Duncan's Blog

I attended a staff meeting at work. I found it a bit boring and useless since I am from a float pool and not really an integral part of the full time staff. While I work there as a full time employee and am part of the greater organization I am--technically--a staff employee. Nonetheless, I feel more like a visitor whose stay has a beginning, a middle and an end.
The facilitator of the meeting wanted to make sure that certain functions were being performed based on what the computer generated requests demanded. One of the staff--an African American woman--said that the check list was overwhelming. "We're working like Hebrew slaves!"
There was a chortle among the masses.
Moi, however, was not amused.
I repeated this several times throughout the day so that it would not be forgotten. After awhile my colleagues tired hearing it. "Why does it bother you so much?"
"How would YOU have felt if I were to say, 'I'm working like a field darkie on the plantation!'?"
She was stunned that I even had that kind of vocabulary. I'm quite reserved in the workplace.
Well that's my little rant for the moment. My attention span seems to be diminishing over the months. I'll blame it on the heat for now.

It sounds like the title that would be given by a vapid and insipid 3rd grade teacher to her class for composition. Yet, as an adult I play responsibly and oftentimes find myself reaching for the brass ring on the merry-go-round.
My thoughts on the matter are not rigidly planned out. I wouldn't have specific percentages set for paying bills, buying a house, owning cars, giving to charity or hurling towards friends like chicken seed toward the hens.
Anyway, I doubt that the lottery will ever get my numbers called. Nonetheless, it's a nice fantasy to hope for.

My questions sometimes lead the gentle reader to believe that I might have to have my head examined. I ask it because I don't believe that people come into our lives randomly... well, not the significant ones anyway. And on both the east and west coasts I have noticed that certain names keep appearing over-and-over again. Some of these choice names are Steven, Stephen, Michael, David, Joseph, Jeffrey, Marc, Mark... to name a few.
When you have a name like Duncan, you can more or less drop your middle and last names. It's like going through life with the nomenclature Cher, Liberace, Sting or Fabian.
So whenever a Michael pops up in my life I generally tend to treat him especially kindly. I have memories of being with a Michael who was and still is an important character in my life story.
There are other names that don't bode so well. The worst of them all are female names that start with the letter "J" or have the j-sound when the name begins with a "G" (e.g. Genevieve or Ginger). For me, it is a rarity for a J-woman to be a close part of my life.

I'm sure there are gals who read these rants of mine from time to time. I'm looking at my love-handles and thinking to myself, "Peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat couldn't possibly be the culprit here. It must be water retention." So I make sure that during these days of oppressive heat I manage to scarf down a few potato chips. With the consumption of half a dozen of these salt laden treats I must be holding onto liters and liters and liters of water that are just depositing themselves all over my interstitial tissue.
Yes, ladies, guys think about these things too !

Folks here are whining about rich developers who come in from outside the country. They are buying up land and kicking Americans from their homes.
Sad sad sad
What ticks me off is that so many people are bellyaching about the poor illegal aliens who come in here and suck up our resources, yet no one seems to be too pissed off when rich foreigners come in... until they decide to buy up property and then increase rents exponentially.