My time off work did come to an end. It was unusual to have some free time and have no schedule in front of me to lead me through the day. But, you know what? I managed and wonder why I didn't do this more than once in a blue moon. One time a guy wrote me and said to get retired and see the world away from the reservation. I thought his comment was kinda funny, but maybe I will take his advice sometimes.
In New Mexico, the site of my short get-away, the weatherman on the radio said "I pity those poor idiots who took my advice yesterday and went outdoors." Well, I was one of those guys. I played a round of golf at Isleta Golf Course, an Indian owned business, and the day started out great but steadily went down hill, kinda like my game, and the weather turned bitter cold to where it hurt the hands to hit a golf ball. I enjoyed getting out there. I have to get out more, since we have our own course now, and I can't look too awfully bad all the time.
The big city is something though. A cop was passed out on Highway 25 in his squad car one night. He was arrested for DUI. I read somewhere these guys are suppose to serve and protect. Other news there was a candidate for governor who carried a hand-gun in one of her campaign stops. Granted she has a license to carry the weapon but it must be bad to have to carry a gun in the New Mexico political arena. Damn can you imagine how it would be in the first political disagreement? The Wild, Wild West!
Speaking of the political arena, Meg Whitman another candidate for governor, but in California, has spent $141 million of her own money and the polls are saying she is way behind the old guard Jerry Brown. Does that make sense to spend that kind of money for a job that probably pays $150,000 a year? It goes back to power and all of its ambiance.
And in sports, one comedian said a OSU wide receiver was caught driving 92 mph while drunk. Sounds like the guy is ready to head to the next level. Crazy huh? Some of these guys are so good they can get away with about anything.
The big city traffic is hectic, the lifestyle is a bit different than home, the down-town area looks fairly dangerous and you can't find a wal mart anywhere. Of course, travel is a big change to normal life so it really isn't anything to cry about.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Notes from somewhere in New Mexico
I flew to Albuquerque New Mexico on the first day of my vacation. It was pretty darn cold and windy and the ride in on the big bird was rocky. I wanted to tag along with my wife. She is attending a conference and I will do absolutely nothing, although I thought about hitting the golf course and brought my golf clubs. Southwest Airlines is the last airline in existence that allows two free bags, so I brought them along. I much prefer to mess up with my own clubs rather than rented ones. Some people buy clubs every year. I don't. I've had mine for ten to twelve years. There's nothing wrong with them, I just got to learn how to hit them right. I also want to see if my luck at the casino is any better here than it is in Kansas, but I sure doubt that.
Normally I will take a day off or two at a time and do some work around the house, so this is the first "vacation" I've taken in a spell But first I have to adjust to the time change, because I got up at 3:15 am on my first day here,when its 4:15 back home. As I get older I notice I get up earlier. One morning I got up at 2:15 and any way you cut it, that is way too early.
I want to play the tourist role and maybe go here and there and take pictures. I brought my tourist outfit, you know the golf shirt, golf pants along with a hat and camera, so I should stand out, but I really need to get a bright, bright shirt to stand out more. When I go somewhere alone, I rarely go see any sights, usually stay at the hotel and the area close by. Fun guy, huh? This hotel is six miles from the nearest casino and that is good. Usually the temptatation of those little devil machines is too close to my room and they whisper to me to throw all my money into them. Isn't it hell to be human sometimes? If I don't win on this trip, I will give it up for a good long while, but haven't we heard that song before?
Also I've seen a lot of Indians around here, must be a reservation nearby!
Normally I will take a day off or two at a time and do some work around the house, so this is the first "vacation" I've taken in a spell But first I have to adjust to the time change, because I got up at 3:15 am on my first day here,when its 4:15 back home. As I get older I notice I get up earlier. One morning I got up at 2:15 and any way you cut it, that is way too early.
I want to play the tourist role and maybe go here and there and take pictures. I brought my tourist outfit, you know the golf shirt, golf pants along with a hat and camera, so I should stand out, but I really need to get a bright, bright shirt to stand out more. When I go somewhere alone, I rarely go see any sights, usually stay at the hotel and the area close by. Fun guy, huh? This hotel is six miles from the nearest casino and that is good. Usually the temptatation of those little devil machines is too close to my room and they whisper to me to throw all my money into them. Isn't it hell to be human sometimes? If I don't win on this trip, I will give it up for a good long while, but haven't we heard that song before?
Also I've seen a lot of Indians around here, must be a reservation nearby!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday morning thoughts!
Damn what is going on? The chiefs of Kansas City fame have won four games already! Missouri beat OU in football. KU and KSU lost again! The Rangers are in the World Series and I'm on vacation this week.
But a fast story: This guy I worked with said one time his church has a bunch of their congregation going on a trip and posted this fact in the church paper and when they got back somebody had broke into all of their homes. About now, you are wondering what the moral of the story is: most importantly, don't tell anybody your out of the neighborhood. But I have somebody staying at my house and the tribal police go by once in a blue moon so everything will be safe on the home-front.
I rarely take any time off. I thought why the hell not, so I did. The weekend was horrible since I was sick the whole time. The flu is making its rounds here and I'm not exempt. I'm better today. My grandson Pat ko shuk went on a 5 mile hike with a group of Potawatomis yesterday. He came back in a pretty good mood so it must not have been as hard for him as I thought. It sure beats seeing him sit in front of that tv all day. His Uncle Eddie took care of him, I hear.
In the local news, three young people offed a guy near Topeka West High School over the weekend. Big city news but these three young people will have plenty of time to think about this incident in jail for a good number of years. The answer is pull the trigger first these days. It isn't, but it seems that way.
Oh, if you need your lawn mowed, let me know. Oh, that's right the mowing season is officially over.
But a fast story: This guy I worked with said one time his church has a bunch of their congregation going on a trip and posted this fact in the church paper and when they got back somebody had broke into all of their homes. About now, you are wondering what the moral of the story is: most importantly, don't tell anybody your out of the neighborhood. But I have somebody staying at my house and the tribal police go by once in a blue moon so everything will be safe on the home-front.
I rarely take any time off. I thought why the hell not, so I did. The weekend was horrible since I was sick the whole time. The flu is making its rounds here and I'm not exempt. I'm better today. My grandson Pat ko shuk went on a 5 mile hike with a group of Potawatomis yesterday. He came back in a pretty good mood so it must not have been as hard for him as I thought. It sure beats seeing him sit in front of that tv all day. His Uncle Eddie took care of him, I hear.
In the local news, three young people offed a guy near Topeka West High School over the weekend. Big city news but these three young people will have plenty of time to think about this incident in jail for a good number of years. The answer is pull the trigger first these days. It isn't, but it seems that way.
Oh, if you need your lawn mowed, let me know. Oh, that's right the mowing season is officially over.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Police brutality, baseball and politics!
I opened up the paper today and saw where the Topeka Police Chief was handing out some award to the cop who got drunk last year and shot these two Mexican guys in Topeka. Off-duty work, I guess. Damn I thought is this Topeka’s answer to the immigration problem: shoot um up, and hell with deporting them. Plus, later give the the deserving soul an award. Hopefully that isn’t the way it is and the guy was reformed from a year ago and did some great things for his community. I was afraid to write this cause my skin is more dark than light and today it’s all about repercussions. Too late, it’s already written.
The World Series is looming. It looks like it might be the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants in the series. I get into world series pots and hope to win at least one, but last year I didn’t. I guess that Josh Hamilton of the Rangers is a big dog and can hit the ball a country mile. I hope later that he isn’t on some growth hormones or steroids like the bonds guy. It’s been awhile since either team has made it this far. In the case of Frisco, in fact, the last time was when bonds was google-eyed on steroids. The good thing is we will be able to see Willie Mays in the stands again. A bit older now, but still a draw! Baseball is a tainted game because of the steroids but it may come back in time.
And there is only two weeks left for us to endure all those political ads on t.v. I will be glad when it’s over. Hell, the Republicans hate the Democrats. The Democrats hate the Republicans and the Devil hates us all.
The World Series is looming. It looks like it might be the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants in the series. I get into world series pots and hope to win at least one, but last year I didn’t. I guess that Josh Hamilton of the Rangers is a big dog and can hit the ball a country mile. I hope later that he isn’t on some growth hormones or steroids like the bonds guy. It’s been awhile since either team has made it this far. In the case of Frisco, in fact, the last time was when bonds was google-eyed on steroids. The good thing is we will be able to see Willie Mays in the stands again. A bit older now, but still a draw! Baseball is a tainted game because of the steroids but it may come back in time.
And there is only two weeks left for us to endure all those political ads on t.v. I will be glad when it’s over. Hell, the Republicans hate the Democrats. The Democrats hate the Republicans and the Devil hates us all.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Fall Update!
I haven’t put anything on the ol blog lately, mostly because I’ve been slightly busy these last few days. Let’s see, I went to a regulators conference in Wisconsin for a few days, came back and attended our Fall Ceremony and raised my hand in a General Council meeting last Saturday to be recorded as a member in attendance and in between all that I cleaned up my garden and mowed my yard for the last time this season. Oh, I also did some carpentry work at my daughter’s place. I still think I can be a carpenter after all these years. Her floor is fixed. I put in new 2x6s and plywood and I guaranteed the job for life or she will get her money back. Oh hell, I forgot it was one of those free things you do for your kids.
Travel to Green Bay was adventurous. They first cancelled my flight in KCI, saying something about a door wouldn’t close. I guess they didn’t want to take a chance of us passengers blowing out so they made us get off and then a six hour wait started for my next flight. You gotta love flying! The meeting and casino was good along with the people there, but it’s always better to get home. I don’t travel that much these days, but the airports and hotel rooms all look the same and the news coming from the tv and the newspapers are troubling to say the least. For instance, the news told of a highway patrolman going 126 mph and texting at the same time. What happened? He got his message sent, but in the process he killed two pretty teenage girls. This awful chain of events deprived those young kids of a future! I think Oprah is right – texting while driving needs to go.
While in Green Bay, and for a brief couple of hours I played tourist. I was able to go check out Lambeau Field, home of Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, Wilie Wood, Max McGee and a whole bunch of others who made the place famous and to say nothing of bringing world championships to a relatively small city. It was also the first professional football stadium I stepped foot in. I’m not much on professional sports but I did want to see this place and glad I went. Quite a few years back I had the honor of meeting Max McGee. He gave me a signed picture of him catching a touchdown in the first super bowl and gave me a autographed football of the Green Bay Packers. That picture and football remain prized possessions. Max died a few years ago at 72 when he was clearing leaves out of his gutter and fell off his roof. He must have believed in doing his own work, kinda like me, but of course I didn’t catch any passes to speak of.
I’m a fairly lucky guy to be able to help in our religious services and I try to be dependable in this area. I figure I need all the help I can get at the bitter end and can only hope the good out-weights the bad. Sometimes though people remember the bad in people and not the good but that is another chapter for another day. I also made it to our quarterly general council meeting waiting to give a report but we lost a quorum shortly after everybody filled their bellies. It was a mild meeting. I've been to some real wing-dingers in the past. We never had shoes being thrown like they did at Bush, but it was close at times.
It’s always sad to see our services end and the same way with my garden and yard work. I don’t know what I will do with my extra free time. Maybe it’s time to build some stuff indoors and see if I can give it away to somebody or I could sit around and count the days until Kansas University basketball begins. Oh, that's right I haven't got over the disappointment of last season yet. As Jethro said "I'll conjure on it."
Travel to Green Bay was adventurous. They first cancelled my flight in KCI, saying something about a door wouldn’t close. I guess they didn’t want to take a chance of us passengers blowing out so they made us get off and then a six hour wait started for my next flight. You gotta love flying! The meeting and casino was good along with the people there, but it’s always better to get home. I don’t travel that much these days, but the airports and hotel rooms all look the same and the news coming from the tv and the newspapers are troubling to say the least. For instance, the news told of a highway patrolman going 126 mph and texting at the same time. What happened? He got his message sent, but in the process he killed two pretty teenage girls. This awful chain of events deprived those young kids of a future! I think Oprah is right – texting while driving needs to go.
While in Green Bay, and for a brief couple of hours I played tourist. I was able to go check out Lambeau Field, home of Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, Wilie Wood, Max McGee and a whole bunch of others who made the place famous and to say nothing of bringing world championships to a relatively small city. It was also the first professional football stadium I stepped foot in. I’m not much on professional sports but I did want to see this place and glad I went. Quite a few years back I had the honor of meeting Max McGee. He gave me a signed picture of him catching a touchdown in the first super bowl and gave me a autographed football of the Green Bay Packers. That picture and football remain prized possessions. Max died a few years ago at 72 when he was clearing leaves out of his gutter and fell off his roof. He must have believed in doing his own work, kinda like me, but of course I didn’t catch any passes to speak of.
I’m a fairly lucky guy to be able to help in our religious services and I try to be dependable in this area. I figure I need all the help I can get at the bitter end and can only hope the good out-weights the bad. Sometimes though people remember the bad in people and not the good but that is another chapter for another day. I also made it to our quarterly general council meeting waiting to give a report but we lost a quorum shortly after everybody filled their bellies. It was a mild meeting. I've been to some real wing-dingers in the past. We never had shoes being thrown like they did at Bush, but it was close at times.
It’s always sad to see our services end and the same way with my garden and yard work. I don’t know what I will do with my extra free time. Maybe it’s time to build some stuff indoors and see if I can give it away to somebody or I could sit around and count the days until Kansas University basketball begins. Oh, that's right I haven't got over the disappointment of last season yet. As Jethro said "I'll conjure on it."
Monday, October 11, 2010
Columbus Day 2010
Columbus Day is said to be another reason for banks to close and the take the day off. Our tribe used to take the day off, too. We didn’t really honor the guy, we celebrated the day off, but the new agers decided it wasn’t politically correct anymore, so now we work on that sacred day. I’ve been kinda sickly and thought about calling in sick, but that would looked like I supported the Italian guy Columbus.
Some discreet guy said somebody had to bring disease to America and maybe that’s true, but I bet those early Indians didn’t plan on dying in such huge numbers because of those diseases. There was no next time for those Indian greeters on the East coast, and I bet they wished they hadn’t been so gracious to these immigrants (talk about a need for stricter immigration laws, huh?) . Another radical line of thought said thanks for the cholera, but please leave your money at the casino and it's true. Thank goodness we survived to rake in the proceeds!
Some discreet guy said somebody had to bring disease to America and maybe that’s true, but I bet those early Indians didn’t plan on dying in such huge numbers because of those diseases. There was no next time for those Indian greeters on the East coast, and I bet they wished they hadn’t been so gracious to these immigrants (talk about a need for stricter immigration laws, huh?) . Another radical line of thought said thanks for the cholera, but please leave your money at the casino and it's true. Thank goodness we survived to rake in the proceeds!
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