Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #3,425

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of them.

Okay, this was not my random thought, but it could well have been.

One of my brothers, a fellow curmudgeon, passed this onto me.  He was at Wally World purchasing light bulbs utilizing the latest technology.  He had the random realization that, as he put it,  “the fire of these new light bulbs would, in all probability, be burning long after my fire has extinguished.”

It is interesting that my parents had five male progeny, four of us whom morphed into curmudgeons a loooonng time ago.  Oh well, as I am fond of saying some of my best friends are curmudgeons.

As I write this I had my own random thought.  Is there an Al-Anon group for partners of curmudgeons? Just saying…

And so it goes.

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Matrimonial Log – Star Date 5784.284

“Matrimony… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Casamiento Segundo, its until-death-do-us-part mission… to explore a strange new relationship… to seek out a new life and new adventures… to boldly go where no sane couple has gone before.”

It is a beautiful autumnal morning here in the St. Louis metropolitan area. I had a routine dental appointment at 0900 for a cleaning and x-rays.  Teeth are great, thanks for asking.

As I was checking out the administrative person behind the desk asked what was I going to do with the rest of this beautiful day.

“Well,” I replied, “I am retired and I am going to do whatever my muse moves me to do.”

I went on to add, “Of course my muse’s name is Robin and I am married to her.”

For once I got a real laugh, not the pity laugh I am used to with my chronic, groan-worthy jokes that tend to cause people’s eyes to roll  backwards in their heads.

And so it goes.

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Word of the Day – Casus belli

  • Noun: Casus belli
    1. an event or action that justifies or allegedly justifies a war or conflict
  • Synonyms:
    1.  affront
    2.  harassment
    3.  insult
    4.  cause
    5.  challenge
    6.  grounds
    7.  incentive
    8.  inducement
    9.  injury
    10.  instigation
    11.  justification
    12.  motivation
    13.  offense
    14. provoking
  • Usage:
    1. “He hadn’t forgotten Ben-Gurion’s pledge at the end of the Suez Crisis that Israel would consider any blockade of its shipping a casus belli, an act justifying war. “
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted by Daniel Sokatch

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Quote of the Day – William Faulkner

With what is transpiring in Israel, this quote seemed very apropos.  Two peoples, both feeling they have legitimate claims to sole ownership of the same piece of terra firma. One through living there for millennium, the other through Biblical scripture.  Three religions seeing this small piece of land as holy, and all only accommodating the other religions through necessity. If there is a solution, it has been beyond our best political minds.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” ~~William Faulkner

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,916


yeah I know you did not ask!

You should be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of them.

I was cleaning up the phone log on my cellular telephone today.  I noticed that from all appearances my best friend – the one who the calls me the most – must be a person with the uncommon first name of Scam and the unlikely last name of Likely.

They must be reasonable thick skinned as they keep calling back even with me not being a very good friend/buddy.  If I just don’t ignore their call, I decline it immediately.

And so it goes.

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Matrimonial Log – Star Date 5784.277

“Matrimony… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Casamiento Segundo, its until-death-do-us-part mission… to explore a strange new relationship… to seek out a new life and new adventures… to boldly go where no sane couple has gone before.”

 Señora and I typically stay very busy with our various activities.  She has her choirs, her huge circle of friends, her pottery, her gardens,  and, of course, keeping me out of trouble. Plus she has become a little more active at her synagogue.  I have my various fields of study, like Spanish, various courses on Wondrium, etc.  I sometimes think I have way too many hobbies, golf, fishing, photography, etc, but I like to be busy.  Add in the stack of books that I am anticipating reading – someday, and I frequently go to bed feeling like I did not get done all I wanted to do.

However, occasionally we find ourselves with a quiet day.  Such was the case the other morning.  We both were laying in bed, sipping coffee.  I was flipping through the news on my phone while Señora was solving her various daily puzzles on hers.

As is our wont, she asked me what my day looked liked.

“Well,” I responded, “After I am done with the news  I will probably work out.  Then if I am hungry I will have some lunch.  The yard needs mowing so I will take care of that.  Hopefully I will complete all that in time to take a nap before dinner.”

“Sounds good,” Señora said,  I will meet you back here this afternoon then.”

Awww… the life of Riley… oops I meant retirees.

And so it goes.

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3 key principles for great conversation | A Short Video

Emily Chamlee-Wright discusses the principles of great conversations: humility, critical thinking, and sympathetic listening.

Three great rules for great conversations, and not easy to follow.

    1.  Humility: Get some techies or geeks together talking shop/their field of geekdom, and sit back and watch one-ups-manship on steroids.  Most of us want to show others how smart we are.  I know I do.  Dropping that and listening with humility opens up the doors of discovery.
    2. Critical thinking:  While it is sometimes important to point out the illogical or simply wrong comments of another person, all too often it is a conversation stopper and an argument starter.  As I age I found myself less inclined to do so. In all likelihood I am not changing their opinion anyway. If they are wrong on a factual matter, why embarrass them.  However, it does make me think of the young lady in Ecuador with whom I have visited via Skype for years for Spanish conversational practice. At times I think she is playing Devil’s Advocate to keep the conversation going.  Other times I think it is just her personality. If I say the sky is blue.  She will say it depends on the time of day, weather conditions, etc.  No silly I mean right now.  She reminds of a certain Springdale resident in this regard.
    3. Sympathetic listening:  This is the key. Do this and the others follow.  It is something I strive for, but my own need to interject all too often gets in the way.

Practice, practice, practice… poco, poco llegamos a la meta.

Enough of my silly two cents, the video follows:

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Matrimonial Log – Star Date 5784.276

“Matrimony… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Casamiento Segundo, its until-death-do-us-part mission… to explore a strange new relationship… to seek out a new life and new adventures… to boldly go where no sane couple has gone before.”

Every year Señora and I do the same little dance around Christmas time.  We start asking the other what they want for Christmas/Hanukah.  The thing is at this stage of our life we really do not need much except those things necessary for daily living.  Both of us have the habit of if we “want” something we tend to buy it for ourselves.  Plus we will frequently surprise the other by buying them little presents as the muse hits us, a nice, silly, loving, little gesture to do for the other.

I had been down in the Valley the other day.  When I returned home, wanting to get a jump on the season, I told Señora I saw what she could buy me for Christmas.

“Oh,” she attentively replied.

“Yup,” I answered, “I saw a brand new  Porsche 911 GTS almost the exact same color of my Mazda MX-5 Miata.”

Juanita Rush goes for a ride in Little Blue

The Miata, my mid life crisis automobile that I bought 17 years ago,  is a bright blue the sticker called Winning Blue. The vehicle still looks good, runs good,  and I continue to get compliments on it.

This particular Porsche starts at $186, 250. Add another $4,220 for the specialty color they are calling Shark Blue and you have a starting point of $190, 470 good American dollars.  Gawd only knows where it ends at.

“Well,” she said, “you had better start buying lottery tickets.”

I can still hear her laughter ringing in my ears 30 minutes after she went in pursuit of more fulfilling activities than conversation with her beloved.

But, damn, that was a pretty car…

And so it goes.