Thanks!

It has been a tough year. On the first day of the year, my younger brother Michael died. In April, Joan's mother had a severe stroke and in July, her father died. We have also lost other family and friends this year.

Today we will be visiting Joan's mother and eating a special Thanksgiving in her new home, Father Baker Nursing Home in Orchard Park, New York. Despite all that has happened this past 11 months we remain thankful for the many blessings we have and continue to receive.

We both are in good health. We are both retired (me, sort of) and we have been blessed with four great children, William, Timothy, John and Elin. In recent years we have added a daughter-in-law, Nicole and three grandchildren, Brittany, Addisen and just this October, Griffen, our first grandson.

We thank God for all the blessings we enjoy and we also are very thankful for our many, many wonderful friends and family.

So today, this will be the only posting, with a wish that anyone passing by and reading today will stop and give thanks for the blessings in their lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heard on the TV news

On the local Buffalo news tonight (yes, we are back in Buffalo) the anchor teased the 11 p.m. newscast with the following.

"A Buffalo Police officer was forced to dodge two bullets tonight....."

Oh, really? That will come news to a lot of police officers that you can actually "dodge" bullets.

There's a saying in police work: "You never hear the bullet that hits you." Only in movies can you duck and dodge bullets.

Geography by Americans

Found this on Facebook and loved it. I think it was Jon Stewart who said that it was wars that taught Americans geography. (Click to enlarge map above)

Detroit News on the Detroit Daily Press

Here's the Detroit News article on the Detroit Daily Press. Also don't you love the new advertising gimmick of putting links to ads (the ones in this article lead to a Staples ad) inside the editorial copy?

This kind of stupidity is available only in newspapers

Right on the heels of my stupid holiday stories comes this from the Detroit Free Press via the Associated Press.

Only an editor desperate to fill space would have thought this a worthy story for a holiday week.

Let's do the logic. If you are close enough to a person to kiss them on the cheek, you are likely close enough to spread a virus to them whether or not you kiss them on the cheek or mouth. Or, perish the thought, shake their hands! All this, and I'm not even a doctor.

You can't walk 10-feet anymore without some hand sanitizer dispenser available to rub on your hands.

We all need to get a grip. This hysteria over viruses is stupid, in my humble opinion of course. Want to avoid getting a virus, stay home, avoid contact with all people, never leave your house and use hand sanitizer hourly.

Otherwise, get out, meet people, kiss them on the mouth and cheek and, yes, maybe get sick, develop an immunity and live your life. I think I heard my mother tell me once that when one kid got chicken pox the mothers would have a "party" bring all the children together so they would get the disease and get it behind them.

We are raising a generation of weenies.

And just in case you meet me sometime soon, I'm still sneezing into my hands, can't get into that blowing snot and spit into my sleeve thing. (Besides, according to the article in the Free Press they want everyone to touch you on your upper arm or shoulder instead of shaking hands. They need to get their sneezing etiquette straight.

Tis' the season for Santa's helper to come early

Anytime soon, we should start to see the annual river of Christmas news cliches.

Look for the lede "Christmas came early for (insert name of lucky person/family/agency) when...(insert name of benevolent or lucky act).

Or "Tis the season for (Christmas thieves to prey on shoppers/for car thefts at the mall/or name your favorite Christmas malady).

And finally, there will be a story or two how a Good Samaritan became a "Santa" to some poor unfortunate family or individual.

Also, sometime this week, some person or family will be saved from some tragic, or less than tragic event and the story lede will include something like this:

The Smith family will have something to really be thankful for when they sit down to their Thanksgiving table Thursday.....

Seasonal news cliches are the worse and they make an appearance every year starting about now. I'd love you to share those that you find or add your own favorite seasonal cliches here.

We've all done them, although after a few years of doing them you realize they are not only tired, but really bad writing.

Perhaps my favorite revenge on an editor came back in the 1980s when I was given my third straight Thanksgiving Day story to write. One year I interviewed a Native American family about how they celebrated Thanksgiving (a really bad assignment from an editor). Another year I did something about what some prominent leaders were thankful for (presumably their undeserved re-elections). But finally when I was told at the last minute to come up with my third straight Thanksgiving Day story I got my revenge.

Another reporter had failed to produce a Thanksgiving Day story and the editor turned to me on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and told me to come up with something for Thanksgiving Day. So I found a local turkey farmer and talked to him about turkeys and then wrote a first person story from the point of view of the turkey.

I handed the story in just before I left about 4 p.m. Wednesday and the editor thought it was the worse thing she had ever seen. It may have been one of the worst stories I ever wrote, but I avoided any further such assignments when Thanksgiving rolled around the next year. Bad, or not, the story ran on Page 1 the next day. There was a paper to fill, after all.

Our only consolation in writing those trite stories was the realization that most people only picked up the Thanksgiving Day newspaper for the pile of sales advertisements and that few would actually read the trite little stories we wrote for those days.

Volunteer journalists, the new wave

Liz Vozz who has done some good work chronicling the new world of journalism has this from yesterday. It's about how many out-of-work writers are working for free. It mirrors a little the post I put up yesterday about blogging.

Two years and still blogging

It's hard to believe, but it has been two years to the day that I started "Free From Editors" with this post. On December 1st it will be a full two years that I retired from the reporting job I truly loved.

For me, and most writers, we have to write. It's not an option, it's how we breathe and live. So whether or not I get paid for it, I will always have a desire to write. Some people like talking on the phone, others like to sit on a bar stool and talk, but for a writer there is simply only one satisfying, and sometimes frustrating outlet, and that is at a keyboard.

Most writers knew from early on that writing was in their blood. My stepdaughter Elin has a gift and I hope she continues pursuing it. I'm the lucky one who gets to read the chapter proofs of her novel.

Most newspaper reporters will get what I'm going to talk about next.

While some people have a gift for writing, others of us, me included, have to work at that part. I liked writing, but it was work. Finding the right word, phrase, or proper organization was always difficult for me. For others it came easy.

Others have a different gift, the one that endears you to sources, gets them to tell you things they are not supposed to tell you and then lead you to others who will flesh out a story. If I had a gift, it was in this area. People found it easy to tell me things and they trusted me to tell it honestly and straight.

While I sometimes failed, it was not because I didn't try. And I proudly can say I never betrayed a confidence, not even to a demanding editor. I have scrapped stories rather than reveal a source, even to my editor. I always felt a promise, was a promise.

When certain editors demanded I give them source cellphone or contact phone numbers, I ignored them. I didn't tell them I was ignoring them, but I did ignore them. I wasn't sharing those hard won numbers with anyone.

Good editors didn't ask, the bad ones weren't smart enough to figure out that the numbers that I did supply them were the same numbers they could have gotten themselves - out of a phone book.

The dirty little secret is that reporters are often lone wolves, which is an apt description on a number of levels, and good editors honored them by turning them loose to hunt. Bad editors tried - and mostly failed - to domesticate and leash them, which is frankly impossible.

So while I admit to pretending to go along with some editor stupidity during my last few years, I did so just to survive and when I was out of eye and earshot, I returned to the wild.

This blog has had a pretty narrow focus, although I occasionally stray into non-journalism areas, and therefore a pretty narrow readership, about 22,000 different individuals have stopped by.

On any given day there will be between 350-500 people stopping by to check in. On my highest day, the day last March I broke the news about the Flint Journal, Bay City Times and Saginaw News dumping the daily product for the three-day-a-week product, more than 2,000 individuals stopped by during a 24-hour period.

Ultimately, this is my blog and so far it has earned me $29.42 in ad revenue and nothing else. But it has kept me writing and for that I'm grateful. To the extent that some of you enjoy the blog, I get pleasure from that. And thanks to all of you for stopping by and being part of the conversation, even when it was to disagree.

Hopefully, we'll keep on, keeping on.

Mammogram decision just the first for rationed medical care

So a government panel now says routine mammograms are not necessary for women 40-49.

My late mother, who died at 59 after a 15-year battle with breast cancer would completely disagree if she were still around to hear the news.

So this is how the government will save money for its managed government health program. It will just scale back life-saving tests and procedures.

The only reason my mother had a few extra years was the early diagnosis of her breast cancer about 1972.

Before the onset of the beloved government health care option we're already seeing that the government can't deliver enough flu vaccine and now this insane advice to women. Stay tuned, it will only get worse.

Detroit Daily Press: How to subscribe

If you live in the three county Metropolitan Detroit area the Detroit Daily Press will deliver a daily newspaper - 7 days a week (what a concept) - beginning November 30. To subscribe go here.

I'm hoping they have a strong start and build on it.

A satirical look at "distracted" pilots

A loyal FFE reader sent me the link to this. Enjoy

AnnArbor.com offers free Internet, comfy couches

Made my monthly stop over on AnnArbor.com and found out they now have free Internet and comfy couches available. Apparently, it has been slow so far. The comments on the article are pretty brutal.

Something light for the weekend. Thoughts to ponder

A friend sent me these thoughts to ponder (with my comments in bold italic):

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer's history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. (Maybe my favorite of the whole bunch)

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? (A pet peeve of mine too)

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories. (True fact)

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. (Never happened to me ;) - Riiiiight!)

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again. (Whats Blue Ray?)

13.. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to the ten-page paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever. (Guilty)

15. I hate it when I miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. (I don't do this)

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..

20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with a Budweiser than Kay.

It's official: Detroit Daily Press debuts November 23

A couple very familiar names among those hired. I knew one for several weeks, but couldn't say. Crain's has a story from the press conference today.

Media got shooting info wrong, again: Editor and Publisher

Editor and Publisher has a pretty harsh criticism of the coverage of the Fort Hood shootings last week.

First the uncorrected (for hours) report that the shooter had been killed and then the complete refresh of the information crediting the woman police officer with shooting the suspect when it was actually an African-American police officer.

The E&P article hints at a possible racial reason (the woman police officer was white) for the mistake, I really think E&P has gone over the edge on this one.

Clearly, news organizations were relying on military reports in the early hours and the blame for the misinformation falls to the the military. It is highly unlikely reporters had access to the scene or any of the witnesses in those early hours so it is hard to fault the media for quoting military sources for the info.

New Detroit Daily Press close to hitting the streets

Editor and Publisher is announcing a press conference for tomorrow, Friday, November 13th, for some important new information about the launch of The Detroit Daily Press.

I know one of the reporters hired for the new paper and he's a great choice to begin the nucleus of a reporting staff.

While it might seem a little like shoveling sand against the tide to start a daily paper when so many are going the other way, I have to admit I really, really want this to work. If the new owners believe they can make a living with a daily product with a 150,000 readership, I don't think that will be hard to reach.

Anyway, I love people who take on a great challenge and I wish them well.

Thank you veterans!

Today is the day that we honor veterans. My father, a World War II veteran, wrote to me this morning that his plans for this day are to get his ears roto-rootered so he can hear again. He is shunning the free meal offerings, but I want him to know that I and others appreciate his World War II service.

As readers of this blog will know it has been a sad year for me, my younger brother Mike, a Vietnam veteran, died on New Year's Day. My father-in-law Red, a member of the 75th Division in World War II died July 7th and my former father-in-law Walt, a member of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, died in October.

My uncle Bill, a World War II veteran died in 2008, and my stepfather Ray, a Navy pilot in World War II, died about 20 years ago.

In reality, I might not be here today except for the connection my grandmother, Ethel Tyson, and grandfather, Ray Smith, made at an Army base in Battle Creek, Michigan where my grandfather was stationed during World War I. I know he was a sergeant and don't know if he was headed to Europe at some point, but from what I understand he never left the States.

I could be wrong about this, and I'm sure my father will correct me if I am, but family lore has it that Ethel and Ray met at a dance at or near the base somewhere around 1918. The rest as they say is history.

So this day has special meaning for me. My father reminded me in an e-mail this morning that he recalled that during Vietnam when my brother and I returned home from our service there that we avoided wearing our uniform off the base because of the nasty reaction we got from folks. (We lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is not known for its patriotic fervor). People held veterans in disdain in those days. When I went back to college, I avoided mentioning my service so as not to complicate my studies and grades with very liberal professors.

I'm grateful that the country has reached out to veterans, even when they disagree with the war the military service people are serving in. It is right to honor their service today and to say "Thank You."

Old friends, wasted talent

Was conversing online with a former colleague who is also recently out of a newspaper job. After I disconnected and had a chance to think, it seems so sad and wasteful that so many talented people (and I'm not talking about myself here because I would have been retired now and there are plenty more talented people than me) floating around out there without a beat to cover.

Politicians and others who need serious watching must be reveling in the thought that the field is now open for them to play their games with only a small chance of being caught.

Many of the folks left behind in the business are more than capable and talented of doing the work, but with so few of them I can't help but believe a lot is going to go unreported.

With some of our difficult family issues starting to settle a little, I hope to start back at looking at my former career and the careers of others and live up to the title of this blog and start writing again.

Ezra Kornscabble weighs in on AnnArbor.com

The Daily Derelict blog has some recent insights on AnnArbor.com.

A Washington Post "mess"

Thanks to a frequent reader for this column about a recent Washington Post column that was the victim of tighter deadlines and likely less editing.

Walt Brown, Rest in Peace

My former father-in-law, Walter "Walt" Brown, died Saturday at home in Addison Township. He was 92.

During the time I was married to his daughter, Susan, Walt and I spent many hours together. Because I worked nights in Flint, my days were free and Walt loved to cut wood, do projects around his and our house and generally kept himself busy. It was my joy and honor to spend all those many hours with him outdoors.

I learned more from Walt in those few years about wood working, tree-cutting, cement mixing, roofing and life than pretty much the sum total of all my years in school. He was a reservoir of common sense in a world where it is very scarce. There's a morning room built on to the back of my house today that is a testament to what I learned from Walt about carpentry and roofing.

Like all three of my father-in-laws, my father and stepfather, he was a survivor of the Depression and World War II. For Walt the Depression was the defining time of his life. He was a believer in not paying for something unless you could pay cash for it and he conserved energy by burning the wood available to him for free.

He taught me the importance of checking the wind before falling a tall tree and the ins-and-outs of a chain saw. He taught me that sharp was safer than dull and that you always "measure twice and cut once." He taught me that a man was judged by the neatness of his woodpile.

Walt also taught me that there was no such thing as a mistake, but just "errors." He also told me that a good spoken "sonofabitch" would fix most carpentry problems. Well, that and a well timed and aimed hammer stroke.

If he spoke the word "politician" it came out sounding like a curse word. He had no use for those who couldn't relate to people who worked hard and broke a sweat to make a living.

He built Susan's house with his own hands, each nail lovingly driven in by himself. Once after the house was more than 10 years old, we called after one of the windows fogged up during a cold snap. The call was made not to ask him to fix it, but just in passing the time of day.

About 1/2-hour later (this was about 8 p.m. at night) we heard Walt's truck pull into the driveway and he emerged with his toolbox and came into the house and fixed the air leak that caused the fogging.

Walt joked that not many builders would come back and fix the house they built ten years after it was finished. But then not many builders were Walt.

At one time he worked for Mrs. Wilson of Dodge-Wilson at the Meadowbrook Mansion in Rochester Hills. it is now a tourist attraction but he remembered the days that Mrs. Dodge-Wilson would call out for "Walter" to fix this or that.

During the time I knew him he was only rarely without his beloved retriever by his side. That dog followed him everywhere and it was rough when I had to ride in his truck to a woodlot because Jesse didn't like sharing the front seat with anyone but Walt.

He and his dog shared his lunch and his love. I've never met a man with a closer touch to nature than Walt. He loved animals. He had the rare ability to coax a wild chipmunk into his hand the first time he saw it.

But he also loved to hunt deer. Although it was more about the sitting in nature than it was in the taking of the deer. I recalled this story recently about one of Walt's hunting "trips."

Susan and I lived on 7-8 acres in Oxford Township. The back lot was a stand of pine trees - all planted by Susan and Walt, by the way - and when they were mature enough he would make a deer blind in the back and during hunting season it was not uncommon to hear his military truck pull into our driveway and head back to the woods about 5 a.m.

While Susan was at work during the day I usually did chores around the property, but when I knew Walt was back "hunting" I stayed up near the house so as not to spook the deer.

One day, I was watching out our back picture window when I saw a big 10 to 12-point buck that Walt had been eyeing for months, walk to the pile of corn and apples in the back lot. I watched for several minutes waiting for the inevitable blast that would take down this prize buck. It never came.

A little while later I heard the truck driving up the path next to our horse pasture and met Walt in the driveway as he headed home for lunch.

"Why didn't you shoot that buck?," I asked him

"Please don't tell me the buck was there, I fell asleep for a while," Walt said. We both had a good laugh about the 'one that got away.'

Like so many of his kind, Walt is in that disappearing group of heroes from World War II. During his youth around Rochester, Walt made a name for himself ski jumping and he had the newspaper clips to prove it.

When World War II came those skills were in demand in the Army's 10th Mountain Division, which Walt proudly served both in Europe and the Pacific. He came home and never left after the war. He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Eva, for 68 years. She used to kid that he loved his dog and spent more time with it than her, but she was wrong.

You can read the whole obituary here. There's a nice photo of Walt there as well.

He once told me a story about a German soldier that was shot in the heel someplace in Italy and when they approached him with guns drawn the German spoke in good English, "don't shoot, I'm from Detroit."

In recent years he made one of the "Honor Flights" to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., one of the very rare times he left his home.

There are many great stories he told that would fail in my telling here because they were good because of the way he told them.

Walt, you will be missed.

Will Northwest Airlines add a charge for 'longer' flight

My father, my resident expert of all things aviation, wondered in an e-mail to me about the recent 'extended' Northwest flight from San Diego to Minneapolis.

In case you hadn't heard, a pilot and co-pilot overshot the Minneapolis airport by more than 150 miles when they were otherwise occupied (some say sleeping, some say arguing and today they said they were reading on their personal computers) and simply missed their airborne exit ramp.

So my father wonders, what with all the new airline fuel and baggage fees, if Northwest will now bill the passengers on the flight for the extra fuel used in the sightseeing flight over Wisconsin. You know, with all the airlines bad public relations, it wouldn't really surprise me if they tried.

By the way, my father is a docent (and a darn good one) at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport near D.C. He gives a great tour. My father served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and was a general aviation pilot during my formative teenage years.

Unfortunately for him I never got the 'flying' bug and when he asks me what kind of aircraft I flew on during a trip, he gets very frustrated when I say, "a big one with two or three engines." Not that I don't love flying, my favorite assignment remains the assignment and story on my flight on the B-24 "Liberator" bomber that visited Flint.

He wants details and I give him, well, not details. Above is a photo of my Dad during a tour he gave my wife and I at the museum. Its a great museum with some really great exhibits. One of my favorites is the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Story outlines former Mayor's "access" fee

The brief item on Mlive.com isn't written very clearly, but it is an interesting take on former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's "access" fees.

Oakland Press gains readers from Free Press, News and Flint Journal

Give the Oakland Press credit for pursuing the daily newspaper readers abandoned by the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and Flint Journal when they shrunk publication of the printed version to three days a week.

New numbers show that the OP picked up several thousand readers (not a great coup for sure) but at least they went up, and not down in circulation.

Thanks to a frequent reader for the link.

The real loss of beat reporting

Since my retirement I have been working part time doing public relations work. Last week I went to a public information officer conference in Saginaw.

During one of our break out sessions I was talking to a public relations person for a non-profit organization in Grand Rapids. She related the frustration of the new reality of newspaper reporting.

The hospital she works for had for years had a dedicated health reporter that covered it. Things went along well and with the relationships that built up stories were done that were accurate and timely.

Not so anymore, she said. Now, it's a roll of the dice that on a day-to-day basis the hospital will even know who is responsible for health coverage. Often they get a different reporter each time there is a story, she said.

That has created a situation where there have been many errors in stories, both online and in print. Corrections are made online, but without any mention of the previous error.

The woman said she has had a number of conversations with the editor of the Grand Rapids Press, but there seems little hope that it will be better any time soon.

Where's the vaccine? Can you say Hurricane Katrina all over again

OK, so last April the panic over the Swine flu began. Everyone predicted that it would come roaring back in the fall and winter and all the flapping gums expressed a need for an expedited vaccine.

So, where is it? People are starting to get sick in flocks and there is an inadequate supply of vaccine for folks who want it.

This is FEMA and Katrina all over again. The government simply does not have the capability to respond to disasters of the moment or the ones that they know are coming months in advance.

So President Bush rightfully got blasted for Katrina and when will the press start putting the blame on the new Adminstration for its failure to secure and expedite the H1N1 vaccine.

The press needs to be all over this. President Obama has declared it a National Emergency and yet with six months planning, we are dreadfully short of the vaccine. By the time it is ready, the crisis will be over.

Yeah, keep pushing that government option for health care.

A little fun for Saturday

My brother-in-law and I are headed out in a couple hours to East Lansing for the MSU vs. Iowa football game. My brother-in-law is an Iowa graduate and I went to MSU so it should be a fun night.

But my sister gave me this funny re-do on the classic Abbott and Costello comedy routine. I hope you enjoy it.

Bud Abbott & Lou Costello Updated

Someone sent me a copy of Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First" broadcast
from the 1930's. Now fast forward to 2008 and try to imagine Abbott and
Costello trying to buy/sell a computer. If you never heard Abbott &
Costello's "Who's on first" I feel really sorry for you, because you were
obviously deprived not only as a child, but as an adult too. You have to be
old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY
understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who
sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on...

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their famous sketch,
'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT.

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Hello. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about
buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.
ABBOTT: Your computer?
COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.
ABBOTT: What about Windows?
COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?
ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?
COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows?
ABBOTT: Wallpaper.
COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.
ABBOTT: Software for Windows?
COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write
proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?
ABBOTT: I just did.
COSTELLO: You just did what?
ABBOTT: Recommend something.
COSTELLO: You recommended something?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: For my office?
ABBOTT: Yes
COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!
ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.
COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm
sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: Word in Office.
COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?
ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue 'W'.
COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue 'w' if you don't start with some
straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can
track my money with?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: That's right . What do you have?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?
ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.
COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?
ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.
COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?
ABBOTT: One copy.
COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?
ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.
COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?
ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!


(A few days later)
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?
ABBOTT: Click on 'START'

Put me in the Libertarian column - a rant for a Wednesday

As frequent readers of this blog knows I have little or no use for the two party system. In my opinion the American political system is broken and the roots of that brokenness have everything to do with the trap of a two party system.

Democrats = Republicans and vice versa. You can make all the arguments you want about the differences, but in the end the one thing they have in common is they live and survive for their own self interest. The public and doing the right thing for the Country is lower on the priority lists of the two parties than doing what is politically expedient. Period.

I know this is not a great revelation. It is simply obvious. Neither will do anything to support the other, even if it is the right thing for the country.

My contempt for the politics of the 1970s, 80s, 90s and through today has little bounds.

With the death of my father-in-law and the placement of my mother-in-law in a nursing home that contempt has only magnified the anger and frustration with what I feel is a government out-of-control.

My father-in-law saved carefully all his life. He invested wisely and was prudent. Now, after paying his taxes for his entire life the government has created a situation where they and the nursing home will confiscate most of his wealth in just a very short time.

Medicare rules and nursing home requirements are currently draining about $10,000 a month from my in-laws carefully constructed nest egg to care for her in a 10 X 20 room. For $10,000 a month you could reserve a room on a cruise liner and live there in luxury, but laws written by Republicans and Democrats are seeing to it that what was so carefully collected over 50 years will be gone in less than two years.

Trust me, the government will not get my nest egg, because I'll make sure it is gone before I am, or I'll hide it where they'll never find it.

If you haven't been through this event - the placement of an elderly parent in a nursing home - you will not have an appreciation for the labyrinth of rules and regulations drawn up by legislators to make sure they squeeze every dollar from every citizen before they die. This from citizens who have been lifelong taxpayers.

The rich - and the legislators - would never have to face this because they would have been able to afford the lawyers and crooks that would have sheltered the money.

To navigate these laws and regulations you are forced to hire an elder care attorney - not a cheap option - and spend even more money to salvage something, anything, for my surviving mother-in-law. Just spending two months watching this has me longing for a new 1776 revolutionary spirit. Of course the money you spend on lawyers is exempt from all the other regulations. Republican and Democrat lawyer-legislators made sure of that.

People ask me why I don't support the public health care option. It's easy, because I don't trust the government and I hold them in utter contempt. I don't need any more reason than that.

Living through this government induced horror for my mother-in-law and her savings has more than convinced me that it is time to throw ALL the bums out, President Obama included.

And don't offer me any Republican or Democrat as a substitute either.

Consider just a few recent examples:

A Democrat who helps write tax laws, doesn't pay his own taxes.

Another Democrat congressman scoffs at the idea he should ACTUALLY read the health care bill.

A Republican governor preaches family values and then flies to Argentina for a weekend with his mistress.

President Bush convinced Congress to act quickly to pour billions into a broken financial system to save the corrupt bankers and insurance companies who created the crisis. Did things get better? No, they got worse.

President Obama enters office and immediately repeats the mistake, promising that by doing so unemployment will stay under 8 percent. Wrong again! Unemployment is approaching 10 percent with little indication it will drop any time soon.

For you young people who support these policies just remember that the trillions in new debt being rung up by the past and current administration - aka Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum - will be on your backs to pay in a few years.

While some think all this money being handed out is "Obama money," it is really "your money" and you will be responsible for paying it back, with big interest. Remember that someday when you are trying to smile and say "Yes, we can."

We have a sleeping media. We have media on the right that attacks everything and a media on the left that acts as a cheerleader. For an old newsman it is beyond frustrating to watch.

It's past time for serious questioning and investigation and frankly, it may be too late.

If someone will boil the tar, I'll be happy to bring the feathers. I actually wrote this last Sunday and slept on it for two days and actually toned down some of what I previously wrote, but I don't want anyone to try and tell me that the government is the answer for anything except providing a great military defense and law enforcement.

If you're a Republican or Democrat politician and you're reading this, well, you probably owe everyone an apology.

What this guy said

Unfortunately the embed on YouTube.com is disabled, but here's the link to one of the great philosophers of our time. I could not agree with this guy more. Stay tuned for a rant from me on why our stupid government is completely out of control. Start boiling the tar and feathers.

Inside Out: Newspaper changes near and far

Inside Out has a good accounting of all the recent local changes in the news biz.

Speaking of AnnArbor.com

While I was in the land of pineapples and grass skirts Mgoblog reported the lead story on AnnArbor.com on one day in September was actually a four-year-old story out of another newspaper.

Ooops.

Don't bother with the link to the AnnArbor.com article, it has been removed.

Things may be looking up at the FJ

Either the bottom line is floating up from the bottom or Booth is making a last gasp effort to right the ship.

Some good news yesterday with word that a former sports writer has been rehired to the staff. My previous complaints about poor local golf coverage may be over. Also Brendan has long covered the local IHL team - the Flint Generals - and is a writer that fans either love, hate, or love to hate.

It's good news for Brendan and for the paper that he's back.

You can check out some comments from yesterday, but it sounds like employees are going to get dinged for their health coverage and the rumors are persistent that there may be an additional publication day added to the schedule.

Also from first and second hand accounts there is word that the circulation department is calling up former subscribers - subscribers that the PAPER cancelled - and asking them if they would be interested in coming back if they re-established some of their rural routes.

That's going to be a tough sell as folks tell me they are now over the daily newspaper habit.

Went over to AnnArbor.com last night for the first time in six weeks. Yaaaaawn!

E-mail box full of rumors

Plenty of rumors made their way to my e-mail in the past month. Many have to do with rumblings that there may be some added print days at one or more of the papers who had their print days reduced to three days a week.

Also some information that printing at the Flint plant will end as soon as the current contract with the printer's union expires.

I noted that there has been a changing of the guard in my former column - Off Beat.

It does my heart good that the column that I started without prompting or encouragement by any editor in 1990 remains a feature in the Flint Journal nine years after I stopped writing it and two years after I left the paper.

My best wishes to the guy who replaced me and now the woman who replaced him.

Blogging to resume - soon, but first, meet Griffen Harry

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, but returning from our trip left me scrambling at work and at home. Not to mention that it took me several days to catch up on my sleep from our long flight home.

I'm sorting through e-mails and information and I'll post some of that information on Sunday night.

There has been a little excitement here as well with the birth of Griffen Harry, our third grandchild and first boy at 12:21 p.m. Friday, 10-09-09. Griffen (the "en" continues the tradition that started with Addisen) checked in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce.

He has blondish, red-hair which could be traced to his recently departed great-grandfather, Red.

Mother, baby, father and Big Sister Addisen all doing fine and very happy. As I did with Addisen I introduced myself to Griffen wearing my Michigan State sweatshirt. It's important to start the indoctrination early.

Life is good.

More philosophy from Red

In honor of my father-in-law his two daughters and sons-in-laws wore special t-shirts to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor last month. The t-shirts were designed and made by my step-son, John. The color red was picked because of my father-in-law's nickname and the KB2FME lettering was his HAM radio call sign, so a tip to his favorite hobby. The picture was taken in the room where the names of the dead sailors are inscribed on the wall.

Also, while we were gone, the other daughter, Patty, continued her quest through his many journals. Here's the latest installment. Many of these are from before the time he was sick.

"I don't worry much, but i fret much more"

"Opposites attract but are not compatible"

"Every day you learn something new about yourself"

"Make yourself happy, for the moment"

"Everyday is a good day as long as you are breathing"

"Aging is when your farther from the beginning and closer to the END."

"The older I get, the more Philosophic I get"

"Parents ruin more children than any other source"

"What I need most in life I never got" (Perhaps a reference to his mother leaving him when he was just a baby)

"I don't know where I'm going but I sure know where I'm going to end up"

"All the problems of life are man made"

"Time alone is to please no one but yourself"

"By the time you smartin' up, you're dead"

"I'll survive until I die"

"Dont' wake up mad, it's a long day"

"Being a nothing, I wish I never existed"

"I whine because the Beer isn't Cold"

"If you look at twins, one always looks older than the other"

"Money is only a problem when you don't have it. Relations are only a problem when you have them"

"Patience is a virtue. Patience is also virginity"

"It all has to do with nothing"

"If you can't remember it, forget it"

"The reason most comics get divorced is because their wives laugh at them"

"Dieing is no way to live"

"God, self and others"

"If I wake up, I hope it's 6AM"

"It's locust time for the politicians"

"We're all an island onto ourselves"

"Life is never dull, we make it so"

"Willie wouldn't be Willie if he wasn't"

"God made man, then he goofed"

"Tis easier to receive than transmit" (A HAM reference)

"What am I doing? Reneging food for thought"

"That person's seen both sides of the dam. That person's been on both sides of the dam."

"What don't work, I shall try again"

"People go from one bad habit to the next"

"I have been, so I am eternal"

"It's almost impossible to get to be 60 years old and not enjoy some parts of life"

"Why Criticism? Criticism is a compliment: it shows that you have done something too important for a critic to ignore."

"Diane fainted- she was shot from the shot" (flu shot story reference)

"Peace is the time, when the kids go to bed and before the parents go to bed"

More to come.

Someone in the Newhouse chain is still doing well

The list of the Forbes 400 richest includes a Newhouse at No. 38. My bad, the Newhouse reference was from 2006 here is the latest, he has slipped to No. 52.

Here's the final: Samuel Newhouse.

And Donald Newhouse.

World War II - Poster 20

World War II - Poster 19

Back from Hawai'i

Just a quick note to let you know that we are back from our trip and that blogging will resume very soon.

Only five comments posted in my absence and I have put them up this morning. See you all soon! Hope you enjoyed the World War II posters.

World War II - Poster 18

World War II - Poster 17

World War II - Poster 16

World War II - Poster 15

World War II - Poster 14

World War II - Poster 13

World War II - Poster 12

World War II - Poster 11

World War II - Poster 10

World War II - Poster 9

Anagram fun!!

Anagrams use the letters of words to make other words.

Here's some fun Anagrams

PRESBYTERIAN: BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER: MOON STARER

DESPERATION: A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES: THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH: HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE: HERE COME DOTS

DORMITORY: DIRTY ROOM

SLOT MACHINES: CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY: IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS: LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS: ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT: I'M A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES: THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO: TWELVE PLUS ONE

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:

MOTHER-IN-LAW: WOMAN HITLER

World War II - Poster 8

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World War II - Poster 6

World War II - Poster 5

World War II - Poster 4

World War II - Poster 3

Good article from AJR

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be gone, but I'm not, quite. So here's something sent to me from a loyal reader about a daily newspaper reporter not ready to pack it in.

World War II - Poster 2

World War II - Poster 1

Ooops! Still here.

Actually, we will be in Buffalo until Monday night, so there may be some light blogging until then. I put up that previous notice a few weeks ago before our plans were completely set.

Last night we went to Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub, it's the place made famous by the frequent visits of Tim Russert and his dad.

In a city where every restaurant boosts "the best fish fry in town" the Blackthorn can actually mean it.

The eclectic atmosphere, a collection of 1950s-1960s style tables and chairs not all that match, fill the place and everyone seems to know everyone else. We were there only about 5 minutes and struck up a conversation with the hostess and pretty soon we felt like we were in our living room talking to an old friend.

If you are ever in West Seneca, make sure you stop at Blackthorn's.

Blogging vacation

The housesitter is in place, our flights are approaching and a two week cruise to Hawaii is on tap.

Even if I had a wireless signal, for the next 2 1/2 weeks I will be out of touch. My wife is retired from teaching, my part-time job gives me the flexibility to take some time off and we are out of here.

There will be some pre-scheduled posts going up in my absence, in fact something new each day, but I won't be monitoring the news business for the next two weeks or so.

Enjoy the World War II posters that will show up here everyday, leave a comment if you like, but it won't be posted until I get back around Oct. 1. Feel free to take a vacation from Free From Editors and come back all refreshed and ready to go when I get back.

Aloha!

Missing the newsroom today

Maybe it was the 9/11 remembrance or the huge breaking national news out of Owosso, but it is big news days like this that make my fingers itch just once more to be chasing a big story.

Major kudos to the Flint Journal staff for their work today on the anti-abortion activist shooting in Owosso.

It may sound heartless and even harsh, but for reporters a major story like this one is often looked at as a "good" story. Not because reporters wish for harm on anyone, but because a story like this taxes every source, every skill and every nerve ending you have.

It's a rush like no other and today, just today, I'm envious of those laboring in the field.

I know a couple of the bylines working on this story and the story is in good hands. It's just too bad they don't print on Saturday anymore.

9/11, eight years ago today

Most of us will never forget where we were the morning of September 11, 2001.

For me, it was at my desk in the back of the newsroom at the Flint Journal. Up until about 8:45 a.m. it was a pretty routine morning in the newsroom. The paper was basically done and most of us were leaning back thinking about what we were going to do the rest of the day.

Then the first plane hit the towers. Brooke, who handled the actual production of the newspaper in the mornings, realized that everything would have to be changed. A large business feature was scrapped and the rest of us went to work to find a local angle to the story.

We were on the phone to sources, looking for anyone who might be, or know someone who might be close to the tragedy.

All I remember is being on the phone from about 9 a.m. until noon. My recollections of the event were of work and talking to local people, or former local people, who were watching the event unfold in front of their eyes.

People would stop by my desk and give me the play-by-play, but I didn't really feel the complete effect of the terrorist attack until I got up from my desk, about 11:30 a.m., and found a television and watched the replays of the attack.

Then, and only then, was when the realization of the enormity of the act hit me. People had told me the towers fell, but when I saw it with my own eyes on the replay, I wept. Knowing that many, many lives were being lost at that moment was too hard even for a hardened reporter.

Today, let's remember all those, police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and civilians who lost their lives in this attack. Let's also remember all those who have fought in the cause to make sure it will never happen again.

It is a good day to fly the Flag.

The "door shakers"

Back in my Oakland Press days, the editor of the paper frequently tried to catch the photo staff off guard by bursting into the photo department unnannounced.

The hallway into the old photo department was narrow and there was little warning if someone was coming through the door.

So the photographers came up with a signal so that folks inside would know that the person coming through the door was a "friend" and not "foe."

The rule was for everyone, but the editor, that when you entered the photo department you were to give the door knob a long and loud shake so that folks inside would not jump to attention when the door opened.

The "door shaker" rule survived for a long time until one day the editor confronted the photo staff with his belief that people were shaking the door to announce the entry of anyone but himself.

He was politely told that he was wrong, that the door shaking was done to warn anyone coming down the narrow hallway to look out so they wouldn't get hit by the door opening.

Not sure he bought it.

Harold Phillips, 82, former "hot type" printer, RIP

Harold W. Phillips, age 82, of Traverse City, passed away, Monday, September 7, 2009 at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City.

He was born in Owosso, MI, August 11, 1927 to Harold, Sr. and Jessie (Perry) Phillips. On April 2, 1949, he and Janey Rust were married in Angola, IN. They lived in Owosso until 1958, then Flint and in 1996, came to Traverse City.

He graduated from Corunna (MI) High School in 1945 then went into the Navy. He was at the Atomic Bomb Tests at Bikini in 1946 then went on destroyer duty in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. He was honorably discharged as Radarman 2/C in 1948.

He was a printer at The Owosso Argus-Press until 1955, then the Flint Journal until 1987 and retirement. He was a so-so golfer but enjoyed the camaraderie. He was a member of Corunna Post 4005 VFW.

Survived by sons Jerry (Helen) and Denny (Courtney) and daughter Penny, all of Traverse City; grandchildren Kristy Phillips, Jamie Phillips, Ben Phillips and Benn Overholt; great-grandson Joshua Phillips, brother Gene (Donna) of Tawas City and Yuma, AZ., sister-in-law, Carol (Jack) Holmes of Elk Rapids, grand-dogs, Hunter, Polar and Cuppy, cousins, nieces and nephews and long-time friends Jack and Jeanne Boursmith of Corunna.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Janey in 2003 and his parents.

Cremation has taken place and inurnment will be at Traverse City Memorial Gardens. A memorial service will take place on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 2:00 pm at Faith Reformed Church, 1139 E. Front Street, Traverse City. Memorial contributions may be directed to Munson Hospice, 550 Munson Avenue, Traverse City, MI 49686.

(I never worked with Harold, but did work with his son, Jerry).

Inside Out: More on the Conde Nast censorship controversy

Inside Out has been collecting links and items on the Conde Nast attempt to hide its own story on Vladimir Putin.

Looks like the Advance corporate lawyers, with whom many of us are all too familiar, are at it again.

For what it's worth, the attempt to kill the story has only given it new life and spread it to an audience that otherwise would have likely missed it.

A mouse in my white house

All summer I have been in a battle with a little mouse who keeps insisting on building her nest in a recess of the mower deck of my riding lawn mower.

I don't like to hurt or kill little creatures and I have a rule about mice. Come in my house and you get trapped. Stay outside and we'll try and co-exist.

But the stubbornness of this little mouse is really stretching my patience. It has been necessary to mow every ten days to two weeks all summer due to the rainy weather. But even with only ten day intervals the mouse insists on returning to build her next, always in the same place.

My mower is lodged in a little white metal shed - "the white house" as we call it - in the back yard.

So all summer I go through this little ritual where I pound on the walls of the shed and then slam some tools around to let her know I am in the house. Sometimes she pops her head out and looks at me and then dashes back under the mower deck.

To keep from harming her or her babies I don't start the engine or blades until I push the mower outside and lift up the deck to make sure she and any little ones have departed. I feel kind of bad because she never quite gets the nest finished before I need to mow.

Twice now I have moved her nest to a corner of the white house where I would be happy to let her raise her young, but always she returns to the mower deck.

Finally today, she came out from under the mower deck kind of looked at me, walked away a few feet stopped and looked back as if to scold me for once again spoiling her work.

Any suggestions (please don't suggest murdering the mouse) that might convince her to move elsewhere will be appreciated.

Go State! First college football Saturday

For my Spartan fans these little gems from the 2008 season.



Or this one:

Charlie Rangel: Tax cheat and House Ways and Means Chairman

Now I get it, Democrat Charlie Rangel wants all of us to pay more taxes, but that doesn't apply to him.

Last year at this time Mr. Rangel was saying that he "might" owe the feds just a little money.

Pay as I say, not as I do.

Rick Monday just became my all-time favorite baseball player

Thanks to Reporting Michigan for posting a link to this You Tube video of an incident that I had long forgotten about. Great moment for Chicago Cub Rick Monday and baseball. Just a little something for a holiday weekend.

The story of 'Diamond Lil'

Long time readers of this blog may recall that one of my all-time favorite assignments was flying aboard a B-24 named 'Diamond Lil.'

To keep my father from calling me on a technicality, I will have to allow that the B-24 I flew in was actually a C-87. As I recall, it left the factory in 1941 (the 25th out of 18,000 that would be built) in San Diego as a B-24, but crash landed (something about the landing gear not coming down) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Because it was headed to England as part of the lend-lease program, the government simply flew another new B-24 over to England in its place. The Diamond Lil aircraft was severely damaged on its belly (that happens when you land without wheels) so a decision was made to weld it back together and use it as a transport, which technically makes it a C-87.

After the war, the plane had a new life as an executive aircraft until it was purchased (or obtained) and restored to its appearance as a B-24 (it still does not have the bomb doors). It now is reportedly only one of two flying B-24s.

During World War II it was used, among other things, to transport movie stars on USO tours and was outfitted with relatively luxurious seats and interior. That duty probably helped it survive the war and on into today.

While searching Youtube.com I located this clip of Diamond Lil, the very same one I flew on so many years ago. Again, to my old editor - Roger - my thanks for the best assignment I ever had.

My favorite Facebook status so far

A California buddy, a guy I served on a California police department with for five years in the 1970s, put this up as his Facebook status today:

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."

"Reporting Michigan" a new online news experiment

Over on Inside Out there are several new posts this morning, one on some reflections on AnnArbor.com and another about a former Ann Arbor News reporter's new "Reporting Michigan" online business.

The reporter, Tom, has been a sometime contributor on this blog and I'm going to put up a link on my list to watch his new venture.

At least it has the look of a news site. And a pretty good story up this morning on how some State employees take a furlough day on Friday and then work for overtime the next day on Saturday.

An online newspaper paid subscription that worked

A loyal FFE reader sent along this link to a Newsweek article about a newspaper that made the online model pay.

This can't be possible, all those Internet news gurus said this wouldn't work.

Check out this post at Inside Out

For those starved for Booth/Advance news, Inside Out has a few reflections today.

I continue to get e-mails about a pending Booth September surprise. To be honest, I have no direct knowledge of any changing publication plans, downsizing, upsizing or any kind of sizing.

Dramatic photos of the Los Angeles fires

For my friends and family in and from California the Los Angeles Times has a series of 143 photos, many from the La Crescenta and La Canada area where we were all from. For my friend Drew there are several photos taken right on Ocean View Boulevard where he used to live.

One photo was taken at the intersection of Rockdell and Rosemont which is less than a mile from my former home. The fire did not threaten Rosemont Junior High School, my former school.

The evacuation orders have been lifted for La Crescenta and La Canada where the fire has burned itself out and moved on north. Structural damage was minimal, but a few miles away in Tujunga, they were not so lucky.

I know what I want for Christmas

If you're not a fan of radio-controlled model aircraft, skip this post. But this is an amazing display of flying skills and a pretty cool, jet-powered model aircraft.

Mainly I posting this here because my father, a former pilot and a docent at the Air and Space Museum in Virginia will get a big kick out of this now that he has a high-speed Internet connection.

More fires, more family to worry about

My sister-in-law Barbara lives in a beautiful spot called Lake of the Pines in Auburn, California. Barbara has been following my coverage of the fires in Southern California and alerted me to a serious fire that came within several miles of her home. My late brother Michael loved his home in the gated community at LOP.

It is where I stayed when I flew out after my brother's death earlier this year.

Barbara said she had the car packed and was ready to go because the fire quickly spread through nearby subdivisions destroying 60 homes and businesses as it went. Fortunately for her, LOP's was spared.

You can see the Sacramenta television station's coverage here. There are several videos available on the station's website if you are interested.

Another California fire picture

A friend of my sister Pam, Dianne Adams, who lives in the area of the fire sent this photo taken from Crescenta Valley High School, the high school my sister Pam, brother Mike and I attended. This is the closest I can ever recall a fire coming to our area in La Crescenta.

Sorry to hear this morning two firefighters were killed trying to escape the flames when their fire truck went off a road and crashed.

Overnight, my old high school, along with nearby La Canada High School and Verdugo Hills High School were opened as shelters.

Red Uleskey: 'I wish I did what I didn't do'

As mentioned before many of my father-in-law Red’s sayings grew a little darker as his health deteriorated. Not having faced my own imminent approaching death it is hard for me to understand some of them.

One thing Red began urging us to do a few years ago was to retire as soon as you could and then once retired front load your retirement with travel, fun and adventure. He expressed regret that he spent the first years, his healthy retirement years, staying too close to home believing there would always be time for the adventure. "There will be plenty of time to sit at home," he would advise us.

When his body failed him, the time and chance for adventure was over. In June 2008, when we took a cruise to Alaska, Red was very disappointed that his health prevented him from joining us. Especially since all three daughters and sons-in-law and two granddaughters were on the trip.

There also seemed to be a wistfulness about what his life had meant and what good he had done. So here are the latest installments of Red’s sayings.

I wish I did what I didn’t do.

Age is a huge boulder it’s going to crush you.

Sing when you can, you never know when you’ll lose your voice.

Life’s all about what’s happening this very moment.

It’s nice to get older, you don’t have to remember.

It’s tough to get to 72 it’s a lot tougher if you don’t. (He was 85 when he died)

God let me live long enough to get tired of life.

Death is the only solution to life.

If you never lived, you’re already dead.

I don’t expect much out of life, but I get less.

I didn’t think it was important until it hurt.

There’s little in life that’s real.

I don’t get headaches, I have them.

I guess I’m reasonably unhappy.

You’re only young once, but can be insipient forever.

You learn something every day but you don’t get smarter.

Misstakes make you feel imperfect. (Misstakes misspelled incorrectly on purpose)

Thing built today should last for an eternity.

We have everything, but we have nothing.

Life without love is an empty grave.

One of the worst things about life is that some people are dead and don’t know it.

(Red, a married man for 61 years to Joan, often wrote of love):

It is very difficult to love someone without loving them.

If you want somebody to love you, it better be yourself.

I love more than I despise.

Love is giving.

Then just a few quips for good measure:

He is about as handy as a left-handed snake.

I’m going to wake up sober in the morning but I hope wiser.

I don’t need money, I need some cents.

(There was much discussion in the last years of Red’s life about grave markers. Red wanted his free veteran’s marker for his grave, but his wife, Joan, insisted that she did not want any kind of a marker.
She became known in the family as: “No stone Joan” because of that decision. So buried in Red’s book was this little gem):

Here lies ‘No Stone Joan’ and ‘Stoned John.”

More to come

Photos from the fire

The fire truck (in the picture just above this note) is traveling on Foothill Boulevard towards La Crescenta. If you look just to the right of the fire truck in the far background in the foothills, that is roughly where I used to live. Click on the photos for a larger image.

Also, I know this may not be of major interest to folks back east, but many of my family and friends who check in here will be concerned. There is a pretty good 4-minute video from KTLA at this link. They are not providing an embed for this video.

From the KTLA story on the three injuries so far:

"Three civilians have been hurt, two in the Big Tujunga Canyon area and one off Highway 2 near Mount Wilson.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's official says the two people in Big Tujunga Canyon tried to ride out the firestorm n a backyard hot tub and were critically burned. They were airlifted out by a sheriff's rescue helicopter."

Now how California is that, riding out a firestorm in a hot tub.

Fire situation in Southern California worsens

The fire situation in my childhood neighborhood has worsened overnight and today. This attached map from the LA Times shows the expanded fire area. If you click on the man in the bed you will see that my high school, Crescenta Valley High School, had been designated as a shelter, but that people are now being sent to the next community and La Canada High School. According to weatherunderground.com the highs today in La Crescenta are expected to be 104, so no help there.

The evacuation area has spread and now seems to include my old neighborhood. My friend Drew's neighborhood on Ocean View Boulevard has been evacuated, although they have been allowing people to return to pick up some belongings.


View Los Angeles County fires north of La Canada Flintridge, Altadena in a larger map

Jim Carty checks in on the Michigan football story

Former Ann Arbor News sportswriter Jim Carty posted three items on the brewing Michigan football controversy over on his blog Paper Tiger No More. He also has some reasonable thoughts on AnnArbor.com and its strict moderation policy.

More wisdom and wit from Red Uleskey

More of my father-in-law Red’s private journal jottings as discovered by my sister-in-law Patty. Some of these are sooo good. We’re going to put them into a self-published book once we mine all the books that Red put them in. Again, some of them obviously deal with his declining health and advancing age, but others are just his own reflections. Each of them is a delight and a surprise to his family.

"He's as useless as a spare tire on the Goodyear Blimp.”

"I've lived long enough not to be remembered"

"The more you try to change, the more it stays the same"

"God only gives what he wants you to have"

"Life is over when you see the Dead End sign"

"The importance of being No one"

"No life is as full as it should have been"

"I like to worry, it makes me feel good"

"Love is an elusive commodity"

"Glaucoma is hardening of the eyeries"

"It seems as you age, you look forward to summer or death whichever comes first"

"Platonic relations are like a no thank you portion"

"Life is a lot of things but not easy"

"One of the worst things about life is that we take it too seriously"

"As you get older each day you learn a little, forget a lot."

"Death is Life's never happened" (I respectfully disagree with Red on this one)

"Life is the same old story with a different twist"

"Life is precious but short"

"I forgot what never was"

"There's only one perfect person in the world but you"

"Life is a puzzle we some time never figure out"

"History is never tomorrow for you"

"A little bit of life steps on everyone, Thank God its not a size 15EEE"

More to come.

President Obama didn't always say nice things about Sen. Kennedy

President Obama delivered the eulogy (a good one) at Sen. Ted Kennedy's funeral yesterday, but a few years ago the message he delivered to Sen. Kennedy was a little rougher.

The Boston Globe recounted the story of how then candidate Obama had to go to Sen. Kennedy and apologize for the remark in the video (below) on his way to getting the Kennedy endorsement.

At first, Obama denied making the remark, but when confronted with the video had to man up and go apologize in person, I believe.

Detroit Free Press: U-M Football breaking training rules

AnnArbor.com is linking to a major sports investigative piece by the Detroit Free Press on alleged training abuses by the new U-M football coach. Direct link to the Freep story here.

Have to wonder if some of the old Ann Arbor News staff (i.e. Jim Carty) might have broken this story if they or others were still on the staff. Kind of embarrassing to have the Free Press break a major story that occurred in AnnArbor.com's back yard.