More Random Quotes

Some more random quotes that I have collected over the years:

Black holes are where God divided by zero.

Death is a low chemical trick played on everybody except sequoia trees.

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a means of communication. The device is
inherently of no value to us.
-- Western Union internal memo, 1876

We anticipate a global world-market with place for perhaps five computers.
-- Tom Watson, IBM 1949

Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
-- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science in 1949

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
-- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital
Equipment Corp., 1977

640K ought to be enough for anybody.
-- Bill Gates in 1981

That bomb can never detonate, and I say that as an explosives expert.
-- Admiral Leray about the Atom Bomb

All imaginable inventions have already been invented.
-- Manager of the American Patent Agency Charles Duell 1899

Guitar-groups have no future.
-- EMI-manager for Beatles 1962

The object of war is not to die for your country, but to
make the other bastard die for his.
-- General George Patton

Peace be with you.

More Random Quotes

Some more random quotes that I have collected over the years:

Any smoothly functioning technology will have the
appearance of magic.

Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what
it's supposed to do.

We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies
solve one technical problem -- how to run a sunbeam through
a meter.

We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives
teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling
them to sit down and shut up.

A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to
take it off you.

Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite
as satisfying as an income tax refund.

Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time
to get up.

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

EVERYTHING is for sale.
-- Me

Commitment can be illustrated by a breakfast of ham and
eggs. The chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.

Good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance.

Peace be with you.

More Music...No Woman 2

Here is version 2 of this song, which actually contains
verses 3 and 4.
As noted in the Version 1 post, there is actually a third
version somewhere, but I am not able to locate it.

Ray is doing the lead acoustic guitar, the mandolin-style
acoustic guitar, and bass. I am doing the strumming and
picking acoustic guitar and the vocal.

I include the standard disclaimer:

Not professionally recorded, and it might sound better if
you listened with headphones.

The link and the lyrics appear below:

No Woman 2

3. He rises from the bar
Walks into the night
Roams the streets 'till dawn
Arrives with paling light

No one seems to care if an old man lives or dies
Coming home each morning
He crawls in bed and
Sleeps and cries

4. He wakes up from his dream
Loneliness like a vise
A heart that aches 'cause it's unfulfilled
A virgin 'till he dies

Never knew how sweet a woman's love can be
His friend at night his bottle
Always was and always will be

Never took no woman

*************************
And here are the stranded lyrics from version 3, the ones
for which I can't find the recording:

5. But now the sun goes down
He heads back to the bar
God has said man shouldn't be alone
But alone here you are

Of all the things he's missed in life
There's one that's sad
He never had the pleasure of
Giving love to the wife he never had

Never took no woman

Peace be with you.

More Music...No Woman 1

There are 2 versions of this song...
(Actually, there are 3, but the last version has disappeared
somewhere in the dim dark recesses of the Music Room.)

So here is version 1, which has verses 1 and 2.
Version 2 contains verses 3 and 4, and the third version,
wherever it is, has verse 5.

Buddy Ray is playing with me on this one.
He is doing electric guitar, and I am doing bass, acoustic
guitar, drums, and vocal.

I include the standard disclaimer:

Not professionally recorded, and it might sound better if
you listened with headphones.

PS... the song has a VERY long guitar part at the end, which you will quickly grow
weary of...feel free to stop it whenever you have had enough.
The reason it was so long, is we were originally going to do a long fade-out, similar to
Freebird by Lynyrd Skynryd, but that never happened, it just kind of ended...finally...

The link and the lyrics appear below:

No Woman 1

1. Say, need a friend?
Buy you a drink
Loneliness so black
Now you don't have to think

Wrenching tears at night, the pillow's always wet
Memories that tear you
Remember dimly, don't forget

2. He sits at the bar a-starin' at his drink
Tryin' to think, to think...to think
Best friend just died, the last of 'em
Old, old man, so alone
He's old, too, booze his last friend

Never took no woman

Peace be with you.

Random Tuesday Night

I tend to not comment on a post where there are already about a
million comments, but if I am following your blog, I AM reading it.
***************************************
I absolutely HATE when you call someone and get the answering machine...
and instead of a greeting recorded by the person you are calling, you
get that annoying robot voice. Why??

For one thing, it always makes me unsure that I have called the correct
number, and I feel really awkward leaving a message.

And why do you people do this? Is it just that you don't feel like doing
your own greeting, and so accept the default robot? I hope you don't feel
like you are doing it for any type of security reason.

If a stranger accidentally called your number, how is hearing the robot any
more secure than them hearing your own voice?
***************************************
I don't understand this trend towards men shaving their head these days.
I know it has been stylish for men to shave their heads for the past
several years, but I don't get it...not when they are not 'balding'.

It can't be a convenience factor to have another thing to shave every
day. Now, I am all for comfort, as I have been known to do the 'number 4' thing
myself during the summer:

But this really IS low-maintenance...it is not shaving my head every day along with
my face. Let me tell you, if I still had a head of hair like I did in 1976, today
I would still have long hair:

Peace be with you

Random Quotes

Some random quotes that I have collected over the years.
Some by known people, others are unknown.
A few are by ME!

It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how
powerful they are.

A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive
questions your wife asks for nothing.

Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can
find a rock.

Experience - a comb life gives you after you lose your hair.

Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing
our parents' shortcomings.

The most popular labor saving device today is still a
husband with money.

Nothing is impossible for the man who does not have to do
it himself.

Women like silent men. They think they're listening.

Justice: A decision in your favour.

The entire human body serves no other purpose but to
protect, nourish, mobilize, and entertain the brain.
-- Me

"Hello? Hello? Shit...hello?"
-- Me

Anyone who drives faster than you is a maniac, anyone who
drives slower than you is an idiot.
-- Me

Don't worry over what other people are thinking about you.
They're too busy worrying over what you are thinking about
them.

Peace be with you.

Did God design Nature?

I just can't see how anyone could look at these images, and not understand
that they must have been designed by Someone...
But that's just me.

Random??? Not in MY book.












Peace be with you.

City Life-Part Three

I took one more look at the image from this previous post, and after I enlarged
it, I discovered a few more interesting things that were not readily apparent
in the smaller image! For example, in this enlargement of The Robbery, I was quite
flabbergasted to discover that, upon closer inspection, the would-be robber was
only using a water pistol!:

It also appears that the "Mail Employee" is dealing with a little contraband:

When I enlarged the portion of the Man on the Box, I found that he was actually
playing a little game of Jacks!:

I also see that the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital was on the scene after the accident:

And, finally, it looks like Waldo has been around a lot longer than any of us
initially realized:

Peace be with you.

City Life-Part Two

The right half of the mural from Coit Tower in beautiful San Fran.
(By the way, I took took this photo on our honeymoon in 1988).

More stuff that just reaches out and grabs ya:

1. The guy taking the mail out of the mailbox is not really an official US
Postman...notice that he is not wearing any ID.

2. The guy in the white jacket on the right who is being robbed is checking the
time on his wristwatch...but the watch is GONE!!

3. Note the size of the head on the kid between the mailman and the robbery victim.
It looks WAY too big in my view.

4. The group of men in the background are trying to roll the car back down on
top of the pedestrian...and what they should be doing is trying to get it OFF
of him!

5. The man sitting on the box in the lower left doesn't seem to realize that
his buddies, whom he had been playing cards with, have left.

6. The sign next to him says "Men At Work"...and we can see that he is NOT
working.

7. The guy standing behind him is holding up a very long light pole!

8. The man in the tan uniform next to the mailbox is not wearing an
undershirt...in those days EVERYONE wore undershirts!

9. The carton of Dreyer's ice cream is gone.

10. They didn't even HAVE Dryer's ice cream in those days!

Peace be with you.

City Life

The image below is a mural that is located in the Coit Tower in San Francisco.
I thought it might be fun to play a game and see how many mistakes we can find
in the mural, much like Mad Magazine used to do with various pictures:

Here is a quick list of some of the most obvious errors that I was able to
find. I would love if any of you could come up with any that I have overlooked:

1. The green trolley in the upper right is WAY too small to be usable!

2. For that matter, ALL the vehicles in the picture are toy-size.

3. The man in the lower right with the dolly and the wooden boxes is not
concerned that the produce has spilled all over the street.

4. The cop using the call box would be better off using his cell phone.

5. The man in the brown coat on the left has dropped the headline to his
newspaper onto the ground, and is stepping on it.

6. The odometer on the red Buick reads 000000...which would be impossible
unless it was sitting on the assembly line.

7. The woman is wearing a heavy green overcoat...yet the temperature is almost
90 degrees.

8. The temperature is almost 90 degrees...unlikely since it is cloudy, and San
Francisco would not be that warm.

9. Despite the fact that it is cloudy, the temperature is almost 90 degrees.

10. The City Lights sign has a picture of Stan Laurel on it.

Let's see how many errors YOU can come up with!

Peace be with you.

More Music...My Girl

Posting this music stuff on weekends now, since the blog world is slow,
and it won't get any views (listens, whatever).
My main aim now is just to get it posted to I can put a link to it
on the music tab, for whatever reason.

I don't expect to get many listens on it, I guess I just want to get it on
my page before I quit blogging.

Another song inspired by my bride.
An odd tune, it 'evolves'.

This one is just me.

I include the standard disclaimer:

Not professionally recorded, and it might sound better if
you listened with headphones.

The Link and the lyrics appear below:

My Girl

1. She comes and lights me with her heart
And then she whispers in my ear
And next she wraps me with her love
Now she proceeds to wipe out all my fear

2. I like to watch her when she sleeps
I also like to watch her comb her hair
I even like to smell her when she's near
She does so much

'Cause she's my girl

3. She creeps upon me in the dark
Her hands soothe me when I hurt
Her fingers find me when I want
When she touches me she's all I need

Peace be with you.

Random FRIDAY

I have been seriously thinking about quitting this blog lately. I like to
write stuff, and blogging for almost the past year has really jarred my
memory about lots of things, forced me to commit them to 'paper', and I
would never have done this otherwise.

But now that I have gotten into the routine of writing my stuff down, I
have reached the point where I no longer need to use blogging as an excuse or
motivation to do it. I have re-established my writing habits.

I can't help but think that many of my blog entries of late have been rather
lame or un-interesting. For example, me posting my music. I don't see how
doing that has helped my creativity at all.

I can understand that posting my work history has been good for me, however.
I know it dragged on for longer than I thought it would, but that is only
because once I STARTED it, I realized how diverse it was. I led myself on that
path, not realizing how long the road would be. I know that towards the end of
it, many of my followers probably began to tire of it, and thought, "Oh, here
he goes with another one...ho-hum".

But that's ok, because always, blogging is first and foremost for myself. I got
it done, and will always have it to look back on. Now I write stuff with the
HOPE that people find it interesting, but if not, that's ok.

So, I will continue to write, but if I decide not to post any more in the future,
I will always appreciate the 'jump start' that blogging has given me, and am
forever grateful that my beautiful blogging buddies have stroked my ego by reading
and commenting.

However, even when I stop posting, I will continue to read and comment on YOUR
blogs, because you are so funny, fascinating, insightful, and give me much
inspiration and pleasure.

Peace be with you.

Insights into The Daughter - Part Three

More quotes from The Daughter's Facebook page.

How they deal with parents:

"I got a ride, mom." "With who?" "I don't know but they have candy."

"Who are you on the phone with?" "My drug dealer, mom."

"What are you gonna do there?" "Smoke pot, get drunk, and kill people, mom."

"Mom, I'm going out!" "With friends?" "No mom, with Chewbacca."

"Will there be boys there?" "No mom, it's a nun party."

"Be safe!" "No mom, I was planning on dying today."

*Checks phone* 4 Missed calls -- Mom. CRAP IM IN TROUBLE!
********************************

Letters & Thanks:

Dear Math: grow up and solve your own problems.

Dear bed: I'm sorry I left you this morning, take me back?

Dear homework: you're not attractive and I'm not doing you.

Dear sleep: I know we had problems when I was younger, but now I love you.

Thanks phone, for being strong every time I dropped you.

Thank you, hand sanitizer, for telling me I have a cut on my hand.
********************************

Peace be with you.

Nostalgia...the old Pee Chee Folder...

The lovely and talented Miss Ally over at Fourth Grade Nothing recently posted
this blog about old lunch boxes and school supplies. She caused me to remember
some old school supplies of my own during my school years of the 1970's.

We used to all have yellow 'PeeChee' folders in those days...and on the back
side of the folder there was an illustration of some basketball players. The
way they were posed presented a perfect opportunity to enhance the graphic just
a bit to make it look like one guy was hammering a stake into the chest of
another player. Here is what the original un-defaced folder looked like:

Perhaps it was just my own local clique, but upon getting a brand new folder,
everyone I knew would modify the picture by drawing on it so it looked like
this: (The modification is circled in red)

Ah, well, I guess it was just a local California thing, but a big thank-you to
you, Ally, for bringing back this fond memory. THAT is what blogging is all about!

Peace be with you.

More Music...Find Your Way

This is supposed to be a 'country-ish' kind of song...
Recorded with my cohort Ray...he is doing the rhythm electric
guitar, I don't recall which of us is doing the bass.

I am also doing drums and vocals, and the lead electric guitar
part as well.

I include the standard disclaimer:

Not professionally recorded, and it might sound better if
you listened with headphones.

The Link and the lyrics appear below:

Find Your Way

1. I've been searchin' these roads for so long it seems
That I'll never get done, and there's a hole in my jeans
She drove me crazy when she walked away
But that don't matter, 'cause I'll find her someday

I've searched the valley, and I've searched the yard
Through drivin' rain that turns mud hard
But wouldn'cha know it, just when I get close
The sickness comes, and takes away my horse

C. Baby, baby, baby try and find your way back here
I been lookin' so long, now it's your turn, come on here
I've trudged all night through the pouring rain
And just one thing that you've got to know
My love for you will never, never, never die

2. I was supposed to meet her in a bar in Texas
But I guess I read the letter wrong, and oh, what a mix-up
I was chasin' tiny flies and invisible stories
If someone else gets her then I'll miss the glory of finding her

She wrote me again, said to meet her in Paris
But man, I can't go, I can't tell her I'm penniless
So what I gotta do is write her a letter
Tell her "Meet me here instead," 'cause I think that's better

C.

Peace be with you.

My Illustrious Career...Part Thirty-one

I had severely regressed in my career again...the beginning of 2002
found me working a temp job in an electronics factory assembling
little components of some sort, it paid slightly above minimum wage,
and I had secured this job via a temp job agency. But again, we
were blessed...while my bride consistently faces lay-off rumors at
her job, they have so far never happened for her, and she at least
has always had a steady, well-paying career. I, on the other hand,
was not contributing very much to the household income.

A little more probing, and some help from a group of people at our
church, and I found a job paying a little better, doing phone
tech support for a company called TelVista. We supported customers
trying to get the internet to work on their home pc's, and the
job was only a few miles from home.

I started doing this on Monday, February 11, 2002. I was only
destined to have this job for about six weeks, however, because
a very good friend of ours worked at another airline, and
with her letter of recommendation, on Wednesday, May 1, 2002,
at the age of 45, I began working at my present job, which will
(hopefully) be the LAST JOB I ever have.

I have had this job for over eight years now...by FAR the longest
I have ever held a single job...and I expect to keep this job
for something like another 7-10 years. By then, the mortgage will
be done, and I will be close to retirement age. I will no longer
have the stress of 'I MUST NOT LOSE THIS JOB' hanging over me...
which means, if I choose, I can keep working, or I may just wake
up one day and say "The hell with it...I have had enough!".

My bride, being several years younger than me, making good money,
and, fortunately, enjoying her job, will probably work a bit
longer than me.

I thank God every day that He has blessed me with such a wonderful,
smart, patient and giving woman. Sometimes I can't believe she
has stuck with me for 22 years so far.

Peace be with you.

Dallas Walkabout

In June, 2008, on a pretty nice clear day, I headed to downtown Dallas on a
little photo excursion. I usually use satellite pictures and maps to scout out
new locations to shoot, and since it was not too terribly hot for a June day, I
parked the car and walked around for a few blocks:

I started out at the Fountain Place Tower, which I have always thought was a
beautiful building. This one was on the news around here several months ago
because of a foiled terrorist plot to blow up the building:



Thanksgiving Square:

A very interesting spiraled chapel:

Once you get inside, it is pretty sparse:

But contains some gorgeous stained glass if you look up to the inside of the
spiral:

Comerica Building:

Elm Street:

Perspective on some towers:

Founder's Plaza:

The 'Grassy Knoll' and the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza:

The sixth floor from where the shots were fired:

This is me right on the Zapruder Pedestal, where the actual film was shot from:

X marks the spot where the first bullet struck:

Yeah, I know, I felt like a damn tourist doing these. Thanks for looking!

Peace be with you.