Just some thoughts

It is interesting to watch the US government at work. At least they are balking at giving the auto makers a bailout. Geesh!! I have been watching the oil industry and the auto industry in this country for 40 years. I have been through gas shortages and gas lines. I have watched the US sink to their knees because some oil cartel dictates that we must. I wondered where our electric cars are. Weren't we supposed to be free of foreign oil years ago? Weren't we supposed to have solar panels on our roofs and electric cars in our garages? Where were the auto makers when we needed them? I waited 30 years for a gas efficient American automobile. I am still disappointed. I drive an American made Hybrid. How come there aren't more and how come it took so long? How come solar panels aren't cheaper? These things should have been developed years ago. And now look at the mess we are in.

Bailouts = rewarding poor behavior. The loans that the banks made were to high risk individuals who could ill afford to pay them back. These were in a lot of cases bad loans. Why are we the taxpayers bailing out these executives. Look at the bonuses. Look at their salaries. They are being paid to fail. I dare say that an American worker would have been fired if he performed like them. What a mess.

Speaking of messes. Yes, we had an election. We have a new president in January. Then why is he now making policy? Didn't he resign his senate seat? Isn't he now just a private citizen? Why is our weak, current president letting Mr. President Elect set current US policy?
Mr. Obama doesn't take office until January 20th. He should wait until then to govern. That is the way this country is set up. WE do not have two presidents. We do not have co-presidents.

And what is with the "Office of the President Elect"? That panel makes it appear that it is an official government office. That is just plain wrong. And he is supposed to be a constitutional law professor. It looks like he doesn't understand that part of the constitution. He doesn't take office until January 20th. I will support him then. Until then I wish he would just let our current president govern. It is going to be an interesting next four years.

I just had to get this off of my chest. Isn't there an office of government protocol? Who else is watching this stuff?

D.

Would The Boy You Were...?

I wrote this poem 29 years ago. I am still wondering about that answer. Some days I think the boy would be happy and proud, other days I wonder. I am not perfect. I try. Jesse, here is that war we were talking about.

I wrote this on a plane flying into New Orleans for my brother's graduation from college in 1979. I was returning home. Everyone, all of my friends, had stayed and gone on to college. I went to work. I did not return home "a shining star" so I had to fictionalize the poem. The sentiments are still the same. Enjoy.

Would The Boy You Were...?

You had a lover once
She loved you with her heart.
Yet you cared not for her
She did not fit your part.
Now you are a big success,
You drive a fancy car.
Would the boy you were
Be proud of the man you are?

You see life as just a game,
You think that you must win.
It's not a game you win or lose
You'll never start again.
Sure you have your riches now,
Your wealth's beyond compare
But would the boy you were
Be proud of the man you are?

You say that you've come home,
You say you're home for good
But Mr. Wolfe was right and
You know you never could.
Did you come back to laugh
At those who never dared
Could the boy you were
Quite possibly have erred?

You see your friends that stayed
They've done more than you.
They've lived and loved and cared
For things you never knew.
And still you see yourself
As some returning star
Expecting the boy you were
To be proud of the man you are.

The people that you've known
The ones you cast aside
Still remain in this town
Though many of them have died.
Do you still expect their love,
Can you still expect concern?
When the man that you are
Is ashamed of the boy you were.

Your soul is plagued with scorn
Your heart can know no love.
The people you employed
It's you they're speaking of
Every time they strike
And walk the picket line
Because that boy you were
Had to account for every dime.

We could expect a change
From a man as old as you.
The wisdom of old age
Can help but a few.
If you could see the evil
That's hidden in your greed,
The boy that you once were
Could love the man you'd be.

Copyright 1979, 2005 By David R. Normand

Real Estate Agents

I wrote this poem about a year ago. I was reminded of it recently when I came home to another set of refrigerator magnet note pads touting a local agent. I have so many of them. It is an awful poem. But the note pads are great. I chop off the picture and name of the agent and use the paper to make my notes. The following of which are some:

I love real estate agents.
Were it not for them,
I doubt some of my stuff
Would ever be written.
I come home somedays
And find, stuck on my door
These wonderful little pads of paper,
Touting a local agent.
I am not interested in selling
The house, only my soul,
And if you would read my lines
The paper's worth is proved.


Just really awful stuff. But I will post it here to let you know that I do think of really weird things.
D.

In the news:

From the Associated Press:
"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Astronauts hitched a giant shipping crate full of home improvement "goodies" to the international space station on Monday, a critical step for boosting the population in orbit."

My first reaction to this statement was that I thought the crate was like a giant shipping crate. My company uses wooden shipping crates. I thought the crate was made of wood. Then I started thinking how wood would react in a weightless environment. Would it explode? Would it condense. In the vacuum of space, would the atoms have enough connection to stay connected? did NASA ever do studies on these materials?

Just some pondering...hey, its what I do.

Updated November 22, 2008 -
My Friend and fellow blogger left a comment and submitted this link:
some sort of answer. Thank you Cosmo.

D.

Yellowstone Trip via Las Vegas

Several years ago I took my family to Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. I made notes from the trip. I filed all of my notes away. Well, this weekend I needed to clean up my desk. I found my travelogue from that trip. In my notes I was reminded of an episode with my wife and kids while driving on the Las Vegas Strip.

We were driving along the Strip with the outside temperature at 114 degrees F. I commented on an elderly woman walking on the sidewalk. She was red faced, sweating, and her mouth was open. I told my kids that that lady was hot. Silence. I realized that they were wondering how to process the information. Probably thinking that I was some kind of pervert. I said it was 114 outside. The lady really was hot.

Com'on.

Encouragement

Encouragement. We all need it. I look for comments on my blog. I need to know whether my efforts here are being read. I had a friend once tell me that I shouldn't write for anyone else, that I should just write for myself. Well, in every writing class that I ever had the teacher, the professor or whomever always said that the writer is a fool who only writes for himself. Words are meant to be expressed. Words are meant to be read. Isn't that the essence of COMMUNication? To communicate. Why else did we create language? Hey, I want people to read my blog. But one thing I realize and have begun to accept is that I cannot force anyone to do anything. I have no control over anyone's feelings or views. I can only hope that they stop by.

But on the subject of encouragement (I had recently shamefully discussed this issue with my former boss). I want to encourage all of my readers, (ok, the three of you), to go and check out Jessie Irvin's blog. (http://jessieirwin.blogspot.com/ on encouragement.) Or for that matter any other blog that I link from here. But Jessie's blog had a great post written on encouragement. That is what got me thinking today. It was just amazing.

Jessie's blog was one of the first I had seen here. I have not read or checked back as much as I should have but I will from now on. I think she hit it "spot on" about how busy we all are in our daily lives. I am pleased that I found her blog. I thank her for sharing her thoughts with us. Her words have made me understand things more, or at least how others feel when I intrude on or interrupt their lives.

Thank you Jessie. You have opened my eyes.
D.

The Journey Begins

Tomorrow I quit my job of 11 years. It is quite a leap to begin a move like this in today's economy. I know I am leaving a lot of friends behind to finish the jobs that I started, but that is the nature of my business. There is always something to be done. Can't finish it all at once. What else would I do? But I do know that I will miss my friends. But real friends will keep in touch. I am sure of that.

I am leaving with bittersweet feelings. I know the time has come to move on. I was unhappy there. I like to see things finalized. I like to get things done. More and more the work I was doing was met with greater priorities and I was not allowed to complete my tasks. It was frustrating and disappointing. Indeed, it cut straight to my core. There is a great hurt in leaving my job the way I leave it. But I know that some of the tasks I leave behind are very close to being complete.
I think this job taught me something. I shall plan better next time. I will not try to do too much. And I shall try to listen to my co-workers when they tell me to get lost.

I am on a journey of self discovery. Isn't that what life is all about? I am seeking fulfillment and respect. The next phase of my journey is about to begin. Life is full of changes. Nothing lasts forever. There are many changes coming. I just hope I haven't lost too much in the process. There are some things more precious than others. As I move on to another position, another company, I just hope that I have learned something about myself and how others see me. I am trying to be a better person.

I guess someday I will find out if I succeed or not. Wish me luck. Thanks.

Post Katrina casualty

I received an e-mail from the classmates.com website telling me that several of my classmates from high school had left messages. I am always looking for old friends (and new ones, for that matter) so I thought I would check it out and see who's talking.

I didn't see any old names that I hadn't contacted but I did check out the news and notifications site about my old high school. It turns out that my old school, our old high school, is about to be demolished. Interesting news. Kind of sad in some ways. But not unexpected. I guess they haven't been using it since Katrina. The pictures I have seen post Katrina really showed that the place was a mess.

My school is located in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. It is about half way between the lower Ninth Ward and my old childhood home in the "upper" Ninth Ward, or the "east village" (the Village d' Lest neighborhood). During the flooding after hurricane Katrina in August, 2005 the school had about 8 feet of water in it. I remember seeing a video that someone had posted about the school. The video showed the school fenced off and sealed up. The videographer found a way inside and said that the stench was unbearable.

Well, I guess the time has come to tear it down. Just kind of sad. I have only been back to New Orleans once since I graduated in high school in 1976. I had planned to go the summer of 2005. Budgetary concerns kept us from making that trip. I had wanted to show my kids where I grew up. You know, give my kids some perspective on their old man. The place is different now. I still hope to show them New Orleans. But it will be a different place.

Maybe someday.
D.

Halloween Faux Pas

I love the fall of the year. The weather is supposed to start cooling off and the Apples are just coming ready from the orchards in the mountains 50 miles east of our town. It is always nice because we have great neighbors who bring us fresh apples from the mountains.

Yesterday's holiday (Halloween) is always a favorite at our household. Our kids are grown. My son, 14, went to a friend's house to scare all the neighborhood youngsters. (We heard screams coming from down the street all evening.) My daughter is away at college. The true enjoyment that we get is from all of the young children getting dressed up and coming to our door. My sister called and said she would stop by with her two little girls, my nieces, aged 2 and 3. They were both so cute dressed up as Snow White.

My sister took her kids trick or treating in our neighborhood for awhile and then stopped back by our house so her kids could wind down. Well, Uncle David would have none of that. I had the girls doing pull ups on the chinup bar that I installed for my son. I must have lifted them up ten times. It was a lot of fun. The youngest one kept asking "peas", so I had to lift her up. They were having such great fun.

The funny thing is that they both came in and put their little baskets on out coffee table. That is where we kept our bowl of candy to give out to all the little trick or treaters. When they noticed our bowl of candy, the started grabbing handfuls of candy to stock their baskets. Now a 2 or 3 year old does not have a large hand but they still managed to get several handfuls into their baskets. We managed to make things right. I gave a them each a few pieces.

We played and visited for a little while until it was time for them to leave. My wife offered my sister some fresh apples to take home for her girls. We got her a bag. After they had left we realized that my sister had forgotten the bag. It was then that my wife said it was just as well. That we shouldn't be giving Snow White apples anyway. She might be right. But ours were really quite harmless.

Enjoy your weekend.