Sunday Afternoon Stories

 Hello everyone! I know you can't tell, but it took me three times up above to get hello spelled right. Sometimes the fingers don't work with the mind as well as they should. In short, though, I'm a little out of practice in the whole writing thing. There was a time that every day was spent writing something. Now, not so much. I'm trying to get back in the habit, but find myself drifting away. A lot of times reading a book is a lot more interesting than writing a book, especially when it feels like no one really cares if I write one or not. That's sort of a defeatist attitude and actually not at all why I write. Over the past couple of years, however, I've let life take me away from something I enjoy and that gives my miserable little life a little meaning beyond going to work and paying the bills. Back in the newspaperman days, the sports reporter and me would make fun of anyone who would claim writer's block as an excuse for not writing. At that time, we d...

 Good morning! For regular followers - and by the numbers I see that is about eight of you - I apologize for not posting anything in the past couple of days. I've been pretty busy with other stuff. You know? Life and work and shit. But now there is a calm in the storm. That's not exactly true. In facet, it has been storming a lot lately, and we are talking about literal storms. For the past month I don't think we've had more than two days without rain in the forecast. We've had all the Forrest Gump types of rain - sideways, fat drops, drizzle, downpours - we've seen it all. It's to the point where there is actual green on my property. After further investigation, I discovered there are actual plants growing. I mean they are really growing. It's to the point where the front spread is starting to look better than many New Mexico golf courses. I know there are many of my friends who see all this growth as something to be happy about. You are wrong. Perhaps ...

 Good morning, everyone! I'm sorry I missed yesterday's posting. I had planned a stirring commentary on washing the dishes, but I was busy washing the dishes. Now that ship has passed and I'll circle back to it some other time when I wake up in the morning to finally clean my plates before heading into work. (I've been really bad about getting the dishes clean lately, so it might be a few days.) Apparently, the topic on the minds of every American is how gymnast Simone Biles dropped out of the all-around competition in the Olympics citing mental health issues. This, and when the tennis player dropped out of the French open points to an odd trend in sports, and, of course, everything from generational to cultural politics. Remember when sports used to just be about playing games? Me neither. Personally, it doesn't affect me one wit whether these young women compete or not. When someone drops out, there will be someone behind them to take their place and find their ow...

 Is it wrong on me to be happy to be back in the office on a Monday morning? It's just nice to be here sitting in a chair that's attuned to my posterior, completing tasks that are low-impact on all my joints. It's not that I'm complaining or anything, but weekend yard work really sucks. Because of the rain we've been getting, the property needs a proper mowing about every other day. I know some of my friends who live in more damp places of the world are probably wondering what I'm complaining about - stuff always grows where you are. But I live in New Mexico, dammit, where the landscape is a broad range of brown. What's this green shit I've been seeing lately? Plants growing? Who would have ever thought something like that was possible. Over the weekend, I did my best to keep up with yard chores at two houses. I'm not unsatisfied with what I got accomplished, but I did notice the tendonitis on my left elbow was flaring up last night and I woke unable...

 Good morning! Did you happen to catch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this morning? I did, kind of by mistake. And I actually didn't watch the whole thing. When the alarm went off at 5 a.m., I rolled over and turned on the television to catch the weather report. What appeared was a bunch of dancers doing their jobs among a bunch of laser lights. NBC host Savannah Guthrie informed me that what the dancers and the lights represented was the arteries pumping blood to the muscles of the athletes, or some such thing. I know it was early, but it appeared to me that NBC wasn't doing too great of a job with their camera angles. What was being shown was closeups of dancers in dark lighting. That wasn't too bothersome, but the inane chatter of the hosts was what me turn the channel to where I could find the weather. (Apparently, I should bring an umbrella with me today.) Once I had a chance to start thinking, my brain turned its attention over to the Olympics and wondered why...

 I read in the paper this morning - yes, some of us still read a newspaper - that a cold winter in Brazil may mean that coffee crops will less beans. That means the cost of your cup will go up; as if the cost of everything else wasn't going up. I'm not sure what this will mean for coffee drinkers. I couldn't even tell you how much a cup of coffee costs, although I hear places like Starbucks charge too much. I don't know these things because I don't like coffee and don't buy it. If you come for dinner at my house it is a guarantee that you will not get a cup of coffee after your meal. It's not that I'm trying to be rude, I just never think that's something I should serve until it comes to that point in the meal. The habits of coffee drinkers baffle and amuse me. Some that I know claim to love the taste of coffee, but I think that is societal pressure. People can't actually love something that tastes like what water would taste like it you could bu...