New Shoes in the Rain

Good Monday morning, everyone...hope you all had a great weekend! A few things rattling around pertaining to things ending, and I suppose I should start with my beloved Cincinnati Reds, who ended their baseball season yesterday.  162 games filled with injuries and uneven performance, ending with a record well below .500 that did not qualify the team to play in the postseason, as they had three of the past four years. But just in case you think that the last few games were downers, it's worth noting that on their way to wrapping up the season the Reds won Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers, ending that team's postseason aspirations, and over the weekend won in come-from-behind fashion on Saturday with an extra-innings grand slam, no less, and then yesterday their wonderful pitcher Johnny Cueto drove in what would be the winning run to assure himself of a 20-win season, the first by a Reds pitcher since 1988.  As I am fond of saying, baseball is the greatest game of them...

It's fall, campers, as of around 10:30 last night.  It's felt more like fall in these parts for some time, so appropriate it's now official. And with that, I have my traditional fall cold.  I have been fighting allergies for some weeks, which is also characteristic of this time of year, but what I have suffered has morphed into a full-blown cold.  Congestion, some coughing (though thankfully not so much that I can't sleep) and general aches are its hallmarks.  How nice.  Using some over-the-counter stuff to fight back, but, as we all know, it generally just has to run its course. We had our twice-a-year neighborhood garage sale Saturday.  I put out a few things, plus a couple of pieces of furniture that we no longer wanted.  Made less than $50, but that's better than the last time I did it, when I made about $15.  Sold a blender we haven't used in years, a weed trimmer that does not run, and a soap dispenser that clogs at the drop of a hat. ...

Good Monday morning to all.  Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Later today I'm going to be helping to orient a new employee (note that I did not use the non-word "orientate."  One of these days I'll do an entire blog entry on the fingernails-on-a-blackboard feeling I get from numerous very common grammatical errors.).  I'll be doing this each of the next three weeks.  I've done this many, MANY times, but I cannot say that I've done it when I myself have been this "new," having only started my current job in May.  But it will be good to fill out our team completely!  The only hiccup thus far is new hire #1 had difficulty finding our offices elsewhere for the HR portion of her orientation, but I was just advised that she arrived. Had a couple of pretty awful customer service experiences recently, and while I could provide endless details of each, let's just say they were totally different from one another and involved completely differe...

Good Tuesday afternoon to you all. Fall has not fallen in most parts of the country.  In fact, given how wet our weather in central Kentucky has been up to this point of the year, we may not see the evidence of fall in the form of brightly colored leaves for a while yet. But it's transition time for other reasons, too.  For example, in the past couple of weeks, both college and professional football began their 2014 seasons.  Always an exciting time for fans, since every team is in first place at the start of a new season!  And don't look now, but Kentucky won their first two games of the new season, and have already equalled their win total for the previous two seasons. A much tougher test is ahead Saturday, as the Cats travel to Florida to take on the Gators, but who knows?  Anything can happen. My beloved Cincinnati Reds are also in transition, as they will most likely not play in the postseason this year, something they've managed to accomplish three o...

Good day, one and all.  I write to you from the heart of southeastern Kentucky, London, to be exact.  I am here in this locale today to conduct some meetings for my company and am writing this on my well-deserved lunch break. The London area is only about an hour from my home base of Lexington, but I elected to come down here last night, just in case.  My plans were justified to an extent as I encountered some road-construction-related delays last night during my trip to the area.  I would not have wanted to have begun my workday this morning by sitting in traffic, wondering if I would make it to my first appointment on time! Things are a little strange with work right now.  We started out in May with a team of three people to handle a given amount of work.  Through various circumstances, my two associates have left the company, leaving only me for the moment.  Replacement staff is on the way, as is an additional team member, but it may be a while ...