This is a third in a series of Christmas blogs, 2003, 2009.
http://cptkirkenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-2003.html
http://cptkirkenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-2009.html
So now here is Christmas 2011!!
First, I have some proof that some things can't be improved..I continue to recognize that the Miracle on 34th Street that I grew up with is superior to any remake. The remakes only can compete for second place. However, I still look back over all the years and wish that I had all the technological goodies that we have now. The cell phone with GPS causes me to miss the fun of pulling off the interstate where I am making great time to find the pay phone that either doesn't work or has the page that I need to find the store I am looking for ripped out while I am standing there freezing in the Christmas cold. I remember a call to my son from the pay phone in the snow in Colorado.. It was cold. When writing a paper for college, I would end up with a bunch of pieces of paper that had to be organized into a collage for the final attempt to type it. I pitied the poor typist who was given my work with all the arrows and scribbles.
So what is my point. I notice that the values of belief and love and hope can be expressed sometimes in a timeless manner. The message of Miracle on 34th Street transcends all the new situations and technology. Tim Tebow demonstated that when we believe in someone, we can make them better on the football field. How much better then to make some better in their life. I was thinking that Tebow time starts when a receiver drops a sure pass for a touchdown and Tebow assures that receiver that they will catch the game winning touchdown. So at this time of year, when can remember those strong service members who have been wounded, injured, or broken in spirit from conflict. Wc can be strong for them and encourage them to try to get well and "get better" each day.
God bless us all!!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Wish I had the video
Every year, the University of Washington Huskies, my alma mater, and where I attended graduate school, play the University of Oregon Ducks...the place I matriculated my Freshman year of college. The reason I went to the U of O was because I was a runner and I wanted to be a better runner. Obviously I won't forget the day that I made a trip to Eugene, OR and there on the track was Steve Prefontaine. He was doing cut downs.. He was running 110s on the track trying to increase the speed of each on the four after running about 10 miles. Don, one of the coaches, asked me if I wanted to meet Steve and he came over. "We could always use some more runners, " he said. Steve is a legend but that was not exactly a true statment. They were loaded. Only months from that meeting, Steve would win the National Cross Meet and the team including my room-mate Randy James, 19th place, an All-American, would win the nationals. It was indeed an experience. But the real point of this is to explain how such a UW football fan would end up at Oregon. I would say I was conflicted. I loved the Oregon runners but I still loved my dawgs. So it came to pass that I attended the home game my freshman year at Oregon when they played the dawgs. It was a hard fought game as befits the rivalry. Oregon was ahead, but the Huskies were driving. Now the whole game amidst the Oregon student section there was one very loud Husky fan. As the game progressed he got louder and bolder and drunker. So on the last drive, he was slurring, "Go Huskies!" and the crowd just looked at him in silence as the Huskies drove down the field. The Husky fan was in his glory as the dawgs lined up for the game winning field goal. Louder and louder, "Go Huskies!" The kick went up... No good. The poor fellow utterly deflated and the crowd didn't say anything but I think he was overcome by vibes as he slunk off in silence.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
My Karaoke and singing with a band Career
I don't remember when I first did Karaoke. I started singing in front of crowds in Elementary School as part of our informal choir. And later, I used to lead songs at church and other venues ultimately leading to a few performances. I played in a band: John 3:16. I was the lead guitarist, did some back-up and lead vocals and played bass on some of our songs.
In the early 70s in Victoria, British Columbia, I ran about 3o miles from Sooke and volunteered to sing songs with my guitar at a coffee house. ( I used to have a lot of energy).
I lead some songs on my guitar for the troops at Ft Dix, New Jersey for some outdoor field church services and I sang a song for a group at a prayer breakfast at Fort Dix,New Jersey.
In 1984, in Bainbridge, Ga after winning a 20 K run there, I sang Luckenbach Texas with the band(I miss Waylon)
It was a Fort Rucker that I remember singing Karaoke at the Officer's club there in the 80s. The crowd always loved, "Born to Be Wild." My most memorable singing with the band was at a Christmas formal. I was persuaded to sing, "Take this job and shove it" Some friends applauded my bravery to sing such as song but the leadership thought I did a great job with singing.
In 1994, I got up with a band in Hawthorn, Nevada at a Casino and sang a few.
During a trip to Germany in 2006, I found myself in an Irish pub, and the guitar player and singer let me get up on stage.
In the early Millenium, I did a lot of singing at Nick's in Alexandria. Great place to do country dancing, then take a break and sing.
I had some good times in Baghdad 2003-2004. At the Hotel Rashid, I sang with the band, and played guitar and bass with the band. I sang a cappella at a pool party. I did some Karaoke at the Palace in the Green Zone-Born to be Wild. It is on video tape and I wonder if I will get a monetary offer to destroy the tape!!
During a trip to Korea in 2010, I discovered that Korean Karaoke is a little different. A group rents a room and then they pick their own songs. It is different.
This year, 2011 I sang Karaoke in Phoenix and Tucson Arizona, and also Albequerque, New Mexico.
Recently I was in what is known as the best Karaoke place in Vegas, Ellis Island. The good thing is that there is a crowd, the bad thing is that it takes about an hour plus to sing after singing a song. But, I was so good that someone bought me a drink. (Great pay) I have been going there since the early 90s. I was in a contest once where I did, "Keep your hands to yourself" playing also my harmonika. I lost to the one who sounded like Frank Sinatra.
Very recently I was in Brussels, Belgium. There were only about 10 people, but I was impressed with the talent. I heard song in French but also in English with virtually no accent with beautiful tones.
I must note that I had the privilege to sing a duet a capella with my friend Vanessa at my graduation from a training program. We sang the National Anthem.
As long as I have breath, I will make a joyful noise.
In the early 70s in Victoria, British Columbia, I ran about 3o miles from Sooke and volunteered to sing songs with my guitar at a coffee house. ( I used to have a lot of energy).
I lead some songs on my guitar for the troops at Ft Dix, New Jersey for some outdoor field church services and I sang a song for a group at a prayer breakfast at Fort Dix,New Jersey.
In 1984, in Bainbridge, Ga after winning a 20 K run there, I sang Luckenbach Texas with the band(I miss Waylon)
It was a Fort Rucker that I remember singing Karaoke at the Officer's club there in the 80s. The crowd always loved, "Born to Be Wild." My most memorable singing with the band was at a Christmas formal. I was persuaded to sing, "Take this job and shove it" Some friends applauded my bravery to sing such as song but the leadership thought I did a great job with singing.
In 1994, I got up with a band in Hawthorn, Nevada at a Casino and sang a few.
During a trip to Germany in 2006, I found myself in an Irish pub, and the guitar player and singer let me get up on stage.
In the early Millenium, I did a lot of singing at Nick's in Alexandria. Great place to do country dancing, then take a break and sing.
I had some good times in Baghdad 2003-2004. At the Hotel Rashid, I sang with the band, and played guitar and bass with the band. I sang a cappella at a pool party. I did some Karaoke at the Palace in the Green Zone-Born to be Wild. It is on video tape and I wonder if I will get a monetary offer to destroy the tape!!
During a trip to Korea in 2010, I discovered that Korean Karaoke is a little different. A group rents a room and then they pick their own songs. It is different.
This year, 2011 I sang Karaoke in Phoenix and Tucson Arizona, and also Albequerque, New Mexico.
Recently I was in what is known as the best Karaoke place in Vegas, Ellis Island. The good thing is that there is a crowd, the bad thing is that it takes about an hour plus to sing after singing a song. But, I was so good that someone bought me a drink. (Great pay) I have been going there since the early 90s. I was in a contest once where I did, "Keep your hands to yourself" playing also my harmonika. I lost to the one who sounded like Frank Sinatra.
Very recently I was in Brussels, Belgium. There were only about 10 people, but I was impressed with the talent. I heard song in French but also in English with virtually no accent with beautiful tones.
I must note that I had the privilege to sing a duet a capella with my friend Vanessa at my graduation from a training program. We sang the National Anthem.
As long as I have breath, I will make a joyful noise.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Birthdays
Well I have had a few birthdays. I can remember back to my 5th one. There I was in Seattle in the U District with some of my neighbor friends in the yard of my baby sitter. I won't go through all of them but it worked out that most of my friends celebrated birthdays during the school year but mine was a family affair in Edmonds with my mom, her mom and dad and my uncle, aunt, and cousin. I don't complain about the date, I have a grandson who is a Christmas baby. He will always get less because Christmas is the "big deal" and so the birthday is the afterthought. As I got older birthday celebrations weren't such a big deal..my wife even forgot but did a nice make-up celebration the next day. It is interesting the Orientals count birth as the year one since they count the womb without a view time. I would have liked to have the year when I was 15 so I could drive earlier, but I am trying to subtract years now. There are people that don't celebrate birthdays. That is their thing but me, I always like a party. I take my kids to a restaurant and they say, "dad, don't embarass me, don't tell anyone it is my birthday. Me, well just the opposite. I look around and expect the whole restaurant to sing. I mean, I call out anyone who is eating and not singing. I even make the cook take a break to sing. Anyway, I have already enjoyed my early birthday wishes on Facebook and I think this year I will get the most birthday wishes that I ever had. Cards are nice and appreciated, but seriously to any who reads this, I really appreciate the birthday greetings and I hope we share many many more birthdays together.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Poetry
Driving in the cold, snow, dark and silence Kafka images at the time for 18 years streamed as the river in the Country Doctor which now streams back 45 years but the future is as cold, snow, dark and silence unless God or metempsychosis intervenes but I awake uncomfortable and confused by the streaming river or am I asleep or am I in eternity?
Back From Iraq
A Work of Fiction
I had often thought of what I would write about if were to write about my year in Iraq. One day, I was reading an excerpt from a book by some person who had been to Iraq and he started the book about the food in Sadam's palace in the Green Zone and I no longer had writer's block. I could talk about food easy. In fact, the fellow had no perspective whatsoever. He was just some civilian who wanted to comment on food, but I was a GI, a soldier who had lots of experiences. you see, just down the street members of my unit were getting along with what were called T Rats, (T-Rations). Basically they were like frozen dinners you heat up. They were happy to get them instead of the ubiquitous MREs. In fact to get them, it was necessary to do "drug deals" (This term causes a major digression lest you think that something sinester was happening. Drug deal in this context meant that the T-Rats were coming from outside the formal supply channels. Now the formal supply channels might not work for:1)The Logisticians had omitted accounting for food or supply requirements for a unit, or 2) the Unit supply point of contact was incompetent and did not know how to make the supply system work, or 3)Why bother with paperwork when you could make it work the easy way.) So I believe this drug deal for food was allowing soldiers for a division to use a Sattelite phone given as a gift from a certain country for morale calls. So my unit was giving up nothing but the foreign country was incurring a serious long distance headache. Anyway, I had a moral dilemma. Did I forego the creature comforts of the palace which offered canned sodas, Steaks, lobsters, rice, cake, etc or go for frozen dinners. I justified my actions because I had soldiers under my command who were able to get a better dinner by joining me. I respected Joe because he wouldn't eat unless everyone in the unit could eat. Many months later ironically after the military got their dining facility up and running down the street, all the high muckety-mucks *(Note 1) at the palace were leaving the palace to partake of the better military food down the street. I pleased that my men returned the favor by inviting some other GIs to the palace so they could use the internet and make some calls back home on the DSN (a military free phone) Evidently, back in their unit their commander nick-named Safety Rob used the unit's only internet connection to keep up with things back home all day and didn't want to help the GIs get into the palace since they might embarass him.
*(Note 1)
(Just today writing this down I use the word muckeddy mucks which I had heard used before but was unaware that it originated from the Chinook Jargon native to my state of Washington, the jargon of which many place names in Wa originateat
http://www.answers.com/topic/high-muckamuck
*One might not immediately associate the word high muckamuck with fur traders and Native Americans, but it seems that English borrowed the term from Chinook Jargon, a pidgin language combining words from English, French, Nootka, Chinook, and the Salishan languages that was formerly used by them in the Pacific Northwest. In this language hayo makamak meant "plenty to eat" and is recorded in that sense in English contexts, the first one dated 1853, in which the phrase is spelled Hiou Muckamuck. In 1856 we find the first recorded instance of the word meaning "pompous person, person of importance," in the Democratic State Journal published in Sacramento: "The professors-the high 'Muck-a-Mucks'-tried fusion, and produced confusion."
I had often thought of what I would write about if were to write about my year in Iraq. One day, I was reading an excerpt from a book by some person who had been to Iraq and he started the book about the food in Sadam's palace in the Green Zone and I no longer had writer's block. I could talk about food easy. In fact, the fellow had no perspective whatsoever. He was just some civilian who wanted to comment on food, but I was a GI, a soldier who had lots of experiences. you see, just down the street members of my unit were getting along with what were called T Rats, (T-Rations). Basically they were like frozen dinners you heat up. They were happy to get them instead of the ubiquitous MREs. In fact to get them, it was necessary to do "drug deals" (This term causes a major digression lest you think that something sinester was happening. Drug deal in this context meant that the T-Rats were coming from outside the formal supply channels. Now the formal supply channels might not work for:1)The Logisticians had omitted accounting for food or supply requirements for a unit, or 2) the Unit supply point of contact was incompetent and did not know how to make the supply system work, or 3)Why bother with paperwork when you could make it work the easy way.) So I believe this drug deal for food was allowing soldiers for a division to use a Sattelite phone given as a gift from a certain country for morale calls. So my unit was giving up nothing but the foreign country was incurring a serious long distance headache. Anyway, I had a moral dilemma. Did I forego the creature comforts of the palace which offered canned sodas, Steaks, lobsters, rice, cake, etc or go for frozen dinners. I justified my actions because I had soldiers under my command who were able to get a better dinner by joining me. I respected Joe because he wouldn't eat unless everyone in the unit could eat. Many months later ironically after the military got their dining facility up and running down the street, all the high muckety-mucks *(Note 1) at the palace were leaving the palace to partake of the better military food down the street. I pleased that my men returned the favor by inviting some other GIs to the palace so they could use the internet and make some calls back home on the DSN (a military free phone) Evidently, back in their unit their commander nick-named Safety Rob used the unit's only internet connection to keep up with things back home all day and didn't want to help the GIs get into the palace since they might embarass him.
*(Note 1)
(Just today writing this down I use the word muckeddy mucks which I had heard used before but was unaware that it originated from the Chinook Jargon native to my state of Washington, the jargon of which many place names in Wa originateat
http://www.answers.com/topic/high-muckamuck
*One might not immediately associate the word high muckamuck with fur traders and Native Americans, but it seems that English borrowed the term from Chinook Jargon, a pidgin language combining words from English, French, Nootka, Chinook, and the Salishan languages that was formerly used by them in the Pacific Northwest. In this language hayo makamak meant "plenty to eat" and is recorded in that sense in English contexts, the first one dated 1853, in which the phrase is spelled Hiou Muckamuck. In 1856 we find the first recorded instance of the word meaning "pompous person, person of importance," in the Democratic State Journal published in Sacramento: "The professors-the high 'Muck-a-Mucks'-tried fusion, and produced confusion."
Chinook Jargon in the Pacific Northwest and Beyond
I saw this interesting link to the translation of place names into Chinook Jargon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinook_Jargon_placenames
I knew that Olympia Beer "it's the water" came from Tumwater, WA but did not know that tumwater meant water fall.
http://www.planetware.com/picture/usa-waterfall-in-tumwater-washington-us-wa401.htm
Here is a Chinook jargon dictionary
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/chinookjargon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinook_Jargon_placenames
I knew that Olympia Beer "it's the water" came from Tumwater, WA but did not know that tumwater meant water fall.
http://www.planetware.com/picture/usa-waterfall-in-tumwater-washington-us-wa401.htm
Here is a Chinook jargon dictionary
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/chinookjargon/
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