What is in a Name?

With the announcement of the name for the Hartford Baseball team as the "Yard Goats", changing from the "Rock Cats", people are taking offense to the name. Really?.....

A Yard Goat is a small locomotive that used to shuttle train cars around the rail yards, today that term is still used for a truck used in trucking terminals for moving trailers around. Sounds hard working, something that gets a job done....Now what exactly is a "Rock Cat"?

When the New Britain team changed their name to the Rock Cats, a lot of people had issues with the change, but it quickly became accepted and now everyone is upset that it is being abandoned.

Let's look at some other minor league and other team names that I find "odd;"

• Williamsport Crosscutters
  
• Albuquerque Isotopes
  
• Medesto Nuts
  
• Lansing Lugnuts
  
• Savanah Sand Gnats
  
• Montgomery Biscuits
  
• UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs
  

and let us not forget the...

• The Toledo Mud Hens.
  

So everyone needs to relax and let it sink in and maybe, just maybe, you will come to like it...

GO YARD GOATS!!!!

More Musings That Come Randomly

So this is my 99th post, meaning that my next will be a milestone. But I will not do the 100th as a post celebrating my 100th. I have been working on several posts, but I have not been happy with the overall writing or having trouble wrapping them up, so hopefully I will figure it all out.

In the meantime here are some musings...

• President Obama is still messing with gas prices, just noticed that the price has fallen a nickel in the past week. 
• The 'stache made a special appearance this past week, and had a great time, and impressed everyone it meet.
• I got to see my daughter start her horse jumping lessons, she has really taken to the sport and has a natural ability for it. Donations are being accepted to help support this endeavor.
• The conservative base in this country continues to boggle my mine. With unsanctioned letters to foreign leaders, accusation of secret emails by Hillary Clinton, to young leaders quitting for "extravagant" spending in decorating their office. 
• The NCAA selection committee is still a mystery, you can be the defending champion and lose in the finals of your conference tournament and still not make the national tournament. Then Yale who has not made the tournament in decades has one decent season in a weak conference and loses their conference tournament final and think they are being unjustly omitted from the national tourney and refuse an invite to the NIT, really?
• The weather in the NE continues to be crazy, going from teens one day to 50s the next, followed by threats of snow. Spring starts Friday, but only on the calendar.

Random Mutterings

Some more simple thoughts…

• The 'stache is getting ready to make an appearance as a special invited guest
• The weather continues to impound the northeast, to the point that my car is literally frozen TO my driveway. Now the puzzle to get it un-adhered without wrecking any thing.
• The weather has also brought a chest cold, just an annoying hacking cough and it is bad enough that it leaves me sore just from the coughing.
• Was in the classroom the other day and was "challenged" by a 3rd grade girl with outright disrespect. A third grade girl!!! 

Enough for now...

Random Musing, Opinions and Thoughts Vol. 173

I don't really have enough to write a whole piece, so here is another olio of brain drippings….

• I recently smoke an amazingly great cigar and it is affordable for most (sub $9). I usually do not pay much mind to the rankings the cigar rags produce each year (well maybe a little because it helps sales, and clientele like to smoke what is rated by the industry and what they are told is good). One of the polls had selected the EP Carrillo La Historia as the #2 cigar of the year. I have to tell you I was impressed within cigar, great construction, good draw, and the flavor profile is just where I like it with plenty of spice right from the initial lighting. Smoked it down to the nub and then some. The ranking is well deserved.
• Weather here still continues to be, how should I say, interesting, record snowfall levels and record cold, and all this has just driven the stupidity level of the people that live here in the northeast up another notch. I personally think the government should do something about these extreme conditions, but that would require passing regulation, reducing greenhouse gases, alternative energy use, and advances in science (along with a properly educated populace). We all know that is not going to happen…
• So I made a mistake with my taxes and the upcoming filing, after my divorce I forgot to change my withholding and now will owe the government this year, hard lesson to learn, but it happens. It is fixed so it will not happen again, I hope.

Until next time...

Frozen Pipes and HBM Update 6- We May Have a Name

I had a pipe freeze today because of the 'lovely weather' we have seen lately in the NE, and a failed heat tape circuit breaker. When I discovered the lack of water I immediately checked the hot water heater and noticed that the water level was low also, so acting quickly I flipped the circuit breaker on the tank in hopes of avoiding burning out a heating element.

After many trips outside and replacing the plug end and circuit breaker and an hour plus wait for the thaw, we have running water back in the abode, a little while longer and the tank was filled again. So I assumed it was safe to turn the heating elements back on. Another short wait and it seems we have hot water again.

No burst pipes, no leaks, no burnt out heating elements. Dogma at its best….

Through all this the 'stache has taken a beating in this winter weather. The exposure to extreme temperature jumps, the dry winter air, have all taken a toll on the up keep. Through it all, it still continues to grow and it has a requested special appearance coming up next month.

A friend threw out the term "El Nino" in conversation and it clicked as a possible name for the 'stache. Like El Nino, the 'stache has great affect on its surroundings and people, it is getting more notice and attention where ever it goes, and of course it is my baby…

So we see if that sticks as a moniker.

Where Do You Get Yours?

With the "retirement" of Jon Stewart from the Daily Show, we are losing a credible news source in today's world. I know that many will say that Stewart and the Daily Show (DS) was a comedy/satirical program and did not report legitimate news. But we just have to look at the records of CBS with Dan Rather and Lara Logan, NBC with Brian Williams, and CNN and its track record, and we can now consider the DS legitimate. (Probably missed a ton of other disgraced anchors and reporters here- feel free to add in the comment section below.)

Looking at all that, and Jon Stewart is as good a source as any out there. I have always felt that satire and comedy like the DS are funny because they jest with the truth, and that people find the humor in the world when the obvious truth is exposed to them. Stewart and company have done this for 17 years, making it a valuable source for awareness of what is going on in the world as any other reporting out there.

I first became a fan of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, when he decided to cover a State of the Union address with his own take on what was being said. It was far more informative then what the talking heads of the time had to say on the big three (CBS, ABC, NBC). Stewart ran the speech unedited and provided commentary that was spot on in my opinion, not ad libbing or speculating with some hidden agenda guesses.

From that day forward I appreciated Stewart's take and approach on the world pulse. Let me be clear that I do not solely get all my news from the DS. I read and investigate on my own, even the slanted conservative sites provide insight as to what the vision of the world is, as warped as they may be.

Now this brings me to Fox News and the departure of Jon Stewart (and Stephen Colbert). The heads and talking heads at Fox must be ecstatic with the "retirement" or moving on of these two. This will allow the chance of Fox News to finally win that Comedy Emmy they covet so badly. Now if they could only get rid of that pesky Brit John Oliver…..

Yet, It Is Still My Problem?

I have been paying a loan online for about a year now. First half no issues….log in, enter amount, enter account, hit pay, and done. Oh yeah, subtract amount from checking…..

About six months ago, it started to take longer for the company to process it and I started to receive "reminder/chastising" e-mails that I had entered a wrong account number for my bank, but my bank was kind enough to process the payment anyway.

I checked with my financial institution, and they said they never processed any special waiver and were not "kind enough to process" anything out of the the norm and that everything they received and processed was with my correct account info. I even sat and reviewed the proper numbers that needed to be entered in each and every box, etc…I had been doing everything correctly as I had thought. We did this for several more months, and it seems I was doing everything correctly each time, yet each month the same e-mail message.

Balancing the books today, I noticed that the payment had not been taken out and that I had not received a "reminder/chastising" e-mail. So decided to call the collector and find out what is going on.

First they try and tell me I did not even make a payment for the month. But wait, I have a confirmation number.  I give said number and they say it sounds like their number, but they are not sure. So after several attempts to process that payment, we finally get that same auto-generated message about wrong account number.

After some frustration by all, we finally figure out that I have to modify my account number just for them, in order for it to process through the system; that they changed about six months ago (see the timing above). I pay several other bills the same way and do not have to modify my account number. So now I have to try and remember this every month. I am getting old, I will be happy I remember to pay the damn thing, let alone not some special way to do it….Good luck to all.