I’m trying something new this week and I’m still working out the kinks but below is my first ever Video Blahg:
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
THE FALSE DUCKS VIDEO BLAHG #1: MY TWO CENTS WORTH
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013WELCOME 2013 AND SUPER FASTER HAIR.
Saturday, January 19th, 2013
So, now it’s 2013. We survived the end of the world and the Holidays with the families and friends. I’ve been meaning to write a new blahg and actually believed I might get another one done in 2012. Fat chance. Well, I’ll start off the new year with a new blahg and forget about 2012. Okay, so I won’t completely forget about 2012 or I’ll have nothing to talk about. Hang tightly to this blahg because I’m making it up as I go along and flying by the seat of my pants.
2012 wasn’t so bad for me, I guess. I had a contract in the last quarter of the year that kept me busy and paid me a little. Jeanette and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. The whole family met and enjoyed Washington for a few days (which lead to a good blahg: HELLO WASHINGTON, GOODBYE “THE LIFE OF RILEY”). My youngest daughter Abbie and I went down to a Stargate convention in Chicago. Oh yes, and there was that whole thing about me turning 50. There were also some bad things that happened and if you go back through some of my past blahgs you can read more about that. I want to move on.
What did I get for Christmas you may well ask? 
You may. In my pre-Christmas blahg, MY 2012 CHRISTMAS WISH LIST, I wrote that I wanted the book “Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew”. Well, I got it and it was a great read. I could hardly put it down because here was a life story about an actress I greatly admired and knew hardly anything about. I won’t give it away but if you can get a hold of a copy, you’ll enjoy it.
While I’m on the subject of Jean Arthur, I’ll talk about two Jean Arthur films. 
The first is the “The Whole Town’s Talking” from 1935 in which she costarred with Edward G. Robinson. This film has never been released on DVD in North America. There is a European release floating around but I don’t know what the quality is like. If you can track down the VHS, which is out of print, then that’s your best bet. I managed to find a download of this film and watched it over the holidays. It’a a great film and Robinson gets to play dual roles as a good guy and a bad guy. For Jean Arthur, this was probably the start of her wise-cracking female friend eventually gets the guy roles. I hope it gets an official DVD release.
The second Jean Arthur film I want to talk about is “The Devil And Miss Jones” from 1941. I guess if they made it today it would be Ms. Jones but you can’t knock them for that. This film also co-starred Robert Cummings and Charles Coburn. 
Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn would co-star together again in “The More The Merrier” in 1943 and “The Impatient Years” in 1944. Both of those films have official DVD releases but nothing for “The Devil And Miss Jones”. 2013 will see that all change. 
On March 26th, we will see this classic finally released by Olive Films/Paramount. It’s about time. Now, if we could only get a DVD release of “History is Made At Night” from 1937 with Jean Arthur and Charles Boyer.
I should talk about another book that I received for Christmas but I’ll give you a little back-story first. I have a whole rack of films I like to watch around Christmas and not all of them a
re Christmas themed but might contain a moving sequence that happens at Christmas. One of these films is the 1945 film “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn”. This too has had a couple of official DVD releases recently in expensive boxed sets of Eliza Kazan films. Kazan directed the film but the movie is based on the book by Betty Smith. My own children have seen it a time or two and know how special this movie is to me.
Every year, in our family, we draw names for $2 and $10 gifts. That way you don’t have to buy for everyone but just two gifts for two different people. This past year, my son Noah drew my name for a $2 gift. My children hate drawing my name because they say I am hard to buy for. I don’t think so. I’m always clear on what I want but I can’t help it if they can’t find those things around here. Noah left his shopping for me to the last minute and I had to take him shopping at a local thrift store to buy my $2 gift. He wasn’t discrete about it at all. He had been perusing the books and found a copy of the novel, “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” for 25 cents. He asked me if I would like that for my $2 gift and I of course told him that would be fine. I was looking at some little ornaments at the time and he added that he might get me an ornament too if I pointed out the one I wanted. So I did. He also asked me to pay for it because he didn’t want to have to go to the cashier. Imagine that, knowing what your gift is and having to pay for it too! Later he bought me a coffee so I guess that works out somehow. At least he wrapped these gifts himself. I acted all surprised on Christmas morning and displayed the ornament on the mantle above our fireplace. I wish I had taken a picture of it before I put it away after Christmas.
The book was a welcomed gift indeed. 
I couldn’t put it down. Sometimes I would get up in the middle of the night to read it. I couldn’t wait to finish it and at the same time I hated to see it end. There is so much more in the book than there was in the movie. In fact, there’s a whole second half of the book that takes place where the film version left off. My understanding is that the first draft of the novel ended just like it did in the movie but the author thought there was more to tell. I’m glad she continued on with it. “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” is now ranked among my top 5 favorite novels. Maybe that’s an idea for a blahg someday. I will only add that it was the best gift that my son ever gave me that I paid for myself. Oh, and thanks for the ornament and the coffee Noah!
Now on to Super Faster Hair. This has a back-story too. In 1985, I was taking a couple of summer courses at Trent University to finish up my degree. One of these courses was on classic greek literature, but I won’t bore you about that. It was, however, one of my favorite classes. 
I started up a friendship with another classmate named Dean Pappas. His father ran the local Pappas Billiards and it was a great hang-out for University students. That wasn’t the reason we became friends. It was more to the fact that he had a car and gave me a ride every day. Oh, and he also dated my roommate Dorothy…but that’s another story.
Dean and I have kept in contact and every year, just before Christmas, my family goes up to Peterborough to do some shopping and have a little visit with Dean. We always meet at Pappas Billiards, which Dean now manages besides being a City Councillor, and have a coffee and catch up on what’s been happening with our families. This past year, Noah was sick and didn’t get to go. That’s probably why he left my $2 gift until the last minute. Anyhow, we decided to also use the trip to Peterborough to aid in picking up my daughter Emily’s friend Holly who was going to stay with us a few days. She took a bus to Peterborough and we picked her up and brought her home with us. On the way to Peterborough we began to discuss our cat situation.
As readers of this blahg (do I have readers, I always ask) you will know that we adopted a kitten in the summer which we named Stella. Unfortunately Stella became very ill and we had to have her put down in September. That was the subject of the blahg, STELLA AND SHERRY, I HARDLY KNEW YE. That was one of those bad things that happened in 2012. The short of it is that June and Frank were the only cats in our house. We had talked about adopting another kitten but we wanted to wait until the Christmas holidays so that Emily could be home to enjoy the new kitten’s company. On the way to Peterborough we decided that maybe we could find a kitten in that city. We knew that Emily’s friend Holly would like this too because she told Emily she wasn’t allowed to pick out a kitten without her.
We asked around in Peterborough about pet shops but we were referred to the Peterborough Humane Society. Emily had her smart phone and checked out their website to see if they had any kittens and where they were located. Online, they featured a few kittens and there was one with the name of Super Faster Hair. We all laughed at the name but we couldn’t see a picture of this kitten. We drove to the Humane Society and were taken into the back where they had two cages containing two kittens each. 
We knew we wanted a female and we were referred to this one cage with two gray kittens. The attendant opened up the cage and one of the kittens flew out of the cage and climbed up onto Emily’s shoulder. Emily, Abbie, and Holly all agreed that was the kitten we would take home. When the attendant checked the kitten’s papers we discovered that this was the infamous Super Faster Hair.
Recently, I discovered a posting by Abbie, who would turn 14 the day after we adopted Super Faster Hair. Here is what she posted:
On December 15th we got a kitten as kind of an early birthday present. We went to Peterbrough and we went to see my Dad’s friend who’s family owns a Billard’s place. My sister and I were looking at the animal shelter website. It listed the names fo cats and sometimes had pictures of them. There was a cat listed and her name was Super Faster Hair. That was her name. Super Faster Hair. So we went to the animal shelter and there was one cat who really wanted to come home with us and was climbing all over our shoulders everytime we held her. We wanted this kitten. So we asked what her name was an it was Super Faster Hair. It was that cat. We actually renamed her Willow, but I wanted to name her Teaser the Willow Sheep.
Abbie gives away in the posting that yes, we ended up calling the kitten, “Willow”.
But there’s a little more to that story. Peterborough is a 2 hour drive from our current home. We didn’t have a cat carrier nor food and water for the ride home. We stopped out back of a Liquor store and I retrieved an empty cardboard box. We stopped at a thrift store and purchased a couple of dishes and an old towel to put in the box. We bought a bag of kitten food and we had a bottle of water so we thought we were all set. Not really. On the way home, the kitten kept climbing out of the box and onto the laps of one of the girls. The only time she spent in the box was when she got car sick and when she decided to poop. It began to stink in our van, let me tell you. I stopped in a small town and threw out the towel that contained everything Willow had endowed us with. Luckily there was a garbage can outside a local convenience store. This experience suggested some possible names for the kitten but, as you already know, Willow was the final selection.
Willow seems to be in fine health and Frank and June have accepted her and play with her. 
One thing I should add is that Willow has continued to be a shoulder cat. Check out this picture that I took today. Whenever I’m working at the computer, Willow likes to be on my shoulder. In this picture I was tapping on the top of the monitor trying to get her attention so I could take the picture. That’s why my left arm is stuck out. She’s a welcome addition to our family and hopefully will continue to enjoy good health.
Well, that’s about it for now. I don’t know what 2013 has in store for me but the world’s still here and I’m still here. Somewhere, that has to count for something.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD?
Monday, December 24th, 2012 If you are reading this post then it means a couple of things. 
First, the world did not end. In fact, today is December 23rd so the Mayans must have been wrong or maybe their math was. What do they know? Didn’t their people basically die off? If you can’t avoid that fate then why would I put stock in anything you have to say or predict. Second, if you are reading this, then you’ve clicked past the Google warnings that this site will give you malware or herpes or something nasty or Google has removed that warning and you arrived here safely without being redirected elsewhere to an offer of online porn, Viagra, or something else you may or may not want. I won’t judge.
Remember my last blahg and how I asked for World Peace as my number one Christmas present request? Maybe I should have requested that sooner than Christmas. It seems the world has become a little less peaceful given the recent killings in Newtown, Connecticut. We still don’t know the reasons behind the killings but it makes the world a sadder place. Our thoughts are with everyone there; especially the family who have to try and carry on. More has been said in the media than I care to say here. I will only add that I too agree that guns are a bad thing and the NRA can rub salt. Yes, people kill people but they do it with guns. It’s a lot easier to disarm a maniac with a knife than one with repeating rifles. Enough said.
The other part of this blahg is partly dedicated to the idiot who hacked my website and inserted malicious code. That’s the real reason why Google is warning people away from my website. It isn’t because of anything I said or did. I found the code that was redirecting people to those questionable websites and I removed it. I’ve requested a review from Google to remove me from their quarantine and I hope that will happen before the end of 2012. Why would someone do that to me? Get out of your parents’ basement and find a girlfriend or boyfriend or do community hours. Get back into the world and try and make it a better place rather than trying to tear it down website by website. That’s enough on that too.
So what can we do to make this world a better place? Speak out! Everyone has an opinion and a voice and it’s your duty to speak out against injustice and stupidity. Many voices raised in song have done better to heal than those who sit at the back of the room and just mouth the lyrics. Recently, a Minister in my area spoke in favour of Wind Farm development. His message was boiled downed very simply to a point that we are ruining the world by our reliance on fossil fuels. We can’t go on this way. Yes, there are some problems associated with windmills but wouldn’t it be better to work to make them better than to issue a hue and cry against them as evil and keep polluting the skies with old technology? Unfortunately, the anti-wind people spoke out against this Minister and told him to stick to spirituality rather than environmental issues. The last time I checked, we are all free to be. Free to be whatever we wanted, believe what we wanted, worship how we wanted, love how we wanted. You get the message. I think that Minister is right. We don’t want our legacy to be that we ruined the planet because we were unwilling to move past the old “not it my backyard.” Look at your loved ones, your relatives, your friends, and tell me you wouldn’t want more time with them if it meant giving up your stubborn opinions. I think we all know the answer to that. Let’s move on.
I don’t want this blahg to be all that sombre. There are some good things in this world. There is love and family and laughter and we need to embrace it during these troubling times. I don’t want to be preachy but sometimes we forget to think of all we are blessed with. As I read the letters to the editor responses to the Minister’s energy thoughts, my eye was also drawn to another editorial that was reprinted from a long time ago. The message is simple and in light of Sandy Hook, I want to reprint it here:
“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Maybe it’s me but that Editorial is true for many things wrong with our world. We’ve lost that wide-eyed wonder about many things and we’ve grown cynical. It’s no longer neighbour looking out for neighbour but neighbour spying on neighbour. Maybe some of that’s necessary. Maybe if we checked in with neighbour a little more to see how they are doing or what they need then we’d avoid all the tragedies. Again, maybe it’s just me but that’s what I believe.
Now for that laughter we all need. I think I have mentioned before that I once co-wrote and co-starred in a radio sketch comedy show called “Dead From The Neck Up.” The title comes from Archie Bunker and “All In The Family” when he would call his son-in-law a meat-head. He would explain that a meat-head is someone that is dead from the neck up. Maybe that’s not all politically correct and maybe some of our sketches weren’t either. I recently went through some of our show’s Christmas specials (we only had three) and thought I would post them here complete. Maybe they haven’t held up as well over the years but maybe you’ll find something to laugh at in them nonetheless.
The first up is the Christmas show we did from the first season:
I didn’t say we sang well. Next up is the third season Christmas Special:
I know, some of you are probably wondering what happened to the second season Christmas special. I don’t know. I can’t find it. I did however, find two sketches from that season. The first is from Stan The Welcome Mat Man:
The second is from Stan’s sidekick Teddy The Topless Dance:
Well, I guess that tells you how twisted or how even more twisted I can be. That’s it for 2012! I’ll be even more politically incorrect and say Happy Holidays. Celebrate what you celebrate but may peace and love be with us all!
MY 2012 CHRISTMAS WISH LIST
Monday, November 26th, 2012 Today is November 25th and that means we start the 30 day slide into Christmas. I love Christmas time. It’s a great time full of music and great viewing opportunities. I know I could go over the top listing everything but I’m going to try and stay on point and keep to the topic of this blahg. I’m going to share with you what is on my Christmas Wish List for 2012.
Yesterday, my daughter Abbie and I put up our Christmas lights. 
It was bitter cold and we had to stop a few times and come in and get warm. Isn’t it amazing that every year you can’t remember the arrangement you had the previous year? 
We had a few lights blown out but nothing major and a quick trip to town secured the replacement bulbs. I’ve taken a few pictures of the light display. 
There’s a right view and left view. Pick the appropriate view whether you are right brained or left. And just to be confusing, I’ve added a shot of the front of our house with the lit bushes on either side of the door and the shooting star up above. Click on any of the pictures to view a larger version. So much for my Christmas lights. They look better at night and maybe I’ll update those pictures with night pictures but with the light dusting of snow that we received over night, I thought these pictures would set the mood for this blahg. (Writing this later this evening, I’ve added the night pictures below. Click any of them to see a larger version)
What is on my Christmas Wish List? Top of the list: WORLD PEACE. There used to be this little joke/tradition in my house when it came to Christmas or Birthdays. I would ask my children what they wanted for Christmas or their Birthday. 
If their first answer was not World Peace then I would mockingly scold them and tell them that maybe they were only going to get one thing and they blew it by not asking for World Peace as their first choice. It’s the perfect gift and there’s no batteries required. I completely forgot about that tradition and a few years ago, I asked Abbie, whose Birthday is December 16th, what she wanted for her Birthday. She answered right away: World Peace. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had forgotten and Abbie had not. There’s hope for this new generation yet! Seriously, Middle East, what is your problem? If a child here in Canada can embrace the concept then what’s stopping you? Add to my wish list that the current Ceasefire will work its way into a lasting Peace and spread across the globe.
I don’t have a very long wish list for Christmas and after WORLD PEACE everything else pales in comparison. Maybe it’s safer to ask for other things because that top item on my list is hard to acquire and not likely to fit in my stocking. If I can’t have WORLD PEACE then maybe I’ll be a little selfish and ask for Jean Arthur. 
I know she’s dead, and thanks for pointing that out, but I simply think she was one of the greatest actresses ever. I recently purchased the Jean Arthur Drama Collection that was released in May of this year. This is a follow-up to the Jean Arthur Comedy Collection that TCM (Turner Classic Movies) released last year. It’s a great set and fills in the gap of her film output on DVD with some early 30s dramas. I guess my wish list then, to be more specific, would be to have a couple of her very popular films finally released on DVD. Specifically, “History Is Made At Night” (1937) & “The Devil And Miss Jones” (1941). 
With the recent release of “Directed by Billy Wilder – TCM Vault Collection”, we have been treated to a DVD release of “A Foreign Affair” (1948). That last TCM release also included Wilder’s “Five Graves To Cairo” which is a great previously unreleased film; even if it doesn’t star Jean Arthur.
So why ask for Jean Arthur? Well, I can’t have WORLD PEACE so why not ask for something just as impossible? I’ve been on this Jean Arthur kick this past year with these DVD releases. I have all of the other DVD releases of Jean Arthur films so these new acquisitions have been welcome additions to my collection. 
There are no other Jean Arthur releases on the horizon so for my Christmas list I’ve asked for a book about Jean Arthur. There are a couple books out there about Jean Arthur and this year saw the release of the second one: “Jean Arthur: A Biofilmography”. I know, that’s a new word to me too. I wasn’t even aware that this book had been released. It certainly wasn’t on my radar but when I went to show my wife the book about Jean Arthur that I wanted, this one popped up. It wasn’t the one I knew about and it’s not currently on my wish list. I had previously read about “Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew”. The title sounds interesting and if I do get it for Christmas (Hint Hint) then I’ll read it and maybe post a review here.
Another great actress that I really enjoy is Judy Holliday. Holliday is not necessarily on my Holiday wish list. I just really like her work and she only really had eight starring features from 1949 to 1960. 
She was a great comedienne and could sing to boot. She died too young at the age of 43 in 1965 of Cancer. Her volume of work has been highly represented on DVD with the exception of 1956’s “Full of Life”. That will all change next month when Sony will release the DVD on December 4th. I’m not necessarily asking for this release because it is a Sony Manufacture on Demand DVD and I can’t get it in Canada unless I find an online source that will ship to Canada. Perhaps TCM, but their shipping to Canada is outrageous. Hey TCM, why is your shipping costs to Canada so outrageous? Oh yeah, I asked them that and they sent some generic response that didn’t really answer my question.
Moving on. The Weepies. The Weepies? Yes, The Weepies. In a previous blahg, “Advice For The Next 50: Think For Yourself”, I mentioned a great singer by the name of Deb Talan that I’ve been enjoying. 
Deb Talan, along with her husband Steve Tannen, are members of the band The Weepies. There may be others in the band but Steve and Deb are the front of the band. In 2011 they released a new CD called “Be My Thrill”, which is what I’m adding to my wish list. It’s an amazing CD and the title track is one of my favorites. Give it a listen:
This is a very upbeat tune but there’s a few Youtube videos of The Weepies performing this more as a ballad. Here’s one of them performed at the Oregon Zoo in 2011:
If that’s not enough, there’s a great acoustic version of this done by a couple of Youtube amateurs who I happen to think do a super job themselves:
Moving even more on but still on a musical note, I want to add another DVD to the list of things I’d like to own. 
Back in 1988, Peter, Paul and Mary gave a holiday concert in New York and it was aired later as a PBS special. I managed to tape it from PBS years ago and I’ll tell you that I practically wore out the tape watching it every year; fast-forwarding through the PBS pledge breaks. Last year, Shout Factory did the world a favor and released the concert on DVD. They perform some great songs during this concert and at points there isn’t a dry eye in the house. A great group from the 1960s who came at a time when the world was looking for peace. How strange it is that we’re still looking for that peace today; or wishing for it. I’ll keep wishing for it as my first wish and maybe I’ll be surprised with getting it one day…hopefully sooner than later.
I’ll close with that wish for peace and a video from that Peter, Paul, and Mary Concert that sums it all up: “Light One Candle”.
REMEMBERING PHYLLIS DILLER; THANK YOU BEN AFFLECK
Monday, November 5th, 2012 I have known for a week or so what would be the subject of this blahg. It’s Phyllis Diller. Why? I have to be honest but I really liked Phyllis Diller. I’m not one of the band wagon jumpers who say nice things after an artist passes. I’m a true fan. I have some history with Phyllis Diller or rather I wished I had history with Phyllis Diller Confused? Relax, here comes the story. Did you doubt for even a moment that I had a story?
When I was in grade 7 I had a friend named Steve Bailey. There was nothing really significant about Steve except he had me convinced he was rich. I never questioned why a rich kid was going to a public school nor why a rich kid wanted anything to do with me. He had elaborate stories about his family’s wealth which included fancy cars and a mansion in Hollywood. Again, I never questioned any of it. Maybe I should have been suspicious when he said his mansion in Hollywood was next door to Phyllis Diller’s. Who would make that up? He even promised to take me down there in his family’s helicopter. I waited and waited but that never happened. Eventually I saw him cutting the grass outside an apartment building in the neighborhood. He tried to tell me his family owned it as an investment property. I didn’t question that either until his cousin told me he lived in the building and his father was the superintendent. My dreams of meeting Phyllis Diller were shattered…but hey, I now had a friend who had a father who was a superintendent. Cool.
Over the years, my enthusiasm for Phyllis Diller has not waned. She was someone who was over the top and under-appreciated. 
She had three great pairings with Bob Hope in, “Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number!”, “Eight On A Lam”, and “The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell.” Maybe Phyllis Diller is an acquired taste and certainly pairing her with Bob Hope, although in my mind a stroke of genius, might not seem significant to most viewers. Throw in Jonathan Winters on “Eight On The Lam” and you’re cooking with comedy gold. Luckily, all three of these funny films are available on DVD.
Click on any of the images for a larger viewing of the pictures in this blahg and check out this clip from “Eight On The Lam” with Jonathan Winters & Phyllis Diller. You don’t get to see that kind of pairing every day.
Funny stuff, right? But you’re probably wondering what Ben Affleck has to do with Phyllis Diller. Let me back up a little bit. I have spoken before about my friend Bryan and his penchant for movies. Bryan and I both share one thing in common when it comes to Phyllis Diller and her movies: “Did You Hear The One About the Traveling Saleslady?” This 1968 forgotten comedy gold has been an elusive film that Bryan and I have been trying to find. I remember that the last time I saw this film was over the Christmas holidays during 1984. I don’t know when Bryan saw it last but it’s been just as many years since his last viewing. It has never been released on video nor DVD and we often talk about wanting to see this film. About two weeks ago the subject of the film came up again between us. Here’s an ad for that film:
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) summary for this film reads:
Agatha Knabenshu arrives in a small town in Missouri to sell player pianos to the locals. She’s fired after her disastrous sales attempts nearly destroy the town. The stranded saleslady becomes friendly with an equally bumbling inventor and moves in with his family. The two then try to sell his automatic milking machine, but things turn sour when their demonstration causes a stampede.
It may not sound like much but I remember it being funny and also featuring Bob Denver who was infamous in the role as Gilligan from “Gilligan’s Island”. It might not hold up well since the last time I saw it but it doesn’t deter me from wanting to see it again.
Cut to two weeks ago and the conversation Bryan and I had about this film. 
Well, maybe not that far back. Jump instead to about a week and a half ago and Jeanette and I finally get away to the movies again. I had seen numerous films recently with Noah and I thought it was time I take my wife. I had wanted to see “Argo” since I first started seeing the trailers for it. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil anything for you but I will again quote IMDB with this movie summary:
In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans are taken hostage. However, six manage to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA is eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devises a daring plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez creates the ruse and proceeds to Iran as its associate producer. However, time is running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House have grave doubts about the operation themselves.
I am a Canadian and I didn’t know that my country did not play the big role in getting those hostages out of Iran as my government would lead me to believe. We just took the credit so the Americans wouldn’t get into more trouble over Iran. Sure, put Canada in the target sites! I digress. “Argo” is a fantastic movie.
So, now to Phyllis Diller and the Ben Affleck connection. In case you didn’t know, Ben Affleck stars in and directed “Argo”. Ultimately, I give him most of the credit for what is seen in the film. 
At one point, Ben Affleck’s character, along with the character portrayed by the brilliant John Goodman, go to visit a Hollywood Director portrayed by the also brilliant Alan Arkin. They need the Director to help them pull off this phony film by advising them on how to put over a film that doesn’t exist. At one point, in the Director’s home I spot this framed poster on the wall of his study. I can tell from the face on the poster that it is Phyllis Diller. Somewhere in my history I have seen a poster for “Did You Hear The One About the Traveling Saleslady?” but I can’t recall if this it. I lean in close to Jeanette and tell her I want another shot of this poster. A few minutes later we get another glimpse over Alan Arkin’s shoulder and I can spot the film’s title. It is indeed, a poster for “Did You Hear The One About the Traveling Saleslady?”
Let me tell you, I let out a squeal of delight while watching “Argo” but the squeal was not so much for “Argo” as it was for the Phyllis Diller poster cameo. Why was this poster featured in this film? I don’t know. I’m just happy it was there. It was probably something the set dresser threw in there but you have to think that Affleck, as the Director, had to be okay with it. How appropriate it was that this homage to Phyllis Diller was there. She died in August of this year and the film didn’t come out until October. Was it a last minute decision to include this poster as a nod to Diller’s passing? Again, I don’t know. If Ben Affleck reads this blahg, maybe he’ll send me an answer.
I thought I would close this blahg with my own personal salute to Phyllis Diller. 
When Byran and my other friend, Stephen Dafoe, and I were recording our infamous Dead From The Neck Up comedy show in the mid-90s, we would often have a canned comedy section where we would play a comic routine by a famous comedian or comedienne. One week, I brought in my LP copy of “Are You Ready For Phyllis Diller?” I don’t remember if I had listened to the full album but we were looking for something to fill the canned comedy slot so we chose a track called “Cheese and Turkey”. We busted up rather raucously in the studio that evening. I’d like to close with a YouTube video with audio of the whole album
Phyllis Diller, the original double bagger of comedy has left the building!
ADVICE FOR THE NEXT 50: THINK FOR YOURSELF.
Sunday, October 21st, 2012 
Well, my birthday came and went and now I’m starting in on the next fifty years. I don’t really feel like a 50 year old. I feel like two 25 year olds but my wife won’t let me have them. That’s a joke people. Laugh now. I actually do feel like two 25 year olds. They’re both in the same body. One is the fun loving not quite mature version and the other is the rational “it’s time to be a grown-up” person. It’s not easy trying to balance those two. The libido of the one is not tempered well by the other who is constantly asked by others to handle adult issues. I’m tired of having to deal with issues that concern my senior parents and having to be the watchful eye or counseling father to my own children. Somewhere in there, where both of those 25 year olds overlap is the small space where I get to be me. So is this blahg. As an aside, I’ve been using an old picture of myself for this blahg because I was having a good hair day that day. For today, and maybe today only, I’m going to use a current, as of this morning, picture of myself. You’ve been warned.
Last weekend I had a situation that challenged me both to act and to think. It was as if the two 25 year olds in me were being challenged. My computer started to have problems a week ago Friday and I had to enact some repairs. For some time, the video display on my monitor would go all yellow or blue and if I wiggled the cord in the back of the computer, everything would be fine for a time. I of course had ignored this for some time. Well, that day I decided maybe the video card wasn’t seated properly in the motherboard (that’s as technical as I’ll get) so I decided it was time to tackle this. I had built this computer myself four years ago from a bare bones kit. The kit consisted of a new case, motherboard, fan, CPU (processor), memory, and power source. I later added a larger hard-drive, new DVD player/recorder drive, video card, and sound card. It’s really not that hard once you learn the basics and with all the videos on the internet, you can learn to do just about anything. I don’t however suggest that new parents learn to change diapers from Youtube. Learn by trial and error. Get your hands messy.
I opened up my computer and removed and reseated the video card. I started up the computer and I had no more problems with wonky colour display. Unfortunately neither of my DVD drives would work properly and I had promised to burn some disks for somebody. So I opened up the case again and removed all cables connecting my drives and reattached them. That did the trick. Both of my drives worked fine for the rest of the day and the display gave me no further problems. Cut to Saturday. My computer will not load into Windows. It starts with the black bios screen that recognizes all my drives but stalls after that. Several restarts later, I realize that the several restarts are not doing the trick. I open up the computer again and check all connections and try again. Still no go. I start with the basics and disconnect all drives and try with just my one hard-drive connected. The computer starts fine and loads into Windows. This is fine but I need those DVD drives to work. I try adding one DVD drive along with the hard-drive. Now my computer won’t even load the Bios screen!
I could bore you here with the number of attempts I made and the various combinations of what I hooked up and what was not but I will just tell you that I stopped after an hour of getting a “no signal” message on my monitor and no apparent life in the computer. I decided to go out and cut grass. Three hours later, I tried it again. Nothing. I grab my laptop and research the Internet for possible solutions. Many sites suggest it might be the memory, the video card, the mother-board, the processor, or the power source. I don’t think it is the power source because my fan on the mother-board runs fine. I removed and reseated the memory, the video card, and the processor. Nothing changes. It’s now 7pm. I quit and we drive to Dairy Queen and have dinner. When we get there, all of their Interac machines are down. It’s cash only. Now I get it. It’s the revolt of all technology.
Several hours later, I’m lying in bed thinking out the problem. I can’t sleep and so I pull out my laptop and do some more research. It becomes apparent to me in the wee small hours that I’m going to have to replace the mother-board. This isn’t as simple as that may seem. A new mother-board requires a new processor and new memory. I’m also thinking it might require a new case, new power source, and possibly a new video card. I had almost ruled out the video card because the old mother-board had on-board video which meant I could use that if I didn’t have a faster video card. I wasn’t getting any display through the on-board video either so that’s what made me think it was the mother-board. The other hurdle was that the next day was Sunday and the only decent place that would be open to buy these components was Canada Computers in Kingston; an hour’s drive east.
After a few hours of sleep and a print-out of what was in my dead computer, I drive to Canada Computers. I explain to one of the technicians/sales persons there that I needed a new mother-board, processor, and memory but I might need other things as well. The sales person tells me she is not technically savvy enough to assist me and that Scott is the best person to assist me. I tell her my name is Scott and thank her for telling me I am the best person but I’m admitting I still need some help. She gestures to Scott at the back of the store. I knew that. That Scott assesses my situation and explains I don’t need a new case nor power source because those in my dead PC will work with the new components. It was a good thing that I had printed out the specs from my old system so he could look this up.
It is at this point that I think to ask him about connecting my old hard-drive with all of my installed programs and saved personal data. He tells me I can’t just hook up the hard-drive and expect it to work. There are all new drivers and a chip-set with the new mother-board and it won’t work with my old hard-drive. He tells me I have to hook up a different hard-drive with a Windows operating system and add my old hard-drive as a second drive. I will then have to back up everything onto the new hard-drive from the old hard-drive and then eventually reinstall every program I have. Either that or hook up my old hard-drive, wipe it completely, lose everything, reinstall Windows, and start from scratch. I feel sick.
On the long drive home my head is spinning. I don’t understand why I can’t just plug in my old hard-drive and expect it to work. If you own a bunch of DVD movies and your DVD player dies you can just get a new DVD player and it’ll recognize all your old DVDs. Isn’t it that simple? Then I remind myself, I own a Toshiba Blu-Ray player. Nothing has been that simple with the Toshiba. In a couple of other blahgs I have detailed how my previous Toshiba had problems and I ran into a nightmare with customer support at Toshiba to get it replaced. I thought everything had been settled when they upgraded me to a newer BDX2300. It too, has some issues. Some video formats will not play on it despite being able to be played on my normal DVD player. But the most frustrating of all is that it will fail to power off and I will have to unplug the power to the unit to shut it down. There goes Toshiba hijacking another of my blahgs! I’m done with Toshiba; back to the story at hand. I didn’t understand why connecting my old hard-drive with Windows 7 wouldn’t work.
Now we get to the crux of the matter and the part title of this blahg: THINK FOR YOURSELF. All the way home, I was sure that that other Scott was wrong and that this Scott was right. It was the battle of the Scotts this time as if it was the two 25 year olds inside me duking it out to see who knew better. Again I turned to my laptop and the Internet. Within a few minutes I had the answer I was looking for and this Scott was victorious. I promised I wouldn’t be too technical and I’ll stick to that. I’m just going to post the link here to a website that was invaluable: http://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/microsoft-windows/windows-vista-and-windows-7-8/threads/281576/using-a-new-motherboard-with-windows-7-on-an-old-hard-drive. Half way down, is a post by a user by the name of “dcoetzee”. He suggested downloading a free program called Hirens to create a boot CD that will allow you to load up a mini-version of Windows to click hard-drive repair and it will fix all your problems. After installing all of the new components in my old case and hooking all connections I downloaded the Hirens Boot CD, which contains a program to burn it to CD, booted from this CD on my newly rebuilt PC and followed dcoetzee’s instructions. I removed the CD, loaded up my PC and it loaded right into Windows 7 and installed the new drivers for the mother-board. Those drivers that it couldn’t find were on the CD that came with my new motherboard. No fuss no muss. I didn’t lose anything and all my programs were installed and all my data was where it should be.
I don’t like to rub it in but I’m right and the Scott at Canada Computers is wrong. Think for yourself has always been a motto I’ve tried to live by. When I worked for Hewlett Packard and Time Warner Road Runner providing telephone technical support I applied that methodology almost daily. Sometimes I would come across a problem I could not resolve but was positive the scenario had an answer. I would abandon the employer directive to not go outside our support boundaries. I would scour through search engine results and forum postings to find a solution. Most often I was right and I would use this to provide resolution to the customer’s issue. 
I would always qualify the support I was providing with the direction that it was being offered for information purposes only. Most customers followed the direction and fixed their issue. If I couldn’t resolve the issue on the call, I would go home and research the issue further so that the next time I encountered the problem, I would have a solution. I guess that’s why I won all those employee of the month trophies.
THINK FOR YOURSELF. That doesn’t mean you can’t listen to advice or suggestions but it’s all about making up your mind. Having said that, I’m going to give you a suggestion. I would have qualified what I’m going to provide as a good suggestion but I’m encouraging you to think for yourself. By the way, this will be a good suggestion.
I don’t know if I have mentioned this before but I am a fan of the Stargate franchise. Stargate started as a motion picture with Kurt Russell and was later picked up as a popular television series. The first of these shows was Stargate SG1, followed by the spin-off Stargate Atlantis, and then Stargate Universe. I have enjoyed all three of these shows and this past summer Abbie and I went to Chicago for a Stargate convention and got autographs for some of our favorite stars from Stargate Atlantis. Highly unrepresented at this convention was Stargate Universe. It only ran two seasons and was very much different than the other two shows. It was darker and it didn’t resonate with many fans. I however thought it was brilliant. One of the things I really enjoyed about the show was the soundtrack. There were some great songs used in the show and, although no official soundtrack has been released, I’ve been able to acquire many of the songs used in the different episodes.
One of the great talents I have discovered from watching Stargate Universe is the singer, Deb Talan. In one episode, they used Deb Talan’s song “Comfort”. Let me share that with you:
There was something about her voice that evoked something in me. There was a fragility in her singing and it was something different than the top 40 that you are subjected to on FM radio. Maybe she’s been played on FM radio but not in my area and certainly she’s not someone I had heard of before. I wanted more.
If you research Deb Talan you will learn she is a member of the group “The Weepies”. I didn’t know that and I don’t know who they are but I’ve listened to a few of their tracks and I enjoy them. Somewhere during your research you might find out about a concert Deb Talan gave at
STELLA AND SHERRY, I HARDLY KNEW YE.
Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 On Sunday, September 23rd, 2012, I will turn 50. This will be the last blahg I write before I reach my half century age. When I started doing this in September of 2011, I had hoped to write 100 blahgs before my next birthday. I then settled for 50 blahgs which would correspond to almost one blahg a week. The grand total, including this one, after a year of writing, is 20. That’s a new blahg every 18.25 days. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Maybe I was unrealistic with my 100 or 50 expectations. Time is a precious commodity and things happen that prevent me from meeting my goals. Many of my previous blahgs have spoken about these things that happen. This blahg will not be an exception.
The last blahg, HELLO WASHINGTON, GOODBYE “THE LIFE OF RILEY” detailed our trip to Washington and back. It did not tell you what happened after the trip was over. We had left our three cats, Patches, June, and Frank locked safely in the house with lots of food and water for the three or four days we were gone. When we returned, we discovered that June was missing. She had managed to pick a hole in a second story screen window and had dropped to a lower roof and then the grass. It had taken a few hours of searching before we found her hiding in a wood pile at the side of our garage. She was fine and was returned to the house. 
Patches, however, presented us with a more difficult situation. She was eleven years old and incontinent but I still loved her. Over the four days we were gone, she developed a tumor on her stomach and by the size of it, it looked like it was ready to burst.
In a previous blahg I spoke about a cat named Panama that we had a few years ago. She too, developed a serious tumor in the same body region as Patches. We had had to do the humane thing and put Panama down. This was the same situation with Patches; we had to opt for euthanasia so that she would not suffer. The veterinarian agreed with our decision. It was very difficult for me to take Patches to the veterinarian’s office and have this done. I won’t deny that I cried. I made a decision after leaving the office I would purchase a new kitten to help transition us through this difficult time. We would miss Patches but we still had a home and love to give to a third kitten. I went to a local pet store that acquired their kittens through a local Animal Welfare Society. I thought that would be best because a rescued kitten deserves to be adopted. This is how we had acquired June originally and everything has worked out with her.
I have written a little bit before about our new kitten, Stella so I will quote from that blahg: “We recently adopted a new kitten. It’s been about twelve years since we’ve had a kitten in our home and Abbie, being the youngest child, has never had the chance to name one of our cats. I named Frank, the subject of a previous blahg “The Christmas Cat” and before that, June was already adopted pre-named. She was adopted from Robyn’s Nest in Picton, Ontario. This store adopts out animals that have been brought into the local animal welfare society so it’s only fitting that we provided a home for a rescued kitten. I don’t know the story behind our kitten but she was either brought into the local shelter or was born there. She has made a loving addition to our home and after two days, Abbie provided her with the name “Stella”. She’s very playful and she likes to sleep on me early in the morning. She is so small that I don’t feel her walking up me while I’m sleeping.”
It is with great sadness that I update that blahg entry to say that two weeks ago, we had to have Stella euthanized. 
We had only had her for two months. In the beginning she was very small and very playful but as she aged, she hardly grew in size. By the end of the summer, when she should have been four months old, she was not much bigger than when she came to us. She also began to lose her energy and sleep more as if she was an elderly cat. Her stomach also began to be extended. Naturally we were concerned. We took her to the veterinarian only to discover that Stella was very anemic and her blood counts were very low. She also had a very high fever. We didn’t understand everything but we knew this was very serious. The veterinarian thought it might be a parasite and provided us with liquid medication to give to Stella and to follow up with another visit in a week’s time.
Over that week, Stella’s energy returned and her fever subsided. Unfortunately her stomach distension continued and she had a hard time carrying around the extra weight. She would still climb up on the bed in the morning to wake me but it came at great difficulty for her. We contacted the veterinarian and took her back in. The news was not good. They believed that Stella had tumors and her new blood tests showed that her blood counts were worse. They said she would not live another week and recommended euthanasia. I knew this would be best for Stella and took her into another room for a few quiet minutes. I kissed her and thanked her for coming into our life. That is all I will say other than I miss her dearly.
Continuing on with this sad theme, I want to relate something I discovered yesterday. I think I have mentioned before that I attended Quinte Secondary School and Trent University. If I haven’t mentioned that then take note because it’s important. Yesterday we received our Trent Alumni magazine that we receive a few times a year. There are always updates about current Trent activities and updates on previous Trent alumni. There’s always somebody getting married or having a baby or working somewhere significant. Occasionally they report on the deaths of some alumni. Yesterday, there was a death notice. I’ll repeat it verbatim:
Sherry Ann Lewis (née Cornwall) ’82 died on March 17 at the age of 49, surrounded by her family, after a sudden battle with cancer. From Belleville, Ontario, she came to Trent for an Honours Business degree, and then built a successful career in Ontario and, for the past 20 years, in Calgary. A memorial Mass was held in Belleville on July 14. If friends wish, please donate to the Gleaners Food Bank in Sherry’s memory. Condolences may be sent to www.rememberingsherry.ca.
I had known this person and now she was gone.
I can only say that I was not a close friend to Sherry. We had both attended Quinte Secondary School and shared some classes and occasionally I would run into her at Trent despite not being in the same program. She always had an infectious smile and sing-song sort of voice that always gave out with kind words. I wish I had known her better. The last time I saw her was almost thirty years ago. She was waitressing at The Duke of Beaufort Pub in Belleville. She was still very pretty and still had a kind word.
I have been very sad since reading of her passing. Last night and today, I could not get Sherry out of my mind. I even visited the remembrance web-site mentioned in her obituary. It is full of photos of her over the years. Most were of her adult married life and I knew nothing of that. 
I didn’t know her husband and I didn’t know her children. I guess I’m grieving that someone my own age is gone and it’s too soon. I know I’m turning 50 on Sunday but that’s too young to start having people your own age dying. She was an old memory and I thought of her often because she was a pretty girl and remember being attracted to her. I’m glad she had a good life. I do not have any photos of Sherry other than the one in my High-school yearbook. I am borrowing this photo from her remembrance site because it immediately reminded me of the face of Sherry I remember. I hope her family is okay with this.
My fondest memory of Sherry was from our grade 10 English class with Mr. Thompson. She arrived late one day and apologized for having slept in. She added that Mr. Thompson should not consider her late for today but early for tomorrow. She got away with it. Sadly, she was early again this time for her own funeral. People joke that a certain person would be late for his/her own funeral. I’d take that. I’d rather be late and cheat death as long as I can than to die too soon. Sherry left this world too soon. Old memories stay with us the longest and I’m sure I’ll remember Sherry for a long time.
HELLO WASHINGTON, GOODBYE “THE LIFE OF RILEY”
Saturday, September 1st, 2012 Wow, has it really been the extant of the whole summer since my last blahg? Time flies when you’re having fun. I don’t know how much fun I’ve had but I’ve been really busy and it looks like the fall is shaping up to be the same way. At least, my wife and children will not be at home in the fall to distract me from writing here. So this blahg is going to be a little different.
In my last blahg, I mentioned that our eldest daughter, Emily, since the beginning of May, has been serving as an Intern with the Digital Advocacy Research Group at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. At the end of June, we decided to drive down to Washington over Canada Day Weekend to see her. Canada Day was July 1st and it fell on a Sunday. We decided to leave Friday, June 30th and I want to tell you the whole trip was one experience after another.
We did not get away until after 4pm on Friday afternoon after my wife got home from School. We were delayed two hours in Ganonoque, Ontario as our GPS attempted to get us past a huge accident on the major highway. That’s as much time as I ever want to spend in Ganonoque again. It’s probably a nice town but creeping at a snail’s pace through the downtown core is not what tourism is all about. We didn’t get to Binghamton, New York and our hotel until 10:30 after our detour, border crossing, and stopping for dinner. It was a nice hotel but nothing to write home nor here about.
Saturday, we stopped in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to do some shopping and someplace else I do not recall to have lunch. We didn’t get down to Washington until after 3pm. It was obvious that there were some problems in the area because many of the traffic lights were out and many tree limbs were down. We later learned that a major storm blew through the night before. In Canada, when you come across an intersection where the lights are out, we treat it as a four way stop. Apparently in Washington, you treat that scenario as an excuse to speed through the intersection and not give the cars from the other direction a chance to cross through. Our GPS only failed us once when we got to the street where our daughter lived and found it was closed off because power lines were down on the lower half of her street. We just took a side street and came it from a different direction. Luckily, the upper half of the street, where our daughter’s townhouse was situated, was not without power. That was a blessing because it was 101 degrees and she had air-conditioning. Luckier still, the air-conditioning in our van worked well the whole trip.
A few quick hugs later with our daughter and the use of her washroom and we were on our way to our hotel a few blocks from her home. When we got there, we noticed a makeshift sign that said that there was no power in the hotel. When I checked with the front desk, the manager explained that I could not stay there because of the power outage. It was a tricky communication thing between he and I because initially he told me I would not be charged for my stay there. I thought I was going to get to stay free but he was just trying to say I couldn’t stay there and my credit card used to book the room would not be billed. Using the GPS, we tried three other local hotels and found there was no room at the Inn.
We didn’t panic. We went to a mall and did some shopping and then went to an Ihop Restaurant for dinner and the use of their free WI-FI so we could find another hotel. We located one about 30 minutes outside of Washington and quickly booked it. With that resolved, we decided to go visit the Lincoln Memorial. When we finally got to the Lincoln Memorial it was dusk and the Lincoln Memorial was actually the Jefferson Memorial. It was still 100+ degrees and we were sweating but we enjoyed the Jefferson Memorial. We then drove around in circles for 30 minutes before finding the real Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial was well worth the wait, the heat, and 30 minutes of circling and arguing trying to find a parking space.
After both Memorials we decided to drive to our hotel. Emily decided to stay with us and she had packed an overnight bag. By the time we stopped for gas and two other stops to try and find a public bathroom (which are scarce) we finally got to the hotel about 11:30. It was pitch black. Everything else around it was lit up but the hotel was dark. An inquiry at the front desk gave us the explanation that they had no power (why didn’t the online booking tell us that) and didn’t expect to have power until the next day. We were welcome to stay at the hotel but we’d have to use the stairs because there was no power for the elevator. We were so tired, we agreed and the night manager found us a room on the third floor so we wouldn’t have to walk up too many stairs. There were two queen sized beds in the room but that was the extant of the luxury. No power meant no air conditioning and the windows didn’t open. We were all exhausted from the walking around the memorials that we fell asleep despite it being 90+ degrees in the room. The next morning I had a quick shower because there was enough water in the lines for that. My son managed to get one in too although it was cold. My wife and daughters just wanted to go back to Emily’s place and shower there. I never did get a discount from that hotel and when I complained to their day manager, I was told they agreed to provide us with a room and did not guarantee power. Act of God or something. I didn’t catch his act but who would you get to open for him?
We managed to get back to Emily’s and while the girls took turns with the shower, Noah and I went off to a local McDonald’s to get breakfast for everyone. Most of us had some variation of Egg McMuffin but Abbie just wanted a Chocolate Chip Muffin. When I tried to order this through the McDonald’s drive-thru I encountered another language communication issue. The tinny voice at the other end of the receiver didn’t understand my request for the muffin and kept asking if I meant a McMuffin. She even said, I obviously wanted a Chocolate Chip Frappe. I don’t know who you get Frappe from Muffin but because it had Chocolate chips she assumed I didn’t know what I really wanted. I guess they don’t have have Chocolate Chip Muffins in Washington. When I tried to describe this type of pastry, they informed they had never heard of such a thing. Emily made Abbie a bagel back her place. Muffin people! Muffin! Have you never seen Seinfeld? Mufffin!
The remainder of that Sunday was spent walking around the Smithsonian and the outside front and back of the White House. It was now 104 degrees. We had lunch at a restaurant called Potbelly’s and then we took Emily home and started the drive back north to Canada. I was glad to be out of Washington. We stopped at a hotel in Wilkes-Barre that night and the air conditioning worked. The next day we drove home and were ecstatic to be back in our own Country. It’s true: Nice Place To Visit But I Wouldn’t Want To Live There. Emily flew home about two weeks ago after finishing her internship. She too, was tired of Washington.
I know this narrative has been rather short and bleak but I did take some nice video while in Washington. I want to end this part about Washington by posting those videos here. The quality is a little grainy because the conversion to Youtube type videos was to a lesser quality. Believe me, the originals look better.
Night time at the Jefferson Memorial (which I thought was the Lincoln Memorial) :
Night time at the real Lincoln Memorial:
Walking near the Washington Monument:
Part one of our trip inside The Smithsonian:
Part two of our trip inside The Smithsonian:
A nice man at the Smithsonian tells us about Lincoln’s Hat and other things that went on the night of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln:
Front and back views of The White House:
Driving near the Capitol Dome and The Canadian Embassy in Washington:
I will close on a more upbeat but disturbing note; to me anyway. The other night, I made a comment about our cat Frank lying about and living the life of riley. My children looked at me as if I was crazy and asked what I meant by the phrase: “The Life of Riley”. I couldn’t believe it. What have they learned in school all these years? Why didn’t they know the meaning of that phrase? It means to live the good life or an easy and pleasant life without much effort. My children explained that nobody uses that phrase and doubted it was still in common use. Again, I was flabbergasted. Besides being a popular radio show and later television show, the phrase has always been in common use by me. I was sure I was often heard to comment on someone living the life of Riley or the fact that I wasn’t living it. I know I wasn’t living it when we went to Washington.
What’s the world coming to? Are phrases dropping out of speech because we older people, and I don’t consider myself that old, have forgotten to pass them on? It worries me. In fifty years, will this phrase be all but gone? What about “Bob’s Your Uncle” or “So’s Your Old Man”? Is it to be goodbye to “You and the horse you rode in on”? Can I no longer get away with “Another one bites the dust”? Sure, expletives continue and many use them far too much. But if I drop an occasional “take the bull by the horns” will people look at me like I just spoke an offensive string of four letter words. Well, I say “What’s Up With That?” and “More Power To You” if you can get away with these colloquialisms. “My Hat’s Off To You” who keep these phrases alive and “Lead Me Up The Garden Path” to a better time when eyes weren’t cocked (there’s another) when I described something in a unique way. “Live and Let Live”, I say and “Live Long and Prosper!” Okay, I don’t think that last one will die out anytime soon. You tell ’em Spock!
SOME THINGS TO CELEBRATE…FOR ME, ANYWAY.
Monday, July 16th, 2012 I know it’s been more than a month since I published a blahg. I tried…really I did. I sat down to write this blahg and my server went down and I lost part of the blahg. So, many things happened since then and I’m going to try and get to them all now. First, the Toshiba saga is done. I’m going to start off with that because I’ve paid far too much attention to Toshiba and they deserve none of it. The end to my Toshiba experience is one of the things I have to celebrate. It took two months of persistent phone conversations with far too many representatives of Toshiba. I’ve been very clear that this is not the way customer service should be. But let’s close this experience. The last interaction with Toshiba that I noted was that I returned my BDX2155KC to Toshiba via UPS on May 23rd. In the box, I had included a letter requesting a phone call from Toshiba to tell me they had received the Blu-Ray player and a subsequent phone call providing a tracking number for the replacement BDX 2300.
By Friday, June 1st, I had heard nothing from Toshiba so I decided to try Mike’s personal number to make yet another inquiry. I was put through to his voice mail and I left a detailed message requesting an update. Mike finally called me back around noon on Monday, June 4th. He explained that there had been a delay in sending out my replacement BDX 2300 but it had been sent out late Friday afternoon (sure, after I called and left a message asking for it!). I was provided with a tracking number that I checked online and verified that the Blu-Ray Player had been shipped and I further discovered it was out on the truck for delivery to me. Unfortunately I had to go out and missed the Purolator delivery (yes, Purolator, even though everything had been UPS up to that point). When I got home later, I found a delivery card and arranged for Jeanette to pick up the BDX 2300 at the Purolator depot the next day. Cut to the chase. It was the BDX 2300 and I hooked it up and to my delight found that the USB port that had been on the rear of the BDX2155KC was on the front of the BDX 2300. Finally, Toshiba got something right. I inserted a USB drive and played a one hour file from beginning to end and the machine did not shut down. If you’re confused about all of this then read my previous entries because I’m done with Toshiba now.
The title of this blahg is “Some Things To Celebrate…” and I want to get onto more important things. Yes, I celebrate the fact that I finally got something from Toshiba but there wouldn’t have been cause for celebration if Toshiba Customer Service had done their job right in the first place. But as I said, enough about Toshiba and more about those other things to celebrate.
On May 30th, of this year, Jeanette and I celebrated 25 years of marriage. 
In my family, other than my parents and my sister and her husband, there hasn’t been a great track record in marriages. Twenty-five is a milestone that you don’t make every day and I want to take a moment to celebrate that. We did have a nice gathering of some friends and family and there was way too much food left over. My son took lots of photos but I’ll only share this one of us looking happy and cutting the cake.
Ten years ago I created a DVD Picture Show as a gift to Jeanette on our 15th Anniversary. I had scanned in many old photos and created slideshows to music of our life together and separate ones of each of our children. All of the slideshows were set to the music of Frank Sinatra (surprise, surprise). Sinatra had recorded songs with the names of two of our children: “Emily” & “Noah” but there was nothing in his repertoire with the name of “Abbie”. With a little creative license I utilized the song “Pocketful of Miracles” which is nice child like song that Sinatra recorded with a children’s chorus. For the menu, I chose the song “You Will Be My Music”, which was the Sinatra song at our wedding. For the slideshow of us as a couple, I chose Sinatra singing “As Time Goes By”. I’d like to share that with you here:
Let me share a couple of poems I’ve written over the years about my union with Jeanette. The first was written about two weeks before our wedding:
love poem # 3 (of sorts)
marry me I said
and she said
yes
but if it were
that easy
to get what I wanted
then maybe
I woulda asked fer
world peace instead
Now let’s jump ahead about 5 years later:
I’m rememberin’ a girl who could raise hackles
I’m rememberin’ a girl
who could raise hackles
in humans?
and as I remember
she turns to me half asleep
and kisses my back
where I think my hackles must be
It’s been a long time since I wrote my wife a poem, maybe in a card, but if I do write her a new one, she’ll be the first to know.
Now back to the “some things to celebrate”. A couple of weeks ago we had some graduations to attend. First, my youngest daughter, Abbie, graduated from grade 8. This may not seem significant to anyone else but to her, and us, it’s a big deal. 
She’s leaving a country school, well it’s in the country anyway, that all of our children have attended and she starts High-school in the city come September. This is an even bigger deal because she is not attending the same school that all of her classmates will be attending. Most of them will be going to the big Secondary school here in the County while Abbie takes a 30 minute bus ride to Belleville to Centennial Secondary School where her two older siblings have gone. The choice was hers. Most grade 8 graduates of schools here in Prince Edward County go to Prince Edward Collegiate in Picton unless they get special permission to attend a school elsewhere. Elsewhere being Belleville. Abbie applied for the Arts Program at Centennial, as did my oldest daughter Emily, and was accepted. Her brother, Noah, will be there for one semester in January but she’ll be the new kid on the block in September.
Back to her graduation. Abbie’s dress was stunning and she was beautiful (as can be seen in the picture above with my wife and I…at least Abbie’s hair looked better than mine that night). She received three awards the night she graduated.
She tied with another girl for the highest academic award, tied for the highest marks in Math, and won the Language Arts award outright (pictured at left). Her Principal credited her receiving this award to all of the comics she reads but corrected herself to the term of “Graphic Novels”. Abbie does read those but she’s a voracious reader of regular novels as well. She looked beautiful in her dress and her hair, which took about an hour and a half, was gorgeous. I’m very proud of her.
The second graduation we had that week, two days after Abbie’s, was Noah’s grade 12 graduation from Centennial.
He was also an Ontario Scholar which meant he graduated with an average of 80+ and he also received a technical award for his work in Theater Arts.
He has been very active in theater and theater production at his school. He played the second lead pirate in the school’s production of “Peter Pan” this year. Last year he was Mr. Salt, the father of Veruca Salt, in the production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. He’s also been in Centennial’s productions of “The Music Man” and “Sound of Music”. Check out the photo of his proud parents from the night of graduation.
Now, readers of this blahg (again, do I have readers?) will recall that I have three children. Our eldest daughter, Emily, was not able to attend our Anniversary celebration nor her siblings’ graduations. She has been very busy herself out of country.
Since the beginning of May, she has been serving as an Intern with the Digital Advocacy Research Group at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. We miss her very much but a couple of weeks ago, and the subject of an upcoming blahg, we managed to drive down to Washington over a hot long weekend at the beginning of July and spent some time with her. The picture above is the only recent photo we’ve been able to snap of all three of our children since Emily has been in the USA. Emily’s the one in the middle…not the absolute middle, that’s Lincoln. She returns in August and we can’t wait to have her home.
The last bit of celebration, which has some sadness attached to it but I will save that, too, for a later blahg, concerns a new addition to our family. We recently adopted a new kitten. It’s been about twelve years since we’ve had a kitten in our home and Abbie, being the youngest child, has never had the chance to name one of our cats. I named Frank, the subject of a previous blahg “The Christmas Cat” and before that, June was already adopted pre-named. She was adopted from Robyn’s Nest in Picton, Ontario. This store adopts out animals that have been brought into the local animal welfare society so it’s only fitting that we provided a home for a rescued kitten. I don’t know the story behind our kitten but she was either brought into the local shelter or was born there. She has made a loving addition to our home and after two days, Abbie provided her with the name “Stella”. She’s very playful and she likes to sleep on me early in the morning. She is so small that I don’t feel her walking up me while I’m sleeping. I’ll close with two cute videos of Stella on the back of the sofa watching television.
Hopefully, my next blahg won’t be so long in the making.
TOSHIBA SUCKS…THERE, I SAID IT
Friday, May 25th, 2012 Let me start off this blahg by saying something positive. I own an Epson Stylus NX515 wireless printer. It hasn’t given me a lick of problems. I owned a previous Epson printer before this and I liked that printer too. The only reason I upgraded to the NX515 was for the convenience of wireless printing and the fact that this printer was on sale for half the retail price. I am giving these accolades to this printer because I’m impressed with the quality of Epson products thus far. I haven’t had cause to call their technical support and having been a troubleshooter of Hewlett Packard printers, I can tell you that if a model is good then there won’t be many support calls. There’s the positive for today. Pleasantries are now set aside.
For those of you who read my blahg from two weeks ago “SHAME ON YOU TOSHIBA, EXCEPT AL…MAYBE” then you are aware that I was left hanging by Toshiba in regards to my Blu-Ray Player BDX2155KC. The last conversation I detailed in that blahg was with a Case Manager named “Al” who promised to send me an upgrade of a BDX2300 and that I am to return the defective BDX2155KC in the BDX2300 box with an affixed return label that he would email to me. That conversation was on April 27th.
Jump ahead to May 8th. At around 6pm Al from Toshiba calls me. He’s inquiring about the return label that was to be sent me by email and whether I had received it. I had not. It’s been a week and a half since our last conversation and there had been no follow-up calls or emails. He does not mention anything about the replacement BDX2300. I ask him if he received my fax of the receipt showing that my BDX2155KC was purchased on December 26th, 2011 and should still be in warranty. Al is not sure if he has received that fax. He will check his documents and will call me back. NOTE: THIS IS THE LAST TIME I HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH AL…MORE TO FOLLOW.
On May 15th, I received an automated email from Toshiba directing me to a website to print off my return label. The return label will only be available to me for 30 days. I check out the link and it is a printable return label for UPS. Clearly, I’m to print this off and attach it to a box and call UPS for pick up. Again, it is an automated email and there is no mention of the BDX2300. The original instructions from Al were that I was to attach the return label to the box of the BDX2300 and return it with the BDX2155KC inside. I have a return label and no box and no BDX2300.
The following is a timeline of what has happened since receiving the return label by email on May 15th:
May 16th, 6:15pm: I speak to Victor, a front line agent and provide my case number. I recognize the voice. This is the same Victor who was rude to me before when we spoke on April 27th and told me that he only troubleshoots issues for customers from the United States. He does not say that this time. He was either lying last time or he’s been transferred. I don’t get into that with him. I explain that my last conversation with Case Manager Al on April 27th leaves me waiting for the BDX2300. When I receive the BDX2300 I will remove it and place the BDX2155KC in the box, attach the return label, and will ship it back to Toshiba. I also explain I have the return label now but I’m still waiting on the BDX2300. Victor tells me that Toshiba’s policy is that I must return the BDX2155KC first before they can ship me the replacement BDX2300. I tell Victor that I was told by Al that the BDX2300 was to come first and then I would ship back the BDX2155KC. I am placed on hold at 6:21.
6:24pm: Victor is back. He tells me there is no record in Al’s notes or my file that I was told the replacement BDX2300 would be sent to me first. I tell him that I made notes and that’s what I was told by Al. Back on hold at 6:27 while he consults someone.
6:36pm: Back with Victor again. Explains that the policy has recently changed and they want the defective unit back first. I am adamant that I will not return the BDX2155KC first. That will leave me without a Blu-Ray player and at the mercy of Toshiba trying to get anything from them. Given their track record of not returning phone calls would I honestly trust that they would return me a Blu-Ray player? Victor is insistent on the new policy. I am insistent as well. I demand to speak to a Supervisor. Victor doesn’t want to get me a Supervisor and says I will be told the same thing by the Supervisor. I demand to be transferred to a Case Manager. Victor tells me that because it’s already 6:40pm, he cannot transfer me to the Case Manager department because everyone in that department has left for the day. Their hours are only 8 to 5. Funny, the last time I talked to Al, on May 8th, it was near 6pm. I accept my fate and agree to call back the next day during the appropriate hours.
New day. It’s now May 17th. Here’s what transpired:
9:15am: I speak with a pleasant female named Bless (I asked for the spelling). I explained what Al told me about receiving the BDX2300 and then returning the BDX2155KC. I also tell her what Victor told me about returning the BDX2155KC first before I can receive the BDX2300. She is very sympathetic and says it was obvious that I was told something different by Case Manager Al. She places me on hold to see if she can reach Al. I’m on hold at 9:22.
9:25am: Back with Bless. Al is on the telephone with another customer and he will call me back within the day. I provide my cell phone number in case they cannot reach me on my house phone. I do have a life and have to go out of the house sometimes. Bless assures me that Al will call me back “within the day” (her words). I’m off the call at 9:27. Al does not call me back within the day. No one from Toshiba calls me back. Surprise!
Day 3 this week. It’s now May 18th. Still no call from Al. Here we go again:
11:20am: New agent, Chris. I explain to him that I’ve been calling for two days for Al. I want to speak to Al. I’m placed on hold at 11:22.
11:26am: Chris comes back and cites the recently changed policy. He insists that I have to return the BDX2155KC first. I insist on speaking to Al. I don’t want to go through this again with another front line agent. Placed on hold at 11:28.
11:30am: I get Karl. I’ve spoken to this person before but this time he says he’s a Supervisor. Last time he was a front line agent. They get promoted or transferred a lot at Toshiba. Karl is not clear what “Mr. Al Cameron” told me as it is not in the notes. This is the first time that I’m given Al’s last name. Karl says the policy has changed but because I tell him something different was told to me by Al then I will have to clarify this with Al. That’s what I’ve been trying to do! I am placed on hold at 11:36 while Karl tries to transfer me to Al.
11:40am: Karl comes back and says Al is currently not available as he’s dealing with some other issues. He promises me that Al will call me back. I don’t press it but I’m not hopeful for the callback. O Al, Where Art Thou?
11:58am: Someone named Mike from Toshiba calls me back. He says he is a Case Manager and he’s going to handle my case because Al is on holidays. I tell him that he needs to get his story straight because I’ve now been told by three different people, three different stories about the whereabouts of Al. It’s the Friday of a long weekend and maybe Al has left early. I don’t ask this but I’m suspicious. Mike takes the hardline and spouts policy and says I have to return the BDX2155KC first. He also says there are no notes from Al saying he will send the BDX2300 to me first and then the BDX2155KC will be returned. I am defiant. I make it clear that Toshiba has terrible customer service and that it has now been six weeks since I started calling and this issue is unresolved. I tell him that I don’t trust that I will get the BDX2300 because Toshiba has lied to me about callbacks and the whereabouts of Al so I’m not budging. I also told him I’ve been told more than once the BDX2155KC was out of warranty when it clearly is not and that at one point, I was told they had already replaced the unit when they have not. Mike says there is a record of the replacement but that it was sent to another customer. Some cases got mixed up and that’s why I was told the BDX2155KC was already replaced. I am livid. It is clear that nothing good will come of this. I offer up a concession. I promise to return the BDX2155KC first but I want Toshiba to send me an empty box first with a tracking number for the empty box. When I receive the empty box then I’ll attach the return label and send back the BDX2155KC. I will expect a callback when they have received the BDX2155KC with a tracking number for the replacement BDX2300. Mike agrees. He also offers to provide a full one year warranty on the replacement rather than transferring the remaining balance of the warranty over from the BDX2155KC. He also provides me with this direct phone number and extension. I’m off the call at 12:06.
6:45pm: Mike calls me back. I thought Case Manager’s only worked until 5? Hmmm!? Anyway, Mike tells me the empty box has been shipped and provides me with a tracking number for the box. He explains that there will be a return label inside and that I’m to box up the BDX2155KC with the manual and remote and return it to Toshiba.
On Tuesday, May 22nd, UPS delivers me an empty box. Monday was a holiday so it came on Tuesday. I package up the BDX2155KC for return and slap on the return label that was included. I take it to the UPS store on Wednesday May 23rd to have it shipped out. It’s a good thing Toshiba is paying the shipping costs on this or I’d have forgotten the whole thing and just kept the defective BDX2155KC. The man at the UPS store is pleasant and I joke with him. I tell him I have special instructions for the delivery. “Find the President of Toshiba and ram it down his throat.” The UPS store man doesn’t know whether to laugh but he does. That’s the last I see of the BDX2155KC.
I was going to end this blahg with the line “this story yet to be concluded” but something happened yesterday that I think is worth mentioning. I’ve been going on and on about this poor experience with Toshiba and their terrible Customer Service. I want to now relate to you how Customer Service should work.
Yesterday, in my many errands, I went to the local Walmart to purchase some liquid chlorine to shock my above ground pool for the season. I picked up two jugs and because I hadn’t grabbed a cart, I was leaning the jugs against my shirt front. I was wearing a plain navy blue t-shirt and I noticed that there was now a pink ring along the front of the shirt. One of the bottles of liquid chlorine had leaked and discolored my shirt. I put back the leaky bottle and grabbed another one. I wanted to report this but couldn’t find a Walmart representative. I grabbed a cart and placed the two jugs inside while I went to the men’s department to buy a new shirt. I found another plain navy blue shirt for $7 and headed off to the cashier. I mentioned to the cashier about the leaky bottle and that someone should check on that. I showed her the discolored ring on my shirt. She told me I should report this to Customer Service because they would probably reimburse me for the shirt I just bought.
I went to the Walmart Customer Service and explained the situation and the Cashier had suggested I should receive a refund for my new shirt. The lady at Customer Service said she’d have to check it with the Day Manager. She paged the Day Manager and a couple minutes later a nice gentleman came over and heard my story. He said he would authorize the reimbursement and furthermore they would give me a $20 gift card for my troubles. I said this wasn’t necessary but he put his arm around me and said it was necessary because he wanted me to be a happy customer. Boy was I surprised! People can say many disparaging things about Walmart but their Customer Service is a model of how to take care of the customer. Toshiba take note!
Oh, by the way, I changed into the new shirt and it fit perfectly. Unfortunately I wore it when I emptied the contents of the bottles of liquid chlorine into my pool. Some of the chlorine splashed onto my new shirt and I now have serveral pink dots on my new navy blue shirt. Oh well, it was free and I have a gift card and can by a two or three more. Lesson learned.