Jingle Freekin Bells!

If you are from a foreign country and you have never experienced the Holidays in America you have to come do it because it is insane.

I have never really watched the holidays from a distance before but as I get older and things are no longer as nutsy I have a different perspective, I get it.

The holiday becomes about seeing my kids, friends and family.

That's all it really should be.

Everyone hopes to slow it all down and make it a small, quiet time to reflect on blessings and how wonderful life is, and how we can be charitable to others.

If we don't have a greater meaning than buying each other things what good is it.

America, as I have mentioned is the marketing capital of the world and always will be .

The feeling is I don't have enough, people on t.v. ,radio and the Internet are telling me to buy stuff. Hurry don't wait we even run our financial models off of the consumer.

What if the financial model was that if we are charitable and don't spend as much we are being frugal an smart about what we are doing.

How about we take half of what we spend on each other at Christmas each year and give it to the charity of our choice.

Wouldn't that be wonderful.

Then our hearts would swell with the true joy and spirit they were meant to.

Oh boy I am getting carried away now I have to stop at the bakery ,and go to the mall and the booze store and run and get the tree today and put it up, take the dog to the vet , deliver gifts and run some other errands.

Hurry!!!!!!

I love the love of Christmas not sure how I feel about the craziness?

May the season be full of family,friends and love.

BTC

Talk about things changing.

In the short time since I last wrote my Son got married and my Daughter is getting married.

Wow, talk about stuff happening quickly. The world can change around you very fast.

If only I had Martin Short to organize these weddings. Actually my wife ,daughter in law and daughter are really good at it.

I just stand back and watch the whole thing happen.

Weddings are moments in time which take a year or more sometimes to plan.

America is an amazing marketing miracle.

If I was young I would certainly go into marketing ,as the underdeveloped world is not one millionth as good at it as we are.

We are the completely developed being of marketing.

We can convince you that you need or want something that is of no real use or that we will never use.

We can convince you that something really bad for you will change your life and that it is inherently good when it really is bad.

We are so good at it that reality becomes what we want it to be.

Think about that?

Anyway I majored in marketing and other than personality selling didn't really use it.

It is a fascinating field and with the data now available it is an endless possibility if you think about it.

BTC

I suppose life is funny!

You have to laugh or you would never make it. You cant go into Starbucks without seeing some very strange people.

Not only do you have to speak a foreign language Buckeeze, with words like Grande and Vente

and Mocacheeto. I made that one up.

It feels so less than manly. I cringe each time I go in to one.

Why did they market the coffee with new names and styles.

very original actually and it certainly worked.

I suppose it's the times and the flavor.

The market changes with each generation. I am now addicted to Grandee peppermint maccachito( Spelled Differently than above). Have no idea how to spell that or how to stop drinking them.

They taste so damn good.

Filled with sugar and syrups and chocolate and whipped cream.

I have resisted Starbucks until I tasted one of these and then I now go a few times a week for one.

Anyway coffee is not the same and not sure how I will cope with this as I go forward.

BTC

Hate myself for going there.

Spring time and Memories of my Dad.

As Spring comes I get thoughts of my Dad and many stories he has told me about his playing days at Caldwell High School.
He played baseball in the 30s and was a catcher.
He told a great story about Coach Bonnell coming to get him in last period the day of every home game. He would walk down town with him to the butcher shop and they would pick out a piece of meat .
The meat would go in the catchers glove for padding as the gloves had no padding .
By the end of the game he would have juice dripping down his arm and it would smell and distract the other players on the other team.
Ha
Just one of those stories that touches my heart.
Thanks ,
POP

Heading to Surf trip.

I have been going on a surf trip for the last 5 years, every year.
The trip has grown, and we had 12 guys this year.
This entry is about the insanity of the airlines ,and how things get worse instead of better ,regarding air travel.
The paradigm should change, and to quote the famous Arthur Ashe 'Change a losing game."
We were leaving from JFK early one morning and as we taxied out we were 2nd in line when the Captain came on the speaker and said the following. " There has been a missile launch" then he paused for a few seconds and finished his sentence with "at cape Canaveral."
O.K.
There are things that are stupid and things that are ridiculous.
I am not sure which this fits, but probably both.
Then we proceeded to have to take another route on our trip, which included a additional fuel journey back to the terminal , we took off almost 2 1/2 hours later.
Once in the air the airlines continues to amaze with the new credit cards only lunch menu.
This is so employees don't handle cash or have to make change.
Snacks are free ,but meals all have to be run through a computer machine and cards are rejected and it takes 3 hours for food service on the plane.
Buy the time you land you are perhaps served and perhaps not.
If you sit in the back of the plane you can starve to death, as the trip progresses.
How about charging $20.00 and just giving everyone a meal.
If $20.00 makes you not go on the trip then would you not go if it costs $620.00 round trio instead of $600.00 .
The airline industry has not done well ever.
I cannot remember when they were financially sound .
The industry must charge for what they provide, but management must change the paradigm completely.
It isn't working very well.
How about security an the hassle .
With all the smart people in our nation you would think we could figure out a machine that you can walk through without taking half of your clothes off .
It's insane.
I realize there are concerns, and we have to make it safe ,but there must b a better way.
I don't have the answer so I don't like to criticize, but I feel like there are smart people who can figure this out.
Regardless of this, we had a great trip although the boys from Washington DC had brought their surfboards and they never arrived.
The boards got shipped to Houston ,and we were in the Virgin Islands . NOT EVEN CLOSE!
Despite their promise to deliver the boards the next day, they never arrived ,and the boys had to pick them up on the way home ,and travel home with the boards they never got to use.
UGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regardless the trip was epic and we really had a once in a life time trip, surfing great waves in a beautiful setting.
I am back writing and have many topics to write about.
BTC

Let me clarify why we are in trouble!

We are in trouble musically.
I watched the Grammy's last night.
We are not short on talent or the number of musicians who are writing well and performing .
We are making a mockery of the art with all the pyrotechnics,outfits and special effects .
Not necessary.
I like that we are back to singing and actual writing and people performing with great voices.
I hate the hype and I guess that is part of the show .
They are artists after all, I understand the need to be different, and create new environments to perform music and make it fun .
I just think they over do it that's all.
Jamie Fox doesn't need voice enhancement and his outfits to go to the sky.
lady Gaga doesn't have to be more outrageous than Elton himself .
Anyway the music wasn't bad but the pomp was little much.
With that being said I thought the selections were pretty realistic and that talent was truly recognized.
Yea!
Time for new music and new directions.
BTC

Martin Short ,One of the greats.

So many of the great comics of our time came from Canada.
There is something about the Canadian sense of humor.
John Candy, Martin Short, Mike Myers to only name a few.
Anyway the point is ,Martin Short was hosting Regis this morning and the topic of the TV show Jersey Shore came up in the conversation.
Martin coined a phrase that put the whole thing in a "Nut Shell." To quote the great Mike Myers.
When discussing all the reality shows that now are everywhere on television,he said the following.
"I don't see a reason to Celebrate Ignorance."
I presume it is my age and demographic that make me feel the same way. I am not the audience that TV is after. I understand that, but the shows are so awful, and contribute so to the dumbing of America. I just don't understand why we are fascinated by the lowest denominator.
Does it really make us feel better about our own lot in life .
I don't believe that for a minute.
I think it's raw fascination with the Ignorant behavior.
We have much better things to do than idle waste.
How about reading a book or having a conversation with a friend ,or a person who you can learn from.
Anyway I know I am sounding like a grandfather, although I am not one yet.
Pick up a book , or exercise or take a walk.
I am trying to ignore the whole phenom ,yet I defend the right of those who enjoy it .
BTC

Change for change sake is Stupidity !

"Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it."

- Ronald Reagan


I was right about the American people righting the ship .
They know when the sails are too full.
Now the brilliant government ,and our current leaders are attempting to tax profits and limit compensations of corporations who took stimulus moneys.
Fairly, if corporations have not repaid monies they should be limited in what they can do, but there are ways to do that without stifling capitalism.

Of course once wall street got wind of it, they had two huge slide days ,and profit taking was rampant. Wall street will create ways to make money ,it's what they do,they are very good at it, and they know how to defer compensation, and or give stock options , allow paydays to be when they want them.
They know hell is coming and they are buying ice lined boots.
The Administration is hell bent on wealth redistribution.
it is a bad practice.
it is counter intuitive to the American system, and we will rebel against this attitude again and again.
Get ready for the Change to Change.
It is coming.
BTC

Been so long since Ive Written!!!!!

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. "
Thomas Jefferson



I haven't written in so long I just thought I would catch up.
Christmas was great the day of ,but the lead up is nuts.
Just too frantic.
We complicated things, as we often do, by going away for a vacation 2 days after.
One of our favorite places.
We had a great time but its allot !
We are settling in for the real winter now, as the temp is 19 degrees.
Its a long winter ,but all good.
I suppose we are getting to the age when people leave in the winter to go to a warm climate for a few months.
The point of today's writing is that the very premise of the country of America was that the government is not supposed to impose costs on the people without the peoples say so.
Just because we elect representatives doesn't mean they can become arrogant enough to presume they act in our best interest without our permission.
Just because you are elected does not mean you can pass legislation, for the sake of what you desire or think the American people want.
How arrogant is that.
Even if you run on the premise of doing something you must open the process to have the debate prior to inflicting policy on the masses.
This is what was wrong with England when we left .
I hope the American people wake up, and respond as they always have in the past when either or party got to far to one side, and do not follow the will of the people .
They will I am sure of it ,as once you have lived truly free it is not easy to go the other direction .
That is the wonderful thing about freedom ,It frees you.
Ha