Posts

Violated!!!

-
I was scrolling around on Wednesday night, and did my website check ins. My bank account can be checked, and for some reason, I clicked on it. The balance was a bit low, and when I looked at the recent transactions I knew something was amiss. “Did you order something?” I asked Kathy, sending her the two odd transactions. “You better call the bank,” she said. Now this was ten o’clock at night and I’m usually going to sleep around then, but I didn’t wait. Quickly, the card was locked and then deactivated, and I noticed that there were three more fraudulent transactions. I heard from the bank in the morning, which seemed odd to me, but the guy on the phone asked me about the bad charges. And then he began asking me more personal questions, and I hung up. He called back, and I went off on him, hung up and called the bank on the true number. “That’s a scam that they’re running,” the woman said. She checked in on my now-defunct card. “We’ve been denying charges all morning,” she said. “Out o...
Post a Comment
Read more

“We Had to Stop Them”

-
Ran into a MAGA guy I know, and I tried my level best to not get into anything political, but he was quick to bring it around, one way or another. He wanted to discuss AI. “I don’t get it,” I said. “The data center they’re building in Barker is simply massive. I don’t understand what they put in all that space.” “Oh, I understand ALL of it,” he said. (He’s a brick mason). “We better get control of it before China or we’re done.” (A straight up MAGA talking point). “We’ll be gone when the whole new world kicks in,” I said. “Are you ready to retire?” He asked. “Who knows?” I said. “My electric bill was $491 this month, groceries are through the roof, and gas ain’t coming down.” (Okay - perhaps I was attempting to get under his skin by pointing out that this is a mess). “We had to stop Iran,” he said. “Even if it costs us double to live this year it’ll be worth it because they were a couple of weeks away from dropping a nuke on our heads.” That one almost made me laugh out loud. I tried t...
Post a Comment
Read more

August 12, 1989

-
I was working in New Haven, Connecticut in 1989. In fact, I was working at the single best job I ever had. You see, back then I was trying to find a career. I had graduated college, and bounced around a few jobs. I had a book out, was teaching creative writing and writing copy for a magazine. The teaching was fun, but I hated the office job. My Dad was on the site in New Haven and he called me. “I need someone to work in the office here. The mayor wants a daily report of progress on the job.” He didn’t ask twice, but just a few months into it, things went sour for Dad and the mayor, and Dad left. The company kept me. A month after Dad left, I was offered a different position with the company that Dad up and left. They wanted me to be a fire watch on the second shift. I didn’t accept the demotion. I walked down the hall and got a job with the concrete company. Same job. Just changed hardhats and I stayed through the end of the job. Had a lot of fun as a 24-year old kid. Lived on my own....
Post a Comment
Read more

What if It Doesn’t Come Back

-
If a Major League Baseball player sees his average dip to about .220 when he’s thirty-five years old, his fans will wonder if he’s washed up. The twenty-five year old guy doesn’t have to worry about such questions. For him, it’s just a slump that he’ll get over.  His abilities will come back. The 35-year old? There are questions. Thought of all this on Monday morning after playing golf on Sunday. My right arm was tight, and two fingers and a thumb were pins and needles. “That’s new,” I thought. I pinched the tendon at my elbow and the tingling eased a little. Feet to the floor, and my left knee buckled a little. “Fun.” Which, I know, “it’ll come back.” But I thought about it a little… …there will come a day when… …like the older player… …it won’t come back. My father-in-law loved to golf, and he was pretty good at it. He got a brand new driver at his retirement ceremony, and was really happy about it. He’s 89 years old now, and every once in a while he’ll ask me about my round. I c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Where We Are

-
1). We still have no idea if Mitch McConnell is dead or alive. It’s fairly insane that in this day and age a man could stay hospitalized for more than a month, and still be paid as though he were still performing duties as a senator. There have been two photos put out as ‘proof of life’ but they are certainly fake photos.  It’s embarrassing. 2). We’re losing servicemen in Iran. The war that we ‘won’ more than 50 times because Iran doesn’t have a military left, is ongoing as drone attacks killed our soldiers. There appears to be no way out, and the war appears to be boring the administration. 3). The World Cup is over and Spain won it all. I didn’t watch any of it, but I was never into soccer. I did see the obese orange guy wandering around the stage like a bag lady as he tried to immerse himself into the victory celebration. After being roundly booed by the entire crowd. 4). The election garbage is absolutely disgusting. It’s pretty transparent that there is a movement afoot to eit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top of the Tree

-
We have a ravine behind our fenced in backyard. Every once in a while a deer or two will pop up back there, and hang out, and watch Ollie glide through the yard making leaping catches. I wonder what the deer are thinking. The trees that start in the ravine and hang out behind my fence are at least 60’ in the air. There are a half dozen of them back there, and when they start moving in the wind it’s a pretty awesome sight. Lately, I’ve been looking up at the largest tree in the pack. The very top of the tree. Started thinking about those trees and how much they’ve grown in the nearly 30 years we’ve been here. I couldn’t tell you the difference in how they look now as opposed to then, but I thought about us buying the home from an older couple, and their son, The father mentioned, ‘we raised our family here, and now you will too.’ And soon enough, someone else will live here, and gaze up in wonder to the very top of the tree. Those trees will stand up straight and proud after we are gone...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bad Santa

-
My son was walking beside me when a young, black kid who works construction saw me and started laughing. “What’s going on?” I said to the kid. “Why are you laughing at me?” “‘Cause you’re a funny dude,” he said. “I was in your safety class, and you shocked me. I told the guy sitting next to me that you reminded me of Billy Bob as Bad Santa.” “That’s the perfect description,” another guy standing nearby said. “You’re there for a safety class, and he gives us the Bad Santa talk.” It was a high compliment, and as word got around, a lot of people seemed to agree that I have the old Billy Bob vibe when I speak. And here’s the thing: It’s a safety talk in front of a lot of grown men who have heard a review of the rules a lot of times. About 30 years ago, I was sitting in a safety class that was being taught by a highly entertaining speaker.  As that man spoke, (Bill Bord) I realized he was teaching us the same stuff but doing it in a way that I would remember for a long time. 💡 time. “T...
Post a Comment
Read more