Sunday Coffee V

Sunday, sweet Sunday,
With nothing to do,
Lazy and lovely,
My one day with you.

                                Oscar Hammerstein (from Flower Drum Song)

A new building has been going up on one of the main streets in neighboring Pinole in the midst of a strip of fast food restaurants.  Thought it was another fat vat until I drove by yesterday and saw that it’s a Chase Bank.  Slippery by any other name…

Filling station dinosaur

Filled up the truck this morning.  Now there’s a ritual that’s undergone change.  Used to be you pulled into the filling station and drove over a little pneumatic hose that tripped a bell in the station garage telling the young fellow in a natty, if slightly oily, uniform of your arrival.  He would stride over to the driver’s side window, “Fill it up?”  You could usually tell a gas jockey was new if he took a couple laps around the car trying to find the fill pipe.  Gas jockeys didn’t just pump your gas; they cleaned the car windows, checked the oil and tires and checked out your girlfriend while doing the windows.  A lifetime of pumping gas was the threat levied on kids if they didn’t keep up their studies.  “If you don’t get a college education you’ll end up pumping gas when you’re forty.”  They were both wrong and right.  I got my degree and here I am at age 57; you guessed it, pumping gas.  I just don’t do it for a living.  Gas jockeys started going into extinction during the seventies oil crisis.  Full service turned into mini service into do it yourself which inevitably led to people driving cars with a dry crankcase and balding tires.

Distracted driving.  Since we’re on the subject of driving in the olden days, distracted driving had a completely different connotation if you owned one of the many cars with bench seats.  It was customary, as you pulled out of eyesight of your girlfriend’s parents for her to slide over to the middle of the seat.  Your right arm went over her shoulder; her head would rest on your shoulder and her hand on your leg, or elsewhere.  Kind of makes cell phones pale by comparison.

Because you can never have enough:  Listening to ESPN radio this morning.  LSU QB Jordan Jefferson had 49 pairs of sneakers confiscated by the Baton Rouge police.  The local constabulary was apparently looking for evidence tying Jefferson to a recent bar fight.  I don’t know about fight evidence but they seem to have found an athletic iteration of Imelda Marcos that's going to raise the eyebrows of the NCAA boys. I’ve had something of a running debate with a Face Book friend over what he calls the exploitation of college athletes, specifically football players.  According to him, the athletes make the schools millions of dollars not only for their performance but from the sale of jerseys.  At the same time, the athletes are strictly forbidden by NCAA rules to be compensated with money, goods or services and when caught violating those rules are subject to suspension.  All of this is true.  He calls it exploitation and specifically cites Terrell Pryor who was suspended for selling jerseys and getting free tattoos.  My take is this.  They’re being given the opportunity to get a free college degree, in itself worth tens of thousands of dollars.  All of these young men know the rules going in.  All they have to do is toe the line, show up to class and then go to the NFL and make millions.  Those who don’t go pro still can come out with a degree.  A number of these young men wouldn’t get a second look from a college if the criteria were strictly academics in which case they might otherwise be pumping gas all their lives.

Zero tolerance gone wild.  Breaking news that the world’s premier track and field athlete sat out the premier event in the world championships.  Usain Bolt false started in the 100 and was DQed.  The disqualification rule has changed drastically from my T&F days when each runner got one false start and was eliminated on his second.  Then the rule gave the entire field one false start.  Any subsequent false start would result in disqualification.  The current rule DQs a runner for the first violation.  Violations are electronically detected.  If I spend top dollar for a ticket to the worlds just to see Bolt sit out the 100 for what might have been a twitch, I’m not a happy guy.   

False start that deserves a DQ:  On the other hand at the women’s marathon championship there were TWO false starts.  Seriously?  How can you false start a marathon?  That deserves a DQ on the grounds of stupidity.

Is there anybody out there who can justify leaving a dog out all night like the folks up the street, letting it bark incessantly?  Just thought I’d ask so that I would know how cruelty to your best friend and lack of consideration for your neighbors can be rationalized.  Any takers?

The job creators:  A recent ABC news investigation found that four GOP presidential candidates have their campaign t-shirts made overseas and when asked to do some explaining none of the four came off looking very good (at least in my humble opinion).

Newt:  "I didn't order it. I didn't do it.”  Well that tells us that Newt’s no Harry Truman.

Herman Cain: "No, I wasn't aware it was made in Honduras," Cain said. "I was just aware it was Fruit of the Loom ... which is an American company.”  Technically I guess you’re right Herm.  The shareholders are American as are the executives.  The working stiffs are Honduran and American workers just got stiffed; by you, Mr Pizza Magnate.

Rick Santorum:  "It's tragic that so many products in this country are made outside of this country. You probably can find a T-shirt occasionally made here in the United States ... but it's harder and harder to do."  There’s a quality I want in a president.  It’s too hard to do, so let’s just punt.

Ron Paul:  "I wasn't aware of it ... but I wouldn't change it," said Paul. "I would argue the case that the market should determine it.”  Based on that logic everything gets outsourced or the American worker settles for the same pennies an hour exploitation as foreign factory workers.  Do we really want a social Darwinist for president?

These are the same old boys who are lambasting the current administration for not creating jobs while saying that they’ll step up and create jobs.  Not even in office yet and they can’t walk the talk. The title of the article says, Candidates Claim Ignorance.  Well, that about says it all.

And speaking of saying it all:  A fellow came into the Starbucks wearing a t-shirt proclaiming on the back; You’ve Never Met a Mother F***** Like Me.  Let’s go over the thought process here.  Fellow was looking for a t-shirt and thumbed through the racks.  Giants? Nah. Raiders? Meh. U.S Flag? Ahhhh, not feeling patriotic. Oh, look at this.  You’ve Never…..: This is the one for me.  I can proclaim to the world that I’m a stupid, offensive, lout in one concise sentence (bet he doesn't know the word concise).  

And just because I can't end this on the galactically stupid note above there were two dogs rule stories this week:

Ricochet the surfing dog has raised funds and awareness for over 150 human and animal causes.  In addition, the surfing canine hangs four (paws) and helps balance the board for disabled riders. 

And then there was Hawkeye, the Lab who laid next to the casket of his fallen master, U.S. Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson through the course of the service.