If you have worked anywhere you have probably run into that guy (or girl) sometime in your career. Terry was the name (name changed to protect the innocent) of “that guy” at one of my recent jobs. I would describe him as young, well dressed, very good looking, very personable, great to talk to, funny, a good listener, and someone everybody likes. Terry started in our sales department.
Even before I reached my advanced age I was a list maker. Whether it be a shopping list, task list or the every present Honey-Do list there is usually one in my pocket. My obsession 
(or organization skill) is to the point where I will actually add a task to a work list after I have completed it. The task did not have to be on my original list. I just like to cross items off of my lists.
This compliment was given to recently deceased Congressman John Murtha by a local paper. In Pittsburgh, the Tribune Review is generally considered the conservative paper and that is why I subscribe and read it. I didn’t really expect the Trib to speak ill of the dead, but some of their compliments seemed a little out of touch in my mind.
When I posted Life Meanders, I had just found out that I was being furloughed (layoff without the possibility of parole or being called back). It was a crappy time in my life. I actually had a lead on a job within a few days and interviewed four days after my last day. It took another two months to actually start the job. Being out of work once you know that you eventually have a job takes the pressure off…somewhat.
The last 36 hours has been really weird. Hence the lack of posts for the last two days. One of the stretches of road that I take to work is a four-lane road characterized by an abundance of traffic signals and they seem to add one more each year. It is not too bad during off peak hours, but during rush hour it stinks. I am able to flex my schedule and start early, but the past few months, that has not made much of a difference.
Two things happened this week that were the inspiration of a new series for Framing The Dialogue. The first was perhaps my favorite poster that was displayed at the September 12 TEA Party in Washington D.C. Our first president wondering “WTF.” Evand every time that I see this I just crack up. In case you did not know, “WTF” stands for “What the Freak” or something less printable on my blog.
The second incident was when I saw this headline “Gov. Rendell named one of Esquire magazine’s ‘75 Best People.’“ That headline worked as I skipped to the article and sure enough our Gov. is one of the 75 best people “in the WORLD.” (emphasis added). I thought to myself “WTF” and a series was born.
I have the dubious task of representing my employer on the board of some NGO (“non government organization) that provides services to local public officials. If you have read my postings in the past you may have a sense that my personal views on issues are often at odds with those of my employer. This organization, however, was different in that they were not political. I could tell by some of the other board members that I am out numbered, but this organization is non-political.
I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul’s history
Through corridors of light where the hours are suns,
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the spirit clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.
What is precious is never to forget
The delight of the blood drawn from ancient springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth;
Never to deny its pleasure in the simple morning light,
Nor its grave evening demand for love;
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.
It has been just over six months since I started Framing the Dialogue. Here I am writing my 162nd posting as I sit on my gradio (grass patio or as some would call it my yard). Wireless Internet is a great thing!
I recently checked my Google stats and Framing the Dialogue has had over 300 unique visitors since Google has started tracking this site and most of them have been from the United States. Oddly enough, I have had visits from the Czech Republic (their president was one of my True American Heroes), the Netherlands, Spain (I visited there when I was in high school many years ago…maybe they remember me), Belgium, France, Poland, Australia, Great Britain (another of my True American Heroes, Daniel Hannan, hails from England), and Canada.
Recent events triggered the memory of a quaint movie starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss titled What About Bob. In this 1991 comedy, a dependent, neurotic, and manipulative patient, played by Bill Murray, shows up at his doctor’s vacation and ingratiates himself with the family. The Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss, is frustrated by the incessant intrusions. At one point in the movie Dreyfuss screams as Bob again intrudes into his family life:
“You think he’s gone. He’s not gone. That’s the whole point. He’s never gone!”