Friday, July 11, 2003
I just passed a half-century not too long ago and can look back with a little wonder at just how stupid a person is when they're young. I work in a mostly younger company -- it's an Internet company -- and can see all these folks doing the same stupid things I did way-back-when. You want to just grab them, shake them, and say "what the hell's wrong with you?" Not only the stupidity but the changes that have come around since then.
When I started smoking, you could smoke at your desk and I could buy a carton of Marlboros for $3.35. Now a pack is about the same price. And they will still kill you. My last physical found something on my lung (which turned out benign, but -- whew). I wanted to smack those kids smoking outside the back door of the building and yell "if you get lung cancer, you have a 15% chance of being alive 5 years later - and cigarettes are the number one cause!!"
I could sit in my new $2500, 1971 Chevy Nova and listen to my Amoco 8-track turned all the way up and a couple of cars away it was inaudible. Now, because of guns and airplanes and genetics, I'm half deaf. You can get a car stereo today that will not only make you deaf, but will also wake up folks for blocks around.
I started to do some work on my truck the other day and found myself putting on safety glasses and work gloves. It was up on jack stands and I shoved it to make sure it was steady. Over on the wall was a brand new $30 fire extinguisher and I was cleaning up oil spills as soon as they happened. I can remember working on my Nova with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth laying underneath it while it was propped up on a rock.
I looked at my bank account the other day and started thinking about all the money I've wasted since I started working. Sigh - I could have bought a farm back in the '70s and paid a little each month and have owned it by now. I haven't paid interest on a credit card in almost 20 years. One of my co-workers was just mentioning they had a $14,000 credit card balance that they are going to pay off with a house equity loan!!
2fers: http://www.reminisce.com/ and http://www.8trackheaven.com/index.html
When I started smoking, you could smoke at your desk and I could buy a carton of Marlboros for $3.35. Now a pack is about the same price. And they will still kill you. My last physical found something on my lung (which turned out benign, but -- whew). I wanted to smack those kids smoking outside the back door of the building and yell "if you get lung cancer, you have a 15% chance of being alive 5 years later - and cigarettes are the number one cause!!"
I could sit in my new $2500, 1971 Chevy Nova and listen to my Amoco 8-track turned all the way up and a couple of cars away it was inaudible. Now, because of guns and airplanes and genetics, I'm half deaf. You can get a car stereo today that will not only make you deaf, but will also wake up folks for blocks around.
I started to do some work on my truck the other day and found myself putting on safety glasses and work gloves. It was up on jack stands and I shoved it to make sure it was steady. Over on the wall was a brand new $30 fire extinguisher and I was cleaning up oil spills as soon as they happened. I can remember working on my Nova with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth laying underneath it while it was propped up on a rock.
I looked at my bank account the other day and started thinking about all the money I've wasted since I started working. Sigh - I could have bought a farm back in the '70s and paid a little each month and have owned it by now. I haven't paid interest on a credit card in almost 20 years. One of my co-workers was just mentioning they had a $14,000 credit card balance that they are going to pay off with a house equity loan!!
2fers: http://www.reminisce.com/ and http://www.8trackheaven.com/index.html
