The National Anthem

I was appalled at the performance of our National Anthem given prior to the Super Bowl this year. It is just my personal opinion this ode to our nation be sung in the fashion that it was written. It was not meant to be sung with warbley vocal calisthenics and theatrics that all pop singers seem to love to do. Everyone wants to be Mariah Carey. All you have to do is listen to the acapella performances given on American Idol to see what I mean. JUST SING THE DAMN SONG IN THE NOTES THAT WERE WRITTEN FOR IT.


I offer this to you. It was sent to me by a good friend currently existing on The Left Coast. It demonstrates that my opinion has been validated. Let me know what you think.

“So, with all the kindness I can muster, I give this one piece of advice to the next pop star who is asked to sing the national anthem at a sporting event: save the vocal gymnastics and the physical gyrations for your concerts. Just sing this song the way you were taught to sing it in kindergarten — straight up, no styling. Sing it with the constant awareness that there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watching you from bases and outposts all over the world. Don’t make them cringe with your self-centered ego gratification. Sing it as if you are standing before a row of 86-year-old WWII vets wearing their Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and flag pins on their cardigans and you want them to be proud of you for honoring them and the country they love — not because you want them to think you are a superstar musician. They could see that from the costumes, the makeup and the entourages. Sing “The Star Spangled Banner” with the courtesy and humility that tells the audience that it is about America, not you.”

Thanks Jeri!

Where have you all been?

Well Folks, I guess I'm back, I took out a domain oolabob.com on Wordpress, and started a chapter or two in my storied life, but no one seemed to care, and I couldn't finger out how to tell who was following my Blog.  Not that there were thousands interested, but at least I had 10 trusty followers.  Soooooo my friends, like it or not I'm back.

Today, I would like to rant about a past employer.  I don't give a rip if they see it or not on-accounta- because I'm retired and working somewhere else so I don't need a reference from them nohow.

I was working at a company in North Prairie that shall remain nameless.  There's not many companies in North Prairie, so you finger it out.  The corporate culture there (for the most part) is very comfortable...except in the Engineering Department.  There are some very strange people working there and have inflated opinions of themselves. 

• One of the Engineers is a Marquette University Grad who spends his time "smokin and jokin", laughing on the phone and doesn't do shit.  He, or his boss (who shall remain nameless) gets everybody else to do it for him.
• Then there is the guy who quit because there was no future there for him, and then when laid off from the new job he went to came crawling back.  He talks just to hear himself talks and never stops yakking.  He spends an enormous amount of time on Fantasy leagues, baseball, football, whatever...on company time.
• Lets move to the guy that is exactly 1 day older than me.  Oops phone ringing.  Some ding-a-ling wanting me to change my phone service.  I think the call originated in Calcutta.  After asking 3 times to repeat what he was saying, I told him to call back when he could speak recognizable English.  (am I bad or what).  Anyway I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, the guy one day older than me is one of the nicest people you wold ever want to meet, he would give you the shirt of his back.  Sadly he is being jacked around by the head of Engineering (same as me, but we'll get to that in a bit), and is having to resign.  He was told to do something not in his job description, of he would be fired and they would fight any unemployment claim.  He will will have to begin taking Social Security.  Too bad Eng Management is to dumb to see the experience they are losing.
• On to the woman who resides by the window.  She is  a queen among queens.  I love her to pieces.  She will do anything for you, and will be greatly missed when they force her out.
• Next we have they guy who is a "lifer".  He's been there 17 years and he and I grew to be great friends.  He always called me "Oh Great one".  He is probably one of the most knowledgeable men I have ever met, and shares his talents freely.  I cant say enough about him.
• Lets move on to  "The Bosses Toady".  You can recognize him anywhere, is is about 6'4" tall, weighs in at about 160 pounds soaking wet, has a penchant for wearing a Kilt once a year, (and looks ridiculous) has his nose so far up his bosses ass, his nose wold break if his boss stopped walking to fast.  This is a man who talks down to everybody, treats people like children and respects no one.  He is unreasonable in his demands and erroneously thinks he is well liked in the company, the truth is no body really likes working with him.
• Oops, I forgot about the guy that sat across from me.  He and I used to have great fun at work which really torqued off the boss.  I miss the hell out of him, we have matching John Deer's.
• OK, here is the "Pasty Resistance".  Da Boss.  He has a Napoleon complex.  Thinks he knows everything, and tries to run the department with an iron fist.  I am proud to say I tried my best to thwart him in that regard.  He is devoid of a sense of humor and wants no one else to have one either let alone express it.  He is a total prude, and wants silence in his department (except of course from his Golden Boys).  He will dress you down in front of your peers, rather than in private.  A completely classless thing to do.  You can never please him, and he has a hair trigger, and a horrible temper and thinks he's bad...pffft.

OK, you wonder where I was going with all this.  I loved working there and worked my big fat butt off for 5 years, then I decided I would like to work part time (20 hours/wk)and semi-retire.  That was great and I loved the time off.  Then came the the heavy handed tactics of my boss.  I was being forced to go back to full time.  I didn't want to do that and made my feelings known.  I wasn't told in so many words but the implication was do it or else.   Since I began to hate coming to work in the morning, I thought it was time to resign.  Resign I did, but my boss was just too dumb to see that I was resigning because of his edicts, he told everyone I was retiring.  That was far from the truth.  I am back at work and a company I love and am working 30 hours a week.  The bad thing about this whole situation is that I cannot retain contact with all my friends  It really pisses me off, but rest assured, "If you keep your heart open, love will find a way (LOL)  there are blogs, there is Facebook, there are any number of ways around the blockage.  So if they want to play their childish games, let them.  I just got this off my chest and I don't give a rodents behind any more about it...

I'm just sayin'.

Poopies, I almost forgot about the ladies in Sales, My Harem.  I love and miss them all, every last one of them.