Be good to everyone? -Yeah? What about Roadie? You cad....

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:16:45 -0700

Good Saturday mornin' to ya'll...

It's bright and clear here with a bit of "crisp" in the air.

Been wondering what to write about the last few days. My mood has consistently been pretty darn good of late and for the first time in years, I find myself sneaking peeks forward as often as I look backwards - even though I still try to root myself (as preached in all the self-help books I abhor so much,) in the "here and now."

Want a tiny pumpkin muffin?

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:16:38 -0700

Good morning Boys and Girls.

So...

A few months ago, good roomie Dot asked me to attend a one-evening class with her sometime off in the future. "Me?" -I thought. "A class?" I was dubious. Didn't sound like me.

But, Dot really thought I'd like it, and she assured me that she'd even pay for it if I'd be willing to go. "Sure. "I said, "knock yourself out. Sign me up."

An ...

Five hundred and nineteen miles, one way. Exactly.

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:23:59 -0700

Good afternoon Boys and Girls.

Got home here about two and a half hours ago. I'm tired but pleased as punch about the trip. Drove a little over a thousand miles since Thursday evening and really enjoyed myself as did, I'm pretty sure, the friend I visited whom, by the way, may have one of the best smiles on the face of the earth. I find I keep looking through the pics I took just to get a glimpse at that beautiful, sardonic and happy grin. Safe to say we& ...

Ya wanna have a catch?

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:17:26 -0700
Gooood morning... Well, actually, good evening Boys and Girls.

I'm outta here tomorrow afternoon. Not sure whether I'll be posting over the weekend. I'm off for the weekend to see a close friend; looking forward to the drive. From what I understand, I can point the car west and go to sleep for a while. I'll let you know how that works out.

Ya know, when I was a kid, we were promised cars like that by now. That and a helicopter in every gar ...

It's gonna be war!... Or a snooze...

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:11:57 -0700
Goooood morning Boys and Girls.

Here in Michigan tonight, we're hosting the 2037th debate of the current presidential campaign; this one featuring the Republicans and brand spankin' new debater, Fred Thompson, known to his wrestling fans - as opposed to fans of his acting - as "The Tenacious Bulldog."

Many people fondly remember Fred's tactic of waiting around the outside of the ring during any number of those made for pay-per- ...

Another unoriginal thought...

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:54:42 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

This morning, fog - on little cat feet, no less - casually makes its way across the fields and hills and forests around here.

Thought about playing golf early, but following the ball in the sky is a tad difficult when it's been swallowed by clouds. Another couple of hours and things'll clear, I'd guess.

During the trip back from Detroit yesterday afternoon, one that should take no more than three h ...

Reality draft.

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:33:31 -0700

Good morning Boys and Girls.

When my kids were young, they participated in an after-school bowling league for a few years. Whenever I could, I'd sneak away from work those Thursday afternoons to watch them.

It gave me a kick to watch the two of them as team-mates pulling for each other, especially since their two-and-a-half year age difference and their divergent personalities often meant they saw things a differently at home, where squabbles betw ...

Explaining the unexplainable - yo - yo

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:00:38 -0700
Gooood evening Boys and Girls.

So, first...

Five days. No backsliding, and fifty bucks in my "I didn't buy smokes today so I might as well save the money," jar - which is a clear plastic gallon jug that apparently once contained "Spinsel's Braided Butter Pretzels," though, since I don't remember ever eating or buying any "Spinsel's Braided Butter Pretzels," tells me that perhaps I picked up the plastic jar fr ...

Snap, crackle and pop, Mofo... You want some of this?

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:52:42 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Hope you're all doing well this morning.

Personally, I'm about ready to rip someone's face off. Any volunteers?

Yesterday afternoon? -someone had the audacity to say hello to me, the bastard.

Like an expert in karate, I timed my blow and aimed through to the back of his head, "pop." Then as he fell, I put my boot through his behind. Finally, when he was down on the ground, l ...

Ones and zeros...

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:49:08 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

In front of me here on the desk is a little package of multi-colored "flags" I bought at Office Depot a few months ago to use to mark places I wanted to edit in the book I've worked on this year. They're called flags on the package, but they're really just itsy bitsy post-it notes the size of a piece of Scotch tape... Holy moly, did I just have to reference one 3M product to describe another?

Anyway...

Slivers from my lifeline...

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 05:28:47 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Over the weekend, amid some wonderful hours of sparkling conversation, I was reminded of a couple of events from my youth.

Two of the memories that somehow jumped out of my head to be offered as lame responses, or unwitting attempts to "one-up" - something I'd never do intentionally, but worry I may do without meaning to from time to time - involve seeing Victor Borge, the funny Danish pianist and comedian a ...

shouting the "f" word.

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 06:21:59 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Well, it's happened.

Frost.

It's the middle of September and it got that cold overnight. I don't like it. I don't like it one little bit.

Now, at nine in the morning, it's melting away, thankfully, but it was there alright.

I hereby vow that this will be my last winter in cold weather. As a younger man, I never minded it all that much, but the dread I feel right now about si ...

Okay, so it's a weak analogy. Shoot me.

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:36:31 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

I work on the periphery of the car business. I have, off and on, since I was a kid. I've never sold a car, or done an oil change, or done anything truly necessary to any transaction. Nevertheless, my work has kept me keenly aware of how the American auto industry is doing; when they're doing things well and when they've screwed up; at least with regards to minimally satisfying the customers who buy both new and used cars. I&# ...

Rah! Rah! Rah!

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:23:12 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Just received an email from my Aunt announcing the birth of her new grandson. This, of course, is impossible since in my mind, her daughter is only about ten years old and still just a little girl herself. Certainly she can't be twenty-eight already and off having babies.

Zowie.

Watched quite a few hours of General Patreaus on the tube the last couple of days. He said very very little of substance. His plan to r ...

Poof.

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 14:30:13 -0700

Good afternoon everyone.

My life has been marked by more than a few failures, or better said, I have marred my life with more than a few.

Eh. No biggie. Probably most of us could say the same thing.

Monday, though, I mark the date of the only failure in my life I care about. Monday would have been my 30th anniversary if I was still married. And, even after being divorced now for six years plus a litt ...

Lazy, thoughtful, Labor Day

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:08:40 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

I'd planned on writing a post over the weekend teasing friend Kurt Maddox. I even gave him a heads up on the idea and he was a good enough sport about it to encourage me, saying he'd get a kick out of it.

I'd planned to start out by saying to him that I considered it a fact that in this world, no matter what, two and two are four. It's a given.

Rather than accepting my premise, he'd argue the po ...

She did have that wonderful smile...

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:21:02 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Chill air this morning. Woke up shivering.

There's no getting around it, this summer is winding down. Played in a golf outing yesterday afternoon and the fella I shared a cart with had two football games to make appearances at last night in which his kids were taking part. I saw a few minutes of a televised pre-season Detroit Lions game a week or two ago and realized that this could only mean winter is breathing down our n ...

Musings.

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:43:01 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Leona Helmsley died a few days ago. For many years, she was fun to dislike. In death, she continued her weirdness. She left her dog twelve million bucks.

Yes.

Last night I saw a video shot of "the" stall in which Senator Larry Craig allegedly took what he called his "unusually wide stance" at the Minneapolis Airport this past June; so wide that his foot inadvertently rubbed up against the foot of ...

Avoiding writing what i want to write about.

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:01:11 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

7:42 a.m. Friday.

Been up about an hour.

Pretty outside. Sun's peeking through high clouds and the hill outside my window here is greener than it's been since early June, what with all the rain over the last few days. I think mowing the lawn is in the offing, for only the fourth or fifth time all summer. It's been that dry.

Poor Roadie, the cat, absolutely freaked out during the thunder storm ...

Gray skies... Ahhhh.

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:07:19 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

I've been busy, till yesterday.

We've finally gotten a few days of rain around here and even now, it's looking pretty gray. Although it'll make work slow this week, man oh man, did we need it, so I'm not complaining.

Sure hope this hurricane Dean rushing through the Yucatan Peninsula doesn't take too many lives. They're saying it's larger and more powerful than Andrew back in '92 ...

The Logical Song

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:39:22 -0700
Hi. Jesus here.

I'm on my way tomorrow.

Pastor Dave sounds ticked off. You can read his comments over at the tBlog version of this blog.

A while ago Dave wrote a post saying he thought that you could love someone and still kill them - even that he was pretty sure I'd have approved.

And he wants any arguments to be logical.

So, I said Love God, yourself, your friends AND your enemies. Right?

Let's us ...

Simple or simplistic?

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:05:06 -0700
Hi.

Jesus here for today and at least tomorrow too.

surrogate is annoyed. His friend Pastor Dave has implied that I'm a humanist and that MY message, as opposed to the one Pastor Dave and his folk believe - the one that came to be as a result of a conference that took place four hundred years after I died - is a simplistic one.

Makes me laugh. That's why these folks love the Bible more than people - a nice book put together by simple c ...

Another bit of rambling...

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:52:54 -0700
Hi.

Jesus here again.

So now I've driven a golf cart for four hours. What a hoot! surrogate played yesterday afternoon at a really pretty course out on a peninsula on the Grand River and he dragged me along. The course is right in the landing pattern of the airport along I96 and has a railroad track running right through the middle of it too. On a few holes there's water all around and lots of people were enjoying the river on pontoon boats and je ...

Trial balloon...

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 08:21:55 -0700
Hi. Jesus here.

surrogate's asleep. I slept all the way back from Chicago late last night while he drove. He arrived about six p.m. - in time for dinner, which was lovely by the way. Marcy, a mutual friend of ours from way back, made sizzle rice at surrogate's and my behest. I'm not sure of her technique, but the stuff has sesame seeds, toasted almonds, raisins, onions, mushrooms, celery - even a little mint I think. It tastes like a cross be ...

Phone call from Jesus...

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:40:52 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls!

Was just sitting here working last night when the phone rang.

(ring... ring...)

"Hello, Your dime."

"Huh? surrogate?"

"Oh... Sorry. Hi Jesus! How are you?"

"Hi. I'm fine. Busy as usual, but I'm fine."

"Where are you? The caller ID says the number reads "unavailable number.""

"I'm at Hea ...

Big Blue Ball...

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:10:56 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Every time I think about it, I get a feeling of joy and trepidation.

Every time I venture out into it's beauty, I question whether it will be as wonderful fifty years from now, or a hundred.

It seems to spin faster every day.

I wonder how it can't be enough for some people who dream of and pray for and, in fact, expect a better one in another life.

The bounty it offers is as infinite a ...

free Discipline.

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:43:30 -0700

Good morning Boys and Girls.

I was perusing my brother's web site just now and discovered a wonderful error. Right now, the sound samples he has listed are, for some reason, the complete versions of the songs. This has to be a screw-up cuz they surely weren't that way last time I checked.

"Canto IV"
"Diminished"
"Into the dream"
and a live version of "Between Me and the End."

T ...

Enjoy the day peeps.

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:27:59 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Quickie post.

I'm off to The Metro Detroit area for at least the day, and possibly two.

Got a nice response to my post from a couple of days ago that mentioned Sabrina Matthews, from... Sabrina Matthews. That was unexpected and fun.

It looks as though the weather will be slightly more mild today, something I'm thankful for, as the last couple of days have left me feeling like a orange after

God, help me get over my anger...

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:32:39 -0700
Good afternoon Boys and Girls... or evening, I guess.

Came home early today after starting early as well - a successful effort to beat the heat. I don't know how hot it got today, but I didn't want to deal with it any more than I had to.

Upon returning I was working on a couple of things here at the puter, and had the TV on. I flipped around while I waited for a quick response to an email to one of my suppliers - which, thankfully, I received with ...

Now I know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall...

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 05:08:07 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

7:41 a.m. Tuesday.

The sun is out. The leaves on the trees and bushes are inching toward their late summer green; darker, drier looking.

Haven't seen a deer outside in ten days.

Rain? -an anomaly this summer. Nary a single all-day rain since May.

My golf game, which seemed to be working its way into shape nicely a month ago, has departed entirely again and my scores reflect the lack of conc ...

Isn't it ironic? Well, maybe...

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 07:30:22 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Anyone know about Sabrina Matthews?

She's a comedian(e?) whose oft repeated little special on Comedy Central makes me laugh every single time I catch a little of it. A few minutes into the special, she shruggingly announces that she's a lesbian - to which the laughter is loud and genuine, because - well - the announcement simply isn't necessary, and she knows it. She goes out of her way to dress in the stereotypica ...

A post about nothing much...

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 05:16:58 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

There've been six or seven small bright blue birds flitting around the back yard of late. They're not Bluebirds, and they're certainly not Blue-jays. I've never seen this sort before, but they are pretty. They look a little like good size Finches, except for the color. Suppose I'll have to research a little to find out what species they are.

It's been slightly overcast and cool around here the last few ...

Four! -I mean FORE!

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:22:27 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

I've been exchanging mail with my friend Kurt Maddox over at tBlog - or here at tBlog, depending on where you're reading this - and somehow my love of golf came up in our conversation.

Eventually I bragged, as usual, when, inevitably, it got to that point in the discourse, that I am a professional golfer.

This is a true statement - the fact that I am the worst professional golfer in the history of the game n ...

I'd cry for Tammy Faye, but I don't wear enough makeup...

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:41:23 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Well, one of my favorite foils from the Christian right has died. Tammy Faye Messner, the one time Tammy Faye Bakker died Friday of cancer.

In my life, not too many people have made me angrier on a regular basis than her and her former husband.

They, of the Magic Jesus school, recklessly took advantage of their supporters for years, building their "ministry" on the backs of an incredible number of gullible ...

Bias?

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:31:41 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

I was thinking about a blog post I read the other day where someone complained about the bias of the media coverage of the war. Oh hell, it was Ruined. He won't mind if I name him.

It was the usual. Only bad things are reported. Successes are ignored. It's BIAS he claimed, and he's certainly not alone in believing this to be the case.

He then complained about the media coverage of his own employer's ...

"I can shout louder than you can talk. I can shout louder than you can talk. I can shout louder than you can talk. "

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:43:49 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

I find that as I get older, I'm becoming more impatient.

When people do something that makes me realize I can't trust them? I walk away. I'm tired of giving people two three and four chances that take a toll on my psyche.

When people make statements that they have absolutely no way of knowing are true? I write them off as fools, and I wash my hands of them. I'm learning that, as one of those Blue Col ...

We're ba-ack...

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 05:48:31 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Before I start, a note:

I'm posting here, at tBlog, at Wordpress and now, starting today, at Livejournal, though there, you'll have to look for "surrogatesblog" ; since someone else has the user name "surrogate," there.

Back up your posts people. I always get a sick feeling in my stomach when the blogs go down, knowing I haven't backed up in a month or two since I always forget UNTIL ...

Just a pretty thing.

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:32:50 -0700

Good morning Boys and Girls.

Last week, I think it was on the Fourth though it may have been one day either side of it, in the early morning, a young buck stood majestic on the hill behind the house, maybe seventy feet away. I'm no expert, but I'd guess he's two or three years old. His fully formed rack looks to be velvet covered as yet, and his coat is stunning; in the sunlight, it's a brilliant orange-red.

He stood there for a couple ...

Irrational worries.

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 04:54:20 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

As a new week begins, I'm struck dumb by the fact that the summer is more than half over. I don't like it. A little wisp of panic hits me as I realize that the snows of winter aren't that far away.

This is new to me. It's only started the last year or two and seems to come a little earlier each year. Part of me, the rational, pragmatic side, realizes this is nuts. It makes me feel selfish and small... and old.< ...

Itsy-Bitsy Post....

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 08:23:59 -0700

Good morning Boys and Girls....

Best joke I've heard in months....

..................................

Happy Fourth of July Boys and Girls.

Hope it's a good one.

Rainy here... Thank goodness.

It's been dry as... as... Well, it's been really dry, this while out West they've had more rain than they've been able to deal with. Weird weather patterns.

I'm going to take the rest of the week off from posting.

Catch you Monday. ...

How about tacos instead?

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:18:11 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

Absolutely beautiful day here. Cool, crisp, sunny.

We need a bit of the rain that's been flooding Oklahoma and Kansas - though certainly not all of it.

Busy week for me starts as soon as I'm done writing this. A couple of side projects, young guests in from abroad staying here for about ten days over the next three weeks, the holiday this week, and I know I'm playing golf at least once in the early eveni ...

A mind is a terrible thing to baste.

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:27:49 -0700
Happy Sunday Morning Boys and Girls.

Friday. Eastbound I-96 at mile marker 100.

A Brinks armored truck sat along the shoulder of the expressway.

Behind it was a Penske rental van.

Behind that was a state police car.

It looked like the guys from the armored truck, in uniform, were transferring bags from the Brinks truck into the rental van with the policeman standing guard.

That's all I saw. I was trave ...

What did you expect?

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:48:55 -0700
Good morning Boys and Girls.

On the streets of the city, he was an icon. Everyone had seen him, though no one knew his name.

An overcoat, a long scruffy beard. Red Tennis shoes.

He made his living selling rhymes, sight unseen. He'd have these beige envelopes in his backpack and you never knew what you were going to get.

Usually they weren't bad, but the fun was in the not knowing.

One time I bought “snatched& ...

A day without surrogate, is like any other day, except... without surrogate.

You should have seen that monster...

Mike Tiabbi's Rolling Stone article. My take.

Let's try a redirect...

Wow. Tomorrow? -I'm climbing Mt Everest in my sleep...

Capricorn One?

And when we come back from commercial? -we'll tell you something else you already know.

Be good to everyone? -Yeah? What about Roadie? You cad....

Want a tiny pumpkin muffin?

Five hundred and nineteen miles, one way. Exactly.

Ya wanna have a catch?

It's gonna be war!... Or a snooze...

Another unoriginal thought...

Reality draft.

Explaining the unexplainable - yo - yo

Snap, crackle and pop, Mofo... You want some of this?

Ones and zeros...

Slivers from my lifeline...

shouting the "f" word.

Okay, so it's a weak analogy. Shoot me.

Rah! Rah! Rah!

Poof.

Lazy, thoughtful, Labor Day

She did have that wonderful smile...

Musings.

Avoiding writing what i want to write about.

Gray skies... Ahhhh.

The Logical Song

Simple or simplistic?

Another bit of rambling...

Trial balloon...

Phone call from Jesus...

Big Blue Ball...

free Discipline.

Enjoy the day peeps.

God, help me get over my anger...

Now I know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall...

Isn't it ironic? Well, maybe...

A post about nothing much...

Four! -I mean FORE!

I'd cry for Tammy Faye, but I don't wear enough makeup...

Bias?

"I can shout louder than you can talk. I can shout louder than you can talk. I can shout louder than you can talk. "

We're ba-ack...

Just a pretty thing.

Irrational worries.

Itsy-Bitsy Post....

How about tacos instead?

A mind is a terrible thing to baste.

What did you expect?