Wisdom Keepers. That is what we all are. We are born with nothing but acquire knowledge through life experiences. At some age we know it all (teenagers) and then there is a transition to becoming "wise". Consensus seems to be that after age 50 wisdom prevails.
The Chinese reverence for respecting the wisdom of elders has always fascinated me. Only in America would we distance ourselves from elders by creating nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The TV series Kung Fu delves into the Chinese wisdom issue.
Billy Crystal in the movie "City Slickers" went to a dude ranch to experience a cattle drive. The trail boss, "Curly" played by Jack Palance, wanted to share his wisdom of life. There is one thing that gives insight to the true meaning of being alive. Alas, we never do find out what the one thing is. It can't as simple as one thing! Can it?
So here I am approaching 70 years old. I must be a compilation of useful observations about life (wisdom). Hmmmm!
For the next week or so, I am going to be examing the issue of wisdom. You may be asked to contribute to my project.
My mother always told us kids to wear clean underwear in case we were in an auto accident. She didn't want to be embarassed when we went to hospital with dirty underwear. See, that is wisdom we kids could use.
I asked your Mother (who is brimming with wisdom she'd like to share) to give me an example of wisdom she'd like to impart. Her answer was "rotate your tires twice a year". Wow it takes years to acquire that kind of insight.
Grasshopper No.3 would tell you "to check your oil level before starting any engine". I think that came from running my snowblower out of oil and seizing it up when he was 12 years old. Of course, No.3 is not 50 yet so he has to wait before anyone will listen.
You get the idea. If you have any wisdom you'd like to impart to the world, let me know and maybe it will make my blog. Eventually during this series I will share my snippets of useable wisdom. Listen closely and you may learn something.
Love,
Dad
Your Mom and I were cruising up Interstate 41 Sunday when a Suburban SUV passed us pulling a very large boat. It was a new cabin cruiser at least 28-30 feet long. I was traveling at 71 mph and the trophy boat flew by at around 80 mph. Owning a cruiser can be very special.
Our neighbor at Crystal Lake (Lance) years ago decided he would transition from small lake living to having a "cruiser" on Lake Michigan. He was going to dock it near Sturgeon Bay. He bought the boat in Chicago and he decided to cruise his new dream boat up the Lake Michigan shoreline over a weekend. A huge storm came up and tossed him and his buddies around almost capsizing the boat. He decided by the time he got to Sturgeon Bay that Lake Michigan wasn't for him. He sold the boat.
Then there was Dave who had a condo in Door County. He was lured into buying a boat to cruise the Bay of Green Bay. He bought the boat and celebrated by inviting friends to Sister Bay to join him on an initial cruise. Dave could not swim. As his guests arrived at the boat dock, Dave untied the mooring. He lost his balance and fell between the boat and the dock. He had to be rescued from drowing. He sold the boat.
Don from Green Bay always wanted to be Captain of his own boat. He bought a large cruiser. It was about 32 feet long with a captain's bridge. He had arranged to dock it in Green Bay at a local Sailing Club. He read up on the boat, took his place at the captain's wheel and drove the boat out into the Bay. Upon returning, conditions were choppy and he had to dock the boat. He smashed part of his pier trying to dock. An expert "boater" had to be ferried out to Don's boat to perform the docking function. The whole Sailing Club came out to watch. Don didn't drive his boat for the rest of the Summer. Yep, he sold it.
So you see you aspiring Captains, boats aren't always as glamorous as they seem. But if your goal is to be Captain of your own ship, go for it.
The lesson Grasshoppers is dreams aren't always what they seem to be.
Love,
Dad
Your Mom and I visited Grasshopper No.5 last weekend. She is a gracious host. We got to zoom around Minneapolis in the red Mini-Cooper. Yes, you can get three people in her car. The Mini comes with a "shoe-horn" accessory allowing you to stuff more than 2 people into the vehicle. I will never complain about my car manufactured by the Bavarian Motor Works being too small again. In fact, my car is spacious and very comfortable for four people. My car is huge!
I see that Mercury Marine has reached an impasse in negotiating a new employment agreement with their union. Either directly or indirectly, 5,000 jobs in Fond du Lac are at stake. If the union ratifies the new proposal, the company stays in Fond du Lac. If the proposal is turned down, all operations will be moved to Oklahoma. There is an ugly economic reality playing out here where nobody really wins. Wisconsin doesn't need to lose any more jobs.
I watched "Seabiscuit" last night. I was struck by the economic times that prevailed as Seabiscuit became a symbal of hope for all the "down trodden" and victims of the depression. Soup kitchens were common. Tent cities existed for the homeless. Public works programs were promoted to keep some people employed. Banks closed and people lost all their savings. It took10 years and a World War to change things. Seabiscuit with a huge heart took on big black War Admiral and won a stunning victory. The little guy won.
The financial tsunami of the last few years has produced another recession of major proportions. The practices of lending institutions has forced major forclosure actions, government intervention and unemployment rates approaching 10%. There is a whole lot of unemployment that isn't even counted anymore. Banks having FDIC insurance has made this recession less severe.
We need a hero similar Seabiscuit to root for. It doesn't have to be a horse. It could be some other animal or even a person. We Americans are a resilient group. We will unite behind a new symbol with heart. Maybe Favre will lead the "purple people eaters" to two victories over the green and gold and finish the season with a Super Bowl ring. I'm not sure that will unite a nation but it will kindle the emotions of a lot of people in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Maybe there are many Favres out there.
Where oh where art thou, oh mighty hero?
Love,
Dad
I recently talked to my "computer consultant" in Minneapolis. She convinced me that my existing five-year old home computer is lacking the capacity to handle all the current software applications in my world. She called our current computer set-up ancient. Well "byte-me".
The company I joined in Sheboygan in 1967 was "leading edge" with business computers. The objective was always to provide employees with important information on a timely basis so they could make necessary decisions to keep us viable in the marketplace. In the 1960's and the 1970's, computer hardware controlled the business world. Computers were very limited in size and each company wrote most of it's own software. The dream was to reach the point where computer capacity wasn't the limiting factor and the creative abilities of employees could be unleashed to give even more competitive advantage.
Fast forward to 2009. Computer capacity has exploded. Software is in abundance. We are prepared to solve all the world problems, We can navigate rocket ships to the moon and beyond. We've arrived baby. So what do we do? We piddle away time on twitter, facebook and e-mail. We download home pictures to handheld palm devices so the world can see our pictues. We play mindless internet "war games".
It took awhile for me to realize the magnitude of computer capacity that is being used storing pictures. Pictures! They are stored on the internet for immediate download. They are attached to e-mails and they are stored in computer files until you can't even find them any more. You know! "Aw, she's so cute". "Oh, is that pretty". "That is so precious". We've lived for 5,000-6,000 years without pictures and now we can't get enough of them Go figure.
In the 1970's, home computers were measured in bytes (a string of 8 binary units) and kilobytes (1000 bytes). A megabyte (1 million bytes) was a huge number. Now one picture can suck up a megabite. But with thousands of pictures, megabyte has been replaced with gigabytes (1 billion bytes). Hard disk storage of 640 gigabytes in not uncommon. We are moving toward terabytes (1 trillion bytes) of storage.
My Minneapolis consultant pacifies me with a minimal amount of information knowing that I am a hopeless cause. But she really doesn't understand the amount of historical perspective I have on computers. I know I don't understand the applications like she does but maybe together we can build a new computer system that lets us launch our own rocketship.
So anyone who wants to loan me enough money to buy a "state of the art" computer system, let me know.
The lesson Grasshopper is technology is contantly evolving. It is almost impossible to anticipate the amount of technology that will be needed 5 years into the future. Alas, between myself and Minneapolis, we are going try.
Love,
Dad
It was 5:30 AM and the low temperature last night was 72 degrees. The window was open and we could hear the "street washing" machine in the drone of the still air. We got out of bed and went downstairs and out the side door. As the large tank truck flushed water onto the street and towards the curb, we sat on the curbing and got splashed with cold water. We would then follow the truck for a block or two stomping in the spray.
I needed to dry out and get ready for work. As always I got my gallon thermos of cool-aid stuffed with ice cubes. The cubes would be totally melted by early afternoon. In addition I got meat sandwiches or tuna salad for a treat. Occasionally there would be a small thermos filled with hot soup but that was a rarity.
The thermos along with lunch and a wide brimmed straw hat were thrown into a huge basket on the front of my second-hand Schwinn bicycle and I'd peddle up the hill, past the train depot on my way to Stokely's local Canning Plant. A cloth covered truck with a Stokely emblem on the door would transport 15-20 of us to a farm that had contracted to supply beets. Stokely had the obligation to remove the weeds during the growing cycle. Our goal was the to flood the field with kids and remove every single obnoxious, hiding, dastardly weed.
We were told how much money we would be paid for each row we completed weeding. If there was doubt about the "row rate", they'd tell us that they would monitor the first few rows and set a rate for the day. Dah! We always went very, very, very slow until a monetary rate per row was determined and then we went like hell to make money.
Mornings were okay. Lunch usually came early like 11:00 AM during the heat of the day and we ended early at 3:00 PM. My kool-aid was always gone along with the food.
My reward was $4-$5 per day. A good week would yield $30-$40.
I did my exercise routine this morning and there was a summer heat smell along with high humidity. A strong sun was coming up and there was a soft breeze. It was August, 1952 again. There won't be any kool-aid today and a salad will have to do.
The best part of the summer is that I was a "saver". I'd end up with $300-$400 in the bank at the end of summer. My Dad always respected the fact it was my money but because he was always "broke", he got very creative in ways to get me to spend it. Who was in control here?
The next nostalgic smell will be mildew grass reminescent of getting my face shoved in it while playing football. That memory is not quite as pleasant.
Love,
Dad
Occasionally I get to eat at a fine restaurant like the Golden Corral Buffet. It makes a big dent in my retirement cash flow, but what the hell. My friend and I dined there last week.
When we arrived there was a police car sitting outside the restaurant. The lights were flashing but it wasn't clear why the policeman was there. Maybe he arrested a speeder or perhaps a patron didn't pay. My friend and I went inside and paid for lunch.
I noticed that a fire truck had pulled up behind the police car. There were no sirens but the red lights were flashing on top of the truck. I didn't see any firemen but it is a little disconcerting sitting down to eat with a fire truck outside.
I began to notice firemen walking in and out of the kitchen with portable fire extinquishers. There was no sense of urgency but three firemen dressed in rain gear does make you wonder.
About half way through the first course of food, the fire alarms began to sound. Nobody in the restaurant seemed anxious to leave their table and vacate the facility. The high frequency piercing fire alarm actually hurts the ears. The alarm lasted for about 5 seconds and stopped. Alas, all seemed well. Then the alarm went off again. It was a shorter "burst" this time. Firemen were still wandering in and out of the kitchen.
My friend and I finished our first course and decided it was okay to return to the buffet line. The three firemen were sitting at a table with some of their fire gear removed eating lunch. What the hell? I guess if there is threat of fire, it is good to have experts around. Actually I felt safe having them there.
The lunch was eaten faster than normal just in case. It gives new meaning to a eating at a "hot restaurant". I can't reisist! We ate "hot food". We discussed "hot subjects". I had a "hot date".
There is no lesson Grasshoppers except if you enter a restaurant with a fire truck parked outside, it probably isn't a good thing.
Just a note about food. The State Fair features this year are (1) chocolate covered bacon on a stick, (2) chilled cookie dough on a stick, (3) deep fried peanut butter, and (4) jelly sandwiches on a stick. Oh yeah, don't forget the ever popular "calorie free" cream puffs. Life support teams are on premises to revive you when your arteries clog.
Love,
Dad.
Our sympathy to daughter-in-law Jenny for the loss of her cousin. I understand he was a very special person. I think formal respects were paid yesterday.
Grasshopper No.4 actually suggested I talk about the big "E". It stands of the word "empathy" which gets confused with the words "apathy" and "sympathy".
Empathy is the ability to share in another's emotions, thoughts or feelings. It is a special gift. If you are empathetic, you can mentally transport yourself into another's situation and actually understand in some depth, the pain or elation that goes with a situation. It sounds easy. To understand another's feelings is difficult..
Empathy gets confused with "apathy". I've heard people say "I have apathy for you". They don't mean that because the definition of apathy is "lack of emotion, lack of concern or indifference". If I have apathy for you it means I could care less about your situation. Mixing up the words "empathy" and "apathy" is not a good thing.
Grasshopper No.4 introduced another word that adds confusion, "sympathy". Most often it is used to convey compassion for another's troubles. It means you care but not necessarily that you can transport yourself mentally into another's situation.
All of your experiences in life build up your personal resources allowing you to place yourself in another's situation, many times because you've "been there". For example, I have empathy for any family that experiences suicide in their family because it happened in our family. There are emotions involved that most others can not understand.
When you can emphathize with another person and truly care, it makes you a better person. That makes all you Grasshoppers great people.
Love,
Dad
Happiness (or despair) comes in different forms. Little things!
Yesterday I got up to go to my daily exercise class and all the lights on electronic gadgets were blinking at me. The power had gone off over night due to an electrical storm and I had to reset everthing. Awwww! Then I went to make coffee and forgot to empty the old coffee out of the glass canister before starting. I ran the new coffee over the old coffee and the pot over-flowed. Coffee ran everywhere. I just don't do things like that. Then the love of my life told me she had tried to load a photo book software program onto our outdated computer and the computer puked. We almost lost "acewisdom". That would really would have been a lousy break.
Today started better. My walking routine is improving (less pain). Then I went to my dentist and braced myself for a new filling. It turns out that the tooth previously had a root canal so there were no nerves involved. He drilled the tooth, filled the cavity and had me out of the chair in 13 minutes. That works for me. I'm sure I'll be billed for 30 minutes. Finally, my season tickets for UW football arrived by priority mail. Hey, bring on the rest of the day.
I got to drive the new fire-red, extended cab, all wheel drive Ford F-150 "bad boy" truck recently purchased by the Grasshopper No.1 family. I'm sure I made No.1 nervous as I backed out of the driveway using the only rear-view mirrors (Grasshopper No.3 taught me that trick), she commented I was too close to the barrier barrels on highway 41 and finally she exclaimed some obscenity as I squeeled the tires accelerating from an intersection. Hey, it ain't my truck.
This is just an insight check. I never realized it but it is really hard to solve a "redneck murder". First all the DNA matches and second, there are no dental records.
Don't think too hard Grasshoppers because there are no lessons this time. Just bullsh-- jibberish. Get those kiddies ready for school.
Love,
Dad