Rant #3,141: Another Brick In the Wall

So, how was your Memorial Day?

Did you go swimming … did you have a barbecue … did you shop until you dropped?

I brought in cans and bottles to the recyclable area in my local supermarket, that’s what I did.

So all told, for myself and my family, we did not do very much on the holiday.

I brought my cans and bottles in at about 8 a.m. or so and there were two people who were actually ahead of me at the machines, so I had to wait a bit.

And they told me that the machines were not doing too well, so I knew that I was in for it.

When I finally got to a machine, it was basically “take one step forward, two steps back,” as the machines—and I ended up using both of them for the bottles—would take one bottle, but wouldn’t take two more, so it took forever for me to get even one-third of my bottles into the machines.

At one point, both machines were full, and there is an intercom in this area that hooks up to the courtesy desk, and I called to get someone over to tend to the machines … although the guy took his time getting there.

And once he got there, even though the machines both read that they were full, do you think he changed the bags in the machines?

No, that was evidently too difficult, and, of course, too logical.

So I started to use one of the machines when he left, but within about a minute of his disappearance, the machine was full, and I moved over to the next machine, and again, the same “one step forward, two steps back” approach ensued, to the point that I felt it fruitless to continue there, and I left for another supermarket’s machines after I cashed in what I got there.

Happily, the next supermarket’s machines acted “patriotic” for the day, and it took my bottles without any problem.

All of this wasted over an hour of my time, but honestly, I had nothing really else to do on Memorial Day, so after a run to Staples—I needed a new print cartridge for my computer’s printer and still need one because they didn’t have what I needed—I was pretty much done for the day.

Other than moving some of the furniture back onto our patio—which I did with my son—I did absolutely nothing yesterday.

I watched all or part of three movies during the afternoon, and since one was worse than the other, it doesn’t even pay to mention any of their names to you.

I casted them off of YouTube, and three more rotten films you couldn’t find.

In the evening, it was tine to watch pro wrestling with my son, and after watching three—count ‘em, three—pay per views with my son this past holiday weekend, the body could stand no more, and I fell asleep at about 8:30 p.m., went into the bed at about 10 p.m., and had an up and down sleep throughout the night, but I guess when you add everything up, I did sleep a decent amount of hours.

And today, it is back to the grind of work, both for myself and my son, so I will be writing, editing—and driving—all over the place today and for the rest of the workweek.

My wife is slowly getting better, and next Monday, we have another very early appointment with the doctor, and we will find out her real progress and what she can do, can’t do, and has limitations on.

But she is getting better by the day, still a little wobbly, but she is able to do more things, so I am looking forward to a positive report from the doctor.

So anyway, that was my Memorial Day, a slight respite from the norm but little else to me, to be honest with you.

And today, we get back to the grind, which I guess is a good thing.

And yes, over the weekend, I did notice that two actor/singers with a similar trajectory in their careers left us.

George Maharis and Ed Ames parlayed roles in hit TV series—“Route 66” and “Daniel Boone,” respectively—that led the to have more than respectable singing careers, as they were among the most popular TV actors of their time due to the popularity of those shows.

Ames also is enshrined in the “Ad Lib TV Hall of Fame” for his memorable appearance on “The Tonight Show,” where he took a tomahawk and threw it at a cutout of a human being, only to have it land in a very sensitive area of the body, and Johnny Carson’s ad lib is one of the funniest ad labs of all time.

You can find that clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L5QC9ZJkM8

Watching it is a great way to begin the workweek, as 60 years later, it is still as funny as can be.

Have a great day, and I will speak to you again tomorrow