Tag: work

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Will Ferrell and Baby Jesus

Okay…I’m trying to understand a couple things that happened the other day.

I walked in a conference room at work. There were a group of folks gathered around a computer monitor. On the monitor was a YouTube clip from Talladega Nights, Will Farrell’s salute to NASCAR.  There were 4, 5 or 6 folks watching the clip which was a scene where Farrell’s character, Ricky Bobby, is praying over a white trash dinner about to be served.  He is praying to “Baby Jesus”.  Shortly Ricky’s wife takes exception with his praying to Baby Jesus.   Ricky’s partner pipes in about a partying Jesus.

There were several folks laughing heartily.  One was nearly falling out of his chair. Let me be frank.  I do not understand Will Ferrell’s popularity.  In my universe he is the un-funniest man in America.  That is the first thing I do not understand. Why is this man even working in show business.

I know for a fact that all of these folks but one would classify themselves as religious.  A couple I would classify as seriously religious.  Now I am an agnostic trending Continue reading “Will Ferrell and Baby Jesus”

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Our Infrastructure in a Nutshell

There is a sidewalk in the area where I live and work.  It is well used if you consider that most folks will drive a ¼ mile rather than walk.  I frequently walk the 2/3 of a mile to work on this urban path. The sidewalk is in disrepair.  Some slabs have moved creating uneven surfaces between them.  Parts of the sidewalk are crumbling.  Generally it is in need of repair or replacement.

Instead of either option the city has sprayed areas that could be problematic to walkers with red paint.  This I suppose is to alert you to the potential danger.  It more or less works in the daylight hours.  Nighttime is another matter.  Of course, uneven sidewalks are the lesser of the dangers in this particular neighborhood.  I live where I live for the convenient nearness to my employment, but sometimes I wonder.  But I ramble.

The crumbling sidewalk is a good analogy for the general state of our infrastructure in the good old US of A.  We are not tending to basic maintenance.  We are pushing projects off to some future time.  We have this obsession with “No taxes”.  Well guess what, it takes money to run a society, to run a country.   As a single person making a better than average income, I pay a goodly amount in taxes.  The only tax that really galls me is sales tax, probably because it is so regressive.  I see high sales taxes as politicians failing to institute a fair tax system.

I for one would like to see some more taxes, but on those who have managed to avoid most of them thanks to our politicians.  It is time we taxed those who can really afford before our country totally degenerates into a third world nation covered with red paint.

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Guardians of the Future

The saying is, “Children are our future.”  The meaning is obvious.  The children are the next generation that will carry on the human species.  Our hope as parents and as a specie is that the next generation will better,  have it better, increase the humanities knowledge ,  among many other things.

Children do not grow to functioning positive members of a society without some guidance.  Parents provide (hopefully)  a large part of this guidance.   Other significant guiding forces in young lives are teachers.  Without teachers, formal and informal, where would any of us be as people?   I can just about guarantee that everyone reading this can relate a story about someone who has taught them something or modeled behavior.  Frequently the impact of this is carried with the person the rest of their life.

We seem to be in a period of vilifying teachers within our education system.  We seem intent in denying them retirement, fair pay and decent working conditions.  We are asking them to do more and more with less and less.  We expect results this year that are stellar and next year are stellar plus.  Many teaching jobs have turned from teaching to paper work and preparing for standardize tests.  The burn out rate is high, and we seem to prefer it that way as it keeps young people coming into the system at the bottom of the pay scale.  Add to that the not so subtle process of privatizing education in this country.  At one level I am clueless why anyone would want to work in this mess.  But I am very glad there are, and that many of those  feel called and dedicated to guiding the next generation.

Below is a link to an article praising those who teach.  In the article was a wonderful little Rudyard Kipling snippet.

“No printed word, nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be.  
Not all the books on all the shelves – but what the teachers are themselves. ”

Teaching: The Greatest Responsibility and Opportunity

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Chicken at a Trillion Miles per Hour

When I was around 13 I found myself in a vehicle with a gentleman with a serious drinking problem.  This particular day he was far past intoxicated into stumbling drunk.  At one point he did ask me to drive.  However, having never driven anything more than a bicycle up until that point and being scared to death I unwisely declined.  In retrospect taking the keys away from him and being stranded would have been the better option.

Shortly thereafter I found myself an observer in a game chicken at 70 miles per hour.  From comments spewing from this individual’s mouth, I do not think staying alive was high on his list of priorities.  Someone once said that God watches out for fools and drunks, and there was a double dose going on that day.  No one was injured, no accident ensued, and the destination was arrived at.

Currently in Washington what is transpiring is a game of chicken Continue reading “Chicken at a Trillion Miles per Hour”

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Coffee Chatter

My lady friend and I are involved in a bicity relationship.  The bicity relationship came up as a result of the economy that resulted with me being laid off in St. Louis.  At my age I felt fortunate to find another job in my field…anywhere.

On weekends either I drive to see her in St. Louis or she drives to see me in Memphis.  Nearly everybody in my office knows this.  I came to work after the three day weekend.  The first thing I needed to do was get some java.  I was in the break room taking care of task one when one of my teammates walks in.

Making small talk she asked, “How was your weekend?”

I replied, “Fine.”

She then asked, “Did you go to St. Louis?”

“No,” I replied, “St. Louis came here.”

There was a fellow from the other side of the building pouring some coffee.  It would have been hard to not listen to the conversation.

He asked, “Who is St. Louis?  An exotic dancer?” Continue reading “Coffee Chatter”

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The Not So Invisible Line

I crossed a line invisible to my ego, but apparently readily seen by others.  It is somewhat of a reverse of the Emperor’s new clothes. 

I live where I live in Memphis not because the apartment is particularly nice, or particularly inexpensive.  I live where I live because it is a half mile from the office and I like the convenience of that.   My grandparents fell upon hard times for a while, and they lived in what was called “the projects” back then.  Basically it was a lot of low income folks crowded together in subsidized housing.  This apartment complex reminds of that place and time.

I came home from work today and there were a bunch of kids playing outside.  This is something nice to see these days when so many kids are inside in front of the TV or video games.  Continue reading “The Not So Invisible Line”

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Made in America: small businesses buck the offshoring trend

Link to an article about small companies that have decided that off-shoring manufacturing is not that good a deal. Labor may be cheap, but the quality and deadlines are not there.

Made in America: small businesses buck the offshoring trend

All I can say is hip hip hooray…maybe some more American companies will see the light.   I detailed in another article my trials and tribulations trying to find a pair of work gloves NOT made in China.  I did finally find a pair made in Pakistan. That is not the USA,  but I would rather it be Pakistan than China.

I am still waiting for someone to explain to me why they are selling frozen vegetables from China. I’ve gotten where I check the “where from” on the package and if it is not USA or at least this hemisphere I put it back in the freezer.

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The Mind, A Terrible Thing to Waste

My sadistic girlfriend gave to me for Christmas, The Mensa Puzzle Calendar. It has one brain teasing puzzle for every day of the year.  That is three hundred and sixty five chances to feel stupid.

A recent puzzle, titled Language Barrier, asked this:

Remove one letter from each word below the rearrange the remaining letters to form the name of a language.

1.      pliant

2.      wheels

3.      hiding

4.      whereby

5.      helpings

6.      sideshow

The calendar is at work and sometimes I have an opportunity to work the puzzles and sometimes I just casually look at them.  That day, a Friday was the latter. Continue reading “The Mind, A Terrible Thing to Waste”

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Kissed by Stephen Hawking

I am probably the only person on the planet who has been kissed by Stephen Hawking… in a dream.  Let me allow that to sink in for a minute, after all I am still trying to get over it myself.

In my dream I was at a house that was my parents, but not like any house they have ever lived in.  Stephen was tooling around his wheel chair.  Continue reading “Kissed by Stephen Hawking”