Humiliation at it's best

Last night, Colin whipped my butt at Monopoly. Now most of you know that Monopoly is MY game. Granted, it was LOTR Monopoly so it really doesn't count like the real thing with Boardwalk, Park Place etc.

However, he relished in it and it was fun seeing him handle his money, read the cards and be a real "grown up".

He was so lucky that when we were through, I had him blow on my fingers with that magic so when I went to the casino which I did when he and Nanny went to bed I would have some luck. Low and behold, it worked, I made a bunch and will be sharing it with him this morning.

Grandkids are the best,

My endorsement

I know you have all been waiting to see who i endorse for president. I have watched most of the debates, CNN all the time, MSNBC often, Fox network, never except once to laugh my ass off listening to Chuck Norris with Hannity and Colmes.

Please get out and vote on Super Tuesday those of you that can if you aren't registered Independent (Delinda) or Undecided and still belong to one of the real parties.

Well, My endorsement in the 2008 election goes to $^#&*@ )*&$#.

What has this world come to?

First of all, I know you are shocked with two blogs in two weeks, but had to get this off my chest.

Yesterday at Barnes and Nobles I sat an looked through the 2007 year end issue of Rolling Stone to see what I had missed this year. I looked at their Top 100 albums/cd's/songs, whatever, they are still albums to me.

Of the Top 100, I think I have heard maybe two, the new Wilco album and one other. I had not heard of probably 80 of the artists which really didn't bother given RS's slant to keeping up with the culture you know. I also looked at a few other music magazines and suddenly realized that I am out of touch with what is "happenin".

I am thankful for that don't get me wrong now. I wish I did not have a cell phone or a computer although I have to admit, an Ipod is essential. Music has changed so much in the last 40 ears that I have really paid attention, there is still no doubt in my mind that most of the good music and music that will really last was made from 1964-1971. Think about that for a minute and tell me some music made from 1972-2007 that will be remembered when you kids start paying attention to the history of music. Yes, I know I am prejudiced, but how many Bob Dylan's, Neil Young's, Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin or Grateful Dead's came from the second era I mentioned. Hello, none.

I do like some music that started in the 90's like Pearl Jam, Wilco, My Morning Jacket and I think that there music will last.

Also, the sad state that there is not one candidate today that I would vote for tomorrow if it were election day is pretty discouraging.

Time for me to go put on some vinyl on the old KLH, smoke a cigarette and remember the good ol' days. Think I will stat with my tattered copy of "Meet the Beatles" circa 1964.

Your old man.

Hallowed Ground

Recently we have been coast to coast from NYC to San Francisco. While NYC was great and exciting, I could see how you could go crazy there very quickly. Fast paced, horns always honking, 3 million cabs, theft/muggings like we saw at a drug store, cabbies that did not speak any English and so on. We had the best times with Kevin and Megan eating at a nice Italian restaurant and the most fabulous pizza place in Greenwich Village. I was truly disappointed to see that the Fillmore East had been turned into a bank, hallowed ground destroyed. Not only that, NO one in that area even knew where it was from young kids to old people like me.

So we went to SFC in two weeks for a real vacation not related to work or a bike trip with Mark. We stayed at a quaint motel within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown and the Coit tower where Jack Kerouac and all the people of the original beat generation hung out in the early 50's at North beach. That was all fun and we went to the Haight Ashbury district where the SF music really stared in 1965, saw the house that all the original Grateful Dead lived before they moved from the city to Marin County to get way from everything in the early 70's.

But by far the highlight of the trip for me was a visit to the original Fillmore Auditorium that opened in 1965 under Bill Graham's guidance. At the intersection of Fillmore and Geary, there it stood. We had tickets to see Ozomatli which was really secondary for me, I would have gone to see the place no matter who was playing. I was totally in awe of the poster collection, probably 500 of them on the walls from the very first show there with Bill Graham's Mime Troupe to today shows with bands like Rage, Wilco, Queens of the Stone Age and others. The place was originally a dance hall so the chandeliers were still up and there was a great dance floor and we sat in the side area which had little areas that stuck out over the floor and so you could see the floor, the soundboards, the bars (3 of them) and all the pot smoking rising when the lgiths came down.. While we are watching the band, I slipped off into a dream world of what it would have been like to see the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin with Big Brother until 3-4 in the morning and all the bands that started the real Sf sound of the mid to late 60's. It truly was hallowed ground for me in an earthly sense that all the history that happened in the place from 1965 to 1971 when Bill Graham closed this place and the Fillmore East in NYC. The one time I was in SF before, my friend was home sick by then on top of me making him go see Frank Zappa, The Dead at the Hollywood Palladium in LA and Chick Corea in a small jazz club.

We actually slept in the car up on a hillside in Berkeley until a cop knocked on our window at 3 in the morning and made us leave. The next day Tom was begging me to head for home. Living in Tulsa my entire life I realized how much I had missed in those days when I could have gone there before I went off to college three weeks later. I know those days are long over but it was wonderful for me to at least see and dream about what it would have been like.

So, go to places, travel while you are young and don't miss the events and places that will he historic during your time. Don't let history be created without you being a part of some of it. I have always dreamed of taking my three boys to a Super Bowl, final World Series game or final Stanley Cup game to just do this together for the memory regardless again of who was playing.

Too much life and history and events can pass you by and seeing it on TV doesn't cut it.

One more request, please vote for President next year. This will be the most important race of your generation and your kids, keep that in mind when you decide who to vote for and what effect the next President will have on your life and your kids and their kids.

RickDad.

35 Years

35 years ago today we got married. We were meant for each other from the moment our eyes caught each other in the Nathan Hale library towards the end of our senior year in high school. To think this morning of all that we have gone through is almost overwhelming. This would be more overwhelming if we had not grown so much in the last 7-8 years into true soul mates.

The trials of marriage can be very tricky and tiresome, but worth it if you stay together, so worth it today as we enjoy each other more and more every day. We enjoy the grocery store together, sitting on the back porch drinking and smoking, riding our bikes and recently navigating our way through the entire five seasons of "Six Feet Under" together.

The only wisdom I can share with those that read this is to hang touch and stay together. through everything you go through. I truly believe that each of our son's have married their soulmates and best friends in Teresa, Heidi and Emily. We love them like our own daughters.

What is it I love about Delinda? Her passion, her deepness, her honesty especially telling me the truth about myself I may not want to admit when it is hard. I love her lips, her humor and am constantly challenged by each dimension of the person she is. I love her strong opinions even though I don't agree with many of them and her wisdom and discernment about people and all of life. I love her lovemaking and the moments we spend in darkness after that and her whispers to me to show true inner self in the dark. I love her protectiveness of me and her passionate jealousy too. I could go on and on.

I love you more today Delinda than yesterday and I will love you even more tomorrow.

For those reading, please stay together for life.

CHANGE

One summer has brought a new grandson, the death of our good friend Greg Sizemore, the official engagement of our niece Megan and this weekend the double murder, suicide done by our next door neighbor Lon who we barely knew. Wow, I really miss Greg.

What does this say about life and death, it comes it goes and what is the impact to each of us?. Why do we cry after funerals when we stand around and not in the funeral service?

And now Micah is moving to Wyoming and Luke back to Denver and here I sit in the same damn town I have lived in all my life, so much for change for me. Maybe "life is all about change" has eluded me so far.

Life just rolls on, day after day of insanity that we wallow in and never stop to listen to each other, good music, the turtle doves here in Catoosa or the "boom" at 3:00 in the morning Saturday morning, we rolled over and went back to sleep like the way most of us live life.

Sad.

The Man

I find myself thinking about who The Man is this morning. Could it be DWG or Bill G or maybe even Craig Broback, they all think so, but as Pete says " here comes the new boss, same as the old boss" as you know that if you work at Graebel, there is nothing new about any of them.

Most of you know by now I have taken up the ugly habit of smoking, cigarettes. One of the best benefits of this is going to the smoke hole several times a day and getting to know people from Candy Kinas to this temp named Daniel who has been in more "wars" than most of us can imagine. These are the people that are the real Man is our day to day lives, not people with titles that are empty suits void of any soul at all. I know because I used to be one of Them and you cannot realize how empty you were until you look in the rearview mirror and realize what a worthless human being you were.

So take time to get to know The Man in your lives. The grocery cashier, your neighbor, the driver and the people in our lives that really count. Most of us in this family have lived a fairly sheltered life, distanced from the vagabonds, hurting people that will admit it, the drunks and people that have lived a lot of life. I enjoyed being with Sandy Martin and listening to some of the tragic things that have happened in her life, including when Junior came home one day and had lost his job, so she and Junior cut firewood and sold it on the streets and door to door to make a living, that is real now. Most of our biggest struggles come when we have to decide which show to watch on TV or which song to download off Itunes, pathetic.

Oh, and wherever you are with your God, he is The Man and don't forget to listen to him too.