Life's little reminders

I was born in a small Michigan town. I lived there until I was around six. For a number of years after our family moved away we would visit our Michigan family a few times a year.

Essentially, I have a number of cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, etc... etc that I grew up with that I haven't seen in a couple of decades at least.

One of the wonderful things about Facebook is that I have been able to reconnect with a number of old classmates and family members.

In the last six months, I have found out that the world really can be a small place sometimes.  I find it amazing one of my cousins actually lives within 30 miles of me and has for a number of years.

It was around Christmas that we discovered how close we live to each other.

Cousin Martha and I have chatted online a few time and we have talked on the phone and have discussed meeting each other a building a relationship again. I really would like to do that but since I am a natural procrastinator I have put it off.

There are times when life shows you that putting things off is not a good thing to do.

A couple days ago I found out that another cousin that I had reconnected with through Facebook had died.

Cousin Charles posted messages on Facebook pretty much on a daily basis and I had begun to look forward to his postings.I especially looked forward to his postings about his beloved Detroit Tigers and I had hope to follow his postings throughout the season.

It's sad to hear of someones passing but it is good to be reminded that there will come a day when there will be no tomorrow on this earth.

Be sure to take care of the important things while you here.

And always remember to tell and show your loved ones that you truly do love them; while your still able to.

An umpire suspended FINALLY!

One of the basic life lessons that I believe is that one way or another you are accountable for you actions.

I truly believe that if I do a wrong thing I will get bad results. Basically, you get what you deserve.

I have been following Major League Baseball since around 1974.  In all these years I only have a vague memory of an umpire being suspended once before.

I have tried looking for a previous umpire suspension but, as of now, I have been unable to do so.

The main point I want to make is that umpires never seem to really be held accountable for their actions.

I have read and heard that every umpire is monitored and graded on their performance. But I have never understood why their grades and performance levels are not ever revealed. I understand that MLB wants the umpire's images to be one of total competence and authoritative. But if player's faults are consistently exposed why should the umpires receive the same treatment?


But it has been obvious on numerous occasions that certain umpires feel the need to be part of the entertainment.

Bob Davidson, the umpire who was suspended today, and "Cowboy" Joe West are the two biggest "offenders" currently in MLB.  I remember a couple of games where Mr West seemed to be looking to get into arguments with managers and players.

While I am on the subject of umpiring:  Why doesn't MLB enforce a standard strike zone?  There is supposed to be a strike zone from the lettering on the chest down to a players knees and only as wide as the plate. It has been my understanding that each umpire should be enforcing that strike zone and be consistent on every pitch.

That is my personal biggest complaint about the umpiring in the game today.  Personally I think MLB need to do a weekly review of what the strike zone is supposed to be with EVERY umpire and the ones who are the most inconsistent should be sent back to the minors until they consistently call the correct strike zone.

For the record I absolutely do not like official replays in any sport. Just play the game, accidents happen.

Can an older dog change his thinking.

I haven't written in a while because I was frustrated by the lack of feedback from those who were reading what I wrote.

I had started writing in the hopes that I would "meet"  new people and hopefully hear different viewpoints.

So far that hasn't really happened.

But I realize that for me writing is a healthy way for me to express myself and I think it helps me to think more logically and get my thoughts and ideas in order.

I have made enough mistakes, done things that have left me with bad credit and built up a huge enough student loan that I will probably never come close to paying off. I have messed up my life bad enough that I live off the government. I'm not proud of it and I never envisioned things being this way.

I am the result of what happens when you have no goals, no real aspirations and didn't care about what I should have cared about.

I have lived 20+ years by myself and for the most part I enjoyed living alone.

Recently, I had a good friend come back into my life.  She's in her late 20's with a 3 year old son. Her situation was so bad that it was either have her go to a shelter or stay with me.  There was no way that I was going to have her stay in a shelter. She's a really good person with a great heart and is full of life.

She has been here almost 3 weeks now and I have thoroughly enjoyed have her here and I really want her to stay.Since leaving my parent's home at 18 I have not had many living situations that felt like I was with family.  The last time I believe I felt this way was in the first year of my five year marriage.

On the few occasions I have had someone stay with me for a little while I have regretted it after a few days. In almost weeks I have really enjoyed have Amanda here and she has helped my life be a lot better by helping me around the apartment.

The problem is that there have been two instances that were not Amanda's fault that have irked the manager off to the point she wants Amanda to leave.

For a few days we let another friend stay here and that was a huge disaster. Dumb move on my part. One of the days the friend stayed her she got Amanda's car keys and moved the car by the pool and turned the music up.  By all accounts the neighbors saw Amanda's friend drive the car to the pool and Amanda moved the car as soon as she knew what was happening.

The second incident was all my fault. I received the notice from the landlord that the parking lots were going to be repaved and that all cars had to be moved at 8 am. I forgot to tell Amanda that and so she didn't move the car a didn't answer the door when the landlord knocked because she thought it was her friend trying to get back in the apartment.  If I had told her to move her car that wouldn't have happened.

Originally, I had wanted Amanda to stay as long as it takes for her to get back on her feet. And we told the manager that Amanda was just was waiting for her apartment to be ready because we figured that would buy some time. I have reason to believe the manager will ask her to leave tomorrow.

I don't want Amanda to leave at all. She and her son have helped me mentally, physically and emotionally. There have been plenty of moments where it has felt like having a family of my own. And this situation may be the only way that I will have to feel like I have a family of my own.

I want to be there for her as she gets her life together. I want to see her son, Wyatt grow up and see what kind of person he will become.  I would like to have some influence in his life and I would like to be a positive role model in his life.

I want to experience the closest thing to a daily family life that I will probably ever have available to me. I want to have a life with people I truly love and care about.

I want to learn how to live and care about something other than just me.