Uruguay

I realize that I have not done any real research in quite a while. I was thinking back to what is a nonagon. You’ll have to go back a few months for that one. I was thinking about Simon Bolivar and trying to remember all of the countries in South America and thought about Uruguay. You don’t hear much about Uruguay when you hear about South America. It is either, Columbia and cocaine, Brazil and Carnival, Peru and the Incas, or Venezuela and oil. The rest of the countries are pretty much non-existent in the media. Well maybe Argentina every once in a while. Well, here is something Uruguay.

It is a country about the size of the state of Washington sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina on the South Atlantic coast. The capital is Montevideo and is located on the Atlantic Coast. Montevideo was founded in 1726 by the Spanish as a military stronghold. Uruguay was annexed by Brazil in 1821 and declared its independence from them 3 years later. By 1828, they had won their independence.

Uruguay has a temperate climate where freezing temperatures are rare. They have large arable tracts of land that are used for grazing sheep and cattle. Their economy is largely oriented toward exporting food commodities such as rice, wheat and corn. They are a fairly educated population with a literacy rate of 98%. Their government is a constitutional republic similar to the United States.

With a stable economy, an educated population and a representative government it is easy to understand how they manage to stay out of the news. If only some other countries would take the hint and stop with the press release mentality, the world would become a better place.

Uruguay actually sounds like someplace I would like to visit. It’s warm, stable and on an ocean. There are probably some nice beachfront to spend a restful week lounging in the sun. I’ll have to save up a little green and convince the wife that a flight to South America is a good thing. I can already hear that one.

Icool

Cobb

Antelope Play

I know that the song goes, "Where the deer and the antelope play.", but taking things completely out of context, what would an antelope play look like? I mean what kind of play would an antelope write. I guess it would depend on what type of antelope wrote the play. There are antelopes that live on the plains, in herds and use their speed and numbers to survive and there are the solitary antelope that live on the mountains and use their agility as their means to success.

If it was the type that lives in herds, I can envision a huge cast with lots of supporting extras but only three main characters. You would have the lead bull, his lead cow, and the bull that's the contender for the top spot. There would be lots of choreographed head ramming and long segments of dialogue about youth vs experience. There would be the taunting and the jeers and finally the swooning for the victor at the end. There might be a big dance number at the end with the whole herd joining in. I guess that would make it a musical and not a play but to an antelope, that would be a small difference.

The solitary antelope would have a sparce cast. Maybe even simply a monologue. It would be what is going on in that antelope's life for that day. It might be the lack of good pastures to graze on or a constant rain. It could be about the new cow he just met or that his oldest son just got his own herd. Not all news is about bad things. The play would change depending on what was going on in the antelope's life.

It is like that in life. The dance of the herd is done daily and changes little and gradually. The cast appears to be the same and the events pre-planned and choreographed. For the solitary antelope, our daily needs and praises are always changing. New influences enter our lives and we are provided the ability to grow from our experiences. We are all part of the herd, just as we are all individuals. Do we follow what the majority want or do we focus on our own immediate needs, goals and rewards? It is some mix that leads to a healthy life. It is the mix that we strive to find and occasionally do. Mostly is shifts from day to day.

So the next time you are looking for your home on the range, remember it is where the antelope play.

Icool

Cobb

Its Good To Be Home

I spent a wonderful day Wednesday of this week in a conference room at the Hyatt Hotel in Southfield. It was a meeting of all of the managers in my group to discuss direction and how to improve our performance. The meeting started at 7:30 with a retired Army Colonel talking about what makes a good leader. He had his dress uniform on and gave some great insight into the military version of leadership. Now that is not too far from business leadership in the way battle is fought between opposing forces. In the business world, it may be more than two opposing forces and the strategies may be completely different. I could go on this topic for the rest of the blog but I will save that for another day.

The rest of the meeting was introducing the new teams that had been put together to support our groups and the new requirements for information that we were going to have to send up monthly. Nothing Earth shattering, just more work. They are adding staff at the corporate level and we are being asked to do with less at the plant level. Amazing how that happens. It may not appear to be safe here at the plant, but when push comes to shove, they tend to jettison corporate bodies before plant bodies because we actually make the money to support the structure. Plus, it is easier to hide out here.

Lunch was excellent and the deserts were top notch. I needed plenty of coffee to make it through the afternoon and ended up standing to ensure that snoring didn’t occur. I felt the eyes getting very heavy more than once. It was not that the topics were not interesting. I just normally spend more time moving during that part of the day. Full stomach + warm room + sitting all day + too much information = coma.

It is nice to be back where I have a routine that can be followed. I know what to do when and can allow the chaos to flow around me at my own pace, most of the time. What would we do without routines? Coma anyone?


Icool

Cobb

Celebriterrorism, The Votes Are In

It seems that America does vote with their wallet. The show West Wing has been cancelled by NBC due to low ratings. It would appear that viewers are no longer interested in great enough numbers to continue to watch such a liberal agenda crammed down their throats. Without the viewers, the advertisers are not going to spend their precious marketing budgets to entice the viewer to buy their product. That is how capitalism works after all. You spend money to create something that people want in hopes that they will buy it. That is what television programming is. You are buying a product.

You will note that PBS, who does not have to create programming that people want, asks you to pledge funds to keep them afloat. That is not capitalism, it is begging. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some PBS programs but I would not send them money to keep them on TV. If they were viable, they would support themselves on a network. But of course PBS came into being before cable and it is often difficult to make something that does not want to die just fade away.

Now the West Wing had a few more surprises. Entertainment Tonight asked a few stars what they thought. George Clooney was surprised that such a wonderful show would be going off the air. Since it spreads his liberal communist doctrine, he was sad to see it go. Of course his movies, that color the truth about history and current events, have done so well at the box office. What were they again, something about the McCarthy hearings and something about oil and terrorism? Oh boy, two hot buttons and no one was interested.

So America, get out there and continue to vote. The more these celebrity terrorists realize that we are not interested in what they are peddling, the more insane they will get and we will all realize the folly of their endeavor. Maybe we can get a reality show called "Celebrity Suicide." Now that I would watch.

Icool

Cobb

Ghetto

This is a funny word. I heard an Aerosmith song today where he had his feet in the ghetto. When was the last time you heard anyone talk about the ghetto? Other than dressing ghetto, it has become a fashion statement instead of a place to live. I think it has been replaced by the hood.

Does the ghetto still exist? It used to be the projects or government housing. Now it is the place where drive by shootings and crack houses are the main sources of entertainment. It is still a place where minorities abound and the poor struggle for daily existance. A place where the man keeps you down and escape is next to impossible. A place to give up and let the system consume the last of your dreams. Isn't fatalism catchy? I fail because the system is designed to make that happen. No I succeed because I want it. Make up your mind. But I digress.

I think of the ghettoes of Krakow in WWII. It is where the Nazis had the Poles penned up and living like animals. Where they went in and killed an entire population because they were not the correct race. What a crime. What a shame. What a disgrace. We went to war to stop insane thinking like that. But lets not talk about Iraq. We have associated ghettoes with keeping a population down and attempting to exterminate them. I am glad that the phrase has gone out of fashion as a place to live and gone into fashion as a style of dress. Just get yourself a basketball jersey and a pair of baggy shorts. Make sure everyone can see your underwear and you've got it. Oh wear a baseball cap. I guess it does not matter which way.

Icool

Cobb

Back Pain

There is nothing so debilitating as back pain. We finally got our kitchen floor completely finished and moved the furniture and appliances back in to their resting spots. I am paying for it today. My lower back is fine as long as I sit but the minute I stand, walk, shift in the chair, or try to lift anything heavier than a loaf of bread, I get that shooting pain.

The first time this happened to me, I had just started a new job. It was one of my short lived career moves. The drive was an hour one way and it was a huge metal stamping and welding operation. Lots of employees and a management structure that made no sense. I was in charge of a department and responsible for everything that went on but had not authority to fix the problems. I had to go to an operations manager to get him to fix things and since they were not his priority, you can imagine the outcome. But I had to make the things happen. There was an accountability meeting where we reviewed weekly metrics. I started to loathe them about the second week. I worked there for about two months and the started having back spasms about week two (maybe some link here). I was put on a great pain killer and an anti-inflammatory. The pain killers were one daily. I got to the point where I would take two before work just to get through the day. I hated the job. They would get aggravated and rant and rave at me and I would smile because the pain killers were doing the job. My back felt better and my mind felt nothing. Fortunately, my old position had not been filled and I was able to return to the place whence I came. And viola, the pain went away. Well, not that fast, but with chiropractic help and less stress, I was able to get back in shape.

The second time was when I was lifting an 8 pack of pop at a Kroger store. Yes, an 8 pack of pop. I almost fell to the ground it hurt so much. Maybe that is why I don’t like shopping at Kroger. That one was pain killer free. You can get to like those too much. I saw the chiropractor and used a heating pad. That fixed that one.

I have been fortunate lately and kept my back pain free for a few years now and now I am paying for my appliance moves. The up side is that my knees and hands are not part of that equation. No rub burns from the knee pads and no cuts, scrapes, or knuckle stress from the sawing, cutting, grouting or laying of trim. The floor is done and it looks great. Well worth the cost.

So, a little back pain is worth not having to do the work myself. Ask me again tomorrow and I might give you a different answer.


Icool

Cobb

Celibriterrorism

I have been thinking about the way Hollywood and the music industry try to affect both US and world opinion. It is amazing how intelligent these people get once they get famous. Many are worshipped because they can stand in front of a camera and spout off memorized lines while posing in the appropriate body language and the correct facial expression. That is an accomplishment. My 10 year old does it every day and usually much more convincingly. Others are worshipped because they were creative enough to write/sing/perform a song that caught someone’s fancy. How do mimicry and musical ability translate into being knowledgeable on such topics as the myth of global warming, world hunger, international banking, and animal rights? If my son is any indication of what direction we are heading, it will be a world of Cartoon Network and Playstation.

Obviously, some of these people have traveled to foreign countries to either film or tour. They have seen the plight of the populations in the countries they visit and come back to the land of the rich and famous. They have collected their paychecks for the work that was done. I can guarantee it is more than most of the people in those foreign countries make in their lives. Yet they come back to the security of the US and must begin to feel guilty for having taken their huge paycheck while leaving others starving. There is no realization of events other than guilt. They do not know why things are the way they are but because the US is successful it must be their fault, somehow. We must stop this now.

I used to think Hollywood and the music world were cool. The celebrities must be great people to accomplish what they do. The scales have fallen from my eyes. People like Barbara Streisand, George Clooney, Bono, and Pamela Anderson all try to push their misguided agendas on the citizens of the world. The very country that provided them the platform to achieve what they have accomplished is now the target of their derision and we are too stupid to connect the dots. There are now movies that I will not watch and music that I turn off due to the ignorance of those who perform them. I used to love John Mellencamp before he came out against the President on the war in Iraq. I know you have an opinion, but your celebrity status is not a license to broadcast your opinion to the world. Sing it but don’t say it.

Celebrities have always used their art to convey how they feel. That is what art is. It is something that at least tries to convey an idea or emotion. It is when the artist decides to become a spokes-model for some misguided opinion that I turn them off. Since we cannot vote for the opposing candidate when it comes to celebrities, I do the next best thing. I vote with my wallet. If they are not supported financially, they lose their status. Unfortunately, celebrity worship will never end and there will always be someone who with their designer rose colored glasses decides to bite the hand that feeds them instead of looking through the clear lens of reality.

Icool

Cobb

Can’t Always Get What You Want

This is my favorite line to use with my kids. The ever murmured, “I want, I want, I want” mantra seems to pervade through our household, especially when money is tight and they see their friends with some new gadget. I can hear my parents saying, “We used to play with tin cans and string or just go out and play.” We had a little more than that but the electronic and computer age has made a big difference in the expectations of our children. We must make the decisions for what and whom our children play with. There are so many options and we cannot know the full range of those options unless we get in their game or do the research. I try to do both, neither well. It is nice to hear, as the knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade says, “You have chosen wisely.” Well maybe someday.

As adults, we learn the art of denial. We know that we can go out and get whatever we want, for the most part, but we become more discerning about what we get. Sometime after our 13th birthday, later for boys, we realize that things do not make us happy. It is not the gadget that gives us the pleasure, it is the people we are with that truly provide us happiness. The amassing of things will never truly give anyone happiness. It may provide a temporary jolt of enjoyment but it is usually short lived and the gadget soon relegated to a less prominent place. It is not what you have, but what you do. Whether it is your family, friends or your work, you need to make the best of what it there.

Work is a major portion of everyone’s life. I still tell people that I do not know what I want to do when I grow up. I have a descent career in the automotive manufacturing industry. I enjoy what I do but I do not associate myself with what I do. My self worth is not measured by how I do my job. It is a job and nothing more. I do it to the best of my ability and try to leave it at work. Not always easy. I have switched jobs several times. Early on it was boredom. Sometimes you do not know how well you have it until you leave. Sometimes it was due to an oppressive environment where you just hated going in any more. Sometimes it was money which ended up never being worth it. I have grown older and wiser and realize that if you find something that you enjoy, with people that you like, and the pay is worth the effort, stick with it. “The grass is always greener” is so true. Since I have learned to quit following the herd, I am no longer chasing that elusive greener pasture. And sometimes, I get what I need.

Icool

Cobb

Unrest in the Forest

It would seem that I am not done with RUSH Hemispheres yet. My oldest daughter was doing a poetry project for her freshman English class and she needed a lyrical poem to add to her collection. She had chosen something from the Backstreet Boys, I think but did not have access to the words because our internet had been disconnected. We moved our computer across the living room and had to have Buckeye come out and move the cable.

Well, being musically inclined, I thought of RUSH “The Trees” from Hemispheres. I gave her the lyrics and played her the song. Her first thought was that it was about the struggle between black and white. I told her that it definitely fit the profile but you had to look at the bigger picture. It is any struggle between two groups. Here are the lyrics to help with that line of discussion.

"The Trees"

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

The song is about any two groups that cannot find some common ground on which to build a relationship. Sooner or later, one of them takes drastic action and a higher authority comes in with rules that neither want but are forced to accept. In this case, it is rule by hatchet, axe or saw.

So the next time there is unrest in the forest, it may be loftier to stick to your guns and assume the higher ground but in the end, looking for some common ground on which to build a relationship is always the best approach. Saddam Hussein is a classic example of not playing nicely. There is still unrest in the forest, but he is no longer one of the trees.

Icool

Cobb

What A Fool Believes

Today is the day. We are having our kitchen floor professionally installed. We spent last night clearing everything off of the floor so they would be able to come right in and start the project. I disassembled the table and stored it in the living room. I was going to clear out the refrigerator and give it a complete cleaning but that was too much work for last night. The last thing I took out was the stove. I turned off the gas and unscrewed the connector. There was a brief whiff of gas but that was it. The hardest part was putting the stove on the back porch. It was a narrow fit through the sliding glass door.

So now we have an empty kitchen. The dogs have had a blast sliding across the floor and there is even an echo due to the absence of stuff. The best part of this is I will not have to recuperate (at least physically) from this experience. No aching knees or back. Just a small pain in the wallet but that can be healed much more quickly. It is difficult to believe that I am no longer in my 20's and cannot do these strenuous, massive projects. What would have taken me probably 5 days 20 years ago would take me 5 weeks now. I should have thought this through before I decided that this was something I could do.

So, as I have the Michael McDonald song running through my head, I come to the realization that some things are better left to the professionals and that youth is wasted on the young. The best part is I would not trade where I am to go back, even armed with the knowledge I currently possess. Life has not always been fair but I must say I have enjoyed the second half much more that the first. Youth isn't everything.

Icool

Cobb

PETOP

I just read the most horrifying story about Pamela Anderson. Her kook fringe organization is trying to get the statue of Colonel Sanders removed from the capital building in Kentucky. This is in protest to the chicken processing plants that supply Kentucky Fried Chicken supposedly “abusing” the birds before they are slaughtered. What removal of the statue of the founder of the company who founded and sold the chain before he died is going to do to rectify the supposed abuse is beyond me. At best it would be a symbol of how absurd our country has become to the plight of the beasts our heavenly Father gave us to use as food. At worst it would represent how spineless our current batch of politicians in the face of celebriterrorists.

If you take this concept to its ultimate absurdity, you come up with all Americans ceasing to eat meat and anything derived from animals. I would think that eggs and cheese would be included in the mix because eggs are undeveloped chickens and milk is produced by artificially stimulating dairy animals to produce. Both of those constitute animal abuse in the eyes of those who do not understand that God has given us dominion.

That leaves us with eating only plants. I find that to be an unpleasant concept. A nice juicy New York strip steak, medium rare trumps any vegetable dish I can think of. I don’t think they can do that with tofu. If you take the abuse to the next level, you could say that farmers, forcing plants to grow in the methods they use to produce them, forcing fertilizer on them and using machinery to harvest them is cruel to the plants. They should be able to grow as they want without the interference of man. Our only place in the whole process would be to pick up the fruit or vegetable once it has fallen from the plant. Anything else could be harmful to the plant and shorten its life unnecessarily. That would eliminate most of the food derived from plants I can think of.

This kook fringe appears to be concerned with the extinction of man. Apparently we do not deserve to live and should all die so the animals and plants can once again rule the Earth. So let’s all get together and join my new organization, People for the Ethical Treatment Of Plants, PETOP, and strive to make ourselves extinct. Now, since we are not concerned with harming humans, we will make the Vegans extinct first. Do you like you dirt medium or well done?

Icool

Cobb

In A Single Perfect Sphere

I worked as a temporary employee making salad dressing for restaurants and cafeterias. The job lasted all of two weeks and I was so fed up with the working conditions and the management that I had called the agency to get me out of there. The end of my second week, the supervisor called me into his office and told me the devastating news that my services were no longer needed. He gave me the option of finishing the day or leaving immediately. Well, I jumped all over the leave immediately. After all, I was maybe 18 years old and had two weeks of pay burning a hole in my pocket.

Now I lived in a little town south west of Toledo about 20 miles and the salad dressing maker was just short of the Michigan border in Toledo. It was about a 45 minute drive to get there and this was the early 80’s. My car had AM radio and no air conditioning. I did however have a tape recorder, the kind you used to tape conversations. I also had a few cassette tapes as this was the up and coming music format. 8-track was already on the way out but I still loved the repeatability of that format.

I was just starting to get into RUSH as a group as they were the hottest group at the time. I believe that Permanent Waves had just been released and Spirit of Radio was climbing the charts. I had gone to their previous album, Hemispheres, to give it a listen. I popped the cassette in as I left home and 45 minutes later, I got to work. The trip flew by as I became enchanted by the sounds of the tape player. It was mono, so the sound was awful, but that trio of musicians made 45 minutes seem like a trip to heaven.

The song that struck me he most was the last song from the front side of the album. It was kind of a roadmap for life at that age. The lyrics are as follows:

We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim

Let the truth of love be lighted
Let the love of truth shine clear
Sensibility
Armed with sense and liberty
With the heart and mind united
In a single perfect sphere

As Rodney King would later say, “Why can’t we all just get along?” It would be great if the hearts and minds were united, (as they were after 9/11) but we have gone back to the same struggle for power instead of pursuit of a common goal. I guess that is what makes life interesting.

Icool

Cobb

Jonathon E Part III

I realized that I was not quite done with Rollerball yet. I remembered another point that I observed for the first time on Sunday. I have not seen the movie for several years but after watching it this time, I realized that it was terribly demeaning to women. All of the main characters were men and the women in the film were nothing more than ornaments and bed partners. All of the women were beautiful and hanging all over the men. In one scene, Moon Pie has two women wrapped around him and shortly afterward, he is dragging one upstairs to show them something. He comes down the stairs shortly afterward straightening his clothes. She is no where in sight.

Jonathon E, Rollerball champion, is provided a female companion by the corporation. They are given assignments and are all “good” at what they are assigned to do. All of them look vaguely like his wife, who was reassigned to an executive by the corporation. The women actually act more like spies for the corporation than bed partners as they always seem to be giving veiled threats about what to do or not to do. Jonathon being a driven individual either ignores them or sends them packing.

For the liberated era of the 70’s when this was filmed, it paints a dark picture of the future of the equal rights fight. Women end up as little more than property to the men running the world. You don’t see any female executives but you do see them standing behind the men as kind of trophies of their status. Seeing how things have progressed since then, it is hard to understand the mindset that painted that picture. Sure there is still a gap between men and women in business, but it is a much smaller gap than 30 years ago and there is no reason to believe that there is a reversal anywhere in the immediate future, at least not here in Colonies.

Of course, that is the fun of science fiction. The future is a blank canvas and any reality can be painted on it. Those who want to predict the future are stuck in the paradigms of the present and rarely get it right. Those who are just out for adventure and a trip to the unknown are fun to read and usually well past where I will ever see. I really prefer to live the future and have fun anticipating what tomorrow will bring.

Icool

Cobb

Jonathon E Part II

There was one part of Rollerball that always puzzled me. The set up is a party that Energy Corporation is throwing to show the career highlights of Jonathon E, Rollerball champion. It is when he was supposed to announce that he was retiring from the game which is what the executives have ordered but Jonathon has refused to do. The televised highlights have been rerun several times and the party has slowed down. All of the drugs and alcohol consumed and the trips to the bedroom over, the crowd is looking for some kind of entertainment. The camera pans to a group of partiers heading to an open field with what appears to be a handgun.

The lady with the gun waves it wobbly at a tree and pulls the trigger. The ground about 50 feet in front of her erupts in flame. She steadies herself and aims again at a 100 foot tall pine tree that bursts into flame. The crowd goes wild and soon everyone is aiming at trees and shooting the pistol. A whole row of pines are shot at and explode as the camera holds on them and they burn furiously. What’s left are the trees minus the needles. They are still tall but now bare. The lady who originally shot the pistol is crying.

The scene always seemed out of place to me until I talked it over with my wife. The trees are the individuals of society. They are tall and proud and happy with their lives. The pistol is the action taken by the executives that creates havoc in their lives and strips the life from the trees. What you get is something burned out and dying. This is what the world of corporate communism has created. It is stagnant, burned out and dying. It is what happens to any utopian society. When the spark of individualism is suppressed, people stop being creative and the wheels of innovation come to a grinding halt. It is like the explosion that created the fire and what is left is the dead and dying hulk of a once proud and beautiful tree.

Or was just a cool way for the director to create explosions and film them. Everything is open to interpretation. Welcome to the Earthly utopia. I hope I never live to see it.


Icool

Cobb

Jonathon E

I watched one of my favorite films last Sunday, Rollerball. It is a 70’s Sci-Fi action film that starred James Caan as the hero Jonathon E, Rollerball champion and John Houseman, as the mean, heartless, corporate executive at Energy Corporation. Rollerball is the sport of the future, the only sport. Governments are gone and the world is run by a select group of corporations who have eliminated poverty, hunger and sickness but have assumed the decision making for everyone. (Like any good boss)

Jonathon E is the team captain for the Houston team, which is owned by Energy Corp. He is also the name on everyone’s lips when they think about the game. Rollerball is a sport that combines several sports into one. It is played on roller skates, on a roller derby track. It involves a metal ball slightly bigger than a softball that is shot from a cannon around the edge of the track. The objective is to scoop up the ball and toss/jam/force it into a conical opening before the opposing team can get you to drop it. The teams wear football helmets, shoulder and knee pads, and some team members ride around on motorcycles towing their team mates. It is violent, bloody and a sport that was conceived so that no one person could become good at it, until now.

Jonathon E has played for 10 years and his name is chanted at all the games. He is the best Rollerball player in the world and the corporate executives have become afraid of his power. He symbolizes the person they all wish to be, strong, idolized and invincible. The executives have created a utopian society where everyone is safe (except the Rollerball players) and wants for nothing but emotional fulfillment. Jonathon fills that void and thus becomes a threat to their way of life. They need to get rid of him without making it look like they are at fault.

The first thing they try is a retirement party televised around the world. It is a high light show of his works, blood and all. He refuses to retire because he loves the game and what else would he do. There is also a deep seated hatred of the executives who took his wife several years before because they wanted her. He has movies that he constantly watches as a reminder of her. They supply him with substitutes but he wants her back.

The second thing they do is change the rules of the game so his team members start getting hurt. His best friend, (dig this name) Moon Pie, is put into a coma in Houston’s next match against Tokyo. He seeks revenge and does the same to one of their players. Houston wins of course.

The last and final match is against New York for the championship. It is no penalties, no substitutions, and no time limit. You can see where this is going. It is a blood bath on the court. The last man standing is Jonathon, who defiantly jams the ball into the goal as John Houseman looks angrily on. The crowd is chanting Jonathon at the top of their lungs and a Rollerball god is born.

My daughter thought it was a lame film. She didn’t understand the context behind it nor is she into science fiction per se. It is not very exciting between the matches but does provide a good insight into the mind set of the mid 70 concept of the future. Communism would eventually win in some shape or form. It just happened to migrate to the extreme of having it become corporate communism. A for profit utopia, you’ve got to love that.

Icool

Cobb

Upper Room

I have not always been faithful in reading the Bible. It is one of the areas I struggle with as a Christian. I have been good at attending church and my morning prayers are firmly engrained in my routine. I have been looking for the right outlet to give me a daily opportunity to read the Bible and I have finally found it.

The Christian devotional Upper Room is a small booklet that can be read every day and provides both a verse from the Bible and a thought provoking story from someone who relates a real life experience. Some days are right on the money and provide insight into events of our lives. Some stories have no relevance to what is going on in my life but if someone is going through it, there is always the chance that it is a lesson that I will need.

Now, I know that I cannot carry a book around with me because I would lose it and when the month was up, I would need to get another book. This new nifty devise called the internet has provided a solution for that. The Upper Room web site provides their daily devotional on line. You can even look at older ones when you miss a day. I am trying to be faithful to my daily devotional because it allows me to get my daily Word and it provides insight into who others view scripture.

Now, that doesn’t excuse me from sitting down and reading the Bible on a daily basis, but, I have found a way to at least expose myself to the Holy Word and see what God has in store for me at this stage of my life and spiritual journey.

Icool

Cobb

Total Recall

Now there is a movie from the hay day of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But I will delve more into the movie in a moment. First, a little background on today’s topic.

One of my co-workers thought that insane sounded better than being crazy. It was the end of the day and the usual chaos and mayhem had ensued. Being tired and ready to go home, anything is open for discussion. I immediately started making connections to other obscure channels of insanity and viola, the term schizoid embolism popped right into the forefront of my brain. I know, it is an odd connection but after all we were discussing semantics of mental health.

Arnold’s character in Total Recall is what Jethro Bodine calls a double naught spy who has had his mind wiped clean. Sharon Stone stars as his “wife”. He stops by a place called Recall on the way home from work to see if he can have a vacation memory implanted (the next best thing to being there) and strange things start to happen. In a nut shell, he starts to remember things, ends up winning the girl (not Sharon Stone) , solving the crime and saving the world, except this time it is Mars and not Earth. What’s a few million miles between species.

In one of the scenes, Arnold is confronted by one of the bad guys playing a psychiatrist. They are trying to convince him that he has had fake memories implanted and that something has gone wrong. He is suffering from delusions that he is a “spy” and the clinical term is that he has a schizoid embolism. I love the term. Of course Arnold is not fooled and ends up capping the guy in the head.

It is a far fetched film with aliens and oxygen generation machinery but it is packed with action and the usual Arnold flair. The visual effects are alright with the worst being when Arnold has to pull a bugging device out of his nostril using a metal claw. His nose expands in a grotesque way that looks rather fake. The best scene is of him running through the x-ray machine. We all have our idea of cool. Having said that…


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Cobb

Viva Las Vegas

So much for a quiet year. My lovely wife called me yesterday and relayed that she had made The Trip. She is in sales and the company she’s a reps for awards a trip to those agents that make their preset requirements. She knew that she was close at the end of the year but had a few pending cases. They confirmed that everything was a go and viola, we are off to Sin City.

I have never been to Vegas. I have not even been to Nevada. I know that we will be in some new swanky high rise hotel that I could never afford on my own. I am sure that there will be golf and maybe a show. I am not really a big gambler but I will take a few hundred bucks to dump into the machines. I am actually looking forward to just getting away for a few days. I think this trip is only 5 days, starting on Sunday, so it won’t be too bad on the kids.

They also announced next year’s trip. If you meet the requirements, you will be going to Disney World in beautiful Orlando Florida. They have kicked this one up a notch though. We are allowed to take our families with us to Disney. The kids will love that. The last time I went to Disney, it cost a small fortune and I was not impressed with the experience. I pretty much told myself that I would not be going back for a long while. Well, I may be going back next year, but on someone else’s dime. Gotta love sales.

So, I’ll need to bone up on my blackjack rules and my slot machine strategy before April. I am sure that there will be more to do than just gamble but while in Rome. Or is it what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas. I’m confused.

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Cobb

Middle East

I do not spend a lot of time thinking about what is going on in Iraq. I leave that up to the whining peaceniks who only want to get out of Iraq because they have another agenda. If they were truly concerned about preventing war and not President bashing, their approach would be one of concern for the safety of the troops and welfare of the Iraqi people. It would not be for us to immediately pull out, destroy troop morale, and potentially crash the Middle East into a devastating civil war. Yes, the entire region would be at war due to the ideology of a few religious fanatics.

And that is what it boils down to. Every article that the liberal press tries to shove down our throats about the “continuous” violence in Iraq has at least one glaring unexplored avenue. It is one person, possibly not even an Arab, blowing up, killing, maiming, or destroying Iraqis. The majority of the Iraqi people are trying to live their lives and follow their faith. It is the insane push by a few power hungry fanatics that has caused the bulk of the distress.

The Iraqi people have just started to taste the freedom that America has exported to their country. We have spent a considerable amount of money and time attempting to establish a society where the citizens can vote as they want, worship as they want, and live without the fear that a psychotic dictator will break into their house and take them or their wives and daughters away.

Our President knows that US citizens will not put up with a major invasion force firmly implanted in a foreign country. If that is the case, them we have our 51st state. It’s name will have to change. Every Q must be followed by a U and the Middle East has a hard time with that. Qatar for example, needs to be either Katar our Quatar. But I digress. We will reduce our troop strength in Iraq after they have their feet firmly on the side of freedom. Anything less would be an injustice to the Iraqi people and a waste of our troop’s time and dedicated efforts.

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Cobb

Someday

There are days when you feel that no matter what you say or do, it will end in failure. Today is one of those days. I had to have a discussion with someone I work with and no matter what I said, it was not going to be pretty. It does not help that the reason for the conversation was based on a decision by someone who I have never met located 100 miles away. It does not help that I had zero, nada, zip, absolutely no input into the decision. It does not help that I have been attempting to help this person out of a dangerous pattern of failure. It all comes down to bad news is bad news, no matter what you do.

No one likes to be told bad news. It hurts to think that we are doing something wrong. What amazes me, is that people do not see it coming. That they are surprised by bad news and truly shocked when you tell them that things are not going well. How someone who has made mistakes and knows it can expect not be told is beyond me. How someone could think that their performance is not noticed by others who work to maintain a high level is beyond me. How someone could think that they are being singled out because they do not see how other people are disciplined is beyond me.

If you treat them with dignity and provide an avenue for improvement, you have started off on the right foot. You must remain confidential and professional about the situation. Treat them as you would want to be treated. You know, that little “Do unto others” from the mouth of Jesus Christ.

It helps when the person you are talking to accepts responsibility for their actions. If they see themselves as a victim of circumstance and wallow in the pain of being accused, it makes any discussion a painful process. No one likes to be given bad news, but if you accept the fact that you have made a mistake and learn from it, you will get beyond the emotion of the situation and grow as a person.

The alternative is to live in your own little world and feel sorry for yourself. “Everyone is picking on me and I don’t deserve it. Someday they will see that I am doing the best I can and that I will always make mistakes.”

Everyone makes mistakes. It is those who learn from them and find ways to prevent them from occurring that grow and prosper.

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Cobb

Its A Flood

It is the first of January in northwest Ohio and we had a thunder storm last night. As we were eating dinner, the sky lit up with a non-stop display of lights and the boom of thunder. I do not remember having a storm like that this time of year. I remember a thunderstorm in late November / early December but never in January. It must be that pesky global warming again. After all, it was cold in December but now that it is winter and everything has thawed. It just couldn't be a normal climate change for good old mother earth.

We went out last night to get a cordless phone. The last one we purchased, mysteriously disappeared about two months ago and we have been using a corded one as a replacement. It keeps falling off the counter when you are trying to multitask at dinner time so we took the plunge. Of course we braved the storm to make this shopping trip. After purchasing the phone, we drove to Home Depot to pick up some more tile for the floor. The quote came back and we need one more box to make sure there are no holes in the corners.

On the way to the store, we noticed parking lots were filled with water and the ditches were gushing like angry rivers. Whoever put the stores in did not plan on both the melt from snow and the freak thunder storm last night. It looked like you could fish in the McDonald's parking lot if you had brought a boat. I just hope that global warming hurries up and we get that nice Florida weather all year. It will certainly lower the heating bills.

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Cobb

This Side of Midnight

Happy New Year. 2005 was an event filled year. My wife and I went to California for the first time. We also took our first cruise on the Mexican Riviera. My sister and her family joined us on Jekyll Island in Georgia for a week of fun in the sun. I played golf at McGuires Resort in Cadillac Michigan. It was a year of extensive traveling and enjoying what life has to offer.

Looking forward to 2006, it looks a little tamer. No major trips planned. Nothing in the vacation viewer. I think I want to spend this year close to home. Something tells me that this is the year to hold the cards close to the vest and keep the eyes focused on the prize. What is the prize? Well, we need to get our financial house back in order. It is not a disaster by any means but we need to pay a few things off and rebuild our savings a little. With energy prices going through the ceiling, I am sure that Toledo Edison and Columbia Gas will keep me busy this winter.

We spent a relaxing evening with friends on New Years Eve. We played a few board games and some poker and celebrated with hugs and kisses at the stroke of midnight. No one had too much to drink as in years past and the fun and frivolity were more subdued than in previous New Year's bashes but it was a great ending to a great year. I hope it sets the tone for this side of midnight.

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Cobb