Friday Night Video

Can't wait for the new Thor movie to come out? Well here's something to tide you over- a Thor cartoon from the mid sixties! These used to rotate with Spider-man and Hulk cartoons weekday afternoons on the local TV station. They are every bit as impressive as I remember them.

Bask in the glorious and fluid animation as you're swept away to a distant land!

Enjoy!

Today's Brief Comment

You know what makes me uneasy? It's seeing more closed door meetings in a company that literally has weeks left before it's gone. What is there to hide at this point? Is there some other bad news coming down the pike? How much worse could it be?

Missing the Point

Now do you get it????

With the company going under, the "Fork Notice" has been taken out of the silverware drawer and posted at eye level on the microwave- in a desperate, yet assuredly futile attempt to make some kind of point.

In hindsight, I should have taken this notice as the sign of desperation that it obviously was. Any company that makes their employees share the same fork is probably not sitting on the best financial foundation.

What's even sadder is that apparently one of the employees felt the need to steal this fork so their family can take turns using it at their mealtimes.

Friday Night Video

Ok, tonight's video is a long one- a little over an hour and a quarter. I have to admit that I've never watched this video, but: a) It's 50's science fiction and, b) It's in moody black and white. These two factors by themselves make it popcorn-worthy.  But throw in the title: "Devil Girl From Mars", and it all adds up to awesome! This fact, by the way, is pretty much backed up by IMDB, which gives it an impressive two and a half star rating!

So, once again, sit back and enjoy and send me your thanks for solving your Friday night entertainment problems.



As an added bonus, here's the movie promotion poster:

And since you will no doubt be wanting a copy for your living room, you can buy a premium quality poster of your very own right here. Don't forget to order an extra one for me.

You're welcome.

Early Morning, Thursday

I stopped at the Quabbin on my way to a jobsite on Thursday.

 

A Passing Thought

There are some days where the news seems more than bad. It seems horrific and shocking and filled with tragedy. And we look for explanations, as if this will somehow make sense of the senseless and offer, if not comfort, than maybe a glimmer of understanding.

But often times, this doesn't come.

Rational people struggle to make sense of the irrational. Caring people struggle to understand the minds of the cruel. Sometimes, there are no answers to be had. Sometimes, there is only sorrow and confusion. And sometimes, there is only a profound sense of loss.

Everyday, the world is filled with tragic events, both big and small; both natural and man made. And once they've happened, nothing can make those events go away. But if your heart breaks over the pain of others, or if you struggle for answers where there are none, then thank God for you. Thank God that you cannot relate. Thank God for your compassion and your empathy. Thank God that you try to understand that which may not be understood.

The world is also filled with abundant beauty- even though it may be overwhelmed by the darkness of sorrow. Feeling the weight of this sorrow is the burden of having a loving and caring heart. But it is this same loving and caring heart that is also your gift.

We can't be, and shouldn't be, blind to the tragic events that will always occur. And there may be no answers. But remember, even when it is most difficult, especially when it is most difficult- there is beauty and hope in this world. And the beauty and hope exists because of people like you- people who carry it in their hearts, and pass it along to others.

And though it may be of no consolation in the dark times, recognize that this is what also allows you to see and feel the love and the joy of the many, many other times that are so bright and good.

The Upper Deck

As of today, it is just me in the upstairs office. I feel like the water has overtaken the Titanic and I am now clinging to the top of the flagpole.

On a brighter note, it looks like a beautiful day outside.

Friday Night Video

Tonight's clip is from one of my favorite shows, "Danger Man". When I was a kid, Mom and Dad used to watch this show every week. Back then, it had been renamed "Secret Agent" for broadcasting to an American audience.

This is part one of five clips from an episode called "Colony Three", originally broadcast in June of 1965 and it's one of my favorites. Actually, pretty much all of them are my favorites. Some say this episode is a precursor to Patrick McGoohan's later series, "The Prisoner".  This may be true or not, but it doesn't matter to me either way. It's a great episode on it's own.

If you get the chance, watch all five parts. Better yet, buy the DVD's and enjoy the whole series.

Random Thoughts

I'm sitting here with a few minutes to breath, with some random comments about the last few days. The company I work(ed) for is going through it's death throes and I have been working through it with mixed and sometimes, no emotions. It's been seventeen or eighteen years since I last had to deal with this.

Over the last four or five years in particular, we have come excruciatingly close to death, usually to pull through at the last minute. I remember at one point, I think three years ago, I was convinced that this was it. It was over. I vividly remember being extremely worried if I was going to be able to get Jake through college or not. I had managed to do it (barely) for his sisters and it was looking doubtful that I would be able to do it for him. But that passed. The patient revived... somewhat, long enough at least to hobble a little further down the road. But like the pack mule that finally collapses- either from the weight of it's burden or from too may whippings, the ghost is finally given up.

The last few days have been dealing with cleaning up loose ends at work and after seventeen years, there are a lot of ends that are loose. I go home even more exhausted than I usually am. Last night I went to bed before 8:00, and that was after I kept falling asleep on the couch.

Seventeen years worth of belongings are boxed up. So far, it's been two or three boxes- decent size boxes, but still, just the two or three. I don't know whether to be surprised that it's taken so many boxes or so few.

Like abandoning a sinking ship, the first things that were saved were the women and children. In my case, when it comes to the children, we're talking about their artwork and photos. Once these had been successfully secured, it was time to sift through the remaining strata.

Next to go were the paintings off the walls. These belonged to Mom and Dad. These greeted me every day when I entered my office. And like so many things, you take their presence for granted until they're gone. One of these is too big to hang in my small house, except maybe on the stairs. I briefly toyed with doing this, but then I realized that Sam would know something was up, so instead, I'm storing them at Mom's.

The only things left are a rolled up poster, some potting soil, a jar of pickles and some minor odds and ends.

This feels so strange.

Treasures

Today I started to clean out my drawer at work. Amongst the paperclips and antacid packets are pine cones that look like Christmas trees, a scattering of rocks collected at various times by Jake and Sam, little notes and artwork done for me by each of the kids, and more.

Other mementos include things like those in the picture above. There is way more than what I show here, but this is the kind of stuff I hang onto. To most people, it looks like junk. To me, it's memories.

I must have well over a hundred Dilbert comic strips. It used to be Jake's "job" to cut those out for me when he would visit. I have stacks of these.

There's a little hair barrette that used to belong to Rachael. It fell out on one of her visits to work with me many years ago, and I didn't notice it until the next day. I kept it in my pocket for awhile, but eventually, it ended up in my drawer.

There's also a half of a ticket stub. On the back of it I wrote: "Helaina's Field Hockey Game at Turners 10/20/05". This was in my wallet for the longest time, and then became part of the collection.

There's even a couple of those electrode connectors. These were on Sam when he had his long stay in the hospital. I can't deny that this is a pretty weird thing to keep, but there was something about these things being on him for so long, and so physically close to his heart, at a time when he almost died... it's pretty stupid, but I couldn't get rid of them.

All of these things have meaning to me. In the back of my mind though, is that at some point after I'm long gone, someone else will be looking through this stuff.  They'll probably wonder what in the world I was doing with all of it.

And because they won't know any better, they'll probably assume that it's nothing but junk.

Looking Down the Road

I wonder how my kids are going to feel on Christmas morning, first when there are only one or two presents for them under the tree. And second, when they unwrap the presents only to find it's some of my old crap that I'm trying to get rid of.

Friday Night Video

I've had an awful week...the worst in quite a while. And I'm afraid it's not quite over yet. It would be too easy to post something morose, but I've had too much of that already. Time for a little Foghorn Leghorn...

Old Postcards

Here’s another old postcard- this time from Paragon Park. This one is from an era well before my time. I spent many a day there when I should have been somewhere else, but I never went at night. For all the time spent, you would think I would have more memories of it than I do, but only two things stand out.

I remember the huge roller coaster. I think this was the only roller coaster that I ever went on and the only reason I went on it back then was because my girlfriend wanted to go on it. Not wanting to appear to be the coward that I was (and still am, by the way), I nonchalantly agreed. This was one of those old wooden types, and not very well maintained, at least that was my assessment on that first long, slow climb.  I watched what clearly looked like loose bolts straining against the old timbers. After that... who knows? The rest is all a blur. Try as I did to look cool with it, I’m sure I failed miserably. I was never asked to go on a roller coaster again, at least by her ... and that was fine by me.

Then there was the time I was watching a father and daughter riding in the Teacups. She must have been eight or so. I’m guessing he was in his early thirties. The girl had the kind of laugh you would expect to hear from an eight year old having a great time. Dad sat stoically, his eyes wider than the saucer they were riding in. He never let go of the rail in front of him.

When the ride ended, the little girl bounded out of the teacup and down the three or four wooden stairs and headed to another ride.

In the time it took the little girl to disappear towards the merry-go-round, the father staggered out of the teacup, making his way slowly along the perimeter of the deck, all the while gripping the railing hand over hand as if battling stormy seas, until he finally he made it to the stairs.

He stopped at the top of the stairs, as if he had to think about it, and then he bolted down the stairs, jerking to a sudden stop at the bottom. His expression was still frozen as he stood for about two and a half seconds before his knees buckled completely- which left him kneeling in a bolt upright position for a few more seconds. And then suddenly- he bent forward and threw up.

So that's it. That's the extent of my memories. Other couples went there, walked the boardwalk and fell in love. Families look back through their faded photo albums reminiscing about the good times they shared. All I remember is being scared to death that one time on the roller coaster, and some guy trying to impress his kid and instead he ends up puking. Weird.

I always wondered what happened to that guy.