Sunday Morning Coming Down

Last Wednesday, I'm listening to NPR and there was a collection of recordings from Story Corp as part of their fund raising efforts for WLRN.  I've heard the interviews that become stories on the radio many times and it is regular part of the Morning Edition on Fridays. There was a story about a call a lady got shortly after 9:00 am on 9/11 from the 103 floor of the WTC.  The caller was pretty much doomed and I guess he felt it was time to call his ex-wife and say good bye and that he loved her.  Even though divorced, the couple still cared for each other.  I have a hard time thinking about a situation like that.  Oh shit my life is over, but I still have a few moments, what should I do.  He did the right thing. My Mom died the evening of 9/9/2001.  Forty days in a hospice facility is a long time.  She got good care and kind of slipped away.  Very little drama at about 6:00 pm, my sister and I decided to go home for something to eat ...

Going to an emergency room for medical care is way too expensive a way to provide care.  Expanding some form of insurance that encourages folks to go to the doctor in a more rational way would be cheaper.  What you get charged for anything in an ER if you are uninsured makes a nights stay at an expensive hotel on Miami Beach seem like a bargain. Defunding Obamacare would make the situation worse for folks without coverage and without making the cost of healthcare more affordable for everyone, default on even Medicare coverage will be happening sooner rather than later. The cost of health insurance provided by your employer is going up and if you buy insurance on your own it is expensive.  Lots of retired folks are worried about the cost of stuff rising faster than their income and the cost of government programs which in their point of view stifles incentives to go out and work.  Folks that don't qualify for Food Stamps are probably suspicious of the program, fol...

The Miami Marlins won a game last night 4-0.  Pitching was great, hitting not so great until the bottom of the 8th when they finally put a few hits together to score some runs.  The Phillies seemed to be running out the season and the Marlins may have a season with 100 losses.  I went to the game with a retired friend and I doubt if the tickets could have been cheaper.  2@$6.00 and it might as well have been a free seating night, we ended up sitting in left field hoping to catch a home run ball.  This is not the first time that a beer and parking far exceeded the cost of a seat.  Beer $8.00 and parking in the garage was $15.00.  Entertainment isn't cheap, but the owner of the Marlins needs to spend some money for some position players. After the game I got home in time to watch the late news.  A police shooting in neighborhood I drive by regularly lead as breaking news.  The weather lady says we are going to have a rainy week as a cold fro...

I'm not a fan of paycheck games that small schools schedule with big name schools.  The small schools may need the money and the players may think it is cool to play in front of bigger crowds, at storied venues, and see how they stand up against the best. UM vs. Savannah State 77-7.  The radio announcers were discussing Forrest Gump and Midnight In Garden of Good and Evil that were filmed in Savannah throughout the 2nd Half.  More than a few walk overs last Saturday.  FIU, the other local school got clocked by Louisville and that game was just as ugly as the UM game.  In the 1970's Miami was the Little Sister of The Poor for Notre Dame, Texas, and Penn State's of the world until they made a concerted effort to recruit some better players and make sure their facilities were more up to date.  Investigations by the NCAA and sanctions soon followed but it just seems to be part of the cost of doing business. I don't think the Christians v...

Caught something on the radio about the value of parenting.  It was somebody pushing a book he had written and I never caught his name or the name of the book.  I'm not even sure of the context of a statistic he mentioned about the value of child brought up with good parenting who went on to be a success, but he sure did contrast it with the cost of some bad parenting, that lead to a life with a lot of problems like substance abuse, criminal behavior, and hard time in prison. Couldn't help but think about Dr. Laura, Dr. Phil, and the Dog Whisperer.  They guy had a point if your parents were good, you probably benefited because of their parenting skill.  Another piece of conventional wisdom registered: apples don't fall far from the tree. And the opposite probably applied as well.  Absent parents, drug abuse by parents, violence by parents, and general disorganization by parents can cause kids to spiral into other bad behaviors. At some point the situa...

This is one I never thought of: you may be libel for damage to the rental car if there is a weather related incident and the car is parked and not being driven, a form of coverage that is an extra charge. If I was tourist in Iceland last week and the weather was so bad that your rental car was damaged by the weather and I didn't have the right coverage, that would be a bummer times two. I can imagine how much fun it would be to be stuck in a hotel room if you had other plans. According to the Icelandic Review ten cars were severely damaged and one tourist rang up a bill for about $8,000 for weather only related damage.  One car was sandblasted during a sandstorm.  That would be an ass froster for sure.

I would have understood if the President had cancelled his speech regarding the economy yesterday.  I'm sure many thought it was insensitive to speak so politically with what was happening at the Naval Yard. The guy is the President and could said sorry, let's do this another day.  I doubt many would have complained. There were other things he could have done at that moment.  Compromise on some level if anything is going to get done and throwing bombs by both sides isn't helpful.

Thunderstruck Stables one and only horse finished 2nd in the 8th race at Prairie Meadows in Iowa.  This was an upset of sorts.  The pools are not very large at this track.  Not very many people were at the track as the weather wasn't great. The weather in Miami has been crappy today as well.  The Dolphins won, the Hurricanes had the week off and Stolicknaya was going to run in the 8th race at Prairie Meadows.  Reviewing the form there were reasons for both hope and reasons to skip the race, it looked like he had enough class for the race and starting kind of on the inside going around the hook is an advantage.  Stolicknaya's latest races hadn't been great and there were horses in the race he had not beaten both inside and to the outside.  He was going to need to improve a lot if he was going to win this afternoon The AQHA shows races from around the country and I have a legal account with TVG.  The horse looked pretty good in the walkin...

I missed in the first race and then scored three in a row at Prairie Meadows.  I was alive to the 4 in the last race of the pick 4 and would have scored about $125 with a $6 ticket.  I had singled the 4 and started looking for ways to make some more cash using some other horses with my top pick which the crowd had made the favorite and making money in exactas and tri's if my 4 stumbled This was a mistake.  A profit with three winners is a profit.  I had already made the let it ride bet in the Pick 4.  I had dreams of a really nice score.  This was one time I confused insurance with piling on and turned a profit into a loss in the name of being greedy. This isn't the first time it has happened and I will probably make the same kind of mistake again.  I had been lucky in the three prior races.  In two of the races I needed photos on the line and my horse had to run like it was on fire to catch the leader at the line and in the other ...

While walking around, dodging rain on Wednesday, and doing more of the same on Thursday, I had a random thought about Alan Kent Rogers,  maybe it was a UPS Truck.  He worked loading trucks and he worked in a factory, making money for college.  These were  the days before Pell Grants and large student loans and when a college degree meant more in the job market. AKR forged an ID used to buy beer, he used stage makeup to look older and was a success in buying at Leider's Liquors. He was a prankster.  And he had a rather serious industrial accident where he he lost a finger.  After the bandages came off he became a proponent of base nine.  Counting on his fingers became 9,18,27,36.  The insurance money helped him go to college, hitch across the country, visit India and other stuff I've forgotten. These were the days when Viet Nam was a big deal, sort of like Iraq, with a lot more casualties and the draft which is the subject for anoth...

Sweden was charmed by the fact that the President of Iceland wore a mismatched pair of shoes during his meeting and picture session with the President of the United States during the recent G20 meeting.  POI had infection and one of his feet really swelled up and his dancing slippers were really uncomfortable.

The UM beat UF last week.  As a UM fan the result was great.  I watched the game on TV and was cool and comfortable.  No party, no cookout, no friends and between halves I washed dishes. When I first came to Florida and attended the UM this was a big game, the biggest of the year, and in those years we played Notre Dame, FSU, and UF on a yearly basis.  I bought season tickets, I arranged my life around the college football games that happened on Friday Night and then Saturdays.  I had great seats and went to the game with co-workers, poker buddies and even went on a few road trips. Miami was the center of college football in the 1980's and the U still has the record for the most consecutive home victories (56).  The coaches, players, my friends, the games were the break from working.  Then Florida and Notre Dame dropped off the schedule because we weren't an automatic W for them.  There were other changes as well.  People's families becam...

This isn't the first time the world and the United States faced issues regarding the use of force.  Syria's use of chemical weapons is pretty obvious from the amount of evidence provided us by our leaders. This is one of those philosophy class moments.  To decide to do something big, less big, the same, or less, or even a lot less will be doing something whether we like it or not.  I'm sort of relieved I don't represent the 22nd District in Florida.  Reluctantly, in spite of anything previously written, I favor some limited action to stop the further use of chemical weapons. If you listen to those that are speaking the loudest we won't do much, if you believe the President we will do something more than what we have done so far hoping it won't lead us down the rabbit hole as in Iraq. Tom Friedman called this a religious war between the Sunnis, Shiites over who will lead Islam.  I'm not sure what the proper analogy is, but there are many.  Leading mo...

Never thought that the numbers 7,9, and 13 would send more than a few Icelanders to get married today.  Ministers all over the island have their appointment books full.  September 9, 2013 is a(your) lucky day according to some obscure Icelandic tradition.  Who am I to question a little over 321,000 people who live on a small island in the North Atlantic, people who believe in huldufolk, sort of elf like people, and have a drink called Brennivin as a national drink which was translated by my Dad to mean "Black Death".  This may relate to another stupid belief that it is very bad luck to recork a bottle after it has been opened.  Drinking a bottle of schnapps in one sitting will cause a headache. If these numbers are part of the powerball tonight please remember you heard it here.

The mayor of Miami Dade County is not a big fan of public libraries.  He was going to raise some taxes a little but even an increase of about $30 for the average homeowner caused a backlash and the tax rate will probably be unchanged.  Because valuations are on the upswing homeowners will most likely pay more property taxes. The libraries were more fully funded in previous years but their own dedicated tax rate has been used to support the overall county budget through charges for indirect costs and rents for space when property values were falling like a rock.  The small increase would have in effect paid back the library for their earlier sacrifices and avoided layoffs and reduction in hours.  A similar issue is being played out in the Fire Department where several rescue squads will be mothballed and staff reassigned. I take no credit for this quote but depending on which side you are on in the controversy libraries are little more than homeless shelters with ...

A few days ago there were stories about Katrina and what happened in New Orleans.  Katrina came across South Florida in 2005 and it was big enough and strong enough to make for about four days without electricity in my neighborhood.  I went to a local café that had power for coffee and a hot breakfast and to check on the news about the storm.  Thankfully the storm was not going to hit the Big Easy directly and the power of the winds had gone down from a cat 5 storm to cat 3.  This was before they realized that the levees had failed.  I walked home wondering about looking for a place to escape the heat and waiting for FPL to respond. Later Wilma ripped through South Florida, again no damage but the electricity was down.  Four days without power but at least it was cool enough in the evening to sleep in relative comfort. Forty two years in Florida and this is probably the first Labor Day I can remember where both the Atlantic and the Gulf...

100,000 deaths in the Syrian Civil War is justification for action by the United Nations.  The use of chemical weapons makes the need to do something more urgent.  It would seem that doing nothing might be the prudent thing especially if there is no consensus on the issue.  Why should the United States again take the lead on what might be a fools errand.  There is little guarantee that we would be successful in stopping the future use of chemical weapons and the issue of spreading the conflict and more tit for tat retaliation and escalation are very probable should the United States take action unilaterally. Congressional approval is probably necessary given the current political atmosphere and that is probably a good thing.  Congress can line up with Russia and China in the blame game as the situation plays out if nothing is done. This is a pretty sad and dangerous place to be.