For my last act, I’m going to rant and rave about a subject near and dear to my heart.  Is there anybody in the world any more who is competent at what they do???

Fifteen years ago, I had a mid-life crisis. I changed jobs (went to law school). I bought a sports car, sort of, a Toyota MR2. I did not get a new younger wife (Greg’s Mom objected). MR2s of that year were designed with larger wider tires on the rear compared to the smaller narrower tires on the front. One time a few years ago, just before I traded it in, I took the car into the Toyota dealer (Thurston’s, for you Ukiah cognoscenti) for service and they ROTATED THE TIRES!  When I drove the car out of the service lot onto the street, I had a heck of a time getting the car to make a sharp right turn.  Well, duh, those large fat tires in the front were rubbing against the wheel well when I turned.

Somebody I know picked up his car after having an oil change (not at Thurston’s - let’s only blame them for their own screw-ups).  A few miles down the road, loud grinding noises and a burned odor were the prelude to an engine freeze-up.  It turned out the shop had forgotten to put in new oil after draining out the old.

I am a surgical specialist.  As a specialist, I am expected to know more about my specialty than the average general practitioner.  Hoping to improve the general level of care in the large group where I work, I have been providing “tips” by e-mail about my specialty.  Has there been any discernible result? No. Patients are still referred to me for the same stupid reasons they were referred to me a year ago when I started my emails.  They weren’t stupid reasons a year ago, actually. They were the result of the extremely poor level of education at too many medical schools and family practice training programs today. NOW, they are stupid reasons. Ignorance is an excuse only before you’ve been corrected.

From the bank teller the other day who had to refer me to another, then call the experts in Southern California, and still made mistakes in the forms she was preparing that had to be redone, to the nurses who rupture ear drums trying to wash out ear wax, people seem unable to get their jobs done without mistake.

Well, it’s Friday where I live. That means that Greg is coming back from his business trip. I hope he had time to see the manatees and the alligators. He’ll be taking over this space again.  Back to humor and pop culture references to bands whose musicians were all born after I started to think about retirement, and away from my ponderous pronouncements.  Back to puns and rapier-quick wit. Done with Thor’s Hammer!

I look forward to leaving comments on his site again. Having the responsibility means being responsible. Ugh!  It will probably take him a year to restore his readership! I’ll never get to guest blog again. Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I think I’m going to eat worms! [Actually, my sincere thanks to those who have posted favorable comments. If I ever really do start my own blog, I think I’ll call it, “Thor’s Hammer” unless one of the millions of other blogs already has that name. Come to think of it, there are so many blogs out there that the only name I can probably adopt that is not already in use will be, “&*$%($$$((566pjklw"]

And a final P.S., my granddaughter, and Greg’s niece, Cameron, is 11 days old. Happiness IS being a grandparent.  30