Finally finished listening to Dracula. Long book. After that I think it was Al Franken's book Why Not Me? Nothing but humor, gives no insight to any people or events related to current events. I was hoping for more of what can be found in Lies, but it's just a fictitious story of Al Franken making an awkward bid for the presidency, and actually getting it. Good for a laugh but nothing more.

Now I'm listening to The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. Kinda boring at times, down to earth and interesting at others. Hence, sometimes I was paying attention, sometimes my mind drifted. I hope I never have to read this book and write something other than that about it, too complicated at times.

In the opinion section of the local newspaper they printed something written by a recent graduate of high school. She talks a little about what she may do over the summer, which leads to the job she's had a while and her thoughts on work ethic. She does this by comparing a 'good' worker to a 'hard' worker.

"A good worker shows up on time. Sometimes she will be 15 to 20 minutes late (because of traffic), but nevertheless, she always shows up.

A hard worker shows up early. For the most part, he or she will usually beat traffic in some superman/superwoman sort of way and be in 15 minutes early, if not 20.

A good worker does what she's told. It may not always be done in a quick and precise manner, but it gets done.

A hard worker doesn't have to be told what to do. She finds something to do and does it quickly and in a precise manner."

She goes on in the same manner until the end....

"I know that as long as I'm not a bad worker it's OK. A bad worker never even bothers to show up." (This is her only description of a bad worker)

Following this logic in the real world, there are no bad workers, BECAUSE THEY'VE ALL BEEN FIRED!!!! I would expect this 'good' worker wouldn't last long either. You show up to work 15 minutes late with the excuse, "I got stuck in traffic." even once a week, it doesn't take long for a supervisor to realize this bozo doesn't have the sense to account for traffic and LEAVE EARLY!!!! If the brain power even for this simple problem has trouble gaining a foothold in one's mind, WHAT ELSE IS LACKING? That would be a question I would be asking myself.

Reminds me of the short time I spent driving a school bus. At least every other day, if not more often, somebody would be on the radio informing the dispatcher that they were running a little late because they had to stop for a train. I never could get it, it was always the same people calling in for this, in part because it was the same people that had to cross railroad tracks every single day. I would often wonder why somebody didn't take these people aside and give them a clue... if you are getting behind due to waiting for trains constantly, maybe you should, I don't know, LEAVE A LITTLE EARLIER? It was only a few that drove on that side of town that had this difficulty, the majority of drivers had no problems with trains, because they always took them into account.