4 in the morning came without a warning

- or - Insomniacs Don't Sleep Around

For the past several months, I've had a somewhat annoying habit of falling asleep in my recliner while watching TV, then waking up between 3 and 5am. The annoying part of this is that I can't get myself to go to bed, so I end up dinking around, trying to find something to do until the rest of the world wakes up. (Which might make you think I have nothing to do, which isn't true - I just don't want to do those things at that hour.) I've never been a big sleeper so once I'm up, I'm up, and that's the end of it.

So, here's list of random and probably irrelevant things going through my head this morning:

1 - I broke the shower in my apt. - well, the hand-held shower head, to be accurate. This obviously presents me with a hygienic dilemma, which is only mitigated by the fact that I don't spend a lot of time around actual people, most days. On the plus side, I can use the facilities at Mom's place, but I never thought I'd have to walk two blocks to take a shower. Of course, I could simply buy a new shower head, but I'm fairly psyched about moving out of this apt. and I don't feel like spending the money on it. (It's an old-timey bathtub that didn't have the shower hooked up when I moved in, so it's not like I have to leave a shower set up when I move. Yes, I know it's the right and generous thing to do, but...)

2 - I'm having a terrible time finding music I like, lately. I have somewhere near 9,000 songs in my iTunes catalog but nothing's moving me. Suggestions are welcome. Or if you're looking for something, let me know and I'll see if I have it.

3 - I keep meeting people I know (knew?) in town but not introducing myself. I don't know why. If we start talking, I'm happy to tell them who my parents are, but I can't seem to bring myself to just say, "It's me! I know you from years ago." Still odd, after all these years, I guess... Though I did run into a former elementary school PE teacher, but I can't remember her name, which may result in some computer work. Interesting...

4 - Speaking of music, I re-strung my bass last night, in preparation for this year's Bash. I'm pretty excited about playing, but I've really lost my edge over the years. I have a terrible time remembering lyrics and I've lost all confidence in my voice, to the point that I'm almost afraid to sing out loud.



Well, I feel better already! I should find something productive to do, now. Happy Monday! (Yes, the post title is a Night Ranger lyric. Good memory!)

Winterkill

I was sitting here thinking about the weather, like most of my neighbors in the great Midwest, and I suddenly wondered what the cost of the last month's storms and bitter temperatures has been. A few of us had discussed the near-panicked pre-storm stocking up that's occurred occasionally, but I'd be willing to bet that the snow, ice and bitter cold have seriously affected a lot of businesses across the area.

I know for a fact that restaurant and bar business has suffered (not that I haven't done my part to help the bars). Hell, the Haymarket closed early due to the ice storm a few weeks ago - that's serious weather, kids! I've seen that some livestock trading outfits shut down for a day or two because of the current cold snap, schools have closed for days at a time, the streets are unusually quiet downtown.

I'm not enough of an economist to determine how deep or wide the effects will be, but I'm sure that January will end up being a less than stellar month for a lot of smaller business throughout the Midwest. And that, of course, means that a lot of employees will be hurting. I haven't paid attention to state news enough to know if Culver has declared a Disaster situation, or whether that's warranted, but I know it's going to be a lean month for more than a few folks.

If you build it, they'll screw it up for you

From the e-mail:

On Friday Liz was "laid off with no cause," a term that means exactly what it says and no more. This action was taken by interim General Manager Michelle Schry, who is here for 9 weeks as we await the Jan. 26 arrival of Troy Bond, our newly hired GM. When she told Liz, 44 hours earlier, that she was about to be laid off, the reason given was that "your work is non-essential in the operation of a natural foods grocery store."

Huh...

It takes a lot... no, an extraordinary amount of balls for an interim(!) Manager to let a 25 yr. veteran go during a managerial transition period. Poor form and a very poor business decision, in my opinion. I'm very surprised that the Board would stand behind that action.

Part of the work I do is to convince my clients that their service model sucks. You can probably imagine how well that goes over - no one wants to hear that their baby isn't perfect. But this... I'd actually considered applying for the GM position at the Co-op - my resume isn't a perfect match, but you never know, right? - but after seeing how the Board rolled over for a fucking interim Manager on a nine week temp schedule... pffft! I wouldn't trust them to water my plants.

And while we're on the subject (you knew this was coming, right?), I've heard all kinds of horror stories, and patiently waited to play my part in trying to fix some of them, about how the Co-op operates. There's "We're a different kind of business!", and there's slack-jawed yokelism that lets your business pull itself under so you can maintain your bike trail cred. And all the patchouli and St. John's Wort in the world isn't going to outshine common sense and fundamental business practices. And the Co-op is a business. Just ask Michelle Schry.

I have to run an errand - I'll have more, in a bit.

Thinker's Block and Buggy Whips

I have a terrible time writing anything from a local perspective. I suppose a lot of that is because my blogging experience has been as an adversarial, muckraking SOB lobbing snark and curses into the national discourse, and I feel a little too exposed trying to write for people who know me. (Yes, I'm one of those foulmouthed bloggers you're always hearing about.) But even my alter ego blogging has trailed off, lately - I just don't have anything to say, to be honest. Which is really a poor status for a blogger, as you can imagine. I guess it's a good thing I never had any advertising, though that may have provided some impetus to write. Who knows...

Frankly, I'm not very good at "feel good" stories and personal reflection - well, at least not writing it down, anyway. To me, blogging is just inherently rant-y (that's a word, you can look it up) and, again, adversarial. But without that sense of anonymity, I have a hard time railing on the goings-on in the local scene. Not that I'm terribly concerned about people thinking I'm some kind of radical ne'er do well, but I don't know... it's different when you have to live around the people you're cranking on. Then again, maybe that's what this town needs - a firebrand who's not afraid to use a little salty language and call a dick move, a dick move.

Speaking of dick moves (that didn't take long, did it?) I'm not sure exactly what's going on at the Co-op. I see, via the Facebook and some unsolicited but well-meaning e-mails, that Liz Rog was let go. My experience with Liz is rather minimal, but she's one of those people that just... radiates something good. And, honestly, I'm not a Co-op member or even a serious supporter - I appreciate the concept and what those folks do, I've just never really taken the plunge and made myself a part of the scene. But I'm literally flabbergasted that the Board would let her go. Hell, at the risk of barrelling headlong into melodrama, Liz Rog is the Co-op - or at least the smiling, blue-eyed face of it. Very strange. Expect the paper to be filled with editorials expressing dismay and righteous indignation in the very near future.

It's interesting - to me, at least - to observe and experience the multiple personalities that a modern small town exhibits. Progress battles it out with heritage and history; technology makes shy advances and awkwardly gropes tradition; cliques and causes eye the competition, preening and strutting their stuff for our attention. I suppose it's the same old story that's been unfolding in every small town, in every generation, but it's half a headtrip to come back and watch it after so much time away.

The upcoming Reunion makes me wonder about our classmates: Why did you stay here? Why did you leave? Why did you come back? Will I measure up? Do I need to measure up? Have 25 years and thousands of miles softened the edges of our teen angst and given us something - maybe everything? - in common?

The Facebook pre-Reunion reunion has been a blast, for me. I wish I could find all 150 of us online and get the memories churning, get the Pep Enough flowing and give us all a chance to share in the victories and defeats, before we come together face to face. It also gives me a moment of pause and a fair amount of chagrin to think that I could have, should have, stayed in touch with so many people over the last 25 years. Ruth did me a huge favor, frankly, asking me to tackle this thing. It's pushing me out of my little world and reminding me of all the great people I had the privilege to grow up with.

I guess that's it from the small town front, for today. On, Decorah!