Then it all went to hell

The story of my father’s death has always ended with the actual death, followed by my feeling responsible for it. Mostly because that was how it happened. Now I am going to talk about what happened after that, the names will not be changed, no one was innocent. If there is one thing that I learned from my father’s death (aside from the obvious; a sick person is not the best judge of how sick they are) it is certainly that you only know who your friends are when you die. To be a bit more specific, you don’t know what your friends are really like until you die. Of course you are already dead at that point so it is not like you can really make any changes to your friends list. So I was the one that got to see just what kind of friends dad really had. Continue reading Then it all went to hell

I finally tell the story

This is a story that I told briefly when I first started this website. I have never actually elaborated on it. I am going to do that today. This is the story of how I killed my father. Dad had been pulled over many times for driving drunk. I know of at least three. His lawyer was always able to get him off on a technicality of one sort or the other (one I remember was that he was pulled over for failure to signal when turning out of the bar’s parking lot. It turns out that, at least in the state of Oregon, it is not required to use a signal when turning from private property onto a main road.) but, dad would never submit to a breath test. Failure to submit to the test automatically suspends your license for six months (dad had good reason to not submit Continue reading I finally tell the story

Jogging?

So as I was walking to the bank today, a monumental journey of about a block, I happened to walk past someone who was jogging, no shit. I have always walked really fast, in fact if I am with anyone else I have to slow my normal pace quite a bit. Still, I walked past someone that was jogging. Isn’t the point of jogging supposed to be to move at a speed that falls somewhere between walking and running? I am sure there are health benefits to any sort of physical activity, certainly for those whose only exercise otherwise would be walking to their car, then their desk, then back to their car, then to the couch. Does slowly jogging have any more effect on you than walking quickly? Seriously, I want to know this. She was not lifting her legs high as she went, not running on her toes Continue reading Jogging?

More on music

In a previous post, I was talking about a really cool music service. I ended that post with some offhand remark making it sound like it was about as accurate as astrology (not be confused with astronomy. One is scientific and has data to support their findings, the other is astrology). I Just googled to find Hitler’s date of birth, which happens to be April 20, 1889. I was thinking that I would make some comments about how many other children were born that day, none of which went on to be the monster that Hitler was, thus proving that astrology is absolute and total crap (which it is). But that search, the one for Hitler April 20 brings up some of the weirdest conspiracy theories I have ever seen (sure other events happened on the same day in history, but come on). To follow that weird, astrological, imminent doom Continue reading More on music

Fall at last!

It is often said that there are only two seasons in Arizona; summer and Winter (though I would debate Winter, when it only gets as low as the forties overnight, and the highs are in the sixties/seventies). We do actually have a full cycle of the seasons though. For instance Fall began just yesterday. It will be over in three or four days, likely. Fall and Spring in Arizona are basically what summer is basically anywhere else. We finally have highs in the eighties and lows in the sixties. The major difference is that, to those of us who live here, it is starting to feel a bit cold. It is not quite sweater weather yet, but it soon will be. A few more days of this ideal temperature and we will be into full blown Winter. Wearing sweaters on days when it is sixty, even as we see the Continue reading Fall at last!

Pandora

My daily surfing routine brought me to this link. At Wil Wheaton’s site, of all places. Now this is a concept! Just type in the name of a band or a song and boom, they start throwing all sorts of shit at you! All similar to the style (I suppose the definition of style is pretty loose) of music that you entered. If you hate a song you can just move on and they will try to find something more suited to your taste. The type of music that I like doesn’t lend itself to any sort of radio airplay, and I don’t have the time or patience to seek it out on the internet. This little thing makes it a lot easier. Now I sincerely doubt that I will actually subscribe to it, but being that the first ten hours are free I will sure try to find some Continue reading Pandora

Cardboard hill

It takes so little to entertain a child, well it took very little to entertain me when I was a child. I really was one of those kids that would play with my new toy at Christmas for a few minutes, then get hours of entertainment out of the box that it came in. And I wasn’t alone. There were railroad tracks mere feet from our door, there was a river just beyond them, there was a creek in my back yard, there was also a small park (with a huge ass tree in it) just across the tracks. There were so many ways that I could have had fun, but that was for personal fun. No one else really played in any of those areas. There were a couple of seasons, however, where everyone in my block liked to engage in the same two activities. One was to tube Continue reading Cardboard hill

Old friends

Having read an ancient post from Magazine Man, I have taken to thinking about old friends. That went from wondering what they are up to now to wondering why we were ever friends in the first place. I don’t mean that to be facetious; I really wonder how we ever ended up as friends at all. My first “best friend” was a kid named Dean. We didn’t become friends because we necessarily liked each other (though it turns out that we did), but more out of convenience. He was the kid nearest my age on the block. In the world of a child under the age of about, say 35 (that is what you think as a child), you really have to get close to those of the same age that live nearby. Neither of us had yet entered school, which meant that we had lots of time to play Continue reading Old friends