Category Archives: My Life

October 3rd

Well…a really low key day yesterday….as I told you, cooked a chicken in the slow cooker that came out great and then just watched football all day…I am getting concerned that Michigan is always coming form behind (or tied) to win but I guess a win is a win. Looking forward to the Michigan Michigan State game next Sat and I am going to try getting some people together for it…I am so angry at Dish Network for their silly contract squabbles with Fox Sports that is taking away my Red Wings…have to look to see what is available on the cable system here…if I can get the channels I want, I’m going to dump the dish since it doesn’t work when it’s raining, or snowing, or sunny…

Not a lot to do today…I think I’m going to copyright that phrase…have to head over in a minute to let C’s dogs out since he is out of town for the next few days…then back here to watch the Lions lose again…there is also a race on but I am losing interest in Nascar with the cookie cutter cars and the lack of innovation…I guess that extends to all racing…way too many rules…like Clint Bowyer losing 150 points because his car was 10 thousandths of an inch out of spec….didn’t they meet the templates before the race? That kind of silly crap is going to ruin the sport…or it already has…let’s go back to the early days where you could tell a Dodge from a Ford from a Chevy….and if you weren’t cheatin’, you weren’t tryin’….I’m not sure if there will be topics for later but I do have some stuff careening around in my head…yep, that does hurt….more later…

October 2nd

Well…a kind of nice day yesterday…didn’t do a whole lot but did have HH with K that was fun and then a few cocktails here so I’m a little run down today…but I did get the slow cooker going at about 7 with a whole chicken this time that I browned in the oven first…made some rosemary butter with bacon to put under the skin. Starting to smell pretty good in here. Not a lot to do today but there is the Michigan game later and an 8 hour sports car race that starts at 11 so I’ll have something to do on this low key day. Not sure if there will be any other topics today but maybe…kind of cloudy in the head right now so maybe getting out on the bike in a few will help that…who knows? More later…

October 1st

Well…another month starts and I had a weird thought that I talked to T about the other day and might just as well pass it along. I have started to look at my life differently than most other people I know, in really small increments that are centered on having enough money to get through a month. Kind of like buying months as I come up with the cash to pay the rent…hmmmm…yeah, that’s about what I wanted to say but it sounded much more substantial of an idea in my head. Oh, well….had a pretty good day yesterday with what I thought were a couple of pretty lucid posts and then out for a while with G for a couple of beers. Not much to do today…there it is again..but I am going to make a whole chicken in the slow cooker stuffed with smoked sausage and rosemary butter with bacon under the breast skin…everything is better with bacon!

So that’s about it for now..more later…

September 30th

Well..that was not a bad night of sleep…but up early again with nothing to do until I go out to the coffee shop in a couple of hours…I am doing this, so technically, I do have something to do so I guess I’m wrong. Had a nice lunch with T yesterday but that is about all for the rest of the week…maybe out to have a couple of beers with G tonight or with K not sure who yet. Geez…I’m boring…so I’ll not subject you to any more of this right now…

I’ll have some topics for later….

Playlists…

Well…as you know, I joined the digital music age with the purchase of an 8 gig mp-3 player a couple of years ago…and I still marvel at the fact that I have my entire music collection stored on the thing and still have about 3 gigs of space left…all that for 79 bucks…oh, nope, not an Apple..it’s a Sony. But that’s not the topic that I wanted to deal with here, this hit me while I was out on the bike..the place that these things usually float into my consciousness…and that is the playlists I have on the player and how it appears that the lists reflect the mood I was in when I made them. That’s not the whole story, though, the other part is the name of these lists; I’ll bet mine are weirder than yours….well…some of them are…the others are kind of self-explanatory..

1. 4Way Street album two…had to make this one since WMP decided to break up the album into chunks…
2. 56 Miles….made this one for the 56 mile ride I did on my 56th birthday last year…
3. Led Zeppelin….pretty much what it says…
4. Lee Michaels….and obscure performer from the 60’s that was part of my growing up…
5. Mixed songs…the first one I made that was not one performer or group..
6. More other songs….just another mix but of second tier songs that didn’t make the first list…
7. More songs….this one was really done before the last one….but alphabetically, the machine put it here…
8. Mountain….another one group list by what I consider one of the best bands of the 70’s…
9. Newest one….I did this one after being in Chicago and getting a bunch of music from my daughter…
10. Obscure….started this one with some David Bowie and then went deep into some less known artists..
11. Others…was just bored and getting bored with the other lists so I made this new one…
12. Steely Dan….if you’ve been here before….you know how I feel about the Dan….

Without breaking them down to further the point…I’ll just give one example of the mood thing I talked about earlier…there are some of these lists that most of the songs are played in a minor key, what I call “lonely music” like “Doctor Wu” and “Black” by Pearl Jam, and I know that I favor this type of music when I’m at one of the low points that hit occasionally….

See…I told you I was trying to lower the outrage quotient some….but don’t let this fool you…it’s still there and bubbling and I know it will come out later today or tomorrow…

September 29th

Well…did the Ada thing with Tom yesterday…it was okay to change up the schedule and it works out well for me since I have lunch with T today and it will be nice to not be rushed….and I think it is just too hard to get started before Tom…puts me at a disadvantage shooting pool…well…still win a lot but I just can’t go from 1 in the aft until after 6…just too much like work. Oh, I did win at pool but my Keno ticket was screwed up and I won’t know if I won until next week. Not a lot to do today, as always, but I think I have a couple of topics that I want to deal with but the ideas are still forming right now…and who knows, they may be pushed aside by something new in the newspapers…

So, that’s about it for now…more later….

Let’s lighten the mood a little…

Well….I do recognize I’ve begun to slide back to a certain stridency that I have been trying to overcome for some time now…but I think there is a place for outrage and I’m going to keep some of it since people are just not paying attention to what is going on. But, right now…let’s take it down a notch, to borrow from Jon Stewart. I was going to issue a caterpillar alert from observations on the ride today but the density was just not there yet…only 18 per hundred feet when the acceptable national standard for an alert is 20. But, stay ready for tomorrow since the trend over the past week has been upward….should I include the graphs here? Probably not….

Oh, did the math wrong and, in the interest of accuracy, need to report that I haven’t equaled last years’ record of 1700 miles on the bike….about a hundred miles short as of today…but I do get to celebrate again later this week when I really get there so that is something to look forward to…and I know you are waiting and holding your breath for the milestone to be reached…don’t worry, I’ll let you know…you can go back to work now…more later…

No outrage today…

Well…I have really been trying to work up some outrage today but I’ve covered a lot of what is bugging me and I don’t want to be seen as a one dimensional writer..that’s not quite true….there are days when I AM one dimensional and if you’ve read any of these you’ve seen that. All I can do is try to make these interesting so you’ll come back….but I don’t write for that reason either…I really don’t know why I write other than I feel better when I do. I did submit a new one to the Washington Post today for the competition they are having to find the next great American pundit…don’t have any illusions that I’ll be selected but it did brighten my day some when I hit the submit button….

One thing that has been bouncing around in my head lately (or should I say again) is the fact that the huge world that I used to inhabit is steadily shrinking as time goes on. I used to have something to do every day; someone to hang out with every day…but lately that has been reduced to Mondays and Wednesdays and even those days are becoming intermittent. I know some of you that read this stuff are around my age…what do you do to keep the shrinkage at bay? There is a seductive component to spending more and more time alone..it allows the ultimate in freedom if you have no plans for a day, but it also makes it easier to allow yourself to fall deeper into the trap of being alone. I guess this whole bout of introspection was triggered by getting my hair cut this morning, looking into the mirror and seeing an old guy sitting there that I almost don’t recognize anymore…where did I go?

September 28th

Well…it’s strange how 5 o’clock has a different feel than 6 or 8…the exterior noise from M-6 hasn’t ramped up to where it becomes overwhelming and the construction equipment hasn’t started beeping and banging yet. Stayed in last night since G had a long day at work and hasn’t been feeling well so she needed a night off…which was really okay since I saved some cash and rested the liver. Don’t know if I’m coming down with something but I have been really worn out over the past few days…It could be that I’m back in the cycle of not eating enough but I think part of it is still not getting enough good sleep…I can remember what sleep is like but can’t remember the last time I didn’t toss and turn all night….

Not much to do today…as always…I need to try to spread the few things that I have to do out longer than 6 am…more later…

September 27th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday…didn’t do too much…watched the Lions lose again and then out to Vinnies for a couple of beers with C…but took it easy so I feel okay today. It looks like kind of a boring week, again, but the weather looks like it’s going to be okay so I won’t have any days off from riding…oh, I did make it 1700 miles yesterday which is my record from last year and I have about 2 months to get to the goal of 2000 miles….might even make 2500 if I work at it but I’m not sure if I can do it..we’ll see. Yep, boring life, but you guys know that already….I’ll try to make it more interesting…but that takes money and I really don’t want to spend too much cash right now…I do want to go out today and find the new Neil Young album, though…so that is something to look forward to…more later…

I will have some topics for later today but you know I take Sundays off usually so I hope you’re not disappointed..