I am running a bit late and have some things to do today like get myself

a pair of shoes. This used to be a fairly simple process but is no longer because too many of them are now made with man made materiels in China.

My feet emit a hideous odor upon contact with man made materiels and if I have to wear them thick socks are a necessity. Gold Bond does do a little good, but not a whole lot.

Trying to find leather boat shoes can be done but you can bet that you are going to have to do some searching or get beaten up pretty badly in the process. They are now pretty expensive.

Although times have changed a lot over the past 6 years and things are more available and cheaper in terms of how much work something costs it seems like a lot of manufacturers have forgotten about how to make things like shoes.

Leather is the ideal materiel for boat shoes as it sort of breathes a bit and doesn't create a foul smell when the wearer skips the part about wearing socks as I have done over the years. Yet the shoemakers have opted for a non porous materiel that they will tell you is a lot better than leather.

Yeah, right. Don't feed me that crock of baloney. I won't buy it.

Another thing that makes me wonder if we are headed in the right direction is packaging. Yesterday a simple printer cable needed a sharp pair of scissors to get opened. Why is that?

It makes no sense to me to put something in a package made of materiel that is so tough that it holds the space shuttle together when cardboard and a cellophane window would do nicely. What are these people thinking?

In this 'green' society we are living in it makes little or no sense to package something in a materiel that can neither be recycled or will not break down.

I imagine that when the Pyramids of Egypt wear down to little nubs that the package that held the cable will be sitting somewhere in about as good of a condition as it was when I threw it out.

I'm not anti-technology or anti plastic by any stretch of the imagination. My house has vinyl siding on it and it wears well and will probably outlast me with little or no maintainence and that is a good thing.

My point is simply that we ought to think a little and use the right materiel for the right job.

In my case it means leather for boat shoes as I will probably not be wearing socks with them too often. We'll see what happens today.

In other gnus.

Because all ham business is conducted in UTC (formerly Greenwich Mean Time)
I have dedicated a small clock to that to make things easier when I am on the air. I carefully labeled it "GMT" in 1" black block letters and it sits next to my rig.

Virtually everyone that has seen it has told me that it needs resetting.

I am tired of it and there is a piece of flashing in the basement that I can make a small cover for it so as to prevent some helpful soul from setting it to local time for me because it I leave it there long enough some half-wit will under the guise of being helpful.

Speaking of unsolicited advice, last winter when I grew my beard a woman told me that I would look a whole lot better if I put Grecian Formula in my beard.

A few minutes later after the subject was changed, I told her that she ought to see Doctor Blanchard and how much better she would look with a bigger rack.

She turned purpla and asked me if I knew how offensive I was being.

"About as offensive as you were a couple of minutes ago when you told me I ought to put Grecian Formula in my beard," I replied, quite casually.

She stood there agape for a moment and then proved to me she had at least half the required brain.

"I see what you mean," she said.

Truth is, I like myself the way I am and don't feel the need to look like a teenager. I am a man rapidly entering old age and am embracing it. This is my 60th year and I have dedicated it to flowers and birds and I am enjoying myself because when you think about it there is nothing worse than an old man that is full of regrets.

I have no qualms that even though I have been unsuccessful in some areas I would not want to be young again and go back and change things. I simply want to move on, see what comes next and try and improve on my future.

I may not have a 75 foot yacht, but that's OK. Having the best looking garden on the street is damned sure good enough for me.





my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/