What makes a dream come true?

I had one of those puzzling feel good dreams.

 I was with someone. 

A nice dream.

 As I started to wake up, 

I struggled to put a face and a name 

to that someone 

that was making me happy. 

Suddenly

two faces, one name

popped up

and then I awoke

just a dream?

wishing?

or 

nothing at all?

we will see

they know

where I am

will 

someone

show?

shush

back to sleep

Another Susan Boyle?

Well, it appears that it is deja vu all over again. Funny looking overweight guy, bad hair, lacking confidence, a beautiful girl by side and in his corner, comes out and underwhelms the judges, on appearance alone. Simon saying it couldn't get any worse, audience smirking and then suddenly they start to sing.
Wait for it, countdown, a roar from the crowd, standing ovations from the judges. I guess they were wrong.
People are judgmental, we all are. As one gets older you learn to wait a bit, to see if you are right.

For some reason the video will not play here. never fear, it will take you to you tube.



When Simon talks, he talks as a businessman, to make money. Jonathan is nothing without Charlotte , at least for now. Without her he would not have walked out on stage.

She sings quite well too. If they were to go on as a duo, he would have to learn not to overpower her voice.
Pavorotti redux? time will tell.
I am thrilled for the both of them, aren't you?



Allow me to put on my opera glasses and pour a cup of coffee
and watch and listen.

ray

Sometimes Change Is Good But Something Might Be Missing

When it comes to change in the blogging world sometimes it can miss something. If you have been blogging for awhile, it takes a lot of fiddling around to get things just the way you like it.

Oh the learning curve, how to do this and how to do that and were is that and how do I and on and on.
The subtle things, colors, type, pictures, layouts all take time to learn.

I have been known to wake up grumpy and throw everything out and start over once again.

But I think Google must get bored. They have announced the new format will be coming in April.
I think it is too stark looking, There is a lack of color. And that is just the dashboard.

I have looked at all the different layouts which by themselves look promising. But you can't add the sidebar stuff I like and so I have gone back to the tried and true.

When they force the change, you know that they will, there will be complaining all around.
But the change will stay anyway.
Because it is free.

and I am into free.

and now for an almost free cup of coffee

ray

Eating Food Everywhere, and Still Starving

Available for free until March 31st
click on the title for the link

oooooh
I don't have time to watch
it's too long
I have to watch the Lifetime or Oprah channel instead
To those who say that I wish I could give you a little smack on the back of the head.

Understand the lies and feel better soon

I am just saying, take the time
and now for some chemical free coffee
black

ray

He is doggone guilty as charged!

 My oldest daughter has four dachshunds. Two this shade and two light brown. I am a Lab guy, but I am blessed happy  happy to have them and two beagles. There is not a place safe from poo or pee in the house, which is why we don't have carpet anywhere, just tile. Yes they are cute and adorable. The can bark and howl loudly and annoyingly for hours it seems.

and yes they are all guilty!!

now it is time for a clean up beer or two

ray

It is sad that not using photo shop is a big deal for Cate Blanchett

The pressures to look younger then you are on a magazine cover must be unreal. This how a woman should be portrayed. A touch of make up, a beautiful smile, laugh lines, a mischievous look in her eyes, all this at 42 years of age.

Oh the uproar that must of caused. Silly isn't it. Aging is part of life and should be embraced.
Beauty is two fold, both inner and outer. Dorian Grey she is not.

Somewhere, somehow, how a woman is judged should be changed.

One thing is missing from the equation though, her laughter.

For me , that would seal the deal.

and now for a wishful thinking cup of coffee

ray

click on the title of the post for the article

Once again, it is time for some rambling thoughts from RJ

Gather around boys and girls!


The newest buzzword in business is accountability. By definition that means " something bad happened and I am going to blame you for it so I don't get in trouble first!"

The real reason to become a part of upper management is to bonus. To actually take care of customers is secondary.

If management asks you for an opinion, don't be an idiot and give it.

Life is not complete without man's best friend.

Will the world ever stop fighting?

Within a few months after this years election, we will be in Iran.

Iy you want to steal a lot of money and not get arrested, be a former Goldman Sachs banker, a former governor and bilk a hedge fund out of billions, right Corzine?

If you body hurts, your heart is lonely, if your finances are threatened, if joy is so fleeting, what else is there?

Cue the puppy!

As one gets older life is more about need and less about want.

Dr. Seuss stories were not written simply for children but contained messages for adults. Adults didn't get it.

Reality shows are car wrecks with many people watching.

Human behavior will cause the end of the world, not a Mayan calendar.

Once you get to a certain age, advertising no longer works.

time for a nightcap

ray

Feeling down?, me too, let the video do the talking

All Chicago Politicians Are Irish On St. Patty's Day

Being from Chicago, everything is about politics. The Irish have had a long and successful run in running the city. The St. Patrick's Day parade is a prime example of this. You will see a most bizarre collection of people walking proudly down the street.

taken from MSN weekend best

Dyeing of the Chicago River

Like the spectacle of watching Big Bird and Garfield inflate the night before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago begins with the dyeing of the river.

Saturday morning, a disturbing emerald effluvium will transform the otherwise pristine waterway into a lime-green channel. Needless to say, the parade that follows this half-century-old tradition will represent the world’s largest gathering of Celtic pride and bagpipe cacophony, as Chicago’s Irish-American community overcomes the stigma of “No Irish Need Apply” at long last. Erin Go Bragh!

The dye job is a privately funded deed, but Mayor Rahm O’mmanuel and numerous other dignitaries are certain to attend. This isn’t even the Chicago’s most impressive feat of engineering, either, as the river’s flow was actually reversed in the nineteenth century to keep gross things out of Lake Michigan.

by the way
never, ever drink green beer!
coffee time
ray

Not What It Seems

As I tried to do some work around the pool, the rain, like clockwork hampered my work. As I turned to go in one of the buzzard hawks flew by and came to stay in my tree.

Most of the time they are seen high in the air effortlessly gliding along, usually in groups of five to ten, scouring the ground for their road kill meals. They look majestic from afar. But up close, not that handsome at all.

Kind of like life I think. You think the other person has it made and from a distance it would sure look that way.  But get up close and it ain't  pretty.

Would you still want to trade places? You might be in a place better then most. Try to look at others see you, you may be surprised.

and now for a contemplative black coffee sprinkled with some Ommm's

ray

Happy Pi Day

Or is it Pie day, with ice cream? No silly, Pi , 3.14 to infinity. As it is with many things about math, my eyes start to glaze over and get teary eyed with anything about math.
Even though I posses superior superior math skills, as long as I can use my fingers, math for the most part escapes me.
It might be because of my early school years when I was repeatedly mentally bludgeoned in front of the class at the blackboard trying to do long division and multiplication tables, leaving me crying like a little school boy,wait a minute, I was a little school boy, I have always been a visual person.

I have learned bits and pieces of math, enough to get by but always with a calculator at the ready. I have learned some basic stuff over time but mostly for a reason. How to measure a room, convert square inches into square feet and so on. And something simple like that did not come easy. How to make sure a corner is square? measure off 3 ft on one side, 4 ft on another, from end to end should be 5 ft.
Important? no? how about when you are building a fence and need it square?

So I guess I lean a bit more to geometry, algebra makes no sense to me, unless you want to figure how long it would take for two trains traveling at different speeds to crash into each other.

Someone reading this might think math is so easy and others will commiserate in my pain and ignorance.
Don't worry smart math people, I will hire you to do the heavy lifting.

An online friend is a bookkeeper, and obviously successful at it, seemingly keeping the business she works for running smoothly. She is smart, but she is well rounded and not just book smart.

So I salute all you math people on Pi day. You will always have a place in our hearts and work force.
For those of you with a mathematical curiosity on PI, check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
for more on PI.

But for me, I will have a math simple cup of coffee!

ray

If I am so sweet how come I need so much sugar?

from tree hugger
click on the title for the link to the article!

Why don't we sit down to a bowl of sugar and add some food to it?

How Much Added Sugar Is In These Kid Favorites

Tomato Sauce: 2.5 teaspoons sugar in 1/2 cup

Ketchup: 1 teaspoon sugar in 1 tablespoon

Pre-packaged Muffin: 8 teaspoons sugar

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal: 2.5 teaspoons sugar in 3/4 cup cereal

Yogurt Squeezers: 2.25 teaspoons sugar

Coke: 10 teaspoons sugar in 12ounces (not to mention this is High Fructose Corn Syrup)

Chicken Nuggets: 1 teaspoon for 3 nuggets

Nature's Valley Granola Oats n' Honey: 3 teaspoons in in package

Whole Wheat Bread: 1 teaspoon per slice

Boxed Mac and Cheese: 2 teaspoons for 1 cup

Lunchable: 2-3 teaspoons sugar

Applesauce Single Servings: 5 teaspoons sugar

Pop Tart: 3 teaspoons in 1 pastry

Happy Meal (hamburger and small fries): 2 teaspoons sugar

Bon appetite!

time for coffee sans sugar

ray

I suck as a department manager because I am too nice

It's true. It is one of my failings.  Besides an occasional paperwork snafu, ( paperwork is never ending ) I am too nice, I am known as a nice guy. I was told that. This came about as the district manager walked in and that day everything was a disaster. I was told this as I walked in that day about the visit.

Accountability, responsible for my people not doing enough.

I only took the position to earn more money selling (spiff, commission ) which has now gone away. I do work like crazy, I was given additional duties but not extra people. A long time ago I used to be good, not now I guess. Obviously I have to make a decision, one that will not result in losing my job.

Borrowing from Shakespeare... To be a prick of a boss or not to be a prick of a boss, that is the question

To be continued...

Time Change? Spring Ahead My A##

Really? I am always tired now and we get the opportunity to lose an additional hour of sleep this weekend?

It's all fun and games when one is younger. Add an extra hour here, lose an hour there, no big deal. Dealing in retail, I know that customers come in a bit more cranky on a Sunday morning with one less hour of sleep.

Did I say cranky? Surly is more like it. We were supposed to have a mandatory store meeting this Sunday. But they moved it back two weeks, maybe realizing the timing would be bad and the employees would not be as receptive to the corporate news.

I for one, do not miss a lot of things about being younger, but highly missed is the ability to recover quickly, body and mind, to whatever one puts it's self through. Too much fun, sports, work and so on. But as one gets older, a good sleep is the most precious of all.

I vote to retroactively get back all the sleep I missed or ignored when I was little, fighting not to go to sleep during our afternoon nap when I was little in kindergarten.

However, I will still eat the cookies and drink the milk!

and now it is time for a sleepy eyed cup of coffee...

ray

I survived 72 below windchill, but now I am freezing...

A couple of years before we moved down to Florida in 1988, we had a super cold winter. As winters go in Chicago, it was extremely cold. The wind chill was at an all time low/high? Any way, it was brutal.

Many a night of howling winds whipped the city. I was bar tending one Saturday. A very popular place. But this night was the beginning of the end.

We had a full house, but it was so cold. The heating system couldn't keep up. We had a girl working the coat check , She had a space heater , trying to keep warm but it didn't help. Every time the door opened  she swore at whoever was walking in. Yep it was that cold.

There was three of us working behind the bar. We took to wearing ski vests, hey, we were freezing.
We made it through the night, a punishing night. I was happy to finally go home. One of the bouncers needed a ride home.

W headed out to the full parking lot. When it is that cold, there is no sound, no movement, sound takes a holiday,

My car started on the second try. I found out later that only two cars started, mine being the second one. I am sure it was a long night for all.

As we drove along I noticed cracked water pipes, glazed icy streets and tough driving conditions. I didn't stop for any red lights along the way, my reasoning being that if I got pulled over to get a ticket, the police car might be warm.

There wasn't a car to be seen anywhere. I dropped the bouncer off and headed home. I arrived safely and throwing the car into neutral and let it slowly stop in a ice glazed snowbank.

The wind chill registered at 72 below zero that night. 72 below...
The following Saturday is was only 64 below wind chill.
We laughed. It was getting warmer.
Chicago humor.

This morning, it dropped below 50, not 50 below, but below 50.
My fingers were like icicles, no feeling in them.

now I am a sissy Florida boy.

and proud of it.

time for a hand warming beer!

ray

To Manscape or not was the question and the women answered!

Adult Talk Next

One wanders from blog to blog, someone's reading list looks interesting, pick a title and then settle in for a read.
The subject was interesting enough, a guy giving divorce advice which led to after divorce dating advice all very funny and all true.

It soon turned to men shaving , ( down under ), the expectations of the ladies now a days and their likes and dislikes. The cutest description was the Chia pet look. The ladies all seemed to agree on the look they liked and why. Some were a bit shy in saying their thoughts but most were bold and funny I might add.
And a few of them I recognized from other blogs or posts!

So it got me thinking. This certainly isn't the 80's, I am way behind the times. Not that there is any local interest but maybe someday...

now for a very large cup of coffee
a steady hand
and ...gulp...
where the expression of "got you by the short ones comes from!"

ray

One Less Monkee

They were fun, They were silly. We thought the music was great. We all sang along. We played the albums, taking turns sing the lead in each song. We had fun. We didn't miss a show. We wished we were a Monkee!
Critics said they were a put together band just for TV. Who cared? They made us happy.

And Davy always got the pretty girl!



I used to build model cars. I built this one!

Davy always got the girl it seemed. He seemed to get the most credit for his singing, but Mickey Dolenz did sing most of the songs.

Here is one of Davy Jones best songs



The scary part is that as our favorites pass on, someday it will be our turn. Oh well, have all the fun while you can!

Here we come
walking down the street...

coffee time

ray