All posts by djones

google, meme

Meme Time

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It’s been a while since I checked out what the almighty Google has to say. In the standard Google Meme, you take your first name and then a verb and report the first thing Google returns for that search. But with my very common first name I sometimes have to proceed down a few entries to find one suitable for publishing. (If you are curious why I edit, google “Dan likes” and check out the first two results. Might be OK if I were of a different sexual persuasion and lived south of the border, but not for the current reality.)

Here is my version of the Google Meme with commentary. Note that keeping score is important!

Dan needs: Your help.
This is right on the button. I need your help finding a real live job. Any and all offers considered.
Google: +1.

Dan looks like: he’s kind of checking out the Angel’s rack.
 -or-
Dan looks like: a Ninja.
Given that I don’t know the Angel, I kind of doubt I’d be doing that. I also bear no resemblance to a Ninja the last time I looked.
Google: -1.

Dan likes: showing his butt on Flickr.
Google strikes out again. At least to the best of my knowledge, I don’t even have a picture up on Flickr, let alone one that shows that particular part of my anatomy.
Google: -1.

Dan wants: to be a stripper.
I guess I can go with this one. I’ve never really considered it as a career option, but I figure I could clear the room in seconds with no problem. Oh, you mean I’m supposed to attract people? Never mind.
Google: -1.

Dan does: It
 -or-
Dan does: your radar reach Iowa?
I guess I do it. It all depends on which it I guess. But I definitely don’t have a radar and so I don’t think it reaches Iowa.
Google: 0.

Dan hates: SPAM.
Google nails one.
Google: +1.

Dan goes: cynical.
 -or-
Dan goes: to the wrong house after the bar.
Once again a problematic one to score. Google hit it on the nose with the cynical, but so far as I remember I have never gone to the wrong house after the bar. Maybe Google knows something I don’t.
Google: +1.

Dan loves: Me.
 -or-
Dan loves: eggs.
Well if you are L or family or … from real life, yes I do love you. But if you are a random stalker from Peoria, maybe not. And the egg thing? Not too much.
Google: 0.

Dan has: a lot of Stuff to do.
 -or-
Dan has: Potential.
 -or-
Dan has: No Friends.
Well, there is some truth to all of the above. I’d probably give Google a -1 for the no friends remark, but I could go with the potential. And I certainly to have a lot of stuff to do, so have fun and give the Google oracle a try to see how your  life is going.
Google: +1

Net Google Score: +1+1-1-1-1-1+0+1+1+0+1 = +1

dick, opera, writer's challenge

Dick, The One-Legged Opera Singer

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It is once again time for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Challenge . I have already written about most of the prompts, and as a mayor,  if I decided to write a letter to all the people who annoyed me in the last week I’d never get done. So what I have chosen to do is modify prompt number 1 to read

1) Tell us about a stray animal you took in.

The deletion of that one word is critical. It means I can write about Dick.

The Story of Dick, The One-Legged Opera Singer



When I was a graduate student, I often spent a pleasant Friday afternoon drooling at the wonderful array of equipment in the local stereo and record store. Yes, it is true, there was once an age when music was sold on a mythical material called vinyl and entire stores were dedicated to selling audiophile stereos. No TV’s, no computers, no … The normal watering hole for the grad students and professors was across the street, so I’d get to the store an hour or so before the weekly watering hole event to drool and dream. With the passage of time, I became a friend of the stereo store manager and would help customers with information if he was swamped. In return, he offered me discounts on equipment I could not otherwise afford as a poor graduate student.

One Friday as I was drooling and dreaming of a particular tuner, I noticed a very distinguished looking  gentleman acting very confused as he stared at the array of stereos lining the walls. The only other thing that stood out about the gentleman was that he was on crutches and was having issues with the crowded aisles of the store. Since the manager was tied up with another customer, I asked him if there was something I could help him find. It was like I had opened the gates of heaven. His entire face lit up and it was clear he felt that someone had just thrown him a life preserver. He was “just looking”, but he hoped to get a system he could listen to his opera records on. He introduced himself as Dick and we talked for a bit waiting for the store manager to get free. I gave him some advice about what to look for and then  introduced him to the manager. I never figured I’d ever see the Dick again.

Several weeks later, Dick once more wondered into the store and immediately sought me out. We talked for a bit and decided to get coffee next door so we could talk in peace and quiet. Stereo stores at the time were noted for playing loud rock and roll, usually several different songs at the same time. Not a good place to attempt conversation. As we talked, the subject of Dick’s opera fanaticism and my own stereo equipment fetish came up. After a bit more discussion, it was clear that I knew as little about opera as Dick knew about stereo equipment. So a deal was struck – I would attempt to educate Dick about stereo equipment and Dick would attempt to teach me a bit about opera.

One of the San Francisco classical radio stations broadcast a weekly show that featured operas from around the world (if memory serves me right, it was produced by the Met). So we made the arrangement that Dick would come over to my place and act as a docent for the opera and then we would talk stereo stuff for a while.

I still vividly remember the first Sunday meeting. The opera was Massenet’s Thais . Dick’s commentary was like looking into a whole new world. I had never listened to opera before, but with Dick’s insight it was entrancing. The combination of the music and Dick’s scene by scene description of what was happening on stage and what the motivations of the characters were and … was simply stunning. It was great! In fact, I felt a bit like a piker, exchanging my dry technical knowledge for this panoramic vista of art and music.

Over the course of the next few months I learned a tremendous amount about opera and Dick learned enough to buy the stereo he wanted. But even more interesting, I learned Dick’s story. He had been an opera singer with the San Francisco opera. That explained his in depth knowledge of so many operas and the particular stagings. He had been there and sung in some of them! He had been involved in an accident involving a car and a street car, resulting in the loss of his leg. That had ended his on stage opera career, since as he put it “there aren’t many roles for a one-legged tenor in all of opera.” So he had moved to the university town where I met him and gotten on with his life, giving voice lessons.

So the next time you see someone looking confused and lost, adopt them. The stray you take in may open up whole new vistas for you.

misc, tuessday, weather

Oddball Tuesday

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Today was pretty calm. In a mini-heat wave it got up to 9 or 15 degrees depending on which weather reporter you believed. So it is below 0 right now and will undoubtedly be cold as I meander down to the radio station in the morning. I hate it when the combination of cold and wind is enough that one has to wear a scarf to cover the face or get frostbitten. Guess I’ll just have to wait for the weekend when it is supposed to get warmer.

I figured I’d answer/respond to a few of the comments from the last week.

First of all, I want to thank the people who read the story of L and I and thought it was sweet. As I read the other responses to Mama Kat’s challenge , I found a number of other stories that I thought were pretty amazing as well. It’s always fun to read the responses to the challenges. I really encourage everyone to journey over to Mama’s Losin’ It on Thursdays to follow mr. linky and read the results of the weekly writer’s challenge.

And to CJ’s mutual admiration of things cow, I’d add that there is a lawyer living out here with the custom plates MOOLAW. Maybe cows are the new cabbage patch kids? Who knows?

In the comments to Stupid (and Slow) Saturday , Kris Loves Chocolate from uptomyneckinchocolate said  the post gave her an idea for an upcoming post. I am waiting with baited breath to see what the combination of a nap and stupid criminals stories inspired. Somehow it seems an odd combo to inspire.

Blueviolet of A Nut In A Nutshell has my sympathies since she sometimes suffers loonies as well. All I have to say is that the maximum range of looniedom is coming to a close since I will be term limited out of office come November. Then it will be someone else’s problem. {*grin*} (BTW, you should go read her post for today. It has a funny story that really seems to appeal to the female of the species.)

In Week Before Super Bowl Sunday , I talked about my un-crowning and filled out the meme from blueviolet’s blog. I want to let Kelley of Magneto Bold know that dental cement is designed to be removed if need be, but artificial joints are epoxied in, so I don’t think it is much of a concern. {*grin*} (And you really should read her post for the today if you have any sense of techie humor. The parody of an O’Reilly cover is stunningly funny.) And for blueviolet and Jenners who thought that my answer to #23 was stereotypically male and funny, all I can say is guilty as charged.

And last but not least, the answer to the question posed by blueviolet : why did I walk to the dentist? That is because I walk most places. No sense in driving if one can avoid it. It is only about 6 blocks to the dentist from my home office, so it isn’t a tough journey.

I just heard “Green Eyed Lady” by Sugarloaf on the net radio. Boy does that bring back memories from high school. Sugarloaf was a band out of Denver that hit it big in my high school years. One local even filled in on drums for them right after they released “Green Eyed Lady” but before it became a national hit. That was how they became one of the few famous rock groups ever to play here in this small town. Hopefully this is a better tune to have stuck in your head than “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidi.”

crown, dentist, misc

Miscellaneous Monday

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Q: What do you call someone who has been crowned twice in one month?

A1: Broke.
A2: A dual monarch.
A3: Relieved.

I’ll let you chose the answer you like the best. {*grin*}

Today was a bit chill out here on the plains. It got up to somewhere between 5 and 10 degrees (it all depends on who you believe). Add to that a nice 15 mph breeze and it felt downright chilly. I walked over to the dentist’s at about 2pm and it was breezy and snowing and cold. It never got any better after that. Now tonight it has cleared off and the temperatures are dropping fast, heading towards another subzero night. But the good news is that the forecast for the weekend is for days in the 50’s.

Ran into a former intern of L’s from her past business. The young lady was a Boettcher scholar and has finished her undergraduate degree now. Found out she is working near the university she attended for the nonce until medical school starts in the fall. It is always nice to see someone do well, especially someone who is a daughter of an acquaintance and went to high school here. She won my heart when she was working at the country club one summer at the remote stand. To fill the time between golfers, she had her calculus book and was boning up on definite integrals. Warmed the cockles of my scientist’s heart. She was back in town for her sister’s birthday and just happened to be in for her dental checkup when I was there. My dentist and I think she will be a good doctor. (She was also a classmate of one of my dentist’s daughters.)

According to my dentist, I’m now good for another twenty years or more. I’m just happy that I can open my mouth again and let the air in without a blast of pain. Amazing how much difference in quality of life $10 worth of glue can make.

Time to put my notebook together for tomorrow’s council meeting. We have a number of things to go over, including the approval interview of the new fire chief. Hopefully won’t run too long.

blueviolet, dentist, meme

Week Before Super Bowl Sunday

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A perfectly good title which has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post, its all good.

Today was much more typical of winter weather around here. It got up to somewhere around 15 degrees and then stayed windy and snowy all afternoon. It is right now at the border of single digits, but isn’t snowing any more.

Can you guess what this is:

Yes, that is a dental crown. But it is not the one that was just put on (from here and here and here ), this is the  other one from the opposite side that was put on 25+ years ago. Evidently the dental cement from back then is only good for twenty or so years. So this afternoon it decided to come off. I immediately called my dentist at home (told you it was a small town) and he volunteered to come into town (he lives outside of town) and glue it back on, but since it was not too painful, I told him first thing in the morning was fine. No sense in ruining his day with the family. So 8am tomorrow I’ll find out when he has slotted me in and get it repaired. One of the hazards of aging is that things like filings and crowns have finite lifetimes on the order of twenty years, so one gets to get them redone as they reach that certain age. A pain in the … (well, you know where.)

So in honor of it being another day of infamy here, blueviolet has tagged all her readers with the following meme and I respond thusly:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope, not per se.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last week – smashed index fingernail.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Since I have been using computers from the 70’s, my handwriting has deteriorated to an illegible scrawl. So the answer is no.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? It all depends. Sometimes bologna, sometimes salami, sometimes ham, and sometimes turkey.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? L and I have one son, 18 years old.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Never! {*grin*}

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No, not for the last 45+ years.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Nope. Big people don’t trust rubber bands.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Rice Chex or Shredded Wheat.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Always. Size 16 feet with high arches don’t slip out of ties shoe.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? French vanilla or Rocky Road.

13. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Size and intellect.

14. RED OR PINK? Neither. Blue or Green.

15. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Ego.

16. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Of the living, L my wife. Of the departed probably my grandfather.

17. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?? Sure.

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black sweat pants, blue sweat shirt, white socks. No shoes.

19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Iron Butterfly’s original 17 minute version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida  (Click the link to see how fuzzy my memory is.)

20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Don’t know for sure. Green maybe?

21. FAVORITE SMELLS? Baking bread, frying bacon, a certain Chanel scent L. used to wear when we were dating.

22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My dentist.

23. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO POSTED THIS NOTE? Don’t know. I read her blog, but otherwise don’t know her.

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? College football of any form.

25. HAIR COLOR? Used to be dark brown to black. Now not so much. Mostly white with a few dark hairs waging a forlorn battle against extinction.

26. EYE COLOR? Blue.

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Used to, but haven’t in years. Now it is bifocals.

28. FAVORITE FOOD? Varies. BBQ smoked sausage, steak, toasted cheese, vegetable soup.

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Dr. Zhivago – one of my all time favorites.

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White T.

32. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter in my youth, summer now that I’m getting older and feel cold all winter.

33. HUGS OR KISSES? Both.

34. FAVORITE DESSERT? Cake, ice cream, or fruit.

35. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND ? To injustices.

36. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND ? To blithering idiots.

37. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Suite 606.

38. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I use a track ball, but it sits on a mentor net mouse pad. Someday I’ll have to write about the somewhat insane young lady I last mentored.

39. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Nothing.

40. FAVORITE SOUND(S)? 60’s and early 70’s rock and roll.

41. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolling Stones.

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Russia.

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Computer Whispering? Who knows?

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Colorado.

45. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyone

46. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER? Sitting in high school biology class as described here .







So my challenge to you is to answer all these questions (if you so desire.)