Ace Wisdom

It is not Winter yet!  Really?  Winter officially arrives tomorrow.

It looks like the Packers are going to play in a snowstorm at Lambeau on Sunday.  Prediction is for 6-9 inches of snow.  Good stuff!  Normally Green Bay would have an advantage over their opponent but in this case it is Pittsburgh.  They are used to lousy conditions.  The Packers had people lined up at 3 AM this morning to begin shoveling at 9 AM.

I love stories about finance.  Aaron Rogers is costing the Packers over $1,000,000 per game while he out with an injury.  If you own the Packers (and I do have my one share), that is a financial disaster especially with the prospect of not making the NFL playoffs.  The Packers knew the risks.

Kobe Bryant was out of NBA basketball all of last year with a torn up knee.  He still got paid $24 million for not playing.  He is now back.  He signed a new year contract worth $48 million.  Wouldn’t you know Kobe has a cracked bone in the same knee and will be out another 6-8 weeks.  He still gets paid.  The Los Angeles Lakers knew the risks.

I guess my financial woes pale when compared to the “big boys” of sports.  I subscribe to our local rag (The Post Crescent) and pay a monthly fee of $24.  That includes the Sunday edition.  Without any “fanfare” or warning, I got my monthly bill and it is now $32 per month which is a 33% increase.  I know newspapers are being squeezed by the internet, TV, and social networks but a 33% increase is gutsy.  I am seriously thinking about cancelling.  I remember (I’m allowed to reminisce) living in Plymouth .  People went to the County Fair in Plymouth each year and took advantage  of the promotion the local newspaper (the Plymouth Review) was offering.  The subscription was $15 per year and you got a free bake pan for signing up.

Get those presents wrapped.  You don’t have to wrap mine.  Just park it in the driveway and leave the keys in it.

Stay warm.

Love,

Dad

 

I had mentioned recently that after a tooth extraction they placed bone fragments from a “male” cadaver in the space left by the tooth.  Your mom brought it to my attention that “it doesn’t have to be a male cadaver, maybe a female cadaver was used”.  Great.  Now I’ve got to worry about another female in my head.

Good things.  Good thoughts.  Grasshopper No.5 was considering buying a new  xBox recently released by Microsoft.  She carefully considered the financial ramifications and decided “no”.  Bottom line?  She choked.  But wait.  The Angels of Christmas were watching over her.  Her company had received 5 free xbox units complete with new games for promotion purposes.  All employee names would be placed “in a hat” and a drawing would take place.  The winners would get free xBox systems.  The first name drawn was …… yep, Grasshopper No.5.  Sometimes good things  do happen to good people.

And then, continuing on the “good thing” theme, your Mom was having dental work done.  She had tooth decay under a crown.  The crown had to be removed and destroyed.  A new crown was required.  I had set $1,000 aside (normally crowns cost between $800-$1,000).  It turns out the old crown was guarnteed for five years and her crown was within warranty.  Now I’ve got $1,000 I don’t know what to  do with!

The latest rage is “smart TV’s” capable of handling the internet.  I recently purchased a regular HDTV saving myself $500.  If I chose not to take the “smart feature”, does that mean my TV is “dumb”?

Stay warm!

Love,

Dad

 

 

Today is Friday the 13th in the year 2013.  It is a good thing I am not superstitious.

My friendly “oral surgeon” matched me up with a cadaver (a corpse).  They took bone fragments out of the cadaver and are using  them to grow more bone mass in my jaw after they extracted my tooth.  I have part of a dead man inside me.  Now I’ll probably make  “bone headed” financial decisions.

During the neighborhood Christmas party, my neighbor made me aware that his family is really into baseball.  All of his children have played baseball. My neighbor also coaches baseball (it reminded me of my Dad).  I can relate to all the baseball stuff.  Somehow we got to talking about baseball gloves.  I know it sounds boring but a glove is a very personal thing.  The new baseball gloves are huge in size and made out of soft leather.  As a kid, Rawlings was the leading supplier of baseball gloves.  Gloves were on the “smallish” size and the leather was very stiff.  To condition a new baseball glove, you would put a baseball in it’s pocket, tie a string around the glove keeping the baseball centered.  You would then throw the brand new glove in a bucket of  water for 24 hours.  After air drying, the glove would be slightly softer and shaped to receive a baseball better.  And then, after all the water conditioning, you had to rub a stinky, absorbant oil (called Neetsfoot oil) into the glove to soften the leather and make it more plyable.  You never forget the smell of Neetsfoot oil.  My neighbor knew exactly what I was talking about.  We shared memories.  I guess we are bonded for  life.

Just a note on “excess”.  Alabama football coach Lou Saban makes $5.3 million per year .  Last year his team won the National College Football Championship for the second year in a row.  He did not get a raise after the stellar performance.  Saban feels he is not appreciated.  So Mr. Saban has been looking around for a better situation.  Texas is considering pay him $8 million per year.  I bet Alabama offers him $8 million.  It ain’t about money folks.  Just pay me one year at $5.3 million.

Love,

Dad

 

That is what I am!  A social butterfly.  I look for every occasion to meet new people and interact with my fellow man.  Our neighborhood elite organized a Christmas party for Saturday night consisting of “house to house” visitations.  One house did appetizers, one did the main course and one finished with desserts.  I got to talk to the neighbors I never talk to, while the guys kept checking their cell phones for the score of college football games.  There were car salesmen, lawyers, insurance representatives and even a few that worked for a living (employed by industry like Kimberly Clark).  This process is called bonding!

I went to my dentist today to have a filling placed in one of my teeth (I have been waiting since my surgery to do this).  There was the possibility that I would also need a new crown if the tooth reconstruction was too big.  Halfway through the procedure I was told that the root canals were cracked and the tooth had to come out.  My options after having the tooth extracted are to go toothless, do a “bridge between teeth”, do an implant or, like the NFL athletes, design a tooth that pops in or out, depending on whether I am running for a touchdown or sitting in an “easy chair”.  Some days go downhill!  This was one of them.  Hey, I’ve got my new neighborhood friends “to keep me warm”.

The Packers are alive by a thread.  They really need to win their remaining 3 games.

The UW Badger’s basketball team is rated #4 in the country.  That is rarified air.

The light on my BMW dashboard is on again, alerting me I need service soon.  I think it is for a filter replacement to the “cabin”.  Really!

And so it goes.  Christmas Eve is in two weeks!

Stay warm.

Love,

Dad

It was Tuesday morning.  A wet snow was falling.  I felt and heard a distant rumbling.  I looked up at the time being flashed on the ceiling by my atomic clock.  It read 1:53 A.M.  I jumped out of bed to see what was the matter.  It was a cute little man driving a red truck with a plow on the front.  Yep, it was Grasshopper No.3 plowing my driveway for the first time this snow season.  He told me several weeks ago, “Dad, I will take care of you”.  He did!

Your Mom dedicated Wednesday to decorating the house for “the season”.  She waived her wand, sprinkled a little pixie dust and suddenly it looks like Christmas.  Christmas figurines, candles and memorabilia from Christmas past.  And then there are the lights.  Lots and lots of lights.  The Electric Power Company called to thank me for using extra power.

The Green Bay Packers play Sunday at noon.  Temperatures are supposed to be 17 degrees and some wind.  Oh, yeah!  There is also snow predicted.  Normally, with Rogers out, I wouldn’t give the Packers a chance, but the wimpy Atlanta Falcons are coming in and they are used to playing in an indoor stadium.  I think the Pack has a chance.

I am sure you guys are aware of the phenomenon, but I am new to the game.  I ordered replacement checks from my local bank account.  I was told that I could pay $11 for priority shipment (2-3 days), $5 for express shipment or I could use the “standard shipping option”, which was free but it might take 11-12 days.  I,  of course, took the “free”.  The checks arrived in 5 days.  Really?  Somebody is making a bundle on shipping options.  I experienced the same thing on Amazon orders.

Stay warm.

Love,

Dad

Thursday is Grandson Mitchell’s birthday.  He turns “sweet 16”.  Yeah, that describes Mitchell…. Sweet.  Now, at age 16, he is entitled to drive, but he doesn’t seem too excited about the extra freedom.  Happy Birthday Mitchell.

We did the “St. Anna Supper Club thing” Saturday night.  I strayed from my limited “red meat” diet, but it was worth it.  When I get to heaven, I intend to  request rib eye steak, medium rare.  The St. Anna prices do seem to keep inching up, but people don’t seem to care.  Me neither.

I carried our artificial Christmas tree up from the basement yesterday.  It looked really ragged after 15-20 years.  I think we got our money’s worth.  I took my nap yesterday and woke up to find your Mom bought a brand new artificial tree from Steins.  Now it needs to be assembled.

Tomorrow I get my first serious “fitting” for a new hearing aid.  It will enable me to hear everything.  It is part of my quest to breathe (heart operation), chew (dental work), hear (hearing aids) and see (after a cataract removal).  When I  was 20 years old, we didn’t have health insurance.  We were lucky that we didn’t have any serious health issues, but medical costs didn’t seem to be as outrageous as they are now.  The doctor for delivering the first 2 Grasshoppers was $75.  Now it is $5000.

A special ‘Thank You’ to Grasshopper No.1, who snuck me real ‘hamburger based’ dressing from her Thanksgiving.  The dressing was kind of like the rib eye steak from St.Anna.  Indulging once in awhile is okay.

Cold by the weekend.  Bundle up!

Love,

Dad

 

Grasshopper No.2 hosted Thanksgiving.  All the food offerings were healthy!

I always wanted to be taller.  5′ 10″ is short for most athletes (I consider myself an athlete).  Grandson’s Grant and Mitchell are changing tradition.  Grant measures slightly over 6″ 3″ and his brother Mitchell is over 6′ 1″.  Our family will never be the same.

Mitchell is a starting forward/center for the JV high school basketball team.  He actually beat out a 6′ 7″ “dude”.  He can not dunk the basketball but he can get his hand over the rim.

Staying on the subject of Grandsons, Wednesday was Tommy’s birthday.  This year his birthday was really close to Thanksgiving so the celebration gets “spread out”.  Happy birthday Tommy.

Our Thanksgiving meal was arranged around the Green Bay Packer game.  That plan never works right because of the complexities of food preparation and it always takes longer to eat than planned.  As it turns out, the Packers sucked and eating was a better alternative.

We traveled over to Madison Wednesday and during the day (as it got colder) my dashboard icon for low tire pressure came on.  Having just changed to snow tires, I figured that the tire company screwed something up.  The tires looked okay.  Several years ago, I had the warning of low tire pressure and it turned out to be the tire in the trunk (our spare).  It dawned on me that our car is always kept in a protected garage at temperatures that are above freezing.  The spare tire temp had probably dropped to 5 degrees.  Pressure drops with temperature.  Yep, the spare tire pressure was low again.  Years ago when things were simple, I would not even have known spare tire pressure was low.  Is it really a big deal?  I hate it when dashboard warning icons come on.

And so it goes.  I did my first snow blowing this morning.

Tomorrow is the “football game of the year”.  Alabama and Auburn.

Love,

Dad