In the age of economic disaster, I have noticed what appears to be a very competitive rivalry between the sandwich joints. I believe it all started a few years ago with a couple of the burger joints, ya know the 99¢ menu. You could get a 99¢ burger, a 99¢ fry and amazingly enough you could even get a drink for nothing more than an additional 99¢– truly remarkable! Before long all the burger joints had a reduced price menu, even some of the chicken joints were getting in on the action. For me I always wondered what was wrong with the food they were selling for what seemed like less than the cost? It was almost like maybe we were getting day old donuts, you know the ones that are a bit stale but cheap and if you warmed them up there were at least edible. For obvious reasons I never bought into or partook of the 99¢ menu.
As we have progressed through the current economic mayhem the food joints have really stepped up their games. No longer are the GREAT DEALS only at the burger joints, the sandwich shops have watched what the others were doing and seem to have turned it upside down and put a whipping on them. I think it started with the 5 dollar foot long, we were inundated with stupid people singing a stupid song about a stupid foot long submarine sandwich for stupid 5 bucks. It even digressed into what I considered a sexual thing when the women started holding up their hands and smiling devilishly when they sang foot long. I was embarrassed for them. I thought they could not get any stupider when they had the guy who lost a bunch of weight eating nothing but Subway sandwiches but low and behold it did. Maybe it was not so stupid, I am sure they are great marketing ploys that are very well thought out to convince us that a subway sandwich will change our lives for the better – I say bull shit!
Another sub joint is now leading the charge on the sub sandwich advertising attack being perpetrating against us. It started with something called a torpedo I believe and it was only 4 dollars, you heard me right just 4 dollars for a sub sandwich, I could hardly contain my excitement. I did notice that in the commercial they rarely put that sandwich next to anything that we may be able to reference the actual size of the 4 dollar sandwich and I personally believe the hand holding the things belonged to a three year old. While that sandwich was a foot long, I seem to remember but don’t quote me, it was about as big around as a small chair leg, but it only cost 4 bucks. When you think back to the burger joints 99¢ menu, we could get a burger, fries and drink and apple pie for 4 bucks so just how good a deal was it? It did not take long for the war to begin, a say war because it is nothing less than war the way they are advertising at us. Well no sooner did I come to that realization they came out with another sandwich for 3 bucks, no kidding 3 bucks for a the sandwich. I have no idea how big this thing is but I am guessing it equates to about a slice of bread, probably the heel, and one thin slice of meat and about one half a Kraft single slice of cheese.
Just when I thought it could not get any worse one of the chicken joints came up with what they call a five dollar fill-up box. When they show the guy eating one his partner is eating a five dollar foot long. That sub looks terrible, I bet they could not have made that five-dollar sub look worse and personally I believe they leached the color out of it during the editing process. I work in television so I know they can do that. Anyway the colors of the box, the drink and the food in the fill-up box was extraordinarily vibrant in color, it was shameless I tell ya. So in this fill-up box there were 2 pieces of chicken, both looked small, a biscuit which had to be small to fit on the box and one side, it looked like enough cold slaw to fill up 2 normal tablespoons and then a medium drink. Medium drink my ass! There is no such thing as a small drink in these places, it is medium, large and the 44 ounce super size. The size small does not have a nice ring to it so they just up and changed the name of the small drink to medium. Pizza Hut is in the game as well with a variety of 5-dollar lunch fare. The P-zone is touted to weigh a pound, that is just what I wanted, to buy my lunch like I might buy feed corn or a 40-pound bag of dog food.
I have never been a fast food kind of guy anyway and since I have been losing weight that is definitely not on my list of approved food items. Don’t get me wrong, I like to enjoy a sub every now and again but the ones at Publix (our grocery store) are WAY better and while they are not playing games with cost, which reduces the amount of food on the sandwich, they make a fabulous sandwich for a fair price.
Please folks DO NOT let them suck you with the absurd advertisements.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Life after 2 weeks with child – my Niece has been with us that long.
Well Bride and I had our first child, she was 22 when we birthed her, my Niece has been in Florida for two whole weeks now. We went for a walk last night and she has only been homesick twice. The first was when we were still in Ohio, at lunch with my Dad, the other was once she was here. She went to a Starbuck here and had phone coffee with a friend, who was in Ohio I think. She is so sweet, she left me a note yesterday morning that almost made me cry. Paraphrased she said she looked around at her surroundings and realized she was home and that it was a good feeling. She went on to thank us for everything we were doing to help her get a new start in Florida. She has gotten a job already, Gator’s Dockside no less, which are the BEST wings in town – in my humble opinion. I am looking forward to a long term, potentially permanent career for her at Gators, that is for selfish reasons on my part because I LOVE the wings there. She worked at BW3’s in Ohio and has an opportunity there as well but she wanted to try something else. Bride and her have contacted the University of Toledo and Owens Mills colleges to get the transcripts sent to FCCJ. She is going to pursue a career as a surgical technician and they have a program for that at the north compass.
We have not done a lot of things since she has been here but we are on mission to get her picture in front of the signs for all seven bridges that cross the St. Johns river here in Jacksonville. At first thought, I said no problem but once we started out on our quest I soon realized the potential for danger on this quest. Our first sign was the Matthews bridge, there is a big concrete obelisk at the foot of the bridge on each side with a gigantic Bronze plaque with the name and some other historical details. Little did I know that in 1949 when the bridge was built Fuller Warren was the governor, that is only relevant if you live here and know that one of the seven bridges is the “Fuller Warren”. We decided to catch the one on the east side going towards downtown. We had to park along the expressway and walk all the way up to the sign, that scared the shit out of me. So there we were, only a few feet away from cars whizzing by at freaking 60 miles an hour with nothing but a small guardrail protecting us from certain death. HOLY COW - that scared me to death. So of course I put on a macho face and pretended it was no big deal, I damn near had to turn around and go home to change my shorts but I was not going to let her know. Well the only other ones we got that day were the Buckman and the Main Street, which is actually called the John T, Alsop Jr. Bridge. I have been here 20 years and did not know that. Folks I am telling you as scary as the Matthews was the Buckman was brutal.
I am not sure how parents can raise a child from the tricycle motor size up through the terrible two’s and into adolescence all the way to young adulthood. I recognize how lucky I am to have missed those younger years of parenthood. Bride and I do not have kids, that is a story for another day and for some reason kids scare me, little ones and big ones and all areas in between. I do not even know why, the only thing I could come up with there must be something from deep in my childhood that has put me off to kids. Starting out at 22 years old does not seem quite as hard, no diapers that I know of and I will always have an out – she is actually my sisters daughter. She has one tattoo, Pink Floyd on the inside of her lip, that is also her vanity license plate from Ohio. She has a great number of piercings, wait they are not like some that are hideous. Two tasteful little diamonds, one in her nose and one above her upper lip, they look cool to me. She then has a great number in her ears and one in the middle of the back of her neck. She does recognize that eventually they will have to come out, she said she still has a few more years as a kid before she starts her career – very smart this one, which reminds me how lucky I am in my new parenting role.
Since Bride and I have been in Florida we have enjoyed a 1000 mile buffer as we like to call it. My family is up north in Ohio, Brides family is out in Austin Texas. We stayed here after I got out of the US Navy and that is how it worked out, no snow so we stayed. There are many pro’s and many con’s to that buffer, to many in fact to go into in this oratory but anyway. Since we enjoyed that buffer one con was that we never really got to know any of our nieces and nephews as they got older, we have nearly 20 of them between us and we will have to reconcile that somehow.
We went to the beach this morning and watched the sunrise together, from pitch black to the sun actually breaking the horizon, which is something she had not done before. We both enjoyed it and have already made plans to do it again on Sunday morning. Anyway, I am really looking forward to getting to know my Niece as an adult and so far, I really like her, she is smart, funny and a terminal smart ass and that has forced me to step up my game – we have been getting along famously.
I love ya O Niece O mine
We have not done a lot of things since she has been here but we are on mission to get her picture in front of the signs for all seven bridges that cross the St. Johns river here in Jacksonville. At first thought, I said no problem but once we started out on our quest I soon realized the potential for danger on this quest. Our first sign was the Matthews bridge, there is a big concrete obelisk at the foot of the bridge on each side with a gigantic Bronze plaque with the name and some other historical details. Little did I know that in 1949 when the bridge was built Fuller Warren was the governor, that is only relevant if you live here and know that one of the seven bridges is the “Fuller Warren”. We decided to catch the one on the east side going towards downtown. We had to park along the expressway and walk all the way up to the sign, that scared the shit out of me. So there we were, only a few feet away from cars whizzing by at freaking 60 miles an hour with nothing but a small guardrail protecting us from certain death. HOLY COW - that scared me to death. So of course I put on a macho face and pretended it was no big deal, I damn near had to turn around and go home to change my shorts but I was not going to let her know. Well the only other ones we got that day were the Buckman and the Main Street, which is actually called the John T, Alsop Jr. Bridge. I have been here 20 years and did not know that. Folks I am telling you as scary as the Matthews was the Buckman was brutal.
I am not sure how parents can raise a child from the tricycle motor size up through the terrible two’s and into adolescence all the way to young adulthood. I recognize how lucky I am to have missed those younger years of parenthood. Bride and I do not have kids, that is a story for another day and for some reason kids scare me, little ones and big ones and all areas in between. I do not even know why, the only thing I could come up with there must be something from deep in my childhood that has put me off to kids. Starting out at 22 years old does not seem quite as hard, no diapers that I know of and I will always have an out – she is actually my sisters daughter. She has one tattoo, Pink Floyd on the inside of her lip, that is also her vanity license plate from Ohio. She has a great number of piercings, wait they are not like some that are hideous. Two tasteful little diamonds, one in her nose and one above her upper lip, they look cool to me. She then has a great number in her ears and one in the middle of the back of her neck. She does recognize that eventually they will have to come out, she said she still has a few more years as a kid before she starts her career – very smart this one, which reminds me how lucky I am in my new parenting role.
Since Bride and I have been in Florida we have enjoyed a 1000 mile buffer as we like to call it. My family is up north in Ohio, Brides family is out in Austin Texas. We stayed here after I got out of the US Navy and that is how it worked out, no snow so we stayed. There are many pro’s and many con’s to that buffer, to many in fact to go into in this oratory but anyway. Since we enjoyed that buffer one con was that we never really got to know any of our nieces and nephews as they got older, we have nearly 20 of them between us and we will have to reconcile that somehow.
We went to the beach this morning and watched the sunrise together, from pitch black to the sun actually breaking the horizon, which is something she had not done before. We both enjoyed it and have already made plans to do it again on Sunday morning. Anyway, I am really looking forward to getting to know my Niece as an adult and so far, I really like her, she is smart, funny and a terminal smart ass and that has forced me to step up my game – we have been getting along famously.
I love ya O Niece O mine
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Waffle House is the best!!!!
Bride and I enjoy going to the Waffle House restaurants for breakfast. In my humble opinion a breakfast from Waffle House is the absolute best greasy breakfast food and the waffles are the greatest thing ever, when I say best I mean tasting not necessarily good for ya. We have been going to the Waffle House for years, when on the road no matter the time of day we stop and I get a bacon egg and cheese sandwich on dry white toast with some scattered hash browns and a glass of milk – yummy! It all began on Labor Day 1955 when an icon was born, the very first Waffle House restaurant opened its doors for business in Avondale Estates, which is right outside Atlanta. There were no plans to open a second restaurant but the first one established the Waffle House tradition of providing the friendliest service in town, a tradition that continues through today. When you enter any Waffle House at least one of the employees will say hello and most likely welcome to Waffle House what other greasy spoon does that – EVERY TIME you come in to eat. The original “House” was accompanied by #2 in 1957 and by 1961 there were 4. In 2006 there were 1500 of the nearly identical little restaurants and that was also the year that they started accepting credit cards, at least in the company owned stores - before that Waffle House had been a cash only business.
Bride and I enjoy people watching, and going to Waffle House to people watch is one of the best places in the world, especially the Waffle House by the Jacksonville Airport. That Waffle House is surrounded by country and the people who live there so there is that traffic, it also receives traffic from the airport as well as the travelers who are going north bound or south bound on I95. I am not sure what category people put bride and I in when they are people watching us when we go there, does not really matter I guess. Anyway it is a great place to people watch. I also enjoy listening to the jukeboxes in Waffle Houses, weird huh? Did you know that lots of musicians record music that is only released and played in Waffle Houses? In 1984, "Waffle House Family, Part 1" debuted on Waffle House jukeboxes across the country. This first Waffle House song began a concept as unique as "scattered, smothered and covered" hash browns and as fresh as a cup of Waffle House Classic Blend coffee. More original Waffle House songs followed, encompassing a vast array of themes and musical styles. It went so far that in 2000 Hootie and the Blowfish released a CD "Scattered, Smothered & Covered" and pictured a Waffle House restaurant on the cover. In case you do not know scattered, smothered and covered hash browns are shredded potato’s with onions and cheese respectively. I think a breakfast joint has reached the pinnacle of success when someone names an album after their fried potato’s.
Bride and I enjoy people watching, and going to Waffle House to people watch is one of the best places in the world, especially the Waffle House by the Jacksonville Airport. That Waffle House is surrounded by country and the people who live there so there is that traffic, it also receives traffic from the airport as well as the travelers who are going north bound or south bound on I95. I am not sure what category people put bride and I in when they are people watching us when we go there, does not really matter I guess. Anyway it is a great place to people watch. I also enjoy listening to the jukeboxes in Waffle Houses, weird huh? Did you know that lots of musicians record music that is only released and played in Waffle Houses? In 1984, "Waffle House Family, Part 1" debuted on Waffle House jukeboxes across the country. This first Waffle House song began a concept as unique as "scattered, smothered and covered" hash browns and as fresh as a cup of Waffle House Classic Blend coffee. More original Waffle House songs followed, encompassing a vast array of themes and musical styles. It went so far that in 2000 Hootie and the Blowfish released a CD "Scattered, Smothered & Covered" and pictured a Waffle House restaurant on the cover. In case you do not know scattered, smothered and covered hash browns are shredded potato’s with onions and cheese respectively. I think a breakfast joint has reached the pinnacle of success when someone names an album after their fried potato’s.
So recently I made a trip to Ohio and me and my niece drove back to Florida, of course we stopped two times in two days at two Waffle House’s. The first one was on Eastern By-Pass in Richmond Kentucky, we were the only two in there other than the cook and a trainee. I think this is the first time in my life I went into a Waffle House and had the joint to myself, other than my accompaniment. Since I have been frequenting the “House” for so long I thought I knew a thing or two about the process – boy was I wrong. I could tell right away that the kid was new, he was not standing in the designated position when he called out our order. He also did not have the lingo down yet. I sat quietly awaiting the tirade I knew was coming but it never did, I was stunned. My experience has been that the wait person better stand in the right place and had damn sure better bark that order out in the correct sequence and use the approved Waffle House lingo. Well I suspect that this guy was really new and the cook was cutting him some slack. After eating our server was off in the back performing some other tasks and I asked the cook how new he was, just started she said and then asked how did you know. I told her I knew a bit about the process and I felt like we had a moment, as much as you could have a moment in a Waffle House.
She pointed out to me the two different colored tiles in the field of tiles that were all the same color behind the counter. I knew they had to stand off to either side of the grill but was unaware of the very specific, and well marked, place they were to be when barking the order. I then asked why is that? She went on to show me exactly why, she simulated an order and she, the cook, has to go back and forth between the fridge for bacon on the right side of the grill and the waffle machines on the left side of the grill. If by chance the person who was barking the order was inside the perimeter the cook would be stumbling over them and that would slow the process down. I then began to ponder other Waffle House’s I have been in and I realize the cook part of the place is identical between all Waffle Houses, no kidding next time you are in one check it out. I am not sure how long they train to get proficient, the cooks I am talking about, because they are the true maestro’s of the operation. To be able to remember what folks called out and get the plates organized in the right way so the food comes right to the right people is a truly amazing talent that takes years to hone, I suspect anyway.
Some little known and less cared about factoids about Waffle House. When they were challenged to a test they were able to devise and document at least 70,778,880 different ways to prepare its USDA choice hamburgers, who has that kind of time? They have served an amazing 442,451,500 waffles (and counting!) since 1955, that is a half a billion damn waffles – that is CRAZY! They also serve more than 95 million cups of coffee each year. They have served over one billion orders of hash browns, and another billion orders of grits, yes those are billion with a B – WHO KNEW. I was able to find endless factoids that amazed me and some cases startled me and in others flat out scared me, like the number of eggs served was too scary to even put down here. Waffle House’s mission is to deliver a unique experience to our customers through delivering great food, friendly, attentive service, excellent price and a welcoming presence. I can buy into all of it except at some of the ones I have frequented the welcoming presence was questionable. That does not really bother me though because they do all the other things so well.
I love Waffle House breakfast food!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Flying – What has it come to in the day of discount Airlines?
So there I was minding my own business and the next thing I knew I was receiving an itinerary for a flight to Ohio. With my niece moving to Florida we were on again off again on whether I would fly up and drive down with her. The initial plans had her renting a U-haul truck with the trailer for towing her Honda behind it and we would be driving that over the 900+ miles, what fun I thought. Don’t get me wrong I was very excited about my niece coming to live with us but as anyone knows a quick flight and driving a U-haul with a trailer over 900 miles through the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee is not really a vacation but more like a job, one you do not like. So my niece traded her old Honda in and got a Scion TC that was only a year or two old so that started to change the plan. There were a number of iterations of the plan, or lack of plan I called it, in the months leading up to the big move. In the final week the plans were getting nearly finalized, my niece was just going to pack all she could in her new car and just drive it down. After talking to her she indicated that she would just drive until she was tired and then stop at a rest area and sleep, obviously I made her promise me that she would not do that and she would get a hotel when she stopped, which she promised me she would do. I felt better about that part anyway.
With only a few days before she was to depart I was not flying, no flight and no 15 hour drive in a Scion TC (a small car for an old fat man) and I was thinking that is OK with me. The plan had changed so many times that I told my niece and sister that no plan was fine with me, until it started to interfere with my plans. Well after a last minute conversation with my Sister, it was decided I would fly up and drive back with her. My Sister jumped on Expedia.com and asked what time I would prefer to fly, I indicated the earlier the better. She pecks on the keyboard for a few minutes and then asks, how about 7:50 with an arrival of 11:47 to which I respond that would be great, it would give me a day to see my Dad and hang out before we left first thing in the morning. It was only 121 bucks - what a bargain. Bride and I walk every morning and on Monday morning she asks me what time do you leave, and when I got back to the house I pulled up the itinerary and realized that I was in fact leaving at 7:50 PM and arriving at almost midnight in Dayton. I called my Sister and thanked her for that, I hate flying on the last flight of the day because there is no room for error and there are always errors. I realized that Air Tran charges for each bag you check and I HATE to carry bags onto the plane, other than my I-Pod and a composition book so I can write in. I FedEx’d a box to Ohio with my stuff, I thought if I have to pay anyway I might as well use someone who would not lose my stuff.
I get a ride to the airport on Wednesday night for my 7:50PM flight and when I start to check in the attendant tells me that the flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta was delayed by 1 hour. He then indicated that while they could get me to Atlanta my flight to Dayton would have left by the time I got there, great I thought. I tell him I would rather not sleep in the Atlanta airport and ask him to get me on the red eye in the morning, which luckily there were three seats left on. I let out a sigh of relief, there were like 20-30 people behind me, all getting screwed because they picked that cheap flight, cheap because it was the last one of the day. My flight would be leaving at 6:20am so they told me I needed to be there 2 hours ahead, 4:20 AM – holy cow I would be getting up early. I ask him if he could at least get me my boarding passes now so I do not have to do that in the morning, he was great and printed them up for me, even though they had not even assigned a gate number yet. I thought OK that should allow me to get there closer to 5:20 instead. So I call my ride and go back home.
I am up at 4am and off we go, I arrive at the airport at 5:15 and HOLY COW there are thousands of people, little did I know that every single airline has a red eye to multiple places each weekday. I immediately got nervous and proceeded directly to the TSA screen area. I instantaneously realize I am in trouble as I become cattle and traverse the little roped off lanes that go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and back and forth again. When I finally arrive at the front of the switchbacks someone scrutinizes my ID and boarding pass with more of a jaundiced eye than was required for me to get a top secret security clearance when I was in the military. I dared not say a word because Lord knows you can’t joke about ANYTHING while standing in that line for fear of being hauled off to camp X-Ray in Guantanamo bay Cuba. Well I assume they have some facial recognition software being fed a high definition video feed because it picked me, I can only assume my face was screaming nervous (about making my flight) pissed off (that I was not able to get a coffee this morning) and probably a general malaise about flying anyway. Of course, I was pulled aside for some additional scrutiny – grand I thought. I will not go into the details of that indignity but trust me when I tell you folks keep a freaking smile on your face while going through that line!
I arrive at the gate as they are shouting out last call for boarding my flight, I get on the plane, on my way down the little movable square tube that goes down to the plan I was praying they did not give my seat to someone else. The plane was completely full, with the exception of seat 10C – hot diggity I thought. Off we went to Atlanta, I listened to my I-pod and slept for 47 minute flight. In Atlanta I came in on concourse B and was departing on D and had about 23 minutes to get there. I walk at a good clip and catch the tram to D concourse and when I get to the gate they are barking out last call to get on this plane as well, again the plane was FULL, except for seat 10B – I thought, I am free at last, free at last. The flight to Dayton was uneventful and I wrote on that leg of the flight. When I get off the plane I call my Sister, straight to voicemail, one more time, straight to voicemail again. I thought damn, I am going to be stuck because when I talked to her last night her, my brother in-law and niece would all be making the trip. I call my niece and wake her up, I really get nervous now and immediately call my brother in-law, I know he will be there and he was. Away we went to Urbana, we picked up my Sister and niece and then went to my Dad’s to get him before we went to lunch. After lunch we immediately get on the road, I wanted to make it to Atlanta before we stop today. We stayed with some friends in Atlanta, thanks again for that and then on Friday we were home by noon. Quite a trip really and in the end it all worked out and that is really how you have to judge an ordeal like that. I am somewhat anal and develop plans when traveling so the complete lack of and constantly changing plans were challenging for me to understand but it did not really interfere with anything so it was great.
If for some reason you ever get me a plane ticket, I like to fly in the AM and not the last flight in the PM
With only a few days before she was to depart I was not flying, no flight and no 15 hour drive in a Scion TC (a small car for an old fat man) and I was thinking that is OK with me. The plan had changed so many times that I told my niece and sister that no plan was fine with me, until it started to interfere with my plans. Well after a last minute conversation with my Sister, it was decided I would fly up and drive back with her. My Sister jumped on Expedia.com and asked what time I would prefer to fly, I indicated the earlier the better. She pecks on the keyboard for a few minutes and then asks, how about 7:50 with an arrival of 11:47 to which I respond that would be great, it would give me a day to see my Dad and hang out before we left first thing in the morning. It was only 121 bucks - what a bargain. Bride and I walk every morning and on Monday morning she asks me what time do you leave, and when I got back to the house I pulled up the itinerary and realized that I was in fact leaving at 7:50 PM and arriving at almost midnight in Dayton. I called my Sister and thanked her for that, I hate flying on the last flight of the day because there is no room for error and there are always errors. I realized that Air Tran charges for each bag you check and I HATE to carry bags onto the plane, other than my I-Pod and a composition book so I can write in. I FedEx’d a box to Ohio with my stuff, I thought if I have to pay anyway I might as well use someone who would not lose my stuff.
I get a ride to the airport on Wednesday night for my 7:50PM flight and when I start to check in the attendant tells me that the flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta was delayed by 1 hour. He then indicated that while they could get me to Atlanta my flight to Dayton would have left by the time I got there, great I thought. I tell him I would rather not sleep in the Atlanta airport and ask him to get me on the red eye in the morning, which luckily there were three seats left on. I let out a sigh of relief, there were like 20-30 people behind me, all getting screwed because they picked that cheap flight, cheap because it was the last one of the day. My flight would be leaving at 6:20am so they told me I needed to be there 2 hours ahead, 4:20 AM – holy cow I would be getting up early. I ask him if he could at least get me my boarding passes now so I do not have to do that in the morning, he was great and printed them up for me, even though they had not even assigned a gate number yet. I thought OK that should allow me to get there closer to 5:20 instead. So I call my ride and go back home.
I am up at 4am and off we go, I arrive at the airport at 5:15 and HOLY COW there are thousands of people, little did I know that every single airline has a red eye to multiple places each weekday. I immediately got nervous and proceeded directly to the TSA screen area. I instantaneously realize I am in trouble as I become cattle and traverse the little roped off lanes that go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and back and forth again. When I finally arrive at the front of the switchbacks someone scrutinizes my ID and boarding pass with more of a jaundiced eye than was required for me to get a top secret security clearance when I was in the military. I dared not say a word because Lord knows you can’t joke about ANYTHING while standing in that line for fear of being hauled off to camp X-Ray in Guantanamo bay Cuba. Well I assume they have some facial recognition software being fed a high definition video feed because it picked me, I can only assume my face was screaming nervous (about making my flight) pissed off (that I was not able to get a coffee this morning) and probably a general malaise about flying anyway. Of course, I was pulled aside for some additional scrutiny – grand I thought. I will not go into the details of that indignity but trust me when I tell you folks keep a freaking smile on your face while going through that line!
I arrive at the gate as they are shouting out last call for boarding my flight, I get on the plane, on my way down the little movable square tube that goes down to the plan I was praying they did not give my seat to someone else. The plane was completely full, with the exception of seat 10C – hot diggity I thought. Off we went to Atlanta, I listened to my I-pod and slept for 47 minute flight. In Atlanta I came in on concourse B and was departing on D and had about 23 minutes to get there. I walk at a good clip and catch the tram to D concourse and when I get to the gate they are barking out last call to get on this plane as well, again the plane was FULL, except for seat 10B – I thought, I am free at last, free at last. The flight to Dayton was uneventful and I wrote on that leg of the flight. When I get off the plane I call my Sister, straight to voicemail, one more time, straight to voicemail again. I thought damn, I am going to be stuck because when I talked to her last night her, my brother in-law and niece would all be making the trip. I call my niece and wake her up, I really get nervous now and immediately call my brother in-law, I know he will be there and he was. Away we went to Urbana, we picked up my Sister and niece and then went to my Dad’s to get him before we went to lunch. After lunch we immediately get on the road, I wanted to make it to Atlanta before we stop today. We stayed with some friends in Atlanta, thanks again for that and then on Friday we were home by noon. Quite a trip really and in the end it all worked out and that is really how you have to judge an ordeal like that. I am somewhat anal and develop plans when traveling so the complete lack of and constantly changing plans were challenging for me to understand but it did not really interfere with anything so it was great.
If for some reason you ever get me a plane ticket, I like to fly in the AM and not the last flight in the PM
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Dysfunctional relationships with your siblings?
In my family there are four of us kids and from my perspective we are as different as North, South, East and West. My Mom, in some bizarre way I think, acted kind of like the planet with the magnetic poles that imprinted and determined what North, South, East and West actually were. She was able to imprint us using a unique blend of parenting skills, I am not saying it was good, I am not saying it was bad but I cannot deny the imprint that I received, I can see her distinct imprint on my siblings as well. We even lead our lives in a way that mirrors the north, south, east and west. I have a brother that lives 1219 miles to the north by north west, my sister lives 885 miles north west and my other brother lives 613 miles to the north. From my location I would not even go by one of their locations on my way to one of the others, unless I went out of my way.
Each of us siblings are about 3 years apart in age but a lot further than that when talking about what kind of people we are. The only thing in common for us is my mother, which leads me to believe it was not her fault that we ended up like we did, although I am sure each of us like to think it is sometimes. If it were solely her influence wouldn’t reason dictate that we would have been at least similar? We each had Mom at different times in her life, and she developed over time just like all of us do. My sister for example lived with Mom until she remarried and then at age 14 my sister moved in with my Dad, once she finished that school year she moved back into Mom’s new life and it took her less than two years before she struck out on her own, child on the way. As for me I made it until I was 13 at which time I moved away to live with my Dad, the rifle he got me at Christmas precipitated that move which is a story for another day. One of my brother’s stayed at home for 18 years and my other brother, who was five when our families merged, left around 15 or maybe it was 16 to live with his grandparents after the death of Mom’s second husband.
So why could it not be her fault, when it seems like it might be related. If you have four of the exact cultures in Petri dishes and you change, or add something to the environment they inhabit the experiment could, and most likely would produce 4 distinct outcomes. Bear with me a moment, think of Mom as the Petri dish, us kids as the cultures and the change in environment as the additional ingredients that were added to the experiment. Mom and the kids are the constants and the environment is the thing under test. So what was so different about our environment, what were the extra ingredients that were added? My sister and I had the young Mom, married to our Dad when she was the optimist, the cheerful Mom that was kind and positive, although understanding how challenging our lives actually were I am not sure why she like that, our family struggled financially after my Dad left. My brothers on the other hand had a different Mom, I am not sure why she changed but she did I suspect it had something to do with the worries of financial woes were gone. They had Mom when she was married to my youngest brothers father, her second husband. Life was different for Mom then, and it was a vastly different life for them than that of me and my sister. The constant financial pressure was gone and that meant vastly different standards of living between us four kids growing up. They also grew up in a medium sized city in Ohio and then moved to Pittsburgh a year or so after I left. Life, and the experiences a kid can have are vastly different in the country when compared to city life.
In some ways I am sad about the way our family ended up, in others I am not. When Mom died we could not even agree on how or when to get together as a group to mourn her passing, and we did not and probably will not. That is probably as much my fault as anyone else’s, oddly though I feel unapologetic about it and decided not to be sad about that. Mom had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for some time so her death had not been a surprise to us, I had not waited until she passed to attempt to make my peace, with her and with the brutal disease that took her. I grew up to be a very independent person who does need validation from anyone so how I mourned her passing was mine alone to deal with and I did not think that getting the four corners of the earth together would help me or them individually deal with Mom’s passing. It is a long story but the whole ordeal was and still is actually quite funny for me, I know, not words one would normally associate with the passing of a parent but it is what it is. I do not hope and am not going to pursue making things better or even different between us siblings, like I said I don’t need validation and I am VERY content with the way my life turned out, hell I consider myself the luckiest man alive. Having or not having a relationship with my siblings will have little impact on my life, my only hope is that someday they could be as content with their lives as I am with mine, hell they might be and I just don’t know it.
So is your family that dysfunctional?
Each of us siblings are about 3 years apart in age but a lot further than that when talking about what kind of people we are. The only thing in common for us is my mother, which leads me to believe it was not her fault that we ended up like we did, although I am sure each of us like to think it is sometimes. If it were solely her influence wouldn’t reason dictate that we would have been at least similar? We each had Mom at different times in her life, and she developed over time just like all of us do. My sister for example lived with Mom until she remarried and then at age 14 my sister moved in with my Dad, once she finished that school year she moved back into Mom’s new life and it took her less than two years before she struck out on her own, child on the way. As for me I made it until I was 13 at which time I moved away to live with my Dad, the rifle he got me at Christmas precipitated that move which is a story for another day. One of my brother’s stayed at home for 18 years and my other brother, who was five when our families merged, left around 15 or maybe it was 16 to live with his grandparents after the death of Mom’s second husband.
So why could it not be her fault, when it seems like it might be related. If you have four of the exact cultures in Petri dishes and you change, or add something to the environment they inhabit the experiment could, and most likely would produce 4 distinct outcomes. Bear with me a moment, think of Mom as the Petri dish, us kids as the cultures and the change in environment as the additional ingredients that were added to the experiment. Mom and the kids are the constants and the environment is the thing under test. So what was so different about our environment, what were the extra ingredients that were added? My sister and I had the young Mom, married to our Dad when she was the optimist, the cheerful Mom that was kind and positive, although understanding how challenging our lives actually were I am not sure why she like that, our family struggled financially after my Dad left. My brothers on the other hand had a different Mom, I am not sure why she changed but she did I suspect it had something to do with the worries of financial woes were gone. They had Mom when she was married to my youngest brothers father, her second husband. Life was different for Mom then, and it was a vastly different life for them than that of me and my sister. The constant financial pressure was gone and that meant vastly different standards of living between us four kids growing up. They also grew up in a medium sized city in Ohio and then moved to Pittsburgh a year or so after I left. Life, and the experiences a kid can have are vastly different in the country when compared to city life.
In some ways I am sad about the way our family ended up, in others I am not. When Mom died we could not even agree on how or when to get together as a group to mourn her passing, and we did not and probably will not. That is probably as much my fault as anyone else’s, oddly though I feel unapologetic about it and decided not to be sad about that. Mom had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for some time so her death had not been a surprise to us, I had not waited until she passed to attempt to make my peace, with her and with the brutal disease that took her. I grew up to be a very independent person who does need validation from anyone so how I mourned her passing was mine alone to deal with and I did not think that getting the four corners of the earth together would help me or them individually deal with Mom’s passing. It is a long story but the whole ordeal was and still is actually quite funny for me, I know, not words one would normally associate with the passing of a parent but it is what it is. I do not hope and am not going to pursue making things better or even different between us siblings, like I said I don’t need validation and I am VERY content with the way my life turned out, hell I consider myself the luckiest man alive. Having or not having a relationship with my siblings will have little impact on my life, my only hope is that someday they could be as content with their lives as I am with mine, hell they might be and I just don’t know it.
So is your family that dysfunctional?
Monday, July 6, 2009
The next time you think your life is hard, pull this picture up and ponder for just a moment!
So there I was minding my own business and a friend of mine sent me this picture, there was evidently a question about how to asses property tax on this, home, errrr Bus, errrr, mobile home.
When I saw it the first thing that came to my mind was, I am glad I do not live there! So I am not sure if it is actually a residence, it could be a work shop, a shed for yard tools or have some other unknown purpose. I am not sure if there is electricity in there or not, could be an underground service feeding it that we cannot see. It appears that the tires are still holding air so it could be considered a mobile home but, the blocks sitting on the ground holding the door shut could indicate that it is anchored down. All mobile homes are required to be anchored to protect them when the tornado comes to destroy them. I am not sure about this geographical location but I seem to remember a rule in Florida that if you have a vehicle on your property it has to be tagged and to be tagged it must be insured. I am betting that this camper has neither.
Most of us are pretty lucky, I cannot imagine living in there, I suppose if the circumstances forced me to I would but I do not think I would like it. It does appear that some level of engineering knowledge was necessary to complete the transformation from short bus to……… we’ll call it a mobile home I think. I am not sure but it appears to be a vintage from the mid sixties, not sure when it landed this premo spot though. Seems to be sitting on a nice piece of property, wooded lot with wild flowers growing right there in the front yard, everything seems so green and lush. If I were guessing, and I am, it appears to be sitting on the banks of a small stream, babbling brook if you will. How pleasant, don’t they always say location, location, location, well it seems all this guy did was listen and pick what appears to be a fabulous location. I am not sure if the Volkswagen in the background is another, much smaller, abode or perhaps the primary or secondary means of transportation. It appears to be a pretty red with a black top while the mobile home is more of a faded white and red with a quite complex faux painted surface that is close to the color of moss or mold green.
It also appears that the green cooler was set and ready for any situation that may require something to be kept cold, with the simple addition of ice. As I gaze a bit closer at the picture I believe I can see the marks from the windshield wipers. Imagine having windows in your house that had a wiper on them, that would be an expensive upgrade I assure you. What better way to survey your surroundings during a storm than to have, built right in, a set of window wipers. How cool is that! I think the only thing missing, and I am not positive with only this one perspective, is the window air conditioner. Friends we need to each say a blessing, we do not live here and if you do live here at least you have something to keep the rain off your head.
We are indeed a lucky lot.
When I saw it the first thing that came to my mind was, I am glad I do not live there! So I am not sure if it is actually a residence, it could be a work shop, a shed for yard tools or have some other unknown purpose. I am not sure if there is electricity in there or not, could be an underground service feeding it that we cannot see. It appears that the tires are still holding air so it could be considered a mobile home but, the blocks sitting on the ground holding the door shut could indicate that it is anchored down. All mobile homes are required to be anchored to protect them when the tornado comes to destroy them. I am not sure about this geographical location but I seem to remember a rule in Florida that if you have a vehicle on your property it has to be tagged and to be tagged it must be insured. I am betting that this camper has neither.
Most of us are pretty lucky, I cannot imagine living in there, I suppose if the circumstances forced me to I would but I do not think I would like it. It does appear that some level of engineering knowledge was necessary to complete the transformation from short bus to……… we’ll call it a mobile home I think. I am not sure but it appears to be a vintage from the mid sixties, not sure when it landed this premo spot though. Seems to be sitting on a nice piece of property, wooded lot with wild flowers growing right there in the front yard, everything seems so green and lush. If I were guessing, and I am, it appears to be sitting on the banks of a small stream, babbling brook if you will. How pleasant, don’t they always say location, location, location, well it seems all this guy did was listen and pick what appears to be a fabulous location. I am not sure if the Volkswagen in the background is another, much smaller, abode or perhaps the primary or secondary means of transportation. It appears to be a pretty red with a black top while the mobile home is more of a faded white and red with a quite complex faux painted surface that is close to the color of moss or mold green.
It also appears that the green cooler was set and ready for any situation that may require something to be kept cold, with the simple addition of ice. As I gaze a bit closer at the picture I believe I can see the marks from the windshield wipers. Imagine having windows in your house that had a wiper on them, that would be an expensive upgrade I assure you. What better way to survey your surroundings during a storm than to have, built right in, a set of window wipers. How cool is that! I think the only thing missing, and I am not positive with only this one perspective, is the window air conditioner. Friends we need to each say a blessing, we do not live here and if you do live here at least you have something to keep the rain off your head.
We are indeed a lucky lot.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
As I reflect on what July 4th means to me as an American I sometimes just wonder – what does it all mean?
As I reflect on what July 4th means to me as an American I sometimes just wonder – what does it all mean?
July 4th, 1776, the day we declared independence from Britain, this was not the day we became America, it was more like the 2 week notice you give your employer describing your intentions before leaving. We said we have had enough of the tyranny and are going to do something about it. It was only after 5 years of fighting the revolutionary war and 2 more years of politicing that the war of Independence was actually won, in fact we took our independence. We knew before July 4th 1776 that the relationship between us lowly Colonies and the British empire was going to cross paths, in a bad way. That is why in June of 1775 we upstarts were seeking to coordinate our military efforts. That is why the Continental Congress established, on paper, a regular army and appointed George Washington as Commander-in-Chief. After 5 years of war General George Washington forced General Cornwallis (the supreme commander of the British Army) to surrender the Second British Army in Yorktown Virginia. After whooping their butts it took two more years to draw up the Treaty of Paris that was signed on September 3rd 1783 that recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and as far west as the Mississippi river. Even though the document was not ratified by the Congress of the Confederation until January 14th 1784 and the King of Britain until April 9th of 1784 with the exchange of documents on May 12th the common date for the end of the war is 1783.
So us Colonists were weary of what we thought were unfair taxes, like the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 taxing paper and sugar. So pissed off were we Colonist’s that we formed a Stamp Act Congress and made a formal statement of protest. The Stamp Act was done away with the following year but the damage (from a British perspective) was done. The American people had been able to voice their concerns to the Monarchy and were able to get a tax repealed. Another troublesome tax was the Tea Act, which told Americans that they could buy tea from only one company, the British East India Company. The result of this unfair tax was the well known Boston Tea Party, in which members of the Sons of Libery, disguised as Native Americans, dumped 342 whole crates of British tea into Boston harbor on December 16, 1773. The British actually enacted the Boston Port Act thereby closing the port of Boston until the price of the dumped tea was recovered. The fighting really began almost without warning, the next thing we knew Paul Revere was on his famous ride to let the people of Lexington and Concord know that the British were coming.
So if we fast forward to present day, we seem to be more about the day off but really do not know a lot or understand the reasons we waged that war, most are happy to believe that it was taxation without representation but that was only part of the repressive nature of the British Empire. That is OK though, we Americans are pretty much an arrogant lot and we, by and large, think we have a great entitlement just being born here. We are lucky to have been born here that is for sure but if we do not understand what being American really means we will continue to follow the course of most of the dominate empires throughout history. They have honorable and deeply held beliefs in the beginning, the growth of the empire over time moves them into a badass state in which they just feel absolutely invincible as a nation. When they reach the apex of power, they get cocky and start doing things for the wrong reasons, most of the passion that got revolution going in the first place is gone. From there it is a steady decline in power and stature, mainly because of arrogance of the rulers and apathy of the people. Do a little study and you can track the path of many major empires, The Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians and so on. It scares me sometimes that we Americans seem incapable of learning from our past.
I do not want anyone to forget what today is really about, it is not just about hot dogs, apple pie and fireworks. It is about celebrating the birth of America, and all that that means. I know we are going to get through the current economic hard times, we will get through it with American ingenuity and hard work. I believe when we come out the other side we are going to be smarter overall, I hope we are more demanding of our public officials, I hope we are become better people overall from the experience. I hope these things because there are a lot of big problems that need solved after that and it is my hope we can use these economic hard times to learn how to buckle down and work together in a truly collaborative way to keep America great and keep us on the forefront of all things. Basically I hope we can continue to fulfill our founding fathers dreams and aspirations.
I love America and consider myself very fortunate to an American and plan on enjoying my Independence Day.
July 4th, 1776, the day we declared independence from Britain, this was not the day we became America, it was more like the 2 week notice you give your employer describing your intentions before leaving. We said we have had enough of the tyranny and are going to do something about it. It was only after 5 years of fighting the revolutionary war and 2 more years of politicing that the war of Independence was actually won, in fact we took our independence. We knew before July 4th 1776 that the relationship between us lowly Colonies and the British empire was going to cross paths, in a bad way. That is why in June of 1775 we upstarts were seeking to coordinate our military efforts. That is why the Continental Congress established, on paper, a regular army and appointed George Washington as Commander-in-Chief. After 5 years of war General George Washington forced General Cornwallis (the supreme commander of the British Army) to surrender the Second British Army in Yorktown Virginia. After whooping their butts it took two more years to draw up the Treaty of Paris that was signed on September 3rd 1783 that recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and as far west as the Mississippi river. Even though the document was not ratified by the Congress of the Confederation until January 14th 1784 and the King of Britain until April 9th of 1784 with the exchange of documents on May 12th the common date for the end of the war is 1783.
So us Colonists were weary of what we thought were unfair taxes, like the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 taxing paper and sugar. So pissed off were we Colonist’s that we formed a Stamp Act Congress and made a formal statement of protest. The Stamp Act was done away with the following year but the damage (from a British perspective) was done. The American people had been able to voice their concerns to the Monarchy and were able to get a tax repealed. Another troublesome tax was the Tea Act, which told Americans that they could buy tea from only one company, the British East India Company. The result of this unfair tax was the well known Boston Tea Party, in which members of the Sons of Libery, disguised as Native Americans, dumped 342 whole crates of British tea into Boston harbor on December 16, 1773. The British actually enacted the Boston Port Act thereby closing the port of Boston until the price of the dumped tea was recovered. The fighting really began almost without warning, the next thing we knew Paul Revere was on his famous ride to let the people of Lexington and Concord know that the British were coming.
So if we fast forward to present day, we seem to be more about the day off but really do not know a lot or understand the reasons we waged that war, most are happy to believe that it was taxation without representation but that was only part of the repressive nature of the British Empire. That is OK though, we Americans are pretty much an arrogant lot and we, by and large, think we have a great entitlement just being born here. We are lucky to have been born here that is for sure but if we do not understand what being American really means we will continue to follow the course of most of the dominate empires throughout history. They have honorable and deeply held beliefs in the beginning, the growth of the empire over time moves them into a badass state in which they just feel absolutely invincible as a nation. When they reach the apex of power, they get cocky and start doing things for the wrong reasons, most of the passion that got revolution going in the first place is gone. From there it is a steady decline in power and stature, mainly because of arrogance of the rulers and apathy of the people. Do a little study and you can track the path of many major empires, The Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians and so on. It scares me sometimes that we Americans seem incapable of learning from our past.
I do not want anyone to forget what today is really about, it is not just about hot dogs, apple pie and fireworks. It is about celebrating the birth of America, and all that that means. I know we are going to get through the current economic hard times, we will get through it with American ingenuity and hard work. I believe when we come out the other side we are going to be smarter overall, I hope we are more demanding of our public officials, I hope we are become better people overall from the experience. I hope these things because there are a lot of big problems that need solved after that and it is my hope we can use these economic hard times to learn how to buckle down and work together in a truly collaborative way to keep America great and keep us on the forefront of all things. Basically I hope we can continue to fulfill our founding fathers dreams and aspirations.
I love America and consider myself very fortunate to an American and plan on enjoying my Independence Day.
Friday, July 3, 2009
I just learned that we are no longer using the time tested AD (the year of our lord) and BC (Before Christ) when talking about time.
What in the world has the world come to when we have to be politically correct with time, now we have BCE (before common era) for the time before Christ and CE (common Era) to cover the time formerly known as AD. Does anyone see the irony of the change, BCE and CE are still based on the exact same moments in time and still revolved around the religious events of that time. How superficially stupid is that? If we really wanted to change what we call time than a half assed approach that only changes the names is truly the height of stupidity, if you are so offended by history, then change the whole damn thing, ridiculous. When Dionysius Exiguus setup the BC and AD in 525 CE, to use the correct term, he was determining the correct date for Easter under the direction of Pope St. John the first so the entire church could be in sync. Dionysius decided to start his 532 year cycle from the year associated with the foundation of Rome. At that time, Christ’s birth was supposed to have occurred immediately preceding the year of the founding of Rome. Today, based on historical evidence relating to Herod and astronomical evidence relating to eclipses and star novas, most historians believe Christ was actually born a few years earlier. Dionysius did the best he could with what he had.
It took nearly 400 years after when Dionysius devised the calendar for it to reach common usage. In combination with the Julian Calendar system which determines the beginning of months and years this continued until 1582 AD. That is when, in all his pompousness, Pope Gregory XIII attempted to improve upon the Julian Calendar and introduced, you guessed it, the Gregorian Calendar, mainly because we figured out that a year is not exactly 365 days long. It is actually 365 and a quarter days long and that is why we have a leap year every 4 years. This new way also kept the seasons from shifting one day every four years. It was crazy and something had to be done and who better than the Pope himself to step in! The widespread use of the Gregorian calendar and the use of BC and AD, throughout the common era, came about thanks to the colonization practices of Europe and economic pressures of a world-wide economy led by Europe and the United States. This seems to be gradually changing as more and more academic writers prefer the use of CE rather than AD, what? Prefer to use CE instead of AD. AD and BC have been around long enough to be ubiquitous, an analogy would be I would prefer to call a steak a moon rock because I feel that cows have been greatly misunderstood by man and that bovine persecution has forever changed my mind about how I feel about what I call a slab of cow. I mean what about the vegetarians we can not offend them by calling a steak a steak. Or using my definition - my petty little life is so pathetic that I feel the need to attempt to change history and a commonly used name of something just because it MAY offend someone, that is stupid, plain and simple.
Little did I know that the legal code of the United States does not specify an official national calendar. It just happens that we use the Gregorian calendar in the United States because of an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1751, which specified use of the Gregorian calendar in England and its colonies. I was surprised to learn that the term "Common Era" was used as early as the 1800s, the phrase "common era", in lower case, was frequently used in a generic sense, not necessarily to refer to the Christian Era, but to any system of dates in common use throughout a civilization. For example "the common era of the Mahometans, or the common era of the foundation of Rome. More recently the move to BCE and CE is based on an alternative to the more overtly religious "AD" and "BC", since "Common Era" does not explicitly make use of religious titles for Jesus, such as "Christ" and "Lord", which are used in the AD/BC notation. How many of you really even think about BC as Before Christ and AD as Anno Domini anyway – I think I was in high school before I learned AD did not mean After Death anyway. The whole thing seems so preposterous, it is nothing more than a euphemism that does not alter the pivotal year 1 that is still based on the life of Jesus, I see it as nothing more than another attempt at political correctness gone wild.
So we are going to take something that has for hundreds of years be the de facto global standard, so much so that it is recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union and shit can the whole thing in the name of political correctness. I have found that the CE notation has been adopted in several non-Christian cultures, by many scholars in religious studies and other academic fields, and by others wishing to be sensitive to non-Christians. Wishing to be sensitive to non-Christians – what kind of outrageous nonsense it that? I consider myself a non-Christian but I have no need to attempt to rewrite the history of time, that is what it is called AD and BC! I suppose if you are hostile about it, the Ethic of Reciprocity (the Golden Rule) suggests, and you should heed, that one should not intentionally cause unnecessary pain to other humans and we should treat others as we would wish to be treated. Well then if you do the math only one out of every three humans on earth is a Christian, Hummmm. That is what lead some theologians and other authors to feel that non-religious, neutral terms like CE and BCE would be less offensive to the non-Christian majority. I am not sure I understand, or believe for that matter, that by forcing a Hindu, for example, to use AD and BC might be seen by some as coercing them to acknowledge the supremacy of the Christian God. I suppose it could be seen as analogous to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The most recent version of this pledge includes the phrase: "Under God." Imagine what a Wiccan or many Buddhists and strong Atheists might feel when having to recite those words. Then for a moment we need to consider how a Christian might feel if the pledge read "Under Buddha" or "Under Allah." HMMMMM
Seems like most every issue in our lives – VERY COMPLICATED. I think, through our evolutionary path, we have somehow developed a much much thinner skin than we used to have. I am not sure what the answer to that is but I for one am going to start calling my steak a moon rocks and I will continue to say AD and BC. I will however start to refer to their meaning as “Almighty Duane” and “Baloney Cheese” which is better than “Baloney Cheese Extra” for BCE and “CoHite Experiment” for CE.
Did you even know it changed?
It took nearly 400 years after when Dionysius devised the calendar for it to reach common usage. In combination with the Julian Calendar system which determines the beginning of months and years this continued until 1582 AD. That is when, in all his pompousness, Pope Gregory XIII attempted to improve upon the Julian Calendar and introduced, you guessed it, the Gregorian Calendar, mainly because we figured out that a year is not exactly 365 days long. It is actually 365 and a quarter days long and that is why we have a leap year every 4 years. This new way also kept the seasons from shifting one day every four years. It was crazy and something had to be done and who better than the Pope himself to step in! The widespread use of the Gregorian calendar and the use of BC and AD, throughout the common era, came about thanks to the colonization practices of Europe and economic pressures of a world-wide economy led by Europe and the United States. This seems to be gradually changing as more and more academic writers prefer the use of CE rather than AD, what? Prefer to use CE instead of AD. AD and BC have been around long enough to be ubiquitous, an analogy would be I would prefer to call a steak a moon rock because I feel that cows have been greatly misunderstood by man and that bovine persecution has forever changed my mind about how I feel about what I call a slab of cow. I mean what about the vegetarians we can not offend them by calling a steak a steak. Or using my definition - my petty little life is so pathetic that I feel the need to attempt to change history and a commonly used name of something just because it MAY offend someone, that is stupid, plain and simple.
Little did I know that the legal code of the United States does not specify an official national calendar. It just happens that we use the Gregorian calendar in the United States because of an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1751, which specified use of the Gregorian calendar in England and its colonies. I was surprised to learn that the term "Common Era" was used as early as the 1800s, the phrase "common era", in lower case, was frequently used in a generic sense, not necessarily to refer to the Christian Era, but to any system of dates in common use throughout a civilization. For example "the common era of the Mahometans, or the common era of the foundation of Rome. More recently the move to BCE and CE is based on an alternative to the more overtly religious "AD" and "BC", since "Common Era" does not explicitly make use of religious titles for Jesus, such as "Christ" and "Lord", which are used in the AD/BC notation. How many of you really even think about BC as Before Christ and AD as Anno Domini anyway – I think I was in high school before I learned AD did not mean After Death anyway. The whole thing seems so preposterous, it is nothing more than a euphemism that does not alter the pivotal year 1 that is still based on the life of Jesus, I see it as nothing more than another attempt at political correctness gone wild.
So we are going to take something that has for hundreds of years be the de facto global standard, so much so that it is recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union and shit can the whole thing in the name of political correctness. I have found that the CE notation has been adopted in several non-Christian cultures, by many scholars in religious studies and other academic fields, and by others wishing to be sensitive to non-Christians. Wishing to be sensitive to non-Christians – what kind of outrageous nonsense it that? I consider myself a non-Christian but I have no need to attempt to rewrite the history of time, that is what it is called AD and BC! I suppose if you are hostile about it, the Ethic of Reciprocity (the Golden Rule) suggests, and you should heed, that one should not intentionally cause unnecessary pain to other humans and we should treat others as we would wish to be treated. Well then if you do the math only one out of every three humans on earth is a Christian, Hummmm. That is what lead some theologians and other authors to feel that non-religious, neutral terms like CE and BCE would be less offensive to the non-Christian majority. I am not sure I understand, or believe for that matter, that by forcing a Hindu, for example, to use AD and BC might be seen by some as coercing them to acknowledge the supremacy of the Christian God. I suppose it could be seen as analogous to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The most recent version of this pledge includes the phrase: "Under God." Imagine what a Wiccan or many Buddhists and strong Atheists might feel when having to recite those words. Then for a moment we need to consider how a Christian might feel if the pledge read "Under Buddha" or "Under Allah." HMMMMM
Seems like most every issue in our lives – VERY COMPLICATED. I think, through our evolutionary path, we have somehow developed a much much thinner skin than we used to have. I am not sure what the answer to that is but I for one am going to start calling my steak a moon rocks and I will continue to say AD and BC. I will however start to refer to their meaning as “Almighty Duane” and “Baloney Cheese” which is better than “Baloney Cheese Extra” for BCE and “CoHite Experiment” for CE.
Did you even know it changed?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
So there I was traveling over the Matthews bridge and it was the first time I found that my cell phone camera did actually have a purpose.
What you can not tell from the photo is that the front edge of that mattress was bouncing and I was sure it was going to break the binds that bound it to the top of that van.
I was actually thinking about taking this blog to the subject of the quality of the camera in cell phones but I figure I can do that anther day. Having been a truck owner most of my life I know I have lots of friends who would never do this, they call the guy with a truck. So I started wondering, does this guy have no friends with a truck? Why is it when we see ridiculous things like this it is almost always a guy doing it. I cannot remember ever seeing a woman try such a stupid thing, she may be sitting in the passenger seat and I have even seen them holding down that side of the cargo but never driving. Not sure what that means but I felt it needed said. I have seen many things being toted around in an unsafe manner but my lifetime favorite was a guy on Beach Bvld in Jacksonville, for those who do not know that is a 4 lane road with a center turn lane and a speed limit of 45 miles an hour. So there I was coming back from lunch one day, I believe it was an Arby’s market fresh turkey with Swiss chess and a jamocha shake. Anyway we see this guy on a bicycle caring a twin mattress over his shoulder. Had I not see it with my own eyes I would not have believed it, not even coming from my best friend. It is hard to even picture it aint it? He was wheeling down the turn lane on Beach Bvld by University carrying a mattress while cars whizzed by at 45 – 50 miles an hour. One little burst of wind could have carried the mattress off his shoulder into a passing vehicle or had he been able to keep his grip that same breeze could have taken him and his mattress into traffic. It was crazy and I understand if you do not believe me but I saw it with my own eyes I swear.
Getting back to the van I wondered why is it that by and large men are much quicker to underestimate their capabilities than women. This picture is an obvious confirmation that this guy has neglected to consider the potential for problems here, or underestimated his and his vans capabilities. In the instant I saw this I thought, what a sail, with a breeze it could force him into my lane, what if it comes off and hits another car, what kind of multicar pile up would that create? What if it comes off and flies over the side and lands in the river, aside from the environmental issues what if it were to land on someone in a boat. What if it came off and flew over the side and landed on Tallyrand ave and killed a wino or someone just driving through. What if it started to come loose and he started paying more attention to hold on to it than he needed to be putting on the road and ran into the Honda right in front of him. What if he had to stop quickly and it came shooting off the front onto whatever he was trying to avoid by stopping quickly in the first place.
I am not sure why men are so quick to underestimate their capabilities. I used to think it was a red neck thing until I saw an almost brand new Cadillac with a well-dressed man in his forties with a 12 foot wide roll of linoleum stuffed sideways through the windows and each end was nearly dragging on the ground. I have found that when it comes to our vehicles it gets even worse but that inability to properly understand ours and our equipments capabilities is a pretty steady constant with men. Almost as constant as women saying men lose weight easier than women do, even though there is no real documented proof of that fact, women from all walks of life just saying it does not make it true. OK so I used my own Neanderthal life to try to determine why this is. It is hard to say for sure but like everything else we do I figure it has to have something to do with the girlies. It does appear to be the constant in nature, us boys will do ANYTHING we can to impress the girlies.
Here are just a few examples, When performing courtship or mating rituals, male penguins will pump their chests, position their head and flippers in an upright, erect posture. Giraffe’s, in elaborate courtship rituals that rival those of any mammalian species perform the most striking and complicated, prancing, dance-like step that some observers have compared to the fox-trot. The Bald Eagle mating rituals seem a little extreme, they engage in courtship by locking talons in midair and descending several hundred feet in a series of somersaults. Before hitting the ground, each will go off in its own direction at the last second in what is called a "starburst." The mating ritual of lions involves a lot of physical rubbing and presenting leading up to the copulation event, the copulation event how romantic sounding. When love birds start engaging in pre-mating rituals their noise level increases substantially. They are notorious for attempting to build nests, especially during mating season. Showing off for the girlies and building things for them. Hummmmm. My research was not coming out the way I had hoped, although it was bearing fruit. Maybe, just maybe this guy was showing off to the girlie that was with him. Building a nest for her in an attempt to show he was capable and worthy stock for fathering her children. Could it be coded into our DNA, burned into our very being by none other than mother nature herself. Man when you think about it like that for just a moment you realize, that could explain a LOT of things in my life. Well as indignant as I started out I have found myself softened, this poor guy was doing everything his socio-economic evolutionary path allowed him to do. I then got to wondering if by chance he had ever heard of Charles Darwin or read his ground breaking “On the origin of species” that he penned about the critters he saw on the Galapagos archipelago chain.
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