JamesSlusher.com

I don’t blog about work much, other than to say that in general, I don’t like what I do for a living. I have always been a little scared that I would get fired for some of the rants that I might want to go through.

I do want to say one thing though.

I spent an unbelievable amount of time arguing with a group of people about knives today. A certain specific type of knife had been taken off our machines because people were using it for the wrong thing. We are never, ever allowed to use a knife for a purpose it wasn’t designed for. Ever.

The trouble arises in that this particular type of knife only cuts one type of material, and none of the other knives we have are designed to cut that material. So, in essence, since we couldn’t be trusted to use the correct knives, we were being forced to use the wrong knives.

Am I the only person that sees a problem with that logic?

UPDATE: I should note, for the record, that I won the argument and that the company is only letting us use the correct knives for the correct operation. I’m just disappointed I needed to argue at all.

The 12/25/05 episode of The Chair and Automan is out. Download the MP3 directly here. Or better yet, get a podcatching client and subscribe to this podcast here. Or check out my Odeo channel.

In this episode:

I play a song from The Wolf, I talk about the meanness towards Christmas nonsense of John Gibson and Fox News, I play a song from Lord Weatherby, I discuss sharing the Christmas spirit with non-relatives and liking it alot, I talk about the Slusher family lack of delaying gratification, playing Santa and developing his waistline, New Year’s resolutions and play a final song by RiffDance.

Audio feedback/promos are always welcome at jaslusher AT gmail DOT com.

My holiday wreath

Originally uploaded by jaslusher.

Here is the holiday wreath we received from Ken and Nancy Nelson. It looks quite snazzy on the door and smells great. Thanks guys!

Yesterday the kids that live in the house behind ours came over to drop off some cookies. These kids, Thomas and Colleen, are just great and I always enjoy seeing them.

We made the normal neighborly chit-chat during which I asked Thomas what presents he had asked for. He told me he couldn’t remember. Later in the conversation I asked if he recalled what is was that he wanted. He nodded that he had.

Me: So what do you want for Christmas?

Thomas: Peace on Earth and a rocketship.

Peace on Earth and a rocketship. Man o man, I hope he gets it.

Our annual Slusher Pageant of Holiday Goodness is only a few hours away. I have to admit to loving hosting this particular party more than any other. Marilyn and I have hosted some sort of party like this every year we have been together and I have many warm and fuzzy memories about these shindigs.

So to all of those who are coming and to those of you who can’t make it this year, L’Chaim! I’m loving our life together.

I have trouble writing about politics anymore because I feel like I’ve said it all before. The Bush administration is like a broken car part. I can say it is broken today, tomorrow and everyday henceforth and it will still be just as broken. So after the first time, there really is no need to keep repeating it.

Actually, for a more apt analogy, this administration is like a used car salesman trying to sell a crushed car. This hunk of ruined metal is sitting out on the lot like there is nothing wrong with it. There is a huge price tag on it. We (the American people) stop by to see about buying a car because we need it to get to work. And this salesman insists that the crushed car is the only one for us.

Us: Dude, that car is crushed.

Them: No, no it’s not. It’s a perfectly good car. You can’t expect a used car to be perfect, of course. It’s hard work to provide good, affordable used cars to the public.

Us: But I’ve got to commute to work and this car won’t get me there.

Them: Have you tried it? You aren’t even willing to try, you obstructionist terrorist!

Us: But sir, there are plenty of perfectly good, affordable cars on this lot, can’t I look at them?

Them: Terrorist! You hate our troops and would have killed baby jesus if you had a shot at it! Evolutionist! Science lover! Extra-ultra-smelly-terrorist!

The culture of dazzling us with BS has just become far too dominant in Washington. I’m voting anti-incumbent in all Federal elections until someone shows me that they give a flying rat’s behind about the middle class.

Emily’s appointment with Atlanta’s Young Faces went quite well. Though we haven’t received official acceptance yet, I would guess that they want to represent her. During the little sit down interview, I learned a couple things.

First, brown people aren’t black, bi-racial, hispanic or anything like that anymore. They are “urban”. I guess that makes me “rural”.

Second, being bi-racial is considered an advantage in modeling. Something to do with skin tones and demographics. I hope people don’t make too big of a deal about it. I don’t want my kids to get caught up in some big “Tan-ocentric” movement. Though the fashions of it might be kind of cool. I’m thinking half dashiki’s tucked into a pair of khaki gap pants. Or maybe some knit polo shirts with “Fight the Power” embroidered on them.

Third, there are actually kids out there better looking than mine. It’s not that I didn’t think it was possible, I just had never actually seen any. Now I have. Wow. Bet they aren’t as smart, though.

One of the reasons that I am highly sure that she will be accepted is that not only were they very complimentary of her looks, but also that they have an extreme dearth of girls that are size 3T. Emily fits perfectly into that Macy’s size 3T and Macy’s is one of the company’s that they deal with regularly.

They discussed the pay scales of the different work that they represent for. They do weekly print ad work (like what goes into a newspaper flyer), catalog work for seasonal catalogs and some video for commercials and such. The pay goes up in that order, also. It’s not mega-bucks, but doing it for a few years early on could really put some money into the old 529k.

We are going to go ahead with it and make sure that it is something that Emily enjoys doing. If not, then the whole thing is off. I’m going to withhold my judgement on it until after she gets some professional pictures taken. Marilyn, on the other hand, is quite excited. Of course, most of her excitement comes from the idea of Clothes! Shopping! Woohoo!

I was just reading about the possibility of Time Warner putting the Braves up for sale. This article says that Forbes values the Braves at 382 million dollars.

Now I just have to figure out where to get the other 381.999 million dollars from.

The 12/13/05 episode of The Chair and Automan is out. Download the MP3 directly here. Or better yet, get a podcatching client and subscribe to this podcast here. Or check out my Odeo channel.

In this episode:

We discuss the Adam Curry Wikipedia flap and his defender amongst other Wikipedia flaps. I talk about my Chinese digital camera, its horrible user’s manual and my upLiFTing culture incompetence. I also discuss Emily’s upcoming date with modeling destiny and my hesitancy at creating a child star. I play songs by Sage Francis, Damian Marvay, and Suns Of Light.

Audio feedback/promos are always welcome at jaslusher AT gmail DOT com.

The divine Miss Em and her daddy

Originally uploaded by jaslusher.

I found this picture as I was scanning through some folders.

First thing I thought, “Look at the ham and cheese”.