The big chill
Greetings, folks. Shivering a bit as I write this, as it's only 19 degrees here in Lexington, and was actually below zero last night. And that's the air temperature; colder when the wind chill is factored in.
And I HATE to be cold. I'm a big guy, too, but for some reason, I feel the cold a lot more these days than I did when I was younger. Old age, I suppose, but now when it's cold outside, the last thing I want to do is try to grin and bear it. Get me into the house, the car, a store, somewhere warm!
Suppose it could be said that Kentucky's basketball team is warming up a bit, but they had to struggle before finally beating Ole Miss in overtime Tuesday night. This mega-talented team is still searching for its identity, I think, so the more great escapes they can make against motivated opponents can only help them in their conference schedule from this point forward. And I agree with Coach John Calipari, in that a loss might actually be beneficial for this group from the standpoint of getting their attention and providing some motivation for improvement.
Such a shame what happened in France yesterday. We take our freedom of speech (which includes this blog, obviously) pretty much for granted in this country, but we all tend to take notice when someone is punished for some self-expression as was the cartoonist who was targeted. The solidarity of that country and others around the world is the type of response that I would think appropriate. And I'll say the same regarding the Air Asia flight that went down in rough weather in Indonesia recently. That part of the world certainly has experienced a great deal of hardship when it comes to air disasters in the past year or so.
Lighter subject--the Golden Globe awards (presented by something called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, I think) are this Sunday night. Lots of fun, because the audience is a mixture of movie and TV folks, there are separate categories for comedies and dramas, which means more nominees, and, of course, it's in a large hotel ballroom and there's alcohol being consumed by, well, many folks who are either presenting awards or are nominated. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are the hosts (and they say this is their last time) and they're pretty funny in this role. Not as snarky as Ricky Gervais (whose jokes are very funny, lightning fast, and often over the heads of us poor Yanks) and they're not afraid to make fun of themselves or each other. Should be entertaining.
Gotta give a couple of shout-outs to merchants with whom I trade periodically. The first is Amazon, and, honestly, what did we all do before they started selling everything online? I know that they don't treat their employees (many of whom are temps, by design) all that well, at least that's their reputation, and they've never been profitable, but, man, they have lots of stuff you can't find anywhere else. I ordered an item for my office a few days before Christmas, knowing it would take a while to get here. It was sold by a "partner" of Amazon's, but you deal with Amazon in such instances, and they then communicate with and to the "partner." Anyway, the item did not arrive by the last date it was projected to have been here, so I inquired, and the merchant readily agreed to ship a second item to me. Supposed to get it today.
The other merchant is a personal favorite, Colonel Littleton of Lynnville, Tennessee. I ordered dresser caddies for my son and son-in-law as Christmas gifts. In the Colonel Littleton tradition I had them personalized with each man's initials, and they arrived quickly and well packaged. Those folks do good work and really take care of their customers. By all reports, both recipients were quite pleased with their items.
Busy day today, wrapped up two days of overnight travel and will be on the road for the day tomorrow and again next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Sure hope it's warmer where you are!
And I HATE to be cold. I'm a big guy, too, but for some reason, I feel the cold a lot more these days than I did when I was younger. Old age, I suppose, but now when it's cold outside, the last thing I want to do is try to grin and bear it. Get me into the house, the car, a store, somewhere warm!
Suppose it could be said that Kentucky's basketball team is warming up a bit, but they had to struggle before finally beating Ole Miss in overtime Tuesday night. This mega-talented team is still searching for its identity, I think, so the more great escapes they can make against motivated opponents can only help them in their conference schedule from this point forward. And I agree with Coach John Calipari, in that a loss might actually be beneficial for this group from the standpoint of getting their attention and providing some motivation for improvement.
Such a shame what happened in France yesterday. We take our freedom of speech (which includes this blog, obviously) pretty much for granted in this country, but we all tend to take notice when someone is punished for some self-expression as was the cartoonist who was targeted. The solidarity of that country and others around the world is the type of response that I would think appropriate. And I'll say the same regarding the Air Asia flight that went down in rough weather in Indonesia recently. That part of the world certainly has experienced a great deal of hardship when it comes to air disasters in the past year or so.
Lighter subject--the Golden Globe awards (presented by something called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, I think) are this Sunday night. Lots of fun, because the audience is a mixture of movie and TV folks, there are separate categories for comedies and dramas, which means more nominees, and, of course, it's in a large hotel ballroom and there's alcohol being consumed by, well, many folks who are either presenting awards or are nominated. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are the hosts (and they say this is their last time) and they're pretty funny in this role. Not as snarky as Ricky Gervais (whose jokes are very funny, lightning fast, and often over the heads of us poor Yanks) and they're not afraid to make fun of themselves or each other. Should be entertaining.
Gotta give a couple of shout-outs to merchants with whom I trade periodically. The first is Amazon, and, honestly, what did we all do before they started selling everything online? I know that they don't treat their employees (many of whom are temps, by design) all that well, at least that's their reputation, and they've never been profitable, but, man, they have lots of stuff you can't find anywhere else. I ordered an item for my office a few days before Christmas, knowing it would take a while to get here. It was sold by a "partner" of Amazon's, but you deal with Amazon in such instances, and they then communicate with and to the "partner." Anyway, the item did not arrive by the last date it was projected to have been here, so I inquired, and the merchant readily agreed to ship a second item to me. Supposed to get it today.
The other merchant is a personal favorite, Colonel Littleton of Lynnville, Tennessee. I ordered dresser caddies for my son and son-in-law as Christmas gifts. In the Colonel Littleton tradition I had them personalized with each man's initials, and they arrived quickly and well packaged. Those folks do good work and really take care of their customers. By all reports, both recipients were quite pleased with their items.
Busy day today, wrapped up two days of overnight travel and will be on the road for the day tomorrow and again next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Sure hope it's warmer where you are!
Comments
Post a Comment