The DN

1  It got so cold the other night that I almost put on a long coat, top hat and scarf.

2  The only reason I didn't is that it would have clashed with my shorts. 

3   Anybody lookin'?

4   California. I swear.

5   It amuses me that the second it drizzles around here people bundle up like Sherpas in a Manhattan blizzard. 

6  I base most of what I wear on my neighbor Jim, who lives across the street. 

7   He's still wearing sandals, so I know it's probably going to be reasonably nice today. 

8   In my book it isn't Winter until Jim changes to Adidas. 

9   Jim serves as my barometer not only to the day's forecast, but also to what season it is. 

10  He acknowledges only two seasons, and names them after old water faucets: hot or cold. 

11  Guy's good. Helene is the source for the Jim conspiracy, but I think it rides nicely. If you follow it, you will never need to wonder about the weather again.

12   You could probably fire all the weather guys on teevee and simply put up an updated picture of Jim every few hours. 

13  I always think people from San Jose bundle up WAY too much this time of the year. 

14  On the other hand, I tend to come home and put on Bermuda shorts each day. 

15  Typical white guy.

16   I always laugh on the way to work when it is a sloshy cold morning and I see white guys skateboarding to school in pocket tees and shorts. 

17   I don't know. Is that a white thing?

18   WHUH oh. 

19  I'll leave race out of it. 

20  Maybe it isn't a white thing. Maybe it's just a Cali thing.

21  Yeah. 

22  With Jim it doesn't matter. You KNOW what the weather will do based on his shoes. The guy is dependable as a cuckoo clock. 

23  Moving On, Part One: I found KYA.com the other night, forgot that I had put it as a fave. 

24  I love old stuff in general, but I really love old music. I am a fan of music from as far back as ancient Messopotatoes. 

25  Anybody lookin'?

26  KYA is an oldies' station that goes way back, but not to the dawn of civilization, although a lot of people would tell you that it does. 

27  Nice background music for a little ice cream and coffee.

28  Sans bombs.

29  While writing this folderol last night I heard around six great songs and NEEDED a guitar.

30  That happens, you know. 

31  I had thought about dragging one of my guitars down to the school yesterday but didn't.

32  As soon as the bell rang to start my first class I needed a guitar. I almost sent a student down to our guitar teacher to tell him that it was an emergency. He would have understood. No doubt. 

33  I recently did a repair job on my newest guitar, a correction of a terrible job some guy did of installing a pick-up on an acoustic.

34  I had tested it the other day, and reverbed it so that it rang with a Lennonesque treble that I loved. 

35  The pick-up is charged by a 9-volt battery which needs to be taken out after each use. It's a little bit of a hassle, but not enough for me to worry. I love the sound I get out of it. 

36  After I fixed it and used it  for around the third time I forgot to take the battery out. 

37  That stopped me from playing for around a week, believe it or not. 

38  You know how sometimes you put a book down and don't get back to it? Same sort of thing. 

39  I have around twelve books that are face down on some flat surface because I knew if I put a bookmark in them I wouldn't pick them up. 

40  So instead they take to lying around the house like sunbathers.

41  And so it goes. 

42   AnywayZ

43   I started writing all this stuff last night, listened to some soul and R and B, and after a fashion could stand it no longer. 

44   I moved down the hall, grabbed my guitar, and lit it up gloriously. It was also pre-set ten times louder than it should have been. I blame Lennon.

45  I strummed the opening chords to Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper. REALLY loud. 

46   My heart skipped.

47   Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpy_pYXSpPA

48  Everything sounded exactly as I had left it.

49  It got late. I wanted to play into the night, but decided against it.

50  Meaning I will again NEED a guitar today.

51  Because this is written last night, I can control going to bed earlier so that later today I will not be tired, and I could play when I get home.

52   Sometimes man, I tellya.

53   Music.

54   I gotta bounce.

55   See you again.

56   Peace.

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/

The DN

1   Anybody lookin'?

2   <Looking around.>

3   Okay. The coast is clear.

4   I enjoyed doing my JFK stuff this year because it was the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination, so while doing the unit this year I found all sorts of new materials strewn all over, like shoes in a hallway.

5  It's been fun though. The story continues to twist and turn and go down dirt roads. 

6   What a sordid, seedy story. 

7   It seems every guy on the internet has some story to tell. And each story inevitably winds up with all sorts of people turning up dead in all sorts of odd ways. 

8   I had just listened to some guy or other promoting his latest book, and finally turned it all off. 

9   Nice hobby, but a little goes a long way.

10  I noticed that when I would listen to interviews with various authors and experts, the You Tube videos would often go fuzzy or begin buffering.

11  It always crosses my mind that somebody doesn't want people reading that sort of stuff, because there's too much potential truth in a lot of it. 

12   Fascinating story though. 

13   Sometimes before I write this stuff I prepare myself with a small bowl of ice cream and a cup of coffee. 

14  This might be after reading, listening to a talk show, or listening to an author. 

15  When the topic of JFK sails into town, I'm always riveted, even though it becomes a labyrinth of mirrors and horrors. 

16  The ice cream and coffee usually give me a modicum of rest. 

17   Last night I had just scooped a bowl, and sat down with my coffee and began writing this rigamarole. 

18  It was around 8:30 p.m. The day had settled in. 

19  I sat on the Cloud, ice cream ready, coffee ready, and some oldies blasting through my headphones. 

20  Suddenly someone banged on our front door.

21   No lie.

22   I don't know about you, but if someone bangs on my door at 8:30 at night, I'm scared. 

23  We ran to the door. Helene yelled, "Who is it?"

24  I took a flashlight to the porch and scanned. I heard our gate slam and a car peel out. 

25  When I saw the porch vacated, I opened the door.

26  I looked down. A Macy's box sat on my doorstep, placed in perfect symmetry at the center of the doormat. 

27   I stared down. 

28   A Godfather pause. 

29  

30   It was a Macy's box. Maybe they heard I criticized them for celebrating Columbus Day earlier this year. 

31   For whatever reason I flashed back to when I first did activities at the school. We were going through safety training. Midday. It was lunch time.

32  The cop training me pointed at a lunch bag on the edge of our quad steps. 

33  "See that?" he asked. "That's a bomb," he said, pointing at some kid's lunch. I looked at the guy the same way you would look at the neighborhood kook. 

34  "That's the way we have to think. You need to think that way too."

35   

36   I never believed it for a second. I figured HE was a kook. 

37  But last night as I stared at the Macy's  box on my porch, I heard his words. "That's a bomb, a bomb, a bomb..." <dramatic echoes>.

38   Helene told me to bring it in. I looked at her like she had twelve heads. "Are you kidding?" I asked. "That could be a bomb!"

39   

40  I moved it out to the front of the gate. 

41   You can't be too careful. 

42   After a few text messages we found it was something my daughter had purchased and sent to the house. 

43   But at 8:30 at night?

44   I thought they had finally come to silence me.

45   Not so. 

46   I got back to my ice cream, coffee and oldies. Sly and the Family Stone got the party started with Dance to the Music.

47   Fun Christmas commercials chimed off the teevee, and all returned to normal. 

48  Lots of laughs. 

49  The stuff we do sometimes, I swear.

50  I'm going to get off conspiracies, the CIA, spies, and all those other nightmares. 

51   I prefer ice cream and fun stuff. 

52   Have a little fun today. 

53   Life's too short to waste worrying all the time. 

54   Some Lovin' Spoonful just joined the ice cream and coffee for some sweet smiles. 

55  Let's leave today with that.

56  Have a GREAT day!

57  See you again.

58  Peace.

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/
 

 


 

The DN

1  Didja roll through it?

2  Yesterday I mean. 

3  I got in and fumbled the opening kickoff, but regained and somehow got her done.

4  Not much fun, but a Monday done.

5  Not sure about today.

6  I have echoed my feelings about Tuesdays for years now. 

7  I really like my idea of eliminating Tuesday as a day of the week.

8   I KNOW it's controversial. But think about it: today would be Wednesday.

9   If you're old school and comfortable, then I can see where you might not be open to the elimination of Tuesday. 

10  If you were born on a Tuesday I can respect that. 

11  The thought of losing Tuesdays is a bit sad, in fact. 

12   On any day of the week 'cept Tuesday.

13   Losing Tuesday isn't going to happen anytime soon.

14   So let's put this all behind us and move on.

15   I just thought it nice to get it out there, especially on a Tuesday.

16  Moving On, Part One: I got all settled to write this last night when my Toshiba laptop--you got that?-- T-O-S-H-I-B-A hashtag don't buy hashtag theygoofflineeverytwoseconds hashtag glorifiedpaperweights went offline and stayed offline throughout the night. 

17  I may need to take some time this week to pack the entire thing up and send it back to the Toshiba factory in Toshibaland, the Land of the Crappy Computer. 

18  I'm on a borrowed Dell, which likes to jump letters back to previous sentences. 

19   I do okay with Dells though. 

20   I'm sure we all have horror stories about our computers, but I've never seen a brand new computer give me as much trouble as the T-O-S-H-I-B-A. I trust none of them, because any time I Google the problem, I see that a bazillion other people have the same problem.

21  Or challenge, I imagine.

22  Hard not bringing it up.

23  Moving on, Part Two: It bugs me because I was right in the middle of some guy telling me that I could make a gazillion dollars without even working. 

24  Something that important should go uninterrupted.

25   I wonder if I could sue T-O-S-H-I-B-A for letting me see all that cash slip right through my greedy fingers. 

26  And the guy who was going to help me achieve my millions was some You Tube guy. And you know how credible THEY are.

27  I had dreams of diving into a money vault like Scrooge McDuck.

28  That all went <poof> last night. 

29  Nah. I'm over it. 

30  Some corny movie is on right now. Some country singer in a dandy cowboy hat just sang, "Don't waste yer tahhhm" and continued down that street. 

31  Kind words, kind words. We get those messages sometimes.

32  I had so much to share today too.

33  Last night I listened to some other You Tube talk show, and one of the guests on this guy's show said with a Texas drawl: "Computers drahv me nuts!"

34  Same exact country/western accent as the fellow in the cowboy hat who was singing that song. 

35  I love getting little coincidental messages. I seldom listen to them, just enjoy them, like suddenly noticing a songbird's morning tune.

36  I'll listen to Cowboy hat's advice. 

37  Got to.

38  A JFK guy just came on the radio. That is SO last week. 

39   Anybody lookin'?

40   Imma duck out. 

41   Love yer Tuesday.

42   I gottago.

43   See you again.

44   Peace. 

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/

The DN

Say cheese.

1  Here's an oldie:

A rather bad man dies and meets Satan in a room with three doors. Satan explains, "I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you have to spend eternity behind one of these doors. But, the good news is that you can take a peek behind each and take your choice."

So, the man opened the first door and saw a room full of people, standing on their heads on a concrete floor. Not very nice, he thought.

Opening the second door, he saw a room full of people standing on their heads on a wooden floor. Better, he thought, but best to check the last door.

Upon opening the last door, he saw a room full of people, standing waist-deep in excrement and sipping coffee.

"Of the three, this one looks best," he said and waded in to get something to drink while Satan closed the door.

A few minutes later the door opened, Satan stuck his head in and said, "Ok, coffee break's over, back on your heads!"

2  Anybody lookin'?

3  We're baaaaaaack.

4  Oldest joke on the planet. I did steal the copy from some guy named sjacob. I need to give credit where credit is due, so here is sjacob's website. Please have a look so I don't get sued for being a joke crook. 

http://www.sjacob.org/home/humour/BackOnYourHeads.html

5  Hope you had a nice rest. I sure did. Last night though, yeesh.

6   It's tough to get back to the grind after a few days off. 

7   I found myself driving around studying my neighbors' Christmas lights for inspiration.

8   One thing I found was this: do NOT use my neighbors' lights as prototypes.

9  I turned the corner and one guy had a string of icicles that looked like a necklace hanging over a cheap bra. 

10  The guy who lives next to me topped that. First off, his entire yard looks like a junkyard that blew up. This is on a normal day. Odd metal things decorate the weeds, and he often strings Christmas lights in random spots, just above an old saucepan filled with rusty water, for example, or all through a fallen kite. 

11  At Christmas time he goes all out. Last night I saw that he had once again taken his two dirty Christmas dishtowels from last year and hung them on a clothesline. He built on this brilliance this year by lighting them from behind.

12  Lovely.

13  "Billy, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

14  <looking around>

15   Well. Airplane is on in the background, so excuse the occasional randomness. I'm giggling at stupid stuff here. 

16   Where did we leave off? I don't remember. That was all the way a week ago Mondee. 

17    afkfdklafjdkfj;fsaf

18   Oh, that's right.

19   I'm not sure. I do remember hitting random keyboard keys, but this behavior existed between thoughts. 

20  Since I have no thoughts this morning, this becomes a tight squeeze. 

21  I did spend a little time looking into conspiracy theories over the holiday.

22  I came away with a lot, but the most believable is this: the Secret Service in Dallas on November 22, 1963 were drinking grapefruit juice and Everclear 'til well into the morning. I got THAT bored. That's an accurate statistic. Everclear and grapefruit. I can't even begin to imagine. 

23  This excuses any of them, in my opinion.

24  Good source. 

25   Cellar Club, Fort Worth. 10/21/63.

26   Who knew? Who'd remember?

27   I realized the second I read that statistic that I probably hopped miles ahead of my students.

28   I left them dazzled.

29   I actually didn't. 

30  I tried, on Toozdee. I wouldn't say I failed, but I don't think I got across what I wanted. 

31  I tried like heck to teach, but there's something about a day before a holiday that comes in and renders learning useless. Toozdee was officially the day before our Thanksgiving holiday. No matter how hard you try, learning on a getaway day seems fruitless. 

32  The same is true of the day of return from holiday. Notice I said "learning" and not teaching. Nice shift of blame. 

33  AnywayZ...that's what I shall attempt this fine morning. Trust me; this time it'll work. I'm tanned, rested and ready. 

34  

35  Okay, coffee break's over, back on your heads.

36  This took me forever to write last night.

37  I'm quite certain it shows.

38  Anyway, go in tough today. 

39  They're all feeling just like you.

40  Your jobs, communally, are to fly low.

41  You're just getting revved up for Tuesday.

42   You should be able to slip through the cracks. Even if you're the boss. Here's some advice: fly low. 

43   Have your Stacy Alerts set to "On."

44  You'll get by. 

45  Tomorrow's the tough one. 

46  So smile and enjoy the sunshine and the birdies today. 

47  You'll be fine. 

48  See you again.

49  Peace.

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/