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Gary O
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# Posted: 15 Feb 2011 11:36pm - Edited by: Gary O
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Where ya Goin?
It seems the longer one hangs around, the more philosophical one becomes.
For (seemingly) ever I've been a self-driven drone, slogging to work, seizing the week-ends, and generally looking forward, letting the present get by without savor.
Of late, I've taken the time to look around a bit. Where is everyone going, and why the hurry?
Ever watch people's faces as they pass in front of you while at a stop light?
They look intent, serious about getting somewhere, mad at traffic, distracted to the environment around them with the exception of the cars within reach of their bumpers.
The oxymoronic term 'rush hour' is a prime example, but the better vantage point is from a bridge or office window, observing the thousands of cars that whoosh by every hour of every working day on every freeway.
Why the hurry?
Seems a form of intense, subconscious insanity, acceptable only because the numbers favor.
It's not as evident if you are in the stream of traffic. You are them, jockeying for position, drafting, 'getting ahead', winning Indy or Daytona, or singing blithely to the stereo, oblivious to Dale Jr in your rear view mirror, or scared as hell, slowing down on on-ramps, signaling out of context, fervently thanking God for delivering you to work and home yet another day, or you're the freeway zombie, staring ahead, glazed eyes, two knuckles deep in mid-procedure of a major boogerectomy.
One time, years ago now, I was stuck in downtown traffic.
It was hot.
I was in a hurry.
Lights were heedless.
Some idiot right behind me was laying on his horn.
BEEP BEEP BEEP-BAHBEEP BEEEEEEEEP
My mind exploded!
'I'm gonna crush his f---ing skull!'
I put it in neutral, set the hand brake, flung open the door.
Without focusing on the mouth breather behind me (not caring really), I flip him off, expecting (hoping for) some action.
It was the pastor.....and his family..... just happy to see me.
An early lesson ignored....too young.
So here I am, on the off ramp.
Happier than I've been in a while.
Not so restless with myself.
Where are you?
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 07:47am
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That is soooo funny!
I realized myself in the same predicament some 20+ years ago. That's why I started my own business, put an addition on the house and began working from home long before it became cool and accepted to do so.
Fast forward to present day and now I can't even work up the desire to make the trip to my home office. For the last 4 years I've slowly been winding the business down to the point where I look forward to posting on the forum as much as I do working at my desk.
So if I become a posting-pain here someone please nudge me back to reality!!! I mean no harm but I sure am enjoying my new found freedom!
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Gary O
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 08:43am
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Quoting: bobrok now I can't even work up the desire to make the trip to my home office
Now that's funny!
Quoting: bobrok I realized myself in the same predicament some 20+ years ago. That's why I started my own business
Wish I would have exercised that forethought 20 yrs ago.
Quoting: bobrok if I become a posting-pain
Yeah, I expect another Email from Admin any day now;
'Gary, you're doing it again'
I'm trying to just keep within my own threads, 'cause I do obsess, and some subjects are just so darned intriguing.
I think that facial tic that used to occur on Admin's face every time I posted is beginning to re-appear.......
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:04am
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Lets make that tic disappear, Gary. I know it's easy to wander OT and I am so very impressed with admin's leeway just since I've been around. This is a rather small forum by some standards and I think that contributes in a big way to thread/member self-moderation. Perhaps we could ask Cabinbuilder to create a "philosopher's corner" (feelin' my oats again today!) in the off-topic area and guide discussions in that direction if they lean too far away from the thread title. I know its done successfully elsewhere.
I enjoy this forum a lot. I enjoy the technical advice and contributions of members but there are other times when I'd like to comment or wander OT and I have to restrain myself for decorum.
Anyone have thoughts?
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:25am
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Quoting: bobrok Perhaps we could ask Cabinbuilder to create a "philosopher's corner"
Man, I'm for that.
It should evoke some great comments from a lot of us aging boomers, front end gen-xers, at the very least.
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 11:46am - Edited by: CabinBuilder
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Good thought-provoking Off-Topic post, Gary O.
Being of the mid-life-crisis age, I also found myself more often "taking the time to look around a bit". Taking it easy, having own small business... I need to work on this fervently!
Quoting: Gary O I think that facial tic that used to occur on Admin's face every time I posted is beginning to re-appear...
It's a smile ;-).
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bushbunkie
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 08:25pm
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I needed some humour tonight, boys...thanks!
I'm heading up to my Bunkie this weekend...hear her calling me...it's been three months and I need to reconnect.
Between my cabin and my scotch "associates"...who needs therapy??
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 09:33pm
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Now, I thought I just posted this, but then again, maybe it's like the documents of which people have snuck in my office and stolen off my desk, and then sneaking back two years later, stapled them to the back of an unrelated document in my file cabinet.....
Quoting: bushbunkie I'm heading up to my Bunkie this weekend...
I think I hate you a little bit for that......
However, if you must, when you get settled, hoist one for us miserable urban dwellers
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2011 10:09pm
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Quoting: CabinBuilder It's a smile ;-).
Cheers CB
You're a gent of the highest calibre
This mellow forum is a tonic for many, not unlike the scotch these brethren enjoy.
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bushbunkie
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 06:17pm
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Quoting: Gary O However, if you must, when you get settled, hoist one for us miserable urban dwellers
Consider it done!
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bugs
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 06:37pm - Edited by: bugs
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This is turning into a great thread G.O. !!!
Bobruk: I too realized early on being your own CEO (the employees are me, myself and I and my pet cockateil) is great and working @ home is even better. The 30 sec commute is wonderful at -45 as I wave the lady wife off to work!!! Yes I have to do the cookin and cleain and such but that is OK.
Bushbunkie: You mentioned our wall treatment in our little shed: Here is a pic of the cupboard we put up to hide the solar electric converter and inverter etc. The sealed batteries are stored in the cabinet below it. Strangely enough the cupboard is fairly deep so it makes a good (cough) scotch cabinet. It can hold about 15 bottles of single malt (big game bounty) altho I have only been able to store five before one passed through (so to speak) to a better place. Hope you enjoy your trip to your cabin.
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bugs
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 06:53pm - Edited by: bugs
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Quoting: Gary O It was the pastor.....and his family..... just happy to see me.
G.O. forgot to say just another reason to avoid church..Hee Hee. Speaking for myself I haven't figured out who is right but I do like the singin/music! (On an aside.... We happened to end up at a service in the York Minster (York, England) on a trip over there (6 group bomber stuff/James Herriot) and after walking THROUGH the pipe organ and then having our bodily organs vibrated by it. MY gosh. I heard angels. It was a musical hilight of my life. Even Mick and the boys and Phantom of the Opera are in second.
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Borrego
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 07:19pm
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I'm headin' towards the off-ramp as fast as I can :-) after 40 years of hard physical work, and doing for others, I'm thinkin' "it's time guys like us had some fun" (thanks, Merle).
My wife and i had been actively seeking our cabin in the desert for some time with no luck, but within a week after coming out of the hospital from a near death brush with pneumonia in '09, I finally found the right one in the right place almost like it was a gift. It is our little slice of paradise and a dream come true - we spend about every other weekend there and are building a cabin as time and budget permit. And I visit this little forum every evening after work to see what folks are up to (while I enjoy a wee nip of the ole scotch meself ;-)
so thanks to the admin, and to all you good people for keepin it so real...
Bruce
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Gary O
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 08:34pm
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Quoting: bugs another reason to avoid church
My Rant, now in black and white:
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY
Yeah, in my early parental years, I voraciously pursued the written word, basically seeking help in being a good father, because once I became a parent, I discovered how very selfish I had been up to then.
Initially it was fascinating.
I dug deep, becoming a self-proclaimed scholar, defining Hebrew and Greek sentences, pouring thru concordances, trying to discover who God was, what it all was about, when did earth happen, where I and my family fit in, and why things were the way they were......I backed off somewhere around the first half of the dead sea scrolls.........
Then the frustration.
In discussing theology with the learned, I found myself going several opposing mental directions.
Turns out there are several slants to Christianity.
I found reality to the truism 'there is more heat than light in a debate'. People tend to hold their beliefs quite dear, and when challenged, get all upset, voice raising, red in the face, and downright unbecoming.
I mean when someone says 'fall on the rock', they better know that the ef they're talking about if they're saying it to me.
Don't get me wrong. I can be as shallow on a subject as the next guy, but if you are a surface scholar, you had better be a better listener than preacher.
Again, don't get me wrong. I believe there is a supreme being. As Bob, from another thread, 'helping to restore my faith that not everyone in the world is intellectually enlightened so much so that they can use science to discount the existence of a Supreme Being', I believe science easily proves it.
Religion, a bad word for me now.
Yeah
Quoting: bugs avoid church
The nice people gather elsewhere
I know, I know, it's already in the glass
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Gary O
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 08:49pm
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Bruce
Thanks for showing how the lights are turned off in the desert
for me
Quoting: Borrego it was a gift
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:30pm
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........then again, it could be an eastern sky................
that sun looks a bit perky
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:53pm
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Good eyes, Bro, that's a sunrise :-)
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:11am - Edited by: bobrok
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I think I need to take up drinking Scotch. Is 8:11 AM on a Friday an appropriate time to begin?
:-)
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:38am - Edited by: Gary O
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Marnin' Bob
Unless you're sluggin' shots, the upper end single malts are a great tonic to assist in mulling over the days events......so unless you are nocturnal, I'd await it like a boy on Christmas eve.
Pardon my rant last night. I jumped on a cue from bugs. Being compelled is such a curse, if left unbridled...........
When are you headin' to Beulah land?
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:53am
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I've been staring at my snowmobile sittin' on the trailer in the back yard all winter, Gary. Its been a tough winter for us due to elder parent care medical issues and the associated travel require for that. It has pretty much consumed our time since Thanksgiving. Hoping to make a trip in March if all goes well. I really want and need to get up there for a visit. Believe me, you'll know when I make it up. You'll hear me rejoicing all the way out on the left coast!
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Gary O
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:03am
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Guess we'll have to live vicariously thru bush until then.
Ah, the life of a tweener.
Sometimes the mode of alot of Europeans (three generations in one house) is a strong consideration..........
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bugs
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:07am
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G.O Interesting that you appear to be monotheistic. What about polytheisms? Actually IMHO it comes down to faith in your beliefs whatever they are. Even atheists have faith in their belief as do science types. All I know is when I am out at the shed I am closer to whatever it is than when I am stuck in the daily grind of the city and work.
bobrok: I hear where you are coming from. Our family has gone through about 5 years of dealing with parent care and deaths. Mom passed away a year ago. Year before that dad passed away. Now it is an 90+ elderly aunt. It takes an emotional and physical toll on your life to be sure. Hope you and yours get through it ok.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:22am
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Quoting: bugs What about polytheisms
More than one? Possible.
Maybe it's all run by committee............
Quoting: bugs All I know is when I am out at the shed I am closer to whatever it is than when I am stuck in the daily grind of the city and work.
Can't say it better
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bugs
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:46am
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Or maybe a man with a cat.... If memory holds correct the "man" lived with his cat in a small house. Could it be a cabin!!!
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:48am
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Enjoy your day, gents.
Gotta get knuckles deep in HR, import rigors, and OPs now, the humans are starting to arrive.
Maybe tonight (4p PST) a philosophic continuum of this mindstream will proceed.
Cheers
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bobrok
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:56am
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Thank you very much, bugs.
This is a physical and emotionally draining time for us. I'm sure you understand.
All this has given me pause to reflect on medicine's new-found way of prolonging life and I often wonder: to what end? My mom has been in a nursing home for over 6 years now, and my mother-in-law is now fighting for her life wasting away in her living room chair. At least she is being cared for at home until the end. This is good.
I have to wonder if our children of today will/would do the same for us.
But here I go again, waaay OT and stepping on Gary's OP about where we are going.
Gary, somehow I have the feeling that you don't mind too much...
Now, I am going to paint 3 ceilings. ttyl.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 10:05am
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I had to take one last look.........
Quoting: bobrok Gary, somehow I have the feeling that you don't mind too much...
Bob, you're right on target.
Please, make that keyboard muse
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bushbunkie
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 05:55pm
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Quoting: Gary O Guess we'll have to live vicariously thru bush until then. Ah, the life of a tweener.
Generator, propane tank, snow shovel, dog, 3 cans of chili...and scotch!
Truck's packed and I'm outahere! Have a great weekend gents
...this was just to PO Gary! chuckle....
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 08:39pm - Edited by: Gary O
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Quoting: bushbunkie ...this was just to PO Gary! chuckle....
Can I say BASTARD!!! in this forum?
May yer chili turn your small bunkie into a smaller one!
Hope you take care man.
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Erins#1Mom
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2011 09:01pm
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Dreaming of my future cabin is the one of the few things that get me through my day. I helped care for my dad (chemo and radiation) for months while dealing with a drug addicted daughter. Dad has since died but the daughter drama still lives on. All savings gone. Drama still remains with possible jail time ahead. Where did I go wrong? I DIDN'T!
I need that place in the pasture field where I have no telephone, tv. It is a goal and everyone needs one.
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