Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

Since we weren't open today, Julie and I went out for a nice Sunday brunch. A couple of tables over some guy with a loud voice - why do pontificators always have a loud voice? - was sharing his knowledge on everything with the people at his table and everyone else in his half of the restaurant. He started talking about the jewelry business and how there is such a big mark up in jewelry and he knows that jewelers sell things for three times what they paid for them, etc. etc. Hmmm , at the time he said that I was eating an omelet that was $7.50 and drinking a glass of juice that was $1.50 and Julie and I were splitting a large pancake that cost $3.95. The Expert and his crew were eating much the same thing. Lets examine my food. Pancake - 4 bucks! Lets see, what goes into a pancake? Flour, water, some form of fat, egg. So what does the restaurant make on a 4 dollar pancake? Ten times what they paid? Twenty times?? My omelet had 2-3 eggs in it, maybe 1/16 th of an onion, bell pepp...

Okay, over a year ago I decided to subscribe to National Geographic. When I was a kid we read NG every month and my memories were very good. The magazine was mostly what I remembered. Great stories and great pictures. They spend an awful lot of time reporting environmental stories - makes sense. But after a couple of issues I really began to notice the stink when I unwrapped each edition as it was delivered to the house (it came in a plastic wrapper). Wow - the smell of the NON-SOY ink was overpowering, especially for the first hour or two. Wait a minute - all the eco-friendly stuff I have ever read about ink pointed to soy inks as the answer. Not petroleum based, renewable resource, less toxic, etc. etc. So why is NG using the old stinky, polluting petroleum based ink? Wrote to them. They emailed back that soy ink did not work well for them and they felt it was lessen the visual impact of their pictures. Hmmm, I am supposed to do whatever I can to help the environment and NG is not wi...

I realize this is NOT a Consumers Report-esque blog, but let me tell why I think you ought to skip the purchase of an Orek vacuum. Abour 4 years ago we needed a new vac and Julie had seen all the ads about the Orek - she liked that it was lightweight when she went to a nearby showroom to try one out. We bought one and figured it was doing a good job. Let me mention that we have one cat and one small dog. Our dog is a beagle-mix and is very generous about letting her fine little hairs fall all over - she sheds. We live in a country setting, so it is fairly safe to say that dirt gets tracked into the house. On the other hand, all the kids are gone so the house is home to Julie and I and the cat & dog, not a mob scene by any stretch. Fast forward to two days ago - we decided to use the Orek at our store full time and Julie bought a new vacuum for the house. She spent $170 on a Bissel. The Bissel promotes itself as being "a magnet for pet hair" and is one of those bagless vac...

Boy I hope Hillary gets defeated in TX and OH today and that maybe she will fold up her tent and go home. Do I want her out of the race because she is a woman? Nope. The Clintons had their chance to run the country and we need someone new. I am not ready for another 4 or 8 years with Bill in my grille on a daily basis. She is a powerful, determined woman, but I don't have any problem with that - I just want someone new in the White House, gender notwithstanding.

Boy I get tired of reading/hearing about race every time there is coverage on candidate Obama. Wonder how he feels about it? One of the most fired up Obama proponents I know doesn't give a hoot about his race. My dad has read two books about Obama - and he is excited about the man because of his ideas and the direction he wants to take the country. My dad is an 81 year old white man who didn't get to vote for his favorite candidate in the Michigan primary because Obama was not on the ballot here because MI democrats disobeyed the National Party. So, how does an 81 year old white male fit into the picture? His support for Obama has nothing to do with the color of his skin and something tells me there are a few million others out there just like my dad.

Last night I interviewed a basketball playing junior - her name is Tasha. The team Tasha plays for is not experiencing much besides the "agony of defeat" this season. As of this writing they are 1-12 (one win, twelve losses). Tasha's coach related to me that she had given the girls on the team a little talk after the Holiday break. She told them that she really needed some of them to make an extra effort to step up and help create a positive atmosphere in practice and at games - even if the team was not doing well. Tasha heard the word and responded at the very next practice. She started giving words of encouragement to her teammates and helping other players. During a game against an undefeated team she led the team in points, steals, and in assists and helped everyone play their best to the final buzzer even though they lost by 18 points. When I asked her about it, Tasha summed up her transformation with these words. “I hate it when I feel like I am not doing my best,” ...

Nope, didn't vote today in the Michigan primary. I do not agree with the policy that we have to declare our party preference in order to obtain a ballot and that if we declare ourselves to be a donkey or a elephant we limit our choice to that party. Michigan moved its primary date up - you know so we could get all kinds of national attention and vacationers/media/candidates all coming here to enjoy January in Michigan (ha!). The donkey party demanded that MI not do that. Michigan legislators ignored the demands of the dems and as a result several of the democrat candidates had themselves taken off the ballot. So we have imcomplete ballots AND we have to declare our party preference. No thank you. Oh, did I mention that this total waste of time is going to cost Michigan a minimum of 10 million dollars that we DO NOT HAVE? Bring on the $10k a year, part-time legislature PLEASE. Vote the bums out and lets get some people in there who listen to their constituents.