Shovelin' Snow

There is something about shoveling snow that makes the mind wander. There's all that snow, and it has to be shoveled; and you can toss a couple of shovelfuls into a pile, and then look around and see it's going to take a long time. I vaguely remember seeing a statistic about the number of men who die each year from heart attacks while shoveling snow. I guess it's because all of us with desk jobs are in such lousy fiscal ... oops! ... I mean physical condition. So I came up with a plan to fix our fiscal and physical problems in one fell swoop. The Federal Government should issue a new labor regulation requiring all desk workers to participate in a one hour paid PE class each work day. We would all be in better physical condition, thereby reducing health care costs; and we'd all accomplish twelve and a half percent less work each day, forcing businesses to hire twelve and a half percent more workers - that should solve the unemployment problem too. I'm thinking a trillion dollars should cover the program. Anyone willing to sponsor this in Congress?

I also remembered one of my childhood dreams. For a while, I went through my "Dock Worker" phase. I wanted to be a Stevedore or Long Shoreman. Train yards filled with cargo, giant ships to load and unload, handling the commerce of the nation, joining the Brotherhood, what could be more glamorous? It seems a strange dream now - especially since I've never lived near a port and there aren't any dockworkers amongst my family or friends - yet, it was my dream for a while. Funny how none of the career counselors I've met ever asked, "Have you considered getting into dock work? There's a great program available, and we have scholarships too." Oh well, you can't change the past. I guess I'll just go eat another slice of deer and onion pizza and call it a day.