Rant #2,511: Ups and Downs

Happy belated Columbus Day … and that is what it is, and what I believe it should be.

 
Rather than argue and spat about it, how about giving others who fight about this day their own day to celebrate, look back and shop for bargains at their local stores?
 
And yes, another great baseball player has passed on. Joe Morgan, the power pot second baseman for the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds in the 1970s, died yesterday after a long illness.

 
The Hall of Famer, who actually played more years with the Houston Colt 45s/Astros than with the Reds, was known to another generation as an ESPN broadcaster, a surly one at that, but he lasted on that job—21 years—almost as long as he played in the major leagues—22 years.
 
And let’s give congratulations where they are due. The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship the other night against the Miami Heat, adding another championship trophy to their already bulging mantel.

 Congrats to Jeanie Buss, the first female controlling owner to lead an NBA franchise to a championship. She is also the first female owner in any sport to have posed nude in Playboy to win a championship, and to some, the latter is more important than the former.
 
What more can we talk about today?
 
I do not want to talk about the upcoming presidential election at all.
 
Yes, it is the most important thing happening now in the days leading up to Election Day, but boy, is it boring or what?
 
I know who I am voting for, and I will do it the old fashioned way, by going to the polling place to vote.

 
There is no reason not to.
 
If you can go to Target and Kohl’s and your local supermarket to shop, then you can go to your local polling place to vote.
 
Mail-in voting—which by the way, hurts both candidates—should only be relegated to those who are elderly or those who are infirm, and no one else, but in this time of COVID, people are using the illness as an excuse to stay away from the polling places … and they are the same people who populate their local department stores on a regular basis.
 
It makes absolutely not sense, none at all, but where and how to vote has become a political powder keg this election, and it is a topic that shouldn’t be such a hot potato right now.
 
All I know is that I would be a hypocrite not to vote in my local polling place while I shop at Target and my local supermarket.
 
And yes, my 89 year old mother will also be voting at our local polling place. She would certainly qualify as someone who could vote through the mail, but she doesn’t want to, so why should she?
 
If she can go to the local polling place, then you can, too.
 
What else can I talk about today?
 
As I near retirement, and as I near retirement with a very flexible remote, contract job, I feel better about myself, but it is déjà vu all over again with my son.
 
I have contacted, called and electronically reached out to several workplaces and organizations for help in our quest to get him to work again, but so far, to no avail. He has had one actual interview, but it led nowhere, so it is back to the drawing board with all of this.
 
Being that he is a special needs person, it is going to be that much tougher to get him to work again, and I am going to pull out all the stops to do just that.

 
But what stops do I actually have? Not too many, to be honest with you.
 
Millions of people are in the same boat as him, so he is not alone in his quest, and that makes things all the more difficult.
 
But we have to push forward, and maybe we will be in line for a miracle this time around.
 
Do you believe in miracles?
 
Whether I am a believer or not, I have to be a believer right now, because if I’m not, then whatever I do will be for naught.
 
I have to believe he will get something, and push forward firmly believing that.
 
It will be my son’s own personal championship, and that is much more important to me than any trophy that pro players get when they win it all.
 
My son will win, but when, I simply do not know.