Sorry for the no-show Thursday. Had a late Wednesday meeting with my posse, which is a fancy way of saying I went out for the evening with two guys who never need to worry about getting up early in the morning after a weeknight evening of tippling, at least not until they get a decade older. I was home by 10, anyway, but slept badly, which I guess a BLT and three Rolling Rocks will do. But I got up at 6 anyway, and swam my laps, and basically felt like crap all day.
Although I do enjoy swimming. Anyone else here a lap swimmer? The line passing by, lap after lap, the splashy turn at the end, the endless failure to master the frog kick. That’s my experience, anyway, although I’m fairly good at the dolphin kick. Lousy butterfly, though. And that’s about as exciting as swimming for exercise gets.
I did pedal two miles down the road to check out a new boxing gym for the ladies. (Closed.) Rode home, ran into one of Kate’s friend’s dad, and we had a little chat. These first warm days are like coming out of hibernation.
And Friday is Bike to Work Day. I’m-a try to do it, but all will depend on what the weather is doing in the morning. Forty percent chance of showers.
Have I bored the crap out of you yet? Let’s skip to the bloggage, then:
Remove all hanging ropes, razors, sleeping pills (send those to me) and other tools of suicide before you click through this slide show on the human effect on our fragile planet. Mesmerizing pictures that will make you want to die like one of those plastic-stuffed birds.
The train conductor sped up before the crash? Please don’t tell me we have another one on our hands.
I think I first saw a Mad Max movie with our own Jeff Borden. I cannot WAIT to see the latest one. But Jeff is many miles away. He will be there in spirit.
Have a great weekend, all.
alex said on May 15, 2015 at 6:35 am
Never saw a Mad Max film and never cared for the Action genre, but having just read how this was a low-budget, low-tech franchise that managed to do creatively what Hollywood couldn’t do with all the money in the world, I’m now intrigued enough to perhaps go check it out. (But at the moment, when time allows, I’m trying to catch up with on Hulu the first few seasons of Desperate Housewives that I originally missed. The offerings change again June 1 and I’m not sure it will be back.)
As for the human effect on our fragile planet, I would call it the petrochemical industry’s effect on our fragile government.
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Wim said on May 15, 2015 at 7:04 am
I don’t think anyone was expecting a new addition to the Mad Max franchise, and oh so happy it’s not a JayJay Abrams retcon. I’m told I have to go see this in 3D IMAX. Does this mean there’s hope we may finally get to see the next Buckaroo Banzai movie?
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alex said on May 15, 2015 at 7:16 am
Wow. I just stumbled across this story of priest sexual abuse in Baltimore. Long read, and quite chilling, but the kind of literary journalism I can’t get enough of.
I have a beef with it, though. This was 1969. Father Maskell’s car would not have been a Buick Roadmaster, unless it was a very old one, and the murdered nun’s car wouldn’t have been a Ford Maverick because they didn’t start making those until 1970.
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Jolene said on May 15, 2015 at 8:39 am
Those pictures are horrifying. Is going to be pretty interesting, to say the least, what the planet looks like when we have two billion more people.
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beb said on May 15, 2015 at 8:46 am
My first thought when I heard that the Amtrak train was going a 100 mph when it derailed was: ‘they can get a train to go 100 mph?’
I wa kind of fascinated by the Jeb Bush story after someone pointed out that no one was leaping to Bush’s defense. Jeb was asked whether knowing what we know today he would have supported invading Iraq. He said yes. Then he said he misheard the question. Then he didn’t want to answer because it would disrespect all the soldiers who died over there, before finally admitting that knowing what we know today, it was a bad idea. But during the time he was waffling around a half-dozen of the presidential candidates weighed in to say they would not have invaded, knowing what we know today. So much for sticking up for his little brother. And so much for being “his own man.” But mostly it seems to say that much of the Republican party hates Bush and the Bush family and will do anything they can to knock him down. The people who do like Bush are the billionaires who see him as a pliable tool just like his brother and father.
Speaking of tools, Michigan’s Republican controlled legis is considering a Plan B for road repairs that steal all the money from the Earned Income Tax Credit. Essentially stealing Tiny Tim’s crutch to pay for Scrooge’s road. The question used to be, are Republicans stupid or evil, It used to be a toos-up, now it pretty clear the answer is “evil.”
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alex said on May 15, 2015 at 9:34 am
beb, Republican voters are stupid. Republican politicians are evil.
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Dexter said on May 15, 2015 at 10:06 am
beb, in 1966 the crazy bastards mounted two jet engines atop a locomotive and sent it from Stryker, Ohio, to Butler, Indiana on a test and achieved 183 mph. So much for great experiments…not a damn thing ever came of jet-powered trains. The stretch was used because of arrow-straight tracks and new rail beds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9FZ1EPvhOI
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Danny said on May 15, 2015 at 10:12 am
Nance, I think you know that I have been a lap swimmer for about 25 years. It waxes and wanes though. Currently, I’m not swimming much due to additional work responsibilities. But, I don’t force it when I feel like crap. For me, it’s a chunk of time where rhythm and breathing clears the mind and I can just BE.
Love this Mad Men final teaser set to Paul Anka’s “Times of Your Life.”
http://www.amc.com/shows/mad-men/video-extras/season-07/episode-14/trailer-times-of-your-life-mad-men-series-finale
Reminds me of the episode, “The Wheel,” where Don says something along the lines that nostalgia, in Greek, means memory of an old wound and that the carousel is a time machine that takes us to places where we yearn to be… Where we felt loved.
And that’s enough of “Explorations in Maudlinism with Danny”
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Sherri said on May 15, 2015 at 10:27 am
Buckaroo Banzai! We recently indoctrinated our daughter into the cult of Banzai. Remember, wherever you go, there you are.
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Heather said on May 15, 2015 at 10:36 am
I’m a lap swimmer, although I’m basically entirely self-taught, just looking at other swimmers and the Internet for tips. I really should take a class as I’m sure my technique could use some tweaks. I can’t do a dolphin kick or the underwater flip, and I’m not very flip. But it makes me feel good and I enjoy it anyway! Unfortunately the closest park district pool, only about 10 minutes away by bike, has been closed for renovations since the winter, and the other ones are just far enough away to make it difficult to get there often.
Going to see Mad Max tonight!
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Heather said on May 15, 2015 at 10:37 am
…not very FAST, not flip. I can be extremely flip.
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Julie Robinson said on May 15, 2015 at 11:12 am
I just got back from swimming laps, though like Heather I don’t do the end flip or anything else but the crawl. I plod along, counting my laps, marveling that nothing hurts in the water, because outside the water everything hurts . Then my reward is the warm water therapy pool, with the big jets that are like a whirlpool on steroids. I do all my therapy stretches in there andbecause of the heat it takes half the time. It’s the best!
Action pictures, meh. I have to fight off sleep when I see them (make that dragged off to), don’t know why but I don’t find them engaging. Give me a musical any day.
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Julie Robinson said on May 15, 2015 at 11:18 am
Almost forgot, I have a Friday fun for y’all, a name generator that shows what your name would be if you were born today. It uses name trends from the social security administration. So if I was born today it predicts my folks would name me Skylar. I’m pretty sure I would have to change that. http://time.com/3856405/baby-name-popularity/
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alex said on May 15, 2015 at 11:23 am
Hi Skylar. This is Conner.
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Sue said on May 15, 2015 at 11:26 am
Delilah. Oh my.
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Kirk said on May 15, 2015 at 11:30 am
Derek (and if I had been born a decade earlier, it would have been Shirley).
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Dave said on May 15, 2015 at 11:36 am
William. I have a three year old grandson whose middle name is William. David was the fifth most popular boy’s name in 1950.
Trains commonly go 100 and more on the Northeast Corridor. I cannot imagine what this engineer was doing. I dread thinking about what they may learn and the repercussions because I know well what happened and how railroaders were portrayed after the Gunpow, MD, wreck in 1989. http://tinyurl.com/yfer2hc
Speaking of dread, I hate thinking about who may become president next.
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Dave said on May 15, 2015 at 11:37 am
My mistake, the wreck was in 1987.
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Bob (not Greene) said on May 15, 2015 at 11:40 am
Ryker, here.
Ah, lap swimming. Having done it as a sport, I come at lap swimming from a different perspective. There were several years after I stopped being a competitive swimmer where the smell of chlorine would make my stomach tighten. That smell meant racing and pain.
It also left me with an inability to do “lap swimming.” Going back and forth endlessly is not something I do well. I need it to be structured. I also find that I need to have a lane to myself, because when everyone else is doing the lap swimming thing, I’m doing sets of things: Some slow, some fast, some long, some short, some only kicking. And I need a clock (which sometimes forces me to be in a lane close to that clock, because otherwise I can’t see it). I also find myself unconsciously racing people in lanes next to me or racing to see if I can catch someone before the end of the lap, because that’s what you’re supposed to do — race, right? Of course it isn’t, but that’s what a decade of doing that makes you think. I’m the guy everyone else hates to be in the same lane with. But it’s OK, because the feeling is mutual.
And that’s why I have pretty much given up lap swimming.
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Heather said on May 15, 2015 at 11:42 am
Victoria, not too bad. In the 1890s I would have been Myrtle, in keeping with the flower theme, I guess.
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nancy said on May 15, 2015 at 11:46 am
Harper here.
Bob, over the course of the last year I’ve slowly sorta-joined the masters’ swim workout that goes on in the adjacent lanes. The retired teacher/swim coach who runs it started giving me some of their training drills, and in the last few months my strokes have improved, my boredom has dropped and I think I’ve gotten faster (although I’m still pretty slow). I’ve also learned to flip turn and my breast stroke is coming along.
Yesterday I was pushing through an interval and felt that sucking in my chest, and feared that I might someday come to hate it. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.
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David C. said on May 15, 2015 at 11:49 am
Liam. Last Sunday, my niece had a baby. His name is Backplane, yes Backplane. Whatever circuits they have in 55 years time when he puts his name into something similar will surely fry.
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Julie Robinson said on May 15, 2015 at 11:56 am
Having to share a lane is the worst. No one else swims at the same speed. Right now I’m going with my hubby, and we can split the sides of the lane which is better, but I’m always bruising my arms on the lane divider. When I become independently wealthy I will have my own pool.
Which reminds me, has anyone swum (swam?) in an infinity pool? One day they had an unexpected class so I tried swimming against the jets in the therapy pool and found it a struggle. The water kept getting in my nose and it was hard regulating my speed so as to stay in one place. Plus, the water in there is great for stretching, but too hot for exercising.
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Deborah said on May 15, 2015 at 11:58 am
Emily here, would have been Bertha in 1890.
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Bob (not Greene) said on May 15, 2015 at 11:58 am
Uh oh, Nancy, you’re becoming a swimmer. That feeling in your chest is one of the telltale signs. Your body is saying, “Hey, now wait a minute, here!” but you’re trained to plow through that pain and do that rep 10 more times, and feel that same feeling every time. And, really, flip turns are simply a must, not just for convenience but to build up your lung capacity. There’s nothing like the last flip turn during a 200, where you push off the wall, with your arms pinned against your ears, dolphin-kicking like a motherfucker and your lungs burning until you take your first stroke of the last 25 yards. That is an absolute bitch, especially on a tough interval. The most crushing feeling is hitting the wall, dead tired, and you have have five seconds to rest before you have to do it again. Faster.
And Nancy I don’t know how many people you have in a lane, but it always pissed me off over the Y because no one, but no one, understands circle swimming, so they swim two people to a lane, and you’re considered a jerk to cut in and make people circle swim to accommodate more people.
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Sue said on May 15, 2015 at 12:02 pm
David C.:
“A backplane (or “backplane system”) is a group of electrical connectors in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors forming a computer bus.” (from Wikipedia)
???
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BigHank53 said on May 15, 2015 at 12:05 pm
Apparently my parents would name me Calvin now–the 180th most popular name. Sounds about right.
The Salon piece on Mad Max was great. When I first saw the trailer for the original Mad Max, I was watching Saturday Night Live with my brother, and we could not decide if it was a real movie or one of the joke fake commercials they occasionally did. It was just cheap and cheesy enough (and of course featured no actors that we recognized) that it was plausible. The movie is interesting in how tame it actually is by modern standards: there’s a little nudity that would have to be removed to put it on broadcast television, but the feel of impending apocalypse just saturates the film.
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David C. said on May 15, 2015 at 12:08 pm
I’ve got no fucking clue, Sue. It sounds like something even the Palin name generator wouldn’t come up with.
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Danny said on May 15, 2015 at 12:11 pm
David, I grew up a few blocks away from that train wreck in near Gunpowder state park in Chase, MD. As kids, we often rode our bikes along those very tracks.
I remember being about 8 or 9 and we would set a quarter on the tracks to see if it would get smashed by passing trains. We were never present when trains were around, but we never could find the quarter when we would return a few days later.
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Jolene said on May 15, 2015 at 12:15 pm
My today name would be River. Seems bizarre, as it’s so arty/trendy, which Jolene decidedly isn’t.
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Connie said on May 15, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Leah. I am amused that my 1930s name would be Bernice, as my 1930s father(Bernard)had a cousin named Bernice. And they shared a grandfather named Bernd.
We have unexpectedly found several morels in our own yard.
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Danny said on May 15, 2015 at 12:25 pm
Bob, I have a neighbor with a similar story about lap swimming. He grew up as a competitive swimmer and even swam Division I backstroke for Virginia Tech.
Says his shoulders are ruined and he hates… HATES swimming. Such a shame ‘cuz it’s so Zen of a workout. At least the way I approach it.
Gawd, all this talk of swimming makes me want to get in the pool tonight for our OPPs group (Old Peoples’ Polo). I haven’t been to that in years, but the group usually has enough for 3 teams round robin style. It’s basically a non-composite co-ed group of cool folks. Most of them I met over the years doing laps.
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Kirk said on May 15, 2015 at 12:59 pm
And kudos for naming today’s post after one of the truly great country songs.
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beb said on May 15, 2015 at 1:25 pm
Dexter@7: When i said I was surprised the train was going 100 mph I should have added “with these tracks.” I know trains can go 100 per, in fact I’read where a coal-fired steam engine set a record of 100 mph back at the turn of the 20th century. A lot of places (such as the Detroit-Chicago route are speed limited because of track conditions. “Atrois” has pointed out several times that we don’t need Japanese style bullet trains. An average of 100 mph between destinations would be fast enough for most travelers.
B. B. King has passed. The thrill has gone.
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MarkH said on May 15, 2015 at 1:36 pm
When I was a kid I really disliked my name. I always wanted to have a ‘cool’ name, like Jim or Steve, and swore I was going to change it when I became an adult.
Mark was the 20th most popular name in ’51, so, today it would be…Anthony(??).
When my younger sister was born, Mom really wanted to name her Nancy. Dad was OK with it, but a lot of other family members hated it for some reason. So we have Deborah.
Dave – I have seen only one train wreck up close in my life and it was near our mutual old haunt, the Clare Yard near Mariemont, Ohio. Just west of the yard there was a dirt road crossing, completely unmarked. The road came down past our community swimming pool to the tracks. Summer of ’66, school was just out and as a group of us were riding bikes to the pool, we got word that a passenger train had just slammed a car at the crossing. Down we went, only to be met near the bottom by the conductor, still waiting for police and EMTs. “Boys, you DON’T want to go down there!” Was he ever right. Driver dead, three alive, but two unconscious, one delirious and a bloody mess. Still vivid nearly 50 years later.
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LAMary said on May 15, 2015 at 1:59 pm
Alex, GM made a Roadmaster station wagon in 1996, for one year only. My neighbor had one.
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alex said on May 15, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Buick revived the Roadmaster name for a brief spell in the 1990s but the name was last used in the 1950s prior to that. I suspect the the priest’s car was an Electra 225 and the nun’s a Falcon, and the reporter a millennial who looked at old photos and didn’t know any better.
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Dave said on May 15, 2015 at 3:22 pm
For whatever it’s worth, Alex, Wikipedia states the first Mavericks were built in April, 1969, built as 1970 models. I know that I wanted to buy one in 1970 but talked myself out of it and I didn’t get the Plymouth Duster I was wanting, either. Naturally, I don’t know if Wiki is right.
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LAMary said on May 15, 2015 at 3:23 pm
We always had Roadmasters in the 50s and when they went away my dad switched to Electra 225s.
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Dave said on May 15, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Oh, and those latter year Roadmasters? Co-worker who was a car nut bought one because he thought it would be a luxurious big ride for his wife but it turned out to be the worst car he ever owned. It was one thing after another.
MarkH, you’re not talking about the garden crossing, are you? It went under Clare Yard and came out crossing the main line tracks west of where the yard office and engine terminal was located, giving access to what I always understood were public gardens that people could rent and plant for the summer.
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MarkH said on May 15, 2015 at 3:40 pm
Dave beat me to it, but, the Story Alex links to took place in Nov., 1969, so both cars referenced could have conceivably been a Roadmaster, last built in 1958, and a Maverick, built when Dave indicated above, and marketed in the Fall of ’69.
Also, Dave — I believe you are correct about that road going to the community garden. The main line is where the accident I described took place. We never knew until much later about the garden facility. Also known as the South 80, it has been threatened of late by a proposed bypass for Route 32 going along below the village and through or near the old rail yard. Lots of objections to it. Here is a link to a summary on a community page.
http://www.mariemont.com/category/community-parks/
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MichaelG said on May 15, 2015 at 3:44 pm
James here. No exotic names. I would have been Edward in 1900 and George if I were born again in the forties. Michael has always been one of the most popular names.
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BethB said on May 15, 2015 at 4:08 pm
I always wished my name had been Elizabeth instead of Beth–nicknames such as Betsy and Lizzie seemed so cool. Anyway, according to the super-duper name generator my 198th most popular name today would be Esther which is better than sixty years before my DOB when it would have been Sudie. I had a great-aunt Esther, but I’ve never heard of Sudie before.
My parents hated nicknames, apparently, because my two sisters are named Kay and Jill. No way to shorten any of our names into a nickname. My sisters gave me one, however, since they called me “Moochie” because when I was little I had a haircut that made me looked like a little boy on the Mickey Mouse Club “Spin and Marty” series who was named Moochie.
We got the last laugh on my parents, though. The only grandchild in the family, my sister Kay’s daughter Angela, is usually Ang to us, even now when she is in her 40s.
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Deborah said on May 15, 2015 at 4:16 pm
I didn’t have time to elaborate earlier when I found out my 1890s name would have been Bertha (the 8th most popular name as Deborah was in 1950). I had a Great Aunt Bertha but everyone called her Bertie, as a small child I thought they were saying Birdie, so that’s what I always called her. She died of breast cancer when I was 6 or 7 maybe 8 (1956 or 57, 58), she did absolutely nothing about it, she may not have even ever gone to the Dr, I don’t really know. She was my Grandmother ‘ssister on my Dad’s side. My grandmother was a tiny woman and my Aunt Birdie was tall and thin, so I think I inherited that strain of the DNA. She was always one of my favorite relatives even though I hardly got to know her. She was sensitive and artistic, she never married.
We had a 1962 Falcon that my sister and I drove when my Dad got a new car in 1968. My sister got a Maverick in 1971, it was her first car after she graduated from college. The very same day that she picked it up from the car dealer, she drove to a grocery store and when she was leaving she slammed it into the side of the store building because she thought it was in reverse when it was in drive. She hated manual transmissions which our Falcon was and she wanted an automatic. I thought it was extremely funny, she didn’t agree.
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Deborah said on May 15, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Actually, I just reread my comment and I realized my Dad bought a new car in 1965 and that’s when my sister and I started driving the 62 Falcon.
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Charlotte said on May 15, 2015 at 4:21 pm
I am quite sure that no matter what year it was, my parents would not have named me Londyn. Ack! Thank god for great grandparents with old-fashioned names. Although, thanks to the new princess, I imagine Charlotte will become the new Sophia or Olivia.
I swam laps when I was at the U of Utah — they have a beautiful pool and I cheated by wearing the flippers that were always lying around the edge of the lap pool. I don’t float, so swimming has always been a struggle for me (well, I might now that I’m old and fatter). As a kid I was the only one at camp to get the basic swimming award without doing the backfloat. I just sank and sank and sank. Get that from my dad.
And then we don’t have an indoor pool here — every few years, folks try to get the money together to build one, but it still hasn’t happened. I know some folks who drive to Bozeman to swim, but I’d do almost anything not to have to drive to Bozeman.
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MarkH said on May 15, 2015 at 4:50 pm
Dave —
Did you mention sometime back that you went to Reynoldsburg High School? Graduated in ’66?
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beb said on May 15, 2015 at 4:51 pm
I was never a good swimmer because I hated getting my head wet. Also I’d run out of breath easily. Never had much stamina for sustained hard work. So the closest I get to swimming is dodging around the kids in a splash park.
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Deborah said on May 15, 2015 at 5:19 pm
I’m a lousy swimmer, and since I grew up in Miami, FL that was always a big embarrassment. When I had a child I was determined she would be a good swimmer and she is, like a fish.
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alex said on May 15, 2015 at 5:23 pm
Funny, I didn’t remember Maverick getting an early launch in ’69, but I suppose it could have. The Maverick was supposed to be the 1970 replacement for the compact Falcon. Ford used the Falcon name in 1970, however, on a budget version of its mid-sized Fairlane/Torino.
So, Dave, what did you get in 1970?
My first car was a ’70 Monte Carlo, but I didn’t get that until 1978.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 15, 2015 at 5:23 pm
Elijah. Heh.
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Sue said on May 15, 2015 at 5:24 pm
Water is not my element. I tell people I am like a cat: I like to be near water, but not in it. I love, love, love my Lake Michigan, and the small lake in my city, but no, don’t ask me to go in either of them. It’s cold and there are things in there. And bits of things.
And pools are cold as well, and I imagine there are things in there too.
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Sherri said on May 15, 2015 at 5:58 pm
Lydia here.
Deborah, I’m the same: terrible swimmer, determined that my child would be a good swimmer, and she is. I’m not a water person, and at this point, I don’t think my shoulders would be happy with swimming, anyway. A rowing machine is the exercise closest to water I get, though if I had access to a treadmill in a pool, I might use that. The PT place where I rehabbed my knee after ACL surgery had one, and that was the only time I actually liked running.
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BethB said on May 15, 2015 at 6:04 pm
We had required swimming when I was in JH and HS. Every time I put my head in the water I got a sinus infection because I had a broken nose from a childhood accident, so I got out of swimming. Not a good thing, as it turns out, because I really can’t swim much at all.
I have been to a local rehab place that has a wonderful indoor pool for therapy; it is kept at a very warm temperature and is a salt water mixture of some sort that aids in buoyancy. The PT and independent maintenance therapy I’ve had for back and and hip surgeries has been extremely beneficial. I feel no pain when I am in the pool, and it is great for my MS issues, too. I just to get over my fat body paranoia, and get myself back there!
Sue, I feel the same about loving to be near water but hating to go in it. We’ve been to Maine many times and stayed right on the ocean, but we’ve never gone in.
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susan said on May 15, 2015 at 6:27 pm
WTF? Avery? That’s a girl’s name? No way would my folks have named me that. Nor, the others in the previous two decades: Sydney; Tiffany. Maybe Rachel, yeah; probably not Cynthia. What a strange list of names.
Swimming is not drowning. Period. That’s the way I understand it.
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Deborah said on May 15, 2015 at 6:34 pm
As everyone knows now Dzhokhar Tsarnaev got the death penalty. While I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be maimed in the bombing or have a close family member die, horror of horrors if it would have been a child relative. Still I wish we would quit doing this, I wish we would do away with the death penalty. It seems so counterproductive to me. What do we gain as a society?
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Julie Robinson said on May 15, 2015 at 6:49 pm
Beth, once I take off my glasses I can see nothing, so I choose to believe everyone else is the same!
Although I’m a pacifist and don’t believe in the death penalty, I cannot help but think justice has been done. I guess I have cognitive dissonance.
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Dave said on May 15, 2015 at 6:57 pm
No, MarkH, Pickerington, 1968.
Alex, I saved my money and didn’t get anything. I kept driving what I already had, a 1966 Ford Mustang, six cylinder, three speed on the floor. Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking in 70, a spot of new car fever, what did I know? In 72, I turned it over to my brother and ended up with a 1967 Ford Galaxy, a very plain car that had low mileage, bought from a estate, three speed on the column, even. It was a bridge car, to get me to something else, and the Mustang had over 100,000 miles on it by then. The Ford was very clean. The following year, I bought a brand new Chevrolet half ton pickup for cash.
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LAMary said on May 15, 2015 at 8:07 pm
I remember the Maverick in 1969 because a friend of mine was going to get one from his dad, but when they got to the dealership his dad thought the Maverick was cheap looking and he bought the kid a Mustang. That kid loved it so much he made a student type film about it and won an award. It was called Mustang 69. I think the award was from Kodak. All this because his father thought the Maverick was cheesy.
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alex said on May 15, 2015 at 9:16 pm
The Maverick was cheesy. The Mustang was too but the hipness factor made up for it.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 15, 2015 at 10:03 pm
Julie, F. Scott Fitzgerald said “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
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Suzanne said on May 15, 2015 at 10:05 pm
I don’t like to swim because I have very bad eyesight. It’s very disorienting to me to get in a pool and not be able to see who is standing on the side, which I can’t.
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A. Riley said on May 15, 2015 at 10:07 pm
My name today would be Eden. Eden? Eden. Naahh, I doubt it.
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Julie Robinson said on May 15, 2015 at 10:40 pm
Jefftmmo, thanks.
Suzanne as long as they don’t paint over the blue stripe I’m good.
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Dexter said on May 15, 2015 at 11:29 pm
Dad taught us to swim when we were small kids, at Pretty Lake in Indiana. I took right to it, and as a teen my friends and I swam in a gravel pit pond. That was the only swimmin’ hole where we all swam buck nekkid. Once a friend was on I-69, near to the pits, and saw us. We thought we were far enough away from the freeway that no one could tell we were all nude. He laughed as he said his work crew had quite a laugh at seeing us like that, very plainly. O the embarrassment.
On my free time in Vietnam I swam many times in the South China Sea. A buddy, Sampsel, from Columbus, had attended OSU and also, being a doctor’s son, had been brought up in an atmosphere of swimming lessons with good instructors, and he had swum competitively at the club level. He critiqued my form and actually converted me into a really good swimmer…we’d swim way too far out from the beach, having a really great time. When I got back to the USA I’d swim across Pleasant Lake , Indiana and not even breathe hard. It was a ways across, too, maybe a few hundred yards, nothin’ to it.
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MichaelG said on May 16, 2015 at 1:00 am
There’s a place on Broadway not far from where I live called the Iron Grill. It’s a good restaurant and bar. The food is excellent and they regularly receive kudos on line and in print. So I was there tonight and had some crab cakes. A light dinner. Next thing I knew a woman sat next to me on my right. A bottle blonde, quite attractive. I had finished eating and was enjoying what I had thought was my last glass of wine.
Ended up, we talked for a while, I ordered another glass of wine and paid for her cosmo. We talked through another drink and as talk became more intimate she began to run her hand over me in a caressing manner. Then she needed to go to the women’s room and I (of course) observed her progress. She was tall and slim and very attractive with an excellent figure. I paid for a second glass of wine and another cosmo.
From our conversation I guessed she was in her mid-forties. My eyes said lower forties but who cares. She returned, we talked some more with her hands roaming. My brain was going “holy shit, what is this”. She wondered if I would take her to my place and show her around. I had experienced aggressive women some years ago but this knocked me a little sideways. Truth to tell, at one time I would have been happy to take her home. But I had to tell her that the chemo I had had over the last year had rendered things, well, inoperative. I also told her of my sweet relationship with my (Ex?) wife. She finally got the picture. She opted to leave but not before enveloping me in a great hug and kissing me. I have to admit I kissed her back and we kissed again and maybe again and I started to get into it. She was a great kisser. Sigh. Then I was thinking, “Shit, I’m seventy years old. What am I doing kissing young a woman in a bar?” Then it seemed like the coolest thing in the world. I didn’t know whether to be happy or embarrassed. I chose to grin with enjoyment.
When she had left, I turned to Marianne, the bartender, and asked what the fuck had just happened. She said she didn’t know the woman and was as surprised as I at the happenings. She had a huge grin on her mug.
So here I am. On one hand I’m over the moon that the old mojo seems to be there after a hundred years. A sexual kiss from a young woman is always a wonderful thing. On the other hand I have to wonder why an attractive woman would come on so strongly to an old man. I mean, what the fuck was that all about? Oh well. It sure was a fun evening that came out of nowhere.
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ROGirl said on May 16, 2015 at 6:15 am
Kyleigh? I don’t think so.
I had aunts named Sadie, Esther, Eva, Pauline, Sophie, Sylvia, Beatrice, and my mother is Lucille. My grandmothers were Rose and Molly. THOSE are names.
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nancy said on May 16, 2015 at 9:23 am
If no one has awarded a thread win yet, I’m giving it to MichaelG for still havin’ it. And if we have, I’m taking it away from the winner and telling them to try again, because it’s going to MichaelG, and see above.
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beb said on May 16, 2015 at 11:31 am
It Penthouse Letters still a thing, because MichaelG story sounded like the beginnng of a good one.
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Little Bird said on May 16, 2015 at 1:11 pm
Just popping in to announce that it is snowing here in Santa Fe. That is all.
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brian stouder said on May 16, 2015 at 4:00 pm
I think MichaelG not only wins the thread today, but he has May locked up, and probably the 2015 annual Best-Of, too!
That was a superb post, and a genuine day brightener. Machael, you go, dude!
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Smurch said on May 16, 2015 at 4:33 pm
I had cousins named Fern, Alice and Thelma and aunts named Phyllis and Delores, called Dolly, and an Uncle Dale – it seems a shame that these names have faded into history.
I’m David, which was the No. 2 name the year I was born; if I were born now, I’d be named “Liam”. Liam isn’t so bad, but why not Bill or Will, the other diminutives of William?
And you kids get off my lawn…..
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alex said on May 16, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Name generator says my name would have been Adolph in the 1940s. My ass.
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MarkH said on May 16, 2015 at 6:50 pm
No kidding, MichaelG, lead on. That’s the best story I’ve read anywhere all month.
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brian stouder said on May 16, 2015 at 7:51 pm
Adolph? In the ’40’s? Egad!!
Sorta like if it thought you would be named Osama in the ’00’s. (It told me I’d be named Anthony, today)
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A. Riley said on May 16, 2015 at 9:47 pm
Call me a suspicious ol’ biddy, or anything else you want to call me, but the first thing I thought when I read MichaelG’s story was to wonder if, when the lady left, his wallet was still in the same place it was before she arrived.
And if it was, well, I’m a suspicious ol’ biddy, and you go, MichaelG!!!
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MichaelG said on May 16, 2015 at 10:19 pm
I still have my wallet. I did wonder what that was all about. What, if anything, was the underlying motive. I’ve decided not to over think things. I mean, who gives a shit why. It was fun and I’m going to leave it at that.
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Bill said on May 16, 2015 at 11:34 pm
All of us 70+ers should have so much fun.
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Dexter said on May 17, 2015 at 2:00 am
I had a great last few days. Eight years ago I took out a giant bill consolidation loan and by diligence, sacrifice, determination and focus, I paid the motherfucker off yesterday. Now, the next time the car my wife has driven the past sixteen years breaks down, we can replace it with a much newer model.
Thursday, the Veterans Administration , Cleveland office, came to a decision on my claim for disabled veteran status and came through big for me. I was on the phone to a pharmacy officer and when I told him a few details about my new status he said “Bingo! You hit the magic number…from now on you pay nothing for your prescription medications.” These kinds of things are life-changing to retirees like me. I am feeling humble and grateful about the VA stepping up, and proud I buckled down and got that loan paid off, and rejected family suggestions for years to just go bankrupt and let the pieces fall…hell no! I don’t roll that way.
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ROGirl said on May 17, 2015 at 7:59 am
I have to admit, my mind went to speculating whether it might be a Crying Game scenario.
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Dave said on May 17, 2015 at 12:44 pm
Dexter, I think congratulations are in order and I’ll bet both of you are breathing much freer air today!
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MichaelG said on May 17, 2015 at 12:54 pm
Congrats, Dexter. You’ve earned it.
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Dave said on May 17, 2015 at 2:06 pm
MichaelG, there’s always the urban legend scenario where you come to in a bathtub full of ice and a poorly stitched up abdomen.
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Deborah said on May 17, 2015 at 7:11 pm
In a few hours the finale of Mad Men comes on and I won’t be able to watch it until tomorrow. Feel free to discuss it all you want, I will be reading up as much as I can about what happened after it airs. I can’t wait to find out what happens.
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Jill said on May 17, 2015 at 8:44 pm
Dexter, your comment makes me happy. I’m glad the well-deserved benefits will make your life easier. And congratulations on the loan payoff!
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MichaelG said on May 17, 2015 at 9:12 pm
I hear you, Dave, but if I was going kidney shopping I don’t know that my first choice would be an old man in a bar.
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Dave said on May 18, 2015 at 12:38 am
MichaelG, I thought of that almost immediately after I posted the comment (duh) but with no way to edit, I had to let it stand. We really have to think about what we say before we hit submit.
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Les Heming said on January 11, 2016 at 8:11 pm
I see you were talking about the train wreck on the road that goes under the tracks at Clare Yard. I was pretty young then but remember that day well. Went fishing that morning at Goose Island I heard the impact that day didn’t know what happen as couldn’t see anything from where we were. Later that day we left the fishing hole and headed back home on our bikes. What a mess as they were hauling the car out on a wrecker. Last week I emwas talking to a guy who said Clare Yard was haunted. I said what? He said someone died(talking) about the place where the accident happened in 66. I said why did you say that? He said he went fishing down there in the fall left at dark with his two buddies on a clear moon lit night and he saw a man sitting on the tracks as they were coming up the hill. He said to his buddies wonder who that is. They all stopped saw the guy and when they got up on top he was gone. They were looking for him and he just vanished. They went under the tracks and one of them went back under the tracks as the rest of them waited and sure enough he was sitting on the tracks again. The guy came back got one of his buddies and went back to the other side and he was gone.
My buddy works for NS and years ago ran the T51_that hauled freight to Clare Yard. He said when they came done the old Penn rail tracks he would see a guy sitting on the rails from afar. As soon as they got closer he would be gone. Looking back after they passed the site he could see a guy sitting on the tracks. True story thought I would share.
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