The World Series starts today. Really?

The World Series will start in about an hour. I remember when they played it in October. At this rate, the "Fall Classic" will soon become a Winter Carnival.

 When I was a kid, Sandy Koufax missed a game because it was on Yom Kippur. If Sandy played today, he would have to worry about the Series interfering with Hanukah. Today, Reggie (Mr. October) Jackson would be Mr. November. There's a better chance of a game being called for snow than for rain. There's just something wrong with batboys wearing winter parkas.

When I was in school, we would run home from school to see the end of the game. I still can't get used to it being played late at night.  I don't have to run home now to see the game, I just have to struggle to stay up past my bedtime.

Baseball and other sports are carrying this "playoff" crap way too far. It's like the NBA. They play an 82 game season to decide which half of the teams will be in the playoffs. Even NASCAR has a playoff format. Of course, they let everybody keep racing, whether they can win the championship or not. I don't quite understand that format. This all may explain why I no longer qualify as a sports "fan".

 Let's face it. The Boys of Summer need to decide the World Series winner in early fall, not around Thanksgiving

Biking while black??

The Today show on NBC ran a story about black bicyclists in Tampa being targeted by police. According to NBC, a story by the Tampa Bay Times shows that 79% of tickets given to bicyclists are given to blacks despite blacks only being 25% of the population. The city has asked for a federal investigation to determine if the claims are correct.

The policy was defended by Police Chief Eric Ward, who just happens to be black. Many of those stopped are black juveniles out in the middle of the night. The police are stopping blacks in high crime areas late at night because bicycles are a "getaway" vehicle for criminals in those areas. 

In our nation obsessed with celebrating diversity, here's a thought. Since we are all different, maybe some of us observe the law at different rates than others.

Reflections from the Road

I returned earlier this week from a trip to Louisiana to check on my wife's brother and to visit our son and his family. I drove almost 2200 miles on this trip and am about driven out. All of that driving left me with plenty of time to ponder the questions of life. Here are a few thoughts.

Casinos are big business in Mississippi based on the billboards on I-10. After more than 400 years of telling people that in America we can work hard and be successful, apparently we have changed our thoughts. Now we are telling them that we can gamble our way to prosperity. Really?  Look around. Casinos are everywhere, states have lotteries, the Indians are putting casinos on any piece of land that they can claim as a reservation. Do the math, it won't work. For you to win, dozens have to lose.

Indians or Native Americans? I was born here, I am a native American. Right? If the Indians really have their own nations, why can they vote in our elections? Why don't you need a passport to visit a reservation? Who did they take the land from when they got here? Do they owe somebody for it?

Alexander Shunnarah is surely the most advertised law firm in the South. You can't sling a dead cat without hitting one of his billboards. I don't know how many attorneys and staff he employs, but he keeps the outdoor advertising people all busy. You can't go two miles on the interstate in Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana without seeing his face.

I love fried chicken. In Louisiana, Mississippi or L.A. (Lower Alabama), go to Raising Cane's for chicken strips. The service is good, the food is great.

My sister-in-law picked a couple of bags of satsumas for me to bring home. Satsumas are something like tangerines or mandarins. Good!!

In South Carolina, they were just getting over the recent flooding. Signs on the highway warned people not to go around barricades. I guess the barricade concept is above the average driver's grasp.

Traffic in the Baton Rouge area reminds me why I live in the country.

I ate at Popeye's several times. I used to manage one, I love the chicken (see note above). Also the red beans and rice are good. Full disclosure compels me to tell you that I won't touch the Cajun rice. My son and his family went there with me one day for dinner. Memo to Popeye's management: If you have a monthly special and you are out of that product chain wide on the 16th of the month, you need help in planning and purchasing. Luckily for you, I am available to help you. Leave a comment with your number and I will get back to you.

I visited the Bass Pro Shop in Denham Springs. It was my first visit to a Bass Pro Palace. It was like a redneck Disney World. It was incredible, but I didn't buy anything.

Finally, if you are in Denham Springs, visit Mama B's Good Eats for lunch or breakfast. The food is good and you can help keep my son busy. Thanks!!

Executive Order from Jefferson??

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.

ATTRIBUTION: THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to William Stephens Smith, November 13, 1787.—The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, vol. 12, p. 356 (1955).

  A related idea was later expressed by Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac in a speech to the French national assembly, January 16, 1793: “L’arbre de la liberté… croît lorsqu’il est arrosé du sang de toute espèce de tyrans (The tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants),” Archives Parliamentaires de 1787 à 1860, vol. 57, p. 368 (1900).

  And much earlier Tertullian had said: “Plures efficimur quotiens metimur a vobis; semen est sanguis Christianorum (We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed),” Apology, trans. T. R. Glover, pp. 226–27 (1931).

This just in!!

I just saw a commercial for a roofing company which has a "one year is the same as cash" offer. I have a new 2016 calendar that I can trade for a new storage building roof.

My first week of retirement and my weight is headed down as the lack of access to breakfast biscuits and fried chicken is helping.

Last week an employee told me that they had read on Facebook that Chic-Fil-A was going to start opening on Sunday. I told them that if Chic-Fil-A was going to do that, it would be front page news. I also asked them if they believed everything that they read on Facebook. I feel an "I love stupid people" post coming soon.

Another shooting at a university today. Once again, we have proof that criminals are people who don't obey the law. "Gun free zones" are target ranges for psychopaths.

Obama is considering "Executive Action" to regulate gun dealers who sell a lot of guns. Somebody needs to sit that arrogant son of a bitch down and force him to read the Constitution.

In Greensboro today, a young man who is charged with committing 19 crimes in 93 minutes, including five carjackings and several assaults, had an appearance in court. He asked the judge to place him under house arrest in his mother's custody. He claims that he needs her to help him recover from the injuries incurred when he was shot by police to end his little spree. Apparently the judge was not impressed. He left him in jail and raised his bond to 2 million dollars.

Hillary has sent a copy of her book about her Secretary of State days to all 14 Republican candidates. She suggested that they form a book club and read and discuss her book. Probably full of all those great stories about landing in foreign nations under sniper fire. I don't know how she knows what's going on overseas, she didn't know what was going on with Bill and Monica in the Oval Office and she lived upstairs there.

Ben Carson's campaign made a video of how they used Hillary's book and they have posted it online. Note: I didn't see any of them reading it.

Hillary should be glad that she didn't send me a book. That reminds me of the old story about someone who wrote a note to the writer of a  bad review. "I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your review in front of me. Soon it will be behind me."

Old story??

There is an old story about a guy and a hurricane. There was a storm coming in his direction. The governor of his state ordered the National Guard to help people evacuate their homes. The Guardsmen came to his house in a large truck and offered to transport him to safety. He told them, "I will be safe here. I have prayed and God will save me."

The storm got closer and the water stared rising around his home. Rescuers came in a boat and offered to take him to safety. Again he told them the same thing. "I will be safe here. I have prayed to God and he will save me."

The water kept rising and the man had to get on the roof of his house to stay above the water. A Coast Guard helicopter arrived and hovered overhead. They lowered a basket and implored the man to get in the basket so that he could be saved. Again the man told them, "I will be safe here. I have prayed to God and he will save me." As the water continued to rise, the man was trapped and drowned.

When he got to heaven, the Lord was waiting for him. the man asked the Lord, "Lord, why didn't you save me? I believed and I prayed to you." The Lord looked at him and said, "I sent a truck, a boat and a helicopter. You were supposed to get on one of those!"

And so it is with Buffalo Church. The Growth Committee tried to find ways to help the church survive and grow. No one was interested. Bud Parrish tried to show the church how to survive and grow. No one was interested. "What could he know? He's a Baptist" was the attitude. . Alex McFarland tried to help the church come together and move forward. Sorry, not interested. It seems that the majority at Buffalo want to survive only if it can be done without any effort.

The "leadership" and the EPC want Buffalo to spend the next two years "discerning" the direction Buffalo should take. Here's a shortcut that will save you a couple of years. "Go make disciples of all nations." You can start just outside the doors.

Pumpkin Time??

For years at Thanksgiving, I have baked a maple-pumpkin cheesecake. It was our annual pumpkin treat for years. Six or seven years ago at Tex & Shirley's  I started a pumpkin waffle for the fall. We did that to fill the gap before sweet potato pancakes started the day after Thanksgiving.

Over the last three or four years the number of pumpkin items has exploded as growers and food producers have finally realized that pumpkins are good for more than decoration and a pie on Thanksgiving day. I actually think that we may be into "pumpkin overload". You can't sling a dead cat without seeing something in "pumpkin pie spice" flavor. Nestlé's even makes a pumpkin spice flavor chip in the fall. I made some cookies with a bag of those last year. YUM!!

As an example of overload, on Sunday I had a pumpkin cheesecake milkshake from Arby's.. The first half was really good, but by the second half I was starting to OD on the flavor. Memo to Arby's: serve a smaller shake on that flavor. Memo 2 for Arby's: We were at the drive through window. They gave us our drinks while we waited for our food. I was more than half way through my shake when the food came out. It's supposed to be fast food, guys!!

I love Lance Nekot cookies. They are sweet cookies with peanut butter between them. My wife bought a package of Pumpkin Cheesecake Nekots. I carefully opened a pack and tried one. They were great!! Unlike the milkshake at Arby's, the portion was just right. It satisfied my craving but didn't leave me feeling like I had eaten an entire pumpkin cheesecake, something that only a coyote or one of my sons could do.

Now I am looking forward to baking that maple-pumpkin cheesecake this Thanksgiving!!

Retirement and more??

Today is my first official day of retirement. I'm not on the payroll at Bojangles anymore. I turned 62 a week ago and had made the decision last year to take early retirement when I turned 62.

I am going to try to post on here more often. I am also starting a couple of other blogs that are a little more specialized. One is for those of you who are incredibly bored and watch Inside Edition, TMZ and other shows of that genre. You probably read People and US also. That blog will be a recount of what I am doing in retirement. Sounds like a real spellbinder, huh?? The other will be a collection of thoughts on my time at Bojangles. Yes, North Carolina's favorite chicken chain uncovered!!

In the meantime, a few thoughts on a rainy day.

I have also left Buffalo Church. A few thoughts on that are already posted on this blog and others may be found and more are coming on Buffalo Presbyterian Today.

John Boehner met with the Pope and announced his resignation the next day.  Conservative Catholics have already starting citing this as the first miracle performed by Pope Francis.

 

My candidate for President, Carly Fiorina is continuing to rise in the polls. 2016 may turn out to be the year that the American electorate actually think about their vote before casting their ballots. It is time for some serious change in government. More on that later.

 

CMT is on the television in the living room. From here, I can hear Luke Bryan singing(?) or whatever that is he does. Luke's music is for people who can't listen to real country music.

 

Donald Trump has agreed with rational Americans and pointed out that the recent school shooting in Oregon could have been stopped with an armed school teacher. Trump also purports to have a carry permit issued by New York State. Why do mass shootings always happen in "gun free zones"? Maybe criminals don't obey the laws??

 

At a meeting years ago, I heard the speaker describe Washington, D.C. as a "work-free drug zone". Sounds about right to me.

 

Time permitting before I run out of sarcasm, we will discuss the History Channel and why it should not have that name. Another day!!

 

The work of retirement beckons. Time to go.