Sunday, November 10, 2019

Happy Veterans Day!

Yes, today is that annual day where I (the Veteran) get to get up early and go to work, and Jeannie (the NON Veteran) gets to stay home with pay. Ahhhh....Veterans Day! I'd say I'm used to it, but I'm not...I'm telling you, if I were President, I'd use my Executive Orders power and decree that ALL Veterans will get this day off WITH PAY, and all NON Veterans would go to work. It would be a Federal Holiday ONLY for the Veterans. That way they would stand a chance to go get some of those free IHOP pancakes and all the other goods and goodies that so many businesses give free to Veterans on this special day.

Boy would I piss off a lot of people with that one I bet!

Anyhoo...I've been riding a LOT this past 3 months, and (nobody apparently wants to hear this) my weight is lowest it's been since I got out of the Navy back in 94. I'm thinking my Dress Blues will fit pretty good, going to dig them out this afternoon for a picture with ribbons and dixie-cup (hat). Yep...I'll be fully in uniform for the first time since I retired (last year I tried on the Blues but didn't have my ribbons or hat...it was more of a "will they still fit?" thing). This year I KNOW they will fit.

And so...College football. Yesterday was a pretty big day. LSU won their annual matchup with Alabama, opening the door to Ohio State. But it was a very tough game, so Bama shouldn't fall too far (most of Bama's problems were their MISTAKES! You can't do that against a serious opponent, and it's not the norm for a Sabian team to have that many unforced errors). Penn State also lost so they are out of that elite undefeated company, leaving just LSU, Clemson and OSU undefeated. I'd still put Bama as #4 if I were the in the rankings department...maybe we will get a repeat of that game many years ago when LSU beat Bama in the season and they were still the #1 and #2 teams and went to the National Championship game, where Bama killed them for the title. I'm just NOT a Tigers fan, so that would be fine by me (but they looked pretty darn good against Bama!)...or maybe Clemson will earn a bid to the title game. I'm just HOPING that FINALLY Michigan gets their demons exorcised and can knock OSU out of the undefeated category (it's happened before). Their game on November 30th COULD be a doosey, I sure hope so! And it is at home....maybe the Ann Arbor home-field advantage will give Harbaugh and company the boost it needs to finally win this game (against a seriously tough team!

OK..enough on CFB. How about this awesome time change? Isn't it wonderful to get off work having it almost dark already? Oh yeah...gotta love that! I know we here in California voted to stop changing the time a year or 2 ago but haven't enacted it yet, so I looked it up. We voted to STAY on Daylight Savings Time (which would be fine by me) but that isn't allowed by Federal Law. A state CAN stay on Standard time, but to stay on DST would require a change to the DST law made way back when. I can only ask, WHY when the made the DST law would it be ok to stay on Standard time (like Arizona and a few other states) but not DST? What is the difference?? I hope they get this law change going and passed (assuming Congress can actually agree on ANYTHING) soon...this stoopid time change has got to go!

And say, how about the weather?? Watching the news every morning, sheesh! My cousins up in North Dakota have already been HAMMERED! And back east, BRRRR! Gee, I can hardly wait to move to Richmond! (NOT!!!!) I'm really quite partial to our Central Coast weather...you know, where we have maybe TWO seasons?? Yesterdays bike ride was in just PERFECT weather...I think we got up to maybe 76 in the afternoon...it was in the 60s by the 9am start...that is pretty great weather if you ask me (oh, and the winds have REALLY been absent this last few weeks which is AWESOME!) I don't get why there aren't 10 million people living up here...our weather overall is amazing!! Oops...ssshhh...don't pass that on, I think that's supposed to be a secret!

So....it's been a busy day, but here is my "Dress Blues" photo for this years Veterans Day:



They fit pretty well actually...though getting into the pullover top is ALWAYS a contest...I think the original designers were using some sort of a straight-jacket as their inspiration and ended up with this...you can seriously be trapped inside that thing!


2 comments:

  1. I hope you had a great day at work, at least! I was out spreading around some (seriously old) grass fertilizer that I had unearthed in the garage, and my elderly neighbor came over to tell me all about the free coffee, breakfast, and haircut that he had just gotten, and his plans to go out again after a rest to get his free steak dinner. He had his whole day planned around the freebies! Wish such recognition had a been a thing when my ex (Vietnam 1968, 82nd Airborne) was still alive.

    CFB? Pfft. Each Saturday the newspaper has not only the regular sports section, but an additional section devoted to the Buckeyes and CFB. Straight into the recycling bin!

    I am so sad about the Tour of California's demise - I doubt it will be back. It was such a nice event, and I really enjoyed the trips to follow it (and the year that I volunteered for several stages). It was a good place to see young up & comers first show their stuff, too! I seem to recall that they had entered into a partnership with the TdF owners a couple of years ago, but that must not have lasted or provided the safety net they needed. It is a shame that pro cycling just can't seem to build a lasting fan base here without something like HWMNBN's extraordinary success. It is a beautiful sport, but so dependent on sponsors - I guess it really needs to be entrenched in a culture to be viable (but then, what about Colombia? That country is relatively new to the sport, but it is taking off there, it seems?)

    I read your last post and meant to comment then. I can empathize with wanting to give some of your mother's valued possessions to her friends. I could write a couple of paragraphs on the subject (almost did, too) but decided not to get into those feelings - and I think I have talked about it here before. I still feel a bit of resentment about some of it (not about the physical things themselves, but the attitudes of some of the relatives.) At least, when things are donated, they are turned into good for other people.
    ^^Something I am frequently reminding people of on the neighborhood facebook pages - they are probably sick of me telling them that this or that charity can use something, will even pick it up, don't put it out for the trash!!


    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Rae....it was just a day (at work on Veterans Day)....we are quite busy right now so it went by pretty quick. Not really a biggie...I just laugh at it every year. I imagine you are totally buried in CFB, and especially Buckeye 'stuff'. Pretty exciting this year tho...Buckeyes are looking REALLY good...but ol' Blue is looking better every week, and (I know I say this year after year), maybe THIS is the year they will FINALLY take down the Buckeyes, and in doing so take them out of the National Championship running...(that would be SWEET! They've done that to each other several times in their long history).
    I've pretty much calmed down about Moms stuff...but if I were to go down to Yuma again it would leap into the forefront of my mind and make me crazy I'm sure. Still makes me sad tho if I think about it...I think like you I will just have to choose NOT to think about it. The old saying...if you can't change it then worrying about it is a waste of energy.

    ReplyDelete