All posts by James DeVol

Lists…

Well…as I read the news today, all I could see were people doing lists of the best and worst things of the past year….over at Kos, one of their writers basically covered everything in his lists but I’m not going to do that….just going to noodle here with what has interested me this year….

Television….there have been quite a few new shows that I have followed…and some of them have landed on the “worst show” lists but I still like them…like “Heroes reborn”….liked it for some reason and I’m not sure why….”Homeland” had another good season and went away from Carrie’s mental condition…not mentioning it much but I haven’t finished it up yet so there may some in the last one….”Ash vs. Evil Dead” has Bruce Campbell in it an that is enough to say….”Fargo” had another good season that I just finished and it was nice to see Jeffrey Donovan back on tv after “Burn Notice”…the show could have used a dose of Fiona, though….okay, that’s enough tv…

Movies…not much to say about movies since I haven’t seen many of them….I did see the new “Jurassic Park” movie and didn’t think much of it…no surprises and the same kind of theme from the rest of them…dinos are going to attack and eat people…boring…The new “Mad Max” got lots of good press and reviews but I just didn’t see what that was all about…it was loud and had lots of action but nothing else to me….I am going to watch “The Martian” later in the week and hope that is as good as the reviews….okay…done with this one, too….more later…not more lists…

A little sports for the end of the year…

Well…haven’t figured out a political one yet so I thought I’d do a short one on sports…I was just going to say that all of my teams suck and leave it at that, but that just didn’t seem enough…so, here goes…

The Lions….what the heck can you say about the Lions? You would think that since 1957 they would have gotten to a championship game even if by accident…but, no…in 58 years, not one damn championship or even a whiff of a team good enough or lucky enough to even compete…and it doesn’t look good for next year, either…but, do I still watch? Yep…but with the understanding that they will be bad…not sure if I know a Lions fan that ever even talks about the super bowl….not in our vocabulary.

The Tigers……boy what a fall for the Tigers…contending for the world series last year and just stinking up the place this year and I’m not really sure what happened….lots of injuries did them in for the most part and staleness of the management team didn’t help…thankfully, some of that has changed for next year but the starting pitching looks like it is mediocre at best…

The Red Wings…after last night’s game, I’m not sure what to think of the Wings…looks good for a playoff spot for the 24th year in a row but I think their mindset is that that is the ultimate goal…just to get to the playoffs…for such a young team, that’s not the way to think…there has to be a loftier goal…back to the Stanley Cup finals at least to get some of these guys motivated….I can’t remember a Wings team that had the swagger they used to have and tuning in to watch we were confident that they would dominate the other team…I want that back…

Manchester United….worst…team…ever…just horrible to watch…just painful to watch these guys play right now and I’m not sure I will for much longer…no killer instinct…no defense..no nothing…looks little better than the David Moyes team…Louie VanGaal has to go…along with some of the players if this club wants to return to the Man U that used to be….I can’t remember the last time they even scored a goal…

Okay…that’s it for now…was going to talk about nascar a little but just don’t feel like it right now….more later…

December 29th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and the huge storm that was supposed to paralyze the entire world ended up being a bust….not even any ice on the car this morning but there is a little snow and I am glad I put the snowies on the car…it looks like people forget how to plow just as they forget how to drive in the snow….huge piles of snow in the road and I was plowing it with the front bumper…but, even the worn out tires got me through with no problems…slept okay last night and feel okay today but a little cranky since I won’t be able to get out on the bike the rest of the week unless the snow melts today….didn’t get anything done yesterday and I should have with just hibernating around here but there is always today….not much to do today…need to clean the bathroom but that is about it….just need more coffee right now so that’s what I’ll do…more later….

Tamir Rice….

Well….try as I might, I just can’t come up with a political topic…one terrible thing that happened just a little while ago is that they are not going to charge the cops that shot Tamir Rice…I wonder how they can get away with that…a 12 year old kid standing in the park, the cops roll up and shoot him in less than three seconds…and lied their asses off about it and they don’t get charged? I guess we saw this coming when the prosecutor started dumping on the kid and his family and leaking details that were lies to poison the grand jury pool…and, this guy is still not in the slammer? I just have no words about this crap that seems to happen every day here in the US…..shoot first,  cover it up and lie seems to be in all the police training manuals across this country…and that makes me sick…..geez….

December 28th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I got a few things done…slept okay and feel okay today…my back is the same but there’s not a lot of pain right now and that is a good thing….I did have to get out and get supplies early today with the ice storm coming and now I’m ready to hibernate for the day…no bike ride since it is going to start raining/snowing in a minute and the wind is blowing way too hard to go out…..and there is soccer on in a while with Man U playing Chelsea at 12:30 and the Spurs on at 10….so, it looks like just a workout today after coffee….not much to do today…I am wondering where the spiders in the bathroom came from and they need to be removed today so that will be a project to work on…but that is about it…I am going to get a political one out later today but I have to find the topic first…more later…

Got some stuff done…

Well…it has been an okay day today starting with a good bike ride and then I was going to put off putting the snowies on the car until I got back and felt okay…so, I got that done and got the caliper pins greased and it was a good thing I did…the top ones on both sides were dry and sticky so now I don’t have to think about that…this will be the last year for these winter tires since they are more worn than I remember…even at that, they are still better than my summer tires in the snow…and now, they just posted a winter storm warning for here for tomorrow so I guess the timing is okay…glad I got it done…okay, want to watch the rest of the Lions game…

December 27th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday and I finally got some cleaning done so that was cool….feel pretty crappy today and I’m not sure why…had a couple of cocktails but didn’t overdo it so that is a little confusing….not sure if it is a bug or not but I’ll figure that out later today…not going to talk about my back today….it hurts but I’m not going to talk about it….I do need to put the snowies on the car today and I’m not sure how that is going to work with my back hurting….okay…not feeling this right now…not much to do today…need to get a bike ride in after the car stuff but then it will be a veg day until I feel better….more later…

More filler…

Well….just haven’t been able to come up with any topics lately…as least any that aren’t boring, so to try to keep up with the numbers, here goes another filler. I guess I could talk about cars for a while….but there has been nothing go wrong with mine in almost 3 years…yep, a 21 year old car that just never breaks down…okay, you’re probably thinking that I’ve just jinxed it and the engine will fall out of it tomorrow but, if it does, I still won’t believe in jinxes. I do have to put the snowies on it tomorrow since there is some cold and crappy weather coming and I want to be prepared when the snow comes…but, the good thing is that we have already gotten through 2 of the 4 months that it snows here in Michigan so it can’t be nearly as bad as last year….by this time last year, it had already been below zero almost 10 times….so, whatever comes, I can take it. One thing I can’t take is my back right now…hurt so badly this morning that I turned around on the bike after about a quarter mile…well…that’s not really true…it did hurt but it was more the 25 mile an hour wind that I was going into…it was a struggle to get into 4th on the rear sprockets when I usually get into 8th on that stretch….okay….that will do it for this one…I’ll try to get better tomorrow and do one that means something…

December 26th

Well…it was an okay day yesterday but I didn’t get much done other than two bike rides….slept okay last night and just feel a little slow this morning…my back seems to be a little better but that is how every day starts and then it gets worse….at least I can sit down without pain right now…when the kids were young, this was my favorite day of the year…when christmas was done and I still had a week off to just relax…and I think I still like it with the christmas ads being done and no more happy happy crap….I am a little grumpy today…was planning on watching Man U play this morning but they look like crap and are down 2-0 in the first 15 minutes…so, no more of that…..not much to do today…have to hit the bank to make a deposit and I may try to get a bike ride in but the winds are already blowing like crazy and there is rain coming in later….should clean the kitchen and I just might…not sure…

A second one…

Well…it has been an okay day today and I did get a few things done…got out on the bike twice for a good 30 miles today but the damn pedal arm came loose twice today…pulled it apart and couldn’t see anything wrong with it so I hit it with a little blue silicone on the threads and tightened it as tight as I could without stripping it…hope the silicone works like lock tite and keeps the damn thing tight….I was out in shorts for the second ride today and that was nice…looks like the last day for the year in shorts but I am only 48 miles from hitting 3K for the year and that will be a goal for the week….the pork shoulder came out great and I did find that horseradish goes with everything…even on a chicken sandwich I had last night….I did hear from all the kids today and that was cool….but now, it’s time to just shut it down for the day and get ready to have a cocktail for Doctor Who….