This Just In

All the news you need to know or not!

1.A woman was arrested in a high speed chase in the Poway area. When finally stopped after crashing into some rocks. She was only wearing underwear. Police arrested her for suspicion of driving under the influence. I hope she paid attention to her mom about the clean underwear thingy.

Ya think????

2.Mariano Rivera Bobblehead  train transporting them to NewYork had mechanical problems and the delivery truck broke down on the way to the ballpark, leaving thousands of fans waiting in line through the fourth inning with many still not getting a Bobblehead. BTW Yankees lost 7-0.

Do you think there was any swearing involved?

3.Pope Francis excommunicates Austrailion priest for advocating women rights as clergy and homosexuality. The letter of excommunication was written in Latin.

So much for the modern-church! Latin?????

4. Apple maps gives directions the Fairbanks airport by cutting across a runway.

This is only a problem if the driver does not recognize it as a runway. Let's hope it's not an indication of Apple losing its edge and driving off a cliff by mistake. 

5. OJ caught in a crime in Nevada prison theft. He was stealing cookies from the cafeteria.

No wonder he's getting fat.

6. Cam Newton of Carolina Panthers was fined $10,000 for violating dress rules of the NFL.You may remember he was fined for a non- regulation T-shirt. Seems he had an Under Armour logo clip on his helmet.

Trouble maker. Next thing you know he'll be wearing his Jersey to a strip club. Another violation.

7. It is legal for a blind person to buy a gun in Iowa.

Talk about not being able to hit the broad side of a barn

Have a nice day!

Saumy Carl

This Just In!

All the news you need to know, or not.

1. Marijuana themed restaurant rejected by Paciific Beach.

Imagine that.

2. Minnesota High School typos the cover of class year book. Moorehead instead of Morehead.

Great editing and attention to detail. Can't wait to get you in the workforce.

3. Selena Gomez wears impossibly short shorts reports the Huffington Post.

Not possible.

4. Apple will now offer a male voiced Suri.

She never did listen.

5. The other day I overheard a woman using voice Google, saying "Restaurants in Little Italy." Then she mentioned that all the restaurants were Italian. She was looking for non-Italian restaurant.

I'll be damned.

6. Marlboro Man becomes Metro-sexual with artificial cigarettes.

7. Old news. Congress to vote on Syria after they get back from vacation.

Lucky for them the vote was put on hold, by none other than Mr.Putin.

8. Miley Cyrus!

Nuff said.

9. Announcement from a good friend from the extreme left about the next meeting agenda for her Pax Salon group. "We have the pleasure of guest xxxxx ,who (before he dropped out) the Green Party candidate for Mayor ofSt. Paul. His topic will be curbside composting.

I'm sure there will be a big turnout. Next week; Growning pot in a pot and tree hugging when your arms are too short.

10. I heard the other day, if you put Preparation- H on your saggy skin under your eyes, it tightens the skin and makes you look younger.

Might work, but gives a whole new meaning to the word "butt-face".

That's all the news you need to know, until next time. Now you know it.

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl.

Catch and Release!

I earned enough money in my career to have comfortable financial security. As a young manager, I was underpaid. As I grew in my job responsibilities and finished out my business career, I was overpaid. In the end it all evened out. I achieved much more than I ever dreamed possible. I am the most blessed man in the world, and more importantly, I know it.

Although some might not believe me, money was never that important to me.  Financial security was always my goal. Just enough to eliminate the fear of a big bad wolf knocking on my door in old age. I provided well for my family and lived comfortably, but I didn't need money to be happy. Money was merely the score card. Living within the Golden Mean was my personal lifestyle. I think of myself as a giver. Midwestern roots and my parent's example were always at my core. Humility is a virtue. I have known several very rich people in my life. The good ones never forgot where they came from. The not so good ones flaunted their wealth, and tried to hide where they came from. I often wonder at the amount of money some people make and still want more. How much is enough?

I have enough money to pretty much buy whatever I want. But I don't want it if I don't need it. Today, I pretty much live my life as a minimalist. I live within my modest pensions, but the money I have put away saves me from unexpected emergencies. I have no physical assets, except a seven year old Camry and my clothes. My one luxury I have is that my back door opens to the Pacific Ocean and the beach. Coronado is always where I wanted to be from the moment I set foot on this island Nirvana on earth. I am comfortable and I am blessed. I have enough. I need no more.

Maslov's Heirarchy of Needs starts with filling the basic needs of life, food and shelter. Hopefully, you progress filling each level of needs until you get to the top of life. At this pinnacle is the need to reach a point of self-accualization and self-realization. It is an understanding of what you and your life has been about. There is no money involved. I like to think reaching this pinnacle is my greatest accomplishment in life. I realize I have been truly blessed. I know who I am.

When I first arrived in Coronado, January 6, 1960 to begin my adult life, I had an education, a job and clothes. I didn't own a car. When I leave, I will pretty much be the same person, looking forward to rewards ahead. Today, I look across the bay from my bedroom window, and I see where I began. I will go out where I began. Most of my life's accumulated money will go to establish two scholarship funds in honor of my son and my nephew, who passed away at too early an age and my parents. I am paying it forward in the hope it will affect a young person's future, and they will be as blessed, as I have been.

In the end, I caught the money, and it was fun, but it is more fun to release it to live on, helping someone else.

Life is good, the future is better!

Have a nice day!

Sammy

Where Were You?

Today is one of those dates that is tattooed in our national conscience. There will be many stories told in honor of this day of American tragedy. It has its own brand name. 9/11, and you need to say no more. Your mind will flashback to that awful unbelievable day. It changed America for ever.

Everyone who was old enough to witness it will have a flashback. Kids, who were too young to remember, are now in there teens. They know the tragedy, but they did not see it. Today the question will be asked, "Where were you when you first heard about it ?" Everyone will recall exactly where they were and what they were doing and what they did for the rest of the day.

Another tragedy in our history was November 23, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It's a day where I remember exactly where I was. I was working in a restaurant in West LA. We were getting ready to open for lunch. I was walking towards the bar and a cook came out and said the president had been shot. If I were there today, I could point to the exact spot I was standing when I heard the news. I remember the rest of the day. People came into the restaurant for lunch. In some cases I told the guests what happened for the first time. The rest of the afternoon the people just stayed  at their tables talking. I'm sure, just as I do, those people remember the place where they heard the news.

I woke up at about 8:45 to a beautiful September morning in Minnesota. As was my habit, I turned on the bedroom TV. The first plane had hit the tower. It was still being reported as a small plane crashing into the World Trade Center. As I watched, I saw a huge ball of flames from a second explosion blow through the second tower. What is happening? The news started reporting the fact that they were large commercial jets. Then came the report of the pentagon. What is happening? Then the report of the plane crash in Pennsylvania. What is happening? I even ask myself if these events were coincidence because the events were so unbelievable. For the rest of the day Americans were glued to the TV wondering that same question, as never ending images of tradgedy flashed before our unbelieving eyes. Then America witnessed the crumbling of the very symbols of NYC itself. They were gone in a heap of tangled ruble in seconds. People, white with ash, were running down the street for their lives. If it had been a movie, this super special effect would have been hard to believe.

One of the images of the many that remains in my mind from that day is when all aircraft in the air were ordered to land. There is a map somewhere in the United States that shows a bright dot for every plane in the sky. I watched my TV screen, as one by one their lights disappeared until America was dark. It was truly a dark dark day in the lives of everyone, except for the bastards who did it in the name of Allah.

So that was my day, 9/11 2001. I look forward to reading and hearing all the stories that will be told today about this day of a number and what they were doing. What we do know is America lives on with the resilience that is our DNA.

RIP for those who died that day, including a little piece of America.

We will ever forget. God Bless America!

Sam

Mark Angel in the Sky!

Wispy and white in the sky so blue
Was an angel I thought that I knew.
Could this be my Marky just floating by
Checking on his old dad from the sky?
The warmth of the sun is taking you away.
Oh how I wish you could stay.
I miss you every day, but what can I do?
Look to the sky for the next time you are in the blue.
Good to see you my son.

Love,

Dad

The New Math in College Football!

While we are on the subject of colleges, I'd like to add a few thoughts about the Big Ten Conferance. First of all next year there will be 14 teams in the "Big Ten". What's wrong with this picture. Is this the math being taught now? The only number that makes sense is the money they anticipate from TV revenues. It's all about the money, but we knew that.

Every conference has realigned with new members, while original members join new conferences. The New Big East was formed in which half of the conference was in the West, but now it has been realigned a second time within a year, dropping football as a "sponsored sport". Teams in the West are no longer in the East? However there are only three of ten member schools in the New New Big East Conference that are actually in what most consider the Eastern states. The most Western school in the Big East is Creighton, which is in Omaha. Confused yet??

Now to get back to my conference, the Big 10 going on fourteen. I'm a traditionalist, as are most old guys. The traditional Big 10 was rough and rugged, good old Midwestern toughness and values. Many were and are land grant colleges. Land grant colleges were formed when the government allocated land to build colleges as training grounds for a practical usable education. Many we're originally called "Agriculture and Applied Science". Actually In the fifties, the Big Ten had only nine schools. Michigan State was added as the tenth member, replacing the University of Chicago, who had dropped out a few years before. Penn State was added a few years ago. That made some sense because Michigan State and Penn State were the first Land Grant colleges and Penn State fit the profile of the other Big Ten schools. But now its the Big Ten with eleven members. Then they added Nebraska. That makes some sense, because Nebraska is next to Iowa???? Now it's a twelve team Big Ten.

Wait a minute, in 2014 Rutgers and Maryland will be joining the Big Ten, making it a fourteen team league. The Athletic Director at Michigan SState stated at an IMG conference that the Big Ten could expand to a sixteen team conference. He said a fourteen team conference is hard to schedule and align. The Eastern and Western Conference of the Big Ten will be organized around time zones. Huh??. What happened to traditional rivalries. The Big Ten has always wanted Notre Dame in the conference, after all Notre Dame has long rivalries with Big Ten Schools. I think Notre Dame is smart avoiding conference membership, at least for now. They make enough money on their own.

I don't know what I have accomplished here. They more I write about the more
I confuse myself. Let"s just say the college football is not about tradition anymore. It's the way of the world, old man. Get used to it.

I think I'll take a nap!

Have a Nice Day!

Sammy

GO RIGHT THROUGH THAT LINE OF BLUE, BITCHES!

For those who are Spartans. the rest of you may leave.
Go right through that line of blue were the original words to the MSU Fight Song.  It was later changed to, Go right through for MSU.  How wimpy.  It should have never been changed.

Michigan State University began as an idea that the future of the State of Michigan depended on the education of its farmers in the science of agriculture.  Farms out east were dying for lack of knowledge about soil fertility.  And out west, gold was discovered, and it was feared that the young men of Michigan might abandon their farms for California.  A firm grasp of agriculture, engineering, and the natural sciences was essential for farming success, but no other college taught it. The college’s very reason for being was to give everyday working people the opportunity to participate in an educational experience that could be applied to their everyday lives and, hopefully, make them better..  Michigan State has always celebrated people who got their hands dirty.

Michigan State’s rivalry with the University of Michigan is not simply one of those silly, but serious rivalries created on athletic fields.  The University of Michigan opposed to the foundation of the College of Agriculture (MAC) from the start.  It argued publicly that the college was a failure and disappointment.  They urged that the new school be joined to THE university and use the buildings for a reformatory school.  How quaint and how arrogant, but typical of some of the attitudes down the road.

The University of Michigan is a first class institution with a first class national reputation.  The people of State of Michigan, its students and alumni have a right to be very proud of this status.  It is also an elitist school, except in its recruitment of athletes of course, just like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Brown, Georgetown etc.  Elitist schools by definition consider themselves to be better than anybody else, whether they are or not.  Academic excellence does not necessarily guarantee success.  It is a combination of academics and individual internal drive that ultimately determines success.  The first president of the Agricultural School of the State of Michigan (MSU), said about the school, “Good enough for the proudest, cheap enough for the poorest.”  I don’t know if it’s the cheapest, but it is certainly good enough for the proudest.  I am very proud of where I went to college.

I always laugh when I think back to Bill Clinton’s statement about the cabinet he would form.  “It will look a lot like America,” he stated.  Of course his definition of how America looked was that we were all millionaires who went to an eastern liberal elitist institutions.  It represents the arrogance of “The best and the brightest.”  “We will decide what is best for the masses, who are not as smart or as well educated as we.” 

Michigan State was known as “a Cow College” and “Moo U” by the folks down the road in Ann Arbor.  So what?  That was the basic premise on which it was originally founded.  Serving a need is critical for survival, whether it is a business or an educational institution.  You can’t forget your heritage or your customers.

Michigan State struggled to survive, and it did, beyond what the founders could possibly envision.  MSU may always be viewed as second class citizens by the folks in Ann Arbor, but that’s what makes Michigan State better.  We don’t care.  We like being the underdog -- underdogs have to work harder to succeed.  We just keep going and growing.  It builds character.

Land-grant institutions were created to be concerned about providing access to knowledge to broad segments of the population and to conduct primary research.  Comprehensive teaching and research.  Broad access is not, however, a reason to lower expectations of a university or its students.  Broad access offers an opportunity to blend a quality education with a broader qualified base of the population.  To me this is the very basis for education in America.  Educating a broad base of the population is not to be accomplished by a dumbing down process where the lowest common denominator determines the scholastic level of its students.  There is a place that fits everybody who desires an education beyond high school.  Everyone is equal in the eyes of God, but he did not make everybody handsome nor equal in every ability,.  This is a core value of education that all colleges and universities and their faculty and students need to keep in mind.  Helping people to reach their full potential is the primary goal of any educational institution.  Michigan State does that well.  Its made up of real people who work hard.

John Hannah, the president of Michigan State, who in my opinion and in the opinion of others contributed the most to making Michigan State what it is today, liked to say “Only people matter”.  Spartans represent the spectrum of society from all over the world.  There is a place for the super student and the student who struggles with academics, but succeeds because he or she has a will to succeed..  Thanks to the creative leadership of President John Hannah in the fifties and sixties, Michigan State became a broad based first class educational institution.  From MAC to MSU in a hundred years.

Somewhere in the eighties, primary research seemed to take the front seat in many institutions of higher learning.  Michigan State was no exception.  Research and serving the students got out of balance.  However, today Michigan State has reasserted the Guiding Principles of MSU’s special parentage as a research-intensive land-grant university where people matter.  The strength of the university is the ability to blend research-active faculty and student focused-orientations.

Today, although it is a full-fledged multi-discipline university with an excellent reputation as an institution, it never quite moved away from its grounding in the work ethic and serving ordinary citizens.

MSU, we love thy shadows.

Seeing Red!

My late nephew, Jeff, was blind the last few years of his life. He died from a brain tumor that was with him most of his life, and finally got ahead of the treatment. He started to lose his sight about ten years ago. Two brain surgeries and years of chemo couldn't ultimetely contain it. In their attempt to get the tumor they took his optic nerves. Jeff was a brave young man who always kept his sense of humor. He worked for the Universityo of Arizona Athletic Department in group sales, a job loved. He worked until he could no longer work.

On a trip to Tucson, Jeff took me to SAAVI, the social service for the blind. It was there I was introduced to his counselor. She was a pretty young woman, who was blind from birth. She lived on her own with her guide dog and eventually got married. Certainly an example of a good person living a full life without sight.

Jeff, lived most of his life with sight. He knew what color was. He knew the red of a rose and the colors of a rainbow. He could always see and remember color in the rear view of his mind's eye. His counselor could not. How do you describe color to a person who has never seen or experienced color? How do you describe a red fire truck, or one of those stupid yellow ones to a person who has never seen red or yellow? They can touch the shape, but there is no shape or touch to color. How do you describe the colors of the rainbow? Color surrounds us every day of our lives. It lives on in those who became blind after seeing. Don't miss the color of your life. We are blessed.

Have a nice day!

Sam

Observation of the Day!

There is dignity in all work. Just do it!

Happy Labor Day!

Sammy Carl