Facing Facebook

This has been a particularly amusing morning for me on Facebook. Ah, Facebook. Where would we be without it! My remarks will be scattergun.

I noted that the Reds had clinched a spot in the playoffs. On Facebook. On Ted Strickland's Facebook page. For those of you not from Ohio, you might not know that Ted Strickland is the Governor and that he is running for re-election this November. I have a soft spot in my heart for both Governor Strickland and the Reds as both have intersected with the 'career' I had in radio many years ago. I met Ted back in 1976 when he was making one of several unsuccessful runs at unseating a tenured House representative. Nice guy, really. He finally made it in '92, served a few terms then found himself in Columbus. I'll presume he's still a nice guy.

The Reds... dang! Where did that come from? I follow sports selectively and sporadically. I didn't note how well they were doing until a couple of months ago when the media mill here in DFW was noting how well the Rangers were doing (at least at the Ballpark as opposed to the Boardroom). Many were the hours spent with Marty and Joe (Nuxhall, may he rest in peace) calling ball games which never quite went right after about... well, after the last time they won the Series.

Anyhoo, last week the Rangers clinched, this week, the Reds. One Facebook friend from Southern Ohio works for the Rangers organization and he's probably less conflicted than I am about the possibility. He knows where his paycheck is coming from. I'm just a fan.


There was also a call to arms for the Pink Ribbon showing up on my Facebook this morning. It's been nearly a year, now, since I've been intimately involved in Breast Cancer Awareness. The bottom line is that without awareness and early detection, breast cancer would kill many more of our wives, daughters, sisters, friends (and so on and so forth) than are being killed already. I prefer dealing with what I have dealt with in the past year than having to deal with another funeral. I've also had a lesson in what real courage is... and not just from Carol, either.


I've also been amused with the goings on of various nieces, nephews and second cousins. This morning I was able to feed Phil's bike habit, thanks to a site from another friend in San Antonio, and found a movie review site from David (who is about to have a movie he made shown on MTV2 early next month - a horror film called Savage County) which relies heavily on F-bombs. Other days I've been able to keep up with Annie and Michelle and their summer internships, Max and his second year at Ohio State, Renee's juggling school, home and dogs, Charles and his micro--- scratch that, nano machines at MIT, and Christina's new job in the Cleveland area.

As I think I have already mentioned, Facebook has already given me an opportunity to connect with people I have not seen or heard from for years... people I've forgotten I was fond of for some reason or another. Sure, it has its faults, but for the moment, I'm a fan. If for no other reason than it gives me pleasure while waiting for the laundry to be finished on a beautiful fall morning.

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RV

A former co-worker and contemporary of mine finally got fed up and retired earlier this year then went camping. He and his wife sold everything and consolidated their worldly goods into an RV. Last heard from they were on their way to Arizona from somewhere in Washington State.

Good for them.

I've had this same idea with another twist. I will have won a lottery and would invest my hard-won booty into an RV which will transport the lovely Miss Carol and our High School aged sons around the country in a quest to find bits and pieces of American History in a sort of mobile classroom. My only concern would be that I would have to teach the kids other subjects and there would be no extracurriculars like Cross Country or Band. With one kid having trouble with French and the other with Algebra, well, I think that the idea might not work out as well as I would like.

But the idea that one can consolidate and live in a compact home which can easily move from one place to another tomorrow has a certain appeal to me... and to the other half of us, too. Over the past several years I have read about the practicality of the lifestyle for retirees written by one of the writers for the Dallas Morning News. He pointed out the obvious that by shedding what we don't need we can live larger lives in smaller spaces.

With that in mind, we (that is to say Carol, Stuart and I), took in a large portion of an RV show in Dallas over the weekend.

Stuart was, at first, a participant with only a tepid interest in what went on. He's the Cross Country student with an aversion to French. I pointed out that my plan for yanking him and his step-brother around the country could include a trip to Quebec so that he could learn French from French-speaking people. He pointed out to me that his French teacher was a native of Quebec and was already fluent in the language. Point taken. I'm left wondering if she's teaching the class French French or Frostback French. There is a difference.

Just like French, RV has different meanings for different people. Carol, for instance, seems to like medium-sized motorhomes-her main concern in some being whether or not the two of us can hold hands while we're tooling along the Interstate at 65 miles per hour.
My preference is for a trailer that one can drop off and leave while going out and exploring whatever there is to explore locally. Part of what I have in mind is finding a resort like "Long's Retreat" up in Pike County, Ohio where I can park semi-permanently and have a place to which I can escape on a weekend.

Stuart seemed to be attracted to the huge and costly. Yes, if I were to live out my yanking the kids around the country dream, I would go for the huge and costly as well. How huge? Well, there was an RV there which required a ladder in order to get to the ladder. That's tall. The vehicle in question had a price tag north of a quarter million dollars - and that was on sale! What was more amazing to me was that there was a sign on the vehicle stating that the vehicle was sold (but we can get more!).

Vehicles costing more than $250k were in some ways not too very different than those under $100k which Carol liked. Yes, they were bigger, yes, they had real refrigerators and yes, they had more room to move around in, but, they were so wide that we just couldn't hold hands while driving at 65.

I'm also of the opinion that if I'm going to pay more for a camper than I would pay for a house, I should at least have the option of having a chandelier. No such luck.
We concluded our foray to the RV show with a couple of non-RV activities. Stuart flirted with the Canadian woman who was demonstrating electric motor scooters and a group of women selling magnetic wrist bands. Carol listened to the couple selling stainless steel waterless cookware which never wore out, et-cetera, while I poked around the Texas Parks and Wildlife booth, looking for opportunities to park my existing RV for a day or two this fall (a tent camper parked presently in my garage).

All in all, the RV show was fun... mostly. Although I'm not likely to buy any time soon, it was nice to see what is available. After all, I might just win the lottery and have need for an RV next week!

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I will gladly pay you Tuesday...

If you are of a certain age, you may know the rest of the quote started in the title to this blog and you will definitely know to whom the quote is attributable.

J. Wellington Wimpy would go batshit crazy here in Allen, Texas.

At some point in the early '70s, there was a rumor floating around that Chillicothe, Ohio had more fast-food outlets per capita than anywhere else in the world. A cruise up and down North Bridge Street would have confirmed that little nugget of information. Well, just counting places where one can get a hamburger in Allen, it would seem that Chillicothe would be relegated to a distant second place. Without thinking hard, I can think of at least 20 places within Allen city limits where one can get a hamburger in a hamburger restaraunt.

McDonald's has 3 stores, beaten only by the drive-in chain Sonic, with 4. Sonic is a southern chain and they encourage their carhops to roller-skate. We have a pair of Wendy's (a shame, because supposedly Wendy Thomas lives in nearby Plano), as well as a pair of Braum's. Braum's is a chain from Oklahoma which is primarily a dairy. I suppose that when "Old Bossy" goes dry, it's off to the abbetoire! Four year old Stuart once loudly ordered a beer to go with his kid's meal at one point... I can't say that I've taken him there many times since.

Burger King and Whataburger have only one store each. I'll usually pass on Burger King because of that creepy guy on their commercials. Whataburger is a Texas thing. Once upon a time they had Mel Tillis doing their commercials for them. They must have edited out his stuttering. And speaking of having clever commercials, there are two Jack in the Boxes here. The chain has a man with a styrofoam head as their spokesman... it works. Believe me.

Let's see. That brings up the total to 15 so far.

There's Mooyah!, a place which seems to go for the original limited hamburger menu in a rather spartan box. It's a chain, too, but I can't tell from where. Scotty P's is another chain, but is limited to just a few places here in Collin County, their location in Allen being one of their first two. J.C.'s Burger House, next to one of the barbecue places (and I can only think of three barbecue places here in Allen) is owned by an ex-telecom guy who happened to be in Lowe's the other day. I talked with him for a bit about the hamburger business, and believe it or not, he says that business is pretty good for him despite the competition.

New in town are Burger Island, and I believe that the other place is called Jim's. Our resident burgerholic at Lowe's was literally first in line for Jim's (ordering lunch to go on their first day of business... about 5 minutes before they opened their doors for the first time) and he is a big fan of Burger Island. The only thing he does not like about Burger Island is that their hamburgers are just too darn big to eat at one sitting.

There. There's 20. I'm not counting IHOP, The Allen Cafe, or at least another dozen places where a hamburger can be found on the menu along with more varied fare, nor am I counting a couple of specialty places within a short drive of here, like Culver's from Wisconsin (same dairy tie-in as Braum's), Steak and Shake out of Indianapolis, and a place called the Purple Cow which is just over the border in Fairview. I like Purple Cow for its Club Sandwiches. Never tried the burgers.

The one other burger place which is said to be coming to the metroplex, but not to Allen, yet, is a California cult called In and Out. Hardly a Saturday goes by at work when at least one soul is not seen in the store wearing an In and Out burger T-shirt. There's In and Out, the cache over by Lake Lavon and any number of apostles of the chain willing to spread the gospel about a place which, at the moment, is only as close as Arizona. In and Out is supposedly building a place in Garland (rhymes with Arlen). There's no doubt in my mind that there are fans who go by the site daily to check on the progress, perhaps even to lend a hand so it will get built faster.

Before you get the idea that Allen is exclusively dedicated to the hamburger, be assured that there are a few other cuisines available here, too. Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Barbecue, Cajun, Italian and a couple of brew pubs... all offering hamburgers for the persnickity youngster.

I don't know about you, but my cholesterol level just went up another 20 points just now.


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9/11

This blog may get a little too personal for some of you. You are now forewarned.





As we approach 9/11 there is news from Florida about this putz who wants to celebrate by buying and burning copies of the Koran. (Yeah, I know, there's a more proper spelling these days, but I also still prefer Peking to Beijing.) The logic is, as follows... the nut cases who flew the planes into the buildings were followers of Islam, therefore, all followers of Islam are evil and we need to burn their Holy Book.


Mmmmmkay. Makes sense, right? Sure, except that there are numerous sects or denominations of Islam just like there are numerous sects of Christians. Let's take the logic just a little bit further. Fred Phelps and his flock at the Westboro Baptist Church scream at us that "God Hates Fags", therefore, all Christian Churches think that "God Hates Fags" and that we should burn all Christian books and seek to defile all Christian places of worship.


Maybe we should be refine our definitions just a little bit because ALL Christians include Eastern and Western Christian traditions. Westboro is part of the Western tradition, therefore, we should leave the Eastern traditions alone. Especially the Greek Orthodox - their Food Festivals are to die for!


Let's refine a bit further. The so-called Reverend Phelps has declared himself as a Baptist, therefore, we should aim our anger at Baptists. Right? Let's put them to the torch! I think that that minister in Florida who is sponsoring that book burning is a Baptist and there's the Baptist minister here in the Dallas area who made remarks in the past couple of weeks which could have been seen as just as much a peril to our troops in Afghanistan as the Florida book burner.


Even just refining our focus just to Baptists would be painting with too broad a brush. Should I, or anyone else for that matter, hold all Baptists responsible for the sins of a relative few? Were any of us to do so, we would also be condemning the majority of decent and upright men and women who have built Hospitals (including the one which has taken care of the Lovely Miss Carol in the past year), have generously given of their time and talents to assist victims of disaster both here and abroad, and who by their words and actions live their religious convictions.


The same should be said of Moslems. We should not paint them with too broad a brush due to the actions of a fanatic few. Doing so just might make enemies of those we can call friends. Yes, there are those who profess Islam who build hospitals, assist victims of disaster and live what they believe.


While I was at work on Labor Day, I caught sight in the corner of my eye a friend who lost his brother in the collapse of the WTC on 9/11. In the nearly 9 years since, I have not heard one word from this friend concerning a desire for revenge for the wrong done him. If anyone has the right to expect revenge, he does, yet he does not. He just goes on with his life, as have we all when we are trespassed against. Painful at times, indeed, but what good would be revenge in the first place?


I seem to remember reading somewhere a piece which essentially said that revenge in any form debases the person extracting that revenge more than it debases the person responsible for the original sin. Perhaps it was a different way of positing Jesus' remark about turning the other cheek...

Perhaps that preacher in Florida should read the book he intends to burn, then pray for his 'enemy'. Kill 'em with kindness... that'll confuse 'em for sure!





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Family

If there's one thing I've learned from or gained from the internet it's that we belong to a number of different families at the same time. I've known this all along at one level or another, but lately I have become acutely aware of the extent of our familial connections.

Our families evolve during our lifetimes. We see that with our own flesh and blood. Some years ago, my mother alluded to the fact that our families evolve by opining that she felt as if she at that time occupied the roles that her parents occupied just a few years past. Certainly she had her years of being a mother with young children then all of a sudden, she was holding grandchildren. The cycle continues. Now it's our turn. We're watching our own children grow and reproduce, hoping against hope that they would quit growing up already because we know that we are stepping into roles our parents had when they were our age.

We have other families, too, aside from those who are immediately around us and the several extensions of nieces, nephews, second cousins and step-children. We have a young woman working with us at Lowe's... well, really, more than one young woman, who see their fellow employees as surrogate families who have shepherded them through the various pitfalls they have encountered. For the record, we celebrate their achievements as well. Just like family. I have noticed to some degree or another that in many of the places where I have worked there have been familial ties.

One family I have been discovering more and more lately has been the family of people with whom I had attended High School. I had really not given many of those people much thought for quite some time (for which i humbly apologize), electing to cocoon myself in my own little corner pretending not to notice. Via Facebook I have rediscovered many of those people with whom I spent some of the best days of my life... and I'm starting to appreciate just how much I really miss some of those people.

How much came into focus last weekend. There have been members of our High School class who had passed on throughout the years, but it took the death of Dr. Holly Barrows to pull into sharp focus how much I appreciate some of the people I grew up with. Quite honestly, I was shocked. She was practically the girl next door. She was accepted and loved by quite a number of us for who she was and will be mourned by many just for that reason. My regret is that I have not had the chance to know her and appreciate her better.

I hope that I don't have too many more regrets. This past summer I have been making up for lost time, reconnecting with an extended family from which I have been estranged for too many years. I appreciate couples who have been loyal to each other like Jim and Debbie or Howard and Vickie. There's Kay, who has apparently had a bad relationship, but has, like me, bounced back and landed on two feet. There's the 'Harley' contingent... Don I can understand, but Jane??? (You go, girl!). For once I find myself looking forward to the next big class reunion, an event I have shut myself out of for mfffty mmfffft years. Hope I can make it.

(Photograph of young Miss Virginia and her step-grandfather courtesy of the Lovely Miss Carol)

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