Milkman Dan, My Hero!

http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/
Earlier today one of my customers came in and bought a couple of newspapers in search of a new job. Just last week he was so proud of his new job paying an extremely generous wage to someone who didn't appear to be very "marketable." I kept my thoughts to myself but was truly amazed. This week he was fired for crashing his delivery truck into another vehicle. His license was not valid in Oregon, but that was his bosses fault because he said it was okay. This guy was really upset as he lost a good job. I assumed there was more to the story, but felt he deserved a remorseful reaction anyway. He came off to me like a charactor from one of my favorite comic strips "Red Meat." This charactor, Milkman Dan is your ultimate nightmare of an employee. He is a delivery driver with the most malicious sense of humor you could imagine. His main tease is a little girl named Karen who is slowly becoming tougher and more immune to his constant barrage of insults and just plain mean comments. He says what many adults would love to tell children or their bosses, but are forbidden to for a variety of reasons, psychological damage probably being the main one. Anyway, I really enjoy this weekly comic strip, which to my knowledge only appears in underground papers, and smaller independent papers. The typical strip is very dark, but put in such an elequent fashion you have to laugh. The other thought concerning this strip is I wish to thank The Willamette Weekly for publishing it weekly in their paper. I am sure they get their share of complaints as this can be very crude at times. One side note, to those who have never read this comic, their are a variety of charactors all with separate storylines, so don't try to tie them together.

While I am aware these are very tough to read hopefully you take the link to his website. I think if you check each of the separate charactors one of them will strike a chord within you. If not there is Ziggy or Garfield which just might be a little tamer.

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Please prove me wrong!

The following statement is something I first said probably 10 or so years ago. I made this statement originally as a comment to get a rise out of local sports fans, but as time has gone by I feel it is actually a pretty strong comment. " No professional team from the Pacific Northweast will win a National championship as long as I'm alive. This includes the Mariners, Seahawks, Supersonics, Trail Blazers, The University of Oregons football team and Oregon State University's Football team."
I decided to write this now as the Seahawks have the best chance of proving me wrong as they ever have had. It's a statement I've always stood by and at the same time have wished to be proved wrong about. The following reasons are what I based this on. Having been to and watched many of these teams, they all seem to have a lot in common. First and foremost, their fans seem to route them on, but at the same time they don't seem to believe in them. They keep waiting for that proverbial letdown and then they pounce all over it with a "I knew it would happen in unison." Another big problem is consistant letdown. It seems as soon as they have proved they are a good team they fall apart. Sometimes it is a major letdown that ruins the rest of the season, others it does just enough damage to keep them from that one necessary win. The ability to self collapse is the major theme holding any of these teams from becoming true champions. While I wish the Seahawks good luck from here on out, I'm pretty confident they will fall apart come playoff time.
p.s. Not fair to add something after the fact, but The U of O proved exactly what I was talking about yesterday at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

Your typical Christmas Blog!!

I suppose it being Christmas, I should write about one of those typical subjects. Perhaps I will shed light on the whole "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" subject. There is endless potential to write a real long opinion about this subject. Fortunately I will save that for one of the other million bloggers out there. My writings are always about something directly in my life. Unless I get cited for saying Merry Christmas in public I'll stay on my usual course.
Tonights blog actually changed as I sat down to write it. I had it all planned out earlier in the day and felt the timing was just right to finally enter this one opinion in stone. However more important I went downstairs grabbed a couple of beers and headed back up to start this when it hit me. God I sure do miss Lemon Saxer.
Lemon Saxer had always been my favorite beer for the last 10 or so years. It was made by a now Defunct brewery, Saxer Brewing Company located locally in Lake Oswego. First the company was bought by another microbrewery, then that company was bought by another, until finally Lemon Saxer was no longer being made. While I tried endless times to get everyone to make that their beer of choice, it never really did real well at store level. Most people would tell me they liked it, but sells never reflected it. First they did away with the 22oz. bottle(which would of been the perfect size for writing a blog to) than about 3 months later the whole line was stopped being produced. As much as I've tried to find that one beer to take its place, I've only managed to narrow it down to five or so acceptable substitutions. While I enjoy a large variety of beers, I haven't found that anywhere, anytime beer that Lemon Saxer was. Perhaps this is a sad topic to be discussing on Christmas Day, or perhaps this topic has a relevance to my life 365 days a year. I can't remember the last time I drank a beer and didn't think about Saxer for at least a quick second. They say you should not dwell on the past, however certain things end up owning a piece of your brain. For some people it was the Vietnam War, others it might be the loss of a loved one. While the degrees definitely vary, one thing that is certain is the bodies ability to dedicate a piece of its brain or heart to one memory. I have plenty more, some happy, some sad, I just chose this one to get the point across. And yes my life will go on without Lemon Saxer, however I may never view beer in the same light until something comes along to fade that memory. Oh and Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Anyone who really knows me understands this is not and has not been one of my favorite times of year, and yes I realize it sometimes shows. I try but nothing kills me more than having to be fake in order to appease the masses.

Title IX is just wrong!!!!!!

Okay everybody it is time for one of those stupid mindless connections I tend to make way too often. Last week I jammed my left index finger(in my sleep) don't ask I just woke up with it hurting, and it never has gone away. Now I don't really think about it much except if I bend it a certain way. Anyways I just got back from playing tennis with a kid who played for some college in Spokane and now plays on an intermural USTA team for Washington State University.
I asked if he played on their college team and he said they didn't have a team because of Title nine. If you know anything about that I'm sure you are already extremely pissed, if not, don't look it up. There are certain things in life it is better to not know about. For myself it is an extremely sore subject. Anyways, I gave him my sympathy and wished him luck when school continued. He was a very good player and quite refreshing to play with. During our doubles match I jammed my left pinkie while lunging for a ball, and falling on the concrete. As always it hurt but as I sat down to write about Title nine I realized the pain in my pinkie caused me to forget about the fact that my other finger still hurts. I then wondered what law I would have to find out about to forget about the fallacies of Title nine. Sometimes life just works this way. So much gets piled on our plate that we forget what was originally there in the first place. Good or bad I'm not sure, the only thing I do know is I could never of gone to a college that caved into the measure by cutting out their tennis team. Sorry Cougars but I can never route for you again as a team in any sport. I know there are many more colleges that handled the measure in the same fashion, and perhaps someday I'll research it more. Having a daughter I should be happy for this measure, but it just doesn't work that way.... After finishing this I started to do a little research and found one stat that forced me to "update" this blog. " According to the Congressionals General Accounting Office, in the last 20 years since Title IX was incorporated 84 colleges have dropped their men's tennis teams." http://www.kenchertow.com/coachs_corner/title_ix_goodidea.html
THERE NOW I AM DONE!

Thank You Paris for the free hit!

Sometimes I'm absolutely amazed at the power of the internet. The capabilities and functions available are endless. I try to keep my blog as simple as possible just like me. I fight with the "selling out" and putting all sorts of links and advertisements on it for a few cheap bucks, but that is not what this is all about. However, a few functions are pretty cool.
I do zero advertising for this site other than word of mouth so every once in a while when someone checks my site from another area, I become curious just how they got here. Most often it's the search words "Fouad Kaady" other than that it's pretty rare outside of typing the actual URL. My new favorite is someone in Lithuania who typed in the search words "Hilton suck" While I am pretty sure they did not find what they were hoping for, it took them 1:34 seconds before they left my site. Did this person check every one of my entries looking for that certain image. Perhaps the person started to read but got bored after that amount of time.
I find it funny how sad it is that if I really wanted to increase traffic all I would have to do is creatively use key words together in one blog. As cheap as this sounds it just might be quite entertaining. Perhaps I will get enough hits to actually make money on this and visit Paris someday. Perhaps I'll just finish this blog feeling really bad some Lithuanian wasted 1:34 seconds because of my improper use of two key internet words in one blog. My apologies either way, I just feel really bad for killing that poor persons moment.

Yes, Another tribute

I know this probably gets old to a lot of people, but as always it's important to me. Earlier today one of my regular customers stopped by who I hadn't seen in a long time. She used to live in the neighborhood behind the store but moved out about 12 months ago. She was roommates with two other people all of whom hadn't been out on their own for too long. One thing I really enjoy is watching young people grow. So much changes in that 18-21year old age frame. These three girls were all full of life and all going in separate directions. One thing I know from experience is these 3 years often shape the rest of peoples lives. For that reason I often begin to care way too much way too early. Once I realize that these are good people with the possibility of creating a great life, I tend to spend a little more time listening and talking to these people. About a year ago, she came in on the way to taking the bus after crashing her car, and had a book in her hand to read. I asked her what it was and she told me "Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs(pictured)." I made it a point to read it partly to help me understand what she likes and partly for conversational purposes. During the next few weeks she had a hard time with everything and moved back home to get on her feet. I never really saw her again, but was left with a great book, by a great author. It always amazes me how much life has to offer when you open up to others. I worried about her often, but always felt she would be okay. People with good hearts usually figure it out and from what I saw today it appears she did. She has since got engaged to a guy she says "treats her like a queen, is a great guy and someone I would really like." I doubt she understands how critical I am of the male race, but all that really matters is that she loves him. Whether or not I see her again, I am so thankful I got to see that look of pleasure on her face as she described her soon to be husband. Hopefully he does treat you like you say because you do deserve it. Good people should always be with good people. This is the only way future generations can continue flourish.

My View on Racism

I know this is an age old topic that should probably be left alone, but the main purpose for me writing my blog was to share my views and feelings toward the world. So much is in my head and bit by bit I wish to let it out.
My views on racism are formed 99% from my experiences in the convenience store world. In 1988 when I first started working at a convenience store, a hispanic man walked in and talked to me about his upcoming trip to Los Angeles. As I bagged his groceries he quickly pulled out a gun and pressed it into my neck. He told me to empty all the money into his bag and keep my head down. He then walked me into the back room and told me if I came out before I counted to 100
he would shoot me. A month later I confronted a black man who had stolen a lot of groceries on my shift and he told me to mind my own business. An hour later him and four other black men came into my store, behind the counter and began pushing me into each other. They formed a circle around me, and begged me to throw a punch. I refused to. They then grabbed the phone slammed it into my chest and told me to call the police. Once again I refused. At this point they said they would come back when my shift was over and "take care of me then." They recited when I was off and the days and hours I worked next. I told them I understood and at least use bags when you rip me off.(yes I left early that night). A year or so later I had to come down and finish my night clerks shift after he chased two Samoans out of the store for stealing a twelve pack of Budweiser. They stopped turned around, ripped the 12pack open and threw a bottle at him, splitting his forehead open. A year or so later I went outside to dump the trash at my store and an Indian was sitting on the hood of my car drinking a beer. I politely asked him to drink his beer anywhere but on the hood of my car. He pulled a knife on me and asked me to "make him get off." Based on these experiences you could formulate all the opinions you want, but before you do let me tell one last story. On December 11, 2001 a young white male entered my store in Fairview at 8:47 pm, told my clerk and good friend to "give me some fucking cigarettes or I will kill you. As my clerk turned around to get them one gunshot went just to the right of his head. He ducked and proceeded to run to the back room when he was shot three times in the back leaving him for dead. He left the store with nothing while my clerk died upon entering the hospital.
Personally I believe there are only two types of people in this world. Ones who make your life better when they enter your world, and one's who don't.

Next criticism please!

I have a dream. A small simple dream. I will someday own a window at my store large enough to accomodate every complaint given to me. For those of you who don't know I post a note on my drive thru window similar to one of my posts on here. (see first 3 blogs for more information). The readers from the store will know exactly what I'm talking about.
This window should be large enough to include one note with extremely large print, as "you write way too small." This window will have room for a note that is typed, as "your writing is hard to read, do you need me to type it for you." This window will be far enough away from the drive thru window because "I always get stuck behind someone reading your notes." This window will be glare resistant because "the sun makes it hard to read off the glare." This window will automatically inform me when to replace my notes because" you NEED to update your note, it's been a while." This window should include enough room for old notes because" I never got to read or finish the last one." Well everyone I understand there are kinks in my note production capability and I will try to fix them(notice no time frame given, pretty smart huh) however, I need to include a few more requirements to this window.
This window will include a automatic roll down cover to hide any note once the following question is asked. "So, what's this note all about?" This window will spray a toxic chemical causing permanant damage to car paint once you correct a misspelling or grammitical error.
This window will shatter spraying tiny shards of glass once you complain about my new system. You can only imagine the cost this window will have. Any complaints afterward will not go without severe punishment. Final componant is it's ability to cause engine kill to be enabled in each of your cars little computer chips. Of course it doesn't take place until you are 1 exactly one mile away from the window. It's important that you don't back up my line and it would be nice for you to have other fellow complainers to talk to while waiting for a tow truck. This function will only be enabled when I slam the window shut due to some initiated aggravation due to the customers ineptitude. Until I save up enough for this window everything will remain the same, however please feel free to continue to complain as it makes be feel so much better that I learned to respect others and take the time to enjoy life as it is dealt to me, not as I feel it should be.
Ps. Thank you for reading my notes anyway. My mom always said, " you can please some of the people some of the time, but you will NEVER please everyone, anytime." Yes mom you were right!!!!

The generation gap!

Often on here I write a blog directly aimed at one customer or person. While I usually feel guilty(for about 5 seconds) that other people read it and received little or no satisfaction out of it, I remind myself it's my blog and I'll write what I want to. If I took the time to write it it is obviously important one way or another to me. This one is no exception.
For well over a year there has been a young girl, who I talked to today, who has always been very cheerful and very happy when dealing with me. Being 36years old I often feel very disrespected by todays youth. The fact is they are just way too cool to be dealing with me. I try to never judge someone based on their age, only their actions. This blonde, who is both very pretty and absolutely sweet, has always been very nice to me, never causing me to think about the generation gap. Today she complimented my writings in the window, so I asked if she ever read my blog. She said no, but promised that she would tonight. For that reason, I decided to thank her here for a variety of reasons. First of all, thank you for being a loyal customer. Next, I wanted to thank you for always being so polite, curtious, non judgmental of myself, and most important actually taking the time to follow up and read my blog. While you may or may not enjoy it, I try to diversify the entries enough that each person will find something that strikes a chord in their heart. As I get older, I learn the value of trying to be apart of each persons life one way or another. Everyone on this planet has something to teach, and everyone has something to learn. Hopefully you enjoy my blog. But more important, to me anyway, was the ability to say thank you for being you, and giving me that extra smile that so few take the time to do. I've always judged my feelings about someone based on how I feel when I first see them each time. Your gut reaction always tells you how you feel deep inside. Any time I see your little blue truck drive up to the window, I always get that warm fuzzy feeling. One last time, THANK YOU and enjoy the rest of the blogs.

Love and Respect your Kids!!

What made me think of this I am not sure, but it will always be a very fond memory. It's not often that I look back on something and realize the possible significance of something so small. One block from my store Microchip donates its field on September 11 of each year to put up flags dedicated to each life lost due to the 9/11 attacks. My ex-wife and I took our daughter to go see it and get a few photos. Upon getting out of the car and walking through it as it neared closing, my daughter soon became very upset. She wanted her pictures taken wearing her New York scenery shirt(see above picture), while she just had a plain shirt on at the time(See Below).
We lived about two miles away and it seemed insane to drive home and change shirts, just for a few photos. Realizing how important it was for her, we got back in the car, drove home, then came back for a few more shots. While I'm not sure if it was an act of Patriotism, or just a kid being a kid, but I'm so thankful we took an extra 10 minutes out of our life to accomodate her.
So often we ruin moments that will possibly be cherished for the rest of our lives over 5 or 10 minutes. All I really wanted to say is when a child is involved PLEASE take that extra time. They have so much on their plates, and society is not getting any easier. At the rate kids minds expand it doesn't take much for them to slowly shut parts of their brain down. Give a child a voice and don't ever limit their growth. There is nothing I enjoy more in this world than witnessing my daughter grow, mentally, physically, and spiritually. To hinder any of these would cause many a lost night of sleep later in life. Thank you girl for being who you are and you definitely chose the right shirt!!!!!