Rant #2,461: Drinking Muddy Water

I honestly did not think I would be here typing out this Rant this morning.

Yesterday was not a good day.

My 88-year-old father did not look good on Wednesday, and he even looked worse on Thursday.

My 80-year-old mother told me that he was not responding to her when she asked him to do something, and he appeared to have no vim and vigor and no energy at all.

Finally yesterday afternoon, he was not responding to her at all, nor was he responding to me.

It is not like he was in a coma or anything like that, but he had no strength to do anything much but lay wherever he was.

My mother finally got him to his favorite chair, but when dinnertime came, he could not get up from the chair to go to the kitchen table.

He seemed to be out of it and completely lackadaisical, but after a number of minutes of pleading with him, he finally had enough energy to get to the kitchen table.

But in those ensuring minutes when he simply could not move, we called emergency, and as he was eating, they checked him out top to bottom and determined that he was not well, and he was put in a local hospital.

Even when he was eating he did not look right, and we all knew something was wrong with him.

So he was carted off to the hospital in an ambulance, and I took my mother to the hospital to be with him.

Due to the coronavirus protocol, my mother was the only person who could go up and be with him, so I was on the outside looking in for several hours, simply sitting at a picnic table the hospital had in the parking lot, waiting for word on him. My sister bought some food for us to eat, and after that, I was just on my phone, doing what I normally do: looking up jobs, doing on Facebook, etc.

There really wasn't much else I could do.

Several hours later, I took my mother home, and that is the last we heard about him until late last night, when my sister called me--she, her husband and two of her sons rushed to the hospital when they heard what was happening--and told me that he had pneumonia, and that he was being a handful for the doctors and nurses there, ripping out anything he was attached to and getting up from bed without any help or authorization.

After my sister told me this, I went to bed. It had been a very trying day.

This morning, after I got up--I didn't sleep too well--my mother told me that my father had been placed in a room, had a blood transfusion, and that my mother would be able to sit with him from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., the only visiting hours possible during the pandemic. Again, I cannot go see him, but at least my mother can.

First though, we have to bring him his hearing aids and eyeglasses, which my mother was instructed not leave at the hospital but to bring home, which she did. But she cannot stay when we deliver these things to security, so then I have to bring her home, going a few hours later to drop her off there.

And that is where we stand right now, slightly before 7 a.m. in the morning.

My father has had pneumonia at least two or three times before during the past few years. As one gets older, it gets worse, so this is nothing to toy with.

I hope he gets better really soon, because I believe he still has a lot of life to live.

But, of course, that is out of my hands.

So that is my story on the final day of July.

Wish my father luck.

He is going to need it.

Have a good weekend, and I hope to speak to you again on Monday.

If not, you will know why.

Classic Rant #1,310 (October 27, 2014): How I Celebrate Halloween

Halloween is coming right up, on Friday of this week.

It just isn't the same holiday that I grew up with, and I will save another column to talk about that.

Today, I want to talk about how I celebrate the holiday.

I have started to make this an annual ritual, and I did it again this past Saturday night.

I watched "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," not only one of the greatest comedies of all time--as voted on by the American Film Institute (AFI)--but probably the greatest of all the horror/comedy movies.

This film certainly led the way to not only all of its Abbott and Costello sequels, but also to a number of other similar-type films, including, to a certain extent,  "Ghostbusters."

The Abbott and Costello film both revived their film careers and revived Universal Pictures, which might not still be around if not for this movie. It made so much money back in the late 1940s and early 1950s that it kept the studio afloat, and allowed Bud and Lou to star in a series of similarly themed films, some very good, some not so good.

The 1948 film sees the boys playing two dimwitted movers, who are hired to move two large crates to a house of horrors.

One crate supposedly has the remains of Dracula, the other the remains of the Frankenstein monster.

This all ties into the fact that Lou is enamored with a beautiful scientist, who just happens to be Dracula's assistant.

Once the crates are delivered, the boys unwittingly release both Dracula and the monster, and tied into Lou's relationship, Lou is being sized for his brain, which will be implanted into the monster by the evil doctor and her own, handsome assistant.

Most of the action takes place in Dracula's castle and at a costume party being held nearby, and at the end, Bud and Lou succeed in destroying both Dracula, and the monster, at least for the time being.

What leads up to all of this is not only clever, but hilarious, and while most of it revolves around the use of Lou's brain--which is supposedly superior to the one Dr. Frankenstein implanted into the monster in the first place--Bud is also part of the hilarity, as is Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolfman.

In his own Wolfman films, the character of Lawrence Talbot is to be pitied for his affliction; here, he is part of the hilarity. I am sure there are outtakes of this film that are as funny as the movie itself, and when Chaney, stone-faced as always, recites to Bud and Lou the reason why he fears the full moon at night, turning into a wolf, I am sure it took many takes to get it right. Just hearing him tell them this makes me laugh, and I am sure it made them laugh too.

Of course, on film, Lou says the proper reply to this supposed nonsense. As Chaney tells him that he turns into a wolf at night, Costello says, "So do a thousand other guys."

Universal took their most popular franchises, during a down time in their history, put them together, and came up with gold.

The film was so successful, and so well regarded, that is spawned several other "Abbott and Costello Meet ... " films, including movies where they met the Invisible Man (another terrific film), the Killer, Boris Karloff, and the Mummy.

Its success also saved the studio, which was back in the black with this movie.

As one of the few Abbott and Costello films without the use of any routines, it is really the dialogue that spurs the comedy and the action, and the boys are superb in their roles, as are Bela Lugosi, who supposedly had a tough time concentrating with all the craziness that went along working with Bud and Lou, and Glenn Strange as the monster, who handles an impossible role with aplomb, the best comedic Frankenstein monster until Fred Gwynne gave it his 110 percent on "The Munsters."

So I have made watching this movie my ode to Halloween, and even though I was a few days early, I felt it was perfect for viewing on Saturday night, so I watched it.

I must have seen this film 1,000 times already, but I laugh just as hard now as I did when I first saw the movie as a kid.

If you have never seen this movie, if you don't necessarily like Abbott and Costello, or if you want a quick 83 minutes to go by one night--or if you love the antics of the boys as much as I do--this is a must for the Halloween season.

The movie is that good, it really is.

It might not spook you, but it will certainly make you laugh, and put you in a perfect frame of mind to celebrate Halloween.


Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein by crazedigitalmovies

Rant #2,460: I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down

After months of getting absolutely nowhere with my job search, I felt that time was running out on me to find anything.

With my unemployment insurance nearing its end, and with absolutely no job prospects in sight, I decided to try to make it easier on myself, and I filed for retirement; early retirement, at age 63.

It is something that I absolutely, positively did not want to do, but the circumstances dictated it, so I did it, in spite of a voice in the back of my head telling me not to cave in just yet.

So I did it, and while that didn't mean that I stopped looking for proper, full-time work for myself--I still look each and every day and apply to jobs each and every day--it just took a little bit of the pressure off of me, because if I can't find anything, then at least I can pretty much dovetail into retirement.

I set my sights on a good, part-time job, and along with continuing to look for full-time work, I also started to search for part-time work too.

Unbeknownst to me, this did not lessen the pressure on me, it has only increased it, because, no matter what I do that seems to be right and correct, it all ends up being wrong.

In the entire 10-month nightmare that I have endured, I have a total of two face-to-face interviews and two phone interviews to show for my toil. Heck, I was even hired by the Long Island Ducks baseball team, but when the pandemic took care of their season, it shoved me to the curb, too.

But then suddenly out of the blue, I got a call from people who know me, know of my work during my nearly 24 years at my last job, and they were so encouraging that they wanted me that they made me feel good about myself and my talents once again.

They said they would get back to me, but it took about a month of waiting for that to happen, pretty much right before I was going to try and contact them.

I was referred to someone else, and a phone interview was set up, and I felt really good about myself and my decision to retire. It seemed to be a perfect fit, and I was looking forward to this interview like you look forward to your birthday.

(As an aside, I always felt it was so neat the way retirement was portrayed on the classic TV sitcom "Dennis the Menace," where the second Mr. Wilson was retired, but he had an income from being a freelance writer. As I grew older and I watched that show, I thought that that was where I would eventually be in my life, but, of course, I didn't think it would be at such a young age as I am today. Oh well ... .)

Anyway, I was looking forward to that interview, and then in the evening prior to the interview, I received an email saying it had to be postponed. That made me sad, but things happen, and we agreed on another interview date, and while I was upset--let's get this thing done already--I figured that maybe it would be worth the wait.

The interview date was set up for yesterday afternoon, and I was all prepared, with my pen and copy pad right by me, and just like I used to do when I was at work, I put all the particulars on the top of the page--the name of the person speaking to me, the time, the date, etc.--and I was ready to go.

Then late in the morning, my happiness was turned upside down again, as I received another email telling me that the interview needed to be rescheduled once again. I rescheduled it immediately, for Monday at 10 a.m., but the last time I looked, I had not received an email from the other side confirming our meeting.

Here is what I put up on Facebook yesterday afternoon:

"The first job interview of any kind thst I was scheduled to participate in this afternoon was once again postponed until next week.

It seems that I simply can't stand up for falling down.

Yes, I am a bit upset.

Running total: nearly 10 months out of work. And a grand total of two face to face interviews (pre-pandemic), where the job description was changed as I was being interviewed, and two phone interviews.

Again, this total was achieved during nearly 10 months, and after applying for more than 1,000 positions.

It appears that I have fallen and can't get up.

Yes, I have absolutely had it."

It is quite disheartening to be in this position, and then I read other posts--not in reply to mine, but elsewhere--basically calling those on unemployment "moochers" because we are happily taking the extra money that was provided to us and are sunning ourselves in the backyard, doing nothing to find another position.

I can't speak for other people, but let me tell you, in my case at least, the sunning in the backyard really hasn't happened.

I have given my all to the job search, have not been lazy about it in any way, shape or form, and I have tried everything--save throwing myself in the middle of the street to get noticed--to find suitable work, and even unsuitable work.

This has not been play time for me during the past nearly 10 months; maybe for others it has, but I have been struggling since Day One with this. Heck, even getting unemployment insurance was a hassle for me, because of a mistake made by the New York State Department of Labor more than 25 years ago.

I fought back at that, fought to find a job, and it has not gotten me anywhere.

And now, even though I believe I have done the right thing< i am back at square one, with nothing to show for my herculean efforts.

Heck, I, at least, deserved that extra money for what I have gone through.

Let's see if this phone interview ever materializes. I would put it at the same odds, 50-50, as the baseball season continuing through 60 games.

I often feel that I am at third base, with home plate just 90 feet away, but I simply never get a chance to score because those who should be getting me in are failing me.

Heck, at this point, I would love to cross home plate on a puny sacrifice fly, a wild pitch, a passed ball or on even an error.

Right now, home plate is just 90 feet away, but it might as well be 90 miles away the way that I am going ... .

Classic Rant #1,309 (October 24, 2014): Rock the Boat

It has taken me a bit longer to get off my family's recent cruise than I thought it would.

I didn't sleep very well the first few nights back home, and I think I missed the rocking of the boat--which in turbulent waters, really rocked a lot--and I felt as if I were on the boat still, as my body felt like it was rocking for a few days after our trip.

I guess that is what nine days on a cruise ship will do to you.

While on the ship, there was some down time, much of which we spent in our room, which was the size of a good-sized bathroom. Just imagine how big the actual bathroom was if the size of our room was that of a good-sized bathroom!

Anyway, whether it was during the day or in the evening, when we were back in our room, we had the TV on.

And what we watched on TV to pass some idle moments was pretty interesting.

Royal Caribbean does their TV different than Carnival. With Carnival, we seemed to get a satellite feed out of somewhere in Texas, and it was not repetitive, giving us new, fresh stuff to watch in those few idle moments we had aboard that ship.

On Royal Caribbean, we had international channels that were repetitive as all heck, showing the same things over and over and over.

We had CNN International, ESPN International, and some type of hybrids of the Food Channel, CBS, and a few other channels.

They did offer the American League playoff games and football, not reruns, but fresh showings of various games, if that was your fancy.

But I found most amusing their offering of various current TV shows, such as "Mike and Molly," "2 Broke Girls" and "The Big Bang Theory."

I hate these shows with a passion, but they were actually funnier when you did not understand the language.

Since there were more than 3,000 guests on board from about 40 different countries, these shows were not only offered in English, but in Spanish and German too.

Somehow, not knowing what the characters were saying made these shows funny, at least to me.

I don't know how many times on "2 Broke Girls" they said breast and boob, because honestly, I don't know what the Spanish and German translations of those words were, but it was funny to see such obviously American characters speaking these languages.

I remember as a kid, I would turn on our local Spanish channels, and would invariably get "Father Knows Best" and "Leave It To Beaver" dubbed into Spanish, and I found them to be funny not knowing what they were saying.

These were funny shows to begin with; watching them in Spanish made them hilarious to watch, in brief doses.

The local Spanish channels still dub in some of their product--mainly movies--but the old sitcoms are virtually gone from these channels, and they show much original programming these days, so seeing these shows on the boat dubbed into Spanish--and German--was a treat, bringing me back to my younger days.

Yes, I have a somewhat warped sense of humor.

Try watching "The Big Bang Theory" and see Sheldon explain the string theory to Penny--in Spanish and German.

Heck, it is way funnier than watching it in English, where I don't find it very funny at all.

Also, dubbing what these characters have to say into another language kind of misses the nuances of the characters when they speak in English.

I have watched "The Big Bang Theory" numerous times, as my wife enjoys the show.

The character of Sheldon is portrayed as something of an innocent, a brilliant person who has absolutely no social graces.

When the material is dubbed into Spanish and German, he sounds more like a bitter, petulant hermit than a brilliant scientist who knows his way around a laboratory better than a nightclub.

I found these things so funny that I recorded a few on my camera. Watch them and tell me what you think.

You might not find them funny at all, but I certainly did, allowing those idle minutes to waft away in no time.

Speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #2,459: The Loco-Motion

Yes, these are crazy days and crazy times for our country and our world.

As we spoke about yesterday, the Miami Marlines have been infected by the coronavirus, and their season might be in jeopardy.

The last I looked, there were now 17 positive tests, and one positive test of a Philadelphia Phillie employee, for a total of 18 positive tests revolving around the team from Florida.

Their season as been suspended until next week, and the Phillies have also had their own season suspended for a few days, although reports are that no other personnel from the team has tested positive.

This also involves other teams. While the Phillies' season was put on temporary hold, the New York Yankees were supposed to face them in a home-and-home four-game series, and that has also been postponed. The Yankees will now face the Baltimore Orioles on the road, and then finally come home to face the Boston Red Sox in their home opener on Friday.

How did the Marlins catch this bug, and why are they the only team that has been hit hard by the virus? Although we may never know for sure, you can bet that the team's management darn well knows how this happened, and who committed the breach, but they won't ever say, and maybe that's a good thing.

But it really cannot happen again, to the Marlins or to any other team in the league operating during the pandemic.

Baseball is obviously being looked at by the NBA and NHL, who are using "bubble" situations to continue their seasons, where all teams participating play in a specific place--or in the NHL's case, two places--and their movement is restricted. We know that there have been a few breaches of this protocol, but they were quickly addressed and didn't lead to much of anything.

The NFL is another matter. Like MLB, they do not believe that they need to play in a bubble, so there will be movement. But you just know that they are studying what has happened to the Marlins very seriously, and they will try to prevent that from happening in their league as much as possible.

But like with the other leagues, there will be breaches, and they must be addressed quickly, with the hope that like what has happened in the NBA, it doesn't lead to a domino effect like evidently happened with the Marlins.

And on another subject--

I have been getting messages and posts on Facebook trying to convince me that as a Jew, I must support the Black Lives Matter movement.

And what is even more disturbing is that I am receiving these messages from my fellow Jews ... or at least people who I thought were Jewish, but because of their stance, I really and truly have to wonder.

These are coming me all of a sudden as if a command has been deemed by some group or organization that NOW is the time to unleash this salvo, trying to get Jews into the BLM fray.

Well, it might work for some people, but it ain't working for me.

BLM would probably be the last group I would support right now, because I believe any support of this group gives a thumb's up to anarchy and a total dismantling of our country.

And as a Jew, I can never, ever support a group that is so heinous in reference to Judaism and Israel, a group that supports anti-Semites like Louis Farrakhan and Ilhan Omar and Linda Sarsour, a group that supports the annihilation of the Jewish state.

I don't know why I am getting these messages all of a sudden, but I can sure figure it out.

The presidential election is just a few months away, and the "other side" is trying to line up as many supporters as possible.

It is the old "strength in numbers" ploy, but in this case, the purveyors of this dreck are trying to get people like me to basically say, "Well, I don't agree on all of their points, but I will support them, because I do agree on some of their points."

Nope. It won't happen with me, since I agree on none of their points: anti-white, anti-police, money laundering for the Democrats, the use of intimidation tactics, the lack of respect, pro-anarchy ... on top of all the issues they have with Jews and Israel.

Sorry, you have the wrong guy to be trying to sell your snake oil to, because I don't waste my time on utter nonsense created not to unite us, but to divide us further.

But these people persist, trying to show me the "error" of my ways.

Look in the mirror. If there is any error, please ask yourself why you are supporting a terrorist group and helping to make their supposed stand mainstream.

We truly have an ignorant culture right now, a culture that has been programmed to jump on bandwagons and let others think for them, even if it is so obviously wrong.

I have never jumped on any bandwagons, and at 63 years of age, I am certainly not going to change my stance at this point in time.

So to those who want me to join the BLM bandwagon: stop, stop, stop trying to get me on your carousel. BLM has about as much to do with "black lives matter" as the KKK does, and I wouldn't join up with them, so I am certainly not going to join up with you.

Enough already.

Classic Rant #1,308 (October 23, 2004): Nothing Much To Say

I have nothing much to say today, just some random thoughts on a trio of topics.

Here goes:

Ebola, Ebola, Ebola: This is a terrible disease, don't get me wrong. Heck, I was scared when I heard while cruising that a cruise ship had a possible Ebola passenger as a guest, and breathed a sigh of relief when I found out that it was not on the cruise ship my family and I were on.

But don't you think that social media and the TV news might have blown the whole thing out of proportion?

Yes, we have to protect ourselves from this disease, and yes, we should secure our borders a bit more against those coming from countries where the disease is spreading in epidemic proportions.

But it seems that everywhere you turn, it is Ebola, Ebola, Ebola.

Our finest doctors, I do believe, will come up with a cure for Ebola, much like they came up with a cure for measles. It will happen.

I had measles as a child, a few years before they came up with a vaccine to rid us of the worry this disease causes. I was a little guy, quarantined for several days, and came out of it smelling like a rose.

Back to Ebola ...

But if you listen to the media, you would think that catching this thing is as easy as getting the common cold.

It isn't, and the regular media and social media should stop perpetuating this myth that we are all a handshake away from contracting this disease.

Yes, we should be aware of it, but the frenzy around it has become a bit much, I have to say.

Royals Even World Series: Heck, the way the World Series is being covered in New York, I bet people who live here didn't even know that it was being played.

For an area that is so Yankees-dominated, an area that loves the Mets even though they are pretty awful, a region where baseball is truly king year-round with coverage, it is so funny--and sad--at how the World Series is being covered here.

If it is even mentioned at all, it is usually behind coverage of two bad pro football teams, and even the new hockey season and burgeoning basketball season.

On Tuesday, when the championship series between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants began, I was watching the local WCBS news program in the early morning, and there was absolutely no mention of the game at all.

Not a single mention.

Have we, in this region, become so blase about the Series because one of our local teams isn't in it?

Are we so spoiled that if the Yankees aren't in the playoffs, at least, we don't care about who is battling for the championship?

How said that really is.

Survivor Begins Another Season: Talk about being blase, does anyone other than myself even watch this show anymore?

It is the same basic premise that was developed from the first show of this series all those years ago to the current season: a group of "castaways" is placed in some remote place and has to basically fend for themselves, voting off those who aren't worthy.

This show has had some added features over the years, but basically, it is the same show that is has been from its beginning to right now.

Richard Hatch, anyone?

CBS has tried to reinvigorate this show by occasionally including D- and even E-list celebrities to the castaway mix--this year it was former controversial baseball player John Rocker, who was voted off pretty early based on his reputation--and it really has not worked at all.

And yes, you do see skin, and I guess that gets a lot of people going.

But at this point in time, just tune in on various shows on cable TV and you will see a lot more of that.

Survivor needs to take a giant step, have the next castaways try to survive in a frigid climate, and see how it plays out.

You won't have the skin, but you will have more game playing, more masterminding, more gamesmanship and more for the audience to grab onto than some guys and gals in their underwear.

Well, I guess I did have something to say after all.

That is really all I have to say today, just bits and pieces of stuff that I have been able to look at now that my family and I have returned home.

How's by you?

Rant #2,458: Optical Illusion

As a long-time baseball fan, I look forward to the Major League Baseball season each and every year, with all of its twists and turns in a 162-game regular season schedule played out over 180 days.

And then we got the coronavirus, and our lives were thrown into turmoil.

We had to figure out what we had to do to survive this, and maybe beat this thing, and sports were kind of pushed to the background.

We did what we had to do, some places more successfully than others, and for better or worse, we did not let this scourge stop us from living our lives, certainly not to the fullest, but at least to some extent of the current reality.

Sports tried to get back into our lives, too, and through many ups and downs, baseball, and soon basketball, hockey and football, will enter our lives during the coronavirus era.

But just like in our normal lives, you can take every possible precaution, and it simply isn't enough to keep things pandemic-safe, and that is what happened in Major League Baseball yesterday.

The Miami Marlines had just finished a road series with the Philadelphia Phillies, and after taking two of the three games in Philadelphia, and feeling good about themselves, they received the ultimate rain on their parade: tests found that 14 Marlins players and personnel had tested positive for the virus, and it threw a tizzy not only into the team, but into other teams around the league.

The Marlins were supposed to play the Baltimore Orioles in their home opener, and that game was postponed, and also, the New York Yankees were supposed to play the Phillies in Philadelphia, but that game was also postponed, what with the visiting clubhouse just having been used by the infected Marlins.

In fact, today's Orioles-Marlins game has already been postponed, and no one would be surprised if the Yankees-Phillies tilt is also postponed.

You just can't be too careful.

Or can you?

I watched a few games over the weekend, and while I did see most coronavirus protocols being employed, a lot of them weren't.

I saw high-fives, I saw low-fives, I saw hugging and hand slaps on the head and I definitely did not see social distancing being practiced in the dugouts.

And what about what I didn't see?

Not to cast aspersions on the young Marlins team, but were all protocols being followed when they were off the field? Did someone desire different food than was being served, and ventured outside when they told not too? How about the need for ... companionship. Did anyone venture outside looking for a hookup?

Don't laugh. These incidents have already been documented to have happened in the National Basketball Association's "bubble" complex in Orlando, Florida, on a few occasions, so why couldn't it have happened to the Marlins, too?

Again, the term "boys will be boys" has taken on a new, even more nefarious meaning during the pandemic, and while I am not saying conclusively that the Marlins were following that mantra, the outbreak suggests that maybe they did, but just as easily, maybe they didn't.

Look, this was bound to happen anyway, even though we treat our sports stars like they are some kind of gods dropped off from heaven, with their ability to do things on the court or field that we can only dream about doing.

During the pandemic, we are seeing, maybe for the first time ever, that these players are people just like we are. They put on their pants the same way we do, and yes, they can get the coronavirus just like we can.

They are truly no different than we are, and maybe that is the good byproduct of the pandemic, that we are all in the same boat living with this thing swirling around, although media and politicians refute that, saying some groups are more susceptible than others.

They are right when talking about people with pre-existing conditions, but they are wrong when talking about relatively healthy human beings, and what happened to the Marlins certainly put an exclamation point on that fact.

Even young, healthy people can get this thing, a scourge which does not discriminate about who it is going to infect.

The hope now is that one of the infected Marlins get it really bad,and that they will all be back to doing their jobs in two weeks or so.

The hope is that none of the Phillies picked up the disease, and that their locker rooms and stadiums don't have an residue from the virus.

And the hope is that this will be the only ourbreak in MLB, and that they can move on and learn from this one ... although if I were a betting man, I would put down my money on the second such occurrence, and the third such occurrence, and so forth.

It will happen again, no matter what precautions are taken to ensure that it does not happen again.

The coronavirus is a stubborn virus, and while most of us are doing all we can to prevent us and loved ones and friends from getting it, it still hangs around, waiting for its next victims.

It isn't going away as fast as it came, that's for sure, and we can only hope that our scientists around the world can develop something that will at least mitigate its effects.

The real hope is for a cure, but that might be far off or not far off, depending on who you listen to.

We can only hope that what happened to the Marlins is nothing but an optical illusion, a little dent in our collective armor, but somehow, I don't think that it is.

What is happening in Texas, in Florida and in Arizona tells me that it is a bit more than a dent in our armor, but let's see what happens.

Classic Rant #1,307 (October 22, 2014): Vote For ... Prvacy

This would have been a great blackout sketch on the old "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" show, or perhaps on the current "Saturday Night Live," but it did happen, it doesn't appear as if it were staged, and I must say, I found it quite amusing.

President Barcack Obama voted early in the Chicago mid-term elections, and he actually showed up at a polling place to vote.

As in many states, the place where you vote is open. You go up to a podium-like structure, place your vote, and leave. It isn't like it used to be, where you go under a curtain and do what you want without anyone seeing you.

Anyway, the President makes his vote, and he is doing so next to a young woman who is also making her vote.

The woman's boyfriend sees this, walks past both of them, and basically tells the President, "Don't touch my girlfriend."

The President does not seem totally amused by this, but he takes it good naturedly, pretty much telling the boyfriend that he had no intention of doing anything to the man's girlfriend.

It is a pretty funny exchange, and you really have to see it to get the full thrust of it. I have provided it below so you can watch it yourself.

At the end, the President actually does give the woman a peck on her cheek, saying something to the effect that "Now he really has something to say," with the kiss and all.

This encounter made me laugh, but also made me think a bit.

Why were any cameras turned on the President as he voted to begin with?

Votes are supposed to be private, and as I said, used to be done behind a curtain.

Why was he recorded making his vote?

Sure, you can't see who he is voting for, but would a camera be turned on him if he were in the old fashioned voting booth?

Perhaps, but you would only be able to see his legs and him emerging from the booth. Here, you actually see him making his vote.

And what about the girlfriend of the man? You actually see her making her vote, too?

Is this right?

And I am sure it also makes some people believe that the whole thing was staged, which I don't think it was, but it could have been.

The President's approval rating has dropped dramatically in recent weeks, with his handling of the ISIS and Ebola crises highly scrutinized.

Could this episode have been staged to make him appear more human, more next-door neighbor-like, more appealing to the American public?

I don't think so, but you know what?

Videotaping people making their vote in polling places really should be banned to begin with, especially now that they are so open, without that curtain.

It really is no one's business to see someone voting, and it is bad enough that you record the President doing so, but what about a supposed innocent being recorded doing her civic duty?

What happened to privacy?

So yes, it was an amusing episode, but it should be the last such episode of its kind.

Rant #2,457: I Should Be Laughing

Ha Ha.

Yes, I should be full of glee today.

That phone appointment that I had postponed this past week has been rescheduled for this Wednesday afternoon, so maybe, just maybe, things are looking up for me.

They better be, because the enhanced unemployment goes back to regular unemployment this week, meaning the extra cash that unemployed people like myself were given to try to stay afloat is done and over with.

And Congress, as usual, cannot come up with a plan to make things right.

Personally, I am not asking them to give us the same amount that they had been giving us for the past several weeks.

But it is clear that this pandemic is not going away, many of our jobs have vanished and are not coming back at all, and despite supposed job growth, there simply aren't many positions out there that are worth filling.

I have already made my bed to lay in, as I will be retiring come September; but can you really expect people to take a 75 percent pay cut from their previous, working salary just to say they have a job?

I don't think so, and if any new jobs are being offered, they are in the lower pay range, and you cannot ask people who made, let's say, $50,000 a year to take $15,000 a year, and that is without health benefits, without 401Ks, without anything added on to even try to make it attractive.

Well, a job is better than no job, isn't it? It is, but to take such a job after decades of moving up the ladder is absolutely demeaning, and a lot of people simply won't do it.

I am not saying that they are correct in their thinking, but I can certainly understand it. In my own career, this is literally the third time I have been unemployed during the past 40 or so years, and each time, to get back on the horse so to speak, I have taken positions that paid me much less than my previous one.

So I have been there, done that, and if I do get something, it will be the third time I have done this, but, of course, this time will be way different than the other times for me at least.

I have to tell you, I have seen these jobs being advertised ... heck, I have even applied for a few of them just to see what would happen. And I have to tell you, I have yet to hear from any of these places.

So it is clear to me that even if these jobs exist--which I have my doubts about to begin with--they simply aren't looking for people like me.

And then what about people like my son?

He sits in forever limbo here, on perpetual furlough, and we just hope that he has a job to go back to when his place of business gets back to business.

I just hope he is not being strung along, only to be told that in this new world, he has nothing to go back to.

He will have wasted weeks and months sitting here waiting and waiting for the call. What do you tell him if his job does not exist anymore?

Right now, it does. He has been told that it does, so we have to go with that thinking.

But yes, it is depressing.

I should also be laughing with glee at Major League Baseball, with the season finally started and there actually being something to watch on television, but I have found that even watching these games is depressing.

First, we have to be rattled into our brains about social justice and racism and hatred and all the other reasons our country is so horrible as the broadcast plays out.

We have to see players kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem, which is their right to do but smarts of misinformation and quite frankly, utter stupidity.

We have to have the suddenly mainstream Black Lives Matter shoved in our faces, as if no other lives matter than black ones (and by the way, I WILL NOT go by the way of current journalistic practices here, which all of a sudden is capitalizing the "b" in black when talking about race, but keeps the "w" in white lower case while talking in the same context. It is wrong, it is condescending, and it is pandering, and I won't be part of that in any way, shape or form.

Anyway, then we have to sit through the games, which have no electricity without fans in the stands, and without announcers calling the games in person.

Crowd noise has been added, some teams are allowing cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands, and there has been talk of digitally placing fans in the stands so, I guess, us stupid fans can "see" the energy.

I don't buy it at all, but I guess this is the best we are going to get, at least now, with baseball and the other major sports, so we have to like it or lump it.

Me, I guess I am lumping it, but being a true fan of the game, I guess I am watching it, too.

Believe me, watching even this diluted baseball season is better than watching the network news shows ... you talk about pandering ... goodness, I simply cannot believe what I am watching from news outlets that are supposedly reporting the news rather than making personal commentaries on what they consider to be newsworthy.

Yes, Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite are both turning over in their graves at what the network news has become. When I see Kanye West's mental problems as a major news story, I know that we have fallen off the cliff already.

So yes, I should be laughing, but I guess I'm not because there really isn't anything to be laughing about.

Steve Martin once said, "Comedy is not pretty," and related to the current time, he is so right.

I just need someone to slip on that proverbial banana peel, and fall on their tuckis, and then, maybe I will laugh out loud again.

Classic Rant #1,306 (October 21, 2014): The Great Return

My family and I are back from vacation, and what a vacation it was.

We went on a cruise with Royal Caribbean--the Explorer of the Seas was our ship--and no, we were not on the cruise liner that had the supposed Ebola patient on it--that was on a Carnival ship.

But outside forces did greatly impact our trip.

We were supposed to go to Bermuda, to St. Maarten, to Puerto Rico and to Haiti, but we never got to St. Maarten, and although we did get to the other stops, the weather changed our boat's schedule quite a bit.

Two hurricanes--one was Fay and the other I don't remember the name of (was it Gonzalo?), but it was the greater of the hurricanes--shifted us to a different course, forcing us to miss St. Maarten entirely.

We did get to Bermuda, but the winds there were up to 40-50 mph while we were there, and we basically blew right through there.

And if you have a cruise that is supposed to stop in Bermuda in the foreseeable future, well, you aren't going there. The second hurricane that I spoke about ravaged Bermuda just a day or two after we got there, and we were told that we were the last cruise ship to dock there before the storm, so Bermuda is off limits for the time being.

Anyway, the two hurricanes greatly affected our course, so we had to bypass St. Maarten, one of our excursions that we had planned and paid for. Being forced to do so since the weather diverted our course, the cruise liner then planned to spend two days in Puerto Rico, and we planned two excursions, but alas, this also was not meant to be.

As Gonzalo, or whatever it was called, moved about the ocean, we had to make just a brief stop in Puerto Rico, just a few hours. We managed to take one excursion around San Juan, and that was that.

We then took the boat to Haiti, and that was probably the highlight of the trip.

Although our time was also shortened there--we had to take a longer course back to reach home to avoid the hurricanes--we had more than enough time there to enjoy the island--the Royal Caribbean way.

What I mean is that the cruise company rents land from the Haitian government and basically sets up shop there on a few coastal miles of the island, so all you get to see is fun, frolic, swimming, and happy people.

As you know, Haiti was ravaged a few years ago, and even beyond that, it was and still is one of the poorest spots on the planet.

But if you get to see the island the Royal Caribbean way, you miss all that, which is fine with me.

My family and I were on vacation, not a Peace Corps mission.

We swam, we ate, and we had a very good time there.

And really, that is how the whole time on the ship went.

There was a lot of down time on the ship, but we did what we could to make the most of it.

We saw several shows--they had one almost every night--we swam in the boat's pools, and we ate to our heart's content.

It was a fun trip, overall a very good experience for us, and some well-earned time away from the daily nonsense we go through.

This was our third cruise. The first two were on Carnival, and the two cruise lines do deserve some comparisons.

If you want to have the ability to party 24 hours a day, you must pick Carnival. The atmosphere on those ships is party hearty, and if that is what you like, Carnival must be your choice.

If you want to relax, you choose Royal Caribbean. You can party plenty on that line, too, but it is more sedate. There is more down time when you have to make your own fun than on Carnival, but if you want to relax, this is the boat to pick.

We are already looking ahead to our fourth cruise, but we won't plan that for a while. Once you have been on a cruise, you cannot go back to a time share or just a stay at home vacation.

A cruise really is the ultimate vacation, and we would love to take another one in 2015 or 2016.

Anyone game to join us?

Classic Rant #1,305 (October 8, 2014): Vacation!

Yes, the time has finally come!

My family is going on its well-earned vacation starting tomorrow.

This has been a very, very tough year thus far.

The first 10 months or so have been a roller coaster ride for us, for sure.

We went from exhilaration--my son graduating high school--to the depths of despair--my auto accident.

It really has been tough, but now comes fun time.

We have really and truly earned this vacation.

We have worked hard, we have persevered through a lot of nonsense, and we are still standing.

Kudos to us.

And with vacation comes a break from writing this column.

It has not been a chore, but when I take a vacation, I really take a vacation, leaving behind all my normal stuff and experiencing new things, even for just a short while.

Thus, I probably will not be adding anything new to this column until October 21 or so.

But please don't forget about me, I will be back and probably raring to go on that date.

Vacations are meant to be short.

So as Annette once again wishes us off to the sunset, and the Go Gos warble us to take a break, I bid you a personal adieu, if only for a few days.

Speak to you later this month.

Rant #2,456: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Yes, that pretty much sums up how I feel today.

This "Rock of Gibraltar" is pretty much broken today, down to pebbles.

I was supposed to have my first job interview in months this morning--via telephone--but I found out late last night via email that it had been postponed.

Hopefully, we can get together next week, but even a postponement puts a damper on my spirits, makes me depressed, and makes me tell you guys who are lucky enough to be working during this horrid time in our lives, you do not want to walk a mile in my shoes.

Seemingly, whatever I do that is right and correct turns out, somehow, to become mush, and that is the polite term for saying what it becomes.

I can't win for losing, as the old saying goes.

Before I knew about this, I turned on the first Major League Baseball game of the shortened 2020 season, the contest between in New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals in our nation's capitol.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, our country's top infectious disease doctor who is a hero to some and a pariah to others, threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and almost in a god-like way, cemented the absurdity of being allowed to play professional sports in a pandemic, missed home plate by about 50 feet at the very least.

It was if he were cross-eyed, lined up his target, and let go.

And if that isn't a metaphor for what is going on now, I don't know what is.

The Yankees and Nationals took the field, and while it wasn't shown live, both teams decided to take a knee before the National Anthem was played, and then they stood while the anthem was played.

And on the pitcher's mound, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) insignia was paired with the MLB logo, and isn't it just so convenient that BLM spelled backwards is MLB and vice-versa?

More importantly, the country's national pastime has caved into the pandemic of madness, and now fully sanctions everything that BLM stands for, including anti-white, anti-police, anti-Semitism, and anarchy.

All of those elements are now clearly mainstream in this country, so why shouldn't MLB pretty much bow down to this lunacy like seemingly so many others have?

The game went on, and while I am happy to say that the Yankees won the rain-shortened contest by a 4-1 score, once again, nothing seemed right about anything what was going on there.

Without the crowd in attendance, there was absolutely no energy in the stadium, even though fake crowd noise--from the MLB 2020 video game, no less--was filtered in.

And through the incessant talking of the announcers--Matt Basgersian and former Yankee Alex Rodriguez, who the last time I looked, was still listed as a special advisor with the Bronx Bombers, so why is he doing this game?--it made it even more abundantly clear that this season that is is really the season that should never be. It is going to take a while to get used to the utter silence, and the incessant talking of the announcers over the din, but I give them credit for trying.

Let's go Yankees!

I guess.

But the mainstreaming of BLM really is disheartening.

This is a terrorist organization, plain and simple, backed by money from people who are out to destroy our country and our way of life.

Sane people see this, but unfortunately, due to conveniences like the Internet, we have become a lazy people as well, what with everything at our fingertips.

People have forgotten how to think, and quite frankly, how anyone can back an organization that stands for terror and intimidation like BLM is beyond me.

I guess in spite of my situation, and in spite of my advanced age, my thinking cap still works.

And with this thinking cap, and for what it is worth, I am now going to throw my backing, my support and my vote in November behind our president, Donald Trump.

Look, he is not the perfect president. He has faults a mile wide, and I do not support, and have never supported, many of the things he does.

Yes, he is brash, he takes things on a different plane, he is outspoken and he can be like sandpaper against a chalkboard at times ...

But he is also our best hope for the future, the future of America, the future of our country that we were born into and that we love and respect.

The far left and the Democratic Party are synonymous right now, with BLM fitting so nearly into their agenda and rhetoric.

I simply cannot, and will not, support an agenda that is so racist, that is so against law enforcement, and that has made anti-Semitism the rage of the day.

And I cannot support a platform that indoctrinates young people like it does, young people who have no clue about our history, and only want to change it to fit supposed current mores.

Anarchy is afoot in our major cities like Chicago, Portland and New York, and if that pleases you, then please vote Democrat in November.

Look at New York City, and its centerpiece, Manhattan. Because of an anarchist at the helm of the city as mayor and a governor who thinks he is the second incarnation of Mussolini, the grandest city on the planet has become a cesspool of lawlessness and graffiti and violence, with violent crime rising in the triple digits.

The mayor and governor's answer to this: paint a "mural" on the street right in front of Trump Tower, one of the most spiteful things I have ever seen done in our once great city.

If is as if the mayor and governor are competing Neros, both fiddling while the city burns to the ground.

President Trump will continue to fight this anarchy as president. He is running on a law and order platform, and that is what we need now, particularly in Democrat-run cities where all hell has broken loose and will continue to do so unless it is nipped in bud as soon as possible.

Joe Biden is nothing but a puppet for the far left. I mean, if nothing else, how long did it take his former boss, President Obama, to support his run for the presidency? That alone speaks volumes, but Biden is weak, and he will be a puppet president if God forbid he wins.

The country, and the world, is right smack dab in the middle of a pandemic right now, and scourge that we have no idea when it will end and we can get back to normalcy.

We should all be joined in the fight to eradicate this disease, but the disease has been politicized by both sides, which is wrong, wrong, wrong.

We should all join together, stop the idiotic marching--which has little to do with "black live matter" as it has to do with the "ideals" of BLM and its anarchistic tactics--and fight the good fight against the disease that doesn't discriminate against who it attacks--although that has also become part of the political discussion of this disease too.

We are ALL Americans ... Black, White, Yellow, Brown.

You know what they say--"United We Stand, Divided We Fall."

It is going to take a long time to heal this nation of its ills, but I do believe Donald Trump is the man to do this, because he clearly believes in the ideals that made this country what it was and what it can continue to be: the greatest country in the world.

Trump 2020.

You can hold your nose in November when you vote, but if you believe in America, Trump is the one who we should choose to try to fix our broken country.

I will vote for our president in November, and I do hope that he wins.

God forbid us all if he doesn't.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #2,455: Today's the Day

The day has finally come.

After months of talk, back talk, verbal volleys and a lot of nonsense, the 2020 Major League Baseball season begins today, with a few games scheduled and a full slate of games slated to be played this weekend and for the next 66 days.

Sixty games in 66 days ... if you were starved for baseball, then you will now be satiated through your gills with the national pastime.

It is going to be a different kind of baseball that we have ever seen--various rule changes to not only supposedly speed up the game but to also help the participants avoid coronavirus contamination--but I guess it will be baseball.

I guess.

To me, some of the rule changes are stuff of beer leagues--putting a runner on second base in a tie game, with the object to get the run home and shorten the game--but it is something we are going to have to live with during the pandemic, where to be honest with you, the playing of professional sports has received quite preferential treatment from our legislators, over other venues ... and as usual, it has to do with money.

But that being said, even the 60-game schedule is a bit ludicrous--it reminds me of the 64-game schedule I used to play when I played the dice-driven Strat-O-Matic baseball in days of yore--but it is the best MLB can do, so I guess we have to live with it.

I guess.

And with absolutely no fans in the stands of the stadiums that these games are played in, it makes for a surreal experience. Some teams are using cardboard cutouts of fans to fill some seats (yes, you have to pay for this), and others are using piped in music and fake fan chatter to make it appear as if someone is there to cheer on the home team.

But the silence is deafening.

And if it isn't enough that we have to live with an airborne enemy of who knows who's making, but we concurrently have to deal with the existence of an enemy we have created ourselves, the need to protest where no need exists.

You just know that some players will take a knee when the National Anthem is played at these games, surrendering themselves to the pandemic of hate and utter disregard for authority that supposedly peaceful groups like Black Lives Matter have made mainstream.

I wonder if these players, managers and coaches who take a knee really and truly understand that Black Lives Matter does not mean "black lives matter," although the narrative we are being force fed by politicians and the media says they are one and the same.

And I also wonder if participants in this nonsense truly understand why the Anthem is being played in the first place. First played at sporting events 100 years ago to commemorate the efforts of our soldiers in World War I, the anthem today commemorates our fighting forces around the world, wherever these men and women my be serving.

In the midst of an environment where going with the mainstream is what many people choose to do, even if it is so absurd, some players have actually come out and stated that they cannot and will not take a knee, because they have relatives and close friends in the fighting forces. They state that it is their teammates right to take a knee, but they simply cannot do it.

I think they get it better than most people, and we will see how this all plays out today.

And we will see how this unusual season also plays out.

I don't even think that it has to do as much with the talent level of teams on who will lose and who will win. It has more to do this season, than any other season, on who will be the most healthy ... and that means not only what team will avoid the usual injuries that take players out, but those teams who can ward off the coronavirus infestation the best.

Several key players have opted out of the season for coronavirus-related reasons--some are actually sick with the virus, others just don't want to take a chance of getting the virus for one reason or another (many have pregnant wives or are caring for newborn children), and you just know that more players will be joining this opt-out list as the season unfolds.

Whatever the case, this season will be interesting, and you can bet that you will see teams that were thought to be out of it since day one succeeding, teams that were supposed to be in it from day one failing, and other teams living up to their hype or lack of hype.

You will also see new starts emerge, existing stars continue their brilliance, and we might even see a .400 hitter (with a certain asterisk to follow that achievement).

Look, as a true baseball fan, I am starved for baseball. There is nothing on TV to watch, and even without fans in the stands, you can still root for your favorite team in the comfort of your home as you would during any season.

I would rather watch baseball than all the biased news shows and other garbage on TV right now, so baseball will be a real salve for people like me, healing unseen wounds that exist due to the effects of what our civilization is going through.

Sports have always been there to make us feel better, and to take away our constant gaze at what is happening in our world, so for about two and a half hours each game we watch, we can forget about the coronavirus and marches and treachery and fake news and phony politicians and just root, root root for the home team.

How can anyone not be for that?

Play ball!

Classic Rant #1,304 (October 7, 2014): Shill, Rattle and Roll

Every once in a while I find that it is the right time to shill for something that I want all of you to see.

I can shill with the best of them, and I don't cloud it over by saying that I am doing this for some other, more godly, reason.

No, I shill to shill, to try to sell you on something that I think you might enjoy.

With the untimely passing of Paul Revere over the weekend, which I chronicled yesterday, I thought it might be nice to shill for something else that I do, once a week, that people seem to have enjoyed for the past more than 10 years or so.

I run a Yahoo Group site called "Alternative Top 40," which showcases music that was pretty much ignored, to a certain degree, way back when, from the 1950s to the 1990s, with a focus on what I consider to be the prime years for rock and roll, 1964-1971, when that genre really came of age.

I usually put up between 12 and 18 different songs--album tracks, B sides, forgotten singles, bubbling under songs--and I let my members vote on the songs.

Those songs that get the most amount of votes stay on the poll, those that don't get removed. A song can stay on the poll for a maximum five weeks.

Sure, I put up music from some very popular acts on the site, including the Beatles.

But how about George Maharis?

The "Route 66" TV actor is virtually forgotten today, but he was as hot as a pistol back in the early 1960s, and he actually had a substantial recording career, having a few hits along the way.

He is on this week's poll, as are the likes of James Stewart--yes, that James Stewart--Peggy Lipton, from "The Mod Squad," Don Grady, from "My Three Sons," and several others that even boggle my own mind.

This month, I am doing my annual Halloween-themed poll, "Hollywood Masquerade," where people who really weren't singers stepped up to the mike and warbled as good as they could, trying to capitalize on their often fleeting fame any way they knew how.

Thus, tunes by Stewart--whose fame wasn't fleeting, of course--Lipton and Grady are the likes of the list of songs that are up there this week, and there are plenty of other surprises.

And yes, the Beatles are there too, to keep the sanity from not being too overwhelming, I guess.

So why don't you saunter over to https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/AlternativeTop40/info and see what I have put up on the poll this week?

You can join up if you have a Yahoo account. Just do it, it is a lot of fun for me and the members, which number in the few hundred and come from all over the world.

And as an aside, the number one song all-time on this site, the one that has received the most votes, is the Beatles "I'm Down."

Here is the complete Top 10 list, and as you can see, there are a few oddities here, mixed in with some songs I am sure you know. Ties are noted by songs placed without a number next to them and the acts that performed these songs.

1) Beatles - I'm Down
2) Hollies - I'm Alive
3) Beatles - Rain
4) Beatles - Not a Second Time
5) Beatles - Doctor Robert
6) Nick Lowe - So It Goes
7) Who - Overture From Tommy
Monkees - Sometime In the Morning
Beatles - Another Girl
8) Tremeloes - Here Comes My Baby (LP Version)
Searchers - When You Walk In the Room
George Harrison - Isn't It a Pity
9) George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
10) Neon Philharmonic - Morning Girl
Gerry and the Pacemakers - It's Gonna Be Alright
Beatles - Long Tall Sally

So like Bob Barker used to say, "Come On Down!" and join the site. You won't be sorry that you did.

End of shill ... for now.

Rant #2,454: You Can't Always Get What You Want

Today's blog entry is going to be pretty much short and sweet.

I posted a good part of  it on Facebook yesterday morning.

Even if you are gainfully employed--and I hope that all of you are--it bears worth reading if you haven't already done so.

So take a minute or two and read my post, which I have reprinted here, but be aware that there is a P.S. to this story.

"The accelerated unemployment payment ended this week, so those like myself and my son return back to the old rate, which is better than not receiving anything for our unfortunate situations.

My son continues to be on furlough, with no work return date in sight.

Me, I guess you can call me "chronically unemployed," having been in this situation for more than nine months now with my unemployment theoretically running out in a few weeks and with my retirement registered, okayed, and agreed to begin in September, but with payments beginning at the end of October.

I have to say that the extra payments were a godsend, allowing me to build up my savings, which gave me a chance to breathe a little.

But that is over, unless Congress gets together and extends some type of extra payment plan for those out of work.

Having been there, done that, I can only hope that they do this, but I am not going to hold my breath.

And to those of you who are fortunate to be working through the pandemic and still holding onto your jobs: don't knock people who are out of work now. It is completely impossible to find suitable work during a pandemic, where so many jobs have been completely lost, never to return again.

Sure, I know some people have taken advantage of the situation--some people actually made more money per week being unemployed than if they were employed--but I would say that most people who are without work have been looking for a new job since they lost their jobs.

I have been looking feverishly for work since day one and even prior to that, but due to a variety of reasons==including my age, a supposedly old and crusty 63 years young--there simply is nothing out there, no matter what we are being told about the increase in new job creation and the lessening of unemployment.

Happily, in several weeks, I will be done with this utter waste of time, and move seamlessly into retirement, but what about people like my son, who are clearly in an impossible situation?

What about others, who cannot find work, but have absolutely no fallback options like I do? I worked with a few of those people, I am still in touch with them, and honestly, I do not know what they are going to do--and they are in their early 40s yet, with young children at home.

Congress should act quickly, although history tells me that they won't."

But, now for the promised P.S. to this story.

Late yesterday afternoon, the federal government announced that there was a glitch in their payment system, and that the accelerated unemployment payments were still in force.

The glitch prevented people like myself and my son from getting our accelerated payment when we normally do, on Tuesday mornings, and that the glitch had been corrected, and we will be receiving this payment sometime this week, presumably on Wednesday morning.

The report did not go into what the glitch was or how it held up millions upon millions of payments, sending shivers up the spines of all the out-of-work people who were impacted.

Honestly, I thought I had figured wrong about these accelerated payments. I figured we had one week left on these payments, and that week would allow me to reach my dollar goal in my savings, as I have been going each and every week to the bank and putting money into my savings as a cushion on when my unemployment runs out--in about a month--and when presumably filed for retirement--which I did and I know there is going to be a gap of money coming in.

When the payment from the government was not made yesterday, I figured that I had made a mistake on my thought of how long these accelerated payments would continue, but alas, I was correct all the time.

But honestly, I am almost scared to go into my account and see if the payment was made to myself and my son, wary that if it isn't in there yet, that it won't ever get in there.

I will look a little later. I still have things to say here, so maybe this won't be such a short blog entry after all.

Accelerated payments or no accelerated payments, times are not just bad, they are terrible.

What is supposed to be the best time of my life has been nothing but a nightmare, and it has been that way since October 10, 2019, the day my company went out of business and myself and five others--all the employees we had left--lost our jobs.

The youngest of us are in our early 40s, the oldest of us are in our early 60s.

I have been in contact with some of them, and to my knowledge, not a single one of us has found a job.

Nine months and counting ...

At least I have something of an out, something I did not want to do but something I had to do.

Like I said in the post, what about those I worked with who are in their 40s ... what are they to do?

I do think about these people a lot, I really do.

I would not want to be in their boat, because their boat has so many holes in it right now.

These are talented people, people who worked their way up from nothing. I am not going to go into their individual stories, but they made themselves successful out of sheer will, sheer need and sheer intelligence. And they have now been cast off into the wind.

Shameful, truly shameful.

I often wish that there was something I could do to help them, but heck, I am in the same type of boat, but at least mine has a paddle.

And then there is my son, who has borne the brunt of what the pandemic has done to his work situation more heavily than anyone might imagine.

It was a stroke of luck that he got this job, and it appears that it will also be a stroke of luck that he retains his job.

It is a job he loves, but he is anchored to the couch right now, with nowhere to turn, nowhere to go, and nothing much to do.

My wife and I have tried to boost his spirits in any way we can, but there is only so much my we can do.

He has had absolutely no contact with the outside world--with the exception of a counselor and his mentor--since this situation began. He has had no contact with his peers, those who were in his bowling and basketball leagues, his main social connections.

Nobody has called him on the phone, no one has had a Zoom meeting with him, nothing.

He is very quiet, and I don't know if he has reached out to anyone, but to my knowledge, he has not seen or heard from these people for months.

His birthday is coming up--he will be 25 years of age at the end of August--and the best present I can wish for him is for his life to return to some form of normalcy.

So to the people I worked with, and to my son, I wish only the best for you guys.

I really, really wish I could do more than wish, but this pandemic is completely out of our control.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know, because the lessening of our weekly unemployment payment--even if it didn't in fact come this week, but it is coming--gave me time to pause, and reflect a bit on my own situation and those of the others I mentioned.

And it is a pause that although I knew it was coming, I really wish that I did not have to make.

I think all of us have been through enough pauses during the past several months, don't you?

Classic Rant #1,303 (October 6, 2014): Paul Revere's Ride

I am sure that you heard by now that Paul Revere, the leader of the seminal rock and roll band Paul Revere and the Raiders, passed away on Saturday.

He had been battling health problems for many months, but it was actually only until recently that he finally retired from the band, a group that he headed since the late 1950s.

He was 76 years young, an ironic age to pass on for the leader of a band celebrating our 1776 heritage.

Paul Revere Dick was the brainchild of one of the most successful, polished and misunderstood rock bands of all time.

Dropping his last name, he played off his Revolutionary War monickered connection, and ran with it literally all the way to the bank.

He named the band the Raiders, the group wore Revolutionary War outfits, and they took the Pacific Northwest by storm in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a party band, when regional bands were setting the pace for the future of rock and roll.

The Raiders were the most successful vocal  Pacific Northwest band--the Ventures were the most successful non-vocal band--to successfully break out of the local frat house and party circuit to the national scene.

Ironically, their first national hit was a non-vocal boogie woogie piano number called "Like Long Hair," but it was with vocals--namely that of frontman Mark Lindsay--that the band would garner their greatest success.

They were rock's greatest showband, what with their outfits, look and performance on stage--a mix of choreography that Busy Berkely would envy and that Mick Jagger-ish rock stance--and they were a perfect fit for TV, and it is through TV exposure that they gained their greatest fame.

They were Columbia Records' first rock act, and through that signing, they were plucked by Dick Clark to be the house band on his seminal five days a week rock showcase to go along with the already successful "American Bandstand," ABC's "Where the Action Is."

The show, in glorious black and white, showcased the hottest rock acts of the day--less the Beatles and Rolling Stones--and even created new short-term stars like Tina Mason and Keith Allison, a future Raider.

However, the show was virtually taken over by the Raiders--at various times including Jim Valley, Phil "Fang" Volk, Drake Levin and Mike Smith--and the hits started to come in droves.

"Good Thing," "Hungry," "Kicks," "The Great Airplane Strike," "Steppin' Out," "Just Like Me," were all punk/pop/rock hits, and the Raiders started to adorn the pages of Tiger Beat and other teen magazines.

They were hotter than a pistol, and Revere, still a major creative force behind the band, and also pretty much their manager and overseer, gave way to Lindsay as more of an out-front creative force of the band.

Lindsay would go on to be the band's main songwriter and producer, and Revere basically watched the books.

They continued to have hits with major TV exposure. Once WTAI ran its course, a whole new set of Raiders became stars on the Saturday afternoon "Happening" shows on ABC.

Now in color, the band--made up at various times by the aforementioned Allison, Charlie Coe, Freddy Weller, Joe Correro Jr. and other musicians--were still at the top of their game.

They were also one of the templates used in the creation of the Monkees, a band created especially for TV and which used the medium as a springboard for their own set of classic hits.

"Him or Me, What's It Gonna Be," "Too Much Talk," "Cinderella Sunshine," and other tunes kept the band on the charts, and Revere oversaw it all, even though the name of the band was now "Paul Revere and the Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay."

They continued to be booked on just about every variety show on American TV, including "The Hollywood Palace," "The Ed Sullivan Show," and the like, and they continued to be hot, with a bit of a softer sound.

When the "Happening" show came to its end, the Raiders dropped the "Paul Revere" and the Mark Lindsay portions of their name. They also dropped the Revolutionary War costumes, dressing in late 1960s appropriate rock garb.

Simply the Raiders, they floundered a bit with hitmaking, trying everything from a soul to a hard rock sound to adapt to the changing musical landscape.

They found occasional chart success, with "Let Me," one of their best songs of that period.

But they found the ultimate chart success with an oft-recorded tune that had been a top-20 hit for a British act just a few months earlier.

Don Fardon had scored a #20 hit with John D. Loudermilk's "(The Lament of the Cherokee) Indian Reservation," a song about how the American Indian experience was fading away from view as our nation was moving on from "things made by hand" to "things made in Japan."

The original song was full of war whoops and a direct indictment of the American progression of life away from the simple things. Not only did Loudermilk record his own version of the song, but many other acts did, including the Lewis and Clarke Expedition.

Lindsay, who claimed to have some Native American heritage, recorded the song as a solo for his burgeoning non-Raiders career, but Columbia decided to release it as a Raiders tune.

Revere pushed the tune from city to city, appearing on local TV and radio stations across the country, traveling on his beloved motorcycle.

The tune--pretty much watered down from the original but with the same message--rose to No. 1 on the charts as "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian), and this set the band off on several more albums and singles, but this was really their last hit.

Lindsay left in 1974, and even Revere pulled up the tent in the late 1970s for a brief period.

He returned in about 1978 or so, and continued the Raiders' legacy pretty much to the present time with a changing cast of performers, now playing up the Revolutionary War connections once again.

They became a highly successful showband, pretty much booked coast to coast for the past 30 some odd years.

Revere left just a few months ago to pursue his biggest fight, one which he succumbed to on Saturday.

Paul Revere and the Raiders are unfairly characterized as a corporate band, even though they were a real band with real roots.

Many people find their music derivative, a mix of everything that was gong on at the time of release, not groundbreaking in the least in any musical area.

However, that is very unfair to the band.

They are the link from the early boogie woogie of rock and roll through the changes in rock that happened because of the Beatles' success--punk turning into rock and roll turning into softer rock--and the progression of rock to a mellower, almost countrified sound in the early 1970s.

They are sort of the missing link that corporate types do not want to acknowledge--hence their lack of presence in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--but real rock fans know their importance to the history of rock and roll in the United States.

Paul Revere was at the epicenter of it all, and the band's legacy is that sort of in-between Rick(y) Nelson and the Monkees; all of them used TV as a video springboard for a wealth of good music, music that probably would have been hits anyway but were aided by TV exposure.

Think MTV, think American Idol, and there is a definite link there.

And their biggest hit, ironically, had nothing to do with TV exposure, proving that the Raiders were as competent a rock act as there was out there in the 1960s and the early 1970s.

Rest in Peace, Paul Revere, you did it your way, and you did it right.

In fact, it was a "Good Thing" for seven decades.