Blogging Like a Rock Star from the Northshore

We will definitely bring Jeff here one day

Cha Cha had to work in her company's Evanston office so she brought me with. She is in the office doing office things and I am sitting on the beach a few block away doing beach things. By beach things I mean: lounging on a boulder buried in the beach with another boulder as a backrest. I look like Fred Flintstone if his living room were facing an endless-appearing body of water. I began by walking up and down the beach just taking in the smells and the breeze and the views. I love the beach more than just about any place on the planet. I could blog for hours and hours about that alone but I will not. I really wish I had brought Jeff with me because they have a fenced-in doggie beach and there are several dogs running up and down the beach chasing the surf - we will get him here one of these days.

When I walked the beach I chose the sand path less traveled rather than the paved path. I just love the feel of the sand beneath my feet. For a bit the water missed us not having our boat but then I remembered all of the pains in the butt and I quickly got over that longing. They say the two happiest days for boat owners are the day they buy it and the day they sell it - I can attest to being accurate. There were lots of good days in between those tow day though. It is funny how time makes you remember mostly the good times.

As most of you know, Cha Cha and I listen to Pandora about 20 hours a day. I decided that walking the beach and smelling the surf (even though it is fresh water) would be a great time to listen to the Jimmy Buffet station. It was a good choice. I was a big Buffett fan back in the day and still like his music. I even got to meet him after one of his concerts when I wrote an article about him for Tropical Pleasures magazine. The songs brought back a lot of happy thoughts too. It just seemed like a Buffett sort of a day. Maybe this is the time of my life to invest in a metal detector and one of those beach vacuums? Probably not many doubloons on Lake Michigan though huh?

Good thing that I have a FOID card huh?

Jill brought me with today because she says that, even though the doctors feel it necessary for me to get little mental stimulation she has noticed that the stimulation helps me most of the time. I have always been a social being so for me not to be among my people (whomever they happen to be any particular day) is counter-productive. Most of the time I think she is correct. However, sometimes I do just like to be alone and feel sorry for myself - I think that is the yang to my ying. She is easily my Ethel Thayer. Ha, just as I typed that I heard "she thinks that happiness is a Matt that sits on her doorway." Obviously, the song 3AM by Matchbox Twenty was playing on Pandora. Anyway, I thank my lucky stars every day for having Jill in my life. She seems to know what I need when I don't even believe it - she is usually correct. I think I do the same for her. We're like cheese and crackers (or maybe peas and carrots because some people don't care for me and some don't care for her but everybody likes both cheese and crackers). Also, like cheese and crackers we are even better when we are together than when we are alone.

On the way in here I started to feel like I was having a seizure but I squelched it through breathing and happy thoughts of puppies and kitties and stuff.

I am starting to realize that losing my mind has been one of the best things that ever happened to me. There is so much less pressure. I have been trying to remember Fabio's graduation party a couple of weeks ago and I remember things here and there but not everything. I worry that I wasn't as sociable as I should have been but I do not remember. If I were bad Ethyl Cha Cha would have told me that I had been an old poop.

Okay, my alarm just went off telling me to start making my trek back the couple of blocks to Cha Cha's office for lunch. Good thing I wrote her office address down so I can GPS my trek. I will finish this when I get back from lunch though it appears that I have been pretty wordy already (see - I am in a good place mentally). BRB...

Here's a shout-out for the free WiFi Barnes & Noble - PROPS!

Okay, I am back. Lunch was good and now I have to keep myself entertained for about 150 minutes or so. I am inside a Barnes & Noble in downtown Evanston (I knew they would have free WIFI here).  It looks like rain and I thought rather than walk around and take that chance I would finish the blog and see which way the wind blew. There are lots of cool stores around here so I may go shopping when I am done with the blog. I didn't even know that book stores still existed so you can imagine my delight to find this place. I will definitely look around here before I leave; I love books and magazines and DVD's and CD's... I am a media hound. Plus, whenever I use a service (even free WiFi) I feel compelled to buy something - I am one of the suckers that keeps these places in business. I do notice that everyone has a desert or a coffee so I am not the only one, thankfully. Oh yeah, they have electrical outlets too. "This mall has everything... Pier One Imports..."

Tomorrow my hetero life-mate Greg and I are going to lunch. I am so popular now that I have lost my marbles (maybe I should start using metal marbles so I can find them with my metal detector if I lose all of them).

The Wifi seems to be getting shaky (maybe because of the impending storm) so I am going to wrap-up. Thank you so much for stopping by as you usually do. I really appreciate it and I really do think about you and picture your face as I write this (unless you have never commented or liked the blog). Actually, I picture everyone I know from time-to-time just assuming everyone read this. Except for my mom - she does not read the blog - she is afraid of technology - but, I guess I do think of her too apparently don't I? Have a great rest of your day. I should blog to you again tomorrow morning before Greg and I do out. If not, I will blog to you after. TTTT (sometime)...MITM (out) TA!

Trans- Neptunian (awesome)

It is 04:29 and I am wide-awake. I slept for four hours and 22 minutes according to my watch - 73% of which I was "motionless." So, I slept for 262 minutes (roughly four-and-a-half hours) and, of that, I was "resting in peace" for 191 minutes which is an hour-and-a-half. My math could be flawed as arithmetic has never been one of my strong suits but, if that is correct, that doesn't sound like much. I did not take my sleeping pill last night as I am trying to not become dependent on them but maybe I should be dependent on them as I cannot depend on sleeping properly without them. I was extremely busy yesterday with my TODO list so I never got a nap. I think naps have been a great help to my well-being so I have to just add those to my TODO's. I suppose I wouldn't need naps if I slept for more than four hours and 22 minutes through the night. Though my brain is flawed it does not like to turn off on its own. Maybe that is why I was passing-out;  my body was trying to take charge of the mind and just shut-down. I am afraid that I am going to ruin all of the progress I have made (even though that progress, I believe, is due to the seizure medicines).

Maybe part of the problem last night, besides not taking the sleeping pill, is that the Cubs were playing the Cardinals and I love watching the Cardinals play baseball. I don't get to watch too many games as I am not in their regular broadcast area. The game was stopped due to rain so I went about getting some things done with the thought that the game was ended because it was already "official" but, the rain stopped and I just happened to check as they were discussing resuming play so, of course, I had to watch the completion of the game. My team ended-up scoring some more runs and won 6-0. Today, there is a Cubs-Cards double-header beginning in about seven hours. I am afraid that I will be listening to a lot of that on the radio as I don't see me watching eight-plus hours of baseball. Fortunately, baseball is almost as good on the radio as it is on television. I think that is just the romance part of the game. I honestly do not think that there is another sport that is near as good on radio as baseball. I am tired (no pun intended though noticed) of whining today already and it isn't even 5 AM.

It was weird to see the broadcast of the game on both WGN (Channel 9 in Chicago) and ESPN. I must admit that I so much more enjoyed the ESPN broadcast. I believe if I were a Cubs' fan, however, that I would have liked the home-team broadcast better. Maybe not? I think I liked the impartiality of the broadcasters that did not have a horse in the race.

Bye, Bye Burty!

I did get tired of hearing the term "cutter" and "cutter pitch" so much. I think this "cutter" is a relatively new thing. It is a fastball that breaks slightly toward the pitcher's glove-side. It is between a fastball and a slider I think. Was that formerly known as a slurve? I suppose not since that is a slider and a curve combined. Who decided on the word "cutter?" That makes it sound like an illegal pitch when they used to slice the ball or scuff it to me. Why not a "slide ball" or a "flyder?" Maybe it is weird-ass crap like that which makes baseball just as good on radio?

I heard the Burt Shavitz died Sunday. If you are unaware, he is the Burt's Bees (lip balm, skin products...) dude. It is so funny that, when I wrote a note on my phone yesterday to remember to blog about that, spell-check changed "Burt Shavitz" to "Burt Shaves." I so much prefer Burt's Bees over the other lip-balm products without naming them. We have a couple of recluse-type people in our town that almost everybody knows just because they are everywhere and I think Burt was a dude like that. It is odd that one of those people in our town, he is known as "Shadow," I had not seen in a very long time and just yesterday, before hearing about Burt Shaves (that was on purpose), I saw him walking downtown. The other person that just about everybody in town knows has a beard very similar to the one Burt had/has. I think "recluse" was an inappropriate word there as a recluse is someone who avoids people but they do seem to lead solitary lives. But, that may just be my perception and it could be incorrect.

Over the past few nights (not last night) I have been having nightmares. Maybe it was the sleeping meds allowing me to sleep deeply enough to dream? The nightmares were involving kidnapping and trains. I am sure there is some book somewhere that would make-up some bologna about what that means. I think all of our minds work differently (I know that for a fact right now) and different things manifest themselves differently to each of us. That is why there are so many books about dreams and the meanings of them. I think we need to interpret them independently as we are all different. I also think that trains can mean one thing to me one night and something differently to me a different night. But, I am just as full of crap as the people who interpret other people's dreams. I will take from them what I believe they mean to me. Some people, through time, probably called dreams visions. Maybe I should keep a dream journal. Dreaming is a relatively new concept to me as, without the sleep-aids, I rarely sleep deeply enough to fall into the REM sleep where I dream. Most of my dreams don't seem to be very happy though.

Trans-Neptunian! How cool does that sound?

I heard that we have a space mission to Pluto. I remember, in the 1960's when I was very young, the space missions just to the moon (Earth's) were huge news. Now, we barely even hear about going to Pluto. I heard that we know so little about Pluto that the space craft could fly right into a moon that we don't know exists. I think I heard that Pluto has seven moons that me know of. There are times that NASA cannot even talk to the space craft because they lose communication. It is like the first time back in history that anybody ever took a ship and just sailed off into an ocean or sea (I never really knew what the difference between seas and oceans were). I think, based on the seas and oceans that I know, that seas are smaller than oceans. Seas are usually located where oceans meet land too it seems. If that is correct, seas and oceans have to be together at one point so what are they called then? Soceans? I know oceans are larger. Are seas salt water? I know oceans are all salt water. I could easily look it up but I like to have my own thoughts and I really don't care about being wrong as much as I used care about that sort of thing.

Wow, it is almost 6AM (05:49) now. I may turn off the lights again to see if I can get a few winks. It is like I am writing my own bedtime stories when I blog. Maybe I should start blogging just before I go to sleep? I may try that tonight. That is "may" not necessarily "will."

Have a fantastic day. I have no idea what the weather is gonna be today but, based on the last couple of days here in my part of the MIDDLE, I predict rain. I am glad I got the backyard mowed yesterday between showers. Thank you for stopping in to let me rant and moan and hypothesize and misquote and all of those other things that I was taught not to do when I write. That is the best part about editorializing and blogging - no rules apply. TTTT (or tonight if I decide to blog my bedtime story tonight) TA!

We're Broke I Tell Ya, Broke!

I am really disoriented this morning. I am hoping and believe that it is because I got my medicines straightened-out which allowed my sleeping pill to work properly last night and I am just not fully awake. I have not had any big seizures in quite awhile but that may also be because my medications not being straightened-out. I was taking 30% too much seizure medicine each day. So, as of yesterday, I am taking the prescribed amount. When I thought I was taking a sleeping pill (on occasion) I was taking a different seizure bill. Now all of my bottles have black Sharpie on them saying exactly what they are for. Why do they have to use stupid names for the pills. I guess the names are fine but why don't they put (in plain laypersons language) what the medicines are for? You hear a lot about elderly people (that includes me apparently) getting their medicines mixed-up. So, maybe my meds will work properly now and I will be taking the correct ones for the correct symptoms. I feel sort of like an idiot but I thought I would share to say how easy this can occur - even with someone who is still, in tree-ring age, fairly MIDDLE-aged. I have a feeling that I have also been doing too much with this recent graduation party deal. I sort of feel like I am coming down with a cold. I wonder if I can think of anything else to lump in here?! Is there anyone who wants to get together and play some poker - we can use our meds as poker chips - might be a very interesting weekly game.

Did you hear about what is going on in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas? It sounds like it is still the old west there with: drug smuggling, court bribery, government pay-offs, health care fraud, voter fraud (stealing and buying). I think I'd like to go there for vacation, They call it the Compadre System (the old "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" way of doing things). The FBI is trying to get it straightened out and it sounds like they have put the right man in charge of the task force. His name is Rock Stone (FBI supervisory special  agent) - yes, that is him real name. I think he is the great, great, great grand nephew of Mr. Slate from The Flintstones. He was college roommates with Dash Riprock. I never knew the hierarchy of the gravel pit. I know Joe Rockhead was Fred's boss at one time but was he under Mr. Slate (Slate had the word "Mister" included which insinuates some kind of respect and power)? And, even though Fred worked at the same quarry for the entire show it had about four or five different names over the years; must have had different parent companies or owners between the stone age and the bronze age... How did I go from graft in Texas to the Flintstones?  Oh yeah, Rock Stone. I guess it is so mad there that an entire drug until was seizing drugs and then selling it back on the streets - they are all in prison now. Thank you Rock Stone! You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Rock Stone!

I was born in one of those years. Coincidence?

I have lots to do today as time is ticking by quickly. It is just a little over a month before we head to Europe. The last big thing I used to use to measure time was Fabio's graduation and party and, now that that is over, I guess the trip is next. How cool would it be if, while we were on our trip, I dropped dead in Heidelberg, Germany of natural causes? I was born there and I have never been back since I was like right months old and, as soon as I got back there, I died?  That would be eerie methinks, Maybe not as soon as I got there because I would like to look around a bit first. Please don't think that I am planning anything like that or that I wish that to happen but I always think of stuff like that. People often insinuate that I have the power to make natural disasters occur just by thinking about them when they say things like, "don't say that because what if that came true?" But, that has never seemed to have been the case. Maybe the odds increase the more times I say stuff like that but I thin they are still like 204,765,677,341,980,069.522 to 1. I will play the odds and say I will be just fine but, it would be a great story for future book reports for my ancestral brood. I have always had the same poor odds on winning the lottery.

With all the things I have to get done I really just want to take a nap. I just don't feel right today. Sorry, maybe bad timing thinking that right after that last paragraph. Maybe I will go have a banana and see if perhaps I am just a bit peckish.

I don't know if I will get anything on my list done today after the one I have been working on for about an hour (still working on it). I am going to try to write this without blaming anyone or pointing any fingers (though I know where the finger-pointing and blame should be aimed)... I am still working on getting all of the proper records sent to my work (though I have ample proof that the proper documentation had been sent when and where it was supposed to have been sent). Maybe if your employer's parent company is supposedly broke they will stall in whatever way they can as to not fork-out any money they say they do not have. Hypothetically!

Alright, I have to get some stuff done or today's list of todos or it will make tomorrow's list just that much longer (that's what she I said). Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a great day. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

Oh yeah, Cubs - Cardinals begin tonight! GO BIRDS!!!!

Happy Independence Day 'Merica!

I am so tried of whining about the same things every day so maybe this will be the last day (yeah right). I have been trying for over a week to get the records my insurance company is saying that they need to continue to pay me for the money I have paid into their stupid crap since about 1979. So, for 37 years I have been losing money (not by choice) for all of these supposed benefits I would receive if I had become injured or ill. So here I am, at the point where I need to recoup some of my thousands and thousands of dollars to try to stay alive or slightly coherent, and I am running into road-block after road-block. I sent paperwork to all of the doctors who have been treating me and I got a message back from Dreyer Medical (where my primary-care physician hangs-out) after almost a week saying that I now have to forward the info to the Disability Department. I sent it to them electronically - why can't they forward it to the appropriate department? I can see why people give-up the will to go on. I, however am tenacious and will now have to become Crabby Matty. Crabby Matty is not usually very popular but he does get results. I so much like and want to be nice but, from time-to-time, MATT SMASH!!!! Being Independence Day in U S of America today I will have to wait two days. That will not fair well for them as my rage and anger will build - I have nothing else to do but to plan my attack.

To start the theme of my Independence Day I Googled all of my medicines to see what I was taking. I have one of those doohickeys with the compartments that you put your meds in based on days and times but I wasn't sure I was doing it all correctly. So I wrote down what all my meds were on the bottles instead of their fancy names and what they are generic for. This is probably just another plan to keep us sick - call it something Greek or Sanskrit and then maybe we will take the wrong thing and get sicker so we have to go and see them again and they can charge us and our insurance companies will say we didn't need that. It has to be so much cheaper just to die. If I mysteriously die soon it will not be suicide unless it involves some huge company so my family can live off of my death for ever. Big companies like to settle for more than they should to avoid the bad press. No wonder these medical and pharmaceutical companies don't want The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) to occur. Because affordable for us means lean money in their pockets.

I am still waiting for medical marijuana. Writing this today makes me realize why the medical community doesn't it - we could grow our own medicine. I have never smoked the stuff but I know plenty of places (living near a college campus) where I could get a started kit. There are one or two of you I would come to first though. I do not hold it against anyone who smokes pot, in fact, I think they are smarter than the rest of us in many ways.

Cha Cha and I have to run tot the store. Maybe something exciting will happen and I will have more to write about then we get back.

We're back (it is now 13;52 and I still do not have anything exciting to report other than we spent a lot of money. We packed the cart with groceries and I guessed the cost would be $211.00. The cost was $215 and some change so I would have done very well on The Price is Right.

I am finishing the blog while watching the HBO series (mini-series I suppose) John Adams. I remember watching it when it first aired on HBO. It is one of the most well-done series' that I have ever seen. Paul Giamatti is an amazing actor and great as Adams. He won the Golden Globe for nest actor for this role. Laura Linney also won Best Actress as Abigail Adams and Tom Wilkenson won for Best Supporting Actor as Benjamin Franklin. It also won for Best Mini-Series or Movie Made for Television. It also won many Emmys, Screen Actors Guild Awards... I cannot recommend this show highly enough. I am a history buff so maybe I am slightly prejudiced.  They are in Paris an awful lot so I am thinking a lot about Cha Cha and my forthcoming European trip. For Father's Day Fabio got be a sound bar for the television so now I enjoy everything on television all that much more.

I will not be watching the rockets' red glare tonight. I have never really cared for fireworks; even as a child. They seem stupid to me. Is that un-American? It seems like a huge waste of money. An incredible risk to safety. And, I think we are a bunch of morons for letting that become a night's entertainment; not to mention the cost cities and counties... incur rather than filling those potholes. I suppose I am an old poop when it comes to this tradition but, really, you know I am correct - this is a stupid tradition. Maybe it is really just a celebration of when man discovered to harness fire?  Rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air were probably pretty horrifying in 1775 and 1776. Or today if you live in the Middle East.

I think I am going to take a nap, I am tired most of the time now. I do find, however, that I am not that tired while I am sleeping. Cha Cha says it is because of some of my medicines but I think my brain is just over-heating trying to remember things. I am still forgetting many things but it comes in very handy many times. Like when Jill and I went to see Spy the other night. It is fun laughing at the same things again for the first time. I am accepting of what is going on with me and am enjoying the ride; whatever happens was meant to happen I suppose.

Enjoy the rest of the 4th if you so choose. I am happy for our independence but don't really know why we have to rub everybody's face in it. I will not blog tomorrow - guaranteed. So, then, also enjoy the rest of your weekend. TTTMonday...MITM (out) - trying to shake my crabbiness. TA!

I never had much use for the white ones!

Happy 3rd of July. On this date in 1775 George Washington took command of the Continental Army. In 1863 the final day of The Battle of Gettysburg (Pickett's Charge) took place. Everybody always forgets about things that happened the days before American Independence Day. What is so big about July and battles throughout America's history?

Last night Jill took me to see the Melissa McCarthy movie Spy. I had seen it before but she hadn't seen it. I laughed just as much as the first time I saw it. It is so cool to not be able to remember things sometimes. Many people complainabout that when they get older but I love it (most of the time). I cannot recommend this movie enough for some big laughs. I think it would appeal to just about everyone. I also think when I wrote about it the first time I saw it I said that I was not even much of a Melissa McCarthy fan but now I am. When I was in sixth grade in Plainfield, IL she and I may have run into each other on a school bus or something though she was in about first grade. I was probably her biggest comedic influence. I will await my tribute checks. Her husband was born in Carbondale, IL (where I went to college). I am starting to think they have been stalking me most of my life.

It sounds like we are going to see The Eagles on July 17th. Rumor has it that it is an Eagle's tribute band but I am hoping people just tell me that it is really The Eagles so I believe it and can tell people I saw The Eagles.

It looks a lot better with Catherine Bach over the flag

I just found out that it is National UFO Day. Many towns around here are having their fireworks shows tonight; coincidence? If I were from another planet and wanted to come and check-out what is going on here on Earth I think this would be a great time of year to do that with all of the fireworks displays and now National UFO Day. If people saw my ship they would just think it was part of the festivities. Maybe, if people from other planets came here, they would think we were attacking them and they would send Gort down to destroy us. Just remember the phrase "Klatuu Barada Nikto" and you should be fine.

It is a beautiful morning so far. I hope it stays exactly like this all day long.

I am so tired today. I took one of the sleeping pills last night that the doctor prescribed me and it didn't make a bit of difference. When I had taken them in the past they helped me get to sleep but did not help me stay asleep. Last night they didn't do either. Maybe I should wash them down with a Mason jar of white lightin'. Speaking of hillbillies (sort of) I read that the guy who owns the original General Lee (the Dodge Charger from the television show The Dukes of Hazzard) is going to paint over the rebel flag on the car. Quite honestly, I think a lot more is being made of this than should be. It is an embarrassing part of our national history but I feel we need to have things like this around to remind us where we do not want to go again. I agree that it is in very poor taste for one of our 50 states to have that flag flying above the state capital but we have freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution. I have never had prejudice in me regarding: age, gender, race, religion, height, weight, shoe size... I decide whether or not to like people based on how they treat others and by their actions. I don't even have a favorite Crayon color. They all serve their purpose and work great in harmony. However, I never really had much use for the white one!

Okay, I probably have gone too far and, most likely, I have offended some today. If you are prejudice I suppose that is your Constitutional right but I cannot support racism or sexism or ageism or religious intolerance of heightism. I judge things/people/animals on actions and what is inside. I like everything/everyone until I am given a reason not to and then, I am hard-pressed to forgive. I know they say "don't judge lest ye be judged." I am okay with that and I know there are many people who don't care for much for me and that is their blog-given prerogative. Have a great day. I will probably blog on my present home's 239th birthday - Happy birthday Merica! TTTT?...MITM (out) TA!

I Still have 24 Years To Go!

I actually do have an expiration date but I didn't want to make you feel bad

I feel quite old a lot of the time lately. Maybe I am old; I still like to believe that I am Matt In The Middle but none of us really knows what our Middle is until we are reaching the end. Maybe my Middle was when I was 30 or when I was 26 and I am almost done now. I know there is that expression that "we don't have an expiration date stamped on our" feet or bottoms or wherever a stamp like that would go. I am not sure if it would be better if we knew when our expiration dates were. If I found out that I was going to be going wherever I will go when I am done here soon I wonder what I would do differently.

I slept terribly again last night. I don't know why I don't just take those sleeping pills the doctor prescribed for me. Maybe it is because they help me get to sleep but they don't make me stay asleep? I know my main problem last night was that it was raining in St. Louis. Yes, rain 279 miles away had much to do with me not sleeping last night. I don't hide the fact that I love the St. Louis Cardinals. I don't get to see them play too often since I live more in the MIDDLE of the country than Missouri (actually Missouri is right in the MIDDLE of the U.S. and Illinois is a dogleg right). This past week has been very nice - the Cards played the Cubs for three games (Cards won all three - a sweep) and last night and the night before they played the White Sox. The game last night went well until after midnight because there were three separate rain delays. The White Sox ended-up winning both games. I guess that is technically a sweep too but I have a difficult time calling winning two games a sweep (even if The Cards had won both games).

In addition to my usual problems with sleep last night I had a nightmare last night. I normally don't remember dreams so, for me to remember one must mean that I was sleeping fairly deeply. In the dream I happened on a bad car crash and, being who I am, I got out to see how I could help. As I approached one of the cars that was flipped-over I saw Cha Cha and my good friend Sue in the car in pretty bad shape. Of course, like there is in many movies like this, flames were everywhere and there was a gas leak and it was dripping all over the pavement surrounding the scene. Dreams rarely let me see the final outcome but I am sure I saved everyone from peril.

I am hearing from a lot of people that they wish we would start recording Dirty Laundry Podcast again. With all of our health problems (first Cha Cha and now me) we put the show on hold. We loved doing the show but life got in the way. So much for "the show must go on" huh? I am going to start looking into getting the show back together. I promise you that we enjoyed recording it every bit as much as you liked listening to it. I will begin getting the show back together. Thank you for all of your kind words about the show and giving me the kick in the pants that I probably need to get the show back together. I think it was a good form of therapy too - I need an outlet for my sarcasm and frustrations.

I just got an email from the WWF and I was wondering why the World Wresting Federation cared about the Great Barrier Reef but then I realized it was the World Wildlife Fund (I belong to that one and that makes much more sense). I think the wrestling one now calls itself the WWE so we know it is only "entertainment."

It is funny how much my view of bananas has changed over the years. Maybe you were like me when you were young. I have always loved bananas (like most of we monkeys do) but, when I was young, I never ate the brown / black parts. It took me a long time to realize that those are the sweetest parts. What is that saying about the darker the berry the sweeter the juice or something like that? Bananas are one of the perfect foods - the the other one is the egg. They both come in their own packages and they can both be carried and eaten straight from the package. The egg toy need to boil first though. I guess you don't HAVE to cook it but it is probably healthier that way.

I have plenty to get done today so I had better get it done though I would much rather stay here and talk with you all day. As always, I appreciate you coming-by. It sounds like I may be going kayaking this weekend. I am usually not sure what I am doing until I am doing it so we'll see. Have a great day please! TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

Even His Hair is Sick of Him!

We like to believe we are the best in the world but we are not in every way

I am so tired of health insurance companies. Don't get me wrong - I am extremely happy that I have health and auto and life and home... insurances but they are really difficult to love. They have zero problem taking our monthly payments and our weekly or bi-weekly payroll deductions but, when we have to use the insurance that we have paid for, without missing a single payment for decades, they sure make us jump through the hoops. We have to be the greediest country in the world. As of 2009 there were already 58 countries that had universal heath coverage. We think we are the greatest country in the world, and in many ways we are, but we all really know that we are not in many other ways. A country who doesn't care about its citizens' health and welfare isn't so great in my eyes. I love America but my birth certificate reads West Germany and my passport says Germany on it. I am proud that Germany has the world's oldest national social health insurance system going back to Otto Von Bismarck's Sickness Insurance Law of 1883. 92% of the German population is covered by this plan today. I might think about staying there next month if the kids were with us. My friends and family are much more important to me than money though. Maybe I will build an ark when I get back and we can all go together.

Perhaps a lot of my insurance issues are because I work for a state that is calling itself broke. I have done everything that has been asked of me during my recent (and continuing) ailment but I received a letter saying that the records that they have from my several doctors don't go back far enough. So, I sent info to my various doctors and I am sure they will send the proper information to the insurance company and my work. I am curious what the next hold-up will be. I have paid into the government since about 1979 and only collected unemployment for a short time while when I was working in a housing market that bottomed-out. I thought that was why we paid in way more than we could possibly ever collect? I am kind of naive and too trusting most of the time but I know when I am being bamboozled and hornswoggled and I don't care for it much.

I am so happy that the Cardinals are playing the White Sox for the next few days. The Cards just finished up with the Cubs and I got to watch them sweep the northsiders and now they are playing the southsiders so I get to watch all those games. I love watching baseball and especially when my favorite team (the Red Birds) are playing. I hope they keep playing the way they have been playing this season. I will try to get World Series tickets again if they make it. Fabio and I went to a game in 2006 when they played the Tigers. He says he doesn't remember it very well (he was born in 1997 so he was like nine). The White Sox beat the Cardinals last night.

Even his hair it trying to distance itself from him

I so love that Donald Trump's empire is crumbling. NBC first dumped his shows: Miss USA and Miss Universe. There is also talk that, if and when The Celebrity Apprentice returns to television, Trump will not be the host. You had to be a moron not to see this guy's true colors years ago. Is he still going to pretend to run for President  for the tax breaks? Why aren't other candidates coming out and speaking about this? If you haven't heard he called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug runners... Jeb Bush's wife is Mexican (his children, therefore, are Mexican-American); I would have freaked if I were him which is probably why I am not in politics. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are both Cuban Americans - why would they not say anything? Why didn't Hillary Clinton say anything? Hate has to stop and I would have said something had I been a Presidential candidate even as a white man with no ties to Mexico (nor being a minority). Where was Bernie Sanders? It just shows that they all want to stay under the radar and not really tell us how they feel about controversial issues. They tell us what is safe for them. Or, are they not incensed like I am which worries me even more? If anyone of them would have said something right away they probably would have earned my vote regardless of their political affiliation. I will shop at Macy's as they dumped Trump's products and I will continue to watch NBC. They both earned my respect - people and principles above money.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are getting divorced - who cares? Wasn't he married to Jennifer Lopez too? Playas gonna play!

I have lots to get done today so I need to call this a wrap. Maybe I will have a wrap for lunch today now that I write that. I hope you have a great day; it seems like there will be nice weather in these here parts - I hope you have the same. Thanks for stopping by: I appreciate your socks off. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!