thisiswhatyoushalldo

Maladies:

1. Do you have any allergies?
I have a sulfa allergy and some pollen/mold allergies in the spring that can make for some miserable days. But better living through chemistry! Thanks, Flonase.

2. Do you have any phobias?
Not really. As I get older, I am less keen on big crowds, but I think that is more of a grouchy old man syndrome, rather than a phobia.

3. Do you have any chronic conditions that have changed your life?
Well, there is the heart thing and diabetes. Both are managed and on the mend.

4. Have you had any surgeries? Were there complications?
See above, I had the heart thing. Not a full on surgery (I was lucid for the entire thing.) But I have never been under the knife.

5. How are you going to die?
I joke that it will be a choking hazard caused by drinking water too fast. But it will probably be the heart thing.

Friday Fill-in:

1. I’m mad about _____
just about everything in politics these days. As a nation, we have lost our way.

2..I’m sad about _____
the fact that Sally Jesse Raphael is no longer on the television. She was the soul of our great nation.

3. I’m numb to _____
news reports of gun deaths and shootings. It makes me mad and sad that this news is so commonplace and normalized the point that it doesn’t really affect me like it should.

4. I’m looking forward to _____
summer and some consistent weather. This year, the weather has been odd and off seasonal and I need me some consistency – snow in winter, rain in the spring, sun in the summer.

5. I always stop to look when _____
there is a little kid running around a restaurant. Usually highly cute and entertaining. Since we are as a people now taking our kids everywhere we go, we might as well take a moment to note the cute little ones.

What 5 albums define your choice in music?

Discuss

1.  Elvis Costello – Almost Blue.  I first heard this in the army and its mashup of classic country covers with the energy of Costello and his band was infectious at the time and led to my appreciation of the alt-country genre.
2. Grisman and Garcia – Shady Grove.  I always had Grateful Dead music in my life from the dorms of CU Boulder and Western State in Gunnison as well as a roommate in the army who loved the dead but I was never really into them.  Then I found this gem of Jerry’s bluegrass approach that led through a back door into my appreciation of Grateful Dead.
3. Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska. A theme album that really showcased his songwriting stripped bare to just the Boss and his guitar.
4. Wilco – Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.  I think it was the movie – “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” about the making of this album and all the machinations behind it that led me to begin a long appreciation of Wilco.
5. Big Head Todd and The Monsters – Midnight Radio.  Rare live recordings of their early days as a band and led me to appreciate bootlegs and rare tracks and live acoustic covers and recordings.

 

1. What is a filthy business tactic you know that everyone should be aware of?

Union busting and the assault on the American labor force. There are so many myths about union labor that aren’t true at all and created by greedy Chamber of Commerce folks to make it easier to line their pockets. Union labor built the middle class of this nation. That and never pay extra for sprinkles on ice cream – that’s a filthy business tactic.

2. What is unethical as fuck, but is extremely common practice in the business world?
Tacking on lots and lots and lots of extra business fees. (This question is an awful lot like the one above.)

3. What has been the best corporate Darwin Award? A decision made by a company that basically killed the business.
The Walmart/Vlassic pickle affair wherein Walmart put so many requirements on to Vlassic to supply them pickles that they ran the company into bankruptcy trying to compete.

4. What companies make you wonder ‘how are they still in business’?
Sears/Kmart. It’s a mystery. Maybe more of a regional thing but in the Denver neck of the woods, I don’t know anyone who goes to those stores.

5. What company has forever won your business?
Amazon. They are huge, yes and attacked for ruining brick and mortar stores – perhaps. But their customer service is amazing, simply amazing and reliable.

1. What is the worst state in the United States and why?

This is a tough one.  All states have some exceptionally great people and pockets of wonderful communities and stunning sites to visit. But to take the whole I vote for Alabama, with Mississippi a close second pick.

2. What is the best state?

Colorado. D’uh.  Have you seen this place?  Get to the hills, get in your car and drive. Get out of the suburbs and see this place.  It’s pretty swell.  And kinda weird in a good weird way – Headless chicken days in Fruita. Dead guy days in Nederland.  Rocky Mountain oysters.  The place can be weird.

3. What state is your favorite to visit?

I haven’t done a lot of interstate visiting, but I enjoy California and the Cheasepeak Bay in Virginia.

4. What state have you never been to?

Many.  Ohio (all I had to do when in Kentucky was cross the river. What was I thinking.), North Carolina, West Virginia, most of New England, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee

5. What state(s) could be eliminated and no one would notice?

Combine the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming and free up all those electoral college votes and those Senators !