I think what Brenda is referring to in her comment on the last post is pitching pennies. I had forgotten all about that. I have no idea why they called it pitching pennies, because I never pitched a penny --- most times it was a quarter, although I have used nickels and dimes.
To play the game, you stood so far back from the wall and tossed your coin toward the base of it. The one who got their coin closest to the wall won all the coins that were tossed. The absolutely worst toss was one that hit the wall because it always seemed to bounce way back toward you. You could go through lunch money in no time at all. I think I lost much more than I won, so why play? I can't really answer that. Maybe because it was a guy thing; a way of showing you were the best at something. There was no way you could back down from a challenge.
It's funny how things have changed over the years. In high school a guy bragged at how good he was with the girls and at pitching pennies. For most of the time I was in the Air Force, or at least the first ten years, it was how good he was with the ladies and at shooting pool. Now they brag about women and doing things with a computer (or at least the guys I work with do).
It was like if they could show how good they were at pitching pennies, or shooting pool, or hacking computers, by default they were proving the other, when all the time the rest of us knew it was just so much BS. Because if they pitched pennies, or shot pool or hacked enough to be that good at it, they didn't have time to spend with girls. :)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Shirt Loops
I saw a shirt in a catalog today that had a loop on the back. You remember, the loop that used to be on the back of the shirt, on top of the pleat, right in the middle of the shoulder blades. I haven't seen one of those in years. I seem to remember, for a time at least, that loop was a trophy for a girl who was going with a guy. I could be wrong on this since I didn't lose any, but I recall a girl ripping the back of a guy's shirt trying to get that loop off. I can't recall who it was, and there's no way I can recall the year, but it happened just inside the door to the library.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
That One
There are common threads that run through most of the posts on here. Coming of age is obviously the biggest one and takes in several areas, the most volatile of which was our first, sometimes fumbling, attempts at dating and romance.
I've heard it said that no matter where you go or how long you live, there will always be THAT one. The guy you girls wished would ask you out or the girl us guys dreamed would say yes if we asked her out.
This is a bit rhetorical, but did you ever go out with that one, that one that stood out from the others for reasons known only to you? If you did, was it what you thought it would be, and if you didn't, how many times has it crossed your mind over the years?
I've heard it said that no matter where you go or how long you live, there will always be THAT one. The guy you girls wished would ask you out or the girl us guys dreamed would say yes if we asked her out.
This is a bit rhetorical, but did you ever go out with that one, that one that stood out from the others for reasons known only to you? If you did, was it what you thought it would be, and if you didn't, how many times has it crossed your mind over the years?
Just Thinking
Sometimes when I think of things to add here, other thoughts come to mind too. The latest one is that I've reach the point in my life where I know I'm not going to do anything anyone is going to remember outside my family and a few close friends. I am not going to cure cancer or step foot on the moon or bring about world peace, and I'm okay with that. However I do think that maybe, just maybe, one of my kids will, or one of their kids will, or someone else down the line will. The reason I say that is someone has been looking out for me all these years, so there must be some plan out there somewhere. Let me give you a few examples.
When I was a kid my brother and I got into a fight and he pushed a poker into my eye. A little to one side and a little harder and it would have gone through the socket, but it didn't.
A year or two later (I'm a slow learner) I got into a fight with the same brother and he broke a brick over my head, literally. (Slow learner = dense, thick skull) All I got was a big bump, but it could have been much worse.
Once I experimented with a paring knife and an electrical outlet. I stuck the knife into one of the little slots and ZAP! The first half inch of the blade was melted away, but thankfully I didn't feel a thing.
Another time we were playing baseball and no one had a bat so we improvised. We used a lead pipe. At one point I clearly remember thinking, "If that pipe slips out of his hand at the wrong time, it could come over here and hit me." Guess what? It slipped and if I had not put my arm up it would have hit my head.
Fast forward a few years. We were behind the baseball field, diving off the big white rocks into Steekee Creek. After one dive I became confused to the point I wasn't sure which way was up and I panicked. I actually thought I might drown, and probably would have if David Ridings had not grabbed my arm and helped me back to the rocks.
Then finally, in 1983, we were driving back to California from spending Christmas with Mom in Tennessee. I had my two oldest kids in the care with me and they were both asleep. I had been driving most of the day and now it was dark and I was fighting sleep myself. I was on Interstate 5 in California, dropping down out of the mountains near Bakersfield on a stretch of road called the Grapevine. At the bottom of the mountain there was a stretch where, at that time, opposing lanes of the interstate didn't have anything between them but a few lines of paint and plastic markers. I recall a diesel coming from the other direction about 50 yards in front of me and then the next thing I know I'm shaken awake by him passing us. I was never so scared in my life. If I had turned the wheel any while I dozed it would have been all over for all of us.
Anyway, there has to be a plan of some sort out there someplace, because some One has been watching over me.
When I was a kid my brother and I got into a fight and he pushed a poker into my eye. A little to one side and a little harder and it would have gone through the socket, but it didn't.
A year or two later (I'm a slow learner) I got into a fight with the same brother and he broke a brick over my head, literally. (Slow learner = dense, thick skull) All I got was a big bump, but it could have been much worse.
Once I experimented with a paring knife and an electrical outlet. I stuck the knife into one of the little slots and ZAP! The first half inch of the blade was melted away, but thankfully I didn't feel a thing.
Another time we were playing baseball and no one had a bat so we improvised. We used a lead pipe. At one point I clearly remember thinking, "If that pipe slips out of his hand at the wrong time, it could come over here and hit me." Guess what? It slipped and if I had not put my arm up it would have hit my head.
Fast forward a few years. We were behind the baseball field, diving off the big white rocks into Steekee Creek. After one dive I became confused to the point I wasn't sure which way was up and I panicked. I actually thought I might drown, and probably would have if David Ridings had not grabbed my arm and helped me back to the rocks.
Then finally, in 1983, we were driving back to California from spending Christmas with Mom in Tennessee. I had my two oldest kids in the care with me and they were both asleep. I had been driving most of the day and now it was dark and I was fighting sleep myself. I was on Interstate 5 in California, dropping down out of the mountains near Bakersfield on a stretch of road called the Grapevine. At the bottom of the mountain there was a stretch where, at that time, opposing lanes of the interstate didn't have anything between them but a few lines of paint and plastic markers. I recall a diesel coming from the other direction about 50 yards in front of me and then the next thing I know I'm shaken awake by him passing us. I was never so scared in my life. If I had turned the wheel any while I dozed it would have been all over for all of us.
Anyway, there has to be a plan of some sort out there someplace, because some One has been watching over me.
A New Toy
Hey, I found something new I thought some of you might like, if you're not already using it. It's a new browser called Flock. It bills itself as the "social" browser so if you are into Youtube and Facebook and MySpace and places like that, then you may find a reason to download it. The reason I'm giving it a whirl is it lets me add posts to this blog without signing into Blogger. To that end, if any of you want to add posts to this blog, I can give you the user ID and password again and you can do the same thing. It uses an editor that pops up, you type in what you want to say and click on the publish button and voila! the post is added.
Let me know if you want to give it a try (please) :)
Let me know if you want to give it a try (please) :)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
They Come From All Over
This may end up being a bit boring, but it is what's on my mind today. I think I've mentioned before that I watch the hits coming into the blog. I can tell when someone has viewed it, but I can't tell exactly who. For example, here is the line for so far today:
Sunday 13-Apr-08..... 3 --- 2 --- 0 --- 2
The 3 is the page loads so far today, the next number (2) is the number of visitors, the 0 is the number of first time visitors and the next 2 is the number of returning visitors. So for today 2 people have connected to the blog, both have been to it before and one of those looked at 2 pages.
If I open today's line it will tell me where the hit originated from by IP address. Something like this -- 74.242.99.157 (BELLSOUTH.NET INC) Which is the IP address for a BellSouth server someplace.
As I said, I can't tell exactly who the person was, but sometimes I can make a good guess. For example, Brenda and Sylvia connect from work, so instead of BellSouth I see their company name, so I know it was them. Sandra is just about the only person who uses AOL, so I can usually tell when she's connected, and I think I can pick out Donna and Kathey, but I'm not sure.
There is one other piece of information I look at. It's called the referrer, which is the route the visitor used. If you come to the site directly from your PC, there is no referrer, but if someone comes to the site via a link, or through a search on Google or Yahoo, I see that, and in the case of searches, I can see what was searched for, and that does get interesting at times. For example, over the past 30 days these people visited the site:
Someone in Killeen, TX searched for Gordo Watson --- how many Gordos do you think there are in the world?
Someone in Richardson, TX searched for Vonore, TN
Someone in Mt Laurel, NJ searched for the Carmichael Inn
Someone in Chattanooga searched for Schrimpsher
Someone in Chicago searched for the Loudon Chair Factory
And people in Grand Rapids, MI, Sewanee, TN, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, CA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia searched for Loudon High School.
I will admit the Malaysia hit has me stumped the most, as does a fairly routine hit from the East Tennessee School for the Deaf. I know of no one connected with either place. Do any of you?
I'm not telling you this to make you think I'm spying on you. I'm not, so please don't stop coming to the blog. But it is interesting, at least to me, and lets me know how often the blog is being used.
Sunday 13-Apr-08..... 3 --- 2 --- 0 --- 2
The 3 is the page loads so far today, the next number (2) is the number of visitors, the 0 is the number of first time visitors and the next 2 is the number of returning visitors. So for today 2 people have connected to the blog, both have been to it before and one of those looked at 2 pages.
If I open today's line it will tell me where the hit originated from by IP address. Something like this -- 74.242.99.157 (BELLSOUTH.NET INC) Which is the IP address for a BellSouth server someplace.
As I said, I can't tell exactly who the person was, but sometimes I can make a good guess. For example, Brenda and Sylvia connect from work, so instead of BellSouth I see their company name, so I know it was them. Sandra is just about the only person who uses AOL, so I can usually tell when she's connected, and I think I can pick out Donna and Kathey, but I'm not sure.
There is one other piece of information I look at. It's called the referrer, which is the route the visitor used. If you come to the site directly from your PC, there is no referrer, but if someone comes to the site via a link, or through a search on Google or Yahoo, I see that, and in the case of searches, I can see what was searched for, and that does get interesting at times. For example, over the past 30 days these people visited the site:
Someone in Killeen, TX searched for Gordo Watson --- how many Gordos do you think there are in the world?
Someone in Richardson, TX searched for Vonore, TN
Someone in Mt Laurel, NJ searched for the Carmichael Inn
Someone in Chattanooga searched for Schrimpsher
Someone in Chicago searched for the Loudon Chair Factory
And people in Grand Rapids, MI, Sewanee, TN, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, CA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia searched for Loudon High School.
I will admit the Malaysia hit has me stumped the most, as does a fairly routine hit from the East Tennessee School for the Deaf. I know of no one connected with either place. Do any of you?
I'm not telling you this to make you think I'm spying on you. I'm not, so please don't stop coming to the blog. But it is interesting, at least to me, and lets me know how often the blog is being used.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Some left and, some stayed
By the end of high school we were all faced with a huge decision--- stay in Loudon or go some place else? Each of us made that decision as our circumstance dictated. School took some away, but some of those returned when they were finished, others did not. Jobs took others away, and when the jobs petered out, some of them came back to Loudon while others did not. A few others, like me, had our decision made for us by the military, and when their hitch was over, some came back to Loudon while others did not.
The reasons for staying away or coming back is as varied as the people who had to make the choice. Some saw nothing for them in Loudon, and some wanted to stay in a place familiar and good to raise their families. As I've stated before I firmly believe that if not for the draft, I would have stayed right there, with Maremont, because that was my goal --- latch on to a good job and progress up through the company. But, when I left, things begin to change and as my responsibilities changed my goals changed right along with them, and I ended up staying away.
As I've followed lead after lead to find our classmates, I have come up with a little list of those, that as far as I can tell, left Loudon and stayed away. I'm not absolutely sure if this is a complete list, and I'm not sure if someone hasn't moved away and back again more than once. For sake of discussion, "staying" means they're still within a 50 mile radius of Loudon. Those who left and stayed away include:
Doug Adkins
Sherry Bright
Kaye Collis
Sue Crisp
Brad Gray
Susan Johns
Jake Lane
Kenny Parks
Mike Stafford
Tony Woody
Me.
For the record, Freddy Lindsey and Allen McNabb would have been on this at the time of their passing.
All in all, that is a very small list (roughly just 10% of the class), even if there are a few others who I may be wrong about. Obviously, if anyone can help me update this list, I'd appreciate the help.
The reasons for staying away or coming back is as varied as the people who had to make the choice. Some saw nothing for them in Loudon, and some wanted to stay in a place familiar and good to raise their families. As I've stated before I firmly believe that if not for the draft, I would have stayed right there, with Maremont, because that was my goal --- latch on to a good job and progress up through the company. But, when I left, things begin to change and as my responsibilities changed my goals changed right along with them, and I ended up staying away.
As I've followed lead after lead to find our classmates, I have come up with a little list of those, that as far as I can tell, left Loudon and stayed away. I'm not absolutely sure if this is a complete list, and I'm not sure if someone hasn't moved away and back again more than once. For sake of discussion, "staying" means they're still within a 50 mile radius of Loudon. Those who left and stayed away include:
Doug Adkins
Sherry Bright
Kaye Collis
Sue Crisp
Brad Gray
Susan Johns
Jake Lane
Kenny Parks
Mike Stafford
Tony Woody
Me.
For the record, Freddy Lindsey and Allen McNabb would have been on this at the time of their passing.
All in all, that is a very small list (roughly just 10% of the class), even if there are a few others who I may be wrong about. Obviously, if anyone can help me update this list, I'd appreciate the help.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The Rites of Spring
Everybody has spring fever, or so it seems. It was marked in high school by staring out the window the entire time we were in Journalism or some other equally exciting class. Two of the big events at this time of year are spring break and the prom. I’m sure we’ve talked about these before, but I have never participated in either.
One of the guys here took his family to Florida last week for spring break. This past Monday morning he made the statement it was going to be his last time driving because it was too crowded and took too long to drive back. Well, duh! They were all snowbirds just like him.
Before we moved here, I had never lived anywhere spring break was popular. In the 7 years we have been here it seems like everybody wants to scurry off somewhere. I still don’t feel the urge. My young ones have never expressed a desire to go anywhere during this time either, and while it would be good to get out of the snow for awhile, we would just have to come back, and it would probably feel colder when we did. I noticed on the LHS website that they have a spring break scheduled. I hope they all have a good time.
The poll this week is based on something I wasn’t quite sure about. Can underclassmen attend the proms? If they can, then I suppose theoretically you could go to 4 of them. If they can’t, then it really shows how little I know about such things. My sons usually go by themselves. They say that way they can dance with whoever they want to. I guess they’re not a chip off the old block where that is concerned. I can’t dance well and I can't dance with just anybody, and even when I do it’s only after a few beers. :)
One of the guys here took his family to Florida last week for spring break. This past Monday morning he made the statement it was going to be his last time driving because it was too crowded and took too long to drive back. Well, duh! They were all snowbirds just like him.
Before we moved here, I had never lived anywhere spring break was popular. In the 7 years we have been here it seems like everybody wants to scurry off somewhere. I still don’t feel the urge. My young ones have never expressed a desire to go anywhere during this time either, and while it would be good to get out of the snow for awhile, we would just have to come back, and it would probably feel colder when we did. I noticed on the LHS website that they have a spring break scheduled. I hope they all have a good time.
The poll this week is based on something I wasn’t quite sure about. Can underclassmen attend the proms? If they can, then I suppose theoretically you could go to 4 of them. If they can’t, then it really shows how little I know about such things. My sons usually go by themselves. They say that way they can dance with whoever they want to. I guess they’re not a chip off the old block where that is concerned. I can’t dance well and I can't dance with just anybody, and even when I do it’s only after a few beers. :)
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