Tuesday, December 11, 2012

FINALLY!

SWMBO got her wish yesterday as we picked up our new car.


It is a brand new 2013 Nissan Altima and it has more bells and whistles than a spaceship.  Heated steering wheel, heated seats, XM radio, temperature controls that can be adjusted separately for the driver and front passenger seats.  SWMBO spent much of last evening reading the Quick Reference Guide.  I haven't begun yet other than to learn how to open the trunk.  Judging from the size of the manual that came with the car, it will be a learning experience that goes on and on.  It's our first new car since we bought a 1986 Volkswagen Quantum station wagon.  The best part so far?  That new car smell!

I'm about to take my first drive in it.  SWMBO drove it home yesterday and said she loved it.

Like today's Gratuitous Critter I'm a little bit in awe of it.


Saturday, December 8, 2012

THE YEARS PASS BY . . .

Several lifetimes ago . . . actually it was in 1969, only 43 years ago . . . I moved from my native North Dakota to Indianapolis to take a job as a news reporter at a radio station.  A few months later a young man was hired.  We became colleagues and good friends in the only three years that we worked together.  Then I moved on to Phoenix, Arizona and found a job with a television station.  I spent 15 years there before, having come into some money, my wife and I moved to Mexico.  About five years later I moved to Austin, Texas and after a couple of years back to Arizona, where I've been ever since.

My friend spent all of his working career in Indianapolis, moving to a couple of televison stations, then running a company he founded doing independent television production, then back to yet another television station as the news director.  He retired (sort of) a few years ago and moved to California.

My friend is Tom Cochrun, who oversees his blog Tender Whispers.  No, wait, that's not it.  I'm really old now and I forget things.  It's called Light Breezes.  Well that could be Tender Whispers, couldn't it?

A few years ago (everything seems to happen "a few years ago" in my aged state) Tom sent me a package of letters I had written to him and his lovely and talented artist wife, Lana, beginning in 1972 and running up to 1987.  Then the fine and gentle art of letter writing was ruined by the advent of the Internet.  Long, thoughtful (Ha!  Who am I kidding?) letters were subsumed (fine word - subsumed) and replaced by short, inane emails.

But back to that packet of letters.  I have just finished a two-day reading of them and I was stunned by the verbosity, by the hubris, by the near-constantly changing moods, by the pie-in-the-sky dreams of freelance writing, of candle shops, of joint projects, of publications we would create, thus confounding those around us and spewing forth political dicta (fine word - dicta) that only we were wise enough to see.

Ah, youth.  But as Tom noted there was also wild, crazy, zany humor in these letters, overinflated talk of our use of booze and drugs (We were Hunter Thompson before Hunter Thompson was cool!), paranoia about what the government knew about us in the godawful Days of Nixon.  But always talk of love, of brotherhood.  It is rare in these days of movement around the country for two men, youngsters growing old, to maintain a friendship over 43 years.  But we have.  Over time we have gotten together for adventure (who can forget that Democrat Mini-Convention in 1974) and just for fun. As one friend of Tom's used to drawl:  "Beeee-zaaaahhhrrr!"

I shall maintain possession of these crazed documents for the time being.  As suggested by Tom when he sent them back to me "whoever lasts the longest should have the right of possession."  Thanks for hanging onto them, buddy!  (Actually he said something more like "If you die before I do, these had better come back to me!")

(Kinda sounds like a love story, don't it?)

Which brings me to today's Gratuitous Critter photo.


"Two old lions growing old but staying in touch"

Friday, December 7, 2012

JUST ANOTHER SUNNY DAY


This is one of the reasons I like living in Arizona.  I snapped this photo early this morning as I was running out to buy a paper.  It's December 7th, there is no snow and the sun is shining.

Of course there are others who don't agree with me.  An article the other day said the states has been in drought for 15 years now.  But this little town keeps growing (housing starts are up) and new businesses are opening and the constant question remains "How do people make a living here?"

Sort of hidden, there are several large employers here and I expect a lot of people work in them.  Their salaries apparently keep the service industry going as more and more restaurants (mostly fast food types) keep opening.

But back to the weather.  It's just past 11 a.m. now and the temperature is 46.  The high today is forecast at 64.  There's no snow.

And it's December 7th.

I hope you're happy wherever you are.

Oops, I've been letting you down recently without my Gratuitous Critter photos.  Let's see what we've got for today.

Ah, how about this one.


"Good to the last drop!"

Thursday, December 6, 2012

HOW HIGH IS IT?????

SWMBO bought a new bed yesterday.  The guys came and delivered it and set it up today.  When they left and she looked at it, she said "It's so high!"


Yes, it is.  With the rolling frame on the bottom, then the box spring, then the mattress . . . this sucker must sit nearly three feet off the floor.  I told her she'd need a stepladder to climb up into it.  But she said, other than the oxygen deprivation, it is comfortable.

Meantime, Blackwell was just trying to see if he'd fit under the behemoth.


Sweet dreams up there!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

DAVE BRUBECK R.I.P.

It's a sad day for jazz fans.  News came that the legendary pianist Dave Brubeck has died at the age of 91.  He was the leader of the Dave Brubeck Quartet for many years and that was how I first saw him.

I was a college student in North Dakota in the 1950's and learned that the Quartet was performing at a Minnesota college a little more than a hundred miles away.  I had to go see him.

I can still remember at one point during the concert, his saxaphone player Paul Desmond put down his horn and left the stage.  Then the bassist, Eugene Wright, left.  Then Brubeck stopped playing, turned around and leaned back against the piano as the drummer, Joe Morello, played a very lengthy solo.  Finally Brubeck turned around and began adding chords and the other two players returned and finished out the number.  Sure, it was a little bit schmaltzy but it was effective.  The crowd loved it.

Now the rest of the story, as someone used to say on the radio.

I was the co-editor of my college newspaper.  I managed to get backstage to meet the legend by telling one of the guards that I was "the editor of the newspaper" and wanted to interview Brubeck.  I was amazed when he showed me to the area where the Quartet was preparing for the concert.  And Brubeck graciously gave me an interview.



Once that was done he and Paul Desmond posed for a photo with me (in my very collegiate sweater vest) and my co-conspirator, Phil Perry.


Needless to say, we were thrilled to meet our idols and, yes, I did do an article based on the interview.

I attended at least two more Brubeck concerts over the years and always loved his music.  But that first time was a real treat.  Brubeck was a musical genius, I believe, and I'll miss him.  From a performance a few years after I originally saw the group, here's one of their most famous pieces from that era - "Take Five".



Monday, December 3, 2012

CHANGES . . . IN OUR TIME

Remember the old Yellow Cabs?  Or the black British cabs?  All it took was a glance to know that was a taxi.  But nowadays?  Apparently they can be any color under the rainbow.


And while I'm at it, Taco Bell doesn't look the same anymore either!

(grump, grump, grump)

Sunday, December 2, 2012

SHEEEE . . . . IT!

Well, that didn't work so we're going to have to go back to the old system, folks.  I'm really sorry but there's just no other way that I know.

Some advice.  Take it slowly and just look at one letter at a time.  If that doesn't work, just put in anything and the tool will give you another word.  Sometimes the second or third one is easier than the first.

I apologize.  God knows I'm sorry but I just have to do this.

Stay with me.  Please.  I need you.

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NO, WAIT!  I may have another solution.  This one requires me to approve comments.  I'll try that.  Hang in there.