DISPATCHES FROM THE GHOST MOOSE

One more day left in the first month of 2013.  over 8% of the year has passed.  as I have bored those few readers that I have pointed out previously, how many of those 8% of a year do we have.  they pile up so quickly.  case in point...the news this morning made a big deal of disgraced former gov. ryan was released from prison to a halfway house today.  he was in prison for 5 years.  I remember the big media show when he went to prison, but wow - those 5 years flew by.  well, for us they flew by, for him, they probably did not pass quickly enough.  so - how many 5 year blocks of time do any of us have??? or should I shut the eff up and just live each day to the fullest?  I guess we get reflective in our middle age. 

almost spring like weather.  rainy, temp in the 50s...let's play golf.  I did buy a groupon for a golf lesson yesterday, so the healing has begun.  my quest to shoot golf in a less sucky manner has started.  check with me in August to see how I have progressed.  I see that Illinois has the 50th worst credit of all states.  great going.  I knew we would reach the bottom of the toilet.  and we shall stay there, no doubt.  Illinois - what a fucking joke.  but, on the bright side, Chicago, which has the worst bed bug problem in the country, is enacting tough legislation against bed bug offenders.  add this to the red light cameras and speeding cameras, and you can see chicago is serious about going after the real criminals among us. is it me, or is this whole world an effing joke?

what crappy weather.  ice storm yesterday.  now rain and really dark.  better than snow, I suppose.  February is right around the corner.  then March - hopefully an early spring.  but, as my rantings about how time passes too quickly would say, we can't wish time away.  because we are all sitting on a diminishing supply of it.  a day spent with regret is a day wasted.  a day in a rut is a day you don't get back to do over.  no real middle ground to that.....there is only one person that can spoil our day, and that is ourself.  so, contrary to my dour, bleak posts of late, I will kick myself in the butt and move to higher ground.  I have shit on too many days and made them miserable.  that shit stops now.  or for today, at least. and maybe write more taylor swift-esque songs about my broken heart.  (see yesterday's post for more of that geniusness)

I finally have done it...I have come up with a way for me to lift myself out of my doldrums, and the eternal rut I have wandered into.  ...I will be recording a new album, patterning myself after the talentless Taylor Swift...you know - the girl that dates a guy for 2 weeks, stalks him for 4 weeks, then writes songs about her broken heart...so - get a load of this.  here are the songs I have recorded so far: 1. I was really pissed when I got picked last for football 2. I was really pissed when you guys made me be the net in the hockey game. 3. I was really pissed when I got picked last for baseball 4. I was really pissed when you kissed your dog's ass instead of kissing me when we played spin the bottle. 5. I was really pissed when you said Steven Hawking had more facial expressions than I do. 6. I was really pissed when you picked a down syndrome kid instead of me for the bowling team. 7. I was really pissed when you played basketball with 4 players vs fi...

a chilly one today.  supposed to be an ice storm tomorrow.  but, it is january, after all. my son played a good bball game this morning.  it is fun to watch his hard work pay off.  next year will be his coming out year.  from a lowly junior to a senior.  his team is going to Iowa today to play in a tournament.  when I was his age, my saturdays were spent working at Jewel.  and it sucked. to follow on last weeks pleasantries with my violent spewing flu, I came down with a cold today....when it sucks, it really sucks.  oh well....only 6 months til I go fishing.  maybe 10 weeks until golfing.  so, all does not suck. 

I guess if you wade through the shit enough you are bound to find something good once in awhile.  I left work and stopped at the store to get some lettuce and cheese (and a 1.75 of sapphire).  and as I was walking past an aisle I passed a guy shopping.  and about 3 steps later something clicked.  was it a guy I knew?  I walked back - yea - It was Bob.  A really good buddy from college and the early canoe days.  so, I stopped in my tracks....he walked by me and I said - "hey Bob....."  he looked at me like I had two heads.  I guess I don't look like I did the last time he saw me which has got to be 14 yrs (and 30 lbs and many strands of lost hair) now.  "it's me - Dave"....and we had a pleasant discussion among the boxes of pasta....wow...a dear friend that I have not talked to in over a decade.  anyway - that made my day, my year.  friendships....don't let them wither and die.  because they will.  nurtur...

the beat goes on.  still grinding away, but the year end project hopefully is nearing an end.  who knows.  the news is pretty quite post election, and post inauguration.  lots of wealth to be redistributed.  take from the middle class and give to the rich and the poor.  watch the middle class be bled to death.  funny how Chicago is hiking the admission to museums, and hiking the cost to park downtown.  where will it all end....how many red light cameras and speeding cameras will you have to pass to get to the parking spot to pay $6.50 and hour so you can pay 20 bucks to get into the museum or aquarium?  where will it all end?  how many veins do we need to have bled so the government can get its due?  what is a fair share?  we be screwed.

I wrote the post below yesterday, then put it back in draft status.  A guy at work told me that some notes you need to write, then save for a day before you send.  this was kind of the same thing.  but there is nothing malicious in the post - just an opinion that i need to move on from my current job.  I have nor malice - my job pays the bills and gives me an opportunity to do something I am good at.  but, either it is me, or the job, but the mutual attraction is no longer there.  there are worse things to be opinionated about.  anyway, the post follows: Another few days passed with no post.  the insanity at work continues, and has gone beyond what I can reasonably care about.  companies talk about their busy time, and then expect everyone to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to get through their "busy time" which is code words for the time they make a lot of money, but don't share it.  so, this busy time has led me to acknow...

after a horrible day off, back to work today.  I still feel beat up, but not like when I was spewing...ick... funny how when you go back to work feeling crappy, the things that frustrate you frustrate you a little more.  the people that annoy you annoy you a little bit more.  or maybe that is just the way it works - familiarity breeds contempt.  the more familiar you are with your job the more it bugs you. Looking at my history, I guess that is true - I tend to move to new companies every few years.  not that it has benefitted me career or money wise.  but anyway, good to have a job to get frustrated with, I guess.  I would prefer any day at work to a day at home sick as a dog.  and I say that after a frustrating morning.  but, what is without frustration?  nothing that pays money.  ok - back to my fulfilling and very pleasant job.

Is there anything worse than the stomach flu?  I got home last night and felt it coming on, and it steadily got worse and developed into a full fledged spewfest..awful.  I was all cramped up, running to the bathroom every 10 minutes.  what a ghastly sickness.  better days ahead.  I am 13 lbs less than I was on 1/2, but this is not the way to lose weight.  ick. that is it for today.

the weekend slipped by with no post.  but it did not slip by without me working both days.  and going to the fishing show and booking a trip to canada - 31st anniversary of trip 1.  I think we have gone 26 times in those 31 years.  something like that.  I'll have to write down the trips so I can come up with a real number.  those weeks don't get subtracted from my allotment of time on this earth, so I will make sure to go every year, God willing.  the same goes for golf - the time spent golfing is not deducted from the time on this earth...and drinking is like that too.  and....whatever.  the outfitter said this year there were 135 exhibitors at the fishing show.  a few years ago there were 240.  and the attendance is way down.  noticeably.  and most of the attendees were older than we were.  the aging of the outdoorsman.  when the shit hits the fan and you need help lighting a fire with a bow and spindle, don...

still grinding away at the year end project. seems so endless.  and frustrating.  but, the end is in sight.  you always think that you have no tolerance to do this again, then again hits and you do it.  the memory of the frustrations of the last 2 weeks fades in a month or so...then before you know it, that time of year, or that project shows up and demands to be done.  and we do it.  you never get used to that feeling you get - overwhelmed, tired, ticked off....but, we always seem to get through it.  I suppose the mind embelleshes the frustrations we get.  think of all the folks worse off that would love to trade their problems for ours....well, that is what I keep telling myself anyway...sometimes cancer seems a better alternative....(just kidding) now excuse me while I try to remember what I was doing.

still busy as a pensioneer feeding at the public trough.  but, good to be busy, I keep telling myself.  I guess the end is in sight.  then on to other piles of work.  when we were in our 20s, and just out of college, people at the ages we are now were taking early retirement....and able to live on their pensions, profit sharing, stock....then to file for social security at age 62.  Now, not so much.  our accounts have been pillaged by numerous market crashes, there are no more pensions or many stock ownership programs, and what is profit sharing????  yea..the govt saw the middle class was able to enjoy life.  but what we had put away was needed for redistribution.  our fair share. as I am knocking myself out working, I have to remember the parasites on the public dole need ciggies and beer too. 

still too busy with year end production.  about half way done. I see the illinois house could not come up with a solution to the pension funding problem.....let's see...the few being enriched by screwing the many.....why would they change anything.  illinois..what a leaderless, corrupt shithole.  I can't wait to move from this piss puddle and not pay taxes to support slobs on pensions that are younger than I.  beyond that, too busy to craft a thought.  there are some who would say that is nothing new.  screw them.  and thanks for your support. new episodes on Amish Mafia tonight.  very contrived, but kind of funny.  

wow..the year is flying by...oh wait - I used that lame opening a few days ago. still busy as hell at work.  but, I wouldn't trade now for the time I started this blog and would have done anything to stay busy and get paid.  good to have work.  problems and all.  speaking of which, talked to my friend today who has a sick relative about my age.  those are real problems.  what most of us deal with on a daily basis is no more than an annoyance.  what folks dealing with serious health issues have is the real shit.  so sad to know a guy I used to work with is suffering with such an insideous disease.  that puts life into perspective.  we are at the stage in life where such things will not be uncommon.  middle age.  so long to the carefree years we once had.  ok...I shall not wallow in my rut any longer.  i have been kicked in the ass.  no more dwelling on my small issues when others are dealing with life chang...

I missed a few days...very busy.  we are doing our year end at work, and it is a handful.  nhl lockout is apparently over...no one will care about hockey this season.  who can afford 100 bucks for a hawks game? the illinois house is working on fixing the pension mess...how exactly do you fix a problem that is 80 billion dollars in the red?  where do you get the 80 billion from?  exactly..... anyway, back to work.

I have been really busy - too busy to write the nonsense I generally do.  Last month was the 4 yr anniversary of when I started writing this blog.  700 some posts later here we are.  such a difference from the early postings when I was frustrated and not working, until now....when I am frustrated and working.   some things never change.  or at least they don't change in 4 years.  too soon old and too late smart. day 1 of the diet..this time it will work, I swear.  hard to get used to a reduction in gluttony. anyway - back to work....

Jan 1....wow - this year is really flying by....oh wait - I can't write that until April or so.  but, 2012 did really go by quickly.  the fishing show will be next weekend, and in a heartbeat it will be August and we will be leaving for Canada.  and so it goes.  I saw 60 people died in a stampede at a new years fireworks show in Asia.  I played it safe...and stayed home...and fell asleep at 9 o'clock.  I was taking no chances.  what an old man I have become.  but I woke up feeling aces, so that is good.  made it to the health club and it was not too crowded...the lardasses who really let themselves go will sign up this week, and the club will be mobbed for 2 or 3 weeks...then back to normal.  leaving the weight machines to me and my big biceps....and big gut.  happy new year.  I will work on getting some original thoughts for the new year... and I will retire eacho peez.  it will be hard to top that though.