Emmy Night According to Mike…

From Mike’s forum on Discovery: Q: We caught the news that you didn’t pick up an Emmy for Dirty Jobs this go around. We were all rooting for you. I understand that Dirty Jobs should be recognized by those that measure such things as a ground breaking renovation in television media. Not only the show, but the entire package should be considered. Of course, that’s not up to me is it? The Emmy’s aren’t the people’s choice are they? Any who, after you get home and strip of the cummerbund and tie, what award would you like to see Dirty Read More

Seems I’ve Gotten the Boot

PRESS RELEASE   Here’s a link to a captivating video that confirms the information in the aforementioned press release. I have indeed partnered with my friends at CAT© Footwear on a line of boots and shoes made primarily from the hides of buffaloes.   As you can plainly see, buffaloes are tough and rugged creatures.  They are more than happy to roll around in the mud, fight with a lion, and make love out in the open. They are in my opinion, an ideal creature from which to make a truly tough boot.   Here by comparison, is the creature most Read More

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barsky’s!

Many of you know Barsky. He’s my good friend, my trusted ally, and the only director I know willing to work with me on a weekly basis. What many of you may not know is that Barsky often needs to be restrained. His temper of late has become unpredictable, and his ability to play well with others is virtually non-existent. On Dirty Jobs, he has become a danger to himself and others, and so I, in the interest of public safety, have had to take steps. Happily, my friends at Master Lock have devised a new line of Work Truck Read More

Farmers vs. Teachers?

From the MRW Water Cooler: I don’t need a fight with the teacher’s union any more than I need one with PETA, or OSHA, or the EPA. And as the son of two teachers, I don’t need any trouble with my parents either. (Believe me, nobody want that.) But this business in Wisconsin is fascinating, and this article goes right to the heart of something we’ve discussed here at length – the changing definition of a “good job.” It’s interesting what we value, and how those values change over time. But only on a perpetually full stomach could we allow such Read More

Oops, I did it again…

I’d like to take a minute and tell you about Kimberly-Clark, a modest little operation in Wisconsin that’s been cleaning up our bodily fluids for the last hundred years, and mrW’s latest supporter. Kimberly-Clark makes everything from Kleenex to Kotex. (Alphabetically of course, there isn’t much between Kleenex and Kotex, but you get the idea.) They manufacture safety equipment, medical supplies, paper towels, toilet paper, and a truly comprehensive line of diapers, including Huggies, Depends, Little Swimmers, Goodnights and something called Poise, which Whoopi Goldberg is very excited about. (They make lots and lots of diapers.) In addition to making diapers for Read More

The Crumbling Infrastructure Bandwagon

From Mike’s forum on Discovery: Q: Mike – I’m not on the Crumbling Infrastructure Bandwagon. It’s very much a case of a buzzword becoming truth, and like the now discredited Global Warming farce, naysayers are branded as ignorant clods. They are pitied as being blind to Undeniable Truths. Speaking from the perspective of the uneducated prol, here’s how I see it: The American Society of Civil Engineers is hardly an objective observer in this matter. Civil Engineers do a great many things, but most make their living designing, building and maintaining, what? Infrastructure! There are three problems here. First, of Read More

Education Affords the Choices ~ Honorable Jobs ARE the Good Jobs

From the MRW Water Cooler: Q: Mike, I’m a public school teacher in Texas, one of the lowest ranking states in education. I’m doing what I can one 8th grader at a time. Would it be offensive to the people who go out and work these dirty jobs every day (yes I know I need them to keep my cozy little world running!) to reference some of the ones I’ve seen as a “stay in school” message? It’s my job to use what kids like to try and motivate them, and they love this show. I’m not all about political Read More

San Francisco Chronicle – Q&A: "Dirty Jobs" star Mike Rowe

Mike dishes the dirt and answers the questions in this column that sounds right up his alley ~ “The Poop”. Q&A: “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe By Peter Hartlaub My 5-year-old son is a huge “Dirty Jobs” fan. He’s polite about it, but it’s pretty clear that star Mike Rowe is the father he wishes he had. I’ve heard a lot of Mike Rowe love in the comments over the years. Add the fact that this blog is called “The Poop,” and it seems like an obvious place for a Q&A with the star. Rowe is exactly like he is Read More

Mike Rowe Works Hard for Unemployed Vets

Bruce Watson from AOL’s Daily Finance talked to Mike about the issues returning military face when trying to enter the work force again and how a “Reverse Boot Camp” could be beneficial. DOWNLOAD PDF [document url=”http://profoundlydisconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DJ-Mike-Rowe-Works-Hard-for-Unemployed-Vets-Reverse-Boot-Camp.pdf” width=”700″ height=”906″ responsive=”no”]

Good Magazine: America’s Dirtiest Interview (Yet)

Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs, is building a resource for skilled trades, sounding off about the false dichotomy of blue versus white collars, and extolling the virtue of good old-fashioned filth. As the creator and host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe has wisecracked his way through almost 300 apprenticeships at some of the country’s hardest jobs, poking fun at himself whenever possible, and demonstrating that hard work and good humor go hand in hand. In 2008, Rowe launched his website an online resource center for anyone looking to explore a career in the skilled trades, which Read More

Mr. Rowe Goes to Washington (and Peoria, etc.)

October 10, 2010 Finally home, and man am I tired. Frankly, I don’t remember the last time I felt this whipped. Then again, I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this old. Coincidence? Probably not. Looking back, I can see now that each of the last ten days required a separate part of my brain. Which is probably why nothing got my undivided attention. Started in Peoria, where I got to know the big shots over at Caterpillar, and some of the smaller shots as well. Really an amazing company and a very nice bunch of regular folks. They Read More

The Future of Farming

The last time I was in Indianapolis was the summer of 2003. I remember it pretty well because I was still sulking about The Colts being moved there without my permission and not quite over their inglorious departure from my hometown of Baltimore twenty years earlier. My bitterness melted away however in nearby Plainfield at The National Chimney Sweep Training School, the site of my very first Dirty Job. There, I was instructed in the fine art of “flue maintenance,” and engulfed inflames while attempting to extinguish a raging creosote fire from the top of a rickety demonstration platform. Things went downhill Read More

Building Symmetry

Funny thing about symmetry – you never know it’s going to happen until the moment it actually does, and then all of a sudden, you say things like “Well, how about that? That was very symmetrical.” Which is pretty much what happened when I heard from “Go Build Alabama.” “Go Build Alabama” is a website built to champion Skilled Labor. It’s funded by the construction industry and the state of Alabama, and similar in many ways to mikeroweWORKS. I know this because the organizers told me as much when they first called a few months ago to tell me they Read More