Jim Flanigan Looks at the World
Turning the Mundane into Fundane Since 2015
Politics aside, some say that Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race is hurting the economy. You say you want proof? Oh, I have proof for you.
As a fellow small business owner, I can relate. It hurts when you’ve made a product investment and then see the market change drastically. But as a small business owner who has been in that predicament, I can offer this advice …
Continue reading “Is Biden’s Decision Bad for US Economy?”
I golfed Monday, and I was asked numerous times by others in my foursome whether Joe Biden should be replaced as the Democrat candidate for the presidency. I didn’t have an answer, and quite frankly, no one from my golf foursome should care about my political opinion. Nor should anyone. But now I have clarity.
I hopped on my bike yesterday after work and took off for some berry picking. The black raspberries are almost done for the season. The mock strawberries fruit all summer long. If they do stop, I can always buy regular strawberries and mock them myself. Now is the time to harvest mulberries, and that’s what made up most of my foraging yesterday.
But I also found something else as I foraged that helped me choose my preferred Democrat candidate.
Continue reading “Biden or ???”
Today is the day of the big solar eclipse crossing the USA close to me in Chicagoland.
I started to prepare for the eclipse today, but I wondered if I should even bother for a couple reasons. First …
Continue reading “My Eclipse Day is Looking Up Musically”
Well, the swinger’s party I was sure I was attending yesterday turned out to be nothing more than a birthday party. With kids! What happened to adults only on the invite? Regardless, I had another opportunity last night for some other adults only fun. I was headed to a concert last night as part of a reciprocal concert attendance agreement that a friend and I hammered out with the help of our attorneys and a board of arbiters.
The way it works is that my friend treats me to a concert that his wife does not want to attend, and then I will treat him to a concert that my wife will not attend. Both our wives are younger than us, so their musical tastes skew more recent.
That may just sound like going to a concert with a friend, but there is a subtle and important difference. The concert chooser pays for both tickets. That way, the concert guest can’t bitch about the price of the ticket to a concert that may not have been their first choice. It’s a good system.
Anyway, this concert promised an adults only time.
That’s right, Don McLean, the American Pie guy, was scheduled to give an adults only show. What did that mean? Lots of profanity? Gratuitous nudity? I saw an elderly Fee Waybill of The Tubes with his shirt off and pants down when they came to town at the end of 2023, and I didn’t want to see a similar show. Instead, we got Don McLean looking like the ghost of Roy Orbison who had eaten a few too many American pies.
Continue reading “Swing and a Miss”
I fulfilled my Sunday obligation and a New Year’s resolution for week #2 of 2024 by going to church on Sunday. While going to church is not something new or unusual per my New Year’s resolution, going to an Episcopal Church is. We had no idea what to expect other than it is located directly across the street from the Lutheran church we had recently abandoned because of the congregation’s homophobic harrassment of one of the one pastors who is openly gay. That pastor left the church and the area, but not before she pointed fingers on her way out. The church we left before that one had a homophobic pastor. Did we make progress going from a church with a homophobic pastor to one with a homophobic congregation?
The Flanigans don’t tolerate any mistreatment of others because of their race, creed, color, or sexual orientation. We do tolerate harmless jokes about the MAGA crowd, but that’s about it.
Q: Why did the MAGA crowd deny that German Christmas fruit bread is delicious?
A: Because Trump told them the bread is Stollen.
I literally just made up that joke, and I think that is painfully obvious. I’ll be workshopping that one for the next 11 months to get it ready for next Christmas.
Anyway, we checked on gaychurch.org (really!), and found an accepting Espiscopal church right across the street from our old church. The congregation was definitely welcoming, but seeing this as we slid into the pew was almost a deal-breaker for me.
Continue reading “A Divine Resolution”
Where would I have picked-up COVID? Sure, my wife and youngest daughter had been sick, but they tested negative for COVID. I hadn’t been anywhere special to the best of my memory, but I am experiencing the famed COVID fog, so I wasn’t 100% sure. As for other COVID symptoms, they are rough, especially for an older guy like me. I’m grateful for genetics, my general good health, and previous COVID vaccinations. Oh, and I don’t want to forget the wonder drugs available to treat COVID symptoms. Neigh, I’m not horsing around and talking about Ivermectin with bleach chasers. I’m referring to wonderful COVID antiviral treatments like Paxlovid which I am currently taking.
Of course, with Paxlovid, you have to take the good with the bad, like side effects such as loss of taste and smell. My wife asked me today if I’ve lost my smell, but no, I haven’t. I smell as bad as usual. Another side effect is a metallic taste, and that I definitely have. I feel like a James Bond villian.
But the mystery gnawed at me like a diseased rat gnawing at a young waif’s leg.
Where could I have picked-up COVID?
Continue reading “COVID Mystery Solved!”
Democrats don’t like to hear this, but Republicans are evolving and becoming better people. Oh, sure, there are those who will point to Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos, and Lauren Boebert as examples of Republicans regressing. Granted, they may be rough around the edges, but what guy can honestly say they wouldn’t want to go to the theater to see a show (and possibly more!) with BoBo? Maybe those three are just outliers, or perhaps more aptly termed outliars. But let me offer this recent Speaker of the House brouhaha as a perfect example of Republicans improving. I’ll explain.
Continue reading “Republicans Making Positive Progress – An Essay”
Saw this from CNN and agree that it is literally the epitome of Breaking News.
Good thing it was unmanned, although maybe a pilot could have landed it. Tesla owners with the self-driving option take note. The end result is the same – failure for Russia on two celestial orbs in our solar system.
My wife and I planned to go to a sunrise Easter service at a local cemetery. My wife wanted to go, because she’s a good person of faith. I wanted to go, because I was hoping it would be spooky in the cemetery. Considering we were expecting 30 relatives at our house for Easter, we chose to do other things at sunrise on Easter Sunday to prepare for our guests. As I cleaned our basement Saturday night, I made the choice to watch some episodes of Expedition Unknown on the Discovery Channel which involved Jesus, Moses, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. I think that fulfilled my Sunday obligation.
We had some younger kids coming over on Easter, so I busted out the games. In the basement, we had air hockey, Twister, and Hungry, Hungry Hippos ready to be played, and they were. Thanks to some wonderful weather, I set up a few games throughout our ample backyard. However, choices were made by our guests to specifically not play one of the games. So, now is your chance to play a game and see if you can choose the game not played by our guests. Here are 3 of the games: badminton, bags, and ladderball.
Which game went untouched?
Continue reading “Easter Choices”
I haven’t blogged for over a week. It would have felt good to take a blogcation except I was sick. Not that you cared. I didn’t receive one Get Well Soon balloon bouquet from any readers. I’m telling myself that maybe you tried but encountered some difficulties getting it to me.
Or, it may be due to what I hear is a helium shortage. Thanks, Biden. It’s hard for me to confirm such a shortage, because helium is an invisible gas.
A huge reason that I couldn’t blog this past week is because of writing.
Continue reading “At a Crossroads”
It’s March, so it was time to march today in our town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. I was supposed to ride in the back of a snowplow with other St. Charles Township elected officials, but with snow in the forecast, the township canceled so that all snowplows would be ready for snow removal. That’s actually very responsible but no fun. Instead, I marched with fellow Kane County and St. Charles Township Democrats.
The group of Democrats marching has grown quite a bit over the years. This year we had 2 US House representatives, an Illinois House representative, various Kane County elected officials and board membes, and me as the sole elected township official. In addition, we had Democrat candidates for our upcoming municipal election in April and many other local Dems. We’re kind of a big deal now.
Can you see me in the back holding the “Be The Change! Vote Democrat” sign? Barely, right? Why did I get stuck in the back? Well, I am tall, and I also looked ridiculous. See for yourself …
Continue reading “March March”With news that the Biden administration has now shot down a 4th airborne UFO today over Lake Huron, I am starting to worry about the Goodyear Blimp at the Super Bowl.
Despite having easy choices for Monday and Tuesday song faves, I find myself with no obvious choice for a preferred Wednesday tune. I do recall really admiring the political lyrics to this Macklemore creation post-2016 election.
But it’s not a song I would choose to listen to for enjoyment. I think my Wednesday song would have to be this one, if only for how beautiful it sounds.
Oh, those harmonies! Not my favorite S&G song, but it will have to suffice for my Wednesday tune. Back tomorrow with a strong song for Thursday … I hope.
I think I finally understand the complaints about the liberal media. It all became perfectly clear as I watched my beloved Chicago Bears dismantle the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football last night. Take a look at who Peyton and Eli Manning had as a guest on their Manningcast.
That’s right. A liberal former Democrat President who had nothing to do with football during his career. How about having a qanonservative former Republican President as a guest who actually owned a professional football team? Here’s the story.
Continue reading “The Liberal Media Invades Football (satire alert!)”
I started yesterday with a Wordle that I swore I had solved in 2 … then 3 … then 4 … then 5 … then 6 … then nope.
Was I becoming cognitively impaired, or was it just bad luck guessing? Any regular reader of this blog will choose the former. I even harbored thoughts of it as I got word that yet another of my cousins who is my age now is showing signs of dementia. But I chalked it up to bad luck guessing and got ready to continue my career in the cinema.
No, I wasn’t hired as an usher at the local Megaplex. I had a paying gig as a film extra playing a funeralgoer at Graceland Cemetery. Not Elvis’s final resting place in Graceland in Tennessee as I had originally thought, but Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.
Traffic was light and I made it to the Chicago cemetery faster than Google said I would. I parked and had a distance to walk to the chapel where the filming would take place. That’s when I hitchhiked for the first time in my life.
Continue reading “Yesterday Was a Weird Day”
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 