Twice now I've tried to embed this video from different sources, with no luck. Eh, I never said I was a tech.
At the request of some parties here is the official New Kid's on the Block video for the song 'Dirty Dancing'.
It is set in Medieval Germany for some reason, and I think it's just goofy. It's a good song, a sexy song, and so you decide to make a video in Renaissance Faire outfits with a supporting cast speaking German. Yeah. Next time fellas just take two puffs and pass it on, cuz this is *not* your brightest idea, although it is funny at times.
Here's a link to the video: NKOTB
[BTW - translations I've seen of the speech indicate the King is saying NKOTB broke up years ago, and his daughter blowing him off by saying they've been reunited]
Published writer, compulsive reader, Old School Whovian, Match Game enthusiast, NKOTB fan, data hoarder, and - surprisingly, given that list - married with four kids. Welcome to my take on life, fatherhood, entertainment, and whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Voodoo?????
This is a wooden replica (?) of a shrunken head, or monster, or something, that I saw at an estate sale in November. I wanted it but balked at the price. I later reconsidered but returned to find it had already been sold.
Since that day:
1. I had a (feather-light, no damage to anyone) fender bender. That day, actually.
2. My dishwasher, my pride and joy, broke and was unrepairable.
3. The hand rail on my steps fell out of the wall - the joys of a 118 year old house!
4. The Aspire was towed and scrapped (see prior posts)
5. The Escort's suspension broke down
6. The knob on my dryer broke off
7. The kids kicked in the speakers on my big-screen TV, rendering it useless.
8. The TV in the kids area finally kicked the bucket
9. The Packers finished with a sub-500 record
10. David Tenant announced he was leaving Doctor Who after the 2010 season
I thought bad things happen to you once you BUY the evil idol, not when you pass it up. :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
A Q&A with my Dad about his time in Vietnam
In the '90's I conducted a half-hour interview with my Dad about his service in Vietnam. Eventually I gave up trying to transcribe the tape myself and turned itover to a professional service. They folded soon after and I got neither the tape nor the transcript back. All that remains is this brief bit I personally transcribed. With luck, I may someday conduct a new interview.
* * * * *
Q: Could you please state your full name, branch, and date of service, and lowest and highest rank?
A: Edward M. Slap-, United States Air Force, July 1966 to July 1970. I started at E1, highest rank attained was E5.
Q: Why did you choose to enlist in the Air Force when you did?
A: Didn’t have much choice at the time. It was either that or being drafted. There were not many alternatives for young men at that time.
Q: What age were you then?
A: Oh, uh, nineteen
Q: The Vietnam War had already been raging for some time when you enlisted, what were your feelings about the war back then?
A: … hard question because, like I said, we didn’t have many options as, as a nineteen year old at that time. [You] Either had to go in the military, stay in school the whole time, or become …or head to Canada. Basically the only three alternatives a young man had.
Q: But what was your feeling about the war itself? About what was going on over there?
A: Well the war itself seemed, for what we were told, at age nineteen you just kinda don’t know too much about what’s going on yet, but it seemed like it was, at the time, a just war. Uh…there were some very serious questions being raised already at that time as to how we were going about it. Not only the reason why but how we were going about it. [I] Had questions concerning that.
Q: Like what?
A: Well, it was just like [unintelligible] all we were doing is prolonging the war. It’s the old adage, ah, I hit you, you hit me back, I go out and get a club, then you go get a club and I go get a knife, then you go get a knife. I mean, it seemed [our] battle[s] were just escalating it, were not really settling anything.
Q: When did you arrive in Vietnam?
A: January 1968. Ten days before the Tet offensive started.
Q: What were some of your first impressions of that country and its people?
A: Of [the] country?
Q: Of the country and its people.
A: Well, we arrived about 11:30 at night and it was incredibly hot. Good Lord, was it hot! We just came out of Wisconsin and Seattle, Washington in the middle of winter and I think it was something like 98 degrees at 11:30 at night. You just couldn’t, and I mean you wouldn’t, by the time you got maybe hundred yards you were just soaking wet from perspiration and nothing you could do about it. You know just…didn’t even see my first Vietnamese until about…the following day because we were at Cam Ranh Bay checking in, and my first [laughs] impression of them was, was how incredibly short they were! God they were a small people. My God, I’ve seen kids in, going to junior high here taller then they.
Q: But were they-
A: And yet, after a while you start to learn that height didn’t really mean much.
Q: Where were you stationed?
A: Phu Cat Airforce Base
Q: Where was that?
A: About 40 miles East of Pleiku and about 50 miles North, Northeast of Qui Nhon, right off the, uh, south China coast.
Q: That was Northern South Vietnam?
A: About, uh…we were in the upper half, the lower upper half.
Q: What was your job at that base?
A: Supply Specialist. Just, anything to, our primary job was to make sure those airlplanes kept flying. And, uh, just anything they needed, anything the army unit needed, uh, our job was to get it to ‘em.
Q: You got there right before the Tet offensive. What do you remember about it, when it started?
A: [pause] Well, I didn’t really know it was a, Tet offensive, just, you know, it started. We . . . came under attack around 1 o’clock in the morning. And, uh, at the time we had not been, we were sleeping on a cot, sleeping on a cot, in the middle of a main hallway because our permanent quarters weren’t ready yet. And, I had sacked out and the first thing I knew I could remember hearing the concussion and the next thing I knew some guy who was trying to get out tripped [chuckles] over my bunk and fell right over me. And down went the cot, down went everything. I was on the floor then people stampeding out, grabbing their gear, trying to get up, trying to get this big shit offa me, tryin’ to find out where my stuff was because that was the first time I had been through it. And get over – get your weapon, get over to your, uh, assigned spot where you know down into the bunker. And then you just kinda wait it out, see what happens.
Q: What did happen?
A: Well, it was a mortar attack and, the barracks area itself was . . .away from the flight line where the aircraft were so there was a bit of a
* * * * *
Q: Could you please state your full name, branch, and date of service, and lowest and highest rank?
A: Edward M. Slap-, United States Air Force, July 1966 to July 1970. I started at E1, highest rank attained was E5.
Q: Why did you choose to enlist in the Air Force when you did?
A: Didn’t have much choice at the time. It was either that or being drafted. There were not many alternatives for young men at that time.
Q: What age were you then?
A: Oh, uh, nineteen
Q: The Vietnam War had already been raging for some time when you enlisted, what were your feelings about the war back then?
A: … hard question because, like I said, we didn’t have many options as, as a nineteen year old at that time. [You] Either had to go in the military, stay in school the whole time, or become …or head to Canada. Basically the only three alternatives a young man had.
Q: But what was your feeling about the war itself? About what was going on over there?
A: Well the war itself seemed, for what we were told, at age nineteen you just kinda don’t know too much about what’s going on yet, but it seemed like it was, at the time, a just war. Uh…there were some very serious questions being raised already at that time as to how we were going about it. Not only the reason why but how we were going about it. [I] Had questions concerning that.
Q: Like what?
A: Well, it was just like [unintelligible] all we were doing is prolonging the war. It’s the old adage, ah, I hit you, you hit me back, I go out and get a club, then you go get a club and I go get a knife, then you go get a knife. I mean, it seemed [our] battle[s] were just escalating it, were not really settling anything.
Q: When did you arrive in Vietnam?
A: January 1968. Ten days before the Tet offensive started.
Q: What were some of your first impressions of that country and its people?
A: Of [the] country?
Q: Of the country and its people.
A: Well, we arrived about 11:30 at night and it was incredibly hot. Good Lord, was it hot! We just came out of Wisconsin and Seattle, Washington in the middle of winter and I think it was something like 98 degrees at 11:30 at night. You just couldn’t, and I mean you wouldn’t, by the time you got maybe hundred yards you were just soaking wet from perspiration and nothing you could do about it. You know just…didn’t even see my first Vietnamese until about…the following day because we were at Cam Ranh Bay checking in, and my first [laughs] impression of them was, was how incredibly short they were! God they were a small people. My God, I’ve seen kids in, going to junior high here taller then they.
Q: But were they-
A: And yet, after a while you start to learn that height didn’t really mean much.
Q: Where were you stationed?
A: Phu Cat Airforce Base
Q: Where was that?
A: About 40 miles East of Pleiku and about 50 miles North, Northeast of Qui Nhon, right off the, uh, south China coast.
Q: That was Northern South Vietnam?
A: About, uh…we were in the upper half, the lower upper half.
Q: What was your job at that base?
A: Supply Specialist. Just, anything to, our primary job was to make sure those airlplanes kept flying. And, uh, just anything they needed, anything the army unit needed, uh, our job was to get it to ‘em.
Q: You got there right before the Tet offensive. What do you remember about it, when it started?
A: [pause] Well, I didn’t really know it was a, Tet offensive, just, you know, it started. We . . . came under attack around 1 o’clock in the morning. And, uh, at the time we had not been, we were sleeping on a cot, sleeping on a cot, in the middle of a main hallway because our permanent quarters weren’t ready yet. And, I had sacked out and the first thing I knew I could remember hearing the concussion and the next thing I knew some guy who was trying to get out tripped [chuckles] over my bunk and fell right over me. And down went the cot, down went everything. I was on the floor then people stampeding out, grabbing their gear, trying to get up, trying to get this big shit offa me, tryin’ to find out where my stuff was because that was the first time I had been through it. And get over – get your weapon, get over to your, uh, assigned spot where you know down into the bunker. And then you just kinda wait it out, see what happens.
Q: What did happen?
A: Well, it was a mortar attack and, the barracks area itself was . . .away from the flight line where the aircraft were so there was a bit of a
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Teddy Bear Band
In the lead up to Christmas a friend of our friend Chris came into town with her daughter. While I spent the day at work they baked scads of Christmas cookies and then, on the advice of this FOAF (friend of a friend), they headed downtown to see a Christmas lights program.
Except the FOAF, for all her good intentions, got the date, price, and location of the event wrong.
So they wound up at Grand Avenue Mall watching the Teddy Bear band do Christmas carols.
I guess they had a good time even with the change in plans.
Except the FOAF, for all her good intentions, got the date, price, and location of the event wrong.
So they wound up at Grand Avenue Mall watching the Teddy Bear band do Christmas carols.
I guess they had a good time even with the change in plans.
LuLu and YaYa's 2008 Christmas Concert
In mid December the girls' school held their annual Christmas show. Parents were invited to attend both the evening show and the afternoon rehearsal, but I attended the rehearsal alone while Lisa handled the evening duties.
[As usual, forgive the red-eye. A college degree on my wall and yet I can't seem to master Photbucket's edit feature. Sigh.]
This next bit is of no interest unless you are one of the many family members who flagrantly skipped this years performance and must make amends - to you, I present video footage of the rehearsal.
Note: if you did attend the program and are still reading, kindly drop me a line in the comments with the full name of each song K5 and 2nd grade performed. Thanks!
Here's LuLu with 'Must be Santa'. She's on the top left of the group in a blue sweatshirt and jeans.
Jingle Bells:
And A MUST SEE - the traditional K4/K5 Russian Dance!
Here are four songs sung by YaYa's class. She's fourth from the left in the second row, and if you know her you can pick out her voice at many points in these videos. I'm proud she doesn't clam up on stage!
Her class did Mele Kalekemaka (sp?), which I'm familar with from the Bing Crosby version, and I enjoyed it a bunch.
Here's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
And 'All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth'
[thanks to Oftencold for helping with the html!]
A fine performance by both girls!
[As usual, forgive the red-eye. A college degree on my wall and yet I can't seem to master Photbucket's edit feature. Sigh.]
This next bit is of no interest unless you are one of the many family members who flagrantly skipped this years performance and must make amends - to you, I present video footage of the rehearsal.
Note: if you did attend the program and are still reading, kindly drop me a line in the comments with the full name of each song K5 and 2nd grade performed. Thanks!
Here's LuLu with 'Must be Santa'. She's on the top left of the group in a blue sweatshirt and jeans.
Jingle Bells:
And A MUST SEE - the traditional K4/K5 Russian Dance!
Here are four songs sung by YaYa's class. She's fourth from the left in the second row, and if you know her you can pick out her voice at many points in these videos. I'm proud she doesn't clam up on stage!
Her class did Mele Kalekemaka (sp?), which I'm familar with from the Bing Crosby version, and I enjoyed it a bunch.
Here's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
And 'All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth'
[thanks to Oftencold for helping with the html!]
A fine performance by both girls!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve has always been the day we celebrate with my side of the family, and 2008 was no exception. I worked late into the evening and met Lisa and the kids at my parents apartment around 7pm, ecstatic that a predicted snowstorm had came and went without any muscle behind it.
[The kids had been unable to find the camera prior to leaving for my Mom's, so you'll have to excuse the blurry camera phone shots. The lighting was quite dim]
Dinner was kiebalsa and ham, peas and carrots, macaroni and potato salad, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs and a chocolate cake, the latter three all made by Lisa.
When it was time to open gifts the family reverted to a free-for-all style, but I quickly barked my displeasure and some order was restored. I at least got to see half the presents opened.
My Mom was polite but less than thrilled when we presented her with a set of 5 Garth Brooks concert DVD's - until we explained they were DVD's and not CD's, at which point she seemed very happy.
YaYa treated us all to a song on the piano (and did a better job than any of us expected!)
My sister seemed to genuinely love an outfit Lisa bought her
Smiley liked his Spiderman bedspread and his dinosaur (more on that one later)
Here I am at the tail end of a four or five minute giggle fit, following a very stupid joke I told.
After it all we passed out oplatki [sic], blessed wafers that are distributed throughout the room by each person in birth order. I am now third in line behind my parents, while Lisa still coos about coming after my sisters (and thus being younger then them)
Like I said before, I nice, relaxing time with my family, and a fine kickoff to the busy Christmas holiday
[The kids had been unable to find the camera prior to leaving for my Mom's, so you'll have to excuse the blurry camera phone shots. The lighting was quite dim]
Dinner was kiebalsa and ham, peas and carrots, macaroni and potato salad, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs and a chocolate cake, the latter three all made by Lisa.
When it was time to open gifts the family reverted to a free-for-all style, but I quickly barked my displeasure and some order was restored. I at least got to see half the presents opened.
My Mom was polite but less than thrilled when we presented her with a set of 5 Garth Brooks concert DVD's - until we explained they were DVD's and not CD's, at which point she seemed very happy.
YaYa treated us all to a song on the piano (and did a better job than any of us expected!)
My sister seemed to genuinely love an outfit Lisa bought her
Smiley liked his Spiderman bedspread and his dinosaur (more on that one later)
Here I am at the tail end of a four or five minute giggle fit, following a very stupid joke I told.
After it all we passed out oplatki [sic], blessed wafers that are distributed throughout the room by each person in birth order. I am now third in line behind my parents, while Lisa still coos about coming after my sisters (and thus being younger then them)
Like I said before, I nice, relaxing time with my family, and a fine kickoff to the busy Christmas holiday
Our Christmas Photo Shoot
Hot dog. I just beat the 'expert' level of Minesweeper :)
* * * * *
Shortly after I was laid off I lamented to Lisa that it took place when it did. Had it happened in summer, I said, I'd have had the unique opportunity to interact with the kids all day.
Yeah. And then came the ENTIRE WEEK they were (inexplicably) off of school for Thanksgiving, and that statement came to be known for the utter cr** that it was :)
But, we did use that week to accomplish some things. With our finances curtailed we could not go 'all out' as we usually do on Christmas cards, much less get a professional portrait. Instead we dressed 'em up and headed down to Southridge Mall to take a picture with Santa.
We got there early - earlier than Santa actually.
Here's two shots I tried taking with our camera. Neither was adequate, and I was running out of room on the memory card or out of battery power (I forget which) and couldn't take another.
It didn't matter, really. The mall still made us buy a photo (although I talked them down to half-price) and it was quite good enough. We later scanned and made copies to distribute in our cards.
If you DIDN'T get one this year, please don't be angry or remove us from '09's list. With our finances we only managed to get 40 or so cards in the mail (as opposed to 70-80 normally) and even those were staggered over a few weeks time.
After the shot we went and let the kids play in the jungle gym area of the mall. While we were there we ran into Lisa's cousin Jodie and her son Jackson, and chatted awhile while the kids played.
In case you can't pick up on it, Smiley LOVED wearing a tie!
* * * * *
Shortly after I was laid off I lamented to Lisa that it took place when it did. Had it happened in summer, I said, I'd have had the unique opportunity to interact with the kids all day.
Yeah. And then came the ENTIRE WEEK they were (inexplicably) off of school for Thanksgiving, and that statement came to be known for the utter cr** that it was :)
But, we did use that week to accomplish some things. With our finances curtailed we could not go 'all out' as we usually do on Christmas cards, much less get a professional portrait. Instead we dressed 'em up and headed down to Southridge Mall to take a picture with Santa.
We got there early - earlier than Santa actually.
Here's two shots I tried taking with our camera. Neither was adequate, and I was running out of room on the memory card or out of battery power (I forget which) and couldn't take another.
It didn't matter, really. The mall still made us buy a photo (although I talked them down to half-price) and it was quite good enough. We later scanned and made copies to distribute in our cards.
If you DIDN'T get one this year, please don't be angry or remove us from '09's list. With our finances we only managed to get 40 or so cards in the mail (as opposed to 70-80 normally) and even those were staggered over a few weeks time.
After the shot we went and let the kids play in the jungle gym area of the mall. While we were there we ran into Lisa's cousin Jodie and her son Jackson, and chatted awhile while the kids played.
In case you can't pick up on it, Smiley LOVED wearing a tie!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Smiley's Christmas Concert
Well, holiday concert actually as it was at his public school, although you know what? I think they did call it a Christmas concert and just stuck to secular songs.
Because of the lack of a proper auditorium at his school, the concert was held at a nearby middle school.
Here's Smiley with his teacher Ms. Heidi before the show. He's got a little crush on her.
Anyhow, we took everyone but Lump to the show.
His class performed a Hawaiian Christmas song (not Mele Keleekemaka [sic])complete with pointy elf hats and a lei. I'd know the title of the song but Smiley appears to have stolen the program from his drawer in our filing cabinet (each kid has their own drawer full of momentos and schoolwork).
[update: I found the program. It was 'The Merry Hula']
He's third from the left in this shot.
It was a ball. Afterwards I snuck down to his class to retrieve him and take him home, as we weren't going to stay for the whole program (very rude I know, but every once in awhile you gotta just do what's best for yourself)
But . . . the guilt got to us, and the songs were pretty good, and so we stayed for 3/4ths of the performance (and therefore got a chance to see his other teacher sing a song in a trio)
We left early, as I said, and loittered for a minute or two in the hall.
Even with a bad hair day going on I couldn't stop being proud of the little guy!
P.S. One thing I did want to mention is that his school videotapes every concert and event and offers the results to families at a very reasonable cost - two DVD's for $10 in the case of this concert. What a great program, one that spares me from having to watch every special day through the viewfinder of a camera. Good job public school!
Because of the lack of a proper auditorium at his school, the concert was held at a nearby middle school.
Here's Smiley with his teacher Ms. Heidi before the show. He's got a little crush on her.
Anyhow, we took everyone but Lump to the show.
His class performed a Hawaiian Christmas song (not Mele Keleekemaka [sic])complete with pointy elf hats and a lei. I'd know the title of the song but Smiley appears to have stolen the program from his drawer in our filing cabinet (each kid has their own drawer full of momentos and schoolwork).
[update: I found the program. It was 'The Merry Hula']
He's third from the left in this shot.
It was a ball. Afterwards I snuck down to his class to retrieve him and take him home, as we weren't going to stay for the whole program (very rude I know, but every once in awhile you gotta just do what's best for yourself)
But . . . the guilt got to us, and the songs were pretty good, and so we stayed for 3/4ths of the performance (and therefore got a chance to see his other teacher sing a song in a trio)
We left early, as I said, and loittered for a minute or two in the hall.
Even with a bad hair day going on I couldn't stop being proud of the little guy!
P.S. One thing I did want to mention is that his school videotapes every concert and event and offers the results to families at a very reasonable cost - two DVD's for $10 in the case of this concert. What a great program, one that spares me from having to watch every special day through the viewfinder of a camera. Good job public school!
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