Unions are no longer viable in this country.

Here is why it works.

Moving the jobs oversea’s not only saves on labor costs, which are noticibly down, but it also allows American companies to skirt envioromental issues, safety and health concerns.  When Pablo cracks open a old car battery he dumps it straight on the ground, he doesn’t wear a mask, and gloves are an option, if he can afford them.  Same with the poor sap in Indonesia or Jakarta.  They take it in the shorts, and Wall Street gets richer, meanwhile the rest of you are stuck at home delivering pizza to each other.

(Guess who used to write a Union paper before he did this?)

Who let the dogs out?  Charlie Sheen doesn’t have the market covered when it comes to weird or funny.  An Oregon woman called 911 to report an intruder hiding in her bathroom, just as the intruder was calling 911 to report his concerns that the homeowner might be armed.  On 911 tapes released by police the intruder admits breaking into the home and tells the dispatcher the owner behind the bathroom door might have a gun.

He is also heard to say that the owner told him she had two German shepherds.  Later, the homeowner can be heard warning the intruder that she’s about to call the police, to which the intruder yells back, “I’ve already called them.  They’re on the phone right now!”

Now that is funny … I don’t care where you live.  Often real life is better than the sitcom.  See you on Friday, hang in there, you almost have it made.

OOO

November 4, 2010

Life Is Good-Troubadour

Filed under: Oklahoma,writing — ldsrr91 @ 1:07 AM
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Now and then, I sit back in my easy chair, and I reflect on my life.  Where it is that I have been, where it is that I am going, will there be enough time left for me to complete the journey?  The only certainty that readily comes to mind is this … “The only thing in this life that does not take a holiday is death.”  Like it or not, we are allotted so much time to do what it is that we are required to do and that is it.

I have a friend who always signs off with Life Is Great!

It has occurred to me that this is a good way to look at life, for it is surely great, especially when you consider the consequences.  I used to say “It is a good day to be above ground.”  But I quickly tired of the morbid message that it conveyed, so I stopped using it.  Having a positive slant on things certainly cannot hurt, I believe she is right.

When you are young, you assume that you are immortal, that you are going to live forever.  It is when you age that you realize that it is not so.  All things run their course, and all things eventually end.  The rivers are given birth in the mountains, they flow to the ocean, and they die.  Spring has it’s first buddings, then summer, and eventually fall.

Sooner or later we all find ourselves in the short rows.

You know when a baby is born it comes into the world screaming and kicking, it’s tiny little hands are clenched into a fist.  When a man dies, he leaves the world with his palms outstretched and open, because he has received everything the world has to give.

Nowadays, when someone says to me … Life Is Good, I just sort of smile and reply “Yeah, I am doing Okay.”  Like the tired old line, “Go ye quietly into that gentle goodnight.” or something like that.

Fighting what is inevitable is a waste of time, better to sit back, take a little time to mellow out, and go with the flow.

OOO

October 23, 2010

In Other Words

Filed under: Oklahoma,random,Uncategorized,writing — ldsrr91 @ 2:16 AM

Blogging … First time I ever posted on WordPress, this nutty professor logged in with “now that was depressing.”  My first comment was not all that positive in nature.

This was, believe it or not, a real honest to goodness, genuine professor of English.  As I failed to bookmark his page, I have no clue as to whether or not he is still on WordPress (nor do I care) but he certainly threw a wet towel on my dream.

Not to be deterred, I continued to put them up one or two a day, and after a short while, I had a readership.  Perseverance (and good material) will eventually win out in the end.

My goal was to have 50,000 people visit my site and maybe read my stuff.  It turned out to be not only a rewarding experience, but a learning adventure along the way.

Now some 15 months later, 1.3 million people have come to this site.  Not bad.  Considering I had never posted anything anywhere, before I came here.

Sadly, 80% of other bloggers I used to follow are now gone and no longer posting anything in this same space of time.  As each and everyone are unique in their own special way, this represents a huge loss for the blogging community as a whole.

It takes a special kind of person to maintain a blog, to sit down and write each day without fail.  To face an empty screen early in the morning, to dredge up something interesting for the blog, something that you can post that others will appreciate.

Why we do this without fail is anyone’s guess.  In my case it wasn’t for fortune or fame.  My fame is vapor and my riches have taken to wings, the day for my enrichment of a monetary sort has long past.

But I have taken something away from all of it, and here it is, I will freely share it with you.

You learn to write when you are bored, when you are sad, when you are inconsolable, when you really don’t have a lot to say.  You write when you don’t especially feel loved or funny, you write because you have to write, you want to write, you need to write.

And I suppose you learn something along the way …

You don’t have to be #1 or Freshly Pressed on a global scale to be happy.  That life, is what happens when you are not paying attention, and you can report it.  The take away is how you feel after you have shared it with someone. That is why we do it, and believe it or not, that is not depressing at all.

It’s often quite the opposite, kind of nice.

OOO

October 20, 2010

Another Hard Pull

Filed under: Oklahoma,random,Uncategorized,writing — ldsrr91 @ 5:35 AM
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Kind of a hard pull into Amarillo Texas, wind was blowing fiercely, over in Santa Rosa, New Mexico it almost took us off the road, trucker wandered over to the shoulder, pinged the windshield, there will be $200 to cough up around December when the air turns chilly.

An all White Eagle and a Prevo sitting in the parking lot, the usual assortment of cookie cutter fiberglass crap motorhomes each and every one equipped the same, the Hawaiian Skirt Splash Guard on the back bumper and two-wheel dolly car carriers on the rear.  Each one with their bright orange, green or yellow ladder strapped to the back of the unit, another convoy of “Dust Bowl Okies” on the road to who knows where.

But for the best part, the place is empty, picking and choosing a spot is not a problem tonight.  Locating 42 feet of level ground, I quietly and efficiently stake my claim for the next eight to ten hours.  I quickly locate a place for our “trailer trash” and we set up to spend the night.  That done and put away, my attention returns to the two buses parked nearby.  The Prevo has the usual assortment of flashy paint and what I call “whoopee do’s” running up and down the sides of the coach, all around the entire length of the coach.  After careful scrutiny of my untrained eye, I come to a conclusion.

Looks like a Country Coach, maybe a Marathon, age and vintage unknown.  It really doesn’t matter, both companies now defunct and shut down, casualties of the current economy.  The government giveaway of the century just hastened the death of the American Dream it seems.Now the Eagle, the big bird next to her, she looks great.

Dream Catcher

Kind of majestic in the dim lite of the China–World parking lot.  I saunter over and take a peek at both, the mural on the back of the Eagle is a “Dream Catcher” (American Indian Artifact) looks well done, and the bus lines are all straight and true.  Someone has put a lot of hours into this sweetheart and the TLC is quite apparent.

Feeling the rigors and stress of the day taking their respective tolls, I now determine it is time to shut it down for the night and retire.  Firing up the old generator, checking the connections, I go inside and Mama has the bed all made up and I am ready.  I briefly listen to the almost hypnotically soothing rhythms of the generator, it surges when the power is required and then throttles back.  Soon I find myself lulled into the quietness of the night, I drift off.

The very next morning, I awake and the eastern sky is alive with color, the beginnings of a new day.  I dress, heat up a cup of brew on the three burner stove, and grab a jacket for a trip outside.  I then see the owner of the Prevo, he is an old man, I am guessing maybe 70-74 years old.

We visit a little and we talk, about buses and things, all this spending in Washington and the trouble it always brings.  At some point I offer up, “I have wanted one of these suckers since 1976, I will bet you I have looked at 200-300 in my lifetime.  I am going to get me one, one of these days.”

I thought to myself,  “one of these days, one of these days, one of these days.”

How many times late at night, had I sat there pouring over the materials, the ad’s, the internet, conning my mind into buying into it “one more time?”  Paying for a home, putting two boys thru college, and tucking a little back for “The Bus Fund” has proven to be a formidable goal over the years.

So much for the American Dream eh?

My newfound friend says there is a lot to be said in that.  He smiled the smile of a guy who had possibly been there, walked a mile in someone’s else’s shoes, and he asked, “How old are you son?” Without hesitation I quickly added, “Sixty years old on my last birthday.” He paused a little and then he said, “I am Seventy-four and this is my FIRST ONE hang in there, you will see your dream realized.”

We shook hands, he turned and walked back to the coach, Grand Canyon, north rim, was his destination for the day. By my reckoning about 650-700 miles for the day, that is a hard pull in itself.  My bones creak in the cool chill of the morning, and I am glad that it is the middle of the week, and I am standing in the short rows in Amarillo, Texas.

We have 252 miles to put down, then we unload it all, stick it back in the storage yard until the next adventure or journey of unknown days.  I walk over to the generator and shut it down, open the door and inquire, “You have your funny face on? (makeup) We need to get crackin.”

Life is short … Enjoy the Ride.

OOO

October 12, 2010

Encore … Play it Again

Filed under: Oklahoma,random,Recent,Uncategorized,writing — ldsrr91 @ 4:37 AM

Nashville Tennessee (CMT) seems to be putting out a lot of material on time here lately.  Every entertainer has his/her own slant on time, where did it go?  Why is it just slipping by?  I have lost count of the number of years.  Having just turned 63 years of age on my last birthday, I often wonder the very same things.

Surprisingly I look at my last post, and it was something like fifteen months ago.  I wonder to myself, where did the time go?  Was it well spent this self imposed absence or was the time frittered away to be lost somewhere between the lines.

In my heart I know that this is all part of the Grand Scheme and it is a necessary part of life.  But there is a small portion of time I pine for in the quiet moments of the day, that time naturally being the missing years of my youth.  The longing for but one more chance to perhaps return to that happier period of my life and do a better job of it.  A sincere prayer for just one more opportunity to make it right, and as always, “I promise Lord, I won’t blow it this time.”

The American Indian had an expression for time, they said, “Nothing lasts forever, except the rocks.”  But even a rock will wear down eventually given enough time.  A friend of mine recently commented that “he finished his dash project, and it only took him thirteen days to do it.”

Time.

Closing my eyes, sitting back in my easy chair, and it isn’t all that hard to see the skinny blond headed kid at the pencil sharpener cranking away and looking out the window.  I can smell the donuts in the shop, four in the morning, while rolling my newspapers.  The husky laugh of Mary Dawson in the Balcony of the Canadian theater at the east end of main.  Little mile-markers of time, etched in my mind and triggered by who know’s what?

Most of us cannot afford the luxury of just sitting back and whiling away the time, we are so busy starting a life we don’t have time for life.  We cannot sit back and watch the river flow, lie back in the grass and study the clouds, spend a summer night devoted to the Milky Way and its road of stars.

Life eats up our time.

Sadly, if given the remote possibility of doing it all over again, the majority of us would blow it.  It is just our nature.  It is nice however to think that this opportunity exists and that it could happen someday given enough time.

OOO

December 11, 2008

Nobody Cares About Your Dreams

Filed under: Oklahoma,Recent,Uncategorized,writing — ldsrr91 @ 11:37 AM
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recent-shots-006

Coffee is good this morning, a little bite to it, but that is okay, it is cold here and uncomfortable.  Americans drink about 400 million cups of coffee per day, that is a lot of coffee, that is an ocean of coffee.  Which is kind of strange, when you stop to think about it.  Coffee has no nutritional value that I know of, why we drink it is truly somewhat of a mystery.

Four out of five adults in the U.S. drink coffee every day.  I know one person who doesn’t, his favorite quote about coffee is this.  “How can something that smells so dog-gone good when it is perculating in the pot, taste so rotten afterwards.” He is not a caffeine junky like the rest of us.

We average about two cups per day in this country, per consumer, that would be about 1/3 of the worlds’ supply of the elixir.  I understand that coffee contains 100 milligrams of caffeine; a cup of espresso has 200.

No More Free Toasters

You can now add Credit Unions to the list of people signing up for the bailout money, they applied for and received $40 billion worth this week to bolster against mortgage losses.  You know the other day I was sitting at the beanery waiting for them to bring me my order and I was staring out the window.  And I got that glazed over look in my eye and the wife said to me, “I know I shouldn’t but I am gonna anyway.  What are you thinking about”?”

And I said, “Oh, I was thinking back a long time ago, when we were young and stupid and we invested in that Ponzi scheme.  You remember that?” and she said, “Oh Lord, whatever made you think of that?”

For all of you that are not aware, a Ponzi scheme is a get rich deal, most of the time called a “Pyramid Scheme” and the people, who get in early, make tons of money, the others, well they don’t do so well.  They mainly lose their investment.  We were in the later group, we lost, about $1,000 and interest, and I made every stinking payment on it, 36 of them suckers.  (I told you we were young and stupid, we didn’t even have the money to lose, we borrowed our entry level amount … Now that was really d-u-m-b.)

So here is the deal.

I am thinking about how it is that I did something really dumb, really stupid, and I lost what I considered a large amount of money.  AND NO ONE … NOT ONE SOLITARY SOUL CAME FORWARD TO BAIL ME OUT … I HAD TO PAY EVERY DAMN DIME OF IT … AND I HAD TO TAKE MY KNOCKS THE HARD WAY. Since then, several lucrative offers have presented themselves, and we always say “no thank you.”  Our official position is that we have had so many good deals in the past, we cannot afford any more of them now.

When do WE get bailed out … Who is going to help us out … those of us that are struggling.

Business has gotten so bad here lately, even the people who were not planning on paying for it anyway, are not buying. I asked my neighbor about it and he said, “The bible says cast thy bread upon the waters and it will be returned to you 100 fold.”  Which is fine, but what are you supposed to do with 100 soggy wet loaves of bread?  When I was young, my paycheck would burn a hole in my pocket, these days it isn’t enough to keep my pocket warm.  It is truly a shame that at this point in life, you have only one regret.  And that would be that you have not accumulated enough cash to be able to fly on a moment’s notice to Japan to bid on Paul’s Sergeant Peppers uniform.

The Governor will see you now … Please have your checkbook handy

Corruption has tainted politics in Chicago (Illinois in general) since the prohibition days and Albert Scarface Capone, but the arrest Tuesday of Illinois Governor Brad Blagojevich revealed alleged conspiracy and bribery schemes so brazen that the veteran investigators and prosecutors could barely hold their revulsion.  Government for sale .. to the highest bidder, the American Way, kind of makes you proud doesn’t it?  Shades of Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas.  When the highway patrol stopped you there, they would say, “Have your wife get out of the car, so the governor can frisk her.”

Here is another one out of Illinois for you. In Springfield, Zachary Holloway, 20, and a pal were arrested and charged with breaking into one car and stealing, among other things, a motorcycle helmet, then attempting to break into another car.

To try to get into the second car, Holloway put on the helmet, stood back from the car, and charged into it, head-butting a window, unsuccessfully, twice.  They were arrested and booked that day.

Finally coming clean

Some 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, plaintiffs in the case are getting what’s left of the money they were originally awarded, the Anchorage Daily News reports.  Some plaintiffs will get amounts ranging from several hundred dollars to $100K or more.  Most had just about given up hope of getting anything from it at all.

Now lets see, you take an amount of money, put it in the bank and allow it to sit, for say …. Oh let’s just say “twenty years” … that might accumulate enough in interest where you end up never paying a fine at all.  Just thinking outside the box.  Naw, “our friends in the oil and gas industry” wouldn’t do that to us … would they?

Oh well it could be worse (how could it possibly be worse?) you could be in your car, stranded on an Alaskan highway and the only human within 200 miles is a Cro-Magnon Woman wearing a torn parka who communicates through a series of bizarre grunts, winks and gesticulations and she not only comes to your rescue, but you have to “talk to her” all the way back to town.

Lying crooks what is this world coming to?

In the city that launched the national crime-stopper movement, Albuquerque, New Mexico, which pays informants for tips that help police solve local crimes there could be a possible snag.  It appears now the highly successful program designed for, “people that hang out with crooks to do part time work” might be providing the cops with “less than truthful information” for the rewards.

It appears that even in hard times, the low life’s will resort to less than honest approaches at generating funds.  Police are now saying that they are going to have to be more careful because they “might be playing games with us” in order to get the money.  Geeze, do you think so?  Bad cop, bad cop, no donut.

Man, I would like a shot at that myself.

Barre, Vermont. A man who hit Governor Douglas in the face with a pie during an Independence Day parade will spend five days on a work crew for the prank.  Matthew Manning, 23, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and apologized.  Manning, dressed as Santa Claus ran up to Douglas during the Montpelier parade and threw the pie before being tackled by the mayor and being detained.  I would like to pay this man’s fine, if there is one, but I am curious.  “Santa Claus at an Independence Day celebration, what were you thinking?”

Time to wrap this one up.

If you attend the job fair/money seminar at the Holiday Inn this weekend?  When the speaker begins the seminar by saying, “By a show of hands, how many of you don’t know the difference between a stock and a bond?” and you are the only one with your hand in the air?

Go immediately to the Lobby … American Xpress or Bank Of America are looking for you.  You might have a new job Monday morning.

Who says things aren’t looking up.

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