1127 happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Since my readership is down to about a dozen, I think I know who some of you are. But it’s just a guess, since the comments keep throwing me off.

By now, I think I’ll be digging into a Thanksgiving feast, although I kinda lost my appetite while watching the KCAL 9 News on Wednesday night. Jackie Johnson and Christina McLarty were in a kitchen, making a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner. They thought they were cooking a turkey, but acknowledged on the air that what they were cooking didn’t have legs or wings, something I’ll look for when sitting down at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner.

After that I’ll relax with some holiday TV, since I won’t need to rest up for Black Friday shopping.

I thought about letting my friends know that my handicapped parking placard was considerably under-used this year, but with the down economy, parking at the malls shouldn’t be too stressful.

So Friday should be fairly quiet. Maybe I’ll spend some time on Facebook.

1125 kodak moment

Photobombing is the act of getting in someone else’s photo, whether intentional or not. Usually, an intentional photobomber will get into the background of someone else’s photo, which is easy to do, since the photographer is not usually looking at the background. Only when the photo is reviewed (sometimes just a few seconds later with digital cameras) will the intruder be seen. By then, it is usually too late to retake the photo, especially if the subject or subjects were candid.

Then there’s the unintentional photobomber, who is included in the photo only because the photographer didn’t check his or her field of vision first. After all, the photographer should be aware of what he or she is photographing. Or not?

Take a look at the photo below. Kind of makes you wonder if the couple were aware of the third person, doesn’t it?

1120 how do you get down off an elephant?

It’s the start of a joke that I didn’t get when I was a kid. The punchline? You don’t get down off an elephant, you get down off a duck. My parents had to explain this one to me several times. I finally got it when I received a down jacket for Christmas.

A friend sent me an e-mail today about nuances in the English language and how we abuse it. So let me just share it. Without further ado, here it is ....


Lovers of the English language might enjoy this. It is yet another example of why people learning English have trouble with the language. Learning the nuances of English makes it a difficult language. But then, that's probably true of many languages.

There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now ........ my time is UP, so time to shut UP!

Oh...one more thing:What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?

U P

Don't screw up. Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book.Now I'll shut up

PS: UP also means United Parcel. Go figure.
PPS: Thought this was too long? UP yours! LOL!

1118 lifting a weight off my shoulders ... sort of

Okay, not a real weight, but I did get a haircut. Shave is more accurate. I’ll let you be the judge. Check out the “before” and “after” photos.

1117 it’s not rocket science .... is it?

I received an e-mail from a friend about a study by researchers at Oxford University that compiled the ten most irritating phrases in the English language. They are, in order of obnoxiousness:

1) at the end of the day
2) fairly unique
3) I personally
4) at this moment in time
5) with all due respect
6) absolutely
7) it’s a nightmare
8) shouldn’t of
9) 24/7
10) it’s not rocket science

I know that I’m guilty of using all of these phrases in my use of the language. Absolutely!

1113 my new other right foot

Today, I received a new AFO (ankle-to-foot orthotic) that will give me better support without being so containing. It consists of a footbed. a knee strap, and two metal arms that connect the two. I’ll let you know how it works out.

1110 just a thought

I was just thinking about this after a woman friend had some relationship issues. So I just wanted to post it in case I need to repeat it in the future.

This is just my personal opinion. It’s not the result of a scientific or psychological study. It’s just something I thought about after several experiences. It’s not universal, so it won’t apply with every situation or everybody. That’s sort of a disclaimer.

If I bounce around on the tenses, sorry.

When a guy says “I need space” it’s just that. He needs space. It’s not something that someone could put a timeframe on. It may take a couple of days or a couple of weeks. We guys are not wired the same way that women are, so it’s easy to see that women would find this behavior confusing, and many would take it personally.

Generally, women are socially adept. Much of this goes back to early childhood, where young girls were socializing with other young girls, and sharing information about young boys. Young boys, however, were taught strength (personal, emotional, and physical) and individuality, so they kept much to themselves. Sure, they had friends. But only one or two that they could confide in with their deepest secrets.

This behavior (both genders) continued into adulthood. Women found socializing easy, while men were challenged by it (and often confused by it). Women shared secrets with ”gal pals” and exchanged info every time they met. Many times, an “outing” or “brunch” or “spa day” was just an opportunity to exchange information and get feedback on something that was being pondered.

Men, however, are generally socially inept. When they get together in small groups, the conversation involves sports, weather, business, or recent events. They don’t share personal information because they see it as a sign of weakness. That’s where the phrase, “That’s TMI, dude!” came from.

When a woman enters a man’s life and he starts to get strong feelings towards her, he has no one that he feels comfortable with to talk with about these feelings. Women, on the other hand, have already established a support-system with their “gal pals”, so all she needs to do is fill-in the blanks.

A man will tell a woman that “he needs space.” Women can be confused by this because they don’t understand why men can’t talk with other men, the same way that they talk with other women.

What it means is that the woman has become so much a part of his life, that he has to step back and see how much she has impacted his life. Ladies, this is a good thing. Well, usually. You see, it takes time to see how much someone has impacted your life when you see what life is like without the other person around. Many of the things that you did by yourself is now something that feels uncomfortable and/or unnatural when done alone.

In most cases, the man contacts the woman to find out if he can “fix” what he has done. Because most of the time, the woman takes it personally and blames herself for his saying “I need space.” It’s just something that he needs to do.

Women, the worst thing that you can do is establish a deadline or make an ultimatum. The man needs time and any pressure on the situation can be easily be resolved by ending the relationship. It’s a quick way (and sometimes dangerous) to make the pressure disappear. It doesn’t always happen that way, but it’s easier to do it that way. Sometimes, guys look for the “easy way out”.

However, in very few of the cases, the man finds little impact by the woman on his life and ends the relationship “before it gets messy”. Unfortunately, this man is unaware or oblivious (or both) to the damage he’s caused and it’s already “messy”.

Anyways, that’s my two-bits.

PS. If the “space” thing takes over a month, a deadline might be needed. But be ready for him to look for the exit.

1107 camping

My niece and older nephew came by for a visit today, along with their nanny. I was told that my brother-in-law took my youngest nephew on a weekend camping trip with the Indian Guides. My parents reminded me about my very first camping trip, which I’ll share with you now.

It was about thirty-seven years ago. It was my first weekend camp-out as a new Scout. I had just “graduated” from my Cub Scout pack the month before, so I wasn’t even a Tenderfoot yet. Fortunately, it was at a Scout Reservation in Long Beach, so I wasn’t very far from “civilization”.

My father dropped me off and I headed for the check-in table. There were some senior scouts at the table, giving directions. It was a Camp-o-Ree of about 50 troops, so it was easy to get “lost”.
I saw two friends of mine, Scott and Eddie. I knew both from grade school and we came up through cub scouts together. They looked at me and asked if I was ready. I told them I was, so we went to check-in together.

The scouts at the table asked me if this was my first camp-out. I said that it was, but how did they know. They just laughed and told us to wait, as one of our troop’s leaders was nearby.

Sure enough, our scoutmaster emerged a minute later and asked if we were ready for a fun weekend. We told him we were. He looked at my feet, sighed loudly, and said, “I’ve got to talk to your mother.”

I looked down. At Scott and Eddie’s feet were two fully-loaded backpacks. At my feet was a fully-loaded suitcase.

1106 a different meaning for "chance of showers"

During the campaign, Barack Obama was linked to Weatherman William Ayers, who was a domestic terrorist in the 1970s. It made me think about growing up with the weathermen on the nightly news stations. People like Dr. George Fishbeck and Fritz Coleman.

Those days are gone, since the weather reports today are given by women. The major exception is KABC, which still uses Dallas Raines and Johnny Mountain. I have a friend who lives in Dallas Raines’ neighborhood, and watches him leave for work every day. Sometimes, Dallas has a jacket on a sunny day. That’s when my friend makes sure that there’s a jacket in the car that day.

I didn’t realize the evolution of women doing the weather forecasts until a friend sent me a link for the “Hottest Weathergirls on TV”. It also made me remember that at one time I wanted to be involved in weather prediction.

When I was a teenager, the ABC Saturday evening lineup was “Fantasy Island”, “Love Boat”, and “Love, American Style” “Love, American Style” was a collection of mini-episodes (about 15-20 minutes long) that dealt with mature subject matter. So my parents forbade me to watch it. Which, as a teenager, made it more important to try and see it.

One of the segments I saw involved a single guy in his apartment when he heard a noise outside his door. He opened the door and found a beautiful girl in a silver lame outfit that hugged her curves. He invited her in and offered her a glass of water, which she accepted.

As he was getting the water, she told him that she was from another planet and was sent to explore Earth. He didn’t believe her, but gave her the glass of water.

As she started to drink the water, she started choking. He responded by patting her back to help clear her throat. She demanded to know why he did that, since they hardly knew each other. He said that she was choking and he was helping her to clear her throat. She responded by saying that it was how the people on her planet reproduce.

After the shocked look on his face, she asked how people on Earth reproduce. He whispered something in her ear. She responded by saying, “Oh, that’s how my people predict the weather.”

It was then that I realized that my future was in meteorology.