I am no longer viable.

I started out with this site to ramble about and whatnot. I have not lived up to my end of the bargain. All the ones of people out there that count on my dull writing to make it through the day were let down by me. I want to offer all of you your money back.

No moving on, I have taken a more active role at work. A nice example is organizing the Christmas party, and that has turned into a serious event. I am glad I have a great support system of folks willing to slave over a hot stove for this event. If I had to do it all the guests would have is some white bread and cold cuts. Of course I would spring for a garden hose so they can drink out of the outside faucet.

I am going to try and make a real effort to write again, it has been too long.

Until then Merry Christmas….yes I am agnostic but damit I am not that much of a douche to not call it that. 

Hurray for Humans!

 

Today the Space Shuttle Atlantis and its rocking Human crew lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:29 AM.  Sadly, this is the last Shuttle mission. I remember waking up early on April 12^{th in} 1981 to watch the Space Shuttle Columbia launch for the first ever mission. What an awe inspiring event that was for me. I remember lying down on the floor with a blanket and pillow, watching the live broadcast on the old Zenith TV. There was one shuttle mission where it was reported that we could see the Shuttle with the naked eye as it orbited over Jefferson City, MO. I was so stoked about it that I drew a picture of the Shuttle as it orbited the earth on the back cinderblock wall of my house. This filled up the entire wall. I proudly showed that to my Father, but he had a different opinion of what I decorated his house with. Shortly after that it was painted over, but you could still see the marks I had left.

Anyway, here it is the end of an Era. There will still be some form of space travel, mostly from the Russians from what I understand. I have mixed feelings about this. The International Space Station is just that – “international” - with parts from across the world, but where does our role come into play?  We put up about 57% of the modules of that place; will other countries step up to the plate like they should? As for that matter, will America realize what it is losing with cutting the Space Program budgets? I find it troubling that we can fund 4 wars but not the ground breaking research and progress that NASA has given us. Is all we know nowadays how to break things and kill people? I thought the majority of the people voted for a President that was going to get us out of 2 wars, but now we have 4? Have we as a people decided to ignore what is beyond our puny little world, the same world we routinely bust up and exploit? Not that I have a problem with that, the thing is several generations down the line they will have a problem with that. What we call earth will always be here, whether or not humans is still here is something else all together.

The cost of NASA is nothing in our budget. I have even heard that it is less the $.01 per tax payer dollar spent. I don’t know if that is true, but if it is, then What the Fuck?

Expanding our mind through the exploration of the unknown is a Human’s finest quality.  Let’s not waste it.

Really?

So I was getting ready for work this morning when I caught part of an infomercial. It was selling vinyl, I mean Polymer, siding. They were describing how they attach this stuff to your house and how it has a wind resistance of 225 mph. Then he said the following “Your house will be blown down by then, but at least our siding will still be attached.” That is your selling point? You can feel safe when the hand of God reaches down and smites your home into oblivion that the space age polymer siding will still be fastened securely to the bits of your home, 3 counties away.

What is the measure of a Man?

Here is a question that has plagued me the last few weeks. It might stem from my reaching the tipping point in age or maybe because of the job I pretend to work at. Let’s start out with what I grew up understanding what a Man should be. A man should work too much at a job he hates to provide shelter and food for the children he fathered, drink too much (see previous), and die shortly after retirement. The TV led me to believe that I work a 9-5 while the wife stays at home to raise the young ones. Then I come home to a hot meal and a quiet smoke from my pipe. All is well.

Is that what a Man is, the hunter/gatherer that brings home the means for his family’s survival, where his wife and children remain helpless at home? Is it a Man that teaches his children right from wrong, raises them to be the next 9-5’ers and to have children of their own? Is it just being able to procreate, spread your genetic material so your family line continues to survive? What if that option is gone, or you chose not to have children. Does that make you less of a Man, if not at all?

We are more then a decade into the 21^st century and all the notions of the traditional family unit, Husband-Wife-2.5 kids is long dead. The 9-5 has turned to flex time or 4 10-hour days. The notions of working for the same company for 30+ years is gone as well. Most people now have 3 or more careers, with dozens of companies. Even the Old timers that have put in their 30+ years are forced out or the company sells and moves that job out of country. The new line is not working in manufacturing, but using your mind to make your digital gizmo work. Just ask the 20 something’s and their billion dollar bank accounts. How can you measure a Man that way? By the number of toys he has? I heard a quote along those lines not long ago when I was talking to a customer about jobs and the value of money. He said simply, “I haven’t seen a Brinks truck behind a Hearse yet.” In other words, you can’t take your billions to the grave with you or that fancy car….well, there was this one dude that got buried in his corvette, but I think you get the idea.

What of the survival of the species, procreation. Man and Wife? What of the thousands of happy families that have two females or 2 males as the parents or for that matter the single parent. That traditional family crap died a horrible death. It is more like one male and one female got drunk or stoned (or both), hooked up, female got pregnant, male took off, female resents the kid and they wind up in foster home/juvenile/dead. I have a quote from someone I used to work in the same hotel I did. She had a myriad of kids, all from different sires. She was going on about one of them, and I asked her about one of her other children and she said “I hate that little mother fucker! I don’t give no shit about him!” That kind of sums it up for the majority of what I see nowadays. I guess I am off topic, that is more the ‘raising kids’ thing’ of which I have no legitimate experience. I guess what I am trying to say is that having children does not make you a man, does it? With a world getting close to 7 billion people, do we need more?

The recent suicide of a High School chum brought this to the forefront of my mind. I don’t know if I have an answer to that question “What is the measure of a man”. When I went to the visitation, I was reminded that life can be measured by some means - photos, documents that hit the finer points of life, stories - but what of it when you are 6 feet down. Legacy maybe, children carrying your name for future generations, I really don’t know. I know that so far the Olive name dies with me and my two brothers. None of us have fathered a child yet, unless a 6’ Pilipino gentleman knocks on my door someday, and looks as though we never will. So does that make me less of a Man?

I still search for some sort of conclusive evidence to show what it takes to be a “Man”.  Until then, with whatever method others choose to measure me, it will show that I lived with Honor, stood up for what I believe, and lived free.   

I speak American!

It has been a while since I have graced my own website with my ramblings so here we go. I have been down and out with my old nagging back injury. This one took a bit longer to heal then the other times, age is a mean old bitch. What I wanted to share with you all are a couple of bumper stickers that I gleamed on my runs driving a cab. One was a bumper sticker the other is one of those signs you can put in your license plate holder. Well let’s start with the first one.

I came up on a new Kia Soul on the highway. It is one of those boxy looking imports you see running around. Except on this one there was a sticker on bottom of the large rear glass that said “Vietnam Veteran” and had the award ribbon in-between the words. Now my first reaction is how a Veteran from that war could drive a Korean built car. It did not make any sense at the time and frankly still is puzzling. After thinking on it for a while I just figured if he did time over there for our country he can buy any dam car he wants. That is what defending our freedom is all about. He made that choice and I guess that is that.

The second dude, well he is just a piece of work. Latter that same day I saw a new Toyota Tundra with this sign in the license plate holder that stated “American Patriot” in red white and blue. This was an incredible dipshit. I get that this Truck was more then likely made in Indiana by American workers but come on! You consider yourself an American Patriot by purchasing a new Toyota Truck when the best selling truck maker is Ford. The only American company that did not take Bailout money. This is what you do to prove you’re a Patriot? You have to be out of your Fucking mind. I try more and more to buy American made goods and local services. Anything I can do within my means, and if I had the means to do it Toyota would not be my choice for a new Truck. I don’t consider myself a Patriot but dam man if you are going to boldly state that you are, you best do it with American made steel.

That is all,