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Random thought offloading,

Guy Speckman by Guy Speckman
December 2, 2021
in Ponder the Thought
random thoughts
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Let’s empty the random thoughts section of my brain. Time to get in Christmas season shape and I need all the brain cells I can access to balance family, work and Bud Light during this time (not necessarily in that order). Consider this an offloading of a supply chain backup.


I worry about a society that has time and desire to stand in line for hours for the opening of a Whataburger restaurant. Normal people don’t do that, do they?

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The wrongful conviction of Kevin Strickland and the legal and political wrangling that it took him to get out of jail is concerning to most of us. I think we have the best legal system in the world, but these stories are sad, and we must figure out how to do better.


Television has become an overly complicated process in my house. I don’t think television programming has progressed as we thought it should. Every show that I decide to watch is basically on some network that I am not subscribed to. When you throw HULU, Sling, Paramount, Disney, Netflix and all the rest in, you’d spend hundreds of dollars a month just getting access. That doesn’t even deal with the difficulties of a 55-year-old me trying to surf through the remote control for all that.

I thought we were progressing when we moved from me having to get up and change the channel for my parents to a remote-controlled TV, but I think the evolution of all of this has taken a bad turn.


Don’t even get me started on the password fights that 25 television networks cause at our house. My wife and I have been married 30-some years and I’m convinced that password management may be our greatest marital accomplishment, slightly ahead of the birth of our children.


I’m about six months away from having to have my adult children come by and write notes for me to operate my remote control and phone. Honestly, they’ll likely take my iPhone away from me and give me one of those 911-only phones advertised in the AAA Magazine.

I don’t think it’s that weird to accidentally FaceTime them a few times a day; they, however, think its some sign of my diminished faculties. They’re wrong.


Kansas City public officials are trying to force out Chief of Police Rick Smith. I have no idea if this is a good thing or not. What I don’t appreciate is that many of the local news outlets have been using a clip of Smith when he was speaking at an event with Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd. So, the loveable Platte County Prosecutor is on the news every night as part of this negative story and their stock footage. I have no idea how many slot machines he will have to destroy to overcome this bad coverage, but it’s going be a lot.


I’ve agreed in principle to another year of writing a renewed variant of this column for the coming year. Didn’t tell Foley, but I’m not sure if he’ll notice, he’s into a Parkville skirmish that might last awhile, he doesn’t have time to fight the Omicron variant of Ponder the Thought. Gave myself a raise. I’ll let him know when the holidays are in his feels.

(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or managing passwords with his wife)

Tags: eric zahndparkvilleplatte countyPublic Safety
Guy Speckman

Guy Speckman

Guy Speckman is a Landmark contributing columnist with his Ponder the Thought column. Speckman is the former owner of the Savannah Reporter, where the column appeared for nearly two decades. Speckman is a former city government manager, serving as city administrator in Maysville, Plattsburg and Savannah before entering business. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University (1989). He is originally from Plattsburg, Missouri. He and his wife own and operate a real estate valuation firm and a daily legal newspaper and are the parents of two grown children.

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