Taking Note of a few Things: What I Wonder About While Watering My Yard Edition

Has 50 Cent gotten larger due to inflation or is it strictly because of his diet?

The Olympics have lost their luster now that the communist Soviet Union is no longer a factor.

The metric system was shoved down my throat when I was in seventh and eighth grade. I wonder if the advanced level mathematics we now shove down the throats of today’s seventh and eighth graders will mean just as little when they are in their 60’s.

Our education system would be better served if it focused more on social skills and less on test scores.

We have told our youth we do not care about them by allowing them to become so fat.

My new tri-fold wallet takes getting used too since I relied on a bi-fold most of this century.

One credit card is all you need unless you want to run up huge amounts of debt.

Most adults end up as slaves not just because billionaires refuse to pay decent wages, but also because most workers insist on spending more than they earn.

Food and health care should always be affordable.

We do not need as many missile systems or spy satellites as we think we need.

Almost everything advertisers tell you that you need is not needed. If it is needed, it does not require advertising.

I do not care how the sports media tries spinning it, I was not impressed by our men’s Olympic Basketball team.

Watering my plants by hand is very meditative. I set the level of my sprayer and quietly count to 60 before moving onto the next plant. Counting is a great form of tuning out.

I count a lot throughout the day. Besides the plants I water, I count reps when I work out, my eye drops, each section of my teeth I brush, the number of people in the checkout line, how many beers I have to drink, and an endless array of other things. I would be better served if I just counted my blessings.

Yes, Matthew Perry had several enablers. However, Matthew Perry died because physically, he was in terrible shape, and he had an addiction he could not overcome. He is less a victim than he is an example of what fame does to people.

Why can’t we just admit it — preseason football is a waste of time. If you are betting on the outcome of preseason football games, you have a gambling problem.

It has been 10 years since I retired after 30 years of teaching. Teachers won’t like this, but they are not required to spend their money on their classrooms. They do it by choice. If you increased their work year by one-third to equal the typical work year of those working outside of public education and at the same time increased their pay by one-third, they would see they are paid similar to those in other professions.

Most teachers have no idea how many extra hours people in other professions work without compensation. Teachers do what they do by choice. In fact, most of us choose our careers. Teachers are not heroes because they teach your brat. They are simply people who do the best they can with what they are given which is no different than anyone in any other profession does.

College is a scam in most cases. It doesn’t lead to a better life. In many cases, it makes life harder because of the debt run up. The best way to bring down the cost of college is to encourage young people to follow other options that do not require a four year degree, college loans to pay off, and an opportunity to live and work outside the corporate box we try to force everyone into.

I think if I had it all to do over again  I would have remained a groundskeeper at Chico State while pursuing additional degrees in writing, journalism, and film. Of course, I would never use those degrees because I would already have a job I enjoy.

The one thing teaching allowed me to do is to retire at 56. It had nothing to do with my pension because I would have been much wiser to teach another five or six years. Still, between it and a small inheritance, it allowed me to leave sooner instead of later which is always better in the long run.

Our emphasis on collecting college degrees, and the debt that comes with it, has kept too many people from retiring early. This is not an accident. Fewer children are being born and boomers are dying left and right. Despite this, we get angry over immigrants coming here to work.

If you want to cut down on the need for immigrants, have more kids and raise them to value hard work instead of making them think they are too good to do it.

Last month was hotter than hell. I can already feel fall in the air, especially in the morning. Four distinct seasons helps remind me that everything is temporary.

I can’t begin to get excited about the upcoming NFL season until at least November. Up until the trade deadline, it’s all an extended preseason. Roger Goodell and the owners have no problem capitalizing off our passion for what we are programmed to think is must see sports. Most of the sports seasons are nothing more than distractions to fill out time or a chance to bet on games.

I will repurpose anything. I recently pulled out the draw string of some old running shorts knowing I could use it for something else later. I have two t-shirts set aside to make headbands out of. I have several pieces of lumber that will be recycled into planting beds. I even have plans to use some leftover subway tile that takes up space in a shed.

We all know recycling is better for the environment and can save a person a lot of money. However, why do people insist on spending eternity sleeping in an expensive casket in a plot that cost thousands of dollars? I’d much prefer just being buried in my backyard without a casket or just tossed over my fence into the slough behind me like everyone in the neighborhood seems to do with their dead pets.

I would rather be put to some other use once I am dead. Let a medical school use my body to practice on before they pay to cremate me. Then my family can take my ashes and do what they want with them. My suggestion is to mix them with some concrete and build something more permanent.

When a ghost farts, does it smell like a dead person?

I wonder what we will learn about President Biden’s health once he is out of office. Just like with FDR and Ronald Reagan, I bet we learn things about Biden that will make us question why he finished his term.

George Santos deserves to enter prison as a tight end and leave as a wide receiver.

Articles about what the plans are for football teams in the pre-season are about as accurate as the math I do in my head.

Am I the only person who sees this Jordan Chiles bronze medal fiasco as a joke? If she had won the bronze first and lost it to the Romanian after getting her score bumped up, we would be just as outraged. A bunch of nothing for third place.

Gymnastics would be an actual sport if two girls got on top of a balance beam and jousted or boxed. As it is now, it’s no different than a dog show minus a judge squeezing their balls.

I see no point to the RNC or DNC being televised. Both are nothing more than a chance to throw daggers at their enemies while patting themselves on the back for being good guys. Wouldn’t it just be better to televise both simultaneously? Viewers could be treated to the back and forth between parties at the same time instead of a four day love fest held separately that only is aimed at their base.

It kills me knowing I am paying eleven grand for three projects to my house I could have done for a fraction of the cost just a few years ago.

A man was recently diagnosed to have 90% of his brain missing while still living a normal life. Try living a normal life while missing half your strength and it will consume 90% of your thoughts.

I took up painting a little less than a year ago and have burned through a lot of canvas. I am now at a point where my eye can see some of my previous paintings as the simplistic crap they always were. It’s why now I spend more money on Gesso so I can cover them up and create a new piece of color that I will likely paint over again in another year.

The air pressure is up, morning temperatures are dropping, and my body aches, telling me one thing: autumn is getting closer. I might be the only guy on my street looking forward to raking leaves. I might also be the only guy who hopes his neighbors will let me rake their leaves just so I can add them to my compost pile.

I have the perfect spot for a compost bin and plan to fill it with all the leaves I can get hold of. Even better, it is a project I know I can do myself with recycled materials.