Bookman's

Bookman's is a used book/music/game/magazine/jewelry/dvd/etc store in Tucson (and other locations in Arizona). I went to the Speedway store during my visit.

It is mostly known as a bookstore. Well, I think of it as a bookstore. They have mostly books...


and magazines...


and some kids books. Lots of kids books and places to sit...


and more places to sit...


Where else can you get some Luther and Billy side by side?


This is the listening pod room. I didn't approach too closely. Pod people.


Well, there's books. Books galore. I didn't hang out in the romance or biography section, so I can't tell you how those are. But I did peruse the Science Fiction and Mystery areas, as well as the Sports and Misc. sections. A nice collection and variety. All of the copies of books were very clean. No mashed up, covers torn copies here.

Plenty of room to move around, good service people, maps and BIG signs.

I didn't look too much in the music section. Edison 'complained' that he couldn't find any Beatles LPs. I tried to explain to him that most of their LPs came out in the 1960s and probably wouldn't be in the open bins at Booksmans. I don't think he quite understood it, but hey, at least he knows what LPs are.

They have a nice selection of magazines. Some rather obscure titles and a boatload of Arizona Highways. Always nice to see.

Music is always playing over the loudspeakers. I guess an employee decides what to play. Some of it I found not to be "Let's get the customers to relax and buy books" music. Even one of the employees I talked to thought the same thing.

The other employees I talked to, actually talked back. Some other bookstores I've been to (no, I won't name names), the employees seem to treat you like you are a nuisance and not the customer that would make the biggest purchase of the day. Bookman's' employees didn't quite go that far, but at least they engaged me in conversation. That means a lot to me.

I'm not sure of their trade-in policy, but I do know that Thursdays is Senior Citizen discount day.
Next time I'm in Tucson, I'll go back.

I'd like to thank the day supervisor (Chris, was it?) for giving me permission to take some photos. And the night supervisor for asking me why I was taking photos and then being cool when I described the day supervisor.

And I'd like to thank Boyd, a knitted interpretation of Cthulhu for its recommendations.


Go visit them just for that. It is worth it.

Books in AZ

I've got about 3 or 4 blog entries I want to write about my recent trip to Arizona. This is one of them.

Being on an airplane for hours on end is not overly fun. Having a book helps pass the time. I took with me Slouching Towards Fargo, a book about, well, a lot of things. Baseball and baseball players, redemption and second (and third) chances, celebrities and life. Some of the situations and language make me put it in the category of, "It was a good read, but I can't recommend it. " I learned some baseball stuff (independent leagues, who played for who, when, etc).

At Ft. Lowell I picked up Only the Echoes: The Life of Howard Bass Cushing, a book about a Civil War man who went on to fight the Indians in the West. I thought that it was more of an extended monograph, but a good read, with lots of detailed research. This one I can recommend. I have been doing it already.

Angie got me a Barnes and Noble gift card for Valentine's Day. I spent it in Tucson. I picked up Bob Newhart's I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny. I've just read the introduction. Very funny. But I've always like him, so I'm a little biased.

Also at B&N I picked up Somerset Digital Studio magazine. For Angie, but also for me.

At Bookmans, I picked up Ellis Peters' A Morbid Taste for Bones. The first of the Brother Cadfael mystery novels.

I also picked up a used magazine there, Fine Books & Collections. Wow. This is a good magazine if you like stories of book collecting, sales and auctions, anything bibliophilic. Yeah, that's not a word, but you know what I mean.

I'll be doing a separate blog entry on Bookmans. Also on Ft. Lowell, the Rockies/White Sox game, lunch with Edna and probably a smattering of other things that I took photos of but don't really require a whole entry.

She walks...

No, not a line from a 1950's monster movie, or the first works of a poem by Lord Byron, but my mom. Last Wednesday she had knee replacement surgery. Edison and I traveled to Tucson to be with her (and my dad).

We arrived on Monday evening. Long flights, lots of waiting. Tuesday included a spring training game between the Rockies and the White Sox. Wednesday was surgery. More waiting. Thursday was lunch with Edna and a trip to Ft. Lowell. Friday was a check on Mom at the hospital, then to the UofA for museums. Mom was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon and that evening went to Applebee's for dinner. Saturday, we were at the van shuttle to Sky Harbor Airport at 5:45am. Lots of waiting on the way home. But we made it.

Now, there are a lot of little things that happened throughout the week, but I didn't want to start on them until I laid out the fact that Mom is walking. With a walker. But walking. Surgery works and God is good.

Spring is here

and that means baseball.


This is a photo of the Beverwycks, a team from Rouses Point, New York, in 1888. The man wearing a tie (Jesse Holcombe) is my sixth cousin, three times removed. On my mom's side of the family.

This photo was probably printed in The North Countryman in early 1939, soon after Jesse died.

Here's a transcription of some baseball news from 1890...

The Plattsburgh Sentinel - Friday, August 8, 1890

Base Ball Games

-- A female nine from Ohio will play at Rouses Point on Friday.

-- The game between the Hotel Champlains of Bluff Point and the Beverwycks at Rouses Point last Friday resulted in a score of 9 to 17 in favor of the latter.

-- The game between the Cuban Giants of New York and the Hotel Champlains, played at Plattsburgh last Saturday, was a bad defeat for the local club, the score standing 11 to 1.

-- A special train will leave Plattsburgh at 1:30 p.m., on Friday for Rouses Point to convey those who desire to witness the game between the Female Nine and the Beverwycks, stopping in West Chazy and Chazy, and returning after the game. Fare for round trip, 50 cents.

-- A new home team has been organized at Plattsburgh, with Heffernan and Hubbell pitchers, Hackett and Paul Smith catchers, George Stave, S. D. Curtis, Ned Baker, G. W. Hickey, F. K. Kyle, and S. V. Beckwith, fielders. The new team played a game with Hotel Champlain club yesterday afternoon, which resulted in a victory for the Plattsburghs, the score being 5 to 4.

I joined a Yahoo! fantasy sports baseball league. Some of the guys at work thought that it would be fun. Sure. For them.

Next week I take Edison to Arizona to spend some time with my folks. My mom is having knee replacement surgery, and we'll be taking care of Dad and checking in on mom. They've made arrangements for us to go see a spring training game. The Rockies vs. the White Sox. Edison and I have never been to a spring training game. It should be fun.

This is what happens...

when you have too much time on your hands. This is in reference to Angie's recent post.

[video clip of Angie saying witty things via an Irish Spring commercial removed to eliminate annoying bubble sounds]

More Books

I've had an increase in the reading department this last week.

I received a gift card to Borders Bookstore. Last Saturday I cashed it in. Here's what I purchased:

• Family Chronicle magazine - April issue
• Internet Genealogy magazine - March issue
• Death Note - volume 1 (manga) (official site [flash heavy])
  
• Best Ever Craft Project Book - for Angie

Then, I mooched Slouching Toward Fargo: A Two-Year Saga Of Sinners And St. Paul Saints At The Bottom Of The Bush Leagues With Bill Murray, Darryl Strawberry, Dakota Sadie And Me. I hope to open my mailbox this week and find it waiting for me

On Thursday, Angie and I had a meeting on the west side of town, so we stopped at one of the big used bookstores, traded in some DVDs (old Hitchcock) and picked up some themed mysteries for Angie and Death Note - volume 2 for me.

Today I purchased the Archaeological Study Bible (NIV) at Cedar Spring Christian Store. They had it on sale for 50% off, but they ran out. The salesman found a slightly more expensive version and discounted it 40%. I'm happy.

A Day of Beauty

Saturday morning, I took Caroline about 30 miles away, to Karns Middle School, to be a part of A Day of Beauty. Miss Knoxville's Outstanding Teen 2008, Danyelle Trent, hosted the event, where young women with physical and mental disabilities could have their hair fixed up and receive manicures.

Knowing that Caroline wouldn't want to sit and have her hair braided or foofed up, I opted for the fingernails. It took her a moment or two, but she warmed up to one of the manicurists from Tennessee School of Beauty. A clear, top coat was quickly applied and Caroline proudly showed off her painted nails to any that would ask.

There was dancing and door prizes and all the attendees left with a small gift bag. We then went out to Chik-fil-A for "chicken and frie fries." A quick stop at the bookstore and we headed home.

Danyelle and Caroline

Another film for boys and their dads

Angie went to her overnight crop. Caroline had taken a bath and was in bed. It was just a night for Edison and I. We were planning to watch a DVD together, but hadn't settled on one particular movie. He suggested Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Or Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Both were vetoed. I asked a co-worker to bring in some Bruce Lee films. What could be better for male bonding than Kung Fu? Well, the co-worker forgot. I had just picked up a 20 movie set of Hitchcock Films from Wal-Mart for $5. Surely there had to be something on there. Edison wasn't so sure. I suggested an Indiana Jones film. Not so much. Then, O Brother, Where Art Thou? came to my mind. A quick race through my memories of that film revealed some minor language, some violence but passable and memorable. How else am I going to get him to learn about The Odyssey? That's right, I'm not.

We dimmed the lights, got out blankets and settled in for some Dapper Dan and old timey music. The Coen brothers struck a high note on this one. Different than Fargo or Barton Fink, this is one that I'd watch again. Edison liked it.

IMDB link

Snow

Something that has me smiling

Scambaiters. This is priceless...

I don't like to use someone else's hard work just to fill my blog (yes I do), but this one is too sweet.

Enjoy.

Peter's Chocolate

From St. Nicholas magazine, Oct. 1904.

Books, again

So, the other night, returning from a meeting downtown, I stopped into Dollar General. I found a few coloring books for Caroline, a fun how-to book of stuff for Angie, and Phil Lesh's autobiography, Looking for the Sound (My Life with the Grateful Dead). I started to read it that night. How many books are written by bass players? I've never been a fan of the Dead. I didn't really get it. I downloaded and started to listen to a Phil Lesh and Friends concert from archive.org. Some of the songs were good, others... not so much.

But this post is about books. This one is interesting. Phil Lesh shouldn't be your role model. Lots of drug use. Now, this was the late '50s and early '60s in California, so one shouldn't be surprised. And no, he hasn't started to play bass, yet. Violin, trumpet. He was in the army and then discharged, he worked for the Post Office, but they didn't like his long hair. He quit. This book is not going to be a literary masterpiece. But it does present a look inside a period of time and space that I'm not familiar with. And it was only a dollar. Hence the name of the store.

I'm also more actively reading Nicholas Basbane's A Splendor of Letters. Very tasty.

A friend of mine blogged about the fact that she just finished John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I've never read it. I pledged that I would read it this year.

Googling for "Grapes of Wrath" on Google's book site gives me plenty to choose from:

• John Steinbeck's 1939 novel
• Mary Harriot Norris' 1901 novel
• Boyd Cable's 1917 novel

I'll go with the Steinbeck.

Here's something you don't see everyday

If you need more strangeness...



If you liked James Hill (the ukulele player), here's another video:
Orange Blossom Special
(James Hill with Madcat on harmonicas)

Happy Valentines Day

(my thanks to Doug for pointing me towards these artists)

Book Tags

My wife tagged me. Something about books. So, here goes...

     In the United States, the social-prestige scale was sensitive and exact: first-generation Jews envied second-generation Jews; and German Jewish families–Kuhns, Warbugs, Seligmans, Kahns, Schiffs, Lehmanns, Loebs, Ocheses–became an elite of remarkable influence and social cohesiveness. The "pecking order" of this Establishment, its pride, philanthropy, snobbery, and Pecksniffian patronage of Russian and Polish Jews–all this is described by Stephen Birmingham in Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York. San Francisco's Jews became a distinguished, conspicuously civic-minded group of descendants of settlers dating back to the Gold Rush.

This is part of the description of the Yiddish word: Galitzianer, which means: A Jew from Galicia, a province of Poland/Austria. (When Poland was partitioned in 1772, Austria grabbed Galicia.)

The book is Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish.

Here's what you do. . .

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

Then, I (and hundreds of others) will come see what you're reading. Like Angie, I'm picking people that I think are avid readers ... wait, I don't know five people that blog AND read.

I'll tag somebody later, I guess.

But in the mean time, I'll do another page 123...

"They wrote on both sides of the sheet in columns, following the folds," he observed, noting how the finished product was then enclosed between elegantly decorated boards, sometimes binding them in the cured skin of jaguars. Landa's physical description of the codices corresponds with images that were painted on Maya vases. For modern-day scholars, of far greater significance was Landa's character-by-character description of the alphabet, which had been dictated to him by a native who had working knowledge of the language, along with drawings of their appearance.

That was from Nicholas A. Basbanes' A Splendor of Letters (The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World)

Finally, one from Marjorie Rowling's Life in Medieval Times...

     Odo not only laid the foundations of Cluny's future greatness but was called upon by rulers and the Pope to reform other monasteries in France, Italy and in Rome itself. This was not an easy task, for monks disliked interference by abbots from other abbeys. At Fleury in France the monks forcibly resisted Odo's entry.

Films for boys and their dads

Last night, while Angie was watching NASCAR stuff on TV and working on the computer, I watched a wonderful Alfred Hitchcock film with Edison.

The 39 Steps is a delightful mystery / romantic comedy. It, I think, is my favorite movie of all time. There are others that are good (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Blues Brothers, The Mission, Raising Arizona, etc), but I do enjoy this one very much.

We watched a public domain copy of it. The sound was a bit uneven and the print a bit faded here and there. A friend of mine is borrowing my Criterion Collection copy.

I won't try to review the movie or even give a plot synopsis. More info can be found at this DVD review, or at the IMDB entry.

Edison liked it. It must be good.

I'd recommend to go and rent or buy a copy, settle back for a time and enjoy.

p.s. - the title of this post doesn't quite make sense, in that it implies that there is more than one film that I'd recommend for "boys and their dads." Let's call this a start to a (very) short series of posts.

Bass-ball in 1829

Yet another mention of that game...

This is a portion of a sketch about young girls growing up from The American Farmer, March 20, 1829 (No. 1, Vol. 11, page 6, column 1), John S. Skinner, editor.

The following, which is from Miss Mitford's Village Sketches, is probably one of the best productions that ever flowed from her gifted pen.
...
Then comes a sun-burnt gipsey of six, beginning to grow tall and thin, and to find the cares of the world gathering about her, with pitcher in one hand, a mop in the other, and old straw bonnet of ambiguous shape, half hiding her tangled hair, a tattered stuff petticoat, once green, hanging below an equally tattered frock, once purple; her longing eyes fixed on a game of bass-ball at the corner of the green, till she reaches the cottage door, flings down the mop and pitcher, and darts off to her companions, quite regardless of the storm of scolding with which the mother follows her runaway steps.

So the world wags till ten; then the little damsel gets admission to the charity school, and trips mincingly thither every morning, dressed in the old fashioned blue gown, and tippet, and bib and apron of that primitive institution, looking demure as a nun, and as tidy; her thoughts fixed on button holes and spelling books — those ensigns of promotion; despising dirt and bass-ball, and all their joys.

The complete scan can be found here.

Picture bonus from The American Farmer...

Bass-ball in 1827

More searching through the Books at Google...

On page 123 of the bestseller of 1827, The Principles of Physical, Intellectual, Moral, and Religious Education (volume 1) by William Newnham, we find...

With the same intention, the games of cricket, prison bars, foot ball, &c. will be useful, as children grow up, and are strong enough to endure such exercise. With regard to girls, these amusements may be advantageously supplanted by bass-ball, battledore and shuttlecock, and similar active and playful pursuits.

The whole book can be found here. No bookplate. Sorry.

Bass-ball in 1836

I found a reference to "bass-ball" in the Jan. 1838 issue of The British and Foreign Medical Review, quoting a 1836 study (from the Mclean Asylum in Boston) that was originally published in the May 1, 1837 edition of the American Medical Intelligencer.

The article is titled: Moral Management of the Insane in America.

On page 240 and 241 of The British and Foreign Medical Review the report states:

Our amusements are various and numerous. We keep a carriage, two carioles, one chaise and four horses, which are devoted almost exclusively to the use of the patients. Many of them ride every fair day, and have, the last year, ridden ten thousand miles. The males are also engaged at bowls, quoits, bass-ball, fishing, fancy painting, walking, dancing, reading, swinging, and throwing the ring, &c.

The report goes on to talk about other opportunities for the patients: recreational, religious, work and diversion related.

This came from a search for early references to Baseball, in any form. I subscribe to the 19cBB discussion list, mainly for Baseball in the 19th century. I'm not very active on the list, and I even admit to deleting some of the messages that come through if they don't interest me, but I do try to add something every so often. Larry McCray is working on Project Protoball. I sent him this information already.

I found the reference on the Google Books site. Here is the link to this copy of the The British and Foreign Medical Review.

As a bonus, here's the bookplate from the front of the journal...

Silence

A virtual acquaintance of mine has a blog. It is in a language other than English, so I use Babelfish to translate it. I can get an idea of what she is saying, but not the full meaning. I like her writing. I think that it is very good. Inspired. By what, I don't know. But I return to it every few weeks.

Lately she has been writing about silence. One of the definitions that she lists for Silence is: the sonorous version of the darkness

Because I've been listening to music and blogging about it, I started to think of the quiet. Of silence. How it is a rare thing.

About a week ago at work, I was going between buildings. I heard a noise in the sky and looked up. There were about 60 Canadian Geese flying overhead, in about 4 groups. They turned and were so close that I could hear their wings flap. Nature in silence.

Tonight, our family went to have dinner with my supervisor and his family. For a moment we all were quiet. The radio wasn't on. It was just the sound of the wind on the minivan. Machines in silence.

When I awake in the middle of the night. Angie lies next to me, with her CPAP machine, and the baby monitor hisses lightly from Caroline's room. Comfort in silence.

You can hear a lot in the silence.

If you listen.

Technology and Me

A few technology devices I've started to use...

A SanDisk MobileMate SD+ Memory Card Reader. Works great for transferring photos from the Kodak EasyShare Z712IS camera, or rather the SanDisk 2GB SD card. The card and reader combo seems to go faster than the camera and USB cord. And it was the only way I could figure out how to upgrade the firmware for the camera.

BestBatt.com has replacement batteries for the Z712IS that work. I didn't have much luck with the Kodak brand rechargeable batteries Ni-MH AA batteries. So, I purchased 2 of the KLIC-8000 replacements. And a charger. Delivered in a timely manner for less than $50.

I'm happy.

Two bukhs and another one already

In the past month or so, I picked up a few books. Like that's unusual?

The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten and Words on Fire by Dovid Katz are both books about the Yiddish language.

The first is one that I had back in high school, then I sold it / lost it / lent it out and it never came back. I found a copy at the Book Eddy in south KnoxVegas over the Holidays.

The second is one that I purchased tonight at the Family Book Outlet in Maryville. It was 50% off the lowest marked price ($3.99). I didn't even open it up, just saw that it was a clean copy (remainder). It is subtitled The Unfinished Story of Yiddish. Who could pass that up?

The other book I purchased tonight is A Splendor of Letters (The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World) by Nicholas A. Basbanes. I've read another of his other books on books. A Gentle Madness. That was about 10 years ago, and I still long for his writing. It, too, was 50% off the lowest marked price ($9.95).

I do have some other things to read. I exchanged some of my frequent flier miles for a subscription to Smithsonian magazine. I've just started reading Equal Rites, one of the DiscWorld novels by Terry Pratchett. And I got Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength.

I just finished up the Tolkien story, Farmer Giles of Ham, which was quite an enjoyable re-read. I don't think that I'll actually be starting any of these tonight, but I did want to share them with my faithful readers. Thank you, both.

New Year, New Tunes

I didn't really make any New Year's resolutions. Well, maybe to leave the chat channels when I actually say good-bye, instead of 10 minutes later. And, in my mind, to read more, exercise more, finish what I've started, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill.

Well, I came up with one the other day. New tunes. Not for the whole year, but for a while. I've formatted my mp3 player, clearing out the standbys of Jehtro Tull, Phil Keaggy, Stan Kenton, Robert Randolph, Boston, Bill Watrous and others.

I'm only going to try to listen to new music. I'll try it until St. Patrick's day.

So, what is new music, you might ask yourself. I did. Music that I haven't heard before. I'll keep the songs on there for a while. If they're good, they'll stay on for a few weeks, may a month. Then clear out some space and put on other stuff. If it isn't good, I'll listen to it and dump it at the soonest possible moment.

Where are you going to get this new music? Hmmm... From legit new music places. I feel that artists should be compensated for their art. But some of them give it away. That's what I'm looking for. And I found some free and low cost music. And some that I've paid for. Where do I start?

I could do it chronologically, or perhaps what's been squeaking my sneakers, as my friend Phillip said on Sunday.

I'll go with the squeaking bit.

The Aaron Pelsue Band. I saw them at the TCTC this weekend. Went to their vendor table and bought all four of their CDs. Good stuff.

I guess what started this thought process is a player from BattleMaster. Around Christmas time, there was tournament in the realm of my main character. It was hosted, to celebrate the wedding of my character, Willem, to the character of Ilya, played by my friend, Tali. There was much roleplaying and well wishes, both for the in-game wedding, and for the holidays in RL (Real Life). One of the players from another realm, posted an Out Of Character message, inviting everyone to his music website, and giving everyone a $5 coupon. Well, new music, and 5 bucks off. Can't beat that. Well, yes you can.

Before I get bogged down in the details, let me point you to Joar Berntsen's AmieStreet.com site.

There. I feel better. AmieStreet.com is an independent music download site. You pay for what you want. Very reasonable prices. 4 cents a song. 19 cents a song. A dollar an album. The prices are set on some sort of sliding scale based on the amount of downloads or popularity. I haven't really figured that out, yet. And I may never. But, it is classified by genre or artist, or... you know how these things work. Back to Joar. Joar's music is filed under: Ambience, Acoustic, Instrumental, Techno, Industrial Trance. I was a bit skeptical of Industrial Trance. But it works. Modern soundscapes I'd call it. I like it. Don't know that I'd have it on all the time, but I do like it. Another artist that I like from AmieStreet is Showky Sawzawa. Pop rock, but sung in Japanese. It surprised me, at first, but the arrangements are so nice and full that I soon looked past the fact that I couldn't understand the lyrics.

eFolkMusic.org has some nice tunes. You can pick up about a dozen free ones there. I haven't yet listened to them on my player, but it looks interesting.

Greenstar builds a solar powered community center that delivers electricity, pure water, health and education information and a wireless Internet connection to villages in the developing world. They have some world music. Solar powered recordings. I haven't yet downloaded those, but I want to.

Wayne Bledsoe is a local columnist for a few papers in KnoxVegas. The News Sentinel and occasionally the MetroPulse. About a year and a half ago, he wrote an article in the News Sentinel about the regional artists' music being recorded at the St. James Hotel. The recordings have been digitized and can be found at the Lynn Point Records site. I've downloaded quite a few, but not all of them.

Last, but not least, is Coverville. Doug told me about this site to download podcasts of cover music. When an artist re-records another artist's song. Good stuff.

Okay, that wasn't really the last one, because I just remembered archive.org's Live Music Archive. Trade friendly artists allow their live concerts to be housed here, in good quality recordings. You'll go deaf before you listen to all 45,318 concerts.

So, my mp3 player is full and I've got plenty of time at work to listen.

One last thing. I received a BestBuy gift card for Christmas. I used it to get Paul Simon's Graceland and the Best of Warren Zevon. And a pair of SkullCandy's smokin buds. Very nice. Angie got a pair as well. Comfortable and they sound good. BestBuy honored Target's price. Ask at the register.

Well, one more. Bonerama covering Black Sabbath in New Orleans. I am in debt to Steve O. for letting me know about this band. Thanks, Man.

A day late...

The tenth of January is my paternal grandmother's birthday. She is now 96. I forgot that it was her birthday yesterday. I do miss seeing her, as we live many, many miles apart. Here are some photos of her. Yes, there are a lot of them, but she deserves it.


Happy Birthday, Grammy.

Deer in Cades Cove

Many years ago, my wife and I attended a wedding in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which is just a few hours past Nashville. The photographer was Lance Krueger. Talking to him at the rehearsal dinner, he showed me his portfolio. Although he was doing a wedding, he preferred to shoot wildlife, specifically white tail deer. He liked to shoot them in Texas, but had traveled all over the US to do it. We invited him to Tennessee to shoot at Cades Cove.

He stayed at our house for about a week, getting up early and spending the whole day to get just the right shot. Here are a few of them.

"La Caverna" Café

On May 26, 1980, the family went to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico for some shopping and a meal. We ended up at The Cavern, a nice little restaurant cut into the hillside. From the left are Gary (mom's brother), George (my dad), Effie (dad's mother) Mary (my mom) and Mark (me).

Grammy came to Arizona for my high school graduation. Gary was living in Sierra Vista at the time.

My, don't we look different.

Here's a postcard of the restaurant from 1937. Or, if you'd like one in color...

Looking for the end zone of milk and honey

I just suffered through the worst fantasy football weekend I've ever had. Knocked out of the playoffs in two leagues, both of which I was either in 1st place or had the highest scoring team in the league. It was like all my guys were fantasy football Jobs or something. Or more like the ancient Israelites wandering the desert, unable to find the end zone of milk and honey. It was horrible.

K

This came from a friend of mine regarding his Fantasy Football League (FFL) team. It pretty much sums up my experience both this year, and last. Except that I was neither in first place, nor had the highest scoring team in the league.

About 17 years ago or so I was invited by Steve S. to join a FFL. We used the USA Today stats and pencils and papers. Mostly it was guys from church. I helped start a league at the Wheaton College Physical Plant and we got some software (KKFL, I think). I moved to TN about 12 years ago. I played in a Yahoo! public league. Then I created a private league (the Red Headed League) and invited some of my new co-workers and some of the guys from Steve S's league. It became so popular, that a new league had to be formed (the Super Secret League). The RHL has 12 teams and the SSL has 8. To keep it interesting, each year, the bottom 4 teams of the RHL move down to the SSL and the top 4 teams of the SSL move up to the RHL. And the Winner of the RHL gets the Ryan Leaf Trophy. I'll get a picture of it later.

Past Winners of the trophy are:

Karl, Carl, Mike and Matt

Maybe someday I'll be a winner again. Yeah, right.

blog update for the Steelers

I updated my previous post on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football to include the 2007 games.

They keep getting better.

A Bit of This and That

It has been a bit since I've created an entry. So, here's another mix of random bits.

Andruw Jones got signed to the LA Dodgers for $36 million for 2 years. Not figuring signing bonuses, delayed payment, etc., that is $18 million a year. On average, for his last 11 years as a major leaguer, he had 573 At Bats per season. If he carries that over for the next two years, he'll me making $31,413.62 per At Bat. Hmmm. Where can I sign up?

I'm re-reading Louis L'Amour's The Walking Drum. Not deep, serious literature, but a fun, mindless historical novel. I had to go to the library to check out a copy, for the paperback version that I bought near Thanksgiving ended up in the toilet. Clean water, but it swelled the book. It pained me to throw out a book.

While reading it this morning, I came across a quote that I like...

There is power in the word whether written or spoke, for words can create image for those who have not themselves seen.

And then from Victor Nell in his 1988 book Lost in a Book ...

Books are all the dreams we would most like to have, and like dreams they have the power to change consciousness.

I've been listening to my mp3 player while raking leaves this weekend. Jethro Tull's Christmas Album. Dave Pegg's The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone. Phil Keaggy's Time 2.

A good family friend passed away this week. She was my Sunday School teacher and I have very fond memories of her. I'll miss Betty Bromley, as many will. But through the sharing of that news, a school friend of mine contacted me. We haven't seen each other in about 25 years or so. We stay in touch through our parents. "Mom, so what do you hear from Alan? How are his kids? His folks?" Things like that. Thanks for writing, Alan. You're welcome. It was my pleasure.

And I can't end without a picture of my cute daughter...

Happy Birthday, Mom

Doing some of the things that she loves.

I'll try to find more photos to post later.

And remember, Dad is still older than you are.

Thank you

It is the day to give thanks. But we should give thanks at all times and in all things. So, what am I thankful for this year? Hmm, where to start?

* I've got good friends, both real and virtual (read: online)
* I've got a new house (read: home)
* I've got a great family (read: family)

I could go on and on, but then I'd never get to the photos...

Comment on the food: Nhami (or for you English speaking peoples: Yummy)

Some of the 45 dozen or so cookies that were made the last few days...


Breakfast at Chez Aubrey...


My dad's plate at formal dinner...


And so you don't think that it is all about food, here's my folks...


And my brother and his wife...


And then me, my loving wife and kids...

Sure, there were other family at the dinner this afternoon/evening, but if I added them here, what would Angie blog about?

What did we do today? We ate. Read the paper. Watched the parades on TV. Played Thanksgiving Day Parade Bingo. Did laundry. Watched Football (American, for my foreign readers). Played Thanksgiving Day Football Bingo. Ate more. Ran to the store. Read some. Lazed around. Went to Angie's aunt and uncle's for dinner. Ate more. Played cards (Hearts, not Skat. Yes, it is a real game. See more info by reading Foster's Skat Manual). Came home. Taped CSI and then a rerun of The Office. Talked with folks about the punishments that they inflicted on my brother and I growing up. Laughed. Wanted to eat some more but couldn't. It was a good day.

Tomorrow we go shopping. Then put up the Christmas tree. Raking leaves will happen sometime over the weekend, I've been assured of that.

Saturday, out to the big bookstore in Knoxvegas. Then, celebrate Christmas while the family is all together.

Sunday will be church, then lazing around, watching football, eating, playing games, that sort of stuff.

Monday will include going back to work, school and home for our parents and brother (and his wife).

Catchup

So many things to blog about, so little time. Here's what's been occupying my time lately...

The new Eagles' CD, Long Road Out of Eden. A double disc that one of the best bands around released at Wal-Mart. You can't buy a regular CD for $11.88. Some very tasty music. I'm particularly taken with the song I Love to Watch a Woman Dance. A very well crafted song written by Larry John McNally. Other reviewers on the 'net apparently aren't as smitten with this song as I am. I don't compare it to any other song, I just like it. Overall, the guys in the band seem to want to have their political/ecological viewpoints heard. I don't agree with all of them, but it is nice to hear some quality music.

Wiki what? I've been learning some wiki syntax, mostly for the online Luser Game I play, but we're also starting to do some wiki stuff at work. I came across TiddlyWiki. It is a self contained wiki on a single page. I guess they do the scripting inside the page. Kind of nice, but some of the wiki syntax is not the same as what I would expect. TiddlyWiki is more of a click wiki, as opposed to hand coding. Not bad, just different.

If you've been keeping up with my wife's blog you'll know that the kitchen curtains are now in place. You're welcome, dear.

Tomorrow we will have a teenager in the house. I don't think that there will be that much of an attitude change. From anyone.

My folks are traveling across the US to spend a week and a half with us. Very nice.

I've also been playing with some CSS. I understand it, I just can't get my head wrapped around the location of the code inside the document vs. the location of the elements on a web page. But, I did revive the present that my brother gave to me a while back. markaubrey.org It is a work in progress. I'm hoping to get some CSS happening and include the genealogy and US Civil War sections.

I'm in the final chapters of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It still is an interesting read. Thanks again, Tali, for suggesting it.

We worked on some music for Christmas at church orchestra practice last night. Angie selected some nice pieces for us to perform.

And I won one of my Fantasy Football games this last weekend. My brother won his game, over the clear leader of the league. The Aubrey boys are on a roll.

That's it, for now. More later, I'm sure.

I'm Scraping

I'm scraping the frost off of my car windows the last two mornings. The crispness in the air is wonderful. The trees are probably at their height of color.

I'm also scraping the bottom of the barrel in my Fantasy Football Leagues. I've been playing Fantasy sports for about 20 years, off and on. It started with Roto Baseball. Then my good friend, Steve S. asked me to be part of his Fantasy Football League. Every Monday and Tuesday, we would get the newspapers and do the old fashioned method of figuring out scores with a pencil and a calculator. Now days, I just get on the web and click a few times and I'm still in last place. It is now much easier to lose. I'm 3-6 in my 8 team Yahoo! league. I'm also 3-6 in the ESPN league that my friend Paul B. hosts. I'm twice as bad as I am good. My brother is also at 3-6, but I have about 100 points ahead of him.

Okay. He's really scraping.

Pickle-ickle-ickle

It has been a while since I posted a blog entry. The times that I've had an idea in my head, I haven't been near a computer with time to enter. The times that I've had time and access to a computer, I haven't had any ideas.

I've got both. Actually, I've got time and a lot of ideas, but instead of making each one an entry, I'll just put some of them out here...

I've been listening to my mp3 player at work a lot lately. I keep going back to a few albums. Warren Zevon's The Wind and Chuck Mangione's Fun and Games. The Wind was Warren's last release before he passed away 4 years ago. He worked on it as he battled cancer. Some of the lyrics are wonderful. From the song, Disorder in the House...

Disorder in the house
All bets are off
I'm sprawled across the davenport of despair

Disorder in the house
I'll live with the tosses
And watch the sundown through the portiere

And from the song, Keep Me In Your Heart...

Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile

If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile

When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for awhile

There's a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done
Keep me in your heart for awhile

The CD was very starkly produced. If you listen, you can hear everything. Joking during songs, a missed note here or there, the sound of a man dying, but willing to go on with life.

On the reading front, I'm over halfway through with Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude. I have read that people either love this book or hate it. I don't know that I love it, but I find it very interesting. A new movie is being released next month based on one of his other books, Love in the Time of Cholera.

Game 4 of the World Series is being played tonight. Before the season started, a few of the guys at work put in their picks. I called a New York subway series. I was wrong. Just before the Series started, we revised our picks. I chose Colorado in 6. I'm half wrong. We'll see tonight if I'm all wrong. - Update - The Red Sox have swept the Rockies. I'm all wrong.

Since the sale of our house, we've been able to get back on track, financially. Our credit cards are paid off, there's some money in the bank, and we purchased some new furniture. An entertainment center and a computer desk/hutch. A nice, simple look in pine. They should be delivered this coming Saturday. After buying them, I went a different store and I think I found our new kitchen table. I want Angie to look at it, though. I took photos and described it to her, but...

I've also been playing with IRC, the Internet Relay Chat. Basically, it is an instant messenger / bulletin board / private messenger thingo. I use it to communicate with other players of my Luser Game, as my loving wife calls it. Thanks to Mitch and Tali for helping me understand the cryptic commands of the protocol. Late last night / early this morning we also looked at making Google Talk work with more than one user. Using a GoogleGadget, we were able to do it, but it was late and I know that I had other things on my mind. I'm sure that we'll try again.

Regarding the game, I now have something to mock her about. She received a book as a gift from her parents. It is a science fiction novel written by one of their doctors. I don't think that Angie's ever read any real science fiction. I'm guessing that it is okay, but she said that some of the alien's names started with a !. That will make for a nice audio book.

Today, at church, we celebrated the 33rd anniversary of the start of our congregation. A local women's trio, 2 or More, came and sang in service, then again after the dinner. I didn't stay around for the dinner or the program. I took Caroline home, thinking that she probably needed a nap more than she needed to stay in the nursery. We fell asleep watching an NFL game, and then I put her in her crib while I retired to our bed. It has been a while since I've had a chance to take a Sunday afternoon nap. I enjoyed it.

And the Title of this blog entry is from The Wind. I'll let you find the song that it came from.

Shameless Plug

This is a link to get you to the JustGive.org website so you can make an online donation to the Down Syndrome Awareness Group of East Tennessee.

JustGive.org is a non-profit organization to assist other non-profits to more easily accept electronic payments. JustGive.org deducts 3% of donations to cover the transaction costs. This is as good (or better) than many credit card fees.

Remember to put Caroline's name in the Designate my donation and/or in the Dedicate my donation box(es).

When it asks for an email address to send a message to, please use: shccangie at yahoo dot com . You know how to do the anti-robot replace the at with an @ and the dot with a . thing.

On behalf of Caroline, and the other individuals and families that DSAG serves, thank you.

Off bass

On Friday we closed on the sale of our house. This has been a long 4-1/2 months. But, God has been faithful and has made resources available to us and saw us through.

It is much easier, at a closing, to be the seller. We signed a few papers, initialed others and then sat back and watched the buyer run out of ink in their pens. Twice. Not really, but you understand what I mean.

After the closing, Angie had to go to Best Buy to get some things for church. Since the Best Buy just happens to be next to Guitar Center, I went in there after we were done at Best Buy. Angie went to Jo Ann's fabric store. She bought something. I didn't.

I went in thinking that I might like to get an acoustic/electric bass guitar. I looked around the electric bass room. Some pretty ones to look at. But I like my current Fender. No need to change. But I thought that it might be nice to have an acoustic. So I looked. And played some. Here's what I looked at...

It is a Dean Playmate. Their price was about $200. Very much a Jumbo body. Uncomfortable for me, as the Precision that I play is much thinner. The sound was very tubby. Much slack on the strings, therefore much buzz. I really liked the feel of the neck, though.

The next one I tried was...

a Michael Kelly Club Deluxe. Their price was about $450. Workmanship was a little nicer. But still a tubby sound.

Finally, I tried ...a Fender Victory Bailey Signature. A much thinner body. The craftsmanship was super. Their price was about $900. A bit rich for my wallet. The sound was better, not as tubby, but I thought that it would cut through a bit more.

Now, to be fair, I did not run any of them through an amp, so I'm guessing that their tone would be different. But I thought that an acoustic bass might be useful for playing without an amp. I either had my expectations too high, or I'm just confused.

I'm not going to get one now. Maybe ever.

What I'm Reading

About six or seven weeks ago, I blogged about Savoring Books. I thought that I'd post an update.

I read some Mark Twain. Witty. Pointed. Darn funny.

I've been reading Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham. A delightful story in which... You go read it. It is often combined with Smith of Wootton Major. I'm not planning on re-reading that right now.

I picked up Marjorie Rowling's Life in Medieval Times. A nice, semi scholarly and very readable on social history. I've read a few chapters, including: "Women and Wives" and "Townsmen and Traders." Nice.

I also picked up a copy of John Donne's Poetry (Norton Critical Edition, selected and edited by A. L. Clements). Donna Mo commented on my wanting to read some Donne by saying:

And let me know how you make out with John Donne!

Donna, I don't want to make out with him. There are too many reasons why. But he was a randy fellow. Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed (sometimes referred to as Elegy XX). Very good writing. He was quite the punster in some of his other writings. I'll let you find them yourselves.

I've also been going through Walter Wangerin Jr.'s The Book of God. I'm still reading about the prophets.

I have been reading for the details. They are so important. A good friend of mine recently said:

If you give me a month, I can make you a whole new world. You can give me all my life, though, and I won't have finished the first person to live in it.

Creativity at its finest.

My wife supports me in whatever I do

Last night I'm sitting at the computer, scanning some things for a DSAG, checking emails and typing up some RolePlay for BattleMaster.

My wife comes over and says, "So how's your luser game going?"

"Just peachy."

"I'm so proud of you, you little warrior. Or whatever you are."

Then she pats my shoulder and walks away.

Boys and their Toys

It's Sonny (the nickname that my father had) and his playthings. The last photo is slightly disturbing. More Champlain artifacts...

Be a well dressed First Aid worker

Another in the artifacts from Champlain.

What sort of literature comes in a plain brown wrapper?

This page is representative of the rest of the book.

French mime artist Marcel Marceau dies

Burn me Once...

When my folks were here a few weeks ago, they shared many different artifacts that they found at my grandmother's house. One of them was a small booklet titled:

1873-1973
Centenial
of the
Village Of Champlain
New York

Some Historical Notes
Compiled by
Lawrence Paquette & Charles W. McLellan

Centennial Days
Saturday, Sunday, August 25-26
1973

I have taken the liberty to reproduce (without permission) one of the articles here.

Education in Champlain

     The lamp of knowledge came to Champlain in 1792, with an Englishman, Michael Fothergill, as the first teacher. Four years later the first Board of Trustees was chosen, followed in 1797 by the first schoolhouse -- a log building near the railroad crossing on Oak Street.
     The second building was of frame, built a few years later on Church Street where the "locker plant" now stands. This was also used as a blockhouse during the war of 1812, ans was burned in 1814. The U.S. Government reimbursed the owners to the amount of $400.
     A brick building was built on the same site at a cost of about $1100. This building was 40 by 26 feet. It was sold by the School District in 1884.
     The Champlain Academy was erected in 1842, at the corner of Elm and Prospect Streets. It was a three story brick and stone building, 40 by 80 feet, and cost $5,200, including furnishings. Destroyed by fire in 1887, it was replaced at a cost of $11,000 by the building shown above, to which an addition was built in 1905. This structure was complete destroyed by fire in December 1940, the site now being occupied by the home of Mr. Carl Fresn.
     The new building was built in 1941-42 at a cost of $171,000, which is now the present grade school for our area of the Northeastern Clinton Central School.
     Consolidations of the many small school districts started in 1860; continued with the establishment of the Union Free School System in 1871 and the gradual expansion into our present Central School System.
     Notable among our early instructors are Dr. William Beaumont, who taught School in Champlain in 1807-10, and Jehudi Ashmun in 1815. Recent principals before Mr. Maher were Mr. Bacon, Marvin and Codding.

-----

Dad had sometimes mentioned that when he was in grade school, the school had burned down. I didn't know the whole story. Since a picture is worth a thousand words...

I'm not sure how this photo ended up in my grandmother's house, but I'm glad that I have a copy of it.