This Celebration Will be Short-Lived!

            Boy, it has been difficult trying to decide what to blog about.

            That’s because I try to avoid political topics but at the same time want to scream with utter delight that our state’s  (South Carolina's) presidential primary is past, i.e. the phone calls and television ads are gone.

            For a while, any way.

            Oh, yes, they will be back.  I don’t know exactly when they will start again.  Perhaps August.  More likely we’ll be flooded starting in September and going through the November election.

            Having the primary over with makes it awfully appropriate that we’re in the midst of “National Clean Out Your Inbox Week.”

            You see, the political infiltration didn’t stop with phone calls and TV ads; the candidates and/or their campaigns and representatives filled our computer’s inboxes. 

Many of us were notified every time a local “anybody” endorsed a candidate.  We got e-mail to let us know where candidates were speaking and eating – and shaking hands and riding their buses and caravans, when their spouses were joining them or where the spouses would be speaking.

This week also just happens to be “No Name Calling Week.”  Boy, we could have used that last week or the whole last month or even always and forever.

Since I’m always so intrigued by these off-the-wall observances, I guess it’s only appropriate to point out that Sunday is “Curmudgeons Day.”  The Free Dictionary (online) defines a curmudgeon as “an ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions.” 

The way campaigns are run these days, the way so many politicians bellow out about other politicians, the phone calls, the e-mails – these all seem to turn me into a curmudgeon.

Maybe that’s why I think another special observance this week is fitting when talking about politics. 

Friday is “Thomas Crapper Day” – and I’ll make no other comment about that.

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PS -- Make no mistake about it; I love our country and I still think we are fortunate to have the right to vote.  Still, I'm somewhat of a curmudgeon with the political atmosphere as it is.

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Football, The South, Gadgets & Men

The Duppster – that’s hubby Karl Duppstadt a/k/a Dupp – grew up in Pennsylvania. 

That means he, like many others who didn’t have the privilege of growing up in the South, doesn’t realize that real football is played at the college level and at the high school level.  He thinks real football is the NFL.

In fact, I’ll never forget the time we drove by a recreation department football game involving elementary school children and saw folks tailgating at the game.  He thought that was hilarious.  Dupp just doesn’t get it that football starts at an early age around here, and it’s important in the Southern life cycle. 

Anyway, back to Dupp and watching the NFL on television.

Someone once said, “Men are simple things. They can survive a whole weekend with only three things: beer, boxer shorts and batteries for the remote control.” 

I’ve always thought the remote control alone was probably enough for The Duppster.  That was until this past weekend.

Dupp was watching NFL playoff games.  He doesn’t use the remote as frequently or repetitively  during football games as he does other times, so he had no reason to practically squeeze the remote control every moment.

I guess that freed up his hands and he felt the need to have those hands doing something else.  I glanced over at him – and laughed.

While watching the game, he also was using his laptop computer, his cell phone, an iPad – and he had one of those contraptions in his ear that I believe is called a Bluetooth or something like that.  That was four – as in “one, two, three, four” – different electronic devices in addition to the television.

No doubt, that’s why he hadn’t answered anything I asked him.  He was carrying multi-tasking to its highest level.

He probably didn’t even know I was in the same room until a flash of light let him know I had just snapped a photo of him with all of those contraptions. 

Thank goodness for electricity and batteries, huh?

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It's Breaking News, and a Sigh Heard 'Round the World

Remember learning about the “shot heard around the world?”


There was something similar last week. It was a widespread and collective sigh of relief heard ‘round the world.

You heard it, didn’t you? It was the response to the headline-grabbing news that Bert and Ernie would not be getting married.

Yes, right in there with joblessness, the economy, the stock market, the war in Afghanistan, missing children and more, we learned from Sesame Street folks that the popular Muppets would not be getting hitched.


Bert & Ernie photo from their Facebook page


Bert and Ernie, you see, are both males and they’ve been roommates a long time. Recently, there was a petition encouraging Bert and Ernie just to go ahead and tie the knot, now that gay marriages are legal in New York.

Sesame Street responded that the two wouldn’t be getting married: "They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves."

The explanation is that Bert and Ernie wouldn’t be legalizing a relationship that didn’t exist; they are simply roommates and good friends with “no sexual orientation.”

I say “hooray” to the Sesame Street crowd but my “hooray” has nothing to do with whether or not Bert and Ernie are gay. I’m just sick and tired of issues being injected where they don’t belong.

Bert and Ernie, modeled on a banana and an orange when created, were introduced in 1969. They are puppets, for goodness sakes.

Whether Bert and Ernie are gay or not shouldn’t even be addressed on this children’s show.

Like the Sesame Street statement said, they are around to teach tolerance and friendship “with those who are very different from themselves.”

Besides, we’re told these two puppets have no sexual orientation at all.

Now, isn’t that different enough?


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Well, It Wasn't "Howdy-Doody!"

In my last post on this blog, I wrote about some of the crazy messages left on answering machines when callers were asked to leave a shoe size.

Well, there’s more, but not about shoes, although still about answering machines.

There was a time, quite a few years ago, when I asked callers who wanted a return call to leave name, phone number and the name of a favorite TV show.

This was before there were oodles of channels and all kinds of offerings.

A friend from church called and left his name, phone number and said his favorite show was “Baywatch.” Yep, that’s the one that featured shapely females who were somewhat scantily clad. Then there was a second call from the same man; this time he said, “Sherry, don’t tell my wife what I said about my favorite show. P-l-e-a-s-e.”

I think about those two calls every time I see him.

One lady caller took forever deciding on the name of a show to designate as her favorite. She literally had a long discussion with herself about whether to leave one program or another or another. Obviously this woman took the instruction quite seriously and wanted to be sure she had her absolute favorite recorded. Maybe she thought there was a prize or something.

The first President Bush – George H. W. Bush – called while he was still vice president but running for president. Along with a message, he left the name of his favorite show. No, I’m not revealing what it was.

After that call, I changed the message for a while to the following: “Hi. I know you don’t like answering machines, but if the vice president of the United States can leave a message, you can, too, so please leave your name and number.”

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The Black Box: I'm Electronically-Challenged!

I guess I’m electronically-challenged.


I don’t understand hooking up things to a TV, which remote to use for what, or much else regarding electronic devices.

A few years ago, I learned that we needed a black box from the cable company to access cable channels, although I never have figured out how to hook up the box.

Well, somehow in the process of moving twice in the last few years, one of the black boxes got packed away in a storage unit. When I canceled my cable service, I was told to bring the box in when I found it and I’d get credit for it.

Not long ago – and much to my relief – I found the black box. I carried it around in my car for a while until I could find time to go by the cable company office.

After waiting in line for a while, I finally had my turn at the counter. The lady checked my account by using my phone number, then said there was no record of a box still missing! She listened patiently while I explained what had happened.

We bantered back and forth a bit (nicely) and finally, exasperated, I said, “Well, how in the world did I end up with an extra box?”

She asked for the serial number, so I lifted the box onto the counter.

The lady looked at me in a rather odd way and asked, “This is what you’re returning?”

I said it was.

And she said, “Ma’am, that’s a VCR; that’s not a cable box.”

Oh, well, like I said, I’m electronically-challenged.

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Is Your Family Normal?

Is your family normal?

There’s a specific reason I ask the question.

And there’s a companion question to go along with it: What kinds of things do your family members do together?

How about when children and grandchildren gather?

Years ago, our family was on “Family Feud.” If you remember that TV show or if you see the reruns, you know that the question-and-answer format isn’t at all like the one on “Jeopardy.” On “Jeopardy” it’s important to know a lot. That’s not a show for dummies. Of course, you also have to be fast with the clicker.

“Family Feud,” on the other hand, allows dummies – obviously. It’s not how much you know or what you know on that program; it’s whether you can match the answers given by their random studio audiences.

For example, if you are a South Carolina family playing and the audience that was asked the question was made up entirely of people who live on the West Coast, the respective responses to a question like “Name a college football team” might be quite different.

So, this brings me back to the original question: Is your family normal?

One question our family was asked on "Family Feud" was this: Name an activity your family does when members get together..

This time, I was the dummy. In our family, when we gather, we love to play games. We play Charades, Balderdash, Scattergories, card games, Trivial Pursuit, Cranium and more. We play for days and nights when the opportunity is right.

It never occurred to me that other families might do the same! I figured other people were more creative or more interesting or something. Or maybe I just wasn’t thinking at all.

My answer? Well, my stupid answer was “work on projects.”

Work on projects? What in the world does that mean?

It was NOT a match. A big red X appeared on the board.

However, some version of “playing games” was on the board.

At least I learned that our family is somewhat normal in that regard.


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WW: Do You Think the Price Was Right?

Do you think the price was right for this bedroom furniture?

It was over 40 years ago, perhaps 45, when our family had some now-forgotten reason to be in New York City.

Mom saw this as an opportunity to try to become a contestant on “The Price is Right.” She was confident she could win if she could just get chosen.

We all were excited about going to see a real live show. Alas, we learned when we arrived that children weren’t permitted in the studio audience, so Mom and Dad went without us, i.e. the children.

As relayed to us later, show personnel were out in the audience looking for people they thought would be good contestants. Mom waved her hands excitedly, trying to get their attention. Dad held up Mom’s sweater, swinging it around in hopes that Mom would be seen.

The sweater worked: Dad was picked!

But Dad didn't want to be picked.  Dad didn’t want to be on a TV show. He didn’t even know how to play or how the show worked.

I think he tried to explain to show personnel that Mom was the one who wanted to be a contestant – all to no avail. He was the one on the show.

These pieces make up the bedroom suite he won all those many years ago. It’s in an extra bedroom now, no longer used on a daily basis, but Mom and Dad certainly got their money's worth.

After all, the price was definitely right

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PS - If you happened to look closely at the third picture and noticed all of the trophies on the headboard, they belong to the person written about in the previous post on this blog. See post below.

Other Wordless Wednesday participants here.

Other Wordful Wednesday participants here,.

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Just Curious - - - -

Are there any commercials that you simply cannot stand?

I don't watch TV all that much but there's one commercial which gets on my nerves, and it seems to air every time I watch TV.  I won't name the company but the ad features a talking pothole or manhole.  The female voice is shrill and has a whine to it. 

There are others that I don't especially like or that I think aren't very effective.  This one, though, irritates me like crazy!

Are there some that perturb you?  If so, which ones? 

How Could You Miss Something SO Big????

Did you hear or read about the airline pilots who missed the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles? Just in case you haven’t, here’s an excerpt of the AP story:

Controllers on the ground, pilots of other planes, even a flight attendant back in the cabin tried to alert the crew as the Northwest airliner zoomed past Minneapolis at 37,000 feet. Worried about who was actually at the controls, officials asked the crew to prove who they were by executing turns after they finally were contacted….With no response from the two pilots Wednesday night, the plane flew 150 miles past its destination before turning back…

On the ground, police and FBI agents prepared for the worst, and the Air National Guard put fighter jets on alert at two locations as the drama unfolded…..the Airbus A320 was over Eau Claire, Wis., and the pilots had been out of communication with air traffic controllers for over an hour. They turned back and landed safely in Minneapolis, the plane's scheduled destination.

Commentators on TV and radio, talk show hosts, newspaper writers and others have made a big deal out of this. How in the world could pilots miss the airport by 150 miles???

What were those pilots doing? Were they asleep? Involved in a deep conversation? Arguing? What? After a couple of days, they said they “had been having a heated discussion about airline policy.”

Whatever they were doing seemed to defy belief. There was an air of incredulity in the news reports.

It seemed odd to me also, but, unfortunately, I also could identify with it – somewhat.

We were on a family trip to California years ago and were scheduled to compete on “Family Feud,” which we did twice, by the way. On this particular trip, we used one day to visit one of Mom’s co-workers, a friend in Marina del Ray. I was at the wheel of the rental car on the return trip from Marina del Ray back to Hollywood.

From the interstate, I totally missed Hollywood. I missed Los Angeles. I missed all of those exits. I remembered seeing a sign for Burbank, but didn’t think that’s where we were supposed to go. All of a sudden we were seeing signs for places far north of Los Angeles. How could this be? How could one just pass by Los Angeles?

How does one miss a city the size of Los Angeles? I don’t know. I wasn’t napping at the wheel. But I was arguing. And I was being stubborn. (This is the first time I have admitted that!)

Maybe because the city is SO large, there were no exits marked simply “Los Angeles” or “Hollywood.” Perhaps they all just had names of streets and of small communities – names I wouldn’t have recognized.

Yes, the pilots who missed Minneapolis are professionals; I was just a regular driver. Just the same, I understand that sometimes you just don’t see the big things right in front of you!

O, Civility, Where Art Thou?

What has happened to us as a society? Why are we, generally speaking, no longer civil to each other?


Look at the last 10 days or so. Kanye West’s tirade in the midst of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, Joe Wilson’s outburst during the president’s speech, Serena Williams’ obvious crude language directed toward the referee, Federer’s display the following day. 

Since all or most have apologized, it seems they knew they were out of line - at least after the fact.

For decades, presidents have talked about the need for civility. So have others – poets, authors, entertainers and more. Look at the following quotes:

As citizens we have to be more thoughtful and more educated and more informed. I turn on the TV and I see these grown people screaming at each other, and I think, well, if we don't get our civility back, we're in trouble. Emmylou Harris

There can be no high civility without a deep morality. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Civility costs nothing, and buys everything. Mary Wortley Montagu
All of civility depends on being able to contain the rage of individuals. Joshua Lederberg

When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency. Samuel Johnson

Just a few years ago, the SC Supreme Court adopted an “oath of civility” that attorneys are required to take to practice law in South Carolina. How in the world did we get to such a point that the court has to require such an oath?

Is it television? Movies? Is it lifestyle? Is it the lyrics in today’s music? Is it the mudslinging in politics? Is it the 24-hour coverage of everything under the sun? Is it a feel-good society or a lack of personal responsibility in society?

Is it money or greed?  Is it the need to win - at sports, politics or whatever?

I don’t have the answers but certainly do welcome your comments, thoughts and ideas.

I Was Just Wondering . . . .

Why is there so much hoopla about Jon and Kate?  Am I the only "deprived" soul who has never seen their TV show?  Why do people watch that show?

But, yes, when it comes to popular TV shows, I really am out of the loop.  I don't watch Desperate Housewives or Big Brother.  I don't see Family Guy or South Park or The Apprentice.  And I don't think I ever saw an episode of Sex and the City. 


It's certainly not that I don't ever watch TV, because I do, but these shows have never appealed to me.  There are a lot of others that I know are popular and that I even read about but just don't watch. 

Maybe I just don't get it.  Or maybe I have boring tastes.  Maybe I spend too much time on the computer.

And maybe I was just spoiled by the really good shows - like I Love Lucy, Mama's Family, Red Skelton and such.  Now that was real TV!