What Would Jimmy Do?

If you watch, listen or read the news, it’s all about Hurricane Florence. I’ve noticed a couple of times that Florence has been referred to as a cyclone — I don’t remember that term being used for a storm in the Atlantic Ocean before, but I figured that hurricane rules have probably changed like everything else. I wasn’t aware or any real difference in a hurricane and a cyclone, but thought I’d check.

My extensive research, once again, proved me correct.
The only difference between a hurricane and a cyclone (and a typhoon) is the location of the storm. If the weather disturbance (storm) occurs in the Atlantic or Northeast Pacific, it’s called a hurricane. If it occurs in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean, it’s a cyclone and if the storm is in Northwest Pacific, it’s called a typhoon.

All these storms get “names” arrived at by a strict procedure established by the World Meterological Organization. For Atlantic hurricanes, there is a list of male and female names that are used on a six-year rotation. The only time that there is a change is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate.

So hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are all the same. Of course I grew up with tornados, which is another whole subject. They don’t name tornadoes — well, at least they’re not called anything that would be appropriate for mixed company.
So keep your eye on Florence and “hunker down.” Just remember that after a hurricane, comes a rainbow.
— 30 —

Our oldest car is 15 years old. But it has low mileage and looks like new except for the normal dings from car doors, rocks, etc. But a few days ago, it got dinged in the rear by another car. From a distance, you can barely notice it, but the estimate to fix it was over a thousand dollars.

That got me to thinking…. about cars and costs and stuff like that. In 1972 we bought a brand new Corvette. Shortly after we bought it we started preparations to move to Manila in the Philippine Islands.
The headlights on Corvettes were/are “hidden” until they’re turned on and then they pop up to reveal the lights. From the day we bought the car, one of the headlights would creep open if the car was parked for an extended period — like overnight. Every morning when we approached the car, it looked like it was winking at us — or was hung-over after a bad night. We tried, and tried, and tried to get it fixed at the dealership with no luck.

We drove across country on our way to the Philippines and shipped the car to Manila from Los Angeles. On our cross-country trip we stopped in Oklahoma to visit my parents and my Dad’s favorite “best mechanic in the world” looked at the car and told us that he needed to order parts and a good part of the car need to be dis-assembled to install the new parts to correct the headlight issue. Since we only had a couple of days, we just didn’t have time for this “extensive repair.” So we drove to Los Angeles with the creeping headlight.

The car arrived in the Philippines a few weeks after we did. It turns out that when the car was being unloaded from the ship, it was dropped on the dock — I don’t think it fell very far, maybe ten feet or so. But it broke a switch that allowed the car to start only in neutral or park and somehow poked a hole in the muffler. Of course it still “winked” at you every morning.
We took to car to the local Chevrolet dealer to be repaired. The mechanics were very excited because they had never worked on a Corvette before. They were told to replace the switch and muffler and to take a look at the headlight — but not to spend too much time on the headlight as it was apparently a very complicated problem.
We got a call the next day that the car was ready. When I went to pick it up, the bill was something like 100 Pesos — I don’t remember the exchange rate at the time, but the total bill was less than twenty dollars. I asked them what they’d done… they “fixed” the switch, “patched” the muffler and took care of the headlight problem. I asked the about the headlight problem and they said they only needed to clean a valve.

Well, I figured with those kind of “repairs” the car would constantly be back to the shop or it would continue to have problems. We were in Manila a little over three years and we never had another problem with the Corvette with the exception of having to replace the battery a couple of years after we got there.
So much for high-tech cars and ace mechanics. Philippine mechanics still repaired cars instead of just replacing parts. Wonder how much it would cost to have our current cars’ dings repaired in Manila?
— 30 —

A few days ago, I indicated that Emily had started the school year already and mentioned how different the classroom layout and facilities are today compared to when I went to school.
It’s not just the physical environment that’s changed over they years — all sorts of things that we, and even our children, took for granted, aren’t permitted any more.

I remember that on, or around, Valentines Day we always had a class party and you always hoped that you’d get a valentine from someone special, even if you never told anyone there was anyone special. Well, based on what I’ve heard, kids don’t have to worry about that anymore… some schools have banned the holiday completely and those that do allow it require students to bring valentines for everybody in the class, or no one at all. I’m not sure if this is good or bad… at least no one gets their feelings hurt anymore. Lots of schools don’t allow any holiday celebrations anymore — or if they do, they have to be “generic” holidays.
I remember that if we were good (or lucky) we got sent outside to bang the blackboard/chalkboard erasers together to clean them. That always created clouds of chalk dust and a lot of coughing. (Maybe that was a punishment, not a reward as I remember it.) Anyhow, that doesn’t happen anymore, what with chalkboards giving way to white or “smart” boards.
We used to send cupcakes to school for everyone when one of our kids had a birthday. I’m told that many schools no longer allow that. Apparently, too many kids today are obese or have food allergies and it creates a potential “legal” problem for the schools. I’ve heard that some schools still allow certain non-allergenic and/or “healthy” treats…
When someone did something “bad” (I’m pretty sure “bad” had a different meaning when I went to school than it does today.) We were told to, “go stand in the corner.” Most everyone my age has spent some time in “the corner.” Today, standing in the corner is considered to be cruel, and maybe even corporal punishment.
When I went to school, I almost always walked — even when school was located on the other side of town. If the weather was really bad, I often got a “ride” with my parents or one of my friends’ parents, but usually — I walked. Very few kids walk to school today. I guess there’s a lot of reasons why they don’t, but nowadays parents can be charged with “unsubstantiated neglect” for letting their kids walk. The news recently ran a story about the police being called because a little girl walked her dog around the block without adult supervision. So, i guess if I had kids in school today, I’d be a little overcautious about letting them walk, too.
I took “shop” when I went to school. My sister took “home ec.” That’s because that was what you did. Home Ec was for girls, shop was for boys. I’m not sure, but I’d guess that both these subject are still offered in school, but I’m sure they’re both open to both boys and girls. That’s a good thing…
When I was little, we always made mother’s day and father’s day gifts in school. Usually Father’s Day gifts were ashtrays — shaped like turtles, or “something.” Needless to say, that doesn’t happen anymore —as far as I know, smoking is not allowed in (or near) any school.
One form of punishment we survived while in grade school was writing lines on the blackboard because we did something wrong — like we had to write “I won’t do that anymore” maybe 100 times. That form of punishment seems to have fallen out of favor with teachers, or maybe it’s considered somehow damaging to the student….
My homework papers were always marked up pretty good with a red pen. Well, some schools now require the teacher to use green, or some other color to make corrections to students’ work. Red ink is now considered too “confrontational” in nature.
I don’t think this is universal, but it’s true for at least one school — they’ve done away with the practice of students raising their hands to answer questions. Really!! A letter the school sent to the parents stated, “We find that the same hands are going up and as such the teaching does not challenge and support the learning of all.”

Well, I got a little carried away… we all know that things in general, not just schools have changed. Maybe it’s for the better — maybe not. I wonder if someday our grandkids will long for the “good old days” when you could even have a snowball fight on school grounds without fear of causing an injury or hurt feelings…
— 30 —

A number of years ago, when I was working for the government, we received a memo stating that any gratuity we received while on official business was the property of the government and not to be used for personal gain.
This was about the time the airlines were beginning their “frequent flyer” programs that included points that could be used for free tickets, etc.
Most of us traveled quite a bit and some people were upset that they wouldn’t be getting what they were “entitled to.” My personal view was, and is, that the government was paying for the ticket, so any benefits should go to them. Those rules changed so often over the years, I have no idea what the policy might be today.

Anyhow, a few days after receiving the memo, I flew to San Francisco and rented a car from National Car Rental. At the time National was having a promotion to increase business by offering free gifts with each transaction. After checking in at the rental counter and completing the paperwork, they handed me my rental agreement — and an umbrella. It was bright green with the National emblem on it. I pushed it back and told them that I couldn’t accept the gift because I was traveling on official business using government funds. They pushed it back to me and said that that didn’t matter to them and they were under instructions to give one to everyone that rented a car. We repeated that routine a few times and finally I gave up and left with the umbrella.

When I returned from my trip, I filled out all my accounting paperwork and sent it to the travel people — with the umbrella attached.
Within a few days I got a phone call asking why there was an umbrella included with my travel accounting paperwork. I explained that I was following the directions in the memo that we all received that indicated to me that the umbrella belonged to the government. The travel people told me they had no mechanism to handle umbrellas and that I should just keep it. I once again explained that I couldn’t — the memo I received clearly stated that it belonged to the government.

Over the next couple of weeks I received numerous phone calls from offices that I never even knew existed, asking why the umbrella was being sent to them and what I expected them to do with it. I always responded that I was just complying with the memo, which by this time I had almost committed to memory in its entirety, including the originating office, date, who signed it, etc.

Three or four months after submitting the umbrella to the “government” it came back to me via inter-office mail. It must have had 30 or 40 “routing slips” attached to it… most of them said, “what is this and why it being sent to me?” or, “why and I getting this?” or, “what am I supposed to do with this?”
Well, you get the idea — there obviously was no mechanism in place to support gratuities we received while on official business that rightly belonged to the government.

I just gave up on the umbrella and hung it in the coat room to become the “office umbrella” in case anyone got stuck and needed one. The umbrella was there a couple of days before someone stole it.
The point is that there is no point… when you write a blog about nothing, you don’t need a point
— 30 —

I caught myself saying, “teed off” the other day — and — I wasn’t playing golf. I used the term because something had annoyed me for some reason. If I had been playing golf and just hit my golf ball from a tee when starting a hole, I’d have teed off. But the fact that something had just annoyed me that had nothing to do with golf, I wondered why I was “teed off.”

I think this is an idiom… which (I think) are expressions or figures of speech that stand for something other than what is being said. I know you’re expecting my extensive research to kick in about now and for me to offer up a plausible explanation of why we sometimes say we’re teed off when we’re angry, disgusted, or annoyed. But I’m really not in the extensive research mood today… I think I’ll just sit here and see if any other idioms for anger pop into my head.
I’ve heard of going postal, a bad hair day, blowing your stack, and biting someone’s head off. Then there’s hot under the collar, up in arms, bent out of shape, fit to be tied, doing a slow burn and seeing red. I’ve heard that people go off the deep end or go up the wall or fly off the handle or blow their top and sometimes they scream bloody murder.

I guess if you’re teed off, ticked off or fly off the handle for some reason, you just need to say something — and I have to admit, using terms like these that don’t have anything to do with the situation is better than cursing. I remember growing up in Oklahoma, to break myself of using “bad words” when angry, I used names of cities or towns in Oklahoma — like Tishomingo, Tahlequah, Anadarko, Eufaula, or Chicasha….
For some reason, when we’re frustrated, we need to express that feeling verbally — I think it doesn’t matter too much what you say…..
— 30 —

Since the news of the scandal in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania broke, there’s been a lot of talk about reforming/modernizing…
Way back in the 60s and into the 70s, a Mass called the Folk Mass was somewhat popular in the Catholic Church. I don’t remember the Mass being any different than a regular Mass, except for the music. When we attended the Folk Masses, there were usually a small group of musicians that almost always included a guitar or two — I remember there were often other instruments like clarinets, pianos and those things that you shake and they make a noise. I think I remember some of the music being more contemporary, but a lot (most) of it was just “church music.” Anyhow, I enjoyed them and when we had a choice, usually opted for the “Folk Mass.”
Obviously these Masses were a passing fad. I haven’t been to one or heard of one for a number of years. I wonder what happened to them?

I didn’t become a Catholic until I was in my thirties, so keep in mind that I’m not really very knowledgeable about the history of the Catholic Church. I have heard that before Vatican II, Catholics generally did not sing in church. Any singing that did occur was normally done in Latin. If I looked at the right sources, Vatican II was convened from 1962 to 1965. That just happened to be the time that folk music was the most popular.
If I’ve got my facts straight, Pope Paul VI authorized the Mass to be said in vernacular languages, and he also encouraged Catholics to sing at Mass. It seems that as part of this “revolution,” in order to appeal to more young people, someone came up with the idea of the “Folk Mass.”

I’m not sure just how popular Folk Masses ever became, but it doesn’t seem like they were around for long. Folk music went out of vogue and rock music more or less took over….I never heard of, or attended, any “Rock Masses” but there may have been some.

I kind of think it’s a shame that Folk Masses didn’t last. I agree that the Catholic Church needs to clean up some of its act and modernize — maybe something along the lines of Folk Masses could be a part of that…. I haven’t heard anything bad about them — at least not yet. Just a thought….
— 30 —

Our Number One (first born) grandchild started school a few days ago — third grade already!
We’ve been fortunate to attend “grandparents day” at her school the past couple of years and I was thinking the other day about sitting in her classroom and looking around — how classrooms have changed since I went to school.

Of course we had wooden desks with inkwells arranged in rows with the teacher’s desk up front, but lots of other physical changes (besides the seating) to her classroom environment struck me as well. There aren’t any more chalkboards (we used to call them blackboards) — now some have “whiteboards,” but a lot have “smart boards” where both humans and computers can write/draw on them. We used to always have a world globe in our classroom… of course that was before Google Maps — and — countries used to keep the same name, sometimes for years. We also had pull down maps (like a window shade) usually mounted above the chalkboard. And to sharpen our pencils, every room had a pencil sharpener — mounted on the wall and you had to crank it by hand.

Times have changed…. Emily probably wouldn’t recognize half the things in our classrooms — and — to be honest, I don’t recognize a lot of things in her room.
Good Luck in third grade. Em.
— 30 —

I’ve heard it said that democracy is an experiment. I’ve also heard it said that life is an experiment.
And I’ve heard that they both ultimately end in failure. When life ends — we say, “that’s life.” When democracy ends — we say, “that’s history.”

Life is too deep a subject for me today, so I thought I’d go down the democracy road…
Democracy is a form of government that seems to have served the United States well for over 250 years. Obviously, it’s far from perfect and has gone through some rough times over the years. I think chaos best describes the current state of democracy in the US today.

If what “they say” is true — that democracy is an experiment that ultimately ends in failure, is our form of government doomed? Maybe the chaos so prevalent today is really just a sign of “old age” or the “end-of-life” for democracy. Maybe it’s not as nimble as it was a hundred years ago, maybe some of its brain cells are dying…

Until recently, the United States was a world leader in just about any category you could name — except maybe crime, violence, corruption… those things you don’t want to be near the top in…
I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way the American people lost their “say” in our political/government system. I should clarify that the “typical” American lost their say — people categorized as millionaires or billionaires not only have their “say,” they pretty much run the political/government system and therefore, the country. The three branches of government set up to assure checks and balances and, for sure, the “will of the people” are rapidly disappearing. When you think of the phrase, “We, the People,” it seems like the “we” has become more “they.” And, not to be overly critical, or to place the blame, but today “we” has become “him.”
Most Americans are not getting “more,” they’re getting “less” — and — have less say about what they’re not getting.

So our government is getting old, it’s dysfunctional and kind of broken. It may even be beyond repair… but we must, as the British say, “keep calm and carry on.” As human beings, we become old, a bit broken and dysfunctional, but we carry on. We should do the same for our government — carry on. For all our generation, that experiment of life will sooner or later be referred to as, “that’s life.” We should strive to make the best of what comes our way so that our children, grandchildren and their children and grandchildren don’t ever get to… “that’s history.”
There’s a line in Les Miserables something like, “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” We should choose to be optimistic — it feels better.
— 30 —

We visited Dave and Chassie yesterday, and as always, I’m amazed how the art of raising children has changed. I admit that I’ve become a little old fashioned in the way I do things and am becoming slower to pick up on the newer techniques.

Yesterday, Locke had just eaten a cookie or cupcake or something that turned his tongue bright blue. Dave said, “Hey, your tongue is blue!” Locke didn’t believe it. Now when we were raising kids, my response would have been, “Go look in the mirror!” That’s what I expected Dave to say.
But to show you how out of touch I am, here’s what happened.

Dave told Locke to stick out his tongue, then he pulled out his phone, took a picture and showed it to Locke. I’m not sure why that fascinated me, but it did. I never in a million years would have thought of that… I’d have looked for a mirror.
I really don’t know how the younger generation could function without “smart?” phones.
And I feel sorry for people that make mirrors…. their future is doomed.
— 30 —

Today is the 13th of August. It’s kind of a special day. I know, you’re thinking that it’s special because on this date in 1960, the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place (via “Echo I”)
I agree that that’s significant, but the reason it’s special around here is that it’s my Dad’s birthday — and — it’s also the day the Williamsons (Claire and Jimmy) first went out together.
So you may want to mark your calendars and celebrate with us every year. I’m sure that before long when you look up “significant events occurring on Aug 13th,” it’ll include “First Date.”
Cheers to us…..
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