Snarky Tom's Rants, Raves and Ruminations

Bozo the Clown This week I encountered two references to Bozo. First was from John Grisham's book, Gray Mountain . The protagonist refers to a "bad guy" as a Bozo. However, the character would not necessarily have known who Bozo was as she was born well after the franchise ceased to exist on TV. The second was from Samantha Bee's TBS TV show as she referred to one or more of the Republican Presidential candidates. Now, I've made references and have spoken of my dislike/ phobia of clowns thanks to John Wayne Gacy, Ronald McDonald and of course the ultimate killer clown, Pennywise, from Stephen King's book, It . I found the written word far more disturbing than the 1990 TV movie. However, Tim Curry was fantastic as the creepy clown child killer. But what disturbs me is not the ruination of the clown, but the defamation of my youth's beloved TV entertainer, Bozo the Clown . To equate the Republican Presidential candidates to a bunch of Bozos is an insul...

It's that time again. It happens every year but for most every 5 years. Class reunions. If you graduated in 2011, 2006, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1956, 1951, 1946, 1941 or 1936, you will be celebrating (if invited) to your 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, 55th, 60th, 65th, 70th, 75th or 80th class reunion. I tend to think that the last 3 or 4 of those may have few attendees. This year marks the 40th for my class. I have no intention to attending any reunion. Why? I'll tell you. First, I didn't attend the 35th, the 30th, the 25th or the 20th. I was talked into attending the 15th, but that was the only one and would not have attended it either, if I wasn't coerced by my then wife (my #2 ex). We both graduated from that school. For her, she wanted to prove something. I could care less. She still does. She tried to cajole me into attending which will be sometime this summer near Reading, PA. I'M NOT GOING!!!! I have nothin...

In my 40 years of employment I have worked for many companies. Small Mom and Pops. Large, Ginormous Multi-Nationals. I often heard, though I was never victim of this crime, that people have had lunches stolen from the shared company refrigerator. Not only that, I've heard nightmare stories about ladies reaching into their purses to discover that money (sometimes substantial amounts) was missing. Purses that were secured in a closed drawer in their desks. This had always blown my mind every time I've heard this. I was not raised that way. I was taught that you were to respect other people's property. Also, if caught you would be fired and most likely arrested. Is it really worth it for $20? First, stealing lunches makes my skin crawl and my tummy do back flips. How can you eat a lunch that wasn't packed for you that may consist of substances that may not agree with your digestive system. People do have dietary requirements and issues. I pity the poor soul who construct...

One of my TV obsessions is Dateline with Lester Holt . The episode " Tangled Web " aired last week. I just got around to watching it. I've been busy. It's about a murder as many of these are that occurred in Sarasota, Florida in 2012. A woman's husband, a firefighter, is murdered by her boyfriend of 4 years at the apartment complex of the victim's new girlfriend. Strange. Very strange. The stranger catch: The husband and wife were not separated. Still living as husband and wife in the same apartment. Not only that, she knew of his new romance. The woman and her BF had been stalking her husband and his new GF. You could probably write a Murder She Wrote-type of episode or a whodunit novel about this, but for an event like this to actually play out probably would have never crossed anyone's rational mind. This takes love triangles to a new dimension.  Why did this occur? The BF felt that time had come to confront the husband to put all this out into the...