My Cat has ADD

No real story here other than the fact that this crazy feline of ours has Attention Deficit Disorder. He can't sit still for 2 seconds regardless of the situation, and just watching him wears me out.

Uh-oh! I feel a tangent coming on here. Could be gas but.. No, it's definitely a tangent.

You know, come to think of it everyone must have ADD. At least that's what the medical society is trying to make you and I believe. I heard somewhere that within about 15 seconds of a person speaking to you, you're already thinking about what you are going to say to them about yourself. So none of us really listen to each other as attentively as we should anyway. And with 600 channels on your TV to choose from, verses the six I had as a child, it's no wonder someone can't stay on one program for long. Compared to 30 years ago, we now live in a world with so much visual stimulation that it's hard to keep focused on any one thing for a lengthy period of time. Combine that with the fact that we carry our ability to multi-task as a badge of honor, and you're bound to get a little distracted once in a while.

So what do we do, medicate the whole damn world? Actually I think the medical community and the pharmecutical companies have begun doing just that. I still can't believe it when I go on rescue calls and I see the amount of meds some people are on. And anti-depressants, There must be a vending machine somewhere selling this crap because everyone is on it!

I do realize that there are bona fide instances where children need intervention but my worry is that they (being our doctors and their clinics) have been too hasty in prescribing medications for some kids. We better get a handle on this situation before they start crop dusting our schools with Ritalin at recess time.

The world according to Gus. Today's subject: Music

For several days now I've been listening to a local radio station that's been playing a chronological of rock music spanning the past three decades. Today they're on 1978 and man have I forgotten how good music was back then!

My personal collection includes Big Band, Classical, Blues, Jazz, Rock. And I find myself equally at home listening to New Wave, Punk, Disco, and Old School R&B. I'm pretty diverse in my tastes in that I can easily listen to ABBA's Greatest Hits after finishing Ministry's "In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up". ("angry white boy music" as a co-worker of mine calls it).

I really don't have a favorite year or decade that I consider better than others. The 50's are timeless in my mind. The 60's and 70's had music that I feel I grew up with more or less, and influenced a lot of my tastes today. And the 80's ushered in the New Wave era of which I'm not ashamed to say I was a big part of. The 90's didn't hold that much for me but I still enjoy just about every genre of music that I've heard to date. Almost every one that is. I still find it very hard to stomach Hip-Hop and I just can't understand the whole culture, language, and it's fashion.

Before you're quick to say that I'm launching a direct attack on it let me digress and say that I have all the respect in the world for past groups and artists who were pioneers of Hip-Hop. Voicing opinions on government, questioning the system, and expressing their anger- these were pressing issues that needed the world's attention at that time. And regardless of how rude they appeared to some people it was for a noble cause and it had to be said. No doubt they all made a truck load of money also but it was the changing times and current issues that motivated them to give birth to this form of music.

But now it seems like anyone who can cover themselves in ridiculous jewelry, mispronounce words, and shout obscenities, finds themselves with a big fat record contract and truly annoying videos on MTV. And to be fair it's not just Hip-Hop that seems to be lowering their standards to produce the next big thing. The "angry white boy" music industry that spawned such great acts like Pantera, Slayer, Nine Inch Nails, and Ministry have begun a downward spiral in my opinion as well. No pun intended for all of you NIN fans. From what I see most of the new bands coming up in this genre of music just have to possess the ability to loudly clear their throats on mic and another star is born. Not long ago I even heard a band who's lead singer was a girl trying to perform in this style and they sounded idiotic. Tell me, is today's talent pool that shallow that this is all we can come up with now?


That's why I have and always will say that music from 20 plus years ago was head and shoulders above what's being made today. There is absolutely no comparison, and I accept any challenges on this one. Artists like Hendrix and Clapton, and groups like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Boston, and Rush were as great back then as they are today. And they continue to have more staying power than any of today's talent. Back then they had bands that actually had musicians in them. They sang with their own voices and played their own instruments! Quite the concept to the younger generation today. These artists were not techno geeks who could program grunts and beeps from a computer, or someone who wears a hole in a record while sampling another artist's music. And when one of these greats passed away they were immortalized by their work, not their east coast or west coast affiliations. Back in the day you wrote, composed, and performed your music by yourselves. And the whole bling factor, if any, was in your set and it's light show, not half dressed women prancing around combined with an entourage of posers.

And that my friends is what separates true artists from a flash in the pan. Call me an opinionated old fart who thinks the current generation lacks substance from his but that's how I see it. In a way most of us all grow older in this frame of mind. And not being able to understand the next generation from yours has and will go on forever. But regardless of your age, if you truly call yourself a music aficionado, I'm sure you'll have no problem agreeing with me on this one. Now go put on side two of Dark Side of the Moon and see what I mean.

They really do grow up fast

The other day my family and I were in a restaurant where another foursome with much younger children was seated next to us. I watched as the mother went up to the buffet table to get her food and a dish for her 4 year old daughter in tow. Dad was back at the table trying to feed a very cranky toddler when it hit me that we were that very same family not long ago. I remember many times when our appetite came second to our young ones who would stomp and shout until they were fed. Taking turns holding or feeding the youngest, and diaper changes when the inevitable happened in underventilated public places were all part of a normal day in the life of a young family.


Grandpa and Sam at the racetrack

I told my wife how I would see other people back then with older kids and think how simple it must be when they become a little more self sufficient. I never really wished for it to happen since I always recalled my elders telling me the age old line: "enjoy them while they're young because they grow up fast". And I did, and still do. I enjoy every moment that I can. But in doing so I thought I could slow the hands of time and make it last a lot longer than it would. And honestly I have no regrets. I was there enjoying all of this time when they were alot younger. More so than alot of parents who work long hours and have other commitments to tend to in their lives. Anyway, I thought, this time wasn't coming for many years so I have nothing to worry about.


The family in the new house on wheels

Jump forward to 2:30am this morning. I'm sitting in a fire truck staged in the parking lot of our hometown high school. We just got a call of a fire alarm sounding in the school and being the second-in engine company, we were assigned to wait in this lot until given further orders. At any other call in this situation I'd be engaged in some sort of mindless banter about who makes the most powerful diesel engine or how so-and-so is doing. All while trying to breathe in a truck so full of morning mouth that it could knock a buzzard off a ... well, you get the idea.


But none of this was to happen on this occassion. I sat quitely in my own little corner of the world and pondered the thought that in one year my oldest will be here and the younger one is soon to follow. Seven years ago we moved here and it feels like only yesterday. We do that over again and both of them will be graduated and possibly out of the house. Compounding all of this is the recollection of what I was exposed to when I was at that age. I've tried to teach them well since birth but I think I'm still living in some sort of denial when I think my kids aren't going to get into the situations that I did. I know it's a right of passage of sorts. They're going to get in trouble, they're going to struggle to find their identity and the right crowd to fit in with. All we can do as parents is hope that when they are presented with these situations they will choose good judgement.

The call is over but my train of thought isn't. We return to quarters and I still have about an hour or two of things running through my mind that prohibits me from even trying to fall back asleep. This topic is one of which I lose the most sleep over. It's not money, or the fact that my house needs repairs. It's not even the thought that my retirement may not be what I plan it to be. It's the kids. How far we've all come, the road ahead, and what little time we really do have with them.

Deja' Vu

On a recent trip back from a race in Shawano, my family and I stopped for dinner at a truck stop on Hwy 41 in Fond Du Lac called The Stretch.

When I was a kid my family and I would stop there from time to time to grab a bite to eat when driving up to Omro to visit my grandparents. My grandfather always said it was the half way point between Milwaukee and Oshkosh, and I remember my father always disagreeing with him, saying it was clearly alot closer to Oshkosh than Milwaukee. After a few hundred trips back and forth in that direction I've come to know that Dad was right. Sorry Nan.

Next door to the diner still stands a motel. And on the grounds of this motel are a couple of fiberglass sculptures of dinosaurs. Over the years the two of them have weathered the elements far better than the motel has. The building appears to have fallen into such disrepair that it looks like a movie set for a low budget slasher flick. Eerie looking or not, I had to walk over there and have a closer look. Yep' there it was just like they were all those years ago. I still remember my sister and I playing on these things when we were younger and if my parents dig deep enough, I'm sure we have a picture somewhere of the two of us on them. They did seem a lot taller though back then.

So on this last trip I decided for posterity's sake that I needed to click a picture of my two kids in this once familiar setting. Over 35 years later and the next generation is now introduced to this roadside icon. (You can almost sense the excitement and see the look of fascination in their eyes). To most people this is just another truck stop, with just another motel, and not much more than that. And to the masses, they're probably right. What makes it special for me is that it's not only the place where I thought at a very young age that I was going to make my living as a trucker, it was also a point along a journey that I loved as a kid. One that took us out of the city and into our grandparent's home on the river for a few weekends every year. It's just another reminder of a simpler time in life when your parents took care of everything and standing on a fiberglass dinosaur was fun enough.

Who knows, if either of my kids feel the same way in another 35 years I'll bring you shots of my grandchildren on them.