I would go to my den, get on my computer, and get on E Bay. I have been an E bay member since around 2003. I buy golf balls, golf clubs, golf shoes, golf tees, golf bags, running shoes, dress shoes, golf shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters, shorts, hats, shampoos, reading glasses, kitchen accessories, slippers, dental floss. athletic shoes, hand lotion, ski caps, marking pens, electric toothbrushes, I pad covers, underwear, and that was just last week. It’s been over 20years that I have shopped at E Bay and overall it has been a very good experience. I have had a few problems, but the folks at E Bay have always come through, and I have never been stuck with something or paid for something and never got it without reimbursement. If I was going to a brick-and-mortar store, I would have to go to Macy’s. If I was going on a shopping spree, it would definitely be for clothes. Macy’s always has great sales going on and when you use their credit card you save even more. Their selection is good and arranged very nicely. They have a very good kitchen section. Here is where I would not go for a shopping spree. Dicks Sporting Goods, because their prices suck and the so-called rewards card is a joke. Target and Walmart because of the overall lack of quality. I think the clubs like Cosco and Sam’s Club and there are other ones are great for families and the quality of merchandise is above average. For two old people buying in bulk like that, especially when it comes to food, almost makes me physically ill. It’s almost like belonging to a country club. Because you have to pay a fee to belong you always feel like that is the only place you should shop. I looked up the definition of spree and I know I really have never been on a shopping spree. Spree is defined as an unrestrained indulgence in or outburst of an activity. A secondary definition read a drunken revel. Then I looked up revel which means to take intense pleasure or satisfaction. The key words here are unrestrained and intense. I think we just explained Black Friday. I’ll be damned.
Not To Expect Much From The Writing Prompts
Yes, that is the last thing I learned is not to expect much from the writing prompts. Now I know this has to be a pretty thankless job, so if I am going to be critical maybe I should help out. I did this once, pretty much as a joke. This time I am going to get serious and off the top of my empty head I am going to try to put out at least 10 good writing prompts and feel free to write about any of them.
- What is the worst vacation you have ever had?
- What is your strategy when you have to buy a car?
- Do you believe in the adage you can choose you friends but not your relatives and how has that worked out for you?
- What was your worst and best restaurant experience?
- What are your feelings about organized religion.
- Can you legislate morality?
- Is a college education worth it?
- Will you retire or work until you drop dead?
- What happens after you die?
- Is it safe to discuss politics today?
Well, there it is and have at it. That should keep you busy for a while. I may even write about a few of those subjects myself. What is the last thing I really learned? Quite frankly, I do not remember. First of all, define learn. Did I find out about something that I did not know before or did I learn a new skill. The former I did this morning and the latter I did about 50 years ago. I would be curious, how many new skills do you learn after the age of 25. You might hone some previously learned skills but to learn a totally new skill after that age I do not think it happens that often, but I am probably wrong. Wait a minute, I forgot, I am just like my father. He always told me, son I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.
Just One Question?
I don’t know of any question that I liked to be asked. Let’s look at some of the more common ones. How are you doing? Now you know whoever is asking that question, really does not give a shit how you are feeling. Everybody answers that question fine even if they are not. When I was a kid, it was even part of etiquette to say fine thank you and you? A rehearsed answer to an inane question. What did or do you do for a living? As soon as I said I was a veterinarian two things would happen. They would ask me another question about their dog or cat, to get free advice. It would be real tempting to give them false information, but I never did. The other statement would be, that is what I or one of my children always wanted to be. I stated my feeling about that one in a previous blog. Where are you from? Like what does that have to do with the price of bread. Where do live now? None of your business. If I want you to visit me, I will tell you. What are you doing today? First do they really care and second, I don’t have any idea. Then there are the real nib shit questions. Are you married? Do you live alone? What you do for a living, is it lucrative. When you go to the doctor, they ask you if you are taking your medications? Are you really going to tell the truth on that one. If you’re not, they are going to find out anyway because of poor test results. Where are you going? If I wanted you to know, I would have told you. Then there are the questions that the person who is asking the question knows that you have no idea, but they ask anyway. Where are my glasses? Where is my phone? Do you know where I put my car keys? Are you ever going to do this or that? A better writing prompt may have been, is there a question you liked to be asked? Now that I have asked that question, despite what I wrote in my opening line, come to think of it, there are some questions I do not mind. A question that evokes a discussion about sports. How do you think the Pirates are going to do this year? Who should the Steelers draft this year? On the whole however, most questions are just annoying inquiries into phases of your life that you do not want to discuss with people that you don’t know all that well or at all. When someone knows that their question is annoying, they will say I was just curious. Go read the National Enquirer and leave me alone. By the way, I never ask the questions that I just mentioned above. Yes, I don’t give a shit how you are feeling and so don’t ask. However, you better not give me your damn cold.
Pirates Morning Report: The Boredom Goes On.
We are getting closer to opening day and Pirates are basically standing pat with this team. I am not that upset with the lack of real moves, but it would have been nice to see them make a real upgrade somewhere. I have an idea when it comes to writing about the Pirates. Instead of writing about trade rumors, title the articles wishful thinking trades. There is plenty of time for a trade and a good number of free agents are still available. For now, we must assume that the current roster is what the Pirates are going to put on the field. There are some interesting facts about the position players on this team and I will write about what this team must do to make the playoffs. The pitching is deep but already David Bednar is dealing with an injury that is probably going to jeopardize him being on the opening day roster. Everything discussed today will be mostly about position players.
Here is an interesting fact about this team. During the last 3 seasons, there are very few players on this team that have played more than 130 games in a season or catchers that have played 120 games. This has been due to injuries or being sent down to the minors. There are some surprising names on the list. Ke’Bryan Hayes has done it just once. Grandel has not done it since 2019, although he came close last year at 118. Rowdy Tellez has done it once. Olivares has never done it. Henry Davis has not done it at either the minor or major league level. McCutchen has been durable over his career but last year was the fewest games he has played since 2019. You have to wonder how many of these players are going to continue to be fragile. Right now, the Pirates have 17 players that they acquired by free agency or played a significant role on last year’s team. There are only 13 spots on the roster for position players. The Pirates will have some tough choices to make or will they be saved by the mysterious injury and the 25-day rehab assignment. What has to happen for this team to make the playoffs.
They have to avoid the catastrophic injury. Speaking of which, Oneil Cruz will need to have the big bounce back season that everyone is hoping for. To put it in WAR terms, he needs to have a 5-6 win season. It would be nice to see Bryan Reynolds get to that 4-6 WAR season again. He has had a slight decline every year over the last 3 seasons. I do not look at this as an essential part of the picture, but it would be a nice bonus. As long as we at least get the 2023 version of Reynolds it will benefit this team. One of the biggest keys to this season will be can Hayes and Jared Triolo continue the hitting like they did after the All Star break last year. Both of these players are elite glove men. After the All Star break, they both mashed. Hayes slashed .299/335/539, and Triolo slashed .298/.394/411. If they can continue to put up those numbers during the season, then this team could be an offensive juggernaut. Triolo did this while being a super utility player, playing three infield positions and being a plus defender at all 3. If he can hit like he did after the All Star break, I would love to see him settle in at 2b. That brings us to Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales. Both were negative WAR players last year. Granted the sample size was not the largest, especially for Gonzales, but one of these players needs to step up and show that he can hit Major League pitching. The so-called fragile players need to have a healthy season, at least 80% of them. If Rowdy Tellez can approach his 2022 season that would be a plus barely. In 6 seasons he has never had a WAR 1 or over. This has to be close to wishful thinking that he will have a career year. Pitching looks like the Pirates strength, but we all know how that can go speaking of fragile. By mid-season the Pirates will have 15 pitchers that can be put into the 5-man rotation. The Pirates should be a team that considers the 6-man rotation. The battle for a spot in the starting rotation should be one of the most interesting things of spring training. The bullpen looks really solid with really no weak links.
I was very optimistic about this team last year and thought they would contend for a playoff spot. Then Oneil Cruz broke his leg and essentially the season was over. Over this winter Endy Rodriguez went down with a season ending injury. His loss is not as big as Cruz’s was, but it is still significant. This teams pitching is so deep that you would think that they have to contend for a playoff spot this year. On the other hand, I have used the phrase wishful thinking twice in this article. One thing for sure is that April, no matter what the Pirates do, will be a bad month. If the Pirates get off to a hot start, the media will say they did that last year and look what happened. If they get off to a bad start, the consensuses will be that they should have made more moves in the offseason, and they are still the same old mediocre or worse Pirates with a tightwad owner. Probably the best thing for them to do is to tread water for those first 30 games right around .500. Last year they were 20-10 at the 30-game mark. I would not mind seeing that again and be damned what anybody thinks. Bring on opening day, I can’t wait to start following.
Job?
Although this prompt looks simple enough it could have lots of different meanings. Maybe a better question would be do you enjoy your career? If you are a member of the so-called professions, do you consider what you do a job. If you do, then you need to find a new job. Let us look at the many definitions of job and answer each definition.  A regular remunerative position. Yes, I can definitely say that I enjoyed my regular remunerative position. A specific duty, role, or function. I did not enjoy every duty or function that I performed while receiving some form of remuneration.  Something that has to be done : TASK. Says who? I can quite emphatically say that I did not enjoy doing anything that supposedly HAD to be done.  An undertaking requiring unusual exertion. I will have to say I might be on the fence about that one. It would depend on what the job was. I generally do not want to exert myself too much but if there was something that I wanted to accomplish that required physical exertion I would do it, but probably not enjoy it. The object or material on which work is being done. This is one of my favorite because it makes me think of nose job. I never thought of what I worked on was the job. I was fortunate enough to do something for 44 years that I loved, veterinary medicine. Of course, I never thought of it as a job. There were lots of ups and downs and some very sad moments over the years, but I looked forward to every day. Anytime I was at a gathering, meeting new people and told them what I did, a vast majority would say that was something that I always wanted to be. I would give some normal polite answer when what I really wanted to say ” Why the eff didn’t you, you shiftless lazy bastard. Now there is a much better writing prompt, wouldn’t you say.
Someone Else
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
This is really easy. I would be Donald Trump for a day. I would go into one of my buildings, go up to about the 20th floor, and then jump out the window. Seriously, the key words here are for a day. I realize that this is a fantasy but if it was for only a day, I might really like being that person and then when I had to go back to my life, which currently I really like, it might make me depressed. Other than what I wrote before, which would save the world, I have no desire to be someone else, even if it is only for a day.
Sports: Random Thoughts
Have not done on of these types of blogs for a while. I just kind of free base thoughts on various topics of the sports world. This will probably take place over a few days as I think of things.
Pro football to me had a very strange end to its season. The last 3 games the wrong team won each game. The Ravens should have beaten the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. The Lions should have won the NFC Championship game. The 49ers outplayed the Chiefs in the Super Bowl but managed to lose. A very unusual ending to the season to have 3 such games in a row. It makes you wonder is one game really the way to decide a champion. Having said that I don’t know if football has any other options.
I have not watched one shot on the LIV tour. When the tour started the PGA tour players had nothing good to say about the tour and the players that defected. No question thanks to the LIV tour, the players of the PGA tour are going to make a lot more money than they would have in 2024 and beyond. All of a sudden, the LIV tour and their players are not such bad guys after all, with the PGA tour players taking back and softening a lot of the things they said in 2023. This is the perfect example of money talks and bullshit walks, and in this case walking back.
The Spring Training games have started, and it is shocking to me that neither Blake Snell nor Cody Bellinger have not been signed by any team. Snell even more so because this guy is a two-time Cy Young winner. Even though both are represented by Scott Boras it is a big surprise that neither has gotten a deal yet. In my view these are a couple of imperfect free agents and maybe teams are just gun shy at putting out the super bucks for two players that have some obvious flaws. Since starting this, Bellinger resigned with the Cubs but certainly not for the long-term deal that many thought he would get. Maybe next year Cody.
March Madness is coming soon, and I will have to say my interest in the tournament has waned over the years. There are so many teams, and it just seems like the regular college basketball season is just a waste of time. I don’t know how important seeding is anyway and that is about all the regular season does. I think the tournament needs a tweak in the format. The top 8 teams selected by the committee would automatically be in the sweet 16. Then the next 64 teams are in the tournament making a total of 72 teams. These teams will battle for the other 8 spots in the sweet 16. This will put new emphasis on the regular season. If you have that good of a season you deserve to be in the final 16 of the tournament. It should make for a much better tournament.
Even though we are not in their season, college football has to cut down the bowl games. They will have a 12-team playoff system next season which is great. Let’s stick with that nice round number of 12 and have 12 more bowl games. There will be 11 playoff games and 12 bowl games for a total of 23 post season games involving 46 college football teams and that is more than enough.
DIY Projects
When I first saw this prompt, I thought my answer would be none. I am about as far away from being a do it yourselfer as anyone could be. When I looked this up supposedly having a garden is considered having a DIY project. I am really not too sure I agree with that, although they did mention that this being in this category was because of building beds with railroad ties. I have never done that so maybe my answer should stay none. My Dad was the greatest DIY of all time. He could fix anything, take anything apart and put it back together. As a kid you either follow your father footsteps or rebel against it. This was one of the few things my dad did that I rebelled against. I don’t even know why but I did. In my adult life, being a veterinarian, one of my standard lines was if it doesn’t breathe, I’m don’t touch it. My mother always use to tell me, Bobby you are just not “handy”. I did nothing to change her mind. When I had my practice and my parents would come up to visit me, sometimes I would be finishing up a surgery before we went to lunch. My mother would see me in a dog or cats’ abdomen, and she would say, Bobby your dad and I just can’t believe you are able to do this. I would say to her, I know mom it is truly amazing. Parents, you just have to love them. When push comes to shove, I have fixed a few things in my time. I would never consider anything I have ever done as a project. These things would be like fixing a toilet that is running all the time or a leaky faucet. Things do not get fixed in my current environment. If something is not working or broken, it is most likely going to get thrown away. If it is a big ticket item, we will call a repair man. I rarely look under the hood of a car. Thinking about it I have put together certain pieces of furniture. In fact, the desk that this computer sits on, I put together. You know what, it is still standing. My greatest project is still standing. Is yours?
It’s Only Boring If You Lack Knowledge
It’s very tempting to say the daily writing prompts. First let us define boring. It is defined as something that is dull and uninteresting. The examples used are a boring discussion or lecture and a boring time. If you think something is boring it shows that you have not developed your brain above kid mode. This is one of the classic statements of the 6 to 12 year old crowd, “I’m BORED”! It is usually said, “I’m BORRRRRRRRRRED”! People will describe many things as boring when maybe they just mean that is bad or not very good. Movies, plays, and books can sometimes be described as boring when in reality they are not done very well. It is simply a misuse of the word. There are many activities, jobs, sports, and the arts that people will label boring. The reality is that nothing is boring. Individuals just do not take the time to explore and learn all of the intricacies of whatever they think is boring. The examples of this are too many to list. People just want to label something boring just so they will not have to learn something new. There are many things in this world that may disgust you, make you bewildered why so many people like to do something, seem ridiculous, or why something is so popular. None of those things are boring. There are many mundane things in life that we have to do. You can make all of these things better by doing things like reading about other things that you think are boring. Meditating during these times may be a way to learn how to meditate. Any time you say you are bored you are causing you brain to contract. Exploring and learning about things that you think are boring is a way to make your brain expand. There are always exceptions to such a philosophy, which brings us back to the daily writing prompt.
Favorite Drink
It depends. If food is not involved and I am just drinking fluid, then I will drink beer or Trader Joe flavored Sparkling Water. The Trader Joe drink may be the best drink ever invented. No calories no artificial sweeteners, which will kill you by the way. If you are drinking any kind of diet drink with any kind of artificial sweetener you might as well start smoking 4 packs a day and hope your death comes quicker and with less pain. Look for European medical articles to see how dangerous they are. I am surprised how people are so blind to the perils of artificial sweeteners. They are like the Donald Trump of additives. I like beer with certain types of food, any type of fried sea food, pizza, and salty foods like peanuts. I am not an IPA guy but do like all kinds of beer. Some of my favorites from number one on down are Shiner Bock, Yingling, Bass Ale, Labatt Blue, Iron City, Heineken Lite, and Labatt Blue Lite. Another beer I really liked was Anchor Steam that was brewed out in San Francisco. They recently went belly up and there are rumors they may be back. One thing about Anchor Steam was that it was pricey, at just over $40 dollars a case. I have never drunk wine without food being involved. Red wine goes with steak and red sauce pasta. White Wine goes with seafood and white sauce pasta. I like Merlot, Chianti, and dry Reisling. I do enjoy a gin and tonic once in a while before a nice meal at a restaurant. I have rarely drunk Vodka, Scotch, or other various whiskeys. I am also a big milk drinker. I will have cereal for breakfast about 2 to 4 times per week and will just drink milk at other times. I guess this could be considered an odd one, but I love milk with popcorn. I have one cup of coffee at least, every morning for my caffeine hit. I look forward to that and do enjoy it. One thing I do not like to drink is water. This is another place where the sparkling water is a godsend. I admit I really like carbonation. Water for me is just bland, whether you put a lemon or lime in it, is not going to make a difference. If I had to make a choice and drink only one thing the rest of my life, it would probably be Shiner Bock or sparking water. I did have beer and eggs once at 8 in the morning, so I guess the real answer to question is Shiner Bock. It’s nice that I don’t have to drink one thing the rest of my life. Thank God it’s always 5 o’ clock somewhere.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 