New Shoes in the Rain

Friends, it's hot, DAMNED hot here in central Kentucky right now!  It's been that way for most of a week, that is, when it hasn't been raining.  I swear, I don't think I can remember a wetter spring and early summer! I have some followup items I wanted to touch on.... I believe I mentioned that on our auto trip to Colorado in late May/early June that our car, MY car, sustained a fair amount of hail damage when we stopped for the night in Kansas on our way west.  I didn't think it was that severe until I had the car washed and could really see all of the pockmarks.  There were MANY.  So when we returned home I called our insurance agency, just to get their opinion on whether I should file a claim.  It rested on the amount of damage, so I had an informal estimate done, and found that we were looking at a pretty good amount to repair all of it properly.  I filed a claim, the insurance company sent an appraiser out, and we had a check for a somewhat la...

Top of the morning, neighbors.  It's a good day to be alive, isn't it? It is.  Even though I was separated from my job last Friday. I cannot share specific details, but last week my supervisor and someone from our human resources department let me know that my position was being eliminated.  The details of this process were outlined for me, and that was that. So, as you can imagine, I've spent the past couple of workdays networking and contacting those whom I think can help me connect with my next opportunity.  Given the tumult in the employment market since 2007, I count myself very lucky indeed NOT to have experienced this until now.  After all, I'm part of that dying breed of "middle manager, " an endangered species, to be sure. Onward and upward, I say.  Companies do what they must, and while it is certainly personal to the affected parties, it cannot be to the company itself, as its actions are driven by an entirely different set of priorities ...

Friends, I'm back with my wife (and a granddaughter!) from the wilds of the Front Range of Colorado!  Great to get away, but also very nice to be back at home. Actually, we had an extremely nice vacation, although the time just flew by with various family activities and such.  Drove out on the last Thursday and Friday of May, and encountered some severe weather a couple of times (and my car has the hail damage to prove it, although it's not THAT noticeable).  Nothing like what the folks in Oklahoma and elsewhere have endured, mind you, but if you're driving, heavy rain and wind is no fun indeed. Speaking of wind, the wind farms that have sprung up along Interstate 70 in central Kansas and northwestern Colorado continue to be a source of fascination.  I read online that the Kansas "farm" produces enough electricity to power something like 77,000 households annually.  No mean feat, but since the wind apparently always blows on the Great Plains, that's a good...

Greeetings, all.  Hope everyone will have the chance to enjoy a three-day weekend, as I am.  Or will in about two and a half hours. Strange week for me next week.  I'm working two days, then starting a ten day vacation for which I am MORE than ready.  My wife and I are driving to Colorado to spend some time with family there.  We'll try to resist stopping to see the "world's largest prairie dog" or visit Colby, Kansas, an "oasis on the plains," as their signage beckons.  Or pay our respects in Russell, Kansas, hometown of former Senator Robert Dole. No, we're looking forward to getting to and being in Colorado, one of the nicer places I've had the pleasure to visit regularly.  We'll mostly be in the Denver metro area, although there could be some day trips to other areas.  My wife and I have not spent any time discussing or planning, but since we'll have MANY hours in the car on the way there, I think it'll be pretty easy to think...

Good morning, all.  Today's treatise is so named because I have completed what will be my last business-related trip for some time. Turns out that my frequent travels, necessitated by a number of business circumstances, were a little excessive from a cost standpoint, so I've been asked to curtail my travels.  Also, I was due for a breather week, and the following week is a holiday week, plus we start a vacation later in that week. So I won't stop being a road warrior, I'll just have company, as my wife and I are traveling by car to Colorado in late May.  We'll spend about a week with our daughter and her family there (a couple of family-related events coming up there) and then we're bringing our granddaughter back with us.  Should be a fun road trip, and we'll get the chance to do some sightseeing and such while we're there! I imagine that President Obama and many of his key advisors with they were out seeing the sights instead of the headlines tha...

Friends, I've had an epiphany. Recently there's been some news about baseball commissioner Bud Selig and how he's going to step down from this position when his current term expires.  And for you non-baseball fans, the baseball commissioner is appointed by the team owners via a committee.  Selig formerly owned the Milwaukee Brewers, so it's not all that surprising that he was chosen in the first place (originally as interim) and has held the position for so many years. Anyway, some of the articles I've read lately on this subject were speculating on who should replace the Commissioner.  I saw the names of baseball folks like Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa bandied about, and also noted that Sandy Alderson, who was the general manager for a team, then worked in the commissioner's office for a time, and is again the GM for another team, was mentioned prominently.  Sportscaster and baseball purist Bob Costas was also mentioned.  And one of the more surprising names ...

Greetings, one and all, from the frontiers of semi-big-ticket shopping.  Busy few days for my wife and me.  Let me explain.... Have I mentioned that I have a bad back?  Damaged by years of unloading trucks and stocking shelves at a long-defunct grocery in my boyhood town of Paris, Kentucky.  I experience stiffness and pain periodically, and a lot of golf (a tear rolls down most everyone's cheek, I know) or yard work can really cause problems. My problems are nothing compared to my wife, who has some disc issues.  Bottom line, we need a good bed.  And we've been thinking about upgrading with our next replacement.  Turns out, that time is here. Our existing bed is a Stearns and Foster, which was one of those old ironclad American brandnames like Florsheim shoes and Caterpillar.  But, like those other brands, it just isn't what it used to be. We bought this bedding (king mattress and box springs) in 2001, so we're overdue for replacement. ...