The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

Are you pissed off yet? If not, you should be! You shouldn't be pissed off at this picture, nor me for creating it. You should be pissed off that We The People have allowed this country to become what it is. We, the citizens of these United States of America, have allowed it to become a tyranny in democratic clothing. Sure, you can sit back and complain. Lord knows we all do. The reality is, WE allowed this to happen. We kept 'electing' one crooked politician after another. We've allowed them to live a life of luxury while destroying our home. Hell, even the richest 1% are gobsmacked at how blindly stupid we are. The Tea Party are the cowards who wave flags and hide at home, often times while living on their much detested "gubment money". I'm personally AMAZED at how many people I know who, while living on welfare,disability, etc., sit back and complain about all that they are given. Most of them probably don't vote. If they did, there wouldn't be ...

I have an online buddy down in Mississippi we call Uncle Raggy. He's a minister by trade but also one heckuva musician. As it turns out, the man knows his way around the kitchen too. He and I often get to talking about food and different things we like to make. Well, one of Raggy's faves is his take on hot dogs. Yep. Weenies. Tube steaks. Franks. Red hots. Whatever you want to call them. Now you're probably wondering just how the hell can anyone do anything particularly special with hot dogs. You either boil them, grill them, fry them or nuke them, right? But have you ever thought about a marinated hot dog? I'll admit, it sounded odd to me too...but knowing a thing or three about cooking, his recipe sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. Raggy has a video on YouTube about how to make these hot dogs and man, it's funny! That's how he and I became buds...he's a funny, funny man. But watching the video, I really thought these looked interestin...

OK, so I'm a couple weeks early...sue me! LOL This is the 6th year I've posted this and since people still seem to like it and ask for it, here it is! Be thankful for all of the people in your world! BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!!!! 6th YEAR!!!!!! Thanksgivus Thanksgivus: that's what she called it. The 'she' in question would be a very short, loud, middle aged black woman with retardation who I supervised for years. Her name is Omega...fitting because she truly is THE END! Omega didn't exactly have a speech problem but I think her hearing wasn't 100% on the mark, as certain words would get slurred together such as "Thanksgivus". Another fave was her version of Social Security, which often sounded more like "sociable secretary" (of which I've known a few). Thanksgivus (which is what I now prefer to call the US holiday Thanksgiving) is the last Thursday of November (this is for my overseas friends who may not be fully knowledgeable of the s...

Dear Facebook, I see that you've added yet another wonderful feature (the sort option). Oh joy. Yes, I'm being facetious. Actually, the sort option is nice but...always a but...be careful. Your continual adding of unwanted features and your incessant need for change can and most likely cost you in the long run. You're not the first social networking site and you won't be the last. Remember MySpace? Once upon a time, MySpace was IT! Everyone had a MySpace page. People were hooked! They could interact with their friends, post their status, share pictures and videos with their friends (real or imagined), post "bulletins", etc. One can still do all of that on MySpace...but really, who goes there these days? Myspace essentially shot itself in the foot. It kept adding, changing, getting slower, more and more hackers hopped on board, and its finally to the point where when I try to check in on my band's page, MySpace tells me I need to upgrade to a differen...

I worked Halloween night and have to say, it was a blast. I had another indoor office cookout for my clients (I work in the mental health field for those that don't know) and we all had a blast! Hot dogs on the Foreman grill, chips, pop and of course, tons of Halloween candy! And I did it all on a budget! Gotta love the dollar store! LOL Speaking of which, I picked up the most awesome deli style mustard at the dollar store. Nice and spicy...I can't wait to try it on leftover ham on marble rye! (I guess this means I will have to cook a ham at some point). For you mustard lovers out there, the brand is Koop's (deli style). I highly recommend it! After working a 10 hour night shift, we had a mandatory staff meeting in the morning. I personally hate these because they tend to be USELESS. Client updates...I'm of the mind that if one is paying attention at work AND reading progress notes, all if this is already known. Everyone usually bickers and banters and whines and whinge...

Is there some planetary alignment that I'm unaware of or have been people been regressing at the speed of light lately? Case in point: An old friend of mine who I've know since childhood, had a prospective client storm out of his office today when he found out that my friend is black. Even more ludicrous, this potential client was also black. Everybody say it with me...WTF????? In this day and age, does a person's race still mean anything to anyone other than that person? I've known, befriended, been romantically involved with and worked with people of all races in my 45 years and you know what I've learned from that? People are people. I've been fortunate enough to have traveled around the globe and once again, people are just people. But this doesn't end here. Another friend, who is also black (or African American or Negro or Person of Color or whatever the politically correct term is this week), has been dealing with a similar issue. My friend, while disc...

I spent the past two days in northeast Ohio (where I lived in the second half of the eighties). My time there was personally turbulent but never anything less than interesting (in retrospect). It's been 21 years since I left there. If I hadn't, I probably would've drank myself to death...period. In the little area I lived in, there were 88 bars (back in the day) and not much else to do. I can tell you, I was drunk in every single one of those bars at one point or other. To paraphrase Thomas Wolfe, you really can't go back. Just being back where I used to live felt, if nothing else, surreal. I described it to a friend there thusly: "It's like being somewhere you've never been but knowing where everything is". Everything changes...which is probably a good thing...but it was disconcerting to me just how much things had changed. Familiar storefronts bore strange names. The people in the streets looked different. Lots of my friends are gone, and those remai...