Our Street...Engulfed In Fog

It's a shock when you open your front door expecting a winter sun's warmth to cut through the chill and shine on my face, and you can barely see across the street. I didn't know before I opened the door that the fog had rolled in, but once outside, it's all I saw.

I grabbed my cameras and headed out. I tried capturing the feel a foggy scene invokes. It's impossible, really. When you're used to looking west and seeing a valley, an island, a lake, birds and clouds in the sky. I saw none of it because of one big cloud, a huge cloud that surrounded everything.

I love foggy weather. I like weather that's unusual. We don't get a lot of fog in our little hamlet--we live in a desert, after all. But once in a while, it comes and engulfs us and our little world. In the afternoon the sun had burned off much of the fog, so much so, I could see the rest of the town, but tonight, if our neighbors across the street had not turned on their porch lights, I wouldn't be able to see their homes.

Enjoying the fog from the safety of my home is great. According to my phone, the fog will continue tomorrow. Even though I love it, driving in the fog at night isn't ideal. I think I'll take the bus. It's a bigger vehicle, and someone else is driving.

Then All Of A Sudden...Junk Mail

I don't know why, but after New Years, I have been slammed with junk mail.

I mean, do they really know who they're e-mailing?

From the things I've been sent--obviously not.

Way back in 2017 I got junk mail, though nothing compared to now. I'd get maybe 5-10 junk mail e-mails a day. They came from the usual places, tax help, reverse mortgages, loans--lots of financial help. Of course, there were offers of other kinds of "help," too (don't really want to go into detail about those...). Every now and again, I'd get an e-mail that was important and should not have been labeled "junk mail." Those were rare.

But after New Years, it's as if the flood gates burst wide open. Yesterday I thought 94 junk mails after eight hours was a lot. This morning when I woke up, I had over 120 e-mails in my Junk folder waiting for me to take action. Taking action is easy--highlight them all and hit "delete." I just hope I didn't delete anything important.

I'd like to think if I ignore them--delete them without opening and reading them--they'll go away, but I suspect this is not the case. I turn town telemarketers hawking solar panels all the time, but they keep calling. There's probably a way to reduce these pesky e-mails, but it might be more work than it's worth. All I know it is seems to be my new reality, a little digital present for 2018. Happy New Junk Mail Year everyone!

Keeping Up My "One Movie A Year" Pace...

Something occurred to me as my son and I walked to the theater to watch the latest Star Wars installment.

The last time I saw a movie at the theater was last year's Star Wars installment, Star Wars: Rogue One. 

Growing up, I used to go to movies all the time. I watched everything the cool kids watched, saw all the same shows. I wonder why the theater just doesn't have the pull for me it once had. We even have a huge new megaplex a mile and a half from my house. I could walk there. They built it several years ago. I think I have more fingers on my hands than have seen movies at that theater.

There's the cost, of course. Movies cost more than they did in days gone by. There are "dollar theaters," which cost more than a few dollars, but are still cheaper than the others. And I'm not complaining--seeing a movie in a high-end theater today is an amazing experience. Our seats reclined, a big leather LazyBoy-class chair. The audio matched the incredible soundtrack. There's no complaints from me as far as the experience goes.

Even though there's a lot of good shows out there, there's also a lot of crud. And the last thing I want to do is see a movie each week and think it was just "okay." It's one thing getting something from RedBox--if it's bad, I don't feel burned, plus I can watch in my pajamas, and do some writing at the same time. I think I'll continue on my seeing only one film in the theater pace. It works for me.

Come to think of it, I might have watched Star Wars: Rogue One in 2016, just as the year came to an end. Looks like I can't even keep that pace up.

Hey Subway...What Happened To My Frickin' Daily Special?

I'm not one who likes to complain, and truth be told, I'm not really complaining right now, but something happened to me today and got me wondering.

Why the change?

Why, after months (possibly years...) did the particular Subway Restaurant closest to my work location remove their time-tested Monday through Friday sandwich specials? Why? It's not everyday I walk the one and one-half blocks each way along North Temple for a six-inch sandwich special. I usually bring leftovers, but every now and again--usually Thursdays--I decide to get out of the office and spend time with the outside world. Thursdays had a sandwich I enjoyed, the Cold Cut Combo.

The best thing about the specials was that for $3.50, I could get half a sandwich. Some might think that's not enough food, and they would be right. Unless, you do what I do. When they ask (and they always do at Subway...), "What do you want on your sandwich?"

I say (and I always do...), "Everything." My secret is to have them load it up with all the fixins. That way, I get a stuffed meal at a lower price. I guess of the New Years resolutions at the Subway Restaurant closest to my work location was to change things up a bit.

Like I said, I don't like to complain. I scanned the new menu, something I never had to do before, and found a delicious substitute, Black Forest Ham. Of course, the answer to my question of what happened to my daily special is no big mystery...just something Bob Dylan sang about, "These times (and sandwich shops...), they are a-changin..."

UCF's Danny White's Response...One Of The Best Tweets I've Read In A Long Time!

Today was a busy day, tweet-wise. Locally the leader of our Church passed away which generated a lot of tweets. But through the haze of political garbage, and other tweets, I found a gem, a bonafide winner. It's from Danny White, the Athletic Director of the University of Central Florida.

He hit a home run.

If you followed NCAA football this year, you know that when all the dusk clears there will only be a couple of teams that won all their games--that never suffered a loss--that went undefeated. UCF is one of them. All the other winning teams, all lower-tier programs in different leagues, will have their school's name etched on the winning trophy.

But not the Knights of the University of Central Florida.

They get a trophy as the winners of this year's Peach Bowl.

The travesty of NCAA football has a long past. I can't tell you how many hours of frustration I went through back during the BCS days. My favorite college football program, the U fo U Utes were denied a national championship in football twice, in 2004 and 2008. Had they been a school with more financial clout, they'd have two trophies, because they earned them. It's frustrating, but it wasn't the first time the best team in the country didn't win the championship trophy.

And it won't be the last. In the Peach Bowl, the Knights beat the Auburn Tigers, who beat both Alabama and Georgia, the two teams playing for the hardware--the winner of next week's game will forever be in the history books as this year's NCAA National Championship.

Of course, thanks to Danny White, the UCF coaches will get a bonus, just as if they won the whole thing.

Because, they did what no other team did in the entire country. They never lost.

Except having their name etched on the trophy, that is.

When You Turn On The TV And See Your College Roommate As Part Of A Drug Ring...

Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I rented a house near the U of U campus. In order to afford the incredibly reasonable rent, I needed roommates. One of those roommates was on national TV tonight. I watched the show (first time I ever watched an entire episode of NCIS...).

I had no idea that one day one of my roommates would portray a multiple yacht owner who ends up dead (spoiler alert...) when he messed with those involved in a Fentanyl drug ring. I mean, I never guessed that would happen.

Strangely enough, I don't know if--back then--he thought it would happen, either.

Kevin Ashworth, a.k.a. yacht owner Richard Lane (or, Dick, to his friends...) moved into our house as I finished up my degree at the U. Good-looking and smart, Kevin always had a look of quiet serenity on his face, a thinking man. I remember discussions of politics, even though he wasn't overtly political, and discussions of other things. And being the good roommate, Kevin came to my wedding. I was happy he was there.

As things go, we drifted apart. I heard a few years ago he had moved to California and had become an actor. You can access his IMDb page: HERE. Though I never thought he'd go in that direction, it made sense, with his looks and everything. Since then I've seen him on other shows, and even in an action-packed film where he played a space shuttle pilot. Unfortunately, the pilot met the same end as the devious Richard (Dick...) Lane. Poor Richard...he messed with the wrong drug dealers--a lesson for us all.

As with all my former roommates, and most in general, I wish him the best. It's exciting to see a former roommate entertaining the masses. But more importantly, I hope he's happy. I hope he's finding joy and enrichment in his life. And I hope he stays away from yachts and drug dealers of any kind.

* Photos used without permission from NCIS and CBS

An Explosive New Years Eve Celebration...

My wife found something interesting last week. She was doing a little internet surfing when she came across funny or unusual family Christmas and New Years traditions. I heard her take in a deep breath, and she said, "We've got to do this!"

After she told me what it was, I agreed.

You see, someone, somewhere out there has a tradition of taking the gingerbread house they build for Christmas and blowing it up on New Years Eve...literally. When she told me, I thought it was such a natural thing to do. I mean, you've got this building made of sweets and it's just sitting there. The longer it sits, the less you want to eat anything off it. Blowing it up solved the age-old question, "What are we going to do with the gingerbread house."

A couple of things. When the kids put the thing together, no one imagined we would be violently destroying it a week later. So, they built it well. And since we're not prone to blow things up, we didn't know the type of explosives we should use. I went shopping Saturday and found some things I thought would work.

Last night, just before and after midnight, we broke holes in the building's walls and placed our fireworks inside. The results were amazing. They lit up the culd-a-sac and when the smoke cleared, most of the building still stood (good construction...). 

We decided we'll need to adopt this into our holiday traditions. Next year, we're going to do some planning. The kids will know that will happen to the house so they may make changes in how they put it together. We'll also do some investigating into which fireworks work best. We had a lot of fun last night. Everyone says they hope the new year will be bigger and better. At least for us and gingerbread houses at New Years, we've got a year to see if this is true.