Teeth are optional eqipment?

Interesting morning, this morning.  Well, interesting might be a stretch, but here's the thing. I embark on my daily commute and begin to plan 2 necessary stops that I have to make before I get to work.  I look at the clock and all seems doable.  I have the car radio on mostly for background noise and for some reason I hear the word "teeth" in the discussion.  "Teeth"....

I make my first stop to get some fuel.  As I pull up to the pump, I noticed a familiar face.  It takes me a minute or two to place the guy but I knew this was someone that I used to talk to on a regular basis.  "Hey Brice" he says excitedly with a completely toothless grin.  The words "holy shit, dude" almost parted my lips but at the last second I traded those words for, "Hey Man, how are you?"

I'm assuming it was obvious that he knew I had forgotten his name from the look on his face.  It was like he was trying to mouth his name as I was talking.  Maybe it was obvious to him from the look on my face, but he misunderstood that look.  The look on my face was all about, "what in the hell happened to your teeth?".  He says something along the lines of "long time no see" and all I could think about was "yeah, long time no see a God damned dentist."

Seriously.  I was appalled at the appearance of this guys oral situation.  His situation wasn't even as good as "summer teeth".  (Pronounced "some are teeth", but some are stumps.)  I shit you not, every hockey player I have ever met in person has more teeth in better shape than this guy.  I mean, I feel for this guy.  Something went awry and it apparently happened for a good long time.

I shook this man's hand.  I looked at his hand.  Not that he had a recent manicure, but the man's hand was in far better shape than his teeth.  I figured he'd have run his hand across a band saw blade or something, but nope.  All digits were where they were supposed to be and of an adequate length I determined by the size of the rest of his hand.  He goes on to tell me that he spent the last few years in Arizona doing construction but was on his way up to Montana for the summer.  He had a great job lined up outside of Glacier National Park.  I congratulated him but quickly excused myself because I had to make my next stop and still get to work on time.  I told him to "look me up" if he gets back around this area and then I thought I should get my name out of all of the phone directories.

I pull back on to the highway shaking my head.  I cannot remember the guys name for the life of me, but I'll never forget this guys toothless grin.  It was something out of a Tim Burton movie.  Nonetheless, I trudge on with the last leg of the daily commute.  I get to my last stop, so I park the car and head in.  There were guys having a conversation, and the guy facing me had a jacked up set of teeth!  His oral situation was such that his speech was impaired.  As I watched him talk, I watched copious amounts of spittle fly out of his yap and at the same time watched the guy he was talking too duck and weave like Mike Tyson did in his 20's.  (What's worse than getting spit on?  Getting spit on by a guy with shitty teeth!)




I chuckle to myself and head in doors.  I grabbed a bottle of my favorite morning beverage and noticed a guy on the other side of the cooler.  He was in there stocking his wares, but we made eye contact so I said "Hey" like I normally do and he countered with, "How are you today?".  Nothing wrong with that right?  Guess what?  Shitty teeth.  Now this level of shitty was different from the previous shitty teeth.  It appears as of he had the appropriate amount of teeth, but they all looked like they were installed side ways or maybe even upside down or something.

Anyhow, it turns out that this particular store didn't have a product I was looking for so I headed across the street.  Now I need to clarify something.  Anyone can have a messed up grille for any number of reasons.  I wore braces to fix my chompers when I was a kid, and I certainly had some messed up teefies.  I've got no real issue with teeth, but the overwhelming abundance of jacked up smiles was getting to me this morning.

So I step into this other store and walk straight to the counter.  Nobody around.  I stand there patiently for about 3 minutes, then decide to go look for someone.  Out of nowhere steps this woman who promptly says, "can I help you?" .  I think I shook my head while asking for the product I was looking for.  This persons front teeth resembled a train track where the 405 had just derailed.  One front tooth stuck straight out... not a little.  I mean straight out and a good distance from her gums.  The tooth next to that one was considerably smaller and slightly pushed back.  If this were for a specific purpose, it must have been for capturing and holding prey. 

Now, all I can think of is all of these unfortunate souls.  "$5.14" she says, as if she said it twice before.  As I reach for my wallet, I fumble it and it lands on the floor.  As I bend over to pick it up, I bumped my head on this ill placed beef jerky display.  Now, that made me laugh because nobody I talked too today was in the physical condition to eat any beef jerky.  As I stood up, I was hoping that I hit my head hard enough that I hoped I somehow knocked this dream out of existence.  Nope...  didn't happen.

I immediately apologize, for what I'm not sure.  I manage to hand her $6 as I pocket my purchase.  She tells me, ".78 cents is your change" and I had to giggle because I sounded remotely like one of the kooky characters from H. R. Puffinstuff.  I thanked her and parted ways rather ungracefully, really.

In the safety of my own vehicle, a shine of sorts.... I prayed that the rest of my day be filled with people with whole sets of teeth in relatively decent shape.  As I pulled into work, a friend threw a snowball at me and hit me right in the mouth.  No damage to speak of, but I quit laughing about peoples teeth.... or the lack there of.

Everything will kill us eventually....

Most of us know that we owe it to ourselves to eat right, drink plenty of water and get lots of exercise.  It's the recipe to good health, is it not?  Well, we've been told it is, but I have to wonder.  Allow me to elaborate.

The USDA, FDA, CDC, and the American Health Association among others all conclude that the right foods in the right amounts, water and exercise are critical in achieving optimum health.  Other health gurus suggest adding supplements to better your chances at optimum health.  But what has me wondering is this.  For the most part, the soil in which we grow our food is either depleted of natural nutrients or amended with man made fertilizers, some of which are known to cause cancer if ingested in large quantities.  (Taking it in smaller quantities is supposed to be good for us?)  The water/aquifers we use to irrigate our food crops are often polluted with industrial waste, pharmaceutical compounds and other stuff that none of us would ingest on purpose.  And lastly, the air in which makes all life possible is polluted with all kinds of shit that will kill you.

It's obvious that we don't get out of here alive, but the last couple of sentences make me wonder how in the hell we stay alive in the first place!  As I mentioned above, our food sources are under a constant bombardment from cancer causing agents.  We've gone as far as to genetically modify everything from corn to chicken.  Once modified, we supplement these modified food sources with crap we basically just made up. 

Now, as if that weren't bad enough, the government agencies that over see all of this has determined that there is a certain level of rat shit that is allowed in our food.  To me, that's convenient because you can easily hide a rat turd amongst a bowl of chocolate flavored cereal.  Other things like rodent hair and spider legs are perfectly acceptable in our food.  I've got to tell you.  Rat shit, rodent hair and spider legs are probably the healthiest shit we eat these days!

What brought all of this on was a brief discussion I was having with a buddy while picking up a cup of coffee (which at one point was considered really bad for our health and years later, the same governing agencies have decided that there are actually medicinal benefits from a cup of coffee).  The conversation began when I heard the girl behind the counter say, "oops, I almost gave you 8 shots of espresso instead of 4".  Let it be known that 8 shots of espresso has the ability to lay down a case of diarrhea so severe that one could completely dehydrate themselves and croak.  (Maybe not, but I'll use that non-fact in this particular situation.)  I laughed and said, "that'll get the day started!" as I reached for some artificial sweetener.  I then said, "excuse me while I grab some cancer causing agent".  I further elaborated that it was brought to my attention that the shit I was putting into my coffee can not be processed as a food and that it basically turns into a wood alcohol.... and if I'm not mistaken, is used in varnish!  Yum...  My friend said, "Everything is going to kill us eventually" and he's right.  My thought on the artificial sweetener is this.  My insides will be well shellacked so when they do the autopsy, there will be no mistakes on what it is that killed me. 

With that being said, I have to hope to croak from "natural causes" in order for my presumption to be of any use.  Combine the shellac with all of the preservatives, I ought to have a shelf life of about 213 years, but I know I won't make it that long because this dawned on me.  I have or had hobbies that allowed me to handle shit that causes cancer all of the time.  Shooting!!!  You can't eat gun powder as a health food as it has some lead in it.  Bullets as well used to be made solely of lead.  There used to be lead based paints, and I know I ate some paint chips.  (Maybe that explains my writing style?)  I've run in a few demolition derbies.  Car crashes kill people all of the time and demo derbies are a constant succession of car crashes.  You also end up with petroleum products all over yourself.  Nothing like taking a bath in cancer causing agents, right.  (I shit you not, my grandfather used to wash his hands with gasoline after working on greasy stuff in his shop.... he somehow managed to stick around for a pretty good while.)

Things like some of our hygiene products are blasted full of stuff that will kill you and we are buying those products more now than ever.  We've become such germ-o-phobes that we use antibacterial soap so frequently that we now have super bugs that can't be killed by the crap we invented to kill it.  At one point in time, penicillin changed the world by killing bacteria that had previously been killing millions of people.  Now we have bacteria that kills penicillin!  Wonderful, right?

I don't know.  All of this makes me look back to when my great grandfather died.  He lived to be 94 years old.  Grandpa used to have a slug of whiskey every morning before breakfast which consisted of bacon and eggs... every day... until he had a stroke that put him in the hospital where he eventually died a couple of days later.  The doctors classified his death, now get this, as "related to his dietary intake".  Really? 94 years old, eating the same exact thing for 9 damn decades and you're going to tell me this was diet related? 

The man was 94 years old.  His mind processed so much bullshit in 94 years that is short circuited!  His diet had shit to do with his death!  If bacon and eggs were as bad as they were once believed, he wouldn't have lived to 40, but he doubled that and added an addition 14 years.  Truth be told, he also lived in a time before all of this shit the government said was okay to add to our food.  He drank water from a well which was sunk in an untouched aquifer. 

Everything will kill us eventually!  According to doctors, bacon caught up to grandpa at 94, may he rest in peace.  What a way to go, though.

Getting older means getting wiser!

"Getting older means getting wiser".  I never gave that idea any thought until my 3rd cup of coffee this morning.  I don't think there was ever a truer statement.  For instance, the following tid bits of wisdom have come from getting older.
   
     *  I am now wise enough to make a list when I go to the store so I don't forget anything.  (I always
         manage to forget the list.)

     *  I am now wise enough to know that I cannot do some of the things I used to do.  (I now try things
         that normally cripple me for 3 days and then learn I can't do that shit either.)

     *  I now know that old injured body parts that used to ache either don't work or are completely numb.

     *  I now know that it is entirely possible to sit on your own nuts.

I look back and remember hearing my aunt say, "age gracefully".  It's kind of hard to be graceful when you stand up and your knee pops, your hip pops and scares the shit out of you (literally) and you have to go change your underwear.

"Age gracefully"?  Listen... I didn't have chest hair until after I got married.  In those following almost 22 years, I now grow hair on my back.  And its not even good hair.  Its like a patchy quit of extra wiry pubic hair that sprouts randomly from my butt crack to my shoulder blades, and only really on the left side of my back.  I now grow more hair out of my ears and nose than I ever thought was possible.  I stumble around the grocery store mumbling and cussing and often try to exit out the enter door consequently mashing my nose on the glass.  I either leave an oil smudge on the glass or walk away with a bloody nose.  Does any of that shit sound "graceful"?

On road trips, I've often bypassed one rest area thinking I can make it further down the road.  Almost immediately I realize that as a horrible idea and have to fly to the next area.  At this point, the situation is so dire that I have to shuffle with my butt cheeks clinched so tight that I need a pair of pliers to remove the auto upholstery and underwear from my butt in order to address the now emergency.  I haven't learned a thing there and I can guaran-god-damn-tee you that it isn't a graceful walk to the bathroom.

Have you ever sneezed and shit yourself?  Is that graceful?  Perhaps your exit from the party to the bathroom might come off as a bit graceful, as you do your best not to draw any more attention to yourself.  (To my credit, this has only happened once and I pulled it off.  No, not looking graceful.  I managed to get rid of my underwear, cleaned myself up and nobody even knew I was missing for about 10 minutes.  There is no way to look graceful when you sneeze and shit your pants!  Your eyes get as big as cake plates.  You chin drops leaving your mouth agape and both hands instinctively snap to your chin.)  It's the classic "holy hell, I just shit my britches" look, so as you age and go to more parties and get togethers, beware for your own sake and know the look so you can determine someone else "in crisis".  Perhaps you can offer a hand, or maybe you just laugh and point it out to everyone else.

"Age gracefully"?  What the hell does that even mean?  Have you ever gone to the store and forget where you parked?  Now your dumb ass is wandering the parking lot until you step on a rock, twist your ankle and throw your groceries all over the fucking parking lot?  Of course the necessary swearing begins (if you really know what you're doing) and none of that is even remotely graceful.

Have you ever seen someone slip on the ice and turn it into a graceful moment?  I pulled it off last year and it may have been the only graceful thing I've ever done.  I was walking to the bathroom at a normal clip (no emergency, thank God) and slipped on the ice in front of about 5 people.  As I hit the ground, my forward momentum put me into a semi controlled spin and I managed to stop in a break dancing resting position like I had just done a helicopter move on the dance floor.  Everyone present looked.  It's required I think... and one guy said, "that was bad ass!"  I "gracefully" stood up, my back and head were killing me, my hip popped (didn't shit my pants this time) picked up my hat and sunglasses and entered the bathroom.  As I looked into the mirror to do a self exam of the potential damage I noticed 2 things.  I had double vision and I was peeing in the sink.  The good news was, the concussion only left me with a turned in eye and a head ache for a week.

Years ago, I was leaving work at about 3:00 a.m.  It was a particularly busy night, and if I am not mistaken it was during the World Championship Snowmobile Hillclimb.  It was extremely icy and I was about the only soul moving.  As I approached my truck, I notice another vehicle down the road in the other direction, but facing me.  I didn't think a thing of it, so I used my remote to unlock the truck door, grabbed the door handle and went to throw my right leg into the vehicle.  I slipped and smashed my shin so hard on the bottom of the door that I was sure my leg had snapped off and slid under the truck.  As I lay there moaning and accepting the loss of a limb, this vehicle approaches.  It was a cop.  "Are you all right?" he asked.  "Oh yeah, just a little tired.  Thought I'd stop for a rest and a concussion" I said.  By now I had the balls to see if my leg was still attached, and fortunately enough it was.  As I start to get up, the cop asks... "do you need some help?''.  "Nope, not unless you can get the taste of blood or rusty pennies out of my mouth."

"Age gracefully"?

Another post on respect....

This next little story is about the Dudley family on a road trip to visit grandma, in Las Vegas.  We were bringing a friend of my youngest son's on this trip and everyone was excited about it, mostly because the weather at home sucked and it was about 75 in Las Vegas.

Being respectful has become far more of a bigger deal to me as I've aged.  I was raised and taught manners.  Anyone older than me was either "sir" or "ma'am" and my vocabulary was full of "yes please" and "no thank you".  To me, that is ground level respect and it is owed to people who are equally as respectful.  I've had the incredible misfortune to have encountered some very less than respectful people.  Some of them are, for lack of a better word, bullies.

We had been on the road for about 6 hours.  It was time for another pit stop so we pulled off the interstate and into a gas station/convenience store.  When it comes to these places, I am in and out.  The wife and the kids like to look at all of the little trinkets and other tourist related crap on the shelves.  So, as per usual, I run in, take a leak, grab a Mt. Dew and make it back out to the car.

I know it is going to be a good 10 minutes before the rest of the clan comes out, so I start to read the Thrifty Nickel want ads.  I can't help but notice this large Ford SUV that pulled into the gas pumps directly behind me.  The guy, for some reason made it a point to kind of race around the parking lot before pulling into the pumps.  His crew unloads and starts in to the convenience store.  The guy hollers to his wife, "bring me out something good". 

In the mean time, this guy goes about filling the SUV full of fuel.  My clan is coming out of the store so I fire up the vehicle and get ready to reembark.  Just as I do this, the idiot in the SUV throws the hunk of shit in reverse and is bearing down on my family who have just stepped off the curb.  My youngest son yells "Whoa!"  I look and notice it was a close call, but no need to get worked up.  All of a sudden I hear this jerk off yelling at my son.  My son beckons for dear old dad...  (Now, this is exactly the type of scenario that I love!  Someone wants to fuck with the thing I love the most... my family.)

This clown starts towards my son, yelling profanity.  As I step out of the car I yell, "Hey!"  Without missing a step, numb nuts bows up his little bird chest and starts to walk towards me, until I stand all the way up.  "Why don't you yell at me, mother fucker?"  I say.  "That kid is 14 and you were a second away from mowing over my family.  You're problem isn't with him, tough guy.  Its with me." 

(I was fortunate enough in my bar career that when I meant business, it was somehow obvious.  At this point in time, I was a few years removed from the bar business but it was obvious from the look on this assholes face that he was getting ready for a "come to Jesus" meeting with me.  Apparently, I still had it.)

Now, my loving wife has seen this side of me.  The kids and their friend?  Not so much and Wade is pretty sure I am going to beat the ever loving shit out of this guy.  What Wade, Roger and Ian didn't know is... I already had.  This dude probably shit down both legs when he realized he was no longer fucking with a kid but dealing with his much larger, much more aggressive father.

Immediately, this guy begins to explain that he "wasn't really mad" at my kid, but "was startled by the yelling" or something... anything to distance himself from a potential ass whipping in front of his wife and kids, not to mention everyone else now looking at him and I.  This is a tactic that bullies use when they know they are in deep kimchi.  As he stumbles all over himself to get away from me (I'm not moving) he keeps mumbling, so I tell him to "get his sorry ass in the car and quit fucking with little kids".  (I don't condone the use of profanity in front of kids, but sadly enough... I have been known to be a bit profane.)

So, numb nuts hops in his car as his family comes out of the store.  I look at my clan.  The wife kind of raises her eyebrows and realizes that she won't have to bail my ass out of jail in the middle of Utah.  Both my boys and Ian are looking at me like, "Holy shit!".... the icing on the cake was they were all kind of smiling.

We are all back in the car and I can hear this idiot saying something to his wife, but its really unimportant right now.  We back out of the spot and head towards the interstate to resume the "spring road trip".  Now we are all kind of laughing about it.  This guy was willing to get into a beef with a kid over his own dumbassedness (did I just make a new word?) until he realized his worst nightmare was this kids dad. 

Now, back to respect and good manners.  This whole thing could have turned out much different.  My son could have said, "Pardon me, but it appears you have some pedestrians behind you and it would be extremely unsafe to continue until the pedestrians are clear."  Then the kind gentleman could have said, "By gosh young lad.  I am awful sorry for practicing unsafe backing.  I didn't see you, your mother, your sibling and your friend.  Therefore, I believe I owe the group of you an apology."  At that point my son would have said, "Apology accepted my dear man.  Please safely enjoy the rest of your day."  And in closing, the gentleman would have said, "Tut Tut, old chap" and tipped his fucking hat to me.....  because of him being an asshole, he got fed an asshole sandwich by one of the biggest assholes around... me!

What really gets me is this.  How did this guy think that him backing up and almost running over my family was somehow my families fault?  Fortunately enough, I was available to bring him around to my way of thinking... no blood shed, no hard feelings.

We continued to chuckle about that for a while.  Both of my kids thought I was going to kill the guy.  The wife, she wasn't 100% sure how it was going to turn out but she knew that I had a handle on the thing.  A few miles down the road, old numb nuts and company are going to pass us.  We are in the left lane chugging along at about 80 miles per hour.  As he passes, he is as far left of me as he could be, without driving in the grassy median.  He managed to have his turn signal on as he passed and was gracious enough to turn in back to the left when he decided it was safe to get back into the left lane (which was about 300 feet in front of me.)

Now, hopefully my kids and Ian came away from this situation with something.  Treat people the way you expect to be treated and you're far more likely to be treated fairly in return.  Not too sure my wife came away with anything from the situation, except a laugh and a goofy assed Dudley Family Memory.

Either way/both ways, I'm glad I was there to oblige everyone. 

P.S.
What everyone thought was real funny is, we all know that the last thing this idiot expected was to see a large tattooed redneck to hop out of a Subaru.  As my Japanese friends would say..."Supplies!"

Gun control....

http://www.examiner.com/article/gun-control-advocates-arrests-highlight-irony-and-hypocrisy

Copy and past the above link in your browser and have a look at this guy.  The man is the epitome of hypocrisy and ignorance!  I read the article above and a couple others regarding the same man and same situation.  I wish I knew the guy personally.  Hopefully it would change my opinion of him.  It's doubtful, however.  You've heard of the "perfect storm"?  This guy is what I like to refer to as, "the perfect asshole".

I respect the notion that this man is so against violence, so against gun violence, that he makes a stand against it all.  He condemns it!  Won't have anything to do with it and rallies the troops to stand behind him.... then gets caught with a gun on a school campus.  The beauty is, he will be facing a very strict law that he helped enact.  If there is a God, he'll be sentenced to the fullest extent of the law.

But what about the people who followed this guys lead into this fight?  These were people who are just as strong on their convictions as this man seemed to be.  Where do they stand now?  Are they standing behind this guy or do they have an axe to grind?  Hopefully, someone is grinding axes.  I don't think they have to have a vendetta against this guy, but I think it is completely reasonable if they want him held completely accountable for this.

A few of our nations politicians are like this man as well.  They are anti-gun all day long, but they feel THEY have the right under the 2nd Amendment and feel that the very same right does not apply to the general populace.  All of these people want the freedom to protect themselves with guns, but don't want to afford you and I the same right?  Does that sit well with you? 

What's more, so many people within the anti-gun group are completely uneducated on the subject.  The abundance of facts compiled by the nations leading law enforcement group(s) like the FBI don't mean a thing to these people.  They freely discount facts in order to be able to tug at each others heart strings.  For a group of people who claim to be logical, they are the most illogical people out there to so readily discount the facts.

And the subject gets much deeper when you really get to digging around in it.  Who should and should not be allowed to possess a firearm for protection?  Right now it seems as if the major focus is on the mentally ill....  It seems as if everyone who is running around shooting up day cares, schools or movie theaters is "mentally ill".  No shit?  But how do you restrict these people from getting guns?  How do you go about getting the guns out of the hands of criminals?  If there is a conversation to be had about "gun control" here's where it begins but it stops when you try to take a gun that is legally owned and possessed out of the hands of someone who is legally allowed to have said gun.  It stops there immediately!

This is a people issue and not a "gun" issue.  Not everyone who owns a gun is a "potential" murderer.  Not everyone who owns a stove and a frying pan are good cooks.  Spoons don't make people fat and guns don't make people murderers....  Why does that not make sense?  If someone hijacks a plane and flies it into buildings in an act of terror, nobody blames the plane.  It is insane to do such a thing.  If someone bombs a building, nobody blames the bomb.  It's equally insane to do so.

Changing gears a little bit here...  I was born into a household where there were guns.  I and my sister were raised around guns.  Most of my friends were raised around guns.  The thing that all of us were taught is that guns are no mystery and they certainly aren't toys.  We were all taught that if we wanted to know anything about guns, all we had to do was ask.  My dad was a gun smith and could tell me/you everything you needed to know about how any particular gun works.  It was an education process that started early in all of the households I frequented as a kid, where there were guns present.  All of my friends knew that guns are a serious matter and handling them was a giant responsibility!  We all took instruction from our parents as kids and later most of us took further instruction from paid professional instructors.  To date, none of my friends have shot or killed another person.  Why?  Not everyone who owns guns are murderers....

"Accidental discharges" is a misused term, but as a last defense some of the anti gun folks like to ask the question "how many people die in accidental discharges?".  Accidental discharges don't just happen.  They can't happen on their own.  It takes a person, with their finger in the trigger guard, not paying attention to have an "accidental discharge".  As you can see from the description, it is no real accident.  Certain things needed to happen in order for the gun to discharge.  This revolves around complacency or lack of proper handling skills.

Above I mentioned that a sizable group of anti gun people are uneducated on the subject.  There is no mistaking that.  These people normally won't spend the time or money and aren't personally responsible enough to get a proper education.  They won't seek out professionals.  They won't talk to people who handle guns every day for a living.  They will rely upon the mother whose child 'accidentally" shot and killed a sibling...  (Responsible gun owners would not have allowed that gun to be available to this kid.)  They will listen to someone who lost a child in a drive by shooting.

Face it.  Our media and government has done a real good job portraying guns as our nations #1 problem.  (And why wouldn't they with all of the other bullshit going on in this country?)  But more hypocrisy abounds when the government gets involved because they were recently caught up in the illegal gun running debacle called "Fast and Furious".  We basically put guns in the hands of people who were not going to use the guns in a reasonable manner... Brilliant, right?

In closing, I'd like to say that I do respect any one's stand regarding gun ownership.  I do believe if you are anti-gun, you should spend ample time gaining a formal education on guns, gun handling and gun ownership.  It could only bolster your opinion and maybe even change your mind.  (I've seen it happen.)  It would certainly add credibility to your belief and give you something to stand on.  After this formal education, if you still decide that guns aren't for you... by all means, do not run out and by a gun.

                                                                         
As well, if you are going to become a gun owner or currently own guns, do yourself and everyone who will ever shoot with you and get the same education I mentioned above.  You can't take enough of an education on the subject if you ask me, and being responsible with your gun is the number 1 priority.

My home town....

My wife and I just spent a week in Las Vegas helping my mother readjust to being home after a health issue.  We spent all week meeting care providers and emailing and or talking to insurance people regarding my mothers now non-existent health insurance.  Very frustrating, to say the least.

I became aware that I have a particular skill that I wasn't aware of.  It's been labeled as being "insightful" but I don't know if that is an accurate label.  This particular skill allows you to know right off the bat if you are speaking to the right person regarding your issue.  This skill also allows you to skim off some of the bullshit and cut to the chase a lot quicker.  The "old me" would continue to engage these bullshitters, but the new me has developed a tolerance (involved with the skill that I am talking about) listen, learn and then lean in a direction.  The old me would want to argue.  (I kind of miss that guy sometimes.)

Anyhow, after a week of these activities I was literally worn out.  I had to get back to work so I left Las Vegas on a Friday morning at about 2:30 a.m.

Snap shot in time:
I arrived at the convenience store located on the southwest corner of Maryland Parkway and Charleston.  There aren't too many people wandering around.  The police department had a guy leaning against the hood of their car across the street at the Burger King.  I notice a homeless man pushing a shopping cart that looked to have 300 lbs of his personal belongings loaded in side and draped over the edges of the cart.  I made eye contact with this man as he approached.  I ran my credit card through the gas pump and began pumping fuel.

The homeless guy looked to be a bit older than I am, but it was hard to tell.  He is passing by on the other side of the pump and stops to ask for some change.  I dig around in my pocket and pull out about $.80 cents.  The man says, "I could really use a cup of coffee this morning."  He then made his way towards the store front.  I finish pumping gas and notice the man is outside the store standing next to the freezer where they keep bags of ice.  He doesn't have any coffee in his hands....

I open the door where I am promptly greeted by a female employee who was mopping the floor.  Immediately to my right was a man feverishly playing video poker and mumbling to himself.  I made my way towards the cold drinks and grabbed a Diet Mt. Dew.  I looked over my shoulder and the homeless guy was still standing out there.

As I approach the counter to pay for my soda pop and a cup of coffee I am greeted by this smarmy individual that had fake and phony dripping off of him.  His hair was slicked back, greasier than the homeless man's hair out front.  "How are you doing this fabulous morning, sir?" the clerk asks.  I answer, "I'm fine man.  How are you doing?"  He chuckles, "You don't really want to know" as if his problems are bigger than anyone else's.  And he's right.  I don't want to know.  The clerk tells me, "$3.48 please", so I hand him my card.  He completes the transaction by handing me back my card wrapped in the receipt.  "Have a great one" he says as I hit the door.  The lady mopping says, "thanks for stopping in." 

I notice the cops across the street stuffing the guy they were talking too into their car.  There is some woman there crying, insisting that whatever happened was her fault... not his.  I let the door shut behind me and turn to the homeless guy.  "You still up for a cup of coffee?" and extend my hand with a large coffee.  The guy says, "thank you sir and God bless".  I turn to towards the truck and hear this smarmy dude say, "get the fuck out of here, you fucking bum!"  I look over my shoulder to make sure it was the smarmy dude and to be sure he was talking to the homeless guy and not me. 

The greasy store clerk pushes the homeless guys cart over and screams, "how many fucking times do I have to tell you!  Get your bum ass out of here!"  I pull up next to the situation and said, "Have you considered talking to the guy like he was a man and not a piece of shit?"  Both guys are looking at me.  "That is the Vegas I remember leaving some 25-26 years ago" I thought to myself.  The clerk says, "People like him are not allowed in the store."  "He's not in the store.  He is outside, minding his own business and drinking a cup of coffee."  "He's not even allowed on the premises.  You don't know this guy, do you?' the creepy clerk asks.  "No, I don't know him and I don't know you either.  But if I had to pick an asshole out of the 3 of us, I'd choose you all day.  Leave that man alone.  He could be gone by now if you didn't spill his shit all over the place." 

The homeless guy picks up clothing or bedding and stuffs it where a child would normally sit in a shopping cart.  The clerk picks up some stuff and puts it where the groceries would normally go.  I start to back out as the cart was fully loaded and the homeless guy looks at me  and says, "Thanks".

Now, I don't know the whole story.  Perhaps, just maybe there is a history between these two people.  But for some reason I couldn't let this asshole treat this homeless guy like that, not right in front of me.  But anyhow, besides this asshole and the ignorant insurance people sending me on wild goose chases.... I kind of almost miss that place.  There are some good people down there.  Not everyone has an attitude like they did when I left the place.

It was 45 degrees that morning at 2:30 a.m. and I knew Jackson was in the middle of a snow storm.  By the time I got to Cedar City, a fog had settled in.  I'd nearly forgotten the episode at the convenience store.  I wondered "..... is there hope for humanity?". 

If there is hope, I hope I'm not that hope.  I don't need that kind of pressure.  By the way.  If I know you, don't screw with homeless people.  You haven't a clue as to what their life is like, and if I catch you screwing with a homeless person.... I bet the old me shows up and screws around with you.

Help me!

Okay folks... I've taken some time off that I didn't necessarily want to take off.  But looking back on previous posts, people quit commenting.  So I am going to put the next few posts in your hands.... what should I go off on????