Tough Brass Dude

Hard hitting reporter Jason Jones gets the prize for best quote this week. He said, "you can't spell cajones without Jones".

Don't try this at home.

I was driving in the car the other day with my seventeen year old son. We were listening to our favorite "classic rock" station on the radio and they were playing a cluster of Beatles songs. I was in heaven. Hangin' with my boy and singing to the radio. Well at least I was in heaven. Greg turned to me less than half way through the song and said, "it's nice that you know all the words dad, but I think you should leave this to the professionals". I got the hint :)

Anything but nasal........

I knew a woman that would sing from her diaphram; she must have learned that in opera school. That was an intersting sight. Didn't quite sound the same when she switched to the sponge.

Moral Compass

I hear a lot of talk about moral compasses these days; maybe because it's a presidential election year. I thought I'd be able to conjur up an entertining fact or two about the term, but no matter where I looked it seemed to be used by any number of people who want you to behave in ways that are not in your own best interest for some imagined good. You know, selfish about your selflessness. Kinda reminds me of Lord Farquaad in Shrek when he's talking to the troops before the battle. He says, "some of you will not come back alive..........but that's a risk I'm willing to take". All I know is that my moral compass always points north.

Click Here to Hear

Sorry for getting sappy two blogs in a row, but I thought I'd say something about my dad; Wendell Eugene; just Gene to his friends. These are two pictures of him doing what he liked to do best and in my opinion he did it better than most. He was one of those guys that the older he got, the larger his glasses got. Thankfully, the need for correctives lenses went away when he got his cataracts removed.

He's been gone for over a year and a half now and I'm sure I'm not the only person that misses him. He had tons of friends because he was warm and welcoming to everyone he met. I aspire to be as well liked as he was and to have a fraction of his musical talent.

Click on the title for this post to hear him play with The Radio Gang; he's playing lead.

Happiness

This is my son's football team when they won the Division II regional championship. Joe is one of the jubilant throng on the right side of the picture in a hooded jacket. It was a huge accomplishment at the time, but now seems almost insignificant. After all, there has been an entirely new set of winners in the four years since. Won't there be more winners next year and every year after?

That was a fun time. They worked very hard and played even harder and there was a good reward. What my son and I realize is the happiness is in our daily activity. We work, we plan, we struggle. This is what we're here for and we should take pleasure in our daily effort and know that once in a while we will end up winning. Winning isn't everything. What you do to get there is and I can be happy with that.

Slept like a............well, you know...........

Been fighting a sinus thing this week. Last night, during my evening routine, I had two cordials of tequila and some NyQuil. The effects were temporary, but I got plenty of sleep.

With friends like this.........

The writer of The Lone Ranger must have had a tremendous sense of humor. It's always assumed that the Lone Ranger and Tonto were best of friends and participated in a mutual admiration society. Tonto was always eager to take on the difficult task conjurred by his mentor. The Lone Ranger always the figure of ingenuity and good ole fashioned American know how. I've heard stories that Tonto was a native American name that was close to "Loyal" and that Kemosabe (pronounced kee mo sobee) was a term of endearment that pretty much meant "trusted scout". We may have been misled.

When you get out your trusty Spanish-to-English dictionary it becomes apparent that these guys were pretty much just acquaintances at work and most likely dispised each other. Tonto, it turns out, means "idiot" in Spanish. It get's even better when you figure that "él que no sabe" (pronounced "l kee no sobee") translates to "he that does not know".

Something in the Air

A friend of mine tells me that he usually gets the flautas when he goes out for Mexican food. It's usually the day after he's eaten the wet burrito.

The Deadliest Catch

Fall is here. One of the indicators, especially after a very dry August, is the amount and size of the crab grass in my yard. It's hu-uuuuuge. So big that I'm calling it Alaskan King crab grass. Now if only I can get the captain and crew from the Northwestern to come and throw a few pots on my lawn.

It's A Small World....

We learn so much about each other on our drive to "the team lunch" on Thursday's. Solving the world's problems from a multi national perspective is the typical topic of discussion on the bus ride to our lunch venue. Last Thursday was a little different. One of the guys, who is not a Christian, wanted to know who went to church and how often; he's been watching the election campaigns and sees that religion plays a big role in American culture and politics.

None of us in the car were particularly religulous, but I did discover that my buddy Steve had been an alter boy. This gives me a new appreciation of Steve as I too had that childhood experience. In a gesture of sympathy I said to Steve, "I was an alter boy too. Just remember, time heals all wounds". To which Steve replied, "this is very true, but it doesn't always keep you from walking funny".

Disclaimer:

No alter boys were harmed in the writing of this post. All inferences and opinions of the content of this posting are the sole responsibility of the reader and do not necessarily reflect those of the writer. The word religulous is not mispelled.

It's the truth!

I went on a docent led tour of the Henry Ford Museum not long ago here in Dearborn. The group was directed through a section dedicated to aviation history. We stopped just below an early commercial helicopter where our docent started his instruction. He said, "above us is an early commercial helicoter based on a design by Igor Sikorski." "Did you know", he went on, "that Igor Sikorski had a commercially viable helicopter design at the time of the Russian revolution?" I found this information enthralling and wanting to get a clearer picture of the time frame I asked, "Bolshevik?" His answer was, "no, I'm telling the truth".

Handsome women and English comedy

I work with an internationally diverse group of people and we always talk about the most interesting things. I don't know how it happened but my English colleague and I found ourselves on the topic of "handsome" women. He had never heard the term before and in my effort to explain I used Julia Child as an example. I thought I was in the clear but, to my dismay, he had never heard of Julia Child. Now I was in trouble. Not only was I on the hook to define handsome in the context of women, I was now on the hook to explain who is Julia Child.

Never shrinking from a challenge I sought to give my definition in terms that an Englishman could understand. I said, "Julia Child is a large-ish, motherly looking woman with a shrill quality to her voice; a lot like the typical male English comedian who does his bits in drag". "That's what a handsome woman is", I said. Now he understood.

I must have triggered some fond memories for my friend. We kept the discussion going by talking about his favorite English comedians. He ended up telling me about a popular comedy couple called Reeves and Mortimer. He sent me a YouTube link to educate me about Reeves and Mortimer.

Double clicking the link I was instantly slapped in the face by the image of two grown men in polyester clothes, singing impossibly ridiculous songs. I could understand the words but I just didn't get it. On my own I searched for more Reeves and Morimer stuff on YouTube. I was able to find a near endless supply of R&M skits and bits, all of which left me a bit puzzled.

I told my friend about watching a few R&M skits on YouTube. He giggled to himself and said, "they're brilliant!" He went on to say that most of their stuff was based on a variety of characters. I replied, "are any of them funny?"

I want my mommy..........

John McCain keeps calling himself a maverick. There was a TV series in the late 50's and early 60's about some travelling gamblers who used dirty tricks and high jinks to swindle the locals out of their hard earned pay. That's not the maverick John wants to be, is it?

Unsure of the real definition of maverick, I went to my trusty on-line dictionary. This is what I found;

mav·er·ick (măv'er-ĭk, măv'rĭk)
n.
1. An unbranded range animal, especially a calf that has become separated from its mother, traditionally considered the property of the first person who brands it.

Any way you slice it the term maverick isn't so flattering. I wonder if the big oil lobby has their iron in the fire?

New additions

That's Dusty on the left and Tiger on the right. This sister and brother combo is a new addtion to my household. I have the scabby scratch marks on my knees to prove it. They prefer me to the store bought scratching post I got for them.

One track mind............

I went to a house party last Sunday. Most of the people there were "Hockey Parents", who tend to be a little rough around the edges. Our hostess, in an effort to make the party sociable, placed Trivial Pursuit cards on all the tables so people could read and answer questions while they ate. It turned out to be a brilliant and effective plan. It's easier to make small talk when you don't have to come up with anything fresh, on your own.

One of the men there, who looked and acted a little like "the dude" but with short hair, had a way of finding a lot of correct answers. He would blurt them out as soon as his thoughts would let him. One of the questions was, "what is the highest lake in South America?" He shouted, "Lake Titicaca". Everyone was silent at the quickness of his answer. Then from somewhere in the shadows a woman's voice says, "no it's not...............you just like saying that". We all erupted into uncontrollable laughter. Come to find out later he was right, but for a short moment we had our doubt.