SELF PROMOTION AT ITS WORST

I have for about a year and a half been doing a semi-monthly column in the local Suburban Journal called "A Boomer's Journal". It has been great fun, and has allowed me to basically wander about through my mind for topics that are near and dear.
So I blatantly invite you to find it on the "stltoday.com" website, the official site of the ST. Louis Post-Dispatch, the owner of the Journals, who are in turn owned by Lee Enterprises of Iowa...(weren't monopolies outlawed some years ago.....?). Go to Neighborhoods and then click on any of the North Journals and look for "Baby Boomer".
Let me know on this site if you see anything you like.....

SIMPLIFY

With the coming of Christmas, the tendency is to begin to get everything in order. You know, decorate the house, put up the lights, buy gifts ( I love the line when a gift is purchased..."well, we got so and so out of the way..."). Stress and anxiety are high, and this is just not what it should be. What we all need to do is to Simplify.
Take it easy on the holiday parties... so what if cards aren't sent out...cut back on the gifts.... make your presence more important than your presents. Show love in a way other than through what you get for someone.
Now this is not to say that we should forego the trappings of the time. Especially if you have little kids, Christmas is a big deal and memories should be made. But don't let yourself get upset if the item you feel will tell your loved one that he or she is special is out of your price range. You are just the right price...and more valuable than any "early-bird special bargain at the greatest sale of the year."
In a book called "The Little Prince", there is a quote....."what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Remember this during this time when we should be celebrating the birth of The Child.

TURKEY DAY 2005

We hosted the wife's family for the T day dinner....lots of laughing, singing, imbibing, and love....Jill is one of 9, and they were all in attendance with their corresponding kids, kids spouses, our kids and their families...and one great-grampa...my mom, who has been in poor health, chose to stay home..probably a wise move, since it was raucous. A note of sadness...three years ago today the matriarch of the family died of heart failure, after fighting a weak heart for years...she is missed today as much as she was then, maybe even more so...she loved Thanksgiving and seeing all the kids and grandkids wreak havoc....her dressing is probably the single most delicious dressing ever concocted....a little gravy, some pepper......perfection on a plate.
We love you, Joanie....

OK...NOW ITS SAFE TO WATCH....

After over a year since the heartbreak, I finally watched "Fever Pitch", the story of the Red Sox reversing the curse. And in a way, I wish I could have enjoyed it when it happened, since it really was a miraculous sports moment. They were down 3 games to none and in their last chance in the ninth, when they strung 4 straight wins against all odds and against their arch-rivals....the momentum carrying over to our own Cardinals, and.....well, another sweep. The movie mercifully only touched on the World Series in St. Louis....the real story was about a baseball nut and his love for a woman. As a film, it was just so-so....as a piece of sports history, it made me realize that, yeah, the Sawks really deserved to be champs...as much as I hated to believe it for so long.
Next year I will enjoy the game more for what it is.....win or lose.

THAT'S A WINNER!

Well, it looks like the baseball gods smiled on St. Louis as Albert Pujols won the National League Most Valuable Player award this week. It is more than coincidental that the day he was announced was the Catholic feast day of St. Albert the Great. How can you add to that piece of irony? Pujols was clearly deserving, as he has been for several years, only to have been beaten out of the honor by (who every right-thinking person knows is) a cheater...Mr. Bonds from the Giants.
Justice wins out at last.

DANG...LOST AGAIN

I just saw that People magazine named someone else "sexiest man alive"....and once more, they pass me by....oh well, as the Cubs and the Blues (and the Democrats) say....there's always next year.

HERE COME THE HOLIDAYS

Looks like we are having Thanksgiving for my wifes family...it will be joyful mayhem...lots of unbelievable food and much wine and Anheuser-Busch products will be consumed...the turkey is almost an afterthought....enough little ones running and screaming to make it wild....although more and more, teens and young adults are our children now...still, Jack Daniels and I will get reacquainted, much like Clark Griswolds dad did...hope yours is as nutty-fun as ours will be.

CRUEL SOCCER CONTINUED...

Trinity Catholic High School lost 1-0 on a weak first half goal yesterday. But if you don't score, you can't win....and with a healthy wind the first half, I thought the kids should have shot more.....seems todays boys want to walk it into the net...oh well, takes a lot to get to the state finals, and congrats to them for that.
Sunday it is....a time for Mass and family...except some bozo plunked my mailbox last night and I have to get it straightend out. Remember the TV show MacGiver? .........the one where he used miscellaneous stuff to fashion ways out of trouble? Time for me to jump into "Mac mode"....
Have a great week....someone once said that if we could all make Monday our favorite day of the week instead of Friday, that life would take on a much more positive tone....as for me, I'm still working on it............

SOCCER IS A CRUEL GAME

We saw our wonderful nephew lose his game in the Atlantic 10 soccer conference on penalty kicks. PENALTY KICKS....................AN AWFUL WAY TO END A SOCCER GAME!!!!!
Both teams played well, but SLU got a lucky goal, while Dayton hit the cross bar once and had a goal in the second half called back due to offsides. Oh well, sometimes I hate that game as much as I love it................The game was marred by some hoolligan-like tactics by SLU... somehow I expected better from a team ranked nationally, but Dayton's kids really took it to them.............One more game today, as daughters high school team plays for the championship at what I still call Soccer Park in Fenton....

BACK IN THE HUNT

Last visit I was hoping for the Cardinals to go on....alas, they did not, but I did. It's been busy, with grandkids in the house and school and daughter in cheerleading. In St. Louis, we are now in the finals of soccer competition, always a big deal in this town. Our daughters high school is in their final four, our nephew is in Division 1 college soccer tournament at St. Louis U. Crisp air and the excitement of excellent soccer. If you don't like the game, I can't help you....If you do,this is as good as it gets...........