taking fragments from the dusty attic

"Hi my name is Bill and it’s been 2 weeks since my last FF post."

Actually I missed two Fridays this month. Keep your FF post habit alive by visiting Mrs. 4444’s blog.

Isn’t everyone’s attic dusty? These fragments come from the attic of my mind but don’t worry the dust will not get through the internet.

My fragments are following a theme today. The older you get the more likely the theme of old age creeps into your day.

Source: sylviafromoverthehill.blogspot.com via lisleman on Pinterest

At what age should one stop hip-shaking on the dance floor?

Source: fabulesslyfrugal.com via lisleman on Pinterest

Learned that Power Rangers celebrated their 20th anniversary. That makes me feel old. This news came via the Macy’s day parade telecast. I wonder how long that tradition has left. I was annoyed with the scripting used by announcers. It was a live parade and you would think the coverage would not need to be scripted.

Source: afcsoac.blogspot.com via lisleman on Pinterest

Lisleman’s lame half-baked aging theory We notice certain ages more because the numbers are speed limits (40, 55, 60, 65).

We recently shopped a craft show.  My wife commented about all the Buicks in the parking lot. Funny how certain cars are associated with old people. We don’t own a Buick and never will. Do you think this will happen to the Toyota brand someday? Oh maybe it has already.

That old feeling comes when you discuss a newspaper article about baby boomers.  Boomers are having problems giving family heirlooms to their children because this next generation is not interested in heirlooms. One of the predictions from the article: 

“Over the next 15 years, Hall said, the estate sale market will be flooded with silver flatware, china and heavy, dark furniture that will quickly depreciate in value.” 

Do you think Ikea furniture will ever be handed down? Just think a hand-me-down that requires some assembly.

+^+Season Greetings simple divider+^+

Seniors can make the best commercials.  Remember the famous "where's the beef" ad?  I consider this one just as funny.

turning 6 again

Turning six decades in a few months. We all count in decades right? In addition to lower numbers, counting in decades lets you keep the digit for ten years. I’m ready to move on from being 5 now.

As we stumble down our puzzle path we gain wisdom and lose muscle tone. Everyone gets their own puzzle and yet we also share parts of the puzzle. Life is a strange puzzle because we never know when it’s complete or what shape it will take. Our own shapes change over the process and pieces we thought fit together well once need some adjustments or realignments.

The first time I was 6, my parents took me to the mountain. Here’s a picture of me on a chair lift in Gatlinburg TN. Had I known then that I would become a blogger I could have picked out a few great domain names, made a sign and held it up for the picture. Senseless thinking because you can’t put the future in a picture no matter how fancy your camera.  (I remember a "Twilight Zone" episode about that)

The year I turned 26 was a big year for me. I earned my BSEE and my USAF commission. It took a little longer to earn my BS but it was done without any student loans. The USAF commission is related to my not going into debt for my education.  Having even a short term plan helps when the puzzle pieces come at you quickly.

My 6 squared year found me with one the best work assignments in my engineering career. The project assignment was in Ireland. The family and I were offered the adventure of living near Limerick Ireland. I’ve posted about this before.

Not long after pushing past the 56 year mark, I took a short fun assignment involving a flight to Seattle. I tested the on-board wi-fi system on flight between Chicago and Seattle.  The trip idea sprang up 1 day before I took it.   A very last minute decision that added a nice small piece to my puzzle picture.  Planning is very useful but not always necessary.

We don’t get to know what next year's puzzle will be. I am sure that it will not be like the first time I was 6. I have more wisdom, less bounce and less puzzle pieces to move around now. Also, I was more adorable then. 

as always - lighten up, soak up the sun, if the glass doesn't look half full get a smaller glass.

Oh if you have any extra puzzle pieces when you're done leave them for me.  I'm only turning 6.

export your friday fragments

Looking for a cornucopia of fragments? Or like me, just a reason to write cornucopia. Well head over to Mrs. 4444's blog for the festival of fragments - Friday Fragments.

bowl with feeling 
One of the activities I did with the grandkids last week was bowling. I have fun bowling childhood memories. There was a period when I could break a 200 score with some regularity. I discovered that now I bowl with feeling. I felt it in my fingers, left knee, back and shoulder.

banana boat burning 
Alert recall watchers know about this already. It seems so odd. It deserves a mention here. Don’t use Banana Boat UltraMist Sunscreen. You may burst into flames. no kidding

never ever ever 
I’ve only watched a few “Breaking Bad” episodes but that was enough for me to get a laugh from this good parody.

Birthday One 
The youngest granddaughter celebrated birthday one at the beginning of November. She had some fancy pants. It had a big number 1 on the bottom. I thought number 2 was more appropriate for that area but hey I’m just a silly old papa.

A very common part of aging is your changing eyesight. An unappreciated blessing, this need for glasses, I believe. A natural excuse for not having the cleanest room. Of course, my wife has told me for years about dust/dirt I just didn’t see. 

(proofreading provided by C. F. Eyecare)

start this train

I’ve been listening to the John Mayer song, “Stop this Train” and realized maybe my train is on a dead end spur in some deserted industrial park. It seems to shake and rattle more than ever. Not sure what will get it rolling again.
 
My brother and I had a train set that took up one and half ping-pong tables (did you know a ping-pong table is a standard measurement in basements?). It was more fun when you could control the movement of your train.

I was in the first train car when I snapped this

There are times my train of thought is a trainwreck. 

Well before I derail this post, I’ll get back to that song.
 
According to the all-knowing wikipedia, John wrote this song during a time of, what he calls, "solitary refinement". He was in bed suffering from double kidney stones, and living in a hotel while finding a new residence. If so, those kidney stones generated interesting lyrics.

This young songwriter guitar player writes about things moving too fast (probably NOT referring to kidney stones) and being afraid of getting old because “I’m only good at being young”.
The line that had me rewinding and playing it over was:

Had a talk with my old man.

Said “Help me understand.”

He said, “Turn 68... you’ll renegotiate”

So hey conductor, can I renegotiate this ticket now?

no caution needed

I’m not hot but I appreciate being handled with care.

McDonald's morning coffee prompted a question

(after making a few assumptions first) 

At what age do you go from being hot and sexy to being cool and sweet? 

In other words when does your description more likely include “sweet old man” or “such a sweet lady” than those more sultry words?

Sexy is mostly in our heads. A definite age for this transition doesn’t exist. George Clooney (turned 50 last year) might still rate a sexy in his description. What about Robert De Niro? Bob’s age is approaching 69 and he doesn’t look bad in this 2011 picture.

from wikipedia

So this is all very subjective but I bet we can all agree the following picture is NOT sexy (maybe sick?).

old has character

Old gets a bad rap most of the time.  However, old pictures and their time travel features are prized.

Here's two old pictures found in a collection of our parents slides.  (oh for the digital youngsters that have never seen a slide - they were an inexpensive option for film processing.)

my Dad

little me

I found the following picture on the blog "The Nifty Fifties".  Even back in the 50's this lady was putting her web on instead of going on the web.

Find many more pictures from around the web by clicking over to Unknown Mami's SIMC feature - click the button below.

thanks AARP for the big 5-oh news

The first page I check in the AARP magazine is the 5-oh page. Guess who’s odometer is turning over to 50?

I always confuse her with Melanie Griffith (4 yrs older). 

Yes, Meg Ryan of “When Harry met Sally” will celebrate 50 in November. A little bit of searching the web confirmed that I am not the only one who confuses these two actresses. 

I would not make a good celebrity. The prying eyes of the public and media would push me deep into seclusion. Also the worry of nut-cases such as the killer of John Lennon for example would be a burden. 

That's not to say I would not enjoy meeting Meg Ryan. It would be fun to have lunch with her like Billy Crystal did.

Of course if you would like to spread some good PR for “A Few Clowns Short”, please do. I’m not worried about getting booked on any talk shows anytime soon.

washing Wednesday

Well it’s still Tuesday but don’t you wish you were a day early for washing?

Today my birthday presents came!

Such excitement - a new washer and dryer. As a bonus birthday treat I was allowed to install them. (saved about $90).

After connecting gas and water hoses, I was very ready to hit the start button.

Before I get ahead of myself, I should tell you what I’m dealing with. Pretty basic models from Whirlpool. The soon-to-be-scrap metal units were about 15 years old (not real sure since we never celebrated their birthdays). They were also Whirlpools.

My wife had heard horror (that’s too strong of an adjective, there was no blood or decapitated bodies in the stories) stories about the newer computerized units in which I believe you can play a DVD. No, she wanted simple turn the dial and push a button type (like me?). Also, she wanted top loading with agitator so that narrowed the selection. I like simple too but honestly the idea of maybe connecting the washing machine to the internet with Wi-Fi is sort of exciting.

Ok - back to “hit the start button”.

My first check I planned was to be water temperature selection, so I thought, I’ll just fill it with some water and check. Twisted the selector knob and push the button. Nothing. The old one would let you load while the water was filling. You could even watch the agitator churn the clothes. Hours of entertainment. The old one died a slow death because one day the agitator became very mellow and barely moved.

Hmm, I’m guessing new safety features on this one (damn government regulations) so I closed the lid. Click, Red Light. Oh, the lid is locked. Still no water.

DAMN NOW I need to open the instruction booklet and find the English section.

• Section - How to wash clothes
• Step 1 - sort and prepare clothes - OH c’mon, really, why not start with WEAR CLOTHES UNTIL DIRTY!
• Step 2 - add detergent
• Step 3 - add clothes - Now this is interesting, as mention above we would add detergent, clothes with the water filling in the past.

So at this point I decide I need a plan B. I’ll check the operation with some actual clothes. Add clothes, detergent, make selection, shut lid, and press start. Some noise but NO sound of water running. Double check hoses and shut off values. Everything looks good. Then I hear water filling - yes! It appears to have a long delay before the water starts.

But how will I know the water temperature matches the selection if it goes through the whole cycle? Look at manual - pick up manual - actually read some part of manual.

If you need to open the lid (they offer the explanation that you forgot an article of clothing - what if you are just plain curious does that count?) during an operation in which its locked you can push the start button and pause the operation. If you push and hold for 3 seconds you can abort the whole mission.

Houston we have a problem!

A few tries with the lid and pause button and I get the feel of it.  I own this machine now.

Finally I am master of the washing machine. I changed the temperature selection, paused operation, unlocked the lid and checked the water. I still could not check the water while it was flowing in, but it was still dripping.  I even flipped over to spin and had the water pumping out of there.

It does sound completely different than the old one too. Different mechanical sounds from the motor. Maybe its voice will change in a few years.

Then a strange sense of pride and responsibility came over me.

At that very moment, in my basement, I knew I was the only one of the household that knew the operational details of the washing machine. The gatekeeper of the washing machine. I would need to prepare a tutorial for others.

I hope that I can calmly explain the operation to my wife. Maybe I should consult our daughters the teachers for guidance.

Oh, I just realized I gave all my attention to the washer. The dryer is also a new Whirlpool but maybe back in its development an Apple engineer was involved because it just worked. No need to open the manual on that one.

another circus

can you spare a myth

What was the last myth you heard/read?

The TV show “Lost” maybe?

Batman?

Twilight?

But “Lost” was not called a myth. It was called a TV show. The ancient world didn’t have TV. They had myths but I bet they didn’t know they were myths.

We have myths today but because of our modern communication systems we call them novels, movies, comics, government policy, reality TV, etc.

Anyone know of a blog of myths?

I just finished reading up on the myth of Inanna, the Sumerian queen of heaven and earth, and her descent into the underworld. This story comes from clay tablets dated around 2000 B.C. Can you imagine texting with clay tablets? What if the I-pad was made of clay? I guess you could write something and then throw the tablet in their direction.

I had never known of any Sumerian queens. Dairy queen is the one I’m most familiar. I had a strange path getting to this myth. I was looking at a science page over on the PBS site and clicked over to a page on the planet Venus. Scholars (don’t you wonder if they are just wild guesses?) believe Inanna represented Venus.

Suggest you look-up this Inanna chick. The story tells me that things have not changed much in 4000 years. Larry King probably knows this already.

Here’s the A Few Clowns Short version of Inanna -

Inanna decides to vacation in the underworld. She pimps herself up with jewelry, nice threads, even mascara. Did you realize mascara goes back to the ancient world? Eye makeup was big in Egypt, but this takes place before Cleo and all that pyramid power stuff.

So Inanna was most likely this hot looking babe because they wrote about her. Turns out she has this jealous sister (things don’t change over 1000’s of years) who gives the gatekeepers special instructions for Inanna’s entry. Gatekeepers - think TSA agents before scanners.

So these TSA gatekeepers (seven gates ? did the author play craps? I don’t know) take something off Inanna with each gate passage. By the time she finally gets in the underworld, she’s naked. Naked in the underworld - sounds like CSI. (maybe this was porn in clay? - if I kept up the guesses I’ll be a scholar)

Ok so I guess she has a look around and decides to head home. I understand that people just don’t get to leave the underworld (modern airplanes or that TV series Lost). She strikes a deal that someone can be exchanged for her and she goes back with a bunch of demons tagging along (like a Lady Gaga music video).

As she meets her friends, the demons keep asking if this person or that person should be exchanged.  They ask about her hairdresser.  She refuses to exchange anyone until

(this is the part that never changed over 4000 years)

they come upon her husband.

He is found lounging around under a fruit tree enjoying himself. Totally clueless that his wife, Inanna, was stuck in the underworld. He didn’t miss her at all. Big mistake on his part. The demons haul him away to the underworld.

This could be the next reality TV show.

The blog world I travel has a few regular features tied to days. Friday Fragments, One Word Wednesday, Sundays in my City, Saturday Sampling, etc. So I was thinking, how about Myth Mondays? What do you think?

You know, it would combined great with Margarita Mondays. A few margaritas and anybody can tell a myth.

(Disclaimer - to the best of my knowledge I’m not Sumerian, so no real Sumerian is associated with any scholarly statement I have made.)

tin toys

The top picture (motorcycle) is from a visit to the Japan exhibit at Epcot in Florida. The second picture is from wired.com. Here's a link to more pictures at wired.

Wind-up tin toys remind me of a simpler time.