Deep Freeze

Has everyone had enough of winter yet? We're thirteen days into it and I'm already starting to ice over. It could be a long one folks. In my household, I'm already sensing cabin fever among some of the grizzlies. I hope we don't end up with a Donner party incident on our hands. I was looking at the forecast this morning, and Monday was supposed to reach 17 degrees! Meanwhile, we're stuck in the single digits for the high, for a few days. There's two things wrong here. First, I'm excited to see Monday come, and I'm looking forward to 17 degrees? It's still well below freezing, and nothing seems to move! I'm half tempted to evict the turkey and pork butt from the deep freeze, just so I have a place to crawl into and warm up! Look at the bright side. One good thing about living in Nebraska during the winter, ...................................................... When I think of something, I'll let you know.

Making Time

Time is a fleeting abstract. No matter what our social status, or where we fall in the food chain, man or animal, we all have 1440 minutes to our 24 hour day. That's 86,400 seconds if you happen to be in a time crunch. It's quite spectacular how quickly those 86,400 ticks go by, and then we start with a new clock the very next tick. It never goes to 86,401. During this race with the clock, we happen to slow down long enough to form relationships. I caught sight of a picture today of my grandmother and oldest daughter. It took me back for a second. At that very moment, those few ticks of the clock, I realized I miss her company. She's been gone for over two years now. Then it made me think about my grandfather and the memorable times with him. I miss him also. When they happened to still be roaming the earth, I would 'make time' to go visit, take the kids over, drink stronger than normal coffee, discuss their aches and pains (real or otherwise), and just enjoy a few hundred of my allotted minutes of my day and theirs. Since children have arrived in my life, it seems I have to cram more activities into a day. So my life, as is many common folk, feel that life is hectic and always busy. So the term, 'making time', does not mean you have the ability to manufacture that extra second at the end of your day (unless you're playing Nebraska for the Big 12 title). What that means is, you have to steal some minutes, or even seconds, from something else. So previous plans are going to be deficient of the time you've originally set aside. That could appear as neglect to some, multitasking to others. Since my grandparents have passed, my life hasn't slowed down. I still seem busier than ever. This led me to think about how my relationship with them would be if they were still here. Would I have as much time to spend with them as before? If my life were so busy, would our relationship suffer? Would they understand? I can only speculate, but I feel I would have foregone sleep, if necessary, to enjoy a few hundred minutes to spend with them from time to time.

Future Mailman

The upcoming generation of young people, from time to time, do something extraordinary in my eyes, and occasionally exceed my expectations of them. I will admit, I'm somewhat critical of the 'gaming' generation, just as my elders were critical of my generation. When we see them take advantage of the latest innovations to make life easier, it makes them suspect, and we feel they are lazy, or looking for the simpler solution, rather than getting results through hard work. That might be true, or they might be smarter. Regardless, one such young man who has amazed me is our paper boy. He's in his early teens, and though I don't know him personally, he seems like your 'run of the mill' 15 year old boy. Recently, with the amount of snow dumped on us, it has crippled the city. Snow plows are sitting until the worst is passed, banks are closed, other public operation are on hold, linemen for the utilities can't get to the locations to fix the problems, everything has just froze to a standstill. The exception - our paper boy. I fully did not expect to receive our newspaper yesterday due to the dangerous conditions, but to my surprise, as I'm out trying to tunnel a path through the winter wonderland, there sits my newspaper! After being slightly in awe, I analyzed this kid in my mind. He seems to have that 'attack the task at hand' mentality. Under normal conditions, I'm usually just pulling out of stage 2 REM sleep, as I hear noise coming from my front porch, which usually stirs the dog to action. When I say, "action", I mean he lifts his head from his pillow to let out a couple of mandatory barks, because that's what he's supposed to do. Then he falls back asleep for a couple more hours. Enough about the faux canine. The paperboy surpasses the mailman, when it comes to reliability. It doesn't hurt matters that he's built kind of like a snow plow. I'm sure this young man would make a fine employee for whatever he decides to do with his life. I would only hope he would get a job with the US mail, and become our future mailman.

Symmetry

Symmetry is a very important feature of many man made things as well as items found in nature. Not only is it for physics to operate precisely, it is also aesthetically pleasing. In nature, there are quite a few things that are not symmetrical, but man, in order to complete a project, needs symmetry to insure, whatever said project, will have a measure of success. Humans are symmetrical, or are they? Two arms, two legs, two ears, one nose centered in your face. It seems that way. A closer look at myself, and I begin to wonder. When I wear a stocking cap, I can see the left side of my head is flatter than the right side. My right shoulder is quite a bit lower than my left. When I'm being fitted for a suit jacket, the tailor adds a shoulder pad to the right side, lengthens the right sleeve, and then has to adjust the buttons on the front of the coat. When looking down at my feet, my left foot points straight ahead, the right foot points to the right. The big toe on my left foot is wider than the big toe on the right. I have 3 out of 4 wisdom teeth. Top and bottom on the right side of my mouth, just the top on the left side. My right arm is obviously thicker than my left, since I'm right handed. And to finish off my blatant appearance, when I smile, the right cheek has a dimple, the left has nothing. It's a miracle I can even function. Apparently I have enough oddities happening on both sides of my body to balance myself out. There is a Japanese term that best describes the state I find myself. That term is 'wabi sabi'. It basically means to find the beauty in imperfection and chaos. I've definitely nailed down the imperfection and chaos, the beauty part of it might be somewhat of a stretch.

Fertilization

Farmers are always looking for ways to boost their yield. One method they use utilizes manure from their animals. Now these animals have to be herbivores in order for this natural fertilizer to work. If you used manure from a carnivore or omnivore, it would actually acidify the soil and would create an imbalance in the soil. In short, nothing will grow. Many of us are backyard farmers. We don't have acres to cultivate, only a small plot in the backyard to grow some seasonal vegetables, and some herbs. Which also means, there's a very good chance we don't have cattle either. So our natural fertilizer supply is not readily available. Then a thought popped into my head. Do you know what a 'vegan' is? It's a person who does not eat or use animal products - an herbivore. Do you see where I'm going with this? I was wondering if a vegan could just fertilize his own garden? Yeah, there's the indecent exposure issue to handle, but that can be easily remedied. Once again, I may be on the cutting edge of something revolutionary:) An additional thought. When we die, our body is decomposed by maggots - nature's garbage men. When a vegan dies, do they just turn into a mushroom?

Mr. Suh

Yes, I'm much older, but this young man has earned my respect. Ndamukong Suh has made such an impact on the Nebraska football program, it's going to be exciting to watch over the next few years. I can't wait to see him play on Sundays, and see how teams adjust to this extraordinary athlete. He may alter the game at the next level, who knows? All the hardware he's picked up this year was well deserved. You couldn't ask for a more respectful young man to be so deserving. I've been following some online speculations, and everyone is unanimously picking him to go #1 or #2 in the NFL draft. It appears he will likely go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or the Cleveland Browns. If he's still up for grabs after the second pick, then the Detroit Lions or the St. Louis Rams. Currently, I'm not much of a fan of any of those mentioned, but will likely be converted, depending on where Mr. Suh takes up residence. The Green Bay Packers are my favorite NFL team, but I prefer to follow players more than teams. I just like to see an all around good athlete succeed for whatever franchise he represents. Thanks to Mr. Suh, he's piqued my interest in pro football - next year. Until that time, lets display to Arizona, the 'House of Spears' coming to inflict negative yardage, along with turnovers and injuries. San Diego is such an ideal place for a good old fashioned Nebraska blackshirt pounding! My condolences to the road kill Wildcat when the SUH-nami hits!

The Work Force

At the age of fourteen I entered the workforce. I started mowing a few lawns for cash. I technically entered the workforce at the age of sixteen. A friend recommended me for a job at Village Inn as a busboy. I still haven't forgave him. I also worked for a lawn service for a season and a lawn mower repair shop, before finally settling into my current trade, at the age of eighteen. After a three year apprenticeship, I've tried to hone my skills to be the best I can possibly be at my occupation. I'm not really in competition with anyone per se, even though we do bid against one another for the same jobs. I try to not be judgmental, and pick apart another's work. But over the years, after working for several different floor covering stores, and currently for myself, I've noticed there are different types of tradesmen, who are considered peers, that appear to be at a different level than myself. It may be their level of ambition, skill, care, love of the trade, money, whatever the motive. I've been taught to do work for others as you would want it in your own home. So I try to do a top notch job every time, and if there is a revolutionary way I've figured to accomplish something, I make it known to the tile world. We are constantly bombarded with 'new and improved' products. Those I'm skeptical until they've been on the market for a time, to prove their worth, then I'll test them out. I usually let the more adventurous try it first. It appears to me, the ones who are first to hop on a bandwagon, are the same ones who are looking to turn a quick buck. Which brings me to my breakdown of the workforce. First, there are those who truly enjoy what they do, and go the extra mile to not only do it right, but pay attention to minute details, that, in the end, make the job brilliant. Then there's the installers who are in it solely for the money. There is money to be made in volume, so they only pursue those jobs where they can cover large areas with minimal effort and employees. All they really see is dollar signs. Third, there is the tradesman (a.k.a. the company man), who may be a good installer in his own respect, but lacks the drive to excellence. He shows up for work every day, takes a break at ten, regardless of where he's at, or how much he's accomplished, puts in his eight and punches out. He's really not moved by compliments or criticisms, only the clock. This brings us to our final observation. The person who neither cares about the trade, or his workmanship, or the company he happens to be employed at, only a paycheck. Unfortunately there happens be to more folks like that than you would care see. I personally try to establish a standard within my company, and, unknowingly have set a standard in the area. It's reassuring when architects call you to get product and procedure information to specify on their blueprints. It's also nice when the tile suppliers run into a problem, they call me to get a suggestion or solution. I'm not trying to flaunt my arrogance, rather express my appreciation for those who are concerned with doing things right, and maintaining a standard of integrity within the trade.