How I Had My Hundred Help( thank you Chase

I have thought about this long and hard, I thought about the organic pharmacy, their money no longer funnels into a black market. What the heck, then I thought this is the one business in our town that is flourishing. In my town I think one of these organic pharmacies could anchor a mall. Finely I figured out this wasn’t the kind of shopping they were talking about on the news, about all my money could do, spent in this way, would have me loose touch with the reality that there are still very few jobs. As an alternative, I’m a going to Santa Barbra, who knows, something might rub off. Went out to the bicycle shop, the neighborhood shop where I bought my bike, and got a new tire, $50, that’s half my bonus from Chase. The store always takes care of me, they keep me going, even when I’m without money. I certainly could of hit some chain, saved a little money on the tire, then get more things, even get something I didn’t need. I like the old neighborhood stores, the lumber yard, the hardware store, soda fountains at the pharmacies were nice, maybe they will bring the soda fountains back, they might work really well at organic pharmacies. Anyhow, I like these guys at the bicycle shop, businesses like theirs are the ones I support. If shopping is the issue with our economy, maybe this $50 helps a little, personally I think its lack of jobs. My old partner on the Hollywood and Vine job is also out of work, trying to weather the storm. I talked with a couple organizers with our union, and they said we dropped 5000 members over these hard times. These are guys with families who just couldn’t hang, mouths to feed, they had to move on. Buck and I are moving on, all aboard, were taking the train to Santa Barbra. The ticket, round trip, is $50. Just so happens I have a $25 Amtrak travel voucher, so I’m left with $25 of my bonus from Chase, to buy a Brother Carpenter lunch. Buck and I have talked about renting an RV, picking up a job out of town, someplace where there’s work. Were taking bicycles, we can cruise the town, see what kind of work is going, or about to get going. So my $25, and the $50 buck payed for his train ticket, goes to a good place, I would like to see Amtrak get its act together, start making a little money, I’ve been on a lot of trains, crossed the country half a dozen times, the first in the late 70s, the last in early 2009. Lately the trains are full, more people are finding it an easier way to travel. My grandfather, the father of my father was a trainmen, a union organizer for the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen back around 1912. They were ugly days for labor, the railroads employed Pinkerton, the Blackwater of yester year, the story I’ve been told, was an order to shoot on sight was issued on my grandfather. Security today on trains is tight, going cross country, January past, I was shocked at all the levels. Trains used to be a way to float below the radar, always a wide range of people, some people used to keep their sun glasses on, for an entire trip. One rule, don’t screw with the conductor, its his train, I guess that’s even true today, however there are so many more levels these days, from stopping the train in the Texas Desert for a walk through by the border patrol, to guards armed, their hand on their gun, watching as you pass through a gate and board the train. The word was, when I first rode trains, that if you screw with the conductor, if you insist doing it another way, that he would stop the train, on the spot, putting you off where ever that might be. Today they have to turn you over to the cops. Unless your on the run,and if you are, you deserve to be caught, thinking you could fly below, this would surely be easier, they will hold you for a little while, for acting like a fool, most likely getting you out on the next train passing through. That town don’t want you, they want you moving on. Imagine being put off 50 years ago, in the middle of some field, good weather, bad weather, doesn’t matter, your miles from anywhere, out in the middle of nowhere. So the moral to this story is, that today, this is one circumstance, where acting as a fool, the out come is sure to be better, than it was 50 years ago. So anyhow, Buck and I are heading up to Santa Barbra for the day, the money to Amtrak is a good thing, were sure to get some bang for our buck, something always goes on, on a train. $25 for lunch is good, we don’t drink, some local taco stand, in back of the tracks, might feel a little bump from my bonus money, doubt it will be enough to put another man on. They aren’t the jobs we need anyhow, and we don’t need any more minimum wage, armed guard jobs either, taking nothing away from the men and women who do these jobs, for what there asked to do.