Rambling On
BOHICA!
Hey Americans! Happy Tax Day!
Doesn't it just give you the warm fuzzies to realize how much of your earnings are legally stolen from you by the Federal government and distributed to others with a political connection of whatever type? I mean, no matter your political bent, you have to agree with me. The government fucks some people out of their money and hands it over to others. I've said it before and I'll post it here: The Federal Government of the United States, with its power to tax and spend, is a protection racket. You all fired up to get money and corruption out of politics? Fine. Here's how you do it: Get politics out of our fucking money. John McCain and Russ Feingold can kiss my insignificant ass with their unconstitutional campaign finance law. How's that working out?
Cut the purse strings to Congress. Demand that they only fund those things required in our Constitution. Yeah, I know. Good luck with that. Too many votes to buy.
~~~~
I'm off that subject. Pisses me off when I think about it.
On a happy note, I am away from the AIQ (Asshole In Question, to be referred to in such a fashion forevermore) job foreman for the foreseeable future. Now, I can't dance for shit, but when he handed me a piece of paper with an address on it, I asked him what we were going to be doing over there and he said "I don't know" I had to hide my elation. The fact that he didn't know what was going on likely meant that he was not in charge of this job. I wanted to do a happy dance then and there. I told Brian what the AIQ said and he responded with a fist pump. Yessssss!
Elation, that's the word. We showed up at the new project and I started saying "Free at last, free at last," and Skeeter chuckled and finished the saying with me. "Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!" It just bubbled up from our guts, you have no idea how happy we all are.
We're fucking professionals and we act so. Treating us like Wal Mart Associates is a sure-fire way to fuck up a good day. Ah, free to be professional again. Without the goddamned micromanaging and second guessing and all that bull fucking shit.
I'm so happy again. I have my old job back, the one I love so much.
~~~~
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League baseball sixty years ago today. All I've been hearing and reading about is what a great guy he was, how he laid the foundation for black players, and later coaches in all of sports and really in society in general. And that's all true, I'm not trying to minimize that in any way.
What I will minimize, in a way, is the way that all the coverage in the media that you see or hear presents his story. Yeah, they all talk about what a great man he was, how he endured the insults for the greater good, he was the best player on the team. I have a problem with the general slant of everything I have ever heard about the man, and here is my slant. I think it paints a far greater portrait of the greatness that was Jackie Robinson.
See, I could not have done it. Neither could you. I think I'm a fairly tough minded man. You probably think that you are fairly tough as well. Face it, neither you nor I could have done what he did. I know for a fact that I would have snapped.
You like your job? I like mine. Now, what is the absolute worst part of your job? Most people, including and obviously me, would say it's some dickhead that has to be dealt with at work. (Side note - could you imagine the pressure if there had been blogs and the current proliferation of media back in 1947? I wonder what Jackie Robinson's blog might have looked like. Go ahead, take that imagination trip, it's a hoot.)
Jackie Robinson worked at baseball for a living. He had to start out with co-workers that hated, shunned him for no good reason. They simply didn't like the color of his skin. The boss said it was so and they didn't like it one bit. Bobby Bragan tells it like it was. Then, then, you have to leave your family, go on the road, and take all of the worst abuse imaginable, all because you were just doing what you had been hired to do.
You think you could stay at a job like that, no matter how much it paid? Imagine going to work every day in an atmosphere like that. No, I could not do it. Most of us couldn't. That was Jackie Robinson's greatness. He not only overcame all of that, he excelled at his work despite the distractions. Just amazes me when I think about it.
I couldn't do it in my low profile job and you probably couldn't do it in your job. Jackie did it in the highest profile job imaginable. That is his greatness.
~~~~
I had "heroes" when I was a kid. Johnny Unitas for one. Chip Hilton was a role model for me in the ways of sportsmanship. I wanted to be Mickey Mantle and later Roger Staubach or Reggie Jackson or Cliff Harris.
These people were winners in every aspect of life. Johnny and Mickey are dead, Chip never lived, and Roger, Reggie, and Cliff are still out and about doing what they do. They are all winners, winning the right way. Inspirations for me. I was a typical American kid, wanting to be the football hero or the big league baseball player that wins with one swing of the bat on the biggest stage.
Well, all that sports stuff kind of went away when I realized that I sucked as an athlete. I turned my attention to Chess and Math and later to drugs and alcohol and partying. Fast Eddie Felsen became my hero of the moment and frankly he is not that inspiring. I was a hard - core Christian for a while until my brain got tired of the logical lapses. I went back to partying and trying to get some meaning out of life. I worked, partied, hung out with "friends" which were really just drinking buddies. I met my wife and stupidly took a while to figure out how much I loved and needed her. I ran a business for a while but as an adult I had no hero, no one to look up to. Didn't need one. I was The Man and everyone that dealt with me knew it. I had finally gotten to the point where even my family had to respect me. Oh, I wasn't a jerk (most of the time) but everyone knew not to trifle with me any more. I put up with no shit from nobody, I was in charge. This from the former whipping boy I had been all my life.
So anyway, I had no hero as an adult, the adult I had finally become at age 30 something. Nobody to look up to as a role model. Then...
I watched a NASCAR race on TV one day. At Talladega, Ernie Irvan got into Dale Earnhardt and turned the 3 car around. Dale ended up on his roof, took a terrible hit, and crawled out of the car and walked away. He was holding his arm because he had a broken sternum. I thought, "That's one tough motherfucker!" He proved my assessment correct as he went on the next week to get back into the car and take the pole position at Watkin's Glen, of all places, a road course, with a broken fucking sternum! It was then that I became an Earnhardt fan.
I started watching the races on TV after that. Reading what I could find about Dale. I can say without a doubt that the man was the salt of the earth. The Chevy commercials are attemting to capitalize on his legacy by saying "He was one of Us" and you know what? He was.
He was one of us, and he made good.
I don't cry. I've had a lot of deaths of people I knew and cared about the last ten years or so. Not a one of them affected me like the day Dale died. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Dropped the phone in shock when I heard the news. (I didn't get to watch that particular race) Went to work the next day, saw my computer wallpaper with the black 3 car and had to fight the tears that welled up in my eyes.
I don't believe in regrets much. We all have them, but they are useless. Life is linear. You do what you think you gotta' do at the time and go on with your life. Remembering mistakes later, i.e. regrets, is a big waste of time and yet we all do it. I just try to minimize regrets but I sure as hell regret not discovering Dale before I did.
To this day I tear up when I see him with that shit-eating grin in a picture. Funny thing, to me at least, if you look at our wedding pictures, I have the exact same grin as Earnhardt.
I'm sure that there are about two million fans out there that would say the same thing. All of the old race fans are Earnhardt fans.
Having said all of that, I cannot even watch the Dale Movie trailer without tearing up. I'm going to buy that movie as soon as it is available and I am sure that I will cry like a woman when I watch it.
God I miss that son of a bitch. Before he was a legend, he was one of us. He is still one of us. To us. He is our hero. For sure, he is my hero.
Hey Americans! Happy Tax Day!
Doesn't it just give you the warm fuzzies to realize how much of your earnings are legally stolen from you by the Federal government and distributed to others with a political connection of whatever type? I mean, no matter your political bent, you have to agree with me. The government fucks some people out of their money and hands it over to others. I've said it before and I'll post it here: The Federal Government of the United States, with its power to tax and spend, is a protection racket. You all fired up to get money and corruption out of politics? Fine. Here's how you do it: Get politics out of our fucking money. John McCain and Russ Feingold can kiss my insignificant ass with their unconstitutional campaign finance law. How's that working out?
Cut the purse strings to Congress. Demand that they only fund those things required in our Constitution. Yeah, I know. Good luck with that. Too many votes to buy.
~~~~
I'm off that subject. Pisses me off when I think about it.
On a happy note, I am away from the AIQ (Asshole In Question, to be referred to in such a fashion forevermore) job foreman for the foreseeable future. Now, I can't dance for shit, but when he handed me a piece of paper with an address on it, I asked him what we were going to be doing over there and he said "I don't know" I had to hide my elation. The fact that he didn't know what was going on likely meant that he was not in charge of this job. I wanted to do a happy dance then and there. I told Brian what the AIQ said and he responded with a fist pump. Yessssss!
Elation, that's the word. We showed up at the new project and I started saying "Free at last, free at last," and Skeeter chuckled and finished the saying with me. "Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!" It just bubbled up from our guts, you have no idea how happy we all are.
We're fucking professionals and we act so. Treating us like Wal Mart Associates is a sure-fire way to fuck up a good day. Ah, free to be professional again. Without the goddamned micromanaging and second guessing and all that bull fucking shit.
I'm so happy again. I have my old job back, the one I love so much.
~~~~
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League baseball sixty years ago today. All I've been hearing and reading about is what a great guy he was, how he laid the foundation for black players, and later coaches in all of sports and really in society in general. And that's all true, I'm not trying to minimize that in any way.
What I will minimize, in a way, is the way that all the coverage in the media that you see or hear presents his story. Yeah, they all talk about what a great man he was, how he endured the insults for the greater good, he was the best player on the team. I have a problem with the general slant of everything I have ever heard about the man, and here is my slant. I think it paints a far greater portrait of the greatness that was Jackie Robinson.
See, I could not have done it. Neither could you. I think I'm a fairly tough minded man. You probably think that you are fairly tough as well. Face it, neither you nor I could have done what he did. I know for a fact that I would have snapped.
You like your job? I like mine. Now, what is the absolute worst part of your job? Most people, including and obviously me, would say it's some dickhead that has to be dealt with at work. (Side note - could you imagine the pressure if there had been blogs and the current proliferation of media back in 1947? I wonder what Jackie Robinson's blog might have looked like. Go ahead, take that imagination trip, it's a hoot.)
Jackie Robinson worked at baseball for a living. He had to start out with co-workers that hated, shunned him for no good reason. They simply didn't like the color of his skin. The boss said it was so and they didn't like it one bit. Bobby Bragan tells it like it was. Then, then, you have to leave your family, go on the road, and take all of the worst abuse imaginable, all because you were just doing what you had been hired to do.
You think you could stay at a job like that, no matter how much it paid? Imagine going to work every day in an atmosphere like that. No, I could not do it. Most of us couldn't. That was Jackie Robinson's greatness. He not only overcame all of that, he excelled at his work despite the distractions. Just amazes me when I think about it.
I couldn't do it in my low profile job and you probably couldn't do it in your job. Jackie did it in the highest profile job imaginable. That is his greatness.
~~~~
I had "heroes" when I was a kid. Johnny Unitas for one. Chip Hilton was a role model for me in the ways of sportsmanship. I wanted to be Mickey Mantle and later Roger Staubach or Reggie Jackson or Cliff Harris.
These people were winners in every aspect of life. Johnny and Mickey are dead, Chip never lived, and Roger, Reggie, and Cliff are still out and about doing what they do. They are all winners, winning the right way. Inspirations for me. I was a typical American kid, wanting to be the football hero or the big league baseball player that wins with one swing of the bat on the biggest stage.
Well, all that sports stuff kind of went away when I realized that I sucked as an athlete. I turned my attention to Chess and Math and later to drugs and alcohol and partying. Fast Eddie Felsen became my hero of the moment and frankly he is not that inspiring. I was a hard - core Christian for a while until my brain got tired of the logical lapses. I went back to partying and trying to get some meaning out of life. I worked, partied, hung out with "friends" which were really just drinking buddies. I met my wife and stupidly took a while to figure out how much I loved and needed her. I ran a business for a while but as an adult I had no hero, no one to look up to. Didn't need one. I was The Man and everyone that dealt with me knew it. I had finally gotten to the point where even my family had to respect me. Oh, I wasn't a jerk (most of the time) but everyone knew not to trifle with me any more. I put up with no shit from nobody, I was in charge. This from the former whipping boy I had been all my life.
So anyway, I had no hero as an adult, the adult I had finally become at age 30 something. Nobody to look up to as a role model. Then...
I watched a NASCAR race on TV one day. At Talladega, Ernie Irvan got into Dale Earnhardt and turned the 3 car around. Dale ended up on his roof, took a terrible hit, and crawled out of the car and walked away. He was holding his arm because he had a broken sternum. I thought, "That's one tough motherfucker!" He proved my assessment correct as he went on the next week to get back into the car and take the pole position at Watkin's Glen, of all places, a road course, with a broken fucking sternum! It was then that I became an Earnhardt fan.
I started watching the races on TV after that. Reading what I could find about Dale. I can say without a doubt that the man was the salt of the earth. The Chevy commercials are attemting to capitalize on his legacy by saying "He was one of Us" and you know what? He was.
He was one of us, and he made good.
I don't cry. I've had a lot of deaths of people I knew and cared about the last ten years or so. Not a one of them affected me like the day Dale died. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Dropped the phone in shock when I heard the news. (I didn't get to watch that particular race) Went to work the next day, saw my computer wallpaper with the black 3 car and had to fight the tears that welled up in my eyes.
I don't believe in regrets much. We all have them, but they are useless. Life is linear. You do what you think you gotta' do at the time and go on with your life. Remembering mistakes later, i.e. regrets, is a big waste of time and yet we all do it. I just try to minimize regrets but I sure as hell regret not discovering Dale before I did.
To this day I tear up when I see him with that shit-eating grin in a picture. Funny thing, to me at least, if you look at our wedding pictures, I have the exact same grin as Earnhardt.
I'm sure that there are about two million fans out there that would say the same thing. All of the old race fans are Earnhardt fans.
Having said all of that, I cannot even watch the Dale Movie trailer without tearing up. I'm going to buy that movie as soon as it is available and I am sure that I will cry like a woman when I watch it.
God I miss that son of a bitch. Before he was a legend, he was one of us. He is still one of us. To us. He is our hero. For sure, he is my hero.
posted by David Burrow at 5:31 PM
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