Happy Birthday Dad

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a few thousand words about my Dad. Today would have been his birthday.

This is my Dad's parents, my grandparents. I was never that close to them. As a small child we lived in New Jersey where they lived, but after we moved down south we didn't see them that much and my Dad and his Father weren't that close. My Grandfather wasn't the nicest man in the world, but my memories of him are sitting in his lap while he read the funnies to my brother and me.

This is the earliest picture of my Dad that I have. I really have no idea how old he is here, but he's pretty young. Ready to take on the world.

This is probably from when we lived in New Jersey. That's me and the little tyke is my brother with my Dad.
I'm not sure where we were for this picture. I'm assuming Memphis from the age of me and my brother. That's us with my Mom and Dad. Notice how my Dad had pretty much the same hair style throughout these pictures.

A Christmas picture with my Dad and me and my brother. My Dad was not a suit wearer. I can't remember the times I've seen my Dad in a suit outside a wedding or something similar. The little Christmas figure hanging to the right of my Dad, we had that for years, I remember hanging it up till I was past my teens. It was just a plastic leaf figure with a round head, I didn't even remember it till I was looking at this picture.

I'm pretty sure this was from when we were in Florida. I want to say St. Augustine, but not completely sure. That's my brother, me and my Dad holding my sister.

My Dad at work. He was an aviation ordinance man, which meant he was responsible for arming the plane.

My Dad as a sailor. He spent over twenty years in the Navy and served proudly.

This is my Dad and Mom from his retirement. I remember this because I actually got to go. He retired not long after I graduated, so I didn't have school when it happened. It was actually quite a moving event.

This was at my Grandmother's house in Tennessee. My Mom lives close enough to this house now that she can see it from her porch. That's my Grandmother in the rocker, my Mom, my Dad and my sister. I remember this house with so much great memories, it's a shame no one in the family kept it up. Now it's falling apart.

This was right after my parents moved to Mississippi. They had just built the porch at the back of their home. That's me in the cool shades, with my Dad, brother and sister.

Again from Mississippi with my Dad, me, sister and Mom. This is one of my favorite pictures.

Again from Mississippi. My brother, Dad, his sister - my Aunt Bop, my sister and me.

One more from Mississippi. My brother with my niece in his lap, me behind them, my nephew on the ground, my Dad and my Mom with her cool hat behind him and their dog.

Blogging Slowdown

This seems to happen sometime every year. I blog like crazy for most of the year, but than I hit a patch where I almost disappear. Well, I'm at the point now. I'll be back, but for those that are still reading you'll notice I haven't been posting that much. Or visiting and commenting much. Give me a little time and I'll be back. It's kind of like blogger burnout, I just need to rest a bit and than I'll be back as good as new.

Another Look at the Health Care Problem

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Mary Travers

Rest in peace.

9.11.01

09.09.09

What is it with the Beatles and the number nine?

This is pretty cool. (Though I don't have any of the game stations this plays on.)



But this is way cooler!

New I Tunes But That's Not Why I Posted This....

Apple came out with new updates for their I Phone and I Pods, but that's not the reason I'm posting this here. If nothing just check out the start of this video. An advertisement from who? Microsoft. Right before the video starts about Apple's I Tunes. Yea, I know it's a video from a magazine, but still I thought it kind of funny.

A New Beginning

Today Vinny and Nancy were married. I wish them all the best in the world.

This world of blogging is strange. I've never met Vinny or Nancy, but I feel like they're friends. You talk back and forth over these internet connections and you feel a friendship develop. You start to care for people you've never met. So on this wonderful and important day for them I wish them the best and I leave them with this song from Joey Ramone "What A Wonderful World" in the hopes that their world is wonderful for all time.

The Commitments

I remember watching this movie a long time ago and enjoying it. I was bored tonight and flipping through channels when I came across it on tv. It was commercial tv, so it had commercials and the language was cleaned up, but I found myself watching it and enjoying it again. I wanted to post their version of "Try A Little Tenderness" but couldn't find it, so I went with "In The Midnight Hour."

What Day Is This?

All day I've felt like today is Saturday. At work it just had that Saturday type vibe and even after I've gotten home I keep thinking that it's Saturday before catching myself. Weird.

New TV Show: Glee

I know the premiere of this show came out awhile back but I just saw it and really liked it. I'm looking forward to it when it comes on this Fall. It's a fun show.

Contest at Voices to Hear

I'm having my first contest over at Voices to hear. You can win a copy of Assembly of Dust's newest album. The more I hear of this group, the more I am liking them. Their new album is full of guest stars like Bela Fleck, Richie Havens and Theresa Andersson. Go over to Voices to hear and check it out and take a chance to win.

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A Look Back At Katrina

I hope everyone can forgive me for a few posts indulging in my memories of Hurricane Katrina. A lot of people probably don't want to hear anymore whining about the storm, it was four years ago, right? But even though it was four years ago it still lives large in my memories and the memories of a lot of people. I couldn't let the day go by without talking about it. I might have went a little overboard, but the following posts are some of my thoughts now and some of the posts from the days of Katrina.

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Today with Katrina

From Nola.com and Katrina in the news four years later, go check it out here.

Some Good Moments From Katrina

That first year after Katrina there was a lot of talk if the city should have a Jazz Fest. Some felt it was too soon, that it would be sending a wrong message to the rest of the world. Thankfully those people weren't listened to and we had a Jazz Fest. We needed it. It was a Jazz Fest unlike any other. One of my favorite posts and one of my favorite shows was Springsteen at the Fest. Instead of linking to it I'm re-posting it here.

It's been almost a week since the end of last week's Jazz Fest. I'm sure most of you have heard about Springsteen's appearance at the Fest. In Springsteen lore there are tales of his legendary concerts: the appearance at Bottom Line where Jan Landau came up with the future of rock and roll quote, his first London show, and others. These are the shows that his fans talk and write about, the ones that every Springsteen fan wishes he had been present at. Now you can add another one to that list.

I've seen Springsteen a few times over the years and he always gives a good concert. He puts on a good show, he knows how to play to the crowd. He doesn't stint on his time, he puts it all out there for his fans to see. But no show by Springsteen that I've seen comes close to this show. In fact I'm trying real hard to think of any show that I've seen that can compare to this one.

I talked in a previous post about the importance of this Jazz Fest to the city of New Orleans. In this one concert Springsteen shows he understands what is important and delivers on it. I'm not a religious person and I have never gotten what such a person gets from going to church, until this show. This might be the closest I have come to finding my religion. I've always thought music was the closest I've come to following a religion and today I was in church.

Springsteen opened with a rocking version of "Mary, Don't You Weep" and continued with his versions of the songs off his newest cd "The Seeger Sessions." He added "What's A Poor Man To Do", a song originally wrote in 1929 after the crash of the banks that eventually lead to the Depression. He kept the first verse, but wrote his own second and third verses to fit the destruction and aftermath of Katrina. And he dedicated it to President Bystander.

But the most moving moment came during his own song, "City in Ruins." This song started with him alone on his guitar. As he sang the lyrics it was obvious that this song could have been written for New Orleans after Katrina. And than when the band kicked in with the chorus of "Rise UP!" Hands went in the air, waving back and forth. But many of these hands kept returning to faces, to wipe away the tears. I don't know if I've ever been moved to tears at a concert, but I found myself wiping my own eyes.

Springsteen ended with his version of "When the Saints Come Marching Home." He sang it almost as a hymn. It was one of the most beautiful versions of the song I have ever heard.

This concert went from joy to despair, from laughter to tears. Springsteen made the truth of the importance of the Jazz Fest on this day.

First Sight of Home After Katrina

This was what greeted me after Katrina. I had already been over my parents house and things were not that bad. Driving back towards my house I had to dodge around a lot of fallen trees, so I was getting kind of worried. And than I got home and saw this. It actually isn't quite as bad as it looks. The house was in good shape, no trees on it. Under all those limbs was a BBQ grill that I had forgotten to bring inside when I left. In the background behind the pile of limbs where you can see to the other homes there is supposed to be a wooden fence. The storm blew it down. You can see the gate in the front of the picture lying on the ground.

Thanksgiving After Katrina

Before Katrina my Mom and Dad lived in Picayune, a small town in Mississippi. I assumed that would be where they would live the rest of their days out. I think they thought so too. Even though my Mom owned twenty acres in Tennessee from her Dad's old farm, they were content where they were. Than Katrina came.

Even though the storm did very little damage to my parent's house, some shingles, a car port twisted into a pretzel, they even got power back within days of the storm, my Mom no longer felt safe here. She thought of the next storm. She wanted to move back home, to Tennessee, home even though she hadn't lived there in over forty years. So they sold their home within two months of Katrina and were preparing to move.

Thanksgiving found them homeless. They were out of their old home, but the new one wasn't ready yet, so they had no place to go. They stayed with me for the holiday. My brother came over and we had a nice Thanksgiving. The above picture is from that day, my Dad, my Mom and Buffy.

As I was searching back though my old posts about Katrina I came across this picture and a post similar to this one about that Thanksgiving. I really like this picture, this was before my Dad started to get sick again and they looked like they were so happy and had so many years still together.

Our Government's Attutidue During Katrina

This post was written during Katrina and I think pretty much sums up the mind set of the people in charge at the time. It's said that Katrina was when a majority of the public started seeing George W Bush in a new light and it wasn't a pleasant one.

Four Years Ago

Image by aja via Flickr

It was a Sunday four years and a day ago I posted this:

Well, I guess I've decided to leave. Katrina is a cat 5 hurricane now, with gusts of 180 mphs. So I don't think I want to be around when it hits New Orleans. I may not be online for a few days (or more, who knows?), depending where I end up. Gotta go pack up the car and get Buffy ready to move.

Than three days later I was able to post again.

Just a quick note, we're in Tennessee safe and dry. No internet connection where we're staying. I'm at the local library trying to find a way back into the city. I'll post more when I get a chance. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

Afterwards I went back and tried to write some of what happened along the way. My first post in my Katrina posts was here where I wrote about the day of leaving. This is the post I wrote about our trip back home. My first day home was recorded here.

Re-reading these posts was strange. Four years isn't long enough to forget, but it is long enough that you put a lot of those thoughts and fears away in a part of your mind that you hope you don't have to visit again. Visiting these posts brought up a lot of these feelings. A lot of it at the time was the not knowing. I mention in one of the posts that Oakwood Mall had been burned down, well, not completely true. Looters had broken into it and burned part of it, but the mall was still standing. But that was how our information went at that time, in bits and pieces, sometimes factual, sometimes fanciful. I remember the nights trying to sleep, no air conditioner and down here September is still part of summer as far as temperatures go. I also remember the eeire darkness and quiet. No electricity meant no street lamps, no lights from houses, everything was just black. No power mean no phones, no noise. When I first came home I was one of the few in the neighborhood so every noise was a revelation. Lying in bed at night brought thoughts of helplessness and fear. What if looters broke in, there was no one to call, there was no one around. It made you feel like you were completely alone.

Katrina didn't end when the waters finally receded from the city. I don't even live in the city but Katrina impacted my life. Katrina still really hasn't ended. Yes, the city has done a lot in recovering, but not enough. I know people that are still trying to finish their houses, get their lives in order. We had insurance companies that did all they could do to get out of paying, we had a government that flew over heard and looked down at us, we had sister cities in our own state that didn't want to have anything to do with people from New Orleans.

I know a lot of people outside the city, outside the state wonder what the big fuss is still four years after Katrina came aground. It wasn't just a big storm. It was that and more, the aftermath was worse in many ways. We're making our way back, but it's not always easy or as quick as we'd like.

(Personally I came through the storm fairly well off. Today I am not struggling to put my home or life back in shape from the storm, but I know many who are, so I feel the effects.)

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4 Years Ago Today

Beatles' News

Coming next month a Beatles game on RockBand and their albums being being digitally remastered. Are we close to an announcement that their catalog will be offered online soon? Go read more here and see.

Boy, Do I Feel Old

Does the younger generation not know who Bob Dylan is? Evidently not if you read this.

New Cell Phone

I realized that I haven't been very good on blogging over here lately. I've been spending a lot of time on re-working my music site Voices to hear and this blog has unfortunately gotten the short end of the stick.

What made me realize how lacking I've been in keeping everyone up to date on here was that I haven't mentioned the fact that I bought a Palm Pre. I've had it for awhile now and have never once mentioned it here.

I admit it, I'm a gadget freak. I can't help it. I know it wasn't that long ago I bought the Instinct and was blogging about it here. In fact I didn't think I would be able to get the Pre, because I figured that it was too soon to get the deal. But they let me get it for the renewal price and I went with it.

I liked the Instinct, but it seemed Sprint pretty much decided to ignore it after they built it up as the I Phone killer. No apps, no real support behind it.

Now along comes the Pre and a lot of the hype I heard about the Instinct is being parroted for the Pre. But one big difference I think, the Pre is Palm's last big hope and they have to support it if they want to survive as a company.

So how do I like it? I really do like it. Palm is still way behind in making apps for the phone, but there are now over a hundred homebrew apps out there. I've got an app that translates for me, will convert currency, a comic strip app and many more.

I'm hoping that this will be my phone for awhile. I like it so far and hopefully will continue to like it and use it and not want to get another one too soon.

I know, it's a sickness....I can't help wanting the newest gadget....

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Wall Street Back To Same Old Tricks

Go to Salon.com and read about how Citigroup, a company that we bailed out with $45 billion, wants to pay its top 25 executives an average of $10 million apiece for their work this year. Work that was so good it entitled the company to take a $45 billion bail out from the United States Government. I thought these type of payouts was supposed to be over, that there were going to be real changes on Wall Street.

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Some Thoughts From Work

Something happened today to make me thing about a few things while at work today.

If you're adult enough to get a job and come work for me be adult enough to call in when you're sick and not have your Mom or Dad call for you. (Of course if you're in the hospital than I understand a second party calling in for you.)

If I have to fire you because you're not doing your job, which means I've sat down with you at a minimum of three times to discuss whatever problems we're having, don't send your Father in to ask me why I fired their child. I'm not going to discuss your job performances with anyone besides you and that includes your parents.

If you have to work a day you want off don't have your Mom or Dad call me to ask if I can give you the day off. I make the schedule two weeks in advance and if you put in a request I try to honor it, but asking me two days before the day you want off because you want to go to the beach or whatever, it's not going to happen.

Ok, I could go on and on but I won't. It just surprises me sometimes what people will do or try to do. I just always assume if you're adult enough to get the job than you're adult enough to handle it. I guess that's not always the case.

The Greater Kennedy

Image by dbking via Flickr

Eunice Kennedy died today. She was a daughter of Joseph Kennedy and brother to John F and Robert Kennedy.

When I was younger (much younger, back during my final school years and soon afterwards) I all but revered John F Kennedy. I bought every book I could find on him. I devoured any facts I came across if they related to Kennedy. At that time most of the books were little more than love letters to the fallen leader. It was fifteen-twenty years after he was gunned down in Dallas but we as a nation still pictured him with a halo.

Somewhere over time, like with anyone that once was held in such high esteem, the books began to turn and what once was written in reverent tones now the words were scathing and mean. But somewhere in that time the truth was coming to light. Once considered an underdog we soon learned that Kennedy was not above throwing his wealth and connections around to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was nothing short of the Presidency of the United States.

I've read enough, good and bad, over the years about John F Kennedy that I no longer consider him a hero. I know that his name is still considered fairly saintly in many circles, but Kennedy's Presidency was not the bright shinning beacon that many look on it as.

His sister commanded nowhere near the presence that he did, to the majority of the public she is probably unknown, but of the Kennedy clan I think she was more the hero. Eunice Kennedy helped create The Special Olypmics. The Special Olympics helped people with intellectual disabilities develop self-confidence, social skills and a sense of personal accomplishment.

My sister was born with Spina Bifda. In some ways she was lucky. She can walk, which I've found a lot of children born with Spina Bifda cannot. Before she was five years old she had a shunt put in her head to help drain excess water buildup on her brain. She died on the operating table at one point. While operating on her brain they think now someone cut a little too deep or a little too wrong and she's had seizures ever since.

When she was in high school she was in the 'special kids' class. You know which one that is, the class with all the kids in wheel chairs and those that talked out loud, and that most of the other kids made fun of. But she loved it. For one the class was small, I think less than a dozen kids, and of those kids she was the least handicapped there. She helped the teacher with the other kids, she was the star of the class. She was there when these kids praticapated in Special Olympics. With less than a year left of her high school career some burecrat decided in their infinite wisdom that these kids should be mainlined back into normal classes.

So my sister went from being the class star to one of those kids that don't fit in.

But she graduated. My Mom wasn't going to let her not graduate.

After school she volunteered at the school in the library. That year at the annual parish (a parish down here in Louisiana is what most of the rest of the country calls a county) where the school boards recognizes notable teachers and such she was awarded Volunteer of the Year.

I wasn't there, but I watched a video of it. Even today, many years later I can remember sitting at home watching the video. My sister walks hesitantly and when her name was called she walked up to the stage and I was watching, hoping she didn't trip or stumble. She has trouble with her hands, her left hand shakes and she has trouble holding things. I watched as they handed the plaque to her and she gripped it in her hands, smiling and walked off the stage. I didnt' even realize I was crying until I wiped at my eyes.

So to me Eunice Kennedy is the greater Kennedy.

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New Look over at Voices to hear

I've spent the weekend behind this desk and staring at the computer screen and typing and typing away. For what you ask? I've completely resdesigned the look of my music site Voices to hear. Please go check it out and let me know what you think.

Harry Potter and My Dad

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows went on sale the same day that my Mom called me earlier to tell me that the doctors didn't think my Dad was going to make it much longer. It was a Friday. I had just come back from a work related trip from Houston. I was supposed to go to work Friday and the plan was than my vacation was going to start and I was heading up to Memphis to visit my Mom and Dad. My Dad was in the hospital, but I think I was expecting him to get better. Everyday I talked to my Mom and I knew he was not doing good. He forgot things, he didn't know who my Mom was at times, other times he thought he was somewhere else, doing things besides lying in a hospital bed. It was only later that I learned the cancer had traveled to his brain. But I refused to believe that he was not going to get better. I figured I'd come up for the week, he'd get better and maybe leave the hospital soon.

I knew the final volume of Harry Potter was going on sale that night at midnight. I was trying to decide if I was going to buy it before I headed north or wait till I arrived there. My plan was that after work I'd get a few hours sleep and than leave around three in the morning to drive up. That's how I almost always did it. I liked driving late at night, with little traffic on the road.

That morning, around ten I got a call from my Mom. She was crying. Now if you knew my Mom you would know how strong she is, so if she was crying I knew something was bad. She told me that the doctors didn't think my Dad was going to last much longer. He had slipped into a coma. I told her I would leave right away. Than I called work. I was fine, I asked for another manager and when Don came on the phone I found I could barely get the words out.

Afterwards I hung up and called my brother at his work. The previous week my brother and I had a fight, I'm not going to go into what it was about, we rarely argue as adults, but this one was big and at the time I was not talking to him. I really think it could have went on for awhile and perhaps seriously rendered our relationship. But none of that mattered now. I told him what was going on and he said he'd meet me at my house and we'd drive up together.

Somehow I didn't think too much about Harry Potter at that time.

It's a six hour and a little to spare to get to Memphis from my house. We took my brother's truck, Buffy in the rear seat and the two of us talking on the way up. We talked a lot about family, my Dad, my Mom, my Sister and we laughed a lot on the way up. There were a lot of good memories.

We dropped Buffy off at my Moms and headed to the hospital. It was in Cornith Mississippi, about an hours drive from my Moms. When we got to the hospital I was surprised to see how many people were in my Dad's room. This was late at night, after nine and the room was filled with my Aunts and Uncles and cousins, all from my Mom's side of the family. They were all that lived here, my Dad's sister lived in New Jersey. I think my Dad would have been really surprised, he was always one of those people that never realized what an impact his life had on others.

After a few hours my brother and I decided to head back to my Moms. We were picking up my niece and nephew who were flying in early tomorrow and my Mom wanted us to stop at Walmart (one of the only places that was open all night) and pick up a few things. They already had a crew of people that were staying the night, so we decided to head back.

We got to Walmart like five minutes after midnight. We saw a crowd of people going into the store and wondered what was going on. Than I remembered. Harry Potter was just going on sale. We went in and did our shopping and than both my brother and I got a copy of the book.

My father held on till the middle of the following week. In between the time spent with him, I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After he died and inbetween making arrangements and being with my Mom and the rest of the family I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It was reassuring. It was like visiting an old friend. The message of the book, the importance of love, was so important. It's hard to describe what reading that book meant at that time. This book will always have an important meaning in my life. I'm not going to say it made that week easier, but it was a crutch that helped me walk through that week.

When I finally got to the last book in my quest to re-read all of Harry Potter I opened the book and out fell one of those cards from the funeral home announcing my Dad's burial. I had forgotten I had put it in there. I stared at it for a few minutes, gazing at the picture of my Dad on the front, remembering his laughter and than I started to read the book.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Ok, just finished Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and now moving onto The Half Blood Prince. It's very relaxing to be able to enter into the world of Harry Potter and just move from one story to the next. Reading one after the other it's like one big story.

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Old School Fridays: My Theme Song

Once again I have to apologize for not doing these on a regular basis. Last time I thought I was back to a normal Friday posting but it didn't quite make it. I really like this meme and always plan to do it but something seems to come along to derail that plan. Well, I'm back this week and we'll see how next week goes.

This week's subject is "My Theme Song." I think if anything I can be very hard headed when I believe I'm right and will stand my ground no matter what. So I present Tom Petty singing "I Won't Back Down."

San Diego Comic Con

The biggest comic convention of the season started today and I'm not there. I haven't been in about six years. I remember the first one I went to back in the eighties and what I thought was a big con now seems so small. It seems though that the whole premise of the convention, comics, are taking a back seat to Hollywood. Entertainment Weekly had their comic con issue and not one article was about comic books. But there still is a lot of comic books and comic book related stuff at the convention. I was reading that 2,000 fans of Twilight camped overnight to be sure to get in for the panel on their favorite book and movie.

The first San Diego Con I went to was short on Hollywood spectacle but I did see a few. I remember seeing David Carradine walking around and looking at comics, he wasn't there as a guest, he was there as a fan.

Sigh...lots of fun.

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Twenty Years Ago Today....

I still get goose bumps just watching this video. I'm ten years old again, sitting on the living floor while there's a whole bunch of people gathered around watching the tv. Words like making history are thrown around easily, but that day those three men made history like few have ever did.

Today there should be a base on the moon. More than 24 men should have touched foot to that barren world. We did something that was close to impossible and than we didn't know what to do next. We basically stopped.

To those who question why I ask if you would have voiced the same questions to Christopher Columbus in 1492. Horace Greely said "Go West Young Man" and thousands did. Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark exploring, spreading our country towards another ocean.

To survive mankind needs to explore, to reach out for the unreachable, to venture forth....

A True Hero

I can't say it any better, go check it out here and read about a true hero.

The Most Trusted Man In The Country Dies

Image via Wikipedia

Walter Cronkite died earlier today.

In today's world where journalists are just as distrusted as the people they write about it might be hard to believe that once most of this country thought of Walter Cronkite as the most trusted man in the country. When he decided that the Vietnam War was not worth fighting President Johnson knew he had lost the country's belief in the war. "If I lost Walter I've lost middle American" was Johnson's quote.

I don't think there is anyone in the news business that holds the same place as he once did.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

One reason I haven't been posting much lately is that I've been busy reading. I'm just getting ready to start the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's been a lot of fun reading the books all in a row. When you stack each book up next to each other you can see how each one seemed to be bigger than the previous one.

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Greg Allman In Rolling Stone

I meant to post this back when it first came out but I forgot. The last issue of Rolling Stone (the new one is a tribute to Michael Jackson) has some very interesting articles in it, if you can get over the fact that the cover feature is the Jonas Brothers. (Actually they're not that bad.) First is a very enlightening article about Goldman-Sachs and their role in the present economic slump. And there's an article that Vinnie will no doubt be interested in, if he hasn't already seen it, about Greg Allman.

I think the new format has given the Stone a new lease on life.

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Re-Reading Harry Potter

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I've decided that I'm going to re-read Harry Potter. I'm going to start with the first book and read them all, one right after the other. When I first read them of course I had to wait for each one to be published, so a lot of time passed inbetween reading each book. I want to read them all at once, so to speak, and experience them as one long story. I had to go out and buy the first two books, when I started looking for the books around my house I found the last five, but could not find those first two for anything. I think I loaned them out. Anyways I went out and bought the first two books today and am going to start tonight.

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Paul McCartney on Letterman

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This Wednesday night Paul McCartney returns to the Ed Sullivan theater where he made history years ago with a few other friends. He appears this Wednesday on the David Letterman show.

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Quit and Get on the Cover of Time

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Sarah Palin resigns as Governor of Alaska and she makes it on the cover of Time Magazine! One reason she quits is because she doesn't want to be a lame duck governor. One, I guess she figures that she can't win a second term in her own home state and two, does that mean if she was President and was in her second term she would quit because she was a lame duck president? Can this woman get any dumber?

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A Personal Milestone

This Sunday I turn 50.

Throughout your life there are certain birthdays that are supposed to be special. A sort of milestone that marks your place in life as you travel towards the end. But it's never been that way with me. Birthdays were never that important to me. Yes, I enjoy people fussing over me and giving me presents, but I never felt like they represented any special significance just because of certain numbers. You know the numbers, 21, 30, 40...those numbers that are supposed to make you pause and take reflection in your life.

To me they were just one more birthday. Another number. I guess I never looked at those growing numbers with the alarm that some people do, maybe because I never thought about how old I am. This is either going to sound cliche or like I'm already experiencing a mid life crisis, but it really is neither, but I never acted my age. I don't mean I was one of those older guys that try to be twenty years younger than they are and act like an idiot.

I don't think I look my age (and that's not really due to anything on my part except for inheriting good genes from my parents) and I don't act my age. Lots of what other people my age think as important I'm not that interested in. I still want to discover new things, I want to hear a new sound that thrills me, read a new book that makes me question life, watch a movie or tv show that makes me weep.

I've tried to live my life with the understanding that the feelings of others are just as important as mine.

I've lived my life I hope with as much truth as I could. I'm not going to claim that I've never hurt anyone or lied. I've tried not to, but sometimes things happen that you wish you could undo later. I've done somethings I wish I could redo, but nothing that I'm ashamed of.

I don't drink. I don't do drugs. In fact I've never done either. Ok, I take it back. Once in my wild younger years I drank a beer. Didn't agree with me. Now while I don't drink or do drugs I don't think others should necessarily follow my example. In fact I lean more towards legalization of drugs, our war on drugs has been lost years ago. And it's not that I feel some higher power is telling me not to do either. It's just a decision I made years ago and have followed through. It works for me, it doesn't work for everyone.

I don't curse. I have had friends try to get me to swear, just to hear me say a swear word. I just don't. Now I know I'm starting to sound like some sort of prude or religious nut, but really I'm not. I just made some decisions that I wanted to follow. I'm not a prude. In fact I favor letting people do what they want with each other as long as it doesn't hurt others. And as far as a religious nut, that I'm definitely not.

Mark Twain said "If one truly believes there is an all-powerful Diety, and one looks around at the condtion of the universe, one is led inesapably to the conclusion that God is a malign thug." I guess I don't have to say much more about my religious beliefs.

Why am I going into such lengths about all this? Because for once I'm finding myself thinking about a number as I approach my fifitieth birthday. Odds are that once I hit this Sunday I'm on the downhill side of my life. Except for my Dad who died because of smoking both sides of my parents family live long lives, into their ninties. But even if I follow that path I'm still looking at less years than I've already lived.

Am I satsified with my life? Of course not completely. There are still lots of things I want to do. Am I where I thought I'd be back when I hit that first milestone birthday of 21? No. I was thinking I'd be writing for a living now, but all our dreams don't come true. I've tried to live the life I've made as completely as I can and still have not given up on my dreams. Am I happy with my life? Yes I would say so. Like I said, there are things I wish had turned out differently, some things I wished had happened that haven't, but you play the hand you're dealt and I've enjoyed the past years.

Still with this birthday coming I've found myself pausing and wondering.

Maybe this is what a mid life crisis feels like.

Allen Klein Dies

Picture is Copyright AP

Everyone blames Yoko Ono for the break up of the Beatles, but I think if anyone outside the group itself is to blame it's probably Allen Klein. Klein was a manager hired by John Lennon and than agreed to by George and Ringo, but fiercely opposed to by Paul McCartney. This had more to do with their eventual split than anything Yoko did.

Klein started his career as an accountant. His first major act was Sam Cooke, who he managed to get Sam Cooke the rights to all his future recordings. Later he bought out Andrew Long Oldham, the manager of the Rolling Stones, to become the Stones manager. Within a few years the Stones fired him, but he managed to retain the copyrights to the majority of their songs recorded before 1971.

He started a company, ABKCO (Allen and Betty Klein Company) that ended up owning the copyrights to thousands of popular songs, from the Stones to the Animals, Herman's Hermits, Chubby Checker and many others.

Klein died July 4 in New York City of Alzheimer's Disease.

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Independence Day

Karl Malden R.I.P.

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Evidently Karl Malden had died today. He was 97 years old and died of natural causes at his home. I remember him more for the television show from the seventies The Streets of San Francisco, which also started a young Michael Douglas. There also was his tv commercial for American Express...."Don't leave home without it." The commercial grew out of his role from the police show. More recently he guest starred in an episode of The West Wing as President Bartlet's priest.

Besides tv he was an accomplished movie actor, playing roles in movies such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Patton.

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