"..... no, no. I'm not special"

A lot of people are aware of my mothers recent health struggles.  They were serious enough to send the wife and I down to Las Vegas, in order to "be there" just in case.  The notice to come was kind of a last minute thing, so I threw a bunch of our clothes in a duffel bag and out the door we went.

We left at about 5:00 p.m. so we drove the distance in the dark.  We arrived at Las Vegas at 2:30a.m. and was at the hospital by 3:00.  We got caught up with the nurses on the severity of mom's condition and found out about what time the doctors would be making rounds the next morning and decided to go catch a bit of a nap.  We get to our lodging situation only to find that someone locked a door that nobody had a key for.  That meant going to get a motel room for about 2 hours sleep or crash in the car, get to the hospital at the right time, and then deal with the door issue.

It's pretty tough to sleep in my car.  You just can't get real comfortable.  Anyhow, after tossing and turning for about 1 1/2 hours, I started the car and we took off for coffee and then the hospital.  After about a half day there, we decided to go catch a shower, find something to eat and then come back.

We got into mom's house.  I go to take a shower and realize that I only brought one shirt.  That would make it necessary to go buy a couple of cheap t-shirts or something.  We knew just the place, so after a shower we decided to head over there.  This place normally has hundreds of plain colored t-shirts but this time they had nothing!  I am going through the sales rack and I finally find one xxl shirt.  On it was the video game logo "Call of Duty... Black Ops ll".  I know of the game.  I'm not a "gamer" myself but I think my son has it.

Next morning I put the shirt on and go to the hospital.  First stop was the coffee stop.  We go inside and place our order.  The girl behind the counter looks at my shirt and gives me this look like she stepped in cat puke or something.  Needless to say, she takes our order and managed to not spit in mine.  (The look she gave me made me watch everything she did.)  I noticed a couple of the patrons looking at me too.  All of them had this same peculiar look... kind of where they tilt their head, stare at you and hope the thought that just ran through their head one way will again run through their mind the other way in order to get an understanding.

I blew it off.  My mind was really on my mothers health.  She was listed as "critically unstable" and that was all I could really think about.  Let me back track a bit.  The first night we are there, we get a lame nap.  The second night we are there, I tossed and turned all night and got maybe 2-3 hours sleep.  So at this point, I don't know what day it is and everything is running together.  I am tired but needed to be there for mom... so there I was.

At the hospital, we made our way to mom's room.  As we hop off the elevator, a nurse type person looks at me, then my shirt and gets that all too familiar look.  I wanted to say "WHAT?" but managed to keep calm.  We walk by the nurses station and I get yet another look.  At this point I make sure I don't have 3 feet of toilet paper sticking out of the back of my shorts, look in the mirror to be sure my wife didn't write on my forehead... but nothing!  Nothing was there, so again I dropped the thought and engaged in the ongoing conversation about my mothers health.

We spoke to the doctors, the nurses and found that there was a bit of improvement.  Mom recognized my voice and was trying to respond.  (She was intubated, so she couldn't speak.)  That was a huge relief and it looked like we were taking a turn for the better. The wife and I both wanted a Coke 0, so off to the cafeteria I went.  The place was busy but there was no line at the soda machine.  I poured us a couple of cokes and headed to the register to pay.  Some dude in front of me was compelled to turn around and see who is behind him.  There I am... shaved head, big goatee, this dumb ass t-shirt, and a pair of shorts while everyone else is wearing pants, sweaters and jackets.

This guy too shot me a look.  Different from the others but still off the mark.  And honestly, this is my home town.  I know its full of jerks.  So again, I play it off.  As I get on the elevator there is a guy who looks to be lost.  As I approach, he gets this look on his face like "I bet this guy can help" but as I get closer his look changed from that to, "Ah damn, that guy doesn't know shit!". 

Now I am about to take offense.  I shot down all of the other looks which is something the old me never would have done.  I am going to say something to this guy but he apparently is on his way to find a janitor or something to ask them a question.  So, I hop on the elevator to the right floor and walk to mom's room.  I hand my wife her drink and ask "is everything all right?".  She nods without looking, and I knew by know... if something was real screwed up, she would have said something. 

We sit there as mom fades in and out, listening to Judge Judy while doing crossword and sudoku puzzles.  My sister arrives and is looking at my mom's finger nails.  She mentions something about a "mani-pedi" which is something my mother used to really enjoy.... but that shit isn't going to happen in the hospital.  My sister sends me down to the in hospital CVS store to get a pair of nail clippers.... and then it hits me.  "All of these people think I'm retarded!"  (I know "retarded" is not a favorable term.... screw off if you're offended.)  I nod and smile because I finally cracked the caper. 

I walk into the CVS and begin looking for the nail clippers.  I find 2 different kinds and chose the one that I believe will be the best choice.  I turn for the register and stand 3rd in line.  When I get to the counter, I place the clippers on the counter.  "Will that be all?" the clerk asks.  "Yeah that's it, thanks" I say.  "$2.39, and I like your shirt big guy."  (NAILED IT!)  The first words out of my mouth were, 'Oh no, I'm not retarded."  Everybody in the joint turns towards me, and looks.... as if trying to determine if my last statement was truthful.  Really uncomfortable, I place 3 bucks on the counter.  The clerk is uneasy, the pharmacist is uneasy, the other customers are now talking amongst themselves.... 

"Way to convince them, genius." I thought as I walked to the janitors closet, thinking it was the elevator.

"Sams Club lays off 2% of workers"

http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/24/news/sams-club-layoff/

With any luck people, these are the sons a bitches that work there and hate their jobs.  I am a little more than sick and tired of people complaining about Sams Club, but more sick and tired about the supposed employees that work there... of their own free will, that complain about the joint.  If these are the people that got laid off, I bet none of them are smart enough to know that Sam did them a solid!  You hate the joint, so they sent your ass into the difficult position of  "free agency".

                                                                 
            
                                             
Are people swooping in to offer you a contract or a job?  No?  How could that be?   Let us see....these people gave you a job, you bad mouthed the joint, say how shitty the outfit is and say negative shit about your co workers?  Who wouldn't offer your complaining ass a job?  (The answer is about 75% of the country, that's who!)

Here's the kicker people.  If you think Walmart sucks, don't shop there and DO NOT APPLY FOR WORK there!  This is not rocket surgery or brain science, dumb ass!  If you go to a place you hate with a shitty impression of the place, with a shitty attitude and a shitty work ethic, you are going to stick out like a wiener stuck in a zipper.  Do the whole world and your dumb ass self a favor, and look for work else where.

You applied there!  They made you aware of the employment arrangement as soon as you accepted the job.  They explained the wage and pay scale, the benefits package or lack there of and the hours you would be working... it was all explained to you.  YOU took the position!  This now assumed "shitty situation" is all of your doing!  Accept it.  They offered, you accepted... its all on you.  Take some god damned responsibility and let the world know that YOU are at fault for accepting this alleged "shitty employment situation" of your own free will.  (That would be honorable....)

I have had shitty jobs.  One in particular was a big shitty job, but I applied for it right out of high school.  During the closing of the interview, the interviewer told me that she and the "higher ups" would have a discussion and be back in touch within 2 days.  I didn't get out of the parking lot before I got hired!  Flattering, right?  No... straight up stupid.  I needed the work, the money was okay and the hours acceptable.  The working environment sucked.

 


I'll keep the name of the place all to myself, but I was hired as a "runner".  Basically, this joint had a group of "cold call" sales people who would call people, try to sell them shit and put their names in for a drawing for things the'd never win.  It was beautiful....  And the good thing was, you had idiots that couldn't give a hobo a ham sandwich who were trying to sell and igloo to an eskimo.  I got to deal with those people... got to make lunch orders, got to go help in the mail room and the most precious aspect of my job was to keep the vending machines full of sodas and bullshit to keep these jack asses fed.

                                                                                              

Guess what?  The job sucked hind tit and I was on the job hunt about 3 weeks after being hired.  Fortunately someone was looking for a semi responsible half wit who would count and not send themselves to the hospital over a 2nd grade math problem, and they came looking for me!  I left the hot house and went to work for a completely different outfit and learned a new skill set....

I'm over hearing about people complaining about their jobs... I am done with hearing about people complaining about shit that doesn't even concern them.  "I really wish the Ethiopians had more water"... Go fuck yourself!  We've been there drilling wells and we've tried to teach them shit, and we send them money!  They keep fucking it up, so complain about that.  Their corrupt government is screwing away the money that our government screwed away from us... do something about it and that does not include complaining!  Got it?

Fat dude.... out!

"Feds pull Google Glass user from theater"

Anybody else catch this news story?  Google it up if you haven't.  I briefly glanced at it while sorting through various "news" sources and then a friend sent me a link to the story and asked if "it could be a blog topic".  I read the story and confirmed that the story could evoke a lot of different opinions, so I thought I would voice mine.  Put your reading helmets on people and watch me stumble through this....

I'll start with the least obnoxious part of the story.  "Bringing a recording device" into a theater is just kind of stupid, and here's why.  You are immediately drawing attention to yourself.  Even if you have no ill intention, all eyes are on you and you have to be smart enough to know that someone is going to say something.  That is your risk of doing something like this.  Do I care if someone brings a recording device into a theater?  I could give a rats ass, but if your recording device fucks up my movie you're going to hear from me before you hear from the Feds, for fucks sake!

Now on to the more obnoxious part of the story.  Sending in 12 fucking guys for a nerd with glasses?  Jesus Christ, people.  Could not an usher to two handle the situation?  "How many Feds does it take to sharpen a pencil?" is a question that could probably be answered with the number 12.  By the way, since these a-holes screwed up the guys movie, did they get him another ticket for the next show?  I know, dumb question.

The fucking guy had a recording device, not an IED.  I understand the idea behind not having a nerd in the theater with a recording device, but 12 Federal agents?  Sounds like we could have used those fuckers during the "Fast and Furious" scandal.... or perhaps they were working that day?  I don't know.  I mean really!  We're all lucky this guy didn't take 2 straws from the concession stand.

The most obnoxious part of the article said something along the lines that the guy "could have left any time during the questioning". (For some reason, the Rodney King incident comes to mind.) Yeah... sure he could have and then the Feds would have run outside and fucked a guy up for a parking ticket.  I've seen people try to walk away from local law enforcement during a "questioning" and they normally don't get too far.  And, maybe that's okay...  as I eluded to above, you ought not put yourself into a situation where you will find yourself being questioned.

Oh, and DHS was on the scene too.  They were apparently part of the 12 agents mentioned above.  Thank the Lord they were there.  They protected us from the cries of, "Look out!  He has a recording device!"  You know what would have been awesome!  If the nerd filmed the questioning process without the agents knowing and got it out there on Youtube.....

I know, I know.  These people are trying to make the world a safer place.  Does anyone feel better now knowing these guys detained a nerd?  Here they are messing with this guy while some dick hole is out there planning some real diabolical shit.  Yeah, I feel a lot better.

Thanks for listening...
BD

Why?

It seems like they've always named Hurricanes.  As long as I can remember they've named them.  However, it seems to me that we've only recently started naming winter storms.  A headline on a newspaper brought this to my attention.  "Winter storm Janus altering Superbowl plans."  I think I remember a storm or two last year that they were talking about.  And if you think about it, if they went in alphabetical order, we've had some winter!  (By the way, winter is not a snow storm that dumps 2 feet and it melts 2 days later... its a whole fucking season with the shit, got it?)
                                                         





So as I sat here pondering names and potential names, and then it struck me.  "Why don't we name the nice days?"  Sure, we have a lot more nice days than shitty days but you recycle the names.  There are more than on Bob on the planet.  "Remember Nice Day Alan" we'd all say.  "Oh yes, warmth and sunshine everywhere.  We were all dancing the dance of the fanciful unicorn!" we'd exclaim.

Let's not stop there.  First off, we'd have to really decide if a mediocre day is "partly sunny" or "partly cloudy".  Days that were a little worse than that would have to be defined "mostly cloudy". 

Why are we naming storms?  Better yet, why are we not renaming our seasons since we are personifying everything?  Rename everything!!!

A friend comes walking through your lawn and you could alert him/her of a dog poop by saying, "Hey!  Don't step in Dog Shit Lucy". 

Where do we stop with this?  Hippies will be out naming trees and fucking everything up.  I just don't get it.  You know what season it is and in winter, you can expect snow if you life in a region that typically gets snow.  You don't have to name them!  They fall on dates, its why we have a calender.!

Now I'm all worked up and am thinking about drinking "beer Annalisa" but I have to drive all night.... 

Corruption in politics?

The last bit I posted was about a bit someone offered to a social networking site.  Basically, some guy blamed Las Vegas, Nevada for being a gambling, whore chasing drug addict.  The conversation on the subject got more interesting.  It evolved (devolved) into a new subject... "corruption in local government."  I felt compelled to comment.  As soon as I did, my comments were deleted and I have apparently been blocked on that particular page.  That's fine by me.....

Before the subject fell to the depths of "corruption" there were a few people commenting on the proper pronunciation of the state name, Nevada.  It got pettier when someone else professed, "a real Nevadan knows that it is "Las Vegas" and not "Vegas".  (Turns out, this person is not from Vegas but feels that since she moved there when she was 5... she's just the same as a person born in Nevada.) 

Right now, you're probably thinking that this is some pretty ridiculous shit to get worked up over.... and it is.  What bothered me in particular were the people who were trying to set precedent for whom could and could not respond on the subject.

Anyhow, back to the "corruption".  A gentleman took it upon himself to state that "unless you are a 5th generation Nevadan, you aren't allowed to comment on the subject."  Initially, I had a problem with the "5th generation" thing.  I was bothered by the notion that this guy thought only someone who had been around for 5 generations could possibly understand "corruption" or Las Vegas in general.  The more I read, the more I realized that this person wanted to be the compass of the conversation and took offense to basically anything else anyone had to say.

I decided to take this person to task.  First off, its not my fault that I was born a 2nd generation Nevadan.  You simply can't choose when and where you are born.  From there I stated that anyone is entitled to their opinion and had to explain to this turd that his opinion was just and "opinion".  Lastly, I conceded that he and I were probably a lot closer on the idea of local government corruption.
I went on to say that the valley was settled by the Mormons and the Mob and stated that both groups integrity could certainly be questioned through history.  I added that the same could be said about a lot of other people who eventually moved into the area.  That was the thing that apparently kicked off the melt down.

The man got pissed off at me because I eluded to the fact that "Mormons were less than truthful Christians" and that his people "lacked integrity".  It was obvious that the guy completely misunderstood what I was saying.  I wasn't attacking all Mormons and the entire religion but eluding to the fact that Mormons did settle the area.  There was a small "Mormon owned" bank called the "Bank of Las Vegas" that did open business with the Mob.  The Mob has "questionable" business ethics and I felt that anyone who dealt with the Mob was probably as questionable as the Mob. 

The man began to berate me, called me "knowledge-less" and said that I couldn't talk about his religion the way I was without being called out.  (Good, now we're engaged for more of a subject that he knows little about... his own religion.)  I said, "In regards to Mormons always being honorable, can you tell me anything about the Mountain Meadows Massacre?".  For those not familiar with the incident, basically a Mormon militia tried to coerce local Paiute tribe members to join them in attacking a wagon train from Arkansas.  The kicker was, this militia dressed like the Paiutes and were trying to make the attack look like some of the other attacks happening on pioneers making the trip west.  (Part of the problem was, some of the survivors realized that these were white people dressed like the Paiutes that were responsible for the attack.)

The man knew nothing of the attack.  Because he "didn't know", it didn't happen.  And I reinforced what I was trying to say... even some Mormons lack honor and integrity.  It happens everywhere, all of the time, and smaller local governments can be less than honorable.

In an attempt to clarify something, I'd like to say that I have no problems with Mormons.  I know a lot of great people who are Mormon.  I would rather conduct personal business with these people over some of the people in my own family.

That was the point in which I could no longer participate in the conversation.  I was blocked.  A few minutes later, the entire conversation was stricken from the record.  I really am okay with that.  It's not like there was anything to win in an argument with a self appointed discussion monitor.  I guess I found it interesting that this person could have the nuts to say who could participate in the discussion.

In an attempt to clarify something, I'd like to say that I have no problems with Mormons.  I know a lot of great people who are Mormon.  I would rather conduct personal business with these people over some of the people in my own family.  By the way, I am also of the opinion that Vegas (the casinos/gambling business) was better when the Mob ran the show. 

Taking responsibility....

I peruse a specific page on a social networking site that pertains to my hometown.  People on the page are always inquiring about specific land marks that are no longer there, offering commentary on other posts and it is kind of fun to interact with these people in order to fill in the gaps within my memory.

Apparently over the last couple of days, someone went on a rant about how "Las Vegas Ruined My Life", and it caught me off guard.  I kept reading, trying to understand what this person was talking about.  It hit me right before I read any of the dozens of replies to this guys post.

 
                                         
Is anyone else picking this shit up?  People not taking responsibility for all of the shitty choices they make and then trying to find something else to blame it on?  How big of a suck hole are you that you would try to blame a town for you being a fuck up?  I mean really... at the same time, you'd have to give credit to the town for keeping your ignorant ass alive, right?  Honestly, if the town ruined you and using your own logic, you'd have to be thankful to the town for keeping you alive.... it didn't kill you, it just kind of fucked you up and let you live.  If you think a city fucked your life up, you are an unprecedented asshole.

That is the weakest crap I've ever heard!  Take some responsibility for the shit that YOU did that got YOU in the shitty position you find yourself in today.  That's what this is really about.  YOU made bad choices!  The city of Las Vegas didn't do a thing.  Its a place and places don't do much other than grow or become ghost towns and even at that, it is still dependent on people making choices!  Until you can rationalize that YOU are an idiot and YOU made bad choices, you are going to continue to sound like a complete dumb ass.

And you know what?  It's okay to be a dumb ass and as long as you keep advertising it, people who can facilitate you trying to straighten out the life YOU fucked up will stand clear and watch your own personal train wreck.





  
(You look like Janet Reno... and who in the fuck installed that door to your left?)

Fuck!!!  How do you blame a town for being a dumb ass gambling, drug addict who chases whores?  Here's another reason you can't blame the town.  There are about 2 million people in Clark County Nevada these days, and not all of them are drug addicted gambling whore chasers....  THEY made the choices to not do that shit. 

Again, this is obviously a case where the inside of someone's head took a crap and displaced the brain.  YOU, you dumb ass!  You fucked things up, and a lot of us do it.  But here's the difference between YOU and the rest of the free world.  The rest of the free world admits they fuck up from time to time, learn from the fuck ups and move along.  They own the shit they screwed up, but not you.  "The town got you"......  You sir are a special breed of stupid... so stupid in fact that it is a miracle that you don't drown while swallowing.

 

By some chance, if you are reading this... may I offer a bit of sound advice?  Every time you think the city of Las Vegas did this to you, will you snap a mouse trap on your ball sack?  Seriously... the gene pool is fucked up enough and nobody needs your spawn running around, smoking crack, stealing shit, getting thrown in the pokey and blaming someone other than themselves for the stupid shit they do.  You at least owe the city that... since it did save your life.... fucking half wit!

#1 Neighborhood Zero

I grew up in a great neighborhood.  We knew everyone in the neighborhood.  We knew where the adults worked, what grade all of the kids were in, which school they attended, what cars they drove.  We actually "knew" these folks.  There were yards we were allowed to play in and others we could not.  We were allowed to pick pomegranates from some yards and go swimming at others.  Really, it was a great neighborhood to grow up in.

We were conveniently located about 4 blocks from the Charleston Plaza Mall.  The beauty about this place was, there was a killer pizza joint, the Fox Theater, a karate dojo and a library branch, not to mention 2 or 3 furniture stores, an antique store, drug store, grocery store and a Woolco! 
 


On Friday and Saturday nights, the mall was our haunt!  We'd sneak out bikes and skate boards in the mall and ride down the big hill inside.  The object behind that was to get chased out of the mall, so in all fairness we were not being "little angels". 

So we were at the mall one night and there was nothing happening.  The group of us were all afoot and we couldn't develop an alternative plan for fun, so we decided to disband and head home for the night.  Keep in mind, this is well before curfew.  As I rounded the corner to my house, I noticed a cop car in the driveway so I sprinted to the house.  I blow the front door open and there is a cop lecturing my mother about her kid "stealing a car tire".  He turned his lecture towards me and began questioning me as to where I had been and with whom I had been hanging out with.  He then told me that I had been I.D'ed as a kid who was carrying a tire across the mall parking lot towards in the direction of my house.

The cop (who lived around the corner from us, and used to be a real cool guy with the coolest truck in the neighborhood) tells me to "produce the tire or be prepared to go to juvenile hall".  My mom said, "he and all of his friends are 13 years old... they don't know other kids who have cars... this is bullshit, so arrest him or get out of my house!"  The cop left but kept telling us that "he'd be watching all of us kids."

We didn't steal anything... this guy was out of his mind!  He went from potential hero to eternal zero in a minute.  He did manage to keep tabs on us.  We used to play football in the street at night and he'd drive by and tell us that we needed to be in by 10 on the weekends, even though curfew was 12.  What a dick this dude was....  Total 0!!!!