"Hump Day..."

Hey, Folks... Normally, I'm glad when Friday gets here... or Thursday even... but today, I'm glad it's Wednesday... I'm not sure why... I have a lot to do today... and more to do tomorrow... 

WhatEvah!

Have I told you that I have a sister old enough to be my Mom? I've become her chauffeur when it comes time for her to see a doctor... I feel like Morgan Freeman in 'Driving Miss Daisy'... 


...and MAN, is she going to see doctors these days... All OVER the place...  it's people like her that, I think, are partially responsible for the great healthcare costs society has today.  She goes to see an oncologist on a regular basis... just for check ups... blood work... stuff like that. I have issues with this doctor. He gives her the "good news"  and then schedules another appointment for six months in the future. She told me a while back, 'Shoes... he can't find it...' and I immediately respond with, 'can't find what?'


'My cancer... he can't find it...'


To which I reply... 'maybe he can't find it because you don't have cancer.'


Bless her heart... she SO wants to have something wrong with her...

Any Hooters...

Imagine the disappointment...

However, I bet he didn't let her go... no??

Shrinkage... enough said here...

I love that episode of 'Seinfeld' when they are all at the beach... and one of Jerry's many, many girl friends walks in on George as he's taking off his swim trunks... and George is in a full-blown (no pun intended) case of 'Shrinkage...'  Poor George...

How come cold water shrinks our peckers, but makes women's nipples erect???

What a bummer... imagine what society could do with all of the money that is spent on Viagra if, instead, all men had to use was an ice cube...

I was in a marriage like this once...

Nicola should be my daughter...

My son works at a restaurant... a greatly bohemian kind of place... this is the front door of said restaurant...

I got a cool text message from him the other day... 'Dad, I'm cooking for Morgan Freeman tonight!'  He was all jazzed up... all excited!!  He told me later that he prepared sushi and an assortment of other dishes for him and his party, and that later, Morgan Freeman came into the kitchen and complimented him...  BoyShoes is such a goofball... I have no idea where he became this way...

I feel funny today... not clown fucking funny... just funny...

I'm glad it's Wednesday...

~shoes~

"City Of The Dead..."

Last week was Spring Break here at Alluvial Flood Plain State University... I went down to one of my favorite places to go...

New Orleans...

GirlShoes continues to have issues with her Mom... she wanted me to come back down, never mind I was just down there a few weeks ago.  


I really enjoy this city... one of the most amazing places to which I always find myself insanely attracted are the cemeteries down there...

Since most of NOLA is below sea level , the dead there tend to be interred in crypts... and those crypts create the most amazing cities... I love to just roam them... reading the various inscriptions... looking at 'shrines' that maybe have been left at some of the tombs...

This one seems to have a couple of openings... 

The weather seems to have taken it's toll on the face plate of this one.  Behind the marble face plate, the crypts have been sealed with brick and mortar...  Over time the coating of the tombs will break away and reveal the brick structure underneath... and it's just time before Mother Nature starts taking over...

This was the side of one of the crypts... even from the Dead, Life springs...

I wonder for how many years this angel has protected the people who have been placed inside of this structure. The cemeteries in NOLA are home to some of the most beautiful funerary sculptures... in recent years, the theft of these have soared, and I've read where many have been recovered from antique dealers as far away as San Francisco...

Even though the cemetery in some places appears to be neglected, there is a beauty... a romance... to these places.  From time to time, I would pass a lone person walking down the pathway... and after  a few steps, I would turn to look... to make sure he or she was still there, and that I hadn't just passed some specter risen from the grave.

As beautiful as this place can be during the day light hours, I bet it is one scary place to be after sundown...  I would love to spend the night in one of these places though... who knows what one would see...

~shoes~

"Japan, March, 2011..."

Today is our first day back to school after our Spring Break... Since we last met classes, Japan has suffered from the most catastrophic events... The Japanese government says it is the greatest catastrophe that they have faced since World War II... if you know anything about the end of WWII in the Pacific Theater... well, you know...


I teach a class on Business Risks... and thought I would put together a power point presentation for the class... to show the effects of an earth quake and a tsunami...  The photos are unbelievable...

The hydraulic effects of rushing water is so destructive...

Buildings being swept away by the flow of the water...

... a collapsed interstate ...

Jessica at 'Have We Met'  has posted HERE about the events, and more importantly, relief efforts.  Go read her post... maybe you can contribute to a great cause and pick up a beautiful photo...
   

I wanted my students to see what has happened... In their "busy" world, they tend to not pay that much attention to the news...


I wanted my students to see that we don't only have to worry about market risks... price risks... competition... but other events that can be far more devastating.


I also want my students to know that this kind of damage is NOT covered by standard property insurance policies...  Earthquake and Flood are specifically excluded from coverage under your home owners insurance policies... and under your commercial property policies...


This is NOT to say that insurance for these types of events can not be purchased... they can.  As a property owner... as an insurance consumer, we need to be aware that our standard policies don't cover these types of perils.


I am always amazed, when after a hurricane has slammed a coast line somewhere here in the US... how the media talks about 'hurricane insurance'...  There is no hurricane insurance policy.  If we live in a hurricane prone area, we need to make sure we purchase a flood policy along with our homeowners/commercial property policies...


If we live in an earthquake prone area, we need to make sure we purchase an earthquake policy...


After the event is a Hell of a bad time to learn what our insurance policies will or will not do... 

Be an informed insurance consumer.

Know your policy coverage.

If you don't know, call your agent.

~shoes~

"It Was Just A Matter Of Time..."

OK...

It was just a matter of time before my mental pendulum would swing back the other way...

I would turn back... if I were you...

Maybe...

It's been nice having one hundred followers...

This is probably going to thin out the herd...

Well... you  can't say you weren't warned...

I did warn you...

Kinda...

Sorta...

~shoes~

"Bad Dog..."

Memphis, TN is well known for a host of things... Elvis, BarBQue, Elvis...


but if Memphis needs to be remembered for anything, it is probably St. Judes' Children's Research Hospital... 

John 'Bad Dog' McCormack

This hospital was the result of a brainstorm by Danny Thomas...  One of my favorite radio stations in the world is located in Memphis, TN... Rock 103... The goal of St. Jude's is to find cures for the different childhood cancers that so ravage the little ones...

They play the music I enjoy listening to, but I also enjoy the radio personalities they have... one of my favorites has always been John "Bad Dog" McCormack... affectionately known just as "Bad Dog" to the listeners.   


One of the events that "Bad Dog" seemed to enjoy SO much was the St. Jude Radiothon which is held each year... They broadcast for 24 hours non-stop, and raise all kinds of monies for the center... "Bad Dog" would always plead with listeners to please contribute, because the kids of St. Jude SO need the funds that are raised by their endeavors...


In 2009, "Bad Dog" was diagnosed with leukemia... and he fought hard for the past two years... Last Thursday, March 10, "Bad Dog" died from complications of his illness... This passage comes from the Rock103 website: 

"I have gone to be with God and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald House kids. Do not say you  have lost a friend. One is only lost when you don't know where they are.. you know where I am.

I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away. When you are having a bad day, think of my laugh or a Twilight Phone or the time we met. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog."

St. Jude's and Memphis have lost a special person... He will be missed...

"None of us is guaranteed tomorrow...

Make every day great..."

We all need to remember this.

Make a difference in someone's Life...

Pay It Forward...

~shoes~

"Ring Ring, Telephone Ring..."

I read something in a magazine the other day... it appears that the art of making telephone calls is falling by the wayside.  It seems it's easier for people to text or IM or email or any other of a host of ways to communicate rather than voice-wise.  It even went on to say that most people who do call, when they reach your voice mail, will NOT leave a message... and that many of those who receive voice mail will not listen to it...

I remember calling this girl once... her name was Jenny... her phone number was 867-5309 or something like that... but she wouldn't answer...





GOD, what a great song to play!!! I love the bass line to this song!  You know, there was another song about 'phoning it in... In my memory, the song was by Mike Nesmith, one of the Monkess that actually had musical talent, but it turns out the song was by a band called Cymarron...

I would SO love to have this phone!! But I doubt it comes in a cell format... I would have that phone on my wall!!  It looks like it could be a combination telephone/gumball dispenser...


It's amazing that since the introduction of cell phones, that pay phones have just about become obsolete...  There is another great GREAT telephone song that has been recorded... by none other than the Great GREAT Wilson Pickett!!! I think that would be SO cool... see if my cell phone provider could give me this phone number... I think it was 634-5789





If you were paying attention to the video, you saw Jimi Hendrix in the photo at the 1:43 mark...  I don't recall Jimi singing about telphones, however...


Another cool 'telephone' song was this one... this is a cover by B.B. King, of Stevie Ray and Jimmy Lee Vaughan's song, 'The Telephone Song'...





The fellow with the pompadour playing next to B.B. King is Jimmy Vaughan... one Hell of a guitarist that doesn't get the credit that he deserves... as much of a guitar slinger as SRV was, he always said he wished he could play like his little brother...


One last telephone song that comes to mind... and it should as far as I'm concerned... 

I have a BlackBerry smart phone... and you know what I miss? When I am having a conversation with someone... and it gets heated... I can't slam the fuck out of the phone on the receiver... If you had one of the older style phones, you could slam that handset into the cradle and the person on the other end KNEW they had just had someone hang up on them... Now days, no matter how much rage you used when you hit that disconnect button, the other person could just assume that they had dropped the call...

So... you know what I would love to have??

A 'SLAM' App for my BlackBerry... so that when you get pissed... you can hit that 'SLAM' App key.... and it sends the sound of a phone being slammed down to the person you are talking to... and then it disconnects you from them.

I so want that on my phone...

Have there ever been any songs written about vacuum cleaners... dish washers... washing machines... vibrators...???  I dunno...

I'd best get to work... my yard needs a good mowing...

~shoes~

"Monkey Bidness..."

Today, I'm in the gutter...

So sue me...

I wonder how many times this has happened??

~shoes~

"I Loves Me Some Tractors..."

There ain't nuttin' like a good tractor to get my foot a'tappin' and my blood a'flowin'...

Not this kinda tractor...

Or this kinda tractor...

... or even these kinda tractors...

... instead, I'm talkin' about THESE kinda Tractors...

The Tractors

The Tractors, out of Tulsa, Oklahoma... are singer/guitarist Steve Ripley, and a loosely associated group of musicians that seem to change from album to album.. Ripley seems to be the only 'official' member of the band, and he says that 'The Tractors' is more of a mind set than it is a band. I like that idea.


I love their music... it makes me wanna eat fried chicken and dance with some body's momma...


Of course, my attraction to the band and to Ripley might also be based on the fact that he also likes to wear himself some...

Red Shoes...

One of my all~time favorite Tractors' song is this one!!!



I do believe that is Randy Newman in the video playing at the piano...


Robin over at "Your Daily Dose" posted this song for me... I have to admit that I am not sure I've ever heard this song, so thank YOU, Robin!!! Every Thursday, she dedicates songs to a group of bloggers... I do love how her mind works...




With that in mind, I think I'd best head up to Clarksdale to my friend, Ronnie's place... I need some new strings for some of my guitars...

I'm always breaking those damn g strings... I just can't figure it out...

~shoes~

"I'm Walkin' to..."

Guess where I went this past weekend?

Yes, I went down to New Orleans to visit GirlShoes and her husband, Heff Bert...

This is a photo of a life mask she did of herself.  Since she lives in NOLA, it didn't surprise me that she voodoo'd it up quite a bit... She has is hanging in a garden... I love how it's weathered in the elements...

This was out in the garden as well... no doubt influenced by Heff Bert...

I would SO drive this car!!

In the years that she has lived in NOLA, this is the first time we were able to make a Mardi Gras parade..

We had a great time...

We both came away with tons of beads...  The trip wasn't without some serious times... On Saturday night after we got back to the house, Girl Shoes was telling me that she hadn't talked to her Mom since before New Years... She and her Mom have some serious issues... I know of one time that her Mom went for over six months without talking to GirlShoes... and this was while she was still at home...

She thanked me for never ever leaving her alone... even during the times that she was a real pain in the ass troubled...  I couldn't abandon my daughter or my son... I just couldn't...

Afterall...

taken by some turkey at the City Grocery, 

Oxford, Mississippi...

I'm the sane one in the family...

~shoes~