First Day at Trade School

My uncle works part-time
at the lantern factory
 ... just on wick ends.

Many Americans are considering new careers or just transitioning into abject poverty. The best selling book this year is Welfare for Dummies. 

These are the conversations heard throughout the USA on the first day of class in Trade, Technology, or Vocational schools.

See what students are saying in Embalming or Sky Diving class. The entrance applications are stringent: Your check must clear the bank before you can start class.

Notice the advertisements that pop up around this article. Are there some vocational schools advertised? I thought so. You can train to be an x-ray tactician or maybe just look like one.

Trade School Class. You and I will observe the first day in class. We’ll kneel beneath the window to record these precious first day comments emanating from our modern vocational universities.

Tech school students are a special breed. Some are just out of high school and some never finished. They are there because Mommy and Daddy can’t afford college costs or, more likely, their aging dependent was Gifted Challenged.

Adults also make up a section of the student body. Some have been laid off from work and some are just worried that they’re going to be laid off next. A few have quit before daily frustrations made them dispatch their manager. One or two have actually shot their bosses and have some time to kill before their trials starts.

Tech school students once included many spiritual adventurers in search of something meaningful for their essence to bathe in, seeking some sort of Epsom Salts Soak for the Soul. These early searchers have not been seen since the 1980’s when the seminars finally ended on finding yourself.

By the 1990’s everyone had found themselves and returned home to check on their marriages.

Now pay attention, you may get a quiz on this. Let’s get started on our field trip. The following are what you hear on the first day of class: 

Embalming School:  Hey, this guy is dead!

Massage Therapy School: No, No, No. We don’t ever touch there!

Knife Sharpening School: OW!

Academy for Hearing Impaired Cadets: WE CAN’T HEAR YOU.

Juggling School: I’m sorry but you’re in the wrong room. The accounting class is next door.

Travel Agency School: Is Canada a state?

Manicurist School: You in the back row. We don’t use our teeth to trim toenails.

Air Traffic Controller School: Don’t be so hard on yourself. Cessna’s don’t count.

Brick Wall Construction School: These instructions are just guidelines; nothing is set in stone.

Cigar Making School: Monica Lewinsky, we don’t need your kind in here.

Document Control School: Today our special surprise guest speaker is Oliver North.

Lab Mice Breeding School: Now where did I leave that Minnie Mouse centerfold?

Cooking School: Most of you wouldn’t be here, if you didn’t have a burning desire to cook.

Prisoner Interrogation School:  Please. No cameras, Mr. Cheney.

Sky Diving School: Please leave your book bags and back packs at home. We don’t want another mistake like that to ever happen again.

Thank you for your participation today. Please put your pencils down. This delightful blog is over.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Oh for Heaven’s Snake

Psssst.
Hey you wanna go to Heaven?
 No? How about an apple?

The TV program Snake
Salvation is not returning for
a second season. One
of the stars died Saturday
of a poisonous snake bite.

Pentecostal preacher Jamie Coots’ venomous sidekick bit him right in the middle of his sermon. You know how painful that can be when a serpent strikes you right in your sermon.

The Kentuckian pastor Mr. Coots had been bitten nine times before. After the ninth time, you would think that he would have said something to the snake like, “I’ll see to it that you never work in Kentucky again.”

The show’s producer, National Geographic, said that they have no plans for a second season and commented, “Maybe Mr. Coots can now get a recurring role on The Walking Dead."

There were snake bite treatment centers already in the area, but Jamie Coots refused medical attention. The first Pentecostal tenet is “Snakes Don’t Kill. They Just Bite.”

According to a Bible passage there is a suggestion that those anointed by God will not be harmed by a poisonous snake bite. The Bible does not specifically address someone who has already been previously bitten nine times.

We do have one quote from a very high source. When Jamie Coots approached the Pearly Gates, St. Peter said, “Welcome to Heaven, Bonehead.”

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Twenty Clues to a Bad Hospital

Get her a room.
 She has insurance.

Your hospital room looks
nice and the hospital staff
is friendly, but wait …

Here are some clues that
will tell you that you have
a better chance of surviving in your own home:

1.  There are two Life Insurance Vending Machines on each floor.

2.  The best sellers in the Gift shop are the Condolence Cards.

3.  There is a least one doctor in the Emergency Room at all times.

4.  Access to the Bereavement Chapel is by reservation only.

5.  The hospital has a staff of 50 Chaplains.

6.  There is free coffee in the Meditation Classroom.

7.  The Emergency Room has regular business hours.

8.  The cafeteria has a special on Chocolate Pudding in a Bag.

9.  The pathology reports often come back as “Benign, but a bit salty.”

10. The hospital administrator is also the groundskeeper.

11. Frequently heard in the morgue, “Where the heck are we going to put another one?”

12. California hospital blood banks keep a special blood type for valley girls: “O for sure”

13. There is a drive-up window for Vasectomies.

14. The 24-Hour Free Shuttle enthusiastically whisks your recently departed loved one to the funeral home next door.

15. The self service mammogram vending machine in the lobby does not have privacy curtains.

16. The Hospital Fertility Clinic has a sperm bank with an outside night deposit box.

17. The urine sample jars look a lot like the cafeteria’s apple juice bottles.

18. The hospital support group for Recently Widowed Spouses has a waiting list.

19. The circumcision machine is manufactured by As Seen On TV.

20. The new burn treatment center now takes MasterCharred

Disclaimer: If I am admitted to a hospital and the hospital staff has read this blog, then let me say that these were just jokes. I didn’t really mean them. It was just a humorous look at a compassionate and care-giving industry. 

A final warning: I have health insurance and I am not afraid to use it.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

He Might Not Be a Vegetarian

Hey,

 you got any meat back there?

You are a woman pledged to a vegeta-rian

lifestyle. You even walk barefoot on grass, rather than pump across asphalt in leather high heels.

Even your life partner search contains stipulations that he must also embrace the gentle diet that is easy on the stomach, soul, and soil.

But, if you a male vegetarian wondering how to find vegetarian girls, then next time you are cuddling together at home, sipping hot cocoa, and discussing the Tonys, go ahead and ask your mother.

These hints will weed out the Carnivores from the Herbivores, the Hunters from the Gatherers, the Republicans from the Democrats, and the 10-30 weight Men from the coupon-clipping, sensitive bicycle Riders.  

Here are the 20 hints that he might not be a Vegetarian:

1.  He uses Beef flavored Dental Floss.

2.  He watches The Yearling and chuckles when the deer gets it.

3.  All the labels on the canned goods in his kitchen have been removed.

4.  There is a suspicious-looking, locked freezer out on the carport.

5.  He thinks Tofu was a mouse puppet on The Ed Sullivan Show.

6.  There are 3 barbecue grills in his back yard.

7.  He says that the gun rack in his pickup rear window is for his pool cues.

8.  He has a kennel of Beagles in the back yard.

9.  He uses the steak sauce to season baked potatoes.

10. He has a life-long magazine subscription to Meat.

Don't drool when the animals pass by.

11. He can't tuck his shirt in because his appendix is too big.

12. You both pass a meat market and the butcher waves at your date. 

13. He says the bucket of lard in his kitchen is for his skin. 

14. You ask him to poach you an egg and he says, “No way. I’m not gonna steal an egg for you.” 

15. Sonny’s Barbecue is #1 on his phone’s speed dial list.

16. He has a chronic case of Gout.

17. He asks you for the text abbreviation for baby back ribs.

18. He works up an appetite when he watches The Animal Planet Channel.

19. When he eats a vegetarian corn dog, he says, “So this is what meat tastes like.”

20. There is a poster hanging in his bedroom of a side of beef … wearing a teddy.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

My Funny Valentine Just Turned Ugly

Sometimes ...
Love Feels Like the Flu

Does anyone see that these
 two pieces would not fit together?

Valentine gift suggestions in the ladies magazines are harder to find than Lindsay Lohan's current mailing
address.

Subliminal gift hints are buried in the shiny multi-sheet tundra of full page ads with expressionless, hungry women alluding to vague and ambiguous products for sale.

These magazines, otherwise, lean toward thought-provoking prose of 37 secrets your man wants you to know about him and, apparently, at least one secret that he does not want you to know. It involves alone time and hand lotion. 

I am probably resentful because my wife spends $5.99 for each of her magazines, so there’s no money left for just one of my favorite inexpensive fact-filled woodworking magazines.

Take a break from the pressure of buying an inappropriate gift and having to apologize for your ineptness for the rest of your life. Relax and enjoy these 20 reasons why Valentines Day can turn ugly:

1. Your Valentine Day gift to your diabetic girlfriend was a joke glucose meter. 

2. You gave your girlfriend a book called You Don’t Have to Look as Old as You Are. 

3. She gave you a book called Learning to Cook for One.

4. The Valentine card from your wife includes a change of address form for one with your name already added.

5. The giant box of assorted gourmet chocolates still has the Dollar Store label.

6. She gave you 12 roses. You gave her an empty vase.

7. Your girlfriend hangs a Do Not Resuscitate sign on your hospital bed.

8. When you opened your Valentine card it said, “Whatever.”

9. The wife just joined a Singles Club.

10. You received a Valentine card with your name written on top of some dried Wite-Out.

11. The candy you gave your girlfriend is from Halloween … two years ago.

12. A case of dental floss is not a good Valentine gift unless your boyfriend currently wears the Corn On The Cob Eating World Championship Belt.

13. Her dog was sick so you bought her a pink ceramic doghouse cremation urn.

14. “But you said we weren’t going to get each other Valentine gifts this year.”

15. Her Valentine’s gift to you was a cup holder for your dirt bike. This one is not funny. I left it on the list so you would appreciate the good ones.

16. Your husband gave you a heart-shaped bathroom scale and a Weight Watchers membership.

17. You and your girlfriend were looking at engagement rings with a jeweler and then you used the term “lower price point.”

18. Your Valentine gift to her was a list of chores that you would do for her and she said, “That’s cute but really… where is my Valentine gift?”

19. You sent a Valentine card to your sweetheart again this year, signing off with the valediction of “Best Wishes.”

20. You gave a Lane Bryant gift certificate to your pregnant wife.

So, I hope that these helpful hints will get you through Valentines Day without one of those embarrassing restraining orders placed on you ... again.

Remember.

It is not the thought that counts.                                                                 It is the correct thought that counts.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

It’s Time to Retire When …

Please Report
To Human Resources

Saturday and Sunday
AM Radio: You will find 350 retirement advice shows.

What they never discuss are the subtle hints that you will receive when it is time to punch out for the last time.

Punching out for the last time can mean turning in your time card or actually punching out your boss.

Either way, it’s time to retire when:

 
1. You can remember the day FDR died. 

2. A younger, much better looking person is sitting at your desk on Monday morning … and smiling.
 
3. There is no more room in your home kitchen cabinets for Sweet N Low packets taken from the office break room. 

4. The print font called Helvetia reminds you of an aged cheese or a well-developed wench during the World War II French underground movement. Both make a fine spread.

 
5. The thermostat is permanently set at 85 degrees. 

6. Your high school has cancelled any future reunions for your graduating class.

High School Yearbook

Most Likely To Rust

7. Your real estate agent keeps showing you Assisted Living Facilities.

 
8. Your 40-year-old granddaughter starts sassing you. 

9. You’re intrigued over a special pair of shoes because one of the shoes is specifically designed for standing-in-the-grave. 

10. Your supervisor won’t let you use a walker on the construction site. 

11. Your Facebook page advertises Walk-in Bathtubs ads. 

12. When Erectile Dysfunction commercials play on TV, your only comment is, “Hmmmmmm?” 

Your Former Lovers

13. You can’t watch Wheel of Fortune without a pudding cup. 

14. Your preacher gives his sermons in stretch pants. 

15. When a friend mentions menopause, you say, “Been there. Done that.” 

16. Don’t forget to read the fine print on contracts. Never mind, everything is in fine print. 

17. The office has added a separate phone extension for you in the restroom. 

18. You can’t get your hair cut because you can’t find a Beauty Parlor. 

19. You think Ol Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction was Hot.                              

He's Moving Kinda Slow

And Finally, It's Time To Retire When ...

20. You would Still DO Betty White.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Labor Room NO NO’s

I don't know nothing about paying
no health insurance deductibles. 

I hate delivering these Breech Births.

Labor rooms have evolved from cave floors to muted pastel walls and soft indirect lighting in modern high-rise family birthing suites with scenic panoramic landscapes from every window. A Womb with a View.

An adventuresome couple can opt for a water birth, especially if the original conception occurred in a hot tub, swimming pool, or on a Slip ‘n Slide.

Is it a coincidence that June, the favorite month for weddings, is also National Slip 'N Slide Month? Take your bride for a ride on the Slip ‘n Slide. 

The water-birthed baby slides out effortlessly into a warm water surrounding, enjoying an almost weightless stopover before crawling out onto the shore. If it is done correctly, then you never need the two tiny air tanks and regulator.

Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis in childbirth. The first book on this subject Children without Fear was written in 1942 by an English obstetrician named, (I am not making this name up), Dr. Grantly Dick-Read.

He said that fear was the culprit that caused the pain in childbirth. The only real childbirth fear today is the cost of raising one child through the college years: 1.1 million dollars. 

A Hypnotherapy birth is not considered a trance. The experience is similar to that feeling when you are focused on reading a book, enjoying a movie, or staring into a fire. 

The Ultimate Hypnotherapy birth feeling: Reading a book in a burning movie theater. 

Acupuncture involves the use of sterile hair-thin needles, precisely placed in special meridian points on the body. Acupuncture practitioners make a point of reminding you that you must commit to the entire procedure. You must stick it out.

But until the magic birthing hour arrives when your life as you have enjoyed it is officially over, sit back, lock your feet in the stirrups, (not you sir, I’m talking to your wife), and relax with these labor room no no’s:

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my epidural.  

1.  When her water breaks, it’s inappropriate to yell, “Thar she blows!” 

2.  Don’t flirt with the midwife during your wife’s labor pains, especially if the midwife is a male.

3.  Don’t ask the Obstetrician for directions to the nearest bar.

4.  You may be your wife’s labor coach, but leave the whistle in the waiting room.

5.  Don’t ask your wife for a “hit” off the spinal epidural. 

6.  If the birth has to be induced, don’t bring in the jumper cables. 

7.  Lamaze is not a French grandmother’s home for unwed girls. 

8.  It is 11:55 PM on December 31 and your tax accountant is pounding on your wife’s belly to get the additional tax deduction for this year. 

9.  Don’t use the leftover umbilical cord to show off your cowboy rope tricks. 

10. “Look Honey, she has your big butt.” 

11. If you have triplets, don’t say, “Well, there goes the boat I wanted.” 

12. The La Leche League’s official theme song is Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” 

13. “Gosh, I was really kinda hoping for a boy.” 

14. “Doctor, what can we do about my wife's ugly stretch marks?” 

15. It’s not appropriate to ask your wife to share when she’s breast-feeding. 

16. I’m not saying the baby isn’t mine, but why is he wearing a mini Fed Ex uniform? 

17. “I’m glad it’s a girl because you can finally get some help for your sorry cooking.” 

18. “Let’s name her Shel Silverstein.” 

19. If the baby doesn’t look like you, don’t use your cell phone to call Maury Povich. 

20. Don’t bring in the Black and Decker to save money on circumcisions. 

Don’t stop having babies. Retirees appreciate the new taxpayers coming on line to help fund their Social Security benefits.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com