Bug

I came down with some sort of Cold-like bug on Monday - stuffy head, sinus headache, etc.   It never was debilitating, but by Tuesday I had no energy at all - it became an effort just to think!

I'm almost afraid to say so, but I do think I'm a little better today.

That's nice, but I'm afraid that Honey is coming down with it now.

Laptop

My old computer had been limping along for years, so I decided to go for a Cyber Monday deal at Best Buy.  
Yesterday, just as I got started transferring important files from my old laptop, it quit completely.
I congratulated myself on my great timing, and went back to Best Buy for a USB box to hold my old hard drive.  When I got home with it, and started to disconnect the old laptop, I discovered that it had somehow managed to come unplugged. Once I plugged it back in, it worked and I was able to retrieve the files I needed.
It is no longer a priority, but I'm still going to pull that hard drive and put it in the box I bought.  It should make a great backup drive.

Stuck In Your Head

We were driving somewhere the other day, and I was playing a Mix CD that I recorded for one of our trips.  Don McLean came on singing American Pie, and Honey said, "I wish you hadn't played that.  I hate that song."

"I thought you liked it."

"I did.  I do.  It's just that now it will be stuck in my head, and I'll be humming it for days."

I have a pretty long list of songs that affect me like that, and they're all over the musical map.  I can't see any one thing they have in common other than that once I think of them they won't go away.

Here's a short list to show what I mean:

• Don't worry. Be happy
• Humoresque
• All My Exes Live In Texas
• 1812 Overture
• Beer Barrel Polka 
• Nature Boy
• Turkey In The Straw

What song won't leave you alone?  

What gives it that kind of power over your mind?
 

Great Lyrics

Well, today's post sort of drifted off topic before I even started writing.  
I was going to write something about tunes that get stuck in your head. Then I started wondering how often it's the melody and how often it's the lyrics that reel you in.
Thinking about lyrics led to songs with nonsense syllables, which led to...the-17-most-legendary-na-na-nas-in-history.

Ampersand

There are images which once visualized, can never be unseen.
For example, I read on the internet the other day that an Ampersand looks like a dog scuffing his butt on the living room carpet.

11/23

Happy Thanksgiving !

Kennedy and KSFA

Early in my career in commercial broadcasting, I landed a gig at KSFA in Nacogdoches, Texas.  

Bob Dunn, the owner of the station, was a pretty good engineer, but had been unable to pass the FCC's 1st Class Radiotelephone License exam in several tries.  He offered me an apartment on the side of the transmitter shack, and full time pay for part time work if I would hang my ticket at the station and sign off on the paperwork. One of the best benefits of the deal was that it allowed me to attend Stephen F. Austin where I met my wife.

Bob did a one hour local news and interview show at lunch time, and was talking to one of the leaders of local society when I interrupted him in mid-sentence to announce that John Kennedy had been shot. He was furious that I broke in. 

His politics were far right, even by East Texas standards, and it took all my powers of persuasion to convince him that we needed to suspend regular programming (and stop running commercials) to cover the story.  He was even going to play Happy Days are Here Again until I told him it was a Democratic Party campaign song.

It's Coming

I got a good laugh from this cartoon even though it bears no resemblance to Thanksgiving with our family....

What Calendar?

Today is November 20th, leaves are falling, the low this morning was near 40, and we have one Azalea that is blooming.  
Granted, it is only two blooms on one twig, but it is blooming.

Boney Fingers

I'm not going to reveal why I'm dedicating this Hoyt Axton classic to my wife, but there is a very good reason.

 

Culinary Advice

Good advice from someone who grew up down the road in Spring, Texas.  

Of course, when we say Mexican food, we're really talking about Tex-Mex - True Mexican food is something else entirely.

While we in Texas may argue about whether real chili has beans or not, there are places in our country where they make something they call chili and just ain't.  Take Cincinnati, Ohio, for example - the recipe for their famous Skyline Chili contains ingredients like chocolate, cinnamon and Worcestershire sauce... and, they serve it over spaghetti!  

Someone ought to sue them for false advertising, or at least report them to the FDA.

MVP

It's official - Jose Altuve was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for 2017, and the vote wasn't even close.  
The thirty voting members of the Baseball Writers of America gave him 27 first place votes and 3 for second for a total of 405 points.  Rookie of the year Aaron Judge had the second place total at 279.
All the attention is, and should be, on Altuve for his fabulous year, but three other Astros received at least a few votes - George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Marwin Gonzales - Not bad for a team with one of the lowest payrolls in the Major Leagues.

Asparagus

This post may qualify as T-M-I, so don't say I didn't warn you.

I like asparagus, and for the most part, it likes me.  

If you do too, you already know that within seconds of eating asparagus it changes the odor of your urine - your pee smells like asparagus.  It is amazing how quickly that happens.

What I didn't realize, and should have, is that asparagus is also one of the world's most powerful natural diuretics.  Asparagus contains high levels of the amino acid asparagine, making it a natural diuretic. In other words, eating more of the spears can help flush excess fluid and salt from your body, which may help prevent urinary tract infections. It is also great for helping control blood pressure, etc., but it does have its drawbacks.

It is an old joke, but at my age, throwing an all-nighter means sleeping seven or eight hours without getting up to pee. The asparagus I had for supper last night had me up every hour all night long.  I probably lost three or four pounds between 10 last night and 7 this morning.

Much as I like the stuff, I may have to confine my asparagus consumption to lunch.

Me Too

It has been impossible to watch a newscast in the past few weeks without seeing a story about somebody famous being accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.  These accusations somehow amount to convictions in today's court of public opinion.

Are most of these accounts factual? I have no idea, and no way to know.  Percentages say that some of them must be, but the sheer volume of these accusations ( and the convenient timing of some of them) makes me wonder if "Me, too" hasn't become something of a fad.

Introductions

 I first posted this five or six years ago, so you may have seen it before....

Whether it was a course I taught or one I attended, it was traditional to open the first day of class with a round of introductions.  I preferred to get each student to introduce himself  - or herself in the case of the very few female technicians.  I asked them to tell us a little about their background, about interests outside of work and what they hoped to accomplish in my class.

Other trainers used other approaches.  One that was used often (and the one I liked the least) involved pairing up the new students and giving them about five minutes to get acquainted.  They were then asked to introduce each other to the class.  My biggest objection to this method was that my partner never told the group what I thought was important about me.

Sometimes the result was even worse.  At a Ricoh class in New Jersey, I was once paired with a fellow from Long Island.  He introduced me like this:

“This is Bob.  He says he is a native Texan.  We all know everything in Texas is supposed to be bigger and better, so you’re probably wondering how this little guy  (I was five-seven and about 160) could be from Texas.

Well, he was six-five when he left home, but on the flight up from Houston, his plane hit some bad turbulence over Kentucky, and it scared the shit out of him.”

After the laughter died down, it was my turn to introduce him.  I said:

“This is Terry from Long Island.  He has taught me the big difference between Texans and New Yorkers – We wear the bullshit on the outside of our boots.”

Day(s) Off

I didn't post anything yesterday, and almost didn't today.  
Nothing's wrong. It's just that for once, I didn't have anything worthwhile to say.

Veterans Day

This is a re-post of my blog from 2015...

At the invitation of the President of the United States, I served in the Army from 1966 to 68.  I attained the rank of Specialist 5, and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for my work with the Ft. Hood Public Information Office.

To those who say I’m not a real veteran since I never was deployed in a war zone, I will remind you that the Viet Cong never got anywhere near central Texas during my tour of duty.

Something's Just Not Wright

It is seven a.m. and I am on my way to the grocery store for bacon.  We're not out of bacon, but Honey has given me strict orders not to cook what we have on hand ever again.

 When I bought our usual Wright brand bacon the other day, I inadvertently picked up  a package of Maple flavored bacon.  It tastes OK, but 24 hours after cooking the first batch, the house still smells like maple syrup in spite of using a half can of Febreze.

Mine

Yesterday's post was all about Honey - how much fun she had, and the joy I got from watching her shoot.

  

It was definitely her day, so I didn't mention that I was also shooting, or that I didn't leave the gun store empty handed. 

I purchased for myself a Glock 19 - the brand new Gen 5 edition.

 

Locked and Loaded

As promised, yesterday ended up being a very interesting, exciting and enjoyable day.  

My darling bride is now officially armed and dangerous.

Honey had wanted a handgun for years, but had never shot one and had no idea what she wanted - so we started the day with some expert instruction.  The instructor let her shoot a variety of weapons, and she decided on a Glock 42, a .380 semiautomatic pistol that fits her like a glove.  

For someone who had never shot before, she is seriously good. 

That target is even more impressive when you know that it represents four different weapons, was the first time she had ever shot, and that pattern on the left shoulder occurred when the instructor put one round up there to give her something to aim at besides center mass.

Honey fell in love with shooting, so I foresee a lot of our money going to range fees and ammo.

Tell Ya Tomorrow

We have an interesting day coming up today.  It's going to be a good one, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet.

Guns

Another mass shooting over the weekend - this time at a tiny crossroads town in central Texas.
Liberals are once again screaming for gun control, while 2nd amendment  advocates point out that Cain killed Abel with a rock.
 

Ft Hood Shootings

Today is the anniversary of the day in 2009 that Army Major Nadal Hasan went on a shooting spree at Ft. Hood, Texas.  By the time it was over, he had killed 13 and wounded 32.

Back in March, Nadal - who was convicted and sentenced to death - announced that he was going on a hunger strike.  He said he was not going to eat until he had lost down to 99 pounds as a way of protesting the fact that the US was not embracing Sharia law.

I find it interesting that after that announcement I can find no progress reports on his hunger strike.  

Maybe that's because nobody gives a damn!

Honey's Birthday

Ozone Zone

It's been thirty years since scientists discovered a hole in the Ozone over Antarctica, a discovery that led to the Montreal Accords that outlawed Freon refrigerants and Halon fire extinguishers (except in submarines and airplanes) and the banning of solvents like carbon tetra-chloride and trichloroethane.

Ozone is a naturally occurring allotrope of Oxygen - a three atom version  (O3) as opposed to the two atom O2 we need to sustain life.  It has a sharp but not unpleasant odor - it's the smell you notice during a thunderstorm when lightning turns O2 to O3.

Humans have a complex and often confusing relationship with Ozone. Ozone in the stratosphere protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, but more than 0.07 ppm at ground level can lead to respiratory problems and can generate an air quality alert.  Meanwhile, folks buy or rent Ozone generators to remove the smells of mold or cigarette smoke from hotel rooms, etc.

It was announced this morning that the hole in the Ozone Layer is the smallest it's been since 1988.  Hole watchers, who should be ecstatic, say it is cyclic and normal, or it's the result of Global Warming.

We Won!

Here's the now famous Sports Illustrated cover from 2014

 And here's a "Told You So" update

 Congratulations to the Astros  for making every Houston fan's baseball dreams come true.

Halloween Hangover

How I feel on the morning of November 1st,  
It really has nothing to do with Halloween - as predicted, we had no trick-or-treaters last night - but sitting through game 6 of the World Series left me exhausted.