Breaking away

Oh, that felt good.

I swear, I sat in the same chair for hours today.  Didn’t take a break to get a drink of water.  Didn’t eat lunch.  Just worked on getting this blog set up and going.  By the time 4:30 rolled around, I probably put in close to an 8-hour day working on figuring this stuff out … going through the help section, reading about how to “go from zero to hero” in the blogosphere, picking my way through uploading a photo of mine and figuring out how to post it with some text so it looks decent.

I’m just too dang picky.

Image via Wikipedia

I was feeling like a zombie by the time 4:30 rolled around.  I grabbed my youngest son, the hoops junkie, and headed off to the rec center to lift some weights and blow off some steam.

My workout consisted of the usual:  rode the stationary bike; worked on my abs (and, boy howdy, they sure need it); lifted with my boy on the incline bench in the free weight area; went to the weight machines and worked on my shoulders, chest, arms (bi’s and tri’s).  No, the photo with this post does not represent the maximum effort I put in on the weights!  Come on, now!

Meanwhile, out of the eight TV sets along the wall in the weight/bike/treadmill area, about six of them at one time or another had something on about Joe Paterno and the Penn State football program’s sexual abuse scandal.  That got the blood pumping as well.

I lost my job two weeks ago tomorrow.  Joe Paterno just lost his.  At least he’s got a good retirement plan, I’m sure.

But, hey, the workout’s done.  I feel refreshed.  I really need to do this more often.  As long as we can keep our family rec center membership going!

A View From The Middle (Class)

I watched a disturbing video last week from the Rachel Maddow Show on the web.  Leading up to an interview with Michael Moore on the Occupy protests going on nationwide, she focused on the plight of Youngstown, Ohio, a once-strong manufacturing town with middle class Americans going about their jobs to make a living in middle America.  Now it’s facing very hard times, like many other manufacturing towns and workers.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) was shown in the video speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives about the plight of the middle class, how the middle class has “had it up to here” and we’re seeing the results in the movements that sprang up from Occupy Wall Street in the past several weeks.

What was shocking about the video from Maddow’s show came when a wide angle of the House chamber was shown.  Out of all the seats in the room, there were a grand total of four people to be seen – Ryan and three other people who I’m sure had to be there because of protocol, or Ryan would have simply been speaking to the walls off in the distance.

Out of all the seats in the chamber, you’d think there might have at least been a few Democrats there.  But there was no one but those four people.  Where was everyone?  Was it a mass potty break?  A representative is speaking on one of the most important issues facing our nation, and there are only four people that can be seen in the chamber?

Was everyone else in the hallways or their offices getting their ears bent by a lobbyist?  Were some of them on the golf course?  What were these representatives doing at that moment to earn their pay?

Middle class America should see a scene like that and get very angry, at Republicans and Democrats alike.  People across this nation are fighting for survival, and their representatives are off doing … what?

I have recently joined those millions of Americans who are now stressing over keeping a roof over the heads of their families, food in their stomachs, heat for the coming winter, and worrying about staying healthy because health care costs and two appendectomies in rapid succession have already sunk our bank accounts to the breaking point.  All because I just recently lost my job due to downsizing, a corporation cutting its costs while it possibly gets ready for a “fire sale.”  And I was just a number.  It didn’t matter how hard I worked, and I do believe strongly in hard work.  That doesn’t matter to those who make the downsizing decisions.

I am now working full-time to do all I can to find another full-time income.  The times are frightening.  I am a fighter.  I am a survivor, in more ways than one.  Are there any jobs to be had in which I don’t have to make my way through ferocious competition for that one?

Hey, I’m a writer too!  I used to earn a living doing just that.  Maybe while I’m scratching and clawing my way through my own tiny portion of this nation’s mess, I can see about putting my writing to use on a topic that’s “near and dear” to millions more like me these days.

Middle class America needs as many voices as it can get.  You’re about to see and hear mine, and mine can get LOUD (and at times funny as well)!  Tell your friends, and stay tuned!

Even In The Quietest Moments …

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.  I think I’ve worked harder over the last 13 days since losing my job than I have at any time in my life, between a regular job search, researching the blogosphere and writing entries to post each day, my mind always churning through “survival strategies” for my family, you name it.

I’m stressed a bit.  Is it noticeable?

It’s one of those times when I just feel the need to get away, enjoy some peace and quiet, get out into nature.  I’d love to grab a fishing pole, sit or stand along the banks of a stream or a still lake, gaze at a few spots of clouds in a warm blue sky, and breathe in that mountain air.  It wouldn’t matter if I caught a fish or not, just the serenity is all I’d need.

I can imagine that right about now.  I desire that.  In my mind’s eye, I’m already there.

Photo by John G. Miller