Classci Rant #870 (December 26, 2012): I'm Back

Yes, I am back a little early.

I guess I can't stay away here for too long.

The holiday wasn't too bad, except for one major thing.

My computer broke down for the umpteenth time, so I am using my wife's netbook to type this out.

I since found out from the repair shop that the computer died, as the hard drive is shot. They are going to try to back up what they can, and then I have to get another computer.

Woe is me!

Otherwise, we saw plenty of relatives at different get togethers, which is always a good thing.

I actually slept until 8 a.m. today, probably the first time in at least six months that I was able to reach that milestone.

I watched my own mini-marathon of "Leave It to Beaver" yesterday, via some DVDs I have. It is still my favorite situation comedy of all time, and the very "Christian" values developed on that show made it the perfect program to watch on Christmas.

My Knicks lost yesterday, but you can't have everything. They play again tonight, so it is time to get back in the win column.

My kids seem happy, my wife is at work today, so she is not too happy, but all in all, things were OK the past few days ,,,

But if I could just get back my computer in one piece, I would be much, much happier.

It is so funny how computers have not only entered our lives, they sometimes run our lives too.

I don't know if I have gotten to that point yet, and I hope I never will.

But not having a computer is like having toast without butter.

So I am happy that I at least have my wife's computer to use in this time of personal emergency.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and it is back to work for me tomorrow, or "back to the salt mines" as Mr. Rutherford says on "Beaver."

Speak to you tomorrow.,

Rant #2,217: Bits and Pieces

Well, back to normal today ...

Now that that is out of the way, today, the Ranting and Raving Blog looks at several stories at once today, but stories that I have decided do not merit a full column to look at.

So today--and "today" is my favorite word of the day, since I have used it three times already--we go the "Bits and Pieces" route.

Here goes:

Colin Kaepernick and Nike Sign Deal: If anyone needed any one reason to question whether we are currently in the PC age or not, they only have to look at this situation, where a major sports apparel brand has agreed to terms on a contract with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick, as you might recall, is the perpetrator of the "take-one-knee" movement, where NFL players take to their knees during the national anthem to protest supposed injustices against blacks in this country.

This has caused an uproar nobody could have foreseen, on either side of the story, and has made NFL pre-game festivities even more important than the game itself.

It has also drawn the ire of President Trump, who at times has affirmed in various statements that such insubordination should be met by teams firing players who decide to do this.

With their signing of Kaepernick, Nike has stirred the pot a bit, and the Washington state based firm has drawn both the ire, and praise, of many.

Look, there appears to be no middle ground with this controversy--either you respect the right of players to participate in peaceful protest, or you shake your heads at their chutzpah, being that they are being paid millions of dollars to play football, not to protest the very flag that has made it possible for them to do so.

Personally, I believe Nike has every right to pick anyone to be a spokesman for their brand, just like the players have every right kneel if they want--

But that does not mean that you do it in both cases.

NFL players who kneel when the anthem is played prior to games are portraying themselves as ungrateful wretches, knocking the very flag that gives them the freedom to do what they are doing.

And as far as oppression of blacks, well, when you are paid millions of dollars to do what you are doing, I can't see that as being oppressed.

Kaepernick is the poster child of this imbecility, a guy who isn't even good enough to play in the NFL. He has a lawsuit going against the league, who he claims has conspired to not employ him as a player, but this is all hogwash, as he has been offered jobs as a backup player but has turned them down.

Nike both stands to lose customers and gain them with their move, but it will leave a stain on them that will last for a long time.

Having the right to do what you want doesn't mean that you do what you want. We have the freedom to think in this country, and I just believe that Nike went for the shock effect here, and nothing else.

Remember the old axiom, "Any publicity is good publicity"?

Well, it certainly fits here as well as Kaepernick's "cops as pigs" socks do.

School Opens For Millions of Students: By tomorrow, school will have officially opened for millions of students across the country.

I remember that i both hated and liked this time of year: hated it because I didn't want to go back to school, but loved it because I was bored with being off and needed new challenges that school would provide.

But back then, none of us kids had to worry about gun violence in schools. The only violence we encountered was the occasional fight in gym or in the lunch room, but that was about it.

I hope that we as a society have learned about how to prevent gun violence in our schools from the previous past, unfortunate incidents that have taken place.

Yes, I know that guns do not kill people--people using guns do--but I have to think that in schools, the only challenges kids should encounter are those trying to learn their subjects, and nothing else.

Who Is Luke Voit?:: When the New York Yankees signed Luke Voit a month or so ago, he was simply a St. Louis Cardinals castoff, a guy who was signed as insurance for first base on a team that was struggling with Greg Bird stinking up the place there.

Voit really had no proven track record at all, and although he looks like a ballplayer, well, I don't think anyone realized just what a ballplayer this guy has turned out to be.

In fact, he might have saved the Yankees' season.

Last night, Voit hit another home run in the Bronx Bombers' 5-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics in a battle of the probably wild card teams in the American League.

This guy has come out of nowhere to hit eight dingers for the Yankees, has 18 RBIs and is hitting .300. He also plays a nifty first base.

Yankees fans have to hope this guy can keep it going, but when I look at Voit, memories of Shane Spencer come to mind.

Spencer was called up by the Yankees 20 years ago, and performed the same feats that Voit is doing, hitting home runs--several grand slams--and leading the Yankees to victory.

Unfortunately, Spencer turned into Joe Hardy--the player in "Damn Yankees" who makes a deal with the devil--and he never attained such heights again, with pretty much a nondescript career after his initial deluge of big hits.

Is Voit this generation's Spencer, or is he Hardy, or is he a late bloomer that the Yankees got just at the right time?

It is difficult to catch lightning in a bottle, but the Yankees may have done this with Voit.

Beyond that, who knows?

Speak to you again tomorrow.

Classic Rant #869 (December 21, 2012): Have a Jolly Christmas

Today has not started out as I had planned.

Although the world has not ended yet as the Mayans and some others said it would, at about 2:45 a.m. this morning, half our house lost power. I was awakened, as was my wife, and evidently due to a large rain storm and torrential winds, we had half the house with power, the other half without.

About a half hour later, we completely lost power.

We have been told that power will be restored by 9 a.m., but I am not holding my breath.

This is the world-famous Long Island Power Authority, the group that pretty much dropped the ball during Hurricane Sandy.

Anyway, this leads me in to this brief post today, which I am making on another computer.

Today is the last day I have at work before five glorious days off, which hopefully will be glorious.

Right now, they are anything but.

In the middle of being without power, we had a new living room set delivered, only to discover that the set is too large for our living room.

Don't ask me how that happened, but it did. The set they had in the showroom, which was supposed to be an exact duplicate of what we ordered, was actually smaller than what we received, believe it or not.

The bad luck started last night, when the TV remote fell, broke, and can't now be used, with or without power.

But the holiday is coming, and maybe it's time to refresh ourselves.

I don't know, because today has been nothing but chaos.

We must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but honestly, I wouldn't know, because I have been up since the power first went off at 2:45 a.m.

But to all of you, have a very merry, holly jolly Christmas.

For myself and my family, it hasn't started out too well, but at least we know that since we've hit bottom, it all has to better.

But going uphill isn't as easy as going downhill, so who knows what lurks behind the next corner?

Being Jewish, it isn't Saint Nick, but I am afraid to speak to my wife right now.

Who knows what she is going to tell me next?

Have a great holiday, and I will be back with you on Thursday, preparing for New Year's.

Oh, heavens, more craziness lurking somewhere for us?

I sure hope not, but we're moving into 2013 ... yes, a year with a "13" in it ... so who knows.

Have a good holiday.

Rant #2,216: Goodbye

Yesterday was a very difficult day at work.

Yes, as you know, I worked on Labor Day, which was difficult enough.

But about 30 minutes into the day, we were hit with a bombshell.

I put this up on Facebook yesterday afternoon, and it pretty much explains it all.

"For the second time in a span of months, one of my co-workers has passed away.

The first was a suicide, this latest one was as a result of what we have been told was a massive heart attack that befell the person when he was bicycle riding over the weekend.

The two people died during the prime of life, relatively young and still vital.

This latest death is a shock to me because yes, I am at work today on Labor Day, and we found out after 9 a.m. early this morning from the man’s wife, who somehow had the strength to contact the office this morning, a morning where there are only a few of us actually working.

I was very close with this person; he was the managing editor of the publication I do most of my work on, I was the associate editor of that publication, so we pretty much worked hand in hand, and have been doing so for the dozen or more years he was employed here.

Like with the suicide, this casts a pall on my employer, a company which is already supposedly on its death bed.

I was distraught when I heard the news. I have calmed down a bit now, but I simply am torn to shreds by his death. We didn’t always get along, but I respected him and I think he respected me.

I simply do not know what else to say right now."

And to be honest about it, I still don't.

When I heard the news, I have to tell you that I became distraught. I was holding my head in my hands, I was saying, "No," and I was shaking like a leaf.

It took me about an hour or so to calm down. I decided to splash my face with water, which helped matters tremendously.

And I went back to work, because that is what I had to do.

We have no idea about a wake or funeral at this point, and I am sure that we will hear about something today or later this week.

I am still shocked. 

From what I could hear during the day, the guy was under a tremendous amount of pressure on a number of levels, and his weekends were dedicated to his family and doing what he loved best, which was anything happening in the outdoors.

He was an avid swimmer, surfer, and bike rider, so he died doing what he loved to do.

To me, this is another omen of doom for this company. 

There is a dark cloud over us that simply won't quit.

Not only have we lost current workers during the past year or so, we have also lost some former employees; one that I know of died in a traffic death not too far away from where I live.

Right now, I still am tongue-tied about this latest situation.

I have told you all that I know, and I really don't have anything else to say.

I just hope his family is doing as good as possible during this horrible time for them.

Life is short; live it to the fullest when you can.

There is nothing more to say.

Classic Rant #868 (December 20, 2012): Happy Birthday Wishes

Next week, I am going to be taking a few days off from writing this blog.

This Jewish guy is going to celebrate Christmas the right way, by not working, not doing much of anything, and that includes posting entries on this blog.

If much of the world can take off, why can't I?

So, since tomorrow will be my last Rant until a week from today, I thought I would send out an early birthday wish to someone near and dear to me.

It's to my sister, who will turn 53 (eek! I actually said it!) on December 26, better known as the first day of Kwaanza and Boxing Day.

When I came along in 1957, some people actually wondered why my mother would have another child. She tells a story that someone approached her in a store way back when, viewed how bad I was, saw how pregnant my mother was, and asked her, "After having a horrible kid like this, why are you having another one?"

Yes, that actually happened.

I was Dennis the Menace on steroids, but my parents wanted at least one more child. I think they figured if they got another boy, they would try for a girl.

If they got a girl, closed shop, if you know what I mean.

Well, they got a girl, and a wonderful tax write-off at the end of 1959.

But they got much more than that.

They got a little piece of sugar that my mother could dote on, someone she could dress in nice outfits, someone who she could doll up her hair, and most importantly, someone who would settle me down.

When my sister was born, my mother has told me countless times that she sat me down and said I had to be a big brother to this little person, and that I was. According to her, my sister was just the antidote I needed to tone down my act, and I did.

We were very close growing up, figuratively as well as literally. From the time she was born until 1971, when I was 14 and my sister was on her way to being 12, we shared a room. She had her side, I had mine.

Most of the time, the room was separated with an actual divider, and it was clear what side of the room was mine, and what side was hers. On my side were my comic books, pictures of Yankees and Knicks all over the wall, bats and balls and gloves all over the place, and, well, it looked like a boy's room.

My sister's side was certainly more feminine. She had up all her girly stuff, including pictures of David Cassidy all over the place. She had her dolls and all of her girly games.

As we grew up, we had our friends, but we sometimes played together.

I can remember that I played dolls and the Mystery Date board game with her countless times on days when we weren't otherwise occupied. Yes, I got the schlub many, many times. My sister knew better about such things.

Oh, it wasn't all fine and dandy with us. Sometimes we didn't get along, sometimes we did.

When we lived in Rochdale Village, Queens, I remember standing behind her drapes on many occasions as she climbed in the bed to go to sleep, and scaring the heck out of her.

She had countless friends as I did, and she kind of liked all my friends. Her friends, pretty much from day one, I simply tolerated, but I think at some point, my friends came up to see her as much as they came into the house to see me.

We looked after each other, and at one point, she protected me in a fight that I had, and she earned the name "Super Sister."

As we got older, we kind of grew apart, and she got married way before I did, a marriage that still stands strong today. But we always had that sense that she was there for me and I was there for her.

I eventually married, and I had the first grandchild, by just nine days. Her first son was born right after my daughter.

That must have been a super hectic time for our parents. Two new grandchildren in nine days, almost like having twins, I guess.

I got divorced, her marriage sustained, and she has three boys. "Her Three Sons," if you will.

She was there during my tumultuous times, and I have been there through hers.

And she was there when I remarried, and she was there when I had another child.

As we both move through our 50s, she is still there.

The thing with the two of us is that we each haven't changed that much over the years.

Sure, we are older, and have been through many travails, but deep down, I am still her big brother and she is still my little sister.

I guess it will be that way until the end of our time on this earth.

So here's to you, Gail, on your upcoming birthday. You have been one of the most important people in my life for the past 53 years, and I am sure that will continue for years to come.

Congratulations, little sister. And I hope you aren't upset that I told everyone how old you are, are you?

I guess that's a little jab that a big brother has every right to make.

Right?

Love you.

Rant #2,215: Work Work Work Work (Idle Hands Are the Devil's Playground)

Good morning, everybody!

Today is Labor Day, the day we celebrate ourselves--the U.S. labor force, the greatest labor force in the world.

And unlike you, I am celebrating Labor Day by laboring.

Yes, once again, I am working on Labor Day.

We supposedly have an issue to get out at work, and every day is precious.

But when you work for a company that is going down for the count and wouldn't know a deadline it if stared them in the face (it always does), I am really working for appearances sake, and so I can exchange working today with an extra day off that I am going to take for my vacation, on Yom Kippur, a day that I fast on and won't work on.

No eat, no work.

I work on most Labor Days, because that is just the way it is with my company. Due to present circumstances, this might very well be the final Labor Day that I will have to toil for them, but there won't be any nostalgia in the coming years on future Labor Days if, in fact, what I am saying is true.

Labor Day is supposed to be a day off, but it rarely is for me.

Woe is me!

Not really, but I could have used another day to recharge my batteries.

Here is what I had to say about this situation in Rant No. 797, September 5, 2012, in edited form:

"Today is Labor Day.

Most of you who are reading this have the day off from work. You can frolic with your family, have a barbecue, and enjoy yourself on the unofficial last day of summer.

I can't. I have to work today.

Yes, I labor on Labor Day, and I am not too happy about it, to tell you the truth.

Sure, we get the day back to us as a "makeup" day later when we need it, but laboring on Labor Day when everyone else is off is a pain the neck, adding to the pinched nerve in my neck that I already have.

I have read the "Dennis the Menace" comic strip seemingly since I could read, and today's panel pretty much summarizes how I get into my own mind that working on Labor Day isn't that bad.

Dennis tells Joey and Margaret the following:

"What's so good about Labor Day? We don't get presents and there's nothin' special to eat."

That is about the only way I can get through this day.

So while you are swimming, barbecuing, watching a baseball game, or taking it easy, think of me and my plight.

No, I don't think you will, but evidently, the world doesn't stop on Labor Day."

Woe is me!

I have got to stop thinking that way, but to me, Labor Day is just another day on the calendar.

I join millions of others who work on Labor Day, so I am not alone.

However,  cannot make lemons into lemonade today, but I will try to make the best of it.

So have a great holiday, and I will speak to you again tomorrow.

Classic Rant #867 (December 19, 2012): Toning It Down

I am happy to say that Hollywood is reacting, in a positive way, to the Connecticut school tragedy.

Hollywood often glamorizes violence, and let's face it, the viewing public usually eats it up like they east their breakfast cereal.

But this time, the horror of this tragedy has made Hollywood look inside itself, and two big movie premieres of films that would be considered ultra-violent in any context have been toned down.

Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" with Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio had its red carpet event completely canceled, and the premiere was actually only relegated to viewing by cast and crew, with no outside media coverage.The film will debut in theaters on Christmas Day.

Meanwhile, "Jack Reacher," the new action/adventure film starring Tom Cruise, had its premiere last Saturday postponed. Instead, the film, which prominently features a sniper, will screen the film today in Pittsburgh, Pa., for fans, sans the red carpet.

For once, I think Hollywood is doing the right thing.

Movies and television shows often glorify violence, and thus, makes guns almost seem as much part of these characters as their wallets are.

In reverence for those who lost their lives in Connecticut, these films have had toned down premieres, and that is a good thing.

It is also wonderful public relations.

Can you imagine if these films opened now, just days after this massacre?

I don't think too many people who spend their hard-earned dollars on this stuff, right after the real thing happened last week.

These dulled premieres give people a little time to take a deep breath, breathe a little, and take in the air.

People will continue to view violent films, because that is part of our movie landscape, and has been for about 100 years.

We, as a society, love these types of movies, and a real tragedy like this isn't going to stop that love from happening.

But not now.

I have one question about such films that I would ask Hollywood that really has nothing to do with the subject of my Rant today, but kind of does:

Why are such violent films making their debuts during the holiday season anyway?

What do these films have to do with the serenity that we are supposed to feel during this joyous season?

That, I guess, is another question for another time, but it is one that has to be answered at some juncture.

Why do we want to see shoot'em ups during this season?

I don't get it, but at least Hollywood did this time around.