American Ingenuity, Capitalism and the Failures of Man

When I was a small child living in Chicago I was a fussy eater. I probably still fit the fussy eater category, although I have expanded lots since those day. Some people just might say ‘expanded’ is the right word.

In those days, the mid 60’s, fast food was a simpler venue and much more un-sophisticated that it is today. American ingenuity and capitalism had yet to make their dent in this overlooked market and the world was safer for diet.

My brother loved hamburgers. I did not. On the rare occasions where we would eat at one of the fast food shacks (and they were all shacks back then) my poor mother would have to referee the fight as to where we would eat. My brother wanted to go to Burger King, home of the Whopper or McDonald's golden arches. At those places I would be limited to fries and a shake. Special orders had not made the scene at that time and I was deathly afraid of ketchup, mustard and the scourge of the world MAYONAIASE. I still detest mayonnaise.

My choice was always Dog & Suds. I liked Dog & Suds because for starters who couldn’t fall in love with their neon sign and logo featuring a cartoon dog swilling root beer. And their root beer was great. And I loved hot dogs (still do).

But then things changed. A combination of American ingenuity, capitalism and the core weakness of man conspired to take this friendly, down home quick food on the go down a dangerous path.

American ingenuity. The idea of making things more efficient, more streamlined – better (?) Mom and Pop stores were soon crowded out of this market. The big boys saw big potential in fast food. They could do it better, more efficiently. Deliver more, faster cheaper – better (?).

Capitalism. We have to make more money each year. Sales MUST go up. Both same stores and new stores. We have to penetrate EVERY market. We have to serve billions of people.

Weakness of man. Mankind knows what is good for man, mankind knows the correct path. But that path is for tomorrow. That path is how ‘others’ should act. I need this now. Mankind follows the path of least resistance. As Ry Cooder sang

Feelin’ good,
Feelin’ good,
All the money in the world spent on feelin’ good.

Mankind wants to feel good right now, and do the hard things later.

So now the cute little convenient Dog & Suds / Hamburger stands have been converted to human mining machines designed to get you in, get you fed and make you feel good. Low low prices based on horrible practices that are lost in the pretty colors, fantastic marketing and friendly faces at the counter.

Ugggh

Eli, Balls and The Man

I was just having an inane conversation with a nameless (for his protection) friend with whom I do often have offbeat discussions on life. Our conversations quite often touch on a reality only known between us, at least for me, perhaps he lives there even without me. It goes without saying the subject of scrotal sacs and testicles has come up before and we have expressed common views on the matter.

An interesting point was made by my friend. He said ‘they will never be bigger’.

They will never be bigger than the day he is born.

How true, how sad, what a refection on Man, on the Man and what it is like to be a man.

Our testicles are never bigger than the day we are born. From that moment on a world wide conspiracy attacks and tries to shrink, eliminate and grab these charming instruments and cause us trouble and pain.

And the problem is bigger than just us against the world. Sometimes their size and their will create their own problems. They can become their own worst enemy.
The key to life is protecting them from others and themselves. Keep them as large as possible, listen to them and rein them in when necessary. Without them life is bland and sad. Surrendering them to others is a losing battle and above all our job is to do our best to keep them out of the hands of the Man. Once He has them, it is all over.

Backyard Project

I started with weeding the driveway. Completing this task gave me inspiration to go to the next step, the side of the house

For the side of the house we decided to cordon off a little garden and spread gravel with stepping stones.

Mixed in with the stepping stones, we used an old decorative stone, to add some sunshine.

We keep this concept going to the backyard area between the house and the work shed.

Here is a picture from the back, looking towards the front.

Homeless for Two Weeks

While Peggy was away in France she offered our house up to some friends of ours who had out of town guests visiting. I guess she felt that it would not be an inconvenience for HER! She also suggested I get my ass busy on working on my mother's back yard project. So I moved back in with my Mommy and took along some friends with me.

The little ones had a great time exploring my Mommy's house and each other. Between being sicker than a dog and rushing off to the hospital for Eli's birth I did not get too much work done on the back yard project. I did manage to weed and spruce up the driveway and to tackle the space between the woodpile (BB and Munchkin's former home) and the fence. And I extended the effort all the way to the shed in back. Pictures on that tomorrow.

ELIJAH FRANCIS GRAVES

He is HERE!!!!!!!!!!!! The long awaited birth of the baby formerly known as Milton has come to pass. I am a grandfather. Eli was born 8/6/08 at 11:34. He weighed 8 pounds eight ounces and is 21 1/4 inches tall. What a guy!

Our Wildest Day, a Quiet Moment

On Thursday we saw the Mets and Phillie's play a noon game and then ran to the subway, took the 7 train to Time Square and ran the eight blocks to the Ed Sullivan Theatre just in time to pick up our tickets for the taping of the Dave Letterman Show.

Whew! It was not easy. We ran through streets, jumped in front of cabs and almost did our best impersonation of hood ornaments on more that one occasion. After the show, we took the subway to Greenich Village, had a beer and strolled the area before taking the subway to Little Italy where we dined outside on a wonderful evening and relaxed.

One can only guess how many slices and italian ices were mixed into this day.

Met Games

With all the talk of this being the last year for Yankee Stadium one does not hear that this is also the last year of Shea Stadium. The highlight of our trip to NY was taking in two games at Shea AND getting to see the Mets play the Phillie's AND seeing our friend Jamie Moyer pitch.

We had great seats (thanks to Jamie) and we saw two good games, with the exception that the Phillie's lost them both.

This is the last year for Shea and they were selling Budweiser Beer bottles with a tribute to Shea. Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and closes this year. I am one of the rare people (perhaps the only person) who attended a game in 1964 and a game in 2008. I just may be the only person that had that big of a gap in attendance.

And of course what fan can resist a foot long Nathan dog covered with rancid cheese and onion!