In the words of the great Southern novelist Walker Percy: . . . In these times everyone is an apostle of sorts, ringing doorbells and bidding his neighbor to believe this and do that. In such times, when everyone is saying “Come!” it may be that the best way to say “Come!” is to remain silent. Sometimes silence itself is a “Come!”
Or maybe that’s just an excuse for sloth.
I've written before about how I think the Japanese have the best chocolates. This evening I was getting my chocolate fix when I popped open a small box of chocobaby nuggets. They do look a little like mouse turds, but the taste well makes up for any such association.
On the box one notices that a few of these little mini-bite-size pieces have a gold star on them. I estimate that about one in ten have this special mark. However, before I even noticed any of these markings I grabbed a handful and popped them into my mouth. Only after it was too late did I notice that one of them had a perfectly formed smiley face in yellowish-gold. But it was now past my tongue and into my tummy. I didn't think that this might be a very special chunk of candy. But maybe it was. I searched in vain for another smiley among the 100 or so little chocolate pieces.
Maybe I could have have won some special Japanese version of a Willy Wonka tour. But without an ability to read those funny looking characters, I'll just have to hope that I didn't eat away my chance at financial security when I chomped on that little brown critter.
Maybe our favorite Japanese student can fill us in on the wonders of chocobaby someday. For me it's now time to find some good instant java to accompany my little treat. 
I read in today’s newspaper that this very day is the gloomiest day of the year. I forget exactly how they figured it, but it has to do with amount of sunlight, distance from Christmas, and a few other factors. For the happiest day of the year statistically we’ll have to wait until June 23rd.
On a related note, the sermon at our church yesterday was on the related topic of depression, presented by an M.D. in our congregation. (I don’t know if the leadership at church timed his message to correspond with today’s special date or not.) So depression has been on my mind these past few days.
However, for some odd reason I can’t relate right now. I worked a mere eight hours today, came home, tried to catch up on paper work on my desk, gave up, went to the Lazy boy, pickup up a book ,read a few pages, fell asleep, woke up with my wife’s nudging, ate some meatballs and rice, snuck some (well more than some, actually quite a few) Hershey’s chocolates, drank some coffee, grabbed my iPod, and headed out into the cold to my brother’s accounting office to work on year end stuff like W-2s and 1099s. And as I sped (but well within the legal speed limit) down highway 100 passing cars doing only 80! (kph, that is, told you I was being good), the snow started lightly falling. And it was beautiful. And the roads were quite good. And I had the stereo cranked with a mixture of my favorites. And I was feeling so great I almost felt guilty about it.
So was it the 25 byte sized chocolates? Or was I just being a counter balance to all those who were in a funk today? I don’t know. But I was feeling great this evening and I actually finished with my official tax documents earlier than I ever have been in my life. It is only January 23rd.
What will I do for the rest of the week? I hope I don’t get down for lack of anything to do.
Yikes! Scratch that thought, I just glanced back over at my desk, the one that has just enough room for this one keyboard. (The mouse has to sit on another table.) But even the huge pile of papers hasn't got me down.
But for those who are stuck with the blues right now, I hope and pray that this will be the down-est day of the year, and the days to follow will begin to improve and continue to flourish.
In my younger grade school days I used to tell people that I have been on television. I would wait until they were duly impressed before I would let on that I was speaking about my family’s personal TV, the one that sat in the living room, the one that had a quality cabinet built around it, the one that would hold a 70 pound boy. Sure I should have thrown in an indefinite article to speak more properly about my feat, but hey that wouldn’t have quite worked to gain people’s astonishment.
But as I aged to that ripe old year of 14, I actually did appear on television. And it wasn’t my parent’s this time. I was actually on the tube in the greater Minot, ND metropolitan area. I had my 15 seconds of fame as they actually brought TV cameras to record a game between the Crystal, MN Babe Ruth Senators and the Minot Babe Ruth all-stars. Somehow I managed to get a hit that night and it was recorded for all those watching the city’s (I think) sole television station’s evening news to enjoy.
That was a great evening. I think we won the game. It was mid-June, so some teammates and I were able to walk from one end of the town to the other around 11 p.m. and still have daylight. That was cool. And even cooler than that was I got to hear a new song that weekend. The host family’s kid just purchased Deep Purple’s latest album and played “Smoke on the Water” over and over and over. I now also take pride in the fact that I can still play this awesome rock anthem on the guitar even to this day. (This is an extra little known fact thrown in for free.)
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Why the heck am I blogging about this? I was tagged a while back with the assignment to name five things that people do not know about me. Of course I hated to rush into this to quickly. I responded back in December with one earth shattering revelation, the fact that I was tagged. Well, I guess this makes the TV disclosure number 2. (“Smoke on the Water” is number 2.25.)
What's the deal? Is there nothing decent on TV tonight? Did some muse hit me along side the head? Am I using this as a way to avoid doing important paper work? Am I too tired to get out of this chair and do something productive?
If I figure it out, I'll post a blog 4 for the day.
I read an article in today’s Minneapolis newspaper. It was about blogging. It gave lots of advice. Some of it probably good. No sentence fragments. Things that work for the “successful” blogs.
After reading the article I came to the conclusion that I'm doing this thing all wrong. I’m blowing it. I’m not consistent. I have no common theme. I don’t spend time trying to promote the thing. I don't keep up on my links.
I suppose I can blame it on the fact that I never took a blogging class way back when I was in school. Instead I took all this useless stuff like history and literature and science. I guess I was kind of forced into it. My school never offered a blogging major. So what can you expect?
Plop, plop, fizzle, crash. Over a week ago I bumped into a bucket of water with my cell phone dutifully hanging on to my back pocket. Well, the phone didn’t hang on quite long enough. The phone case’s clip slipped off my back side and straight down into the icy water. I spent the next two days trying to resuscitate the annoying companion. Its seemingly constant cry was finally silenced. No more would I run across the room at this particular phone’s beck and call.
As I came to accept the fact that this phone is no more (it is fast becoming a post-phone, one that wasn’t coming back to full health), I starting looking for a replacement. This led me to a Blackberry phone which allowed me to use a cordless Bluetooth headset with it. Pretty slick. It also allowed me to store all of my Outlook phone numbers and addresses as well as lots of other goodies. BUT this new phone would not work with my old calling plan. My old calling plan which I’ve had for almost 10 years still includes first minute free and per second billing! I just couldn’t give this up. So I said good-bye to my new Blackberry pal.
Caught in the dilemma of wanting this new phone (but not wanting to loose my old plan) and not wanting to commit myself to a lesser new phone with a one- or two-year contract, I starting rummaging through my closet. And what did I find but a twentieth century phone, an old reliable Nokia with a (heaven forbid) monochrome screen, no polyphonic rings, no flashing lights, a plain tan cover, and no key-lock feature. Wow, how spoiled I’ve become. It’s so basic, so utilitarian.
It’s definitely not a phone I can carry around in public, especially if teen-agers are present.
So now I’m caught in limbo, waiting for a newer Blackberry type phone that will allow me to use my old plan. (I hear there’s one coming.) While at the same time I’m using this ancient phone from a previous century. But I guess the good news is that I have survived. I can still be bothered by all those curious about my whereabouts.
I suppose I should be thankful that I still had it (since I never throw anything away.) And I am grateful that at least it’s not rotary.
I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve last blogged. I’m not saying that that’s necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it might actually be a very good thing. It sure has saved me a lot of time. And for anyone who was tempted to visit this site during the past week, I’m sure it’s been an equally great savings of time and effort.
This got me thinking. Should I take advantage of this absence of content on my blog? Is an empty space under the current date appealing? Might this be something that people might actually need? Could this be a favorite feature, the blank page? Should I rename my blog something like “A blog for the busy professional?” How about this? “Hey you, I’m offering a blog which you can visit in record time. Add one more blog to your list of blogs visited, and feel great that you have not wasted any time at all.”
Marketing my blog has never been an interest, much less even a thought these past many months. But marketing seems to be the world we live in. We’re inundated from the time we crawl out of bed to the second we click off the TV at night with pleas and plugs and pushes to notice others that we might otherwise try to ignore. At home, I’m buried with piles of junk mail that accumulate faster than I can toss them, my phone rings almost constantly with people on the other end that I have no interest in talking to, people selling expensive money in the guise of “helping me.” The hard and soft sell is everywhere. Those clamoring for our attention are ever-present. Some get heard others do not.
I was intrigued yesterday afternoon by a sight that made me think about the importance of relevant marketing. Some local fixtures had put a new spin on their craft. I was driving just north of downtown Minneapolis and the usual street beggars were working a busy corner, one block east of the freeway and one block west of four notorious dives, including Stand-up Franks and Irv’s Bar. The industrious, ingenious entrepreneurs had made some new signs for the unusually warm January Friday afternoon. The signs read “Why lie / Need Beer.” It first brought a smile to my face and a chuckle inside. I tried not to be judgmental over the fact that they missed a question mark in their first line. But then I noticed that I have never seen so many windows rolled down offering help. Maybe it was a response to what people perceived as honesty, or maybe it was that those in the cars could actually relate better to those on the street corner holding the signs. Seeing someone with a sign proclaiming homelessness might actually widen the gap between the driver and the walker/stander. And then the bit about “God Bless,” might actually make people uncomfortable. But hey, yesterday right there in front of me, is a guy who just needs a beer. He’s just like me . . . , (except for the fact that I don’t touch the stuff. Not that I personally abhor the sludge, but it would seriously cut into my coffee and Dairy Queen budget.) But for most of the driver’s around me, they were probably racing home to pop a cold one. Maybe that’s why I saw a high five between one of the encounters. So maybe these guys had struck a chord with the motoring crowd, especially on a sunny Friday.
But back to my idea of marketing my blog for those who don’t have time to actually read blogs. It could be a place to go with low commitment on the part of the reader. How 21st century is that? It would provide no controversy, no guilt, and no challenging ideas. It would have no tempting links. It would provide service on the par of a McDonald’s drive thru.
I suppose I had something valuable going this past week (silence, white space, peace), but now the weekend has come and I’ve screwed it up. I’ve written a whole lot of words, and they’ve been provided with not even one lousy picture to break up the monotony. Oh well, maybe I should go read some marketing books.
It has been an extremely busy week and I’ve committed an almost unpardonable sin. I have not read my dear wife’s blog in over a week. In fact I haven’t read any blogs, mine included. I could say that I read mine, since there wasn’t anything there to read, but anyways. What I’m trying to say is I need help. Could I get a volunteer to read my wife’s blog and then call me to let me know what she has to say. I’m actually quite curious. And then I wouldn’t look like such a fool when I finally hop into bed. I might then actually have a clue about what’s gone on in her life. It might even lead to informed conversations and shared feelings and deepened understandings and stuff like that. And that might be very special.
As all close followers of Weird Al Yankovic know, he has been on the outs with superstar rapster Coolio ever since the “great one” recorded the heartfelt hit “Amish Paradise.” Sampling the tune of the hip hop artist’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” Mr. Weird tells a moving tale of a humble Mennonite family. W.A.Y. chronicles the struggles of living a faithful life in the 20th century. With hope though, the family portrayed holds onto the possibility of being able to party like it’s 1699. It’s a revealing story of honesty. Even though the family falls short of living a perfect life (they haven’t paid the phone bill in 300 years), they live a life of forgiveness and restraint. During the humiliation of being kicked in the butt, the father of the family models the Sermon on the Mount by turning the other cheek.
It’s a song definitely worth listening to. I would link you to the lyrics, but the words removed from the music are not quite as powerful. So go out and buy the CD or drop by my house and I’ll let you listen to my iPod.
Oh yeah, the good news. It’s not just that there is a wonderful song out there, as good as that is. The hip hoper and the parody king have resolved their years-long squabble. This morning’s Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper even had a picture of the two hugging in reconciliation. How’s that for something to sing about?
It’s been a warmer than normal winter here on the Tundra. I have yet to experience those energizing days of having my nostril hairs freeze. I haven’t felt that brutal bite of sensing each crease in my forehead as I open wide my eyes or squint to see something. I haven’t been confident that nature’s fury has encouraged all the “riffraff” to move on to warmer climes. I’ve worried that I might become soft and wimpy. Oh winter, where is thy sting?
To help the Warden this morning, I did tag team dog duty. Raven and I left the house heading north and I was so tempted to get out on the lake, but some remaining semblance of common sense urged me to stay on the path. It’s exciting out on the lake, winter or summer. And normally January is one of the safest months. I don’t read about many drowning during the first month in this part of the country. By now it should be safe for not only dogs and people and snowmobiles and cars. Usually by now you can slip your one ton pickup into four wheel drive and drag your winter cabin out on the lake.
As a lifelong Minnesotan I know we’ll pay for this. Come April or May we’ll get dumped upon. As the flowers are starting to pop up we’ll look out the window and see huge white flakes attacking with a vengeance. The winds will jump right over Canada and slap us with a direct hit from the North Pole. Those who were too anxious for spring will have to make a second trip to the greenhouse and re-buy their living lawn accessories. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And join me in being grateful that that’s probably good for business.
But for now I’ll stay off the lakes until I see the first lilies start to reveal their glory.
Is Christmas really over? I suppose it is. And I’m assuming that even Chanukah is now over. Except for our friends in Russia and Greece, they’re right in the thick of . . . no . . . I guess it’s post-Christmas for them too. We really must be back in the thick of things. Maybe that’s why I’m back to working around the clock.
But tonight I revisited a Christmas vacation treat. I played two rounds of a new game called BLOKUS. I’m not sure if it is pronounced “block us” or “bloke us.” The former would make more sense, since it is a strategy game where one places his pieces in such a manner to block others while depleting one’s own supply of TETRIS like shapes. This relatively new game has won the 2003 Astra Good Toy Award, the Mensa Select competition award, the Oppenheim Best Toy Award, the 2003 Dr. Toy 100 Best award, the Learning Magazine Teachers’ Choice award, and is a nominee for the 2005 Toy of the Year Award. It deserves all the accolades that it gets.
We fell in love with it in Tennessee and now it plays just as well in Minnesota. And tonight I’m flying high because I actually won! And I won with a perfect score, the first time I’ve been able to accomplish this feat. This evening’s last game was actually a tie with my daughter’s boyfriend. High school show-off! Doesn’t he know to respect his elders and let them win, helping them deal with any mid-life crises?
One of the game’s big advantages is that it can be learned by an eight year old, but yet stay fresh and challenging to those well versed in strategy games. I highly recommend it to all!
