Son of Timatollah

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wilsonti7

We're headed out to Colorado Springs (tonight) then Denver (weekend). Keep in touch.

Just think of all these pictures as a postcard, combined with a slide show where you're not a captive audience.



Photos from Sunday's McKinley family get together here.

Did you see the baby raccoons?

Hello, world.

We're still in Hooker, Oklahoma. Put two sets of pictures up on our Flickr site yesterday, one of Memorial Day observances at the Hooker Cemetery, and one of our visit to the Hardesty Cemetery. Samples below.

Today, we celebrate those who have served and have passed.





This is the grave of Mack's uncle, Woodrow McKinley, who served in WWII. When Woodrow found out he had cancer, he bought a pre-paid cremation plan. He got a discount. When asked where he wanted to be buried, he said, just get a pair of post-hole diggers, dig a hole between my mother and dad, and put the ashes there.

So the family did just that, took turns digging the hole, and put the ashes which were in a plastic container into the hole. Then they took turns drinking whiskey out of Woodrow's flask, poured a little in the grave, then filled the hole back up.

Labels: hooker, mckinley, memorial day, oklahoma, post-hole diggers, whiskey, woodrow

HOOKER OK—Greetings from the Oklahoma panhandle. We're here for a few days to visit with Mack's folks, siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, etc.

We actually flew into Denver yesterday. Had lunch with our good friend TRJ in Denver, then drove down to the panhandle. Stopped in Elkhart KS to visit with Mack's cousin Brent, actor in the zombie flicks, the first of which was mentioned here. Got in late late last night.

Just had a breakfast that couldn't be beat: Peppered bacon, oatmeal, homemade rolls, and some great black raspberry jelly.

We're here for a few days, then we'll be back in Denver next weekend. Hope to take some photos and post them to our Flickr space.

Labels: hooker, oklahoma, panhandle

Where was I? Second showing at the Orlando Fashion Square theaters. At that time, second show was around 1:00 p.m.; there were still morning matinées then.

I loved it immediately. It was simply the most exciting movie in years—well, excepting the trash bin scene which lasted forever and went nowhere fast. Sure it was dumb, and the acting was alternatingly hammy or lame, but it was incredible fun.

I have lost count of how many times I've seen it. I think I saw it 14 times before Empire came out. Run into someone who hadn't seen it, and it was, "You haven't seen Star Wars? Let's go!"

One of life's small regrets: Not buying a t-shirt, years later, from a fan/comic shop in Memphis that featured line art of Princess Leia pointing a blaster. Probably taken from the still to the right. I've never seen similar since.

I understand that just about everything associated with the film is debatable. Okay, big whoop. I don't think that detracts one bit from the phenomenon that it was and continues to be. I hope to always remember it fondly, with great respect and appreciation to Mr. Lucas for making it happen.

Addendum: How could I forget. Star Wars. Nothing but Star Wars.

Labels: lucas, princess leia, star wars, trash chute

After Mack got me XM Satellite Radio in my car as a gift a couple of years ago, it bothered me that my satellite radio experience wasn't the same as Person X's satellite radio experience. Each receiver model has a differing amount of memory and buffering in it, so just because the satellite sends us both the same signal, there's no guarantee, even if we're listening to the same channel, that we're hearing whatever song it is at the same time.

But then I got to thinking about how GPS works. Not only does GPS tell you where you are, it also tells you GPS time; i.e., the number of seconds (to some fractional precision) since midnight 5/6 JAN 1980. Note: GPS time doesn't include corrections for leap seconds and the like, so it's 10 or 15 seconds off from universal time right now.

My fantasy has become that all kinds of devices have embedded GPS receivers, so that those devices all share the same model of time. So, when the satellite radio sends me Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell doing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"—perhaps the best duet in the history of recorded music—your radio and my radio play it with the same model of time. Down to the nanosecond or so.

So, when we're both be grooving to it in the car, and we roll down the windows (or put the top down—I can fantasize) our radios are in sync. Wouldn't that be sweet?

Labels: gps, synchronization, xm radio

Labels: bob dylan, happy birthday

Labels: SBQotD

The Cramps or Misfits?

Labels: SBQotD

The Country Joe McDonald tribute page to... Florence Nightingale.

Labels: country joe mcdonald, florence nightingale

...but still, wheelchair softball looks pretty tough. Story here from the Orlando Sentinel. There's a photo album and video with the story, so check those out, too.

And if you never saw "Murderball" (site, IMDB), I recommend it.

Labels: rugby, softball, wheelchair

For your approval, a mild rant.

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal (here, likely perishible):

The onramp to Interstate 95 northbound from I-4 east was closed for several hours this morning after authorities found what they thought was explosives a vehicle involved in a crash.

The ramp to northbound I-95 was reopened by state officials at 2:40 p.m., after the sheriff's bomb squad found the suspicious item to be wiring for a car stereo.

Exhibit A, submitted for your approval. "Wiring for a car stereo." Our cops are so inept and so scared and so anticipatory of television coverage and so intent to find terrorists or so something beyond my imagination (well, not too far beyond) that they can't tell the difference between stereo wiring and a bomb?!?! ("Garden hose?" "Snake?" "Garden hose?" "Snake?")

The driver of the truck, Luca Vyazemski, 44, of Tennessee, was charged with careless driving and fraudulant license. Sheriff's officials said the man's evasiveness after the crash made investigators suspicious of the wires in the vehicle that Vyazemski was hauling.

Exhibit B, submitted for your approval: There are people from Tennessee named "Vyazemski"? Compare the likelihood of this in, oh, 1957, with the likelihood of such, now.

The accident occurred at 7:45 a.m. when a pickup traveling east on I-4 and towing a sport utility vehicle was exiting onto northbound I-95 and may have taken the sharp curve too fast, said Trooper Kim Miller, Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman. The SUV rolled on its side but no one was injured.

Exhibit C, submitted for your approval: The road was closed from 7:45 a.m. until 2:40 p.m. because of stereo wiring.

Someone should be fired for this. Heads should roll. Surely there are smarter, more thoughtful, more resourceful individuals who want to be cops out the cop(s) who investigated this accident.

Labels: accident, rant, stereo wires, Vyazemski

Hong Kong Fooey or Underdog?

p.s. Stupid Binary Quiz of the Day

p.p.s. Yes, I know I should use one of those stupid quiz sites. Patience, Grasshopper.

Labels: SBQotD

Okay, so Onstad is playing to his crowd with the current Achewood storyline: stoners playing softball.

Hey. No problem.

Still, stoned cartoon cat or not, Ray's idea in the first three panels of yesterday's cartoon was great. You've driven on roads like this. You've likely had the idea, too. Well, at least the first part of the idea...

Labels: achewood, highway song