Be Careful Who You Make Fun Of

From my journal

September, 2014

     For the past thirty years I’ve been making fun of Oregon’s gas-pumping policy. For those of you who might not know what I’m talking about, Oregon’s policy is that people buying gas cannot handle the equipment themselves, but that a gas station employee must do the pumping. I don’t know of any other state with such requirements.

     I’ve made comments about Oregon thinking their citizens are not smart enough to pump gas, etc. I was not trying to be unkind, mind you. I just found it somewhat humorous. Of course, I find humor in many things. In some cases things that other people struggle to find funny

 

     Now that I’ve been back in Oregon for a couple years, I have found it disconcerting how easy it has been to get used to someone else doing this little chore for me. When I find myself outside this state’s borders, I feel put upon when expected to pump my own gas. Oh how easy it is to become lazy and ready to depend on the kindness of strangers, or in this case gas station employees.

To Croak Or Not To Croak

     Fort Worth firefighters put out a fire and in the process rescued a frog belonging to a young girl. She was overjoyed to get her amphibian friend back. The report does not say if the frog reciprocated the feelings.

 

     The fire department has saved cats and dogs and now they can add a frog to their list.

     The fire department is trying to determine how the fire started. My guess? It wasn’t the frog. 

A Kinder Gentler Portland?

     Oregon that is. A pizza delivery guy got in a car accident while on a delivery. The people waiting for their pizza called Pizza Hut and complained about the long wait. The manager, not knowing what had happened to his delivery person, made another pizza and delivered it to the waiting family.

 

     Now the Portland police, who had answered the call to the accident, not having anything else to do, decided to deliver the pizza from the wrecked pizza-delivery-car themselves. So then the family had two pizzas, although one of them was probably cold.

 

     The home owner just had to take a picture of the two officers delivering the pizza and somehow it got into the hands of KOIN-TV. I’m sure the police department is thrilled for the general populace to get a glimpse of how their public servants spend their time and tax dollars. Although in Portland something this warm and fuzzy probably trumps fiscal responsibility.

Market Pundits or Pinheads

     Yesterday the market pundits explained the drop in the market by saying it had to do with the concern of world unrest. Today the market went up 154 points. The pundits had a lot to say, but none of the verbiage covered a reason for the market increasing under the same world conditions that had taken the market down. I think these guys have a large dartboard with all these excuses on it, and they just throw a dart to pick what to talk about. That’s why I only read the “financials” about twice a year and then it’s mostly accidental. Besides, I have people to do that and so far they’ve done an adequate job.

Unconscious Adjustments

     It was brought to my attention again today how a person adjusts to changing physical abilities. Take the simple task of getting into my car.

 

     In the past, I would fling the door open. It would go back against the stop, then bounce back toward the closed position. In the meantime, I would slip into the car, the door would close beside me, and I would be good to go.

 

     Now I open the door and make sure it’s pushed to the most open position and is caught on the stop. Then I ease myself into the car, get seated, then reach out and pull the door close. If I tried to get in the car the old way, the door would catch me in the process and probably clip off my left foot at the ankle.

     Just another unconscious adjustment based on what my brain, at least most of the time, knows my body can deliver.