We Need to Move Along

Look, I voted for Hillary. My side lost. My teammates need to accept reality...Donald Trump will soon become our President.

This ongoing nonsense of criticizing Trump must stop. For example: The CIA cannot be trusted or believed. They were wrong about WMD and they are wrong about Russia 'hacking' USA political parties. On the other hand the FBI, which Trump often quoted regarding Clinton emails is a proven solid government agency. And as Trump has stated, "How do we know this 'hacking' is not done by some fat guy in his New Jersey bedroom..."and were not talking about Chris Christie.

And another thing, people need to back off Trump on this issue regarding his failure to embrace Government Intelligence Briefings. Mr. Trump has told the American people that he knows more about ISIS than our military Generals; even the ones he's appointed to cabinet positions. What else can he say?

Finally, our new President is correct and on the right road using 'tweets' to communicate his thoughts and feelings with the American people. We need a leader who can keep us up-to-snuff in 140 characters or less. Who has time to read more?

It's time for you losers out there to get with the program, join the parade, get into 'step' and stop looking for every small unimportant error Trump may make with his comments in order to criticize him unnecessarily. The best advice I could offer is listen to what he says and then allow 24-hours for him or surrogates to explain and filter his words.

Trumps leadership logic is becoming crystal clear...he recently appointed former Texas Governor, Rick Perry to head the Department of Energy. You all recall when Perry was a Presidential candidate and vowed if elected he would get rid of three government agencies: "Commerce, Education and uh, uh, what's the third one..uh, uh..." Rick it's the Department of Energy.

Things will be fine. America's going to be great...again.

Painting and Playing 'Dont' Mix!

A while back, I was watching one of those ultimate fights on television when a commercial came on in the middle of this blood-bath. The TV ad depicted a married couple painting a room in their house. The lady was half-way up a ladder with paint roller in hand and the gent was beneath her to the right using a paint brush. They glanced at each other with rather coy smiles. He reached for her paint-roller and assisted her down the ladder laying the roller next to his brush. At that moment the announcer said, "Cialas can make any moment the right moment." Now, I doubt that I need to go into great detail about this Cialas drug...it's for fella's who suffer with the 'limps.'

Every time I have a Doctor's checkup, the good Doc always asks if I need any of 'those' pills. Next time he asks I'm going to ask him if I'm giving off some clue, which prompts his inquiry or has my wife called him.

Anyway, back to the Cialas television commercial. The couple left the unfinished painted room and disappeared outdoors. I'm thinking the kids might be home or they have no close by neighbors. I thought back to last spring when my wife and I were painting the family room. If I recall, I used two gallons of paint at $26.00 each. The paint roller was $6.00 and the paint brush was $12.99. Now had I been taking those 'Getty-up' pills and I chose to act on the 'moment,' It could have ended up costing me money not to mention that my wife would not have resumed painting after the 'moment' figuring she'd done enough for me in one day. AND, if we would elect to go outdoors for our amorous engagement we could be arrested if the Catholic grade schoolers are out for recess playing on the sliding board adjacent to our backyard.

The final scene in that commercial showed the couple's naked backs sitting in separate bathtubs holding hands looking out over a lake. I have absolutely no idea as to that message. All I know is that we've got a couple more rooms to paint. If the doctor offers me Viagra during my next visit, I going to ask him how he likes painting.

The ultimate fight came back on and within a couple minutes the guy in the red trucks knocked the 'weenie' stiff of the fella in the white trunks.

Don't Decipher so Good Anymore

I'm thinking that there is a direct correlation between increasing age and decreasing reasoning. With each passing year, I seem to 'get less;' I simply don't understand. The only thing more frustrating than my growing 'cluelessness' is having extra gravy on my plate only to discover we are out of bread.

Consider:
I cannot make sense of a President-elect who appoints a number of former military men to his cabinet and yet he openly dismisses the findings of his CIA.

I cannot imagine there is such a great audience for the plethora of 'Walking Dead' television re-runs. Who in the world believes that dead people 'walk?' Okay, I'll give you Ed Sullivan.

Why would anybody buy a product (advertised on TV), which promises a home face-lift in 5-minutes. Bathroom surgeries are seldom successful.

If 'political-conservatives' want less government in their lives then why is our President-elect appointing so many 'Wall Street' CEO's to his cabinet when it was many of these guys who benefited from using tax payers monies to 'bail them out' a few years back. Hells bells...that's benefiting from 'socialism.' This could lead to bigger government.

Since the Evangelicals demonstrated a strong voting block, should not Trump consider appointing a strong Christian voice to his cabinet? How about Joel Olsteen as Secretary of State? We might go down the toilet but we'd have a wonderful smile on our face.

How did MY children, who adored MY parents' ways, come to worship and trust MY grandkids so much? (Please re-read three times!)

Dadgumit, I just looked out the back window and noticed that my neighbor's dog is out of his yard. This is the third time in a week. If I don't chase him down its going to cost my neighbor another $85.00 to 'bail out' the critter. I'll just bet some secret service guy, right this minute on tax payers' dollars, is walking Obama's dog. That ain't right...makes no sense to me...but then again, I am an old fart!

A Daily Possibility

Sports' happenings offer extremes and a mixed bag of emotions. Let me explain my premise.

As an athlete performing on a baseball diamond and running the basketball court or the 'coach' on the bench, I recall those seasons and specific games that remain forever embedded in my memory because of the unexpected and unforeseen happening. Even as the 'arm-chair' critical fan
I readily remember those 'Holy Cow' moments.

I still cannot believe what I witnessed that 1954 May day at Sportsman's Park when St. Louis baseball great, Stan Musial hit five (5) home runs against the Giants. A more recent unexpected performance was that of St. Louis player, David Freese in the 2011 World Series.

I recall the pressure (feelings) coaching several teams, which were expected to turn in banner years...some did and some did not. On the other side of the coin, I remember teams that offered very little to get excited about and yet shocked the faithful with unanticipated winning performances.

Perhaps these wonderful joyous moments from 'out-of-the-blue' motivates me to 'create the pleasurably unexpected for others. I recall the time picking up a restaurant receipt for a young family while traveling to my own rather lucrative speaking engagement. On another occasion, I remember a elderly physically handicapped woman admiring my wife's hand crocheted scarf while dinning out. As we walked by the lady's table on our way out of the establishment, my wife gently placed the scarf around the woman's neck and said, "Merry Christmas."

There will be those who read my words today and take away the thought that I praise self. So be it. You miss the point...just don't miss your opportunities to embrace the unexpected joys and give the unanticipated joys.

What's in a name? Memories!

Your hometown is probably unlike my hometown (East St. Louis) in every conceivable comparison or measurement except one way. I would wager that in your (youth) neighborhood, as in mine, many friends and classmates had nicknames. At least that was the case with the boys.

Perhaps we all recall a 'Buddie' or 'Smitty' but there were also the more unusual nicknames.

Here's a few cherished and memorable nicknames from my old East Side neighborhood:
 'Poochie' Gigalotto, 'Thumper' Delaney, 'Stump' Foley, 'Radar' O'Brien, 'Lumpy' Landrum, 'Pud' Flood, 'Poo Poo' Harper, 'Welder-Brain' Blackwell, 'Huge' Campbell, 'Ollie' Altenberger, 'Butch' Fiegel, 'Marvelous Marvin' Jones, 'Big Tree' Harris, 'Little Tree' Harris, 'Cobby' Perez, 'Buzz' Shaw, 'Big Daddy' Glanton, 'Flea Boy' Washington, 'Pick' Dehner, 'Pepper' Dehner, 'Yonko' Basarich, 'Stinky' Steinman, 'Foz' Ryan, 'Skeeter' Evans, and 'Banana' Balletto.

Oh, I'll also bet you had at least one 'Moe' you knew.

Say what?

My wife had her automobile accident back on November 9, about 4 1/2 weeks ago. Her left shoulder sustained a fracture and she has been in a sling to immobilize since the event. The orthopedic surgeon wishes for her to continue wearing the sling in public as a visual reminder to others to 'stay clear.' He fears some rotator-cuff issues if she does not begin some mild ( light) physical therapy, thus he gave her a script-order to begin therapy.

The therapy center of choice is very near our home. My wife scheduled an appointment and assumed by her conversation with the therapy receptionist that it was the 'same' therapy place my wife engaged on a previous post surgery occasion. We would find out later, it was NOT the same place.

The appointment was for 5PM last Wednesday. We arrived to a darkened office and locked doors at 4:50PM. The next morning, my wife telephoned the therapy center and they explained this mis-direction happens often because the two therapy centers' are near one another.  I'm thinking, why would they not explain the potential confusion when making appointments. I expressed this to my wife when she explained the situation to me. My wife's response? " Well the young girl receptionist who made the appointment really felt bad about the mistake and I told her, it's not your fault because my arm is in a sling and I can't drive. My husband drove and he just took me to the wrong place."

Say goodnight, Gracie.

"Stupid is as stupid does." Forrest Gump

The great showman, P. T. Barnum was credited with saying, "There's a sucker born every minute." Others suggest it was a Chicago con-man who first uttered those words. Makes no difference, I believe most Americans could site several personal experiences or those experiences of friends that would substantiate the meaning behind the old saying.

Let's be honest, we have all been 'taken' with product purchases. The carnival hawkers are pros at some little scams as are many television Evangelists who offer anointed oils, holy water and rocks or ropes from the Holy Land. Perhaps our gulliblness begs the quote, "If it sounds too good to be true it likely is too good to be true."

I offer this blog today on the heels of a recent telephone conversation I had with a long time cherished friend. He telephoned and during the chat asked me 'why I appear to be so critical of American's lack of smartness in many of my recent blog-rants.' I responded telling him that I should clarify my 'true' feelings regarding America's folks; I don't think they are necessarily stupid but suffer from underdeveloped common sense, narcissism and greed.

Let me cut to the chase on this one. There is some fella who advertises pillows on television. Personally, looking at the gent, I would never think him to be a pillow salesman...looks more like a used car salesman or the guy selling veggie choppers at the State Fair. Anyway, if you telephone him and mention the 'TV Promo Code Number,' you can purchase one pillow and receive the second pillow free. Non-allergenic with cooling pillow is $69.99; Anti-snoring pillow at $78.50 and a regular pillow at $59.95. Here's the terrific news: All pillows come with instructions.

I'm contemplating marketing a product called, "My Toilet Paper." Do you suppose I'll need to include instructions.