[Zeke]

Kind words. You wouldn't have thought I had any friends or any respect whatsoever from the ***** coming down my way. You know, if you push hard, people push back. That's OK, but some make it personal. I've tried to keep it non personal, or at least 2nd person type of writing. I've made some very acerbic and terse remarks in fun. My fun.

I've been told so many times that the writing is the key. One has to really tone it down from the terms and phrases used in every day conversation lest it be taken as having some attitude when read in print.

Well, guess what, I have an attitude and I don't tone my writing. I wasn't made for the Internet and the Internet certainly wasn't made for me. What's more, I've never had to work with a group for any length of time. I'm self employed, I work alone, and I've been scratching out a living one nail at a time since 1970, mostly as a lone wolf. So the group thing is not my thing.

Before that, I was a race car mechanic in the late 60's when the hash pipe was passed along with the wrench. Still, I did a lot of the work on my time, when I wanted to, where I wanted to. You get the pattern. I've not answered to anyone, by and large, for all of my adult life. I wouldn't trade a minute of it for any desk job in some cubicle. Hell, I wouldn't trade a minute for the corner office with a view if it meant sucking up to the pointy haired boss. Bosses suck.

AFA moving, Lisa, I've got to tell you that an hour in every direction in CA is just the same. People here drive 2 and 3 hour one way commutes. My wife works with about 3 that drive from the local mountains, some 100 hundred miles one way, each day. Not me. I'd rather do my driving for sport.

I moved back into my hometown, the 5th largest city in the state, yet the poorest of any with a population of 100K or more. I need a population base to work for. In a city of 500K, I've got plenty of prospects. In a city of 25K, I'd starve to death before I could latch on.

I like a fast moving business. My favorite business owner was the roofer. A hot mop specialist, he did a house a day. People don't buy many roofs in a lifetime, so he did a new customer every day. Perfect. I tried to buy his business, but he explained very well why it was his business that was successful. Take over and I'd fail.

So, I patterned my own installation business after the roofer. House a day, mostly. Some take longer. People buy windows once in a lifetime. Perfect. But the city has become a sewer. I work in about one third of it and avoid driving through the rest. With the demographics such as they are, there's no point in working for some of the poorest in the country (Long Beach is the 6th poorest city in the US of 100K or more, with respect to the number of people living under the adjusted for CA national poverty level.)

I used to complain about the East Coasters that came here for the sun or because of a job opportunity. They brought their Eastern ways with them and didn't take the time to understand the SoCal culture which is mainly laid back. There is no So Cal culture left now. It's hard to find a native that can explain it. The new culture speaks another language and they damn sure don't have a clue what it is to be part of the laid back scene. Shoot, they work 7 days a week making all kinds of noise and commotion. A real So Cal native would be out in the back yard at the grill on Sunday, not remodeling. Not having a swarm of worker bees from the day labor corner working on a weekend.

The original work force here worked hard and played hard. We had a lot that had their surfboard in the work truck. Or skis. At least a beach chair to cop a tan. Now, you get a tan by opening the sun roof while you're stuck in grid lock. Not the same.

I could go on forever, but you get the point. And, there's no moving out of it. You're either here, or you aren't. I wish mostly anymore that I aren't. However, I need the money. I can't work at a hardaware store, Richard, for 8 bucks an hour. Just my health insurance alone would eat half of that at full time.