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So it goes

I think it’s been long enough since the election results were finalized that the shock has subsided and the immediate future is a bit clearer.  Regular visitors to this space noticed, I’m sure, that I last posted about something totally unrelated to the state of our country, and that was intentional. So here we are.  The President-Elect is still fighting to prevent being sentenced for his 34 convictions in New York State court.  He is thoroughly dominating the news cycle every day, as he did the last time he was elected to the Presidency.  He is doing so mostly by toying with the mass media and those on the left who would oppose him, naming one unqualified person after another to head government agencies.  He is all over the place, appearing at conferences, UFC matches, space launches and more. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll forget about him between now and January 20, when he officially becomes President.  Again. The Democrats have lost the Senate AND the House.  But the vast majority
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Some new stuff

Happy weekend, everyone.  I don’t know about you, but this couple of days off could not have come at a better time! Took advantage of clear conditions earlier this afternoon and mowed our yard for hopefully the last time of the season.  Let the mower run so that I emptied the fuel tank and it took way longer than I would have guessed! Anyway, have picked up a couple of new things that may be of interest to you, since I often mention new items here. First up is some new tech.  I watched the Apple keynote two or three weeks ago with interest, as I always do, and a couple of things got my attention.  First of these was the Apple Watch Series 10, because my wife’s Series 6 was beginning to show its age.  We went to the local Apple Store, mistakenly, on the date of the release of iPhone 16, so really were only able to look at the watches, store was just too crowded. We returned the following day and got my wife what she wanted, and I began to think about how light and thin the new series is
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Unexpected

Good morning, all.  Promise that this will NOT be a rehash of all that has been said, written and posted since the Presidential election results were confirmed early yesterday. And I won’t get into attempting to analyze what our country is facing next.  The President-Elect has already served one term, so there’s not much mystery there. But what I will say is that this country reveals itself to us in many strange ways, sometimes wonderful and other times less so.  We now see some hard truths that we had thought, or at least hoped, were in some ways behind us. And make no mistake….just as in 2016, this is what a large swath of our population wanted.  Even if you and I did not.  But in the United States of America, we are taught to accept the will of the people.  At least we’re supposed to do that. So what now? I have a lot before me, as I turned 64 a few months ago and had been looking ahead to retirement in just a few years.  Will I still retire?  Will I be ABLE to retire?  I’m in prett
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Five days

As hard as it may seem to believe, we are only five days from Election Day. Of course, mail-in and early voting has been going on in numerous states for a while now, and is happening for just a couple of days here in my home state of Kentucky.  My wife and I have observed lines of cars searching for parking spots and long lines of people standing and waiting, potentially for hours. It seems that many people got the message, that participation is the only thing that makes this election come out the way that many of us want it to.  Glad to see that. The television networks and other mainstream news sources continue to trumpet that it's a dead heat, it's a photo finish and whatever other phrases can be employed to reflect how close the race appears to be in light of polling data. The simple truth is that we'll know when we know who the actual winner is, or was.  In 2020, it was the following Saturday before most media outlets were confident enough in their tallies to declare J
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No comparison

We’re inside of two weeks until Election Day 2024.  Have you voted, if your state supports mail-in or other early voting?  Make sure you vote when you are permitted—your voice should be heard! Seeing Arnold Palmer’s name in the news for such a stupendously vile reason was really disappointing, but par for the course with TFG. But Arnie remains my all-time favorite golfer, solidified by an occasion where I met him. I was just out of college and working for my hometown radio station in Paris, Kentucky, and one summer Lexington, the larger city where I have lived for most of my adult life, was about to host what was then called a Senior PGA tournament (now called the Champions Tour!) and the sponsors were having a reception for media in the region to meet and mingle with players and officials of the tour. One of my best friends who knew of my admiration of Mr. Palmer arranged for us both to attend this reception.  Palmer was one of the players known to have committed to the event, and my
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Twenty more days

That’s how many days we have until Election Day, when the majority of Americans who are politically engaged will go to the polls and cast their votes for President.  Of course, in many states, voters are able to vote by mail (my daughter and her husband have that convenience in their home state) or vote early, as we’ve seen happening in record numbers in the state of Georgia. So now we’re seeing both candidates make concerted efforts to get their messaging out with increased television advertising and by appearing at public events but also taking advantage of non-traditional media sources like podcasts and satellite radio programs like Howard Stern’s.  Given the number of people who say that they don’t consume traditional news sources like network and cable news broadcasts and newspapers, that’s one of those ideas that’s a good one but it took a long time for political operatives to acknowledge their importance. Objectively, though, I have to say that the former President and Republica
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The end of an era

Happy Friday, one and all. We’ve almost made it to a hard-won weekend! Before I go further, let me express my hope that everyone who visits here is safe and dry, given the severe weather some parts of our country have experienced.  I have been fortunate throughout my life not to have experienced a disaster like the recent hurricanes, so I am certainly thankful for that. So I stopped by this morning because, as the kids say (sorry, when you are in your 60s that applies pretty frequently), I did a thing yesterday. Over the past few years my travels have caused my approach to on-the-road entertainment to evolve somewhat.  Part of it was buying our newest car, which is equipped with a dedicated connection for your phone to then play the contents of that phone via the car audio system.  Another part of it is that I rent cars for about half of my travel weeks, when the distance is such that I want to keep those miles off my car. But the real reason I did what I did was that it was time for a
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