Sat AM Thoughts

What a beautiful morning it was!  I had a nice bike ride, a bit brisk out there, but a good one over at Proud Lake and the trails.  On the way to the grocery store, the Rascals came on, singing, "It's a Beautiful Mornin'."  How fitting!  Amazing, too, in that I just turned on the radio about two minutes before reaching the store, in time to hear the whole song.  And, I got a few strange looks, well, OK a few more stranger than usual looks, in the store as I was softly singing it while shopping.  I think I'll grade papers on the deck this afternoon!

Why don't more people clip and use coupons?  It's beyond me.  They are well worth the cost of a Sunday newspaper and, now, they can be found online for free.  To day, with some bottles and cans returned, I save $127, spending about $54.  That's tough to beat.  Clipping and sorting, at most, takes half an hour a week.  Those who watch the boob tube can "multi-task."  People in my line almost always marvel at what I save, but admit they "don't have the time" to clip coups.  At half an hour this week, that translates to about $250 an hour for me.

And, I'd like to know, who designs grocery store parking lots?  Who designs them on hills?  The worse one, just terrible, is the Krogers in Onion Lake.  To get food from the cart to the trunk requires putting something under the cart's wheel(s) to keep it from rolling away.  The Meijers in Wixom is better, but there are places (like the one I had today) where hauling back the cart is necessary.

I lol'ed out loud in the store, twice.  I was looking for spaghetti cheese.  It wasn't in the cheese aisle and it wasn't in the spaghetti aisle.  Hmmmmmm.....  Spaghetti cheese not in the cheese and not in the spaghetti aisle.  I asked a lady, even remarking that I was jeopardizing my membership in the "Man Club" for asking for directions (of a kind), if she knew where spaghetti cheese was.  She surmised "the cheese aisle."  When I indicated it wasn't there, she said, "Then I'd guess the pasta aisle."  Nope.  She laughed and threw up her hands.  I finally found a worker and asked him.  He knew right away, "Aisle 11."  Oh, well, of course--spaghetti cheese, right there along side the ketchup, mustard, and mayo.  Silly me!  Adventures in shopping.  By the yogurt, some lady--maybe 90 years old--was pouring over the yogurt, seemingly container by container.  She was completely oblivious to the three people waiting to get to the yogi--and she blocked the entire corner.  One guy was getting a bit peeved, but I just laughed and shrugged at him and he began to laugh, too.  I think the lady was studying; she must have expected a test on the ingredients and other nutrient information about yogi.  By the way, in my next lifetime, I want to be the guy who gives names to flavors of yogi, salad dressing, and the like.  How great!

Cell phones....  Grrrrrrr.  Driving home from the grocery store, a lady was one her phone at a red light.  The light turned green and she didn't notice, enraptured with whatever conversation she was having.  The light for north/south traffic is pretty short; the one for east/west is quite lengthy.  I was going north and, thanks to the late start by the lady on the phone, didn't make the green.  Usually, four or five cars can make the green light arrow turn; only two did thanks to Alexandria Graham Bell.  That was OK because I caught up to her, driving very slowly still talking, about two miles later, where, at the next red light we could do the same thing.  OK, I cheated a bit, sort of turning through the early red light, with no traffic with the green light.  And, last night, walking in the restaurant to meet Karen and Carrie, I noticed a handful of patrons outside, talking on their phones.  Can't they put them away for a meal?  Or, maybe, they were ordering pizzas??????

Apparently, there's some kid in Ashley's class who has been misbehaving.  And, he seems to have few if any friends.  He never plays with anyone at recess.  I was told last night that, walking out to recess, Ashley asked the kid if he wanted to play with her and her friends.  I guess he did, nicely and the whole recess.  Ah, sometimes those grandkids are even more special than usual.

BTW, I tossed about 45 mins of batting practice to Michael on Wed.  That was after about an hour's worth of BP on Tues, on the way home from class.  Hey...my arm and shoulder on Wed was sore, not a lot, but sore.  Maybe it's not completely dead after all.  Bopp was pretty lousy on Tue, but really ripped a lot of ropes on Wed.  Much, much better.

Cody remains a pyscho on his bicycle!  We were riding yesterday AM/PM at "a park" and he just goes crazy, on the bike path and off the bike path, speeding along and then stopping on a dime right in front of me.  He often waits until the last minute before turning at corners; I wait for him to fall, but he never does.

I still can't believe the attacks on our embassies and consulates, esp the one that killed our Ambassador in Benghazi.  What's more remarkable are the responses of the Administration and State Dept.  They get more and more bizarre.  In the aftermath of it, the President continued with plans to attend a fundraiser (what was it, $40,000 a plate) in Colorado or Nevada.  That's fine with me, but can you imagine the media if W had done that?  This AM, I read a comment from a State Dept spokesman who claimed the attack in Benghazi "wasn't premeditated?"  Huh?  Weren't rocket-propelled grenades used?  Are those for sale in vending machines on Benghazi streets?  Well, I will give the guy the benefit of the doubt--maybe he doesn't know what "premeditated" means.

Out to grade essays....