Flashback 1973

Yes, Mother was a Pack Rat... possibly the queen of the pack rats, and excelling in the art of hiding it all, like the lining of a nest........  Taking Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder to new heights.... 

Anyway, here is an article from January 13, 1974, by Jack Mabley, who was a popular Chicago Tribune columnist at the time:

Wow, 7% mortgages, Spiro Agnew, Watergate (Haldeman & Ehrlichman), and $1.50 for a gallon of gasoline. Imagine that!  It was a glorious time to be alive, 

but we didn't realize it at the time.

Crazy predictions for 1974.... I am not going to look any of that up --Google it yourself!

Milk for $2.00 a gallon!

.....oops! the town we lived in did build a new city hall and later discovered that they could not open the windows..(but that was around 1980).....

and it ends with a quote from Yoko Ono, the great prophetess of 1973....  

😏😏😏

Clearly no one had a crystal ball, they could not even imagine what would be going on in 2017! 

It boggles the mind... 

....oh, the humanity!

The technologically challenged (those who are without...)

It is hard enough to be without Internet at home, but I am also saddled with a primitive phone.... you know, the kind where when you are trying to send a text message you have to press the 7 four times to get the letter "s"...   And I really don't remember how to get a capital "s" without having it be the beginning of a sentence....  Plus, it's what is known as a "GoPhone", meaning that it costs 25 cents a minute to talk (20 cents per text)... yes, I pay $25 quarterly to keep the phone active.  People who know that are afraid to call or text me. 
When I lost my job a month ago the GoPhone account had 1,200 minutes on it...a week later, thanks to automatic replenishment it added 100 minutes more or less.  I have done well, there are over 800 minutes left after 30 days... 

The bigger problem comes when I try to conduct any kind of personal business.  It's still 25 cents a minute when I am on hold, for interminable lengths of time, with the hospital billing office, or my mortgage lender.  Or, worse, I get in to a telephone answering system that wants me to type in a persons name to get that person on the phone.... no letter keypad.... major frustration.

I have spent a lot time trying to explain to people that I have no Internet at home.  And inevitably they say, "what about your phone?" This is what is known as a "candy bar" phone:

It's small, has no internet capability, and (obviously) no keyboard.  It is historic, primitive, ....prehistoric....  

For over 9 years my employer provided me with a cell phone.  And as advances were made in the technology we got better phones.  I had the equivalent of a Samsung Galaxy X5 phone, right up until the moment I was fired.  I had a separate wifi device as well.  

Those days are over.  Plus, being unemployed, I am not all that anxious to run out and start spending upward of $45 a month for a cell phone with hot spot capabilities.  

So, I spend a lot of time frustrated, trying to communicate with people via email, even though that means that I must go to the library every single day it is open, because they have free wifi.  I have advanced a little bit though, I can now say that I have Skyped, and I have been to Google Hangouts.  I prefer Skype, and it's great when you are on free wifi at the library.  None of this is helpful to me when I am at home, looking to communicate, or simply to get a weather forecast.  (FYI: I cancelled television service 8 months ago, I do not have an antenna, and I have yet to find a local radio station that gives the kind of weather forecast I am looking for.)

Anyway... the moral of this story is: be grateful if you hold technology in the palm of your hand, and have it available for use 24/7.  And please,...please be mindful of the other guy, who has very limited technology and may not be in touch with the world for the larger portion of the day.

AFTERWARD

Here I must make a few acknowledgements.... primarily I want to thank my niece Bev for giving me her old Ipad... I am not Apple inclined, but I have found this device not only easy to use, but invaluable for use on Skype, Google Hangouts, and to surf the internet while waiting for my sometimes extremely slow OLD laptop to catch up.  (so, so slow)

I want to thank friend Anna, for calling me on Skype to help me establish that I had a good, working connection, and can actually talk to people, not just message everything.  Plus my ancient earphones work with this Ipad.  Also, thanks to Anna for directing me to a local Re-Employment networking group.  (It is good to have a chance to chat with others who are looking for work. - I am not alone.)

And thank you to those who have contributed prayers, cash (R, and V), or taken the time to get together with me for a meal (LW, GS, KBQ).

A childhood icon: remembering Mary Tyler Moore

"Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? Well it's you girl, and you should know it With each glance and every little movement you show it Love is all around, no need to waste it You can have a town, why don't you take it You're gonna make it after all You're gonna make it after all How will you make it on your own? This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone But it's time you started living It's time you let someone else do some giving Love is all around, no need to waste it You can have a town, why don't you take it You're gonna make it after all."


Wow. She's gone. Mary Tyler Moore died this afternoon. May she Rest In Peace.
My heart is broken.

We did not watch The Dick Van Dyke Show when it originally aired.  I was a wee tot, and Dad controlled the television.

But, when I was 9 years old, The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered on CBS. Every Saturday night thereafter I spent that half hour with Mary and company. Oh what a delight they were! Always funny, always entertaining.  Mary, Rhoda, Phyllis, Lou Grant, Murray Slaughter, Ted Baxter, Georgette Franklin, and Sue Ann Nivens.....what a crew! What hilarity ensued.

The theme song,... it just takes me back to that living room of my youth,.. the red swivel chair, the tv -a tube television, on a metal cart.... and the warmth and comfort of my parents suburban home....

The lessons we learned from Mary and company.  The first television program about a truly independent woman, making it on her own.  "You're gonna make it after all."  Such hope in that.

We were there for all of her trials and tribulations, and hilarity.  Who can forget Chuckles the Clown? (may he rest in peace) Mary simply could not keep herself from laughing at his funeral.  I always thought Chuckles the Clown would have appreciated that --after all his life's work was making people laugh.  And that episode wholly endeared Mary to us -she was so very human.

Thank you, Mary.  You were an inspiration to the girls who first watched your show.  Thank you, and Rest In Peace dear lady.

https://youtu.be/kuuYvQsN-ak

Farewell to a beloved cousin...

Farewell, Myrtle Stade b.11/24/1926-d. 01/19/2017.
Myrtle was a big fan of the Chicago Cubs.  Not someone who collected memorabilia, simply someone who loved to follow the game, mostly on the radio.  The Cubs were always Number One to Myrtle.  So we are all grateful that she lived beyond the day the Cubs won The World Series.

She had birth "defects" and her aunts fed her by soaking milk in a cloth and dripping the milk into her mouth, because she was not able to suckle.  They were told that she would not live past her teenage years.  She lived 90 years and nearly 2 months!

Myrtle was my oldest cousin.  She was the oldest of our generation of the family, and I am the youngest.  That's a big thing,... she was more than 30 years old than I.  I have memories of Myrtle way back to when I was a toddler.... I did not know exactly who she was at that tender age, but I knew she was family, and she was the lady with the camera.  That's right, that is how I identified her before I started to remember people's names and learn how I was related to them.
One day I was left in the charge of some neighbors, who let us kids play on the swingset at my house, which was visible from their back yard.  Anyway, I guess I was about 5 years old, and some people came into our yard to visit my parents. They did not know that my parents were not home, so they talked to us kids.  They called out to me, "Susan, come here, where is your mom?"  I looked at them and tried to think of who they were... at first I did not recognize them, but then I saw Myrtle's camera! It was a box camera, the kind that the photographer had to look down into to focus the shot.

Anyway, as soon as I saw the camera in her hands I knew who she was.  "You are Myrtle." I said.  I still did not recognize the other people, but I knew then that it was okay for me to talk to them.  (The others were Myrtle's sister, my cousin Verna, and Verna's children Gary and Karen.)  Gosh I can picture them standing there, between the back porch and the rock garden of the house at Fox Lake.

Later, when I was about 12 years old we had a little dog, and Myrtle would keep the terrier when we went on vacation. So I got to know Myrtle better, because I wanted to really know who was taking care of my beloved little terrier.

During my 14th summer Myrtle spent a couple of weeks traveling with us.  We went to The Wisconsin Dells together, and Hannibal, Missouri, Silver Dollar City, and Dogpatch.  Then we went to visit Myrtle's sister, Loretta and her husband Erv, in Heber Springs, Arkansas.  So we really got to know each other, riding around the middle of the country in a Ford Maverick automobile.

Now, Myrtle never married, but she took care of everyone's kids, babysat for probably hundreds of people, and for 50 years hosted a Christmas party for her nieces and nephews, and later for a whole passel of folks -mostly relatives.

A little over 2 years ago Myrtle had a health scare, and after that she lived in a nursing home.  All I can say here, is that Myrtle wanted to go to God. She was waiting.  Finally God was ready for her.  She was not afraid, she was ready after 90 years of living.  This was a blessing.  We will all miss her greatly, and I hope that we can all get together once a year in her honor.  This was a heartbreak and a blessing.  Amen.

Hosting her Christmas party 12/18/2011.

Life on Mars,...kinda like....

Learning to live again.

For nine years and seven months I had the same job…. and now it’s as if I was in a coma for 9 and a half years….  I need to learn how to live again.   Nearly three years ago I moved from an apartment into a townhouse…and I never finished unpacking.  You see, that terrible job took over my entire life.  It consumed me.  Too much travel (more than 200 days a year), too much time spent living out of suitcases.  It took away my ability to live anything resembling what most people would call a normal life.

The day-to-day details of living are foreign to me now.  I never unpacked from a household move, never cleaned or vacuumed… beyond the mundane cleaning of kitchen and bath…  I was exhausted from travel and strange hotel beds, and bizarre work hours that were odd and different from day to day in a job that drained all of my energy. 

I had no time for anything, because every hour at home was spent trying to recover from the previous week of odd hours and travel extremes.  I spent 3 days a year with family: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve… that was all I had the energy for.  And I found that I needed the day following those holidays to recover adequately to have the energy to do anything, including work. 

It is unnerving,...to have had a job; someplace to go, where I spent between 8 and 14 hours.... and now to have no place that I am required to be.... and to be adrift, looking for a job, ..which now days consists of spending chunks of time on the Internet, because; how else does one go about this job hunting in 2017?   

Plus, I had Internet access, provided by the former employer, and now I have no internet at home.  I am forced to go where there is free wifi: the library, Denny's,.... other places.  I am not a fan of McDonald's (and I have discovered that I cannot get on their wifi, for reasons completely unknown to me),... nor Starbuck's -as I will not pay $4.00 for a cup of hot chocolate and I do not drink coffee.  And, speaking of coffee, what the heck would I do with a caffeine rush, and possible sleeplessness! 

So, I do have someplace to go: the library, ....or Denny's, but I have to spend money if I go to Denny's.....  That's another thing: money --I don't have a job, so I really wish that everyone would stop telling me to get the Internet at home.  I don't know if I will ever be able to afford that again.  And let's not even talk about the cell phone.... I don't have a job!! I am NOT going to be spending money on anything until I find a job, and then only if I earn enough money to pay the debts I currently carry and still have little things like food, water, electricity.... yeah. this is fun.....

Last night I had the strangest dream..... (20161231)

Ever since I can remember I have had strange dreams.... sometimes I call them "science fiction nightmares", because I think that these crazy dreams would scare most people to death.....  Anyway, last night was a doozy.....

It started out kind of normal, but weird too.... I was with my parents, only in the dream are they my parents, because I really do not know these people....  in the dream my step-father is a minister. We are at a wedding, which my step-father is officiating. That's one thing that's wrong, my step-father was not a minister....  So, the ceremony is over, actually, and I am trying to save seats for us, but people keep trying to sit in them or steal the chairs. frustrating.
Next we need to pack and make a long drive to the west and north from our location.  There is talk of thunderstorms and tornadoes to the west and north, but when I look out the window the sky is blue and there are few clouds, as far as the eye can see.
I proceed with packing.  This is the suitcase I have been using in real life for the last few months,.... and the items I am packing are work clothing, and other items I have needed for the last 9+ years of my real, wide awake life....
So, after a while I go to look out the window again, because I have heard the forecast again for thunderstorms and tornadoes.  Although I do not think much time has elapsed it is now cloudy and gloomy.... the clouds are stirring and gathering and the sky is darkening.  Suddenly there is a pillar of bright light! something has exploded, and this is huge.
I hurry to the next room and ask the people there, "is that chemical plant west of here?"  (how the heck do I know that there is a chemical plant in the area?)  The answer is yes -the chemical plant is to the west, as we all rush to a window and look to the west.  Another explosion and BOOM! what looks like some kind of huge vault is in the air, and it falls with an enormous CRASH!! and we can feel that vibration ....
And BOOM!!  I wake up.

Sounds really creepy and disturbing, right?  It's just another night for me. Normal dreams for me, nothing outside the realms of what crazy dreams (nightmares?) I have had throughout my life.

The Final Journey,.....through the gate: The 2016 Stargate Convention

The Stargate Convention --the "Final Journey" through the Stargate (in Rosemont, Illinois).....  the headliner --this is the main attraction, the person who appears last to speak on the stage, was Michael Shanks.  Always a pleasure.  Other talent appearing: Jewel Staite, Joe Flanagan, Christopher Judge, Paul McGillion, Alaina Huffman, David Nykl, David Hewlett, Carmen Argenziano, Jamil Walker Smith, David DeLuise, Dan Payne, Erick Avari, David Blue, Gary Jones, Peter Kelamis, Rainbow Sun Francks.  Thus covering the entire Stargate franchise of programs:  Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe.

Each actor appeared on stage and talked or answered questions.  Sometimes program specific, sometimes general questions about random things, like: If you could pick any one person to have a conversation with- who would you pick and why.....  or:  have you read any of the fan fiction related to your show/character, and if so, what do you think...

There was the traditional offering of breakfast with Dan Payne, sans Alex Zahara who was unalbe to attend due to working on a play in Canada.  This was fun and interesting, as we each get to introduce ourselves and there is general random conversation, with Dan leading the fun.

I got to meet some new folks - a few that I never had contact with before, some that I remembered from previous Stargate Conventions (2013, 2014, 2015), and some with whom I have been friends on Facebook for a year or two.  People from all over the world.  The best thing about these conventions is meeting new people, talking with friends, and sometimes just chatting with people you will probably never see again.   ....    It's always more fun when people get talkative while waiting in line for a photo op or autograph.  This is when you chat with people but don't necessarily exchange names or other personal information.  Depending on time constraints you may wait in an autograph line for anywhere between 20 minutes to over an hour, so these conversations do sometimes lead to friendships, and occasionally can be rather educational.

This year I am grateful that I got to have a meal with some friends:  Allison, Melanie, and James.  Allison and James drove from New Jersey, and they picked up Melanie in Indiana on their way to the Con.  We had a nice Italian dinner at a lovely little restaurant in River Grove, Illinois on Grand Avenue just east of Thatcher, where they have gluten free pasta.  (Alas, I cannot tell you the name because there is no Verizon cell service where I am at the time of this writing, and I never get the name right without looking it up. --south side of Grand Avenue, second restaurant from the west end of the building...... parking lot right at the corner of Grand and Thatcher, with no lined parking spaces.)

Anyway, I would have to say that the highlight of this Stargate Convention, for me, was meeting David DeLuise.  He is the son of the great and very funny Dom DeLuise, and it shows.  David is warm, welcoming, funny, and delightfully friendly.  I can say enough about what a delight it was to have a chance to talk with him.  To share some memories of his father, and of the many well known actors who spent time at the DeLuise home when David was growing up.  Truly an interesting and talented man. 

I had an interesting conversation with Jamil Walker Smith, who appeared as Ronald Greer in Stargate Universe.  His portrayal of Greer was so intense as to be disturbing.  A portrayal that made me, as a viewer, uncomfortable --what I consider to be the mark of a great talent.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to express that to Jamil.  Any time Greer appeared on Stargate Universe I almost wanted to turn the television off, so disturbing was the vehemence and intensity of his performance.   That uncomfortable feeling of wanting to turn away, yet being somehow spellbound by the portrayal.  A very fine actor, to be sought out for further viewing pleasure.  (easy on the eyes too, if you get my meaning)

David Blue (Stargate Universe) most notably almost has more fun meeting the fans as we do meeting him! He was exuberant in 2015, and equally in 2016!  He is as much a science fiction geek as any of us.  Pleasant, polite, and quite delightful to meet.

As always, it was a delight to visit with Dan Payne.  Regrettably I somehow lost the one and only selfie of myself with Dan this year.  I suspect that the darn phone did not snap the shot correctly and the person holding the phone (actually neither Dan or I) did not realize that –and ONLY gave it one try –I got 4 shots with everyone else.....).  I think that Dan would agree that it was not quite the same without the presence of Alex Zahara, who was unable to attend this year –because he was busy in a play in Canada.  Alex –glad that you were working on an exciting project, and sorry that we did not get to enjoy your presence at the Final Stargate Convention.

Peter Kelamis (Stargate Universe) was funny and delightful, as always.  He stepped up and partnered with Dan Payne on the MC duties, and shared photo-ops with Dan as well. 

I was great to see everyone, Dan Payne, David DeLuise, Allison, Melanie, Beth, Sally, Giuseppe.... 

If we didn't get to visit at the con, I am sorry that we did not see each other, or were both in a hurry.... and if you were unable to attend: my condolences, and may we meet again at a happy event -like a SciFi Con!

Note: the photos in the blog are my personal property, please do not copy or share them.