The Friday Fives

1. Have you ever met / seen a performance by a celebrity  before they hit it big?

The first one that came to min was Jamie Foxx back in college. He was really quiet and shy. This was before his TV show and movies.

2. Who is the most famous person you have ever met?

Franken. I met hi while working at a newspaper in Denver. Tomas Second place is probably Bob Dole at a political dinner while he was running for president.

3. Who is the last person you talked to out side of your home life?

I am at an RV show in Boise right now and the last conversation was with the hotel desk clerk trying to rustle up some AAA batteries.

4. You fall asleep and wake up in 2050. What would you search for on the internet first?

Have we invented the star trek transporter yet?

5. What are some of your personal life-hacks that you came up with yourself, not necessarily completely original ?

I shave and brush my teeth in the shower. One stop grooming.

The Friday Fives

1. What is your current main mode of transportation? e.g. car, bike, subway, walking, etc.

My ebike. A 2000W AWD monster of a cruiser mountain bike. During ths time of the year I am mostly homebound, borrowing my sister’s trunk for errands on weekends or occassional trips into the office.

2. Are you satisfied with your current main mode of transportation (answer to question 1)? Why?

-ish? March through the beginning November it is great, but times like the deathly cold weekend weather we are experiencing makes the bike kind of worthless

3. Do you think you’ll change your means of transit soon? e.g. buy a car, get rid of your car, walk more etc.? If so, why?

Yeah. I am looking for a used car, but kind of want something I really want – like an affordable late 1980s Saab 900 or something kind of quirky like that for those few days a week I don’t work from home or the winter weather days that are bicycling prohibitive.


4. If time, distance and money were not factors, how do you prefer to get from point A to point B?

Seriously, this bike is so much fun. It runs at about 33 – 34 MPH consistently on the Denver streets and has become my preferred ride (It is about a five minute longer commute than driving so not really much of a trade of.


5. What was your worst transit experience?

In Stuttgart, while in the Army i was pretty drunk downtown and while leaving a night club?I got on a train that was going the wrong direction from the barracks and ended up at the end of the line at about 3:00 am and ended up sleeping under a park bench in park in Germany not knowing how to speak or understand any German. Pretty much the worsr transit experience. Hell, I didn’t even get laid. i have had countless numbers of scary as hell winter mountain pass driving experiences but my lost on a Stuttgart train story still stays with me decades later.

The Friday Fives

1. What can you say in bed and also at the dentist?

Spit!

2. What name would you give to your country if you had the chance?

From Groucho – Freedonia

3. What’s on top of your fridge right now?

A baking stone and some racks and cookie trays.

4. What perfectly normal words cause you to giggle like a five-year-old when you hear them?

Do do and head.

5. What was the most interesting thing you learned about your ancestors?/strong?

I once did a deep dive on ancestory.com, and no one in our family knew much about my maternal grandfather, so I traced his family way back to medieval Wales and was a flag bear for some king or prince (Probably Dafydd ap Gruffydd)

The Friday Five

1. What is your New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day tradition?

I am old. I don’t go out and revel in the New Year’s Eve. I leave that to the rookies. I watch the Rose Bowl parade with a glass of prosecco and make a big brunchy breakfast.

2. Do you make resolutions? If so, what is one you are going to focus on this year?

I am not a big resolutions person, but I intend to get on the exercise bike during these cold months to get in shape for my spring-fall bicycle commute and perhaps melt off an additional 15 lbs. The trick is to rise early in the morning and trot over to the gym in our complex when there are no crowds.

3. do you have any New Year’s memories as a kid?

Our town would open a fired hydrant flood the local city park, creating a skating rink and I remember many years of skating on New Year’s Day – I think it was my dad’s idea so he could sleep in after coming home late on New Year’s eve partying at the Elks Lodge.

4. It will soon be 2024 – what technology were we promised that never came to be?

I am still waiting for flying cars. My sister thinks it’s a bad idea as folks can’t drive as it is. And I also am waiting for the Star Trek transporter. That would be a huge game-changer.

5. It will soon be 2024 – what technology or trend just needs to go away?

Social influencers.

The Friday Fives

Today’s post suggested by Lono: (Iamcorrect.com)
“Using humor and the style from www.majikwah.com please answer these questions with no more than a paragraph-long response for each. (You can edit the source to anything you want for the Chatbot to use as its basis). Questions are from this blog one year ago.

Pretty genius, actually.

1. If you had the power to shut down a company for good, which company would it be?

Oh, shutting down a company? That’s a tough one. Maybe I’d go with a company that makes square watermelons—because fruit should not be confined by geometry! Let watermelons be their irregular, wobbly selves.

2. If you could ban one song from the airwaves, what would it be?


Banning a song? Easy peasy. “Baby Shark.” If I hear that tune one more time, I might join a synchronized swimming team of sharks to escape it.

3. If you could cancel one television show or moment from the airwaves, what would it be?

Cancel a TV show or moment? How about we erase that time when everyone thought it was a good idea to bring back the mullet? Business in the front, party in the back? More like, “No thanks, I’ll pass.”

4. What movie should just not exist?A movie that should vanish into thin air?

“Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.” Seriously, who greenlit that? I don’t need my salad fighting back.

5. What typical American behavior should be banned outright?

As for banning American behavior, let’s say mandatory small talk. We get it, weather. Can we move on to discussing the important stuff, like why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways?

The Friday Fives

1. What will be deemed illegal in the future?

Coal burning and cigarettes

2. What don’t people want for Christmas?

More Trump. Just make the dickhead go away.

3. What poor man’s meal recipe are you willing to share?

I may have shared this already, but here you go: Grandma’s Scalloped Oysters.

1 load: Cheapest generic store brand white bread
1 stick of butter
1 can of store-brand/generic evaporated milk
1 can of oysters

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove the bread crust and cube the loaf
3. Melt half a stick of butter and half the bread cubes and brown in a skillet.
repeat with the remaining butter and bread.
4. Open the canned oysters and, with scissors, slice them up while still in the can to make oyster pieces
5. Drain and reserve the oyster liquor.
6. Open the can of evaporated milk and combine the milk and oyster liquor in a mixing bowl.
7. In a greased baking pan, layer bread oysters, bread, oysters, then pour the liquid over and bake at 350 for about 45 or so minutes.
It is buttery, rich, and delicious and costs almost nothing.

4. For those older than 30, what did you have/do when you were kids that modern kids couldn’t ever understand?

It was dialing a corded telephone that was mounted on the wall in the kitchen with that ridiculously long cord.

5. If your last meal was fast food only, what would it be?

Arby’s Beef and Cheddar.

The Friday Fives

1. What holiday movie are you convinced people only pretend to enjoy?

The live action Grinch Who Stole Christmas remake with Jim Carrey. Bad movie. Stay with the cute, 30-monute animated gem, folks.

2. What completely baseless holiday season conspiracy would you like to start?

The Elf on The Shelf is a part of an NSA plot to learn you secret family Christmas cookie recipe.

3. What holiday song are you convinced people only pretend to enjoy?

“All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carrey. Not a great song.

4. What holiday food/beverage are you convinced people only pretend to enjoy?

Eggnog.

5. What is the weirdest holiday gift suggestion you have discovered while shopping onlline?

Giving a gift of a cow to a village in Asia or Africa. Heifer.org

The Friday Fives

1. What did you purchase as an adult because you could never have it as a child?

Legos. My parents never ponied up for Legos.

2. What was your favorite toy as a child?

Gi Joe . I had his rescue jet and lots of accessories.

3. What was the first video game you played?

I am of the olds. “Pong” on the original Pong player on a black and white Magnavox TV.

4. As a child, what was your favorite breakfast cereal?

Toss up between Cap’n Crunch with Crunch Berries or Lucky Charms – they’re magically delicious.

5. What is your best, most beloved childhood memory?

I took many camping trips to local reservoirs with my cousins and running around unsupervised in the woods.

The Friday Fives

1. What do you think is the most addictive non-drug?

Coffee / Caffeine. Gots to gots to haves it.

2. What brand has your loyalty?

Nikon. I spent a number of years always with a camera in my hands while working as a newspaper reporter,
and my mighty, mighty Nikon was my old reliable. I may go find some black and white film, pull that great camera out of its bag, and grab some arty pics.

3. What is your favorite poverty meal that you will eat, no matter how much money you have?

Ramen. Delicious. Doctored up with some sriracha and soy sauce, some green onions, and a hard-boiled egg, it is delightful and costs nothing.

4. What is the far worst thing that happened to you this year?


My dang car was stolen! Those bastards.

5. What is your favorite Conspiracy Theory?

I am not a huge conspiracy theory believer. But I enjoy reading about the faked moon mission. I don’t believe the moon landing was fake, but the stories make me smile. People can be very stupid sometimes.

The Friday Fives

1. If you were a girl in the 70s in the U.S., you were expected to take Home Ec. in high school. Did you and what did you take from the class, if anything? If you are a guy, would you have liked to have had the option of taking it?

In 8th grade, they offered Homec for boys, and for one quarter, it was basic cooking, and for another quarter, it was sewing, and we all made down vests from a kit we had to buy. I still have many of those skills taught.

2. How were your school lunches?

Up through 6th grade, the home lunch program was run by my grandmother, and she ran a scratch kitchen. It was pretty good. Homemade rolls, hamburger buns, and homemade donuts. It’s not a bad way to grow up.

3. Did you walk, take a bus, or have someone drive you to school?

Through my junior year of high school, I walked to school (It was a small rural town, and we were “townies). In my junior year, I drove myself, and in my senior year, the new high school was farther away, so I drove myself as well. I also rode my bike to school quite often.

4. Were any classes off-limits to you because of your sex?

Not really. We had co-ed PE, women in FAA raising cows alongside the men. Men’s and women’s sports were competitive, but otherwise, it was all co-ed.

5. Looking back on it now, what was the biggest life lesson you took from high school?

Small-town America can be broad-minded – sometimes, but then again, this was in the late 70s and early 80s, and that town has gone full-on Trump these days and probably not the fun time it was back then during the coal boom.