The Lament

It had been well over three decades and he still found himself thinking...

About her, about them, about the way it used to be
Though in a Readers Digest condensed version sort of way.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his mind had let pertinent facts about the role she played in the dissolution of the relationship slip.

Until one way day she became the one that got away and not the one he had done everything in his power to push away.

His memory was cruel, extremely cruel.

The Gen! Las Cruces, New Mexico 1995

As It Was, As It Always Shall Be

One of my Mom's favorite idioms was, "The more things change, the more they stay the same".

As I have discovered for myself over the years, it was also probably her most astute assertion. 

As most people who know me are aware, I am constantly (read: annoyingly so) proclaiming that we live in the single best time to be alive for the largest percentage of people on the planet, ever.

Ever, as in there has never been a better time to be alive since the dawn of time. Not for the vast majority of people currently scrambling to exist on this planet.

Prove me wrong.

Most people I know who contend I am wrong are simply ignorant of the facts. I do not mean ignorant in an insulting fashion, BTW, I just mean they simply do not know the truth.

Correction: I do mean "ignorant" in an insulting fashion if they are willingly overlooking the facts and facetiously denying the truth.

Because the truth is out there. Daily life has been dutifully recorded since the early 19th century by newspapers all over the world, in cities and towns very large and very small.

And copies of an ungodly number of those newspapers are available for your perusal all over the medium that has largely replaced the newspaper, the good ol' internet.

Copies are sometimes found lining the drawers of old dressers, too, such as a page of the Greeley Tribune that I found in old dresser just yesterday.

The page is a terrific slice of data about the state of the U.S. over two generations ago. I scanned several articles and some classified ads to post here for your consideration/evaluation.

The United States was in the midst of a crushing depression at the time of this newspapers publication - I believe it was just before Gerald Fords "W.I.N." campaign (Whip Inflation Now) was foisted upon the public.

Check how the lead in this article, though overall an optimistic tract, ends with a weird contradictory statement (...the manufacturing payrolls had been sluggish ever since the recession set in late 1973. Private wages and salaries overall increased...")

 

The short article below about the Dow Jones 30 hitting 800.69 just about brought tears to my eyes. The Dow Jones 30 was around 26,600.00 this morning...

Help wanted ads. 

Middle of a recession, jobs still being advertised. 

I love the ad at the bottom of the right-hand side column that is for a part time cook to prepare dinner Mon-Fri, 20 days a month...for 14 boys...pay is a whopping $130.00 a month.

All of those wages are monthly, BTW, save the one for the telemarketer promising $150.00 to $500.00 a week and "no shady tactics". Pretty sure that ad is still being run to this day.

Minimum wage in Colorado was $1.00 to $1.25 an hour in 1975 (it was .65 to .75 an hour in Kentucky).

Homes and apartments for rent in and around Greeley, Colorado. A town with a population of about 42,000 at that time. Average rent for a one bedroom apartment was around $115 a month - not including utilities. 

If you were working a minimum wage job for 40 hours a week you were earning $160.00 a month - before taxes. That means the average 1 bedroom apartment would be almost 80% of your income!

BTW, in 1975 to be in the top 1.1% of wage earners in the United States your yearly income had to exceed $50,000. 

O.M.G., as the kids like to exclaim.

Want the source? Don't be lazy, you have access to the same info I do - look it up!

New and used cars for sale. Car ads are always a good barometer of what the cost of living was...sort of. The average new car had a price tag of $4.950.00. The average price of a new car in 2020? $34,000, almost 6 & 1/2 times what it cost to buy a new car in 1975!

But wait...there are a few quality differences...

Cars made in 1975 were, generally speaking, gas-guzzling, oil-burning death traps that wore out quickly. Heck, if you bought a new car in 1975 and somehow managed to put 100,000 miles on the odometer, the manufacturer would feature you in a national ad.

New cars today are, hyperbole aside, amazing. The worst new car made today will go 300,000 miles with minimal maintenance, and with a blue-toothed enable satellite radio and nav system too boot.

And three to four times the fuel economy at half the emmissions. 

Not to mention (though I actually am) the safety improvements. 

Oh, and just for good measure, here is a prognosis for electric cars according to Consumer Reports.

Static Grass

A model railroad building buddy of mine once quipped that he was fresh out of static grass.

I quite naturally replied with the retort, "What the hell is static grass?"

Which resulted in my friend spending the next twenty minutes explaining not only that static grass is what modelers of miniatures use to create realistic grass lawns and parks, but that it is a huge improvement over the dyed sawdust that was the only choice modelers had for grass back when he first got started in his hobby.

To which I replied, "Huh - 'learn something new everyday."

The Extremely Good View

Into The Great Beyond

This morning my oldest sister's Father-in-Law passed. He was a man I knew for almost forty years, and though he was a cranky old coot at times, he was also admirable, entertaining, and inspirational.

Ray migrated to North America in the mid 1950's, his family settling first in Canada until they eventually made their way to the warmer weather of San Diego, California.

He was a Mason by trade, and he was good at his craft. Good enough to eventually have a very large construction outfit of his own, building houses and brick structures all over S.D, County.

He was one of those industrious types that never seemed to stop working, even in retirement. He just always had to be building something, whether it was a retaining wall, a birdhouse, or a toy for one of his grandchildren.

He was a man extremely dedicated to his family, committed to providing for them and protecting them. 

Ray spent 87 years on this planet doing what all the men of his generation seemed to do - following a moral compass that demanded one hold high ideals, and demanding more from himself than he would demand from anyone else.

Which to me was admirable and inspirational.

The Trojan Husky

The Trivialities Of Saint Xiaoping Of The Apron Strings

He knew there was the possibility he may find 
                        Himself in unfamiliar surroundings
Maybe up on some mountain top taking in a stunning view
Or listening to the ancient legends in the 
                             Halls of the vegan burger kings 
The sun beating down like a laser and him without a clue
His pockets being picked by a strangely curious kangaroo

He left a note before he left his wife
Telling her he was off to seek something frivolous
And begging her not to worry as 
Frivolous had nothing to do with a willowy buxom blonde 
In a colorful gossamery sundress

The yeah yeah yeahs of yesteryear were still drowning out
The sorrows that he tried to drown in his umpteenth beer
Nothing he tried could hide the truth 
                  Shining in his mid-'80's Miami pastel blue eyes
The corners of his smile did a lousy job of concealing
All the tribulations of his unsatisfying life 
That he had hurriedly stuffed in his tattered, battered suitcase

As for his wife
                well, she read the note twice before she tore 
The town up that very night
Reveling in the exhilarating freedom 
                         And joyous, shameless release 
She'd forgotten had ever existed
Dancing until her feet hurt and the sun 
Was cracking the sky on the far eastern horizon

"Hey, Hey, Don't Lose Your Mind To No Foul"

Best advice I've heard in many a moon.

"Hey, hey, don't lose your mind to no foul."

Wrap your mind around those words tightly. They make perfect sense.

Mosaic Decor In PV

There is a beautification project underway in Puerto Vallarta, and apparently that beautification project involves mosaics created using bits of broken tiles. Take a look.

Things Overheard At The Gym Not Quite Three Weeks Into The New Year

This ain't working, I'm still really fat
All of these people are so good looking and I'm so ugly
I can't do this, it's too hard, I'm sorry
I've always been round, I've always been chubby, and I've always hated it
How much more do I need to lose to be considered skinny?
I've been at this for almost three weeks - are my thighs still fat?
I have to take a selfie so I can share my progress - I'm very proud of myself
That was a hell of a workout, I've never felt that good in my entire life
Keep it up, nothing good happens overnight
Stop being so negative about your efforts. This is your life - it is not an episode of some television show
You've spent a lifetime not working out - your body is not going to change in an hour
You've watched too much TV - dramatic changes do not happen in a two part episode
Stop chatting so much - your fitness goals will not be achieved with thirty minutes of humorous light banter
Dude, you are too down on yourself - improve your self talk!
What has negativity ever done for you?
Absolutely nothing!
You don't need to take a break - you need to make getting healthy a priority
Close your eyes and try to imagine what 4 months of consistency looks like
Progress is slow, that's the reality of the situation.
C'mon man, you're still a work in progress - relax. it'll happen
Eventually you'll hit that stage of starting to really notice changes in your body and also your physical strength, mental health and overall well-being. 
Be patient, learn to accept that what happens next doesn't have a fast-forward button.
Always keep in mind it's easy to get distracted by life in general and fall off the track - but it's just as easy to renew your efforts and get back to it.
Of course it's going to be hard work, but that's the price of the changes you want to make.
Don't expect 9 Months of 1200 Calorie Days to be simple or easy. It's going to be hard as hell
It's going to be a very tough journey, so you need to buck up.
You need to develop right habits
The journey is going to be all up hill, but it'll 100% be worth it
It doesn't matter if you don't have the energy or motivation to do a full workout - just show up and do what you can
Every last person in this gym has had tons of ups and downs on the path to a healthy level of fitness. No one in this place was born fit.
We all want to look good, but wellness is more than aesthetics
Quit making excuses and decide you want to be healthy
Hard work does pay off 
There are days when you are going think what you're doing here isn't making a difference, but try to keep in mind that even the least amount of effort is something that will move you closer to your goal.
Make exercising and eating healthy as important as drinking and partying
You just have to keep pushing yourself

Statues By The Sea In PV

Merpeople & Seahorses In Puerto Vallarta

Walk Among World's...Art From The Puerto Vallarta Perspective

Paid a visit to the Puerto Vallarta Art District, caught the tail end of a Walk Among World's exhibition

Yes, those are inflatable globes being used to promote the exhibition at several galleries.

I'm posting pictures of what I consider to be the best of what was being exhibited...but, you know, that's only my opinion man...