What happened to Vince ?

I'M MOVING !

2011-11-05T05:42:00.000-05:00

I'm moving. Not from my condo which I continue to have paid and in good standing but moving this blog.
It first began with a dispute w/ Google's monetizing program. I earned enough money back in 2010 and Google paid me $100 b/c there were enough people to click onto my ads and for each ad clicked, I made money. I earned enough money this summer to earn another $100, but this time Google would not pay it.
So, I went into the computer language of my blog and the settings, and removed any reference of Google.
Now, I do admit that I didn't know computer language as well as I needed to know it, so I've been getting an irritating snippet, a 1/4 or 1/8 of a page that states that my website can't be found. You can see it clearly now. & I admit that was my error in revising the computer language.

So, please go to http://vince2-s-ithaca.blogspot.com

This is my new & improved blog. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Special thanks goes to my readers who have read this over the years, especially Amel, as I have always enjoyed her comments as I have my brother's.

a strange night

2011-10-23T18:58:00.006-05:00

I think I made a mistake last week, last Wednesday night. I think I got a little too desperate for money.
A mixture of pity and greed made my decision making a little suspect.

I was trying to drive into the street where my condo is. The car ahead stopped and then went ahead. A 20something woman came up. She was desperate. She needed a ride 10 miles north. I was going to get $25 if I gave her a ride. Then she motioned to me that her boyfriend would be coming too.

I drove into the Church that is adjacent to our condo's property to talk to him and "think" about the situation. I said that I would go to my condo 1st before I take them to Chicago. I took my leather jacket off and put a much cheaper jacket on. I put away my wallet and carried just my driver's license, ATM card and AAA card. I knew there was a risk taking a stranger 10 miles. I wasn't naive.

I'm too old to be that.

I operated on 2 considerations. I consider the odds. The odds were LOW that I was going to deal w/ strangers with guns. She said that she would give me money, over $20 and I needed the money bigtime BAD. It's been that way since the fuckin summer !

So, I began the car ride w/ 2 perfect strangers by telling them that I didn't have enough gas in my car to get them to Chicago. They were required to put about $10 of gas into the car. We pulled into the gas station, & I think I saw the 20something woman, Meegan go up to people getting gas to ask for money !!!! (ugh!). Then, I saw her go into the station and go up to the cashier. She paid the cashier $6, not $10. That was enough. She told me when she came back she only had $6.

The talking that was going on w/ John/Jr. (he goes by 2 names) and Megan was making me uneasy. This young couple, only a few years out of high school, were uneducated and only living "on their wits". They talked about begging money from one person to pay off the person they begged money from last week!!! The girl gave me $6 in gas money. Then they had to speak w/ "Nick". Something wasn't right and John/Jr. was told by NICK that he would help them not at all! John/Jr. walked away, and I decided, since something was going wrong, to talk to Nick alone.

I walked up to Nick, and John/JR. wanted to know what I would ask him but I waved him off and made sure he kept his distance from my conversation with Nick.

"Nick?" I asked, "are things going to be safe???"

"Oh YEAH! Of course, it will."
I walked into the car w/ my 2 strangers already in the car (yes, I was carrying the keys, and didn't leave them in the car, I'm NOT STOOOOO-PID!)
They said they needed my help to talk to the guy giving them money. Well, if I wanted my $20, I had to agree. I pulled it off. The money was split. So, the last thing I had to do is take them to McDonalds in a not-so great part of Chicago.

I dropped them off and no sooner did I drop them off, but there were flashing blue/red lights of the police on my tail !

Then something very bizaar happened. I was so relieved to get my $20; I was so intent on just getting them to the fuckin Golden Arches of McDonalds and then...........I get stopped by the cops???????????
The cops did the new thing of taking a ton of time of having me sit there before they even talked to me. & when they did, they acted very strange. I only had one cop encounter even comparable to this one (a female cop stopped me for speeding and acted like she wanted to get laid. At 5'5" and 200 lbs. she apparently wasn't getting a lot of action. But I sweet talked my way out of doing that without any ticket or illicit sex going on. I was happily married so I wasn't going to lose my morals to please a cop).

So, 2 African American cops came up to me with smiles on their face.
Police: "What you doing out here?"
I replied : "I dropped a young couple off at this McDonalds, b/c they needed a ride".
"Really? From where?"
"Oak Forest"
"DAMN. That's a long way. You went through a red light."
"Really" I didn't even see the damn light! Were they kidding? I know I was nervous where I drove, but could I have been so pre-occupied that I was so blind not to see a light? No, I don't think so. What the hell were they doing pulling me over???

The comedy continued.

"Are you doing drugs tonight?"

"No, sir" I replied.

"Do you have any dead bodies in the car?"

"No, would you like to check?

"Naaaaaaaah,...(he paused).... that's ok"
"Would you like to see my proof of insurance?"
"No, but you DO have insurance?"
"Yes, sir, am I going to be here awhile? Should I turn the engine off?"
"Naaah, that's all man. Be careful, ok?"
"Yes, sir you all have a good evening"
"Gee thanks" & they drove off.
I talked to Ted afterwards since he has opted not to live w/ his Mom but rather stay at the condo w/ me. I said, I messed up. I didn't use good judgment even though I came away w/ $26. I was too desperate for a few bucks. I said that sometimes parents don't set good examples, and this was one of those times. He agreed that he wouldn't do something like that in a similar situation.

What made it worse is that John/Jr. and Meegan said they lived next to me in an apt. What if they are desperate again? What if they see my car parked in front of my condo?
I'm keeping my damn car locked from now on. Sigh

Facts that show what's wrong w/ supporting the Rich & the Southern status quo on ENERGY

2011-10-21T11:00:00.001-05:00

The current population of the United States is about 312 million persons. This came from http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

The United States used 18,690,000 barrels of oil per day in 2009. This number came from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption.
I am going to estimate oil consumption in America in 2011 to be 20,000,000 barrels of oil per day. This is admittedly a "rough number". I am trying to make conceptual points in the material below. Exactness is not required in order to do so.

The price of oil today is $85.30. This number came from http://www.oil-price.net/.

The cost of oil consumption per day in America is $1,706,000,000 (about one point seven billion dollars).

The cost of oil consumption per week in America is $11,942,000,000 (almost twelve billion dollars).

The cost of oil consumption per 30 day month in America is $51,180,000,000 (about fifty one billion dollars).

The cost of oil consumption per 365 day year in America is $622,690,000,000 (about six hundred and twenty three billion dollars).

The oil consumption cost per person per year in America using a rounded 312 million population count is $1995.

Coal costs about $100 per ton. This number came from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/20/patriotcoal-idUSL3E7LK1LY20111020

Coal consumption in the United States is 1,060,000,000 tons used per year. This number came from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_coa_con-energy-coal-consumption.

The 1,060,000,000 tons of coal used per year in the United States times $100 per ton equals $106,000,000,000 (One hundred and six billion dollars).

The annual cost per capita for coal in America equals about $340 per person.

Natural gas consumption in the United States in 2010 was 24,087,938 million cubic feet. This number came from :
http://205.254.135.7/dnav/ng/NG_CONS_SUM_DCU_NUS_A.htm

The cost of natural gas in the United States is $4.27 per thousand cubic feet. This number came from http://205.254.135.24/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_dcu_nus_m.htm.

If a thousand cubic feet of natural gas costs $4.27, then a million cubic feet of natural gas costs $4270, which is one thousand times as much as $4.27.

The total natural gas consumption in the United States of roughly 24,000,000 million cubic feet times $4270 per million cubic feet equals about 102 billion dollars.

The annual cost per capita for natural gas in the United States equals about $327 per person.

The total cost for oil, coal, and natural gas use in the United States equals about $2660 per person.

The total Health Care Cost in the U.S. in 2009 was about $2,500,000,000,000 (two point five trillion dollars). This number came from
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/04/nation/la-na-healthcare4-2010feb04

The total Health Care Cost now in America is now running at the rate of $2,700,000,000,000 (two point seven trillion dollars). This number came from a magazine article I read not too long ago.

Total health care spending in America is expected to nearly double to $4.6 trillion dollars in 2020, from $2.6 trillion dollars in 2010.

Health care spending per capita in America is forecast to increase to $13,708 in 2020 from $8,327 in 2010.
The numbers in the above two paragraphs came from http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/28/news/economy/healthcare_spending_forecast/index.htm.

In a magazine article I read not too long ago, they had an even higher number of $8650 per person being spent on health care today in the U.S.

Even using the conservative number in the material above, our current health care cost of $8,327 per person in 2010 is more than three times the total cost of oil, coal, and natural gas use of $2660 per person in the United States.

Our total Health Care Cost in America is about 17.5 percent of GDP.

This total Health Care Cost is headed northward to 20% of GDP within only a matter of few short years.

Then it is headed further northward to 25% of GDP.

This situation continues to get even worse.

What follows is an interesting quote from our own Congressional Budget Office:

CBO projects that without significant changes in policy, total spending for health care will be 31 percent of GDP by 2035 and will increase to 46 percent by 2080.

The above came from http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10297/chapter2.5.1.shtml.
In case you don't know what GDP means what follows is a definition of GDP from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product.

Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period.

Now let's contrast the above to 1960.

In 1960 there were 189,323,175 million people living in the United States.

The GDP in 1960 was about 520 billion dollars (1960 non-inflation adjusted dollars). This number came from
http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=what+is+gdp

Our National Health Care Cost was about 5% of GDP in 1960.

our total Health Care Cost nationwide in 1960 was about 26 billion dollars in "1960 money".

Money was worth a lot more in 1960 than it is today.

Okay, so let us adjust for inflation.

$1.00 in 1960 had the same buying power as $7.46 in 2011. This number came from http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm.

Twenty six billion dollars of 1960 money is equivalent to about 193 billion dollars today.

In 1960, one hundred and ninety three billion dollars of "inflation adjusted money" covered the entire health care costs of one hundred and eighty nine million Americans.

What this boils down to is that in 1960 Americans were only spending about one thousand dollars of "today's 2011 dollar" per year on health care on a per person basis.

We are now spending over eight times as much on health care on a per person basis as we did in 1960.

By next year it will be almost nine times more.
And we will be spending fourteen times as much on health care in America as we were in 1960 by the year 2020.

For a person in the United States today to only be spending only about $2660 on their entire use of oil, coal, and natural gas, and be spending about $8330 on health care *over three times as much* is nuts!

And for a person in America to be spending over eight times more on health care than they did in 1960 is nuts too!

For all this "great health care" that we get in the United States, health care that costs over eight times what it did in 1960, one in six children is now considered learning impaired (learning disabled is another term).

Something is really wrong with America when our children as a whole rank so low in educational achievement vs. children in so many other countries.

Who do you blame? And how can we fix all this?

written by Allen Darman

Website: http://nutrientscure.wordpress.com/

A Related Blog:

Two Persons That the OWS People's Movement Should Become Aware Of and Why (10/19/2011)

http://nutrientscure.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/two-persons-that-the-ows-peoples-movement-should-become-aware-of-10172011/

We participated, it's time to fight back

2011-10-09T07:37:00.002-05:00

I put in my opening line, that I don't want plutocrats dominating our national capital. & they haven't quite yet, b/c of President Obama. Plutocrat/plutocracy = rule by the rich. Our Constitution wasn't about rule by the rich when it was made. We didn't overcome the Great Depression and World War II by rule by the rich.

Historians agree that the GREAT DEPRESSION STARTED BECAUSE THE WEALTH DISTRIBUTION WAS DISTORTED WHERE TOO FEW PEOPLE HAD TOO MUCH MONEY. It wasn't caused by Welfare cheats or too much government. THE GREAT DEPRESSION WAS CAUSED BY TOO LITTLE GOVERNMENT.

& NOW THE SAME THING HAS HAPPENED AGAIN. 1% of the richest percentile in OUR NATION own 50% of American wealth.

It is for that reason that I joined Occupy Chicago. Last night, I took my son, Ted and his friend Nate to the rally. It's time to fight back against the lobbyists fighting for the rich. It's time to fight against guys like Congressmen Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, bastards that care nothing about the poor and the lower middle class. They are assholes that are paid by the rich when they ran for office and work for the rich. It's that simple. They bought the rich's line about how to make this nation better and it was done from 2001 - 2008 when Bush was in office and he had a Republican Congress.

Keeping the rich's taxes too low DOESN'T LEAD TO PROSPERITY, IDIOTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE INCOME TAX RAISE OF 1993 DID CONTRIBUTE TO PROSPERITY and you don't have to believe me, believe an economic leader like Alan Greenspan, A REPUBLICAN, and the Federal Reserve chairman of the US during the 90s WHO said that the Clinton tax raise cut the deficit & that led to the nation's longest prosperity EVER . (1992 - 2001)

HOW can Paul "Shame of Janesville" Ryan fight so hard for rich people not to even pay taxes. How can he & other just continue to cut money for road construction and infrastructure improvements. Their real aim is to help those who financed their campaigns and fuck everyone else. They don't want to help the nation they want to continue to help the rich which is how it was done from 2001-2009. Bush adm. put us in a huge hole, and they want us to believe it's all Obama's fault.

So, I participate in the Occupy Wall Street-Occupy Chicago movement. I bought bottled water for the people that are at the Federal Reserve building at Chicago 24/7 for over 3 weeks. I gave them more permanent markers to make signs. I like some of the ones below, as you can see.

the 1st 4 pictures are obviously self-explanatory. This last picture is of the drummers. When you go to the protest site, the 1st thing you can do is hear it, not see it. There are the protest drums and this is Ground Zero of the drummers and the chants. The best thing I heard all night wasn't the speeches. It was as we were driving away. It was Ted's 13th birthday, yesterday. As we were driving away. He thanked me for taking me to the protest. His friend Nate, loved it too !

this is a good icebreaker

2011-09-08T13:49:00.006-05:00

The next time you’re at a party, try this fun ice-breaker:ask people what their first concert was. It’s always a delightful conversationtopic, and typically the more cringeworthy and one-hit-wonder acts are more funto discuss than the “cool” bands (if your first show was U2, that’s cool, butVanilla Ice is almost more special.) I put the question out on Facebook: whatwas your first concert? Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Me: CARS saw them in1982 in Madison, Wisconsin. I love the fact that theywere cool enough to be at Lolapalooza this year. Too bad their co-leadsinger and bassist, Benjamin Orr weren't still alive.

Justin: Public Enemy &Anthrax at Aragon!

Joel: Starship and TheOutfield, somewhere in Virginia (but not Wolf Trap...). It was 1986 and I wason a teen tour, so maybe that can be my excuse (heh).

Kate Z.: Janet Jackson

Nora: Peter Gabriel at Rosemont Horizon.

Jane: 1988: INXS

Marly: Menudo. I wish I were kidding. They wereplaying in el Poliedro, in Caracas.

Cheryl: John Denver. ACC Arena. 1974 or 5. Alsonot my idea -- but when your mom drags you to a concert, you kind of have to go

Rebekah: Liz Phair at the Vic. Fall 1995.

Daniel R.The Monkees at the Rosemont Horizon.Their reunion tour. 1986. I went with my church's teen club. I quit the club after that night.

Andy: Fishbone at Mississippi Nights. It was the nutmegnineties.

Jonathan: Meatloaf: Rockland Community College,summer of 1978.

Elizabeth J.: Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine atPoplar Creek. I think I was nine. AWW YEAH.

Leonard: The first concert I ever went to was aBeach Boys outdoor show. My best friend's dad took us and someone threw a canof beer at my head. This would have been sometime in the late '70s.

& someone else:...........The first concertI ever went to of my own choosing was, embarrassingly, Quarterflash. Arizona State Fair, 1982.

& do you recall either the 1st concert or your favoriteconcert?? you are more than welcome to discuss both. I love when you share...........

Isn't this a problem?

2011-08-26T10:53:00.000-05:00

Look at Doonesbury cartoon today.

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/archive/2011/08/21

You know if one of the major causes of the Great Depression was the MALDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES, then isn’t the fact that 400 families have more than about 150 million people in the United States a problem????!?!?!?!?!?!?!

& don’t you dare try telling me that rich people work harder b/c that’s bullshit. Try telling that to the woman working 2 jobs in New York City busting ass to feed her kids.....our a couple BOTH WORKING in a shitty little apartment in LA or Chicago trying to make ends meet.

Who works hard? BOTH RICH & POOR

WHO DOESN’T TAKE A VACATION FOR 4 OR 5 YEARS, BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD IT?? not the rich……..

recent thoughts

2011-08-13T22:13:00.007-05:00

This summer has brought changes - large changes, in fact.

With the death of my father-in-law, my ex has decided to move out of the 2-bedroom condo we shared, and into her late father's house. That's pretty understandable considering that she and the kids are able to live in a more spacious house, and each has their own bedroom. During the school year, however, the kids will spend a lot more time in Oak Forest and at the condo, because that is the school district they prefer and been at for 12 years.

There was an observation that I speak/write about money often. That may very well be true, yet when your conditions change in a very noticeable way, then why not write about it??

If you were a model, wouldn't it seem natural to talk about photo shoots?

If you were a football player, wouldn't it seem natural to talk about the games?

If you are a parent, wouldn't you talk about your kids??

If you were a farmer wouldn't you talk about your crops or livestock?

If you were happily married and in love with your husband, wouldn't it seem right to talk about your husband?

So, it is logical for me to write about what's on my mind. I read a book about anxiety/worrying. One of the definitions of worrying is:

repeatedly thinking about the same problem/area of concern & worry over and over without coming up with a solution.

Now, no one is perfect. We all worry. The book made clear what should happen if I am concerned about money.

Before the book, and definitely after the book I read, I have been making constructive plans to solve the money dilemma I have. The kids and Maribeth were surprised I got rid of my cable TV subscription, but it certainly didn't surprise me as I'm saving $50 a month. So, look for ways to save money. My utility informed me that I'm using less energy than I was last year. It helps having your air conditioner set 10 degrees higher than it was last summer as well as turning down the freezer.

Next, is paying off certain accounts. Now, the air conditioner doesn't turn on unless the temperature is in the 80s (that's fahrenheit and upper 20s if you live where they measure in celsius/centigrade).

I have paid off 2 credit cards during 2011. In the next 2 months, I am going to be able to pay off 2 more credit cards. With my medical problem that I have mentioned previously, I have paid off 2 medical accounts.

Third, is to prioritize my accounts. The mortgage gets paid first, the insurance is a high priority. Certain accounts necessitate calling customer service and telling, not asking, that they won't be paid because there's simply not enough money to go around. It's advice that was given by my dear close friend, Patricia, and it's worked.

Speaking of friends, getting help is sometimes necessary. When you are helped, pay back the little loan soon as I have. Or, pay back the help with other non-monetary benefits like giving the helper rides when needed and other types of help as well.

Don't get down about setbacks. I thought that Google AdSense would help just a little bit (not much, I never thought that!) as they paid for me showing their ads on this very blog. However, over a week ago, they decided to not to pay after all, so there's no use crying to a monolithic many-billion-dollar corporate piggish entity. No, forget them. Let them think what they want, because piggish corporations and piggish corporate heads think only of profit and have a tendency to hurt not only people but nations. That's why there was a need for the law in 2010 to order health insurance companies to actually use more money towards providing health benefits rather than the lavish compensation to the pigs who run them.

One thing that Republicans fail to acknowledge is that the most efficient provider of healthcare among the elderly was MEDICARE, not the private insurance companies. Why? Because Medicare is not profit driven & there's no rich CEO/pig that is demanding that the board of directors give him more money.

Don't take my word for it, because it's documented:

"[T]he Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found that administrative costs under the public Medicare plan are less than 2 percent of expenditures, compared with approximately 11 percent of spending by private plans"

Too much politics? I wouldn't discuss it if it wasn't true !

The next thing is keep trying. That's a rather general platitude for many things. Being a good Christian (we all sin, but we need to keep trying to live a good life), being a good parent (try hard to say "no" when you have to, even when you said "no" many times before, even when it's hard and even if they have a compelling reason for you to say "yes", but it hurts the long term goal !)

Having medical billers write to you and tell you that you didn't pay them when you did is stressful. But I would be more stressed if I didn't have the records to show the payment. So, being organized with decent record keeping is another key to the money problem dilemma.

One of the best options is to find a better job, and that is difficult. That takes many resumes and trying. Another option is to find a 2nd source of income. I have accomplished that, but am seeking better methods and better pay in that regard.

I don't even know for certain that I'll succeed, but I'll try, I'll use what I've written about and then some. Theft may be on my list of options, if things ever get worse, but let's hope not ! JK !

Goodbye, Stephanie Abrams!

2011-07-13T19:48:00.001-05:00

The time has come where I'm making the household decisions by myself. With my ex-wife moving out most of her possessions out of the condo we started living in way back in 1994, I have to make sure my budget to pay for expenses is on solid ground. One of the first things I decided was to get rid of cable. This, of course, does not mean getting rid of TV as free, digital broadcast has 20 channels. When I first moved from Wisconsin to Chicago, I went the first 6 months with no TV and didn't miss a minute of it. Give me a good stereo w/ good rockin' radio stations and my massive music collection, and I can do without cable !

This time though, I will feel a twinge of regret of the things I can't watch anymore. I will miss the History Channel (especially Pawn Stars, I'll have another blog dedicated to that popular show) and my son will miss ESPN (so will I but to a lesser extent). Also, I will miss a habit that will be tough to break. For over a year now, I have thoroughly enjoyed waking up to hear and listen to Stephanie Abrams give the daily weather and sharing her extensive knowledge about meteorology. She gives her audience on weekday mornings an inspired blend of engaging, entertaining and educational reporting about what is going on in the weather that we live in and experience in the United States. I even love it when she talks about sports and her beloved Gators (and that's coming from someone born and raised in Wisconsin who loves his Badgers & Packers!). I know that when I wake up tomorrow on July 14, my morning will just not be the same without her.

Below, is Stephanie doing the hard work of reporting a nasty storm. Keep up the great work, Stephanie! When I work at a better paralegal job at another law firm, I'll come back to watch you again! There are some very good meteorologists at Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/ . I remember in 2005 watching Heather Tesch during the mornings. One hates to make comparisons (or possibly even reading comparisons) between quality professionals, where Heather was a reliable, wife and mother of two children and brought that solid, matronly qualities to her fine reporting; it didn't take long for me to really enjoy, Stephanie's wonderful humor, great depth and breadth of background in meteorology, fine collaborative skills with her fellow anchorpersons and all around enjoyable personality.

You'll be missed ! :(

EXPRESS MONOPOLY

2011-07-10T20:31:00.003-05:00

The winged feet are to show that I invented and wanted to share with you a speedy version of Monopoly. You know how Monopoly can go on 6 hours. Now, some people don't have 6 hours or 5 or however long it takes for you to spare time playing the fun game. So, I invented a game that shaves time off of Monopoly. The best aspect of my invention is that Monopoly gets a lot more interesting when there are actually players with MONOPOLIES! Before that it's not all that eventful. So here is what you do. Players (whether you have 3-5 players) get properties at the beginning of the game as follows:

3 players Monopoly Portfolios

Portfolio 1
Purple monopoly (eg. has Baltic & Mediterranean)
Orange monopoly (eg. has New York and others that are orange)
Park Place
Get Out of Jail Free card
$2,800

Portfolio 2
Baby Blue monopoly (e.g. has Oriental)
Violet monopoly (eg. has States )
Boardwalk
N. Carolina Avenue
$2500

Portfolio 3
Red monopoly
Yellow Monopoly
Pacific and Penn. Aves.
$2200

4 players Monopoly portfolios (EVERYONE GETS $2,500)

Portfolio 1
Purple monopoly
Boardwalk
Marvin Gardens
2 RR2s (1st & 2nd side)

Portfolio 2
Violet Monopoly
Park Place
Ventor & Atlantic Avenues
2 Railroads (3rd & 4th sides)

Portfolio 3
Baby blue Monopoly
N. Carolina Ave
NY & St. James Aves.

Portfolio 4
Red monopoly
Pacific & Penn Ave
Tennesse Ave.

5 players portfolio

Portfolio 1
Purple monopoly
Boardwalk
Marvin Gardens
$2,400
Portfolio 2
Violet monopoly
4 Railroads
$2800

Portfolio 3
Baby blue monopoly
Park Place
Atlantic & Ventor Aves.
$2,200

Portfolio 4
Red monopoly
Utilities
N. Carolina
$2,400

Portfolio 5
Orange monopoly

Pacific & Penn Aves.

$2500

Rules
1. The Sky is the Limit” as far as how many hotels you put on a . You get to put as many hotels as you want.

2. Corollary to Rule 2 You cannot buy 2 hotels (on 1 piece of property) until every player has passed GO once. You cannot buy 3 hotels (on 1 piece of property) until ever player has gone GO twice. Once that has occurred, Rule 2, above, applies

3 “You snooze you lose!” If someone lands on property you own, if you don’t ask for rent he doesn’t have to pay.

Monopoly trivia: Over 30 years ago, those who lived in the former Soviet Union (what is now Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhistan, and other areas), were forbidden to play Monopoly as it was against the values of that Communist society. People in North Korea and Cuba STILL are not allowed to play it !

random thoughts

2011-07-08T21:24:00.003-05:00

I'm really trying to save money. I'm no longer living with my ex-wife (MB), because she is inheriting & also working on financing the place that her late father lived. I am also trying to finance and buy out MB's share of the condo. I learned, however, that it will not be easy. Yet, there are solutions. I have:

turned the air conditioner so that it's not used as much;
cleaned the bedrooms and picked areas that have been a bit overlooked. Now, there is no blaming or criticizing about areas of the condo overlooked. Yet, with the kids sometimes not at the condo, but over with their mother in the house, I can throw away things that need to be taken out, dust, sweep and vacuum;
we were very fortunate to have such nice neighbors. One of Ted's good friends is Jake who lives next door. His father gave us the very topline Dyson vacuum cleaner which I have put to good use;
I had to go to MB's house, and I did not want to spend any money on expensive gas, so I biked/walked the 2 1/2 miles. The first half of the trip, I biked west on the Cook County Forest Preserve bike trail. I then hid my bike into the forest where people couldn't see it and walked the rest of the way. Maribeth's tenant, Sal, was kind enough to give me a ride to approximately where my bike was. More on Sal at http://25mi-swchicago.blogspot.com/
On the same night, Ted, my 2nd son, was concerned about me, because I had lived by myself for 2 days with no kids around. "Are you ok?", he asked that twice ! ! What a good kid ! Then when he knew that I walked over to save money and not burn any gas driving my car, he gave me $3 !
I broke the news to my kids that we don't need or are required to have cable anymore; Cable is basically entertainment, and we could rent a few movies per month at a much cheaper price. We will still have about 20 channels anyway through digital broadcast. The kids were strong and took it in stride. I was going to get ride of my landline phone too. But the problem is that I would use my cellphone more, go over the allotted 300 minutes and then have to spend more money on my cellphone bill. I don't need to do that.

We have to be thankful for what we have. There has to be an effort to continue to find better opportunities either working at a hospital again, finding a better law firm or a combination of staying at the same law firm and working at the hospital.

& here's a picture of Ted; I'm very glad he decided to get his hair cut ! The 3 boys decided at Nate's birthday party to have frosting on their face. That was the cool thing to do ! Now, can't you see that's cool (lol) ?

a winning couple

2011-06-12T15:05:00.004-05:00

“Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, and she’s gone.”

“Lucy and the Sky with Diamonds” - Beatles/ written by Lennon & McCartney

When Jack saw them at Church, they had well-earned, wonderful, white teeth. When Lucy & Ralph went a party, they lit up the room.

Jack viewed them with envy. He did well with his kids and his hobbies, but about the rest of his life?

Oh well, he’d rather think of the Thompsons, Ralph and Lucy Thompson.

Lucy was a classmate and a childhood friend. Nearly fifty years ago, Jack saw her Monday through Friday, in school. On Saturday, they both went to +*+CCD, then attended Church on Sunday. Jack distinctively remembered in 7th grade having a loving crush on her. If there were an 8th day of the week after Saturday, and they spent that day with just each other, then Planet Earth and the heavens above would be perfect.

Yet, opposites attract and not a couple that is too much the same. Both Lucy and Jack were earnest, sensitive kids in 7th grade and stayed that way through adulthood. Lucy chose a boy with a great sense of humor later in high school and married the quiet and successful Ralph Thompson.

Jack hadn't seen Lucy in ages, 1987 to be exact. He graduated with Honors in Journalism that year and entered a job market with few takers. He found more success doing various work with businesses, and his pride in a job well done usually kept his bosses happy.

Yet, Lucy was smart for picking Ralph over Jack. Ralph, after all, may not have worked as hard as Jack, but he had a job with the U.S. Government, paid him well, gave him great benefits, and made Lucy and their sons and daughters happy. Now, think about it.............wasn't that all Lucy could ever ask and hope for?

Jack knew the correct answer and was happy he found a decent place to live and had good kids. Last month, Jack decided to see his ailing parents and go to Church in his rural hometown. He knelt down after Communion, saw a woman who walked by him that quickend his pulse and then saw Ralph and felt a lump in his throat. He stopped kneeling and sat down in the pew stunned as it hit him. After 25 years, Lucy Schroeder Thompson recognized him. He acted as if he was earnestly praying but actually felt like crying instead. He was amazed at how raw she hit his emotions and personal history.

His mind raced as he forced slow, deep breaths to calm down and prevent sobbing. Are they going to stay? How fast would he have to walk out of Church to meet both of them. They were friendly enough glancing at him as they walked by his pew, maybe he could talk to them after Church. Was she going to leave before the recessional hymn was over? Was he going to catch up to them?

"HELL NO!," his pride dictated.

There would be no running in Church, no beeline toward her, and very little, if any, hint of how badly he wanted to talk to her. "That was exactly how it was going to be!" his pride shouted. He was no longer a 7th grader, senior or even a 30 year old triumphantly getting married. No, he earned a nice office working in Joliet, and there would be no provincial excitement of any kind.

Recovering emotionally, he walked calmly over to the Thompsons.

"It's nice to see you," Jack said with a smile.

"JACK!" exclaimed Ralph, "how have you been?"

"I've been covering sports for Joliet's Herald-News. I get to see a lot of excellent high school athletes like you used to be!" Jack smiled at Lucy.

"I thought I was ok, but my kids put me to shame," as she smiled and her her husband a knowing wink.

Ralph added, "Mari won a conference title in discus!"

"That's great! What year is she?" Jack asked.

"She's a junior"

"Wow, still another year left. Maybe she'll compete at state next year".

"Maybe!" Lucy and Ralph said in unison. Ralph asked, "Do they treat you well at the newspaper?" Jack knew he was more interested in how much he was being paid rather than how he was "treated".

"Well, with all the problems newspapers are having, I am glad things are steady, and I have plenty of work. How is your career going?"

"Ok, I have been busy too"

"Lucy, are you still working at a clinic?"

"No, I haven't worked there in years, thanks to when Ralph got his promotion," Lucy noted with pride. Ralph smiled affably at his wife's pride as Jack smiled along.

"Can you believe it will be 40 years since we graduated?" Jack asked Lucy.

"No," replied Lucy, "I can't but when you think about it, so much has happened since we graduated."

"Lots of changes to people and circumstances," Jack observed.

"Yes"

"Are you going to the class reunion when they have Homecoming next fall?"

"No, I haven't gone since the 5th year reunion," Lucy dismissively noted.

"Why?"

"Because Gary grabbed my posterior right in front of Ralph," Lucy replied disdainfully.

"Gary?"

"He was the only guy in our class with blonde hair"

"Oh, right, he was medium height and medium build. He left our school for awhile, right?"

"Yes, I knew you would remember him"

"And I felt like punching him!" Ralph asserted, "I was in nearly a dozen fights and won them all during college!"

"Except the one with Pete Wilson," Lucy observed.

"Yes, but he was on the college football team!" Ralph stated.

"Your accomplishments later in life are much bigger than any fight you won," Lucy mused.

"And look how well your kids turned out !" Jack noted.

"Thanks, Jack," Lucy replied. Lucy's gratitude was the furthest thing from Jack's mind as he could not believe how nice Lucy still looked after all these years.

"Are you sure you won't be going?" Jack asked.

"We won't" they said in unison.

"Well, listen, I want to go and see how well my kids are doing with their Grandma, so I probably should get going," Jack said. He was looking for a smooth, suave departure from the two.

"How have your kids been doing, Jack?" Lucy asked.

"They all made the honor roll last semester. One son is in basketball and football, and the other is in track. Both daughters are in cheerleading," he noted.

"Wow, how often do both daughters make the cheerleading team?!?" Lucy wondered.

"Probably not that often, but they have a very good rapport with the cheerleading coach. She's also the Language Arts teacher, and they do well writing," Jack recalled.

"They take after you then?" Ralph smiled as he asked.

"Maybe," Jack shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, listen, Jack, it was nice to see you," Lucy said and shook his hand. Jack also shook Ralph's hand, and after the "goodbyes", they left and went to their respective cars.

Jack was happy to see her and talk to her, but felt disappointment that he wouldn't see her at the reunion. Jack was willing to block Gary or, better yet, occupy Gary from talking or doing anything stupid with Lucy. But then again, wasn't that what Ralph was supposed to do?

Jack realized that the Thompsons could not be bothered. He understood that they were more comfortable on a boat with friends they enjoyed sharing fun times with rather than former classmates she grew apart from. That was all there was to it. He knew that he was going to have to be content with this chance encounter, there was no use wanting more.
---------------------------
+*+ CCD = Confraternity of Christian Doctrine is the teaching of Catholic youth the doctrine of The Church. While many Catholic students go to private schools and learn about Catholicism during school, most kids, sharing the same faith, go to a Catholic education session on Saturdays or 1 weekday evening during the school year.

more fiction as the 2 talk

2011-06-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

Jack had given Brent an excellent documentary on human behavior and social psychology called “This Emotional Life” and Brent saw the 1st part of the 3-part series that Jack bought.

“This is really good, and I can relate to a lot of what it says,” Brent exclaimed to Jack minutes after Jack entered his apartment.

“It is, you learn a lot when they discuss aspects of relationships between couples”

“Speaking of couples, that’s pretty nice that Karla let Joe (Brent & Jack’s younger brother) play in that band for the past year or so,” Brent stated.

“Yes, she’s a good wife,” Jack replied.

“There were times when she was criticized before”

“True, but you really can’t know success; they’ve been married 20 years.”

“Better than Martha (Jack’s ex)”

“Exactly,” Jack exclaimed, “I think that Karla shares our family’s strength in being resourceful and saving money.”

“Yeah, I heard she’s gone to rummage sales”

“& Martha has never been to one since 1994. She’ll pride herself on spending less than $120 on clothes in a year but then spend too much on groceries and all sorts of crap for the kids,” Jack note.

“& that hurt when you went bankrupt”

“There were a number for the bankrupt. It would be wrong to blame them all on Martha. But those 2 years after the millennium were the 2 worst years of my life. I hope to never go back to those days or the problems that occurred then.”

Brent asked, “Did you want to end it all?” Jack brushed aside the question. “The fact that she can save money well, be a good mother and allow him to do his hobbies, makes her a good wife”

“Yeah, I think so”

you know what's interesting

2011-06-02T06:15:00.001-05:00

In the 3 times that I have had surgery (& none of them were serious, extensive surgeries, Thank God), the anesthesiologist was the nicest person in the room. I wonder why? Is it because they're paid well and their job isn't as hard as the surgeon's?? I'm just guessing.

When they inject the sleeping agent into the IV line, they always tell you to count back from 100. I'm sure glad I haven't even made it to 80. I distinctly remember not even making it to 90 last time.

The GLIB, SUPERFICIAL conversation

2011-05-31T06:25:00.000-05:00

It was a good Memorial Day holiday for our condo complex yesterday ! Amid rumors that the pool would not open because of some mysterious slime, the pool opened on time, and the water looked great (without slime). I was almost, but not quite amused at the conversation I heard yesterday when I went to the pool.
1=1st man
2=2nd man. Both men know each other at this condo complex.

1: Things are better than they were last year at this time.
2: Good! I'm happy for you! It's about time it's that way for you.
1: I mean the one thing I have to deal with is this cancer thing and trying to pay for it all, but...
2. (interrupting) Oh, snap out of it!
1: Hey, well, it's good seeing you.
2: Talk to you later. Nice seeing you too.
Then "2" thought to himself, "Snap out of it? Like you snap out of a bad mood and become more reasonable? Like you snap out of sadness and become happy? Glad he figures it's that easy with cancer." He would go back for clarification with 1 if he thought the other guy knew what he was talking about. Ah, glibness........there's not too many things like it.

Part 2 of 2, Andy's Eulogy

2011-05-30T07:17:00.002-05:00

There's little that needs to be said to introduce this. My oldest son Andy who is 15 has nearly completed a successful 1st year of high school. Andy has spent a good deal of time being a caretaker to his grandfather during at least the last two, if not three years of his life.
After his 83 yr. old grandfather died on May 21, the wake, funeral and burial was held Wednesday, May 25. Here is what Andy said:

--------------------------------------------------

Andy’s Eulogy to His Grandfather, the Late Paul DeMars

We are here today to remember my Grandpa, because he has been with us through good times and bad. And today, he is in heaven to look upon us all to remember him by.

I have always loved my grandfather whether he needed personal care, cooking a delicious meal, grabbing his medical kits-whether it’s blood pressure or blood sugar monitoring, and most of all spending quality time with him.

I remember when my grandpa was bored, and I wanted to spend some quality time with him so I brought out a board game, “LIFE”. When we played, he had 2 daughters, then when he had gotten the boy, he said, “Andy, thanks for helping me. You are like the son I never had”. That was a moment I have never forgotten. Thank you grandpa for always being there for me.

I love you very much.

Andrew V. Schauf, delivered on 5/25/2011

dogs rise to the occasion

2011-05-28T11:56:00.001-05:00

Part 1 of 2

Maribeth's father passes away on May 20

Paul DeMars died exactly a week and12 hours ago. He was my ex-wife's father. I was surprised to learn that part of the reason he died was from dehydration (according to the Death Certificate). However, we knew about the other problems. He had renal failure and was finished when his heart gave out. He did not even live 1 day at the nursing home he was at. Maribeth said that he acted like he didn't want to be there. I don't think there was any malpractice with respect to his dehydration. It was a matter that the kidneys worked so bad that they didn't allow the rest of the body to get liquid. That's my theory. I'm no doctor, so I am not sure.

Before, I laughed myself silly when the 2 dogs above got together. No, I'm kidding. Yet, Maribeth owner of Minnie, black gentle pit bull, and Faith, my Late Father-in-Law's dog (black & white Border Collie/Sheepdog mix) didn't get along very well. It was a pattern. Minnie, age 1, would bounce around Faith (age 8) and the older dog would feel her space was violated and bark at Minnie. Minnie is about the opposite of the stereotype of a nasty fighting pit bull. My dear friend, Patricia, has a dachsund, (this breed is illustrated below). Minnie, backs down to a damn dachsund!

It was like I told my son, Andy, "I have good news and bad news for you, son. The good news is we don't have to worry about Minnie tearing up anything but my old cowboy boots. She gets along great with other dogs. The bad news is that if another person or animal attacked you; Minnie would sit and watch or get herself killed trying to save you ".

& Brianna found someone to play baseball with.....

Parental talk

2011-05-18T13:46:00.000-05:00

A conversation; making it quicker, I'm not using quotes but more like a play which I don't do often

D: father

T: 2nd son

---------------------

D: You have 3 Cs and you nearly had straight As last quarter and the quarter before. Can you bring it up?

T: I hope so, I know I’ll do well in the fraction test on May 20

D: I know you had a growth spurt in 5 months you went from a size 9 ½ adult shoe to a 11 ½ shoe now. & you’ve gotten 8 ½ hrs. of sleep

T: Yeah, but it didn’t take much out of me until now.

D: Things are harder now. Each quarter of school is different from the last. Maybe you better put some Mountain Dew with your lunch from now on (both laugh, enter Mom).

Enter Ma

D: We were talking about his lousy grades (T makes no facial expression b/c he expects better from himself).

Ma: You have to go to bed earlier get more than 9 hrs. of sleep.

D: You have to eat more earlier in the day, T, you skimp on breakfast, lunch and eat a big supper.

T: I want to lose weight.

D: Weight shouldn’t be a factor. & that’s precisely the wrong way to lose weight ! You’re growing. Look at Andy, gets enough rest, gets good grades and he’s taller and more slender! !

Ma: YOU GOTTA GET MORE SLEEP !

D: But Ma, we really should take him to a Dr.

Ma: That’s fine as long as you take time off work and handle it.

D. Yeah, but you work full time, 12 hr. shifts & you work 3 times a week.

Ma. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING! He’ll get more sleep. If that don’t work, we take him to Dr. NOW THAT’S ENOUGH, MY FATHER IS DYING !

(Ma storms out of room T & Dad were in)

D: She gets angry, but she’s right. And she’s going through a lot now. We have both options, sleep now and maybe later we'll get blood tests. You should be fine by June, sometime.

T: Yeah, I’m not that worried about it.

2011-05-12T09:57:00.000-05:00

There was a rather angry debate in my neighborhood at a garage sale.

God & salvation are on the minds of many people.

There was a COUPLE of people that said we should live simple like the Apostles and the Early Disciples as discussed in Acts and the Epistles. But a group that goes to church regularly and give much money in philanthropy ridiculed the idea. They said and laughed, "How are you going to live simply when we are almost required in the US to have a computer, Internet and cellphone??"

Some suggested getting good information and not live too luxioursly.

One person in the COUPLE said that Internet was evil and that the Apostles didn't need that to be a success in life.

What do you feel? Is either side right? What is the middle way??

If there is a middle way, please explain how you negotiate your time between praying, the Internet and the challenges of lack of money and the difficulties of living in 2011

fast life

2011-05-11T19:13:00.000-05:00

Are you happy at the big task you recently did? Did something make you angry this week? Can you plan better?

Life seems to be going faster, not 55 mph (88.5 km per hour), but more like 74 mph (119 km per hour)

This past week:

kids were upset last night and took an extra 45 min. to get to bed because it was 90 F for a high temperature. By the time they were going to bed, it was still in the 80s.
checking account needs to be balanced
looking on the 'Net for things very important. The search is difficult ! !
waiting for the next writing assignment that will pay... the magazine I applied for thanked me Monday after I submitted several writing samples.............now I wait ..............

I am using my drive & motivation to my advantage.

Easter ! (happiness is w/ family)

2011-04-28T09:39:00.000-05:00

the captions on the pictures above will be added later, busy @ work

this is the rest of my family before my father went to the nursing home 3-11-11

a TALE of anger,contempt eased by the FLOWERED Experience

2011-04-21T23:31:00.058-05:00

On that Sunday evening in a bar near Richland Center, WI, I drank a 6-pack of Leinenkugels in the space of 18 minutes. I had a seething, furious attitude that would not go away.

Gone was the satisfaction of earning near straight “A”s at Edgewood College.

Gone was the exquisite euphoria I had pounding the shit out of a 20 year old a month ago for talking crap to me, physically bullying a friend of mine and being a libertine to 3/4ths of the women in my dorm.

My rage lay solely at the feet of my father and an older brother who has a bigger gap between his two front teeth than I do. Why was I so furious after my exquisite time at Edgewood College?

It almost seemed like Dad, then Calvin worked together to prolong Sunday chores - both morning and evening at the dairy farm I grew up on, those jerks made the chores finish slowly. They stole my leisure time away ! ! ! Back then, Dad seemed like such a glutton for work.

I just finished my 7th beer when in walked LeftWing. He had a woman on each side of him.

“Vince, you ole sonuvabitch, who the hell’s drinking all that beer with you??”

“Lefty!” I was so ecstatic after being so down that I ran over and picked good ole’ Left Wing up. By that time, he was 5'7" and 260 lbs. Now, mind you, it was only a few inches off the ground, but it was enough to make Rita and Tina squeal in unison. Rita was a little less than my tall height and said, “Buy me a beer, Stud!”. She oozed insincerity.

“That won’t be happening for you anytime soon!”

“You always were a tight fucker, Vince!” Tina chimed in.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak went the wallet,” Rita chided.

LeftWing took one look at the bar and said, “Vince! You crazy bastard! Who the hell is drinking all this beer with you?”

“3 people, really, me, myself and I,” I answered. LeftWing and I laughed a solid half minute. Between guffaws, I said, referring to the bartender, “Hank here is too damn lazy to clear off the damn bar of my “Leine’s” I love drinking.”

LeftWing put his arm around my shoulder and whispered, “But you know, Vinny, if you were a real man you’d be slamming the ‘Ole Southern Gentleman’ !”

“Hank!” I immediately exclaimed, “get your ass up and serve 2 shots of Southern Comfort each to Lefty and me.”

The owner, Mr. Rifterhaun slapped me on the back, and said, “Jigger!” I looked at him bewildered. He spoke again, smiling at me, “Jiggers, Vince”

“What?”

Leftwing looked at Rifterhaun and said, “Vinny’s a little slow,” and he smiled at me and said, “dude, a jigger is 2 damn shots!”

“Oh, whatever, let’s drink”, I ordered.

Hank, the bartender, frowned and said, “Vince, you’re being a real asshole for a Sunday night.”

“Hank, shut the hell up. As long as we’re taking his daddy’s money on all the booze he’s been drinking, you’ll do exactly what he says,” Mr. Rifterhaun calmly ordered.

“I EARNED THAT MONEY!” I yelled. With that comment, the whole bar erupted in laughter. I felt my face getting red in embarrassment mixed with anger. That night, I didn’t buy another drink. “You always did take yourself too seriously, Pal!” Rita hissed to me. She blew cigarette smoke in my face and went to the Ladies Room.

She made me think. I immediately felt something better than anger. I felt pride and contempt. Here I was a year older than Tina and Rita. They treated me like crap when we all went to high school. The contempt grew, because they were taking advantage of my dear friend, LeftWing. They wouldn’t have sex with him. He was too fat by that time. They were graduated seniors, and some seniors get the feeling that they know it all, definitely those two women. Here, I was a freshman that lived away from my parents for the first time, knowing there was so much to learn, so much to do, so much to experience. I went from a graduating class of 29 seniors in 1981 to a college of 2500 students. With the woman-man ratio being 10 women to every man, I befriended a number of females that clearly and beautifully outclassed these two provincial hags.

“Vinny, ya’ wanna hear about the time I got that psychedelic ‘shroom stuck in my throat?”

“Naaa, Lefty, I wanna hear your escapades with Mary Jane.”

“I don’t know no Mary Jane, who is she?” Lefty teased in mock ignorance.

“Dope, hooch, we’re gonna talk about Mary Jane, my friend! Let’s go to the picnic benches, try and lose fuckin’ Tina and Rita, find Mr. Rifterhaun’s daughter and tell me about some good times,” I ordered. I felt either Rita or Tina kicking me in the leg; I was too drunk to look back. It didn’t hurt until later.

“We’re there, dude!” Jack said. He led the way outside, and we sat down under a shade tree. We watched as ten people were playing volleyball under the lights. For awhile, we silently watched the volleyball game and cheered Frank on.

"LeftWing, what happened?"

-------------------------

The Flowered Experience

The memory of that drug seemed to make him a different man! Once again, he remembered he went to college for a few years and forgot that he dropped out. Lefty said, "In appreciation of my presence at a party, a small, unimposing gift was given to me by the host of a Labor Day party. For days & weeks, the gift laid obscurely amid my collection of pens and pennies that would be cashed in on one of my impoverished days. Finally, on a dark and solitary Friday night, I embraced the wrapped, dried marijuana, attached it to a roach clip, kissed my herb and lit a fire to it.

I inhaled greedily. I inhaled with the hope of never exhaling. I inhaled with the yearning that my circulation, my consciousness and, maybe, my soul would embrace its essence. Would it elevate me or would its diminutive size and woeful lack of THC yield emptiness? Over and over, I inhaled with insatiable need.

HOSANNA, as it revealed it’s euphoria!! The corners of my mouth were lovingly, gently pulled back by the power of the sublime THC transforming me into a shit-eating grin. My blissful joy recalled a distant memory of getting stoned during Finals Week. My roommate casually looked at me and declared, "DAMN, Lefty, that’s the first time you smiled all semester!"

“Was it? I asked Lefty.

“No, he was just an asshole !” We laughed as he continued his compelling story.

“Due to my fatigue, my eyes did not close but I felt like they seemed slanted and half shut. The music from the second side of Abbey Road, thinking briefly of Yoko in passing, and the burning fragrance of my dear roach lifted me to a place I longed for. The music drifted into my altered ears and played far more meaningful, fervent, compelling and sweetly to me than it ever sounded when I was sober.

The sublime beauty made me sway back and forth like a metronome. Then, as I played Lennon’s "#9 Dream" and listened to the end.........well, Vinny, the lyrics sang in a foreign language. Just play #9 Dream, and you’ll hear. I, myself, faintly felt the power to speak in tongues. The dialect was not Persian, Macedonian nor Hebrew as it was in that scene described in Acts of the Apostles. Instead, I felt the fleeting power, for a few seconds, I could speak Japanese. As the first syllables formed on my lips, the power ebbed away; I walked away, drifted past an open door that allowed me to continue to undulate and immerse myself to the music. I recalled finding the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" and the CD yielded timelessness.

During the opening of that song, the mellotron weeped, mimicking flutes. Well, Vince, “Strawberry Fields” played in an altered state, as I sat there stoned. I felt the benevolence of a warm bath, the halting opening melody called crying and pensive. John sang to me, “Living is easy with eyes closed...it’s getting hard to be someone, but it all works out...”, Lennon’s voice, with the violins behind him commanded a hushed reverence as it felt so compelling!

My mind drifted to another college memory. Embracing the charm and essence of a massive amount of hash, I sauntered into the dance club as the music bent and refracted and changed speeds and tunes in unique, shimmering, surreal, magical notes. So, I walked up to various people and asked, "Excuse me, but is the music being played at 78?" (78 rpm being the speed of records in the 1940s and 50s, just as 33 rpm was the speed we played our albums and 45 rpm the speed we played our singles way back in the 70s). With grace and empathy, no one yelled, "No!" indignantly. All of them simply considered the possibility, weren’t sure or were simply humored me and my stoned, clueless countenance. Comments were made like, "Maybe!" "I’m not sure!" "Well...I don’t...know". As the intoxication wore off, the music slowed down and played as it normally does.

And eventually, I had to leave this lovely trip that Friday night. The music sounded as it usually does, John Lennon sounded articulate, but normal. The mellotron and guitars, all the instrumentation no longer bent and refracted in a hundred beautiful ways. Then, I wondered when the next time I would feel this wondrous way again. If history were any indication, I would not for another 6-12 months. This plant, this flowered experience is something I go many, many months and sometimes even years without feeling its wondrous embrace.

------------------------

“How long did it take before you got stoned again?” I asked him. Long pause.

His voice dropped an octave, into a weary resignation of reality, “A few years, I guess”.

I was profoundly moved by his story. I had to be honest; I barely knew how else to talk as a naive, earnest freshman in college. I looked and spoke to him by his real name, just that one time, “But, Jack, my thing is that I want control, and that’s why I am very suspicious of drugs. & you know, we wouldn’t do heroin ! !”

“Nope, we wouldn’t”, he replied calmly.

“I gotta have control !”

“Your lust for control is simply your hubris talking,” Jack stated.

“No, it isn’t. I’m 19 and see the power of my potential! I could be a senator, an actor (which I was several times that year at Edgewood College), a football coach, a good father!” I exclaimed.

“But it all has to happen in such a way where any wrong move - being thrown in jail, beating up the wrong guy, falling in love with someone who thinks the government sucks, & POOF, Vinny!...There goes being a senator,” he prophesied.

“Yeah, you’re right. I know this hot looking, wonderfully buxom girl this past year in college. We both were acting in Antigone for a 3-night production. We did really well one night, had a 100 people watch us in good ole’ Madison, Wisconsin” I stated.

“Yeah?” Lefty inquired.

“She woke me up the next morning and said she would be the next president of the United States. She was serious as a fuckin’ heart attack! Right then and there, between her talking grandiose, her smoking and drinking, and calling her fuckin’ car “Garp”, I realized that was the last time I would ever be in bed with her,” I sighed.

“You didn’t get laid,” Tina whined.

“Fuck you, Tina!” I sneered.

“I need to get laid, Vinny,” LeftWing woefully said.

“We all do, Left Wing,” I reasoned.

Tina and Rita sat there fecklessly, inhaling their Camel cigarettes. They didn’t even have the class to smoke Parliaments as my acting sweetheart did. I'll never forget the thoughtful, sweet stares Esther gave me as she looked into my eyes that December night, then looked away and inhaled her lit cigarette. I looked at Tina and Rita with the contempt I felt for them before and walked proudly to my car. I carefully drove home, and the rest of my night retreated into sleep and forgotten dreams.

bigger and better things

2011-04-19T23:06:00.004-05:00

I'm feeling better about writing, but I wanted to put out certain things that I have done before.

The point is reviewing what I did before The posts between now and Easter will be pertaining to 3 different genres.

I. Expository Writing - this type of writing relates to a objective, sharp observational narrative. Sometimes, I love pretending I'm Spock and just writing in the most logical, sometimes professorial fashion. I've done this for a dozen Wikipedia articles. The other aspect that I love about those type of articles are there short, concise style (not unlike some of the writing where I work).

II. Reminiscing. I've given a lot of thought about the terrible, old firm I used to work at. Coincidentally, my first 3 months writing the blog covered some of those dreadful times on Jackson, near Halsted Street.

III. Tales of LeftWing. Some people live wild lives. I know of certain people like that when I was a young man of the 80s & 90s.

Let's go with what's interesting first. I can't promise sex but good ole' Left Wing knew a thing about drinking, drugging and rock and roll. In those days, Left Wing was a bit socially backward, so he wasn't so great with the ladies.

Here's one article, and there will be more that are better about him.

There was a oil gas shock way back in the late 70s. My friend that used to get the football players (like me) in the fall and basketball players our beer in the winter was good ole Left Wing. In the year of 1979, there was a terrible shock of high prices. Why they were paying way over $1.00/per gallon ! Isn’t that terrible? (yeah don’t laugh too hard at the 70s)

LeftWing was a man who had great glory as a beer-barrelled defensive lineman. He was 5’7” and 200 lbs. He was Mr. All-Conference Southwestern Wisconsin Ridge & Valley defensive tackle of 1976 (the nation’s bicentennial). Have you ever heard of athletes getting women easy? The funny thing was; Left Wing didn’t ! It’s hell blocking a guy that’s built like a tough hard-charging beer barrel. But guys that look like beer barrels don’t get laid a lot.

So he told a story, “You know Vince, I am getting tired of spending a ton of money on gas. I’ve gotten toughened up like the good ole 1976s when I was an Ithaca Bulldog DT All Conference”

“Yeah Lefty, can you get to the point???” I asked.

“Well, you see I’m tired of farming and I can get health insurance working at the hospital”

“No shit?” I asked encouragingly, “How’s that working out for you?”

As we drank from the keg after a hard fought win over Wauzeka 24-0, he smiled with the admiration you show a victorious Ithaca Bulldog and warmed up to the subject.

“I walk to work, the hospital is 3 miles away; it takes 45 min. Tough shit if the hospital is in a rough neighborhood, riven w/ gangs and low-life drug dealers. If I don’t bother them, the odds are low of them bothering me. Then I found this Schwepper’s tavern near the other end of town and that’s 6 miles away so it takes about an 1 1/2 hours to get there. When I walked home to my apartment something kind of special happened. To get from Schweppers’ place to my place, I go through a forest preserve (so named because it has bike paths and is patrolled by the county police). It was such a beautiful night out, and the temperature was perfect. The coolness killed off all those damn insects, yet it was warm enough so that you didn't have to worry about your hands or feet getting cold. All I had to do was follow the yellow line of the bike path, and I had no problem whatsoever in finding my way home. I saw white-tailed deer that would get close enough to try and figure out who I was, then run off as I walked next to them on the trail. It was fun trying to guess what the strange noises were.”

“That sounds pretty cool, Lefty”, I encouragingly observed.

”You know, Vince, I couldn't help but think how much more fun it would be to have a girlfriend, two sleeping bags and just being "one with nature". It was a great night to be outdoors! There was a slight bit of apprehension because I was actually breaking the rules. The County Rules are that no one is supposed to be in the forest after sundown. (It was 8 pm) I couldn't imagine them throwing me in jail for walking home, minding my own business. Just as I was less than a 1/4 mile away from leaving the Forest Preserve, there was this white light shining on my back. "Oh shit," I thought, "The County Mounties!".

“What the hell happened, Lefty?” I exclaimed excitedly.

“Well, Vince, here's how the conversation went after I turned around and saw this biker with a light beam coming from his helmet.

--------

"Uh-oh!", he exclaimed

"I'm just about ready to leave at the next exit," I explained.

"That's cool; I'm just biking", he said.

"Oh, I thought you were a County Mounty! "

"No, we just scared each other"
----------
I remember telling Left Wing, "That's not as good a story as you taking acid. Tell us what happened, Lefty".

Ok, well, Vince, a year or so after I graduated from IHS, I had the good luck to have a fun roommate named Greg who was from the Milwaukee area. We were roommates in LaCrosse, WI going to UW-LaCrosse. Greg was fun because he played guitar, had similar musical interests than I and knew where to get good pot. During the summer, I found a job and was able to stay in town. Greg moved out after the school year, but, as friends, we still saw a lot of each other.

Greg and his laconic friend went to a Grateful Dead concert. He asked me if I wanted any acid. I had to say yes. Ever since 8th grade I wondered what acid would do to a person. I was proud of the fact that Ithaca did an excellent job of educating me on the different types of drugs. Sometimes, you’ll hear some old fart say, "One kind of drug is just as bad as the other." My education showed that was total and complete nonsense. The other reason I thought that my education was excellent was because they made a very important distinction. Certain drugs like alcohol and opoid class drugs (heroin, opium, then Vicodin) are addictive. Other drugs like marijuana and acid were not addictive, but a person could develop a "psychologic dependence" . That’s an important distinction, because these days, "addiction" is one of the most overused words you hear.
"I second that, Left Wing", I smiled.
I can’t help but recall in 8th grade reading about LSD with some amazement and curiosity. It stunned me that someone could actually get a flashback. I wondered what it would be like to see something that wasn’t really there. Every so often, someone would talk about taking acid. I would "pepper" them with questions about it, because of my curiosity.

Greg came back from the Twin Cities concert with acid. I called him up and told him to come and bring it over. He questioned me as to whether I should take it, because it was 10 pm. The acid would keep me going for 6 hours. I said that’s ok. I figured since I weighed more than Greg, it would probably not last as long for me. Once he came over, he said that this guy was walking around the Grateful Dead concert saying, "Trips! Trips! Anyone want any trips?". The way Greg described it, I always get this image of a guy comparable to the vendor at the the baseball games that shouts, "Get your peeeeeea-nuts!" Anyway, that’s who they bought the LSD from.

Greg gave me very detailed directions on how to consume LSD (right down to "put it in your mouth"). I guess I was a little slow in those days. Instead of licking the small piece of paper it was on as he recommended, I simply ate the paper so that I would get every bit of acid I paid for. Right after he came over, we also smoked some hash. We listened to Beatles (circa Magical Mystery Tour) and I always thought listening to any John Lennon vocal was the best thing to listen to when one is high. He sounds so compelling! Then we walked over to Greg’s apartment and we saw a tape of either the Grateful Dead concert that Greg and his laconic friend went to or another Dead concert. I remember sitting there in my happy high looking and saying, "That Jerry Garcia looks like a puppy singing!" Just imagine a puppy, your pet or any dog and imagine them up at the microphone singing. Then you know why I had such a shit-eating grin on my face.

So did that mental image come from the hash or the LSD?" I asked.

"Who knows?
Anyway, by midnight the hash had most definitely worn off, and I was feeling effects of the acid. I recall that things that I imagined seeing/hallucinating weren’t actual visions but things that looked like a negative just taken out of a camera. Or if you ever saw the CD Let It Be...Naked, you know? that cover? I saw ribs and images of monkeys as negatives, not really images. I remember laying in bed and rhyming words with nonsense words (EX skeleton, skeletar, skela, etc. ).

Greg was right, and I was wrong. The acid lasted until 5:30 am inspite my attempts to try sleeping it off and futilely "honeymooning with my hand". My impression is that it was slightly similar to pot, but with the added kick of keeping you going for an extended period of time. I didn’t like the fact that it would not allow me to sleep which made me resolve, as I did later with coke, that I wouldn’t take it again.

I also confessed to the Monsignor in LaCrosse that I took a drug. & he said that it’s a big problem out there and that I should not want to be part of the crowd that is afflicted with that problem. That was the only time I ever confessed to taking a drug. Honestly, I don’t think of smoking marijuana to be a sin.

Anyway, acid was a much more interesting experience than coke, but did not give me the fun times that I’ve had with pot.
----------------------
I chimed with, "That was pretty good, next time you'll have to tell us about the ‘shroom that got stuck in your throat".
"It won't be as fun as the blow by blow summary of smoking dope." Left Wing said with his glowingly drunk, shit-eating grin from drinking 108 oz. of beer.

THE COMING ATTRACTIONS !

2011-04-19T17:57:00.001-05:00

rock music

I'm coming out with the best of rock articles that I've authored through the years on Wikipedia and the anonymous DS.
It will be posted prior to the morning of April 22. There may even be some new ones.

STAY TUNED !

alone and giving up (& I just don't understand!!!)

2011-04-06T23:51:00.003-05:00

I want MB to be happy. I know that I will never be her husband again or be her lover. We have gone through too much bad to have that happen again. There are traits in each other we dislike. MB thinks marriage sucks. "I was not cut out to be a wife" she has said more than once. She's absolutely right.

MB just decided on a whim to join Singlesnet. She wanted to see what kind of response she would get. She had no fewer than 8 men writing to her. I was really happy for her. Her fear before was that dating online was dangerous. But I told her I saw a strategy that certain women would use that would take nearly all the danger out of it. I discussed it at length with her.

I also told her if she put a picture of herself in her dating profile, she would double the number of men she would get. "But I look terrible," she replied. She's really good looking. She looks far younger than 43, nice brown eyes, what the hell is she talking about? Her smile is wonderful. When she laughs, most of the time (when it's not malicious) the whole family laughs with her.

She then came out with it -the bitter truth! ! She wasn't going to give any of the men on Singlesnet a chance to date her. She said she didn't have time. But I would watch the kids if she dated some Saturday. I would do that for her. She wouldn't listen. She had no interest, wasn't going to respond, wasn't going to do anything about the men who were on there.

Then I gave up on her one ray of happiness too. This is kind of twisted but when Maribeth joined she sent all the responses to one of the 4 e-mails I possess. Maribeth is not at all computer savvy so she couldn't send them to her own (she doesn't even have an e-mail). Then, I told her after she did her hopeless routine, "I will delete and turn all the e-mails from Singlesnet into "Junk mail".

"Go right ahead" she answered back. She said it without a care in the world. What a wonderful opportunity kicked right in the nuts.

The evidence is clear, my dear friend, Patricia, said it, my wise brother, Kelly said it and it was made abundantly clear tonight. Maribeth's self esteem is lower than whale shit. It just is so low. She won't give herself a chance to enjoy life. She won't give herself credit of being a worthy, wonderful, beautiful woman even though it could be so possible to do that ! If you can't love yourself, then who the fuck will you love? ? Maribeth is a walking, talking tragedy.

I sit here absolutely shocked. With no picture in her profile, not that much information, she was getting a big response of worthy men from the metro area. & I would have been only too happy to help her pick the most able, prosperous, BEST MAN ! ! ! It was right there for her, right there for her to give the best advice I could. All she has to do is spend about a 1/2 hr. to an hour each day on there. With the numerous prospects, the good picture I could take of her, and the right and careful strategy, IT WAS SO FUCKIN EASY! ! !! ! ! All for naught. It's like the starving family from the 1800s that refused to take $100 from their neighbor b/c they were too proud to accept charity. (& for their obstinate, self-defeating ways witness their fine, God-fearing 1st born son die of scurvy).

Well, "you living tragedy", I guess that's how it is. So sad.

a little afterthought.....INSTANT JUSTICE

2011-03-19T15:22:00.002-05:00

I spoke about bullying. The link herein shows some instant justice to a punk who bullies someone else.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1949282

An amazing, emotional show (Part 1 of 2)

2011-03-19T15:06:00.001-05:00

I saw an amazing and very interesting show (part of a series) on PBS called This Emotional Life. &, yes, it was very emotional to watch and drew a strong reaction to my own feelings. You can see the website at http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/home This is a 2 part post. I will discuss the other part later in a week or 2.

There was an episode where a student was cyberbullied and belittled at school. They never give any personal details of the bully (to protect him, I would imagine), but it was terrible and heart-breaking what he did ! Seeing this emotionally crushing, tragic episode, all I could think about was hurting this bully back - literally breaking his bones and forcing him to understand the immense damage he did to this poor 8th grade boy. I knew from the start of the episode the victim would die and had a sinking feeling through the whole episode, b/c they referred to the victim in the past tense.

What's interesting was that I was bullied when I was younger. But it never reached the humiliation and soul-crushing deeds that occurred in the episode I watched. & when I watched the episode, I was never like, "Yeah that's what Paul, Marty or Dean did to me". When I think of what was done to me way in the past, I just shrug my shoulders with no emotion at all, it was part of my childhood, part of me growing up. More importantly, the kids who messed with me are completely different now. What I watched on This Emotional Life may have drew a strong reaction b/c of what happened and what I witnessed recently about 6-8 years ago (first in 2003 and again even worse in 2005; I did not recall or relate either problems from either year while I watched this sad episode). Sadly, I can't discuss too much of it, b/c people can do background searches on me and use it in the wrong context.

The victim was an 8th grader, Jeffrey Johnston, who was smart, nice, and understanding (like they all are, it seems). He had friends and was not a loner. More poignantly, in the last weblink below, it explains that Jeffrey never demonized the bully and repeatedly, frequently tried to make peace with him. Jeffrey's friends worked on their own computer project, I'm not sure if it was a blog but it was a project to show their writing and artistic talents. The only way to get into the project and make a contribution to it (as the victim did) was to know a password.

Somehow the bully found out the password. He promptly erased all of the victim's hard work, his articulate, well-thought out work and wiped it out. Then in a perverse coup' de gras' he added insult to injury and wrote a bunch of insults about him ("Billy is a fag" "He should just give up and die" sort of remarks). It makes me physically sick writing about this. How someone would take something that meant so much to this artistic adolescent and totally shit on it and ruin it. This turned out to be a cataclysmic turning point for the victim. The victim's friends were interviewed. They all stated that after that incident, the 8th grade kid withdrew. He stopped reaching out to his friends. The episode pointed out a sad irony - when he needed his friends the most, he withdrew, and he never got the help he needed. His personality literally changed after the bully attacked the artistic work he did on his special website. His parents saw the change and tried but could not do enough to save him.

He graduated from 8th grade. The summer came. His mom made plans to one day to go to an amusement park and it almost seemed like the victim looked forward to it.

But the very day that he was to go to the amusement park, his poor mother woke up in the morning. She opened the door to his room, and there he was........Jeffrey Johnston hung himself. He was dead, and his poor mother quickly realized it was too late to try and save his life. The mother, that courageous, amazing woman was the one who described going in there and seeing her dear son dead. This kind, sweet artistic adolescent killed himself.

He wrote a suicide note. Don't blame the bully he said. It blew me away that he showed little bitterness towards his tormenter. Nearly similar to when someone everyone knows said 1078 yrs. ago, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

Jeffrey Johnston said, blame NO ONE. Don't blame him, because that's the way life is. People getting hurt by those who are stronger is a fact of life, it happens millions of times in millions of places. Yet, that amazing, world-changing mother, Debbie Johnston, proved him wrong in one respect. She called her legislators, she called then-Governor Jeb Bush, she testified, she held rallies. Through all her hard work, Debbie Johnston helped pass "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act" (Fla. Stat. section 1006.147). It was signed by Governor Crist in April, 2008. (See http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?id=2109&s=latestnews ) Debbie Johnston showed that bullying isn't a fact of life or an inevitable right of passage for susceptible kids in Florida.

The great unanswered question was this: what happened to the bully?? What was his reaction when he heard of the boy he tormented hanging himself? Did he take any responsibility whatsoever? Did someone get revenge on him? (I highly doubt it) Did someone's horrible, UNNECESSARY death change him in any way, shape or form ? ? ? ? ? Is it possible that he watched the episode showing the harm he committed?

Is there anything we can do to minimize bullying ?

Clearly, this is an amazing story what happened in Florida. If you have an interest, please see

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/home -this actually relates to the series I saw on PBS

http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?id=2109&s=latestnews

http://jeffreyjohnston.org/docs/Debbie%20Johnston%20Vita.pdf

http://jeffreyjohnston.org/

Jeffrey, I hope you are in heaven as we recall the tragic end of your life.

HERE'S WHY !

2011-03-17T10:28:00.001-05:00

It's bad manners (in fact it's distasteful) to air "your dirty laundry" and explain problems/issues that go on in the privacy of your home. Through unique circumstances that yields more advantage than disadvantage, I live with my ex, MB. In so doing, we more easily raise our kids together; when one person is gone to work, the other person only has to go home in order to take care of the kids (as opposed to arrangements made when you're both divorced and separated). The arrangement we have enables us to pay our bills where we were unable to when we were apart. Prior to the time I lived with my ex, we were behind on our mortgage and dreadfully and dangerously behind in our home equity loan. Today, our home equity loan and mortgage are up to date in payments (thanks to MB & I working together).

To MB's credit, she has grown emotionally, has grown as an adult (as we all must do) it's easier to get along with her than it was in 2002. I am grateful for that and for many of the things she does.

So why am I discussing personal problems and "airing dirty laundry"?

Because from time to time, I am asked:

"Why can't you remarry?"

"Why can't you work harder on the relationship, work things out and get back together as a full-fledged couple?"

"What went wrong in your marriage?"

It also answers the question of why I have sought affection elsewhere. To MB's credit, she didn't freak out when I first explained the situation with her. & when I go to my dear friend's place in Berwyn, MB doesn't make snide remarks or raise a fuss. 2 weekends ago, she even suggested I go to my dear friend's place inspite the fact I had not made plans to do so before she made the suggestion.

So, this past week, 2 incidents have occurred that make it all crystal clear why I've been divorced and am with someone else. This morning I informed MB that I was paying for my oldest son, Andy's school lunch. MB thanked me. My daughter, Brianna, then asked why Andy didn't pay lunch from the allowance he receives. I said, "Because a kid's allowance should not be spent on that. Parents should be responsible for a kids school lunch".

Then MB inexplicably said, "So what's the problem with you paying for his lunch?"

I replied, "Did it sound like I objected to paying for his lunch??"

"Yes" she answered.

Stop, dear reader, stop right there and comprehend what was just said ! When I say parents should pay for their kids lunch, does that really sound like I didn't want to pay for Andy's lunch?

The same thing happened last Sunday. The kids were complaining far too harshly and were directing their complaints against their Mom-MB (but not me). I told them that they were absolutely wrong for 2 reasons. First, they should show their Mom more respect, and 2ndly their complaints were wrong because they expected too much. What was MB's reaction??

She criticized me and completely misinterpreted and misconstrued what I was saying. This inspite of the fact that what I said could be understood by a 5th grader, was not complex & shouldn't have been misunderstood.

So, there's a principle defect clearly indicated. Even when I try to help MB & support her, I get criticized. My good intentions are impugned. It's so frustrating ! ! ! ! & this has definitely happened a number of times in the past; it happened a number of times while I was married to her. The fact that I have tried to help her only to be criticized and demeaned for my support, has alienated me.

Another problem in our relationship is that we both have bad tempers. Our worst moments are when we are feeding off each other's anger while we fight with each other. Our kids have to break up our arguments. I don't blame them at all for being upset at our fighting ! For my part, I should control my anger better, now and definitely in the past.

Basically, my problem and how I hurt the marriage is that I should have acted more like MB's father. My father-in-law is very good at brushing aside and not getting mad at unreasonable remarks even when they're directed at him. Now and in the past, when MB said something objectionable, I should have shrugged them off.

I never or very rarely let MB's unfair remarks slide; I always get upset. I can count on 1 hand and almost remember each time I ever just let what she said go. It calls to mind Sarah McLachlan's song "Push" where she sings,

I get mad so easy but you give me room to breathe

No matter what I say or do 'cause you're too good to fight about it

Even when I have to push just to see how far you'll go

You wont stoop down to battle but you never turn to go

No, that doesn't describe me at all. But I learned as a young adult that when you say something unfair or wrong against someone else, you should be corrected for it, you should be "brought to task". But when I rigidly upheld this principle, it led to, was one of a number of reasons why MB divorced me. Was standing up for a reasonable principle worth it?

I would even correct her or get upset with MB when she said something unfair and she was in pain, pregnant or really upset with what occurred at her very stressful job as a nurse at a very large hospital, Loyola. I was wrong, and it hurt our marriage.

We had a good deal of adversity. In a later post, I'm going to discuss an outstanding program on PBS called This Emotional Life. (See http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topics ) One of the things said is when a couple goes through big problems their communication skills are put to the test. How true. How very true!

Guess what happened on the day way back in 1999 when MB first learned that Andy had a mental problem when he was only 3 years old ? ? She called me and stated very clearly that we now had a serious problem with our son and if I wanted to, I could leave and she would deal with the problem. Never mind that doing so was unthinkable in my view. That everything my parents taught and held up as their example to us as parents and a married couple indicated that I should remain faithful, loyal, true to MB for better or worse.

I am backed up by the facts. I helped MB financially anyway I could. Through nearly all of our marriage, I worked 2 jobs. I never ever came close to cheating on her with another woman. In any minute of any day, MB basically knew where I was.

It didn't matter. It just didn't matter. My actions, my intentions as a husband were impugned. MB didn't believe in me and thought the worst of me. Therein was and continues to be the problem...................

My trip to Cleveland & the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

2011-03-05T14:30:00.003-06:00

From 2/25 - 2/28/11, I went to Cleveland. They have the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. I have a major passion for rock music learning as much as I can about the songs, artists I love. I have a subscription to Rolling Stone. I decided to use part of my tax refund for going to Cleveland. The trip ended up being very affordable.

Friday, the day the trip began didn't start too well. That morning, I got a ticket for speeding. I was the only car on the road, and I seemed to be driving safe, but was speeding. We got a late start. I wanted to start late morning but we didn't start until 1 pm. The night before the trip was very ominous b/c there was a snowstorm predicted which actually occurred in Cleveland before we got there. I was very worried that we would be hitting very slow traffic jams. But, the trip took 5 hrs. to get to the Cleveland area, and I was very happy with the fact that we could travel as fast as we wanted on the Interstate and there were NO traffic jams.

We stayed at the Red Roof Inn. The hotel had a very convenient location, just off the interstate. The hotel itself did not have too many amenities. But I was very conscious of price, and when you are conscious of price, you aren't going to get all the amenities.

As I said, the main reason I traveled to Cleveland was to see the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Here were the highlights:

-saw a 3D movie on U2

-listened to a song by Jimi Hendrix, "Bold as Love". I had never heard the song before, and I absolutely loved it. It was amazing.

-They showed the actual clothes or outfits people in rock wore at certain famous, memorable times. They had quite a few from Prince, Elvis, Rolling Stones.

-They had the actual notebook or paper the artists used to write the lyrics. THey had this for Jim Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix and others.

-They had a movie that highlighted the career of Hall of Fame inductees. Not all of them. People like producers or a guitar maker like Leo Fender were listed but no footage on them. But it was fun seeing Rolling Stones, Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the note from the Sex Pistols telling the Hall of Fame to go to hell and rejecting their invitation to the Hall of FAme ceremony inducting them. It was a pretty long movie as they started placing people in the HOF in 1986.

-Saw a pretty extensive "Women in Rock" exhibit.

-Saw the ZZ Top vintage 1940s car that they used in their most famous videos like "Sharp Dressed Man".

-They had a Bruce Springsteen exhibit on the top 2 floors of the Hall of Fame. This was a temporary exhibit and I saw it on one of the last days it was up. They had a brief movie on Springsteen as he explained some of the songs on the album BORN TO RUN.

-It had a very large store for selling memorabalia and CDs. I bought Maribeth and the kids T-shirts.

My faith is very important so, prior to going to Cleveland, I was able to find a church near the hotel. It was a very good Mass, and the priest gave an excellent sermon. We also were able to go to a nice restaurant where I enjoyed steak and order the next afternoon with my favorite topics - Canadian bacon and pineapple.

The trip was eye-opening, perspective-expanding time, the kids and Maribeth liked the shirts that I got them. The trip was a wonderful experience ! ! !

listening to the radio

2011-03-04T12:42:00.001-06:00

I don't want to "toot my own horn" or boast, but I still wanted to share a special moment I had last night, that put a smile on my face.

We have a classic rock station in Chicago, 97.1 "THE DRIVE". On Thursday, they played nothing but LP album sides. It was really fun to listen to.

Anyway, I turned my car radio on. I heard a keyboard part, just a FEW seconds of it. I said to myself, "That's a Genesis song." There was no vocals, guitar part, just the keyboard. Lo and behold, in a minute, I heard Phil Collins vocals. I was pretty pleased that I could recognize a song with so little to go on. There may have been some skill involved but, then again, maybe it was a matter of luck, dumb luck. It still made me pretty happy.

The song is not one I can remember but it was from the album Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and the song was on the same side as the title track. It's too bad that I couldn't hear "Carpet Crawlers" as I absolutely LOVE that song, and that's on the same album but a different side of the double album.

PACKERS WIN THE SUPER BOWL !

2011-02-06T21:57:00.002-06:00

You don't have to know a lot about football (or anything really) to appreciate what the Green Bay Packers have done tonight. A football team has 22 players - 11 on offense and 11 on defense. The Packers LOST (through injuries)15 PLAYERS ! During this Super Bowl game they lost 3 more of their starters, but people replaced the injured and did well. They won. I was shocked. I thought there season wasn't going to go very far without some of the people that were injured. But the Packers pull through.

Much was made about their very strong opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have one the most Super Bowls - 6. They have played in 3 of the last 6 Super Bowls that have occurred. They were a very experienced group. Yet the fact that they turned the ball over 3 times was all the difference in the world. The Packers took those 3 turnovers and scored 21 points. Without turnovers, the game goes from a Packer victory of 31-25 victory to a 25-10 loss and a Steelers victory.

Turnovers count, having a big lead counts, but most of all triumphing over adversities, injuries, penalties, dropped footballs and still getting the job done and earning a victory in the biggest game of all, the Super Bowl.

I am especially pleased with Aaron Rodgers (he's #12 in the pictures) who had a very very difficult task of taking over from a legend. He took over from Brett Favre. Tonight he equals the number of Super Bowl victories won by Favre. Whether he can have a great career for the rest of his time as a NFL quarterback remains to be seen, but I just can't say enough about the classy way he carries himself and WINS GAMES.

the big BLIZZARD !

2011-02-03T00:46:00.002-06:00

There was a huge snow storm in the Chicago area. It was much anticipated and reported. There was so much talk about it before it happened (it began Tuesday afternoon and snowed until late Wednesday morning), that I figured it would be one of those instances (like Y2K) that was so built up and worried about that not much would happen to justify all the worry.

But it was a big storm. I was still working at the law firm when the blizzard began, and the snow seemed to be pouring from the sky. It was blowing furiously. We were told that we were going to be sent home early, at 3 pm and that we would not be working on Wednesday.

We were let out at 3:00, but my train would not leave for home until 3:45 (it's only a 10-minute walk to the train station). So, I strolled leisurely to the train station, but I was in for a surprise when I was at the train station. Almost a 1/2 hour before the train was supposed to leave the train was nearly filled already ! It was going to leave as soon as it filled and if it filled at 3:35 it would leave then rather than 3:45. & that's exactly what happened. We left early, and I felt really lucky to get a seat on the train. Many people were standing in the aisle.

After getting off the train, and driving the mile home, it was very apparent that driving would be tricky with such slick roads. I bought some groceries that I figured we would need. The snow continued to fall and pour from the sky. Then we had a very unique weather event occur. We had thunder snow, during the night, we were not only getting the snow but thunder and lightning also. The meteorologists noted that was very rare. Brianna gets worried about bad weather, so she was asking, "Will our condo blow down? Could we get a tornado". No, we reassured her. However, there have been times in the past, I would "josh" her and say well maybe something terrible would happen and that indeed would get her scared. We would then quickly calm her down and say we were just kidding. But I wasn't really in the mood to do that this time. Also there were a number of things to really worry about:

1. If the electricity somehow got cut off by a downed power line (from ice or all the snow) we would not only have no lights but no heat, b/c we have electric heat. The only thing we would be able to do is huddle up under a blanket or go to Maribeth's dad's place in the hopes that he had electricity. But thankfully, our electricity was fine. However, for about 60,000 people in Chicago there was no electricity, and it must have been very difficult.

2. The snow the next morning was so high that it almost covered the hood of my car. So the concern was with all that snow, would my car start?

3. If the roads were bad (and many roads were filled w/ snow and not plowed) would Maribeth be able to go to work in the morning?

4. We still needed some groceries, were the stores open? Most of the stores were closed. But our Jewel was open. There were some aisles in the store that were completely bare, and it was an amazing site. Most of the time you are used to the aisles being covered with food begging to be sold. Yet here, for one of the very few times, there was scarcity. I grabbed one of the last bag of buns so that we could have sloppy joes for lunch.

I was proud of our little community at the condo. People worked together and got each other's car uncovered from all the snow. We directed people to go where the parking lots for the condo had already been plowed and opened up. It's amazing how much can be done when people work together.

Here are some pictures of the condo and piles of snow that dwarfed us:

In the last picture, the snow nearly covered up the bush and was 1/4 of the way up the tree.

I was surprised to find out that the law firm was going to be closed tomorrow too. It has completely stopped snowing, much of the snow has been removed, so what was the problem? I'm sure it's something obvious that I haven't considered, like many streets still remain unplowed. There is also going to be very bitterly cold weather which will make going to work much more difficult. However, below zero weather has not stopped the community before. So, I would imagine it must be a combination of things that is keeping our law firm closed.

Maribeth will be working, so I will be watching the kids tomorrow. She was pretty happy that I was getting it off b/c the kids would be taken care of. There was a story that 1,500 cars were trapped on Lake Shore Drive and many people were stuck in their cold car and had no place to go because this major thoroughfare was completely jammed. I do remember going home on the train and seeing I-90/94 (The Dan Ryan) completely filled with cars going nowhere. They ended up making it home but those on Lakeshore Drive didn't until much later.

very mysterious shoes !

2011-01-03T13:24:00.001-06:00

for about 20 yrs. I very reliably took a size 12. But then my foot changed. We had a nice woman work at our firm as a consulting nurse. So, I asked her why (back in about 2008 or so) I suddenly couldn't wear a size 12 on my right foot anymore. In that year, probably the fall, my little toes were getting pinched and at first, I didn't realize what was going on until I saw that those toes were very bruised.

Halina explained that as we get older, sometimes people older than 40 (especially those w/ weight issues) get wider feet. Since I am somewhat overweight, my right foot apparently widened to the point I was forced to either get a 13 or a 12W (w=wide). So, I gave the shoes to my son, who wears the same size as I do (before my feet widened), a 12.

He kept them in good shape b/c in the 2 yrs. after they were bought, Andy has only been to about 4 formal occasions. So, with so little wear, the shoe is great.

A few weeks ago, I ran an errand and used those shoes. They fit fine. I figured since I was only wearing them for 20 min. they wouldn't pinch my little toes too much. & my toes were fine. So, I kept wearing them.

Today, for the first time ever, I am wearing those once-tight shoes to work, and my feet and toes feel great. I have a picture of them below. My wallet is feeling good too, because I paid about $30 for those shoes !

Something very strange happened that I discovered yesterday. There was a nice pair of dress shoes I bought, they didn't fit b/c of the above problem

Think about this for one moment......

2010-12-30T11:13:00.005-06:00

This song was written by James McMurtry back in 2004. The funny thing is we weren't experiencing a recession at that time, but many people were hurting economically and especially from the war in Iraq. Now, the words seem truer than ever....................

"We Can't Make it Here"

Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign

Sitting there by the left turn line

Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze

One leg missing, both hands free

No one's paying much mind to him

The V.A. budget's stretched so thin

And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war

We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill

It fed our kids and it paid our bills

But they turned us out and they closed the doors

We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock

They're just gonna set there till they rot

'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack

Just busted concrete and rusted tracks

Empty storefronts around the square

There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere

You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score

We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow

The tip jar's light and the register's low

The bartender don't have much to say

The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards

Some are working two jobs and living in cars

Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink

If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO

See how far $5.15 an hour will go

Take a part time job at one of your stores

Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream

Just like the pictures in the magazine

She found on the floor of the laundromat

A woman with kids can forget all that

If she comes up pregnant what'll she do

Forget the career, forget about school

Can she live on faith? live on hope?

High on Jesus or hooked on dope

When it's way too late to just say no

You can't make it here anymore

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store

Just like the ones we made before

'Cept this one came from Singapore

I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin

Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in

Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today

No I hate the men sent the jobs away

I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams

All lily white and squeaky clean

They've never known want, they'll never know need

Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed

Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war

And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food

Will die for oil

Will kill for power and to us the spoils

The billionaires get to pay less tax

The working poor get to fall through the cracks

Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake

Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes

They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps

If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is

That's what we got

If the president wants to admit it or not (written in 2004)

You can read it in the paper

Read it on the wall

Hear it on the wind

If you're listening at all

Get out of that limo

Look us in the eye

Call us on the cell phone

Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio

Or Portland, Maine

Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains

That's done closed down along with the school

And the hospital and the swimming pool

Dust devils dance in the noonday heat

There's rats in the alley

And trash in the street

Gang graffiti on a boxcar door

We can't make it here anymore

-----------------------------------------------
(emphasis added)

issues around the time of XMAS

2010-12-28T10:36:00.001-06:00

I saved up some money in the bank where it's hard for me to withdraw money out of. I deliberately picked the Richland County Bank so that I am unable to take money out unless I make the big trip to see my parents. Through the years, the money I saved up always comes in handy when I purchase gifts during XMAS.

Christmas seemed to have setbacks this year, but Christmases past often have difficulties. In 2006, Maribeth's mom died a few weeks before Christmas, and she often states that XMAS isn't that happy of a time. This December we had 2 problems.

1. Maribeth went to her car and absolutely, positively couldn't move her key. The battery was messed up, the battery cable, ignition, it's wires - all messed up and needing replaced. She had just sunk a very substantial sum of money getting all of her brakes replaced. I was pissed off with Firestone for charging so damn much money on brakes. I want to write a letter to them b/c it's nonsense to gouge the consumer like they did to Maribeth. Then when I was taking my dear father-in-law to dialysis, we passed at least 2 places that had decent deals on fixing brakes.

So why did she go to Firestone?

We have gone to the same Firestone store for years. We have trusted them; they previously earned that trust! Maribeth was shocked when she heard the estimate, and sometimes it's very human for a bad surprise to simply lead to "paralysis". What I mean is the idea that she felt she didn't have options, and the shock prevented her from thinking of other places to go and exercise those options. We trusted Firestone before!!!!!! We don't now, damnit !

When the ignition "fritzed out", she certainly didn't want to go to Firestone and picked "Sal the Handyman" to fix the car. He has 3/4 of the car done after 1 1/2 weeks. The car is able to drive, but not so reliably with this missing part. Sal told her not to drive, and she's smart enough not to take risks doing so. He found the part and the hope is that it will be fixed by the end of the week. Maribeth works her usual New Year's Day shift. The time and a half money certainly will come in handy. I am hoping that I won't be driving her to work as I have a number times during this recent car failure. Other times I walk to the train station (a little over a mile) as she drives my car to work some 20 miles away.

Frankly, I feel bad for her. She has sunk well over $1,000 into the 2005 Suzuki Verona. I truly thank God for my lowly 2000 Chevy Cavalier. It has 109,000 miles on it. I bought the car when it was 4 yrs. old, and it had about 40,000 miles on it (give or take a few thousand). There have been 2 times where the brake lines have leaked but the indicator light has adequately let me know about that in each instance. I bought 2 new tires and the stupid bastards at Firestone didn't follow my instructions to rotate the tires after they gave me the tires. No, they incompetently replaced the old rear tires with the laziness of putting 2 new tires on in the same place. This is yet another reason why I will be writing them a letter of complaint and threatening to withdraw our family's business with them unless they make some very very sweet deals with us in the future. Damn! The money we spent on car maintenance and repairs might have put one of the repair person's child through the 1st semester of jr. college. What kind of nonsense are they practicing at bad Firestone?? Did they not hear that people are suffering from the recession. That includes us especially since I have been ordered to work fewer hours at the firm.

2. Our new toilet that "Sal the Handyman" installed this fall suddenly did not work as a toilet should. So, on what was supposed to be a very Merry Christmas morning, we opened presents early, and I went back to bed. As soon as I experienced the comfort of a nice bed, I hear a shriek, "GET OUT OF BED IMMEDIATELY OR SOONER!!!!!!!!!!"

To our deep chagrin, the bathroom floor flooded with toilet water. Inexplicably, no one had flushed the toilet. We felt terrible because we knew what was coming next. A visit from our unlucky neighbor immediately below us who had our toilet water streaming through her bathroom fan vent.

Maribeth was yanking the water out of the toilet, and I turned the valve off as soon as I saw what was going on. I found items that would soak up the water and stop damage to our neighbors walls. Within minutes, the fiance' to the woman who owns the condo was videotaping the watery mess that was made. Yet, it was a watery mess made very inadvertently.

The following day, Sal and Maribeth took the toilet off to see what the hell was causing all of the problems. There was good news and bad news. They found the culprit 2 plastic forks. The bad news is not having the slightest idea who the hell would put plastic forks in our toilet. The dog? the ever-present Jake, Ted's sidekick? Both ideas were pretty implausible. We took some steps to prevent anything else from falling into that damn toilet.

Oh and of course there were 2 necessary steps to take once the toilet worked well. Sal, had to be paid for working on a Sunday, and he kindly did it without the traditional extra fee you would pay if a plumber worked on a Sunday. Maribeth needed her due also. So, she was patiently listened to as she explained what happens to one's stomach when you smell fecal matter. She was patiently listened to as she repeated the sad consequences of smelling this most foul substance, and she repeated the foul story no fewer than 3 more times.

Hey, you can't be too hard on Maribeth, b/c her ex-husband (the writer of this post) didn't fix the toilet. No, plumbing is not at all my function in life. I am a pre-trial practitioner, a legal researcher, an investigator and a writer. I would have just messed things up anyway. I gave Maribeth one of my XMAS gifts which I received at the law firm. She loves Starbucks, and I gave her the gift car I had received. She'll love drinking a cappucino after doing such a good job fixing the toilet.

Lord knows if the insurance will help us. We know they'll pay for the neighbor's damage. But our bathroom flooring is messed up badly. Let's see if they'll actually give us compensation for our damage in a timely manner.

Stay tuned............

Country Western and Garth Brooks comeback

2010-12-17T09:24:00.000-06:00

Have you ever gone up to someone you were getting to know and asked them, "what kind of music do you like?"
& you get those people that say, "Oh, I like all kinds of music" Oh, yes, that makes them soooooo cosmopolitan, lmao.
I WON'T tell you that I like all kinds of music.
I dislike 95% of rap music (and no, I won't call it "hip-hop", damnit) and I despise most Country Western music.
Between the ages of 13 or 14 to 18 and then a # of years during college, I would have to wake up at 5 fuckin, o' clock in the morning and one of my family elders would add insult to injury and put Country Western music on. YUCK! That's all I can say, to all their dumb lyrics and even WORSE melodies.

If you want real music, look at the pictues below and there you are !

thoughts while working FAST

2010-12-10T13:29:00.002-06:00

Since October, the biggest thing that has happened to me is the series of events – past, present, & future – that I can say the least about. I befriended someone who I met a long time ago, and we have renewed our friendship. My life has been enriched, and the future shows some optimism.

The dynamics between the parent and the adolescent is an interesting dynamic. There are stories of parents that have to limit the independence a 15 year old wants or even tries to demand. With our son, Andy, it’s different. We welcome the independence that he sometimes shows. He is an upright, conventional benevolent soul!

I’m contemptuous toward indiscriminate drug use, but Andy hates it even more. He worries about his tragic uncle who will go to prison later this month for drunk driving. & come Dec. 15, when my brother has his trial, we all hope he pleads guilty.

Getting back to Andy, he diligently informs us every single time he stays late @ school for an after-school program. For the 2nd yr. in a row, his art teacher is Andy’s biggest backer and is glad he’s in the Art Club. We don’t worry about where he is b/c MB’s hospital, and my law firm are both leaning hard on both of us to come through during these trying times. Our jobs have demanded our leadership and experienced savvy we’ve learned for decades. Se, we didn’t have time to do Andy’s birthday party invitations and told him he better work on them. Andy’s party is Dec. 11, and this week, 1 morning when his Ma was already hard at work as a nurse, I discovered Andy had done nothing about his invitations.

Well, this was the 1st time he made birthday invitations. So, on that franatic, fast paced morning, while Ted and Bri prepared for school and left, Andy did the same, and I taught him to make a proper invitation. The 4 elements are as follows:

4 elements

It should answer the question 1. What? You’re invited to Andy’s birthday party

2. Where? Place, street address, town of party

3. When? Date, time, how long party lasts

4. A phone number of host in case invitee’s have questions. Thankfully, Andy knows where his phone is b/c he’s fielding the calls, not his parents.

Andy executed those instructions well. He made honor roll during the 1st quarter and we’re proud inspite the number of obstacles Andy has faced. He struggles w/ Typing (or whatever the hell they call it now when you learn how to use a computer keyboard in quick fashion, I think OFHS calls it “microcomputing”). But Andy struggles just like both of his parents struggled in typing. I think that’s the only C+ or B- Maribeth even earned in high school as she earned a full 4-yr. scholarship for nursing at Lewis University in Romeoville. & I got a mere C in typing my freshman year. I could only type 45 words per minute by the time the course ended in the spring but now w/ 33 yrs. of typing, computing/keyboarding, whatever the hell you wanna call it, I can type a better-than-average 60 words per minute.

results of Championship that Ted played in

2010-11-14T23:53:00.001-06:00

Ted's football team, the CHIEFS, was in the citywide Super Bowl in the SENIOR League.

It was the 1st SUPER BOWL in over 15, 20 yrs. to go into overtime for the Senior League. The Chiefs lost 8-0. We did very well on defense as we did all year. The game ended tied 0-0.

The problem was that the team we played, the Jets worked harder, both BEFORE THE GAME and during the game. They practiced most of the year but ESPECIALLY BEFORE THE SUPER BOWL, 3 times a week. We practiced twice a week w/ only an hour long practice the 2nd time, Saturday.

They worked extra hard on their blocking, we worked hard but not on blocking but doing some passing plays and running the offense some in practice.

When the game occurred, the JETS put many guys on the line and pressured our quarterback. the one who led the Senior League in scoring. There's a picture of him w/ Ted herein that I just uploaded. He had so little time, he couldn't run for 100 yards like he did in many games this year. He threw passes that he did well and completed. But it was a windy, cold November day, and MOST OF HIS PASSES JUST WERE OFF THE MARK, if he wasn't sacked by the Jets.

No offense by OUR TEAM, b/c there was a lack of blocking. The Jets worked hard during practice, came out very angry at us beating them twice in 2 games (in 2 games we beat them by a combined score of 40-6). They wanted revenge at the 2 times we beat them. They got revenge on their touchdown in overtime. We had great defense, but our offense just could not match the anger, the fire and the many guys they put on the line against our decent offensive line. Our coach exorted and encouraged our line and they played better, but it was not enough. We moved the ball 100some yards today BUT WE NEVER MOVED IN FOR A TOUCHDOWN.

Ted is upset and doesn't even want to play next year. But I hope he gets over the bad disappointment he suffers. I want to get him a weight set for XMAS. I want him to get stronger b/c he will play more than this past season. But he obviously can't play if he stops playing football. It really stung and hurt him to see the opposing team cheering, screaming and hoisting a giant, 5 ft. trophy of wood and gold up high over their head. As assistant coach, I told the entire team that you learn the most not when you win but when you suffer a loss. When life hands you disappointment and pain, the hope is you are better from that.

Remember when you've seen instances of that in your own life as you look back????

I really hope he gets over that loss today. We won 7 games; we were undefeated during the regular season. We won the 1st playoff round and came in 2nd place. There should be no shame in that, should there??

quick little bits of info

2010-11-12T12:16:00.003-06:00

still very, very busy at work. I have to get ready for when the department goes from 6 people to only one person - ME. Last year, was rough b/c a couple of the clerks didn't do much before they left for 2-3 weeks of law school finals. Hey, I loved the overtime and the extra money was essential for Christmas, but there was some stress involved. Plus, there was the stress during that time of MB's cancer. Thank God she healed well from that.
I am woefully old compared to the law clerks. Hell, I'm f*-k--g old enough to be there father! ! I'm worried about my high school son and my other son's championship game this Sunday, and they're worried about their law school's ranking in the nation. It's fun working with them, yet things are so emotionless and platonic, that something funny happened. I just trained this 20something woman to be a law clerk, and she's from LA. She sometimes burps but with her mouth closed. None of the other clerks do this, and hers are pretty audible. I just laugh to myself and think, "There's a possibility those clerks could be talking behind her back"
I am absolutely loving how well my teams are doing in fantasy football. By accident, there was an auction (with fake money of course) to get your players. By accident, I paid too much for the kicker and was called a "moron" ....... & here I am in 2nd place. They have a chat part of the league so one of these days if I keep winning, I'm going to write, "That dumbass that bid to high for Mason Crosby" (me) "is doing pretty well".
Here, the economy is rough like it is most parts of the world, but I was ecstatic to hear that my older brother got a new job working in the warehouse at this store that sells excellent suits and other clothing.
There's just certain times you can't help........even if you have good information. The women at our law firm have a bathroom that is small and cramped on our floor (that's what I was told, I don't frequent the ladies' room).. We used to own the floor BELOW ours and had a cafeteria down there (not a very good one). We also continue to have access to the bathrooms down there b/c the males can't use the private male rest room that employees like I can use. So they go down the floor below.

Here's the irony. The floor below us is not very nice to look at and is actually dusty, dirty, b/c they don't have any tenants. But for some inexplicable reason, they have this HUGE ladies restroom which is kept clean and nice. No, I don't frequent that one either but it has a tricky door lock so they have to have the door open or else some of them get locked out.
The reticence is as follows: I WON'T tell new female clerks about the nice bathroom. It just makes me sound weird if I knew one was better than the other. I mean I hear it from the secretaries who have been here for 10 yrs or more, and like I said, you can see into the nicer one how clean and spacious it is. It's on a right angle so you can't see the whole thing, of course.

But, here is one instance I would like to help, but I just can't.

a fun fall......

2010-11-06T03:34:00.001-05:00

I was invited to a Halloween party by a friend from the train. Her brother living in a very nice neighborhood hosted a party in his spacious garage with fun music and even better people. A good time was had by all. But before the party, I posed for pictures with my dear son, Andy.

During the regular season, Ted's team went 7-0. He starts as right defensive tackle. The Chiefs were a perfect 7-0 during the regular season and allowed only 16 points in 7 games!! Their offense led by quarterback Jake Olson scored 169 points.

quick hits for what's been going on

2010-10-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

Here's a number of things that have been going on:

It's been very hectic at work. I trained a new law clerk this past Friday. Instead of working for 2 lawyers, I've been working for 4 lawyers.
Ted's team finished the regular season and next week is the playoffs. The mighty CHIEFS finished the regular season 7 wins and 0 losses! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Money struggles, wondering about the future and what's going to happen and where I'll work with concerns at the law firm.
Not much time for other things like writing for Wikipedia, but I read a good self improvement book. They said that "pride is the bastard son of dignity" It's a good distinction, b/c pride will hurt your interaction with others while dignity does NOT.

http://entrecard.com/blog/?p=1593

when a SON has been wronged (2 parts)

2010-10-17T02:06:00.001-05:00

Ted learned to ride a bike, and he became proficient riding in a small area in our suburb. Rules stated he had to either leave it outside or carry it up 3 flights of stairs. I made it very clear to him that I was not going to carry the bike upstairs for him on a regular basis or any-kind-of-basis!!

He had a lock for the bike. Did he use it right everytime?...........................................2 months later his bike is missing and the lock cable left there at the condo's bike stalls. About the same time, Maribeth started talking about a homeless person walking around the neighborhood, and that he set up a shack in a neighboring Christian church near our place, a little less than a mile. Then around the same time, Ted accidentally put a scratch on top of the seat of his bike.

Then about a week later, Ted, Brianna & I went to Walgreens. As I stood in line, a man with salt & pepper (grey and black) hair rode up to Walgreens on a bike. I didn't think much of it. Then Brianna grabbed my shirt and whispered something unintelligible in my ear........."man.......bike.........Ted...." I nodded. He grabbed a candy and got in line behind us Brianna walked away from him.

He mentioned something about the penny I left in the change circle after I made the purchase.

"Don't need a penny", I replied and looked at his Army jacket.

"Yeah, well some of us do,"

ok I thought "take the change" I didn't say that but he looked at the penny as the cashier got it. At the same time, Brianna motioned and SUMMONED Ted to Walgreens' door and gave me a strong, hard stare.

As we walked to the car, she said, "HE stole Ted's BIKE! He rode in and I SAW THE SCRATCH ON TOP OF THE BIKESEAT !" She was smart enough not to say it loud and provoke a confrontation. Ted didn't hear Brianna and got in the car.

I told Ted that we had some bad news and hoped he would control his bad temper he received from both parents. We locked doors and with the Army guy and the bike already zoomed away from Walgreens, we told Ted

"If he needed the bike that bad, let him have it," Ted replied. I asked out loud how desperate is he? Maribeth quickly confirmed that he's pretty desperate, b/c he keeps away from our Pit Bull MINNIE.

We should all pray for him...........

PART 2

Early, this month, my 3 kids and Ted's best friend, Jake (of AZ) all go to my hometown west of Madison, WI. The Ithaca Fair occurs on Saturday, and we get there Friday night. As we are speeding north toward WI, Ted and Jake talk about the bike thief. Jake came from a bad part of a city in Arizona, and he always carries a knife 6" blade and only a few inches shorter than the one evil "Wakefield" is carrying below.

Jake is older and quicker than Ted. He gave Ted a knife but Ted is like me & hates a ton of violence. So both of them were in the car fantasizing what they would do to him on the upcoming Halloween. Ted mentioned throwing stuff at his shock. Jake jokingly mentioned cutting deep into his neck. So, I said, "Wait Jake, he's stronger than you, so if that don't work, then what?"

"Well, Ted would stab him in the ribs and puncture a lung!" Jake replied.

"YEAH" Ted said with GUSTO!

"Ummmmm, Ted?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"If you were to puncture a lung how would you do it? Cross ways or hold the knife up & down?" I asked............

"I'd take that knife and drive it down into him with everything I had!" Ted replied.

"FOOL!! YOU both would be dead because there is NO WAY IN HELL WILL A KNIFE GO THROUGH RIBS WITH THE BLADE UP & DOWN" I yelled in my most Germanic voice, "YOU BOTH WOULD BE DEAD!"

"Well maybe I could stab him in the nuts after Ted......." Jake slowly and tentatively replied.

"YOU BOTH WON'T BE THAT STUPID, RIGHT!!!!!?"

YES, they said at the same time. We talked about the virtues of running in different directions.
The cops are notified after they both see him again. The thief took down his shack by a church and set up near a sub sanwich place. Ted and Jake saw him while eating elsewhere with a group of friends, and Jake is still carrying his ole' Arizona hunting knife. Ted is much faster than he was when he 1st joined football
& I still buy Streetwise a way in which homeless can better themselves in Chicago.
please check out http://www.streetwise.org/magazine.html

some people would like to stay anonymous

2010-09-25T09:15:00.003-05:00

"....Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

That's how it goes

Everybody knows ........." by Leonard Cohen from the song "Everybody Knows"
--------------------

It was toward the tailend of my shift when I felt, emotionally, that the bottom fell out; a feeling of despair crashed on me again. My political party would lose in November, 2010.

I might as well talk about what is bothering me. Same old shit about me not having money. In this instance, I decided not to go to this party w/ co-workers, because of no money and don't think it's a particularly good idea to live beyond my modest means. I wanted to go to her party, but I just couldn't !

But that wasn’t what frustrated me the most. No, it was the frustration and despair that there are far too few people seeing what the real cause of the recession has been. There’s far too few people who know what’s really needed to get us out of the recession.

There’s so many greedy bad people who no one knows about (the billionaire Koch Brothers come to mind immediately. & you don’t know about the Koch Brothers, do you? I can't blame you for not knowing about them. They are very happy you don’t know about them. If you were polluting the planet would you want everyone to know who you are???!!??), and far too few people realize the devastation they have wrought, not only to the economy, but to the environment. They create dangerous workplaces, ignore laws that are on the books. Most of the time they don’t get caught. When their workers get hurt and they do get caught, they shrug their shoulders glibly while they get a wrist slap. They settle their fine at a few million, and they are worth tens of billions. Really! Think about it.

Most of you make less than $100,000. If you get a parking ticket, do you feel like your whole financial future is going to crash down? The $25 ticket you pay is about how painful it is for them when they pollute rivers and maim workers for having shoddy, dangerous workplaces. Remember, if they are sued in a court of law, they have the best lawyers in the business, and they don’t lose trials, they negotiate relatively painless parking-ticket-like settlements.

What a wonderful world we live in. Reading about people like the Koch Bros. making money at the expense of others. Hearing how they paid for the Republican takeover in Congress.

Watching them stay filthy rich

Watching them not giving a damn about the people they hurt working for them as they make billions. They are not only NOT PUNISHED, but richly rewarded. Do you realize over 10 people died last year in April, 2010 in the odious oil spill. Do the rich who owned that oil well really care, or were they too busy blaming the 2nd company that owned and maintained the oil well??? Think about it ! !

Where’s the justice?

Words to parent by.....

2010-09-17T13:31:00.003-05:00

The day after Andy (our 1st child) was born, I went to the hospital gift store, and lo & behold, I found the "Parents' Creed" and immediately bought it and it's been our refrigerator ever since. Here it is:

If a child lives with criticism,

he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,

he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule,

he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame,

he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance,

he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement,

he learns confidence.

If a child lives with praise,

he learns to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness,

he learns justice.

If a child lives with security,

he learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval,

he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with

acceptance and friendship,

he learns to find Love in the world.

10 years ago

2010-09-15T09:35:00.001-05:00

I can't help but think about what happened to me 10 years ago. The Wednesday after Labor Day in 2000, I started working at Nolan Law Group ( http://www.nolan-law.com/ ). They not only do the standard personal injury cases (like car accidents) and workers' compensation cases, but also aviation disasters. The premise in a aviation disaster case is that an airline tells you before you fly with them that they will get you to point A to point B safely. When they don't do that, they don't do their job, and many times, it's due to allowing airplane parts to deteriorate and that's when crashes occur. Thankfully, that doesn't happen very often.

I remember the first assignment that I had there was to help with their work on a case where a jet plane went down in April, 2000 in the Philippines. The airline bought a 737 that had been laying in the AZ desert for years and there had been damage to the plane before it flew in the Philippines. Anyway, the air crash in the Philippines was the worst in their history. I was told to talk to one of the provincial governors there which was a thrill for me; it's certainly not something you do everyday.

I improved as a paralegal, and I learned a lot at Nolan Law Group. I loved my office because it had a window with a small view of Lake Michigan. I miss that view :( ! Oh well, I am paid more now than I was when I worked there. I have more responsibility.

Still, I am very thankful I had the opportunity to work at Nolan Law Group. I learned so much from one of the paralegals there. He was the best paralegal I ever knew! Mike basically ran the workers compensation department there, and I'm sure it was a big loss (in many ways) when he died of a heart attack a few years ago. He was not even that old (only a few years older than me), but when you smoke, you deal with some big health disadvantages.

One of the big things that really helped is that when I applied as a paralegal at other firms, all my potential bosses knew about Nolan Law Group. The fact that I worked there for awhile helped make my resume stand out.

Maribeth got on TV !

2010-09-03T09:27:00.000-05:00

Plus, we were all real proud of Maribeth, b/c she was on the 10:00 news last night!!!!! As I told some of you already, she works at a very big hospital, Loyola Univ. Med. Center. They are using robotic doctors. A robot goes down the hall into a patient's room. & like a teletubby, there's a TV on their belly, and that's a doctor who speaks to a patient. They say the robot is very instrumental in rapid response, b/c if a patient is going bad and into a near lethal condition, the robo-doc can get to the patient's room quickly and take the patients blood pressure, run tests on the patient and give the doctor info that will tell him which drugs or which treatment to use.

So anyway, the 10:00 news in the Medical Feature series showed the robo Doc going into the patient's room and there was Maribeth "in the flesh" standing next to the patient. They showed her several times in fact. She was clearly happy and proud and quipped, "well there's my 3 min. of fame". She does not enjoy being a nurse, but I asked her if her being on TV as a nurse made working at Loyola more worth it and she said yes.

a little progress...

2010-08-31T10:05:00.001-05:00

I think I lost 5 lbs. I'm not sure if I did, b/c I'm not sure how accurate our scale is. It said I was like 244, but that seems too good to be true. But it was nice to see the scale needle go to the left with a weight loss. I'm not sure why I lost the weight, but I'll take good news anytime I get it (for sure)!! It also makes me happier that my oldest son has noticeably started to lose weight, too. (Walking to school has really helped him lose it!! :) ). I have been watching what I eat and do portion management. I think that fact that the cupboards have been pretty bare due to lack of $$ helped a lot, MORE than I want to admit!
Ahh, the blessings due to lack of money...............I do remember Saturday night going to the refrigerator and just shutting the door with no food in my hand, b/c there was nothing worth eating. I even remember drinking a glass of water. That's a damn sight better than a malt!! Long ago, the pattern of eating had been established. Mon. - Fri., I either stay at the same weight or lose some weight. During the weekdays, I eat 2 meals and a light lunch. The weekend is a different story; snacking at midnight is not uncommon. Weight is often gained, undoing the hard work of the weekdays.

The near future looks good for losing more weight. I am unsure when I'll be getting my car back, by the end of the week, hopefully. Today, I walked to the train station which was over a mile. I walked fast and sometimes ran because I only had 20 min. There was good news and bad news. The good news was I got there with one minute to spare. The bad news was that my shirt was literally soaked with sweat. Then, I had to ride a train full of passengers and work with co-workers. I sat by an attractive 20something. I subtly looked at her facial expressions to see if she could smell me. She dozed off....I don't think you can sleep if you smell something bad, right? Had I not put on anti-perspirant/deodorant I would have smelled like a repulsive mess!! I'm hoping I don't stink anyway. I get paid in 1 week and 5 hours, but it almost seems like it's a month or so away. The time might go by kinda fast but it seems like such a long time until I see money in my account again!!! I added up all the things that I will be spending my money on between September 7 - Sept 20. ...it's all bills of one kind or another. It really looks like I will have very very little money to spend on anything besides a bill. I wonder if things will be harder than the last 2 weeks. God forbid but it could be that way.

The only thing is, I'm close to getting rid of this credit card. I have less than $350 to pay on it, and then I'm going to cancel it. I planned on having it paid off by October or November. But along came 3 kids' public schoool tuition payments and CCD, and my plan was crushed. Hopefully by the end of the year it will be all GONE. When, I do pay it off, it's going to make paying the next 5 or 6 cards that much easier to pay off. Except for 1 credit cards, I have not spent any money on the other credit cards b/c I'm doing a debt consolidation program. On 1 of the cards, my TARGET card is 0% interest, which is unbelievable, I know. The other cards range from 5% -9%. The interest is very low, so I have been making progress on my credit card debt. But I have to be really smart and I have to be really patient. hopefully in 2 yrs. the credit card situation can be much better, and I can afford a used car to buy.

Andy starts high school !

2010-08-25T10:26:00.000-05:00

I registered Andy for high school yesterday, and he's beginning high school as I write this! Two years ago, our school district wanted to pass a property tax hike to better pay for school expenses. It was defeated. So, the school came up with ingenious ways to charge parents extra money that they need. First of all, registration (which is charged at nearly every school) is a not-so-bad $125. Yet, it doubles because they charge a "workbook fee". Students are given workboods and since they write the answer right into the book, you can use the workbooks only once. So, now the cost is $250.

Then, the high school passed a rule that any student living within a mile and a half of the high school are NOT entitled to riding on the school bus unless they pay $150. When they asked me if I was paying for busing, I had to make an instant decision. We know with Andy reaching 200 lbs. (he's 5'9") this summer, that walking 1 1/4 miles to school (each way, to and from school) would be good for him. The idea of him walking over 11 miles a week sounds pretty good, actually. The only problem is when we get rain or storms, we'll have to drive him to school, and hopefully if it's storming after school either his mom or Matt, our nephew will bring him home.

The thing also is that Maribeth & I agree that we don't want to have Andy trudging to school in the snow and the weather being 0 degrees. Plus, we know that weather is unpredictable in the fall. So, we will save $50 if we wait until October 1 to have Andy use the bus.

I was also not happy that they did not schedule Andy for a gym class. I am going to ask about this, but I already know the answer. They'll say, "since your son is in special ed class and takes academic subjects the rest of the time, there is no opportunity for him to be in gym." That's not right, but I don't know much I can do to stop this.

finally a little justice !

2010-08-04T12:34:00.002-05:00

My credit rating is in the toilet b/c in 2003 at the start of the divorce process we declared bankruptcy. But there are a number of inaccuracies in my credit report which makes my credit rating even worse.

One thing is that someone committed identity theft against me 5 yrs. ago before I moved back with Maribeth. They made a purchase at JC Penney for just under $600. They were even sloppy b/c they used the street address for Midlothian (where I lived while I was separated) and the town where I live now as the customer's address.

So, I was really harassed for 3 yrs. about this debt. I told them I wouldn't pay for it after a 1 hr. long conversation. I followed it up w/ a letter from one of the attorneys I know. So they stopped demanding money from me. HOWEVER, they reported to all the credit agencies that I had a debt that was never paid. That naturally hurt my credit rating even more.

So, I joined Experian for a little bit of money and protested the bogus debt. There were about 3 other things wrong too. Another thing I pointed out which was the truth was that JC Penney never gave me a credit card after I declared bankruptcy, and even if I wanted to, they would have never given me a credit card! That was a good point but not as conclusive as the halfassed address mixed from 2 different towns.

I just found out that Experian finished their investigation and said I was right. They are deleting the bogus bad debt. So my credit rating will improve.

One thing that bothers me is that they weren't sure about one of the other inaccuracies. I haven't worked w/ hospital for 3 yrs. and have been w/ my law firm for 5. None of the credit card companies have the right employer I am with and say I make less moeny than I do (all of which also makes my credit rating lower). I told them about the fact I was w/ my law firm. They told me they might change it but they might not b/c usually credit reporting agencies get the employment info through other means not the person like me. Heck, I was willing to give them a paycheck stub, you can't get better proof than that!!

dreadful people...............

2010-07-23T12:08:00.001-05:00

I was inspired last fall to become an Administrator of this Christian subgroup. I call it “subgroup”, because it’s one of thousands of groups that make up this big Internet website that helps people with mental illness. My illness, as many of you already know, is that I suffer depression.

My experience at this website has been extremely good, and I have been there for 2 years. The group has grown like “wildfire” and has hundreds of thousands of members and is growing. It’s in every continent except Antarctica, and I haven’t yet run into anyone from Asia but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. What really gets me down are instances where my ex and a few people in rare events are cynical towards me and don’t understand me. Yet, the people at this website “get me”, they understand, I help them, and they help me. The whole inspiration for the website is that there are so many people suffering from mental illness, and there isn’t enough money to pay for the psychiatric healing all these people need. Moreover, one can even go as far as to say that there are not enough psychiatrists and psychologists to help all those needing help. This is especially true in rural areas!! There’s been a number of newspaper articles written about this. & this is what inspired the website and drives it to new heights! It's possible, some day that we will be a million strong at this website.

The group has picked me up when I’ve been down so often that I just can’t thank the many friends I have enough!! Also, they give great advice; sometimes even spiritual advice which is often the best advice to get!!

Well as administrator at Christian Fellowship, I’m happy that I have improved the site a little bit. Unfortunately, I had to kick this one person out. First, she spoke meanly about someone else in the Fellowship group (it’s “Fellowship”, not “Be Mean Group”). So, I deleted her reply. From there it went all down hill. She created new fake identities so that more than one person would be criticizing my administrative skills. That’s a direct violation of our website’s policy!! Then she told lies about me and I just said, “enough”, and I kicked her out. She had her friend then talk about how sorry she was, and that she was actually this really good person that has saved souls by proselytizing.

But this woman wasn’t finished with me. I made her more angry! First, she looked through her Friends list. If any of them were friends with me, she wrote them a note saying you can be friends with me or you can be friends with Vince. BUT YOU CAN’T BE FRIENDS WITH BOTH, MAKE A DECISION BY THE END OF THE DAY!

Then she spent hours examining 6 months worth of my Journals that I kept at the website. Like a politician, she wanted to dig up dirt on me. She found one where I was upset and was venting (damn, if you can’t vent at your mental health website, where can you vent??). So, she copied and pasted it and spread it around to a number of people with the comment, “Wow, that guy sure is a Christian chap…..look at how he swears.” Let me tell you something, God is not going to send us to hell for swearing (unless it relates to the 2nd Commandment), He is going to send us to hell for not helping our fellow man, for lying, cheating, hurting others, etc. Further, the Bible tells us he will not send to Hell people who ask for His forgiveness. I responded to this by restricting access to my Journal.

Well, the worst was yet to come (& she may not even be finished with me, who knows?). Last spring, a woman in Christian Fellowship committed suicide. Before she died, she criticized one of our members. The person she criticized was devastated and thought she caused her death. We had a series of e-mails back and forth as I counseled her. I finally convinced her that, no, she wasn’t responsible for the person who committed suicide. Somehow, the very same person digging dirt in my Journals got wind of the suicide, so she told someone that I drove her to her death. Luckily, the person she told said that she was absolutely wrong. Thank God for good people!

I’m strong, and I definitely don’t regret banning her. She is developing a terrible reputation inspite of the fact that she is sick too (she suffers Parkinson’s). I will not let one bad person ruin the beautiful experiences I have had and all my dear friends there at that website.

some quotes

2010-07-15T13:33:00.000-05:00

People are measured by the challenges they overcome given the resources available.

A pat on the back is only a few centimeters away from a kick in the pants.

Murphy's Golden Rule is that he (or she) with the Gold makes the Rules.

Murphy's 1st rule is that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Peter's Principle is that in any company a person will rise and be promoted until he is incompetent at the higher position and stay there.

In a workplace, if you carry a legal pad and walk around looking buisnesslike you can walk anyplace at work premises.

When you drive a long distance, the speed and number of cars you pass is inversely proportional to the speed of the car you are stuck behind at the very end of your trip.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

it will do you some good

2010-07-14T23:29:00.001-05:00

WE live life; we feel strongly about things, we work hard, & we learned many things............. but maybe sometimes we need to look at the other side of the coin.
Read this, it won't change your vote but it may do ya' some good.

Robert Creamer

Dirty Little Secrets the Republicans Don't Want You to Know

The Republicans have a set of dirty little (actually not so little) secrets they don't what you to know -- and certainly don't want you to think about when you go to the polls in November.

And the fact is that some of those secrets could provide Democrats with silver bullets this fall. But first let's recall the context.

Over the course of eight short years -- between 2000 and 2008 -- the Republicans methodically executed their plan to transform American society. They systematically transferred wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest two percent of Americans -- slashing taxes for the wealthy. They eviscerated the rules that held Wall Street, Big Oil and private insurance companies accountable to the public. They allowed and encouraged the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks that ultimately collapsed the economy and cost eight million Americans their jobs. They ignored exploding health care costs, tried to privatize Social Security, gave the drug companies open season to gouge American consumers and presided over a decline in real incomes averaging $2,000 per family. They entangled America in an enormously costly, unnecessary war in Iraq, pursued a directionless policy that left Afghanistan to fester, and sullied America's good name throughout the world.

Their economic policy of cutting taxes for the wealthy and deregulating big Corporations failed to create jobs. In fact, over his eight year term, George Bush's administration created exactly zero net private sector jobs. They inherited a Federal budget with surpluses as far as the eye could see and rolled up more debt than all of the previous Presidents in the over 200 years of American history. And in the end they left the economy in collapse.

This was not a disaster that could be remedied overnight. By taking bold action at the beginning of his administration, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress prevented the financial crisis from morphing into a Great Depression -- but the Republicans, some Democrats, and the powerful special interests have done everything they can to throw sand into the gears of change. Most importantly, they have stood in the way of providing enough economic stimulus to launch a robust, widespread economic recovery.

But notwithstanding Republican opposition, Obama, the Democrats and their progressive allies have -- after a century of trying -- finally passed health care reform allowing America to end its status as the only industrialized nation that did not provide health care as a right. They are on the brink of reining in the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks. And they have set the stage for massive long-term investments in economic growth and clean energy.

But it has been hard to pull the car out of the deep economic ditch and Americans are angry at the slow pace of economic recovery -- and also at the special interests that profited from their economic pain.

So the Republicans now have the audacity to argue that President Obama and the Democrats are somehow responsible for the hardships that they themselves created. In effect they want the election to be a referendum on whether the Democrats have mopped and swept fast enough cleaning up the mess that they created.

They will do everything they can to prevent America from focusing on the real choice before them in the fall elections -- a choice between going backward to the failed policies of the past that caused this catastrophe and a new direction that will create sustainable, long-term, bottom-up, widely shared economic growth. The real question before the country is whether it is willing to hand over the keys to the economy once again to the same gang that just caused the most serious economic pile up in 60 years.

That's where the dirty little secrets come in. It turns out that the leaders of the Republican Party have learned nothing from the reckless escapade that caused so much economic pain, and came perilously close to inflicting mortal wounds on the American economy.

They still actually believe -- despite what we have all just experienced -- that by "freeing" big oil, the insurance companies and Wall Street banks of the "burdens" of government accountability, that the plutocrats and the "invisible hand" of the market will lead American into the promised land of economic prosperity.

Some of the things they believe are not only dangerous to the economy, luckily they are also politically radioactive. And quite remarkably, many key Republicans are actually willing to say them out loud. Here are a few:

· Meet Congressman Paul Ryan. Ryan is the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee. If the Republicans once again take control of the House, he will be the Chair of the Budget Committee. Ryan believes -- and says out loud -- that Medicare, one of the most popular Federal programs in history, should be abolished and replaced with vouchers for private insurance. Let's recall that one of the ways Republicans stirred up opposition to health insurance reform was by falsely accusing Democrats of wanting to cut Medicare. They convinced some unwitting seniors that "Government" should keep its hands off Medicare -- which is, of course, a "Government" program. Democrats need to make it crystal clear in this campaign that Republicans -- who opposed Medicare from its inception -- actually want to abolish the program and hand over control of health care for America's seniors to the same private insurance companies responsible for driving up rates three times faster than wages while their profits have exploded.

· Congressman John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, has endorsed another Ryan proposal to raise the retirement age of Social Security to 70 years old -- a proposal that might go over fine with a guy like Boehner who makes speeches for a living. But it won't be very popular at all with someone who has laid bricks, or run an earth mover, or waited tables for forty-five years.

· The whole Republican crew wants to resurrect the failed Bush proposal to "privatize" Social Security. The defeat of Bush's privatization plan was the turning point in the Bush Presidency. It was all downhill from there. Yet -- whether it's to pad the investment accounts of their friends on Wall Street or because they are "private markets uber alles true believers" -- the Republicans want to try it again. Only this time retirees won't have to work very hard to imagine what it would have been like if their Social Security checks had plummeted in value the way their 401K's did when the market collapsed just two years ago.

· The Republicans want to weaken and repeal the new law to rein in the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks. Most Republicans and Democrats voted to bail out the big banks to prevent a 1930's style market collapse. The difference is that Democrats supported legislation to rein in their recklessness -- that had cost 8 million Americans their jobs -- and assure that a bailout was never allowed to happen again. But with very few exceptions, the Republicans voted to a person against holding Wall Street accountable. Given a chance, they plan to team up with their pals on Wall Street to free them to return to their reckless ways at will. In fact, they told the titans of Wall Street as much in fundraising meetings, where those "masters of the Universe" were asked to ante up. Republicans claim to oppose more Wall Street bailouts, but they refuse to support legislation that would prevent one in the future and hold Wall Street accountable. That -- coupled with those big contributions from Wall Street -- is a position that is very difficult for average voters to swallow. In fact, the polling says it's down right toxic.

· Republicans have consistently voted against extending unemployment benefits to workers who have been laid off because of Bush-era policies and the recklessness of Wall Street. Remember, people who get unemployment benefits -- by definition -- are looking for jobs that the economy doesn't provide. In addition, many Republicans actually believe that the best way to spur employment is to lower the minimum wage.

· Finally, meet Congressman Joe Barton. If the Republicans win back control of Congress, he would once again most likely serve as the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee -- the Committee that oversees the oil industry. Congressman Barton has never met an oil company he doesn't like. In fact, he's the guy who actually apologized to BP when they were forced by the Obama Administration to take economic responsibility for the disastrous Gulf oil spill. As a political matter, that's like apologizing to Jack the Ripper.

These are politically radioactive positions that do, in fact, define the core of Republican policy if they were once again to control the gavel in either House of Congress.

We hear a lot about how Democrats have to "localize" the elections to have a chance of victory in November. And it is true that people vote for people in elections -- and the quality of Democratic candidates will give them a major edge in many races. So while it is a good idea to "personalize" the races for Congress, the last thing Democrats should do is to "localize" them, because the party that nationalizes a midterm -- and dominates the national dialogue -- almost always comes out ahead.

Instead, Democrats need to take the offensive and dominate the national conversation by talking about what the Republicans actually believe and what they would do if they win in November. Voters must be offered a stark choice between Democratic and Republican policies in the fall. If they are, "Conventional Wisdom" that keeps predicting a Democratic disaster will be proven wrong, the same way it was when it predicted that America would never elect a tall, skinny African American guy named Barack Obama.

let me just take a nap!

2010-07-11T00:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Saturday was a bit of a disappointment. I woke up very tired.

I was in slow motion during the morning. I really wanted to go biking but there was so much else to do that I was absolutely overwhelmed. I was so overwhelmed that I'm planned on the spur of the moment to ask management at the firm if I can take a vacation day next Thursday. That way I can install a window that was broken, BIKE, and take care of other chores.

The morning got worse. MB just got 2 airconditioners and she's got them going on "COOL" and the temp in the low 70s. I took it off COOL and put it on "Energy Saver". I mean, hell, she complained about the electric bill being $200 last month. I told her it would be $300. She said, "That's ok, at least we won't get sick from being hot". Who's been sick?? no one. I was being yelled at for trying to save electricity and money by moderating the air conditioners some. Wouldn't most people like it when their spouse tries to save them some money?? Well, it was good of her to buy us air conditioners. The one we had was old, and it's asking a bit much for expecting that little thing to cool the whole condo.

Then, I paid a couple bills, took them to the post office. My youngest, Brianna, got invited to another birthday party. Honestly, she's only 8 and she has twice the social life that I do. I took her to get 2 birthday gifts (she was going to a birthday party today and just got the invite to the one tomorrow), I did laundry, fixed her sandal, took her to her party. Then I played ball with my son and his friend. & through all the activities, I said, no way am I going biking. It's too much. I was fighting fatigue through the afternoon amid all the stuff I was doing.

I beelined it to the bed as soon as I got done playing ball w/ my son and laid there for at least 3 hrs. But then I got up and watched SNL and futzed around the computer for awhile. Like I'm doing now.

The weekend brings its own complications, b/c I refuse to take Lunesta to go to sleep. No Lunesta makes me go to sleep much much later. Now, I could take a Benadryl to go to sleep instead, but DAMN(!!), do I have to live like fucking Elvis (the one who took a pill for everything he did)!! Then the next day starts considerably later. I was advised by me Dr. not to take Lunesta 7 days a week. & with it's rotten side effect who the hell would want to??!!?? I have "metal mouth" when I take it. I basically have a metallic taste on my tongue and can't drink water b/c that really doubles the metallic taste!

It's like I said before. The Lunesta advertisement is that a purple butterfly flies around benificiently spreading stars everywhere, and people smile and say "good night" and sleep tight. Now, if there was truth in advertising, they would show the butterfly climbing in someone's mouth and leaving a fecal deposit on their tongue.

I'll continue to struggle and hope I bike a helluva lot more this week than last. Oh well, at least, my daughter is happy.

McChrystal, Obama & Looking Past Certain Myths

2010-06-25T15:18:00.003-05:00

In the past week, General McChrystal and his staff’s remarks and attitude about the war in Afghanistan and the Obama administration were made public. For Obama’s detractors including many Republicans, the events seem to fulfill the view that Presidents from the Democratic Party should not be trusted with foreign policy, because they leave our nation and the world less safe.

This suspicion against Democratic Presidents goes back to the Vietnam War when President Lyndon Johnson administration was virtually crushed by the failure of that war to keep South Vietnam from falling into the Communist’s hands. The suspicion was further in evidence when President Jimmy Carter ineffectively enacted a grain embargo against the USSR which seemed to hurt the United States agribusiness more than it had any effect whatsoever against the Soviet Union. Of course, anyone who followed the news back in 1980 recalls that President Carter oversaw an embarrassing failure to rescue American hostages in Iran which resulted in the deaths of 8 American servicemen.

Republican candidates effectively used such failures and embarrassments for three presidential elections to win office (1980, 1984 and 1988). However, when we look at the record of Republican presidents, the record is not so clear that Republicans have done a superior job in foreign policy. In October, 1983, President Reagan allowed Marines to be gathered, bombed and killed in a high rise building (against the wisdom that in an area where there are terrorists, it is best to have your troops in different locations to prevent an easy target like all of your troops being quartered in 1 place) in Lebanon resulting in the death of 241 servicemen (which is the largest single day number of deaths in recent foreign policy). President Reagan either lied or deluded himself into thinking that the US did not trade arms for hostages during the Iran Contra Affair. His administration was paralyzed for months as it worked at fending off charges and firing those responsible for such a misguided policy.

Of course, even Republicans and conservatives (like George Will) state that President Bush (the one elected in 2000 and 2004) handled the war in Iraq dreadfully. The inept handling of Iraq after Bush publicly proclaimed MISSION ACCOMPLISHED contributed to the victories in Congress in 2006 and Obama’s landslide election in 2008.

Furthermore, Democratic presidents have handled crises successfully. During the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Clinton supervised military and diplomatic policies that led to minimal loss of troops and forced Slobodan Milosevic (leader of Serbia) to be removed thereby stopping much of the ethnic cleansing in the area formerly known as Yugoslavia. Even conservatives give grudging praise for the way that the Clinton administration made a bad situation better. President Obama oversaw the takeover and killing of the pirates in the Red Sea who took over an American vessel. Furthermore, relations with numerous nations, including our close allies in Western Europe palpably improved when Bush left office and Obama became president. Further, there was near-consensus view among generals that George Bush’s foreign policy left US forces painfully overextended while gaining the contempt of our allies. Anyone who thinks that many general were not appalled by Bush’s failures and misguided foreign policy simply aren’t paying attention!

Some point out that Clinton was responsible for the lapses in security that led to 9/11. However, much of the security breaches and ignoring the threats evident before that awful day were as a result of the FBI and CIA’s failure to share information. It is easy to counter such an argument with the fact that no Republican president would have created better coordination between the 2 competing intelligence agencies prior to the 9/11 crisis. Furthermore, no Republican president acted upon evident threats like what was reported by the CIA in August of 2001.

When we look at the furor over McChrystal’s remarks, the general criticized people in Obama’s administration, but did not criticize Obama directly. In fact, McChrystal could not have been too upset with having his own advice followed when Obama sent 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. Further, how responsible is it for the general’s staff to get drunk while talking to the Rolling Stone reporter and stating what they really thought of the current administration? When the general himself publicly ridiculed the Vice President,he did so out of ignorance of the fact that Joseph Biden has been one of the foreign policy experts while he was a Senator and was, for years, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It’s not as though the current vice president is an empty head or suit like Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin. The General failed to realize that while Biden is skeptical of the military surge, reasonable minds can disagree and such ridicule that should never make the papers but be kept under his hat.

Finally, Obama chose wisely General Petraeus as the replacement to General McChrystal. Clearly, Petraeus will not allow his staff to get drunk with a reporter and spill their guts about what they really think of the current president. General Petraeus has shown proficiency in combating terrorists and guerrilla style warfare. His choice has been widely praised.

Yes, mistakes will be made by the Obama administration, but shouldn't we all acknowledge that foreign policy mistakes occur in Republican and Democrat administrations alike?? The idea of Democrats being soft on terrorists and threats from abroad is an intellectually lazy argument that doesn’t carefully take note of the facts. And there are many facts to take note of. The Pentagon budget is as big or bigger now than it was during the Bush administration. President Obama has wisely followed the advice of his Secretary, Robert Gates in saving the taxpayer’s billions of dollars in failed weapons systems. Democrats have been openly supportive and passed into law the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan. With all these facts, the stereotype of Democrats and their foreign policy is about as old and tired as the stereotypes against African Americans.

last night

2010-06-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

I received a plaque last night that I wanted to share with all my dear readers. I have been in the St. Damian's Men's Club a little less than 15 yrs. What does the Men's Club do? it gives money to people in need, gives money to organizations at our church that need the money, we get together every month and take care of the business of our club and then socialize, it has done a good job of bringing a group of men from the church together as friends. When either a member or a family member of a club member dies, we go to their funeral and wake. We work at community events and put on a Texas Hold Em tournament (night before Thanksgiving) and that is how we earn money that we give away to those in great need.

I became vice president in 2002. I served 4 terms and two months ago, I was no longer vice president so they gave me the plaque shown in the picture above.

pictures from the graduation

2010-06-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

Here are Andy's pictures from his graduation on Thursday evening.

sometimes it's hard to write regularly

2010-06-03T13:13:00.005-05:00

It has been hard to write a new post to this blog, because I’ve been busy with work and certain activities at home, and there hasn’t been an event or subject that’s really inspired me to write.

I should be more upset about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico next to New Orleans. I can’t really explain why I am not. Clearly, it’s becoming increasingly worse and alarming. There is a good chance the oil will not stop flowing until about August. There’s even a chance that oil will still be spilling into the Gulf of Mexico into December! !

The spill clearly indicates why there needs to be strong government regulation regarding offshore oil drilling. If an oil company isn’t certain how to stop oil spilling a mile under water, should it really be drilling there in the first place??

----------------------------------------------

I am mad at myself, because I am biking less than I did last year. Last summer, I biked three times a week and biked about 9 miles each time, sometimes more. This year, I’m only biking twice a week, and sometimes only 6 or so miles. I understand the difference between this year and last. Last spring, I spent over $200 getting my bike fixed. I was very, very intent on getting my money’s worth out of those repairs. I was so concerned about getting my money’s worth from the repairs that I biked well over 500 miles during the summer. (By the way, I stopped biking once I became my son’s assistant football coach and had to attend practices 3 times a week until the beginning of November).

This spring and summer, there is no compelling concern about getting my money’s worth. I started the season spending less than $50 in a few repairs to the bike. Last year, I treated going biking like Church (I would tell myself, “I’ve got to go; it’s WRONG if I don’t!). I just can’t do that this year.

This week, I wouldn’t even be able to bike twice a week because it’s been raining most of the week, and tonight, Andy is graduating from 8th grade. Maribeth & I are happy for him passing this milestone. It’s interesting, because there was an article/editorial in the newspaper about families making a big deal about 8th grade graduation. Even President Obama remarked about over-celebrating 8th grade graduation. There are some families that spend a ton of money on parties, have their graduate strut across the stage like they did something fantastic, and just get too overwrought with it. The editorial correctly noted that clearly, high school graduation and college graduation should be celebrated a lot more. I think the problem is that some of these families are treating 8th grade graduation the SAME as high school graduation. It ISN’T. If you get your high school diploma, you have a very slight, small chance of getting a job. But if you only graduate from 8th grade, you have next to ZERO chance of getting a job, and you definitely won’t be getting a high paying job! !

With Andy finishing grade school, I wonder how he will do in high school. Will he have considerably different problems than I had in high school? Will bullying be a problem?? Two years from now, I wonder if dating will become a source of worry for him? I remember having some difficulty with grades my first quarter in high school. I wonder if Andy will experience that as well. I certainly don’t want him to go through what he went through at the start of 7th grade.

spellbound.....

2010-05-22T03:01:00.001-05:00

Does anyone out there like Harper's Island, the TV show of last summer (CBS)?? I completely stumbled onto the show by accident. I really love this song by Civil Twilight called Letters from the Sky. You should check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wa7dFR09vU

There was a reference to this TV show, and when I was reading about the unreal plot line, I became more and more curious. The plots, the deaths involved were absolutely, positively spellbinding!!!!!! Has anyone ever seen this show?

Thankfully, I saw the more important parts of the show on YouTube. I saved money by not having to buy the DVD. I don't want to get to wrapped up in the show by spending that kind of money, especially since I don't usually like those kind of TV shows or movies. If you're curious, just see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Island or the official website to the show, http://www.cbs.com/primetime/harpers_island/

wow, a new Title

2010-05-19T12:44:00.001-05:00

In Chicago, the fire fighters make a very big deal out of fire drills in skyscrapers. Our building was built in 1923 and is 46 stories tall. No one wants to see gruesome deaths by fire, because fire is a very painful way to die, and it's really bad publicity, and, of course, we really hate when people die premature deaths.

For instance, in the past, it was standard in the skyscrapers to lock the doors of the stairwells. Companies, businesses, and law firms were afraid that criminals, people intent on stealing things, violent people would come up to their floor from the stairs and do terrible things. Therefore, they locked the doors. However, there was a fire in a Chicago skyscraper about 7 years ago. Since the doors were locked, people inside the stairs couldn't go to floors where there wasn't a fire and they either suffocated or burned to death. Therefore, the City of Chicago banned locking stair doors.

When you're in a skyscraper and there's a fire drill, you don't have to walk from your floor all the way down to the 1st floor. In many cases that would be walking thousands of steps and going down 20 or more floors. Basically, you go several floors down and the fire fighter supervising the drill tells you how you did. Today, they lectured 2 people NOT to carry their coffee or favorite beverage with them if there's a fire, because first, you can buy another beverage after successfully surviving the fire, and more importantly, you may spill your drink and slow down people walking downstairs.

Before today's fire drill, I was formally given the title, ELEVATOR MONITOR. I am to guard against anyone taking an elevator down to the 1st floor either during a drill or an actual fire. Obviously, if there's a fire, an elevator is one of the last places you would want to be especially when it breaks down or ceases to function due to the fire. So, my office manager exhorted me to be an intimidating presence making sure no one thinks of getting on an elevator (yeah, RIGHT). Then, I am one of the last people to leave the floor (to prevent stragglers from using elevator).

It was pretty funny, because before the fire drill, they gave handbooks out and spelled out the titles of those people who were to help insure a safe fire drill or safe evacuation if there was a fire. & there I was Vince __, ELEVATOR MONITOR. They even listed who my subsitute was if I wasn't lucky enough to be around during a fire or a drill. They even wrote a paragraph with bullet points on what I was to do. I feel so official now (not!).

2 VERY SHORT stories

2010-05-05T15:19:00.002-05:00

I want to share two stories about government. One is the federal government, and one is Illinois government. They both relate to taxes. Taxes are a very impassioned, visceral subject. To me, it almost seems like the Republican Party exists just to fight taxes, particularly fight taxes for the rich. Well, the last thing I want to do is issue a diatribe so let’s get on with the two stories.

I filed my federal taxes with 1040 EZ. That is the simplest tax form to use. I checked my income figures at least 3 times. I checked the amount of tax I owed 3 times also. I was pleased to be getting a pretty large tax refund, and I filed extra early, about a week before January 31.

When the federal government, particularly the notorious IRS (Internal Revenue Service) reviewed my very simple, filled-out 1040 EZ, they intervened, but not in a sinister fashion; this is not a story about their sinister ways. They intervened by stating that I forgot to claim my Earned Income Credit. Therefore, my refund was $400 more than I thought it would be. Later, they sent a letter explaining what they did.

In one respect, the IRS didn’t have to do that. If they had not intervened, I would have never known the difference. I would have been happy with my tax refund and never gave it a second thought. There have been other stories that I listened to on TV where the IRS has given money to citizens who forget or don’t even know about the Earned Income Credit.

The second story involves an even bigger error that I made. This spring I thought that I filed both my federal and state tax forms. When I prepared my state tax form, I was to get a refund of $4. The problem was that I forgot to file it. With it being well beyond April 15, I am nearly a month late filing my taxes. I went to the Illinois Department of Revenue, in person, and told them about my error. I let them know what I did. I laugh, recalling how they treated me. It reminded me of a little boy going up to a grocery store manager and, in a very ill-at-ease manner, admitting that he stole a peanut. Two of the people in the Revenue Department simply smiled, almost laughed about it. I said if the penalty is giving up the $4 refund that’s fine. The woman looked me in the eyes and said, “oh, you’ll get your refund!” Wow, that is one less thing to worry about.

One other thing to note: Normally, when I file taxes (& I have done so for the last 25 years), I don’t make any errors, so I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a bumbling idiot when it comes to taxes. I even remember back in the 1990s helping Maribeth with her taxes.

These are not stories you are used to hearing when we think about our government. Indeed, there are true stories of government causing an inordinate amount of grief, even injustice to people. This is one time they treated a citizen like me was treated not only with respect but in a kind manner.

a happy ending to the last problem

2010-04-07T13:48:00.001-05:00

As you can see, my last entry was about a nasty co-worker.

Clare gave her notice that her last day was April 22. My body immediately felt a rush of happiness. Just thinking about it makes me amazed. It's funny how bad you will feel physically being surprised about bad news, and it's delightful to feel good all over when you are pleasantly surprised w/ good news. I wore a quiet, but unmistakeable smile in the office for the rest of the day.

Hopefully, things will be uneventful for the next 2 weeks that she is here.

it was nice while it lasted

2010-03-25T17:36:00.001-05:00

I had a co worker (we'll call her "Clare") who blew up at me. It was the first time I ever had that happen where I work currently. That's pretty amazing, b/c I've worked at my current law firm for over 4 years. I am in the same room/office as 5 clerks. I teach them how to use a software program and how to do discovery (discovery is a long procedure that is done towards the beginning of a lawsuit). I am pretty relaxed and the atmosphere is relaxed too. I can count the number of arguments others have had with another clerk on one hand.

A couple Tuesdays ago, Clare accused me of not teaching her something that needed to be taught to her earlier. I said that wasn't true. She never asked; she then responded that I had a faulty memory. I said, "No, I would remember something like that." At first, the conversation was in a joking, chiding manner. When I didn't laugh with her and simply disagreed with her, she got really angry and said I was rude and demanded an apology. NONE was given (for what????). Then she said, "I am through being nice to you Vince." No response.

Then she said, "The other clerks despise you." I said that was just nonsense. I know how people act when they despise someone else, especially at work, and that's not the way I'm treated at work!! I told her that it was amazing that she was so confrontational seeing as how I helped her so much when she was first starting out. Then she said "What about the help I gave you?" (what help? I'm the one who taught her!). There was only one other person in the office, her friend, when she talked all this trash.

Since then, I have limited my conversation with her to only asking once a week what her work schedule will be. After the incident, there have been a number of times where Clare would whisper to her friend (we'll call her "Jill"). Today, Jill worked next to me and Clare jokingly told the guy sitting where Jill normally sits, "You had to ruin everything, didn't you?" She was not too happy that she couldn't whisper to Jill. So she e-mailed her instead, & Jill would not respond b/c she was working hard.

So, Clare writes a note on a post it, folds it, and gives it to Jill. I smiled b/c it sounded like school (doesn't it??) that she would actually pass a note to her friend during work.

I saw Jill throw away the note. It's now after 5 pm, when most people leave. & I picked up the note and Clare wrote to Jill, "Read your e-mail".

Kind of a shame I wasn't able to find out what the e-mail was. It had to be something if she couldn't tell her out in the open. I needed to laugh and relieve a little boredom.

I have basically resolved that if Clare ever talks to me that way again, I will talk to her attorney/supervisor, and let him know that I am going to the office manager and report her. I basically wanted to give her a break, because she is a good worker and does her work well. The other thing is that I don't completely trust the office manager, and I don't want the whole situation to spin out of control. In the last 10 days, the strategy has worked out well. Yet, I will never think of her the same way again. I knew that she had a combative side to her just by the remarks she made when we got along. So, what she did wasn't altogether shocking. The hope is she will use her intelligence and not allow it to happen again.

There is a part of me that felt proud. I have taught probably over 50 clerks and had those clerks work in the same room as I. In 4 1/2 years, this has been the first time that a clerk has been upset with me (and it wasn't even my fault!). That's a pretty good record if I do say so myself!!

VICTORY! (more about this later)

2010-03-23T13:22:00.000-05:00

A victory for the struggling working class who have been made poor by rising health costs. A victory for people who could potentially be thrown into bankruptcy (again due to rising healthcare costs), because the health care insurance companies rejected them. A victory for the American people who will save nearly $2 trillion in the next 20 years in Medicare and Medicaid costs.

A loss to the the Republican party and all their followers who have been saying very little but "no" during this whole debate.
A loss to health insurance executives who have piggishly over indulged in executive bonuses and seven-figure salaries. I love the part of the healthcare insurance reform that forces insurance to have 85% of their revenue going to actually paying their insured medical bills (NOT executive bonuses, lobbying & advertisements).

Computer BLUES!

2010-03-18T10:07:00.003-05:00

sent my computer into the Geek Squad and they said that it's a hardware problem. It's the memory. So it will be out for a good long time, I'm afraid. My heart just sinks writing this!! :( !

I gotta kick out of Andy. We have a much older computer, and the only way to get access to Internet is by dial-up. But I'm not going to pay the fee. Since Andy has a checking account, he has volunteered to pay the monthly charge for dial up Internet which is only $5 a month. With the work he does in our house, I'm sure his allowance can afford that. He said he couldn't take not having no access to Internet. Yeah, NO KIDDING! He also can't stand not playing computer games too (the reason our computer is getting fixed is he fried our memory trying to download Farm Mania).

So, I won't be able to post very often with no computer at home. I won't be able to do a lot of things. There's a website for Kuma, and they have this awesome Tank game that is set in WWII Tripoli. I was playing that at night when everyone was in bed. Some Satruday nights I didn't get to bed until 3. MB didn't like it, but I said, "Hey, at least I'm not out at the bars drinking!"

It certainly was a fun adrenalin rush feverishly climbing up the hill in your tank & then blasting tanks from 100s of yards away. YEEAAH!

Well, all of that is on hold for a few weeks until our dear computer comes back. I explained to Andy that he is NOT the only one who greatly values the computer. The computer to me is like my baby. I'm as close to that computer as the kids are as close to their guinea pig and new little dog they'll be getting Monday.

Excellent column

2010-02-25T10:08:00.001-06:00

A couple blogs ago, I was angry with the idea that people were painting current events, particularly how President Obama has been doing as president in black and white (MOSTLY negative, excoriating) terms. Well, I really saw a column that I love. I loved it so much that it's one of those times that I wanna say, "Man, it's a shame more people don't see this!!!" That's why I"m copying it and putting it down here.

Read and learn, my friends!!!

----------------------------------------

Those who don't live in the nation's capital may so far have been spared the columnist-generated imbroglio over who is "to blame" for the fact that many of President Obama's flagship initiatives have yet to pass into law.

Many candidates have been nominated: Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Senior Adviser David Axelrod, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, former White House Counsel Greg Craig, Attorney General Eric Holder, and even White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers.

The correct answer: None of the above.

The people who are responsible for the difficulty of making fundamental change within the first year of the Obama Administration don't have familiar names. They are the people who run the huge insurance companies, oil companies and Wall Street Banks. They are the people who will lose if the rest of America wins. They are the folks whose recklessness and greed caused the collapse of our economy and cost seven million Americans their jobs.

Not surprisingly, these people have not rolled over and played dead when their interests have been threatened. And their ability to protect the status quo has been strengthened by the rules of the U.S. Senate that have empowered some of their chief defenders, such as Joe Lieberman and Mitch McConnell.

They've used their massive financial muscle to mislead everyday Americans. They have been perfectly willing to lie and distort and inflame fear. They are the authors of bogus "death panels" and "government takeovers." They are the source of massive political contributions, and the fear that politicians who cross them will pay a price.

They have financed a "populist" uprising on the right. In short, they have done everything that anyone familiar with American political history would assume they would do. Power surrenders nothing without a struggle.

Change turns out to be harder than a lot of people thought and hoped. But what the hell did we expect. The other side plays hardball.

To beat them, we have to start where we are and get where we want to go. We can't start where we wish we were...or wish our opposition out of existence.

The Obama Administration has been forced to make some compromises. But to their credit they have not trimmed back their ambitious agenda -- their goal of transforming the American economy -- to deal with the massive problems they faced from the day they took office.

They have not taken the advice of people like Mark Penn or Dick Morris to focus on amassing small victories. They know that in confronting the challenges that America faces today, small victories are simply not enough. They know that we need bold, transformational change - and if that takes longer than we'd like, that is simply the price we have to pay for our future.

Leslie Gelb, whose article on Rahm Emanuel in the Daily Beast says that, "no one I've talked to believes he has the management skills and discipline to run the White House" is just wrong. And he must have forgotten the disciplined, driven way Rahm oversaw the Democratic victory in 2006 to retake the House. Emanuel gets things done, and that is exactly what you need when you're trying to pass a transformative agenda.

David Axelrod is a brilliant crafter of message -- and the engineer (along with David Plouffe) of the best-run Presidential campaign in the history of American politics.

Bob Gibbs is exactly the kind of plain-spoken, straight-ahead press secretary that average Americans want to hear. And Valerie Jarrett is an effective -- and absolutely loyal -- Senior Adviser. By the way, it's a damned good thing for a President to have some people by his side whose loyalty he need never question.

Has the Obama team made mistakes? Of course. I think they would have done better to take a tougher line with Wall Street, sooner. I'm sure they would admit, in retrospect, that they should have done everything in their power to end Max Baucus' months-long tango with the Republicans that delayed passage of the health care bill until after the Massachusetts disaster. And they might even agree that they should have used the 51-vote budget reconciliation process to do health care reform from the beginning. But then again, hindsight is 20-20.

And let's remember that the record of this Administration for major new initiatives is pretty impressive.

Saving the economy from complete meltdown - another Great Depression --following the failure of eight years of right wing economic policy and financial risk-taking "gone wild," including his bold rescue of the American auto industry.

Laying the first layer of a foundation for long-term, bottom-up economic growth by passing the largest economic recovery package in history and a Federal Budget that the Center on Budget Priorities called the most progressive budget in half a century.

Abandoning the failed Neo-Con foreign policy and changing our relationship with the rest of the world.

Signing into law measures that had repeatedly passed the Democratic Congress but been vetoed by George Bush - the "Matthew Shepard" bill that expands the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation, expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and passing the "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act" that seriously strengthened the ability of women to seek redress for employment discrimination.

The Administration and Congress ended a program of wasteful subsidies to private banks that provided student loans using Federal money, and used the savings to greatly expand Pell Grants to college students.

Executive actions like ending the "Global Gag Rule" that prevented U.S. foreign aid from going to family planning programs that even mentioned abortion - and changes in labor law enforcement that make it easier to organize in the workplace.

Ending torture.

Funding stem cell research and generally restoring a respect for science to government.

Setting and keeping to a schedule to end the American presence in Iraq.

Putting in motion a legislative agenda that will make major progressive change: providing health care for all, creating clean energy jobs and addressing global warming, overhauling the regulation of the financial sector and beginning to shrink its dominance in the American economy, and passing comprehensive immigration reform.

The Administration's success rate seems low only when measured against its lofty ambitions... and the magnitude of the problems the President inherited last January.

More importantly, second-guessing and backbiting does absolutely nothing to make the change America needs.

Time to suck it up. This is going to be a long slog. The geniuses who write columns and make a living as Monday morning quarterbacks need to get used to the idea that this is a real battle for the future of America, not a reality show.

The financial industry, the insurance giants and the oil companies are going to bite and claw and fight to stop real reform until the last dog dies. Progressives better be ready to do the same.

some news about my health

2010-02-23T10:30:00.002-06:00

My brother & father both suffered, but survived, from prostate cancer. I get checked on a very regular basis, and the last time I was checked they found out that my blood test showed that my PSA was too high. The PSA is an indicator of whether you have cancer or not in the prostate. Yesterday was my 1st time I saw the Dr. since I found out this disturbing news.

My Dr. told me today that maybe what happened was I had a cold or flu at the same time I had the blood test done. If so, it's possible it drove up my PSA reading and it's a "FALSE positive". it would be very important, of course to find out if the test in Dec. was a "false positive".

So, I am going to take the medicine and get tested in the latter part of March. If my test shows I might have prostate cancer, then I will get biopsies (they take tissue from not 1, but several sites).

I'm not scared of losing my life to this cancer. There is a very low risk of death to prostate cancer; it is very treatable. Prostate cancer is a lot different than other cancers. Prostate cancer grows much much slower than a cancer like breast cancer. Further, for both types of cancer they use radiation after removal of the cancerous organ. For certain reasons, radiation is a much more effective treatment for prostate cancer than it is for breast cancer.

At any rate, I am optimistic about surviving it, if I actually have it. I am more concerned about the financial cost. Yes, I have health insurance, but there's is always a noticeable portion that I, as a patient, must pay. We simply must have faith in God to take care of my family & I, and things will work out.

2/15/2010 is Presidents' Day

2010-02-15T11:01:00.000-06:00

I memorized the presidents back in 1970 when I was 7 yrs. old. I think that had a big determining factor in my vocational decisions.

I still have all of the presidents memorized.

So wanted to share a little presidential trivia.

Easy way to win a bet.

1. Ask a fairly smart person how many people have been president & make a bet

2. They'll say 44

3. Win the bet and collect (there are only 43 men who have been president. 1 president, Grover Cleveland, is counted twice. He is the 22nd and 24th president. Why is that? Because he's the only 2 term president that served non-consecutive terms)

I grew up in a small town and that's a place that lends itself to rumors. So when I memorized all the presidents, they started spreading the rumor that I knew all the presidents and all of the presidents' wives and pets too. I DON'T.

But there is 2 things I can do (besides reciting the presidents in order or reverse order)

If you give me a # between 1-44, I can tell you the name of the president.

If you give me any year between 1789 - 2010, I can tell you who was president.

a strange tax refund

2010-02-12T11:34:00.002-06:00

I received my tax refund. Very puzzling tho' ! The US government gave me $400 more than I wrote down on my tax return. That is even more surprising than it sounds, b/c I used the 1040EZ Form. The form made it so obvious how I came up with the amount of the refund, I meticulously checked my numbers, so I don't understand how the US gov't can give me more money.

MB has laid claim to almost $400 of my refund. But I can't be angry with her, b/c it was legit stuff. I paid for the repair of the front door, and now I'm going to pay for Ted's glasses. It's not like she's forcing me to get her a new dress or new mink coat (obviously I would say "no" to that).

I am not nearly as optimistic at this tax refund as I was with last year's tax refund. Last year, it gave me a very strong, positive momentum financially for 6 months! It helped me pay down credit cards, fix my bike (& then I biked 100s of miles last spring & summer), and it got us a new computer which we really needed.

This year, I'm using it to fix a specific part on my bike (so I won't be spending as much on it as last year's repair), pay down debt. The problem is that I will probably see my debt go back up, because I will be forced to pay for medical bills for my new health problem.

Let me explain. My father and older brother both have had prostate cancer. Thankfully, they made a full recovery from it. My great grandfather apparently also had prostate cancer, and he died (way back in the early 1900s, almost 100 yrs. ago). So, obviously my family has a history of this cancer, and my chances of getting this is greater than a normal man's chancees. I get my prostate tested every year (not 1, but 2 exams). This year my exam came back with bad results. I won't know until at least Feb. 22 (& it will be likely that I won't find out till later, like when they do a biopsy) what's going on and my Dr. explains the test results and what they plan on doing in terms of testing and treatment.

I'm annoyed, so now what?

2010-01-20T21:01:00.001-06:00

I've literally been a political junkie for 37 years. In 1972, I followed the presidential election. That election became immortalized in the very famous book, All the President's Men. 2 years before that, I had memorized all the presidents. I was either a child prodigy or an insufferable nerd. But there's something that really works againts reformers.
When you reform you change things, and when you change things, there are winners and losers. The losers are bound to be very angry at what they lost due to reform (& you know they won't call it reform but rather the nation going to hell on them). The winners will be happy. But happiness doesn't inspire action the way anger does. How many times have you ever heard someone fighting out of happiness?

Let's suppose you were mayor of a town of 1,000 registered voters. You were up for re election and you liked your job well enough that you wanted another term as mayor. Suppose you had 520 people who liked the job you did and were supportive of your policies where you righteously got rid of corruption. Then there were 130 people who didn't care if you were the mayor or Daffy Duck were the mayor (yes, there's people like that!). Then there was 350 people who hated you, were hurt by your great work in cleaning up the town.

You would think you were in good shape and would win something like 500 to 300. WRONG!!!
First, if you were lucky you would only get about 60% of the 550 who like you. That's 312 votes. But since your opponents are so angry they have 90% turn out. Do the math! You just lost the election 315-312 to someone who is actually greedier than Daffy Duck!

Here's another example. The US government subsidized the production of mohair from 1954 to 1995. By all accounts, it meant very little if US produced a little or a lot of mohair. & yet, we spent millions and millions of dollars in the 41 years the US government gave money to mohair producers. Why? Because if your legislator or president saved you money by cutting out the mohair subsidy, you would be happy but you would hardly be much of a reason to re-elect him. But the person who was hurt by no more subsidy would be so pissed off he wouldn't be content until you were soundly thumped in the election.

Another example. Western farmers are allowed to let their animals graze on land belonging to the federal government. Normally, if a farmer had his animal graze on your lawn, you would get money for it (provided you were desperate enough to need the money). But Western farmers pay a pittance to allow their animals to graze on millions of acres of land at the expense of tax payers who must pay income and other types of taxes, and at the expense of people overall who pay on a deficit b/c the government doesn't get as much revenue as it spends and we pay interest on that deficit.
If we raised, the grazing rates, people who aren't Westerners wouldn't give it a second thought. But the Western farmers affected would howl for the blood of those politicians raising the fee. Very ironic that Western farmers get so much help but pride themselves on "individualism". How proudly rugged and independent should you act if you demand a major contribution from Uncle Sam?

You can have all sorts of people agreeing with you, but that doesn't necessarily win elections. You need your supporters to break away from the bonds of their routine and help you out. If you reform and don't inspire that, you're screwed.
& that's why it's so hard to reform America from greedy bastards like the health insurance industry. An industry where the facts show that their industry is not as effcient or cost effective or contain inflation as well as Medicare.

does anyone know anything about nuance??

2010-01-20T10:13:00.001-06:00

There are far too many people out there who are either crowing or crying that 2010 is going to be just like 1994. A Democrat president gets elected, people "supposedly" don't agree with his policies the 1st year, Republicans make a bunch of promises and sweep in as the majority party in Congress a year after the President assumes office. Even that small summary of events tells very little of what happened in 1994 and ignores the fact that Clinton's much-criticized tax increase of 1993 helped and contributed to the nation's longest period of prosperity ever!

So, now we have a Republican senator in Massachusetts. & they are predicting that there will now be no healthcare. I wouldn't go that far. First, there is still momentum for healthcare reform albeit not as much as before. Secondly, reform can be passed by 51 votes in the Senate, not necessarily 60. They can still pass things that cannot be filibustered. I honestly don't know if healthcare will be passed, but either way, it's not certain whether it will pass or fail.

Thirdly, last night isn't November, 2010. We don't know how much the people reject or accept Obama's policies until Election Night of 2010. If your in the playoffs and your team is up by 10 points after the 1st quarter, you are pretty stupid if you are "100% sure" of victory at the end of the game.

Here's the most important part of the post. Conservatives and even some liberals are talking about 2009 as being a "failure" for Obama. What a load of nonsense! Obama passed a stimulus package that has helped in ways too numerous to ennumerate here, he passed a budget that finally uses intelligence after 8 yrs. of fiscal insanity and willfully pushing the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer, he passed credit card reform. But now all that means nothing to some people.

Obama didn't accomplish all that he set out to do in 2009. He wouldn't consider what happened last night to be good news. But, please people, why not use a little bit of nuance??!? Why can't people accept that good things as well as bad things are happening in this nation today? We can't say if Obama is a success or a failure for a long time. Further, 1994 didn't mean that the Contract w/ America became law. People and the people that elected them weren't that crazy about a Republican program either.

Also, what happened last night confirms my view that journalists who last year predicting the Republicans demise were very foolish. I might be able to partially agree with the idea that the nation is more liberal now than it was in 2000, but that is not yet clear. There were articles that really predicted the demise of the Republican party. The fact is that anytime there is a businessman complaining about too much government regulation or too much bureaucracy, there's going to be a future for Republicans.

the holiday season

2010-01-14T22:03:00.000-06:00

Going home to see my parents on Thanksgiving has been sobering. It used to be when I went home to my hometown of Ithaca, WI, I felt much younger, b/c it was the home of my youth. Seeing old classmates, seeing the school, seeing certain old shops in Richland Center, I am reminded of when I was young.
But not so anymore, my Dad has Alzheimers and it's sobering. It reminds me of what happened to his Mom, it forces me to recall that Mom had to deal w/ the brunt of Grandma's disease and now she is doing the same thing w/ my Dad but even moreso b/c she obviously lives w/ Dad 24/7.

Personally, I feel old, and it's not such a stretch to think that there's a good chance that I might get Alzheimer's if I become old. That's reason number 5 why I would just as soon die when I'm 79.
Still, I love going to Ithaca, and my kids don't go there enough. I want them to have a strong connection with MY side of the family. There's a built-in disadvantage b/c they are hundreds of miles away, and they can see MB's family by going a mere 3 miles.

In the last part of my 3 day stay in Ithaca for Thanksgiving, I worked at chopping wood and stacking it in their basement. I absolutely love "cording" wood, stacking it. I would venture to guess that it's one of my favorite work activities and probably my favorite physical work activity. Plus, I used it as a way of burning calories. I wish it had helped more b/c I ended up gaining over 5 pounds.

But that was ok, b/c I ended up burning the weight off when I went back to work.

The turn-of-the-year holidays came at a good time. I was working extra, extra hours at work (what's funny is that when I was finally paid for working all those extra hours, this past Tuesday, my ofc. manager said if I ever worked that much overtime again, he would have me murdered).

XMAS and New Yrs. were nice b/c Maribeth was with us to celebrate the holidays as I didn't go to WI to celebrate. The big criteria of a "successful" XMAS is that the kids like their gifts, and to our relief, they did. The problem is that we couldn't take XMAS pictures, b/c our cellphone is making all the pictures miniature. We can't send them in any family e-mails or to my blog! It's a real pain in the ass, and I don't know how to solve the problem!
I must take this opportunity to once again say that I really enjoy and am grateful for my inlaws. If I got along w/ MB as well as I get along w/ my inlaws, we would have never been divorced!!!
So I enjoyed celebrating XMAS w/ MB's sister, her daughter and MB's father. I received the gift of money which is my favorite gift of all!! Ted made sure that I got a gift card from Walgreens.

On New Yrs., I usually don't get to celebrate the coming of the New Yr w/ Maribeth b/c she always works the next morning on New Yrs. Day. But since she had her surgery, she has been off. We celebrated New Yrs. Eve for the 1st time since 1999-2000!!
Better yet, the kids stayed up, and they celebrated with us. We had a fun time and the 3 holidays: Thanksgiving, XMAS and New Yrs. Day were a nice, relaxing time.

a little update, need a little help

2010-01-02T06:43:00.000-06:00

I haven't been able to be very active here, b/c work has been so "out of hand" busy that I have been taking work home w/ me. Hopefully, with more clerks (I was the one teaching/tutoring the clerks so that has made me even more busy), I will have less work to do and more time to be active here.

I also wanted to blog hop and hopefully you'll be seeing me more on your blog as well.

As you can see, I Google advertises on this blog. I would like to ask each and every reader to please, please click onto the ads shown. Here's the deal, they pay out in $100 increments. This blog has some good features but it's not the most popular website in the Internet. (Really! I'm not kidding!), so it has taken me over a year to get even close to $100.

So, please, I'm getting close, can you click onto the ad and help put me over $100? Pretty please, with sugar on it? I need that 1st payout!

Holidays of 2009, Part 2

2009-12-05T08:49:00.003-06:00

When we got out of the car after the fast trip, the kids and I saw a cute bulldog playing in my parents’ yard. The bulldog belonged to my nephew (above).

Brianna, who absolutely loves animals, forgot about unpacking and immediately started playing with the dog. Andy, Ted & I were finding a place to unpack, because, the night before, my sisters stayed overnight with my parents getting ready for Thanksgiving. With people either staying overnight and many more simply spent 5 hours at the family celebration, it wasn’t easy figuring out where to put our suicases and other things we brought. Like everyone else, we were ordered to bring a specific food/drink items for the meal, and they used our contribution in the kitchens. We were happy to do that.
The appetizers before the meal were tasty; the kids and I were very hungry because we only ate a light breakfast before the 3 ½ hours trip. They prayer was said, and the meal began around 1:00 pm. The highlight was definitely the stuffing; it had a taste unlike any dressing I ever had. It was delicious!
Before and after the meal, we watched the Packers-Detroit Lions game and with us all from Wisconsin, we were satisfied with the outcome.

Since my siblings are more health conscious, they attacked this burning question: if you eat a huge meal, how can you limit the damage of additional weight. (Remember it was on their minds not mine). Bob, my brother, came up with a really ambitious idea. He heard (falsely) that my parents didn’t have any firewood in their basement. Since they had a large collections dying from a disease, he sawed several of them down. Jerome (my other brother, I have 4 of them!) corrected him after the first or second tree was cut down. "No, we have plenty of wood, Bob, and a pile of wood that we can barely get done Dad’s chute!"
Bob, Jerome and I were the only ones that worked on wood. Bob’s sons were incredulous that we would be dumb enough to saw trees and stack wood before the Packers won the game. They smartly decided to stay out of the work. They weren’t worried about their weight anyway (I’m so damn jealous!!).
Jerome realized that we had a problem. Bob sawed wood and our chute was full of wood. Plus, we had to walk 200 feet to put the wood in the basement. We had a small wheelbarrow that would only make several trips. Jerome and Bob resolved to stack the wood outside, and then, months later, we would bring that wood in.
Someone in my house (probably my sisters) came up with the idea of walking the weight off. I ended up gaining 5 pounds during the Thanksgiving vacation; so, I was desperate to do activities that would limit the damage of big meals. Emily, Kathi’s daughter, and Andrea, Jerome’s daughter, led the charge of about 15 family members walking back and forth for about a mile. I decided to keep up with them. They walked fast and we were done in around 20some minutes. The problem is my body doesn’t burn calories very well walking. When I worked at the "law firm from HELL (horrible, manipulative boss) back in 2003-2005, I walked 15 miles a week, because I walked well over a mile to and from the train station to that damn firm.

So, while I was home (from Thursday to Saturday), Ted, Andy and I took the wood that was next to the chute and took over 300 pieces of wood and made a 3rd row of wood for my parents. Mom was sweet enough to offer money for our work, but I refused. Friday, Ted and I took the wood that my brothers & I stacked the day before, and I put that in the basement (since the chute was cleared out from what was stacked). I’ve been below my largest weight for quite awhile so I guess I’ll keep trying to keep losing. With things crazy at work, I'll continue to skip lunches and lose weight.

back to losing weight through ANGER

2009-12-05T06:01:00.002-06:00

My oldest son's birthday party last night. He's 14; I'm relieved that he's got some good friends. I spent $116 having his party at HOLLYWOOD PARK. ($100-HP + $16 for cake, WATCHING YOUR KIDS BE HAPPY, PRICELESS!!!!)

HOLLYWOOD P. is an arcade place. I found out that Maribeth bumped up the expense from $95 for the party to $150 w/o letting me know. I put $25 down to reserve party. So I walk into the office to pay the rest and just got floored w/ MB's wonderful idea. Then I got pissed and asked her for more money. I used some tact, I think. She gave me $50. Then, before I paid, I lost my fuckin' VISA CARD, and had to run to CHASE which (b/c they are so big & ubiquitous) was only a few blocks away. Then I paid for it. MB's idea of increasing it to $150 was a good one. The more you spend on the party the more game tokens you get. & WE WENT THROUGH GAME TOKENS LIKE SHIT THROUGH A TIN HORN!

So anyway, I fell in love w/ this terrorist game at the arcade place. I actually used to use guns on the farm and kill sparrows and starlings. *Starlings are a greasy, angry, pig of a bird w/ few redeeming features, and as soon as the cats saw me carrying a gun around about 4 of them were smart enough to follow me around, b/c it meant lunch and suppertime ALL ROLLED INTO ONE. love by cats, gotta love it. & besides, it's proven by those who study them, that starlings single-handedly reduced the bluebird population in the United States. They peck out their eggs, so they won't be born. Wow, reader! Where's the outrage, killing the unborn.

So anyway, I'm playing this terrorist game, and blasting the shit out of the terrorists. I single handedly advanced 4 levels and earned 5 medals. I thought what great therapy! This feels great! I'm gonna be so much calmer when I get home. I was looking forward to my newfound happiness (especially since I only spent $4 on the game) when I got home.

& MB pissed me off when we got home by acting like her usual dour self. Do you realize that back in 1992, she used to come to my place after I worked as a temp paralegal and then: 1. ate my supper I served her 2. laid on my couch and fell asleep! THE END, wake up the next morning.

I bring that '92 story up b/c she obviously had no cancer then and made everyone in the house tense last night b/c she went to bed at 8:45....just like in 1992. So why did I marry her in 1993 if we fought in 1992, and she pulled the above routine on me occasionally?? I don't know, reader, you have a point, YOU WIN!!

So I'm sitting here angry, and bought Beechnut like I did back in 1980. Can you believe that? I must really be carrying a lot of anger and resentment about my fate. I must really be driven to a shitty point in life w/ her cancer and everything.

So, my conclusion is that if you go to Afganhistan and slaughter 100 members of Al Queda, you won't feel happy and smug about ridding terrorists from the face of the earth. It might just make you feel bad. AM I a pretty good amateur sociologist????

oops, time for a disclaimer. I fully support the fighting done by NATO in Afganhistan. So, if you think I'm a pacifist Democrat, you're wrong. God bless the troops.

Holidays of 2009 - 1st in a 6-part series

2009-11-30T10:08:00.003-06:00

I have decided to do a 6-part series of the holidays for 2009. The one that has just occurred and our XMAS.

Part I.

I broke a driving record on a wonderful trip to Ithaca, WI without any unnecessary risks. I live in a SW suburb of Chicago and was going to Ithaca, Wisconsin which is an hour west of Madison, WI. Ithaca, my hometown, is where I grew up all of my 20 years and is where my parents still live. Population growing up was about 30, and it's about 70 now. My high school graduating class was 29 seniors

Now, it's about 220 miles from my current home and about a 4 hr. trip. I wanted to get to Ithaca by 11 am. which meant leaving around 7. That meant getting the kids up around 6:30. They had to be all set before they got up - packed, know what they'll where on the trip and what they would wear for Thanksgiving.

We travel on I-90, and when you are traveling north of Chicago, you have to pay around $3 going from the Illinois border to Chicago. We also had to travel on I-294 which is another toll road as well. You get a discount for using the I-Pass, and you don't have to stop to pay, your mobile transponder pays the toll while you are going 30+ mph. Maribeth was nice enough to give me her I-Pass. (MB works at Loyola and has to pay twice each time she goes to work). We packed, we gassed the car, and we were 1/2 hour late and didn't leave until 7:30. I didn't think that was terrible, and what I suspected came true. Only a few motorists would be on the road on Thanksgiving morning.

After an hour or so of driving with no jams, no stops & smooth sailing, I was getting ahead of schedule. If you can go a couple hours doing nothing but 70some miles an hour, you can cover a pleasing amount of distance. Maybe I could get to Ithaca in under 4 hours! The thing that helped the most, by far, was no stops. No stops for gas, for the bathroom, for eating something, just moving northwest at 70some miles an hour. Things kept getting better; we crossed into Wisconsin, and it wasn't even 2 hours into the trip - it was closer to 1 1/2 hrs. Crossing into Wisconsin from Illinois is always significant, because that marks exactly the 1/2way point of a 4 hour trip.

Later, we drove on the Beltline of Madison which meant we only had about an hour. IT WAS ONLY 10 AM! So, I turned and said to my 3 kids (who were behaving great on the trip and mostly sleeping through the trip), "If you don't stop for a bathroom break, you can spend $10 at Walmart Friday instead of $5". (No, that isn't much money either way, but like my parents, I try to keep on budget and cut costs!) So, they, too, were fired up about making Ithaca by the 11:00 target! Closer and closer and the excitement rose. We were in the same county as Ithaca (Richland County).

We rolled into my parents' driveway, and it was 10:47. We got out of the car beaming!!!

Out of all of the times I drove to Wisconsin since 1989. This was the time when I broke the record for the best time from Chicago to Ithaca. DRIVEN IN UNDER 3 1/2 HOURS!!

the news from my ex-wife, MB

2009-11-21T21:33:00.003-06:00

Late last month, Maribeth had tests and they were, sadly enough, positive. She had uterine cancer. So this is what her Dr. planned.

She had an extensive biopsy done last Tuesday.
The biopsy was encouraging insofar as the cancer is not developed, not spreading fast.
Her Dr. scheduled a hysterectomy for Dec. 15. She may have the ovaries and f. tubes taken out as well. The Dr. agreed. Their viewpoint is that since we have enough kids, MB is 42, and there's the potential for there to be cancer there, be safe and take it all out.
The hysterectomy also will get rid of the extensive problems she has had w/ fibroids. I didn't know this until today but she not only had a biopsy on Nov. 17 but also had a D & C to get rid of the fibroid problem until the next surgery.

We have been praying, and we definitely feel that our prayers were answered, by the encouraging results of the biopsy. The caring process is a 2 step process.

First we'll care for MB. Then we will have to take "care" of the massive, hospital's, physicians', anesthesiologist's and radiologist's bills. Yes, there's insurance (thankfully) but there is always co-insurance, deductible and that's a lot. Oh well.

car insurance is messed up too!

2009-11-19T20:32:00.003-06:00

Sorry, I have been putting off writing about a health problem affecting someone in our family. It's been crazy at work. & now simply isn't the right time.

Instead, it's time to vent. Since we know there will be $100s and $100s, maybe $1,000s in Dr bills, hospital bills anesthesiology bills & radiology bills piling up in a month or 2, I decided that I really needed to cut costs. One way is to find out if my car insurance was too expensive. So I got quotes. The quotes weren't that good, and they weren't beating my current insurance monthly rate. Then they said that I had a car accident in January of this year, it was my fault and the claim was over $1,900!!!

I was thunderstruck; no such thing happened (& if it did you know damn well I would have been writing about it!). So, I got very upset with my agent and demanded to know just exactly what the hell is going on. A person shouldn't be so upset, being angry sucks and makes you look bad. So, I took a breath and said, "Jim, imagine how upset you would be if the credit agencies were all reporting that you had a bankruptcy. You would have an impossible time getting a credit card under 20%. There would be numerous financial hurdles to cross w/ a bankruptcy!!"

It took him a little over 24 hours to find out what exactly happened. While Maribeth & I both have separate car insurance policies, we both get a multi-vehicle discount since we are both at the same car insurance company. 2 years ago, Maribeth executed a 2-way trade. Her Dad could no longer drive so she got his car. Her niece, Kristin, had no car so Maribeth let her have her KIA Rio.

So what happened in January, 2009?? Kristin was driving down the interstate, the front car hood was not attached properly (for some unknown reason), the hood flipped up and smashed into Kristin's windshield. If it had smashed several feet closer to the driver's side, Kristin could have been killed. Naturally, Maribeth, owner of the car, made an insurance claim.

The insurance agent said that while this incident has nothing to do with me, I am getting a multi-vehicle discount. That means that Maribeth and I are once again linked! The car insurance stated that what happened to Maribeth's car necessarily goes on my driving record.

What kind of gomer-bullshit logic is that? I received one consolation. I was looking to save about $20 a month, and I asked that all towing and rent-a-car coverage be taken out of my auto insurance coverage. That ended up saving me well over $20 and now I'm paying slightly over $60.

I still don't think that's right that our records are linked.

what really hurts

2009-11-18T14:47:00.000-06:00

I've been wondering this for a long time, and suspected it for about 8 years.

I'm finally convinced that silence and failure to act are some of the most formidable insults one can face.

Amazing Hypocrisy!!!!

2009-11-12T06:37:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a day honoring veterans and rightly so! We have a bill supported by Pres.Obama, ALL DEMOCRATS and many Republicans which would give wounded veterans MORE benefits. Why is Sen.Tom Coburn of Oklahoma single-handedly delaying such a bill? At the HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY, he gave speeches yesterday about how much he supports veterans! He should get off his Ass and take his Senatorial Hold off a bill helping veterans.

Here's another guy like Limbaugh who is so intent on seeing Obama not do well that even an excellent, much-needed bill that needs passage. Here's a REPUBLICAN, a physician, no less who feels the need to hog the spotlight at the expense of veterans who have fought overseas. As if the Republicans couldn't stoop any lower, here's a guy that tries to make it that way.
Most Republicans are reasonable enough to support this bill, yet Sen. Coburn has been so UNREASONABLE that he has earned the sobriquet "Dr. No". Pretty stupid to oppose a president when he's right.

Further, a statistic during Veterans Day has come out that over 2,000 Veterans have died in the last year, because they lack health insurance. I guess Senator Coburn's insurance is fine, and since he is such a hypocrite in his lip-service but no support of Veterans, he is too oblivious to know the plight of Veterans after returning home from combat.

Counseling for Career Women??

2009-11-11T09:20:00.002-06:00

So, Ladies, Gentlemen and every reader I hold dear:

Is there really a lot of money to be made career counseling career women?

Would you like advice from me since I'm on the way to a thorough schooling of "hard knocks"?

Love some responses.

Methinks, this is showing the axiom, "if it's too good to be true, it usually is".

No, $100,000 year salary for Vince anytime soon...................

son's first encounter w/ crime

2009-11-10T21:53:00.005-06:00

We live in a good community, but even "tony" suburbs have their crime. We encourage Andy to do lots of walking. Late this afternoon after school, Andy was looking forward to playing on the family Play Station 2, because the school gave all students in the district 3 days off. It was the end of the grading period. He enjoyed a boxing game, but the disc was scratched up. Since we have a membership at a store called Game Crazy, he was able to walk the 1/2 mile and get the game's scratches removed, for free.

Unfortunately, he took a path that has many apartment complexes. He was approached by 3 tall high schoolers, all young men, & they asked what he had in the bag. Andy answered, "none of your business."
They followed him and yanked the bag carring the boxing game in it. Maribeth wanted him to report the incident to the police. Andy was embarassed and afraid of a trial where he would have to testify against 3 young punks.

Yet, we all know that in a town of 20,000, the police are very unlikely to find them. There will be no trial. The police admitted that there were a good deal of thefts in the apartment complexes near where Andy was robbed. The interesting thing that the officers said was that they caught teenagers Andy's age making the thefts!

So, what are we going to do about this? Well, 1st of all, it's absolute bullshit to say that Andy can't walk to Game Crazy anymore. It's absolute bullshit to say to Ted that he can't go to Subway when he earns his pay for work done at home, b/c the Subway restaurant is only a quarter mile away.

However, I told both my sons that adjustments need to be made. First, Andy will walk down the much safer US Highway 6, rather than the backstreet he took. Ted will not order carry out when going to Subway, because the young punks were drawn to Andy's bag. He will eat at Subway instead.

Like I said, Andy didn't want to go to the police station. I agreed 100% with Maribeth that he needed to make a report. I told Andy that if he didn't go to the police, he was letting the whole community down. That was a pretty melodramatic statement, but there is truth to it. When something like this happens, the police patrol that area more, and there will be a item in our local paper of a young 13 yr. old getting robbed. I doubt that Andy's name will be in the paper. There needs to be awareness that even in decent towns, thefts happen.

Andy, in the end, was glad he went to the police station as the questioning was professional and matter of fact. Let's hope that safe methods will now lead to safe results.
---------------------
There will be another post coming this weekend about news from family. Just haven't had time.

more news to come

2009-11-06T09:27:00.003-06:00

been very busy at work, attended a Paralegal Conference at the very posh Union League Club @ the Loop area of Chicago ( & more importantly, I actually learned a few things in my legal writing class).
Pray for those women w/ cancer. It may hit closer to home than you think!

I will write 2 posts on both of these subjects, hopefully, this weekend.

football season comes to an end

2009-11-04T21:07:00.003-06:00

On the face of it, Ted's team failed again as they were unable to win one single game (just like last year). But let's make some comparisons.

LAST YEAR touchdowns: 2 THIS YEAR touchdowns 6

yards gained passing Last year: 0 This year: 100

Scrimmages won, last year: 0 this year: 2

goal line by defense: Last year: 2 this year: 10

In the tournament game we faced the 1st place team in the league, our defense held them to

their lowest score. They only had 12 points. Our defense certainly did better than our offense but as you can see from above, there was much improvement.

Ted had 3 times as many sacks and tackles as last year. He was made team captain. He didn't carry the ball last year at all. This year he caught 2 passes for 18 yards and ran the ball for 5 yards.

He looks forward to basketball, and his future in athletics both in grade school is bright and maybe he'll be able to play in sports in high school as well.

a test for YOU :) !

2009-11-02T11:24:00.001-06:00

Your Best Trait is Creativity
You may seem like you're a bit flaky or flighty, but you're really just deep in thought.You are the artistic type, no doubt. However, you are also highly analytical and logical.You are able to solve problems in unique and interesting ways. Your ideas are unpredictable, but they always end up making sense.You are picky and sometimes downright critical. You expect the best of yourself, but others are not prepared for your exacting standards.

for your test go to

http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourbesttraitquiz/

why is a party a good one?

2009-10-25T03:41:00.004-05:00

I haven't been to a party in a long time. I was lucky enough to be invited to one and got dressed up. My daughter (above) really wanted to go with me, but that was impossible. I drove to the party wondering if I would have a good time. When I was in my 20s, I used to go to tons of them. There were a few good parties that I attended in my 30s, and the best party of all was our wedding dance in 1993. After getting divorced and being in my 40s, there are fewer invitations.

2 weeks ago, as I rode to my job on a train, as I always do, a friend of mine was kind enough to invite me to a Halloween party. I went, and the first impression was, "Wow! What a community this is!" There was an electronic gate with cameras that keeps out riff-raff of not the building, but the whole subdivision! I felt lucky that the gate was open when I drove into this posh subdivision.

There was a hayride, and the passengers laughed about the streets being so wide an airplane could use them as landing strips. I happily took a picture of a group of young women when they asked me to.

There were festive games that were played that I participated in. Is the awesome, safe community and the great games by the great MC what made the party? That helped. My friend's brother was the MC, and it would put a smile on your face to see him facilitate the fun had by all, courtesy of Sean and others.

What was it that made this a fun party that I will never forget?

The impressive community/subdivision it was in? The hayride? The music? The music was good. I am such a staunch, true-believer of rock-n-roll, & I was a bit uneasy about rap or hip-hop (or whatever it's called)making people dance and have fun as much as my rock music does.

The DJ played rock after 1 am and people had fun (just as they did to hip hop). I liked the DJ, and it was apparent that he liked some of the same music I did.

Since I was dressed up for Halloween, I went as one of the Blues Brothers, Elwood Blues. & if anyone asked where Jake was, I could conveniently say, "it used to be my ex". Was it fun when I danced w/ the DJ when we both appeared as Blues Brothers & danced at the party for several blues/rock songs? Yes, that was fun, and partygoers seemed to like that a lot (which made me smile a lot).

Still....what really made the party fun was the same reason 2 of the best parties I went to were fun. It was fun b/c the people were friendly. We had a good time, and it was easy to smile with them. I didn't have to agonize figuring out who to dance with, b/c all I had to do was simply go to where they were dancing and having fun.

The people tonight were definitely what made the party fun, and that's the way it always is at a fun party.

2 more weeks of football for Ted

2009-10-24T04:13:00.006-05:00

Ted wears a blue & white "C" on his jersey, b/c he is the captain of his team. He has been the biggest kid on his football team the last 2 years. One game they put him up against the toughest kid from their defensive line and Ted, with some help, stopped him from getting to the ball.

2 weeks ago, against the Broncos, he had 5 "flags" (when flag is pulled off ball carrier, ball carrier must stop) and 3 OF THEM were for loss of yardage or "sacks". One of his teammate walked over to him after the game, patted his "C" and said, "You really earned being Captain today!"

Last team, Ted's team ran back 2 kickoff returns for touchdowns. He's down to his last 2 games. This week ends the regular season, and next week is the beginning of tournament action where they face the toughest team in the league, the Vikings.

Let's hope they can finally bring home a win this Sunday!!