DISPATCHES FROM THE GHOST MOOSE

the end of March, and I have a fire going in the fireplace.  It should be spring by now.  but far from it.  We are supposed to play golf tomorrow.  It will be cold, but I hope we do play - I have been hitting balls in the simulator all winter.  It is time to play.  The grass hasn't started to green up yet,  the fairways will be soft, but might as well give it a go.  All the more reason to leave this climate.  In Arizona and Florida,  we'd be in mid season form by now.  If mid season form means really sucking at golf.  It's funny how my focus has changed.  I used to love weekends and rue Sunday nights because work was coming on Monday.  Now I really don't give a crap.  I go to work, do my job and go home.  At this point in my career I have seen so many organizations go through the inevitable life cycle - startup, growth, and downward cycle.  I have been in too many downward cycles...I think we apply ...

Last night I stayed downtown and had dinner with my daughter.  It was fun to take her 2 dogs for a walk, have pizza, take them for a second walk.  Then taking the 9:30 train home.  So, tonight, being home and sitting in the same chair I always sit in is back to normal.  Maybe next week I will go to the health club.  I don't want to rush into anything. after I got home from Tucson, I realized I need to move somewhere warm.  Arizona or Florida.  Since I like the water, and there is no water in AZ, it is Florida.  My lease is up in January and my plan (right now) is to hit the road right after new years.  I guess I should find a job there.  Maybe raking sand traps on the golf course.  After 38 years of the corporate treadmill bullshit, I am ready to be away from that.  Maybe sell my famous pulled pork sandwiches. At any rate, the plan is launched.  the trick now will be to do it.  just like finishing my book.  M...

 A week ago I was in Tucson where it was warm and dry.  Here in Chicago it is cold and wet.  Not quite winter weather, but it sucks nonetheless.  Supposed to play golf Saturday in less than optimal golf conditions.  But I just got my clubs regripped and looking forward to swinging them.  Typical Monday...I didn't do much this weekend but am still tired today.  When we get some nice weather, maybe my energy level will improve.  I went to WalMart after dinner...maybe I can turn that into a visit to the health club one night.  I still need to get a tv for the bedroom; something about watching the news in bed...... That's all I have to write today.  This post sucks.  or, I should say, it sucks more than the other posts that suck.  I did work a bit on the book - I corrected all the grammatical errors that Word underlined.  So there is some progress.  Although the writing of this long awaited book is getting like One Da...

I left 90 degree weather this morning and now back in chilly Chicago.  I used to travel more for work, but it can be a pain.  Checking out of the hotel, returning the car, security, flight, the ever-shrinking airplane seats, 2 hour time difference.  But, it's good to be busy.  as I wrote the other night, you meet some interesting people at the hotel.  All of them are travelers like I was and rooting for a different team in the tourney.  My usual night at home is watching tv in my apartment, so interacting with actual human beings was different.  and appropos of nothing, I saw the trailer for an updated Karate Kid movie...34 years later.  Ralph Macchio and Johnny are both in it.  Sure to be on cable shortly after release.  As I type this I am watching Varsity Blues which came out in 1999.  The classics never get old. 

Tucson is very nice.  Sunny, warm, a nice break from Chicago.  Keeping busy at work with many things going on (I generally don't post much about work details). so, the hotel I like to stay at in Tucson has open bar each night from 5 to 7:30. I stop in when I get back from work for a few club sodas.  Like every bar in every hotel in every city, there are people sitting there and usually open to talking.  Tonight I met a guy who sat down, asked how I was, at which time I told him this was the best day of my life, and tomorrow would be even better. Over an hour of talking, I learned he was in the mining business, from the UP in Michigan, was 59, like me (looked much older than I am), was divorced twice and on marriage #3, and lost his daughter in a motorcycle wreck while riding with a drunk.  As I got up to leave, he said hearing me say today was perfect and tomorow would be better made his day.  All in all, the conversation was quite good...both of us shari...

A very nice sunny day.  If the 50s feel this good, I can only imagine how nice it will be when it is in the 70s or 80s.  Which for me it will be tomorrow, since I will be in Tucson for the week.  There are a few things work related that may make the trip a bit dicey, but nonetheless, it will be warm.  See where my priorities lie? Tomorrow will be a bit strange....it is my 35th and last wedding anniversary.  35 years...15 years longer than I was not married.  A number of jokes run through my mind, but I will not write them here.  At any rate, if a marriage of that many years was bad enough to end in divorce, it was a mess that should not be looked back upon.  and so I won't. Castaway is on showtime.  I love that movie.  Castaway, like The Martian and Shawshank Redemption...I just cannot stop watching when I see that one of those movies it is on.  Also, the reruns of Battle of the Network Stars from the 70s.  the match race b...

Back when I still played bball, I looked forward to March Madness....the first 2 days have 16 games each day.  These days, I really couldn't care less.  I have the games on tv, but not that interested.  Now if there was a show on about people drilling for treasure, and finding nothing....for 4 years, now that I would watch. Survivor was on last night - I usually post before or after the show...but again, this season still has not been in the least bit interesting.  But I will watch it for the next 12 weeks.  At which time it will be spring...actually summer.  I looked at the calendar and it's 18 wks to fishing.  So, if I play golf twice in March, I should be able to play 12 rounds by the time we go fishing.  Maybe I will get my 85 by then. as so, tomorrow is Friday.  decently busy weekend (well, doing a bit more than nothing) and then to AZ on Monday. I was at binny's to get beer to drink while not watching the many games on tonight...an...

Busy day. and Oak Island is no longer on; the exciting season finale was last week. I have to wait until November to watch paint dry the most exciting show on tv.  Better Call Saul returns in September.  But that is a long way off...probably 12 rounds of golf and a week of fishing from now.  And I dare not look past May, June, July and August. I am going to Tucson next week.  I wish it was this week.  I've had it with the cold and snow.  But soon the bad weather will be a distant memory.  At which time it will return. Hump day tomorrow.  Terms like hump day and TGIF for the younger folks...at my age, I wouldn't mind if every day was last Monday.  because we don't get enough days, and shame on us for wishing them away or not enjoying each day you are lucky enough to have.  Be well, friends.

A nice sunndy day, but still too cold to do anything outside.  But today is day 1 of the time change, so will get dark around 7 o'clock, so that is a step in the right direction.  I hit golf balls this morning at the golf dome with my college roomate/golf bud/fishing bud and we counted 18 weeks from Friday until we hit the road for Canada.  It's nice to have a yearly tradition like that, but it makes the year go by too fast.  When I was younger I couldn't wait to go fishing.  Now I don't want that week to get here so quickly because when we get back the summer is about over.  As much as I like fall, that is how much I don't like winter.  But, it happens every year. Yesterday I was going to the health club.  I got the parking spot that was the closest spot to the entrance to the club...It felt like an accomplishment; to get the prime spot in the lot.  When if fact I should be parking at the other end of the lot so I get more steps in.  ...

Playing golf next Saturday in a 2 man scramble.  Weather won't be good, but I am anxious to see if hitting balls 3 times a week since I last played will have improved my game.  Honestly - how could it not?  Unless I have been doing the same things wrong that I have always done wrong....never thought of that.....eek.   But, I am looking for drastic improvement...as I say (far too often, if you ask some who know me) I play way too much to be this bad.  Still, nice to be able to use the golf room in the building I work at.  One of the benefits of having a friend that is in charge of the place. I read trashy web sites like radaronline....and there is a current beef between Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee...I think they were married at some point.  Anyway, back in the 80s they were the beautiful people...Motley Crue...Baywatch...wow..hotness.  Now look at their pics.  My painstaking research indicates Lee is 55, and Pam Anderson is 50 (probably ...

I wanted to make sure I updated you on Oak Island last night...the season finale....after much digging, they found the treasure....riches beyond your wildest dreams....huge diamonds, gold bars, the lost works of Shakespeare... actually nothing happened...nothing ever does.   about 20 mins before the end of the episode, they said they were done for the season and would come back next year.  and the saps that watch every week, like me, will once again tune in to watch nothing. I booked a trip to Tucson for work.  leaving on March 19...my 35th wedding anniversary.  There won't be a 36th.  kind of weird.  but life goes on. Survivor is on now....it takes about 4 weeks for the show to get some momentum.  which means several more weeks of watching suckage for an hour.  I am not a prude, by any means, but some of the women on survivor should not be wearing the small shorts they are wearing.  but that is just me...(check it out - you will a...

I missed posting on my every other day pattern.  I hope no one missed me. Still winter here.  I was out last night, and driving home was a mess with the wet snow.  Spring looks to be nowhere in sight.  I had dinner with a friend who I had not seen since November, after all this started.  He commented that I was much different this time than last, and in a good way.  So, there's progress.  We should all be much different the next time we see our friends. with that, I will sign off....maybe I will do a follow up tonight after Oak Island, because of course, nothing will have happened.

It's nice and sunny today.  Supposed to be 50 degrees tomorrow.  Maybe spring is coming.  For some reason I thought tonight was the time change, but it is next week.  It will be nice to get home from work in daylight.  It is really nice in June and July to tee off at 4:00 and finish 18 holds before dark. I ended up working from home yesterday.  Too lazy to commute.  but will be back on the train Monday, being a robot and a slave to the train schedule.  The other night after I posted, I had some thought that I meant to post an update, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.  It was probably very witty and entertaining, as this posting is devoid of both wittiness and entertainment value.  I got a mailing from American Airlines that I had miles to use on magazines.  So, I selected 6 or 7 of them, and they should be arriving soon.  However, I have done that before, and the delivery of 6 magazines every week or m...

The new year is 1/6 elapsed, or about 16%.  The remaining 5/6 of the year will pass equally as fast, because it goes by faster each year.  I was talking to my golf bud about the start of the season.  We try to play a dozen times before we go to Canada in late July, then a dozen after Canada, then we complain about winter for 5 months.  But we are about 4 weeks from playing.  I was thinking of working from home tomorrow....but will take the train downtown as usual.....so I can hit balls in the simulator.  How's that for dedication??? After posting last night, I looked online for dogs up for adoption.  That is a tough thing to do - I want to take all of them.  I think I will have to get a smaller dog given the size of my apartment (speaking of which I paid the second rent payment today - 1/6 of the lease term).  In the next few weeks I will make the move - I have a business trip coming up, so after that I will take in a roomate. On the way ...