60+ year old thread.

Oh hell, you may not believe this, but I had the German Measles, Chicken Pox, and Whooping Cough all in one fell swoop back in 1943. I was installed in my parents big double bed, while the Doctor with his big leather doctors bag full of instruments and drugs hovered over me. I still remember, the worst of it for me was the whooping cough, my lungs turning inside out from coughing so much. I felt pretty special in my parents bed, though!

 

Hell yes it means something. I was also recruited by the Oakland Tribune to start my new paper route on my 12th birthday, I guess the legal age for child labor? Previous to that, I was a freeloader but for a short stint as puppy pooper scooper in a pet store. Yes it means something, kids these days don’t have a clue about work ethics or value of a dollar.

 

Holy crap! All that at once ... that's mindboggling.

 

I think that one of the things that makes our generation special is that we developed the work ethic quite young and worked our asses off our whole life. Modern generations don’t know what hard work is, they don’t develop the work ethic. They look for the easy way. I too started at age 10 mowing lawns in Oakland California. Push lawn mower and hand scissors to trim all for $1. Went on to have 2 paper routes, the Oakland Tribune and the Shopping News. Worked in a gas station in high school. In college I had numerous jobs from cannery work to ink factory to laborer to construction work. After college I worked 40+ years and during that time I was out of work a total of one week. I worked mostly in executive positions, high stress jobs. I made decisions involving millions and 10’s of millions of dollars. Mistakes could cost the companies millions. One decision cost the company 70,000,000. Wasn’t a mistake but let’s say not my best decision not my finest hour. The high stress really got to me and when I turned 65 I retired and never looked back. In addition our generation knows things and knows how to fix things.

 

What worries me the most is because they've never done it without the computer, they don't know when the computer is wrong and believe everything the slim box in their hand tells them. Simple example ... I've watched an airman label a CB (center of balance) on a pallet train in an impossible location, obvious by eyeballing the pieces on the pallet train. But they never realized they had fat fingered one of numbers in their calculations and accepted what the screen said as fact. Tech is making a too large sector of our society lazy and ignorant.

This truly worries me.

 

Gas in cheaper in Hawaii than in San Diego, Go Figure! I did see gas at $5.56 a gallon at a Horizon Gas station in Valley Center, Ca. on our way home from RV camping at Palomar Mtn. Yesterday-Monday. Biggest gas station I have ever seen. Something is wrong or very right with this picture! Cut our RV camping trip short by one day...no places left on my body for more mosquito bites!

 

I agree with the social aspect of work. In my situation since Covid I was forced to work 100% of the time in my hole in the basement. I'm a rarity in that I don’t care to work from home. This is a major reason I’m going to retire. I can leave my office and not feel trapped to a tight calendar and video meetings.

 

Yup. That’s called garbage in, garbage out.

 

I retired due to a medical issue. I was told in 2004 that I had an inoperable tumor on my brain stem. Later that year a doctor came up with a procedure using a robot GPS and a computer to make them talk to each other. I was the third voluntary patient to have the surgery and the first survivor.

I was told I would never work or hunt again after the surgery. I returned to work and worked till 2012 and had to retire due to headaches and other brain surgery related symptoms. I hunted in CA 4 months after my surgery and have every year since.

I feel truly blessed to have been able to raise my son to manhood and defied the odds given to me by man. It hasn’t been easy and there are rough seas ahead …. Bring ‘Em on!

 

@Sprig
Our parallels are coming into focus. Do you remember your Tribune route numbers? Mine were NB-46, NB-3, and subs for several others. How about the ink factory? Does Converters Ink ring a bell? Did you ever meet the owners? New Jersey characters straight out of Brando’s Godfather movie.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!!

Finally give in to the discomfort and went to see the Doc yesterday - tendinitis. On a fast 5 day steroid blast along with Motrin. First dose yesterday has me feeling almost 100%. Other than cutting the grass today I'll take it easy for a few more days and let the shoulder heal. Just a mild nuisance compared to what others deal with.

Be safe out there!!

 

Morning

 

Doing well Rob. Eyesight is great for distance. I find that I need my old Bi-focals for up close. I haven reading glasses but they distort the vision around the edge in the field of view, so I do not use them too often. I go back to the doctor on August 18th and will receive a new prescription for close up vision. Till them I put prescribed drops in the eyes twice a day and use refresh a few times in-between. Eyedrops will be a thing I have to do every day from here on out.

I was forced into retirement back in 2012. Glad it happened, I would have missed so much in life had it not happened.


Today is a guitar lesson and not much else. Yard work is done, house is cleaned and wife is doing laundry.

 

Good Morning Cool Old Dudes & Susan

Glad to read this. Vision can be frustrating, not to mention headache causing, when you can't get the focus right. Eyedrops don't sound like they'd be too difficult to work into a daily schedule. I use the standard drops pretty regular thru the Summer 'cuz of all the glacier silt dust. Enjoy your day, Tom.

 

6
Glad you sensed when to call the Doc.

 

Happy First Day of Summer! Except it was yesterday.

I know several people who are still working, by choice. They like what they do and so they keep doing it. In at least one case I'm glad they do, because their work benefits me directly. I am fine with it. People can do what they want. I sure hope they do what makes them happy as often as possible.

Shingles shot -- ugh. I have a reminder post-it note stuck to my desktop computer screen. Been there for about 2 years. I'd say I am going to get it tomorrow but that would be procrastinating.

 

Every time I think of getting a shingles shot I need another Covid booster

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Gal! So, I gotta' tell you how entertaining it was getting my hardware at Lowe's yesterday. Walked in to a big, dark store. But, all the customers seemed to be ignoring it - busy, busy. And I saw that the registers worked. So, what the heck. What I want is black pipe, in the darkest back corner of the store. Somewhere. I'm in the right area, and the lights come on - found it. Think I will use the nearby restroom. Get back to the aisle, and - lights out! I found the flanges/feet I needed by feel, and - lights on. Long enough to see 1/2" stuff is in red - lights out. Red is brown in the dark, but I found a 90, then - lights on! Need straight pieces, which are - lights out! Finally found what seemed right by feeling around in the bins. Took it all out to the garden center, and I had EVERYTHING! I checked out in the daylight. That was fun....

Play with the little shelf and telephone jack today, then work on assembling my invention - and the pool.

 

Morning all:

WOW, can't believe what some of you guys have gone through, I've been pretty lucky so far when it comes to health issues and can only hope that my luck doesn't run out .

I never had to work too much until I got out of HS, then it was time to join the real world!
Had a Paper route and shoveled snow for pocket money, and had to help a farmer take in hay bail's on occasion, worked in a garment factory after HS, then went into the service, after my time was up went back to the factory and then on to Bethlehem Steel and retired from there when they shut down. The best overall job was in the garment factory, but the money was at Bethlehem Steel or elsewhere at PPL or Mack trucks, I applied for jobs at both places but never was interviewed. I dodged some bullets, when I was laid off I got jobs at the New Jersey Zinc Co., and Ingersoll Rand and they both shut down, if I had stayed at either of those places I probably would have no pension.
On Fri. I started easing back into the market, yesterday I grabbed a small capital gain from that position, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, I think there will be further declines coming and better buying opportunities