MooPig Report from the Middle :: "The Almost Dog"

Robert David Darnell
by Pat Darnell  |  Dec 27, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture by Desiree Darnell] Christmas Day, Dad with our dog Foos, "Where's the new puppy, Grandpaw?"

It has been cool this month. That is how we describe the weather when it is 70 highs and 45 lows, in Houston.

"I don't think we are going to get any freeze this year," says Robert Darnell, my 91 year old Dad.

Since Mom passed away last April, Dad is alone much of the day. He has a home health care helper, Treena, come in from 1 PM to 6 PM every day to help him in his routine. We dropped in on him for Christmas Day. Dropped in as in brought the kids, the dog, and lots of food. Dad eats like a bird.
[Picture LINK]

He said he lost 20 pounds since his last year's physical, now weighing in at 145. He goes to the VA Hospital on 2002 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, in the Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center. Dad wears hearing aids in both ears since his hearing faltered. It was determined he lost much of his hearing ability during WWII when he was on a Destroyer in the Pacific. "Our guns pounding the Japanese during Okinawa, pop, pop, when Kamikazers were trying to sink us ..." Dad says.

Two days before Christmas Dad's home health helper drove him down to Pet Rescue. He thought he might try a small dog to keep him company. So he and Treena mulled over the group of pups in the shelter, and settled on a terrier. Another family thought they might like this pup too. But Dad did the paper work, and adoption process and took his new puppy home.

Treena and Dad showed her the back yard where she would do her business. They played with her in the house.

For the rest of the day the puppy sat calmly in his lap, and followed Dad around the house. Dad uses a rolling walker to get around. He has had a bum knee since he wrenched it a few years back. The VA told him it would take a knee replacement to fix it. But he decided after watching Mom go through that, that he would forego that surgery, "because he is too ole," and has settled for monthly shots that ease his knee.

"What kind of dog is she?" I asked Dad on the phone when I called to tell him we would be there
Christmas Day.

"She's a mixture Terrier," said Dad.

Everything went okay, Treena left for the day, leaving Dad with his new Pup. Around dusk the puppy followed her instincts, and got very riled and boisterous as she heard someone walking outside in the street. Dad puttered over to the front door and opened it. His new puppy tore out of the house and got on the heels of one of Dad's neighbors. It was a nightmare for Dad, because of his impaired hearing, and he has to go pretty slow with his walker on the uneven ground outside.

Dad had to go all the way out to in the street and try to get the puppy back in the house. With his neighbor's help some how they meticulously got the puppy to calm down and go back in Dad's house.

Dad continued his evening routine and eventually went to bed.

When he woke up he discovered several piles of doggy doo around the house. Things were looking bad for Dad's new companion. Dad of course, can't stoop like he used to, and he can't clean like he used to. So, when Treena returned in the afternoon, they took the puppy back to the shelter for the other family who also wanted her.

That's our Report from the Middle; where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are all above average.

________________________Reference
http://www.houston.va.gov/

NASA Talk :: ENTERPRISE condemned to Public Service in NYC

NASA has "Spoke"
Retirieved by Pat Darnell [HERE]

Enterprise - Space Shuttle Orbiter - To Come to Intrepid Museum

Intrepid is thrilled to have been chosen as new home for Enterprise (OV-101), first Space Shuttle Orbiter, and to help perpetuate legacy of one of our country’s greatest technological achievements.

More than 150,000 people signed petitions to help bring a space shuttle to New York City, and we expect more than a million people a year will come to Intrepid to see, first hand, this vehicle that advanced our nation’s exploration of space.

" ... We are grateful to our elected leaders who worked tirelessly on our behalf, including Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, Congressman Jerrold Nadler and entire New York State Congressional Delegation; New York Governors Andrew Cuomo and David Paterson; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Council Speaker Christine Quinn; George Fertitta and NYC & Co.; Bill Rudin and Association for a Better New York; and 19 Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients, 12 Distinguished Marines and many others who wrote letters and signed petitions to NASA. ... (LINK)"

We are honored that NASA has recognized that New York will be an outstanding home for Enterprise (OV-101) and that the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum will create an amazing exhibit to showcase her. Our congratulations also go out to the other museums and institutions where Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis will have new homes.

MooPig Movie Reviews: "RED, [2010]"

OBSERVATION: The Aging Hit Man and Woman is fast becoming a main character in films released in 21st century. It sure is true of "R.E.D."
by Pat Darnell

In addition to regular movie particulars, many peer actors are present in R.E.D.

R.E.D. means: "Retired: Extremely Dangerous," it turns out. This troupe of  peer actors is tagged by this reviewer as being tall, well fed, soldier compact, capitalist, plasmid marker 'actor' gene, of man-o-structural, and woman statuesque, exigent heroes.

All for one, and, -- one does not supersede the others ... the question is "Who do you work for?"

You see, everyone is a Hit Man, even the women. This is not a novel characterization; flawed heroes, with spectacular skill sets -- or "kill" sets -- and ability to manipulate personal spaces of all their victims are becoming regular feature artists. And, as usual, wooing of anatomically exaggerated women and men, is a given, even for prime aged actors.

Driven by gnawing needs to kill with efficiency, one wonders why? I suggest as the Hit Man gets older and more practiced he is more efficient because he must grow tired of all the cleaning of blood and crime grime afterwards. Sterilizing the crime scene is expedited through gathered wisdom of rubbing people out.

One grows easy with the laziness of the peril that this theater drama puts the ticket-payer through. It might also be a tribute to one-take scenes due to the aging actor factor again. So be it, much experience makes for another cost saving. This allows adult themed films to remain alive in the movie business's meandering demographics pander.

"What else are we to do with the aging work force?" said MooPig's Movie Reviews Editor, Albert T. Pincus. "Aging hit men and women is perfect theater for them all."

The R.E.D. personnel are as vital as the late Jack LaLanne was up until his demise. But putting them to death seems out of the question. This means there will be a feel good epilogue on movie's final scene, that will simulate Corona Beer Commercials.

But, whoa; is a slower paced, slower burning fuse gun man good for cinema? "Well, my wife loves R.E.D.," said Editor Pincus. "She went out and bought it for keepers."

In R.E.D.'s corner, we at MooPig Movie Reviews think it is all much funnier to watch, therefore a fun flick. Laughing at aside-fill comment, with concentration-centric plot details, and sudden robust elder agents kicking the tar out of three younger ones, is the best parts, usually.

And if you find yourself figuring out the whole story long in advance, it matters less, because it is funny; it is a jocular journey.

Tragically, we all have to one day retire. And most of us have to get out of the businesses that we seem to have lost track of, too. So probably the sage wisdom one departs this movie with is: to "plan" your retirements early on in your career years. Maybe start your planning the day you begin working.

"Who do you work for?" The question in R.E.D is the answer.

C*H*I*C*A*G loses its *O*

Two Point Five Billion is Enough
by Pat Darnell and Retiring Others

We have a number at last. The number that makes them retire: $2,500,000,000. Now we have a cornerstone; now we have a benchmark. There is something about that number. It has been cropping up in current events as a major figure in our capstone of Black on Woman Candidates; and glamor override from charismatic First Ladies... ambition and swollen resumes, couch jumping and aboriginal lock out. Decency now has a Price: $2.5 in 25 years. What a life: what a city !

Of course if properly handled those numbers will double in half the time, to say $5b in 12 more years -- yet Childhood obesity could have been the *O* effect in post Obama Oprah-sized Omerica. No, it dwindled down into a trickle of charades and demo's of new recipes that over-nourish our bifurcated tummy's. Could not have other issues been addressed during Oprah-uber-flaven orgies of self-ness, like: it is estimated that around the world, 2.5 billion people are without a decent toilet, while 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water? [whoa -- there's that 2.5 number again] With her fortune Oprah could make it rain on Afghanistan, or Iran, or wherever the poor children have no water.

It could have been all those things -- or not. Could not Oprah's farewell have been a calling to become a nun taking a vow of silence in these waning years. Couldn't she raise an army. Afterall, her years of talking about this and that, couldn't she put her money where her mouth has been, Oprah's last bidding bespeaks betrayal. Many rhetorical questions come to mind.

Rather me thinks this money sum, in summary, will be used to fortune [or buy] the next presidency. Ahh, now I know why she cries as she announces to her audience her plans to move on -- she knows that everything that follows is going to betray every troglodyte who lives by her word, including all the young fans who lost their virginity while watching her show. Think of all the arrested development to follow Oprah's quitting. Why oh why nothing is ever simple?

"Someday I'll wish upon a star,
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top that's where you'll find me
Oh, Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why can't I? I hiii ? (music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg )"

One great subject after another, and midwestern work ethic has provided Oprah and Obamah life, birthed from the loins and womb of Chicag'*O* -- as it defines economic derivatives and aspirations for futures -- $2.5b is that magic number. I always thought $20 million would suffice; silly me.

So my next obfuscated conjecture dives directly into the *O* as if it were a gaping hole somewhere in the middle of the United States. The caverns were founded by Donahue who paid for the first Oprah Shows, and I was there in front of the boob box, watching the baton exchange hands. In Chicago before it gave its *O* to Oprah in 1986 I worked the next 25 years in company of work-place daily direct quotes of what the Lady *O* said the day before. Obamah-Oprah Omerica obselecence is preserved in Middle America, land bound, and it is now rooted well enough below freeze lines to sprout Neo-Dark-Ages transitional narrative history: The Calamitous 21st Century on the Prairie.

Twenty five years later, and 2.5b earning interest for the Pharoah-ess of Daytime, and my oldest child just turning thirty -- *O* runs for office next?? Maybe becomes a cabinet member at her young Nubian Prince's request. Maybe her use of her cathedral-like studio to expose whitey ways, forces the hand that has ushered in and out careers. Oprah should sing -- proving once again the oldest adage ever uttered by bored kings at operas "It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings..."

Act One, It is finally *O*ver..... thanks be to GOD and all the Saints, or not? OH NO...!

Next Week :: Oprah's Replacement Rumors and GaGa..

Hermione is HAWT !!

She is so HAWT -- she's Retiring from Acting

by Pat Darnell and Staff

Pick your HAWT-est Person out there....!! It has to be Emma Watson. NO? Okay, who then?

Here is the poop:

"The 19-year-old is due to start an English and Art course at university in September and wants to enjoy her time as a normal student, away from the pressures of fame."

That's right -- enjoy time away from the pressures of FAME.

Meanwhile back at the Co-Ed dorms:

"Knock, Knock ..."
Who's there???
"Emma Watson in Burberry knickers"
HOLY SHIT !! OPEN THE DOOR -- LET HER IN..!!

The starlet, who recently featured in a Burberry advertising campaign in an attempt to shed her geeky on-screen persona, will step back from acting when she has completed work on the final Harry Potter film. (TelegraphCoUK. Digital Publisher of the year)

MooPig Editors were discussing Emma Watson last week as they all sat around the trough. "I think she is desirable," muttered older men and women of the editorial staff who were being very Poli-Correct in their remarks, so as not to alert Child Protection Agents. The younger editors claimed that Emma is one of their childhood idols. She is to them "... like Princess Di was to their own mothers ..."

Watson is currently promoting Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is out in July, while finishing off work on the Deathly Hallows I and Deathly Hallows II, the two films that have grown out of JK Rowling's last book in the series.

We wouldn't be MooPig if we did not make some outlandish claim about our topic.

Our Director of Gossip and Mongering, Pete Moss, said he "Thought Hermione -- Emma Watson -- probably is in our hearts and minds to such a high degree, mostly due to recent deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Those two left a cavern of wanton fan-ship desire." [Director Pete Moss is rarely listened to, but most often quoted...] "This is not about having a pair of DD's, you bunch of doe-eyed grazers," said Pete who was a wee bit indignant.

Dolly Madison, Typeset Journeywoman, piped in "Just what the Hell are you getting on about, Pete?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Pete replied to everyone's bovine eyes looking dazedly at him. "Hawt-ness factors allude to Farrah Fawcett in 1976, and Michael Jackson in the 1980's."

"Look," said Pete Moss: "This is what Emma said recently -- " '...I want to forget about hair and makeup,' she said in an interview with The Times. 'Sometimes on a publicity tour I can't remember what time it is, what country I'm in.' "

"It is genius... it makes her 'available now... it is an exit stage strategy akin to King Lear, with everyone wanting more EMMA!" concluded Pete, driving home his theory.

"So, Pete, you are saying those two had to die so that Hermione, aka Emma Watson, would make mercury rise in the HAWT-ness Factor of humanity's need to lick and stick their collective fingers in the air and test the climate?" said Dolly with new respect for Pete.

"Yes, yes," said Pete building his case further:"See here what she says in her most understated manner:" ... her long-awaited screen kiss with Rupert Grint, better known as Harry Potter's friend Ron Weasley ... 'We did it two weeks ago," she said. 'Four takes one way and two takes with the camera in the other direction. Six takes altogether.'

"There was much muttering, nodding and tail swishing, some butting and name calling, and a horse fly almost started another stampede; but in the end all of MooPig's Editorial Staff came to an agreement:

EMMA WATSON -- HERMIONE -- IS HAWT !!! Read All About It...

EXTRA NOTE: Someone might want to tell Hugh Hefner that Emma -- age nineteen now -- is available maybe for sharing his revolving brothel velveteen bed and boudoir, and that he should get rid of those three old broads who all turned twenty-nine last year...

ONE OTHER NOTE: Sans Direction coined the term HAWT, and MooPig wishes to acknowledge his genius and grander sense of all things.... (Sans Direction)

AND FOR PETE'S SAKE: Can anyone tell us where to find Emma Watson's Rookie Card???

Self-Retired or Pushed, or Groomed

It is not as complicated as it is made out to be
by Pat Darnell

Retiring, are you? I worked in financial fields for about 7 years before retiring. I jumped into Insurance games from Chicago to Houston. It turn out pretty easy to take the tests for each state, passing with a score of 70 or better. Then finding a company to sponsor me; turned to be Farmers, then Western Southern.

It amounted to a lot of barking at the moon. Before sacrificing myself to "securities brokers," I worked in my chosen field of engineering... *[and sincerely, I would like to apologize to my family for dragging them through that decade of prospecting in financial dogma, also.]

Engineering is based on the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us, because an act of God will destroy structures based on fault or graft and kill or maim people. Not so in the selling of securities for Insurance companies, Banks, Property Casualty outfits... those pyramidal groups have derived all the ways to not supply security with their securities.

There is only one total amount of insurance that can be sold. It alters any idea one might have about making a 'deal' in the purchase of Property\Casualty Insurance like Auto or House policies. That GEICO Gecko is a Chameleon. There are no 'deals' to be made. Return of premium from Allstate or USAA, that is your money they used for a year to pad their accounts. It should be returned 'with interest' paid by Allstate to you along with a thank you note for your donation. It is simply a return of your overpayment for that year. It isn't a dividend.

So, here is the 'Crux of that Bixcuit:' Securities are designed to be esoteric. The language and method of calculating and securing is designed in 'cryptic language, on purpose.' Bankers at holding companies thickly disguise Securities to be unrecognizable once they are printed into glossy, robust, unreadable pamphlets and brochures.

So, to myself and anyone else -- What happens to long time workers? Have a good talk with your postman\mail-carrier this week. Thirty years and out. "I'm retiring this year," says my postman. "Yep, 31 years, and I'm ready. I can't take that front office anymore."

"Wow, 31 years is tough to do, but congratulations," I say. "I have lots of friends who have tried to make the thirty year and out route.. they make it seven years or so, then.. move on."

He nods in agreement, because he has seen it happen over and over. The test of this trial by work-a-day has been "Can one keep up?" Keeping up is the number one comment I hear from friends who have retired early. "I sure don't miss having to 'keep up' at a job."

That is why when a long time employee moves on, what he and she did to 'keep up' day to day, 8 hours a day is lost. And believe it or not that is what separates the C Class elite from the worker-bees.

Most CEO types find time to plan their retirement, and groom a replacement before they leap into obscurity. That is because they know the securities are all liabilities. Most put a price on retirement and contribute to it personally.

Besides, many 'Groomlings' have recently been less loyal to the system they are prepared for, and move on in a matter of three to seven years. Long time employment has been on the wane for some time now.

Retirement is not based on your employment, as much as on your attitude. Do not think of it as over the hill; think on how it occurred no matter what. Think about Old President Carter and how his retirement became his most productive years.
(thanks for listening; pd)

Aahhh... Endings are the most difficult to come up with

I, don

I don’t like being tossed aside
as I am fretting my fate
Kitchen spills are oft' small
But too many broken hearts
Simply, do not repair my plate.

You hear distant voice
A fond soundtrack pall
Predestined of choice

Must you crack and fret
as I reveal my full heart ache?
do you listen as you abate?
but heart-strings leave slack

Difficult flats to moderate
...even for hummingbirds
who easily trans-navigate
through bright wind tack

'Specie of Strength, I' we hear youth say;
‘Don’t be codger to me old man
I am not interested if you stay
You are not beautiful,
besides you are in the way..'

‘Or, as you don famously,
always to point out the way
to clues of nerve chords
to invert our shameful play..'

‘Thanks but no thanks –
You play too many tricks –
I loathe your blood anger
like piñatas beat with sticks,

'attack ribbon flag festooned..
Seeds of salvation are rand
and not in your hands, ole’ man;
Nor in the works of your hands!'

From raptors talons
I howl back to challenge --
‘Into this imbalance,
...youth threw me too soon!’

Sittin' on the Devils Between the Sheets of the Files

“The International Fraud Incident of ‘08, MTC #8 March 2, 2008: The BlogNinjas are raring to go with more Mystery Topic Challenge goodness. You don’t have to be a Blog Ninja to take part but if you want to read and then vote for your favorite, come by:
here.

“Last Thursday I received a call from the fraud department at Visa. It seems someone created a duplicate of my debit/ATM/credit card and used it at truck stops in Alberta, Canada and again several days later at an amusement park in Baltimore, Maryland. I suspect I’ll never know how they got my number, what they bought with my money or why they needed those things.”

Devils between the Sheets; Commercial Espionage in e-Commerce 1998 - 2008

by MooPig
2/March/2008

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. The sort of script which is used in this book can be very easily obtained by anyone who has once learned the knack; but disposed or excitable people who might make a bad use of it shall not learn it from me.” (C. S. LEWIS, MAGDALEN COLLEGE, July 5, 1941)

Part One: Identity is who you are; or is it what you do?
The root of all evil is the Love of Money. I have always been really good at seeing the imperfections in things. Things and objects take on a magical dimension for me. When it comes to imperfections in human behavior, however, it turns out I do not easily read others. I either lack the knack, or make bad use of empathy.

In my spare time I once studied, trained, passed Health-Life-Property-Casualty exams and joined Jumbo Life Insurance company at NW Regional Office in Chicagoland, Rosemont, IL. Mind it; this was Jumbo's number one regional office in the country, a model for all others.

Until this time in my world of work, my work was engineering, science, and design, and had run with it. I had not reached a comfortable level of understanding science of finances. So I did a rather silly thing, to the chagrin of my wife and bairn. It was a change in career I perceived I needed to pursue. Hey, we all have a thirst for implicit knowledge, I am no exception.

The skinny is that because education of finance is bound by ethics, I reasoned jumping ahead by joining a securities sales group would work to our favor. This way I get inside workings and implicit structures explained by insiders of money businesses. "It will build confidence in money matters, and finish my character," I kept telling myself.

There were four of us newbie’s, with four diverse backgrounds and personalities. One guy was a previous Pawn Broker of fifteen years from Rush Street, another came from Real Estate Sales, and the third was a retired Army Colonel.

The second week, we were asked to take an ethics test. The whole force hunkered down in their cubicles. I buzzed through the test knowing I only had to make a seventy percent to pass, and really it was no sweat. Hey I’m an upstart!

But my Pawn Broker classmate, well he was puffing and panting. Pete, his name, kept looking down in his lap, and I could see his Ethics book there. I chuckled to myself. He saw me and whispered, “What did you get on number four?”

He in his late forties; I, early forties, as are most the sales force... “Uh, ‘C’,” I answered.

Then I looked around and saw many were in the same boat. “You only need a seventy to pass, Pete,” I whispered.

“What?” he looked miserable. He looked sick. His manager came over to look over his shoulder and whisper something to Pete.

The exam prompter, a retired sales manager walked past us. This morning ballet of our managers going around averaging all the answers and coming back to those in need, “Seven is ‘B’, ten is ‘none of the above’,” whispered Pete’s manager.

You see our sales managers were tutors and mentors and we had training tasks, besides tests. We both got regular reviews, partners as it were.

Then as the exam prompter circled again, everyone, men, women and cheaters, took on the 'old boy' look. I guess we were all trying to look objective and unconcerned.. laid back money movers.
“Cheating on the Ethics Exam,” I still chuckle. Everyone passed the exam, and we moved on.

Part Two: Is it Legal, is it ethical, is it the right thing to do, who gets the benefit?
So one day, several months later, I decided to look into the depths of a long time customer’s file to use as a reset button for setting new priorities. Maybe I could make my client's life a little more comfortable.

I lagged behind the others at first so I figured this dabble in a key client's file would help me with people. Guess what? Pete it turns out is a people person. His success at sales and service was immediate.

We had this antique data entry system, that if I describe it you could die from laughter; standard pre-1989, pre-MSDOS, miraculous it did anything... I may have forgotten more formatting than my children will ever encounter, thank God and all His pierced Saints.

My client, Ray, was fighting cancer that had recently invaded his kidneys. His bout with cancer cells put him in miracle category; he was on his eleventh surgery recovery. My mentor/manager George, introduced me to him so I would take care of his account. I visited once a month chatted and collected premiums, or delivered payouts. But my secret self wanted to know more.

His file did tell the whole story and more. By now I had the 'insider' look and walk of a money man. I pulled my cancer client's manila file and read through all the stages of his longsuffering illness. However, as I read the file, between the lines were insider protocols. Little devils jumped from the pages, and I realized my manager had put me on this case to teach me how to say ‘No’ to a person with terminal illness.

Last week I heard a joker in the lobby tel about how 'it is the first policy of Insurance Companies: Pay no Claim.’ It turns out; it is very difficult to wrench a payment from multi-levels of adjusters in Insurance pyramids. “My God man, my client just had his kidney removed!” I was becoming a people person?

Believe you me it is a messy business, selling paper. I am ethical, and did not cheat on my exam... well I did help Pete a little... but this day I asked, “How far can I go, or should I go, into my client’s money business?” What at first was desire to find a closer tie with my client, turned into a magic bus ride -- it was one of my most unbelievable experiences.

Tapping all the way into this man’s finances, to a point where I could have transferred all his assets anywhere. Withdrawals would have been easy; I had all his numbers between the sheets of his hard copy file and the antique green screen.

The only question that stops an identity theft would be 'Why?' The theft was not motivated, and would never match any activity of Ray's identity history of transactions. Yet there he was -- hung out to dry, as it were.

Remember, as a new hire I am supposedly bottom feeding trainee, not privileged, lowly upstart. My experiment flooded me with unfavorable results, so I tried another client and was able again using terminal, phone and file, to repeat the procedure all the way to a retired couple’s accounts: sadly, totally true.

Between the sheets of my clients’ files I had social security numbers, birth dates, intakes on all conditions of living situations, even children’s’ up to date information, and it was kept current by many with access. Regional terminals linked to home offices spewed out privileged information on the client’s past transactions, balances and history. With the phone I could elect voice-over menus and press in any numbers needed to access the client’s accounts.

Part Three: How strong are bonds holding an Identity together?
If someone benefits from the crime, then Identity Theft. Hopefully Jumbo has updated the files and data so there are encryptions preventing snooping like this. But now I know we are all on the same boat-ride, surrounded by leviathons. Unfortunately I had begun to see an unseaworthy vessel, with many imperfections, at Jumbo. "So money business is not in any way exacting," I concluded. Bonds that hold identity together are, after all, subjective.

“How good an agent would I make, knowing now what I know after crossing the line as I had?” I could fill the abstract traditional agent role, but it is ruined by the new destructive knowledge I now possess. Internally, the identity of each of my clients’ holds together, as long as I hold together, but it is still not enough. Until the safety of the identity is incorporated in the larger structure, it isn’t safe by any means. Regional Managers, Account Managers, Account Associates, Adjusters... who is in control? All of them. And who is in control of them? No one.

What happens if a new subjective motivation enters the picture? Jealousy for instance could set in motion an outsider to invade my client base. Well it happens... and it is easy pickings.

Curiosity set me on a subjective path that could have destroyed identities. I learned each identity put on the Internet is similar to a personal ad. Personals historically advertise one’s qualities and desires. Again subjective considerations follow one's identity.

Whether the ad is read and answered or not, is a risk taken sometimes just to make the one who advertised ‘happy.’ But any ad risks identity through permanent numbers and could lead the 'wrong person' to an innocent personal storehouse of information. Misuse of another's information causes extreme ‘unhappiness.’ Subjectivity is the bonding abent of our identities.

There is no punch line to this story, except that I evolved through failure. I don’t have the stomach for selling paper. I blossomed as a more empathizing person after my experiences in financials; maybe I never was all that unsympathetic after all.

I learned how the securities business is conspicuously inefficient, subjective, and involves identity floating on a random act of happiness or unhappiness. How to avoid it; it is a jumbo tangle of inhuman numbers and number games, structured like pyramids; nagging me, and I am sure others.

Still I want to feel ‘happy’ with my identity. And, when happy, I am like all others, naturally wanting to extend my ID into the sphere of virtual e-commerce. In most cases of identity risks, I have taken charge of its safety, while much is left to un-manageable circumstance.

Conclusion: Pawn Broker Pete
Happiness is thus a measure that a person computes, taking into account both one's self-estimated internal stability, and self-perceived normalcy relative to external society. When our identity is reduced and refined to code-lets and glyphs, our ID grows larger than life; however, our organic, purposeful, humanity to nurture the human race grows extinct.

"...The sort of script which is used in this book can be very easily obtained by anyone who has once learned the knack; but disposed or excitable people who might make a bad use of it shall not learn it from me.” (Lewis, CS)

In my life lesson: Jumbo Insurance Company’s overall goal could be succinctly stated as producing one happy top level agent, who out of the four of us upstarts was none other than Pawn Broker Pete. We three others faded into the background, just not suited for higher levels of arm twisting and identity crashing.

En route to his goal, Pete is guided by the happiness of the intermediary structures he has made. Uncertainty for the rest of us lies in the certainty that Pete will eventually find our identities sittin' inbetween the devils of the sheets of our files.
_______________________
Photo: (1916-17) The Pawnshop; The pawnbroker's daughter Edna Purviance condemns assistant John Rand for hitting Charlie, "a mere child!"
http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/filmog/film_large.php?fid=59448&enlargement=bfi-00n-ji1.jpg&resource=Stills

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Posted by MooPig who is really Patrick Darnell, who lives and loves and pursues happiness in Brazos Valley, Texas -- and has no more to do with Jumbo Insurance Co.