To You and Yours

Let me be the first.

Happy Thanksgiving To All

In Remembrance

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”- Arthur Ashe

Only The Good Die Young

Read the whole sad story here.

Damn This Global Warming!!!

(Click on image for full size)

Merry Christmas and a Safe and Joyous New Year to All.

A Sign of the Times?

To all my friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great.

Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.

Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Kung Pao Smurf (2009)

Shoveling the Stuff

• So, like everybody else, I'm dealing with 5" of global warming all day. The whole time, all the voices in my head were askin' the same question- and now I'm asking you- "Is there anything, anything, that government does.. any "service" that government provides, that can't be provided more effectively, more efficiently, more economically by the private sector?" Is there? Please tell me.
• Finally, the end of the Christmas season is rapidly approaching. I've been waiting for this since it all began- way back around Memorial Day. Maybe I'm just getting old and way too cynical, or maybe working in the retail arena for the last 30 years has jaded me but the season just doesn't feel like it used to.
  
• One of my biggest complaints about the season has been the fact that the soundtrack hasn't changed in 50 years or so. Honestly, the music starts at midnight on Thanksgiving and runs on a continuous loop till New Years. How much Bing, Elvis, and McCartney should someone be expected to endure? Perhaps if Muzak had more some of this it would be slightly more bearable:
  

• I came to the realization, this week, that eventually it will be time to put down this little corner of cyberspace like you would an old, feeble nag. Yes, there are some that will say that time has passed and this is all just kicking said dead horse. However, when that day comes, it will be due in no small part to the fact that I will have accepted that I can't measure up to the work being done at The Radical Middle.
  Of a better observer and scribe in this city I'm not aware.

Thank You

Knockin' Off The Rust Edition

Just a few thoughts...

• I've been struggling of late trying to get a particular rant worded and out of my head. I guess that explains the Chris Rock/Elton John/White Zombie-does-KC & the Sunshine Band trifecta for the last 3 posts. Once I get that cathartic piece out, it's back to the rank mediocrity we here at IKNAB are famous for.
• Speaking of "we here at IKNAB", according to those 2 gadgets over on the right side of this page, we have had visitors from 33 states and 30 countries. Question: What kind of wrong turn is everybody taking to get here? Modesty and my faith in mankind prevents me from thinking the national/international community is wandering by on purpose.
• The Boy Mayor wins!! WooHoo! Thoughts on that surprise coming.
• In the office pool, .500 going into this week. Here's this week's lines. Got suggestions? Comment/email.

Washington Atlanta -10	San Diego New York (N) -4.5	Tennessee San Francisco -4	Dallas Philadelphia -3
Detroit Seattle -10	Arizona Chicago -3	Baltimore Cincinnati +3	Houston Indianapolis -9
Kansas City Jacksonville -6.5	Miami New England -10.5	Green Bay Tampa Bay +10	Carolina New Orleans -4
Pittsburgh Denver +3

Leftovers Edition

Cleanin' up the scraps...

• G20: I can't wait for this all to be over. I'm still not sure why it's coming. " Our time to shine to the rest of the world, we're not all smoky and sooty, our economy turned around from the steel days, blah blah blah blah". Part of me thinks this is so much ado about nothing, kind of a cross between a Grateful Dead tour and the Y2K "it might be a mess!". However, lots of imported police, National Guard, and shiny new gear and training tells me probably not. I certainly hope the Boy Mayor and Dan the Man didn't screw the pooch by not saying "thanks but, no thanks". But, who's gonna pay for this hasn't been answered. The Police Chief in Scott Township certainly had the right idea. Probably best to keep your head down and stay out of town for a while.

• Racists, Competitors or Jerks?: Do you mean to tell me that a tennis player, a politician and an "entertainer" acting rudely in the same month is a signal of the the fall of Western Culture? Paaa-f'ng-leeez! Serena Williams? 2 words- John McEnroe. Two more- Jimmy Connors. 2 more- Ille Nastase. Hey folks, players have been yelling at and berating officials for years. Get a life. Rep. Joe Wilson- you think that was bad? I suggest you spend some time watching the Brits on C-SPAN some time. That was probably an "I'll do it if you do it too" thing. At the last minute, the other kids backed out and Lil' Joey got punk'd. Kanye West- Why all the hand-wringing and overthinking? Why can't it just be he's a boozed-up douchebag and leave it at that?

In other words....

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I went 2-4 in the football pool at work last week. You're welcome to all those who decided to bet the kiddo's college fund. Let's help that mortgage this week. This weeks picks: New Orleans +1/2, Washington -10, San Francisco -1 1/2, Minnesota -10, Tennessee -7, Cleveland +3.
Guaranteed picks. Maybe not winners, but picks just the same.

"So, how are you? Has life been good to you? Are you still in Pgh? So, many questions.... many years to catch up on! "

I received that in my inbox the other day. It came from a friend I haven't seen or spoken to in a looooong time. I guess we're still friends since not even I have managed to find a way to piss someone off on the other side of the country.

Certainly good questions. So I started to think about the answers."How are you? Has life been good to you?"

Let's review....

I guess, at the end of the day, I'm OK. Maybe not as well as you there and probably better than some of you over there. But I'm OK. I've had ups and I've had downs and, luckily, it seems that the ups have outnumbered.

Maybe not as good as I thought it would be or wanted it to be. But still good. Maybe not as good you over there. But, again, probably better than some of you way over there.

For better or worse, I've done most of things I thought I would, and I've done alot of things I never dreamed I would.

Marriage? Check. Divorce (I guess that's part of life)? Check. Marriage(huh? Again? Really?)? Check. Divorce (oh shit)? Check.

Kids? Check. Managed to maintain a healthy relationship with them or foul it up, not unlike your childhood? Jury's still out on that one.

Growing up, I wanted to gain a working knowledge of the inner workings of the legal system, perhaps pursuing it as a career path. Unfortunately, the knowledge I gained involved handcuffs, lawyers and judges.

Somehow, through everything, I've managed to stay gainfully employed (even self-employed for a time). Given the state of the economy, I guess that was an accomplishment. Faint praise.

All that being said, I'm OK. I've learned from every experience, albeit sometimes slowly. I've learned that, for better or worse, I'm an envelope pusher. I have a need to find the edge of the table and I need to see how close to that edge I can get without falling off. It's not right, it's not wrong. It just is.

The bottom line is... I've been a hero and I've been a heel. I've been a star and I've been just a face in the crowd.I have challenged and have been challenged. All in all, I've been human. Life's been OK and...

I'm OK.

How've you been?