Santa Musings

Somehow I came out of the Santa job without a single image of myself in costume. That suit was so hot, one Santa told me he lost a belt notch to dehydration the first week. I, on the other hand, felt I was in a Tim Allen movie, as my belly grew noticeably in a few weeks as Santa. It wasn't enough to replace the phony belly bag I had to wear in my role. Why does Santa have to be too fat to be healthy? Some older European versions were slim.

I took my Santa duties seriously, vowing to brighten kids lives, when they came in to see me. It was a revelation to me, because I didn't even know I liked kids. At a very early age I realized I didn't want to have kids, and never did to my knowledge. My jobs never put me in a position to deal with lots of children. Wal-Mart came the closest, and I remember feeling compassion for some of the kids I saw there for their home lives were worse than anything I had experienced growing up. That feeling came back, while doing Santa.

As I reported earlier, Nintendo soundly thrashed both X-Box and Sony. Somewhere since Christmas I caught a glimpse of television with an ad for the Lego Star Wars and understood why it was a popular choice. I'll bet that ad was in frequent rotation. Strong movie tie-ins put Transformers into the top three, and I'll bet they had a saturation ad campaign going, too.

The Santa union petitioned the government to put Santas high on the H1N1 vaccination priority, since Santas had to handle kids all day and some were bound to be sick. Santa union? I didn't realize there was one. I knew of two organizations who recruited Santas, but a union?

I'm looking for more of a Santa Society dedicated to brightening as many lives as possible 24/7. It can't be limited to children, although they would still be a priority, and it can't be limited to a single season. Many religious groups claim to share this duty, but their results don't impress me.

It's time to trim my beard. It is swallowing my face and getting caught in straps and zippers. It will be back to Santa size by next winter, but it needs some quick size reduction now. I think my next persona will be Uncle Sam. The specs stay the same, I have the hat, and the beard's smaller.

There are some other items higher on the to do list. First, my next show is coming in February at Food for Thought. The display concept fell into place in my head yesterday. An alternative for my unavailable flickr archive is still an issue. I've looked at the remaining 200 images several times, but still haven't decided what to do with that site. It could be time for an upgrade. I looked at Zenfolio. Their base rate was close to flickr and offered more services, and I found myself wishing I could afford their premium service level.

It's First Night in Missoula. Events start at noon and roll into the new year. I've got my batteries charged, and I'm packing my camera bag. My first stop is MAM for the jazz. The university has many good performers in close proximity for easy walking. I'll have to get back downtown for the Volumen and El Zombi Gato at the Palace, plus Wartime Blues at the Old Post. I wonder what the weather is going to do. The forecast says wintry mix, which is not a good thing. I don't want my car downtown at 2am, if the streets are dangerous, and the possibility seems likely. Walking might be as dangerous as driving, and I might not be in shape to walk.

As always, life is full of so many possibilities.

"If you're not pissed off, you aren't paying attention"

Wal-Mart's in the news again. It appears an appeals court may take away the class action classification of their huge discrimination suit. 1.6 million women, who are part of the largest class action suit in history, would be disbanded and forced to pursue individual legal actions.

OK, I confess, I'm not unbiased in this case, because I worked for those fuckers for years, and I think the big bosses in Bentonville are evil. For example, Wal-Mart is aggressive in challenging workers' injury claims. In Washington state, their SOP of denying every claim gave the state reason to take away control of their workers' compensation funds. Wal-Mart has lost in court for failure to pay overtime, not allowing legal breaks and meals, and violating child labor laws.

The current legal process attempts to prove Wal-Mart favored men over women in job benefits. Although two-thirds of Wal-Mart's employees are female, only one-third of management is, and only 15% of store managers are women. Wally world is frantically trying to recruit more women to management positions, while claiming they have no prejudices.

Even male cashiers average being paid more than female cashiers, at W-M. In general, hourly employees have an annual gap in wages of $1,100, with the male gender holding the advantage, while the gap expands to a $14,500 chasm between male and female managers.

This great American institution was founded and run by good old boys, from the South, who thought if women didn't stay in the kitchen, they should at least remain subservient. Were they unfair to women? Hell, yes. They were unfair to every employee they possibly could be, in their perpetual pursuit of profit.

Shit, I'm so mad, I'm starting to alliterate. These are the same assholes, who when they control our government, do everything they can to make the rich richer at the expense of everyone else. Thus, the poor get poorer, and you know the rest.

What has that to do with other news, such as the bail out and the stimulus package? You're smart enough to figure that out.

Gesundheit, or should that be Thank You for Flushing

This guy has my beard and glasses. His name is Peter Kropotkin.

The Mountain Line is my usual transportation to and from work. Once every week or two, I drive in order to shop or run errands, after work. There's a copy of the Missoulian, on the bus, each day. The other day, there was a letter from someone totally pissed that liberal propoganda was being promoted in our schools. This individual cited the showing of two videos, as examples. One was an episode of Bill Moyers PBS program, and the other was an animated short about manufacturing and pollution, among other related topics.

Bill Moyers is one of my heros, but I haven't seen his new program and will not comment. The short, entitled The Story of Stuff, is at the first link under things I like in the column to the right. While the letter writer thinks it should be banned from the schools, I think it should be shown to every student in the country. It's a clever and informative piece, not a negative shriek about capitalism. Check it out, here.

It is time for an end of the year clearing of the decks, and taking a good dump, in order to get on to something new. Here's a batch of random facts, quotes, and such like to clear the air (and empty my note folder).

"Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible. " --Umeyuno

Merchandise seen at Wal-Mart: A five pound bag of "Assorted River Rocks...Product of China," with a price of $2.99. I really want to know if someone living here would pay for river rocks from China.

"Apathy develops when disappointment becomes normal." I didn't write down who said that, but it feels true.

The average farm worker, in the U.S., makes $7,500 a year and dies at age 47, usually of pesticide poisoning.

400,000 people a year die from smoking cigarettes, in the U.S.

George II's recent snub of Helen Thomas reminded me of the little scandal, when one of the White House Press Corp, supposedly named Jeff Gannon, lobbed a particularly slanted, softball question at the president. Turned out he was the only employee of the news department of a Texas station owned by a right wing millionaire. In addition, Gannon was really named James Guckert, and had his own sideline, advertising gay escort services online. His signature photo showed him wearing only his dogtags and camo boxers.

Last century, it would have taken seven servants to equal what our modern conveniences do for us.

Confession: I'm a bit of a sports fan, having been sports editor of my high-school newspaper. I've followed some sports since then. I must say, there are too damn many bowl games. Six and six teams should not play bowl games. A winning record should be required. This year, the Pac-10 went five for five in bowl games, and both Oregon schools won upsets. My ducks came back to beat Oklahoma State. They were ranked fairly close, but unranked Oregon State nipping 20th ranked Pitt 3-0 was a surprise to some. Earlier, Arizona jumped on Brigham Young and blew up their season. Cal beat Miami; who cares? It was no surprise to see the USC Trojans clobber Penn State.

Approximately 600,000 Christians are among the 2.5 million refugees who have fled Iraq. That surge thing really worked, didn't it!?

The newest treat at the Arkansas State Fair was chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. Where do they come up with that stuff?

lyric on the radio: "...the road goes on forever, and the party never ends."

Confession: I am addicted to caffeine, not just caffeine, but real coffee. I saw a statistic saying 1.6 million hot beverage cups are trashed every hour in this country. That made me feel guilty. Steve, at Butterfly, suggested I buy one of their insulated cups, saying I could get it filled for 75 cents for as long as I have it, because they consider it advertising. That solved that itch, and the cup is still with me on a daily basis.

Plastic beverage bottles are clogging the land even faster than those cups. Two million bottles are used in the U.S. every five minutes. Think about it. I don't buy beverages in bottles or cans and have no guilt on this one, but the waste bothers me.

426,000 cell phones are "retired" every day in this country.

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give a man religion and watch him starve to death praying for fish." --Scott Stockdale

The oracle repeats: Set your house in order, tend to business, be clear, and wait on the will of heaven.

The solstice is past, the darkness has reached its zenith, and the turning point meant the light will return. We may not notice, at first, but the days are getting longer. Next up: spring! There will be flowering leading to fruit, blossoming leading to beauty, and warmth leading to nudity. Well, I can always hope.

The wind up of the old is hereby handled. Onward and Upward. Where's some music? Oh, I know...

Coming up soon: Tom Catmull plays Artini at MAM, and Bob Wire @the Union Club.

A Warning from the Oracle

The Ching said I was becoming alienated, and, if I didn't reverse the process through calmness and gentleness, I would sink into misanthropy and ill-humor. Too late!

When I get depressed, I develop a negative self-image and just feel old and in the way. Just having to get a job-job to pay the bills, put me in a starving artist state of mind. Then came searching the labor market for positions. I really didn't want to do retail anymore, after 20 years of it in my life. Getting desperate, I took the first job I could get, and it didn't fit, or I didn't fit. I can count and do math well, but counting every item in a big-box store is a huge project. Reminded me of how old and slow I've become, and of working at Wal-Mart, under the same lights, with the same advertising blaring. Since I'm a pussy, I quit ASAP and enrolled in the jobs program for old coots.

Yes, there is training available for old farts, such as I, to update our job skills and job hunting techniques. Training will consist of working 20 hours a week, at minimum wage, for a non-profit or government agency in Missoula. I think I can handle that. There are a lot of non-profits I would like to work for. Any office that deals with the history of Missoula, or the current events, would be satisfying. Learning something new in media, publishing or broadcasting. There's opportunity for that and maybe a computer class, too. Oh boy, I'm excited at the prospects.

The fog is lifting, and I have something positive to put on the blog. Honestly, the counting job tore me down. I wasn't worth a shit for days. Now, I'm ready to do a little photography and practice my true craft. That's part of the Experience Works program, too. They try to put us old guys into jobs, which make us happy instead of miserable. I'm ready to blog again, and I have a bunch of photos almost ready to go.

Wal-Mart touches my life, again

I thought I was through with Wal-Mart, except for an occasional shopping venture, because, damn it, their prices are lower. Some of the ways they keep their prices lower piss me off. Wal-Mart is a leader in the reduce-American-workers-to-serfdom movement. They brag about the jobs they create and now employ one and a half million workers, excuse me, "associates," in this country. Studies show for every job they create, however, 1 1/2 jobs are lost. Thus, Wal-Mart has caused 750,000 people to lose their jobs.

When my parents moved to Arkansas, I told them they wouldn't see much of me, because I didn't care much for the place. I was true to my word and could count on one hand the number of times I visited them over the next 20 years. Yes, I know I was a bad son. Taking a sabbatical from the crowding and pollution of southern California, I headed out to tour the country, in 1998, and included a visit with my parents.

On a previous visit, my Pop, then in his mid 70s, was building fence. He was building fence from scratch, cutting down trees, sawing them to length, splitting them into posts, digging the holes, planting the posts and stretching the barbed wire. He was unhappy he couldn't do it as fast as he once did.

This time, he was approaching hip replacement surgery with some apprehension. I'll never forget him, afterwards, in that hospital bed, looking like a scrawny bird in a nest of cables and tubes.

Mom outweighed me by nearly 100 pounds and did not leave her recliner except to go to bed, eat her meals and visit the restroom, in spite of the constant entreaties from doctors to exercise some. It would have taken a cattle prod to get her moving, and I didn't have the toughness to use one. She later would slide to the point of being late to the restroom, if you catch my drift.

What does this have to do with Wal-Mart? I stayed, in Arkansas, to nurse my parents for the next eight years, and Wal-Mart was the only game in town for employment. They were constantly hiring, because their annual turnover ran above 60%. Don't be intimidated. I'm not going to detail all the crap I experienced over those years, or the many times management lied. I would like to give a warning. If a boss tells you a business is run like a big, happy family, he has incest in mind and you are going to get fucked.

To be fair, the insurance was not bad, and I signed up to have the cost withheld from my meager wages. It paid $70,000 for a hospital stay in 2005, when I learned about abdominal adhesions and how painful they can be. After Pop died the following May (Mom was already gone in 2002), I dithered about continuing to work for Wal-Mart in order to keep the insurance coverage. A month later, I walked.

I received two paychecks the month I walked, insurance was withheld from both, and my insurance should have been paid through the end of the month. I saw a doctor that month, and my insurance paid. This month, I received an invoice for that office visit, because last month Wal-Mart took their money back, saying my insurance had been terminated. Two years later, they decided I wasn't covered, even though they took fees for the coverage.

Writing is good therapy. When I started this, I was cussing a blue streak and ready to rip someone's head off. Transcribing events makes them a little more palatable. It also makes me realize I have a lot more to say about Wal-Mart. I'm sure I have enough material for an article, and I'm wondering about a book.

Next month, University Press of Mississippi is publishing a book entitled Covering for the Bosses: Labor and Southern Press, by Joseph B. Atkins. Joe sent an email saying I am quoted "at some length" in the chapter on Wal-Mart. Not wanting to repeat myself, I need to read that book before I say more about the world's largest retailer. I may have to wait a while, due to the $45 price tag on the book.

I have to say a little more, now. The first year I worked at Wally World, the Tire, Lube, Express department, in the course of a standard oil change, forgot to replace the oil. The omission considerably diminished the quality of service, as the engine seized up within a short time. It didn't make the news, but I heard a rumor and asked a TLE associate for confirmation. Not only was it true, but he admitted the same thing happened twice the year before. At that point, I began to collect articles about the company I worked for and continued to do so for the full eight years. Maybe, I could write a book.