I went this weekend to Tucson. We stayed at a wonderful Radisson Hotel near the airport. But that is not what this is about. Today is about my travels with a friend, Flat Stanley.
Flat Stanley was sent to me by my great-nephew Alex Sanders who lives in Hannibal, MO (you know, the "Show Me" state.) His class is doing a project with their reading of the book, Flat Stanley. Stanley Lampchop is flattened in his sleep one night by a bulletin board given to him by his father. Stanley survives, but he now gets to go on some great adventures because he can be mailed to people. Alex mailed Stanley to us, and we have been showing him around Arizona.
This weekend we went to Tombstone and looked around "The Town That Wouldn't Die." We had a great time, and I was amazed at how many people there knew who Stanley was, and were more than willing to hold him while we took their picture! I felt like I was escorting some kind of celebrity around.
Stanley had is picture taken next to cowboys, stagecoaches, buildings, and even cactus. Folks were very accomodating, with one cowboy even recognizing Stanley as we walked down the sidewalk and insisted on getting his picture taken with him! A shopkeeper posed with him, and another put Stanley inside a pair of cowboy boots... We laughed with total strangers all day.
On our way back to Tucson, we had to stop at a Border Patrol barricade. We were certain that we would have trouble proving that Stanley was an American Citizen and we thought that he might get detained and possibly deported. As we pulled up to the officer and rolled down our windows, he asked, "Are you all American Citizens in the car?" We said we were, but we were not sure about our passenger. The officer quizzed us, "Can I see your passenger?"
I held up Stanley, and the officer got a big smile on his face, and exclaimed, "Stanley! It is good to see you!" We had no problem, and Stanley had his picture taken with the Border Patrol.
On Monday, Stanley is going with me to the Arizona Capitol Historic Museum as I talk to them about volunteering as a docent. I am sure we will have a great time. Next weekend, Stanley is going to Sedona so he can see the Red Rocks and maybe experience the magnetism of the vorteces up there!
Oh, and Alex, I have to tell you that we are going to a Suns game, so he will probably learn to like purple instead of that green the Celtics wear!
Uncle Doughnut
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
APRIL FOOL!
Today is April Fool's day. Most commemorate this with practical jokes and what not, but I celebrate my brother's birthday. No day is more fitting than this day for him to have been born. He was an exception. not the rule.
Mom and Dad were not supposed to have children, yet there he is, a real life April Fool's joke. God had to have a sense of humor. Then, when I showed up, that was even more cruel. Jim was born when mom thirty-eight, I arrived short of her forty-second birthday.
As we grew up, I know I must have aggravated him. Like the time he says I was pretending to snore, but wasn't ( I really was snoring) or the time he got so mad at me he threw a baseball at me and missed. Or the time he threw up in the window of our room and I had to clean it up. Then there was the time he let me take his new GTO and learn to drive a stick. He sat there quietly while I ground through the gears and hopped off of stops, and killed it a couple of times. When I was about 4, he tied me to a horse hitch up at our granny's house and tried to burn me at the stake! Luckily Granny caught him and put me out.
Jim has always been my hero. When he was young, he could hit a ball a mile, and knew sports inside and out. His ability to motivate players always astounded me and I tried during my coaching career to be as good as he was. He has more than a knowledge of history, he has a passion for it and loves to teach it. He was a natural at teaching.
We are separated now by a couple thousand miles, but we talk every week; sometimes twice a week. I miss it when we don't, I just love to hear his voice and hear what he is doing back in Illinois. Jim is a true story teller, and his tales of his grankids make me laugh.
I hope he has a Happy Birthday. He deserves it.
I love you, man....
Bro Doughnut
Mom and Dad were not supposed to have children, yet there he is, a real life April Fool's joke. God had to have a sense of humor. Then, when I showed up, that was even more cruel. Jim was born when mom thirty-eight, I arrived short of her forty-second birthday.
As we grew up, I know I must have aggravated him. Like the time he says I was pretending to snore, but wasn't ( I really was snoring) or the time he got so mad at me he threw a baseball at me and missed. Or the time he threw up in the window of our room and I had to clean it up. Then there was the time he let me take his new GTO and learn to drive a stick. He sat there quietly while I ground through the gears and hopped off of stops, and killed it a couple of times. When I was about 4, he tied me to a horse hitch up at our granny's house and tried to burn me at the stake! Luckily Granny caught him and put me out.
Jim has always been my hero. When he was young, he could hit a ball a mile, and knew sports inside and out. His ability to motivate players always astounded me and I tried during my coaching career to be as good as he was. He has more than a knowledge of history, he has a passion for it and loves to teach it. He was a natural at teaching.
We are separated now by a couple thousand miles, but we talk every week; sometimes twice a week. I miss it when we don't, I just love to hear his voice and hear what he is doing back in Illinois. Jim is a true story teller, and his tales of his grankids make me laugh.
I hope he has a Happy Birthday. He deserves it.
I love you, man....
Bro Doughnut
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Job Hunting
I am unemployable. Simply put, I apparently do not play well with others, so my days working seem to be numbered. Oh, I have tried getting a job, but I never get by the interview. I send out applications every day, contact people whom I have applied to, but no one wants to talk to me.
Ironic. I am the guy that everyone talked to before I retired. If they wanted something done, I was usually the one they asked. If someone had a question or concern, either I or Stan Daro were the ones to give those concerns voice. Now, according to some psychological tests I have taken for jobs, I do not play well with others. Go figure.
The tests also told me that I seem to have a big ego, am out for myself, fly by the seat of my pants and don't take to criticism well. Those are all qualities I did not know.
After perusing my resume, I asked myself what I was doing wrong on it. Aren't you supposed to put things on there that you did? If I leave out important things like teaching and coaching and being a radio DJ, what is left? I took off my years of service, that way no one can possibly exclude me because of my age. I buffed up my title of Student Services Coordinator to "Administrative Assistant". I removed DJ and replaced it with "On-Air Host" I took off the dates of my jobs, and my graduation from college. I perked up my degree in Theatre to "Communications".
Resume experts say that job seekers should write their cover letter to a specific person. But ads do not put who to reply to, they just have a little box that says "Apply Here." So who do I address my letter to? If I put "Dear Sirs" or "Dear Madams" or "Dear Sirs and Madams" I risk being labeled as not Politcally Correct. If I write, "To Whom It May Concern," my letter is too vague. What am I too do?
Ironic. I am the guy that everyone talked to before I retired. If they wanted something done, I was usually the one they asked. If someone had a question or concern, either I or Stan Daro were the ones to give those concerns voice. Now, according to some psychological tests I have taken for jobs, I do not play well with others. Go figure.
The tests also told me that I seem to have a big ego, am out for myself, fly by the seat of my pants and don't take to criticism well. Those are all qualities I did not know.
After perusing my resume, I asked myself what I was doing wrong on it. Aren't you supposed to put things on there that you did? If I leave out important things like teaching and coaching and being a radio DJ, what is left? I took off my years of service, that way no one can possibly exclude me because of my age. I buffed up my title of Student Services Coordinator to "Administrative Assistant". I removed DJ and replaced it with "On-Air Host" I took off the dates of my jobs, and my graduation from college. I perked up my degree in Theatre to "Communications".
Resume experts say that job seekers should write their cover letter to a specific person. But ads do not put who to reply to, they just have a little box that says "Apply Here." So who do I address my letter to? If I put "Dear Sirs" or "Dear Madams" or "Dear Sirs and Madams" I risk being labeled as not Politcally Correct. If I write, "To Whom It May Concern," my letter is too vague. What am I too do?
So, I guess I will have to just stay retired, work alone, and be my own boss. At least then I won't have to listen to or work with others, and the end result will be all about me.
Or I could write a best seller.... (look for gratuitous plug for novel here). [subliminal message on buying "Growing Up Doughnut" imbedded in message]
Doughnut
ps...If anyone knows of a radio station out in AZ that is looking for a good part timer, let me know.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Spare the bottom, Spoil the Child
When a person is three, they don't really have a sense of right and wrong. They just have a sense of have and don't have. This sense is a driving force behind learning right and wrong. Take for instance the idea of shoplifting. People shoplift because they want something, or because they need an adrenaline fix, or because they are either too cheap or can't afford something. The idea of getting caught is there, but if the perpetrator is not caught, then the sense of getting something for nothing, makes the chicks all free.
I learned at an early age to not steal, that it was wrong.
We all have bugged our parents to buy us things when we were young. While they were shopping, we might constantly grab things off the shelf and say, "I want this!" And the answer is usually no, but if we continue to ask, we might get our way. Sometimes, though, we get a good admonishment and "back in the day" we got a good paddling. (Can't do that now, CPS will come take the kids away because of abuse.)
In 1955, (yes, Virginia, there was life in 1955) my mom had taken me with her to the GRAB-IT-Here store in Hoopeston while she shopped for our Do-Nut Shop. I rode backwards in the cart while she shopped constantly pulling items off the shelf and putting them in the cart. She would say, "NO!" and take them out and put them on the shelf. What a great game we had. For some reason, she let me out of the cart to walk beside her as we went near the toy section.
I spied a balsa wood glider that I just had to have, and took it off the hook and gave it to her. She, of course, said, "NO!" and put it back on the shelf. As soon as her back was turned, I took the glider down again, and stuffed it down my pants leg! It was too long, and it covered my knee, so I pulled it up under my armpit. Unfortunately, it was still too long, but I was able to get it out of the store as long as I pretended I was playing "Chester" from the TV show GUNSMOKE.
The problem came when I tried to sit in the backseat, and could not sit up straight. Mom demanded that I sit up straight and when I told her I could not, she asked why. My stomach leaped up into my mouth, as I pulled the plane out of the leg of my pants. I was very pleased with myself. I had gotten something for free. Mom did not see it that way, and dragged me out of the car and back into the GRAB-IT-HERE.
She called over the store manager, explained what had happened, and made me apologize for taking the plane. After I had done that, she promptly pulled my pants and underwear down around my ankles and proceded to spank me stupid. She wailed on me and I wailed at the top of my lungs.
You know what? No one ever called the cops on her and I never stole anything again. I guess I was too afraid of getting my pants pulled down again in public.
Doughnut
I learned at an early age to not steal, that it was wrong.
We all have bugged our parents to buy us things when we were young. While they were shopping, we might constantly grab things off the shelf and say, "I want this!" And the answer is usually no, but if we continue to ask, we might get our way. Sometimes, though, we get a good admonishment and "back in the day" we got a good paddling. (Can't do that now, CPS will come take the kids away because of abuse.)
In 1955, (yes, Virginia, there was life in 1955) my mom had taken me with her to the GRAB-IT-Here store in Hoopeston while she shopped for our Do-Nut Shop. I rode backwards in the cart while she shopped constantly pulling items off the shelf and putting them in the cart. She would say, "NO!" and take them out and put them on the shelf. What a great game we had. For some reason, she let me out of the cart to walk beside her as we went near the toy section.
I spied a balsa wood glider that I just had to have, and took it off the hook and gave it to her. She, of course, said, "NO!" and put it back on the shelf. As soon as her back was turned, I took the glider down again, and stuffed it down my pants leg! It was too long, and it covered my knee, so I pulled it up under my armpit. Unfortunately, it was still too long, but I was able to get it out of the store as long as I pretended I was playing "Chester" from the TV show GUNSMOKE.
The problem came when I tried to sit in the backseat, and could not sit up straight. Mom demanded that I sit up straight and when I told her I could not, she asked why. My stomach leaped up into my mouth, as I pulled the plane out of the leg of my pants. I was very pleased with myself. I had gotten something for free. Mom did not see it that way, and dragged me out of the car and back into the GRAB-IT-HERE.
She called over the store manager, explained what had happened, and made me apologize for taking the plane. After I had done that, she promptly pulled my pants and underwear down around my ankles and proceded to spank me stupid. She wailed on me and I wailed at the top of my lungs.
You know what? No one ever called the cops on her and I never stole anything again. I guess I was too afraid of getting my pants pulled down again in public.
Doughnut
Thursday, March 25, 2010
I Gave Birth Today!
Exciting is not exactly the word, but it will do.
I sent the manuscript to the publisher today (Authorhouse.com) and it will soon be processed and ready for publishing. Move over Shakespeare! Watch out Twain! Dive Down Dickens! There's a new scribe in town.
A year of thinking, worrying, selecting, writing, rewriting, editing, worrying some more, and finally the culmination of all that hard work is now out there. I will be analyzed and critcized. Some will like it, some won't. But Growing Up Doughnut is like a dream come true. Women will understand more than men. Why?
Writing a book is kind of like giving birth. At first you have this idea that you would like to get pregnant (sometimes you don't, and it just happens after a few beers), then you have to really get down to the nitty gritty and you have many false starts. Then the waiting and the wondering if you did the right thing, if it will turn out ok, if it will make you happy, if it will be pretty or good looking. How will your other kids feel about the new baby? Will your husband still love you after the birth? Will you want another? Then, the pain starts and all those fears drop by the wayside as the doctor smack the little smooth bottom and that first cry is heard!
Now all there is to do is sit back, watch it grow. The child will have to be motivated and moved, coddled and stroked if it is to become something.
Excited? You bet! Scared? You bet! Remember, though, it takes a world to buy a book for it to be successful. Watch for Growing Up Doughnut to hit the shelves near summer. Take it on vacation! It is an easy read.
Doughnut
I sent the manuscript to the publisher today (Authorhouse.com) and it will soon be processed and ready for publishing. Move over Shakespeare! Watch out Twain! Dive Down Dickens! There's a new scribe in town.
A year of thinking, worrying, selecting, writing, rewriting, editing, worrying some more, and finally the culmination of all that hard work is now out there. I will be analyzed and critcized. Some will like it, some won't. But Growing Up Doughnut is like a dream come true. Women will understand more than men. Why?
Writing a book is kind of like giving birth. At first you have this idea that you would like to get pregnant (sometimes you don't, and it just happens after a few beers), then you have to really get down to the nitty gritty and you have many false starts. Then the waiting and the wondering if you did the right thing, if it will turn out ok, if it will make you happy, if it will be pretty or good looking. How will your other kids feel about the new baby? Will your husband still love you after the birth? Will you want another? Then, the pain starts and all those fears drop by the wayside as the doctor smack the little smooth bottom and that first cry is heard!
Now all there is to do is sit back, watch it grow. The child will have to be motivated and moved, coddled and stroked if it is to become something.
Excited? You bet! Scared? You bet! Remember, though, it takes a world to buy a book for it to be successful. Watch for Growing Up Doughnut to hit the shelves near summer. Take it on vacation! It is an easy read.
Doughnut
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Kissing your sister, and Open Microphones
The NIT is in full swing, Spring Training is half over, and we have a new Healthcare law. Talk about kissing your sister!
The Frightening Illini are struggling through wins in the NIT, the little sister to the NCAA tournament. There is talk that big brother wants to put these 32 teams in the Big Dance. If that happens, can you imagine who the NIT is going to get to go the prom with? The teams they have to choose from will be tantamount to choosing last on the playground; and we all know who gets chosen there. Guys like me who are slow, not very good, have no following, but are fun to have around because we usually come up with an occasional punchline. They should do what Illinois does in its basketball tournament. Invite everyone, seed the regionals and let the big boys pound on the little guys until someone comes out on top. Do away with conference tournaments and let everyone in to the prom.
I went to the Cubs/Royals game yesterday with my good buddy, LLoyd. We had a great time and sat with some very funny people from Kansas City. I know, not many people from Kansas are funny, but these folks were genuinely funny and had a keen understanding of just how bad their team is. So did we, and we exchanged some good natured barbs, and took shots at our own teams. The outcome of the game, though left us all with that, "Just kissed my sister/brother" feeling. A TIE!!! What the heck was that? Oh, sure, its spring training you say, and we don't want our millionares hurt...Babies....I paid 20 dollars for that ticket in the corner,and another 11 dollars for my dog and a beer... and I want a winner, not a bunch of whiners!
Finally, Joe Biden did something relevant that showed me he is a normal guy. Yesterday in the news conference called to watch the President sign the healthcare legislation, Joe said something that was caught on tape because his microphone was open. After introducing the Pres, he turned the Commander-in-Chief and said, "This is F----ing important!" Everybody is outraged he would use such language.
Me? I think it was fantastic. Someone in a higher office spoke the language of the people.
Doughnut
The Frightening Illini are struggling through wins in the NIT, the little sister to the NCAA tournament. There is talk that big brother wants to put these 32 teams in the Big Dance. If that happens, can you imagine who the NIT is going to get to go the prom with? The teams they have to choose from will be tantamount to choosing last on the playground; and we all know who gets chosen there. Guys like me who are slow, not very good, have no following, but are fun to have around because we usually come up with an occasional punchline. They should do what Illinois does in its basketball tournament. Invite everyone, seed the regionals and let the big boys pound on the little guys until someone comes out on top. Do away with conference tournaments and let everyone in to the prom.
I went to the Cubs/Royals game yesterday with my good buddy, LLoyd. We had a great time and sat with some very funny people from Kansas City. I know, not many people from Kansas are funny, but these folks were genuinely funny and had a keen understanding of just how bad their team is. So did we, and we exchanged some good natured barbs, and took shots at our own teams. The outcome of the game, though left us all with that, "Just kissed my sister/brother" feeling. A TIE!!! What the heck was that? Oh, sure, its spring training you say, and we don't want our millionares hurt...Babies....I paid 20 dollars for that ticket in the corner,and another 11 dollars for my dog and a beer... and I want a winner, not a bunch of whiners!
Finally, Joe Biden did something relevant that showed me he is a normal guy. Yesterday in the news conference called to watch the President sign the healthcare legislation, Joe said something that was caught on tape because his microphone was open. After introducing the Pres, he turned the Commander-in-Chief and said, "This is F----ing important!" Everybody is outraged he would use such language.
Me? I think it was fantastic. Someone in a higher office spoke the language of the people.
Doughnut
Monday, March 22, 2010
More Medical Bureacuracy?
The US House of Representatives made history yesterday when they passed a healthcare bill. I am sure the debate will rage on as it does not go into effect until 2014. Once the elections take place this year, we may once again find that they have not gotten things done as the new members will surely move to repeal it, if there is a Republican majority following the election.
The devisive legislation has pulled at the seam of the country. Liberals say we need it to help everyone get better health care; while conservatives say that it is too expensive and interferes with a persons rights. No one can really say how it is going to work for sure, until it is initiated and the bugs worked out. I have mixed emotions about it.
I am angry that there was legislation included that had nothing to do with healthcare. Student loan legislation has nothing to do with healthcare. Education money and the revision of NCLB have nothing to do with healthcare. But, these were items attached as amendments. No real mention of them, though.
If the government runs this bureaucratic nightmare the way they allow the VA in Prescott, AZ to run, then the whole idea is a sham. The Prescott VA seems to be a place where bureaucrats are more interested in covering their own butts than providing great service to veterans.
Case in point: My brother-in-law is trying to have surgery on a leg. The VA in Prescott has gone out of its way to prevent him from having this done. His "primary care " person ( a nurse practitioner) cancelled his surgery on her own without ever seeing him; she has overridden orders for prescriptions (cutting his pain medication in half) and did not even see him for months. When he called her to tell her that he was bleeding internally and was having blood pooling in his abdomen, her reply was that she "didn't have time for this". Two days later, he was taken to the hospital just hours from death. She constantly does not refill prescriptions on time, leaving him in constant pain due to an open wound. With service like this, it is no wonder the Prescott VA has one of the highest suicide rates for patients and former patients.
If he complains, he and those that advocate for him, are met with threats and put in positions where retribution is possible should they complain more.
If this is the way the government treats vets, what's to stop it from treatin you and I the same? We may be on the brink of a very scarey situation. And, with universal healthcare, why do we need the VA or Medicare? These two programs could be released and the people who use them could just go into the system. Or, how about this...We get rid of the VA and give all vets a card that allows them to go anywhere for their care, and the government will pick up the tab? Close down the VA hospitals and make them shelters, or turn them into regular hospitals?
We need to get ahead of the curve on this before 2014.
Doughnut
The devisive legislation has pulled at the seam of the country. Liberals say we need it to help everyone get better health care; while conservatives say that it is too expensive and interferes with a persons rights. No one can really say how it is going to work for sure, until it is initiated and the bugs worked out. I have mixed emotions about it.
I am angry that there was legislation included that had nothing to do with healthcare. Student loan legislation has nothing to do with healthcare. Education money and the revision of NCLB have nothing to do with healthcare. But, these were items attached as amendments. No real mention of them, though.
If the government runs this bureaucratic nightmare the way they allow the VA in Prescott, AZ to run, then the whole idea is a sham. The Prescott VA seems to be a place where bureaucrats are more interested in covering their own butts than providing great service to veterans.
Case in point: My brother-in-law is trying to have surgery on a leg. The VA in Prescott has gone out of its way to prevent him from having this done. His "primary care " person ( a nurse practitioner) cancelled his surgery on her own without ever seeing him; she has overridden orders for prescriptions (cutting his pain medication in half) and did not even see him for months. When he called her to tell her that he was bleeding internally and was having blood pooling in his abdomen, her reply was that she "didn't have time for this". Two days later, he was taken to the hospital just hours from death. She constantly does not refill prescriptions on time, leaving him in constant pain due to an open wound. With service like this, it is no wonder the Prescott VA has one of the highest suicide rates for patients and former patients.
If he complains, he and those that advocate for him, are met with threats and put in positions where retribution is possible should they complain more.
If this is the way the government treats vets, what's to stop it from treatin you and I the same? We may be on the brink of a very scarey situation. And, with universal healthcare, why do we need the VA or Medicare? These two programs could be released and the people who use them could just go into the system. Or, how about this...We get rid of the VA and give all vets a card that allows them to go anywhere for their care, and the government will pick up the tab? Close down the VA hospitals and make them shelters, or turn them into regular hospitals?
We need to get ahead of the curve on this before 2014.
Doughnut
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