Well…had a little bout with the manhattans last night and feel a little slow this morning…want to get back into the routine and get out to get the papers and coffee…I do have topic for later that is going to deal with the righties expected use of fear and divisivness to win the fall elections and their cynical approach to everything. But that is later, not now…going to get a haircut this morning since the head looks really weird with it this long and I don’t want to have to take care of it…yeah, that is the high point of my day but I am going to make a zucchini provencal for lunch since C loaded me up with veggies again Sat…the salsa I made last week came out good so I may as well keep trying new stuff….more later…
All posts by James DeVol
August 15th part two…
Well…I did go out to GH this morning…it is strange to be out on the sand before 9 in the morning and to have the weather be so nice that it was comfortable to go shirtless…well…comfortable for me, not the people who had to look at me…they don’t HAVE to look after all. I had forgotten how much fun the big waves are and was grinning like an idiot trying to body surf some of them…did get some good rides in but I am sore from using a bunch of new muscles. Was on the beach for 3 hours and I think I was in the water for two of them….I just love Lake Michigan and that’s where my ashes will be spread when I croak…at least that’s in the will.
After getting a little scorched, I took the bike off the back of the wreck and rode it into town (what there is of a town) to get a couple of Pronto Pups…fresh made corndogs they sell from this tiny little stand along the channel…used to take the kids there when they were little and they are just the best with a slather of mustard on one side….then back to the car to load up the bike and made a woman really happy giving her my parking spot at the little GH city park that is just a little south of the State park…got out of there at just the right time since the traffic had started to pick up and it’s a pain to slide the clutch in the stop and go getting out of town. I won’t bore you with the rest of the day…well, I’ve probably bored you already but that horse has left the barn…
A simple solution….
Well…have been reading a lot about the problems that Toyota has been having with unintended acceleration in many of their vehicles. The latest conclusions that have come from the investigations is that a majority of the incidents were caused by mis-application of the pedals…meaning that the people in some of the accidents were pressing on the wrong pedals..i.e. pressing on the accelerator when they thought they were stepping on the brake; similar to the problem that Audi had in the 80′s that almost killed the company. After some thought…well, not a lot I’ll admit, I just remembered they way that I leaned to drive automatic transmission cars….I use my left foot on the brake and my right foot on the accelerator. Instead of the billions of dollars that are being spent to idiot proof cars so people can’t make mistakes, why not just train people to use both of their feet to operate their cars? If the brake and gas were discrete operations that were done with different feet, the opportunity for people to press the wrong pedal would be reduced significantly. Yeah, I know..not earth shattering or politically astute but some times the simple things that pop into my head really do have some merit…to me, anyway….
August 15th
Well…just a short one this morning…loading up the bike again to go out to GH and lay in the sand and swim…haven’t read the paper yet so I really don’t have any other topics but I’ll be back around 1 to and may have something non-political…possibly about the trip…more later…
August 14th Wildlife alert..
Well…got out on the bike early today because the heat and humidity are going to be unbearable later and I like the way the light looks in the morning….have to pass on this wildlife alert that made me laugh…I don’t know if it’s mating season for frogs but there were a bunch of them out on the trail this morning around one of the retention ponds by the e-way and the little marsh that is further up the road. Have not seen any snakes this year yet which is odd; saw almost one a day last year and I wonder what has changed. Saw a huge group of wild turkeys with two adults and about 15 chicks by the woods in front of the church and another pair of adults sauntering across 60th street like they had not a care in the world. But the weirdest thing was the 10 inch smallmouth bass that was laying on the sidewalk by the old KW library…now, unless bass have leaned to walk, that is a strange place to find one….just another facet of the weirdness that is my life right now…
Might let some more crazy out later..so, come on back…
Can you tell I’m bored?
Well…don’t have anything to do today, as you can tell, or I wouldn’t be posting so much stuff today…that’s not really true, I do like to write this post every day and today is one of those days when the brain is working and the midwestern discipline has kicked in to keep me thinking about the things that are important to me and I hope to some of you out there. Or, you could just be looking at this to wait for the final meltdown to happen…are there bets happening on how large the explosion will be? That would be pretty cool but I’d like to get in on the action since I could use the money.
It’s spider alert again here at the old homestead…but I think I’ll leave them for a while to see just how many of them can co-exist in the tiny little space that is my bathroom….they are serving a purpose..had an infestation of those little black flying bugs that were drawn in by some really stinky garbage that I neglected to put out for a few days and their tiny little carcasses are now in every web the spiders have built. The good thing is that once they build those webs, they kind of stay put, and I don’t have to worry about them crawling over me in my sleep. That did happen once….and it still freaks me out.
This is turning into a stream of consciousness thing….and I’m just rambling around into the corners of the head…which is really weird since my head doesn’t have any corners…lumps, yes, but no corners….and very little hair, too. Oh, did try the Rogaine thing to try to grow the hair back but I guess I’m in the 15% of guys it doesn’t work for….and that is really weird considering that I have no trouble growing hair everywhere else..especially in places I don’t want it….and the problem is, most of those places are ones I can’t reach to shave it…and what’s the deal with arm hair and not leg hair going grey? Hmmm….that’s probably more than you wanted to hear so I’ll stop….come back again tomorrow and I’ll let some more of the crazy out…
Here’s the rest of the novel….
Well…it’s been quite a long time but I just remembered my promise to post the rest of this thing…don’t worry, it gets better as you go along….
Let’s talk about the Wings…
Well…yeah, I know, that last one was quite a downer but it was something I felt I had to say…but now, we’re going to move on to something that always makes me smile…talking about our Red Wings and the prospects for a good season. It’s not even that far away..just a little over a month for the preseason games to start. The addition of Mike Modano to center the third line between Hudler and Cleary is kind of exciting, and signing Ruslan Salei to help out Jonathan Ericsson on D could help him get back the form he showed a couple of years ago.
One other news item that I am excited about is that Cheli is retiring and coming to work for the Wings in player development, scouting, and other as yet undisclosed duties. I’ve always liked the way Cheli played and became part of the community here in Michigan and I welcome him back to the Wings family. I am also quite excited with Stevie Y’s start with Florida and wish him all the success with his new team…he will always be the Captain to me and lots of other Wings fans and it is great to see one of the “good guys” get the chance to spread the integrity he showed every day while with the Wings. Not much else right now…for the Wings that is…I still have that class warfare thing percolating so you may get another one today…
Just some thoughts…
Well…was going to get into the class warfare thing…and I may still do that later but I had something pop into my head this morning that I want to share…of a little more personal note than normal. The news reports yesterday were heavily weighted to one story that hit home for me…about a mechanic who chose to stay on unemployment rather than take 150 dollars a week less from basically minimum wage jobs. The repubs, of course, jumped on this individuals choices as proving their point that unemployment benefits give people an incentive to not work and are a major reason unemployment is so high. Really? I know, I’ve touched on this before but the story of the 50 something man trying his best to survive without giving up everything he worked his whole life for hit so close to home that I wanted to share a little of my story that is remarkably similar.
The problem is, I did everything right…I followed all of the rules…work hard, get an education, save money, raise a family, take care of my health; the things I could control…but the one thing I can’t control, my age, is the one thing that keeps many of us from going back to work…no one will hire a 57 year old no matter what their qualifications. And, I do have qualifications: an associate degree, two bachelor degrees, and a masters degree; graduating magna and summa cum laude…first in my class for the masters in management….and over 100 resumes out in the last month with no responses. It’s disheartening that everything you were taught about life, and that you believed in, has been turned upside down and no longer applies. But I don’t want you to think that this is whining because it’s not…it’s more that I’m confused and haven’t figured out the new order yet. I still have hope that I will, but the weight of slowly going broke, of just idling here while I wait for the economy to improve, takes a toll every day. I long for the times when weekends meant something, the times when I had someplace to go, the times when I had accomplishments to look forward to; I still try to smile every day but it gets harder as this goes on…..
August 13th
Well…it’s Friday the 13th and I don’t feel that bad today…trying to figure out what to do this weekend since everyone is out of town…again…maybe I should start doing the same….sorry about the no posts yesterday but I did want to go to the beach and I think the relaxing sound of the waves took away all my outrage; an effect that lasted all day…well, that and the fact that I felt really lousy most of the day. I do have a topic coming about the class warfare that is being propagated by the right but it’s not solidified yet…but that one may be supplanted by something else since I am going to get back into my routine and read the 4 newspapers at Kava this morning…so, on that note, I should get going…need to get a note off to T…more later..
Oh, there will also be a Red Wings update at some point today, too…