My Day is Complete

Yes, the Weekly World News has been added by Google Books.

Read it here.

Actually, my week is complete because I have a wonderful wife, two beautiful children and a job.

This is just the icing on that cake.

Easter Carols

From the April 4, 1929 issue of the Plattsburgh Sentinel...

The rest of the story can be found here.

Computer woes

The desktop PC went flaky on Saturday.  We had a power failure.  I had to reset the power strip.  And even then it didn't want to turn on.  Finally it did.  But things weren't quite right.

Lately, our ISP (Charter Communications) has been goofy.  The cable TV works well.  But it appears that the DNS isn't working correctly for Charter.  This was confirmed to me by one of my coworkers today.

After spending a half hour on the phone with Charter's tech support, and getting nowhere, I did some searching on my own.  It seems that OpenDNS could be an answer for us.

They not only do the right thing with regards to Domain Name Service, they also allow you to filter content and perform customization for your network.

That's all for now. I'm back to getting the router going.

Girl's gotta have a grill

Bought a new grill last night...Lots of shiny stainless steel. It was on sale at Lowes. Tonight we grill.

Life On Mars

Normally I don't shill for TV shows. But this one has captured me so much that I'm willing to do that.

A policeman, Sam Tyler, is involved in an auto accident in 2008. When he wakes up he is in 1973.

The beginning of last night's episode was some of the best television production that I've seen in a long time. No, I can't describe it. Well, I could, but if you haven't seen it, my description would take away from the actual show. I don't want to ruin it at all.

Next Wednesday night is the series finale. I'm not one of those who will sign a petition to keep it on the air. I think that ABC and the producers did a the right thing in keeping it to a single season.

I like period pieces. I like time-travel quandaries. I like good acting and smart writing. I like this show.

Refi Day

Today Angie and I started the refinance phase on our house. I won't go into all the details but to say that we've been on a 20 year mortgage for two years. We refinanced for a 20 year note, but the reduced interest rate means that we'll be paying less each month and over the next two decades we'll have paid less than we would have on the remaining 18 years.

We've been talking with our mortgage guy, Fred, for the last month or so. He locked in the rate. Then I had to go to northern NY. Then he had a vacation scheduled. Today was the day for the first round of signing papers. We had to provide bank statements, W-2s and pay stubs.

I had them all. Except for the 2008 W-2s. I found this out about 15 minutes before the meeting. Racing home, I called Angie to let her know that I might be a few minutes late, but it would be okay, because I knew where the papers were.

No I didn't. I looked where they should be. Then the place where they should be if they weren't in the first place. And then the third place. I retraced my steps, turning on all lights and opening the blinds.

Not finding them and already ten minutes late for the meeting about five miles from the house, I called Fred. He explained that it would be just fine to get them to him later.

I felt sick to my stomach and wanted to cry. Yes, that bad.

We signed the papers and returned to work. Angie assured me that we'd find them. I wasn't so sure.

Work was tough this afternoon. Mostly because I was ill about not knowing where our tax info was.

After getting home, I found the papers in the fourth place they should have been. Now I need to scan them and email them to Fred.

That'll teach me to get organized.

Yeah, right.

I'm back

The trip to the North Country was nice.  Grammy's death was final, but not sudden.  The love that our family (both real relatives and family friends) showed was overwhelming.

The weather wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

I won't take you day by day or meal by meal, but the days were long and the meals were good, from Rambach's Bakery to The Great Adirondack Soup Kitchen.

I saw Kite Skiing and Maple Sugaring.  I enjoyed laughter and endured tears.  I was with my family and I missed my family.


I know why I miss the North Country.  I also know why I'll probably never live there again.

But it was good to be there.  For many reasons.

Another one called home

I received a call very early this morning from the night nurse at the nursing home where my grandmother was staying. Connie was calling to let me know that Effie had passed away.

I haven't found the words to express myself, so I'll use the easy way out. Here's a blog entry about her from last year.

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My fortnight visit

I realize that I have been neglecting to post on this blog. I've been spending my time and blogging efforts over at the new blog.

This morning, while getting ready for work, we got to listen to the interview with That Chick on Star 102, a local radio station. She's written a book and was hilarious on the radio. Caroline wanted to play basketball, but Angie was listening to the interview in the living room, where we keep the basketball goal. We were in the bedroom.

So, I taught her how to twiddle her thumbs. She doesn't quite get it, but laughs very hard when I do it. Silly girl.

Caroline does not have school today. Edison has a half day. They are both off on Monday. Seems like we just went through this.

We're going out to dinner tonight with my in-laws. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm one of the luckiest men in the world. I've got a great wife, two wonderful kids and in-laws that are extremely easy to get along with. We even like each other. Go figure.

So, that's enough filler. See you in two weeks.

Catch up

It has been a few weeks since I last posted.  So, I'd better do a catch up post.

Last week our church was promoting a week of unpluggedness.  Staying away from electronic things to spend more time doing things with one's family, reading, things like that.  Well, we did okay.  For those of you who read Angie's blog I won't repeat it all.  For those of you who don't, well, you should.

I finished reading Steve Martin's autobiography, Born Standing Up.  A nice read.  Then I started in on a baseball book, The Last Nine Innings.  It is a look at game 7 of the 2001 World Series.  Very interesting.

I've also been spending some time looking at baseball card blogs and interacting with them.  Yes, a bunch of nuts, but a nice bunch of nuts.

I started another blog on that subject.  Mark's Ephemera.  No, it won't be everyone's cup of tea but that's okay.

The cold snap has passed and the rains are back.  Caroline is wanting more stories told to her.  Now they are to be of the Noggin type.  "Tell me a story about the Backyardigans.  About Max and Ruby.  About Diego.  About Yo Gabba Gabba."  So, I do.

That's what I know from here.

Symphony Night - rewind

This is a review/summary of the Knoxville Symphony Blogger's Night. In reading the other blog entries about Thursday night's concert, I'm kicking myself. If I had posted first, then they'd look foolish for using the same adjectives that I did. But I didn't post first. I'm well after the fact. So...

It was awesome. The venue, the selections, the performers, the conducting, the guest artist, the post-concert reception, everything. Awesome.

Really, it was.

Let's start at the end and work towards the front. Angie and I walked out with a reporter from City View magazine. She was there covering the blogging side of the event.

We left the reception room after all the other geeks bloggers had departed. Wine and cheese were served. I know nothing of wine and I avoided the cheese, mostly because it said, "Chili Lime, hand rubbed." I don't know what that means, nor do I want to.

We mingled with the other guests, Maestro Richman and Ms. Perlman, the featured artist. I was bold enough to ask them each for their autographs on my ticket stub. 

It was difficult to hold any depth of conversation because of the constant interruption for photo ops and hand shaking.

Now, mind you, this was at the end of a very long day for the conductor and pianist. Ms. Perlman had a bit of a head cold and was very gracious to attend the small party.

We met other bloggers and most of their names have left my head already. Frank. And Frank's blogfather. And Noah. And Noah's dad. Of course, That Chick and her trouper of a husband, Jason. He's an honorary blogger. He is quoted quite often. And KSO's own blogger, Katie. Then there was a gentleman that I took some photos for, but I can't for the life of me remember his name.

Kudos go to Stephanie Burdette for helping organize the evening and get all of the bloggers together.

After the final number, the Mendelssohn, completed we descended into the depths of the Tennessee Theatre. Beautiful building. On the inside. Nice on the outside, but beautiful on the inside. It was recently (in the last few years) renovated. The seats were comfy. I was very tempted to let my eyes close and let the music wash over me.

The intermission came between the Mozart concerto and the Mendelssohn symphony. Ms. Perlman was the pianist for the Mozart. I was not at all familiar with that piece. I think that it helps a concert goer to know the music, but this time I just listened and watched. Her style was extremely fluid. Her hands were the same. Lilting, graceful. And she had on some shiny silver shoes. It went with the flowing outfit that she was wearing. Normally a performer wears something staid and black. That's staid, not stained. Ms. Perlman's outfit had flowing arms and she looked like she was going out to a nice cocktail party. It worked for her.

Before she came out to the stage, Maestro Richman introduced her. His microphone wasn't working. The concert goers seemed to have no trouble letting him know that. Unruly visigoths. It wasn't on because the sound guy was also a stage hand. He was helping strike the set from the first piece, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto Number Three.

The musicians worked well together. Musically there were parts of it that were almost like the game of Hot Potato, but not so frantic. It couldn't be. Over half of them were wearing tuxedos. You can't play Hot Potato in a tux. It isn't proper. One has to gently pass the foil wrapped vegetable to the next person, not just throw it in the air. That's what they did with the concerto. They passed the figure from one player to the next. It was seamless. I think that the continuo player got stuck with it at the end of the first movement because she ended up playing the second movement by herself.

Before the small ensemble took the stage, there was much tuning and warming up. Typical musicians. No, wait. Most of the musicians that I know don't take time to do those things.

Jason and Stephanie were seated in the row just ahead of us. I guess they got the good seats. Actually, all the seats at the Tennessee are good seats.

The program actually started at about 7pm, when Maestro Richman took the stage for a chat, letting the concert goers in on some of the stories behind the music. He told us what to listen for, why Mendelssohn wrote the way he did (he studied Bach intimately). He invited Ms. Perlman out to talk about the Mozart concerto. Then a bit of question and answer. Yes, she has a family and stays in touch with them when she's on the road. She has a head cold. No, she's never recorded with her father (Itzhak Perlman, not Ron).

We arrived at about 6:45pm after a dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. I dropped Angie off at the front door while I parked at the State Street Parking Garage.

And that's the evening.

Summary: Top three things I liked about the evening...

1. Watching the orchestra respond to Maestro Richman's conducting.
2. Meeting other 'normal' people. People that enjoy music and life. And blogging.
3. Having the opportunity to enjoy a world class artist, Ms. Navah Perlman.

Awesome.

Another day, another motor coupling

Our washing machine started to make some strange noises last week. Moving it to do some cleaning resulted in the discovery of a small pile of shaved rubber. A search on the web produced the answer. The direct drive appliance had worn out the motor coupling. It was a $10 part at the appliance parts store. About an hour and fifteen minutes later, the beast is back together and washing a load of dark clothes.

I'm rather proud of myself. Only a few bruised knuckles. We saved the cost of a service call and I was reminded that I can actually perform mechanical repairs.

Who'da thunk?

Symphony night

In about a week and a half Angie and I will be attending the Knoxville Symphony as part of their Blogger's Night. I first heard of it through a post at Byron Chesney's Knoxville Trivia Blog. Byron picked it up from a Frank Murphy post.

It has been several years since I've been to the symphony. Mind you, I like classical music. I've played many concerts, from grade school through college and beyond. The KSO will be playing some Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn. The pianist, Navah Perlman, will be the featured artist.

It baffles me how the beautiful Navah Perlman

can be the daughter of Rhea Perlman
and Ron Perlman

I jest. I'm sure that it will be a good night.

I love my wife

On the 30th of December we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary.  

Monday afternoon we ditched the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and headed to Gatlinburg.  After a bit of sorting out some miscommunication about the hotel, we headed to Olive Garden for dinner.  It was not to be as the wait was about 45 minutes.  Not after thinking I messed up the hotel.  Relief was at Damon's Grill.  All you can eat ribs was the special of the evening.  After filling up we headed to the actual hotel, River Terrace.

On Tuesday we went to Pigeon Forge, to a little pancake restaurant just before the spur.  They were kind enough to give me real butter pats instead of whipped margarine.  We did some shopping in Pigeon Forge and then headed back to Gatlinburg.  There was a youth conference in town, so many teenagers were roaming the streets and shops of the mountain towns.  We headed out for a bite for lunch, ending up at McDonald's.  Not great, but better than waiting for some unspecified time for a table at some nondescript Chinese joint.  Then we found a popcorn shop that didn't understand the words, "No, stop.  That's enough of the cheese popcorn.  You can add some carmel corn now.  Stop.  Really.  Stop."

We wandered the Gatlinburg Mountain Mall where we saw an old friend at his photoshop.  Angie suggested that we might find a smashed penny machine.  She was right.

Back to the room where I took a nap, but not before our friend Andrea came and showered us with amenities that are found in the honeymoon suite.  Rose petals (strewn about the room and bed), chocolate kisses, sparkling cider, bath salts, that sort of thing.  We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Angie had the fajitas and I had a California Chick Club.  Both were good.  We got to see several fun guitars and other memorabilia.  Pictures later.

Back at the room, Angie beat me at Five Crowns and then Cribbage.  I need to stop playing games with her.

Wednesday morning we checked out and headed back towards home.  A few stops for shopping and then Angie "called my bluff" when I suggested that we eat at Tony Gore's restaurant.  We enjoyed some good BBQ sandwiches.

The best part of the whole time was that I got to spend it with Angie.  I'm the luckiest guy there is.

Finally

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

 1-5About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

 6-7While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

An Event for Everyone

 8-12There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

 13-14At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises: 

   Glory to God in the heavenly heights, 
   Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

 15-18As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

 19-20Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!

Blessings

 21When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

 22-24Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God's Law: "Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God," and also to sacrifice the "pair of doves or two young pigeons" prescribed in God's Law.

 25-32In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God: 

   God, you can now release your servant; 
      release me in peace as you promised. 
   With my own eyes I've seen your salvation; 
      it's now out in the open for everyone to see: 
   A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations, 
      and of glory for your people Israel.

 33-35Jesus' father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother, 

   This child marks both the failure and 
      the recovery of many in Israel, 
   A figure misunderstood and contradicted— 
      the pain of a sword-thrust through you— 
   But the rejection will force honesty, 
      as God reveals who they really are.

 36-38Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.

 39-40When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.

from The Message

... There

Almost ...

More Christmas ads

With my recent posts I'm not trying to get out of doing actual blogging (writing), I'm just sharing some fanciful holiday items.  No apology, just a note to the curious.

Closer still ...

And closer...

6 Christmas CDs

The meme has struck...

If you were trapped on a desert island and it was Christmas and all you had was a small generator, Christmas lights for your coconut tree, an endless supply of Christmas cookies and eggnog, your CD player and 6 Christmas CDs , which 6 albums would you want them to be?

I think I'd select:

• Merry Mancini Christmas
  
• The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
  
• December
  
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
  
• The Little Drummer Boy
• Celtic Christmas, Vol. 2

But that's just me.

Updated

Okay. I started thinking after I posted. I need to add one. Therefore taking one away.

I'll add: 3 Ships

I guess I'll take away Celtic Christmas, Vol. 2. Sorry.

If you'd like to listen to some Christmas shows of an eclectic radio show, take a listen to the following:

• A few Christmas favorites you've come to expect - Dec. 14, 2007
  
• Oy vey! It's Christmas! - Dec. 16, 2005
  
• Oy vey! It's Christmas! - Dec. 3, 2004
  

Christmas Ads of Yesteryear

These ads were culled from issues of the Plattsburgh Daily Press. The years range from the late 1930s through the 1940s.

Getting closer ...

image taken from: 

Plattsburgh Daily Press, Tuesday, December 19, 1939

A must read

Ben, over at his baseballcard blog, has been working on converting the poem, Casey at the Bat, to baseball cards.  I applaud him on his effort.

Please take a moment to visit his blog and read it.  Ben will be leaving that blog and moving on to other endeavours.  I've enjoyed his quirky takes on baseball cards, the industry and collectors.

Good luck, Ben.  And thanks.

On pins and needles

Or not.

Last week I got inoculated for the flu season. First time in many, many years. I had the nasal variety. I don't like injections / shots / vaccinations. I really don't. Ask just about anyone I know. They'll tell you the same.

The local Walgreens was providing the service, for a fee. I went in the afternoon, but there were too many cars in the parking lot for my comfort level, so I blew them off.

Angie suggested that she go with me and that she'd run interference. She did a good job and I'm better off. I guess.

On another note, I took Caroline to the doctor's office yesterday. Angie was tied up in meetings and didn't get there until before the doctor arrived. Which means that I got to check Caroline in, talk with the nurse and wait in an exam room for many, many minutes.

I'm getting better about my phobia of doctors / hosptials / shots / blood. I know that there are still those who protect me by not introducing the topics, by asking the medical professional to clear the table of syringes, by suggesting that we watch "Dancing With the Stars" instead of "E.R." I thank each and every one of them.

A Thrilling Christmas

A few weeks ago were were in Sevierville for a wedding rehearsal. Angie was at the church and I took the kids down to the rehearsal dinner. We got there when we were supposed to, but got a call from Angie that things were taking a bit longer than planned. No problem, I tell myself. Sevierville is town full of fun things to do on a Friday night when both kids are hungry. So we went to the "As Seen on TV" store.

They've got a bunch of crap that you actually have seen on TV. And more. They had racks and bins of 99 cent DVDs. Being a sucker for them (as is my brother), I perused the racks and found 3 Christmas DVDs. One of them, A Thrilling Christmas, isn't so thrilling.

It had three episodes of TV shows from the '50s.

• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Annie Oakley
• Crossroads

Over the next week I watched them, even forcing Angie to join me on one. We watched the Crossroads episode (The Wreath) first. Not very thrilling. I fell asleep.

Then I watched the Robin Hood episode (The Christmas Goose). Whiny kid is collecting holly on the new lord's land. His pet goose attacks the lord. The lord has the goose arrested and brought to trial. The kid whines so much you want Robin to put him out of your misery. A priest takes the goose's side and every one is happy by the end of the show.

The Annie Oakley episode (Santa Claus Wears a Gun) was much more thrilling. Shootouts and guns. And Santa Claus. A robbery and con job.

The transfer was very clean. The sound was good. Menu was, well, a menu. No great features.

Not very thrilling.

What a long strange trip it's been...

It has been almost two weeks since I've blogged. Some notable things have happened during that time. Let's see. Sickness swept through the house. My folks showed up just in time to help with taking care of us. The fridge died and we got a new one. Edison turned fourteen. And got some cool birthday presents. I found and purchased Van Morrison's A Night in San Francisco double CD on ebay. And am falling in love with it. Caroline has some new books. And she loves them. Angie and I went and saw the movie Fireproof. And I love her. I filled up the van's gas tank for $1.709 per gallon. The first snow of the season fell. And through all of the busyness of this time, I am reminded of Paul's writings about about our Father...

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!

Ephesians 3:20

Tell me a story

Caroline's bedtime routine is rather set. Potty time while the bath runs. Then the bath, pajamas, hair drying and teeth brushing. Sometimes reading, sometimes a bit of silliness. Then kisses and hugs. Climbing under the covers of her big-girl bed and a round of singing songs.

Tonight, as I asked her which songs she wanted to sing she said, "Tell me a story."

So, I told her a story of a little girl who went to a wedding with her daddy. She saw her mommy playing piano and the bride wearing a pretty dress. When a lady sang a song, the little girl and her daddy danced in the foyer. They went round and round with her head on his shoulders.

When the wedding was over, they went to the reception where the little girl ate strawberries, grapes, chips, crackers, M&Ms, cheese and bread. She smiled and laughed. Everybody had fun.

"That's Caroline," she said.

It was. It was a good day.

What's in a name ?

Guitar Hero World Tour has a Rock Name Generator. It asks you your name, your game persona, your favorite band and the instrument you play in the game. You may now call me Goran Earwarper.

What I do in my spare time...

or,

What? More blogs?

Yes, self promotion time. I've started two other blogs. Actually, I started one of them some time ago, in March of this year. It can be found at North Country Baseball and the subject is 19th century baseball in and around Clinton Co, NY. Transcriptions of local newspaper accounts of the national game.

The other I created yesterday to look back at the movie advertisements of yesteryear. It is called At the Strand. The Strand was a movie theater in Plattsburgh, NY.

Not much talk, just the ads and some links to the movies.

And sleep. I wish.

Celery King

from the November 13, 1903 Plattsburgh Sentinel and Clinton County Farmer newspaper.

Living in the Past

Yesterday I had the tires replaced on the Honda. I had some time at the mall. I picked up some items for Angie. I visited the game stores, had some Chik-Fil-A's chicken strips while I read some more of my Brother Cadfael book, looked through the CD/DVD store. Many things caught my eye, but I passed. Having a bit more time, I remembered that there is a sports memorabilia store. They had many nice (but overpriced) items. I looked through their open cards. I found two that I liked. Fifty cents each. I liked the price. So, now I have a pair of 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter cards. Even though they are last year's cards, I selected them because these players are in the 2008 World Series. And the cards just look good.



Allen & Ginter printed their original cards in 1887. I think that Topps has done a good job with recreating the feel. I especially like the text on the back of the cards. Numbers are spelled out.

For much more on the 2007 Topps A&G, please see the about.com entry.

Will I get more? No, probably not. These are pretty to look at, and I don't just have that much time or money to get the complete set.

Credit where credit is due: The baseball card images in this post are copyright the Topps Company, Inc. and are displayed with the intent of fair use and because I really like them.

Philadelphia Base Ball, old school

From the book, Athletic Sports in America, England and Australia by Harry Clay Palmer. This book has quite a few anecdotes and stats/records that some will find interesting. Others will glaze over. It was published in 1889. You do the math.

Right now, it is the middle of the 7th inning, in game 3 of the Series. The Phillies are up 4-3. I'm headed for bed.

The first pitch has been thrown

and it was a strike. The World Series has started.

So, I tossed together a quick survey. You can take it here.

I would have liked to have seen the Red Sox go against the Dodgers, just for the Mannie controversy.

But I liked the pitching of the Rays in game 7 of the ACLS.

I'm not sure who I'm rooting for, yet. I generally like the NL, but I also like the underdog.

So, Vegas has the Rays winning. We'll see.

Take the survey. Have some fun.

William Henry "Wee Willie" Keeler

Recently, on a 19th century baseball mailing list, a request came across for information on any living family members of "Wee Willie" Keeler.

I've heard the name before, but wasn't readily familiar with him. I won't rewrite all of his feats, but he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, having played from 1892-1910, with a lifetime batting average of .341 (or .343, or .345, depending on which site you look at).

So, to find if there are any living family members, it makes sense to look at the family.

I went to wikipedia to get some basic information about him (born March 3, 1872. died January 1, 1923, both in Brooklyn, NY). Then I hopped on Ancestry.com and found some census records.

1880
I couldn't find the family in the 1880 census, either at Ancestry.com or at FamilySearch.org.

1890
The bulk of the 1890 general population census is missing. I didn't even try to look for it.

1900
His parents (William and Mary) were born in Ireland. He and his brother, Thomas, were born in New York. But the 1900 census says that he was born in 1873 (not 1872 as other sites claim) and is 27 years old. His occupation was "professional ball-player" working 8 months out of the year. The family lived on Pulaski Street in Brooklyn. Other information to be gleaned from this census is that his parents were married for 38 years, making their marriage date to be about 1862. Mary had 5 children, but 2 of them had died.

Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 21, Kings, New York; Roll: T623 1058; Page: 4A; .

1910
A decade later, Mary has died. Both boys still live with their father on Pulaski Street. William is now 38 years old and continues to be a "professional player" in the industry of "baseball".

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 21, Kings, New York; Roll: T624_969; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 519; Image: 956.

1920
William has moved out of the family house and is a boarder on Gale Street, still in Brooklyn. His age is listed as 48, which is consistent, since this census was enumerated in January of that year. He's a "ball player" in the "American League", despite not having played since 1910. And that was with the New York Giants, a National League team. Of the 19 seasons that he played, 12 of them were for NL teams.

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Brooklyn Assembly District 5, Kings, New York; Roll: T625_1151; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 259; Image: 334.

I couldn't find any more from a quick search on Ancestry. World Connect at Rootsweb.com wasn't fruitful.

Then I did some general web searching (google is your friend).

Here are some sites about William Henry "Wee Willie" Keeler...

• Official Site of "Wee" Willie Keeler
• Baseball Hall of Fame player page
• Baseball-Reference.com - statistics
• Wikipedia page
• The DeadballEra.com - Obituary
• FindaGrave.com

These sites helped me find out a bit more, specifically the obituary and the FindaGrave pages.

From the photos on the FindaGrave site, it appears that he had two other siblings (Ellen and John), both dying young.

From this information, there does not appear to be any direct descendants of "Wee Willie" Keeler. I have made only cursory glances to try to find when and where his parents came to the US. There is more research to be done, but I figured that I should set out what I have learned already.

Favorite Films - War

Not wanting to debate the concept of "should we be glorifying war on film", I present my five favorite war movies (in no particular order).

• The Great Escape
• Braveheart
• Glory
• Saving Private Ryan
• Gettysburg

I thought about tossing in Kelly's Heroes, but that might fall in another category.

A year and a half later...

So, I'm following up on a post from a year and a half ago. Tonight I scanned in a color photocopy of 4 different covers of Louis L'Amour's The Tall Stranger. Here are two of them.

The quality isn't great. Many, many moons ago I used a color photocopier. Since then, it has hung in my office, having the opportunity to be faded by the sun, bad lighting, etc.

I dug around on the 'net and found a few other covers. Rather than have another long entry full of photos, I decided to upload them to a Picasa web folder. There's another site, LouisLAmourCollector.com, that has some great info about all things Louis. This link is for The Tall Stranger.

Remember, books aren't just for looking at. This one is a decent read, as are most of his titles.

Bits and Pieces

This summer I have had occasion to encounter some interesting things.

I present them here, without commentary...

A Family Reunion

So, this last week was a whirlwind of happenings. Most notably, my aunt, Shirley Robinson, passed away.

I have felt a little bad about not blogging about it, but I couldn't find the right words to express my feelings. I don't know that I have found them yet. Others have written and spoken some of the thoughts that I had. For the time, I'll let them speak for me.

I took a plane ride from Knoxville to Detroit to Ithaca on Tuesday. Then a rental car drive up to Waterloo. I was soon met by family. The hospitality and food were wonderful. I missed the first segment of the visitation, but was able to meet many of Shirley's coworkers and friends.

Wednesday brought the funeral service, graveside service and then a reception. My thanks goes out to those that participated in the services and provided more good food for the reception. After leaving the church, the family retired to Shirley's house for photos, conversation and more food.

Yup, that's us. Not all of my cousins could attend, so that's not all of us, but it is a decent sampling. Yes, I'm wearing a tie. My cousin, Karen (of the "I slept with my cousin fame") is next to me wearing sunglasses, but not a pointy hat.

The evening ended early for me, as I had to be up at 3:00 a.m. to drive to Ithaca to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight.

At the Detroit airport I was able to walk to Concourse A to look at a few shops. The Motown store and the Henry Ford store had a few smashed penny machines. I ignored the contents of the stores and quickly made change. One of the machines at the Henry Ford store was out of commission. I smashed a total of 10 pennies (2 extra for Bettie), but I seem to have lost one from the Motown machine. So, I came home with 7 new smashed pennies.

And lots of memories of a great woman.

Because Angie asked for it....

Angie left a comment on my previous entry. She said,

Too bad you didn't save the "sexy" flyer to scan and blog! :)

I didn't, but the power of the Internet pays off.


The Gathering, a local church pastored by Gene Wolfenbarger, is very proactive in advertising their church programs. In October of 2007, they had a four week series titled Red Hot Sex. They sent out the above flyer. It attracted much media interest, a lot of water cooler talk and the ire of many.

I downloaded and listened to the first sermon in the series. It was good, but I didn't find it great. Sort of a mix of sermons I've heard before, books I've read before and common sense. I didn't go back to download the last three in the series.

So, Angie... you asked for it, you got it.

What's wrong with this picture?

Aside from the fact that his parents let him dye his hair green.


This is a portion of a piece of advertising literature from a local church. They mail them out about every two weeks or so. I look at them to see what they're doing, to see how 'slick' their promo material is.

This one caught my eye because the kid is playing a bass. It is a left handed bass (think Paul McCartney). And it has 5 strings. No, wait. It has 4 strings, but 5 tuning keys. Call it creative Photoshopping. More is better, right?

Can I really trust a church that will doctor photos? Well, probably, but something doesn't feel quite right.

You can't make this up

This story appeared in today's edition of the Knoxville News Sentinel. I have left off the part where it names the two suspects as a courtesy to them.

Two suspects arrested in Seymour burglary

SEYMOUR - Two men have been arrested for their alleged roles in a Seymour burglary that was thwarted by a woman who beat them off with a musical instrument, according to the Sevier County Sheriff's Department.

The incident happened just after 9 a.m. Saturday at a home on Maryville Highway when two men forced their way inside while a "female and her young child" were asleep, a press release states.

The woman confronted the men with "part of a brass musical instrument and assaulted one of the suspects," who fled, the release states. The type of instrument wasn't immediately available.

Need I say more? I didn't think so.

Link to original story.