Friday, the 13th day of January, 2012

It wasn't until I was trying to solve a SUDOKU puzzle near noon time today when I realized it was Friday the 13th... Holly Smokes! For those of us who are superstitious, days like this one are extremely stressful; for those of us who are not, days like this are between 'blah' and 'so what?' But there is another point of interest: is superstition dependent on language/culture? You see, in most of the Hispanics sub-cultures (ones derived from Spain), it is not Friday the 13th but Tuesday the 13th the one you have to be careful with/afraid of... So, do bad things that happen on a Friday the 13th go unnoticed by people in Hispanic countries? And do bad things that happen on a Tuesday the 13th go unnoticed by people on countries of North Western European descent? I don't know the answer to those questions, but I am tempted to submit to you - though a little cautions, just in case - that superstition is only in the mind of the believer...

Oh well, on with life and here it is: my last daughter - Leah - was the last one to return to 'the real world' after the Christmas and New Year season... She left on Saturday, January 7th, and left behind a couple of grateful hearts for getting to enjoy her company until then, and also heavy for being left with a truly empty nest and only the memories of the good times we all had during the season... To make my heart even heavier, that same day would have been my father's 90th birthday... He's been gone for 1,188 days and I still miss his humor, his wisdom, his company...

The pro football season is over and playoffs are here, and neither one of my teams made it: Dolphins and Bucs were simply pitiful this past season; thankfully both their head coaches were fired! Talking playoffs, this past week-end I went two for four: won two (Giants and Broncos) and lost two (Lions and Bengals) - just realized we have no more felines on the playoffs... This week-end my favorites, albeit sentimental, are: Saints (vs 49ers), Broncos (vs. Patriots), Giants (vs. Packers) and could-not-care-less (Ravens vs. Texans)... On the college ranks I rooted hard for the LSU Tigers but they did not show up against the the Tide led by Nick SaTan... They looked inept and confused for 60 minutes...What a lousy show that game was... Les Miles should be fired and then flogged in the Tiger Stadium parking lot.

Romney seems to be the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge the President in the fall... Let's see how terminology such as "Vulture Capitalist" and his role as a wealth producer (others may call it corporate raider) are played by the Obama and the Democrats against him...

Temperatures dropped radically today (high of 23) and snowed about two inches... Local folks believe this winter will pack a nasty punch. I will make it a priority this week to fire up my generator, hook it up to the house, and test the connections made specifically for those type of contingencies...

Finally, a little anecdote: back in 1974 a reporter asked Arthur Ashe about how lucky he had been in a particular tennis match which he had won. Ashe, keeping his customary gentleman-like demeanor, responded: "The harder I work, the luckier I get"...

So, stay lucky my friends...