The Neil Blog: The Week

Seminar heavy:  Five in three days.    Good opportunity for book sales.

The fishing’s been good.   Four more days for John.  Two of those with Mike from Oklahoma.     Solid action.    The fish weren’t as big but the action was good.

Back to Negative Neil.    The Jonchuk trial:   Nearing conclusion.    Life in prison a given.    Too messed up in the head for the death penalty.   To me:  There should be no such thing.   The punishment should always fit the crime.   This guy should get the needle.    He is the worst kind.  Bill Clinton.  Tiger Woods.    I respect the office of president of the United States.   I couldn’t respect Bill Clinton.    You are a Tiger Woods fan, you are happy.   I am not.    I’d say him winning the Masters is a good enough excuse to stop watching gold.      Scumbag.    I’m amazed how many people root for that guy.    I think it’s shameful.  

The house:  Progress continues.   A trip to the store:  Twelve new bushes.    Planted.    The seeds go down next.    That will get things going in the empty planter.    I got other seeds to put in between other plants to get some color going.     The future:  Air compressor, battery charger, ice machine, drink fridge, blender and rain barrels.   All in progress.    The roof for the deck, a faucet in the front and adding fence around the entire front yard with a gate for the driveway.   Climbing plants going up on all the fence.    The place will take on a new look.    

The eventuality:  The rest of the story.    What people know is adequate.   What they will know one day will be interesting.  

Dreams have been interesting.   Hero dreams.    I’m a ballplayer again and I’m better than I was back then.    I have the same injuries but I can play better with them.     People that are gone are there again.    They walk and talk.    

Fishing coming up:  The schedule is decent.    Things are good.   Had seminars at a boat show the whole weekend.   A decent opportunity to sell books to people I wouldn’t otherwise reach.  

Marketing that isn’t working on me.   Feed your dog like the wolf that is within.    Yeah, your dog was related to wolves 1000 generations ago.   Comparing your dog to a wolf is like comparing Bill Clinton to Mother Theresa.   Don’t get me started with people and their dogs.     A dog is a great thing.   But your dog is not more important than me.   Or that guy over there.    It’s a dog.    You want to make it more important than a human being.   Have at it.     Even your dog is laughing at you.  

Technology of the day.   I don’t know why I have cable TV.   There’s never anything to watch.   Aside from the hockey games, it really wouldn’t matter if I canceled it.   I don’t get it.    Why can’t they put on stuff that is worth watching?    Facebook.   Facebook went back to selling my email address.   No joke, I spent an hour unsubscribing, companies I didn’t give my email address to.     Some people don’t seem to care.    I’m annoyed.     Who were they to give away my email address?     They should pay me for that.   Do something to alleviate the annoyance.

People using their phones while driving.    You are retarded.    Three times this morning, a light goes green but the person doesn’t move because they are on their phone.    

The Stanley Cup Playoffs.   The team that has it to lose?   The Tampa Bay Lightning.  I believe they should cruise.   Update:  They didn’t.   They’re out.  

Life, fascinating.    One of the biggest opponents in book feedback:   He is defending using live bait.   Unsuccessfully.    I never said live bait was wrong or bad.   I said that lures and flies are a better challenge.   Period.     Funny how insecure people are.   I don’t care.   I didn’t respond.    I don’t care to respond.   Catch a fish however you want, as long as you are doing it legally.    But don’t pretend to be a better fisherman than I am if you are putting a live bait on a hook.    Sorry, but it’s a fact.     Anyone can put a bait on and stick their thumb up their butt until a fish eats it.   I’m throwing lures.   I’m making the lures look like something a fish wants to eat.   I.   Catch.   Fish.   

My father gone.   We had our time.   That story reminds me of one.   I told my father I was licking my wounds because I had to apologize to some guy.    He said, “Yeah?   What happened?”    I said, “I had to tell the guy that I’m sorry I’m better than he is.”    He laughed.    And I told him I ended up having to yell at the guy.   Something I’m willing to do when the time is right.   My father, no this or that with him, he was simply amused.   Too bad that he’s gone:  I’m happy that some things I did he found amusing.   My brother?   Died ten years ago this week.     Time flies.  

The Lightning lose their first playoff game.   Heavily favored they go into a hole to start the playoffs.   I believe this is their last letdown.    They will come back strong and start trouncing people again.    The beauty of hockey: Seven game series.   Losing one game isn’t the end of the world.   Going down 3 to 0 in game 2?  Not so good.   Sloppy.   When they were heavily favored.   You are supposed to win.  But the other team wants to win more than you do.   You can play great all season long.   But if you don’t now:  You’re nothing.   This team could win four in a row.   The way they are playing, can they even win once?  Neither game:   Not even close.   And they went up 3 to 0 in the first game.    They lose the second game 5 to 1.    Just beaten.   Bad.     Can they make a comeback?   Update:   They have lost all three games.   Down 3 to 0, if they are a championship team, they have to win four in a row.    They won four in a row all year long.   But not against the same team four times.    I haven’t decided if the Lightning got bad or if Columbus became good but an eight seed is set to knock off a one seed.       Whatever.    Update:  Knocked out, four games.    Lost them all.   It is funny.   The people I know, the most serious fans are just despondent.     I don’t really care.    My knowledge of hockey isn’t very good anyway.     I picked Tampa Bay, Boston and San Jose to be contenders.     None of the three is dominating.   

It took forever but I finally got people buying the extra gear I have.    In the olden days, it would sell the day I announced it.    Now, it just doesn’t work like that anymore.    I got rid of nearly everything I wanted out of here.    I might even get rid of one more kayak.    I was content to just hang on to what I have but I could part with one more.   If that falls through, I’ll just keep it.    I’m down to just selling books and teasers.   With a new air conditioner:  I need to sell more books and teasers…    First big expense with the house.   It came down to a $3000 part or $8000 for a full new system.    I went with the new system.  

Teaser and book sales:   Both pretty good.    It would be nice if both sustain.    I’ll be needing to reorder books in another two months.   Book #3 has been submitted to my guest editor.    I figure I’ll start making progress on that one on off days.    He’ll do some formatting.   He’ll design the cover.    It is pretty much ready.   Update:  I have his changes.   I’ll sit on it for a while.   Then it is going to print.  

Why was Nostradamus so well known and still talked about?    He made a few correct predictions.    That will happen when you make 20,000 predictions.     Bomb shelters for Armageddon are interesting.    If you want to live underground for an extremely long period of time.    I think I’ll just sit in a chair in my front yard for it.

The Incas, Aztecs, Mayans, Egyptians.   People have been around for a long time.     It would have been great to have been able to talk to some of them to see what they were all about.    Were they anything like me?

The schedule is good.    The fishing has been good.   It’s back to big fish.   There was a four week lull where it should have been better.   In general:  Things are tougher.    My efforts are increasing.    A new governor:  I’m going to make him do the job.    We have problems.   He’s in charge.   We need to do things better.     It should be interesting.  

The spring season is usually busy.   I just finished a strong stretch.   I’m actually waiting for the phone to ring again.    I have more trips but I have some time off right now.     If people knew what we did the last two days, the schedule would be full.   I’m enjoying the time off.   Two hours of yard work ahead of a storm.    There wouldn’t be any fishing the next two days anyway.    It is going to be a wild storm starting about noon, today, Friday April 19.