Congo

Let me begin by quoting one line from an otherwise uplifting poem written by Thomas Campion around 1600:

"But fools do live and waste their little light,
and seek with pain their ever-during night."

Now let me point to a web site:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/60minutes/main3701249.shtml

How much pain, I wonder, can men carry with them as they march on toward their own death? How much willful brutality can men carry inside themselves, ready to unleash over and over? How can men be such unmitigated monsters? How, even in their warped minds, can they separate the image of women from the state of dignity?

Congo, you are hemorrhaging. You have become a poison pool of bitter toxicity. Why do you do this? Who are these men? They have mothers who carried them, bore them, nursed them. They have sisters. How could it have happened so?

Congo, your women are bleeding. Your men are striking the blows. Anger, fear and pain are all around. What will you do now? How will you stop it?

Old House Woes

Yesterday I was trying to investigate the condition of the back porch roof. Putting up the ladder against the gutter which was unavoidably in the way, I climbed up just enough to notice the pressure of the ladder against the gutter was destroying my homemade gutter hanger which replaced the original piece of junk that broke earlier.

Okay, let's try a different approach. The porch roof being quite steep, I angled the ladder so it was flat against the slope of the roof, clearing the gutter, but with the angle-adjustable feet flat on the cement walk for maximum traction. I climbed up with no problem. Once up there, I examined the roof but could not find anything particularly amiss, so I started back down. As soon as I started back down however, so did the ladder, the rubber feet I thought had plenty of traction just sliding merrily along the wet cement walk. It had been raining quite a bit.

I think I instinctively stepped off the sliding ladder while attempting to grab the roof - fat chance considering there was nothing to grab. I'm not sure exactly what happened next but before I knew it I was on my back on the cement walk. I recall a brief moment of feeling some blunt force impacts, but there I was, wondering for a minute what the physical consequences were. I slowly realized I could actually get up and walk, albeit rather slowly, to the back door.

I was a bit light-headed for a short time. But I came to realize all I had sustained was a few minor abrasions, some extra pain in my lower back if I bend the wrong way, a little pain in one hip, some neck strain.

Ladders are very useful things, but they are like chainsaws. If you aren't careful, you can render yourself a significant physical insult. So be careful out there!

Employment Woes Redux

I am yet again on the outside looking in. Revenue projections fell short, so my value fell much shorter, down to zero.

But there is a bright side. It is the beginning of August. The gentle month of summer. The sea beckons. I have some time for it now.