Random Thought for Thursday 7/31/14

I'm usually super late to the hip Facebook status update trends (I tend to use the Facebook for my own purposes).  But this time I think I'm participating in it in *the same month* it launched.  Although, having lived a bunch of places, I'm not sure to which location my allegiance is to lie ...  To whit:

I'm so BETHEL, I fell out of my family's Volkswagen Bus on the curve at the exit ramp getting on to I-78.

I'm so ELVERSON, I illegally snowmobiled on French Creek State Park property.

I'm so FREDERICKSBURG, I might have been conceived in a poultry processing plant.

I'm so JONESTOWN, I spent recess playing on gravestones.

I'm so LEBANON, I get pissed when I go into a Lebanese restaurant and they don't have scrapple, baloney or opera fudge on the menu.

I'm so LVC (Annville), my all-nighters regularly included sneaking into Memorial Lake, filling up at Funck's at 3 in the morning and exploring the Mary Green Underground.

I'm so KOLN, I have one of each of the Kolsch deckels.

I'm so UNIONTOWN, I jumped off the cliff into the old Dunbar watering hole in the summertime and took pictures of it frozen over in the wintertime.

I'm so HARRISBURG, I walked across the Market Street Bridge -- *all* the way to Wormleysburg, yo!

I'm so CHICAGO, I switched el cars at the next stop to avoid all of the following:  an odoriferous homeless person, young'uns who I thought might be packing heat, a fresh pile of urine or drunken sports fans.

I'm so FT. LAUDERDALE, I wear flip flops and go topless ... all ... year ... round!

NEVER HEARD OF THE OPERA FUDGE?:
http://www.wertzcandy.com/opera.asp

NEVER HEARD OF THE MEMORIAL LAKE?:
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/memoriallake/

NEVER HEARD OF THE KOLSCH?:
http://www.cologne.de/eat-and-drink/k%C3%B6lsch-beer.html

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 18 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 18

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation: 

With only 72 more days until the 25th high school reunion back home in Lebanon PA, it's time for fond memory 18 ... namely, how we affectionately referred to the location of our education as "the three ringed circus", understandably so as perfectly captured in the image on this program from the building's dedication that is somehow in my personal files (a bit of mystery, because, let's face it, I wasn't even born when this ceremony happened).

Also of interesting note from this cover, we'll be holding our big event (and maybe even touring the  recently remodeled school, which no longer has that real estate footprint) exactly 45 years after its dedication ... the same mid-October weekend, four and a half decades later.  Feels somewhat historic when viewed that way, no?

Memory 17 ... coming this Sunday on August 3rd ... 

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/30/14

Ultracrepidarianism.

Used in a sentence:  "I just learned what may be my *new* favorite word, replacing 'tautological' (learned a while ago as I was dealing with my hatred of the phrase 'it is what it is', overused, in my opinion, by a generation who has given up):  ultracrepidariansim, or as it is more commonly known, Facebook."

So consider yourself on notice.  Now that I have added this word to my lexicon, I may come after you if I see ultracrepidarianistic behavior on your part and call you on it.  And Facebook being Facebook, you just know the opportunities are going to be endless.

A HISTORY OF MY NEW FAVORITE WORD:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ult1.htm

OR, AS THIS POST SAYS, "MODERN JACKASS":
http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?p=10203

IN CASE YOU WANT TO *SAY* IT INSTEAD OF *WRITE* IT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1SPKF2-xqU

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/29/14

Track 5 of 39 in the ongoing documentation of an actual mix tape from the early nineties memorializing the comings and goings of quite a few people who spent time in the dorm room FE213 on the LVC campus ...

A song I didn't know *until* it was added to this play list.  [Note ... "play list" is a decidedly modern word that I'm using as a substitute for those kids who might be reading this and who got confused as soon as they realized I was talking about a cassette tape.]

But when I heard it for the first time, it was so spot on -- capturing that moment in one's life where one struggles on the cusp between adult and youth, remembering simpler easier times, all wrapped up in a wistful tone  ...

"When we were kids when we were young
Things seemed so perfect -- you know
The days were endless we were crazy we were young
The sun was always shinin' -- we just lived for fun"

Of course ... there was also the fact that we all were quite into Days of our Lives at the time, even scheduling lunch around the show ... and that we were all *living* our own version of Days of our Lives (like sands through *our* hourglass) ... so its selection worked on all kinds of levels.  And the final thought in the tune still works all these years later, also on so many levels ... "when I look ... and I find ... I still love you ..."

YOU CAN'T TURN BACK THE CLOCK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB4K0scMysc

Random Memorial for Monday 7/28/14

Gone but not forgotten:  thinking some national health care ID microchip was the sign of the end of times.

To be clear, it's not that I have decided that it's not the end of times.  Despite still being here long after my countdown-to-the-Mayan-apocalypse fun I had leading up to 12.21.12 (see the blog tags for 100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending), I had way too much exposure to Revelations when I was younger -- including Sunday night viewings of the original "Left Behind" theatrical movie series during my Hebron Church days -- to not recognize so so many of the signs.

Nope ... the reason the health care ID microchip is out of sight and out of mind is because it was *replaced* with what I saw on the news this past weekend:  "Temporary Tattoos" that will serve as activation for your cell phone.  After all, I've always believed that Satan and her minions were early adopters of most new technologies (yep ... I feminized the devil ... equal opportunity works in *all* situations, yo)!

Fear that the world will end in my lifetime ... you're still right there under the surface ... but politicized references to the mark of the beast that always seem to be traced to the Democrats, you will be missed.

THE ORIGINAL STORY IS APPARENTLY OVER A YEAR OLD:
http://theredpillnews.blogspot.com/2013/06/mark-of-beast-motorola-pushes-human.html

HERE'S THE VERSION I HEARD THIS PAST WEEKEND OF IT COMING TO MARKET:
http://www.damngeeky.com/2014/07/23/23232/digital-tattoo-unlocks-smartphone-just-swipe.html

DESPITE THE BIBLE SAYING NO ONE WILL KNOW, THEY SAY END OF 2016:
http://www.markbeast.com/

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/27/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

*Wrong* 911 calls.

Exhibit A:  The idiot who got pulled over for a speeding infraction, and used the downtime while waiting for the policeperson to do the paperwork to call in not one, but TWO fake 911 calls saying that a murder was in progress at a nearby intersection.  Needless to say, his punishment is now much greater than it would have been had he just accepted the original ticket.

Exhibit B:  The Cat Depot employee -- no, scratch that ... the Cat Depot feline, who apparently placed a 911 call from within the rescue agency the other day.  According to the humans at the facility, Zeke had gotten bored and played with the phone buttons before.

Exhibit C:  Because I have a thing for threes (it's a very mild form of OCD that manifests itself in my writings), I *almost* thought about sharing the time I accidentally dialed 911 while trying to call a 1-900 number.  But some stories are best told under other circumstances, so, like Forrest Gump talking about Jen-nee, "that's all I have to say about that".

WHEN TOO CLEVER ISN'T CLEVER AT ALL:
http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/7/24/police_man_misused_9.html?cid=rss

WHEN CATS GO WILD:
http://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/water-cooler/zeke-the-cat-calls-911-from-cat-depot-animal-rescue-facility-in-florida-

I'M UNDER CONTRACT TO *ALMOST* TELL THAT STORY EVERY TWO YEARS:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/12/random-thought-for-thursday-12612.html

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/26/14

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

... why must it be such a production to get a new car?

In other news, the list that starts with an 83 Ford Escort, and continues down through an 87 Ford Escort station wagon to a Chevy Cavalier of an unknown year to a 98 Kia Sportage had ever so briefly to a 98 Ford Contour to an 03 Ford Focus to an 08 Dodge Caliber to a 13 Hyundai Elantra now ends with automobile number nine in my life ... this 14 Chevy Cruze.

It was just too much of a good pre-financed deal on which to pass, so now a "blue ray metallic" car *with Florida plates* graces the driveway at the old homestead.  In of itself, driving a car off a lot with a mileage of 2 is a great thing ... but here's what's not:

Multiple trips back and forth to haggle on a price (I took along a master negotiator who had done homework, and so I got to be good cop to the bad cop); fees that weren't necessarily disclosed up front and had to be challenged time after time; up to three hours from walk in to drive off the lot (luckily I packed lots to read, as it wasn't my first time at this rodeo); a general sense of ickiness that people in some room with calculators were running various numbers-scenarios to squeeze out every penny in one form or fashion.

Although, come to think of it, I did get free popcorn.  Well, "free" is a misnomer, as the dealer had an unexplained $799 dealer fee that covered the cost of that snack for sure ...

Bottom line ... the fact that I'm a Floridian is now that much more substantiated driving a car with plates from this state.  I just wish it wasn't such a painful process ...

OH LOU ... CAN WE STILL BE FRIENDS?:
http://www.loubachrodtchevy.com/

A NEW CAR ... NO, SERIOUSLY, WITH MILEAGE OF 2!:
http://www.chevrolet.com/cruze-compact-car/exterior-pictures.html

RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION, "WHY DOES BUYING A CAR SUCK?":
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/01/why-is-buying-a-car-in-the-usa-such-an-ordeal/

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 19 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 19

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation:

[okay ... this is the last post to catch me up and get me back to the original premise of issuing these every four days leading up to our 25th HS reunion this mid-October ... this one should have been shared back on the 26th when there were 76 days until the event]

As much as I would have liked to post a picture of the cardboard cutout that graced the corner of the gym during my four years of high school, I couldn't find any of those pictures, so this classic uncredited photo found on the interwebs will have to suffice.

Without a doubt, though, one fond memory of my time in school would have to be the ever present reminder of my school's "most famous graduate" ... Sam Bowie (he of the seven foot one inch frame that is apparently just reaching up to make a basket in the picture).  Of course, that was 25 years ago, so I don't know if someone else has supplanted him with regards to that title ... or if that cardboard cutout still graces a spot in the recently remodeled school.

The countdown continues with Memory 18 ... to be shared on this upcoming Wednesday ... and then every four days thereafter ...

Random Flashback for Friday 7/25/14

Being the last Friday in July (where has this summer gone?) ... this is the final picture from "Holly, Hemlock and Mistletoe", an audience participation murder mystery of mine performed twenty years ago in July 1994.

This photo ... it's definitely me *acting* ... because anyone who knows me well knows that the quality of pool I play is affectionately called "sh!t pool" (meaning I have no skill or talent ... but I am, generally speaking, pretty lucky ...)

Speaking of lucky, that's my lucky Aerosmith "get a grip" hat (if there's any truth to the old wives' tale about how wearing hats too much when you're younger might cause hair loss ... consider me exhibit A) AND my lucky ring (you'd have to zoom in to see that).  I still have the hat ... but the ring (from my surrogate grandmother JoAnn) was lost in Harrisburg years later.

Although this concludes the visual bits when it comes to this show, there are still TWO more sets of similar photos coming later this year (I was clearly on a "jag" with regards to my creative output in 1994)!

Random Thought for Thursday 7/24/14

In the spirit of being in competition with myself for the randomest randomness ever ...

I recently heard Terry Crews in an interview say that he was 240 lbs, which is about what I weigh.

Hence, today's topless photo, which may make you think of the classic riddle ... "Which weighs more?  A ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?"

Just sayin' ...

WE WEIGH THE SAME!:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/the-fittest-man-in-hollywood-interview-with-terry-crews.html

THE CREWS COLLECTION:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq2SlCja3zo

HOW I FIRST MET TERRY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGskqEuyf0w

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/23/14

Mango welfare state.

Used in a sentence:  "While I was away last week in Vegas, a certain someone decided to go all LBJ and give the fallen mangoes in the front yard to the old lady across the street, inadvertently creating a mango welfare state."

I should start with a few disclaimers ... first, this story is still unfolding so we'll see how it plays out.  Second, the old lady across the street is the one who lives in the house (behind the main house) that we can't see -- possibly because they don't have electric and maybe not even water (the assorted children are always walking down the street with jugs, returning from somewhere with H20), and so I'm in no way implying that she's not worthy.  Third, the reality is that most fallen mangoes end up in the recyclable waste, because after having mango salsa and just plain mango here and after having sent mangoes to loved ones, we've had our mango fill for quite some time.

That being said, here's where I started thinking about this allegory.  After having done so once, she smiles now every time she passes, and puts her hand out for more.  This is done without words ... which is more because I think that she doesn't speak English and only speaks her island language (which none of us speak), but it still casts a pallor over the exchange. What pushed me over the edge ... when we weren't forthcoming with mangoes since I've returned, she now puts a bag in the fence, expecting it to be filled.  I suddenly understand entitlement.  The final straw ... she's now been seen with a giant pole that she uses to poke and prod the tree from the sidewalk side of the fence to claim her prized fruit ... I mean, OUR prized fruit.

I imagine this ends once all the mangoes are gone (again, draw your own allegorical conclusions) but, until then, there's a bit of class warfare about to erupt in the front yard ...

LEARNING ME SOMETHING ABOUT SOME MANGOES:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/06/3487693/the-history-of-mangos-in-south.html

IS IT FOR THE TAKING JUST BECAUSE IT IS ACCESSIBLE:
http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=c86c4477-cc55-4ccc-99b5-c7888d8fc55b

LBJ WAS IN MY FRONT YARD:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/01/10/50-years-later-lbjs-war-on-poverty-has-proven-a-total-failure/

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/22/14

And now ... track 4 of 39 from that college mix tape of mine I'm featuring from now until awhile from now (at least until some time next year).

One of the commitments from that time was to well roundedness, which showed through in our musical selections.  Within four tracks, we've already had country and rock and country rock ... and, before these 39 weeks have passed, there will be some pop and some Broadway and some traditional Georgian chants added to the mix (did I show my hand on that last reference?).

For these particular words of country wisdom ... the line leading into the chorus encouraging you to "pick yourself up and come back for more" was certainly a good one in those days, but so was that which came immediately before it in that verse ... "the longer I live, the more I believe you do have to give if you wanna receive ... there's a time to listen, a time to talk".  Of course, I've now lived twenty years longer than back then ... so for me, I'm enjoying the re-listening I'm doing to this soundtrack of one of the most eventful times of my life.

SOMETIMES YOU LEAD, SOMETIMES YOU FOLLOW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAVeMsFn1Ms

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 20 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 20 

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation:

[note:  I'm *almost* back on track with my countdown timeline that went all asunder when I was traveling for work this month ... here's the post that should have been on the 22nd, when there were just 80 days until this fall's 25th reunion extravaganza ... additional note:  have you made your travel plans yet?]

Since the last memory was of using typewriters in an actual class for which we got some kind of grade (pass/fail as I recall), I wanted to clarify that I'm old, but not *that old*, since I do have memories of using computers in high school.

Sure, we all learned the language of BASIC early on (if only so that we could make the computer screen fill up with "my name is Troy" repeatedly) ... but, by my senior year in 88-89, I was lucky enough to learn PASCAL.  The image accompanying this post ... actual homework assignments from that class that I dug up tonight (maintaining a good filing system does not necessarily make you a hoarder, right?).  What I love most about these four examples, and PASCAL in general, is that there was a "notes" section at the top where one could place descriptive non-command lines of programming ... and reviewing mine illustrates that I've been a smart ass since *at least* high school (some of the comments appear to be inside jokes for the benefit of my teacher, Mr. Miller).

Most importantly, I am young enough to have had computers in my high school education.  *That's* my main point with this fond memory.

Random Memorial for Monday 7/21/14

Gone but not forgotten:  having to eat spam and beans.

I was asked recently why I do not like baked beans, and, after searching my soul, I decided that there was something beyond just a practical reason (that being that, when it comes to the world of flatology, I needn't any "inspiration").

From an emotional perspective, this was a go-to meal when I was younger, and I simply had my fill.  (Similarly, I have no interest in eating slices of tomatoes piled high with raw onions and sprinkled with pepper ... but dissimilarly, I'm OK with scrambled eggs encasing hot dog slices and "oyster stew" that I've just never had since striking out on my own).

No ill will toward Hawaii's culinary standard, but super quick meal that never had the right ratio of spam to bean, you are NOT missed.

IT'S *SCIENCE* PEOPLE:
http://flatulencecures.com/baked-beans-fart

THIS CHILDHOOD MEAL I STILL MAKE:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/online-round-2-recipe-cheesy-hot-dog-scramble-recipe.html

THIS CHILDHOOD MEAL I WOULDN'T MIND HAVING AGAIN:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oyster-stew/

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/20/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

one of the reasons I said I was happy to move here from Chicago this year ... so that my vote would count.

[Note: your vote always counts.  Please register if you haven't done so.  Please vote in every election in which you have an opportunity.  My comments are tongue-in-cheek about how Florida's elections are always so contested ... compared to how Chicago's elections are mostly a foregone conclusion.]

The next few weeks are about to get mean and expensive, according to political bloggers ... and anyone who watches the news or reads the papers.  Of course, first, there's a primary in just over a month ... and FL is a closed primary state, so one can only vote for the party in which one is registered.  Not represented in the photo accompanying this post ... the fact that a certain Rich lady (her last name ... not necessarily that she's overly-wealthy) is *also* running to get the nomination on the Democratic side.  And *also* not represented in the photo ... the fact that the guy on the left, currently affiliated with the donkey, was just recently an independent (what is the animal for that category?), and was just recently before that an elephant.

To which I say ... it's only *just* getting good ... stay tuned!

THE VERDICT IS IN ... MEAN AND EXPENSIVE:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/24/4136068/floridas-governors-race-mean-and.html

FOR MORE ON THE UPCOMING ELECTION:
http://www.crowleypoliticalreport.com/2014/07/this-rick-scott-fundraiser-could-become-a-problem.html

FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL (I.E.  POLITICS AS USUAL):
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/fundraiser-rick-scott-florida-geo-group

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/19/14

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

... dear check out girl at the local WinnDixie:

Allow me to introduce you to what my generation calls a TV Guide.

Because, after all, I don't think that any customer of a certain age should have to deal with the dumbfounded look that you offered in reply to my asking of where I could find the latest issue of said magazine.

After staring at me for ten seconds longer than you should have, you finally summoned the words, "I don't know what you're talking about" and shrugged your shoulders.  Unbeknownst to you, I have a television addiction, and so I get that you were surprised when I didn't accept that as a response and queried again, a little more insistently, "No, no ... where are your TV Guides?"

Clearly confused that we were still conversing about this mystery item, your reply was classic:  "I didn't even know we made any.  Did you check over there?"  Once I realized yourwere gesturing toward the rack near the doors that held the WinnDixie weekly circulars, I then quickly established that you had focused on the word "your" in my follow up inquiry.

So then I had to backpedal and explain that this magical TV Guide of which I spoke was *not* a WinnDixie publication, but was, indeed, a national weekly magazine (well, it used to be weekly ... since I've gotten older, they've gotten cheaper and now almost every issues is a "special" edition that covers two weeks at a time).  Which, of course, helped me understand that this mission needed to be aborted.

"I'm sorry", I said.  "I forgot that your generation has redefined viewing ... and that you Hulu or Netflix or cut-your-cords ... and that you have no need for a periodical that permits one to plot out one's viewing plans.  Never mind."

And so *that*, dear reader (especially considering my *other* TV Guide disaster from earlier this summer), is why I FINALLY decided to renew my subscription to the magazine so that I needn't deal with the stress of trying to locate each issue each week (I mean each "every other week").

THE GIRL IN THE IMAGE IS FROM THIS ADVERTISEMENT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH7qE7mFoMU

OH WINN DIXIE, AT LEAST YOU CARRY LEBANON BOLOGNA:
https://www.winndixie.com/Pages/Home.aspx

MY *OTHER* TV GUIDE FLORIDA DISASTER:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2014/06/random-soapbox-for-saturday-6714.html

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 21 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 21 

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation:

[not to fill up your feed, but I fell behind on my countdown, so this is fond memory 21, which should have been posted on July 18th, when there would have been 84 days to the upcoming reunion event]

Full disclosure ... I actually tried to google search the little yellow correction tabs we passed around (frequently, as it were), but I couldn't find them (proving that they pre-date the internet age).  So instead, I settled for *this* photo, which called out to the deep recesses of my mind as being awfully familiar, and therefore maybe one of the type I used in my little pod of four during the class that taught us how to master the QWERTY-OP skills.

Lest you think I went to school in ancient times, we did also learn a little something something about a new fangled machine called a *computer* ... but more about that in my next memory.  For this one ... it's all about the old school (with a special remembrance for Mr. Putt, who spent most of the time in his office staring out at us all practicing ... and correcting ... our typing exercises).  Here's to "typing class"!

Random Flashback for Friday 7/18/14

If it's a Friday in July in *2014* (note:  it is), then my weekly flashback is a (staged) scene from the publicity photos from the July *1994* presentation of the Mysterious Murder Quest "Holly, Hemlock and Mistletoe" at my alma mater LVC.

I should explain as I'm sure there's a portion of you who simply can't comprehend what you see in front of you ... but yes, that is the top of my head and yes, it is covered in hair.

Also ... yes, those are companion public phone booths.  Once upon a time, college kids had pay phones at the end of the dorm hallways and strategically placed throughout a campus so that they could "call home".  To the extent that this particular college center was majorly remodeled in the last few years, I'm guessing that makes this an historic photo capturing a part of the campus' history now probably gone forever (the fact that it's a black and white shot kind of helps, no?) ...

Of course, regardless of that situation, it's an historic photo just because it put to film the talented Greg B (that's him on the other line ... the one that's not holding a [prop] gun.)  Hard to believe that 20 years has passed so quickly ... I can remember it as if it were yesterday!

Random Thought for Thursday 7/17/14

In all my travels ... (not necessarily vast ... but I do get around) ... I've learned two tricks I think should be employed in all bathrooms.

First -- and maybe the obvious -- there really isn't a need for overly bright lights in that space.  After all, nearly everybody looks better in the shadows, in my humble opinion.

Second -- and this one may be less obvious -- but hanging your mirror at an angle away from the wall, with the bottom of it touching the space and the top hanging out a few inches, actually does wonders for one's self esteem (it really does have a slimming effect).  Of course, one must be careful not to angle too much, so as to continue to hide what spots on the top of the head no longer gather hair.

There it is folks ... *true beauty* ... all about the subterfuge!


SEE ... THERE IS A SCIENCE TO THE MIRRORS:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/mirror-images-a-131365

DEAR LEADER KNOWS ABOUT THAT WHICH I'M TALKING:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2oH5cWh5eg

OTHER TRUE BEAUTY QUOTES:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/true-beauty

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/16/14

Sandy groins.

Used in a sentence:  "Well, if I'm going to adapt to the local conditions and embrace my Floridian state in this fine state of Florida, I'm going to have to learn to stop giggling every time I read newspaper stories full of references to 'sandy groins'".

I'll tell you ... there I was on the plane flying to Vegas the other week for work, catching up on my reading and I couldn't help myself as I read the article below, replete with information about all kinds of groins.  How was I to know they were a "man-made structure designed to trap sand as it moved down the beach by the longshore drift"?  I was definitely thinking of other things ... like sand stuck in places from which it can never be completely removed.

If all goes well, I'll head to the beach in the next weekend or two and see if I can spot me some sandy groins while I'm out and about.  Wish me luck (and here's hoping that I don't get into any trouble) ...

THE AFOREMENTIONED ARTICLE THAT MADE ME GIGGLE:
http://thepelicanpaper.com/cities-remain-on-track-for-beach-sand-renourishment-for-now/

HOW I EDUMACATED MYSELF ON THESE TYPES OF GROINS:
http://oceanica.cofc.edu/an%20educator'sl%20guide%20to%20folly%20beach/guide/process3.htm

WHO KNEW ... THE *DRINK* NAMED "SAND IN YOUR CRACK":
http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/6096

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/15/14

Tonight:  tune 3 of 39 from that actual mix tape from the 90's that I'm featuring on Tuesdays for the next few weeks.

And the third track of said masterpiece was also, coincidentally, the third of the Alicia Silverstone trilogy that was omnipresent on the MTV back in the day (kids:  once upon a time, MTV was a channel that aired videos [google it if the concept is so foreign to you]).

What's not to love about a little Aerosmith --   especially one that captures "when the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright".  With an overall theme of independence running through all of the chosen songs, this one quite perfectly fit the bill.  Having come through the other side, grateful to the "angel of mercy who saw me through all my sins", I was indeed left appreciative at the amazing way life takes its twists and turns, and, having made it, I found myself "saying a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight".

THERE WERE TIMES IN MY LIFE WHEN I WAS GOING INSANE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSmOvYzSeaQ

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 22 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 22 

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation:

[Quick note to catch up the reader ... I started a countdown to my 25th high school reunion this fall, with a fond memory posted every four days ... and then went away on a work trip and fell behind!  So I'm using the weekend to get caught up and back on track.  This *should have* been posted back on July 14th, when there *would have* been 88 days until the big event.]

I can't recall my high school days and not remember the time I got suspended, told that I must spend a day with this guy (Bud Getz, here seen in his '89 yearbook photo) as punishment in the special room up on the second floor of the Auditorium building near the guidance counselors (who were probably "on call" should there have been any emergency behavioral issues in that space), and across from Mr. Garvey's physics classroom (which was also my homeroom one year).

Why was I suspended?  After all, I was very fond of school ... and quite the good student, if I do say so myself.  But I was in a battle with my father's wife at the time, and, long story short, I was late enough often enough for the automatic rules to kick in to banish me to this environment.  I wish I could tell you that I had some kind of "The Breakfast Club" experience, but the reality is that it was uneventful and relatively quiet and I got a lot of school work done.  Plus ... my guidance counselor team pulled rank and "signed me out of suspension" for half of the day to go spend time in their career room, acting like a governor who dialed the red phone to stay an execution.

Which, of course, is the reason that this ended up a *fond* memory!

Random Memorial for Monday 7/14/14

Gone but not forgotten:  my trips to the old Cornwall rockpile.

Let's be clear ... this is *not* the first time the Cornwall rocks piled up on the other side of its quarry have been mentioned in my blog (use the power of the google search on it to see the so many different ways it comes up).  It may, however, be the first time that the mystical bowling ball we found rolling down the side of the road on one our frequent late night trips there is being pictured (we have no idea who started the ball rolling that night or how it stayed so perfectly on the side of the road as it rolled along ... and yes, we may have been under the influence during the whole scene).

It's just that it was all fresh in my mind again after my spiritual experience at the Grand Canyon Western Rim during my trip to Vegas, because I realized that I used to use my climbs to the top of that area back home for whenever I needed an adjustment ... or an escape ... whether with various different groups of friends or solo ... in all kinds of weather at all times of year.

Youthful perspective gained at the summit of *that* pile of rocks as remembered from having climbed to the summit of the *other* pile of rocks the other day ...  you are missed.

MY BIGGEST "OTHER" ROCKPILE POST TO DATE:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2012/09/bonus-post-thing-92_20.html

THE AFOREMENTIONED VEGAS CANYON POST:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2014/07/random-soapbox-for-saturday-71214.html

COULD THIS PIVOTAL PLACE FROM MY YOUTH DISAPPEAR:
http://sanatogapost.com/2009/03/19/quarry-owner-develops-near-lebanon/

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/13/14

What Las Vegas (and the surrounding area) is talking about this week:

... my 3rd annual trip to Sin City!

Well, I guess, more accurately said, it's what *I'm* talking about this week ... but I guess there might be a scenario where Vegas has also noticed that I'm in town instead of the other way around.

As per usual, it's the best type of vacation ... a subsidized one ... in that I'm here for a work conference later in the week, but enjoying a few extra personal days since the costs of getting me here are being picked up by my company.

Each year, I have a modest personal checklist of activities.  Some things are annual events -- like how I take my $20 and find a slot machine that still has an ARM (when I was little, you didn't throw away your cash lazily with a touch screen or a push of a button ... you had to *work* for the ability to waste your money ... and you had to pull a lever [long live one-arm bandits]) ... or how I try to catch just a touch of time with the elusive-to-date former LVC classmate Erin M (will *this* be the year we finally re-connect?).  But most are specific to the visit ... like how, the first year, my goals were to walk down the strip drinking a forty, melding with the inebriated masses and to ride the rollercoaster on the roof of the casino (the latter of which was thwarted in that the ride I wanted had closed down, so I had to settle for the coaster in NY, NY).  And how last year it was all about the burger quest I'm on ... and in finding the one for Vegas that was on that list while I was in town (I'd share the cost of the taxi ride that made that happen, but if I did, I think Suzie Orman would find me and kill me).

This year, I've already accomplished my main task ... visiting the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.  Seeing as how my epiphany at the Canyon got it's own post yesterday, it only seems right that the first part of that journey ... the trip to the Dam ... get memorialized as well.  That part of the trip included watching a roadrunner running across the road in front of me (making me marvel that they are, indeed, aptly named), and contemplating that the Hoover Dam is on a fault line (making me wonder whose fault that was), and noticing that there seemed to be more Joshua trees in the stretch of land through which I was driving than I had seen years before in the park named after the desert botanical treat (making me say out loud that what I was seeing was Joshuaer?  or maybe even the Joshuaest? place ever), and considering that, with the water on either side of the dam at the lowest point it's ever been, my children's children might see a dry dam in their lifetime or a Hoover that had outlived its purpose (making me remember that you can't get children's children without first having children, which might be a wrinkle in my consideration), and offering up thanks that there was road construction going on so that there were portapotties every so often on this stretch desert (making me realize that not all parts of every story need to be shared).

We'll see what else gets checked off the list ... or maybe gets moved to year four (should there be a fourth occurrence of this annual trip).  Viva Las Vegas indeed!

THE COLLAPSE OF THE HOOVER DAM:  THE CONSPIRACY THEORISTIC VIEW:
http://fourthdimensionalrecovery.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/hoover-dam-expected-to-be-the-next-911/

THE COLLAPSE OF THE HOOVER DAM:  THE SCIENTIFIC VIEW:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/hoover-dam-broke.htm

SPEAKING OF THE YUCCA BREVIFOLIA:
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/yucbre/all.html

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/12/14

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

... I cried a little at the Grand Canyon today.

To be clear, they weren't tears of fear.  It's true that I have an "uncomfortableness" with regards to high heights (as memorably illustrated last year about this time when I told my story about jumping into the old Dunbar watering hole [a story I trot out frequently just because I think it's interesting to *have* a story about a watering hole in my repertoire]) ... but I ended up not having a problem on the skywalk, a glass walkway suspended above the Canyon at the West rim.

And they weren't tears of despair.  I did not have a psychotic break or hear any voices in my head telling me to jump over the edge.  Did I think about it?  Yes.  But only in a clinical sense.  I'm always scouting locations for dramatic settings and filing them away for any story ideas in tales I'll tell in the future.  I think that's just second nature for someone as curious and dramatic and writer-ly as I.

They also weren't tears of disappointment, as nearly happened when I saw the Mississippi for the first time in the shadows of the Arch in St. Louis -- my expectations having been so raised by a certain Samuel Clemens that when I saw that body of water as more of a downgraded muddier version of the Susquehanna, I left a little saddened and confused as to how its "mightiness" could have inspired so much creative output.  And they weren't tears of irritation ... which, sadly, I experience now more frequently with this last batch of contacts I have (and which therefore always serve as an at-the-ready excuse should I be caught bawling at commercials [which has happened before]).

No ... these misty eyes didn't represent a breakdown but more of a breakthrough.  Maybe it was the setting, in that the place I visited was on the Hualapai reservation, and since we think my mother's mother's mother's mother was Native American, the 1/16th of my DNA was on alert that I was with my people.  Or maybe it was the fact that I had been blaring Toad the Wet Sprocket's latest masterpiece 'New Constellation' on the two hour drive from Vegas to the site ... with the lyrics from the title track about being "just a spec on a spec of a spiral arm ... ahh it feels so good to be so small" being in the cache/cookies part of my brain.  Maybe it was how the experience made me reminisce about a favorite spot of mine from my key developing years -- the Cornwall rockpile (more about that on Monday) -- a place to which I retreated for perspective back in the day.

Whatever the reason ... it was the sheer beauty that got to me that caused my eyes to well up.  I thought about the paradox of how what I was seeing graphically represented the loss in life (it was a canyon after all, a ground gap of extreme proportion) and the ability to withstand and to weather that loss in life ... the canyon walls having fought valiantly for eons to continue to stand proudly as a testament to the fact that survival is the key ... changed, definitely ... affected by the loss, surely ... but still strong ... still standing.  I thought about the losses in my life ... the people who have gone before me ... those who never got to see that which I was seeing in that moment ... those parts of my past that I've previously mourned as having been a loss of a more normal path of development ... of parental affection that was lacking ... of confusion and uncertainty in the years I spent wandering in my wilderness before coming to know the entirety of my being ...

The welling up of my eyes matched the welling up of my consciousness as I let all of the negativity leave my being, flowing into the negative space in the canyon.  I stood firm on the edge of the precipice, renouncing doubt and hate and frustration and confusion, freeing myself from all of those shackles that we too willingly place on ourselves.  All of it ... offered up to the void, sacrificed to the gaping ground maw in front of me.  When it was over ... the totality of all that I had manufactured to keep me down and to hold me back in my life ... those things that seemed to me like they were the biggest problems in the world ... they were now but a infinitesimal part of the grandiosity that was right in front of me.  And, when finished, I was still standing.  I was the canyon wall.  I was a testament to having survived and to being able to survive again.

That was the magic of it all.  In that moment, I was experiencing the past and the present and the future simultaneously, opening up a portal of sorts into a crystallized clarity regarding my place in the world and the world's place in me.  I wasn't dealing with my body that had climbed to the highest point I could find, nor my mind that was processing the images I was taking in.  Instead, for the first time in a long long time ... maybe the first time ever ... I was communing with my soul and my spirit -- the part of me that was, that is and that will be.

And if that's not worthy of a few tears to commemorate, then I don't know what is.  So yes ... I'll rave about what happened ... I cried a little -- and got my soul cleansed -- at the Grand Canyon today.

MY SOUNDTRACK TO THE GRAND CANYON EXPERIENCE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC0RMo8vlp8

EVERYONE NEEDS A GOOD "WATERING HOLE" STORY:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2013/07/random-flashback-for-friday-72613.html

THE SITE OF TODAY'S EPIPHANY:
http://www.grandcanyonwest.com/

Random Flashback for Friday 7/11/14

Merry Christmas in July to those of you who celebrate ... like the Hallmark Channel (with all of their holiday movies in rotation right now) and any number of vendors who use the juxtaposition of the heat of summer with winter holiday images as a marketing stunt.

Twenty years ago, I was doing just that thing, as we promoted another entry in the mysterious murder quest series, titled 'Holly, Hemlock and Mistletoe', performed at my under grad alma mater LVC in July of 1994.

If I recall correctly, Santa was proposing to his Mrs. Claus in this scene ... but Santa was also a two timing ho (who probably would have gotten it on with a reindeer if he could have and *really* upset someone like a Santorum) ... so, you know ... there's that.  Hence, the hemlock in the title.  Unless, of course, the hemlock was a red herring ... as anyone who attended these audience participation murder mysteries grew to expect as more and more of them from my fictional town of Winston Falls were presented.

Good times ... with good folks!  Happy Holidays!

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 23 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 23 

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation:

There are 92 more days until my 25th high school reunion, and since I'm posting a fond memory from that time every 4 days as a kind of countdown, it's time for number 23.

And any graduate that went to this city school should recognize the cool kids in the courtyard at lunch time (well you may not know the faces ... but you should at least recognize the closed in area only accessible from the bottom of the two level glass hallways that connected the Gym, Library and Auditorium buildings [which, by the way, makes me wonder ... was that even a safe place to be in the first place?]).  As I recall, courtyard privileges were a "right" that could be taken from you in the deportment game ... but clearly this group from the late eighties were well behaved.

By the way, I'll see with my own eyes in mid-October (if plans permit), but as I understand it, this space no longer exists after a remodeling, which now makes this one of those old-timey photos of "what once was".

Next memory will be posted on Mon the 14th of July!

Random Thought for Thursday 7/10/14

Assuming all goes as planned, I will be arriving in Las Vegas at the crack of midnight tomorrow (F into Sa) ... which means I will be off and driving toward the Hoover Dam in less than 48 hours (hopefully on a road that is paved instead of the one pictured here supplied by the fine folks at Google Images).

Why am I going?  Because I want to see that man- made wonder before Lake Mead dries out (depending on your allegiance, insert climate change nod of approval OR climate change denial finger wagging here).

And also because this is the third year in a row I've been to Sin City (for a work conference each summer when temps are triple digits and rooms are pretty cheap) so I've "been there done that" to many things Vegas and looking for something new and different to fill the extra time in the excursion.  By the way ... if you're reading this on the Facebook and want to suggest some "desert driving" songs, feel free (but know I've already chosen 'The Doors' as it seemed fitting in a Jimmy M takes peyote kind of way).

Here's to safe (yet exciting) travels!

TIP TO TAKE TO HEART ... LOOK OUT FOR QUICKSAND:
http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/Assets/ClientPages/zz_DesertDrivingTips.aspx

OR I COULD BUILD THIS 500 SONG PLAY LIST:
http://www.wyep.org/top500

WHATEVER YOUR OPINION ON THE CLIMATE CHANGE, FACTS ARE FACTS:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2685360/Water-levels-Nevadas-Lake-Mead-drop-new-low.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/9/14

Unexpectedly Urban.

Used in a sentence:  "Oops ... made a mistake the other day and forgot to wear my belt with my shorts ... and bam ... I was unexpectedly urban."

Now mind you I'm not getting involved in the sagger debate ... I'm just glad that I live in a place that hasn't outlawed the "I went to prison and wanted to announce that I was available to other prisoners" look.  And I guess it's a good thing in that I must be losing a little bit of weight with how I struggled to keep my shorts up.  And I know it was a good thing that I had on a pair of my better underwear (since so many at the grocery store got to see it that day).

Bottom line ... I'm not going to forget my belt next time!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE FOR THE LOGO FROM THE GOOGLE:
http://www.unexpectedlyurban.com/

IT'S AN ART EXHIBIT IN MINNEAPOLIS (A FEW YEARS AGO):
http://blogs.mprnews.org/state-of-the-arts/2009/11/obsidian-arts-takes-on-sagging/

SPEAKING OF THE URBAN PHENOMENON:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwhl4IrPNc

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/8/14

Here's track 2 (of 39) of an actual mix tape set from my college years that I've decided to feature over the next few months of Tuesdays ... and it's a song where the mix tape master had to choose between the original or someone who covered the classic.

[For instance, the performer in the bonus link below probably came close to making the cut, all things considered ... and I found a version of it on the youtube of her singing it out in Monte Carlo in a performance I've not seen before going looking for a link tonight (although I did see her do this tune live on her Heart of Stone tour in the early nineties.]

The mix tape master went with the original, though, so I should do the same.  By the way, speaking solely for me, I was happy this song was included because of these lyrics:

And when you're looking for your freedom
(Nobody seems to care)
And you can't find the door
(Can't find it anywhere)
When there's nothing to believe in
Still you're coming back, you're running back
You're coming back for more

[To be clear, I did find a lot of people who cared who actually helped bring me to my freedom back in 1989 ... but this song still speaks to the years leading up to the big escape ... and regardless, it's a great tune to blast on your car cassette player (this is a twenty year old mix, remember?) when you're on long drives ...]

PUT ME ON A HIGHWAY AND SHOW ME A SIGN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HYiaYyfp8Q

BONUS ... THE CHER VERSION FROM MONTE CARLO (NOT HEART OF STONE TOUR):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1gQrOJG2lU

Random Memorial for Monday 7/7/14

Gone but not forgotten:  eating watermelon the old fashioned way.

Lookit ... innovation is the way of the world in which we live nowadays.

I now know that slices are so last generation (as balls were the generation before it).  Instead, it's all about the watermelon sticks now (and, after trying it this way last night, I will say it's not as messy ... although you do eat more and more of them to get full, which is obvious by the mini-rinds you leave on the plate).

And it doesn't stop there.  I also understand that the Japanese are binding the melons (better than binding the feet I guess) to make them square so that they fit better in the frig (or fridge, depending on how you were raised to abbreviate a reference to that appliance) AND that the rednecks are deep frying it at your local county fair.

Watermelon-eatin' in the way of my forefathers, you will (potentially) be missed (can't say for sure until I make the rounds at the fair ...).

A TUTORIAL ON STICK-ING IT TO YOUR MELONS:
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2014/06/cut-watermelon-sticks.html

OF COURSE, SQUARE MELONS COST MORE MONEY:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/japan-begins-selling-cube-watermelons-to-customers-overseas

DEEP.  FRY.  EVERYTHING.:
http://www.food.com/recipe/deep-fried-watermelon-201334

Bonus Post: Fond Memory 24 (LHS Quadranscentennial Celebration Edition)

Fond Memory 24 

on this, the Quadranscentennial Celebration of 

my Lebanon High School Graduation:

To catch you up in case you missed it, to count down the 100 days before my 25th High School Reunion this mid-October, I'm sharing 25 fond memories of my time spent at dear old LHS ... one every four days.  

[And to help you with the math, since today I'm at memory 24, that means there are 96 more days until the shindig.]

Today's memory ... the annual reading of the Shakespeare ... each year in English we had to get through at least one classic, including (presented in iambic pentameter for geek points):

Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and

Macbeth the rest of which I am unsure

This is *my* copy of Macbeth.  I don't recall how it remains in my possession (methinks the ancient book was finally retired the year our class read it), but I do remember that I thought it was a touch of kismet in that I looked at all those who read it before me (see below photo) and saw the name of one of my older sisters (who, in turn, is celebrating her 30th anniversary of her high school graduation this year [and to help you with the math again, that makes her 5 years older than I]).

More memories to follow ... #23 this Thursday, July 10th!

[My apologies in advance to Pam Good and Lois Parks.  I do not endorse the graffiti but remind the reader that this was high school after all ...]

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/6/14

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

... an underwater flag unfurling here in the Keys.

Admittedly, I went looking for something suitable for the holiday weekend, which means I had to sort through all the news stories about the tragic fourth of July boating accident (right after the fireworks ... details are still being gathered) ... or the undercover cop shooting that was just a few blocks away in a restaurant parking lot (he intervened in a domestic dispute) ... or the upcoming governor's election (my vote is *really* going to count down here, is all I'm saying for now) ...

Eventually, I found an article that caught my eye about a retired US flag from Morris IL (a "suburb" of my former hometown of Chicago, in the sense that anything between Chicago and Milwaukee/St.Louis/Springfield is just a suburb of Chitown to anyone who's lived there) that once hung in the 9/11 Memorial Park *there* that was sent to the Keys *here* to be placed on the scuttled-five-years-ago Hoyt S Vandenberg (a former military ship "retired" to the ocean floor).

So there you go ... if you look hard enough, you can find a "good news" story hidden in the interwebs somewhere, befitting of the wrapping holiday weekend ...

THE FLAG UNFURLING:
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Divers-Unfurl-US-Flag-at-Shipwreck-Near-Keys-265899721.html

MORE COVERAGE OF THE FLAG UNFURLING:
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2014/jul/05/divers-unfurl-us-flag-at-shipwreck-near-fla-keys/

THE FORMER HOME OF THE FLAG:
https://www.facebook.com/Morris911Memorial

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/5/14

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

... I found the missing Malaysian airline last night (or, more accurately, early this morning) in the back woods of Louisiana.

It all started with this job at which I was interning and I was in town for a conference ... but my job was to make sure that there was enough food to eat.  Except that the host of the gathering for whom I interned didn't have anything because she was losing her house and was living in delusion, so all the ladies that were her friends went to the nearby deli and made a sandwich and brought it back to me so I could cut them up into smaller pieces and make the food "stretch" to cover all of the participants.

With that crisis averted, the conference continued until it ended abruptly because a colleague of mine had supplied the wrong numbers, due to a rounding error.  We headed to the airport to come home, but not before first running into a former colleague of mine (he with the fondness for all things Les Liaisons Dangereuses), who was inexplicably adorned with a little lord faunterloy pageboy haircut.  We glared at each other in passing, committed as ever to never again exchanging words, and I overheard him explain to his partner that I was in town for a work meeting.

Then, on the plane on the way home, my colleague with the reputation for faulty math was taken by terrorists when he went to use the washroom, and they mapped out an alternate flight path, as he casually explained to  me when he returned to his seat.  Our plane was suddenly close to the ground in the back woods of Louisiana, and on one of the turns, I saw the Malaysian airlines deep in the woods, where these same terrorists had taken it, all camouflaged with vines and such.  However, our descent was not going so smoothly, and I could tell we were in trouble.  First, there was some man walking out in the woods and so there was a witness, which the terrorists didn't want, as they hadn't had any witnesses the last time they did this trick.  That caused them to abort the landing at the last minute ... but then my colleague looked at me and said, "oh no, I made the same rounding error", which all happened in the seconds shortly before we crashed.

And what a spectacular crash it was, right out of a Michael Bay movie, dare I say even somehow in slow motion, tail over nose, with a breaking apart of the aircraft just a few rows in front of me so that I escaped the fireball that consumed the front part of the plane, catapulting my section into the main street of whatever town was nearby.  Since I was wearing my properly fastened seat belt, I just unbuckled and walked away from the accident.  I went looking for the terrorist pilots, but they were gone AND ... so was my faulty math colleague, which made me think that he was in on this all along ...

So how is this a rant?  I mean it's my own fault that I allow television to rot my brain ... and I'm genetically wired to be a little on the dramatic side ... and I'm completely comfortable letting my subconscious have a heyday when it comes to dealing with the villains in my life ... BUT ... I did not sign up for a world where the threat of terrorism is so pervasive that it winds its way into my dream life so casually as to be just another plot point.  And on the off chance that the collective subconscious of all those souls who probably perished in the actual Malaysian aircraft tragedy have reached out to me as a vessel to tell the world what really happened a la Whoopi from Ghost, well all I gots is a little blog and a Facebook following, the majority of whom probably abandoned this bit of randomness by the second paragraph, so please please pick somebody else.

And one final disclaimer ... I did NOT drink last night.  (It was the puppies' first Fourth, and they needed to be calmed and comforted amidst all the noise and confusion in the 'hood.).  But I may have watched a little RHONY and CNN before bed.

FOR THOSE OF YOU UNFAMILIAR WITH FAUNTERLOY:
http://thegenealogyofstyle.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/the-boy-who-kicked-out-a-shoe-model/

FOR THOSE OF YOU UNFAMILIAR WITH RHONY AND THE INTERNS:
http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-new-york-city/season-6/videos/a-day-in-the-life-of-sonja-morgan-s-interns

FOR THOSE OF YOU UNFAMILIAR WITH OTHER MALAYSIAN PLANE THEORIES:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/03/18/these-are-all-the-internets-best-theories-on-malaysia-flight-370s-disappearance/