Prepop Sez: AARP; NARFE; Award for Joe; Government; Short People; Clown Attacks; Clown Portraits

Nice sunny 60 degrees day. And, an amazing day for me.

First, I went to the AARP Board Meeting and ran it, because the President and Vice President are not available. I have to admit.. I like running meetings. It's a lot of fun. I brought cookies and Thelma brought cookies as well.... we pigged out on chocolate chip and peanut butter calorie filled cookies.

I also got rid of another six "Joe Vaughan Fan Club" pens. I still have a lot left.

Next, I went to the NARFE (Retired Federal Employees) meeting at Bullock's. I had my wonderful fried chicken legs and decaf. I held off on the usual peach turnover, but did take a couple home along with 3 chicken legs for Elaine's lunch. The nice lady that runs the fried chicken counter as always gave me an extra one. "Here, Mr. Joe. Hope you like them!" This is the Carroll County environment that is so nurturing.

As I indicated, I love Bullock's fried chicken legs (best in the County) and turnovers... unfortunately, we two, Elaine and I, fellow diabetics, both crave these wonderful gifts from God.

Bill Gray from Blue Cross made his annual NARFE visit to explain upcoming changes to the Federal Insurance situation. A nice guy. Sadly, he will be retiring at the end of the year.

During the meeting, Bill surprised me by giving me an award. This was a complete surprise, but well appreciated. Chapter members nominated me. I am glad that I earned their respect.

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Government As Usual

Readers Digest got this item from netfunny.com. It certainly brings back memories of my government service:

"I was assigned to a military intelligence unit as a temporary assistant. One day, a memo came around with instructions for all officers to read and initial. So I read and initialed.

Days later, it came back with a note addressed to me: 'You are not permanently assigned to this unit and are thus not an authorized signee. Please erase you initials and initial your erasure."

(Almost the same thing happened to me, but with Classified material. A lieutenant who must have flunked "common sense" in college was involved.... you of course remember that I have this "thing" about Lieutenants.)

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Hey, Shortie!

The Week magazine recently contributed to the discrimination against short people by publishing this information:

People who are extremely short may also have a higher risk of heart disease, according to BBC.com.

"A person who is five feet tall would have, on average, a 64% higher risk of developing clogged arteries than someone who is six feet." It's apparently a DNA thing.

(I would like to find out how tall my biological father was. As I've mentioned before.. I was 5'7" tall when I was 11 years old... which at the time was tall for a kid. However, soon after, everybody around me shot up and passed me by. Now... based on the contractions in my spine... one Doctor tells me that I'm only 5'4" tall... another says I'm only 5'3" tall. It looks like I'm shrinking so fast that I should disappear in a couple of years.

I don't understand why there are still very tall people at my age. Didn't they get the message?)

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Clown Attack?

More 15 and 16 year old girls are calling government offices and reporting clown attacks. The various clown organizations are upset and working hard to assure the public that the normal clown is a clean, law-abiding citizen and not prone to scaring people. My grandfather was a friend of Emmet Kelly, the famous "sad hobo" clown from the Ringling Brothers Circus. Whenever the circus was anywhere near New Bedford, Massachusetts, Emmet would taxi over to drink beer at the Buttowood Café with my Grandfather. .

Here are some nice clowns: