Sunday Morning Coming Down

Don't care much about IPAs.  If I'm shopping for beer I'll probably buy Bud Light Lime.  Yet out of desperation one evening while walking home after a hard day at the track, I stopped at Brewskis formerly known as Cervezas which sells many different kinds of beers.  The place is only open evenings, doesn't seem to have a lot of clients but the bartender is trying and will give out more than a few samples while you try to decide what comparatively expensive beer you are going to buy.  The place doesn't make any beer on site, but it is an outlet for beers from around the world and a few local places that do make their own and have some extra kegs to distribute. The bartender mentioned that they have karaoke and trivial pursuit on Wednesday Nights at about 9:30 pm.  A little late night for me, but also an evening out and a chance to test myself against some real live competition instead of just talking back to Alex Trebek. The game was being set up when I arriv...

Working as an independent contractor might work for some.  If you have some leverage I can imagine that it might work out.  If you have another source of income and this is just like having a second job or something you just like doing it can be fun and you can make some money.  In other fields it might just be a step above unemployment or just a fancier way to describe your connection or lack of a connection to the labor market. Employers would probably just give up on the idea of an employer/employee relationship in a lot of fields. My last few jobs since 2005 have been classified as an independent contractor, not because they did not have regular hours, but because they were short term jobs based on projects.  A long term job with a paper route was called being an independent contractor.  Then they give you contracts that they change for their own purposes that change delivery windows and all sorts of other things. When you can replaced by a machine or ...

The increases to about $9.00 @ hour is good.  Another increase is planned for next year to $10.00 @ hour is also good.  Whether it will make a big difference to the workers is up in the air.  I don't want to pee on this parade because a lot of small business owners still struggle, work long hours, and take risks.  The cost of lots of things is going up. A new Walmart has opened near the Northside Metrorail Station in Miami.  The parking lot seems full from early in the morning till closing time.  In that neighborhood any job that is regular is a lot better than what the alternative was a few months ago for the folks that work at that store. The Flea Market in the neighborhood still seems to be doing alright, but I'm sure the vendors have lost customers.  It will be interesting to see if other retail outlets will give their workers a bump.

A Rod has apologized in a handwritten statement for just about everything he has ever said about using performance enhancing drugs.  He wants to put the past in the rear view mirror and get on with his life in baseball and collect the last part of his multi year contract worth a reported $63 million. Fans and talk show radio probably don't think an apology is sufficient given the mischief he has been part of in Major League Baseball.  Eventually he will have to face reporters in the locker room in Spring Training.  He will have a hard time getting past his past it is clear. I am not a big fan of A Rod.  In spite of giving almost $4 million to the University of Miami and getting the baseball field and park renamed in his honor to Alex Rodriguez Park, the money is tainted and he is an embarrassment as is any fixer in sporting contests. This dishonesty isn't about gambling, it's turning a game on it's ear. Alex Rodriguez, Lance Armstrong, Ben Johnson, Tonya Hard...

I went to the track a little later than usual on Friday.  Checked in with Randy.  Captivating Cara was 100%.  Then I went to my handicappers desk.  Today I had a short stack.  Not much money to bet, so I committed a gambling mistake that turned into a very fun if not financially successful day.  I bet a total of $24.20 and cashed tickets worth $28.60, exactas in the first two races.  The .10 pick six bet had a carryover of about $21,000.  I thought I would attack that pool with a small bet because it looked like a day with a lot of favorites and maybe a small bet could bring back a pretty good win because even the consolation pool was growing. I made the bet before the first race ran. The Pick 6 started in the 3rd race and went to the last race of the day, the 8th race.  The exacta in the first paid $12.50 for a dollar. The exact in the second paid $16.10. I could have bet the daily double and been paid $41.40 for a buck. I now had two wi...

The popularity of golf is down according to reports. Some folks blame Tiger Woods and his tangled personal life.  Others say the sport has no stars worth following. I think folks will watch golf on TV and the folks that watch the game are wealthy.  Membership in private country clubs isn't cheap. I don't want this to sound snarky but I can only guess why the President, several former Presidents, Donald Trump and the rich and the famous gravitate to the game at places where few if any regular folks could afford the green fees.  A graphite driver might cost about $350 these days.  Whoa!  $395 for a round of golf on the Blue Monster at Doral ain't going to get a lot of takers even in my neighborhood with nice houses and folks with jobs Something is wrong with this picture.  I know you can't play much golf in New York or Chicago in January or February but golf at public courses in Miami can be pricey during the winter season. Reportedly a round of golf ca...

This morning started very early with a predawn walk to the Metrorail.  Tuesday the track is closed and it's a good day to catch up on chores around the barn.  I was invited by Spike's trainer to scrub water and feed buckets. My usual early mornings consist of watching horses working out, taking notes, getting an early free edition of the day's program, eating a very Mexican breakfast, saying good morning to Spike and looking in on all of Randy's other charges. This morning was a little bit different.  I had promised to get up early and do something productive. The early train, had a different cast of characters, with a lot more high school students or college kids that needed to get up early for classes that would start around 7:00 AM. I got to the track about 7:00 AM, and within minutes received about five minutes of on the job training in the finer points of cleaning water and feed buckets.  Some horses are messier than others, but even an untrained eye could...

Brian Williams of NBC has apologized for greatly exaggerating what happened to him during a helicopter ride in Iraq during 2003.  I'm not sure about the ethics of stories you tell about your self, but it seems absolutely clear to me that reporters and their reports should not become the story.  He is reportedly taking some time off. I think that the "media" in its rush to report something that will catch our interest may go beyond just the facts to make stories more readable, watchable, or listenable.  This can be good reporting because telling a story is better than just numbers, horrific pictures, or crime reporting. Being the news anchor for anything means credibility first and foremost.  Getting the story right and covering all sides of the story trumps speed and stories may need to be followed and followed up. In this case I can think of nothing to be gained by Williams' exaggeration of the danger of being a reporter on the front lines in any armed conflic...

Over beers I discussed the future of "Spike" this afternoon at Hialeah Park.  Unfortunately, there is no  one good answer.  You breed the best to the best you can find and hope for the "best".  If you are lucky and bought a season with a good stallion and have a mare that can run, you may have something that can supplement what ever retirement you might have and be entertained. Gizem from racehorses is sold.  Might be not much money or it might be $10,000 or more and then you hope you get a  baby to race or sell.  It's that simple, or maybe not. Risk is what it is.  The vet, the farm, the food, the vet, the farm, the food, and pretty soon have spent a lot of money and the horse you bred may no be quick or fast enough to run on the race track.  But your baby is your baby and the horse may be sold at auction for another career or you start looking for alternatives.  Or your grandchildren may have a horse they can ride when they visit y...

This is a midwinter get together of Icelanders and the food is sort of  "Throw Back Thursday" with the fare being rotten shark meat, boiled sheep's head, cogealed ram's blood wrapped in stomach, liver pilsa, and smoked lamb or horse, liver sausage and boiled potatoes. Not sure if this qualifies as Icelandic comfort food, but I've been to a few of these Icelandic gatherings and would only vote for Brennivin as true Icelandic comfort "food".

Modern medicine is not your mother's medicine or your grandparent's medicine.  Vaccines work to prevent a lot of serious childhood diseases.  Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Whooping Cough, Polio, Flu Shots, Shingles, Pneumonia TB and other diseases can be prevented or the risk of contracting the disease can be greatly reduced by proper vaccinations. Most folks would like to send their kids to school where they are as safe as possible.  One public health measure is to keep kids home until they have had their vaccinations for childhood diseases completed. I was born just before the first polio vaccine was discovered.  On a hot day my Mom was scared of letting me run under a sprinkler for fear of catching polio and possibly dying.  The March of Dimes was a huge success in developing the first and eventually better more effective vaccines.  By 1962 the oral vaccine developed by Alfred Sabin was distributed and the world got a handle on defeating a another deadly ...

Underwhelmed by the numbers of folks that watched the 49th Superbowl, they said it was the most watched program on TV this year.  Last year, they said the same thing about the 48th Superbowl and so on and so on, until you get to the final episode of M.A.S.H. The Superbowl is a large part of American Culture as far as that goes.  Some folks say size matters, others would emphasize quality over size, either way 115 million viewers are a lot of eyeballs. Folks celebrate the Superbowl with a fervor beyond almost anything except maybe some combination of football and a religious holiday like Christmas on a week day. Parties, pizza, squares to gamble on the score(s), and adjusting are the order of the day.  Some folks on their death bed will ask what the score is?  Even if you are doing something else you might have the game on to watch the commercials?  About the only thing more disrupting than kickoff time is scheduling Santa's visit and little one's bed times...