Tuesday Weisblog: Too much of a good thing?

Folks, business is good. At the current time, it’s very good. While that could change, for now something has to give.

For the foreseeable future, I will still do this blog frequently, but will not be held to a daily schedule.

I will continue to send out e-mails when a new blog has been posted. Let me know if you are not on my list and would like to be added to it.

Thanks for reading!
John

Monday Weisblog: Was it “Zamago” or “Zorro?”

Note to self: Don’t go into Michael Zamago’s bedroom without permission.

Recently, Michael returned home to find a soda can in his room. The thing is, he did not leave one there, thus indicating that one or both of his two roommates had violated his “personal space.”

I can understand why he’d be upset … I really do. Having lived with roommates for more than a few years prior to getting married, I can say without question that I would be fighting mad. It’s like a personal invasion, and it’s something I would never dream of doing to anyone else. But I digress.

Zamago felt the same rage that I would – multiplied by at least 20. He grabbed his sword and started swinging, leaving cuts on both his unidentified roommates. One was slashed under his right armpit, and the other suffered a cut to the shoulder.

Mike was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon related to family violence. His bail is set at $25,000.

Perhaps and anger management class or two (or a hundred?) might be in order, as well.

Friday Weisblog: Sorry, nothing new today

An unexpected long car trip to rescue my sick daughter meant I was not able to do my normal blog. But don’t fret … it will return Monday at its regularly scheduled time.

Thursday Weisblog: A female king working as a secretary? It’s true!

Peggielene Bartels lives in the Silver Spring, Maryland area and drives a 1992 Honda. She works as a secretary in an embassy.

Oh yeah … and she’s also a king. Really.

It turns out that her 90-year-old uncle was the king of Otuam, Ghana. When he passed away recently, the townspeople performed an ancient ritual to decide upon the new king, and it turned out to be Peggielene.

About 15 months ago, she received a phone call at 4 am from Ghana. “Hello, Nana,” the caller said. (The term “Nana” means something similar to VIP here in America.)

Bartels, who has no children of her own, thought it was a joke. “Oh, please don’t play games with me,” Bartels replied, who promptly reminded the caller that because she was a woman, she’d make a better queen. The caller replied that the kingship was the post that was open.

Once she finally decided it was her destiny, she made the trek to Otuam to be installed in her new position. She stayed as long as she could, but returned after 10 days because she still had her secretarial job to do.

For now, she plans to be a “commuting ruler” who spends all her vacation time in Otuam. She sees her retirement coming in about five years – and after that she anticipates moving there full-time and taking over her position.

This is amazing on so many levels. How she was chosen … how she is a female king … how the townspeople are fine with her being there only a few weeks out of the year … and so on. But hey, if it works, more power to her!

NOTE: Thanks to my friend Trace who told me about this interesting story.

Wednesday Weisblog: It’s gonna be a long year!

Byron Leftwith (7), quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I try to limit my sports-related posts because I know not everyone loves sports. Today, though, I just have to vent to someone.

It might as well be you.

As I watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers feebly lose to the Dallas Cowboys this past Sunday, I became frustrated. The Glazer family, who owns the Buccaneers, purchased the Manchester United soccer team a couple years back. For those of you who don’t know, Manchester United is one of the world’s strongest “European football” teams going, and they have a long tradition of championships.

Ever since the Glazers purchased Man U, their investment in the Buccaneers has slowly waned. This year, it’s becoming obvious that they are pinching pennies big-time, perhaps trying to make the team more attractive to sell. I don’t know that for sure; it’s just a guess. Right now the Buccaneers have:

* A rookie head coach (Raheem Morris) who, before this year, had never held a head coaching position on ANY level and had never held a position above Defensive Backs coach

* A rookie General Manager (Mark Dominik) who was promoted to that post by the team

* The lowest current payroll of any NFL team, roughly $30 million under the salary cap

* A journeyman quarterback in Byron Leftwich, who has been cast off by three other teams

* A defensive line that obviously needed addressing but got no attention in the off-season

* A wide receiving corps that features Antonio Bryant and very little else

Memo to the Glazers: If you’re going to continue to pinch pennies, get out. Sell the team and go watch your soccer. If you’re in, you should be all in.

Memo to Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik: Do you realize you’re being exploited as low-budget scapegoats who will take the fall for the Buccaneers’ ineptitude? Dominik has done nothing to impress me up to now, with questionable trades (Kellen Winslow) and draft choices (Josh Freeman, among others) – but he, too, is handicapped when he has about $20-$30 million less to play with than the rest of the league. That is three or four very good players’ salaries. Considering that only 11 can play at a time, don’t you think that would make a difference?

Memo to my fellow Buccaneers fans: Let the Glazers know this is not acceptable. Times are tough right now, and tickets are not cheap. The entertainment dollar should be spent wisely, and quite frankly this version of the Buccaneers is not all that entertaining.

It’s appropriate that they are going retro for a game this year, wearing their hunting-vest/popsicle orange uniforms with the not-so-scary “Buccaneer Bruce” logo on the helmet. Those early Bucs teams were the worst in history until last year’s Lions.

This year’s squad may very well wind up alongside them, and that’s just plain sad.

Tuesday Weisblog: Her ‘cutting’ comments got her in trouble

Emily Walton is a not only a veterinarian, she’s also a Hancock County, Ohio County Commissioner. Apparently, Ms. Walton has upset one of her community members to the point that he is calling for her resignation.

It all stems from an incident that happened September 3. On that day, Walton and Jeff Davidson were engaging in a somewhat spirited discussion about a community drainage issue. Walton became agitated at Davidson and told him that she “wanted to castrate him and had the tools to do it.”

Bob Barker would be proud. (If you don’t get the joke, it’s not funny enough to explain. Just move on.)

“Sometimes things don’t go your way, and sometimes you have to raise your voice … but you don’t threaten to castrate somebody,” Davidson explained. “If she can’t manage her temper, and manage the words that come out of her mouth, she should resign.”

I tend to agree with him.

For her part, Walton’s explanation was a simple one: “That is a well-known, tongue-in-cheek comment that I have used for years and which people with half a sense of humor understand.” She also mentioned that she once, for comic relief, walked into a former mayor’s office carrying “a big white bag of tools,” though she never specifically mentioned castration.

I take offense to Ms. Walton’s actions for several reasons:
(1) She is a public official who should be acting appropriately.

(2) I am a male. If she had the same “equipment” I do, she may not be quite so liberal with her usage of the “c” word. It makes me wince just to think about it.

(3) If a male had said something off-color to a female, there would be much more made of this story, and I am 99.9% sure the male government official would be forced to resign.

Ms. Walton got her government post running unopposed last election. Something tells me that if she makes it through her term, she’ll have some competition next time around.