Jay to the World October 2018

As you all know by now, I long for the past. I want life to be simple again. It’s why I listen to Casey Kasem
every weekend. When he announces a song by Elton John that was released in 1973, I feel like I’m living in
1973 again listening to it for the very first time. I would give anything to go back to a time with no cell
phones, no internet, no Husker blowout losses… So I’m sure it will come as no surprise that I was pretty
happy when Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship recently. Not because I’m a huge Tiger fan or
anything, but because it made me remember back to the late 1990’s and the entire decade of the 2000’s when
he simply dominated the game. Plus I’m not going to lie – I love a good comeback story and to see him come
back from everything he’s endured, both personally and professionally, is pretty cool.

Speaking of Casey Kasem – have I told you about my movie idea?? Now remember, I will never do anything
with this because I have the attention span of a squirrel, but just imagine you’re listening to one of his shows
today that was taped back in the 1980’s. Next thing you know there is a long-distance dedication to you from
somebody you went to college with who never had the courage to confront you back then, so they did it with
a long-distance dedication. Now granted, you’re probably married now, but let’s say you’re still single
because you never got over that person. You’re going to go track him or her down, right?? I know this sounds
a lot like “Sleepless in Seattle” but I’m telling you this would be a great movie. Feel free to steal the idea….

One more college football note: As badly as I felt for Scott Frost and the Huskers in their loss to Michigan, I
really felt bad for the Iowa player who inadvertently kicked what pretty much amounted to a dead ball,
costing Iowa the possession and leading Wisconsin to the go-ahead touchdown. Sports are awesome, but
man they can be absolutely gut-wrenching, especially in today’s world of social media when people think it’s
ok to verbally and sometimes physically threaten someone over a lost game. I remember in high school I
made an error in a baseball game and after the game our coach got on the bus and made sure everyone knew
that I lost the game for the entire team. Granted, my error did cost us the game, but I already knew it and
really didn’t need to be reminded by my coach. So next time a player costs your favorite team a game, just
remember that none of us are perfect. We’re just lucky that our daily mistakes aren’t televised.

Well, I made it through my 35-year class reunion last week. We only had 5 people show up, which
coincidentally was the same number of people we used to cram into the trunk of our car at the Red Oak
drive-in.

If you were at the parade, you might have noticed that my former English teacher Carol Powles rode through
the parade with us. So for any of you reading this who still wish I’d stop sending you this newsletter and
keep my opinions to myself, you only have her to blame.

Did you see that the U.S. Postal Service has put out a commemorative Mr. Rogers stamp??
Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, they no longer deliver to his neighborhood.

I see that Scrabble has added over 300 newly approved words, including Ok and Ew. I don’t know what took so long. I’m always asking people “Ew Ok?”

A man from Lincoln recently won $500,000 by surviving in a remote area of Mongolia for 60 days with nothing but a saw, an ax, a pot, a ferro rod, a multitool, food ration, sleeping bag, paracord, and trapping wire. For those of you who don’t know me well, if I were to go shopping for any of these items, the phrase “any idea where I might find a ….” would be uttered to the store clerk for every single item.

Seriously, 60 days with no arguing children, no wife, no bills to pay, no arguing politicians, no Bachelor…where in the heck does a guy sign up for this??

A couple from Lithuania recently won the 23rd annual wife carrying competition over 52 other husband/wife teams. The contest includes running, wading through a slippery pool, and navigating an obstacle course. In a related story, I thought this would be a good time to apologize to my wife for not carrying her across the threshold on our wedding day. It just looked like a lot of work at the time.

October 4th is National CB radio Day (get it…. 10-4). Anyway, it’s taken me 45 years to admit this, but I was the kid that would go out into my parent’s car and just key the mic for about 30 minutes just so I could hear everyone yell at me. Kind of reminds me of the first 5 days after this newsletter goes out…

And finally, I read recently that the Trump administration wants to start taxing protests. Boy, things are going to start getting really expensive around the Burdic house at supper time….

Until Next Time…don’t forget your flu shot!

Jay