History recalls How great the fall can be

 

Friday music. Yay! Says you. 

I saw Supertranp live at the old Market Square Arena sometime in the early eighties. I’m sure they played this.

A little of this a little of that

 Happy Wednesday Thursday readers. Morning temperatures have finally started out in something above single digits and we may actually get above freezing today. It’s okay, it is nearly always cold in January. 

I had my annual review at work yesterday. I was rated well and fair by my boss. If I’m honest, he rated me about the way I would rate myself. 

I cracked up over Biden’s farewell address. He warned us about rich oligarchs and their threat to democracy one week after he gave the Medal of Freedom to George Soros. Does that senile old idiot even understand irony?

Today would have been my dad’s 87th birthday. I miss you Pop.

We are out of toilet paper!

The Maha Kumbh Mela, a Hindi festival that occurs once every 12 years has begun this week. Over the next six weeks, 400 million people (more than the total US population) will travel to Prayagraj in northern India to bathe in the confluence of rivers sacred to Hindus. Preparations have been extensive: Authorities have constructed 150,000 tents for a makeshift city, 145,000 restrooms, and 99 parking lots.  

Can you imagine the stink from that gaggle of crap houses? 

I’m sure it is some kind of privilege

A new company car should arrive this week. It will be the same as the last one. You don’t have to say it, I know how awesome it is to have someone give me a nice new car. When I get ticked off I have not had a raise in three years or that I did not get my earned bonus last year I remind myself that few companies are giving out cars these days. Most sales guys I know have to buy their own vehicle and get a monthly allowance to pay for it. 

There are advantages to the car allowance system. If you end up out of work you still have a car. You get paid significantly more per mile than you do in a company car (I pay for my own gas). 

Most of you are shouting screw you, I have to buy my own car and I don’t want to hear about it. I get it. 

City Mouse and Country Mouse

In the late nineties I went to work for a big company located on the East coast. My boss was from the Camden, NJ / Philadelphia area. I worked remote in Indiana and the company rented me an office. 

I lived in a small town of about 18,000 people in central Indiana. I found an office in an old building right on the town square. It was two rooms on the corner of the second floor. I called my new boss to tell him I found a place and advise the rent payment. It was cheap.

“It’s in an old office building right downtown,” I said. “There are only a couple of tenants, there is an old lawyer upstairs and some retail on the ground floor.” He asked about parking and I told him there was a lot with alley access behind the building. 

“Is it safe?” He asked me. 

“Well I suppose so. I didn’t ask if it was up to code or anything.”

“No,” he asked again more emphatically. “ Is it safe? Do you have to worry about crime?” 

I never felt more small town in my life. I laughed and explained that I had no worries walking around downtown. 

We all see things from a different perspective. 

mom, I got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA"

 

Gotta dig the dobro.

We are all connected

Happy Saturday. We got about 3.5 inches of snow yesterday, nothing big at all. We have about a foot on the ground at this point. As I type the plow is cleaning the cul-de-sac. Unlike the major metropolitan Capital city to my south, we actually plow the streets here in Mudsock. 

I had to change my WiFi password yesterday. What a pain. Not changing, that was easy. Reconnecting my stuff is the issue. It is remarkable how much stuff I have that is connected to the web. I have everything from the TV to my Kindle to the various Eco devices to the thermostat and washer and dryer.*

My ancient first gen iPad refuses to join. So it goes. It won’t work with most websites anyway. 

Anyway, I have a few trmaodevices to tackle. Have a great Saturday.

*the washer and dryer notify the wife when they are done. Plus if you set the washer to a specific cycle, the dryer automatically sets itself to the same cycle, for instance if you choose “bedding”. I don’t know, the wife likes it.