Blogs Of Note

Today I spent about 3 hours, earlier today reading other Blogs; over an hour on one in particular.

When you use Google’s Blogspot to blog they give you what they call a Bloggers’ Dashboard. This is where you go to post and/or edit your Blogs. There are also other features (tabs) such as Blogs I’m Following (I follow 3) which tells you when one of your favorite Bloggers has just posted a new Blog. Blogger Buzz which gives you tips on how to improve the physical appearance of you Blog (I never go there, what I don’t know about improving my Blog won’t hurt me). Then there is the last tab that says Blogs of Note.

Seemingly the staff at Blogspot has nothing better to do all day but to visit Blogs – there are millions of them on Blogspot alone. How they make their decision on what they choose to be a Blog of Note has always amazed me. I guess that if I was a younger person, I would understand their reasoning.

About once every month or so I will check out the most resent Blogs of Note. I usually leave disappointed at the staff's selections!

The staff tends to select Blogs filled with photos of mainly Flora and Fauna. They are very good photo’s, but usually there is no writing of any sustenance. The pictures of the Flora usually make me sneeze just thinking about the pollen that they are putting out. Pretty pictures!

I like dogs, but not show dogs. Looking at a well groomed Poodle makes me want to vomit! The comments below the picture are usually inane. “Here’s Spot – See Spot pose for the Camera!”

Then there are the Bloggers that post pictures of birds. Birds can be pretty to look at, but if you have to live with them in your back yard – they suddenly lose their beauty. Their beaks should be duct tapped together until sundown.

Today I got a breath of fresh air. The Blog of Note for June 8th was Roz Savage, Ocean Rower . I had read about her several years ago when she single-handedly rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. She is now rowing in the Pacific Ocean. And she writes of her voyages very well.

She’s a Greenik, but I don’t hold that against her, as I am getting more and more Green with every passing year. Soon my friends and family will be calling me Kermit.

I have placed a link to her Blog on the right sidebar, it’s well worth reading.

The Beach Bum

Swine Flu Attacks the Blogosphere

During the last three days I have read more about the impending Swine Flu epidemic than I have about the President or the US Economy. Maybe this is good news.

Not only are all the major newspapers and news services bombarding us, but also the Blogosphere. Some of these Bloggers are seemingly bordering on the brink of insanity about this topic. Just do a Blog search on Google for Swine Flu and you’ll see what I mean.

For example one Blogger writes (in depth) that this is an Al-Qaeda plot to eliminate their enemies (the infidels) via biological warfare. Members of the Islamic faith do not eat pork (or at least they are told that they shouldn’t eat pork), so therefore, there are no pigs in Islamic countries (well at least none of the four-legged variety).

But the Blogger fails to mention that Al-Qaeda’s arch enemy, (Israel and people of the Jewish faith) does not raise pigs nor do they eat pork (or at least they are told that they shouldn’t – something to do with the Bible – cloven hoofs, chewing cud and all that nonsense).

Another Blogger espouses a theory that it (Swine Flu) is the Obama’s administration’s way of distracting the media away from his first 100 days in office. If this is true, it has worked. Unlike the Blogger, I don’t think that Barack Obama has done a terrible job, just a little less that I expected. I never understood why a benchmark for the presidency is 100 days. Given what he has to deal with, I give him a higher rating (for his first 100 days) than Bill Clinton or George W. Bush.

Finally the Blog theory, about the Swine Flu, that I like the best.

This Blogger alleges that the Swine Flu "pandemic" is an US Government plot to keep Mexicans out of the United States. He goes on to state that it is the intention of the US Government is to ship all illegal aliens back to Mexico (does this include illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico?).

If this is true (which I doubt) I will stand up and applaud the people in our Government that have fostered this cause. I salute them for their ingenuity. Let’s keep the Swine Flu and illegal aliens in Mexico where they both belong.

As for me, I’m staying out of contact with any Mexicans or friends and family that have been in contact with a Mexican during the past two weeks. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

The Beach Bum

Business as Usual

Yesterday I received an Email from a friend who lives on Treasure Island. I said to myself “What the hell, I Blogged about this topic more than two months ago”. Before sending a flaming email, I checked and I hadn’t.

When I write a Blog I first write it in MS Word. While going through my files I found that I have 8 unfinished Blogs; one dating back to last October. What usually happens is I start writing at night (when I am pleasantly intoxicated) and plan to finish the next morning or afternoon. But occasionally the next morning I get a new divine inspiration for a Blog and pigeon hole the previously partially written Blog. Being the good procrastinator that I am; sometime weeks or months go by before completion. In most cases time is not of the essence.

I started to write a Blog early last February and for some unknown reason never finished it. I was to be titled Trickling Up II - Addendum Part III. It concerned possible alternatives to the government’s master plan, of the allocation of our tax dollars, to get the US economy back on track.

But then I read the following article in the business section of The Saint Petersburg Times and had planned to plagiarize (adopt and adapt) some of the ideas written by readers of the newspaper.

I don’t know if the newspaper’s staff listed them by relevance; but the first was the best idea:

Put America first

Patriotic retirement: There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force … pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations.
They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings — unemployment fixed.
They buy new American cars. Forty million cars ordered — auto industry fixed.
They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage — housing crisis fixed.

David Otterson,
Largo

Add to this my friend’s (“Indiana (Indy) Bob” - He probably got his nickname from the household dog) concept that all people that can (more than a million families), should give, their children a tax free gift of $12,500 with the stipulation that they spent it and not hoard it.

These are both very sound ideas, but neither will fly in today’s society.

Our business as usual Congress and the people who have the ability to give their children a tax free gift, both travel to a beat of a different drum. After all, they will long gone before the full impact of the bailout effects the next generation.

The Beach Bum

The Pros from Dover

A good friend of mine and sporadic commenter to my Blogs called me yesterday. We generally write voluminous emails to one another, so I was surprised that he called. When I answered I said “Hi Mike, who died?” He just laughed.

My next question was “Why do you do me this honor?”

He had just read my Mister Knows Most of It Blog. He mentioned a conversation that we had in January 1989. “You said the same thing when we attended the Inaugural Ball for George H. W. Bush.” Now it was my turn to laugh. Because it brought back some bittersweet memories.

I was unemployed at the time and Mike (a High School Teacher) had lost his part-time job working for me as a Bartender. My live-in girlfriend (The Love of My Life #7) had left me just before Christmas, after 5 years of having great casual sex (for some silly reason she suddenly wanted more from our relationship).

A business acquaintance, who owned a Restaurant in Annapolis (Maryland), called and asked me if I knew any Bartenders that didn’t work on Friday nights. He was catering one of the many Inaugural Balls and was having a hard time finding enough Bartenders.

I asked him what it paid. He said “only $75 but the tips should be more than $200.” I said “I’ll get back to you.”

I called Mikie and asked him if he would be interested in working a 7 to 8 hour gig for $75 plus tips. I called Ron back and told him that I had 2 Bartenders for him. He asked if they were good. I told him that it was me and my former Service Bartender. He gave me the address and said to be there before 6 on Friday night.

Much to my astonishment we made over $600 each that night – we told Ron that he could keep the $75. Ron called us the Pros from Dover (a reference to the movie M*A*S*H). We laughed.

When we left the Ballroom it was probably 10 degrees outside and we had a three block walk to the car. I said to Mike “Why don’t they hold these things in May or June?" I had forgotten that I had made that statement.

The Beach Bum

I'll Be Back

I’ve finally come to a decision about continuing or not continuing to write the Beach Bum Report.

First let me say that my little experiment in human nature hasn’t gone that well. I have gotten email responses from some of my friends saying that they don’t know 10 people other than our mutual friends (who already read the Blog on a semi regular basis). This is disheartening. And it is indeed a sad commentary.

I have more than 50 names in my new OE address book (created last October); 35 are what I consider to be close friends and 8 are relatives. Granted, I don’t write to them as often as I should. Unless they send me a personal – not forwarded or group – email, I don’t answer unless I have something to say on the topic; which has now become a rarity. I get 50 to 100 emails each day, and I read all of them no matter how inane they may be.

Add to this the fact that I do not type well (I use three fingers and one thumb and have been clocked at the lightning speed of 28 WPM). My mind is usually moving faster than my fingers (and thumb), therefore there is much use of the Backspace key. Plus, as most people that read my Blog know, I tend to be a bit loquacious. It will take me up to 30 minutes to answer a simple email and more than an hour to write a Blog.

That being said I have decided to continue writing the Beach Bum Report. But neither because of the increased traffic (and comments to my Blog) that I have received during the past four days, nor because of the emails that I have received from friends imploring me to continue to write.

But the real reason I decided to carry on is that a fellow Blogger, the Curmudgeon of the Second Effort Blog, took some of his (he’s a Chicago Attorney) valuable time to write about my Blog last Wednesday. As usual, his Blog was very well written. He also wrote a second blog that day titled “Strange Requirements at the Soulless Megabank”.

The Curmudgeon writes about his family and the world around him. He blends humor (sometimes sarcastic), pathos and rationality into his Blogs. At times his Blogs make me laugh and at other times they make me cry. That is a sign of a great writer, and I believe the Curmudgeon is great writer. He’s far better than I will ever be.

The Beach Bum

To Blog or Not to Blog

My sincerest apologies go out to my 17 semi-regular readers (most of you are either friends or family). Two have sent me emails and one has called me; all three asking me why I haven’t written a Blog since December 9th.

I could answer them by saying it was due to health problems. Both physically and mentally I have been dealing with pain and anguish during the past 4 weeks. “‘Tis the season to be Jolly” is a bunch of horse manure. It seems that (every year) between Thanksgiving and the New Year every ailment that I have reaches its peak for the year. So this would not be an untruth.

Or I could answer them by saying that I have been spending the time that I would usually spend Blogging on the telephone. I get very nostalgic in December. I’ve logged in more hours of phone time in the past 30 days than I had during the prior 11 months. I called an old neighborhood friend who I hadn’t spoken to for over 40 years. I called others that I hadn’t spoken to for nearly 30 years. Two of the people that I attempted to contact had passed on, so I spoke to their wives at lenght. So this would not be an untruth.

Perhaps I could answer them by saying most of the things that I have been writing about lately heightens my state of depression. As much as I try to resist writing about the economy and the sorry state of affairs that our nation is in; I can’t. So this would not be an untruth.

Better yet, I could answer them by saying that I have been spending a lot of my time with a marvelous gift that I received 10 days before Christmas. I am now the proud owner of a DVD set of all 77 of the Amos and Andy Episodes that were originally broadcast in 1952 and 1953. I watch a few episodes every afternoon and I’m about half way through the collection. So this would not be an untruth.

But the real reason is that my Blog has a very limited following; with the exception of 4 semi-regular readers, I can call or email everyone who visits my Blog on a regular basis. I had greater aspirations when I began the Blog. I average 60 visitors per week, most coming from Google searches for Haulover Beach (I have written two Blogs on this subject).
I’m about to delete them so I don’t get the bogus visitors that spend less than 10 seconds on the Blog and leave after they do not see any pictures of naked people.

The people that are regular readers that I may or may not know:

1) Uses an IP from the Headquarters United States Army Information Systems Command
2) Uses an IP from the State of Maryland –Annapolis
3) Uses an IP from New Port Richey Florida

If I know you please leave a comment on this Blog. Even if I don’t, leave a comment.

The 4th is the Curmudgeon from the Second Effort Blog – He writes some great stuff! I visit his Blog often. A link to his blog is on the upper right sidebar.

If you are one of my semi-regular readers please leave a comment as to why I should continue Blogging. If you like my Blog please pass it on to your other friends. Maybe I get some more regular or semi-regular readers.


The Beach Bum

Christmas Parties - Bah Humbug

Last Friday, the Curmudgeon at the Second Effort Blog wrote a Blog titled:
Avoiding disasters at office Christmas parties. I was planning to leave a comment on his Blog but decided not to do so, because my comment would have been longer than his Blog on the subject.

I try to avoid all Christmas parties for fear that I will make an ass of myself. I have done so in the past. Unfortunately, I could not avoid the office parties. Since the mid 1970’s my office parties were always held in a Restaurant/Night Club; because that was my office.

I will now relate a Christmas party story that should brighten up your day by allowing you to laugh at the foibles of others. It took place in 1978.

My partners and I would close our Restaurant on the third Monday in December for the employee Christmas party. The party would begin at 5PM with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails; a full dinner would be served a 6:30. Management would do all of the cooking and serving. We’d get a bartender from a nearby Bar to serve the drinks. At 8:00 everyone would adjourn to the cocktail lounge and the Band would start playing at 8:30.

Between the band’s first and second set, the Secret Santa gifts were distributed. This year I was chosen to be Santa; in full costume.

The job entailed sitting on the bandstand’s edge, calling out the recipient’s name, handing them the gift, and then making a witty comment about the gift. The band gave me a microphone so I didn’t have to shout; it was a large lounge.

Putting a microphone in my hand is a very dangerous thing to do. I suddenly become a cross between Don Rickles, Lenny Bruce and Rich Little. I always wanted to be a professional comedian.

I’d pick up a gift, call the person to the stage (they would sit on my lap), ask them what they wanted for Christmas, make a witty comment, hand them the gift, they would open the gift and I would make another witty comment. The entire process would take about 3 minutes. With 30 gifts to pass out it took an hour and a half.

After 10 minutes I was parched and asked the next recipient bring me a beer on her way to the stage to receive her gift. After 2 beers (in 15 minutes) my comments became wittier. People were laughing. This spurred me on to make even more witty comments.

About half way through the passing out of gifts, I was now drinking Grand Marnier with my beer. I became very glib as well as witty.

At last I was down to the final 4 gifts. The next gift was for a stunningly gorgeous young cocktail waitress in her early 20’s. I called her to the stage saying “sit on my lap and we’ll talk about the first thing that pops up.” She also was a little toasted at this time.

She came up and sat on my lap and gave me a big kiss (tongue and all). I then said “Wow, and what do you want for Christmas little girl.” She then grabbed my crotch and said “I want this.” I smiled and said “I would love to give it to you.”

I had forgotten that my wife was sitting at a table just 20 feet away. She stormed out of the Restaurant and went home. My partner and his wife also left.

After I gave out the last three gifts, I went to the bar and had a few more drinks and danced with several of the female employees (thank God the cocktail waitress had already passed out). One made the comment that she had always thought that I was a “stuffed shirt”.

This party caused my first trial separation with my wife. We separated two years later.

Did I learn a lesson?; of course not.

In 1981, I was in self exile in Chicago; the woman that I was seeing invited me to her office party. It was at Kelly’s Pub on Chicago’s near north side. I managed to embarrass her with my Christmas party antics. The end of another relationship!

The Beach Bum

Eavesdropping Can Be Enjoyable Work – At Times

This morning I had two dubious hits on my Blog titled “40 Years Ago”.

They both came from District of Columbia, Washington, United States. The first was from clayton.state.gov (U.S. Department Of State) and the second was from dhcp-1-138-220-201-195.worldbank.org (The World Bank Group). Both had no referring link, which usually means that someone has bookmarked your Blog.

The one from the State Department really intrigued me. I tried to think if anyone that I knew worked for the State Department and was slacking off at 0330 hours while working the graveyard shift. When I lived in Maryland, I knew a lot of Defense Department employees, but I could not think of anyone that worked at State.

This was driving me crazy (not a far drive). I was attempting to write a Blog about the Tampa Bay Rays going to the World Series; what a great game last night. I couldn’t really concentrate on what I was writing because U.S. Department of State was echoing through the canyons of my mind.

I therefore did a Google search on clayton.state.gov. It is a blanket IP for State Department employees, in particular, but not exclusive to, the Homeland Security Office. My Blog must have set off an alert in their SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) system, prompting some lower echelon employee to read it for possible seditious acts on my part.

Back 40 years ago, when I worked a SIGINT mission, we didn’t have high tech computers to tell us when something was of a suspicious nature. We use R-390 Radios and headsets, and searched for suspicious activity. Two of my Army buddies are now on VA disability for hearing loss.

The modern day SIGINT systems work like Google Bots. They look for key words and if several appear they alert a rear echelon employee to check it out. The difference between today and my day is that these employees are readers not listeners. If they are in the military, they will more than likely be getting VA benefits for blindness rather than deafness.

I’m probably one of the few people around that really don’t mind being spied upon. I have absolutely nothing to hide (unless you count masturbating in the shower); not from family, friends nor the Federal Government.

And to those of you who must read (not by choice) my Blog, I put enough twitch words in this one to light up the Panic Button. Sorry, but I’ll take readers any way that I can get them.

The Beach Bum

Clicking for Dollars

The other day I read a comment that was placed on one of my favorite Blogs. The comment was concerning the Google Ads on the top of the opening page of his Blog. The commenter cited the three Ads and asked the Blogger how much was he getting paid by Google to have these Ads placed on his Blog.

The commenter is a regular visitor to the Blog and probably was just being facetious. The relevancy of the Ads was far off the nature and general topics of the Blog. Google takes pride in their bots ability to place relevant Ads on Websites and Blogs. But on occasion the bots screw up.


According to Google’s Ad Sense Terms of Service (TOS – you know, those things that you never read and just click on “I Agree”) he is not allowed to answer the commenter's question.

I’ve been barred from Google Ads. I wrote a Blog about this in December 2006.

Why? Because. I inadvertently violated the terms of service that I had never read.

How did I do this unforgivable act?

First, even before I let them put the Ads on my Blog, I made mention in a Blog that I was placing them there and that I would be making money by readers clicking on these Ads. (Big TOS Violation)

Then in another Blog I suggested that people who were reading the Blog (at the time mostly my friends and family) check out the Google Ads. (Bigger TOS Violation).

The last straw for Google was that I had a 48% click rate (a very good click rate is between 5 and 8%). This was unfair to their advertisers. However, (in their cancellation notice) they neglected to mention that I had a good conversation rate.

My Amazon Link on the Right Side Bar has a 63% conversion rate. Why? I occasionally promote it and all my friends and relatives use it for their Amazon purchases.

Why? Because. They know that I am making a few cents off of every one of the purchases that they would be making nevertheless.

Now, here’s what I do.

On the Major sites (including Google and Yahoo) that I visit, I click often. This helps to keep them free. I actually read the ads (they know if you are just clicking and leaving), but I rarely buy. On the Blogs that I enjoy, I click their Ads at least twice per week and I try to pick the Ads that will give them the most revenue per click.

Everyone should do the same. It doesn’t cost you but a few minutes of your precious time per week. You will be keeping the free sites free and putting a few cents in some blogger's pocket.

The Beach Bum

Check Them Out

I have added a few more blogs that I visit to the right sidebar. This is a long overdue change to my template, as I had planned to do this in January. If you haven’t noticed by now, I have a tendency to procrastinate.

The first blog added is Gledwood Vol.2. It is written by a heroin addict who lives in England. Besides the stories of the fighting of his addiction, he also writes on a variety of other topics that I find interesting. All in all this blog is a good read.

The second is Captain Picard’s Journal. You don’t really have to be a Star Trek (Next Generation) fan (I am), but it helps if you are. If just so to understand the characters mentioned in the Blog. It is a well written Blog that I enjoy reading at least once a week. The author of this Blog makes me feel as though I am actually reading Jean Luc Picard’s Journal.

The third is Skittles Place. For a year I avoided visiting this Blog because of its name. I don’t like candy unless it is dark chocolate. But constant references to the Blog by one of my favorite Bloggers (The Curmudgeon) enticed me to visit. My theory was that if he liked it, it had to be good. It’s full of Memes (if you don’t know what a meme is, Google the word).

Last, but not least, is Len & Bob’s Baseball Blog. This blog is written by WGN Cubs announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenley. It’s a must read for all Cubs fans.

I will be adding more to the list in the near future as I try to visit at least 2 or 3 new Blogs per week.


The Beach Bum

One Small Step for Man

I have reached my first milestone in the Blogosphere; my 200th Blog. This should and would have been written in September, but I took an unintentional 4 month blogging sabbatical beginning in mid July.

I expended a few hours yesterday reading my old Blogs. I will freely admit that some (less than 20%) of them were not that good or interesting. And yes, there were grammatical and punctuation errors. However, I made no changes to them. I left them in their original state as a reminder that I am not a perfectionist.

There were 239 comments (11 by me) posted to these 200 Blogs. Some were just inane remarks, but others were very poignant and relevant to the topic of the Blog. I have resolved to post my own comments to these good comments on a regular basis.

Last July, I was averaging 130 readers per week. I now average 85 per week, but have a higher percentage of return readers. Albeit these readers are mostly my family and friends; I do have a few regulars that I cannot identify (especially the person from Japan).

Most of my Blogs come from life experiences and stories that I have been telling for years. I attempt to lace these stories with a touch of humor. Sometimes I succeed. Other Blogs come from my daily reading of the news. Although I try to stay away from political issues, sometimes I can’t help myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bun).

Hopefully my next 200 Blogs will be more interesting.

Please continue to make comments, especially critical comments. And as Frank Gallo once said “Thank you for your support.”

The Beach Bum

Happy Anniversary Baby

Today is the first Anniversary of The Beach Bum Report’s first post. One of my friends, Richard Feder from Fort Lee, had been nagging me for more that a year to start blogging. He told me that I wrote well (questionable, at best) and that I had some good stories. In addition, I could make some pocket change by placing ads on the Blog. This sounded like a good idea.

I set up the account on Blogger in September 2006 but didn’t post my first blog until November 30 (6 month’s after my retirement). In December 2006 I was averaging 12 visitors per day. Before going on a four month leave of absence last July, I was averaging 28 visitors per day. Since I have returned to the Blogosphere on the11th of November it’s been 18 per day. Many of them read my Blog on a regular basis. This makes me happy.

However, I had thought that by now I would have a much larger readership. Therefore I am disappointed. I’m a firm believer in the two to the 10th power philosophy. This is, if 2 people tell 2 people who tell 2 people, ad infinitum (like a pyramid scheme). Allowing for diminishing returns, I should have about 1000 regular readers per week.

Now if only 10% of these 1000 regular weekly readers clicked on my ads (I currently have only one – Amazon.com, but plan to add more as soon as my readership increases), I’d be able to support my bad habits. I might even be able to afford one of those Hoochie-Coochie girls to clean out my pipes.

My plan for my second blogging year is to blog more often (only 175 blogs last year). As Mr. Feder sez, I have the time. I also plan to visit more blogs and add the interesting ones that I find to my blog roll. Three of the four that I currently link to are excellently written provocative blogs. Check them out on the right side bar.

The Beach Bum

In Vino Veritas

My youngest daughter (who reads my Blog on a regular basis) told me that my Blog is full of spelling errors and improper word usage. When I asked her for an example she said “You used the word worst where you should have used the word worse.”

In a telephone conversation, an old friend from Chicago basically made the same comments. He said that I over punctuate, I misspell words (usually homonyms) and that my usage of grammar, in general, is borderline.

This embarrasses me because I have always prided myself on the proper use of the English language. I have corrected youngest daughter on her grammar too many time too count. And now she is correcting me. Turnabout is fair play!

She attributes it to my use of Vodka and my writing when I am “half in the bag”. In fact, she has cut me off of my Vodka and has instead put me on red wine to supplement my beer drinking habit. So now instead of being a drunk, I am becoming a wino.

I have always liked wine, especially red wine, but like Gin it tends to do strange things to me. Vodka does not take away my inhibitions. Gin and wine do. For example, a few nights ago, I was singing along with one of my favorite songs at 0130 hours. This, of course, woke my daughter. She admonished me and sent me off to bed.

Now if you have ever listened to me attempting to sing when I have been drinking wine, you’d know that this is not too appealing to the ear. I sound like a cross between Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan and a cat that has just had its tail caught in a mousetrap. When I was young I had a good baritone voice, but the years of alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking has made it very raspy. Add to this the fact that I am usually wearing headphones (at a full volume level) and cannot hear how bad I really sound; it becomes a nightmare for others.

So here I sit, nearing midnight, with 9 beers and nearly a half of a 1.5 liter bottle of cheap Merlot in my gullet; writing this piece and getting ready to sing again. I think my daughter will soon put me back on my daily Vodka ration, just to get me off of the wine.

Please forgive my misspellings and grammatical errors, as I am, as usual, half in the bag.

The Beach Bum

He Says He's Alive

I have finally returned to the Blogosphere. No hissing or booing please.

A lot has happened since my last Blog on July 12th. After returning from my annual Chicago adventure, I prepared for my move from my apartment on Treasure Island to my daughter’s home in Nowheresville, Florida. I miss the Beach and the people that I knew while living there for more than nine years.

Nowheresville isn’t really that bad; it’s a nice place to live but I wouldn’t want to visit it unless I had family living here. There is basically nothing within walking distance. I had grown accustomed to walking everywhere on Treasure, Island. Most resort communities are set up that way for the tourist trade.

I had planned to return to Blogging by mid-September. I have been using my daughter’s computer for my email, but I couldn’t smoke inside the house. The designated smoking area is the Sun Porch. The Sun Porch is not air conditioned and we had an exceptionally hot September and October. On most days it was at least 85 degrees out there. I don’t really mind the heat but I think that my computer would not like it.

In the very near future I plan to Blog about my Chicago trip, my move and my observations about my new home. Then it will be back to my usual nonsensical Blogs.

As my cousin, the Admiral, said in an email to my friends; “George is alive or at least that is what he says.”

The Beach Bum

Fishing

A fellow Blogger, that I admire, recently suggested that we post a picture and Blog about the picture that we have posted.

This concept caught my interest!

I have tons of pictures on my computer. Mostly of young naked women. The “Killer Clams” series that I received from a friend in 2001 is still one of my favorites. The clams that are referred to are not of the mollusk variety, but just as edible and tasty.

But I decided not to post these pictures because some would find them as being obscene. How anyone could find pictures of a naked nubile female obscene is beyond my imagination. But I am told that some people do and therefore I refrained from doing so.

Here’s my Picture and my story.

When my son was a pre-teen we spent a lot of time fishing. This was a father-son thing. I enjoy fishing. It is both relaxing and sporting. Pleasant conversations with your fishing partner(s) make it all that much better.

My Grandfather taught me that it was more important to just be fishing than to catch a fish. And that catching a fish, that you could eat, was a bonus.

The picture above is that of my son 3 years ago when he caught a near record Barracuda in the Gulf of Mexico (2 inches short). He fought it for nearly a half hour. If you have ever fought a game fish, such as Marlin or Tarpon, you know how tiring and exasperating this can be. He didn’t even know what he had on his line.

As Barracuda is not an edible fish and it was not a record catch; he released it after the photo was taken. The fish happily swam away!

The Beach Bum

Comments on Comments

“In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” I cannot sleep. I ate a hardy dinner at 7 this evening and made the tragic mistake of lying on the couch to watch television. I slept until ten. A three hour nap! Now I am wide awake. Nothing to do. nowhere to go and I can’t sleep.

What better time to respond to comments that have been made on this Blog!

Rather than posting comments to a comment, I decided to write this Blog instead.

To Geoff - I resent being equated to Jerry Seinfeld, but thanks for your comment!

To my Cousin, The Admiral – I was taller and bigger than you were when I was 11 years old and you were 15, so I know that you couldn’t have possibly picked me up and put me into that Garbage Can.

To “The Curmudgeon” who has twice commented on my “Stella” post: I have been following this case closely via the Washington Post. In my opinion it’s insanity at the highest level. Why does our court system put up with this BS? I am happy to see that the Chungs have not yet given up and have not moved back to Korea.

To “Romulus” concerning my post “Si Habla Espanole”: I recently received this in an email and checked it out on “Snopes” it’s for real –

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an American in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

To my dear friend and “brother in arms” “Raymond”, who has commented on several of my Blogs - We are kindred spirits, although we may not always agree. I do feel sorry and have regrets about things that I have said to “my brothers and friends”. Fortunately they still love me. I’ll see you next week!

And finally to the most prolific commenter to my Blog – Richard Feder from Ft. Lee – Sometimes I wonder why I continue to write this Blog. Why do I waste my time with this “nonsense”? Thank you for you encouragement and your kind and not so kind comments. BTW did you get laid when reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette?


The Beach Bum

Posting Comments

Today I received a comment on one of my Blogs; Double Dipping. I like receiving comments whether they are complimentary or derogatory in nature. First it tells me that someone has actually read what I had written. And secondly they give me direction. Unfortunately I do not get very many comments. To me this means that I do not get very many readers that were interested in what I had written.

The comment was made by a person named Donna. Donna could be just about anyone. Many people on the Internet use pseudonyms as well as false pictures of themselves. For all I know Donna could actually be Rosie O’Donnell; Rosie could be angry with me for saying some bad things about her in one of my previous Blogs. On the other hand it could be one of my friends being mischievous. I don’t know and I really don’t care. At least the person took the time to post a comment.

The comment did, however, strike a chord within the windmills of my mind. There were two words that bothered me; they were Sexist and Misogynist. These are two words of very powerful meaning and shouldn’t be bantered about without careful thought.

In my life I’ve been called a lot of things that have ended with the suffix -IST. One of the definitions in Webster’s Unabridged is “one that adheres to or advocates a (specified) doctrine or system or code of behavior”.

Some of these terms that have been used to describe my demeanor or philosophy are true. But, I have never been called either a Sexist or a Misogynist. People that know and understand me, realize that it is just my warped sense of humor and my drunkenness that makes me say and write the things that I do.

I have said some terrible things during my lifetime and I have probably hurt people in the process. In most cases I was just being truthful and speaking my mind. I often do this without thinking of the ramifications involved. Often the truth is not pretty and it hurts others. My Dad always told me “make sure that you put your brain into gear before you run your mouth”. I’ve always had a problem with heeding this advice.

“Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful.” - Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher.

As a writer, I strive for the truthful words rather than the beautiful words to speak my convictions. Therefore, I rarely use the beautiful words. Truthful words are words that will stand by themselves; they are the concepts and ideas that have been embedded on the psyche and have become part of our thinking process. They are honest heartfelt words that are not used in vain when spoken or written.

The Beach Bum

I Dig Rock and Roll Music

Last week, one of my favorite Bloggers wrote a piece titled “New NO PRIZE contest: Name the worst 70's song EVER”, it was concerning the worst songs of the 1970’s. He said that “the 70's were a Golden Era of horrible songs” and that there “were songs that make you queasy all over... .that make your flesh crawl.”

I must agree with him on some his selections. However I think that every decade has had it’s share of horrible but popular songs. Some were much more annoying than anything that came out of the 1970’s; with the possible exception of all 1970’s Disco Music. Many of those disco songs did make my flesh crawl.

One of favorite musicians and songwriters, Bruce Springsteen emerged in the 1970’s. He simultaneously made the covers of both Time and Newsweek Magazines in 1975. I first took note of him in 1972; I loved his lyrics because they reminded me of early Bob Dylan lyrics.

What about Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, the Doobie Brothers, Elton John, Grand Funk Railroad, Billy Joel and the Eagles. These people put out a lot of great music in the 1970.s. I was always a Rock and Roll and R&B fan. I also liked what we had called head (or stoner) music; Jethro Tull, The Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd.

The blogger must have been listening to the wrong radio stations. Probably Casey Kasem’s American Top 40. He mentions WLS in Chicago, which, as a teen, was my favorite radio station. Dick Biondi, “the Wild Itralian” was my favorite DJ in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. It was a station that played young people’s music. As times change, so does the music that is played on the radio, especially on a station that caters to youth. What was in fashion yesterday may not be in fashion today. But a lot of the 1970’s music has endured the test of time. Nearly two generation later, young people listen to and can recite the lyrics to these songs.

My parents could not understand why I listened and enjoyed the music on WLS. They had thought that they had taught me to have better musical taste. I attempted to explain to them that it was the music of my generation. I still liked Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Nat “King” Cole; but Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly excited me a little more.

One of the songs that were mentioned on the Blog was “Seasons in the Sun” performed by Terry Jacks. I like the song but not necessarily the Terry Jacks’ version. I first heard it in December of 1963. It was on The Kingston Trio’s Album “Time to Think”. The featured song on this album was “Song for a Friend” written by John Stewart and dedicated to the memory of JFK. In the liner notes “The Trio” (probably written by John Stewart) wrote – “Honest songs have always left a mark in their particular era. For songs springing from real emotion will forever ring true and therefore find meaning with each new generation.”

The Beach Bum

I Like Bush

Today I visited a blog named CUSS - The Campaign for Unshaved Snatch. It is written by a young lady from New York named Suzanne. She is now in India and writing about her visit there. It was a very interesting read.

Although her blog is well written, that is was not what attracted me to Suzanne’s Blog. It was the title of her Blog that drew me there.

Suzanne mentions bare pussies and shaved women with disdain. She also mentions the fact that the reasons that we call the female genitalia a pussy or a beaver is because of the pubic hair. Her site logo is a beaver and a cat.

More and more woman have been shaving their pubes. This somewhat disturbs me and it also makes me wonder.

I must agree with Suzanne. Although I am not particularly fond of extremely hairy women, I do like them to have a bush down below. A well trimmed bush is a very attractive feature. One of my exes trimmed hers into a heart shape design - this was very sexy looking.

Why do women shave off their pubic hairs? Does it feel better to them to be bare down there? Do they think it makes them more attractive to their lover? Does it make them feel sexier?

Personally, I do not find a bare pubic area to be that attractive or sexy. I like looking at the bearded clam. Perhaps younger males may find it sexy. I don’t!

As Suzanne says, "a bare Pussy isn’t really a pussy"! I must agree with her assessment.

As an aficionado of female genitalia, I prefer seeing the hair in that area. I don’t understand why women shave themselves or why men may find this feature attractive. It cannot be a comfortable thing for a woman to do, so they must be doing it to attract males. They won’t attract me! I just lied. I'm attracted to young ladies whether they are shaved or unshaved. The fun is in finding out.

I like Bush, not the President, but the pubes that are above a women’s vulva.

The Beach Bum