Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

I've noticed that two things will always get most folks attention- discussions about money and discussions about sex. When I did the post on the chicken bras, there were a number of ads on the blog listing lingerie. That didn't surprise me, nor was I shocked when I saw that I had a record number of clicks on the ads for bras and other lacy underthings. No doubt most of the interest in those things was from the male readers- but that's ok; being a man I understand very well the interest in such matters.  However, this post isn't about ladies underwear or sex, but that other thing that seems to occupy the mind of so many- money. Cash, moola, green, coin, bucks, scratch- call it what you will, we all need it to survive, and most of us seem to want more than we  have. It's why we work overtime and do jobs we hate and tolerate obnoxious bosses and petty co-workers.  I used to stand on top of forty foot high fuel tanks in the middle of the night in a freezing wind  tra...

Today is Black Friday, as it's known; the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season. I believe the name is supposed to imply the day that retailers go from being in the red to crossing over to the black-making a profit. As I watch some of the madness unfold on TV of people camping out for a week on a sidewalk so they can be the first person inside to buy a $200.00 flat screen television, or folks getting trampled as they all try to squeeze inside the store at once, or as I saw this morning some lady spraying pepper spray on her fellow shoppers,  I wonder if Black Friday wouldn't describe the condition of some of the hearts of the folks who are rushing to celebrate a season that is supposed to be about good will towards men. How ironic.    Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm terribly cynical, a real pessimist; the male version of a Debbie Downer if you will. I almost always seem to see the glass half empty. No matter how good the situation I'm facing, I have a...