A Less Finicky Eater

Perhaps I was a spoiled child. In any case, in middle age I’ve found I’m eating —and sometimes even enjoying — foods that used to repel me. I suppose outgrowing the taste for only fattening, sugary and yummy treats happens to a lot of us. It needs to if we still expect to be around in our 50s.

But I now manage to appreciate, or tolerate, some of those foods that I avoided earlier. The list includes mustard, salmon, kale, lamb, cauliflower, squash, carrots, red cabbage, tuna and broccoli. I still really can’t handle cucumbers, green peppers, beets, pickles or refried beans. Maybe when I’m 70.

The New Job Normal

I’ve heard several friends recently complain about the workload they face in their jobs. As companies struggle to survive in a tough economy, it’s more commonplace for businesses, whether in manufacturing, retail or office jobs, to require employees to do the work of more than one person.

Certainly this is as true in journalism as anywhere else. Numerous magazines and newspapers have folded even after multiple layoffs. Where I work, the staff that numbered 14 a few years ago has shrunk to 10. I used to have two full-time writers at my disposal; now it’s just me. Although I have the option of freelancing some writing, I handle much of the workload myself. This has resulted in less time for research, and in not doing as thorough a job as before. It’s not uncommon not to have a free moment during the workday. To keep from stressing out too much, I still take lunch every day and try not to miss an afternoon walk.

In lean times it’s better to be grateful rather than bitter about work. Millions of people in this country have been looking for employment for months, with no success. The new normal is to do the job, even if it’s exhausting.

Salute to Servers

I have to admire some of the most hardworking people in America: servers. It’s a difficult job — standing on your feet for hours at a time; putting up with rude, stingy customers; having to be pleasant when you don’t feel well.

The best waitresses, of course, are those who are good actresses: the ones who crouch at the side of your table, call you “dear” or “honey” and act as though you are their long-lost friend. They make it look easy. The worst is the waiter who brings the wrong order, fails to check back until leaving the check or forgets to drop off that lemon or condiment you requested 20 minutes ago.

I always leave 15 to 20 percent, even for mediocre service because I know waiting on tables can be a grind for the person who relies on the generosity of customers. Most in the business are paid dollars below the minimum wage by their employees and must depend on customers to earn a decent living.

Even the best service can yield little in return. The customer may be mad at how long the food took to arrive or how the meal tasted. That client might be in a bad mood because of a run-in with the boss or spouse. The eater may just be naturally stingy. A friend who is a waitress told me that she recently received a 40-cent tip on a $19.60 bill. And then there’s the churchgoer who tips a dollar on a $20 tab and leaves a tract about becoming a Christian. That really makes somebody want to convert.

Rewarding Bad Behavior

Ah, the rewards of being a celebrity. Status and money mean a lot when it comes to living above the rest of us. The latest bad behavior, last week, involved Charlie Sheen’s rampage in a New York hotel suite.

Media reports told how a drunken Sheen damaged furniture in his room, held a porn actress against her will and tested positive for cocaine after being hospitalized.

If most other human beings acted in such a manner — committing any one of those three offenses — police would arrest them and prosecutors would draw up charges. Instead, Sheen, after being released from hospitalization, got on a private jet and headed back to Hollywood to resume filming his sitcom, Two and a Half Men.

And this all happened while Sheen was on probation — two months after being convicted of assaulting his wife last Christmas and spending 30 days in a drug rehabilitation facility. CBS shut down production of Two and a Half Men in February, then rewarded Sheen with a raise to a whopping $1.9 million per episode.

Sheen, 45, is a hot commodity because his show is the highest-rated sitcom on television. He portrays an immoral womanizer, which only seems to fuel his real-life bad behavior. In the past, Sheen has shot a fiancée, been cited as a client at brothels, dated two former porn actresses, overdosed on cocaine, and been accused of abusing drugs and domestic violence with a former wife. On Monday he filed for divorce from his current wife. The man has serious sex addiction and anger issues.

Wealth and fame aren’t worth much to stars who ultimately go over the edge too far.

Voting Rights and Wrongs

I tried to vote this morning. But after standing in a line that didn’t move for the first 15 minutes after the polling place opened came word that precinct workers couldn’t get the machines to work — and county officials wouldn’t allow an alternative. Instead of waiting for a technician to show up, I came to work.

Perhaps that was fitting, considering I had debated whether to bother to vote at all. I’ve pretty much avoided the mudslinging TV commercials, newspaper advertisements and mailed circulars of the past several months. I was interested in a couple of races, not because I was enamored with one of the particular candidates, but rather because I was so appalled at their opponents.

I’ve always been one of those guys who has viewed the importance of voting in a democracy as a fundamental privilege. I became frustrated with my sons when they didn’t see the value of going to the polls to change our society for the better.

Now I see their point. Exercising my vote really won’t change democracy one iota.

The pollsters predict a huge shift in the makeup of Congress by tonight. That seems to be the election cycle norm anymore. But what will it actually accomplish? As has been evident in the past generation, even if the Republicans are able to pass curbs on abortion or gay rights, an activist judge will come along and invalidate them.

Call me a cynic, but it seems as though the overwhelming majority of people elected to federal office really don’t get much accomplished. Once ensconced in Washington, D.C., they fall under the sway of powerful lobbyists who represent everything from teacher unions to gun owners. The concerns of those living back in the district fade away as lawmakers become enthralled with their power. Those Tea Party activists who take office in January soon will be consumed with getting re-elected.

Trusting in political process is naive. Elected officials aren’t going to be our salvation.

The Onset of Senility?

Nothing makes a middle-aged guy feel like he has graduated to old age like losing his wallet and cell phone on the same day.

The saving grace in both instances involved being able to pinpoint the parameter of misplacing the items.

In the case of the wallet, I remember paying for lunch in the work cafeteria, but I noticed it no longer was in my pocket during my afternoon stroll around the building. Panic ensued.

I checked in the dining room, notified the front desk, told security, informed people in my office. Then I felt the Lord prompting me to look in a desk drawer. There it was! Never in 11 years of working here had I put my billfold in a desk drawer, but for some absentminded reason I did that day. It’s an embarrassment I can live with.

That night when I got home from small group at church, I noticed my phone no longer in the pouch attached to my belt. This is when those am-I-losing-my-mind thoughts really kicked in. Yet I knew the phone had to have fallen out in the car or driveway, or at church. The next day on the way to work I stopped at church and found the phone inside, a few inches from the door.

The dread in losing such items is partly the potential cost of replacing them, but primarily the inconvenience: canceling credit cards, getting a new driver’s license, reprogramming all those stored phone numbers. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go through any of that.

I felt better that next day when I got to work and a much young co-worker told me she had spent 15 minutes that morning looking for her lost car keys. Of course she found them in the most obvious place where she left them the night before: the ignition.

The Rescue Aftermath

The world celebrated as rescuers pulled the 33 trapped Chilean miners to freedom last week after more than two months underground. That so many people could emerge after being trapped for so long apparently unscathed brought joy to anyone watching the proceedings on the Internet or TV.

Now reality has set in, following the tearful reunion with relatives and the international glow of the limelight fades. The miners have returned to their homes, but many live in squalor conditions in gang-infested areas.

The difficulty in adjusting won’t be so much returning to a normal routine, but rather going from the center of the world’s attention to obscurity. Certainly, book and movie deals beckon, but those are likely to cause turmoil. While these men could survive in confined quarters without tearing into one another, now jealousies from the lure of riches probably will tear them apart. Instead of being lured by fame and riches, I hope these men can be thankful for their rescue and live grateful lives to the glory of their Creator.