And, all of a sudden...
...January's almost gone!!!

As I age, I find myself trying to appreciate every day just a little bit more. Yeah, I've made a lot of noise in this blog about how much I hate snow, cold, and almost everything else about winter. But at the same time, I've tried to enjoy these days as much as I can. I've got music, a few friends, I can laugh uproariously at the insane characters on the "Imus In The Morning" show I tape every day, I can have a cup of coffee at Java On Sherman, I can talk to my record-collector buddies up at Mt. Olympus records, and so on and so forth. I am really trying to appreciate the little things I value; obviously this winter season makes it harder for me to do so, but I try.

But anyway, there's only 3 days left 'til January is gone! Then another month will be upon us, and so on, and so forth. At the top of this blogsite, you can see a little "countdown device" that lets you know how much time is left in the year. And once those minutes and seconds are gone, they're GONE. Even the relatively few moments it takes me to type these inane blog entries slips by, disappearing forever. Could it be that's one reason we blog? We want to leave our "mark" somewhere, and instead of some big marble slab with my name on it, is this blog my memorial?

So, anyway, let me toss another one of those classy "Leo's Studio" black-&-white photos of our area into the mix...it was taken back in the '50s, so this image is half a century old. And I think it's a nice, if somewhat "stark" photo...

Of course, you probably recognize this as being taken on Sanders' Beach, up near where 11th Street runs headlong into Lakeshore Drive, long before contentious property owners moved into the area and tried to put up barbed-wire fences on the beach, keeping out the faithful riffraff who live in the city but aren't rich enough to have lakefront property. Okay, I exaggerate a bit, no "barbed wire", but when you try to fence off a beach, you might as well try to push the limit. I can just see it now...guard towers on either end of Sanders! (ssssh, don't give 'em any ideas!) I still think the city of Coeur d'Alene should just BUY this beach. Now, that, I'd pay increased taxes for!

How does it feel to be universally despised dept.: At a fun little social gathering last night over in Spokane, some 600 protesters voiced their opposition to a Wal-Mart being built up thar on the South Hill. Perhaps Wal-Mart should take a cue from this: Go build your stupor-centers in small, tiny towns where there's nothing else, like maybe in Northern Nevada or on the prairies of eastern Kansas. Maybe you'll be more appreciated there. The last thing our ravenously-growing area needs is another corrupt big-box retailer. Isn't there already a Wal-Mart out near the Spokane Valley Mall somewhere? And, it's not that much more trouble to hop onto I-90 and enjoy yer theoretical "price rollbacks" at the Wal-Mart Post Falls store. I kinda wonder, if the rampant proliferation of Wal-Mart stores in any given area ends up putting other Wal-Mart stores in the same area out of business? That would be the capitalistic equivalent of a dog chasing its own tail!

First you love me, then you snub me dept.: (That's a line from Lenny Welch's early '60s hit, "Since I Fell For You".) Prezzident Bushed says he doesn't know corrupt mafia-lookalike-accused of all-kinds-of-violations former-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Bush doesn't ever remember meeting the guy. This, in spite of the fact that at least 5 photos of Bush & Abramoff exist, and that Abramoff contributed $6,000 to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. This just reinforces my belief that 97.9% of politicians are crooks and liars. The other 2.1% are still in their first terms, so they haven't been in office long enough to become adequately corrupted.

What happened to the love we knew? dept.: I was gonna write about this yesterday. I was sitting in the Java place, when over the loudspeaker came one of my most favorite pop songs ever: "Yester-me, Yester-you, Yester-day" by Stevie Wonder. It's got an infectuous melody, Stevie sings great on it, and I've loved that tune ever since I first heard it back in the late '60s. It's just one of those songs that soothes my ears every time I hear it. A great example of "Ear Candy!"
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Red Tape is never in short supply dept.: Earlier, I posted about having to get new PLATES this year, along with my license tags. I'd said it would be cheaper all around if we could KEEP our old plates and just buy tags. Our state would save on material costs, freight costs, and those savings would be offset by revenue generated by buying "tags only". But, for whatever reason, Idaho drivers hafta shell out for new plates. Well, today, I got my tags in the mail, but I can't USE THEM until my new plates (which are still "on order") show up. So, instead of a "freight cost", my new plates will be mailed to me, I guess! I have no idea!

So now, our beloved state has gone to the extra expense, now, of printing up and mailing out a "yellow" enclosure, saying "Your New License Plates Are On Order". Included with that is a "temporary registration" thing I've gotta display in my back window, with big numbers on it, indicating when that temporary registration expires, and that my plates are indeed on order! Now let's just hope I don't lose my TAGS during the time it takes for my plates to get here! Wouldn't it just be EASIER to keep the old plates and stick my tags on them? MAKES SENSE TO ME! But then again, no one listens to me...
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Before I go, I said, in a previous posting, that I'd try to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl, which is NEXT Sunday. Look, I WANT the Seahawks to win, and several Seahawks do have some Super Bowl experience. The game will be played in Detroit, which is much closer to Pittsburgh, and there'll be a LOT of loud Pittsburgh fans at the game. Right now, the oddsmakers say that Pittsburgh is a 4.5-point favorite. I'm inclined to agree. The "Practical" side of me says the Steelers are gonna win, but the "dreamer" in me thinks, "how nice would it be for the Seahawks to win?" This ain't my FINAL prediction, but you can at least see which way I'm leaning right now.