Write & Wrong

Revisiting not having a dumb job...

"You were done when your new boss knew your were sharper than him.  He wanted a 'yes' man."  



Gall Bladder -> Hospice...
It appeared to be appendicitis but turned out to be gall bladder sludge.  Your liver produces three to five cups of bile per day.  The gall bladder doles it out into your intestine to aid in the digestion of fatty foods, probably the stuff you shouldn't be eating anyway.  Of course taking down a wooly mammoth and eating ten pounds of warm fat is all in a day's work and that's why we have a gall bladder.  The sludge is irremovable so the gall bladder is the departing organ of choice.

Waiting around is a bore.  I concluded that all the renovations included images that were those we might be surrounded with at the end of life.  Sailboats, trees, peaceful streams, leaves falling gently to the forest floor.  What a BOS.  I'm not dying, I'm here for a CT, ultrasound, blood work, etc.

I'm going to write a letter to the health company CEO.

In the closet...

all within a theme

We were leaving for a couple of parties Saturday evening and it was 90+ Fahrenheit.  A short sleeve shirt was in order.  The closet presented my past.

It would be convenience to say that I'd narrowed the variety of my executive wardrobe when I was running the process improvement program and focused on 'eliminating waste.'  That was not how it happened.  'Matching sock' time is shortened when you wear the same socks every day (not the same pair but the same color/style).  Blue slacks, black cap toe shoes, grey Gold Toe socks, some sort of blue shirt, plain or plaid, not striped...that was the program.

This costume wardrobe has been utilized three times in the past two and three quarter years, once for a wedding and twice for a funeral visitation.  My conclusion is that in my former gig I was attired for the dead.  Change is good.  May it all remain in the closet is my wish du jour.

Regarding the short sleeve shirt...advice from my better half "just be comfortable.  No one is going to look at you.  No one cares what you wear."  As a guy it's clear that you go invisible at 55 or so (this to the opposite gender [I can't speak to same gender orientation...I just don't know]).

Write & Wrong...
A year ago I bet my son $40 that Trump would take the Republican nomination and another $40 (non-contingent) that Trump would win the Presidential election.  It appears that no money will exchange hands.

Approximately a year and half prior I committed to writing daily in this blog.  The same son remarked "you'll fail."  As a parent it's important to set goals for children.  Five is always a good number.  That's five goals.  Achieving all five is great but achieving fewer is not a failure.  There are many excuses for not sitting down and writing.  Every book on improving your writing, creating a career as a writer,  every motivational piece addresses all the excuses one thinks they have, the most common being to busy or lacking a topic.

Red Hot Chile Peppers

My distraction for the past 48 hours has been the weather, a couple of acres of grass to mow (still undone) and animals living in the attics (and their dutifully chewed access locations), the ninety+ degree heat, small business time demands and other lesser ideas and imagery.  Even now I could focus were it not for the common theme of the past 48 hours, recurring watching/listening of Red Hot Chile Peppers videos/music.

'Write & Wrong" came to me as an idea for a blog post topic.  It was going to identify issues with strategic planning, innovation and verbal and written articulation.  It was a good title.  If' I'd take off my headphones, quit the distraction of one of the great punk bands, quit tapping my foot to the second greatest bassist of all time I could bring some focus.  Well, perhaps tomorrow.

"I can call someone" and "I don't do Facebook"

This past week a guy came into the small business with his forearm tatted up with "Buy American of Die."  Looking around the parking lot and noting the absence of any Harley Davidson rides it led to "hey, sir, that's a commitment."  He was a welder and a trucker and younger than me and we conversed about that quality of foreign-made goods (e.g. cheap wrenches) and the lack of motivation and ability of American youth.

Fourteen years ago I started updating a rural home.  There was an aggressive 18 month schedule.  Life became complicated.  Five years ago I stopped at a garage sale and ended up purchasing a John Deere LX280 with 20 hours.  The seller's life was falling apart.  The sale gave him more than enough money to get to California and a new life.

Moving the mower from place to place required some ramps for the trailer.  Five hundred pounds is heavy.  A couple of 8' 2x12s and metal brackets from Northern Tool on one end filled the bill.  Many on-loadings and off-loadings have taken place with this and other even heavier equipment.

Two weeks ago I looked at one of the ramps and thought "that's going to break.  I need to reinforce it."  During today's off-loading my vision of lying under a five hundred pound mower was set in motion.

We have a customer at the small business who wants to move far away from people, certainly at the end of the road and preferably a bit further.  Over the past months I've suggested many approaches and given lists of equipment and tools that one needs out there on the edge.  His response normally has been "well, I can call someone."  My comment to that is that he is not suited for rural living.

As I dug around the garage and pulled out a circular saw, some wrenches, exterior screws and a partial sheet of plywood that I've saved for twenty years in anticipation of today's event I chuckled over "I can call someone."  A Google search for "ramp repair person" really would have left me with one ramp and a lawn tractor on a trailer.  

I don't do Facebook...
Facebook is annoying but I don't know how you function in today's world, how do you stay current, if you don't have at least one foot in at least one social media platform.  Luddite.