This has not been a good year for a lot of families this has not been a good 2 years for many families including the writers. In past years this would have been a most wonderful summer, trips to Iowa for reunions, trips to Mexico for a wedding, trips across the country as last summer and not just for me and my wife but hell we take the kids and grand kids whenever possible. We've already missed two reunions in early June and now will miss a wonderful wedding in Mexico in July and at this point are only hoping we can make a short trip to SoCal for the grand kids to somewhere like Lego land or Knots berry farm.
How do the majority of families manage summer trips like this for the kids and grand kids? Have you looked into the ticket pricing for a lot of these theme parks? What brought this blog on today is an ad I seen on TV last night building up the opening of the new Star Wars ride at Disneyland. Keep in mind all parks have added so much stuff that a day is way too short to visit all areas of the parks, and thus the "park hopper" tickets. I understand a "park hopper" ticket allows you to come and go for 2 or 3 days to these parks and their multiple theme areas. Lets take a family of 4 for example and according to the add the Disney hopper pass cost $199 each, that's $800 for that family just to get into the front gate! It's been years since I've visited Disneyland but I know even 10 years ago it cost between $50 and $100 a day for food and snacks for each family member during their visit, and that doesn't include if you buy the kids a T-shirt with Mickey on it. Then we have hotel expenses and this is a conservative guess of $150/night and maybe a breakfast or dinner outside the park to save a few bucks will still run $75 a meal for this family of four. Now if you have a family of four and opt for the 3 day hopper ticket with all the expenses I come up with approximately $1875 for this three day stay for this family plus gas and miscellaneous expenses would most likely be at least $2000. Even if this family received and saved for this trip the $1000 tax break a lot of folks Mr. Obama supposedly gave this too, it wouldn't cover half of the "THREE DAY" vacation!
Just to keep things in perspective the other parks are bit more reasonable but not much better. Legoland $89 each for a 1 day hopper (Legoland has 3 area's and a 3 day hopper is preferred), SeaWorld $70 for a one day ticket, and Knotsberry farm is by far the best price but half the attractions is $39 for one day. So who is visiting these parks and where is the money coming from, my guess would be the majority of visitors are using a credit card and will be paying for this vacation long after the next 5 or 6 vacations. I'd be willing to bet that at least 75% or more folks put this expense on a credit card or they couldn't even be going on this vacation. Hell those with money that can afford these 3 days extravagant vacations are too frugal to spend that kind of money on an amusement park in most cases would be my guess.
This is not about me or anybody else that might be going through tough times in this economy, this is about the cost of taking your family to a theme park. In this economy more folks are relying on credit to get by or to do those things the cash just isn't in the bank for, and those credit companies are continually raising the debt limit and the folks continue spending. Disneyland is no doubt the happiest place on earth and I totally agree with that, I've been to Disneyland a number of times and Disney world once and would return in a minute. I'm thinking the parents might not be the happiest folks around when the bills start rolling in.......This shit is expensive!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Life's too short...............
I was thinking the other day about travel and the past few years and getting together with family and friends, and how even if you attend a family reunion you still don't see all your family for a number of reasons. Sure we have those that live miles away and you can't always accommodate everyone as to a location, but usually have it where or near that place where most of the family lives and we all can understand that. As you may or may not know my immediate family lives here in Arizona and most all of our family on both sides lives in Iowa or close by in the Midwest. Fortunately for us if we plan on traveling the 1800 miles or so to attend reunions our families (My side and Bev's side)have them on the same weekend in June. Now being from Gods country here in beautiful Arizona the Midwest is not the most pleasant of places to spend time in June either, the combination of heat and humidity is like being in hell at times but you do it for family you don't see everyday.
One of the two family reunions is a long standing one, it's been scheduled and attended by family for many years now, and the other was resurrected about 6 or 7 years ago now by myself and a lot of help from my sister. One is growing smaller due to a number of things, folks growing older and passing on and younger families just not attending no matter how close to home the reunion may be. I guess when your really young you enjoy the playing with cousins eating picnic food and playing games but when you begin to have families and other activities the generations now just don't view family get togethers the same way we used to. Life's too short and families are growing apart faster and faster and one day this generation will realize that and how much they missed by not taking the time to stay close to not just immediate family but extended family also!
I don't want to sound old here, but what else could it be to feel sorry as I do for these past two generations, sorry for missing out on cousins and what good friends they can be. Growing up my cousins were some of my best friends and still are today, and now with families moving away or others holding onto old grudges they just don't see each other nearly as often or seem to want to.
Grudges, now that is one that really has bothered me for a long time. When you have friends or family that live blocks or short miles or across town or even across the state from one another and don't see each other due to some petty incident that happen way too many years ago that is nonsense! Mom did this for him............Mom spent that on her.......Mom didn't do the same for me.......she loves my brother or sister more...........Bull..shit! Since I'm mad at her I'll punish them all and myself and my KIDS by not showing up to the reunion! Life's too short and you're only punishing the rest of YOUR family by keeping them away from THEIR family and family gatherings. It's once a year and then could end up being more often as you renew relationships and find your cousins, uncles and aunts are doing the same things you like and could enjoy each other more often.
Attend that reunion this year if at all possible, let your kids meet, play with and renew relations with cousins and relatives. Enjoy some fried chicken, burgers and dogs too, how about aunt so and so's potato salad...............wow I wish I could make it this year myself but the economy has taken it's toll and the cost of traveling those 1600 to 1800 miles just can't be spent at this time this year. Me and my family will miss you all this year and we hope to see pictures from someone after the reunions. If you can make it please do and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself for a moment or two at least..................Life's too short and family is all we have sometimes so don't lose them!
One of the two family reunions is a long standing one, it's been scheduled and attended by family for many years now, and the other was resurrected about 6 or 7 years ago now by myself and a lot of help from my sister. One is growing smaller due to a number of things, folks growing older and passing on and younger families just not attending no matter how close to home the reunion may be. I guess when your really young you enjoy the playing with cousins eating picnic food and playing games but when you begin to have families and other activities the generations now just don't view family get togethers the same way we used to. Life's too short and families are growing apart faster and faster and one day this generation will realize that and how much they missed by not taking the time to stay close to not just immediate family but extended family also!
I don't want to sound old here, but what else could it be to feel sorry as I do for these past two generations, sorry for missing out on cousins and what good friends they can be. Growing up my cousins were some of my best friends and still are today, and now with families moving away or others holding onto old grudges they just don't see each other nearly as often or seem to want to.
Grudges, now that is one that really has bothered me for a long time. When you have friends or family that live blocks or short miles or across town or even across the state from one another and don't see each other due to some petty incident that happen way too many years ago that is nonsense! Mom did this for him............Mom spent that on her.......Mom didn't do the same for me.......she loves my brother or sister more...........Bull..shit! Since I'm mad at her I'll punish them all and myself and my KIDS by not showing up to the reunion! Life's too short and you're only punishing the rest of YOUR family by keeping them away from THEIR family and family gatherings. It's once a year and then could end up being more often as you renew relationships and find your cousins, uncles and aunts are doing the same things you like and could enjoy each other more often.
Attend that reunion this year if at all possible, let your kids meet, play with and renew relations with cousins and relatives. Enjoy some fried chicken, burgers and dogs too, how about aunt so and so's potato salad...............wow I wish I could make it this year myself but the economy has taken it's toll and the cost of traveling those 1600 to 1800 miles just can't be spent at this time this year. Me and my family will miss you all this year and we hope to see pictures from someone after the reunions. If you can make it please do and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself for a moment or two at least..................Life's too short and family is all we have sometimes so don't lose them!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Iowa Caucus................???
I can't imagine too many things less democratic than this, and sure I know it doesn't mean a hill of beans as far as the Iowa populace choosing a candidate goes so why bother? I lived in Iowa 38 years before moving to Arizona and still don't understand why a caucus and not a primary election of the people, or why a handful of friends and neighbors end up choosing. There are many criticisms of this process, and there is a debate over the effectiveness and usefulness of caucuses in Iowa. One criticism is that the caucuses, especially the Democratic caucus, are a step backwards from the right to a secret ballot. Also no delegates vote, party voters don't "vote", they are counted and the delegates sent to the convention from Iowa for each candidate depends on how many supporters they had at the caucus. Furthermore, the delegates are already handpicked by the candidates........now that's the democratic way!
Like anything else the press has gotten a hold of it and since 1972 it seems these caucus things are supposed to be so some importance. I remember turning 21 and being able to vote and following the primaries starting always with New Hampshire, even living in Iowa New Hampshire was the first. Sometime in my "hippie" years it seems Iowa and something called a caucus started to be talked about, I still must be high because I'm still lost as to why............why can't all citizens of Iowa vote? I guess it was 1972 that the Republican party started holding it's caucus on the same day as the democrats and that maybe brought it to the national media at any rate I think Iowa is now populated enough to have a primary. It's no longer a farm every 25 to 50 miles apart or near a town or community, it's time to move into age of populace voting.
Like anything else the press has gotten a hold of it and since 1972 it seems these caucus things are supposed to be so some importance. I remember turning 21 and being able to vote and following the primaries starting always with New Hampshire, even living in Iowa New Hampshire was the first. Sometime in my "hippie" years it seems Iowa and something called a caucus started to be talked about, I still must be high because I'm still lost as to why............why can't all citizens of Iowa vote? I guess it was 1972 that the Republican party started holding it's caucus on the same day as the democrats and that maybe brought it to the national media at any rate I think Iowa is now populated enough to have a primary. It's no longer a farm every 25 to 50 miles apart or near a town or community, it's time to move into age of populace voting.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Disaters in the Midwest.................
It's another spring after another winter after another................I'm so sorry for the folks in the Midwest from Minneapolis down to the Delta, once again at this time of year we have floods, storms, Tornado's, Cyclones, Twisters, hail storms, devastating thunderstorms and you name it. Literally hundreds of good folks dying and being put out of their homes, folks losing everything they had to raging waters reaching hundreds of yards and blocks from once peaceful rivers. Wind and rain and twisters that pick-up and destroy homes, businesses, and public buildings, without regard for whom or what is in the way or path of destruction! We pray for these folks year in and year out, pray that they find lost loved ones and can pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. Take Joplin, Missouri for example, a tornado rips through the middle of the town/city and destroys families, lives and property into the millions of dollars and a day later 8 to 10 inches of rain and hail on top of all the tragedy already there! I can't imagine 10 inches of rain anymore, I can't imagine 10 inches of rain and hail destroying whats already been destroyed once, what's wrong with this picture? Once again I'm deeply sorry for the lose of life and property being lost all throughout the Midwest this year once again.
Often times I still wonder what makes folks continue to put up with the death and destruction of property, lives, and belongings. All I can say is the 2 to 3 months where they only have to put up with the high humidity must be reward enough to endure 8 to 9 months of miserable weather. Reward enough for putting in the hard work to survive and the rebuilding each year of yards, homes, gardens, playgrounds, parks, businesses, repairing water damage, adding and repairing levee's in what seems to be a never ending cycle. I'm not sure anymore if I give the folks of the Midwest credit for putting up with such disasters and coming back for more each year or wonder what they use for common sense. I think I could only go through tragedy like that once and look for a better way or a better place to set up camp, hell I lived in the Midwest and opted to leave. Me and the family opted for the Southwest were we put up with a bit of heat a couple of months out of the year and the rest of the time pretty much paradise! There just seems to be something awesome about waking up each morning to sunshine and the vast majority of the time clear skies! We don't need or want 10 inches of rain and hail each time the clouds roll in, somewhere around 7 inches a year seems to be plenty. They say somewhere around 20,000 folks are moving just into Arizona each day, and more into Nevada and others of the Southwest, so there are those who are also tired of annually rebuilding and repairing deeds of Mother Nature.
Yes, I'm praying for a quick recovery to the storms and praying the storms of the rest of the season are not as devastating as those so far and that there is no more lose of life due to these disasters. I can only think of a few that maybe don't look forward to the seasons but definitely profit from them and have their best times of the year............Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's and even the Ma and Pa Ace's! You talk about wanting to "save a tree" look at the lumber being used each storm system, but that's another story for another time.
Often times I still wonder what makes folks continue to put up with the death and destruction of property, lives, and belongings. All I can say is the 2 to 3 months where they only have to put up with the high humidity must be reward enough to endure 8 to 9 months of miserable weather. Reward enough for putting in the hard work to survive and the rebuilding each year of yards, homes, gardens, playgrounds, parks, businesses, repairing water damage, adding and repairing levee's in what seems to be a never ending cycle. I'm not sure anymore if I give the folks of the Midwest credit for putting up with such disasters and coming back for more each year or wonder what they use for common sense. I think I could only go through tragedy like that once and look for a better way or a better place to set up camp, hell I lived in the Midwest and opted to leave. Me and the family opted for the Southwest were we put up with a bit of heat a couple of months out of the year and the rest of the time pretty much paradise! There just seems to be something awesome about waking up each morning to sunshine and the vast majority of the time clear skies! We don't need or want 10 inches of rain and hail each time the clouds roll in, somewhere around 7 inches a year seems to be plenty. They say somewhere around 20,000 folks are moving just into Arizona each day, and more into Nevada and others of the Southwest, so there are those who are also tired of annually rebuilding and repairing deeds of Mother Nature.
Yes, I'm praying for a quick recovery to the storms and praying the storms of the rest of the season are not as devastating as those so far and that there is no more lose of life due to these disasters. I can only think of a few that maybe don't look forward to the seasons but definitely profit from them and have their best times of the year............Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's and even the Ma and Pa Ace's! You talk about wanting to "save a tree" look at the lumber being used each storm system, but that's another story for another time.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Maybe too harsh!
After thinking about it I might have been too harsh on those few good employee's in our government who actually earn their incomes and don't deserve the lazy tag as most others do. But the fact still remains that our government run postal service is in dire straights and will no doubt go out of business before too long or become a privately run company. I still contend that for the most part it's the overall customer service or lack there of within this agency that is helping in it's demise. You just can't have employees with the attitude that I'm here to put in my X number of hours and take all of my scheduled and unscheduled breaks regardless of who or how many folks are waiting in line.
In a privately run business not governed by a Union employee's do what they have to do to keep the costumer happy and returning, if that means getting up from a break and taking care of business that's what is done. Now I'm quite sure you won't see that happening too many times in our Post Offices and I'm sure most of you have witnessed the same. In all my years of managing the key to our success was number one Customer Service, without it we would have no customers or continue to lose customers to other ceramic flooring companies just like the Post Office is losing customers to the likes of FexEx or UPS.
So maybe after two blogs we can all agree the Customer service sucks in our government and not just the post office and it keeps costing us tax payers to keep these agency afloat...........again not all employees but you and I both know it most likely the majority!
In a privately run business not governed by a Union employee's do what they have to do to keep the costumer happy and returning, if that means getting up from a break and taking care of business that's what is done. Now I'm quite sure you won't see that happening too many times in our Post Offices and I'm sure most of you have witnessed the same. In all my years of managing the key to our success was number one Customer Service, without it we would have no customers or continue to lose customers to other ceramic flooring companies just like the Post Office is losing customers to the likes of FexEx or UPS.
So maybe after two blogs we can all agree the Customer service sucks in our government and not just the post office and it keeps costing us tax payers to keep these agency afloat...........again not all employees but you and I both know it most likely the majority!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
USPS (U.S. Postal Service/Office)
I rarely have occasion to visit one of our Government run Post offices, one of those Government run operations going bankrupt or losing money hand over fist. Today I needed to mail a package and decided to use the US Postal service rather than UPS, FEDEX, DHL or one of the other privately run businesses making a profit year in and year out.
I walked into one of the busiest branches here in Phoenix and as usual when I walked in even at 3:15 pm and with what seemed to be only a handful of cars in the lot there were 20 folks in line. The place had 4 station to serve patrons and as I walk through the door noticed 3 of those 4 stations were maned and thought 20 people wouldn't take that long. No sooner than I stepped to the end of the line a gal at the second station got up and left......must have been a 3:15 break time or something because she never returned while I was in the joint. So now there are two postal workers to serve us and in a minute I was like 18th in line but at the same time a couple more had joined the line. From the time I entered the line of 20 persons the line never got any shorter but in fact at times counted up to 22 and 23 folks waiting on those 2 postal workers!
Well believe it or not I have become more patient at times with age and understand there are times we must wait and hey, just do it and before long the wait is over, but it does leave one with some time to think. In this particular case I began thinking about our Government run Postal service and the fact that it continually loses money and should eventually be shut down, close it's doors like any other business that continually operates in the red and why this might be happening. Why can UPS or FedEx make profits and our postal service can't, well here are a few of my thoughts on the issue and number one might be the man in charge. The Postmaster General is a political appointee and not a business savvy CEO who knows how to run a company and show a profit, probably the last really good Postmaster General was our first one in Benjamin Franklin but not much since. Next would be the employees themselves, what the hell their government employees for Christ sake what more do we expect? Everyone knows the cushy jobs are government jobs and there is plenty of job security even more so that a union job where in it takes an act of Congress to fire one of them. They get more time off than anyone in the working world, more holidays with pay and sick days with pay and raises like clock work. We all know from the latest finding in these days of budget cuts that government workers are paid ungodly amounts compared to the private sector for doing the same thing and it's damn hard to get fired or lose your job! Let's not even go into retirement and pension plans because you all will end up fired up to rehash those numbers and then most of them end up "double dipping and living like kings for working like lazy bums for 20 to 30 years. Am I jealous you bet I am, why didn't I stick with my government jobs of which I had two different ones, the USAF and FAA, hell when I hired on the FAA just for being in the Air Force I got a jump of two pay grades...sweet huh? Back to my point of this postal visit, two folks with a line of a constant 20 patrons and not giving a damn if they all got taken care of before break or not...........hell were did that third gal go? After 25 minutes her break should have been over but we never seen her again...............I'm just saying maybe running this operation like this with some of the poorest customer service you can imagine witnessing and I even checked out the displays of point of sale etc. and that was just thrown up and not much attention given to customer appeal as if no one cares if they sold anything off those rack or not and they probably don't care with little or no incentive to do much better because rain or shine they'll all be back tomorrow doing the same half ass job!
I walked into one of the busiest branches here in Phoenix and as usual when I walked in even at 3:15 pm and with what seemed to be only a handful of cars in the lot there were 20 folks in line. The place had 4 station to serve patrons and as I walk through the door noticed 3 of those 4 stations were maned and thought 20 people wouldn't take that long. No sooner than I stepped to the end of the line a gal at the second station got up and left......must have been a 3:15 break time or something because she never returned while I was in the joint. So now there are two postal workers to serve us and in a minute I was like 18th in line but at the same time a couple more had joined the line. From the time I entered the line of 20 persons the line never got any shorter but in fact at times counted up to 22 and 23 folks waiting on those 2 postal workers!
Well believe it or not I have become more patient at times with age and understand there are times we must wait and hey, just do it and before long the wait is over, but it does leave one with some time to think. In this particular case I began thinking about our Government run Postal service and the fact that it continually loses money and should eventually be shut down, close it's doors like any other business that continually operates in the red and why this might be happening. Why can UPS or FedEx make profits and our postal service can't, well here are a few of my thoughts on the issue and number one might be the man in charge. The Postmaster General is a political appointee and not a business savvy CEO who knows how to run a company and show a profit, probably the last really good Postmaster General was our first one in Benjamin Franklin but not much since. Next would be the employees themselves, what the hell their government employees for Christ sake what more do we expect? Everyone knows the cushy jobs are government jobs and there is plenty of job security even more so that a union job where in it takes an act of Congress to fire one of them. They get more time off than anyone in the working world, more holidays with pay and sick days with pay and raises like clock work. We all know from the latest finding in these days of budget cuts that government workers are paid ungodly amounts compared to the private sector for doing the same thing and it's damn hard to get fired or lose your job! Let's not even go into retirement and pension plans because you all will end up fired up to rehash those numbers and then most of them end up "double dipping and living like kings for working like lazy bums for 20 to 30 years. Am I jealous you bet I am, why didn't I stick with my government jobs of which I had two different ones, the USAF and FAA, hell when I hired on the FAA just for being in the Air Force I got a jump of two pay grades...sweet huh? Back to my point of this postal visit, two folks with a line of a constant 20 patrons and not giving a damn if they all got taken care of before break or not...........hell were did that third gal go? After 25 minutes her break should have been over but we never seen her again...............I'm just saying maybe running this operation like this with some of the poorest customer service you can imagine witnessing and I even checked out the displays of point of sale etc. and that was just thrown up and not much attention given to customer appeal as if no one cares if they sold anything off those rack or not and they probably don't care with little or no incentive to do much better because rain or shine they'll all be back tomorrow doing the same half ass job!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Moving...........
OK so we decided to downsize for retirement and start taking it easier on ourselves financially and physically. This in turn would also free us to travel more without having to worry about what needs to be done at home, like landscape, pool, animals etc. If you take those things and everything else that goes along with living on an acre and a quarter in a 3000 plus square foot home you have way too many worries if traveling. Oh sure we'll miss so much about our place in north Phoenix, it was a dream of Bev's that came true and that we enjoyed for 7 years. It was 7 years of entertaining of all kinds, 2 weddings, way too many BBQ's to remember, showers (baby & wedding), grandchildren birthday parties, our swim parties and those many given by our daughter Lisa. The BBQ pit and bar area did it's job all year long no matter if it was winter or summer or anytime in between, sure it was a lot of work and a huge expense but you can be sure we enjoyed each and every outing! Let's not forget those wonderful neighbors on Tanya road, the Cox's became dear friends and the rest of our neighbors even though a pit younger were good neighbors also, we enjoyed them all and the parties!
Now that brings us to moving, what an unpleasant thought, what an unpleasant chore one has to go through to change residence....even your friends ate it when you move for obvious reasons! At our age we thought it best to hire a company like "2 men and a truck" or the like to handle the big stuff, we'll pack the boxes let someone else move them from on place to the other.....you know the "hard work" as we like to put it. Right, the hard work, hell their done and gone and we're still working our tails off! There won't be a next time, but if there were maybe we'll haul and the stuff and pay someone else to pack and unpack and put things were they belong, hell that's the hard part! It took a week to find the silverware and all boxes were marked very well like kitchen, living room, bedrooms etc. and it still took a week to find the silverware. It's been almost two weeks now and I'd venture to say we still have half the boxes to open and unpack yet. Now let me say it didn't or doesn't help moving into a 1500 sq. ft. double-wide from the over 3000 sq. ft. we had but in the end it will all be worth the trouble. Trying to bring a '72 model (that's in great shape and the price was definitely right) up to date a bit has been a minor challenge at times but we're going to like the upkeep cost when comparing the two places....yep nearly 1/7th of the cost to maintain on a monthly basis!
Anyway, moving is a bitch and I've decided this morning (while waiting for the installer to install the new dishwasher....which needs some plumbing updating) that I will take one box a day at least and empty it. I'm not going to say that emptying it doesn't mean I won't throw it's items into the garbage, but we are running out of room it seems. Yes, I think if we both unpack one box a day from here on out we could be all unpacked by the end of the month!
Hey two weeks and I haven't touched a yard tool of any kind, my green painted asphalt yard hasn't even needed to be blown off yet..................yippee!
Now that brings us to moving, what an unpleasant thought, what an unpleasant chore one has to go through to change residence....even your friends ate it when you move for obvious reasons! At our age we thought it best to hire a company like "2 men and a truck" or the like to handle the big stuff, we'll pack the boxes let someone else move them from on place to the other.....you know the "hard work" as we like to put it. Right, the hard work, hell their done and gone and we're still working our tails off! There won't be a next time, but if there were maybe we'll haul and the stuff and pay someone else to pack and unpack and put things were they belong, hell that's the hard part! It took a week to find the silverware and all boxes were marked very well like kitchen, living room, bedrooms etc. and it still took a week to find the silverware. It's been almost two weeks now and I'd venture to say we still have half the boxes to open and unpack yet. Now let me say it didn't or doesn't help moving into a 1500 sq. ft. double-wide from the over 3000 sq. ft. we had but in the end it will all be worth the trouble. Trying to bring a '72 model (that's in great shape and the price was definitely right) up to date a bit has been a minor challenge at times but we're going to like the upkeep cost when comparing the two places....yep nearly 1/7th of the cost to maintain on a monthly basis!
Anyway, moving is a bitch and I've decided this morning (while waiting for the installer to install the new dishwasher....which needs some plumbing updating) that I will take one box a day at least and empty it. I'm not going to say that emptying it doesn't mean I won't throw it's items into the garbage, but we are running out of room it seems. Yes, I think if we both unpack one box a day from here on out we could be all unpacked by the end of the month!
Hey two weeks and I haven't touched a yard tool of any kind, my green painted asphalt yard hasn't even needed to be blown off yet..................yippee!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Moving and/or downsizing..........
Have you moved lately? Have you given any thought to moving or downsizing in this Topsy Turvy world of economic shortfalls we now live in? It's something I think about being 64 years old and it's just me and the wife living on a acre in a 3000 sf house. A very large house for just two people and a very large yard for just two people all of which needs much attention to keep up and maintain. When you're entering your mid 60's these really aren't things we like to think about on a daily basis, we feel more like thinking about seeing the grand kids and going out for ice cream on a sunny day. We think about things like taking off in the motor home for a few weeks or longer enjoying each other and our great nation, not trimming 23 trees, raking an acre of granite, maintaining a pool and BBQ area for gatherings and painting the trim or dusting and mopping 2000 sf of porcelain tile and all those nooks and grannies, and windows.....
Just imagine for a minute if you wanted to downsize from 3000 sf of well furnished living and spaces filled with what at the time didn't matter the cost and now need to fit things into 1600 sf. Going from 3 bedrooms, den, office, 3 baths to 2 bedroom, office and 1 bath may not seem to bad until you start having to pick and choose what you really need to fill the smaller space and what to do with the remainder! I would imagine you'd be using Craigslist and having garage sales every weekend until you got rid of the stuff that just won't fit in the new place. There's always the kids that could use some of the stuff and that always works as long as they both don't want the same things, or want you to make a buck or two on the stuff just to help out. Yes, it might be a task we wouldn't want to face or tackle right now. You know at the age of the mid 60's you really aren't built to move like you used to be, you don't even have the energy some days to get started but this you must do. There may be deadlines, dates when this would have to take place or that would have to be done and we all know the older you get the faster those days come up on you, deadlines yep there sometimes hard to meet now a days! I think if I had to tackle these problems and didn't have a handful of young helpers around who hate moving friends anyway, I might consider a company like "Two men and a Truck" to tackle those heavy and awkward things for me. Hell packing it all in boxes would be a big enough job let alone moving all those heavy boxes YOU packed to the brim with heavy stuff! Yep the $45/hour may be the way to go and hopefully you can get the help to tear things all down and put them back together again.
Well this is something we're tackling at this time in our lives, we've decided to downsize and take the plunge into a retirement community.............my God does that make us sound old! We've decided we can't handle the ranch and need to go smaller, we've decided we can't afford to keep up the ranch and need to go smaller, we've decided we need to start gearing up for full retirement and soon. Yes it's us packing all the boxes we can get our hands on, it's us having multiple garage sales and using craigslist, yes and it's us with way more junk around that we need to fill a 1600 sf place. With closing on homes it also puts us under the gun to meet times and dates set in the near future and the clock ticks faster and faster each day.
You know we really thought we needed all this stuff at one point, and we really thought we needed to spend outrageous sums of money on filling this space and that space and having this toy and that toy and right now none of that matters. Enjoying the rest of our lives matters now, enjoying each other rather than material things matters more right now and it's down that road we're steering towards and looking forward to it with must enthusiasm. Life starts over in a month or so and we're looking forward to it............pray for us!
Just imagine for a minute if you wanted to downsize from 3000 sf of well furnished living and spaces filled with what at the time didn't matter the cost and now need to fit things into 1600 sf. Going from 3 bedrooms, den, office, 3 baths to 2 bedroom, office and 1 bath may not seem to bad until you start having to pick and choose what you really need to fill the smaller space and what to do with the remainder! I would imagine you'd be using Craigslist and having garage sales every weekend until you got rid of the stuff that just won't fit in the new place. There's always the kids that could use some of the stuff and that always works as long as they both don't want the same things, or want you to make a buck or two on the stuff just to help out. Yes, it might be a task we wouldn't want to face or tackle right now. You know at the age of the mid 60's you really aren't built to move like you used to be, you don't even have the energy some days to get started but this you must do. There may be deadlines, dates when this would have to take place or that would have to be done and we all know the older you get the faster those days come up on you, deadlines yep there sometimes hard to meet now a days! I think if I had to tackle these problems and didn't have a handful of young helpers around who hate moving friends anyway, I might consider a company like "Two men and a Truck" to tackle those heavy and awkward things for me. Hell packing it all in boxes would be a big enough job let alone moving all those heavy boxes YOU packed to the brim with heavy stuff! Yep the $45/hour may be the way to go and hopefully you can get the help to tear things all down and put them back together again.
Well this is something we're tackling at this time in our lives, we've decided to downsize and take the plunge into a retirement community.............my God does that make us sound old! We've decided we can't handle the ranch and need to go smaller, we've decided we can't afford to keep up the ranch and need to go smaller, we've decided we need to start gearing up for full retirement and soon. Yes it's us packing all the boxes we can get our hands on, it's us having multiple garage sales and using craigslist, yes and it's us with way more junk around that we need to fill a 1600 sf place. With closing on homes it also puts us under the gun to meet times and dates set in the near future and the clock ticks faster and faster each day.
You know we really thought we needed all this stuff at one point, and we really thought we needed to spend outrageous sums of money on filling this space and that space and having this toy and that toy and right now none of that matters. Enjoying the rest of our lives matters now, enjoying each other rather than material things matters more right now and it's down that road we're steering towards and looking forward to it with must enthusiasm. Life starts over in a month or so and we're looking forward to it............pray for us!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Made in America?
Did anyone catch ABC world news the past couple of days? Made in America was a topic and they actually went into an American home and took out everything not made in America and the home ended up gutted, watch tonight to see if they can fill it back up with products "made in America".
Now speaking on this topic brings a few things to mind at least to me. I'm putting this on the unions (must be my week to bash the unions....but look at Wisconsin and Ohio right now) and I think for the most part rightfully so. Manufactures, employers, mills, plants of all sorts are closed and have been closing down for years and looking to other countries for things like wage relief in order to make a profit. Yes I know most liberals in our country don't believe in companies making a profit whether it be small business or big business, to make a profit to them is like being UN-American....you know like spread the wealth please! We allowed the unions to keep getting these massive benefit packages and sky rocketing wages which in turns forces the companies to keep raising the price of their product to the point folks can't afford to buy them and it's just continues to be a viscous circle until the companies either go out of business or look elsewhere for a way to make the company profitable. Insurance companies too like to make money, if you started a business or a company providing service to or benefits for folks you too would like to make a profit. If the unions keep getting unlimited benefits to employees without the employees contributing much of anything to the point of being almost free coverage how could any company survive with out raising prices and passing on cost to the rest of us? Sure it's great that the teacher down the road or the fireman has these wonderful pension plans to the point of making more in retirement. It's also great that the union workers that earn as much in retirement as they did when working and with Social Security make much more but now where's "spread the wealth around"?
When the rest of the country pays for these pensions by way of our State and Local and National governments raising taxes on everything under the sun and are going deeper and deeper in debt due to the fact they can no longer afford to pay these pensions..........this is not a "win win" for the rest of us! Just because you were fortunate enough to either fall into broom bushing job at a union shop or decided to become a teacher or state or government employee does not mean you deserve to continue to bankrupt our States and Federal government without helping with the debts you are causing. Hell most of those retired teachers, government workers State, Local or Federal hated their jobs..........bitched about their jobs..........complained all the way to the bank until retirement rolls around and "bingo" it was the smartest thing they ever did!
No in my opinion the Unions played a big part in companies moving to less expensive ways to make their products or closed down due to over priced employees and until we fix the problem with the Unions there just won't be a lot of items labeled, Made in America!
Here's a site you might want to check out, 22 of the States have nothing labeled made in America and a number of the rest have one item you can purchase made in America............a sad day!
http://americansworking.com/index.html
Now speaking on this topic brings a few things to mind at least to me. I'm putting this on the unions (must be my week to bash the unions....but look at Wisconsin and Ohio right now) and I think for the most part rightfully so. Manufactures, employers, mills, plants of all sorts are closed and have been closing down for years and looking to other countries for things like wage relief in order to make a profit. Yes I know most liberals in our country don't believe in companies making a profit whether it be small business or big business, to make a profit to them is like being UN-American....you know like spread the wealth please! We allowed the unions to keep getting these massive benefit packages and sky rocketing wages which in turns forces the companies to keep raising the price of their product to the point folks can't afford to buy them and it's just continues to be a viscous circle until the companies either go out of business or look elsewhere for a way to make the company profitable. Insurance companies too like to make money, if you started a business or a company providing service to or benefits for folks you too would like to make a profit. If the unions keep getting unlimited benefits to employees without the employees contributing much of anything to the point of being almost free coverage how could any company survive with out raising prices and passing on cost to the rest of us? Sure it's great that the teacher down the road or the fireman has these wonderful pension plans to the point of making more in retirement. It's also great that the union workers that earn as much in retirement as they did when working and with Social Security make much more but now where's "spread the wealth around"?
When the rest of the country pays for these pensions by way of our State and Local and National governments raising taxes on everything under the sun and are going deeper and deeper in debt due to the fact they can no longer afford to pay these pensions..........this is not a "win win" for the rest of us! Just because you were fortunate enough to either fall into broom bushing job at a union shop or decided to become a teacher or state or government employee does not mean you deserve to continue to bankrupt our States and Federal government without helping with the debts you are causing. Hell most of those retired teachers, government workers State, Local or Federal hated their jobs..........bitched about their jobs..........complained all the way to the bank until retirement rolls around and "bingo" it was the smartest thing they ever did!
No in my opinion the Unions played a big part in companies moving to less expensive ways to make their products or closed down due to over priced employees and until we fix the problem with the Unions there just won't be a lot of items labeled, Made in America!
Here's a site you might want to check out, 22 of the States have nothing labeled made in America and a number of the rest have one item you can purchase made in America............a sad day!
http://americansworking.com/index.html
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
When is it all going to come to a boil.....soon I hope!
Let me begin by saying I was a staunch union man for 12 years and then even for a few years after leaving the ranks of the Teamsters and now I'm seeing the other side!
Coming from the Midwest and the heart of all farm implement manufactures up until the early 80's you couldn't help but know of unions and how they worked and helped the employees they represented. Many friends relied on these jobs and unions for their livelihood and some nice hourly wages and benefits, hell if you weren't in a union you envied those that were and the things they received through "negotiations"....... yep now I feel for most companies that have to deal with these same unions.
When you have democratic representatives of a State, representatives elected by the unions for the unions and with the unions money not doing their jobs for fear of what constituents and these unions will do or not do come next elections that's criminal. The union heads across the country right now must be hating all this negative publicity with regards to what Government union organized employees earn in wages and benefits compared to private sector employees doing the same work. It comes out today that in 41 states employees covered under the state and local government collective barging agreements earn substantially more than there counter parts in the private sector, more in wages and much more in benefits.
I'm not going on too much farther with this other than to say yes, the unions had a purpose years ago and did improve working conditions and wages for the workers of our country but how much is too far? I think they have out lasted their usefulness and should be toned down a bit to say the least. The days of a regular Joe leaning on a broom on the shop floor for 8 hours and making $18 plus an hour plus full benefits should be over. The Government worker who can't be fired or let go for missing 1/3 or more of each work quarter is absurd and our government should be ashamed, more of the citizens of this country need to know these things. Wisconsin and it's what really is the minority of their population should shut up and get back to work for all those big bucks. I hope it come to the point that all their doing is helping to bring attention to the ridiculous demands they have made and profited from in the past. Teachers that don't go to work and rather protest because they may have to pay for some of their benefits should be canned immediately, they aren't good teachers anyway if they don't want to teach!
Wisconsin, Ohio and the rest of them.................bite the bullet and help out your States because it's you union folks and your demands that most likely put your States into these budget problems.
Coming from the Midwest and the heart of all farm implement manufactures up until the early 80's you couldn't help but know of unions and how they worked and helped the employees they represented. Many friends relied on these jobs and unions for their livelihood and some nice hourly wages and benefits, hell if you weren't in a union you envied those that were and the things they received through "negotiations"....... yep now I feel for most companies that have to deal with these same unions.
When you have democratic representatives of a State, representatives elected by the unions for the unions and with the unions money not doing their jobs for fear of what constituents and these unions will do or not do come next elections that's criminal. The union heads across the country right now must be hating all this negative publicity with regards to what Government union organized employees earn in wages and benefits compared to private sector employees doing the same work. It comes out today that in 41 states employees covered under the state and local government collective barging agreements earn substantially more than there counter parts in the private sector, more in wages and much more in benefits.
I'm not going on too much farther with this other than to say yes, the unions had a purpose years ago and did improve working conditions and wages for the workers of our country but how much is too far? I think they have out lasted their usefulness and should be toned down a bit to say the least. The days of a regular Joe leaning on a broom on the shop floor for 8 hours and making $18 plus an hour plus full benefits should be over. The Government worker who can't be fired or let go for missing 1/3 or more of each work quarter is absurd and our government should be ashamed, more of the citizens of this country need to know these things. Wisconsin and it's what really is the minority of their population should shut up and get back to work for all those big bucks. I hope it come to the point that all their doing is helping to bring attention to the ridiculous demands they have made and profited from in the past. Teachers that don't go to work and rather protest because they may have to pay for some of their benefits should be canned immediately, they aren't good teachers anyway if they don't want to teach!
Wisconsin, Ohio and the rest of them.................bite the bullet and help out your States because it's you union folks and your demands that most likely put your States into these budget problems.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
This mornings news
I too as a friend of mind in Rock Island did, got up this morning and as usual turned on the local news to see what has happened overnight and what new turmoil has erupted in this crazy world. I expected to see what was next on Gadhafi's schedule, will he leave Libya or will he kill everyone except his corrupt family until he and his are the last ones left? Or maybe I could find out about what has happened with all the devastation in Christchurch, New Zealand, hundreds dead and missing, aftershocks, it's so hard to fathom what they are going through.
I was also curious about where the market was heading after yesterdays down turn and how the price of oil is affecting the world markets.
Lastly I was hoping for an explanation on why those Somali Pirates are still alive and why they will be tried in the US when they should have been tried at sea at the scene, Guilty, firing squad walk the plank! As you can see I was ready to be informed on the top stories and come to find out the top story of the day was Justin Beiber got a freaking hair cut, holy shit now I am up to speed. I feel I will be totally depressed until the time Justin lets his hair grow back, this was devastating news. Just one more reason to watch FOX news if you want real news and not learn about this crap or how to make a good biscuit or salad with Matt and his crew!
So now we leave the Beaver story...........or Beiber story and what’s next, Lindsay Lohan and her continuing saga. You gotta love this judge in her case, or at least I do, he basically told Lindsay like it is:
"If you plead in front of me, if this case is resolved in front of me, you are going to jail," Schwartz said. "Period."
This is what is needed, this gal has been in and out of so called "rehab" and on and off probation and has broken probation more than once and still hasn't spent any time to speak of in jail like the rest of us poor smucks would have. Her Dad is blaming the media for sensationalizing her story and escapades and blames all this on her addiction..........which addiction is he talking about, drugs, alcohol, kleptomania, driving while intoxicated, driving in a reckless manner with excessive speed, which one? She was picked up or cited again Monday my Sheriff's deputies for speeding, 59 mph in a 35 mph zone and the hits just keep on a coming!
Now I don't know who this Beiber guy is and I've never seen or heard Lindsay sing, act or whatever she does so I can't speak for how they are with respect to their callings..................... but I don't give a rats whether the guy gets a hair cut or not and the rest of the country like me I believe just want to see Lindsay put behind bars for 3 to 5 years. This stuff is not news no matter what Matt Lauer or Meredith and Roker think, so don't pretend to report the news on these morning "news" shows. These folks should join the ranks of the Food Network and then at least when we tune in we know what we're going to get.................cookies and biscuits!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
OJ and Apple juice next luxory items?
In November the people of the USA told Congress and our President to do two things, lower our debt and reduce spending! I'm not so sure our President got the message correct or at least he's still being his arrogant self and trying to go Frank Sinatra on us (doing my way)!
Do we devalue our way to prosperity, is that the way this administration wants to take our country? That just doesn't seem like what we had in mind when we voted last November, it seems we the people might know better than this one person.
Inflation: A persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services.
Inflation: "An increase in the amount of currency in circulation, resulting in a relatively sharp and sudden fall in its value and rise in prices: it may be caused by an increase in the volume of paper money issued or of gold mined, or a relative increase in expenditures as when the supply of goods fails to meet the demand."
This administration loves to print money and it's killing our country...............over the past six months here are a few price percentage moves to consider:
Cotton up +125%
Sugar up +82.6%
Corn up +59%
Coffee up +41.4%
Rice up +40.5%
Oats up +36.6%
Copper up +36.1%
Lumber up +33.8%
Oil up +25.1%
And now in the same six month period the Dollar ($) is down 6% in value! This is simple economics, print more money and the $$ goes down and prices go up! Have you bought a cotton shirt lately or a carton of OJ or stopped by the pump and fill up the car? Is this what the people asked for last November? The Congress wants to cut spending by a billion dollars a year and are being fought by the Democratic controlled Senate and the White house, this is what the people asked them to do in November!!!!
Our Presidents new budget proposal which is a 3.73 Billion dollar budget will be the BIGGEST one year debt jump ever in our history up 2 Trillion dollars! That is more than the combined GDP of France, Italy and Ireland........more than these countries will spend, buy, sell for one year and that equals Obama's budget.
Our President said "We need to get our deficit under control" and yet in the past two years our deficit has increase 3 times what it was, we've tried spending and spending to stimulate the economy but it seems that is only like putting gas on a fire!
Cuts need to be made across the board, health care, Social Security, Defense, all entitlements and yes teachers of Wisconsin even you, the unions need to join the seniors in cutting..........can Wisconsin teachers do simple math? Do the math folks, we need to cut in order to reduce our deficit, not just by raising prescriptions cost for seniors Mr. Obama!
Do we devalue our way to prosperity, is that the way this administration wants to take our country? That just doesn't seem like what we had in mind when we voted last November, it seems we the people might know better than this one person.
Inflation: A persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services.
Inflation: "An increase in the amount of currency in circulation, resulting in a relatively sharp and sudden fall in its value and rise in prices: it may be caused by an increase in the volume of paper money issued or of gold mined, or a relative increase in expenditures as when the supply of goods fails to meet the demand."
This administration loves to print money and it's killing our country...............over the past six months here are a few price percentage moves to consider:
Cotton up +125%
Sugar up +82.6%
Corn up +59%
Coffee up +41.4%
Rice up +40.5%
Oats up +36.6%
Copper up +36.1%
Lumber up +33.8%
Oil up +25.1%
And now in the same six month period the Dollar ($) is down 6% in value! This is simple economics, print more money and the $$ goes down and prices go up! Have you bought a cotton shirt lately or a carton of OJ or stopped by the pump and fill up the car? Is this what the people asked for last November? The Congress wants to cut spending by a billion dollars a year and are being fought by the Democratic controlled Senate and the White house, this is what the people asked them to do in November!!!!
Our Presidents new budget proposal which is a 3.73 Billion dollar budget will be the BIGGEST one year debt jump ever in our history up 2 Trillion dollars! That is more than the combined GDP of France, Italy and Ireland........more than these countries will spend, buy, sell for one year and that equals Obama's budget.
Our President said "We need to get our deficit under control" and yet in the past two years our deficit has increase 3 times what it was, we've tried spending and spending to stimulate the economy but it seems that is only like putting gas on a fire!
Cuts need to be made across the board, health care, Social Security, Defense, all entitlements and yes teachers of Wisconsin even you, the unions need to join the seniors in cutting..........can Wisconsin teachers do simple math? Do the math folks, we need to cut in order to reduce our deficit, not just by raising prescriptions cost for seniors Mr. Obama!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
"Friday Night Lights"
If you haven't seen or don't know exactly what's meant my "Friday Night Lights" well I'm sorry for you because you missed something. Sure a lot of you don't spend much time in front of the tube (TV) but this series is one this writer thinks was and turned out to be a must see.
Friday Night Lights is the name of a made for TV mini series written and produced by Peter Berg (Google him you'll quickly remember) and aired first for Direct TV customers and later on the networks. Having Direct TV 101 I've already seen the entire 5th season including the finale yesterday. I'm not going to say I was completely happy with the last episode, the final show of the series but all in all Peter Berg did tie all loose ends and made it very enjoyable. I can say Bev and I will honestly miss viewing our Texas families and small town Texas goings on. I mentioned Direct TV 101 which aired the series to Direct TV customers first then later in the Fall on network TV, so come Fall you all can tune in to at least season of this series.
I first came into contact with high school football and it's importance to the folks of Texas and Oklahoma while living in Oklahoma City for awhile in 1970. High school football between Texas and Oklahoma was as intense if not more so that college rivalries there and elsewhere. High school football in Texas is a big business, with fierce competition and not just the large cities but maybe more so in places like Midland or Odessa to name a couple. This is what folks in those small towns live for and die for and the players rule the communities and coach's are paid like those in the college ranks. Passion is the word when it comes to Texas and high school football and the communities they represent and these boys and girls grow up fast in every way.
"Friday Night Lights" is the saga of a small Texas town's football team and then teams and the players, coaches, girl friends, wives and boosters and families of these teams. In five seasons we've seen player go and new ones come and mature as far as players and men, and also the women in their lives grow and mature as women. If it isn't already it will no doubt be a box set of DVD's soon and if you can check out season's 1 - 4 and then watch season 5 and I hope enjoy as much as we did.
"Friday Night Lights" I miss you already and thank Peter Berg whom I liked for years for giving us such a powerful series to watch.
Friday Night Lights is the name of a made for TV mini series written and produced by Peter Berg (Google him you'll quickly remember) and aired first for Direct TV customers and later on the networks. Having Direct TV 101 I've already seen the entire 5th season including the finale yesterday. I'm not going to say I was completely happy with the last episode, the final show of the series but all in all Peter Berg did tie all loose ends and made it very enjoyable. I can say Bev and I will honestly miss viewing our Texas families and small town Texas goings on. I mentioned Direct TV 101 which aired the series to Direct TV customers first then later in the Fall on network TV, so come Fall you all can tune in to at least season of this series.
I first came into contact with high school football and it's importance to the folks of Texas and Oklahoma while living in Oklahoma City for awhile in 1970. High school football between Texas and Oklahoma was as intense if not more so that college rivalries there and elsewhere. High school football in Texas is a big business, with fierce competition and not just the large cities but maybe more so in places like Midland or Odessa to name a couple. This is what folks in those small towns live for and die for and the players rule the communities and coach's are paid like those in the college ranks. Passion is the word when it comes to Texas and high school football and the communities they represent and these boys and girls grow up fast in every way.
"Friday Night Lights" is the saga of a small Texas town's football team and then teams and the players, coaches, girl friends, wives and boosters and families of these teams. In five seasons we've seen player go and new ones come and mature as far as players and men, and also the women in their lives grow and mature as women. If it isn't already it will no doubt be a box set of DVD's soon and if you can check out season's 1 - 4 and then watch season 5 and I hope enjoy as much as we did.
"Friday Night Lights" I miss you already and thank Peter Berg whom I liked for years for giving us such a powerful series to watch.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
To RV or not to RV?
Last summer we took an extended trip in our motor home and thoroughly enjoyed most every minute of the trip. The 3 1/2 month trip really got us to thinking about if and when we go full-time and how it would be to do so. By the way, going full-time means living permanently in your RV/motor home. We love our motor home and since it's 37' with 3 slides it's actually plenty roomy for us, besides you always have a patio it seems no matter where you park it. We actually both seem to even sleep better in our motor home bedroom than in our at home now.
Anyway with the housing market the way it's been for the past 3 to 4 years here in Arizona and the values just down at the bottom of the tank, we've been thinking more and more about living in our motor home. Not just to be living in an RV or motor home, but the adventures that naturally go along with it intrigue us a bit. It's now just the two of us and a 3000 plus square foot house on a acre that consumes a lot of our time and energy and money to maintain, and with myself retired and B very near retirement we wondering if we really need all this. We've actually been toying with the idea of downsizing in the biggest of ways, into our motor home. We plan on doing this for sure when Bev retires officially and basically following the sunshine across this great land of ours. As far as work goes she actually worked while on that 3 1/2 month trek with no problems no matter what part of the country we were in, technology today allows for most anything from anywhere and that's good.
I'm not sure by writing this blog that I'm asking for comments or not or advice one way or another, but I as usual welcome all comments with reference to any blog I write. And like I said we're toying with the idea and hoping to make some kind of a decision in the next few months as to what we do with the house, furniture and junk we really don't need or won't need. We know it would be a big step in our life, and to downsize that drastically is a big move and we know it and will pray hard about it.
With all the reading and talking to full-times that we've done the vast majority wouldn't trade it for anything, and make and have friends literally all over the United States. The grand kids and our children would and will be probably the biggest stumbling block of the entire decision, we're a very close family and it was even hard to be gone the 3 plus months last year. With laptops, skype, and video conferencing we can still see each other but we will most likely have a home base of some sort in and around the Phoenix area because God knows we love this place so much! So as you might imagine there is so much going into this decision, much more than just a house or the finances of one over the other just so much to think about.
Pray with us and for us as we make these life changing decisions....................
Anyway with the housing market the way it's been for the past 3 to 4 years here in Arizona and the values just down at the bottom of the tank, we've been thinking more and more about living in our motor home. Not just to be living in an RV or motor home, but the adventures that naturally go along with it intrigue us a bit. It's now just the two of us and a 3000 plus square foot house on a acre that consumes a lot of our time and energy and money to maintain, and with myself retired and B very near retirement we wondering if we really need all this. We've actually been toying with the idea of downsizing in the biggest of ways, into our motor home. We plan on doing this for sure when Bev retires officially and basically following the sunshine across this great land of ours. As far as work goes she actually worked while on that 3 1/2 month trek with no problems no matter what part of the country we were in, technology today allows for most anything from anywhere and that's good.
I'm not sure by writing this blog that I'm asking for comments or not or advice one way or another, but I as usual welcome all comments with reference to any blog I write. And like I said we're toying with the idea and hoping to make some kind of a decision in the next few months as to what we do with the house, furniture and junk we really don't need or won't need. We know it would be a big step in our life, and to downsize that drastically is a big move and we know it and will pray hard about it.
With all the reading and talking to full-times that we've done the vast majority wouldn't trade it for anything, and make and have friends literally all over the United States. The grand kids and our children would and will be probably the biggest stumbling block of the entire decision, we're a very close family and it was even hard to be gone the 3 plus months last year. With laptops, skype, and video conferencing we can still see each other but we will most likely have a home base of some sort in and around the Phoenix area because God knows we love this place so much! So as you might imagine there is so much going into this decision, much more than just a house or the finances of one over the other just so much to think about.
Pray with us and for us as we make these life changing decisions....................
Monday, February 7, 2011
Super bowl 45 (XLV)
Well another Super bowl down and another comedy of errors from the game to the stadium to the half time show to the singing of the anthem.
Lets start with the Anthem sung by Christina Aguilera, Aguilera botched the national anthem something fierce before the Super Bowl. Aguilera started out all right, but she had a problem with the ramparts -- specifically, the "O'er the ramparts we watched" line, which she left out altogether. Aguilera tried to make up for it by combining two lines -- "What so proudly we watched," instead of "What so proudly we hailed", but let's just say that it was too late to reverse the error. You'd think these folks would take it serious enough to practice and learn the words, I can't believe it would be nerves or any other excuse for someone used to preforming on large stages in front of 1000's of people.
Then the Stadium, the Jerry Jones Jewel of Dallas....right! The weather caused them to have multiple problems including ice and snow and roofs collapses to 400 plus ticket holding folks to be without seats! I guess there were 400 fans who paid $900 or more dollars for their tickets that ended up without seats, they were put outdoors in a party plaza to watch the game on TV. There were an additional 800 fans that had their seats moved because of another seating snafu and those left out in the cold were understandably unhappy! Jerry added additional seats to the stadium and the fire Marshall had not inspected them yet and they could not be used instead sat empty for the game. The fans were told they would get 3 times face value for the tickets and inconvenience caused but most had paid more than face value and as much as $3000 a ticket and were not happy campers.
Then how about a bonus goof up, a great "fly by" by the USAF in the F-35's after the debacle of an anthem. With the roof closed no one saw them or the fly by, Oh yes we at home watching to TV saw the fly by but no big thing to those folks at the game! If you've been to an event with a fly by you know how exciting and chilling it can be at and in the moment.................too bad those folks that paid mega bucks to see all the goings on missed this one.
Then one writer put the half time show this way....... "Black Eyed Peas Vs. Tron: A Super Bowl Contest No One Wins". "Like counting the times in just the past few months we've seen the Black Eyed Peas on television doing pretty much this same shtick they did at the Super Bowl. If you want to make sure you have the least anticipated Bowl half-time in modern history, a sure bet is to book a group that would show up to play a supermarket ribbon-cutting." "What could the Peas possibly do that we hadn't already burned out on? Bring out the Tron dancers, as it turns out. If you felt like Tron Legacy missed a bet by not having Jeff Bridges lead a war platoon's worth of boogieing hoofers at the climax, Super Bowl XLV made up for that missed opportunity." The live-or-Memorex questions that typically fly after a halftime show were rendered moot here. The Peas' hits usually involve more shouting than singing, anyway, so staying on pitch was not going to pose many problems except in a handful of Fergie moments.
But there might not have been this uneventful a Bowl intermission since the Up With People era of no-name half-time shows. Come back, AARP-rockers, like Tom Petty, The Who, Bruce Springsteen.....all is forgiven!
Then we have the game itself, not a bad football game but still a bunch of over paid cry babies playing a school yard game! Who made out, the city of Dallas, the owners for getting all that TV money, the over-paid players with the big checks to spend now on the break between seasons, and the FOX network cashing in a multi-million dollar 30 second spots from advertisers. The best money spent went to your local grocery stores where we all spent more money than we should have to feast while watching all these comedy of errors and a just another so, so football game!
Oh yes, we'll all do it again next year and everyone but us idiots will cash in on our wasting another 4 to 6 hours in front of the tube while they rake in bundles of cash..................who's laughing now I guess?
Lets start with the Anthem sung by Christina Aguilera, Aguilera botched the national anthem something fierce before the Super Bowl. Aguilera started out all right, but she had a problem with the ramparts -- specifically, the "O'er the ramparts we watched" line, which she left out altogether. Aguilera tried to make up for it by combining two lines -- "What so proudly we watched," instead of "What so proudly we hailed", but let's just say that it was too late to reverse the error. You'd think these folks would take it serious enough to practice and learn the words, I can't believe it would be nerves or any other excuse for someone used to preforming on large stages in front of 1000's of people.
Then the Stadium, the Jerry Jones Jewel of Dallas....right! The weather caused them to have multiple problems including ice and snow and roofs collapses to 400 plus ticket holding folks to be without seats! I guess there were 400 fans who paid $900 or more dollars for their tickets that ended up without seats, they were put outdoors in a party plaza to watch the game on TV. There were an additional 800 fans that had their seats moved because of another seating snafu and those left out in the cold were understandably unhappy! Jerry added additional seats to the stadium and the fire Marshall had not inspected them yet and they could not be used instead sat empty for the game. The fans were told they would get 3 times face value for the tickets and inconvenience caused but most had paid more than face value and as much as $3000 a ticket and were not happy campers.
Then how about a bonus goof up, a great "fly by" by the USAF in the F-35's after the debacle of an anthem. With the roof closed no one saw them or the fly by, Oh yes we at home watching to TV saw the fly by but no big thing to those folks at the game! If you've been to an event with a fly by you know how exciting and chilling it can be at and in the moment.................too bad those folks that paid mega bucks to see all the goings on missed this one.
Then one writer put the half time show this way....... "Black Eyed Peas Vs. Tron: A Super Bowl Contest No One Wins". "Like counting the times in just the past few months we've seen the Black Eyed Peas on television doing pretty much this same shtick they did at the Super Bowl. If you want to make sure you have the least anticipated Bowl half-time in modern history, a sure bet is to book a group that would show up to play a supermarket ribbon-cutting." "What could the Peas possibly do that we hadn't already burned out on? Bring out the Tron dancers, as it turns out. If you felt like Tron Legacy missed a bet by not having Jeff Bridges lead a war platoon's worth of boogieing hoofers at the climax, Super Bowl XLV made up for that missed opportunity." The live-or-Memorex questions that typically fly after a halftime show were rendered moot here. The Peas' hits usually involve more shouting than singing, anyway, so staying on pitch was not going to pose many problems except in a handful of Fergie moments.
But there might not have been this uneventful a Bowl intermission since the Up With People era of no-name half-time shows. Come back, AARP-rockers, like Tom Petty, The Who, Bruce Springsteen.....all is forgiven!
Then we have the game itself, not a bad football game but still a bunch of over paid cry babies playing a school yard game! Who made out, the city of Dallas, the owners for getting all that TV money, the over-paid players with the big checks to spend now on the break between seasons, and the FOX network cashing in a multi-million dollar 30 second spots from advertisers. The best money spent went to your local grocery stores where we all spent more money than we should have to feast while watching all these comedy of errors and a just another so, so football game!
Oh yes, we'll all do it again next year and everyone but us idiots will cash in on our wasting another 4 to 6 hours in front of the tube while they rake in bundles of cash..................who's laughing now I guess?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Things might have been different........
I was talking to a friend about "fire water" and how some folks hold their liquor better than others it seems. While in Alaska I had occasion to become friends with some of the Aleut Indians of the area I was in, they would come to the radar site I was stationed at and join in on our holiday and special occasion parties. These folks had a very low tolerance for liquor and became quite intoxicated after just a few drinks, and it was the same each time they visited. I also have had other native American friends that it seemed to be the same, a low tolerance for liquor and became drunk easier than most. Hey not all bad, it was a cheaper drunk for those with low tolerance so maybe if that's your thing it's not all that bad.
Anyway while discussing the Aleut's and other native Americans, and not to leave out anyone some of the rest of us also have the same problems with regard to alcohol. While discussing Indians and the West I thought of General Custer and how things might have been different if he say brought Sitting Bull and his tribe together for drinks before they battled. "Hey Sitting Bull, how about a drink before we undertake this battle?" or lead the attack with a few wagon loads of whisky for Sitting Bull and the boys to take part in. I do believe if the General had been thinking he might have saved a lot of soldiers lives and made it easier to win the battle had he handed out bottles of "fire water" to the Indians before he yelled charge! I can't remember ever seeing any of my native American friends not wanting to join the troops in a drink or two to celebrate the occasion.
I'm just saying, it might have turned out a bit different..............................................
Anyway while discussing the Aleut's and other native Americans, and not to leave out anyone some of the rest of us also have the same problems with regard to alcohol. While discussing Indians and the West I thought of General Custer and how things might have been different if he say brought Sitting Bull and his tribe together for drinks before they battled. "Hey Sitting Bull, how about a drink before we undertake this battle?" or lead the attack with a few wagon loads of whisky for Sitting Bull and the boys to take part in. I do believe if the General had been thinking he might have saved a lot of soldiers lives and made it easier to win the battle had he handed out bottles of "fire water" to the Indians before he yelled charge! I can't remember ever seeing any of my native American friends not wanting to join the troops in a drink or two to celebrate the occasion.
I'm just saying, it might have turned out a bit different..............................................
Friday, January 28, 2011
Pro Sports and Athletes.
I'm done, finished, no more will I spend a dime of my money, what little I have left, for jokers to live like kings! This is just a sample of one athlete and some of what he does with the money you all give him to play a game, yes a game that means jack shit to most Americans! So you go and buy that jersey, buy that ticket, have a beer and a dog and a part of all that hard earned money goes for things like this fellow below does! I'm leaving this dudes name blank, but one thing to note is he's by no means one of the top paid players in his sport or any other, this is a just above average kid from the projects taking care of himself and leaving his past behind.
There's a lot about how ______ spent his money, based on her understanding of the household finances: "he states he makes 1.5 million per month," read the notes. _______ lavished plenty on their ________ home, dropping $100,000 on landscaping, $5,000 a month for housekeepers, $675 "per car" washing, and $1 million for his back yard and pool grotto. His sharks are expensive: $5,000 a month to feed them and $1,500 for a keeper to drive from Columbus to take care of them.
He is extravagant when it comes to toys for the children -- ages 5, 4 and 2 -- buying a $60,000 train set and an $8,000 toy Mercedes-Benz electric car, and dropping between $30,000 and $40,000 during a shopping spree at FAO Schwartz.
This is not uncommon for the way these jokers spend your hard earned money, and some may actually invest in wish choices but I can't get over the fact that it's a game we all played as youngsters but didn't spend the time these pros did for whatever reasons.............the lack of anything better to do, the lack of funds growing up to go to movies, date girls, buy cars and make them go faster. The bottom line is it's more the owners fault than anyone else, rich guys who couldn't play and want to play through their money and teams they can buy and buy for more and more and charge you the consumer more and more to watch these gladiators. Yes just like in the days of Rome when we'd watch dudes fight lions and each other for sport, we now watch a lot of dudes that never had a dime waste what YOU give them from your hard earned money on lavish toys and life styles. Sure most end up giving the majority of their windfall to the ladies they spoil and get pregnant and end up broke from the child support for literally dozens of offspring who in turn get breaks because of name recognition and the like, breaks good hard working youth don't get because of the lack of parental breaks in the system.
Call me bitter, call me jealous, call me whatever you'd like, but none fit because I'm just tired of spoiled dudes becoming millionaires overnight because I bought a jersey or season tickets to sporting events. Or millionaires overnight because they play a game that means nothing in the scheme of things, nothing to the real majority of Americans. If the games and the players meant anything to the majority of folks arena's, ballparks, stadiums would seat more than from 12,000 to 70,000. Take a 70,000 seat stadium and a metro area of 5.5 million population if the stadium filled each game (which most don't or even come close) that means less that 1% of the population is attending these events.........................99% of the folks don't give a shit!
You can now put me in the 99% who don't donate to these poor gladiators who came from nothing and expect everything including being kneel down to or look back on where they came from and even give a rats ass! No let the rest of America raise you and your parents....bullcrap!
There's a lot about how ______ spent his money, based on her understanding of the household finances: "he states he makes 1.5 million per month," read the notes. _______ lavished plenty on their ________ home, dropping $100,000 on landscaping, $5,000 a month for housekeepers, $675 "per car" washing, and $1 million for his back yard and pool grotto. His sharks are expensive: $5,000 a month to feed them and $1,500 for a keeper to drive from Columbus to take care of them.
He is extravagant when it comes to toys for the children -- ages 5, 4 and 2 -- buying a $60,000 train set and an $8,000 toy Mercedes-Benz electric car, and dropping between $30,000 and $40,000 during a shopping spree at FAO Schwartz.
This is not uncommon for the way these jokers spend your hard earned money, and some may actually invest in wish choices but I can't get over the fact that it's a game we all played as youngsters but didn't spend the time these pros did for whatever reasons.............the lack of anything better to do, the lack of funds growing up to go to movies, date girls, buy cars and make them go faster. The bottom line is it's more the owners fault than anyone else, rich guys who couldn't play and want to play through their money and teams they can buy and buy for more and more and charge you the consumer more and more to watch these gladiators. Yes just like in the days of Rome when we'd watch dudes fight lions and each other for sport, we now watch a lot of dudes that never had a dime waste what YOU give them from your hard earned money on lavish toys and life styles. Sure most end up giving the majority of their windfall to the ladies they spoil and get pregnant and end up broke from the child support for literally dozens of offspring who in turn get breaks because of name recognition and the like, breaks good hard working youth don't get because of the lack of parental breaks in the system.
Call me bitter, call me jealous, call me whatever you'd like, but none fit because I'm just tired of spoiled dudes becoming millionaires overnight because I bought a jersey or season tickets to sporting events. Or millionaires overnight because they play a game that means nothing in the scheme of things, nothing to the real majority of Americans. If the games and the players meant anything to the majority of folks arena's, ballparks, stadiums would seat more than from 12,000 to 70,000. Take a 70,000 seat stadium and a metro area of 5.5 million population if the stadium filled each game (which most don't or even come close) that means less that 1% of the population is attending these events.........................99% of the folks don't give a shit!
You can now put me in the 99% who don't donate to these poor gladiators who came from nothing and expect everything including being kneel down to or look back on where they came from and even give a rats ass! No let the rest of America raise you and your parents....bullcrap!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
History Channel or not...
I was just reading where the History Channel is dumping a project which is being called a controversial miniseries on the Kennedy family. It's being pulled basically because the Hollywood left doesn't like the portrayal of the Kennedy boys in the miniseries. History channel says it's pulling the plug on the project because "it does not fit the History brand", now this I find a joke!
The History channel stopped airing historical programs long ago when they decided to have programs like UFO's, Ancient Aliens, Pawn Star, Top Gear, Ax Men, and my favorite American Pickers! No the History channel is now just another commercialized branch of NBC, A&E, Walt Disney and the rest of the bunch. Where the hell is the ACLU on this one, can you say censorship? It seems odd that it's perfectly fine to show some of the one side crap put out by Oliver Stone or Michael Moore and their view of history but not when it comes to the Kennedy clan. Looks like Saints John, Bobby and Teddy have their way once more thanks to the Liberal media and the Ultra liberals in Hollywood.
I read through 141 comments on this article about the network pulling the plug on the Kennedy project, 141 comments from folks that read Yahoo news and I must say it seems to be in excess of 90% feel the same way about not airing the miniseries. Comments similar to mine above and others just saying things like "the truth hurts" to it's "un American not to air it" to Archie Bunker type editorials.
My main beef is the excuse, "it's not or doesn't fit the History brand"............Let's go pick'n for Aliens in our Hot Rods!
The History channel stopped airing historical programs long ago when they decided to have programs like UFO's, Ancient Aliens, Pawn Star, Top Gear, Ax Men, and my favorite American Pickers! No the History channel is now just another commercialized branch of NBC, A&E, Walt Disney and the rest of the bunch. Where the hell is the ACLU on this one, can you say censorship? It seems odd that it's perfectly fine to show some of the one side crap put out by Oliver Stone or Michael Moore and their view of history but not when it comes to the Kennedy clan. Looks like Saints John, Bobby and Teddy have their way once more thanks to the Liberal media and the Ultra liberals in Hollywood.
I read through 141 comments on this article about the network pulling the plug on the Kennedy project, 141 comments from folks that read Yahoo news and I must say it seems to be in excess of 90% feel the same way about not airing the miniseries. Comments similar to mine above and others just saying things like "the truth hurts" to it's "un American not to air it" to Archie Bunker type editorials.
My main beef is the excuse, "it's not or doesn't fit the History brand"............Let's go pick'n for Aliens in our Hot Rods!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Not your Dad's Left...............
Let me begin by saying today's Left is not the Left of Joe Lieberman or of 1995, no today's Left is far too radical and falling off the left edge.
I'm sure, no I'm positive I have friends and family that wonder why I have moved to the Right or Right of center in my political standing and all you have to do is look at our country today. Even the George Soros financially backed (literally millions) NPR, National Public Radio recently fired Juan Williams a liberal progressive for not being liberal enough and now NPR has since fired a few more sympathizers.
The radical spending of the Left, the wanting of government control of more and more of our lives is and has gotten out of control. From the results of last Novembers elections to now more and more Americans are realizing this and moving towards the center which in turn is moving towards more of a chance for prosperity. You may call them or us tea-baggers or whatever but the fact is and remains it's just Americans wanting their country back. Yes those far Leftest think wanting to stick to the Constitution and those ideals our fore fathers set forth for this Nation are getting old and need to be changed, why all of a sudden? I for one feel things have worked out pretty good for our country the past 230 some years so why all of a sudden to we need more government control and debt ceiling to keep being increase to accommodate this uncontrolled spending by the Liberals. Why do we feel no one should make a profit, why do we feel if one person betters him or herself they should share with those that really just want a handout or free ride? In one breath our anointed leaders says those making over $250K are rich and should spread their wealth around, but yesterday when speaking of his press secretary that is quitting to make more cash as a consultant for hire only made in his (Obama's) words a "modest income" at $172,000.00! When the average income in the United States is $55K our leader now calls $172K "modest"...............would anyone like to be of "modest means" today?
There was a time not too long ago this family was of modest means and even rich for a while but our government with all it meddling took care of that in short order. We love Barney, and Freddie, and Fanny for all their help in our financial life and matters and for that we're no longer "modest" or rich but still happy. You ride the ride for as long as you can and live life to the fullest right? Been there done that!
But getting back on track here, like I was saying the Left is not our or your Daddy's Left and I even think my kids or at least one of them is kind of understanding that now. We need the 30 somethings to wake up and want more for themselves and less government control of their lives, to be able to pursue dreams of lives like their parents and/or better and be able to achieve those lives. I spent my entire life almost as a democrat but more of a center left democrat and there are those that can't understand my moving to the right to the point of conservatism, well just look around at our country and where it's gone and who's running it or should I say running it into the ground. No the Constitution means too much to me and the history of our great land means too much to me and I don't need George Soros and his band of henchmen and puppets trying to convert my country to socialism or communism anytime soon!
Wake up my friends and take a look around you, this is not your Daddy's country but it should be again and will be if we move back towards the middle. Here's hoping this new congress can get us back on track a bit and start steering this ship into the winds of prosperity. In this day of wanting to take down the bullies, it's not our children that are being bullied by other children it's us being bullied by our government! We need to stop worrying about bullies in our schools and with our kids and grand kids, that's part of life and growing up..............no our government is the one doing the bullying and that's who we need to put the reins on. Leave our kids alone to grow up the way we did, don't over kill this bully crap with our kids and start cracking down on the real bullies in our government.
I'm sure, no I'm positive I have friends and family that wonder why I have moved to the Right or Right of center in my political standing and all you have to do is look at our country today. Even the George Soros financially backed (literally millions) NPR, National Public Radio recently fired Juan Williams a liberal progressive for not being liberal enough and now NPR has since fired a few more sympathizers.
The radical spending of the Left, the wanting of government control of more and more of our lives is and has gotten out of control. From the results of last Novembers elections to now more and more Americans are realizing this and moving towards the center which in turn is moving towards more of a chance for prosperity. You may call them or us tea-baggers or whatever but the fact is and remains it's just Americans wanting their country back. Yes those far Leftest think wanting to stick to the Constitution and those ideals our fore fathers set forth for this Nation are getting old and need to be changed, why all of a sudden? I for one feel things have worked out pretty good for our country the past 230 some years so why all of a sudden to we need more government control and debt ceiling to keep being increase to accommodate this uncontrolled spending by the Liberals. Why do we feel no one should make a profit, why do we feel if one person betters him or herself they should share with those that really just want a handout or free ride? In one breath our anointed leaders says those making over $250K are rich and should spread their wealth around, but yesterday when speaking of his press secretary that is quitting to make more cash as a consultant for hire only made in his (Obama's) words a "modest income" at $172,000.00! When the average income in the United States is $55K our leader now calls $172K "modest"...............would anyone like to be of "modest means" today?
There was a time not too long ago this family was of modest means and even rich for a while but our government with all it meddling took care of that in short order. We love Barney, and Freddie, and Fanny for all their help in our financial life and matters and for that we're no longer "modest" or rich but still happy. You ride the ride for as long as you can and live life to the fullest right? Been there done that!
But getting back on track here, like I was saying the Left is not our or your Daddy's Left and I even think my kids or at least one of them is kind of understanding that now. We need the 30 somethings to wake up and want more for themselves and less government control of their lives, to be able to pursue dreams of lives like their parents and/or better and be able to achieve those lives. I spent my entire life almost as a democrat but more of a center left democrat and there are those that can't understand my moving to the right to the point of conservatism, well just look around at our country and where it's gone and who's running it or should I say running it into the ground. No the Constitution means too much to me and the history of our great land means too much to me and I don't need George Soros and his band of henchmen and puppets trying to convert my country to socialism or communism anytime soon!
Wake up my friends and take a look around you, this is not your Daddy's country but it should be again and will be if we move back towards the middle. Here's hoping this new congress can get us back on track a bit and start steering this ship into the winds of prosperity. In this day of wanting to take down the bullies, it's not our children that are being bullied by other children it's us being bullied by our government! We need to stop worrying about bullies in our schools and with our kids and grand kids, that's part of life and growing up..............no our government is the one doing the bullying and that's who we need to put the reins on. Leave our kids alone to grow up the way we did, don't over kill this bully crap with our kids and start cracking down on the real bullies in our government.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Years Day........
I grew up with New Years Day being a day of football, bowl games, and needing more than one TV if you wanted to see more than one game and a big party at someones home. The food spread was fantastic and for the adults the after New Years Eve hangover drinks flowed.........hair of the dog right! Boy have things and times changed and right now sitting in our suite at the Luxor in Las Vegas I'm watching the Capital One bowl...............who? Back in the day, we had the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl and today we have 34 bowls games stretching from mid December until January 9th and the mystique around the bowl games is gone as far as I'm concerned.
Did you see what I said, Cotton Bowl (2 words) Rose Bowl (2 words) etc. and now some of the bowls of today you'd need one or more sheets of paper to write down the name or title of these bowls. Commercialism has taken over the bowls and their names. We got things like the Pinstripe Bowl what the hell is that all about, the Music City bowl....is that Detroit? Outback, Sun, Capital One, Alamo yes I guess is would be hard to come up with a name when your trying to come up with 34 bowl games and names. I'm bored with it and maybe it's my age but can anyone really keep up with all these bowls? I mentioned being in Las Vegas and they like it here that's for sure, betting on football is BIG, very BIG and parlay sheets are flowing all over town.
One thing in it's favor I guess is the revenue generated for the schools by all these bowls, yes revenue to build bigger and better stadiums and training facilities and salaries for the coaches and staff and bigger salaries than you can even imagine! Too bad it for the most part doesn't go to or for education, is college still a place for higher education or just a place to fill the needs and members of pro sports, a minor league if you will.
No it's not special for me anymore, New Years Day is just not the same but I guess if this is all you know and what you grew up with (3 weeks of bowls rather than a couple of days) your in hog heaven..............does anyone watch the parades anymore? Hangover or not we'd watch the parades very, very early and football into the evening it was a big day and day is singular!
Did you see what I said, Cotton Bowl (2 words) Rose Bowl (2 words) etc. and now some of the bowls of today you'd need one or more sheets of paper to write down the name or title of these bowls. Commercialism has taken over the bowls and their names. We got things like the Pinstripe Bowl what the hell is that all about, the Music City bowl....is that Detroit? Outback, Sun, Capital One, Alamo yes I guess is would be hard to come up with a name when your trying to come up with 34 bowl games and names. I'm bored with it and maybe it's my age but can anyone really keep up with all these bowls? I mentioned being in Las Vegas and they like it here that's for sure, betting on football is BIG, very BIG and parlay sheets are flowing all over town.
One thing in it's favor I guess is the revenue generated for the schools by all these bowls, yes revenue to build bigger and better stadiums and training facilities and salaries for the coaches and staff and bigger salaries than you can even imagine! Too bad it for the most part doesn't go to or for education, is college still a place for higher education or just a place to fill the needs and members of pro sports, a minor league if you will.
No it's not special for me anymore, New Years Day is just not the same but I guess if this is all you know and what you grew up with (3 weeks of bowls rather than a couple of days) your in hog heaven..............does anyone watch the parades anymore? Hangover or not we'd watch the parades very, very early and football into the evening it was a big day and day is singular!
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