Shower Thoughts: Pearl Jam, homelessness, and orca grief

I have random things that go through my head all the time, I call them Shower Thoughts. Let’s do this.

Northwest weather

Wow, did 58 and cloudy feel great this morning or what? I just stood outside for a minute and soaked it all in. Don’t get me wrong, I like sunny and hot as much as the next guy, but that felt good today.

Orca grief

The orca Tahlequah and her grief over her dead calf is making me question my own assumptions about the complexity of animal emotions. I have always believed that animals did not have the capacity for this kind of deep loss. Some experts say we are projecting our human ability on to the whales, but it sure seems genuine to me.

Pearl Jam!

Pearl Jam is doing their first concert in Seattle in five years. I applaud the guys for working hard to generate $10 million dollars towards homelessness with their concerts next week. That’s quite a donation. But I would rather have my rock bands worry about their set list. And then have the people who get the most money per capita in the United States to fight homelessness do their job. I’m not criticizing Pearl Jam for giving back, I’m criticizing the Homeless Industrial Complex for being such a failure.

Apple

From failure to success, Apple hit the historic market cap of one trillion dollars today. That’s remarkable. I have a distinct memory as a lifelong Apple user of worrying about them going out of business and being forced to switch to a PC back in the day. Since that time they invented the iPod, iPhone, iPad, AppStore, iBooks, and their signature retail stores. Not a bad run.

Time

How is it August already? The acceleration of time as you age never ceases to bewilder me.

Travel

My co-worker just got back from Europe, and now I find myself looking at airline prices. I don’t even have extra vacation days available. Maybe I should just do a weekend road trip instead.

Mariners

Come on Mariners! A month ago, you looked like a lock to break the longest payoff drought of any professional sports team in any of the major leagues in America. Now you’re tied with A’s for the wild card and can’t seem to win two games in a row. Get it together. Remember, just making the playoffs means you got a C, not an A+.

Seahawks

Speaking of sports, will the Seahawks just put Earl Thomas out of his misery already? You know the man. He’s too proud to surrender. I know you have a signed contract, and he knows you have a signed contract.

In this specific case, that doesn’t matter. It seems like the bridge is burning as we speak on this one. He was a great Seahawk.

Time’s up, now what t-shirt should I wear to work today?

You can hear “What are we talking about here?” everyday at 4:45 p.m. on 97.3 FM.

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