PROFESSIONALISM AT ITS BEST

Pain an interesting thing. Activity limiting. Kept me home and down again yesterday.

I am still suffering. Getting better, however. I can now sit. Bed the problem. Can only lay in one position painless. Not my normal position. A small turn in bed and the shot of pain wakes me.

I watched the New England Patriots game yesterday. Tom Brady phenomenal. Professionalism at its best.

Tom Brady was drafted by the Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft. Not in the first round as one would expect. Rather the sixth round. A cheap dollar pickup for the Patriots. He was the 199th person drafted that year.

Today, the hottest commodity in professional football. At age 40, he is still playing as if in his 20’s. His throws perfection.

When the day comes that he is no longer a player, Brady would like to be a U.S. Senator. A welcome addition to the present inepts in Washington.

Trust. A virtue not to be found in Washington.

A vote at noon today to lift the shut down. The vote based on an alleged deal made between McConnell and the Democrats: Support a continuing resolution till February 8. Keep the government going. I/we promise that come 2/8 if the issues of concern to the Democrats have not been resolved, we promise to work on them further and bring each to a vote.

I would not buy it. Hope the Democrats do not buy it. Each side dishonorable. The Democrats should not blink. Keep the government shut down till the problems of concern are successfully worked out.

Reagan said with regard to nuclear deals with the Russians…..Trust, but verify. No way to verify other than pushing for all concerned to work extra long hours and get the job done. Then vote.

The country can stay closed 3-4 weeks. The last time a similar situation occurred, it was closed 16 days. I would also insist on a proviso that Congress not be paid till the task gets done.

The noon vote, if it occurs, will be interesting.

Trust has become a U.S. problem internationally under Trump. His word cannot be relied upon.

Russia and China are taking full advantage. Russia is extending its power/influence over Ukraine and Syria unabated.

China grows stronger in the South China Seas and economically. Economically as regards the Chines yuan. The yuan is replacing the American dollar as currency in certain oil trades.

Trump precipitated the dollar/yuan problem by threatening to invade Venezuela and cutting off Pakistan from financial aid. The leaders of each country said up yours to Trump and announced they were moving over to the yuan.

To lighter matters.

Key West has free ranging chickens living on its streets. Tourists think they are cute. Most locals consider them foul.

In 2004 and after much discussion, the City Commissioners decided to rid Key West of the chickens. A chicken catcher was hired on January 22. Armando Parra, Sr. A barber and self proclaimed self taught bird catcher.

He quit on August 4.

His contract was to run to September 1.

He was to be paid $20 per chicken caught, with a 900 chicken limit. He caught 542 before quitting. The number considered one quarter of the chicken population.

Parra claimed he quit because the City Commission was mini-managing him. What streets to work, where to leave the chickens alone, etc. His general impression was the City was not committed to eliminating the chickens.

No one has dealt with the problem since. The chicken population grows. Chickens are prolific. Their gestation period 29 days.

Five years ago, I wrote a lengthy article for KONK Life regarding cursive writing. A dying art. Taught in very few schools. The computer key board was considered more important to students than the ability to hand write.

I thought the move stupid. A generation has now grown that cannot hand write their names.

Change is in the air. Fourteen States and New York City’s elementary schools now mandate that cursive writing be taught. More are expected to join.

One reason put forth to teaching cursive writing again is the belief it helps the student to learn if he/she must hand write it.

Of course, computer keyboards will remain. Combined, double edged teaching tools.

Enjoy your day!

 

THIS PUSSY GRABS BACK

This weekend belongs to the women. Marches yesterday and today world wide.

The women marching assertive.  Don’t tread on me the message. Things are going to change.

I did not pick up on pussy hats last year. Did this year because a lady friend told me the other day she had to get a pussy hat. A pink one, hopefully with two ears. Knitted.

The knitting came into play while planning for the first march last year. Women knit! More than you think. I had another lady friend several years ago who owned a small knitting store on one of the less busy streets in Key West. The store was a gold mine. Especially when a cruise ship was in.

I googled pussy hats this morning. Featured was also a baseball cap. The wording on the cap: This Woman Grabs Back. Shades of Trump’s ill gotten words.

Pink because it is the female color. It speaks for itself re femininity and women’s rights.

Many women are attired in black this year. To voice their support for me too and opposition to sexual harassment.

Spent yesterday in bed. Still sore all over. Bruising becoming more evident by day. Slept on and off during the day. Was awake all night because of it. Thank God for television and old movies!

Bed today, also. The new adjustable bed helps me select the most comfortable/painless  position.

Words that reflecte what we were as a country for one hundred years are becoming meaningless. I refer to the Statue of Liberty…..Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.

There are those who only want the well educated to arrive at our shores. Those that can be of immediate value. My grandparents and mother were poor uneducated southern Italians. Not doctors, lawyers, scientists, etc. Hard working laborers.

My mother at 13 worked 14 hours a day in a shoe factory in New York City. The men dug the sewer lines, prepared the streets for trolley car tracks, dug ditches, etc.

Their descendants became the doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs!

If only the intelligentsia are admitted, who is going to do the low paying dirty work?

The political bickering is bitter. Each side pointing the finger. Being an elected official has lost its luster. Congress for example is a battlefield. Corruption exists. Job satisfaction lacking. A job well done not part of the mix.

The unqualified will be elected. It is already happening. Nothing will get done.

Supposed to be warm today. Seventy five degrees. Good! I hate the cold.

My afternoon will be enjoyable. Watching two pro football games from bed.

When Bill Clinton was President he recognized how government had developed. He snidely remarked one time that “the purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people.”

This weekend belongs to the ladies. Two separate quotes by former Presidents re women. Presidents of the modern era. The quotes reflect the nature of the men.

Richard Nixon…..”I’m not for women, frankly, in any job. I don’t want any of them around. Thank God we don’t have any in the cabinet.”

Ronald Reagan…..”If it wasn’t for women, us men would still be walking around in skin suits carrying clubs.”

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

 

 

 

WE WON!

I called it wrong. I was sure we were going to lose last night. We did not. God was good! We won 2 out of 3 games. Against the #1 team for most of the past 10 years.

I am glad I was wrong. Me of little faith!

We lost the first game. We were down 11-3. Came back. Lost by one point 16-15. The next two we won. By two or 3 points each game.

It took forever to play. We were the last to finish. Everyone was done and had gone home. It was a point at a time. Both sides grinding it out.

My day began with a haircut yesterday. Lori has been cutting my hair for 15 years. We have become friends.

Then it was Cuban Coffee Queen for lunch. I had 1 1/2 hours to kill before a manicure appointment. The time was some of the best I have spent recently.

Bob Dennard came up to me and said…..You’re Key West Lou! After acknowledging my existence, Bob said he was in Key West for a few days and had been looking for me. The Chart Room evenings and the Cuban Coffee Queen at lunch time.

We finally met! Bob, one great  guy!

We could have talked all afternoon, but I had to get to Tammy’s for my manicure.

Bob presently from Fort Walton Beach. Started off in California. A career service man now retired. Widowed. Sixty four.

He has written five books. I was impressed! Two historical in hard back covers. The other three involving cruising. One of the cruise books centers in southeast Asia where Bob was stationed.

He writes a blog. kokoman.com. Not every day. Once a week, once a month. Whenever the mood strikes.

In addition to searching me out, Bob is researching to write a book about the Chart Room. I shared with him whatever I knew.

No question, we are going to meet again. Hopefully over the weekend.

Got to Tammy’s just in time. I keep repeating. She and husband Ricky personify the American dream. Tammy was born in Vietnam. Ricky in the U.S. Both work 6-7 days a week, 8 in the morning till 8-9 in the evening. No complaints. Expect nothing from anyone. Do for themselves.

Overseas Market is being remodeled. Cosmetically. New trees, new signs, things of that nature.

I remember when the site of Overseas Market was nothing but  a large empty field. The shopping center was built in 1992. I started coming to Key West in 1989. Those early years, there was no Overseas Market.

I recall an update some years later. The whole shopping center was repainted. My recollection is the original color was some shade of pink. The new color yellow.

Time moves on.

This week’s KONK Life column Private Prisons was linked this morning to my Key West Lou website. keywestlou.com.

I have been critical of the judicial system in recent years. I feel a special entitlement as I spent my life as a lawyer. My faith in the system has been restored a bit by two very recent decisions. The Tom Brady one and the Kentucky clerk Kim Davis who refused to marry same sex couples. Both decisions correct based on the issues involved. Right on. Additionally, both courts went no further than required.

I am sick of hearing Trump and further sick of hearing about Hillary’s e-mails. Neither speak to the issues. We are not being told where each stands. I blame the media. We are not being educated as to their respective positions.

College football! Syracuse plays Rhode Island tonight.

How the mighty fall! Syracuse has not fielded a good football team in way too many years. We would never have scheduled a Rhode Island in days of old.

Further discouraging is that in the friday spreads in the newspaper, the Syracuse/Rhode Island game is not even mentioned.

Whatever, go Orange! Loyalty never diminishes.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

LONG LIFE…..3 BEERS AND 1 SHOT PER DAY

Agnes Fenton recently turned 110. Happy birthday! God bless!

The secret to her longevity was born in the early 1940s. Agnes had a brain tumor. She asked the doctor what she should do to avoid another. He told her to each day drink 3 Miller High Life beers and 1 shot of Johnny Walker Black Label scotch. She followed the doctor’s instructions religiously.

I spent a portion of yesterday fine tuning last night’s blog talk radio show. Two topics hit a nerve.

One involved my comments re the federal judge to whom the Tom Brady case has been assigned. I believe he is out of line in the manner he is handling the matter.

The other concerned blanket media censorship of the California class action suit against Monsanto. The people’s right to know has become a joke. We only get to watch, hear, and read what the six corporations controlling 90 percent of the media want us to.

Spent a bit of time working on a love book. A joke! Me writing a love story. My publisher however said give it a try. I feel like a fish out of water.

Three books in the works now. The other two Growing Up Italian and Greece, The First Time. I hope to finish one at some point.

Roostica for dinner before the show. Bobby has added a new desert to the menu. Salted caramel gelato. Outstanding!

I mentioned a big rain monday around dinner time. It was big! 3.4 inches.

Key West hotel business up the past five years. Forbes says the best in the U.S. In spite of the high profit levels, the hotels and tourist industry in general continue to pay small hourly wages. Most receiving $10-12 per hour.

Today’s Key West Citizen editorial says there is a food problem, also. This most of us knew. The extent, not. The editorial says there are 25,000 Key West residents. Four hundred families cannot afford sufficient food. That number equates to 16 percent of the population. A disgrace! Another example of the hotels, etc. getting fat and forgetting to take their help with them.

The same argument can be made for affordable housing. Higher wages might eliminate or lessen the need for taxpayer dollars being spent for affordable housing.

The regular lobster season begins tomorrow. Lobsterfest weekend ahead. Going to be delicious.

Some crazy people out there. Especially, politicians. They want to limit the number of births by the poor.

An Arkansas legislator has submitted a bill that would permit the State to pay unwed low income mothers on Medicaid if they get an IUD implant. Mothers fitting the description would receive $2,500.

Enjoy your day!

 

I AM OK

There is a saying that events occur in threes. I hope I have had my threes re health concerns.

The past several weeks have had their downside. First, my falling and balance problems. Then diverticulitis. Yesterday morning, surprise minor surgery.

Lord, I give up! No more please!

I am fine today. So far.

I will be 80 years old in 33 days. Yesterday morning, I was wondering if I will make it.

Time and energy prevented me doing the blog yesterday morning. My apologies.

I felt ok by evening. Like nothing had happened. Ergo, I did my blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. My preparation was lacking. I did the show by merely sitting back and pontificating. I liked the show. Those of you who listened, I hope you did also.

Ally’s birthday was monday. Ten years old. Big! I told Ally she was entering womanhood. She was a young lady. She beamed! We did dinner and Happy Birthday cake.

I screwed up. Robert’s birthday was May 15. I forgot. Did not realize it till I was talking with Lisa about Ally’s birthday. I asked when Robert’s was. Two weeks earlier.

I brought a present for Robert monday night. I apologized to him several times. It was no problem from his perspective. He hugged me tight and kissed me. Robert is now 11 years old.

KONK Life hits the stands today. My column is Corruption Of Politics And Banks. Money, of course, the cause. I suggested two Louis solutions. Read the column, if you can. Guaranteed you will enjoy.

Yesterday, a light rain all day. Today, rain again. Heavier. Another rainy day. A nice break. Cools things off.

I returned to the anti-gravity treadmill monday. It had been two weeks. I took it easy at the beginning. No problem.

The NFL, Roger Goodell, and Tom Brady. Commissioner Goodell insists he is going to hear Brady’s appeal. Bad! It has been consistent law for more than 25 years that a hearing officer cannot be judge, jury and prosecutor at the same time. If Goodell rules against Brady, Brady has a sure win in a court room thereafter.

Since Goodell made the initial decision to find Brady guilty and punish him, it appears the handwriting is on the wall as to what the appeals decision will be.

Enjoy your day