I was recently reading Jeffery Yamaguchi book "Working for the Man" and he has an essay in it about how his parents wanted him to become the Wiener mobile driver. They even arranged a meeting with him for their very unappreciative son who looked on in utter amazement at the sheer idea of driving the Wiener mobile around the country.
As you can imagine he did not go onto be the next Wiener mobile driver which is a great thing for all of us because he is a wonderful writer and although he might not like to admit it motivator.
His 52 Projects book/website is a delight to behold. I know that on some level he realizes that we do projects to add emphasis and meaning into our lives and that really they are just small bits to help tie us down to what could be a nasty reality. He has taken to documenting, writing about, and creating projects that give a bit of hope to our lives. A reason to get out of bed even. He could not have done that driving around in a Wiener mobile.
Although, he has something I dearly want. At that aforementioned meeting where he met the driver and toured the illustrious vehicle he was given the highly coveted wiener whistle. This is something that I have wanted my whole life. I have tried to win one on EBay in lots of odd little toys only to be outbid by someone who probably wanted the metal soldier or tiger eye marble rather then the little plastic whistle shaped like a hot dog. I have tried writing Kraft the parent company of the Wiener mobile, but they do not just give away these icons of American history. No, you have to actually visit a Wiener mobile. Which, unfortunately, I have not been able to do because they haven't traveled near enough to my little town in the Ozarks.
Now what I really want is Jeff's wiener whistle. I can't imagine that he would still want it. I am a bit to shy to ask for it, but it would be wonderful. I wonder what what he did with it when the "hot dog" driver gave it to him?
