Condoleezza Rice should be more respected and accepted, particularly in the black community. Her life, her career, her accomplishments and her legacy are SECOND TO NONE, regardless of race, gender, creed, religion, background, beginnings or political affiliation.

Her accomplishments are too many to list here, but you are missing out on a tremendously great American story if you don’t know hers. As a Republican and George W. Bush appointee (National Security Advisor and Secretary of State) she was under appreciated and her achievements not fully accepted.

Joe Biden’s choices to fill positions in his administration are drawing praise for diversity and inclusion, especially for the number of women. Many are women of color, including Vice President elect Kamala Harris. This is noteworthy and Joe Biden should be commended. So please consider this…..

About fifteen years ago Condoleezza Rice was the fourth ranking member of the United States government as Secretary of State. As a classically trained pianist she performed with world renowned Yo-yo Ma (look him up too). As if that were not enough she recently served on the College Football Association playoff board. That ain’t even half of what she’s done. Oh yeah, did I mention that she’s a black woman?

Put some respect on her name y’all. Think about it. Smart, talented, accomplished, diverse, wealthy, connected. Her political views (understandably opposed by many in the black community) simply aren’t enough to overshadow what she has done and they should not anyway. Condoleezza Rice. A real, modern American success story that black America should know and be proud of.

This is never a good sign. Not any time nor any place. It is even more dreaded around the Holiday Season. Its a sign we may see more than ever in our communities due to the effects of the Corona Virus. 

Imagine that you are a small business owner. I’m talking about a “real” small business, not the government defined (500 employees or less) small business. I’m not talking about the franchises who qualify as small business. I’m talking about the mom and pops, the family owned, the community based, the corner store, the specialty shops. Those who employ fewer than 25 people.

Yea, imagine being told that you have to operate at less than 25% capacity. Imagine not being able to operate your core business. Now imagine not earning revenue, turning a profit. Not able to pay employees and therefore losing employees as well as customers. All this with bills to pay and family to support.

Many small business owners face this situation everyday during the COVID pandemic. Over 100,000 closed this past year alone, which leads to today’s Christmas gift. I WANT TO PUT “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” signs “OUT OF BUSINESS”.

CAN CONGRESS PLEASE PASS A STIMULUS PACKAGE THAT EMPHASIZES SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF? THE ECONOMY IS COUNTING ON YOU! AMERICA IS COUNTING ON YOU! THE PEOPLE ARE COUNTING ON YOU! ‘Tis the Season…….

Started Day 14 of the countdown off right.  Got a nap when I got home from work.  I needed that.  Thanks to Anita and Chante I slept very well.  So well in fact I had some sweet dreams.  Which leads to the pictures included here.  I dream of owning this lovely McLaren 600LT in racing orange. Not a bad ride, not a bad gift for Day 14. Cost: $250,000.00.  Let’s do some math.  I have about 200 friends and family.  250,000 ÷ 200 = 1250 each.  Dividing that by 14 days leaves “us” with $90 per day and the 600LT is ours.  MERRY CHRISTMAS.  ‘Tis the Season……

Day 15 of the countdown. It’s late (for me). I’m tired. For today’s gift I want these beautiful ladies (Anita Baker and Chante Moore) to serenade me to sleep 😎! Tis the Season. Good night.😊

Gettin’ closer as the countdown continues.  I like football.  I like winning.  I like the Dallas Cowboys.  They are not winning.  What is a fan to do?  Guess I need a new team for Christmas…..

I received this coat as a gift after the Cowboys won the 1993 Super Bowl.  It is the only article of clothing I own that has the Dallas Cowboys name on it. I wear it only after they win Super Bowls. Been twenty five years since I last wore it. I have no other Cowboys paraphernalia.

I have owned this coat for more than 30 years.  Been a fan of the Cowboys for more than 40. I shouldn’t need to root for another team. Obviously I am not a fair weather fan. Twenty five years of mediocrity, though, can mess with a fan’s mind, you know? So….

I need a new team. No, no. I still want the pretty helmets with the stars on ’em. Still want the best uniforms in all of sports. Just want a few players who are mentally tough and play with determination. I want coaches who know how to compete, adjust and win. Mainly though, I want my “new team” to have a new owner, Team President and General Manager not named Jerry Jones. Anybody got two billion dollars to spare? ‘Tis the Season…

Day 17 of the Christmas gift countdown. Today’s gift doesn’t fit under the tree as it is more of dream, but I have to ask anyway. Can any of my friends or family arrange a ride for me in either a Navy Blue Angel F18 or an Air Force Thunderbird F16? Please?

I fell in love with airplanes at an early age. I still have memories from about the age of five of my cousins Ronda and Desi, my aunt Bobbi, my uncles Freddy and Larry, my grandmother “Mommie” and mother Thelma buying me all kinds of toy planes. Model planes, remote control planes, electric planes, gliders, you name it. Like every week someone would walk through the door and place a new plane in my hand.

I loved watching them glide through the air. As often as I lost or broke one I’d have a new one to assemble and play with. Probably numbered in the hundreds. Of them all I had two favorites: the wooden gliders that you could purchase for $1.00 at convenience stores and the custom remote control Blue Angel bought by one of my uncles.

This R/C Blue Angel was special even by today’s standards. Three foot wing span, real engine, super fast! My Uncle Larry would actually fly it for me as I was too young to maneuver it without crashing. I was hooked for life.

As a child I lived about a mile from the U.S. Naval Academy. Saw the Blue Angels fly right in my backyard every Memorial Day. I still remember distinctly some years later, in 1986, watching them fly and noticing the different planes that were used. I didn’t like the new jets. They were oddly shaped compared to the older ones I was accustomed to. Turned out that those new planes were FA18 Hornets, now one of my favorites. Along with the F16 Falcon. Which are the two jets pictured here.

Each of these have two-seater versions and occasionally allow people to ride along on flights for a “small fee”. I really wish “Santa” would let me be next in line. What’s up family and friends? ‘Tis the Season…..

R.I.P Chuck Yeager

Alright I’ll admit it. Today’s gift request is a little selfish, biased and throws some shade at people who may not deserve it. On day 18 of our Christmas countdown I want the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose to the Washington Non-Footall Team. Can anybody help with this? 

I hate, no, I dislike Pittsburgh.  (Hate is too harsh a word for the Holidays).  Always have. This hate, I mean DISLIKE, goes way back and runs deep. See I’m a Dallas fan, which means I dislike Washington too. But I dislike the Steelers much more. 

I’ve been watching football since 1975.  Yep, 1975. Back then I loved the Minnesota Vikings.  Cool helmets, cool name, but most importantly, cool ass running back named Chuck Foreman.  Talk about spin moves!  Chuck was great. For me though, what made him stand out was his sideline demeanor. He would have his helmet half-way on and pimp around the field like he was the baddest dude around.  Left a huge impression on an adolescent wanna-be running back like me for sure. Pittsburgh beat them in the Super Bowl…..

One day the Vikings had a game against this team called the  Cowboys. They had shiny helmets with big stars on ’em and players with cool names. “Too Tall” Jones. Robert Newhouse.  “Golden” Richards. “Hollywood” Henderson.  Drew and Preston Pearson. I was hooked. Had a new team.

So that year it just so happened that Dallas went to the Super Bowl. Their opponent? The Steelers. Who won? The Steelers. Dallas drafted Tony Dorsett and won the Super Bowl a couple of years later. Then Dallas played another Super Bowl against Pittsburgh. Who won? The damned Steelers again. You know I really do hate Pittsburgh.

As I said it runs deep. They beat my two favorite teams in the Super Bowl. They have ugly uniforms. They wave those dirty yellow towels. So Washington, please gift me with a win against Pittsburgh. I promise to hate you a little less. ‘Tis the Season…..

The gift ideas just keep on coming.  Day 19 of the countdown and yet another thing on my list.  Pictured above is a desk.  This desk belongs in an office. I need an office at my home.  One problem: the room that was supposed to be “my” office has been “surprisingly” claimed by my wife.  The thing is though, she won’t choose a desk to put in the room.  Let me explain.

I started this blog in March 2019 at my wife’s insistence. My father-in-law had encouraged me to do it years ago so I finally took the initiative to get started.  I read through some previous journals and songs to formulate ideas.  Chose a name. Chose a host site. Finally, I chose a comfortable place in my home to think and to write. It was my little corner in the dinette area that no one seemed to pay attention to.

Fast forward to March 2020. My wife is now working from home due to COVID. My schedule is temporarily altered.  My sons’ work schedules are reduced.  Everyone is home together more often. Space, particularly my space, is at a premium.  The unfinished part of the basement housed my music room. My oldest son has that. The finished and furnished part of the basement was my “cave”.  My youngest son has that. So I relegated myself to a small corner in the dinette that NO ONE used regularly, called it my “life corner”. That has become the wife’s home office.

So one day back in June while doing some “Spring” cleaning I decided to make our spare bedroom my space, my office, my “life corner” as you will. I started checking out desks, flooring and furniture. One day while having dinner I shared the idea with my family. Before I even finished my thought, my wife says,”Hey, I have an idea. I can make THAT room MY office since I work from home and don’t know when I’ll return to work!” And just like that I lost MY home office before I ever sat at MY desk……..

Ok. That was in June. It’s now December. Room still empty. Why? My wife has taken seven months to choose a desk. SEVEN MONTHS MAN! You would not believe her excuses. Anyway, here is what I want for today’s gift. PLEASE HELP ME CHOOSE A DESK FOR MY WIFE SO I CAN HAVE MY HOME OFFICE. That way I can finally have a wall to decorate with a picture of this crazy Koenigsegg Jesko so I can dream as I write. ‘Tis the Season….

Oh yeah!  The Markbass Marcus Miller 500 and 102 Bass Cab. Day 20 of my Christmas gift countdown.  Now this gift is one that I would have already had the Corona Virus not interrupted my first ever permanent weekly bass spot.

Man I’ve played music off and on for the last 35 years. Started of as a hobby, progressed to paying gigs with professional aspirations. All born from a passion so strong that music really has been my true mistress. While it seemingly has taken so much, it has given me much more. If it weren’t for music, playing music, studying artists and instruments, I don’t know where I’d be.

That being said, I promised myself that moving forward would not spend a dime on anything pertaining to music if I did not earn said dime from musical endeavors, be it playing, writing or producing. So I planned to save the money from weekly gig at church and use it to upgrade from my practice rig to this set up. Not so fast, huh?

So family a friends, please add this to the list of presents I expect to see under the tree. ‘Tis the Season…….

Ok, gonna get right to it today, day 21 as we countdown to Christmas. The gift I want is either the Northrop/McDonnell YF23 “Gray Ghost ” or “Black Widow”. I’ll take both if you’re asking. While it may seem outlandish and unrealistic to want this initially, you’ll realize that it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

The most advanced plane used by the U.S. Airforce is (those in the know may not agree) the Lockheed F22 Raptor. This may be a little TMI but stay with me for a second. When our military needs new planes they put out bids to contractors who build them. The top two or three bids are selected and then the government helps to finance the development with tax payer dollars. Keep this in mind. Way back in the 1980s the Air Force needed a more capable jet fighter. Two companies, Lockheed and Northrop were awarded contracts. Lockheed built the F22 and Northrop built the YF23. The Lockheed F22 won the competition and the Air Force chose it over the Northrop YF23. So whatever happened to the Northrop YF23? EXACTLY!

These planes were developed in the 1990s with TAX PAYER DOLLARS. THEY BELONG TO US. In essence, I……I mean we, already own them. I think an F23 costs about $400,000,000.00 to build. Think thats a lot? How much have you paid in federal taxes since 1990? Now multiply that by a few hundred million people. We’ve paid for these jets many times over. Facts! Even in the movies you see the commanding officer tell new pilots, “Son this jet belongs to the American tax payers so don’t be reckless out there.” It’s true.

So I want my jets and I want them now. They don’t belong in some far off museum or secret military installation. I……I mean we, should be able to see them whenever we want. We did pay for ’em. Do we pay rent or mortgage and give someone else the key? Do we pay for cars and let other people take them home? I think not! I’m not trying to fly the planes. Just want them available to the public. There are plenty military bases within driving distance of me. I want the Northrop YF23 at one of them. ‘Tis the Season.