52 years ago, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.

I worked at McDonald's back then - my first real I-get-a-paycheck- minus-what-the-goverment-takes-out job.

On that day, the manager asked if anyone had a portable t.v. so that we could all watch this historic event.

A co-worker said he had one, but no car to pick it up.

I volunteered to drive him, so we went to his house, picked it up and drove back.

Three hours later we had a picture on the 13 inch screen.

As the moment unfolded, we were all crammed into the manager's office staring at the little screen.

We hadn't had a customer in an hour, which was unusual for that time of night and the manager joked that someone would not be paying attention to the event and would come in for a burger & fries.

Sure enough, as Armstrong started down the ladder, a customer came in and demanded to be waited on.

The manager looked at us all and told us the person with the least seniority had to go out and take care of the person.

To this day, I remember vividly being a 16 year old kid watching an historic event.

I also wonder how the kid who missed it because of one clueless customer remembers that night.

It was one small step for man, one potential bad memory for one small part of mankind.

~

No matter how you look at things in your life,

whether it be positive or negative,

there's one thing you must understand without over-analyzing:

It is what it is.

And life goes happily or cruelly on.

~

Last night I cooked a couple of burgers on my George Foreman grill.

Around 5:00 am I awoke with what I knew what was coming:

A case of the 'shitz'.

Today I have been trying to figure out what it was that attacked my stomach, ingredients-wise.

The hamburger was purchased that day (7/17/21), with a 'use by' stamp of 7/20/21.

The bread, lettuce, tomato & onion purchased that day, too.

So what caused my intestinal crisis?

Perhaps my stomach was not used to the grease?

Sadly, I may never know.

Another of life's mysteries, I guess.

Every once in a while, I have a dream like I had last night:

I'm lost in a mall.

It's a safe bet I'm not planning a trip to the Mall of America,

at least not any time soon.

Everything has been working slowly today on the 'net, so I ran some scans.

All is well again.

Fingers crossed!

~

I finally caught our Health & Safety director in his office yesterday and got officially certified as having been vaccinated, so I am no longer required to wear a mask at work.

How long have I been trying to do this?

I had my second shot March 5th.

The problem has always been locating the guy.

He says that he is in his office until 5:00pm, but, whenever I have stopped by, he is always gone.

Yesterday I came in an hour early and finally caught him.

A minute later I'm certified.

When he had the audacity to ask me why it took me so long to come in, I just said "timing"...

and walked away.

Some things are worth waiting for,

even if it's a wait that is frustrating.

~

My favorite version of a rock-n-roll classic:


And the eye candy of Gladys Knight doesn't hurt.

We have a couple of part - timers at work and they really are a couple.

They work 2 to 3 hours a night cleaning in the offices.

They're always complaining about not making enough money;

and yet

they miss a day about once a month

and

this week they're off on vacation.

I remember hearing college kids working in bars doing the same complaining,

and when things were slow, they'd be the first ones wanting to leave.

Ah youth and their inability to get their priorities straight.

One thing they all have in common:

When it's time to pay the bills and they don't have the money,

I turn a deaf ear.

Because they know better.

~

1. An old buddy of mine that I've known since grade school.

He moved away from a couple of houses down to across town years ago.

When I saw him again after the move, he was seeing my favorite cousin - which made me very happy.

Long story short(er), they eventually were married and raised two sons.

After almost 40 years of marriage, my cousin developed Lou Gehrig's disease and eventually passed away.

My friend not only lost his soul-mate, but his youngest son to cancer three years later.

My buddy is a tough guy. He has handled his losses better than most.

He's retired now and travels quite a bit.

He has not dated since my cousin died, though.

2. My ex wife was a drug addled psycho who cheated on me, lied to me, tried to stab me with a butcher's knife once and then left me.

Those are the nicest things I can say about her.

After she left me, she had a nervous breakdown. I kept her from being committed. After she went back to work, she left me again. We then were divorced.

A year after her first breakdown she had another.

She has been living off the government since, raising two children she had out of wedlock.

3. Last night I had a dream in which we were all going through a blizzard. For some reason I was in the same house with the two of them. I stated that we needed to go out for supplies and since my pal has a big truck, we should drive it.

I turned around and the two of them were kissing.

I took the keys, jumped in the truck and started driving. I then decided not to go back.

Then I woke up.

As much as I like my friend, and knowing he would laugh, I'm not going to tell him about my dream.

Some things are left better off untold.

~

Imagine where the economy would be if you couldn't raise any prices...

unless the minimum wage went up.

Just thinkin' out loud.

~