Criminals + Commas + Wine Whine + More Retirement Plans

special tuesday edition . . . whimsical wed

Criminal Minds

From Omaha World Herald (11/20):  "Family flying to meet soldier's remains is booed exiting plane. The father of a CA soldier recently killed in Afghanistan said he felt disrespected & hurt by passengers who booed him & his family when they were on a flight to meet his son's remains . . . The flight to Phoenix was 45 min. late & the crew, fearing the Perrys could miss their connecting flight, made an announcement for passengers to remain seated to let a 'special military family' deplane first. Perry said several passengers in 1st class booed, complaining that it was 'baloney' & that they had paid 1st-class fares . . . " [Fortunately, I am bound by ethical considerations from using the vast resources of my blog consulting team to discover the identities of these scoundrels . . . Kidding! I'd love the discover their names & print them.] *
* DISCLAIMER:  I confess. This is perhaps an unchristian, overreaction on my part.

FYI: English Majors

From Norfolk Daily News, column by Kathleen Parker (11/17):  "Quality is in details for grammar. My favorite bumper sticker I've never seen:  Commas matter.
      "So I've always thought, & do still believe with the passion of one whose knuckles were rapped for grammatical errors. I mean this only metaphorically--no bloody fingers--but using incorrect grammar was the 8th Deadly Sin in my childhood home. How grateful I am that this was so. 
      "And now I have a confession: I've begun to forget the rules. What used to come naturally has become a test of recall. Does a comma go here? Should I use the Oxford comma? I don't think this is singly attributable to the aging process (shut up) but rather to our increasing sloppiness in new ways of communicating. We may as well blame social media for this, too, especially Twitter. When you only have 140 characters to make a point, why waste one on a comma?"  [I agree completely irrevocably comprehensively unquestionably unilaterally.]

Food for Thought

Also from NDN (11/18):  "Red wine OK with turkey. There is no better holiday than Thanksgiving to bring food & wine together. As far as holidays go, this one is easy for the wine steward of the family. Turkey doesn't have a lot of bold flavors like you would find in beef. If fowl is your entree, you have multiple wine choices. We don't recommend tannic or complex red wines, such as cabernet sauvignon & barolo. However, turkey can tolerate fruity red wines, such as beaujolais, syrah, sangiovese & pinot noir."  [I posted this for members of my family that are ESPECIALLY into wine, but I also wanted to impress you, because I've actually heard of and/or sampled beaujolais, syrah, & pinot noir.]

Bracing for Retirement:  Scenario #5

Here I go again, reminding you ad nauseum [ad infinitum?] that I may need to take some form of early retirement, possibly as early as December; probably no later than March. I'll need some supplemental income. Here's my latest inspiration. Professional trapper!

Also from NDN (11/19):  "Chance to trap. Valentine National Wildlife Refuge (Nebraska) & Yellow throat Wildlife Management Area will be open for trapping this winter . . . Four trappers will be selected by public drawing on Dec.7 to trap on designated areas of the refuge & wildlife management area. Each trapper will be allowed a helper . . . "

PRO's:  

My niece is married to a pastor who also owns trapping gear & knows how to trap...This provides me w/opportunities for bonding, mentoring, spiritual nurturing, cheap source of trapping equipment, tutoring...Valentine Wildlife Refuge is less than a 4 hour drive from Norfolk...VWR is located in a very scenic area that borders the Niobrara River, complete w/bison, elk, prairie dogs . . .  

CON's:  

I assume that I would have to trap during the winter...I not relish the idea of slogging around ANY location--regardless of how scenic & regardless of a Winter Wonderland...I would probably have to invest in equipment, fees...I would also have to be selected in the public drawing...I'm making a heeeuuuge assumption that my nephew-in-law would want to be connected w/this outlandish scheme...My beloved spouse would probably have the final say...That final say would most likely lead to this . . . 

CONclusion:  This scenario is completely unrealistic.

Wednesday Whimsy on Tuesday *

From NDN TV Week late laughs (11/4):  "A man in Rhode Island just grew the largest pumpkin in North America, weighing over 2,200 lbs. The only downside is, the man's wife no longer thinks it's cute when he calls her 'pumpkin.'"  (From The Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon)
* I'm not too proud to admit when I "borrow."

• I paid $1.94/gallon for unleaded at Hy-Vee in Norfolk on TUE 11/21.
• Unless the Rapture happened & we don't know about it, the world did NOT end, contrary to many false prophets, on WED 11/9.
• Our 1st official snowfall of the 16-17 snow season in Norfolk happened last FRI 11/18. I think "we" received 1-2". I say "we" because I was in Lincoln. Lois got a late start.