So This Is Christmas

So this is Christmas, the fun time of the year
The time when we hold our loved ones so dear
The time when older parents wait while at the mall
To see which kids actually pick up the phone and call.
The season is for gifts to be given and meals to be shared
A time for people for people to act like they really cared
Many kids wait for Santa by door
Most of us old folk hope we don't end up on the floor
The gifts have been opened and thanked
Think of all the money you could have banked.
Now the end of the day and little time remains
I hope the pills kick in so I get rid these pains.
One more thing to be said
I'm forever grateful my wife's in my bed

Winter Rants

It's winter again and it's getting colder every day. Time for some winter rants about recent news stories that drove me to write.

People need to remember that Freedom of Speech always comes with a price.

Too many threats made by people are never taken seriously and then disaster happens.

If you can't keep a school secure from trespassers then don't open it.

People who continue to travel to dangerous countries and then get arrested or detained got what they deserved. Leave things that happened in the past alone. Not every country or  tribe needs to be prosletyzed.

Interviewers need to ask the tough questions or don't bother.

Parents who take their kids on dangerous trips, have accidents but get rescued should still be prosecuted for child abuse.

When did the amount of Christmas lights one puts up equate to the true understanding of what Christmas is?

I don't answer group letters from friends.

Why in all sports do the players with the least amount of talent boast and complain the most?

Showing appreciation is the highest form of Thank You!

Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas!

Fantasy Sports

Let me start by saying that I love Fantasy Sports. I have played in Baseball and Football leagues and I have started a few of my own. Fantasy Sports leagues are often maligned. They are said to be for losers with no lives. Guys who live vicariously through their fantasy sport teams. I look at them differently. Anything at this point in my life that gives me something to look forward to each day. Something that keeps my competetive juices flowing. Something that helps me keep the little mind I have left active is a great thing. I enjoy meeting fellow sports enthusiasts in my leagues. Some Sundays Lea and I go the local sports bar and watch with amazement the fun that everyone is having following their fantasy players. The ability to talk and interact with strangers is so much fun. Fantasy Sports or Facebook and Twitter. Such an easy decision for me. Try it and you may even like it.

Time

Time is that wonderful thing that starts ticking the moment we are born and counts down till we demise. Time is also knowing when to hang it up. We all do that many times in our life. We add and lose friends throughout our lives starting in childhood. Realtionships come and go. Spouses come and go. Jobs come and go. Knowing when, though, is the tough part. I know people who stay in terrible jobs. Live with non compatible people. Are married to the wrong people. They have friends who stretch the meaning of the word. When is the time to stop something?  I had many jobs while I was in college and I knew any job that restricted me so I couldn't freely communicate with my co workers when I wanted was not for me. I hated department stores and factories or any sort. I found out early that I could only have friends who had some of the values that I held to be important. The toughest things I left were my children when I got divorced, teaching High School, and some of my dear friends in Rhode Island. I did know that for each of them it was time to hang it up. The marriage had run it's course, 30 years of teaching was enough to have accomplished what I wanted, and my friends were dear but I knew it was time to move on. People know when it's time. Is it hard? Incredibly hard. Heart wrenching. Does it have to happen? Yes! You can't hang on forever. I am getting older now. My body is visibly changing. My abilities in certain things are diminishing. Will I have to make more compromises? Sure as hell but I will. Moving on isn't so bad because you always move to somewhere or something else. Until it's time to hang it up one last time.

Till It's Done

Sports are an interesting metaphor for life. Every game I've watched or played in has played out the same way. Taken as individual plays or points clouds what really happens. Sure the individual play or point can be thrilling or disastrous. That is when taken as one portion of the whole event. Each play or point leads to the next one and so on on till the conclusion of the game or match. Each subsequent play wouldn't have happened without the previous ones. The final score is what really counts. All the errors and singular plays are forgotten.  I think that happens with one's life too. Every bump in the road of life, every success in life, all contribute to the whole of one's existence. When we die a person's entire life is looked at as a whole. No one would have reached that end without one event having a profound effect on the others. I know when I look at my life there are many strikeouts and double faults but some aces  and hits too. Each one led to a part of life that never would have happened without them. Everyone needs to realize this and then we wouldn't despair so much when maladies come our way. Just a part of life so deal with it.

Questions?

Hi! I have some questions today. Some, as usual, may be stupid but some may be profound. Why haven't Christians been upset with the name Kia SOUL?  If dogs have no sense of time, is everyday the movie Groundhog Day? Do friends ever realize how similar they morph into their friend's appearance? Why do poems rarely become songs? This I know! Because they actually have more two repeating verses.
What is the point of having so many tattoos that they are indistinguishable from each other? What ever happened to Common Sense? Did it ever exist? Do defense attorneys really believe all that spews out of their mouths in a trial? Why do we mock other legislative bodies in the world when ours is the most laughable? Why do most TV series's finales suck? When someone is an EX doesn't that mean it's over?
Why does Christian Mingle advertise so much if it is truly God's will? In Poker you get three cards to replace if Saturday Night Live had to replace six,  shouldn't they have to fold? Just a few burning questions in my brain!!!

Man or Artichoke?

I was always amused by the question which came first the chicken or the egg. I don't think it matters. The question of man or artichoke is much more thought evoking. I was raised a Catholic. I attended 12 years of Parochial schools. I like many have strayed from the Church but I still spell it with a capital C.
I have given this serious thought and I have come to some conclusions. I cannot beleive that the same entity could have created fruits and vegetables and also mankind. Fruits and vegetables are wonderful, beautiful and delicious. They propogate themselves without the slighest sense of quilt or shame. They produce offspring who perfectly imitate their parents. Man is the complete opposite. Guilt ridden and full of shame from original sin. So which came first? If it was man  then who ever created man was so dissappointed with his first flawed attempt it created perfect fruits and vegetables to make up for the failure. If fruits and vegetables were created first then there was no need for man. An earth covered with just fruits and vegetables would surely be a wondrous place. I know weeds sometime crowd out other plants but even weeds produce nice flowers. This question of man or artichoke really is no question at all. The belief that everything on earth came from the place is incongruous.

When I'm 64

When I'm 64 I'll ask for more, more of the last few years.
It's been great and I've been lucky.
I have the beach and everything I want within reach.
I've had good health and just enough wealth to keep me and my wife in smiles.
I would want to have more conversations with my grandsons.
Young boys and girls at their ages seem to be full of fun.
I've been blessed with a wondrous second career
I guess I did it without much fear
or trepidation because without a try it would been such a failure.
What is life without a wife? Not just a wife but someone who has made these
past seven seem like heaven or else it would have been hell.
Regrets are things that unhappy people look back on. I like to look just ahead
and appreciate the truly remarkable  odyssey of my life
and remember that since 2001 it's been nothing but up.
Must have been the movie.

Rants 2013

Well it's time again to air my gripes. I've been holding them in and now I  am going to vent. Unlike the cardinals, it will be black smoke. If products can't have real life spokespeople then how can that be believable.. I will never use Ancestry.com because an actor supposedly has ancestors with more hair than his bald head. Ridiculous! An actor for Salon Pas telling of his scripted aches and pains. Forget about it! Chevrolet Traverse has a commercial about room for eight passengers in their car, 8 plush toy animals it has room for in the commercial. I always carry toy animals instead of people in my car. How about you? How about showing  me how a car performs on I95 or the Florida Turnpike instead of doing donuts or drifting on the beach. I've never ridden on the beach. Nor do I intend like Cadillac ATS to drive in the most remote, dangerous locations in the world. What kind of crap is this? It's no accident that Saturday Night Live isn't on every Saturday anymore. Their writers suck and recycle old skits too often. Usually unless it's Mars or Timberlake they squander the talents of the guests like Daniel Craig. The cardinals are convening in Rome to pick a new pope. The first vote was today without success. They'll go to dinner and discuss who's the best candidate. So much for praying devoutly for divine intervention and getting it right the first time. And lastly I grow extremely weary of new arrivals to Florida or snow bids trashing my home. Don't like it, LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Abbeys of the World

My wife and I have watched season three of Downton Abbey. I have become much more enthralled than she has. I find the whole era interesting and I thought what I learned of the aristocracy in England would be an enlightenment. The stodginess of the Lords and Ladys. The arrogance of some of the servants who have have their own social pyramid. We have seen the awkward customs of dressing for dinner. Having a servant serving every drink or meal. The valets and housemaids tending to all the needs of the Granthams. The series takes place in the 1920's. It occurred to me that after 93 years little has changed in the world. Women are still oppressed in many countries. The aristocracy are now called dictators. They assume their power not from any talent on their part but simply through heritage. Outlandish, dated, ridiculous customs still are practiced in many countries. Everyday I read the headlines about women arrested for wanting equal rights. People being persecuted under laws centuries old. Downton Abbey has become for me a reminder of the injustices in our generation. The unwillingness to change and the hiding behind archaic laws and edicts to perpetuate the harsh and unequal treatment of society.

My Valentine

Valentines aren't blue that's true
Nor are they green
They are red as a spleen
for all to be seen.
It's a day to remember
each one and each member
of your family or special ones
I've been blessed as a man
to have found in this life
the woman whom I call my wife.
She is a woman unique from the rest
In many things she is the best
The best thing she does is take care of me
so that in spite of myself I continue to be
She is the love of my life
My best friend not just a wife
and so I am so fortunate to call Lea
My most loved and treasured Valentine
and lucky to have her as mine

Waiting

Waiting is something people do alot. I spent many hours waiting for my parents to pick me up when I was a small boy. When I went to high school I waited for the bus to take to me to school 45 minutes away from my home. People wait for phone calls, for people to call them back, for people to return things borrowed. The list goes on. Unfortunately most of the waiting is excruciating. The time spent waiting is perhaps the worst time I've ever spent. It is so unrewarding. It is time that is often spent in vain because  not all things get returned. There is one type of waiting I really enjoy. I hate shopping in stores. I love to buy things online. I really look forward to waiting for the stuff to arrive at my house. I like the emails giving me tracking information. I track the package, estimating time of arrival. Should I be there to sign or will Fedex or UPS leave it int he mailbox or at my door. I like the mystery of seeing what I bought. Does it live up to my expectations of it. Was it worth the money. I now understand why the original Sears ad Roebuck catalogs were so hugely successful. The catalogs were sent to rural areas where few or no stores existed. If they did exist they didn't have all the wonderful gadgets and tools that the catalog contained. Imagine waiting for a tractor to replace your horse drawn plow. That new icebox sure sounded better than a block of ice. What a great time to live. Gee I get excited over a cellphone case or a cheap ipod speaker. I don't mind waiting for things through the mail because after they get to my house I can look for something new to wait for.

The Price

All things have a price. Cost is a synonym for price. Both words connote that someone is going to pay sooner or later. Unfortunately it isn't always the one who performs the act. On the Price is Right one gets to choose between door One or Two. In life we get to choose but we know what is behind the doors. Our choice will affect someone and there will be a cost to them. We choose to do things that all have costs. The price could be missing important events, forgetting important dates, poor time management, not dealing with financial issues or the biggest price of forgetting who the really important people in our life are. People get consumed with themselves. They put their interests above others. They forget that it isn't always about them. In a nutshell, they are extremely selfish and self centered people. The main concern of a spouse is their spouse. A parent's main concern is their children. No other issue should divert one's attention from their happiness and welfare. Everyone deserves to have time to themselves to enjoy diversions. It's when these diversions infringe upon the time that should be spent with wives or families or spent in other income providing ventures that will make people pay the price.  The highest price there is, being alone, so now they can devote all their time and attention to themselves.