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I’m not sure who first invited us to play trivia; perhaps it was Dallas and Jackie. We’ve been playing for several years now, so hopefully you’ll understand if my memory is a big foggy on how it all began. I know the “where” part and if you’ve read any of my past rambles, you probably know that a scoop of ice cream has a better shot of surviving a Florida sidewalk in the middle of August than I do of coming up with the “when” part. The “who” part? Well, there’s a few culprits, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to Dallas and Jackie.

He had invited me to play softball with the River Rats co-ed softball team one fall when they were short of players. He must have gone pretty deep in his phonebook to ask me, because they were a pretty good squad even when playing short-handed.

Continue reading ‘RIDDLE ME THIS’ »

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Those who know me best, know that the F word isn’t a part of my default vocabulary. I just don’t use it, nor do I see the need. That being said, let the record show that I hear it quite frequently and often see it when browsing social media.

There was a time when hearing it or seeing it would elicit a temporary reactionary jolt, a pinch of shock, if you will. Sadly, that time has passed. Even more sadly, it passed without a change of venue. Sadder still, in retrospect, I miss the shock value that the word once embodied and I hope you’ll hear me out on that part.

Continue reading ‘STANDING UP FOR THE F WORD’ »

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This post was taken on by assignment. Okay, it was self-assignment on the heels of a Facebook discussion. Nonetheless, I made promise to all those involved in the discussion to fix college football with my next Saturday Morning Ramble and here we are. (There were 3 of us, if you count me.)

The issue that launched last Thursday’s round robin of ideas was the University of Central Florida’s victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl and they’re subsequent celebration of National Championship status. The fly in this ointment was a claim to the throne based in simplistic “we beat the team that beat the team” logic. UCF had beaten Auburn, who beat both National Championship Game participants, Alabama and Georgia, during the regular season.

Continue reading ‘FIXIN’ COLLEGE FOOTBALL’ »

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It’s 7am on a Saturday and I’m on my second and a half cup of coffee. Don’t get wrapped up in the coffee math, just trust me. For some reason, I woke up an hour and a half later this morning than my normal 5am eviction from the Land of Nod and I was a little confused as to what day it was. We can blame that on the holidays and the fact that we just returned from a non-weekend getaway to Savannah, and my wife is in the midst of a sporadic work schedule where she works a day and takes a couple off in an effort to use up vacation time before it falls victim to the dreaded end-of-year evaporation. (For The Record, I’ve never understood how vacation schedules work and why the use-them-or-lose-them principle is even an existent thing.)

Continue reading ‘RAISIN D’TIER’ »

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It’s that time of the year when we do things that we wouldn’t normally do, think things that we wouldn’t normally think, and warm up to things that normally wouldn’t move the needle of our emotions as they brush past us during our slice of daily experience. In an effort to keep this from trending into the too-sappy-for-comfort-zone, it’s also the time of the year when some people drink eggnog. (Sorry if that thought just made your tongue ripple as if it’s trying to expel a repulsive taste memory.)

Continue reading ‘THOUGHTS ON BEING CARDED’ »