Black Friday

My favorite Starbucks is at 102nd and Grant. Yesterday, Audrey and I were there and the business was very slow. Of course it was Thanksgiving Day and people had other priorities like watching the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys loose again. Coffee at Starbucks would have been better. And yes, those lucky enough to have family around enjoyed the feast and fellowship.

Well, today I headed for Starbucks at about 6:00 am. There was a long line of cars I had to wait for to turn into the plaza. WalMart, Gordmans, Home Depot, and others were all running their Black Friday specials. The parking lots were full. Shoppers were everywhere. Me, I had to go to work so I settled for Starbucks "Black Coffee Special" which is black coffee at the usual price. People were lined up here, too.

A little chat with my friend, Cory, over coffee. Then off to work. By the way.... where is Cory this morning? Oh, ya! It's Black Friday and I am sure he's not walking his dog. OK, then, it's coffee by myself and off to work.

Good Job!

"I see you like to work from one side to the other." "Keep up the good work!" "Keep going!" "Keep it up! Keep it up!" "Good Job!"

I rolled my eyes and almost snort coffee through my nose. These were the enthusiastic comments by our waitress at Perkins. I know that the word "waitress" is a little out dated, but that is the best I have to describe our female server.

And, yes, I did giver her a generous tip. After all this was Thanksgiving and she was working. Kudos.

But seriously, do I look like I'm six?

Screams of Agony

Monday Daniel, my subcontractor, and I were hanging doors in a customer's house. The home owner has an office in his basement and spent most of his time there, other than when he was checking on the job.

Suddenly we heard these very gut-wrenching sounds as a man would make when in extreme pain. Over the years I've made a few of those sounds when I've gotten sever leg cramps in both legs at the same time. these screams of agony went on for about a minute, then quit. I looked at Daniel and he looked at me. He asked me if the man was okay. I didn't know.

Suddenly, these same groans, or screams of agony started up again. I thought I'd better check. The man's office door was open so I peeked around the door far enough to see this man's hand up in the air with his fingers jutted downward at a strange and awkward angle. The groans of agony went on.

I looked lower, below the man's hand toward the floor. And there was his dog. The man was okay. He just happened to be playing with his dog. So, he was okay..... or was he?

Zip Codes

We had just come out of the Ku Cha tea shop and saw a crowd gathered in a circle on the Pearl Street Mall. We went over to see what was happening. The first thing we saw was this guy making an outline of the United States with a plastic chain. This was a large outline big enough for several people to stand in the boundaries..... which they did.

The guy laying out the chain began to ask people for their zip codes. This is Boulder, Colorado so there were people here from all over the country. As people called out their zip code this man would tell them what city or town they were from and what restaurant they would eat in. Then he would have them stand in the boundaries of the United States at the location of their city.

This was absolutely amazing as he would name city after city and restaurant after restaurant. And you could tell that this was not staged as people showed genuine surprise each and every time. The lady from Puerto Rico, tried to confuse him by giving her zip code, but he knew that one, too.

He placed about 30 people in the boundaries without error. Then he actually repeated the zip codes and the cities where these people were located. I was amazed at his ability to do this.

If that was not enough, he started asking for foreign zip codes, and again he was able to tell the city, and in some instances the part of town where these people lived and a restaurant in their neighborhood.

Of course, his performance ended by asking for donations in the hat. He said that no one would be forced to give. But if we didn't give..... he knew where we live.

So that day we had a good tea and a good show on one of the last good days of fall.

The Stage is Set

In an earlier blog I stated that the Republicans would gain the House and possibly the Senate. Well, I was wrong on the Senate. But that is as far as wrong goes this time around. The Republicans owning the House only sets the stage for complete gridlock. However, in this case gridlock will be good for the country, but bad for the Republicans.

When President Clinton was in office there was a great deal of gridlock, which means that not much legislation was ever passed. This proved to be good for the country. Having a president that accomplishes nothing is actually good. Having a president that accomplishes something can be disastrous, as we have seen with Obama's health care plan. Now there is a lot of unraveling to do.

So the table is set for gridlock, bad for the Republicans because the country now has expectations that they will actually do something. Good for the president because nothing will actually be accomplished. By the 2012 elections the Republicans may well be viewed as failures and the elections will shift in the president's favor.

The upshot of this is that our country will actually benefit during gridlock. Businesses will find this a friendly environment. And the one accomplishment may be the uptick in the economy. And President Obama will be credited with ending the recession. Therefore, a second term.

File this blog away and read it two years from now.

Enjoy your coffee!