DISPATCHES FROM THE GHOST MOOSE

My brother turned 65 yrs old today...I remember when that age sounded so old...now, not so much.  I will be 60 in August...eek.  But I'd rather see the age continue to get larger than not.  Back in December, I posted the night of the Survivor finale...and tonight, a new season starts.  Which is good, since the last episode of Oak Island is on next week.  And, no doubt, nothing will have happened on Oak Island again this season.  But, last night they were teasing a new show where one of the brothers from the Oak Island show is talking to treasure hunters that dive in Lake Michigan.  What better expert to consult than a guy that has been digging for 5 years with nothing to show for it.  Of course, I will be watching the new show.    Supposed to snow tomorrow.  Enough winter already.  Was talking to my golf bud on the drive home from the train...we figure 4 weeks to tee off.  I think I may get a dog.  My thinking i...

Made it through Monday. Actually, not a bad day at all.  But, as I have written ad nauseum, we alone make it a good or a bad day.  So, choose to make it a good one.  I should write a book with that message....oh wait, I am.  or, I have a draft that needs to be finished.  I should stop posting to this blog until I get the draft in better shape.  I am not a professional author, but I can see how writer's block can be a problem if you are in the business of writing.  I need to re-write the last few pages.  I just can't get the creative energy to do so.  I wonder if Ernest Hemmingway had this problem.  and....I got good news last week.  I will be a grandfather in July.  I was going to say "finally some good news"....but I have had good news since all this began, and I have written of it.  I never really thought much about being a grandfather...but I am looking forward to it. The concept is still pretty new to me. My friend...

Sitting here watching a cooking show with Valerie Bertinelli....when did she become a plump middle aged woman?  All that weight she lost for the weight watchers commercials found her once again.  Of course, I gained back the weight I recently lost too.  So, shut my mouth.  Valerie just said she is very pro-mushroom.  I hope she never has to contend with someone who is anti-mushroom.  and, as for cooking, I put a chicken in the smoker.  by dinner it will be done...and smoky.  I worked from home yesterday, and can make it through February without buying an addl 10 ride ticket, but it is too quiet working from home.  Nice to do once in awhile, but I need to be around humans during the day.  I did go to the golf show with a golf bud, and that was nice.  Hope to be playing in 6 weeks...maybe 5 if we are lucky.  Or 7 weeks if the spring rains are too much.  I ran into a friend at the health club this morning.  We used t...

I think I missed posting on my normal day.  sitting here watching the movie The Martian for at least the 25th time.  Great movie, and nothing else on.  The movie does make the premise of a guy stranded on Mars and getting home seem plausible. I got a call today from a person that managed my account for her company before her job got eliminated.  Sad that a really qualified person that did such a good job on my account was deemed surplus.  Earlier this week I talked to a co-worker that was let go in the fall.  She is knee deep in the frustrating job search....which is what led me to start this blog in 2008.  No matter what you read about the economy improving, it is still not good. There is a game tourney in our building at work.  I played shuffleboard today - the bar version with a 20 foot wood board and metal pucks.  I won convincingly.  Then my opponent told me that was the first time she ever played.  I did, however, win 21-0...

I was off today, but the weather was rainy. Couldn't do much but stay inside and eat.  which I did.  following on to yesterday/today's post about the windshield wiper, I took advantage of the bad weather to write that into my work in progress book.  read and behold the new addition to the draft pasted below.  Sometimes my creativity impresses even me.  When I get published, I will give each of my blog readers a signed copy.  Remind me to increase the print run by 3. Two for the regular readers, and one for the liar that says they read it but just wants a signed copy.  If Nikolas Cruz had read my book, perhaps the outcome would have been different.  (too soon for a bad joke?) WHAT’S YOUR WINDSHIELD WIPER? We often put off fixing things we consider a minor annoyance, such as replacing a worn windshield wiper.  Each time it rains, or we spray the washer fluid on it, we realize we need to replace the wiper blade.  And once we replac...

I wrote tomorrow's post today.  so, the date in the title line is wrong.  I could have, of course, changed the date in the title.  But I chose to let you read why I did not do that.  See how that works? last Feb 19 it was 72 degrees, and we played golf.  Today, not so much.  Temp not bad, but we are 6 weeks from golf weather. On Friday, I bought a new windshied wiper for my car.  The old one started to go bad awhile ago.  But I just figured that I could go just a bit longer with the old blade.  Then I got the new wiper blade and realized the new blade was a good idea. Nice to be able to see when I am driving.  Using a wiper blade as a metaphor for life, what is your worn wiper blade that needs to be replaced?  We put up with the same annoyances for too long before getting rid of the annoyance.  I do, anyway.  or did.  The new me changes his wiper blades as soon as I see smear marks on the windshield  and I al...

It just stopped snowing.  I went out to pick up Chinese food and the streets were pretty bad.  and so I am in for the evening.  Not much going on tonight.  or any night for that matter.  When the weather improves I will get out more. I worked from home yesterday, and sat around too much.  When I am sitting like that, I try to get up and walk every hour or so.  About 9pm I decided to take the garbage out, and while walking to the dumpster slipped and fell on a patch of ice in the parking lot.   It had been a long time since I hit the ground that hard.  Things register in your head so quickly...Your brain tells you that you are going down..right around the time your body goes parallel with the ground.  And while on my descent to the ground, my mind told me that the back of my head would be hitting the ground.  which it did.  I had to lay there on the wet ice for a minute and take stock of the situation...nothing broken...g...

The news is still dominated by coverage of the Florida high school shooting.  So senseless...seeing these kids interviewed and describing the horror...just terrible.  And given the news cycle, it's just a matter of a few days until this is forgotten and the media can once again focus on their hate for President Trump. I got my renewed passport in the mail today.  That was my first renewal - I originally got my passport when you needed it to get back in the country from Canada.  This new one expires in Feb, 2028.  I wonder what the world will be like in 2028.  I should be up to 2000 blog posts at that point, and I will be rich from the runaway success of my books and screnplays. btw - I had no stamps in my old passport.  Canada does not stamp.  Ten yrs....I hope I will be here to renew my passport for 10 more years. Maybe this one will get a stamp or two from countries visited.  If they gave stamps for different lakes fished, or golf courses...

Valentines day.  I was never much for fake holidays like Valentines day.  and sitting here watching coverage of the Florida high school shooting is about all I am doing tonight.  What a horrible event.  Teenagers at school murdered for no reason.  What has become of society?  Why does this no longer surprise anyone?  The shooter was known for his dangerous behavior and threats.  And yet no one checked on him after he was expelled.  We can't insult anyone or violate his civil rights, so this is what happens.  At this point, not a real cheery evening.  I stopped at the store to buy food on the way home.  the card aisle was jammed with men buying valentines for their wives or girlfriends or both.  plenty of men in the checkout line with a dozen roses.  Good for them.  I hope they have a lovely night.  or will they go home and watch coverage of the shooting in Florida? I may have to watch the Bulls game.

the start of my second 1000 posts....I think I ran out of original thought with the first 1000 witty, well-informed kernels of wisdom.  well, maybe not.  since there wasn't much wit on display, I should have a good amount of wit for the next 1000 posts.  and as for another 10 years....lord only knows what the next 10 years will bring.  Hopefully good things....but at a minimum, the years will bring life.  and life beats the alternative.  Back in the 70s, there was a guitar god named Robin Trower (Lady Love, Day of the Eagle) that played tunes that were cranked up at drunken dorm parties.  I looked him up on youtube and saw a recent video of him talking guitar talk.  Yesterday's guitar gods have become old men....and we aren't far behind.  any of the musicians that were hot in the late 70s are old men now...Jimmy Page, Bob Dylan...and of course there are too many that are not with us anymore.  the links below are from an old concert...

This is the 1000th post to this blog.  One thousand posts in 10 yrs.  A rough estimate would be that  I played golf 200 times in the last 10 yrs and am a bit better now than I was then.  I think I went fishing to Canada 9 of those 10 yrs.  I had 4 jobs in those 10 yrs.  Was unemployed 3 times in those 10 yrs.  Had one child finish college and one almost done with college in those 10 yrs.  I am balder but about the same weight (honestly) I was 10 yrs ago.  Ten years ago I was married, now I am almost not married.  Ten years...that is about 12% of the years you hopefully get on this earth.  One eighth of your time here.  What happened to you in the last 10 yrs?  It's startling when you make a list of then and now...of what you did in that decade...what has changed.  crazy.  life is like that. 

where is the snow?  all week we heard dire predictions for a foot of snow tonight.  so far (at 10:20) about an inch on the ground.  The weather report says heavy snow overnight.  We shall see.  Regardless of how much snow falls, I am planning to work from home tomorrow.  I did the math, and in February, I can make it through the month with 3-10 ride tickets (assuming I work from home 4 times) instead of a monthly pass, about a $50 savings.  So each day, I spend about $11 on train fare, and $1.50 on parking.  the train tickets have gone up in price 3 times in the past 2 yrs.  $12.50 a day to commute.  I guess if you drove downtown it would be $25 to park plus driving expenses.  Crazy.  If only our salary increased at the same rate as our expenses. Other than that - a dull night.  The hawks game sucked.  They are a dud this year.  I don't watch many regular tv shows, but Survivor starts in a few weeks.  Dayt...

The new episode of Oak Island is on in an hour.  Before then, they re-run last weeks episode.  Since nothing happened in last weeks episode, I will rewatch it.  and then at 8 will watch the new episode, where nothing will  happen.  Then I will feel bad that I wasted 2 hours watching a show where nothing happened.  then I will look forward to next Tuesday so I can do it again.  Those of us that watch the show have something wrong with us.  and yet we keep watching. My back is sore today - I am at the age where I go to the doctor yearly to get a few things cut off and analyzed.  Today it was a ruptured cyst in my back (eek) and a mole on my collarbone.  I have a hole in my back were the cyst was.  but it beats a prostate exam.  If you have been anally violated  had a prostate exam, you know what I mean. ok - now excuse me while I watch a show that I saw last week and already know absolutely nothing will happen.

It was 5 below zero when I drove to the train this morning at 6:30.  On the ride home from the train it was snowing, and traffic hardly moving.  I just took the garbage out and it is still cold and snowing at 8:30 pm.  This is the point where winter becomes intolerable.  Because we are getting winter weather, and probably have 8 weeks more of it.  We naively think of some mid winter warmup.  but no... I go back and forth about moving somewhere warm.  from April to December the weather in Illinois is pretty good, then December to March sucks.  and that is where we are now.  Prime suckage.  Two more months and we can forget about winter for 8 months. On the bright side, I am way ahead of last year on my golf swing.  Hitting pretty straight lately  of course when we go live I'll lose golf balls like crazy, and will pay for the privelege to do so.  I usually practice 3 times a week in the sim at work.  My friend has t...

The super bowl so far is pretty good.  The commerecials are so so.  Too many commercials for movies that won't  be out for months.  The one about people having no retirement savings was funny...because I can relate.  I can't decide whether to make a frozen pizza or not.  I am not in the least bit hungry, but if I don't make it, I will be bothered that I didn't.  But if I do make it, I will eat the whole thing.   ocd is challenging.  I will update later.  unless I fall asleep during the game.  dilly dilly (so far I am disappointed in the 2 bud commercials)

We got snow overnight, and it's supposed to get cold tonight.  This is the point where winter becomes intolerable.  I am watching golf from Phoenix, and it looks very nice.  no one wearing a jacket.  everyone in shorts and golf shirts.  and yet we live in Illinois and put up with this rotten weather.  I believe a few years ago I referred to Illinois as a piss puddle.  I'll have to get back to that. I lit the fireplace - it warms the place up nicely.  the super bowl comes on in an hour or so.  I will watch it, but it's just another football game.  with a long halftime.  maybe the commercials will be noteworthy.  I had a big Saturday night.  I cleaned my golf clubs.  Then I texted my golf buddy that i cleaned my golf clubs.  I really need to get out more.

Groundhog day.  I know this is my parent's wedding anniversary.  I don't know how many years they would be married if my dad hadn't died in 1971 - maybe 70 or so. My dad was 62 when he died.  and I will be 60 on my next birthday.  I think he would be 109 on his next birthday.  The years sure do march on, and they do so very quickly. short story long....I was boring talking to a friend at work about my interest in writing and metioned this blog in the context of writing being a hobby of mine.  and out of curiousity, I looked back at the start of the blog in Dec of 2009.  What a bunch of whining crap that is.  I would delete the old posts, but badness like that should be preserved.  I am at 993 posts since I started in 2009...7 more to 1000.  I should get a starbucks card or something for that accomplishment. anyway - big Friday night.  Looking forward to taking out the garbage later.

It is very cold out - 8 degrees....It's supposed to be getting warmer this late in the winter.  I think it was last Feb 5 (or was it Feb 19?)...it was a day in February 2017 that the temp was 72, and we played golf.  We had never golfed in Illinois in February....every other month of the year we did play.  Maybe we'll get a warmup (of 64 degrees) and can golf this February. At work today, a lot of folks I know got let go.  Things are bad all over - despite what the news tells us.  I knew 6 folks from my office that were affected.  They all sat by me, and my closest friend who I walked with at lunch twice a week, and who played shuffleboard in the building lounge (he usually won but would let me fire foosballs past him afterward) got the word too.  I have been let go from a job twice, and left on my own twice...and it sucks.  You have a good few days off, but then are ready to go back to work.  but there is no work to go to.  I remember...