Doctor (John) Robert(s)

I found my old Beatles disc and imported the song into ITunes.

Now I can sing along and say "John Roberts" for every occurence of "Doctor Robert".

I feel much better now.

I think this line is the best

Take a drink from his special cup, John Roberts

Also I posted on IndyScribe

regarding this article:


Set in Indiana: Close to Home

to me the picture looks like it came out of some cheesy video game. Perhaps the "midwest module" for Grand Theft Auto.

it doesn't look real. Yes, I recognize the skyline but the perspective is odd. Too low to be shot from a helicopter but too high to be shot from a roof. Also the cars look like matchboxes.

from the Hollywood perspective it's prolly easier to just to grab a stock image of downtown Indy and autogenerate some sort virtual suburban reality. Why pay someone to drive out here set up equipment and make a real shot when you can fake it.

my two cynical cents worth...

JCK

ein Zufall? a coincidence

very strange.

I was watching ESPN classic tuesday morning. Normally I would be locked into Washington Journal on C-span but I've gotten pretty burned out on the whole John Roberts things. I just keep hearing that Beatles song "Doctor Robert" from in my head.

I just dug up the lyrics, I think they should play the tune at the start of the hearings....I did change a few things around.


Ring my friend, I said you call John Roberts
Day or night he'll be there any time at all, John Roberts
John Roberts, you're a new and better man
He helps you to understand
He does everything he can, John Roberts

If you're down he'll pick you up, John Roberts
Take a drink from his special cup, John Roberts
John Roberts, he's a man you must believe
Helping everyone in need
No one can succeed like John Roberts

Well, well, well, you're feeling fine
Well, well, well, he'll make you... John Roberts

My friend works for the national health, John Roberts
Don't pay money just to see yourself with John Roberts
John Roberts, you're a new and better man
He helps you to understand
He does everything he can, John Roberts

Well, well, well, you're feeling fine
Well, well, well, he'll make you... John Roberts

Ring my friend, I said you'd call John Roberts
Ring my friend, I said you'd call John Roberts
John Roberts

here's a link about the real Dr Roberts

http://aboutthebeatles.com/song-doctor_robert.html

damn, I really want to hear that song right NOW! and you can't get Beatles songs off the Itunes store because of that bickering over the "Apple" trademark. I prolly have it on CD somewhere but that would involve a major basement reconaissance effort which I'm not up for right now...

anyway back to the ESPN classic

they were replaying a game between Pittsburg and Houston back in 1978 which I'm sure I watched as an 11 year old growing up in Columbus, OH. I always remembered the place kickers because my Dad was always correcting the pronounciation of their names as most of them were European soccer players. Toni Fritsch, an Austrian soccer player was the Houston place kicker and when I saw the old footage I remembered the name immediately. And tonight I was out parsing the Wiki obituaries and Herr Fritsch died of a sudden heart attack yesterday in front of a restaraunt in Vienna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Fritsch

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Fritsch

exciting...not!

Sunday

two cups of weak coffee (1/4th caffeinated 3/4th decaf)

Monday

two diet cokes

I went through my 7th grade yearbook and tried to look some people up that I knew.

I assume most of the girls got married and changed names and people like "Tim Taylor" are pretty hard to track down; too many matches

however some of the ethnic names yielded results. not many people in central Ohio have Polish surnames so I did find a few.

no, I didn't call anybody up.

coffee update

Friday:

one small coffee from the Gevalia machine at work

2 Diet cokes (12 oz each)

Saturday

20 oz Diet Coke split into two "feedings" {12 oz around 9 AM, 8 oz at 1 pm)

the great caffeine chill-out?

trying to reduce the amount of caffeine I take in.

i waited until 9 am to have my first cup of coffee today.

i will try to reduce my consumption over the weekend.

it's nice to have a standard measure to go against. when I'm at home it's hard to gauge how strong the coffee is due to the different blends we have.

thus I might switch to 12oz measures of Diet Coke to better gauge my detoxification efforts.

need to get motivated

I'm planning on one day finishing my short story "Days of Grease and Angst" but before it is finished I have to finish it.

I'm planning on posting it out here (but only when it is finished):

Critique Circle

Also on the to do list:

C-Span essay contest:

Viewer Calls

Wrap the Shuttle in Duct Tape!

I was listening to this morning's Washington Journal program over the Internet tonight. It only took 20 minutes to get to the "call of the day". The topic of discussion was the space shuttle and what to do with it.

A caller from Millersville, MD suggested a fix:

"... once they spray or paint or whatever they do to that foam, wrap that entire tank in duct tape, that holds a lot of things, that's just might hold that foam in place."

Will you miss me when I'm gone?

Sometimes I'm just drawn to a book by the title.

I saw this book at my Mom's apartment when I was visting for the 4th of July and started it reading it.

Will you miss me when I'm gone

I had not even heard of the Original Carter Family though I knew of June Carter Cash.

I read the book which led to another I-Tunes purchase.

Carter Family RCA Legends

Usually you listen to some music then you read about the group. Here I did the opposite.

Once again, on the IndyScribe tip

Here's a comment I posted to a recent submission

I guess I'm a "reacter" or is it "reactor"

I can't do anything until I see something I have to respond to.

If only I could get this strategy to get me to finish my short story.


Indy Scribe

"I know the wall well. It's not that far from my house.

One of my favorite quotes was "Don't Fall, Prey."

The College Ave "mini-riot" you refer to occurred duing the summer of '95. I remember the date because it was the same year a disturbance broke out at Deer Creek when deadheads stormed the fences at the concert facility when they couldn't get tickets. Jerry Garcia died about a month later.

The whole deal was weird. The Spring before the riot, I remember reading about the agressive tactics of the Indianapolis Police Department in the New York Times. Not a word of this program was mentioned in the Star. Once the disturbance happened the intense police presence was brought to light here locally.

so much for zero tolerance policies..."

i read it on Indy scribe

Carmel, a city on the Schmooze

here were my comments

I laughed, I cried. The article was one of the funniest pieces I've read on the Internet in some time.

Does Carmel have a slogan. Downtown Indy's has to be one of the worst "Amazingly Always New". What does that mean anyway? Is the downtown area torn down every night and re-built before sunrise the next day?

Actually I'd rather have a downtown that's "Modestly Sometimes Old". Isn't that part of the attraction of going downtown? To see something historic, buildings that have withstood the test of time.


Also, what is Indy's "Wholesale District"? Are they planning to put in a Sam's Club or Costco down there. I've been downtown many times since the mall opened and yet I've never engaged in any "wholesaling" whilst in the "Wholesale District". How does one participate in said activity?

I wonder how much was paid to whatever marketing/PR firm that came up with "Amazingly Always New"?

Paul Klee makes it a major news item on the Yahoo Home Page

Paul Klee

What the article does not mention that he became a Swiss citizen after his death. Apparently the Swiss did not want to claim him in life, but wanted his legacy after his death. Though he was born in the capital, Bern he was not Swiss. As his father was German and mother was Swiss, he had to take German citizenship. Were the roles reserved he would have become Swiss the day he was born.

He does hold the time honored distinction of being kicked out of Germany by the Nazis. Had he been allowed to stay it's hard to say what is legacy would have been.

BERN, Switzerland - When Paul Klee applied for Swiss nationality after fleeing Nazi Germany, his request was refused because it was feared that if his art should "take root in Switzerland, it would insult real art and cause good taste to deteriorate."


Sixty-six years later, the work of the painter — now considered one of the greatest modern artists — has found a permanent home in Bern, the Swiss capital that finally accepted him. The Zentrum Paul Klee, which opens Monday, will house over 4,000 pieces of Klee's creations — one of the world's largest collections from a single artist.

Paul Klee

I am an Internet genius!!!

no, not really

but 14 months after creating this site and 12 years in the Information Technology industry, the last 5 with a dot com, I actually have a site that can be googled.

I was looking at one of my traffic reports listing a Whopping 247 vistors since December 11,2004 and saw google as one of my referers.

Someone one at the Italian version of Google (http://www.google.it/search) (Cerca con Google) had done on search on "Clint Eastwood LAUREL" and my site popped up and they went to it.

can't get enough of the "Span"!!!!

The blogging continues

Yes, I'm probably one of the few people out there who will actually pay to download author interviews from C-Span. But I've found a gold mine in the I-Tunes "Music Store".

Just do a search on "Brian Lamb" and you will see 104 "songs" in the search results. Yet, these are not songs of a musical nature but the product of the genius that is known as Brian Lamb.

After my near miss (at least I think I was close) at the Jeopardy try-outs in Chicago I spent a lot of time studying US Presidents. So I downloaded author interviews Mr Lamb had made with Presidential scholars. At 1 hour a piece, it's a quicker way to assimilate info then to read the whole book. So I did learn a good deal about McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, James K Polk, Warren Harding, Franklin Pierce.

I highly recommend these "songs".

My latest foray has been into 20th century Soviet history. Of course there is a limitless supply of literature on Stalin. C-Span was kind enough to record not one but two hours of interview with the author of this book:

The Court of the Red Tsar

I checked out the book from the library ( I need to save some money after all those I-Tunes downloads). It's pretty interesting but the infinite cast of characters, intriguing and subterfuge makes "Anna Karenina" look like a nursery rhyme.

Stay tuned.

It was almost over 20 years ago today...

I graduated from the Columbus Alternative High School (CAHS)

It was a city-wide high school drawing attendance from all corners of the Columbus Public School district which at that time had around 80,000 students.

My high school experiences were probably no different than most they we did have a few quirks at CAHS

# No regular classes on Wednesdays. Instead we had Co-Curricular day which allowed us to have internships at various government agencies, the Ohio State University or any business that would sponsor us. One of my friends got an internship at a record store on campus. My internships were usually involving computers so there was some educational aspect to them.

# No sports teams. If you wanted to play sports you had to do that at your "home" school. I knew few people who did that as our school did not attract many athletic types and transportation to and from schools would be problematic.

Cryin' Joe Ryan

I don't know why I recall this suddenly today but I thought of some old elementary school memories from Westgate School.

We had a real large school yard, most of it grass. We'd play all sorts of games out there, most of them I can't recall. We did have some games of touch football that would devolve into tackle if none of the teachers were around.

One kid I'll always remember was Joe Ryan. He was one of the shorter kids at school, had a huge mole about 1 inch west of his lip and usually wore a winter hat regardless of the weather. No matter what game we played by the end of recess Joe would be in tears complaining that someone had cheated him or hurt him on the field. Next the teachers would get involved and whatever game we had played would be banned indefinitely.

About 5 years later in high school my friend Quinton and I would toss the frisbee back in forth in my side yard after shoool. It was a favorite after school past time and all the events, tragedies and comedies of the day would be hashed out between throws. One day our "primary" frisbee got stuck in a huge pine tree and I had to head back into the garage to retrieve an older frisbee I had stuck in the box long ago. I pulled out the faded red disc tattered along the edges and pitched back out to my friend.

After a few rounds of back and forth my friend asked me "Who is Joe Ryan?". He tossed the frisbee back to me and flipped it over. On the back in indelible magic marker was printed "Joe Ryan". I hadn't thought about him in years. I have no idea how I came into posession of his frisbee, I don't think he'd ever been to my house. I hadn't seem him since elementary school and had no idea where he'd gone.

I just hoped he wouldn't be upset with me if he knew I had his frisbee.

people moving

My Mom is moving to Westminster Terrace in Columbus next week. We are heading there this weekend to pick up some furniture.

In the yard next door to us is a large construction dumpster. Apparently renovations are under way. Last night I could hear a !clunk! about every two minutes or so. According to Michael down the street the house needs a new roof and a multitude of other improvements.

the weekend that was

I went to Pilates class on Saturday. It was pretty intense, I don't know if Pilates is that demanding or I'm that out of shape.

I started reading "The Broom of the System" by David Foster Wallace. I haven't read any fiction for a while. The last book I read was "The Kite Runner" which was also a book club selection.

I've also started memorizing the list of Presidents. I can go from William Henry Harrison to G.W Bush.

Mary has been working on painting the bedroom and I've helped here and there.

Jeopardy Tryout, Chicago,IL April 2005

Went to the Jeopardy tryout at Navy Pier last Saturday morning.
I left home around 7:45 and had parked the car right off Lake Shore Drive by 11 am.
There were about 60 people trying out and only 5 made the cut.
I'll try again next year.

I'm been listening to some Booknotes interview from Brian Lamb of C-Span. So far I've gotten through interviews regarding T Roosevelt, McKinley and Harding. The Harding interview was entertaining. I think Lamb knew more about the subject than the author, John Dean of Watergate fame. At times Lamb would ask questions about Harding, Dean would stumble and stammer and then Brian Lamb would provide the answer to his own question.



changes in the neighborhood

We have a new neighbor at last, Hooray.
She's not moving in until June after some repairs are done on the house. It's been vacant since Mr Stuey split last October. The "for sale" sign is still in front and the realtors lock remains on the door. She owns a dog that looks like Rex and she seems a bit friendlier that the past residents. My strongest memories of Mr Stuey are the sounds of multiple motorcycles being revved up at all hours of the night. It wasn't that bad but every now and then we'd be treated to a burst of Motomayhem from the garage next door. I'm glad those days are over.

Ogden Nash seyz

From "Lines in Praise of a Date Made Praiseworthy Solely by Something Very Nice That Happened to It", by Ogden Nash:

"As through the calendar I delve
I pause to rejoice in April twelve.
Yea, be I in sickness or be I in health
My favorite date is April twealth. "

Tomorrow, April 12th is my birthday and I have no idea why Ogden Nash favors it for he was born on August 19th 1902.

The only two things I remember about April 12th is that
1) FDR died on this day in 1945
2) It's also David Letterman's birthday who was born 20 years before me and grew up in a house not far from where I live in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis

12 years in Indianapolis

On March 29, 1993 I started working for MSE Corporation at 941 North Meridian Street as a Digital Conversion Technician. I had moved here from Columbus, OH the Friday before. It's interesting to consider what has changed in the workplace in those 12 years. I had barely heard of the Internet and there were probably two people out of 300 at MSE who had access to the .Net. I had no email, no voice mail, no MP3s and my first work computer was a UNIX based machine that ran Intergraph Workstation.