The Thursday brake

Time to put the skids on the busiest work day of the week and take a look at the way I see a few things…
When a blogger or writer’s headline says, “Don’t click on this!” I don’t.

• It’s official: Kentucky’s drivers are worse than Colorado’s. Everyone here has a NASCAR complex, or I feel too many drivers do. Some motorists think nothing of driving (I’m being kind; they are racing) down a single-lane-in-each-direction road and passing, weaving, in and out of traffic as they try to avoid oncoming traffic or drivers in front of them on their way to their ultimate destination: hell. As the old saying goes, if you drive like hell, you’ll get there. This finally explains why I’m paying a lot more in Kentucky for the same auto insurance coverage I had in Colorado—that, and the fact I hear a lot of people don’t even carry car insurance here. But hell does seem a popular destination. How else to explain the crazy drivers?
  
  

  Scrubs (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• After spending the last seven months of days in medical scrubs, I want to wear them full-time when I’m finally done with school next year no matter what I’m doing. Scrubs are comfortable. They look decent, fit well and give me a peaceful, easy feeling. What more could a guy want? I feel guilty I have not formally participated in “dress down” days at school. These are days when you are permitted to wear jeans and a shirt when you make a charitable contribution to whatever cause the school is supporting. I feel everyone’s charitable donations are a personal choice first and foremost. But all that aside, however, I just don’t believe you can be any more “dressed down” than when you are wearing medical scrubs. I would venture to say a lot of the hot heads in suits could use to wear them on a trial basis; there would probably be a lot less whole asses (you can put the two words in front of the open parenthesis in reverse order to get an even more descriptive meaning) in the work place.
• The stock market is maxed out. What I mean by this is that it has peaked. You did not think it could just keep climbing up on and on and on and over and up and up, did you? Yes, there are a lot of things that constitute the “new normal” but capital markets accelerating perpetually is not one of them. Trading volumes are low and there are no investors “on the sidelines.”
  
  

  Thursday (Photo credit: bob8son)

• Speaking of on the sidelines, CEOs should stop using “indefinite, uncertain economic conditions” as a reason for not hiring anyone. I suggest a little honesty would be refreshing. Just come out and say we will not be hiring even when (if?) things get better economically-speaking. Now there is a statement from a leader I can get behind; we have entrusted the direction of the companies we own stock in to people who refuse to be forthcoming regarding the future. Telling us things are not going to improve dramatically anytime soon would not be a news flash to most people. Despite sentiments like these reflecting CEOs not having a clue as to how to help get us out of the economic morass we are in, it would be at least comforting to know we are all in a pit together—united we stand, divided we fall!
• I think people still get fired up about offshoring and if you look around groups on LinkedIn, you can still find emotions running high over this. About twenty years ago, when dial-up Internet 56K modem access was still all the rage, a (false?) prophet once said, “Any job you can do on a computer will eventually be offshored.” Well, that has mostly come to pass. With the advent of broadband Internet access and network systems improvements, people are collaborating around the world. You cannot restrict areas of the world from carving out their niches. Free markets ultimately rule the day no matter what job/business/industry is offshored. The best product at the best price ultimately wins.
• Is your dog smarter than somebody’s kid who is on the honor roll?
• Writing • bullets • are • fun, • don’tcha • think •?
• We’re all already on “diets.” You can’t “go” on them. But, some diets make you “go” more than others, if you catch my drift.
  
  

  KENTUCKY LAKE, KENTUCKY* (Photo credit: gobucks2)

• Another old saying, “Those who can no longer “do,” teach. Well, I think that is a bit harsh. I would refine that with the insight that perhaps teachers are a little fatigued with “doing,” and just decided to take a break to teach others how to “do.” Yeah, that’s it.

Remember when banks paid interest on savings accounts? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

• If you throw some extra hops on your Budweiser, does that make it “craft” beer?
• Somebody tell me how social media “following” isn’t a form of cyber stalking. I mean, c’mon. Most of us follow something or somebody online, as in, “You mean you aren’t following Phil? Phil is the shite!” It’s important to follow and to have followers. It can sound very cultish if you ask me. I know there’s value in it, though, it’s just hard to quantify. I’m trying to work my way up with followers here I suppose, but if all you want to do is read what’s on here and not follow me, I guess that’s fine, too…for now (until you can manage to find the time to follow me, that is, of course).
• Paying for followers…really? Are they really followers at all if you have to pay for them?
• My old dog Chelsea girl is 14 years experienced with two bad wheels in the back. Her spirit cannot be broken, though. She is a shining example of being happy with what you have. At this stage of the game, all she is looking for is a hand up, not a hand out.
• There is nothing better than home-grown garden tomatoes.

And that wraps up another edition of the Thursday brake. Get home safely.