Even the stoplights blink a bright red and green

I can tell you this, I ain't out shoppin', and I'm not going to be either.

I will turn on some Christmas music. This is my favorite time of he year.

What say we start out with a classic for Friday Music? Oh, and listen to it,. You will feel better if you do. Would I lie to you?

OK, would I lie to you this close to Christmas? After all "he knows if you been bad or good..."

And yes, I know the title of this post is a lyric to a different Christmas song. There are no rules when it comes to post titles around here.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

The blogger behind-the-scenes stuff changed earlier this week. I like the subtle changes, but suddenly I am unable to post or edit on my old junky iPad original version. That could be a problem. There is no way I am lugging the old laptop around on business trips just so I can blog. You may be reading a whole lot less of me unless I can figure things out.

Have a good Friday

Happy Thanksgiving

It is that time of year. Here is a great song from the Bestest Holiday* movie ever.

Now, what are you doing reading this blog? Go eat some turkey. Watch a parade. View some football. Thank God for the blessings he has bestowed upon you.



Edit: I lost the original video trying to edit it for size and I'm to lazy to do it all over again.  I put a different video of the same song in its place.

* that's for you Ed B.

I wrote tomorrow's post before I wrote the one you may (or may not) read today.

I should have taken a vacation day today. Instead, I have customer visit reports to type and about four inches of filing to do. Blah. I would like to have my desk cleaned off heading into the long weekend. I don't know why it matters. We are not hosting any festivities this week, so no one beyond my wife will see the clutter. It is not like my work space is a real mess. I have some customer folders neatly stacked on one side. Completed folders, stray quotes, invoices, and order confirmations are stacked over on the filing cabinets waiting to be filed. I like my desk to be cleared of papers at the end of the day, or at least neatly organized.

I raked the front yard yesterday afternoon. The maple still has maybe 30% of its leaves; most waiting until just after I came in from raking to fall. After the rain that arrived last night the front yard is again covered.  The leaves filled one and a half large garbage cans. There are even more leaves still on the ground in the backyard. What was I thinking when I wanted a house with lots of trees? I bet the broken branches and detritus from the giant willow in the back would fill an additional trash can or two. I am not sure if I have posted a picture of the willow tree. It is easily 50 feet tall and the trunk is at least 7 feet in circumference. It is a gorgeous tree, but boy, does it make a mess. I am constantly picking up branches. The three tall Bradford pear trees are just starting to turn and have virtually all of their leaves still on the branches. I could be still raking in January, if I was so inclined.  I am not.

I got most of the outside decorating done last Friday when it was warm out. We still have to do the lighted garland on the porch rail and around the door this weekend. Then inside decorating shall commence. I'm not sure if we are going to be able to put up the second big tree this year. Usually we have the big 8-1/2 foot tall one in the living room and a smaller skinny one in the family room. The granddaughter's play kitchen has taken over the spot we usually use for the tree in the family room. I am sure the wife will find someplace to put the tree. She has a lot of knickknacks, pictures, baskets, redware plates, crocks and country crap all over the house. Almost every piece is replaced by a Santa or snowman at Christmas time. Her decorating will take all weekend. At least I don't have to help. It does look great when she is done.

Have a great day. Save some room for the spuds tomorrow. Remember, there are no diets on Thanksgiving.


edit: today's post (and thus tomorrow's) were written on an actual computer as opposed to an iPad for the first time in a couple of years. Any misspellings and typos should be attributed to the lack of autocorrect.  Yeah, let's blame it on the device...

This is my life

Yesterday I got up around 6:15. Took my handful of meds, dropped some steroids into each eye and brewed a mug of coffee. I read some news and blogs. I wrote a ridiculous post. I shuffled into my office, reviewed a customer folder and packed up my briefcase. After a quick shower, I was on the road.

I drove 3 plus hours to the Big Mitten State. I stopped for lunch and then went to a customer's factory. I examined their machine, agreed that one of my components needs to be replaced, and left. I was at the plant 20 minutes, including time in the lobby waiting on my contact.

I changed out of my steel toed boots, gassed up the car and drove 3 plus hours home. I spent about seven hour in a car to spend 20 minutes with a customer. That my friends, is easy money and a boring day.

Yes, you in the back, do you have a question?

You are right, I could have seen more customers in the area. Unfortunately I saw several in the southwest part of the state a few weeks ago. Second, no one wants to see a damn salesman in a short week. Three, I did not want to spend an overnight this week. Before this visit came up, I considered taking the whole week off.

Paperwork and filing is on tap for the rest of the week. I also have to make plans to be back on the road next week. Long experience tells me that seeing customers from this point until the second week of January is going to be tough. People have vacation to use. Year end projects have to be completed. That is OK. I think there is nothing more depressing than the sad artificial Christmas tree in a hotel lobby. 

Read All About It

When I showed up college in 1980 I suspect I was one of the most well-read students to the freshman class.. The school was a small, expensive liberal arts institution famous for churning  out doctors and lawyers, so that brag is noteworthy. Perhaps well-read is not the right choice of words. Most-read might be more apt.

After I discovered reading in the 3rd grade I devoured everything I could find. I read all of the time. By the time I headed off to college my personal library held well over 1500 books. My bedroom walls  were lined with book cases. The walls were wallpapered in National Geographic maps, but that is a tale for another day.

I read everything: an entire set of encyclopedias, the Bible, westerns by the score. I read dozens of volumes of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, I picked up whatever my mother was reading and finished it after she went to bed. I spent my money from mowing and later my job on novels from he rack at the drugstore. I went to the library. I borrowed from grandma, even romances. I read and read. But mostly it was history. Biographies, military history, and American history were addictive. I couldn't pass.

All of that reading had an optional benefit. I was able to easily do the high volume reading required of  a history / English Lit double major. I was also able to write a pretty good paper. Unfortunately, those writing skills are not evident around here these days. But some of the stuff in the archives is not bad.

I still read a lot. Not the three or four books a week of my youth. In those days I would knock out a Louis L'Amour western in a day. If you count the time I spend reading crap on the interwebz and in my Kindle I guess I'm still getting in a couple of hours of reading time each day. That is a far cry from the six or eight I managed as a kid. I read much slower now too.

The past few years have been tough as my eyesight made reading hard. That is much better now. I read more for fun these days. I cannot imagine trudging through an encyclopedia or reading the dictionary like I did as a teen. I read a lot more fiction. I suppose entertainment trumps learning at this stage of life.

Jackanapes in Aisle Seven

Some geese flew over the house this morning heading west.  Perhaps the leader of the V forgot to calibrate his iPhone compass. I imagine it is hard to do that roll-around thing with webbed feet.

It was a cold day yesterday. Wind chills in the twenties. Hard to take after it was 75 Friday afternoon. In another month temperatures in the low thirties and twenty-four degree windchill will feel downright pleasant.  Pitchers and catchers report in just over three months.

We ventured out to Sam's Club yesterday. Going on a Saturday afternoon is nuts. It is made worse in that people are mostly jerks. The place is packed and buttheads park their carts sideways in the middle of an aisle to talk with an acquaintance, while others just park in the middle of the busiest lanes and stare at the shelves, letting no one pass by. Hey buddy, either you want that five pound bag of sugar or you don't. There is no option three.

We are heading off to see the Colts play today. My daughter bought us tickets for watching our granddaughter. I would pay them to watch my granddaughter. If you tune in to the football game I will be the one in a Colts jersey.

I didn't post anything yesterday. I did not feel like it. I imagine the lack of electronic contact with my greatness made you sad and depressed. I hope you did not cry all day. Maybe that is what the rude morons were discussing at Sam's. "Where's Joe? How shall we survive?". Perhaps their deep consternation was reason enough to block up the aisles. Or more likely, they were just ass wipes.

Have a good Sunday.  

It's too late to say I'm sorry

At long last it is Friday. And payday. And next week is a short week. And it is supposed to be close to 70 today. And I am alive. Life is good .

Did I mention the temps are going to be near 70 today? The weather people claim there is a chance for snow flurries tomorrow. I wonder if they were gazing into the snow globe instead of their crystal ball? Let me check my Magic 8 Ball.

I probably should take advantage of he nice day to rake some leaves or put up my Christmas lights*. I have some time off from work due me.

This song is bouncing in my brain pan this morning. Although it might be this version:

Anyway, enjoy your Friday.


*I never turn them on until after Thanksgiving. And I turned them off on New Years Day, unlike the house down the street that left theirs on until late April.  Yes April.

Books

I periodically peruse the Kindle best seller lists, especially the free books. I sometimes pick up a decent read.

This morning I was tempted to get a non-fiction offering titled "How to Stop Being  Insecure" but I wasn't sure if it could help me.

Midnight Rambler

The harsh glare of my iPad dominates the dark room as I do the one-fingered dance on the little electronic keyboard.  To my right the soft white glow of the waning super moon lights the neighborhood outside the windows. For the third time in a week I'm awake before 3:00. That is, Dear Reader, fact, not complaint. Sure, I wish it were otherwise, but that is just the way things are.

I picked up my new glasses yesterday. I don't think they are right, I can't see diddly through them. Stuff looks tilted to the right. Instead of a rectangle I see the shape of Gumby's head. I'm going to give it today to see if it is just my eyes adjusting, then I'm taking them back tomorrow. I'm pretty sure my first impression of new specs shouldn't be " Boy, things are sure blurry". I am so sick of dealing with my vision. I have almost resigned myself to never being able to see well again. I'm certain this is mostly my fault for going to the discount glasses shop. Since I am likely going to have to get more in six months or so as my eyes will keep changing, I opted for cheap over good. Once again, life demonstrates you get what you pay for. I still want them right.

We went to the company Holiday Dinner last night. I ate entirely too much. It was at one of those Brazilian steakhouses where they go around and cut off chunks of different meats from skewers. It was nice.

I've read some of the news of the day. I think I will pass on politics in this post. I suspect many of you will shout a hardy "Amen". Neither of the Cubs pitchers up for the Cy Young Award will win the hardware this year. The manager that won more games than anyone in baseball also fell short for manager of the year. I'm not sure how that works. I suspect all would rather have the World Series trophy anyway. 

I'm going to try reading a bit to see if that puts me back to sleep. Have a great morning.

Sore losers and math

Th recent election losers are crying that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote. Boo Hoo it is not fair. When reasonable people point out that we do not elect candidates for President by popular democracy in this country then Democrats insist we must change the system. "Abolish the Electoral College" is the rallying cry of the not-so-oppressed. This "I don't like the results, let's change the rules" approach is exactly what the Founders feared most.

The Founders were concerned about the tyranny of the majority. They did not want 51% of the population determining the President.  They did not want the passions of the day to dictate law, so they instituted a representative form of government. They believed the nation was a collection of States, not a collection of administrative districts. The States had a say in how they were to be governed. That is why initially the States chose the Senators while the people chose the representatives. Senators were to represent their States while the members of the House were to represent their districts (This very workable system was changed by the loathsome XVII Amendment). That is why the States choose the President through the Electoral College.

The Founders also recognized that the Constitution would need to be changed from time to time. While they wanted to include this mechanism, they also wanted the process to be deliberative, necessary, and free of immediate passions. In other words, to thwart knee jerk reactions like those of sore losers in Presidential elections.

There has been a general hue and cry that the Electoral College must be abolished. Here is the mathematical problem with that proposal: 3/4 of the States must ratify any Amendment to the Constitution. A quick count on the surface indicates Mrs. Clinton won less than half of the states. The very electoral college map that kept her out of the White House will prevent passage of any Constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College. For the record, Obama won the 2012 election with less than fifty percent of the states. In fact, one has to go back to 1984 to find a Presidential candidate that won more than 3/4 of the States.  I won't even address the fact that some of those blue states have Republican controlled legislatures. I also will mention that a full 2/3 of both the Senate and House of Representatives must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can be sent to the states for ratification. Democrats have less than 50% of the seats in either house. Perhaps you sore losers should read Article V of the Constitution and while you are at it spend a few minutes perusing the Federalist Papers.

The election is over. The person you wanted lost. Changing the rules will not change the results. Just as blowing up the filibuster rules and giving the President powers to change law with the stroke of a pen seemed a good idea when you were in charge, changing the rules can come back to bite you right on the seat of your pants. Be careful for those things you wish for.

What is the endgame?

For those of you out there angry, protesting and rioting because the person you wanted did not win the election I have a couple of questions:

Did you vote? If not, further editorializing from me is unnecessary.

What do you want? I'm all for protest. But there has to be a solution. Marching in the streets because you don't like something is not protest, it is a tantrum. There is no indication the election was fraudulent. Trump was elected. If your endgame to overthrow a duly elected government, that is the best example of the very tyranny you are protesting against. Is your riot the ultimate blackmail -- elect my guy or gal or I will break your stuff?

Go home. Hug a loved one. Go back to work. If you don't have a job, maybe you should look hard at the folks who have been in charge and wonder why you are out rioting because you could not get more of the same.

I don't need anything. Except this pen. And this phone.

I keep having this vision of Inaugaration Day, The Obama is leaving the White House and the whole situation is like a scene from the Steve Martin flick "The Jerk"; "Idon't need anything. Except this pen. And this phone..."

In case you are too young to remember the 1979 movie:

I really pounded my meat last evening

I fried up some breaded tenderloins for supper last night. I served them with hash brown casserole, green beans and some sliced tomatoes from my garden. Yes, I was still getting tomatoes this week. That is done now. Friday night's hard freeze killed the plants. I still have four 'maters on the cabinet that I picked Friday morning that were turning, but not completely ripe. I will have to wait until next summer to have more.

I have learned in my travels that a good breaded pork tenderloin is a regional thing. Sometimes you can find a loathsome frozen pork fritter or a breaded pork cutlet, but a good breaded tenderloin is impossible outside of the Midwest, and Hoosierdom in particular.  I cheat a little in that I use a boneless pork chop. I beat them thin with a tenderizing mallet. I run the meat through an egg and milk wash seasoned with salt and pepper then cover them in Ritz cracker crumbs. Yes, Ritz crackers, it gives the pork a rich buttery taste. I then fry them in oil. In a skillet. Not just a couple of tablespoons of oil either; cover the bottom completely. Oh, and use Crisco, not some gosh-awful healthy canola or olive oil, or peanut oil. Lard would be even better.

You did not come here for recipes. I hope not anyway. In fact, I'm not sure why you came here. I am glad you did.

I'm off to the Windy City to do my Willie Loman thing later this morning. I'm staying in a different hotel this time. My usual haunt on the far north side is booked up. I will be a couple of exits down the Tri-State this time. That means I may have to find new restaurant choices or drive a little further if I want to stay in my routine. Life is hard.

Have a great Monday.

Mundane, your name is Saturday

For a Saturday, yesterday was about as uneventful as a day can be. In the morning I dusted and vacuumed the downstairs. The furniture on the upper floor remains dusty. Hah!, "upper floor" denotes a grandiosity in my house that certainly does not exist.  The wife went to lunch and shopping with a friend and i grabbed some Chinese takeout. I spent the afternoon watching my first college football game since this time last year, seeing the Wabash College Little Giants fall in defeat to the evil DePauw Dannie's (spit). In the evening we watched the granddaughter for a couple of hours so her mom and dad could do a little shopping for the kid's upcoming second birthday and Christmas. I came home, shared a bowl of popcorn with the missus, watched some TV and went to bed.  Ho hum.

And that thirty seconds it took to read that post is wasted time you will never get back. I bet that makes you sad. You might even cry. You could be disappointed. I suggest you go out and riot in the streets. That seems to be the way we deal with disappointment these days. I blame it all on soccer. If the youth soccer leagues would not insist on their idiotic policy to never keep score, to tell every kid there is no winners or losers, to award everyone a trophy, then we would not have a generation of idiots shocked, dismayed, near a nervous breakdown when they find out sometimes in life there are actual winners and losers.

Damnit, I swore to myself there would be no political rants in today's offering. Don't read that last paragraph.

Upon further review

I'm sick of politics. I had no intention of going into that rabbit hole again this morning, but...

My support of Trump was tepid at best, probably less than tepid. Would that be lukewarm? Maybe room temperature? I said a couple of years ago right here in this space that I would vote against any Bush or Clinton. Look it up. There was no way I was going to vote for a woman who perpetually has scandals swirling around her like the dust clouds around Charlie Brown's buddy Pigpen. Ever. Hillary represents everything that is wrong with American government: lifetime politicians who think they are owed, think they are privileged, are corrupt and above the law. Too many go to Washington, make $160 K a year and somehow in a decade or so have tens of millions in the bank. I don't care how much you scrimp, save, and cut coupons, that is not feasible for an honest person. It makes me sick and I don't care if you have a 'D' or an 'R' attached to your political beliefs.

So anyway, I was not a Trump supporter. Nary a post in favor of him showed up here. I remain a small government conservative. With Trump there is no guarantee I will get that, but Clinton assured me I won't. Trump's Supreme Court nominees can't be as bad as Hillary's. She vowed to emasculate the Second Amendment. 'Nuff said.

The preceding ramblings are mere background and further example of my wordy ramblings. I was never much of a Trump fan. But every time one of you liberals decide my position is based on racism, sexism, homophobia, ignorance, and hate instead of reasoned political positioning my support for The Donald grows. Every time I'm painted as an uneducated hick because I do not agree with your position I dig in my heels and strengthen my "fuck you" attitude.

Reasonable people can disagree on political matters. Liberals don't want discussion. I saw it in blogs over the past several years. You either toe the line or you are shouted down, insulted, or banned. For folks who like to crow about the First Amendment, they sure hate speech with which they disagree. It has gotten to the point that liberals will not even tolerate ideas they don't want to hear, claiming safe space from microaggression. Whatever the hell that means. 

Sorry to break it to you, snowflake, I'm offended every time you advocate taking more of my hard-earned wages to redistribute to someone else, every time you advocate a new government program, every time you make my electric rates "necessarily skyrocket".

Keep on rioting, crying, insulting me. I keep voting for the Trumps of the world. You don't change people's attitudes and opinions by insulting them.

The reason for the day

Veteran's Day is on November 11 for a reason. Shooting in The Great War, The War to End All Wars, The Big One, WWI  came to a halt through an armistice agreement at eleven minutes after the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month 1918. The slaughter and death was so horrific both sides wanted a memorable moment to halt the killing. The actual end of the war actually came on June 28, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. One could make the argument that WWII began on June 29, 1919.

WWI has largely become forgotten. It was overshadowed by the world war that erupted a generation later. I'm not sure that the First World War was more gruesome or horrific for the combatants than wars that came and went before or after. The new ways modern man invented to kill one another, the scale of death to civilians and combatants alike was unprecedented. It is not exaggerating to state that a significant amount of the young men of a generation were wiped out. Study The Great War and you can understand why the French passed when the Germans came calling at the start of the Second World War. It is also no way denegrating the service of the American soldiers, sailors, and marines when I say their contribution was material, important, but minuscule compared to the rest of the nations involved.

If you have not studied WWI, I suggest you do some research. My own investigations over the years have barely scratched the surface. If you are not into history books, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast has an excellent series that covers the war in an entertaining and educational manner. His description of the opening days to the horrors of the end give a good flavor to the war. Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August" is one of the first histories I read of the war more than 30 years ago. A good historical fiction account is "To the Last Man"by Jeff Shaara.

Veteran's Day

I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, each of you who donned the uniform of this country to protect my freedom. Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and hardship.

What it means to be white in a liberal editorial

 Trump represents the last wisp of the rich white plantation owner holding on to the glories of the past.  Source 

This is the crap we are sick of hearing, simply because I envision a smaller government, or you don't like ObamaCare, or maybe your neighbor hates NAFTA or maybe you are a lifetime Republican and have voted straight ticket for decades. Non-support of the Democrat candidate does not make me a racist bigot.

As long as those on the left take this position, they will keep losing voters. Even if the white population drops to 47% by 2050 we will still be the single largest population in America. Insulting us in mass is crude, uniformed, and represents the very bigotry Abdul-Jabbar tries to paste on those with whom he disagrees. Stereotyping every person who did not want to elect Hillary as a closet KKKer is as offensive as stereotyping every African-American as a shuffling Sambo Step n' Fetch It. It makes me sick.

There were a significant number of reasons to vote against Hillary Clinton. In my state, Democrats were defeated in nearly every state-wide contest.  Is voting against every democrat running for senator, congress, governor, or school board a sure sign I'm a wanna-be white plantation owner? Is it somehow manifest proof I am a bigot, a homophobe, a sexist?

That accusation is beyond offensive. It is to borrow a term, "deplorable".

Wrapping up the election wrap up

The best news of this election year is that finally we have eliminated the Bush family and even better, the Clintons from office. No more Bush, no more Clinton. That makes me almost as happy as the Cubs World Series win.

It will be interesting to see if the donations to the Clinton Foundation dry up. That will be the real measure of how corrupt things are, how deep the pay for play scheme was imbedded.

Just a thought, surely the Democrats aren't going to trot out Chelsea in 2024, are they? Hopefully, enough Democrats are as tired of the Clintons as the rest of us?

Marching in the streets

I went to bed early last night. I am sure that contributes to why I'm up at 3:45 this morning, but not entirely.  Last evening my cough returned, not with the fury of the bronchitis of a few weeks ago, but enough to annoy me. It woke me in the night. I coughed enough that I finally padded to the medicine cabinet and took the last of my prescription cough syrup. I'm now waiting on the codine to kick in and put me back to sleep.

I find it ironic that many of the same liberals that were aghast when Trump said he might not accept the election results were marching in the streets chanting that Trump was not their President. Shouldn't Cher be home packing instead of protesting? She promised to move out of the country if The Donald won.

Here is a thought; maybe a bunch of Americans are sick of being told by the left that we are racists, sexist bigots every time we don't agree with you. You tell us you don't like us, then are shocked when we don't vote for your candidate. If you leftists feel like you don't know where your country is headed, like the things you believe are being repudiated, if the new president is terrifying, if the politics of the day do not reflect the America you want, then welcome to how half the country has felt for at least the past eight years.

Suck it up buttercup, elections have consequences.