So, do Arlo and Janis still work? Yes, they do. They’ve been luckier than many over the years; they’ve had stable employment, maybe not with the same companies the entire time but in similar fields and environments. There is no doubt they’re in that winding-down phase of employment, when the management would love to get rid of them and replace them with someone younger and cheaper or, more likely today, outsource their work entirely, but they just know too damn much about how things work. Perhaps one of them will be offered the “consultant” track soon, where they’re paid half the money to clean up after a workforce making even less. Speaking of money, they like the money, of course, but they would leave for a new challenge and less remuneration in a heart beat, say helping run a fun little local-food enterprise, but the benefits are the trap, especially the insurance. See? You don’t really want to hear all this. They have modern jobs, sure, but they still are modern cartoon jobs. It’s nice work if you can get it.
240 responses to “Harpe Diem”
Have any of you ever read the horror story “The Haunted and the Haunters: or The House and the Brain”? It’s by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who is best known to modern readers as the author who originated the phrase Snoopy tried to turn into a completed story: “It was a dark and stormy night.”
http://www.bartleby.com/166/6.html
He also is credited with originating such phrases as “the great unwashed”, “pursuit of the almighty dollar”, and “the pen is mightier than the sword”.
It had been a while since I’d read anything by a mid-19th century author. By today’s standards it was unnecessarily wordy, but I found it to be a gripping tale that I’d have expected from Poe.
I worried that Jackie’s knee replacement was never going to happen! (I am an awful procrastinator myself.) Very relieved that it is done and according to the Ghostly nurse, went very well! Not familiar with these movie or TV people mentioned but that’s nothing new for me.
It’s great that she was able to sit and eat a nice lunch so soon after anesthesia and surgery. Astonishing and augers well for a smooth recovery.
Hoping to hear more about Steve’s trip to Spain — that “topless” story is funny.
Not hearing from Jerry in FL — are you okay?
Welcome, Dixie, if you care to inhabit this Village.
Charlotte in NH, Dixie McCall was a character on the Emergency tv show of the 1970’s. Played by Julie London. Here’s a picture of her:http://www.julielondon.org/J/Emergency_Photos_files/Robert%20Fuller%20and%20Julie%20London%20in%20Emergency%201974.jpg
as she appeared in the show.
Thanks Mark. Yes, I admire well built structures made for purpose. It’s not just bigger is better, even though scale is impressive. I’m also a form follows function kind of guy, with bonus points for inspirational beauty. But if the frills cause utility to suffer that’s bad. Wish I had a good example in bridges, but cannot think of one.
Last time I ran across the concept, I was given an address in one of these upscale office parks. You probably know the type, access roads curve among buildings at strange angles, because squares are ugly. Parking is far from entrances to avoid spoiling the vision of space. I tried three times to find the address while driving, being ejected out onto a different arterial boulevard each time. I parked and walked to my meeting, easier to find on foot. Having been there once, I now had the solution to the puzzle and never gave it another thought.
Until I heard a colleague discuss being late in a similar situation, and realized the truth. It is an architectural failure. And worse, I allowed myself to feel incompetent instead of recognizing the failure of design.
Casinos are well known to have design elements installed with the intent of making it difficult to find your way out, to keep you spending money. In vault areas of banks similar tricks have been used for at least sixty years, based on one old building I worked in twenty years ago. To this day, my credit union has a dual-door entry but always keeps the right hand door facing out locked, specifically to slow any unthinking baddy whose adrenaline has caused him to forget. A faulty rationale to my mind. If the baddy is on his way out, then let him go, before more bad things happen to innocent people. I digress, again.
These beautiful park settings for buildings have turned the concept on its head causing aggravation among clients that businesses do not even recognize. Loss of productivity at least, possibly loss of commerce as well. Long post, hope it makes it.
And yeah, I’d notice Jerry in FL has been MIA for over a week. Maybe he is busy driving his convertible now that warmer weather has arrived.
And thank you for placing Julie London for me. I suspected that sounded familiar, but failed to connect the dots.
Morphy, I really appreciate the older buildings where the brickmasons went to the trouble to make ornamental designs using the bricks themselves. The buildings were functional and designed for people rather than to win architectural design contests. I hate new buildings where you can’t even open a window. The Ferguson Center (student union at the University of Alabama) was one of the first such I dealt with. You create a modern building, seal all the windows, (in Alabama), and if the power goes out it turns into a giant Easy-Bake oven in the summer. No one can stand to stay in it at that point, and it has to close.
Trucker Ron, I have read a lot of books and stories by nineteenth century writers, but I don’t remember that one by Bulwer-Lytton. Must look into it. Although I’m not reading scary stories any more, on purpose, because they are too disturbing; same goes for movies — I want to preserve my mental health.
But who is hunky doctor next to Julie London? And why don’t I have any that look like that?
Morphy, you can also turn a noun that ends with an s into a possessive like this: “Douglas Adams’ book…”
Jackie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fuller_(actor)
Julie’s real husband also played a doctor on the show. Look up Bobby Troup.
I know lots of nurses at least that good looking, but what really dates her is the cap. Now it’s more likely to be a shower cap. Lots of Yoders in Mennonite country nr. here. Know one RN who, I think, retired recently, but she is not tall. A Yoder, along w/ 2 other Mennonite men [a Bontrager and a Hochstetter (sp.)], built our lake cabin 20+ mi E of town [since sold to folks who made a yr. round home of it]. At least 2 of the 3 builders now gone.
The only important thing to know about emb is that Elaine was his wife. He is the only retired mammalogy prof in town, and may be the only one in the country who can say his successor is also principal flute in the local symphony orch. She was at the same concert as he this evening, as part of the audience for a splendid concert by the MN Orch.: Brahms Acad. Festival Overt., Mozart’s Sym. 39 [equivalent of Haydn’s ‘Joke’ Quartet], and Tchaikovsky’s 4th Sym. emb’s kind of classics. Dinner w/ elder son [pastor of the UMC in Deerwood, E of Brainerd] and wife at Mi Rancho, top drawer Mex. eatery nearby. Run by a real Mex. family. Their chicken fajita was spicy enough. Copy edit the BUMC bulletin tomorrow. Gotta earn my keep somehow. It costs only 1/2 as much to see the MNO here as at Orch. Hall in Mpls., and there’s no $10 pkg. fee. Peace,
Mark, I like air conditioning as much as the next lazy person, I suppose. But I do think they have given architects the freedom to make ugly buildings. Modern urban centers could not survive without it. But most cities could still use buildings twenty stories or less designed with airflow in mind. Adds to beauty, reduces operation cost, may reduce obesity (questionable, it’s complicated), gives us back fun desktop objects like paperweights and spindles. Actually, both of those may be archaic in a ‘paperless’ office? (/sarcasm) There is also a darker reason for windows that don’t open, I’ll pass on that. Suffice to say I think overprotecting people is not a good solution.
Sideburns, yes, we have in the past. I don’t have a Garner’s MEU to reference. I have gained a lot of respect for his views, and may consider him decisive. Although I think he would express that misses the point. I do believe Chicago Manual of Style has reversed themselves on the point. Dropping the ‘s’ was useful in physical typesetting. From the physical sort itself, conservation of ink, and control of whitespace on the page, there are many reasons to support that view. They all go out the window in the digital age of low cost images on an ethereal page. Now it is more a topic of logical consistency in the rules of grammar. Something we used to consider laughable. But I’m not a professional, your mileage may vary.
Julie was Ex of Jack Webb, I believe he was Producer of the show.
Janis has made up her mind. I know the feeling.
Well today marks the end of a very short trip to Europe and fortunately it is ending MUCH better physically than my last trip to Europe where I couldn’t eat regular food for about a month due to food poisoning. I’m about to go down for breakfast.
Went back down to the beach to get my 3 Mike walk in and this time a more nature woman came up out of the sea sans top. My wife asked he how mature and I told her that I didn’t know as I did not make eye contact. She said”You couldn’t tell if she was our age? I told that I had nothing to compare it to as I’ve only seen ONE woman topless that was in her 40s or 50s.!
????
Steve, she knew you meant her, right?
I remember making a comment once, that I thought was a cute complement only for the woman in my life. Either I was too vague, or she was too insecure. Who’s to say all these years later. But I spent daaays, on the outs. Trying desperately to convince her my intended meaning. Years later, I decided while there may have been an initial misunderstanding, she enjoyed manipulation too much. Things are different now.
She’s an Arlo and Janis reader. She got the joke.
Here is hoping Gene is OK. I read where Ford is offering buyouts to 1400 salary workers. Having lived through the cyclical nature of the business, I have my Dad signal up. Although his job performance has been graded outstanding and he has been promoted, I have seen good people caught up in the sometimes arbitrary nature of layoffs. My guess is that they are looking at people my age or A & J’s age.
Really Steve you should be able to look at any body parts eithout shame. They are just body parts like arms, legs, shoulders.
Unless you were thinking otherwise.
We will now wait for Ghost to offer his opinion.
Morphy:
Great article! Thanks for the link.
Jackie, glad you’re doing well. Once you get home remember to do the physical therapy! It will help your recovery immensely.
Miss Charlotte, I procrastinated for several years before I had my knee surgery, and now I wish I hadn’t. What it finally took was having a doctor who explained the procedure to me and talked to me about it.
And yes, I picked up the Dixie McCall reference right away! Julie London was not only an actress, you know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLGv3WPnVQ
An oriole is building a standard hanging nest to the lower R of the eagle nest. Peace,
http://explore.org/live-cams/player/decorah-eagles-north-nest
I’m so happy everything is going well for you, Jackie! (And I am so gullible…is Nurse McCall really Ghost?)