What Would Jimmy Do?

I’m sure somewhere along the way, I’ve managed to bash the United States Postal  Service in this blog. But today, they delivered a couple of pieces of mail that were very special.
We received two Christmas cards; enclosed in one was a picture of our granddaughter and in the other was a picture of our grandson.

I’m sure both you faithful readers are wondering what’s so special about that? Well, of course, I’m going to tell you. Over the years, I’ve gotten Christmas cards from lots of people and often times from my kids. The past couple of years, we’ve gotten one from our granddaughter. But this is the first time we received Christmas cards from our grandchildren!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

— 30 —

I was helping a friend with a woodworking project a few days ago and we started talking about a recent experience we had both had with an individual from our church. We both agreed that we had both been fortunate, or just plain lucky, not to have had to deal with someone like him during our working years. Of course, one thing led to another and we finally wound up discussing the state of the work force today and even the state of the United States.

Both the President and Congress suffer from overwhelming public disapproval. Our foreign policy is muddled at best. If I remember correctly, the last three or four defense secretaries have resigned, for one reason or another. A couple of them have written memoirs blasting the administration. The racial situation seems to have regressed to at least as bad as it was in the 50s and 60s….
But despite all this, most of the people I know, including our family is doing “pretty good.”
Given the state of our government, how can this be?

The fact is that a lot of people get up every morning, go to work and do their job. And as much as I sometimes complain about people, most do their jobs very well. These people have simply tuned out the corruption and incompetence of government. They’ve lost confidence and pride in the government in general and the President and Congress in particular. They have no choice — they use their own particular skills and talents and do what they must to take care of their families.

Even with the top levels of government in disarray, ordinary Americans still have been able to keep the US, if not ahead of the game, certainly in it. At least 15 or 20 years before I retired,  I sat through a number of meetings that concluded that the United States would run out of oil in less than 20 years.
Guess what? I just read that the United States is now the largest gas and oil producer in the world. Can we credit the government for this achievement? Nope — how about we give credit to a few thousand, or probably more, scientists, engineers and others in the oil industry for re-inventing and refining the oil exploration and producing process….
Even with droughts, government regulations, all sorts of unfair trade practices, the US continues to produce enough food to feed everyone here and also most of the rest of the world. Thank the government? Think again….

This blog wasn’t and isn’t intended to be a “bash the government” tirade, but I, like most Americans, am getting tired of spending a lot of money for nothing in Washington. Thank goodness a good portion of the American population has taken it upon themselves to not only “stay calm and carry on” but through their efforts given the entire country a standard of living that’s still out in front of everyone else. I can’t think of another country that just carries on when their government gets all screwed up.
Only in America….
— 30 —

I had intended to write this blog on National Grandparents Day – September 8th. Since I had just become a new grandparent, I figured it would be appropriate. I realize that Locke probably won’t look to his grandparents as his first or best source for advice. I’m guessing he’ll turn to Google, or whatever has replaced Google by the time he’s old enough to seek advice.

Even though it’s a little later than I intended, both you faith readers are welcome to continue reading, but this is for Locke.

Dear Locke,
Welcome to this world – I’m afraid we haven’t gotten it in the best condition for you, but it’s still a pretty good place. You’ve already started to look around with fresh eyes and a sense of wonder. Hopefully, you’ll never lose that sense of wonder and fascination.

So what should you do? Whatever you want. Even though it’s not a perfect world, the list of possible experiences open to you is virtually endless. Years from now, you’ll probably hear from your parents and others that I was a great one to give advice – never took much of it myself, but boy could I dish it out. Just so you don’t feel left out, here’s some advice for my favorite grandson….

• Always do the best you can.
• Don’t be afraid to try new things.
• Be honest.
• Don’t be judgmental.
• Don’t try to be someone else or live up someone else’s expectations.
• But, just always try your best…

Figure out what you are passionate about — throughout your life. Trust me, this will change over time. Recognize your passion, pursue it and see how far you can go in life with it. Never – never – let other people tell you what is important to you. You’ll get a lot of advice (some of it good, like this blog) but never answers.

You will make mistakes — some of these “mistakes” will be so deemed by society, family or even yourself. They are going to happen, but life is an adventure — try to learn from mistakes and not make them again. Just never forget — always try your best.

Love you lots,
Grampy
(or whatever name you choose for me.)
— 30 —

The big news is that we have a new addition to the family. I realize that John’s going to disappointed again that it’s not a puppy, but once again —it’s even better. Locke Archer Williamson now resides with Dave and Chassie, and of course Bella and Draco. He arrived on November the sixth and weighed in at seven and a half pounds. That makes him one month old today!! Happy Birthday, Locke!

A couple of people have questioned his name and inferred that it was unusual. I don’t think it’s unusual – it’s not “common,” but then Locke isn’t a “common” baby.
When you think of a lock/locke you often think of a fastener on a door or box or some kind of a container. It’s often used to indicate that something is in a fixed position, or maybe to stop the movement of something. Of course it’s also used to indicate an enclosed stretch of a canal or river where the water can be raised or lowered by use of gates. Or, maybe even a piece of hair.
John Locke was a famous English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. The character on the TV series Lost, also named John Locke, was named after the Englishman.

Like lots of words and almost all names, there are variations in spellings and if you dig into almost any word, including names, there are usually multiple meanings. The word lock or locke probably comes from a German background. At any rate, its a very strong, masculine name.

The Locke in our family arrived a little bit black and blue, with various bruises, even including a black eye. So if that’s any indication, he’s already a fighter.
We’ve only seen him a few times, but he’s won us over already. Carl Sandberg is quoted as saying, “A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” The first time I held him, I realized he is the future. And I’m pretty sure the world is going to be in good hands. We’ve all heard the phrase, “it’s a locke.” That means to have the situation well in hand or all ‘locked up.’ That certainly seems to be the case with our new grandson.
– 30 –

Once again, it’s been a long time since I updated this blog — as the old saying goes, life just got in the way. Lots has happened since the last update, but I guess maybe the most important and certainly the most exciting thing is that I’m going to have a grandson. Congratulations to Chassie and Dave — I’m completely confident that they’ll be great parents. I’m sure they’re both, understandably, a little apprehensive and while I can’t know what Chassie is thinking, I’ve been in Dave’s shoes before.
So to both you faithful readers, you’re welcome to continue, but this blog is to my son as he’s getting ready for one of the greatest experiences in his life — becoming a dad.

My philosophy is to not give advice — unless people ask for it. Of course, if I followed my own philosophy, this blog would end right here. So — even though you haven’t asked, here’s my advice to you about becoming a new father. It’s based on my experience and means absolutely nothing. The fact is that I didn’t follow much of the advice I’m about to jot down here. Remember, it’s a lot easier to look back and talk about what should have been done, than to do it in the heat of battle.
I know you’ve heard me say many times that the job of being a dad doesn’t come with a manual. If ever there was a job that needed a manual, it’s being a dad. This blog isn’t intended to be a manual. It won’t solve all, or probably any, of your problems. It’s just a few “tips” that I wish I’d heard (and paid attention to) before I became a dad. I pass them along with no guarantee — with or without them, you will be an absolutely awesome dad.

Becoming a father is possibly the best thing that can happen to a guy. Of course you’ve got all the gross stuff like diapers, and more stress than you ever thought possible, pretty much a complete loss of privacy, constant worry about expenses, education, accidents, drugs, and all the possible ways you can screw things up — but — other than that, being a dad is wonderful.
Every guy has worries that he won’t be a great dad, that he’ll mess up or be a failure. Dude — that’s part of the deal — it comes with the job.

For me, the first couple of months of being a dad are the most difficult. Babies cry all the time — sometimes they hurt, sometimes they just cry… Moms seem to have a built-in system to know if they’re crying for a reason or just crying. I never did. I felt so much better when you guys were able to tell us what was wrong. New babies want to be fed at all hours of the night and lots of nights are pretty much sleepless and you walk around like a zombie all day. It gets easier as they fall into a somewhat regular sleeping pattern. I found the first couple of years the hardest (but maybe also the most fun.) It does get easier — trust me.
The thing that may amaze you the most is how quickly the years fly by. It’s still hard for me to believe you’re married and going to be a dad — and me a granddad! The time you’ll have with your son is short — and precious. Spend as much time as you can with him, and try to make it quality time. Watch and listen to him — he knows when your mind has drifted off to mundane things like work… Make the most of your time with him — there’s not enough of it.
This one was a hard one for me, hopefully you’ll do better. There aren’t any mom and dad responsibilities. Be involved with everything in raising your son — share the load with Chassie. Guys can change diapers, too — and all the other activities that seem non-stop when the baby arrives. Don’t be one of those dads that distinguish between mom and dad parenting duties.
You may think you know now, but you don’t — just how much patience you’re going to need. Your son is going to test your patience in ways you can’t even imagine. Try not to get angry or frustrated — that’s not the best for your son and its not the best for you. Count to ten, take a deep breath or take a walk… I certainly never accomplished this to my satisfaction, and you probably won’t either, but practice being patient — you’ll be glad you did.
There are going to be many times your son is going to do things that will make your head explode. It’ll start early and it’ll continue… your job is to teach him not to do those things, and that’s important, but remember to keep things in perspective. Most of the horrible things are really funny, so just try to find the humor in them —it’ll help you keep your sanity and besides, they make for great stories later on. While on the subject of teaching your son to do the right things, try not to teach or demand that he submit to orders no matter what. Teach him to make decisions — he’ll like that. Just be sure to limit those decisions to parameters that you set…. now that I’ve said that, there has to be limits. It’s not good to always say “yes.” Sometimes it’s easier, and sometimes you’ll really want to, but it’s important that he learn “no.” Of course, don’t over use no, either — set your boundaries and be consistent. It’s a tough area, but remember you can’t always be your son’s best friend — he’ll have lots of friends. Sometimes you have to be more than a dad, you have to be a parent.
One thing that I enjoyed and didn’t realize how much I enjoyed it until later, was reading to you guys. You should read to your son from the start — It’ll get him in the habit of reading and it gives you some special time together. Reading is important and so is playing… with all the structure we seem to put in kids lives today, playing is becoming a lost art. Give him as much free play as possible — just let him play — make things up — and have fun. And no matter how silly or far-fetched his “free play” seems, play with him — his imagination is developing and that’s a good thing. You playing with him will spark his imagination even more (and you’ll be surprised at how much fun you’ll have.)

Another thing that’s easier said than done is to let your son be himself. It’s a natural tendency to try to mold him into the person you want him to be. Try to instill good behavior and teach him good values, but let him be himself. Just like every human on earth, your son will have quirks and and a personality unique only to him. Let that personality flourish — you never know how good those quirks may turn out to be and what they may allow him to accomplish.
Let him be independent — no, teach him to be independent. There’s going to be lots of times you’ll find it much easier, and faster, to just do something for him rather than letting him do it. Let him do it, and encourage him to do it — it’ll build his self-confidence and responsibility and it might even save you some time and work later on….
It’s easy to tell your son what he should do (and not do.) But the fact is, he’s going to learn from what you do. Don’t forget that he’s always going to be watching you and your behavior in various situations. All or a lot of these behavior characteristics will rub off on him, so try to behave like you’d like your son to….
Probably the biggest mistake I made was not being there for you. Your job and other things in life are important, but not as important as your son. Always set aside time every day for him. Don’t let anything get in the way of this special time. And those big moments in his life – baseball or soccer games, birthdays, science fairs or any of the many activities he’ll be involved in — try your best to be there.
It’s not good to have one parent say one thing, just to have the other contradict that parent. You and Chassie should be working together as a team, and should stand by each other’s decisions. Something that’s important is that you both discuss these decisions beforehand and try to get on the same page — so you don’t have to support a decision you disagree with. Along these same lines, always treat Chassie with love and respect — that’s not being a good dad, that’s being a good person. Just keep in mind that your son will learn from your behavior — so treat his mom like you’d like to be treated. It’s hard enough to grow up — it’s even harder growing up in a household where the parents are disrespectful  of each other….

So… after all this rambling, what’s the bottom line? Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve been sitting here staring at the computer screen for a few minutes, wondering what should I say to you that someday you can say, “Before I became a dad, the best advice I ever got from my dad was…..” And — – I got nothing. So just be a better dad than your dad. Love you guys and the new baby W lots!!!!
— 30 —

Well, I think it’ll be warm tomorrow, but it may be on the cold side — I don’t think it will rain or snow, but it might. I think I’ve found the profession for me if I decide to not be a Pirate or Brain Surgeon. I think weather forecasting is a no-lose, no-brainer occupation. Most weather forecasters on TV in the Washington area come on at 11:00 pm and tell you what the weather is going to be for tomorrow. For example, they say, “looks like tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a possible snow flurry.” If overnight we get 8 inches of snow, they come on the next night and say, “well, just like we predicted, we got snow amounts ranging from 6 to 8 inches….”

I know of no other profession that you don’t have to even be competent to keep your job — apparently if you look good on TV and can speak a coherent sentence, then you can be at the top of your profession. Even Pirates are held accountable — I don’t see many weather people walking the plank….

So if this Pirate or Surgeon thing doesn’t work out, look for me on the local TV channel….— 30 —

Well, here it is coming up on the next holiday we celebrate here in West Virginia — Chinese New Year. We always celebrate the new year by doing something special — even if it’s just going out to eat. A lot of people, even those in the restaurants we visit, just don’t seem to get the significance of it — in fact most of them don’t even realize what day it is….
I personally think it’s a pretty cool holiday. It always comes along about a month or so after our New Year and if you’re about month into the year and not doing so well with those resolutions you made, Chinese New Year is kind of like a do-over.

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Turns out that twelve animals showed up and Buddha named a year after each one. He then proclaimed that the people born in each animal’s year would have some that animal’s personality. This will be the Chinese year 4712 — the year of the Horse. Those born in the year of the Horse are cheerful, hard-working, but impatient. They are also independent and intelligent.

I wasn’t born in the year of the Horse — I was born in the year of the Tiger. According to the Chinese horoscopes, 4712, or 2014 if you prefer, is going to shape up like this for me:
“This should be a good year for Tigers. It could bring luck, joy, romance, spirituality and learning opportunities.” Specifically….
Work: You should do well in businesses that have to do with blood, such as surgery and the army, as well as teaching and philosophy. If you are self employed, expand your business.
Wealth: This should be a year of stability for your money.
Relationships: Romance is in the stars. If the opportunity is there, consider marriage. If you’re married, watch out for temptations from extramarital affairs.
Health: Watch out for sharp objects, and be careful of accidents and bleeding.

The comments above are interesting, because on my list of my occupational goals, right after being a pirate, brain surgery was the next on the list. So I’m thinking maybe I should pursue that a bit this year.
As far as wealth, looks like I probably won’t be destitute  — especially if the brain surgery initiative takes off….
Romance looks pretty good for me — of course my first wife Claire should probably be on her toes…
In the health department, I’ll probably have to be extra careful during surgery, I don’t want to stick myself.

The Chinese have many New Year’s traditions, but don’t traditionally make New Year’s Resolutions like we do. But for people like me, this is a good time to reflect on the goals I set about a month ago and if necessary get a do-over.

So Happy Chinese New Year — hope it’s a good year. If for some reason it’s not, maybe the last fortune cookie I had was right: The fortune you seek is in another cookie.
— 30 —

Thirty years ago today, the Macintosh computer was introduced. I was fortunate enough at the time to be working in an office whose management was willing to explore new ideas and they willingly purchased a couple of the first Macs off the assembly line. From the first time I sat down in front of one, I was hooked. I’ll admit that compared to the other computers in our office, the thing was kind of weird looking, the screen was small and black and white. No hard disk drive. A funny looking thing called a “mouse.” It was kind of slow, but it worked just like I thought a computer should. It came close to speaking my language and didn’t demand that I learn its language.

So Apple fan or not, thirty years ago they set out to change the world and I’d say by the looks of things, they did. Happy Birthday, Mac!
— 30 —

Well, it’s snowing like crazy outside and I’ve decided to not clean the driveway in shifts, but just wait for it to quit… which leaves me some time to either do nothing (I’m really good at it) or to just ponder some things, like how does the guy that drives the snowplow get to work in the morning? Or why if you sit up or sit down, its the same? Or is it further to Chicago or by bus?

Anyhow, there are a lot of life’s little mysteries — in keeping with the World War II theme of my last update one has been asked and discussed hundreds or thousands of times is why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
For those of you not old enough to be familiar with kamikaze, that was the name given to a small group of Japanese pilots in World War II whose sole purpose was to carry out suicide missions. Most people believe that most Japanese pilots flew their missions for the purpose of ramming into enemy targets — much like the terrorists did at the World Trade Center. Actually, Japan had a small, special group of pilots trained for suicide or kamikaze missions (kamikaze means godly or “divine winds in Japanese.)
Sometimes Japanese pilots, when unable to complete their missions or suffered damage to their airplanes, ran out of ammo, or for some reason couldn’t return to their base, would try to inflict as much damage as they could by ramming their aircraft into a target. These instances were often called kamikaze attacks, but technically kamikaze only refers to the missions that were specifically planned suicide missions.

But back to the question — technically, they didn’t wear helmets. They wore leather “flight caps” that covered their head and ears. These kept the pilots from getting too cold or going deaf when they flew with their cockpit canopies open as they often did to get a better view when taking off, landing or looking for landmarks. They also held the airplane’s radio earphones and offered some protection against banging their heads against the canopy.

Even though kamikaze pilots didn’t technically wear helmets, I can see why, in case their suicide mission was unsuccessful, they’d want to protect them for another attempt. There weren’t many pilots skilled enough to slam a Mitsubishi Zero into an aircraft carrier. They needed to be able to fly above the cloud layer, gauge correctly where the boat or target was, then sweep out of the clouds to hit the ship (or target) before the anti aircraft battery shot them down. If you have a pilot with those skills, you want to at least protect him the best you can before he kills himself.

But seriously, this is a dumb question….
— 30 —

We attended a (late) New Years gathering yesterday afternoon and the subject of World War II came up. Someone was asking people’s age and what, if anything, they remembered about WWII. I don’t remember much, but I do remember rationing and I remember where I was when the end of the war announcement came over the radio.
One thing I seem to remember than no one else present did was the use of mills — I’m not sure this was a World War II thing, but I associate it with the war and don’t remember them being used much after the war ended.
I probably remember them because they were made like a coin, but not nearly as thick and they had a hole in the middle. They were great for threading the string you used to spin your top with — the mill kept the string from slipping through your fingers. Of course you could just tie a loop in the end of the string and slip it over your finger, but this technique was better suited to yo-yo’s than tops — for a top, the mill was much cooler.

I think the reason I remember mills and others don’t has to do with where I grew up. Mills were really tax tokens and only some states issued them — Oklahoma being one of the states. The idea of tokens came as a result of the sales tax. When the sales tax practice began, it resulted in the final price of items often being fractions of a cent. Let’s say you purchased an item for $1.25 and the sales tax was 3% — the cost of the item would be $1.2875 ($1.28 and 3/4 cents.) The thinking back in the 1930s and 40s was that if the total was rounded up to $1.29, it would result in an “unfair” profit of 1/4 cent to the seller, but if it was rounded down to $1.28, it would be unfair to the seller by reducing the profit by 3/4 cent.
So — the solution was to provide tokens in fractions of a cent (“mills”) 1 mill = 1/1000 of a dollar or 1/10 of a cent. Using the $1.25, 3% tax example, the customer would pay $1.29 and receive 2.5 mills in tax tokens as change. If the next purchase came to, say, $5.4325, the customer could pay $5.43 plus the 2.5 mills in tax tokens. If this didn’t make life complicated enough, different states issued different tax tokens. Finally, people decided just not to worry about fractions of a cent.
As a note, my extensive research revealed that the last tax tokens were not discontinued until 1961. I wasn’t able to determine which state was the last to discontinue them…..

The “coin-like” tokens were made of aluminum, copper, zinc, brass, plastic (in several colors) cardboard and paper. (The ones I remember were aluminum.) The most common denominations were 1 and 5 mills, but other denominations were “coined” by some of the states.

One of the dictionary definitions of token is, “round piece of metal or plastic that is used instead of money in some machines — an object that looks like a coin and is used in place of a coin.” Today, we often use the term token to describe a minority included in a group to prove they’re culturally diverse. There’s a guy on South Park named Token because he’s the “token black guy.”

But again, I’m getting off track. Back to mills — it seems like taxes have always complicated things. But I kind of wish tokens would come back — you can’t use a form 1040 on the end of your top string.
— 30 —