Well…took it a little easier last night and feel better today…I think the allergies are flaring up again and it could be the reason I’ve been quite tired lately…or the not sleeping but I should be used to that by now. Not much to do today except groceries…have to get something different to eat…way too much pork loin this week since it was on sale last week and the veggies are coming out of my ears…I think I may have to get some fast food since it’s been a couple of weeks since I last had some…maybe Taco Bell…Oh, I may have lunch with T today if it works out and that would be fun to start the weekend. I should have some topics later today or I’ll continue with the afternoon portion of the boring day in the life of me…more later…
All posts by James DeVol
A little sports…
Well…that last one sounded like a good idea at the time, like a lot of the stuff that goes on in my life so I thought I’d change gears and talk a little sports. Not sure how I’ll format this but maybe just take it as it comes to me…oh, that’s how I always do this..
The Lions….what can you say about the Detroit Lions? They’ve been in the playoff I think once in my long lifetime…well, I think they were pretty good in the fifties and I was around then but I didn’t really follow them as a three year old. But, I think all of us here in Michigan fall prey to the disease of hope each autumn; I thought most of us had been innoculated and were immune since they are officially the worst team in the history of football but I see glimmers of that disease again rising as September gets nearer. Last year, I made the point of not watching any games but was not really successful…there is still some draw there for me that I can’t explain. So, I’ll keep hoping that they may have a winning season before I die. Or after….
U of M….it used to be that you could depend on Michigan to be one of the premier large college teams in football and we would have a chance to beat Ohio State every year…what happened? Is it Rich Rodriguez? I’m not sure, but I do know that before he came we didn’t have NCAA investigations and we won at least 9 games a year….BO is probably spinning right now and we’ve lost that special aura that used to surround the program. I know, winning fixes everything but if this is another losing season changes should be made and the responsibility always goes right to the top. I will still watch every game because this was the first college sport that I fell in love with and still do love it. Go Blue!
Detroit Tigers….what can you say about the Tigers and their now all too familiar swoon after the all star break? Were they imposters at the start of the season? There must be a way to fix this but I surely don’t know what it is…maybe cancel the All Star game next year or just ignore it? Keep playing games when everyone else has the time off? Yeah, I know…not legal to do but what they are doing doesn’t work…maybe we can have a winner from the first half of the season and one from the second? Then no matter what their records, you could have a playoff? Silly stuff, but a reflection of the frustration of us Tigers fans.
Red Wings….what can you say about the best team in the best sport? Not much else right now because I’ll have an entire post on them in the near future…it is good that they re-signed Abdelkader finally, and the addition of Modano to the third line may be fun to watch….Let’s Go Red Wings!
See, I can do something other than outrage…
Can’t work up any outrage…
Well…don’t know if it’s the day out yesterday or just my general malaise but I can’t get any outrage working today…read 4 papers at the coffee shop and another 4 online and there just aren’t any topics that have piqued my interest. Or, I’m just tired of being outraged…I’m not sure. So, I don’t know if you know what an unemployed 57 year old’s day looks like, and you probably don’t care but it’s that or nothing…okay, I hear you all saying “NOTHING” but I’m not listening so here goes.
Hmmm…usually up by 6-6:12, a habit that still hangs on after doing it for so many years even though the batteries have been dead in my alarm clock for a couple of years. Then, I turn on the computer and the rest of the equipment and check the e-mail before I hit the couch to continue to wake up which usually takes until about 7 or so. The New York Times online is next followed by the Washington Post and Post Politics to get a read on what the topic of the day is going to be. The first post usually comes next so you guys will have something to read when you get into work. Sending out the two e-mails that I send every morning comes next and, by that time, it’s about 8 or so and time to get cleaned up and get ready for the Kava House that is just around the corner. 4 papers and a medium house coffee keeps me busy for the next hour or so then back here to read the responses to the e-mails if they are there. Bored Yet? You probably should be. Then, it’s an hour on the weight machine to try to stay in shape and get warmed up for the bike ride that usually goes from 12 to 30 miles and gets me to around lunch. Okay, I know you’re bored so I’ll stop here….more later…
August 26th
Well…Tom’s starting a new job today so yesterday’s trip out to Ada had a little more whiskey than normal…as always, I feel like crap today and have been up since about 4…not going to do much today except the normal stuff…I did pickle some of the crops a couple of days ago….tried some green beans and they came out great…along with the zucchini, things you never see pickled. I am going to try some asparagus over the weekend…yep, as you can see, I’m a little bored so I have to amuse myself…and I do that quite regularly…more later….
It’s extortion by any other name…
Well…John Boehner has sunk to a new low even for him and the rest of the repubs….in a speech he gave a few days ago, this idiot put forth the proposition that the reason that business is sitting on the sidelines in the faltering recovery is the uncertainty about what regulations my be imposed in the future. He even suggested that Obama fire his entire economic team because of the lagging pace of job creation since they’ve had a whole 19 months to do it. Really, John? After you and your repub buddies had 8 years to screw it up and had a net job creation when you were in control of zero…that’s right…zero net jobs added. And now you’re urging your business cronies to sit on their hands unless you get what you want…that is to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich and less regulation for business. By anyone’s definition this is just a blatant case of extortion and you should be ashamed that you put your status as a lap dog for business ahead of a nation that is suffering.
What do you offer that is new; that is different than your policies that ruined the economy? Why are you waiting to do something until after the election? If this crisis is so urgent, (and I believe it is) why aren’t you working with the administration to help get the jobs engine going again? Why aren’t you talking to your business cronies and asking them to help get the engine going? Stop the political posturing and tanning and get your butt to work helping America get going again…until you do, shut the hell up and leave us alone….geez…
August 25th
Well…this one is going to be short since I really don’t have a lot to say right now…looks like a normal day for a Wednesday…out to Ada later for pool and beer with the normal workout this morning….I will promise that there will be some topical stuff later this morning or early afternoon…I am still quite elated with my son’s news but that is tempered by the overeating from yesterday that I feel guilty about…yep, I have a well developed sense of guilt about almost everything that I do…more later…
Sometimes there’s good news…
Well…this is one that I love to write….when one of your children exceed your expectations not only with their success in business but their growth as a person you just have to write about it…I am so proud of J (and you can’t tell which child since they all start with a J)…was on the phone with him for an hour talking about the events of the week where he works. On his own initiative…and on his own time, he attacked an IT problem that his company has been working on for over a year and solved it in a week….and was invited to the home office to have the CEO thank him in person, and was offered a promotion and a move to Dearborn….It was just neat to hear him so excited about his work and his life…but I guess this was not unexpected..of anyone I know, he is the only one that can walk into a room and know he’s the smartest one there…always been that way…but he lets his actions do the talking for him….I just love that kid like I love the other three and I am so thankful that we raised such good people….that have been an addition to the world… 
Let’s just refuse…
Well…I’m back and I don’t know how formed this idea is but let’s give it a try…what if we just refuse? What if we just refuse to be scared of immigrants? What if we just refuse to be scared by the imagined threats to the Constitution? What if we remember our high school economics and refuse to believe the laughable and discredited ideas of the Laffer Curve where the right tells us cutting taxes means more revenue? What if we refuse to believe that Afghanistan is as important as the politicians tell us? What if we refuse to be led around like sheep by Fox news and start to think for ourselves? What if we refuse to believe that the First amendment only applies to Christians?
I truly think we need to start to say no to the politicians who use fear for political advantage and re-take the fearlessness that has made this country great…what would have happened if Newt and McConnell, and the rest of the fear mongers were around during World War two? They would have wrung their hands and told the country to fear the enemy, that they were too dangerous to take on…you know that is what they do today with the Islamist terrorists and aren’t you tired of living in the swamp of fear that they spew everyday? Let’s prove to them and the rest of their fellow travelers that the US is still fearless, that we can and will take on any threats without cowering in the corner as they would like us to.
The only thing I’m scared of is that we will lose the great American character that welcomes all religions, that helps those in need, and who always does the right thing even if it’s not popular…that’s the definition of leadership that we need to restore and very few of our “leaders” know anything about that….geez…
Let’s just refuse…
this is a placeholder for an Idea that just floated in….more later…
Why are we such chickens these days?
Well…had this thought while I was reading some of the online papers this morning and I will be adding to it as the day goes on…I think I’ll need the bike ride to solidify it but I’ll start with this….when did we, as a people, become so scared of everything? When did our courage start to melt with just the building of the Park 51 project in New York? Or any building for that matter…why are we so scared of immigrants and a bunch of cave dwellers in Afghanistan? There was a time that we believed we could handle anything; any challenge that faced us and our leaders were of the same thoughts..now it seems that our leaders (mostly on the right) think that we should fear threats that our previous generation, and my generation would laugh at…after all, we made it through the cold war looking at a USSR that had 20 thousand nuclear weapons pointed at us and the largest army in the world sitting on the border with Western Europe. Do you think the threat from Islamic (or any other type of ) terrorists is of the same scope? We have gone from leaders who believed that the US would prevail in any conflict to the Newts and Palins who believe that building an Islamic center in Manhattan threatens our way of life. They should be ashamed that they don’t believe in this country…..geez….