2011 in Retrospect - A New Years Blog

I took the week after Christmas off from writing because I have been extremely busy.  Who would have thought that being on vacation I would need to rest.  However, my last blog of the year is a chance for me to reflect on the year that past.  There were some great moments, some head scratching moments, some frustrating moments and some forgettable moments.  Of all the moments I really can't say I wouldn't change a thing because there are moments that are out of your control and quite simply you would change if you could.  Also, I would like to capture a "best of" list of things I found interesting over the past year.  I will close this out with my "Person of the Year".  Rest assured people, it will not be the protester.

Things that I learned over the past year:

· The City of Worcester has bureaucracy down to a science and I can't say it's worse than any other town than the "Woo".  We built a house this year and it covered every type of moment I listed above.  I have heard people that moved into a new house say "I'm never moving".  Sorry folks I just one upped you.  Not only am I never moving again, they will have to get rid of me Occupy-Style.  In building a house there are regulations and ordinances that are required, which is fine, but have them accessible to people.  You telling me as you go just makes me think you are making it up as you go.  None of the agencies that you deal with when building a house talk to each other, and they are spread out all over the city.  God forbid if you left something off your application or specs, they will not tell you, until you have waited so long that you call in frustration.  This whole experience could take up my whole blog and may some day, just not today.

· I learned that ankle surgery is more invasive than I thought, even though I have been through two of them.

· When throwing business to a friend it is wise to make them understand that you are doing them a favor, not the other way around.  You may be getting a good price, which is why you went to them in the first place, but they need to do the job as if you were any other customer.

· I understand the news and meteorologists really amp up storms when they are coming through our area.  In some cases it is good that it wasn't as bad as they say.  For instance, when Tropical Storm Irene came through Central Mass. the disappointment people had about the impact of the storm was overwhelming.  What did people want, their houses on the next block?  Just don't get it.

· Here is another tidbit on weather from 2011.  After the record amount of snow we received early on the area went on to experience a Tornado, an earthquake, a Hurricane (it was a Tropical Storm when it finally touched), and then finally snow before Halloween.

· I also learned that I have been spelling Honey wrong all these years.  Watch Winnie the Pooh daily and you too will learn it is spelled Hunny.

 Here is my best of list for 2011.  Nothing major, just some things I found entertaining.

Best Facebook Status - "I was wondering if Snap still had the power" - Courtesy of Michael Beaulieu.  It was completely random and out of nowhere

Best Sporting Event Any Level - Bruins win the Stanley Cup.  It is kind of tough to go against that especially the run that Tim Thomas was on. However, on a personal level umpiring a baseball District game with Tantasqua Regional High School two days after that area was devastated by a tornado was a close second.  Those kids played for more than a District title that day.

Best Political Gaffe - There are lot to choose from but Rick Perry's performance in presidential debate where he forgot to department of Energy of agencies to cut.  In his mind he had already cut them out.

Biggest Nuisance - Occupy Worcester.  The Occupy movement overall was a nuisance, but Worcester took the cake because it had the City Manager disagreeing with the Mayor on how they should be treated.

 

Best description of an NFL team - The Vikings' pass defense has really gone from the Cover 2 to the Cover None. Courtesy of espn.com

Most unfortunate story - Prof Avery boycotting care packs for our soldiers

Most pathetic story - Washington. Enough said.

Worst prediction - The world coming to an end by Harold Camping. Twice.

Best What the?  A Foxboro Doctor opposed to the casino in that town saying he will treat sexually transmitted diseases if Foxboro gets a Casino.

People of the Year

Since Time Magazine used its influence to bring recognition to a group, so will I.  However, instead of giving the people of the year to a group of people that hate America, I am going opposite of that.  3D's People of the year are The U.S. Navy SEALS.  On Monday May 2, 2011 they killed the man that most Americans wanted dead since September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden.  Besides the fact that these soldiers defend our nation thanklessly, the SEALS do the toughest of tasks that are asked of them.  They are the true people of the year.

Happy New Year everyone.  Thanks for reading and may I continue to entertain you in the coming year.

3D Coming Right Atcha

3D Ramblings 12/23/2011

No crazy opening, no delays.  Right into my Ramblings of the last two weeks.  Today does mark the 123rd anniversary of Van Gogh cutting his ear off and giving it to a prostitute.  That is just some messed up stuff.

Casino Gaming in Massachusetts - If you thought Massachusetts politicians were corrupt before.  Well we haven't seen anything yet.  These guys will be tripping over themselves to get a piece of the gaming pie.  I thought for sure that Barney Frank not seeking re-election would have led to him leading the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.  For those of you in Foxboro who are against Robert Kraft and Steve Wynn putting up a Casino across from Gillette, you were delivered a critical blow as one of the proponents of a Foxboro Casino was named Chairman of the gaming commission.  He also stated that he will not issue licenses to any bidder that doesn't meet their standards.  That means to the bidder: "Show me the money".

Barney Frank out - So Barney Frank decides he no longer wants to represent his district in Washington anymore.  He figures his damage has done enough to the American public.  Also, losing a piece of his district to the re-mapping of the districts probably took away his main sheep that followed his call.  Simply put, he knew he was a target and he knew could possibly get beat.

Side Jobs - So the state and the city have a difference in opinion when it comes to officials working in their offices, working other jobs on company time.  The State Auditor said that Register of Probate Official Paul Lacava was in the wrong when he would leave his office at the courthouse to teach classes at a couple of the area colleges.  The auditor was spot on in calling out Mr. Lacava and Registrar of Probate Steve Abraham.  The City of Worcester on the other hand sees it differently.  They see no issue that City Clerk David Rushford performing marriages at City Hall during working hours.  I don't see an issue with that either, however, the issue I have is that Rushford gets to pocket the fee for the marriage.  I see this as worse than what Lacava did.  Not only is Rushford using his position at City Hall to do these services, he is using city time and facilities.  If he is going to pocket the fees then the city needs to tax him as a business, charge him rent for the use of city hall and dock him pay for the time of each service he is collecting a fee on.

Coach after my own heart - University of Cincinnati head basketball coach Mick Cronin after a brawl with cross town rival Xavier spoke out against his own players.  He did not defend a single one that was part of the melee.  At his press conference he did not speak of what type of suspensions he was going to hand out, he was talking about if he would have enough players to suit up for the next game.  That was awesome. He knew his players acted like thugs and he wasn't going to have it.

Ochomatchmaking - Last week Chad Ochocinco once again took to Twitter to play match maker.  He tried to hook up an 18 year old boy and a 25 year old single mom.  It was a disaster.  I have a match for Chad.  Him and his playbook.

Debt Deal - Kids! Stop fighting or I will send you to your rooms.  It is actually painfully pathetic to watch what is going on in Washington.

Another Coach after my own heart - The University of Georgia football program was notified by the NCAA that head coach Mark Richt, violated NCAA rules when he, get this, paid his assistant coaches out of his own pocket because he felt they weren't being paid enough and the university would not raise their salaries.  All I can say to that is, F* the NCAA.

Facebook Timeline - On December 28, Facebook will launch Timeline for everyone.  If you haven't seen it yet, it looks pretty cool.  But to see everything you have done while being on Facebook re-appear is pretty eerie.  Mark Zuckerberg has become Big Brother, as George Orwell wrote "He, who controls the past, controls the future."

Attack on Christianity - Why is it when we see people being arrested for religious actions, or decorations are being taken down they are of the Christian variety.  Why is attacking Christianity the cool thing to do?  How is it a "Christmas Tree" is offensive, but a Menorah at Newton Square gets to go up unbothered every year?  This country was founded on religious persecution, but reverse discrimination on Christianity is not only acceptable, but encouraged.

Take-Out - Last night we played an away game at Acton-Boxboro.  On the way home I ordered a pizza to pick up on the way home.  Is it me or do all take-out orders take 15 minutes to prepare?  No matter what time I call or what I order, it is always 15 minutes.  Just saying.

Merry Christmas – There! I said it!  I want to wish all the people that read my blog a Very Merry Christmas.  I truly appreciate your support.  As long as you keep reading, I will keep writing.  If you all tell me to stop, I won't, but I want you to think you have a say.  Merry Christmas

3D
Coming Right Atcha

Remember, if you have a topic you would like me to comment on or right about please e-mail me and I will try my best to comment.

The death of John Bon Jovi

So on Tuesday long time rocker Jon Bon Jovi did his best Jesus impersonation by dying and returning from the dead.  He was more efficient however, he did it in one day.  Seriously, this thing came and went before I even noticed.  My wife told me about this morning and I had no idea.  So it got me thinking of why these tabloids bring death into their story lines.  Not that anybody cares that celebrity couples relationships are marred with infidelity.  People think those stories are true, and they are harmless.  Stories of reporting ones death is classless and stupid.

So some of the past death celebrity hoaxes that have been reported and their cause of death have been:

Charlie Sheen - Date of Death: Dec. 26, 2010, snowboarding accident.  Well, giving what the country had to go through during his "winning" crusade, maybe this was just wishful thinking.

Adam Sandler - Date of Death: Dec. 29, 2010, snowboarding accident.   Since the Charlie Sheen death hoax didn't work the tabloids figured they could sneak Sandler by people for the same type of accident three days later.

Lindsay Lohan - Date of Death: July 13, 2010, overdose, although not surprising or out of the realm of possibility, maybe wishful thinking.  See Charlie Sheen.

Paris Hilton, stabbed in prison in 2007 - This just sounds like a bad porno movie

Will Smith - Date of Death: 2007 - 2009, car accident. The tabloids tried this 4 different times.  Wouldn't you just quit when it didn't work the first time.

Mayor Thomas Menino - Date of Death: April 1, 2005 - Anybody realize the date on this one.  However, this one had legs as famous shock jocks Opie and Anthony were fired for reporting this death on April Fool's Day.  Ok, it was a joke, but in complete poor taste.

When Michael Jackson's death was first reported I thought for sure it was a hoax.  I mean the man went from black to white, his death was begging to be under much speculation.  On the flip side of all the death hoaxes are the clowns that think people who think dead celebrities are still alive.  Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Tupac, Michael Jackson, Keith Richards and Andy Kaufmann are still dead.  Ok, Keith Richards is not dead, but shouldn't he be?  The people who believe these celebrities are still alive are just as whacko. 

So with all these hoaxes it makes every report that I hear about a dead celebrity skeptical.  But at the end of the day, Abe Vigoda is still alive.

3D
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A Christmas (Shopping) Story

So this holiday season has totally gotten away from my wife and me.  Cut us some slack we have had a busy last couple of months, but getting Christmas shopping done was a priority this past weekend.  So we had to come up with a game plan because we wanted to get it done this weekend and leave only each other to shop for, which is easy because I am on vacation and she can go when I am at either a practice or game.  This had the potential to be a stressful day but we handled it with the precision of sniper during World War II.

The plan was to just get up and go and be done before the stores got absolutely crazy.  So we were up around 7 a.m. and we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee, muffins and munchkins for the little lady.  Our usual stop is Honey Dew but we had a gift card for DD and just had to use.  Sorry Honey Dew, please forgive us, we will be back on Sunday.  As I order my 2 coffees with cream (1 decaf), 2 Coffee Cake muffins and 3 chocolate munchkins the DD employee says to me "Will that be it honey?".  I immediately looked at my wife who was laughing because she knows that type of banter bothers me. 

So the list wasn't very long it was 4 nieces, 1 nephew, 1 god daughter and her brother, because he's kind of the man.  We spent the week accumulating lists from their parents and off we were.  The first stop was Target, we got there at 7:52, the store did not open until 8:00 and there was a group of ladies outside the door waiting to get in, coffees in hand.  Kohl's, which is right next to Target was open and my wife suggested that we go there and then hit Target.  Easy for her to say since she already ate her breakfast, as I don't like to eat and drive unless I have (see blog from 12/16).  As I was eating my breakfast I was watching the group of ladies gearing up for the morning.  It was like a scene from Hopkinton on Patriots Day Monday in April.  They looked like they were getting ready for a Marathon.

So the doors open up at 8:01.  So this brings up an interesting argument.  The store's hours say that they open up at 8:00, heaven forbid that they open up one or two minutes early because there are people waiting outside.  However, I understand why they don't, they need to get the store ready.  But in this case they opened late, not significantly and when we went in there boxes in the isles everywhere and you could not find an employee to help you anywhere.  If I were the type of shopper that needs constant assistance I would be annoyed. But I am not and I wasn't.

My wife and I attack the small list we had pretty quickly, but when it came to getting a Wii game for my niece we needed assistance and that is where we lost some time.  Not only did the girl tell us she would be right there, I had to go back in get her and listen to her say "I'm sorry, I forgot", no kidding.  So we take care of my niece and nephew with the assistance of a quick call to my brother-in-law.  Then it was to my two nieces.  This was going to be difficult because I have never heard of what they wanted.  So we looked around for 10-15 minutes and I finally said "this is why Al Gore invented the internet".  I went to Target on-line pulled up the product.  Not only were they insanely priced, they were online only items.  Game plan needs to be re-worked.  Nieces off to the side for the moment. 

So now to my god daughter and her brother.  I could have made this purchase with relative ease, but I complicated it more than I had to, but then I regrouped.  I usually get her the same type of gift every holiday and birthday, it's the safe play.  But my friend had made mention that he was putting his daughters Christmas list together so I text him and his wife to ask for an item off the list.  After waiting for responses I started to say how difficult I was making it, so my wife found something within our safe play range and we went with it.  Her brother got clothes because my wife has something about buying little boys clothes that makes her happy.  That is a reason why I want my wife to have a girl the next time around.  While looking for gifts I saw that same group of women from the front of the store surrounding a Target employee in front of an empty shelf.  They looked perturbed that the store would actually sell what they wanted to buy

So now it comes to shopping for our little one who is ironically with us.  Our daughter loves books so my wife drops me off at Barnes and Noble and her and I go hang out in the kids section while my wife heads back to Target to shop for her.  My daughter was crazy in the store as it seemed to have been the meeting place for parents because all the stores at Blackstone open up at different times, totally screwing up games plans for people.  Lucky for us all our stores were open.  While my daughter was tearing apart the kids’ book section I had downloaded the Amazon app and finished off the shopping for my nieces on my phone.  God love technology.

The last it was at the Solomon Pond Mall to grab a Disney character for our daughter.  This was creative as we had our daughter with us and we couldn't not take her in there.  So the plan was for me to run interference with our daughter while my wife made the purchase.  While at the mall we saw the funniest thing ever.  A car in front of us while we were looking for parking spot parks.  Then immediately pulls out, cuts us off and then parks in another space...30 feet closer to the mall.

I guess that is the point of this rambling story.  The Christmas shopping season does things to the human psyche that makes some people become irrational like waking up at 4:00 am the day after a Holiday to go shopping, make people go crazy over parking spots and make people call complete strangers honey (that happened to me twice that day).  Needless to say that we did all of our Christmas shopping is a little over 3 and a half hours.  We made Christmas shopping our bitch and we were very proud of ourselves for that.

3D
Coming Right Atcha

Mayhem is everywhere....

So the NTSB announces the other day that they are urging a national ban of cell phone use while driving. That includes talking on the cell phones as well. Ok, I get the call for safety and I understand that cell phones are a huge distraction to drivers. I have been regularly annoyed by drivers on their cell phones that either are driving way too slow, are weaving in their traffic lane, come to abrupt stops because they are not paying attention to where they are going or cross three lanes of traffic because they were too busy talking on the phone. I get it, I really do. However, a national ban won't be able to do anything because it will definitely be difficult to police and it won't change anything. A ban on something like that is pointless. As one of my old coaches used to say, "You can't fix stupid", and that is exactly what this is, a ban on inconsiderate behavior.

Why do all these government agencies need to go to the absolute extreme when it comes to promoting something? If you take a look at the top 6 causes for accidents released by the World Health Organization you will see that distractions are the top cause of accidents. Followed by Driver Fatigue, looking at scenery, other people in the car, playing with the radio and reading. Distraction amount to about 25 and 50 percent of accidents, but the main contributor is not talking on your cell phone. The distractions are many, but according to a study conducted by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), texting -- rubbernecking -- or slowing down to gawk at another accident -- caused the most accidents, accounting for 16 percent of all distraction-related crashes. So as usual a government agency is off base with a support of a ban.

If you take the other top 5 causes of accidents how does the NTSB feel about those? What type a ban can we put in place for a person that has worked 27 straight hours and just wants to get home, not let him drive? Do we force car companies to make side windows opaque to keep drivers from looking at scenery? That just causes another safety issue, can't do that. Drivers shouldn't have people in their car to avoid getting into an accident. That will really freak out sports moms across the country. I'm not even going to comment on reading because it is just stupid that people even do that, and no offense, Darwinism needs to step in at that point

Besides the irrational thought about such a ban, how would it get enforced? There has been a seat belt law in place for many years now and people still drive without their seatbelts. A police officer could see someone talking on their cell phone, pull them over and by that time not only is the person off the phone, they were able to stow away the phone proving they were not on it. The court dockets will increase significantly on appeals for violations that can't be proven because of lack of evidence.

If you really want to keep people off the phone, the NTSB needs to urge the motor companies to have their vehicles equipped with a Bluetooth or wireless connection so drivers can sync up their phones to it. If that doesn't work they need to work with the FCC to urge all cell phone manufacturers to supply a Bluetooth headset with all the phones they sell. It doesn't have to be the best quality, just enough to use in the car. If they want a better one they you can sell them a better one.

Instead of coming up with solutions to improve safety in the car the NTSB feels the need to interfere with people’s lives. Rather than saying to be safer in your car purchase a headset to talk while you are driving, they just want to take it away. I guess my coach was right, you just can't fix stupid.

3D

Coming Right Atcha

It's a boy...wait...no it's a girl...wait.....

This past weekend we had a family gathering on my wife's side of the family. There are three ladies that are pregnant in the family, including my wife. The conversation shifted to who was having what. This is a topic of conversation because the reasons that are giving are absolutely hilarious and warrant commentary. From my experiences, I couldn't guess the sex of a baby if someone told me what it was beforehand.

This conversation was so comical it was out of control. It all started with my wife's cousin, who just recently had a baby says to my wife "You're having a boy. You've got the look." So naturally we ask what the look is and she explains that my wife's face changes and it means she's having a boy and her husband was totally on board with this theory. She couldn't explain it and then said that her theory has not been proven. Well, I am glad we got that covered because I would hate to see her get sued for malpractice on a prediction.

So that becomes the buzz for the next thirty minutes or so. My wife's aunt then comes in and with all confidence and to be honest all-knowing, says that she predicted that one of her daughters was going to have a girl, and she did, and the other a boy, which she did. So she predicted that my wife was having a girl and that was that. Then my wife's sister-in-law buys into "the look" theory and agrees that my wife's face has changed. Good Lord. The funny part of this story is that right before we are ready to go home my wife's cousin does a Mitt Romney and recants her prediction and now says she isn't sure, after she had everybody convinced that my wife had "the look".

So this gets me thinking about all the crazy stuff people say when someone is pregnant about what sex they are having. The old wives tales are endless in this regard and are just basic head scratching. For instance my mother gets the due date and matches it with the lunar calendar to determine the sex. That's great until it doesn't match up and you get a response from my mother like "....she is going to have a boy or a girl...” true story. Thanks for that revelation.

My mother-in-law does this thing with a ring and piece of string. If the needle goes over the palm back and forth it's a girl and it goes in a circular motion it's a boy, or it is the other way around. Regardless, that could easily be manipulated with a flick of the wrist and I bet you will never get the same result consecutively.

So, with all this stuff I started to research old wives tales to determine the sex of a baby. I found 51 of them. I am sure there are more because women in other countries are a lot crazier that the United States. Here are some of them:

• If the baby’s heart rate is above 140 bpm, it is said that the baby will be a girl. If it is under 140 bpm, then it will be a boy. Ummm, what if it's 140bpm?
• When your face gets fuller and rounder when pregnant, it means you’re going to have a girl. If your face is long and narrow, it’s a boy. Maybe this is the look???
• This test involves a key. If you pick up a key at the top (the roundest part), you are going to have a boy. If you pick up the key at the bottom (smallest part), you are going to have a girl. If you happen to grab the key in the middle, congrats, it’s twins!
• The Drano test combines a tablespoon of Drano and urine together. If the mixture turns green, it’s a girl. If it turns blue, it’s a boy.
• People believe that if you are craving salty foods while pregnant, you can count on having a boy. If you crave sweets, fruit, and orange juice, you are having a little girl.
• This tale only applies if you have had previous kids. If you have and that child’s first word was momma, you will have a girl. If your first child’s first word was dadda, you’ll have a boy. What happens if your child's first word was Bob?

At any rate, why do people feel the need to take the surprise away from a couple? I love the surprise factor. I love saying it's a boy and starting speculation. If my wife and I wanted to know, we would have the doctor tell us. We didn't find out the last time and we never brought it up. We already have names picked out and we will find out what the baby is just before everyone. So, for you expecting couples out there enjoy this time and just nod and say "ok" when you are being told what the sex is. On that note, anybody want to get into a baby pool?

3D

Coming Right Atcha

Worcester needs to get into the Holiday spirit

I was looking at the pictures posted on telegram.com of the Christmas tree lighting on the common in Worcester.  To be honest I have never attended the Christmas tree lighting in Worcester for two reasons.  The first is that I am a Scrooge; the Christmas Holiday season just aggravates me because it brings the worst out of people.  The second is because it's at 5pm on a Friday.  I'm sorry but like most people I have a job and to get to City Hall through the traffic and deal with the plethora of parking downtown for a two minute affair is pointless.
The very day that I was viewing those pictures on-line my wife and I took a trip up to coastal Maine to get away from the stresses that have come up over the past couple of months.  After a stop in Freeport, we stayed at a B&B in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.  The day we were there they were having their Christmas Tree Festival.  During the day they had Christmas trees on display at a local theater and they were auctioning them off.  They had visits with Santa for the kids.  They have art exhibits on display at the library, where the town tree is lit.  From there they have caroling led by a local brass band.  Then Santa, Mrs. Claus and elves come and light the tree.  But it does not end there, after the tree lighting there was a walk to the church where there is a live Nativity scene, because Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ.  The finale is the lighted boat parade.  People decorate their boats with Christmas lights and decorations and parade into the harbor.  It was a very good experience, it got me in the mood for the holidays and it was fun.

Now, if Worcester did something like that I could totally be on board with celebrating that.  It is totally do-able and could bring people into the city from other cities and towns.  Worcester could not do it all in one day because the city is so spread out but it is something definitely can be done.  You could have some arts exhibits downtown on the common, or if it needs to be inside you could utilize the DCU Center, Hanover Theater or any other venue downtown.  Rather than doing the lighting on Friday, there could be caroling and ice skating (if that ever gets built).  On Saturday you could continue the arts exhibits and any other form of entertainment and then at 5pm light the tree.  The boat parade is also a factor that could be done during these two days.  It could be done on Friday night or following the tree lighting on Saturday, or even Sunday afternoon and it could be done on Lake Quinsigamond.  The logistics of such an event would totally need to be ironed out.  But this is something the Chamber of Commerce and The Historical Society can work with the City Council to come up with.  I purposely left out the Live Nativity Scene because God forbid (oops! excuse me) Heaven forbid we actually celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  But if that is the case, I am sure that Fr. Madden at St. John's or Monsignor Piccolomini at Mt. Carmel would be more than happy to organize it.

With all the new building being done downtown, the city should try to attract more people downtown during the off hours, not just between 9 and 5.  That is what has been hurting the businesses down there, the off hours when all the people are not working there.  The City of Worcester needs to stop trying to be like other cities and create its own identity.  Just be Worcester, let’s come up with ideas and events that are Worcester's own and promote people to come into the city.  People should not just come to Worcester to go to the hospital or the courthouse.  Let’s do things downtown that show Worcester's pride.  Just a thought from a citizen that would like to not have to go to Maine to get into the Christmas spirit.

3D
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3D Ramblings 12/9/11

Wow!  Gone for three weeks and it has felt a lot longer than that.  For those of you who don't know we moved into a new house over the Thanksgiving weekend and we have been unpacking ever since and it seems like we will be unpacking for the next 10 years.  A lot has happened in the time that I have been offline so it has been tough to pick some of these topics and keep it fresh.  So here we go.  As usual there is no particular order to these based on importance.

POTUS crying wolf (again) - President Obama spoke on Wednesday about the state of the economy and that it was "a make or break time" for the middle class. I'm sorry Mr. President; the middle class has passed the point of no return a while ago.  This is the third such doom and gloom speech, so that just tells me that either we are in a perpetual mess or the policies that he keeps pushing just aren't working.  Also the President cannot claim "All hands on deck" and then take off for 17 days.  He's entitled to take vacation, but not after directing Congress to stay and work through Christmas, which they have agreed to do.  The President continues to be divisive and narcissistic when it comes to important issues.  Didn't he promise bi-partisan leadership in his presidential campaign bid?

Bad Call - As a high school sports official in two sports I need to tread lightly on this topic.  The game where a touchdown was nullified because of a penalty of excessive celebration costing a team a Super Bowl title has gone viral.  All I can say was that it was a bad call and as an official that has made his share of bad calls, I'm sure the official in question regrets it.  All that can be done now is to move on.  What's done is done.  An appeal will not produce anything but more controversy.  It was a bad call and that is that.

Sex Abuse - The Penn State incident has now opened the flood gates and more and more people will come out.  I just hope it's not a witch hunt and or people looking to profit.  These are serious issues and need to be dealt with; there is no room for attention getters.  A little advice for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, unless you want to end in the same boat as Joe Paterno, just keep your mouth shut.  At this point it is clear that you had no knowledge.  Just shut up and let this play out.

Words with Friends - Alec Baldwin got kicked off a plane because he would not shut off his phone because he was playing the phone game Words with Friends.  Wow!  What makes this story even weirder was that his lawyer defends him by saying he loves the game so much that he will sacrifice such things as getting off a flight.  I am speechless.

NBA Lockout over - ho-hum starting on Christmas.  I am more excited that my Lady Naps open up at 5:00pm today at Burncoat.

Christmas Trees - This argument is getting old.  The Governor of Rhode Island calls it a Holiday Tree, fine he can call it whatever he wants.  But when protesters went to the State House to protest, one of the supporters of the governor said "Not all people celebrate Christmas in the Christian way..."  What the hell does that mean? He is obviously illiterate because Christmas and Christian have one thing in common, Christ!!!  So for all of you that only celebrate the commercial piece of Christmas you shouldn't attack the true meaning of the holiday.  It's the birth of Christ.  When we start using Holiday Candles at Hanukkah and Holiday whatever the symbol is for Kwanzaa, then you have a beef.  Until then, light up your Christmas tree.

Cain drops out of Presidential Race - He was a little late doing this.  The accusations were something he could never recover from.  I also like that he threw his support to a candidate immediately after dropping out.  He supports Newt Gingrich and to be honest I am in that boat as well.  Gingrich has shown that he is very intelligent and has been very good at shooting down loaded questions in the debates.  He went in with a "nothing to lose" attitude and it has paid off for him thus far.  However his brashness may hurt him the further he goes.  Hopefully not.

Porn Star Teacher - I have mixed feeling about the English teacher in Malden who had appeared in a Gay pornographic movie.  It is definitely not an example of what we want our high school age children to achieve.  However, there was nothing illegal with what Kevin Logan did, other than coming up with a horrible stage name. People can view pornography a morally wrong and has no place in our lives but it isn't illegal and Mr. Logan did not bring the subject to his classroom or crew practices.  Unfortunately for Mr. Logan the publicity of this story and the age group that he teaches, he has ultimately lost his students and that could be worse.  I don't feel this teacher should be fired but it will be tough for him to teach his class going forward.

Worcester Fire Fighter Death - Yesterday we lost another firefighter in the City of Worcester.  John Davies, who ironically enough was stationed at the Franklin Street station, which we all know was the site of greatest tragedy that the WFD has seen, died heroically while fighting a fire on Vernon Hill trying to saves lives of people believed to be inside.  Our thoughts and prayers should be with the WFD, the injured firefighters and the Davies family.

3D
Coming Right 'Atcha

Another Ban in the Nanny State

Living in Massachusetts you grow up learning to live without.  I don't mean that the state is poverty stricken; I mean that the state's government officials like to decide what is in the best interest of you, the person.  They like to decide what is good and bad for you because they feel they are smarter than you in making that decision for you.  We are so lucky to have these smart superficial people making these life decisions for us. Heaven forbid we are able to make these decisions for ourselves, what would we possibly do?

In the past we have seen such bans on fireworks, no alcohol sales on Sunday, and tattoos.  Recently we saw a ban on an energy drink mixed with alcohol called "4Loco" and we also saw a ban on dog racing, closing several parks in Massachusetts.  So call me skeptical when I read an article written by a Worcester pediatrician and the President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Dr. Lynda Young, calling on local politicians to ban cigarette sales in pharmacies.  Her reasoning was that cigarettes were bad for you and should not be sold in a place where health care products are sold.  I can barely contain my fascination with such a well put together argument.  I am curious to know how long it took her to research and come up with the conclusion that cigarettes are bad for you.  She claims that cigarette smoke is the leading cause of death in the world.  That is a well thought out and valid argument, it is also inaccurate.  The top two leading causes of death in the world are Heart Disease and Hunger, this pulled from data from the Center for Disease Control.

This is where the Nanny Staters (yep, that's what I am going to call them) just absolutely drop the ball and have lost all touch with reality.  Just like the other bans they fail to see the big picture and haven't figured out that people aren't as dumb as they think they would like them to be.  Does anybody remember the Volstead Act?  Probably not, because it happened in 1920.  But banning products or forcing people to purchase things is not only borderline unconstitutional but completely irrelevant.  I mean this ban isn't a complete ban on cigarettes, just in pharmacies.  But this isn't 1950 where stand alone pharmacies exist.

The problem with all of these bans/regulations is that they cater to the exception rather than the rule.  The 4Loco ban was an outrage because a couple of idiots went binge drinking with it.  Then why wasn't all alcohol banned?  The ban on fireworks has really helped control the possession during the 4th of July holiday.  The ban on dog racing was the dumbest thing ever.  It forced local businesses to close and put hundreds of people out of work.  The only ones who didn't lose their jobs were the dogs themselves, being shipped to racetracks out of Massachusetts.  The residents of Massachusetts still got to bet on those dogs, they just have to travel to Rhode Island, Connecticut or New Hampshire.

Like I said, what Dr. Young supports is not a complete ban but a ban of cigarette sales in stores that have pharmacies.  That's just idiotic.  Everything is bad for us, so if we ban cigarette sales in pharmacies because they are a contributing factor to lung cancer then just think of this:  One of the biggest problems in the country is obesity.  That would mean all candy, soda; chips and other junk foods would need to be removed from those same shelves.  That would mean all the cosmetics products that have been linked to cancer need to be removed.  The Wal-Mart’s that have pharmacies would need to remove their firearms from their shelves because shooting accidents have also been a large cause for death in the U.S. according to the CDC.  Let us not forget the grocery stores that have all these items in their stores with pharmacies

So basically the Nanny Staters would rather see business done elsewhere rather than in Massachusetts.  Because if you tell CVS, Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens etc to remove damaging products from their shelves because they have pharmacies we will see them drop that service.  My assumption is that the sales of the other products outweigh the pharmacy sales and I can't even imagine home much they enjoy dealing with the insurance companies.  So Dr. Young should stick to what she knows best, diagnosing the "owies" and the "sniffles" to the many kids that come into her office.  I am sure she is a wonderful doctor but she should leave the legislation to the legislators.  I am sure she would feel different about writing a script to a pharmacy that has a drive-thru, since car accidents are also a major contributor to deaths in the U.S.

3D (is back)
and Comin right Atcha!