Hobo's and my friend Noo

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Every morning, when I pull into to work, I enter the back parking lot and wind around to the front of the building.

My back lot, or loading dock area, is middle ground between the bakery, and my neighbors which are a mission.

Nobody likes the fact that we have to have a homeless population, and I sure am not here to preach like I understand my cities indigent demographic.

Like many of you, what I know about these people, I've learned from watching in movies or news stories.

Often times I wonder how these people get there.....is it the economy?

Or lack of health care, or what?

My neighbors have a surplus of people in need and now the overflow has been camping out in the landscaped strip that divides us.

When I drive by and witness this group of people suffering, my heart melts.

But then I've began to notice that these squatters who are camping in my parking lot are not picking up after themselves, and what was once a beautiful industrial park is now becoming littered and run down.

I don't like it, not a bit.

But if a guy goes to war with hobo's....it's kinda like spitting in the face of Mark Twain I think.

Drifters have been and always will be an important part of all cultures, but c'mon.....

It's not like I don't have 3 huge green garbage dumpsters where they could toss their cardboard beds and potato chip bags.

You might say that these people have bigger issues to tackle, more important demons to exercise......

Yes, and maybe NO.

I don't care where I am, you could put me in prison, or a P.O.W. camp and I would like to think I would pick up after myself.

If I had a bed, I would make it before I was forced to break rocks.

Order is the launch pad to a better life.

Speaking of order, today was the set up day of my Demo Kitchen at the State Fair.

This is my 10th year out there, and I probably shouldn't confess to this, but my shows are not my favorite part of the Great Minnesota Get Together.

The crowd, sure I love them as Christ loves the church.....but they don't qualify as the part that I will remember the most when I retire.

I have told you L.A.B. Rat's in prior posts how important the Administration people are out there, and how often times the crowd will never know how much they do, or if they did....they might not know where to find them to relate their gratitude. 

But I'm a 10 year guy. I know the nooks and the crannies, so after I pieced together my kitchen (which this year is loosely based on church basement baking) I strolled over to visit my girls in Admin.

The building has security and after getting past the "secret door" the first person I went to visit was Fickett.

When you walk into her cubicle, it is filled with piles of papers and folders, but her mess does not denote "slob", in fact quite the opposite.

Her stuff is more of a "I'm an important person, but too humble to mention this, but the clutter that you are looking at is what it is...because I pretty much run the world."

Fickett may have the coolest painting I've ever seen in a cubicle, I mean the thing is as big as a bill board, and it is layers of flower painted over one another.

I'm not sure if the artist is copping a Dutch vibe here, but Fickett has bequeathed this work of art that she bought for $2 at a junk shop, so don't even call dibs.

I've known Fickett for a decade now, and even 10 years ago, when nobody in the world knew who Klecko was.....Fickett always showed me kindness and was cool with me.

I'm not trying to act like we hang out in fishing boats together, but on the rare occasions I've been lucky enough to corner her, or bribe her with free demo food....I always seem to walk away receiving more than I give.

Fickett is a good woman.

I realized she was busy, so I exchanged pleasantries, asked for inside scoop gossip, and then I let her off the hook.

As much as I dig the Fick, it's not as if she's southside.

On the southside of the building is the publicity department......also known as, the area where the "fun girls play."

This year, some Einstein came up with the bright idea to add more cubical sections.

I pretty much had to navigate a maze.

I hadn't shaved in a couple days, so I kinda had this Brett Favre mini beard thing going, so knowing that, I popped my scruff mask around the corner and into Rah's area, and when she saw me......

I read her face, she was surprised to see me, but within a second she smiled.

I love when Rah smiles, because when she smiles at you, you feel lucky, because if you just knew Rah, you can be pretty certain she doesn't like everybody...LOL,

I asked if I could sit down, and she said yes.

I should mention there was other people in this workspace.

Boss Lady, an intern and an Asian woman.

Rah, blurted out that she (the Asian woman) was actually of Japanese descent and she shared the last name Ronald Reagan's speech writer.

Now all the woman start talking at once, but I'm not listening, because I am talking as well, but then the Japanese descent chick says..................

"I read that blog post you wrote about our building earlier this summer. Did you notice that I responded around midnight?"

I mentioned it was closer to bar closing time, and now the other girlios laughed, she continued.....

"I think it's cool that everybody gets nicknames in your posts. After reading the ones you've submitted, we've kinda gone with them around here. I wish that I could be in the mix."

"Duh" I exclaimed....."Who doesn't want to be in the mix? But what you have to realize is that me and the women in this building have crossed deserts together. We've slain dragons, side by side. You simply can't rush stuff like this."

Now I hear a shrieking, not of peril...but of joy. Everybody is thrilled because our last family member had arrived.

It was Gid.

Of all the woman on the southside of the building, I have known Gid the longest.

When I was a day out from the doctors placing rods in my head, it was Gid that called me on the phone and made me feel better.

Other people tried to extend kindness, but Gid has a quality that is hard for me, a man of a thousand descriptions to describe.

Sometimes when you get older, you gather up pockets full of wisdom, and if there's one thing I've learned lately it's....don't wait for spectacular jackpot moments....they just don't come.

To fully enjoy life, you just need to keep your eyes open, and when a moment is perfect.....don't try to capture it, or try to record it for prosperity.

All you need to do is acknowledge to yourself how blessed you are to have these moments.

I've got 12 days of frivolity (and hell) ahead of me, but I'm gonna tell ya, that 12-15 minutes I spent with those naughty girls on the southside of Admin was priceless.

BTW.........girls in Admin, you can tell your Social Media Director......

I'm tagging her with the name Noo, it's official.

don't forget...showtimes are 11-1-3 and 5