Does Life Go The Way You Want?

Sometimes I wonder whether life goes the way it should for anyone. It is interesting, so to speak, how some people just never seem to have anything really terrible happem to them. Others seem to experience only the worst type of nightmare. Decisions play into this. I try to live within the law for example. I have experienced frustrations but nothing life and death. Others experience what could be termed life or death situations, sometimes more than once. Read the papers, listen to the news and wonder.

Senseless Shootings

There are a lot of things not worth getting too excited about. However, when it comes to doing something that literally takes peoples lives then it is time to become very frustrated. I am writing about a deliberate preplanned act.

The shooting at the Safeway in Tuscan AZ is disturbing at several levels. Do not misunderstand what I am about to type, I am very saddened by all the deaths, believing they should not have happened.

Old people have lived their lives and continue to contribute to society in other ways than they did when younger. These are the easiest to accept though most assuredly wrong.

Younger adults should be contributing to society in the various ways working age people contribute. These Aramco less easy to accept, contributing to the frustration.

The children, especially the younger ones, who die is the most frustrating.  While the other categories have lived their lives to one degree or another, the very young are still just in the yearly learning stage. There was so much potential. They are the ones it should not happen to. These are the least acceptable deaths.

How to maintain a free society and still protect society. the goal of laws is to protect society. For all the importance in this country of protecting the rights of individuals the protection of society is, in fact, over riding.The alternative is chaos.

While the shooting in Tuscan probably was not a political as such it still had ramifications. When I was a young man my first opportunity to vote was in the election that saw JFK take the presidency. I had voted for Nixon. As everyone knows, several years later JFK was assassinated. I was angry. While I wanted him out of office killing him was not my idea of how to accomplish that. Do that by voting.

I have been frustrated in the tone of campaigns for several years. Also, while listening to politically oriented shows where there is a host and several guests discussing issues they talk over each other and show little to no respect for what is being said also contributes to our current situation. There is at the very least an apparent lack of civility that needs to be changed.

Now is the time for that change.

Best.

What Happens When Baby's Around

We had Jazmine once again starting on Friday. As it happened we still had her going into Sunday afternoon as her mother (our daughter) was, as the figure of speech has it, running behind.

I bought lunch for my wife, Reiko, and me on he way home from Church. Of course, we ate shortly thereafter, feeding Jazmine as well.

My favorite football team, the Steelers, were playing that afternoon and it turned out I could watch the game on the TV. While my wife was watching our granddaughter I settled down to watching the game. I had gotten past the point where Cincinnati had scored first when suddenly I was informed I would have to take over watching granddaughter duties. So I set aside any idea of staying with the game; knowing I could fine out how it went later made this easier.

The approach I took was to come up with some entertainment I know she enjoys and will stay with. To that end I switched to DVD. We watched a Sing Along disk that runs for over 35 minutes. While she doesn't sing yet she takes great delight listening to the "Home on the Range". She truly enjoys music.

Next I pulled out Tinker Bell's Great Rescue, whatever the actual title. She tends to stay with this as well even though it is not a musical. By the time it was over her mom was here and it was just before 4 PM.

I switched back to TV to see how the game was going. It was over and I did not find my answer there. I went to my computer and learned that the Steelers had won.

Now you know what is of first importance and what is second importance in our household. Making the switch was not something I debated with myself over. I just did it.

Best.

12/5 Steelers v Ravens

I watched the game into the third quarter and read about the game as well as watched video. It was a rough, tough, hard hitting, defensive game. Congrats to the Steelers.

It seems to me:  it is clear that at least the refereeing teams are not impartial this year when dealing with a Steeler game. There were two infractions on Steeler players that were not called.I doubt those who committed the infractions will be fined. Not right.

Best.

AIDA

Wife and I saw a production of this musical. The musical, by Elton John and Tim Rice, is based on the Verdi opera of the same name. While the opera was in Italian & performed in for acts this musical was written in English and performed in two. The basic plot is the same.

The cast and crew are, in this production, junior and senior high school students. Everyone who performed in this production were capable or better.  We personally felt at least some of them should have been using a microphone.  The young woman who played Aida reflected training and skill. There was lots of energy.

Were we glad we went? Yes. We got to see one of our grandsons do his part. Did we feel we got our money's worth? Based on the whole performance, yes.

Best.

Steeler v Patriots 11 14 10

This game was truly amazing in some ways. H Ward was caught up in a helmet to helmet contact leaving him with a neck injury or maybe a concussion. I am waiting to see if the Commissioner will impose a stiff fine ont Patriot player who did it. If he does not then I have questions.

What I expected resulted. I went to bed after the first half. This morning, when I first got up, I thought there was the possibility that the Steelers pulled it off in the second half, but...

What was wrong with the Steeler defense? I guess I can't say "everything" though that is how it felt. Why: they held the Patiots to 10 points in the first half.

What was wrong with the Steeler offense: the line could not protect Ben at all in the beginning, allowing the Pats to score without Steeler scoring.

What the Steelers usually do to the other teams was done to them last night.  The Pats did excellent man to man coverage, staying with Steeler recievers while the Pats receivers were successful.

I hope the Steelers can learn from last night and play much better hereafter. Otherwise, ...

Best

Cable TV

There is an interesting article in today's news reports. It deals with the high loss of subscribers to cable services. I am being generic when using the word cable as I am including every source except antenna.

When one reads the article through one suddenly discovers that the content suppliers are controlling how the retailers are packaging what they offer. In their bid to maintain high profits they are forcing the retailer to charge more than is actually necessary based on what the consumer watches. I should think that eventually the situation will reach the point whereat the retailer will be forced to charge so much that even the wealthy will walk away.

The other day I was surfiing to see what was showing on several channels. I found 2 stations showing the same movie. The only difference was that one channel had started showing it maybe a half hour earlier than the other channel. Further, and equally to the point, it is obvious that a group of channels owned by the same company shows a limited number of movies in a cycle over 3 months then changes the movies. Why do I need such "diversity"? Very simple, the content supplier has created a situation whereby I pay for more than I can use and that drives up their profits.

My suspicion is that the content suppliers have so many channels so that they can force this situation so that they can maximise their profits. I also think that the local stations have done the same thing for the same reason. Maybe those local additional stations may be the national network's idea, especially when one can tune into one of them & watch reruns of nationally broadcast shows.

How to get around this situation is an interesting question. The article noted what some internet/computer savvy people are doing. Still, to access anything via the internet one must buy into an ISP; no freebees. Pipeddream: if enough people left the cable companies completely then maybe the content supplier would be agreeable to a-la-cart. Oh, well.

Best.