I'm not sure how to put into words some of the pictures I have seen of NYC, NJ, and then the blizzards of WV. The "easiest" way is, rather typically, to make it about me. I am not sure if it was in the late 40's or early 50's--I do know it was pre-divorce and it was while we were living in an apartment in Miami's Northwest section---for those of you familiar--close to NW 54th St, and 1st Avenue. Big time hurricane blew the roof off the apartment. We spent the night in the Knotty Pine bar and being of age I got drunk--no no that's not true nor is it the point since I was obviously a wee small tot. The point is these events are horrific and even though this time the hysterical weather people were right on target, in many ways it does not matter how well prepared you are. Bad things are going to happen to mostly good people. For me (since this is about me), the ultimate irony is this: while in VISTA, Barbara and I lived a block from the same location and even went to the bar for a drink or two. No hurricanes that year. I do hope those of you in the path of sandy are ok.
Moving on--four years ago my colleague BG and I had our monthly lunch and I shared with her my great anxiety about McCain and Palin. She reassured me/told me not to worry. Told me Barack would win. Went home and felt much more relaxed and of course she was correct. We were supposed to have lunch last week but she had to cancel so I have had to spend the last week calming myself which is way too hard. On the other hand, my boy Nate and his algorithms have not wavered especially since about 10/18--since then, he's got Obama ahead by almost 2% nationally and ahead in almost every swing state poll. So I find myself actually a bit calmer than I have any right to be--which of course makes me wonder why--which of course leads to being anxious about being calm. Get it?
Forgot to mention this a while ago. During the week of 10/8, Donnesbury ran about a week's worth of strips imagining the Mitter doing his Mormon mission in Paris. Absolutely hysterically funny as the Mitter tried to get this cigarette smoking French guy to give up wine and all other terrible things. Oh my--Trudeau is still going strong. Jon Stewart has been all over the Mitter as well but has had no shows this week because of Sandy. But the last two weeks he has been terrific.
Obama did wake up during the last two debates and kicked some serious ass especially when focused on foreign policy. I kept thinking of Sarah Palin telling us she could see Russia from her office which qualified her for Veep. Romney was in the same position and I personally resent how he has adopted my tribe in his campaign. This election is not being held in Israel and if it were, it is not clear to me he would win there either.
Some more bits and pieces. Ann Coulter is not apologizing for using the word "retard" to describe the President of the United States. Not apologizing to him or to those with developmental disabilities she has slurred. She is a fucking idiot and if her hair was not straight and blonde, I am pretty sure she would be working in a 7/11.
The little twerp Adelson and his twerpier wife just gave the Mitter 10 million more. I hope he goes bankrupt over this but he is sitting on top of mounds of gambling money and there is no end to it. And the guys on Wall Street now hate Obama even though he saved their asses. And the Mitter is out there in Ohio trying to explain how the auto bailout was his idea. He is fucked. Scary that he and Ryan (if they won) would get a number of appointments to the Supreme court. If that doesn't scare you (and if i did not mention it before)read Jeffrey Toobin's book about the Supremes. We are all still waiting for Clarence to ask a question.
Jessica sent me a Times op-ed piece by Roger Cohen about Cuyahoga County/Cleveland and the race for Senate which is splitting the Jewish community--Sherrod Brown the incumbent is wonderful but is running against a conservative (very conservative) Jewish guy who of course is playing the Israel card all over the place. The community is in big time conflict over what to do. Great article.
Enough.
SPORTS TALK
Ozzie Guillen got fired which is not surprising. When you hire Ozzie you should know what you are getting--a loud, outspoken, in your face manager who happens to be very good at managing. So the firing was not a surprise. What should concern all of us is that part of the firing was due to his temerity in suggesting that the fall of Batista was not a bad thing and Fidel actually had a good idea or two. Bingo--those old right wing Cuban farts went off. That is part of why Ozzie was fired.
Justin Verlander pretty much says this: give me the ball; I will throw 100 or more pitches; I will be throwing as hard in the end as in the beginning; and I will just keep chucking. Now, of course, he lost in the series but the guy is special. The Yanks lived and died by the home run. I just hope they get rid of A Rod.
You Red Flop fans miss Scutaro? Bob Lobel would be saying "why don't we get players like that"? He was like Bobby Richardson when the Yankees played the Giants in the 60's. So hot and always coming through. You do realize that Sergio Romo throws in the 80's. He's not like our old friend Pap blowing people away but also blwoing saves in the process. All Romo does is throw strikes and confuse hitters. Abe would be a happy man today.
The question about the Pats is have they really turned the corner or are the Rams just plain bad? In theory, they have two tough games left--Houston and SF both at home. Otherwise, they should run the table if they can keep their heads on straight.
Sayonara
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
HAS THE BLEEDING STOPPED?
But first a word from our sponsors. Returned from a visit to Austin. Made sure I ate those wonderful flour tortillas with scrambled eggs--not at a food truck but in a cafe. But still quite special and have already gone out and bought a supply of tortillas for the house. Most importantly, we saw Anna and took an overnight trip into the hill country of central Texas--that would be the area made famous by LBJ. Stayed on a "real" ranch, ate bar bq on the way in a town right out of Friday Night Lights and boasting 4 different bar bq places--all famous. Spent time at what had to be one of the worlds largest flea markets and noticed very few Obama signs--surprise. A night on the town in Austin at this terrific restaurant populated by a whole bunch of West Virginia football fans whose team the next day clobbered the Horns. Just a great time and love how much Anna has inculcated herself into the culture and life there. Just about a year since her arrival.
Moving on--in terms of the bleeding which started after Obama's pathetic debate performance. Even Nate's fancy algorithms had him losing all sorts of numbers and percentages. But today some of those started turning in a better direction. Come on, probably any of us could "beat" the Mitter assuming we had more interest in the process than the Prez did. At least Joe Biden was feisty and angry and battled--but about those smiles, I just don't know--maybe his Lithium was either kicking in or shutting down. But he took no shit. Barack rolled over. Tomorrow night is very important.
Speaking of Nate, first of all I try oh so hard not to check in on his blog more than twice a day--morning and evening. But sometimes polls come out and I find myself peeking in the middle of the day. I feel like I am following this thing much too closely. Then of course I am reading Jeffrey Toobin's book on the Supremes and Barack and really do know it matters who gets the next appointments to that court.
Back to Nate who was joined by Bill Schneider formerly of CNN. Focus was on the Jewish vote (after all we were in a synagogue!!). Did you know the largest % of Jews live in NY, NJ, and California--all 3 of which are safely in Barack's pocket and therefore the Jewish vote is irrelevant. We are almost irrelevant anyway in terms of voting since we represent 3% of the electorate--except of course in 3 counties in Florida. Those would be Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. That is the only place in this election where the Jewish vote matters and only if they turnout. They can counter the red necks up thee in the Panhandle. Nate is by the way such a nerd/geek that he could be the poster boy--but oh so fucking smart. Get this--he is not really Jewish since his mother is not. He said given his name, everybody thinks he is. He passes!!
One of you knuckleheads (I forget who) convinced me I was crazy and the Colorado river did not go through Austin. IT DOES AND I SAW IT IN PERSON AND ON A MAP. Only possibility is that there are two of these named Colorado. But I guarantee one is in downtown Austin. Just proves it takes very little to make me crazy.
Speaking of which, I nearly blew up at the TSA slobbola who harassed me at Logan on our way to Austin. Remember in High School chemistry, we had those strips (forgot the name) which told us something either was an acid or it was something else. Well after exploring my entire suitcase, he decided he needed to use one of those strips on a salve I had in my bag and when I asked him why, he suggested I could choose not to fly. Really these folks have convinced me that they have never been trained in any sort of human relations and simply are flung on the job after they have failed to become cops. But being so mature and being that I wanted to see Anna, I kept my mouth shut.
SPORTS TALK
CC Sabbathia is the only Yankee pulling his weight and though it is a lot of weight, it won't be enough. Then Jeter breaks his leg. I was not optimistic before and now...In mid summer both their pitching and hitting were hot. Since then, either one or the other has been off. Now it is the hitters who have yet to face Verlander and have made the other two look like Cy Young.
Can any of the Pats defensive backs cover anyone? Some of the talking heads say it is a mental problem--they cannot put teams away. I think maybe but they still have to cover. Brady uncharacteristically made 4 mistakes that did not help--2 interceptions and 2 intentional groundings. But they still could have won. Lucky they play in a terrible division.
Good luck with the red flop manager search. I could not care less except please note that Brad Ausmus is Jewish and just finished managing Israel in the World Baseball Classic. I will say a prayer for him this Friday night at shul.
Happy birthday Oliver (he is 5 now).
Sayonara
Moving on--in terms of the bleeding which started after Obama's pathetic debate performance. Even Nate's fancy algorithms had him losing all sorts of numbers and percentages. But today some of those started turning in a better direction. Come on, probably any of us could "beat" the Mitter assuming we had more interest in the process than the Prez did. At least Joe Biden was feisty and angry and battled--but about those smiles, I just don't know--maybe his Lithium was either kicking in or shutting down. But he took no shit. Barack rolled over. Tomorrow night is very important.
Speaking of Nate, first of all I try oh so hard not to check in on his blog more than twice a day--morning and evening. But sometimes polls come out and I find myself peeking in the middle of the day. I feel like I am following this thing much too closely. Then of course I am reading Jeffrey Toobin's book on the Supremes and Barack and really do know it matters who gets the next appointments to that court.
Back to Nate who was joined by Bill Schneider formerly of CNN. Focus was on the Jewish vote (after all we were in a synagogue!!). Did you know the largest % of Jews live in NY, NJ, and California--all 3 of which are safely in Barack's pocket and therefore the Jewish vote is irrelevant. We are almost irrelevant anyway in terms of voting since we represent 3% of the electorate--except of course in 3 counties in Florida. Those would be Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. That is the only place in this election where the Jewish vote matters and only if they turnout. They can counter the red necks up thee in the Panhandle. Nate is by the way such a nerd/geek that he could be the poster boy--but oh so fucking smart. Get this--he is not really Jewish since his mother is not. He said given his name, everybody thinks he is. He passes!!
One of you knuckleheads (I forget who) convinced me I was crazy and the Colorado river did not go through Austin. IT DOES AND I SAW IT IN PERSON AND ON A MAP. Only possibility is that there are two of these named Colorado. But I guarantee one is in downtown Austin. Just proves it takes very little to make me crazy.
Speaking of which, I nearly blew up at the TSA slobbola who harassed me at Logan on our way to Austin. Remember in High School chemistry, we had those strips (forgot the name) which told us something either was an acid or it was something else. Well after exploring my entire suitcase, he decided he needed to use one of those strips on a salve I had in my bag and when I asked him why, he suggested I could choose not to fly. Really these folks have convinced me that they have never been trained in any sort of human relations and simply are flung on the job after they have failed to become cops. But being so mature and being that I wanted to see Anna, I kept my mouth shut.
SPORTS TALK
CC Sabbathia is the only Yankee pulling his weight and though it is a lot of weight, it won't be enough. Then Jeter breaks his leg. I was not optimistic before and now...In mid summer both their pitching and hitting were hot. Since then, either one or the other has been off. Now it is the hitters who have yet to face Verlander and have made the other two look like Cy Young.
Can any of the Pats defensive backs cover anyone? Some of the talking heads say it is a mental problem--they cannot put teams away. I think maybe but they still have to cover. Brady uncharacteristically made 4 mistakes that did not help--2 interceptions and 2 intentional groundings. But they still could have won. Lucky they play in a terrible division.
Good luck with the red flop manager search. I could not care less except please note that Brad Ausmus is Jewish and just finished managing Israel in the World Baseball Classic. I will say a prayer for him this Friday night at shul.
Happy birthday Oliver (he is 5 now).
Sayonara
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
A DAY (OR TWO) LATE BUT NOT A DOLLAR (OR TWO) SHORT
So I have these two MAJOR problems which are keeping me up at night and causing all sorts of anxiety. Problem number 1: You know when you open a new box of cereal? Inside, there is this bag with your cereal inside in order to keep it fresh. It cannot be opened by anything other than sharp weapons. Opened by hand and the bag splits causing the cereal to get cereally (get it?) disturbed and fall inside the box. Just terrible.
Problem number 2: I have yet been able to pour coffee from my coffee pot into my cup without drops spilling all over. And since we have this very "special" countertop that apparently gets quite disturbed with heat, I then have to soak it up quickly. Cannot be done--pour slowly, pour quickly, pour with that cap thingy on the pot or off--does not matter. Spillage.
I mean this is MAJOR far outweighing whether Elizabeth Warren is or is not partly Native American. Or who will be our next president. Please tell me why David Gregory opened with that question about heritage lastnight in the debate. Please--when there are about 50,000 other real issues to discuss. You know that pretty much both candidates are going to go wherever they want anyhow. But to pitch that softball to Scottie was just plain ridiculous. And Justice Scalia is Scottie's fave. Oh my--all of us ought to be worrying right now. He did finally work his way through virtually all the Justices but started with Scalia. He is a fool and he is damn lucky he is NOT her student because he might flunk.
I will watch tomorrow night and almost am curious if Barack can eat the Mitter up. My man Nate Silver on his blog still has Barack in front nationally and in a bunch of important states--but the margins are mostly thin. It is hard to imagine people being undecided but their numbers are still enough to throw this thing way off in the closing days. I will be sitting with Babs and we will have take out to munch on as we watch.
Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC is a cheerleader cheering for the right team but sometimes he goes over the edge and needs to be reeled in. He practically called the election for Barack after that Mother Jones video (that 47% business) surfaced. What's her face Rachael is also a cheerleader but a bit more thoughtful. It is decidedly not over though having George Soros finally kick in his million will help. Oh--as an aside, awfully nice of my mayor (Tommy boy) to finally support Liz. Think it has to do with the polls looking better for her?
Terrific though scary book by a guy named Draper (of course I have forgotten his first name)--"Do Not Ask What Good We Do". It focuses on the congressional class of 2010 and particularly the far right wing Republicans elected then. They are medieval freaks who want to turn the clock way way back and they scare me. The Mitter is even too "liberal" for them. Speaking once more of the Mitter, Jonathan Kraft (son of Bob who despite all his drivel about Myra/his sweetheart is now being seen on the town with a 20 year old) hosted a $75,000 a plate dinner for the Mitter. Time to seriously re-consider your Patriot tickets?
So we got a new washing machine. The quality of the laundry work being done by the scullery maid (that would be me) was called into question not just by my cohabitor but by a child living very far away. MMMM. Took one look at it in the store and then at home--way too complicated. Needed Babs to be here for the first flight. More buttons than a plane's cockpit. But it does work.
SPORTS TALK
Glad the Yanks are in the playoffs but not sure they will go far. Jeter, however, is just terrific. Over 200 hits, will score over 100 runs and, if not for Cabrera and Trout, would be an MVP candidate. Did you Red Flop fans see your line up last night. Some of them do not shave yet.
The talking heads after the Ravens loss were all over the beginning of the end for Mr. Brady. Then they backed off a bit after Buffalo. I actually am not sure though I do believe their two wins were against shit teams. We will see this week if they can stop Peyton. Otherwise, the score might be 52-49 and I am not sure who will have 52.
Michigan is in a death spiral in terms of college football. Too much reliance on Dennard Robinson. When he has a bad game they lose. I think that new coach will be glad when he graduates.
I refuse to read anything about negotiations in any sport about anything. I won't.
I am also sick of the homophobia of athletes especially those Hispanic ones who tell us it is a cultural them. Screw them.
Off on the great silver bird this Thursday to Austin. I will give Rick Perry the regards of all my readers but will reserve all my warmth for Anna.
Sayonara.
Problem number 2: I have yet been able to pour coffee from my coffee pot into my cup without drops spilling all over. And since we have this very "special" countertop that apparently gets quite disturbed with heat, I then have to soak it up quickly. Cannot be done--pour slowly, pour quickly, pour with that cap thingy on the pot or off--does not matter. Spillage.
I mean this is MAJOR far outweighing whether Elizabeth Warren is or is not partly Native American. Or who will be our next president. Please tell me why David Gregory opened with that question about heritage lastnight in the debate. Please--when there are about 50,000 other real issues to discuss. You know that pretty much both candidates are going to go wherever they want anyhow. But to pitch that softball to Scottie was just plain ridiculous. And Justice Scalia is Scottie's fave. Oh my--all of us ought to be worrying right now. He did finally work his way through virtually all the Justices but started with Scalia. He is a fool and he is damn lucky he is NOT her student because he might flunk.
I will watch tomorrow night and almost am curious if Barack can eat the Mitter up. My man Nate Silver on his blog still has Barack in front nationally and in a bunch of important states--but the margins are mostly thin. It is hard to imagine people being undecided but their numbers are still enough to throw this thing way off in the closing days. I will be sitting with Babs and we will have take out to munch on as we watch.
Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC is a cheerleader cheering for the right team but sometimes he goes over the edge and needs to be reeled in. He practically called the election for Barack after that Mother Jones video (that 47% business) surfaced. What's her face Rachael is also a cheerleader but a bit more thoughtful. It is decidedly not over though having George Soros finally kick in his million will help. Oh--as an aside, awfully nice of my mayor (Tommy boy) to finally support Liz. Think it has to do with the polls looking better for her?
Terrific though scary book by a guy named Draper (of course I have forgotten his first name)--"Do Not Ask What Good We Do". It focuses on the congressional class of 2010 and particularly the far right wing Republicans elected then. They are medieval freaks who want to turn the clock way way back and they scare me. The Mitter is even too "liberal" for them. Speaking once more of the Mitter, Jonathan Kraft (son of Bob who despite all his drivel about Myra/his sweetheart is now being seen on the town with a 20 year old) hosted a $75,000 a plate dinner for the Mitter. Time to seriously re-consider your Patriot tickets?
So we got a new washing machine. The quality of the laundry work being done by the scullery maid (that would be me) was called into question not just by my cohabitor but by a child living very far away. MMMM. Took one look at it in the store and then at home--way too complicated. Needed Babs to be here for the first flight. More buttons than a plane's cockpit. But it does work.
SPORTS TALK
Glad the Yanks are in the playoffs but not sure they will go far. Jeter, however, is just terrific. Over 200 hits, will score over 100 runs and, if not for Cabrera and Trout, would be an MVP candidate. Did you Red Flop fans see your line up last night. Some of them do not shave yet.
The talking heads after the Ravens loss were all over the beginning of the end for Mr. Brady. Then they backed off a bit after Buffalo. I actually am not sure though I do believe their two wins were against shit teams. We will see this week if they can stop Peyton. Otherwise, the score might be 52-49 and I am not sure who will have 52.
Michigan is in a death spiral in terms of college football. Too much reliance on Dennard Robinson. When he has a bad game they lose. I think that new coach will be glad when he graduates.
I refuse to read anything about negotiations in any sport about anything. I won't.
I am also sick of the homophobia of athletes especially those Hispanic ones who tell us it is a cultural them. Screw them.
Off on the great silver bird this Thursday to Austin. I will give Rick Perry the regards of all my readers but will reserve all my warmth for Anna.
Sayonara.
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