Category: Friday Fives

Friday Fives

1. What’s your favorite TV theme song and why?
The original Bill Cosby show (not the one with Huxtables but the one in 1970s). It was by Quincy Jones and it is a great mix of Jazz, Blues and Funk.

2. What’s your worst roommate story?
I had the most anal retentive boring and mean-spirited roommate my freshman year of college. Dan W. was an ROTC student, a proud Target employee and the stingiest bastard in the world. He had rented a refrigerator from the campus but kept it locked and in his closet. Inside his locked refrigerator was a case of some sort of Target brand soda. Each can was marked with his name. He used to take a lot of extra food from the cafeteria and keep it in the refrigerator as well. I was just a small town boy living the life of adventure in the big city and never had come across such an untrusting and mean spririted guy before. (He was wrapped real tight. He used to try to get into fights with all the guys on the floor and would physically shake with anger over the littlest thing (usually loud music, in a college dorm, in the 1980s, in Boulder – not a good sign)). And the fights went nowhere. It was a floor of midwest and California stoner dudes that were into the Grateful Dead and Rasta and didn’t want to fight, but that didn’t stop Dan. He once pulled a knife, or should I say a butter knife on a neighbor because of music. The neighbor laughed. I laughed. We all laughed. And Dan sauntered back to his room – locking me out as he pouted at the injustice of life. The next semester he moved to different dorm and our bong-centric floor went on with life. I have scarely thought of him until this moment.

3. What are you superstitious about?
Not much, really. I trust machines and processes and don’t generally life in a world where machines are personified with any kind of luck. I don’t worry about spilling salt or breaking mirrors and I don’t believe in ghosts.

4. The dumbest thing my boss has ever said is…
Hmmmm. I can remember some dumb bosses and dumb things they have done – but I don’t remember any good, juicy actual dumb boss quotes. I think the best dumb thing I recall was a publisher of small weekly I was working for in Gunnison. The paper came out on Friday mornings and John thought it was taking to long to put it together on Thursday night. He proposed having the whole thing done on Wednesday so it could go in the mail by Thursday put still keep the Friday publishing date and essentially missing two to three days of news and events each week. It was kind of stupid – all the sports news and city government coverage would have been two weeks old. This guy is so easy to pick on. There was also this huge breaking story of three lost cross country skiiers. They left from Aspen and then were lost and hadn’t returned in time. And their search eventually became a national news story, with Denver and National news media all over town chasing down the story. I had the orginal news story when they were found because I heard it on the radio scanner. I scrapped most of the weeks news and focused our coverage of this event. John thought this was a waste of time. People, he thought, didn’t want to read about this. I was stupified. A national news story breaks – the leading event with Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw and CNN and John, the publisher of the local paper, wanted to be the only paper that wasn’t covering it because it seemed like an awful lot of work.

5. What does your favorite mug look like?
It is a big yellow and black mug with a built in rubber coaster and emblazoned with the words Nexel. Done. It has a perfect handle asnd holds just the right amount of coffee for a weekend morning.

Friday Fives

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
Mostly English, with Welsh, Irish and some German thrown in. And mostly American. My family has lived in this country since at least 1703 and if you track the matriarchal side, since about 1653 or so.

2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
I got to live in Europe while in the Army, stationed in Germany and had the chance to visit England. Both are very cool places. I really want to go to Wales and to Ireland, however.

3. Which would you least like to visit? Why?
Well, Kentucky is the Nall homeland, as is Tennessee, with the Nall Valley. However we landed in Virginia and I really have no desire to visit there, except maybe to see the the beach and the ocean.

4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognizeyour heritage?
Saint Patrick’s day and Thanksgiving are both big holidays for me and I tend to overdue it on both days.

5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country(parents, grandparents, etc)?
Martin Nalle came to Virginia via England in 1703 (as a presumed indentured servant). He married Mary Aldin, whose family arrived in Virginia, I believe, to at least prior to 1649, also from England.

Friday Fives

1. Favorite cereal and why?
Traditionally? It is either Super Sugar Puffs or Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch. Currently it is a creamy fruity oatmeal concoction of my own devising. The recipe follows:
2/3 cup quick oats
1/3 cup quick oats
1 cup of mixed dried fruity (I use a combination of craisins and mixed fruit.
1 1/4 cup dried non fat milk.
In a blender or food processor, toss in 1/3 cup quick oats and pulverize. Add it to the remaining oatmeal.
Now toss the dried fruit into the blender or food processor and chop it into little pieces.
Combine it all and store in a resealable container (Rubbermaid tubs or Zip-Loc bags work great.)
To serve, take about 2/3 cup of the mix, add about 3/4 cup of boiling water and some artificial sweetener (I like the blue stuff)
Yummy, low cal, no fat, high fiber breakfast goodness. I usually make a big ol’ double batch and keep it at my desk at work.
Enjoy.

2. What is the best thing about summer?
Long days, decent traffic. Not driving to work in the snow.

3. Would you rather have a Slurpee or a milkshake?
Slurpee. Or if you have Sonic nearby, a Sonic Cream Slushee. A great combination of a Slurpee/milkshake. mmmm, mmmm, good.

4. Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Early bird. I could easily get up at 4 am to start my day, but roommate and most of the rest of the world will have none of it. I generally am in bed by 9 a.m.

5. Remember the scene with Molly Ringwald putting lipstick on by holding it in her cleavage?
“Name one really bizarre thing you know how to do. No matter how small.”
Making homemade instant oatmeal? I roast my own coffee from green coffee beans. I am the only person I know who does this, but coffee made at my house is so much better than anywhere else. I also have this odd ability to crack my knuckles by just taking my fingers outstretched and quickly making a fist. It is kind of cool and makes a fun snappy noise.

Friday Fives

1. What movie does everyone seem to love, but you just can’t bring yourself to see
The Stepford Wives. An all star cast and a new script that makes the movie classic a comedy. That is an equation that spells out disaster.

2. Which cartoon or comic book character is your least favorite?
It is perhaps, heresy, but I never really liked Superman. Sure, he has his achilles heel with the green kryptonite and all, but otherwise he is completely invincible. No challenge there. I like the more human superheroes, like Batman and Spider-Man, who must overcome their humanity at times in order to save the world.
Oh, yeah, I hate the Smurfs.

3. Which pop culture phenomenons do you think will officially “jump the shark” this year?
William Hung. In fact, I dare say, he already has already made the jump.

4. What are some popular things that you just don’t get?
Tatoos. I just don’t understand them. Don’t want one, don’t need one and try as I might, I have a hard time finding a lot of beauty in them. Oh well. To each their own.

5. And now — what’s your favorite line from a movie?
“I want more life . . . Fucker!” Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner.
“I got that going for me. Which is nice.” Bill Murray in Caddyshack, on reflecting his tip from the Dali Lama.
And I love most of the classic lines in Casablanca. I love Casablanca. What a great noir film that exceeded all expectations and set so many standards. It is the very definition of the movie cliche’.

Friday Fives

1. How do you spend your lunch hour?
I try to avoind eating in the cafeteria, as it is too crowded. I need to make my lunch hour more productive by exercising with a run or walk, but I haven’t organized my life yet to do that. Right now, I generally eat at one of the many food establishments in the Park Meadows area.

2. What’s the most extravagant thing you’ve ever done for a pet or animal?
Extravagant? Don’t know. Expensive? I had to take the cat to the vet hospital to get a long string removed from his intestines. $2,400.00 later we learned that cats like to eat string and that overnight visits with x rays, surgery and blood work is very expensive, even for tiny little cats.
I used to take my old dog Whiskey to the dog groomer to have his hair cut in a traditional Scottish Terrier hair cut. That’s pretty extravagant, I suppose.

3. What could Barbra Walters make you cry about?
Questions about my dad and missing him. Or maybe just anything. I can be pretty weepy.

4. What is your weirdest, or most comical, dead pet story that you can bare sharing?
So many pets, past and present. I still have bad dreams of the death of Whiskey, the wonder dog. Whiskey was my Scottish Terrier and the smartest, wisest and best dog in the whole world. Some will argue with that. His propensity to run away all the time coupled with his tremendous production of urine which he was prone to distribute throughout the house may make you wonder if he was such a great dog. Well shut up. He was a great dog. I came home from work around midnight three years ago and he was dead. I found him curled up as if asleep under a coffee table, as if he wanted make sure that when he died he wasn’t in the way and didn’t leave a mess. Now, mind you, this is a dog that was prone to leaving a mess, a veritable hurricane just about anywhere he went, so I kind of grin when I think about his quiet, peaceful passing in the corner of the apartment. It was so not like him to do things in a quiet way.

5. Have you recently rediscovered your appreciation of an album that
you grew tired of long ago?
I bought a John Prine compiliation album a few years ago but never really gave it a good listen. I knew I liked a few of his songs, so I figured hey, I’ll by the two cd set. And it mostly just sat on the shelf. But recently, I began to give it a serious good listen. That man is a great song writer and folk/country singer. He isn’t about dancing around and shaking his ass and he doesn’t have any great electric guitar licks, but his debut album in 1972, Kris Kristofferson compared him to Dylan and his music and milleau is on par with some of Dylan’s best. I defintely have have rediscovered my appreciation of country music great John Prine.

Friday Fives

1. Describe your handwriting in one word.
Sloppy. It has a shelf life of about 18 hours and then even I struggle trying to read it. I am pretty dyslexic and spent a lot of time in elementary and middle school taking special education classes for my handwriting. I actually had teachers tell my mother I had a learning disability and was counseled in high school not to go to college and to go to diesel mechanics college instead. Which is odd because I am an evil super genius, although I have decided to use my super intelligence as a force for good.

2. What would you never, ever wear?
A tattoo, probably. But I think this question is more about clothing. I have virtually no real keen fashion sense and will generally wear anything close to acceptable. That said, I have never worn and will probably never wear a grass skirt or a dress.

3. What are you going to drink this weekend? Try to find a picture of it so we can all salivate at work.
Probably a Harvey Wallbanger.

4. Which bands or artists do you absolutely loathe?
Air Supply. I always turn off the radio when they come on. Mariah Carey is also on that list along with most of the manufactured pop acts of recent history: Brittany Spears,
N Sync and that whole genre.

5. What words always creep you out or bug you?
Irregardless (an unnecessary word!) Orientate (same thing) Medical slang, like “‘scripts” and “meds” for prescriptions and medicines. How hard is it to use the real word? Aren’t we lessening medicine’s importance by referring to them with nonchalant slang?

Friday Fives

1.If you were forced to eat only one thing for an entire week, what would it be?
A roast beef sammich prepared with swiss or muentster cheese on sour dough with mayo, horseradish, a dill pickle, lettuce, tomato and a slice of red onion. I could indeed eat that every day of my life.

2. What did you sing in the shower this morning?
“I can’t stop loving you.” by Ray Charles.

3. Describe your favorite T-shirt?
Either my T-Shirt from Remo with a quote from Zorba the Greek: “Life is trouble; only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble.” Or my T-shirt funshelley gave me with a great quote from Ben Franklin: “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

4. In the spirit of Spinal Tap what should the Eleventh Commandment be?
Though shalt use thy blinker and be a considerate driver.

5. What book would you like to see turned into a movie?
“Cat’s Cradle” by Vonnegut or Robert Harris “The Enigma Code.”

Friday Fives

1. What is your favorite drink recipe?
The Harvey Wallbanger
Vodka (I am fond of Kettel One), Cointreu, Orange Juice, Ice in a pint glass. Stir vigorously. Add a floater of Galliano to the top and enjoy. It’s like an old-fashioned orange creamsicle.

The Gin and Tonic
Gin, tonic,lime in a high ball class – stir vigoursly. Enjoy.

And in colder months a Martini. 7 shots premium gin (Bombay Blue Saphirre is my choice) one half shot vermouth. shake in an ice cold shaker full of ice.
Pour some vermouth into a cocktail glass and swirl and rinse. Discard the vermouth. Fill the glass with ice to chill.
Shake, shake, shake, shake. When ice has take over the outside of the shaker, it has been shaken enough.

Discard the ice in the cocktail glass and strain your drink into it. Serve with a cocktail onion or a pepperoncini.
Enjoy.

2. What is your favorite comfort food?
Smothered burritos with homemade green chili. Or lasagna. Depending on the mood. I do turn to food when I am anxious. I tend to also migrate to candy as a comfort food – Red Vines and gummy bears are constant companions for anxiety.

3. What is your favorite comfort song?
This is tough. I love music and usually have something going all the time. But the favorite comfort song would be that song you play over and over and over again. Hmmmmmm. I think recently it would be “Lonesome Day” by Springsteen.

Lonesome Day (Bruce Springsteen, 2002)
Baby once I thought I knew,
everything I needed to know about you.
Your sweet whisper, your tender touch;
I didn’t really know that much.
Jokes on me, but it’s gonna be OK,
if I can just get through this Lonesome Day.

Hell is brewing, dark sun’s on the rise,
this storm’ll blow through by and by.
House is on fire, vipers in the grass,
a little revenge and this too shall pass.
This too shall pass, darling, I’m gonna pray.
Right now, all I got’s this Lonesome Day.

It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, yeah (3x)
it’s all right, it’s all right…

Better ask questions before you shoot.
Deceit and betrayal’s bitter fruit.
It’s hard to swallow, come time to pay,
that taste on your tongue don’t easily slip away.
Let kingdom come, I’m gonna find my way,
after this Lonesome Day.

It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, yeah (6x)

4. In a world without television, what do you do on a rainy/snowy day?
Write in my journal. Play computer chess. Cook – (usually bread or something complicated.)

5. Rabbit’s foot or horseshoe? What is your lucky totem?
Well, after last weekend’s gambling fest in Central City, I would say I am running totemless. But I do keep a polished blue rock in my pocket that reminds me of my dad.

Friday Fives

1. Fox? NBC? MTV? Which is your favorite channel?
For general network television, NBC. For cable stuff, HBO, Trio and BBC America. And I power surf a lot. I love finding old movies or old movies from the 1980s that I haven’t found in years. HBO is really a premium network. I usually spend all night on Sunday just hunkered down in front of the glowing blue hue starring at anything they put in front of me. I am such a rube. BBC America runs some very cool British mystery dramas on Monday nights. And Trio runs on a rather sporadic basis, old school Late Night with David Letterman reruns from his NBC years.

2. Who is the oldest person you can remember? Why?
I am at a certain advantage here for two reasons. My first job was working in the kitchen of an old folks home and I met several centarians. As a newspaper reporter I interviewed a delightful older lady who was 103 years old and an older gentleman who was 102. I don’t imagine they lived the Guiness/Bacon low carb diet that I am currently perfecting and soon to publish. But if there is even a hint they lived close to my diet, I will use them to sell my book, the new diet revolution!

3. What two colors most clash?
Orange and teal? (I tried to make these words all fancy with colors but it was no avail. When I tried it the annoying banner add at the top of the page is placed all over the web page. Now that is clashing. Let me tell you. )

4. Have you ever gone spelunking?
Not for any long periods of time. There is a very cool old series of caves outside of Meeker, Colorado, not far from my mother and her husband’s summer cabin. It is called Spring Caves and I would love to venture in there and look around. We were planning a trip once in high school as part of a Boy Scout outing, but we could never get enough parent permission slips. Apparently grown ups aren’t as curious about caving as your average 15 year old. Go figure.

5. What was the name of your third grade teacher? Can you describer her/him?
Mrs. Archuleta. A fowl-mouthed Mexican woman who had a very, very hot temper and would yell at the class in Spanish. We imagine they were Spanish epithets, but since no one in the class spoke Spanish, we just assumed we were being cussed at. It was the period around third and fourth grade, my bad teacher years, that I developed and ulcer and was put on a fairly aggressive dosing of Mylanta, dispensed by the school nurse a couple of times a day. Is it any wonder I have high blood pressure today? I think not.

Friday Fives

1. What are your favorite magazines, including the embarrassing ones?
Harpers, Wired, Family Circle (Okay, I dig the recipe/meal planner thing, quit teasing.) When they were still being published I used to love Games, Spy and Omni magazine. I don’t read as many magazines now – I read the internet instead.

2. What is the funniest thing you have ever said.
Without blowing too much hubris, I am a pretty funny guy. I come from a pretty funny family. I can’t pin point the funniest thing I have said, however the funniest things I say, I usually say them using a phony Kentucky Colonel accent, like my hero, Foghorn leghorn. A lot of the funny things I have said have been crafted while with the gang: Ed, Julie, Fun Shelly, Sage and the crew. So it is hard to take credit for the riff and the tangent that the group has set out on. But I think in the last week the riff that was the funniest bit of banter is our version of the poor English speaking weather man on the Spanish speaking channel. “Ewwww it is windy!” (You have to see the bit to really appreciate it.)

3. What is the best movie you have NEVER seen this year.
Passion of the Christ? Miracle? Troy? Or a delightful imagined film based on the life of Willard Scott – entitled “How the Windbag Blows.” Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Mike Meyers as everyone’s favorite weatherman.

4. If you were a boardgame, which one would you be?
Clue. I really want to live in that mansion. With all of those secret passageways and tunnels. And what a colorful and wacky group of friends. Good time, baby. Good times.

5. Tell us how to make your favorite sandwich.
Roy’s Toasted Cheese Sandwich
Two pieces of sourdough bread – buttered on both sides.
A few thin slices of red onion
A few thin slices of tomato
A few slices of a mixture of cheeses: sharp cheddar, Monterey jack, a strong Swiss or gouda.

Combine and ensure there is cheese next to the bread and the veggies are surrounded by cheese.

In a pre heated cast iron skillet on medium high heat, grill for two to three minutes on each side.

Step Five – enjoy.