Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger, the influential Secretary of State for two Presidents and arguably the most impactful Cabinet member of the 20th century, has died at age 100.

Kissinger helped define American policy in the final third of the last century, playing major roles in "opening" China to the West, solidifying our ties to Israel, and negotiating the end of the American war in Vietnam. 

He was, in my childhood, the unquestioned Dean of foreign policy, whether you looked at him as friend or foe.

Kissinger's polices were anethema to the Left during the Vietnam War, and some of the latest generation - separated by decades from both Kissinger's tenure and the stresses and demands that dominated it - have gone a step further. They are cheering and applauding his death, a display I find both distateful and telling. 

RIP

Turkey Trot

A flock of wild turkeys that Smiley saw today near UWM, no doubt glad that Thanksgiving is over.

Kissee Kissee

Late night dinner at Vanguard 

60 Years of Who

Sure it's Thanksgiving and all, but more importantly today is the 60th anniversary of the premiere episode of Doctor Who.

Here's to 60 more!

JFK - 60 Years later

 

Sixty years ago today JFK was gunned down in a Dallas motorcade.

The anniversary seems to have generated much less attention than the 50^th, as to be expected, but anecdotally it seems to be slipping further from the forefront of the American consciousness with each passing year.

Its grip on the American subconscious though – our disillusionment, our distrust of the government and what it tells us – remains as sharp as ever.

Long ago, in 1983, the  20^th anniversary garnered a tremendous amount of media attention. It was, realistically, a turning point in the retelling of Camelot. 20 years on, JFK would no longer be the young husband and father people remembered. He would have been 66, had he escaped harm, and I remember a magazine age-progressing his photo for shock value. If the post Dallas America still longed for “what might have been,” they now also had to deal with the idea that even in an ideal world, that utopian moment they longed for would have already passed into memory.

Nerd that I was, I collected as many of the JFK magazines and newspapers as I could, and along with some contemporary pieces sent to me by Dave Powers, a JFK aide who then worked for the JFK library. I showed this collection off to my very disinterested 4^th grade classmates with the permission of Sr. Dorothy.

(30 years hence, I offered to do the same for my kids classroom on the 50^th anniversary. Their middle school history teacher demurred; by 2013, JFK apparently wasn’t worth taking up class time)

I imagine for the 75^th anniversary the media attention will briefly spike, then subside until the centennial. In between, it was be an event recalled by fewer and fewer people. 

None of that reduces the shock, and horror, of a few minutes in Dallas in the fall of 1963.

Real Chili

I met up with Lisa and Junie  at Real Chili after Lisa scooped her from a driving lesson. While we were there we bought a bowl for a homeless man that was passing time in the restaurant drinking a water. I mention this not to point out our charity, but to laugh about the fact that he turned down my offer of a hot dog and insisted on the chili, which was twice the price LOL

Rosalynn Carter

Rosalynn Carter, 1/2 of the longest married Presidential couple in American history, died today at the age of 96. 

The Carter Administration was the first that I have memories of, and I think it's telling that it even as a child of a democratic household the bits and pieces that came down to me at the time were negatives: the Iran hostage situation, a troubled economy , and the defeat to Reagan in 1980.In the histories I've read, she was often far more attuned to what was needed, and what consequences were to follow, than her husband. 

I have of course watched Mrs Carter spend the last 42 years alongside her husband as he salvaged his personal reputation through personal service to communities across the nation. I've always been impressed by her stature and her obvious intelligence. 

With her death the 77 year marriage comes to an end, and I can't help but fear that Jimmy himself will long to meet her again soon.

RIP

Another Gorgeous Weather Day

For the Second Sunday in a row I'm sitting outside enjoying my patio, despite it being now mid November.

Now Alexa is saying it's 47° F today, which is pretty chilly, but I would argue that on the patio it's probably seven or eight degrees warmer because of the midday sun . At any rate I'm out here without a coat and the dogs are sunning themselves and for the moment all is right in the world. 

The Holiday Ethnic Fair

Today YaYa bought me a ticket for the holiday ethnic fair at State Fair Park, where she was volunteering at the booth for the Polanki Women's Group.

Their booth featured many fine examples of Polish pottery and ceramics, nearly all of which were beyond the reach of my pocketbook at the moment.

I was surprised at both the scale and diversity of the fair. They were literally countries represented that I had never heard of, as well as representatives from nations on five continents (I didn't see an Australian booth, although I could have missed it.) I didn't photograph any of them until I was literally walking to the exit so this is but the smallest example of what there was to see.

Afterward, after I made her go along while I did a little necessary shopping, Yaya treated me to dinner at Luna's where I had huevos rancheros with chorizo.

Thanks for the invitation and the generosity YaYa!

Kahuna

Zane Grey

I saw this set of Zane Grey novels at a used bookstore and it brought back memories of Books N Things, a small bookstore that once graced the northwest corner of the now defunct Southgate Mall. I loved that store, and they had this exact set for sale. At the time - I was probably south of ten, or 12 at the most, and I had no money for it. Nor, if I'm being honest, did I have any interest in Westerns outside of trying to bond with my Dad. 

Later of course, I came to love the work of Louis L'Amour, but at the time, I didn't care for the genre at all 

Five Nights at Freddy's

 

I watched this recently on Peacock with Junie - Smiley and YaYa had already seen it in theaters - and to my surprise, I liked it. 

I don't know squat about the video game franchise it is based on, so if it violates some tenet of that game and you find my approval of the film blasphemous, well . . .ok.  

I guess that isn't quite true. I did watch the gawd awful Nic Cage 2021 knockoff Willy's Wonderland, which at least gave me the gist of the game's plot: a down and out security guard takes a job at an abandoned pizza parlor, where the murderous animatronic animal band comes to life. 

I assure you, this film is MUCH MUCH better than the copycat.

It is also only a PG-13, so it gives the audience its scares without resorting to abject gore, so kudos for that. 

My only beef is a SPOILER: realistically, at the end of the film our hero goes to prison for life. He's a violent repeat offender (who is somehow offered security jobs?) and his evil Aunt lies murdered on his living room floor, PLUS he shows up at the hospital with an unconscious and possibly dying cop that was stabbed in the stomach. 

Sure, bub, the robot duck did it. You have the right to remain silent . . . 

END SPOILER

I grade this one a solid A-

My Old House

I spent my early years - maybe from birth to 4 or 5 - in this house on Windlake Ave. Even after all these years it retains the same blue and white siding that I remember. 

I don't have many memories of the house, and they are all scattershot: 

Sitting at the kitchen table as my Dad used my Matchbox cars to show my Grandpa how a car accident happened.

Throwing up butter cookies in the upstairs hallway LOL

Laying in my bed and dreaming of scuba diving!

Saying my nighttime prayers terrified of dying because I had mistakenly taken a sip of diet, not regular, soda LOL

A counter/table in the kitchen that folded up flat against the wall

A stone path in the backyard

Watching the older neighbor kids play badminton in their backyard

A bookcase near the front door that my sister knocked over during a seizure

Laying in a bedroom downstairs and smelling ground beef cook on the day my Mom came home from the hospital with my youngest sister.

And I remember - and brother, I could be dead wrong about this - that the living room was along the street, the kitchen to the rear, the downstairs bedroom to the south of the kitchen, and my bedroom upstairs along the street above the living room. 

Where Teddy Was Shot

Back on November 3rd and 4th I spent my workdays at a conference in downtown Milwaukee for my new job. I can't speak to any after-hours activities, but as to the conference itself: far duller, with much less swag handed out, than the hospitality conferences I attended back in Days of Olde. 

Not the point of this post tho.

 Just inside the doors of the hotel was this plaque, marking the spot where a would be assassin in my hometown shot Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. I'd known of the attempt all my life, but unless my memory has gone kaput this was the first time I ever stood on the same ground. 

Enjoying the Weather

I think the thermometer reads 47° F but I'm still enjoying the heck out of this bright and sunny late fall day by sitting out on my patio with the dogs . 

More Office Decorating

This morning Smiley joined me in transporting a lot of items from my storage unit down to my office, with Lisa paying a co-worker to load up his truck with my couch, mirrored coat rack and chairs while my Mazda was filled with the odds and ends you see here. 

I gotta admit, getting that couch up 2.5 flights dang near killed me and that was with Smiley doing 65% of the lifting.  My word. 

The office is nowhere near finished, but it IS improving  . . . 

:(

Counsell Turns Traitor

Not really. 

Baseball is a business, and the man was offered $40 over 5 years to work for a vile, cursed   well funded, marquee organization. He'd have been a fool not to accept. 

Does it fly in the face of his constant harping on how he's a local boy in his "dream job?" 

Sure. 

But again, $40 million boo. $40 million. That's twice the sum of his career earnings as a player. 

Plus, the Brewers weren't exactly knocking down the door with offers enticing him to stay. Was that proof the organization is cheap, or did they suspect his leadership value was inflated? Hard to say, and I don't think Chicago is guaranteed to provide the answer to the latter either; deep pockets have the potential to solve many problems. 

(I think he was overvalued, but who am I? I'm just a schmuck with a blog.)

So congrats to Counsell -  although given his new job I can't exactly wish him success. 

update: Oops. I guess this "player's manager" forgot to actually inform his players of his move until AFTER the news was public. Smooth sir. smooth. 

Office Decorating

Junie took a road trip with me to my office, as I have started to bring in some personal effects to brighten up the place - note the bird clock, moon globe, and Smiley's 2010 Father's Day gift on the top of the bookcase, along with my new (to me) Keurig. 

Sisu

Sisu sucks. 

It's the story of an Finnish ex-commando turned gold prospector who runs afoul of a group of Nazi SS seeking his gold.  If you saw saw the trailers for this foreign film, you'd think it was a high end  John Wick in a historical setting. 

You'd be wrong. 

Let's forget the fact the filmmakers want you to see Finland as an innocent victim of Nazi oppression, when in fact they were allies of Germany before turning on them when the going got rough.  

Let's forget that the main character is a third rate Wick with zero charisma. 

Let's forget that the movie has zero plot.

And let's certainly forget the laws of physics, for in this film a human body is an effective shield against high caliber machine gun fire.

This isn't an escapist romp, it's a horrible waste of your time.

Skip it. I wish I had. 

Bobby Knight

Bobby Knight, the temperamental, controversial - and successful -  basketball coach at Indiana for much of my youth, has died at 83.

RIP

Frank Howard

Frank Howard, the 6'7" outfielder known as "Hondo," died on October 30th at age 87.

While he never reached the level of fame as some of his contemporaries, Howard hit 382 home runs and knocked in 1,119 RBI over a 16 year career. He led the league in home runs twice, once hit 48 in a summer, and notched 40 or more dingers in three consecutive seasons. 

In the mid-80's he would serve as a coach in Milwaukee, but what I remember him for isn't that, or his playing record: I know him from his mentions as a test subject  in The Science of Hitting, the epic hitting manual written by Howard's one time manager, Ted Williams. 

RIP Hondo.