Nothing Says Florida Like A Flamingo

As I mentioned in yesterday's Blog Post, I think I might be getting homesick for Stuart, Florida - located along the Atlantic on the Treasure Coast and where my mother and father moved in 1976.  However, I am not sure why flamingos are associated so much with Florida.  I have never seen a flamingo in person except at the zoo, although I hear that a flock (or gaggle, or coven, or gathering) of them is kept at the Hialeah Horse Race Track.  In the small town of Stuart, Florida, you are just as likely to see a unicorn as a flamingo wading in the water, and if you do report one, you will quickly be taken in for a psychiatric evaluation. However, if you deny everything, they will have to let you go.  At least that's what happened to me.  And for the record, it definitely was a unicorn.

Some Like It Hot

One of my favorite films is "Some Like It Hot," starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. For the past 4 weeks, a song from that movie, "Down Among the Sheltering Palms," has been going through my head 24/7, and I'm not sure why.  Perhaps I just miss Florida, where I haven't returned in over 4 years. Or perhaps I really am crazy.  In any case, it is far better than having Carl Douglas' 1970's hit Kung Foo Fighting going through your head 24/7.  Talk about going crazy.

Is Cheyanne On A Quest For Lost Diamonds?

This coming Wednesday it will be exactly two months since Cheyanne (a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique and the daughter of my friend Valarie, the former Operations Manager of the DU Bookstore) has posted to her Blog.  I have asked Valarie repeatedly about this, but she has been very evasive.  I suspect a conspiracy.  I remember years ago there was a movie called King Solomon's Mines, starring Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr.  Deborah Kerr hires  Stewart Granger to lead an expedition into darkest Africa to find her husband Curtis, who went off in search of King Solomon's Mines, where a fabled lost treasure of diamonds is located.  What if Cheyanne heard about this alleged treasure and organized an expedition to go find it?  What if the photograph above is not just a scene of people having fun in Mozambique, but the start of a very dangerous journey?  If you watch the film, you will realize that finding a lost diamond mine in Africa is no piece of cake.  Cheyanne better watch the hell out.  Check out her Blog for clues at www.timeinmozambique.blogspot.com.

The First Snow Of The Season

Today Denver received its first snow of the season.  Almost everyone here has been complaining about the heat and has been waiting for this day to come.  I, on the other hand, prefer the sun and the heat - especially now that I have a part-time job that requires that I work outside 8 hours a day.  I'll bet all these cold weather enthusiasts would change their mind quick if they had to drive to work in that mess at 7:30 in the morning and then spend your entire day getting soaked.  Not that I'm bitter, of course.  No, not me.

It's October - Can The Christmas Season Be Far Behind?

It seems that the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier each year.  It is now October, and so I imagine the holiday decorations will be put up and the television commercials will be starting any day now.  To get the ball rolling, I am featuring one of the few photographs taken of my family together.  It was taken a few years ago on Christmas Day and shows my mother Mary, sister Susan, myself, and my father Nelson (from left to right) in the living room of our house in the Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago.  Looking at this photograph, I am just amazed at how little my sister and I have changed over the years.  It obviously must be some sort of miracle.

Decisions Decisions

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Carol - my friend and a former DU Bookstore colleague - told me that she was so frightened reading Steven King's The Shining that she threw it behind the sofa to keep herself from reading it any more.  I thought this was a great recommendation, and bought a copy to read.  I mentioned this to my friend Valarie - the former Operations Manager of the DU Bookstore - and she told me she thought The Stand was King's scariest novel.  I bought a copy of that one, too.  Now I need to decide which to read first.  Coincidentally, Stephen King's latest novel is a sequel to The Shining, but I won't be buying that one.  It is only in hardcover, and as I've mentioned before, I am a cheapskate and proud of it.

Locking In On The Day's Events

I stopped at Jordan's Irish Pub near my condo in South Denver last night to ponder the events of the day. After finishing work at my part-time job around 7:00 P.M. I discovered that I had lost the keys to both my car and my apartment. I was 12 miles away from home, and the lot where my car was parked would be locked at 10:00.  My supervisor gave me the phone number of a locksmith, and Gina, my co-worker, was kind enough to drive me home to meet him and then drive me back to my car, a twenty-five mile round trip. This really made me realize how many kindhearted, wonderful people are still out there, despite all the negative news these days.  Unfortunately, however, I think the locksmith and his company are part of the Russian Mafia.  I was told the lock would be very difficult to open, and it would cost $200 to do this and then re-key the lock.  Since I had little alternative, I said to go ahead, and after 5 minutes the door was open. I mentioned how quickly he did this, and he replied, with a slight Eastern European accent, that it was a very difficult job.  In point of fact, the difficult part was processing my credit card.  The locksmith had to call his supervisor (who I could overhear speaking with a heavy Russian accent) and give him the card information. The supervisor then evidently had to call company headquarters in Moscow to process the card.  This took, roughly, forever.  My advice to Blog readers is to assume you are going to lose your keys at some point in time and find an honest locksmith in advance.  And definitely stay away from the Russian mob.