They are Attacking!

I'm just driving to work one day and I notice the Ohio car tag (Ohio is like the #1 or #2 tourist here) Anyway I'm looking at it and I wonder... is this a flag of sorts?




That's the flag for Croatia and either I'm just full of it (very likely) or they (Croatians) have taken over Ohio and are now moving into South Carolina. You heard here first kids.

Classic Film Friday: The Gay Divorcee

This movie stands out to me as one of contrast. The white dresses, the black tuxes. Really it doesn't even matter if the movie is in black and white, but it also underlines the theme if the movie... the girl is trying to find her way out of a failed marriage. This is again a Rogers-Astaire movie and it doesn't let anyone down.

Sure none of the performances are Oscar quality, but you don't expect them to be. Many of the cast in Top Hat are in The Gay Divorcee (yes I know this movie pre-dates Top Hat) so if you liked one it stands to reason that you'd like the other. Fred Astaire is Guy Holden, dancer, while Ginger Rogers is Mimi Glossop who is looking to get out of a tricky situation in her marriage. She doesn't like him, but of course he is mad about her. This is a good movie and me and my 12-year-old caught ourselves laughing many a time. From the clothes to the silly Italian man you'll laugh and the dancing, you know there's going to be dancing.

Every divorce should be so gay, after all it's worth it. ;o)

15 Minutes of Peace

I went out for lunch the other day. When I say I went out, that just means I went outside, I didn't
go to McDonald's or anything like that. What a peaceful time! I listened to a mocking bird pouring its heart out, I smelled the sweet air, I watched in a nearby pond all the minnows swimming around, I felt the sun on my back trying to burn... basically I just took in everything that was offered. And for just 15 minutes I was somewhere else, though not really.

A brief escape from the grind of working, I bet if you do the same you'll probably want to stay even longer.

Yeah It's Like That

Pool Party

I've always been a kind of low rent guy, I mean through working and marriage I've somehow slipped up and managed to get in to the mid-rent sector, but at heart I'm still low. Maybe that the Army talking, or even my childhood, I really can't say. But I was used to people not having the money to pay there electric bill, driving a what I call a Mississippi paint job car, and essentially not partaking in the finer things in life.

Now I have a sprinkler system, live right up next to a lagoon, and have a screened in back porch. Life is good. Certainly better than I ever would have imagined even 10 years ago. So anyway we were at our community pool (yet another thing I wouldn't have dreamed of) and I overhear these people who are either oblivions or trying to make everyone hear them, that are so not what I come from, that it actually pains me to hear them talking.

I'm just a working schlub who made his life a bit better than my parents. When I was growing up, we had less than 800 square feet for at least 5 of us, sometime less than that. Now I have more than 2000 square feet for 4 of us. So back to those people they were talking about boats and parties and so on and so forth... The guy looks all buff and the girls are skinny and I'm thinking I don't have time, nor do I feel good enough to workout, go to parties or much of anything else after working a solid day. How do they do it?

I don't know but here is one telling clue. One little boy, of which belonged to one of the "aristocrats" came to my wife and asked if she could fix his goggles, his mother was only steps away, but he wanted my wife to do it, and she did. Later the same kid tells us "get out of MY way... please." It takes all kinds to make the world go around, but I do have trouble with some of the higher sect.

Things a Baby Sees

My daughter, the little one, notices all kinds if things that you or I take for granted. Never is this more apparent then when we enter the grocery store. Things like the huge rotating chicken, the picture of cheese, or the dancing vegetables simply must be acknowledged by her, and by you, because you are right next to her. I guess some parents could just ignore it, or blow it off, but I can't. Sometimes it's the littlest thing that makes a big difference. Now I have her to remind me of all of them. Thanks!

Adventures in Bedding

We have bed issues. I mean really bad bed issues. Last night we spotted beds at Sam's and we came to the conclusion that we shouldn't suffer any longer. But the problem is I don't really have an appropriate means of getting said bed home. We decide that another dreaded night with the old mattress is inevitable, but first thing in the morning we'll get the bed. In fact the price is so low we haven't looked anyplace else. (Maybe a mistake by us, maybe not.)

So we go back to Sam's, get the bed, and strap it to the top of our mini-van. And let the adventure begin. We opened the sun roof and checked the bed's position and headed west down 278 at the blazing speed of 35 MPH. We soon realize that at 36 MPH we hear a "buzzing" noise... We keep going anyway. It turns out that the plastic wrapping was making the noise. No harm I think, but we think holding on to the bed is probably better than not.

Then we get to the bridge... the one that connects Hilton Head Island with the mainland... and the wind picks up substantially from there. I'm still holding on to the bed, my wife is driving and all I can do is laugh. Once we get over the bridge I have my wife pull over as my hand is really cramping up. It seems that there has been some shifting but for the most part the bed hasn't gone anywhere.

We switch sides with me in the driver's seat now as the whole stroke thing has left my right arm pretty much useless. Everything is going well, but I did not hit one red light in Bluffton, so if you want to know how to do that, simply drive 35-40 MPH and you'll escape the town without ever having to stop. Except we were kind of counting on stopping... so now we 're both holding onto the bed, arms cramping, and still a ways to go.

And that's pretty much my story... well there was almost hitting a sign right about Eagle's Point, but other than that, nothing much. We got the bed inside and took a nap on it, and have this story of strapping it down and dragging it home to tell now.