Saturday Night Laundry Service
Ever wonder who invented the Spork or why?
It is not quite a spoon and not a fork but much, much more than that, at least in concept. Sometimes I wonder if my blog is like a Spork, an attempt to be all things to all people.
This place isn’t your niche blog about parenting, blogging or social media, it is a multipurpose resource that anyone can benefit from.
Pretty nifty, but if the talking heads are to be believed that lack of laser focus is hurting my ability to retain readers or so they say.
I am not so sure it is the lack of focus but the focus on cutlery that might be hurting me, but who knows. I write as I write and follow my curiosity where it will take me.
That is because I am the guy who looks at pictures like the one above and wonders who developed the fork and what sort of research they did to lead towards the design above.
How much of it is based upon aesthetics and how much upon engineering? Why aren’t the tines sharper? Are they worried about people stabbing themselves?
Music Break
- Pour Some Sugar On Me– Def Leppard
- Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’– Journey
- Separate Ways– Journey
- Ain’t Back Yet-Â Kenny Chesney
- Close My Eyes Forever-Â Lita Ford & Ozzy Osborne
- I Need You Now– Lady Antebellum
- Reminiscing-Â Little River Band
Saturday Night Laundry Service
Midnight isn’t all that far away and I am thinking back upon a week in which my day started before 6 AM and ended somewhere around midnight.
Busy days, business meetings and heavy efforts to learn, lead and move things in a direction that will yield bigger rewards and create a better foundation for the future.
Every night consists of entertainment and more alcohol than I have had in many years. Never allowed myself to reach a point where I wasn’t in control but there are moments where a large glass filled with Jagermeister and Red Bull remind me of the fraternity life I once led.
The suitcase is  almost empty and I wish for a Saturday night laundry service to take care of the giant pile that lies upon my floor, but I won’t pay for such a thing and the genie left my bottle long ago so there are no wishes to be used upon it.
My phone buzzes and I see an email chain about the week that was and am reminded of a conversation with a younger colleague. He asks for some advice and I tell him that the open bar is a trap that he should avoid and ask him if he really was born in 1985.
I am not old, not even close to it but when guys like him talk about being 30 I have to concede that I might be closer to middle age than I like to think about.
Still, I am not yet 47 and everyone knows that 47 is pretty damn old. 🙂
Too Busy To Write As I Like To Write
Whenever people ask me for advice on writing I tell them to follow the standard read a lot, write a lot mix. Writing is a skill and skills are things that you can improve upon with practice.
Don’t believe me? Ask my kids and they’ll tell you I talk about this with great frequency.
This last week placed me the sort of bind in which I felt like I wasn’t living up to my side of the bargain. I can’t remember the last time I went this long between updating the mighty JackB but that doesn’t mean I didn’t write.
I was just too busy to write as I like and instead I had to pivot and adjust. I still wrote, but not as I like to write.
Did He Steal My Story?Click To TweetOld man Steiner gave me a book to read that he thought was quite good. I started it today and immediately wondered if the author has read any of my fiction because it sounded quite familiar.
None of it was exactly what I have written but it felt close enough for me to wonder and reminded me that while we wait for the right time to take action someone else already has.
I can’t say for certain this man took any of this book from me or that I haven’t been inspired by words written by others too.
Can’t say that someone might not read my words and wonder if they waited to long to write their story because I already wrote it.
All I can say is that I don’t want to live like Nike and Just Do It.
I want to just have done it, especially my laundry.
kat August 30, 2015 at 3:47 am
To be honest, niche blogs quickly bore me. I might enjoy one for a while but, soon enough, I’m asking “is that all you talk about?” A blog where the writer talks about what’s on their mind and going on around them on any given day is far more interesting. I hope you got your laundry done 😉
jacksteiner August 31, 2015 at 6:37 pm
Hi Kat,
I finally got it done, took one day too long to do it, but it is done. 😉
I am obviously with you, a fan of blogs that cover a variety of topics. There aren’t too many niches that I can read on a regular basis that are written by “average” people, so unless they are highly entertaining or covered by experts I am done in a short time.
Vidya Sury August 29, 2015 at 11:01 pm
You retain readers like me because I follow the same principle, I guess.
Obviously you know forks were based on the design of our hand (that’s my story and I will stick with it). They just made the tines convenient and just in case you didn’t know (although I doubt that very much), there are forks that are really sharp. My palm bears testimony to that. Okay so I tried to use the fork as a tool to fix the strap for my flipflops. What? It actually is a very convenient tool and had the right shape for its handle.
(Which reminds me, that strap broke and I must buy a new set).
*Pour Some Sugar On Me*– Def Leppard – one of my all time favorite energizer songs at high ear-drum hurting volume.
Write on, Jack. As for that author stealing your thoughts, happens all the time to me. It is like thought transfer, regardless of the era. I like to call it a “connection” 🙂
jacksteiner August 31, 2015 at 6:38 pm
Hi Vidya,
Your explanation for the design of a fork makes sense but your use of the tines on your hands makes me question your judgement. 😉
These little stories and details, well they make life more interesting and add useful details to the people we like to engage with and that makes them more interesting too.