A Day Late but Thankful Nonetheless

Ok...so I didn't get to my annual Thanksgiving post. I ate too much and we ended up at a friends house and it got late. Lame excuse if you ask me.

But these are some of the things I am thankful for:

I am thankful for:

My family - top of the list. I love my kids more than can be measured. Unconditional as it comes...my sibs...again unconditional but more difficult at times...my nieces and nephews are awesome. My step kids are amazing too...well, maybe not Jen.

My partner, wife, business partner, best friend - thank you, thank you, thank you. All wrapped up in one...amazing

My sister Suze gets special mention for all she does for our mother. Thanks Sue, I can only handle so much of Rosie...it's how I cope. Without you, she'd be a lot less fortunate.

Music - Tonic, poetry, soul soothing

Health - It's all ya got. Mine is not perfect but it will do and I appreciate that I am a lot more fortunate than many.

My financial success - There is a lot of truth in the verse that "the more you give, the more you receive". I am living proof. Financial success is not something that defines me and that's why it found me. I got to do it my way and on my terms and I am comfortable that I didn't have to sell my soul to the devil to get where I am. I sleep great.

My sense of humor -I love making people laugh and sometimes I actually do it!

For the time I have had and I am hopeful for a lot more

For the dedicated employees that help us make our company the success it became

Selling my company - I'll be retired soon and I am looking forward to this new adventure. I only hope I can help make our retirement interesting and worthwhile.

All my parents "tried" to do for me. They were kids when they loaded themselves down with 5 banshees. They did the best they could. One can't ask for more.

Computers - I don't know where I would be without all the assistance that this singular tool provided for me. Business, pleasure, convenience, knowledge...what a cool tool.

America elected Barack Obama - what a moment for the world! I hope that he fulfills the promise. I think its cool that he's the first half white man ever elected. Made me proud of my country again...I have a feeling he may be able to evoke that emotion a few more times before he's through.

Two members of my family that decided driving drunk was a good idea and survived to regret the decision. You know who you are...don't do that again or I will kill you. Too many people love you for you to risk your lives and the lives of others. To any of my loved ones, if you ever need a ride, call me or pay for one. I promise I will pick you up or pay the tab. I'm selfish. I want you around.

The Beatles - you planted the seed in me and fostered what has become a great love of mine

Forgiveness - without it there is no relationship with my parents and just about every other human in the world. We all make mistakes and we all deserve forgiveness...it's a big part of loving and being loved.

I'm not thankful

This is my third annual Anti Thanksgiving post. Some of these will be repeats because we still haven't gotten things right...

I am not thankful for:

greed - bailouts, robber baron executives, money schemes...it's ugly

Dick Cheney - War criminal, greedy bastard, wrong Dick...way wrong.

terrorism - uncivilized behavior; wild animals behave better

racism - see "terrorism" above. I witnessed a lot of "closet" racism in the presidential election. I'm grateful that thinking people out voted ignorance. That might be 1 in row!

hungry children - feed the world dammit

my digestive system - it makes the list again because the discomfort it causes me a good 20% of the time is debilitating. I will fight it but man do I hate feeling lousy. I am tired of it.

the guy who thought of cigarettes - I hate you but unfortunately I seem to love your work

stupid drug laws - Tommy Chong put in jail for selling bongs! Boy, I feel a lot safer now. C'mon spend our money getting vicious criminals...like Dick Cheney. Marijuana is not more dangerous than alcohol. This is a free country right?

drug commercials - so, I can get a drug that can stop me from frequent urination but one of the side effects can be fatal. First off, I'm glad I don't have that problem at this point but if I did I'd rather pee my pants thank you.

my "lost" family - a family feud took place years ago and I have been estranged from two aunts and two uncles and countless cousins. I regret the time lost and have yet to do anything about fixing the problem. I guess I'll just wait until we are all dead...seems reasonable. OK maybe not.

my lost friend the doc - look up miserable in the dictionary and you will find his picture there. Wallows in misery and won't do anything about it. I can't help him and he needs help. His wife can't help him. Very intelligent guy but he's no very smart. He's missing any joy that can be squeezed out of this tragedy called life...his life is a tragedy. Sad.

that I can't make everyone I love have all that it is they want.

that I don't have a "happy" switch for those who need it but can't seem to find it when they need it. Other switches that would be good: peace, kindness, companionship, loneliness be gone...

Tomorrow I go positive and give thanks for all that I am so blessed to have

I need rubber walls....stat!

After being in business for over 21 years, my wife and I, after much consternation decided to sell our business. The sale closed in early September. Every business counselor we presented the terms to told us we'd be fools not to take the deal. It did provide us with a continuation plan for our employees. It also provided a way for us to get the value of the business out of the business for our retirement and for our family. Win Win. Not so fast...

Our employees are bouncing off the walls. The change has jarred them. We fully recognize that change is unsettling. I can tell you that we believe that we sold our company to an organization that comes close to providing the kind of culture that we successfully created for our employees. We did the best we could. By all measures, the transition is going as well as can be expected. The new company has bent over backwards to accommodate our staff. They still have great jobs and have not lost any benefits of note. They are still bouncing off walls.

There is pressure on us as well which I really underestimated. We have signed up for "change" as well. We have two year employment agreements and after that retirement. In other words, the unknown! We are both cool with the idea but combined with the angst our employees are exhibiting, it definitely has been working on us. So, now we are all bouncing off walls.

We'll get through this but I never expected the anxiety levels to reach these levels. I needed to write this just to relieve some pressure. We humans surely know how to amp up the drama level of anything.

In a crazy sort of way, I think being in the middle of this process will make the whole retirement thing very attractive. You wanna bounce off walls, go ahead bounce away. I'll be pleasure traveling or reading for pleasure or playing my guitar or making gourment food for us to eat while we still have teeth, or golfing or laying by the pool or watching a movie or sipping on some wine or golfing or golfing or golfing. Did I mention golfing?

Repairing the damage

The following is a comment I copied from this site. The photos on the site are great. "Fred" gets it. This historic election has helped this country in so many ways already. I hope that we build on this momentum and lead our great country and the world back from the quagmire our current "unleadership" left us stewing in.

The sentiment here from those of us outside of the USA appears to follow a common theme.

Our disdain and distrust of the US has changed to optimism for the future.
It has been a painful 8 years watching a respected nation wallow in borderline fascist self destruction. I actually decided that if I had the opportunity to visit every country in the world, I would have avoided the US.

Now that has changed.

Thank you to those that made this happen. If the future is even half as bright as what we all hope, it will be a finer future for all.

This is an amazing time.

Hope doesn't come from calculating whether the good news is winning out over the bad. It's simply a choice to take action. - Anna Lappe

We did it!

I wish I could forecast football games as well...

My wife summed it up for us tonight. She said "I've never cared so much." Bingo. This is the emotion Barack Obama can elicit. This country will be better for it. We needed an attitude adjustment and I think we just hired the adjuster in chief.

I have never been more proud of my country. This truly is the greatest country in the world.

Now the hard work begins...I'm ready.

My Election Prediction - VOTE!

History will be made today. The Obama / Biden ticket will score a decisive victory today.

Get out and vote. That is the key to making this prediction a reality. However, I would like to excuse some folks from the "burden" of having to vote today.

Anybody voting against Obama because he's a Muslim, please stay home today.

Anybody voting against Obama because he has some black heritage, please stay home today. By the way, Barack Obama is has as much white heritage and why the hell does this matter to anyone anyway?

Anybody voting against Obama because he's a socialist, please stay home today.

Anybody voting against Obama because he's dangerous, please stay home today.

Anybody voting against Obama because he's going to federalize health care, please stay home today.

Anybody that votes against Obama because of something Joe the Plumber said, stay home today.

Anybody voting against Obama because he's going to take "all your money and give it to people that don't work", please stay home today.

Anybody that votes against Obama because he is the anti-Christ, please stay home today.

Why? My mother lives in a retirement community. I was talking to her the other day and she started going on about Obama. I mean, she gets it. Then, and this will come as no surprise to anyone that knows my mom, she tells me " One of my girlfriends told me she was going to vote for McCain. So I told her you are too stupid to vote."

I don't agree with her very often but she may have hit the nail on the head this time.

Nice idea; bad execution

I really intended to participate in NoBloPoMo again this year; posting every day for a month. I missed it! I absolutely forgot about it until yesterday. Great start. Well, I have a lot of travel scheduled this month so it would have been nuts anyway. I like the idea of the challenge of having to write regularly. I'm just not good on the follow through.

I guess my limited readership discourages me a little and the fact that only one loyal cyber friend regularly leaves comments (thanks Barb). Maybe I should just send her emails and have my conversations that way. I know there are more of you out there. Your silence is deafening.

History will be made tomorrow. I have to travel tomorrow afternoon so I am missing my daughters election night party which bums me out. I think it would be fun to share this moment in history with them. I will be communicating with them throughout the night as we watch the election from our hotel room in San Francisco.

Free association....

racism = ignorance

war = barbarianism

partisan politics for the sake of partisan politics should go the way of the Flowbee

hoping for better is never wrong

I'm addicted to this election and I think it has a lot to do with the sense that I have that this country desperately needs a course correction.

M & I regular park ourselves in front of the TV and watch the talking heads on CNN. See, addicted...

If we, as Americans, do what I think we are going to do tomorrow, it will make me as proud of being an American as I have been in a long time.

Vote you monkeys!

Go Barack!

Break out the Kool Aid

M and I watched the Obama commercial tonight. It was brilliant. Barack Obama and his team have done a masterful job throughout this campaign. This was another example of their intellect.

I just wish somewhere in the infomercial he would have called McCain an ass and Palin a bitch.

However, this woman took care of it for him. This blog is wonderful and written by one of the wittiest 82 year olds that I've ever had the pleasure to read.

Gimme Andy Dufresne

I have been engaging in an email debate with one of my friends on the Obama vs. McCain decision. She and her husband are going to vote for McCain I know I won't be able to change her mind. My goal has been to help her understand why Barack Obama is reaching so many.

All of her arguments (higher taxes! universal healthcare!) begin and end with the same thing; Fear. Isn't this really the Karl Rove legacy? Fear sucks. I think FDR said that once (well sorta).

All of my arguments are based on Hope. Hope is positive. In the face of all the crap facing this country and the world, hope is a better choice than fear.

I am personally very tired of fear based politics. It has failed us and the Republican party miserably. I think there are millions like me who will turn their hope into progress.

I hope my friends get the chance to find out how much better it feels to hope than to fear.

P.S. I consider myself independent although my voting record over the last 20 years would brand me as a republican. The republican party helped me discover my independence once again. At least I can thank them for that!

But seriously folks

I just saw her on CNN. Can you see this woman as President should anything happen to 73 year old John McGrumpy? No really? No way No how. What a disasterous choice John McCain made here.

John Cleese was right. This is something Monty Python would have loved to write. I'm starting to think that Barack Obama must have picked her for McCain. Wow, the dude is good!

Vote for unity, vote for change, vote for hope. Obama / Biden 08

It moved me

This is outstanding. Im' starting to believe that thinking may not be a lost art after all.

Just Wondering

Just wondering...How can anybody in their right mind give the Republicans the wheel again when, under their watch, they have driven America into the ground. How much more of this can this country take? I'm thinking not much.

Just wondering...If the USA was a baseball team and after 8 years of leadership the manager was unable to field a respectable team, wouldn't the owner clean house? Wouldn't the fans demand a change. Its clear to me that our manager should have been fired long ago.

Just wondering...Am I the only one that thought that McCain and Obama might have been the two best candidates that we have had to choose for some time. (George W and John Kerry? puke city). McCain changed that in a heartbeat by choosing the worst running mate ever (My opinion but I'm sure it's close). I couldn't vote for that ticket if they were running unopposed.

Just wondering...

NO thinking necessary; you are entitled to my opinion

I was reading a story earlier about Palin's defending her remarks about Obama paling around with terrorists. Her reference was to Bill Ayers, the terrorist so dangerous that he is now a distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois - Chicago. I am not denying that Barack knows this man; nor is he. All of Mr. Ayers students better be careful or they may win a free trip to Gitmo I guess...

But cmon; this is an obvious scare tactic aimed at the uninformed. Is an exaggerated truth any less than a lie? If you purposely utilize "stretched truth" can you blame me for questioning everything you put forth? I believe one would have to be an idiot to blindly accept what comes from a source willing to defend this type of half truth.

Don't misunderstand me. Both political parties are guilty of utilizing this type of crap. The Republicans are more desperate this time around so their tactics have become blatantly desperate. I think it's disgusting actually. I think it's insulting to any person of intelligence. Unfortunately, its clear who the Republicans are trying to reach. Fortunately, I don't believe it's me.

One other item of note...I posted a comment to the site with story about the Palin / Obama terrorist thing. It seemed that all of the comments were from McCain's family. I put up an even handed post questioning the legitimacy of the whole issue. Guess what? My comment was removed. I guess the comment section on this particular site is reserved for right wing nut cases only. I wish they would have told be before I wrote the comment so I didn't waste my time.

Comment only if you have a brain please. Oh, the fun part is I get to be the judge.

Debate #1

We watched the debate last night. It is now clear to me why McCrazy was trying to find a way out. I'm sorry but the man's only point seem to be that we can't afford to lose in Iraq. We have already lost in Iraq.

We've lost thousands of valiant warriors.
We've lost our place in the world as a respected power.
We've lost billions of dollars.
We've lost sight of the real enemy.
We've lost track of the economic health of our nation.
We've lost track of taking care of each other at home.
We've lost faith in the feeble leadership we've been saddled with for the last 8 years.
Many have lost hope here in America.

Barack is hope. It's that simple for me. I don't care about lipstick or bracelets or who the fuck John McCain says he knows. I don't care if McCain is experienced, a heroic warrior or just some old geezer. The only hope he instills in me is the hope that he'll just shut up and go do his self appointed maverick thing somewhere else. We need leadership and you are not it Johnny.

Last night one of the things I noticed was that McCrazy focused on attacking Obama. Hey, his family background is military city, attack is his game. He talked about Obama; Obama talked about us. McCrazy is trying anything to get elected so he can be the one elected. He didn't really give me any clues as to how he was going to help this country. So, I have to think he is just clueless.

Obama represents the side of trying to end this horrible thing in Iraq; McCain talks about winning the war. Can anybody tell me what we are going to win?

Did anyone else notice that Sarah Palin was locked in a closet somewhere? Joe Biden was available to spin the debate but Sarah was busy? This spoke volumes to me. Nice selection John boy. The republicans threw out Rudy Giuliani in Sarahs place. Note to Rudy: Find Sarahs closet and get in there with her. Your words were a waste of my time.

Republican leadership, your worst fears are going to be realized. The thinking and suffering of this country are fixin to show you the door. You've earned it.

Another meme

I saw this on my friend Barb's blog...

1. My uncle once gave me a great summer job working construction when I needed it most.

2. Never in my life have I used a blow dryer on my hair.

3. When I was five my parents were not equipped to be parents.

4. High school was a time in which I made a lot of new friends. Unfortunately, not many of them are in my life to any extent.

5. I will never forget to try to tell my loved ones I love them.

6. Once I met Count Basie at a sporting goods store in downtown Chicago. The elevator opened and there was the count. Very cool for me.

7. There’s this boy I know who can't seem to get out of his own way.

8. Once, at a bar, I realized it was time to go when the floor was covered in broken beer bottles.

9. By noon, I’m starving.

10. Last night I took my exhausted wife out to dinner.

11. If only I had a little more hair.

12. Next time I go to church will be for a wedding.

13. What worries me most is how poorly we humans treat each other.

14. When I turn my head left the blank wall of my office. (I wonder what happened to my wall calendar?)

15. When I turn my head right a bookcase filled with clutter.

16. You know I’m lying when I tell you I love politics

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is the age I was then

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be Faust?

19. By this time next year I will be a year closer to not working anymore.

20. A better name for me would be No idea on this one

21. I have a hard time understanding why people are intent on killing each other in the name of God and Country.

22. If I ever go back to school, it will be for a reunion

23. You know I like you if I don't throw a rock at you and I haven't thrown rocks since I was a kid.

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be my dad. His guidance is the only thing that kept me sane.

25. Take my advice, never forget that "it's whatever it is you see that life will become." (Thanks Jackson)

Politician Heal Thyself

This caught my attention in John McCain's speech last night. "I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption." My first thoughts were...I need names. I can venture some good guesses...

You want to regain my trust? Tell me you are going to bring justice to the corrupt. Or, is the Bush administration really above justice as they have demonstrated time and time again?

Maybe not?

Reviews of McCain's speech. The comments are good reading.

You call that change?

I didn't watch much of the Republican convention last night (thank god). I did however catch Sarah Palin taking issue with the Obama campaign's message of change. I believe she said something like "they're not the party of change, we're the party of change". She is right (sorta).

In the last 8 years the Republican administration has changed us from having the largest budget surplus in history to having the largest federal debt ever!

They have changed us from being at peace to being at war.

They are now presiding over one of the roughest economic times that I have ever witnessed.

They have changed the meaning of the words "Justice Department"

I could go on but thinking about the damage they've wrought is causing me to lose my appetite.

If this is their idea of change, we've certainly had enough.

I think what Ms. Palin meant to say was "....we're the party TO change.

Republicans, you have lost your opportunity; you stunk it up; you lost the program. If this was a baseball team, the manager and the general manager would have been canned long ago. You deserve to be canned. We need you to be canned. We cling to the hope that the new new manager is better than you have been. Obama and Biden represent that hope and you have no prayer of instilling hope in any thinking Americans.

Hold the Bon Jovi please

If you are a fan of Bon Jovi, I suggest you stop reading right now. I am not a fan although I do like one of their songs. One.

Last summer we were fortunate enough to attend the second "Crossroads Festival" here in the Chicago area. It was a day of great music featuring a whole lot of great guitar players. Perfect for a guitar junkie like myself...comparing and contrasting with Bon Jovi was inevitable...

I have a befriended someone in the past few years that is a music industry insider. One of his involvements is with the "Soundstage" program. Knowing my love for music, he had mentioned that he would get me to one of the shows at some point. These are very intimate shows in a small television soundstage. Knowing that he has had artists in the past like Neil Young and Allison Krauss, I was really excited about the idea.

Well, he finally got us into the studio for, you guessed it, Bon Jovi. We didn't feel we could turn it down without ruining our chances of ever going to one of these shows, yet my wife and I were not big Bon Jovi fans by any stretch of the imagination. So we go...

When we get there we are met by the producer. He shows us to our seats and says "you guys are going to be on camera a lot so I need you to really get into it". Yikes! Now I am thinking that I will have to pretend to really like this. I am also hoping that maybe I am wrong about Bon Jovi, maybe they will actually be good and I will get into it. I regret to inform you all that not a single one of my overactive rock and roll genes was awakened at any time during this show. Alas, I sold my rock and roll soul to the devil at the request of a producer.

We did enjoy seeing how these shows are put together. In fact, we made fun out of being in this predicament. Only one song had to be redone. Unfortunately they were three quarters of the way through it when the producer stopped the action due to some technical problem. Now I had to re-pretend I was enjoying this song I barely survived hearing the first time. It was a struggle but as first time television actors, it was our duty to grind it out.

John is actually very good at what he does. I am sure when he was younger the girls went crazy. He's not younger and I'm not a girl. Richie is a tool. He had make up touch him up after every song. His guitar playing was average, at best (read lousy). Hell, I'm average and I don't need makeup after every song! The other members of the band were there...thats about all I can say about them. Who's the guy with the French poodle haircut?

We were fearful that our friends would see us being "into" Bon Jovi, demand that we give up our die hard rock and rollers membership cards and get a laugh on us for a long time. Well, we finally watched the show on TV and we can see us but if you don't know where to look you won't see us and I'm not telling you where to look. One thing of note...the sound production on the TV show is incredible. They sounded infinitely better on TV than they did in a live studio. My kudos to the producer. That is some unbelievable producing!

I will have some other concert updates when I find the time to write again. Business dealings are really taking up a lot of my time right now. I will do some posts about this when I am able to share. I am using what free time I have to take advantage of the short, though beautiful summer we are having here in Chicago.

To all my friends and loved ones...I love you more.

I am not a republican or democrat. I am an American

I was just wondering...Am I the only one that sees racism as overt ignorance?

I have found that discussing the possibility of Barack Obama as our next president with some people seems to give them a free pass to show their ignorance. I was discussing politics with several friends and mentioned that I had voted for Republican presidential candidates in the past. One friend said "Well, you're gonna keep it that way aren't ya?". To which I replied, "I am going to vote for the best person possible." His response, "Now why would you want to do that?"

Huh?

Because I have always tried to do that. Because I care about my country. Because I like to think I am not ignorant.

Hey there Hi there Ho there

Yes, I am still alive. I have just been going through one of those periods in my life in which the treadmill of life is stuck on too fast for conditions. It's mostly good but it has seemed to compress my hours and suck the energy out of me.

Contributions to compressing my time are: (in no particular order):

1. Work - the state of the American economy has affected our business. I'm not complaining; many have it far worse. I am just stating a fact. We are diligently working to attempt to slow the effects of the sagging economy. Not an easy task...but we are giving it a go.

2. My mother - A few weeks ago my 75 year old mother took a fall and broke her her leg quite badly. She is in a rehab facility at this point and my sister and I are working on housing that does not include her going back to her house. She has been showing signs of dementia for some time and despite our best efforts to get her out of her house, she was so reluctant and ornery that we backed off. Well, we can't back off. It's early stage Alzheimer's and the doctors confirmed that she cannot live on her own. I cannot list this one in the "Oh boy, this is fun" category. I'm really glad that I have my sister and my wife to help me with this or I would be totally nutso on this one.

3. Golf - I love it. I need it. The weather here in the Chicago area has been shit for golf! It was 86 degrees yesterday which was the first hint of summer. The temperature this morning was 46 degrees and the high temp for the day will only be in the 50's. Windy, cloudy...I'm really tired of this poor excuse for a climate.

4. Travel - We've been jumping around the country a bit lately. A little vacation and a little work travel combine to make the time seem even tighter. The travel will slow down soon I hope.

Other than my mom, we are all fairly healthy and happy so that's a good thing. Hope to write again soon!