Last Post

It is New Year's Eve. I can only say good riddance to 2015. While not the worst year of my life, the past 364 days certainly, as a collection, were not among my happiest. We did a cruise in the western Caribbean. The Cubs made a run toward history, only to fall short. We are relatively healthy. There is certainly plenty for which to give thanks to the Good Lord. The negative? Well, I am not going to dwell on it. Besides, who wants to read about someone else's problems? You have your own. I hope 2016 brings happiness and prosperity to us all. 

In 2016 we will still have the same knuckleheads running the country in Washington. More of the same will be vying for the chance to try and tell us what to do. The Colts will be done for the season on Sunday. Despite my best hopes, I'm pretty sure the Cubs will find a way to break my heart. 2016 will bring cold and snow and heat and rain. We will see stunning sunsets and rainbows in the afternoon. We will have have birthdays and anniversaries. This may very well be my last post for this year, but I will be here to document the new year from my perspective. 

Be safe out there tonight. Best wishes for a happy 2016.

Cubbyholes

One of my strengths has always been my ability to deal with multiple tasks. I am usually reading several books at once. I can have layers of paper on  my desk, juggling several customers, quotes, and issues without problem. I can deal with bills or personal problems with all the other stuff going on in the background, devoting attention at the proper time to each topic. I suspect most of you multitask as well with varying success.

Lately, I find myself stressed more. My well-constructed compartmental walls have sprung leaks; worries from work pop into my head at night and personal issues intrude on work. My former single-minded focus made me very good at dealing with multiple issues while keeping my stress levels low. People have always marveled at my ability to solve problems and "get things fixed". I still can solve problems and smooth troubled waters, but my stress over the complex is a new thing for me.

I used to have an Alfred E, Newman "What, me worry?" attitude. I solve problem 'A' then move on to problem 'B' in its time. Now I worry about issues A through Z, then worry that I'm worrying too much. WTH? Is this a by-product of an older, weaker mind or are my problems just bigger and more complex?

I need the on/off switch in my brain replaced.

Welp

I need to put up three posts, including this one, to reach 400 for the year. That will be my lowest total since we started in March 2005 and well short of the 540+ I dropped in 2006 at the height of the blogging craze. Now, I'm a sad old man plugging away at a blog in a Facebook world.

I can live with that.

Who did write the book of love?

The wife and I got a flu shot yesterday. My arm is sore today. That has never happened before. I have a bruise, I think she hit a vein because the puncture bled a bit.

Normal temperatures have settled in after several days of hard rain. It is still pretty windy, but at least there is no snow.

Otherwise, I have nothing.

Have a good Tuesday.

Malicious Musings

Ben Franklin has been perverted around here. It seems I am on an "late to bed, early to rise" schedule these days. That means I want a nap mid-afternoon. I suspect my bosses would not approve. I shall endeavor to soldier on.

After a week of snacking and over-eating I plan to get back to more sensible eating today. The pile of containers with Christmas goodies the wife made keeps calling me though. I confined myself to coffee and 1/2 of a two day old jelly donut for breakfast. I know, not exactly what the nutritionist ordered, but these days I am more about quantity, not quality. I guess my diet is just like my blog.

I'm preparing this entry on the old laptop this morning as opposed to the iPad. Since auto-correct helps out with punctuation and spelling, there may be even more errors than usual. Both programs try to correct my multiple spelling miscues.

After a great long holiday weekend I am back to work today. Experience tells me I will make numerous phone calls and send a bunch of emails all of which will go unanswered in my attempt to set up appointments for next week. Thanksgiving to mid-January are always slow times for those of us who labor in industrial sales.

Life is good my friends, another short work week is on front of us. I am alive and breathing and the good Lord has blessed me with another day. That is enough.

Head 'em up, round 'em up

Good morning blog world. I'm glad it is Saturday, I'm going to need a couple of days to recover from the Christmas festivities. Two days of eating, presents, and family have left me content and happy and worn out. As usual, the wife went overboard, but it is only money.

We did two family Christmases on Thursday. We went to my Mom's in the afternoon and to my wife's family in the evening. Christmas Day we went to my daughter's for the immediate family gathering. She prepared a feast. The granddaughter was inundated with presents. Her favorite was the $5 Mickey Mouse microphone that flashes and plays the Hot Dog dance song, gifted by yours truly.

I went and got some fresh donuts for breakfast. Life is good and my usual post-holiday blues remain at bay. I hope your holiday was as fun and joyous as mine.

Have a great Saturday.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your families

The Reason for the Season

Gettin' Warmed Up

Dear Mother Nature

What the heck? I think you may have turned to the wrong page on the calendar. Perhaps Father Time was looking at your date book while watching porn and some of the pages got ..ummm, stuck together? It is December twenty-third, not April twenty-third. The weather man is calling for temperatures in the mid-sixties and rain and thunderstorms. There is even a chance for tornadoes. The only twisters I expect for December are found in the annual showing of The Wizard of Oz on cable TV. My neighborhood was struck by a small tornado a week or two prior to Thanksgiving a couple of decades ago, but this kind of weather in December is crazy. what happened to let it snow, let it snow, let it snow?

I passed the wife on the stairs this morning. I was getting up, she heading to bed after a night of wrapping presents. She said she wants to bake cookies and make fudge and candy this afternoon and evening so she wanted to get the wrapping done. She didn't start until well after midnight. She is a grown up, she can make her own bedtime rules.

I have plans to meet a buddy down at the smoke shop this afternoon for a nice cigar. Don't tell the boss, but I'm knocking off early today. I have had to travel on Sunday a couple of times in the past few months, so I think It will be fine. No customer wants to hear from me today anyway.

I hope you have your shopping done and are ready for Christmas (those of you who celebrate). If you don't, enjoy your days off courtesy of those who do!  I have the very few gifts I bought the wife to wrap and I promised her I would vacuum the house as my only tasks for the day. I think I'll check work emails, grab some fresh coffee and go meet Judy in St Louis.

Have a great day.

Non Sequiter Stories

I've she'd about fifteen pounds since mid October. Partial credit goes to a new med I'm taking. The rest is a little more exercise and a lot more control of snacks and mealtime quantity. I did not help the cause much last night though. I fried up some chicken and made the traditional fixings. I ate way too much mashed potatoes and gravy. Three things that I could eat every day include gravy, grits, and cornbread. I'm pretty darn fond of mashed spuds too. All are not so good for me since the body does not know or care if those carb sugars come from cake or pasta or potatoes.

It is a rainy and warm Monday here in Naptown. I'm heading into coasting mode with a short workweek in front of me. My daughter is on Christmas break so my granddaughter won't be coming over today. I keep looking out the window expecting her. I'm going to babysit for a couple of hours tomorrow. I don't know why, the wife just asked of I could.

Christmas is nearly upon us. Not the generic "holidays" since Hanukkah is now behind us. In that spirit I'm going to offer you some bonus Friday Music today. I am certain you are excited enough by that prospect to jump up and down and spit out wooden nickels. ( aside: if you jump up don't you have to come down or be in jeopardy of breaking the laws of gravity? What is the cost of that ticket in court?).  Anyway, here is one of my many favorites. (this is a sidebar, not an aside. There is clearly a difference. I pretty much dig all Christmas music besides Rudolph and Frosty. Both of those bug me for reasons I cannot define). On to the music before I have to put in a footnote.

I also like this alternative version:

Have a great Monday

Remember?

Trust us. "We cannot implement a more conservative, controlled, smaller government approach without control of the House of a Representatives" we were told by the GOP. we gave them a supermajority.  Then they said they could not stop ObamaCare and roll back big government programs without control of the Senate. The Conservative base once again came through.

Our repayment? No reductions in spending, no changes in ObanaCare, no curtailing of EPA power grabs, no reforms at the VA, just more spending, more big government, more Democrat-lite politics. No, that is not fair, the GOP and Democrat parties are just the same lying bitches.

The great lies of mankind: the check is on the mail, I won't come in your mouth, we are going to reduce government spending.

Proud Papa

My daughter graduates from college today. she has earned her Masters in Education Administration from Butler University. She also did her undergraduate work at Butler, graduating with honors.

This time she completed the course in the evenings, working all the while. She also had a baby during the course of the study, without taking a semester off. In spite of these challenges she managed to score almost a perfect 4.0.  She clearly got not only her looks, but also her brains from her mom. So, despite my longstanding reluctance to attend any graduation ceremony (including my own), I'm off to Butler University to see my daughter once again don cap and gown to receive her due.

The stars are brightly shining

Friday at last. It seems like a long week, I guess because of leaving on Sunday and traveling on the west coast. I can't believe Christmas is next week.  We are not even close to ready. The wife has never been this far behind on shopping and I've yet to start. I have no idea what to get her and she has offered nary a hint.

It is the Friday before Christmas so I will drop my favorite Christmas song for the Friday music selection.

I finally got an opportunity to watch the DVR recording of one of my favorite claymation Rankin and Bass productions from the 60s, The Little Drummer Boy last night. It brought back some good childhood memories.

The oldest boy, who has been a Star Wars nut his whole life, went to see the new flick last night. I'm waiting to hear his review later this morning.

Have a great day fellow Americans and earthlings everywhere.

Poor baby

The Colts suck this year. Four months until baseball. I don't really care much about basketball at any level. Sigh. Read any good books lately? Neither have I. Are there still 37 people running for President?  Tap tap tap. Hello, is this thing working? Is anyone there? Are you as bored as I am?

Sitting in my hotel room the other evening I watched a heavy downpour slowly flood the parking lot. It was gray and cold and miserable. I was in one of my favorite places on Earth and I was sitting in a f-ing hotel room. It was too cold and wet and miserable to do much else.  I started a blog post listing some of the cool things I have done. The entry sat in the "draft" box for a couple of days before I deleted it. No one wants to read a list of "I have...". There is no way to make it interesting. Besides, most of my " this one time, at band camp" stories have previously been recounted here. There is a decade plus of archives over there in the right if you really want to revisit my adventures and travels.

My life is on cruise control these days. It seems I have no passion for anything. I'm bored and boring. It shows up here. Sorry 'bout that.

Political Legacies of the Boxer Rebellion

My sleep cycle is just messed up. I zipped to the west coast Sunday for business meetings on Monday. I did my thing and was back at the airport for a 6:30 AM flight back home Tuesday morning. The meetings went well, the weather was cold and rainy, even for the Pacific Northwest. To cap it off I had the middle seat in both directions. The guy in the window seat coming home was determined to claim every inch of space he could, even if that meant squeezing me even more. His behavior confirmed my long-held impression that sixty-plus year old balding guys with ponytails are all assholes. 

The good news for me is that this trip should pretty much wrap up my travels for the year. 2015 was busy on that front. I drove 43,000 miles and earned about 250,000 hotel points. I crossed and recrossed the Mississippi more times than I can count. 

One of the wreaths from the upstairs windows blew off Monday. I have to drag out the big ladder to stick it back up when it gets light out and about three feet of lights decided to quit on the porch garland. I will leave that to the wife. 

My granddaughter turned one year old today. She just now came in, full of life and ready to play. Im glad my wife is able to babysit. It is going to be a great day.

All that counts is good intentions

John Kerry just attended a climate change meeting in Paris. He is trumpeting the "agreement" as historic. Kerry said that there are no penalties in the agreement, otherwise a lot of the nations would not have agreed.

Sorry, Mr. Kerry, that means you have no agreement at all. It is just easier to pretend to go along, then do what you want. India, China, and Russia are not stupid, they will not destroy their economies for feel good measures. Liberals, won't be happy until everyone (except them) is living in a 17th century shithole, hoping solar panels and windmills keep them warm on a winter night.

Food for thought for you climateers. When was the last time Portland, OR saw the sun? Think solar is the answer in the Pacific Northwest?

Happy Birthday Frank

I don't know how many Frank Sinatra CDs I have, a dozen at least. I have a couple of movie collections. Dude was a first class entertainer. He was born 100 years ago today.

Dude, back off on the man perfume

Blogging will be light for the next several days. I have stuff to do. None of your business stuff. Maybe it is secret international spy stuff. You don't know. If I told you, I would have to kill you, or at least say things that might hurt your feelings. Micro aggression-type things. I might even give you a frowny look. You don't want that. Trust me. It could be I'm just making stuff up. You don't know. Maybe I'll launch a whole bunch of posts. I'm on track for my fewest blog posts in a year ever. I could post like ten times in the next few days. You should probably check back hourly. Set your alarm so you can get up in the night too. You don't want to miss brilliant shit like this. Trust me on that too.

It is Friday and that means I fill up the blank space with the blinking cursor with a music selection you will not watch. That is OK, it amuses me and that is what counts most.

You Ninnies

There is a new  public service ad out with celebrities telling us they are against gun violence. Duh. Who is in favor of gun violence? What sane person wants their streets to be a shooting gallery? I am willing to bet most drug dealers and gang bangers are not thrilled with gun violence. They don't want to get shot. What a stupid waste of film. 

Look, you f-ing ninnies, just because a person owns a gun or believes the right to self protection is a fundamental Constitutional right does not mean that person is in favor of mass killing, murder, mayhem, and gun violence. Oh, while we are at it, not one of the actions called for The Obama in his mundane, forgettable Oval Office speech would have stopped the Islamic Terrorists, nor the crazed Planned Parenthood shooter from their evil deeds. Do you really think a determined murderer will stop and think, " wait, I better not kill the infidel today, my guns ate not registered. I might get in trouble?".  Sorry, the ability to emote in public and memorize words written by someone else does not make you a role model, expert, or even smart. 

Crap, I forgot to put a title

I'm once again in the wilds of Iowa. I successfully crossed the Mighty Mississippi without incident. In pioneer days that was an accomplishment. These days I just drive across a bridge. I suppose the lefties are correct. I certainly did not build that bridge. I've built a couple of decks. I built a birdhouse in Cub Scouts. Roofed some buildings. But I have not built a bridge. Not even over troubled waters.

Where was I? Hmm, I'm not sure. I know we were crossing the bridge, but I'll be damned if I know where this post was going from there. I shouldn't drive when I'm tired, and I should not blog after driving tired. It is not like anyone reads anyway. Except you. Thanks for stopping by. No doubt I was up for the Nobel Prize in blogging right up until I typed this post. Figures. I make another one incoherent entry and I miss my long overdue accolades. Just to demonstrate the breadth of my inadequacoes, I am tempted to forego editing as well. "What?" you say, "You edit?".  Button yer lip.

Look, most of the folks I used to read don't bother to blog anymore. That is OK, but don't climb all over my back because I throw up an occasional fluff piece. An 'A' for effort and an 'F' for content Still averages out to a 'C',  So there. Since I keep falling asleep while typing I better knock off for now. But you get a post, and not just a short one either.

Keep off the grass

I have lambasted Lefties for their failure to call out members of their team for egregious behavior. I was especially appalled when no one on the Democrat side had an issue with the targeted use of the IRS to go after political opponents or the deliberate selling of guns to Mexican cartels.  Those things are wrong no matter which side of the political spectrum you stand.

So I would be remiss if I don't condemn the ridiculous proclamation from Trump that he would bar all Muslims from entering the country. While I am not a Republican,  I'm a conservative.  I suppose the Donald falls on my side of the political world. In any case, barring Muslims, or the followers of any individual religion, is wrong. It is on par with FDR's round-up of Japanese Americans and locking them in concentration camps (the brain child of Earl Warren BTW, a position that should have kept him from the SCOTUS). Trump's position is wrong and sickening.

I'm all for making sure we are safe. And it is true that many terrorists are Muslim, but most Muslims are not shooting up coworkers or flying planes into buildings. Should the immigrants from every nation be thoroughly vetted, investigated and checked? Absolutely, but that falls far short of banning people because they worship a particular deity. It is akin to banning folks who are brown, or who have eyes of a certain shape. Oh wait, we did that with the Chinese exclusion Act of 1882.

Trump is wrong on so many levels with this policy. I suspect if Eastern Elbonia were to ban all Americans from entering their fictional nation, Trump would be in a months-long hissy fit.

Optimist: A Short Story

Late in the night, he finally regained consciousness.

He was in the hospital, in terrible pain.

 

He found himself in the ICU with tubes in his nose, needles and IV drips in
both arms, a breathing mask, wires monitoring every function, and a nurse
hovering over him. He realized that he was obviously in a life-threatening
situation.

 

The nurse gave him a serious, deep look, straight into his eyes, then spoke
to him slowly and clearly, enunciating each word and syllable, "You may not
feel anything from the waist down."

 

Somehow he managed to mumble in reply, "Can I feel your boobs, then?"

 

 

December 7th

Hanging on

I have three Bradford Pear trees in my backyard. I don't know if any sports a partridge amongst the boughs because I'm not confident I know a partridge from a peregrine. Besides, if there was a partridge in the pear tree it would be camouflaged by all of the leaves.

I don't know if it is the mild temperatures or climate change or global warming or global cooling or transfats in popcorn oil, but those trees still have fifty percent of their leaves clinging stubbornly to the branches. The maple out front was trying to hold on in a battle of wills, but finally dropped most of its leaves in the past two weeks. What gives? It is December. We are supposed to have sleigh bells and snowmen in the park who will marry loving couples. Instead I'm out on a Saturday morning raking leaves and depressed in the knowledge I still have three trees full in the backyard.

In the afternoon we motored down to what used to be Glendale mall to Macy's to find an elusive Christmas present. To my surprise, the old mall is gone. Now there is the Macy's and a Target and some smaller shops, but no great big mall. I am probably the only person alive who was unaware of this development, but in my defense I have probably not been to what once was Glendale Mall in 15 years or so.  Later,  we supped down in Broad Ripple before we retreated back north.

My daughter and SIL had a party to attend last night so my granddaughter spent he night. I can hear her playing and jabbering her baby nonsense downstairs. I think I will go play with her. Have a great day.

Dear President Obama

If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, has feathers like a duck, wings like a duck, webbed feet like a duck, and a bill like a duck, it really, probably is a Muslim terrorist a duck.

I'm an idiot

Coming out of St Louis yesterday I was listening to a Stephen Coonts audiobook. Jake Grafton must have had my attention because the next thing I knew I was almost to Springfield on I-55 instead of cutting east on I-70. Worse, I even stopped at a rest park to remove coffee from my bladder and mentally commented that it was strange this rest park seemed unfamiliar. Then I drove on for another 45 minutes before reality whacked me in the brain with a figurative 2x4 and shouted "WTF are you doing"? Heck, I was contemplating driving cross country on 2 lane highways anyway.  These words are testimony I made it home safe despite running both my VW and my brain on cruise control.

Since we were discussing the movie Meet Me in St Louis yesterday, I thought you might like to listen to Judy sing one of the signature songs from the flick. Enjoy.

  I said enjoy.

Meet Me in St Louie

On second thought, don't bother. I will be gone and on my way home before you can get here. I thought about visiting the address from the Judy Garland movie, but the house is gone, and Meet Me in St. Louis was not filmed there anyway. That is not to say I don't dig the film centered around a family and the year leading up to the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. I have often opined that if I had possession of a time machine the turn of the twentieth century would be my premier destination. I don't know why, but it would. Of course I would have to worry about polio, small pox, TB, and a whole host of other diseases and be prepared to deal with horse shit everywhere. I also suspect those big heavy dresses made the chicks somewhat odoriferous and a wool suit on a summer day does nothing to hide that man smell. You were right back in school when you muttered "history stinks". I would like to ruminate further on early twentieth century fashion*, but I have customers to see and stuff to sell.

* not really

A common sense approach

How about we actually have some facts before Obama or Hillary or anyone else weighs in on the California shootings? We don't know if the shooters are domestic terrorists, foreign terrorists or even terrorists at all. Common sense says a few facts always makes your position clearer. Knee jerk reactions usually make you look foolish.

Edit. Funny, the " We need more gun control" screamers fail to note that California has some of the most strict gun laws and we won't even discuss Chicago, where gun violence is a a part of daily life despite some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Sorry, putting your name in a big old database will not stop a person bent on shooting up a bunch of folks. Murder is already a crime. Do you really think adding "failure to register" is going to make anyone stop and reconsider their shooting spree?

I need coffee and I mean right now

What the heck? I was sleeping good. Mexican food-inspired dreams spun weird tales in the depth of my brain. Then, just like that, my eyes popped open and I was wide awake. The clock said 4:43 . I flipped my pillow to the cool side snuggled back down with eyes shut and proceeded to not drift back to sleep at all. Finally, at 5:30, I surrendered to the inevitable and got up. I never could lie around in bed.

I see Chicago protesters are now calling for the ouster of the mayor. Anything that boots that leftist from office is OK by me, but I'm still confused over these protests. What do they want? The cop has been charged with first degree murder. The wheels of justice turn slowly. Do the protesters crave vigilante justice? What we have here is the problem with the left's whole "it takes a village" mentality. You cannot hold society as a whole responsible for the actions of a single individual. To condemn all whites or all cops for that kid getting shot 16 times is as ludicrous as blaming the African-American community as a whole for the murder of a pregnant preacher's wife by a couple of black teens in Indianapolis. We are all responsible for our own actions. White skin no more makes you inherently racist than black skin makes you automatically a gang banger. The BLM movement is sliding into the very position of racial stereotyping they are trying to combat.

It is time to wrap it up. It has taken me an hour to cobble together the post so far between coffee refills, playing with my granddaughter and chomping a bowl of Lucky Charms. I have work to do. Have a great day.