I'm Back Typing Over And Out

I have been remiss in posting my blah-blah-blogs so far this year. It just seems that I have been super-busy and have not had much time to spring upon the world more semi-coherent thoughts from the TC perspective. Note that I typed TC not PC. TC is my nickname according to J. She wanted to give me a nickname that didn't contain any vowels because she knows of my intense dislike for AEIOU and sometimes Y. I'm kidding of course. TC stands for Tall Canadian. I kind of like that nick at least until I start shrinking in my old age where it will then become UTBTC as in "Used To Be TC". LOL. I amuse myself with my thought process sometimes. O:)

Anyways I just going to babble a bit online this morning. Been pretty darn productive so far. Went to bank and made my car payment and avoided a late charge. LOL. It would be so much easier if I would just enroll online to pay that loan off. Thing is, it is the only thing I do with the TD Bank so it would seem kind of odd to pay my loan online from another bank. Remember this is TC world we are talking a boot of Italy.

Saw B at Massage Envy for my monthly try to fix my rapidly expanding bod of mine. She asked me today if we are tall like me from Canada. LOL. This has something to do with my feet hanging off the massage table I think. Anyhow I feel much looser now though my right hammy still bugs me and it doesn't take long to "Tighten Up" as Archie Bells and the Drells once sang. Used to hear that song all the time on "The Electric Lunch Hour" back in the day when I had hair.

Went home after that. Emptied the dishwasher, lit some candles and chopped some veggies up for a spaghetti sauce I am making. Turns out I didn't have to drive the prodigal son to work as he has a ride. He's got a 9 and 1/2 hr. shift again at the store. He's a pretty good kid and I am quite proud of him!

So that's it for now. Time to check on the sauce and read up on euchre. J and I are invited to a card party tonite. I don't think I have ever played euchre before. I may be as bad at that game as the Habs are on most nights. LOL.

Yankees Pitching Staff

Okay I hate the Yankees. It's probably related to the fact that they have won lots of World Series and that they can afford to have a payroll of a gazillion dollars and not have to worry a beat about who they add to said payroll. I never thought I would write about them that's for sure but I was on MLB.com earlier today and it gave me some ideas to write about on here.

Yesterday they traded what many feel is their best prospect in Jesus Montero to Seattle for Michael Pineda who I guess they are slotting right behind C.C. Sabathia in their starting five. That trade in itself isn't a game changer money-wise as a couple of young guys making minimum were traded for each other.

Let's face it the Yankees have been real quiet this off-season. Besides re-signing Freddy Garcia in early November for $4,000,000 plus some bonus targets; they haven't really done anything else.

They let several of their veteran players elect free agency. Guys like Jorge Posada, Andruw Jones, Bartolo Colon, Eric Chavez. All of these guys were role players last year and can be considered replaceable.

Yesterday they also signed Hideki Kuroda (ex of the Dodgers) for what is being bandied about as a 1 yr. contract for $10,000,000. That's revenue neutral as well when you think of what Jorge Posada was pulling in last year $13,100,000. He was getting that for 387 ABs. Not too many teams can afford that kind of money for a part-time player.

Anyways getting back to the point. You figure that you have Sabathia ($23M), Pineda ($414K) and Kuroda($10M) as 1,2 and 3. I'm thinking that Garcia ($4M) slots as the 5th starter as you don't want to have back-to-back soft tossers in the rotation. These four combine to $37.4M in salaries.

So this means that there's one spot open. The 4th starter. This is where it gets complicated for the Yankees and where it gets to be a point of jealousy for fans of other teams.

At this time competing for that slot is A.J. Burnett at $16.5M for each of the next two years. Yes he of the 11-11 season record and 5.15 ERA. Also in the mix is Phil Hughes who in 2010 won 18 games. He had a dead arm last year and didn't pitch much but made $2.7M and is up for arbitration. Let's not forget last year's true number two starter on the team was Ivan Nova who was pretty much a rookie but ended the year with a 16-4 record. He's making Pineda money so he's a cheap option.

So if you look at the trade and look at the signing you kind of wonder what the Yankees are doing. Pineda is a great trade. Signing Kuroda I would thinks means dumping Burnett and his remaining $33M contract somewhere. It isn't like there too many teams that want A.J. and his fragile and know-it-all makeup I think.

That means the 4th slot is between Nova and Hughes. Given Nova's 2011 stats it looks like Hughes is going to be a mop-up pitcher unless the Yankees try to deal him as well. I think that Hughes is getting short shrift here. I think there are a few teams that would like to get their hands on him. He seems to be the forgotten man. Maybe he still has issues with his arm. Who knows? I know lots of teams would love to be in this predicament. The starters and those not making the cut add up to north of $60,000,000. That's more than some total team payrolls. Add A-Rod, Jeter, Granderson, Cano, Rivera, etc. etc. It's an obscene amount. No wonder prices are sky-high!

How Bizarre

Okay this is a really bizarro-world thing. I read yesterday that Bryan Ferry ex-lead singer of Roxy Music got married in the last couple of days. Mr. Ferry age 66 married the 29 yr. old Amanda Sheppard in a ceremony that took place in the Turks and Caicos on January 4th. This came from a straight news story on the Washington Post website. I was there reading a Thomas Boswell column on the only baseball team that matters. Yes that would be the Washington Nationals!

37 is the age difference between the two of them. 37! That's like the IQ of the average Rick Santorum follower. This in itself is really effing bizarre but there's a kicker to all of this. Bryan Ferry married one of his son's ex-girlfriends. Yes that's right. One of his four sons used to be involved with Ms. Sheppard. Gotta say that is one heck of a holy eff thing.

In my YouTube account I have several Roxy Music songs in my favorite songs on the site. Originals like "Avalon" and "More Than This" and phenomenal covers like "Jealous Guy" and "Like a Hurricane"; I'm kind of thinking that Bryan Ferry needs to do a cover version of the OMC one-hit wonder "How Bizarre".

Monday er...Tuesday Thoughts

This is going to be a short one. I am in the middle of writing a longer blog on a memory thing that came back to me yesterday but at this point I don't want to go back to that one just yet.

Weird. I went to work today after taking yesterday (the 2nd off) and it really felt like a Monday. I think I need another week or so to become acclimated to 2012 and being back in regular world mode. H is back in class next week so that will help get me back in the routine.

So this morning after getting my first coffee downstairs in the caf I had the great idea of weighing myself. That was not a brilliant move on my part. I was in shock seeing where I am at on the 3rd day of January 2012. It's absolutely no wonder why my sciatica is causing me issues for the last little while. Kind of explains why my knees hurt some at times. I kind of blame all of this on rapidly approaching 50 yrs. old when I should really be putting the onus on this weight that I have gained ever since I quit smoking in March 2010. I am breaking records on a monthly basis weight wise and this is not good. I am going to have to make some lifestyle choices. I am not comfy in my skin right now.

Anyways it was busy at work as it normally is at the beginning of the month. Day zipped right by. I dropped in at WallyWorld for a couple of household things and grabbed a really lame chicken sandwich while I was there. Lesson learned. LOL.

Got home at around 630 after dealing with the usual driving idiocy on the roads here. I wonder if they will ever ban or restrict cellphone usage here while driving. Maybe it it just makes too much sense. It's getting scarier by the day and I am hyper-vigilant on the roads here.

I had some leftovers from the pasta with a white cream sauce that I made yesterday and then watched some of the Iowa caucus coverage. Santorum is in the lead or right near the lead tied with Romney. Insanity prevails in Iowa.

Thank goodness for the 70s music channel. At least they are playing some good songs. I am singing along to the Carpenters. OMG yes the Carpenters. I better put down the glass of cabernet that I am having.

I spent some time doing laundry and cleaning up the kitchen somewhat. I took out the fixings for chicken marinara for tomorrow night. It should be a good supper I think. Bought a nice Italian red to go with it as well.

I ran my month-end numbers for work. I am not happy. I should have done better. I guess in a way it is good that I did this tonight. It will make tomorrow a better day. I think I managed to get rid of all the "crappy' things out of the way today. LOL.

Schlewing out. Time to listen to Lobo on the 70s station!

First Blog Of 2012

So this is my first blog of the new year and I am pretty darn sure that I will be meandering my way throughout the year on whatever catches my fancy and my ire. So here goes Schlewing's thoughts for today.

I'm listening to Judas Priest on YouTube. Maybe that's why all of sudden reading about Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry is annoying the heck out of me. Republicans and heavy metal do not blend well!

In an ironic turn of events before "Metal Gods" by the Priest came on; I had to listen to a 30 second commercial by Mitt Romney. Here's my take on political ads on YouTube. I'm Marc Schlewing and I don't approve of this ad!!! LOL.

Who the eff came up with this idea about running a Mitt Romney ad just before a Judas Priest video? I am pretty effing sure that Romney's people missed their voting bloc demographic on this call. I am damn sure they missed their call. I actually liked Romney at the outset of this campaign. Now I just think he is another repugnant Republican that will do anything to get a vote. Today he stands for this and yesterday he stood for that and frankly his negative advertising tactics are belittling his character and moral compass.

You can tell the character of a man by his thoughts and actions and how he will righteously call out or speak out against wrongful actions. The fact that much of his advertising is misleading and closer to lies than truth make me question the humanity of this man. Sorry Mitt, I way like Jon Huntsman more than I will ever like you. Not that it matters though because Jon's chances are slim and none in a contest where smarts aren't the key characteristic in the search for the leader of the party. Pandering to this interest group and to that interest group is the lay of the land it seems with the GOP.

When a potential candidate of a party is using as an important keystone of his campaign the concept that would make abortions illegal in all cases even in instances of rape and incest; this leadership contest is pretty effed up and broken.

When a potential candidate uses the slogan of "bombing Iran" as a cornerstone of his foreign policy; do you really want this "Einstein" leading one of the great countries of the free world? Serious thought is needed not some knee-jerk pandering to some small piece of the electorate.

When one of the potential candidates is a 76 yr. old human bobblehead whose political credo is pretty much "eff your neighbors and don't touch my stuff" were in deep doo-doo.

Ah sanity and calmness has descended back upon me as "Eminence Front" by The Who starts in the background. Must be that hypnotic keyboard line that starts the song.

Ramble On I Say, Ramble On

So it's been a few days since I lasted posted so this may be rather disjointed going here to there and back to here. That would't be any different than my other middle of the night or middle of the day ramblings anyways.

It's 414am and I have been awake for the last hour or so and I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee already. I'm effen stressed trying to meet my targets for year-end at work. I really need to prioritize my time better. I think I may have to go into the office tomorrow (31st) just to get the last couple spreads done. I can work remotely but it is so much slower than being on-site and I get frustrated with the system hanging up. Anyways enough of that. LOL. It will be there still in another hour or so when I head into work at some ungodly hour.

So H made it back from brrr Montreal yesterday evening. Turns out it was -28c or some ungodly temperature like that when he got up in the morning. I don't miss those days. I left for work yesterday morning wearing a short sleeve shirt. Okay I may have been the only person in Greenville dressed that way given that the grass was frosted up but I knew the temps would get to the mid 50s so I wasn't about to get all bundled up.

It was great getting H back here though he wasn't thrilled to be back I think. He misses Montreal. He misses his Mom. It has to be tough for them being separated by this distance of a thousand miles or so like they have been for the last 11 and 1/2 years.

The first things he mentioned to me was that the night before he was in a bar drinking legally in St-Bruno somewhere and that the women in Montreal are so much prettier. I did mention to him that given Montreal has a population of around three million; chances are that there would seem to be lots of pretty women around. I also mentioned that he had just spent ten days hanging out with his Mom and her female friends so he was around women a lot more than he is down here. I think he has a Montreal bias going on. LOL.

He did bring me back some Tim Horton's coffee. That is a pretty good gift for me. I miss my Timmies. Spinx coffee is just not the same.

I am listening to some Peter Gabriel (In Your Eyes, Biko) and Boz Scaggs (We're All Alone, Lido Shuffle) as I am typing this. These songs are playing in another window via YouTube. It is something to see the late Jeff Porcaro playing the drums on this version of "Lido". He was an amazingly talented drummer and the list of artists that he played drums for before his death in 1992 is long and noteworthy. Besides all his work with his brothers in the band Toto; he played drums with Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Michael Jackson, Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, David Gilmour, Jon Anderson, Eric Clapton, Roger Hodgson, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits among others. Pretty impressive list.

I have the Jynx/Jinx monster using my left foot as a back rest as she goes through her cleaning routine. How often do cats clean themselves in a day? Sheesh they are like clean freaks. It's funny watching her as she is kind of, strike that, okay well she is a chubby cat and she really has to contort herself in order to get everywhere.

It's been great traveling to and from work with the light traffic on the roads this week. It's nice not to have to deal with stop and go on 385 like I normally do. I still get stressed though with the drivers. It's like I get behind the wheel and any calmness that I typically have in me is immediately gone as soon as I start driving. It is one WTF after another coming out of my mouth or as we say in good French "cris de calis". I'm telling you I am a lunatic. Stark raving mad when I am on the road. LOL.

Okay enough for now. I need to brew some coffee!

Christmas Eve Day

Started the day off with a cup of coffee and then I was off to Massage Envy to get this long body of mine pampered for an hour. As per usual B did a wonderful job on my neck, shoulders and right leg. After walking out of there I wanted to bottle up that moment because that is the loosey gooseyist that I will feel until the 3rd Saturday in January when I go back for my monthly massage. The best $39 I spend in a month I think! I used to spend that in a week on smokes. Hmmm. Maybe spending that on a therapeutic thing would be a smart move on my part. My stopping to sleep on too short couches would be a cheaper thing to do. LOL.

After that I went to pick up a colleague from work and brought her for a late breakfast at Stax. A belated birthday breakfast. Hands down Stax on Orchard Park has the best breakfast in Greenville that I have had so far. I haven't done any of the hotel brunches yet so the voting isn't quite complete yet. Stax is hard to beat though. I love their Denver omelet and home fries!

Just before dropping V at home, we went to BiLo to buy lotto tickets. It seems that the prizes are huge right now on the MegaMillions and Powerball lotteries. I stopped buying tickets a few years ago when I found it too much of a pain trying to get paid back by work colleagues for the tickets I was buying. Some thought I was offering payment terms. LOL. Well I wasn't. Anyways I now have lotto tickets for tonight's and next Friday's draw it seems.

While V was buying the tickets I figured I would get that spiral ham for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. Well I was getting it at BiLo until I got peeved at their shady marketing ploy. Really peeved! I picked up an 8 lb. ham at the BiLo bonuscard price of $15 something however that price wasn't really the price it seems. Had I looked at the weekly circular I would have seen some crap ass pricing gimmick of the spiral ham being $1.69 a pound rather than the rip off price of $2.69 or something like that if I spent a total of $35.00.

First of all I don't look at circulars though I guess I should and secondly it didn't effen say that where the hams were being sold. The price tag said this price without card and that price with the card. I had to ask for the manager just to make that point. Even when you read the ad it doesn't make sense. Anyways I was peeved. The poor young lady monitoring the self checkout didn't know what to say to me to explain it. It didn't help that her first language wasn't English.

I am open-minded, however if you have a job dealing with the public it's probably a good thing if your command of the language of your public or customer is more than adequate. If you can't, perhaps another position would make sense. It isn't like you are able to solve any issues given that you can't understand what your customer is saying. That's just me though. Anyways needless to say BiLo is not on my list of places to shop for the next little while. Glad H doesn't work there anymore. LOL. So I decided I was going to get that ham elsewhere!

So after dropping V off at her place, I headed back towards home and had to stop at a couple of places to get some wrapping paper, labels, gift bags, a Christmas present or two and that dang spiral ham. Well I did all of that and spent more money than I planned to do. I think sometimes I would be better off if I carried more cash around and then I would have a better idea how I am spending money. I know that so far today I have spent money at Stax, Big Lots, The Great Escape and Food Lion. I know I spent more than I should. Again! LOL.

J and her girls are on their way back from Orlando, Fl after being away for a week and I figured that I am going to prepare a light Christmas Eve meal of sorts for when they get back to their house. So I better wrap this up and start prepping the food. On the menu are some nice Italian-style cold cuts, shrimp, fresh salad, a veggie plate that I am prepping and cleaning, bruschetta (homemade), some brie and gouda and fancy crackers, egg nog and some adult beverages. Heh heh. I also have to wrap presents. I bought two thingees of scotch tape. The way I wrap stuff I may need them both.

In finishing this up I would like to express my holiday sentiments here to everyone that reads my ramblings. I know some of you that read these and some of you are strangers. The thoughts below are for everyone.

This time of the year is especially an important time for families. Some of us have large families and some have smaller families. Some of us are fortunate enough to have our parents still alive and well. Some of us sadly don't. Sadly I don't but that is life. What I have learned is that you have, you must and you need to love of your loved ones that are still around. Family and friends alike. You never know when things can change. Arguments, disagreements, spats and misunderstandings are things that happened in the past. We learn from the past but we live in the now. Be happy, be free, be healthy and tell all of your loved ones that you love them be it in person, by phone or by email. Peace out.

Favorite New Songs

Okay first of all they're my favorite new songs. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are brand new. The second definitely isn't. At least it is from this century. Ha!

As I have mentioned before I don't listen to much radio here because it annoys me to no end; however lately I have been listening to CHOM online quite a bit and like the way they tweaked the format. They still play tons of classic rock but they have added some new rock. Bravo! CHOM rocks once again!

The first song that caught my ear is Young The Giant's "My Body" which was released as a single in January 2011. This is one of those songs that the very first time I heard it; I immediately had to listen to this song again and again. It just has this driving beat and this catchy chorus. I have no idea what the songs means. I read that it was a song that took them ten minutes to write after a particularly bad day at the recording studio. Well they nailed this song that's for dang sure.

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQYpF2pCkLI&feature=bf_prev&list=FLWSkrZT-kF2QIBHW9w6bHqQ&lf=plpp_video

The second song that caught my ear is the Pearl Jam song "Just Breathe" released at the end of October 2009. I know. I know. I have jumped on the train a little bit late. Whatever! This song is gorgeous. I am such a sucker for an accoustic guitar song and the lyrics are so heartfelt to boot. I always have thought of Eddie Vedder as a front man who makes weird faces, contorting his body in bizarre ways and making his eyes flutter madly and then he comes up with an absolute gem like this song. Plus he plays a nice accoustic guitar on top of that.

Here's the link for this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aePWkeDxRjE&feature=bf_prev&list=FLWSkrZT-kF2QIBHW9w6bHqQ&lf=plpp_video

The other song that is bouncing around my head lots these days is Mumford and Sons "The Cave" that came from an album released in late 2009. I first heard of this band when I saw them on stage with Bob Dylan and The Avett Brothers at the Grammys. The song was a hit in Ireland when the album was released and then a hit down under in 2010 making it to the hottest 100 charts in Australia and New Zealand. It then started getting airplay here in the States in 2011. Let's face it a folk rock bluegrass group is going to take a while to get a following here on rock radio. A band with a keyboard, a couple accoustic guitars, a banjo, a stand-up bass and drums doesn't exactly strike me as Van Halen or Journey like. Hey I like Van Halen amd Journey! Just making a point. I don't know if they play them here in SC. I discovered their stuff on YouTube. A great place for old and new music. Hearing it online makes me go out and buy the CD. I don't do ipods. LOL.

Here's the link for this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnmIGWW_pv4&list=FLWSkrZT-kF2QIBHW9w6bHqQ&index=125&feature=plpp_video

Anyways enough typing for now. I need to grab a bite to eat. Time for some Guadalajara.

Middle Of The Night Musings

Well here I am awake at the keyboard at 254am Thursday morning. I don't think this is what U2 meant when they released "Wide Awake in America" in 1985.

Quick segue to that EP from 1985. I just had this idea about the EP when I mentioned U2 up above. I wasn't going here but now I am. LOL. Hey coherency in the middle of the night is not always prevalent. Smiles.

"Wide Awake In America" is when I was introduced to the live U2 classic "Bad". From the chiming guitar to the lyrics of heroin addiction which touch me deep down inside; I have always found this song amazing. There is a part in the song when Bono pleads, laments, wails "wide awake, I'm not sleeping". Man oh man that just gets me every time.

The link below is the live performance of "Bad" from Live Aid in 1985. I remember watching this performance and being spellbound. This too many was when U2 became the band that mattered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zIW8qDPhos&feature=related

Just another one of those nights. I fell asleep on the couch reading a Michael Crichton book and the next thing I knew it was 1am or so. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.

It will be a busy one later today. Have to work. Have to go to the post office. Have to get Princess at the kennel. Have a team lunch to attend.

I wonder if today will be a good day. :O)

Grilling Outside on December 19th

This will most likely be a short blog as I have to get H in 20 minutes or so as he finishes his last shift at Food Lion before leaving for Montreal in the morning.

I am going to do some grilling after I get him. Supper at 9pm. Why the heck not? It isn't like my body clock is very normal these days anyways.

I've been a foodie in the last month or so looking up recipes to prepare just to add to my repertoire. Initially my intent in all of this was to add to what I already do well on the off-chance that I was going to really look into leasing that space where the Zone was but alas poor Yorick I think that the start-up costs would be prohibitive at this time with the slow season about to start for people socializing. You never know though. Perhaps once spring rolls around the opportunity may present itself.

I'm going to grill a london broil cut that has been marinating for the last 24 hours or so. I've found in the past that whenever I get deals on london broils I tend to cook it too fast without allowing for the meat to soften or whatever the word is for that. LOL. I had bought a two-fer at Costco and I slow-cooked one yesterday that made a great stew so I have new recipe in my arsenal. Hopefully this grilled one will turn out well. As Bruce Springsteen once sang "I'll be grilling in the darK" in a little bit.

I also need to prepare some bruschetta with the last of the roma tomatoes I have. It came out real well the last time but I think I have to be a little more careful with the "liquid" measurements. I'm going to use dried basil this go-round though as I am out of the fresh variety and I ended up tossing some out the other day. I hate tossing food out. I work way too hard to be wasting money. More on that on a later blog.

Okay time to get the prodigal son who is super excited to go visit his Mom up in Montreal. He is so excited that he packed his suitcase yesterday night. If it was me I would have been packing at 630am tomorrow morning an hour before leaving for the airport. I can definitely learn from him on that point. Way less stressful that way. O:)