Money Orders

I need to tell you all a story. It is a tale of how hard it is to get money and how stupid I am. Like usual the story involves the Teenager and her mother (my ex-wife). She (the ex-wife) sent some money to my daughter for Christmas. This is a huge surprise as usually she doesn't bother. So she goes to a western union, gets a money order, and mails it off. With me so far?

She has the money sent to me, as the Teenager doesn't have an ID. So it becomes my problem. Yah! Ok so I take the money order to Publix. They don't cash money orders. So I look online for who would cash the money order. Well they never really say... they do list places that have a Western Union, and I assumed that anyplace that was a Western Union, would cash the money order. This assumption would be very wrong. Wal-Mart, Bank of America (inside Wal-Mart) another Publix, Food Lion, and a gas station.... would not cash the money order because they only cash their money orders... which makes no sense to me because if I owed someone money that was right here in the place I lived, I would just give them cash... not a money order. This money order was from Winn Dixie, we have no Winn Dixie around here.

So finally I went to my bank, deposited the money order into my account, and took the same amount out of my account to give to my daughter. I can only hope that they will take the money order (it was late by the time I got to the bank, so I just used the ATM). Money orders used to be just as good a real money... clearly they are no longer. I was going around town with money that no one would take, with my daughter in tow, trying not to use my bank account. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't have a bank account?

I'm Crooked

You ever look in the mirror, and think something just doesn't look right? I do. In fact I find myself doing it more and more. Notice a gray hair, or a slew of them, a wrinkle you didn't know was there, thinning hair, a pooch gut, you name it, I got it. But I'm not really talking about those things. Or maybe I am. I really don't know.

When I look in the mirror in the morning, I see a part of my lip a little bigger or swollen than the rest of my face. I think it is because of the stroke, but maybe it is just age, or maybe it was always there, I just didn't notice it until now. My wife, a long time owner of a "crooked smile" says, "Now you look like the rest of us... crooked." Maybe so, I know I can't really do anything about it... besides whine about it on my blog.

Or maybe there is some exercises I could do. But we all know, I'm not one for exercise. I mean it is good for you, I know this, but anything like that just sounds like work, and work for a very small, you probably wouldn't notice one way or the other, type thing... well I start doing a cost to reward analysis, and it just isn't worth it.

I do this at just about every turn in my life. More education vs. more cost for that education (without making any more money) why put myself through the pain and suffering? That is what I keep telling myself anyway. Sometimes it is easy, a new car and new car payments vs. old car and no payments. Well, since my car is still very serviceable, has low miles, I'll just keep the old one... But I really do want a two-seater convertible.

Back to my face, well the only time I have to look at it is when I look in the mirror, or a picture. My wife doesn't seem to notice, that or she is being very nice. Either way I'm blessed. And saying that, I guess that leaves me with very little room to whine, complain, or anything else. I'm loved for who and what I am. Crooked face and all. And I love my wife all the more, in fact I love that crooked smile, both our daughters have that same crooked smile. We are just crooked people, and that is fine with us.

We're All Fat... Maybe

On the way to work I hear this story about how we are fat. Well, honestly I know that I'm fat. Not fat guy big, well I guess that term is relative. I'm not like those fat people they show on TV or in print. If that means anything. They also lauded Colorado, because it had the lowest percentage of fat, or obese people. I feel somewhat accosted by all of this. I'm 6'4" and 275 lbs. Do you know how much weight I'd have to lose? About 75 pounds (that is to be considered "normal" 25 pounds if I just want to be "overweight"). Now I know I could stand to lose 10-20 pounds, but I don't see how in the hell I could ever lose 75.

I'd be miserable. I only eat twice a day (yes I know, that messes up my metabolism) because I'm a type 1 diabetic. I have to account for every carbohydrate ingested. So I just don't know what to think about being fat, if I'm listening to someone who may or may not suffer from the same condition.

Back to Colorado. I've lived there, specifically the Denver area. It gets hot there, but it is a dry heat. Right now we've been under a heat advisory since April, or whatever (yes I meant it in jest, but it is hot in the south). And though I see plenty of walking trails... or sidewalks, who the hell would walk on them in the heat of the day? I know it will not be me. I've been a heat casualty before, I don't want to go through that again.

I don't look fat, I mean, I look big, I am big, but aside from a bit of a pooch around my belly (probably a little too much beer) I look normal, no triple chin, no thunder thighs, I don't need a horn to back up, I can see my feet, with the exception of the beer gut, I seem to be normal, hell I test normal too my cholesterol is 154 (with the help of cholesterol meds because of my stroke, I'll always take it).

Which brings me to the whole cost thing, well according to the BMI thing, I have been overweight for some time. So this is to blame for my diabetes? I thought it was because my white blood cells saw my pancreas as an enemy. Now I know it was just because I was fat. The stroke too, I think it was because I gave myself too much insulin. Nope it was because I was fat... Whatever.

It goes on to talk about kids. All of my kids are normal to underweight and they eat the exact same stuff I eat. Do I think that there is a problem with obesity? Surely. But unless we can look at it from just a perspective of numbers and charts we will never solve this problem. And really I have a problem with the numbers anyway, my kids are underweight, while I am obese, I know that it really doesn't add up, so I take it with a grain of salt, but still the problem, if there is one, won't be fixed by only looking to lower BMI.

In fact I've done a little hurting around and I found this site and this site (politics aside) seem to have a much different take on the "obesity epidemic". So now I'm even more confused then when I heard the story on the radio. I am, I am not... who cares at this point? All this is really doing is elevating my anxiety level, and that is never good.

Racism and Time

I tend to get stuck on things. This drives those that know me crazy. Lets say there is a new band I like or in this case Korea, and everything about it. Well I could just say how hot it was (or cold in the winter), kimchee, and how things were down in the vill' (short for village). But it was so much more than that... for me anyway. A recent conversation about Korea got the old wheels in my head to turning.

I learned what racism was all about when I got to Korea. Now I grew up in New Orleans/Southern Mississippi, so what I thought was racism was literally black and white. And all through school we would hear about the black struggle. That is fine and I'm not trying to take away from those people, just hear me out.

See when I was a kid, except for the color of my skin, we were the black people or poor white trash as they say. I didn't have color TV, or air conditioning. We shopped at cheap discount stores for clothes and shoes. Got the least expensive groceries (as in- no meat). We lived the most frugal life. Many times it was dark... because we didn't pay the electric bill on time. That was just a part of being me.

So bring it back to Korea, South Korea to be exact, and how did that change anything? Well I learned that racism is a two way street, the person you may be hating... is also hating you. My NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) thought I had to be racist because I was coming out of Mississippi. Not so much. At least I do think so. I also saw some weird actions by the locals. They would suddenly close or be closed if a black man came in to a store. Why? Damn if I know. But even more than that you take all these different races, white, black, Latino (of every variety), Asian, and all the different shades of white... Italian, Irish, Russian... the list goes on and on.

And you mix them up, throw in a language barrier and you have a bunch of hate. One guy I knew, he was my shop foreman, hated Koreans... and was married to one. He obviously liked them once... but anyway. There was a lot of animosity between the GI's and the Koreans. Odishee (that is Korean for old man) got the blame for a lot of things. Some were rightfully blamed, others not so much. So what did Korea teach me? That everybody hates somebody else, including me, and unless you are willing to listen to the other person, you will likely keep on hating. And the world keeps on spinning, with or without you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you can waste your time hating if you want to... but in the scheme of things, I believe there are better things you can do with your time on this earth. Like crochet or baking cookies or reading the label on your toothpaste. The possibilities are limitless. I'm just sayin'...

Blackberry Cobbler

So I got this hair up my ass... I know where there are a whole lot of blackberries growing. But you see they aren't so easy to get to. Me and my dad used to go when I was a kid and we'd usually find them around junk that nobody wanted anymore... and we called them junk berries. So anyway, I got this mess of blackberries, that me and the 14-year-old worked hard for, got the scrapes and scratches to prove it. We want to make some blackberry cobbler.

So I look around on the internet... and I find this recipe and I go to work making this cobbler. It comes out of the oven, and what happens? Well effectively nothing. I wanted this to be the second coming of Christ, after tasting, it was more like the 5th coming of Melvin. In other words, not so good. I think the blackberries were just not sweet enough, and I think it was because there was no junk laying next to it.

I mean why else would that be? We have had enough rain and sun. The only thing I can think of is they didn't have that old, bald tire or chicken wire or rusted piece of tin underneath it. What do you think?

Happy Birthday To Me

I got a card from my mother for my birthday, enclosed she wrote about me. Here is what she wrote.

The day of June 13, 1975 comes to mind. An oil rig in the Gulf (of Mexico) on fire for days. No one was able to contain it until you were born. At the exact time of your birth, the fire stopped mysteriously. You were and are the Miracle Worker born with the veil. Never forget your impact on this world.

Love Mom

And the cat had 5 kittens under our bed!!

What can i say? My mother is a person who holds on to some superstitions. Still it is hard to take that and NOT think "man, I should run for president, or something". I think that is the job of a mother... to inflate one's ego. I love her, and I know she loves me. Thanks mom, thanks for having me...

I Might Be a Drunk

I'm wondering... I'm I an alcoholic? My grand father on my dad's side was, but am I? I ask this because when I buy beer, the one with the highest alcohol content is usually the one I get, but that seems like child's play. I'm starting to get my kicks elsewhere. I've made limoncello, I've thought about making more. I mean hell, I could drink a bottle of limoncello like it was nothing. Ok I was wrong, I got pretty messed up on that stuff.

What I'm getting at is... am I addicted??? I can go days without a drink, that is hardly a problem, but I'd rather not... I'm just saying, or maybe I'm trying to justify, I really don't know. Ok actually, this limoncello is having an effect on me. But what I'm trying to say is, normal beer is affecting me about as much as nothing, so I wonder if my tolerance has built up or am I imagining things?

I'm no pantywaist when it comes to beer drinking, obviously... I'm a bit more girly when it come to the hard stuff. But I answered the question for myself, I don't think I'm addicted, but there is potential. When I started writing this I felt almost impenetrable from alcohol's power, but now I know different, because I felt the morning after, and the high of the night before... and the sickness in-between.

I haven't felt that in a long time, and that is pretty good, because I don't want to be a slovenly drunk, but I do like to have a drink now and again. Now I know that if I drink too much (at least that is what I keep telling myself) that I won't be able to control it... and that would be bad.

The Oil Spill

I think you know which one I'm talking about. I'm glad I don't live around there anymore. But I've been glad for that since I left the area 17 years ago. I hope that they find a solution to this epic problem, but more likely than not... they will make it worse. I don't know what this means for Louisiana seafood. I doubt anybody does, but you could always look at the news and fishermen would be complaining about something. This may be the straw that broke the camel's back. Or maybe not, I truly don't know.

It makes me sad. To think when we would go to Grand Isle/Port Fourchon and catch fish all day. I probably was never going back anyway, but there is something about having the choice. I guess they (BP) made the choice for me. But I don't want to put it all on them. Even way back when we would get those tar balls in the sand. Was it from lackadaisical safety regulations or something else? I really don't know, I just know it was. now it might be a little different, I'm not there so we really don't know. It is a terrible catastrophe that has happened, but it some respects you know it had to happen sooner or later.

I'm not trying to seem blasé about this, but we are all human. We have a heavy industrial-chemical-petroleum base in the Louisiana/Texas part of the Gulf of Mexico. With us being human, this was bound to happen... sooner or later. All we can hope now is that we learn from this mistake and make it better than it was before. I hope that is what they do.

For the Birds

So I was enjoying a nice warm day out on my hammock. And what did I see? I saw what I thought was a bald eagle, and chasing after him a crow. It is just like that I guess... to a point. It makes no sense, but I guess nobody said it had to really. So then I saw the crow and he was attacked by a mocking bird.

So basically, if you go by bird world standards... You want to be a small bird, not a big bird. Just the opposite of fish, because the little fish get eaten by medium fish, which get eaten by bigger fish. But this isn't about fish, and honestly even the biggest fish turn up on somebody's dinner plate or hanging from the wall.

Back to birds. I'd say if I ever do come back as a bird (no I don't believe in reincarnation, but still) I would come back as the mocking bird. They sure seem to crap a lot, but that is all relative, and who stops the mocking bird? Nobody.

How Much Will You Reveal... oh Blogger?

Though some arm twisting, and the fact that I now have roku access in our bedroom since the Wii can now play movies through Netflix, only make my arm that much easier to twist. My wife had me watch "Julie and Julia" a movie that shows how Julia Child came to be and this woman who decided to take her book and recipes over a year and blog about them (this is the link to her blog).

Well then, I'd be lying if I didn't say "Man I wish that would happen to me", but alas, no one really cares (minus the obligatory family and friends) and there is no famous person of which I can ride along the coat tails. So I'm out of luck. And that is ok, because I don't know if I would really want Julie Powell's life anyway.

It is never like they portray in the movies. Real life just doesn't work that way. I did a little poking around, because I was interested, and Julie through her own narcissism or just because, leaves a lot or not so much that you can read about. Mainly her second book, which she speaks on her infidelity and the recovery of her marriage. I start thinking more and more... now I know I would like to get a $1,000,000 and check out, but I know that doesn't happen.

It is that same feeling that we like about a woman cooking her way through Julia Child's book that makes us wretch at finding out she is no better than anyone else (like Kate Gosselin, Tiger Woods, or countless others). Maybe it is a form of voyeurism, but to put a blog down and post to it regularly means you must have some narcissistic and voyeuristic qualities.

I get a lot of the same pumped up feelings when I get a comment or two from strangers, also comes the feeling I'm talking to myself and only myself when I blog... and don't we all think that's a little crazy? Julie may be a bit more conceited, a bit more narcissistic, a little bit wronger (yes she thinks Hilton Head is a bastion of Republicans, I also know that is bad grammar, but still), but we all have something to hide or rather we don't like and therefor would rather that it were not common knowledge. I know I have had problems with being married, even got the divorce and ex-wife to prove it. There are some things in the work field that I wish I could do over, school I could have gone to (instead of the Army), girlfriends I wish I would have never gotten involved with... hell there is all kinds of things I wish I could take back, do over, just pretend they never happened. I'm fairly sure that we all have the same kinds of feelings.

But that is just it. We can't take those negative aspects of life and turn them off or simply overlook them. If we did, well we wouldn't have very much to write, or sing, or tell about. We like to be bad, for a little while, and then come back... less we let the black abyss take us and never look back. I think that bit of excitement gives us all something to talk about, even if it is someone we have no business knowing about.

You Don't Call, You Don't Write, You Don't Nuthin'

Ok as you may or may not know, I have 6 sisters and 2 brothers. That is a pretty big family, they are all half-brothers and sisters, but still. I always get a pang of regret or disappointment when I think about them, because for the most part, none of them talk to me. Why you might ask? Well I really can't say for sure. Some may not like me, or anyone else.

My family is kind of funny like that. Maybe everyone's is the same way. My wife has just one brother, and he calls her or she calls him maybe once or twice a month. I get nothing. You'd think the law of averages would kick in and I'd at least be contacted by one maybe two siblings. Not so much.

But then I start thinking, would I want to put aside that much time to talk to my siblings? I have almost nothing in common with any of them. Either I have the same father but not the same mother or the same mother but not the same father. Where as, they all have full brothers or sisters they can talk to. But I might be putting to much in that. From talks with both parents, they don't much communicate with each other either.

Life gets in the way. I remember growing up that we were always going over to family's houses on my dad's side of the family. Every big holiday, or just a regular weekend, we would have something to do with cousins, and whatnot. Now, not really. Meanwhile on my mother's side they didn't much want to do anything when I was little, but since I'm all grown up, they appear to be like my dad's side of the family was... so many moons ago.

I really can't say why I am not included, other than living so far away. But, still somebody should/could call. Of course I have no idea what we would talk about. I mean what is to say? I might as well talk to a complete stranger. I went into the Army before my 18th birthday... and never really looked back since. I wish it was different, but everybody has to play the hand they're given. From here, I need to stress the importance of being a family to my kids, and hope that they don't make the mistakes of my siblings.

Lazy Much?

I feel like I'm getting lazy. What I mean to say is, I push though to make a post everyday, because I think (and this is just me) if I want to keep this whole Blog Jam thing going I have to. I like places that update daily, and I want to be that place for whoever may be reading my blog. It is my gift to you, really it is. Do you know I'm coming up on 1,000 posts since I started this thing? More than 1oo movies have been reviewed, more than 100 online comics have been created, and I have pretty much given my opinion on almost everything. I have left my life open to see, especially the most vulnerable parts, i.e. my stroke. I have taken local media to the wood shed, and I have endorsed the good parts of life. I have given more of myself, but in doing so I have reaped the returns that are 1000 times better than what I've sown.

But as I close in on that 1,000 post marker, I look around and nobody has even come close to that. I'm not really looking for competition mind you, but I simply cannot be the only game in town. I sent out an email to everyone in the Blog Jam, asking for help. Help posting, help getting the word out, just general help, because I really don't know what to do to make the membership grow.

My hope is to one day leave the Lowcountry and know that the Blog Jam is still there, still pumping. But so far, I've got zero responses to my email, and I can only wonder what that means. Now I am not leaving any time soon. Heck I might never leave. But I hope than if/when I do, there will be others willing to take up the torch and march on. Big dreams right? Yeah, maybe.

But back to feeling lazy. I think blogging, has hit a stagnation, and it is a struggle to think of new things to say. I can't stand it when a topic gets regurgitated again and again... and I know, I have done it too. So I'm looking for something new, something different. Though my job, I am exploring different career paths. Which means schooling.

And that would take up a lot of time, I simply wouldn't be able to, or at least I don't think I'll be able to keep a daily post, plus go to school, plus do my day job, plus all that other stuff clean, cook, wash etc. etc. So maybe that is my outlet, my way to take up my time, Schooling instead of blogging... Who knows.

Damn It Is Cold

WTF!?!? I really can't stand this, like really, really can't stand this. I guess I could take it if I got to spend the two days when it got real nice and all here... but I had to go (for work) far away instead. When I came back? More cold.

More and more and more. I can't remember when it has been this cold for this long. Which you know is making the anti- global warming believing people happy, or sad, I really don't know, I just wish it would warm up. And all of the tree-huggers, hippies, and Al Gore say that this is just what they predicted (erratic weather).

Me? I don't care, I just want it a little warmer, above freezing at least, because we can't handle it being so cold for so long. If I was in Ohio, or New York, or Pennsylvania, well it would be expected. But I am in the "toe" of South Carolina, and this is not at all expected. Nope not at all.

Which Is It???

I'm at a bit of a crossroads. Well not really, there's no choice involved. But still, I can't wrap my head around two, very different accounts of the same thing. Is it hot or cold, blue or red, rough or smooth? The reports I'm talking about are:

The Best Careers for 2009

and

A Look At Hospital Troubles Across the Country

One looks at the future and one looks at what's already happened. I just don't get it. I work in the health care business and I tend to see things from the latter viewpoint, because that is what is, and the other is just wishful thinking. Sure you could snag yourself a job in health care, but what happens if a hospital closes? All of those people are now also looking for a job. Maybe if you are mobile, single and don't have kids or own your house... maybe then... maybe...

I think we are in a recession and that means everyone is cutting back and shopping around for the best deal. It can't be helped can it? Hold on, try to hold on, and maybe we'll all make it out of this. We'll see in the coming months I suppose, because nothing is as relentless as time.

Party Lessons

I don't think I'm going to have a party anymore. To much work, to much resources, and too little fun. Yeah I think it would be great if I went to someone else's house for a party, but this last one I don't know. I definitely had some things going against me. First of all the rain. It rained and rained and rained, from Friday to the early part of Monday it rained. So no outside. Second of the guests we invited only one of them ate oysters. So we threw a lot away. Third I really didn't know anybody so the whole thing was a bust (at least from my perspective).

I could have bought 1/2 a bushel of oysters and sat down to eat them in piece and quiet, not the 10 or so kids and 10 adults all trying to over-talk each other. I also think we should have something that is ready when folks arrive, not something you have to cook when people get there. Something like chili, or crock pot pork or chicken bog, otherwise you wind up feeling like the hired help inside your own house.

What I'm trying to get to is, I really didn't get to have any fun. And that is why I am here isn't it? Yeah I know, grumpy old me. But it would have been nice if somebody was there to talk to, or if somebody ate the oysters (other than the one, god bless her), or if it would have just quit raining. So maybe I'm not anti-party but I am anti-rain/cooking throughout the party/stranger unless they can strike up some kind of conversation.

Another Look Back

I'm still dealing with my stroke, it's something that becomes integral to just being alive I guess. It's the tiny things now. It used to be much larger items and activities, like can I use my hand to eat (without making a mess) or can I walk, then it moved to finer more dexterous things,.Can I write, can I type on the keyboard, can I drive and listen to the radio at the same time, that sort of thing.

Now I'm on to things nobody would notice, unless I told them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Not that I'm complaining or that anybody has treated me wrongly, because they haven't and I'm not (complaining). But there are times when I feel like I'm in somebody else's skin, or just plain feel stupid. I wonder if I'm limping a little? Is my face drooping? Will I say the right things when/if somebody asks me a question? Does anyone see me writing things down... and how horrible my handwriting is?

I know that unless a person knows that I've had a stroke, they won't notice anything, and even then they likely won't notice because they have their own life to keep up with, and even then on top of that, they would have to compare me now to the old me. So yes I know it is highly unlikely that anyone will notice. But I wonder/worry anyway.

Maybe it is just me or maybe I'm a little conceited. I don't know. All I do know is it will be harder/different to move on and to put what's happened to me in the past. But then again we need to look at ourselves in the past to gauge how far we have come in the present.

My Politicalness

I've been feeling kind of strange lately, like everybody just go away and leave me alone. But that's not very realistic of me is it? So anyway I find myself becoming violently ill when I think about the whole presidential race. First off, I don't really hold true to the vote down party lines thing. I think I would be a Republican, if they weren't festering with evangelical bullshit, also they haven't exactly been conservative with spending. Which might lead me to the Democrats, except I just think they're full of shit too. Exactly how is one man going to affect so much change? And would it really be any better? It seems like it will certainly cost me more.

Maybe that's the whole problem with politics. It costs somebody. The right puts it on everybody, and the left on the richest amongst us. I'm in that percentage of wealthiest. Though I can't believe it. We, my wife and I, make just over $100,000 annually. I can't even imagine how people making less do it... at least around here.

But I'm trying to stay neutral in this diatribe... seriously. I just don't know how inspiration is going to fix our problems. I can't even bring myself to check any websites, fact checking anybody right now because I believe, as hard as this might be to imagine, that the government only muddies the water. I can't say I was better off when so and so was in office, because there's just too many variables to try to pin down. Your job, your cost of living, your personal choices, and the litany of choices for everyone else. Is one man in charge of all of this?

So we come to this, the democratic convention. I see Ted Kennedy made a speech, they were saying and showing how it was like his speech in 1980. Does anyone else find that amusing? Almost 30 years in-between speeches, and nothing has changed? hmmmmmmm... It sounds and smells like pipe dreams to me.

So again I ask, instead of all this crap, this pomp, you know this one came from a single parent home, or that one was a POW in Vietnam, can we get to the task at hand? Or is there nothing left to talk about? Can we not talk of how things can be or should be, and start talking about real difference that we can make now? And just what has been done in year or so that either candidate can hang his hat on? Nothing.

If that's all we're about, the speeches, then why register to vote? It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

Pizza!

Pizza Pizza everybody loves it. Myself included. I've went of a bit of a run on pizza, over the past few weeks. Two really stand out.

Chuck E. Cheese, because it was my 2-year-old's first time there. The actual pizza is forgotten, it's not bad, not good, it just is. Besides you really don't go to Chuck E. Cheese Pizza for the pizza, you go for the games and the show. I feel like my child is somehow being robbed. Back when I was a kid we had Showbiz Pizza, which later was bought out by Chuckie Cheese. It was more of a theater experience. Lights went low, curtains opened, and there were acts. Now at Chuckie's there is no lowering of lights, no acts, hell they don't open or close curtains... it's all just there. She loved it of course, so whatever.


Monster Pizza, my god I had no idea. This pizza is really big, I'd put it a step or two above Chuck, but still below Vinnie Van Go-Go's. I think the only time I'm ever going to order this stuff is for parties, but still.

One thing that does not do good from this pizza eating festival is my blood sugar. For some reason I just can not take enough insulin, I don't know why. But I take extra, and in 2 hours check and take some more... that usually fixes it.

Bette Davis

So I have a bit of Olympic glory of my own, ok not really but it's probably as close as I'll ever get. You see my daughter (the little one) has chosen her pick of what to bring to show and tell this week, and as it was in the two previous weeks, she picked a baby doll we lovingly call Bette Davis. In fact my daughter also calls her Bette Davis. She's got Bette Davis eyes, you know the song? In case you don't I've posted it.




So it's three weeks going, Bette Davis, with no clothes or hair, as she's naked and bald, but those eyes.... They keep you coming back for more. Yeah, I can't be an Olympian, but how many can say they got Bette Davis eyes? Or that those eyes were picked three times and running? I thought so.....

But wait, by some strange chance... Reports have it there was some sort of altercation with Bette Davis and the selection committee. She is not the subject of today's show and tell. How could this be? What will we do? I guess congratulations are in order for Thomas the Tank Engine, for this week anyway.

The Olympics

The Olympics are coming... are you going to watch? At first I thought no, because China's record of human rights is not exactly clean, and the fact that we get almost everything from there. But my wife and I were talking and we wonder if any of that has anything to do with the sport of the Olympics?

I know, there is plenty of reasons you could "boycott" the Olympics. But would it actually do anything? I think not. You could miss the whole spectacle and nobody would care. You could "boycott" all sponsors of the Olympics but I'm suspect of anything happening there too.

I got out of the Army and moved to Atlanta right during their Olympic heyday. It was crazy. You couldn't find a place to live, in fact I lived in my boss's basement for a month. I didn't go to any events or anything like that, though I probably should have. But one of the happiest days in my life was the day I moved out of Georgia and into South Carolina. Too much traffic, too many people, I'm a smallish town kinda guy. But you never know where I could go next.

Back to the Olympics, I think if something bad happens everybody will say "See, I told you" and if nothing happens, then nothing happens. I'm still at an impasse as to whether or not I'll watch the Olympics.