What a voice

Over 35 million viewers have seen this YouTube video of Susan Boyle but she is one of my favorite singers of the decade. I am passing on this link to a remarkable short video so that everyone can enjoy ( or re-enjoy) the moment. I bought several copies of her first CD in early December and sent them to each of my children and a couple of close friends. Ms. Boyle is currently touring Japan where I am sure she will be well received.
(This is from my blog.)

Looking back and forward

To say that 2009 was a tumultuous, momentous year for all of us is somehow not enough to describe how we are as we enter the second decade of the 21st century. Some good things happened in 2009, on a personal and family level and on a collective level with our fellow residents on this planet. Our family was accident free throughout the year, albeit we had our share of visits to doctors and hospitals. We are healthy and alive going into 2010, although the Matriarch resides in Skilled Nursing. We had some unemployment but this has been corrected as the year comes to an end. We had a small amount of success with investments, managing our money and meeting high costs in a tough economic year. The young people have done well in school and are growing in wonderful ways. We intensified friendships and fought off loneliness and discouragement; we have bright hopes for the future. Our search for pleasure and entertainment was satiated through good movies, TV and books, as well as associations with friends in group meetings, social settings and visits to local sites. We had some wins and losses in sports but we convince (or delude) ourselves 2010 will somehow be better. It is called living the dream. After all it took 85 years to win another World Series in Boston!
For our country, we inaugurated a new President and handed him a plate full of problems and opportunities. All things considered he has done well and his team steered the country through rough financial waters; the economy is picking up. The good people in the land have risen to the occasion and the naysayers have not carried the day. The nation remains at war in lands far away from our shores and thousands of brave men and women are out there defending us here at home. If there is a discordant note it is that these men and women are bearing the sacrifice, while at home we refuse to impose a war tax which would share the burden and reduce the debt. The New Year will see improvements in health care for most Americans; we cannot predict the final costs in terms of dollars but somehow Americans will muddle through. For more than two centuries “ican” has been a part of Americans.
In our state and local communities we face tough times and tough choices. Again, the resilience of our people will stand us in good stead. Major breakthroughs in job creation are already announced and spirits are on the rise. Practically everywhere men, women and children, are optimistic and looking forward to personal and collective opportunities and growth.
It is a good time to be alive in our family, in our country and in South Carolina.

They are at it again....

The prophets of doom and gloom who delight in knocking Congress and irritating the old people are out and about this Christmas season spreading lies and damn lies. The latest comes in an e-mail message, where the originator's identify has been stripped, claiming that the U.S. House and Senate have voted themselves thousand dollar pay increases for 2010 and social security recipients will not be getting a token cost of living increase. Furthermore, these false prophets said Medicare is going to $142.80 next year (currently $96.50).
I get so tired of this elder abuse so I checked this out. I went to Factcheck.com and learned "this claim is so far off the mark that it simply beggars belief. The claim is false. The fact is that Congress voted in March to give itself a zero pay raise in 2010. The language is in Public Law 111-8, the Omnibus Appropriation Act for the current fiscal year, which was signed March 11. Tucked away at the very end of the 466-page spending bill is the following language:

"It says quite simply that the automatic cost-of-living increase that might have gone into effect for members of the House and Senate in January "shall not take effect."

As to Medicare, I got a notice last week about my social security benefits for 2010 and it does not show any increase in Medicare costs for either my wife or myself.

I am off Twizzlers forever

I am thinking I should stay away from red licorice in the evening. Last night I had dinner in the Franke Bistro with a neighbor and her grand-daughter. It was a pleasant event as the grand lived in Geneva, New York, where I spent 1951-1953 while I was stationed at Sampson AFB. Later I watched the Dallas-New Orleans game and came away grateful that I am not into sports betting as I would have lost my shirt. Who thought Dallas, with several recent years of meltdowns in December, would beat New Orleans which was trying to go 14-0? During the game I chewed on three strawberry twists (red licorice sticks) and judging by the dream I had later I wonder if they were laced with LSD or did I pick up a package of peyote at the local grocers? You know what peyote is? That's what Tonto used to chew at night when he sat around the campfire drying the Long Ranger's underwear by hanging it on a stick over the campfire. When Tonto took an early retirement buyout and social security, he told Johnny Carson that after 30 years of cooking meals and washing the masked man's underwear he had enough. But I digress. Back to the dream. I was somewhere about 30 miles North of Charleston with my Lincoln Towncar. Some big bozo in a leather jacket was driving. I know not why. We were stopped and I was standing outside the car. A woman friend was there, but she eventually disappeared. A young woman dressed in yellow and nursing a baby came up to me and asked for a ride to Belvedere Court in a city where I used to live. I stared at her for a minute and saw she had a big clear plastic bag tied around her neck and draped over her breasts. It was full of milk and had a big nipple in the center of it. This is where the baby nursed. I wondered if she had any breasts but she and my lady friend told me this was the new age. Mothers pumped milk from their breasts and stored it in a bag so the baby could be nursed on its schedule without inconveniencing mom. I asked: "Where is this baby's father?" "He is in Iraq." "What is he doing there?" "He is in the army." "Ours or theirs?" I will pay you for the ride she said, and I said get in the car. I opened the back door and my oldest daughter was sitting there not saying a word. About this time my woman friend disappeared and a heavy set young lady showed up in the dream. She also wanted a ride. The car is big but this strange and large guy was under the wheel and I was taking the up front passenger seat. There is not a lot of room left I said. The heavy set girl started to cry so I told her to go around the other side and get in the back. So there we were going down the road. We were getting low on gas but I said we had enough. The next thing I woke up on a bed in the room I slept in as a young boy. The bozo was on the bed next to me sleeping. I don't know where my daughter, the nursing mother, the child, and the fat young lady were. The bozo woke up, embraced me and wanted to give me some investing advice; he was against a couple of Charleston investments I was considering. I shoved him away and told him to get off the bed. Then the early morning light was coming through the wooden venetian blinds in my room. That's when I decided no more Twizzlers (red licorice) in the evening.

Thanks for your prayers

Last night I had a discussion with The Big Guy. He came to me as I was dropping off to sleep and he sure was crabby. He called me a schmuck and asked, “What’s the matter with you?” And he didn’t give me a chance to respond before he continued. “All day long I’ve been bombarded with prayers, incantations, begging, beseeching, pestering, and soliciting - all up and down the east coast from Florida to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I even heard from your sister in California. Some people in Northern Virginia took time away from their national security work to put in a good word for you. And then it picked up in Myrtle Beach and Mt. Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant alone was enough to cause a near meltdown in the heavenly computer center. All kinds of people who live near you, a lot of women and some men, children, black and white, all on my case on your behalf. Active and retired Lutheran ministers (and by the way I had you in the Roman Catholic catalog) got into it. Around noon Matthew came to see me. He was acting for Luke who is off in Brussels with those Microsoft people celebrating the European Union dropping the browser monopoly charges that have been on the front burner for a couple of years. I put Luke in charge of information technology because he is the best educated of the apostles. He was a doctor and historian, as I hope you remember from your bible study classes. You schmuck. At first I thought it was those other schmucks at Notre dame looking for a coach who could win ten games a year, five years running. I told Matthew I sent them a good Catholic coach from Massachusetts with a sterling record. Then he told me it was you. I was having a latte with Mary Magdalene and we were reminiscing over old times, especially that last supper where she was beside me on my right side at the table. Didn’t I put you and your health problems in one of the best hospitals in the eastern half of the United States? And didn’t I give you a world class surgeon? And then you still have all these people bothering me at the busiest time of the year. Matthew told me that if the pressure did not subside the system would overload and fail. He said that millions of children would not be able to get through with their requests for Christmas. Dreams of toys, dogs and jobs for dad would not be received. We put in a call to Luke and asked him for a recommendation. He said originally the surgeon was going to keep you overnight in the hospital because you got a pacemaker in October and he wanted to keep an eye on you. Luke said this was unnecessary, that your heart was in good shape and we should suggest to the surgeon that he send you home a couple of hours after the surgery. Luke stressed that we should only make this as a suggestion because doctors like to be in charge. Your Guardian Angel told me two of that brood of children you have were on hand to take you home and you would not have to walk from Charleston to Mt. Pleasant, so we planted the ‘send him home’ seed. Unless it is a real emergency I don’t want to hear from you again before Christmas, unless you want to send a “thank you” - that is always in order.”
(This is from my blog at http://archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

How Warren Buffett helped me earn a dollar

About a month ago I turned on my computer early one morning and brought up the Scottrade ticker showing my stock interests. One of my stocks, Burlington Northern railroad, showed a pre-market price $20 higher than the closing a day earlier. (I had a few shores of this because Warren Buffett held a lot of shares). The higher price was a computer glitch, surely, and planned to call the brokerage firm but it was early so I did a news check. To my surprise, Warren Buffett had announced during the night he would buy all of BN that he didn't already own and the stock jumped like it was on steroids. I never had a stock jump $20 in one day. I sold it pre-market, took my profit and said a silent prayer of thanks to the Sage of Omaha. All of this only heightened the interest I had in a lengthy Wall Street Journal story today about Mr. Buffett. Mr. Buffett said, among other things, that in this past year of investing dangerously he had looked "into the abyss," and some of the best decisions he made were deals he didn't do. The small investor (and I am minuscule dabbler: i.e. smaller than small) can't touch a share of Mr. Buffett's stock ($99,000 per share for Class A and $3300 a share Class B) but you can look at him from time to time and smile when he does something that puts money in your pocket.
(This is from my blog available here.)

Roper ER

December 8, 2009

Administrator
Roper Hospital
316 Calhoun Street
Charleston SC 29401

Dear Sir:

I need to tell you about two of your nurses in the ER, Tiffen and Ashley, who worked as a team yesterday, December 7, 2009. From the moment I reached the ER by ambulance around noon-time I was given first-class treatment by everyone concerned, including Dr. Clarkson, who was as fine a caring doctor as I could hope for. He was not a man in a hurry to the next case. I was his case.

Tiffen and Ashley worked over and on me until after seven in the evening on a painful (not to be helped) and ugly necessary procedure. They never once complained and throughout were solicitous of my well-being. They were highly professional in every sense of the word, and exhibited such personal compassion and empathy toward me that I came home thanking God I had met them. Believe me they are the best ambassadors for Roper and I hope everyone there appreciates what they bring to the table of medicine in your ER. If you need an endorsement of the staff of your ER, I am your man.

Please convey my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone in the ER and especially Dr. Clarkson, Tiffen and Ashley.

Sincerely,

Francis X. Archibald
(This is from my blog (htto://archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

What are we becoming?

It is not enough that we can have pet food delivered to our front door but now we can send postcards from our iPhone and what's even more ridiculous is we can do for free. And if that is not enough my doorbell rings when my coffee maker is finished brewing my morning cup! (LOL).
What has happened to the colossus I grew up in. We went about our business growing peacefully and getting better and stronger all the time. When some SOBs attacked us we went to war and made things right in the world. There was a time when a young President said we will go to the moon in this decade and we did it.
Now look at us. We are sending more of our finest men and women off to fight in a country that is two centuries behind the rest of the world in human progress. They are chasing an enemy that is hard to find and even harder to kill. We are dithering in the congress over providing health care to almost all our citizens because some elected congressmen and senators are more afraid of the health care industry than the voters. We refuse to accept that the earth is warming, the icebergs are melting and alternative (to oil) sources of energy are in the best interests of all Americans and this country. We've got a congress that is so entrenched in all its trappings of comfort that we can't get past party lines and come together for the common good. I have never been in favor of term limits but when I look around at the dithering and procrastination in congress (and in state legislatures) I am coming around to one six year term for senators and one four year term for representatives. No re-elections to worry about, no need to curry favor to raise campaign money, no need to be beholden to the greed of the greediest. I am p....d o...
Damn, postcards from telephones! God almighty, what's next?