Yet another newly discovered bird

If someone can get me a pair of these birds (for my collection) I’ll make it worth your effort.

Hobo Days

When I was in college in California, on the edge of the redwoods, it became fashionable to hop trains. It was also fashionable to take on a moniker or hobo name, mine was Lobo. There was a guy we used to call the Caldwell Kid (Luke) and there was Artichoke, Diamond and many, many more.

Lillian Gish

A man in his 90s, maybe his 100s, walked into a bookstore. I was there too. He was talking as he did things, for instance as he stuffed a piece of paper in his back pocket he said, “put that there . . .” Then he started looking at a book of Hollywood portraits and as he thumbed through it he said, “Lillian Gish, Lillian Gish. That’s the problem with these critics, they’re so damn young they don’t know the great movie stars. Lillian Gish.”

Either Sing or Swim

Singing and swimming are similar. They both involve a fair amount of exhaling. I am sure if you are good at singing or swimming, the breathing in and out are equal, but I am not good at either of them I feel like I breathe out more than in. But the two activities are not interchangeable. If you find your self in the middle of a lake or a river, don’t sing, swim.

Drive-thru

While getting some food at a drive-thru window – I wont say which restaurant because I do not wish to indorse this particular Mcstablishment – I noticed the young man in the window looking past my car across the lot. Following his gaze, my eyes landed at or near the rear ends of two women. The young man asked if I liked what I saw. I will not cast judgment on these women but I will say that they would not have normally caught my eye. I told him that I was trying to see what he was looking at. He said with a knowing grin (that turned out not to know much), “Same thing you are my friend.”

Justin’s Birthday

He’s a mere 26 but his sense of humor is like that of an 80 or 90 year old, very mature. Happy Birthday Justin.
This one I wrote after midnight on the 7th - Justin's birthday- but blogger claims I wrote it on the 6th - Luke's birthday.

Luke's Birthday

I posted this this morning at 1am because I wanted to be the first to wish Luke a happy birthday. Happy Birthday Luke. But for some reason it didn't show up until 11 something pm.

Crikey!

The moment I heard of Steve Irwin’s death I said that if I wrote obituaries the headline would read, “Crikey!” But I forgot that I had a blog and could have written just such a headline. The New York Times used ”Crikey” for a headline in today’s paper.
Oh, crikey, I've got to go to class.

Mammals vs Reptiles

Why is it that large dog breeds do not live as long as the small breeds but large tortoise breeds live much longer than the small ones? Sometimes nature doesn’t make sense. I know what you’re thinking, “what’s natural about a dog?” You’re right. Not much. So, I suppose, the next logical step is to have giant tortoises for pets so we never have that awful experience of losing a pet because the pet will live 150 years.

Good-bye summer

Summer is really over. I know - not really over. Saying “Summer is pretty over,” doesn’t have the same effect.
For some reason blogger is underling my words.
If you clicked on the title of this post and then were asked for a password, I have fixed that. But I have not fixed the underlining.

MTV

The Pussycat Dolls, Panic! at the Disco, and the All-American Rejects all won awards on the MTV Video Music Awards yesterday. I know that sometimes it’s fashionable to appear out of touch with pop culture but I have not heard of any of these groups.

Would you rather win a $1 million Nobel Prize or win a $25 million lottery?

New Catalogue Image

used for Photo New York advertising in Art in America and the Photo New York website.

These are all people that I have been told I look like.

Iowa

Iowa has Internet access at their rest stops. I tried it last night but it didn’t work; still, I appreciate the effort. Now I am in a café in Grinnell drinking a syrupy Italian soda while the sweat that covers my body solidifies so I can brush it off before getting back into my un-air conditioned truck.

When I drive I like to listen to books on tape. Yesterday I was listening to “My Dog Skip,” which I knew was a dangerous choice because the dog in a dog story always dies. When Skip finally died I cried almost as hard as when my dog died. I realized then that I have no more room for grief so nothing sad can happen for a while.

Hopes and desires:

I hope to never have cable TV. Please do not hold that against me while I am sitting on your couch or big leather easy chair watching your cable TV. I like your cable TV.

A wise woman once said, “Money can too buy happiness.” I would like some money. Just the right amount so I never run out.

That’s my list.

Colorado

Here is your road conditions report for Interstate 25 in Colorado, Saturday, August 19, 2006. Rainy with periods of driving rain, scary at times.

Heading East or Midwest

A few miles past Barstow I saw a sign that read, “Last Chance Fuel #2,” which I thought might be better named, “2nd to Last chance Fuel,” or “Penultimate Fuel.”

In Williams Arizona there is a café called “Java Cycle.” Java cycle is closed but the kid at the counter is kind enough to let me compute while he closes shop. Also in Williams is a beautiful, street flooding thunderstorm. I pulled over because the truck was hydroplaning on Interstate 40.

Back to the Midwest

Robert’s memorial service was Saturday at UCLA. I am still in LA until tomorrow when I will drive to Albuquerque, or half way. This is the start of my annual migration East. You know the routine: put dog to sleep, pack belongings, head to LA for memorial of dear friend, blah, blah, blah…

Good-bye

????-August 9, 2006