Whenever someone takes a shot at me and then excuses his or herself by saying " I was just kidding", I respond immediately that my father taught me that nothing is ever said in jest.One must learn that there's always a germ of truth in that "joke"or jestand it is that germ of truth that must concern one's self and must be paid attention to.Words to the wise!Having posited this absolute verity, I must explain that I am the exception to the rule because I have a left-handed person's sense of humor which is often misunderstood.

I like to vacation in familiar places. We have a time share in Aruba and, at last count, have been back seven times (plus a few times before we got the time share). Our son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Alyssa have been with us seven times -- and their son, our grandson, Jackson, was with us for the first time (but certainly not last) two weeks ago.

I remember when they "buried" the N-word.  It was a quaint little ceremony headed up I believe by the illustrious Rev. Al Sharpton (back before he was little more than a giant head on a stick).  There really wasn't too much serious objection, after all I don't think there are too many people in favor of using the word these days.  There was a part of it , though, that was somewhat unsettling.  After all, as bad as it is, it really is just a word.    

According to Facebook I have been a member since 2009. I cannot believe that I have actually been using Facebook for five years because I still feel as if I don’t know what I am doing.

  Searching on line not long ago, I found a book on "Modern European History Since 1600" written by Carl Becker. I have been looking for a book by Carl Becker for quite a while, so I bought it on eBay.  

Malaysian flight MH370, as I write this, is still missing after one week and the stories are flying (pun intended:).   Hijacked, crashed, aliens...you name it, it's been written and diseminated on the most trusted news source we have - the internet.  

Pot hole Bingo:   If you drive you play it   Salt and plows make it   Tires and suspensions hate it   How many more weeks to evade it?

Last week Fred blogged about "Menu Management" -- managing the food that his wife Joanne orders. If it turns out that she doesn't like what she ordered, Fred (gladly) switches plates.