Pensive non-sense

I took this shot of the construction at 1 World Trade Center, last night on my way home. It is weird sometimes how certain seemingly random things will set my mind in motion, wandering down equally random paths. Last night, for example, after observing the construction, admiring the workers, etc., I started thinking about the days when I used to do construction work.

My family comes from a long line of masons. All of the men in my family have performed some sort of back-breaking manual labor during some period in our lives. It is kind of cool, the way that those experiences shape your thinking and who you are.

One time my brother and I were arguing about how to “lower” one’s gas-mileage. What we meant by “lowering gas-mileage” was actually, lowering fuel consumption. My dad was in the room, reading the paper or something during the conversation. At some point, he decided to point out our backward terminology, and chimed in “I can think of a lot of ways to lower your gas mileage. For starters, you could tie a pallet of cinder blocks behind your car.” After which my brother and I both proceeded to make fun of my dad, saying that his brain only thinks in terms of bricks and cinder blocks (which is more funny when you take into account that in reality, my dad’s brain is like an organic super-computer).

I hope that some day my kids tease me for talking about bricks.