If you are one of those who typically do not succeed on the first attempt, well, you might forego doing the sky diving deal.

Time to get back to it here on this Tuesday, September 8, 2015. Most of you know that I enjoy going to Chick-fil-a. It has almost nothing to do with the food. Their food is okay but nothing to write home about. However, the environment is typically clean, the folks there happy and outgoing, and the people milling around seem also to be carrying a fairly upbeat attitude. Positivity all around. Saturday before last the wife and I were out and about doing some early morning errands. Because of its location next to our last stop we decided to grab breakfast in one of the units that make up the world's largest fast food chain. (Estimated 36,000 locations worldwide serving 69 million people per day.) It was a completely different environment we found there. It was clean enough but the workers obviously had very little to smile about because they didn't. I told my wife as I observed them working from a side view how each of them I pointed out would not be eligible to work at the other place. She asked why. Because they just can't seem to conjure up a happy face to save their lives. One young man who looked like one of those teen stars on Disney actually looked like 1) he had just gotten up, and 2) he had lost his best friend. No. I am not a mystery shopper and I am only reporting this latest review to my readers out there in Blogland. I didn't say I wasn't a mystery. Just not a mystery shopper. Or maybe I am. Only the Shadow Knows. (Alert: Dated reference. Some may have to Google it.)

I suppose in all fairness I should have revealed that two local Chick-fil-a restaurants do employ myself and the wife each year as we greet kids of all ages as Santa and Mrs. Claus. That's right. They do pay us but I was on to them as a principled business operation long before I ever donned the jolly old elf trappings at their stores. I had read the founder's book and had admired their business model as someone interested in those kinds of things. To the extent my Santa enterprise may have influenced what I said in the first paragraph, well, excuse me. (And, yes, we have already been invited back for this upcoming season.) Moving on, today is my 2,128th time to dole out a brain dump of sorts onto this electronic page in doing these daily blogs. You may remember that I seriously considered turning the lights out after reaching number 2,000. My greatest fear then and now is that I would be so predictable, so repetitive, and so boring that it would become an exercise in futility. Being aware of those challenges does help me to do my best not to let those things creep in anymore than they do. Some is unavoidable because so much of what I write about is who I am, therefore, the sameness factor will always be lurking. I do appreciate my loyal readers. I really do. One told me the other day that he and his wife so look forward to reading them each day because they are an absolute delight. I also heard the wife talking the other day to her sister about one she had read that kept her laughing all the way through. I didn't have the nerve to check and see if it was supposed to be funny. Just kidding. My point? Thanks for the feedback and thanks again for taking the time to review what I throw together each day.

Speaking of the Santa stuff, many of the fellows who are a part of the same organization with me are no longer spring chickens. I'm headed for the door marked 70 but many of my fellow seasonal characters are much older. It shows. The organization has a very functional website with many features for the membership. It is pretty well laid out and easy to use. However, some of my brothers do have their issues. They can get themselves all balled up trying to access this, that, or the other. When all else fails they go to the Facebook page and sound off. But, when you think about it, what do you expect when you try to get elderly non-computer oriented people to interact with modern technology? Their problems can be pretty funny. But not to them. The good news is how that the organization and other member Santas are always willing to jump in and give them a hand. Who would have ever thought that being Santa in the information age would be so complicated? To my knowledge, at least so far, they do not have to talk to someone in India to get their problems sorted out and remedied. Think about it. I know from experience that you typically can barely understand those technicians. Now throw in the fact that the person calling may be hearing impaired. Not a good picture but in many instances, it is, my friend, the ONLY GAME in town. Take care and may God bless each one. Amen. .....More later.