April 8,9,10 - In San Diego - 3 Games Padres -2 Cubs -1
May 6,7,8 in Chicago - 3 Games
People often tell me I complain about the sub-class of politicians too much and for no good reason other than to laugh. TRUE! But there are times when constructive criticism and humor meld such that we can get our point across and truly enjoy it too. Now if politicians wanted to do something in support of the people, particularly the seniors... they would pass laws preventing companies like the Trident Society from reaching out with unsolicited offers of moribund cremation. Past a certain age it's hard enough to get up in the morning wondering if this could be your last morning let alone be greeted by a barrage of cremation offers... oh and my favorite solicitation... "Wanna Go To College Tomorrow? Leave your Body to Science Today!"
A notable inflation marker is the average cost of a funeral. Pre-pandemic it was around $5K and now it's up around $11K or about as much as a really good cut of beef. Maybe it is time to think about going back to college... ☹ And while it may be financially responsible, the thought of prearranging your own funeral, or postmortem college entrance is just a little creepy.
Terry Ernest - April 11, 2024
April is Springtime, cherry blossoms, Barbra's birthday and of course, Lao New Year. And every year blossoms appear, Barbra gets another year older and I get left home alone while Andrew busies himself with all things Lao New Year. And not just Andrew... his entire family is knee deep in art, dancing and food. Andrew designs and makes traditional costumes, event decorations of all kinds and whatever he can be vol-untold to do. Three major Lao New Year events this April keep the Manisouks very busy from San Diego all the way up to Temecula. I get to help out here and there... mostly doing web pages and advertising for the San Diego Lao Community Cultural Center (LCCC-SD) and Papaya Salad testing.
LCCC-SD Web Site Event Information
Cultural Understanding of the Lao New Year
Common sense is a life lesson that culminates in some degree of impulse control. 'Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.'
Take Andrew for example. We recently went to one of our local mountain towns, Julian, for a wood fired BBQ lunch. Andrew wanted to eat an entire side of deliciously BBQd beef but he settled for a single medium rib. Impulse control. My control is sometimes harder to master... like the other day when I was in the check out line at a grocery store. The clerk was arrogant, dismissive and a bit odoriferous or what the gen Z folks like to call 'diverse'. I wanted to punch her in the mouth but instead I calmly left uttering but two words... 'get help.' Now that too is impulse control.
When I was a kid parents were pretty free to teach impulse control by smacking you every time words came out of your mouth, the impact of which you clearly hadn't considered. And not just parents but pretty much all adults joined in to teach such life lessons.
I wonder if Donald Trump should hire someone to teach him impulse control. Nah... he'd be black and blue in a week and that would clash with his Oompa Loompa glow. See, I was going to say something much more controversial salted with ripe expletives but... Impulse Control.
Terry Ernest March 23, 2024
This dancing Leprechaun is the mascot of the Irish Quidich team from 'Harry Potter and the Globlets of Fire'. But then you knew that, right? Andrew and I can't be the only middle aged Potter-philes! Although among our best friends it certainly seems that way. Around here, "Five points for Gryffindor" is a common response to someone saying the right thing at the right time... especially around company. Sadly it usually falls on deaf ears.
For us, a little Hogwarts is just the ticket to unwind after an evening ear full of Israel destroying Gaza, Russians destroying Ukraine, Haitians destroying themselves and... well... anything Putin or Trump. There just isn't enough Irish whiskey to make all that go away.
So if the woes of the world get you down, lose yourself with some Hogwarts magic and practice your spells. It's a much smarter choice than throwing your phone across the room or putting your foot through the television screen. Unless of course you are in Slytherin House.... then by all means scream and cry until you are blue in the mouth. It's a good color on you.
Terry Ernest - Mach 16, 2024
Trump sold 1000 pairs of his "Never Surrender Gold High Top Sneakers" for $399 each just one day after he was ordered to pay $350+M as penalty for his fraud case in NYC. Of course the Trump camp denies that this move was to help offset the heavy fines he has been ordered to pay. After all - Trump has been marketing all kinds of ego-maniacal products for years to keep his enterprises afloat. It is unlikely that sneaker enthusiasts are the ones who bought out the first wave. It has been reported that re-selling of these sneakers is already all over the internet and for a much heftier price. Clearly there is broad expectation that these gilded shoes will be worth much more in years to come. I won't be surprised to see people wearing these gaudy shoes in public being mocked and harassed by people of good taste and intelligence, albeit lacking self control.
Perhaps Trump will share his entrepreneurial expertise with poor Mike Lindell who can't seem to sell enough pillows to pay for his $5+M big mouth fines.
Pay it forward, Donald.
Terry Ernest - February 22, 2024
The Dragon is the only legendary creature of all the animals in the Chinese zodiac and symbolizes good luck, strength, health and intelligence. So naturally I was born in the year of the Dragon. Andrew, on the other hand, was born in the year of the Rooster which might explain why he likes to crow early in the morning... and why we sometimes find feathers on the floor. The Dragon also carries deep cultural and historical significance in China often the symbol of ancient emperors and empires. Some say that MSG was first discovered in the remains of the last Chinese Dragon thousands of years ago which is why Chinese cooks put MSG in all their food... as a tribute... even when you ask them not to. According to folklore, a legendary dragon named Niam would terrorize villages every lunar new year. The people discovered that the dragon feared the color red, loud noises and bright lights. That is why we wear red clothes, parade with red banners and shoot off fire crackers... to scare the MSG out of dragons. And apparently it works! The dragons are gone but MSG remains as popular as ever.
Terry Ernest
After all these years of watching Bewitched and so many of the shows of my youth, I still haven't been able to decide which character was the most ridiculous. Was it Derwood who had every opportunity to let his beautiful wife Samantha give him anything he could possibly want... but instead tried to block her every twitch? Or perhaps Tony Nelson who did the same thing with Jeannie, a beautiful blond who said she loved him and showed it by going out of her way to torment him? Then consider Ricky Ricardo who couldn't recognize his own wife in a fake mustache or Mr. B from Hazel who put his foot in his mouth more times than Donald Trump. Also on the list are Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace who nears the top of the chart of TV curmudgeons and Colonel Klink who might have been a suitable mate for Edith Bunker.
A lot of the old shows bring back memories of my life as a child. Riding my bicycle to Jocks grocery store to get stuff my wanted for dinner was like walking into Quigley's market from Dennis the Menace or Gillis' market from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Potatoes were 9¢ a pound, veal cutlets a whopping 79¢ a pound. Today you can't even find real veal except in very expensive butcher shops. While Jocks is long gone the Quigley and Gillis markets will always be there to remind me of easier days. I guess that's the real reason I keep watching the old shows... that and I love to compare them to the shows of the day and of course, make fun of all of them. Who is the most ridiculous? I will just have to keep watching.
Terry Ernest - February 7, 2024
Okay, so I am not the smartest guy in town, but I am smart enough to know what's important to life after 70 and it boils down to two things. Do everything you can today to make yourself feel good tomorrow and... do not fall down. This may sound simplistic but it works for me. I know that if I eat a bunch of fast carbs today I may enjoy them at the moment but my knees will ache tomorrow. And as for falling down... I have never been one to belong to any hip group, but I certainly don't want to belong to the broken hip group.
I have said this many times... Andrew helps keep me feeling young... and on my feet. And I'm not just saying that because it's in our marriage contract 😁
Our relationship is built on mutual respect, selfishness aside. And it works for us... at least it has for 23 years and I'm hoping for 23 more.
The other thing that keeps me feeling young is caring friends and family to whom we are always grateful. Let's do this again next year and shoot to score even higher on the humble meter.
Terry Ernest - January 27, 2024
Speakers On
Picture It... San Diego, January 22, 2024.
We certainly made up for a lot of rain deficit today after a lovely Pacific storm dropped 3.7 inches of rain in 2 hours. VERY UNUSUAL for us usually drought stricken San Diegans. While our house sits on a hill so flooding is never a worry for us, Andrew's mom's house was almost surrounded by flood water from the valley in back and the streets to the west.
Sadly I had to add the thunder to Andrew's dance routine. For reasons that go way beyond ridiculous... we just don't get thunder and lightening. Even today the National Weather Service kept pinging our phones and TV with severe weather alerts including flood and thunder storms... but alas, all we got was rain. The evening news tonight should be amusing.
3 day rain total for our neighborhood... 4.8 inches. Now that's a record.
Terry Ernest
When *NSYNC recorded their pop hit "Bye Bye Bye" some 23 years ago I wonder if they had Trump's decimation of American democracy in mind. Unable to raise any more capital to further his broken bid for the White House, DeSantis, dejected by the Iowa Caucuses, found no reason to continue his own dream and rather, he jumped back on Trump's MAGA bandwagon. So we welcome him to go back to Florida where, for some reason, the people seem to like him. And why not? The MAGA right do have a few good ideas. Government is too big, too expensive and too intrusive. We should give those in need a hand up, not a hand out, and we should secure our boarders and let people immigrate through legal due process. Short of that they fail in almost every way. And if Ron DeSantis is now backing Trump after all the hurtful things Trump has said about him, he either believes he has been chosen to be Trump's running mate (God save us) or... he truly deserves the moniker... MoRon. And where better to continue that legacy than in the great state of Florida.
Terry Ernest - January 21, 2024
Corn and soybean farmers... two-thirds of whom believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and claim to be highly Evangelical... cast their votes in the first state primary election and chose Donald Trump as their Republican candidate. No surprise there. Braving the bitter cold on caucus night, Iowans showed up to confirm that if Trump could win their vote... then it would be a slam-dunk for a fast talking pepperoni salesman to get them to buy digital pepperoni. Which he most certainly did.
The number two and three Republican options claim to be energized by their sound defeat in Iowa. Nikki Haley knows that the Iowa vote is not the end-all and tells her crowd that New Hampshire 'will correct Iowa'. DeSantis, who came in number 2, did a relative Trump routine by blaming the news media for declaring Trump victorious hours before all the voting was done and claimed it caused 'voter suppression.' We are a bit surprised that neither DeSantis nor Haley blamed Mother Nature directly.
Trump is cocksure he will take New Hampshire by storm and based on American history, his win should secure him the Republican nomination so long as he stays out of prison. Terry Ernest - January 16, 2024
Clairol, back in the 50's, created the infamous marketing slogan... 'blondes have more fun' and of course the notion that blondes are 'dumb and easy' has been around for hundreds of years. In the spirit of the new year Andrew and I decided to put those stereotypes to the test. And not just blonde... we went platinum blonde. Initial reactions are mixed... and NO I do no look like Jamie Lee Curtis. While Andrew and I always find a way to have fun neither of us feels any more dumb or easy than before. And family... they didn't notice any change at all. Not sure if that should be disappointing or not. Being blonde makes us feel a little like Anderson Cooper... but without the bank roll and the millions of followers.
Terry Ernest - January 4, 2024
#1 - Say NO - Once and a while
#2 - STOP tempting Terry with cookies and bread
#3 - Find something nice to say about someone who makes your blood boil
#1 - Lose 100 pounds and gain 80 pounds back by Dec 2024
#2 - Disregard #1 if there isn't a 30 pound weight loss by June
#3 - Blame everyone else for your weight loss failures (except Andrew)
#4 - Find something nice to say about someone who makes your blood boil
Much the same way we did 2022 it seems. If you were to combine all the war, hate, ignorance and misery in the world it would still pale in comparison to the love that surrounds us everyday. Andrew and I are sustained by the love of family and friends. When we watch the news we do so with a grain of salt knowing that news media outlets only make money when they excite us with fear and compel us to tune in again tomorrow.
The Jews and Arabs have been shooting and killing each other for millennia. Nothing new there. The Russians have been aggressively attempting to devour eastern Europe forever it seems. Nothing new there. The Chinese think they are all that just like Americans do. Nothing new there. Mental illness, destitution and homelessness run rampant on our streets ostensibly described as the 'poor unfortunates'. Nothing new there either. You can look at all that and think... 'what a horrible time we live in' ... or... you can choose to look around at all the love and benevolence that people bestow upon one another... and let that warm and guide you.
We look forward to 2024 and all the changes we expect to see. If Biden and Trump turn out to be the only real choices we have for President we certainly won't be surprised. Americans are easily lead by the extreme and especially social media. The last four years have been fraught with Democrats and Republicans fighting to control power, weaponizing the judiciary and spreading their own versions of the truth. And nothing new there, either. We just wish they didn't spend so much of our hard earned money on their own selfish ambitions and worked a little harder on American prosperity. We continue to trust that there are sufficient watch dogs across America and around the world to maintain some semblance of balance... so we don't end the world on an explosive note but rather continue to live our lives with dignity, peacefully... and as we choose.
So as 2024 unfolds we will listen to the events of the day, as much as we can stomach, go to the polls and vote our choices and as we always do... look to our friends and family for the love and comfort that makes each sunrise hopeful. Being afraid and despondent over current events is a sad waste of the precious days we have left. The rich and powerful rule the world and we can pretend that we have some significant influence... but we don't. The ballot box is as close as we can get and that's a reality Andrew and I fully support. Terry Ernest - December 30, 2023
