Tiger: What Are You Made Of?

Yesterday I received my new copy of Vanity Fair. I opened the magazine and guess whose picture I see on the first page? That right, Tiger Woods. I was immediately repelled by seeing his picture.




I’ve been following this whole Tiger Woods drama. I wasn’t going to write anything about it but after seeing this ad I decided not to keep my thoughts to myself anymore.



Here is my take on the Tiger Woods scandal. He deserves everything he gets. I have no sympathy for him at all.



Tiger Woods has made hundreds of millions of dollars projecting himself as the “Perfect Family Man.” Recent events have revealed he is not the ‘Perfect Family Man.” Tiger Woods is a liar. Tiger Woods is a phony.  He is the perfect metaphor for corporate sponsorship.



That Tiger is an adulterer isn’t all that unusual. How many public figures have been exposed as adulterers in the past few years? We are no longer “Shocked! Shocked!”  Big deal. 





The adulterer part isn’t what is going to cause Tiger to lose his corporate sponsor and public support. Tiger will lose because he is behaving like a weasel now by hiding in his home hoping all the controversy surrounding him will go away. He is a coward.



Hey Tiger! It’s not going away until you address it. It’s time for you to go on Oprah and shed some tears. Come one Tiger, you’re the Big Man. Prove it. What are you really made of?

Christmas 1976

Yesterday, while cleaning out my storage room I came across an album that I had given to my Mother for Christmas in 1976. I had forgotten how much work I had put into preparing this album. In fact, I think I made up three albums; one for my Mother and the other two for my brothers' families.




I came into possession of my Mother's album and the rest of her photos several years ago when she suggested that I take possession of them for safekeeping. As it turns out this was a good suggestion because she is now living with my brother and his family in South Carolina.



The photos in these albums I selected from the pictures of the family I had taken the previous year (1975.) I enlarged the pictures to 5 X 7 and put one on each page with a description. I had time to do this kind of project when Bill and I lived in center city Philadelphia. We lived in a townhouse with a very small back yard. My activities consisted of going to work, going out to the bars on the weekend and working on crewel projects during my spare time. This was before computers and the Internet. Even back then I watched very little TV. I remember I was one of the first people on my block to get a VCR. It was a huge cumbersome contraption but I was thrilled. I could videotape the Merv Griffin show and listen to Merv interview Zsa Zsa while I worked on my projects. That was so long ago.



Yesterday as I looked at these pictures I was reminded of how life used to be. It now seems so long ago. Back then I always loaded up on Christmas presents then visited family on Christmas Day and took loads of pictures. These days I work on Christmas Day. Not that I'm complaining but Christmas is a whole different scene for me now. I like working but there are no Christmas trees in my house or exchanging of Christmas presents. But, I still have my memories and pictures of those Christmases past which I will share with you now.



The picture above is of one of my younger brothers, Isaac Walter Tipton, Jr. With my brother in the picture is his wife Phyllis and his three children, Isaac, III (aka "Ikey"), Dawn and Karen. More pictures will follow in future blog postings.



I am so glad I took these pictures. Good memories last forever, even after I’m long gone.

Stupid Move

Well, I did it. This morning started out well enough with the sun making an appearance. The temperature read 45 degrees but there was little or no wind. Yes, today was a good day to go up in the attic and get those Christmas lights.



So I go up in the bonus room closet and open the little trap door that leads to the attic where I have my Christmas decorations stored. I stoop low to get through the door and make a right turn, careful to avoid stepping on the insulation. Below the insulation is the drywall to the ceiling of my kitchen below.

One trip gathering Christmas items went well. The second trip didn’t go so well. In fact it was a disaster because I lost my footing and my leg up to the knee went right through the insulation and drywall of the kitchen ceiling. I couldn’t believe it. I looked below and sure enough, there was insulation in my kitchen sink. My kitchen now had a skylight to the attic.

There was no way of covering this up. The deed was done. Beside, the cover up is always worse that the original crime (as Richard Nixon and Tiger Woods know.) And a “crime” indeed I did because Bill has warned me time and time again “Be careful when you’re up there! If you step on that insulation you’ll go right through the ceiling!”



Well, I thought I was careful. What actually happened I was trying to balance myself on the two by fours wearing my Crocs. My Crocs slipped. There! I’ll blame the Crocs. No, actually I’ll accept the blame. It was a Stupid Move.

The day wasn’t a total loss. I did get the Christmas lights up. Now for the Christmas cards. I wonder if I can do that without destroying anything.

The Rain Returns

This was the day I was going to put up my outside Christmas decorations. That isn’t going to happen today. The rains have returned. Oh my, raining again. How unusual.

Undaunted, Bill and I left for our weekly breakfast outing at Zorba’s Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach. We were Zorba’s first customers this morning. Our regular waitress Erin came over and confirmed our breakfast order. For Bill, a fried egg sandwich for bill on white bread, double mayo. For me one egg over medium, crispy home fries, pork snout mush (aka scrapple) and buttered Rye toast. Bill’s beverage of choice is caffeinated coffee and mine is decaf. Shortly after we were served with our breakfast, the restaurant began to fill up with customers seeking shelter from the cold rain outside.

Earlier in the week I was debating whether of not to buy tickets for the annual Lewes Christmas House tour. I was reluctant because in the spring I had purchased tickets to the annual Lewes Garden Tour only to see the day of the tour almost washed out by a spring time monsoon. The tickets are good rain or shine. Since we only have the sun make an appearance once a week around here lately, I decided not to take the chance. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad my house isn’t on the tour. I would hate to have all those wet feet tramping through my house.



Bill just came back from our neighbors’ house. He told me the house next to them, which has been up for sale for a year and a half now, has sold. That’s the good news. The bad news is our other neighbor said the kids don’t speak English. Uh oh.



And the beat goes on.

Movement

Today I made some movement on some outstanding issues that have contributed to my frustration of the past few weeks. One was finally resolving the problem I had with TracFone to have my old phone number transferred from Verizon to TracFone. Since buying my TracFone on November 17th, I have encountered nothing but a scripted response from the TracFone customer service desk in India every time I called about why my phone number wasn't ported to my new TracFone. Of course it didn't help that every time I called I got an Indian who sounded like he was talking in a well and I could only understand every fifth word. Trying to get these guys off the script in front of them was my challenge this morning. Well I can report now that my phone call this morning actually got a person that I could understand. She took care of the problem and I now have a TracFone from which I can make and receive calls.




This will save me about $80 a month. I had a Verizon Wireless Family plan for 700 minutes a month. I rarely used more than 30 minutes a month. Verizon offered me no other options other than this plan. They even had the nerve to offer me an extra 100 minutes a month if I would sign a new two year contract. No thanks Verizon.



My next goal was to end the contract I was obligated to for three years when I built this house. That charge was $31.95 a month for the security system. I don't need a security system where I live. Fortunately I live in a safe neighborhood. But I was obligated for three years because the company wired my house. That obligation is finished and I'm saving another $31.95 a month.



My third goal was to renew my prescription for my prostate medicine with the VA. I made that phone call this morning and I got through! The medicine is on its way.



Then, feeling like I was making progress I jumped right into addressing my Christmas cards. This year I'm sending out photo cards that I got from J.C. Penney last month. Yes, I am sending my visage to a select few friends on my Christmas mailing list. I've been sending photo Christmas cards for years now. I wonder if any of my friends have saved all those cards. It would be interesting to line up those cards from the oldest to the most recent to see the aging process of Ron.

So here I am this morning making progress on my Christmas cards. I had 60 cards. After addressing 40 envelopes I realized that Penney's only supplied me with 40 envelopes. Oh my. Now I have to make another trip to Dover. That's a 39 mile trip one way. Running short of envelopes was another snag in an otherwise smooth running morning. However, I won't let this little snag throw me. I have dental appointment scheduled next week in Dover. I'll kill two Santa Clauses and get my teeth cleaned and pick up the remaining 20 envelopes.



Tomorrow the goal is to put up my Christmas decorations. Progress, it's wonderful. I might even attack that room in my basement that is still full of unpacked boxes from my move three years ago. I’m on a roll.

Reevaluation

The past few weeks have presented new challenges to me.  I will be reevaluating my situation and decide how I want to proceed.  Even though I may not be posting to my blog as often as I have in the past I want my friends to know that I appeciate and value their friendship.  I ask their patience while I look for a way out of this valley I am in at this time. 

I have much in my life for which I am thankful. 

Wine Tasting

A couple of weeks ago a coworker of mine offered me three complimentary tickets to a wine tasting event sponsored by the Red Cross to be held at the new Irish Eyes restaurant.

I've never been to a wine tasting event but I had friends I knew liked wine. I accepted the tickets. I sent an e-mail offering the tickets to my friends. They countered with a suggestion, why don't I join them as the third party? Indeed, why not?



So today I'm ready for a wine tasting event. My concern was that I would drink too much and be a little too tipsy to drive my car home. This thought went though my mind "Would they have little sputum cubs to expel the wine? I wonder how many different types of wine they would have."



I was just a tad off the mark. My first clue was when I drove into the parking lot of the Irish Eyes restaurant. I could hardly find a parking place. Man, this must be some event. I didn't know wine was that popular. Or.........maybe this is more than a wine tasting event.



My next clue was when I checked in the restaurant. I was directed to the second floor to where the event was being held. After handing over my complimentary tickets I was directed to a long table where they would swipe my credit card. What a minute? What's this? I'm automatically going to donate to the Red Cross? Talk about pressure.

I dared to ask why was did they want to swipe my credit card. The answer given to me solved the puzzle. This was for the silent auction. I'm at a fund raising event for the Red Cross. The "wine tasting" was complimentary glasses of Nouveau Beaujolais wine (quite good by the way.) My friends directed me to the long tables gladdened with the items up for the silent auction.

I've never been to a silent auction before. In fact I didn't know how they worked. My fried Larry used to work for the Diabetes Association in Wilmington and he was involved in setting up a silent auction. He never explained to me how it worked. I've seen references to silent auctions in the newspaper but they never explained how they worked. Now I know. Pretty cool.

I quickly reviewed the tables and placed my bids on items I found of interest. I've only been to one auction before in my life and I liked it. This is my first silent auction. I like it too. I have now discovered another weakness. This won't be my last silent auction.