So this year will be the year of video I have decided. It’s ironical that this first post will not contain any video content, but rest assured there will be some (a lot) in the future days and months to come. Nobody reads anymore I here. Only short, or was it long, catchy videos. I know you can’t wait!

We should have lots of stuff to talk about this year. It’s an election year, the ‘conomy is either going to tank or keep on going in this unsustainable fashion, everyone is getting older and my bones and joints hurt all the time. Lots of fun stuff.

• 1831: The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek is signed, marking the first removal treaty in the United States where the Choctaw Nation ceded land to the U.S. government.
• 1911: The trial of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s assassin, John Flammang Schrank, begins. Schrank was later found guilty but insane.
• 1932: Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh, is kidnapped from his home in New Jersey.
• 1937: President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court, a move that was widely seen as an attempt to increase the number of justices who would support his New Deal policies.
• 1974: The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in Berkeley, California.
• 1991: The Gulf War begins as a U.S.-led coalition launches a massive air campaign against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.
• 1993: The World Trade Center in New York is bombed, killing six people and injuring over a thousand others.

I live in an area that was once rural and now has rural areas nearby. I often find myself driving past these cow pastures with their ponds and never stop to look. The other day I had a few minutes to spare and went ahead and did just that at this one on the outskirts of Zephyrhills, Florida.

This particular lot is for sale so it will soon be some generic bullshit, but for now it is the home to birds and cows and bugs and snails and maybe gators? Didn’t see any but you never know. This is what all our homes and businesses around here started out as. You’ll hear old timers say how some store used to be their great granddaddie’s farm back in the day, but there were days before theirs even when there was nothing at all.

It does seem to be picking up the pace though. I first came to this area about 4 years ago to visit and moved about two years ago. Since we first came there has been so much development. I know it’s pretty much always been happening but it’s quickening. They’re slapping up new communities left and right, new carwashes (we’re like the car wash capital of the world I’m sure), and new chain restaurants.

It does beat the alternative of nothing going on or everybody leaving and things just being in a state of disrepair and despair but it’s just pretty wild what’s going on and being right in it while it’s happening.

Just about everywhere I’ve lived before had already been built out so I didn’t get to see the before like I am here. I have seen photos of the before when there were miles and miles of farmland and dirt roads. I know everywhere starts small and then gets bigger and the ponds and fields disappear and new things reappear but actually seeing it makes a person sort of wish it didn’t have to.

Anyways, there’s my photo.

I just saw this the other day, it’s Night Court new in 2023. Remember Night Court? It ran from 1984- 1992 so you may or may not remember it if you’re not ancient old like me but I sure as heckfire remember it. I loved watching it and all the zany antics they’d get into. And remember how appropriate Dan Fielding was to all the ladies on the show and wasn’t a creep or anything? It will be interesting to see how he fares in this day and age. I’m sure he’s mellowed out with time.

Well, the short trailer I posted looks like it could be entertaining. Not gonna be winning any awards for writing but the show’s not about that. It’s about no-thinking low-brow comedy we can all enjoy. So take a look at it when it comes out on January 17th at 8/7 C on NBC.

Things were the most expensive they had ever been. Not just one thing or two things but ALL OF THE THINGS. I go to the grocery store and find myself sometimes literally shaking my fist and yelling at the prices in my basket of goods. One time I was viewing some microfiche of the Denver Post from about 1981 and saw a grocery store ad. All prices were much lower then, of course, but the one I remember in particular was Totino’s Party Pizzas. They were $1. I was reading this a few years ago and at that time and until this year Totino’s Party Pizzas were always $1. Have you seen what they charge for them this year? $1.80 on a good day. I’ve seen them for over $2 at my local Save-A-Lot (which is such an ironic name because you actually pay more for almost everything there).

Oh and have you rented an apartment or bought a house? Sorry. Not a good year for that. The rent is too damn high and people, especially people I work with in my job as a Realtor, aren’t buying them either. Interest rates are through the roof (from their artificially low starting point) and it has really impacted things. I’ve had my worst year ever! Hooray!

Anyways, let us discard this past year and move on to the next, which I’m sure will be better. Someone once said, whether you think you can or you can’t you’re right, and so I’ll think I can, think I can. Like the ol’ train going up a hill. I’ll get over it and it will be marvelous on the other side. The other side being the great year of our lord two thousand and twenty three. And I’ll share it all on this little blog and you will get to follow along and see!

This post concerns what you call it. Seems like a simple thing but people take very seriously what you choose to call it. There are those that call it pop, there are those that call it soda, and supposedly some even call all flavors of soft drinks Cokes.

A person’s choice of names has a lot to do with where they’re from. Midwest and Western (USA) folks tend to call it pop. Northeast, southwest, and parts of Florida call it soda. A lot of the south calls all carbonated soft drinks Coke.

I think coke is the only weird one. What do you want to drink? A coke. What flavor of coke? A Dr Pepper. That’s how I guess it would go. Don’t make no sense, no sir.

I like to drink and say pop. I’m from the west I guess, Colorado to be exact. It’s actually not west or Midwest as far as I can tell, but either way we say pop where I’m from. It’s just the way it feels the best. I’m gonna go have a pop. A dang ol pop. That’s what I say.

There’s a website, appropriately named PopvsSoda, that has been conducting a survey for a long time about people’s word choices. Here’s a map showing all their responses.

Very interesting stuff and I’m glad you took the time to read it. It really means a lot. Feel free to leave a comment on this or any of my other posts!

Well, take a listen to my voice telling you all about it!

Wow, that was great, wasn’t it? Thanks. In case you didn’t actually get a chance to listen to it I’ll do a quick recap here in text form. I know sometimes it’s not the best time to have the sound on.

3 Podcast Recommendations:

• Hey Riddle Riddle – Started out as a riddle podcast. They would talk about and solve riddies and puzzies and intersperse different improv scenes. Then time went on and they did all the riddles and it became more of a regular comedy type show. It’s very entertaining, and definitely worth a listen. I started listening a couple of years after they began (2018) but I started from episode 1 and caught up. I’d recommend you do the same. It’ll provide you with hundreds of hours of entertainment!
• The Phil Hendrie Show – Phil Hendrie has been doing a radio and/or internet show for about 30 years. He started on terrestrial radio, which is where I first heard him back around 2000/2001. I used to listen to AM talk radio shows and one day found his show. It took me a couple days to realize Phil was doing all the voices, other than the callers. The guests would have the most outrageous stories and say the craziest things. People would call in and argue with them, and it was good. Some time ago, Phil left regular radio and started doing netcasts with just a panel of regular hosts/guests and it is still amazing. It’s basically him having a conversation with himself but himself is several other people and those people are pretty zany. I think I am supposed to put something like, “If you know, you know.” But if you don’t know you should find out.
• Never Seen It with Kyle Ayers – This is one of the newest podcasts I’ve been listening to. It’s another one that started in 2018 and I’ve been listening to them starting from the beginning. So it may have changed as time went on but the premise is that a comedian, Kyle Ayers, hadn’t seen the Wire and was tired of having to tell people he hadn’t. I guess that inspired him to create a podcast where he has other comedians who hadn’t seen some particular show or movie create their own script for it. Because even if you haven’t seen a show/movie you probably have an idea of the gist of the story. They read/act out the script they wrote and hilarity ensues!

What are some of your favorite podcasts? Where do you listen to your podcasts at? Leave a comment below and let me know! And stay tuned for the next great installment of my super amazing blog.

Man that AI art is pretty good these days. I made a couple with dream.ai just for fun the other day. Look at ‘em! So artsy.

I made one the day I first installed the app; you can hear it below. Feel free to sign up at Swell.Life so you can reply to it, or make your own Swellcast!