Get Busy Bloggin' or Get Busy Dyin'

Hello again! It is almost 15:00 already so I thought if I was going to blog today I had better get to blogging. Get busy bloggin' or get busy dyin'.

Yesterday Cha Cha and I went over and got a new microwave as the old one took a poop awhile ago. We had bought a counter-top replacement and used that for awhile as we had thought about redoing some of the kitchen but we are now thinking about residing the house instead so I installed the new microwave yesterday. Just a bit ago Fabio and I tool the counter-top microwave over to Goodwill and I (allegedly) took the one that I removed from above the stove yesterday over to unspecified location in an unspecified town in an unspecified country and threw it in an unspecified dumpster allegedly. 

After the microwave drops Fabio and I went over to the new Popeye's Chicken to get him some lunch. They put the Popeye's right next to where Kentucky Fried Chicken WAS - literally RIGHT NEXT TO it. So, KFC/Long John Silver's closed-up shop and left town. Fabio loved the chicken. I had some cole slaw and it was pretty good but not near as good as Long John Silver's.

This morning I rode the stationary bike for 20 miles while I watched Race on HBO GO on my laptop which I sat on a bar stool so, technically, it was a bar stool top and not a laptop as it was not on my lap. Race is a movie about Jesse Owens and his trip to Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympics. Stephen James was excellent as Owens and Jason Sudeikis was great as coach Larry Snyder. I love the name of the film and the double meaning was not lost on me. It was very interesting that the black athletes and the white athletes had no segregated dorm rooms. The black athletes had more rights in Nazi Germany than they had in America but maybe Hitler thought that would have cause dissension? I am not sure about Jewish athletes from other counties though. I have seen many movies about Owens and I think this is my favorite so far. Maybe I like him because his birthday was two days before mine exactly 50 years before my time; we Virgos have to stick together. I was always a great admirer of he and of Jackie Robinson for what they had to endure to do what they loved and what they did to make this world a much better place for millions and millions of people. The 20 miles on the bike seemed much easier this time while seeing what he went through. I will probably do 20 more miles tomorrow before I go to weigh-in. 

That reminds me that I saw a thing on television about a German man with the surname of Elser (Johann Georg Elser) who was one of the first people known people to have conspired assassination attempts against Adolph Hitler and many high-ranking Nazi officials. He would have succeeded but Hitler left earlier than expected so the plan was foiled. He did manage to kill many Nazis but was captured and held in Dachau concentration camp. I have always been told that my surname, Helser, was changed from Holzhauer to sound more anglo during WWII. I did some reseach on my own and hound it may actually have been changed to Helser from Holzer (meaning "woodworker" or "carpenter" - like Jesus I guess). Now I wonder if my family was actually descended from this Elser fellow and someone added the H so as to not get reprisal from the Nazis? It sound like a good idea for a story even if it ends-up being fiction based-on historical speculation. 

Tonight Cha Cha and I are going up to Woodstock to the Buddhist temple again. I work Sundays so we cannot go to that one so we go to the Monday night until the hour-long drive will become too treacherous. I think we will have dinner at the former courthouse/jail (called Public House) too. It is a really good place for food and they have a nice patio during nicer weather too. The Blue Lotus (the place where we go) has a monk travel to a yoga place in St. Charles on Sunday nights but we went to that one and it was not as good as it is at the temple. We talked to the head monk and he said that they would come to Dekalb and do meditation on a weekly basis if we could find a place that  would allow then to use their place once a week. Cha Cha and I searched the city businesses and made a list of possibilities but we need to pursue it a bit harder. I bet Northern Illinois University might even have a place? We live in a cul-de-sac so parking would be an issue to do it in our house. 

I have mentioned many businesses today and should start getting residual/advertising checks or stop giving them free plugs. I am just a sucker I suppose. Notice I didn't mention Tootsie Pop? Damn, I did it again didn't I?

Okay, I have to get a few more things done before we head north tonight . Thank you for stopping in. I hope you have a great rest of your day/night. Thanksgiving is coming up in a few days and I will be working while Cha Cha and Fabio go to Splenda and Andy's place in Chicago; I am sad that I cannot do because Splenda is very excited for her first family Thanksgiving in her own place. I am very happy to only be working 40-hours a week and it has helped me medically I believe too. The overtime was nice but what good is the extra money if your too dead to spend any of it?! 

Have a great night and maybe I will blog again tomorrow? TTTT?...MITM (out) TA!

B.W.A. - Blogger With Attitude

That's right, I have Bradley Cooper take my stuff to Goodwill

It is 14:35 already and I am on the last half day of my 4 1/2 days off. I must say that I feel very revitalized and ready to work my regular forty hours (4 - 10's) starting tomorrow. I have already done quite a few things today. Cha Cha and I walked Jeff for 1.3 miles before she headed in to the office. Then I rode the stationary bike in the basement for twenty miles and then ran two more miles. I took a huge HEFTY (is that redundant?) bag of my fat-Matt clothes over the Goodwill. Is it ironic that I took my fat-guy clothes to the donation place in a Hefty bag? The, of course, I showered and then went to weigh-in. I told just over four pounds since last week and now that I will have my Tuesdays off again until, at least the MIDDLE of February, I am pushing very hard to lose 100 pounds this year before my one-year anniversary of starting this journey on December 29th. I know losing just under 30 pounds in 1-1/2 months sounds tough but I will dangle that carrot stick out there until the finish line crosses me.

While writing this I am watching Straight Outta Compton on HBO. Mississippi Burning last night and this today. It seems like the television programmers have a sorta theme going on lately. It is probably just coincidence with the  unrest in my country right now but I always look too much into everything. While I rode my 20 miles this morning I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That is one funny movie. I always have something on in the background though it is usually just music - Pandora most of the time. While we walked Jeff this morning I had the Barenaked Ladies station on (in my sweatshirt pocket not on earbuds because that would have been very rude).

While I watched Monty Python I could not help but think that Mel Brooks might have been America's equivalent of Monty Python's Flying Circus? I suppose a better argument could be made for Kids In The Hall (though they're Canadian so that eliminates them from that I suppose). Which makes me think of SCTV which were also Canucks. Saturday Night Live in the "Not Ready For Prime-time Players" days of: Gilda and Belushi and Chevy and Murray and Aykroyd and Curtain and Morris and Newman? Yeah, that's the one - SNL.

I saw something on the internet that there is a bitter letter circulating that John Lennon wrote after the break-up of The Beatles. I did not read it and I hope to never hear about it in detail There is enough anger and hostility going-on now so why do we need to borrow trouble from 1969 or 1970 (depending on who you listen to)? That is really weird to me since I did not know about that until today but I put a photo of John Lennon in the blog on Saturday. I really need to play the lottery though I may have just used my good juju on that, huh? What a waste.

You may have seen her on The Last Man on Earth this season?

I am very sad about all of the anger and hostility in America lately. I still, occasionally, consider leaving all of social media (Facebook, Twitter...) but then I think of all of you friends and the people who are good and I stop dwelling on the negative. I cannot let the bullies chase me off. Cha Cha left Facebook and she says she will probably never return. She does seem much happier again. I cannot leave even if just because that is where some of my favorite photos and people.

Same eyebrows, right?

So weird - American Pie just came on after Straight Outta Compton. Why is that weird? Because I wrote about SCTV and Eugene Levy, one of the cast members of that show, is in this movie. All things lead back to Matt In The Middle (eventually). And, I put that photo of Cha Cha there before Levy showed-up. Again - everything leads back to or comes from MITM.

Okay, I am going to end now because I am starting to bore myself which means you are probably already gone and won't read how much I appreciate you stopping by again today. Even if you are already gone I wish you a great rest of your day/night and tomorrow... I am not sure if I will blog over the next four days but I may surprise us. TTT???...MITM (out) TA!

Supermoon Seems to be Changing me

Today is day three of four of my days off this week. Next week I will get my regular three days off which I have not gotten for quite some time having to have had worked six days a week for several weeks. "Having to have had" is kind of a weird thing to write but I think it is grammatically correct though I am not all that concerned whether it is or not because I am not sweating the small stuff anymore for, at least, right now.

I will do it this way next year if I have to get to do it again

Yesterday I was up on a 20 foot ladder scrubbing the side of the house. Our house has like a cream (or is the creme?) - colored siding and the tree there has made some parts of it a dark green and blackish brown. If the damn tree weren't 40 feet tall it would have been an easy job. It looks much better from the ground now but we are thinking about getting different siding come Spring because of this. Maybe green would be the way to go, huh? Speaking of green (not The Benjamins) I also mowed the lawn because that seemed easier than raking all of the leaves. The grass is still very green and it is halfway through November now that the leaves are chopped into tiny bits.

We have lots of large trees and that means lots of birds and other critters. We have TWO squirrels now - gray squirrels or grey squirrels if you prefer. Today and yesterday I saw a Cardinal out there. It was, obviously, a male Cardinal as it was bright red. I like that we have a safe haven for the wild creatures and, hopefully, it will not come back to bite us some day. That reminds me that I need to get some more birdseed today. I am also cleaning my closet today. I have so many clothing items that I have out or under-grown or whatever term you would use if your clothes are too big and I am going to weed them out and take them over to Goodwill. WE takes lots of things there and I hope that our slightly-worn items help some other people.

I have always lover Br'er Rabbit and Uncle Remus

Cha Cha and I are thinking about heading back to Woodstock tonight to go to meditation again. We went Saturday but they say you can never get too much of a good thing and I believe that because I cannot get enough of: Cha Cha, Splenda, Fabio, my friends (you), salads, giardiniera, baseball, kindness, love, happy thoughts, seedless grapes, oxygen, nice weather, bananas, water... That list could go on forever I think; I am happy to know that there are so many more things that I like than I dislike. I think I have just reaffirmed to myself, as I have always known, that I (and we) need to focus on the good things and not the bad. We cannot avoid bad things or sad things or mean things but we should not dwell on these and move to a happy place or maybe even a laughing place sometimes.

I paid several bills this morning - man, is that always depressing or what? And then I think to myself, "self, paying bills is a lot better than not being able to pay bills I guess." Having bills means we have things that we value enough to pay-for until we die and then our dependents can pay those things off with our life insurance money that they received because we paid those life insurance bills.

I weigh-in again tomorrow and I am fairly sure that I have dropped some of the few pounds that I had added before last week's weigh-in. I am glad that I stumble so I can relearn what I never should have unlearned for that short time. I am newly committed again and I want to lose another fifteen pounds by the end of the year. I still have a few shirts and pairs of jeans that I am very close to getting back into. Why are jeans "a pair" of jeans? Socks, shoes, gloves, mittens...make sense as pairs. What about glasses? Why are glasses a pair? Is it because jeans have two legs and one leg would be a jean? Glasses have two lenses and one pair would be a glass? No, that would be a monocle though wouldn't it? Why aren't a pair of glasses not binocles? Binoculars are confusing on many levels. Maybe I am just a pair of loons. No, just a loon. Maybe I am turning into Jerry Seinfelds? Or is it Seinfeld?

Chris Rock is still pretty bad at disguising that he is reading cue cards

I watched Saturday Night Live last night (I am behind, not special and receiving advanced copies because then it would be Saturday Night Live Before It Happens). I thought it was really good; I have always been a big fan of Dave Chappelle and am glad he is back in the game. I hope he is back to stay but I would not blame him if this were just a one-time gig.

I think I am going to wrap-up so I can do something fun like: cleaning the kitchen, continuing to do the laundry, organizing my closet, going to Goodwill... Maybe go to meditate again tonight?  I need to end because the day is getting away from me and, upon writing that list, I see I have a lot to get done.

Thanks a lot for stopping in again. I hope you have a great day and have a clear night tonight to see that amazing Supermoon again. I was mesmerized last night by it and I would not mind seeing a rerun. I hope Supermoons don't cause super werewolves - that would stink. Enjoy whatever it is you enjoy doing and savor every moment. You never know when you might fall twenty feet from a ladder. TTTT (probably) MITM (out) TA!

Peace & Love are Needed Now as Much as Ever!

Jill (Cha Cha), Bhante Sujatha and Me

Today's blog will be a bit different from most of my other blog writings to date here; I am attempting to combine two stones to make one single ripple. Jill (normally Cha Cha for you newcomers) and I went to the Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple today like we have done many. many, many times. We have not gone for several weeks but fate or destiny or whatever force that was at play this week made it so that I did not have to work on this particular Saturday. Today Bhante Sujatha (the title "Bhante," incidentally, literally means "venerable sir,") gave us a kind of homework to write a letter to whomever (in my case to myself and you) would read it. I would call Bhante Sujatha our spiritual leader (or the head monastic) on the Buddhist/meditation journey that Cha Cha and I have been on and it is kind of ironic, to me at least, that I posted a photo of him in yesterday's blog too. The letter to follow is supposed to bring love and kindness and healing to people who are feeling lost or confused or afraid or vindicated or victorious... whichever view you share on recent events occurring primarily in The United States of America but also the rest of the world as we are just one blue ball floating through space after-all and we all have effects on one another. So, here goes my attempt at this letter. I will try very hard to be respectful and not to be the smarmy, wise-acre guy this one of very few occasions.

Dear fellow citizen of Earth (or elsewhere if you actually are out there and, for some odd reason, you have decided to read this and can read my current-chosen Earth language):

I am very proud to live in one of the, presumably, most progressive societies on the face of this planet. The United States of America (USA) is one of the most forward-thinking counties on this big blue ball circling our galaxy's sun. Or. at least that is what we try to tell ourselves. We Earthlings have experienced many great obstacles and challenges since humans began crawling from the primordial soup (or however we became upright land-walking beings) and we face different things to conquer each and every day. The most recent thing (and still fresh at this point) is the current separations of people supporting different political beliefs following the Presidential election in this country. Just like any contest, there is going to be a winner and there is going to be a loser and, for many reasons, there is great separation between the people who voted one way and the people who voted the other way. I suppose there always is but this time it seems different. People who regularly read the blog or know me personally know which way I lean politically but now I know why I have always disliked politics. I wish everyone could win at everything but that is not the way things happen. Not everybody gets a trophy in this contest.

Let's not forget why this country is so great!

One of the reasons that I say the USA is so progressive is because many countries would have, and have had, violent turmoil or actual collapses given the divide we recently experienced here this past week. I must admit that I have posted a few sore-loser comments and photos on my Facebook page during and shortly after the person that I felt better represented my values and views more than the other did not win. Rarely do politicians in this country have the commoner's, like my and probably your (given the popular vote numbers), concerns or values in their minds at all. Politicians, bottom line, are by-and-large concerned with their own interests and pockets way before those pockets of the populace. When politicians make comments about this or that we have always thought many of those words to be just rhetoric and hollow promises that sound great to one group of people or another so that the person spewing them just utter them to get elected and then will do whatever they really want to do or are able to do given the many obstacles they face with the Senate or The House of Representatives... Why do we accept this?

I am proud that the healing has seemed to begin but I am also concerned that there are lots of protests and demonstrations still going on too. There are more things and time to come before the new President is sworn in and I worry that something terrible will happen though I really hope it does not. Many other countries would have collapsed or been in utter chaos after such a contest where the popular vote (the actual votes of we individual people voting) was ignored and the Electoral College (who actually choose the winner in the USA with their votes. presumably, representing "We The People"). Right now, as I write this, there are protesters marching and demonstrating for the fourth straight day against the outcome of this election only an hour away from me in Chicago. We (they and I and you) need to accept the way that our system is and move-on. Perhaps we can try to fix it before the next election? I have thought for many years how, with the technology that we possess, we should be able to have a computer tabulate each of our votes and have an exact, accurate tabulation of each and every vote. That, however, does not change what has already happened and we have to get back to our lives and, like I always did while playing baseball or football or hockey, get some stitches or rub some dirt on it and get back in the game (back to our lives). 

My dad and I do not see eye-to-eye politically (especially this year) but I am not going to disown my father as he is not going to disown me over this. We have lived very different lives, he and I, and lived during different times of American and world history. I disagree with many of his thoughts and beliefs as he does with mine. This was my son's first year eligible to vote in a Presidential election (which he did) and I do not want him to be tainted by what can happen and never vote again. I believe my daughter was able to vote in the last election as well as this one and, happily, she and my wife and I and my son all seem to have similar political leanings though I would not love any one of the members of the family regardless. I offer the same promise to you about you. Civil discourse is what we need now and I, for one, will try my darnedest not to rip someone else's bandages off in spite. Though I am not happy with how this played-out I will accept what is inevitable and go chin-up into the future no matter what comes my way. I hope you do the same and spread love and understanding and, as Bhante would say... be well, happy and peaceful! 


Thanks for letting me catch two birds at one time (not "kill two birds with one stone" as you all know that I would not kill any living creature on purpose). Please do not let sorrow or anger or confusion or braggadocio taint your view of our world or our friends. We are all in this together and we have what we believe to be in everyone's best interest in out minds and in our hearts. Don't be the small leak that sinks the mighty ship.

Peace! Here's one of my favorite songs though I love so much music! This one fits well here. Click the yellow link there to listen now (don't worry, it's free).

Doctor's Orders and So-forth

It is 14:33 and I am home from work - doctor's orders and so-forth. I am disappointed a bit because the overtime has been nice but working six days a week was taking a toll on me and my team of physicians has decided I should not work this many hours at this juncture. So, beginning next week I will work my four ten-hour shifts and have my three-day weekends (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) again.

I think Jill and I will head back to Woodstock again tomorrow to Blue Lotus Temple Buddhist Temple for meditation, We have not been able to go for quite awhile because I always work Saturdays but I have this Saturday off because I already have 40 hours in this week. They also have meditation Monday nights at 19:00 so we may start going then again as I will be working Saturdays again next week and I will have Mondays and Tuesdays off. Many times Jill will work from home on Mondays or Tuesdays so this will depend upon her schedule. We both get a lot out of spending time with the Buddhist Monks and I guess if I had to consider myself anything religiously or spiritually I would say that I am a Buddhist. I have always maintained the Buddhist ideals of kindness and caring but going there makes it so much more concrete I suppose. If you're looking for a new experience the meditation is at 10:00 and we always have lunch somewhere withing the Gobbler's Knob town square after we are one with the groundhog again. I didn't know today's blog was going to be an entire Bill Murray reference parade but his Chicago Cubs did win the World Series and all.

I guess we have a new President that did not win the popular election but was chosen by the Electoral College. This is the fourth time in our country's history that this has happened, I have said for several years that the popular vote could easily be tabulated and used for this decision given our technological advances since George Washington's day. I have accepted what happened last week and I hope for the best though I will always have a Plan B and a Plan C ready for action. Nothing violent, however, since I am a Buddhist. I seriously do wonder why we take the time to vote if our votes really do not count as they say and pretend that they do. Illinois went the way that I had hoped it would but it usually does. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised but that would surprise me even more.

I have thought about going the way of Cha Cha and stop using Facebook for, at least, awhile. One of the reasons I believe I have not done that yet is because I am too nosy. Actually I do like to stay in contact with many friends. I also like to write the blog and, for some reason, it make me like writing even more knowing that people read it and Facebook gives me that narcissistic gratification. I suppose that is why I have done lots of newspaper and magazine writing and editing, written news for television and radio and the like... over the years. The jury is still out on what I will do with the Facebook deal.

I just took a break and went out and played Frisbee with Jeff. He loves to catch the Frisbee and he is very good and jumps very high to catch it.

Bhante Sujatha 

I am kind of thinking about taking a nap. Cha Cha will not be home for about three hours or so, I am trying to talk myself into a nap. I am successful and will take a nap so I can be totally focused for meditating tomorrow morning. Can you tell that I am excited about going north tomorrow? I also have to get refocused on my weight loss. I have gone up a few pounds over the last few weeks and that is going to stop.

Thanks for stopping by and I will write again at least once or twice between now and when I go back to work on Wednesday. Until then I hope you have a great everything. It would be awesome to see you in Woodstock in the morning but that is a big decision I suppose.

My tip of the day for you is this... "do not take a drunk dentist to an arrest" - inspired by events of October 26, 1881. I hope those words of advise will serve you well.

TTTvery soon...MITM (out) TA!

It's the Final Countdown!

I started watching a new show on SYFY called Timeless. It reminds me a bit of The Time Machine (Malcolm McDowell) and Quantum Leap (Scott Bakula) because of the historical similarities / implications / interactions. This first episode has to do with The Hindenburg disaster. There are so many story line possibilities and new ones are created every single day. The next one we have recorded is about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I guess the show is an NBC show and I am just playing catch-up? Yep, there was an NBC commercial for the show. The show, apparently according to that commercial, returns to NBC on November 14th. It appears that I am in a time loop myself because this show is from the past just like The Hindenburg and Honest Abe are. I cannot wait to see the show where they come to this time to stop me from making an idiot of myself. By the time I get done writing this today's blog will be from the past, right?

Speaking of old shows Cha Cha ordered a VHS (yes, a VHS videotape) since this came out before CD's and digital formats were available to we commoners. We received Rick Hall's Vanishing America in the mail (yes, the United States Postal Service mail) a few days ago. Here is a clip if you're interested. Hey wait, the clip is 49:31 long - I think that is the entire movie  - we were bamboozled! We have a huge television (about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle) in the basement workout area which has a built-in VCR and a DVD player so that is something else I can watch while working out. I am really looking forward to watching this again. Maybe we should get one of the machines that can convert VHS tapes into DVD's. We still have a lot of home movies on VHS too. Bamboozled I tell you. Hoodwinked! Swindled! Duped! Caveat Emptor!!!!! Now I can watch it on my phone anyway. Maybe the Timeless people can fix that while they are here too, huh? When I told Jill she said, "no wonder they sent me a thank-you card."

So, Jill and I sat on the couch and watched Rich Hall's Vanishing America on my laptop while we held hands and laughed at the show and ourselves. It was just as funny as we had remembered. If someone is looking for a VHS video of this movie I know where you can get one very cheap. Or, someone may get it as a Christmas present.

Today is election day in U S and A as a sadist I am currently watching the circus on CNN. Donald Trump's daughter-in-law is now talking about how great of a guy he is and how much he loves women. She wasn't very specific on how he loves women very inappropriately. She also talked about how Hillary is under investigation and the commentator set her straight about that. They also showed the line of people (mainly women) putting their  I VOTED  stickers on Susan B. Anthony's headstone. She fought very hard for womens' rights to vote so I found this very touching. To have a woman President will make it all that much more sweet.

I have visited a couple of doctors over the past two days and I cannot longer work more than 40 hours per week until, at least, February when I have my next follow-up. I have already worked 12 hours this week (Sunday) so I only have to work 28 more hours before the end of Saturday. My hope is that I will go back to my four days of ten hours per day after this week but Human Resources will talk to me tomorrow about that and I will learn my fate. My bet would be, if I were a betting Matt (which I totally am) that I will work ten hours tomorrow, ten hours Thursday and then eight hours on Friday. Then, next week go back to my Wed - Sat for ten hours each next week and beyond. I will do whatever I am told to do but that makes the most sense to me. If I am correct, that means I will get a four-day weekend to make-up for those many one-day weekends I have had recently.

I just saw a commercial that really touched my heart. HERE IT IS! Don't worry - it is very bipartisan. I am happy to be reminded of the things we have in common rather than the things that have separated us for the past several months. Yes, it stars a dog but it could just as easily starred a cat but probably not a fish.

I spoke with my dad yesterday afternoon as it was his birthday. We did not speak much about politics because we are polar opposites in that area. He said my mom is not doing very well but she does have her good days. I have made many suggestions and it sounds like he is finally coming around to agreeing with me on some of them. This all has to be tough on him. I cannot imagine how I would act and/or feel if it were Cha Cha and I had to make some of the tough decisions he is facing. I offer my advise when he asks but, ultimately, he has to make the calls. I told him that I will be wherever he needs me whenever he needs me and that is really all that I can do.

Where is Samantha Bee? Is this a boy's club too? I sure hope that isn't the case! 

The polls close in just 39 minutes in many states (the first ones to close). I as so glad we have several DVR's so we can watch something else tonight rather than non-stop election crap. FOUR MORE YEARS will be the thought going through my mind as that is the next time we have to endure this madness. I thing Trevor Noah or John Oliver are having live looks at the election and I may consider those dudes' shows. I like them both a great deal. Samantha Bee would be good too. I have to believe one of them will have coverage. I wish there were a way to look at a guide and see if that were the case. Conan (don't even to mention his last name anymore) had a series of shows on and we have those all DVR'd too - maybe I will just go to bed early before beginning my 28 hours.

I turned CNN off and I am watching Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton. I bet you didn't even know Billy Bob and I were so tight did you?

Okay, I am done for today but I may be able to blog again soon because I won;t have to work six days a week soon. I am so excited to be able to write more often again because I believe this is very therapeutic for me and perhaps that is all that I need? I will write again probably Saturday or Sunday I think. I should also be able to weigh-in weekly again if I get my regular schedule back. I weighed-in today and I have gained a few pounds over the past three or four weeks of not weighing-in. I need the accountability it seems. I suppose that is the same reason many people need some kind of invisible creature watching them to make them behave ( Santa, Easter Bunny...). TTT...soon! MITM (out). TA!

Happy Movember (not for Matt November like I thought)

Happily, I have ONE day off today. I have to go back tomorrow and then, on Thursday, I will find out which of the three days I usually am supposed to have off, I will get to work. My guess is that I will "get to" work Monday and Tuesday next week in addition to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday that is supposed to be my actual schedule. Yes, I am whining but that is what I tend to do when I am sleepy.

I think this is before they changed their mascot from The Groundhogs to The Cubs

Last night Jeff and I sat on the front porch and handed candy out to the kids who came here trick-or-treating. I told some of them that Jeff was a gentle werewolf and I told others that he was a cat dressed like a Border Collie. He loves people and he was excellent with all of the attention and costumes. Many of them petted him and he loved that. He tried to eat some of the chocolate in the basket we were using to hold the goodies we were passing-out but I think he was happy just sniffing the candy. Well, maybe not "happy" but he did not eat any chocolate. Supposedly chocolate is bad for dogs because it speeds their heart rates to a dangerous level. Some people didn't appreciate my costume of wearing my St. Louis Cardinals jacket and my Cleveland Indians cap. I have all the MLB caps so the one I war just had the C on it and not the face of Chief Wahoo. I thought about wearing my Montreal Expos cap but the kids would have been confused. Speaking of that I think The World Series continues tonight. I do not have a horse in this race but I have more friends who are Cubs' fans than Indians' fans so I hope the Cubs', at the very least, take this to seven games.

Movember starts today (no, that is not spelled incorrectly). I think Movember is mainly to grow mustaches for men's health issues but I am doing the whole facial hair movement. To be honest, I started about a week or two early to get a head-start (maybe a face-start). I have a lot of gray hair on my face - salt-and-pepper. I am pretty sure that song linked there was written about me.

Dana Carvey is on The Today Show right now doing celebrity impressions; he's not very good. Right now he is doing Katherine Hepburn trying to start her car - actually, that one is pretty funny. And now Tom Brokaw asking "where is the library in Spanish." I was watching WGN but, whenever Ana Belaval comes on I change the channel for... damn it she is back on again and I changed the channel again. I really cannot stomach her not letting the story be the story. She has to be the center of everything. I have a tendency to do that on occasion and I fight it but then people ask, "what's wrong with Matt?" It is a tight rope to walk and I understand if someone tunes me out when I am in Ana Belaval mode.

That reminds me that Cha Cha and I are seeing Kathleen Madigan Thursday at The Egyptian Theater here in town. We have seen her in concert before and we like her a great deal so we are doing it again. I am looking forward to it and I am happy that it is in town so I can get home and get to sleep fairly early. I am MIDDLE-aged and need my beauty sleep. Okay, too late for the beauty but I need my anti-crabby sleep.

Cha Cha and I watched the new TBS series People of Earth last night. I kept dozing-off so I will probably watch it again (for the first time) when I get done writing this. I thought about doing the bills while I watch it but then I will not see it again. So, after this, I will give that show my undivided sole concentrated expressed 80% attention.

Now that Halloween is over Thanksgiving is next. I guess election day is before that but I will not mention that beyond saying that day is one week from today (the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November in even-numbered years). I think now that farming is so much more advanced than it used to be that we could just declare that "Election Day is on November 8th every year" (just an arbitrary date by me). I know it was always the first Tuesday following the first Monday because farmers would usually be done with the fall harvest but we have lights on tractors now and GPS and implements are powered rather than pulled by horses and oxen and such. Cows are milked by machines and butter is churned using electricity... My brother will be home (the family home) from Hawaii (his home) from November 21st until 28th I think. I have to work on Thanksgiving (and the day before and after and day two days after and whatever days they decide to make me work before and after those days) so I am not sure which day we will be eating turkey. Maybe I will just have to settle for other peoples' left-overs? I am fine with that.

 I ALWAYS vote so I have the right to bitch! 

Today is normally weigh-in day for me. Last week I was staffed-up so I could not go and this week I am a coward because I have not been very good over the past few weeks. I may take one more week off and weigh-in again next week. Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to go next week because I might be coerced demanded coaxed coerced allowed to work that day. It may be time for a position change? There are several other jobs within the company I currently work for and maybe they don't have to work six days a week (64 hours a week) in some of those other departments. I think I will look into that tomorrow after my shift is over?

I hope you have a great day and it looks like a sunny one her in the MIDDLEWEST. I am watching last nights The Daily Show With Trevor Noah and then I will watch People Of Earth again for the first time since the real first time didn't take. Since I have a week before weigh-in again maybe I will go out for lunch. I will try to make good food choices but I am in a slump right now. Thank you for stopping by; I always am happy to know that I am not alone in the pre-apocalyptic world. TTTNT...MITH (out) TA!