To Yell at a Guru?

 Posted by at 11:03  rants
Feb 232015
 
Coots on a tire

Image via Wikipedia

Well for better or for worse, I have been looking at some nuts and bolts around here at the Coots site.  I have discovered in the course of events that Ralph has been writing much more than anyone else here.  Maybe he is just more dedicated or maybe he just has nothing better to do than to be an instigator.

Instigator in the dictionary of the coots should read: 1.  Ralph Carlson, see ralphcarlson.com 2.  The guy who has nothing better to do than come up with ideas for others to implement, see #1.  3.  A guy with too much time on his hands, see #1.  4.  Retired and needing to do something to stay away from his murderous-minded wife, see #1.

You have all read the origin story of the coots, from humble comment to site, comment made by, you guessed it, Ralph.  And as we grow and go forward he keeps coming up with stuff for us to do.  Maybe he has all the time he wants to sit and write for 2 blogs, his kids are grown and he doesn’t have medical issues that need major narcotics to deal with.  Or maybe he is just the Coots Guru that we need.  (see picture: Coots on a tire! which one is Ralph?)

I used to be able to keep up with him pretty good on postings and our numbers were fairly even.  Bob is so far behind that he is never going to catch up.  But now, I find myself 33 posts behind Ralph!  I know I was off for a while but good freaking grief in a kettle.  I know that numbers like that shouldn’t mean anything, my posts are far superior, well some of them at least, but just by sheer numbers I have to dub Ralph the Coots Guru.

And now, I have to decide to yell at him or not.  He is the patron saint of Cantankerousness here.  I think I will not yell today.  But I always have that option.  And now here is a real life question for you.  Is it permissible to yell at your Guru’s?  By that I certainly mean yell, but also disagree.  If you pick up a new program (much like my new stay at home dad program that will be launching soon) and you don’t agree with something in there, I would like the feedback for someone to leave me a profanity laden email cursing out generations of my family and telling me what I did wrong.

I will probably make fun of that person on Twitter but I am not opposed to the criticism.  We have the right to our own thoughts and the speech that comes from us protected under the Constitution and the First Amendment.  We also have the right, no the obligation to disagree with someone who we truly feel is wrong, see Declaration of Independence.  These are not new concepts.  These are not wild ideas that I have created.

We need to strive for the fortitude and the Cantankerousness to put out there what our minds conjure.  We need to read and understand others, to look at their ideas and programs, and then decide if they are for us or not.  And you don’t have to be mean about it, but sarcasm helps.

Have a great Thursday.

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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I am a tool.

 Posted by at 11:03  principles, rants
Feb 232015
 
Rum balls

Image via Wikipedia

I feel like a real tool here. I barely even read my own blog. I may as well bequeath the whole damn thing to Ralph and give up.  I finally looked today, Thursday and found out there was a whole great post from Wednesday that I had no idea existed.  It is getting hectic this time of year and I am not weathering it well.

I would admit to getting older and being more decrepit but I think Ralph has shown all of us that you can be an old fart er retired and still be reasonably in control of your mental faculties.  This time of year is about to kill me.

From figuring out gifts to getting to all of the parties and miscellaneous bull crap that come on at this time of year.  I am not going to dwell too long on this, I just don’t have that much to say on the matter.

I need some heavy duty doses of sleep and caffeine, not at the same time of course, that would defeat the purpose of each.

I hope your holiday season is not driving you to drinking or at least excessive drinking.  And lay off the rum balls.

Anyway, have a good weekend, it will all be over in 2 weeks.

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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Should we rename us the Stumbling Old Coots?

 Posted by at 11:03  Ask A Coot!, Plain 'ol Cantankerous, rants
Feb 232015
 
Coots on a tire

Coots on a tire (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems that all I do on here anymore is bitch.  And it is sounding like a broken freaking record.  But it is something posted at least.  Here is the deal.  Cantakerous Old Coots is darn near a one person operation from Ralph.  I put some stuff in once in a while.  Bob has been MIA while working through his various programs and computer problems.

So some input, what should we do with the Coots?  I am sure that Ralph is getting tired of being the only Cantankerous one here, and I am not sure about his commitment to Cantankerosity after that Venice trip.  He may need some more time to revive that cantankerous attitude.

As for me, I am trying to get back in the writing saddle all over the board.  I ostensibly call myself a writer and creator of web content but I am resting on my laurels from the past.  So, if you are reading this, tell me what you would like to see from the Coots.  New content daily?  A break from Ralph?  Podcast revive?  Bob’s politics?  More News? More Hansi?

That comment section down there has been more active in the past couple of weeks than it has in a while.  Keep it up.  Let us know what the people want.  While this is far from a democracy here, we will listen to your suggestions and implement or reject as needed.  You all just have to let us know.  We will be anxiously awaiting, well more like just sitting here doing something else waiting for comments to come in and enlighten us.

You all can do it.  Just a few words down there.  In the comments.  you know at the bottom.

More to come…..

-Justin

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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And then there were two…

 Posted by at 18:17  Coot Comedy, Coot Smirk, principles, Uncategorized
Jul 072014
 
City Lights, France-Italy Border (NASA, Intern...

City Lights, France-Italy Border (NASA, International Space Station Science, 04/28/10) (Photo credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center)

By now, Ralph is winging his way over the ocean heading towards the land of canals and spaghetti, Italy.  He has his bags packed, his cell phones rented, and this blog pushed to the back of his mind where it will reside with many other undesirable things like pond scum.

A vacation.  Do you ever have a “vacation” that you come back from, rested, relaxed, and ready to return to work?  Yea me neither.  I am hoping that it will be different for Ralph.  See, he is just going with his wife to Italy.  We can only hope that he brings her back with him.  I guess it depends just how bad the flight actually is.  But that is another story.

Over the past year I do believe that I have grown complacent, letting Ralph and Bob, well mostly Ralph, have at this site and run with it.  Now It is back to me and the fine work that used to fly from my fingers.

Have a great Vacation Ralph, you deserve it.

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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It’s all swirling in my head and leaking into my computer.

 Posted by at 09:59  Uncategorized
Sep 292011
 
Confusing signal

Image via Wikipedia

It gets confusing looking at all of these old posts coming up from the archives.  Some of them are really pretty good and I am glad they are out again to inspire someone.  Hopefully.  Well  if you havent noticed, this is not a podcast.  Why?  I just don’t feel like it this week.  Much like Bob, lassiez- faire is the way to go for this week.

What is that Bob?  You are not lassiez-faire?  Where is Tuesday’s “podio” production?  Anyway, this post is a response to Ralph‘s post yesterday.  He brings up some good points.

The meteoric rise of the Coots is great, but why is it happening and what can we do to make it happen more?  Where are the people that want to beat down our digital door to learn how to be cantankerous?  I’ll tell you, they are still out there.  They are waiting for the time when the lessons are on video and audio and we are charging $19.95 for them.

I can do that if it will help.  In the meantime we will have to be content with podio (still sounds like something I need to do to get my kid out of diapers) from Bob and commentary from the rest of us.  We may never understand exactly why this blog works.

We may never make actual money from it.  Scratch that, we haven’t made any money yet but now that we have that new program that links bank accounts and passwords to visiting IP addresses…wait, you are not supposed to know about that.

In light of success and always trying to manage it to create something more, hopefully better, we are switching things up a bit.  We will still have old posts from the vast hoard of wonderfulness that we have spewed forth over the past year and a half.    Those post up rather randomly but still worth the read.

Bob will be bringing us “The Political Coot”  live on Tuesday mornings at 10 AM Eastern.  That is 6 AM on the west coast kids…too damn early if you ask me.  If you miss the live session you can catch the replay the next Monday right here on the Coots.

Ralph will continue to be the workhorse backbone of the Coots and will still publish whatever the hell he wants on Wednesday.  If a big enough burr gets under his saddle then Saturday will have a post.  Sunday, the CNS news service survives for now, it may not in the future.

Justin will continue to try and sollicit guest posts from our frequent commentors, Hansi, this means you.  He ( Justin not Hansi) will also be posting whatever comes to mind on Thursday and Friday.  Thursday should be a podcast but, like today, it isn’t.  Friday is up in the air if it will be a podcast or not.  We still have to have something to actually read on here.

So there you have it folks, the Coots are on the rise and we will be taking over your bank accounts  er internet systems and browsers soon!  and remember, from the comments on Ralph’s post,

Maybe that is the secret to happiness and the meaning of life- a giant 404 error.

To that end, if we get truly Cantankerous you will see this sign as you enter the Coots page:

Go out and make a day of it before winter hits.

Justin

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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