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JB's Seventh Annual "Airing of the Grievances" Blog

  If you would have told me in December of 2017 that I would still be doing an “Airing of The Grievance” blog seven years later I would have not believed you. I did it on whim just to be onery that very first time. As it has turns out it has been a fun way for me to end each year since then. I would have never bet that this tradition would have taken hold. Now that I am retired, and not as pissed off as much, as well as a little more relaxed, I may run out of material and who knows how many these I have left so enjoy. For those with great hopes that there would be a “ Rip the Filter off Completely” retirement edition this year, I will sadly have to manage your expectations. It seems restraint and good manners this holiday season have overridden my normal caustic proclivities and have temporarily prevented a “burn down the house-go out in a ball of flames” blog in the near term. No worries though I will be working on that one, so that when I pass away It can be shared after my de...
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JB's Sixth Annual Airing of the Grievances

  It is that time of year again for the annual “Airing of the Grievances” blog, in celebration of Festivus. This is the sixth edition. Who knew that it would continue on this long. As always, we give thanks to Frank Constanza from the TV show Seinfeld, who introduced this beautiful holiday to us twenty-five years ago. As we celebrate this anniversary, while you put up your “Festivus pole” and prepare for the “Feats of Strength”, I will attempt to entertain you a little by sharing my thoughts/opinions in this space since the last time we were here. If you have followed this blog in the past you know that I am here to blow off a little steam on a few topics of my choosing, that will likely have the potential to offend you. If you are new to this blog and are hyper sensitive, or easily trigged, I implore you to click out now and scroll to something softer and more touchy-feely. This is not it. If I am not offending everyone with something then I will have to try harder next year. I ...
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"Letting Go---Dropping your Kid off at the College Door"

  We are nearing the start of another academic year and residence hall move-in later this week with classes starting next Monday. In that spirit I have a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT for all the parents out there with first time college students. As someone that has worked in Higher Education, and with on-campus students for over thirty years, I am keenly aware of how difficult the transition to campus life can be. Not just for students, but for parents as well. So, I will share some thoughts on the subject.   I am hearing about, and observing, parents that are having a difficult time letting go (I have dozens of friends and acquaintances going through this experience again this year). It is very important for you to know that you have worked hard to send your kid to school. It is no easy task in this environment to do everything it takes to be able to send a student off to college (especially if you have more than one kid). So, take a quiet moment of reflection this week and...
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JB's Fifth Annual Festivus "Airing of the Grievances"

  It is that time of year again. Welcome back to the Fifth Annual Airing of the Grievances. Frank Constanza’s gift that keeps on giving back to all of us during the Holiday Season. If you are new to this blog and are sensitive I encourage you to back out now and keep on scrolling, because if I haven’t offended almost everyone by the end then I probably didn’t do a very good job. If you are back for another year then Buckle up—its been a long year. As you know the purpose of the “Airing of the Grievances” is to let everyone know how they have disappointed me in the last year. If I was being true to that edict this would probably be a novel and not a blog. We will stick with the abbreviated version in the interest of time. There is nothing like a bunch of pissed of people gathering together for the Holidays. As always, I will try to have three or four “Primary” Grievances and maybe throw in a few annoyances and some bonus thoughts at the end. I always try hard to stay away (at leas...
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An Old Dog, a Good Life and a Happy Reunion

  Last night I got a call late from Dana. I knew before I answered it wasn’t good. Max had gone out for his late-night walk to potty, and hadn’t returned to the door. They found him in the yard paralyzed by a stroke. I drove to Iowa to be with him and go over the options. There is no emergency vet in that area so we brought him back to Macomb in the middle of the night.   I am pretty sure that was the longest car ride of my life. He was incredibly distressed because his legs wouldn’t do what his mind was telling them to do. He was very confused and upset.  I never want to hear, and will never forget, the sounds coming from him on that ride. I don’t wish it on my worst enemy. We got Max right after we were married. He was seven or eight weeks old when we brought him home that December. The most handsome boy in a litter of five Jack Russell Terriers. He was my first dog in my adult life. He is also the only one I have ever had as a puppy. The first night he was home we pu...
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“My Co-Dependent, Dysfunctional, Relationship with Cable TV

  “Hello my name is John and this is my first time speaking to the group”.   Recently I made the incredibly painful decision to end my seventeen-year relationship with Direct TV. It was often tumultuous with many ups and downs along the way. To truly understand it you have to go back to the beginning of my very first interactions with TV when I was young. It likely informed the destructive path I have been led down every since. I was a kid that lived out in the country in the seventies and eighties so we had two or three channels at best (CBS, NBC, ABC) pending on how the rabbit ears were working. I grew up enjoying the fruits of that golden era in television history. Journalist actually reported the news without bias and the sitcoms of the day were clever and funny. Who wouldn’t want to grow up on MASH, Archie Bunker, Happy Days, Cosby and Cheers. The hour-long shows were good too. We had Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Dallas and the Dukes of Hazzard as well as the A-Team. Sp...
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Fourth Annual “Airing of Grievances” 2020---COVID Style

  I can’t believe it has been a year since my last entry of the annual “Airing of Grievance” Blog post. 2020 has seemed like a lifetime given everything that has transpired with the pandemic and COVID-19. As always, I will attempt to stay away from the cesspool of politics in this writing but you never know. I will say that it would be too easy to go there, and I don’t really need to because the “Ass Clowns” posing as journalist in the media do an excellent job of feeding the masses “red meat” on both sides of the aisle. They aren’t Red or Blue. It is all “Green” in today’s media baby. See, I am already breaking my rules. A tip of the hat to Seinfeld and Frank Constanza continuing to give us Festivus. It is the gift that keeps on giving. As you faithful already know, we can’t get to the “Feats of Strength” until we “Air Grievances” so let’s get this party started. If you suffer from “hyper-sensitivity” this is the part where you close the post and keep on scrolling and then “Unfr...
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