Vasily Alexeev

When I was growing up ABC's Wide World of Sports was the go to show every Saturday. We would marvel at all the wonderful athletes with the strange names doing wonderful things.

Here is the worlds strongest man.  80 world records.





time for a puny cup of coffee

ray

The Pity Party Is Over

I am over it. The funk, while not gone, is now an incentive to do better. 

I am thinking of the tough areas that came up that I did not know.

I will not go back and change any answers!

I wondered all day, did I do myself in?

I will systematically go through each chapter

and know it as best as I can.

I will know all the definitions cold.

It is tough to admit to defeat to the whole word

but it will be great to announce to the whole word

that I did it.

must practice my Snoopy happy dance.

got to be ready!

thanks for your support

coffee time

ray

I failed the big test

By one answer

like wide right in trying to make the winning field goal in the super bowl

like the winning shot in basketball that is in and out

like the putt for the win in golf that falls short

like the dropped ball in the world series that would end the game

needed 105 right

got 104 right

time to lick my wounds
no support around here
no words of comfort
no one to say it will be alright
no hug or kiss to make it feel better
just a finger pointed

failure, it is not pretty

ray

It can always be worse where you are

This is nothing like a direct hit from a hurricane but it is bad enough. Our back yard is on an incline so it takes a lot of water to get to the house plus our slab is 6 inches thick which helps quite a bit. Others were not as fortunate.

I am guessing that many of the homes pictured do not have flood insurance. Homeowners insurance does not cover flooding. It will be a painful learning lesson for some. The cost is only $350.00 a year in most areas, a national program, but some decided against it.

The picture below is an overhead shot of our local area.

we were lucky
time for a thankful cup of coffee

ray

Hey, what's 15 inches of rain amongst friends?

Here are some pictures, not in order, on what it looked like in my neighborhood.

Streets were flooded and if you got out, you couldn't get back in.

Parking lots were lakes.

Lakes were, well, you can see.

I could fish from my backyard fence.

Docks totally under water.

Some areas over two feet deep.

It can always be worse.

We didn't get the high winds.

The house didn't flood.

Another day though and I think it would have.

The water covered at least 30 feet of lawn.

hey I will have a dry cup of coffee please!

ray

Isaac is missing us but there is a lesson to be learned

We are feeling the affects of Isaac, lots of rain and more rain and more rain.

I posted on FB - I saw ducks and frogs walking side by side in pairs of two yelling "Noah!"
not good...

The wind has been gusty but not scary. And even though it did not look like we were going to get a direct hit, I had the house ready. Plenty of gas for the generator, generator tested, enough food and water, shutters on stand by ( the result of lots of hard work a few years back), and all in all a mental comfort level that for many years I did not have.

But a few of my neighbors, divorced ladies, have gotten a sense of urgency that they didn't have before. They have done a few things to get ready at my suggestions and kind of look to me for advice.
(Unlike around here)
And will redouble their efforts over the next few weeks because hurricane season, (yes there is such a thing) starts June 1st and ends in November.  Mid August through mid September is the most active time.

I have walked around the house a few time during the wind and rain to see how things are doing. So far so good.

Sometimes you get lucky. The clear shutters, see through and light weight are at the ready. No need for now.
But I know if I wasn't ready the eye of the hurricane would be bearing down on me.

a relaxing cup of coffee at the ready, back to my mind numbing test homework.

sigh...

ray

Sunday Music-3 Doors Down-When I Am Gone

An edgy bit of rock and roll




beer time

ray

What a wonderful world from the BBC

some great stuff from the BBC



a colorful beer time

ray

Yea, I passed the first test!

After four days of bleary eyed living I came home with a passing certificate in my grubby little hands, passed on the good news on facebook and promptly took a nap, woke up and went back to sleep.

Exahausted.

It is always difficult to try to absorb so much material in such a short time. Back that up with the fear of not passing the class gives one a sense of dread. It is not making sense. Is it just me with a look of bewilderment on my face?

I look around for confirmation. I get mixed messages. Some do well, most not. Some act like they haven't opened the book at all. Many excuses for not doing homework with of course with the expected results. I know better.

"Read the book" the instructor said "and the handouts too!"
And I did. I got by on 5 hours sleep each day. Why? Because it is important to me not to fail.

By lunch time though, I had hit the wall. Burning eyes, fatigue setting in, I was getting worried. Would I make it? I regrouped one more time for the afternoon push.

And I did it. I had not passed most of the small tests beforehand as all the words and phrases seem to wash over me in a nonsensical fashion and moments of hopelessness reared its evil head.

But I guessed for a moment it worked, I remembered enough. A silent cry of happiness bounced around in my head. A small but important victory.

Next Wednesday is the state test. A monster to be slain. Five days to polish up my armor and sharpen my sword.

a coffee or two
and all the yard work that has been waiting for me!

ray

Old People Have Fun Too!

E-mail of the week Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting. Well, for example, the other day, Mary my wife and I went into town and visited a shop.  When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and I said, 'Come on, man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?' He ignored us and continued writing the ticket. I called him an “asshole” . He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tires. So Mary called him a “shit head”. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.  Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.  We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age. early morning coffee time ray

Really, Add It All Up And That's It?

There is nothing like getting your Social Security statement and adding up what you have made over the years.

Really that much.....that little...

I/we have accomplished quite a bit over the years with very little.

Kind of embarrassing.

But wait, we have owned 8-10 homes over the years, I learned how to do a bunch of stuff that saved us a lot of money, we raised three wonderful children.

All in all, I would consider it

priceless.

still some extra cash would come in handy!

a cold beer or two for my reward!

I am a rich man after all!

ray

WLS (Worlds Largest Store-Sears) 1985 New Years Day

yea I know, the sound has some static, am signal recorded and all, but being from Chicago it has gives up a lot of memories.

the 3rd part is the clearest sound.

3 parts to it, all the number one hits, see if you know them all!

beer time down memory lane

ray



As recorded from Philadelphia: During WLS Chicago's lifetime as a Top 40 giant, their various production wizards assembled an annual year-end montage of hooks from all the number one hits of the year. Every year, the new montage was spliced on to the end of all the old ones, and the whole thing was played on WLS after the stroke of midnight to ring in the new. This one, broadcast on January 1, 1985, covers the approximate time span of 1960 to 1985. This was the last year that WLS played this.

Sunday Music-Usher-Yea

Love this song, I bet I can dance like that too! lol



old dancer coffee time

ray

People Are Amazing

I wish I had the courage to do this stuff



beer time

ray

“Fukushima: Forty Million Japanese In 'Extreme Danger' Of Life-threatening Radiation Poisoning, Mass Evacuations Likely”

borrowed from "Running cause I can't hide"

“Fukushima: Forty Million Japanese In 'Extreme Danger' 

Of Life-threatening Radiation Poisoning, Mass Evacuations Likely”

Ethan A. Huff

"Japanese officials are currently engaging in talks with Russian diplomats about where tens of millions of Japanese refugees might relocate in the very-likely event that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility's Reactor 4 completely collapses. According to a recent report by EUTimes.net, Japanese authorities have indicated that as many as 40 million Japanese people are in "extreme danger" of radiation poisoning, and many eastern cities, including Tokyo, may have to be evacuated in the next few weeks or months to avoid extreme radiation poisoning.

As we continue to report, the situation at Fukushima is dire, to say the least.Reactor 4 is on the verge of complete collapse , which would send radioactive nuclear fuel from thousands of fuel rods directly into the atmosphere. These fuel rods, after all, are already exposed to the open air, but the full release of their fuel would cause not only a regional catastrophe, but also a global nuclear holocaust.

"A report released in February by the Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident stated that the storage pool of the plant's No. 4 reactor has clearly been shown to be 'the weakest link' in the parallel, chain-reaction crises of the nuclear disaster," reported the Mainichi Daily News recently. "The worst-case scenario drawn up by the government includes not only the collapse of the No. 4 reactor pool, but the disintegration of spent fuel rods from all the plant's other reactors. If this were to happen, residents in the Tokyo metropolitan area would be forced to evacuate."

So in an effort to establish contingency for the Japanese people in closest proximity to the fray, authorities are considering potentially relocating tens of millions of Japanese people to the Kuril Islands, which are located in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, or potentially even to China, where hundreds of uninhabited "ghost town" cities with no apparent use could house at least 64 million refugees. If this relocation were to occur, Japan would largely become a barren wasteland.

'Wave' of highly-radioactive waste reportedly headed for West Coast of U.S.: For the Japanese people, the Fukushima disaster represents the complete demise of their nation, as literally nothing is being done to contain the thousands of exposed fuel rods that will eventually explode when Reactor 4 fails. But the consequences of all this are not limited to just Japan, as the rest of the world, including the U.S., will bear the brunt of this ticking nuclear time-bomb as well. We are, in fact, already suffering the consequences of this "nuclear war without a war".

Late last year, for example, it was reported that U.S. officials ordered the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to release three million gallons of radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean. Now, according to The Intel Hub, this waste will soon arrive on the shores of the U.S. West Coast, unbeknownst to the millions of Americans living in that region that will be exposed to it. This new 'wave' of radiation is, of course, in addition to previous waves that have already killed thousands of people, many of whom were children, and sparked a considerable uptick in cancer cases. And as time goes on, more and more people living in America will begin to develop chronic conditions as a result of perpetual radiation poisoning from Fukushima, and many will die, all while the mainstream media remains willfully silent on the issue.

And the federal government has known all along that the Fukushima disaster is shaping up to be the most severe global catastrophe in recorded history, as was evidenced in a recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Not only were federal authorities aware of the extreme dangers posed by Fukushima from the early days of the disaster, but they also orchestrated misinformation campaigns to keep the American people, and the rest of the world, in the dark about the truth.

Since neither the U.S. nor the Japanese governments appear willing to actually deal with Fukushima, and particularly the Reactor 4 situation, NaturalNews is calling on the United Nations (U.N.) to take swift action. A new petition urges the U.N. to organize a Nuclear Security Summit to address the problem of Reactor 4, and also establish an independent assessment team to somehow stabilize it and prevent its fuel from potentially destroying all life on earth."

- http://www.naturalnews.com/

4 days left until school starts

Yep, counting today. School starts Monday morning bright and early at 8:30 am until 6:30 pm, five days straight to prep for the state insurance test the following week.

I did have a choice to study at home with an on line course but I know me, it would have not worked out well. There are too many distractions and interruptions around the house to really concentrate well. Many of them self imposed.

"Look a chicken!"

See what I mean.

The online course would have been only a third of the cost but I know I would have failed.  There will be many points along the way where I will be thinking "I am way to old for this" but it has to be done.

So while in class I will be daydreaming about all the lazy days I had off not doing anything except for:

retiling the the tub bathroom walls
pressure cleaning the front sidewalk
and the driveway
and the pool and patio area
and cutting the grass
and trimming
and cutting
and trimming
and cleaning

I need to get back to work!

coffee time

eay

Capoeira Girl

style-grace-power
from olivier at What a life!






beer time

ray

So how do you fold a thong anyway?

I am so domesticated.
Washing clothes, drying clothes, and folding. And it doesn't matters whose they are.
I have two grown daughters, a son,  plus the wife so I am stuck many times folding their clothes too.

No, I am not that wonderful, it is just that I may need to wash my own and a load of clothes may be in there all day, untouched, unless I take care of them.

Which brings me to woman's underwear. I view them like a first time dad handles a stinky diaper.

 Eww...

Tongs might be a good idea. They all get thrown in a pile as an add-on to everything I have folded.

Let them figure it out.

this has been a public service announcement
from the laundry custodian

coffee time

ray

Confessions Of An Ice Cream-coholic

You know about the 12 step program,

 for me it is a twelve serving program.

I have not had any since mid-April

There is some in the fridge calling to me.

My brain seems to think a 1/2 gallon container

is an individual serving.

My appetite for the cold stuff is insatiable.

All kinds of flavors.

I can look, but not touch.

Not even a taste.

like a moth to a flame

like the suggestive cries

from the female sirens

calling me

promising me 

all kind of delights

at what costs

expanding the waistlines

faster than beer

resist I must

ice cream belly

is 

not 

a

pretty

sight

 sigh...

very early coffee time

ray

True Words

an e mail I received
needed to share it



As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world, too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it, if I choose to read, or play, on the computer, until 4 AM, or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50, 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love, I will.

I will walk the beach, in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves, with abandon, if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.
They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And, I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years, my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break, when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But, broken hearts are what give us strength, and understanding, and compassion. A heart never broken, is pristine, and sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART!

Sunday Music-Heart-Crazy On You

The Midnight Special
For the longest time it was the only way to see any music on TV.
The Heart sisters were on every young mans lust list!



enjoy your Sunday

beer time

ray

I don't buy into the hype, most of the time

You see, the olympics are too commercialized, too expensive to run and run by a bunch of old men who rob from the cities and countries that will spend millions of dollars to build venues that will in most cases be used one time.
They are promised massive dollars that will infuse and inflate the economy for years to come.
Instead they will be paying the bills to run this monster for thirty to forty years.
It is not worth it.

Chicago, where I am from, lost out a few years ago to have the olympics in that city and I had written that I was glad because they are broke as a city and this would have done them in.

As for the athletes, who by the way, are more handsome and beautiful then ever before, in incredible shape and have dedicated themselves for years and years are picked upon for trying to cash in on their new found fame and notoriety by the press and the public at large.

Most are broke. Their parents are broke and going into bankruptcy from supporting them all those years. Other countries spend millions to train their athletes but we like to do it the old fashion way, pay your own way. Being penniless is good for the soul.

Some of the performances have been amazing to watch but to be honest I haven't watched that much. I am happy when the states win but I don't have that do or die feeling anymore. Maybe it got old or I have.

Everything gets over analyzed in every sport and walk of life. One is not allowed to say anything or do anything without it being picked apart.

Why?

Life has enough ups and downs as it is. Please let them enjoy the moment, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

The spirit of competition.

beer time

ray

p.s.

I read on another blog the ancient Olympics were played in the nude. This is true. But the reason was a woman, ( women were banned from competing) snuck in to compete. To stop that from happening they got naked.
If they did that now I am betting ratings would be up!

Great News Everyone I am working for the duck!

The duck, you know, you see him on TV all the time...

Aflac Aflac Aflac! Pays you cash if you get hurt, yada, yada, yada

I need to get my license, school is next week and then the state test.
5 day work week, 9 to 5, weekends off

It will be hard work, always on the move, meet and greet but...
no lifting!
I have abused my body for the last thirty years, no easy money, always very physical.

A new adventure.
New energy.
Pride, passion!

wish me luck...

big breakfast
with a large coffee!
ray

He is a Bolt of Lightning I tell you

I am not caught up in the olympic hoopla any more, but I still can be amazed by speed. Bolt, who stunned the world four years ago in the 100 meter race did it again. A different spectacular finish but a big win never the less.

A very cautious slow start, worried about a false start, Bolt was way behind early on. And yet he won going away. The race was so fast that there were multiple world records broken and yet he won going away.

You may not know this but so much energy is consumed during this race that at the half way point it is usually gone and the runners just try to maintain it to the end. Which is why it is rare to see a come from behind victory.

Until now.

He passed six other runners for the victory. That just doesn't happen. But it did. He is a showman.

Rumor has it that a cheetah has offered to race against him.
A spokesman for the cheetah has declined comment.

a very tired, out of shape, cup of coffee
to celebrate this olympic moment

ray

Why I like electric string instruments

time for a cold one
ray

Sunday Music-Allan Parsons-Time

Allan Parsons was involved with Pink Floyd and the Dark Side of the Moon album.
He was the producer if I am not mistaken.





coffee and tea time

ray

So all we need is for you to take this test

After asking me would I like to work there I was told I needed to take this quick test to evaluate me.

first page
list of things people expect from me

second page
what I think about me

the words are all the same

so I selected them and waited for the results
and waited
and waited
normally they get the results, pass or fail
they couldn't get a score!

so they asked me "do you have any stressful situations going on in my life?"

ya think?

to be continued

coffee...more coffee

ray

Feel Free To Work Any Six Days You Want

What I am finding out now this time around is that in mainstream retail, working six days has become the standard.
Yep, one day off!
Let us think about that shall we...

I did a post last year on how overworked Americans are compared to the rest of the world. Now the excuse is that you should be happy to have a job.

How happy? Not very.
But I maybe forced to take to take any job soon to bring some income.
But to save my sanity I need two days off. It may upset my comfort zone to work at something different but I will have to try. Plus there is a house to maintain. It will quickly fall into disrepair. And I will not let that happen.

oh, did I mention about the twelve hour days? Sometimes the work week might be 60-70 hours.

oh the insanity!

a tired cup of coffee time

ray

P.S.
I went on an interview yesterday. They like me, but a second interview might not be for another week or so.
The waiting continues.

The Wolf Is Not At The Door But He Is Out There and getting close

Job search = beating one's head with a hammer. I know what I want but will I be happy when I get it?
and will the headache stop?

I have stopped in at several places and as I fill out the application I try to observe what is going on. How clean is the place, do the employees have a sense of purpose, is the management organized, do they look like they know what they are doing? and so on.
One can make a sale by accident, called a lay down, and mostly you have to know what you are doing.
It is a process.

On the plus side, my body seems to be hurting less, maybe recovering a bit.

and so it continues...

coffee time

ray