Random Soapbox for Saturday 5/31/14

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... I find those "let's move" ads a bit disturbing.

To be clear, this isn't some kind of partisan attack.  First of all, at this stage in the double term presidency, that would seem a little passé , no?  Second of all, there are other places where you still can get your fill of that kind of thing, if that's your bailiwick.

And it's also not a statement said ignorant of what is a real problem ... in that I get that there's a generation of overweight youngsters up and coming in a way that is making the future as shown in Wall-E to be closer and closer to a reality every day.  Plus, I state that as someone who could stand to lose more than a few pounds himself.

Instead, my complaint is that both of these ads I've seen (the "find my wallet" scavenger hunt one and the "flip the master fuse" turn off the video game one) seem to be predicated on the notion that the way to skinny kids is to ruin the relationship between parent and child through the introduction of lies and deception.  Of course, maybe my protestation is misplaced and maybe lies and deception are part and parcel of any parenting.  I just have to think that there's a better ... more direct ... more honest way of combating the issue.  Sure, the kids are all smiley at the end of the commercials ... but the day they discover that those entrusted with raising them in the best way possible are ultimately not to be trusted would be a sad (albeit skinny) day indeed.

SO THE HEART IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE:
http://www.letsmove.gov/

BUT THE AD IS A LITTLE SOUR TO MY TASTE:
http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/29/this-lets-move-ad-isnt-going-to-get-kids-moving/

SURELY THERE'S A BETTER WAY TO COMBAT THIS EPIDEMIC:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/childhoodobesity/

Random Flashback for Friday 5/30/14

Here's what I know.

It's summer (admittedly, not meteorologically but it's that wonderful time between Memorial and Labor Days), which is a time best spent with friends and family.

It's customary for me to flashback twenty years each week, and this photo is dated on the back as July 9, 1994,  so I know I'm on point (although five weeks early from a purist point of view).

It's what I looked like when I let my hair all hang out (zoom in for some of my natural curls [ ;0 ]), and before I gained some mass, and before I added a few tattoos.

Here's what I don't know.

Where it is we're eating ... I zoomed in to the place mat and it doesn't have a restaurant name on it, although I feel very very certain that it's somewhere around my old stomping grounds in Lebanon.

Here's what I need.

The person who took this photo to help fill in my memory ... so Millie ... what do you know?  Where were we when we snapped this picture?

Random Thought for Thursday 5/29/14

I'm not sure how I ran into the quote, I just know that I did so recently.

And after googling its origin, I'm more confused what with the fact that I've not recently been reading the Talmud OR the Koran/Quran NOR have I seen Schindler's List.

But somewhere I saw the notion of "saving one life saves the world/humanity/the world entire", and I liked it enough to e-jot it down in my phone's notepad (oh yeah ... I've finally embraced something technological that started being used many many years ago).

With all due respect to Hebrew scholars/Muhammad/Schindler, I plan to appropriate some version of it for the slogan of my foundation.  (Disclaimer:  "my foundation" is something that only exists in my mind until that point in the future when I wake up to discover that I am independently wealthy and can launch said organization.  Second disclaimer:  you can't win the lottery if you don't play the lottery.  Third disclaimer:  [one's] reach should exceed [one's] grasp or what's a heaven for?)

Until then ... so long as there are those in this world who will care more about the welfare of others than the welfare of themselves, all hope will not be lost.

Whose life will you save today?

AS PER SCHINDLER QUOTING THE TALMUD:
http://www.auschwitz.dk/lamus.htm

AS PER MUHAMMAD IN THE KORAN/QURAN:
http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=5&verse=32

AS PER JAPANESE ANIME (REMEMBER, I LIKE IT RANDOM UP IN HERE):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQrYdY2gbD8

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 5/28/14

Stolpersteine.

Used in a sentence:  "I surely loved my time overseas in Cologne, Germany during a semester abroad in late 1990, but I left before the first of thousands of Stolpersteine were created there."

And, as per usual, I'm not the most timely and I'm a month or so late regarding the Days of Remembrance regarding the holocaust, but I did see a travel article in the local paper that mentioned the placement of various blocks in European cities of these Stolpersteine ... or "stumbling blocks" in German, and it's been rattling around in my head since then.

Turns out it is an "art installation" that serves to put a small reminder in the sidewalk outside of the last home of any one of any number of groups who were persecuted by the Nazis in World War II.  What started with a few in Cologne in 1992 has spread across multiple countries and now represent over 43,500 memorials in approximately 1000 cities and towns.

It's a fascinating way to take something so large that it can be hard to fathom (i.e.  the numbers of those who lost their lives) and to make it small and personal and memorable and even more heartbreaking.  I'm not sure what anniversary I'll return to Germany (25th next year seems too soon ... maybe the 30th in 2020?), but I know I'll be on the lookout for the Stolpersteine when I do get back.

THE WIKI IS PERFECT FOR LISTS LIKE THESE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_country_that_have_stolpersteine

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STOLPERSTEINE HERE:
http://www.stolpersteine.eu/en/

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE HERE:
http://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance

Random Tune for Tuesday 5/27/14

It's been kind of hard getting excited about the start of summer in a place where it is summer all the time ...but, a day after the Memorial holiday (where it topped ninety down here in my neck of the woods), it is still the unofficial start of summer all the same (even if meteorological summer is still a few weeks off ... during hurricane season).

So ... here it is ... my prediction for the song of summer (as chosen from Time's list of fourteen songs competing for that title) ... this upbeat ditty from a certain Ed Sheeran (whom I thought on his previous downbeat ditties sounded a little like the second coming of Tracy Chapman) that's been massaged to perfection by the touch of that Canadian mountie music man Pharrell.

Plus ...a bonus ... puppets in the video!

SING!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlYcUqEPN58

BONUS LINK (the aforementioned TIME list):
http://time.com/119285/song-of-the-summer-2014/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fentertainment+(TIME%3A+Entertainment)

Random Memorial for Monday 5/26/14

Gone but not forgotten:  those who served.

Although I have friends and family who spent time in the military, I am also lucky (in a selfish kind of way) that all who did made it out alive ... a trend I most certainly hope continues for those serving now.

But I know there are many who can't make that statement, and my thoughts are with them on this day.  As I posted on Saturday, I spent just a little time listening in to the names of those who died in the post 9/11 conflicts, and it was both haunting and overwhelming to realize how quickly those numbers add up and how each "number" is obviously so much more than a statistic.

[BTW ... The photo is from my biological father's grave at Ft. Indiantown Gap ... although his time in the army was decades ago when he was just a young man, his service served him well in his final years of life, with the military benefits that permitted him to be in a private nursing home and to have this place in which he could rest in peace.]

Those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to this country ... and those who served long ago and are now a generation dying off ... you will be missed.

UMMM ... YOU MAY HAVE BROKEN THE LAW TODAY AT 3PM (SEE FACT #3):
http://time.com/110697/memorial-day-facts/

LAST YEAR'S POST:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2013/05/random-memorial-for-monday-52713.html

AND THE ONE BEFORE THAT:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/05/purposeful-memorial-for-monday-52812.html

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 5/25/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week ...

... it's right there ... in last Sunday's paper.

Not the Oosthuizen leaderboard climbing.

There ... in the corner.

Proving how dangerous it is (and anti-reading-comprehension, I might add) to only scan headlines ...

My first thought was ... "Come on, southern Florida ... why didn't anyone give the hooker an umbrella or something.  I mean it's hard enough to be in the life down here in this neck of the woods, what with seniors hopped up on the blue V pills so that working professionals of this ilk have to maintain ninety year olds in their clientele lists ... surely, someone could have gone out of their way to keep the hooker dry."

My second thought was a little more adult in nature with regards to the wet-dry continuum, and won't be repeated due to this being a holiday weekend when the kids might be out and about.

My third thought is simply one of encouragement to all hookers out there ... wet or dry ... go on with your bad self!  Go Hooker Go!

THE AFOREMENTIONED ARTICLE, THE INTERWEBS VERSION:
http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx

AS IT WERE, LOOKS LIKE THEY PLACED SECOND:
http://www.pompanofishingrodeo.com/

MAIN SEARCH RESULT FOR "GO HOOKER GO":
http://www.discogs.com/John-Lee-Hooker-Live-At-Cafe-Au-Go-Go/release/2551038

Random Soapbox for Saturday 5/24/14

I don't meant to go off on a rave here, but ...

... kudos to those who have arranged for the FIRST reading of the nearly 7000 who have given their lives in our post 9/11 world, happening TODAY at the Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall.

As I type this, I'm listening to the live feed on Facebook (it will take about eight hours to get through the list) ... and I'm quickly getting overwhelmed by the thought of all of these individuals who gave the ultimate sacrifice in modern times.  Names that echo so many different ethnicities ... religions ... genders ... backgrounds ... names of those who most certainly have family left behind ... children, parents and other loved ones ... names on a list that goes on and on seemingly without end ... names of Americans who are truly deserving to be memorialized this weekend.

Irrespective of how one feels about the "business" of war ... today is the day to honor those who did not make it home ... who gave of themselves so that we can be free.  And although we all know that grouping includes people who fought in many other wars in this country's past, today, that list started with Evander Earl Andrews.

And it continues, until the nation has shed 7000 tears today in their memory.

WATCH THE LIVE FEED RIGHT NOW ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/VietnamVeteransMemorialFund/app_1447543638820732

HAPPENING ALL DAY TODAY:
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2014/05/23/david-petraeus-making-public-appearance-to-honor-post-9-11-war-dead

A REMINDER REGARDING MEMORIAL DAY:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/name-reading-to-take-place-on-national-mall/2014/05/24/9cff4b0e-e34b-11e3-9442-54189bf1a809_story.html

Random Flashback for Friday 5/23/14

Here's one more HOBY photo from the 1994 Central Pa Leadership Seminar event to round out this month (I know there's another Friday next week that is technically still in this month of May ... but it's after the long holiday weekend, so I'll be switching gears and starting with the summer themed photos then).  This group represents what was something new back then.

In May of 94, for the first time, we ran an ALUMNI event on the same weekend as the main event, and this group of returning 93 HOBY kids (who were then juniors as of this photo) came back to do outstanding leadership things on an overlapping schedule with the 94 sophomores.

And, apparently, eat giant bags of popcorn as a snack (we were probably saving money where we could what with it being a new concept).  Take a good look at some of these faces ... they'll show up again later *this* summer when I'm flashing back to more alum activities we did later *that summer* of '94.

Good times.  Great times.  OUTSTANDING times.

Random Thought for Thursday 5/22/14

Today's random thought is more of a random factoid.

Randomly, about Hupmobiles.  Which, understandably, may only be of interest to those of you with family members for whom Hupmobiles are of interest (ahem ... Bill K).

Randomly, it arrived on the back of my LOLcat daily calendar for yesterday as a "100 years ago on this date ..." message.  (For those of you who assumed I was all dog-focused based on the frequent Facebook contributions of Casanova and Octavius [see link below], don't forget that, from 1999 - 2010, mine was a four cat household [*plus* the dog during that time up until 2008].)

Randomly, here's what it said ... "May 21, 1914:  What would eventually become Greyhound Bus Company got its start when a single Hupmobile car transported iron miners between the Minnesota towns of Hibbing and Alice.  The round-trip cost was twenty-five cents."

Randomly, there you go ...

GREYHOUND SAYS IT IS SO:
http://www.greyhoundbusmuseum.org/

HUPMOBILE LOGOS THROUGH THE YEARS:
http://www.carlogos.org/Car-Logos/Hupmobile-car-logo-images-Hupmobile-hist.html

GO LIKE THE BOYS' FACEBOOK PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/thecasanovajames?ref=hl

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 5/21/14

She's a MANGOBBLER.

Used in a sentence:  "She's a MANGOBBLER."

Oh no ... despite my penchant for purple prose and overdoing my posts, sometimes ... some rare times ... even I know not to add anything where nothing extra is needed.

I'll just say that I would rather hear the version-that-almost-was as per the currently running ad for google.  And that's even despite the word "gobbler" being forever associated with a certain Uni story (and yes, that's a private joke not fit for repeating in this medium).

Oh-oh here she comes indeed!

THE AFOREMENTIONED COMMERCIAL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0hHaQgdypI

THE ACTUAL VERSION (ALTHOUGH HOW I WISH IT WERE MANGOBBLER):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Goa68gM64

A LESS SALACIOUS GOBBLER:
http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/gobbler

Random Tune for Tuesday 5/20/14

To be enthusiastic, you must act enthusiastic.

To *be* enthusiastic, you must *act* enthusiastic.

To *BE* enthusiastic, you must *ACT* enthusiastic.

OH BOY ... ARE WE *ENTHUSIASTIC*!

That is all ... you may go back to your normal routine.

[Unless you want to hang around and debate whether this kind of sing-songy incantation is a tune.  Or to discuss who "owns" that phrasing ... I learned it at HOBY umpteen years ago, but then saw it pop up on a show on the Oprah network (no ... I have not converted to her religion ... yet ...) and, while searching it out tonight, I discovered that it's actually a Carnegie quote.]

SAID SOMEWHAT DIFFERENTLY BUT NO LESS ENTHUSIASTICALLY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AThyaONaE

Random Memorial for Monday 5/19/14

Gone but not forgotten:  my chance at being President.

Not because I'm not a natural born citizen ... Lep'nun PA is in this fine country of ours ... even if it does have its own special meat products ... and I'm pretty sure I can produce a piece of paper if the Trump asks me to.

Not because I've not attained the age of 35 years ... been there, done that ... in the previous decade no less ... [Tangent:  back in the day, 35 was a lot closer to death than it is now with life expectancy rate ... wonder if we should consider raising the age limit to match a ratio of where that number falls over the course of a more modern-day total life?]

Not because I maxed out on my term limits of serving already, since I've yet to serve ... well, unless you count presiding over some clubs and stuff when I was younger.

But it turns out that I once hit my head pretty hard on that cabinet a few years back.  And that disqualifies a person now, if I understand the weekend news.

The very idea of the Neidermyer Presidential Library being built in the former Hills parking lot on the strip back home ... you will be missed.

CONCUSSIONS ARE NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION:
http://www.presidentsusa.net/qualifications.html

NOT TAKING SIDES ... JUST GOOGLE SEARCHING:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/256518.php

ANYONE ELSE ALREADY "OVER" 2016?:
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/25/170240786/forget-2016-the-pivotal-year-in-politics-may-be-2020

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 5/18/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week ...

... my mangoes!

So the landlady recently let it slip that, when this property sat abandoned, neighbors used to jump the fence and harvest all of the fruit ... and that story rings true as there is still a tie in the middle of the tree that they used to make the climb.

I'm not sure of the right balance to strike between being neighborly and enforcing any trespassing violations, but by the looks of those things ... (go ahead and zoom in and you can see that there are almost too many to count) ... I'm going to need to figure out a plan sooner rather than later.

It does appear that green still means not ripe and that I'm waiting for yellowish hues ... but I don't think they can get any bigger without falling off the darn tree!

Anybody have any mango recipes to share?  Or want to come visit and claim some of the abundance (before my neighbors steal them in the middle of the night)?  HMU (as the kids say) ...

MANGOS or MANGOES ... A DECISION:
http://ericksonfarm.blogspot.com/2009/08/mangoes-or-mangos.html

BUT DO ANY OF THEM INCLUDE BACON?:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/fruits-and-vegetables/fruits/mangos/

TRESPASSING OR NO?:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090828193745AA5lh6Z

Random Soapbox for Saturday 5/17/14

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... to the drama dowager ("queen" didn't seem to completely capture your sour-puss-iness) who got all accusatory about a tear in the fabric of society because the rules of order hadn't been followed at my local barber shop this past week on the morning of my 5 hour drive to Jacksonville for the Cyndi/Cher concert ... and at the risk of repeating what I told you from the chair as you were sitting on the sidelines throwing eye-daggers and word-darts my way ... SLOW YOUR ROLL.

The rule is established ... whomever gets to the sign-in board first writes his name and the time in either a my-favorite-barber or the I'll-get-a-haircut-from-anyone column.  The barbers then review the board and choose the customer listed in their column UNLESS the time stamp in the from-anyone column is earlier.  Once the barber calls out the name of that next customer, he wipes it clean from the whiteboard.

Everything is based on who gets to the whiteboard first ... like a U-Turn on the Amazing Race ... so the fact that you pulled into the parking lot moments before I did and that you saw me heading toward the front door at a slightly faster pace than you were going ("walk with purpose" is what I've always heard) and that, when we arrived at that door at the same time, you smiled and held the door for me and said, "after you" ... none of those factoids are weighed in this process.

So for you to sit and glare at me as if I had taken your place and to accuse the barber of breaking the rules by not using the board (where, had you been paying attention, you would have seen that I made a beeline for it, got my name and time stamp written and then was quickly called to come forward for the task at hand, with the barber wiping off my information ... as is the established process) was uncalled for.  Your attempt to insult me by commenting that at least you had more hair fell on deaf ears ... seeing as how I'm intimately familiar with my own set of locks (ever since that job at the bank in Chicago where the camera capturing the vault also captured the crown of my head regularly) ... and, in some ways, it helped prove my point that your fit was over something that was taking no more than five minutes out of your day ... seven if the barber was one with those special brushes for heads like mine to catch the few strays that aren't befallen by the half-all-over-razor-strategy.

Seeing you so upset ... I first admonished you to SLOW YOUR ROLL ... and then, knowing as how this is the place of the $10 haircut ... I offered to pay for your own damn coif to appease for you being so sleighted.  You declined, which ended up benefiting the barber, as I then doubled my usual tip and explained it to be hazard pay, what with you being his next customer.

Bottom line ... I best not run into you again in that parking lot of that barber ... but if I do, rest assured I'm going to sprint to get inside.  So please be wearing your tantrum panties any time you go just in case I'm there ... and game on!

BECAUSE THE URBAN DICTIONARY TELLS IT LIKE IT IS:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slow%20your%20roll

LOOK WHAT ELSE COMES UP WHEN I GOOGLE SEARCH SLOW YOUR ROLL:
http://www.cc.com/episodes/somcvd/inside-amy-schumer-slow-your-roll-season-2-ep-207

WHO KNEW?  TANTRUM PANTIES ARE ALREADY A THING:
http://www.cafepress.com/+temper-tantrum+underwear-panties

Random Flashback for Friday 5/16/14

For the third week in a row ... a flashback to the HOBY event that was held in central PA twenty years ago in May 1994.

This time, though, the relevance being that this year's iteration of the Hugh OBrian Youth Foundation Central PA Leadership Seminar is going on *right now* ... this very weekend ... assuming it's still geographically named that and hasn't merged with the Eastern PA or the Western PA versions.

Previously, I've showed the informal photo of my group, the formal photo of my group and now the formal photo of the group writ large ... here on the floor at the PA capitol building ... the leaders of tomorrow (well back then in '94, it would have been tomorrow ... nowadays they would be the leaders of today what with two decades having passed).

And yes ... as I've said before for those in the know, an *outstanding* time was had by all ...

Random Thought for Thursday 5/15/14

I may not be the most athletically minded (suddenly a mini them week is threatening to bust out on my blog?) ...

... I mean I'm pretty sure I somehow disqualified myself in any game of high school dodgeball I played ...

... I mean I'm more inclined to slavishly follow the TV season up fronts this time year instead of the who's-kissing-whom drama of the NFL draft ...

... I mean I've been known to watch ESPN with the volume off because I can't stand the incessant nattering of the announcerpeople ...

... which means it probably isn't a surprise that, while watching the local news and their coverage of what I gather is the NBA playoffs, I was confused about the logo of an onion with its top not removed that they kept on showing during the sports segments.

By the way ... being a relatively new south Floridian, I also discovered that that LeBron kid from Ohio apparently plays down here in my neck of woods now ... don't know why the media didn't cover that change to keep people informed ...

I.E. ... MY DRAFT WEEK:
http://www.tvguide.com/special/fall-preview/fall-schedule.aspx

THERE'S A BUZZFEED FOR THIS SENTIMENT:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/15-logos-that-look-like-other-things

OH WAIT ... MAYBE IT WAS IN THE NEWS AFTER ALL:
http://www.policymic.com/articles/30828/lebron-james-should-never-be-forgiven-for-the-decision

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 5/14/14

Pickleball.

Used in a sentence:  "I may not be the most athletic minded and it may be true that I technically could have been held back my senior year of high school for missing more gym classes than allowed [thanks again Mr. H for not turning me in and waiving that technicality] ... but I thought I had at least been exposed to most major sports I'd see in the paper ... until moving to Florida and seeing the ad seeking pickleball players."

Of course, I had to head to the google and the youtube and the other places on the interwebs where random facts are gathered to learn of this sport that has been around longer than I've been in existence named after a puppy dog called Pickle who used to chase the ball and inspired out of boredom at a family event that is some kind of hybrid of badminton, tennis and ping pong.

And literally moments ago, I just read about the sport of footgolf, also headed to Florida (players hit soccer balls around a golf course with the aim of having the fewest kicks to get it inside an enlarged hole on the green.)  Not that either of these are headed to the Olympics any time soon ... but hey, people probably said that about curling at some time, no?

So maybe I should commit to a new athleticism and go learn me some pickleball!

TAG LINE ... A FUNNY NAME ... A *SERIOUS* SPORT:
http://www.usapa.org/

WATCH IT IN ACTION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2KNhIgOkXM

AND COMING SOON (MAYBE TO YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS?):
http://www.footgolf.net/

Random Tune for Tuesday 5/13/14

So last week's clues ... I'm going to Jackson(ville) to see a certain Sarkisian perform.

The last clue is *this* photo taken by my sister Sherry G in August 1989 outside of the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia PA.

Within the year, I was back to see this performer at the Spectrum in Philly in July 1990 ... and then to the Bryce Jordan Center in State College nearly a decade later in Aug 1999 ... and then to say "Farewell"-ish to her at the United Center in Chicago in mid July 2002 ... (and it seems like maybe one more time sometime before that everlasting Farewell series ended, although I can't seem to match that up to Wikipedia references).

Having not seen her in Vegas, and with the local show in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend practically sold out, the fact that I took a five hour trip up the coast to catch *CHER* Wednesday night can't really be a surprise to anyone who knows me well ...

I DOUBT I'LL HEAR ANY OF THESE SONGS AT THE CONCERT ... BUT WHO KNOWS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nQt20a96u4

Random Memorial for Monday 5/12/14

Gone but not forgotten:  the voice of Tony the Tiger.

But not the one you think.

I fully intended to post about the death of Lee Marshall, who was in the news a few weeks ago when he passed as he who said "they're grrrreat" in commercial after commercial.

But then I realized that Lee was the *second* voice of Tony (or third, if you count the guy referenced on Wikipedia who was the Lazenby of this genre), and that he only started proclaiming the superlative nature of the tiny sugar coated breakfast snacks in 2005.  Which means that the voice I heard in the head from my youth (which was decidedly BEFORE 2005) was not Lee but ... it turns out ... Thurl Ravenscroft.

And then, because the internet is all about chasing information down a rabbit hole, I then had my mind blown to find out that old Thurl actually sang "You're a Mean One Mister Grinch" and not Boris Karloff (the Grinch narrator) as I had thought all my life.

So rest in peace Lee, but to the one who was *actually* the voice of Tony the Tiger in my head and who doesn't get the credit deserved for singing "You're a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce" ... Thurl .. you will be missed.

ENTRY TO THE RABBIT HOLE:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/voice-tony-tiger-lee-marshall-dead-64/story?id=23642532

LED TO THIS DISCOVERY:
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/12/the-guy-who-did-the-voice-for-tony-the-tiger-also-sang-youre-a-mean-one-mr-grinch/

AS CUDDLY AS A CACTUS ... AS CHARMING AS AN EEL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxWn-_CzNts

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 5/11/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

... the same thing as everyone else ... Mother's Day!

You can call me greedy or selfish ... but I just call me lucky ... to have had so many strong women who have served in that role over the years -- and I'm not talking about my bio-dad's propensity for collecting wives (because, let's face it, not all of them had the motherly skill set) -- but the fact that unbelievably caring women like the ones pictured below (Judy W, Laura W, Evelyne L and JoAnn D [RIP]) all took time to raise me over the years and to offer up love and support and comfort and guidance when I needed it most (whether I knew I needed it or not)!

In the main photo ... the last picture taken of me and my bio-mom, when we met at my sister's house near St. Louis a few years back for my nephew's graduation.  She's not on the Facebook ... and our relationship is a bit more unusual because of the way we've each chosen to play the cards that life has dealt us ... but I also stop to think of her on this day and to recall fondly the early early days in the seventies when we were together.

In lieu of the usual links that I put at the end of my posts ... the aforementioned photos ... and a Happy Mother's Day to you and yours!

Random Soapbox for Saturday 5/10/14

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... this is the time of year that hurts like no other.  As much as I don't like to disclose too much about my personal life, sometimes blogs and Facebooks play a role in modern mourning practices.

So ... despite filling my life with distractions of all kinds ... (the big move ... two new puppies ... working as many weekends as I can ... finding projects to stay up all night) ... the sense of loss that I feel every year at this time can be overwhelming if I let myself think about it too much.

I know there will be more to look forward to in the week ahead, and by the fall, I'll be fully engaged as I need to be ... but it's just that the world got more cruel in the past few seasons with deaths that turned into resurrections such that even the news of the weekend can still play on that sense of hope that maybe, at the last minute, some other end game will come into view.

Absent knowledge of such back room wheelings and dealings ... it does appear that I've watched my last episodes of shows like The Tomorrow People ... and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland ... and Super Fun Night ... and the Neighbors ... and Trophy Wife ... and The Crazy Ones ... and Raising Hope ... and Revolution.  And fie unto you who played with my emotions by ending a season with a twist or an untied loose end ... magnifying the loss by making me live each day without knowing how things might have played out.

Oh ... and the biggest fie of all to those who brought us so close to "six seasons and a movie", only to dash our Community dreams.

I just have to remember ... this too shall pass.

In other news, upfronts start on Monday!

THE LIST OF THOSE WHO PERISHED:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/05/09/list-of-renewed-and-cancelled-broadcast-shows-for-the-2013-14-broadcast-season/261970/

SO CLOSE ... SO CLOSE AND YET ... SO FAR:
http://www.dailydot.com/geek/community-saved-fans/

BRING ON THE UPFRONTS!:
http://www.tv.com/news/state-of-the-networks-upfronts-2014-139948866066/

Random Flashback for Friday 5/9/14

Recap ... it's May ... which makes it HOBY month with regards to flashbacks to my life twenty years ago, because, twenty years ago, that's how I spent my months of May.

Last week, I had the unofficial picture of the group of high school sophomores for whom I was counselor that long weekend in 1994 for the Hugh OBrian Youth Foundation Leadership Seminar (held that year at Millersville University) ... and this week, I present the "official" picture.

Those are the same fresh faces as last week (from all across central PA).  Well, my face wasn't exactly the freshest, but I was just 22 back then, and, for reasons unknown, I was modeling my fashion sense after the one and only Larry King.

Regardless ... as I said last week to close the Friday post ... an OUTSTANDING time was had by all.

Random Thought for Thursday 5/8/14

Seeing as how I first noticed this ad in a local Florida paper during the week of April 1, I thought for sure it was an April fools joke.

And then ... week after week ... it repeated ... outside of the window for jolly farce.

Turns out it is a whole industry in and of itself where dentists do their dirty deeds inside your dirty mouth after putting you to sleep.  I'm not sure why I was so surprised ... as when I had my wisdom teeth removed about ten years ago or so (severely reducing my need to keep alka-seltzer sore throat medicine and old fashioned freeze pops in the house at all times), I guess the same kind of thing happened to me.  I went in, I counted backwards from thirty, and I woke up an hour later, wisdom-teeth-less (but hopefully with some of my original wisdom in general still intact), no worse for the wear.

I am left to wonder how a "no touch x-ray" happens (see the coupon near the bottom of the ad) ... but glad to see that all types of crazy are being served ... [and by crazy, I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course] ...

NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE:
http://www.sleepdentist.com/

NO REALLY ... IT'S A THING:
http://www.1800dentist.com/sleep-dentistry/

I'M SERIOUS:
http://www.sedationcare.com/

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 5/7/14

Charlotte's Web:  The Reboot

Used in a sentence:  "I may not be following the news completely heer in Florida, but I think Charlotte now spins her web out of hemp and Wilbur smokes the wacky weed ... aka Charlotte's Web:  The Reboot."

All kidding aside, the state legislature did just adjourn but not before permitting a special type of hemp product that has been shown to reduce grand mal seizures in pediatric patients ...a precursor to the "permit medical marijuana vote" facing the electorate this November.

Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again ... I've got absolutely nothing against stoners.  As a matter of fact, of all the types of druggies, I prefer those whose main side-effects are to inhale snacks, get lost in their own thoughts and giggle a little too easily to the others.  Much better than those tweaked out meth heads likely to blow up their lab or the dramatically manic cokers who are exhausting to be around or the crack whores eager to do anything for a fix.  I say bring on the legalization and let's make some money off the industry ... and, all tongue in cheek aside, let's help those who can benefit from a plant that's been around since our country's founding.

IT'S FOR THE KIDS!:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/charlottes-web-medical-marijuana-use-clears-florida-house-panel/2168777

IT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG TIME:
http://hemphistory.org/

IT'S LIKELY TO PASS THIS FALL ... WHICH MEANS MONEY IS TO BE MADE:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-04-27/health/os-medical-marijuana-business-20140427_1_florida-medical-marijuana-national-cannabis-industry-association-florida-legislature

Random Tune for Tuesday 5/6/14

I'm goin' to Jackson.

Ville, that is.  Here in my state of Florida.

For a little something something next Wednesday night.

I'll explain more *next* Tuesday ... but I'll give you a clue tonight.

The clue is ... Sarkisian.

Until next week's tune, enjoy a little $$.

NOT THE EXACT SAME DESTINATION AS JUNE AND JOHNNY, BUT CLOSE ENOUGH:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLAeus1Hmpg

Random Memorial for Monday 5/5/14

Gone but not forgotten:  Mr. Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr.

This is the first Monday since learning of his passing (Monday being my night for memorials, consistent with my "shtick"), and so it is the first chance I have to reflect on the actor's passing from pneumonia last week.

True, I knew him from Who Framed Roger Rabbit ... but I think my fondness for him really stems from his role in Mermaids (naturally, what with my healthy obsession with all things Cher).  Or maybe it's just that I think he has a very Neidermyer-esque face, and that, as I get older, he could be my mid to late life doppelganger.

Either way, to the man who stood up to Mrs. Flax and told her that when she was wrong ... she was sooooo wrong, you will be missed.

A CAREER IN CLIPS:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bob-hoskins-dead-video-7-3478414

A CAREER IN PICS:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2014/apr/30/bob-hoskins-a-career-in-pictures

A CAREER REFERENCED IN TRIBUTES:
http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/30/bob-hoskins-dead-celebrities-tweet-their-tributes-to-the-long-good-friday-actor-4714265/

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 5/4/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

Maybe more like what everyone is talking about *today*, as it is Star Wars Day (May Fourth [as in ... May the "Fourth" be with you ...]).

Well, and maybe not quite *everyone* ... maybe you had to be of a certain generation ... or a certain fan base.

My virtual workplace invited us to submit Star Wars photos to a google community ('cause that's how the virtual water cooler thing works in modern times), and I submitted this one, heading back to my file/museum/collection room (yes, I have such a room ... and yes, I am an apprentice hoarder) to dig out this classic blanket from college ... I mean ... from high school ... I mean ... from elementary school.

Not a lot of things survived my time shared with my biological father's fourth wife (being my own therapist, I can recognize that might be a clue regarding my apprentice hoarding skills) ... but this blanket is one of them (holes and all).  I know I had a death star and some action figures (they did not survive my childhood, I think because it may have been my biological mother [and fourth wife's immediate rival] who fed my Star Wars habits), but I'm actually no longer sure if this movie in the saga or ET or the Care Bears or a Smokey and the Bandit installation was my first movie seen in a theater (anyone in my family know?).

Regardless, I do know that, as a five year old child when it hit the theaters, it is indeed a part of my youth ... which I celebrate today with those that have similar fond memories of more innocent times.

WARNING:  THIS IS A FOX NEWS SITE ... ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/05/04/how-did-may-fourth-become-star-wars-day/

SINCE TODAY IS WHAT TODAY IS AND ALL:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/04/7-facts-about-star-wars-episode-vii

UMMM ... TO EACH HIS OR HER OWN, RIGHT?:
http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/

Random Soapbox for Saturday 5/3/14

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... it's supposed to be "a wonderful thing *in which to invest*", no?  I mean if we're going to invest in the mind instead of letting it go to waste, we can start by infusing a little bit of grammar into the slogan.

And let me start by saying I don't want of this to be interpreted as a Sterling type scenario here.  I have nothing against the UNCF or their work ... and I also know that I type too quickly and edit too infrequently to not be guilty of my own grammar infractions along the way (I justify it by saying to myself that "it's my style").

All I'm saying is that it's such an iconic slogan ... so surely it went through a few rounds of proofing before being adopted, no?  And it's not so stilted to reorder those words and to add a "which"?  I just want to know that someone somewhere made a conscious decision to break the rules for some articulated reason ... like going after the youth who could care less about placement of the preposition ... or because the slogan needed to fit in a certain space and a word or two had to be sacrificed.

It's just that I still get a slight twinge every time I see the commercial ...

A FEW OTHER UNCF ADS THROUGH THE YEARS:
http://enjoyceinglife.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html

SUPPORT THEIR MISSION IRRESPECTIVE OF THE PREPOSITION ISSUE:
http://www.uncf.org/

LAST STEP INCLUDES WARNING TO NOT LOOK SUPERCILIOUS OR EGOTISTIC:
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Grammar-Nazi

Random Flashback for Friday 5/2/14

If it's May (and unbelievably it is ... this year is flying past) ... and if it's twenty years ago (and, for purposes of this blog, it is, since that is my customary shtick on Fridays) ... then it must be HOBY month.

This is the group of high school sophomores from across central PA for whom I was counselor at the 1994 Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation Leadership Seminar, held that year at Millersville University.  (Somehow, even though I was seven years older, they all seemed bigger than me ... maybe they were all standing on chairs?  Or was this the year where we stopped standing on chairs due to liability concerns?)

For those of you who don't know, I represented my high school back in '87, and it was a great way to give back for a few years, as the experience for me as a participant was a seminal one in my personal development, providing me with a sense of self-esteem that I desperately needed and a growing confidence about my individuality that started me on my path toward my freedom two years later.

It was a truly OUTSTANDING time.

Random Thought for Thursday 5/1/14

I'm not one to put too much stock in conspiracy theories ... but I am tempted to believe that the NSA just might be working with the folks at BuzzFeed (and any other company doing a similar type of survey to predict a classification for the user) ... and gathering all kinds of data that may one day be used against you.

As such, I refuse to take part in discovering what kind of dog I am (it best be pit bull) ... or what member of the Illuminati I am (I've never even seen the movie) ... or which Disney princess I am (I think I would want to be Ariel) ... or what literary character I am (Don Quixote would be cool) ... or what color is my aura (black and red have always been my favorite colors) ... or what Hogwarts professor I am (I've never even seen *these* movies either ... or read the books) ... or in what state should I really be living (too soon after the big  move to have doubts) ... etc. etc. etc.

Look ... I don't begrudge you your fun.  Have at it.  Just don't be surprised if some day you find out that the Stasi mentality of Eastern Germany lives on with a file hidden somewhere on the interwebs with all of your choices captured and catalogued, ready for some Big Data company to exploit it.

AND if this post suddenly disappears, then ... um ... maybe I stumbled on to something.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR CLICKHOLE:
http://www.refinery29.com/2014/04/67167/clickhole

"BEST" IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER:
http://www.neontommy.com/news/2014/03/top-9-best-buzzfeed-quizzes

I'M SO TEMPTED ... BUT I'LL REFRAIN:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseamarshall/what-kind-of-dog-are-you