Years are personal.

 

Today's Tids Issue 5,071

Years don't skip a beat:

 

Well folks, Happy New Year. It was good one if you look beyond the temporary hardships, generally wrought beyond our control. Tere were deep losses for many, but each heartbreaking loss is an eternal remembrance of all the love that came before. We all had glorious moments with family and friends, and yes, life’s little conquests. Small things that may have tickled your hearts that nobody noticed but you. Years are always like that, jumbled at times, but we always know what was important. When we sit back and dismiss the cacophony around us, we realize always that most years are very good years, and so will be those yet to come.

 

I don’t usually get warm and fuzzy vibes from the comic strip “Hagar the Horrible”, but this morning a line that struck me was, “Twinkle is a happy word”. Maybe that’s a good New Year’s resolution -- Always look for the happy word.

 

What is a New Year’s resolution? Something that goes in one year and out the other.

The Question:

49 years ago today one of my all-time favorite baseball players died after a plane he had chartered to deliver food and assistance to those in Nicaragua devastated by an earthquake crashed just after takeoff from San Jua PR. Who was he? Bonus: 35 years ago today another plane crashed carrying to death the popular singing son of a famous radio and TV family. Who was he?

 

The Headlines:

--Stock Markets Open For Regular Hours This New Year’s Eve Day; Three Major Indices Lower In What Appears To Be Lackluster Trading Day.

--Colorado Fires Burning Wildly; At Least Five Hundred Homes In Denver/Boulder Areas Destroyed So Far

--Covid Cases Pass Two Million Per Week For First Time Since Pandemic Began.

-- Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Rome, London, Edinburgh, Athens and New Delhi Among Many Of World’s Cities Cancelling NYE Celebrations; NYC TO Go On With Limited Crowd Of 15,000.

 

For some odd reason the powers that be in NCAA football thought today, when people are scurrying at the last-minute to find reservations or picking up fancy party dresses and platters for tonight, would be great for the biggest two games of the season. Whatever happened to New Year’s day when peep have nothing to do but contemplate their year and dry out in an environment of boys at play. I’m rooting for Michigan and Cincinnati. Cincy league rival Houston beat Auburn this week so maybe the SEC isn’t invincible after all. Except maybe Alabama. Georgia is tough but maybe Michigan is tougher. Maybe the “Blue” will carry the ball over the end zone line and the Wolverine fans wall be singing loudest, Old Lang Syne!

 

Cows favorite holiday: Moo Year's Eve.

 

I didn’t say New Year’s jokes would be good.

 

When you think about it the bowls featuring the four remaining playoff teams really take the luster off all the other bowls, no matter the tradition.

 

In 1905 NYC held its first ever Times Square NYE Celebration. Over 200K attended. There will be but 15K tonight. Actually, a nice manageable crowd for a change. If going to a NYE Party on Times Square was on my bucket list, I would know for sure that my pail was leaking.

 

George Orwell’s line, “The greatest enemy of clear language is insincerity.” How true is that in progressive and today when for example the Head of US HHR calls Mothers “Birthing People” and progressive groups classify races and classes by inane acronyms like BIPOC. They say are averse to segregation but trough their current devotion to identity politics they are segregating groups more than ever. George Will wrote an excellent column on that today.

 

Ther are many things I may not n be great at, but I am very good at packing the trunk of a car and loading a dishwasher.

 

Unfortunately, too many people make pour decisions New Year’s Eve.

 

The Answer:

Roberto Clemente was maybe the greatest of all I have seen domination that diamond of play. H could hit that ball and with his rifle could cut down any runner at any base. He was admired for his fielding, hitting in the clutch and maybe most of all, his heart. (He a had a lifetime batting average of 317 with 3,000 hits and 1,305 RBIs, and a shadow across the field of pure quality) and  Bonus: Ricky Nelson was a darling of the pop world in1986 when is plane went down, but to me he is best remembered as one of two very funny sons on Ozzie and Harriet.

 

If your 2021 went by in a blur, maybe your resolution might've been too low.

 

I don’t have that much to say today, except,

Happy New Year, E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!!

 

What a thrill it is for me to find something to write about for you each day. That’s what life is all about.

 

Thrill is a happy word!

 

Exclamation points are happy punctuation marks.