Perhaps an introduction....a bit late, but better than never?


I guess that if I’m going to be blabbing at you folks, I should maybe give an introduction, prove that I’m qualified. I know a little bit about a lot of things.

Been married since 1994, lived in MN since 1993, have had several dogs, several cats and many plants.  I've planted trees, trimmed trees, and cut down trees...but that does not make me a lumberjack.  I know a lot about a few things and I know nothing about a lot more things…however that doesn’t stop me from making something up. I’ve had jobs in: egg processing facility, a panty factory, a plumbing/heating/electrical shop, McDonalds, a diskette duplicating factory, Perkins, Fleet Farm, a paint store, an apartment complex, and a rental car company. I’ve driven city bus, airport shuttle, amish shuttle, red tractors, green tractors, orange tractors, school buses, motor coaches full of throwball players, forklifts, bobcats, rental trucks, boats, motorcycles, snowblowers and lawnmowers. I’ve even built sets at an opera house for melodramas. I’ve been to diesel mechanics school, community college, welding school, massage school, and boiler operators school. I’ve played baritone horn and valve trombone in college concert bands and jazz bands. I’ve always owned a Ford, but I’ve made some mistakes along the way: a chevy pickup and a VW Dasher. The Honda Accord was a winner. Those 3 Fords have spanned a lifetime of driving….bought the white car when I was about 14, you can do the math to determine my age if you want…but you’ll have to work at it with the information I’ve given you.  Good luck with that.

I stopped at the gas station, not an unusual activity, to be sure....lots of people stop at the gas station on a regular basis, me included....I am quite predictable when it comes to going to KwikTrip...I'm there from 7:25-7:32 every day. My primary reason for going there is to go there....if you know what I mean. It's my only break of the morning, and that's the only time I have in the morning shift for break type activities. Since mid Sept I've been stopping there, and I've never bought any fuel during this time. Every 2nd or 3rd day I buy something, like milk, eggs, butter, bananas, bread, OJ, doughnut, sandwich, coffee...and they always ask if I have fuel....I only wish I could fuel there...nice clean fast pumps with hold open flippers, covered from the rain...oh well. It's interesting how many people stop at a gas station on their morning commute, interesting how predictable people are. Interesting how much money people waste every day by not making their coffee at home, not eating some breakfast at home, not quitting smoking, etc. I feel compelled to say that I don't often buy a doughnut...I'm trying to quit....I figure that if I don't quit the doughnuts I'll keep looking like me. But anyway, back to the story, while at the gas station, I actually bought some gas. And I'm not going to complain about how much it cost or how much profit the gas station made...there's not any point to that, it's not interesting or funny. What is funny is this: The guy at the pump ahead of me went in before he pumped his gas, I assumed that since he was driving a Yukon...which is a Sub-Urban sort of vehicle (doesn't Governmental Motors have weird names for their cars?) that he went in to make sure that they had enough gas in their tanks to fill his tank. He came back out and was pumping as I went in...and suddenly I knew differently, as soon as I saw his shoes. Yep, shoes. I didn't stereotype him until I saw his shoes...shiny plastic looking red/white checked shoes. (I can't find the shoes, but here's a linky so you can look... http://www.zazzle.com/checkered+shoes ) Ah, I thought to myself, he prepaid for gas. When I came out, I checked to see how much he spent...can you guess? Go ahead, guess. I'll wait.....got it? Yeah, shiny shoes spent $10 to gas up his monster car. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/21523.shtml He won't get far.

I understand the need to get rid of stuff, but I have to wonder: what kind of asshole dumps a tv set in a ditch on top of 7' of snow? Is it the same sort that dumps a bath tub in a ditch 12 miles north of the tv? Seriously, how little imagination do you have if you can't find an apartment complex to dump off yer crap?

If it is a cast iron tub, it'd be worth some cash for scrap, maybe I should go pick it up!

Sure, it costs some cash to do the right thing to dispose of the tv properly at the recycle center. But...it doesn't cost all that much. I'll confess something. In 1994, we rented an apartment at a dump that we lovingly called "Rochester Shithole". (This is the same dump where we first installed the 2 roll TP holder.) We signed a year lease, we bought a house 8 months into it, we moved out, we have a months notice, but they weren't satisfied with that, and charged us rent for the rest of the year. This caused me a great deal of annoyance and irritation. Therefore, for the next several years when we had something that we needed to dispose of, we took it there and hoped that the rubbish company would charge them extra. I doubt that they did, but it solved some of our problems. Another benefit of our relationship...I noticed that they were replacing refrigerators....so I took some from where they were storing them. I know that 2 of those are still in use today.

FWIW, the shithole is now named "Gates of Rochester". If you can't afford to dispose of your crap properly, don't get more crap. Or if you can't resist, dump it off at an apartment complex. That's all I've got to say about that.

This just in:  the bathtub is gone, but a block north on the other side is a seat from a minivan.