Category: Randomness

Joe really oughta keep these to himself, but he what the hay…

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Damn it, you’re welcome

There is a lot of good advice in this short article, 19 Words That Will Make People Like You More.  There is one section that struck me most vividly as it has been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time now. From the article:

“Words No. 3 and 4: “You’re welcome.”

Sometime in fairly recent history it seems people stopped saying, “You’re welcome,” and started substituting, “Yep,” or, “No problem.” At the risk of sounding older than I am, I think this is a step in the wrong direction–at least in a business or professional setting.

Why? Because ditching “you’re welcome” for these other phrases changes the message. “You’re welcome” acknowledges that you’ve done something worth someone else’s thanks, while “no problem” suggests that it wasn’t that big of a deal. Saying the former phrase conveys that you think it was a worthwhile favor. That’s an impressive message to send.”

I first started noticing this phenomenon on NPR.  The interviewer would say to interviewee, Continue reading “Damn it, you’re welcome”

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Interesting Medal of Honor Factoid

Theodore Roosevelt of Rough Rider fame in the Spanish-American War was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor repeatedly.  There were multiple letters from a wide range of people in this campaign.  Probably for political reasons he was never awarded the medal during his lifetime.

103 years later, after Congress changed the law on posthumous awards of military medals, he received it. It took another campaign during which the Army turned down the request once.  Bill Clinton signed the award into law during the waning days of his administration.

There are now two sets of father and son to receive this medal.  Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. who received it actions on D-Day at Normandy, are one set.  The other set is Arthur MacArthur during the Civil War and his son Douglas MacArthur (yes that one) during WWII.

Now you know.

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Love Comes in Many Forms

Love comes in many forms.buritto

Anymore I generally just eat because my body needs food.  When I was single I would eat the same thing for breakfast for months on end.  Lunch was much the same way.  In Memphis I would come home for lunch which usually consisted of ramen noodles with vegetables.  I was fine with that.  I was fine with my bowl of Shredded Wheat each and every morning.

Robin is retired and I still work.  She is still getting up and fixing my breakfast each weekday morning.  I just want something light to knock the edge off my hunger.  I like a little protein also.  What we have settled is a breakfast sandwich with cheese and egg.  Frequently the bread takes the form of a tortilla.  If I was preparing the meal it would vary only slightly from day to day.  Robin likes to change it up.  She likes to try to surprise me a little with the combinations she puts together.  This morning it was a tortilla, cream cheese with chives, soy sausage and egg.  It was quite tasty and opened my eyes with pleasure when I first bit into it.

Sometimes love comes wrapped in a tortilla.

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Li’ Blue in a Time Warp

Spring has finally sprung in St. Louis.  I took the tea cozy off Li’ Blue, my Mazda MX-5 (say Miata).  The vanity plate on my car reads Li’ Blue because it is, well… little and blue.  Also I was dating a Hispanic lady at time I bought the car and she called it my Viagra car for the same reasons and others.  Rather than put Viagra on the plate I went with Li’ Blue.

Friday is frequently a half day of work for me and I try to play golf in the afternoon.  The traffic is lighter on Fridays.  I find it a good time to drive my convertible.  I did so this morning, with the top down of course.   It was a little cool so I wore a light jacket and turned the heater on my feet. Traffic was flowing nicely and I never had to shift gears until I left the Interstate.

KDHX is a local non-commercial radio station with all volunteers as DJs.  The radio stations play list has to be termed eclectic, but each DJ usually has a theme, Blue Grass, Soul, R&B, Brazilian, etc.  The show on Friday early morning drive time is Sound Salvation. His whole play list is eclectic.  This morning it was gospel, jazz vocals, Lucinda Williams, indie rock and more. It is almost always enjoyable. This morning it was especially so.

It was one of those drives that if you could put it in a time warp and continue it would more than alright.  It made me so happy.  I walked into the office with a big smile on my face.

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Overheard

I was walking out of a restaurant tonight when I overheard a boy of about 7 or 8 years say to his mother, “Do old grandpa men know anything?”

God bless his mother who said, “Yes they know a lot, they have a lot of experience.”

It does not seem that in this youth oriented culture the elderly are valued much.  The mother went against the grain a bit.  As I said, God bless her.

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The French Disease

benvenutocellini_vol2_1210benvenuto-cellini-5-sizedI am currently listening to The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian man of many talents. If you doubted this you would just need to ask him to have it clarified for you.  He worked as a goldsmith, sculpture, a soldier and a musician.  He did much work for Pope Clement VII and the succeeding Pope.  He lived from 1500 to 1571.

Besides his many talents and egotism, he was very much the bon vivant and more than a little licentious.  By his own reports and court records he enjoyed the company of both men and women.  Throughout his book “The French Disease” was mentioned frequently.  From the context I assumed it was a sexual transmitted disease. However, wanting to know for sure I did a Google search and came across the following very interesting article.

In the early 1500s, the French Disease aka syphilis, came to Europe, probably from the New World. It was the AIDS of its day.  Not only does this article discuss the etiology of the disease, Continue reading “The French Disease”

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Fun In The Golden State

Robin and I recently took a trip to the west coast to visit my daughter and her family who live in Salem, Oregon.  Before we went there we did a little sightseeing in San icecreamtruckFrancisco and Sacramento.   We had a wonderful time, both sightseeing and visiting.  There were a couple out of the ordinary encounters that occurred.

San Francisco like most large cities has a lot of homeless folks.  Two individuals stand out in my memory although I do not believe the second to have been homeless.  The first was a very dirty white man of indeterminate age.  His clothes were dirtier than his body and they seemed to be disintegrating on him as he approached.  He reminded me of an actor I once saw at Medieval Fair playing the part of the village mad man.  This fellow in San Francisco was screaming at the top of his lungs in language I assume was English, but it was not very intelligible.  He was also gesticulating wildly.   He alarmed me somewhat, and I moved myself and Robin aside.

The second individual was a black man around 40 years of age.  He was dressed in a nice suit sans tie.  Continue reading “Fun In The Golden State”