H; S; Y; E; M; J

No, those letters are not code.  Nor are they some sort of new fangled word game.  They are the first name initials of the people in our lives who have died since last December.  Major losses all--some family; some friends--but all gone forever.  Some were old; some young.  Some passed away quickly; some too slowly. But since this blog is about me and I luckily am among the living, I have to take something/learn something from their passing.  Otherwise, I am wasting the rest of my time on this earth.  If I don't grab every day by the throat and squeeze as much out of it as I can, I have not learned anything. If I wallow in my own self pity, I have not learned anything.  If I don't enjoy and spend time with my family, I have not learned anything.  If I have not learned anything, what the hell am I doing?  

My thoughts are also with those among you who daily are dealing with life threatening illness--either physical or emotional.

On now to ends and odds:

--Bathroom renovations are not fun.  No matter how clean the workers are, dust seeps out everywhere. Then nothing is done on time and none of the materials required are available when you need them.  And then the crazy fucking neighbors complain to the Condo Association when they could just come over and tell me what their concern is.  But it will be a bathroom fit for a king and queen which fairly describes the two of us.

--And in a matter of weeks, we will be a one car household.  The little bitty Saturn (commonly referred to as the death trap), first used by Anna at Oberlin, will be taken off the road.  Hopefully, this will work since it is obviously better for the environment and our checkbook.  More on this later, I am sure.

--OK, the entire Middle East is a crazed fucking mess.  Egypt where executions of hundreds seem to be a daily occurrence sanctioned by the courts.  Libya where tribes seems to be carving out pieces of territory for their own and a peace activist gets assassinated.  Jordan which is inundated by refugees and starting to become unstable.  And what can you say about Iraq and Syria?  And we are with the Iranians and the Russians in support of Maliki--whats up with that?  And the Israelis and Palestinians go about killing and kidnapping and not living together in the sandbox. McCain would have us in every one of those countries having not learned a thing.

--Paul Waldman (who I never heard of) on the CNN website and my man Jon Stewart skewered Dick Cheyney for publicly accusing Obama of losing Iraq.  The man and his nasty daughter are both certifiable.

--Almost half of the Cuban Americans surveyed in Miami want the embargo to end.  And Obama says what exactly. Speaking of which, I finally saw the documentary on Luis Tiant's return to Cuba after 46 years in exile. What struck me was that his visit occurred in 2007.  We went about 5 years later and what I saw in the film looked the same as what I saw in person.  Oh so sad--especially for someone like him returning home. Reminded me of my visit to the places I lived when I was in Miami this past May.

SPORTS TALK

So happy the Heat lost though I think all this opting out business is some sly Pat Riley plan.  

Yeah, the U.S. got through to the round of 16 and I actually think they have a chance against Belgium.  But they better figure out a way to be more offensive minded otherwise they depend too much on the goal keep and the defenders. I will say none of these teams look overwhelming--even the Germans.  

And it is close enough to July 4th to make my first baseball pronouncement.  My Yanks are very mediocre but are hanging around and doing it without CC and without Pineda. The Red Flops will come back while both the Jays and O's will hang around also.  I don' think the wild card will come from this group.

And Chiarelli not moving Chris Kelly and a defenseman in order to keep Iginla.  Let me just say they need Iginla because no one on that team scores consistently--Seguin did but Kelly fits better.  Right?

Sayonara