Rants, musings, and other general purpose blog entries reflecting the thoughts du jour.
Being terrorised by two labradoodles interspersed with watching Nick play hockey and having lovely meals with Mom, Meghann, Nick, and Katie is not a recipe for a relaxed Father’s Day. But who needs a relaxing day when you can have an awesome Father’s Day? May your Father’s Day be equally as enjoyable! :)
The Carolina Hurricanes are the 2026 Stanley Cup champions claiming their second Cup 20 years after the franchise won their first! Whilst the 2006 Cup was the second best thing to happen to me that year, this 2026 Stanley Cup is pretty much topping the podium for this year! :)
Mending a bulb on the Traverse isn’t a simple thing such as lifting the bonnet and swapping a bulb in about a minute. Oh no, GM’s engineers ensured it was far harder and would take much longer. Today, I actually managed to swap a bulb in only ten minutes which is fifty fewer minutes than it usually takes… :)
Once again, the House of Commons is proving the old saying from "Yes, Minister" that it's often like a bucket of crabs where the ones on top are constantly being pulled down by the ones on the bottom of the bucket. The past couple of weeks are the clearest proof of how true that is... :)
Loyalty in the UK government lasts about as long as it takes for someone to get the idea of pinching the top job and moving in Number 10 Downing Street. Sir Keir Starmer seems to be trying to fight off a leadership challenge. Only time will tell if he'll be successful but if history is anything to go by, his chance of staying in post are not so hot!
Another year and my oldest child has gotten a wee bit older. But it's the wisdom that has come with those years that has truly taken my breath away this year... :)
Happy Mother's Day to all those who celebrate and may your day also bring you peace and contentment! :)
Special needs softball and tonnes of pictures taken to cull, almost making it through lunch at Olive Garden without incrementing of the year field being detected, and having two Labradoodle terrorists coming to visit. Yep, that's this universe's idea of a "low key birthday"... ;)
My cousin Cindy’s daughter graduated from Union College in TN with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music. The direction she is heading for her future isn’t the one that any of us expected after hearing for years that she’d eventually follow a long line of McClerrens into the classroom. Sometimes having faith in the journey isn’t easy. But it is right and good and that is what truly matters! :)
You've got to hand it to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as his 66th birthday certainly was celebrated in a rather unique and memorable way. Somehow I doubt "custody suite chic" was what he had in mind, though...
Today I had the privilege and honour of observing the passage of the Buddhist monks on their "Walk For Peace" near Jordan Lake. To say that it was genuinely a life-altering experience is the understatement of the century... :)
Today would have been Dad's 81st birthday...a day he shared with Dr Martin Luther King Jr. How about a fun journey to see what other notable birthdays and events occurred on the 15th of January?
(This entry is very intensely emotional and personal and I'll understand if you choose to give it a miss!) The word "super" always had a special meaning between Dad and I for far longer than anyone else would have ever known of it's deeper meaning whenever he'd use it to answer their question. Today seems as good a day as any to finally let everyone else in on what it truly meant to the both of us...and still does to this day.
We'd barely been able to process the 389th (!!!) senseless mass-shooting event at Brown University in Rhode Island before the grim newsflash from Bondi Beach near Sydney of an attack upon Jews celebrating Hanukkah (the festival of light) and it makes me wonder if we can see anything at all in the darkness seemingly consuming our world. :(
Alex was hoping for a Snowpocalypse so he wouldn’t have to go to school. The lack of a Snowpocalypse didn’t stop Wake County schools from binning school anyway…
When the weather forecast turns ghastly and is of the wintry persuason round the Triangle, one can’t help but thinking of the great wintry calamities that have befallen an area utterly unprepared for the aftermath…
Even an impending Snowpocalypse (or Durmageddon) isn’t enough to keep us from seeing some old friends at the arena! :)
YouTube served up a certain clip from "WKRP in Cincinnati" and that was the inspiration for today's Thanksgiving message...humour and the people you love in this world can get you through just about anything life can throw at you.
My cousin Hannah is arguably among the strongest and most courageous people I have ever known. In spite of pain so severe that it is almost unimaginable that it could be endured, she's managed to finish a master's degree and advocate strongly on the behalf of those who society would prefer to forget and do more in her time than most have with many more years behind them. Now she's in what is literally the fight to reclaim her life and fully realise her destiny of being a troublemaker of the very best kind this world desperately needs. Will you help her in her time of need?
Whilst waiting for some Chinese comfort food for Nicholas who was definitely feeling like the fourth day of a three-day liberty pass, there was a penny on the table whilst I was waiting for the food. That penny was apparently worth many thoughts that restores my faith in this country's ability to survive... :)
As we honour the veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces as well as those who came before them, they should not be the only ones shouldering the burden of fighting for the freedoms we often take for granted!
I love my Traverse but mending her occasional faults seems to have more than a little frustration thanks to curious design choices by the engineers of the Lambda series…or it’s just that they hate people who want to mend their own vehicle. So imagine my surprise when this little bit of maintenance was actually much less painful than expected… :)
The morning started out a bit harrowing apparently sleeping through the alarm but visiting the front of Alex's school I'd not seen in quite a while showed the Enloe Marching Band's pit crew got a massive upgrade we'd have only dreamt of... :)
To the nice lady in aisle A3 at the White Oak Target this afternoon with tubes of shampoo that just refused all attempts at adequate support...it was a honour and a privilege to hopefully brighten your day just a little bit! :)
Through the years, I have come to understand two things: 1) At a certain point in life a man’s hips spread and there’s nothing you can do about it and 2) there’s a very easy way to define friendship. A friend is someone who won’t stop until he finds you and brings you home.
