D-League

[MdWIldcat55]

BB -- I was at the Pentagon that day too. I'm sure he has harrowing memories, as I do. For anyone who might be interested, here's a link to the story I was able to dictate over the phone in real time to get into "special editions" the afternoon of the attack. There is also a piece down below I wrote on the fifth anniversary by going back and re-interviewing people I met that day. The second piece is actually a bit more vivid I think.

Anyway, it was a long time ago and the "remembrances" may be exhausted by now. But just in case anyone is intersted.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/132295757/

 

[BBUK]

BB -- I was at the Pentagon that day too. I'm sure he has harrowing memories, as I do. FOr the couple that might be interested, here's a link to the story I was able to dictate over the phone in real time to get into "special editions" the afternoon of the attack. There is also a piece down below I wrote on the fifth anniversary by going back and re-interviewing people I met that day. The second piece is actually a bit more vivid I think.

Anyway, it was a long time ago and the "remembrances" may be exhausted by now. But just in case anyone is intersted.

View embedded media

The link doesn't work. I wish it did.


"

Sorry! This document is not publicly available.​

The owner has set this document to private.

You will not be able to read it unless the owner changes it to public on their uploads page, or sends you a direct link."

 

[BBUK]

Oh. I'm sorry about that. I don't know how else to link it, but if I figure it out, I'll post later. Again, apologies. It's supposed to be a link to a site called SCRIBD where writers can upload stories, etc.

Thanks! That would be interesting to read in any event. Amazing the things you have done and where you have been.

 

[BBUK]

Went on and changed the settings to "public" if you want to try again. It may still not work. They are trying to sell me a 'membership' I don't want to pay for so that could be holding things up.

Yeah, it didn't work. Tried a new browser as well to be sure. Don't go to any bother on my account. Thanks in any event.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Yeah, it didn't work. Tried a new browser as well to be sure. Don't go to any bother on my account. Thanks in any event.

I may be able to load in in another format, but tied up at work today. Sorry for the false advertising!

 

[BBUK]

I may be able to load in in another format, but tied up at work today. Sorry for the false advertising!

I'd enjoy meeting you some day. Thank you.

 

[warrior-cat]

Good morning folks. Hope everyone is doing well.

I’m finally starting to feel more like myself after that infection/fever hit me hard. Antibiotics are kicking in.

Had an odd thing happen while I was in Kentucky and my wife in NYC this weekend -a package stolen from my mailbox. Or so USPS says when I asked them to look for it. I still believe it was mis—delivered. I’ve lived in that neighborhood 23 years and never heard of any theft or vandalism. But it’s gone.

BBUK - Maybe that 3-star was wise. Petraeus certainly ruined his reputation with that affair with the woman he was traveling with -- she was supposed to be writing his book "All In." He was All In alright. I wasn't sorry to see that. I was around his HQ in Mosul in April, 2003, reporting on the 101st Airborne, but also on his efforts to control that space. I saw him daily for awhile. I just got the vibe he was phony -- a politician. I later found out he had someone put him in for the Bronze Star with a V for Valor and the combat action badge because he landed his helicopter in an area where there had been some very light enemy fire -- a mortar round -- certainly not direct fire at him. That was distasteful.

Hope everyone has a good day.

My team received mortar fire while pulling security for an artillery survey team that was checking out forward positions to set up for our first move into Iraq. The rounds were not close and fell short. We just veered off of the border, called for fire from nearby artillery units, and they destroyed the mortar positions so we could continue. I didn't even get an ataboy for that. 🤪 We also had a staff sergeant who got a bronze star because his Howitzer did not break down once the whole time there. Made no sense.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

My team received mortar fire while pulling security for an artillery survey team that was checking out forward positions to set up for our first move into Iraq. The rounds were not close and fell short. We just veered off of the border, called for fire from nearby artillery units, and they destroyed the mortar positions so we could continue. I didn't even get an ataboy for that. 🤪 We also had a staff sergeant who got a bronze star because his Howitzer did not break down once the whole time there. Made no sense.

Haha. That reminds me of a humorous Desert Storm story, Warrior.

Me, photographer Bob Jordan, an Army Capt. whose name I forget - but he was a West Pointer which makes this worse - and some kid who was driving us named Cartwright peeled off from where the 1st Infantry (Mech) stopped on the second day of the ground war to drive back to some designated rendezvous where we could hand off Jordan's photographs and my typewriter written stories so they could be driven back to Dhahran to become 'Pool Reports' for the world's press.

So, the captain, who turned out to have a terrible sense of direction, gets us lost out in the vast Iraqi desert. Finally, we're driving along some dirt path, where you can see mines on either side of us, and we drive RIGHT INTO THE IRAQI LINES at a place where VII Corps had bypassed them. We spot the Iraqis first, Cartwright does a u-turn, and runs over a piece of mangled metal from airstrikes and ruptures a tire.

So, Jordan and I set to changing the tire at Indy 500 speed. We can see the Iraqis, no more than about 200 meters away, watching us out of their trenches, weapons drawn.

Cartwright cocks his M-16, gets in firing position and says "permission to fire, sir!" -- at the hundreds of Iraqis who haven't figured out yet who we are. Photographer Jordan, who was this crusty ex-paratrooper from North Carolina says, "why don't you just shoot us Cartwright, and cut out the middle-man?"

Tire fixed, we managed to backtrack out of range, and the Iraqis never open fire. Eventually we made it to Hafr al-Batin, where we were headed.

So, here's the kicker. A few years later, I'm down in North Carolina covering the murder of Michael Jordan's father, and I bump into Jordan. He says, 'You'll never guess who got in touch with me a while back. Cartwright! He told me he and the captain both got bronze stars with V for Valor for driving us into enemy lines!"

 

[berniecarbo]

Haha. That reminds me of a humorous Desert Storm story, Warrior.

Me, photographer Bob Jordan, an Army Capt. whose name I forget - but he was a West Pointer which makes this worse - and some kid who was driving us named Cartwright peeled off from where the 1st Infantry (Mech) stopped on the second day of the ground war to drive back to some designated rendezvous where we could hand off Jordan's photographs and my tupewriter written stories so they could be driven back to Dhahran to become 'Pool Reports' for the world's press.

So, the captain, who turned out to have a terrible sense of direction, gets us lost out in the vast Iraqi desert. Finally, we're driving along some dirt path, where you can see mines on either side of us, and we drive RIGHT INTO THE IRAQI LINES at a place where VII Corps had bypassed them. We spot the Iraqis first, Cartwright does a u-turn, and runs over a piece of mangled metal from airstrikes and ruptures a tire.

So, Jordan and I set to changing the tire at Indy 500 speed. We can see the Iraqis, no more than about 200 meters away, watching us out of their trenches, weapons drawn.

Cartwright cocks his M-16, gets in firing position and says "permission to fire, sir!" -- at the hundreds of Iraqis who haven't figured out yet who we are. Photographer Jordan, who was this crusty ex-paratrooper from North Carolina says, "why don't you just shoot us Cartwright, and cut out the middle-man?"

Tire fixed, we managed to backtrack out of range, and the Iraqis never open fire. Eventually we made it to Hafr al-Batin, where we were headed.

So, here's the kicker. A few years later, I'm down in North Carolina covering the murder of Michael Jordan's father, and I bump into Jordan. He says, 'You'll never guess who got in touch with me a while back. Cartwright! He told me he and the captain both got bronze stars with V for Valor for driving us into enemy lines!"

Judging by this, I shoulda got a Bronze Star. (sarcasm) I was in charge of a couple of guys in a jeep when we met an Army convoy in a little village on the road with no joy. The road was narrow, so we had to pull over. This numbskull in the back seat let a Vietnameze kid steal his M-16. The kid and the numbskull dashed between vehicles in the convoy and disappeared. What to do? The convoy was blocking the jeep. One of us couldn't chase without the other being alone. We both couldn't leave the jeep. I sat there wondering what to do. When the convoy finally passed, he showed up with his weapon, so we drove away. I didn't write him up or anything, just called him a dumbazz and let it go.

 

[warrior-cat]

Haha. That reminds me of a humorous Desert Storm story, Warrior.

Me, photographer Bob Jordan, an Army Capt. whose name I forget - but he was a West Pointer which makes this worse - and some kid who was driving us named Cartwright peeled off from where the 1st Infantry (Mech) stopped on the second day of the ground war to drive back to some designated rendezvous where we could hand off Jordan's photographs and my tupewriter written stories so they could be driven back to Dhahran to become 'Pool Reports' for the world's press.

So, the captain, who turned out to have a terrible sense of direction, gets us lost out in the vast Iraqi desert. Finally, we're driving along some dirt path, where you can see mines on either side of us, and we drive RIGHT INTO THE IRAQI LINES at a place where VII Corps had bypassed them. We spot the Iraqis first, Cartwright does a u-turn, and runs over a piece of mangled metal from airstrikes and ruptures a tire.

So, Jordan and I set to changing the tire at Indy 500 speed. We can see the Iraqis, no more than about 200 meters away, watching us out of their trenches, weapons drawn.

Cartwright cocks his M-16, gets in firing position and says "permission to fire, sir!" -- at the hundreds of Iraqis who haven't figured out yet who we are. Photographer Jordan, who was this crusty ex-paratrooper from North Carolina says, "why don't you just shoot us Cartwright, and cut out the middle-man?"

Tire fixed, we managed to backtrack out of range, and the Iraqis never open fire. Eventually we made it to Hafr al-Batin, where we were headed.

So, here's the kicker. A few years later, I'm down in North Carolina covering the murder of Michael Jordan's father, and I bump into Jordan. He says, 'You'll never guess who got in touch with me a while back. Cartwright! He told me he and the captain both got bronze stars with V for Valor for driving us into enemy lines!"

To quote the reply of General McAuliff to the Germans at the battle of the Bulge: "Nuts"

 

[AustinTXCat]

Good morning from ATX. We're at 80°F and partly cloudy. Today's high expected around 104°F.

Wishing y'all another awesome day.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Good morning folks. Got distracted walking out the front door by a conversation with my son and ended up leaving my iPhone behind. Odd how isolated and cut off from the world we feel now without a device that didn't even exist a little more than a decade ago.

I'm sure my far-flung kids, my wife and a couple work buddies in NYC I collaborate with mostly through phone texts think I've been abducted by aliens.

Busy morning already. But some good pieces to work on, including one that has several really moving long narratives from Korean War veterans.

Reds sweep last night. "Hope is the thing with feathers," as the poet says...No, I don't know what that means. A buddy of mine, Vietnam veteran, war correspondent, used to say it in Mogadishu and Sarajevo and Baghdad. I don't think he knew what it meant. Maybe that we -- and now the Reds -- ain't dead yet, and might still fly out of this mess.

Have a good day.

 

[vhcat70]

Out of the blue, we're near the end of 2" rain this a.m. Good deal. Yesterday afternoon it was "a slight chance of showers" for today.

Attended FCC-Miami soccer match last night. Messi was Messi. Delivered two airborne passes in front of goal for header goals. Miami won on PK's after a 3-3 tie with 30 minutes extra time. Longest soccer match I ever attended: 3+ hrs. Normally 2.

 

[warrior-cat]

Good morning folks. Got distracted walking out the front door by a conversation with my son and ended up leaving my iPhone behind. Odd how isolated and cut off from the world we feel now without a device that didn't even exist a little more than a decade ago.

I'm sure my far-flung kids, my wife and a couple work buddies in NYC I collaborate with mostly through phone texts think I've been abducted by aliens.

Busy morning already. But some good pieces to work on, including one that has several really moving long narratives from Korean War veterans.

Reds sweep last night. "Hope is the thing with feathers," as the poet says...No, I don't know what that means. A buddy of mine, Vietnam veteran, war correspondent, used to say it in Mogadishu and Sarajevo and Baghdad. I don't think he knew what it meant. Maybe that we -- and now the Reds -- ain't dead yet, and might still fly out of this mess.

Have a good day.

Maybe because it could fly away within a moments notice? Yeah, I know, not all feathered animals can fly away but, most can.

In response to the Reds. Yay? or no way will I get my hopes up just yet again. Sweep or at least take the next series and the excitement level will rise. We are young.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Out of the blue, we're near the end of 2" rain this a.m. Good deal. Yesterday afternoon it was "a slight chance of showers" for today.

Attended FCC-Miami soccer match last night. Messi was Messi. Delivered two airborne passes in front of goal for header goals. Miami won on PK's after a 3-3 tie with 30 minutes extra time. Longest soccer match I ever attended:3+ hrs. Normally 2.

I watched that match on TV with my son. In the DC market we could only find it on Spanish Language TV. Lots of shrieking and hollering we couldn't understand by the announcers but we kept the sound on because it somehow seemed to add to the drama, like when a movie sound track falls into D-Minor chords..It certainly was a dramatic game. That Messi pass for the tying goal in the 98th and final minute of regular time was one of those things where you say, wait, did he really mean to do that?

 

[warrior-cat]

@MdWIldcat55

"I'm sure my far-flung kids, my wife and a couple work buddies in NYC I collaborate with mostly through phone texts think I've been abducted by aliens."

Watch out for our resident alien hunter.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

@MdWIldcat55

"I'm sure my far-flung kids, my wife and a couple work buddies in NYC I collaborate with mostly through phone texts think I've been abducted by aliens."

Watch out for our resident alien hunter.

I haven't seen CatnIL around here lately. I figured he was visiting "home" if you get my meaning...

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

It is already hot here, 82°F on our way to another 95° day and up to 98°F tomorrow. Ole Bert is staying in.

I got my last big tree removed Tuesday. $1,600 for it because it was not 80 feet tall like the three wild cherry's and they did not have to bring out the heavy equipment. My back yard is not pretty like it used to be.

 

[vhcat70]

I watched that match on TV with my son. In the DC market we could only find it on Spanish Language TV. Lots of shrieking and hollering we couldn't understand by the announcers but we kept the sound on because it somehow seemed to add to the drama, like when a movie sound track falls into D-Minor chords..It certainly was a dramatic game. That Messi pass for the tying goal in the 98th and final minute of regular time was one of those things where you say, wait, did he really mean to do that?

Good deal. Sounds like you thought the crowd was lively. Pretty much true except for this old man.

Sat in "cheap" seats ($60 face, $300 on street.) in upper corner with 13 yr old grandson (It would be a great game regardless next to him.). Still good view as TQL seats only 26K. Messi fans all around rooting for Miami. Probably 10% of crowd.

I thought FCC had it but let down late. I think FCC coach screwed up not trying to kill the game & late weaker subs, but it was in low 90's & humid as could be & maybe players wore out. Thought Acosta was best player on the field. Messi saved his strength with short bursts periodically & free kicks - which is what both those header goals were off of. He is 36 now.

Trivia: How did Messi wind up with Lionel as a given name - it's not Spanish? His mother was a big Lionel Richie fan & chose it.

 

[vhcat70]

It is already hot here, 82°F on our way to another 95° day and up to 98°F tomorrow. Ole Bert is staying in.

I got my last big tree removed Tuesday. $1,600 for it because it was not 80 feet tall like the three wild cherry's and they did not have to bring out the heavy equipment. My back yard is not pretty like it used to be.

$1600 for one big tree makes my upcoming $3500 bill seem not quite so bad. But that's the price of having trees & I like my trees. We have about 25 of various sizes on our 0.45 acre. Biggest are three locusts.

 

[warrior-cat]

I haven't seen CatnIL around here lately. I figured he was visiting "home" if you get my meaning...

Alpha Centauri then on to Ork.

 

[warrior-cat]

It is already hot here, 82°F on our way to another 95° day and up to 98°F tomorrow. Ole Bert is staying in.

I got my last big tree removed Tuesday. $1,600 for it because it was not 80 feet tall like the three wild cherry's and they did not have to bring out the heavy equipment. My back yard is not pretty like it used to be.

Divorce it and get a new one.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

$1600 for one big tree makes my upcoming $3500 bill seem not quite so bad. But that's the price of having trees & I like my trees. We have about 25 of various sizes on our 0.45 acre. Biggest are three locusts.

My lot is .49 acres and the trees are at the Western edge of the lot. The three cherry trees cost only $3,650 because they got logs out of them (otherwise it would have been $6,000). My fence repair, where the cherry trees fell, was $2,400. The Hack berry was $1,600. So now I am out big time and my back yard sucks!

Now I have to go to war with my insurance company. My deductible is $1,000. I doubt that I will get a $1,000 back. I have never filed an insurance claim in my life and I may wait until next Monday to get rested before the big fight.

 

[cordmaker]

Good afternoon, D, finally getting a chance to visit the D, this side-stained glass gig has turned into a full-time gig. I've got a picture I would like for Bert to post for me of a new project I did called Sunrise in Kentucky. Bert sorry to see your trees down, I had a hackberry go down in the ice storm a few years ago.
My daughter had surgery yesterday, had her nasal cavity worked on, doctor ask her when she broke her nose, none of the family remembers it, neither does my daughter.
I am getting ready for Squash and Gobble art and crafts show in September, going to be huge, this will be our first time doing anything like this, will update the D after it's over. One item I've been ask to make was a Cardinal, not a Loserville Cardinal, a redbird. I never could find a pattern that I liked until recently, I did finally find one I liked and since then I've made about 20 and sold 13 of them, people are ordering some of my pieces now and asking me to deliver them to the funeral home as a gift, one lady told me that flowers die away but, stained glass last forever!!!! So far, we've delivered Hearts, Crosses, Butterflies and Cardinals. The Hearts are two-piece hearts, I am making them with 2 colors, example, making them with the Mother and daughters favorite colors combined.
Well D Leaguers, I think I have made it big time now, someone stole one of my stained-glass feathers my friend took to the rodeo last week!!!!
Well D, you are in my prayers, ATX and your wife are on the top right now, get well my friend!!!

Well Kentucky is like it was when I was at Fort Hood (will always be Fort Hood to me), it is so hot, they would say, I saw a coyote chasing a Roadrunner and they were both walking!!!! It's 97 degrees right now with the heat index of 106, dew point is 76!!!!! Weather you wear!!!!

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

@cordmaker ask me to post this photo of one of his creations.

Enjoy.

 

[cordmaker]

@cordmaker ask me to post this photo of one of his creations.

Enjoy.

Thank you again Bert!!! This one is called Sunrise in Kentucky!!!!

 

[TheFrontRunner]

 

[AustinTXCat]

Good morning from ATX. Current temperature = 83°F and clear. Today's high may reach 106°F. Few more weeks of this nightmarish Summer remain.

Wife returned home around 3:30 pm yesterday. Step-daughter picked her up from hospital. She's happy to be back. Pup glad to see her.

Co-worker out today. Looks busy already.

Happy Friday, y'all.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Good morning D-League.

Thanks for that photo of the banana split Austin. Trying to lose a few pounds but I can look. When I was in HS I was actually trying to gain a few pounds in the summer and I had a job and a girlfriend who worked at our very good local Dari Bar. I’d get a “special” banana split every night after my construction job shift. Jeezus, I can taste it yet. I don’t think I’ve had one since I left that town forever in 1977.

Cool and overcast in the east. We’ve actually had a mild summer. Hope the misery ends soon for those of you who have been baking.

Gotta get through one more work shift, then a nice weekend ahead. A highlight will be a slightly delayed Anniversary Dinner, 27th, at a good steakhouse. I’m easing on my eating discipline for one night and looking forward to a New York strip which is my preference.

Have a good day.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

It was 74°F this morning at 7:00 am, now it is 83° on our way to 97 or 98. Plus the humidity is high.

I am glad that Ms. @AustinTXCat got to come home.

My daughter has covid. She is a sick person.

You all have a good Friday.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

A FaceBook funny:

 

[BBUK]

Haha. That reminds me of a humorous Desert Storm story, Warrior.

Me, photographer Bob Jordan, an Army Capt. whose name I forget - but he was a West Pointer which makes this worse - and some kid who was driving us named Cartwright peeled off from where the 1st Infantry (Mech) stopped on the second day of the ground war to drive back to some designated rendezvous where we could hand off Jordan's photographs and my typewriter written stories so they could be driven back to Dhahran to become 'Pool Reports' for the world's press.

So, the captain, who turned out to have a terrible sense of direction, gets us lost out in the vast Iraqi desert. Finally, we're driving along some dirt path, where you can see mines on either side of us, and we drive RIGHT INTO THE IRAQI LINES at a place where VII Corps had bypassed them. We spot the Iraqis first, Cartwright does a u-turn, and runs over a piece of mangled metal from airstrikes and ruptures a tire.

So, Jordan and I set to changing the tire at Indy 500 speed. We can see the Iraqis, no more than about 200 meters away, watching us out of their trenches, weapons drawn.

Cartwright cocks his M-16, gets in firing position and says "permission to fire, sir!" -- at the hundreds of Iraqis who haven't figured out yet who we are. Photographer Jordan, who was this crusty ex-paratrooper from North Carolina says, "why don't you just shoot us Cartwright, and cut out the middle-man?"

Tire fixed, we managed to backtrack out of range, and the Iraqis never open fire. Eventually we made it to Hafr al-Batin, where we were headed.

So, here's the kicker. A few years later, I'm down in North Carolina covering the murder of Michael Jordan's father, and I bump into Jordan. He says, 'You'll never guess who got in touch with me a while back. Cartwright! He told me he and the captain both got bronze stars with V for Valor for driving us into enemy lines!"

Wow,

I guess this was back about 1990 to 1993 or so, my years run together. A group of men from my church in Radcliff Kentucky used to go fishing on a charter boat once a year for several years off the coast in South Carolina and North Carolina. Just fond memories. One year we went we were sitting on a brothers friends porch after eating. (There were five or six of us men that year. We caravanned in a couple cars, trucks, or conversion van's.)

I sat on the porch talking to this man. I remember really enjoying talking with him. It seemed we talked at least an hour. Later on, one of the brothers I was with asked me if I realized that was Michael Jordan's Uncle. I had no idea, a couple other people confirmed it as I was kind of shocked. I was an NBA fan at the time due to Michael Jordan was the epitome of a professional in my eyes. Always interviewing in a suit. (Just a memory...). Never brought up Michael one time... Not sure I would have had I known it but that conversation was special to me.

 

[BBUK]

Good morning from ATX. Current temperature = 83°F and clear. Today's high may reach 106°F. Few more weeks of this nightmarish Summer remain.

Wife returned home around 3:30 pm yesterday. Step-daughter picked her up from hospital. She's happy to be back. Pup glad to see her.

Co-worker out today. Looks busy already.

Happy Friday, y'all.

Very thankful for you and you wife ATXC. God Bless you all...

 

[BBUK]

Hello all,

Been busy to state the least. Off today (Well, I am off most days but today I am off work. RDO)

Just now sitting down after My Darling and I have been out and about. Getting ready to hit it again.

Have a fine afternoon....

 

[warrior-cat]

Good morning D-League.

Thanks for that photo of the banana split Austin. Trying to lose a few pounds but I can look. When I was in HS I was actually trying to gain a few pounds in the summer and I had a job and a girlfriend who worked at our very good local Dari Bar. I’d get a “special” banana split every night after my construction job shift. Jeezus, I can taste it yet. I don’t think I’ve had one since I left that town forever in 1977.

Cool and overcast in the east. We’ve actually had a mild summer. Hope the misery ends soon for those of you who have been baking.

Gotta get through one more work shift, then a nice weekend ahead. A highlight will be a slightly delayed Anniversary Dinner, 27th, at a good steakhouse. I’m easing on my eating discipline for one night and looking forward to a New York strip which is my preference.

Have a good day.

Me and my shadow...no, sorry, I meant my wife, get a banana split ever so often (about 3 months since the last) and split it. I was at Braum's Monday to get some rainbow Sherbert at the request of my daughter and almost bought one. Had to pull myself away from the line and go to the other section of the restaurant to buy the Sherbert. Wound up getting the rainbow Sherbert and a Cherry Limeade Sherbert with cherries in it. Both my daughter and wife gave it glowing reviews and now like it better than the rainbow. So much so that they have not touched the rainbow and have almost finished the cherry.

 

[warrior-cat]

Morning Legionnaires!

79° this morning with light winds. High in the low 100's with sunny skies expected.

Woke up at 01:33 this morning and could not go back to sleep. No clue as to why.

Testing 14 students at 10:00 this morning for their yellow belts from my instructor's class from his church. Only charging them $25 dollars for the test and then, he wants to take the class out to lunch afterwards to celebrate. He will spend all that he makes today. As he says though, it is not about the money. I told him that it depends on how quick we get done whether I go and eat with them because, the first NCAA football game of the season (Notre Dame vs Navy) comes on at 13:30 central time and I want to be home watching it. He says: "Yeah, but your MIL will be there at that time too" I said: "Yeah, but I have a 62" flat screen in the bedroom." He just laughed and shook his head. He used to come over and watch games too but, he doesn't as much now as he did because she (MIL) gives him problems too. She is very disrespectful and rude to me and my friends.

Well, enough complaining, you guys enjoy your day and God Bless.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Good morning from ATX. Currently 78°F and clear. Excessive heat warning in effect. Today's high coming in around 106°F.

Many chores require my presence later on. We'll check back after while.

Y'all behave.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

It is 78°F and sunny. 90 minutes ago it was 73°F. We are on our way to 90° with a 40% chance of rain. Last night we got .09" and we sure could use a bunch more.

You all enjoy your Saturday.

 

[BBUK]

Good morning all,

Been out and about already. Sitting back at my computer. Plan to clean my carpets today. (Only have two rooms of carpet.) (Our bedroom and my office.) (Our upstairs is carpeted as well but we rarely use that.) (Won't go into why I planned to do this a couple weeks ago and found I could not due to a "missing" part on my carpet cleaner.

This part is never removed and must be taken off the system. It was, with the only people alone with my carpet cleaner the guy that painted my other house and his Mom and sister who were to have "cleaned" my house. The part had to be unscrewed. I'm the only one who has ever used this machine.) Just amazing the "coincident". (Just a $35.00 hard to find part too.) (About $7100.00 to paint that house plus I guess a $35.00 bonus...)

No biggie, just disturbing as I treated that young thing well.... I will still treat people well, some will appreciate it and some will take advantage... It's all character. Not on me... Just a little venting..

The day is still great and Godly... I am thankful...

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Good morning D-League.

Fought another Battle of the Bureaucracy in the People's Republic of Maryland this morning. It's the Cold War that never ends. This time I got yet another notice that once again I couldn't get one of my vehicles registered, and therefore was an outlaw from the state, because I hadn't gotten the phony baloney Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program check mark in my computer file. I'm positive I never got any notice it was due, but it wasn't a matter of paying, say, double the $14 fee because I was late. They wanted me to pay FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS in late fees - plus $14.

Long story sort of short, I get there at 7am and the first officious little prick who identifies himself as the "manager" tells me it is totally impossible to get the $400 late fee waived -- that the new governor himself has declared that will never happen. Then he needles me, "You might as well pay it. You'll never get registered without it and the state police are looking for unregistered vehicles." That makes me lose my temper and I say, "I promise you I'm not paying $400 to get an emissions test. I junk the F---er first."

Something tells me this turd isn't the final authority, so I go around front and give a clerk my card. "When does the REAL boss get here?" I ask. "He sometimes comes in Saturday but more likely Monday." Okay, have him call me whenever." I no more than get home. My phone rings. It's the "district manager." I turn around and go back. I sit down with him and we have a reasonable conversation that includes basketball (he's a Black guy named Watford who asks me right away if I'm an ex-player, as he is. I tell him the whole 'Wat Shot' Indiana story which makes him laugh) and he waives the fee. I go through, pay my 14 bucks and on the way out make sure I weave passed the "Mr. Never" guy and wave.

I know all this makes me an adolescent who never got over his inability to just follow all the rules. Guilty as charged, to some degree but I really didn't get a notice, and a 3,000 percent late fee is a bit much.

I guess we all have our weak spots. I hope no one triggers any of yours today.