...Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All

Picture of the nicest Merc' I have ever seen. No relation to this post, whatsoever.

My buddy Mike and his lovely wife have a new blog. It's over there in the list, at the top of the list to be exact. Mike's a great guy and if you read the comments I left him you can see I give him as much grief as possible. I don't talk to Mikey much anymore due do being a dad, husband, and homeowner but he is one in a very small group of folks I consider my brothers. My Mom only had one child, so there are no blood brothers to Surly. I'd take a bullet for guys like Mike, Joe, Bill, Jimmy and to a lesser extent, Gordy (inside joke) without hesitation. My Dad has a blog which I've referenced a time or two, we all know my Crazy Uncle and now Mike and his lovely wife are blogging. I've enjoyed the experience and I'm sure they will too. Mike's blog title is reference to a nickname that I (sort of) gave him many years ago. Mike's mom told me once that one of her other choice in names for her son was John Robert. Of course I called him J. Bob for pretty much the rest of that summer. If any of you hadn't noticed, I'm a fucking wise-ass. Suprisingly, I've never been punched as a result mostly because A: I'm smart enough to know when not to use that part of my brain and B: because I knew guys like Mikey would bail my punk ass out if I ever did. It's good to have friends and family. I'm sure there are the odd exceptions but the majority of my readers are just that, friends and family.
Mike's got a post about his Pops. He talks about how he admires the man but does not agree with some of the things he does. I don't talk too much about politics or religion because I'd rather not fight about whether I'm right or wrong. Clearly that's a problematic point of view. How can you feel strongly about something and not want your friends and family to feel the same way. That's an interesting one. Having a blog puts one in a position where you feel you need to explain how you feel about this or that. We all do it to some extent or another. Some blogs are created solely for this purpose, be it politics, religion, or motorcycles. I have tried to leave the more controversial topics to the folks who think it's important to them to discuss it. Don't get me wrong, the topics need to be discussed I just don't choose to do it here. To be honest, I've always been a bit spineless about telling others what I believe. I don't want to drive a wedge between me and those that I care about or care about me. Perhaps I've done myself a disservice in doing so. To a lesser extent, I've been reserving judgment on many topics because I believe one should make informed decisions. How can i say the Holy Book of a religion that I'm not involved in is wrong if I have not read it or participated in that type of faith? This is a bit overstated but I'm just trying to make a point. I've always tried to understand the other point of view. I've met people I've had a strong dislike for that said some things that I really agreed with. "How can that asshole have just said something so poignant?". There may be merit in what your enemy has to say. I'm not going to say Adolf Hitler was some kind of philanthropist or anything but if you vote blue and Grandpa votes red that shouldn't necessarily make ol' Gramps evil. Remember, he wiped your ass at one time. Things in life are rarely black and white.
The United States of America has a system that boils down to two parties. I don't agree but that's just my opinion. The reason I don't agree is that it becomes divisive. By saying "My party is correct all the time and your party is always wrong" drives a wedge in this country that WE ALL belong to. When I was a kid I learned the Pledge of Allegiance. I always had trouble with the word indivisible. It seemed like it was just kind of stuck in there as an add on. I would forget to say that word when it came around. I did not grasp the gravity of the Pledge as a youngster. When you pledge your allegiance to anything that's a big deal. If I was to pledge my allegiance to Fredonia or some such place that would be an act of treason. We have the right to free speech and that allows us to do this here blogging thing without fear of reprisal (to a certain extent). When someone sits at the old Bozoputer and bangs away at the keyboard it's easy to just start typing about what you feel is right. There's no one there to tell you to shut up. There wasn't anyone there asking your opinion in the first place. If you sit down and try claim that you are right and "they" are wrong isn't that divisive? To be divisive then would go against the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America would it not? There are folks who actually want the President of our fair land to fail. This is a far sight different than disagreeing with his decisions. Disagreeing with someone is healthy, important even from time to time. Please, express your opinion. Feel free to list the reasons on your blog or lame ass radio show as to why you disagree with our Commander in Chief. If you say you wish to see the President fail, however, I see that as "the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance". That's treason for those of you who don't click on my links. If you are guilty of treason you are a traitor by definition. The definition above is from the dictionary but the one that counts is from the Constitution of the United States of America. I realize I'm splitting hairs but let's try to think about what we say before saying it. Let's not bitch about how horrible things are and then hope it gets worse. Treason. Traitor. How about an adult conversation instead of yelling at the other guy about how he's doing things wrong. I've read some blogs that are linked on my blog that had some content that I feel bordered on treason. I may have to take it down if that shit continues.
Perhaps now it's a bit more clear why I don't enter into discourse with other folks about what I believe. I'll tell you this, I believe my friends and family are very important to me and I'd like to think they would listen to my point of view and not judge me by a D or R next to my name or what holy book might happen to be or not be on my shelf. These things do happen however, and that divides us. The pledge that I took said indivisible.

Happy St. Patrick's day

A little Irish McCalla for ya.

Bridging the gap from Middle America to Modern

Before purchasing our current house, Mrs. Surly and I came to an agreement on a design style as it relates to our residence. We both can appreciate different styles of architecture and styles of design but the common ground between us is Modern. Modern can mean different things to different people but as far as couples go, we should be able to get through this without coming to blows. There is a problem with Modern. I think it's a Midwestern problem. On paper, I'm a typical blue-collared Midwestern working shlub. I would like to think there is more to me than that but that's a debate for another day. So how does a typical Midwestern blue-collared working shlub relate to Modern design and architecture? Well, typically they don't. For arguments sake we'll create a fictional Midwestern homeowner. Let's call him Joe Average. Here's how it goes in a vague stereotypical way: Joe buys a modest house he can afford. It's in a cookie cutter subdivision, a rural plot, or down a tree-lined street in an older small town. If it's a new house in a subdivision, there's no such thing as Modern. The small town home or rural homes will be pre-owned more often than not. Getting the pre-owned home is always fun. You get to fix all the things that the previous owner did. So now you have the house. If it's decorated at all it's got floral print wallpaper and some nice "country" accents in the kitchen. I'm casting stones here. If that's your thing, cool. Let's assume for a minute you're not a fan of wallpaper borders in periwinkle with duck silhouettes. "Great!" Joe says. "We'll just remodel, and make it what we want". Sounds great right? Sure, just head on down to Menard's and pick up some of that Galvalume siding and maybe a sliding door or two. Wait, what's that? Not an option? The high-school kid at Menard's points to the giant wall of siding options. "No no, you see I want something Modern that's durable and... "It's brand new" the helpful teenager says. "No, I don't mean modern as opposed to ancient." "I mean Modern as in Richard Neutra or Charles and Ray Eames or The Guggenheim." Blank stare. For the positive spin there are other options and things can be special ordered but the idea here is you have to search beyond the middle of the road. Perhaps this is by design, I don't know.
Point #1: Lack of options and availability for Joe Average.

Undeterred, Joe subscribes to some magazines that cater to his interests. The back of these magazines have many advertisers that sell all kinds of groovy things that the Modern homeowner may want to build or furnish their house with. A quick check on the old interweb for prices and "HOLY SHIT, IT COSTS HOW MUCH?". Joe is gobsmacked by the prices of alternative building materials. Furniture? Forget it. Ikea is just about the only affordable option if Joe is to buy new furniture.
Point #2: Compared to what Joe Average has available at local retail outlets, the price of Modern is ridiculously inflated.

There are many great things about Modern. I love the idea, the aesthetic, the simplicity. Being a contrarian, I like that Modern is contrary to the norm in my area. If everyone embraced it and it was no longer contrary I would still love it.
It is becoming trendy by the way. You see plenty of it in TV commercials.
Defining what is Modern is not so easy and the argument could be made that Modern does not exist. Yeah, that's for another post.

Back to Joe Average. What is Joe to do? Get mad and go back to Menard's and buy the ornate gold faucet and some fresh duck wallpaper border. No, Joe is a free-thinker. Joe saves his money for the deals that make the most sense for his house. Joe is good with his hands and can make many of the things he needs. Modern is not about buying things. Nothing worth a shit is about buying things. Unless you're a sheep.
Motorcycling content - Thanks Jesper

Part two to come...