Archive for the ‘Humor’ Category

01-14-2015 A Dose of Useless Crap!   Leave a comment

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I’m really tired of talking about Maine’s winter weather and I’m just as sure your tired of hearing about it.  I’ll take a few steps back into the past and try to entertain you with some unusual trivia.  It’s been a while since I delved into my bag of useless crap but I feel like sharing today. I’ll try to keep things interesting and not weather related.  Let’s go . . . .

  • Murphy’s Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
  • For over forty years, Herbert Hoover gave all of his political earnings to charity, including his wages and pension as president.
  • America’s last professional bare-knuckle boxing bout, in 1889, went to seventy-five rounds. The fight was between John I. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain – Kilrain lost. The famous lawman Bat Masterson was the timekeeper.
  • Butter was the first food product allowed by law to have artificial coloring.  It is totally white in it’s natural state.
  • The average person laughs thirteen times a day.
  • Forty-five percent of cat owners buy a holiday gift for their pet.
  • Honeybees maintain a temperature of 94 degrees in their hives year round.
  • Your thumb is the same length as your nose.
  • If you were locked in a completely sealed room you would die of carbon dioxide poisoning before  oxygen deprivation.
  • In 1976 the swine flu vaccine caused more deaths than the illness it was intended to prevent.
  • It would take seven billion particles of fog to fill a teaspoon.

And one quote: “God gave men a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time.”  ROBIN WILLIAMS

That’s enough for today.  I do love trivia but a steady diet of it seems to be a sad commentary on my life as it currently exists.  If you take these weird facts and use them properly you can amaze and surprise your friends with your vast knowledge of totally useless information.  I have to say my friends were never all that impressed but the hell with them too.  I can tell you one fact that you might not have figured out just yet.  The last place you ever want to be is in a bar on trivia night with me sitting next to you.  You’ll be so tempted to just walk over and give me a smack and truthfully I wouldn’t blame you.

I’m done for today but more of this stuff is in your future if you continue to read this blog.

01-04-2015 Journal – Wise Ass Appreciation Day   Leave a comment

I finally feel as if my entire life has been justified and validated.  I never thought it would happen but today was the day.  I stayed up late last night snuggling warmly on my favorite chair with my Kindle.  I’ve been on a reading binge of late but decided to switch from my normal detective novels to some non-fiction.  After a thorough search of the Kindle Store I was able to download a number of books and essays that caught my eye.

Just for background purposes you should know that many many times in my life I’ve been accused of being a ‘wise ass’.  For me it stopped being something derogatory when I was still in junior high school.  It became a badge of honor at that point and I set out to be the best ‘wise ass’ I could be. It’s good to have goals, don’t you know.

I’ve always enjoyed the company of other ‘wise asses’ because we understand each other.  We all seem to be quick witted and able to crack wise at a moments notice.  It’s not as easy and glamorous as it sounds.  It takes years of hard work and dedication just to get to the level where your recognized by others after just a few minutes of conversation. 

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Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain

I also enjoyed reading as a teenager and I became hooked on anything written by Mark Twain. It became obvious very quickly that while Mark Twain could spin a tale like nobody’s business his alter ego, Samuel Clemens, was the ultimate sarcastic wise ass.  The more sarcastic and glib he became the more in demand he was.  Last night I began reading his essay on "The Decay of the Art of Lying" and it took just a few paragraphs for me to realize that I needed to give more thought to lying in general and really good lying in particular. This quote stood out in just the first paragraph:

"No high-minded man, no man of right feeling, can contemplate the lumbering and slovenly lying of the present day without grieving to see a noble art so prostituted."

Another favorite ‘wise ass’ of mine was Will Rogers. Although he died in a plane crash in Alaska in 1935 much of his writings and quotations can be found everywhere. He was the leading political wit of the Progressive Era, and was a top-paid Hollywood movie star at the same time.  He was another ‘wise ass’ who made it big before his untimely death. His good-old-boy approach to ridicule and humor made him funny, well liked, with a sarcasm that was dripping with honey.  He was the sort who could take you to task for something stupid you’ve done and have you laughing at yourself as he left the room.

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It’s a real shame that both of these ‘wise asses’ weren’t able to live long enough to see how our current political figures of both parties have proudly carried the art form of lying to new heights.

I’ve always been good at spinning a yarn to avoid lying but maybe I should have just blurted out the truth.  Clemens stated rather emphatically that everyone lies.  Whether it’s a little white lie or a lie of omission, it’s still a lie. We are a nation of liars.  I honestly believe I prefer things the way they are because telling the absolute truth regardless of the consequences can get nasty and unfriendly very quickly.  It makes the age old question "Does my ass look too big in this dress?" a life threatening situation.  No thank you.  Here’s one last quote from Clemens to support my position:

"None of us could live with an habitual truth-teller, but thank goodness none of us have to. A habitual truth-teller is an impossible creature; he does not exist; he never has existed. Everybody lies-every day; every hour; asleep; in his dreams; in his joy; in his mourning; if he keeps his tongue still, his hands, his feet, his eyes, his attitude, will convey deception-and purposely."

I’m an even bigger fan of Samuel Clemens and Will Rogers that I was previously.  It’s nice to see a few sarcastic ‘wise asses’ make the big time. I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge them with this self-created Wise Ass Appreciation Day. Thankfully for all of us their works will live on forever.

Wise Asses – 2

The Rest of the World – 0

12-29-2014 New Year Resolutions!   Leave a comment

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With New Year’s approaching I’ve begun to think about my resolutions for 2015.  In preparation for the new list it only makes sense to review last year’s resolutions.  It might be necessary to use a few of them that I failed to live up to again this year.

2014

  • Read five books a month. COMPLETED
  • Teach the grandson  one curse word per month once he begins talking. He still isn’t talking enough to complete this one. FAILURE
  • Keep the number of F-bombs below 100 a week. COMPLETED
  • Drink less brandy than last year but more than next year. COMPLETED
  • Spend less than $300.00 at Dunkin Donut for the entire year ($25.00 per month). . . . as of 12/28/2014 $391.32. BIG FAILURE
  • Stop dancing naked near the picture window in the living room, it scares the neighbors.  I managed to stop the dancing but not being naked seems impossible for me. FAILURE
  • Fight to my last breath to keep chickens and goats from becoming part of my life. COMPLETED

Four completed out of seven seems pretty good to me but I need to improve that next year. I’d really like just once to complete all of them but I always seem to get sidetracked with other stuff.  I may need a few easy ones for 2015 that won’t require me to work so hard. With that thought in mind here is my new list.

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  • I vow to exercise for forty-one minutes every other day for the entire year.
  • I vow to call President Obama nasty names only during months with an "R" in them.
  • I further vow to never say anything good about President Obama in months without an "R".
  • I vow to never blurt out any F-Bombs in front of the grandson now that he has started repeating damn near everything.
  • I vow to say many more F-Bombs around those people (except the grandson) who irritate, annoy or piss me off.
  • I vow to stop flirting with just anyone.  There are times when I feel like such a slut and that’s not always a good thing for my self esteem.
  • For the third year in a row I vow not to prance naked anywhere near the front picture window.  It creeps out the neighbors and one or two of our regular joggers.
  • I also vow not to screw with my cat as much this year due to his advanced age and sharp claws.
  • I vow to take at least 500 really good photographs a month.

I’ll do my first review of these new resolutions sometime in June.  Hopefully I’ll be on track to complete every one for the first time.  As always the road to hell really is paved with good intentions.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

12-23-2014 Journal – My List of Hate 2.0   Leave a comment

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It’s taken me some time to read through all of the changes I’ve made on the review of my  list of “100 Things I Hate” compiled five years ago. It became obvious  early on that my opinions on some things had drastically changed. I initially made the list as a tongue-in-cheek exercise but as it progressed I became more and more serious about the items I was adding.  The  following 64 items  are those that survived the review and I  still hate them all. If I indicated even a fifty percent improvement on any item it was removed from this list because if you truly hate something it should be all or nothing. Here’s what’s left.

#1 Rosie O’Donnell

#2 Dirty Fingernails

#3 Criminals

#4 Funerals

#5 Backward Baseball Caps

#6 Large Groups of People

#7 Old Gum Under Tables

#8 Penis Tattooing

#9 Dumb Cashiers

#10  Stinky Feet

#11 Decomposition

#12 Bugs Crawling On Me

#13  Terrorists

#14  Overweight Pets

#15  Know-It-All’s

#16 Hospitals

#17  Oprah Winfrey

#18 Will Ferrell

#19 The Smell of Urine

#20 Corpse’s

#21 Political Correctness

#22 Drug Users

#23 Clowns

#24 Corns

#25 Organic Food

#26 Liars

#27 Ear Hair

#28 Organic Food

#29 Dirty Toilets

#30 Stinky Cheese

#31 Opossums

#32 Extra Toes

#33 Nose Hair

#34 Vegans

#35 Fake Boobs

#36 Ass Kissers aka Brown-Noser’s

#37 Autopsy’s

#38 Stinky Breath

#39 Illegal Aliens

#40 Democrats

#41 Wet Farts

#42 Feet Calluses

#43 Performing Artists

#44 Ugly or Fugly Feet

#45 Sean Penn

#46 Road Kill

#47 Belly Button Lint

#48 Arrogant People

#49 Noisy Radios

#50 The French

#51 Gerbils

#52 Road Tolls

#53 Hairy Nipples

#54 Yellow Nail Polish

#55 Crowded Elevators

#56 Baby Pageants

#57 Pot Holes

#58 Screaming Brats

#59 Texting While Driving

#60 Saggy Pants

#61 Penis Caught In Zipper

#62 Tailgater’s

#63 Stinky Arm Pits

#64 Ex-Wives

The list has been read and reread a a dozen times and is is my final version for 2014. It’s nice to see how much I’ve changed in just five years.  A 35% reduction in hated items seems huge to me and I plan on another review at this time next year. I’m sure to make reductions then and probably will have a number of new items to add which will have aggravated me in 2015.  With that thought in mind I’ll add this following item to the list and truthfully it should have been included on the last one as well:

#65 Anything in Moderation

It just had to be said.

12-15-2014 Journal – My Christmas Story!   Leave a comment

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It’s early and I’m still snuggled up in this warm bed and I never ever want to leave it.  My better-half is a person who isn’t entirely sure how to relax and just a few minutes ago she left this cozy bed to begin her endless list of chores.  She’s driven by her imaginary To-Do list that instantly becomes her number one priority as soon as her feet hit the floor.  I’m a goal oriented person myself but luckily I know when to just lay back, block out the world, and relax. Any minute now she’ll be delivering me a steaming hot cup of hazelnut coffee and then she’ll disappear into own little world of Christmas stuff and loud annoying music.

I don’t dislike Christmas as many people think but I also have no great love for it. As a kid It was much more of a religious holiday thanks mostly to my mother. As I grew older and lost my interest in organized religion I also lost most of my interest in Christmas.  I really enjoy sharing gifts with friends and family and I actually enjoy the giving more than the receiving.  My better-half is Christmas crazy and it’s gotten progressively worse since the birth of her grandson.  With another child expected in March I can only assume next Christmas will be totally out of control.

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There’s nine shopping days left until the big day and I’m actually looking forward to having the grandson under the tree and up to his neck in wrapping paper and gifts.  He doesn’t realize yet because of his young age that this will be this last Christmas as the lone grand child. Next year he’ll have a new sibling to share the limelight with and so it will be forever.  I plan on spoiling him a bit this year because I’m really sympathetic to his plight.

I’m even considering sneaking down to his house after dark disguised as Santa to look in the window and scare the crap out of him like my parents and family did to me.  It was an odd way to show their love but after a few years of being deathly afraid of Santa I was able to man up and get on with my life. It was really scary.

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I was about his age when my sister was born and things were never quite the same after that.  I wasn’t too happy with sharing the limelight and neither will he I’m sure. That rivalry will last forever.  So our little man is going to have one terrific Christmas which I hope he’ll remember and appreciate someday.  I see I’m getting the evil eye from my better-half which means she’ll start bugging me to get the hell out of bed and get busy.

I fully intend to convince her that today I have my own To-Do list to worry about. Then I’ll post the blog, grab my camera, and disappear from the premises.  I figure any time I can steal and spend driving around and taking pictures is a win/win. I could also hint that I need to buy her another gift or two and that should do the trick.

That’s my Christmas Story and I’m sticking to it.

12-09-2014 Journal – Things I Once Hated IV!   Leave a comment

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I know you’ve all been waiting for my next installment of the “Things I Once Hated”. I’m only going through this endless process because I need to show my better-half just how much I’ve mellowed over the years and that living with her has had a serious calming effect on me (sarcasm off).  Let’s get this going for numbers 41-55.

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#41 Organic Food – This is one of the biggest scams going.  Put organic on the label of anything and you can immediately increase the price by twenty-five percent.  In my opinion anything that is grown is organic.  Wash off any fertilizer and insecticide and you have clean and organic food. I hate  those liars who extort money from all of us under suspicious circumstances or labeling.  No improvement here.

#42 Liars – refer back to #41.  On a daily basis we have dozens of people who lie to us.  I’ve always hated being told things that are less than true and I still do.  No improvement here either.

#43 Ear Hair – I was introduced to this issue when my better-half was caught trying to trim the hair in my ears while I was napping.  It’s one of her pet peeves and she’s gently forced me into adding it to my original list of one hundred.  I’m still being forced to hate it or there’d be hell to pay. No improvement.

#44 Doctors – I’ve had to rethink this item because I finally met a doctor that wasn’t playing God and actually treated me like a thinking human being. I’ll concede to a 50% improvement.

#45 Large Aureoles – As I’ve stated many times before I love boobs.  But large aureoles bother me for some unknown reason.  I’m forced into not hating them because they’re normally attached to things I love. It’s a conundrum I tell you. No more hate for them results in a 100% improvement.

#46 Overweight Babies – Just writing about this problem pisses me off. Overfeeding a toddler or young kid is about the worst start you can give them in life. I hate the thought of it almost as much as the people responsible. No improvement.

#47 Dirty Toilets – I suppose you think I’m only talking about those disgusting restrooms found in stores and gas stations. I am but I’m also including anyone else who refuses to clean their own bathrooms.  I’ve been in a few that still give me nightmares. No improvement.

#48 Stinky Cheese – I just don’t see the point of making or eating some types of stinky cheese.  My grandfather was a big fan of Limburger cheese and I suspect it was only because it kept us kids away from him during  our visits.  No improvement and no thank you.

#49 Opossums – One of the most disgusting animals on the planet.  I understand they’re great to have around to clean up road kill but they’re gross, ugly, and disgusting.  No possible improvement.

#50 Roadside Death Shrines – I’m reconsidering this item out of sympathy to those people who insist on building them.  I think the whole process is a waste of time and effort but I guess if it makes them feel better for all of fifteen minutes. What the hell,  since I’m now a much more loving and tolerant person I can let it go (sarcasm off). 100% improvement.

#51 Extra Toes – Too creepy to even discuss and that goes for webs between the toes as well. Go join a carnival but stay away from me. No improvement.

#52 Nose Hair – Again something being pushed on me by my better-half. She’s obsessed with hating this item therefore so must I.  No improvement.

#53 Jehovah Witnesses – I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I’ve had over the years messing with these people.  I can’t say I actually hate them personally but  I do resent anyone who tries to force their belief system on me. These folks are nothing if not persistent making them a huge target for my sometime sick sense of humor.  100% improvement.

#54 Salesmen – I’ll modify this category somewhat. I hate “high pressure” sales people. So I’ll claim a 50% improvement on this one as long as they don’t get in my face.

#55 Hot Tuna Casserole – I’ve done a total 180 on this one. I finally found someone with a recipe that I actually liked and looked forward to eating.  No more hating of hot tuna dishes. 100% improvement.

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That should do it for today. Fifty-five items now completed with only forty-five more to go.  Just remember all of these items are in no particular order of importance.

12-01-2014 Journal – Things I Once Hated II   Leave a comment

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I thought starting the month of December with part two of my review of “Things I Once Hated” would be appropriate.  After working for a toy retailer for thirteen years, I once hated Christmas with a passion, but as you can see I continue to show improvement in some areas. Here are the next fifteen items.

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#11 Pierced Clits – While I think these body decorations can be interesting they also have the ability to be dangerous.  I no longer hate them but I do think we males should be forewarned in some fashion as to the possible dangers to our equipment. 100% improvement.

#12  Large Groups of People – I still hate this.  You can’t easily get over a phobia like this so there will never be improvement here.

#13  Old Gum Under Tables – No matter how good that old gum might taste I refuse to partake.  It also sticks to the knees of my pants and I hate that.  No improvement.

#14  Penis Tattooing –  Just saying those two words  make me cringe. I still hate unnecessary puncturing of the genitals for any reason and can’t be convinced otherwise. No improvement.

#15  Penn & Teller – Over the years my opinion on these two has changed a lot.  I still think Penn is a big blowhard but I’ve taken a liking to Teller.  He knows when to keep his mouth shut. 50% improvement.

#16  Dumb Cashiers – This problem is even worse now than it was when I initially made my list.  No improvement to this everlasting annoyance.

#17  Stinky Feet – Unfortunately I still hate this.  To my everlasting embarrassment I’ve become a contributor to this problem.  I hate my own feet and how they reek.  No improvement.

#18  Decomposition – My feelings about this go hand-in-hand with Funerals.  Thank God for cremation because I don’t even like to think about being embalmed and left to rot. Creepy as hell if you ask me so there’s no improvement.

#19  Night Farts – I’ve had to modify my feeling somewhat on night farting. While I don’t mind my own I have some serious issues with my better-half. So I’ll just call that a 50% improvement.

#20  Bugs Crawling On Me – Absolutely no change here.  I freaking hate it. No improvement.

#21  Tongue Studs – After giving this category a little more thought and doing a little field research I’m now all for them.  See how much I’m growing  and improving.  100% improvement.

#22  Hairy Bushes – This is a tough one. In Summer I hate them but in Winter I love them.  I’m forced to declare an improvement of 50%. It’s just the right thing to do.

#23  Terrorists – Kill them all.  No improvement.

#24  Overweight Pets – This category can’t really change.  Owners are mostly responsible for this problem and need to change their ways. No improvement.

#25  Know-It-All’s – No change here either.  These people make me want to scream and then kick their collective asses.

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That concludes my revisits to the first twenty five items on my list of one hundred.  More to come in the next few weeks.

11-23-2014 Things I Once Hated!   Leave a comment

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Four years ago in a galaxy far far away on my first blog I posted a list of 100 Things I Hate.  At the time I challenged myself to compile that list in under ten minutes to make it as spontaneous as possible. I completed it easily and was really proud of my accomplishment.  It was a fun exercise that I found interesting and one I want to revisit today.

I’ll be addressing the first ten items from that list and fully intend to cover the remaining ninety over the next month.  "An unexamined life is not worth living." or so I’ve been told over and over again.  That being said there are certain inevitabilities in life such as the much overused "death and taxes" but there are many others that are just as important.  "Change" effects us all in a myriad of ways and many times we aren’t even aware that it’s happening. I hope this silly little exercise will give me a better understanding of the many changes that are taking place within me and the effect it has on my endless supply of opinions on just about everything.  Here we go.

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#1 STUPID PEOPLE – Unfortunately this one hasn’t changed much at all.  Although now I recognize and admit that a large percentage of these people are harmless-stupid which makes them more annoying than anything else. The remainder are bad-stupid and remain on my hate list.  It appears I’m not hating on this as much as I once did and I see a 50% Improvement.

#2 ROSIE O’DONNELL – No change here. No improvement whatsoever. She sucks.

#3 UNIBROW WOMEN – I’ve always had the ability to identify one or two things about any woman I’ve become involved with or thought about getting involved with. I consider them all lovely and fun to be with in their own right. I’m again forced to reconsider this item because I’m sure there are some women out there with unibrows that I’d like to spend a little time with.  50% Improvement.

#4 BUMS – This term along with the term hobo is no longer politically correct and I promise to slap myself on the wrist really hard each and every time I use them.  Again I find myself hating those aggressive and arrogant homeless people who insist on getting in my face and wanting my money.  Some of these others who are mentally challenged are just pitiful but because of all the politically-correct thinking in this country they’ve been dumped onto the streets. 50% Improvement.

#5 DIRTY FINGERNAILS – No change here and no improvement.

#6 CRIMINALS – No change here either. No improvement.

#7 CANADIANS – I’ve moved this item into the annoyance category.  Canadians are are just a mild form of a parasite that continually criticizes it’s host but continues to enjoy the benefits it provides. 100% Improvement.

#8 ROCK STACKERS – Once again, more an annoyance than anything else. It’s something I see no useful purpose in doing but if you feel compelled to do it then just do it.  I can feel myself changing already and I’m getting all tingly with my 100% Improvement.

#9 FUNERALS – I hate them.  I would like to spend the remainder of my life never attending another regardless of who it is.  They freak me out and hopefully the only other one I ever attend will be my own. No improvement here.

#10 BACKWARD BASEBALL CAPS -  This is something I’ve hated since it all started. Grown men and women teaching their children to look as stupid and ridiculous as they do.  This goes hand in hand with saggy pants with underwear sticking out. I’d like to find the person who started these ridiculous trends and just kick their ass. No improvement.

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By my calculations on these ten items I’m showing a 35% improvement overall.  I find that amazing, disturbing, and annoying, all at the same time.  I wish I could get that kind of improvement for my 2014 New Years resolutions but they’ll be reviewed and discussed at a later date.

11-09-2014 Journal-Have a Hully Gully Amazon Christmas!   Leave a comment

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‘Amazon Warehouse – My Favorite Shopping Place’

I’ve been rather busy over the last couple of months since I made a commitment to myself to have my Christmas shopping completed, wrapped, and ready for delivery or mailing by Thanksgiving.  This also included shopping for my better-half’s upcoming birthday which is entirely too close to the holidays for my liking. As soon as I made it known that this was my plan the criticism began.  Fortunately I’ve been called "anal" so may times by so many people that it no longer bothers me.  I’m at the point now where it’s actually become quite the compliment.

Call me anal if you’d like but you won’t be seeing me on Black Friday or any other day being elbowed, pushed out of the way, and worse by the crowds of people waiting until the last minute to Christmas shop.  The rationalizations thought up by those late shoppers sometimes makes me wonder about their sanity.  You get up at 4:30 am on Black Friday, wait in line for a hour for the store to open, and TA DA, save a whole two dollars.  It’s some form of X-mas insanity that I just don’t understand. A thousand people show up for free stuff that only the first one hundred actually get.  I’d call that the ultimate bait and switch scheme regardless of which retailer is doing it.

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You have to understand that I’m more than a little claustrophobic when it comes to large crowds of people or small crowds of people stuffed into even smaller buildings. The retailers today led by my all time non-favorite, Walmart, insist on clogging the aisles and for that matter any open space with a never ending supply of merchandise and stack-outs.  You barely have enough room to get through the store with a shopping cart let along enjoy the shopping experience.  After ten minutes of that I’m ready to get the hell out of there just as fast as I can.  I may be a member of the so called "great unwashed" but that doesn’t mean I have to like rubbing elbows with each and every one of them.

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‘IPad Fever’

I made my first Christmas purchase on-line in June.  It was earlier than I’ve ever started before and thank God for Amazon and gift cards. This is going to be my first Amazon Christmas and I guarantee it won’t be my last.  I’ll still manage a few short trips to some of the smaller local retailers on those days that they’re not too busy.  I can’t show up on Christmas morning without all of those stocking stuffers everyone seems to love so much but that’s the extent of my Christmas shopping fun for this year.

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The better-half’s birthday will come and go and you can be sure I’ll really be enjoying that Thanksgiving turkey when it finally gets here.  I can kick back and relax just knowing my holiday preparations are complete for another year.  

Merry Christmas . . . . and thanks Amazon!

11-02-2014 Journal Entry – My Perfect Woman!   Leave a comment

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“It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature’

Have you ever had something good you were trying to do for someone come back and bite you in the ass?  If you haven’t, you don’t know what your missing.  I’ve never been known as a “relationship guy”and I’ve failed in so many I should be somewhere in the Guinness Book of Records.  As I’ve gotten older I really and truly tried to change my ways with only moderate success.

I was always a good listener but the other skills necessary for maintaining a long term relationship were severely lacking.  After trying and failing and then trying again I began to make some progress and was really proud of myself. My better-half constantly assures me that I’m a good partner and we have a healthy and happy relationship.  Little did I know that she was lulling me into a false sense of security and it all came to a head yesterday.

It all started with a casual conversation about how stressed she was with Christmas approaching.  She was stressing about buying gifts, what gifts to buy, where to buy them, and on and on and on.  I fell for it completely and was actually starting to feel sorry for her.  After being told what a great relationship we had I felt the need to step up and help her out as much as I could. I casually mentioned that I might consider spending some time with her and using my superior shopping skills to help get her back on track.  It might have been one of the dumbest things I’ve ever suggested.

It wasn’t much later when she arrived with a handful of coupons from a bunch of retailers, laid them on the table, and then gave me our tentative travel plans for our full day of shopping.  I’m not saying she set the whole thing up but I’m highly suspicious of how quickly those plans came together.

Yesterday was “THE” day.  I was rousted out of my warm bed, given some coffee, and a “hurry up, we’re burning daylight” comment.  Eight hours, seven stores, two snacks, and three coffees later my ass was dragging.  Thank God for Mother Nature.  It began raining soon after we left the house and the more it rained the more her shopping enthusiasm waned.  As we were leaving the over crowded mall in the late afternoon we made a mad dash for the car and got a little wet.  She decided right then and there we should just call it a day and go home.  Halleluiah and thank God . . . .

It’s now the next morning and I slept in until 8:30 am.  She came running into the bedroom all pumped up with another handful of coupons, ready for another round of shopping.  Get this, she even served me bacon, eggs, toast and coffee in bed.  I think she needs a bit more training on how to be subtle. Once again Mother Nature arrived to save the day.  As we were looking out the window at the already crappy day it began to lightly snow.  The first snow fall this year and I made the most of it.  I was moving kind of slow (intentionally) and told her I really wasn’t up to driving and shopping in this weather. All of my Christmas shopping was already done and I really just wanted to stay at home and relax for an hour or so.  I laid it on pretty thick and before I knew it she left in a cloud of coupons to go shop, shop, shop.

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‘Thank You Once Again Mother Nature’

This experience has shown me who my perfect women really is, it’s Mother Nature. She’s a little older than me but she’s still got it going on.  I’m a good listener and I clean up pretty well so we should be able to easily make our relationship work over the long term.  I also understand she’s not much of a shopaholic which is just another plus. My better-half had better slide a little further over in the bed to make room for our new friend.

52 SHOPPING DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS