You know you're getting older when...

This post is mostly aimed at young folks, which seems a bit odd since most of my readers are older. It makes no difference, everybody remembers a time when they realized they were growing up (whether they wanted to or not).

You know you’re getting older when…


Your houseplants are actually alive

You keep more food than beer in the fridge

6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed

You hear your favorite song in an elevator

You watch the weather channel

You go from 130 days of vacation to 14

Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up”.

You’re the one calling the police because the neighbor’s music is too loud

You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore

Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up

Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt

You take naps

Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one

Eating chicken wings at 3 AM upsets your stomach instead of settling it

A $4 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good”

You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time

90% of the time you spend in front of the computer is for real work

You drink at home to save money on the dinner bill later

Snow doubt about it!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's two thousand words showing you why I am not at work today.

November 16/17, 2014.

Here we SNOW again!

And snow it begins...

The snow is coming down as I type this and it has begun to accumulate. The forecasters have backed off their latest forecast and the final estimates seem to be 2-4 inches of snow. No matter how you slice it, tomorrow's commute is going to be messy and challenging. I can't believe this is happening... it's too soon!

That escalated quickly

Earlier in the weekend, the weather forecasters were calling for a dusting of snow, maybe an inch at most. Yesterday morning the forecast was upgraded to 1-3 inches and last night it was increased to 2-4 inches. This morning we are hearing 3-5 inches. The severity of the forecast is escalating quickly! UGH! It's only mid-November. I am NOT ready for this garbage.

Snow

It may snow tomorrow. You may have heard... I don't like snow. In an effort to keep a positive outlook on life, here's a pretty photo of Mt. Rushmore covered in snow.

Talking Heads

I love sports. I especially love watching baseball and football in person, but I also enjoy watching these sports on TV. Many years ago I would watch every moment of sports I could. I would read the sports page in the newspaper first and believe me, I would read every last detail. I would follow every player in every game of my favorite teams. I could quote win/loss records, team and individual stats and I would get so emotionally involved with these teams that it would ruin my day when they played poorly or lost. As I've gotten older, my love for sports has not waned. I still enjoy a good game and I still want my teams to win. However, I have also learned to put sports where they belong, which is very low on my list of priorities. I no longer read the sports page from cover to cover. I no longer emotionally invest myself in every aspect of my favorite teams. I still root for them and I want them to win, but I no longer let it mess up my day when they don't. I take sports for what they really are... a momentary diversion (i.e. entertainment). Professional athletes make gazillions of dollars and when their team loses, they are upset, but they quickly get over it. I know these guys hop into their fancy, expensive cars and head out to a high class night-spot, over-priced restaurant or an opulent home. I came to realize if the players on the field don't care about losing, then neither should I.

Another thing about sports that has started to bug me are the so called experts who analyze every aspect of the players and games. There are hours and hours of television and radio broadcasts devoted to breaking down every moment of every game. I love sports, but sheesh, talk about overkill. I have gotten to the point where I mute the television when I watch a game on TV. These talking heads spend a lot of time saying a whole bunch of nothing and I can barely stand to listen to them.

Here's what I mean:

"Well, Joe. The Bengals didn't play very well in the first half. They are losing again."

"That's right, Steve. If they don't turn it around, they will lose their third game in a row. What do they need to do?"

"Well Andy Dalton needs to throw more touchdown passes and the Bengals need to score more points than the other team if they want to avoid another loss."

"I totally agree. The other team has more points right now and if the Bengals don't fix something at halftime, they are going to lose this important game."

Here's another:

"Well, Marty. The Reds are losing to the Cardinals again today. What are your thoughts about the game?"

"Jeff it's pretty simple. The Cardinals are hitting the ball all over the park and the Reds couldn't hit the broad side of a barn".

"What about the pitching, Marty?"

"Once again, Jeff, it's a pretty easy analysis. The Reds are serving up home runs like mom's Sunday dinner and the Cardinal pitchers are throwing strikeouts at an alarming rate".

"So, Marty... in your expert opinion, who wins this game?"

"Jeff, I've been around this game a long time. The team that scores the most runs and pitches the best will win today".

"I agree, Marty."

Today I Wore Plaid

Just when you think you know somebody...

Today I threw all my colleagues a major curveball. As a plain, simple and conservative kind of guy I always wear solid colored shirts... ALWAYS! Today I wore a plaid shirt (probably for the first time in my 25 years of teaching), and you would have thought I was wearing a tutu. I have never seen a person's choice of attire cause such a stir. The comments I received were hilarious. Just wait until tomorrow when I wear polka dots... the whole school may fall down!

As I like to say... Always keep 'em guessing.

Mick the movie critic

Yesterday on my day off, Tami and I went out for a nice lunch at Chick-fil-a. We like to support a Christian business :-) Then we went to see TWO movies.

The first was "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray. It was a heart warming story, but was a little rough around the edges. It was a good movie worth watching and I give it 3 out of 5 stars. We walked out of this movie and immediately purchased tickets for the next one.

The second movie was "Fury". This movie was set in April 1945 and followed a Sherman Tank crew as they rolled into Germany just as Hitler was launching his last ditch effort to turn the war. The tank crew was met with heavy resistance as the Nazis threw everything they had at the invading allies. It was violent, bloody, gory and had very strong language, but this is to be expected in a film that was trying to accurately depict some of the events of World War II. However, the movie was so much more than that. It had a good story with compelling characters. At 2 and a half hours long, the movie had no problem keeping our interest. Some movies are long and feel like it. This movie was long, but didn't seem like it. I give "Fury" 4 out of 5 stars.I recommend it with a warning toward violence and extremely strong language.

Veterans Day

It would be shallow of me to thank veterans today for my day off work. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be sitting in my recliner rather than standing in my classroom. However, the deeper issue today is thanking veterans past and present for their service to this great nation. It is the brave service of these men and women that have preserved the freedoms I take for granted today.

In honor of these veterans, Tami and I am going to see the movie "Fury" today. This is a World War II flick about a group of soldiers in a tank that were outnumbered by the Germans near the end of the war in Europe. I've heard good things about it. I Will let you know if it's worth watching.

At any rate... Thank you Veterans everywhere!

This made my day!

I received this photo in my e-mail today. All cuteness aside, the funniest thing is the pacifier in his mouth and the nonchalantness with which he wears a bucket on his head.