Wanna Dance?
This is an invitation to a new dance step you may never have heard of, DROP-FOOT or the FOOT-DROP! Not everyone can perform it, though many have tried. You may resemble an alcoholic at first, but other’s will quickly look away out of courtesy, maybe sympathy? Once down, you will be one “Bad Mama Jama”!!
Seriously speaking as hard as that might be for me, the condition is not a disease, but more a result of something several different diseases can cause or possibly a stroke. The disease I have happens to be MS, (Multiple Sclerosis), where I have this mean hungry bug in me that craves something I’d like to keep. It likes to flat out attack the coating on my nerves. It doesn’t matter where they are, it will send reinforcements to just about anywhere the nerves are living in Peace.
The process that this pest glorifies his action with is called demyelinization, I know it sounds pretty high-falootin, but quite simple. Our nerves are typically protected by a myelin sheath, very similar to the protective coating on the wiring in your home. Also quite similar is the short that might happen when two live wire cross, but in the human system this process can cause any number to unfortunate experiences that can last a life-time or be temporary.
While I have other symptoms of my particular disease and surely more to come as the disease’s nature is progressive in nature, but I do shoot up a medicine that is believed to slow that down. They don’t know why the med works, but I’m hoping it does!
Now get on that Dance Floor! It’s Use it or Lose it!!.
Let’s get that “Sphincter” into Shape!
I can only imagine what you might think, What is Shimjockey going to surprise me with now? Well for starters this is all PG rated and concerns both men and women, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have been working out a long time ago! There are many kinds of “Sphincter” muscles, and please scrunch up your nose and kind of put an “X” in the word “Sphincter”. A hint of a nasal tone will help you get the hang of it! Thanks!
Now we’re not the only ones to have that kind of muscle, many mammals have it, consider the whales “Blow-Hole” for instance, but for the sake of trying to stay focused we’ll concentrate on humans. Within the human body there are over 5o kinds of “Sphincter” muscles, in our throat, our eyes, our hearts and so many other places, I’d rather just take them for granted. The “Sphincter” muscle I’m hoping to get to, dwells in our pelvic floor, you could say it’s darn close to your ass!
That’s where we want to go, and each individual needs to take this seriously too! As we age we notice how lazy our muscles tend to get, especially if we don’t use them. Now the women in the room might notice that their “Sphincter” muscles need some toning up when they pee their pants while coughing or laughing too much. I must reiterate here the need to pronounce it the way I shared with you to give the importance of it all the more zest! Women are not the only ones to have that happen either!
As I found out this last year most men are prone to develop prostate problems when given the appropriate time. I did and after a simple physical, I had an elevated PSA level after blood work was done. The long and short of it was, I had prostate cancer and eventually had surgery to remove the gland. That was just over a month ago, so this working out is pretty important to me if I ever want to switch from these “Gentlemen Greys” back into my normal underwear. You could say I’m working up a sweat!
Those muscles, yes, the “Sphincter” also can enhance one’s sexual life, but this is Disney, so do your own research on that one, They also give us the ability to be polite and not fart in public as well as not fill our pants like a baby might like to. So you can see that the time to start exercising was way back when for some of us, but no better time then the present to get started! Now we’ve all heard that in real estate the most important thing when trying to sell is, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! The same applies to us being able to exercise the right muscle, You’ve got to find it! Now 
here you can either have an assistant help you, or I’d think you might want to be a Solo Ranger” on this, but suit yourself!
One way is to build up a generous sized bladder of your favorite beverage, make the trip to the toilet, proceed to let it go, but STOP! That muscle, if you were able to stop it, is your… What do we call it?…. Amen! The “Sphincter” muscle (Applaud!!), Good job! Another way to locate it and this is where your assistant comes in or maybe just put on a surgical glove if not, Place a finger up your ass and pinch! Yep, That’s the “Sphincter”!!
Now lets get to the exercises once you’re all clean and suited up. That pinching effort needs to be repeated and repeated, let’s just say for the rest of your Life! There are a few different trains of thought on this too. One is the “Rapid Pinching”, say roll off 10 or more and relax, then repeat as often as you wish. Another one is the old “Pinch and Hold” for 10-15 seconds. You can do it in the privacy of your own home, in your car or sitting on the couch. Let’s face it, You can do it anywhere you like. I would suggest that you refrain from making facial gestures while doing the exercisess unless you are brushing your teeth.
If you get confused and can’t find your “Sphincter” muscles, No Fear! Refer to the above test!
Now, Let’s get that “Sphincter” into Shape!
Fabric of Humanity
We can think of ourselves as insignificant, but “AU Contraire, Mon Soeur et Frere”, it really is quite the opposite. We are ALL very important, so don’t fool around with thinking otherwise! I’m sure you’re aware of the “Six Degrees of Separation” philosophy, but in case not, I will try and explain it in my own special way. The original thought was known to have come from Frigyes Karinthy, a Hungarian author, poet and playright, at least that’s a few of the hats the gent wore. He surmised that the human race could all be connected by 5 contact points. He lived from 1887 to 1938, so his premise has been kicked around a lot since then.
But he… Nailed it!
While it may have become a popular game using the actor Kevin Bacon as a connection to most, if not all of the current actors of his day in film, plays or commercials, it has some quite fascinating thoughts about it we can all take pleasure in! While I ponder, how in the “Wide World Of Sports” could I have any piece of this action, the chain of connection starts it’s own action.I’m actually thinking of it as a fabric of contact points that keep lighting up. Anytime now you can start humming the song by Michael Jackson,
“We are the World”!
I think about my own friendships and brief meetings with different people that live a way more interesting life than my own, that’s how it starts! I mean, that’s how you get your foot in the door! You could say we of the “Less Influential” are connecting the world playing piggyback on shoulders of the jet set, but it may be far more simple then that. I have worked with Russian, Ukrainian, Mexican, Honduran, Canadian, African and Native Indian people. Though the friendships may have been brief and superficial,… They All Count!
Does that get Your Gears Turning?
It does Mine! While I have some doubts, connecting with the indigenous people of say anywhere the Amazon Jungle is concerned, but even a place like Borneo is open for thought. That’s not our problem though, we’re in the mix, that’s the main point! I’m getting those old “Warm Fuzzies” already!
Now what do we do with this information, You might Wonder? I’m working on that question as I write! For starters though, I think stepping outside your normal routine and interacting with someone you might have noticed, who seems to be all alone, might be one idea. Accepting the fact that you are connected to the whole “Human Race” with all the excitement that might instill! We’ve become this huge blanket that surrounds the Whole Dog Gone ……
Planet!
I’m Jacked about that fact!
Now there’s some math in all of this and I have decided to permit the experts to share some of their findings to give this more Pizzaz!!
Mathematics
Mathematicians use an analogous notion of collaboration distance:[26] two persons are linked if they are coauthors of an article. The collaboration distance with mathematician Paul Erdős is called the Erdős number. Erdős-Bacon numbers are a further extension of the same thinking. Watts and Strogatz showed that: Average Path Length = (ln N / ln K) where N = total nodes and K = acquaintances per node. Thus if N = 300,000,000 (90% US pop.) and K = 30 then Degrees of Separation = 19.5 / 3.4 = 5.7 and if N = 6,000,000,000 (90% World pop.) and K = 30 then Degrees of Separation = 22.5 / 3.4 = 6.6. (Assume 10% of population is too young to participate.)
And if that didn’t get your Jets all fired up, maybe this will?
Definition
If Alice collaborates with Paul Erdős on one paper, and with Bob on another, but Bob never collaborates with Erdős himself, then Bob is given an Erdős number of 2, as he is two steps from Erdős.
To be assigned an Erdős number, an author must co-write a research paper with an author with a finite Erdős number. Paul Erdős has an Erdős number of zero. Anybody else’s Erdős number is k + 1 where k is the lowest Erdős number of any coauthor.
Erdős wrote around 1,500 mathematical articles in his lifetime, mostly co-written. He had 511 direct collaborators;[3] these are the people with Erdős number 1. The people who have collaborated with them (but not with Erdős himself) have an Erdős number of 2 (9267 people as of 2010[4]), those who have collaborated with people who have an Erdős number of 2 (but not with Erdős or anyone with an Erdős number of 1) have an Erdős number of 3, and so forth. A person with no such coauthorship chain connecting to Erdős has an Erdős number ofinfinity (or an undefined one).
There is room for ambiguity over what constitutes a link between two authors; the Erdős Number Project web site says:
-
- “(…) Our criterion for inclusion of an edge between vertices u and v is some research collaboration between them resulting in a published work. Any number of additional co-authors is permitted, (…)”
but they do not include non-research publications such as elementary textbooks, joint editorships, obituaries, and the like. The “Erdős number of the second kind” restricts assignment of Erdős numbers to papers with only two collaborators.[5]
The Erdős number was most likely first defined in print by Casper Goffman, an analyst whose own Erdős number is 1.[6] Goffman published his observations about Erdős’ prolific collaboration in a 1969 article entitled “And what is your Erdős number?“[7]
So what are they talking about? I think it’s the shrinking of our world, and it’s been caused by a number of things. How our communities are shaped into Hoods is one way, our social net-working is another and to keep it all changing everyday could possibly be our computer age of technology, which has delivered to us sites like Facebook and Twitter. My first connections with friends I haven’t seen for 40 some years was through a site called “Classmates”. Some people you knew back in high school you just as soon not want to have any contact with, but for me it’s been one of the greatest thrills!
My thought about what makes us so important to one another is, we are part of something so big it’s beyond our human understanding to conceive of, We are a major part of Creation! Where all of that takes us is another very exciting part of the fact that You and I are going there together. It’s also another blog in the making, but………… It’s a bit like boarding a jumbo jet ,
Taking Off For……
PARTS UNKNOWN!!
Stripped & Cleaned
Do you ever think about what our “World” would be like if we were relieved of all our baggage, then thrown in together to work side by side on some important project? Forget about your wealth or poverty, your high standing in the community or your seemingly unimportant status. Kick out all of the sexual labels, gay or transexual, permissive or even uninterested in the struggle. Put aside prejudices of all kinds!
Now, Jump into the Pool of Humanity!
Without our secured identities we would all look, Oh so similar. I’m talking about “Getting Down” to the basics of life! We definitely need one another. No doubt we would end up depending upon each other, if for nothing else, Companionship!
Yep, we were meant to be……. Together!
When put together, stripped of our titles, successes or lack thereof, our possessions, you know, the junk we like to collect, We will begin to look on one another with a new set of eyes! Did I say throw out all religions? Oh, Dear No! Yes that stuff has got to go, but once we’re aware of what the real deal is all about, we’ll be able to relax! Seriously it will be as dust, once all the clouds clear in our minds. The upside is the “Freedom” we will have to start relating to each other on a much higher plane.
We will begin to actually start, Caring!
When we Care, we experience “Love”, in a new and special way! Apart from attraction, we will witness our spirits uniting with each one we are involved with. Not looking to gain something from one another, but finding ways to comfort and possibly ease the load from someone with the scars from their earlier time.
This is beginning to sound like a spiritual…Journey!
You got it! We all will eventually be at that Intersection of Life, but there is no other alternative direction, only speed limits.We will be with so many others in the same place, but from so many different “Time Zones” as well as Backgrounds and Starting Points. If you haven’t noticed, it’s a pretty big world out there, which has been home to, Hmm, should I even guess at the population of humanity up to date?
Nah, Let’s leave that for the Others to figure out!
But it’s Big, in both ways, take my word for it! The sooner we find out our similarities and start putting aside our differences, we will be able to proceed at a leisurely pace, and it’s worth the sacrifice to shed some of the lofty ideas we have allowed to come into our house and slant the way we look at one another. That stuff is slowing us down,
Big Time!
Now back to Religion! There are plenty of them and we all made it happen! I’m speaking collectively as a Human Race here. If you remember the mass of the human race to date, Hmm, I’m still waiting for the numbers, but if you take a little peek at the world map as we know it today, you can see how it all came about. Then consider how we all seem to have our own wiring scheme in our heads that dictates to us what makes sense and what seems eschewed.
It’s no wonder we’re in the predicament we’re in!
So what’s the Solution? Maybe it’s a multitude of them, but I think it starts with Us, In this pool! You might be treading water next to one of the earliest inhabitants on Earth who somehow is able to speak your language now. He is tickled pink to meet us, not hung up on the semantics, but more! He’s just plain Happy to have our……Company!
We are Definitely a Lucky and ……….
Strange Brew!.
FAN FORGIVENESS
If you have ever learned the trick of “Fanning the Flame”, it’s one that if not always, but usually it achieves it’s goal. I still get on my knees and blow into the fire, hoping to incite more action into a weak attempt at a fire to take the chill off our cold house. Well I’m here to put some heat on a different kind of chill!
It’s the hurt and pain we keep in our soul that chills our spirit toward ones that have hurt us. Holding onto the pain of a relationship that failed caused by any number of things like deception, an unkind word, maybe just being ignored by someone you felt close to was all it took. Open the door and allow forgiveness to, Come on In!
This is where it’s probably going to take some “Fanning of the Flame”, since it’s very likely the fire of anger has already been stoked up good, but in the wrong direction. We’re all pretty good at getting that kind of fire going. None of this is easy either and without careful attention a forgiveness fire easily goes out!
I have plenty of experience with this, some from being an employer and most from being a knucklehead for a long time. And as an employer under pressure with time schedules and quality expectations, it’s easy to lose patience and terminate a work relationship, rather hastily, I might add. Some of the terminated don’t take it quite as well as others, which can cause a bit of looking over the shoulder and some terrible nights for sleeping.
Since we’re all connected in this life, one has to consider very carefully, when ending a work relationship, know you are most likely ending a friendship at the same time. It came to the point for me that I got to thinking of my relationships from work were more crash and burn scenarios. From the rear-view mirror of life, all I could see was the carnage on the side of the road. While I might have felt justified at the time, now I see so many missed opportunities at actually building friendships, rather than tearing them apart.
Since we all feel like we have spent way too much of our lives on the job, the workplace is a common and fertile place to start fanning the flame of forgiveness. It will go against everything we hold dear to our selfish pride, to reconsider our hardline stance toward someone who mistreated us or failed us in some way. Even ramp it up a notch more and apply it to a close relationship that has soured.
While there are times to stop the pain, more times it will be looked upon as an unfortunate ending to a one-time close friendship. Those are the kind that should not slip by. A popular group from the 80’s, The Human League, spelled it out quite well for us, “I’m only Human, Born to make Mistakes”,. Boy, am I!
While I encourage you, I’m encouraging myself to not only look back, but also look at the present and hold onto friendships. Forgive often, be willing to forget the painful time and…..Move On!
Musically-Built Racial Freedom?
I feel so fortunate to have grown up in a period of time where music of all kinds was delivered on the radio leaving behind the race card. At least for me it was? It was in the early to mid 60’s, long before the segregation of the day had a chance at destroying the innocence of it all. I know segregation was alive and well during that time, but somehow many musicians didn’t cop to it. I miss that kind of deposit to my being, though I get a taste of it listening to a 60’s and 70’s oldies station.
Whether it was Little Richard, Elvis, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and so many others, we had it all. Even after getting my driver’s license and trying to afford gas and insurance at the age of 16, doing a paper delivery route that unfortunately was a losing deal, the joy to be on the road at 4 in the morning hearing music that even included performers my parents liked, made it an enjoying time.
I, at this point must reveal that I was as white-bread as could be, growing up in a small eastern Washington state town that unfortunately was very conservative and predominately white-bread too. Thankfully the tunes we got to hear were not all necessarily that way either, they must have been piped in from San Fransico or parts unknown to me, but I loved it.
The Ed Sullivan Show also was a great weekly program that broke with the racial prejudice that at the time was one of the saddest periods to live in. His show was a break from the rest of the pathetic stuff going on and a chance to see some of the greatest performers ever, regardless of color.
The privilege to watch some of the greatest Soul groups like the Four Tops not only singing but dancing in a synchronized fashion, let’s face it fans, we were treated to history on B&W TV. Makes one wonder a bit where Michael Jackson picked up some of his moves, Ya think?
I don’t know if there will ever be another time in history concerning music such as what we witnessed back then. So much has changed, a different station for every conceivable difference in musical style now exists. I think it almost makes us prefer one over the other more because of it. It’s so easy to become so selective now. Changing channels on the radio is so quick, some of us don’t even have to do much at all. With our pre-set channels of our favorites, we have made a conscious decision that our selective choices in music far outweigh the chance to hear artists we had no idea they even existed. Time doesn’t go backward, I know, but I miss some of the old days, with limited choices, but unlimited surprises!.
Face Lift!
What kind of face can we use to represent our lives? Is it one of disease, fortune, unhappiness, faithfulness or sadness? I know there are so many facsimiles of the faces we could all wear given the experiences of our adventure called living, but how we wear that experience affects our health, our relationships with others as well as it can make us hard to be around, or pure joy to be with!
Tragedy and sadness get involved in each one of our lives, you could say those two brutes are no respecter of persons. If you live long enough you will get to know some of them as well as the gang they hang out with. Our choice is to either mask ourselves in some fictitious persona or try and be real about what we’re dealing with. Insert friends here! Even the most solitary one of us should not go through tough times alone.
Another thing we can do is, DO BATTLE! The Beastie Boys have a battle cry song, Fight for your Right. I know it’s a Party Cry, but deep things come out of the consciousness of young performers. It’s that attitude that can help us get over the experience or bad news we received.
One way to take the Battle to the Streets is, do a kindness to another, anyone, especially someone possibly in more need of cheering up than yourself! We can all perfect the pity party when necessary, but taking our eyes off ourselves and planting a nice big good deed on an unsuspecting bystander can have enormous side effects on us!
We might notice a slight smile breaking out on our face, maybe a little warm fuzzy taking up residence in a cavern of despair. Throw open the windows in there and let your own acts of selflessness not only change the way you feel, but put a new look on the home you reside in, YOU!
Loneliness could be one of the gangs biggest Banchos, a very delinquent one at that. It requires tons of attention, but gives nothing back in return!
We need each other in this life! A key reason we are here is to care for one another. Try the good medicine of compassion for others and you’ll soon find there are so many hurt and needy new friends out there hoping for you to take notice and just do one thing,
CARE!.
Till Death do us Part?
After taking the gamble(s) and losing dearly, we are now faced with losing our home and moving into a smaller rental that we have leased. It’s been tough, but we don’t blame anybody or the economy, even though my business came to an end in late 08. We just didn’t play our cards right!
We are now faced with letting go of many a saved treasure from a 40 year old marriage, but it also brings up many a discussion on almost every item that’s facing either the charity box or be loaded on the moving truck. One has to consider the male idea of being ready to lift off at any minute or your counterpart’s idea of being well situated with all of their creature comforts, a very difficult balance to achieve. 
I know we have had a great time building up a nest egg, not of cash or investments, never could get behind that idea for some reason. This is more about one of memorabilia, things that money can’t buy, that’s according to one source I know, Hmm? Every-thing’s a collectible if you can find the right collector and we both are that, but of different persuasions.
Memories are a precious thing if they are about good childhood experiences or that special pet, many of you may look back and feel like you’ve had a passel of those, or maybe a book you so dearly love? But this collecting stuff can border on hoarding. Here’s some interesting facts that link the whole activity to us and the animal kingdom as well. Let’s let my friend Wiki tell us some of the facts.
“Hoarding and caching are common behaviors in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will also stingily collect other items, especially if the birds are pets. Magpies are famous for hoarding items such as money and jewelry, although research suggests they are no more attracted to shiny things than other kinds of items”.
I know you may think those birds and rodents have some strange habits, but some of us humans do too, please read on.
“While there is no clear definition of compulsive hoarding in accepted diagnostic criteria (such as the current DSM), Frost and Hartl (1996) provide the following defining features:[3]“
- The acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value
- Living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed
- Significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding
- Reluctance or inability to return borrowed items; as boundaries blur, impulsive acquisitiveness could sometimes lead to stealing or kleptomania. The hoarder may believe that the hoarded items are very valuable, or know that the accumulated items are useless but keep them anyway, or attach a strong personal value to items which other people claim would have little or no value. A hoarder of the first kind may show off a cutlery set claiming it to be made of silver and mother-of-pearl, disregarding the fact that the packaging clearly states the cutlery is made of steel and plastic.A hoarder of the second type may have a refrigerator filled with uneaten food items months past their expiration dates, but in some cases vehemently resists any attempts by relatives to dispose of the unusable food. In other cases, the hoarder will recognize the need to clean the refrigerator but due (in part) to feelings that doing so would be an exercise in futility, and overwhelmed by the similar condition of the rest of their living space, fails to do so.Hoarders of the third type often keep “collections” as a hobby. Dolls, toy soldiers, obsolete road maps, clothes, rusty tools, non-functional sewing machines.
I don’t know about you, but I sure am happy I don’t have their problem? Though , I do have peculiar issues, I must admit. While I spend these days boxing up stuff, I do have to wonder, will she ever use this stuff up and will I ever let go of this junk I’ve drug around with us for the last 40 years?
The upside is the “Tantalizing Goodies” one can find when forgotten stuff is unearthed. I could have sworn some of it has been drug from the original location we started out together to each of the 11 or 12 places we have lived. That’s somewhat sick! I’ve even found myself taking charge and making deals like, “You can keep that one, if you give up two of those.” Like I have room to dictate, with my garage full of multiples of the same tools and not 1-5 gallon bucket of thisnthat, but maybe 10 or more!
I know, I know, I am one sick puppy.
Obsession?
I hope the rest of the world is not as obsessed with choices like we are here in America.
I’m sure on a whole, they’re not when you consider the conditions of poverty and food shortages in so many parts of the world. It’s all the more guilt laden one feels walking through a typical grocery store.
Jees, what in the world is happening to us? I’m talking into my recorder as I walked the grocery store this week and did double takes on so many of the areas where my list led me. Do we become privileged and spoiled once we enter a modern grocery store? The abundance is down right embarrassing! Don’t get me wrong, I like choice as 
much as the next person, but some of this borders on super-indulgence, doesn’t it? Well, we only have so much time and soo much to take a look at, so let’s get started. Hmm, faced with a choice right off the bat, is it small cart, basket or biggum cart? I usually go small, it’s subliminal by them to give us the idea we’re downsizing and buying a little less, but once past the checkout stand and even when approaching it, we know, uh huh, uh huh, we should have just used the big one, quit fooling ourselves. I like to start in the produce section, very little there that needs refrigeration, so let’s take a look. MY God, I think we’re somehow in the Garden of Eden.
Screw the list, this is going to be fun! I do have to ask myself though, do I really need this many decisions facing me every foot of the way? This could take a good hour to shop, is that what they’re hoping for too? I like apples, but don’t need 7 or more varieties. I’m looking over this area and it’s beautiful, but there are fruits from places in the world I have never even heard of. Focus man, Focus on what you need! This brings up a major question in my mind, this orgasm, I mean organic fetish that is going on, Why do I feel like our non-organic produce is so bad. If it’s not good for us, then why is a good 90% of this section of the store selling it? What is in or not in the non stuff that the other has, and then I wonder if it’s just dribble, another way to get us to spend more. Someone knows! 
Well, I got to get what I needed and have to keep moving. Rounding the corner is the milk area against the wall, Oh no, another organic funk is coming, some of the milk is either that or not, and the price for organic in either glass or cardboard cartons is $3 bucks for a 1/2 gal or 2 bucks for a gallon of the non. C’mon $6 bucks a gallon for milk, no way?
Eggs, same gig, a crazy egg of all things. this can’t be. I’m gonna close my eyes and just grab a dozen and hope for the best come breakfast time. Chips and cookies and crackers, wow nothing but a bunch of different kinds, shapes and sizes, too much for me. I can pass this aisle easily.
I will go get me some toothpaste and shampoo and then onto the other needed stuff on my list. Hmm again, can teeth need all of this attention? I just want to get the goobers out of them after eating, don’t think that much about sparkles or tar beaters, hell, just grab one. Well, here we go again, moisture adding shampoo, for dry hair shampoo, for colored hair. This is really nutty and probably very little difference from one to the next. Better grab a toothbrush while I’m in this aisle, no-no-no!!, close your eyes and just grab, feeling pretty stupid on this whole shopping thing.
Got to get butt-wipe and some paper towels.Huh? A single, a 4- pack, 6-pack or a 12-pack, cuddly or mega-roll, Charming or King Charles, my my, I never. Who thinks this stuff up, move on man!
I don’t eat dry cereal, unless oatmeal is considered one? Of course it is, but regardless, something is out of whack or we are out to lunch, take your pick. Here’s some facts for you to think about.
Location as irony — Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg Company is in a constant battle for the #1 spot in the US cereal market with its main rival, General Mills. (General Mills’ fiscal 2010 sales totaled about $14.8 billion, compared to Kellogg’s second place $12.4 billion.) But Kellogg boasts many a familiar brand name, including Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, and Rice Krispies. And while the company fills many a cereal bowl every morning, it puffs up its bottom line with snacks and cookies (Keebler, Cheez-It, and Famous Amos), along with convenience foods such as Eggo waffles and Nutri-Grain and Bear Naked cereal bars. Its products are sold in more than 180 countries worldwide.
.I don’t have small children and hope to God no one eats that crap, it’s a pathetic waste of space and also a waste of the food reserves in my opinion, even though I ate it religiously up till a few years ago. So I better settle my jets before I get on my soapbox.
I need to cut this trip short and get me some hamburger and beer, then get the heck out of here. I am better off letting the old lady do this like usual. Are you serious! This is amazing! This must be a little slice of Heaven! Every conceivable kind of alcohol know to mankind, sure wish they had a tasting room with a big-screen TV playing the games. I know it seemed crazy back there, but when you get to thinking about it, we work hard, well some do, and we deserve to have choices! I think I’ve seen the light!
I know I can rant and rave, make little sense in between, I know all of that. Do we need all the choices that we seem to be faced with. It’s just not groceries, it’s everything we consume. I used to tell My wife to just look at me as if I was a “cow in the field” after she had just cooked a great meal and was looking for, Hmm, maybe a compliment. What a thick headed boot I can be. I know we all have our likes and dislikes, right down to the nitty gritties of grocery shopping. When though is enough, enough? Sure am glad I found me beers!.
Reminders…
Let’s start with just a little history to get our feet wet here. In the old days people would put cloth over an injured part of the body to make it better by keeping the spirit in and prevent the pain from spreading to another part of the body. You think about that for a second or two!
Fast forward a bit further, in my mother’s day a string was tied around your finger to keep the “thought” alive until it was needed for you to remember.
Another belief is called “rubyrikki”, the concept of a string around the index finger is for luck. Regardless, I know that at some time in our lives each one of us forgets something. Forgetting to do what is right or just forgetting to take out the garbage, we can all use a reminder about those things.
Some of you have busy lives and find it tough to remember all the things you need to get done; pick up the stuff from the dry cleaners, don’t forget to get the car serviced, my nails need paint and don’t forget to pick up the kids, Oh My!
My hats off to those of you with such busy lives. I have issues that some men and possibly a lady or two deal with every stinking day of their lives. For right now I’ll try and deal with my issues and then I’ll let you come in to my party later.
I know I’m a bit slow on things and I also know it takes me a long time to learn a lesson in life. Why, you might ask? Damn good question, glad you asked! I think it has to do with not paying attention to “the little things” in life for one. For instance the queerish look I get from my wife when I’m doing something I know I shouldn’t, or that all too common aggravated look from her and others when I’m doing something very stupid. A little message is being sent, why don’t………. I GET IT?
I can’t help but think I need to be reminded way too often concerning things that have plagued me most of my adult life, most likely way earlier. I need to actively impress upon myself the need to change my ways. In those”good old days” it was an accepted practice to tie a small string around a finger, maybe two? I know it would look silly, but someone low on the uptake, has to start from
somewhere.
It won’t make any fashion statement to go around with some stupid string around a few fingers either. I know, I know, one or two has now grown to a few, How stupid is this guy you might wonder? Well I’m not as sharp as I thought I was, to be sure, but I think I’m onto something big
here, so quit picking on me!
If I start off my day with, yes, multiple reminders like; before getting on the road in “My Car”, remember that you are not the only vehicle on the road. Yes, someone will get behind you impatiently following too close or will cut in front of you, may honk their horn, might even use one of those finger gestures,, Good grief!
I think you get the picture, once in a vehicle so many things can happen that will piss us off. Well, move onto the waiting line for your first cup of whatever, they’re slow, they’re talking with the customer too much, on and on it can go and I’m starting to – STOP! Take a good look at myself and how I’m acting. What’s the ultimate reminder? I am not the “only person” on planet Earth. Another one is:. Get over Thyself! Yep, it’s scripture!
Our time on earth is relatively short when you stop and consider how it all typically works out. Is getting our panties in a bunch over the drillions of scenarios worth all the energy and drama? I’m including you in this picture too, unless you’ve reached enlightenment or nirvana recently, you’re in the mix. You might be miles past my present state, but I’m sure you might need a string on a finger or two or more?
The great thing about this concept is, first you will humble yourself with the strings. Lord knows we don’t like to look stupid. Second and this is important because it takes longer for some of us (me) to GET IT, Once you get things implemented in your daily life, lose the string and give 
yourself Kudos! That earlier behavior is now in the past, history, finito!
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling better already and I haven’t done squat yet!
“Love all, Trust a few, Do Wrong to None”~William Shakespeare