Ugly Santa

My grandfather was the ugliest Santa. The UGLIEST! Yet all us kids believed he was the real deal. Fof was the kindest, well meaning person who existed in our universe and every year (or at least as long as the suit and mask lasted) he would ignore the smell of moth balls and what ever else had nested in that God-awful costume and bring Santa to life. All us kids were truly mesmerized by this being as he "Ho-Ho-Ho'd" and reached into his pack or conveniently left it under the tree and "disappeared" -  and, like Clark Kent, Fof would arrive too late to have seen Santa, as we all tried to explain how he missed him and how Santa was so jolly, knew all our names and just what we wanted, secretly loving the awe and joy in our eyes at the wonderment of the man and the night.

Only once did I see him do the quick change. I heard someone in the cellar and, looking down the stairs, he looked back at me with finger to his lips as if saying "Shhhh..." and I understood.

It still did not kill the wonderment and in that instant I learned a whole new dimension of what Christmas love meant to him for his family.

I still wish we had that damn suit, tho

Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas

 

https://thena3.blogspot.com/2011/12/merry-christmas-to-all.html

my summer vacation

Between PT exercises how does one pass the time on a ten week forced sabbatical?

By reading:

 This is a book I picked up in the local authors section of the Ames Free library in Easton. It's a collection of letters sent to "our boys and girls in the service" during World War Two, the recipients being members of what was the Swedish Lebanon Lutheran Church in N Easton. The book was of great interest as I had been a former member of this church and several members of my family were involved in writing the letters. The book presents a "slice of life" format mentioning that this member was on leave and finally had the chance to meet his newborn son or another member came home and married a local girl while on furlough. People who had touched my life in their later or golden years were presented as young, "regular" people just starting out in life, marriage and parenthood. Of particular interest was Carl Sundell, a friend of the family who introduced me to the short wave/broadcast hobby, here I could read of his entering the service and his return home to meet his infant son; I also had the chance to read the news of an uncle and his bride welcoming their brand new daughter (in 1944) and could almost imagine myself in the town of North Easton through the descriptive letters as one winter with it's record breaking snow fall and one summer with it's drought and prayers for rain.
I've been a fan of Joan Rivers since her "What becomes a Semi-legend" album but have since seen her early Carson and other appearances. Some people I've talked to feel that Melissa Rivers had made a career or at least got her start by hanging on Joan's coat tails. While I know very little about Melissa's career I do feel she has done a great job of keeping Joan's name alive and has unearthed files and history we might never have seen. This is a great book and laid out well with pictures, file cards of jokes, stills from television and movies and great anecdotes and quotes from both mother and daughter; nothing is sacred including Joan's husband Edgar's suicide and her feud with Johnny Carson. This is not a quick read and will keep the reader interested from first page to last.
One of my favorite graphic novels and one any comic lover should read. By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons this book is everything critics claim. Evenly paced, interesting and adult this is a book I consider one of the early mile stones of what comics for adults could be.
I have had this book forever, bought around 2001 and is so dog eared the plastic laminate is separating from the cover. Took this to the hospital because of its familiarity and it's such a fun read. The authors are two brothers who grew up during the 1960s/1970s Saturday morning junk that I enjoyed (Lancelot Link, Sigmund, Pufnstuf, etc) and alternates between sarcasm and seriousness with the right touch of humor that the average baby boomer who sat in front of the tv early Saturday morning eating Super Sugar Crisp would enjoy. Archies, Josie, Laand of the Lost, even McDonaldland are all in there.
Another book I brought with me. While I enjoy Jaime Hernandez stories about Hopey and Maggie and his art reminiscent to Dan DeCarlo I feel sometimes Gilbert's Palomar stories have more meat and characterization. Another of the more adult books but adult in the good sense of the word

By watching tv:

I do not have cable but I have a vast assortment of channels none-the-less. Still there is an abundance of programs that do not interest me in the least. I find that there is too much reality tv and could do with less Maury, Jerry, Steve (Wilkos) and their ilk. Especially Maury. If you like these kinds of programs, fine but I figure if you need to have a DNA test to figure out who the baby daddy is you are in a whole mess of trouble. I can watch People's Court but cannot stand Judge Judy (why? I don't know) My wife and I watch Parking Wars on Justice-TV but at times their fighting grates on me. Somehow I got addicted to two shows in particular: Spin City and Grounded for Life. I am also a fan of ME-tv and its early morning line-up (except Diff'rnt Strokes). I have always enjoyed The Facts of Life, watched My Three Sons since they began with the rarely seen William Frawley episodes and who knew I would actually enjoy the Clampetts? (Yikes) As I sometimes wake up at 3am I have been watching Cannon and enjoy the occasional Night Gallery episode (Cesar Romero as Dracula visiting a blood bank for a withdrawal - funny!)

By walking:
The single biggest reason I am out is to get better. While my world seems fun and relaxing it took Bakelady a great deal of time to make me learn how. In the four weeks I've been home I swore I would push myself, much to her annoyance. Getting out of bed with the so-called Superman "S" on my chest I strove to do it all and finally had to admit I can't. Too much can also push back physical therapy, especially because overdoing can lead to down time. I have regrouped and do little things: dishes when I feel up to it, even if it's just putting them away, making my own meals, organizing my office and walking. Walking is the single best thing (besides relaxing) I can do to strengthen myself.

But the best thing about this time is the love and encouragement I have been given by my family and friends. Both physical and social friends have been there for me and I could not have been more happy with the kindness I've been shown and I will always remember and appreciate it.
Thank you all.

just say no

Call me mad. Okay, why are you mad, oh Radiopapa? Because everywhere I looked today at Market Basket I saw everyone plugged in, even the kids. What kind of world are we living in now when parents don't take the time to look away from their electronics to spend time looking at their children? What kind of world are we living in when we use these same electronics as babysitters for our children? We, the baby boomers who were the first to be catered to on Saturday mornings with cartoons and the Banana Splits and were the first demographic to be hit with McDonald Land, Captain Crunch and other commercials designed especially for children should know better. I would gladly have another five minutes to look at my son's face as he discovers his first butterfly or points out to me a flower he thinks is beautiful, even another five minutes to see him board the bus for kindergarten. While it may be a natural progression from our generation watching Sesame Street as our parents cleaned the house they also took time to walk beside us as we discovered life; I watch too many new parents walk and text while their children are desperate for attention and face time. Too often I see examples such as a little boy at BJs running around trying to show his father how fast he could go only o be met with a bunch of "A-ha's" as his smart phone is more important. Just makes me want to cry if not scream. 
To paraphrase my cousin, I think he said it best when the blame was put on the electronics and how they have become so important, that our children can text, skype and stream almost simultaneously; I also think that it's good that we have rules in our family, that our children need permission to do certain things and that we stress family is most of all and ultimately more important. Sometimes it seems that these values have gone out the window and the electronic sitters have taken over so that we as a society don't have to hear the arguments and carrying on of our children or even grandchildren. I'm sorry but my family does not live in the Matrix world, there is no Neo and that I will always fight the Mr Smith's of the world to make sure family is first.

bumper

I am 51 years old. My son is 36 years younger than me. He just had his birthday a few days ago and in a year he will be driving. At my age my mother's father was a grandfather 4 times over. We thought we didn't have a shot in heck of having this kid. Well, maybe not. We had been married ten years and lived through so many disappointments that when it finally happened it was unbelievable. Once conceived this kid gave us no end of trouble from day one and it still hasn't stopped. We found out on my birthday...what a heck of a birthday present I got! The pregnancy was troubled and tortured and I don't think there was one week end (or week night) we weren't at the hospital with Bakelady's high blood pressure. After eight months of in and out of the hospital the doctors thought there was something wrong. Suddenly we found we had to go to St Elizabeth's hospital. Did they send the wife by ambulance? No. Radiopapa had to drive to the hospital for the emergency ultra sound; after several miles the husband found he was going the wrong way down the Mass turnpike only to turn around at the rest plaza and beat feet back the opposite way to the hospital where the attending physician was waiting to do an emergency ultrasound. Everything ok. And now we took up residency for two weeks at our new home of St Elizabeth's. Just like his mother he was very indecisive, couldn't make up his mind whether to come out. Then one night in March the evening ultrasound wasn't going too well, again there was no movement. Against the odds and with Mom's bp 165/115 the decision was made and Bumper entered the world. 4 and a half pounds and so small premie clothes didn't fit but healthy just the same.
I am 51 years old. My son is 36 years younger than me. And my life started over 15 years ago.
Happy Birthday, Bump

spring, oh spring, you are finally here

But else would you do on a beautiful spring day? 

but wait, there's more...

Cutting the cord. While this seems to be a redundant theme I figured I'd approach the subject one last time - for now anyway. More people are cutting the cord and saving money; more than that they are spending more time with their families. I find it funny every time I get a look from some "kid" born after 1980 whenever free tv is mentioned. "What? You didn't have cable when you were a kid?" No we didn't. We had rabbit ears with bits of tin foil to bring in some kind of picture and tried to ignore the ghosting if the program was interesting enough. I lived for Saturday morning and CBS with its Archies and Wacky Races; I loved being home during the day and watching channel 56 from Casper in the morning through The Jim Nabors (or Don Ho) talk show through Love American Style and That Girl all the way to the Partridge Family, Banana Splits and the Flintstones. And we didn't have to have Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. We even watched Dialing for Dollars if the movie was good. And who could forget Creature Double Feature on Saturdays?

With that in mind and to assure the nay-sayers that yes, you too can live without cable, here is a list of what is available locally for this author and some sort of comparison list for those who must have their specialized stations. Unless yours truly is reporting on a new station this will be the final article on the subject. Yeh, right.

All stations are listed as Boston or Providence due to their geographical area. Yes, some are in Milford or Needham or whatever but this author couldn't really care a rodent's behind

Local networks
4-1 WBZ boston, 5-1 WCVB boston, 6-1 WLNE providence, 7-1 WHDH boston,
10-1 WJAR providence, 12-1 WPRI providence, 25-1 WFXT boston, 28-1 WLWC providence,
38-1 WSBK boston, 56-1 WLVI boston, 64-1 WNAC providence

Local networks have always been free on over the air television. There was no cable in the stone age b.e. (before eighties) We lived with ghosting and didn't care. Channel 56, 38, etc were the no man's land where anything could happen (Prisoner Cell Block-H and Benny Hill come to mind)


PBS
2-1 WGBH boston, 2-2 WGBH World, 36-1 WSBE providence, 36-2 WSBE Learn,
36-3 WSBE V-Me (spanish), 44-1 WGBX boston, 44-3  Create, 44-4 PBS Kids,

Educational television as a kid, weaned on British comedy and drama as a young adult. My grandfather loved "Are You Being Seved" and "Keeping Up Appearances". While I don't watch Masterpiece Theatre I am hooked, hooked I say, on "Call the Midwife" and "As Time Goes By". While sub-channels are discussed separately in other genres, the sub-channels for PBS are listed above because, like it or not, as entertaining as they are all the programming can fall under one major heading: Education. That and it's my article and that's how I'm listing it. The Big Three, 2, 36 and 44 are the major players still broadcasting Sesame Street, Curious George, Charlie Rose and such (and the pledge drives); it's the sub-channels that are the real meat of the educational cow. These compare with your specialized channels where Learn and Create double for HGTV and Food Network with a little dash of DIY; PBS Kids is the Nickelodeon Junior of the bunch. World is comparable to National Geographic and I still find it strange to see a green Big Bird on Plaza Sesamo (V-Me) Well worth the pledge drives


Movies/Variety
6-2 Grit, 6-3 Escape,12-3 Get-Tv, 25-2 Movies!, 28-2 Movies!, 66-3 Get-Tv

Of these Get-Tv and Movies! are the favorites. Grit is the manly-man channel, the Spike channel with a lot of adventure and westerns; Escape is action channel with mysteries, crime and forensic-type programming. Get-Tv and Movies! are never dull; Get plays movies, older variety and talk shows (Merv Griffin, Judy Garland, Mitzi Gaynor) and old cartoons (Popeye marathon one week-end!) while Movies! is exactly that: movies which can range from Mr Moto to Boston Blackie, Elvis to Beach Party


Comfort TV

5-2 Me-tv boston, 7-2 This Boston Tv (boston)  10-2 Me-tv providence, 25-3 Laff, 62-1 WMFP Cozi, 62-2 WMFP Cozi, 62-3 The Works, 64-2 My RItv  66-4  Laff, 69-1 ION

With Me-tv making inroads and basically knocking RTV out of the ball park, other channels are lining up with like programming. With TVLand a ghost of its former self, Me is what TVL/Nick@Nite used to be, specializing in family-enjoyable reruns, such as the Brady Bunch, Hillbillies and Perry Mason with Cozi moving up with the more modern programming (Murder She Wrote, Quantum Leap, Cagney and Lacey). Laff is an over-air Comedy Central and not sure yet what to make of Works. Why WMFP duplicates the programming is beyond this writer.
 
Cultural
6-3 Escape, 12-2 Bounce, 27-1 WUNI Univision (spanish), 27-2  LATV (spanish), 50-1 WRIW providence Telemundo (spanish), 50-2 WRIW providence Telemundo (spanish), 66-1 WUTF Telefutura (spanish),  66-2  Bounce

The Bounce channel began as CoolTV, a sort-of MTV/VH1 hybrid; think V66 if you're old enough. Unfortunately this programming went the way of V66 (belly-up) and became over-air BET-type programming.
 
Home Shopping Channels
46-1 WWDP infomercials, 46-2 WWDP infomercials, 69-4 ShopTv, 69-5 QVC, 69-6 HSN

Home shopping and infomrercials have long been a staple of cable, the 69- channels present the same shopping programming over-air as on cable. I am not partial to the 46- channels and don't know why the duplicate programming

Other specialized 
4-2 Decades, 10-3 Comet, 56-2 Buzzr, 28-3 Decades, 62-4 Comet, 69-3 ION Life, 69-2  Qubo (children's programming)

I think when a channels become successful, lazy or takes their audience for granted they wither and die, losing what was once their core audience. Witness TVLand and the Game Show Network (referred to as snooty GSN); striving for the all mighty dollar and younger demographics (same thing, different wording) these two networks did themselves in, running endless Rosanne repeats or rebooting The Newlywed Game, which was fun with Bob Eubanks but is downright toilet trash in its present version (same thing can be said for Steve Harvey's Family Feud). Decades is a combination TVL with National Geographic thrown in. While the channel could be listed under Comfort programming it's got one think different: no day is ever the same. Depending on what happened on a given day (moon landing, Barry Williams' birthday, whatever) the programming reflects events of that given day. Lucille Ball? Programming may be The Lucy Show, I Love Lucy and the movie Mame. Every week day starts with the documentary program "Through the Decades" highlighting events and the programming repeats every 3 hours, with week-ends "binges" on a particular program such as "Car 54, Where are You?", "Love Boat", "Celebrity Bowling" (to name a few).  Buzzr (which in our area took the place of a CMT-type channel) is what GSN is no longer, playing old game shows including TattleTales, Super Password, Body Language; affectionately known as the Bill Cullen network. Comet is a low-rent Sci-Fy channel. Such high hopes for this channel when announced, it arrived with a thud; endless episodes of Stargate-SG1, Johnny Socko and his Flying Robot with its $2 special effects and the repeated movies; one can hope it gets better. ION Life is the HGTV/Food Network?DIY and Qubo the Nick Jr hybrids of the bunch (see PBS)

While this may be a rehash of my previous articles it's more of a celebration. We cut the cord about a year ago and haven't looked back. Sure there are times that certain channels don't come in - so what. We don't always get Buzzr and Cozi only works in certain rooms. Such is the nature of the beast. Same thing happened when we were kids. Get up and change the channel, you lazy bum. More than likely you have a remote in your hand anyway.
55 channels without a cable box, fees or extra wires. If this isn't enough to cut the cord, maybe we should talk about Roku...