Monday Meanderings - 09.29.2014

Fall is officially here. That means only 30 or so more days of Summer.

We were watching the UT women in a soccer match against Texas Tech the other evening, and the Tech coach was constantly yelling. He loudly called out instructions to his players, criticism to the officials and general expressions of his discontent throughout the game. We kept expecting some response from one of his team. sort of like back in the Youth Soccer days, when one player, who shall remain nameless, turned to her vocal mother in the stands, who shall remain nameless, and said, loudly, "Mother! Shut Up!"

Barb and I are not the only Monday evening regulars at Chuy's. There is a group of four women that we see regularly; so much so, that we now exchange greetings each week. Last Monday there were only two, so they felt obliged to tell us the other two were off on a cruise, but they would be back next week.

Barb's phone is beginning to have problems. It's several years old and a few models back, so I decided it was time to upgrade. Others had commented that it was a pretty straightforward process, so we dropped by the AT&T Store the other day, old phones in hand, ready to get it done.

After first trying to:
  - interest us in U-Verse
  - interest us in a home security system
  - sign us up for AT&T land line telephone instead of our current carrier
Sean, as his name tag proudly stated, told us that they didn't actually have any new iPhone 6s in stock but we could take care of everything now and we would receive the phones in a couple of weeks and we would be all set.

Except his trusty iPad that he used for all of the transactions was sort of slow...and it wasn't giving him the expected results...and after consulting with two other clerks...and a supervisor...and spending an hour and a half... he announced that couldn't exactly upgrade our phones and our billing plan to what we had agreed upon, but he did have us signed up for another, more expensive plan, BUT... all we had to do was come back to the store when we got our phones... in 45 days... and THEN he could get us set up on the agreed upon plan.

I kept looking around for Lily, the woman in the AT&T TV ads that solves everyone's problems, while Barb went looking for a manager to tell him that he might want to step in because she feared that I might possibly do something with Sean and his alternative plan that wasn't covered in the training manuals.

All in all, I thought I behaved very well, but I doubt if the manager ever before had to write out and sign a handwritten statement that said Sean's deal was NOT the real deal, and spell out what the agreement was going to be, if, and when we ever receive the new phones.

More reasons women outlive men

Oh, the irony!

Never give a safety engineer a knife.

How is that even supposed to work?

Nothing at all.

Ah, electricity.

What?

Of course newspaper will protect your eyes.

This was almost okay until it wasn't.

No idea electricians went to circus school.

Who needs a jack?

In what universe is this a good idea?

I can't even caption this.

Notice that the guy's foot is in a puddle of water.

This is not going to end well.

Balancing act.

What are friends for?

Flammable must mean "If you got 'em, smoke 'em."

I'd pay money to see one guy step off.

Monday Meanderings - 9.22.2014

Yay! Rain. The new rain gauge got a workout this past week; nearly 3 inches accumulated over several days. It has been a long time since we have enjoyed a rainy day.

And the frogs are back. Not sure where they go doing the dry spells, but after a couple of days of rain they are croaking and peeping on the patio. One of them sounds like the smoke detector low-battery chirp. Sort of drives you crazy. Was the hall detector, or the frog again?

Another limb from the pecan tree bit the dirt. This makes two for us, two for the next door neighbor and one for the neighbor down the street. A guy up the street has preemptively propped up a bunch of limbs in his tree with long boards. It makes for an adventure every morning - peer out the window and see if anything fell over the night.

I called the lawn guys this time for help with cutting up and hauling off the limb. It looked like it required some ladder work and homey don't do ladder work anymore. About two hours after I called, one guy in a pickup pulled up, took out one of those chain saws on a long pole, and about 15 minutes later had everything trimmed and loaded and took off.

My Bible app on my phone dropped me in the grease yesterday. In class, I was asked to read a portion of Hebrews. I really prefer to do this from the printed page, but I had left my "real" Bible at home, so I punched up the passage on my phone and began reading. About halfway through, I found myself describing the lamb with 7 wings and 7 eyes. Wait! That's not in Hebrews! I've read Hebrews and there's no 7 wings and 7 eyes!

Sure enough, the app had seamlessly segued into Revelation 5 and next time I'll pass if asked to read and I don't have my print Bible.

Stories for my grandchildren - Vincent DiNino

Vincent DiNino died last week.

For more than 50 years, DiNino was a presence at UT - first as the director of the Longhorn Band, then later overseeing all 6 of the University's bands. A newspaper article said "Beginning in the mid-1950s, DiNino built the Longhorn Band into a force every bit as formidable as coach Darrell K Royal’s football team. The two of them, along with longtime announcer Wally Pryor, were fixtures at UT games for decades."

And for at least one summer, Vincent DiNino directed the Boys State Band - and that's when I met him. It was a short friendship, to say the least. One rehearsal only. For some reason, Mr. DiNino took exception to my playing ability. Specifically, my ability to play the chromatic scale on my clarinet without fingering the keys. I just clamped down on the reed, harder and harder as I blew, and the resulting sound ran the gamut from the low E to G₆, or thereabouts. It wasn't the cleanest scale ever played, I'll admit, and that may be why DiNino pointed at me and said, "You. Leave now."

Truthfully, it didn't hurt my feelings at all. I had already determined that he was very serious about his band, and expected college-level capabilities. I was neither serious, nor capable. In fact, I found myself desperately looking for any section in the music that contained notes I thought I might be able to play.

So I put away my clarinet and wandered over to where the Boy's State Newspaper staff was meeting and ended up having a lot more fun. Even when we got arrested by the UT police, a story that I've already shared with you.

Monday Meandering - 9.15.2014

I don't think I understand how this blogging stuff works. I wrote a post back in December, 2010 about Basil Clemons, a unique individual who captured much of the oil-boom days and early history of my hometown in photographs. Last week, a  few hundred blogs and 4 years later,  someone commented on that post. So I guess it's true that things that get placed on the Internet live forever. I get that.

But there's more... the comment cast aspersions on an individual named in the post. I responded, both to the commenter and in the post comment section, that there was no basis for the accusation that was made. There. That should take care of that.

But here's the part I don't understand. Within 24 hours I had received 3 more comments; 2 that excoriated (verb : to criticize someone or something very harshly) the 1st commenter and one that said the disparaged person was a relative of theirs. Don't bother looking. I deleted all of the comments.

Tell me. How does a comment on a 4-year old blog post all the sudden generate a flurry of comments?  Are people checking back daily to see if, after all these years, someone said something disparaging about Uncle Whatshizname? Is there a secret web site that gathers flaming posts and alerts the troops? IMWTK.

I've been waiting all summer for that first cool spell, when one can comfortably sit out on the patio to enjoy one's morning coffee. According to the weather dudes, Saturday was going be the day. Sure enough, a cold front blew through Friday night and Saturday morning was... too cool to sit on the patio without a jacket! I hadn't been that cold since we were in Alaska. But Saturday was a nice stay-indoors-and-listen-to-the-rain day, and it has been a long time since we had one of those!

I have seen birds flying around in Walmart before, but I don't think I have ever seen one walking down the aisle. Someone needs to get this guy a cart.

The car of my dreams

I came across an article the other day that said that Jaguar Cars Ltd. is going to make 6 more E-Type Jaguars - the venerable XKE.

When I was a young man I lusted after this automobile. Sleek and powerful, with a sensuous hood that stretched out forever, the E-Type was labeled "the most beautiful car ever made" by Enzo Ferrari. The NYC Museum of Modern Art added a blue roadster to its permanent design collection in 1996, one of only six automobiles to receive the distinction. In 2008, it was listed 1st in a tally of the 100 most beautiful cars in the world. In production from 1961 to 1967, more than 70,000 cars were sold. Some 50 years later, it is still highly sought after by collectors.

It is common for young (and old) men to yearn for fancy automobiles. I craved the E-Type Jag; my roommate and later brother-in-law was keen on the Mercedes Super Light. He made good by later owning a couple of Mercedes autos, though not a Super Light. I never got a Jag of any kind, apart from the toy model Barb gave me one Christmas.

I have been near some of these magnificent vehicles from time-to-time. While filming "State Fair" in Dallas in 1962, Pat Boone drove his E-Type to the ACU campus to visit his sister, Judy. Too bad we were no longer an item; I might have lucked into a ride. And while Barb and I were in Carmel last year several E-Types were on display at the Concours on the Avenue.

 So what's the story about making 6 more? Well, in 1963 the company committed to making 18 special  lightweight, race-ready versions of the car. They built 12, but their success on the race track was spotty, at best. Transmission problems plagued the competition models (and the street machines, as well) and the aerodynamics of the vehicle tended to suck the drivers right out of the open roadsters. The project was scrubbed with 6 machines not built.

Fifty years later, over drinks, an engineering team at Jaguar Land Rover decided to complete the task. They are determined to build the cars—with chassis numbers set aside in 1963—exactly as the first dozen were made five decades ago. That means keeping everything strictly original, right down to the construction methods and the countless parts no one but a mechanic will ever see. Money is no object. All 6 have already been sold at an average price of around $1.5 million dollars!

Which brings me to the reason why I never owned an E-Type. I simply could not justify spending the amount of money needed to own one of those luscious autos. When you could buy a brand new VW Beetle for $1,200, who could conscientiously spend - wait for it - $5,000 on an automobile?

Monday Meanderings - 9.8.2014

Today is serve out -  odds and ends from the inbox:

Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

 If people from Poland are called Poles, then why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?

If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?

Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?

Why do banks charge a fee due to insufficient funds, when they already know you're broke?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

How do those dead bugs get into the enclosed light fixtures?

And the statistics on sanity say that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're OK...then it's you!

Recycled art - Adventures in traveling

On the way to Mt Rainier, our tour bus made a stop at a unique sculpture park. An artist named Dan Klennert has created a fantasy land from scrap and discards. Take a look.

You can learn more about the artist and his work at danielklennert.com.

Monday Meanderings - 9.1.2014

And a good Labor Day to you.

In times past, this was the day that marked the beginning of the school year. These days, however, school has been in session for some for a week or even 2. It does cause me to think back on our own kids first days of school: the anxiety, the tears, the not letting go. No, the kids were fine. I'm talking about me.

Barb subtly mentioned, again, that with school starting, AISD needed 50 more crossing guards. Hint, hint.

One of my fellow readers at Learning Ally is Australian, hailing from an obscure little gold-mining town named Gympie. The other day I was reading an article in the Smithsonian Magazine about little things that can kill you - poisonous snails, deadly jellyfish, and a stinging nettle called Gympie Gympie, found only in Australia. I asked my friend about the connection, and he confirmed that his hometown was named after the aboriginal name for this plant, but since the town was so small, they didn't have room for both parts of the name on the sign. I think he was pulling my leg, mate.

This past week was another scheduled bulk pick-up by the Austin Resource Recovery (think trash men). There seems to be a cycle of the objects that get kicked to the curb. A while back it was couches and recliners; this time old TVs and shelves and cabinets seemed to dominate.

Keeping Austin weird.  We met a guy coming out of the Omelettry the other day - full beard, wild hair, ankle-length dress. Gotta love this town.

Keeping Austin even weirder. Goodwill found a human skull in a box of donated goods this week. While there does not appear to be foul play involved, the police would like to chat with whoever dropped off said skull.