March 26th.

My Dad was born on March 26th. He would have turned 77 today. My Dad liked to say one thing about birthdays "It's just another day." I guess today it really is just another day. This day has been on my mind for awhile. Mainly because it's the first birthday of his since he passed away. No celebrating today, just quiet thoughts.

If You're A Diabetic, This May Be 2 Sweet 4 U!

How come....?

About 20 years ago, my manager at the grocery store I worked at started a "Employee of the Month" tradition. Get named "Employee of the Month" and you get rewarded with a full day off with pay if you were a full-time employee or get a day off with 4 hours pay if you were a part-time employee. One day my boss called me into the office. He said to me, "I've decided to name you "Employee of the Month". You get one day off with pay. Tell me which day you'd like off with pay. I was about 19 years old at the time, so this was all new to me. I picked a day during the following week to have off with pay. It was no sooner had I been chosen as "Employee of the Month" that 2 guys I worked with started grumbling about it. "Why is Corey employee of the month? Why not one of us?" They started comparing my performance at work to their's. Whenever I went to do something they would look at the clock and start timing me. Then they would say, "Did you see how long it took him to do that job? I would have done it in half the time!" All this talking bad about me because my boss had named me employee of the month! A year or so later, my boss transferred to another store. This caused a ripple effect at work. Job positions were opened up and they needed to be filled. One opening was in the produce department. I had a good relationship with the guy who was the manager of the produce department. He offered me the job. Once again, the 2 guys I worked with got upset. "How come they offered the job to Corey?!" They spent a few days talking all kinds of trash about me. A friend of mine said, "I hope you do a good job and make them eat their words!"
As it turned out, I really wasn't meant for the job. I took it, but it was the type of job where I needed to be able basically know what to do on my own. I often asked my boss, "What do you want me to do next?" I realized that I wasn't cut out to work with produce. After a month, my boss decided I wasn't right for the job. I had decided that earlier. I just was afraid to tell him. Anyway, over the years I've witnessed many others who have had to deal with the same things. People questioning why others were picked for certain jobs or other things. The internet has that stuff as well. Be it: "How come I didn't get nominated for best comment?" or "Why haven't people clicked on my cap?" Anyway, it's all kinda funny to me.

A Matter of Opinions.

On Friday morning, I was watching U2 perform live on GMA. My Mom promptly asked me, "What's so great about them?" I just looked at her and asked, "What's so great about Josh Groban?" Her reply was, "Well...he's got a nice voice." I kinda figure that one could always question others on their choice of music and about a million other things. I just said to her, "I am amazed at the fact that U2 has been around for about 30 years now and they are still relevant." I suppose one might argue that, but it still seems to be that U2 releasing a new album is a pretty big event. I was also impressed this week after seeing John Mayer peform in concert with Chris Botti. John sang a pop standard called "Glad to Be Unhappy". It was originally a Frank Sinatra song. One might scoff at seeing JM sans guitar and crooning a Frank Sinatra song, but I was pleasantly surprised. John later explained that "It was music." I also found a video of John Mayer performing "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" with Chris Botti on Letterman. That was also pretty cool. Dave seemed to really enjoy it.
A month or two ago, someone interviewed some NHL hockey players. They were given various questions. One question was "Whatever happened to...?" One player wanted to know "Whatever happened to Wayne Gretzky?" If you follow hockey at all, you know that Wayne Gretzky is the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. So, this was an obvious dig at Gretzky. I told my friend about this and he said, "Ooh!" He knew it was meant as a slam on Gretzky. Another article I read recently talked about great atheletes in sports. The article talked Michael Jordan as an example. It brought up some of the questionable decisions MJ has made as a basketball executive. The article concluded that: It is one thing to have talent. It is another thing to be able to evaluate talent.
I read an article about Steve Ott who plays hockey for the Dallas Stars. Ott likes to stir things up on the ice. In a game against the Anaheim Ducks recently, Ott was standing in front of the Anaheim net. He proceeded to give 2 or 3 crosschecks to the back of a Ducks player. The Anaheim goalie then attempted to slash Ott. A fight ensued between Ott and another player on the Ducks. The only problem was the Ott has a broken hand. He wasn't in any kind of position to fight. So, the Ducks player ponded Ott into submission, because Ott made no attempt to fight back. The Dallas announcers proceeded to talk about how Ott is such a vital part of the Dallas Stars and how the other teams are frustrated by him. As if teams know how important Ott is and that's why they try to hurt him. The writer of the article said, "Nevermind the fact that Ott had crosschecked some guy 2-3 times before the other guy fought him." Anyway, for the most part, I am at peace with the world. Mostly it comes from knowing where others stand on issues that have arisen lately. Once you remove all doubts in your mind, some things get easier.

The Civil War of 2009.

The way I hear it told, the Civil War of 2009 started sometime during the year 2008. The Union (TrailMix) was full of mighty passionate folks. Day in and day out folks would drop to by to get off whatever was on their chests. Most times, Craig (Abe Lincoln) sat by quietly watching things. He would occasionally try to steer the Union in the right direction. Then, one day, a group of folks who felt under-appreciated decided to secede from the Union. "To hell with The Union!" they said in unison. We're gonna form our own nation! On that day, The Backchannel Blog (Confederacy) t'was born. They didn't have a real leader like Jefferson Davis, just a guy with a bowl of weed and a mission. He was gonna make this place a safe haven or wayward home for those who no longer felt welcome in The Union. Pretty soon, they had upwards of 10 people who belonged to The Confederacy. Once again, Craig (Abe) remained calm and quiet. Along the way, there were people who left The Union entirely. Some folks were well-liked and people were sad to see them leave. Luckily, some of these folks stopped by occasionally. The leader of the Confederacy went across enemy lines on a daily and nightly basis. He engaged in a great many battles. While this was noble, it often gave Union folks a very bad opinion of the Confederacy. You see, most Confederate folk were tired of all the fighting. They just wanted a quiet place to settle down. The battles that were fought by their assumed leader were frequent. No weapons were used in these battles other than harsh words and some of the usual name calling. At times, Craig (Abe) politely asked folks to think about the Union and to respect their fellow man. Occasionally this worked, but it never seemed to last very long. One day, they had this Gettysburgh-like battle between the leader of the Confederacy and some Union folks. It was only then that Craig (Abe) decided he had heard enough. He had to decide what he should do. Craig (Abe) thought to himself, "If I could keep the leader of the Confederacy here and save the Union, I will do it.. If I have to banish him to save the Union, I will do it." Craig (Abe) then had a meeting with the leader of the Confederacy. He asked for an unconditional surrender. Any and all claims to the Union were to be given up.
Craig (Abe) announced his decision to the people of the Union. There was great rejoicing. For the next few days, people were actually nice to each other and Craig (Abe) was their hero. He had saved the Union! However, a few days later, some folks from the Confederacy filed a complaint with the President of the Union. Two of their best and brightest soldiers led the charge. Some Union folk got mighty upset. "How dare these Confederates come into our home and threaten the sanctity of it! Go back to the Confederacy" they shouted. The war of words escalated, until the president of the Union intervened. "The war between the Union and the Confederacy is over!" he pronounced. "Let all be forgiven and forgotten!" he urged. One morning, people woke to a harsh reality, life as they knew it, changed. The Civil War had not only resulted in one man being banished from the Union....EVERYONE had been banished. Some folks hurriedly set up an alternative meeting place. "This was the fault of the others!" they cried. Hours went by, until the leader of the Union spoke. He left a 10 commandments guideline for all to follow and he re-opened the doors to the Union. It wasn't long after this that folks began to stir things up again. Folks asked for equal treatment of both Union folk and Confederates. Some people asked that people should "let bygones be bygones". Then somebody said, "FREE OUR LEADER! UN-BANISH HIM!"
Since most union folk considered him to be guilty of most of the crimes committed against the union folks, they got mighty upset. Verbal bombs were thrown across enemy lines. Folks waited for apologies, none came. All that had been said in these secret meetings that were held earlier in the day became "evidence" of un-provoked meanness. The battle raged on into the night with no end in sight. In the end, I don't think folks ever knew who won the Civil War of 2009. The number of casualties was mininal, but the emotional pain of the battle will probably have a long-lasting effect on those folks who were there. War is Hell, people.

Can I Talk?

Sometimes things happen and you know you should probably stand aside and just let others duke it out. How most people view things is from wherever they are standing. 5 years ago or so, I had several run-ins with a guy at work. To me, it seemed that I had to walk on egg shells with this guy. We had frequent disagreements that eventually led to both of us having separate meetings with the HR department. At the center of it was the final argument we had with each other. One that led him to tell another co-worker that he was very close to "hitting me". Had I not walked away during our argument, he would have done that. After these meetings with HR, this guy and I only spoke to each other when we absolutely had to. It was a sad situation. He was fired shortly afterwards for missing too much time at work. We never resolved our situation. I learned many years ago, that it's not possible to get along with everyone. As soon as I realized that, the better off I was. I was trying my hardest to get along with people who seemed to make it very hard for me to get along with them. The thing is, all of us have good sides, it's up to us to decide whether we show this side to everybody we meet in life or a just a few selected people. It's all about the relationships you have with people. Some people can be witty and charming with friends and the exact opposite with others.
I recently saw Andy Dick on that reality show "Sober House". I have long thought that he was an ass. However, on the show I saw him on he was very open and sincere about his drug and alcohol abuse. I thought to myself, "He seems like a pretty good guy. Was it the drugs and alcohol that turned him into an ass?" I actually found myself to be rooting for him in his battle for sobriety. I also thought that tennis player Andre Agassi was kind of an ass. The problem was that the media and others had created this image of a rebel for Agassi. I read the article about how Agassi had tried his best to woo Steffi Graf. Much of his efforts to woo her had him desperately trying to show her that he was not the man that he was being portrayed as in the media. He wasn't. Not even close. At the time of Agassi's retirement he was a very respected man. I thought to myself one time, "If I were half the man that Agassi is now, I'd be a pretty great guy."
A few years ago, I witnessed the downfall of someone on the internet. Someone who I thought was a phony. It all happened out of the blue. But, I wasn't the only one who had ill feelings toward this person. Some people liked this person, some were neutral, but many had tired of this person along time ago. His downfall was swift. It seemed to happen out of nowhere. But, his presence has not been missed since that time. As The Temptations said to David Ruffin, "No one is bigger than the group!" This has happened again recently. My feeling is the same as it was with the other guy. Except replace the word "phony" with "jerk". Sometimes, there is a point of no return. A time when you say, "I don't care what other people say. I think you are a jerk and my opinion of you is not going to change, until you give me a reason to change it." That's how I feel tonight.

A Real Blogger's Blog!

Let's talk commercials tonight. First, we have the Howie Long "Chevy Silverado" ads. In one ad, he pokes fun at a Dodge Ram owner because his Dodge Ram has a heated steering wheel. Then, he pokes fun at a F-150 owner because his truck has what Howie calls a "man-step". Finally, Howie makes fun of a guy who owns a "Real Trucker's Truck", a Toyota Tundra that gets 19 mpg, but is only a V-6, while the Chevy Silverado gets 21 mpg and is a V-8. It seems to me that if you don't own a Chevy Silverado, your manhood will be questioned by Howie. However, if I was on one of those commercials, I would question whether or not a guy named "Howie" should really be questioning the manhood of others. Then we have the McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese ads. Ads where various people are intently watching other people eat a quarter pounder with cheese. The announcer says, "The quarter pounder with cheese knows you're looking at it..." He also mentions that if you can't help looking at it, "That's YOUR deal." I have been to many restuarants in my lifetime. If I've ever been staring at someone while they were eating it wasn't because I was staring at their food. It was because I found the person who is eating the food to be attractive. So, I can't help but watch the ad where one guy is eating a quarter pounder with cheese and another guy is watching him closely. I start thinking, "He's not looking at the hamburger, he's checking that guy out!" Burger King has the new "Burger Shots". These follow their previous big menu item "The Angry Whopper". I wanted to go to a Burger King drive-thru and order a Angry Whopper combo. Of course, I wanted to order it by sounding very angry and cussing as I ordered it. Or at the very least asking them, "WHAT THE HELL IS A ANGRY WHOPPER?!" The last tv ads I wanna discuss are the locals ads for a place called "Rose City Motors". They are a used car dealership that has 4 different locations in and around Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. In the commercials, the owner talks about how easy it is to buy a car from them. Bad credit, no problem. Heck, pick out multiple cars! They'll drive the cars to your house....no matter where you live! He even introduces one of his salesmans in one of the ads by calling the guy "One of his TOP GUNS". You can't make that stuff up. I was driving on US127 North on Sunday in Jackson. I glanced to my right and I saw a "Rose City Motors" dealership. I started laughing.