Where you could walk forever.

I would be thinner and healthier if I lived in New York City. When you live in Miami, the only way to stay fit is to join a health club, which I don't intend to do. You can't walk in these blistering temperatures unless you're willing to risk heat exhaustion and melanoma not to mention the boredom of the always-the-same tropical settings.  If you go to the beach, your skin cancer odds go up even more unless you slather yourself constantly with sun block and hope that sharks don't like that way it tastes. Now, in NYC you can walk for hours beneath those often gray skies, and never become bored by the fascinating sights of the world's most interesting city. No need for stair climbing machines, the steps to the Metropolitan Museum and other landmarks will keep you fit.  While it's true that Manhattan has far better food choices than Miami, New Yorkers actually find lots more things to do than eat. Miami's main pastime. The last time I was in New York, I walked to Brooklyn Heights from 34th Street, which meant crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. I hiked up to 125th Street to see the diner where the Seinfeld gang hung out (hanged out?). I walked the full length of New York's High Line Park, an aerial greenway on the lower West Side.  I walked to the Battery and took the ferry to Staten Island. And even schlepped up 5th Avenue to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which offers its own miles and miles of indoor walking. However, since getting back to Miami, I barely have the energy in this humid weather to walk to the bus stop. So why don't I move to New York? Who can afford it?

The folded arms of resistance.

I just saw a jerk on CNN who reminded me of how sad most Republicans are. Sad because they cannot, will not, be truthful. Not if that truth interferes with their attack on President Obama. This wildly conservative radio host, Ben Ferguson,  naturally had nothing good to say about our president. He couldn't. He's trapped in his little corner or racism and hate. He's forced into following the party line, which requires him to ignore Obama's accomplishments, brilliance, charm, and always good intentions. Ask any question and you will see him respond with the reflexes of a dog being scratched. His fat little face becomes animated as his narrow little mind seeks for the best way to attack President Obaba while making it seemed like a reasoned argument. Poor thing.

Acceptance.

For trusting children everywhere

There always come that day

When logic compels them to

Put all fairy tales away.

Sad it is, I must admit,

When they accept the truth

That no generous fairy

Rewards each missing tooth.

No Easter Bunny hops along

On fat, white, furry legs

With an incongruous treasure

Of pastel candy eggs.

And, alas, must come that Christmas

When suddenly they see

That Santa Claus and reindeers

Just simply cannot be.

"Bringing toys to children everywhere

On a single tiny sleigh."

Is absurdly impossible

In every single way.

Yes, it's true, all children

Will soon discard themselves

All belief in fairies,

Goblins, ghosts and elves.

Yet while giving up all fantasies

Without another nod.

For reasons inexplicable

Most still believe in god.

It just rolls of the tongue.

One of the clues in today's crossword puzzle reminded me of a trend I really hate. That is naming arenas and stadiums after companies. It seems to me the height of commercialism is that there is actually a Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. How much civic pride can you feel when your sports venue is named for a money lender? And how much civic pride did Quicken feel when they slapped their name on an arena they could have given a more exalted name? This is especially offensive in those many, many cases where the bulk of financing sports stadiums falls on the shoulders of tax payers, including people like me who have no interest in sports. So really most stadiums, based on who supports them, should have names like Taxpayer Stadium, The Workingman's Coliseum, and Ripoff Arena.

In a lonely place.

It seems it was a very disappointing year at the movie box office. In July box office sales were down 30%. For the first time in 13 years no summer film netted $300 million domestically. I wonder why. Could it be because most of the films exhibited today are crap: special-effect epics designed to thrill the average 12-year-old hero-worshipping ninny. Or mindless comedies with lots of sly sexual jokes and even more bathroom humor. Films that are not only bad in themselves, but are shameless copies of every other film in the genre? (When was the last time you saw an alien that wasn't reptilian or a film without scatology?)  Or could it be that people get tired of seeing cell phone lights continually popping up all over the theater? Or maybe it's the $10.00 popcorn and $6.00 Goobers. Or maybe it's the 20-minutes of advertising and promotions that make the paying guests feel suckered. Or maybe it's just because so many people now have 5-foot,high-definition tv screens and nearby kitchens and no longer feel the need to be ripped off by high priced tickets, snacks, and parking.

Run, Randy, Run.!

Republicans keep saying America wants a strong leader. It appears they couldn't find one stronger than Hillary Clinton. It must be so since every single Republican seems to be terrified of her. Wimpy Rand Paul has his curls in an uproar over the possibility of her being president. The pitiful plagiarist is so distressed he is dragging out the ancient history of Benghazi to suggest that's reason enough to prevent her election. But all he manages to do with all his attacks is to remind voters what a prissy little whiner he is. I would say far more destructive than Benghazi is Randy's burger incident. Readers may remember that during an Iowa fundraiser, two "dreamers" Erika Andiola and Cesar Vargas introduced themselves to Steve King. Randal, who was eating a burger nearby shoveled what remained of his burger into his mouth and ran off like a frightened dog for fear of having to confront them. A cowardly act that's hardly the behavior of a presidential hopeful.

Really, a household hint?

It's kind of insipid to write a post in praise of a mop, but I feel duty-bound to do so. It's not just any mop, but one that has made my life so much easier. Like most people I hate housecleaning. And it's not that I'm to cheap to pay a cleaner, I just hate having to give up my privacy even for a few hours. That's why I so appreciate the Mr. Clean mop. It's just a seven dollar item. Nothing more really than a long handle on which slip a towel-like mop head. But what's amazing is when you mop the floor with this device, you pick up a lot of dirt. but when you rinse it under the faucet, the dirt disappears and the cloth is as clean as new again and ready to re-work. It makes washing floors so easy and fast. I don't want to sound like Heloise, but if you do your own cleaning I highly recommend this mop. I'm sure there are others like it, but this is the one I know. So there! By the way, those orange-colored felt-y type things you get in the supermarket are also terrific.