Stalking Tannenbaum

I just had to post a video from three years ago. By the way, live trees are more environment friendly than artificial trees. Oh Christmas tree, oh green Christmas tree

Auto Entertainment Rewind

The other night on my way home from work I followed a van that was playing a dvd for the kids in the back seat.

Rewind 3 years. Harold buys his first car that has a CD player.

Rewind 4 years. Harold buys a portable CD player that will connect to his cassette player in his mini-van.

Fast rewind. Harold buys a car that has a cassette player.

Rewind. Harry buys a car that has AM/FM Stereo.

Rewind to 1968 Harry buys a car that has an AM radio.

Rewind a couple years. Harry is trying to figure out how he can play his LPs in the car without the needle skipping every few seconds due to bumps in the road. He never figured it out. But his thinking was forward thinking.

Fast forward to present. I no longer play cassettes in the mini-van...but I do connect my mp3 player to the car stereo via a cable from it to the cassette player.

Got to see my lawyer when he leaves this world

What has our society turned into? My previous post discussed the song lyrics of a young man who lost his girlfriend in a tragic accident. This mornings news writes of daughter who lost her father along with his wife, " Who Died First". The daughter is trying to make the claim that in the car accident her father's wife died first therefore her estate should pass to her father where it would then be divided amongst her and her two siblings.

It gets worse.
Her father's wife has two children that would be deprived of any inheritance if this were to occur.

It gets worse.
The accident was the result of her father's drunken reckless driving.

It gets worse.
Initially she was content with the way the estate was going to be settled. These legal proceedings didn't begin until 18 months after the accident.

Can it get any worse?

Got to be good

Oh where oh were could my baby be
The lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good
So I can see my baby when I'll leave this world

We were out on a date in my daddy's car
We hadn't driven very far
There in the road
Straight ahead
A car was stalled the engine was dead
I couldn't stop
So I swerved to the right
I'll never forget the sound that night
The screamin tires
The busting glass
The Painfull scream that I heard last.

Oh where oh were could my baby be
The lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good
So I can see my baby when I'll leave this world

Do you recognize those lyrics? Ah, but from what artist?
Pearl Jam
Cavaliers
Ozzy Osbourne

If you answered Cavaliers, then you're probably a baby boomer.
If you answered Pearl Jam then you're much younger than a boomer.
If you answered Ozzy Osbourne, then it's time to expand you need to see a therapist.

I heard this song "Last Kiss" on the way to work this morning listening to the Oldies station. Of course, at this time in life you tend to evaluate the lyrics more than when you were in your teens.

We were out on a date in my daddy's car
Obviously not current day. Who drives their "daddy's" car these days. It's probably a mini-van anyway. And "daddy"? Who today would refer to their father as their "daddy" when talking to anyone other than perhaps the closest of family?

The screamin tires
The busting glass
I can sympathize with the fact that there was a stalled car in the road, but I'm going to guess he may have been going faster than he should have been. the stalled car was straight ahead. It's not like it was on "deadman's curve". He's a teenager right? He has a girl in the front seat. Back then the front seat on daddy's cars went all the way across the front. They called them bench seats. My guess is that his "baby" was sitting right next to him and I doubt that she, or he, was wearing a seat belt. I even question if they were available back then (1964). I'm wondering if some of the responsibility lies with him for the accident.

I'm a little hesitant to agree with him that "The Lord took her away" but I'm going to have to downright disagree that "She's gone to heaven so I got to be good so I can see my baby when I leave this world." I have no basis of knowing whether heaven was her final destination, but he is mistaken that for him to also get there he has to "be good". I'm probably being too hard on him. My position is that it's faith not works that yields the end result. I should be glad that he concedes that there is an after life and it does involve heaven and another not named possibility. That's better than trying to imagine an existence where heaven and hell do not exist.

With all that said, I probably prefer the lyrics of yesteryear.

Dream On

I love to dream. I even realized the other day that I do dream in color. I just wish I could remember the dreams better.

This morning I was awakened by my lovely wife Barb in the middle of a dream. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to have a "Do not disturb - dreaming" indicator that would delay an alarm clock from going off or your spouse from awakening you until the dream is over? Dreams can't last that long...can they?

While we're on the topic of dreams, it would be fantastic to have the ability to record and playback dreams. Just think what it would be like to share some of those great dreams with others, and maybe a few nightmares as well.

Sleeping My Way to Weight Loss: Dream On

Maybe you didn't buy in fully to my initial theory on sleeping your way to weight loss. Perhaps this one will be a little more convincing.

Have you ever had a dream, possibly even a nightmare, where you were physically active and awoke exhausted? Your body exhibiting attributes of what you would expect if it had actually happened. Let's say you're fighting a fire breathing dragon. It's a dream. We need a little fantasy. You battle the dragon with all your might. Imagine the amount of calories you would burn fighting a dragon. Well, It's my theory that you actually did burn those calories. Calories burnt = weight lost. All we need to do now is to harness what it is we dream about. Some of you may opt to actually dream about exercising. Boring. Me, I'm going to dream about flying, soaring high and then swooping down and pulling up just before reaching the tree tops. This will be my warm up during my first REM period. I'll slay a dragon and rescue a damsel in distress for my main work out. For my cool down, I'll ski the virgin slopes of a snow covered mountain.

Disclaimers:
I am not responsible for any injury incurred during dreamercise.
Please consult your wellness program before recording points for exercise during dreamercise.
Nightmares could occur.

Sleeping my way to weight loss

I need to loose a few pounds. How I do that is the problem. We all know that to loose weight you must exercise more and eat less. What a choice. I think though, that I have discovered another way, sleep more. I have observed on a consistent basis that each night I loose about two pounds while I sleep during an eight hour period. The problem is that I gain those two pounds back during the day. Here's my plan. If sleeping eight hours causes me to loose two pounds, then sleeping an extra 4 hours will cause me to loose an extra pound. That will be a loss of three pounds per day and then my normal routine will at the most cause me to gain back two pounds providing me with a net gain of one pound per night. I might even loose more since I've less time to gain it back during the day. Now, if I could just combine listening to books on CD while I sleep, I'll be smart and fit.

Do not disturb.