"Who Can... - The Government Can"

Hank sent this along this morning. Looks like it's been around for almost 3 months, but I hadn't seen it yet. Looks better in full-screen mode, just click on the little thingy at the bottom of the window beside the speaker icon.

If you remember the great inflation of the dollar during the '70s, get prepared as it's coming again. All that money you have in the bank will be worth a fraction of what it's worth now.

Just my opinion,
JD

Stomach Stretch - Eat Too Much - Update 22

Wow, it's the first of the month already and time for my first bi-monthly Stomach Stretch report. As you can see from the chart, I have lost one pound again. Progress is progress. :-)

I completed my average daily calorie count for the month of October which came in at approximately (it's approximate since you can't really, truly be accurate when counting calories in food, even with all the counting aids provided on food packages and within web site charts) 2100 calories per day.

An average daily count of 2100 definitely isn't as low as it should be for someone who's actually trying to drop some excess weight, but considering I lost about 2 pounds during the month, it's not all that bad either. As I mentioned in my previous report, I didn't get as much exercise as I would have liked this month either. Obviously, I am basically a slacker, who'd rather sit at this computer and type out blog posts and facebook entries.

As I mentioned in my last report, son-in-law was here the past two weeks and doesn't appear to have thrown me off calorie schedule. I didn't get carried away with meals. My recollection is that we had grilled boneless rib steaks (about 16 oz before cooking), baked potato and salad two of the six nights he was here. We also had chili dogs one night; fried chicken w/waffle fries another night and homemade pulled pork BBQ another evening. We also went out for some excellent Chinese food one night last week. It was good that we were eating home cooking, where you know the exact content of the foods you eat vice guessing what restaurants put into their dishes.

As I won't have a house guest the next two weeks, I will be able to control my intake a bit better. We'll see how/if it works out. :-)

I need to mow the lawn and put down some fertilizer early this week. Fortunately the extended forecast is for sunshine thru the week.

That's all I've got until next report around the 15th of the month,
JD

PS - I know most folks enjoy daylight savings time, but when this time of year comes around I, for one, am very glad to see it go. I dislike immensely not having the sun rise until 7:30. I look out my front window at 6:45 or so and see kids walking up the sidewalk heading for the local schools and it's still pitch dark. At least with the time change, daylight will be showing up before 7AM. So what if it gets dark at 5:30, not much you can do in the evenings anyway once the temp drops for late autumn/winter.

Not Sure I Can Squeeze Into A Kia Soul

I kinda like these scoot around town vehicles, but I'm not sure I can fit into one or that I'd feel too safe on 'The Big Road' while driving one. It's almost as vulnerable as my ol' Valk.

MotorWeek has a long term test on one. Think I'll keep my eye on the results. Neighbor, Crazy Ray, will be in the market for a new car when the weather heats up. His AC quit working and he's got a bunch of miles on his 2000 Cavalier.

Maybe I'll ping the boy and try to pique his interest in a little box with wheels. Whatchathink?

JD

Who Cares???

Didja ever get one of those days when you just think, "Why do I worry? Who cares? The whole world's going to hell and I can't do a thing about it!"

This is one of those days! Maybe tomorrow will be better, but so far today is definitely in the dumps. Just crank up that rascal and drag me outta here!

Hopefully your day's better,
JD

PS - Today's Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday were much better than Monday. I actually started feeling positive again. Can't go thru life in 'negative' mode, gotta be positive for those around you.

Washington Redskins -- Humor for All

In a past life, I was a big Washington Redskins fan. Today I pay little attention to NFL games, but with the Redskins doing so poorly and in seeming disarray as far as management goes, I thot I'd post this bit of humor that was passed to me by my ol' co-worker Gene. Gene's a Cape Cod boy in his retired life and enjoys keeping in touch with Skins fans (something about the Pats). :-)

HEADLINE: "D.C. Police are "cracking" down on speeders. For the first

offense, they give you two Redskins tickets."

Q. What do you call 47 millionaires sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?

A. The Washington Redskins.

Q. What do the Redskins and Billy Graham have in common?

A. They both can make 70,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ".

Q. How do you keep the Redskins out of your yard?

A. Put up a goal post.

Q. Where do you go in D.C. in case of a tornado?

A. To FedEx Field - they never have a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Redskin with a Super Bowl ring?

A. Senior Citizen

Q. What's the difference between the Redskins and a dollar bill?

A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar bill.

Q. How many Redskins does it take to win a Super Bowl?

A. We may never find out in the 21st century.

Q. What do the Redskins and opossums have in common?

A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

Chuckle if you must,
JD

PS - My ol' buddy Gene has good food on Gene's Recipe Page.
Here's a shot I saved from Gene's page showing he and I enjoying lunch at Gunnings quite a few years ago.

Stomach Stretch - Eat Too Much - Update 21

It's been a month since I last dropped a pound...this is likely just an aberration of my body mass, however a pound is a pound.

It has been a quiet week here in the BToS with nothing exciting happening on the food front. Wednesday I had lunch at Famous Dave's up in Columbia. Didja ever get a lunch time seat in a restaurant where you were looking right into a window where the blinds were wide open and bright light was blasting you? We had one at Famous Dave's, a real bummer

Like most restaurants today, it's kind of dark on the inside, depending on a small bulb in a fixture above the table. This type lighting is fine for evening meals, but lacking at lunch time. So they open the blinds. I'm not a real complainer kinda guy, but I did mention the blinds to the manager when he stopped by to touch base with his lunch customers. He indicated he would change them, but that there were folks presently sitting at those tables and he couldn't do it until they left. I believe we left before they did. I had the chopped, smoked pork sandwich with some Wilbur Beans and slaw. Food was a nice change for me.

Earlier in the week I bought a shank portion of a Smithfield Ham and slo-roasted/smoked it a bit on the ol' Weber Grill. Came out tasting pretty good and I've had sammiches off it this week. I don't cook 'em very often, but home cooked, cured ham is just so much better than manufactured ham slices that you buy in the store to use on sammiches. Even the best of that stuff is a bummer. Almost as bad as manufactured chicken or turkey breast slices. Real bummer!!! And that's just my opinion...you're probably one that luvs it. :-)

Son-in-law is scheduled to spend 3 nights with me each of the next two weeks. I haven't gone thru any menu preparation as yet, but will probably bore him with stuff he always eats here, steak, pasta, chili dogs, hamburgers, etc. He'll just have to put up with it!!!

Exercise is picking up a bit this week. I actually was able to mow the lawn before the rains descended upon the BToS. Seems they've been here forever, I'll probably have to mow again as soon as the grass dries a bit. Also have to do a bit of overseeding and get some winterizer to apply. Other days, I donned my slicker and walked around the BToS for some exercise. I've traversed all the streets. Hopefully my next walk, the weather will be decent enough that I can take a few fotos along the way.

As I mentioned last post, I'm going to change my posting frequency. I originally planned to post monthly, but now think it will be more effective if I post twice a month vice just once. So I'll shoot for a Stomach Stretch Update on the 1st and 15th of each month.

JD

Playing Baseball in November 2009 -- Asinine

Here's the schedule of the 1954 World Series. Notice the first game was played on September 29, 1954.
Here's the schedule for the 2009 world series. Notice the first game is to be played on October 28, 2009.
I picked the 1954 World Series schedule to contrast with the 2009 World Series schedule because I was a really big fan of the Cleveland Indians back in 1954 when I was every bit of 13 years old.

This question occurred to me recently when I stumbled across a baseball playoff game being played on TV. I took a quick look at the weather (horrible) and the calendar and thought to myself, "Why the hell are they still playing baseball this late in the year?"

I don't have the best memory, but my recollection is that in 1954 baseball had two leagues, the American and the National. Each league had eight teams. At the end of the regular season, the winner of each league met in the World Series to determine the champion. I also recall that back then, the world series was always played in beautiful autumn temperatures, sometimes very warm and sometimes a bit crisp. The games were all played in the afternoon, typically in warm sunshine.

I don't have to tell you what the World Series is in 2009. Here we are on October 17, 2009 and teams are having playoff games in just horrible weather with games at night with cold, chilly temps. And we're still eleven days away from the first game of the 2009 World Series, which begins Oct 28 and at the earliest will end the first week of November; with all games being played at night!

The World Series used to be a fitting climax to a long 154-game baseball season. Excitement built quickly for the World Series and provided a wonderful climax for each baseball season. Two teams fighting it out to the end.

Today's world series is somewhat anti-climactic. At the end of a 162-game regular season there are eight teams eligible for playoff series which drag on interminably, boring at best. By the time the World Series begins, fans are tired of the baseball season which was so promising back in April.

Sadly, Major League Baseball isn't the only major sport with this affliction. Folks, today, wear out on a sport due to interminably long seasons and interminably long playoff series before the finals occur. Is it any wonder that no one knows who's actually playing in the World Series once it does get around to starting???

Baseball and other sports have it wrong. To them, it's all about the money ($$), not the product. Just ask TV producers, it's all about the SHOW...TV has essentially ruined all sports in the US, dragging them out into playoffs for more and more sponsor $$.

Just my opinion,
JD

PS - I'm a NASCAR fan and there are times when I think their season is too long. But, at least with NASCAR the season climaxes when the last race is run...there's no winter playoff series to muddle through.