Today's Tids Issue
4,294
Nothing essentially changes:
I’m
declaring today a National Holiday, and it’s not for
Clemson, or anything the government is up to now in or has done in the past. It’s
just a holiday for beautiful life itself. That’s all,
So,
in reality, fun is better. Last night Clemson coach
Jaba Swinny's fun filled philosophy soundly squished the business-like dour team
of Lou Saban. Laugh, but thrust a big elbow.
Correction:
Yesterday I mistakenly said that Kevin Spacey would be on trial in Nantucket at
the courthouse Edgartown. Of course, everybody including me knows that Edgartown
is on Martha’s Vineyard. In fact, I was just in Nantucket and in the past have eaten
at the Club Car restaurant where the alleged crime took place. A reader tells
me that under new ownership the expensive restaurant has lost that intrinsic value
that had made it so special for decades in the past. We miss too many intrinsic
values these days.
In
our mud room there’s a shoe rack that’s shaped like
a dinner fork, with a sign: “These are the tines that dry men’s soles.”
There’s
a lot of talk about driverless cars, and one
developer who walks the walk, will be letting cars drive the drive…that is, in the
Villages, the humongous retirement community in Florida. Yes, Gary Mores of the
Morse Family who created the massive controlled multi-village city, and CEO
Oliver Cameron made a deal with the State and Google. So now “The Voyagers” will
be making life even easier in this sprawling retreat. It appears that this is a
safer alternative than having seniors scooting around in golf carts. Computers
glitches are less frequent than senior moments.
The
Question:
Can you name the
popular hit song that was published a full month after the sudden airplane crash
that killed its popular singer? Bonus:
Name the top four all-time winningest NBA coaches
The
Headlines:
--Hopeful US/China Pushing Stocks Higher; Samsung
Joins Apple In Forecasts For Big-Tech Slowdown.
--Sears To Pull Down The Blinds And Lock The Doors;
Salvation Attempts Fail.; Alas.
--S&P Cuts PG&E Bonds To “Junk” Status.
--For the First Time, Amazon Rises To “Most Valuable
Company” Status; Big Online Retailer Jumps Over Microsoft.
--Clemson Overwhelms Mighty Alabama 41-16 To Take
National Collegiate Football Title; Saban Says, “I didn’t Do A Very Good Job”.
--Spacey Arrested For Speeding During Paparazzi
Chase In Washington DC.
Don’t
be surprised if you start seeing a push from Clemson
fans, “Jaba for Prez”.
We
are in one of these now frequent political “Scorecard”
battles where it is not about fixing problems but about getting credit for not
agreeing. Some laud the outspoken activists, but what we are, and perhaps will
be seeing more often, is entering a troublesome era of “I hate you” politics
where simple situations morph into small crises only because of big egos and
small ideologies. We have created a irreconcilable attitudes that will get in
the way for a reasonable solution to anything.
In
2005, Barack Obama said, “We simply cannot allow people
to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented and unchecked, and circumventing
the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become
immigrants in this country.” That’s all that the majority of those people painted
as racist by activists have been saying. Kindness begins with the truth.
The
next phrase that will send the stock market
tumbling is “Nothing happened at the US/China Trade meeting”.
My
new slogan: Trevor Lawrence For Replacing Tom Brady!
(If he can hang around until 2030)
Ocasio-Cortez
as just another predictable community organizer.
The
Mayor of Providence Elorza could be one of the emerging disciples
of O-C, as he said yesterday in his inauguration speech that the new objective
for the City of Providence is “Kindness”. He said he’s not going to follow the formulas
that made cities like Boston, Pittsburgh and San Fran vibrant and great. Good
plan for the future. Basically, I think he wants happy people who don’t do anything
better than one another. Then, he could be saying, he wants a place where
illegal immigrants can thrive on the state’s largess, without fear of being condemned
for their unlawful act. But, let’s face it, Providence does need a lot of kindness,
especially in some communities where it appears that every day somebody is getting
shot, often innocently in crossfires. Kindness could begin with the eradication
of gangs, for starters. Hey, I’m kind. I just demand truth.
Kindness
is in the heart, not in edicts.
The
top 4 best jobs for 2019 based on a happy medium of several
factors including income, growth and comfortable private life are Software
developer, Statistician, Physicians Assistant, and Dentist. If only money is
the deciding factor, then the best jobs are Anesthesiologist (Average $265K)
followed by Surgeon, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Obstetrician and Gynecologist.
I don’t qualify for any of them.
Lou
Saban of the marauding Crimson Tide said after the game: “I
didn’t do a good Job”. Did he happen to noticed that Clemson played lights out football?
The
Answer:
I always imagine Otis Redding sitting on The Dock of
the Bay writing music. It’s just one of those images. Bonus: #10 is Bill Fitch. Moving along up to number one, at #9 we
have Rick Adelman then Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, George Karl, Pat Riley, Gregg
Popovich (Still coaching), Jerry Sloan and at #2, Lenny Wilkins. The #1 all-time
winningest NBA coach is Don Nelson. What happened to Red Auerbach? Well, Don played
under Red. In fact, playing for Red on the Celtics made Don Nelson’s career, which
had looked like a dead end when he was playing for the “hated” LA Lakers.
My
latest pet peeve is the media inferring that the national
parks are full of trash because of Trump’s Government closure. There’s trash because
inconsiderate human beings throw it on the ground, in the bushes, upon the shimmering
streams. Period. Why can’t our intrepid journalist get behind of program to promote
taking your garbage with you. Even better, why can’t we get people to
understand anything about the word “responsibility”. Like teach it in school.
Happy
January 8th 2019, everybody. Take a breather, on
me.
Beware:
If you go below this line, you are back into catching up on “The Parking Lot”.
Prologue:
Newport RI, 2017
Just as I do every morning, I look out my window at
the parking lot behind my city condominium and count the cars left overnight.
Today there are three, which is about average for a weekend. On week days there
may be one or two. I figure, there’s a story in every one of those cars
thousands of cars I’ve seen waiting for the masters. It could be as simple as
one driver taking care of a friend who had ten or twelve shots too many. It
could be more. A lot more. It is a novelists dream come true, ad my idea for a TV
series.
It was about 1:30 on this particular day when the
owner of one remaining car showed up, but she wasn’t being driven. She walked
slowly out of the alley leading into the lot. Her head was down, and she seemed
to walk with a slight limp. As she looked around and spied her car she moved
faster. Now, almost running as she neared her car, she was trying to reach into
her jouncing bag, apparently fumbling around for, I expect, her keys. Suddenly,
the bag dropped, she stopped looking hopelessly as all of her special stuff
rolled and bounced along the black macadam. She slowly kneeled, and I felt my
own heart ache for her. She didn’t reach out to reclaim her possessions. She
just knelt, her eyes appearing to look at a graffiti marred brick wall. I saw her shoulders shuddering.
The woman
looked traumatized, and she dressed for the occasion, with a gray oversized
blouse and flimsy shawl draped over her shoulders which fell in bunches of
material upon the black surface. She drew me in. I have one of those hearts
that opens up too widely too often. I was so intense with her that I almost
missed hearing the rumble, an aggressive rumble, from a car speeding down our
cobblestone drive way.
I didn’t miss
the car as it swerved into the parking lot and headed directly at the woman, at
an increasing rate. I screamed through the window and storm windows two stories
above her. She didn’t hear me. She didn’t turn towards the car. The only motion
was her shoulders, heaving, heaving. I turned and ran, hobbled, down a flight
of stairs to my door and down another longer flight to the garage and an exit
door. stopped and looked to the right where I remembered I had stacked a couple
of 3 foot two by fours. I reached in and grabbed one and put my shoulder to the
door. God, did that hurt. I stumbled
out, rubbing my shoulder, seeing a stopped car, inches from the woman who was
now beginning to react. The fear I saw in her eyes went up my spine and grabbed
my throat. A guy was rising out of the front seat, and he got bigger and bigger
as he hauled a large body out of the car.
The girl
now on her hands and knees facing him started crawling backwards towards her
car, her feet flicking away cans, bottles, wallets and small bags that had
tumbled from her purse earlier. The man took two giant steps and was upon her.
He didn’t say, “Mother may I”, so I ran and shouted, “Hey, hey, hey.” That was
a mistake. He twisted around, facing me. “Get out of here old man. This ain’t your business. You don’t want it
to be your business”
“Leave her alone.” I shouted back, trying to sound
tough, which for me, rarely worked. I held up my weapon. He smiled. “Try it,”
the smile seemed to say.
Her eyes were feverish now. Moving rapidly side to
side as the hulk in front of me dismissed my threats with a smirk and turned
back toward where she had been. She was grasping at the area around her body,
when suddenly she stopped, and was motionless. She raised her hand as the big
man approached and sprayed from the can she was now holding tightly in her
hand. The brute’s hands went to his eyes and he cried out. He roared crazily. I
took a step back. He was really mad now, and he flayed around trying to remember
his bearings and the position of his prey. She had moved, now quickly and
determined to the side. I saw an opportunity and rushed at him with everything
I had, sore shoulder aimed at his mid-section. I plowed into him expecting to
mash him into the car now just a foot beyond. It felt like I was hitting a cast
iron lamp post, and I just bounced off, dropping my 2 by 4 and tumbling to the
ground finally landing on my back. I lay still now somewhat bewildered by my
inadequacies, looking up at the giant blinking back his sight. I was doomed. He
reached down and picked up my weapon, while I noticed the woman struggling to
unlock her car door. I moved up to one knee, not knowing what I could do. He
seemed a little confused, not knowing whether to pummel me or go after the
woman. I used his hesitation as an opportunity to rise quickly. I was hoping to
get back into a position of some advantage, but noticed at once that he had
raised my piece of lumber and it was coming down at a rapid pace towards my
head. Just before I ducked, I saw the woman jump in to her car. Then it struck
my now exposed back sending enormous pain rattling throughout my aging bones.
It was not that proverbial glancing blow.
No comments:
Post a Comment