Well…going to change things up today and not write about politics as I usually do, but about something that popped into my head yesterday. When shooting pool, Tom and I talk about machinery a lot and that got me thinking about why I like the Miata so much. It feels like a machine when you drive it..and there is nothing on it that isn’t necessary….not like a new or normal car that tries to do it’s best to isolate you and lull you to sleep and how you drive it really doesn’t make that much difference. But, that’s not true with the Miata…it rewards skill and paying attention and it will do things that it shouldn’t do if you get it right….I feel the same way about the other machine that I use daily…my mountain bike. When everything is adjusted right so the shifter works great it is easy to forget yourself on it and swoop along the trail with just little nudges to go left and right…about that time it stops hurting, too, and then you know you are doing it right….just a few thoughts…have I said I like machines?
May 23rd
Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I won at pool, finally, so that was cool….and had a nice drive out and back with the top down….slept okay last night but feel pretty crappy this morning…it was a chore going out for groceries this morning and I still feel a little off today…didn’t get anything doen yesterday but eat…made two burgers after I got home and now feel pretty guilty about that…but I know I need to eat more….the legs have been so flat on the bike that I know I need more calories but it’s hard to get out of the habit of limiting them…but, as I told Tom, this weekend, I am going to eat and drink whatever I want…..it looks like a busy day today with F1 qualifying right now, then a drive with the Miata folks, drinks with the twins and then grilling later…..that’s it…back to qualifying…more later…
May 22nd
Well…not really running late but need to get this one done pretty fast since I have a bunch of stuff to get done early today…slept okay last night and feel okay today but woke to the damn car being covered with pollen again and have to realize that is a big part of my head being stuffed like concrete…didn’t get much done yesterday but didn’t need to but I did get out to have a couple with G…and got to put the top down so that was cool…and I am going to make a little cash today so that is a good thing…there was a really cool thing in the papers this morning…the Babcock family took out a full page ad in both Detroit papers thanking the people of Detroit and the Wings for their 10 years there…pretty classy thing to do…..not much to do today….pool, of course, but that is about it….going to be running the grill all weekend and I am looking forward to that….more later…
This is wrong…
Well…just read an article about the tax burden here in Michigan and it just confirms what I have been saying since the repubs cut taxes for corporations here…they are no longer paying their fair share of what it takes to run this state…in fact, the people are paying twice what corporations pay in income taxes just in the so called “sin” taxes on tobacco and alcohol…yep, you heard that right, the corporations whose trucks destroy the roads and whose pollution fouls the air and land pay so little in taxes that the few people that drink and smoke pay more in taxes just on those two items than corporations do with the giant tax cuts they were given by Snyder and the repubs. This continues the repubs plan to shift the burden of taxation to the middle class and the poor while allowing corporations to steal the use of the state without paying for it…or understanding that these tax cuts do nothing but destroy the ability of the state to pay it’s bills, as we see from the fight here to try to figure out how to fix Michigan’s roads. Now, I don’t mind paying my taxes because that is what you do in a society…but taxes have to be fair, and since “corporations are people” they should pay their fair share….geez…
May 21st
Well….running late today and it’s because I did the grocery run and have been distracted by the F1 practice at Monaco….slept okay last night and feel okay today but I am still sore which is getting really, really old….didn’t get much done yesterday but wash and wax the car…which didn’t really help since the car is covered in pollen already…at least there is no bird crap today….I did get the bike ride in and it was strange with my legs going flat about 4 miles from here and it got so bad that I almost thought I wasn’t going to make it back…I know that is from not eating enough but I’m not sure I can do anything about it…I may have lunch with T today so that will help and then there will be leftovers later…I did splurge on some burger today since I haven’t had any in almost a year with how high the prices have been so there will be grilled burger over the weekend…not much to do today…just the bike ride and lunch then some cleaning…more later….
More hypocrisy…
Well….I’m sure you’ve read about the shootout between biker gangs in Texas a few days back,,,but there is one thing you didn’t read about…have you heard any politician say anything about it? In Ferguson and in Baltimore where the people who were protesting (and to be accurate, looting) were black, politicians like Ted Cruz couldn’t comment fast enough that it was a problem with the black community and rolled out all of the nonsense you normally hear from the right…no families, no work ethic…yadda yadda….not that their community is being systematically abused by the police there and that is the cause of these protests. Where were the comments when white biker gangs get in a shootout that left 9 dead with over 170 people arrested? Not a fricken peep from these guys…and I think I know why…the right wing asses vote for Cruz and his ilk and there must be an excuse for this behavior…after all, there are no problems in the white community…yeah, that is snark….just more and more hypocrisy from these racist asses and I am getting really tired of it…where is the media calling them out on this crap? As always…nowhere to be seen…geez…
Babcock update….
Well…it appears over for Mike Babcock in Detroit…it was just announced that he has taken the job in Toronto for a monstrous amount of money…50 million dollars over 8 years making him the highest paid coach in NHL history by a huge margin….6.25 million a year and the next highest paid coach gets about 3.25 million…so, the Wings offer of 4 mil per wasn’t even in the ballpark….but, I think there is more to it than money…he now has the opportunity to take an original 6 team and rebuild it and try to prove he is as good of a coach as Scotty Bowman…that’s a stretch…. and I can’t wait to beat them next year….
Bye, bye, Mike….
Well…it appears from the news reports that Mike Babcock is going to leave the Red Wings for somewhere else when his contact expires at the end of June. I really don’t think this is that big of a surprise after he decided to talk to other teams about a month ago…I can’t remember any other coach looking at other teams and then coming back to his current team and signing…so, I guess this is goodbye, Mike…it was fun having you in Detroit and I hope you do well at your next stop…..
May 20th
Well…running a little late this morning and it’s because I just can’t get going….may have to have 3 cups of coffee just for the jump start…slept okay last night but woke up really sore and I have been hobbling around which is really annoying….need to take an ibuprofen before the bike ride so my wrists don’t hurt…the good thing is my tricep has been better the past few days and that is a good thing…I don’t think my car has ever been as dirty as it was when I went out for the papers this morning…it appears that a whole flock of birds decided to crap all over it and it mixed well with the pollen that has been accumulating for the past week….going to wash it after I work out this morning since I just can’t stand it being so dirty….not much to do today….going to get some spider patrolling done and get rid of the stack of papers but that is about it…more later…
Jeb just keeps digging…
Well…just read a new piece over at Kos and thought I should comment on it…but first, happy birthday to Pete Townsend…70 years old today…okay, back to Jeb…his pandering to the religious right just got deeper yesterday with his weighing in on the religious “freedom” laws that are propagating in repub controlled states and on the idea that christians should be allowed to discriminate against anyone they want since it is part of their “faith”….here’s the money quote…actually a paraphrase: faith means the ability to do whatever they think is right based on their faith…..did you get that one? Ole Jeb believes that faith gives you the right to pick and choose whatever laws you want to follow….so you think it’s right to murder doctors that perform abortions? A-OK with Jeb. If you think it’s alright to murder people that are not the “right” color….A-OK with Jeb….you can see where this pandering is going, right? They guy who is running to protect the Constitution and our laws is giving a little wink to the religious nuts with that old quote form Orwell’s “Animal Farm” “everyone’s equal but pigs are a little more equal than the others”….so now he is going to create a “special” protected class that get’s to do whatever they damn well please…as if they don’t already…geez…