New Shoes in the Rain

Let me be among the first to wish you and yours a happy and healthy 2014! This is always an odd time of the year, to me, anyway.  We're now beyond the hustle and bustle of Christmas, which is wonderful because of the occasions we have to see people that we care about and that we may not see as frequently as we'd like.  Most non-retail businesses are in kind of a holding pattern, as no one wants to get into anything major until the new year.  And with Christmas and New Year's occurring on Wednesday this year, most business things will actually wait until next Monday, January 6, which starts the first FULL week of the new year. So, did you have a nice holiday?  See folks you wanted (or even needed) to see?  Were you able to find that 'special' gift for each of those on your holiday shopping list?   I'm fortunate that I can say "yes" to all of those questions, so I hope that you are, too. Not such a happy new year to all of the NFL coaches who were

Christmas is fast approaching (and it really is, even though retailers have been trying to accelerate the process for some time) and I was in kind of a holiday mood as I write this afternoon.  So ho, ho, ho, indeed! No, actually, I want to mention some holiday acts of decency and kindness that I have been a party to over the years around the holidays. First such instance was when I was a kid, probably eight or nine years old.  I liked accompanying my mother to the grocery, for some reason (and wound up working in a grocery store for almost six years through high school and college).  One such occasion we were making the rounds through the aisles of the long-gone A&P in Paris, Kentucky, my hometown, and I recall finding an envelope on the floor.  I showed my discovery to my mom, who looked inside the envelope and said that I should go to the office at the front of the store and turn it in.  I was pretty sure there was money inside, but had no concept of how much paper money was

Good morning to one and all....thanks once again for stopping by. We're in full holiday prep mode at my house, and you may well be in that state yourself.  So as a slight diversion from that, here are twenty questions, some with actual answers, other rhetorical, that should tickle your brain a bit.... Does anyone know why Santa Claus is fat?  I don't think I've ever heard, not even in the old stop-motion animation "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" television special.... Who's with me in being sick of references to Black Friday, nearly two weeks AFTER Black Friday? Are we in another one of those years when every contemporary recording artist releases a mediocre Christmas music album? Why are people being so negative about NBC's live presentation of "The Sound of Music" last week?  I watched it with my wife and thought it was actually pretty good, given the performers could not go back and do scenes again, as they could have if it had been

Good morning all....here's hoping you had a nice Thanksgiving.  I know that my family and I did. Lots of assorted stuff in the news.... Seems that certain kinds of stories come in bunches, and with the train derailment outside of New York City over the weekend I was reminded of this.  Third major derailment incident in recent memory, although one was in Europe.  But it was reported that the train was going about 80 as it approached a curve that required a much lower safe speed.  No way to know what was happening, neither you or I were there.  But a shame nonetheless, four people dead, many others injured. I also took note of a story that actor Paul Walker, known for his role in the recurring "Fast and Furious" movie franchise, died in a car crash.  Lots of conflicting information on this, as well.  But an actor who's probably best known for playing a high-performance driver on screen dying in an auto accident is most ironic indeed. Oh, and did you know that ra