After messing around on the interwebz yesterday morning I parked my old-man butt on the couch and hit the power on the universal remote. For probably the third or fourth time I slogged through”The Last Picture Show” and for probably the third or fourth time my immediate reaction was “meh”. I just don’t get it. There are far better coming of age flicks out there. Larry McMurtry certainly penned better in his long career. That is the great thing about opinions, we all have one and you just might like the movie.
For once, I won’t be obnoxious and tell you that you are wrong. I will just say I don’t hate it, I just think it is a mediocre film at best.
February 25, 2018
February 24, 2018
Red Vines or Twizzlers? The debate rages on
Heavy rains are falling on the already water-logged soil this morning. The forecast calls for it to continue raining most of the day.
In this society of knee-jerk reactions, I see several companies are pulling support of the NRA. That is their choice. A (semi) free economy works like that. I wonder how long they will stick to it after several million NRA members boycott those same companies? Sometimes I think we forget that organizations are made up of people, they are not a faceless lobbying bogeyman. I’m not a member, it is no skin off my nose. I just find it interesting, as an observer of life in these times.
There, after almost 13 years of blogging, I have finally hit on the title I should have used for this blog O’crap — The Life and Times of an Average Joe. The next time I start a blog I will go with that. Maybe. That is an even better title than The Race Bannon Chronicles or The Shawnee Supper Club. On second, or third, or nineteenth thought, I ought to have gone with Bag O’Crap Blog. I could have gone old-school and used Musings of a Mudsill.*
As far as I know, we have nothing scheduled for the weekend. I need to change the furnace filter, there is that. I bought a couple of bags of salt for the water softener. I could pour those in. How does that sound for excitement on a big Saturday night? The softener is not just a luxury. The water is so hard here you can almost hear it clink into the glass straight from the tap.
The enchiladas I had for supper last night didn’t sit too well. I feel better this morning. I guess I will forgo the details. You’re welcome.
My coffee cup is empty and so is my very shallow well of content. The coffee cup situation I can remedy. Getting meaningful content is a whole ’nother matter.
I hope you have a great Saturday.
* I’m not doing your homework for you today.
In this society of knee-jerk reactions, I see several companies are pulling support of the NRA. That is their choice. A (semi) free economy works like that. I wonder how long they will stick to it after several million NRA members boycott those same companies? Sometimes I think we forget that organizations are made up of people, they are not a faceless lobbying bogeyman. I’m not a member, it is no skin off my nose. I just find it interesting, as an observer of life in these times.
There, after almost 13 years of blogging, I have finally hit on the title I should have used for this blog O’crap — The Life and Times of an Average Joe. The next time I start a blog I will go with that. Maybe. That is an even better title than The Race Bannon Chronicles or The Shawnee Supper Club. On second, or third, or nineteenth thought, I ought to have gone with Bag O’Crap Blog. I could have gone old-school and used Musings of a Mudsill.*
As far as I know, we have nothing scheduled for the weekend. I need to change the furnace filter, there is that. I bought a couple of bags of salt for the water softener. I could pour those in. How does that sound for excitement on a big Saturday night? The softener is not just a luxury. The water is so hard here you can almost hear it clink into the glass straight from the tap.
The enchiladas I had for supper last night didn’t sit too well. I feel better this morning. I guess I will forgo the details. You’re welcome.
My coffee cup is empty and so is my very shallow well of content. The coffee cup situation I can remedy. Getting meaningful content is a whole ’nother matter.
I hope you have a great Saturday.
* I’m not doing your homework for you today.
February 23, 2018
Not even remotely deep thoughts
A crazed terrorist uses a car or truck to mow down innocent people. Dozens are killed and wounded. It has happened many times worldwide. Yet not once has anyone called for a ban on trucks, not even ones with automatic transmissions.
Yeah, and I slogged through a foot of snow to get to school - uphill both directions
It looks to be another soggy early spring/late winter day here in the heartland. It is Friday, and that is never a bad thing.
Today marks the first spring training game for the Cubbies and the start of a new season. I usually find spring training games unwatchable, but I may give this one a try. Well, I may listen to it, if it is on the MLB app, since I will still be on the work clock. There is no TV in my office.
I had an interesting conversation with my wife and son at supper last night. They are firm in conviction that no one under 21 should be able to buy a gun. They were incredulous that I shot my first rifle at 11 years old. They could not believe I shot rifles and shotguns at Boy Scout camp all through my teens. I did not even tell them that I had a B.B. gun before that or that I was hunting at 16 and 17 and started long after some of my friends.
You would be proud, I didn’t argue with them, my default when anyone disagrees with my obviously correct positions; rather, I shrugged and said we would have to disagree and changed the subject. The thing is, it never occurred to me to shoot at, or even point a gun at anyone — even at eleven years old. How old were you when you shot your first gun?
Perhaps that is the difference, I first learned to shoot under very strict, safety-first conditions. I learned a gun is a dangerous tool. I no more would have played with one than a saw or axe. I also carried a knife for most of my youth, I never once pulled it out to show off or use as a weapon. Not even in one of my many fights on the playground or backyard. It just never occurred to me.
It seems for today’s America personal responsibility is lost. We somehow have to regulate stupid, evil, and irresponsibility out of society. A kid shoots up a school and it is the fault of the gun. Somehow an evil individual uses a tool wrong and as a society we are at fault for making that tool available. Then we exacerbate the nonsense by blaming a range of social and perhaps mental problems. We limit the rights of the good and law-abiding to try and stop it from happening. In truth, an evil person did an evil thing and a whole library of laws wouldn’t have prevented it.
Ah, I didn’t want to go there today. Have a great Friday.
Today marks the first spring training game for the Cubbies and the start of a new season. I usually find spring training games unwatchable, but I may give this one a try. Well, I may listen to it, if it is on the MLB app, since I will still be on the work clock. There is no TV in my office.
I had an interesting conversation with my wife and son at supper last night. They are firm in conviction that no one under 21 should be able to buy a gun. They were incredulous that I shot my first rifle at 11 years old. They could not believe I shot rifles and shotguns at Boy Scout camp all through my teens. I did not even tell them that I had a B.B. gun before that or that I was hunting at 16 and 17 and started long after some of my friends.
You would be proud, I didn’t argue with them, my default when anyone disagrees with my obviously correct positions; rather, I shrugged and said we would have to disagree and changed the subject. The thing is, it never occurred to me to shoot at, or even point a gun at anyone — even at eleven years old. How old were you when you shot your first gun?
Perhaps that is the difference, I first learned to shoot under very strict, safety-first conditions. I learned a gun is a dangerous tool. I no more would have played with one than a saw or axe. I also carried a knife for most of my youth, I never once pulled it out to show off or use as a weapon. Not even in one of my many fights on the playground or backyard. It just never occurred to me.
It seems for today’s America personal responsibility is lost. We somehow have to regulate stupid, evil, and irresponsibility out of society. A kid shoots up a school and it is the fault of the gun. Somehow an evil individual uses a tool wrong and as a society we are at fault for making that tool available. Then we exacerbate the nonsense by blaming a range of social and perhaps mental problems. We limit the rights of the good and law-abiding to try and stop it from happening. In truth, an evil person did an evil thing and a whole library of laws wouldn’t have prevented it.
Ah, I didn’t want to go there today. Have a great Friday.
February 21, 2018
With apologies to King Crimson
Mother Nature has been schizo here in the 21st Century. Sure, blame it on climate change, I don’t care. Yesterday we saw record-breaking temperatures in the mid-seventies. Today, we can expect highs in the upper thirties and snow flurries in the afternoon. What the Heck?
I whipped up a batch of baked pasta for supper last night. The house still slightly smells of garlic and tomatoes. I sometimes wonder why I am cooking when the boy has his day off. He is a sous chef. I don’t think I have ever eaten his food, unless you count back when he was a cook. He has never cooked at home, that I can recall. I suppose expecting him to cook on his day off is like expecting your doctor cousin to diagnose at the Thanksgiving get-together. He never criticizes my efforts. I’m not sure if that is an endorsement of my skills or apathy. Maybe he likes anything he doesn’t have to prepare.
We have hit hump day. We can start to look forward to the weekend. I’m not sure if even the weekend can cure what ails me. I simply need a vacation.
Have a great day.
I whipped up a batch of baked pasta for supper last night. The house still slightly smells of garlic and tomatoes. I sometimes wonder why I am cooking when the boy has his day off. He is a sous chef. I don’t think I have ever eaten his food, unless you count back when he was a cook. He has never cooked at home, that I can recall. I suppose expecting him to cook on his day off is like expecting your doctor cousin to diagnose at the Thanksgiving get-together. He never criticizes my efforts. I’m not sure if that is an endorsement of my skills or apathy. Maybe he likes anything he doesn’t have to prepare.
We have hit hump day. We can start to look forward to the weekend. I’m not sure if even the weekend can cure what ails me. I simply need a vacation.
Have a great day.
February 20, 2018
today I shall be called El Supremo
Good morning blog readers. It is a wet warm day here at the old blogstead. Temperatures are slated to broach 70 today. Too bad it is raining.
Locally some high school kids who “ identify” as someone different than who they used to be are throwing a fit because the school insists on putting their legal name on their diploma as opposed to the name they are currently using. Government entities are funny that way. Your driver’s license, social security card, tax documents, etc. have the same policy. Good luck getting a credit card or bank account using a non-legal name.
The real truth it all about disrupting, about trying to be famous, about forcing your mindset on the rest of us. Call yourself Mars Venus Zapata for all I care. You are still Bob Jones as far as the real world says until you change your legal name. Bob Jones is who you are on your diploma, license, and legal documents. Sorry if you don’t like it. Life ain’t fair.
Locally some high school kids who “ identify” as someone different than who they used to be are throwing a fit because the school insists on putting their legal name on their diploma as opposed to the name they are currently using. Government entities are funny that way. Your driver’s license, social security card, tax documents, etc. have the same policy. Good luck getting a credit card or bank account using a non-legal name.
The real truth it all about disrupting, about trying to be famous, about forcing your mindset on the rest of us. Call yourself Mars Venus Zapata for all I care. You are still Bob Jones as far as the real world says until you change your legal name. Bob Jones is who you are on your diploma, license, and legal documents. Sorry if you don’t like it. Life ain’t fair.
February 19, 2018
Get back copycat
OMG, we have to do something, so we should ban the scary-looking plastic semi-auto rifle used by the latest madman killer. I don’t own one, such a ban would not personally affect me. But let us not fool ourselves, the AR-15 is not significantly different than a semi-automatic .22 I used to shoot in the general direction of squirrels in my youth.
But these guns are used in mass murders. Well, the grandfather of school shootings, Charles Whitman, used a bolt action Remington 700 from atop the tower at the University of Texas in 1966. The deadliest school shooting of all time in the US was carried out by a murderer toting a pair of handguns at Virginia Tech. The largest murder of school children was in 1927 at the Bath Township school in Michigan. A bomb was used. I guess there is nothing inherently evil in a black plastic gun that might make young adult males go on killing sprees.
It could be that the AR-15 is used because it is one of the best-selling guns in the US. Most criminals use a a Chevy, Ford, or Toyota as a getaway vehicle. I wonder why? It might be that some of these guys just want to be copycats and the AR-15 is what the last guy used.
We have to do something. This only happens in the US. According to Wikipedia, five of the top ten deadliest school killings occurred outside of the US, including the top 3. In fact, these killings happen all over the world, even in places with very strict gun laws like China.
We should make it hard to own a gun, really restrict who can have one. You mean like opioids? Well then let’s make guns totally illegal, get them off the streets and out of the hands of children. Just like we do pot, booze, heroin, and meth? Every state should have the same gun laws. Murder is already a crime in every state and locality.
Instead of restricting law-abiding gun owners, we should target criminals. How about this: If you use a gun in the commission of a crime, even if you do not shoot anyone, like in armed robbery, you get the death penalty. I am not talking in 15 years down the road, but in a reasonably short time. If a jury finds you guilty and an appeals court finds no error in the trial, then zip, zap, bang you are dead. Preferably, we do it it on the courthouse lawn, pour le encouragement au l’autres. I suspect gun crime will decrease quickly. Harsh? You bet. You wanted a solution didn’t you?
But these guns are used in mass murders. Well, the grandfather of school shootings, Charles Whitman, used a bolt action Remington 700 from atop the tower at the University of Texas in 1966. The deadliest school shooting of all time in the US was carried out by a murderer toting a pair of handguns at Virginia Tech. The largest murder of school children was in 1927 at the Bath Township school in Michigan. A bomb was used. I guess there is nothing inherently evil in a black plastic gun that might make young adult males go on killing sprees.
It could be that the AR-15 is used because it is one of the best-selling guns in the US. Most criminals use a a Chevy, Ford, or Toyota as a getaway vehicle. I wonder why? It might be that some of these guys just want to be copycats and the AR-15 is what the last guy used.
We have to do something. This only happens in the US. According to Wikipedia, five of the top ten deadliest school killings occurred outside of the US, including the top 3. In fact, these killings happen all over the world, even in places with very strict gun laws like China.
We should make it hard to own a gun, really restrict who can have one. You mean like opioids? Well then let’s make guns totally illegal, get them off the streets and out of the hands of children. Just like we do pot, booze, heroin, and meth? Every state should have the same gun laws. Murder is already a crime in every state and locality.
Instead of restricting law-abiding gun owners, we should target criminals. How about this: If you use a gun in the commission of a crime, even if you do not shoot anyone, like in armed robbery, you get the death penalty. I am not talking in 15 years down the road, but in a reasonably short time. If a jury finds you guilty and an appeals court finds no error in the trial, then zip, zap, bang you are dead. Preferably, we do it it on the courthouse lawn, pour le encouragement au l’autres. I suspect gun crime will decrease quickly. Harsh? You bet. You wanted a solution didn’t you?
February 18, 2018
A crisis averted
I bought a new belt.
It is brown leather. It was on sale for 50% off. I got it at Macy’s.
The loop thingy that holds the extra belt length came off a month or so ago on my old belt.
Problem solved.
Bookmark this post, you will want to read it again and again.
It is brown leather. It was on sale for 50% off. I got it at Macy’s.
The loop thingy that holds the extra belt length came off a month or so ago on my old belt.
Problem solved.
Bookmark this post, you will want to read it again and again.
February 17, 2018
What a guy
Considerate. That is just one of many adjectives that have been used to describe me. Mostly used by me, but that is getting off topic. Apparently, the boy spent the night elsewhere. His dog usually sleeps in his room. As I shuffled upstairs to the office blog room the dog was curled in my recliner. He rolled his eyes at me as I turned on the light. Instead of booting his sleepy carcass from my chair, I grabbed my iPad and came downstairs to surf the web and blog from the couch. Let sleeping dogs lie is the old saying and who am I to go against convention? See, I am so considerate I even make sure my kid’s dog is comfortable.
We are heading to visit our oldest friends this evening. Yesterday was my buddies’ birthday so an evening of eating and hanging out is in the plans. Yesterday was also my Mommy’s birthday, so we will stop by to wish her belated best wishes too.
Speaking of birthdays, mine is coming up soon. It is probably time to start making that list o’stuff and placing orders if you are buying my gifts from the interwebz. Please limit your gifts to no more than five this year. Let me know if you need ideas. Beer and cigars are always good places to start. I wouldn’t turn up my nose to a free week on the beach. Please remember, when it comes to getting me gifts, money should be no object.
Players are in warm climes starting spring training! Unmeaningful and nearly-unwatchable games start next week. Still, spring training baseball is better than no baseball.
In a maybe intentional ironic twist, the Cubs are giving away umbrellas as a premium for one of their games against the Cleveland Indians this season. You might remember it was a fortunate rain delay that allowed the Cubs to regroup and win the World Series in 2016. My blog buddy Jean may not find this umbrella idea as funny as I do.
Have a great Saturday.
We are heading to visit our oldest friends this evening. Yesterday was my buddies’ birthday so an evening of eating and hanging out is in the plans. Yesterday was also my Mommy’s birthday, so we will stop by to wish her belated best wishes too.
Speaking of birthdays, mine is coming up soon. It is probably time to start making that list o’stuff and placing orders if you are buying my gifts from the interwebz. Please limit your gifts to no more than five this year. Let me know if you need ideas. Beer and cigars are always good places to start. I wouldn’t turn up my nose to a free week on the beach. Please remember, when it comes to getting me gifts, money should be no object.
Players are in warm climes starting spring training! Unmeaningful and nearly-unwatchable games start next week. Still, spring training baseball is better than no baseball.
In a maybe intentional ironic twist, the Cubs are giving away umbrellas as a premium for one of their games against the Cleveland Indians this season. You might remember it was a fortunate rain delay that allowed the Cubs to regroup and win the World Series in 2016. My blog buddy Jean may not find this umbrella idea as funny as I do.
Have a great Saturday.
February 16, 2018
Midwest Living
It was in the mid-sixties temperature-wise yesterday, with intermittent rain. A typical spring day. Today, why highs in the thirties with snow flurries. Life in this part of the country is interesting. I suppose Mother Nature decided that in lieu of scenery we would have extreme fluctuations in weather. Generally, we suffer the whims of a northwest wind or a southwest wind, thus warm one day, cold the next. An absence of terrain features lets Canadian cold air and warm Gulf breezes determine whether we wear a jacket or heavy coat.
Knock on wood, I think the worst of my cold is behind me.
How much longer do the Olympics last? What is the difference in the ski events? It looks like they race down the same slope every night. When did they start painting the course in blue lines? How many different times do the ice skaters perform? Why won’t other channels show alternative programming that is not reruns? I have so many questions.
How about we combine some of the Olympic events to speed stuff up? For instance see if the people who ski and shoot could use the ice skaters for targets. See how high the skaters jump and twist then. I bet more than a few would get rid of some sparkles on their costumes. That would be worth watching. I suspect gun jokes are hard today. If you are offended disregard this paragraph. I am really surprised the shooting sports haven’t been banned from the Olympics anyway.
Have a great Friday.
Knock on wood, I think the worst of my cold is behind me.
How much longer do the Olympics last? What is the difference in the ski events? It looks like they race down the same slope every night. When did they start painting the course in blue lines? How many different times do the ice skaters perform? Why won’t other channels show alternative programming that is not reruns? I have so many questions.
How about we combine some of the Olympic events to speed stuff up? For instance see if the people who ski and shoot could use the ice skaters for targets. See how high the skaters jump and twist then. I bet more than a few would get rid of some sparkles on their costumes. That would be worth watching. I suspect gun jokes are hard today. If you are offended disregard this paragraph. I am really surprised the shooting sports haven’t been banned from the Olympics anyway.
Have a great Friday.
February 15, 2018
I’m tired of writing this post
Another stupid senseless school shooting. It was a gun-free zone, so let us not fool ourselves into believing more laws will change things.
I have no answers. I wish I did.
The guy who pulled the trigger is the murderer. Just as an axe cannot fell a tree on its own, the gun was a tool in the hands of a madman.
I offer prayers to the families of the victims. Too bad the killer surrendered before he could be eliminated from this Earth. I’ll say what you are all thinking. Now some scum lawyer will go beyond ensuring his client gets a fair trial, he will try to get this piece of human garbage his freedom. Most likely the taxpayers of a Florida will foot the hefty legal bills.
I have no answers. I wish I did.
I have no answers. I wish I did.
The guy who pulled the trigger is the murderer. Just as an axe cannot fell a tree on its own, the gun was a tool in the hands of a madman.
I offer prayers to the families of the victims. Too bad the killer surrendered before he could be eliminated from this Earth. I’ll say what you are all thinking. Now some scum lawyer will go beyond ensuring his client gets a fair trial, he will try to get this piece of human garbage his freedom. Most likely the taxpayers of a Florida will foot the hefty legal bills.
I have no answers. I wish I did.
February 14, 2018
John has a long moustache, The chair is against the wall...
The other night I was surfing through my TV channels looking for something to watch. I have 2,194 channels and nearly 19 of them are not home shopping related. Still, I couldn't find anything worthwhile except the Olympics. Tired of old Miami Vice reruns I reluctantly watched ice skaters do their thing.
At one point I opined to the wife that I am surprised that no one has tried to do the same-sex couple thing in pairs skating. We both laughed.
The Big Brother listening devices in my living room are working. My Echo spy machine has reported my conversation, because lo and behold there is an editorial in USA Today calling for same-sex couples in figure skating. Hah! You can look it up yourself, I am too lazy.
I will admit I did not know Will Farrell made a movie about that some years ago. I suspect it was not funny.
At one point I opined to the wife that I am surprised that no one has tried to do the same-sex couple thing in pairs skating. We both laughed.
The Big Brother listening devices in my living room are working. My Echo spy machine has reported my conversation, because lo and behold there is an editorial in USA Today calling for same-sex couples in figure skating. Hah! You can look it up yourself, I am too lazy.
I will admit I did not know Will Farrell made a movie about that some years ago. I suspect it was not funny.
February 13, 2018
Go ask Alice
Let me understand this. Graffiti artists spray paint on property they do not own. The guy who actually owns the property -- you know, the one who pays taxes, maintains the property -- he paints over the so-called art and then tears down the buildings to put up new high rises. Somehow the owner has to pay out nearly $7 million to the people who defaced HIS property? WTH?
I think I am living in Wonderland some days.
I think I am living in Wonderland some days.
February 12, 2018
My bathroom scale is a Democrat
If I can believe my bathroom scale, I weighed yesterday pretty much what I weighed in 1980 when I graduated high school. My bathroom scale is a notorious liar. At one point in time it tried to tell me I was way fatter than I am now. That prevaricating device has a future in politics. Yesterday, at least, it told me what I wanted to believe. I can live with that.
February 11, 2018
Who decides what is important?
Let me get it out of the way. I may well be an uncouth, uncultured, redneck from a backwater, flyover state. Guilty, guilty, maybe, and yes. Despite these serious cultural deficiencies I am not necessarily uneducated. My Alma Matter is consistently ranked fairly high in the various rankings published every year of colleges and universities. In addition, I have always read -- a lot. If you take the various lists of 100 books you should read, I have read most of them, including War and Peace.
To the meat of the matter: Catch-22 is drivel; unreadable schmaltz. So is From Here to Eternity. In fact, many of the so-called classics are crap, Moby Dick first and foremost. Joyce, Cervantes, and Milton all are impossible to read. Hawthorne I can manage, but why would I want to? Bunyan, blah. I will take bawdy Moll Flanders over The Vicar of Wakefield any day.
I just finished reading Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. I read an abbreviated version in a compendium of Readers Digest condensed books as a kid. I liked it better forty-five years ago. I suppose the story is mildly compelling, but the writing is so-so. Certainly not Pulitzer-Prize worthy. But what do I know? I will take The Sand Pebbles if I want a picture of China in the early 20th Century.
In honesty, I want to be entertained in my books, my movies, and my art. Do you want to teach creative writing? See how Louis L'Amour or Heinlein structured a book. It may be pulp, but those guys could write and tell a story. Are you looking for dark humor? Twain was a master. Patrick O'Brien painted in words. You shouldn't have to slog through a book or movie before it can be "art". Forcing a kid to suffer through The Scarlet Letter is a sure way to make any teenager hate reading. Is that really the point of English Lit? Don't even get me started on how they teach history.
I don't want to go to a museum and study blotches on canvass, wondering if there was intent or an accidental spill. I'll take Hopper over Picasso any day. My writing is not good. If you were to read my notebook of efforts, you will see I strive to capture a moment in time. I like my art the same way. I want to say "What happened next?" or "What just happened?". "Leave 'em wanting more" should be the goal of any book, movie, photograph, or painting.
Art can best be defined by the Popeye Proviso: the Sailorman claimed "I yam what I yam", I know what I like, and that is art to me. L'Amour westerns and Elvis movies are not deep. They don't make you think. But they add amusement and color to our lives. Isn't that the point of art after all?
Some art museum in England took down a painting so that we could think about women in art in a non-binary way, or something. I don't want you to tell me how to think about art. I just want to enjoy it or not.
If I wonder why I should care about Why the Caged Bird Sings, it is OK. Some prefer Faulkner over Hemmingway or Fitzgerald over Forrester.
I wonder how many people who tout Proust as a genius ever tried to read his work? How many finished it? That my friends, is the point of this post. Do not let anyone tell you what to like or what is good.
I know, TLDR
To the meat of the matter: Catch-22 is drivel; unreadable schmaltz. So is From Here to Eternity. In fact, many of the so-called classics are crap, Moby Dick first and foremost. Joyce, Cervantes, and Milton all are impossible to read. Hawthorne I can manage, but why would I want to? Bunyan, blah. I will take bawdy Moll Flanders over The Vicar of Wakefield any day.
I just finished reading Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. I read an abbreviated version in a compendium of Readers Digest condensed books as a kid. I liked it better forty-five years ago. I suppose the story is mildly compelling, but the writing is so-so. Certainly not Pulitzer-Prize worthy. But what do I know? I will take The Sand Pebbles if I want a picture of China in the early 20th Century.
In honesty, I want to be entertained in my books, my movies, and my art. Do you want to teach creative writing? See how Louis L'Amour or Heinlein structured a book. It may be pulp, but those guys could write and tell a story. Are you looking for dark humor? Twain was a master. Patrick O'Brien painted in words. You shouldn't have to slog through a book or movie before it can be "art". Forcing a kid to suffer through The Scarlet Letter is a sure way to make any teenager hate reading. Is that really the point of English Lit? Don't even get me started on how they teach history.
I don't want to go to a museum and study blotches on canvass, wondering if there was intent or an accidental spill. I'll take Hopper over Picasso any day. My writing is not good. If you were to read my notebook of efforts, you will see I strive to capture a moment in time. I like my art the same way. I want to say "What happened next?" or "What just happened?". "Leave 'em wanting more" should be the goal of any book, movie, photograph, or painting.
Art can best be defined by the Popeye Proviso: the Sailorman claimed "I yam what I yam", I know what I like, and that is art to me. L'Amour westerns and Elvis movies are not deep. They don't make you think. But they add amusement and color to our lives. Isn't that the point of art after all?
Some art museum in England took down a painting so that we could think about women in art in a non-binary way, or something. I don't want you to tell me how to think about art. I just want to enjoy it or not.
If I wonder why I should care about Why the Caged Bird Sings, it is OK. Some prefer Faulkner over Hemmingway or Fitzgerald over Forrester.
I wonder how many people who tout Proust as a genius ever tried to read his work? How many finished it? That my friends, is the point of this post. Do not let anyone tell you what to like or what is good.
I know, TLDR
February 10, 2018
Everything I know about China I learned from watching 1970s Kung Fu movies
In a reoccurring theme I woke up early again this morning. It becomes a cycle. I wake up around four or so, then by 10:30 at night I am exhausted, so I wake up the next morning at four or so. Rinse and repeat. There is no point in further complaining, it is what it is.
This morning I woke with a headache. I can feel my sinuses filling. I hope I'm not getting a cold. The granddaughter had the sniffles earlier in the week and probably spread the germs. If it came from her I don't mind. Yesterday she was my buddy. She wanted to play with me all day. She even dragged her dollhouse into my office to be near her "Paw" while I worked.
It hit near fifty yesterday melting the snow we had. It is back into the 20s today. At least we will miss the big winter storm crossing northern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and southern Michigan this weekend. We are slated to get some freezing rain, but not the snow. Personally, I prefer snow to ice any day. Mother Nature did not ask my opinion. It is probably for the best. I am often reluctant to opine on stuff.
I tried to watch the Olympics last night. After about 15 minutes I was bored out of my mind. I flipped over and watched "A Chef's Life" then channel surfed until I dozed off on the couch. I shuffled up to bed a little before 10:30 (see above). The wife was folding clothes in the bedroom. I crawled into bed anyway and fell asleep with the lights on.
Geez, I have bored us both enough with this drivel. Have a great Saturday.
This morning I woke with a headache. I can feel my sinuses filling. I hope I'm not getting a cold. The granddaughter had the sniffles earlier in the week and probably spread the germs. If it came from her I don't mind. Yesterday she was my buddy. She wanted to play with me all day. She even dragged her dollhouse into my office to be near her "Paw" while I worked.
It hit near fifty yesterday melting the snow we had. It is back into the 20s today. At least we will miss the big winter storm crossing northern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and southern Michigan this weekend. We are slated to get some freezing rain, but not the snow. Personally, I prefer snow to ice any day. Mother Nature did not ask my opinion. It is probably for the best. I am often reluctant to opine on stuff.
I tried to watch the Olympics last night. After about 15 minutes I was bored out of my mind. I flipped over and watched "A Chef's Life" then channel surfed until I dozed off on the couch. I shuffled up to bed a little before 10:30 (see above). The wife was folding clothes in the bedroom. I crawled into bed anyway and fell asleep with the lights on.
Geez, I have bored us both enough with this drivel. Have a great Saturday.
February 9, 2018
I really do not care about the Olympics
I woke a little earlier than usual this morning. So it goes.
Since I had some time, I perused the usual news sites. Man, this is going to be a weird Friday.
Some guy spanked someone else's kid at a Kroger in Georgia. Even if the kid had it coming that is just wrong. If someone had spanked my recalcitrant kid I would have likely intervened in a most uncivilized way.
Some college girl claims she was told to flush her "emotional support gerbil" by an airline employee. She did it. My first thought -- a comfort gerbil? Give me a break. This is getting out of hand. If you cannot bear to part with your gerbil, peacock, snake, cat, prairie dog, wolverine,or even dog, then drive. In your own car. Maybe my trusty handgun provides me with emotional support. How about that?
My second thought? I doubt anyone from the airline told her to flush the gerbil. I think the girl was stuck with a small rodent and had nothing else to do with it after the gerbil was denied on the plane, so she flushed it.
Here is a quick aside, did you know that it is now thought that the Bubonic Plague started from flea-bitten infected gerbils? Maybe it was hamsters?
This "support animal" trend is a joke. I was at the mall a couple of weeks ago. I was settled into the comfy chairs waiting on the wife and heard a dog snarling and growling and barking in one of the stores. After a while a lady came out, pulling a dog in one of those rolling dog carriers. The dog barked and growled at every person in the hallway. That is not a trained service dog. That is someone who cannot leave their pet at home.
I am glad airlines are starting to crack down on this stuff. Assholes always ruin it for everyone. If only that nut-job in Georgia had instead spanked the gerbil girl at the Philly airport for being a sniveling jerk, then we would have a solution.
Since I had some time, I perused the usual news sites. Man, this is going to be a weird Friday.
Some guy spanked someone else's kid at a Kroger in Georgia. Even if the kid had it coming that is just wrong. If someone had spanked my recalcitrant kid I would have likely intervened in a most uncivilized way.
Some college girl claims she was told to flush her "emotional support gerbil" by an airline employee. She did it. My first thought -- a comfort gerbil? Give me a break. This is getting out of hand. If you cannot bear to part with your gerbil, peacock, snake, cat, prairie dog, wolverine,or even dog, then drive. In your own car. Maybe my trusty handgun provides me with emotional support. How about that?
My second thought? I doubt anyone from the airline told her to flush the gerbil. I think the girl was stuck with a small rodent and had nothing else to do with it after the gerbil was denied on the plane, so she flushed it.
Here is a quick aside, did you know that it is now thought that the Bubonic Plague started from flea-bitten infected gerbils? Maybe it was hamsters?
This "support animal" trend is a joke. I was at the mall a couple of weeks ago. I was settled into the comfy chairs waiting on the wife and heard a dog snarling and growling and barking in one of the stores. After a while a lady came out, pulling a dog in one of those rolling dog carriers. The dog barked and growled at every person in the hallway. That is not a trained service dog. That is someone who cannot leave their pet at home.
I am glad airlines are starting to crack down on this stuff. Assholes always ruin it for everyone. If only that nut-job in Georgia had instead spanked the gerbil girl at the Philly airport for being a sniveling jerk, then we would have a solution.
February 8, 2018
Won't you be my neighbor?
This post could be a rerun from any late winter since 2013. It is time to turn off your Christmas lights. You don't have to take them down, but you can unplug them. It is closer to spring than Christmas. Turn off the lights. Seriously, there are two houses in my neighborhood sporting their Christmas lights. Last year one of them burned them until April.
I bought the wife a wireless charger for her phone as a Christmas gift. She loves it because she can put her phone on it at night and not worry about yanking the power cord when her alarm goes off in the morning. The charger quit working last week. I called tech support and they provided a return authorization to send it back. I had to pay to ship it. It was $13 to send it back to California. The darn thing only cost $35 since it was the Amazon deal of the day. If the thing had broken a week earlier I could have shipped to Amazon for free. Still, it does not seem right that I have to pay to replace a defective product, especially when it is not even two months old.
Such is life. Have a great Thursday.
I bought the wife a wireless charger for her phone as a Christmas gift. She loves it because she can put her phone on it at night and not worry about yanking the power cord when her alarm goes off in the morning. The charger quit working last week. I called tech support and they provided a return authorization to send it back. I had to pay to ship it. It was $13 to send it back to California. The darn thing only cost $35 since it was the Amazon deal of the day. If the thing had broken a week earlier I could have shipped to Amazon for free. Still, it does not seem right that I have to pay to replace a defective product, especially when it is not even two months old.
Such is life. Have a great Thursday.
February 7, 2018
A brief list of non-sequiturs
I made a quick plane trip to southern climes for business this week. I have no interesting travel stories to report. It was nearly 70 in Alabama yesterday afternoon. It somewhere below "colder than heck" when I arrived back in Indy last night.
I drove across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I ate some good BBQ. Not at the bridge. The two are not related beyond both occurred while I was in Alabama.
I have not been to Alabama for a long time. We vacationed at the Redneck Riviera a few years ago. I used to go there on business a couple of times a year back in the 90's. Like most places in the South, the people were nice and friendly.
There was another dusting of snow on the drive when I got up this morning. I am ready for spring.
I drove across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I ate some good BBQ. Not at the bridge. The two are not related beyond both occurred while I was in Alabama.
I have not been to Alabama for a long time. We vacationed at the Redneck Riviera a few years ago. I used to go there on business a couple of times a year back in the 90's. Like most places in the South, the people were nice and friendly.
There was another dusting of snow on the drive when I got up this morning. I am ready for spring.
February 5, 2018
Dreamers
A previously twice-deported illegal immigrant drunk driver killed two people in Indianapolis Saturday night. One of the victims was a member of the Indianapolis Colts.
Will any of the open borders/amnesty crowd show up at the funerals to explain to us bigots that controlling the borders is not necessary? Will they talk to the families about Dreamers when two people had their own dreams cut short by multi-time criminal with no license, no insurance, no right to be here at all.
I say if we find out he was actually employed we charge the business owner as an accessory. That makes more sense than charging a bartender when a drunk wrecks or a filling suit against a gun manufacturer when someone goes on a killing spree. If we stop giving illegals jobs and welfare there is no reason for them to come here.
Will any of the open borders/amnesty crowd show up at the funerals to explain to us bigots that controlling the borders is not necessary? Will they talk to the families about Dreamers when two people had their own dreams cut short by multi-time criminal with no license, no insurance, no right to be here at all.
I say if we find out he was actually employed we charge the business owner as an accessory. That makes more sense than charging a bartender when a drunk wrecks or a filling suit against a gun manufacturer when someone goes on a killing spree. If we stop giving illegals jobs and welfare there is no reason for them to come here.
Exclamation Point
What a football game! I had no dog in that hunt, but it was sure fun to watch, especially given the outcome.
Maybe the cameras didn't show it, but it sure appeared that Brady refused to shake the opposition's hands, instead opting to leave the field immediately after the game. I hope not. That is a totally classless act. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
Could announcer Cris Collinsworth be any more of a cheerleader for the Pats? I expected him to be wearing a short skirt and Minuteman sweater, waving red, white, and blue pompoms, instead of sporting a suit when they cut away to the booth. I would not be surprised to learn Collinsworth has a picture of Tom Brady next to his bed that he kisses every night like a love-sick teenager.
We snacked away the game after eating a late lunch in mid-afternoon. No Soup-er Bowl Sunday after all. I threw some cocktail weenies in homemade BBQ sauce in the Crock Pot*. Nachos, hot wings and a pan of brownies completed the feast. I cannot call it a party, when it was just the wife and I. It certainly wasn't a gathering. Calling it a social event is not accurate. It was just a couple of people having too many snacks. No beer or alcohol was involved. There was no nudity. No sex. No loud music. I guess you would call it "two old people sitting on the couch eating stuff off paper plates while watching football and sad dramas on TV".
Oh well, have a great Monday. The Patriots are losers and that is a good start.
*this is a pretty new slow cooker -- less than a year old. No chance of fire. I might add, that we just tossed an old slow cooker last year that was more than 35 years old. Yes, people have old small appliances and use them.
Maybe the cameras didn't show it, but it sure appeared that Brady refused to shake the opposition's hands, instead opting to leave the field immediately after the game. I hope not. That is a totally classless act. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
Could announcer Cris Collinsworth be any more of a cheerleader for the Pats? I expected him to be wearing a short skirt and Minuteman sweater, waving red, white, and blue pompoms, instead of sporting a suit when they cut away to the booth. I would not be surprised to learn Collinsworth has a picture of Tom Brady next to his bed that he kisses every night like a love-sick teenager.
We snacked away the game after eating a late lunch in mid-afternoon. No Soup-er Bowl Sunday after all. I threw some cocktail weenies in homemade BBQ sauce in the Crock Pot*. Nachos, hot wings and a pan of brownies completed the feast. I cannot call it a party, when it was just the wife and I. It certainly wasn't a gathering. Calling it a social event is not accurate. It was just a couple of people having too many snacks. No beer or alcohol was involved. There was no nudity. No sex. No loud music. I guess you would call it "two old people sitting on the couch eating stuff off paper plates while watching football and sad dramas on TV".
Oh well, have a great Monday. The Patriots are losers and that is a good start.
*this is a pretty new slow cooker -- less than a year old. No chance of fire. I might add, that we just tossed an old slow cooker last year that was more than 35 years old. Yes, people have old small appliances and use them.
February 4, 2018
Super Sunday
It is weird how life works. In the past election I voted against a candidate. In tonight's Big Football Game I will be rooting against the New England Patriots, because duh. In no other circumstances would I cheer on the Eagles, but today they will get my feeble and grudging support.
Since I am a loser from way back, I have to support the underdog. I am happy the Cubs are contenders these days in baseball. I'm ecstatic they won a World Series, but secretly I miss the lovable losers a tiny bit. Only a tiny bit.
I'm sure my future commitment hearings will feature this commentary.
Anyway, today is he Superbowl. I have seen many area businesses post closings for this evening. I guess this football game has become bigger than Christmas eve. Even pizza places have listed closings and I would think Superbowl night for a pizza joint would be like black Friday to a retailer. Shows what I know.
I've seen some push for Superbowl Monday to be a holiday. Let me get down on a knee and ponder that.
Nope.
Have a great Sunday, whether you watch the game or not. This year we are staying home to watch tne game. We are having potato soup for supper. Because it is Soup-er Bowl Sunday. Honest. Just one more reason you wish you were me.
Since I am a loser from way back, I have to support the underdog. I am happy the Cubs are contenders these days in baseball. I'm ecstatic they won a World Series, but secretly I miss the lovable losers a tiny bit. Only a tiny bit.
I'm sure my future commitment hearings will feature this commentary.
Anyway, today is he Superbowl. I have seen many area businesses post closings for this evening. I guess this football game has become bigger than Christmas eve. Even pizza places have listed closings and I would think Superbowl night for a pizza joint would be like black Friday to a retailer. Shows what I know.
I've seen some push for Superbowl Monday to be a holiday. Let me get down on a knee and ponder that.
Nope.
Have a great Sunday, whether you watch the game or not. This year we are staying home to watch tne game. We are having potato soup for supper. Because it is Soup-er Bowl Sunday. Honest. Just one more reason you wish you were me.
February 3, 2018
Abrupt reversal
The post I wrote for today (not this one, the other one) was saved as a draft, never to see the light of day. No one wants or needs to read about my crappy outlook on life.
Instead I offer wishes that you have a great weekend.
Instead I offer wishes that you have a great weekend.
February 2, 2018
Come On Cloud Cover
Today a random rodent will determine the course of our weather for the next month and a half. Since it is unbelievably cold again this morning -- we are talking single digits and subzero windchill -- I think I can speak for all of my neighbors when I hope for an early spring.
Unfortunately, a quick glance out my office window shows a light blue sky with nary an early morning cloud in sight. It now comes to mind why I shot groundhogs as a youth.
Do you know what you call a dead groundhog in a hole? Phil.
How did a groundhog get to determine our weather anyway? Why not a chipmunk? Maybe a starling would be a better weather prognosticator. If a goldfish freezes in the birdbath it is still winter. I'm not sure how that predicts spring though. How doesglobal warming climate change "all weather is the fault of anything we hate" (except actual weather patterns) affect groundhogs and shadows? If there is more carbon, plants thrive; thus there is a chance there is more shade; thus an early spring. Is it a self-fulfilling prophesy?
Is it possible a rodent has no effect on the weather? After all, official spring arrives in about a month and a half regardless of what a buck-toothed mammal predicts.
I know this about groundhogs; they make a passable, but greasy and gamey stew. Cooked low and slow the meat is pretty tender. That is what I think of the groundhog today.
Unfortunately, a quick glance out my office window shows a light blue sky with nary an early morning cloud in sight. It now comes to mind why I shot groundhogs as a youth.
Do you know what you call a dead groundhog in a hole? Phil.
How did a groundhog get to determine our weather anyway? Why not a chipmunk? Maybe a starling would be a better weather prognosticator. If a goldfish freezes in the birdbath it is still winter. I'm not sure how that predicts spring though. How does
Is it possible a rodent has no effect on the weather? After all, official spring arrives in about a month and a half regardless of what a buck-toothed mammal predicts.
I know this about groundhogs; they make a passable, but greasy and gamey stew. Cooked low and slow the meat is pretty tender. That is what I think of the groundhog today.
February 1, 2018
This too, shall pass
I'm still alive. My compelling interest in entertaining you, complaining, reporting the weather, or soporific musings is, however, on life support.
January 30, 2018
About the speech
I haven't watched a State of tne Union speech for years.
I'm pretty sure I won't end my streak this evening.
I'm pretty sure I won't end my streak this evening.
January 29, 2018
Sometimes life in suburbia is just dull
And thus passes a pretty unremarkable weekend here in the great Midwest. Saturday some friends came to visit. We hit a new BBQ dive for an excellent, but cheap dinner, then retired back to the house for an evening of euchre and laughs.
Yesterday I...I dunno. I touched up the paint in the kitchen where the wife used the wrong paint to touch up the paint in the kitchen. I helped her rearrange the shelves in the laundry room. I took the dog for a walk. I may or may not have taken a nap. Yeah, it was like that. I read a little. The TV was on.
It was as boring to live it as it is for you to read about it.
Yesterday I...I dunno. I touched up the paint in the kitchen where the wife used the wrong paint to touch up the paint in the kitchen. I helped her rearrange the shelves in the laundry room. I took the dog for a walk. I may or may not have taken a nap. Yeah, it was like that. I read a little. The TV was on.
It was as boring to live it as it is for you to read about it.
January 28, 2018
That is how I do it
The coffee is hot and black. Sinatra croons softly in the background. Charlie, my wooden cigar store Indian, stares at me from the corner, an inscrutable expression carved upon his face. Dawn is breaking in pale pinks and blues behind the bare limbs of the big willow out the window at my right shoulder. The gas bill lies folded on my desk waiting payment. At my left shoulder Chicago Cubs players leap and hug in celebration, frozen in time in a framed newspaper front page. I lean back in the recliner and stare at the iPad cursor blinking a steady beat out of time with the music, I sip the coffee, take a deep breath and begin to type my Sunday blog post.
The coffee is hot and black...
The coffee is hot and black...
January 26, 2018
I've never been accused of being a liberal but...
I would vote for a reborn combo Woodrow Wilson, Hillary Clinton, and Eugene Debbs over This troglodyte. Actually, I would just stay home. I am glad I don't live in Missouri.
Seriously, are there still jerks like this in the world? If this is the choice I guess Old Claire will be back in Washington.
Seriously, are there still jerks like this in the world? If this is the choice I guess Old Claire will be back in Washington.
Which works better, worms or lures, for click bait?
It is Friday at last. Too bad it is not also pay day. It is clear and bright. Jet contrails streak the pinkish-blue morning sky. We are expected to break 50 degrees today. That is a far cry from the weather that wracked the area forty years ago. Thirty inches of snow followed by extreme cold and high winds left the area nearly paralyzed. Drifts fifteen feet high piled up around buildings and houses.
It was during this Blizzard of '78 that my wife's father died. She recounts how she had to brave the weather to get to her sister's, who had no phone, to break the news. How the relatives were unable to get to the funeral. Sometimes I fail to fully appreciate how hard that must have been for her to lose her father at 16 years old. This all happened before we started dating.
Part of the ongoing story of the hit series "This is Us" centers on the loss of the father when the three kids were teenagers. I asked my wife, who loves the show, if it dredged up painful memories. We have never talked in detail about her loss. It is strange how you can know someone for forty years and still not really know them. Neither of us are the type to sit around talking about "feelings".
As far as I know, we have no big plans for the weekend. On the other hand, I do not function as the social chairman at the old homestead. I am sure I will be informed when I have the "need to know".
Have a great Friday. Don't worry, no Friday Music video for you not to watch.
It was during this Blizzard of '78 that my wife's father died. She recounts how she had to brave the weather to get to her sister's, who had no phone, to break the news. How the relatives were unable to get to the funeral. Sometimes I fail to fully appreciate how hard that must have been for her to lose her father at 16 years old. This all happened before we started dating.
Part of the ongoing story of the hit series "This is Us" centers on the loss of the father when the three kids were teenagers. I asked my wife, who loves the show, if it dredged up painful memories. We have never talked in detail about her loss. It is strange how you can know someone for forty years and still not really know them. Neither of us are the type to sit around talking about "feelings".
As far as I know, we have no big plans for the weekend. On the other hand, I do not function as the social chairman at the old homestead. I am sure I will be informed when I have the "need to know".
Have a great Friday. Don't worry, no Friday Music video for you not to watch.
January 25, 2018
Rest Easy
I have good news for you faithful followers of the old blogeroo, it appears my hypochondriacal ravings of yesterday were unfounded. I am not going to die in the next few hours. In fact, I don't think I'm sick at all.
In fairness, I was probably deathly ill yesterday morning, but superior willpower and shear determination allowed me to expel the germs and viruses and foreign invaders from my body. Yes, that is it, I am sure.
I know you were all worried about me. Aside from a minor headache, I think I am going to be fine. You may cease worrying and breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief.
In fairness, I was probably deathly ill yesterday morning, but superior willpower and shear determination allowed me to expel the germs and viruses and foreign invaders from my body. Yes, that is it, I am sure.
I know you were all worried about me. Aside from a minor headache, I think I am going to be fine. You may cease worrying and breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief.
January 24, 2018
It is not their fault
Here is a post from January 29, 2014. I guess some things never change.
An allegory that is probably way, way too difficult for Democrats and GOP leadership to understand
Take a page from John Lennon and imagine.
Every day you leave for work. Every day a man stands behind your property line and watches. After you leave, this man jimmies the back door and comes in your house. He eats your some of your food. He grabs a few quarters from your change jar. He watches the chicks on The View. He sneaks a few band aids from the box under the bathroom sink.
You do not notice, he doesn't take much of your stuff on any given day. After a while, you get suspicious, so you put up a fence over part of your property. He goes around the fence and consumes your stuff every day anyway: a little milk and a few aspirins today, cheese and cough medicine tomorrow.
One day, you come home from work early and catch this thief red-handed stealing your stuff. You make a call to the police, the Feds get involved, and low and behold it is you on trial. You are a hater. You are a bigot.The man is just trying to survive. Your thief just wants a better life. It is not fair you have such a nice house and he lives in a cardboard box behind the Food Lion.
In fact, the authorities tell you since he has been stealing from you for ten years and has not been caught up to now, yourillegalundocumented intruder really is now a part owner in your home. He is allowed to move his extended family into your spare bedroom. The President says you have too much and you should share what you have, Your new roommate sues you because you do not have the SAP feature enabled on your TV, so he can watch in Spanish. Lawyers are sending you threatening letters because you will not let your new co-homeowner vote on the grocery list. Terms like "apartheid" and "discrimination" are used with greater frequency.
After all, it is your fault you did not catch him when he first started stealing from you.
Warmed over dog doody
Top O' the morning blog world. I have been up for a while. I managed to take my meds, answer and send some work emails, clog up the toilet, and eat 1/2 of a donut. It is what I do.
Mostly, I am up because I think I am getting sick. My skull feels like it is clamped in a vise and my innards are twisted and I feel achy all over. I am shivering with cold. My right nostril has started a steady drip of snot. That last bit may explain the pounding in my head. I suspect most normal humans would be at the ER if the had a fraction of my symptoms.
It may also be true that I am a hypochondriac of the highest order. We shall see as the day progresses.
In the meantime, I have to go take another whack at the plunger. I assume you want me to eschew the details.
Mostly, I am up because I think I am getting sick. My skull feels like it is clamped in a vise and my innards are twisted and I feel achy all over. I am shivering with cold. My right nostril has started a steady drip of snot. That last bit may explain the pounding in my head. I suspect most normal humans would be at the ER if the had a fraction of my symptoms.
It may also be true that I am a hypochondriac of the highest order. We shall see as the day progresses.
In the meantime, I have to go take another whack at the plunger. I assume you want me to eschew the details.
January 22, 2018
Call and ask your Democrat Senator why he thinks Illegal Immigrants are more important than American citizens
“I believe in immigration reform. What if I persuaded my caucus to say I’m going to shut the government down, I’m going to not pay our bills unless I get my way. It’s a politics of idiocy, of confrontation, of paralysis.” -- Chuck Schumer 2013No matter how you look at it, the Democrat Party has taken a position that Illegal Immigrants are more important that American Citizens. More important than National Parks, More important than the National Guard. More important than government employees. Remember, according to Democrats, law-breaking illegal immigrants are "Dreamers". You are "Deplorable". Not much else needs to be said.
Too bad the national press is far more interested making Trump look bad than actually telling the truth.
As always, I welcome rebuttals in the comments.
Edit: BTW, before you argue, keep in mind a court issued a stay and DACA HAS NOT been rescinded. No one who registered under Obama's Executive Order has or can be deported. Emergency or posturing? The Democrats have created a fake emergency and are arguing they would rather get amnesty than open the government.
The best laid plans
I'm glad I am back to work today. I need to recover from the weekend.
We got the Christmas stuff moved from the garage into the attic on Saturday. Yesterday, I moved furniture away from the wall, took down pictures and shelves, and filled in the nail holes. I sanded and made the drywall smooth. I grabbed the quart of paint I purchased last fall to touch up the walls and...the paint was solid. Not the rubbery, chunky goop old paint sometimes morphs into, but solid, like play dough. It was like wet sand. All I can guess is it got frozen in the subzero goodness that has defined most of this month, even though the garage is insulated. Since we start projects around here at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, the paint store was long past closed.
I told the boss we could move the furniture and I would paint later. Since moving the couch means moving everything in the room, the TV has to move to a different cable outlet box. The box won't work. They promised it was functioning when we switched to cable from the phone company last summer. Nope.
Everything went back into its current place. The room looks strange with nothing on the walls but white dots of drywall patch. I can look forward to moving everything again after I schedule the cable company service call and buy some paint. Woot.
We got the Christmas stuff moved from the garage into the attic on Saturday. Yesterday, I moved furniture away from the wall, took down pictures and shelves, and filled in the nail holes. I sanded and made the drywall smooth. I grabbed the quart of paint I purchased last fall to touch up the walls and...the paint was solid. Not the rubbery, chunky goop old paint sometimes morphs into, but solid, like play dough. It was like wet sand. All I can guess is it got frozen in the subzero goodness that has defined most of this month, even though the garage is insulated. Since we start projects around here at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, the paint store was long past closed.
I told the boss we could move the furniture and I would paint later. Since moving the couch means moving everything in the room, the TV has to move to a different cable outlet box. The box won't work. They promised it was functioning when we switched to cable from the phone company last summer. Nope.
Everything went back into its current place. The room looks strange with nothing on the walls but white dots of drywall patch. I can look forward to moving everything again after I schedule the cable company service call and buy some paint. Woot.
January 21, 2018
The government is closed and I don't care
It's all just a big stage play, this government shutdown. Both sides are leveraging to gain power for the next election cycle. Trump won the nomination and election pretty much on stopping illegal immigration (that and his last name wasn't Clinton), so I'm not sure doubling down on amnesty is a good Democrat policy move. I may be wrong.
I know this, if the news program you are watching in any way blames the President, you should find a new source of information. That news writer, reader, editor, or producer is profoundly Constitutionally illiterate, stupid, or just a damn liar. Congress passes the budget. Well, they are supposed to. For several years now they just pass continuing resolutions to keep on spending whatever was in the last budget, plus mandatory increases they loaded in just so both sides can have room to posture. Finance is a legislative power, not executive. Look it up.
How long do you think this shutdown would last if the Congress Critters didn't get paid and their staffs were furloughed? Could you imagine their panic if they had to live on lobbyist kickbacks alone?
We had dinner with some friends last night. The guy is a pretty hard-core Democrat union member-type. We get along despite his leftist leanings. Neither of us is going to change the other's mind so there is no point in arguing politics. Anyway, he made an interesting point. He said it is time Democrats quit trying to win the last election and started to win the next. "Trump won, somehow", he said. "Move on".
Indeed.
I know this, if the news program you are watching in any way blames the President, you should find a new source of information. That news writer, reader, editor, or producer is profoundly Constitutionally illiterate, stupid, or just a damn liar. Congress passes the budget. Well, they are supposed to. For several years now they just pass continuing resolutions to keep on spending whatever was in the last budget, plus mandatory increases they loaded in just so both sides can have room to posture. Finance is a legislative power, not executive. Look it up.
How long do you think this shutdown would last if the Congress Critters didn't get paid and their staffs were furloughed? Could you imagine their panic if they had to live on lobbyist kickbacks alone?
We had dinner with some friends last night. The guy is a pretty hard-core Democrat union member-type. We get along despite his leftist leanings. Neither of us is going to change the other's mind so there is no point in arguing politics. Anyway, he made an interesting point. He said it is time Democrats quit trying to win the last election and started to win the next. "Trump won, somehow", he said. "Move on".
Indeed.
January 20, 2018
Wherein I do a bunch of complaining
My Internet is slow as heck this morning. I don't know why. I will blame it on the Government shutdown. The real issue is my office is as far from the router as possible. I need to get a mesh system or at least a wifi extender to improve performance.
It looks like I will have a busy weekend. The wife wants to rearrange furniture. And since I'm the one that will have to do it, we outta clean the carpets while we are at it. Don't forget that "we" will have to patch the holes in the drywall since stuff on the walls will have to be moved too. That means painting. Yet she tells me I'm being an ass about "Just moving the couch to the other wall". Yes, that other wall where the sofa was when we first moved here and she didn't like it there. She wants to find room for some shelves/bins for the grandkid's toys because somehow adding more furniture to a crowded room is going to give us more space.
I might have convinced her that cleaning the carpets in the middle of winter when the boy's dog is still running around the house is a waste of time. The boy is planning on moving out in a month or so.
At some point I have to get the Christmas stuff back in the attic. All I ask is for someone to help. If they pass me the boxes it is a lot faster. And easier. Otherwise I have to carry each box, one at a time, up the ladder. That is up and down for each box. 15 boxes means 30 trips on the ladder. The ladder is 8 feet so that is like climbing 30 flights of stairs. I need the exercise, but come on. I have made the boxes smaller and lighter because I'm a weak old man, but that means more boxes that I have to handle.
I know, boo hoo, whaaaa. I've pretty much spent the past few weekends parked on my lazy butt, so I guess a little work won't kill me. I don't have to like ot though. Besides, it gives something to whine about and that is my most favorite activity. I'm good at it.
Enjoy your Saturday.
It looks like I will have a busy weekend. The wife wants to rearrange furniture. And since I'm the one that will have to do it, we outta clean the carpets while we are at it. Don't forget that "we" will have to patch the holes in the drywall since stuff on the walls will have to be moved too. That means painting. Yet she tells me I'm being an ass about "Just moving the couch to the other wall". Yes, that other wall where the sofa was when we first moved here and she didn't like it there. She wants to find room for some shelves/bins for the grandkid's toys because somehow adding more furniture to a crowded room is going to give us more space.
I might have convinced her that cleaning the carpets in the middle of winter when the boy's dog is still running around the house is a waste of time. The boy is planning on moving out in a month or so.
At some point I have to get the Christmas stuff back in the attic. All I ask is for someone to help. If they pass me the boxes it is a lot faster. And easier. Otherwise I have to carry each box, one at a time, up the ladder. That is up and down for each box. 15 boxes means 30 trips on the ladder. The ladder is 8 feet so that is like climbing 30 flights of stairs. I need the exercise, but come on. I have made the boxes smaller and lighter because I'm a weak old man, but that means more boxes that I have to handle.
I know, boo hoo, whaaaa. I've pretty much spent the past few weekends parked on my lazy butt, so I guess a little work won't kill me. I don't have to like ot though. Besides, it gives something to whine about and that is my most favorite activity. I'm good at it.
Enjoy your Saturday.
January 18, 2018
First time for everything
I have had a job since I was 13 years old. I have rarely missed work. I almost never take sick days. In fact, when I had my surgeries in 2016 that was the first sick days I had taken in 3-4 years. I doubt I have missed 10 days of work (outside of my surgeries) in more than 40 years of working.
Today, I took a sick day. It is the first time I have ever, to the best of my knowledge, called in sick when my only illness was a desire not to work.
Yes, I played work hooky today.
Do not rat me out. I hate snitches.
Today, I took a sick day. It is the first time I have ever, to the best of my knowledge, called in sick when my only illness was a desire not to work.
Yes, I played work hooky today.
Do not rat me out. I hate snitches.
January 16, 2018
I have been thinking
Thinking. That might be dangerous.
I thought I was done with this subject, but what do you think when the Trumpster says (or didn't say) "shithole"? Me, I think of poor, uneducated, crime ridden and corrupt places.
The color of skin predominant in those places didn't pop into my mind. But then I don't readily go straight to the race card. For me corrupt, poor, uneducated, and crime ridden does not mean dark-skinned. It means uneducated, corrupt, etc. That's all.
Now, it could be I think that way because I'm a white guy steeped in white privilege, whatever that means. Maybe I'm a mere rube, hick, redneck. I'm not good at virtue signaling, I guess.
What I do think, is that a real racist would automatically think I'm talking about people of color when I say shithole, corrupt, uneducated, or crime-prone.
Of course Haiti is a shithole. Calling it so doesn't denigrate a Haitian person based on their skin, it denigrates the circumstances in which they live -- you know corrupt, uneducated, crime ridden, and poor. In other words, a shithole.
I thought I was done with this subject, but what do you think when the Trumpster says (or didn't say) "shithole"? Me, I think of poor, uneducated, crime ridden and corrupt places.
The color of skin predominant in those places didn't pop into my mind. But then I don't readily go straight to the race card. For me corrupt, poor, uneducated, and crime ridden does not mean dark-skinned. It means uneducated, corrupt, etc. That's all.
Now, it could be I think that way because I'm a white guy steeped in white privilege, whatever that means. Maybe I'm a mere rube, hick, redneck. I'm not good at virtue signaling, I guess.
What I do think, is that a real racist would automatically think I'm talking about people of color when I say shithole, corrupt, uneducated, or crime-prone.
Of course Haiti is a shithole. Calling it so doesn't denigrate a Haitian person based on their skin, it denigrates the circumstances in which they live -- you know corrupt, uneducated, crime ridden, and poor. In other words, a shithole.
January 15, 2018
Dear Pope
Your...ah, Pontifications...are getting old.
How many migrants did you allow to move into Vatcan City last year? How many Church properties were handed over to the various States to use as migrant housing?
That is what I thought.
STF up already.
Your friend,
Joe
How many migrants did you allow to move into Vatcan City last year? How many Church properties were handed over to the various States to use as migrant housing?
That is what I thought.
STF up already.
Your friend,
Joe
Poof! There it goes
Man, I can't believe it is Monday already. I'm not sure where the weekend went. I'm not even sure what I did. I know your Monday morning is not complete without an account of my exciting adventures, but you will not be able to live vicariously through me today.
It appears we got a layer of snow overnight. It is still falling. The lady on the radio says we will get three or four inches today. How ironic REDACTED on MLK Day.
Oh, relax. It is just a joke. To quote Robert Plant: "Does anybody remember laughter?".
Where was I? All of your enraged outrage threw me off.
I would appreciate it if you kept your protests electronic. There is not much parking here in the cul-de-sac, and that is filled with plowed up snow right now. Plus it is cold. And it is snowing. Besides, there is no public transportation out here in the 'burbs, and if there were, it wouldn't be running because it is a holiday. If you do decide to march around carrying signs in my front yard I would watch you through the window while sipping coffee. Hey, could you pick up those sticks that have broken from the tree while you are out there? Tuesday is trash day. Be a lamb and pull my bin out to the curb, OK? You might as well shovel the walk since you are traipsing around anyway. There is no point wading the snow and ruining your shoes.
Look, what if I apologized? Could I go down and get some coffee? I do not like being held hostage on my iPad.
You know, this is kinda like a SNL skit, I'm not sure how to end it.
Have a great Monday and holiday.
Edit: My wife says that joke is totally unacceptable. Would the 12 people (according to my logs) who actually saw it please erase it from your memory? Bleach it away like Hillary and her emails.
I am Sorry.
Love means never having to say your sorry.
That is horsechockey, you know. Do not adopt that attitude if you are entering into a relationship.
Now get off my lawn.
It appears we got a layer of snow overnight. It is still falling. The lady on the radio says we will get three or four inches today. How ironic REDACTED on MLK Day.
Oh, relax. It is just a joke. To quote Robert Plant: "Does anybody remember laughter?".
Where was I? All of your enraged outrage threw me off.
I would appreciate it if you kept your protests electronic. There is not much parking here in the cul-de-sac, and that is filled with plowed up snow right now. Plus it is cold. And it is snowing. Besides, there is no public transportation out here in the 'burbs, and if there were, it wouldn't be running because it is a holiday. If you do decide to march around carrying signs in my front yard I would watch you through the window while sipping coffee. Hey, could you pick up those sticks that have broken from the tree while you are out there? Tuesday is trash day. Be a lamb and pull my bin out to the curb, OK? You might as well shovel the walk since you are traipsing around anyway. There is no point wading the snow and ruining your shoes.
Look, what if I apologized? Could I go down and get some coffee? I do not like being held hostage on my iPad.
You know, this is kinda like a SNL skit, I'm not sure how to end it.
Have a great Monday and holiday.
Edit: My wife says that joke is totally unacceptable. Would the 12 people (according to my logs) who actually saw it please erase it from your memory? Bleach it away like Hillary and her emails.
I am Sorry.
Love means never having to say your sorry.
That is horsechockey, you know. Do not adopt that attitude if you are entering into a relationship.
Now get off my lawn.
January 13, 2018
Staffing Changes
I got a spam email from a dude the other day who told me how great my blog was. Then he offered to write it for me. I guess his message was "you are good, but I am better". If this drivel was written by someone else, it wouldn't be my blog anymore, would it?
I fully acknowledge that better writing would help the place. It might drive up readership. An editor would be a significant improvement. While we are at it, a template change and pruning of the blogroll would spruce the place up too. A pay raise for the writing and custodial staff would improve morale. Perhaps new iPads and laptops for the research department are in order. How about pretzels and cold beer TGIF parties?
Plush offices in one of those new downtown buildings would be sweet. Right now we are running out of a spare bedroom converted into an office. Perhaps we can get the good coffee for the Keurig instead of the Sam's Club store brand? Better yet, how about an espresso machine?
We need polo shirts and hats and coffee mugs with our logo on them. I guess we also need an art department to design a logo.
If we make those changes the blog would really be something. Oh wait, blogging died about a decade ago. I'm just holding on through life support and sheer hard-headed stubborness. Never mind.
I fully acknowledge that better writing would help the place. It might drive up readership. An editor would be a significant improvement. While we are at it, a template change and pruning of the blogroll would spruce the place up too. A pay raise for the writing and custodial staff would improve morale. Perhaps new iPads and laptops for the research department are in order. How about pretzels and cold beer TGIF parties?
Plush offices in one of those new downtown buildings would be sweet. Right now we are running out of a spare bedroom converted into an office. Perhaps we can get the good coffee for the Keurig instead of the Sam's Club store brand? Better yet, how about an espresso machine?
We need polo shirts and hats and coffee mugs with our logo on them. I guess we also need an art department to design a logo.
If we make those changes the blog would really be something. Oh wait, blogging died about a decade ago. I'm just holding on through life support and sheer hard-headed stubborness. Never mind.
January 12, 2018
A Rose by any other name
"Lets be outraged" theme of the day is that Trump referred to shithole nations as...shithole nations. We all know many of you who are now in the throes of vapor swoons over this comment secretly call those Third World shitholes..."shitholes". Your outrage is that Trump said it.
No? How many of you are saving up your cash to take a dream vacation to Haiti or El Salvador or Uganda?
That is what I thought.
If those shitholes are not shitholes, then why do the people from there need refugee status?
More to the point, Why do we give preferential immigration treatment to people from countries where most of the population has no education, no job skills? Those folks are most likely to end up on welfare and cost the taxpayers money when they arrive. It has nothing to do with race, but rather the purpose of immigration. Are we looking to help people out of their misery or to make America a stronger better place for all of us? Is the purpose of immigration to provide cheap labor or should there be a higher purpose?
Your answer to that question will define your level of outrage regarding labeling shitholes as shitholes.
No? How many of you are saving up your cash to take a dream vacation to Haiti or El Salvador or Uganda?
That is what I thought.
If those shitholes are not shitholes, then why do the people from there need refugee status?
More to the point, Why do we give preferential immigration treatment to people from countries where most of the population has no education, no job skills? Those folks are most likely to end up on welfare and cost the taxpayers money when they arrive. It has nothing to do with race, but rather the purpose of immigration. Are we looking to help people out of their misery or to make America a stronger better place for all of us? Is the purpose of immigration to provide cheap labor or should there be a higher purpose?
Your answer to that question will define your level of outrage regarding labeling shitholes as shitholes.
The more things change, the more they are the same
I just cannot muster any outrage over politics these days. The denizens of the swamp and those who feed there, namely the press and lobbyists, are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure outsiders are stripped of power. There is just too much money at stake.
I listened to a lengthy podcast this week about Teddy Roosevelt. It is interesting to trace his political fights. While I do not agree with many of Roosevelt's political positions, TR was similar to Trump in that he was popular with the voters and absolutely loathed by the politicians and Party bosses. The media hated him but he sold papers. TR bucked the system and fought the corruption, lobbyists, and bureaucracy. When he made his comeback bid in 1912 TR won the primaries but the Republican party had a pocketful of delegates that were not tied to the primaries that swayed the convention. Sounds a lot like "super delegates" doesn't it? In truth, the Republicans preferred to lose an election rather than let Roosevelt back in the White House.
Thus we got the despicable Woodrow Wilson.
Roosevelt was unpredictable, eschewed political correctness, impulsive, and straight talking. He upset foreign nations, and was decidedly Pro-American. TR was unconventional in his life and habits. While he spent his life in politics, Roosevelt was not a politician. That was his unforgivable sin.
Some things don't change. Even a century later.
I listened to a lengthy podcast this week about Teddy Roosevelt. It is interesting to trace his political fights. While I do not agree with many of Roosevelt's political positions, TR was similar to Trump in that he was popular with the voters and absolutely loathed by the politicians and Party bosses. The media hated him but he sold papers. TR bucked the system and fought the corruption, lobbyists, and bureaucracy. When he made his comeback bid in 1912 TR won the primaries but the Republican party had a pocketful of delegates that were not tied to the primaries that swayed the convention. Sounds a lot like "super delegates" doesn't it? In truth, the Republicans preferred to lose an election rather than let Roosevelt back in the White House.
Thus we got the despicable Woodrow Wilson.
Roosevelt was unpredictable, eschewed political correctness, impulsive, and straight talking. He upset foreign nations, and was decidedly Pro-American. TR was unconventional in his life and habits. While he spent his life in politics, Roosevelt was not a politician. That was his unforgivable sin.
Some things don't change. Even a century later.
January 11, 2018
I am taking a look forward to touch you
I got the greatest spam comment ever on a throwaway post from 2015:
Amazing things here. I am very satisfied to peer yourI rewarded the spammer by publishing his nonsense. I am giving like that
post. Thank you so much and I am taking a look forward to touch you.
Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Oprah is The Man
Tuesday I made a quick jaunt to Ohio (o-hi-ya). I got home around 5:00. It was cloudy, but moderately warm (40s). The snow had melted from the porch roof so I climbed up and removed the Christmas decorations. I stripped the trees and bushes of their lights and removed the garland from the porch. I de-Christmasified the house. It is all now piled in the garage until I can put the stuff back in the attic over the weekend. This was the first opportunity due to snow and cold to get outside.
Yesterday I motored up to the Windy City and back. It was annual review time with the boss. I have been at the gig less than a year, but frank discussions on performance and expectations is always welcome. I worked my previous gig for more than 8 years and never had a review. Not one. We all got the same annual percentage raise, janitor to clerk to salesman, no matter if one performed well or poorly. The Man got a two-fer from me yesterday as the work day ended up being just a shade over 17 hours long, if you count the windshield time. The drive passed pleasantly enough listening to the History on Fire podcast.
I wish I had exciting tales from tne road to offer. I took no scenic byways. Traffic was as expected. Other drivers stupidity was held to the minimum. In other words, my journeys were as boring as this post makes them seem.
It is supposed to be warm for one more day. If the rain holds off I might try to get in a walk. I haven't been able to get out since well before Christmas. Walking on snow-covered streets and sidewalks is a good way to hurt oneself. While I don't mind it being cold, I have no interest in braving subzero winds to tour the neighborhood. I might just bust open the humidor and burn some fragrant tobacco lovingly rolled between the thighs of a Caribbean beauty* during my exercise**. Now that is something to get excited about.
Have a great Thursday.
* leave me alone in my fantasy. Deep down I know it is manufactured by a sweaty crone in an oversized T-Shirt, the pits stained yellow by repeated wear and infrequent washing, stolen from her last boyfriend; a low-level enforcer for the local drug dealer.
** yes there is something self-defeating in smoking a cigar while trying to get some exercise. Look at it this way -- I won't be toting along a beer.
Yesterday I motored up to the Windy City and back. It was annual review time with the boss. I have been at the gig less than a year, but frank discussions on performance and expectations is always welcome. I worked my previous gig for more than 8 years and never had a review. Not one. We all got the same annual percentage raise, janitor to clerk to salesman, no matter if one performed well or poorly. The Man got a two-fer from me yesterday as the work day ended up being just a shade over 17 hours long, if you count the windshield time. The drive passed pleasantly enough listening to the History on Fire podcast.
I wish I had exciting tales from tne road to offer. I took no scenic byways. Traffic was as expected. Other drivers stupidity was held to the minimum. In other words, my journeys were as boring as this post makes them seem.
It is supposed to be warm for one more day. If the rain holds off I might try to get in a walk. I haven't been able to get out since well before Christmas. Walking on snow-covered streets and sidewalks is a good way to hurt oneself. While I don't mind it being cold, I have no interest in braving subzero winds to tour the neighborhood. I might just bust open the humidor and burn some fragrant tobacco lovingly rolled between the thighs of a Caribbean beauty* during my exercise**. Now that is something to get excited about.
Have a great Thursday.
* leave me alone in my fantasy. Deep down I know it is manufactured by a sweaty crone in an oversized T-Shirt, the pits stained yellow by repeated wear and infrequent washing, stolen from her last boyfriend; a low-level enforcer for the local drug dealer.
** yes there is something self-defeating in smoking a cigar while trying to get some exercise. Look at it this way -- I won't be toting along a beer.
January 9, 2018
A Most Perilous Path
I joked around in the previous post, but the Anti-Trumpers are heading down a dangerous path in their efforts to do anything to get him out of office. Pushing a coup for "mental deficiencies" is a dangerous game. Most politicians are egomaniacs.
How paranoid does it sound to allow the IRS to target your political enemies? Does it seem 'sane' to blame a "vast right-wing conspiracy" as the reason your husband lied under oath? What if the President is so OCD and controlling that he insists on personally writing the schedule for the White House tennis courts? What normal person would think it is OK to give guns to known criminals in an effort to prove guns are dangerous? Are any of these examples of rational thought?
Once we start down the road of palace coups we have descended into the dark days of the Roman Empire or a Banana Republic; changing leaders on a whim. Once the 100 Presidents-in-waiting in the Senate, the shadowy Praetorian Bureaucracy, the keepers of secrets, and want-to-be power-brokers in the press learn they can control the government at whim we are done as a nation. More simply, payback is hell. 79 AD was the year of four Emperors in Rome, and thereafter the top spot was controlled by whomever could gather a ruling coalition. Tyranny was the order of the day. and with few exceptions, the Emperor had to exercise his ruthless power to remain in control. The concept of a benevolent dictator is fantasy.
That said, anyone who thinks Mike Pence is dumb enough to commit political suicide by invoking the 25th Amendment is delusional themselves.
It is the height of malpractice for any physician or psychiatrist to diagnose publicly a person they have never met or interviewed. Since I do not have a medical licence of any type, I will say any medical professional who does so manifests signs of Trump Derangement Syndrome and anything she says should be discounted as pure ravings.
No sane person would trust the treatment of cancer or a heart disease to an Internet quack, and we should not trust the health of our nation to a partisan hack either.
It is not Trump, nor Obama, nor Hillary, nor any other politician that is a danger to the Nation, it is the unreasonable reaction of the other side. The election is over. You get a do-over in three years. It is time to tone down the rhetoric before we head down a road we really, really, do not want to venture.
How paranoid does it sound to allow the IRS to target your political enemies? Does it seem 'sane' to blame a "vast right-wing conspiracy" as the reason your husband lied under oath? What if the President is so OCD and controlling that he insists on personally writing the schedule for the White House tennis courts? What normal person would think it is OK to give guns to known criminals in an effort to prove guns are dangerous? Are any of these examples of rational thought?
Once we start down the road of palace coups we have descended into the dark days of the Roman Empire or a Banana Republic; changing leaders on a whim. Once the 100 Presidents-in-waiting in the Senate, the shadowy Praetorian Bureaucracy, the keepers of secrets, and want-to-be power-brokers in the press learn they can control the government at whim we are done as a nation. More simply, payback is hell. 79 AD was the year of four Emperors in Rome, and thereafter the top spot was controlled by whomever could gather a ruling coalition. Tyranny was the order of the day. and with few exceptions, the Emperor had to exercise his ruthless power to remain in control. The concept of a benevolent dictator is fantasy.
That said, anyone who thinks Mike Pence is dumb enough to commit political suicide by invoking the 25th Amendment is delusional themselves.
It is the height of malpractice for any physician or psychiatrist to diagnose publicly a person they have never met or interviewed. Since I do not have a medical licence of any type, I will say any medical professional who does so manifests signs of Trump Derangement Syndrome and anything she says should be discounted as pure ravings.
No sane person would trust the treatment of cancer or a heart disease to an Internet quack, and we should not trust the health of our nation to a partisan hack either.
It is not Trump, nor Obama, nor Hillary, nor any other politician that is a danger to the Nation, it is the unreasonable reaction of the other side. The election is over. You get a do-over in three years. It is time to tone down the rhetoric before we head down a road we really, really, do not want to venture.
Women want me, men want to be me
One more day of seasonable winter weather then we get a couple of days in the 50s. Yes, I wrote 50s. It was subzero just a few days ago. Crazy. I blame it on global warming, climate change. What a great theory, no matter what happens with the weather you can claim it was caused by burning evil fossil fuels: cold, hot, dry, wet, stormy -- all because of living a modern life. Of course the climate Chicken Littles do not have an answer on how solar panels will keep us warm when it is cloudy for weeks at a time or how windmills have to be shut down if it blows too hard or how neither can generate enough power when the grid is maxed out by home furnaces battling -20 outside temperatures. If the Climateers were really interested in a safe environmentally friendly power source they would be out pushing for Nukes. We all know that is not the agenda at all.
Since it was just a shade above freezing yesterday evening I took advantage of the "warm" weather and threw a couple of chicken breasts on the grill. Later, while the wife was doing laundry, I bowed to peer pressure (her whining) and baked a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I even washed up the mess afterward. I still don't understand why I am not on the cover of Good Housekeeping, or Perfect Man, or People magazine. Plus, I know the words to the National Anthem.
Clearly, I too amSpartacus a Stable Genius.
Since it was just a shade above freezing yesterday evening I took advantage of the "warm" weather and threw a couple of chicken breasts on the grill. Later, while the wife was doing laundry, I bowed to peer pressure (her whining) and baked a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I even washed up the mess afterward. I still don't understand why I am not on the cover of Good Housekeeping, or Perfect Man, or People magazine. Plus, I know the words to the National Anthem.
Clearly, I too am
January 8, 2018
Swamp gas
Through the '90s and early 2000s I travelled to Oregon between 4 and 8 times a year. I still remember the first visit. I stopped at a gas station on US 30 near the airport. I got ready to fill up the rental car in anticipation of returning it.
"Get your hands off that" I was told by the attendant. I wasn't allowed to pump my own gas. He told me only trained attendants could fuel a car. I had been pumping my own gas since the late 1970's. I was unaware the procedure was dangerous or even difficult.
Later I learned that pumping gas is remarkably difficult in New Jersey too, so there were no self-service pumps in the Garden State either.
Oregon has now allowed gas stations in towns with populations of less than 40,000 to offer self-pump gas. This raises some questions. Why are rural and small town denizens of Oregon better able and equipped to pump gas than their big city counterparts? Why are the residents of the larger cities in the Beaver State unable to accomplish a task that nearly every American and most Europeans have managed to master? Or perhaps more appropriately, why do the politicians think the citizens are incapable?
I suspect we know the answer. Lobbyist money. The gas station and convenience stores are paying off the right people. Here in Indiana, beer is regulated by temperature. Only certain stores can sell cold beer. Grocery stores and convenience stores can only offer warm beer. Oh, and none can sell on Sunday. Who fights hardest against Sunday sales of booze? The liqueur store lobby. They see no reason to stay open seven days when they capture all of the available sales on a six day schedule. We Hoosiers all know if you want cold beer or a bottle you have to buy it Saturday. Similarly, I suspect enough Oregonian legislators have been persuaded by the petroleum dispensing organization to keep the "we gotta pump it" surcharge in place.
Yet somehow those same politicians will go home and tell the sucker voters how much he or she cares about he little guy. The swamp exists in places far from Washington DC.
"Get your hands off that" I was told by the attendant. I wasn't allowed to pump my own gas. He told me only trained attendants could fuel a car. I had been pumping my own gas since the late 1970's. I was unaware the procedure was dangerous or even difficult.
Later I learned that pumping gas is remarkably difficult in New Jersey too, so there were no self-service pumps in the Garden State either.
Oregon has now allowed gas stations in towns with populations of less than 40,000 to offer self-pump gas. This raises some questions. Why are rural and small town denizens of Oregon better able and equipped to pump gas than their big city counterparts? Why are the residents of the larger cities in the Beaver State unable to accomplish a task that nearly every American and most Europeans have managed to master? Or perhaps more appropriately, why do the politicians think the citizens are incapable?
I suspect we know the answer. Lobbyist money. The gas station and convenience stores are paying off the right people. Here in Indiana, beer is regulated by temperature. Only certain stores can sell cold beer. Grocery stores and convenience stores can only offer warm beer. Oh, and none can sell on Sunday. Who fights hardest against Sunday sales of booze? The liqueur store lobby. They see no reason to stay open seven days when they capture all of the available sales on a six day schedule. We Hoosiers all know if you want cold beer or a bottle you have to buy it Saturday. Similarly, I suspect enough Oregonian legislators have been persuaded by the petroleum dispensing organization to keep the "we gotta pump it" surcharge in place.
Yet somehow those same politicians will go home and tell the sucker voters how much he or she cares about he little guy. The swamp exists in places far from Washington DC.
January 7, 2018
Appleauce cake with burnt sugar icing
Temperatures are a balmy double digits this morning and it looks like we will crack above the freezing mark for the first time since before Christmas later today. I dread my gas bill.
We watched my granddaughter last night. She was on, entertaining us the whole evening. She chattered nonstop. On the way to the testaurant she told me to "follow that car, Paw". Later she informed me I have to stop for a red light. When I told her that was a good thing for a 3year-old to know, she told me "Yeah, I a pretty smart girl[sic]".
In other news, I have nothing. I doubt you want to hear about my jock itch. I didn't win either of the giant lottery prizes, possibly because I didn't buy any tickets.
Do be do be do, indeed.
I hope you have a great day.
We watched my granddaughter last night. She was on, entertaining us the whole evening. She chattered nonstop. On the way to the testaurant she told me to "follow that car, Paw". Later she informed me I have to stop for a red light. When I told her that was a good thing for a 3year-old to know, she told me "Yeah, I a pretty smart girl[sic]".
In other news, I have nothing. I doubt you want to hear about my jock itch. I didn't win either of the giant lottery prizes, possibly because I didn't buy any tickets.
Do be do be do, indeed.
I hope you have a great day.
January 6, 2018
I'll take 420 for $200, Alex
The last time I burned a doobie was more than three decades ago. The fact I use the term "doobie" probably says a lot about it. I was never a huge fan and usually only partook pot under the influence of alcohol. In other words, I don't have a dog in the legal marijuana hunt. I think pot leads to harder drugs as you search for that better "high". I also don't see a big difference between smoking a joint and a downing a shot of whiskey.
I do think if California or Colorado or name your state wants to make smoking dope legal that is their business. It should not be a Federal issue. Washington DC doesn't get to dictate Indiana's archaic and ridiculous alcohol laws. I say legal pot is a good way to make tax money, it takes the black market out of the equation and ensures a safe transaction for all concerned. Soon the police will park outside marijuana stores ready to bust stoners as they jump behind the wheel like they do bars around here: another way to make revenue for the local and state coffers. Everybody wins. More importantly, this is a 10th Amendment issue.
Maybe Jeff Sessions should spend his time rooting out the corruption and partisanship at the DOJ and FBI instead of wasting time reinventing Prohibition and Elliot Ness teams to smash apart greenhouses.
On a more cynical note, if the Republicans want to stay in power long-term the millennial vote is more important than any minority group support. Be the party that legalizes marijuana nationwide and lowers the drinking age to 18 or 19. Make the Democrats argue against it. There I just earned my political consultant fee, send that big check my way as soon as possible.
Edit: title fixed to less demonstrate how unhip I really am
I do think if California or Colorado or name your state wants to make smoking dope legal that is their business. It should not be a Federal issue. Washington DC doesn't get to dictate Indiana's archaic and ridiculous alcohol laws. I say legal pot is a good way to make tax money, it takes the black market out of the equation and ensures a safe transaction for all concerned. Soon the police will park outside marijuana stores ready to bust stoners as they jump behind the wheel like they do bars around here: another way to make revenue for the local and state coffers. Everybody wins. More importantly, this is a 10th Amendment issue.
Maybe Jeff Sessions should spend his time rooting out the corruption and partisanship at the DOJ and FBI instead of wasting time reinventing Prohibition and Elliot Ness teams to smash apart greenhouses.
On a more cynical note, if the Republicans want to stay in power long-term the millennial vote is more important than any minority group support. Be the party that legalizes marijuana nationwide and lowers the drinking age to 18 or 19. Make the Democrats argue against it. There I just earned my political consultant fee, send that big check my way as soon as possible.
Edit: title fixed to less demonstrate how unhip I really am
January 5, 2018
A World Turned Upside Down
Washington State is suing the Motel 6 hotel chain for providing guest lists to ICE (immigration) Agents. Suspected illegals have found themselves deported after checking in to the chain's motels.
In general, I abhor snitches and rats. That said, I am struggling to find fault with the clerks at the hotel. They had knowledge of illegal activity and reported it. If a clerk watched someone rob the McDonald's next door and then run into the hotel, shouldn't they report the suspect to the authorities? If the Motel 6 Manager sees a wreck in the street should they refuse to turn over their security tapes? If the college student stuck doing late-night desk duty sees grainy footage on the news of a convenience store holdup and thinks the perp is staying down in room 218, should she call the police? If one of the guests lacks documentation and appears to be an illegal, why shouldn't ICE be informed?
Some in our society seem to think that breaking the law is OK. If you come in to the country without permission or overstay your visa, you have broken the law. I do not care if you did it 5, 10, or even 20 years ago, you have broken the law. You have not paid income or FICA taxes. You have perpetuated the employment black market. You have stolen from the United States, and in this case, the state of Washington. If a law is wrong, then repeal it. Selective enforcement undermines the rule of law in general.
I am not arguing that we should have a wholesale deportation of every illegal. I blame those who hire them and those who make it easy and attractive to come here and survive illegally. I think there is an opportunity to forgive those who came here, worked hard and want to become Americans. Substantial fines and a willingness to become American citizens is a path to avoid deportation. The flip side of that coin is identifying the employer who cheated you, me, and America by hiring that illegal guy or girl under the table. For that company, I have no leniency in my heart. They have provided unequal competition to their competitors who played by the rules, paid the taxes, provided the benefits as mandated by the various governments. I think a minimum fine of $100,000 for each and every illegal hired would be a good starting point.
In the meantime, maybe Washington should look into punishing the real law-breakers, not those who report them.
In general, I abhor snitches and rats. That said, I am struggling to find fault with the clerks at the hotel. They had knowledge of illegal activity and reported it. If a clerk watched someone rob the McDonald's next door and then run into the hotel, shouldn't they report the suspect to the authorities? If the Motel 6 Manager sees a wreck in the street should they refuse to turn over their security tapes? If the college student stuck doing late-night desk duty sees grainy footage on the news of a convenience store holdup and thinks the perp is staying down in room 218, should she call the police? If one of the guests lacks documentation and appears to be an illegal, why shouldn't ICE be informed?
Some in our society seem to think that breaking the law is OK. If you come in to the country without permission or overstay your visa, you have broken the law. I do not care if you did it 5, 10, or even 20 years ago, you have broken the law. You have not paid income or FICA taxes. You have perpetuated the employment black market. You have stolen from the United States, and in this case, the state of Washington. If a law is wrong, then repeal it. Selective enforcement undermines the rule of law in general.
I am not arguing that we should have a wholesale deportation of every illegal. I blame those who hire them and those who make it easy and attractive to come here and survive illegally. I think there is an opportunity to forgive those who came here, worked hard and want to become Americans. Substantial fines and a willingness to become American citizens is a path to avoid deportation. The flip side of that coin is identifying the employer who cheated you, me, and America by hiring that illegal guy or girl under the table. For that company, I have no leniency in my heart. They have provided unequal competition to their competitors who played by the rules, paid the taxes, provided the benefits as mandated by the various governments. I think a minimum fine of $100,000 for each and every illegal hired would be a good starting point.
In the meantime, maybe Washington should look into punishing the real law-breakers, not those who report them.
January 4, 2018
Blah blah
I will get it out of the way quickly; it is cold. It is cold at your house too. If not, I don't want to hear about it. We won't get any weather from the storm of doom off the East Coast. There is that.
In other news, nuthin'. Things are boring around here. I'm just coasting until baseball starts for real in three plus months. Sigh. The excitement of the day is deciding what to have for supper. Maybe we will have breaded pork tenderloins tonight. If I remember to get them out of the freezer. Too bad the rest of the world ignores this regional classic comfort food. More pork for me!
It is becoming clear the previous administration conspired to take out Trump. It is equally clear life in the current administration is a soap opera. Trump may just be as paranoid as Nixon ever was. Can't anyone get that man off the interwebz?
Stay warm my friends.
In other news, nuthin'. Things are boring around here. I'm just coasting until baseball starts for real in three plus months. Sigh. The excitement of the day is deciding what to have for supper. Maybe we will have breaded pork tenderloins tonight. If I remember to get them out of the freezer. Too bad the rest of the world ignores this regional classic comfort food. More pork for me!
It is becoming clear the previous administration conspired to take out Trump. It is equally clear life in the current administration is a soap opera. Trump may just be as paranoid as Nixon ever was. Can't anyone get that man off the interwebz?
Stay warm my friends.
January 2, 2018
Please sir, draw me a sheep
Today is a holiday according to my work calendar. I slept in, at least compared to my usual schedule. It was -12 F when I got up -- real temperature, not imaginary "it feels like" temperature. A buddy commented that it is so cold the white trash girls are wearing two pairs of pajama pants to WalMart.
It looks like another day reading, watching TV, and staring out the window. I don't mind going for a walk in the cold, but it has to be above "you can get frostbite or die" kind of cold. Of course, I wouldn't die. That warning is for the potential Darwin award winners out there who do perpetually stupid stuff.
Weather extremes remind me why humans are the predominate creature on this planet. We are remarkably adaptable. We can survive in a wide range of temperatures from bone chilling cold to numbingly hot. We thrive in deserts and swamps. We live in mountains and prairies. Not the fastest of animals, we can run for hours on end. A man can run a horse into the ground. Man is cunning and despite our veneer of civilization, surprisingly vicious. Man can eat nearly anything, including our fellow man, in a pinch. Whether you credit an infinite Supreme Being, Mother Nature, or random genetic mutation, Homo Sapiens is adaptable. I could fly from freezing weather to overheated tropics today with no ill-effects at all. There is a reason we are at the top of the food chain, the true King of Beasts. I am willing to prove it if anyone wants to send me to the tropics. I can name some Caribbean Islands that would suffice as proper testing grounds.
Further evidence of our exalted status as top predator: it is cold outside. I could go out and survive, but I don't have to. And I won't. If your supposedly smart dolphin manages to get stuck on the beach, he cannot get himself back into the ocean. An African lion would perish on Greenland. I sit in my temperature controlled office drinking coffee. There it is.
Heavy thoughts for a ... Tuesday. Have a good day.
It looks like another day reading, watching TV, and staring out the window. I don't mind going for a walk in the cold, but it has to be above "you can get frostbite or die" kind of cold. Of course, I wouldn't die. That warning is for the potential Darwin award winners out there who do perpetually stupid stuff.
Weather extremes remind me why humans are the predominate creature on this planet. We are remarkably adaptable. We can survive in a wide range of temperatures from bone chilling cold to numbingly hot. We thrive in deserts and swamps. We live in mountains and prairies. Not the fastest of animals, we can run for hours on end. A man can run a horse into the ground. Man is cunning and despite our veneer of civilization, surprisingly vicious. Man can eat nearly anything, including our fellow man, in a pinch. Whether you credit an infinite Supreme Being, Mother Nature, or random genetic mutation, Homo Sapiens is adaptable. I could fly from freezing weather to overheated tropics today with no ill-effects at all. There is a reason we are at the top of the food chain, the true King of Beasts. I am willing to prove it if anyone wants to send me to the tropics. I can name some Caribbean Islands that would suffice as proper testing grounds.
Further evidence of our exalted status as top predator: it is cold outside. I could go out and survive, but I don't have to. And I won't. If your supposedly smart dolphin manages to get stuck on the beach, he cannot get himself back into the ocean. An African lion would perish on Greenland. I sit in my temperature controlled office drinking coffee. There it is.
Heavy thoughts for a ... Tuesday. Have a good day.
January 1, 2018
A New Beginning
Best wishes for a happy New Year, readers.
Things are starting on the cold side here. Currently it is -8 with a wind chill of -23. The furnace seems to be on permanent run mode. At this time it does not appear that any pipes are frozen. Based on a quick view of the weather I suspect it is cold at your house too.
The Colts fired their coach yesterday. That happens when your star quarterback fails to take a snap all season and the former GM whiffs on first round picks four straight years. Coaching has something to with it too. There is a problem when an idiot like me can call the upcoming play with regularity. The team started the first play in each half with a running pay (usually to the right of the center)all but one or two games the whole season.
The inside Christmas stuff is coming down today. The outside will have to wait until the snow melts. I have a strange reluctance to climb up on a snow covered porch roof to bring down the lights and wreaths on the second story.
Have a great day.
Things are starting on the cold side here. Currently it is -8 with a wind chill of -23. The furnace seems to be on permanent run mode. At this time it does not appear that any pipes are frozen. Based on a quick view of the weather I suspect it is cold at your house too.
The Colts fired their coach yesterday. That happens when your star quarterback fails to take a snap all season and the former GM whiffs on first round picks four straight years. Coaching has something to with it too. There is a problem when an idiot like me can call the upcoming play with regularity. The team started the first play in each half with a running pay (usually to the right of the center)all but one or two games the whole season.
The inside Christmas stuff is coming down today. The outside will have to wait until the snow melts. I have a strange reluctance to climb up on a snow covered porch roof to bring down the lights and wreaths on the second story.
Have a great day.
December 31, 2017
So long '17. I would like to say I hate to see you go, but...
I have never been big on the end-of-the-year recaps. I have mentioned this has been a bad year. But that does not mean I do not have plenty of good in my life.
I fully expect to begin 2018 the same way I have celebrated the previous 38 New Years - with a kiss from the love of my life.
Best wishes for the Happiest of New Years
If you drink, don't drive. Be careful out there tonight.
I fully expect to begin 2018 the same way I have celebrated the previous 38 New Years - with a kiss from the love of my life.
Best wishes for the Happiest of New Years
If you drink, don't drive. Be careful out there tonight.
December 30, 2017
a world I never knew
Speech was a required course in my high school and the “look at me” aspect of my personality adapted well to speechifying. I found the class an easy ‘A’. So my senior year I found I had just about enough credits to graduate if I took four classes a day. Besides the required Government/Social Studies class I took stuff I enjoyed: band, English, French, and though I did not need another class I took advanced Speech.
We covered a range of subjects in the class from debate to Roberts Rules of Order to various types of speech to acting. The class was small, maybe a dozen kids and sometimes we just discussed the events of the day. We learned to communicate. I probably enjoyed that class as much as any in my public school days and that speech class forced me to break me out of my anonymous shy boy shell.
One day the teacher brought in a box set of albums. It was recordings of Lenny Bruce. The teacher tried to give the historic background to Bruce’s comedy. But in the spring of 1980 the comedy was too cerebral, to East Coast, too dated, and had lost the edge it had in the late 1950’s. It wasn’t crude nor risqué compared to contemporary SNL or comedy of National Lampoon. I just didn't find it funny. The school administration also likely would have even less than amused had they known Mr. Henderson was playing records with curse words to 17 and 18 year-olds at school. Still, it exposed kids in a hick farm town in the middle of nowhere Indiana to a wider world. Isn’t that the point of education?
We covered a range of subjects in the class from debate to Roberts Rules of Order to various types of speech to acting. The class was small, maybe a dozen kids and sometimes we just discussed the events of the day. We learned to communicate. I probably enjoyed that class as much as any in my public school days and that speech class forced me to break me out of my anonymous shy boy shell.
One day the teacher brought in a box set of albums. It was recordings of Lenny Bruce. The teacher tried to give the historic background to Bruce’s comedy. But in the spring of 1980 the comedy was too cerebral, to East Coast, too dated, and had lost the edge it had in the late 1950’s. It wasn’t crude nor risqué compared to contemporary SNL or comedy of National Lampoon. I just didn't find it funny. The school administration also likely would have even less than amused had they known Mr. Henderson was playing records with curse words to 17 and 18 year-olds at school. Still, it exposed kids in a hick farm town in the middle of nowhere Indiana to a wider world. Isn’t that the point of education?
December 29, 2017
Get over it
A pathetic guy started screaming at the animatronic Trumpster at the Disney World Hall of Presidents as part of the “resistance “. I wish this was the setup for a joke. He proudly tweeted about it. I’m not sure if I would brag about this epic level of stupidity. Over 800 people liked his tweet.
The Grouchy Old Cripple has often said liberalism is a mental disease. I’m beginning to think he is right.
The Grouchy Old Cripple has often said liberalism is a mental disease. I’m beginning to think he is right.
December 28, 2017
I thought that was March’s thing
Remember when December started unusually mild? We had temperatures pushing 70 at the beginning of the month. Mother Nature likes to bat for average, so now we are seeing a spate of very cold weather to even things out. It is not just the month of March presenting us with the lamb/lion motif. Looking ahead at the forecast, the new year is slated to start off with bone chilling cold: highs around here will barely inch above zero. Guess what? It is winter, it gets cold like this every year.
In other news, there is no other news. The Colts will wind down their dismal season Sunday. The politicians are home, doing no harm. Serious electioneering a few weeks away for the 2018 primary season.
Here at the homestead I am ready to strip the house of the Christmas decorations. We normally go from Thanksgiving to New Years. This year, I was ready to be done with it on the 26th. We have two invitations to hang out on New Years. I don’t really want to go anywhere. I’m ready to put this year in the past. I’m trying to moderate my language these days, but I can only say good fucking riddance to 2017.
Why yes, I have a bad attitude about everything these days — work, weather, the holidays, politics, life in general. You may be shocked at this clear departure from my usual sunny disposition and positive outlook on things. Maybe more coffee will help improve my attitude.
I doubt it.
In other news, there is no other news. The Colts will wind down their dismal season Sunday. The politicians are home, doing no harm. Serious electioneering a few weeks away for the 2018 primary season.
Here at the homestead I am ready to strip the house of the Christmas decorations. We normally go from Thanksgiving to New Years. This year, I was ready to be done with it on the 26th. We have two invitations to hang out on New Years. I don’t really want to go anywhere. I’m ready to put this year in the past. I’m trying to moderate my language these days, but I can only say good fucking riddance to 2017.
Why yes, I have a bad attitude about everything these days — work, weather, the holidays, politics, life in general. You may be shocked at this clear departure from my usual sunny disposition and positive outlook on things. Maybe more coffee will help improve my attitude.
I doubt it.
December 27, 2017
Five below zero
...is what the weather app describes the outdoor temperature this morning. The wind chill is -17. Fahrenheit is the scale. In other words, it is darned cold. To put things in perspective, it would be warmer to crawl into my freezer than to go outside. It is that cold. While I am back to work today, I am glad I don’t have to hit the road this morning.
December 26, 2017
Sparring with my inner demons on Boxing Day
Good morning, readers. I hope you had a great Christmas, Festivus, holiday, or long weekend. We had a great Christmas here at the old homestead. On Christmas Eve we celebrated with extended families and on Christmas Day we went to my daughter’s for dinner. I raked in some nice gifts. Apparently, I was a much nicer boy this year than I thought.
I ordered my wife some Ugg slippers from Amazon. It is the only thing she requested specifically. Either I ordered the wrong size (I don’t think so) or they sent the wrong size. My fair spouse does not have large feet, but these slippers were obviously made for someone who practiced the ancient Chinese art of footbinding. They are tiny. We will have to figure out how to return and exchange them this week.
It is a chilly ten degrees outside this morning with a subzero windchill. I have no intention of going outside, so it does not matter to me. Inside, the thermostat is set to a comfortable 69. (Hah! He said 69). I will admit it is cool here in the recliner next to blogging room window. We still have the original windows from when the house was built in the early ‘90s. All it takes is money to have them upgraded to more energy efficient models.
I have the day off work, so goofing off is on the schedule today. Maybe I can get the wife to go see Star Wars with me. Probably not.
Have a great Tuesday
I ordered my wife some Ugg slippers from Amazon. It is the only thing she requested specifically. Either I ordered the wrong size (I don’t think so) or they sent the wrong size. My fair spouse does not have large feet, but these slippers were obviously made for someone who practiced the ancient Chinese art of footbinding. They are tiny. We will have to figure out how to return and exchange them this week.
It is a chilly ten degrees outside this morning with a subzero windchill. I have no intention of going outside, so it does not matter to me. Inside, the thermostat is set to a comfortable 69. (Hah! He said 69). I will admit it is cool here in the recliner next to blogging room window. We still have the original windows from when the house was built in the early ‘90s. All it takes is money to have them upgraded to more energy efficient models.
I have the day off work, so goofing off is on the schedule today. Maybe I can get the wife to go see Star Wars with me. Probably not.
Have a great Tuesday
I spent Christmas in the hospital
I asked the wife what she wanted for Christmas. She said to get something that would make her look sexy.
I went out and bought a case of beer.
I went out and bought a case of beer.
December 25, 2017
December 24, 2017
December 23, 2017
Ding dong ding dooong
New day, same story. It seems I am destined to get up at 4:30 or so every day. Whatever. I’m not gonna cry about it.
The fairly heavy rain that is now falling is slated to turn to snow in the next hour or so. The ground is soggy and warm, so we shall see if it sticks. Heavier snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. We might get a couple of inches. I can live with that. A white Christmas would be nice. Vermont should be beautiful this time of year with all of that snow. If you don’t get that reference you outta spend a little more time watching old movies. Sheesh.
I have all of my shopping done. The wife has a couple of things to get for the family gift exchange. I get gifts for one, she gets the rest. That seems like a fair division of labor to me! I have to wrap my gifts still. I might go drop in the DVD of Ed’s favorite Christmas movie and reflect upon my wonderful life when I’m done writing this riveting post. I’ll let you know when I make up my mind.
Or not.
Have a great Saturday. Oh, and for the record, a canned post will follow this live one later today. Sunday and Monday’s efforts are also canned*. No fresh Christmas content for you. I don’t feel bad about it. You should spend your time with someone besides me on Christmas, as crazy as that seems. So let me offer up a live and hearty Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to every one of you.
Update:
*edit. For reasons I won’t divulge I was perusing my writings from a December 2016 and discovered that my holiday posts for 2017 are the same as last year. Whoops. I guess my memory really is getting bad. Sorry about those repeats. Well, sorta, I don’t feel bad enough to redo my lame efforts. You will get over it. Mostly.
The fairly heavy rain that is now falling is slated to turn to snow in the next hour or so. The ground is soggy and warm, so we shall see if it sticks. Heavier snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. We might get a couple of inches. I can live with that. A white Christmas would be nice. Vermont should be beautiful this time of year with all of that snow. If you don’t get that reference you outta spend a little more time watching old movies. Sheesh.
I have all of my shopping done. The wife has a couple of things to get for the family gift exchange. I get gifts for one, she gets the rest. That seems like a fair division of labor to me! I have to wrap my gifts still. I might go drop in the DVD of Ed’s favorite Christmas movie and reflect upon my wonderful life when I’m done writing this riveting post. I’ll let you know when I make up my mind.
Or not.
Have a great Saturday. Oh, and for the record, a canned post will follow this live one later today. Sunday and Monday’s efforts are also canned*. No fresh Christmas content for you. I don’t feel bad about it. You should spend your time with someone besides me on Christmas, as crazy as that seems. So let me offer up a live and hearty Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to every one of you.
Update:
*edit. For reasons I won’t divulge I was perusing my writings from a December 2016 and discovered that my holiday posts for 2017 are the same as last year. Whoops. I guess my memory really is getting bad. Sorry about those repeats. Well, sorta, I don’t feel bad enough to redo my lame efforts. You will get over it. Mostly.
December 22, 2017
Focus is more than a model of car
I have been playing the Elevate brain training app for a while now. It helps improve your memory and focus, with games centering on reading, writing, speaking, math, and listening. The games are quick and fun and it only takes a few minutes each morning to play the three random daily games you get with the free version. Some of the games I like better than others. I find the “Visualization” game in the reading module incredibly easy (I’m in the 99.99 percentile on that one) and some of the math games incredibly hard (I hate you fractions).
I do very well in Reading, Writing, and Speaking. Math and Listening; not so well. I told my wife my scores the other day and she was in no way surprised that my listening scores were even lower than my math scores. Then she said something else, but I confess I wasn’t paying attention.
I noticed a trend the other day in the game’s scorekeeping methodology. I am close to reaching the next level in Writing. If I have a good game score (excellent or great) I inch one or two points closer to the next level. If I have a bad score, I slip 10 points further away. The rewards are small, the punishments large.
Mostly I started this training app because hypochondriac me was worried my memory was going. I was granted one gift at birth, an extraordinary memory. In the last decade or so I found my ability to recall slipping. I knew the Jeopardy answers, I just couldn’t get them out fast enough. My Elevate memory scores are very high. I guess it is just age. The synapses don’t fire with the same alacrity. Perhaps the file cabinets in my brain are so full of “stuff” it just takes longer to find the right fact in the right file. Maybe my memory is failing. It could be I’m just sliding from “excellent” to “above average”. I had another point, but I cannot remember what it was.
I’m not going to share my scores. It is embarrassing.
I do very well in Reading, Writing, and Speaking. Math and Listening; not so well. I told my wife my scores the other day and she was in no way surprised that my listening scores were even lower than my math scores. Then she said something else, but I confess I wasn’t paying attention.
I noticed a trend the other day in the game’s scorekeeping methodology. I am close to reaching the next level in Writing. If I have a good game score (excellent or great) I inch one or two points closer to the next level. If I have a bad score, I slip 10 points further away. The rewards are small, the punishments large.
Mostly I started this training app because hypochondriac me was worried my memory was going. I was granted one gift at birth, an extraordinary memory. In the last decade or so I found my ability to recall slipping. I knew the Jeopardy answers, I just couldn’t get them out fast enough. My Elevate memory scores are very high. I guess it is just age. The synapses don’t fire with the same alacrity. Perhaps the file cabinets in my brain are so full of “stuff” it just takes longer to find the right fact in the right file. Maybe my memory is failing. It could be I’m just sliding from “excellent” to “above average”. I had another point, but I cannot remember what it was.
I’m not going to share my scores. It is embarrassing.
December 21, 2017
Try, try again
That other post is gone. The Nazis at the NFL will not let me post videos that tout their product. Now there is a valid reason to kneel in protest. Not during the Anthem, though.
Instead, since I’m feeling chatty, here is some more classic Christmas music. You will listen — unless you hate puppies and kittens and gentle butterflies. Do it for the children.
Instead, since I’m feeling chatty, here is some more classic Christmas music. You will listen — unless you hate puppies and kittens and gentle butterflies. Do it for the children.
Shortest or longest?
Today marks the solstice. The weather reader told me today will be the shortest day. In fact, today will be some nanoseconds over 24 hours, just like yesterday.
Yes, you in the back? Uh hum. Yes. Oh, the hours of daylight are the shortest of the year. I see. The almanac indicates we will have 9 hours and 21 minutes of sun today at the old homestead, cloud cover not withstanding. So for me, today does make the “shortest day” of sun and the first day of winter.
Like most things, this is all a matter of perspective.
If you lived at 40 degrees of latitude south instead of north, today would be the first day of summer and the longest in terms of the hours between sunrise and sunset. Of course, most of the 40th degree latitude south crosses ocean, except for a couple of islands of Tasmania and the tip of South America, so not many folks get to enjoy the height of summer in those regions. By most mariner accounts, the oceans are fierce and rough in the “roaring forties”.
What does all of this mean? Not much. This big blue ball we call home continues to spin on its tilted axis as it rotates around the sun. The weather will be seasonably warm today and cold over the weekend. It may snow. Winter is not coming, it is here. Tomorrow we can look forward to more minutes of sunlight as the days march forward to another spring.
Yes, you in the back? Uh hum. Yes. Oh, the hours of daylight are the shortest of the year. I see. The almanac indicates we will have 9 hours and 21 minutes of sun today at the old homestead, cloud cover not withstanding. So for me, today does make the “shortest day” of sun and the first day of winter.
Like most things, this is all a matter of perspective.
If you lived at 40 degrees of latitude south instead of north, today would be the first day of summer and the longest in terms of the hours between sunrise and sunset. Of course, most of the 40th degree latitude south crosses ocean, except for a couple of islands of Tasmania and the tip of South America, so not many folks get to enjoy the height of summer in those regions. By most mariner accounts, the oceans are fierce and rough in the “roaring forties”.
What does all of this mean? Not much. This big blue ball we call home continues to spin on its tilted axis as it rotates around the sun. The weather will be seasonably warm today and cold over the weekend. It may snow. Winter is not coming, it is here. Tomorrow we can look forward to more minutes of sunlight as the days march forward to another spring.
December 20, 2017
Wednesday Wanders
I fried up some chicken for supper last night. Mashed spuds, gravy, biscuits, and corn rounded out the meal. I’m not sure why you’d care what I ate.
I am slouching towards the weekend and Christmas holiday. I think I might take a few days of vacation to get the whole next week off. It is not like any customer is going to talk to me. I usually use that dead period to clean up my files and such. I’m in pretty good shape this year. I could use the time to prospect; finding info on potential customers through the interwebz. I could save my vacation days and work.
I am not sure if we have ever been less prepared for Christmas. The good news is my daughter is hosting Christmas dinner, so I don’t have that to worry about. We just have to make some stuff for the pitch-ins at the extended family Christmas Eve functions.
We went to the granddaughters’s Christmas pageant at preschool yesterday. There is nothing more entertaining than watching the teachers try to get groups of 2, 3, and 4 year-olds to line up and sing. It is like trying to herd guinea pigs. The kids are cute and hilarious. The church had big video screens on the sides of the stage. My granddaughter spent most of the time watching herself not sing.
The wife is heading over to my daughter’s today to make cookies, candy, and treats. It will be an all day affair. Three generations of girls cooking and baking. They will have a blast. Keeping my granddaughter from dumping whole bottles of sprinkles or colored sugar on every sugar cookie will be a challenge. Like every kid, she loves sprinkles.
I have a tune from an old musical floating on the edge of my consciousness that sums up my mood today: coasting along. I just can’t dredge it up. I don’t know if the song fragment is Desi singing in “The long, long trailer” or a Martin/Lewis flick, or a Crosby and Hope road adventure. It is just an undefined snippet about “cruisn’ along, singin’ a song”. Hah! The internet knows all and sees all. The song is “Side by Side”. Martin and Lewis covered it. So did Bing. That explains why both were rolling around in my brain pan.
I hope you have a great Wednesday.
I am slouching towards the weekend and Christmas holiday. I think I might take a few days of vacation to get the whole next week off. It is not like any customer is going to talk to me. I usually use that dead period to clean up my files and such. I’m in pretty good shape this year. I could use the time to prospect; finding info on potential customers through the interwebz. I could save my vacation days and work.
I am not sure if we have ever been less prepared for Christmas. The good news is my daughter is hosting Christmas dinner, so I don’t have that to worry about. We just have to make some stuff for the pitch-ins at the extended family Christmas Eve functions.
We went to the granddaughters’s Christmas pageant at preschool yesterday. There is nothing more entertaining than watching the teachers try to get groups of 2, 3, and 4 year-olds to line up and sing. It is like trying to herd guinea pigs. The kids are cute and hilarious. The church had big video screens on the sides of the stage. My granddaughter spent most of the time watching herself not sing.
The wife is heading over to my daughter’s today to make cookies, candy, and treats. It will be an all day affair. Three generations of girls cooking and baking. They will have a blast. Keeping my granddaughter from dumping whole bottles of sprinkles or colored sugar on every sugar cookie will be a challenge. Like every kid, she loves sprinkles.
I have a tune from an old musical floating on the edge of my consciousness that sums up my mood today: coasting along. I just can’t dredge it up. I don’t know if the song fragment is Desi singing in “The long, long trailer” or a Martin/Lewis flick, or a Crosby and Hope road adventure. It is just an undefined snippet about “cruisn’ along, singin’ a song”. Hah! The internet knows all and sees all. The song is “Side by Side”. Martin and Lewis covered it. So did Bing. That explains why both were rolling around in my brain pan.
I hope you have a great Wednesday.
December 18, 2017
Sigh
If you are here today expecting the normal fare — pithy commentary, juvenile humor, personal anecdotes, complaining, weather reports that are irrelevant unless you live here, political rants and such — you are going to be seriously disappointed. To quote Willie Wonka, “you get nothing”.
December 16, 2017
Really, it is
I knew you were wishing I would post some Christmas music. Search your feelings. You know I am right. The Force told me so.
Really, it is OK if you quit me
3:30 rolled around this morning and I felt a figurative tap on my shoulder as my old buddy insomnia decided to stop by for a visit. Last month I fought a battle with an inability to sleep, but in recent weeks I was back to semi-regular sleep patterns. Not today! I wouldn’t mind if Mr. Insomnia decided to hang out with someone else for a while. We have been intimate acquaintances for most of my life. I’m ready to move on. So here I am catching up on Interweby-type stuff. My Echo is softly playing Christmas music in an effort to force me into the mood of the season.
I spent the end of the week in the general environs of the Windy City. The drive up Thursday and back last night were uneventful. I soldiered through the normal late afternoon/early evening creeping traffic at the 290 to 294 bottleneck and along I-80 to the perpetually-under-construction interchange with I-65. The History on Fire podcast kept me entertained up and back with the four Crazy Horse episodes.
My granddaughter turns 3 today. She is the lone bright spot in an otherwise gloomy holiday season. For the first time in my life I just want Christmas to be done. I normally love this time of year. This year I just cannot get in the spirit. 2017 has been such a miserable year. Death, finances, and general malaise have combined to rob the holidays of their magic.
Ah, you didn’t come here to hear me whine. I hope not. If you did, I seriously wonder about you. I have managed to kill almost two hours goofing on the internet. Two cups of coffee and a half of a peanut butter sandwich broke up the time. This pathetic post took far longer than my usual ten minutes to compose and peck out on the keyboard. Too bad the effort is not reflected in the results. I’ve said it before, you get what you pay for around here.
Enjoy your Saturday, I’m going to try and read myself back to sleep here in my old comfy recliner.
I spent the end of the week in the general environs of the Windy City. The drive up Thursday and back last night were uneventful. I soldiered through the normal late afternoon/early evening creeping traffic at the 290 to 294 bottleneck and along I-80 to the perpetually-under-construction interchange with I-65. The History on Fire podcast kept me entertained up and back with the four Crazy Horse episodes.
My granddaughter turns 3 today. She is the lone bright spot in an otherwise gloomy holiday season. For the first time in my life I just want Christmas to be done. I normally love this time of year. This year I just cannot get in the spirit. 2017 has been such a miserable year. Death, finances, and general malaise have combined to rob the holidays of their magic.
Ah, you didn’t come here to hear me whine. I hope not. If you did, I seriously wonder about you. I have managed to kill almost two hours goofing on the internet. Two cups of coffee and a half of a peanut butter sandwich broke up the time. This pathetic post took far longer than my usual ten minutes to compose and peck out on the keyboard. Too bad the effort is not reflected in the results. I’ve said it before, you get what you pay for around here.
Enjoy your Saturday, I’m going to try and read myself back to sleep here in my old comfy recliner.
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