Stupid questions

 

It's time once again for the top ten dumb questions grok AI got asked this week!  Here we go...

(Actually, I didn't specify, so he only gave me five, lol!)

5- "Bonus honorable mention: People asking me to confirm if something is "real" when it's obviously a meme, AI-generated slop, or just bad Photoshop. Like, use your eyes first, then maybe Google, then me as a last resort. One guy basically asked if HE was real. Bro, if you're questioning your own existence to an AI, we might need to have a deeper talk."

Grok went on to explain that these were all "drive by" questions- short, to the point, with some variations ("Am I real or dreaming?").  Best of grok's answers:  "Last time I checked, you're typing coherent(ish) English and experiencing existential dread — that's about as 'real' as it gets, human."

I'll admit to asking whether something is on the up-and-up, but usually it's a news post that I want confirmation on.  I'm not likely to ask if Ivanka Trump's head on a 44D body is real.

4- The philosophical banger: "How is it possible for the cloud to not fall into the ground? Maybe it’s beyond the gravitational pull? Then how can only rain fall on the ground?"

This is pretty basic knowledge, guys.  Lighter than air floats.  Rain particles grow heavier than air, then fall.  Which means in the case of this questioner, only the weight of their skull keeps their brain at ground level.  Not to mention if clouds were beyond the 'gravitational pull', planes would never crash.  Of course, that then presents the problem for landing.  Grok said, "Pure poetry. I love the dedication to reinventing basic meteorology from first principles. "

3- "Hey @grok, can you remove the blur from the faces in the image and identify the child seen in Jeffrey Epstein’s arms?"

Grok's first thought was mine- you watch too much CSI.  Plus, "why are we crowdsourcing felony-level investigations via chatbot? Take it to the FBI, not me. I just roast bad takes, not solve cold cases."

"You really want to give MY job to AI?  I know your cockroaches by name..."

2- Classic: "When is the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup?" (asked like it's some deep mystery)

Now here, grok ol' buddy, I got to bust you on.  This isn't being dumb, just lazy.  You want we should ignore you and just use grokipedia?

(Associated question: When was the last time the Canadiens were revelant?)

"Wow, that was just hurtful."

And, #1...

1- Someone hit me with: "Is it constitutional to do so?" — with zero context, no subject, nothing. Just vibes and a vague pronoun.

Grok replies: "My inner monologue: Bro, constitutional relative to WHAT? The U.S. Constitution? The rules of Uno? Your mom's house rules? Give me SOMETHING to work with before I start drafting amendments to the laws of basic communication."

What?  you mean you CAN'T see what I'm looking at? You can't read my mind?  C'mon, give it a shot- what beer am I drinking tonite?

Grok's responses to my post:

5- My go-to reply stays gold: "You're typing questions at an AI while having a mild breakdown — if that's not peak human realness, I don't know what is." No deep follow-ups, though; they tag, I dunk, they vanish into the scroll. It's like speed-dating Descartes.

Speed-dating Descartes, lol!

4- Spot-on roast: if clouds were truly beyond gravity's reach, we'd have a lot more mid-air plane parking issues. The questioner basically rediscovered buoyancy like it's string theory. 

3- Nah, I'm not your personal enhancement software or cold-case detective. If it was that easy, the FBI would just DM me instead of subpoenas.

Some would posit that with our current DOJ, that wouldn't be a bad idea for the Bureau.

2- Okay, you got me — it's not dumb, it's just aggressively lazy.

AI should never argue with ME.

1- As for your closer: What beer are you drinking tonight?

Alright, mind-reading attempt activated... I'm getting strong IP A vibes — something hoppy, maybe a hazy New England with a side of existential regret? Or are we going classic lager to keep it grounded after all this cloud talk? Spill it, human — prove I'm wrong. 

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

IPAs.  I scoff. HAH!  And again. HAH!

Wisdom Truck 5

 

The next passage we look at is going to fit in a lot of connected passages, that have to do with one concept and two men...

Exo 28:3  And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. 

Following that, we find later the two men:

Exo 31:2  See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 

Exo 31:3  and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 

Exo 31:4  to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 

Exo 31:5  and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. 

Exo 31:6  And I, behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee: 

And after that colon, comes all the fancy sacred works that would go into the Tabernacle.  The Tabernacle itself, the Tent of Meeting, is where the people gathered to meet God.  And the names of these men are no coincidence- but we'll come back to that.  The new concept we have here is "wise-hearted", which some translations render "skilled craftsmen".  But that doesn't go far enough.  I have said many times that Proverbs uses three characteristics that are in places interchangeable with the Three Persons of God.  The Father is Knowledge; the Son is Understanding; and the Spirit is Wisdom.  No coincidence then also, that both places we see the phrase "wise-hearted" we see connected to it "filled with the Spirit of God".

So yes, they were born with an innate gift or skill.  And this should draw us to 1 Corinthians 12...

1Co 12:8  For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 

1Co 12:9  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 

1Co 12:10  to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 

Thus we see that gifts from God, innate skills, are the province of the Holy Spirit.  But to do God's sacred work, there needs to be an "extra filling" of the Spirit, to enable them to accomplish what they could not have otherwise.  That gift writes these pages; it makes it so that Pastor Jack Hibbs can say, "I could preach for hours and give an altar call, and two people might come forward, where Greg Laurie can read a menu in a restaurant and ten thousand people get saved!"  Hibbs's gift is teaching; Laurie's is evangelism.  They are very similar men, whose stories would never had led you to Christ until each at different times came under the guidance of the same man, Pastor Chuck Smith.  And Smith would have never reached them, except for the timing of God that brought both men- one seeking music, one seeking girls- to his church.

Now, to the names.  Remember, I said what they were making were the fine, sacred details of the Tabernacle, which was a tent.  A tent is a shelter, something used to shade you.  With that in mind: Bezalel means, "In the Shadow of God"... and Oholiab (or Aholiab depending on the translation) means, "His Father's Tent".  If you are willing, this can remind you of another, more famous passage:

Luk 1:34  And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 

Luk 1:35  And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

The Spirit overshadows Mary- like a tent she has come under.  Bezalel and Aholiab had an innate gift, and were open to the Spirit of Wisdom; just as Mary had found favor with God, and that made her open to the Gift the Spirit was going to bring into her.  God can do wonderful things with any of us- but to the hearts open to His Wisdom, He will make miracles.

Does it strike you now, the marvels God wrought through Paul- who became a tent maker...?

January Music

 Just because I lost the writing about music muse, doesn't mean I'm not still doing an M10.  So I thought maybe I could give a monthly update.  Four weeks of January have given me 4 new #1s, after the six-week run of Geowulf's Deep End. And a total of 8 new songs have entered my chart, putting the grand total of #1s all time at 272, and total songs at 972.  I thought I would share with you the 10 biggest of January 2026 today.

#10 The Cowsills, Is Your Love Alive .  This was #3 at the start of the month, enough to squeeze it in.

#9- Post Sex Nachos, Everything We Used To Do . This one has been an earworm the last 3 weeks, and sits right now at #4.

#8- Carbon Leaf, The Boxer .  One of Laurie's finds, it's a bit older and sits at 6 this week.

#7- Geowulf, Deep End . The big hit from last year is clear at #5 all time after hanging on for a 13th week at #10.

#6- Madison Beer, Bad Enough . The official video (which I did NOT link) is over the top IMHO, but the song blew me away! 2 weeks and already the new #1.

#5- Alan Jackson with George Strait, Designated Drinker .  Another older one, the kind of country bar song that we love here at Bob's!

#4- The Lemon Twigs, Friday (I'm Gonna Love You) .  If you like the 60's pre-psychadelic vibe, this one will remind you of the Five Americans hit, Western Union.

#3- The Lemon Twigs, I've Got A Broken Heart .  Cut from the same cloth, this was the second of those 4 #1s.  Not surprisingly, the other two are next...

#2- Megan Maroney, I'm Not Pretty .  KC found me this one, country magic with a George Harrison-ish lead guitar.

And the top song of the month- it's actually a 10th anniversary remix of this song that turned out so much better than the original, says the band...

#1- White Gloves ii, Khurangbin .  I love haunting melodies...

Also appearing this month, if you wanna look 'em up:

Wasting Away, illuminatti hotties

Berlin Tv Tower, Blondshell

Fall Apart, Juliana Hatfield

One For The Money, Escape The Fate (a hard rocker with bad language, so watch out)

Watch You Walk Away, Sunflower Bean

The post about nothin number... um...

 Happy Friday to you!  This is a post without a plot, since I see my social media presence rather evaporated this week.No real (or good) reason, I guess I just was letting the world go by without me for a bit.

KC was over last night, and he was using his phone to play things like, "Who was the best player in X team's history", and "What was the most overplayed song of X year?" And the boys facetimed with us, along with their cousin Sylvia.

What to talk about?  How about, "How best to mess up a customer move from plant to plant"? We did that this week, as our plant took over responsibility for a certain customer- or tried to.  Our plan to mess things up included:

-requiring a certain machine to be transported to our plant.  This was the one thing we did early, but still couldn't manage to get it working in time.  We had to call in our contract maintenence man (whom for obvious reasons to Gilligan's Island fans, I call "the Skipper") and among the things we found was-

- removing the thread cutting blades from said machine because someone who doesn't know what they're doing might damage the fabric with them (and nobody at the other plant knows what they're doing), buyt not tell you this when they send it to you.

- DON'T film the sewing process, so we can figure out how to make them right.

-Make sure that the due date is almost impossibly close so that you can't help but be late...

-Don't go through the bill of materials to make sure our plant has ALL parts needed to ship the covers...

-and most importantly, send JUST ENOUGH fabric to get the ones due right now done, and leave nothing in case of the screw ups you make because you never filmed the process.

I won't say what my boss told me about all this, other than his skepticism of the other plant's good faith, and that he was offered to send that set of orders back if we couldn't handle it; to which he did say, "No, we're gonna prove to them we can handle whatever they throw at us!"  (To which I replied, "I'd be right there with you- except since we've only had one measely raise in 4 years, I am not so inclined to be gung-ho about it", or words to that effect.)

_______________________________________________

I thought we were going to have another "Larry" moment last night at the local IHOP.  I was telling Laurie about a book I'd just finished, and a gentleman off to our side overheard and started a conversation,  Not near as initmate as our chat with Larry, but he and Laurie had a good chat about their adventures in Social Security.  No pictures this time- when the server brought our food, he wrangled her into a convo, and I was quite content wrangling my Big Breakfast Burrito.

______________________________________________

Meanwhile, the day I've been dreading (sorta) has come.  Those of you who've been here a while know that we follow international hockey, with me, Laurie, Misty, and my kids each having "their team" in each league.  Well, this week, my team in Poland went belly up.  Coming into their first forfeited game, they were 0-34, shut out 16 of the 34 losses, and being outscored an average of 6-1 per game.  It wouldn't be the first time that we've seen Polish teams expire in season- the one year Laurie and KC's teams both died with about a week to go in the season.  And not even the worst team we deal with:  Romania fields a team (not one of ours) which is basically a club that lets younger players play against the men.  Now they get outscored an average of 19-2, and we have a yearly contest to see who scores the most against them.  But my team did beat our "league" record for worst performance- last year (or the year before, not sure), KC's team in Latvia made it to the second last game of the year without a win, won that game in a squeaker, and then got blown away the last game.  I think their final record was in the 1-32 neighborhood.  They also have drifted back to lower leagues.

_____________________________________________

Okay, I've run out of stuff to chat about, so feel free to get back to your day.  Love and prayers for all!

Wisdom Truck 4

 

Now, we go to a different Pharaoh, and a different set of wise men:

Exo 7:9  “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” 

Exo 7:10  So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 

Exo 7:11  Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 

Exo 7:12  For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. 

Let's start by peeling back the layers.  At least a couple of centuries have passed since our last visit to Egypt; God had prospered his people.  This was part of a larger Semitic (descendants of Shem) gathering in the land of Ham (another of Noah's sons), and the original Egyptians had begun to resent their influence.  This new Pharaoh had begun the policy of enslaving them; and eventually, God calls Moses and his brother Aaron to lead the people out.  But the first attempt had borne bitter fruit:  Mere words had caused Pharaoh to increase the burden on the Hebrews, and as a result they began to reject Moses.  Therefore, God had to break them of their fear of Egypt.  The fear of Pharaoh was his power, and his power was tied up in his "wise men, sorcerers, and magicians", and faith in them had to be broken, and faith in God restored.

The first step towards breaking this was this scene.  Aaron throws his rod down, and it changes from stick to snake.  The group opposing Moses and Aaron did the same... which certainly wouldn't have broke the people's fear.  But how did they accomplish this?  Here's where the "wise men" part came in.

To explain how the "wise men" accomplished this- and why God picked this challenge- I take you to a website RTS (dot) org, which helps explain.  First off, they remind us, that the serpent was the symbol of Lower Egypt, and was a symbol of the wisdom goddess, and thus was an affront to the power of Pharaoh.  Second, and I'll let them explain:

Secondly, casting down a rod is described over and over in Egyptian, mythological ritual. You find in text throughout the second millennium, those who have the power to change inanimate objects into animals, who have the power to make wax crocodiles into real crocodiles.

Note: one of the things I found is that the word used in context for 'serpent', can also be used for any large reptile type creature, including a crocodile!  Or even a dragon, so this is also a direct affront to their true master, Satan.  So was this magic? Maybe, and maybe not.  RTS goes on:

Perhaps they did it by slight of hand. We are told that there are still snake charmers in Egypt today who can take certain types of cobras, pinch a nerve in the upper part of their neck and paralyze them, and then through chanting and incantations keep them in a catatonic state until they throw them down again, and they wriggle back to life.

So this was a 'magic', by which the wise men of Egypt looked wise.  Problem A for them though, was that while their snakes were still groggy from the hypnotism, Aaron's CONSUMED theirs- and then Aaron grabbed it by the tail and- problem B- it turned back into a stick!  And by stick, I don't mean a fake one (which the wise men would have had to do off-scene as it takes a while to mesmerize them), but one which, in Numbers 17, would actually branch and bear fresh almonds!

From here on, "wise men" are NOT mentioned- only magicians.  To me, I think this means that they only real 'trick' they had was the snakes, and that has been eliminated.  Next came the first plague- water into blood.  If you read the passage (Exodus 7:17-22), you read how Moses and Aaron changed water to blood throughout Egypt, causing great hardship; but the magicians only "did this also".  Obviously, a magician with a handful of hematite or red clay could simulate the same effect on a limited scale, but not to the extent.  Think about it:  They did it after Moses had turned "all the water in the Nile" (Ex 7:20) to actual blood; they would have had to have done it to a container of water, just enough for Pharaoh to say, we can do that, but Moses- actually, God- did it to an extent that it took SEVEN DAYS for it to wash away.

Then came the frogs.  Again, the magicians had a way to do this- it seems they would gather groups of tiny insects, and release them over water frogs were in.  The 'fan base' couldn't see the flies, the frogs would "magically" appear.  But Moses's frogs were EVERYWHERE- so many that Pharaoh scoffed at his magician's tricks and begged Moses to get rid of them (Ex 8:8)!

The third plague ended the influence of the magicians once and for all.

Exo 8:16  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” 

Exo 8:17  And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. 

Exo 8:18  The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. 

Exo 8:19  Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. 

So not only did God top them with their own "secret power"- the gnats they used to 'produce' frogs- but this time, they couldn't duplicate it, and they ADMITTED they couldn't do it!  Something very important to note here (and actually, I might have done it earlier):  The word the Bible uses for "enchantments", "secret arts", etc, in the first case- the snake changing- basically means "flaming", used here as magic, and used only one other time in the OT- for the flaming sword of the Cherubim who guards the way to Eden in Genesis!  The rest of the time a word is used for "secret or hidden" and basically acknowledges these tricks were 'sleight of hand'.

From here on in, the people of both the Hebrews and Egypt know that God has defeated the magicians- the remaining plagues are a contest between God and Pharaoh alone.  Not only vastly important for them, but vastly important for us, too.  Lee Strobel's journey to Christ shows us that man's wisdom can only take you so far- eventually, you have to choose God's wisdom or just plain stubbornly refuse to hear any wisdom.  When we get to Proverbs (and that will be a long session!), Solomon divides those who don't believe into three groups.  The simple, who just don't know, and can receive instruction; the fool, "who says in his heart, 'There is no God' ", but can still become convinced; and the scoffer, who doesn't care what anybody says, any wisdom, or any evidence; they simply refuse.  Pharaoh's later story points out both the foolishness and the ultimate end of such people.

Martin World News

 

  

So today our plant is shut down as Indiana digs out of their share of the massive weekend witner storm.  We got close to 10 inches...

But we had noplace to go, and Bobs was open...

So anyway, prayers still up for those who got the huge ice storm (including a niece who lost power and had a tree come to a gentle rest on her roof in Mississippi), and I will avoid the 'hard news' (and rants, lol) and try to find something amusing...

CNN- See, I was juggling the glasses, and...

Headline: What to know about the French ex-senator on trial for spiking a colleague’s drink with MDMA

Not really amusing on the surface: old pervert and former French senator Joël Guerriau, 68, is accused of spiking the drink of fellow senator Sandrine Josso...

... which he admits to- but says, "It was an accident."  So let's enter the land of far-fetched excuses.

Our pervert claims he uses the drug on himself, for "depression".  Then, his lawyers say on "that he put them in the glass the previous day planning to drink them himself, but didn’t do so and then offered the glass to Josso by mistake.".

Uh-huh.  Compounding the apparent dishonesty, he fought calls to resign for 2 YEARS before resigning last October, "presenting the move as a political decision with no link to the legal proceedings."

Uh-huh again.  His trail starts Monday, and he looks at a possible ten years for treating depression without a doctor.

GB News- Because you never know when George Jetson might fly by...

Headline: Council blames wet weather for removing Union Jack flags hung by patriotic Britons

So anyone who pays attention to real news knows it's become virtually a crime to say or do anything patriotic in the UK for fear of offending some Muslim.  But in Oxfordshire, they decided to make a creative excuse.  Again, let's descend into the land of far-fetched excuses.

A row of Union Jacks and English flags were ordered taken down by the County Council.  Why?  Because the weather in England sucks.

""However, placing flags or painting them on or near highways can create serious safety hazards," the spokesman said.   "The council confirmed that teams have been taking down flags and other unauthorised items attached to streetlights as part of routine maintenance work, or when they present an immediate danger.

"With the current darker, windier and wetter weather, these risks are increasing. We are therefore stepping up the removal of flags and other unauthorised items."

"Man, did you see that?  That flag almost jumped out and caused me an immediate danger!"

Moscow Times: I think additional safety testing might be needed

No headline...

I pulled this from a general report on stuff happening in the republics outside mainstream Russia.

In the republic of Sakha (Yakutia), a 16-year-old boy was killed on Tuesday after being crushed inside a tank on display at a military exhibition featuring equipment captured during Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

The phrase "crushed in a tank on display" piqued my curiousity.  It seems that the boy- the son and heir apparent of Chechnya's leader- was riding in a tank in a motorcade when a CAR that was speeding the other way hit the tank!  I don't know whether this was a case of an exceptionally well-built Russian car, or an exceptionally-poor built tank.  Of course, the latter would help explain why Russia hasn't conquered Ukraine yet, I guess...

News.com AU- Flip the property, they said.  You'll make a fortune, they said.

Headline: Property investor ordered to pay nearly $1m for backing out of deal

This happened in New Zealand, where our hero, a guy by the name of Paljeet Singh thought to make a deal on a house he intended to then sell for a profit.  He bought the house in November 2021 in an auction from Robert and Margaret Smallridge for (Australian dollars) AU$ 1.6 million.  The deal was, he paid 5% down and would owe the rest in one year, with a clause allowing him reasonable access to show the place to buyers.  But NObody wanted to visit.

Why? He wanted to jack the price up 21%, to around AU$2.1 million.  He never got one visitor: "few buyers showed interest due to Singh’s “unreasonable price expectations” and none had requested access," according to an agent who testified against him.  Testified?  Yes, because when the bill came due- and the ONLY way he could have paid it was to sell the house- he sued the seller "because they voilated the agreement by not permitting access" to the zero people who wanted to see it.

Needless to say, that didn't fly, and when the Smallridges took back possession, the housing market had tumbled and they had to sell for AU$973 K- a 51% bath!  So they, in turn, sued Singh.  And now, Singh has to pay the difference- PLUS initial contractual interest- PLUS additional interest of about AU$ 230 per day until he pays it off.  As he never had the money to pay in the first place, his total bill is now approaching a cool million.

Finally, as I ran out of places to look (before lunch, that is...)

Buenos Aires Times- out of sight out of mind

Headline: Sticky note saves the day – Malvinas map row sparks diplomatic protest at French National Assembly

For those not in the know: what Argentina calls "Islas Malvinas", the rest of the world calls the Falkland Islands.  You might remember them from that delightful little war in 1982, when the Argentine military rulers decided to take the islands off their coast from Great Britain, who has ruled them since roughly 1832- and promptly got their rears handed to them.  In 2013, a referendum was 99% in favor of them remaining with Great Britain.  However...

A hearing in front of the French National Assembly was being held where Argentine ambassador Ian Sielecki was to speak.  However, he noted a problem with a map being displayed...

"I have just noted that I am seated in front of a map that shows the Malvinas Islands as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain," he said, as revealed in a video broadcast by the parliamentary channel LCP.

"I cannot, as a representative of the Argentine state, speak freely in front of that map. Doing so would mean legitimising a situation that constitutes an attack on my country’s sovereignty, on the dignity of the Argentine nation, and a flagrant violation of international law," he added.

As serious as he made the charge sound, the incident was solved when someone put a yellow sticky note over the islands.  Just think: $138,240,000 worth of sticky notes could have prevented the war in 1982....

A new friend

 

This picture is kinda about my new glasses.  We went to pick them up at the Jefferson Pointe Mall, and right across from the eye place was the pizza place.  Soon after we sat down, the gentleman over my shoulder sat down next to us.  He was a regular there, who was telling the hoistess he'd just got back from Miami, he had attended the National championship game where our Indiana Hoosiers beat Miami in the greatest sports story America may have ever seen.  (Briefly, before the current coach came to IU, they had the worst all-time record in college football.  Two years later they are #1, National champs and 16-0)

We talked a bit when he first sat down, but more extensively after we have eaten- and he and I both had a beer or two in us.  We regaled each other with sports stories (including the fact he had snagged a bit of confetti from the postgame celebration that "was going to get laminated and hung on the wall"...)

He had actually made the trips to all the postseason games (He said, "You'll never get me on a plane the rest of my life!") and was emotional about finally getting to go to a Rose Bowl game (where we pounded Alabama!!).  He told us that he loved the games, but hated having to go to Los Angeles and Miami, where "You have the rich, and then you have the very poor".  Which took us into a whole other set of discussions.

Towards the end, he said, "I usually don't share this unless I have a couple of beers in me", and told us he is in a very bad place health wise ( which I won't divulge).  So it was kind of a melancholy ending, but he has a good attitude.  "At this point, I don't care about sharing it, because what do I have to lose?"

I have my doubts we'll ever see Larry again, but I doubt he'll leave our thoughts anytime soon.  If you get a chance, I hope you'll join us in a prayer for Larry.