Portland Glass

luck, and diatomaceous earth

It began on Thursday. My dad (visiting Oregon from Greeley, CO) helped me modify a 10-ft bamboo pole into an effective crab trap tosser. We visited Netarts (Happy Camp Hideaway) and started flinging this thing (a butterfly trap) into the bay and began pulling in crab (lots and lots of tossers, and, for the weekend, 5 keepers - one of them took a chunk off my dad's finger). We were doing at least as well as the guys in the boats with the big baskets were. Then Saturday night I kicked butt in dirty clubs (some silly card game my folks are into). We made it there and back to Portland using a half tank of veggie oil, and the Suburban did just fine! (and so did the boys!) Also, I had left the van on WVO accidentally (rather than switching it to diesel), and was concerned about running the battery down getting it started again - but I left the heater lines on an extra long time, and the thing turned over faster than ever!

Then on Monday, I participated in the Mississippi Pizza Spelling Bee! For the first time. And went head to head with a good friend, my mother, and a handful of spellers. Having had 3 pints of Jubel Ale - I was a little surprised to find myself in the final round with a spelling veteran. After several attempts at spelling impossible words - we worked our way backwards into an easier category, he missed his, and I got "milquetoast". It's a pitiful word to win on, but there you have it. Especially when I really should have won with "kieselguhr" (which means: diatomaceous earth). I forgot about the H near the end... Still wobbly with the Jubel, I collected my prizes (tootsie roll pop, hug from grandfather, spelling bee t-shirt, photo on the wall and $10 gift certificate - other contestants merely got a dumdum and a hug from grandfather). As I ambled home, feeling the smuggest guy on Mississippi for a moment.

Tuesday came. The checking account (unmonitored for a moment) dipped too too low incurring nasty fees (no returned checks - and I remedied that situation today), and I lost horribly in dirty clubs. Though we did take the Suburban up to Sauvie Island for a little Pumpkin Patch experience - and the kids had fun, no one got hurt, AND it took all of 3 seconds for both the boys to pick out a pumpkin and we hopped right back on the hayride and hauled it back to the barn - which was perfect. So, not ALL bad luck, but I had been hopeful for a trend. Of course, now we've got the miners being rescued, the gulf is being cleaned more than polluted (maybe?), and the dow is looking positive. So, whatayagoingtado?

Consumerism, a dishevelled diatribe

A friend of mine recently spoke to me contrasting consumerism and creativity.

My wife is often complaining that our system of capitalism is so degrading for so many - skills are usually undervalued. And couldn't we use an economics system that was far more valuing? My answer to her is that capitalism is a least common denominator. Being tied to greed, which is pretty much just human nature.

As such, consumerism would be tied just as readily to greed or human nature. It's a common language - everyone speaks it - so it's quite easy to build a world market based on it. Socialists, Communists, Democrats and Republicans can all appreciate it. Someone else penned - the love of money is the root of all evil. It makes sense.

On the contrary, we have creativity. Where consumerism is the landing place for the entropy of society, creativity is that force that counters it. Building where consumerism destroys. Creativity, tied with paradigms of abundance, integrates where consumerism disintegrates.

Another interesting discussion is one that happened on NPR earlier today regarding "happiness." After listening to the program for some time, I found that there are millions of folks selling happiness - religious, communist, even just your neighbor. Happiness - to me is another thing we sell. Just another facet of consumerism. The mystics worked towards contentment, possibly, and certainly acceptance. Happiness wasn't really ever a requirement or goal. And we find happiness is a cheap sell for us. Buy your happy meal, get happiness in a bottle, a can, an account, whatever - but what about contentment? What about acceptance? Do we become consumers of contentment? purveyors of acceptance? or creativity?