New Air Freshener

I got myself a new air freshener for my car. I love the pine fresh scent and all the very best parking spaces seem to be available now.

The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here!!

I'm a recently published photographer. Schmap Detroit Fifth Edition selected the photo above. Click the subject line to go to Schmap to see my photo in its environment. The site is a guide to local places of interest for travelers. All the major US cities have a site.

What Would the Headline Say?

What if there was a really good MSU team that had won many consecutive matches? What if they were scheduled to play an equally good USC team? What would the headline in the paper say if the USC team won? I can see it now;

"Spartans Snapped By Trojans"

Things don't always turn out as planned

George Peppard was a local boy. He grew up in Dearborn and was a "Pioneer" at Dearborn HS. My son had discovered that George is buried in a cemetery not far from the high school and got an assignment to find the grave site in his studio production class.

Graveyards have always been interesting places to me. We found George's grave and managed to take a few photographs to print for his report. While we were there we meandered around, looking at the markers and trying to get a sense of who some of these people were. We found a couple markers that proved to be a little curious to me.

The first one was a family plot with three individual stones. The middle marker was a man who apparently lived a long and prosperous life. He was flanked by his two wives. Based on the dates on the stone his first wife left him at a fairly young age. His second wife was about ten years younger than the first. He managed to outlive both of them and at least one of their children. I think life was hard in the nineteenth century and I think it's fair to say that it was a mix of joy and sorry.

The curious thing about the second one was that here was a spousal plot of a woman who was still waiting for her husband to show up. The date of his birth would indicate that the current date was well beyond his passing. Just seems he got sidetracked. I can only guess what may have happened to him; maybe he got married again; maybe his family moved; maybe he didn't have enough money to take his place there. I bet this situation never came up at the kitchen table when the two of them bought the plot.

This Guy was Cool

While all my friends were off carving pumpkins yesterday, I went out for charred flesh at a local bar / burger joint. I couldn't help noticing that the bartender looked exactly like The Zohan; hair, beard and polyester shirt. When he wasn't poppin' the tops off of beer bottles he struck a well choreographed posed, tested to draw attention.....in a silent way. He would stand, arse against a fridge door, one foot raised up on the sink, arms crossed over his raised knee with his palms up. This stance was punctuated with the obligatory furrowed brow and distant stare. He was the epitome of cool.

We all know the purpose of looking cool, so I won't mention it here. I can't tell you if his "well groomed" image was effective or not, because I didn't stick around long enough to watch the show. Don't know if I'd have had the stomach to stay that long. When I looked around the room, all I could see was a room full of blue haired bar flies, waiving a cigarette around in one hand and guzzling beer straight from the long neck..............maybe he likes the metaphor.

Team Bowling

Our department at work went bowling yesterday to team build. It had been a long time since I had bowled and I wasn't sure if I had the requisite level of bowling stamina. I knew I'd could come out of the gate strong, but reckoned I would fade with each frame. Lucky for me I'm not in the best shape of my life. I was able to conserve my physical resources by taking advantage of my physical attributes. Yes, I was able to find a place to rest the ball between throws and was able to finish the event respectably.

The only bad part was that the balls pick up oil and wax from the floors and machinery. Now my shirt has oils stains all over it that will take some effort to get out. If only I could have stopped at home to get my special bowling pants.

Finger Licking Pets

One year, when I was about 7 years old, my grandmother came to visit on Easter. This was a particularly memorable event because brought us a box of live chicks. They were so cute, all fuzzy and yellow and scampering all over the place. That was one of the most fun days I ever had, but it was short lived. You see, we lived in tract housing; a real neighborhood with neighbors and schools and ordinances. Fortunately for us my parents had friends that lived on a 100 acre farm. Our precious chicks could go live there and be well cared for and we could go visit, whenever we wanted.

The old saying goes "out of site is out of mind", and this is especially true of 7 year olds and his siblings. The excitement of having the chicks had faded and the drudgery of finishing the second grade gave me more than enough to keep me occupied.

Time was slipping by and before I knew it summer was almost over. Mom got an invitation to an end of summer picnic at our friends' on the farm place. After we had dinner we could go out to the barn and visit the chicks. After all, it had been a long time since we'd played with them.

Dinner was fabulous. They had fried chicken and fresh vegetables from the farm. We had corn and celery and beautiful tomatoes. Now that dinner was over it was time to see the chicks. Can you guess where this is going? Yes, our pets were dinner. What we didn't know is that was the deal that was made for boarding them. It was a shockingly sad, but relevant lesson in life; don't fall in love with food. Well another lesson was learned; everything has a purposeful life and although not all purposes are desirable, we should be happy in our existence.

Look What I Have Daddy

One day, a long time ago, my oldest son Joseph came running to greet me when I came home from work. He was squealing, "look what I have daddy, look what I have". His arms stretched high to show me as his little feet pattered like drum rolls on the bare floor below him. With a huge pride induced smile I asked him, "what is it son?" He replied, "it's a piece of s#!t daddy, it's a piece of s#!t".

I struggled to contain my laughter, so as NOT to bruise my little boys ego. His mother, on the other hand, was howling and on the verge of tears when she heard those grown up words coming from an angelic mouth. I was wondering to myself, "where could he have learned such a thing?"

After a minute, she proceeded to tell me about her and Joe's day. Apparently they had gone to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner that night and they were going to surprise me. As is the case at most check out lines there was a small, but tempting, display of toy cars just at eye level for a child sitting in a cart. "Buy this for me mommy, buy this for me" was the persistent chant from Joe as they snaked toward the cashier. Losing her patience and seeking to stop the incessant chanting she said, "OK, I'll buy you this piece of s#!t, but you'd better behave yourself.

She gave him the toy and all was well for the rest of the trip; at least till they got home.

Boys Will Be Boys

My brother and I used to have tussles, as most brothers do, when we were young. We'd scuffle and bang around on the walls and the floors. My mother would yell at us to "stop horsing around". I would say, "mo om, horsin' around is a fun". "It's what seperates us from the animals..................except maybe horses".

Yes, I have two horse pictures in a row. I took the one from yesterday's post :)

Glum

Some friends of mine and I went on an unconventional convention adventure this past weekend in Chicago. During our break we did a lilttle sight seeing near the "Magnificent Mile". On our way we passed some mounted police officers, who let me pet one of the horses. I know we shouldn't project human emotions on animals, but as you can see this one looks kinda sad. As I pet him I asked, "why the long face, Flicka?"

Poor Hef............

Hugh Hefner just got notice that his live in girl friend, Holly Madison, is dumping him. Hef is distraught, but knew the split was likely because he just didn't feel the deep connection you need to get married. Although he's emotionally spent, he remains committed to meeting his contractual obligations to his cable TV show, "The Girls Next Door". It may take some strength and courage, but he may have to engage the help of the 19 year old playmate twins that currently live in the Playboy Mansion to fill in now that Holly is leaving. I hope you feel better soon Hef.

Haandi Man

I found a new Indian restaurant that makes very tasty northern Indian food. Some of the dishes are cooked in pots that they call haandi. I liked it so much I made up a song. Sing it to the melody of Handy Man by James Taylor.

Hey people, gather round
Listen to what I'm putting down
Hey people, I'm your haandi man

My cousin's kinda good with a slide rule
I'm haandi with food and I'm no fool
I cook food in pots, and you know that it's truly good

If your taste buds should crave some flair
Then you have no need to fear
I cook Mughalai food, you tell all your friends
They'll come runnin' to here

Here is the main thing that I want to say
We're open 8 hours a day
I cook food in pots, you know that it's truly good

Come-a, come-a, come-a, come-a, come, come
To Six Mile near Newburgh

Come-a, come-a, come-a, come-a, come, come, come

They'll come runnin' to here