Welcome to the 2012 I Told You So Contest.  This is your opportunity to have your genius fully appreciated as you attempt to predict 2012 before it happens.  There is no cost to enter and the contest is open to anyone.  Please feel free to share this with all of the usual suspects – political pundits, market timers, and general know-it-alls (we know who we are). 

Though the contest is for fun, there are prizes.

1^st Prize – $50 Gift Card to Shuhei or the restaurant of your choice

2^nd Prize – Lunch with me

 The Rules:

All entries must be submitted to me by January 3, 2012.  The winner will be determined by the number of correct predictions.  In lieu of exactly correct answers, the closest to the correct answer will be given credit.  The decision of the judge (me) will be final.  The second tie breaker is a coin toss.

 Don’t be intimidated.  No one will get them all right. 

1. The Republican nominee will be ___________________________________.
2. The winner of the 2012 Presidential election will be _____________________.
3. The winner of the 2012 Ohio Senate race will be ________________________.
4. The winner of the February 5, 2012 Super Bowl will be ___________________.
5. The Cleveland Indians will win _____ regular season games.
6. The 2012 Cleveland Browns will win _______ regular season games.
7. The 2012 Academy Award for best picture will go to ______________________.
8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will close on December 28, 2012 at ________.
9. There will be ____ justices of the US Supreme Court on December 31, 2012.
10. A gallon of milk will be $____ at Giant Eagle, Legacy village on June 30, 2012.

 Tie Breaker:

• The new Hobbit movie will be:

 a) Incredible    b) OK   c) Disappointing.

 

How many times have you said, “See, I told you so”?  Now is your chance to be recognized for all of your talents.

Oy, it is December.  Hanukkah started last night.  Hanukkah is a festival, a low-key celebration that is sometimes blown out of proportion here in the U.S.  It is not our answer to Christmas.  Hanukkah predates Christmas, by centuries.  In truth, I would like to wish my Christian friends a merry, joyous Christmas – with me as uninvolved as possible.

I received a call last Friday from one of my insurance representatives.  This particular young woman works for a second tier company that provides several important products in our market.  She lives in Wisconsin.  She has been my contact for less than a year.

Dave, I called to thank you for your most recent case.  (Yes, this woman has so little to do that she has the time to call each of her agents every time they write even the smallest of sales)

No Problem.

Well, (in an overly cheerful and way too familiar fashion) do you have all of your Christmas shopping done?

Um, yeah. (I confess that I was multi-tasking and thus unprepared for her question.)  I’m Jewish.  We don’t do Christmas.

After an uncomfortable pause, she again thanked me for the case and said good-bye. 

I almost felt badly for her.  Her last job may have been on a farm.  The company is inMilwaukee, but she could be commuting from the hinterlands. 

There were about 40 emails waiting for me Tuesday morning.  One of them was a hallmark e-card from the rep.  I figured that this was going to be her way of making amends.  I clicked on the link and got

A CHRISTMAS CARD!

 I can’t make this up.  It was cute and cartoony and there wasn’t a hint of Jesus or religion to be seen, but it was still a Christmas card. 

Someone tactless and spiteful might have sent her a card for Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, or something equally foreign to her.  Not me.  Why bother?  Her world consists of two types of people: those who have turkey on Thanksgiving and those who serve ham, too. 

So instead of sending her a dollar’s worth of chocolate Hanukkah gelt, I will take a deep breath, smoke a cigar, and wish all of you a wonderful December no matter how you choose to spend it.

 

Eighteen holes of golf? Check. Stew into the slow cooker? Check. Welcome to a normal Sunday afternoon in my home. December golf in Cleveland is a bonus. I made sure I took as many strokes as possible. Who knows when I’ll play again?

I am not going to bore you with a stew recipe. Even though I marinated the meat almost 24 hours in beer, dredged it in almond meal, and deglazed the pan with dark rum, stew is stew.

We are going to talk about cookies.

The December meeting of the Ohio Blogging Association will be featuring a cookie swap. There should be some creative offerings since many of the local members write food blogs. I don’t think any of them will be sugar-free, so I will only be admiring from afar.

It has been over twenty years since I last made cookies. After reviewing a half a dozen recipes and not finding any I would like to attempt, I decided to create my own.

Cocoa Almond Cookies

3 Cups             Almond Meal

1/2 C               Butter/Margarine at room temperature

1/3 C               Liquid Sugar Substitute

2                      Eggs, beaten

2 T                   Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 t                Salt

1 t                    Vanilla Extract

1/2 t                Baking Soda

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the butter. Mix in the eggs, liquid sweetener, and vanilla extract. Add in the remaining ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. (I used a portable mixer on the low setting.)

Spoon the batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

This recipe yielded two dozen cake-like cookies. They were not overly sweet, which is OK with me. Sally and I both liked them. I might try adding some almond slivers next time for a little crunch. Dried fruit could work, too.

Please let me know if you try this recipe and how you modify it. I will continue to post low-carb options. I promise – no golf tips.

Barb Fulgham is incensed. And she is not alone.

Barb was attempting to relax and watch a little television when her peace was invaded by the new political ad from the US Chamber of Commerce. You have probably seen the advertisement. It attacks Sherrod Brown (D-OH) with the usual litany of half truths and propaganda. The ad was slick, well produced, and totally frustrating to anyone but the most ardent of partisans.

My two blogs, Health Insurance Issues With Dave and Again? Really? have not been bashful about taking Senator Brown to task for some of his positions. My expectations may have been too high. But this new ad, this despicable trash polluting our airwaves, doesn’t move the country forward. Is sheds no light.

So let me state this as clearly as possible: They Aren’t Us. Your local Chamber of Commerce has nothing to do with the US Chamber of Commerce. Whether you live in Rocky River or Beachwood, Mentor or Solon, your local Chamber of Commerce consists of a lot of local businesses, small businesses, who want to help their communities. They are apolitical. Yes, individual chambers get co-opted now and then to back a local tax or school levy, but these organizations are first and foremost designed to promote their home town.

Your local chamber is not waging a war with Senator Brown. Your local chamber neither supports nor opposes Governor Kasich. Chamber boards spend their time discussing pancake breakfasts and business shows. They are not raising money to run commercials for or against anyone.

This is not a new issue. One of the dirtiest campaigns ever foisted on the voters of Ohio was run by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce in 2000 against Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick. We still don’t know where the Ohio C of C got all of the money to run its hateful ads. We just know that it didn’t come from local chambers of commerce. I was going to quit my local chamber until I verified that my dues weren’t financing the anti-Resnick campaign.

We are less than a year away from the 2012 election. The political advertisements will be everywhere – television, radio and print. The truth, the whole truth, may be nowhere. Ask yourself who is paying for these ads, and why.

But please remember: They aren’t us.

On this day in the Northeast Ohio area, bloggers from the Ohio Blogging Association are guest posting on each other’s blogs as a way to help one another in our blogging community. A full listing of blog swap participants can be found at Poise in Parma.

Today I am swapping with Kristian Campana of Adventures of a Trapped 300 Pound Man. Although Kristian typically writes of eating adventures and festival-related mishaps, he has decided to write about a thought that has been plaguing his mind lately.

I hope you enjoy his rant.

– Dave

I sit here at the computer and begin writing this blog post, wondering how many other people around the world are sitting at their own computers writing blog posts while also wondering how many other people around the world are sitting at their computers and writing blog posts.

(Read that first paragraph a second time if it’s not yet clear.)

Many times as a child, I remember my mother cooking a dish like chicken paprikash or meatloaf or something, only to learn that both sisters (one in town and the other in St. Louis) made the same dishes on the same days. These were not planned cooking events. These were coincidences.

Or were they?

Later on, I would experience this phenomenon myself, making a similar dish to that of my mother or brother.

Now, granted, there could be a strong psychic connection between me and my family members that leads us to make similar dishes on the same day, but now I ask…

Is there something deep inside our brain that is able to receive suggestive frequencies that structure our menus? Do these frequencies also structure our habits, pet peeves and how much we tip at the Olive Garden?

The more I read about astrology, the more I realize that it’s not about predicting the future. Instead, it’s an interpretation on the placement of planets and how they form angles that expand or restrict the frequencies they emit.

Interpreting these angles doesn’t say what is going to happen…it only shows what energies or frequencies are strong and which are weak so that you can take advantage of it (or be wary of it).

Think of a Farmer’s Almanac for the Cosmos.

But whether you believe in astrological frequencies, it’s difficult to dispute that there are many types of unseen frequencies and waves out there that are interpreted to us through gadgets like televisions, radios, and IPhones.

So who’s to say that we don’t subconsciously pick up on even other types of frequencies out there, causing us to react by taking out the trash, paying our taxes or occupying Wall Street?

Is there really “something in the air” right before a major change? Are we simply tuning into something unseen and suggestive?

As I write this blog post, I wonder if someone in France is picking up on some of the same frequencies as me.

Perhaps Jean Claude is also finishing his blog post and it’s on this exact topic and he too will be enjoying a chicken lunch in only a matter of minutes.

And I wonder if he is wondering about me like I am wondering about him.

And I wonder if other people around the world are wondering about us.

And I wonder if they will be eating chicken too.

She was possessed but unloved
Abandoned but retained
I was looking and she needed to be found.
Not my first and not my last
Not her first and not her last
We threw unsecured life lines to each other
And watched helplessly as each drifted away.
Remembering her fondly, to her a toast
But me,
   I’m dancing with my ghosts.

I heard her say a thousand things
None of them were real
She told me what I wanted to hear
And hoped that I would never notice
The truth, the loss, the confusion
Overcame her and those who cared
I played the game as long as I could
But in the end I drove her to the coast
Time for me
   To go dancing with my ghosts.

Wife, mother, life in the middle
They seemed to be her goals
But none were fun and none were easy
And she rained her unhappiness on all of us
I helped her. I hurt her.
I caused as many problems as I solved
I moved her from place to place
But there was no place where she belonged
And when I realized that none were close
I left. I needed
   To go dancing with my ghosts.

Searching for a home, stopping at some inns
I seldom traveled by myself
But often seemed alone
Along the way I met a woman
Maybe two or three
But Church or child or jealous ex
Kept getting in the way
And so I returned to what I do most
I kept searching
   And dancing with my ghosts.

I found someone who had it all
But all was not enough
Her best friends were shiny and bright
And she always needed more
I was attached to her attachments
Connected to her connections
In many ways more than her
And when I or any person was not loved most
I said good-bye cause I was ready
   To go dancing with my ghosts.

I’ve retraced my steps
Completed my circle
Ending where I began
I’m changed and yet the same
She’s changed and still the same
This time it should be different
This time is should be home
This time there should be peace.
With hope and prayers of right, not almost
It’s finally time for me
   To stop dancing with my ghosts.

This year’s day after the election blog will not tick off nearly as many people as last year’s, Rent Is Too DAMN High.  It is not for lack of effort.  This year had fewer surprises.

Issue 2 Fails, (Almost) Everyone Wins
 

Senate Bill 5, the Kasich administration’s union busting overreach, has been overturned by Ohio’s voters.  Our legislators weren’t forced to abandon the state.  Instead, our citizens came through and restored balance to our system.  We can only hope that the unions and the various public entities will now work together to help our cities and schools to balance their budgets.  We are not a Right To Work State. Ohio’s voters have now decided that issue twice, once in 1959 and November 8, 2011.

But don’t feel badly for Governor Kasich.  State Senator Nina Turner appeared last night on MSNBC’s The Ed Show.  In front of an excited crowd, Senator Turner demanded an apology from Mr. Kasich for putting our state through this.  The general opinion, both Tuesday evening and on today’s talk shows, was that he was politically damaged by this vote and that the Republicans would avoid him in 2012.

I respectfully disagree.  If John Kasich’s goal was to be Ohio’s governor, then Senator Turner is correct.  Unfortunately for Ohio, we simply got in the way of his ambition.  By standing firm, he has cemented his position with the people who fund Republican campaigns, like the Koch brothers, and the network that promotes them.  Unblinking in victory and unbowed in defeat, the governor sponsored by FOX will still garner polite interest for the #2 slot on next year’s ticket or a cabinet post in a future Republican administration.  There are three years left in this term.  He will not spend the time hiding in his office.

Beachwood City Council

We were to elect four of the five below.  The names in RED are sitting councilmen.  The names in RED ran as a slate.  The slate was endorsed by the Sun Newspaper and by Beachwood’s mayor who, as usual, ran unopposed.  The other guy, unendorsed and not a current councilman, is shown in BLUE.

Mark Mintz                                                      2,663

Mark Wachter                                                  2,462

Martin Horwitz                                                 2,447

Fredric Goodman                                              2,405

Justin Berns                                                     2,055

My mistake?  I was 16 votes off.  I thought Marty would finish 1^st or 2^nd.  After all, he hadn’t been endorsed.

 

Before we get into a run of serious posts, let’s stop for a moment and make dessert. This blog has included recipes for pumpkin pie, chicken dishes, and even mashed cauliflower. All of these dishes are designed to be low carb and Kosher. Today’s is no exception. I adapted this recipe for Passover a few years ago and changed it further when I made it yesterday. Feel free to adapt it your tastes and needs.

Fruit Crisp

4           Pears, unpeeled and diced (use a couple of types)
1 C        Frozen blueberries
½ C       Red Raspberries
1 t        Cinnamon
¼ t       Nutmeg
¼ t       Ginger
¼ C       Diet V-8 Berry Splash (substituted for apple juice)

Topping

½ C      Almond meal
2 T       Potato starch
½ t      Cinnamon
2          Splenda packets
1 t       Diet V-8 Berry Splash
1 t       Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the fruit and spices in a large bowl. Place into an 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle the V-8 Splash on top of the mixture. Mix topping in a small bowl and arrange over the fruit. Bake for 35 minutes till lightly browned. Refrigerate if you don’t eat all of it in one sitting. 

The election is tomorrow. Enjoy something good and good for you while you watch the results.

She reached around me and pulled me close. Tenderly, she kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear. It was a moment of surprising intimacy. Surprising because this took place at a business networking event. Really surprising because I didn’t know her name.

Dave Cunix (drunk) chick magnet.

Inebriated women find me attractive and witty, damn near irresistible. Sober women, not so much. I came to terms with this years ago. Even as a boy I knew that I had a better chance of building model cars than modeling suits and shirts. So the first time this wine fueled desirability manifested itself, I was completely caught off guard. That was in my late teens. Now I just wait for the right opportunity to take their car keys and drive them to their homes.

Campaigns aren’t for the thinned skinned or the faint of heart. Though a great deal of time must be devoted to craft a message and to pump up your candidate, tearing down your opponent is just as important. There are some who would argue that destroying the other guy is actually more important.

Where does one find the fodder for negative ads and whispering campaigns? The process is called Opposition Research. Are there skeletons in your opponent’s closet? What doesn’t he want public? What grain of truth can be stretched and twisted into something ugly and damning? This job is full time work for some hacks. There are some politicians who owe their jobs to their willingness to say or do anything to get elected.

This isn’t necessarily right or wrong. It just is. Since no one is perfect, there has to be something that your opponent would just as soon keep private. But when you run for public office you forfeit your right to privacy.

I caught a vendor cheating me. Even a small business such as mine has to buy or lease products and services from any number of companies. Some of these companies have surprised and disappointed me even though I entered into the contracts with care. There have been sins of commission. And there have been sins of omission. This was both. The contract had a clause tucked away on the back page that contradicted our verbal agreement. Worse, the vendor lied about it when caught.

This discussion and resolution, a check was written to our business to make us whole, occurred last October through December. At this point, all is forgiven if not forgotten. We are still working with the vendor and may continue into the future. Our sales rep checks in on a regular basis to make sure that everything is still OK.

Rebecca, the sales associate, stopped by for a visit last month. It was on the 28th just before I left early for the beginning of Rosh Hashanah. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with her. She wanted to talk. Reviewing my file prior to our meeting, she realized that there might have been more than just smoke and she asked what really happened last fall. I told her. I mentioned that her employer didn’t resolve the issue until he realized that he didn’t have a choice. She agreed and then quoted this blog.

Yes, this blog. Sitting in my file was a copy of the June 7, 2010 post Hiding In Plain Sight where I discussed my willingness to embrace total openness. The vendor had either engaged in opposition research or someone else, with a different ax to grind, had shared the post with him. Watching my rep squirm, I could see how creepy she thought it was for her employer to be collecting copies of this blog.

I, on the other hand, am slightly flattered and curious. It does seem a bit odd that they would have a post pre-dating our discussions by four months sitting in my file. What other posts are they printing and re-reading?

And if it was sent to them, I am left to wonder who is promoting this blog and is he/she qualified to be my agent. It all sounds rather political, doesn’t it?