Swap Meet Louie

A few of my readers may remember the Sir Mix A Lot song, Swap Meet Louie. It was about his trip to the swap meet (some places they call them flea markets) where there is a lot of fake Louis Vuitton and other knock off items being hawked by the swap meet sellers. It's really a great rap. Some classic lines are Mix telling the sellers that "Louis Vuitton never made a sweatsuit...." If you have ever been to a true swap meet you know what I speak of.

Anyway, Kitty Kat and I are out in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains for a long weekend. We stayed in Gatlinburg last night and walked all around and looked at all the stores full of purses and other assorted crap for sale. Ahhhhhh, you see how I am getting back to the swap meet louie title... all kinds of fake purses and stuff being sold here along with a ton of unlicensed characters on air brush t-shirts and who knows what else. Let me end the comparison to the swap meet there because this place is pretty nice. This is a very beautiful part of the country and, no offense to the Rodium or Slauson Swap, thus is the most beautiful big swap meet anywhere!

Here's one of our favorite pictures. They have air soft guns (or some such thing) for sale all over town. The only thing more prevalent is old tyme photo shops (you know where you dress up in old fashion outfits) which there may be 25 of in this small town (and that's no joke). Anyway, in this photo Kitty Kat holds up a fake purse but notice what's for sale in the background... air soft guns. Other stores have weapons galore; guns, knives, nun-chucks, and other ugly looking weapons.

Ok, put aside the weapons, old tyme photos and this is a most beautiful area. I went a 60 minute run one morning, and went into the side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and it is beautiful... and the temperature goes down 5 or 10 degrees within a block due to the shade of the trees. Anyway, I highly recommend the area for a visit. Plus, bring the kids because there are probably about 50 mini golf courses, 25 go-kart tracks, 50 old tyme photos, and hundreds of assorted other shows and activities. People out in SacTown have no idea but I do recommend you come check it out!

However, the SacTownGuy enjoys talking other stuff besides the beauty of the great outdoors. Besides the beautiful Smoky Mountains you notice a lot of other smokies... SMOKERS. Gosh, they are everywhere! They are up and down the sidewalk, perched in front of the gun stores, old tyme photo stores and pancake restaurants. Luckily I love pancakes because they have a lot of pancake restaurants here! Here are three Shoney's employees right in front of their restaurant smoking... right on the main street in the middle of town. YUCK! They need some of those Cali type laws where you are not allowed to smoke on sidewalks or within 15 feet of a building because the smoking is NASTY! That's about my only real complaint actually.

We have to visit our man Flash, aka Earl, at Gatlinburg Ink, the top tattoo shop in the southeast. I highly recommend you go visit Earl when you are looking for your next tat. Tell him the SacTownGuy sent you and he will hook you up! Here's Kitty Kat with Earl getting ready to go under the needle... or maybe just posing....

Shhhhhhhh, don't tell anybody the people down south do not know the Civil War is over. No joke! They LOVE their confederate flags. They have it on everything from purses to flip flops to t-shirts... oy vey do they have T-shirts! I have never seen more T-shirts in my life and some with the most obnoxious slogans you have ever seen. Not sure which is worse... that somebody came up with his "great idea" for a shirt or that somebody bought it. I can't even quote these shirts in this family friendly blog. Here however is a pic of some for you....

I was so pleasantly surprised to see people of different nationalities working in Gatlinburg. WOW, this place has come along way since I first became acquainted with this place in 1985... or did it. I was impressed with people of varying middle eastern backgrounds working, and presumably owning, many stores throughout town. Their young children running the cash register... the American dream right!? Then I was reading the Knoxville (the BIG city) newspaper yesterday and there was an article about a new development by the Reagan family (big mockers in Gatlinburg) in Gatlinburg and I QUOTE from the Knoxville News Sentinel, "Lee Reagan said that, contrary to rumors, there are no Middle Eastern investors, but a person from Indiana is involved." Oy vey is all I can say.

We moved on to Sevierville and Pigion Forge yesterday. Spent a nice day there touring factory outlet malls and we also went to the Cirque de Chine which was an excellent show which the SacTownGuy highly recommends. For thirty bucks it's a deal. You will be freaking out during the last routine I promise! Plus, Texas BBQ, across the street, just got a beer license recently (the whole bible belt/no liquor thing will be addressed at a later date). I think that makes the show even better!

Oh, I almost forgot to give you a little breakfast review. I love my pancakes and iced tea. The Sevier County area is a hot spot for both. Of course, being in the south they have fresh brewed iced tea everywhere (and not that crap out of the soda machine). As for pancakes... they got pancake places on every corner! The first morning we woke up at the airport Hilton in Knoxville. Other than asking if we wanted separate checks the place was great. $6.50 for pancakes at a full service hotel? WOW! That's the cheapest ever. Plus $1.50 for iced tea. I could get used to these prices. The second morning we went to the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg. It's the tourist trap type of place, with line out the door, cash only, and you know what... it was damn good! How many times have the Pancake Pantry people heard this during their annual audit, "so Mr. Pantry you are telling me I see lines out the door every day but you have lost money again this year?" Ok, I lucked out that day and I got pancakes and iced tea a second time... lunch at the Cracker Barrell. Not having the Barrell in Cali I enjoy it so hit it up. The biscuits were awesome. I carb loaded: pancakes, biscuits and has browns. Oh ya, I also had similar for breakfast the Pantry and their hash browns were off the charts good! The last morning we had breakfast at Flapjacks in Sevierville. It was runner up to the Pantry in terms of food but a close second. The service was excellent and the ambiance perfect for breakfast in TN; as they are a log cabin style place. All in all I carb loaded on this trip and loved every minute of it!

All in all we had a great trip and, as I type this in an airport Hotspot, we are ready to get home to the kiddies on Sunday afternoon.

peace out.

Dumb People, PhD

So when you are in college you typically think (most) of your professors are about the smartest people in the world, right? I think it's natural to think that because these people are being paid to teach us about a specific subject. There whole life is directed toward one activity. They went to college, then got a masters in their subject and then got the holy grail of knowledge... a P.h.D. However, is that true? Are they really that smart? I suggest NOT. Let me give you a specific example.

I have a client who is a tenured professor at a university. He has a PhD from a major university and has been teaching in his area of expertise for well over 10 years now. He should thus be pretty smart, right?

Let's start by realizing there is a HUGE distinction between someone who is smart and someone who is practical. You know, some people have "book smarts" and some people have "street smarts." To me I would rather have street smarts. I don't mean the fact that I try to never have my car boxed in at a red light because that makes you more susceptible to being car-jacked but rather it's the practical knowledge that some people just HAVE and some people will NEVER have. You can not teach it in a book or class.

My client has NONE of this practical street smarts I speak of. Let me start with a quick example. He was in my office for an appointment and his phone rang. I said, "by all means take the call if it's important." Implicit in that is "but make it quick." In fact, further implicit in my statement is, "I am being polite by offering that you take the call and you probably should not really answer it...." He took the call and talked for at least 10 minutes about general business stuff with some colleague of his. I understand if you are in my office and the mortuary calls asking for instructions about burial of your dead father. In this case he was just shooting the breeze as I stared at him in disbelief... until finally I just started checking email. You could say he has bad manners but that's not the case. He is from a very prim and proper family and he is very polite but he has no CLUE. Smart people, even some of my busy business owner clients, apologize when their cell phone rings during a meeting. Most, if it rings, slip it to silent mode so it won't happen again. Those are smart people!

The guy just has no common sense. Everything that could be accomplished by one email is accomplished by 21 emails. Each one asking, and re-asking, the same dumb questions. Phone calls are painful since his questions are so stupid. I sometimes want to reach through the phone and shake him and ask if he is really that clueless. Questions are usually asked with the most excruciating detail that it makes my brain numb. He asks the most unlikely questions and then carries those out to the 10th degree of unlikeliness. Also everything is by group decision and meetings. I will give him advice and he will then say, "let me make sure everybody is in agreement with that" which triggers another 55 emails... all of which include me as a CC. Lastly he does NOTHING fast. He is used to that nice slow pace of the college campus. The only time he deals with a deadline is the end of the semester when he has to get grades in. Otherwise he is pretty much just walking the campus and picking up on young co-eds. Yes, that's true because young co-eds are often attracted to these professors and/or fain attraction to receive a better grade.

Anyway, the guy is a complete idiot but he has a cush job with no real pressure. Well, some months ago he took a private sector job. I was very surprised that he would leave the ivory tower lifestyle but he did. Frankly, I figured there was no chance that this slow moving, over analytical, IDIOT could survive in the REAL WORLD. It sounded like a good job with a good organization. Wow, good for him....

Gosh, shocking, the other day I got a call that he is back at the university. Apparently he could not hack it in the real world. How cush is that tenured teaching job? He was able to take a "leave of absence" while he checked if he could hack it in the real world and now he goes back to the cush job at the university. If I left my office for a week they would probably have someone new in my spot but I work in the real world.

The bottom line is, listen to your professors and get good grades but make sure you get jobs, with real companies (not on the college campus) so you can learn about REAL LIFE. Because they don't teach you everything in the classroom... they just aren't capable of it!

peace out.

Dumb People

Ok, maybe I am the dumb person here but if you go through a drive-thru at Mickey D's and order, "an iced tea with one Equal in it" (cuz they don't have the pink stuff there) what would you expect their response to be?

No matter what you say they will ask if there is anything else. You could say, "I only want an iced tea with one Equal in it and that's it... solamente... todo... no mas..." and they would still say, "would you like anything else with it." I thus don't bother signifying the simplicity of the order and instead I play their game and politiely decline anything else.

The last few months the local Mickey D's have been running a new kind of iced tea. I call it southern style but they simply call it "sweet tea." You know if you go to a restaurant down south, as I will do next week, they ALL have both kinds of tea... but not out here in Cali. Down south that sweet tea is hugely popular; or muy popolar as we say in Cali.

Have you ever had sweet tea? It is REALLY sweet. I find it sort of disgusting as it tastes like pure sugar. I got one recently by accident but we were down the road before I took my first sip. Did not drink anymore. Just dumped it out. You defintely have to have southern roots to enjoy that crap. Or maybe be from Utah because I notice they do things a little sweeter out there then I do it.

Anyway, I ordered my tea as I always do and she replied over the loudspeaker, "did you want sweet or unsweetened tea?" I felt like responding, "what the f' do you think I want? Do you really think I want Equal put in SWEET tea? As if it's not f'ing sweet enough let's add some fake sugar so it's sweet and cancer causing!?" F'ing moron.

Ok, that's all I have to say about that.

peace out.

The Aloha Desk

Them: "You have to talk to the Aloha Desk."
Me: "The Aloha Desk?"
Them: "You have to talk to the Aloha Desk."
Me: (thinking, why the hell are they telling me call the Aloha desk... I am not going to Hawaii...) "THE WHAT?"
Them: (Using their exact same voice and words, "The Aloha Desk."
Me: (Giving up) "What's the number?"

Well, this was part of my call yesterday to United Airlines. I was cancelling a flight to Chicago and a flight to Florida... NOT Hawaii. I had used miles to book the flights but things have changed and we are not going. I called the United Airlines customer service number for Mileage Plus because that seemed like a logical place to cancel my flights and get the miles put back into my account. After a number of minutes on hold I spoke to the above woman.

Now, let me say I could care less where someone is from. I don't care if people are black, brown, yellow, gay, religious, atheist, Republican, Democrat, whatever. I am good with everybody. HOWEVER, I am not good with poor customer service and to me it's poor customer service if I can't understand you on the phone. It's fine with me if United wants to hire people in India to answer their phones but they have got to speak better English. The woman, on the phone call above, was apparently telling me I needed to call the "Awards Desk." The thing that adds to the poor customer service is she kept repeating the same words with the same enunciation.

I don't remember which cartoon character it was, but I think it was Elmer Fudd (or was it Porky Pig?) who would get fed up with his stuttering and then use a DIFFERENT WORD to get his point across. Possibly United needs to let their new trainees in India watch Bug's Bunny cartoons to see how Elmer, who is clearly not a smart man, is able to adapt to the situation and CHANGE his delivery to get his message across despite his speech impediment.

Take a lesson from your kid's Saturday morning cartoons, United Airlines, and do better with your customer service!

Thhhh, that's all folks!

peace out.

Hoops Report - Muy Mal

The SacTownGuy played like he was a member of the Washington General's last night... missing shots, throwing the ball out of bounds, turning the ball over and, all the while, playing my usual spotty defense. My poor play, coupled with my teams mediocre play, made the other team look like the Globetrooters! All in all it was my worst game as an adult... maybe my worst game ever!? Well, not as bad as that one three-on-three tourney I played in with BIG Drew and Reverened Ivan back about 10th grade. I still feel bad for all the bad shots I took that day! I could give you a laundry list of excuses for last night but I won't do that... ok, I will:

- Not enough sleep this week;
- Hot out so feeling drained;
- Hadn't played in 3 weeks;
- Lots of stress at work;

Well, you get the point. The bottom line though is the SacTownGuy no juega basketbol muy bueno las noches. Oh ya, I also do not speak very good Spanish but that should have said that the SacTownGuy did not play good basketball last night.

The team we played were a bunch of scrubs. They sucked ass! They had one or two guys who were good but were clearly football players. They had one guy who was about 85 years old who pulled up for 3's at the top of the key on the dead run. They had a couple of skinny kids, about the same age as the Chinese gymnastics team, who had the ugliest shots I have ever seen in my life. They were a bad looking team. Oh ya, we lost by about 20 so not sure what that says for the Dream Team!?

Lucky for me I brought an extra player with me who played real well. Caddilac Carson is more of a runner than a hoopster but he is young and is good shape. Lucky we had him or we would have lost by 30! Caddilac had about 10 points, a few steals, a couple of assists and only a couple of turnovers. All in all I have to say that Caddilac was our player of the game as the other 5 didn't play their best. McAlan would have gotten player of the game honors as we was having his usual solid game... until he got kicked out of the game.

McAlan's play, which caused him to get the boot, was not that extreme but the refs were calling it tight. For example, at the end of the first half I got a technical for counting down the seconds like a student section does at a college basketball game. That is, with about 10 seconds left the other team was racing down floor to score so I started yelling "5, 4, 3..." becuase who knows maybe it would throw off the kid with the ball. Intead I got a tech called against me which gave the other team 2 points. Oh ya, the refs also started the game by saying no swearing was allowed and later gave McAlan a warning for swearing while sitting on the bench after he had been kicked out; what were they going to do, kick him out again!? What is this a U-6 game in Provo? This is a men's, ADULT, league in Cali. We pay $475 for the privilge of playing and we are not allowed to drop an occasional F bomb? I have seriously never heard of such a rule. Not a big deal for me as I try not to swear but WHAT THE F... I should say, "oh my heck that's a crazy rule."

The good news is that I think I got the demons out of my system before my next big game on Saturday. I should be ready to go!

peace out.

Jabber Jaw

Today started out at 4:20 with the alarm waking me up from the midst of a dream. That doesn't happen to often so seemed odd but at least I had a good night sleep. I was inside the gym lifting weights by 5:00. After that I moved on to the front row, recumbent, bike for 50 minutes. It went fast as I am enjoying the Vince Flynn book I am reading. His character, Mitch Rapp, is kicking ass. He is a good writer and really keeps you engaged. I recommend! I then moved on to the back row, standard stationary, bike for another 30 minutes and a casual reading of the SacTown Bee... until I heard Jabber Jaw jawing a very annoying nasally talk and cackle of a laugh that was really awful!

Jabber Jaw is a guy I have seen in there occasionally. Probably once a week. He is in his late 40's, looks a little retarded, smiles too much, but I have never had any dealings with him so can't say I dislike him. Today he was named Jabber Jaw and I have a hunch that name will stick because he could not stop his motor mouth! WOW!

I was in the back row, next to a guy I have been working out with for 8 years whose name I don't know but we say hi to each other many mornings, a guy on the bike next to him who I have been working out with for most of 8 years who I find annoying so I do not say hi to him, and then my buddy Murray on the next bike. I often sit next to Murray and we talk about world events or make fun of others in the gym. Murray has an uncanny ability to pick up on people that slap their feet too loud on the treadmill, don't pick them up high enough on the stair-stepper, guys that arch their backs to much while lifting, and most of all guys that sweat on machines. Murray needs a pristine work out environment and always cleans his machine before and after his workout.

So to my left I hear a guy jabbing non-stp to a gal next to him. They must be friends, I think, as the guy is jabbing about everything under the sun... but then I hear him introduce himself. The guy continues his loud nasally talk, annoying laugh, and NON-STOP jabber with this helpless woman. I feel bad for her really. I look over to Murray and give the "you hear that guy" look. He replies with the hand gesture to show a jabber jaw talking and a look of disgust on his face. I give a confirming look and go back to my newspaper.

I just could not concentrate though because Jabber Jaw kept jabbering. I said something aloud to Murray about how annoying it was. He agreed. I then said, especially loud so Jabber Jaw could hear (if he ever shut up) that the laugh was really annoying. It continued though... almost without interruption.

A few minutes later, Jabber Jaw still talking to his victim (even though she still had one Ipod ear bud in her ear - the universal sign that a person intends to go back to their Ipod soon) I mention to the guy next to me how annoying it is. He says, "what you going do?" I reply that I am impressed by his patience and wish I had such patience. He tells me he tries not to get worked up about stuff he has no control over, etc... but then says (and I really do quote), "except that one f__ing chick... you know the one who talks...." I cut him off and told him I knew exactly who he was referring to. If you have read the SacTownGuy before then you know about the annoying lady that grunts and talks... LOUDLY. Well Mr. Calm, though Jabber Jaw couldn't get him worked up, obviously did not like the Moaner! He could not say enough bad about her including repeated uses of the F word which is usually not spewed to someone you don't know to well in my experience but obviously she fired him up. I thus like him more to know he also dislikes the really annoying lady... and I am sure he will come around to dislike Jabber Jaw if he keeps on jabbering!

Murray told me that he once was accosted by Jabber Jaw and the guy didn't stop talking for an hour... just standing next to the bike while Murray peddled and looked down trying to ignore the guy. Oy vey!

peace out.

I remembered...

It came to me yesterday what I knew was going to be a good blog... and that leads to another blog idea. Things that seem like great ideas at 3 in the morning might not seem like as great an idea at 10 or 11 in the morning! I previously told you that I couldn't fall back asleep Friday night and as I laid there I came up with the best idea. Well, I realized it was not my 3:00 AM wake up call wherein I had this great idea but rather my 4:18 wake up. How do I know?

Well, I have a built in alarm clock in my brain. For years I thought I had a built in alarm clock as I would often wake up on weekends or vacations about the time I normally wake up for work. The last 5+ years I have been pretty regular with a 4:20 wake up. My internal alarm clock wakes me about that same time most every day. Lately however it's been a true alarm clock. I mean I hear alarm clock beeping type noises in my sleep.... The Saturday morning at 4:18 alarm clock was not the usual beeping but rather one of my kids talking to me as they do when they come in to our room in the middle of the night. The exact words weren't clear but I JUMPED off that people expecting to see one of the kids standing there next to me but guess what? No kid in the room. It was just my internal alarm clock telling me it was time to get up.

So this alarm clock "goes off" most mornings. I usually can fall back asleep on weekends or vacation which is lucky. However, this beeping sound I hear is really strange. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite characters, Jack Reacher, in the books by Lee Child. Jack is an ex-military police who travels along the country kicking people's asses. He is about my age and that's where the similarities end. He's like 6'5" and defeats multiple attackers on any given time. You know it's about to be a good read when Reacher walks into a bar in some small town in middle America... because somebody is about to get their ass kicked and it won't be Reacher! Well, Reacher often talks about his internal alarm clock waking him up. For example, he will go to bed at 3 AM and need to wake up at 6 to go kick some ass... no problem he sets his internal alarm clock.

I guess the good news is I am picking up Jack Reacher traits. Maybe the next time I walk into a bar I should start a brawl just to see if I can whup some ass like he does!? Really, the guy makes it sound pretty easy. You block the guy coming from the side with a block of the hand, then you grab one of the other TWO guys attacking you and break both their necks simultaneously... while at the same time winking at the single young lady sitting at the bar. The dude is amazing!

Oh ya, like I said this seemed like a great idea for a blog at 4:18 in the morning which leads to the conclusion that you always should double check your early morning thoughts before taking action.

peace out.

I forgot...

DAMN! I was lying in bed about 3 AM, after Kitty Kat woke me up going to the bathroom, and then I could not fall back asleep. I laid there for 15-20 minutes and had a great idea for a blog... but now I can't remember what it was. I remember thinking it was a great idea but would I remember in the morning? OF COURSE I would, I thought to myself, because it was such a great idea. Furthermore, I figured, that even if I forgot the idea it was such an obvious idea for a blog topic that it would come back to me. Now Saturday morning I sit here, with the little dude, watching cartoons and I can not remember what that great idea was.

Instead I will paste the obit from one of the original King's of Comedy, Bernie Mac, who died earlier this morning. I really liked his sense of humor. If you missed the King's of Comedy go check it out. Rest in peace Mr. Mac!


By F.N. D'ALESSIO, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO - Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50.

"Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama's campaign.

But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.

"Wherever I am, I have to play," he said in 2002. "I have to put on a good show."

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy "Mo' Money" in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama "Get on the Bus."

He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.

Mac went on to star in the hugely popular "Ocean's Eleven" franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

His turn with Ashton Kutcher in 2005's "Guess Who" topped the box office. It was a comedy remake of the classic Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" — with Mac as the black dad who's shocked that his daughter is marrying a white man.

Mac also had starring roles in "Bad Santa," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers."

In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in "Moesha," the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy.

The comedian drew critical and popular acclaim with his Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006.

The series about a man's adventures raising his sister's three children, won a Peabody Award in 2002. At the time, judges wrote they chose the sitcom for transcending "race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion — and cool."

The show garnered Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Mac.

"But television handcuffs you, man," he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview. "Now everyone telling me what I CAN'T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, `Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?'"

He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his "The Original Kings of Comedy" co-stars, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he planned to retire soon.

"I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977."

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city's South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.

In his 2004 memoir, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," Mac wrote about having a poor childhood — eating bologna for dinner — and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.

"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."

Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."



___

PEACE OUT.

Gym Talking

I have discussed before the woman at the gym I have tabbed "Old Yeller." She talks, groans, and moans during her workouts... and LOUDLY. It's quite annoying. She has been out lately. I heard she has an injury. Oh how sad....

Well, today I noticed an older guy (in his 60's I would guess) running (and stumbling) along on the treadmill. I didn't pay much attention except I did notice him since I have not seen him before.

A little later I was sitting on a bike and I heard somebody behind me say something that sounded like "forty-five... wow" I looked at the clock and it was about 5:35 so I figured he was talking to someone else about how early it was in the morning or something. I didn't think much more of it... until I heard it again AND LOUDER.

"Forty-five... WOOOOOO." Then "thirty-two woooooooooo." It continued for a few minutes but I just couldn't figure out what he was talking about. I was looking at the TV screens trying to see something with numbers as I thought maybe he was watching some TV show but the only screen with numbers was the local weather and there ain't nothing about 32 or 45 in those reports! I have seen some treadmills that show laps around a track but not these treadmills. I have heard people who check their RPMs, their calories, and their heart rate. However, none of those should be 32 or 45. Strange, eh!?

He stopped after a few minutes and left... and I still don't know what the heck he was yelling about. However, whatever it was he was sure excited about it! I hope he does NOT come back to my gym!

peace out.

Facebook

I always thought Facebook was for kids. I can barely get this blog thing figured out so certainly I couldn't figure out Facebook. Then this weekend one of my frat bros sent me an invite to join. He being two years younger than me (all of 38) and still very single I figured (and accused him) of joining Facebook to pick up on young gals. He denied the charge.

Anyway, I started to mess around with it and found a lot of people I know on there! I am up to 54 "friends" so far. I haven't really tried too hard yet to add more. For example, I have not yet uploaded my contact list from Outlook. Not sure I want to. Then I am sure Facebook would send invites to all of my contacts. They might have the same thoughts I did a week ago... Facebook is for kids and then they might think, "what the heck is the SacTownGuy doing on Facebook?"

So for now I am searching out all my young and hip friends on Facebook. I am sure a few other old geezers, I know, are on there but haven't connected with all of them yet. If you are on Facebook make sure you look me up... by my other name.

peace out.

Sunburn

Yesterday was the last day on vaca and now am back in RoseTown. We planned to pack up, hit the pool for an hour, and then head home.... We had the house packed, all 18 bikes on the trailer, and everybody ready to go by about 10 AM. We were hanging poolside by 10:30... and 5+ hours later we finally left for home! What a day! I am feeling a bit sunburned today after a week in the high elevation sun. I think Truckee is just about 6,000 feet up... or about 5,999 feet higher than the flat land of SacTown! That much closer to the sun means that much more intensive sun rays on my bald head!

The pool at Old Greenwood is just exceptional. Actually, there are two; one just for adults and one for the masses. Could be because our favorite pool side waiter this week was named Danny and it could be the chaos of kids around the pool but I often reflected back on Caddy's Day at the Bushwood pool in Caddyshack. We even made a joke about a Baby Ruth floating in the pool.

The main pool at Old Greenwood is pretty good sized with a nice water slide, a hot tub, and a separate little kid's pool with separate water slide, water guns, etc... and then next to that is a sand vollyball court and large kid's playground. All gated in so parents can feel pretty relaxed that their kids won't escape! Inside is the kid's club where you can drop your kids up with supervision or the teen club with pool table, tv, etc....

Today we were laying by the pool by 10:30, jumping down the slide with the kids by 11:00, jumping into the hot tub like a 5 year old, and then back to the chairs and ordering lunch at 12:30. Sure we brought lunch but something about ordering an $18 burger makes it seem like it must be really good so had to order some grub from Danny. Props to Danny; an about to be "super senior" at Chico State. Cool guy and knew to bring me a pitcher of iced tea. He also brought Kitty Kat a pitcher of Diet Coke. Cool guy and he will go far in life. I also have a hunch he is having a very fun summer hanging out in Truckee!


As we sat by the pool the kids played in the pool, on the slide, and built forts out of tables and chairs. One a boys fort and the next door neighbor girl's fort. The girls tried to connect the two forts but that was met with opposition from the boys.

I think the kids went down the main slide about 500 times this week. I, myself, went down it several dozen. Actually pretty fun. Try the headfirst and upside down move and it's sort of cool.

We piled in the car and headed home about 4:00. The nice thing about being in Truckee... it's less than 90 minutes home! Love that short drive home from a vacation!

peace out.