Good bye Robin, and more things I don't understand

"What's the difference between a tornado and divorce?  Nothing.  Either way, someone's losing a trailer." Robin Williams

The world has lost a very, very funny man.  By all accounts Robin Williams was a good man who truly seemed to care about others.  He was also a man who they say was suffering from depression, and had issues with addiction to drugs and alcohol in his past, too.

I don't mean to sound uncompassionate, but I don't understand depression or addiction.  I don't have an "addictive personality" myself and I'm not close to anyone who does.  Not my wife, or my kids, or any of my friends or family.  I understand they are legitimate diseases, but I suppose I just live in a small, probably naive world with other like-minded naive people.  I've never been exposed to those dark things.

I don't understand how the brain works.  I've never taken a formal course in psychology.  Why would someone so talented, someone able to light up a room when he walked into it, someone who could travel where he wanted, do whatever he wanted, probably meet whoever he wanted, have to resort to drugs or alcohol, and eventually suicide?  I just don't get it.

In my little pea brain I can't see what he had to be depressed about.  When people have an empty pantry, hungry kids, and no money, I can see them being desperate and depressed. When people (who want friends) have no friends, I can see them being depressed.  When people are cold and homeless and don't even know if they'll survive the night, I can see them being depressed.  Thankfully most of us reading this right now don't (I'm guessing) have those problems. 

And drugs and alcohol....again, I don 't get it.  If I'm healthy and fed and clothed and housed, why would I want to screw it up by abusing myself?  If you have enough money to afford booze or drugs in mass quantity, I'm guessing you should be smart enough to find something a lot more fun to spend it on than booze or drugs.

It's one of my great shortcomings....I just don't understand the abstract.  Last night when we heard the news that he was dead K said incredulously, "But Robin Williams should still be alive."  Then she asked,  "How do we know that's true?  How do we know this wasn't meant to be?"  

All I could do was sit there, my mouth open, and say, "wha...what?" Great, deep philosophical questions go straight over my head.  I see the here and now, the rocks and trees, not the what might have beens or the philosophical dilemmas of life.

If any of you are hurting or addicted or in mental pain, I wish I could help you, but I wouldn't know where to start.  Thank God there are people out there who can.

I'll never know what was going through Robin Williams mind at the end.  I'll never understand his addictions.  I do understand that a funny, caring man is gone.  Pity.

S

So is CVS gonna have a "Going out of (the cigarette) Business" sale?

As I'm sure you've heard, the CVS Pharmacy chain will soon no longer sell cigarettes or other tobacco products at any of it's 7,600 stores.  They say selling stuff harmful to your health is inconsistent with their main purpose of selling things that will improve your health.  

It will cost them about $2B in annual sales, and IMO was a gutsy call by their CEO.  I like it.  I'm not a smoker, and I'll go out of my way to avoid smokers fouling my air.  It's a nasty habit as everyone, especially those addicted to it, knows.

But there's the rub.  After thinking about it, I'm not so sure it really was the best thing to do.  To my knowledge there are no "social smokers", those who only smoke on social occasions, like there are social drinkers.  Smokers are addicted.  They are going to get their smokes, regardless of how far they have to travel to get them.

I suggest it might have been a more effective statement to continue to sell cigs to the already addicted, and then use all the profits generated by those sales to subsidize the cost of those proven anti-smoking products they sell that actually help people quit for good.  (I'm not sure what the profit margin is on the tobacco products they sell, but it has to be up in the hundreds of millions of dollars.)

Those patch-type products (as one example) are expensive, and cutting the price substantially might entice more smokers to give them a try.  Or maybe they could use the profits to subsidize the cost of care at their in-store health clinics they're trying to expand.  Many people can't afford to visit a doctor, and this could be a viable alternative for the uninsured poor.  (Don't hold your breath ObamaCare is going to enroll everyone.)

CVS's move was a grand statement that on principle I applaud, but as a pragmatist, I think maybe they could have done something more practical to directly help people. 

And you say....?

S

I don't understand....

I don't understand how the International Olympic Committee can announce on July 4, 2007 that Sochi, Russia would be the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, yet on February 4th, 2014, two days before the opening ceremonies, they still haven't finished all the construction.  

They've had 6 1/2 years to get ready.  Jeez, Pootie Pooh, how much time do you need?  It's like a college kid waiting until the night before his final exam to begin studying.

Er....OK, so maybe I have just an inkling how that might could happen.  *Oops*

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I don't understand how people like these ^ in Kiev, Ukraine can get fed up enough with their crooked leaders and take to the streets in protest, while Americans won't even fire off an email in protest when their leaders are stealing them blind.

A weekend newspaper story told of how influental aides to many House and Senate leaders, both Democrat and Republican, shaped the writing of laws affecting banks, agriculture, mortgage reform, etc, then turned right around and went to work as lobbyists (there are over 12,000 of them) representing firms that cashed in BIG on the laws they wrote!  Cha Ching!  So much for "ethics reform".

And when Senators and Congressmen retire, they don't move back home and fish and play with the grandkids.  No, they stay in Washington and open up lobbying firms themselves.

This is just organized crime on a level that would make the Mafia blush.  When are we going to wise up and throw the bums out?  I say we need to bring in some consultants from Ukraine.

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And finally, I don't understand all the rich and famous people who become drug addicts.  They say "they can't stand the pressure".  Huh?  

Obviously I'm not rich or famous, so somebody please 'splain it to me.  What "pressure" makes you stick a needle in your arm?  The pressure of being able to pay your bills?  The pressure of being able to afford first class travel anywhere you want to go?  The pressure of wanting to fit in with the "cool kids"?  Wait....you ARE the cool kid.

That said, of course I'm sad they're gone.  That's a terrible way for anyone to leave this world.

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That's about it.  Everything else I've pretty much figured out.  ;)

Have a great day everyone.

S

All things bacon....

I'm NOT a bacon-holic.  I can quit anytime.  Some day I may quit, but not now.  I don't need help, just more bacon.  Well, I don't NEED more bacon, but I just find that it helps me take the edge off....

Oh, hell.  Does the Betty Ford Clinic have a "bacon wing"?

Of course this is all in jest.  I do like bacon on my hamburgers, but that's only one every week or two.  And I do enjoy a traditional eggs and bacon breakfast on Sunday mornings, but rarely on a weekday.

I enjoy a bacon-wrapped filet mignon, but after it's grilled I don't eat the bacon.  It's just there to keep the filet juicy since filet is just beef tenderloin with no fat around it.  That's about the extent of my bacon intake.  Oh...and I like crumbled-up bacon on top of a salad, too.  Sorry to burst your bubble.

And when I cook bacon instead of cooking it in a skillet on the cooktop, with the finished product just laying there in a pool of grease, I cook it on top of paper towels in the microwave.  I like mine slightly crispy.

Looking online, however, I've found some recipes for various "bacon-infused" products that I think might have originated in the minds of people who could actually use a few days at Betty Ford.  For example:

How about a bacon, coffee and vodka "breakfastini"?

And the ever popular bacon and hard liquor. (OK, this one isn't so far fetched.)

White chocolate and bacon cookies, anyone?

Screw "sweet tooth".   How about "bacon tooth"?

And finally, for the guy who's both bacon obsessed and sexually innovative...

'Nuff said.

Have a great weekend everyone.  *off to the pharmacy*  ;)

S