Baseball Only For Those That Can Afford Cable

Time for baseball playoffs again, seems the Orioles just missed making it yet another year. I'm giving the family my weekly rant about getting rid of cable when I noticed, the playoffs are on TBS! If I get rid of cable, no playoffs, and further more, no more Orioles next year. So baseball, America's game, the nation past time, is only available to people who either can afford, or choose to have cable? Whaaaa? That just ain't right, actually a little embarrassing when you think of al the people that fall into the category of not being able to afford it.

Political Ads and Maryland Politics

Who gets my first email about all the political ads on TV? I wanted to get rid of cable, just go with analog, but I lost a family vote, curses! Kind of glad I lost, network TV is one long political ad, and I think they are all lying. One candidate is running on their accomplishments, Barbara Milkulski, but she's been in office for 100 years, running against a guy that made a commercial that looked like the show crocodile hunter. Eric Wargotz said he considers himself a "constitutional conservative" and an "Old Testament kind of guy."

OK, what's the big difference, is this the change having to do with how much money can be donated? That needs to be changed tomorrow if this is the result. I've seen the one gubernatorial ad at lest 15 times today, and I don't watch anything during the day, and that's not the only one I've seen. All of them are contradicting each other, someone is lying! WBAL says Kratovil changed his ad, told the truth, kind of, lies of omission, I wouldn't know, neither Harris or Kratovil have returned my emails. Don't forget there are 2 other people running, Libertarian Dr Richard Davis, and Independent Jack Wilson.

Football Strike, Too Many Political Ads, and Busted Wheelchair

Watched the opening game of the new NFL season, loved playing the game, not such a big deal to watch it. I was trying to figure out what the players were doing just before the game, both teams postured out onto the field, holding one finger into the air? Found out afterward it was a sign of solidarity, if the owners don't give them what they want in collective bargaining the 2011 season could be in danger. With all I have in me, I swear that if they strike, I will never see another game, greedy bastards!

The political process is out of control! Forget political parties, forget agendas, forget it all, I'm talking about the damn commercials! November is a year away and we are being bombarded with these commercials. I'm so glad they were able to increase the money that could be donated to politicians, I was worried I was going to see nothing but BP commercials with employees from the gulf!

Having trouble with my wheelchair, with charging the batteries actually. The chair is fantastic, nice long range, 5 speeds so I can keep up with anyone. I think I'm having charger problems, but I don't know how to check it? The lights run when it's plugged in, I think that's what it's supposed to do? The batteries are newish, shouldn't be those, but I don't know? My wheels are down, and I need to have them back, so I'm searching for a fixer of chairs.

Winter Olympics, Kids Still Home, and Still Using Right Hand

Watching the Olympics, so far I haven't seen anything I couldn't do, I mean come on! I'm trying to figure out why speed skaters don't go in a straight line, all that side to side stuff has to slow ya down. And the moguls, is just me, or do they all look the same? The biathlon was cool, they actually showed it this time. Curious how they awarded the winter Olympics to a place that averages 50 degrees in February? Can't wait for curling, my all time fav, if I can live through the figure skating.

Waiting to find out if the girl has school tomorrow, the boy is already off for presidents day. She goes to school in the city, don't know if they are ready for it. Trying to figure out if the light rail is operating on a regular schedule, and if they are open, not observing the holiday. Like I thought, no school for the girl either. Not always right as a parent, but have a pretty good record.

I changed my mouse around to use it with my left hand, the right one isn't cooperating. I'm pretty much amphibious, can use either hand, but the mouse is a little different. Not sure if it's the mouse, or the way I sit, but I can't get it right. I changed it back, was thinking I should ride this out with my right, like you would a rented mule. Trying to figure out how to disable the right mouse button, keep pressing it when I don't mean it.

Biker Insurance, Running To the Bathroom, and I Need a Hobby

I see, hear, and read things that make me chuckle, especially in advertising. I was listening to the radio today, there was one of those non stop auto insurance commercials. This one was for motorcycle insurance, or as they referred to it bike insurance. The company was advertising bike insurance, for bikers, by bikers. I got a picture of these suits, sitting in a conference room, knuckle bumping eat other. I also had a minor guffaw, wondering what real bikers think of the massive infusion of menopausal men using bikes to stay young?

Tell ya something else that makes me laugh. The image of me, running, or my new equivalent of running, trying to make it to the bathroom. I look like those guys that do demolition by running into things, or Quasimodo,going to ring the bells. I am capable of leaving a wide swath of destruction to begin with, put me in double time mode, and look out! I had one of those dashes today, figure I may as well laugh about it. Think I had a micro chip installed at birth, and it activates when I pull onto my street, good times.

Have to figure out how to get out of this recliner? Weighs heavy on my mind that my future holds nothing but sitting, probably, and the fatigue is so bad, I can't go do anything about it, but sit here and wait. Time to suck it up, push it, but what? Where? When, and with who? What do people do during the day, or at night for that matter, when they have a lot of time on their hands? All my friends and family work, they can't play with me. Never thought you could have too much time on your hands, is there no parole from this?

Trash TV, Foul Language, and a Good Fight

I realized how little TV I watch today. I bring it up because I didn't know cable was out until I was told. I do listen to the radio a lot, all day long most of the time. There doesn't seem to be much on for an old fart like me. I can't stomach these vote me off reality shows. Most are made up of, at least to me, the people who I wouldn't miss if they abducted by aliens. Shock value has lost most of it's value with me. Don't get me wrong, a like a good dirty joke, but what made them funny was their bawdy, look what I said attitude. I was flipping the channels the other day and stopped at the Disney channel in time for a 10 year old to tell her mother she sucked! It ain't easy bein me.

I like a good curse word now and then, they make an excellent point, or add extra umpf to certain statements. The problem is, people use the big ones, you know the ones I mean, George Carlin's 7 good ones, too much in casual conversation. I know them all, I've used them all, and used them well, when appropriate. I don't use them at home, don't see the point. I used them at work, used them often. The people I dealt with didn't understand it when you asked if they thought it was best to sit quietly and please stop throwing things at the judge. I want the world to play by rules, is that too much to ask?

I also haven't been in a fight in years. The wife has a hard time understanding the concept of a good roundhouse punch to jaw to make you feel alive. There was a time that I did the whole fight thing pretty well. I loved contact sports, was pretty good at them too. I miss the physical part of me, it is long gone. I probably can still take a good knock, but I doubt I could do much more than wear them down by hoping they get tired of hitting me! I actually had someone tell me, very recently, they didn't want to meet with me to talk over a problem, they were afraid I was going to beat them up. I'm sure I could find a rather long list of people willing to smack the shit out of me, good friends, huh?

Tivo Problems, Still Not Over Exacerbation, and House Refinance Tomorrow

I am in Tivo hell! We have Comcast for our cable, they sent out a note telling us we needed to upgrade all of our equipment to receive the new digital signal. Having a hard time getting everything back in step. I can Tivo things if the TV is off, but if it's on, I have to watch that channel. I got the wife all excited to watch a movie the other night, told her I would Tivo it until she was ready. She finished what she was doing, got all her things ready, came into the home theater room, or as some call it, the living room. I fired up the Tivo, started the movie, and it was the Orioles getting beat by someone. I need to do some research.

My eyes are still on strike, along with my blood pressure. The eyes have a chance of being my glasses, though I don't think so, the blood pressure is probably related to the steroids, or it's my fat ass, who knows? I'm on my step down dose of oral prednisone, so I'm hoping I'm still coming out of this thing. My eyes are bothering me, not use to this whole aging thing, at least the numbness feels better right now. I'm trying to not make plans for this to fail, but I'm nervous what it means if it does, and more than a little scared. I'm using my upbeat attitude to conquer this, even if it kills me!

We go to settlement on the house tomorrow, we refinanced to 4.75, good for us. We are switching away from scary old Mr. Potters big bank and putting our money into that warm Bailey savings and loan. Trying our best to stay local, stay small, stay smart. OK, me staying smart is way past due, but we can try. Working towards living long enough to pay the house off in my lifetime, without having to live to 138! 15 years and this place is mine, just in time to retire! It's nice to have options, glad to be able to take some control of something in my life, and be thankful for it.

Multiple Sclerosis, Economic Insanity, and Zoned Weakness

I was watching a thing with Tom Brokaw, he's traveling across the country on RT. 50 from Ocean City, MD, all the way to California. It's the first installment, and I'm already mad! He started in Cambridge, MD, at a crab picking company. The owner of the company is worried he is going to go out of business, not because there isn't enough work, but because there are not enough workers. The county has an unemployment rate of 11%, I sure hope they have suspended all public programs and support until there isn't a job opening anywhere. Can't find workers, who'd of thunk it?

That's like GM, they are going to go the way of Chrysler by the sound of it. The UAW said they would consider a cut in benefits, that's real grown up of them! Now I'm not an economist, I'm not even college educated, but it seems to me that if you have something that is dead, and GM is dead, shouldn't we pull the plug, and look for a new date to the prom? We have GM stock, so I suppose we should be appreciative of the extra help the "experts" are giving our portfolio, but I have got to say, maybe it's time to cut our losses, and let survival of the fittest take over.

Why is it that there are days that part of my legs feel weak, but not the whole leg? My thighs are actually painful they are so weak today, and I don't understand it. They may stay this way for a few days, they may not change for a few weeks, I never know. My eyes are the same way, I never know when or why they are going to act up. It makes it hard to plan, never knowing when, or why I don't feel good. I guess I should stop whining and just be happy that I have days that aren't so bad? That's a hell of thing to be thankful for, things aren't always so bad!

Multiple Sclerosis, Digital TV Conversion, Fatigue Getting Worse, and the Wife Still Sluggish

Who do you think is getting the kickback from this digital television conversion? Is this in our best interest, or theirs? All of this high definition crap is getting out of hand. I watch TV when there is nothing else to do, the wife on the other hand has the TV on all the time, I think it's background noise for her. I don't need all this extra stuff, I haven't bought a new TV in years, I claim family member TVs when THEY get new ones, so just let me watch my old TV, and stop the digital conversion countdown everyday!

The wife is still not feeling up to snuff, she's really milking this one for all she can get! She is sleep deprived most of the time anyway, we are working on correcting that one as we speak, but she is extra tired right now. The cough is persistent too, but the medic said she would be fine, oh yeah, if she rested! She takes great care of us all, I just need her to start taking the same care of herself.

I need to make an appointment to find out about this fatigue, it is getting out of control. I slept until 9 or so this morning, and was ready for a nap by 11:30. Next thing I knew it was 2, I got up and was still tired! It's not a sleepy tired, but I figure I may as well sleep since I don't have the energy to do anything else. I'm trying the baby step approach, the problem is I am accomplishing what you would expect from a baby!