Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Epic Gift-Wrapping Fail

 Not everything goes smoothly over the holiday season. A smple gift-wrapping can turn into a chore if approached with the wrong mindset.

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Monday, December 11, 2023

Pomona 5k Race Report

From l. to r.: Me, Joy & Chevy Chase

Having not run a race since last year's marathon, I only had a few 2023 weeks remaining to notch one.  So I joined my wife Joy for a 5k out in Pomona. Chilly in the early morning hours. Neither of us wished to leave bed. But off we went on Saturday morning. As noted in the 5k link, I finished second in my age group out of six participants. That was enough to earn an age group medal, which is basically awarded for outliving faster runners. The course was flat asphalt, used in the warmer months for auto racing. I was stiff as a plank having not warmed up properly.

This particular 5k had a number of drawbacks including people violating course rules and running with their dogs—there are parks for that—strollers, and loose children who tend to run as fast as they can, stop, then bolt off again. I was passed a half-dozen times by the same kids.

That aside, it was a good time, with decorative Christmas cheer all about. We enjoyed ourselves, then departed for a well-earned heavy breakfast. 

I'll report in soon on my upcoming half-marathon in January. All in all, I was glad I got out of bed.

 

 

 

 

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Pearl Harbor Recalled: Time and Mrs. Murphy v.2



Back in the early '80s I lived in a Hollywood apartment, neighbors to cameraman Dutch Heckman. Once, our elderly landlady, Mrs. Murphy, told Dutch and I that she'd been present in Honolulu during the Pearl Harbor attack. (A great danger came from falling shrapnel, courtesy of exploding U.S. anti-aircraft shells.) Evacuated from Oahu to California, Mrs. Murphy bid farewell to her husband, Bill, a Marine major. Bill was gone for years, fighting in the Pacific. He once wrote Mrs. Murphy from Eniwetok that "nothing smells worse than a dead Jap." Bill survived the war, but, like the stench of enemy corpses, the horror of that island always lingered. 

Mrs. Murphy eventually became a manager at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. (She was present that day in 1968 when Robert Kennedy was assassinated.) Talking later, Dutch and I realized that Mrs. Murphy was a history sponge, soaking up the events spilling around her. In time, Eniwetok vaporized from hydrogen bomb tests, the Ambassador Hotel was torn down, Bill died, and Mrs. Murphy ended up a landlady, drinking double bourbons in the afternoon and sharing her memories with a constantly employed cameraman and an unemployed comedy writer. She always regretted never moving back to Hawaii after the war. (She prounced it 'Ha-vi-ee.") A few years later, Mrs. Murphy passed away. She is forever tied in my mind to December 7th. I wish her a good afterlife and hope it contains palm trees rustling in the warm trade winds.

wonderfulengineering.com
NOTE:
Dutch Heckman passed away last year. His departure leaves a great inner chasm that will never be filled. Nevertheless, onward.

Wednesday, December 06, 2023

Tasteless TikTok Take on Osama Bin Laden

 TikTok: Where the Abnormal Relax


Ah, TikTok, the 21st Century home for hostile odd people. In keeping with their standards, TikTokers have recently discovered a new crush: Osama Bin Ladin. Why the architect of the 911 attacks is now viewed as cool will be discussed by future historians—I hope.

Monday, December 04, 2023

From the River to the See Ya Later, Jews

Work Makes You Free

Arbeit Macht Frei. That was the sign on the Sachsenhausen—and other—concentration camps set up by the Nazis to exterminate the Jews. The popular Palestinian slogan From the River to the Sea has the same ominous flavor since the fate of the Jews in a Palestine extending from the Jordon River to the Meditteranean Sea is left conspicuously unsaid.

Friday, December 01, 2023

Friday, November 24, 2023

Killer Giraffe Caught in the Act

 

A Long Neck Can Hide an Evil Mind

Another day, another video on the eerie qualities of giraffes. They are tricky creatures and conceal malice behind affection. Don't be like a giraffe.



Thursday, November 23, 2023

Happy Nostalgic Thanksgiving!


Note: Here's a post from 18 years ago. This is before all my operations and various disorders when I enjoyed the fine health of early middle-age. No complaints. Glad to be around.


clipartpanda.com

So back in the day, I wrote . . . 

This morning I met some chums from Team in Training. We ran a 5K (3.1 mile) race in La Cañada, a northern LA suburb. I'd driven through there several times. The little hills sloped gradually, so it appeared. I predicted EZ running.

Oh, they were sly, unpleasant hills. Steeper than they looked. Finish-time eaters. If it were possible, I'd cuff them sharply.

This was very much a neighborhood race: families, parents with strollers, teenage girls running five across, and people running with leashed dogs — which I don't get. Walk the dog or run the race. 

Later, Ronald MacDonald — clown, spokesman, bon vivant — led youngsters in a warm up prior to a children's race. After that, a child warmed up Ronald MacDonald prior to a fast food spokesman's race. 

In any event, Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Rare African Fire Giraffes

 Tall, Graceful, and Full-of Flame

What if you could be all those things? How different would your life be?

Monday, November 20, 2023

Hollywood Squashes Wall-E

A Robot Learns There's No Business Like Show Business 

Tinsel Town can be oh-so cruel. Watch the rise and fall of a robot star.

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John P. McCann Sizzle Page

'Twas suggested I post a few episodes of my work in a pleasant spot. I've chosen here. Sadly, not everything I've written has y...