Random Flashback for Friday 8/27/10

Random Flashback for Friday --> I'm thinking the McHat and late 80's hair will protect the anonymity of this drive-thru employee ... but, regardless, this is my last post in all-homes-days week (see you next summer, hometown o' mine, assuming there are no surprise weddings, deaths or other major life events in the interim) and my last shot of the East Lebanon McDonalds (since, in 1990, the end of the summer marked the end of my employ there). My favorite specific memory when working this same spot 20 years ago -- not being forced to be more productive and make the McSalads (I was old enough to work the tomato slicer), not being the key person passing out the promotional material to Lebanonites (here, have another Monopoly piece), but being witness to the snowball throw from the far far parking lot that made it through the window (like it was a carnival game)!

Random Thought for Thursday 8/26/10

[Look at me, squeezing in a bonus day or two of all-home-days posts.]

Dear PA Turnpike Tunnel administrator:

As I drove through your shortcuts through the Allegheny Mountains last weekend, did I see you taking a picture of me and my vehicle? If so, is that a new post 9/11 thing for my own security and safety or have you been doing it for quite some time in the spirit of there being cameras everywhere in the public nowadays?

If you have been doing it for quite some time, can I have all the copies of the pictures that you took from me over the years?

You might think I'm interested in seeing me in all the vehicles I've had (like my first two Ford Escorts that each were driven to the 100K mark!). Or you might think that I want to see my features age over the years as my face gets fatter and my hair gets shorter (wouldn't that be an interesting art installation piece?). Or you might think that I want to see if you caught me singing along at the top of my voice each time I drove through (and how many times was I doing the same embarrassing song?).

But really I'd just like to look one more time at those who were in the front seat of my car during a particular trip that are no longer with us. Joann, DJ and David -- you are missed.

Thanks in advance for considering my request! And you can send those shots to my new address (just across the hall in my same building from the old apartment):

3702 N Wilton Ave #2N
Chicago, IL 60613

MAYBE SOMEONE'S HOMEWORK PROJECT?:
http://users.zoominternet.net/~jamieo/Turnpike_Page.htm

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CAR GO 100,000 MILES:
http://www.shellstations.com/answerbook/prevention/prevention_4.htm

CAMERAS EVERYWHERE MEANS MORE CRIMINALS CAUGHT:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7331240/

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 8/25/10

Interstate Itinerant.

Used in a sentence: "Years after Lot Lizards initiated the concept, I've discovered that I might aspire to some day be the next in that evolutionary trail -- an Interstate Itinerant."

Driving so much this past weekend (still got all-home-days posts a-comin' your way), I had an epiphany -- if I ever have a psychotic break *, I think I'll take my homeless self to live in a rest stop like the one at Sideling Hill on the PA Turnpike.

Consider the benefits -- watching all kinds of people endlessly, accessing a washroom 24/7, diving into multiple food-based dumpsters, sleeping on the property in the woods nearby, interacting with pet after pet (and maybe adopting one or two that get abandoned), reading news headlines in the paper boxes -- why I've almost talked myself into spending a few months this way right now!

* Please know that I made a promise to myself to postpone three things as far into the future as practicable -- my psychotic break, my first heart attack and having my first child. So far, so good -- I've gotten through a psychotic crack or two relatively unscathed, I've been echocardiogrammed to my doctor's satisfaction in the last few years when I was short of breath and I rest assured that I am my father's son (who was getting the ladies pregnant in his late 50's).

GOOGLE SATELLITE IMAGERY IS CREEPY -- USE IT TO FIND MY FUTURE HOME:
http://maps.google.com/

SCHOLARLY ARTICLE ABSTRACT ON SPERM VIABILITY & SPERM COMPETITION:
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(01)00647-9

GOLFERS CAN BE ITINERANT TOO!:
http://www.theitinerantgolfer.com/Courses.aspx?ID=72

Random Tune for Tuesday 8/24/10

Picture it. Lebanon (PA). Mid 80's. A boy who has had one too many exposures to Revelations and it's various interpretations (it's surely the trippiest book in the Bible, no?) and had seen the Thief in the Night series at his local church is awakened by a cataclysmic noise of an explosion and a bright flash of light through his window. Cowering in the corner, he waits for signs that the Rapture occurred.

In the same house, in the attic converted into a bedroom, his step-sister is taping songs off the radio ('cause that's what we did back in the day, waiting for hours on end for the station to play the song we just had to hear) and she manages to capture the moment in her recording.

And, as you might already know, Christ didn't return that day ... but a squirrel sure did sacrifice himself to a transformer in the alley behind Cumberland Street (all-home-days week continues!) and it sure did scare the beJesus out of me!

The song being taped off the radio -- Madness' "Our House", found at the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwIe_sjKeAY

Random Memorial for Monday 8/23/10

Gone but not forgotten: my hometown personal historic sites.

Even though I am back in Chicago, my trip is still on my mind (and all-home-days theme week continues anyway) so when I read that Salem Lutheran Church was granted its historical status upon its 250th anniversary, I realized that no one was fighting to protect the local landmarks from my youth.

For instance, where are the family of sandstone turtles and other concrete items we crawled all over at the Plaza now that the Plaza isn't the Plaza? It was a Lebanon County birthright to have your picture taken with you sitting in the mouth of the whale. Why couldn't they get landmark status so that our great-great-great-grandchildren could experience shopping the way our town's founders wanted it to be?

And I tend not to live my life with regrets, but I was there when the Key Drive-in was bulldozed over for the WalMart and I did nothing. [Of course, I also rarely went to see a movie there, but I do remember catching a few scenes and trying to not to drive off the road determining which movie was playing when I was going past over the train tracks.] Most importantly, I trudged up and down the rows of flea market tables on more than one Sunday.

Is this what happens when you grow old? You drive around one of your hometowns and lament the loss of locations that played a key part in your past? What happened to my Eli's? Why are those flowers in the middle of that intersection on Cumberland? How many brand new RiteAids do we need? And can't we revive Hills somehow? Or move the St. Gertie's festival back to the Avon playground?

Please someone tell me that White Rock, Dinosaur Rock and the Rockpile at Cornwall are all still in play for today's youths!

Lebanon landmarks that meant so much to me and my personal history, you are missed.

SUBMIT YOUR LISTINGS TO THIS SITE (LEB CO IS WOEFULLY UNDERREPRESENTED):
http://www.pavendors.com/events/lebanon-county/

WiKi LISTINGS OF LEB CO's HISTORIC PLACES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_Lebanon_County,_Pennsylvania

HILLS DEPT STORE FACEBOOK PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=92491012242&share_id=121847814264&comments=1

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 8/22/10

What Chicago/Lebanon/Uniontown/HOME is talking about this week:

As all-home-days week continues, I was hard pressed to determine where I would "spot" myself yesterday -- since I certainly started in Lebanon, but drove across PA for dinner in Uniontown and ended my night on the road on the other side of Columbus as I trekked back to Chicago. And with so many headlines from which to choose -- second chances for fireworks in Palmyra, second chances for fast roads to Pittsburgh in Uniontown and second chances for trials for BlagoBoy, I thought I'd go a little rogue and say what I'm talking about this week.

I've learned that HOME is not so much a physical location as it is a peaceful easy comforting feeling you get when you interact with those for whom you care and those who care about you (made even better when those two groups are the same people)! From reversing roles between father and son visiting mine at the nursing home, to dropping in for quick updates from the closest of friends and family, to bearing witness to an intimate gathering of friends at a special ceremony (just take that for what it is - all secretive and cult-ish as it might sound), to seeing the next generations of our connections face the world with innocent wide-eyed wonder at all the possibilities that exist ... it was very clear to me that we revisit the stories of our past to provide insight to the circumstances of the present -- but that we (together, not alone) control our journeys through the future.

May you pause to appreciate the community you've built that make up your HOME, and may we all rediscover the humanity that binds us together.

PALMYRA FIREWORKS ROUND 2:
http://www.abc27.com/Global/story.asp?S=13026802

THE ROAD THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING:
http://www.pahighways.com/toll/PATurnpike43.html

GET OUT THE DAMN BATMOBILE, BLAGO!:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/index.html

Random Soapbox for Saturday 8/21/10

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

... when the turnpikes get together for a social evening, does everyone else secretly laugh at PA behind its back?

With the experience of driving across a couple of states this weekend (all-home-days theme week continues), I feel certain that PA has to be the Willy Loman of the group. Or maybe it's the crazy plastic surgery addicted aunt who is always under construction, one project after another, whether she needs it or not. Or perhaps IL, IN and OH just work higher speed limits and more convenient rest stops into any conversation the way that a rich cousin finds a way to mention his new car in every discussion. Or could it be that they wait until PA is just out of earshot and then spill it's dirty little secret about tolls being removed from just one section of the pike (Bedford to Breezewood) to allow politicians easy and cheap access to DC? Or -- just one more --is it the creepy cousin in the corner talking about size when it's clearly known that, at least in this venue, it's all about what you do with what you got.

Whatever the case may be, I'm adjusting my return travel path to avoid you, you over-priced death trap of a toll road.

[All that said, let's still be friends because I love your tunnels and plan to use them in this upcoming Thursday's post. Hugs and kisses.]

SOME PEOPLE REALLY HATE A TOLL ROAD:
http://www.notolls.org.uk/index.htm

AND SOME PEOPLE REALLY LOVE THE PA TURNPIKE TUNNELS:
http://www.rays-hill.com/turnpike/HOME.htm

AND THEN, A SECRET WORLD OF POLITICAL DEALS THAT TRANSLATE TO ROADS:
http://www.aaroads.com/high-priority/corr21.html

Random Flashback for Friday 8/20/10

View this picture now before corporate finds out and makes me remove it for disclosing trade secrets! Although this shot of the East Lebanon Mickey D's from the inside out is from 20 years ago and represents a whole different way of doing things. I think now it's a little more microwave and make each item to order instead of the good old days of calling out the quantity you wanted when you "worked the bin" like some fast food floor of the stock exchange. Look closely and you might see a pickle on the ceiling (they had amazing abilities to stick there for weeks, or so I've heard)! And, in a meta kind of way, I'll be in this same spot on the other side of the counter later today since it is my all-home-days weekend!

Random Thought for Thursday 8/19/10

As I travel across the Great Lakes' states to return to PA for an "emergency" unscheduled trip to my hometown of Lebanon to deal with an issue wrapping up my father's business now that he's permanently in a nursing home, I think it's time for another Theme Week. With credit to Elysburg PA and the annual Labor Day festival called "all home days" that I attended when I was younger because my dad's wife #4 had family up there, here comes a week of "all home" related posts.

First up -- the notion that I'm housed in a HoJo in Breezewood (I just couldn't risk falling asleep at the wheel ... and my original plan to sleep in my car at a rest stop seemed like a project better suited for a younger person), about to catch a few hours sleep with, not sugarplums, but the following visions dancing in my head:

... the handmade peanut butter ice cream made by the Amish girl at Green Dragon
... the view from the top of the rockpile in Cornwall
... the interactions with as many friends and loved ones as I can fit in to a 48 hour period

Off I go to get snug in my bed ...

MODERN TIMES -- GREEN DRAGON REVIEWED ON YELP!:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-s-green-dragon-market-ephrata

ALL HOME DAYS IN ELYSBURG, PA:
http://www.allhomeday.org/pages/

SUGARPLUM VISIONS IN ATLANTA, GA:
http://www.sugarplum-visions.com/