Most Recent Posts
- Cloud Nine
There used to be such a place named “Cloud Nine.” It was in San Diego in December 1982 somewhere on El Cajon Boulevard.
JD Waits and i were moving Maureen’s furniture. Her apartment mate moved to another town and Maureen was looking for another apartment. In the interim, she was going to move her stuff to her father’s garage while she searched. JD and i were in the Coronado Cays and we volunteered to move her stuff in JD’s pickup from Banker’s Hill to Lemon Grove. En route, we passed that place.
JD spotted it and said it truly was Cloud Nine. Then he explained”
“Well, it was a beer bar downstairs, a massage parlor upstairs, and a motel in the back.”
Yep! Cloud Nine.
- Freeman’s RuleFreeman’s Rule
Circumstances can force a generalized incompetent to become competent, at least in a specialized field.
- Short Whine
i have been away for a while. But yet another senseless attack on customers /clients/patients has been looming large in my mind.
i have purchased a number of items at stores and on-line recently while simultaneously going to a bunch of medical appointments (the price and bane of this old man aging). Almost every one of these has produced a request for me to fill out a “feedback” form (they used to call them customer feedback forms). i could have spent the bulk of my days filling in numbers, describing my experience in several ways.
This hacks me off. if i want to give a business (and they are all businesses now because money is involved) feedback, i will do it vocally, my own email, or a letter. It will not contain endless charts for selecting numbers from 1-10 or 1-5 or whatever. i will let them know if there was something or someone i especially liked or or something or someone i thought could be improved. A stronger description might be used for a super star or, on the other end, a employee that was awful. The reason would be included.
i now delete any such requests. You don’t want me in your data bank. And i don’t want to be there.
- Klipstein’s Eighth Law of Production
After the last of 16 mounting screws have been removed from an access cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been removed.
- Second Mate
the second mate
heard steps on the creosote pier
it was six bells on
what would have been the midwatch
on the ketch;
all hands were on liberty;
the mate was the only soul on board;
the steps continued up the gangway,
across the quarterdeck
to the hatch of the mate’s stateroom;
there were several knocks on the hatch;
the mate did not go to the hatch;
the mate didn’t open it:
“you can’t come in;
“i’m not ready to go;
i have things yet to do,
places to see,
people to meet,
and
i must sail several more seas.
the mate heard steps again
but
they were fading across the deck;
the mate heard them leaving,
walking down the gangway
and
off the pier.
the mate breathed a sigh of relief:
in a fortnight, the ketch
would go to sea again.