All about the 1970's

Halloween

2011-11-08T00:15:00.000-08:00

(well - better later than never...)

So - As I was reminiscing about what this holiday was like back in the '70s, there were a couple of things that I remembered so vividly.

The first was making Halloween drawings and cutouts. Piles of orange and black construction paper and our imagination. Witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, old dead trees, tombstones, bats, etc. We would spend hours making all of these things. We would decorate the windows and the walls and anything else mom would let us tape to.

The other things was candy. My brother, cousin and I would go out together and we would draw out maps of our neighborhood and plan our routes. We would start as early as we could and stay out a late as possible for maximum candy!

One other thing - a friend of mine and I made a little haunted house. Our big thing was wet pieces of string hanging down that felt like sticky cobwebs.

It was fun - I hope kids still have as much fun today doing handmade stuff as we did back in the day!

2011-09-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

So - starting tomorrow we get to see all the new shows for the season... what are they calling it... season premier week? It's pretty cool to see the Charlie's Angels coming back, and of course - Hawaii 5-0 is still a big hit and going strong!

Throw in the new show, Pan Am, which appears to be set in the '70s, and Playboy - which I will NOT be watching (I have too much respect for my wife to do that), and it looks like we'll have plenty of nostalgia on the tube.

It will be interesting to see how the new shows do. Gotta love the '70s!

I am still here... honest :)

2011-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

I have been so incredibly busy! I know, I know – that’s no excuse, I should still be able to throw up a blog posting at LEAST once a week. I’ll try to get better, really, I will.

Work has been very busy and we just had 14 of our 60 person department let go due to budget cuts, so I am working hard to stay busy and valuable there! I have seniority (almost 20 years) and am pretty secure in my position, but let me tell you, I was relieved that I found out about the whole layoff thing through an office email explaining what had happened, as opposed to being one of the unfortunate ones who was let go.

In my side business, I have a beautiful new home that I’m in the middle of designing. Right now it’s at 4,500 SF and is located on the top of a local mountain with an incredibly commanding view of the surrounding area. Here are a couple of sketchup views of it. Click on them to see the pics at full size... We’re still in the midst of design, but this is a fun challenge. Even though it’s a huge home, the clients are trying to give it a “small cottage in the forest” feel – think Thomas Kinkade.

On top of this, I’m trying to at least put in a front yard on our 3½ acres this summer so we don’t have a muddy mess for the second year in a row this winter. The “little” front yard is 3000 SF. This will at least get us started.

My ‘70s comment today – I’ve seen and, of course, LOVED “Super 8” when it was in the theaters awhile back. I told my friends that JJ Abrams was incredibly successful in that as I watched the movie, I felt like I was watching a movie that was MADE back in 1979. The ONLY issue I had with it is that I don’t think kids carried backpacks back then… at least I didn’t in ’77 when I graduated. Maybe I’m wrong – maybe they became the thing within 2 years of my having left the high school scene. Actually – it’s hard to imagine that they would have gotten that wrong, so I’m probably off.

'70s Cars Now

2011-06-17T01:26:00.000-07:00

The Fast and the Furious

Well - In my book I spend some time talking about how awesome the muscle cars from the '70 were. It's weird, but some of these vehicles are so HOT that it makes me just really want them. I am so amazed that they use so many of these incredible cars on TV shows and movies today. I have pulled a few pics off the web and I show them here with labels of the movies they're from. And - to me - the only cars that compare with these iconic muscle cars are the retro versions of them that they are re-creating and getting out on the market today.

Death Proof

Does make me wish that I had never sold my '73 Camaro... although at the time I didn't really have an option. There we were - a young married couple, new baby on the way... an '85 Accord made a lot more sense than a big 2-door sporty car. Of course, now that the kids are all grown up and I'm looking for a mid-life celebration (not crisis) toy - Ive got my eyes on a new Corvette, or a new Camaro. Donations are welcome! :)

The Fast and Furious

Faster

Gone in 60 Seconds


Death Proof

Gone in 60 Seconds


Nash Bridges

Burn Notice

The Fast and Furious

2011-05-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

You gotta wonder...

Today I read a web posting that posed the question "Is cursive writing a dying art?" It mentioned that cursive used to be taught from 3rd thru 6th grade, and now it is often only taught in 3rd grade.

I remember that we used to do what seemed like page after page of practicing cursive letters in what seemed like every grade in grade school. It was always the same - the page would start out great and about halfway through you could tell that I was getting tired or bored. Those capital "s"s started getting skinny and laying down! I always hated getting those pages back and the whole last line was crossed out and I had to redo them. Of course,we could all write pretty well and legibly. We didn't have an option! We had to write. We also didn't have the option of using a computer or even a typewriter. Everything was handwritten, and everything was cursive.

I think that it was sometime in high school when we didn't have to always write in cursive any more. Somewhere along in there I stopped writing cursive all together except for my signature. One of the questions in the article was whether kids today will even have their signatures in cursive... an interesting thought. Every now and then I try to write in cursive and it's hard! I have to take my time and concentrate really hard to remember some things... like the tricks of how to tie the different letters together, and what a capital Q looks like, and that an "m" has three, not only two bumps.

I have tried to make it a habit as of late to write some things in cursive - you know - try to hold onto the skills that I have before they all fade away. My wife is incredible - she has beautiful handwriting and her cursive is wonderful to read - a real work of art. I think that there may be a guy/girl factor in this whole thing, too. The letter on the left could have been written by me.

What about all of you? Do you still write in cursive at all?

Poor Man's Pop Tarts

2011-04-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

I finally found some information on what I thought I remembered... but I just couldn't remember exactly what they were called. When we were kids, our mom had a tight grocery budget. This was before the generic brand episode of grocery lore, but our family had a lot of the store brands.

Kellogg's Pop Tarts were what the other more well-off families had. We had Post Toastem's. They were good, they weren't Kellogg's but they were good. There were a lot of different fruit flavored and frosting covered pastries, but the ones that were so cool that we loved - that we just had to have - were the Post Toastem Animals.

There were Munch-a-Berry Monkees, Tuti-Fruiti Owls, Peanut Butter Buffaloes, Berry Bears, Chocolate Flavored Elephants and Cinnamon Lions. My brother and I both had our favorites - mine were the chocolate flavored Elephants, his were the Peanut Butter Buffaloes, . What was really cool was how the animals were on the pastries. They were kind of "stitched" onto the front of the pastries, so we always ate around the stitching and had the shape of the animal left to eat last. You got cool stickers that glowed in the dark, too!

Here's a commercial from the '70s for them...notice how the hunter looks like Cap'n Crunch's brother... (can't figure out how to re-size this... :(

Putting Pen to Paper

2011-04-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

Anymore, this is really just a saying. When was the last time any of us really took pen or pencil to paper and wrote someone a letter? I would bet that we all have written a bunch of letters in our time. The obligatory thank you letters to grandmas, grandpas and in-laws for Christmas and birthday gifts; the letters to Santa Claus asking for all those special gifts; most of us even wrote letters to some elected official as part of our schooling.

As I shared, I’ve been going through some old boxes. I ran across a bunch of letters and was reading them to my daughter. I read one where my brother wrote to me when I was in college and asked me to forgive him for peeling out in my Camaro. You see, he had dropped me off at a friend’s house whom I was riding back to school with, and had shown off in my car as he left and broke the tires loose. (It was a sweet car!) This was in a letter I received about a week and a half later.

It hit me that this was the soonest he could’ve talked to me about it. Of course, we didn’t have cell phones back then. No texting. Long distance calls were expensive – like charged by the minute. My family and I would arrange to talk on the phone and would usually have at least 2 weeks between calls because it was so expensive to talk long distance. This concept was lost on my daughter. In these days of instant communication, the idea that it would have been this long before we could actually talk about it was unfathomable to my her.

Anyway – we could sure surprise some of our family or friends if we actually physically wrote them a letter and sent it to them in the mail…

Think about it… it might be fun just for the reaction!

Tuni Hat

2011-03-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Toony hat?

Tuni hat?
Tuney hat?

One of the advantages of moving is that in order to properly move in you need to go through all of your old boxes and sort / clean / organize them. I found a box of my old childhood items and I think I may have a few interesting posts as a result...

This is my old fishing hat. I found it in the Cascades when we were backpacking one year - I was 11 or so at the time. We had seen a guy on the trail earlier in the day wearing it, but we never came across him again. So - I became the new owner.

My Grandpa on my dad's side had ~~some~~ a LOT of funny made-up words. We don't know where he got them all, but they were all very unique, and just about the time you think he'd run out, he'd have another one in his hip pocket. He called my hat a (you pick the spelling) tuni hat.

We all know that it's very common for kids to be attached to something growing up. Favorite blankets, pillows, a shirt or pair of cowboy boots - I even knew a girl who says she had a board she took with her everywhere. Well - I got pretty attached to my tuni hat. Not only did I wear it at all the appropriate times (camping, backpacking, yard-work) I also wore it 90% of the rest of the day. And - remember I was a tween and young teen in the '70s - it was a great excuse to not wash my hair. Suffice it to say that it had its fair share of sweat, grime, grease and dirt over the years.

My brother and cousin wanted tuni hats too, so we could all be cool together, so they started asking for them for gifts. One of our funny family stories is that of my Grandmother on my mom's side - a fairly proper woman - going into a JCPennys and telling the clerk in the boys wear that she wanted to buy a tuni hat for her grandson, and could he direct her to them? I can still imagine the look on the face of that clerk because she was very insistent that her one grandson had one, her other grandson wanted one, and she wanted to buy it for him! We still laugh about that one to this day.

Anyway - I eventually (I think around 11th grade) stopped wearing my tuni hat. As you can see from the pictures, it's seen better days.

Did any of you have something - clothing or other - that was your "security blanket" growing up?

This never hapens to me!

2011-03-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

Had to do a follow up on this... and thanks, so much, for those who either voted or attempted to vote for me. Or even if you just thought “I hope he wins” in the back of your mind.

This never happens to me, but I actually won the new chair contest! It’s a $569.00 chair from National Business Furniture (lists for $900). Now I ask you 0 who is able to spend that kind of money on an office chair? I know I sure can’t. I felt like I was really splurging when I spent over $200 a few years back on a nice chair from Staples. Here’s how that chair looks now:

The amazing thing is that after I’d had it only a couple of months a seam started to loosen up. I documented it and sent a “what am I supposed to do now?” letter to them. They offered to either replace the chair or refund me the entire price. Well – I took the money and ran, and ended up with a “free” chair that lasted me a good five years. But it was time to get a new one. I had been looking for awhile when I happened upon this contest.

What’s crazy is that only like 35 people entered their chairs and I won with only 24 votes. Next closest was a chair with 20 votes and then one with 7! The voting process was a little complicated and not explained very well. But – I’m not complaining! I have a brand new $569 (list price $900) office chair en route to me even as we speak. Here are some pics of my new chair!

Pretty snazzy, huh!?!

Now if I can only win the HGTV home in Vermont on the 18^th… oh, I voted! Don’t worry, I voted almost every day for the duration of the contest.

Here’s hoping!

A Departure...

2011-02-24T01:48:00.000-08:00

Hi, please indulge my little departure here -

So - we all have our little places we blog from. If you're on a laptop. it could be most anywhere, but if you're "tied down" like me, it's at your desk at your computer. Mind you - I am not complaining - we just moved into a new home and I have a pretty nice office in which I conduct my side business. This is also where I dream up and - for lack of better terms - spew out the the thoughts that cross my mind for this little blog.

OK - so it's not in this bad of shape...

Paying for a new home means you don't really have the money for other new things - like furniture! We have one 20 year old little couch in our huge new living room. Again - I'm not complaining, - we will buy furninture for the house as we can, and we're very thankful for our home.

... an it's not quite this ugly...

What this is all leading to is that National Business Furniture - whose products I spec in my "real job" as an Architect - is having a new chair giveaway offering to replace the person who enters a picture of their chair that they feel needs to be replaced because it's on its way out.

So - I'm asking that if you are on Facebook to please take a minute and vote for me. You can click here and it will take you right to a page that shows my chair, tells its story and lets you vote. You vote by hitting the little "like" word on the bottom of the post. (You may have to "like" the NFB site, too - I've heard)

Anyway - If you can spare a few minutes, I'd sure appreciate it. The contest ends on the 28th. Thank you so much!

Wind-up Watches

2011-02-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

Did you know that you can still buy a wind-up watch? I remember when you couldn’t buy anything BUT a wind-up watch. It’s hard to effectively convey the amount of responsibility that you felt when you got your first watch.

First off, most of the watches had glass faces. Not only did this make them susceptible to getting scratched, it could also crack and /or shatter if you weren’t careful. And being a kid, you had to really be mindful of your arm now that it had a watch on it!

Next – you had to wind it! If you didn’t do this, it stopped running – and it did so by slowing down – so you would unknowingly be late because you forgot to wind your watch. It was VERY important to remember to wind it at least once a day!

Also – they weren’t cheap. If you got a watch as a gift, it was a gift of substance.

It was Similar to this...

I remember that one of my first watches was a beautiful silver trimmed Timex with a deep burgundy face that made the black hands really pop. It had a genuine dark leather wristband to boot! I felt like a million bucks when I wore it and it helped me feel more confident, too.

el-cheap-o!

I had some great watches growing up, but eventually the world advanced and cheap Casio watches with batteries that were small and lasted forever came in mass supply. And they were digital with LED crystal displays…and black plastic wristbands. Winding watches was a thing of the past, akin to if you are reading this on an IBM 286 with a 7" amber monitor.

And, I know I said that you can still buy them, but I would guess you have to look for them… does anyone have one?

Did you have a cool wind-up watch growing up?

– or – have you never even heard of such a thing?

– or – the big question – Do you even wear a watch? They definitely seem to be vanishing from the wrists of our youth now that phones have evolved…

Recess

2011-02-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, just the word evoked excitement – there were so many fun things to do. If the weather was nice, you got to go outside! A break from school! There were rings to ring, rungs to run, slides to slide down and all sorts of bars to clamor over. There were balls to throw and kick, girls to chase with hair to pull, and painted lines to hop over, serve into and get played out of. There was grass to run in, sand to dig in and dirt to slide on. If you were a loner, there were bugs to crawl after, butterflies to try to capture, and clouds to imagine make shapes in. There were people to watch, shade to sit in and little rocks to kick. There was a whole world of adventure and it was just outside our classrooms in the schoolyard.

Even if the weather was terrible, we still got recess. Sometimes we got to go to the gym. There was basketball, foursquare and the dreaded dodge-ball. There might have been mats with balance beams, and some other things to crawl around on, or there might have been a stage where we could act like we were putting on a show. Sometimes we stayed in the classroom. Often the teacher would have planned ahead and we would have a fun activity that involved us all doing something with our hands while imagining with our minds.

I don’t have little kids anymore – mine are 20 and 21 now – but I sure hope that the little kids these days have the same opportunities that I had growing up. I hope they don’t just sit around texting and playing video games on their phones. It’s one thing to get outside and get some fresh air, but the exercise of the body and the mind are more important.

Wow...

2011-01-24T19:32:00.000-08:00

I feel awful!
I post about him and he dies the next day...
Rest in Peace, Jack...
God bless you Elaine...

Anything in Life is Possible … Make it Happen!

2011-01-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

I’ve noticed that Darrin over at Dad’s Dish Retro Blog. (who, by the way, is one cool dude!) has been doing some awesome blogs as of late where he is reminding us of some forgotten folks from years gone by. What a great concept! There are so many great entertainers and famous folk from our era that have all but slipped into obscurity, so it’s great to remember them and to even see what they’re up to these days.

When I was a kid, I remember my mom watching TV and using a chair or the table and watching this guy in something like a leotard. He was stretching, and breathing, and bending and stretching his arms and legs – this was before there was anything even remotely like “working out” for the masses. Only real athletes did that.

Of course, she was watching the incredible Jack Lalanne. Many younger people today might only know him as that really old guy who’s on an infomercial selling a juicer. Jack Lalanne is the original fitness guru. He is more dedicated to a life of health and exercise than anyone else. He ONLY eats right, he ALWAYS exercises, and he’s a TOTAL optimist because he constantly lets us all know that we can do the same. The title of this blog is just one of his many sayings of health!

When he started his show back in 1951, it was the thought that it would be short lived. It became nationally syndicated and ran for 34 years! I remember my mom responding to his encouragement of “Get up, work out, and feel better!” Being kids, we just had fun bouncing around and thinking this was fun and new. He really was the father of modern workout videos.

He routinely performs feats of amazing strength and endurance every year on his birthday. You know – little things like swimming to Alcatraz while wearing handcuffs; Or setting a record of 1033 push-ups in 23 minutes! (That’s an average of 45 per min.); Or swimming while towing 10 row-boats with 77 people on board more than a mile in less than an hour. You can read all about him here. You can even watch videos from his original show and exercise right along with him! Grab a chair! We would all do a lot better if we did only a quarter of what he does!

Ok - I'm done blogging - back to my ice cream.

Is There an App For That?

2011-01-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

OK – I’ll be totally honest here. I’m not much into new-fangled phones. I use my phone (an old flip-open 10-key design - here it is in all it's blue splendor!) to make and receive phone calls, and occasionally to leave or listen to messages. I don’t send or receive texts, I don’t surf, email or play games… and I’ve never “run an App” in my life. I often forget my phone at home and always turn it off in movies, at meals and in meetings. If I’m in the waiting room at my local car-fix-it shop and I get a phone call, I’ll step outside to answer it rather than subject everyone in the little space to my conversation.

Now, I’m not some anti-technology guy, and I don’t go around rolling my eyes at those with “the latest and greatest”, but it is something to see a room full of people – and it’s NOT just kids anymore – who are sitting together but all doing their own thing on their phones. I think it’s funny that one of the phone companies has addressed this in a commercial, but only offers to shorten the time you’re on your phone. And you all know that if it’s faster and easier, it just means that you’ll do more.

So – the phrase “There’s an App for that” is very common, but I think that it’s really important to remember things that there will never be an App for: Building a birdhouse with your kid; Working a puzzle with your family; Taking a walk on a beautiful spring morning; Playing some fun games with your kids in the backyard on a late summer evening; taking a lazy drive, looking at things and talking about them (or singing silly songs)

I’m sure there are plenty of things that you can add to this list. The bottom line is let’s be free to use and appreciate the technology we have, but let’s make sure that we don’t sacrifice the things that there will never really be an App for.

Aw Nuts!

2010-12-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

Do you remember nuts at Christmas back when we grew up?

These days there are bowls of nuts all over at Christmas gatherings. You can get nuts of all kinds with all types of flavorings. You can get pre-packaged sets of 6 or 8 sampler cans… flavors range from sweet to sour, from spicy to cheesy. Nuts range from just peanuts to all mixed nuts to macadamia to other exotic nuts.

Wasn’t so when I grew up. Not only did we not have many nuts or much variety, they were expensive so we didn’t seem to have a lot of them. The one thing I remember that we had a lot of that you just don’t see as much today is unshelled nuts. We had a big wood bowl that looked like a hollowed out piece of wood that would be filled with nuts. It is exactly like the picture of this one here. They must have been popular! There was a little metal nutcracker that we would use to crack the nuts. There were also little metal pick things to get the meat of the nut out of the shell. I remember that it was a real challenge to squeeze tight enough to break the shell without destroying the nut inside. It also wasn't uncommon to pinch your fingers in them a few times.

You don't see many of these around today - it certainly made you appreciate the nuts when you had to really work for them.

Any of you have the same nutty experiences growing up?

Kit Kat Bars

2010-12-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ok – I am the only one who thinks this? You know the old jingle: “Gimmie a break, gimmie a break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar” When was the last time you heard it sung in a Kit Kat commercial? Seriously – how long has it been? I scoured the internet and saw videos that were definitely from the ‘80s – maybe the ‘90s. But that’s the newest commercial I could find with the words sung. And – I can’t even remember the last time I actually saw a commercial with the words in it.

Chocolate wafer goodness!

So – this leads me to the question that I’d like to ask the kids of today: Do they have any idea that the snap-snap-snapping of the chocolate bars in the commercials today are playing out the words of the Kit Kat song? I would guess that they don’t! If you watch the commercial and imagine that you don’t know the song, it all seems very confusing. I’m just saying that the guys on Madison Avenue need to rethink their approach to it all. The song is not so memorable that it’s transcended the time and generation gap.

Remember when they were in foil?

..but they didn’t ask me now, did they? Of course, since we're talking about

commercials, I have to show one of my all-time favorites:

A Good Comedy Show from the '70s

2010-12-08T23:42:00.000-08:00

There was a great comedy show that was on in the '70s. My brother and I loved this show and would laugh until we just about died. We loved to recite the skits all the time and still crack each other up today with the same lines.

If you guessed SNL back when Blushi, Ackroyd, Curtain, Chase, etc. were on and it was good - well, that would be a good guess! But - not right. Or - if you guessed Monty Python and the Flying Circus, that would also be a great guess. BTW - I got the entire set of CD's of all the episodes of that for a birthday awhile back - THAT was a great gift! But, no - that also isn't right.

No - I'm talking about a great little show that came out of Canada... SCTV (Second City TV). It was comedy concept show about the programs and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of a cheesy, low-budget TV station. It starred John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, Martin Short and Dave Thomas. It was incredibly funny and very off-the-wall. They just had canned audience laughter which just added to the uniqueness of it.

Check out this video... Their take on Perry Como getting a little too relaxed in his performances.

Perry Como

Anyway - it was a great show with a kind of cult following at the time. I highly recommend it - there are Youtube videos to watch and boxed sets that you can buy on the web. If you're looking for a Christmas gift for someone who like the show, they're not too expensive! It may be an acquired taste, but I think it's Great stuff!

Christmas Cookies!

2010-12-08T00:28:00.000-08:00

There's just something about Christmas Cookies! There are so many great kinds of cookies at Christmas, and my mom made some of the best! Some of her best were shortbread, lemon bars, spritz and some that were called bars by the fire.

My sibs and I started a tradition when we were young kids. With mom's help, we started making our own Christmas cookies. We made a big double or quadruple batch of sugar cookie dough. Then we would roll it out and use cookie cutters to cut out dozens of different shapes. Oh – we had lots of normal Christmas shapes: Santas, reindeer, candy canes, angels, Christmas trees and all the other traditional icons. We ALSO had things like sharks, cars, a cowboy boot, giraffes, flip flops, hearts, hands, airplane, a pineapple, ducks, kangaroos, cows, and whole bunch more – a pretty funny wide assortment of odd things.

We would then make up a bunch of bowls of different colored icing and little bowls of nuts, chocolate chips, all sorts of sprinkles,and a ton of different types of toppings. And then the fun would begin. We would spend hours baking and decorating the cookies. They weren’t especially delicious, but we had a lot of fun making them. It was an entire evening of laughing, singing along with Christmas songs, making cookies and generally having a good time with family members.

We have continued this for all these years. I’ve included a bunch of pics from one of our most recent times. These days, there are spouses, kids and nieces and nephews, but we always make time for it. It’s as much a part of our Christmas celebration as all the “normal” stuff. Although - if you look at some of the cookies, you'll see there's few of them that are not very normal and reflect the late hour at which we were finishing up the decorating. You can click on the pics to enlarge them and see all our fun shapes!

What fun and unique traditions does your family do for the holidays?

The "Friendly" Skies

2010-11-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

OK – so you’ve all read about the guy at the airport in San Diego who just refused the body scan and the invasive pat down by the TSA. I won’t go into whether or not that is that wrong or right – or just plain scary – but having just read about this in the news, and having just endured this myself just two weeks ago, I was sent back in my mind to the simpler days of visiting the airport when I grew up.

We – like most every family – had dreams of going to Hawaii. Growing up in Seattle, we kind of felt we were close enough that it was more of a reality, so we had a change jar that we all had to contribute to when a variety of family rules weren’t followed or chores not done. While this was exciting and fairly inspiring, it was never going to get us plane fare to the Hawaiian Islands.

In ’75, my folks bought a timeshare on Kauai (back when they were a good deal) and we began many years of happy Hawaiian travels, and this brings me to the subject of this blog post – visiting airports when I was a kid.

There was no such thing as airport security back then. I mean – I’m sure there was – they probably scanned the checked baggage but there was nothing that stopped us from going right out to the gate. We had a tradition that every time before a flight the whole family would go out to breakfast at a Sambo’s or a Denny’s. The whole family – Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, etc. – would all go out to celebrate the fact that someone was getting to go to Hawaii. From there we would all go to the airport and see the lucky ones off. This means that we all went to the gate and sat with them until they boarded the plane and then we watched the plane take off. What a great exciting time that was – even if you weren’t the ones going. And conversely, a bunch of the family members would be there at the gate in Seattle to meet them when they came back. It was awesome to be the ones coming up the ramp from the plane and be greeted by family and friends.

It’s all so different today – the limited access for anyone not flying; the incredible level of security that we’re all subjected to; the limited service on the flights; the limited amount of luggage we can take… I could go on, but I won’t. I’m not complaining, just saying that it was a LOT funner back then!

We're in, I'm back. Wow! - 5 months

2010-11-16T00:26:00.000-08:00

Well - It's been 5 months since I last posted. We've been in our house for just over a month. Whew! What a big project.

Here is a link to the website that we sat up and posted to on a constant basis. It shows our house from the beginning to the end. It is such a huge blessing to have a home that works for my family and especially my son.

http://www.goldenhillshome.info

We have tons of pictures here, although I do need to have some final pictures put in. We're still looking to finish decorating (heck -we're still looking for new couches) so I'll post more when we get them all done.

In the meantime, I am intending to get back into blogging... It will take me awhile to get back into the swing of it, but I'm excited to reconnect with you all!

I'm not gone - really

2010-06-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hi, my friends!

Building a house takes a LOT of work, a LOT of time and a LOT of effort. Even if you happen to be an Architect (I am), draw your own plans (I did), know your contractor really well, (I do) and think you know how to handle all the details (I thought I did). It seems like all I do when I'm not at work is take care of all the details, make decisions, choose products, redesign spaces, etc. And I have a VERY capable wife who seems to be doing most of the work! I could post a link to our website if y'all are interested in seeing it progress.

Add to this the fact that I am the busiest that I've ever been at my "real job" and it makes for very little play time.

So - I will be back to blogging, full force, I just don't know how soon. I really miss you all and reading all your blogs. I'll be having to catch up on them all when I do get back to it.

A quick mention (and, of course, this should have been done a week ago)... not that I often use this venue to toot my own horn or ply my wares, but the book I wrote "My '70s Book", would be a great Father's Day gift. It's great for a wide range of ages, but mostly if you can relate to life in the '70s. A few of you have read it and have liked it... some have even blogged about it.

So - if you're out of ideas and need a late Father's Day present (or just want a good summer read) check it out! Hope you're all doing well - be back as soon as I can... :)

Nothing to do with the '70s - Check out our new van!

2010-05-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

Ok - I gotta admit that I REALLY wish I were showing you pictures of my new Corvette – only problem is – I don’t have a new Corvette (that’ll be after I win the lottery, which I don’t play, so…) but we do have a new van. I know I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago, but now I've washed and waxed it down to the finest detail.

We have a disabled son so we have a handicap accessible van. Our ’99 Windstar was totaled recently so we had to buy a new one… we weren’t planning on it… but it was blessing in disguise. The insurance company not only compensated for the handicap conversion, they actually paid us much more than we expected. How often does that happen?

So – we have a 2008 Toyota Sienna, all the way from Michigan. The company buys lease returns (about 30K miles) and does the conversion. This brings it “down to the 28 – 32K range. Still very expensive, but a new one with the conversion will fun you 45 – 50K.

Anyway – I spent all day Sunday washing and waxing every square inch of our new van. I took some pics and decided to show it off. We’re excited because we’re taking our first road trip this weekend and are looking forward to the nice quiet ride and all the nice luxuries it has.

Anyway – hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend – and remember to say a prayer of thanks to God for all those who have fought and died to ensure our freedom!

Look At The '70s Influence!

2010-05-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

OK – so we’re not all crazy. It’s incredible to see how much the ‘70s still have influence over the world of entertainment today.

As I was perusing the web that last couple of days, all of these stories were “in the news” and made me realize just how the love for the ‘70s just aint going away.

Hawaii Five-0: Did you hear that this series that starred Jack Lord as Detective Steve McGarrett battling crime in beautiful Hawaii is coming back this fall? Of course it will have a new spin to it, and be updated in a variety of ways… but once again we can all dream of visiting the islands. Bonus – Daniel Dae Kim of LOST fame will be on it!

MacGyver /MacGruber: We’ve all seen the ads for this latest SNL movie coming out today. What is it about a guy can get out of any jamb with a paperclip, some string, a battery and a few other junk drawer odds-and-ends that keeps us watching? And though the movie will be more humor than mad tinkering skills, it’s still a tip of the hat to a great show – that was in the ‘80s, I know, I know…

A-Team: Despite today’s PC world view, it looks like they’re still gonna let Hannibal smoke his little cigars. With Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper on board, this will probably be a pretty big summer blockbuster. As long as they stick to the main premise of the TV show – lots of blowing things up and fighting! And – use the latest and greatest weaponry whenever possible. And yes, I know, also an ‘80s fare.

The Good Guys: This is a new TV show just about to start up. I read a review that noted this is an homage to the cop shows of the '70s, replete with muscle cars, awesome ‘70s soundtrack, mustaches and sideburns. I’m looking forward to this. I loved “Life on Mars” when it was out for some of the very same reasons, so it’ll be good to see that again.

Glee: I’ve never watched this – you just have to pick and choose which shows you watch. I heard that they have recently been singing a lot of Journey’s and REO Speedwagon’s songs. So the show is exposing a whole new generation to some of the great music we grew up with.

I know that this dances back and forth between the ‘70s and ‘80s, but the point is, there’s a lot of good stuff coming up that is based on some of the great stuff that we grew up with. Let’s hear it for our generation's impact.

March of Dimes Walk-a-Lot

2010-05-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else remember when in the ‘70s we had the Walk-A-Lot in Seattle? Was this only in Seattle? Did everyone else do them all over the country?

Sponsored by the March of Dimes – a group that provides support for the families of infants who need to be in an NICU in the hospital – this was an opportunity to put your foot where your mouth was. It was a pretty basic set up. You’d start by getting all of the paperwork from a March of Dimes representative – my Mom was a rep which made it easy for us to get everything we needed. The Sponsor Form was a sign-up sheet for people to sign up and sponsor you a certain amount per mile. So – you’d make the rounds and get all your neighbors and relatives to sponsor you. Your Mom and Dad may even take your form to work where they might try to coerce their office mates to sponsor you, too. It was held in the summer. So you didn’t have the chance to take it to school – which was good if you were too scared to ask your friends or teachers.

The Walk-A-Lot was a 20 mile route that started and ended at the Seattle Center. There were a bunch of tables set up by the flag pavilion and you checked in there and started walking the route. There were check points every few miles where you got your sheet stamped to verify your progress. For you Seattleites, the route went from the Center over to Eastlake, under the freeway and then north on 15th NE as far as 130th. We then headed west across the freeway, over Aurora, down Greenwood and ended up on 15th NW, shot along Elliott Avenue and up Denny Way to the Seattle Center.

It was a lot of fun. It was an opportunity to do something good and participate in something much bigger than ourselves. We always kidded about how hard it was when we started, but by the end, we were pretty wiped out. We did it for quite a few years, and every time we were glad that we had done it, and it was for a worthy cause.