Monday Musings

I discovered blogs about six months before I started my own. I began by reading Vox after reading his column in WND. From his links I moved to others. The Grouchy Old Cripple caught my attention, and I moved on from him to the DuToits. I have enjoyed the musings of both for more than two years now. Mrs. DuToit is more of an essayist. She is on and off blogging based on her work load and the intrusions of life. On Friday she had an interesting post where she tried to describe herself. Since I am always quick to steal a good idea I thought I would take a stab at a similar project.

I will be 45 in March. I have blue eyes. I wear glasses and they are bifocals, the no-line type. I have had them for two years and I hate every second of every minute having to wear them. Too much computer, too much reading have left my eyesight poor. I am over weight. I am short (5'9). I have dark thick hair turning gray on the sides. My hair is short and parted on the left. My left foot is a whole size larger than my right.

I have a wife. I love her more than life itself, except those days where I spend hours trying figure out ways to kill her and get away with it. Just kidding. We have been married for more than 22 years. She is my best friend. I am sure I piss her off on a regular basis. I am stubborn and argumentative. I am firm in my righteousness.

I have three kids. A daughter 20, is a sophomore in college. I have a son 18 who is a senior in high school. I also have a son who is 13 and in the seventh grade. They are each my pride and joy. They are good kids. I try hard to be a good parent and sometimes I succeed, more often than not I am lousy at it. I find it amazing you have to have a licence to drive a car, but you can mold a child in anyway you see fit- without any training at all. I am too hard on my kids, my expectations too high.

I am a closet perfectionist. I inherited my mother's attitude that nothing is done right unless I do it myself. I expect perfection from my kids, they cannot live up to it, and they resent me I think for that. I wish I could change.

I am a salesman. I never wanted to be a salesman. I guess I am good at it, I have been pretty successful for a long time. I went in to that field for the money. I am not sure I have the desire to do something different at this stage of my life. I want to work hard and I give my best for the company. I no longer have the burning desire to run the company to be the boss. I want to do a good job and collect my pay. I have been a boss, a supervisor and I think I was pretty good. My employees all seemed to give me high marks. In my first job as a manager I was Customer Service Supervisor. My employees were in the forties and fifties. I was 29. Try that sometime. I was once told by a manger I was not a great strategic thinker, but I was the best tactical thinker he had ever met. I am still not sure if I was insulted or complimented. I will say he was one of the worst managers I ever worked for so I discount his analysis on mere principle.


I have had the good fortune to travel all over the world in my job. I have been to Europe a dozen times and most of these United States. I loved travelling, I missed my family. I travel much less these days, I average about one night a week away from home. I like that, but miss some of the more interesting ports of call.

I can cook. I am not a chef. I can make comfort food, I can make semi-gourmet meals. I am a firm believer if you can read, you can cook. With practice you can make more complicated meals. The hardest part about cooking is making everything get done at the same time. I take great pride in my ability to do that. I do 99.9% of the cooking at my house. I enjoy it, and I am better at it. That is not a reflection on my wife, rather an indication of my ability. I learned to cook a little from my Mom and little from the Boy Scouts. I was fortunate to be a Scout back in the day when they actually camped, and hiked and canoed. I am an Eagle Scout.

I have a degree from Wabash College. I was by no means the smartest guy there. I studied hard, and partied harder. I learned a little, had a lot of fun. I have probably taught myself as much or more than I learned in any formal education. I enjoy the study of history. I have probably forgotten more historical information than most people learn in a lifetime. That is more a comment on my aging memory than an indictment of your education. That my memory is now failing me saddens me. I once could recite whole passages from books after one reading. I firmly believe education is a life long process and the only stupid question is the one you do not ask. "Why" is the most powerful word in the English language. We should all use it a little more often.

I am Conservative in my political leanings. I have very definite Divine beliefs, I am a Christian. I also believe what you believe is your own business. I agree not to ram my beliefs down your throat and I expect the same from you. I have come to the conclusion that anything the ACLU is against must be a good thing. I do not understand how those on the left cannot look around the world and see that Liberalism and Socialism have failed everywhere they have been tried. It all sounds so good on paper and fails miserably in the real world. Show me I am wrong.

I cannot carry a tune, and I cannot remember lyrics. I can usually tell you the name of a song and the artist with just a few notes. I love old music. I am stuck in the seventies for the most part, musically. I like Sinatra, too. I used to play the trombone, but after 25 years I doubt I can even read music any more. I cannot dance. I used to speak French, but now I can just utter phrases in a half dozen languages. I can tell a joke. Many people can't. If you tell me a joke I will remember two.

I possess no unique skills. I am not a mechanic, carpenter or plumber. I can make very basic home repairs. I can drink a lot of beer, I cannot hold hard liquor. I occasionally enjoy a nice cigar. I was smoking them long before it became cool back in the 1990's. I am a very poor speller and I cannot type without looking at the keyboard. I am right handed.

I was never much of an athlete. I have been a coach with some success.

I have made some money and I have made lots of bad financial decisions. I am basically honest, I will return to the cashier any extra change she might give me as quickly as I would complain if I am overcharged. I always tip at least 15%, and I never stiff the delivery guy.

Now you know me. I am as plain and boring as anyone. I am incredibly average. It took me a long time to come to grips with that.

That is a tiny glimpse at the man behind the curtain here at Fat in Indiana. A boring post, I am sure.

Who are you?