YIKES - so along with packing for a road trip I'm looking at flights from MAD to LV and LV back to MAD. Seems the only flight BACK is at 7:15AM which will make Monday Night Football in Las Vegas . . . well . . . might as well just stay up LOL
Plus starting to plan for Quebec City and of course Door County - busy summer. Weird - have not even started to pack for Winter Park CO. We are so good at this it's not a big deal.
I remember taking a week to prepare but now? Start tomorrow morning :-)
Today we're taking Gus to Aunt Bee's Summer Camp for dogs. Got me thinking . . . . . I was forced to go to summer camp once. You know what? Summer camp is FOR THE PARENTS to get away from their kids! very clever!
Yea - Gus . . all those times you get us up at 6AM. yea - it's pay back time buddy! He'll be fine since he loves EVERYBODY and all the caretakers BEGGED us to bring Gus back again. The dude is a chick magnet.
*************************
We're doing some rather extensive landscaping this summer (the summer of action . . . and vodka) and it might get even more landscapy as we might take out 9 cotoneasters along with the butterfly garden. Still formulating plans.
*********************
HA - I was not allowed to be in a group on Facebook page - Columbus What is Happening (or something like that) for arguing with the administrator. Is fluoride poison? or does it help teeth. I was on the "help" side of the argument.
DJ said I have been a little . . . "on edge" lately and we were talking about it. All started when I no longer had city council or water and light!
Seems when you have your finger on the pulse of Columbus for 5 years and then sort of quit cold turkey and have zero input on anything . . . . . I guess I'm feeling a little . lost and out of touch! I can totally understand now how my brother has issues with retiring after creating his own greatly successful company for 40 years. You can't just stop and walk away.
**********************
Yesterday was get'r done day with oil changes and so forth on the cruise mobile. Then take Gus to Aunt Bee's this afternoon and HOPE I can golf later as the remnants of the Tropical storm hits Wisconsin.
***********************
Stopped at the Cercis Brewing - very very nice place. The beer is . . craft beer. It's hard to separate yourself from the other 40 breweries in the area but for Columbus it's OUTSTANDING. Did not like their t-shirts (sort of cheapish material and my LARGE shrunk to a Medium and I can't wear it - plus the sleeves are female? sleeves? if you know what I mean . . unless you like showing off your guns with tiny short sleeves.
But the beer is very good and professional beer.
***********************
There have been 145 House Primaries in the US the last few months. For the Democrats there has been 65 primaries where there was one woman, one male and no incumbent. The woman won in 45 of the 65 primaries.
For the Republicans there have been 14 primaries with one woman, one man and no incumbent. The woman has won in 3 of those 14.
***********************
Hey - did you see that Canopy Growth (CGC), as of last Thursday is now on the NYStock Exchange. The first publicly owned cannabis company on the NYSE.
**********************
Chili sits on 47% of the worlds lithium which is needed for batteries. Yet they are not embracing this as they were burned once before with fertilizer. At one point they were the leading exporter of fertilizer . . . until synthetic fertilizer happened and their economy went belly up!
**********************
North Korea holes between 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners and they are not in wonderful places.
***********************
If anybody noticed the Houston Rockets missed 27 straight 3-pointers vs. the Warriors . . . . that is a
1-72,000 chance.
***********************
DPW has a Parks Beautification Program and we purchased a Sunburst Honey Locust and the Prairie Fire Crab Apple which were planted in Avalon Park in the past day or so! BRAVO DPW!!!
*********************
For for a little while blogs will be hit and miss. Probably more photos and less rambling. You know Michael Buffer? The "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE" guy? Every time he says that, BAM - $68,000 comes his way. It's all he does and he is worth $120,000,000.
Not a bad job. Get all dressed up, step onto a stage or ring, say 5 words, collect money and go home.
*************
So the next you hear from me I'll be in Winter Park CO. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Thursday, May 24, 2018
The Voice of the Chadron State Eagles - who cares!
I wasn't going to talk golf today because nobody really cares. But it was a memorable night.
I struggled all last week to get off the tee and it was happening again this week. My brain knew what I was doing wrong but my body was not listening. There are 3 things I do wrong.
1. back swing to fast
2. don't extend my arms (come inside)
3. I don't HIT the ball (nice and easy is a fallacy)
If I do one of those I slice off the tee and for 16 holes I was doing at least one of those but it was a different one every hole.
So after my 3rd horrendous par 3 tee-off that went literally 15 yards I was a little . . pissed. Hole #8 is a par 357 yard hole and I was determined to smack the shit out of the ball to relieve some inner anger.
WELL - I did. I CRUSHED the drive down the middle. I kept walking and walking and when I arrived at my ball I asked - how long IS this hole. I was 80 yards from the middle of the green.
Seems my drive went 270 yards. . . . . . of course it took my 5 more shots to get into he hole. #9 the drive was 200 don the middle and shot #2 was 180 and was happy with a par. So YES - I WILL take my clubs to the mountains for some mountain golf. Had a 51 on the front 9 (16 of those were on par 3s).
*********************
I was listening to the Rockies playing the Dodgers in LA. The organ player was playing some sort of random ballpark ditty and all of a sudden a guy I had not thought about for 30 years pops into my head.
Larry Rothbart sat next to me at Warner Park when the Madison Muskies played. I ran the score board and Larry was on my left and Dave Collins (Voice of the Chadron State Eagles) was on my right and sat next to me for 3 or 4 years and somehow that random ditty triggered something.
I texted a facebook friend Mike McCoy worked for the Muskies way back then. The actual President (Bob Drew) passed away a few months ago just after I became FB friends with him (not my fault). His claim to fame was he broadcast the longest baseball game in professional sports (at least as of 30 years ago) Something like 32 or 35 innings (there seems to be different stories) and there are a few books about it. He was behind the mic for all 32 (or 35) innings.
ANYWAY - the rest of the story. I might have said this once but when Mike and I linked up via face book we were FB friends for a few years and then I put an image up and he contacts me and says 'Wait what? this is your artwork?" and I say yea. and he says "my wife gave me this for Christmas a few years ago!"
Such a small world. again.
***********************
OK - gotta run to get my passport. Columbus no longer does passports yet the USPS still will tell you when and where to go if you have a 53925 ZIP. FAIL!!
Gotta run to Beaver Dam instead.
Quebic City . . if you are wondering. My new passport photo does not make me look as much like a terrorists. Just an old crazed person. VICTORY!
**********************************************
JUST heard - Ho Chunk no longer has LIVE poker.
**********************************************
Stock market is tumbling (and will rise tomorrow I bet) and Gold is HOT as Trump cancels the North Korean Summit because Un is mean. WHO KNEW THAT WAS COMING!! LOL
+++++++++++++++
I struggled all last week to get off the tee and it was happening again this week. My brain knew what I was doing wrong but my body was not listening. There are 3 things I do wrong.
1. back swing to fast
2. don't extend my arms (come inside)
3. I don't HIT the ball (nice and easy is a fallacy)
If I do one of those I slice off the tee and for 16 holes I was doing at least one of those but it was a different one every hole.
So after my 3rd horrendous par 3 tee-off that went literally 15 yards I was a little . . pissed. Hole #8 is a par 357 yard hole and I was determined to smack the shit out of the ball to relieve some inner anger.
WELL - I did. I CRUSHED the drive down the middle. I kept walking and walking and when I arrived at my ball I asked - how long IS this hole. I was 80 yards from the middle of the green.
Seems my drive went 270 yards. . . . . . of course it took my 5 more shots to get into he hole. #9 the drive was 200 don the middle and shot #2 was 180 and was happy with a par. So YES - I WILL take my clubs to the mountains for some mountain golf. Had a 51 on the front 9 (16 of those were on par 3s).
*********************
I was listening to the Rockies playing the Dodgers in LA. The organ player was playing some sort of random ballpark ditty and all of a sudden a guy I had not thought about for 30 years pops into my head.
Larry Rothbart sat next to me at Warner Park when the Madison Muskies played. I ran the score board and Larry was on my left and Dave Collins (Voice of the Chadron State Eagles) was on my right and sat next to me for 3 or 4 years and somehow that random ditty triggered something.
I texted a facebook friend Mike McCoy worked for the Muskies way back then. The actual President (Bob Drew) passed away a few months ago just after I became FB friends with him (not my fault). His claim to fame was he broadcast the longest baseball game in professional sports (at least as of 30 years ago) Something like 32 or 35 innings (there seems to be different stories) and there are a few books about it. He was behind the mic for all 32 (or 35) innings.
ANYWAY - the rest of the story. I might have said this once but when Mike and I linked up via face book we were FB friends for a few years and then I put an image up and he contacts me and says 'Wait what? this is your artwork?" and I say yea. and he says "my wife gave me this for Christmas a few years ago!"Such a small world. again.
***********************
OK - gotta run to get my passport. Columbus no longer does passports yet the USPS still will tell you when and where to go if you have a 53925 ZIP. FAIL!!
Gotta run to Beaver Dam instead.
Quebic City . . if you are wondering. My new passport photo does not make me look as much like a terrorists. Just an old crazed person. VICTORY!
**********************************************
JUST heard - Ho Chunk no longer has LIVE poker.
**********************************************
Stock market is tumbling (and will rise tomorrow I bet) and Gold is HOT as Trump cancels the North Korean Summit because Un is mean. WHO KNEW THAT WAS COMING!! LOL
+++++++++++++++
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
OH OH PEE Only!
Holy Macroni that was an emotional ending to the Brewer game - Managers getting tossed out, Kneble ALMOST getting tossed out and I don't know how Pina kept his composure when an umpire decided to stop calling strikes that were OBVIOUSLY in the strike zone. Not even close to being outside.
OH - calling balls and strikes is freakishly hard but WOW. I have heard that the box that shows strikes is very very accurate left and right but up and down there is some leeway. So when a ball is not even touching the outside line and is not even CLOSE to being outside . . . . . . WHEW
ANYWAY - The anti ARZ play continues to work for 7 games (6-1) so far with one loss.
One other really good trend that I have not seen have a bad run but it REALLY needs attention is in the NBA. Several years ago I was running a forum with about 80 other degenerates and there was this play.
When a team outscores another team in each of the first three quarters bet on the OTHER team to cover the 4th quarter spread. Sort of the Bridgejumper rule in the NFL (bet on the REALLY bad team when player a REALLY good team).
I bet (not literally) that when we were tracking this it was something like 15-3. The problem is you really can't have a real life if you are watching the NBA THAT close LOL.
*****************
Today - FINALLY - we're getting a toilet installed downstairs. A power flush. Seems the waste water line in our basement is slanted the wrong way so a normal toy toy does not work. POWER FLUSH will . . . . I hope. I have to look it up to see what it actually does.
With this addition all we need to do is find a barn door somewhere for the new guest room.
Before and after. Steve Black of Red Bud Homes was the builder. He came in $20K less then Waunakee Remodeling.
*****************
There is a Saudie Prince trying to stop his former wife from selling their house in California. The house has 18 bedrooms and 28 bathrooms. TWENTY EIGHT? The Kohl Center does not have 28 bathrooms!!
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Primary's in the south - once again the BIG winners were Democratic woman. Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (who's ultimate goal is to run for President) could become the first African American Woman. She won by 22%
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WELL - toilet is installed . . . . PEE ONLY!! It's really the first major issue we have had with the house. We COULD fix it but that would mean tearing up the floor . . . . .ummmmm NO!
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**************************
WELL - toilet is installed . . . . PEE ONLY!! It's really the first major issue we have had with the house. We COULD fix it but that would mean tearing up the floor . . . . .ummmmm NO!
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Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Slow and steady . . or NOT
A few weeks ago I mentioned I invested in a Canadian company called Canopy Growth. They are sucking up all the little logistic companies that would transport and sell legal cannabis in Canada and along the way they were building a mammoth cannabis growing farm, one of the largest in Canada.
But what really had me pulling the trigger was that they were expanding and purchasing companies for a world wide CBD oil distribution. They purchased a world wide distributor of morphine which the articles I was reading said they were confused to WHY they wold buy these guys. Seriously? Let's see. Morphine is used as a pain killer . . . . so is cannabis and MUCH MUCH cheaper a LOT safer and a real opiate killer. You can take opiate's and maybe get addicted . . . or some cannabis with zero physical addiction rates.
Now news comes out that Canadian cannabis oil exports quadrupled in 2017 (Germany, Spain, Jamaica, Chile and Brazil, and Australia). There are a lot of dire warnings about investing in cannabis as most companies are cash rich and don't need money. BUT - I figured the upside is so much greater then the downside. A person could lose everything he invested in . . OR could a person be investing at the start of a new big tobacco?
Think a person that invested in something like a Phillip Morris at the very very very beginning is regretting the risk?
ANYWAY - Canopy Growth (TWMJF) has had a pretty solid run so far. Purchased at about $22 a share . . . after yesterday it's $30.35. No complaints so far. LOL Of course it can go down JUST as fast. It's a pretty risky deal.
*************************
There are 779,000 known asteroids that orbit the sun clock-wise . . . . except for 95 that orbit counter clock-wise. Reminds me of the belt line in Madison on Saturday night.
+++++
Meanwhile . . in North Carolina police arrested two druggies that had 120 gallons of liquid meth in their gas tanks. Never tried it but that seems like a lot of meth. About 90.8 MILLION dollars worth. SOMEBODY is going to be pissed. Well done officers. Lock those guys up FOREVER.
+++++
OH - Brewers win and so far my BET AGAINST Arizona is working. With that said - it seems Americans are getting worse at sports betting or just more are betting. In 1992 casinos kept 2.81% of every bet. Last year 5.11%. More people betting is always good for casino's who don't care who wins as long as they get action.
OH - everyone talks about Hader, now the Brewers have Kneble back and nobody talks about Jeffries who is doing AMAZINGLY well.
he has given up ONE earned run this year and has a 0.35 ERA he has inherited 17 runners and only 2 have scored. Batters have a .057 batting average against him.
Meanwhile - the Brewers have given up the 3rd LEAST runs on average in MLB behind Houston and Arizona. GO BREWERS
++++
MLB - watch out old guys! seems the older you are the less you can hit a 96 mph fast ball. There are 22 players that have seen 30+ 96 mph fast ball and have not gotten a hit. Ian Kinsler, Denard Span, Sean Rodriguez and Paul Goldschmidt have not hit a 96+mph fast ball yet the year.
Last year Chris Davis (.120), Mike Napoli (.123), Ryan Braun (.151), Jose Bautista (.165) and Ian Desmond (.178) had issues with 96+ mph fast balls. All over 30 years old.
+++++
Since 1931, 31 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness as Justify did last week. I wonder what my mom thought. She was always uncanny at picking horses.
+++++
Does anybody else watch LOVE on Netflix? So so said that the series came to a conclusion. I will miss my friends. Not "canceled" just . . done after 3 seasons. and I am waiting for my favorite show to be canceled again - Timeless. The problem is that so many people believe this is one of the best shows on TV that people do not watch.
HECK - you even saw Lucy at the Royal wedding trying to stop Rittenhouse from murdering someone. You KNOW Wyatt and Rufus were not far behind.
I refuse to watch the 2 hour season finale' until I see if it is renewed. I know what happens and if I don't watch it it does not happen in MY brain.
*******************
Three colors down - twenty one to go.
****************************
So Sunday DJ and I are sitting on the deck drinking some wine when the sun pops out. All of a sudden the neighbors on BOTH sides of us are mowing the lawn. I kept thinking I should as everybody is TRYING to lower then mower from the top setting.
Well, I was so comfortable I thought I would wait a day. DAMN IT. The grass grew like 4 inches in the last 24 hours. I can't keep up!!
GUS THE WEATHER DOG SAYS - BORING
Today and tomorrow are the last days in the 70s for a long time. 86 by Sunday with pop up thunderstorms starting Friday but with a fair amount of sunshine.
Have a great day!
But what really had me pulling the trigger was that they were expanding and purchasing companies for a world wide CBD oil distribution. They purchased a world wide distributor of morphine which the articles I was reading said they were confused to WHY they wold buy these guys. Seriously? Let's see. Morphine is used as a pain killer . . . . so is cannabis and MUCH MUCH cheaper a LOT safer and a real opiate killer. You can take opiate's and maybe get addicted . . . or some cannabis with zero physical addiction rates.
Now news comes out that Canadian cannabis oil exports quadrupled in 2017 (Germany, Spain, Jamaica, Chile and Brazil, and Australia). There are a lot of dire warnings about investing in cannabis as most companies are cash rich and don't need money. BUT - I figured the upside is so much greater then the downside. A person could lose everything he invested in . . OR could a person be investing at the start of a new big tobacco?
Think a person that invested in something like a Phillip Morris at the very very very beginning is regretting the risk?
ANYWAY - Canopy Growth (TWMJF) has had a pretty solid run so far. Purchased at about $22 a share . . . after yesterday it's $30.35. No complaints so far. LOL Of course it can go down JUST as fast. It's a pretty risky deal.
*************************
There are 779,000 known asteroids that orbit the sun clock-wise . . . . except for 95 that orbit counter clock-wise. Reminds me of the belt line in Madison on Saturday night.
+++++
Meanwhile . . in North Carolina police arrested two druggies that had 120 gallons of liquid meth in their gas tanks. Never tried it but that seems like a lot of meth. About 90.8 MILLION dollars worth. SOMEBODY is going to be pissed. Well done officers. Lock those guys up FOREVER.
+++++
OH - Brewers win and so far my BET AGAINST Arizona is working. With that said - it seems Americans are getting worse at sports betting or just more are betting. In 1992 casinos kept 2.81% of every bet. Last year 5.11%. More people betting is always good for casino's who don't care who wins as long as they get action.
OH - everyone talks about Hader, now the Brewers have Kneble back and nobody talks about Jeffries who is doing AMAZINGLY well.
he has given up ONE earned run this year and has a 0.35 ERA he has inherited 17 runners and only 2 have scored. Batters have a .057 batting average against him.
Meanwhile - the Brewers have given up the 3rd LEAST runs on average in MLB behind Houston and Arizona. GO BREWERS
++++
MLB - watch out old guys! seems the older you are the less you can hit a 96 mph fast ball. There are 22 players that have seen 30+ 96 mph fast ball and have not gotten a hit. Ian Kinsler, Denard Span, Sean Rodriguez and Paul Goldschmidt have not hit a 96+mph fast ball yet the year.
Last year Chris Davis (.120), Mike Napoli (.123), Ryan Braun (.151), Jose Bautista (.165) and Ian Desmond (.178) had issues with 96+ mph fast balls. All over 30 years old.
+++++
Since 1931, 31 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness as Justify did last week. I wonder what my mom thought. She was always uncanny at picking horses.+++++
Does anybody else watch LOVE on Netflix? So so said that the series came to a conclusion. I will miss my friends. Not "canceled" just . . done after 3 seasons. and I am waiting for my favorite show to be canceled again - Timeless. The problem is that so many people believe this is one of the best shows on TV that people do not watch.
HECK - you even saw Lucy at the Royal wedding trying to stop Rittenhouse from murdering someone. You KNOW Wyatt and Rufus were not far behind.
I refuse to watch the 2 hour season finale' until I see if it is renewed. I know what happens and if I don't watch it it does not happen in MY brain.
*******************
Three colors down - twenty one to go.
****************************
So Sunday DJ and I are sitting on the deck drinking some wine when the sun pops out. All of a sudden the neighbors on BOTH sides of us are mowing the lawn. I kept thinking I should as everybody is TRYING to lower then mower from the top setting.
Well, I was so comfortable I thought I would wait a day. DAMN IT. The grass grew like 4 inches in the last 24 hours. I can't keep up!!
GUS THE WEATHER DOG SAYS - BORING
Today and tomorrow are the last days in the 70s for a long time. 86 by Sunday with pop up thunderstorms starting Friday but with a fair amount of sunshine.
Have a great day!
Monday, May 21, 2018
Striving to be positive / It's like Fabreeze for the privates
After a social media meltdown with an anti-fluoride individual who was not named Jack I came to the realization that I might be becoming a crazed cranky old man. SO! I decided to TRY to be more optimistic.
I told DJ that if she see's me getting carried away she should tell me to go to my "happy place" which at the moment is my painting. Who can guess what it is.
It's a pretty interesting thing this "PaintByNumbers". I did #1 and #2 yesterday (this is only #1). It's not only painting but a puzzle looking for all the tiny numbers. I had dreams last night that I had missed a real obvious #2 area and this morning had to go downstairs to see if I actually DID miss some (I didn't). It's like a Where's Waldo puzzle with paint.
I have 24 colors and each little container has like 100 times more paint they you actually need along with 6 paint brushes. I think I have found what my life will be like when I grow MORE senile.
SADLY - DJ ordered one at the same time I did. It's been in Chicago since May 7th.
*********************
The Brewers had a GREAT road trip. Remember in late April everybody was saying "We shall see what May holds to REALLY get a grip on how the team is". Well 11-6 so far and NOW people are saying "We shall see how good the Brewers are after the first few weeks of June"!
I think even being in the conversation of having a good team is outstanding with the injuries to the most unstable part of the team, starting pitching, so I'm very comfortable at the moment.
But the big news and because he is in the AL and so far away "we" are missing what could be the best player in MLB history, Shohei Ohtani. OMG! Hailed as the Japanese Babe Ruth this guy is an AMAZING starting pitcher but also an amazing hitter.
.325 average with a .963 OPS as an every day player AND every 5th day he pitches and has a 3.58 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 32 innings but that does not tell the whole story.
He hits the ball HARD, REALLY hard. Aaron Judge hits the hardest with an average exit velocity (speed of the ball off the bat) of 94.9 but right behind him is Ohtani at 94.1. Third place is Nelson Cruz way back at 93.2 mph.
BUT WAIT - pitching, Ohtani has a fast ball to die for. His average fast ball is 97.1 mph with only two starting pitchers faster, Luis Severino at 97.6 and Noah Syndergaard at 97.5.
BUT WAIT - the dude is demon fast. He was thrown a 97 mph fast ball, hit it back at 106 mph and sprinted to 3rd base in 11.49 seconds Ohtani's average sprint speed is 28.1 feet per second WELL above the league average of 27 feet per second.
BUT WAIT. Then there is his splitter. An off speed pitch between a curve ball and a fast ball. Looks like a slower fast ball and drops off the table a few feet before the catcher catches it.
A month ago Ohtani had a perfect game going into the 7th inning. he threw the splitter 33 times and batters swung and missed 16 times.
The BEST splitter for a starting pitcher in MLB belongs to Masahiro Tanaka who has a swing and miss rate of 23% last year. This year Ohtani has a swing and miss rate of 29.4% on his splitter.
The guy is crazy talented.
Of course then we have the Brewers Hader doing his thing in Milwaukee who is getting All-Star buzz along with CY Young buzz.
Hader has faced 95 batters and struck out 56 of them. The 59% strike out rate CRUSHES the record by Aroldis Chapman in 2014.
At this rate Hader will also crush the Ks per inning record 18.44 ks per 9 innings.
According to STATS the MLB record for lowest WHIP for a pitcher with 25 innings belongs to Ed Cushman who in 1884 playing for the Milwaukee Cream City's (Columbus uses a lot of Cream City brick in their older buildings) had a 0.36 WHIP. Second all time place place? Hader with 0.51
Hader is 11th in the NL for more strikeouts, the only bull pen pitcher. The other 10 are starters. Of the top 25 pitchers for Ks only Hader comes out of the pen.
There is a new strategy for trying to hit Hader. The last 10 games hitter are being more aggressive and swinging earlier in the count . FAIL 27 of his last 38 outs are strikeouts.
Paul Molitor the manager of the Twins commented that he does not think a relief pitcher has ever struck out 200 hitters in a season. (Hader is on pace for 197 ks).
Of course Hader is a Lefty to kills Lefty's (1 for 28)
One last thing - Hader has a 57.1% swing and miss rate on all of his pitches, the lowest in MLB. In fact nobody has touched his last 21 pitches. SWING and a miss.
It's a long season so we shall see but it's certainly fun to watch.
************************
The FDA approved OxyContin for children as young as 11 yet mention Medical cannabis for children and people go NUTS!!
************************
Mein Kampf (1925), by Adolf Hitler. If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself."
Right out of Trumps playbook!
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Dog Selfie!
**********************
balderdash commented that he was surprised I was not betting on sports at the moment. So unlike me. Especially with the Supreme Court saying sports betting was NOT a federal issue but a State issue.
My response was that if there is nothing to bet on you don't bet (or something like that). Baseball, my favorite sport, is REALLY tough. HOWEVER - Something happened in the Brewer game vs. Arizona that made me perk up.
When the clean-up hitter for a team is injured or does not play. Bet against that team. Reason is that the entire line-up needs adjusted and unlike strat-o-matic where you do not deal with players emotions and comfort, this is meaningful. TRUST ME - I managed a team for 15 years in Madison and where you bat in a line-up and comfort level makes a big difference.
Well, since that date Arizona is 1-4. Play against Zona until they win 2 games in a row or the clean-up comes back.
***************************
Notice how blue jeans are more stretchy? OH - I LOVE blue jean technology! Seriously. The 511 I'm wearing now are 99% Cotton, 1% Elastane. Some blue jeans are in the 35% range.
*******************
There are 34 new scripted shows coming out this fall. 42% of the key roles are woman compared to 20% last year.
***************
Weather - Today is the butt hole weather day for the foreseeable future. I'm starting to watch the Winter Park and Denver weather. Weekend is looking good. Scattered summer-like T-storms and highs in the low 80s.
As for today - this is it. We are basically at our high temp with rain- 71 tomorrow and sun, 78 Wednesday, 83 Thursday. . . . it's all good!
***************
Freshen up those flaps ladies LOL !
Have a great day.
I told DJ that if she see's me getting carried away she should tell me to go to my "happy place" which at the moment is my painting. Who can guess what it is.
It's a pretty interesting thing this "PaintByNumbers". I did #1 and #2 yesterday (this is only #1). It's not only painting but a puzzle looking for all the tiny numbers. I had dreams last night that I had missed a real obvious #2 area and this morning had to go downstairs to see if I actually DID miss some (I didn't). It's like a Where's Waldo puzzle with paint.
I have 24 colors and each little container has like 100 times more paint they you actually need along with 6 paint brushes. I think I have found what my life will be like when I grow MORE senile.
SADLY - DJ ordered one at the same time I did. It's been in Chicago since May 7th.
*********************
The Brewers had a GREAT road trip. Remember in late April everybody was saying "We shall see what May holds to REALLY get a grip on how the team is". Well 11-6 so far and NOW people are saying "We shall see how good the Brewers are after the first few weeks of June"!
I think even being in the conversation of having a good team is outstanding with the injuries to the most unstable part of the team, starting pitching, so I'm very comfortable at the moment.
But the big news and because he is in the AL and so far away "we" are missing what could be the best player in MLB history, Shohei Ohtani. OMG! Hailed as the Japanese Babe Ruth this guy is an AMAZING starting pitcher but also an amazing hitter.
.325 average with a .963 OPS as an every day player AND every 5th day he pitches and has a 3.58 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 32 innings but that does not tell the whole story.
He hits the ball HARD, REALLY hard. Aaron Judge hits the hardest with an average exit velocity (speed of the ball off the bat) of 94.9 but right behind him is Ohtani at 94.1. Third place is Nelson Cruz way back at 93.2 mph.
BUT WAIT - pitching, Ohtani has a fast ball to die for. His average fast ball is 97.1 mph with only two starting pitchers faster, Luis Severino at 97.6 and Noah Syndergaard at 97.5.
BUT WAIT - the dude is demon fast. He was thrown a 97 mph fast ball, hit it back at 106 mph and sprinted to 3rd base in 11.49 seconds Ohtani's average sprint speed is 28.1 feet per second WELL above the league average of 27 feet per second.
BUT WAIT. Then there is his splitter. An off speed pitch between a curve ball and a fast ball. Looks like a slower fast ball and drops off the table a few feet before the catcher catches it.A month ago Ohtani had a perfect game going into the 7th inning. he threw the splitter 33 times and batters swung and missed 16 times.
The BEST splitter for a starting pitcher in MLB belongs to Masahiro Tanaka who has a swing and miss rate of 23% last year. This year Ohtani has a swing and miss rate of 29.4% on his splitter.
The guy is crazy talented.
Of course then we have the Brewers Hader doing his thing in Milwaukee who is getting All-Star buzz along with CY Young buzz.
Hader has faced 95 batters and struck out 56 of them. The 59% strike out rate CRUSHES the record by Aroldis Chapman in 2014.
At this rate Hader will also crush the Ks per inning record 18.44 ks per 9 innings.
According to STATS the MLB record for lowest WHIP for a pitcher with 25 innings belongs to Ed Cushman who in 1884 playing for the Milwaukee Cream City's (Columbus uses a lot of Cream City brick in their older buildings) had a 0.36 WHIP. Second all time place place? Hader with 0.51
Hader is 11th in the NL for more strikeouts, the only bull pen pitcher. The other 10 are starters. Of the top 25 pitchers for Ks only Hader comes out of the pen.
There is a new strategy for trying to hit Hader. The last 10 games hitter are being more aggressive and swinging earlier in the count . FAIL 27 of his last 38 outs are strikeouts.
Paul Molitor the manager of the Twins commented that he does not think a relief pitcher has ever struck out 200 hitters in a season. (Hader is on pace for 197 ks).
Of course Hader is a Lefty to kills Lefty's (1 for 28)
One last thing - Hader has a 57.1% swing and miss rate on all of his pitches, the lowest in MLB. In fact nobody has touched his last 21 pitches. SWING and a miss.
It's a long season so we shall see but it's certainly fun to watch.
************************
The FDA approved OxyContin for children as young as 11 yet mention Medical cannabis for children and people go NUTS!!
************************
Mein Kampf (1925), by Adolf Hitler. If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself."
Right out of Trumps playbook!
******************************
Dog Selfie!
**********************
balderdash commented that he was surprised I was not betting on sports at the moment. So unlike me. Especially with the Supreme Court saying sports betting was NOT a federal issue but a State issue.
My response was that if there is nothing to bet on you don't bet (or something like that). Baseball, my favorite sport, is REALLY tough. HOWEVER - Something happened in the Brewer game vs. Arizona that made me perk up.
When the clean-up hitter for a team is injured or does not play. Bet against that team. Reason is that the entire line-up needs adjusted and unlike strat-o-matic where you do not deal with players emotions and comfort, this is meaningful. TRUST ME - I managed a team for 15 years in Madison and where you bat in a line-up and comfort level makes a big difference.
Well, since that date Arizona is 1-4. Play against Zona until they win 2 games in a row or the clean-up comes back.
***************************
Notice how blue jeans are more stretchy? OH - I LOVE blue jean technology! Seriously. The 511 I'm wearing now are 99% Cotton, 1% Elastane. Some blue jeans are in the 35% range.
*******************
There are 34 new scripted shows coming out this fall. 42% of the key roles are woman compared to 20% last year.
***************
Weather - Today is the butt hole weather day for the foreseeable future. I'm starting to watch the Winter Park and Denver weather. Weekend is looking good. Scattered summer-like T-storms and highs in the low 80s.
As for today - this is it. We are basically at our high temp with rain- 71 tomorrow and sun, 78 Wednesday, 83 Thursday. . . . it's all good!
***************
Freshen up those flaps ladies LOL !
Have a great day.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Dice Diplomacy
I sort of buggered up yesterdays blog. I was so excited to get an appointment at Ron the Bookie Barber in Madison I forgot to post the blog and when I did I decided to delete a rant I had about downtown Columbus being in a Catch-22.
The question is . . . Do you want an historic looking downtown with very few businesses? Or do you want a vibrant downtown full of business but not as historic. I know a very excellent company that decided to NOT move to Columbus downtown because of the signage and other building restrictions.
Pick a side - Business or Beauty.
*************************
The NY Yankees have been having a tough road trip. First a game was delayed and will be completed the next day. Then those 2 games are canceled because of weather and since they have a game in KC the next day they go to the airport but because of weather AND plane maintenance issues AND because all hotels are full, the teams spends the night in an airport LOL
****************
I know nobody cares but my past two SOM games my team is 5 for 28 with runners in scoring position. I won both games 6-3. The last game I had 7 doubles and 3 home runs and scored 6 runs - COME ON MAN. I was playing in Dodger Stadium, a pretty good park for home runs for lefties. Pretty average for right handed batters. Large foul territory so hits are way down.
The amount of foul territory is what determines if a park is a hitters or pitchers park. Foul outs really hurt.
*******************
There was a poll that was looking into how many people actually follow Trumps Tweets. He has 52 million followers but it's not sure how many are actually in the United States (before the election it was noted that 15 million are from Russia) but the numbers come out to about 10 million people ACTUALLY read his tweets. Very very few voters actually read his tweet diarrhea.
In other polls - 71% of Americans say we SHOULD negotiate with North Korea.
Then there is torture - pretty split 33% say yes, 33% say no and 33% say unknown. Of course the right are all for torture and the left is against! Go figure.
46% say they are good with Trumps handling of North Korea, as I am. Hey - even a sex crazed female groping lying monkey can stumbling into something good. Of course we are just a hairs breath away from nuclear war with that bumbling buffoon but . . . . hey - toss the dice, see what happens right? It's called dice diplomacy.
Weird weather - all the states AROUND Wisconsin have been getting mega-rain storms while Wisconsin is actually getting LESS. Wisconsin is the hole in the mega-rain doughnut.
Births in America are dropping. 2% less then the previous year. This is not an issue NOW but with more people dying in the US then being born and immigration coming to a stand still America is looking at an economic issue. Immigrants buy things and boost the economy, pay taxes, are involved MUCH less crime AND work jobs lazy Americans won't do.
****************
Predicting 8-18 inches of snow on this pass in Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend. See you in a couple weeks!! Hope the snow is gone LOL
*************************
The only major thing in weather is Sunday sucking. After today 3 cloudy days and then regular summer weather. upper 70s, low 80s and pop up showers every day for a few minutes.
BORING!
Have an outstanding weekend.
RM
The question is . . . Do you want an historic looking downtown with very few businesses? Or do you want a vibrant downtown full of business but not as historic. I know a very excellent company that decided to NOT move to Columbus downtown because of the signage and other building restrictions.
Pick a side - Business or Beauty.
*************************
The NY Yankees have been having a tough road trip. First a game was delayed and will be completed the next day. Then those 2 games are canceled because of weather and since they have a game in KC the next day they go to the airport but because of weather AND plane maintenance issues AND because all hotels are full, the teams spends the night in an airport LOL
****************
I know nobody cares but my past two SOM games my team is 5 for 28 with runners in scoring position. I won both games 6-3. The last game I had 7 doubles and 3 home runs and scored 6 runs - COME ON MAN. I was playing in Dodger Stadium, a pretty good park for home runs for lefties. Pretty average for right handed batters. Large foul territory so hits are way down.
The amount of foul territory is what determines if a park is a hitters or pitchers park. Foul outs really hurt.
*******************
There was a poll that was looking into how many people actually follow Trumps Tweets. He has 52 million followers but it's not sure how many are actually in the United States (before the election it was noted that 15 million are from Russia) but the numbers come out to about 10 million people ACTUALLY read his tweets. Very very few voters actually read his tweet diarrhea.
In other polls - 71% of Americans say we SHOULD negotiate with North Korea.
Then there is torture - pretty split 33% say yes, 33% say no and 33% say unknown. Of course the right are all for torture and the left is against! Go figure.
46% say they are good with Trumps handling of North Korea, as I am. Hey - even a sex crazed female groping lying monkey can stumbling into something good. Of course we are just a hairs breath away from nuclear war with that bumbling buffoon but . . . . hey - toss the dice, see what happens right? It's called dice diplomacy.
Weird weather - all the states AROUND Wisconsin have been getting mega-rain storms while Wisconsin is actually getting LESS. Wisconsin is the hole in the mega-rain doughnut.
Births in America are dropping. 2% less then the previous year. This is not an issue NOW but with more people dying in the US then being born and immigration coming to a stand still America is looking at an economic issue. Immigrants buy things and boost the economy, pay taxes, are involved MUCH less crime AND work jobs lazy Americans won't do.
****************
*************************
The only major thing in weather is Sunday sucking. After today 3 cloudy days and then regular summer weather. upper 70s, low 80s and pop up showers every day for a few minutes.
BORING!
Have an outstanding weekend.
RM
Thursday, May 17, 2018
OOPS - forgot to post
Check out this image from a hail storm in Texas yesterday.
And in Wisconsin Superior had a low temp of 39 and a high of 89. Only a 50 degrees rise. Wear layers!!
**********************
The golf Gods were . . . . . . ambivalent yesterday. I felt like I had a bad round but only because I could not get off the tee (not extending my arms and slicing). OTHERWISE I ended with a 48 which included an 8 on the last hole.
HOWEVER - as we were eating at The Oaks I spotted a big board with COLUMBUS at the top and Leitha in big letters under it. I got closer and August? Austin? Leitha? Any relation to Jason?
ANYWAY would love to get a golf outing with any of my city "friends" that golf. It would be like old times (almost since we never golfed but I'm looking for an excuse to golf more.
**********************
THIS . . . would be distracting. Maybe it's just me.
*********************
Just sayin'.
**************************
Yesterday Yelich's screaming line drive HR had the fastest exit velocity that statcast has ever recorded for a homerun, 112.4 mph. There has been harder hit balls but not HRs.
*********************
Seems everybody is whining about the current investigation into our fed government. OH MUELLER HAS BEEN AT IT A YEAR!! GIVE IT UP.
Well, the Watergate investigation took 4 years (illegal campaign donations, other burglaries, tax fraud and corruption
Iran Contra took 7 years (illegal sales of arms to Iran and funneling of the profits to right-wing “Contras”)
Whitewater took 7 years
We are only at the beginning but Mueller has to be careful as the rules changed since Ken Starr who could look into ANYTHING.
*****************************
Did I mention I got my paint by numbers canvas? OMG - this will be a little work LOL
Check out the tiny details - oops sideways - well, you get the idea. I'm afraid to start
***********************
And in Wisconsin Superior had a low temp of 39 and a high of 89. Only a 50 degrees rise. Wear layers!!
**********************
The golf Gods were . . . . . . ambivalent yesterday. I felt like I had a bad round but only because I could not get off the tee (not extending my arms and slicing). OTHERWISE I ended with a 48 which included an 8 on the last hole.
HOWEVER - as we were eating at The Oaks I spotted a big board with COLUMBUS at the top and Leitha in big letters under it. I got closer and August? Austin? Leitha? Any relation to Jason?
ANYWAY would love to get a golf outing with any of my city "friends" that golf. It would be like old times (almost since we never golfed but I'm looking for an excuse to golf more.
**********************
THIS . . . would be distracting. Maybe it's just me.
*********************
Just sayin'.
**************************
Yesterday Yelich's screaming line drive HR had the fastest exit velocity that statcast has ever recorded for a homerun, 112.4 mph. There has been harder hit balls but not HRs.
*********************
Seems everybody is whining about the current investigation into our fed government. OH MUELLER HAS BEEN AT IT A YEAR!! GIVE IT UP.
Well, the Watergate investigation took 4 years (illegal campaign donations, other burglaries, tax fraud and corruption
Iran Contra took 7 years (illegal sales of arms to Iran and funneling of the profits to right-wing “Contras”)
Whitewater took 7 years
We are only at the beginning but Mueller has to be careful as the rules changed since Ken Starr who could look into ANYTHING.
*****************************
Did I mention I got my paint by numbers canvas? OMG - this will be a little work LOL
Check out the tiny details - oops sideways - well, you get the idea. I'm afraid to start
***********************
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
This and that - Hedy Lamarr?
Pretty good night for the #Resistance. Moderate Democrats that want to work WITH the GOP lost while the "tea party" left won. Woman won 11 of 16 races and on the GOP side most candidates that sided with Trump lost while moderate Republicans won.
Makes for an interesting next 6 months.
********************
The NBA lottery is changing. I watched a good 8 minutes of the NBA Draft Lottery show and . . . OMG, that had to be the most lame excuse for ANYTHING on television I have ever seen.
The problem is the NBA had a race to be the worst team this year, a historic tankfest . The draft is weird in the first place. The #1 pick has a 34% chance of becoming an All-Star and ON AVERAGE the #1 pick will gain you about 3.4 wins over the next 5 years.
But the NBA is changing the system next year making it even harder to get that #1 pick.
For the last 25 years the worst team had a 25% chance of the #1 pick with 2nd worst 19.9% and 3rd worst 15.65 chance. NEXT YEAR the worst three teams all have a 14% chance.
********************
Timeless - that wonderful time traveling show is still in limbo. The show is great as it highlights
Or Grace Humiston the greatest detective in America - basically Ms. Sherlock Holmes.
unknown heroes that time has forgotten about. Recent shows were about Hedy Lamarr who literally invented WiFi during WWII. She was a brilliant scientist. In WWII radio controlled torpedoes could be hacked and she figured out a way to frequency-hop the signal that so it could not be tracked or jammed.
But we wait to see if the show that started as a fun time traveling ride but turned into a thinking mans ride gets canceled AGAIN!
***********************
It has been found that cannabis has the ability to stop the onset of Alzheimer by blocking some sort of something that attaches to the brain thingy. Yea - I'm not doctor.
***********************
Gus the Weather Dog says high of 78 tomorrow and sunny . . . in fact the only day that will have no sun is Sunday and mid to upper 70s and sun for the foreseeable future EXCEPT Sunday.
*************************
OH - I got my new iPhone replacement yesterday. All I have to do is switch out the SIM card which I cannot do.
**************************
NETFLIX will have over 1000 NEW original programming this year and are NOT spending money on buying rights to movies.
*************************
Facebook deleted 528 MILLION fake accounts and 1.9 million pieces of terrorists propaganda. APPLE has decided to censor what you can look at online. I have a Leafly app where APPLE will not allow any content on Denver cannabis dispensaries (if we ever decided to visit one). You MUST have location services turns on and if you are from Wisconsin everything is blocked.
*******************
time to mow the lawn again - it's been 2 days already. I'm TRYING to cut it shorter but just keeping it as is has been difficult!
********************
Makes for an interesting next 6 months.
********************
The NBA lottery is changing. I watched a good 8 minutes of the NBA Draft Lottery show and . . . OMG, that had to be the most lame excuse for ANYTHING on television I have ever seen.
The problem is the NBA had a race to be the worst team this year, a historic tankfest . The draft is weird in the first place. The #1 pick has a 34% chance of becoming an All-Star and ON AVERAGE the #1 pick will gain you about 3.4 wins over the next 5 years.
But the NBA is changing the system next year making it even harder to get that #1 pick.
For the last 25 years the worst team had a 25% chance of the #1 pick with 2nd worst 19.9% and 3rd worst 15.65 chance. NEXT YEAR the worst three teams all have a 14% chance.
********************
Timeless - that wonderful time traveling show is still in limbo. The show is great as it highlights Or Grace Humiston the greatest detective in America - basically Ms. Sherlock Holmes.
unknown heroes that time has forgotten about. Recent shows were about Hedy Lamarr who literally invented WiFi during WWII. She was a brilliant scientist. In WWII radio controlled torpedoes could be hacked and she figured out a way to frequency-hop the signal that so it could not be tracked or jammed.
But we wait to see if the show that started as a fun time traveling ride but turned into a thinking mans ride gets canceled AGAIN!
***********************
It has been found that cannabis has the ability to stop the onset of Alzheimer by blocking some sort of something that attaches to the brain thingy. Yea - I'm not doctor.
***********************
MULLINS OPENS TOMORROW!!
Gus the Weather Dog says high of 78 tomorrow and sunny . . . in fact the only day that will have no sun is Sunday and mid to upper 70s and sun for the foreseeable future EXCEPT Sunday.
*************************
OH - I got my new iPhone replacement yesterday. All I have to do is switch out the SIM card which I cannot do.
**************************
NETFLIX will have over 1000 NEW original programming this year and are NOT spending money on buying rights to movies.
*************************
Facebook deleted 528 MILLION fake accounts and 1.9 million pieces of terrorists propaganda. APPLE has decided to censor what you can look at online. I have a Leafly app where APPLE will not allow any content on Denver cannabis dispensaries (if we ever decided to visit one). You MUST have location services turns on and if you are from Wisconsin everything is blocked.
*******************
time to mow the lawn again - it's been 2 days already. I'm TRYING to cut it shorter but just keeping it as is has been difficult!
********************
Monday, May 14, 2018
#Asurion iPhone insurance SCAM
Columbus WI: Elderly senior gets hit by school bus after uncontrolled ride down driveway on office furniture during Bring Out Your Dead Week. . . is something that could have happened but I caught myself.
******************************
ATT and their scam-like iPhone insurance. OH - I was/am furious.
Having many issues with breaking phones we decided maybe to get insurance. Well, a couple weeks ago I was playing with the protective plastic on my 8+ screen and it got a bubble in it and I took it off.
Of course 2 weeks later I drop it face down on the cement and it cracks. LUCKILY I have insurance which says they And I was told will cover fixing it for $49.
Here is the problem. They will fix it ONLY if YOU can find a qualified place to fix it.
WELL - I have fixed screens 3 times and Madison has like 20 places. All I have to do is put in a zip code online and it will tell me where to go.
I entered ALL 24 ZIP codes - not ONE qualifies for #Asurion insurance. On the phone I asked WHERE is one in Madison, a rather large town. So they said what is the zip code. NO NO - I went through that. Well, that is the only way they can find one. SERIOUSLY? An insurance company who's computer system is so archaic they can't or won't tell you where to get you insured phone fixed? You can't type in WISCONSIN? Or MADISON? Nope - I have to literally put in a zip code, wait 30 seconds and get turned down.
What a bunch of f*cking bullshit! I guess I got a little angry YET polite at one of the call center people. I said "I am not made YOU but t you work at a b*llshit scam insurance company". and hung up.
Well, I guess they deleted all my information so when I called back I had no claim at all and had to start all over. OH - I have to send a copy of my proof of purchase AND an image of my photo ID. I can get like $20 off on a fix it job as they send me a NEW phone to replace the old one.
I will cancel #Asurion ASAP when I get my phone.
I read what Baseball Prospectus thought of Freddie Peralta BEFORE his MLB debut yesterday for the Brewers.
The Brewers got Peralta in the Adam Lind trade with Seattle in 2015. They called him a "stealth prospect" because he was slated to be a swingman - part Starter and part bullpen and because he does not have the "classic" pitcher's body (whatever that is - sounds old school).
Since being in the Brewers organization his stats have been pretty impressive with strikeout numbers near Kneble range in the 11.5 per 9 innings. His ERA, FIP and DRA are all very respectable but he does walk a good number of guys but he has consistently out pitched expectations.
The scouting report says he throws across his body which add deception and he only has two pitches although his fast ball which is 89-93 mph is actually two or three different pitches as the speed changes what the ball does, either cutting it, running it or sinking it and he has a very good slider with a sharp bite on the end.
He gets a LOT of swinging strikes high in the zone and when he misses it's outside (I believe 12 of his 13 K's were swing strikes).
WELL - that was a pretty good debut yesterday! 5.2 innings, 1 hit, 13 ks and 2 walks.
+++++
We have been watching the Colorado series as we're going to go to a game at Coors Field June 8th the day after we see Brit Floyd at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Looking at what seats we should get. The Rockpile which is WAY up in Center field ($8 a seat) but we're walking around a lot anyway.
My BUCKET LIST concert is still Nightwish. I know most people never look at music videos other post but this song ran through my head ALL 9 holes Wednesday night. I wonder if music helps golf.
A fusion of classical music and metal with plenty of pyrotechnics. Oddly many bands NOT from America do not do 3 minute songs. It's seems different "over there" musically. These guys sell out huge outdoor stadiums in Europe all the time. DJ say's it's not a concert but more of a performance.
Being a classic music lover AND heavy metal this is a perfect combination. If I can turn on one person to this outstanding band my life is a success LOL
https://youtu.be/aTAaEHiGjvU
Watched a Cream concert on AXEtv Friday night - WOW - so so good. I don't think I ever saw them "live". Always like their songs but seeing the three live WOW - what an awesome band - I think they will go far.
**************************
SO - in other news - The Artic ice is growing younger by the year. IN 1984 61% of the ice in the arctic was multi year ice, Now in 2017 only 34% is multi year ice and ONLY 2% of all the ice is older then 5 years old. SCARED!
*************
15% of all weddings in 2017 ended up in a barn, a farm or a ranch. Up 2% from 2009.
****************
Republicans are losing ground in California. The number of registered Democrats in CA is staying the same but the number of Republicans is dropping being replaced by independents and for the first time there are more independents then Republicans in CA.
*****************
Two years ago the U.S. had a shortage of 78,000 truck drivers. As of this year there is a shortage of 280,000 truck drivers.
+++++++++++++++
Partial no-hitters. There have been more partial no-hitters (5th, 6th 7th innings) this year then since the late 60s with 28 so far. In fact on any given day there is a possibility that a partial no-hitter is being thrown.
***************
I was talking to home builders about Columbus because I was curious about home prices and how expensive they were in here. With Columbus citizens getting crazed about needing new schools AND the lack of housing I think the City and School system better get their act together and figure this out.
I have not yet begun to complain about lack of housing growth in Columbus.
Seems we have a SERIOUS lack of places to build and everybody wants to move to Columbus. While it APPEARS Columbus home prices are high, the people buying our homes are coming from Madison, Sun Prairie and towns around Columbus (Oregon was mentioned) BECAUSE we are cheap.
A typical 200K home in Columbus would sell for $280,000 in Madison. The PROBLEM is that the older houses are not selling because people don't know how to fix things and there is a serious lack of fixers to pay to fix things plus banks seem to be refusing to give loans.
One loan company went out of business last week (owned by Mr. Eisenga) so that option is no longer available. Plus any business that is stupid enough to advertise they are Trump supporters is just a stupidly run business in the first place. What a bunch of morons.
I mean even a guy with no filter has enough brains not to advertise his political views when trying to sell things. I could have sold a lot of anti-walker images in art fairs but no - I'm not that ignorant
But I digress.
******************************
ATT and their scam-like iPhone insurance. OH - I was/am furious.
Having many issues with breaking phones we decided maybe to get insurance. Well, a couple weeks ago I was playing with the protective plastic on my 8+ screen and it got a bubble in it and I took it off.
Of course 2 weeks later I drop it face down on the cement and it cracks. LUCKILY I have insurance which says they And I was told will cover fixing it for $49.
Here is the problem. They will fix it ONLY if YOU can find a qualified place to fix it.
WELL - I have fixed screens 3 times and Madison has like 20 places. All I have to do is put in a zip code online and it will tell me where to go.
I entered ALL 24 ZIP codes - not ONE qualifies for #Asurion insurance. On the phone I asked WHERE is one in Madison, a rather large town. So they said what is the zip code. NO NO - I went through that. Well, that is the only way they can find one. SERIOUSLY? An insurance company who's computer system is so archaic they can't or won't tell you where to get you insured phone fixed? You can't type in WISCONSIN? Or MADISON? Nope - I have to literally put in a zip code, wait 30 seconds and get turned down.
What a bunch of f*cking bullshit! I guess I got a little angry YET polite at one of the call center people. I said "I am not made YOU but t you work at a b*llshit scam insurance company". and hung up.
Well, I guess they deleted all my information so when I called back I had no claim at all and had to start all over. OH - I have to send a copy of my proof of purchase AND an image of my photo ID. I can get like $20 off on a fix it job as they send me a NEW phone to replace the old one.
I will cancel #Asurion ASAP when I get my phone.
***********************
I read what Baseball Prospectus thought of Freddie Peralta BEFORE his MLB debut yesterday for the Brewers.
The Brewers got Peralta in the Adam Lind trade with Seattle in 2015. They called him a "stealth prospect" because he was slated to be a swingman - part Starter and part bullpen and because he does not have the "classic" pitcher's body (whatever that is - sounds old school).
Since being in the Brewers organization his stats have been pretty impressive with strikeout numbers near Kneble range in the 11.5 per 9 innings. His ERA, FIP and DRA are all very respectable but he does walk a good number of guys but he has consistently out pitched expectations.
The scouting report says he throws across his body which add deception and he only has two pitches although his fast ball which is 89-93 mph is actually two or three different pitches as the speed changes what the ball does, either cutting it, running it or sinking it and he has a very good slider with a sharp bite on the end.
He gets a LOT of swinging strikes high in the zone and when he misses it's outside (I believe 12 of his 13 K's were swing strikes).
WELL - that was a pretty good debut yesterday! 5.2 innings, 1 hit, 13 ks and 2 walks.
+++++
We have been watching the Colorado series as we're going to go to a game at Coors Field June 8th the day after we see Brit Floyd at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Looking at what seats we should get. The Rockpile which is WAY up in Center field ($8 a seat) but we're walking around a lot anyway.
My BUCKET LIST concert is still Nightwish. I know most people never look at music videos other post but this song ran through my head ALL 9 holes Wednesday night. I wonder if music helps golf.
A fusion of classical music and metal with plenty of pyrotechnics. Oddly many bands NOT from America do not do 3 minute songs. It's seems different "over there" musically. These guys sell out huge outdoor stadiums in Europe all the time. DJ say's it's not a concert but more of a performance.
Being a classic music lover AND heavy metal this is a perfect combination. If I can turn on one person to this outstanding band my life is a success LOL
https://youtu.be/aTAaEHiGjvU
Watched a Cream concert on AXEtv Friday night - WOW - so so good. I don't think I ever saw them "live". Always like their songs but seeing the three live WOW - what an awesome band - I think they will go far.
**************************
SO - in other news - The Artic ice is growing younger by the year. IN 1984 61% of the ice in the arctic was multi year ice, Now in 2017 only 34% is multi year ice and ONLY 2% of all the ice is older then 5 years old. SCARED!
*************
15% of all weddings in 2017 ended up in a barn, a farm or a ranch. Up 2% from 2009.
****************
Republicans are losing ground in California. The number of registered Democrats in CA is staying the same but the number of Republicans is dropping being replaced by independents and for the first time there are more independents then Republicans in CA.
*****************
Two years ago the U.S. had a shortage of 78,000 truck drivers. As of this year there is a shortage of 280,000 truck drivers.
+++++++++++++++
Partial no-hitters. There have been more partial no-hitters (5th, 6th 7th innings) this year then since the late 60s with 28 so far. In fact on any given day there is a possibility that a partial no-hitter is being thrown.
***************
I was talking to home builders about Columbus because I was curious about home prices and how expensive they were in here. With Columbus citizens getting crazed about needing new schools AND the lack of housing I think the City and School system better get their act together and figure this out.
I have not yet begun to complain about lack of housing growth in Columbus.
Seems we have a SERIOUS lack of places to build and everybody wants to move to Columbus. While it APPEARS Columbus home prices are high, the people buying our homes are coming from Madison, Sun Prairie and towns around Columbus (Oregon was mentioned) BECAUSE we are cheap.
A typical 200K home in Columbus would sell for $280,000 in Madison. The PROBLEM is that the older houses are not selling because people don't know how to fix things and there is a serious lack of fixers to pay to fix things plus banks seem to be refusing to give loans.
One loan company went out of business last week (owned by Mr. Eisenga) so that option is no longer available. Plus any business that is stupid enough to advertise they are Trump supporters is just a stupidly run business in the first place. What a bunch of morons.
I mean even a guy with no filter has enough brains not to advertise his political views when trying to sell things. I could have sold a lot of anti-walker images in art fairs but no - I'm not that ignorant
Friday, May 11, 2018
New Technology helps in golf.
Technology can even help a 20 handicap golfer. I mentioned I went to Nevada Bobs and purchased a couple new clubs, a 5W and 7W to replace some old used clubs.
I had been thinking about this for a while and wondering if new technology could actually help. It does. I had my first real swings on actual grass and WOW! Confidence is high! Although I only swung my 5W once and it did lose my most expensive ball but the 30 mph left to right wind had some help.
The Oaks seems to have more challenges the Door Creek but a little shorter and when only OUR foursome took shots out of the mud bunkers (2 bunkers 5 shots) I still managed to have the low net for the league (the rest of the league was told to NOT play in the muddy sand bunkers).
Both new clubs put a lot of height on the balls and they went far. In fact I came away from Wednesday night golf feeling pretty pretty cocky even with a 47 on the front 9 in wet wet conditions.
Feeling splurgey I purchased a dozen Volvik Vivid (the legal ones) balls and you can see them clearly in the rough from 200 yards away. So far I like them but will only play them on courses where I would lose a dozen in 9 holes.
They are "flat" colored, not the normal shiny.
Of course time will tell. I purchased some Maxfli balls last year that were 40 compression. YES - FORTY and they were like hitting a super ball off the tee. Outstanding distance. LOVED them . . . . . until I had to chip and putt and then it was like chipping and putting . . a super ball. They just bounced off the club with GREAT distance . . . not what you hope for LOL
We shall see. They are probably not the best ball for me and my skill level. More of a Pro-V1 style ball and anybody with a handicap over 15 should never use. I find more Pro-V1s in my yard more then any other ball. If you are hitting a Pro-V1 you should almost never be in the rough.
I hit ended up five fairways with the Vivid so . . . so far so good.
********************************
Latest meaningless poll has Obama over Trump 56% to 37% but in another poll Americans think Clinton would have been better only 47% to 44%.
The top issue for Republicans in the coming election is 1. The Economy (which is fine) 2. immigration (which is racism) and 3. less guns regulations.
The top issues for Democrat's 1. Health Care 2. more gun regulations 3. the economy (which is fine).
More woman are donating to political races then in 2014 (the last Mid Term)
************
Movies - the 2018 box office take is 18-20% higher then last year.
Starbucks announced you can use their bathrooms 100% of the time whenever you like.
There have been two truck accidents to note - one was a tanker filled with 10 tons of liquid chocolate - seems like a mess to clean up.
another one was much easier to clean up - in fact I think if you left it it would clean up on it's own. How about 8 million dimes all over the freeway.
*****************
WEATHER - rain all day today. thunderstorms Tuesday into Wednesday when we hit 80 degrees and warm the first part of next week, cooling off late week to the low 70s
Sunny and 70 on Mothers day.
Have a great weekend !
I had been thinking about this for a while and wondering if new technology could actually help. It does. I had my first real swings on actual grass and WOW! Confidence is high! Although I only swung my 5W once and it did lose my most expensive ball but the 30 mph left to right wind had some help.
The Oaks seems to have more challenges the Door Creek but a little shorter and when only OUR foursome took shots out of the mud bunkers (2 bunkers 5 shots) I still managed to have the low net for the league (the rest of the league was told to NOT play in the muddy sand bunkers).
Both new clubs put a lot of height on the balls and they went far. In fact I came away from Wednesday night golf feeling pretty pretty cocky even with a 47 on the front 9 in wet wet conditions.
Feeling splurgey I purchased a dozen Volvik Vivid (the legal ones) balls and you can see them clearly in the rough from 200 yards away. So far I like them but will only play them on courses where I would lose a dozen in 9 holes.They are "flat" colored, not the normal shiny.
Of course time will tell. I purchased some Maxfli balls last year that were 40 compression. YES - FORTY and they were like hitting a super ball off the tee. Outstanding distance. LOVED them . . . . . until I had to chip and putt and then it was like chipping and putting . . a super ball. They just bounced off the club with GREAT distance . . . not what you hope for LOL
We shall see. They are probably not the best ball for me and my skill level. More of a Pro-V1 style ball and anybody with a handicap over 15 should never use. I find more Pro-V1s in my yard more then any other ball. If you are hitting a Pro-V1 you should almost never be in the rough.
I hit ended up five fairways with the Vivid so . . . so far so good.
********************************
Latest meaningless poll has Obama over Trump 56% to 37% but in another poll Americans think Clinton would have been better only 47% to 44%.
The top issue for Republicans in the coming election is 1. The Economy (which is fine) 2. immigration (which is racism) and 3. less guns regulations.
The top issues for Democrat's 1. Health Care 2. more gun regulations 3. the economy (which is fine).
More woman are donating to political races then in 2014 (the last Mid Term)
************
Movies - the 2018 box office take is 18-20% higher then last year.
Starbucks announced you can use their bathrooms 100% of the time whenever you like.
There have been two truck accidents to note - one was a tanker filled with 10 tons of liquid chocolate - seems like a mess to clean up.
another one was much easier to clean up - in fact I think if you left it it would clean up on it's own. How about 8 million dimes all over the freeway.
*****************
WEATHER - rain all day today. thunderstorms Tuesday into Wednesday when we hit 80 degrees and warm the first part of next week, cooling off late week to the low 70s
Sunny and 70 on Mothers day.
Have a great weekend !
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Power Grid
My brother was up yesterday and we played our first game of Power Grid and the game is so unique that we started brain storming on how to create a better game of Monopoly. A fusion of three different games - more on that later as Ralls (brother) has created a few games (none published . . yet) in his life.
Power Grid is a fantastic game where (I'm told) people don't play it twice and put it away which is a problem with most games. Once you learn how to win it just becomes a race. Monopoly, once ahead have you ever seen anybody come from behind to win? No.
Power Grid is unique as whoever is in first place is at a disadvantage.
The goal is to buy power plants and build cities. Power plants are all are different sizes and costs and some need oil, coal, garbage, uranium or wind. And each one of those (except wind) gets more expensive and harder to come as the game goes on so you need to look at the future and look at what your opponents are doing. You also only have 4 different random power plants to purchase but you can see which random power plants will be available . . . soon.
Every time you buy raw materials for your plants they become more expensive and there are less of them. But here is the cool thing. The person in last places buys the raw materials FIRST. The person in 1st place buys last. So first place is always at a disadvantage through out the game in most things you do.
There is only a small amount of luck and strategy changes throughout the game.
Each turn has 5 rounds and there are 3 stages in the game that slightly changes the rules.
1. Determine Playing order
2 Auction Power Plants
3. Buying Resources
4. Building
5. Bureaucracy
So we started talking about other games specifically Monopoly and Settlers of Cataan We thought if we could take the best parts of all three games and combine them . . . . .
The unique leveling of competition from Power Grid when prices fluctuate throughout the game. The property aspect of Monopoly with perhaps zoning and location issues with properties NOT having a static price but one that fluctuates as properties become available, and the randomness of the actual board that Caatan has where each game has a completely different board through random distribution.
Does Boardwalk have a Stadium near by? Or a big road like East Washington? Is cheap Baltic Avenue near a lake? or a dump? or is it across the street from Park Place?
Probably can't publish the game if it ever happens as we would get sued (sort of like Cercis Brewing who wanted to be called Red Bud but Budweiser would sue the hell out of them).
So - three thumbs up with Power Grid.
********************************
Any Milwaukee Buck fans out there? Want to know what former coach Don Nelson is doing? He lives in Hawaii, has a cannabis farm and plays poker with Willie Nelson once a week. Seems a lot easier then coaching in the NBA.
*********************************
In a few weeks we will attempt another vacation into the Rockies. Last year was a clusterf*ck. Getting over head colds at 9,000 feet . . . . is a nightmare. Add a FIL with failing health and the place you are staying having people working on remodeling during the day is not a good combination.
We will have a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater to see Brit Floyd and a Rockies game the next night after 5 days in Winter Park.
We toured the place last year and said this HAD to be on our bucket list for places to see a concert.
Another plan is to play around of golf at 9,000 feet at Pole Creek Golf Club. I purchased 2 new club yesterday a 5 and 7 wood - both GBB Callaway Epic's. My old 5W looked like it was from the 50s and my 7W just never gave me confidence.
*********************
OH OH - did you see the Brewer game last night! OMG Suter, the 5th longest home run by a pitcher since Statcast was invented - 433 feet. It won the game.
**********************
Amazon deleted 5.3 million product reviews as being fake. That being said - I reviewed some Levy jeans I purchased. It was not a good review. I wear 511s and their seems to be 20 different 511 jeans now and MY 511s are no longer made. So I took a stab and the jeans I got were not the same fit. I reviewed them but it seems my review was negative so it was not allowed and rejected.
**************************
Puerto Rico has had a 27% increase in suicides since the hurricane and the elderly, who are STILL without power are really suffering.
*************************
64% of Americans and ALL of the world believe Trump should not pull out of the Iran Nuke agreement. But since Obama, "a black man" did this Trump automatically canceled it. Anything Obama did, good or bad, needs to go according to the whitest President ever. (probably not the most politically correct statement).
OH - the deal will eliminate 250,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil out of the market. Watch gas prices. For every $1 in crude price rise it corresponds to 2.4 cents per gallon of gas. We shall see.
************************
Water - so the theory is you are suppose to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day - FALSE. There has never ever been a test that substantiates this. It's 100% opinion. The real thing is you are suppose to CONSUME 6 to 8 glasses of ANY liquid a day which includes pizza sauce or a can of coke to the juice of an orange. It has nothing to do with a "glass of water".
If you want to know how you are doing - pinch the skin on the back of your hands for a few seconds. If it immediately goes back to normal, you are fine.
********************
Weather - YUCK - expect 2-5 inches of rain over the next days (more like a couple here but locally more). Friday looks like the worst day with a high of 45 and dubious amounts of rain . . . .much much rain. Saturday is "better" with showers diminishing and a high of 55. Sunday sunny and 67.
Middle and upper 70s next week.
Rod
Power Grid is a fantastic game where (I'm told) people don't play it twice and put it away which is a problem with most games. Once you learn how to win it just becomes a race. Monopoly, once ahead have you ever seen anybody come from behind to win? No.
Power Grid is unique as whoever is in first place is at a disadvantage.
The goal is to buy power plants and build cities. Power plants are all are different sizes and costs and some need oil, coal, garbage, uranium or wind. And each one of those (except wind) gets more expensive and harder to come as the game goes on so you need to look at the future and look at what your opponents are doing. You also only have 4 different random power plants to purchase but you can see which random power plants will be available . . . soon.
Every time you buy raw materials for your plants they become more expensive and there are less of them. But here is the cool thing. The person in last places buys the raw materials FIRST. The person in 1st place buys last. So first place is always at a disadvantage through out the game in most things you do.
There is only a small amount of luck and strategy changes throughout the game.
Each turn has 5 rounds and there are 3 stages in the game that slightly changes the rules.
1. Determine Playing order
2 Auction Power Plants
3. Buying Resources
4. Building
5. Bureaucracy
So we started talking about other games specifically Monopoly and Settlers of Cataan We thought if we could take the best parts of all three games and combine them . . . . .
The unique leveling of competition from Power Grid when prices fluctuate throughout the game. The property aspect of Monopoly with perhaps zoning and location issues with properties NOT having a static price but one that fluctuates as properties become available, and the randomness of the actual board that Caatan has where each game has a completely different board through random distribution.
Does Boardwalk have a Stadium near by? Or a big road like East Washington? Is cheap Baltic Avenue near a lake? or a dump? or is it across the street from Park Place?
Probably can't publish the game if it ever happens as we would get sued (sort of like Cercis Brewing who wanted to be called Red Bud but Budweiser would sue the hell out of them).
So - three thumbs up with Power Grid.
********************************
Any Milwaukee Buck fans out there? Want to know what former coach Don Nelson is doing? He lives in Hawaii, has a cannabis farm and plays poker with Willie Nelson once a week. Seems a lot easier then coaching in the NBA.
*********************************
In a few weeks we will attempt another vacation into the Rockies. Last year was a clusterf*ck. Getting over head colds at 9,000 feet . . . . is a nightmare. Add a FIL with failing health and the place you are staying having people working on remodeling during the day is not a good combination.
We will have a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater to see Brit Floyd and a Rockies game the next night after 5 days in Winter Park.
We toured the place last year and said this HAD to be on our bucket list for places to see a concert.
Another plan is to play around of golf at 9,000 feet at Pole Creek Golf Club. I purchased 2 new club yesterday a 5 and 7 wood - both GBB Callaway Epic's. My old 5W looked like it was from the 50s and my 7W just never gave me confidence.
*********************
OH OH - did you see the Brewer game last night! OMG Suter, the 5th longest home run by a pitcher since Statcast was invented - 433 feet. It won the game.
**********************
Amazon deleted 5.3 million product reviews as being fake. That being said - I reviewed some Levy jeans I purchased. It was not a good review. I wear 511s and their seems to be 20 different 511 jeans now and MY 511s are no longer made. So I took a stab and the jeans I got were not the same fit. I reviewed them but it seems my review was negative so it was not allowed and rejected.
**************************
Puerto Rico has had a 27% increase in suicides since the hurricane and the elderly, who are STILL without power are really suffering.
*************************
64% of Americans and ALL of the world believe Trump should not pull out of the Iran Nuke agreement. But since Obama, "a black man" did this Trump automatically canceled it. Anything Obama did, good or bad, needs to go according to the whitest President ever. (probably not the most politically correct statement).
OH - the deal will eliminate 250,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil out of the market. Watch gas prices. For every $1 in crude price rise it corresponds to 2.4 cents per gallon of gas. We shall see.
************************
Water - so the theory is you are suppose to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day - FALSE. There has never ever been a test that substantiates this. It's 100% opinion. The real thing is you are suppose to CONSUME 6 to 8 glasses of ANY liquid a day which includes pizza sauce or a can of coke to the juice of an orange. It has nothing to do with a "glass of water".
If you want to know how you are doing - pinch the skin on the back of your hands for a few seconds. If it immediately goes back to normal, you are fine.
********************
Weather - YUCK - expect 2-5 inches of rain over the next days (more like a couple here but locally more). Friday looks like the worst day with a high of 45 and dubious amounts of rain . . . .much much rain. Saturday is "better" with showers diminishing and a high of 55. Sunday sunny and 67.
Middle and upper 70s next week.
Rod
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
McD's vs. sweet corn
Being one that will try any food as long as I am not offended by it and it looks good, I tried the new McDonalds Quarter Pounder made with fresh meat.
A woman in Texas bet $18 and won $1.2 MILLION at the Kentucky derby on a Pick 5 bwager She picked the last 5 winning horses in the last 5 races at The Kentucky Derby.
One of the horses was a 39-1 bet
*************************
it's all I got. I better mow the lawn AGAIN! Didn't I mow it like 3 days ago?
Later my brother is driving down from Kewaunee and we going to play Power Grid to see what the hype is about. Gotta love board games. He used to have an original Avalon Hill game called Gettysburg BEFORE they invented the hex grid!
When explaining this game he said it sounded like a game called Management. except using Power plants. He and his best friend used this game as a took for a class in collage.
OK - gotta mow
The verdict? Move along, nothing to see here.
The Old OLD Quarter Pounder was . . OK, rated it on a scaled of 1-10 it was maybe a 6. (Cariboo bar in Madison has one of the best (a 9). Then a year ago they switched it and it went to a 5.5 and now with FRESH meat . . .back to a 6. Juicier for sure, hotter? not really that I could tell. So it's nothing to make a special trip to McD's about.
Some guy in Fond du lac ate his 30,000 Big Mack on Sunday. Good God! He has had a Big Mac every day since 1972.
Some guy in Fond du lac ate his 30,000 Big Mack on Sunday. Good God! He has had a Big Mac every day since 1972.
Then DJ found a recipe for bacon wrapped sweet corn that was getting great ratings.
Get a ear of sweet corn and it can be of dubious origin. Put seasoning salt of your choice (I used fajita seasoning) and wrap 2 strips of bacon around the corn. Wrap the corn in aluminum foil and place on grill for 45 minutes as you cook other tings.
We did this with some chicken and the sizzling of the corn inside the aluminum foil had me twirky with anticipation. Once finished, I unwrapped the corn and the bacon was all crispy and the corn looked fantastic.
First taste? blah- move along, nothing to see here. But the bacon was GREAT.
I have not found fresh sweet corn (this was not - they said "locally grown" define "local") since I stopped getting it on the Wednesday farmers market in Madison. There is a vendor that had the BEST corn and I have not found anything close to it in or around Columbus.
O well.
Still the BEST way to make sweet corn takes 3 minutes and you get ZERO silk to deal with.
Chop off the bottom inch of the wide part leaving the husks on. Place in microwave for 3 minutes. Take corn out and with a towel or glove squeeze the thin end so the corn pop's out (like you are squeezing one out). BAM - zero silk and a perfect piece of corn. Works every time like magic.
******************
Scott Pruitt the EPA chief now has 11 (eleven) federal investigations against him.
Donald Trump's approval ratings have been uncannily stable for months . . . so was Nixon's.
OH - want to see gas prices ZOOM up? Watch to see what happens if/when Trump kills the Iran Nuke deal. ZOOM!! One more thing about our leader. The States that made him President (Wisconsin) was because the farmers thought he was the best choice. Those same farmers are getting crushed because of the trade wars, especially Wisconsin soy beans. I wonder if they are rethinking?
Probably not. They believed his lies once - why would they NOT believe his lies again.
OH yea - Trump wants to get rid of the Children's Health Insurance Program to save money for The Wall. The GOP has sold their sole to big business and no longer care about their fellow Americans.
*******************
Just a crap load of rain coming our way - looking at a few more inches spread out from Wednesday to Sunday. Wednesday looks like Thunderstorms all day starting noonish. Friday we MIGHT not get to 50 degrees with more rain and Saturday looks crappy with off and on thunderstorms. GREAT next week.
****************************
A woman in Texas bet $18 and won $1.2 MILLION at the Kentucky derby on a Pick 5 bwager She picked the last 5 winning horses in the last 5 races at The Kentucky Derby.
One of the horses was a 39-1 bet
*************************
it's all I got. I better mow the lawn AGAIN! Didn't I mow it like 3 days ago?
Later my brother is driving down from Kewaunee and we going to play Power Grid to see what the hype is about. Gotta love board games. He used to have an original Avalon Hill game called Gettysburg BEFORE they invented the hex grid!
When explaining this game he said it sounded like a game called Management. except using Power plants. He and his best friend used this game as a took for a class in collage.
OK - gotta mow
Monday, May 7, 2018
Big Ass Check for an ugly Clock?
WOW - what an awesome weekend THAT was. Friday night we take Elwood to the Brewer game and while "we" lost I believe it was Elwood's first "tail gating" experience in like 30 years. How can this be? Well, when you are dirt poor and the Government keeps taking things away like food share (he works 22 hours a week at $9.00 which is not enough to live on in Madison) you don't just go to a Brewer game on a whim.
The stories from that night are hilarious.
For instance - Elwood is a little introverted having SAD - (Social Anxiety Disorder) so when we had to make our way to the outdoor smoking area it SEEMS there are two of them. One for NORMAL people and another one "filled with millennial's in Star War costumes and all of them are twirking, drinking and smoking".
The $9.50 MKE IPA's were like drinking a whole 6-pack in one can . . . or like 3 six packs in 3 cans.
But I gotta say Club Seats have to be the best seats in the house and I will mirror balderdash's statement as he says Club or bleachers seats are the best at Miller Park. Regular seats are just a little small even for me and if you are between 2 large people . . . . . . it's squeezy.
Anyway - we got home about midnight and Gus did not pee and all was well.
****************
Then Saturday was Gus the Weather Dog's birthday - one year old.
He celebrated with being outside for almost the whole weekend and sleeping from 5PM to basically 6:30AM this morning.
And speaking of weather - a great 2 days coming up and then a very active pattern appears starting Wednesday as a very slow LOW pressure system with rain and thunderstorms Wednesday and it will be in the area all the way through Sunday with high temps not reaching 60 Friday and Saturday and low 60s Sunday with scattered rain all days Wednesday through Sunday.
*********************
We started with 2 two yellow finches before the weekend and are up to six of those little guys now. We have a Brown Thrasher in the yard. Reports of Orioles have been noted.
***********************
We're preparing for some major landscaping in our yard creating a living "fence" with landscaping, shrubs, bushes and trees, but we will have to dig up the electric collar wires. OH - I'm not doing it. I'm at level 64 and this project would take Elwood and I all summer as opposed to a few days.
********************
The almost meaningless jobs numbers came out. Meaningless as the numbers are always being tweaked and are actually accurate 3 months later.
The numbers for February have been revised UP. America is literally at almost full employment.
The REAL numbers are thus:
Unemployed and LOOKING for work. 2.3%
Employed Full time 49.5%
Employed Part time 10.9%
Unemployed, want a job, not actively looking 1.9%
Unemployed, don’t want a job 35.4%
So the GOP keeps thinking the economy is what will win an election but Americans are not thinking the economy is the big issue at all.
************************
Anybody watch Designated Survivor? Love that show but we're 3 weeks behind so no spoilers - but Hannah - wow - she can do anything. Next thing she will be saving Seal Team 3 commandos before she goes into space to save space station astronauts LOL
At the end of the last episode where the President catches a foreign diplomat who is actually starting a coup in a oddly named country and DJ says "I saw this exact ending on Scooby Doo once". I love how they can crack the worlds best hackers with only 6 key strokes (these guy's are really good it seems). Yea - they take a few liberty's but it's a fun romp.
and another fun show is Timeless. What we love about that show is that they explore little known things in the past that you have never heard of - then look it up and WOW - WHO KNEW!. Sadly I can't think of any now . . . sorry.
******************
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
************************
BTW - I miss all you guys. OH - I don't miss the "work" of city council and committees but I do miss the humans. When Cercis brewing company opens in a week or so I hope you stop in after council - drinks are on me! (well, one per eligible human - restrictions might apply, tax and additional overcharge and fees may or may not be included).
***********************
I have emailed Micheal Cohen asking for $130,000 to NOT have sex with Donald Trump. Worth a try.
***********************
Looking for old Hydro Street bling? The city is hosting a auction to get rid of all of their old crap antiquities. The City of Columbus will host an auction on May 10th at 5:00PM at 1149 West James St.
I'll be there with my BIG check book - the one where people stand and have photos taken. This will be me bidding on a big ugly clock with a big check.
Yea - take that to the bank Megan and Kim. Better take a guard.
Opening bid $2500. It's a steal. AND - it works in ALL time zones!!!
***********************
OK - off to Nevada Bob's for a new 7W
The stories from that night are hilarious.
For instance - Elwood is a little introverted having SAD - (Social Anxiety Disorder) so when we had to make our way to the outdoor smoking area it SEEMS there are two of them. One for NORMAL people and another one "filled with millennial's in Star War costumes and all of them are twirking, drinking and smoking".
The $9.50 MKE IPA's were like drinking a whole 6-pack in one can . . . or like 3 six packs in 3 cans.
But I gotta say Club Seats have to be the best seats in the house and I will mirror balderdash's statement as he says Club or bleachers seats are the best at Miller Park. Regular seats are just a little small even for me and if you are between 2 large people . . . . . . it's squeezy.
Anyway - we got home about midnight and Gus did not pee and all was well.
****************
Then Saturday was Gus the Weather Dog's birthday - one year old.
He celebrated with being outside for almost the whole weekend and sleeping from 5PM to basically 6:30AM this morning.
And speaking of weather - a great 2 days coming up and then a very active pattern appears starting Wednesday as a very slow LOW pressure system with rain and thunderstorms Wednesday and it will be in the area all the way through Sunday with high temps not reaching 60 Friday and Saturday and low 60s Sunday with scattered rain all days Wednesday through Sunday.
*********************
We started with 2 two yellow finches before the weekend and are up to six of those little guys now. We have a Brown Thrasher in the yard. Reports of Orioles have been noted.
***********************
We're preparing for some major landscaping in our yard creating a living "fence" with landscaping, shrubs, bushes and trees, but we will have to dig up the electric collar wires. OH - I'm not doing it. I'm at level 64 and this project would take Elwood and I all summer as opposed to a few days.
********************
The almost meaningless jobs numbers came out. Meaningless as the numbers are always being tweaked and are actually accurate 3 months later.
The numbers for February have been revised UP. America is literally at almost full employment.
The REAL numbers are thus:
Unemployed and LOOKING for work. 2.3%
Employed Full time 49.5%
Employed Part time 10.9%
Unemployed, want a job, not actively looking 1.9%
Unemployed, don’t want a job 35.4%
So the GOP keeps thinking the economy is what will win an election but Americans are not thinking the economy is the big issue at all.
************************
Anybody watch Designated Survivor? Love that show but we're 3 weeks behind so no spoilers - but Hannah - wow - she can do anything. Next thing she will be saving Seal Team 3 commandos before she goes into space to save space station astronauts LOL
At the end of the last episode where the President catches a foreign diplomat who is actually starting a coup in a oddly named country and DJ says "I saw this exact ending on Scooby Doo once". I love how they can crack the worlds best hackers with only 6 key strokes (these guy's are really good it seems). Yea - they take a few liberty's but it's a fun romp.
and another fun show is Timeless. What we love about that show is that they explore little known things in the past that you have never heard of - then look it up and WOW - WHO KNEW!. Sadly I can't think of any now . . . sorry.
******************
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
The City of Columbus will hold a Spring Clean Up event this
year in conjunction with waste management vendor Columbia County Solid
Waste. This is intended for residents to
dispose of larger, bulky items and materials that are normally not allowing in
the weekly waste pickup. Eligible items
for collection will be collected at the curbside.
When:
Week of May 14, 2018 – for one week only. All additional items set out will be
collected on your same collection day as normal trash & recycling pickup.
All
items for large item pickup must be put by the curb in an orderly manner and if
necessary contained in a container. Items will not be picked up if they are
dumped by or in the street.
Please place by curbside by 6:00
AM. Please separate your garbage items from the junk
and metal items or they could be taken as garbage.
The
following items CAN be picked up on Spring Clean Up day:
Junk items are appliances, washers, dryers, stoves, ovens, furniture, mattresses, box springs, carpet (4' or less pieces), sofas, chairs, beds, grills, dressers, lamps, porcelain toilets/sinks, small lawn mowers and snow blowers, etc. If there is an excess amount of junk you could be charged a fee. If you have an excess amount of junk please contact Columbia County at (608) 742-6651 prior to the date of pickup.
Junk items are appliances, washers, dryers, stoves, ovens, furniture, mattresses, box springs, carpet (4' or less pieces), sofas, chairs, beds, grills, dressers, lamps, porcelain toilets/sinks, small lawn mowers and snow blowers, etc. If there is an excess amount of junk you could be charged a fee. If you have an excess amount of junk please contact Columbia County at (608) 742-6651 prior to the date of pickup.
Metal
items are swing sets, bikes, small metal sheds with all shingles or wood
removed.
The
following items CANNOT be picked up on Spring Clean Up day:
Appliances with coolants or Freon are not allowed. Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, 55 gallon barrels, fuel tanks, ballasts, wire, roofing, and demolition material, lumber, fencing, trees, brush, tires, waste oil, leaves and lawn clippings, electronics like computers, monitors etc.
HOW THE HECK can you get rid of a door???
Appliances with coolants or Freon are not allowed. Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, 55 gallon barrels, fuel tanks, ballasts, wire, roofing, and demolition material, lumber, fencing, trees, brush, tires, waste oil, leaves and lawn clippings, electronics like computers, monitors etc.
HOW THE HECK can you get rid of a door???
Information
can also be found on the City of Columbus website at www.cityofcolumbuswi.com
You
may contact Columbia County at (608)-742-6651 for disposal of these items for a
small fee.
Questions:
Call either the Columbus City Hall (920) 623-5900 or Columbia
County at (608) 742-6651
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BTW - I miss all you guys. OH - I don't miss the "work" of city council and committees but I do miss the humans. When Cercis brewing company opens in a week or so I hope you stop in after council - drinks are on me! (well, one per eligible human - restrictions might apply, tax and additional overcharge and fees may or may not be included).
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I have emailed Micheal Cohen asking for $130,000 to NOT have sex with Donald Trump. Worth a try.
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I'll be there with my BIG check book - the one where people stand and have photos taken. This will be me bidding on a big ugly clock with a big check.
Yea - take that to the bank Megan and Kim. Better take a guard.
Opening bid $2500. It's a steal. AND - it works in ALL time zones!!!
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OK - off to Nevada Bob's for a new 7W
Thursday, May 3, 2018
12 Strong
WELL NOW - 1.47 inches of rain Tuesday, 0.79 inches last night and I expect another 1.5 inches tonight. I will need my waders to mow the lawn . . . . whenever it dries. NOT that we don't need the rain.
We had our first night of league last night at The Oaks and the greens were horrible. Not complaining as "we" are like 4 weeks behind in the growing season and lack of rain was making things NOT grow but holy mackerel. I literally cannot remember anyone with a 10+ foot putt going PAST the hole. I have never seen so many putts go only halfway. LOL
I had 17 putts but that includes four 1-putt holes. I actually hit the ball fairly well but The Oaks has it's own little challenges. I had one shot where the ball was on the lip of a large bunker. My choice was a baseball style swing with the ball waste high or I could hack at it with my hands about half-way choking up on the club. Actually ended with a bogey on that 1 putt hole.
Anyway - I'll take a 49 on the back nine at The Oaks for my 1st round of the year with sandy greens full of aeration holes. So so much better then Door Creek.
But the exciting part was watching the literal wall of rain coming towards us from the club house. We're up on a hill and it was a spectacular image. This wall of water marching towards the clubhouse. SADLY, my sunroof was cracked open on the car.
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In other news - I see Rudy Guiliani outed the President telling Fox Opinion News that Trump not only paid Cohen the $130,000 to keep Stormy quiet but there is $300,000 that went to other payoffs,
all legal of course. But the GOP does not care about those pesky rules.
OH - this morning Trump did say he paid off Stormy . . . . . wait . . I thought he said he DIDN'T pay off Stormy. He will say anything. Here is the weird thing.
People didn't vote for Clinton BECAUSE they felt she did not tell the truth . . . so they voted for Trump? However, Trump is the best thing to ever happen to the Democrats (I said this after Bush was re-elected for a 2nd term) as it sort of guarantees 8 years for the Dems in the White House after the groper is out of there. BTW - I would scrub down every surface in that White House.
OH - this morning Trump did say he paid off Stormy . . . . . wait . . I thought he said he DIDN'T pay off Stormy. He will say anything. Here is the weird thing.
People didn't vote for Clinton BECAUSE they felt she did not tell the truth . . . so they voted for Trump? However, Trump is the best thing to ever happen to the Democrats (I said this after Bush was re-elected for a 2nd term) as it sort of guarantees 8 years for the Dems in the White House after the groper is out of there. BTW - I would scrub down every surface in that White House.
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The Brewers - hearing a lot of talk about how the Brewers cannot beat good teams. WELL - listing to the talking sports heads a guy took the last 20 world series champions and compiled their winning % against team above .500. The average was .518 against winning teams.
The Brewers are doing fine against winnings teams NOT name Cubs (1-7?). The Cubs have scored 14 runs in their last 8 games and are 7-8 vs. winning teams NOT named Brewers. The Brewers are 4-5 against winning teams NOT named CUBS.
So lets not get all anal. If a team plays .500 against .500+ teams. It's OK.
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44 States have residents that are pro-same sex marriages, UP from 30 States 5 years ago. 6 do not support same sex marriages - Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana and North Carolina. The world is changing . . . except for them. They are free to leave whenever they want.
Gas prices in the US are now averaging $2.81 per gallon. Tension with Iran is stoking price hikes and AAA predicts the price will be $3.00+ in a month. Just in time for summer road trip #1.
Democrats and Republicans have one thing in common. Blue jeans. 50% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans wear jeans 4+ times a week. I really hope that survey did not cost too much.
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We watched "12 Strong". Based on Doug Stanton's book "Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan". Fantastic book. Stanton also wrote "In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors"
The movie is rather good and if you think America was not doing anything 5 weeks after 911 you are mistaken. You should watch this movie just to honor these 12 unsung hero's and what they did.
Excellent war movie with Longest Day/Patton style killing (as opposed to Private Ryan gore killing). An amazing tale of how these guys, on horses, took the fight to Afghanistan against tanks and rockets. 50,000 vs. 5,000. We win and the 12 live (no feeling of dread watching the movie)
A fact based movie with fantastic audio and visuals. Follows the book pretty well. I was not disappointed.
https://youtu.be/Zxag9p-63RU
Talk at ya tomorrow.
Gas prices in the US are now averaging $2.81 per gallon. Tension with Iran is stoking price hikes and AAA predicts the price will be $3.00+ in a month. Just in time for summer road trip #1.
Democrats and Republicans have one thing in common. Blue jeans. 50% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans wear jeans 4+ times a week. I really hope that survey did not cost too much.
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We watched "12 Strong". Based on Doug Stanton's book "Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan". Fantastic book. Stanton also wrote "In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors"
The movie is rather good and if you think America was not doing anything 5 weeks after 911 you are mistaken. You should watch this movie just to honor these 12 unsung hero's and what they did.
Excellent war movie with Longest Day/Patton style killing (as opposed to Private Ryan gore killing). An amazing tale of how these guys, on horses, took the fight to Afghanistan against tanks and rockets. 50,000 vs. 5,000. We win and the 12 live (no feeling of dread watching the movie)
A fact based movie with fantastic audio and visuals. Follows the book pretty well. I was not disappointed.
https://youtu.be/Zxag9p-63RU
Talk at ya tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Josh Hader - OMG!!
Josh Hader - OMG!! Hader is the first pitcher in MLB history to record 8 (or more) straight outs all coming via a strikeout. Only one other pitchers has faced 9 batters and recorded 8 strikeouts, Ron Davis in 1981. No pitcher has struck out 8 batters in less then 3 innings and the last pitcher to record a SAVE with 8 Ks was Randy Johnson in 1996, it was a 4 inning save.
So as Brewer fans pound their chests at how awesome "we" are we can forget that in 4 games vs. the Cubs the Brewers had a TOTAL of 14 hits, IN FOUR GAMES!
Of course the only way the Brew Crew can score runs is via the home run it seems and playing in Wrigley in spring is a horrific place for the Brewers to play. Wrigley in spring is the worst place in the world for the Brewers left handed hitters. One of the hardest if not the hardest park to hit a home run in.
Miller Park is GREAT for Brewer left handed hitters - outstanding place to play. Home Runs everywhere for lefties. But the very worst parks for the Brewers is Wrigley Field unless you are a right handed batter.
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It's such a small world isn't it? I mean there was this guy in Columbus that locks himself in a house and is killed (somehow - yet to be determined) and all of a sudden I get texts from friends around America who were friends with him. They talk about how he was a funny funny guy and how they knew he had some mental health issues and how they were so sad it ended tragically. Of course his girl friend that was shot seems to be pissed off at police as what the did was completely unnecessary . . but I digress
Of course DOJ is investigating which tells me that there are some oddities going on but that is for a different blog and I was accused to being an arm chair blogger . . so I will wait for the real facts to come out. All I know is from people that work at DOJ say there might be some . . oddities. We shall see.
So it's a small world where everyone knows everyone. I find out last week that a friend in my golf league is literally best friend with a long lost friend for 30 years ago. WHAT?
In the late 70s and 80s about 30 of us would play 3 games of softball every weekend at Tenny Park from teh very first Saturday wit ha dry field to literall the first snow. After a few years two teams were created. Creative Software (my team) which became Weather Central, which was purchased by WKOW which was then purchased by The Weather Channel and the other team which created a new cab company in Madison called Union Cab.
The 30 of us men AND woman we played maybe 15 years, EVERY Saturday until the city decided to bulldoze the diamonds and then 30 friends all went their separate ways. It was literally a sad sad summer when that happened.
So we're talking at golf last week and Mark (The Black Cloud) mentions a name. I perk up and say "who was that again"? and the name is repeated and I start asking questions on where this guy lives and where he used to live many years ago and all of a sudden The Black Cloud says, he started Union cab! WHAT? SERIOUSLY? And he is your best friend?
A small world.
Then 30 years ago a friend and I were on a baseball park vacation. Something like 8 ballparks in 10 days on the East Coast. We were camping in PA and the ranger drives by. Then 1/2 hour later he drives by REAL slow and then comes around again and stops. Shit , what did we do THIS time.
He gets out and we're talking, "Yup from Wisconsin". "Madison yup" and he asked, "do you happen to know a Bob Anderson?: Our mouths drop as Chris says "that is my brother". WTF?
So now every time I call AT&T or Charter with a problem and an Indian is talking to me I ask of they know a Roup or Moulie my two Indian friends. They never do.
OH - that baseball vacation. We staying in ONE motel the entire trip. In Cleveland. We stopped at this places - asked for a room and the guy asked "All night?" "yes all night". LOL He has t oasked how much a room was for all night. It was a very . . . . . . "active" place it seems. The only places we did not have any toilette paper.
I mention that last part and I vividly remember this. We were all packed ready to leave for vacation when Chris runs in to get a roll of toilette paper. We all laughed.
We NEVER used it . . .except in the ONE Motel we stay in which did not have any.
OH - that baseball vacation. We staying in ONE motel the entire trip. In Cleveland. We stopped at this places - asked for a room and the guy asked "All night?" "yes all night". LOL He has t oasked how much a room was for all night. It was a very . . . . . . "active" place it seems. The only places we did not have any toilette paper.
I mention that last part and I vividly remember this. We were all packed ready to leave for vacation when Chris runs in to get a roll of toilette paper. We all laughed.
We NEVER used it . . .except in the ONE Motel we stay in which did not have any.
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Interesting weather thing going on. I feel "we" are about 3 weeks behind in our growing season. My beautiful ground cover under the deck is completely dead and gardens are way way behind.
The issue is that there is such a lack of vegetation in the area that humidity is lower because of it. The reason Wisconsin is so humid in the summer are the crops. Corn and soy beans and all the other crops add moisture to the air. This humidity keeps the air warm at night. If you have noticed there has been a 40 degrees swing in temps.
Yesterday 39.2 to 79.8, 40 degree!
Look out tomorrow with a possibility of severe storms in the afternoon into the night. Rain tonight but not severe - all depends how warm and how much sun we get today. The more sun the bigger storms tonight after sunset. Tomorrow- scattered thunderstorms all day. Looking like 1 to 2 inches of needed rain tonight into Thursday.
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The Simpsons surpassed Gun Smoke for the longest running scripted show ever wit hit's 636 episode. Lassie was #3
A 30 year 130,000 person study conducted by the Nurses' Health Study has found 5 things that will extend your life 10 years.
1. At least 30 minutes of daily cardio exercise
1. At least 30 minutes of daily cardio exercise
2. a meal plan focusing on vegetables, protein, and healthy fats
3. DO NOT SMOKE cigarettes
4. stick with a healthy body weight (not to thin not to fat).
5. No more then 2 alcohol beverages a day
There ya go.
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Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.
Speaking of North Korea - You will notice that I have NEVER said I disagreed with how Trump was handling North Korea. Sometimes you have to fight crazy with crazy and hope the world does not blow up in the meantime.
But with the sudden change in Kim I wonder if it has to do to his mountain collapsing. The one where they test their nukes. All of a sudden they are not testing and IT SEEMS that mountain is a lot shorter now from what I have heard.
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Have a great Tuesday.
3. DO NOT SMOKE cigarettes
4. stick with a healthy body weight (not to thin not to fat).
5. No more then 2 alcohol beverages a day
There ya go.
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Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.
Speaking of North Korea - You will notice that I have NEVER said I disagreed with how Trump was handling North Korea. Sometimes you have to fight crazy with crazy and hope the world does not blow up in the meantime.
But with the sudden change in Kim I wonder if it has to do to his mountain collapsing. The one where they test their nukes. All of a sudden they are not testing and IT SEEMS that mountain is a lot shorter now from what I have heard.
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Have a great Tuesday.
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