Cleaning the attic of the mind

Amazingly two weeks have passed since Lufthansa cut me loose and they still owe me expenses and a severance check. This is cruel irony; had I failed to immediately respond to obligations posed by bosses in Frankfurt, Dallas or Minneapolis, I would have had much phone time explaining, and pledging repentance. When the shop closed, everyone was paid off that day: unused vacation, bonus, final weeks' pay, severance-all of it. But with me they seem to feel no urgency. Unless I get an attorney involved, I don't think anyone at the company is overly concerned about making explanations or repentance. Their shoe seems to fit both feet.



Unemployment is attractive only to those still working. It is pleasant to have no hard schedule to keep but also a little like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis-just wondering how bad it is going to be. At least the weather has been agreeable, sterling days in early fall. Gorgeous blue skies, trees still wearing full summer green with only the earliest hint of color here and there so far. Every day has been swept clean with gentle warm breezes, occasionally punctuated by a cool nip suggesting sharper days yet to come.



The birthday has come and gone, over a week ago now. Adorable Wife hustled up some pity greetings from a few of her friends, but I didn't hear a word from any of mine. I guess I have never made much of it over the years but it was disappointing just the same. Old Norton came through three days later on Friday with tickets to the KU-New Mexico State football game. Characteristically we endured rain in the first quarter so that we'd be comfortably wet the rest of the game. And - horrors - umbrellas are no longer permitted in the stadium. I was forced to leave it outside under a bush with some others. Just to round out the evening, when we went to retrieve it we found it had been stolen. Adorable Wife had been quite clear instructing me to guard it with diligence but displayed remarkable restraint when informed the next day. At least the Hawks won, but it is witten that NM State is weak this year making the victory slightly hollow. Only time will tell if KU was good or just scheduled well.



Then there are the resurging Kansas City Chiefs, 3-0 at the bye week but having played three of the weaker teams in the league, with only the Chargers having any claim to competence. But alas even the Chargers are struggling so we can't really assume confidence from defeating them. The Chiefs really have shown some improvement though and maybe this is "for real" as Jack Harry might like to say.



Rob and Steve play on a YMCA flag football team on Saturdays, and a perk that comes with the lack of work is that I get to go watch. No need to go in and prep a NFL charter any more; idleness has a benefit. The games are fun; some of the boys are really into football. Some are there for the glory. Others are there only that their fathers might channel themselves back through their sons.
"Mean Green" in the huddle
Robbie has a true understanding of the game, good focus and the physical ability to perform. He can pass, catch passes and sniff out the ball like a bloodhound. Steve usually gets in a couple of good plays but is easily distracted by things in the grass or sideline noises. Steve is not quite as long-legged as his brother and thus not as fast but when he gets the ball he gives it everything he has. If the boys get a Players' Association together, I have no doubt Steve will probably wind up as the players' rep.

Steve also likes to give the crowd a victory dance when he makes a good "tackle." The dads who coach are men of infinite patience but I think their time will pay dividends in years to come.

Anniversary number 34 is closing in quickly and Adorable Wife wants desperately to celebrate with a road trip. She does not know to where, but wants to go just the same. We had discussed a short trip to California to visit her brother but with finances fading quickly away that seemed inadvisable. It will have to be postponed several weeks anyway what with our powerful social schedule already in flaps-up. Maybe we can go out to Blue Springs and watch the Ford dealer paint falling leaves on the showroom windows. Nothing's to good.

That's the bad part of not working--no money coming in. A few days in Torrance might have been a nice diversion, but not once you go to suck at the public trough. I would have eaten too much anyway, and now that I have lost 15 pounds and kept it off I am trying to be careful.

The mid-term elections are only weeks away now. It will seem longer with the barrage of political ads, mostly negative ones, squeezed into commercial time. Finally the country seems awakened to half- and non-truths told by the Left in the last election, and apparently realizes they made a huge mistake. I can only hope we elect enough clear-thinkers to repeal Obama-care and Cap-and-Trade, and cut off so-called stimulus spending. By most accounts, notably the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus spending has been a miserable failure. If they extend the '01 and '03 tax reductions, we can put some cash in the hands of small business and get the economy rolling again. Then and only then can additional taxation be considered. But before any of this can happen voters will have to clean house in Congress and I guess in the meantime we will have to endure the self-righteous claims of politicos in the negative ads.

Tomorrow is Thursday with work two weeks gone. I'd sure like to see those checks show up, pay off my credit card and get on with life. Which in my case is filing for unemployment compensation. Only one ghost of a job opening has floated past so far and with each day passing gets less tangible. Day trading may be the thing to do? Buy lottery tickets? We shall see.

Done

Finally, the post-KC career has ended. Trips I made this summer to "hot spots" that needed an extra pair of hands are done, the fires all having long ago burned out. A month in Detroit, a couple of weeks in Minneapolis and finally ten days of hell in Denver. I am sort of glad they are letting me go after Denver. I really wouldn't want to deal with their retail program there again.


As much as I love Colorado I couldn't go reprise all that nonsense in the Denver shop. I found the staff arrogant and the other folks they flew in pompous. If I could buy just one of them for what they're worth then turn around and sell them for what they think they're worth, I wouldn't need to file for unemployment. Never have I witnessed such an unhealthy abundance of self-esteem and curiously, never have I seen such a disorganized startup.


I worked 50 out of 72 hours at one stretch, which leaves just enough time to go home, eat something, sleep and go back to work. And it doesn't get you that much sleep. For that I wound up without a "Thanks for your help," "Appreciate you hanging in there with us," or even a "Just go to Hell and don't come back." No traditional hospitality room and no pizza in the conference room. Not even a clean lab coat every day. Borderline disdainful on their part, and I am getting a little old for this.


So now, back at home in the comfort of my own swivel chair, I am told that no other assignments are forthcoming in exotic places like Detroit which signals the end of employment with this company and the end of a long, not particularly distinguished career. That's OK. Lufthansa is difficult to work for and seems to enjoy squeezing the Americans it employs. I haven't got a raise in 7 years. I actually took a promotion and lost money.


One thing strikes me after all this traveling: We are a nation of immigrants. In Detroit, you need to learn to speak Arabic. In Minneapolis, Somali. In Denver, of course, Spanish. Look around and recognize the buildings, factories, names on the map and mountains. But listen and you might think you're in Yemen.


It is, thus, good to be home. Now begins the long search for suitable work. The position I want doesn't exist so I will have to settle for what I can get. Hopefully I won't need to learn a foreign language.

One more word on air travel: Don't. Drive or take the train. Planes are crowded and airlines/airports/TSA are disdainful of us who pay their wages. Indeed, the golden age of air travel (if one existed) is long past. I suppose if you are going to Australia it's inevitable, but to St. Louis or Dallas? Take a second look in the driveway.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Twin Peaks

Once again, Adorable Wife has taken to the highway and gone on a shopping binge. Together with Drinkin' Buddy trips are made annually, usually to the shoppers' temple in Osage Beach, Missouri, where an outlet mall exerts a strong magnetic attraction to the polar opposites among us.

But this year is different. They may yet go to Osage Beach, but Adorable Wife and Drinkin' Buddy surprised everyone this year by heading for Tulsa. Yeah, that's right: Tulsa, Oklahoma. Not exactly the first place you think of when asked to name popular venues for hitting the racks.

The difference is that these two fearless browsers aren't looking for Cartier, Armani or Elizabeth Arden. They seek Ross Family Stores, and Tulsa has five. Adorable Wife discovered Ross several years ago and became quite taken with them, wading in chest deep to shop with other True Believers.

Tulsa has all the other names they need as well: Macys, Penneys, Gordmans, all the usual suspects. It remains unrecorded what can be purchased at these stores in Oklahoma that is not on the shelves in Kansas City. The rest of us in the family don't know what Ross carries that cannot be found at Kohl's or Sears at comparable prices here. Perhaps it is simply the act of release: escaping from from the surly bonds of home for a few days. We all would understand.

On this trip our intrepid shoppers found a rustic, log-cabin-style restaurant in the corner of a Tulsa mall, much as one finds the Olive Garden or Mimi's Cafe at the fringes of a shopping center here. The name of this affair was "Twin Peaks" and figuring it to be a steak house or similar enterprise, the girls ventured in. Adorable Wife, not yet through the door, noted the loud music and told Drinkin' Buddy this might not work out. Once inside they were greeted by the hostess, wearing "flimsy" attire, and it dawned on them that the clientele was men-only even though the hostess told them "we do get a few ladies in here."

But not them: out they went. Maybe "Twin Peaks" should have tipped them off but the girls were just hungry, not looking for work. Perhaps this is why they headed for Tulsa though. A town that puts a gentleman's club in a mall is thinking out of the box. They can market. Maybe their merchants operate similarly and have better selection and prices than competing venues.

All I know is, the outlet mall in Osage Beach doesn't have a strip club.