Greetings…

When I started this blog, I did so with every intention of making it a place to keep things light-hearted and fun place to write the occasional article about my observations and opinions on things.  However, over the several years of it’s life, it has take on a new meaning to me.

I have found that this blog has been a sounding board for my own frustrations, a place to share my pains and success’ and a place to share fun things that I have seen and experienced in life with those of you who are willing to take the time to read.

With all this being said, I am looking into the option of changing the name of the blog into something a little more on par with the topics I discus.

I am willing to listen to any suggestions that you might have, or any reasons that you might suggest for keeping the name as it is.  I do not plan on making any changes until the first part of the year, so we have some time.

As always, I thank the few readers I have for their input and their time.

I read the papers, watch and listen to the news, read the blogs and listen to the way people talk and the question arises… is the America that we, as Americans, know and love, dying?

This is not a question of philosophy or morals so much as it is a question of us as a stable, strong and unified nation.  A question asking if we can survive the next 200 years without self destructing into a mass of greed and selfishness.

When I was young, I remember being told that you can get whatever you want with a little hard work and determination… I was even told that I, or anyone else, could even aspire to be president, someday, if we worked hard.

It really is not even about that anymore, is it?  Anymore it seems like the LAST thing you would want your kid to be is the President.  What’s more, being President is not about who can do the best job for the country, it is about who has the most money… so that they can spend it on advertising to bash their opponent and who can talk the “prettiest” talk soas to woo the voters to vote for that person. In short, the presidency is a “bought and paid for” office. It is not “earned” anymore.

Unfortunately it is not about the “Issues” any more.  It is more about the perceived issues as the candidate want you to see them.  It is about the problems with the candidates themselves, not the issues that they stand, or do not stand, to support of defend.  It is not about honesty, it is about what YOU consider honesty to be.

I have watched this latest bout of elections and I wonder if there are still people out there who READ the news.  People who look for information out there on the candidates or the laws that are going to be voted on, and really understand what is being said.  I wonder how many people who are voting, are people that ONLY watch the news that is put out by their selected candidate and do not take the time to challenge it by reading other sources.

How many people will base their decisions solely on what they see on TV, or on those little “Cheat Sheets” that the Democratic and Republican parties send out to tell you how to vote?  How many people vote “Strictly Republican” or “Strictly Democrat” without understanding WHAT they are voting for?  If you ask me, people who do this are expressing themselves as uniquely unqualified to vote.  They are sheep following the shepherd and expressing no free will, other than to be freely led by another person to serve that person’s needs or goals.

Why can people NOT SEE that our current path is taking us nowhere?  Many of the people that we are electing are not taking office for the purpose of helping this nation climb back up on top again, they are taking those offices for personal gain, to make something of THEMSELVES or to make money.

Someone I know made a comment, years ago, that still makes sense to me today, and I will paraphrase: “Why would someone spend millions of dollars for a job that only pays a few hundred thousand a year?” I understand that there is a certain amount required for advertising, but when does that amount become too much? Between the two main opponents they raised over 1 billion dollars for their respective campaigns. I cannot help but think of all the good that money could have gone, to help real issues. Instead we are giving them money to use to host dinners, buy ads on TV, News Papers, radio… etc. Essentially this is money that is being thrown away.

Politics disgusts me. There is no other way to put it. The people that win the elections are rarely in the race for the rest of us, lest it be for their own agenda. The people that do care and have the best ideas do not appear to get the support that they need and end up barely making a dent in the election and are later accused of taking votes away from the big two.

But you know… after all is said and done… there is only one group of people to blame. Us… the voters. I will say all of us, because it is not fair to try and break it up. I did try and do my part by leaving the Republican party and becoming an Independent, a choice that I have no regrets over. But the rest of us have become so complacent, so lazy, that we will not take a stand and send a message to the parties and change our affiliations. Not enough people stand up for a cause anymore.

Greetings all…

My Apologies for the recent lack of posts… I have been going through a recent phase of mind block and have had plenty to write about and little to say.

If you have ideas that you think I might be able to work with, you are more than welcome to send them to me.  If I use them, I will give you credit for the idea.

Thanks.

Please note, these were observations made during the week following Hurricane Ike and we were still recovering from the devasting effects of the storm, I only mention that to give you some time perspective to the obervations. When I initially shared this with several friends and family members we had been without power since Friday midnight Sept 12th as the storm raged ashore, so this was written about 7 days into the ordeal. I will be sharing other thoughts in the near future.

Some observations-

When did it become ok to just do what you want at a stop light that is out. Do they not teach anymore that a non-working stop light is a four way stop and there is an order to who goes and when, and that the order is not the second car in line going when the car in front does.

Ike-must be global warming or houston failed to purchase enough carbon credits from Al Gore.

For those who believe government run programs are the best way to go- one word- FEMA. They are saying the best way to file a claim is through their website-hmmm 1.4 million people still have no power, gee thats real convenient, oh and you can’t stay on hold, they give you the website address and then hang up on you.

A local radio station somehow managed to give away ice, water and dry ice, 30 hours before any government agency was even in the city.

Deregulation of the electric industry, worst idea since government run health care.

Politicians with previous experience in private industry are the best people to elect. The mayor and county judge for houston, had to solve problems for the federal government like actually sending the trucks with relief supplies to the distribution centers. Instead of having them sit at reliant stadium. These two should be the next President and Vice-President.

Get to know your neighbors, you may need them, and they you.

Forget caffeine, cold showers are the best way to wake up.

Should have listened to Tina about Ike, she tried to warn us!

A friendly face and a hug can take away all stress for both the hugger and huggee!

And yes, being without power let’s you make up words like hugger and huggee!

Not a day goes by when I do not think of my Father.

Unfortunately, he passed away in 1991. When he passed, there were a great deal of things that I never got to say to him and I am sure, there were things that he never had a chance to say to me.

I do not dwell on his death, I can honestly say that I only did that for about the first year, but the times I think about him now are more or less in passing. Idle thoughts that come to me. Things like; “Dad would have liked that”, or “It would have been neat if my dad could have met my Father-in-law.”

If I were to look at the things that bother me the most about his death, it is the fact that I never told him everything I needed to tell him. But I was young and I listened to those that told me that it would hurt him if I talked to him about these things. So I did not, not knowing the ghosts that it would create for me all these years.

I think that we all carry ghosts like this with us through our lives.  Things that we put off doing, forgot to do or never seemed to find the time for.  Then one day you realize that your chances are gone, there is no way to get them back.  These can be as simple as a conversation you should have had with someone or as large as not taking the time to sit down and have a heart to heart with your father… as was the case with me.

The biggest thing to remember with most of these ghosts is that they do not have to be.  We each have control over whether they exist or not by the decisions we make.  We chose to, or not to, act on things.  Sometimes it is because we do not want to hurt someone, or because we do not want to take a chance.  But we must.

Since my issue with my father, I have used that as a learning point in my life.  Since then I try to speak my mind when I can.  I always make sure I say what needs to be said when I have the chance.  If that which I need to say might hurt the feelings of the person I am telling it to, then I do so with the greatest care and compassion.

I offer this as my personal experience in life.  Life itself is so very short when you think about it and even with that, you are not guaranteed the entirety of your life, you never know what may happen that might take it from you or those you love, prematurely.

I will close with this.  It is a small part of a poem I have kept near me for more years than I can remember called the Desiderata:

“…As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant… they too have their story.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

There are many ways to look at it…

Forty trips around the sun…

280 -/+ dog years…

480+/- full moons…

Forty Summers/Winters/falls/Springs

The fact remains that today I celebrate the fortieth anniversary of my birth. A fact that is thanks in large part to my Mom, of course, my friends and family, for all… always being there for me when I needed them.

Birthdays have always been a sore subject for me.  I will not go into the details, but for those that know me, you also know my reasoning.  In fact, I did not really start learning to enjoy my birthdays until I met the woman that is now my wife.  This is not to say that my family and other friends did not help, but sometimes your spouse can convey thoughts and ideas that the rest of your family cannot.

As I look back on my life up to this point, I worry that I may not have done all that was expected of me.  That is more of a philosophical question than anything else, and thusly has no correct answer.  It is more a question about my role in the universe and if I am living up to my part in it.  Have I achieved that which was expected of me.  Is this all there is?  Is there nothing more?

Looking at the average life span of a male American, it would appear that I have reached about the half-way point in my journey of life.  The point where we should look around, make sure that we are still heading in the direction that we want and expect, make any corrections to our heading, then weigh anchor and set sails again.

I am not depressed about forty.  In reality, it is only a number, unless I make it out to be something else.  I do look at what I HAVE done with my life and think that I should have tried harder, pushed myself more, taken more chances, made more friends, not let go of as many as I have.  But there is a lot of life left, and the road is entirely uncharted.  We never know what is waiting around the next corner, or where life will take us tomorrow, the day after, next year, or any time afterward.

Forty is not a big number.  When I look at my age, I alway think of what Chiun said in the movie “Remo Williams: The adventure begins.”

“For a plum, I am old beyond my time, for a mountain, I have not begun my years, for a man, I am just right.”

When I look at aging and the process of “ripening”, I have gotten in the habit of looking at a good friend of mine named Russ.  If I can be half the person and live half the live that he has, by the time I am his age, then I will consider myself to be lucky.

In closing… I do not really could my life in years.  I have learned that you should count your life in the friends you have made and the loves you have known, both those you keep now, and those that have moved on to other things, or have slipped away forever.  I am learning not to dwell on the bad things I have experienced, but accept them as lessons learned and embrace them as part of my life, every bit as important as the good things, and in some cases, maybe even more so.

We are all learning, right up until the day we die.  So you might say that we are all incomplete works, each year we are just adding a new feature.

When you or I go into any place that caters to the needs of the buying or dining public, we expect a certain level of customer service. It is not something that you expect to have to ask for, it should just BE there.

My favorite example of someplace that has exceptional customer service, at least in every visit I have made to the place, is a little restaurant here in Bakersfield called Spencer’s. Specifically the one on McNair, but both locations in town are great.

The staff there is wonderful to everyone and not just the regulars like my wife and I, but to everyone. I see the interaction between the waitress’ and the clients, and there is rarely anything that even looks like they are unhappy in what they are doing. They almost always have smiles on their faces and are always working hard to make sure everyone is taken care of.

Sometimes it is fun to watch them work because they get along so well there. Like this last Sunday when the wife and I went it, and sat at the counter to eat. At one point three of the waitress’ started dancing and singing that silly song from the truth.com commercial, “…it must have been a typo, typo, typo…” because someone did not get what they ordered.

The kind of teamwork and customer service you see in places like this seems to be becoming more and more rare these days. The team that they have working at this place is becoming an exception to what the industry should have as their default behavior.

Another example of great customer service, but on a smaller and different scale is a little place calls Great Central Steak and Hogie.  They are a small little shop that might be able to seat about fifteen with some effort.  Their food is pretty good, but what really sells this place for me is the employees.  They are friendly to everyone that comes in, even the people that are trying to sell them something.  The two owners, Alex and Paul, are the kind of people that, once you get to know them, will talk to you about anything.  Even give advice to people if they ask.

These were both examples of great customer service.  Places that you can go and know that you will be taken care of and leave happy.  These are places that I suggest to anyone that asks where they can get something good to eat.  The problem with the list of places that have given me bad service… well that is just too long to mention… so I will just go over some points I notice.

Any more, most of the chains are designed to take care of you in such a manner where their idea of customer service becomes an “assembly line” process.  Each person is greeted with the same mechanical, monotone smile and “Hi… welcome to… <insert restaurant name here>”, leaving you feeling like you just met a Audio-Animatronic that escaped from Disneyland.  Add to this that most chains are almost the same thing…  they sell similar foods, sever similar drinks, the waiters and waitress’ all start looking the same and you begin be bogged down in the monotony.  A good example of this for me is Hooters.  They were great when they first came out, but now they have expanded to the point were it’s like… who cares.  Great, girls in tight tops, wow… who has not done that nowadays?

Unlike most guys, I do not tip based on looks.  If the waitress helping me looks great, but has the customer service skills of a snob with Alzheimer’s, then they are still not getting a tip.  I do not care if they are built like Pamela Anderson and wearing shorts and a top that are five sizes too small.  On the other hand, if the service is great, my drink is refilled before I need it and the food is good and served before it gets cold, then I don’t care if the waitress looks like she could win an Earnst Bognine look-a-like contest on a bad hair day, I will tip her well.

Any more, I tend to like to go to the small, “hole-in-the-wall” places to eat.  They are usually family owned and operated, most of their staff is usually family or friends of the owner and they are not out to rake in cash for the sake of getting rich.  They are doing it because it is a labor of love.  That shows, when it comes right down to it.

Happy Birthday to Barbara Elizabeth Wright…  AKA My Mom…