What Were They Thinking?

Just got up from the basement and discovered that the load of laundry the kids had done had apparently gone unbalanced, stopping the load. No big wup, as it had included some bedding and the fancy new washer is too sensitive to proceed if it detects a drop in municipal bond rates in Finland. 

BUT, my kids ignored that fact and took the dripping, soaking laundry and tossed it in the dryer. The damn dryer was literally dripping water, and this, what - six hours after it was put in there? Ugh. Sometimes the cats have better commons sense.

Interested?

Still haven't seen the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who, BTW, as I'll be damned if I watch it while making dinner, breaking up arguments, or yick-yapping like I had to do during the bout. If I don't get around to watching it today on the DVR, is anyone interested in seeing it tonight on the big screen?

RIP to the Microwave

We had a bit of a scare yesterday. LuLu reported smelling a bad odor, like burning plastic, and while I ignored her at first (she reacts to smells like I react to rodents) the odor was soon undeniable. We couldn't locate a source for it, and after a good while I had to contemplate that maybe something was wrong with the wiring in the walls, and wouldn't that just be a grand start to the Christmas season? Thankfully we at last discovered that it was the microwave. It wasn't running, but something in the motor had shorted out and it was going to go Chernobyl. So, we're down a microwave. Not a wallet breaker, but certainly a wallet-bruiser at this time of year.Junie was panicked, saying we'd have no way to cook. I answered by rapping my knuckles on the stove. "Uh, yeah wight Dad," she said. "how we cook soup or popcorn on dat?"

Pacquiao/Rios

Finally got around to watching the Pacquiao/Rios match last night. I know it's supposedly evidence that Pacquiao is 'back', but would a journeyman like Rios have gone the distance five years ago, much less avoided hitting the canvas once? Eh, I'm not sold. I did get Olivia to watch it with me, largely (I think) on the strength of Jessica Sanchez' grand rendetition of both national anthems, which nailed her to her seat. Parker watched a few rounds and wanted to know what the No-Swell/End-Swell was, while Lauren was aghast at the cut above Rios' eye and asked me what happened, which shows a charming lack of attention to what she supposedly watches! LOL

The Boxing Area

I'm doing my best to ignore my children as they argue non-stop this morning. Anywho, yesterday Smiley and I cleaned out a good chunk of the basement and set up a workout area: a step machine, the boxing bag, weight bench, and even a wall-mounted cabinet to hold our gloves and wraps. The thing is, while I didn't mind the workout it took to get the area together, now that I see all the equipment sitting there all purty and stuff . . . I reallllllllllllllllllllly don't feel like using it! LOL

My Junie

Doctor Who - The 50th Anniversary

Following exactly one day after JFK’s assassination, another event that loomed large in my childhood took place: Doctor Who, a low budget children’s sci-fi show, premiered on the BBC.

As with Kennedy, I didn’t become aware of the phenomenon until the 1980’s. By that time, if I can get my own memories in sync with the chronology, they were already on the Fifth incarnation of the Doctor (Peter Davison) and it had become a worldwide cult favorite.

I don’t remember where I saw my first Who, or when, but I remember gobbling up the slim Target novelizations of each episode and imagining what the companions looked like, so it was at best a fleeting glimpse of the show itself.

Later, a PBS station here in Milwaukee began playing Doctor Who in chronological order every night at 10pm, one half hour episode at a time. I’d often pull up a chair in my Grandma’s kitchen and watch it with her – oh! The sacrifices she made for me! I enjoyed Hartnell, was not as in love with Troughton as most people seem to be, adored Pertwee (still my favorite Doctor) and was fond but not overjoyed with Tom Baker, etc.

Did I mention I fell immediately in love with Sarah Jane Smith, and still feel a pitter-patter at the mere mention of her name?

Around the time the PBS station caught up with the Davison era I stumbled upon a Madison affiliate that was broadcasting the very first episode of the 7^th Doctor! It was probably a year old by then, but no matter; to me I was blown away at the “awesome” special effects, which seemed sooooo much more advanced than the rubber suit monsters I’d been watching every night!

I joined a national Who fan club and subscribed to their newspaper, once writing in and objecting to their casting the BBC of the “enemy”, and getting a personal response in turn. I had a Doctor Who mug, and a Tardis key on my key ring. My Mom crocheted me a reasonable facsimile of Tom Baker’s scarf that I still use. For my 15^th birthday my Grandma bought me a retrospective of the show’s first quarter century. I frequented the Turning Page, a niche bookstore on the East Side that specialized in Who, and my Dad let me drive all the way there when he was teaching me to drive.

I LOVED that show.

And then it was cancelled, packed off forever into the land of reruns. Our PBS station refused to pay for the rights to the show and it was dropped from their schedule. The Turning Page closed. A Fox TV movie introduced us to the 8^th Doctor but did nothing to revive the series.

Life went on.

I was happy to hear the show was returning in 2005 but was no fan of the overwrought, cynical acting of Christopher Eccleston, and let’s not get into how awful John Barrowman is as an actor. I barely paid attention to the series.

And then came Tenant . . .

He brought the show back to life for me. The charm, the wit, the excitement and the humor, it was all there again, in spades. He never quite trumped Pertwee for me but man, it’s close.

(Mat Smith ain’t too bad either)

Now the show is more popular than ever, a true global phenomenon. I wish more people realized that the pre-revival Who was darn good stuff worth watching, but I’m not going to argue with success. Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the show, and what a milestone that is! 50 years is a heck of a stretch for a business, a marriage, or even a building to acknowledge; but a TV show???

Wow.

Congratulations to everyone connected with Doctor Who over the last fifty years. I tip my hat to all of you, and wish you fifty more to come!

What an Odd Refusal!

I offered to take in my JFK memorabilia to Lu's class - original newspapers, contemporary magazines, LP's, photographs, books, a plaster bust, etc - to tie in with today's anniversary, but my offer was rejected by her social studies teacher.

"Maybe next year," he wrote.

Yes, yes. Because the *51st* anniversary is the perfect time to use media attention to generate interest in a historical event.

JFK - 50 years later

50 years ago today John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas, an event no Baby Boomer will ever forget.

My own connection to the event began twenty years later, in 1983. I was nine years old that year and had just started the fourth grade when my Grandfather, a man I loved and idolized, passed away. To say that his death put me in a tailspin is almost an understatement, but sometime in the weeks that followed my Mom gave me a book on JFK. It was just a thin children’s book, full of more myth than fact – I particularly remember one scene where Jack fell in love with Jackie when he first saw her over a dinner table – but it hooked me.

I began to read everything I could about JFK. In retrospect it’s easy to see I was simply substituting one fallen hero (my Grandpa) for another (JFK), but in those dark months it was just about the only joy I remember. Somewhere around that time, and I don’t remember if it was with my knowledge or not – my Mom mailed out two letters about my newfound passion. Just before Christmas, two packages arrived in response.

The first, from Senator Edward Kennedy, included a short mimeographed note of thanks and contained information about both JFK and RFK, as well as two 8x10 black and white photographs, one of Jack, the other of Jackie and his children.

The second package was incredible. It came from the Kennedy Library, and included the following handwritten note from William Johnson, the Chief Archivist.

Inside was more information on JFK and his library, and some items I’ve now forgotten. Here’s one I never have: an original copy of Life Magazine dated November 29, 1963 that chronicled the horrific events of Dallas and its aftermath.

 Remember, this was on the cusp of the 20^th anniversary of his death. There were books and magazines and television specials galore, and I collected whatever I could. I accumulated a scrapbook of articles from the Milwaukee Journal’s Green Sheet, a few record albums of his speeches, a plaster bust of JFK, book upon book – you name it.

So on the actual anniversary of his assassination (in 1983 it was a Tuesday, if I’m not mistaken) I took this little collection into my school for show and tell, passing it among my classmates. I’d like to say someone was inspired, or even that it was met with boos – either one makes a great story – but I don’t remember, so odds are it was met with quiet tolerance.

Over the years my adoration of JFK waned. The reality didn't quite match up with the legend, and that’s a hard pill to swallow when it was the legend you fell in love with. My politics changed too, and suddenly a New Frontier that mocked Eisenhower’s admirable time in office held much less appeal.

The pendulum has begun to swing full circle, tho’ it will never reach the zeal I had as a child. JFK and I would disagree politically, but not as much as I once thought; his reputation was pushed to the Left by nostalgia and the far more liberal records of his brothers. He was a fiscal conservative and a cautious Hawk, two qualities I find appealing in a candidate. And even if he was as liberal as some people work hard to believe, it would carry a lesson all its own: that you can disagree with someone’s politics while still admiring them as a human being.

Even 50 years on, JFK’s memory continues to inspire this nation.  Rest in Peace sir; you earned it. 

The Jingle Bus

This evening, while YaYa was at dance, Lisa took the three youngest to Turkey Bingo at their school, then headed down to the Holiday Lights Festival at Pere Marquette Park. There they saw fireworks, sang carols, saw the Mayor speak, and watched Santa turn on all the holiday lights! 

After class I met them there and we all took the Jingle Bus (a charter) around downtown Milwaukee, seeing the sights and the lights (rhyme unintentional).

On the bus they asked for kid volunteer's to sing carols, and Junie was the first to sing a solo, followed quickly by Smiley, and much later, a shy LuLu took the microphone. All three sang "Jingle Bells". 

Other than my fear that our van would be towed from where I sorta/kinda parked it illegally, it was a very nice, very sweet family night. Well done Mom!

Lulu's new bike

I purchased this for $20 at a rummage sale this summer and surprised her with it :)

Prince Fielder news

BREAKING NEWS: The Tigers and Rangers have agreed on a trade sending Prince Fielder to Texas and Ian Kinsler to Detroit.

Sylvia Browne

RIP purported psychic Sylvia Browne, age 77

Syd Field

A belated RIP to screenwriting guru Syd Field, who died recently at age 77.

The Gettysburg Address - November 19th, 1863

150 years ago today Abraham Lincoln journeyed to the Gettysburg battlefield to dedicate its cemetery, and delivered one of the finest - and shortest - speeches in history. 

The spirit of his mighty words lives on, as I hope they will forever. 

Take a moment to read them again, and offer up a prayer of thanks for all those who gave their lives to save freedom and our Union all those many years ago. 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

20 Years

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the recording of Nirvana's Unplugged performance

I've Seen It All

I've seen it all. Hubby rearranged fish tank plants/skull to make pathways wider for our handicapped fish. He loves all creatures, big and small...lol....except mice. - Lisa

Goodbye Dear Swingset

RIP gentle swingset.

My Maternal Great-Grandpa's Business

Please Keep an Eye Out

LuLu's Girl Scout vest is missing. I'm sure it's somewhere in the house and we'll find it sometime in 2016 when looking for the remote, but the fact is it has about a gazillion irreplaceable badges sewn on the back. If you accompanied her on a field trip with the Scouts, or hosted her overnight, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE double-check to make sure that she didn't leave it behind. Thanks!

Smiley's Thoughts Today

Smiley's quote of the day, spoken out of the blue: "All it takes is one zombie to wreck the whole world"

Flooding

23 years ago my first job was working for a land surveyor. His day job was working on the Deep Tunnel project, and I remember him telling me it would end the city's sewage and flooding problems. Fast forward to 2013. Today's awful storm flooded the streets from the midpoint of the park to two blocks east of my street, as well as most of the side streets in my neighborhood. Meanwhile, my basement, once prone to routine flooding, survived without a drop, courtesy of the french drain I dug in 2010. Maybe MMSD should call me for some tips.

Neat!

A Present for Smiley

I just bought Smiley a Christmas present "officially licensed by the U.S. Army" - 'cuz you know, 99% of all toys for boys must train them to kill on the word of a Washington fatcat - and guess what the back of the box says? Quote: "Designed and built in Canada and Germany".

He's hard to buy for because he doesn't want toys that kill....ridiculous, he's 8 - Lisa 

Ward-Gatti

Yesterday I watched all three of the epic Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti fights. The first one totally lived up to the billing, as did the rubber match, when Gatti fought on after breaking his hand. Match 2 was lopsided and a disappointment all things considered, but round 3 . . . man, round 3 was beautiful. Hollywood Worthy, and arguably The Best Round of Boxing I've ever seen.  They're worth a watch.

note:  I sat Lisa down to watch the 3rd round of the second Ward-Gaetti fight. Oddly, she did not find it as moving as I do.