Can I Phone A Friend?

One of the really great things about working where I do is the number of different people that work there and the great expanse of their accumulated knowledge.

Almost any subject you can name (within reasonable limits, of course) and you can find someone working at the prison with at least a working knowledge of that subject.

Of course, there are a few people there who are experts in any subject you can happen to name. Even if they can't pronounce it, they know all there is to know about that.

You know the type. Almost every office has one.

Sometimes odd questions pop into my mind and I want to know the answer. Tonight I was scanning through one of the local want ad papers that somebody left in the comm room and there was an ad for a livestock auction house.

Now, I know absolutely nothing about cattle. Well, I know that grass and stuff goes in the front, poop comes out the end and there's meat in the middle somewhere. That's about the extent of my knowledge. Give me a break, I grew up in the suburbs!

But this ad was saying that you could buy a 400 pound young bull for $185.00. And I think it said a 1000 pound Holstein bull was only going for $88.00!

That just didn't seem right, considering what we have been paying for meat at the store. Heck, for that kind of money I'd drive down to that auction with a big knife and hundred dollar bill and alot of big baggies and we'd be eating good for a year!

Okay, those of you who know about these things go ahead and laugh. No, go ahead!

I knew those prices couldn't be right, so I called KP down in 6 house and explained it to him. he knows about these things.

And he laughed at me. I expected it. That was part of why I called him.

Apparently they misplaced a few decimals in printing that ad. The young bulls were supposed to be marked $1.85 per pound and not $185.00 each. And you don't want to buy a 1000 pound bull to eat and you sure as heck don't get 1000 pounds of meat off of one. Even if it is only 88 cents a pound.

And KP explained about the different kinds of cattle and which ones you eat and which ones end up in fast food places and on the trays in the prison. There seems to be a big difference.

So, if nothing else, a few people got a few good laughs and I learned something.

Hey, the night wasn't wasted after all.

So tomorrow is Do A Grouch A Favor Day. I wonder if they just mean Oscar or and old grouch? I guess I'll see what I can do there.