Snow Job 2

I think I already used SNOW JOB as a previous slug...so I'm making this SNOW JOB 2. 

 

In case the phrase "snow job" is so passe to be useless in current inter-generational conversation?  It means trying to "pull the wool over someone's eyes."  Whoops there's another one (cliche). So let's see? A "con job" maybe? A scam? Well I guess I'm just going to have to "spell it out" for you.

It snowed today.  Not much.  Certainly not as much as the picture up there I pulled out of my archives. At least, if you've gotten this far, you know I'm "fessin' up."  So, hopefully the dramatic photo "got your attention," and now I can get on with "the straight poop."

You see it was 75 degrees out yesterday.  I took my Broadcast Journalism , Television class out for walk just to "see what we could see." 

Quite often, I tell them, "if you keep your 'eyes peeled,' and 'all the wax out of your ears?' You will see and hear things that will allow you to tell stories without ever having to stroke the truth. (very much)  

So here are a few observations we now collective harbor.  On our walk, just as we are leaving campus, I think, to the person, we all become aware of a particular circumstance.  

First we hear the backfiring crackle of exhaust not allowed to be produced by automobiles.  For some reason? Motorcycles seem to get over looked in noise ordinance enforcement.  That is the case here for sure. (There were some deaf cops sitting right across the street.)   But that really isn't the story.  It just gets our attention.

I don't know how many CC's this guy is sittin' on.  But this is no MOTOR SCOOTER.  There is no doubt in any of our minds that this guy will be keepin' up with traffic on the highway. And there is no doubt in any of our minds that he is going to get some attention, and not for the decibels involved in his piston pushing.

HERE is what WE ALL notice. And MAN to have a microphone and a camera. Broadcast journalists, always be ready. This one got away.

I'm sure most of you live in states where there have been LOUD debates over helmet laws.  I bring this up because regardless of your posture on the issue, YOU WANT THIS VIDEO TO MAKE YOUR CASE NO MATTER WHERE YOU STAND.

This guy is CLEARLY wearing a helmet. This HELMET must have been designed by NASA, or at least to make NASA jealous. It is three times bigger than his head, looking like it has satellite communication installed behind this massive heat shield. And I'm sure he is being led into road ecstasy by some Billy Joel album he is receiving via double-Dolby.  It, the helmet, has to have at least cost more than his bike, maybe his house.  I think you've got the picture.  AH, BUT NOT THE WHOLE PICTURE.

Below the helmet? Nice Studded Black Leather Jacket, you're thinkin'?  Nope.  This guy is wearing a TANK TOP. Scan south in the fashion of the day we find our man of the day sitting inside ragged cutoffs. (Can I say cutoffs? You know old comfortable levis you've cut the legs off of,  and then hidden from your wife, mother, sister, daughter because you know one of them wants to throw them out?) But you are still not getting the whole picture. We complete his ensemble by noting that his feet are fully protected from the heat of the engine,  and the hardness of the asphalt, by his FLIP FLOPS.

( I am handily advised by a budding journalist not to call them "THONGS."  I guess "THONGS" refer to something else now.)

Anyway, so we are now fully into talking about issues of transportation, and I ask, " are any of you making any personal travel choices now because of the price of a gallon of gas?"

I'm expecting to hear the standard responses like, "oh, yes I'm combining many of my trips to the store, and the pharmacist and the bar."  Or, " well I've taken to riding my bike more, and using light rail."  But as we've already observed this is not a normal day.

(I have to carefully present this response.  I was given permission to share it with the class, and I'm assuming this person would be willing to let me share with the broader audience.  But I'm a "GOOD GUY!"  So I am going to change the name of the responder and the destination to which she refers.  I hope that covers me.)

So Lucy Lovesick responds,

"Oh, yeah. I used to drive out to Limon every weekend.  I'm not doing that any more. (That is about 80 miles east of Denver.)"

So...smart ___ that I can be,  I respond, "I guess that means HE's going to have to drive into Denver?"

Sometimes you just get lucky. Lucy says, "Nope, we're just going to break up."

"I'm sorry," I say.  "Don't you like this guy?"

"Oh, yeah, I like him a lot!"

"Well then his commitment must be weak?"

"No, he likes me a lot, too!"

"So this is all about the price of a gallon of gas?"

"Yep!"

So there it is folks, a story right in front of us.  Gas prices are breaking up CLOSE PERSONAL HUMAN relationships. Will we be able to keep our families together?  I HOPE YOU'RE SATISFIED OPEC!

Well it is supposed to be back up into the 60's tomorrow. SO....? Well you'll be glad to know, NO MORE SNOW! 

If you let it, TRUTH trumps FICTION every single time!