Changes

It's been years since I last posted here.  A lot has happened!  Marriage to a wonderful lady; moving to a new home in Florida while keeping the old one in Minnesota; retirement; becoming a granddad.  And on and on.  And the Twins are (for the moment) in first place!

Colorado Dreaming 2010

Last week my brother Chip and I flew out to Colorado Springs for a five day stay. What an incredible place! I was glad to be able to share with him the beauty of the area. It's drawn me back several times, and this is the second year in a row I've gone there for a short vacation. We toured the usual places-- Pike's Peak, Royal Gorge, Seven Falls, the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods (my fav), the Broadmoor Hotel and the U.S. Olympic Training Center. We also went hiking in the mountains behind the Academy, went bowling in Lone Tree, and sang karaoke at a bar I found on the internet. All in all we had a great time. The getaway was good for him, as he's been through a stressful time. It was good for me as well as I am greatly inspired by God's creation. For those of you (of my many readers, i.e. me) who have not been there, go! You'd love it. The photo was taken on a trail behind Helen Hunt (not the actress) Falls, in North Cheyenne Canyon.

The Real Agenda

Robert Reich is one of President Obama's chief advisors. Here's a link to a video of portions of a speech he gave to students back in 2007. He tells them what an honest President, unconstrained by public opinion, would say about health care issues. He states that young people should pay more. Healthy people should pay more. Old people should just be allowed to die without any measures to extend their lives. Innovation in treatment should be discouraged. People should no longer expect to outlive their parents. At least he's honest about the true intentions of the socialists. It's amusing to see his comments about just letting people die. Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida, a Democrat, received a lot of publicity a few weeks ago by claiming that the Republican's health plan was to have people die quickly if they get sick. It looks like he got his political parties mixed up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT7Y0TOBuG4&feature=player_embedded#

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This is a cool app you can use to show the states you've been to. The red states are the visited ones.

Safe Zone Violations

I just read an interesting article about "safe zone violations" on the National Review site. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTc4NzJkMjVkOTg1M2UyMjZlYzM0YmJiYzY4YWQzYjY=&w=MA==#

I didn't realize that a number of sports writers are interjecting their political views into their sports articles. I agree with the author, Jay Nordlinger, that this is really inappropriate. Nordlinger bemoans the fact that "safe zones," spheres free of partisan politics, are diminishing in our current political climate. Politics is dominating more and more of our public life. One of the positive things about sports is that people within a certain geographical area can come together in support of a common cause. Adding politics to the mix can undermine the sense of community that flows from the love of sports. The article focuses largely on attacks on Republican or conservative politics and ideas, although I suspect that (somewhere!) there are attacks on Dems and the left. Frankly, I don't care who is guilty of it. It shouldn't happen, period. I'm not sure how to stop it, except to complain to the newspapers or magazines that carry the articles. An appeal to the writer to use common decency would probably fail.

Exciting Times

So much going on! The Twins, the Little Team That Could, have done it again! I had totally written them off after Justin Morneau (and Joe Crede) broke down, and we were six games out. And then the very improable happened. They caught fire. And how! So we're down to one game to see who gets to take on (and probably get crushed by) the hated Yankees. Last year we had to play at Chicago, despite beating them more than they beat us, because the location was determined by a coin flip. Recognizing that this rule was ridiculous, the league changed the rule to give the advantage to the team that beat the other more. The Twins had the Tigers eating their lunch during the regular season, so the Twins get the home field advantage. Will that be enough? I think the Twins will win. But they've got to do a better job of protecting early leads.

The Vikings are playing the Packers as I write this. It's 7-7 in the second quarter. So far, Aaron Rogers is looking good, except he's mistake-prone. Favre is being reined in by Childress, it seems. I'm not sure how this will turn out, based on what I'm seeing. I'm inclined to think the Vikes will pull it out by a touchdown.

Now the big news! I received an offer on my home this evening and accepted it. The closing is set for November 30. Now I've got to find a place to live. And fast. That could be a big challenge, actually. I need to time things right so I can take the cash I get from the sale and apply it to the purchase. I'm relieved to be free of the responsibility of maintaining such a large home and yard. I'm going to get a townhouse or condo where someone else can do it!

If any of my thousands of readers know of any good deals out there, drop me a line.

Colorado Dreaming

The attached photos say it all.

Music

Time to talk a little music. I recently received some Best Buy gift cards as part of a promotion by my local cable company to sign up new recruits. I went to BB yesterday to look for a way to spend the cards. I ended up going through their music CD section. I'm not exactly up on modern music, but I am familiar with at least some music from the last tweny years. Unfortunately, the stuff I like doesn't seem to be all that popular. So, missing from the sales racks was Porcupine Tree, a group I discovered by listening to library CDs. They're british, and are kind of a psychedelic prog rock group. They're also quite current as they have a new CD coming out in September. Some of their stuff is amazingly good. There are comparisons to Pink Floyd, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I also enjoy Kaiser Chiefs, another british band that is decidely more into britpop. They were apparently considered to be the "next big thing" in britain. However, judging from the number, or lack thereof, of CDs at Best Buy I would assume they are not a big deal in the States. Other groups I've stumbled across in the last year or two and enjoy are: Fleet Foxes (I bought their CD yesterday)- mellow psychedelia; Blitzen Trapper and Band of Horses- kind of folk rockish; Dream Theater- heavy prog rock, incredibly skilled, but not quite my cup of tea- I did buy the Greatest Hit (that's the name) CD yesterday; Arcade Fire; The New Pornographers- an unfortunate name choice, but some tasty tunes; Belle and Sebastian; Doves; some Panic at the Disco; The Coral; Rumble Strips; and several more that I'll add when I think of them!
Music is a major interest of mine. I have no musical talent, but I sure do enjoy it! A few years ago I had some beginner piano lessons. From that I learned where the keys are and a lot of chords. But I found that age 56 is not ideal for learning a musical instrument. So, I just play for fun and don't subject others to listening to me. But I still want to be a rock star!