The Olympics are over???

I almost missed it this year.  The Winter Olympics. They came and went without a lot of fanfare. Or maybe there was fanfare, but I was on the wrong channel.  I expected lots of social media. Facebook, twitter, instagram, whatever...but...there was very little of that.  Strange.

I remember when I was a kid...back in the 70's...everyone was talking about the Olympics! Months before they started! Granted, the Summer games were always a bigger draw, but the Winter games also generated a lot of buzz.  There was American pride, and everyone was glued to the games to see the USA kick some ass.  It was the Cold War all over again. Didn't matter as long as we beat Russia. 

So this year, they banned Russia from the games because of doping. (Go figure). The ones they did allow to compete were the Olympic Athletes of Russia or OAR. Nothing they did went into the official record books. As a matter of fact, they had to give couple of medals back after the Russian curling team was busted for doping.  THE CURLING TEAM IS DOPING???? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT?? Gotta pump up before you slide a rock down the ice. And those guys sweeping the ice...they need that extra steroid bump to handle the brooms.....That being said, curling is one of those things that you won't admit to watching, but it draws you in. hooks you...and soon you realize you have watched this thing for the last three hours. It's quite memorizing.  More so than the skiing I think. I can watch downhill skiing for about 15 minutes. It's all the same. These guys and girls are so good, they never fall. Snooze. What's on PBS?

I missed most of the opening ceremony, didn't care about the closing ceremony,  and in between caught snippets here and there.  I did tune in to the figure skating to see Johnny Wier's  hair.  All kidding aside, there was some amazing skaters this year.  

The event I like the most is the skeleton. These guys are shooting downhill on the ice covered bobsled run on what is basically a half sized Flexible Flyer doing about 90 MPH. Arms at their side, no real way to steer....These guys have my total respect.  When I was 12 years old, I was on my Flexible Flyer going down dead man's hill.  I lost control and hit a tree face first at maybe 10 MPH.  I had to drink Thanksgiving dinner through a straw.  

So, with the winter Olympics over, life gets back to normal. Which isn't much different than a week ago when it was in full swing. Let's start getting ready for the 2020 Summer games. I'm pumped!!

I am still around, I have just been busy

Hello out there in bloggerland.  I am still here, I have been busy with some other stuff, including my ne Kia blog.  I have been with Kia for 5 years in May, and I thought it might be a nice idea to start a blog for Kia owners with questions. it's at cashatkia.blogspot.com   Check it out. I answer questions about Kia, but there is a lot pertaining to any car really.

Let's see...My son introduced me to the FOAP app. A photo sharing experience. You can sell your photos online too. Pretty cool. 

I have also been gearing up for the Spring and Summer, doing stuff around the house, in the house on top of the house...never ends. 

Also, I have been spending a lot of time with our new pair of 8 week old kittens. The word "NO!" is thrown around the house A LOT! They are a ton of work, but great to have cat energy in the house again. No doubt you will hear about them again. 

So, I hope everyone had a great April.  Summer is right around the corner.  I will do a few blogs upcoming on things to do in Vegas in the Summer that don't include the words  "It's frickin' hot" !! Vegas is way more than just the strip. Stay tuned. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. 

remember my websit... ronnieleetwist.com  and hey, friend me up on Facebook  facebook.com/ronnieleetwist

Have a great day!

Remember this when you look at ALL YOUR FRIENDS on Facebook...

I am currently writing a book. I have been working on it for quite a long time, because it's the kind of thing you have to write when the mood hits you, and you have a great thread of thought...much like a blog. It's a chance you take that anyone will be interested in what you have to say.  I enjoy writing, and I hope to someday E publish this book. If one person reads it and it helps them, then it was worth taking the time to do. 

The book is called The Self Help Book For People Who Hate Self Help Books (c)2016..... 

I have read a ton of self help books, some great, some not so...but most have one thing in common. They are written by people that have a lot of letters after their names. All good...not dissing anyone. I am writing mine from just years of observation and experience. I would like to share one of the chapters with you here, just because social media is such a thing now. We are get pulled into the Facebook Rabbit Hole. So here we go. This chapter from the book is called: 

But I Have 4627 Friends on Facebook

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Okay. Take a DEEP breath. All but about 12 of these people are not your friends. Maybe a few more or less. Go through your "Friends" on Face Book and write down the ones you would trust your kids, Dog or Spouse with. Who can you call as a house sitter if you have to go out of town? Yup. Short list. Multiply all this by the number of friends on Twitter, Voxer, Snap Chat Yadda Yadda Yadda and you still end up with about 12. So why are you sharing you most personal stuff with total strangers? And why do they think you really care about what they eat every 42 minutes? It's really gotten out of hand. Okay, so I am an entertainer. I have a couple of Face Book pages. I think I have a total of about 2500 "Friends" between the two pages. I perform and send invites to everyone. I figure asses in seats means ticket sales. But, at lets say, Christmas Time, if I want to send out a personal greeting to people on my pages, there are only MAYBE 30 people that I feel I know well enough to invade their personal space. And some of them are iffy. Don't let the number of "Friends" you have in cyber space lull you into a false sense of being all that. We are really not that important to anyone but ourselves. We measure our success in terms of likes, shares and comments. We have all done it. We have liked some crap on Facebook that we didn't spend more than a 10^th of a second looking at because the person is our “Friend” and we want all his “Friends” to see that I am his “Friend”...What a crock. In the great scheme of things, it's meaningless. There is no personal contact. It's an illusion that we have all these friends that we “Connect” with when we sitting at home in our underwear at 2 AM looking at our Facebook page because we have forgotten how to really communicate.

When something goes wrong and we put it on Facebook or instagram or Twitter, whatever your social media of choice, we get responses of condolence, prayers, advise, whatever from all these people we don't know. But how many of them are responding because they are really praying for you, and how many are just doing it because you had 231 other people do it and they want to feel like they are part of the collective conscience. That's all good and well if they actually say a prayer for you. How many times have YOU said someone was in your prayers and never thought about them again??

As a sales person, I sit and hand write 5 to 10 cards a day to clients that have bought cars from me. People I work with are astounded by this. That someone can actually sit down, with a pen and a blank card and envelope and write...in your own handwriting mind you.....a couple of sentences to another human being. It does not involve a keyboard, an e mail address or a data plan. It's olden days stuff. I actually had someone ask, “What do you do? Mail it?” It's a damned shame. It's a shame that these guys are missing out. I get calls from these clients thanking me for taking the time...(2 minutes) out of my day to think about them. Oh, and they come in and buy another car.

I have all my clients in an e mail database, I have a ton of them on Facebook, and yes it would save a lot of time and postage to just bulk email a big “How have you been” to 400 people at the same time. But, it's just another email. Lost in 50 others they just got. But when someone goes out and opens the mail box and there, nestled among the bills and junk is a bright blue envelope, with their name and address hand written upon it, well, That's special. Someone once said, If you can count your friends on both hands, you can count your REAL friends on just one hand, and out of those 5, maybe two are true friends. Be careful who you share your thoughts, loves, fears and food pictures with. All of it will be in cyber space, uh, FOREVER!

                                           ******************************

Hope you got something out of that. I hope to be done with the whole thing sometime this year!

Have a Great Day!

I Think (Part 3)

I THINK:

He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.

Politicians and diapers should be both be changed regularly...all for the same reason

Light travels faster than sound.  That is why some people seem bright until they open their mouth

The shinbone's purpose is to find furniture in the dark

God mus LOVE stupid people, or he wouldn't have made so many

Some people say 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em'  I say ' If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em, cause they will be expecting you to join them and you have the element of surprise....'

War does not determine who is right, only who is left

We have enough gun control. What we need is idiot control

Laugh at your problems....everyone else does

I did not fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but a whole box can't start a campfire.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

Have a great day

Election is over, let's talk FOOD!

Election is over! (YAY) and we have a President Trump.  Cheer if you like, Swear if you're pissed.  Let's talk about Thanksgiving Dinner.

This year, we are doing T-day a week or so earlier with relatives coming to town.  As I am on the low carb / very little sugar diet, Holidays are going to be a bit different for me this year. First off, I have to stay away from the thing I wait all year for. My Martinelli's sparkling Cranberry/Apple juice. LOADED with sugars. 

My inspiration is that I have dropped 23 pounds in about 6 weeks by doing nothing more than cutting out 90% of carbs and sugars.  I DO feel better, and losing the weight has made it easier to RUN away from all those no no foods that tend to make me rounder. 

I still allow myself a little dark chocolate every day and some carbs.  But I have leaned that I do not have to eat the WHOLE loaf of french bread or the entire 1/4 pound chocolate bar.  

So, for Thanksgiving this year it's non hormone fed turkey, cornbread stuffing, (Half a serving for me) Green Beans and a bit of cranberry. Easy on the gravy as it FAT FAT FAT, and and some organic mashed potato (half my usual amount).

To drink, I have gone to Club Soda and lime. Refreshing and bubbly.

Where people get slammed dieting during the holidays, is, of course, candies and cakes and pies and ice cream, and of course alcohol.  (The 5 Holiday food groups).  My weakness being the baked goods. I don't drink, so I don't pour on the sugar there.  (Alcohol turns to sugar the minute it passes your teeth). I have given up doing the score card...you know,  If I don't have this, I can have this...does not work, because you have no willpower.  That is the key. Step away from the table.  Here is my challenge. Today, I weigh 223.7 pounds (from about 246 6 weeks ago). My goal through the holidays is not so much to lose a whole lot more, (That would be nice, but it's a lot of pressure) but to maintain where I am and not gain. I will occasionally end a blog with today's weight. But I will not make blogs here  about what I am eating...what a bore. Join me in the challenge. What the hell? 

Here is something my wife told me that has helped a lot. Your divine beings watching over you take you literally when you say stuff. Being your spiritual guardians, they try to help you. So if you say "I have lost XX pounds on this diet," they will find the weight you lost and give it back to you. Instead, think of it as Releasing the weight instead of losing it.  A simple mind thing, but hey, it works. 

Please become a follower.  Thanks! Have a great day!

I Think (Part 2)

I THINK

What consumes your mind controls your life.

You should stop looking for happiness in the exact place you lost it

It's scary what a smile can hide.

The smarter you get, the less you speak.

The secret of having it all is believing that you already do.

You can still be a good person with a kind heart and still say "no".

You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Silence is an answer too.

Falling down is an accident. Staying down is a choice.

When nothing goes right, turn left.

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

Nothing haunts us like what we did NOT say.

The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence. 

Have a Great Day

The biggest word in the English Language

I took a couple of days off. Mostly because of what is happening in the political landscape.  I fear I would be caught in the whirlwind of speculation. 

It seems as though the News Channels don't report the news, really.  If there is a breaking story of course they will report it. A cat stuck in a well, or a police car chase in California.  That's all important breaking news. And of course, anything that has to do with the weather.  

For the most part though, the talking heads spend a lot of time speculating and bringing in experts who further speculate, and of course the top guys who speculate on what the experts just speculated on. A lot of "What Ifs"

IF is the biggest word in the english language. Most things depend on IF.  'If I win the lottery, then....'  or  'If so and so gets his promotion, then I might take his place on the food chain'... 'If my team wins the next three games they might take the championship' 

If you meet the right person, if you make enough money, if you pray for it, if if if if if if............

Seems like you are leaving a lot of stuff to chance. 

Here is a simple affirmation. You CAN change the outcome of a lot of things in YOUR life by just changing the word if to the word when. Call it what you want. Positive thinking, whatever. IT WORKS because it changes your perspective from victim to winner.  From now on, say 'When I win the lottery' or 'when I get that promotion'  The outcome may not be what you expected. Who knows, it might be better.

Have a great day!