Notebook Entries October 2006

Notebook entry, October 30th, 2006
This morning I called in sick for the 13th time this year. My back is continuing to worsen and all I did yesterday, Sunday, was rack leaves for several hours.(No wonder the word rack comes from the 15th century devices to torture). As a result, Diana and I have had several conversations about my leaving the Postal Service earlier than anticipated. I think that I have about six months left in my physical body before it gives up the requirements of the job. But, of course, I would still have to go out and look for part time work that would allow me to sit on my fat bum for most of the time. Sigh. It's been a long held dream of mine that someday I would have a financial base underpinning my survival allowing me to pursue my creative talents. We've crunched the numbers, and yes, we could survive, but it would not be a sweet retirement.
I think the other reason behind my decision is that route inspections are coming up in March and they are periods of intense stress. All ready our station has had knuckle-crawlers from management with clip boards standing around with thumbs up their asses and looking at all the productive workers as if they were expenses to be eliminated. Rumors are flying at work that several positions would be eliminated, and if that is the case, then the whole station would come up for bid. When that happens, it creates a "every person for themselves" nature in the group dynamics. People snitch on others and tell management about every little infractions in order to curry favor -- as if it would help their position. I find it very interesting from an evolutionary stand point because I feel that it gives a clue about group dynamics about any group at a time when all in the group know that delicate balances will be upset and that some of them as individuals in the groups will be "eliminated."
The dominates love it to see the little people squirm like this because it inflates their egos that they are more superior than they really are and makes them ignore that they "need" these "little people" as the sole purpose of their existence -- without the worker -- their can be no management.
Notebook entry, October 26th, 2006
It snowed yesterday. It was a heavy, wet snow. We got about four inches -- it's the third storm this season already. Usually, it does not snow before Halloween, so the winter seems to be approaching at a fast clip. I have this, and the next winter to go before retirement. Then I can really pursue study and writing. Sigh...
I plan on traveling to see the kids in California on the 1st of November until the 5th. They are still struggling with their business, but I can tell that they are burned out mentally. Always remember people: stress is the killer in your body -- we humans we really programmed to sit under the palm tress with warm breezy wind caressing our faces.
Sigh....
Notebook entry, October 17, 2006,
Today entry has to do with a New York Times online article titled: "Preschool Puberty, and a Search for the Causes.," by Darshak M. Sanghavi. It seems that a study done at the University of Massachusetts Medical School reported: "...presented a report that described how a preschool-age girl, and then her kindergarten-age brother, mysteriously began growing public hair." "...Increasingly -- though the science is still far from definitive and the precise number of such cases is highly speculative -- some physicians woryy that children are at higher risk of early puberty as a result of the increasing prevalence of certain drugs, cosmetics and environmental contaminants, called "endocrine disruptors," that can cause breast growth, pubic hair development and other symptoms of puberty."
There is no doubt in my mind that most, if not all, of these "abnormalities" are man made. The evolutionary question we have to ask is, "will humankind survive itself?"
and if it does survive, will those that are left have enough brain power to understand that it was coporate greed for resources (money) that did it?
Notebook entry, October 9th, 2006
Happy Columbus Day in America. It's a federal holiday, so the U.S. Postal Service is not functioning today. That's good, because it's cold and rainy today -- a good day not to be a letter-carrier. It appears that we are in for an early winter and a major portion of the leaves at our "estate" have already fallen. I promised myself that I would get caught up on my notebook entries, but as the morning drags on, I'm finding excuses not to get around to it. What's the hurry? My dad is still alive at 94 and chasing the nurses around the rest home -- and I'm in better shape than he was at this age. Still looking forward to leaving the Post Office in the early months of 2008 and then I plan on working the rest of the year on local politics, before I search around for part-time work. It is not confirmed yet, but It appears more and more likely that Denver will host the 2008 Democratic Convention.
On another note, I was working behind the web site this morning and came across some of my poster images. I then remembered seeing them on EVOLVEFISH.COM, and since I no one sell them from my this web site anymore, I put the images up on my "Retail Section" and put a link to their web site. On two of the posters there is my web address, so if anyone purchases the posters, and the posters are viewed by others, at least they will see the web address and perhaps create traffic. Of course, any of you who have been readers of the early days of Evolution's Voyage know that I commissioned Utah artist, Gregory Frehner to do four posters. This fourth one has never been sold. I have all 100 posters still archived away in my basement. Both my wife and I considered the poster to be so "dark" and gloomy, that I never placed the poster on the web site for sale. The back story on this is that when he was creating this poster, Greg's wife was pregnant. The poster was supposed to be a visual c reation of the fictional story about a tiger stalking a tribe of pre-humoids EMIGRATING NORTH out of Africa. (the fictional story never had the tiger catching up with the tribe). I'm not sure, but I believe that there were complications in the wife's pregnancy, and both Diana and I speculate that the visual ended up as a horrible nightmare possibility. Oh, well...life evolves and continues, with or without us.
A note to future historians. There is a fourth poster. Note the pre-humans in the tree.

Notebook entry, October 8th, 2006
I haven't written any entries for a while -- oh, I don't know....maybe it's the change in the wx, the days getting shorter, or my back aching -- or my great desire to get on to the next level in my life -- retirement. I did just finish a book review of Bare Branches. I've put several weeks of part time writing here and there. I really should catch up with the many news entries that are of my interests.
Craig and my Step-daughter, Emily parents are arriving from England on October 11. So, I most likely will not get around to that either.
Notebook entry, October 7, 2006
OP-ED Columnist, John Tierney has a wonderful piece in the online edition of The New York Times today, titled: "Jackasses and Fashionistas." He was commenting on our culture, and in particular, the movie "Jackass Number Two," and the ultra-thin fashion models seen on the runways of Milan and Paris.



"But what inspires men to volunteer to be dragged by a horse, gored by a bull and catapulted on a rocket? One guy gets branded with a red-hot iron; another attaches a leech to his eyeball. This movie could be called "The Descent of Man," although it's not easy to square with Darwin's book of that name. Why weren't these guys' genes eliminated long ago?"
"It's the same runaway process that causes women to endanger their health by starving themselves to look like fashion models. Extreme thinness is a status symbol to other women, not men. Men prefer women who are normal weight or plump, but the stick figures on the fashion runways aren't rying to appeal to a male audience. Like the guys on "Jackass," they've lost sight of the other sex because they're so busy trying to impress their own."

Not bad Mr. Tierney. I see that you have been dipping into the evolutionary perspective of human behavior.