Gator Pedal

The tour fled south last Sunday morning just before Storm-a-geddon 2026 arrived in these parts. This is not a weather report entry but for those curious, Frankfort got a shit load of snow but nothing comparable to the more inland areas. The high winds kicked out the power for a bit the locals tell me but for how wet the snow was, more wind equal less roofs collapsing via stagnant, wet snow. The glass half full.

Back to the south retreat, the destination was Lakeland, Florida for a mix of mountain biking (yes, there are trails in Lakeland) and a taste of Tiger baseball in spring training. The last time I was in Lakeland for a Tiger game was 1985 with a posse of three others on Spring break with an eventual final destination of Daytona Beach. I can't recall where we stayed for the game but the town definitely has grown since that time. I recall we went to a night game, got a white blanket from one of the housekeeping carts at the hotel, somehow got a marker from the front desk and made a sign. I doubt we made it on television that day but had fun with the effort. No home run balls caught this year (final score was 1-1 tie) as I more or less took in the game from various angles with some enjoyable $15 adult beverages. The walk back to the hotel was interesting as I walked over a creek, looked down and said attached gator was hanging, and I started to walk a bit faster.

As far as the mountain biking, just south of town is a resurrected mine area with some man made ponds (yes, with more alligators). Florida is not a hilly region so some creativity on trail creation is needed and a great trail they have created. The local bike shop advised the gators probably would be laying low due to the heat but I SWEAR I crossed a gator back while riding along the water; and I pedaled a little faster at that point. A short clip is attached below. 

Trail Head

love the creativity of the mountain bike trails

Verlander looked in form

big head in the house

Yes....it's me

I've had to jump a few hurdles in the ID validation world that we live in these days. I applaud the efforts of companies working to protect identities of it's customers but recently got a bit irritated at said efforts.

Case in point below with the idiot-phone Face ID technology. I have never utilized the technology until getting a new phone last year. Heads up if you are having a bad morning letting the dog go chase deer in the yard at 3 AM or had too many Jamos the night before but have been flagged for 'bad face' a few times. Instead of a "Face Not Recognized" message, they should prompt a "bro, what happened to you last night?"

Case #2 hits home a bit but was trying to cancel a life insurance policy my dad (an insurance agent) took out for me when I was probably 10 years old. A small policy that I no longer needed, I made the call in January to cancel it. They advised a form would be sent to formally sign off on the cancellation. The form was received, I signed and mailed it back. A few weeks later, I got the below letter advising that the signatures on the policy and my current signature didn't match and that additional documentation would be needed to formally cancel. Have you ever seen your signature at 10 years old? I am thinking everyone's signature might just be a little different 50 years later but what do I know. I asked if I could just stop paying to cancel it and was advised the balance of the policy would be forfeited if I go that angle; even though I am telling them my intentions verbally from the phone number they have on file. I'll give in eventually in supplying what is needed but yes, I did write a letter via snail mail asking one more time in not so many words if the son of the person who wrote the policy could please cancel said policy. 

using my undergraduate degree for something

As the title states, today is the day I get to finally utilize my undergraduate degree in Advertising as I haven't used it to since receiving my diploma in the mail back in '89 (no, I didn't don the cap and gown for college). I tried for about a year to get my foot in the door of the dog-eat-dog world of either buying ads or coming up with the next "Where's the beef?" slogan. All for pretty much working for free (i.e. internship) in the first couple of years. It was not to be, thankfully. Fast forward 37 years later, it was a blessing I believe as I would have been quite miserable fighting with others in a meeting room over a slogan/campaign.

Speaking of slogans/campaigns, that brings me to today's topic as I had some enjoyable, unhealthy treats last weekend and got a chuckle at the print on the boxes.

First we have White Castle with the "enlarged to show deliciousness" caption below a burger that will quickly pass through the person's body consuming it. I am guessing they had to come up with that slogan after someone sued because they opened the box and the burgers weren't that big (and the person suing is educationally challenged).

Next we go to another healthy choice as who could pass up "your daily dose of delight" (along with a daily dose of chest pains a few years later). They were a delight, however.                            

Super Bowl Fish - Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I experienced the law this morning attempting to catch the big one ice fishing on Betsie Bay. You can't blame me for preparation as I pulled all my fishing equipment from the garage rafters yesterday and re-strung what needed to be strung and purchased some quality bait for the attempt.

Off I went this morning for the short walk down to the water and about 20 others were out in the Bay doing the same. I found my dream spot, put the equipment aside and got the power auger ready to go. First attempt, no start.  Second attempt, no start. Third, same. My pea brain memory started to recall last year of doing the same (eventually started after about 20 tries) and telling myself to make sure it starts at home next time. I tried all my tricks but it was not to be. A local fishing nearby took pity on me and drilled a few holes. The holes got drilled, I set up my shanty/tip-ups and was ready to find the whopper. While grabbing for my bait, I found that I had grabbed the auger blade and now had a nice gusher of a cut on my hand that didn't want to stop bleeding (it eventually did). If there was any hook that was exposed this morning, 9 times out of 10, my clothing seemed to grab it and not let go. 

Needless to way, the big whopper was not found, however, I did see one nearby tip-up pulling in a nice pike.

Auger for sale. Needs some work...

Trail Head

not mine but a nice catch by a local this morning

only blood in my shanty was mine

you can visit but sometimes hard to leave town

The main entrance into the town where I reside encompasses a very large hill that presents a beautiful panoramic view of Lake Michigan at the top when you enter town. When you leave town in the winter, however, a little different story as many a vehicles have made it up halfway of the attached hill only to spin their tires, slowly do a 180 and head back down the hill in search of another way to leave town. I shouldn't laugh (but do) as I had a mini-truck (2WD) awhile back and attempted to make it up a friend's driveway one time. The driveway was not that steep but yours truly did not make it; and others laughed.

With that, if you are ever leaving the Frankfort area on M-115 headed east, punch that accelerator around the A&W or the little train that could won't.

Trail Head

Religion

Comedian Jim Gaffigan has the line, “I do want everyone to feel comfortable, that’s why I’d like to talk to you about Jesus.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny_lqceOGx4#ddg-play

Not to be outdone, George Carlin doesn’t mince words on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpawdjeH-8w#ddg-play

Queuing the way back machine to my youth and the subject. My dad was raised strict Catholic, went to Catholic schools and was a lector at the local church wherever we were residing at the time. With that, it was tradition for the family to hit mass every Sunday. They dragged me to catechism (literally, one of the memories of my youth was crying my ass off as I was being dragged into a room of other kids). My brother was an altar boy and while I was either drifting off to day dream world when it went down or other, but the story goes that my brother was holding a lighted candle and just about burned the person’s hair standing in front of him if it weren’t for someone interjecting at the last minute. 

As we grew older, my parents left it to ourselves in attending. I eventually became an annual attender. Observations at that point: 

- What is with all the kneeling as most masses have quite a bit of elders? 

- There was always that family that would bolt after communion and that was frowned upon. 

- The awkward time after mass when everyone would hit the donuts/coffee in the back room. 

- My dad took his lecturing seriously as you would hear him practicing around the house quite a bit. 

- My mom was going to join the church choir but us kids talked her out of if (we are either going to heaven or hell for that action but my mom was tone deaf).

I currently live across the street from a Lutheran church and couldn’t ask for better neighbors than the pastor and his wife. She can belt out “I’ll fly away” better than the Gillian Welch/Alison Krauss’ version. They have helped me out from time to time and vice-versa so one Sunday morning I walked across the street and attended a mass. What is the difference between Lutheran and Catholic? I had to look it up but not much. My friend Greg calls Lutheran “Catholic-light” and that rings true as there is no kneeling in the Lutheran world, attendees have tumblers of coffee in tow within the pews, one of the ushers regularly wore a Packers hoodie and instead of the Catholic “peace be with you” hand shake tradition where folks more or less shake hands of the people directly around them, the Lutherans will walk around the place to shake anyone and everyone’s hand (I stay at home base during this time). I’m not looking for salvation, it’s just a nice peaceful hour of reflection and giving thanks, no more, no less. Kind of like what we do when we fish, a lot of reflection time while waiting for the fish and giving thanks when the whopper hits your hook. The religion of Tim I guess is to be cool to your fellow brother. If they are assholes, ignore them and move on.

Funny I got one of my rare A’s in college taking a religion class and had never gotten so lucky on guessing on some of the quizzes. The gods were shining on me that semester, I guess. 

Is there a heaven/hell, doubtful but someone created these funky bodies we maintain with all the parts. 

If there is a higher power looking down, as the song goes, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me, I'm alive and doin' fine. Woo!"

Trail Head

Censored

In celebration/mourning of the 2025 football season in Michigan, both college and pro, coming to a close, we do a rewind to around September when we didn't know our teams were going to suck yet. My employer, looking to stir up some comradery in the office (which is great), sent a note out asking everyone to submit any past pictures from playing or attending football games.

I sent the attached picture (quite a capacity crowd there...), not even thinking twice about the name on the jersey. The secretary compiling the pictures jokingly replied to me that she was always a Cowboy fan growing up. When it came time for the big reveal of pictures, however, said picture was nowhere to be seen. 

I didn't dare ask what happened as my dim light bulb eventually figured it out and I don't work for "Tim, Incorporated," so absolutely understand.

Go former mascots!

Trail Head