A collection of items that don’t warrant a post by themselves, but are worth sharing. It will pop up at odd times on the site. It is what I called similar columns in the Free Press “Notes on a Cocktail Napkin”
On the College Football Playoffs: With seven seed Notre Dame playing eight seed Ohio State for the national championship it looks like the first year of the 12-team college football playoffs was Upset City, but as Lee Corso would say “wait a minute there, my friend”. I think the top two teams are in the championship game and would have been there regardless of the arbitrary seeding number assigned at the start of the “tournament.” The issue is the conference champions getting automatic byes and therefore claiming the top four seeds. Oregon as one I have no problem with, although Ohio State did handle them pretty well. Arizona as Big 12 champ and a four seed was okay, but Georgia at two with an injured quarterback and Boise at three as the Group of Five (best team among the next five conferences beyond the Big10, SEC, Big 12 and ACC) did not belong in the top four. My idea on what ought to be done is rank the teams 1-12 based on a computer program which measures both won-lost record and strength of schedule. The four conference champions can still be autobids, but they should be seeded were they belong based on the computer system.
Complex Solutions for Simple Problems: I am staying in a very nice condo on Bouchelle Island in New Smyrna Beach. My only issue is getting out of Bouchelle Island when I want to go south. It is a heavily trafficked four-lane road and while there is a little safety island for heading left if you have a clear shot across the two north-bound lanes, I have problems seeing, even with exterior mirrors, to blend into that south-bound traffic lane. My problem can be traced to stenosis in my neck…I can’t turn my head far enough to get a good view of what is coming from my right. The solution, unless by some fluke of luck I see completely open lanes across the whole highway, is to always take a right, drive about a quarter-mile to a left turn signal and then hang a Uie and head back in the direction I want to go. It adds maybe three minutes to whatever trip I am making.
The value of Chiropractic: With my history of back and sciatic issues, I have been a frequent patient of Chiropractors for the past 40 or so years. Doctors Lisa Francy Towle and Jamie Towle took care of me in Canton with adjustments and spinal decompression and Dr. Andrew West, who uses a different approach has been my go-to guy in Vermont. Dr. West uses the ProAdjustor 360 system which involves a pressure gun and a computer. It has helped considerably with my back and sciatic issues. In New Smyrna Beach I have been going for two years to Dr. Amanda Prokop in what is now Anchor Injury and Integrative Health. They offer a ton of health-services, but I go for the traditional chiropractic adjustment and Dr. Amana has helped me at least approach pain free in three or four sessions. The only thing that is really going to get rid of my sciatica is disc surgery, and I hope that it will be able to happen in late spring or early summer if all goes well with other treatments.
I was a Kindergarten Dropout: I kid you not…I was enrolled in Mrs. O’Connor’s kindergarten and lasted about three days. I was okay with milk, had some friends who also attended, but it just wasn’t for me, so mom and dad let me stay home. I was fine with school from first grade on with the same joys and frustrations every kid experiences as part of their early education. I hated memorizing and reciting poems, but Miss Kittell insisted in eighth grade, so “Under the spreading chestnut tree” still lingers in the recesses of my mind. High school was great…a ton of friendships made and I fared pretty well academically. I didn’t make the National Honor Society, but I was close and I was allowed into the special NHS study hall where I could interact with a lot of my friends. I had some great teachers at BFA and did well in almost all of my classes. The one dud was Senior Advanced Math…calculus and trig and the ilk…I dropped that and took an early morning class in Russian. This was the 60’s remember, and it seemed like a good thing to do. Besides when was the last time you used calculus!
Between the Lines: I am a pretty good driver. I have had a couple of fender benders over the years, but no serious accidents, and I got a speeding ticket on the day I moved to Canton and haven’t had one since. The ticket came for doing 55 in a 40 mile per hour speed zone on Route 11B somewhere between Malone and Potsdam. I told the trooper who pulled me over that I hadn’t seen the speed limit sign and he pointed out that it was “over there behind the big bush”. Welcome to New York State. Our idea of traffic in Canton was two Amish buggies at the traffic light at the same time. I have driven to Florida in each of the prior four trips, spreading it over three days. I am planning on driving home when my current stay in New Smyrna Beach comes to an end. I can handle the traffic, but I try to stay off I95 as much as I can by heading through Charlotte, NC to pick up 95 as close to the Georgia border as I can. The problem with I95 in the Carolinas is too many cars and not enough road. It widens out to three lanes from Georgia on down and the traffic flow is much better. My one big problem behind the wheel is proper parking. Since I have been driving vehicles larger than my Toyota Celica…I had a PT Cruiser and three Jeep Compasses since then, I have sometimes had difficulty getting the car squarely between the lines of the parking place. It might be a lingering side effect from being a kindergarten dropout, or just plain inattention, but I have found myself getting out of the car and then going back and starting over on the parking job when I was blatantly outside the lines.