It's the Great Turkey Charlie Brown

Thanksgiving is upon us and already this morning I am learning a lesson in gratitude from my cat Cecil. As is my morning routine, I opened a can of utility-grade meat to feed the cats. This process is always at the very least unappetizing for me, and at the worst, it is downright disgustung. However, a split second after the can popped open I could hear Cecil's collar jingling as he jumped down from the bed, ran through the hall, around the corner, down the stairs and into the kitchen. I hadn't even gotten the food into a bowl and he already has been rubbing up aside my leg, meowing with rejoice that he will get to devour another can of food I cannot bear to smell yet alone eat. There is noting special about this food for Cecil. It is the same food he has been eating for over a year. He eats it three times a day - shares it actually, with Wyatt, our cat of more refined taste. Yet Cecil expresses his gratitude for this simple pleasure by rubbing against my leg every morning. I think he also tries to express thanks once again after finishing by climbing on my lap an breathing into my face. "Here dad, see how good this was?" There is nothing like the smell of canned ocean whitefish after it has passed the cat's palate, let me tell you.

I have lost my sense of gratitude for each opportunity to eat. I more often find myself sighing at the contents of the cupboard than gleefully expressing thanks for the abundance of food I have to eat. Sometimes I'll even move boxes and jars of less than desireable food around the cupboard and frige, not once thinking of the fact that I have more food in my possesion that I can see at one time. Well, Cecil has taught me to give thanks at each meal. His is the life of simple gratitude and happiness. He bears no grudge if the food is not to his preferences. He comes running with the expectancy of filling his belly with whatever ends up in the bowl, and he likes it (now if only I could say so much for Wyatt).

This Thanksgiving, and hopefully here on out, I shall also be grateful for each opportunity to eat. Maybe I'll even resemble the cat a bit and come running when dinner is called, though I will likely forgo the leg rubbing part for obvious reasons. We are truly lucky to have such an ample supply of inexpensive and variegated food. After all , we live in a country where the poor are more obese than the rich (imagine fathoming that 100 years ago!). Ooh, gotta run! I hear popcorn a popping downstairs!

Schlitzville

1848 - Wisconsin becomes a State
1849 - Schlitz Brewery founded
1850 - Milwaukee now famous

Well maybe it wasn't that simple. Nonetheless, the old Schlitz, which is to say the good Schlitz, is back. I spent last night enjoying Schlitz beer in the very city it purportedly made famous. Maybe it's becuase I work in the Wisconsin Historical Museum, but there is something about drinking original-formula Schlitz in Milwaukee that goes beyond nostalgia. It almost feels reverential. For the better part of a century Schlitz was the #1 beer in the country. Schlitz was the first beer to come in brown glass bottles. And until some distant relatives of Joseph A. Schlitz got a hold of the company and ruined a great beer with shorter fermentation time and seaweed extract, Schlitz beer symbolized Milwaukee's indisputable status as America's brewing capital (along with Blatz, Pabst, and Miller). As a beer that played such a role in defining a great Wisconsin city, the Schlitz name has earned my respect. When I heard the old formula was coming back, I could not wait to get some new-old Schlitz. I felt honored to be able to toss back a couple Schlitz the way my grandfather or great grandfather might have in a Milwaukee tavern. I'm not sure I like the idea of Schlitz costing $3.50 a bottle, but hey, you are buying more than just the beer. When you buy a Schlitz you are buying some great history and culture. You pay extra for that tropical mindset when you buy Red Stripe or Corona, so what is the problem with paying a bit extra for some retro-Milwaukee tavern culture? I'll gladly raise my $3.50 bottle in honor of Joseph A. Schlitz.

Real Retirement Goals

Enough of these financial benchmarks and bucket lists. Though retirement is decades off for me, here is what I want to be sure and have when I retire:

1) I will have absolutely nothing in my pockets ever.
No keys, no access cards, no phones, no pagers, staff IDs, no leaky pens, no business cards, no Blackberries (unless picked fresh). As far as cash, credit cards, house keys and pharmacy savings cards go, I am sufficiently convinced that nanotechnological advances will take care of the need for those items by the time 2038 rolls around. I want empty pockets for all of retirement, with the possible exception of a flipping coin to help me make critical decisions like which ball game to watch or which branch of government to complain about.

2) I will never accidentally dial "9" for an outside line from my home phone.
In fact, I never want to dial a phone at all if I can help it. I want a pin like jean Luc Picard had for communicating across the globe and/or interstellar regions. I wonder how caller ID would work on such a device?

3) I will not be able to discern a Tuesday from a Saturday.
Except by the early bird specials or the mid-afternoon programming line-up. But then again, the future may hold a differnt fate for the traditional M-F workweek. Perhaps it will all blend together and NFL football will be on 7 days a week on channels almost no one will get. Maybe all televison will be on demand and all restaurants will serve 24 hrs of breakfast. Anyway, I never feel more like I am on vacation than when I cannot think of what day it is.

4) I will not have a house payment.
Come hell or high water I will not be 65 and making mortgage payments. I will gladly pay my property taxes and the neighborhood association fees, but I think I've learned enough from the older folks around me when it comes to making home payments at retirement - a burden I can do without. I hope my kids like state universities or encumbering large amounts of debt on their own.