floundersgreatadventure

Well John has decided to quit the band he’s played the last few years, not because he doesn’t like doing it but he’d rather spend his weekends watching his son Hari grow up. I think he has made the right decision Hari is growing more each day and he has an unbelievable thirst for learning and learns at a fantastic rate. Before John and the rest of us know it he’ll be teaching us. We’re not sure what he likes the best but Jeff thinks it’s a tossup between something to do with animals or music, being a cat you know I’m hoping for animals, John and Vanessa just want him to continue to be healthy and like Jeff’s mom said to him “we’ll love you know matter what you do”. OK that was thunder I’m out of here Ciao.

So we ranted about American politics and Politian’s yesterday let’s take a look at what we know about politics in Colombia we do know that most if not all employment down here is linked to who you know. You can have the best qualifications for a specific job but if you don’t know anybody you won’t be hired unless there’s absolutely no one who knows someone applying for the same position as you. Now that might sound a little like narcissism and it probably is , but it’s not something that’s hidden even though people might not want to talk about it everyone knows it. People who get elected promise all there so called friends job but rarely do they come thru on these promises it’s the same as the US money talks bullshit walks in other words if you can’t give something to the official he doesn’t care who you are until the next election and no matter how bad these people are they seem to have no problems getting reelected time after time. They survive because they never let things get to bad and keep the crime down to an exceptical level as to exactly what their jobs consist of, that’s anybody’s guess. Hey listen the sun just came out and I hear Hari so Ciao for now

In answer to Val’s comment the people who park in handicapped spaces and don’t show any outward disability are suffering from gross stupidity in other words they never learned how to read and thing about people not acknowledging that you let them get ahead well Karma has a way of taking care of those people. Now to get on with today’s post, being a cat I don’t really care about politics and such put reading about the republican primary in America is like reading a comic book. I can’t believe that they let these dummies run for anything. Fortunately in America the president really can’t do much by himself because if you let any of these morons have their way they would put a wall around the whole country and declare themselves King. People actually thought of doing that with Ronald Regan because the country was so prosperous when he was Pres., but the problem with the government up there is they only about now and not about the future. It’s sort of like I going to get what I want and I don’t care if there’s nothing there for the next generation. They do it with their energy, economic, and climate policies. Now I don’t want anyone to think this just the ranting of a frustrated Democratic cat, both parties have the same agenda just the Democrats happen to a little more subtle in their approach to them. They like to sugar coat things before they tell you to bend over while the republican want you to bend over and smile then say thank you for sticking it to me. I don’t have any answers that’s why Jeff lives down here you know the government is corrupt they don’t try to hide it, yet they do show some concern for the future. It’s similar to living in some really rural town in America you know you have go to the mayor slip him a few bucks to get your permit for a new deck on your house but no one’s lying about it it’s just the way things are done and everybody’s happy. One thing that might help the US is to get rid of all those 70 and 80 year old in congress and the senate I don’t think living in the past is the way to go right now and I don’t believe bring back a policy of isolationism will work in anybody’s favor. I also don’t believe we can be the words police force. The US and the world have to develop alternate forms of energy or their will be fighting over what little oil is left it’s not a infinite amount most experts will tell you that there’s about 38 to 45 years supply left, that’s what I mean when I say today’s politicians only think about now. Well that was quite a rant even for me but it’s what Jeff and I believe please give it some thought we’re going back to writing about life down here for awhile. Now its Sunday morning the sun is shining and I’m going to take advantage Ciao.

OK so how many of sat down to write a letter after yesterday’s blog? Probably none so on to the next rant One of the thing that’s exactly like the USA down here is the cable company , although we have more choices than we did back home , the service still sucks we did an upgrade this week and they were “supposed to be here” between two and five. Guess what they didn’t show and their excuse was the driver had a motorcycle accident. Even their sales department didn’t believe that one so they rescheduled for this morning between 8am and 1 pm, well as of now they’re a no show. Jeff told Ruby if they don’t show by 1pm call and cancel the upgrade that usually gets some off their ass to do something or at least get us some free cable. It’s one of Jeff’s pet peeves he hates to wait when he’s trying to pay for something he can understand the waits for customer service, even though he hates it, but when he’s trying to give you his money he expects you to be right there. He’s been known to leave full baskets in the grocery store or even in Wal-Mart just because he had to wait in line and usually when he goes someplace else not only do they take his money faster it’s usually cheaper. Maybe waiting in line is just a hint you shouldn’t shop in that store. The problem is most people don’t have the time to shop around and get better service and better prices so they accept the bad service and pay more just so they don’t have to get in their cars and drive to a different store. They’re either in a hurry t o get back to work or get home and watch the game, oh and occasionally pick up the kids. How many of you have gripes like that this is a good place to let them out plus the more you keep Jeff busy answering your comments the less time I need to sit on his bone lap and write all this dumb stuff. Now listen I don’t mind writing this stuff but it’s Saturday and no Hari so I get to rest up so see if you can come up for a topic for tomorrow I’m tired and going get a drink and go lay in the sun Ciao.

As we wait to see if anybody really reads this I’ll continue to “blog.” Today we experienced a small earthquake I believe they said it was a no 5 on the scale and it was in Venezuela whose border is about 350 miles from here. The building where we live shook a little and some dust fell, but you realize that a big one would devastate the area. I don’t believe any of the buildings in Bello could withstand a major quake and they’re so close together that the damage would be catastrophic, make me all warm and comfy living here now. Being a cat I don’t get the advance warnings that dogs get so I can’t run and hide but I guess I can live with it. I got a reply from Val saying she likes to read the blog because to her it’s like getting a letter and nobody writes letters anymore. That made me think how we really don’t communicate in person anymore we text e-mail talk on the cell phone but not so much in person anymore. We can work from home in solitude, which some say is more productive but we don’t personally interact as much anymore. I have watched people walk out of their houses in the morning and jump on the cell they talk through lunch at dinner the kids are texting it would appear to me that instead of improving communication we’re becoming a bunch of anonymous voices on a cell phone. I know you’re going to say well isn’t that what you’re doing now, well let’s get something straight first I’m a cat I don’t talk so how the hell do you think I’m going to get my views out there by telepathy? Now as I see it yes we save money by doing everything on line but we lose our appreciation of personal contact and nature, which leaves us vulnerable to deceit and bad government. The even more paranoid among us think that the government wants us to use all these devices so they can keep better track of where we are and what we think. That is a real possibility but we have to trust that there are enough good people around to stop it at least for now. So back to the point when was the last time you wrote a personal letter to a friend or relative? I mean you sat down with a pen (you do remember what a pen is don’t you) and paper and created a letter. How many kids coming out of college could write a love note to a girl without using abbreviations and instant mess slang? For that matter how many of you reader have tried in the last year to write something without the aid of word processing software? Bet you haven’t even thought about it, can you remember how to? Well I’ve given you something else to think about till next time right now I’m hungry and I need a nap Ciao.

Well today’s a better day, I hope, Jeff feels more like typing today and I have a couple of questions for my readers. First I would like to know how many actually read this blog and how many just look at the pictures when I put them up, I know Val read it every day because she makes comment all the time. I don’t expect people to read every day I know they have lives and don’t want to waste time reading this. I also know people don’t check Facebook every day. That’s fine with me if you’re only going to read it on the weekend I’ll just write on the weekends. Second if I stop writing this blog tomorrow how many of you would be disappointed and how many people would be glad. I really would appreciate feedback on these two questions and just so you know I enjoy writing this but if nobody is going to read it I might as well stop writing and watch more TV so I’ll be eagerly waiting to hear now if you don’t mind I’m going to take a nap in the sun.

I have absolutely nothing to say today Ciao.

Ok Val wants a little more Rock and Roll but she say she’s a fan of country and western music I’m going to assume she means the old stuff because now a days the lines between country and rock are rather blurred. I’ve read articles that say country music is still doing very well but if you’re a traditionalist you might not agree with me. For those of you down here it would be like watching the old traditional music be replaced by more rock styled music. Most of these changes can be traced to advertising money, advertisers tend to target an age group between 18 and 25 or sometimes as old as 40 these people are considered to have more money to spend on non essentials than older people taking that into consideration they also tend to differ in taste from their parents thus the change in musical tastes from generation to generation. But getting back to Val’s tastes it would appear that there is still plenty of new country music out there just not a lot of radio stations to listen to it. From a historical point of view this music has been around forever but it doesn’t come from out west it origins are in the southeast and have a great deal of African American influence combined with European. It has gone through many variations and there have been a lot of crossover artists like Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. Jeff really doesn’t have an in depth knowledge of country music and he doesn’t want to just copy from web sites so he hopes this has entertained Val as for me you know so long there isn’t a party going on and the sound level is low I could care less what type of music is being played after all I’m a cat not a music critic and now it’s time to go take a nap and dream of the Mickey Mouse Club Ciao.

Ok I’m going to make the assumption that a lot of you are familiar with Rolling Stone magazine and there all time greatest lists. I’m going to be dealing with one list in particular The 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time. Now the one who perennially tops this list is Jimi Hendricks, I don’t want to say he not deserving but he’s there because he developed a technique that of using feedback and distortion in musical presentation, without which several style of music would not exist today. If I’m right in saying that than the real number one guitarist in the world title should go to more than one person in this case I would recommend George Beauchamp and Les Paul or better yet just put the electric guitar up there. Because without that invention you don’t have bands like the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Metallica or Queen and the list just goes on , can you imagine listening to Metallica with acoustic guitars in Giants stadium, I don’t think so. It’s really amazing when you look at these lists and don’t see the real greats of the past in the top 25 of guiartist or song writers etc. Maybe there aren’t enough 66 year old guys like me that have been listening to music their whole lives maybe they’ve been too busy trying to stay young or lost their record collection. I remember when Norman Knight thought that Allan Freed had used the B side of Rock around the clock as the first time anyone had used the term Rock and Roll sense then there have been a couple of others that have laid claim to that title for that matter how many Rock and roll fan actually remember listing to the radio when rock started. People have forgotten Allan Freed but he invented the term that has thrilled a generation he was also one if not the first DJ to announce the deaths of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens all three are Rock and roll legends that died in a small  plane crash. I think that before my generation disappears completely someone should really go back and do a TV or better still radio documentary about the way it really was the fact that the record companies cheated the artists and even better someone should make sure that everybody my age or a little older looks in their basements and attics to see if they still have the music. I know my collection of early rock was donated to charity and my vinyl collection I put on CDs before I came down here. I think one of the coolest things I ever found in music were the Cruisin Tapes and CDs I would listen to the one that featured east coast DJs and actually remember hearing that show at the time it was done. Well I guess I should turn it back over to Flounder after all it’s his blog thanks for the time old buddy. Old buddy if hadn’t stopped I think I would have fallen asleep and fallen off your boney lap. I’ll tell you what I’ll do for you if any of our readers want more of the stuff you just wrote about I’ll give you more time latter. Right now I’m tired and bored I’m going to lay in the sun for awhile then I’m going scratch you ass for making me sit here so long Ciao.