Yesterday was a good day.

A haircut with Lori. She reminded me I was one of her first hair cuts when she came to Key Wes in the early 1980s and was working at the Casa Marina. We have become friends. A pleasant lunch at Denny’s. Followed by grocery shopping at Publix. First time in ages I considered the bill light. Probably because many of my purchases were 2 for 1. Corey visited for a while last night. Fixed a few things for me.

Even the night was good. Slept 7 hours! The new pill must be working. My eye problems are also (hopefully) connected to the pill. Dr. Oppenheimer thought the eyes would correct themselves in two weeks. Yesterday was one week.

I have a busy day ahead. Good also! The more I walk, the quicker my recovery in that regard.

Today’s blog a smattering of small but revealing things. The blog title – A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That – appropriate.

Local news to begin. Schooner’s Wharf and Don’s Place have sold. Big dollars for both involved.

An “execution” is not a public show. Hopefully we have not reverted to days of old. Trump announced the Fort Hood firing squad execution would not be public in any fashion. First decent thing Trump has done in ages. Turns out Hegseth was the one pushing the public execution.

Trump no help in all his running around claiming to be helping Republican candidates. He is actually showing off, seeking publicity for the Donald. He has to be aware Republicans are going down the tubes in the mid-terms.

Katie Zacharia has confirmed she did not pass the bar exam. She only took it once. Her excuse was she was going to be working in China and would not need it.

Passing the bar exam is everything to finally being able to refer to yourself as an attorney. To practice and earn a salary or fee based on your professional status.

Reminds me of a story.

I passed the bar the first time. Not because I was a genius. Rather because I was married and had a wife and three children at the time to support. I studied my ass off for the exam. Took a six week prep course in Brooklyn to prepare. I could barely make it financially. Most of my meals were a hot dog purchased at a booth in a nearby subway station.

How important passing the bar exam was is best reflected by my reaction when I was notified I had passed. I cried like a baby.

Two of my children went to law school to study to become lawyers. Seven years of education even to qualify to take the bar exam.

Both failed the first two times and finally passed the third. 

My son and I were in a Utica jewelry store after he had failed twice. Ran into an Appellate Judge. Though some 15 years older than me, we were friends. I had opposed him as a lawyer before he became a judge. Then appeared before him when he was a State Trial Justice and when he had been elevated to the State Appellate Division.

Somehow in the course of our conversation that day, it came out my son had failed the bar exam twice and was studying to take it a third time. The Judge laughed. “I failed the first two times and did not pass till my third try. Look what happened to me! I became a big time Judge!” He told my on not to worry and that no one will remember once you have the license.

Katie was an ass not to keep trying to pass. It would have happened. Seven years of money and time wasted not to have completed the task of becoming a lawyer by passing the bar exam.

Now she will undergo the scrutiny she should have when she applied for/considered working for the President. Her ass will be in a bag if she lied along the way.

Japan has a bear attack problem. Japan has turned to AI, 4-legged robots, and pepper spraying drones to control the situation.

The Reflecting Pool. Purportedly repaired for the final time. Now reported it is leaking. Good job, Donald! Most things you touch screw up!

Is Congress the place to learn a profession? Former Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz has been accused in a civil lawsuit by two women of sex trafficking.

The median banking account balance in the U.S. is $8,000.

Buzz Aldrin took Holy Communion while on the Moon. The U.S. government told him it had to be kept a secret at the time. It was. Why I do not understand.

My eyes are gone! It has been difficult to get this far. This blog is the longest I have written in a little more than a week. 

May I do better tomorrow.

Enjoy your day!

My eyes not better yet. I will go as far as I can today.

Trump needs a war he can win easily. It’s Cuba! 

Trump has been threatening. A sure win. Quick. Marco Rubio supports such a war. He is the child of Cuban parents.

The thing I find a natural following such a successful war is Trump’s children opening a casino in Havana. A natural. Close to the U.S. Needed in view of Las Vegas’ recent failures. Would also give Trump an opportunity to spread his name. Such a casino could be called the “Trump Havana Casino.”

Trump has a new Press Secretary. Her name Katie Zacharia. Her first appearance yesterday. She was terrible! Afterwards she was standing outside and questioned by some reporters. She has been represented as a lawyer/attorney. I am not sure which. She makes a distinction between the two. Katie said no State. Then mentioned China. Not actually admitted to the Chinese Bar Association either. Used her legal education to assist in whatever her job was.

Trump embarrassed. Properly so. Katie had not been properly vetted. Query: Was Katie appointed to the position because she was an attractive blond? Which she is. If so, not the way appointments should be made. 

I doubt she will retain the position of Press Secretary long.

Trump made another bad appointment. In September 2025, he appointed Kimberly Guilfoyle as Ambassador to Greece. She lasted 13 months. She recently resigned on October 13 of this year when certain misconduct allegations came to light. She had asked a political donor for $100,00 so she could pay her personal bills. 

An attractive woman. Still had to go. Another poor vetting by the Trump team? Was she appointed because as with Kate Zacharia she was attractive?

My nurse Paige is still in Ireland. Nurse Debbie worked with me yesterday. Both nurses terrific. Not the nurse specifically which caused the success I experienced yesterday. I walked the best I have in almost 4 years. I was so excited! It seemed I just moved to another level. I hope I walk as good today. Not yet the best. However, significantly better.

My eyes are going. I will continue a bit further, however.

Grand Central Station in New York City has the most railroad platforms in the world. Forty four. Daily visitors to Grand Central average 750,000.

Where would Trump go if he had to flee the U.S.? A survey was taken. Russia the most popular answer.

Paul Allen: “In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success – if you are willing to learn from it.”

“I Love Lucy” aired for the first time this day in 1951.

Wow! There is a food healthier as a leftover. Pasta! It has something to do with the cooling process and then reheating it.

I have a haircut with Lori at noon.

Time to stop. The eyes win out.

Enjoy your day!

I hope my eyes are better today and I can write more. I do not know how far I can go till I get into things.

Pope Leo XIV  had a cancerous nodule removed from one of his lungs yesterday. Supposedly everything went well. The Lord was with him.

The Reflective Pool liner failed in 85 places after its first flawed renovation. Lets hope everything goes well this time.

The Treasury Department imposed $1.2 billion in penalties against Bank of America for violating anti-money laundering and sanctioning  laws.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”

I have had mixed emotions about New York City’s Mayor Mamdani. I finally made up my mind. I do not like him.

It all has to do with New York City’s Columbus Day Parade. He did not march in it. I suspect because he may be anti-Italian. I have a problem with such people as I am an Italian-American. My Mother was born in Italy, my Father’s parents also.

Mamdani gave notice well before the Parade he would not march in it. Yet, since having become Mayor he has marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. He also has marched in a number of other parades such as the West India, Ecuadorian, L.G.B.T.Q,, Ticker-Tape, and others. I have also discovered that while participating in an Assembly Parade in 2020, he gave the finger to a Christopher Columbus statue as he passed it.

On this day in 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. He was known for many years as the fastest man alive!

The Cuban Missile Crisis began this day in 1962.

Elon Musk is purportedly the richest man in the world. He has been the richest donor politically in the U.S. in 2025-26. He has donated $366 million to conservative candidates, groups, and causes.

Not proper from my perspective, though legal. Chief Justice Roberts and the Supreme Court made money giving for political purposes legal. Cash became as good as the human vote. The problem as I see it is the human vote is one whereas a money vote can be in the millions as in Musk’s case. The Supreme Court decision at some point must be reversed. The  Supreme Court erred in this situation.

Visited Tammy for a manicure yesterday. Tammy is having surgery next Thursday in a Miami hospital. She is having done to her eyes whatever has to be done so she no longer will have to wear eye glasses. 

My phone just rang. It was Paige my walking nurse. She called me from Ireland where she is having a wonderful time! A great woman to have telephoned me from Ireland! Love her dearly!

I have reached the end of the line for today. Eyes can’t take it. I am not discouraged. Dr. Oppenheimer said it would take two weeks to correct if he had diagnosed it correctly. He was not sure. Tomorrow is only one week.

Enjoy your day!

My eyes will determine the length of today’s blog. Getting better, but not normal yet.

It appears Trump may have failed to pay attention to a Federal District Court Order. Whoever, whatever, appears to have been a flagrant disregard of the Federal Order. The Judge of the Federal District Court case is Ana Reyes. She appears pissed.

The Order prohibited any trees to be cut down at the Washington, D.C. Potomac Golf Links. Trump wants to turn the golf course into one of his classy special ones. I am not sure who owns the golf course at the moment – Trump, the Federal Government or some other public entity. However the Department of Justice appears to be defending Trump and the Government in the matter.

The Order required Judge Reyes to be notified before any trees were cut and the details involved. At around 4:50 Friday afternoon her office was notified trees were to be cut. The cutting began Saturday morning and by late Sunday 430-500 big trees had been cut. At least 100 more remain to be cut.

Judge Reyes was in Istanbul when the notice was served on her office Friday afternoon. She immediately rounded everyone involved and in what has been described as very disturbed called for a telephone conference Monday. She ordered everyone involved in the decision making to appear today in her Court in Washington to testify.

It is assumed she will have returned at that time.

If chicanery is involved, heads will roll. As I have advised many times in the past, the most powerful Judge is a Federal District Court Judge in our judicial system. More powerful than even Supreme Court Justice,

We live and learn! When an elephant dies, its body marks the landscape for a decade.

The annual salary of a cast opera singer is $70,000 a year. They must obviously love what they do to work so hard so cheaply.

There are six muscles in the human eye.

Present college football rankings: Georgia #1, Notre Dame # 2, Mississippi # 3.

Pope Leo will undergo surgery this week for what has been described as a small nodule in one of his lungs. Recovery will take one week. He has the best person on his side. Stay with him Lord!

Raining big time this morning.

My eyes are not as good as I thought this morning. Must stop.

Enjoy your day!

My eyes seem better today. Lets see how much I can write. I will not push it.

Happy Columbus Day!

Christopher Columbus left Spain financed by the Spanish hierarchy with three ships. The Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Columbus’ intent was to discover the New World. He did in 1492. Landed on an island in the Bahamas. The trip had taken ten weeks.

He returned to Spain in fame. He made a return trip one year later.

This is what most, if not all of us, learned in grammar school.

There is more to the story, however. The “more” I learned this morning for the first time while researching for this blog.

He left Spain for the first trip with three vessels. He returned to Spain with only two. The Sant Maria hit a sand bar and her sailing days were over. Columbus had the boat stripped. He used the wood to build La Navidaly. A fort of sorts. When he left to return to Spain, 39 men remain to live at the fort. Columbus assured them he would return.

He did.

When Columbus returned one year later, the fort had been burned and every man was dead.

The Santa Maria’s demise, the fort, and the story of the 39 men never taught me in any class. I had to be 91 to learn it.

Who burned the fort and killed the men, I could not determine.

Columbus Day was established to honor Italian-Americans of which I am proudly one. My Mother was born in Italy, my Father of parents who immigrated to the U.S.

I learned early in life that most Americans discriminated against Italians. I experienced the discrimination in Catholic grammar and high schools. In college and big time in law school. I may have written a blog re the law school discrimination at some point. I cannot recall specifically at the moment.

My early years in practice introduced me to discrimination big time. In my almost 50 years of practice, the problem was eliminated. I became one of the foremost practitioners in my community. And I am proud to say the “good clints” became mine in my later years. Two major respected law firms were put out of business because their business opted to turn to me for legal help. I did a better job professionally, in a shorter period of time and my fees turned out to be less than theirs. I was not undercharging, they had been overcharging.

Having said all that, Italian-Americans got their holiday in the form of Christopher Columbus. Even today in some communities, anti-Italian discrimination exists. Some States have eliminated Columbus Day by renaming it Indigenous Day or something similar.

I have written a 100 plus more words than the last time I wrote. My eyes better, but the left one giving out at the moment. Time to stop. I have more to share, but it will have to wait to another time.

Good to be back.

Enjoy your day!

Let’s see how my eyes are working today.

Caitlin Clark is leaving the Indiana Fever and moving on to the Los Angeles Sparks.

About time she did something about moving, though no one can deny that she has done well economically overall as a professional. Hopefully she will be treated better by Los Angeles. I’m surprised she just dd not move on to a European team. The money is better as is the physical treatment.

Indiana is getting what is deserved. The WNBA is lucky Clark did not move on to Europe.

A bit of Trump.

Trump announced a diesel deal with Russia in a bid to boost prices. He has the U.S. buying diesel fuel from Russia. By so doing, he is playing two sides against the middle. Russia will use the diesel monies paid to by the U.S. to bomb the Ukraine who the U.S. has been supporting.

Trump is being a whore. He is placing himself and the U.S. in a position to be burned.

Trump is setting up the people to watch executions. He supports live streaming of a firing squad execution at Fort Hood on December 3. I am not sure if there will be live people to watch at Fort Hood also. Either way, one or both viewings,  sick. 

Trump lost the Nobel Peace Prize again. No surprise to anyone, except perhaps the Donald himself. A female South African judge won. Her attributes really had to bug Trump. Her name Navi Pillay. 

Trump had to sue someone. His natural course. He did not sue Pillay directly. He sued the International Criminal Court where she sat imposing extreme sanctions on it. Note he is not seeking sanctions. His lawsuit sets the number preimposed.

My eyes can’t make it. Slightly better. Very slightly. Must stop. Sorry.

Enjoy your day!

Lucky me! I received one of Trump’s $90 payments!

I am rich again!

What a joke!

Twenty million seniors each received $90.The 2o million seniors received the $90 to offset a bit – a tiny bit – of a Medicare part B payment which costs each of them $202 per month in 2026. A big deal!

$5,000 would have been better. Ninety dollars does not even buy one week’s groceries.

A short blog again today. My eyes still not functioning correctly.

I spent considerable time with eye physician Dr. Stephen Opennheimer and his staff yesterday. I was impressed with the examination. The problem not yet resolved. If it were, I could write more today,

We are taking the problem a day at a time. I return to see him in 2 weeks.

Nurse Paige due here at 9 this morning. Following which she is off to Ireland sometime today for a week. 

Enjoy your day!

If Homer wrote the epic poem The Odyssey, he did so almost 3,000 years ago. I write if Homer wrote it because there are those who say he did not. Also the 3,000 years ago not certain. Experts say the poem itself was written by Homer sometime between 1200 and 800 BC. The variable in the centuries because calendars were not kept then.

I have had the Odyssey experience twice in my life. The first time in a one semester college course concerning Homer which covered The Odyssey and The Iliad in detail. A difficult course.

The second time yesterday when I viewed The Odyssey movie at the Tropic Cinema in Key West. The theater garnered some donors and has been able to reopen. A good thing!

So many facts to share. Order a problem. However, you will receive all my thoughts though jumbled they may be on occasion.

The movie was released this summer. Sure to win some Academy Awards. Such does not necessarily mean I enjoyed it. The movie was similar to my college course in that it was tedious. The movie seven minutes short of three hours. Regardless of a Homer epic, no movie should be that long.

Many stars involved. So many that I will only mention two.

The star who played the role of Odysseus was Matt Damon. A terrific job. Difficult. Physical. He will possibly be the Academy Award Winner for Best Actor the next time around. He played the King of Ithaca.

Anne Hathaway played his wife Penelope the Queen. During her husband’s 20 year absence, males galore wished to marry her assuming Odysseus was dead. They wanted Ithaca’s strength and money.

Christopher Nolan the person who took the poem and made it into a movie. He was producer, director and also wrote the movie. His wife Emma Thomas assisted as Producer.

The plot’s focus is on Odysseus trying to find his way home following the Trojan War. He was lost. Between the Trojan War and he trying to get home, he was away from Ithaca for 20 years. Again the movie was not so much about the Trojan War. It can best be described as a sequel to the Trojan War. The many years trip home was everything.

The movie’s box office was an immediate success. It earned $1.77 billon dollars in a few short weeks following its opening.

The movie was not boring. Merely too long. I never dozed. Nor was I sitting on the edge of my seat. Would I recommend it? No, unless you are an historical freak and would not miss it. I finally got to see it because I am an historical freak. Majored in history in college.

Some of my college learned recollections returned because of seeing the film and reading up all these year’s later of things I learned in college. I share some with you.

Homer’s original Odyssey contained 24 chapters. A chapter in Homer’s day and today very different. I have never been able to figure it out. I have learned to express it numerically in words.

Homer’s Greek rendition totaled 120,000 words.

Roughly 121,365 words in the various English translations. Works out to about 560 pages to be read.

Little is known about Homer. Too far back in time. It is thought he was born on the coast of Asia Minor. He is known for his epic poems. The best of course The Odyssey and The Iliad. 

It is strongly believed Homer was blind. In The Odyssey there is the character Demodoka who was a blind poet and close friend to Odysseus. Many of the busts and statues to honor Homer have his eyes left blank. They are without eyes.

So much for Homer and The Odyssey. Exercise your own judgment whether you wish to view it. The decision is six of one and a half dozen of another.

Enjoy your day!

The internet reports sex is up at Cornell and eight other colleges. I view it as representative of society as a whole. Look at the number of politicians being named as having affairs. People in general appear to be enjoying sex more frequently. Why not? It’s generally free and pleasurable.

There is one exception, however. Me! I sit by the telephone waiting for it to ring as the saying goes!

Trump will leave the Presidency economically big. His government continues aiding him. It was announced yesterday that he wants to turn his West Palm Beach  golf course into a new Camp David.

Some question Trump’s mentality. I agree. It has run down, diminished. He speaks stupidly on occasion. Like his comment that Los Angeles and San Diego could be bombed with nuclear weapons. My recollection was he was referring to Iran doing it. Iran cannot yet. It dos not have the capacity to do so. However there are other countries that can reach our West Coast. What Trump has done in effect is invited them to do so if they desire.

His statement lacked wisdom.

France suffering an insurrection. Students involved big time. Thousands have been jailed.

Thomas Jefferson is known for putting out superior and new dishes at his dinner parties. However he is credited for some he served but which had already been introduced in the colonies and early U.S. I refer specifically to ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and waffles which he served at his table but neither invented nor introduced by him to our country.

England has a National Great Vegetables Championship each year. The 2026 event has concluded. It attracted 65,000 visitors. Winners included a 25 foot cucumber plant, a butternut squash, and the largest dandelion root.

South Korea has a new huge shark constantly circling Dusan. It is 11.5 feet long. Government officials have been unable to get it back to open water.

Gen-Z students are fueling a Catholic surge at 60 college campuses.

Trump had a concern re the safety of U.S. military located in the United Kingdom. He has withdrawn long range bombers because of his belief the aircraft faced a lingering threat.

Ukrainian President Zelensky said his country will intensify attacks on oil refineries in Russia, but not homes and condominiums.

Roses blossomed on American soil long before European settlers brought them to the U.S. In 1670, American colonist Daniel Denton wrote of wild roses in the woods and fields of New York.

Who invented the hole in the donut? Some thought a hole was required in the fried dough to make it cook evenly. The first was sea Captain Hansen Gregory in 1847. Dunkin’ Donuts popularized it by selling the stand alone bite-size hole as “Munchkins” in the 1970s.

George Washington was a fantastic dancer. An accomplished ballroom dancer in his teens. He honed his skills as a young officer.

The Supreme Court is back in session.

Bette Davis: “You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.”

The first Pope to visit the White House was Pope John Paul II. He visited in 1979.

Ansar Sadat was an excellent President of Egypt. I admired him. Unfortunately, he was assassinated in 1981. He was standing in a reviewing stand. Vehicles with guns could be seen approaching him. Ready to shoot. Every one ran or dropped to the ground who were around him. He did not. He stood tall facing his assassinators. Eyeball to eyeball in effect. He was shot and killed.

Each State has a special flavored ice cream. Florida’s is chocolate.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the rose as the Nation’s emblem.

There is a belief that people get their best ideas while showering.

Germany is about to get its first far right statutory Speaker since the Nazi era.

A donor gave $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon, the largest university gift ever. A hell of a lot more than I ever gave to Syracuse University!

A 2024 Stanford University study revealed our bodies die more in certain decades of our lives. The mid 40s and mid 60s.

I slept well last night. Which means longer also. That is why the blog is late this morning. If I continue sleeping better, late will become the normal.

Left eye still blurry. Must see an eye doctor.

My directional lights got screwed up over the weekend. Saw Steve at Shifting Gears Automotive on US 1. A half hour and fixed! Good man!

I did not feel well enough to make The Grand yesterday. Had to skip.

Enjoy your day!

California scientist Dr. Karl Deisseroth learned Monday morning he had won a Nobel Prize for Medicine. His telephone would not stop ringing. Finally he stopped answering it. He had to make school lunches for his children.

Dying on the vine. Fruit to be made into juice which farmers would sell. Left on the vines to die. No market because of the way Trump has handled the economy.

Susan Collins. Supreme Court? Suggested by the Washington Post.

Paxton is presently Texas Attorney General. A Republican. A Trumpee. He is anti-vaccine. He is presently investigating pediatricians for vaccinating children.

The Amish communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio do not vaccinate. They do not believe in it. The spread of measles in their communities is making many rethink their positions.

I am having extreme difficulty with the blog this morning. My eyes blurry. Mistakes galore. Retyping words several times. Took a new pill last ight. Might be the problem. I am going to stop doing the blog. It will take me forever to complete.

Sorry.

Enjoy your day!