Team Saturdazzle: The one where I meet a FB friend for the first time and then unfriend them

 Hello and welcome once again to Team Saturdazzle.  I have 3 or 4 random things to share this Saturday.  Let's get started shall we.  

Last Saturday there was a Men's breakfast at my church. As I was waiting in line I saw a friend from a church we had both previously attended.  I went and sat with him and remembered that my friend was active in the same prison visitation ministry that the speaker was from.  At a table of 8 people most were friends of the speaker through the prison ministry.  My friend was asking me if I knew another man at our table who had also attended our previous church and was now pastoring a different church.  When I heard the name, I recognized it right away and realized that this guy was a Facebook friend of mine.

The interesting thing was I don't remember ever meeting this guy before.  He has been a FB friend for awhile, but I'm not sure I've ever seen him post about anything.  I introduced myself to him and told him we were FB friends but he gave me no impression that we had ever known each other.  Here is what I think happened, The church I used to attend had at one point 7 men at the church all named Dave,  There were 4 of us whose last name ended with er. Back in the day when FB was popular it was fairly common to get beleaguered with friend request and friend recommendations.  I wouldn't be surprised if this guy got a "You might also know ... " message and mixed me up with one of the other er Dave's from church. Then when I got the friend request  I accepted thinking we would become better acquainted.  For the past few years when I've been cleaning up my FB contacts, I have considered removing this person  but hesitated thinking maybe we had a backstory I ad forgotten and we would meet someday and he would clue me in.

Well when we met there was  he seemed as clueless as me in regards to our backstory.  So today when I was cleaning up my FB contacts I unfriended him.  Since we were basically oblivious of each other in the non digital world until last week, I think we will get over the loss rather quickly.  

Earlier this week I participated in the Weekly Writer's Workshop at The Sound of One Hand Typing.  Each week John Holton gives multiple prompts to choose from.  This weeks were: 

1. Write a post based on the word grudges. 
2. Write a post in exactly 13 lines. 
3. Write about something you learned in the month of February. 
4. List your five favorite snack foods. 
5. Tell us about the worst haircut you ever had. 
6. What are the five things you enjoyed doing the most when you were in sixth grade? Do you still enjoy doing them?

I chose to combine prompt two and six.  After which I used paragraphy at byrdseed.com to put the sentences in random order.  

Here is my original.  The number reinforces the original order.  The letter shows what order paragraphy put them in.  To see how it appeared originally in my blog click here,

1.  The prompt I chose for today is to write a post using exactly 13 lines. (L)
2.  I have adjusted that to be exactly 13 sentences.  (A)
3. I will also try to remember back almost 50 years ago when I was in the 6th grade to think about the 5 things I enjoyed most back then and evaluate if I still like them today. (K)
4.  I have been wanting for some years to put in a post using Paragraphy and will try to do that today.  (E)
5. How Paragraphy works is you write a paragraph and then the sentences are randomly reordered.  (I)
6. See if you can figure out the original order. (M)
7.  In 1975 when I started 6th grade, I was a huge White Sox fan.  (B)
8. Fifty years later I still am. (H)
9. Back then I was quite the television watcher and had the network schedule memorized. (G)
10. Even now when I hear about an old show, the first thing I think of is what network it was on and what day it aired.  (J)
11. In 6th grade I was still in the school band and I played the saxophone, I liked playing but was never very good at it, so that was my last year.  (C)
12. The other two were baseball and bicycling.  (F)
13. They are still two passions of mine. (D)

The number reinforces the original order.  The letter shows what order paragraphy put them in.  To see how it appeared originally in my blog click here

The A to Z challenge is coming up next month and I am still working on my theme reveal.  While I'm not quite ready to tell you what theme I am doing, I can tell you about one that I thought about doing and may do in the future. 

On The February 1 Team Saturdazzle post, I wrote a little about Sesame Street and shared 3 clips  from the show.  Two of the clips featured guest appearances.  This got me to toying with thee idea of an  A-Z theme with Sesame Street  guest appearances.   While it didn't make the cut for this year, I may revisit it in future challenges.  I am happy, though to share this gem of Andrew Garfield and Elmo talking about grief.

March Madness is not just for Basketball!

This is the third year that I am participating in a Wordle March Madness event.  If you reading this post because you are a FB friend of mine look you may have seen an invitation to play along thus year.  What were doing is playing wordle as usual at the NYT site each day this month and sharing our results. Like golf we are trying for low scores.  I will share  the top 10 each competitors each week here at Team Saturdazzle.  

We've had quite the Saturdazzle!  Unfrienships, mixed up memories,  grief on the street,  and a March to Wordle Madness. Thanks for visiting.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One with Bits and Pieces.

Today's Team Saturdazzle is just a quick compilation of stories, clips and jokes.

Like many days when I was a kid it starts with Sesamee Strret and it ends with a snack,

One of the things I liked about Sesamee Street from an early age was the guest appearances.  One of the ealriest I remember probably since I like puns so much is when the cast of Bonanza came on the show.  They were on a lot of season 2 and did segments where they counted or recited the alphabet or demonstrated math problems like the video below.  

 

In the episode I remember they do a play on the Ernie and Bert banana in my ear sketch (original sketch below) except instead of saying banana in my ear they actually say Bonanza in my ear. Epic!

Sesamee Street has continued with their guest appearances.  I just discovered this gem with Billy Joel and Marlee Matlin (CODA, West Wing, Children of a Lesser God) . I'm a big Billy Joel fan and also love writing new lyrics to old songs and Joel does this by tweaking one of his standards and adapting it to Oscar The Grouch.  

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Yesterday I had one of my days where I was out of the house at 6:30 and not back for good until after midnight. I was home for about 90 minutes in the afternoon.  My wife and daughter were preparing for  an impromptu game night, where they had invited several people a day or less before the party was slated to begin.  A few people did manage to come, but when I was home the only people they had heard from were unable to attend.  This gave me an idea for a wry observation which I shared on my personal FB page:

A lot of times when people can't make it to an event youv'e asked them to attend, they will respond something like that sounds great, but I'm busy that day. Just once can't they say that sounds like an awful time, but I'm not doing anything see ya at 7?

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This morning, Amy and I were judging another speech tournament.  This time it was at held at Lucy's old high school.  When you walk in the hallowed halls of a high school there are pictures of accomplished student athletes and plaques with the names of students who received accolades, awards, accomplishments, and some words that don't start with A like scholarships. None of those halls in any of those schools contain my picture.  I wasn't that kind of athlete, and I was not that kind of student.  However the apple must have fallen far from the tree because my daughter class of 2024 is pictured at least twice and her name is engraved on a plaque as a recipient of a scholarship for mastery in Language Arts.  

Ending the day with a snack

My college friend Angela Rumbold's birthday was earlier this week.  We had many fine times over the years.  When she first moved from Illinois to Georgia, I had occasion to visit her there and she introduced me to boiled peanuts.  It was love at first soggy bite.  years later when I lived in South Carolina for 2 years the boiled peanut became my go to snack as there was a street vendor outside our local Walmart.  I generally did not go more than a fortnight without grabbing me a bag.  

When I ventured back to Illinois in '97 to forsake all others and marry my best friend, I also  ending up forsaking regular visits with my favorite boiled legume.  This +25 year absence of a boiled peanut routine ended about 2 years ago when I discovered inside A BP in Frankfort, Illinois where my sister in law  lives, a boiled peanut station.  So now 4 or 5 times a year on visits to her family I get the fruits of Jimmy Carter's first job (Boiled Peanut deliverer).

Tonight was one of those nights.  My Niece Gracie was in a production of Finding Nemo Jr.  Which is not it turns out a quest to find Nemo's progeny but a children's adaptation of the musical Finding Nemo.  I was glad to attend, but everyone in my family knew there was a boiled peanut quid pro quo in my attendance.  

By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferwoodardmaderazo/3563681031/, CC BY 2.0, Link

Well that's all the Team Saturdazzle I have for you today.  We learned some math, heard some jokes, watched some videos, I shared some stories and  even had a snack.  It's not exactly 3 points and a poem, but it will have to do.  

A to Z Roadtrip

The A to Z Road Trip is here. This is a chance to give anyone who wants to regardless of whether they participated in this years A to Z challenge a chance to take a deeper dive into the blogs that did participate.

Here is the link to the road trip.  Here is the spreadsheet of those who are so far entering their blogs into the roadtrip.

Today I picked up a book from my library, a biography of Jim Henson.  In the prologue he describes a  Sesame  Street sketch where a little girl is reciting the alphabet to Kermit.  I reemebering watching this scene as a kid, and again with my kids when I bought the Sesame Street Old School DVD set,  I pulled up the scene from YouTube because it has an a-z vibe to it.  

   

Z is for Zero,

                                                                                

                                                                                Zero Mostel
 

                                                                                Years lived before 1921: Six

                                                                                Years lived after 1921: Fifty Six

When I think of Zero Mostel, I think of Tevye from Fiddler On The Roof. I never saw him on Broadway and he was not in the motion picture version.  However I listened to the Broadway album many times as a kid and now own it on c.d.  He put his stamp on that role more than any other actor ever had.  

 Born Samuel Joel Mostel, he received the moniker Zero when performing  in the New York night club, cafe society because "he was a guy starting with nothing.  

Besides being a night club comic, he worked on the stage, in movies, and on television.  This career was derailed somewhat in the 40's and 50's as he was blacklisted in Hollywood before there even was a blacklist.  In 1952 he was officially blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and called to testify in front of HUAC in 1955.  His testimony is very reminiscent of Jim Carey's character's testimony in The Majestic.  One highlight is when he refers to his former employer 20th Century Fox as 19th Century Fox because of (in his opinion) their antiquated views.

By reading this it is pretty easy to infer that Zero Mostel was a little odd.  So it didn't surprise me that his 3 Tony awards were in odd years.  In 1961 He won best actor in a play for Rhinoceros.  In 1963 he won his first Best Actor in a Musical Tony for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum, and In 1965 he won his secon Best Actor in a Musical Tony for his career defining role in Fiddle on the Roof.  

Speaking of Broadway, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder starred together in Mel Brook's movie The Producers which years later became a Broadway smash.  Mostel and Wilder reunited in the famous Electric Company segment Letter Man with Wilder voicing the title hero and Mostel in the role of the evil Spellbinder.  

Mostel also appeared on Sesame Street and the Muppet Show.  He is the only guest star on The Muppet Show who passed away before their episode could be aired.  Mostel is one of at least 3 of my a to z profiles who hosted The Muppet Show, the other two are Peter Ustinov and Ethel Merman.  Now that the A to Z challenge is over, I may watch all 3 of those episodes on the Disney Plus App with the extra time coming my way. 

So that's it 1921 A to Z has come to an end.  I wonder what anybody might say about it 100 years from now.

A To  Z Extra

Some of my Faavorite Electric Company Segments  at Dave Out Loud. This of course includes Mostel as the Spellbinder. 

   After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to The A to Z challenge and  continue exploring.  

G is for Grover

You Tube A TO Z

G is for Grover

I grew up on Sesame Street.  I mean the television show, not the actual street.  My love for all things Muppets began watching sketches like these on PBS.  Like many sesame street sketches of it's time, it starts with a usual situation and put's an educational/wacky take on it.

For more blogging A to Z click here.

Of Ipods and Vaccum Belts

They are so different. One you can listen to, one you can replace. How are they the same? They both can be bought at Best Buy. But that's where the similarities end, so BACK OFF already!



Now on to the REAL message of this post:


Puppies are special, puppies are cute. Or some song like that from Esther. You know, the Veggie Tales video? Where the damsels are attempting to impress the king with their talent? Oh come on, you don't REMEMBER that? How's this: one of these things is not like the other! Three of these things are kind-of the same. Can you guess which thing does not belong here, before I finish my song? That's it, I'm leaving. You don't remember a Sesame Street song??? Children, hello here?

Never. Mind.

Love,

Dave

p.s. my wife wrote this a year ago today. I didn't put it the blog then, but since I have had a change of heart.

A "Typical" Week

People often want to know what a "typical" week of home schooling looks like. The answer I hear most often is that there is no such thing as a typical week. Home schooling families are like snowflakes in that respect, no two are exactly the same.

No, I am not saying that home school families are flakes! Focus, people, focus!

Here is what my typical week looks like at the Izola Becker Home School and Grill.

Monday, we have co-op. It is called Christian Workshops of the Fox Valley or CWF for short. Our family just calls it Monday School. I will write an entire post on CWF at another time. This is my first semester at CWF. Amy and the kids were involved previously, so far I really enjoy it.

Tuesday we are involved in a program called G.I.F.T (Godly Influenced Fine-arts training) it is similar to a co-op. Emma and Charlie take 1 class each and work on school with me while the other is in their class. Emma is taking a drawing class and Charlie is taking Chess. On Tuesday afternoons we have our regular library day.

Wednesday through Friday resemble a more typical home school environment. Between 7 and 8:00 kids wake up have breakfast and do their morning routine. At 8:30 we start school by watching the daily episode of Jelly Telly. Jelly Telly is the latest innovation from Phil Vischer the creator of veggie tales. It is a cross between Sesame Street and Sunday School. Here are a few clips from the show:

The Bentley Brothers

God's Amazing Animals

Michael's Ten Best Films of All Time

You can see the daily shows at http://www.jellytelly.com/.

After Jelly Telly we come to the table and work on Awana verses. Emma then begins working on her classes through her Switched-On School House program. Lucy, Charlie and I work at the table until about 10:30 and then take a morning break. After break I finish up with Charlie and Emma continues to work independently. School ends between 12 and 1 when lunch time begins. After School we do chores, run errands, play games, or translate the Bible into Pig Latin. We have not gotten past the en-tay amandments-kay yet.

So that's what a typical week is supposed to look like. This doesn't include things like swimming lessons, field trips and what we do with Emma when her computer breaks like it did at the beginning of this year. For example, today is our CWF day, but the church that allows CWF to use their building, is cleaning up after a Super Bowl party and thus CWF was cancelled making the typical week atypical before it ever began.

To see more home school blogs go to the home school carnival hosted this week at Dewey's Treehouse by clicking here.

Next Time: Swimming Lessons