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The Friday Fives

1. What jobs/careers are on the verge of extinction?

Public transit drivers and truck drivers. We are about five to eight years out from safe, effective auto-driving vehicles.

2. How do you find your phone other than calling it and retracing steps?

Google/Android has a great Find my Phone App that runs off a browser or tablet and rings the phone even if it is set on vibrate or silent. It works great. I left my phone once in a Uber and use the app to call, and the driver found it, answered, and brought it to me. He got a big tip!

3. What is something you buy that MUST be a brand name?

Heinze Ketchup. I have tried others, but they do it right at Heinze.

4. What’s a movie that can be identified by one quote?

Here’s looking’ at you, kid. (“Casablanca”)

5. What was the toy you wanted as a kid but never got?

Legos. My parents would pony up for them. Back in the middle 60s and early 70s, these now ubiquitous toys were hard to find and expensive in rural Colorado.

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The Friday Fives

1. What would you do as a cat?

I get jealous of cats. Sleeping, peeing, pooping and eating. That’s their job. That’s it. Everything else is just extra. Punching in for overtime. As a cat I would do just that and really dig in and embrace the sleep.


2. What started as a joke, but people take it way too seriously today?

Flat Earthers. The evidence is overwhelming and obvious and known to mankind for thousands of years – the Earth is round. But some smart-ass started a pseudo conspiracy, and some folks have eaten it up, and the next thing you know, we have Qanon, and now everything – every single thing is a conspiracy. Folks have taken flat earthing way too seriously, and it has metastasized and bloomed, and now we are all doomed.

3. What is the greatest invention of all time?

The clock. The mechanical clock. An amazing feat of engineering and beauty.

4. What are your thoughts on frogs?

I really don’t think of them much, and that is probably a shame. Like the humble bumble bee, they play an important environmental role, and we should probably work to give them any helping hands we can.

5. What’s a sound or noise growing up that you don’t hear anymore?

The family landline telephone in the kitchen ringing.

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5-hand Pincochle

In my early college years, I got hooked on playing pinochle. Our version, played as a freshman in the dorms, was a simple single-deck game, and we played it nightly. I had a job working the security/front desk overnights in the dorm, and my floor mates would gather each evening, and we set up a tv in the lobby to watch Star Trek and Late Nite with David Letterman each night and played cards. They would usually stay up and play cards and watch the television until about 2 am.

My new obsession is 5-handed double deck pinochle that I hope to play when I go home for Thanksgiving this year.

5-handed pinochle
Several generations ago, my family invented a version of pinochle that allows five players to play and is won individually (not as a team). I think it speaks to our competitive nature that this is one of our favorite card games whenever we get at least five family members together.

At a family reunion this summer, I played it a bit and decided to write down the rules so I don’t forget the next time I play… one time, we tried to remember them after a long break, and we got it all wrong.

I still remember very distinctly the summer I learned to play this game. My cousin and great-aunt were visiting from the East Coast. After learning the rules and such, we started getting competitive. I remember being dealt an outstanding hand, outbidding my great-aunt (who was a legendary high bidder) with a bid of 72… and I managed to make it. It was a high point of my adolescence, for sure.

Hopefully, this version of the game is as cutthroat as it reads on the page We shall see. (Also, this seems worth a look)

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Friday Fives

1. If sports were all erased from our memory, which sport do you think would be rediscovered first?

MMA fighting – violence is, unfortunately, at the root of the human core. Punching one another competitively would be the first to come back.

2. What is your favorite sports-themed movie?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

3. The World Cup is right around the corner. Will you be watching?

I am going to try. I’m not a huge fan of Qatar, but during the whole pandemic and quarantine times, I watched a lot of soccer and have gotten pretty good at following the game and understanding what is going on on the pitch. Plus, as we have learned from Ted Lasso – “Football Is Life!”

4. What was the first organized sport you remember playing?

It is hazy, but I think it was Punt, Pass, and Kick with coach (and former hometown Sheriff) Jeff Corriveau.

5. Who would win between 50 unarmed adult humans vs 1 gorilla?

Never underestimate the power of the mighty ape!

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The Friday Fives

1. What meals bring you back to your childhood?

Lasagne. My mom’s lasagne was my favorite dish growing up.


2. If you could describe your life with an already existing song title, what would the title be?

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy – a classic Gemini battle.

3. What tricks does corporate America use to get us to spend more money?

Invent a problem. Invent a product to solve that “problem” and initiate a marketing blitz to ensure everyone is aware of the problem and only your product is the solution.

4. What band or artist would you buy their latest album without hearing a note of it?

Wilco and Bruce Springsteen – both sing of the sounds in my soul.

5. Who is the best sitcom character of all time?

Barney Fife from “The Andy Griffith Show.”