Answer: daily blog updates. It just occurred to me that it isn't weird at all that I've not updated this thing since the beginning of the "off" season for us (otherwise known as Summer, but we have two 3 1/2 year olds, so...you know). Yes, I have plenty about which to complain every day, but whether that would be a good thing is a different matter.
I have a friend that looks at BikeSnob's blog at least a few days a week. I'm a fan of the same blog, so don't misunderstand, but I think too much attention to such ramblings can exacerbate existing feelings about our clientele that are less than positive. As I've come to relate to a few customers of late, our business is one that rarely suffers from a lack of people through the door. This might sound like a good scenario; it is...in a world in which one is afforded an abundance of uninterrupted minutes with which to engage every person we encounter. However, we, like many, are overworked. We are not overworked in a normal way. We are not expected to get 15 tune-ups done each day or anything like that. Our workload is engorged by the overwhelming urge so many have to continue to vocally excrete themselves. I suppose some of this has to do with justifying the fact that they just got in a car and drove a few miles to dump a better form of transportation on us that they will barely use even after we work our magic and make a pile of rubbish into something useful. It's kind of like how I feel about why people are on their phones and in their screens so much. They think they need to use them to justify spending the $100 a month.
Anyway, the point is that too much negativity just spawns more of the same, and, while I appreciate the BikeSnob's contributions (I really do), I also appreciate that reading that stuff at work just elevates my already above-average anger level at the communication skills of the average person in this country. You honestly cannot appreciate the level of condescension and interruption that occurs in such an environment, but just knowing that we have several islands full of American Taliban in our midst that think $1500 in property tax on a $300K home is grounds for physical violence (of the "hurt you from a distance with my weapon sort") might help get you closer.
It is now a couple of months since I began this post, but I see an intrepid friend has made a comment, and that makes me happy to saddle up, since I'm regaining a little of my time, lately. I'm on a 4 x 10 schedule, now, at the shop, so things are looking up.
Election, huh? I don't even know where to start. Neither of these clowns has my actual (as opposed to my symbolic) support, but I'm sure I'll be voting for Obama. I enjoyed the recent comparison I heard about electing a president or a boss (I think it was a columnist/author for the New Yorker, but I could be mistaken) after one of the debates. Though there is nearly nothing as banal as post-debate commentary, I was just too lazy to change the channel, I suppose. The really sad part of all of this crap is that no matter how poor the next administration is at getting real things done, we've officially entered the era of blaming it on the last/other guy. The last four years has turned obstructionism and finger-pointing into an art, so there is no reason to expect anything different in the next four. No wonder Romney started the debates by promising the world! He can just point to the congress and say, "Take it up with them." If Obama STILL doesn't make anything universally beneficial happen, he can say the same. What a golden age for those that say they want a reduction of the very system that is their livelihood...fucking idiots. How many times must a Kucinich present himself to you morons before you all get that there are still REAL people in this world that actually want what is best for the most?!?
Speaking of what is best for others, I feel I must comment on something I heard at the gym, today. The lady that does the kid fitness thing asked if it would be okay if the girls had a donut. Let alone the fact that somebody at a gym is offering a donut to a 4 year old (not a typical gesture), but focus on the comment a bystander made..."Oh, just let 'em have one." This was offered after I said I guess it'd be fine if they split one. Does this person think the girls are mistreated if they don't get to eat such garbage? Doesn't the comment imply that I am stingy about rewards with my children? It just seems indicative of how other people can't resist implanting themselves in the lives/cultures of other people, and I guess I'm still surprised by such things.
Which reminds me of a funny story...I'm at the bank the other day, and some lady is having trouble with an ATM withdrawal at the bank, which is not where she has an account, mind you. She's acting as she's been affronted and put out. The prelude to this exhibit was the Romney/Ryan sticker on the car in the parking lot I rode by on the way to the front door...yeah, the same one with the Tibetan flag on the front license plate. So, the red dwarf is pulsing with heat energy when her bratwurst of a beau hits the front door, asking of the problem. He notes that he watched them "count it three times," whatever "it" was and that HE knows how everything should be going down. If only he ran that bank, right? In fact, if only Romney/Ryan ran this country...which is why I noted on my ride out of the parking lot that once those guys are in charge, there will be no such worries, because they'll take care of everything and life will be free of such frustrations. I just got a confused look that almost certainly morphed into rage once I was a few hundred meters away.
Enjoy the latest Neely amusement (latest for me, anyway...I don't have the time to drop in on this stuff all the time...I just pull something up every now and then):
Professor Brothers-Date
Went to see Maps and Atlases in Asheville the other night. Absolutely one of the best bands I've ever had the good fortune to run across. Please, all, let us take up our hymn books and sing the praise of
Israeli Caves
Solid Ground
Living Decoration
White Denim are a bunch of really talented guys, but, unfortunately for them, the world doesn't even need one Widespread Panic or Dave Matthews. These two tunes don't, however, fit into that slime mold and rock pretty freaking solidly
Shake Shake Shake
I Start to Run
Oh, and Suttree by McCarthy...yet another indication that he is not Faulkner, but that the latter was a time traveler that took what little he learned of this giant and brought it back to his era for the purposes of getting laid and seeming confusing, hence talented, to masses of wealthy rednecks. Thanks for the reference on that one, Adam, and thanks for the McCarthy line, in general, Bobby Fin.
Love you all...now feast your eyes on what is, officially, on the way...
Icon
...carbon be damned.
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