All posts by James DeVol

September 4th

Well…just a short one right now since I want to get out on the bike and take a long one…I think it will be a Steely Dan morning in the ears or maybe “Dark Side of the Moon” but I’m not sure yet…it’s a gloomy day and I don’t know if I want to compound or counteract the gloominess with music…maybe some Neil Young? Hmmm….I’ll let you know when I get back…it’s a little after 8 so I need to get moving…Pandora is throwing up a lot of Simon and Garfunkel this morning for some reason…a lot from “The Graduate”…it seems like it’s reading my mood today…should I put my tin foil hat on? More later…

Okay, just got back from doing 28 miles or so on the bike…rode the normal direction, then at the end decided to reverse course and ride it backwards…it does look really weird going backwards….not riding backwards, but the course backwards…and there was wildlife craziness out there today, too…came upon a squirrel that couldn’t decide which way to run when I came on him so he just spun around in circles until I went by….then there were kamikaze bunnies and a huge group of turkeys that thought they owned the trail…have never gotten so close to one without them being spooked….but, now I’m sore from all the miles and need to finish reading the papers and get ready for a day of racing….so, maybe more later….

September 3rd part two…

Well…I was going to do one about Cheney and the nonsense in his new book but I just haven’t been able to work up the outrage today with the Michigan game being on and off…they just went back into a lightning delay near the end of the third and I can’t remember that happening in a long time. It has been an okay day today…didn’t get a lot done except watching football…did go over to K’s to let Sam out for a run and I should have worn my suit and gone swimming…It could be a fun night tonight with the storms that are on their way and the race from Atlanta starting in a little while….so, I will try to get some political stuff out tomorrow but it’s the weekend so I won’t promise anything….there are many targets out there that I just have to take a shot at…and yes, that’s a metaphor so no comments from the crazies out there, please…

September 3rd

Well…I need to get going to get the bike ride in before the storms come…so, I’ll be back later to finish this one up and hopefully a couple more today…

Yow…that was a nice ride but on the way back a near miss from a storm made me feel like I was in the “Wizard of Oz”….pedaling as hard as I could to just stand still in the wind….looked black to the north but no rain came from it….it was a nice day yesterday but T’s day got away from her so no lunch which disappointed me some but then Tom called and we had a surprise day of shooting pool and I won the week in a one game playoff….and we took it easy so I feel pretty good today…went 15 miles almost flat out the whole way…not sure what is going on but my legs felt like they could go forever today…pretty cool….not much to do today…Michigan starts the football season this aft and that will be a must see but there are plenty of races on, too so it looks like a veg day of cooking and watching tv….yeah, I know, I should be doing more but I get to do what I want…it would be nice to have someone to watch the game with but I’m getting used to being alone and it’s not bad, really….more later…

September 2nd

Well…another night and more of the same….so I really don’t have a lot to say right now…the Lions won another one but didn’t look too good but that’s okay…didn’t see the first string play at all and they still won…nope…don’t have anything to say..will be back later…

Okay..it’s weird how getting the bike ride in can make my brain start to work better…I’m a little sore since I had to really go today to beat the rain that is coming…and that is kind of stupid way to look at it…I was already soaked through from sweat so a little more water wouldn’t have made any difference…and it is warm enough so I wouldn’t be cold…oh, well…I do have a busy day today which is quite unusual…might have lunch with T and then out to shoot pool with Tom later so I’ll be busy all day..then MSU starts it’s season tonight…it will be cool to just have activities all day and not to have to think about being out of work….it has been weighing on me lately….I will try to get back for another one later but no promises…I do need to tear into Obama again…

Gonna do one on sports in a little while…

Well…wasn’t planning on doing two of these today so the prospect of three is a welcome surprise….I’ll be back later to talk about some sports….even soccer just to warn you..

Okay…had to read the rest of the online papers and now I’m ready to go with sports for a little while…I am going to start with soccer since the EPL is now in full swing and my team, Manchester United, is at the top of the standings and looking like they are going to be the one to beat again this year with their 8-2 pummeling of Arsenal this past weekend…there are lots of new faces on the team that I haven’t seen before and the youngsters seem to be taking over which looks like a good thing. And, Wayne Rooney is looking better than I’ve seen in a long time…I’m not sure if they even need Berbatov anymore….Oh, I did find out something about Rooney that I thought had happened…he spent 50K on hair transplants over the off season…looks kind of strange to see him with hair…

Next….I have been getting sucked in to watching baseball again with the Tigers 6 games in front and playing well….I get nervous when Valverde comes in for the last inning, even though he has saved 40 games in a row….there is always some drama that happens that he works out of but sometimes it’s not pretty. I think they did well to get some help for Verlander when they traded for Doug Fister from Seattle…he looked great in his last start but I find it weird to have someone who 6 foot 9 playing baseball….I’ve always thought of baseball as the refuge for guys like me…just normal height…..I will keep watching and hoping we make the playoffs and they get off Leyland’s back…

What can you say about the Lions? I’ve been hoping for a good team since I was little…that was the last time they were any good….well…they did make the playoffs once in the 90’s I think….I do have to temper my enthusiasm a little and I should know that they will probably disappoint me by not living up to their potential….but, Stafford has looked remarkable in the first three preseason games and someone mentioned in the paper the other day that if we go back to the last four games of last season, the Lions have won 7 in a row…..is it okay to hope just a little? It would be so cool to finally see them in the playoffs with a real chance to win….

I was going to do a Red Wings part of this one….okay, I think I will….it was really hard to see Kris Draper and Chris Osgood retire this summer…they were two of my favorite Wings and such underrated players….It is nice that they will both have places with the Wings in management and again shows the class of the entire organization….I wonder if it is the Ilitches that make both the Tigers and Wings such class organizations….if I ate fast food, I’d want to go out to Little Ceasars to support the family for what they’ve done for Detroit and our teams…I am going to savor this season a pay close attention when Nick Lidstrom plays since this will probably be his last one….it will be quite weird to not have number 5 on defense…but I guess things do have to change…

Texas for sale…

well…as time goes by in this primary season, more and more facts are coming to light about how Rick Perry has sold Texas into one of the greatest states for crony capitalism….in the Post today, there is an article that has found the fact that 34 of the governor’s top 50 donors received tax breaks, state contracts, or appointment to regulatory boards in Texas; a huge extension of the culture of “pay to play” that has been rampant under his administration. Didn’t we have enough of this type of crap under Bush/Cheney with Halliburton and the rest of the connected businesses stealing billions from the American people? Then, we have ole Rick out on the stump shouting that only private business creates jobs, that government can’t do it…then, why do we have ole Rick doling out millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to businesses to have them build manufacturing plants in Texas? Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, hypocrisy…..if you want to know what not to do on the federal level…just look at what ole Rick is doing in Texas….

September 1st

Well…it was an okay day yesterday but didn’t do a lot except get groceries…it is nice to have food here again after getting down to nothing….bought a lot of stuff that is bad for me…okay, not bad for me but I should be eating a lot more veggies…well..that’s not true either…I have lots of them that I have to figure out how to use, though, I think I’ll look for recipes today…yep, this one is very disjointed today…the brain is not working too well and I’m not sure why….not much to do today….going to ride the bike out for coffee since there are probably only a few days left I can do that…and sit outside at the coffee shop…not sure if I’m going to go there if I have to sit inside….way too noisy and happy…Bigby’s is kind of like a caricature of a coffee shop….still don’t like it too well even after going there all summer….the pressure is off with it being a new month so I’m not sure if I will get another one out today…I’ll try…

Musings on the end of the month…

Well…another month is gone and with it, the summer here in Michigan and I know it’s a cliche but I don’t know where it went…it has been a summer of being as frugal as possible which has forced me to get creative to keep from going stir crazy here. It’s the first summer in 10 that there has been no one to do anything with and also the first one in that time that I haven’t been out on someone’s boat…I did get out to Lake Michigan a couple of times but there have been no pool parties at K’s and I miss that….haven’t golfed, either, but that is probably my fault but it is nowhere near as much fun to go alone….no, this is not a whining post, just a free form set of thoughts about where things stand and a recap of the Michigan summer….I don’t know why I’m still optimistic about finding a job…many, many resumes have gone out with only one response that didn’t turn into anything but what’s the alternative? To curl up into a ball and say “poor me?” Nope, that’s not me and I’ll keep on trying every day…keep trying to keep my spirits up, and keep smiling at the sky when I’m on the bike, and keep grinning that I still have my health and what little of the brain that still works….and I get to do this everyday…not a bad life considering….

Oh…this is number 62 for the month…made it…again….the streak is alive!!

Manny Lopez is still an idiot after all these years…

Well…I don’t know where to start about this one…I’ve never seen one person be so wrong every time he opens his mouth and still have a job….he’s at it again this morning in the Detroit News where he spend his whole column venting his vitriol against Obama and then recommends that the pres read nonsense to change his economic policy…to start he gives us the old repub lie that the stimulus was all spending of almost 800 billion dollars and it was wasted since it didn’t get the economy moving as fast as it should…but what ole Manny and the rest of the repoub liars continue to ignore is that almost half of the stimulus package was tax cuts…so, I’ll ask this again, Manny….do tax cuts work to spur the economy or don’t they? The media continues to give you a pass on this hypocrisy when the Bush tax cuts did not create one job, not one, and now you want the president to keep doing more of that? You have no standing to give advice to anyone when you continue to believe in the voodoo economics that put us in this mess we are in…geez…

August 31st

Well…a night that I was very good and I feel okay today…the sleep was very spotty and I am quite tired today but I will have to overcome that since I have a ton of things to do this morning…okay, not a ton of things but I do have to do the grocery run and get my hair cut..plus make an appointment to have the muffler replaced on the car. Another month is gone with no bites on the jobs front and I am getting a little discouraged since I’m going to run out of cash after this month…oh, well…I’ll figure something out…need to just let all of that go and have a nice weekend for Labor day. I do have lunch with T to look forward to Friday and it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve seen her….it will be nice to get caught up with her and start the weekend off right. I’m running a little behind in posts for the month so today I will have three to get to 62…so maybe you’ll get something lucid and topical…and maybe not, who knows? More later….