Paunches are in now

For years, men have been trying to get in shape. They work out in the gym, walk, run, bike and keep away from fast food all in order to look good and project a with - it appearance. Today, however, all that has changed. With the publication of one article in the New York Times, men with a paunch can now be said to have the hip look of today.

Men! You can cancel your gym membership! Throw out your diet books! Plow under your garden! You can start guzzling beer again!

Pot bellies are in. Having a Ralph Kramden physique is the sign that you are ahead of the times on the cultural scene. Get out the mirror. Today you are hip. Your friends are hip. Even Uncle Charley was hip. Who would have thought such a thing? To be hip today, men need a beer belly. If we had only known that last year. Anybody want to order a pizza? Extra sausage please.

Army reunions

One of the great pleasures in life is taking your parents to your father's army reunions. Men who served in World War 2 like to get together with other veterans and chew the fat and drink alcohol. When men get to a certain age, however, they need to be driven to such places by, ideally, their children. For children asked to take part in such expeditions there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are

• It's a cheap trip. Gas, lodgings, food are paid for by dear old dad.
• You get to hear what a character your father was and if you are lucky, told stories your mother didn't hear.
• You get helpful driving instructions and are pinpointed various interesting sites to be viewed from the highway.
• You get to go to places like Jimmy Carter's fireworks and tobacco stands so everybody can go to the bathroom and you can buy souvenirs which you can hoist on your friends as Christmas presents.
• Once you are there, you get to go to a bar with the other kids of the veterans. One year they had it in New Orleans and I got to march in the Halloween parade. I wore my shirt backwards as a make shift costume.

The disadvantages are

• You get helpful driving instructions and are pinpointed various interesting sites to be viewed from the highway.
• You get told to get off at the wrong exit.
• You get to drive for miles in driving rain.
• You listen to a lot of country and western on the radio. No rock and roll allowed in Dad's car.
• You have to find parking places real close to the places you want to go.

I had the added advantage of driving my mother to her nursing school reunion. We all said the pledge of allegiance. I know everybody had to bring a gift. My mother brought an African violet plant.

Still, it's a good way to spend time with aging parents. You do remember those times after they are gone.

Editor's note: I couldn't find a link to it on the Internet but in the early 1990's there was a Jimmy Carter's stand in Georgia. It was not run by the ex president but a guy who's real name was Jimmy Carter. Anyone having pictures of this place can let me know in a comment.

Sorry, Paul

Sorry, Paul. You're not getting any more money out of me. I first gave you money in February of 1964 when I bought "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at Modell's in Lodi, New Jersey. After that it's been 45's, albums, videocassettes, movie tickets, DVD's, re-hashes, Russian releases, and mash-ups. I also went through the bootleg phase. Now you want me to buy a whole new collection of the music I already have. I'm also not going to buy the game. I'll continue to listen to the Beatles the way they were meant to be played. On my turntable.

Remastered Beatles get back in new digital form
Iain Shedden, Music writer September 02, 2009
Article from: The Australian
BEATLEMANIA is about to erupt once more. September 9 sees the release of the Beatles' back catalogue, including their 12 studio albums, in digitally remastered form.

The releases coincide with the launch, on the same day, of The Beatles Rock Band, the interactive video game in which players get to join the Fab Four on stage and in the studio.
Remastered Beatles get back in new digital form.
Iain Shedden, Music writer September 02, 2009

The declension of the economy

Last week, after the latest Consumer Confidence Survey, I announced to the economists at work that the recession was over. Today, I'm not so sure. Things will get better eventually but it will be a while until things get back to normal. I'm working on my next blog. It will be about driving your parents to an army reunion.

The uninsured

To me, the first thing that needs to be done if to find some way to insure the uninsured. Adults who don't have it need health insurance of some sort. The problem is that most voters are middle aged or older and have some type of health insurance themselves. So why do something that's going to crowd your doctor's office with new people and raise your taxes besides?

The tipping point is most people worry about their children and their grandchildren. When enough middle class, middle aged, people have children who don't have health insurance, the uninsured will get health insurance.

The young man calls home from a phone booth in Denver. "Well Dad, I got a job!"

Dad: "Great! Does it come with health insurance?"

Mr. Mustache: "Duh, no, I'm contract labor."

Dad to Mother, "Well we're gonna have to keep buying his insurance till Mr. Mustache gets a better job".

Dad at that point would be a good candidate to become a supporter of health insurance for the uninsured. People will do things for their own they won't do for the neighbors across the street.

A guy who likes his clunker

This essay from the Christian Science Monitor is cute. I'm afraid I am too anal to be that casual about my car, however.

Bring back CETA

When I graduated from college I couldn't find a job. Finally, I got a part time position at Two Guys selling hot dogs. I lied and told them I was a college drop out in order to secure this prestigious and interesting opportunity. A few months later, my mother called her girlfriend who was on the board of the local library and the library created a job for me, funded by CETA. I worked for $2.10 an hour and got health insurance for one year with a CETA job.

CETA died a few years later, replaced by various programs in different states. Today there is no one federal program like WPA or CETA to provide jobs directly to unemployed individuals. Even as the economy starts to get better, it will probably be another job-less recovery. What this country needs is another CETA.