Listening to all my old as hell friends, customers and especially extremist right wing political people constantly rant on and on about how much better things were in our past got me to thinking (ooooooh, there's that dreaded problem I have again). Thinking back to my own youth, I do have to admit that from the present perspective, everyday life sure did seem to be a lot simpler, more clear cut and easier to understand . There were far less consumables, things to do and see, far less information or choices that seemed important. One basically only had to deal with your immediate surroundings, not the whole country, much less the whole world. All of that stuff "out there", didn't even exist for me in my youth on the farm.
Having admitted all that, I have to face reality here though. The ONLY thing that is truly and forever true and constant is CHANGE. We go thru life, living in each moment not really noticing that everything constantly changes. So slowly that we don't always see it as an ongoing reality but it plainly is. In fact again, it is the ONLY REAL THING.
Okay, lets talk details to put all this in perspective. The price of things.....As time goes on, the price of everything slowly and unfailingly goes up. Picture an old man standing in line at the grocery store saying "Holy shit, a candy bar is now a #$% *#$* whole dollar???, Why when I was a kid, they were only 25 cents, for gods sake!? Now picture a ten year old boy standing in line right behind him. He out of a modicum of respect is not saying this out loud but what he is really thinking is "Jesus, you old grump, that's what candy bars cost. Pay the damn price, quit bitching and get out of my way, I've got more important things to do today than stand here listening to you complain". You see, to that kid, the price is just the price. It's normal to him.
How about some more serious examples of change that us old farts have such problems with. Back when all the emigrants were pouring over to America from Europe and beyond by the thousands, I would bet that the Americans living here then were outraged that these "foreigners" were coming here and taking over "our" country lock, stock and barrel (How's that for a cool old as the hills saying?) Well turns out that those "foreigners" are now "us". Those people pouring over here are our forefathers and foremothers. If they didn't have the courage, need and stamina to come to America, we all would be right now living in who knows where, with far less freedoms or choices. Now plainly the only reality that was going on then for them was the reality of change. Things were changing at a hell of a pace back then but guess what? We all made it! They were wrong thinking that "those" people would ruin America.
In the present time with all the Mexicans, and all the other "foreigners" trying to make a life in America, we again are freaking out that they are "trying to take over our country" lock, stock and barrel. Do I have a problem with all this? Hell yes!. It scares me along with all the other old shits in the country but you know what? It's just change folks. Okay, I know....the original emigrants came here legally, where now we have a lot of illegals. I personally don't like that fact but in 20 years, do you really think that will matter at all? Or just more "change" that we don't at this time understand.
Will there eventually be more people of color than white folks here? Probably...
Will the country then turn into a third world shithole....Most probably not..
Other great examples are the social ones. As time goes on humans naturally and logically become more intelligent, open minded and caring of others and their basic human rights. A perfect example right now would be the whole sexual preferences issue. Ask any young person what they think of gay rights, gay partnerships, gay marriage or gay adoptions and I'm telling you right now that the majority of them will have no problem with it at all. They will tell you that it's none of their personal business what other folks do with their private lives. You see, they live and accept natural change and are not stuck in the same grumpy time zones most of us older people are in.
Whether we like it or not, it's going to happen. It's called CHANGE. All of us old farts will eventually die and then to those left all this will be just normal life. America will keep right on changing with the times and Americans, no matter who they are will all survive just fine because of our creativity, intelligence, bullheadedness and perseverance. We always have and always will.
Now, the reasons or motivations for change are ultimately irrelevant. Even the outcome of change only depends on your personal philosophies. That all depends on whether you see life as a glass half full or half empty. I choose half full, thank you.... The whole point of my bullshit in this blog is that change is the only real thing in life. All the details are just that. They are all subject to change with the times also.
So please don't fall into the trap a lot of people are in right now with believing all the idiot doom and gloom on the news. Don't forget that "only bad news sells". Normal, average people's lives are cruising along just fine. Are there problems in the world? Yup........ but guess what? It WILL change.
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sleeping Pilots
The news about the Northwest Airline overshooting their destination by something like 90 minutes hit the front page news all over the world. As usual, it got me thinking (Crap, that bad habit again) about the whole issue of doing well your whole life and then screwing up once. I'm not at all sure that our society handles this with complete logic, compassion, individualism or common sense at all.
Now I completely understand all the standard arguments about their screw up possibly putting hundreds of people's lives on the line because of their line of work. What if their apparent lack of situational awareness (cool words I learned from my pilot daughter) buried the plane in the dirt destroying those poor unsuspecting people's lives and even potentially more on the ground? The other argument running around in the aviation world is that these guys were probably screw-ups before and only just now got caught with their preverbal pants down on this one flight. I'm certainly not sure how we would know that though, now would we?
Ya know? It struck me that these two pilots, whom I know nothing at all about, have ( I heard) thousands of hours of perfect service. Hours and years apparently doing everything by the book and safely doing their jobs. It would seem to me these facts would have to be taken into consideration when trying to judge this one infraction, no matter how grave it is. After thousands of hours of professional, safe flying should their licenses, career and livelihood be taken from them over this one thing?
I think this situation unfortunately happens a lot of times in normal life also. Where good, hardworking, honest folks just plain screw up once in a blue moon after a lifetime of being "perfect". Where people who would normally not do anything wrong or crazy at all go off the deep end for some crazy once in a lifetime reason that cannot be understood. I wonder how many crimes of passion or rage are completely out of character for the people involved. Things they would never think of doing when their lives are on track and normal.
I know this can't be compared with the airline pilots dilemma but I do know I've had weird moments when I thought I was being treated unfairly taking into account my normal reputation. When for instance the power company sends me a "shut off" notice because I forgot or mislaid my bill and it was late. When that happens, I always get super angry with them for not checking my record to see I've paid perfectly on time for years on end with no problems whatsoever. It lets me know I'm just a damn number to them after all these years and they could care less of my record of perfection.
Okay, I'm certainly not the FAA or any other aviation department who has to make these decisions about these two pilot's licenses, lives and career but I sure would hope their entire flying record would be at least as important as this one incident. Personally, I would think when both facts are put on a balance scale, their total service would far outweigh this one screw-up.
What say you?
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Now I completely understand all the standard arguments about their screw up possibly putting hundreds of people's lives on the line because of their line of work. What if their apparent lack of situational awareness (cool words I learned from my pilot daughter) buried the plane in the dirt destroying those poor unsuspecting people's lives and even potentially more on the ground? The other argument running around in the aviation world is that these guys were probably screw-ups before and only just now got caught with their preverbal pants down on this one flight. I'm certainly not sure how we would know that though, now would we?
Ya know? It struck me that these two pilots, whom I know nothing at all about, have ( I heard) thousands of hours of perfect service. Hours and years apparently doing everything by the book and safely doing their jobs. It would seem to me these facts would have to be taken into consideration when trying to judge this one infraction, no matter how grave it is. After thousands of hours of professional, safe flying should their licenses, career and livelihood be taken from them over this one thing?
I think this situation unfortunately happens a lot of times in normal life also. Where good, hardworking, honest folks just plain screw up once in a blue moon after a lifetime of being "perfect". Where people who would normally not do anything wrong or crazy at all go off the deep end for some crazy once in a lifetime reason that cannot be understood. I wonder how many crimes of passion or rage are completely out of character for the people involved. Things they would never think of doing when their lives are on track and normal.
I know this can't be compared with the airline pilots dilemma but I do know I've had weird moments when I thought I was being treated unfairly taking into account my normal reputation. When for instance the power company sends me a "shut off" notice because I forgot or mislaid my bill and it was late. When that happens, I always get super angry with them for not checking my record to see I've paid perfectly on time for years on end with no problems whatsoever. It lets me know I'm just a damn number to them after all these years and they could care less of my record of perfection.
Okay, I'm certainly not the FAA or any other aviation department who has to make these decisions about these two pilot's licenses, lives and career but I sure would hope their entire flying record would be at least as important as this one incident. Personally, I would think when both facts are put on a balance scale, their total service would far outweigh this one screw-up.
What say you?
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bottom up leadership?
Listening to the common workers around my little world through the years always had me thinking (bad habit of mine). I listen to them complaining about idiotic policies, rules, proclamations, changes and procedures constantly coming down the pike from who in the hell knows where at their jobs. Somewhere toward or at the top of the totem pole of whatever big company or government agency they work for. Usually they come from some guy/gal in a fancy suit who got some kind of degree from a collage proclaiming they are way smarter than those little guys out in the field actually doing the work on the ground, or in the air for you pilots. Everything they learned came out of some usually very expensive books having almost nothing to do with the reality of doing things logically or right.
Interestingly, most if not all small businesses don't have these kinds of problems because the decision making processes are still being handled by the owner and he has to run a tight, efficient ship or he doesn't make any money to keep going. He has no desire or the money to hand out vital, important decisions for his company to some collage graduate to analyze.
No, most of these crazy things happen in the big business or even bigger government arenas. These become so large that they completely loose track of the real purpose and mission they started out to do. They lose sight of the fact that the actual worker, laborer and employee doing the work day in and day out is really the only ones who see what's really happening. They are the only ones who know if the work is being done in a logical, reliable, efficient, product producing way. They are the ones who see the waste, inefficiency and just plain stupidity being handed down from up above.
What brought all this to a head was a customer just the other day who works for PG&E. He works in their building and maintenance department. He was complaining up a storm about how these stupid directives come down the pike and eventually get to him. These papers are telling him to do things which he plainly knows are just plain stupid and wasteful in the extreme. He told me of a case where PG&E was setting up a job to put parking and directional stripping on the pavement around one of the buildings he is responsible for. So of course they put out bids to all the giant paving/stripping contractors in the whole state of California. Then bids for 5 or 6 other contractors for various other issues involved with this project. He said this relatively simple little job is going to cost the company some astronomically high amount of money. He told his boss to give him the budget set up for this one job and if he couldn't do it for less than one quarter of the money, they could fire him. He was so disgusted with their insanity that he meant it but alas, they just mumbled some crap and walked off.
Now in PG&E's case, guess where their headquarters is? Guess where the suits sit making these kinds of insane, wasteful decisions? In downtown San Francisco. Yup, these idiot suits have never even seen the job site. They have no need to actually visit the work site in person to know what the best, most cost effective, logical way to get the job done.
What kind of world have we inherited where this kind of foolishness can happen. Shouldn't the first and foremost people big business and government look to for answers be those very peons at the very bottom of the hill. The ones with the shovel, hammer, tape measure, tool kit or sales laptop in hand. The ones who are sweating, trying their damnedest to do the best job they can with the tools, instructions, skill and information they have available. They are the ones to ask, Mr/Mrs stupid CEO, Manager, Stock Holder for the answers you need.
One more thing and I'll try and climb down from my self inflicted soap box for today. These lowly workers, if asked their valuable opinion, should be paid a hell of a bonus (yea, cold hard cash), if and when their ideas are put in place.
So......wherever you work. Do you see waste, ineffective, idiotic policies happening and if asked could probably do it way better with better results, profits and a much better end product?
Then read the next bit and add your bitch to this blog....
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
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Interestingly, most if not all small businesses don't have these kinds of problems because the decision making processes are still being handled by the owner and he has to run a tight, efficient ship or he doesn't make any money to keep going. He has no desire or the money to hand out vital, important decisions for his company to some collage graduate to analyze.
No, most of these crazy things happen in the big business or even bigger government arenas. These become so large that they completely loose track of the real purpose and mission they started out to do. They lose sight of the fact that the actual worker, laborer and employee doing the work day in and day out is really the only ones who see what's really happening. They are the only ones who know if the work is being done in a logical, reliable, efficient, product producing way. They are the ones who see the waste, inefficiency and just plain stupidity being handed down from up above.
What brought all this to a head was a customer just the other day who works for PG&E. He works in their building and maintenance department. He was complaining up a storm about how these stupid directives come down the pike and eventually get to him. These papers are telling him to do things which he plainly knows are just plain stupid and wasteful in the extreme. He told me of a case where PG&E was setting up a job to put parking and directional stripping on the pavement around one of the buildings he is responsible for. So of course they put out bids to all the giant paving/stripping contractors in the whole state of California. Then bids for 5 or 6 other contractors for various other issues involved with this project. He said this relatively simple little job is going to cost the company some astronomically high amount of money. He told his boss to give him the budget set up for this one job and if he couldn't do it for less than one quarter of the money, they could fire him. He was so disgusted with their insanity that he meant it but alas, they just mumbled some crap and walked off.
Now in PG&E's case, guess where their headquarters is? Guess where the suits sit making these kinds of insane, wasteful decisions? In downtown San Francisco. Yup, these idiot suits have never even seen the job site. They have no need to actually visit the work site in person to know what the best, most cost effective, logical way to get the job done.
What kind of world have we inherited where this kind of foolishness can happen. Shouldn't the first and foremost people big business and government look to for answers be those very peons at the very bottom of the hill. The ones with the shovel, hammer, tape measure, tool kit or sales laptop in hand. The ones who are sweating, trying their damnedest to do the best job they can with the tools, instructions, skill and information they have available. They are the ones to ask, Mr/Mrs stupid CEO, Manager, Stock Holder for the answers you need.
One more thing and I'll try and climb down from my self inflicted soap box for today. These lowly workers, if asked their valuable opinion, should be paid a hell of a bonus (yea, cold hard cash), if and when their ideas are put in place.
So......wherever you work. Do you see waste, ineffective, idiotic policies happening and if asked could probably do it way better with better results, profits and a much better end product?
Then read the next bit and add your bitch to this blog....
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Humans are amazing creatures...
Ok, with all the negative doom and gloom naysayers screaming their insanity's (are you as sick of it as I am?), especially on the political bullshit front, I thought it was about time to point out some amazing positive facts about us humans.
It has always amazed me that in the worst times and situations we find ourselves in, people of every color, ethnicity, age, economic statis and sex always put their best foot forward and do incredibly heroic and brave things for the good of their fellow man.
One of the examples that comes to my mind would be the Earthquake we had in Northern California a few years back. You know...the one where entire freeway bridges collapsed, trapping poor souls in their cars between the layers? If I remember this correctly, a lot of those scenes took place in downtown Oakland. In some of the worst places in that city. Places where crime ran in the streets like greasy liquid. Gangs, drugs, prostitution and killings were an everyday happening. Bars on most every window and where the average person generally lived in fear for their lives.
I watched the news that day in complete fascination and awe with what was taking place. People including those same druggies, robbers and rapist ran out of their homes, risked their lives climbing up into the crumbling cement structures and went to work trying to save anyone they could. They worked for hours with no care of their own safety right beside the emergency personnel who eventually came to help. I saw overweight, out of shape, never exercised in years type folks sweating blood that day putting their lives on the line to try and save complete strangers.
You see on the news all the time where car accidents happen and strangers get out of the safety of their own cars, run up to a burning inferno, break out windows and drag the victims to safety. They suffer severe burns to their arms and more but do it anyway. The other thing that comes to mind is when a heavy weight falls on a person and someone comes along and lifts far, far more than they should be able to in order to save the victim. I'm sure all of us have seen stories like these.
Seems the truth is us humans always shine the brightest in the darkest times imaginable. The more horrible the situation, the more we rise to the occasion and do the right and honorable thing. I would bet these kinds of incredibly heroic acts of bravery have been happening since humans came to this earth. To me one of the most interesting facts about all this is how no matter how noble and brave or not people are in their normal lives, in the right situations all that goes out the window and most everyone becomes like some kind of superman or women and does whatever it takes to help others out.
So, being the incredibly complex creatures we in fact are just makes us more, not less enduring and interesting to be sure. Yes obviously we can be complete monsters, pricks and idiots at times but at the most important times, even those types of people can be angels in drag also. So when the news portrays us with their dark lenses, we should all not forget that we are really like many faceted diamonds, even to the extent that diamonds can be beautiful and at the same time cut the crap out of you.
So, come on folks. Hold your chin up and face this crazy world with a huge helping of hope with a healthy dollop of positiveness. Take a moment to view it as a glass half full and smile once in a while. At least you and I are looking down at the grass. Think of how many people over at the cemeteries are looking up at the roots possibly wishing they had our measly problems.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
It has always amazed me that in the worst times and situations we find ourselves in, people of every color, ethnicity, age, economic statis and sex always put their best foot forward and do incredibly heroic and brave things for the good of their fellow man.
One of the examples that comes to my mind would be the Earthquake we had in Northern California a few years back. You know...the one where entire freeway bridges collapsed, trapping poor souls in their cars between the layers? If I remember this correctly, a lot of those scenes took place in downtown Oakland. In some of the worst places in that city. Places where crime ran in the streets like greasy liquid. Gangs, drugs, prostitution and killings were an everyday happening. Bars on most every window and where the average person generally lived in fear for their lives.
I watched the news that day in complete fascination and awe with what was taking place. People including those same druggies, robbers and rapist ran out of their homes, risked their lives climbing up into the crumbling cement structures and went to work trying to save anyone they could. They worked for hours with no care of their own safety right beside the emergency personnel who eventually came to help. I saw overweight, out of shape, never exercised in years type folks sweating blood that day putting their lives on the line to try and save complete strangers.
You see on the news all the time where car accidents happen and strangers get out of the safety of their own cars, run up to a burning inferno, break out windows and drag the victims to safety. They suffer severe burns to their arms and more but do it anyway. The other thing that comes to mind is when a heavy weight falls on a person and someone comes along and lifts far, far more than they should be able to in order to save the victim. I'm sure all of us have seen stories like these.
Seems the truth is us humans always shine the brightest in the darkest times imaginable. The more horrible the situation, the more we rise to the occasion and do the right and honorable thing. I would bet these kinds of incredibly heroic acts of bravery have been happening since humans came to this earth. To me one of the most interesting facts about all this is how no matter how noble and brave or not people are in their normal lives, in the right situations all that goes out the window and most everyone becomes like some kind of superman or women and does whatever it takes to help others out.
So, being the incredibly complex creatures we in fact are just makes us more, not less enduring and interesting to be sure. Yes obviously we can be complete monsters, pricks and idiots at times but at the most important times, even those types of people can be angels in drag also. So when the news portrays us with their dark lenses, we should all not forget that we are really like many faceted diamonds, even to the extent that diamonds can be beautiful and at the same time cut the crap out of you.
So, come on folks. Hold your chin up and face this crazy world with a huge helping of hope with a healthy dollop of positiveness. Take a moment to view it as a glass half full and smile once in a while. At least you and I are looking down at the grass. Think of how many people over at the cemeteries are looking up at the roots possibly wishing they had our measly problems.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Kick them ALL out?
I think it's time for a little reality check here. Not only all the extremist on both sides of the aisle but most regular Democrats and Republicans who are presently screaming and yelling need to shut the hell up and crawl back in their bomb shelters and freakout chambers and take a self imposed time out.
I've heard of a movement that I'm going to join from now on that asks each of us to never again vote for ANY incumbent from either side ever again. The common fear is that we would lose the experience if we did that. Well, look where that experience has gotten us at this point.
Both sides have their own personal agenda that has nothing whatsoever to do with what's best for the common working, contributing people of America. The only things that matter to the extremist is that their particular bullshit ideas are right and the other side is wrong. What in the hell does that have to do with anything real? How does that divisiveness help solve any of the super pressing problems we are now having. We all need to shut off the super partisan political radio and TV shows blabbing on both sides of the isle and start thinking about what's best for americans in the long run.
Then we need to elect people as far away from normal as possible and see if they can come up with completely new, inventive and creative approaches to almost everything we do here in America. Obviously, our time worn ways are completely worn out and no longer work in this new age we find ourselves in and we need huge, real, out of the normal box thinking to move on ahead.
I'll admit that I thought our new president was presenting just those things but alas, he seems so far to be just more of the same. Of course he has only had a few months, so we need to give his policies a fair amount of time before making rash judgements. We are just now starting to show real and positive economic changes, so lets all hope for the best.
The majority of Americans obviously thought the same thing and desired huge changes also. So unless he can make these changes within his time in the spotlight, out he goes and we'll try someone else. Just not anyone in there right now. Their ALL idiots who could care less about us. Their all just fat, spoiled rotten good old boys who love money, power and sex, probably in that order. We obviously are to blame for this. They make far too much money. Have far too many perks and just sit there year after year in their thousand dollar suits and we just keep right on electing them. How stupid have we become?
The serious questions we have to start asking ourselves is this: Is our present system working for the good of the common people of America in this new high tech age we find ourselves in? Should we just keep on keeping on, the way it has been all these years and somehow expect things to change for the better? Is it time for some kind of completely new "out of the box" kinds of thinking and changes?
So, is it time to consider the idea to NOT vote for ANYONE from either party with "incumbent" next to their names from now on?
As usual, I can only ask questions as I have no answers. Come to me with a hair problem and I just might have some real, concrete ideas on how to solve them. As far as real answers to all the world problems, you would be better served to ask a rock.
As I've said over and over......I'm just a Barber.....the best damn Barber in the entire universe but alas, just a Barber. Oh wait....I almost forgot....I also do Brain Surgery, Leach Application and Blood Letting.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
I've heard of a movement that I'm going to join from now on that asks each of us to never again vote for ANY incumbent from either side ever again. The common fear is that we would lose the experience if we did that. Well, look where that experience has gotten us at this point.
Both sides have their own personal agenda that has nothing whatsoever to do with what's best for the common working, contributing people of America. The only things that matter to the extremist is that their particular bullshit ideas are right and the other side is wrong. What in the hell does that have to do with anything real? How does that divisiveness help solve any of the super pressing problems we are now having. We all need to shut off the super partisan political radio and TV shows blabbing on both sides of the isle and start thinking about what's best for americans in the long run.
Then we need to elect people as far away from normal as possible and see if they can come up with completely new, inventive and creative approaches to almost everything we do here in America. Obviously, our time worn ways are completely worn out and no longer work in this new age we find ourselves in and we need huge, real, out of the normal box thinking to move on ahead.
I'll admit that I thought our new president was presenting just those things but alas, he seems so far to be just more of the same. Of course he has only had a few months, so we need to give his policies a fair amount of time before making rash judgements. We are just now starting to show real and positive economic changes, so lets all hope for the best.
The majority of Americans obviously thought the same thing and desired huge changes also. So unless he can make these changes within his time in the spotlight, out he goes and we'll try someone else. Just not anyone in there right now. Their ALL idiots who could care less about us. Their all just fat, spoiled rotten good old boys who love money, power and sex, probably in that order. We obviously are to blame for this. They make far too much money. Have far too many perks and just sit there year after year in their thousand dollar suits and we just keep right on electing them. How stupid have we become?
The serious questions we have to start asking ourselves is this: Is our present system working for the good of the common people of America in this new high tech age we find ourselves in? Should we just keep on keeping on, the way it has been all these years and somehow expect things to change for the better? Is it time for some kind of completely new "out of the box" kinds of thinking and changes?
So, is it time to consider the idea to NOT vote for ANYONE from either party with "incumbent" next to their names from now on?
As usual, I can only ask questions as I have no answers. Come to me with a hair problem and I just might have some real, concrete ideas on how to solve them. As far as real answers to all the world problems, you would be better served to ask a rock.
As I've said over and over......I'm just a Barber.....the best damn Barber in the entire universe but alas, just a Barber. Oh wait....I almost forgot....I also do Brain Surgery, Leach Application and Blood Letting.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Is life Intelligence, luck or just Timing?
My business, my wife's job and our financial lives in general are doing just fine in these interesting times we find ourselves in right now. Having said that I wonder, is this because we are somehow just plain smarter than those who have lost their jobs, homes and possessions lately or is something else involved? If it were pure intelligence, how could it be possible that people with high scholastic degrees are having some of these same problems that average people are having? How could that be? Doesn't high intelligence with Masters and Doctorate degrees exclude those people from making drastic mistakes with their money and means of employment?
Now my wife and I only have our High School diplomas plus some collage courses through the years. I of course went to Barber Collage, which involved about a year and a half full time with a state test at the end. Another test after a couple of years for my journeymen license (which they don't even required anymore) and like magic, I've been working in the hair hacking world for over 40 years now, making decent money to support my wayward and sometimes questionable ways.
Ok, this pretty much establishes that high scholastic degrees and extreme intelligence plainly don't have much to do with how one comes out in the financially competent, fit world, doesn't it? So that leave us with another possibility. Is it some kind of divine luck that only some people seem to have? Does all the super well off people just have luck on their side to get where they are? Are some people just born with luck? I really doubt that idea because we all know or have heard of folks who seem to be lucky their whole lives and then all of a sudden have super bad luck and lose it all or even lose their lives. All the recent celebrities with their dysfunctional lives comes to mind in that department, don't they?
So......that leaves us with Timing. Could it just be a simple matter of timing most of all that makes some peoples lives stand out as successful, rewarding and enjoyable? Could it be something as simple as when one was born into this crazy world? I was born in 1945. Into a much simpler and less complex world. A world where we were taught the value of being careful and cautious with our money. Our parents were products of the great depression and passed those experiences and lessons on to us. We were taught to only buy things we could afford. Credit was a rare thing indeed in those days. If you could not have something by paying cash then you could not have it. Simple as that. If you desired something you couldn't afford, you had to slowly save your money until you could buy it. Stores even had this thing called "Lay-a-way". Where you could keep putting a little money in an account until you could then pay for the item and finally take it home.
So, Timing.....We bought our house over 20 years ago. Back then there were only regular loans. Banks would only give home loans with payments you could afford long term. You had to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that you could afford the amount of payment. Plus over 20 years ago, homes were relatively cheap, especially compared to the recent past when prices were extremely over-inflated. So, for the last 20+ years our payment has been somewhere along the lines of what one might rent a one room shack or dog house for now.
Timing........I have been a Barber now for over 40 years. I started Barbering in 1964. Developing my hair butchering and bullshitting skills over such a long period of time has served me well. I worked at a shop in Sacramento for years, then came up into the foothills, oh so long ago. I actually have dozens of customers who just followed me up and have been loyal all these years. Plus during all these years in my present shop, I've developed an incredible amount of customers. Loyalty seems to be one of the driving forces in any successful business. I have customers who tell me if anything ever happens to me, they'll just have to start shaving their heads as they have no intention of finding and training a new Barber. So my business is so successful because of the large volume of super loyal customers i've acquired, bullshitted and cajoled through all these years, even in these and other questionable times in the past.
So obviously there are several complex reasons and explanations why some people seem to be in a better place in life than others, even in bad economic times. In my experience timing sure seems to be at the top of that list though. It sure seems that folks just recently born, just bought homes in the short term past and were taught to live on credit are having or will have a hell of a lot more negative financial issues than those of us lucky enough to be born long ago.
Whatchathink?
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Come on.......DO IT!
Now my wife and I only have our High School diplomas plus some collage courses through the years. I of course went to Barber Collage, which involved about a year and a half full time with a state test at the end. Another test after a couple of years for my journeymen license (which they don't even required anymore) and like magic, I've been working in the hair hacking world for over 40 years now, making decent money to support my wayward and sometimes questionable ways.
Ok, this pretty much establishes that high scholastic degrees and extreme intelligence plainly don't have much to do with how one comes out in the financially competent, fit world, doesn't it? So that leave us with another possibility. Is it some kind of divine luck that only some people seem to have? Does all the super well off people just have luck on their side to get where they are? Are some people just born with luck? I really doubt that idea because we all know or have heard of folks who seem to be lucky their whole lives and then all of a sudden have super bad luck and lose it all or even lose their lives. All the recent celebrities with their dysfunctional lives comes to mind in that department, don't they?
So......that leaves us with Timing. Could it just be a simple matter of timing most of all that makes some peoples lives stand out as successful, rewarding and enjoyable? Could it be something as simple as when one was born into this crazy world? I was born in 1945. Into a much simpler and less complex world. A world where we were taught the value of being careful and cautious with our money. Our parents were products of the great depression and passed those experiences and lessons on to us. We were taught to only buy things we could afford. Credit was a rare thing indeed in those days. If you could not have something by paying cash then you could not have it. Simple as that. If you desired something you couldn't afford, you had to slowly save your money until you could buy it. Stores even had this thing called "Lay-a-way". Where you could keep putting a little money in an account until you could then pay for the item and finally take it home.
So, Timing.....We bought our house over 20 years ago. Back then there were only regular loans. Banks would only give home loans with payments you could afford long term. You had to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that you could afford the amount of payment. Plus over 20 years ago, homes were relatively cheap, especially compared to the recent past when prices were extremely over-inflated. So, for the last 20+ years our payment has been somewhere along the lines of what one might rent a one room shack or dog house for now.
Timing........I have been a Barber now for over 40 years. I started Barbering in 1964. Developing my hair butchering and bullshitting skills over such a long period of time has served me well. I worked at a shop in Sacramento for years, then came up into the foothills, oh so long ago. I actually have dozens of customers who just followed me up and have been loyal all these years. Plus during all these years in my present shop, I've developed an incredible amount of customers. Loyalty seems to be one of the driving forces in any successful business. I have customers who tell me if anything ever happens to me, they'll just have to start shaving their heads as they have no intention of finding and training a new Barber. So my business is so successful because of the large volume of super loyal customers i've acquired, bullshitted and cajoled through all these years, even in these and other questionable times in the past.
So obviously there are several complex reasons and explanations why some people seem to be in a better place in life than others, even in bad economic times. In my experience timing sure seems to be at the top of that list though. It sure seems that folks just recently born, just bought homes in the short term past and were taught to live on credit are having or will have a hell of a lot more negative financial issues than those of us lucky enough to be born long ago.
Whatchathink?
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Dysfunctional Artists/Geniuses
Isn't it amazing that everyone you know or have heard of who are geniuses with great creative talents are mostly running around with only one oar in the water? The very recent deaths of Michael Jackson and David Carradine of Kung Foo fame brought all this to the forefront for me. Michael Jackson was probably one of the most creative and successful geniuses in the music industry and his realities and baggage turned out to be so overwhelming and insurmountable that it obviously destroyed him in the end. Other crazy music artist names include: Mozart, Schubert, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven. Modern musical geniuses like James Taylor have been relatively public about battling mental illness and drug addiction.
In my hippy days, all my friends and I would show up at whoever had the largest screen television to watch our hero Kung Foo beat the crap out of the bad guys and loudly and with great gusto cheer him on in the process. We would listen to every word his master told him about reality and try to emulate the philosophies we learned into our daily lives. He was just this side of a god for all of us at that time.
He died HOW???
Holy crap, why doesn't reality just pull the rug out from under our feet?
I can go on and on with examples of great people all throughout history who we all looked up to and revered who turned out to be complete nut-cases in reality. Elvis Presley easily comes to mind for most everyone in that category huh? He might as well have been from a different planet toward the end of his career. Who was the great painter who cut his damn ear off for some reason only he understood? Wasn't his name Vincent Van Gogh?
The truth of my life, having been in the music world most of the time in one way or another, is most everyone I know and care about is half crazy. The most interesting, creative, intelligent people I knew and presently know in life and consider friends are all in that category compared with whatever normal means. I would bet the same is true of most of you. That out of all the people you've known, the crazy ones were the most fun to be around.
Even in my shop at the present time, I LOVE and try my hardest to bring out the nuttiness of my sometimes rather staid customers. My biggest thrill is taking some suited self important man and get him laughing right out loud at some stupid, politically incorrect statement I make. I take great pride in knowing I'm probably the only person in his life who gets away with treating him irreverently and outside his normal box. Now here's the wild part. They keep coming back for more, which tells me they like it. If I ask why, they tell me most everyone else treats them with phony respect and that gets tiresome in the long run. Being treated like normal idiots is refreshing as hell for them. So when they come in and I tell them to "Shut the hell up, sit down and wait they're turn". I know they are finally there when they say back "Oh stick it where the sun doesn't shine Paul".
I really don't think I'm stating a new idea here. I'll bet these facts have been studied and well documented by the mental health field for years now. Isn't this the most interesting thing though? All our lives we are taught to "be normal". "Don't stand out". "Watch how you behave and act". "You don't want society to think you're crazy or something is wrong with you".
And yet........and yet........everyone we love to see, hear, revere and appreciate are clearly a bubble off center aren't they? I suppose this gets back to the idea that if we were all exactly alike, what a boring ass world this would be. Then the world would be a world of robots and no one would want that would they?
Ok, my mission specalist is trying to contact me via my Viscal Assimulater.
Opps, did I say that outloud?
Never mind..........
So......who do you remember with a small smile? Your boring friends or your wild ones? You tell me........
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
In my hippy days, all my friends and I would show up at whoever had the largest screen television to watch our hero Kung Foo beat the crap out of the bad guys and loudly and with great gusto cheer him on in the process. We would listen to every word his master told him about reality and try to emulate the philosophies we learned into our daily lives. He was just this side of a god for all of us at that time.
He died HOW???
Holy crap, why doesn't reality just pull the rug out from under our feet?
I can go on and on with examples of great people all throughout history who we all looked up to and revered who turned out to be complete nut-cases in reality. Elvis Presley easily comes to mind for most everyone in that category huh? He might as well have been from a different planet toward the end of his career. Who was the great painter who cut his damn ear off for some reason only he understood? Wasn't his name Vincent Van Gogh?
The truth of my life, having been in the music world most of the time in one way or another, is most everyone I know and care about is half crazy. The most interesting, creative, intelligent people I knew and presently know in life and consider friends are all in that category compared with whatever normal means. I would bet the same is true of most of you. That out of all the people you've known, the crazy ones were the most fun to be around.
Even in my shop at the present time, I LOVE and try my hardest to bring out the nuttiness of my sometimes rather staid customers. My biggest thrill is taking some suited self important man and get him laughing right out loud at some stupid, politically incorrect statement I make. I take great pride in knowing I'm probably the only person in his life who gets away with treating him irreverently and outside his normal box. Now here's the wild part. They keep coming back for more, which tells me they like it. If I ask why, they tell me most everyone else treats them with phony respect and that gets tiresome in the long run. Being treated like normal idiots is refreshing as hell for them. So when they come in and I tell them to "Shut the hell up, sit down and wait they're turn". I know they are finally there when they say back "Oh stick it where the sun doesn't shine Paul".
I really don't think I'm stating a new idea here. I'll bet these facts have been studied and well documented by the mental health field for years now. Isn't this the most interesting thing though? All our lives we are taught to "be normal". "Don't stand out". "Watch how you behave and act". "You don't want society to think you're crazy or something is wrong with you".
And yet........and yet........everyone we love to see, hear, revere and appreciate are clearly a bubble off center aren't they? I suppose this gets back to the idea that if we were all exactly alike, what a boring ass world this would be. Then the world would be a world of robots and no one would want that would they?
Ok, my mission specalist is trying to contact me via my Viscal Assimulater.
Opps, did I say that outloud?
Never mind..........
So......who do you remember with a small smile? Your boring friends or your wild ones? You tell me........
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
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