Impromptu Dress Rehersal

Oh my, I had a lady try and snatch the shirt of my back. No kidding. I still got it.

Well not really. They were doing a dress rehearsal and she needed a large white mens dress shirt. I was the only one there with a shirt like that as I had to dash off from work, speed through rush hour, past CONSTRUCTION, wait on 5 red lights, get delayed by an accident, get delayed but a police car, a fire truck and two ambulances, oh and did I mention rush hour traffic? Miracle or miracles I was only 10 minutes late and did not miss my niece at all despite only having 90 minutes to cover 100 miles. Needless to say I did not have a chance to change from my work attire. And no I did not give up my shirt. Sorry but the world is not ready for that.

The pictures, best as I could tell all turned out well. None were as bad as the one I posted a few posts ago (Saturday) . What a difference some nice equipment and knowing how to use your equipment makes a difference. I will post a couple once I get a chance to look at them and sort them out after work. Oh and my niece was the best one in her routines and almost as good as the older gals. She does love her dance.

OK, quick update before heading into work. Of the 700+ pictures I took... 10 percent fell into the very nice category (of course there is always room for improvement)... just under 5 percent fell into the reject, mainly because of improper focus... of those only about 5 were actually deleted because they just did not have any redeeming qualities. Funny thing, the ones I consider reject or just automatically deleted, every one was better then the majority of pictures I took of dance recitals in the past. I love my camera!

Here is a teaser. I went a looking and found this cute picture from last night. I will post a few more after work.

Bye, Bye, Blackbird

I do not know what it is but the birds are mean today. I mean normally you hear their song in the morning but today it has a real nasty tone to it. There are a whole bunch of black birds in the area and I do not thing the other birds are liking it one bit.


You know I have not seen a robin, blue jay, or cardinal this morning either. I think someone is doing a remake of the Hitchcock movie, the birds. If you do not hear from me any more it will be from those nasty birds that are in the area.

An example of something I just saw play out. Three birds landed on my deck in this flower planter. There are no flowers in it but the squirrels and birds seem to love it so I have not done anything with it. Anyway, two of them were black birds, one was a brown bird. The one on its left was picking on the brown bird and even pecked inside the other birds mouth. Now I have seen that happen when mother birds were feeding their young but boy they are just being vicious.

OK, wish me well. Time to get ready for work and make a dash for my car. Good thing it is near the door. Hopefully the birds are not so nasty when I get to work. That would be a fun dash into work for sure.

Wow, just looked it up. They could both be blackbirds. It sounds about right. They say the male is black with yellow bill and eyes while the female is brown. Hey anyone want some blackbirds cheap, free even. Bring back my regular birds.

Oh and there is a robin. I think they are trying to lull me into taking them for granted. My trip to the car this morning just might be exciting.

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - COLORFUL

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Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
This weeks theme is COLORFUL.

I did not have anything I thought would fit this week. But then I looked at some more or less reject pictures I have and found something that could do.

I take pictures at a dance recital every year. I have never been able to take good pictures at things since A) the light was very low and B) they really move. The pictures were either blurry (almost all the time) or just boring. Here is one of those blurry pictures for this weeks entry.


Thank you very much for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend.

55Flash Fiction Friday

They push
They burry
They dig
They dump

They hall
They cut
They pour
They pump

They sweat
They tan
They stand
They Strump*

The ladies
probably even
appreciate
their rump

They played with Tonka toys as little boys
They drive the real thing just like they are toys

Aren’t construction worker fun to watch?






*Strump. I was in need of a word I could not find. The last couple of days I have had a fascination with Strumpet. I visited her blog for the first time. I thought if I could bottle the essence of Strumpet into a word I thought it might fit in here nicely. Hence the strange use of the word above. Hopefully I did not upset.

Oh and before I catch any shit, I am watching the construction workers do their job, not look at their rump, OK. It is fun to think of driving the big heavy equipment and just playing around in the dirt.

Google Meme

Lime did this and I must admit she had a fun time with it. Then again I like everything she does. She has a fun time.

Here is the deal. This is a meme with a twist. You are supposed to google your name with the words needs, is, likes, wants, gets, says, does, eats. Then share what you found. I suggest you take a trip and see Limes post because it was SO GOOD.


Bryan is Gorges
When was the last time you had your vision checked? Oh wait, you mean I eat like a pig. Hey, be nice.

Bryan is Alive and in Rome
You know this morning I was a little dissoriented but I thought rome looked a lot better than thet.

Bryan is Cute
She said I am Cuuuuuuuuuute!

Bryan is a Paessimist
My glass was too half empty, see.

Bryan is Jesus and Shaun's Having a Baby.
Who is Shaun and for heaven sakes, you got the wrong Bryan

Bryan is a Bitch
Yes I can be and don't you forget it. Unless you where the one calling me Cute




Bryan Needs a Top
You bet. It is not pretty otherwise, trust me.

Bryan Needs to get it
You bet I do. Any takers?

Bryan Needs to get a life
I know. Any day now, honest.




Bryan Likes to Play with Chemicals
You bet. Hand me a couple of test tubes and lets get started.

Bryan Likes to Learn
Dah, eveyone does, don't they?

Bryan Likes Dirty Pantis
Shhhhh

Bryan likes to imitate Homer Simpson in his spare time
Ummmmm, Donuts

Bryan Likes to Party
I have been know to know a few back.

Bryan Likes to Fish for Actual Fish as Well
You know, fishing for make believe fish... everyone talks. Of course there are those fish stories

Bryan Likes Kentucky
Well I have been visiting like 30 times in 20 years. Isn't it obvious.




Bryan Wants More Babies
But I don't have any to begin with. They are cute however

Bryan Wants to Know how to Change into Flying Clothes
Yea baby, mile high club here I come.

Bryan Wants Attention
I don't think so, do I?

Bryan Wants to Thank His Beautiful Wife and Two Adorable Children
OK, if I had a wife and children then I most certainly would thank them.

BRYAN WANTS TO MARRY ME AND HAVE SEX WITH ME
Ummm, no comment

BRYAN WANTS TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK
Good bad or ugly... I always want to hear what you think.

Bryan Wants it Even Bigger
What man (or woman) doesn't?

Bryan wants to be a scientist
Do I get to wear one of those white coats? I am so in!

BRYAN" WANTS $50K
10s and 20s please. I suppose a few 50s will be OK too.

Bryan wants to spend more time with his wife Kerry, his daughter
Ohlook, now my imaginary wife has a name.

Bryan wants me to tell you about the butterflies
Oh there were so pretty. I saw them at the Detroit Zoo.



Bryan gets disinvited
What did I do now?

Bryan Gets Engaged
Won't my imaginary wife, Kerry, be surprised.

Bryan gets ready to hit his tee shot
He swings and missed. STRIKE ONE!




Bryan says he beat her
I never beat my imaginary Wife or daughter(s). Next you know I will be getting an imaginary divorce.

Bryan says he owns 20 grand worth of Star Wars memorabilia
I do not. Maybe Peanuts stuff but probably not even that.

Bryan says, "I do not think about things I don't think about
Now that is deep

Bryan Says It
IT




Bryan Does It Behind His Back
What now I am keeping secrets from myself.

Bryan does it again
What is it with IT and all anyway?

Bryan does voiceover
And Now a Moment from Our Sponsors.

Bryan does not have a driver's license
Yes but i expires this year. But I get to renew without taking a test. Yes

Bryan does great work
Well thank you

Bryan does not currently have any friends
I don't? *sniff*




Bryan Eats a Loogey
I thought no one was looking.

Bryan eats a cheesesteak
Some day I would love to have a real cheesesteak. A trip to phillie is in my future.

Bryan eats too much
I know, stop picking on me

Bryan eats like a bird
Did you see the above statement? I think not

Bryan eats his own underwear
There we go with underwear again. I DO NOT. Eat My Shorts

Humor

What Crawled Up My Butt?

Normally I am the easy go lucky guy. Don’t make waves, let people walk all over me. Be the one the lets others make decisions so as not to go against what people want to do. Try and take the positive, high road to everything. Try and make the best of everything, especially if it affects someone else. Well this post will not be like that. I might offend a few people and for that I am sorry but I just feel I need to say something.

Today I saw a rally going on. The rally was Diversity Michigan or something to that affect. Now here is a little background before I go further. Two separate issues were voted on by the people of Michigan. The end result is they said we do not want you to be able to use race in the decision of who is admitted into the states public universities although it is more far reaching than that. The second thing, passed in 2004 and challenged many times bans gay marriages and also applies to same-sex domestic partner benefits.

Fast forward. For better or worse that is where we are now. Anyway this rally was saying how we need more Diversity in Michigan. They were going on and on about it. But now here is what burns my butt about this.

Almost everyone that attended, and by the way there probably was a bit over 100 people there, almost every one was white. I saw several people on stage that were speaking and a little less than half of them were Hispanic, or Chinese, or black. I saw press there and who where they interviewing? They were interviewing a black woman. I think there were only 3 people or so in the “crowd” that where black. And now watch the press do the following.

Show the interview with that woman. Never interview anyone that is white. Show non white speakers. Show the “crowd” as if it is huge and all these people were really into the rally when in fact that was a very tiny group that seemed to attract very little attention. Give you the impression that this is the most important thing going on and we need to pay attention to it.

Here we have the people that report the news actually making the news. I hate that and it really needs to STOP!

Now on the diversity front I have mixed feelings about it. I have a hard time understanding why same sex couples should be able to get benefits from their partners when two people just living together can not. Now I know they can not legally be married where as the couple can get married but still, I think the right way to handle this is to allow civil unions and allow this to be applied to everyone, not just same sex couples. Don’t call it a marriage however as I see married being reserved for a man and a woman. I know, not very flexible but what can I say. As to the admittance to universities this one touches on a nerve with me. Growing up I was unofficially told you are white and you are male (imagine that), don’t even think about applying for a job here. This was unofficially told to me by a friend that worked at the place I was applying to. The same thing applied to college admittance. Now this did not affect me but what happens is if you are female you get some points. If you are a minority you get more points. So someone that did the same or even worse on admittance tests would score higher and get admitted to the college and I would get the “Sorry Charlie” letter. Explain to me how that is fair.

OK I should not have typed the last paragraph. I am sure that will not be popular but grrr.

UPDATE: OK, the media has surprised me. Through the magic of DirecTV and Tivo I watched all three major news stations in my area and no one covered the story. I will see if the newspaper covers it. I think maybe some faith has been restored.

Grand Slam Time

Ever had one of those days where everything you seem to do goes right. I have had two days like that when it comes to sports. This is about one of those days.

Back in the late 70s I was on a Conrail bowling league. Our team was doing OK but not burning up the lanes by any means. We had our ace in the whole. He had a bowling ball bag the contained not one but TWO bowling balls. This person took the game seriously. The other two people on the league where much more like me, just average. Myself, I bowled a 139 average. Rarely did I bowl a game under 100. Equally rare did I bowl a game 150 or higher.

You know the funny thing about bowling, at least with this league. They used handicaps, something to try and even out teams so it would be more fair. Now our really good bowler did not contribute to the team a lot. Why is that? Well he bowled fairly consistently. He also carried a fairly high average. What this means is you did not get a lot of points from him bowling over his average. Also he skewed the handicap meaning we would get less pins against a team then we otherwise would get.

Me, I was interesting. Not having all that high of an average, especially for a man, it did not take much for me to bowl a little over average. So the other team would need to bowl hard just to stay even but I could just have a little better day and bingo, our team benefitted. The other two bowlers were mostly average two with a lower score. One was an older lady and she did OK. The other was a little younger and she... also did OK. Funny, now that I think about it I say older lady. Back than I was in my early 20s. She probably was in her early 40s. It is all relative I tell you.

Now my day to shine. One really strange day we had two bowlers not show up. Our really good bowler and the younger lady where MIA. Great we get to forfeit the game but we still get to bowl. Oh another thing about that day, it was bottle night. I believe they awarded a bottle of booze to the person on a team that was most over average.

Well now that the games really did not count I BOWLED MY ASS OFF. I have no idea where it came from. I have never had a 200 game but this night was destined to change that. Not only did I bowl one but I bowled 2. 200+ games. For a person that has a 139 average I should bowl a series (3 games) of about 437. That night I bowled a 571 series. Yes I did and I still have the bowling sheet for that week framed and sitting in a box somewhere.

So what did this get me. Well we had to forfeit the games. I won the bottle. I won an award at the end of the league for bowling 150+ over average (humm, my math tells me I must not have been carrying a 139 average at that point). I also won a belt buckle that said something about the 571 series.

So there you have it. A fairly watered down version of what happened that night. Oh and I hung my shoes up after that league was over. OK, so that is not true but it makes a good ending to the story, correct? Actually I have bowled a bit since then. I even was on a few other leagues including THE DRINKING LEAGUE. But I have never, ever bowled a game over 150 again since that one unbelievable day.

So have you ever had a day like that. Not necessarily in sports. It could be anything. You could play a musical instrument and have a song that you never could play before just come to life and just be so right. Same thing could happen in singing. You could suddenly just be on and type a mini novel that you just never knew you where capable of. You could take that photo or series of photos that just somehow shine. You could be super Mom or Dad to your children in their lives for a day. Of course that one just goes without saying. What ever it may be it really feels good to hit a home run, to hit one out of the park. This particular day I hit a grand slam. Now it was not all that important. It did not make a difference to anyone but it was something I will never forget.

Save the Cheerleader - Save the World

I should have been at work Saturday but instead I was tuned into the SciFi Channel. They were playing a Heroes marathon. 21 hours in all. Now I saw most of it but I must say I sure wish I did not loose so much of the weekend to it.

For some reason I keep hearing save the cheerleader, save the world. That would be the theme for season one. I think I understand now but it did not help that SciFi did not play the shows in order. Now we will see what happens as the season Cliff hanger is Monday. Oh no, and it is on the same time that 24 is on.

Well enough of a break, back to work so I can come home some time today. Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - COOKING/COOKED

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This weeks theme is COOKED/COOKING.

You know these are not the most wonderful pictures in the world but it brings back a good memory so I thought I would share. Back a few years ago I was part of the annual Woldumar chili cook-off and sleigh ride. The basics are to raise funds for the Woldumar Nature Center by charging a small fee. In return you get to sample a lot of chili and even go for a sleigh ride to boot. So now let me take you behind the scenes of the cook-off with the event already in progress...
I think someone could have used a slice and dice machine. That was a lot of work to get all the ingredients all prepared.

More than a few cans were opened and, despite how busy everyone was and how everyone was trying to win, you could always count on someone to lend you an ear or even a hand. Yep, the general public missed the best part of the cook-off for sure.

So when you run out of burners in the kitchen because of how many cooks there are, what do you do? Improvise!


Speaking of full kitchen, here is the stove with enough chili cooking to feed an army.


And here is the results of the cook-off.


Actually the ultimate winners were the nature center, the crew that put the chili together and put the event on, and the people that got to sample a little chili and have something fun to do and a cold winters night.

Thank you very much for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend.

55Flash Fiction Friday

Up, up, up we go with the ever familiar clackity, clackity, clack sound in our ear as we ascend. Heart pumping hard, mouth going dry, hands firmly squeezing the bar, white-knuckle experience to be sure. Soon we will plummet to our certain death. That first hill of a roller coaster is a killer for me.


I admit, I am such a wimp when it comes to roller coasters. If you are ever looking for some cheap entertainment, come ride a roller coaster with me. I can be very entertaining as we are climbing that first hill. Did I mention I do not do heights very well? Well seeing as the weather is getting better and memorial day is just upon us I thought it might be nice to mention this now. Surely this is on of many signs of summer.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have a question. Last weekend I was gifted an old bottle of Seagram VO whiskey. It was bottled in 1978 or 1979 at the age of 6 years old. That makes this bottle about 35 years old. It has never been opened and was stored in a box the basement the entire time. My question is has it gotten better with age, about the same or only feed it to my enemies? I know wine has a very definite time frame. Beyond that it turns and you just don't want to drink it. It seems liquor is different however.


Over the weekend I watched a Pinewood Derby. That was fun. They had 16 cars including one very pink car with a few stickers. Yes that was my niece's car. She loves pink.

They had an elaborate track that was a little messed up. It was not until half way through that they decided to do something about it. I think they should have done at the beginning. When the race was started the gate would hit the back of the cars as they rolled by causing at least one car to jump a little. Who knows what that did? It was not until it was semi final time that they fixed it.

The girls were excited and the races kept happening. In the end, when the smoke cleared, my niece took 4th place. Not bad out of 16 racers. Last year she took almost last out of 10 racers.

Now comes the odd part. I thought this was something for the girls to do. This was a brownie (I think) event and all. But no, instead what was happening is the girls probably picked out the color of the paint and what stickers go on. Maybe they even painted it. But, but that is about it. The cars that did well probably had the wheels and axles ground. Not just graphite but special blended graphite was used. The placement of the axils was critical as was the weight which is placed on the bottom as close to the back as possible, I heard this and much more being discussed amongst the fathers. Sure make you wonder how much of this was the dads and how much was the daughters. Oh well, I guess they have fun.


OK, time for one more question. Back in 1960 there was a song that came out and was very popular. It kind of went dormant until it popped up in several commercials. If you watch much TV at all you probably have seen it there, a Yoplait Yogurt commercial. In it there is a lady who is trying to loose a few pounds so she can fit into her bikini when the weather gets nice.

It was an Itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini

Now here is the question? What was this song about? Yes it was a bikini but what color was it? What size was it? What size were the polka dots? What size where the Polka Dots? For something so simple it is amusing to see how many different ways people can interpret this.

Someone else did this on the NET and I just found it when I looked it up before typing this. Check it out here.

First let me say ignore the commercial. I mean that is their own interpretation of what the suit looked like. Here is my interpretation...

It was a small swimsuit but probably very large by todays standards. Just take a look at some of the swimsuits at Wicked Weasel. I think people would have died if they saw anyone dressed in any of the suits WW offers.

It was a yellow bikini.

I had polka-dots on it.

Something I read makes me believe that it was white polka dots on it.

Here is the things I just found on the Internet talking about this very same thing.

So what do you think?

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - FIVE

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
This weeks theme is FIVE.

Every year in July we have a golf outing. There is about 72 people that play. First place gets trophies and probably a nice sum of money. Second and Third place get lesser amounts of money. Forth, Fifth and more place teams get to pick from a pool of prizes. But last place, last place gets a trophy, the coveted last place trophy. My team has taken it I think 7 out of the last 8 years. The team you see here snuck in and took last place from us one year.

Anyway here you see the picture I submit for the hunt this week which contains FIVE players. They decided to make a pyramid with their team, and part of the team in front of them. I was elected to take the pictures.


And now one supporting picture in which you see the mostly completed pyramid. For some reason the team in back of us got pissed off, go figure. Normally we are not that crazy but the course was slow, the beer was flowing and ... lets just say bad combination.


Thank you very much for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend.

55Flash Fiction Friday

I can’t believe she agreed to a date. It’s been forever, I don’t know what to do. My stomach is uneasy, I’m sweating and my mouth is a desert. It’s not to late to bail but I wouldn’t do that.

At last I reach the front door only to find she’s sick. Life is cruel.


I have to blame some of the inspiration for this 55 on my vacation last week. It seemed there was something real nasty going around. 5 people I know got ill (at differing times) and could not keep a thing down. Luckily this only lasted 12 hours. I threw in the date part since, well it has been forever. I know all to well the uneasy feeling I get, that is just me I guess.

But then the challenge. How do I get that across and keep it to 55 words? Ever notice when someone is doing one of these how it is written. If someone is real good you do not notice it. Otherwise you see a lot of descriptive words popping out as you are trying to reach the goal of 55 words. In this case I was way over on words. I had to work to cut it down and still get something across, hence all the contractions and the many re-writes. Now I know why I do not make a living as a writer. I would starve.

If you want to try a 55 you can get a brief explanation by clicking the button in the side bar. Try it, you'll like it.

Happy Friday everyone.

Happy HNT

OK, this is not my picture. It is an art photo by Spencer Tunick that was taken on Sunday that was featured in some news article that I can not find now. So I did some searching and found this blog entry. It looks like a record braking 20,000 people shed their clothes for this and the other photos. Since you do not actually see anything, just a lot of skin, I thought that would be perfect for HNT. If only I was there to take the photo. :)

Happy HNT everyone.

Spidey is Back (Ewwwww)

I went to see Spider-man on Friday. I would say it was as good as the first two and in some was better. For some reason I could have done without the very last scene. It had action, it had drama, it had humor, but that is not what I want to talk about here.

I never want to give away to much as I am sure people will want to see this fore themselves. I mean the theater that I saw it at had at least 5 theaters showing it and they were selling out show after show. Anyway about the middle or so I heard a critic that just has to be shared. I want you to know that Spider-man 3 officially has a rating of one Ewwwww! This came from a young boy, probably 8 or so when spidey kissed MJ I believe. It was so typical for a young boy to say something like that. It kind hit the spot when I heard it.

Well back to bed where I belong.

Seven and Seven

G-man was tagged buy Jillie who then added me to his tag list for this one. Now I am going to have to change the title just a little since it is PARTY DAY today with Cinco de Mayo and The Kentucky Derby falling on the same day .... so I shall call this 7 and 7 as in 7 crown and 7 up.

The trick here is to name seven habits, either good or bad and seven favorite songs.

Habits

* I put off things to the last minute and then do all I can to still get it done on time.
* I do not do a lot of pleasure reading but when I do I pick up the book and do not put it down until I am done. I get pretty tired I tell you since I am a slow reader.
* I love to do the little things. Most people would think they are stupid but I like those little details.
* I am an Internet junkie. Should I have turned my computer off when I left the house, one of the first things I do when coming back home is turn the computer back on. I love being able to instantly look up things when the whim arises. Before the Internet I did the same thing with World Book Encyclopedias.
* I love music and will often pick up a keyboard and start plucking away at the keys. I have a little talent but never pursued it much beyond my french horn in High School.
* I can be cheap to the point of being annoying. When I go to buy something I compare prices. I see if buying to smaller things is cheaper than one big thing. Check out canned mushrooms sometime.
* I always come to a full and complete stop when I come to a stop sign, light, etc. If I did end up rolling through then I stop then and then go. Just a pet peeve of mine I guess.

Songs

* Downtown ...Petula Clark
* Loving You ... Minnie Ripperton
* 25 or 6 to 4 ... Chicago
* Hey Ya ... Outkast
* All By Myself ... Eric Carmen
* Xanadu - Olivia Newton-John (hey it is an ONJ thing)
* Show Me The Way ... Peter Frampton
* (extra credit) No Frontiers ... Mary Black

Oh my I have so many, many more but I best stop there.


Have yourself a Mint Julep or Margarita and celebrate the day. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Just Being a Lazy Bumb

Sorry for being gone so long. I have been off on vacation. I will be coming home on Monday. I thought I would post a little something for now until I can come up with a 55.

I know most of you have probably seen a hot air balloon at some point in your life. The question I have for you... have you ever seen one at from this angle? This is a hot air balloon going right overhead. It was from last Saturday when they held the Great Balloon Race.

Off to see Spiderman!!!


Would you like to ride
In my beautiful balloon ?
Would you like to glide
In my beautiful balloon ?
We could flow among the stars
Together you and I
For we can fly
For we can fly
Up and away
In my beautiful
My beautiful balloon
The world's a nicer place
In my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face
In my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song
And sail along the silversky
For we can fly
For we can fly
Up and away
In my beautiful
My beautiful balloon
Suspended under a twilight canopy
We'll search the sky for a star to guide us
If by some chance you find yourself loving me
We'll find a cloud to hide us
Keep the moon beside us
Love is waiting there
In my beautiful balloon
Way up in the air
In ly beautiful balloon
If you'll hold my hand
We'll chase your dream across the sky
For we can fly
For we can fly
Up and away
In my beautiful
My beautiful balloon
Up, up and away
Up, up and away
Up, up and away
Up, up and away
Up, up and away --Up, Up, and Away by the Supremes