Sunday, May 16, 2004
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Cafe Jack Sketch - Oh The Stories We Can Tell
I put a sketch of a Cafe Jack below. I'm not sure where a good place to build it will be. Maybe Montana, maybe Minnesota...maybe Washington. It will be a place where people come to tell lies.
Or stories.
It's hard to tell which is which sometimes.
Things change in our retelling of the tale sometimes deliberately, sometimes not, but we can never communicate what really happened. Ludwig Wittgenstein had some stuff to say about that idea. The point I got from old Lude was "nothing important can be communicated."
It kind of made me wonder why I spent a year in that Philosophy class.
Ludwig Wittgenstein [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
Have you ever been run over by a tractor?
I know someone who was...but if you heard that story you might think it was a lie.
Have you ever been riding on a commercial flight in a 747 Jumbo Jet and had the pilot's get out of their seats so you could take a picture of the sunrise?
I did that...but if you heard that story...
Have you ever...joined the carnival?
Have you ever..
Washed an elephant?
Kissed a bear?
Floated down the Blackfoot River with someone named BadToe who took care of the dolphins in a zoo?
Ever been in a Mexican Jail? Any jail? Psych Ward? How about an insane asylum? Drug rehab?
Have you ever been in a Mexican Jail and then had the police take you back to the bar you were in when they arrested you?
Ever had someone break a beer bottle on your forehead?
Did you ever have a chance work at the Rand Think Tank RAND Corporation Provides Objective Research Services and Public Policy Analysis?
Now we're getting in the fact vs. fiction.
Sometimes I wish I wasn't getting so damn old. I wish I had the testosterone and whatever else was flowing through me when I was a younger crazier lad. Other times I'm glad to be more serene. Or is it just tired. In any event it's nature baby.
I heard Pat O Brien say that "sobriety is serenity" on the TV last night. I guess but intoxication can sure be a lot of fun....Religion - Cults: Dionysian God sometimes I think I wish I could have a drink.
I guess it depends on our definition of fun eh? Headaches and jail, fighting and crying, maybe not so fun.
Or stories.
It's hard to tell which is which sometimes.
Things change in our retelling of the tale sometimes deliberately, sometimes not, but we can never communicate what really happened. Ludwig Wittgenstein had some stuff to say about that idea. The point I got from old Lude was "nothing important can be communicated."
It kind of made me wonder why I spent a year in that Philosophy class.
Ludwig Wittgenstein [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
Have you ever been run over by a tractor?
I know someone who was...but if you heard that story you might think it was a lie.
Have you ever been riding on a commercial flight in a 747 Jumbo Jet and had the pilot's get out of their seats so you could take a picture of the sunrise?
I did that...but if you heard that story...
Have you ever...joined the carnival?
Have you ever..
Washed an elephant?
Kissed a bear?
Floated down the Blackfoot River with someone named BadToe who took care of the dolphins in a zoo?
Ever been in a Mexican Jail? Any jail? Psych Ward? How about an insane asylum? Drug rehab?
Have you ever been in a Mexican Jail and then had the police take you back to the bar you were in when they arrested you?
Ever had someone break a beer bottle on your forehead?
Did you ever have a chance work at the Rand Think Tank RAND Corporation Provides Objective Research Services and Public Policy Analysis?
Now we're getting in the fact vs. fiction.
Sometimes I wish I wasn't getting so damn old. I wish I had the testosterone and whatever else was flowing through me when I was a younger crazier lad. Other times I'm glad to be more serene. Or is it just tired. In any event it's nature baby.
I heard Pat O Brien say that "sobriety is serenity" on the TV last night. I guess but intoxication can sure be a lot of fun....Religion - Cults: Dionysian God sometimes I think I wish I could have a drink.
I guess it depends on our definition of fun eh? Headaches and jail, fighting and crying, maybe not so fun.
Friday, May 07, 2004
Home Repairs - Fujitsu Lifebook Repair - My Gardiner Montana Retreat
Happy Friday to you my friend.
I've been away from blogging for awhile. It was a nice break for me to do some non-virtual things for a change....cleaning, painting, butchering wood (my version of carpentry). I hung a simple wooden screen door and I thought I was going to have to demolish and rebuild the house to get the darn thing to hang right.
Why is it that Bob Villa or whoever those guys are on TV can have such an easy time? I'd like to see a reality show...."here's our homeowner 7 hours later after 4 trips to the hardware store, sweating and cussing because the pipe he was going to remove to clear the sink drain was old and corroded and broke when he tried to undo it..."
One time I had a plugged up sewer (because the city backhoe operator cut the line in the alley it turned out). Anyway I had a rescue rooter guy at my house on Sunday. He charged me 300 bucks or something to put a camera in the sewer and tell me he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He did put a clean-out in the new inside sewer pipe we'd had put in a few months earlier.
He asked me if we had a clean-out near where the sewer left the basement. I wasn't sure so I decided to use a power saw to cut though some sheet rock to see if one was hidden. I'm not sure why I thought anyone would put such a thing inside a wall . You would have had to have been there to appreciate the humor I see in this now. The whole house was sort of in a panic mode. I forget what the event was that everyone was getting ready for but we can't use the toilets, the sinks, showers...There's sewer water backing up into the basement and I took a power-saw to the wall in front of this guy. There's dust all over the place and a bigger mess by the minute. No clean-out. Now that I'm older an wiser I probably won't start cutting into walls at random to help solve a plumbing problem. It seemed like a good idea at the time though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a Fujitsu Lifebook laptop that's old now but I have grown to really like it. The power supply jack got broken from too many hard pulls on the power cord. It was an educational experience trying to fix that. I learned (a) laptops are really hard to open (b) laptops are very expensive to repair...depending on how you define expensive I guess and (c) the people at Seattle Laptops are good to work with.
The power supply jack on this laptop is soldered to the motherboard. When I called Fujitsu they told me they don't repair motherboards but would replace mine for 600 something. Seattle Laptops told me they would try to replace the jack and make it better with some special glue for under 300. Sounded good to me. I was actually just about ready to go the hacksaw, solder and duct tape route but my wife convinced me to shell out the 300.
You can remove every screw from the case of a laptop and it won't open. You can pry around the edges and see it start to separate but you get the feeling that if and when it does something is going to break or pieces are going to start to pop out and you won't have a chance of reassembling the thing.
I enjoyed talking to the guys at Seattle Laptop, and it's a nice drive down there from my house. It's near the old Chubby and Tubby's hardware store on Aurora, across I-5 from Greenlake.
While I was in there an older lady was in and was not happy about her laptop (not sure if she'd bought a used one there or had hers fixed). I think the tech was telling her that she had downloaded some version of Microsoft software (Internet Explorer?, Media Player?) that was screwing up her system. She was saying something like, "all I see now is big dots." That got me thinking how hard it would be to work in a place like that when you have to deal with the poor folks who want to use computers but don't have the time or inclination or ability to understand the oddities of PC's.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Those z's are a symbol of how boring discussions of computer problems can be.
My main philosophy of computer troubleshooting, upgrades, fixes etc. is; do it, then forget how you did it and clear your brain for something else. No one is going to be able to keep their eyes open long enough to listen or read about how you changed the registry or got some new codecs or whatever. Well I shouldn't say no one...obviously a fair number of people love that sort of discussion, just not my cup of tea. Not that I don't enjoy screwing around with machines...just not into reading or talking about it unless I have to or someone is paying me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have what I think are some pretty good pictures of Montana that I want to scan and put up. I was surprised at how peaceful and beautiful I found areas that in my younger days would have been boring empty space.
Montana is really dry. This is the 6 or 7th year of drought. I think seven year cycles may be somewhat common? I think sunspot activity and maybe other natural phenomena run on that sort of schedule. I sure hope they get some rain and snow in the higher elevations next year. Otherwise I might have to start thinking more about this whole global warming thing. I guess we city slickers can enjoy the sun...not sure about the people and animals that need that moisture to survive.
I saw deer, elk, moose, buffalo, a grizzly (from a distance), antelope, coyote and maybe some wolves (I couldn't tell they were too far away...might have been a pack of coyotes.
Went to the hot springs at the 45th parallel. It was cool! It was cold! It was hot. It was fun. Saw my kids and their friends at Chico. They floated the Yellowstone from Gardiner. I think they had a ball. There at an age where dad is not really needed. That's fine with me. I think my job as a parent is to raise kids to be independent. I'm just glad my kids are so much less foolish than I was at their age.
Drew some pictures, read, wrote a little...met some nice people at my hotel, the Yellowstone Village Inn (there motto is "where Elk stay free"). It's a family run operation. They had a pre-Easter egg hunt in the days before I arrived for some of the little ones. A girl about seven was helping her mom (one of the daughters I think) the day I came. I found a dyed easter egg in the ice chute of the ice machine. She told me "you can eat that...it's okay." That was nice of her but I wasn't sure eating a hard boiled egg that was out for a few days would be good on the old stomach. I located a few more easter eggs during my stay. Had a nice conversation with the Grandma/mom about Montana and how it snows a lot of times on Easter Sunday (that's why she had the pre-Easter easter egg hunt). Unfortunately they didn't get a big Easter snow this year...they could really use the water.
Saw a little boy playing with an elk near a trailer in town. He was hitting rocks with a big plastic bat in the general direction of some elk (he was within 20 feet or so of them). The elk were just looking at him, sort of bored with the game.
I caught a nice rainbow near the slip and slide area on the Yellowstone river. Actually I had a nice rainbow on my line for enough time to see it jump a few times and get close enough to see how beautiful those wild creatures are. It was just enough.
Stopped in at the Four Winds Cafe across from the Church Universal Triumphant. I think that cafe might be associated with the Church (based on the religious stuff for sale in the gift shop). They had great soups and sandwiches. The girl running it was really nice (she reopened a little after closing when I stopped back in to get some more bee pollen candy to take home).
There's been a fair amount of controversy about that Church with the locals over the years. I think it's subsided nowadays. I say live and let live. On the other hand I would be afraid to actually drive onto the Church property because of some of the things I've read. I'm happy to leave those people alone. I don't think they are hurting anybody. I did see a little boy about 7 getting off the school bus in front of the church property and he was dressed in camo clothes. If you haven't read about that church they have some ideas about building underground shelters in preparation for something bad that may happen. I think they patrol the area to be on the lookout for something bad too. Even though I'm a peaceful fisherman I wouldn't want to test my luck by infringing on their space so I elected to not take the road through their property to get to the other side of the river.
I brought home a big bunch of grass, sagebrush, willow branches, and stuff to put in the house for a reminder. Actually I talked one of my daughters friends to carry it in the back of his vehicle...since I was pretty sure it wouldn't be allowed on the airplane.
It was a nice time of year to be there. The main roads in the park aren't open so Gardiner is still in the off-season mode. No traffic, few people and lots of sun, mountains, rivers and animals.
Just one quick note on my flight there. I had brought a journal to write in and some blue ink pens. During the flight I thought I'd jot down a few things in my journal. I'm feeling kind of cocky with my new journal, and cool bag I borrowed from my daughter. People around me are working on their laptops...and stuff and I'm thinking, "Yeah they'll see what a sophisticated gent I am..writing in journal."
Pulled out my blue ink pen and when I took the cap off I discovered a fair amount of ink had leaked out into the cap and over the pen (something to do with pressurization/depressurization of the airplane I guess). I got ink all over my hands, journal and I imagine scared the hell out of the people around me wondering what the nut finger-painting in seat 14C was up to ;-)
The good thing was I avoided smearing it on my face and clothes or I'm afraid they might have brought out the restraint kit. he he he. I still had some of that ink on my hands a week later.
-------------------------------------------------------
Going to Montana for a wedding next month. One of my nephews is getting married. He's originally from Minnesota but he loves fishing and loves Montana. He's teaching Spanish at the U of M in Missoula nowadays. He's getting married in Bozeman at a chapel that has a view of the mountains behind the altar (I think that's the deal anyway).
He came to visit us once in Bozeman about 20 years ago with his mom, dad and sister. I think he really liked riding in the back of my brothers 63 Chevy pickup and seeing a herd of cattle with people on horses herding them on the road up to Bridger Bowl.
I think maybe what he really like though was going bowling. This is a typical kid story...
Here's the deal. You get the kids in the car and spend a couple of days on the road. You get to your destination and ask them what they would really like to do now that you are in _________.
They say something like, "I'd really like to go swimming, read a comic, fight with my sister, and watch TV." You think, but you could do that at home why did we just spend 14 hours in the car?
Anyway Andrew at age 5 or 6 thought one of the best things he could do in Montana would be to go bowling. More power to him. Actually that sounds kind of fun to me too come to think of it.
Hope you have a great Friday and an enjoyable relaxing weekend.
I've been away from blogging for awhile. It was a nice break for me to do some non-virtual things for a change....cleaning, painting, butchering wood (my version of carpentry). I hung a simple wooden screen door and I thought I was going to have to demolish and rebuild the house to get the darn thing to hang right.
Why is it that Bob Villa or whoever those guys are on TV can have such an easy time? I'd like to see a reality show...."here's our homeowner 7 hours later after 4 trips to the hardware store, sweating and cussing because the pipe he was going to remove to clear the sink drain was old and corroded and broke when he tried to undo it..."
One time I had a plugged up sewer (because the city backhoe operator cut the line in the alley it turned out). Anyway I had a rescue rooter guy at my house on Sunday. He charged me 300 bucks or something to put a camera in the sewer and tell me he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He did put a clean-out in the new inside sewer pipe we'd had put in a few months earlier.
He asked me if we had a clean-out near where the sewer left the basement. I wasn't sure so I decided to use a power saw to cut though some sheet rock to see if one was hidden. I'm not sure why I thought anyone would put such a thing inside a wall . You would have had to have been there to appreciate the humor I see in this now. The whole house was sort of in a panic mode. I forget what the event was that everyone was getting ready for but we can't use the toilets, the sinks, showers...There's sewer water backing up into the basement and I took a power-saw to the wall in front of this guy. There's dust all over the place and a bigger mess by the minute. No clean-out. Now that I'm older an wiser I probably won't start cutting into walls at random to help solve a plumbing problem. It seemed like a good idea at the time though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a Fujitsu Lifebook laptop that's old now but I have grown to really like it. The power supply jack got broken from too many hard pulls on the power cord. It was an educational experience trying to fix that. I learned (a) laptops are really hard to open (b) laptops are very expensive to repair...depending on how you define expensive I guess and (c) the people at Seattle Laptops are good to work with.
The power supply jack on this laptop is soldered to the motherboard. When I called Fujitsu they told me they don't repair motherboards but would replace mine for 600 something. Seattle Laptops told me they would try to replace the jack and make it better with some special glue for under 300. Sounded good to me. I was actually just about ready to go the hacksaw, solder and duct tape route but my wife convinced me to shell out the 300.
You can remove every screw from the case of a laptop and it won't open. You can pry around the edges and see it start to separate but you get the feeling that if and when it does something is going to break or pieces are going to start to pop out and you won't have a chance of reassembling the thing.
I enjoyed talking to the guys at Seattle Laptop, and it's a nice drive down there from my house. It's near the old Chubby and Tubby's hardware store on Aurora, across I-5 from Greenlake.
While I was in there an older lady was in and was not happy about her laptop (not sure if she'd bought a used one there or had hers fixed). I think the tech was telling her that she had downloaded some version of Microsoft software (Internet Explorer?, Media Player?) that was screwing up her system. She was saying something like, "all I see now is big dots." That got me thinking how hard it would be to work in a place like that when you have to deal with the poor folks who want to use computers but don't have the time or inclination or ability to understand the oddities of PC's.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Those z's are a symbol of how boring discussions of computer problems can be.
My main philosophy of computer troubleshooting, upgrades, fixes etc. is; do it, then forget how you did it and clear your brain for something else. No one is going to be able to keep their eyes open long enough to listen or read about how you changed the registry or got some new codecs or whatever. Well I shouldn't say no one...obviously a fair number of people love that sort of discussion, just not my cup of tea. Not that I don't enjoy screwing around with machines...just not into reading or talking about it unless I have to or someone is paying me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have what I think are some pretty good pictures of Montana that I want to scan and put up. I was surprised at how peaceful and beautiful I found areas that in my younger days would have been boring empty space.
Montana is really dry. This is the 6 or 7th year of drought. I think seven year cycles may be somewhat common? I think sunspot activity and maybe other natural phenomena run on that sort of schedule. I sure hope they get some rain and snow in the higher elevations next year. Otherwise I might have to start thinking more about this whole global warming thing. I guess we city slickers can enjoy the sun...not sure about the people and animals that need that moisture to survive.
I saw deer, elk, moose, buffalo, a grizzly (from a distance), antelope, coyote and maybe some wolves (I couldn't tell they were too far away...might have been a pack of coyotes.
Went to the hot springs at the 45th parallel. It was cool! It was cold! It was hot. It was fun. Saw my kids and their friends at Chico. They floated the Yellowstone from Gardiner. I think they had a ball. There at an age where dad is not really needed. That's fine with me. I think my job as a parent is to raise kids to be independent. I'm just glad my kids are so much less foolish than I was at their age.
Drew some pictures, read, wrote a little...met some nice people at my hotel, the Yellowstone Village Inn (there motto is "where Elk stay free"). It's a family run operation. They had a pre-Easter egg hunt in the days before I arrived for some of the little ones. A girl about seven was helping her mom (one of the daughters I think) the day I came. I found a dyed easter egg in the ice chute of the ice machine. She told me "you can eat that...it's okay." That was nice of her but I wasn't sure eating a hard boiled egg that was out for a few days would be good on the old stomach. I located a few more easter eggs during my stay. Had a nice conversation with the Grandma/mom about Montana and how it snows a lot of times on Easter Sunday (that's why she had the pre-Easter easter egg hunt). Unfortunately they didn't get a big Easter snow this year...they could really use the water.
Saw a little boy playing with an elk near a trailer in town. He was hitting rocks with a big plastic bat in the general direction of some elk (he was within 20 feet or so of them). The elk were just looking at him, sort of bored with the game.
I caught a nice rainbow near the slip and slide area on the Yellowstone river. Actually I had a nice rainbow on my line for enough time to see it jump a few times and get close enough to see how beautiful those wild creatures are. It was just enough.
Stopped in at the Four Winds Cafe across from the Church Universal Triumphant. I think that cafe might be associated with the Church (based on the religious stuff for sale in the gift shop). They had great soups and sandwiches. The girl running it was really nice (she reopened a little after closing when I stopped back in to get some more bee pollen candy to take home).
There's been a fair amount of controversy about that Church with the locals over the years. I think it's subsided nowadays. I say live and let live. On the other hand I would be afraid to actually drive onto the Church property because of some of the things I've read. I'm happy to leave those people alone. I don't think they are hurting anybody. I did see a little boy about 7 getting off the school bus in front of the church property and he was dressed in camo clothes. If you haven't read about that church they have some ideas about building underground shelters in preparation for something bad that may happen. I think they patrol the area to be on the lookout for something bad too. Even though I'm a peaceful fisherman I wouldn't want to test my luck by infringing on their space so I elected to not take the road through their property to get to the other side of the river.
I brought home a big bunch of grass, sagebrush, willow branches, and stuff to put in the house for a reminder. Actually I talked one of my daughters friends to carry it in the back of his vehicle...since I was pretty sure it wouldn't be allowed on the airplane.
It was a nice time of year to be there. The main roads in the park aren't open so Gardiner is still in the off-season mode. No traffic, few people and lots of sun, mountains, rivers and animals.
Just one quick note on my flight there. I had brought a journal to write in and some blue ink pens. During the flight I thought I'd jot down a few things in my journal. I'm feeling kind of cocky with my new journal, and cool bag I borrowed from my daughter. People around me are working on their laptops...and stuff and I'm thinking, "Yeah they'll see what a sophisticated gent I am..writing in journal."
Pulled out my blue ink pen and when I took the cap off I discovered a fair amount of ink had leaked out into the cap and over the pen (something to do with pressurization/depressurization of the airplane I guess). I got ink all over my hands, journal and I imagine scared the hell out of the people around me wondering what the nut finger-painting in seat 14C was up to ;-)
The good thing was I avoided smearing it on my face and clothes or I'm afraid they might have brought out the restraint kit. he he he. I still had some of that ink on my hands a week later.
-------------------------------------------------------
Going to Montana for a wedding next month. One of my nephews is getting married. He's originally from Minnesota but he loves fishing and loves Montana. He's teaching Spanish at the U of M in Missoula nowadays. He's getting married in Bozeman at a chapel that has a view of the mountains behind the altar (I think that's the deal anyway).
He came to visit us once in Bozeman about 20 years ago with his mom, dad and sister. I think he really liked riding in the back of my brothers 63 Chevy pickup and seeing a herd of cattle with people on horses herding them on the road up to Bridger Bowl.
I think maybe what he really like though was going bowling. This is a typical kid story...
Here's the deal. You get the kids in the car and spend a couple of days on the road. You get to your destination and ask them what they would really like to do now that you are in _________.
They say something like, "I'd really like to go swimming, read a comic, fight with my sister, and watch TV." You think, but you could do that at home why did we just spend 14 hours in the car?
Anyway Andrew at age 5 or 6 thought one of the best things he could do in Montana would be to go bowling. More power to him. Actually that sounds kind of fun to me too come to think of it.
Hope you have a great Friday and an enjoyable relaxing weekend.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Tulip Festival - Z Car for Kelly - Tim, Rachel and Me
If you happen to be in the Pacific Northwest some April you might want to check out the
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
I'd recommend it at least once. The first time I saw it the colors were unbelievable. Unfortunately sometimes so is the traffic. Probably good to go on a weekday if you have time. We went with Esther and Ido our 80 something neighbors when I took the picture above.
They were good neighbors. Ido would sit on his front porch with a spotting scope and watch the sea lions and whatever else he could see on the waterfront. Esther was our first baby sitter for my oldest daughter. Rachel was a colicky baby and needed to be held a lot. She was a crier. Esther volunteered to sit with Rach so we could get out of the house for awhile. I'll never forget when we got home and Esther had a sort of crazed look on her face and her hair was messed up and wild looking. She was normally a very proper woman...but Rachel had been giving her a run for her money.
Esther and Ido are both gone now. Very nice couple.
I've got to get ready for my trip to Montana today. I was looking for a collapsible fishing rod and searched through some of the stores in the Bozeman area. It's funny to me that most of the shops cater to someone who would want to spend a couple of hundred bucks on an Orvis rod or some fancy named rod like that. I think I'll check out Kmart or Jerry's Surplus downtown before I go. I had an old Shakespeare rod that I bought for maybe 10 bucks that I would wager to say I caught more Montana trout on then a lot of those guy's with the three hundred dollar models.
Not sure if there will be any fishing this time of year anyway.
One thing I do want to check out is the Boiling River. It's a spot where a natural hot springs enters a river on the 45th parallel. The river might be too high to use it this time of year. People have gotten washed out of the warm water into the high river and drown. I'll tie a big anchor to myself. Yeah that's the ticket.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't had a chance to confirm it but I think, from talking to one of my sisters, that my brother bought one of those Z cars
I'm really glad he got a fun car. I was afraid he was going to buy a Ford Escort :-) or some utilitarian? vehicle. A single guy like him should have a sporty rig.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's one last picture of that oldest daughter and my friend Tim from about 17 years ago
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
I'd recommend it at least once. The first time I saw it the colors were unbelievable. Unfortunately sometimes so is the traffic. Probably good to go on a weekday if you have time. We went with Esther and Ido our 80 something neighbors when I took the picture above.
They were good neighbors. Ido would sit on his front porch with a spotting scope and watch the sea lions and whatever else he could see on the waterfront. Esther was our first baby sitter for my oldest daughter. Rachel was a colicky baby and needed to be held a lot. She was a crier. Esther volunteered to sit with Rach so we could get out of the house for awhile. I'll never forget when we got home and Esther had a sort of crazed look on her face and her hair was messed up and wild looking. She was normally a very proper woman...but Rachel had been giving her a run for her money.
Esther and Ido are both gone now. Very nice couple.
I've got to get ready for my trip to Montana today. I was looking for a collapsible fishing rod and searched through some of the stores in the Bozeman area. It's funny to me that most of the shops cater to someone who would want to spend a couple of hundred bucks on an Orvis rod or some fancy named rod like that. I think I'll check out Kmart or Jerry's Surplus downtown before I go. I had an old Shakespeare rod that I bought for maybe 10 bucks that I would wager to say I caught more Montana trout on then a lot of those guy's with the three hundred dollar models.
Not sure if there will be any fishing this time of year anyway.
One thing I do want to check out is the Boiling River. It's a spot where a natural hot springs enters a river on the 45th parallel. The river might be too high to use it this time of year. People have gotten washed out of the warm water into the high river and drown. I'll tie a big anchor to myself. Yeah that's the ticket.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't had a chance to confirm it but I think, from talking to one of my sisters, that my brother bought one of those Z cars
I'm really glad he got a fun car. I was afraid he was going to buy a Ford Escort :-) or some utilitarian? vehicle. A single guy like him should have a sporty rig.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's one last picture of that oldest daughter and my friend Tim from about 17 years ago
Thursday, April 01, 2004
On My Way to Paradise
Hi fellow bloggolicious bloggers. I'm excited because I get to go on a vacation next week. I'm going to Paradise...
Valley. It's in Montana, The Big Sky Country, Southwest of the Middle of Nowhere, South of The Big Open. Montana where it's too hot, too cold and too many mosquitoes...stay out. please stay out.
40 below keeps the riff-raff out as they say in Fargo.
One time I was in a Taco Time in Livingston Montana doing my job as a cash register repairman and Peter Fonda was there. I used to see Richard Brautigan now and then at the Eagle's in Bozeman. What a writer that guy was. So sad at the end for him, no friends to be with.
Anyhoo I'm moving to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon.
Have you ever checked out Dan Bailey's in Livingston? Good place for fly tying supplies. Yellowstone river is very near and dear to me.
I'm going by myself, to draw maybe, write, sleep, drink coffee...meet some people, soak in some hot water. Stare at the river and mountains. It sounds marvelous darling after a frantic time at work and home. Many changes, losses and some gains. Always learning and really glad to be alive.
Maybe I'll see you somewhere.
In the meantime keep those cards and letters coming. I love to get email and snail mail. We are still trying to get me a body since the straw keeps coming out of my sides and I'm getting a little oddly shaped. If you are sending me email to increase my bust size or get rock hard that's probably not on my top ten list. My bust is big enough and don't think being rock hard would be so good anyway, especially if you accidently bumped into someone with a soft spot.
I saw a bumper sticker on my way home that said, Women unlike computers will reject a 3 1/2 inch floppy.
Not sure how anything could be funny enough that I'd want to affix it to my bumper. Maybe we should invent an electonic changeable bumper sticker so you could display whatever struck your funny bone at the moment on your bumper?
I'm pumped up about seeing the Apprentice tonight too. Your fired! I think I might get the Donald's book it sounded pretty good to me. Amazing an old hippie, like myself, would get so straight. We all have to grow up a little sometime, no matter what Peter Pan thinks.
Don't ever grow up too much though. You gotta laugh, be silly, get excited, be curious, be kind, be thoughtful...be childlike.
I've given up so much lately I need to fill some voids. I'm starting to touch bases with some important friends and relatives in my life which really helps.
Tomorrow is Friday! Yes indeed...lets make the most of it, smell the flowers, listen to the children, make someone laugh, ease a little pain, get outside. Make every day a little bit foolish. Life is short we might as well have some fun while we are here.
Until next time all the best to you and yours.
Valley. It's in Montana, The Big Sky Country, Southwest of the Middle of Nowhere, South of The Big Open. Montana where it's too hot, too cold and too many mosquitoes...stay out. please stay out.
40 below keeps the riff-raff out as they say in Fargo.
One time I was in a Taco Time in Livingston Montana doing my job as a cash register repairman and Peter Fonda was there. I used to see Richard Brautigan now and then at the Eagle's in Bozeman. What a writer that guy was. So sad at the end for him, no friends to be with.
Anyhoo I'm moving to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon.
Have you ever checked out Dan Bailey's in Livingston? Good place for fly tying supplies. Yellowstone river is very near and dear to me.
I'm going by myself, to draw maybe, write, sleep, drink coffee...meet some people, soak in some hot water. Stare at the river and mountains. It sounds marvelous darling after a frantic time at work and home. Many changes, losses and some gains. Always learning and really glad to be alive.
Maybe I'll see you somewhere.
In the meantime keep those cards and letters coming. I love to get email and snail mail. We are still trying to get me a body since the straw keeps coming out of my sides and I'm getting a little oddly shaped. If you are sending me email to increase my bust size or get rock hard that's probably not on my top ten list. My bust is big enough and don't think being rock hard would be so good anyway, especially if you accidently bumped into someone with a soft spot.
I saw a bumper sticker on my way home that said, Women unlike computers will reject a 3 1/2 inch floppy.
Not sure how anything could be funny enough that I'd want to affix it to my bumper. Maybe we should invent an electonic changeable bumper sticker so you could display whatever struck your funny bone at the moment on your bumper?
I'm pumped up about seeing the Apprentice tonight too. Your fired! I think I might get the Donald's book it sounded pretty good to me. Amazing an old hippie, like myself, would get so straight. We all have to grow up a little sometime, no matter what Peter Pan thinks.
Don't ever grow up too much though. You gotta laugh, be silly, get excited, be curious, be kind, be thoughtful...be childlike.
I've given up so much lately I need to fill some voids. I'm starting to touch bases with some important friends and relatives in my life which really helps.
Tomorrow is Friday! Yes indeed...lets make the most of it, smell the flowers, listen to the children, make someone laugh, ease a little pain, get outside. Make every day a little bit foolish. Life is short we might as well have some fun while we are here.
Until next time all the best to you and yours.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
The Pet Psychic - 10,000 Dollar Bill At Wallmart
I have been thinking of a couple of things that I thought were funny at first but find not-so-funny on further reflection.
Have you ever watched this show?
Animal Planet :: The Pet Psychic
When I first started watching it I thought it was a hoot. This lady communicates with animals and they with her via some thought-wave process (as opposed to a real Dr. Dolittlish talking sort of deal).
The more I watched the less funny I thought the show was. It's pretty tender. There are people who miss pets, or are worried about pets, or work in zoo's. All of them love animals. I don't know what her deal is...I think it's a profit thing maybe. Still it's entertaining and pretty touching.
I get confused when she has a conversation with a dog (that people in my birth-culture don't eat) and start thinking what it would be like to talk to a chicken that's being raised to be eaten?
Maybe we can find the answer here Amazon.com: Books: Charlotte's Web
or here Babe - Family Movie Review
One time I was working with some special people and one of them told me crows are good to talk to. I'll buy that.
Carlos Castaneda made a story of that sort of thing
I talk to a lot of animals. I've never gotten any direct info back. My wife likes to kid me about that....and I try to not let too many people see me talking to crows, cats, dogs, seagulls etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A recent news article that seemed funny at first glance and then made me pretty sad was the story about the woman who tried to buy some stuff at Walmart with a 10,000 dollar bill.
The story was that she had a shopping cart of stuff at the checkout and tried to use a 2 dollar gift card to pay. That didn't work so she pulled out a 10,000 dollar souvenir-type bill from her purse. The clerk called the police? and this poor woman was arrested?
This woman was obviously a special person and did not understand the Walmart concept "you pay us real money and we will close every mom and pop local store within a 15 mile radius of our store and hire non-union employees and pay them as little as possible with minimal benefits".
What if that woman had been given those 10,000 dollar bills by a friend who told her they were to be used in case of an emergency? Maybe someone close to her had given them to her and she thought it was her inheritence for God's sake. Who knows?
I don't understand why the clerk/manager at Walmart didn't calmly explain to her, "No you can't buy 1500 dollars worth of stuff with a 2 dollar gift card and no you can't buy that stuff with a 10,000 dollar souvenir bill either. It is a nice bill and has a picture of the Statue of Liberty but we can't accept that as legal tender in Walmart. Would you like a drink of water? or a free balloon?"
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to watch some B ball and quit thinking for awhile. Maryland and Duke...let's go.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever watched this show?
Animal Planet :: The Pet Psychic
When I first started watching it I thought it was a hoot. This lady communicates with animals and they with her via some thought-wave process (as opposed to a real Dr. Dolittlish talking sort of deal).
The more I watched the less funny I thought the show was. It's pretty tender. There are people who miss pets, or are worried about pets, or work in zoo's. All of them love animals. I don't know what her deal is...I think it's a profit thing maybe. Still it's entertaining and pretty touching.
I get confused when she has a conversation with a dog (that people in my birth-culture don't eat) and start thinking what it would be like to talk to a chicken that's being raised to be eaten?
Maybe we can find the answer here Amazon.com: Books: Charlotte's Web
or here Babe - Family Movie Review
One time I was working with some special people and one of them told me crows are good to talk to. I'll buy that.
Carlos Castaneda made a story of that sort of thing
I talk to a lot of animals. I've never gotten any direct info back. My wife likes to kid me about that....and I try to not let too many people see me talking to crows, cats, dogs, seagulls etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A recent news article that seemed funny at first glance and then made me pretty sad was the story about the woman who tried to buy some stuff at Walmart with a 10,000 dollar bill.
The story was that she had a shopping cart of stuff at the checkout and tried to use a 2 dollar gift card to pay. That didn't work so she pulled out a 10,000 dollar souvenir-type bill from her purse. The clerk called the police? and this poor woman was arrested?
This woman was obviously a special person and did not understand the Walmart concept "you pay us real money and we will close every mom and pop local store within a 15 mile radius of our store and hire non-union employees and pay them as little as possible with minimal benefits".
What if that woman had been given those 10,000 dollar bills by a friend who told her they were to be used in case of an emergency? Maybe someone close to her had given them to her and she thought it was her inheritence for God's sake. Who knows?
I don't understand why the clerk/manager at Walmart didn't calmly explain to her, "No you can't buy 1500 dollars worth of stuff with a 2 dollar gift card and no you can't buy that stuff with a 10,000 dollar souvenir bill either. It is a nice bill and has a picture of the Statue of Liberty but we can't accept that as legal tender in Walmart. Would you like a drink of water? or a free balloon?"
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to watch some B ball and quit thinking for awhile. Maryland and Duke...let's go.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Balinese Left - Cypriot Came - Life of Pi - Hey Jack Kerouac
My coworker from Bali left this week.
He was only with us about a month. It was so nice to have him around though.
He loved to laugh, had a nice tone, brought us chocolate and other goodies.
Someday I will travel to Bali
We have a new coworker now from Cyprus that will be with us until this summer.
He is really nice too. It's great to work somewhere that has a nice diverse group of people.
I hope your job is like that. For you younger folks it's a good reason to go on to college. I suppose that's not a requirement though, but for most of us it's one way to increase our options. A technical school, community college, 2 year degree, military or on the job training work too.
So what's up with you?
Excited for Selection Sunday? Getting ready to fill out your bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament?
Baseball is starting to get underway. NBA basketball is getting pretty boring. Hockey players are banging around.
We are getting more and more light so I think I will start getting out of my recliner and on my bicycle and kayak.
I used to ride in the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Ride before I put on this extra poundage watching TV and eating low-fat food. I will get back in trim shape again.
I have an ocean going kayak I use it to bump around in some estuaries near my home
I'm reading this book now Amazon.com: Books: Life of Pi
What I've read so far is a story of an Indian boy who decides to be a Muslim, Hindu and Christian in his desire to love God.
Here's a quote from the book Life of Pi,
"My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time."
I think we all have that sort of never-ending story that we share with others by talking and writing. The more we listen the more we understand. The more we understand the more we realize our human similarities that make this world a place we are all in together. Leading us to that valley beyond the next where we can all live in peace
For The Children
Listening requires some quiet space internally and external. We start from the inside out and take some nice deep relaxing breaths and learn ways to quiet our mind....
Breathing and Relaxation Techniques
I hope we can truly listen to some one or some thing today.
May your Sunday be peaceful, relaxing and refreshing.
OR
Depending on your frame of mind and age maybe you can have this kind of a Jack day.
"Hey Jack Kerouac" from the album "In My Tribe" by the Musical Group - "10000 Maniacs"
Lyrics By: "Robert Buck/Natalie Merchant"
Hey Jack Kerouac, I think of your mother
and the tears she cried, she cried for none other
than her little boy lost in our little world that hated
and that dared to drag him down. Her little boy courageous
who chose his words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
Hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts,
they all spoke through you.
Hey Jack, now for the tricky part,
when you were the brightest star who were the shadows?
Of the San Francisco beat boys you were the favorite.
Now they sit and rattle their bones and think of their blood stoned days.
You chose your words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
The hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts,
nights in Chinatown howling at night.
Allen baby, why so jaded?
Have the boys all grown up and their beauty faded?
Billy, what a saint they've made you,
just like Mary down in Mexico on All Souls' Day.
You chose your words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
Cool junk booting madmen, street minded girls
in Harlem howling at night.
What a tear stained shock of the world,
you've gone away without saying goodbye.
On The Road...baby...yeah!
He was only with us about a month. It was so nice to have him around though.
He loved to laugh, had a nice tone, brought us chocolate and other goodies.
Someday I will travel to Bali
We have a new coworker now from Cyprus that will be with us until this summer.
He is really nice too. It's great to work somewhere that has a nice diverse group of people.
I hope your job is like that. For you younger folks it's a good reason to go on to college. I suppose that's not a requirement though, but for most of us it's one way to increase our options. A technical school, community college, 2 year degree, military or on the job training work too.
So what's up with you?
Excited for Selection Sunday? Getting ready to fill out your bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament?
Baseball is starting to get underway. NBA basketball is getting pretty boring. Hockey players are banging around.
We are getting more and more light so I think I will start getting out of my recliner and on my bicycle and kayak.
I used to ride in the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Ride before I put on this extra poundage watching TV and eating low-fat food. I will get back in trim shape again.
I have an ocean going kayak I use it to bump around in some estuaries near my home
I'm reading this book now Amazon.com: Books: Life of Pi
What I've read so far is a story of an Indian boy who decides to be a Muslim, Hindu and Christian in his desire to love God.
Here's a quote from the book Life of Pi,
"My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time."
I think we all have that sort of never-ending story that we share with others by talking and writing. The more we listen the more we understand. The more we understand the more we realize our human similarities that make this world a place we are all in together. Leading us to that valley beyond the next where we can all live in peace
For The Children
Listening requires some quiet space internally and external. We start from the inside out and take some nice deep relaxing breaths and learn ways to quiet our mind....
Breathing and Relaxation Techniques
I hope we can truly listen to some one or some thing today.
May your Sunday be peaceful, relaxing and refreshing.
OR
Depending on your frame of mind and age maybe you can have this kind of a Jack day.
"Hey Jack Kerouac" from the album "In My Tribe" by the Musical Group - "10000 Maniacs"
Lyrics By: "Robert Buck/Natalie Merchant"
Hey Jack Kerouac, I think of your mother
and the tears she cried, she cried for none other
than her little boy lost in our little world that hated
and that dared to drag him down. Her little boy courageous
who chose his words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
Hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts,
they all spoke through you.
Hey Jack, now for the tricky part,
when you were the brightest star who were the shadows?
Of the San Francisco beat boys you were the favorite.
Now they sit and rattle their bones and think of their blood stoned days.
You chose your words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
The hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts,
nights in Chinatown howling at night.
Allen baby, why so jaded?
Have the boys all grown up and their beauty faded?
Billy, what a saint they've made you,
just like Mary down in Mexico on All Souls' Day.
You chose your words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
Cool junk booting madmen, street minded girls
in Harlem howling at night.
What a tear stained shock of the world,
you've gone away without saying goodbye.
On The Road...baby...yeah!
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Interlude - Meditation Site
I've got a permanent link to this site. It is so good I wish more people could have a chance to experience it.
This weeks meditation -
Interlude: Meditation of the Week at interluderetreat.com
This weeks meditation -
Interlude: Meditation of the Week at interluderetreat.com
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Hi Monkey
I happened across this page about a monkey who visits some Tibetan monks.
monkey and his tibetan monk friends
He also watches over his neighbors until their house blows away, luckily they were unhurt. He's a good monkey.
m o n k e y - my new neighbors.
hi monkey reminds me of a monkey my three year old sister had. This monkey went by the name of Company G. One time Company G came up missing. Colleen was so upset. It seems like just yesterday she was crying, "Where is Company G. I want Company G."
I was a hero that day. I found C.G. on a basketball rim. He was playing basketball with some boys and got stuck up there. Company G was a sock monkey with a good sense of humor. We never knew where his name came from. I think Viola made him for Colleen and he just told her his name was Company G.
One of my daughters had a doll named Dean when she was little. Dean was a Cabbage Patch doll and also coincidently had the same name as my first lead engineer at work.
We had another nice fluffy animal who went by the simple name of Lammie or maybe it was Lambie. He looked like himonkey. He hung from the ceiling in our first apartment over Rachel's tiny baby easy-chair. He made a squeek when you moved him, had shiney black eyes and nice soft lamb-like cotten hypo-allergenic faux fur. I wonder where lambie is these days?
Have you ever read about a guy called the Skin Horse?
One of my friends gave me that book many years ago when I was a shiny coltish lad. It's so good.
An excerpt from
The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
I hope you can get that book too. And that you have someone to read it to or read it to you.
Amazon.com: Books Search Results: velveteen rabbit
Have a wonderful Thursday kind and gentle reader.
Smell the flowers, eat a chocolate, let some sun shine on your face.
monkey and his tibetan monk friends
He also watches over his neighbors until their house blows away, luckily they were unhurt. He's a good monkey.
m o n k e y - my new neighbors.
Update: 20 years later...hi monkey like so many things on the internet was an ephemeral creation and now lives in a place called 404 Not Found.
hi monkey reminds me of a monkey my three year old sister had. This monkey went by the name of Company G. One time Company G came up missing. Colleen was so upset. It seems like just yesterday she was crying, "Where is Company G. I want Company G."
I was a hero that day. I found C.G. on a basketball rim. He was playing basketball with some boys and got stuck up there. Company G was a sock monkey with a good sense of humor. We never knew where his name came from. I think Viola made him for Colleen and he just told her his name was Company G.
One of my daughters had a doll named Dean when she was little. Dean was a Cabbage Patch doll and also coincidently had the same name as my first lead engineer at work.
We had another nice fluffy animal who went by the simple name of Lammie or maybe it was Lambie. He looked like himonkey. He hung from the ceiling in our first apartment over Rachel's tiny baby easy-chair. He made a squeek when you moved him, had shiney black eyes and nice soft lamb-like cotten hypo-allergenic faux fur. I wonder where lambie is these days?
Have you ever read about a guy called the Skin Horse?
One of my friends gave me that book many years ago when I was a shiny coltish lad. It's so good.
An excerpt from
The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
I hope you can get that book too. And that you have someone to read it to or read it to you.
Amazon.com: Books Search Results: velveteen rabbit
Have a wonderful Thursday kind and gentle reader.
Smell the flowers, eat a chocolate, let some sun shine on your face.
Friday, February 13, 2004
Play - Coke - Calming Down
Good Friday night gentle reader.
Have you ever tried your best and still didn't win the game?
I hope so.
Better to have played and lost than to never have played at all.
As long as you did your best you didn't lose. You are a winner baby. Play hard, play smart and have fun.
By doing your best and giving it your all, you are a GOOD player.
Doing your best, giving it your all and supporting the people on your team to help them to be better makes you a GREAT player.
Here's to all the GREAT players out there. In sports, in business in life. Rock on!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
What else is up on a Friday night?
I'm doing some Coke. Diet coke that is.
I bet there are some people bowling. Some kids cruising main streets. Some fun dances. Some lonely people. Some sick and dying and some getting better. Some laughing some crying. Some fussing some fighting.
I'm sounding like a wacked out Cat in the Hat.
-------------------------------------------------------------
You know one of the nicest things about getting older?
You can calm down.
Being frantic and flying is fine when your twenty nine or nine or nineteen. I'm 49 and finally at a point where I can sit still on Friday night and not be flippin out because I'm not at a bar, or a party or doing something extra special wild and fun.
I'm probably going to read about syncros before I go to sleep tonight. You don't want to know why. I'm a geek...the world needs geeks.
I think I'll take a look at some college basketball previews for tomorrow.
You all take care of yourselves out there.
Have you ever tried your best and still didn't win the game?
I hope so.
Better to have played and lost than to never have played at all.
As long as you did your best you didn't lose. You are a winner baby. Play hard, play smart and have fun.
By doing your best and giving it your all, you are a GOOD player.
Doing your best, giving it your all and supporting the people on your team to help them to be better makes you a GREAT player.
Here's to all the GREAT players out there. In sports, in business in life. Rock on!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
What else is up on a Friday night?
I'm doing some Coke. Diet coke that is.
I bet there are some people bowling. Some kids cruising main streets. Some fun dances. Some lonely people. Some sick and dying and some getting better. Some laughing some crying. Some fussing some fighting.
I'm sounding like a wacked out Cat in the Hat.
-------------------------------------------------------------
You know one of the nicest things about getting older?
You can calm down.
Being frantic and flying is fine when your twenty nine or nine or nineteen. I'm 49 and finally at a point where I can sit still on Friday night and not be flippin out because I'm not at a bar, or a party or doing something extra special wild and fun.
I'm probably going to read about syncros before I go to sleep tonight. You don't want to know why. I'm a geek...the world needs geeks.
I think I'll take a look at some college basketball previews for tomorrow.
You all take care of yourselves out there.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Interlude Retreat
Please visit this site it has many great thoughts, prayers, and meditation suggestions INTERLUDE: An Internet Retreat
Have You Ever Thought?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever thought?
I mean have you ever really thought?
Have you ever considered how deep reflective focused thinking is important to our selves, our culture, our world but treated with very little regard at times by our selves, culture and world?
The ability to focus, concentrate, reflect, to think is undervalued in our society.
I woke up this morning with this picture in my mind of thought.
Thought can be focused and cutting like a pin-point laser that cuts through things
or
it can be a larger light like a flashlight that illuminates many things at once.
The ability to focus your thought back and forth from the details to the big picture is crucial to be able to solve problems, gain knowledge, learn.
The key is to be able to switch back and forth appropriately.
Have you ever met someone who if you ask them to describe an automobile (we are assuming you've never seen one) would give you an explanation like, "A car is made up of over 7863 separate parts, the bumper is one part, bumpers are made of chrome, chrome was mined in the United States until the late 1950's after which it became cheaper to mine in Argentina......"
Instead of saying, "an automobile is a motorized vehicle used to transport people, here let me show you a picture."
Our society has very little respect for focused thought. There are a variety of possible reasons. We are lazy, we like others to think for us (TV, radio, books, magazines, newspaper), we like quick fixes (read easy). Real focused attention is hard work.
We are a society of attention deficit prone adults and children.
Why?
Noise.
Internal and external.
Breathing, meditating, getting in tune with nature, being quiet, praying will all help quiet the internal noise.
Take a news break, turn off the TV, radio, visit a church, take a break from listening or participating in conversations to quiet the external.
The ability of a system to create or receive information is a function of the signal (containing the intelligence) to noise ratio. What we want to do is maximize our ability to create and process signals and minimize the noise.
We are a culture of short attention span. Take some time to think and exercise your mind. Practice quieting your mind by paying attention to your breath. Say something simple to yourself like I breath in, I breath out in synch with your breaths. Find some prayers you like and recite them with relaxation and mind clearing as your goal.
There are some difficult problems we all face, everyday, as individuals, as members of society. Take some time out of your busy day to quiet yourself, to think, to reflect, to concentrate. It works great.
Your mind is like a muscle the more you use it the better it will serve you. You will be happier.
I guarantee it.
Have you ever thought?
I mean have you ever really thought?
Have you ever considered how deep reflective focused thinking is important to our selves, our culture, our world but treated with very little regard at times by our selves, culture and world?
The ability to focus, concentrate, reflect, to think is undervalued in our society.
I woke up this morning with this picture in my mind of thought.
Thought can be focused and cutting like a pin-point laser that cuts through things
or
it can be a larger light like a flashlight that illuminates many things at once.
The ability to focus your thought back and forth from the details to the big picture is crucial to be able to solve problems, gain knowledge, learn.
The key is to be able to switch back and forth appropriately.
Have you ever met someone who if you ask them to describe an automobile (we are assuming you've never seen one) would give you an explanation like, "A car is made up of over 7863 separate parts, the bumper is one part, bumpers are made of chrome, chrome was mined in the United States until the late 1950's after which it became cheaper to mine in Argentina......"
Instead of saying, "an automobile is a motorized vehicle used to transport people, here let me show you a picture."
Our society has very little respect for focused thought. There are a variety of possible reasons. We are lazy, we like others to think for us (TV, radio, books, magazines, newspaper), we like quick fixes (read easy). Real focused attention is hard work.
We are a society of attention deficit prone adults and children.
Why?
Noise.
Internal and external.
Breathing, meditating, getting in tune with nature, being quiet, praying will all help quiet the internal noise.
Take a news break, turn off the TV, radio, visit a church, take a break from listening or participating in conversations to quiet the external.
The ability of a system to create or receive information is a function of the signal (containing the intelligence) to noise ratio. What we want to do is maximize our ability to create and process signals and minimize the noise.
We are a culture of short attention span. Take some time to think and exercise your mind. Practice quieting your mind by paying attention to your breath. Say something simple to yourself like I breath in, I breath out in synch with your breaths. Find some prayers you like and recite them with relaxation and mind clearing as your goal.
There are some difficult problems we all face, everyday, as individuals, as members of society. Take some time out of your busy day to quiet yourself, to think, to reflect, to concentrate. It works great.
Your mind is like a muscle the more you use it the better it will serve you. You will be happier.
I guarantee it.
Monday, February 09, 2004
Thich Nhat Hanh
Peace Is Every Step - The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh
Buy this book!
Borrow this book!
Lend this book to a friend!
Get this book from the library!
It's really good. I found it by accident years ago at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Now through the wonders of the internet you can get it from Amazon.
Amazon.com: Books: Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Very simple ideas that can change your life.
Amazon is cool but if you have a chance I recommend you go to a local bookstore or if you are in town, to a famous bookstore like City Lights, or Powell's Books in Portland, Elliot Bay Books in Seattle and pick it up there.
After you pick it up be sure to stop at the cash register and give them some money for it. Not like in the 60's when Abby encouraged people to
Vintage Vinyl:Steal This Book
I wonder how that ever worked out? It sounds dare I say; stupid.
You have my permission to steal this blog. It's sort of like an old console TV left on the curb with a "Free" sign on it anyway. So you aren't really stealing anything.
Have a good Monday.
Buy this book!
Borrow this book!
Lend this book to a friend!
Get this book from the library!
It's really good. I found it by accident years ago at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Now through the wonders of the internet you can get it from Amazon.
Amazon.com: Books: Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Very simple ideas that can change your life.
Amazon is cool but if you have a chance I recommend you go to a local bookstore or if you are in town, to a famous bookstore like City Lights, or Powell's Books in Portland, Elliot Bay Books in Seattle and pick it up there.
After you pick it up be sure to stop at the cash register and give them some money for it. Not like in the 60's when Abby encouraged people to
Vintage Vinyl:Steal This Book
I wonder how that ever worked out? It sounds dare I say; stupid.
You have my permission to steal this blog. It's sort of like an old console TV left on the curb with a "Free" sign on it anyway. So you aren't really stealing anything.
Have a good Monday.
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Saturday Night - A Good Partner - Laughter - Christianity - Spiritual Path
------------------------------------------------------
Here we are on a Saturday night dear reader. I hope you are well, relaxed, happy and full of light.
Or light beer if you are inclined to that sort of thing.
------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever thought about what the most important characteristic of a partner, co-worker, spouse, boy or girl friend might be?
Of course you have.
Maybe it's a hunky good looking thing, or someone who is smart, nice, rich or some combination?
Over the years I've pondered this and I think the most important thing we can bring to our relationships is a sense of humor.
I think everything else flows from that sense of being light, not self-important or bogged down in the bad things that happen to all of us.
It gets to the point of not being a victim or circumstance but making a choice of how we will react to our circumstances. Certainly some things are incredibly sad. In fact life itself, because of the impermanent nature of things we love, is guaranteed to be full of sorrow.
Have I cheered you up yet?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What can we do to escape the inevitable suffering of life? Nothing. So I think as long as we are here we might as well have as many laughs as we can.
Actually there are things you can do to deal with the pain of being alive besides trying to turn everything into a joke (I've tried that and it doesn't always work). These things will not allow you to escape suffering but rather put things into a context that allows you to live with Joy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus died so our sins would be forgiven and we all are saints (some of us have dirtier faces than others). If we ask to be forgiven for the bad things we have done, or think we have done, we will be. This is incredibly liberating not just from a high minded religious point of view but from a practical pyschological "lets move on" point of view as well. The point of Christianity is to free us from all our negative baggage and let us live with peace of mind and a joyful spirit. At least that's my story.
A good way to understand the beauty of Christianity is to consider from a child's point of view. Listen to the song on this webpage Songs Children Are Taught In a Faith Based on Love and read a few of the songs this Sunday school teacher and her children sing. I think it gives you a feel for the simple loving nature of this faith.
----------------------------------------------
I also like to read and think about other spiritual paths. I love to read some Buddhist literature and think about infinite compassion. A couple of web pages that look like a place to start are
What Is a Bodhisattva?
The Thirty Seven Practices of the Path of the Bodhisattva
I can't recommend too strongly the book Peace Is Every Step - The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh. Here is one little piece of his writing -
Over-developed Nations - Nourishing Our Awareness
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is a puzzlement
isn't it? That to be happy one should be able to understand what it means to be sad?
Not really though. It's the space in between, the light and the dark, the highs and the lows that make life so wonderful.
To have compassion we have to understand suffering. On the other hand of course we shouldn't confuse less lavish lifestyles than what we are accustomed to in the West as suffering. Money can't buy you love baby. Or happiness. True joy comes from within. I can guarantee you that some child we consider "poor" by our materialistic standards playing with his paper kite in the poor part of Bombay is just as happy as a fat american kid with a ton of video games. Wanna bet?
Have you ever watched a sporting event on TV and they cut to the rich owner and he's sitting by himself looking like he isn't having any fun with a scowl on his face? Did you ever read about Howard Hughes?
Is A Puzzlement - From The Musical The King and I
If you've never seen the 1956 movie The King and I with Yul Brenner please do. It's a wonderful movie. While you are at it pick up South Pacific and My Fair Lady too. They are just marvelous.
Be strong my friend. But let yourself bend like a willow...ah yes grasshopper that is the way ;-)
We will be just fine.
------------------------------------------------------
Here we are on a Saturday night dear reader. I hope you are well, relaxed, happy and full of light.
Or light beer if you are inclined to that sort of thing.
------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever thought about what the most important characteristic of a partner, co-worker, spouse, boy or girl friend might be?
Of course you have.
Maybe it's a hunky good looking thing, or someone who is smart, nice, rich or some combination?
Over the years I've pondered this and I think the most important thing we can bring to our relationships is a sense of humor.
I think everything else flows from that sense of being light, not self-important or bogged down in the bad things that happen to all of us.
It gets to the point of not being a victim or circumstance but making a choice of how we will react to our circumstances. Certainly some things are incredibly sad. In fact life itself, because of the impermanent nature of things we love, is guaranteed to be full of sorrow.
Have I cheered you up yet?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What can we do to escape the inevitable suffering of life? Nothing. So I think as long as we are here we might as well have as many laughs as we can.
Actually there are things you can do to deal with the pain of being alive besides trying to turn everything into a joke (I've tried that and it doesn't always work). These things will not allow you to escape suffering but rather put things into a context that allows you to live with Joy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus died so our sins would be forgiven and we all are saints (some of us have dirtier faces than others). If we ask to be forgiven for the bad things we have done, or think we have done, we will be. This is incredibly liberating not just from a high minded religious point of view but from a practical pyschological "lets move on" point of view as well. The point of Christianity is to free us from all our negative baggage and let us live with peace of mind and a joyful spirit. At least that's my story.
A good way to understand the beauty of Christianity is to consider from a child's point of view. Listen to the song on this webpage Songs Children Are Taught In a Faith Based on Love and read a few of the songs this Sunday school teacher and her children sing. I think it gives you a feel for the simple loving nature of this faith.
----------------------------------------------
I also like to read and think about other spiritual paths. I love to read some Buddhist literature and think about infinite compassion. A couple of web pages that look like a place to start are
I can't recommend too strongly the book Peace Is Every Step - The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh. Here is one little piece of his writing -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is a puzzlement
isn't it? That to be happy one should be able to understand what it means to be sad?
Not really though. It's the space in between, the light and the dark, the highs and the lows that make life so wonderful.
To have compassion we have to understand suffering. On the other hand of course we shouldn't confuse less lavish lifestyles than what we are accustomed to in the West as suffering. Money can't buy you love baby. Or happiness. True joy comes from within. I can guarantee you that some child we consider "poor" by our materialistic standards playing with his paper kite in the poor part of Bombay is just as happy as a fat american kid with a ton of video games. Wanna bet?
Have you ever watched a sporting event on TV and they cut to the rich owner and he's sitting by himself looking like he isn't having any fun with a scowl on his face? Did you ever read about Howard Hughes?
If you've never seen the 1956 movie The King and I with Yul Brenner please do. It's a wonderful movie. While you are at it pick up South Pacific and My Fair Lady too. They are just marvelous.
Be strong my friend. But let yourself bend like a willow...ah yes grasshopper that is the way ;-)
We will be just fine.
------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, February 05, 2004
More Sun - Pharmaceuticals - Darius McCollum - Kid's Being Kid's - It's a Matter of Degree
Good Morning to you friendly reader.
I hope things are looking up for you and you are enjoying the increasing daylight if you live in the Northern hemisphere, or a nice summer for you in the Southern hemisphere.
I've been pondering the idea of sanity, or normality, illness or wellness, lately.
Have you ever read the description of an illness or side effects of a drug, and thought some or all of the symptoms somehow described you?
In many cases I think they do. But here's the key -
It's all a matter of degree.
Let's say you are listening to the ad for a drug, which you happen to be taking, and when they get to the possible side effects they say something like, "may cause dry mouth, diarhea, muscle fatigue, and backache."
You think wow that sounds like me. Not remembering that you drank a quart of Jack Daniels yesterday and have a terrific hangover today. You sort of have a hazy memory that after you went to bed it got so hot up in your second floor bedroom you decided to move out to the roof to cool off. It's a little fuzzy when you get to the part where you fell asleep, rolled down the roof and dropped the 12 feet into the bushes in front of your house.
Ah yessss but the matter of degree part.
Let's say you read the symptoms for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder provided courtesy of the Eli Lilly Company maker of a drug called Strattera that can help you with your malady. Eli asks us, "Have you felt unfocused, disorganized, restless for as long as you can remember? Does your concentration drift in and out? A flood of thoughts that you can't seem to control? Like the channel keeps changing in your mind and you don't have control of the remote."
Yes that describes me and you too. The key is, all together now...it's all a matter of degree.
You know you could get some of that Strattera or you could try taking a deep breath and learning a little bit about relaxation techiques. The link I have on my main page to the Interlude Meditation site has a lot of thoughts about breathing and a variety of ways to focus, clear your mind. There are people who devote a lifetime to trying to keep their minds focused...they are called yoga's or something. Maybe they are called bodhisatvas? Why do all that work though...take a God Damn Strattera.
Whoops I'm swearing again, must be the Tourette's kicking in.
Have you ever heard of Prader-Willi syndrome? I knew a guy who worked in a house for the poor souls with that syndrome. One of the symptoms is an insatiable appetite. The residents would eat any food that wasn't locked down. If a bag of flour was left out...bam..it was eaten.
Sound like your house? Sound like you?
Have you ever heard of Darius McCollum? There's an excellent article about him in Harpers May 2002 edition written by Jeff Tietz called "The Boy Who Loved Transit". Darius did all kind of jobs for the New York City Transit Authority...driving subways, inspecting tracks, drinking coffee and eating rolls with the crew. The wrinkle is described in this paragraph from the Harper's article where Darius is getting ready to go to work in the morning by putting on his work clothes, getting his 139 keys used for access to trains, subways....
"Six weeks earlier, Darius had been paroled from the Elmira Correctional Facility, near Binghamton, New York, where he had served two years for attempted grand larceny--"attempted" because he had signed out NYCTA vehicles for surface use (extinguishing track fires, supervising maintenance projects) and then signed them back in according to procedure. Darius has never worked for the NYCTA; he has never held a steady job. He is thirty-seven and has spent a third of his adult life in prison for victimless offenses related to transit systems."
Darius was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. One description I found for Asperger's is that it is, "characterized by severe and sustained impairment in social interaction, development of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities."
Yes that describes me and most of the other 100 or so engineers and techs I work with :-)
Back on the ADHD track again though. Oh forgot to mention ADHD is a new disease.
Here's how this progresses -
1960 - Parents had small people living with them called children. They acted weird or downright bad some times. Some more often than others. No one knew a generic term to categorize those kids so we called them Jack, Joe, Jan, Larry, Kim, Betsy or a variety of other names.
1963 - Someone figured out that some kids were overly active. Overly active of course was a matter of opinion and not an objectively defined condition. I think it was actually Miss Ellis my second grade teacher who discovered the medical condition known as hyperactivity and I may have been the first person to be diagnosed with this disorder.
1980 - Some kids weren't paying attention in school and are generally just screwing around. Back in the early 60's those kids were known as "kids", later they became hyperactive, now they have Attention Deficit Disorder. Don't worry though since this condition can be treated with a drug provided by our friendly pharmaceutical companies.
1990 - Some kids aren't paying attention in school and are generally just screwing around. Do those kids have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or a newer form of the disease known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)? Good question; but not to worry since it can be treated with a drug provided by our friendly pharmaceutical companies.
2000 - Some adults aren't paying attention and are generally just screwing around. It's not just that though, they have Adult Deficit Attention Hyperactive Disorder (ADAHD).
Dear God please save us from this crap.
Here's the description Eli Lilly provides for Attention deficit -
"Some of these symptoms include not paying attention, making careless mistakes, not listening, not finishing tasks, not following directions and being easily distracted."
and for Hyperactive -
"Symptoms include fidgeting, talking excessively, running around at inappropriate times, interrupting others and having difficulty awaiting turns."
Yes that's any kid and it's a matter of degree. If I'm a teacher or a parent without the patience or love to take care of those kids maybe we could medicate them? That's all a matter of degree too. There are certainly some cases where a child needs some thing more than love and patience.
I want to wrap this up with one last thought. In the area of sanity/insanity normality/abnormality it's all a matter of degree. Let's think of some behaviours we would define as insane.....Maybe -
Talking to yourself, thinking or saying outlandlish things.
Yes we all do those things. Some really smart people like you and me do them quite often. It's okay...because by golly we are smart enough and funny enough and kind enough to be just fine.
I think I'll be moseying along now. I hope you have a good day and may you find peace within.
justjack
I hope things are looking up for you and you are enjoying the increasing daylight if you live in the Northern hemisphere, or a nice summer for you in the Southern hemisphere.
I've been pondering the idea of sanity, or normality, illness or wellness, lately.
Have you ever read the description of an illness or side effects of a drug, and thought some or all of the symptoms somehow described you?
In many cases I think they do. But here's the key -
It's all a matter of degree.
Let's say you are listening to the ad for a drug, which you happen to be taking, and when they get to the possible side effects they say something like, "may cause dry mouth, diarhea, muscle fatigue, and backache."
You think wow that sounds like me. Not remembering that you drank a quart of Jack Daniels yesterday and have a terrific hangover today. You sort of have a hazy memory that after you went to bed it got so hot up in your second floor bedroom you decided to move out to the roof to cool off. It's a little fuzzy when you get to the part where you fell asleep, rolled down the roof and dropped the 12 feet into the bushes in front of your house.
Ah yessss but the matter of degree part.
Let's say you read the symptoms for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder provided courtesy of the Eli Lilly Company maker of a drug called Strattera that can help you with your malady. Eli asks us, "Have you felt unfocused, disorganized, restless for as long as you can remember? Does your concentration drift in and out? A flood of thoughts that you can't seem to control? Like the channel keeps changing in your mind and you don't have control of the remote."
Yes that describes me and you too. The key is, all together now...it's all a matter of degree.
You know you could get some of that Strattera or you could try taking a deep breath and learning a little bit about relaxation techiques. The link I have on my main page to the Interlude Meditation site has a lot of thoughts about breathing and a variety of ways to focus, clear your mind. There are people who devote a lifetime to trying to keep their minds focused...they are called yoga's or something. Maybe they are called bodhisatvas? Why do all that work though...take a God Damn Strattera.
Whoops I'm swearing again, must be the Tourette's kicking in.
Have you ever heard of Prader-Willi syndrome? I knew a guy who worked in a house for the poor souls with that syndrome. One of the symptoms is an insatiable appetite. The residents would eat any food that wasn't locked down. If a bag of flour was left out...bam..it was eaten.
Sound like your house? Sound like you?
Have you ever heard of Darius McCollum? There's an excellent article about him in Harpers May 2002 edition written by Jeff Tietz called "The Boy Who Loved Transit". Darius did all kind of jobs for the New York City Transit Authority...driving subways, inspecting tracks, drinking coffee and eating rolls with the crew. The wrinkle is described in this paragraph from the Harper's article where Darius is getting ready to go to work in the morning by putting on his work clothes, getting his 139 keys used for access to trains, subways....
"Six weeks earlier, Darius had been paroled from the Elmira Correctional Facility, near Binghamton, New York, where he had served two years for attempted grand larceny--"attempted" because he had signed out NYCTA vehicles for surface use (extinguishing track fires, supervising maintenance projects) and then signed them back in according to procedure. Darius has never worked for the NYCTA; he has never held a steady job. He is thirty-seven and has spent a third of his adult life in prison for victimless offenses related to transit systems."
Darius was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. One description I found for Asperger's is that it is, "characterized by severe and sustained impairment in social interaction, development of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities."
Yes that describes me and most of the other 100 or so engineers and techs I work with :-)
Back on the ADHD track again though. Oh forgot to mention ADHD is a new disease.
Here's how this progresses -
1960 - Parents had small people living with them called children. They acted weird or downright bad some times. Some more often than others. No one knew a generic term to categorize those kids so we called them Jack, Joe, Jan, Larry, Kim, Betsy or a variety of other names.
1963 - Someone figured out that some kids were overly active. Overly active of course was a matter of opinion and not an objectively defined condition. I think it was actually Miss Ellis my second grade teacher who discovered the medical condition known as hyperactivity and I may have been the first person to be diagnosed with this disorder.
1980 - Some kids weren't paying attention in school and are generally just screwing around. Back in the early 60's those kids were known as "kids", later they became hyperactive, now they have Attention Deficit Disorder. Don't worry though since this condition can be treated with a drug provided by our friendly pharmaceutical companies.
1990 - Some kids aren't paying attention in school and are generally just screwing around. Do those kids have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or a newer form of the disease known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)? Good question; but not to worry since it can be treated with a drug provided by our friendly pharmaceutical companies.
2000 - Some adults aren't paying attention and are generally just screwing around. It's not just that though, they have Adult Deficit Attention Hyperactive Disorder (ADAHD).
Dear God please save us from this crap.
Here's the description Eli Lilly provides for Attention deficit -
"Some of these symptoms include not paying attention, making careless mistakes, not listening, not finishing tasks, not following directions and being easily distracted."
and for Hyperactive -
"Symptoms include fidgeting, talking excessively, running around at inappropriate times, interrupting others and having difficulty awaiting turns."
Yes that's any kid and it's a matter of degree. If I'm a teacher or a parent without the patience or love to take care of those kids maybe we could medicate them? That's all a matter of degree too. There are certainly some cases where a child needs some thing more than love and patience.
I want to wrap this up with one last thought. In the area of sanity/insanity normality/abnormality it's all a matter of degree. Let's think of some behaviours we would define as insane.....Maybe -
Talking to yourself, thinking or saying outlandlish things.
Yes we all do those things. Some really smart people like you and me do them quite often. It's okay...because by golly we are smart enough and funny enough and kind enough to be just fine.
I think I'll be moseying along now. I hope you have a good day and may you find peace within.
justjack
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Day's Are Getting Longer in the Northern Hemisphere
Good Morning to you.
The days are getting longer here in the Northern hemisphere. More light is all right with me.
I met a man from Argentina yesterday. It's strange to me to think it's summertime in his home while it's rainy and gray here in the Pacific Northwest.
We have a new person in our group at work who is from Bali. I'm hoping to learn more about his home and someday would like to travel to Bali.
My writing seems very flat today. I wish I could write in three dimensions like I used to.
And I say unto thee brethren reverend righteous people of the Cafe known as Jack...let us pray. -
"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."
Woody Allen
I'm thinking maybe I should get some botox. Either that or a haircut.
Hey whadda you lookin at? Keep your eyes to yourself buddy.
Have you ever thought the verbal equivalent to communicating by writing a blog would be to open your window and yell outside into the neighborhood? HELLO NEIGHBORS HOW ARE YOU TODAY...I TOOK A SHOWER AND PAINTED MY CATS TOENAILS. THEN MY GOOD FRIEND MILLICENT STOPPED BY AND WE HAD A CUP OF TEA. OH MY MY MY.
I've been having a little trouble breathing and seeing lately...other than that I'm fine though.
Big day of college hoops on the teletubavision today. One of these days I'm going to get out of this recliner and shoot a couple of hoops or something my self.
Yikes that sounds bad. I mean I would shoot a basketball or do something like take a walk or ride a bike. I think I might pull out some Roger's and Hammerstein musical's instead for the time being.
Everyday's a gamble, I figure if I wake up in the mornin' I'm a winner.
Granny (From The Beverly Hillbillies)
I like this story by someone named Chad. Pretty short and to the point. Had fun, fell asleep, had a dream, checked back 20 years later, fulfilled the dream.
Chad's Dream
What was your dream 20 years ago my friend? 10? 5?
For me it was to have a job, a family, a wife I loved. Or to put it more clearly a job, family and wife I loved. My dream is fulfilled too.
May God Bless You and Yours
Just Jack
The days are getting longer here in the Northern hemisphere. More light is all right with me.
I met a man from Argentina yesterday. It's strange to me to think it's summertime in his home while it's rainy and gray here in the Pacific Northwest.
We have a new person in our group at work who is from Bali. I'm hoping to learn more about his home and someday would like to travel to Bali.
My writing seems very flat today. I wish I could write in three dimensions like I used to.
And I say unto thee brethren reverend righteous people of the Cafe known as Jack...let us pray. -
"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."
Woody Allen
I'm thinking maybe I should get some botox. Either that or a haircut.
Hey whadda you lookin at? Keep your eyes to yourself buddy.
Have you ever thought the verbal equivalent to communicating by writing a blog would be to open your window and yell outside into the neighborhood? HELLO NEIGHBORS HOW ARE YOU TODAY...I TOOK A SHOWER AND PAINTED MY CATS TOENAILS. THEN MY GOOD FRIEND MILLICENT STOPPED BY AND WE HAD A CUP OF TEA. OH MY MY MY.
I've been having a little trouble breathing and seeing lately...other than that I'm fine though.
Big day of college hoops on the teletubavision today. One of these days I'm going to get out of this recliner and shoot a couple of hoops or something my self.
Yikes that sounds bad. I mean I would shoot a basketball or do something like take a walk or ride a bike. I think I might pull out some Roger's and Hammerstein musical's instead for the time being.
Everyday's a gamble, I figure if I wake up in the mornin' I'm a winner.
Granny (From The Beverly Hillbillies)
I like this story by someone named Chad. Pretty short and to the point. Had fun, fell asleep, had a dream, checked back 20 years later, fulfilled the dream.
What was your dream 20 years ago my friend? 10? 5?
For me it was to have a job, a family, a wife I loved. Or to put it more clearly a job, family and wife I loved. My dream is fulfilled too.
May God Bless You and Yours
Just Jack
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Not Much to Say - We Don't Know - Refrigerator Story - Making Stuff Up
Good morning neighbor.
I don't have much to say of any use but that's never stopped me from talking or writing before, so why start now?
What if we all waited to speak or write or otherwise communicate with others, until we truly had something of value to communicate?
I guess there would be a lot less stuff to look at in the check out line at Safeway.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever stopped to think how unwilling we are as humans to admit to ourselves or others that quite often "we just don't know"?
Not sure if the "there's nothing I don't know" syndrome is more of a male phenonomena or spread equally among men and women. Is it spread equally amongst occupations or does it tend to be more pronounced in people who are supposed to know (Doctors and engineers come to mind) than say garbage collectors?
My mother was a Bridge player. I remember her telling me about one particular couple she played with. The husband was an engineer and he tended to think since he knew a lot about a little he knew a lot about a lot or knew everything...or at least gave my mom the impression he was somehow all knowing/impotent/infallible and I imagine an utter pain in the ass.
Where does this all go you say Jack? Can you wrap it up in a neat little package for us?
Just hold your horses little missy, we'll get their. Relax and have a cup of tea.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
My wife and I laugh everytime we think about a time her dad was working on the refrigerator at the lake cottage. The fridge had been slowly getting hotter on the outside and losing it's heating ability over a period of time one summer. I think we may have this on video, her dad was explaining the theory of cooling as the removal of heat or some law (or at least a local ordinance) of thermodynamics. You'd have to see it and have known him. He had a twinkle in his eye and it was funny because of that, and also because it turned out the reason the fridge was failing was a mouse had built a house in the cooling fan area. It's funny to watch and think about his half-kidding technical sort of explanation and some good natured ribbing by the audience watching him, "I didn't know you were a refrigeration expert dad?" and then the discovery of the ultimate cause of loss of cooling being a mouse.
Where is this going then? Thinking about knowing everything. As a human there are so many things we don't know and you know what?
That's scary.
So what do we do? We make up stuff.
About living, dying, life after death, other religions, my religion, other people, my people, my family, our family, men, women, my race, your race, my color, your color....you name it we made something up.
What's the good of admitting you don't really know?
For one thing you can quit being such a pompous ass.
It also would allow you to be surprised, more childlike, maybe more loving, less arrogant (sometimes I think my blog should be called "notes to myself")
One problem with admitting we don't know is it's a hell of a lot more work to live in that space of not-knowing. It's a state of constant tension. It's also a lot more fun and maybe a lot more life-like than giving in to the know it all in us.
Once I know something I can quit thinking, which gives me more time to stare at the tv or computer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's all repeat this to ourselves today, okay after me now -
"We don't know."
"We don't know."
"But that's okay."
"But that's okay."
"on my honor with liverty and jusice for all"
"on my honor with liverty and jusice for all"
"we dee endow"
"we dee endow"
"to watch Fox Network and Animal Planet with equal awe."
"to watch Fox Network and Animal Planet with equal awe."
So today we are going to say we don't know. Not we don't know and we don't care. We don't know and we care a lot. We care so much in fact that we are going to take some time and think and not just point and click and listen and watch but really get the old brain revved up.
That feels good eh?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a little sort of joke thing I read from Robert Crandall one time. He was giving a presentation to engineers and managers at a meeting of American Airlines employees. The story goes some thing like this.
I became an engineer and learned more and more about less and less until I knew all there was to know about nothing.
They promoted me to management and I found I had to be less specialized. I eventually learned less and less about more and more until I knew absolutely nothing about everything.
So we don't know then. But that's okay. We can live on faith. We can live in tension. We can think. We can change our minds. We can live, love and learn.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember our promise today. We are going to admit we don't know even if it makes us look silly...but we are going to be very excited too because admitting that we don't know might just allow us to learn some thing new. Maybe not to hate someone because of the way they look, or talk or where they live. Maybe a chance to help someone who needs a hand. Maybe a way to look beyond what's right in front of our nose to a bigger picture that involves others. Maybe a chance to rethink or for the first time think about what someone told us or taught us about Hindus, or Christians, Moslems, white people, black people, red people, yellow people, blue people (...I'm kind of thinking if someone is blue you should probably "know" how to give CPR).
If you've never listened to Sly Stone's songs "Everyday People" or "Family Affair" they both touch on these ideas in a different (more talented less heavy handed) way. That's where the red, yellow, blue people thing came from.
One of the lines of Everyday People is, "There is a blue one who can't accept the green one." Figured you'd probably need to know that :-)
You can google up the lyrics to those songs as well as I can. Even better is to listen to the music. This page has some interesting comments on Sly Sly Stone - Everyday People
Just two other things while you are finishing your Chai.
Thinking about Martin Luther King Day this last Monday....
Everyone interested in U.S. history, and in some sense the history of the world at a certain place in time, should listen to the song Abraham, Martin and John
and finally
I highly recommend you and I take the time to listen to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech given at the march on Washington August 28, 1963.
May all your good dreams come true...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't have much to say of any use but that's never stopped me from talking or writing before, so why start now?
What if we all waited to speak or write or otherwise communicate with others, until we truly had something of value to communicate?
I guess there would be a lot less stuff to look at in the check out line at Safeway.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever stopped to think how unwilling we are as humans to admit to ourselves or others that quite often "we just don't know"?
Not sure if the "there's nothing I don't know" syndrome is more of a male phenonomena or spread equally among men and women. Is it spread equally amongst occupations or does it tend to be more pronounced in people who are supposed to know (Doctors and engineers come to mind) than say garbage collectors?
My mother was a Bridge player. I remember her telling me about one particular couple she played with. The husband was an engineer and he tended to think since he knew a lot about a little he knew a lot about a lot or knew everything...or at least gave my mom the impression he was somehow all knowing/impotent/infallible and I imagine an utter pain in the ass.
Where does this all go you say Jack? Can you wrap it up in a neat little package for us?
Just hold your horses little missy, we'll get their. Relax and have a cup of tea.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
My wife and I laugh everytime we think about a time her dad was working on the refrigerator at the lake cottage. The fridge had been slowly getting hotter on the outside and losing it's heating ability over a period of time one summer. I think we may have this on video, her dad was explaining the theory of cooling as the removal of heat or some law (or at least a local ordinance) of thermodynamics. You'd have to see it and have known him. He had a twinkle in his eye and it was funny because of that, and also because it turned out the reason the fridge was failing was a mouse had built a house in the cooling fan area. It's funny to watch and think about his half-kidding technical sort of explanation and some good natured ribbing by the audience watching him, "I didn't know you were a refrigeration expert dad?" and then the discovery of the ultimate cause of loss of cooling being a mouse.
Where is this going then? Thinking about knowing everything. As a human there are so many things we don't know and you know what?
That's scary.
So what do we do? We make up stuff.
About living, dying, life after death, other religions, my religion, other people, my people, my family, our family, men, women, my race, your race, my color, your color....you name it we made something up.
What's the good of admitting you don't really know?
For one thing you can quit being such a pompous ass.
It also would allow you to be surprised, more childlike, maybe more loving, less arrogant (sometimes I think my blog should be called "notes to myself")
One problem with admitting we don't know is it's a hell of a lot more work to live in that space of not-knowing. It's a state of constant tension. It's also a lot more fun and maybe a lot more life-like than giving in to the know it all in us.
Once I know something I can quit thinking, which gives me more time to stare at the tv or computer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's all repeat this to ourselves today, okay after me now -
"We don't know."
"We don't know."
"But that's okay."
"But that's okay."
"on my honor with liverty and jusice for all"
"on my honor with liverty and jusice for all"
"we dee endow"
"we dee endow"
"to watch Fox Network and Animal Planet with equal awe."
"to watch Fox Network and Animal Planet with equal awe."
So today we are going to say we don't know. Not we don't know and we don't care. We don't know and we care a lot. We care so much in fact that we are going to take some time and think and not just point and click and listen and watch but really get the old brain revved up.
That feels good eh?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a little sort of joke thing I read from Robert Crandall one time. He was giving a presentation to engineers and managers at a meeting of American Airlines employees. The story goes some thing like this.
I became an engineer and learned more and more about less and less until I knew all there was to know about nothing.
They promoted me to management and I found I had to be less specialized. I eventually learned less and less about more and more until I knew absolutely nothing about everything.
So we don't know then. But that's okay. We can live on faith. We can live in tension. We can think. We can change our minds. We can live, love and learn.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember our promise today. We are going to admit we don't know even if it makes us look silly...but we are going to be very excited too because admitting that we don't know might just allow us to learn some thing new. Maybe not to hate someone because of the way they look, or talk or where they live. Maybe a chance to help someone who needs a hand. Maybe a way to look beyond what's right in front of our nose to a bigger picture that involves others. Maybe a chance to rethink or for the first time think about what someone told us or taught us about Hindus, or Christians, Moslems, white people, black people, red people, yellow people, blue people (...I'm kind of thinking if someone is blue you should probably "know" how to give CPR).
If you've never listened to Sly Stone's songs "Everyday People" or "Family Affair" they both touch on these ideas in a different (more talented less heavy handed) way. That's where the red, yellow, blue people thing came from.
One of the lines of Everyday People is, "There is a blue one who can't accept the green one." Figured you'd probably need to know that :-)
You can google up the lyrics to those songs as well as I can. Even better is to listen to the music. This page has some interesting comments on Sly Sly Stone - Everyday People
Just two other things while you are finishing your Chai.
Thinking about Martin Luther King Day this last Monday....
Everyone interested in U.S. history, and in some sense the history of the world at a certain place in time, should listen to the song Abraham, Martin and John
and finally
I highly recommend you and I take the time to listen to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech given at the march on Washington August 28, 1963.
May all your good dreams come true...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Basketball - "Prairie Home Companion" - "Car Talk" - "This American Life" - "Whad'Ya Know"
It's NCAA basketball day at Cafe Jacks today. Come on down, have a good strong cup of coffee and some conversation. We don't serve any of that ballerina water around here.
Iowa Hawkeyes are playing the Illinois Fighting Illini right now on ESPN 1. There are fourteen college basketball games on regular cable today. Yes! I haven't had a day off for awhile so I'm looking forward to just writing, watching some basketball and being with my family.
I was at a great high school basketball game last night. My daughters are both Varsity basketball (and volleyball) players. They are great. Good shooters, fast, strong, good rebounders, smart, good looking...you name it. And I am not biased I live in a place similar to Lake Wobegon where the women are strong, the men are good looking and all the children are above average.
Garrison Keeler is such a great story teller and has such a wonderful calm voice. I highly recommend you check out some of his shows either live on NPR or by visiting Prairie Home Companion.
A few other NPR programs I believe are really worth listening to and very funny are -
Car Talk. Lot's of good stuff on their web page, check out the worst cars of the millenium. My Vega came in number two. I used to drive with a case of oil in the back...at a gas station it was fill it up with oil and check the gas. Someone who owned a Vega said they, "Burned so much oil, it was single handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."
This American Life. Ira Glass is another great storyteller with a good voice. Check out the stories about people's first day on the job (Especially the Squirrel Cop Story)
Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know. There is some funny stuff to read on the web page (I recommend thanks for the memos) but you really need to hear this show to appreciate it.
Have you ever noticed that jokes on the internet or via email are generally not very funny? Not all the time of course but just in general. I think the spoken word is the key, timing, body language all play a role in any human communications.
I'm going to sign off for awhile.
I hope you have a great Saturday. Get some rest or do something aerobic.
Don't Worry Be Happy
Remember to Breathe in through your nose nice and slow and then blow it out nice and slow through your mouth....
Unless you happen to work in this lab where breathing is prohibited -
Lab Safety Memo.
Jack
Iowa Hawkeyes are playing the Illinois Fighting Illini right now on ESPN 1. There are fourteen college basketball games on regular cable today. Yes! I haven't had a day off for awhile so I'm looking forward to just writing, watching some basketball and being with my family.
I was at a great high school basketball game last night. My daughters are both Varsity basketball (and volleyball) players. They are great. Good shooters, fast, strong, good rebounders, smart, good looking...you name it. And I am not biased I live in a place similar to Lake Wobegon where the women are strong, the men are good looking and all the children are above average.
Garrison Keeler is such a great story teller and has such a wonderful calm voice. I highly recommend you check out some of his shows either live on NPR or by visiting Prairie Home Companion.
A few other NPR programs I believe are really worth listening to and very funny are -
Car Talk. Lot's of good stuff on their web page, check out the worst cars of the millenium. My Vega came in number two. I used to drive with a case of oil in the back...at a gas station it was fill it up with oil and check the gas. Someone who owned a Vega said they, "Burned so much oil, it was single handedly responsible for the formation of OPEC."
This American Life. Ira Glass is another great storyteller with a good voice. Check out the stories about people's first day on the job (Especially the Squirrel Cop Story)
Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know. There is some funny stuff to read on the web page (I recommend thanks for the memos) but you really need to hear this show to appreciate it.
Have you ever noticed that jokes on the internet or via email are generally not very funny? Not all the time of course but just in general. I think the spoken word is the key, timing, body language all play a role in any human communications.
I'm going to sign off for awhile.
I hope you have a great Saturday. Get some rest or do something aerobic.
Don't Worry Be Happy
Remember to Breathe in through your nose nice and slow and then blow it out nice and slow through your mouth....
Unless you happen to work in this lab where breathing is prohibited -
Lab Safety Memo.
Jack
Friday, January 16, 2004
We Need Eccentric People - Three Stories - Aunt Nita and Tim Lived in a Boxcar - Merle Haggard "Big City"
Good Friday morning to you my friend.
Have you ever thought about what the world would be like without eccentric people?
What a boring place it would be. I think the term eccentric people could be replaced by the terms different people or special people or people not like ourselves.
I love eccentric people. I like people who are "characters", that bring color, or life, or humor to the mix.
Life is too short to just be bland. Let it all hang out now and then baby.
How could you ever know what brought another person to be who they are? What pain, joy, sorrow, suffering, abuse, praise, love, hardship, loss, gain, luxury or deprivation brought that person to who they are when you cross paths.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Three short stories about eccentric people I have crossed paths with.
The first is about a guy I met a few years ago. He was a great debater, loved to argue, complain, piss and moan. Not a bad sort, just a glass is half empty for the most part sort of guy. In the course of a conversation he mentioned his dad. I could sense some pain I thought. He told me that he was with his dad in a park one time when he was a small lad (I'm thinking maybe 4 or 5 years old). There were geese in the park. Not sure if they were Canadian or the White domestic kind. Anyway while dad and son were sitting there watching the geese, dad decides to wring a goose's neck. Maybe to show son how to survive if he's ever down on his luck and in a park?
I just thought how totally strange that story is. I picture a nice day in the park, dad or mom and a young son or daughter looking at the cute animals in a park....and then dad wrings one of the geese's necks. Actually geese are pretty darn mean and aggressive but I don't think I'd show my kid that they are easy to throttle.
Actually to be honest I am pretty much afraid of geese. I tend to be sort of like Alvy the character Woody Allen portrayed in Annie Hall when it comes to being a fraidy cat. You know the scene where he's trying to capture the live lobster in the kitchen? Very very funny. It's odd I can be really brave or really chicken (in a joking way mostly with other people like my wife or friends...at least I tell myself I'm really brave and not really afraid of a spider or a snake or a big hissing goose).
There are a lot of Canadian Geese around where I work. A friend of mine and I were taking a walk the other day and a gang of Canadian's were waiting for the bus. We took the long way around because they looked pretty threatening swaying their long necks around and hissing. I've seen them stare at their reflection on the ground floor windows for long periods of times so I'm not sure how bright they are. I give them a pretty wide berth at all times just to be on the safe side given a bad experience I had with a Canadian one time...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I was fishing for steelhead and had waded into a river. Across the river a Canadian goose and her familty were floating around. I think it was a Mom and her small goslings. She kept honking and seemed sort of excited even though I was probably 30 yards or so across a fairly big river. I'm not paying any attention and all of sudden I hear the honking getting closer and the goose does a low fly by just missing my head honking all the way. I fell down, dropped my rod and was really embarassed and startled.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The second eccentric person story of the day is about a guy I ran into in the North woods of Canada who was "yust wisiting".
For a couple of summers when I was 12 and 13 I worked (more or less) on my Uncle's farm in Northern British Columbia. It was more like vacationed and played with my cousins than really working. But he would let me drive his big tractors, and do some shovelling of grain and brush clearing and things to keep me occupied. Very nice man and very nice family.
We were about 40 miles up the Alaska highway on a farm that was 30 miles at least from any civilization to speak of. The nearest town was Ft St John BC. There were some really delicious wild strawberries up there. My cousin and I would pick a few but it was hard work because they grew down low and were not that plentiful. One day we were driving down a remote road (we could drive at 13 or 14 up there in the boonies) and saw a hobo looking fellow in the distance carrying a large gunny sack over his shoulder. We were many miles from any houses, traveled roads or towns or farms. Stopped to talk to this grizzly looking guy who is missing his teeth and baths for many weeks and he tells us, "I am yust out wisiting." The gunny sack he has over his shoulder is dripping a red liquid from the bottom.
It has a severed head in it!
Gotcha...it was full of wild strawberries. He must of had many pounds of those tasty berries. I always wondered who in the heck he could have been visiting (maybe the animals and plants) because there weren't any people out there. I wondered how he had gotten there, where he lived and how he got out of there and back where he lived.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
My final eccentric person of the night story is about a couple of guys my wife and I ran into at the Dirty Shame Saloon in Yaak Montana. We had been up in that remote area of Northwestern Montana looking around. I'd been there a few times fishing and wanted to show my wife how pretty it was and how cool the Dirty Shame was. We pull up to the bar and there's an old small beatup pickup parked in front with a goat in the back that has some saddle bag contraption strapped on it's back. Inside the pickup is a woman sitting waiting for someone.
Inside the saloon was empty except for the bartender and are two men dressed in homemade buckskin clothes (made from deer hide). They weren't like fake dude type outfits they were like real dirty mountain man like outfits. These guys had long beards and the works. We strike up a conversation and they tell us they have, "been pickin hucks up in the high country makin good money." They had been picking huckleberries which are a fairly popular tourist sales item in Montana. I think they told us they were paid one dollar a pound. Man I'm surprised they could afford beer. They also told us they "squatted" on someone's land and lived all year round in a tent. The goat with the saddle bags and the woman in the pickup were part of their operation. I guess she didn't drink.
Pretty eccentric.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Some time I must write a little about my aunt and uncle who lived in a box car in the middle of Montana. They could be pretty eccentric. In some ways I'm probably as eccentric as they come and darn proud of it by the way :-)
Since I was talking about Montana a little bit I'll leave with the lyrics from the Merle Haggard Tune "Big City". I like that song and the album it comes from. Once when my daughters and I were driving through Yellowstone I was playing that song and there were was a Buffalo herd walking across the road. I kept telling them to watch the Buffalo because they were dancing to the music. It really did look to me like they were.
Now let's listen to a little Merle:
I'm tired of this dirty old city.
Entirely too much work and never enough play.
And I'm tired of these dirty old sidewalks.
Think I'll walk off my steady job today.
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana.
And gimme all I got comin' to me,
And keep your retirement and your so called social security.
Big City turn me loose and set me free.
Been working everyday since I was twenty.
Haven't got a thing to show for anything I've done.
There's folks who never work and they've got plenty.
Think it's time some guys like me had some fun.
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana.
And gimme all I got comin' to me,
And keep your retirement and your so called social security.
Big City turn me loose and set me free.
Merle Haggard "Big City"
Peace to you and yours.
Have a wonderful Friday and weekend.
May all your troubles be little ones (unless you don't want kids)
Jack
Have you ever thought about what the world would be like without eccentric people?
What a boring place it would be. I think the term eccentric people could be replaced by the terms different people or special people or people not like ourselves.
I love eccentric people. I like people who are "characters", that bring color, or life, or humor to the mix.
Life is too short to just be bland. Let it all hang out now and then baby.
How could you ever know what brought another person to be who they are? What pain, joy, sorrow, suffering, abuse, praise, love, hardship, loss, gain, luxury or deprivation brought that person to who they are when you cross paths.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Three short stories about eccentric people I have crossed paths with.
The first is about a guy I met a few years ago. He was a great debater, loved to argue, complain, piss and moan. Not a bad sort, just a glass is half empty for the most part sort of guy. In the course of a conversation he mentioned his dad. I could sense some pain I thought. He told me that he was with his dad in a park one time when he was a small lad (I'm thinking maybe 4 or 5 years old). There were geese in the park. Not sure if they were Canadian or the White domestic kind. Anyway while dad and son were sitting there watching the geese, dad decides to wring a goose's neck. Maybe to show son how to survive if he's ever down on his luck and in a park?
I just thought how totally strange that story is. I picture a nice day in the park, dad or mom and a young son or daughter looking at the cute animals in a park....and then dad wrings one of the geese's necks. Actually geese are pretty darn mean and aggressive but I don't think I'd show my kid that they are easy to throttle.
Actually to be honest I am pretty much afraid of geese. I tend to be sort of like Alvy the character Woody Allen portrayed in Annie Hall when it comes to being a fraidy cat. You know the scene where he's trying to capture the live lobster in the kitchen? Very very funny. It's odd I can be really brave or really chicken (in a joking way mostly with other people like my wife or friends...at least I tell myself I'm really brave and not really afraid of a spider or a snake or a big hissing goose).
There are a lot of Canadian Geese around where I work. A friend of mine and I were taking a walk the other day and a gang of Canadian's were waiting for the bus. We took the long way around because they looked pretty threatening swaying their long necks around and hissing. I've seen them stare at their reflection on the ground floor windows for long periods of times so I'm not sure how bright they are. I give them a pretty wide berth at all times just to be on the safe side given a bad experience I had with a Canadian one time...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I was fishing for steelhead and had waded into a river. Across the river a Canadian goose and her familty were floating around. I think it was a Mom and her small goslings. She kept honking and seemed sort of excited even though I was probably 30 yards or so across a fairly big river. I'm not paying any attention and all of sudden I hear the honking getting closer and the goose does a low fly by just missing my head honking all the way. I fell down, dropped my rod and was really embarassed and startled.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The second eccentric person story of the day is about a guy I ran into in the North woods of Canada who was "yust wisiting".
For a couple of summers when I was 12 and 13 I worked (more or less) on my Uncle's farm in Northern British Columbia. It was more like vacationed and played with my cousins than really working. But he would let me drive his big tractors, and do some shovelling of grain and brush clearing and things to keep me occupied. Very nice man and very nice family.
We were about 40 miles up the Alaska highway on a farm that was 30 miles at least from any civilization to speak of. The nearest town was Ft St John BC. There were some really delicious wild strawberries up there. My cousin and I would pick a few but it was hard work because they grew down low and were not that plentiful. One day we were driving down a remote road (we could drive at 13 or 14 up there in the boonies) and saw a hobo looking fellow in the distance carrying a large gunny sack over his shoulder. We were many miles from any houses, traveled roads or towns or farms. Stopped to talk to this grizzly looking guy who is missing his teeth and baths for many weeks and he tells us, "I am yust out wisiting." The gunny sack he has over his shoulder is dripping a red liquid from the bottom.
It has a severed head in it!
Gotcha...it was full of wild strawberries. He must of had many pounds of those tasty berries. I always wondered who in the heck he could have been visiting (maybe the animals and plants) because there weren't any people out there. I wondered how he had gotten there, where he lived and how he got out of there and back where he lived.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
My final eccentric person of the night story is about a couple of guys my wife and I ran into at the Dirty Shame Saloon in Yaak Montana. We had been up in that remote area of Northwestern Montana looking around. I'd been there a few times fishing and wanted to show my wife how pretty it was and how cool the Dirty Shame was. We pull up to the bar and there's an old small beatup pickup parked in front with a goat in the back that has some saddle bag contraption strapped on it's back. Inside the pickup is a woman sitting waiting for someone.
Inside the saloon was empty except for the bartender and are two men dressed in homemade buckskin clothes (made from deer hide). They weren't like fake dude type outfits they were like real dirty mountain man like outfits. These guys had long beards and the works. We strike up a conversation and they tell us they have, "been pickin hucks up in the high country makin good money." They had been picking huckleberries which are a fairly popular tourist sales item in Montana. I think they told us they were paid one dollar a pound. Man I'm surprised they could afford beer. They also told us they "squatted" on someone's land and lived all year round in a tent. The goat with the saddle bags and the woman in the pickup were part of their operation. I guess she didn't drink.
Pretty eccentric.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Some time I must write a little about my aunt and uncle who lived in a box car in the middle of Montana. They could be pretty eccentric. In some ways I'm probably as eccentric as they come and darn proud of it by the way :-)
Since I was talking about Montana a little bit I'll leave with the lyrics from the Merle Haggard Tune "Big City". I like that song and the album it comes from. Once when my daughters and I were driving through Yellowstone I was playing that song and there were was a Buffalo herd walking across the road. I kept telling them to watch the Buffalo because they were dancing to the music. It really did look to me like they were.
Now let's listen to a little Merle:
I'm tired of this dirty old city.
Entirely too much work and never enough play.
And I'm tired of these dirty old sidewalks.
Think I'll walk off my steady job today.
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana.
And gimme all I got comin' to me,
And keep your retirement and your so called social security.
Big City turn me loose and set me free.
Been working everyday since I was twenty.
Haven't got a thing to show for anything I've done.
There's folks who never work and they've got plenty.
Think it's time some guys like me had some fun.
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana.
And gimme all I got comin' to me,
And keep your retirement and your so called social security.
Big City turn me loose and set me free.
Merle Haggard "Big City"
Peace to you and yours.
Have a wonderful Friday and weekend.
May all your troubles be little ones (unless you don't want kids)
Jack
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Waiting To Go On Airplane - Sometimes It's Best to Fess Up
Happy Saturday to you.
I'm waiting to go on an airplane ride this morning. Pretty excited about it. I love airplanes, worked on them for twenty years, been on lot's of test flights, been around airplanes since I was a little kid when my stepdad had Piper Cubs and would let me fly using the stick from the backseat.
Have you thought about what Pete Rose, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have in common?
They all did something they shouldn't have and then lied about it. The problem wasn't so much in the act initially as the lies to try and cover it up. We try to teach our kids that you can be forgiven for the wrong things you've done, just tell the truth. Even as adults we can't always summon up the courage it takes to just tell the truth. Granted there are all kinds of complications with telling the truth in any particular case. Probably most difficult would be that telling the truth may hurt people we care about.
I don't know.....it's tough. We're all sinners. We all have vices. Probably the best thing would be to be a whole person and not do things you have to lie about in one area of your life while acting holy and righteous, upstanding in another. If you want to do bad stuff get a job where that's acceptable. At least then you won't have to lie about it. I guess I'd say "If you're going to be a bank robber be the best danged bank robber ever." I'm not so sure I think bank robbing is equivalent to cheating and lying....honor among thieves. Can you rob banks and be ethical? Maybe. Can you cheat and lie and be ethical? Of course not.
Whatever else Pete Rose has done with his asinine lies about betting on baseball...one thing that is missed with all the hoopla about the baseball hall of fame is that Pete Rose is giving gamblers a bad name. I'm considering giving up sports wagering since he's tainted the name so badly by correlating being a liar and betting on baseball.
"I dint bet on baseball, er er er I mean I bet on baseball when I was a manager but dint when I was a player, I mean I did bet on baseball while I was a player but dint ever never bet on my own team, er er I mean I did bet on baseball while I was a player but I dint ever bet agin my own team....."
Gawdd.
I guess we need to remember that being able to swing a bat, run, throw and catch a baseball is not correlated to being an ethical/good person or having an intellectual capability exeeding that of a moth. I saw the bright light and couldn't help flying at it....
Good day to you.
I'm waiting to go on an airplane ride this morning. Pretty excited about it. I love airplanes, worked on them for twenty years, been on lot's of test flights, been around airplanes since I was a little kid when my stepdad had Piper Cubs and would let me fly using the stick from the backseat.
Have you thought about what Pete Rose, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have in common?
They all did something they shouldn't have and then lied about it. The problem wasn't so much in the act initially as the lies to try and cover it up. We try to teach our kids that you can be forgiven for the wrong things you've done, just tell the truth. Even as adults we can't always summon up the courage it takes to just tell the truth. Granted there are all kinds of complications with telling the truth in any particular case. Probably most difficult would be that telling the truth may hurt people we care about.
I don't know.....it's tough. We're all sinners. We all have vices. Probably the best thing would be to be a whole person and not do things you have to lie about in one area of your life while acting holy and righteous, upstanding in another. If you want to do bad stuff get a job where that's acceptable. At least then you won't have to lie about it. I guess I'd say "If you're going to be a bank robber be the best danged bank robber ever." I'm not so sure I think bank robbing is equivalent to cheating and lying....honor among thieves. Can you rob banks and be ethical? Maybe. Can you cheat and lie and be ethical? Of course not.
Whatever else Pete Rose has done with his asinine lies about betting on baseball...one thing that is missed with all the hoopla about the baseball hall of fame is that Pete Rose is giving gamblers a bad name. I'm considering giving up sports wagering since he's tainted the name so badly by correlating being a liar and betting on baseball.
"I dint bet on baseball, er er er I mean I bet on baseball when I was a manager but dint when I was a player, I mean I did bet on baseball while I was a player but dint ever never bet on my own team, er er I mean I did bet on baseball while I was a player but I dint ever bet agin my own team....."
Gawdd.
I guess we need to remember that being able to swing a bat, run, throw and catch a baseball is not correlated to being an ethical/good person or having an intellectual capability exeeding that of a moth. I saw the bright light and couldn't help flying at it....
Good day to you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)