April 12, 2011 - Courage My Love

Well last night was a success at work, using the leap frog approach to installation. I am looking to try something that will ease the backstrain on the next install. We had a company meeting today, remember those, the ones they call you to and tell you the bad news (that you already knew). We are so slow, and there will be little or no improvement for the next couple of months. The lay offs will cut deep, this one is kinda scary because if it all goes to hell in a handcart, I'll be one of the ones let go (more than likely). Double dipped crap.

Other than that, all is quiet on my western front. I had a good chuckle at lunch, I was in the Jeep and heading for the A'n'Dub, when I heard a Beatle song on the radio, it was "Ticket to Ride", only I could swear they were saying "She got a chicken to fly". I turned it up, listened carefully and still heard that. WTF? Anyway it was the damn radio station had taken an old tune and changed the words, so yes indeed, she did get a chicken to fly. Don't do that to old people you assholes, we can barely hear the alarm clock and then you go and fuck with our heads like that! Still it was pretty funny.

I finished that book, it was dumb, dumb, dumb and oh yes, stupid. So stupid I cannot remember the author or what it was called. I have immediately tossed it to the dust bin in my brain. It was the kind of book that you kept reading, because you felt there was some redeeming quality, but no, it was serious as a heart attack junk. It was a book where each chapter was named after a character, and it kept bouncing from person to person giving their perspective on what was happening. All these characters either knew each other, or glanced off each other in some way. It should have been a good book dammit, but it  wasn't. The characters were engaging, well thought out, but holy fuck, there was no plot, no story line, well a little one but it was stupid and boring. Don't waste my time.

Listen to me, critic of the week. Can't help it, books must engage my mind first and foremost, and if they touch emotion that can be okay too. If I like a book, I will read it a couple of times. My father thought that was nonsense, said I musn't have understood the book if I had to reread it. There is something addictive about word craft when it is well done, and the pleasure increases each time you reread it. I have a couple of books I keep in reserve, in case there is nothing else to read in the house, because I know I can go to them, open them at any page and instantly I am engaged, entertained, questioned, challenged - even though this might be my fourth or fifth time through it.

Certain authors can do that for me, Elizabeth George, at least the earlier books. And of course, silly and as dated as they are, Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Love them.

On to another topic, did I tell you how much Walmart pisses me off? No? Well listen up. I bought Andrea a shuffle (ipod) for Christmas. It didn't work because we needed to update our OS on the apple. So, procrastinator that I am, I just got around to doing it. Well the shuffle doesn't work at all, it won't charge, nothing. So I take it back to Walmart, and they say, sorry, our return policy is three weeks. Are you kidding me? No! We never even used the fucking thing, it's brand new, untouched, virgin so to speak. No way. Actually yes, they will not take it back, so go away we got your money, now take your piece of crap and get out of here. So you silly fuckers, I bought another shuffle, switched the boxes so the serial numbers matched and took it back and got my money back and Andrea got her shuffle. Walmart, go away, go back to the U.S. and take your third world crap and your first world capitalism with you.

You know it's a good thing I can dump all this cynicism here, it's not a pleasant load to carry through life most days. A constant battle between what my brain is thinking and my mouth is saying. Being quiet, being silent, not saying what I am thinking takes courage, my love.