Halloween 2016

Halloween, 2015, I had very few trick or treaters at my house.  I did have my door open, and my porch light on, but I did not have a jack o' lantern on my porch.  I was not sure why I had so little traffic at my door.

This year, Friday night, I went  out to dinner, and on my way home, I passed by Redeemer Church http://redeemerlubbock.org/ at Elgin and 66th Street. They were having a major "trunk or treat" event https://www.reference.com/holidays-celebrations/trunk-treat-a9eda88d725db16f. This makes sense.  This church is a very active community event church. So it makes sense to me that the neighborhood children went to "trunk or treat" last year and did not go through the neighborhoods, and did the same this year. I have had a few trick or treaters, but not the volumes I used to have.  I usually shut down "trick or treat" about 9 PM, because that is about the time the older folks come out. 

I had a good number of children "trick or treating" tonight. But not a lot.

The cats are not sure about trick or treat.  They do not like strangers at the door. They are curious about having the front door open. They want to be "guard cats" if someone is at the door.  This is hard on the cats. We will shut down in just a few minutes. 

Election Results

I am deeply disturbed by the comments of Donald Trump and his followers have made about their potential reaction if he loses the presidential election as are others in the political community http://www.cbsnews.com/media/how-past-election-losers-are-reacting-to-trumps-rigged-claims/.  One of the hallmarks of the United States government is the peaceful transition as new presidents take power.  This was tested when President Nixon resigned, and the system worked the way it was supposed to work. 

However, Donald Trump has led a campaign of divisive, derogatory rhetoric and has incited violence in some of his campaign appearances.  My concern is that he will foment violent responses if he loses the election.  That would be such a black eye on American.  

World Series Baseball

So even though I am not a fan of the Chicago Cubs or the Cleveland Indians http://mlb.mlb.com/home, this is such an historic World Series, that I have been watching it.  As with the other games, the game tonight has been very good, and I am enjoying the suspense of it.  Wrigley Field is a neat place.  I like the way there are stadium seats on top of the buildings outside of the stadium. 

It seems that Wayne Messmer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Messmer often sings the National Anthem at the opening of the Cubs games. And, during the 7th inning stretch, they have had celebrities lead the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and showed the Harry Caray video of the same.  I am glad to see the Cubs fans count with their fingers when it is time to sing "it's one, two, three strikes you're out." 

If I had a preference, I would like to see the Indians win, because my favorite teams are American League teams.  Also, I would like to see Terry Francona https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Francona win the series and end the Indians' World Series Championship drought, just as he did with the Red Sox.  Think of it, ending two long running World Series droughts by one manager! 

The Cubs one game 5!  It is awesome to see the fans continuing to sit in the stadium, chanting.  People are starting to move but slowly. 

I actually would like to see a 7 game series, because the baseball has been really, really good.  I will try to watch the game Tuesday. 

Internet Problems, Updated

Well, my Internet problems did not go away.  Even after I tried rebooting, and unplugging and rebooting.  I decided to get a new router, because mine was so old, I could not use the Smart TV with wireless very effectively.  Well I did not have too much difficulty connecting the router.  And I can tell the difference in my laptop.  I also connected the TV to the new network.  However, my Internet problems did not go away.  But I discovered that I can change from Microsoft Edge, which I did not load onto my laptop, but which showed up after a Microsoft update, to Internet Explore, and I can access the sites I was having trouble with on the Edge. We shall see how this progresses. 

Basketball Season

It is basketball season.  Tonight I am watching the Celtics play the Bulls in Chicago http://www.nba.com/. 

Yesterday, I purchased season tickets for the Lady Raider Basketball http://www.texastech.com/index.aspx?path=wbball team at $69.  I received I VIP card that gives free entry to some Olympic sports at Texas Tech, and I got a parking pass. I questioned that because I got the cheap seats, but they said every season ticket holder received a parking pass.  It makes sense.  The last two years, the parking lot that parking pass gives access to, which was reserved for season ticket holders for the expensive sears, was not full.  Ever. So, they are trying to increase the attendance at games.  Of course, the one sure way to increase attendance at games is to win!

Internet Problems

I heard on the news that there have been some serious Internet problems this week.  I have had some serious Internet problems tonight.  Earlier, all of my favorite sites were loading just fine, and the commercial sites I was trying to load were slow but okay, but the government sites were not loading.  Now, the government sites are loading, but some of my favorite sites are not loading quickly, and are getting stuck. 

I ran a virus scan that mostly got rid of cookies. But there were no other problems.

I will see what happens tomorrow. 

Unintended Consequences

So today, I was thinking about my new kitchen island.  I realized that it is higher than my kitchen counter, which requires me to bend slightly when I am working at the counter. Which slight bend bothers my back. 

And, working at the kitchen counter, I have my back to the TV. Which meant I did a lot of twisting around to see what was on TV. I realized it would be really simple to move the island to where I can watch TV.

Tonight, I made a marinated salad for a pot luck, and I did it on the counter.  Standing at the island chopping did not bother my back, and I could watch TV.  What  great unintended consequence from this new purchase!   Yeah!

I do not think I will transfer my microwave to the top of the island.  The point in transferring my microwave was to give me more room on the counter to work, but I like the increase in height and the ability to face the TV more than I like the idea of moving the microwave.

My New Kitchen Isalnd.

I had a small kitchen island that I used for staging my recyclables.  I had this island before I purchased my house in 1992.  In July, it fell apart. I was able to fix it once, but not a second time.  I went shopping and found one I liked, but did not immediately buy it. Most recently, I discovered it was on sale, so purchased it online.  I picked it up today, and put it together.  The instructions said 2 people, 1.5 hours. It took this one person 4.5 hours. But I did put it together.

I sent a picture to Gmail, but it did not show up.  I sent it to Facebook and saved it to my PC and finally found it. The island gives me more shelf space, 2 drawers, and more cupboard space.  I think I will transfer my microwave to the island top.

Making it Snug

I have been opening the windows at night recently, because although the days have been warm, the nights have been cool, and good sleeping weather.  Today, the day stayed cool (55° high), and it was rainy, so there was a feeling of rawness in the weather.

I went out tonight.  When I came home, I decided to get into something comfy, and get snug while I have been working on the computer.  So, I turned the electric heater on in the computer room.  Taki decided she did not want to sit with us at first (she likes it cooler, usually.)  Haiku seemed to be glad of the warmer room.  I closed the door partly, so the heat would stay more in the computer room. Haiku eventually settled down on a chair, but more than once, wanted to be hugged.  After a while, Taki joined us.

Almost T Boned

I was driving home tonight, and came to a 4-way stop near my house.  I stopped, and to my left, a vehicle sort of stopped after I did.  I started up, and so did this truck, very slowly, making only a rolling stop.  I sped up to get out of this driver's way.  I do not think the driver was going to crash into me, but the driver did not make a complete stop.

This is not atypical in Lubbock, especially when the weather is bad. It is like bad weather gives the drivers in Lubbock permission to drive poorly. It has been that way since I have lived in Lubbock.  Why would I think it would change.

Rain in Lubbock Today

We knew it was supposed to rain in Lubbock today.  When I left for work, as I travelled to work, it was still very dark, and the closer I got to work, the more lightning I saw. I did not hear thunder until I was actually walking in the parking lot.  It was not too loud.

What was eeriest was that it stayed dark until well after 8 AM.  That gave me a strange feeling.

It rained off and on throughout the day. Sometimes it was light rain, sometimes it was heavy. There was some street flooding, not unusual. 

We can almost always use rain in Lubbock.  It was cold today, I believe the high was 55° today. It is suppose to be in the 80s tomorrow.

This is not unusual for this time of year.  Transition from one season to another in Lubbock is generally a series of fluctuations.  No different this year. 

My View Of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

My niece posted on Facebook about her concern that people are voting for Donald Trump for president because they are concerned about the Supreme Court appointments Hillary Clinton would make. Several people made comments in favor of voting for Donald Trump.

My response:

My problem with the comments to your question, Lesley, is that I see Trump in a very different light. I look at his business history, his personal history, with multiple marriages, and his now political history, and what he says and what he does are so inconsistent with each other.  He is a shrewd, and reportedly unfair businessman; he takes maximum (legal) advantage of the tax laws, his charitable giving has been questioned, and not proven to my satisfaction. He has a short fuse, and while he can hold it together for 90 minutes, can he hold it together for day after day, under constant pressure. We can learn from history, and not so long ago history. Study Watergate, and the kind of man President Nixon was. He was a good politician, but the decisions he made that brought him down were based on hubris and that because he was the President, he was above the law. Trump already touts the fact that he thinks he is above the law.

The problem with my comment is that Hillary has acted in the past as if she were above the law, or maybe ignorant of the law (hard to believe.) When Ronald Reagan made mistakes, and he did, he would say, basically "oops, sorry, my bad" and go on. If Hillary would just do that, her errors would not be so bad. It's not that (she) cannot be trusted. It is that when she is caught, she dilly dallies around, and hems and haws before she admits she did something she shouldn't have. The problem with Trump is when he gets caught doing something bad, he just does something more outrageously bad that takes the spot light off of the last bad thing he did.

I am now adding that Trump has said "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to." https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785842546878578688 So that tells me that Donald Trump has been "faking it" to fit in, to get the votes, to get elected.  What a fake. What a phony. What a liar.  Do we want someone like that running this country?  I think not.  It is obvious that we cannot trust Donald Trump.  It is frightening to think people do. 

Born Again

I just finished reading the book Born Again by Charles Colson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson, who was involved in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon.  I have decided that I want to read books by or about people who have committed crimes, been convicted, gone to prison, and went on to make something of themselves.  Born Again is not a book I would have thought I would read.  I am off put by self declared Christians who witness to Christ but have less than honorable lifestyles, and then publicize it. That is a personal journey, in my mind. When I first moved to Lubbock, it was not uncommon that I was approached by someone who would ask me "Have you accepted Christ?"  And when I would say yes, not one asked me to pray. Which let me know that they were about changing me and not about living in Christ. They were involved in power, not prayer.

Well, I read Born Again with an open mind, an open heart, and an open spirit. It was a powerful read. Charles Colson journey in Christ lead him to develop "Prison Fellowship" https://www.prisonfellowship.org/.  This is a wonderful organization. And a great legacy.  I am thankful that I read this book. 

Baseball Post Season 2016

So, I am a baseball fan.  I like the Yankees and the Red Sox, sort of follow the Diamondbacks, and watch the Texas Rangers because I can get their games on TV.

I was hoping the Yankees would pull off a miracle this year, but they did not.  But the Rangers are playing against, and lost today to the Blue Jays in the post season.  And the Red Sox are playing against, and lost tonight to the Cleveland Indians. 

I will pay attention to the National League games because I want to know who the American League team will be playing against, especially if the Red Sox make it to the World Series. 

http://mlb.mlb.com/home

PITCH

I have not followed much current TV, with the exception of Blue Bloods http://www.cbs.com/shows/blue_bloods/.  I do not think I have blogged about that. I cannot believe I have not blogged about that. 

Well, a new series started on Fox this fall, called Pitch http://www.fox.com/pitch, which is a series about the first female major league baseball player.  I have watched this show.  I think it is very interesting:  a commentary on gender issues, on sports, and on life issues.  So far, I have enjoyed the series. It will be interesting to see how it progresses. 

Big Papi

I just watched the tribute to Big Papi https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Boston%20Red%20Sox by the Boston Red Sox and Major League Baseball.  It moved me very much. This is a man who came to the Red Sox organization after being cut by the Minnesota Twins, and made baseball history.

During his final year in baseball, he has had a stellar performance http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/ortizda01.shtml.  I have to think it is because 1) he wants to go out with a bang and 2) he does not want to leave anything on the table, so to speak.  He can give his maximum effort because he does not have to worry about how he will feel next year.

He is so intelligent about baseball, I have to believe he comes back to baseball as some sort of coach or manager.  It would be baseball's loss if he is not at least invited to do so. 

For all of his clutch performances, and walk off hits, my favorite David Ortiz moment is his "Boston Strong" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUQUFm2icyQ&list=RD28jF__vAm_qRM speech in 2013 after the Boston Marathon bombing.  And guess what, the FCC stood with him http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/04/20/david-ortiz-boston-red-sox-speech-fcc/2100051/, which I agree with and understand, because sometimes, you just have to stand up for free speech and say what comes out of the our emotions.  (I don't swear much, and the f word is not one I can abide usually, but sometimes, just sometimes, it says what nothing else can say.)

Musical Chairs

Haiku and Taki like to sit in the same room that I sit in.  In the computer room, there are 2 office chairs which they usually use, and I am using a folding metal chair, like a card table chair.  I usually have a dish of dry food on one of the chairs, ostensibly for Haiku.  Today, Haiku was eating, and Haiku being Haiku, vacated her position when Taki came in.  Taki sometimes intimidates Haiku physically, by nosing her out of a dish, or hitting her, but Haiku is easily intimidated, or just polite, and usually just defers to Taki.  There is usually a second dish of dry food in the kitchen, so if Haiku is starving, she could go out to the kitchen to eat. Well, she did not.  So, I brought the second dish of dry food into the computer room, and put it on the other chair.  Haiku ate for a while, then vacated that chair.  Taki took it, and ate a little.  Haiku went to the chair that first had food on it and ate. 

I do not think Taki was hungry, she just likes to eat. Haiku is a picky eater, and sometimes this eating competition encourages her to eat more than she normally would.