New Shoes in the Rain

Happy Thursday-before-a-holiday-weekend, everyone.   I always enjoyed saying that, as I always enjoyed a long weekend. That is, when I was working.   Since the start of March I have NOT been working, at least not for a paycheck.   To be sure, my past employers’ contributions to unemployment insurance have provided me with some income during this period, but it’s mostly been savings that my wife and I have been using for our household expenses. I have more possibilities in the works, as has been the case throughout this process.   One of them is an on-again, off-again possibility of temporary employment with a local company that can’t quite decide whether I’m vital to their success.   The owners are a married couple who seem like nice people, but their indecision is growing old at this point! A friend who’s single, never married, regularly shares his exploits in efforts to meet the “right” person.   And from what he’s told me, it’s tough to date...

Good Friday morning, everyone.   Got a little off schedule with some other activities but found some time for a post this morning. I’m going to start by saying that I wholeheartedly approve of the #NoBillNoBreak sit-in that occurred in the House of Representatives.   The National Rifle Association has such a stranglehold on anything related to gun control via its massive amount of political contribution to many, MANY candidates that something had to give, and we have Congressman John Lewis, who has certainly “been there, done that,” to thank for helping get the effort going.   I was like many who watched the entire story unfold on social media and marveled at the solidarity shown by so many Democratic members of both the House and Senate.   Of course, the entire House is running for reelection and many Senators are, too, so it’s never a bad thing to show how hard you’re fighting for your consitituents. I am also appalled that House Speaker Paul Ryan (you kno...

Good morning, friends. My comments refer to the events in Orlando over the weekend, as well as some that have occurred since.  I'm not a gay man, though I know some gay men and women.  But I am a human being and that qualifies me to write what follows. Where are we in this country that people target and attack other people as though they're playing some sort of video game or computer simulation, particularly when those attacks are based on a specific demographic, like race, sexual orientation, or ethnicity?  And at what point do our legislators do the right thing and look past the massive financial contributions of the National Rifle Association to institute any form of gun control in this country? I was deeply saddened that, yet again, this country has been stained by a large-scale mass shooting, this time leaving 49 dead and approximately that many others wounded.  We're now learning more about the shooter, his motivations, his problems.  We're also lear...

Time for a general set of rants, folks.  A fella can only take so much, y'know.... When did the most prevalent of non-automated traffic signals become irrelevant?  I'm speaking of the humble stop sign, of course, which is now apparently more of a suggestion than a command.  After dinner last night I went to a nearby shopping center for a couple of very brief errands, and in the three-mile-round-trip I was nearly struck by not one but two vehicles who did not bother to even slow down at the sight of said stop signs.  Since I was not traveling at highway speed it wasn't difficult to slow down in time to avoid a collision.  The offending drivers did not even look in my direction when blowing through their stop signs into my path, making it all the more irritating. The reverse is also becoming more common, wherein drivers are slow to leave a traffic light because they apparently began texting while their car was sitting still.  Thumbs up for not texting whi...

Good tidings to everyone this morning.  I hope that you stopped for a moment over the weekend, especially yesterday, to reflect on the sacrifice that so many have made for us through their military service. Major League Baseball continues to "celebrate" occasions during the six months of the baseball season with special uniforms.  Yesterday I watched the Cincinnati Reds in a rare victory over the Colorado Rockies, and, naturally, both teams were wearing special Memorial Day uniforms.  These consisted of camouflage caps and all logos were trimmed with the same, regardless of team colors.  This was preceded by "special" Mother's Day unis which were dark grey caps trimmed in pink, in honor of the fight against breast cancer.  I believe that we can expect other special-use uniforms for Father's Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day. This all evolved from special wristbands and bats and such and I suppose it's a way to recognize an occasion, but it's als...

It's Monday, everyone.  This time next Monday, much of America will be celebrating the unofficial start of summer, otherwise known as Memorial Day. For me, in my current situation, it will simply be Monday.  I continue to explore the market for an appropriate job opportunity, and have been developing some good contacts and possibilities over the past several weeks.  I find it odd how long it's taken to move forward even this much, but the job market is certainly not like it used to be. My wife and I have had a running joke for a number of years on how the job search process worked for her (she's retired now) versus how it functioned for me.  In my case, when I would decide to explore new possibilities or be unexpectedly unemployed, it would generally take some time to get things going.  And even when it did move forward, there were often multiple interviews that would lead to anticipation and then disappointment when I would be informed that the hiring compa...

Good morning, all.  The sun is finally shining in central Kentucky, after what feels like weeks of darkness.  I'm exaggerating, of course, but it certainly FELT that way.  It's mid-May, so time for it to start getting warm, you know. I write this morning upon seeing the news that Time Warner Cable, our local cable TV and internet provider (and phone, too, if you're into that sort of thing), has now been acquired by Charter Communications and will later begin operating under the brand name of Spectrum.  Comcast apparently was going to buy TWC a while back but regulators let the principals know that they would not approve it, so, naturally, the next largest cable company was given the green light to acquire TWC. My title today is indicative of the "be careful what you wish for" mindset that so often plagues our utilities (and cable TV is a utility, of course).  Here in Lexington we've had a flurry of changes in who owns our cable operator over the past fifte...