My Neighbor – Mr Rogers

(c)2018 Focus Films

Recently my wife and I had the opportunity to view “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?“, the new documentary on the life of Mr. Rogers at the Tull Family Theater.

This is one of those few and rare documentaries that has the capability to alter how you live out the rest of your life … not because of the film maker, script writer, or directory – but simply because of how the man the documentary is about lived his life.

To set one thing straight up front … the rumor that Mr. Rogers created all of the Millennials in the world because of the “You Are Special” mantra, you need to watch the film or watch the last college commencement he gave … that’s not what “You Are Special” was even remotely about.

To those who hold on hard-core to what society tells them is right, or fears becoming friends with someone who might be slightly off-kilter from their beliefs, or fears talking with someone who is not 100% perfect – skip this film, because you will change and have these things happen to you after watching it.

Mr. Rogers was a Christian …. an ordained minister. He was probably one of the very few people who acted as a Christian should act: show God’s love, grace, and understanding. He didn’t have to tell anyone that’s what he was doing – ever.  They just knew. The children just knew. That’s how you knew he was real.

He was the kid that was made fun of when he was little.

He was the kid that was sick much of the time when he was little.

He became the man who raised all of us and showed use that being a man wasn’t a stereotype.

He promoted equality better than anyone else (without pushing other’s rights aside to do so) … and stood for nothing less.

He taught us how to have self-worth without destructive pride intervening.

He promoted humanity without eliminating “human”.

By example, he showed that hate was not an option.

By the end of the documentary you will realize three things:

1. Society stopped listening to Mr. Rogers example of “Love thy neighbor, love thyself”,
2. and started listening to society’s “Hate thy neighbor, hate thyself”
3. We are all the same -“human”. That’s simply what he was teaching us.

Kudos to Mr Rogers …..

-SWB

Big Truck Rant (Maybe)

Really?

Earlier this week I was picking up lawn mower parts at a big box hardware store. While I was there and going up the road that accesses the store a truck basically pushed myself and one or two other cars behind me almost or into the lane of opposing traffic.

Typical scenario – right? Typical action on a truck driver, right?

I don’t believe so – I have too many friends that professionally drive, so I don’t believe this in any way is typical. I believe a truck driver doing this is the minority.

Having said that, I beeped simply because I didn’t think the driver noticed me. At the angle he was going there was a strong possibility of a big blind spot. I finally got past him and proceeded to park and go into the store to purchase the parts I needed.

When I was in the store, the truck driver sought me out and confronted me.

He started with “Thanks for the beep – I was in the truck”.

I replied with “I beeped because I didn’t think you noticed me already half was up your rig since you only turn your turn signals on half into the turn”.

He replied with “That’s BS” and proceeded to harass me in the store. When I walked away he aggressively followed me until I got to  customer service desk. I alerted the rep of the situation and quickly checked out to make sure thy driver did not go back out to damage my car.

Later I alerted the big box hardware co via their customer service email of the harassment and fear that the driver may have also taken down my license plate to harass me or my family later.

The big box hardware co replied back with a letter that basically said “unfortunately they’re just a vendor to us, so we really don’t care”. In other words “we have better lawyers than you could ever get ….. so don’t worry about trying to take legal action to protect yourself”.

Now … this is a rant post if the driver was wrong in finding a harassing a customer of a business they were supplying it.

So, knowing other professional drivers and having their opinions … what do SWB’s readers think?  do I pursue or drop?

I still award a clueless trophy to the driver for being dumb enough to harass a customer of a business you want to remain a vendor for.

-SWB

A Beer’s Lament

“IC Shadow” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

A beer’s lament,
a passion unkept.

Smoke up a tube,
mash boiling in June,

A tongue tied in a bun,
tasting no longer fun.

A beer’s lament,
a passion toyed.

Shadowed from light,
it seems no longer right.

-SWB … celebrating bad poetry n brews.

Screaming Weasel

Yep … that’s us!

A bit about “us” – since many have only been introduced to us recently, and nobody ever reads the “about” tab – and honestly, some time we just put things in it to be goofballs.

Most of the time it’s me, the author, Lawrence Capozzolo (signed SWB). An American, or Italian/German American, or mutt, or one of the people that’s paying a mortgage to house my step-daughter’s four furry critters (two dogs, a cat, and a rat). We’re pretty sure the animals had their lawyer get their names on the deed for the house too. They may have taken ours off at this point.

SWB started originally started in 2006 when I purchased my G4 iBook and it had iWeb on it. I made my first posting after I noticed a blog called That’s Church (I’m pretty sure that was still its title back then – but I’m getting old, and memories fade fast now … so I could be incorrect.) The person writing “That’s Church” eventually went on to write for Pittsburgh Magazine.  Although my blog become popular in about fifteen countries doing about 1.2 million hits a year, I chose getting back into I.T. work (I could have been smarter and went back to school for carpentry or plumbing or HVAC …. but NO, I stuck with I.T.) therefore still writing but not keeping it up eventually doing it professionally.

The blog was started, like others at the time as a rant blog (humorous rant). I figured people would find humor in the annoying blabberings of us tech types, and I was right. Now that I’m close to 50 (ok …. REALLY close) I’m getting back into writing for it and doing photography for it again (unless otherwise stated – those photos are really mine) basically because of ageism (tech is becoming like the NFL … if you didn’t get your first Ferrari right in the beginning, the youngin’s aren’t going to give you a chance to get one now … you’re too old to work in tech) I’m back to writing. I like doing it anyway.

I don’t know if I’ll get my numbers back up or if I’ll ever get a donation (but although I’m not a non-profit, please keep in mind I have to replace two cars, a furnace, and put a kid through university – so have a heart, consider donating).  Right now I do a little sound engineering work, etc – waiting to get back into tech if I ever do.  If I just end up writing, better yet.

Back to SWB. It will continue to be a showcase for humorous rant, really bad poetry, attempts at legitimate poetry, and whatever gets thrown into it. Some others may write for it (if they do you will know). If you like the writing, please like the posts or blog – if you really like it – follow, if you think I should put it into a book – donate. Remember, books still do things like enabling me to generate enough money to donate to others that love to do what writers love to do.

The photography is also part of the showcasing in SWB, I’ve been doing this since the age of 13 …. so 36 years. You’ll notice various formats (slide, digital, modified, etc). The other site I write for Pittsburgh By Mini Cam is designed to be for low-res photography.

Yes … we do on purpose write badly, strangely, and horrendously (this is different from “badly” as it indicates a “graduate” level of “bad”). We try to make you think by readings that make you feel that Scotty forgot to but a few brain atoms back into you after beaming you up.

We just have fun.

… and we do consider padded rooms to be ultra comfy posh places. The straight jackets are slightly annoying though – especially when you have to type with your teeth.

We are the late show, art gallery, literary short, stand up comedian, sitcom, political humorist, poetm, life loving, opinionated schmucked (buggered for the British folks) up oxygen breathing carbon based units that you will hopefully learn to as least like. If not, click the “like” button anyway – people lie all the time.

-Lawrence A Capozzolo

SWB – “making legimate writer groan in agony”

I Should be Happy

Another Blah Post

SWB Series: Blah Blah Blah

Actually I am …. but nobody reads a post about someone that’s happy. It’s just way too irritating – ESPECIALLY before coffee.

Oh, just SKIP the addiction speech too. Coffee is NOT a drug, get it? Even if I was addicted I’d never admit it to you. You’re too damn perky at 6am.

I know your looking at me and in your head saying “Sure … he’s happy. As happy as a fox caught in a trap after being chased by a blue-tick hound”. (If you know where part of that sentence was from, you’re old – and possibly have a Confederate flag on your car).

Well, guess what – I AM. I’m so flipping happy flowers a blooming as I skip down the sidewalk. The bees are following right behind the flowers and starting to sting the crap out of me … but I’m still happy – it’s nature, right?

I should be happy … I keep telling people I am, they never believe me, they’re just a confused lot. I’ve put my smiling mug on Friendface (if you know what this is you’re a hopeless nerd) – doesn’t that mean I’m happy, if I’m smiling on Friendface?

I am happy I Am Happy I Am Happy I Am Ha …………..

Wait ….. 20oz medium rare steak – now I m REALLY happy.

🙂

-SWB

If ANY of this made ANY sense to you at all, even in the most smallest of ways – please seek professional help, and I’m not talking depression – you’re just messed up if this made any sense at all.

 

 

Those Blooming People – Stick People Entitlement

 

… and Thoughts For The Strange

SWB Series Combined: Thoughts For The Strange and Thinking Inside The Box

Yep … a two-fer. Two columns of completely horrid writing and essay (or whatever you ant to call it) combined into one. We’re doing this for the Mils who might not want to take the time to read two whole articles … honestly we’re trying to adapt to our audience. And yes … we realize Alexa is probably actually the one reading it to them.

Think Inside The Box … protest against stick people!!!

Let’s see if we can get Alexa to give itself commands ….

“Alexa ….. read ….. crap”.

Alexa …. “reading Screaming Weasel Blog.”

… see, works every time.

Now on to something substantial {{insert groan here}}. The groaning doesn’t mean stop reading, it’ll be painful – but if we are all strong we can make it through.

Remember – I have to write this garbage … you just have to read it.

Ok …. now … really …

Those Blooming People (yes, I watch too much British TV – TV in America basically sucks, unless you’ve had your brain sucked out) – I’m tired of them, just like everyone else. Those entitled stick people walking around everywhere. They think they are due everything in life just because they were forced to spend years and years stuck to back windows on cars and trucks. They complain about everything …. and their dogs are too thin to keep leashes on them. I’ve been bitten six times by a stick dog that’s gotten out of its leash.

I mean, come on, stick people really aren’t people … they just think they are sentient after they finally fell off their perspective car or truck windows when their cage on wheels finally got turned into a cube in the end of life car compactor thingy. Yes, I said thingy – it’s a valid technical term.  No, you say?!? … sorry, it’s MY article so I can say what term is valid or not. Get – that – straight.

Now, this stick person entitlement issue.

I can understand humans becoming entitled.  I may not like it, but I can understand it. Although a technical person, at times I do actually dip into humanity – not much, but it happens – so as a result I do understand things a bit. But, even as a technical person, I’m not entitled – so why do stick people get to be? I mean it’s to the point where stick people have legislation going to keep stick dinosaurs that eat stick people from being put on cars and trucks. The stick people are completely offended that normal humans (and even tech people) take humor in them getting eaten by stick dinosaurs. It’s ridiculous, and a complete waste of the governments time. I’m sure it will end up in the Supreme Courts, wasting even more of the public’s money.

I still like Godzilla better than stick people. I grew up with Godzilla on TV. In relation to stick people … he’s my hero.

On to the box – I can see the corporate hiring quota systems changing right now:

1. Everyone else.
2. Stick People.
3. Typical tech guy.

I’ll never get a real job again.

All because of stick people entitlement. I mean really, things that were once on car windows now get rights? Really??

Maybe I’ll just get a job as a gardener … let me check Indeed.

Wait, What???? I can only get a job as a gardener if no stick flowers are included in the jobs I work, because it’s been negotiated that only stick people can work on gardens with stick flowers?!?!?!?!?!?

WTF???

I give up.

-SWB

Yep … we STRESS strange on this one.

 

Snowy Pine

“Snowy Pine” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

Snowy pine,
how cold and sublime.

The sun is out and be told,
this extended cold is getting old.

The delicate white floating into sight,
tests my might to keep the positive in life.

Cold covered branches,
would be warmed with nice hot matches.

This snowy bliss is crap,
i consider to be much amiss.

Snow pine,
in no way do I claim you as mine.

-SWB

Bad poetry of the day, and an ode to Phil’s prediction of the extended winter we experienced this year.

Life of flight n space

“Flight” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

SWB Series: Thoughts For The Strange

Would you ever like to be in the air all the time?

Or just say on the ground?

What if you could do both?

What about space? You know, the final frontier?

Earth and space at the same time?

I guess that depends on the generation. I guess with my generation we’d probably skip space due to running out of Ritalin and lose interest half way to the launch pad.

The current generation … well due to the ongoing lawsuits and protests against the Earth’s gravitational field it’s probably going to be a long wait for that answer. See, the current gen has an entitlement issue with believing it should NOT have to feel the discomfort of g-forces during launch and is suing the Earth to “turn off” gravity during manned large vehicle space launches (at least for astronauts in the 22 to 35-year-old range) … or at least give them a “space travel participation trophy”.

The next generation after the Mils …. they won’t care. They’ll just do things. The rest of us will be back on Earth burning up when the Sun finally expands and starts to die, while Generation Z (or whatever they’re being called now) jets on out to Alpha Centauri for an extended vacation.

Wait ….. that’s not really what we started talking about?? Sorry … no focus, ran out of Ritalin.

Oh, yeah … back to the flying/space and ground thing.

Well, we’ve about solved the quantum physics thing, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Two places at one time … not a big deal anymore – but there are questions about being in two places at one time that are very important to get answers to:

1. If you are on Earth and participating in space travel at the same time, when the Earth dies … do both of you? – and if only on iteration of you dies, are you stuck with half a soul? Keep in mind if you only have half a soul, you wouldn’t have a complete soul to sell off to The Evil One when you want to run for a political position, therefore eliminating you from that activity. You’d be destined to be a little-people your remaining life on whatever new planet you plop down on.
2. Can you talk to your other physical self via deep-space communications?

Deep thought (and possibly a full script for Xanax) is required for the two questions above.

The life of flight … neato!

Regardless …. cheers for the quantum stuff.

-SWB

Harder than it looks

Remember seeing that person do that job that looked like a piece of cake … then you had to do it and you found out how much of a pain it really was?

Yeah, so, in reviving SWB I figured I’d keep a little of it’s “rantiness” going by writing poetry (bad, horrible poetry) – and that would be WAY easier than trying to generate some legitimate stuff.

How wrong I was.

While I do realize that some of my real attempts at poetry many seasoned writers may compare with the brown stuff that comes out of their pets – the act of producing poetic writings that everyone would truly consider excrement is actually hard.

Now …. people produce crap all the time, so why does this suddenly become hard for me??

After taking some time to think this though and discuss it with a few people that have a couple of brain cells left … I’ve determined it’s not just me. It’s a problem with everyone.

See, once we as humans make a conscious decision to produce total and complete crap, it becomes hard work. I’m not saying that humans can’t legitimately product garbage – we do it all the time. What I’m saying is that it is sooooooooo much easier if we don’t actually make an effort at it.

If you don’t believe this watch the tryouts for American Idol. Avoid eating popcorn while doing that as the kernels hurt when you gag.

…. anyway, that was my whining for the day.

-SWB

Da Roof – a copy

“Da Roof Pittsburgh” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

Da roof
Da roof
Da roof in on …

yea …. I can’t do it – plagiarise that bad even for a cool crappy poem.

Love this pic … I did as soon as I reviewed it on my camera. It just makes for a cool skyline shot and begs one question: How do you tell which one is yours? Are the locks the same too? Is each home a true copy of the one next to it? I mean, what happens if that’s true and you walk in on the couple a few doors down on their day off and having a little fun? Embarrassing.

Ok … maybe not as embarrassing as the fact that you pulled into the wrong drive-way because you can count that high (I mean … there is only about ten houses there).

Kind of reminds me of Apple products … you can’t tell the difference until you get your credit card bill.

Ahh … you thought this was going to be an Apple rant? Nope …. to easy, besides everyone else is doing that right now so I have to wait a few weeks until it’s interesting again.

Is there any purpose to this at all?

No really … the basic fact of most whining these days.

This is SWB just being tired of everything looking like an outright copy of something that existed previously (movies, people, pigeon poop). It’s tiresome …. no originality anymore. I mean, the pigeons could at least poop in different shapes.

I even make each posting look consistent … it confuses my readers less (not to mention myself).

Oh, originality … where art thou? About the 15th century, I think.

… as my dog would say {{groooooooaaaaaan}}.

The world gets an SWB Clueless award for originality.

-SWB

Thinking up more crap faster than you can erase it from your brain.

Frozen Ponds

“Core of a Cold Heart” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

Frozen ponds,
frozen hearts.

Many lies,
from days gone by.

A smile once worn, fades away,
once thinking it would stay.

Many needs, many wants,
on the hunt for a lost dream.

Walking frozen, cold as can be,
the warmth drying up inside of me.

A world that once was a place of the sun,
has been made devoid of any fun.

Friends of the past, frozen in that place,
almost now seem like a complete waste.

Rivers of thought now end in white crystals,
the only thing heard is a faint distant whistle.

A mini ice-age has come to town.

-SWB

The latest in our series of poetry from people who have absolutely no business in writing it.

Pretty bleak, huh?

Well, I’m doing my best to paint a picture of how many people see the world now (or how we’re feeling in Pittsburgh when it’s Spring, and there’s still ****** frost on the car in the morning … not sure which). Of course I could just be getting in touch with my inner-Poe.

I’ve always found darker poetry interesting because it can indicted one of three things: 1. You are crying out for help because you are depressed and hiding it (basically in a dark work where nobody cares anyway) , 2. You are getting useless destructive emotional crap out of your system so you can function as a normal person, 3. You’re a technical person … in which you are just documenting the fact that for you getting anywhere near normal is just a useless attempt at avoiding a nice comfy padded room, which is your destiny most likely in the near future.

…. a little bit of sarcasm there, maybe.

Writing does have therapeutic value – which is why the healthcare industry hates it. Stress is very lucrative. It incites depression and a multitude of other profitable health issues.

Imagine if we all wrote (and maybe found a few suckers to pay for the stuff) de-stressing us enough to very rarely be sick. I mean to a point where everyone’s blood pressure is down to perfect, heart disease disappears, our immune systems function top-notch and naturally rid our bodies of cancer and other diseases. Wow!!

Now think of what that would do to the economy. Tragic!

Your doctor friend down the street would lose his job, and have to take back his BMW.

Your BFF that works as the pharmacist at the local Big Bird store gets moved to cashier in the grocery department losing a ton of pay and has to take back her BMW.

The next down neighbor who sells the blood pressure meds and chemo supplies to the hospitals that over-charge for them loses his job and has to take back his and his wife’s BMWs too (he sold a lot of stuff so they could afford two).

Just because of you …. inspiring people to write and de-stress (instead of getting them to de-stress in a way that get them some kind of transmittable disease), BMW has now gone out of business. As the iconic status has disappeared, people are even less stressed because they don’t have to work ninety hours a week to afford their BMW to indicate that they made it in the world, and now have even more time to write, de-stressing them more and more.  An abumdance of medical issues fade away, and more jobs are lost.

People eventually are no longer sick, and the worldwide economy collapses … people go back to living in huts and caves realizing they are completely happy without any economy.

All because of you ….. a writer that inspired many to de-stress through words.

How dare you!

-SWB

A first … a really crappy poem paired with a really crappy mini-essay/commentary (or whatever you are calling it at this time). Did we do well?

 

We’re being watched …

“Shut up and give me food” (c) Lawrence A Capozzolo

Yes, we’re being watched,

All the time, everywhere, everyplace …

By the most offended people on the planet.

Ourselves.

Yep …. we seem to offend ourselves so much that we are in a perpetual loop of self-amusement.

We’ve taken offense to a completely new art form … we are now at the point of being offending from more than one direction by the multiply offended who are offended by the offenses of the overly offended (how DARE the offended take a bigger offense to US being offended!! – THIS IS ATROCIOUS!!). I’m offended – I want “Night Court” back on TV so I can state my offense on a non-offended, offensively offending sitcom where any offense cannot be taken seriously (how can you not be indescribably offended by the non-offense of an 80s sitcom …. WTF????).

Come one, humans …. have I made my point?

Talk to each other, face to face …. not through special interest groups.

When humans talk to humans, politics ends … when humans talk through SIGs only, humanity ends.

… think a little bit before being offended and take time to talk to the other humans …. they may be going through the same thing, just on different section of the color wheel. We all have brains, we all have hearts ….. time to make them active again.

Practice “human therapy” and the animals will still have people to feed them.

-SWB

P.S. This SWB Clueless award goes to all humans. We seem to have simply given up on understanding that talking can solve many, if not all issues. Will all of the talking be nice, happy, and surrounded by cute picket fences? …. no – some will be passionate and to the point, but it will be talking. Will we all agree – no, but at least we will be talking.

A Winter’s Plight

(c) Lawrence A Capozzolo

A winter’s plight,
surely no one’s delight.

Season’s confused,
mother nature amused.

——

A Pennsylvania challenge … four seasons in month,
“hold my beer”, said mother nature … watch me do that in a day.

After a month trying to keep winter at bay,
miss nature appears to intend for winter to stay.

I see the sun and warmth,
confused by the frost in the ‘morn.

Why can’t PA,
have a normal every – other – day??

-SWB

Pic (c)2018  Lawrence A Capozzolo

Cops N Coffee

How did “Cops N Coffee” and up in “so stupid it could actually happen”?

Well, read on ….

But, let me bore you first by filling you in on a little bit about the writer (me): First, I was never military or a copy, or basically anything of legal authority recognized by a uniform. I did grow up for over twenty years next door to the Deputy Sheriff of Allegheny County and his sons. Some of his children became local officers and mayors of our community. The community I grew up in was Brentwood, similar to the one I live in now (Glen Osborne / Sewickley Area). Originally my wife and I did a little stint in Leetsdale after we were married, but opted to move into the Glen Osborne / Sewickley community next to us – not for status, but simply it reminded me of my old neighborhood (many people knew each other, the law enforcement and people in the local government were integral parts of the community, and it was a safe place where you want to raise a family … whether you owned a mansion or BMW or a small house and a Dodge {BTW, a little trivia note — there were more BMWs in the Brentwood/Whitehall area than in the Sewickley area when I grew up}).

Again …. I love my community because it was safe, the same as I love the one I live in now.

I also respected the police officers and other officials not because of uniform, but because they were tightly integrated with the community – there were no false arrests, or brutality, or abuse from police officers or other government officials towards people in the community … incidentally, the people in the community rarely ever had run ins with the law or otherwise.

So why did this work out so well?

Community … the officers were your friend’s dads or moms, your parents friends, your friends, your neighbors – yes, even the ones that lived outside of the community became part of it. The most effective safety system in a community is everyone in that community becoming an integral part of it and accessible in it – this it most critical with government representatives and officers of the law.

Why the long-winded explanation?

When I look at a community and see the local cops congregating at a local diner, convenience store, coffee shop, etc it communicates one thing to me … this place is safe – I would raise my family here.  Why? They are completely accessible to the members of their community, of which most communicate with them daily. This also shows me the connection created hampers things like police brutality (ie. why would you harass your neighbor if you just had Christmas dinner with them or simply shared conversation over coffee?), government corruption, etc. When I see officials from the local government hanging out in the local places being accessible, it lets me know I really can have a voice in the community (and a better chance to have their actions in governing reflect what the community really wants). When I watched this disappear from other communities I’ve lived in I’ve watch crime, police brutality, and political corruption become rampant and take over those communities … some being very well established, very wealthy communities. I not longer live in them because I no longer feel safe in them. Many left those communities feeling the same.

Why did this happen?

Complaints: “The cops aren’t doing their jobs because they are hanging out drinking coffee and eating donuts”, “The government officials aren’t doing their jobs because their hanging out talking to people in the communities”, “They should be out fighting crime (even when there isn’t any)”, “They should be cutting costs – not sipping coffee”, etc.

The summary after all of the boring rant:

When your community is safe because your police officers and government representatives are hanging out in your local businesses you don’t complain about their presence or the $3.00 they spend on a cup of coffee or take up parking spaces when these actions bring complete accessibility in your community simply because this brings to them the knowledge of the people they are protecting and representing – this is a gift, not a liability, nor an expense.

For the simple:  You don’t hinder your officers, borough managers, mayors, clerks, etc from hanging out together in your local businesses … because them being on the community’s payroll isn’t what makes your community safe – it’s those people becoming an effective, integral, and accessible part of it that makes your community safe.

Share this out if you support your local police offices, local government officials, and local government workers hanging out in the community and becoming part of it instead of folks you know see in the papers or on the news. In other words, share this out if you want “Cops N Coffee” to continue in your community or start in it.

So, why did this make “So Stupid It Could Actually Happen?” …. simply because it does, and then people in communities wonder why the cops can get away with abuse of power, local government clerks can steal, mayors can waste a community’s money …. all because those people that were initially accessible in the community are eventually pushed out of it into inaccessible offices and cars.

-LC

Thinking Inside The Box

You read it right … “think inside the box”.

It’s the new buzz phrase around the water cooler (or Redbull dispenser – whichever you have).

Confused? Yes – Good. I don’t have throw my coffee cup away yet.

Here is a little bit the chew on. We’ve been thinking so hard “outside the box” since the latter 80s that, well, “thinking outside the box” is now THE BOX.

The idea behind “thinking outside the box” is doing things differently than everyone else, or truly failing differently than everyone else has been years before you to discover newer, better ways to do the things you do (hmmm … that sounds like a tag line for a really bad millennial commercial). Just to be specific … a really bad millennial commercial is one of those ones where you reach the end, and if there isn’t a company brand floating all over the screen you basically end up thinking “WFT????????????????????? (not WTF … see, now THAT’s being different – we think outside the box here at SWB on a regular basis).”

Considering I work in two ever changing tech fields (Information Technology and Sound Engineering), thinking differently with a good baseline of a solid box to sit new advances on is critical. It’s the only way solid advances are made – along with a little bit of user beta testing and QA processes. Oops, sorry, too many corporate words in that sentence … get over it, and don’t judge me (this is a free country and I’m allowed to enjoy my stereotype).

Want an example? (you guessed it, I’m going to pick on the millennial kiddies again):

Well, whether you like it or not here it is: The big news item on millennials is them living in shared housing. Guess what?  That’s hippie communal living ….. from the 60s. Yep, the newbies couldn’t think of anything but what was already done. If there a difference between the two groups?  Yes – the millennials, even though living in a shared enviro are still materialistic entitled nerds trying to look like they are helping the world by living in a shared environment (filled with many things created with manufacturing processes that are massively toxic). The hippies actually lived together to try and help each other live off the land and share resources, in theory bettering the world (then they discovered mini vans and some of them became hot soccer moms, so that ideal went south). Basically the hippies in today’s world became the box. The millennials are the box too, they just built one that was translucent so they could be in denial about being in it (ya know – if you can’t see it, it’s not there).  BTW …. lots of corporate people do that too.

To get a grip on things – thinking outside the box became the inside of the box and the only way to actually think outside of the box was to get back in the box thus avoiding the outside of the box standard issue thinking that was actually inside the box and in reality only a facsimile of the outside of the box which is limiting your ability to create and innovate inside the box while trying to claw your way out. Simple.

{{place confused dog head tilt here}}

This is not insanity … hang in there, we just bought a new bag of treats and we’ll give you one once you “get it”.

The latest big deal is gamification. See we’re already doing it here at SWB … you get a “treat” if you “get it”. Goal!!!

Keep in mind this doesn’t mean we have to “get it”, just as long as you do. We’ll have no idea what you are actually “getting”, but what the heck, we’re too old to care.

Gamification …. for those not familiar, it’s basically setting a goal and leaving a trail of chocolate chip cookies to it. For those that may have issues getting to their goals because they may be allergic to the chocolate, or the nut particles that may have ended up in the cookies … they can always get a second mortgage on their house to purchase an EpiPen from Mylan helping them get back on track.

Granted, with all of the millennials around me, I was starting to feel left out … so I ordered myself two boxes of trophies from Oriental Trading to make up for all the ones my teachers, coaches, and parents never handed out to me {sniff!}. I want gamification too … hopefully today’s trophy will be a Pez dispenser filled with cola flavored candies.

So, do you get it? … I know you’ve chewed a bit (and we do realize that might be your own tongue you are chewing … you might want to realize that too) … which means you have to be close to “getting it”. Remember, we have fresh treats.

Got it?

It’s all a game of making your outside the box thinking last long enough to allow you to make a difference before someone defines you as “the box”.

… or you can just grab a coffee, go fishing, and allow someone else to stroke out over it.

-SWB

• Reality shows were initially created to give you a peak into someone else’s real life freeing you from the typically scripted shows with tons of writers … now the reality shows are massively scripted with more writers than a sitcom of the same length. Reality shows are now hated and have become a box that’s worse that the previous box.
• A great film maker named George Romero was best known for creating an entirely new film experience – zombie movies. The Walking Dead did an excellent job of thinking outside the box and improving on George’s innovation in an actual TV series … then everyone copied and created endless amounts of copy cat zombie movies … enough to induce vomiting by 1 in 5 people on a daily basis. Overkill made an even thicker box that may never be broken out of.
• IBM created and innovation called the “PC” by thinking way outside the box of their room sized behemoths that even large corporations struggled to afford. Others thought even further outside of the box making those “PCs” the mainstay of data centers, but drove that into a level of overkill that convinced IBM to go back to their old “in the box” creation “the mainframe”.  Guess what you are on most of the time when you use “the cloud”? BTW … the cloud is an innovation that’s been around since about the latter 80s.