Down with | - Part 20

Down with Negative Thinking

Posted by Ralph at 04:07 Down with

May 162012

If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.

Norman Vincent Peale

The Power of Positive Thinking

Norman Vincent Peale, Christian preacher and author of The Power of Positive Thinking (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back in my formative years (the 50’s) positive thinking was the rage. It was like the world had discovered something brand new- the power of positive thinking. Of course it was new to me. I was a teenager and everything was new- even if it wasn’t. Still there was lots of buzz on TV, my mother;s book club and even on the street. It was a big deal and in those days, a big deal lasted for months, not hours.

Like most big deals, it didn’t have a lasting effect on me, possibly because when I went to college I learned how superficial such thinking was. I came out of college full of sophistication and negative thinking about just about everything. Not only was I not positive about the world around me, I wasn’t even positive about myself. The 60;s did nothing to reduce that negativity, The world was a mess. You couldn’t trust anybody over 30 and the world was in a conspiracy to put you down.

Then I got old.

In the 70’s I crossed the great divide and became untrustworthy myself. This was disconcerting for me. It left me without meaning or direction but over time the fog began to clear. I began to ask serious questions like ‘Why wasn’t I trustworthy anymore?’ and ‘Who came up with those silly ideas?’ Life had taken a turn and become serious. I had a job and was considering marriage. How was I going to manage these completely new life concepts? I did what everyone I knew was doing. I winged it and hoped that nobody would notice.

In some ways all those years working and raising my family are like a long dark tunnel. My nose was so buried in details that I never understood where I was going or even why. Using the sophisticated reasoning I learned in college, I didn’t expect much, and didn’t dream about much. The world about me and everyone in it was up to no good and I wasn’t going to expect special treatment.

Too late now, I see the light!

The Power of Positive Thinking

Well I blew it. The whole darned thing. I’d have been much better not to have bought into the negatives foisted on me by higher education. Not that I failed. The kids turned out OK after several scary side trips. I’m still married. I retired- twice. It’s just that if I had raised my eyes and seen the world as a wonderful place full of opportunity and rewards, I could have done better.

It’s all spilled milk now. You don’t get a do-over and , frankly, I don’t think I really want to go around again. These days, I’ve learned to see the world differently, more like Norman Vincent Peale. I thought that college was my way out of the boring life of my childhood. It sure was but looking back, boring looks pretty good to me now.

Has getting older given you an attitude adjustment? Is it like mine of something else altogether?

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Down with computers

Posted by Ralph at 04:34 Down with

May 092012

No. I really don’t mean that.

the personal computer

Computers have become like women. Absolutely essential, high maintenance and utterly impossible to understand. Today I intended to get some writing done. I was just planning a quick survey of email before I started and then everything got complicated.. My computer told me that something needed updating. Did I want to continue? You know how that goes. You can’t win. If you update, you have no idea how long it will take and what may actually be required. If you decide to pass, you get annoying reminders and sometimes the computer will go ahead anyway at a time even less convenient. I decided to go ahead. From there on it was hurry up and wait while it checked for viruses and other mischief. Meanwhile no writing happened.

So much for my plan!

My plan for the day was simple. I got up early, inspired to write. I had a few ideas competing in my head while I showered and had breakfast. I got to the computer at 7:00, inspired and ready to rumble. By the time the update was finished it is 9:00. My computer is once more behaving but the muse is dead- or at least on vacation. I don’t remember what was in my head. It wasn’t my fault. It was all because of a silly computer. These days we are completely depended on the darn things.

Where did it all go wrong?

How did we get to this state of affairs? What made us so dependent on an electronic assistant? It is so unnatural and for a guy that completed his education before anybody even invented a personal computer, so unexpected.

I grew up before computers took over life. I used pen and paper to compose my school work all though school. In those days I could write anywhere. I just needed a pen, some paper and a flat surface. Writing was valued and it was important that your writing was legible. People wrote letters to friends and family and mailed them. You used to actually like getting mail because there might be a letter. Letters were considered literature. Not any more. Now all you get is email and test messages. Who looks forward to them?

It all started at work.

Remember the typing pool?

When computers started invading the workplace, it was quite an adjustment for me. My brain got stuck when I fingered a keyboard. It only worked when I had pen and paper. Some folks learned to dictate memos and the like but I never mastered the organization it required. Unless your brain had it worked out from the start, your document was fatally flawed. I had to write.

Then they put a computer on my desk and told me to use it like a typewriter. Happily, the computer was nothing like a typewritier. I spent six months of my Army career typing Morning Reports for Bravo Company at Fort Leanoard Wood. Typing Morning Reports meant multiple carbons and only 3 errors per report. (Errors could be crossed out and corrected but if you made too many you had to start again.) Typing was torture and an endless task until I discovered corrasable typing paper.

Typing morphed into word processing.

I learned to love word processing because it let you fix errors before ever producing a document. It took some time to master the brain connection however so that I could actually compose at the keyboard. My brain still required a pen in hand to operate. It went blank when I sat at the computer. At ifrst I would write out a draft and then type it just like I used to type my college papers. Over time, however, my brain made a new connecting and I could think and type at the same time.

Then the computer came home.

Then came the idea that everyone needed a personal computer and here we are. These days it seems that everything I do depends on my computer. It’s where I make notes, store documents and organize my activities. Now that I am absolutely dependent on a computer for almost everything I do, I approach each day with trepidation. I am completely at the mercy of my computer and I don’t have a clue what to do when it gets tempermental or balks. I’d love to say goodby and good riddence to my computer but I’m afraid it’s too late. Without my computer I’m helpless.

TabletPC2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t know that everyone is as frustrated and torn about computers. Maybe you love them or just tolerate them. What’s your computer story?

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Down With-People I Can’t Relate To Trying To Motivate Me

Posted by Gurl at 08:47 Down with, rants

Feb 032012

So, I picked up a couple of self help books today. I started reading and it really sounds like BOTH authors started off well to do. Maybe not rich, but (with the small amount I’ve been able to get into either) it surely seems like they don’t remember having done without–if they ever did!

Why would someone like me, who is trying to get off the ground from a broke ass place, even think they could tell me how I can make it???? I have VERY LITTLE to invest other than time and effort.

I am sick of people who really seem so far removed from who I am now trying to tell me I can make money this way or that way. Sure–they made MORE money with their efforts, but once you have money making money gets a touch easier I’d bet. You can make more when you have a bit to invest. When you can’t even afford the tools of the trade without juggling bills and stretching the dollar, its damn neigh impossible (or so it seems).

I want to find a story about someone who started from a place where they were going to charities to get the essentials paid while praying the not so essential stuff didn’t get cut off before their check (what ever type it might be) came in. I want a story about someone who made it despite being poorer than poor when it came to money. I don’t want they story to be one of over night success, I just want it to be real and from someone I can frigging relate to.

Maybe in a few years I will be writing that story, but until then…what the hell is someone like me supposed to do when they want someone to relate to that they can also look up to and learn from?

Maybe I am wrong and everyone one of these motivational writers and speakers started out when they were eating deer stew and thankful someone they knew had been kind enough to share the meat. Maybe they did start when they were juggling bills and praying to keep the utilities on plus one or two extras. Well..they need to tell THAT story as well as their successes in my opinion. Let the common man related to you. There are more lower middle class and poor people than there are middle upper class on up….Write something these people can relate to. Go find the stories that haven’t been written of those who’ve succeeded against such rough looking odds…and TELL them.

If you stay tuned long enough..I will write that story. The one where I succeed against all odds, and I will tell the ugly side of where I am starting from…and hope that someone like me will pick it up and find they can relate. Then I hope they take my story as motivation from them to get out there and do it themselves.

Gurl

Hi! I am a thirty-something college student in Virginia, USA. I started blogging as a personal outlet in August of 2009. I am now turning Gurls Asylum into a semi-niche blog and working on ways to improve my search ranking AND monetize it. I am also an avid Facebook gamer and Tweeter . I love to read, watch movies, listen to music, and blog!

Down With Flying – Part 2

Posted by Ralph at 04:57 Down with

Dec 252011

This is part two. If you missed part one of Down With Flying then follow the link.

It’s our own fault!

I say that the problems with flying are all our own fault. I think it comes down to two things – Americans have rejected the concept of class and we are cheap.

The airlines, just like any other business in the free world, cater to their customers and compete to provide what customers demand. Today , we insist on cheap transportation- at least when we fly. Since 1995 airfares have increased about 20% (my mental trend line analysis of the chart below) while inflation has been nearly 45%. It is not a perfect measurement because not everything increases in cost but it suggests that airlines have had to compromise to keep airfares from increasing to provide the same levels of service 1995. Something had to give and it was service.

The more complicated question is why we tolerate the degradation in service levels since we manage to pay for increased costs in other areas of our lives and take for granted that we are entitled to cost of living adjustments for wages. For most of us, travel is not a regular part of our lives. We fly infrequently and are therefor more willing to put up with occasional inconvenience.

I think the biggest problem is that Americans have lost respect for class. I don’t mean social class like living on the right side of the railroad tracks. I mean having class: dressing up rather than down and looking like you matter. People associate class with snobbery or pretense. Nobody cares how they look or wants to be seen as pretentious. Look at your plane-mates next time you fly. Try to imagine what went through their minds selecting their wardrobe for the day. You can be sure that they weren’t thinking that the wanted to make a good impression. Everybody is afraid of looking classy. Nobody minds looking like trailer park trash, shlepping all their worldly belongings on and off the plane in their ratty luggage. And if you do check your bags (at additional cost on most airlines) and dress in a civilized way you get looks from the other passengers as if to say. “You think you are too good to shlep bags?”

Yes I am!

The answer is easy. Yes, I do think I am too good to shlep bags and while you are at it, I’m too good to look like I took a break from slopping the hogs to fly to Cincinnati today. People don’t respect themselves enough to dress themselves well. I don’t think anybody thinks they are worth getting good treatment these days or care enough about how they look to dress like somebody deserving of respect. So if the airlines treat passengers like cattle these days, don’t blame the airlines. They are just providing the good customer service demanded by most of their passengers who don’t think they are worth any better treatment and dress to prove it.

Somebody tell me I’m wrong. I dare you!

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Down with…Fall Back!

Posted by Ralph at 04:51 Down with

Nov 092011

A photograph from Harleysville, Pennsylvania o...

Image via Wikipedia

I hate the time changes twice a year because each time, it disrupts my schedule and makes me testy at the best and sick at the worst. The one I hate most is the one in the fall because this change is for the worse. I used to get confused about which way to adjust the clock but once I memorized the little crutch- Spring forward, Fall back, that is no longer a problem. I just hate the change. An hour doesn’t seem like much but it takes me at least a week to get my head adjusted to the disruption to my schedule and the sudden change in when the sun goes down.

It’s not sunrise I care about.

I never have a problem with when the sun comes up. I can get up in the dark just as well as I can in the light. When I was working, I even enjoyed going to work in the dark. It even made me feel good to be getting a head start on the day. Nowadays the dark of early morning in winter seems to energize me. It isn’t the dark in the morning that I can’t stand.

It’s the sunset while you work

What I hate is going home in the dark. Driving home from work in the dark makes me ready for bed upon arrival. Even when I am working at home, just the idea of the sun going down before I stop my daily work is depressing. So this week while my body is adjusting to the shift in my schedule, my mind is trying to adjust to the sun going down while I’m still finishing up my day.

It’s depressing.

I’ve never understood why we just don’t make daylight savings time permanent. Sure it means that some folks get up in the dark but it lets us all come home before sunset. Much better all around. I know the usual explanation for not keeping daylight savings time all year around is kids waiting for school buses in the dark. I think that excuse just doesn’t work. I can’t believe that the kids would prefer more light on their way to school than more light after they get out.

So three cheers for daylight savings time!

So I don’t oppose daylight savings time. What I oppose is ever changing back to standard time. In fact I would be very down with daylight savings time if it were made the permanent time setting. Anybody with me on this? Who wants more light in the morning? Raise your hands.

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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