Now it's Miller time

The city of Bellingham is paving the road in front of the building where I work. This morning, when I sought access to my parking lot, the flagger told me, "You might not be able to get out again." I thought, You guys better just get out of my way when I leave on a Friday. As it turned out, everything went fine when I left, which is how things should go on Friday at quitting time.

When I was in college, there was a commercial on TV for Miller beer. It would show men working hard in a factory or wherever, then the whistle would blow, they'd head out of work, and the voiceover would say, "Now it's Miller time." Then would come scenes of happy dudes in a bar being served Miller beer.

I did not actually drink Miller beer after work today.

As I wrote this post, it occurred to me to wonder if Miller beer is still out there, so I googled it. Apparently a merger took place while I wasn't paying attention and there is now a company called MillerCoors. When I was young, Coors was only sold in certain states and if you took it to another state you were smuggling. This is, in fact, the premise of the movie Smokey and the Bandit, starring 70s heart-throb Bert Reynolds. I don't think I've ever actually watched that movie straight through. The first time I saw any parts of it I was shocked and disappointed at the way Jackie Gleason was swearing. Nowadays foul language is so common in movies I doubt I'd be shocked anymore. The coarsening of our culture. It's to the point that vulgarity and obscenity are not shocking; they're just boring. And profanity is so commonplace that nobody seems even to know it might be offensive.

Oh, well. That's not a very cheerful way to end a post, so I'll just be glad for the quiet of my own home and I will try to be a spring of fresh water.