New Shoes in the Rain

Good Monday morning!  I'm off today, and spent a couple of hours on some much needed yard work yesterday and again this morning.  Shortly I will collect my younger grandson and take him to lunch and shopping, as he graduates eighth grade tonight and turns 14 on Friday! Have had a decent bit of success in getting things resolved with product and service sellers and manufacturers.  Not that I have all that many problems, but it's nice to get things the way we want them, right? Let's start with a simple thing.  I bought my wife a new screen protector for her iPhone.  Turns out I bought a three-pack, and ruined the first one attempting to install it.  Not happy.  The second one went on pretty well, but I saw that there were some bubbles and marks on it and advised my wife to go to the Apple Store and get a better one there.  She saw that I had failed to peel off the protective coating on this protective cover and the guy at the Apple Store was kind en...

Good Saturday, everyone.  I write this from Lexington, Kentucky, the part of Kentucky that's NOT hosting the Kentucky Derby today (that's Louisville).  It's cool and rainy here.  Looks the same for the race as well.  Guess you can't have everything, even if you bought a special outfit for the occasion. Here to touch on a subject near and dear to my heart, and that's music.  My whole family is well aware of my love of music, and most of my closer friends are, too.  My mom insisted that my older brother and I take piano lessons, but the music we were taught never really stuck.  I liked the stuff I heard on the radio better. And that would mean late 60's AM radio music, so we're talking about a little Elvis, a little Beatles, Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revival and some other luminaries.  Not much later I developed a great affinity for other artists, like Elton John (as I write this, I'm listening to his latest recording with his longtime f...

Happy Thursday, friends, if there is such a thing….hope you’ve had a good week! I borrowed today’s title from the “last” Beatles song that was completed and released almost two years ago, but I think it’s fitting with what I want to get into today. I don’t know about you, but I am old enough to remember the past, in which elected officials largely operated in the background and didn’t run to a microphone or camera when anything happens.  Social media didn’t exist and neither did the toxicity that accompanies it. These elected officials would routinely face their constituents who elected them, tout or at least explain their achievements and what else they tried to accomplish.  In turn, the voters who attended these “town halls” would ask polite questions about issues old and new and there was healthy dialogue and politicians would sometimes come away with new ideas, or at the least some new understanding of what’s important to work on for his home state or legislative district....

Good Saturday afternoon to you as I write this…. Unless you’re not a resident of the southeastern US or other areas that have been affected by our recent bout of insane weather, you probably know that we’re seeing a LOT of rain throughout most of Kentucky at present.  Like more than a month’s worth since Wednesday night.  Weather then was so severe that we received a tornado warning, although it turned out that the tornadic activity was about sixty miles south of our home area. But before you decide that the worst is behind us, consider this….Kentucky’s governor announced yesterday on social media that as of this morning there were 390 road closures throughout the state.  I know of a couple. Yesterday I headed out to make some marketing calls in a couple of smaller communities south of Lexington.  Along the way I had to attend two conference calls that occur every Friday.  Following the second, I went about my plan and visited two offices and called a friend who...

Good Monday morning, friends. Would you believe that I am in the fourth day of a four day weekend?  This is unusual for me, as I am pretty bad at taking time off from work unless there's a specific occasion or trip involved.  But a couple of weeks ago I sent my boss a time off request for last Thursday and Friday.  He messaged back that he was already scheduled off for the same week, so asked if I would mind changing my request to Friday and Monday. Done. So my time off started by watching the Cincinnati Reds' season opening game last Thursday afternoon.  While the Reds lost 6-4 that afternoon, they won on Saturday afternoon but lost again yesterday, by a score of 6-3.  So it goes. What else have I done with my time off?  Well, for starters, not traveling, which I do most every day.  My job is in outside sales, and while I work occasionally in my home area of Lexington, most of my work is at least an hour's drive from my home base.  So this was ni...

Hello, friends.....hope your week is off to a good start. Eagle-eyed readers will note the title of today's comments, borrowed from a concert film and album featuring the late musical group Talking Heads.  One of the more inventive concert films I've seen, directed by the late, great Jonathan Demme.  I saw a show on the same tour from which these performances were taken, and it was quite something.   But that's not why we're here, is it? I'm in my mid 60's, so in my memory, when a Presidential administration felt the need to be less than truthful with the American people, there was a narrative created that more or less explained away the straight facts that the public already had in their possession (back when we all cared more, certainly) about a situation or a growing scandal or something equally difficult to hide. Now, though, our current President and those loyal to him simply say whatever suits them at the moment.  Take the present White House Press Secreta...