I wasn’t planning on posting until tomorrow but some jackass just had to piss me off on my last day until next Friday.
The last two days I’ve been filling in doing a different job because they have yet to hire a replacement for a guy who left last SEPTEMBER! (That is a story for another day.) I had a perfect day yesterday and made it through the morning without any difficulty. I took a little walk over to Atlanta Bread for the special and then it hit me that it was time for a little paper work.
I headed to the nearest water closet and into the smaller of two empty stalls. I was greeted by an overpowering stench and what appeared to be a super sized DQ peanut buster parfait dumped in the toilet. It was either that or some lazy ass MF decided it would be funny not to, or was too stupid to, remember to flush the shitter. It was probably the same idiot who made a gallon pot of coffee on the Bunn-O-Matic yesterday and forgot to put the pot under the spout. Jesus Marimba, the kids in my wife’s MD (mentally disabled) room at school can remember to flush the toilet. Sure sometimes they don’t make it in time, but none of them have college degrees like everyone around here.
I refuse to use the larger (racquetball court) stall, so it was off to the fifth floor. I headed down the steps and took a left into the room only to find a full house. The only way back to the sixth floor is to go to the elevators because the holier-than-thou fifth floor decided it would be annoying to them if I opened the door and walked up the stairs. Because of this annoyance, they made the stairway one way, down only. (The only reason down is possible is probably due to fire codes.)
I made it back to six and down to the restroom at the far end of the building. By the time I got there all the walking made me realize I had missed my opportunity. Holy mackerel Andy the family is in trouble once I get home and find the morning newspaper.
Here are the next ten albums that changed music (numbers 51 to 60).
51) Fun House – The Stooges (1970)
52) Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970)
53) Back In The USA – MC5 (1970)
54) Live at Leeds – The Who (1970)
55) Tapestry – Carole King (1970)
56) Sticky Fingers – The Rolling Stones (1971)
57) What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971)
58) Blue – Joni Mitchell (1971)
59) Electric Warrior– T-Rex(1971)
60) Brian Jones Presents the Pan Pipes of Joujouka– The Master Musicians of Joujouka (1971 U.K. only)
I have three on LP's and none on CD. I'm surprised more each day.
The last world geography archive photo was taken near Poor Knight's Island in New Zealand on the way back from diving. Today's archive
photo is a taste from my journey around my community for tomorrow's post.
Still no movement downstairs, but our time is up.
Observations
I'd hoped to have "My World and Welcome to It Part 2" out today, but my damn job is getting in the way. I will have it out tomorrow. Instead, here are a few thoughts I've been saving up for a rainy day, which it was supposed to be today but the rain has not materialized yet.
I'm not a science fiction fan. I have seen a show here and there and the early Star Wars were pretty good. (Even though I didn't see them until they were released the second time around.) The other day I was channel surfing and I stopped on "Star Trek version 2" and LeVar Burton was talking to the Data character. I thought about how these geniuses of the final frontier made some contraption that allows LeVar to see, Data is some kind of almost human cyborg computer man, they beam people all over the universe and yet they can't make flesh-tone colored fake skin to cover Data's face. What the hell is up with that? What about a nice Pocahontas or Mike Tyson skin tone? Those not available either?
I was out on the Ohio River which has been running pretty high lately. All the rain and snow from the east has finally made it down from Pittsburgh and so has the debris. With all this talk of green this and green that, how about some simple ideas like not throwing your tires, washing machines, pop bottles and other garbage into the waterways and open areas of the country. My local refuse collection company charges me to recycle which I think is a crock of crap. Why should I pay you when I have to not only sort this stuff, but you are passing it on to be recycled? Someone somewhere is using these recyclables to save costs and I'm not a fan of subsidizing them. In Indiana it cost nothing for me to recycle. I only paid to have my garbage taken to a landfill. Oh, and a note to you smokers out there. The interstate exit ramps are not your personal trash cans. If you don't want your butts in your ashtray, what makes you think we want them on the side of our roads?
While I'm thinking about roads, the state of Kentucky is considering installing toll booths on Interstate 71/75 to cross the bridge to and from Ohio. They are considering this to help fund the replacement of the bridge which is nearing the end of its useful life. This bridge is at the bottom of the infamous cut-in-the-hill. The cut-in-the-hill is the most screwed up piece of roadway I've ever had the misfortune of traveling. Now they want to throw a bunch of booths in the way that are going to force the majority of people to come to a complete stop. Toll booths right smack at the intersection of I-71 and I-75 on its way to Florida? This is not West Virginia folks, there has to be a better way besides throwing a toll booth in the middle of a major interstate. I know one commuter that will be taking one of the other three bridges that cross into downtown.
My son recently attended his prom and is presently in the planning stage for his girlfriend's prom. (They attend different schools.) Since he is a guest at the event, he had a several page questionnaire to answer, get signed by his counselor to prove he is a student and return with a signed acknowledgement of the rules. One of the rules states that no guest can be over the age of twenty. This means a senior who is eighteen can't take someone who is three years older. Another rule states that to attend, a student must be attending high school. This means a senior who is 18 can take a freshman who is fifteen, or three years younger. I'm more worried about the fifteen and eighteen year old relationship than the eighteen and twenty.
They also don't allow dancing in a manner that imitates sexual intercourse. It's nice that they need to add that rule.
I listed my five Daily Breaders that make me think the other day. I have a great example of why I picked Jeff Kay as one of them. If you don't regularly read his stuff, take a second and enjoy this
look into his head.
Here are the next ten albums that changed music (numbers 41 to 50).
41) Sweetheart of the Rodeo – The Byrds (1968)
42) The Beatles – The Beatles (1968)
43) S.F. Sorrow – The Pretty Things (1969)
44) Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (1969)
45) Crosby, Stills and Nash – Crosby, Stills and Nash (1969)
46) Tommy – The Who (1969)
47) Stand! - Sly and The Family Stone(1969)
48) Five Leaves Left – Nick Drake (1969)
49) Trout Mask Replica – Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band (1969)
50) Let It Bleed – The Rolling Stones (1969)
I have four on LP's and none on CD. Again, there are two I have never heard of before.
The last world geography archive photo was taken in Yokosuka, Japan just outside my favorite Mom and Pop restaurant. It was my first foray into another culture's cuisine.
Here is today’s photo.
Still no rain, but our time is up.
Now That Was a Weekend
It was one of those weekends where you realize how good a weekend can be if everything just happens.
I was off Friday and decided to take a crowbar to my wallet and buy some new clothes. I bought four new shirts and two pairs of trousers at a total cost of $61.94. That is just over $10 per item which most of my co-workers know is a little on the high end for me. At least I didn’t spend $138 on a pair of jeans; wait, I’m sorry, dungarees, like my boss did recently. He said his concave ass looks terrible in anything except Lucky or Buffalo brands.
Friday night my daughter was at a friend’s house, my son was out with his girlfriend and the loving wife and I had nothing to do. We spent it driving around in the Mini looking at some $900,000 houses and then sitting along the Ohio River on a blanket drinking some cold ones and eating some cheese and crackers. We went back home, went to “bed” and got off to an early start Saturday morning.
As nice as Friday night was together, Saturday was even better spent apart. I was heading up to Ohio State for the annual Scarlet vs. Grey spring football game. Laura spent the day with my daughter and a bunch of friends from work and their daughters at a matinee showing of the Broadway show “The Lion King” followed by dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.
Laura needed to use the Saturn because it has a little more room so I had to take the Mini to Columbus. Poor ol’ me. I had the top down and the tunes cranking for the entire two hours and it was glorious. I passed a large SUV carrying a bunch of racing bikes. Take a
look at the size of the seats. If I tried to sit on one of those it would look like a big Hershey Kiss once they got me off it.
I was meeting Gary and Dem, two of my four Jolly Whaler buddies from back in high school. They were roommates at Ohio State and I spent a metric assload of time crashed on the floor or couch of their many dorm rooms, apartments and houses. I see Gary all the time but I had not seen Dem in a few years. We met at his place just north of Columbus and piled in Gary’s van and headed to campus. Gary had brought his sixteen year old son along which required me to turn off my sailor mouth. Spending a few hours with those two and I’m normally talking like a Jersey longshoreman after a night in a whorehouse. I think I only regressed once the entire afternoon and then I only said shit.
With temperatures in the low 70’s and not a cloud in the sky, the stadium was filling pretty quickly. We got some nice seats in the upper deck and sat back for an hour and tried to save five more seats. Dem had tickets for two other friends and waited outside for them. He called and informed us we would have to save five seats because his friends had two friends with them. I’m not a fan of seat saving. It didn’t look like it would be too much of a problem at first, but as game time approached the stadium was filling fast. A couple of people asked about them but we just waved our arms and told them, “Saved, this one saved, saved, saved.”
Everyone finally made it up and from there on it was glorious. There were a lot of nice plays, the band put on a good show at halftime featuring 70’s rock, (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Queen.) and of course their were college co-eds. There were two university girls in front of us in cut-off shorts and tank tops that started doing some interesting body rubbing in the second half. I’m not talking about a little stiff neck stuff either. This was some full-fledged neck, back, head and hair rubbing. It even included some light piano playing up and down the back. Let’s just say if I was a teenager I would be adding another short to the memory film vault.
After three hours in the sun with over 75,000 other fans, we hopped back into the van and did a little tour of the campus to check out some old haunts. As we were heading up the street, a police/security/traffic patrolman tried to give Gary a late, you must turn right, hand signal. We all thought he was signaling the car behind us and Gary continued on straight almost side-swiping the guy. We pulled ahead until again stopped by traffic and this is when you could hear the patrolman screaming at us. He was chasing us from the intersection and finally caught up to us as Gary rolled down his window. He started screaming at Gary, “Didn’t you see me signal you? I told you to turn back there. Did you think you were going to get away from me?" I started to laugh because the guy had only run about twenty yards and he was all excited and out of breath. It didn’t help any that he also was the splitting image of
Wilford Brimley.
Oh, did I mention that Gary had his sixteen year old son with him? This is his sixteen year old son who just got his driver’s license two weeks ago. Wilford let us continue on after his tirade but I’m sure he’ll be telling guys back at the station the story of running down, on foot, this whippersnapper in a minivan for the next few years. Hell, we discussed it five times before heading home. We continued our campus tour only to have Dem point out that most of where we used to hang out had either changed or been torn down. We did swing by Singing Dog records which allowed me to take this
photo to add to the archives. Singing Dog and Magnoilia Thunderpussy are the two main reasons I’m not retired today. I alone kept them in business for at least five years.
Food was next on our agenda and since Gary lives in a Hooter-free town, that’s where we went. We had a fine meal, a fair waitress and a lot of laughs. We saw a number of people who sat on the opposite side of the stadium from us and spent the entire afternoon looking at the sun. All of their faces were scorched and they had raccoon rings from their sunglasses.
I managed to end the meal old style by knocking over a glass of water that Gary avoided only because of his cat-like reflexes. I then screwed both of them out of a dollar when we decided to throw in $25 each. I took their cash and charged the bill to my Discover Card but then only added enough tip to total $73. Sorry guys, it was an honest mistake.
The drive back was quick and all I’ve got to show for the trip is the ticket stub and two bright red, sun scorched legs. (I left my free commemorative program in the damn van after spending three hours making sure some idiot didn’t pour a pop on it.) I slept like a baby and was ready to get after some house work Sunday morning.
Sunday started on a bad note when I tried to open my free box of Kellogg’s (K E double L, oh double good) Smart Start. I failed to get a successful opening on either end even though I took my time and tried to be as careful as possible. The bag now looks like the dog tried to open it. This photo with another letter will be on its way to Battle Creek this week. No freebies this time, I hoping for a Tupperware container to hold this shit.
I had a big hit list of things to do around the house and finished every one of them. I did end up with a nose that looks like the guy in the Operation game and a neck that looks like raw hamburger, but I'm done.
Here are the next ten albums that changed music (numbers 31 to 40).
31) Are You Experienced– The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)
32) Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967)
33) Something Else By The Kinks – The Kinks (1968)
34) Forever Changes – Love (1968)
35) Truth – Jeff Beck (1968)
36) Cheap Thrills – Big Brother and the Holding Company (1968)
37) In–A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly (1968)
38) Music From The Big Pink – The Band (1968)
39) The Basement Tapes – BobDylan and The Band (1975)
40) Wheels of Fire – Cream (1968)
I have two on LP's and one on CD. What the heck, I was only seven or eight when most of these came out.
The last world geography archive photo was taken in Perth, Scotland.
Here is today’s photo.
Sorry this was so long; I know I lost Mr. President half a page ago. Our time is up.
Thank You, Thank You Very Much
Thanks to the
Mayor of Spiffytown, I have this wonderful award and finally found a tagline. The genius of everyone in my daily bread continues to amaze me. I've never claimed to be a genius, a mover/shaker, a comedian or a writer. But dang gone I sure as hell consider myself a thinker.
According to the participation rules I'm supposed to write about and link five posts that make me think. This may be a little different for me since I began doing this at the request of my therapist and it took me a while to find people I could relate to and begin to develop ways to express my anger.
Anyway, here are five people who make me think.
Jeff Kay: "The State of My Fat Ass" says it all. One of two recommended to me by Dr. Melfi, it was like I was reading about my life if I grew up in a small town and had a big 'ol head of hair when I was younger. Wait a second, I did grow up in a small town and I had a big 'ol head of hair. The irritations of everyday life and not putting up with the crap they try to shove down your throat is what I'm all about and what Jeff waxes poetically about with the most bizarre sense of humor.
Erica: Hell, all I had to do was see her profile photo to know I had found my anger management soul mate. This was the second site recommended to me by Dr. Melfi. From toasters to progressive rock, she covers it all. To top it off, she is a wonderful writer. Erica is the first blog that I took the time to read every archived post. I'm working on the rest of you daily breaders as time allows.
Mark: This is how I wish my blog would read and look. Mark is the tall, thin, well written, politically correct and computer literate version of me. The bizarro-blitz. For those non-Seinfeld fans, that is the bizarro world version of me. His subject matter is relevant and written in a manner that makes me think he actually has the ability to organize his thoughts before writing them down for us to read. Then there are his fictional stories and the photos that just blow me away!
Karen My family is the top priority in my life. I make an effort to be involved in my children's lives. Karen is the same except she is in Wisconsin and isn't mad at the world. She is the mom I wish I could be if I wore a skirt.
Mist1: How can you not like and appreciate a person who is so funny and positive day after day after day. She makes me think that if I look hard enough, I will find that silver lining somewhere. She is the chamomile tea to my cup of acid.
The participation rules of the award are simple:1) Optional: If, and only if you feel like it and you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2) Optional: Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3) Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.
I'm making participation optional because most of you have probably already been tagged and not everyone likes to do a meme. I only did it because I do appreciate the five and it was the Mayor who chose me. (You know how I respect the wishes of government officials.)
Speaking of government officials, I had a visit from the local Fire Department's hydrant inspector. I called last week to discuss the hydrant access violation I received in the mail. I was told the person in charge of the inspections would not be back on shift until a few days later and he would be left a message to call me.
He called last Sunday around 2 p.m. I had to sit around the house waiting for the call of course, there was no way I was missing it. He gave me the usual government run around about how there isn’t time to look at individual situations and crap like that. I told him I would be taking the case to district court and he could tell his captain that unless he wanted to come out and talk to me, I had no other recourse.
The Lieutenant said that it was his responsibility and if I really wanted, he would drive over and look at my hydrant. Forty-five minutes later there was bright red fire truck sitting in front of the house. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on. He still gave me the “oh, those hostas could grow five feet tall and the Wandering Jews could wander here and there. About this time my neighbor, who owns half of the area, wandered over. His sister and brother-in-law are both firefighters for one of the local departments and he recognized the Lieutenant right away.
We all finally came to the conclusion that there presently was not an issue. I agreed to remove everything forward of a line drawn through the center of the hydrant in case they suddenly grew like Jack’s beanstalk and blocked the hydrant.
Here is how it looks now:
We plan to install a few large decorative rocks. The chance of one of those growing and blocking the hydrant are pretty slim.
Here are the next ten albums that changed music (numbers 21 to 30).
21) Fifth Dimension – The Byrds (1966)
22) Revolver – The Beatles (1966)
23) Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme – Simon and Garfunkel (1966)
24) ’66-’67 – The Creation (A compilation from 1973, UK only)
25) The Doors – The Doors (1967)
26) More of the Monkees – The Monkees
27) I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You – Aretha Franklin (1967)
28) Happy Trails – Quicksilver Messenger Service (1969)
29) The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
30) Tim Hardin 2 – Tim Hardin (1967)
Boy, I missed out on some of these. The Creation? Tim Hardin? I own three on LP’s, two on CD.
The last world geography archive photo was kind of a goof. It was taken on the south shore of the island of Guam, which is actually a U.S. territory.
Here is today’s world geography archive photo.
Today is my last day until I work my last two field days of the year next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Our time is up.
My World and Welcome to It - Part 1 - Work
I've always imagined what the lives of those people I read are really like. What do they do for a living? Who do they work for and what is their workplace like? Where do they live and what is the community like?
Originally this blog was written without the knowledge of most of the people I know. Since some of my biggest issues were with neighbors and co-workers, it seemed best to keep it that way. One day a friend, completely by accident, let the cat out of the bag and it forever changed The Snob Log. Since I started this as a way to limit the number of actual confrontations I have, it made no sense to write about these people in this forum. Now that everyone I associate with knows this is all about me, I thought I'd open it up a little for the rest of my constant readers. Over the next few days I’m going to give you an inside look at how I work, live and play. Today we’ll take a look at work.
I presently work for Duke Energy in our Midwest Regulated Generation Operations. I’m required to work a rotating shift, eleven hour days and thirteen hour nights. I control our generation units based on prices in the market and how you the consumer use the power. Normally there are two people on each shift. We are presently short staffed, even more so now that the Colonel gave his two weeks notice. Often a contributor of long winded comments that required their own blogger site, the Colonel and his lovely wife are moving back to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. He is going into the insurance business and she is joining a new medical practice. Somehow the Colonel married himself a doctor and yet he is sick all the time. It makes one wonder.
With the Colonel leaving, I now have the opportunity to work by myself on nights and weekends. When I first started in this business I worked alone and I'm looking forward to doing it again. It's a great schedule, as you can see
here. The colored blocks are the days I work, I'm off all the white blocks. The days with red numbers are holidays and if I work those I get double time, even though I'm a salaried employee. Saaaaaaaaweeeeeeeeet!
Here is the desk I work at and share with the four other shift individuals. (Posted with the permission of my boss.) There is plenty to keep your eye on and keep a person busy. (That's an autographed, Kristina Abernathy of the Weather Channel, 8x10 in the frame to the left.)
(Click on photos to enlarge.)
To the right of our desk is one of many televisions on the floor that are connected to DirecTV. We usually watch Bloomberg, CNN, or MSNBC. (I'm not sure why it looks like golf is on in this photo.)
This is the view from our window to the north. You can see Proctor and Gamble's headquarters behind the church tower and the W&S parking garage in the foreground.
To the south you can just sneak a peak at the Great American Ballpark, home of the Cincinnati Reds.
This is the view we used to enjoy before government requirements made us split our generation assets and build a wall. You can see the pitcher's mound through the third base gap and the Roebling Suspension Bridge to the right. It was designed by the same man who designed the Brooklyn Bridge. This was his prototype.
In this photo you can see the Underground Railroad Museum and Freedom Center and Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Since we are stuck in here by ourselves on nights and weekends, we are pretty much at the mercy of what we can bring in and heat up in the microwave or on the George Foreman grill when it comes to meals. There is a Wendy's and a Skyline Chili across the street, but their hours are pretty lame for a major metropolitan area. On our Tuesday and Thursday of night run we have a planned dinner that we share.
On Tuesday night I bring in jalapeno cheese metts from
German Cuisine LLC, the best little German meat market in the world. The butcher, Stefan Neumann, reminds me of Hansel in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Bewitched Bunny". His meat rocks our world.
These are the metts.
Metts on the Foreman.
A jalapeno cheese mett ready to eat.
On Wednesday we breathe.
On Thursday Mr. President stops at the Sub Galley to pick up the special. The Sub Galley is an old man dive bar just off the campus of the University of Cincinnati. If you ever walked in the place you would never touch the food. Yet, once you've tried the special you'd eat it off the floor if that was how it was served. It is that good. It is made by a little Korean lady whose hot sauce is the best. Mmmm good.
The special all wrapped, $3.45
The special unwrapped and heated. (I like mine cold.)
Immediately before an orgasm for the taste buds.
Thanks to Mr. President for the food photos.
So there you go. That was a little overview of life at work. I will continue with more peeks into my world in the next few days.
Here are the next ten albums that changed music (numbers 11 to 20). To clear up some confusion, these are listed as they are in the book from the oldest to newest. It is not a ranking, but a list.
11) Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf (1962)
12) The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1963)
13) Night Beat- Sam Cooke (1963)
14) A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles (1964)
15) Highway 61 Revisted- Bob Dylan (1965)
16) Going to a Go-Go - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (1965)
17) Aftermath - The Rolling Stones (1966)
18) Blonde on Blonde- Bob Dylan (1966)
19) Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (1966)
20) Freak Out!- The Mothers of Invention(1967)
I have two on LP's, one on CD.
The last U.S. geography archive photo was taken at Kaena Point on Oahu, Hawaii. Only accessible by four wheel drive or hiking, it is the most northwestern point of the island and home to some enormous waves. Today is the first day of the world geography photo archives. Here is the
photo.
Fire hydrant update tomorrow, today our time is up.
Give Me a Break
We received a letter today from the Union Emergency Services Alliance concerning the fire hydrant on our property. The letter states, “The fire hydrant on your property is obstructed to the point it would inhibit the fire departments use in the event of a structure fire. The department also needs access to the hydrant for hose connections and operating the fire hydrant.”
Here is a photo of the hydrant in our front yard.
As you can see, it would be impossible to attach a hose to the hydrant. My goodness, is the hydrant even visible? Oh, wait. There it is right there. It is the big yellow thing that is obstructed by nothing.
The letter also states that no obstruction, including but not limited to landscaping, overgrowth, walls and fences are permitted within a 10 foot radius. So, say I decide to move all the plants within 10 feet, which is everything, what about the large utility box directly behind the shrubs? Will Duke Energy need to move that? A large high voltage electrical enclosure next to a device that sprays copious amounts of water seems more of a safety issue than our landscaping.
We have been given ten days to remove the obstructions or the Fire Chief will file a complaint. If the District Court rules there is a violation, the Fire Chief is authorized to order his Fire Department to remove the obstruction.
Better get your shovels out boys.
I found this in the street in front of the house on Monday:
I thought for sure it belonged to George Costanza. It was packed so full of crap it would not close. There was not a single credit card or any money in the wallet. It was full of scraps of paper, coupons, notes and other crap. There was a state ID, but no driver’s license. I spent the next couple hours trying to get a message to this guy. I called every number in his wallet, searched the phone book and internet, but no luck. The closest I came was some old lady who told me to mail it to her, she’d take it. I asked if she knew him and could get it to him and she replied, “No, but I’ll take it off your hands.”
The next day I was going to the post office and stopped at the Union Town Hall, which also happens to house a County Sheriff satellite office. I told my story to the desk clerk and asked if she would take it and try to get it back to the owner. She refused. She didn’t want the responsibility. WTF? She told me since I had an address that I should take it to him or mail it. I then asked if I lost my wallet and someone tried to turn it in, would she refuse it too? She said yes. Another fine example of my tax dollars at work.
I turned and walked out. When I told this story to my buddy Gordie, he told me I should have thrown it in the nearest trash can right there in front of her. I need to start calling him from now on when I expect these kinds of problems. These little gems are useless after the fact.
I was driving to the other side of town to pick up some stuff for work this week. As I drove past the local funeral home, I noticed a banner on the front of the building. I immediately turned around and took this photo:
One hundred years is a long time for a business to operate. They should be proud of all the years they have been providing this service to the community. But you know what? That sign would bother me if I was on my way in to bury a family member. I don’t really want to think about you celebrating 100 years of preparing people for their dirt nap. How about a nice little ad in the local newspaper or an article about all those wonderful years?
I forgot to bring in the next ten of the 100 Songs That Changed Music so I will have to post those next time. (Sorry Brenda.)
The last geography archive photo was of the floating bridge to Sunset Beach, North Carolina. It is the last swing style floating bridge on the east coast of the United States. Here is today's
photo. It is the last for our study of U.S. Geography.
I’m done workin’ for the weekend. Our time is up.
A Few Favorites Part 2: Music
Here are five albums (Yea, yea I know. I still call them albums.) I would take with me if that was all the music I was allowed on a trip to Mars and back. I decided to limit myself to studio albums but plan on doing a live album version in the future.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - GenesisThe first double album I ever owned. I remember sitting in a bean bag chair in my room with a neon Stroh's beer light on while sucking back a couple-six
Little King's Cream Ale. A concept album played by accomplished musicians with the unusual lyrics based on a story by Peter Gabriel. I never get tired of listening to the music on this one.
On Every Street - Dire StraitsThe guitar, it's all about the guitar. This was a hard pick since
Sultans of Swing is not on it, but Mark Knopfler's guitar work is plain ridiculous on every song. Layered in, around and on top of his guitar work is pedal steel player Paul Franklin. Just listen to the closing section of the song
On Every Street to see what I mean.
Under The Table and Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band Again it seems that much of the music I really like is performed by accomplished musicians. If you want a strong band you need a great rhythm section. If you have never seen Carter Beauford play drums you haven't seen one of the best. His instructional DVD is amazing to watch. (Once you get past his talking. Let's just say he'd never make it at a Toastmaster's meeting.) This is my daughter's favorite song on the DVD. (His stick swapping at the end drives her nuts.)
Houses of The Holy - Led ZeppelinThe definition of a power quartet. I remember mom not wanting to hear them around the house. One of the few groups she couldn't tolerate. "To loud, it sounded like they were trying to make a ruckus." she would say. I listen now and realize it was all just blues based rock and not heavy metal as I think of heavy metal today. I bought this album on cassette with my first paycheck in boot camp. The next six weeks were just a little better because I had a small part of the outside, inside.
Cosmic Messenger - Jean-Luc PontyMy favorite modern jazz musician. You have to take something to relax the mind. Also, it's the loving wife's and my favorite make out album. (You never know when a female astronaut is going to develop a crush on you.)
This was anything but easy. Once I finished, it seemed like a good day to begin a new feature.
Brenda asked if I might list the albums from the book the
100 Albums That Changed Music. I figured why the hell not. It's just the list and if you are a true music fanatic you will want to buy the book and read about each of the albums anyway. Hell, it's free advertizing. Here are numbers 1 through 10:
- Dust Bowl Ballads - Woodie Guthrie (1940)
- Hank Williams Sings - Hank Williams (1951)
- Shake, Rattle & Roll - Bill Haley and his Comets (1955)
- Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)
- Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1958)
- Buddy Holly - Buddy Holly (1958)
- Chuck Berry is on Top - Chuck Berry (1959)
- Muddy Waters at Newport 1960 - Muddy Waters (1960)
- King of the Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson (1961)
- Show Case - Patsy Cline (1961)
I have two of the ten in LP format, none in CD format.
Yesterday's archive photo was from the time I lived in North Chicago. It is not
Picasso's Chicago on Daley Plaza as many people think but
Calder's Flamingo on the Federal Center Plaza. There. You. Go. Here is today's
photo.
Hump day and our time is up.
Book Description
Dear Rich,
I am so glad I popped in and read this entry! Wow. The West guys really have not processed the reality that the electronic products have exactly as much cost as the print ones and that they have been riding free on the back of print.
I don't know if you saw my e-mail to law lib-dir-l about asking the Boston law firm librarian community about whether they are keeping print. THEY ARE; what print they have now, they are planning to keep. Every single person who responded and I had dozens of responses. We were speaking of statutes, and occasionally of reporters, to be specific.
I plan to keep the print in my law school library -- the way research is taught at Suffolk, we rely on the print, and need a wide variety to accommodate a large number of sections at once. Give 'em hell, Rich!