One of the guys I seem to like is Mike Rowe of 'Dirty Jobs' fame.

The show is pretty good, sometimes pretty interesting and entertaining. It's on for background now and every so often I actually look up at it which is kind of rare for me.

Mike pitches right in and gets dirty himself which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of big shot movie stars.

While watching some guy wallowing around in a sewer or covered with fish entrails may not be particularly appetizing, it should be a must watch for a lot of people.

Right now they are doing a show on concrete and I heard an interesting comment.

There is a warning on 5 gallon plastic pails saying a child could drown in one. One of the guys pointed out that the warning is a typical government waste of time because babies can't read, anyway. Good point.

An awful lot of people think that everything we have in our advnced society is some kind of magic. They seem to forget that there are a lot of people behind the scenes that make things work.

A lot of people also think that a lot of manual labor jobs are so simple anybody can do it. An example of this is sheet rock finishing which is something I can't do very well to save my life.

While I can tape sheet rock, it takes me forever and I have to do an awful lot of sanding and I wind up making a collossal mess. I just don't have a knack for the trowel trades. I'd never be able to make a living at them.

Yet Rowe shows us guys that are very efficient at their trades and worthy of respect. A lot of uppity people don't think so and steer their kids towards college. 

A lot of these dirty jobs come with a pretty good sized  paycheck and don't require a college education. Some dirty jobs do require a college education. Many of these are dirty jobs that keep our society a comfortable place to live.

One of the things that I got a boot out of once was a New Yorker I shared a train with. She was like a lot of people that didn't understand the unfrastructure would collapse without people behind the scenes. 

She saw my duffle bag and asked me if I was a soldier. I told her I was Merchant Marine and moved oil. She started griping about the oil companies.

I pointed out that without us she'd have to walk home and freeze in the dark.

She asked me about life on the boat and when I said something about getting some sleep after a watch she looked shocked. "You sleep on the boat?" she asked.

I sarcastically told her that all across the Atlantic there is a string of Motel 6s and that Tom Bodett leaves the light on for us. She flushed and said, "I suppose you have to." 

She's typical of a lot of people. If they can't see it the don't understand it. A lot of people think that meat comes from the back room of a supermarket. They have no idea of the work that goes on they never see.

Mike Rowe brings the people that do a lot of these things out into the open and puts it on the tube. We're all better off for it. 

It sure beats American Idol.




To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY