Getting Back On The Horse.

I had told myself I wasn't getting involved with anyone for a long time. I wasn't bitter about being abandoned last October, but I decided there was no need to get involved with any one else. Well that plan really worked well. I am now seeing a lady I work with. Neither one of us expected it, it just happened. She knew last Christmas I was going to be alone so she invited me over. From there we saw each other a few times, mainly watching movies at her house. When I went to Illinois last February she came over and fed my rabbit. The fact that she actually saw the mess of my apartment and didn't run far away says a lot. We have had similar circumstances, my wife died suddenly 8 years ago, her husband was killed in a factory accident 4 years ago. We have the same days off so every Tuesday night I go to her house. We will be doing some traveling when the weather warms up. We haven't decided yet how far we are going to take this, but for now we are having fun trying.


Todays card is another from the Wal-Mart set. This is Yankees pitcher Kei Igawa and is based on a Japanese baseball card design.

Bad Example.

Last week I saw something at Wal-Mart that made me sad. A couple were shopping with their daughter, who was about three years old. They were each pushing a, as they call them in the south, a buggy. (That is a post for another day.) The lady was putting groceries in hers. The man had the little girl in his. The little girl was sitting on a Dora the Explorer chair, which came from the toy department. The lady told the man she was heading for the checkouts. I heard this because I was stocking down the same aisle they were in. The man told her he was going to grab something and would meet her up front. He went passed me. After I finished stocking the case I was working on I noticed the buggy with the chair still in it. The fact that he left it in the middle of the aisle didn't upset me. I am used to seeing that. I went to move it out of the aisle when I noticed in it was a bag of Teddy Graham Crackers. Not only was the bag open, there were several on the floor nearby. Taking the buggy to the end of the aisle I could track them following the Teddy Graham trail.

Children learn by example. What lesson did her parents teach her? If you are hungry, just grab something off the shelf and eat it. You don't have to pay for it. When she gets older and gets caught shoplifting, then they wonder where did you learn that from. I don't have a problem with people eating in the store as long as they pay for what they eat. Many times I find empty bags
from the deli where someone took chicken and ate it while shopping. I have even found chicken bones tossed behind cans. The nastiest I found was where someone wrapped their chewing gum around a chicken wing and left it on the shelf. It is a store, not a buffet. It is sad to see people are not teaching their children to respect the property of others. No wonder we are having a lot of problems in our society today.

Todays baseball card is based on the design from Topps 1972 set.

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy.

Hello. My name is Howard and I am a news junkie. I read 2 newspapers every day, 3 twice a week when the Calhoun paper is printed, one on line daily, 3 others several times a week. I don't read them to find out what names politicians are calling each, which sports star got arrested last night, which Hollywood star is upset because they are having their pictures taken, or any of the tragedy's that have happened. I do read about those, but what I am looking for is the bizarre, weird, and odd stories. The ones that movie writers would reject as to far fetched to be believed. My friend Tom and I share these stories with each other, both in our weekly talks and we send each other clippings periodically. But that is a tale for another time.

I have seen many weird stories. Some have appeared enough they are no longer weird. An example is the bank robber who either had his name on his shirt or wrote the note on the back of a deposit slip with his address. I saw a story tonight that tops them all. A woman spent 2 years in her boyfriends bathroom. Not only that, she became stuck on the toilet seat. Her skin had actually fused with the seat. She admitted that it was her choice to stay in there. She had experienced some trauma as a child and that was her haven. Her boyfriend brought her food, but still he should have got her help a long time ago. I have a little understanding about the mindset of someone who shelters herself like that. She who left in October was like that to an extent. Not that bad but unless I forced the issue it was not uncommon for her not to leave the apartment for a week. Hopefully this woman will now get the help she needs.




This is another Wal-Mart card. This is one of my favorite card designs of all time, the 1955 Bowman. I acquired a few of those cards several years ago. I will post pictures of those cards later.

Inventory Time

Today is the day that retail workers hate even more than Black Friday, inventory. The bright side is I left before they started counting. Everything from the way you stock to the way you set up the shelves changes. It is a necessary evil and fortunately we only have to do it once a year. Certain departments, meat, produce and deli have to take inventory monthly.

It is even worse if you are working on the floor. There is nothing you can do except watch the people count. Nothing can be stocked until they are totally done. Everything is straighter than it usually is, so you don't even have that to do. In the past I have managed the electronics department and the hardware/automotive departments for K Mart. Inventory days seemed to be the longest days I ever worked. Black Friday is so hectic that the day just flies by. On inventory day it crawls. At least it is over until next year.

Some times I think if a department head job opens up I would like to have it. Considering all you have to do in preparation for this, I have second thoughts. There are a lot of headaches involved, and unless I get a huge raise, I probably will pass. when I was younger I really wanted the responsibility, now I am at the age I am enjoying just going in, doing my thing for 8 hours, and going home.



Todays baseball card is from a special set Topps put together for Wal-Mart. You can buy what are called blaster boxes, which will usually have anywhere from 4 to 20 packs of cards in them, and they sell for between $9.99 and $29.99. If you bought a $9.99 box you got 3 of these cards, for $19.99 you got 6. This card is based on a design that back in the early '60's were found on the back of Jell-o boxes. The Wal-Mart set has 54 cards and they are all in different styles of old cards. I will posting several of them in the next few days.