If you see your work as a job, you do it only for the money, you look at the clock frequently while dreaming about the weekend ahead, and you probably pursue hobbies, which satisfy your effectance needs more thoroughly than does your work…

If you see your work as a career, you have larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige.

If you see your work as a calling, however, you find your work intrinsically fulfilling you are not doing it to achieve something else. You see your work as contributing to the greater good or as playing a role in some larger enterprise the worth of which seems obvious to you. You have frequent experiences of flow during the work day, and you neither look forward to “quitting time” nor feel the desire to shout, “Thank God it’s Friday!” You would continue to work, perhaps even without pay, if you suddenly became very wealthy.

Which one describes you?

I definitely fall into category three: Calling. I spend my days creating for people.. whether I am writing for musicians (I have written two music books and maintain an industry music production blog), making music (commercial jingles and personal songs for people and business ventures), or doing graphic art or web design for people’s sites and blogs (often pro bono), I am sharing my talents to the best of my ability.

But pursuing a “calling” is not always glamorous.. especially when you’re scraping to make ends meet like I am. It’s a tough economy. Web site design and graphic art is routinely outsourced overseas for pennies on the dollar these days. Music is hit and miss. It’s very possible I will be switching from “calling” to “job” again unless something lotto-like happens. So goes life. I’ll make the best of whatever I’m doing.

On the flip side though, pursuing a “calling” is so much more fulfilling than simply doing a job or chasing a career… at least in my opinion. There is something to be said for being an independent.. as we close in on Independence Day.

Craig’s List time. I found a guy who does lawnmower repair in the downtown area. My wife and I took a trip to see him yesterday. As we approached the motel where he lives we spotted a mattress someone been positioned against a telephone pole. Apparently they thought it would make a good billboard and had spray-painted the words “Don’t Quit Now” on it.

My wife conjectured the arrows on the sign must denote directions. She said the mattress was probably the last sign in a series to help people navigate to a garage sale. Only a serial garage sailer like my wife could have solved that one so quickly (seriously, she goes totally Russian on the weekends—-maybe it’s my part-Russian blood she has acquired through osmosis?).

“So basically  ‘don’t quit now’ is another way to say ‘continue ahead to garage sale’?” I asked her.

“In that person’s mind yes,” she shot back without missing a beat. God I love her.

Ot maybe it was my Spiritual message for the day. I see them everywhere when I am looking.

So we find the motel, and our lawnmower man (who lives in one of the rooms). He is in his forties or fifties and looks homeless. His clothes are soiled from top to bottom. He is gaunt. He reeks like stale beer and cigarettes. His leathery skin is wrinkled deeply as though it had been exposed to the elements a lot.  He  is missing most of his teeth.

But what he lacked in aesthetics he more than made up for in congeniality. He greeted us with a disarming smile and handshake like we were old friends. He and I then lifted  the lawnmower out of our old SUV and he quickly rolled it over to his little corner of the world, where he went right to work on it. I swear he had the carburetor almost completely disassembled in two minutes flat. Total prodigy.

As my wife and I stood in the motel corridor as he worked (see pic left) some dormant memories of my childhood sprang to life. I think it was the combination of the motel and the smell of fuel that triggered them. Time for some customary Joe Sac digression!

I was blessed to grow up in one of the world’s most beautiful recreation areas  so my childhood was replete with  riding/racing off-road motorcycles and BMX bikes. These hobbies required constant maintenance and mechanical ingenuity though– neither of which I have ever possessed (although I could have won a wrench-chucking contest).

Don’t misconstrue me though.  I wasn’t spoiled. Quite the contrary. Our dear mom worked at McDonald’s, and our dad worked at a gas station. They lived paycheck to paycheck but still managed to keep a roof over our heads God love them.

Our house was located in lower income part of town and it was situated between trailer parks, low income apartments, section 8 homes, and tiny log cabins used as vacation rentals. In fact that is how I became childhood friends with Shaun Palmer (of X Games fame) . He lived a few streets over from me.

One day my friends and I were taking jumps at a dirt track we made in the forest when this skinny little guy with long, scraggly hair shows up, takes off down the trail we made, hits our jump at a speed none of us could have fathomed, does the most graceful 360 helicopter I had ever seen, then casually rides up to us and between smacks of gum  chirps, “cool jump.”

Palmer.

Anyway, as a bike and motorcycle enthusiast I needed money for both parts and repairs, and my parents didn’t have any dough to spare.  So the day after I turned 13 years old I forged a work permit (lying about my age) and landed a job as a maid at a local motel. I first I was excited. By the end of the first day not so much.

It was a dirty, thankless job. I saw stuff that a 13 year old boy should never see. I learned at a very young age how unthankful, ungrateful, and downright nasty some people live–especially those with obscene amounts of money. I also learned how back-breaking maid work is  and to this day have immense appreciation for those who have to do it to get by. All of my co workers were Mexican women. They were the kindest people I had ever met and treated me like family. They also teased me incessantly. I learned the word “gringo” and a whole bunch of other Spanish words.. words I used on my friends constantly much to their dismay..

Despite the dirty nature of my maid job, it enabled me to support my hobbies. I was lucky to have a few mechanically oriented friends (and their dads)  in my midst growing up. I was always in awe of them. Perhaps this  is why I’ve always also had an immense appreciation  for people who tear engines apart like they are Lego projects. I can barely disassemble a broom. :O

As my daydreams faded back into the abyss of my mind I refocused on the lawnmower man in front of us, who systematically twisted  screws, ratcheted bolts, inspected parts with a keen eye, blew into little jets to unclog them, scowled a few times, smiled a few times,  and then threw it all back together like it was nothing.

“Start ‘er up!” he motioned to me.

Pull. Pull. And  then vroooooOOOOOM!

“All set!!” he declared with a proud grin over the roar of our resurrected Toro lawnmower. He grinned even wider when we paid our bill. A good day for the lawnmower man. A good day for us. I love win-wins.

As we loaded the lawnmower back into our vehicle I asked our prodigy mechanic how long he had been fixing engines. Since he was five, he said. “I grew up in the shop,” he beamed proudly.

Who knows how he ended up in a seedy motel in a bad part of town. Who cares. Despite some obvious life challenges, he’s still going strong. Still working, still showing his kind heart, still finding a way to smile and make a positive contribution to society.

I’m always inspired when I meet people who have overcome untold challenges in life.  It’s always a cold shower reality check. These days we Americans are always moaning and groaning about what  we DON’T have. Spending some time with people like lawnmower man is a great way to appreciate all the blessings you DO have in your life.. and great opportunity to put some money in the pocket of someone who truly will appreciate it.

A saying comes to mind:  “If you can’t be content with what you have received, at least be thankful for what you have escaped.”

I have to say, I have met the most amazing people through Craig’s List. Several of them have saved my non-mechanical butt a ton of money and time. God bless those who do the jobs the rest of us won’t.. or can’t

Sacramento Press, you rock. THANK YOU for having the GUTS to stand up to hate  today when you rolled out a first-of-its-kind zero tolerance anti-abuse policy and christened it by banning one of the region’s worst offenders.

Geoff Samek (the Sac Press employee and community leader responsible for implementing the new policy) I would love to buy you lunch. Name the time and place and I’m there.

Please visit Sacramento Press and express your approval of their historic legislation.

My response to the article:

Wow major kudos to Sac Press! What great news for the city, too. FINALLY neighbors now have at least one media site to respectfully express their opinions without fear of being assaulted. I understand Sac Bee will soon be doing the same. This is a major victory for the region and I for one am very thankful.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT attacking Bbbmer. I have no interest in that and never have. Heck I have tried to meet him in person and buy him coffee! This is an attack on his BEHAVIOR and the behavior of anyone who injects ad hominem character assassination into public debate.

Sorry but anyone who is a champion of civility does not condone or enable the behavior of ANY individual who routinely slanders and belittles people for their religion, their weight, their appearance, their intelligence quotient, their writing style, their word choice, their mental health, their ethnicity, and a litany of other completely OFF TOPIC and OFFENSIVE things that contribute absolute NOTHING to the common good. Sorry but you will NEVER convince me otherwise so don’t even waste your time attempting to.

Such behavior does not promote progress, it blocks it. ANY individual who routinely sabotages discussion threads on the info superhighway with vitriolic hate speeches and personal attacks are like Macaulay Caulkin’s character in The Good Son. That is, they stand on the overpass and drop objects onto the freeway that hit oncoming cars. Drivers are blinded. Cars spin out of control and smash into each other. People get hurt. The authorities (moderators) spend countless hours and money cleaning up the mess. And the positive flow of traffic is stopped, leaving other travelers backed up for miles waiting for the mess to get cleaned up. That is not progress. That is PAIN. And that is precisely what those who routinely assail others represent for scores of people .

How anyone cannot understand the need to ban disruptive people is beyond me. Are these people new to group discussion? Are they incapable of empathizing? Perhaps they are the same people who wouldn’t attend a neighborhood crime prevention meeting simply because “the criminals don’t bother me.” In my opinion these people are not part of the solution either.

To address some points made …

“It smacks of censorship, scapegoating, cowardice, and caving to your advertisers and pols”

First, shouldn’t we reserve words like “cowardice” for anonymous posters who engage in character assassination? We don’t tolerate uncivil, unsavory, and hate-fueled behavior in physical forums and we should not tolerate it in virtual ones either. Time to clean up the internet and make it safe for people to share their views without fear of attacks. Period.

” especially given the post election timing, political opposition to this users views, and the strong viewpoints expressed and the invective aimed at this particular user, especially after your softball interview with the mayor. Period. ”

Oh come on. MANY people agree with this person;s views. You are making him out to be a victim–which I have to tell you is so psychologically perverse it’s hard to process. If anything he is the suspect not the victim. He is the one assaulting people, not the other way around.

“What is the victim here supposed to do, but fight back, which he seems to have done very, if not too, effectively. ”

VICTIM? Have you ever even read what he has written? Have you no empathy for the people he has assaulted for no other reason but because they have views opposed to his own? Defend himself? Against what? All people have tried to do is make friends with him! No one wants to be enemies with this guy. I have seen countless people try to make peace with him only to be assaulted again for attempting to. I don’t know what game you are watching dshorenstein?

“No, this seems like something more than is discussed here, and I’m highly suspicious of your motives.”

Then you haven’t read the things this person has posted here and on SacBee…

In any event. I have nothing but respect for Geoff . It takes a LOT of courage to “come out” and stand behind your words and actions with your real name. More and more I agree with the Bee’s Melanie Sill (senior VP) who will not correspond with anonymous users. Melanie has an acute understanding of how anonymity has degraded the quality of discussion on the internet, and thankfully so does Sac Press.

To all those who post anonymously, consider “coming out.” You’ll be happy you did, and you will be contributing to the solution and not the problem.

I am really looking forward to discussing the issues here with all of you.. in peace. It will be so nice to disagree with one another without the hate mucking up our collective growth. Sac Bee, please follow Sac Press’s lead.

First of all Sacramento is not going to be the–what did he call it again?–”world’s home for all thing’s green.” Come on man, seriously? Stop with the pie-in-the-sky garbage. I’m sorry but come on dude, give us a break–that is a laughable goal. How about finishing what the city started in North Natomas? How about wooing  tech firms to Sac to fill the millions of square feet in vacant empty office space in North Natomas? Oh wait, I know, California is one of the most cost prohibitive states in the country to do business in–which would explain the mass exodus out of here by thousands of small business who have sought refuge in Nevada and the southwest. Oh yeah. But ol’ Green Shades. Maybe he knows something we don’t. He must with his green lantern vision.

Actually I went off on a tangent there, sorry. This article is about the other GREEN. The REAL “green rush” that is happening in California right now while the so-called visionary KJ and countless other CA mayors, elected officials, and other talk-but-do-nothings sit around and sip bottled water, nibble on croissants and exchange fantasies about being the world’s capital of renewable energy.

I’m talking about Mary Jane.

In my simpleton opinion the single most greatest opportunity for revenue blitzkrieg in the world right now  is marijuana. No contest. Talk about a “green wave.” The revenue opportunities for cities, counties, and the state are unreal in scope. We are talking BILLIONS here. And for what? To legalize a narcotic plant that is less potent, less harmful to society and the human body, and less addictive  than half the junk CVS is peddling for corporate behemoth drug kingpins? PUH-LEEZE.

How much taxpayer money has been spent pursuing, arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating potheads? Anyone want to guess. Cha-Cha it and get back to me. Be prepared to have your mind blown.

Sorry folks but pot is not the problem in society. Never has been. Never will be. There are far more potent and dangerous threats to society and alcohol leads that very long list. You want to help society? Improve health? Make the roads safer? Create a healthier society? Ban alcohol. Of course I’m being devilishly KJ here with my blanket absolutions (is that a word?), but you get the point. Maybe.

The point is: pot is not a threat. And even if it is, legalize it and the threat will subside. Do people kill for cigarettes? No. Why? You know why. Same reason they don’t kill for alcohol. Availability. You can get it everywhere. Make pot that available and it will be the same situation. What are we waiting for? Oh yeah, November. Man I know how I am voting. Apparently a lot of Sac County and city officials aren’t feeling the Mary Jane love. Tonight the genius Sac City council is deciding how to shut down dispensaries and just today the county turned its code enforcement jockies on pot dispensaries in the “unincorporated” areas.

What the %#& are these agencies thinking? In my opinion they should not be trying to figure out how to ban them and regulate them, they should be getting together and trying to figure out how to MAKE MONEY OFF THEM!! No wonder we have a revenue problem and city and county! We have non enterprising administrators with NO CLUE running them!

California is broke and broken. It’s so obvious why. It’s the people running it. Here they have this extraordinary opportunity to seize the REAL “green rush” and instead they are acting like Elliot Ness and trying to run it out of town. It’s shocking. And appalling. When are we going to have elected officials who want to MAKE their agencies money instead of spend it??

Re: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/06/2657758/sacramento-county-takes-aim-at.html

What are your thoughts?  Tell me

Well, gays are back on display in the press, and so is America’s hypocrisy. As the federal court hears arguments both for and against gay marriage, I can’t help but laugh every time I hear someone comment on how homosexuality is so  “perverted” and “disgusting.”  It’s long been argued those who protest too much are the ones who are most likely to be having a secret gay affair  (Teddy Haggard comes to mind). That may be true, but there’s something else.

First of all, you have to take everything Americans say with a grain of salt because we are bar none the most hypocritical and conflicted people on the face of the earth (and no, I don’t want to live anywhere else so don’t bother suggesting I move, thank you). We have a long and well documented history to support that statement.  After all, we are the same country who loved our jazz and blues musicians so much we wouldn’t let them in the front door of the bar where they were performing back in the day. . or even let them drink out of the same water faucet.  One of a million examples any literate American could cite. Hey I love my country warts and all, but let’s keep it real.

Here’s the cold hard reality when it comes to America and homosexuality: America approves of same gender intimacy—-errr as long as it’s between two women. How do you think Joe Francis (Girls Gone Wild “producer”) got rich off selling videos of college girls making out? Who bought all those millions of DVD’s? Someone had to. I will tell you who bought them: AMERICA. Why? Because boys love to watch girls make out, but those same boys think it’s disgusting when boys make out.  Any reasonable person can  agree had Francis’ videos been called “Boys Gone Wild,” and shown drunken college boys making out, it would have never made it off the shelf.

In my opinion, if homosexuality were limited only to women, it’s very likely America’s men wouldn’t have a problem with it. I’ll tell you what I find disgusting and perverted: America’s hypocrisy. The double standards are what make me sick. Even our own president showed one when he recently gave Harry Reid a get-out-of-racist- jail FREE PASS  after his insulting good ol’ boy judgment of African Americans.

To all those homohaters out there who have nothing better to do than condemn, attack, vilify, and rage against the machine, I would like to make a few suggestions: If you’re going to have a standard, try sticking to ONE. And when you get that figured out, how just shutting the $#@% up and minding your own business? And then when you get that under control, how about letting GOD do the judging?

I know, those are some radical ideas, but with a little practice you might just get the hang of them.

Ok that’s my rant for the week… hopefully 

Senator Reidneck now joins fellow supremacists Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond, Jimmy the Greek, Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, Dog the Bounty Hunter and many others in the race relations hall of shame.

But wait, everyone makes mistakes, right? What’s a little negro talk on the side? Time for Senator Reidneck to turn that frown upside down and get back to work!  We gots health care to pass! Good thing e-how.com provides a prescription for racist remark recovery. Here is the list of steps Sen. Reidneck should take and an update on each..

Step 1
Recognize and acknowledge the mistake. Look at the comment made and admit it was racist. Understand the negative statement was your fault and the blame lies with you not the person insulted.

Sen Reidneck: Yep, he acknowledged it. “I deeply regret…” getting caught.

Step 2
Apologize for your actions. Try to speak to the individual in person to make a sincere apology. When that option is unavailable send a letter of other from of correspondence.

Sen Reidneck: Yep, he called the prez and broke it down. Presumably something like, “Dude, my bad.. on that. Are we still cool? Hey wanna go catch a Negro leagues baseball game tonight? Is that Jackie Robinson feller still playing?”

Step 3
Listen to their response and be patient. The apology won’t make the words or the pain inflicted automatically fade away.

Sen Reidneck: He’s waiting. Although his patience has probably worn thin with the press. He’s presumably ranting, “It’s not like I went full Michael Richards or something!! And what’s wrong with the word ‘Negro’ anyways???? It means “black” in Spanish doesn’t it!!?? I bet Rush friggin’ Limbaugh doesn’t even know that!”

Step 4
Determine what insecurities lead to the racist comment. People who make racist comments often feel oppressed or have trouble recognizing their own self worth. Identify your shortcoming and learn what is at the heart of your fear.

Sen Reidneck: No word on his insecurities so far. Wonder if his home state 33% approval rating has anything to do with it.

Step 5
Take sensitivity training. Take anti-racism classes to learn appropriate ways to handle future issues and prevent racist comments from reoccurring.

Sen Reidneck: Yeah get out a little more, huh? And stop listening to Don Imus. And no, it is NOT a good idea to be Al Jolson for halloween.

Step 6
Deal with the consequences. Your words may affect personal relationships, your career and many other parts of life. Determine a plan to handle the fallout and prepare for any financial losses or damaged relationships that occur.

Sen Reidneck: Just admit it Sen. Reidneck, you are a repressed hillbilly and you know it. Liberate yourself and come all the way out.. the sheet.. the hood.. come on… get it over with.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/09/AR2010010902141.html
Source: http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-hits-new-low-in-poll-81060702.html
Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2094298_apologize-racist-comment.html