State of the Blogs

The past few months I have been tweaking my 4 existing blogs with the intent of keeping them filled with content and not laying dormant in the basement of the alamo of the internet.  My 4 active blogs at this time are in oldest to youngest  Home School Dad which I have shortened to the initials HSD, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog, Dave Out Loud, and Random Acts of Roller.

I have decided to make HSD the flagship of the four blogs.  That is why directly under this post you can see links to the latest posts of the other 3 blogs.  To that end, periodically I will make a post of whats coming next in all of these blogs.  Consider this one of thos posts?

What Am I Working On?

HSD: Aside from this post I am not working on any posts on this blog at this time.  This week I hope to participate in Wordless Wednesday.  I have a couple of ideas for the feuture Muzak Lessons I started last week and may start working on one of those soon.

Random Acts: I am currently working on a piece that combines politics and Christianity.  Instead of trying to write it all at one time, I usyally only work at it for 15 to 30 minutes at a time.  part of this is because of my schedule at work, the other reason is that I am trying to be much more deliberate about my writing at this time.  I think taking my time to get my thoughts together and working without a deadline may aid that.

Crazy Uncle Daves: I just posted ther for the first time in over a year.  This blog has never been a real time sports blog and I'd really like it to be.  Unfortunately there are no real time sports at this surreal time .  So until then I'll be trying to find a pace and contentent  for posting that matches my time and inclinations.

Dave Out Loud.  I am working on my first "live" segment of Dave out Loud in some time.  I'll be taking the random takes idea I mentioned in my last post and running with it.

What Am I Thinking About?

I have been thinking about a podcast.  I'm not sure if I'll ever pull the trigger on such a thing.  However  do expect a piece in Random Acts in the near future of 10 people I'd love to interview on a podcast.

Two weeks ago I participated in Wordless Wednesday for the first time in years.  Last week I participated from 2 of my blogs.  I am thinking about participating from all 4 on the same week sometime.  I want to get a few more posts at Crazy Uncle and Dave Out Loud before I attempt such a feat.

What am I Planning?

I participated in the A to Z challenge this year at Random Acts.  I need to work on an index page of my involvement and gave myself the month of May off from doing that.  Here is my index page from my  a to z challened last year.  In June I plan to put up this year's index page.

I also  have big plans for the a to z challenge for next year.  There will need to be quite a  bit of behind the scenes planning for it.  I shall begin that work in earnest come June.

That's just a snippet of what to expect over the next few weeks and months.

Ed Farmer 1949 to 2020

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.

Wordless Wednesday: Balloon Shadows

For more Wordless Wednesday go to Comedy Plus.

Muzak Lessons: An Apology to Gordy Jorian

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.