Another 31,536,000 seconds

Today is the 36th anniversary of my 29th birthday. As I type this, 65 years ago my mother was in labor (in spite of being old enough to know better.) 

Clearly, the fact that I have nothing to say never stops me from blogging, but having posted my first blog on April 27th I feel obligated to blather on every year in spite of the fact that I try not to celebrate birthdays.

I posted my first blog 10 years ago today, so this would be my 11th birthday blog if I hadn't missed 2015. (That was the year I retired. Must have burned out.) It is also my 120th published blog post, so I'm averaging one a month. Probably way above average for all the dead blogs out here in the blogosphere. A hundred and twenty posts and not a word worth reading must be some kind of record. I will set this one to post at 6:38 PM Central Time: 2,051,222,400 seconds after I made my debut.

I have to admit that even I am growing tired of the self-deprecating humor. How many times can I say I have nothing to say? (That seems to be infinite.) How many ways can I say it? (My guess is seven, but that may be high.) I won't promise to stop though, because to do so I'd have to write something interesting.

For those of you who have the luxury (as I had for 64 years) of not thinking about Medicare (except when you notice what comes out of your check before you get it) this is the year that changes. (For me. When you hit 65 it'll change for you, unless the government makes changes before then.)

Here is all I got in the mail today:

I'm putting it down to coincidence, since I don't think the government has its sh... act together enough to deliver that ON everyone's 65th birthday. (If you got one on yours let me know I'm wrong.)

It does seem like something they'd do though, since I really needed it 3 months ago. So, in an attempt to write something not completely useless, here are a few things you'll need to know when you get here:

1. Your medicare will start on the first day of the month you turn 65. (So I have been on medicare for 27 days now.)
2. You need to start your medicare application 3 months before that and get all your ducks in a row. (You're dealing with the government, you know.)
3. In spite of all that money that has been coming out of your check for all those years, you will receive a bill for your part B premium. It will be for the first 3 months (in my case Daisy Duck's nieces.)* This can be a shock if you're not prepared for it, however (in spite of the intimidating government letter) they won't cancel you until after they've sent the third intimidating letter in 90 days. If (like me) you have health insurance that becomes secondary, and that premium goes down, it'll also take about 3 months for that to take effect, and (so they've told me) you'll get a check in the mail for what you've been overcharged.

SO, when all is said and done, with the reduction of my current premium minus what I have to pay for medicare my retirement check should go up about $24 a month. (Now for that vacation in Aruba....)

And so much for the joys of turning 65. Now you kids GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!!

*I hope somebody catches that reference. I considered saying "Huey, Dewey and Louie," which would have amused me but no one else. Kind of like this blog.**

**I just realized (while proofreading..., yes, I do that and this is what I end up with. How sad is that?) that I had just used the "ducks in a row" cliche. So I guess my ducks were April, May and June.

 

A Word to the Woke

SHUT UP!

Okay, that's two words. (It really should have been four.)

But my real message today is to the unwoke:

It's our fault. We're too polite. We need to point out stupidity when we hear it. If we don't the time will come (and it is upon us) when none dare call it stupid.

This is not a joke, although ironically I plan to post it on April Fools Day. (To the best of my recollection I've never posted a blog on April 1st, but I'm too tired to think of a joke, unless you count this entire blog.)

Well, I started this 2 days ago, and so far I got nothin' else, so ...

GET OFF MY LAWN!

Boober

Boober

November 1, 2003

October 16, 2021

The End

It's nigh!  I say NIGH!

No, not the end of this blog (sorry to say.) But you might want to start selling off your crypto:

I am now the proud owner of 0.00061568 BitCoin.

My $29 investment is now (12:21 PM 10/1/2021) worth $29.24. Taking out my $0.50 transaction fee, I'm down 26 cents. (No, actually, since five bucks was free for signing up with CoinBase I'm up $4.74.)

On a positive note, if this doesn't kill it, nothing will.

My next target: the man bun.

I'll keep you posted.

Now get off my lawn.

Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?

If I'm still breathing when this posts I will have been on this planet for 2,019,686,400 seconds. I've been composing this (in my head) for about 4 days, and still have nothing to say. That makes 283,996,800 seconds since my first blog post without saying anything worth reading.

So you kids get off my lawn.

This Day in History

It's Friday, my usual blog day, and my usual self-imposed post time, whizzed past 51 minutes ago. But it's still Friday, and I can still blog. It is also my late mothers 102nd birthday, so that gives me content. Several things that happened on this date remind me of other stories (most about me) giving me an excuse to travel down rabbit holes. (Since when have I needed an excuse?) So, without further ado (wait, I'm never without ado) here are a few before that historic date:

In 1820, less than a century, a mere 98 years before my mother was born, King George III, the British monarch who inspired a band of American heros to declare their independance from the British Empired, died. As a result his son became King George IV.

In 1843, future President William McKinley was born. While McKinley was running for President in 1896 a gold prospector in Alaska named Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, Mount McKinley in "homage" to the candidate. The name stuck until 2015. After being elected 25th President he became the first President to ride in an automobile and the second to be assasinated. He was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest person ever to take the Presidential Oath of Office, which he remains to this day.

In 1915 a lieutenant in the German Army by the name of Erwin Rommel lead his company in a daring attack that captured four block-houses in France. He received the Iron Cross - First Class for his actions, and despite Germany's loss in WWI went on to become Field Marshal, the famous Desert Fox who led Hitler's panzers across North Africa.

Three years later, on January 29th 1918, 68 years after The Raven was published, 57 years after Kansas became the 34th State, my mother was born in Polkville, Mississippi.

I want to go down a rabbit hole about Poe's Raven, but it's all about me and I realize I'll just cut it out of the next draft.

In 1936, the first 5 members, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson, were elected to the US Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1958, while I was still in diapers, Joanne Woodward married Paul Newman. A second rabbit hole, also about me, but I'll go down it: only one degree of separation. I was an extra in a movie Mr. Newman filmed in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans area. "Met" would be an exageration but on the first day I got to shoot (Baton Rouge) I was standing near the coffee pot and I look up and there's a guy standing there who looks a like Paul Newman after a really rough weekend. Then I remembered he was playing former Louisiana Governor Earl Kemp Long.

In 1962 Peter, Paul, and Mary signed their first recording contract. Another rabbit hole, not about me (about my dad, and slightly embarrassing, but I'll tell it.) Back in the '50s (before he met my mom, I'm pretty sure) my dad had seen Les Paul and Mary Ford on Bourbon Street. I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone who they were. But somehow, from the very slight resemblence in name, he always conflated the two. In his defense I don't think he listened to any folk music and knew nothing about PP&M, and he did remember that Les could play the guitar. This story also probably has more to do with what knowledge I have of Les Paul than the solid body electric guitar.

In 1964 the magnificent motion picture Dr. Strangelove premiered.

I don't want to get into politics but, short as it was, that last paragraph sorta did, and in praise of a liberal classic, but it may be one of the very few both sides can agree on in this day and time. The next probably is not.
 
In 1979 Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter signed accords further normalizing relations between the US and the Peoples Republic of China. I believe this was another step down the slippery slope leading to our largest political problem today. But to acknowledge my sides culpability in this I will offer (from memory, don't "Um, actually..." me) the old Vulcan adage: "Only Nixon could go to China."

In 1977 "Roots" premiered on television, and in 2002 George W. Bush introduced the phrase "Axis of Evil."

Well, it looks like I managed to fill a whole blog with content, mostly plagiarized from History.com, and by 9:35 PM.

January 19, 1925

96 years ago today my father was born in Jackson, Louisiana. He was actually born at the East Louisiana State Hospital (known throughout Louisiana as the insane asylum.) As much fun as we had with that fact, my grandfather worked there and lived on the farm. Most of the original grounds (if I'm not mistaken) are now part of the Dixon Correctional Institute.

The same day, in Kenner, Louisiana, blues legend Henry Gray also made his debut. I am embarrased to admit that before I started writing this I had to Google him to see if he was still alive. He's not, we lost him last February. I'm even more embarrased at how little I knew about his career. I'm a blues fan, but far from being an expert or scholar. I did get to see him with his band The Cats at The Caterie (a great Baton Rouge bar that we lost to fire several years ago.) I guess I won't see him again, and I won't see anybody at the Caterie.

And, in the immortal words of Forrest Gump: "That's all I have to say about that." So you kids get off of my lawn.