Paul Was Sick

On this day, in 1963, Beatle Paul McCartney caught the flu. Hourly updates on his condition were given by the English press. Paul and I share June 18th as a birthday although he is four years older. I can still sing "When I'm 64" but that time has passed for Paul.

One Bad Apple

Maybe Kris has a point with her fear of fruits. I know that I will be more cautious on my next visit to the grocery store.

Madagascar 2

Holding true to our habit of going to animated movies, we went to see Madagascar 2 last night. The Monday special was $5 per ticket and two bags of free popcorn. The movie was great. We remembered all the characters from the original movie and there were some interesting new ones this time. As usual, the penguins were the movers and shakers that got things done. They cracked me up because each time they started on some mission, they would stick in an 8-track of Boston or Journey, etc.

Thanks Teddy and Loook Oouutt!!

Happy 100th anniversary to the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the habitat of migratory birds.

Plunging off in another direction, I must apologize to Kris, Kim and Mike. In Sue's dream last night, I was driving a vehicle through a hilly area, while sleeping. The vehicle had three rows of seats. I was in the front row, by myself. Kris and Sue were in the second row and Mike and Kim were in the back row. Somehow, we did not crash but Sue said she did a lot of yelling to try and wake me up.

Poetry and Football

Last July, Kris, Matt and I experimented with Haikai, a sort of tag-team method of writing poetry. You can check the July archives to see our results. That was so much fun that I thought that we would try poetry again, but with a different twist. Have you ever heard of clerihew? It is a four-line type of verse that was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley at age 16. Those of you who want more background can Google, etc.


Clerihew doesn't have as many rules as Haikai. Here we go.

1) The poem should have four lines
2) The first two lines must rhyme and the last two lines must rhyme.
3) The first line must end with the name of a famous person or at least a person that would be familiar to the readers. It can consist of just the name alone.
4) The poem should be funny or whimsical, but not really satire. It definitely should not be mean or nasty.

That's it. If you search around the old internet, you can find examples of this form of verse. Below is one of my attempts. Add yours as a comment over the next week or so and let's see what we create.

Conan O'Brien
makes me laugh 'till I'm cryin'
I'm up late, but then,
I can sleep until ten.

As often happens, poetry naturally leads to discussions of football. Since I haven't been bragging about the good old Malvern Hornets lately, let me correct that. You may remember that last year's basketball team finished the season with a record of 20-0 and then won five tournament games before losing and just missing the Final Four in Columbus. Well, not to be outdone, the 2008 Fighting Green Hornet football team finished their season 10-0 and have won the first two playoff games. They beat Shadyside last night, by a score of 53-24. For perspective, Shadyside had allowed a total of 23 points in their last four games. The closest game all season for the Hornets was 42-21. Next week, Malvern plays Hannibal River. A win in that game means a trip to the State Semi-Finals. Good luck Hornets!

Phase Two

Now that the election is behind us and Barack Obama has been given the job of leading our country to a brighter future, I feel that I can move on to the other two critical issues that would make my world a better place.

(1) When someone has been killed, accidentally or otherwise, and people leave candles, stuffed animals, flowers, etc at the site, the word "makeshift" cannot be used as part of the description of the memorial.

(2) A scandal of any kind should not be identified by attaching -"gate" to the end of the word. That made sense during the Watergate break-in investigation because that was the name of the building.

Isn't it nice that these are the major items that are confronting me at the present time. I wonder if Mr. Obama might create a Cabinet position for me. How about Secretary of Crankiness?

Happy Halloween

Here Are A Couple Of Musical Halloween Videos
Hope You All Have A Spooktacular Halloween.

This is Bobby "Boris" Pickett, doing the song that he originated.
This 2006 performance was his last before he passed away.