Winter is a bit early

Man, it was chilly this morning. The Small Dog ran out, pee'd and ran right back in.

Granted, it wasn't below zero or windy but it was around 25° which is cold compared to what we are used to.

My sister might have the right idea about living in North Carolina...

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Just for the heck of it, I decided to check the polls to see what's going on with the election.

According to Gravis, Trump is doing a great job.
According to FOX, Trump sucks.
According to Remington Research, Trump is going to kick Bidens ass.
According to Public Policy, Trump is so far behind Biden he should concede the race today.

Here's my poll:

According to me, all the pollsters should shut the hell up. None of you know what you are talking about. You are all an incredible waste of perfectly good oxygen.

That was a complete waste of my time and I won't be doing that again.

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So far we've had three kids show up to our festive display to get some halloween candy.

We may have more show up but I have my doubts.

That just means there will be more candy for me.

UPDATE @ 7:40pm:

Holy crap! We've had about 25 kids show up!

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Here are some links:

• "You expect me to talk?"
  "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die...."



• Well, I found the nursing home my kids can put me in when the time comes.



• I wonder if the guy wanted to be cremated...."



• I bet you did not know that the U.S. Navy has it's very own forest.

Yes, it snowed

Unlike 2011 when an October snow took down all the trees and knocked out our power for 10 or 11 days, we didn't have any trees come down. I heard one crash down in the woods nearby but that was the only one. My next-door-neighbor lost a branch on one of his maple trees and my backyard is filled with leaves but we never lost power and the roads didn't freeze up.

I would say we got about 3 inches on the grass and on my car that was parked in the driveway but it didn't stick to the my driveway or the roads.

All-in-all, not a bad first snow.

My sister down in North Carolina decided to remind us that she doesn't get snow. She sent us this today:

She's a funny sister, that sister of mine.

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Today is The Veterinarians birthday so we are celebrating with chinese food.

In our world, you are entitled to eat whatever you want on your birthday and she chose chinese food.

Personally, I think she made a good choice. One can never go wrong with a nice batch of crab rangoons.

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According to WBZ and the Boston Globe, the Red Sox have contacted Alex Cora multiple times since the World Series and his suspension from baseball ended.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Cora being brought back to Boston. As a matter of fact, I think there is a good possibility that the Red Sox organization feels the same way and they are only speaking with him out of courtesy.

The man was at the center of the Astro's cheating scandal that resulted in them "stealing" the World Series in 2019 and I think that should give pause to anyone looking to hire him as a manager.

Yes, he has good baseball skills and the players all seem to respect him & love playing for him but in the back of everyone's mind there is going to be the idea that maybe the Red Sox are cheating. Maybe he has dreamed up some scheme that no one has caught on to yet.

There is a possibility that ownership doesn't want that stigma hanging over the team. Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they don't care about that. Maybe Cora is a reformed manager and can be trusted to play the game without cheating.

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Enjoy these links:

• This is what happens when a robot decides to commit suicide.



• Reason #784 why I got my pilot's license: I don't have to fly with crazy people.



• I always thought that the "dash" part of the crime known as "dine and dash" meant running out the door.



• Several years ago, the French government made it a point to invite muslim refugees into France.



• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "...somehow the victim got stabbed in the butt."

You can be a millionaire.

Steve Martin once did the following bit on SNL:

You can be a millionaire and never pay taxes!
You say, “Steve! How can I be a millionaire and never pay taxes?”
First, get a million dollars.
Now, you say, “Steve, what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, ‘You have never paid taxes’?”
Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: “I forgot!”

Funny guy, that Steve Martin but funny don't get you money. Well, actually, in his case, it got him a lot of money but that's not important.

What is important is that you need to spend money to make money. Whether it's starting your own business or investing in someone else's, it's going to cost you money. But that's okay because you spend money all the time on crap you don't need or no longer have.

Let's take the iPhone for example:

The original Apple iPhone debuted on June 29, 2007 for a retail price of $499.
On that date, Apple stock was selling for $4.50 per share.
In 2014, Apple issued a 7-1 stock split and in 2020, Apple issued a 4-1 stock split.

A $500 purchase of Apple stock on June 29, 2007 would purchase 111 shares of stock.
The 7-1 split resulted in those 111 shares becoming 777 shares.
The 4-1 split resulted in those 777 shares becoming 3,108 shares.

Today, Apple stock is selling for $113 per share.

If on June 29, 2007 you bought an original iPhone for $500, you would no longer have either the iPhone or the $500.

If on June 29, 2007 you bought $500 worth of Apple stock instead of the iPhone, you would now have $351,000 worth of Apple stock and a brand new iPhoneWhatever that you paid for using the dividends issued by Apple over the years.

I don't know about you, but I would rather have $350,000 and a brand new iPhone than the memories of being the fanciest guy on the block back in 2007.

You don't get rich by buying gadgets, you get rich by investing in the companies that sell the gadgets.

Oh, and for the record, you can get really poor by investing in stocks. In 1999, Viacom took Blockbuster public at $18 per share. If you had invested $100,000 in Blockbuster back then, it would work nothing right now. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Bupkis.

The problem is all of the so-called "investment wizards" said Blockbuster was a hell of a good investment and there was no downside to the business of renting DVDs and video tapes.

I guess Netflix proved those experts wrong...

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I'm going to put some DVRs on and fall asleep now.

You can do whatever you want.

• "Is there a problem officer?"



• Mugshot of the month.



• She would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that pesky mental health exam.



• How much brain damage does one have to experience to imagine that this is a good idea?



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, gets eaten by your future dinner.



• This just keeps getting better and better.

Looks like Dave Roberts gets to keep his job

The Dodgers won the World Series last night.

The Rays held a one run lead during the five innings that I was awake for but it appears the Dodgers scored two runs in the sixth. The game ended three innings later with the Dodgers winning 3-1.

So now I'm just left with football for my sports fix.

Hopefully someone starts showing curling matches again.

I always enjoy watching curling.

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Time to watch some DVRs and fall asleep early.

Here are a few links that you might find interesting:

• Only in Florida.



• This seems like the kind of thing that Dieter and his buddies came up with after a long night at a bar called The Snort N' Puke.



• Key phrase in this story: "...it's really been just a great creative outlet for me."



• Oh Canada.



• We may have an additional favorite police log.



• We've all wanted to do this but I'm pretty sure it's illegal.

I'm bored

Now that I've voted, I find myself ignoring all of the election bullshit and the news in general. That means I'm not surfing the interwebs as much as I used to because, well, in my opinion, the internet has become a giant dumping ground of peoples opinions about which political belief system I should adhere to.

I don't want to read that crap.

Hell, I don't even want to get any of it on the bottoms of my shoes.

The problem is, I'm struggling to find entertaining content and links.

Maybe I'll do what our politicians do and just make shit up...

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Yes, there is baseball on tonight and I will watch some of it.

While I do that, you can click on these:

• Looks like Tampa Bay is about to learn of the problem known as Antonio Brown.



• Apparently vampire bats are smarter than we are.



• The Germans seem to have fair more interesting reasons to violate social distancing rules than we do.



• Yet one more reason I don't go to New York.



• And this is why most people should not be allowed to own guns.



• Only in Florida.
  Also, occasionally on the Mass pike.