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To officailly kick off my "Let's switch our accusations and go after Biden now" I have decided to make this my first complaint.

From the Department of "How Petty Can You Get, Dave", I ask - couldn't Joe have picked dozens of ladies who would be more appropriate to sing the National Anthem tomorrow than Lady Gaga?

How about Andra Day (who sings "Rise Up"). Or how about some lady from a local church in D.C. Somebody talented but unheard of. A little less "Holywood" and a lot more down to earth - Really?

On a seriuous note: I'm nervous, but praying for a day of peace and calm in our Capital tomorrow.

(90 days is a long time. This could be a different world by that time. Pray God it will be for the better.)

01/20/21 08:41 AM

#8855

Frank Ganley

Let me talk about the not funny side of addiction since the age of 42 i have had more orthopedic operations than the average person. After each operation I was given some sort of pain reliever. Before the operation the surgeon would stat me on darvon or percocets just to get near the pain, which it didn't ,so I would have to take 2 instead of one. Unknown to Doctors at that time(!991) was how quickly the body is hooked. After the operation I would be perscribed oxycotin, i think thats right or oxycodon. I was given a supply of these that should have lasted a month , no problem, nothing to see here! I would only take a pill every three days. No addiction there,addicts need more not less, so a refill was easy to get from my family doctor. He opened for business in 1984, my patient number 248, so he knew me. He knew I wasn't scamming to get more as sometimes 4 months between refills, no addiction there. This continued for 6 yearsand a few major spine surgeries and a few others like a gall bladder ectomy, it has a fancy name but i can't remember it, a umbilical hernia , and my favorite a Nissen fundaplecation. All these at once and through one hole. Pain pills here we come ! a NISSEN is the making of a new sphinctor on the top of the stomach to stop reflux. All this to stop me from throwing up most mornings which I had done since high school, nope didn't work. More pills same deal every 3 -4 months. Fast forward to 2012 when the range I WAS TEACHING AT closed. I was making calls and sending out resumes . I got the flu. I wasn't practicing or teaching so why take a pill. I was never sicker! every bone in my body hurt to the point of almost crawling to the bathroom . Diarhea and the heaves together good combo ! My eyeball lids drooped and i was tearing, nose running non stop , I was miserable. During all this all i was taking was over the counter flu medicine and no whatever you take for that that helps you to sleep ,bupkas! Finally I told my wife just bring me an oxy, i knock it out and go to sleep! Good plan but it didn't work that way or day. WITHIN 5 minutes it worked as I jumped up and was all better. I called my doctor, yes i have his number, we played golf together, i taught all his kids, he told me to meet him the ext day in the office. He cried for doing this to me. Now I am the comforter. He was going to write me a scrip to aid in the coming down but I told him i got 4-5 days in on the withdrawl so I'll tough it out. As Dr Jim will tell you today you get a supply for 6-7 days, thats it and MdS ARE getting more education on them. Pain pills are no joke! Are you euphoric , no bur at first you have to learn how to keep spit in you mouth. My wife will tell you that at times i was mean, i never knew!!!!!!. There is the funny side of addiction! my doctor described addiction as a nestful of baby bird who never shut up till they are all fed. Now cigarettes is a different animal , not a habit it is real addiction. Be carefull, most addicts are just like you and me who found relief on the street and then found living on the street.

01/20/21 10:43 AM

#8856

Frank, God bless you for sharing your personal journey of the perils of addictions. I have unfortunately seen up close the pain & torment that addictions bring to not only those addicted, but to their loved ones as well. Sending you good thoughts & prayers. 🙏🏻❤️ MM

01/20/21 10:44 AM

#8857

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

01/20/21 11:50 AM

#8858

01/20/21 12:29 PM

#8859

Talk about turning over a new leaf. A few weeks ago Trump had to borrow somebody else's bible so he could use it as a prop in a phony photo op. (When a reporter asked him what his favorite passage in the good book was, he couldn't come up with an answer. See? The old saying is wrong. The devil can't quote scripture.)

In contrast: One of Biden's first actions was to send up a geniune prayer for those who were lost to the epidemic -- marking the first time the president of our country took the time to do so.

01/20/21 12:42 PM

#8860

Deborah Alexander (Rogers)

This is all I can think of. Couldn't we use a little "Grace" right now?

Wish they could have chosen a female voice for Garth's part. Yea, it's petty of me.

(closing scene from a favorite film - "Amazing Grace")

01/20/21 01:29 PM

#8861

Janie Albright (Blank)

MM, Thanks for the unity prayer. I thought the day, beginning with mass was perfect.
Wasn't the poetess wonderful? Let's see how it proceeds. Prayers for our Nation needed for sure.

01/20/21 01:36 PM

#8862

OK, Tim, I'll rise to your challenge and speak up. Thank goodness the political discussions should be mostly over and we can move on. Let's all pray for our new President, that he will be successful in leading our country out of the divisiveness and into a more unified nation, that he will be able to get the virus under control with the vaccine, that he can help the unemployed find jobs or receive needed aid, that he will find a way to help mothers and fathers feed their children, give help to the suffering restaurant businesses and all others who have been so damaged by the pandemic, and end the racial strife that plagues our nation. How can one man do all of this? At least he can try to begin the healing. It's a tall order, I know. But hope springs eternal.

01/20/21 04:43 PM

#8863

Peggy Southworth (Townley)

U GO Girl !

(and BTW, you look great in PURPLE)

01/20/21 05:21 PM

#8864

Re: #8862 post
I remember once when a several of us walked down to High St after school to grab some burgers at Sandy's.

Jimmy Signorachi (spelling?) was there I think he drove a GTO. He made a big show of pulling a telephone handset, with cord, from his glove box and having a short "conversation". Those days sure were fun. Never thought we would all carry in our pockets a small, slim device that was a telephone, free long distance, a movie theater, free actual television, WAAY more channels than we ever dreamed, a compass, a flashlight, a dictionary, thesaurus, a world-wide library, encyclopedia on steroids, radio stations around the world, live web cams around the world, a clock, alarm clock, an instant messaging service to reach people anywhere in the world, a camera, photo storage, photo alterations and cropping. There's more, no doubt.

What is the next we can expect? My personal opinion is that we may have gone too far already.

01/20/21 06:00 PM

#8865

Joseph Gentilini

Frank, THANK YOU for being willing to share so openly your own struggles. We (I) am better for it!! Addictions of several things have been in my own family and I appreciate the struggle you went through. Thanks again. Joe

01/20/21 06:17 PM

#8866

John Jackson

My daughter, her husband, three kids (5 years, 3 years and 11 months) and two cats are re-locating from Chicago to the NJ-PA area and they’re living with us for a couple of months until they can close on the house they’re buying. After hearing Lady Gaga sing the National Anthem today, my three year old granddaughter, bored with the speechifying, asked when Biden was going to sing.

So Dave, Lady Gaga certainly made an impression on at least someone today.

01/20/21 10:14 PM

#8867

Peggy Southworth (Townley)

Jackson, Lavelle, McLeod, Mitchell -

Keep posting. Please don't stop. Your posts are more informative than you realize.

01/21/21 01:16 AM

#8868

John,

The Bidens had asked me to sing but, regretably I had to decline. They wanted me to do my rendtition of an old Kenny Rogers song. Something in keeping with the occasion, of course.

But alas, I was already scheduled to give a lecture on the various schools of thought regarding "OSC" - oyster shell cryptology. (They said I could eat some of the samples used in the class, however I was required to bring my own coctail sauce)

And to be honest I think Kenny does it better than I ever could. If I recall correctly, my original release sold about 4 copies.

01/21/21 01:19 AM

#8869

NOTE:

If any of you "find my mind in a brown paper bag", please call my office.

I'd aprreciate it.

01/21/21 11:23 AM

#8870

That's really nice of you Peggy.

I read a lot and much of what I read is on sites I have to pay for, written by world-class journalists once referred to, by an overweight rich man whose name escapes me, as "enemies of the people," and so I think of sharing that particular endangered but enlightening resource and commenting about it as a combination public service/practice/mental health therapy.

By "public service" I mean I have access to the best stories and the best writing in the country and I like sharing it for free, and if some people here don't like it I figure: how hard is it, duh, to just not read it?

By "practice" I mean it's writing I'm not getting paid for, it's not getting published anywhere, and so I'll say things and take chances that I might not take if I know I'm on the clock and risk getting called out for typos, factual errors, and obvious signs of ongoing psychosis. That keeps my creative juices flowing.

By "mental health" I mean I don't get out much these days and when I do I'm wearing a mask and moving fast, and banging away on our little chat room here is a not-bad-at-all surrogate for the casual conversations I once engaged in at the grocery store and the neighborhood bars and such.

By the way: Interesting, isn't it, that people hardly mention the fact that we now have a Catholic in the White House. Last time that happen, we were kids, and it was a BIG DEAL. I remember the nuns being all charged up about it. And then that awful day when we were in class and they announced his assassination. God what a horrible thing. Much worse, in its own way, than what we just went through.

01/21/21 03:05 PM

#8871

Peggy,

That's two posts in one day girl! Be careful - you're nearing your yearly limit.

01/21/21 04:15 PM

#8872

Peggy Southworth (Townley)

these chatterboxes in here I just can't take it any more

01/21/21 09:11 PM

#8873

Dave Mitchell - yes!!! I usually just read and now - TWO posts in the same month - or week? I'm gettin' wild y'all 😂♥️

01/22/21 11:42 AM

#8874

Wouldn't t be nice to have a little peace for a change?

But now we have those brave idiots in the ANTIFA movement out in the streets of Portland and Seattle.

"Look Mommy, see how brave I am? I can wear a mask and helmet so nobody sees who I am while I'm out destroying public property and spraying the police with pepper spray. Aren't I a tough little guy?"

I think a great "reward" for all this would be to put all the right-wing groups (and they are many) and all the left-wing groups together inside a huge barrier full of all the broken glass from just this past year and not allow them to wear any shoes. Add a dash of pepper spray and a nice dose of tear gas, and let them whine about freedom of speech or something like that.

01/22/21 11:55 AM

#8875

Another of my cherrished memories has left the room.

I got to see him play in-person twice in my life - once in Milwaukee against the Cubs, so I was seeing my favorite, Ernie Banks, and one of my other favorites (Hank) in one game. "Hammerin' Henry" died today. R.I.P.

(Remebering those Friday nights when Tom Litzinger and I watched him on "Home Run Derby")

01/22/21 02:49 PM

#8876

Ok I never thought I'd say this but watching these long boring Biden administration press briefings with grownup answers to grownup questions makes me miss that snippy little blonde girl who tossed her little head and told the reporters what questions they really should have asked instead of the bothersome ones and looked like she wanted to give each and every one of them a spanking as she stormed off the podium. Sigh. Goodbye snippy little blonde girl. I'll never forget you.

01/22/21 06:23 PM

#8877

But of course, Mike, Psaki is facing a benevolent press corps. You do know that Trump is gone as is his administration....seems like we could move on.

01/22/21 07:23 PM

#8878