Our family has 2 cats, let's call them cat 1 and cat 2. Two weeks ago I participated in my first Feline Friday at Comedy Plus by telling a story of how they are nowhere to be seen when company comes a calling. This week I caught some footage of their normal behavior when they encounter me. They do act differently for other family members, but this is their catus operandi for their interactions with me.
Cat 1
As you can see, Cat 1 uses me for 1 thing and 1 thing only, to have his food refilled. He will meow and walk over to his cat dish when he sure I will follow. could not capture his signature move, continue to meow for food while I am in the process of pouring it, because due to the hiring crisis, I have had to film my own cats recently.
Cat 2
At first Cat 2 seems like one chill cat. However, as I get anywhere near him he just runs away. He'd be a perfect Covid cat as he is excellent at maintaining a six foot distance.
For more Feline Friday click here. If you care visiting from Feline Friday be sure to catch some of my signature moves by checking out some of my more recent posts.
This past Sunday Evening in Chicago, a cross town rivalry resumed days before the covid 19 shortened baseball season got underway.
Jason Kipnis homered for the Cubs in their half of the first inning giving them a one run lead. Kipnis hit 12 homers against the White Sox as a member of the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs added to their lead in the second as Wilson Contreras scored on a sacrifice fly in the second.
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the 5th inning. With one out, Adam Engel who is known more for robbing opposing batters of home runs, robbed Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks of a shut-out by homering himself.
After the Engel homer, Tim Anderson singled and Eloy Jimenezflew out to right field and what happened next could only bedescribed as a good old fashioned 2 out rally. Jose Abreusingle to right moving Anderson to 3rd and removing Hendricks from the game. Jharel Cotton came in to pitch for the Cubs and Andrew Vaughn came into run for Abreu. Yasmani Grandal then doubled in Anderson and Vaughn giving the White Sox the lead.
The south siders were not finished yet. Grandals hit was just the first of three run scring doubles in succession. Edwin Encarnacion who made his major league debut for the Cincinatti Reds in the White Sox World Championship year of 2005 and is right about to begin his 16th season in the major leagues and his first for the White Sox hit a double to left plating Grandal. Then Luis Robert, who has yet to make his major league debut and was 8 years old when the White Sox won it all in 2005 hit a ground rule double to score Encarnacion.
Luis Gonzalez came into run for Robert. Leury Garcia tripled to score Gonzalez. This brought up Cheslor Cuthbert who just came over to the White Sox from the Royals who had the misfortune of making the first and final outs of the inning. But when Cuthbert made out #1 his team was behind 2-0, when he made out #3 they were ahead 6-2.
The White Sox added a run to that lead on a wild pitch in the seventh and the Cubs took that run away in the 8th as David Bote scored Josh Phegley in the 8th ending the scoring at 7-3 White Sox.
Ed Farmer was a hero of mine from childhood and for a few minutes in 2004 I was a hero of his. The former White Sox pitcher and radio announcer passed away on April 1st of this year. Here is what his former radio partner Ed Rooney had to say about working with Ed. Here is a video from last year where farmer reflected on his life in baseball. For Christmas 2003 my wife got me tickets to Sox Fest, an annual White Sox fan event held each January. The Sox had just hired Ozzie Guillen to manage their squad and I was very excited about meeting the players and attending some of the panel discussions. During the panel discussions fans were able to go to the microphone and ask questions. During a White Sox media panel discussion I asked Ed Farmer, who was an incredible advocate for organ donation and a recipient of a kidney from one of his brothers to talk a little about that. In asking my question, I related that I had donated a kidney and appreciated his advocacy for organ donation. This is when Farmer turned the tables on me. I remember him saying something like let's hear it for this guy, he's a true hero. There in the middle of Sox Fest I got an ovation from a bunch of Sox Fan strangers.
From all I've read and heard about Farmer, this was his way. He excelled at relating to people on a personal level. After the panel, He talked with me for about 5 minutes even though other people were waiting to talk with him. Farmer would often address his radio audience as his friends and he seemed to truly treat and deem each person he encountered as a friend.
Farmer grew up on the south side of Chicago in Evergreen Park and was a life long Sox fan. He pitched in the big leagues from 1971 to 1983 in what some have called a nomadic career, splitting 11 seasons between 8 teams. Farmer was a career long reliever with the occasional start. He appeared in 370 games starting only 21 times ( 4 in his first season, 4 in his final season with 13 in between).
Prior to 1979 Farmer would fluctuate between the minors and the big clubs. This changed when Farmer came back to the south side for arguably his best 3 seasons. He filled the role of a closer for the Chi Sox with 54 of his 75 lifetime saves in a Sox uniform. He had 30 of those saves in 1980 where he earned his first and only all star appearance.
After Farmer stopped playing, he worked a short time as a scout and then in the White Sox front office and in 1991 started in the radio booth in a limited capacity. In 1992 he became the full time color commentator aside play by play man John Rooney. When Rooney left in 2005 after the World Championship season, Farmer became the play by play announcer. Farmer logged in total nearly 30 years behind the microphone.
In August of 1999, I brought our young adult group from church to a Sox game. I had ordered the tickets in advance and had to go into the office to pick them up. While waiting for the tickets A tall lean tanned man strolled into the office talking with a few people on his way to the elevator. It took me a while to realize that this was Farmio. In retrospect I should not have been surprised. He displayed all the warmth , good humor and boyish exuberance that seemed to be his only gear.
I am confident that White Sox baseball will start again after the shelter in place lifts and that games will again be broadcasted on again. The few times I saw Farmer in person I was always taken aback about how tall he was. At 6'5 He's nearly a half foot taller than myself and I'm no slouch. Now I realized that he had to be that tall because his personality , zeal , and love for the game would not readily fit in any smaller of a package.
Muzak Lessons
Lessons learned from in-store music.
Introduction
I am introducing my first new segment of the reboot today. I am currently working overnights at a grocery store. Most nights they pipe in the in store music throughout the store. Many of the same songs are played several times through the course of the week. At this time there are no customers in the store during my working hours and most of my work is done independently so the in store audio is like the soundtrack of my work experience.
From time to time I will be sharing my thoughts based on what I am learning from these songs. Today I start with a song that reminded me we are prone to the same kind of mistakes that we give our friends grief over. Without further introduction I present ...
Lesson 1: An Apology to Gordy Jorian
First of all, before I begin, I just want to say that everyone in life should have at least one friend named Gordy. Gordy is a cool name. I think with a name like Gordy, you have no choice but to be super cool. Also I think everyone should have at least one super cool friend.
My friend Gordy Jorian is no exception to the super cool rule. I mean among other things, the dude has an imdb page. If that was enough his credits include being a key grip, a gaffer, and a best boy. Also he was a grip in the movie Kermit's Swamp years. Where he is credited as Gordy "Goggles"Jorian. I mean first of all hanging out ewith Kermit on the set has got to be awesome! An d first you have a cool name like Gordy and you follow it up with a super cool nickname in goggles. Talk about your embarrasment of riches, Finally he appears in one of the dvd extras. Wait, did I mention that he's super cool?
I've known Gordy since 1980 as our respective high school youth groups did a lot of trips and activities together. We got to know each other better in 1984 when we both began volunteering at our old high school youth groups. That summer Gordy and I were on a week-long bike trip in Michigan. One afternoon after we had finished biking for the day we heard a Huey Lewis and the News song on the radio.
I should at this point say that Gordy is a master at music and movie trivia. This is what a large part of our friendship was based upon. He is the one that introduced me to Joel Whitburn's the Billboard book of Top 40 hits which Gordy taught me to refer to as "The Whitburn." Each edition would list all the top 40 charting music from 1955 to the time of publication by song and artist. I point this out because knowing how in tune he was to all things music makes the next part of the story more poignant.
The Whitburn
As we were listening to the Huey Lewis song, Gordy confided in me that when the song first came out he had misunderstood the lyrics. Instead of The heart of Rock and Roll is still beatin', he thought Huey was singing the heart of Rock and Roll is in Wheaton. Wheaton, if you don't know, is a western suburb of Chicago once known for Christian publishing and still home of Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts school.
Now being the sensitive soul and good friend to Gordy that I was, I could only react in one way, incessant ridicule . In the late 80's early 90's Gordy and I went our separate ways. He lives in Florida and I'm back in the Chicago area. We keep in touch through Facebook and that sort of thing. But to this day the biggest legacy our friendship has left behind besides the copy of the Whitburn I keep at my bedstand is that whenever I hear The Heart of Rock and Roll, I will invariably tell anyone in earshot of Gordy's colossal blunder. That is to say, until a few weeks ago.
A few weeks ago, I was at work and they played another mid 80's staple Walk of Life by Dire Straits. I remember liking that song quite a bit back in the day and I enjoyed the trip down nostalgia lane. The next night they played the song again and again the night after that. At that third hearing I discovered something that rocked me to my very core. For 35 years I was hearing the wrong lyric!
At the end of the song there is a line, "after all the violence and double talk, there's just a song in all the trouble and the strife." The song then ends with you do the walk of life.
Now for years, that is not what I was hearing. I was hearing
After all the violence down in Bogota After all the trouble and the strife You do the walk of life.
So for 36 years while giving Gordy a hard time for hearing a city in a song that did not appear there, most of that time I've been hearing a city in a different song that also did not exist. Gordy caught his mistake in relatively short time. Heart of Rock and Roll came out in 1983 and by the Summer of '84 Gordy had corrected his gaffe. Walk of Life came out in 1985 and for 35 years I've been hearing it wrong!
Now this seemingly benign faux pas has gotten me to thinking. Over the years, when I have seen others struggle in certain areas I have found myself thinking a little self righteously how could they have been so unwise or that could never happen to me. . Regrettably, I have spent a lot of time in judgement of others. I clearly saw the error of their ways but was blind to the similar or worse transgressions in my own life.
I can truly say that I am better in this regard than I once was, However, true humility is a life long process and my own rigteousness is still dirty rags when compared to a Holy God. That being said, I'm still in process and at least I don't have to worry about that violence down in Bogota anymore.
Paul Konerko retired from the White Sox last year. The class act that he is stayed 1 more year in 2014 and took a drastic cut in pay and reduced playing time and mentored Jose Abreu in his rookie season. If you look up class act . in the dictionary you won't see Konerko's picture because class act is not in the dictionary but if it was, you would. I took this video in 2013 on Paul Konerko Bobblehead day. Please appreciate that I called the play and filmed it.
Go to my sports blog to see about Konerko's HR achievements for the Sox.
It has been a while since I participated in Friday Fragments at Half-Past Kissin' Tim. So I thought I'd give it a try. If you are not familiar with Friday Fragments, last week's offering is very typical of the genre: a few short fragments of posts that don't have any cohesiveness or unity. I am also doing A to Z blogging this month, so my first fragment will be a thing that begins with the letter N. This is in keping to my A to Z theme of nouns
Fragment 1: O is for Oreo.
When I was a kid there were sandwich cookies like the kind my parents brought at grocery store and then there were Oreos. Boy were they different! The sandwich cookies didn't look like Oreos, hey didn't separate like Oreos and they sure didn't taste like Oreos. Oreos were reserved for special occasions because the store brand cookies sure didn't cost as much as Oreos.
Boy have things changed! These days store like Target and Aldi have their own brands of sandwich cookies. We call them Fake Oreos. They still don't cost as much as Oreos, but I am happy to report that they look like Oreos, separate like Oreos, and they even taste like Oreos.
Fragment 2 K-Love Pledge drive
Our family really enjoys listening to Christian music and the station K-Love is often on in our car as we drive back and forth through that thing called life. A few times a year they have a pledge drive. I have a strange sense of humor, and like to over analyze things. So I pulled my vlog Dave Out Loud out of mothballs and made this video about K-Love and the pledge drive.
Pledge drive, in all seriousness has been fantastic this year. God is doing so many wonderful things just through people listening and giving to the station. To give K-love a listen click here..
Fragment 3: Age of Ultron
I was looking through some old posts this week and I came across this one (also a Friday Fragment post) from 4 years ago entitled I thought Super Hero Movies wer for kids. Just like the fake Oreos situation, things have got better for kid-friendly super hero . Since I wrote that movies like Thor, Captaian America, and Avengers have produced movies I enjoy and will allow my kids to watch and love. Avengers 2 comes out in 14 days and a majority of our family is psyched. Here's a short featuette that came out on youtube yesterday ...
Fragment 4 Imago Film Festival
I promised before the A to Z challenge started to tell more abot ut my experiences at this year's Imago Film Festival. Here is the trailer for Believe Me, a film I saw at the festival.
That's all the fragmments we have time for today. Go back to whence you came by clicking on A to Z Or Friday Fragments we have time for today.
Today's letter is L. I have documented over the years that our family loves libraries. Here is a you tube video from another of my blogs Dave Out Loud.
Last year, my son and I drove to New York to see Frank Thomas be inducted into the baseball hall of fame. It was an awesome experience. I am delighted to share today the video of his acceptance speech. Frank played baseball the right way and his speech really showed his tremendous love for the game and appreciation of his teammates.
I am also posting about Frank at Crazy Uncle Dave's Sport-O-Rama today. Frank hit 441 home runs with the White Sox which puts him first on the White Sox list for all time home runs. Click here to see that post. For more A to Z blogging click here. On a more somber note, on 4/7/12 I blogged about grief as it was the 3 year anniversary of my brother's death. That time has now doubled and my post from 3 years ago can be found here.
Today at my other blog, Home School Dad, I wrote about Old Comiskey Park, the home of the Chicago Whites Sox from 1910 to 1990. Carlton Fisk called Old Comiskey home from 1981 until the historic ballpark bit the dust and by the time it did, Pudge had become the White Sox all-time home run leader.
All told, Fisk hit 214 home runs for the White Sox from 1981 to his ignominious dismissal in the middle of the 1993 campaign. Note: I spent the year of 1993 abroad and it has been well documented (in my mind) that the White Sox would have never pulled shenanigan level antics like that, had I remained stateside. Fisk hit more than 55 % of his 376 Major league home runs with the White Sox. The rest came from the team where he hit this famous postseason home run. If you haven't seen it before you've never watched Good Will Hunting.
Fisk is now 4th most on the list of White Sox Home Runs. Fisks best 2 years for the White Sox, Homerun wise, were in 1985 when he hit 37, and in 1983 Fisks 26 homers helped win ugly. Wearing both colors of SOX, Fisk averaged 24 home runs for every 162 games he played. Carlton Fisk was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame in 2000.
Today, I take a look at a place that is near and dear to my heart. Especially, this time of year. Comiskey Park was the home for the Chicago White Sox from 1910 to 1990. m It was replaced by a second stadium also called Comiskey Park in 1991. Sometime they are referred to as Comiskey Park I and II or Old Comiskey Park and New Comiskey Park. When New Comiskey was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003, I gradually took to calling the new park by it's new moniker and the old park as Comiskey.
Here is a video baseball played in Comiskey in 1977 when the Sox were enjoying their South Side Hitmen success.
It was somewhere around 1977 that Comiskey became the oldest baseball stadium still in use. It held that distinction until 1990.
I started going to White Sox ga mes in the early 70's. The year before my older sister had won two tickets at School and my Dad took her. We were (and they still are) a Cubs family. So I believe this was my Dad's first trip there. I remember hearing all about the game when I got home and I decided the next year, I would get perfect attendance and spend a day with my Dad. We were a family of 4 kids at the time and 5 was not long after that, so 1 on 1 time with my Dad was at a premium.
The next year I had perfect attendance and I went to my first game. Dick Allen, hit a homerun and I fell in love with the team. Ie still liked the Cubs and enjoyed our annual trips to Wrigleyield as a family. But I cherished my trips to Comiskey. My Dad took me most every year to a White Sox game, I remembere being dedlighted to be able to watch former Cub heroes of mine Ron Santo and later Don Kessinger after they were moved to the Sox.
I could talk Comiskey all day, but I was informed to keep these A to Z posts short. So, I will just give you a quick guided tour.
Game 1 1959 World Series at Comiskey Park
The exploding scoreboard that shot off fireworks after every Sox Homer
The Exterior of the stadium
I think I sat behind one of these at nearly every game I went to.
We got a lot of give-a-way seats and these were what they gave away
Carlton Fisk switched Sox (from Red to White) in 1980 and was still with Chicago in 1990
In 1990, The White Sox ad copy for the final season of Comiskey was years from now, you'll say that you were there. Well that was 25 years ago and the advertising was right, I do say I was there. I was living 4 and a half hours from Chicago at the time. Some friends came to my folks house for the weekend in July. One of my friends had never seen a skyscraper before, and we all watched a fantastic White Sod victory. What a great way to spend my last game there.
Final Game at Comiskey
Out with the old. In with the blue.
They Tore Down Paradise
Left Home Plate in the Parking Lot
Prior to demolition of the stadium,
the seats were removed and sold to television stars
For More A to Z Blogging click here. Back in A To Z 2012 I posted about Car Trips.
Today is the end of Blogging from A to Z 2015 26 posts in 30 days. Wow! I have had so much fun.
APRIL FOOLS!
Today is actually the first day of Blogging A to Z. My theme this year is nouns. So evaryday in April excluding Sundays you will get a blog about a person place or thing.
Today we start with a hero of mine, Allen Levi. I first met Allen in 1995 at a concert at my church in South Carolina. I have only seen him 4 times in the past 21 years. Each time at one of his concerts. The last time he and I met us was in 2004 at my surprise 4oth birthday party. He provided the music. Allen was an attorney and left his practice to become a full-time musician. Here is footage of him in his former habitat a concert.
I say former natural habitat because he recently did another career change and became a judge. Here is a video explaining the job change.
It was 2012 that I participated in my first Blogging A to Z challenge. Here I am 3 years later to participate again. tha
My theme this year. Is A noun is a person, place or thing. First let's get that song out of our system ...
So, everyday in April except for Sundays I will be blogging about either a person place or thing that corresponds with the letter of the day. To find out more about Blogging A to Z click here.
I was recently lamenting about how people don't watch movies together any more. I will write more about this later. So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the advent of the 1 man barber shop quartet.
My Dad will turn 77 next month. The movie I watched this month for the first time came out 2 years before he was born. There is often a tendency to think that anything that happened before you were born as hopelessly out of date. To think that nothing of cultural significance happened before you showed up. However, this is far from true. In 1936 when Modern Times
In 1936 when Modern Times opened in theaters it was already anachronistic. Modern Times, was a silent movie when the talkies had pretty much put that once flourishing industry out of business. Much like B&W movies were still being made in the 50's and 60's when most of the films were in color, there were still a handful of silent movies made in the middle 30's when Modern Times came out. Technically Modern Times (depicted below in lego format) is not technically a silent film. There is talking but not by any of the characters in "real life" only through the loud speaker, record player, or other "modern" inventions of the time. Chaplin also sings in one of the final numbers.
The rest of the movie is typical of the prototypical 1920 silent movies with music played over the action and dialogue cards. For example, here is a clip from the beginning of the film ...
One of the things I found most interesting about this movie is that even 80 years ago some things (like silent movies) that once had mass appeal were becoming obsolete and other things (like a modernized dehumanized work force) were tolerated but not liked or really accepted. There are many good reviews of the film that makes these points very skillfully, I recommend this review from Decent Films.
I also found the 1936 review from Variety to be most informative. The last line of the review, although written for "modern" audiences 80 years ago, has a tinge of prophecy to it.
"Film has been two years in actual work and Chaplin should today find as wide a world-wide market as in yesteryears."
I found the movie to be very accessible even to modern audiences. That is one of the reasons why critics and filmgoers alike still enjoy this film. My watch again likelihood is 90 to 100%.
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