Sunday, September 28, 2008
The race we wanted to see!
Big Brown v. Curlin in the Breeders Cup Classic! It may indeed actually come off, provided both horses stay sound and answer the call to the post, as Curlin, winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup yesterday, has arrived in California to prepare for the Classic. As a fan of thoroughbred racing for well over 30 years, I cannot wait for this race!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly of "Maverick" has long been one of my all-time favorite actors. Tomorrow would have been his 81st birthday. It was my privilege to meet the gentleman on two different occasions, and he was a very kind and genuinely nice guy in person. He is still missed by all his fans, including myself.
"Maverick" airs on the Encore Westerns network on cable. If you get a chance, check it out. It's my own personal all-time favorite TV show, and a classic for many many reasons!
Geri Ann
"Maverick" airs on the Encore Westerns network on cable. If you get a chance, check it out. It's my own personal all-time favorite TV show, and a classic for many many reasons!
Geri Ann
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Meeting John McCain
Having lived in Phoenix virtually all my life, and with John McCain being one of our senators, it was inevitable I would have had some chance sightings of him over the years. Now that there is a strong possibility he will become our next president, it's fun to look back on those sightings.
In about 1984 or 1985, I was in downtown Phoenix for a parade. After the parade was over and the crowd was scattering to leave, I was walking down the sidewalk and up ahead, I saw then-Congressman McCain, his wife Cindy, and their baby daughter Meghan in a stroller. The congressman was pushing the stroller, and they were waiting, all by themselves, at a corner for the light to change so they could cross the street. Just an ordinary couple with their baby, and nobody was noticing them or paying any attention to them. I recognized them and thought to myself, "Oh, there's Congressman McCain and his wife and their baby." Just an ordinary moment, but now I think it's safe to say they will never be able to stand unnoticed and alone on any street corner ever again!
In 1992, when George Bush Sr. was running for re-election, Ronald Reagan came to downtown Phoenix to Patriots Square to give a campaign speech for him (I believe it was one of President Reagan's last public appearances). I went downtown to see President Reagan. McCain, by now a senator, was there, and was working the crowd, shaking hands. He came by where I was seated and shook my hand. To think that on that particular afternoon, I may have been seeing, not only a former president, but a future president as well!
Fun memories as the campaign continues....
Geri Ann
In about 1984 or 1985, I was in downtown Phoenix for a parade. After the parade was over and the crowd was scattering to leave, I was walking down the sidewalk and up ahead, I saw then-Congressman McCain, his wife Cindy, and their baby daughter Meghan in a stroller. The congressman was pushing the stroller, and they were waiting, all by themselves, at a corner for the light to change so they could cross the street. Just an ordinary couple with their baby, and nobody was noticing them or paying any attention to them. I recognized them and thought to myself, "Oh, there's Congressman McCain and his wife and their baby." Just an ordinary moment, but now I think it's safe to say they will never be able to stand unnoticed and alone on any street corner ever again!
In 1992, when George Bush Sr. was running for re-election, Ronald Reagan came to downtown Phoenix to Patriots Square to give a campaign speech for him (I believe it was one of President Reagan's last public appearances). I went downtown to see President Reagan. McCain, by now a senator, was there, and was working the crowd, shaking hands. He came by where I was seated and shook my hand. To think that on that particular afternoon, I may have been seeing, not only a former president, but a future president as well!
Fun memories as the campaign continues....
Geri Ann
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Is Sen. Obama fading?
I love the new polls showing Sen. McCain with an (admittedly slight) lead. Glenn Beck says Sen. Obama is "unable to close the deal" with the American people, and I hope he's right.
I am both happy that Gov. Palin is still wildly popular (haven't had a chance to talk to my two co-workers who were so livid over her being selected as McCain's running mate) and highly amused that people who once vowed, "I will NEVER vote for John McCain! He is not a true conservative! Rush says this and Rush says that about him...I may have to skip voting in an election for the first time in my life!" are now referring to him as "a classy candidate!" Remember, people, when you vote for the McCain-Palin ticket, you are getting HIM as the president, not HER, although you could easily be paving the way for her to become president sometime in the future, and all the issues you had with McCain three months ago or six months ago or a year ago are still there.
I'm personally very pleased to learn from watching CNN this evening that Sen. McCain supports stem cell research. I share his opinion 100% - while it is a highly controversial and difficult issue, if these cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen, something should be done to help alleviate human suffering (I believe that's almost an exact quote from Sen. McCain.) In my own family, diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and congestive heart failure have ended the life or ruined the quality of life for many of my relatives. If stem cell research can help to provide a cure for some of these terrible diseases, then perhaps my 8-year-old grandnephew Patrick will not have to face them when he becomes an adult or when his children become adults one day. I hope if Sen. McCain does indeed win the presidency, he will permit federal funding for stem cell research. (Gov. Palin is against it, but then again, she won't be president, only vice president.)
Geri Ann
I am both happy that Gov. Palin is still wildly popular (haven't had a chance to talk to my two co-workers who were so livid over her being selected as McCain's running mate) and highly amused that people who once vowed, "I will NEVER vote for John McCain! He is not a true conservative! Rush says this and Rush says that about him...I may have to skip voting in an election for the first time in my life!" are now referring to him as "a classy candidate!" Remember, people, when you vote for the McCain-Palin ticket, you are getting HIM as the president, not HER, although you could easily be paving the way for her to become president sometime in the future, and all the issues you had with McCain three months ago or six months ago or a year ago are still there.
I'm personally very pleased to learn from watching CNN this evening that Sen. McCain supports stem cell research. I share his opinion 100% - while it is a highly controversial and difficult issue, if these cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen, something should be done to help alleviate human suffering (I believe that's almost an exact quote from Sen. McCain.) In my own family, diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and congestive heart failure have ended the life or ruined the quality of life for many of my relatives. If stem cell research can help to provide a cure for some of these terrible diseases, then perhaps my 8-year-old grandnephew Patrick will not have to face them when he becomes an adult or when his children become adults one day. I hope if Sen. McCain does indeed win the presidency, he will permit federal funding for stem cell research. (Gov. Palin is against it, but then again, she won't be president, only vice president.)
Geri Ann
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sarah Palin didn't say it first
Everyone loves the line that Gov. Palin used in her speech at the Republican Convention about "the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom being lipstick," but I know I heard that line uttered by someone else the night BEFORE her speech. It was either on MSNBC or CNN, possibly Fox, and one of the anchors gave that joke, 24 hours before Gov. Palin used it in her speech. Was it Chris Matthews? I'm not sure. Wish I could remember! The one thing I know beyond any shadow of any doubt is that I heard somebody give that joke the evening before Gov. Palin gave her speech.
It's a classic line, but she didn't say it first.
Geri Ann
It's a classic line, but she didn't say it first.
Geri Ann
Friday, September 5, 2008
Hang up and drive!
One of my biggest pet peeves - people who can't stop talking on their cellphones while driving! I definitely am one of those who feel there needs to be a law - a law with TEETH - against this kind of thing. None of these namby-pamby, "slap on the wrist" with a $20 fine type of laws.
Please tell me, why is it necessary for you to be yakking on your cellphone while maneuvering a vehicle down a busy street or freeway? Or while driving through a parking lot? Yes, lady in the parking lot at Wal-Mart the other day, this means you. You were *backing out of your parking space* with one hand on the steering wheel of your car, the other holding that blankety blank cellphone plastered to your ear. Why couldn't you have made your call, finished your conversation, then put the key in the ignition, started the car, and backed up? Are you not aware that there are people, some of whom are elderly, or disabled, or little kids, walking through that parking lot right behind your car, and if your attention is distracted by your conversation on your cellphone, you might not even be aware those people are there?
Or you, lady who was trying to execute a U-turn in the narrow drive between the Forum office building and the Hilton Village shopping center on Scottsdale Road a few weeks ago. A U-TURN with ONE HAND on the wheel and the other holding that omnipresent cellphone to your ear! Could you not at least finish your U-turn before getting on the phone?
And the baseball moms who drive the big SUVs at 30 miles an hour or more down the alley behind my house, taking your sons to their Little League games at the school field. You are THIRTY SECONDS from your destination and driving down a narrow alley with blind spots, and there you are, yakking away on that cellphone. Couldn't you at least wait until you reach the ballfield and get settled in the bleachers before making your call? What call is so important that you couldn't wait an extra 30 seconds to make it?
And the guy who was driving a big boat of a car, an older model Cadillac, who was trying to maneuver that huge car through a left turn onto my residential street, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand holding the phone to his ear, and almost clipped me in my minivan as I sat helplessly waiting to make my own turn, with nowhere to go to avoid him. He missed me, and he saw me holler at him to "Hang up the cellphone!" and at least he had the decency to look guilty instead of flipping me off as I thought he might do.
Yes, I've heard all the arguments about how eating in the car, changing the radio dial, talking to a passenger, hollering at your kids, etc. etc. are all distracting, and I agree, those things are distracting. And I HATE seeing doofus women who are trying to apply makeup while driving, or the idiot I saw one day who had the newspaper spread out on the steering wheel, reading it while driving! But to me, the biggest offense commited by insane drivers by far is the use of a cellphone while driving. It's just brain-dead. There is NOBODY you need to be talking to that is so important you can't wait until you reach your destination, or at least PULL OVER, to make your call.
And no, it is not a "nanny state" law to have a law against using cellphones while driving, any more than it is a "nanny state" law to say you can't drink and drive, or be high on drugs and drive, or have non-working equipment on your vehicle such as burned-out lights, bad brakes, or bald tires. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and you don't have the privilege to endanger me or anyone I love who is on the same road as you while you're yakking on your cellphone.
HANG UP AND DRIVE.
Thank you. I feel better now. (At least, until I see the next person mindlessly carrying on a cellphone conversation while driving.)
Geri Ann
Please tell me, why is it necessary for you to be yakking on your cellphone while maneuvering a vehicle down a busy street or freeway? Or while driving through a parking lot? Yes, lady in the parking lot at Wal-Mart the other day, this means you. You were *backing out of your parking space* with one hand on the steering wheel of your car, the other holding that blankety blank cellphone plastered to your ear. Why couldn't you have made your call, finished your conversation, then put the key in the ignition, started the car, and backed up? Are you not aware that there are people, some of whom are elderly, or disabled, or little kids, walking through that parking lot right behind your car, and if your attention is distracted by your conversation on your cellphone, you might not even be aware those people are there?
Or you, lady who was trying to execute a U-turn in the narrow drive between the Forum office building and the Hilton Village shopping center on Scottsdale Road a few weeks ago. A U-TURN with ONE HAND on the wheel and the other holding that omnipresent cellphone to your ear! Could you not at least finish your U-turn before getting on the phone?
And the baseball moms who drive the big SUVs at 30 miles an hour or more down the alley behind my house, taking your sons to their Little League games at the school field. You are THIRTY SECONDS from your destination and driving down a narrow alley with blind spots, and there you are, yakking away on that cellphone. Couldn't you at least wait until you reach the ballfield and get settled in the bleachers before making your call? What call is so important that you couldn't wait an extra 30 seconds to make it?
And the guy who was driving a big boat of a car, an older model Cadillac, who was trying to maneuver that huge car through a left turn onto my residential street, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand holding the phone to his ear, and almost clipped me in my minivan as I sat helplessly waiting to make my own turn, with nowhere to go to avoid him. He missed me, and he saw me holler at him to "Hang up the cellphone!" and at least he had the decency to look guilty instead of flipping me off as I thought he might do.
Yes, I've heard all the arguments about how eating in the car, changing the radio dial, talking to a passenger, hollering at your kids, etc. etc. are all distracting, and I agree, those things are distracting. And I HATE seeing doofus women who are trying to apply makeup while driving, or the idiot I saw one day who had the newspaper spread out on the steering wheel, reading it while driving! But to me, the biggest offense commited by insane drivers by far is the use of a cellphone while driving. It's just brain-dead. There is NOBODY you need to be talking to that is so important you can't wait until you reach your destination, or at least PULL OVER, to make your call.
And no, it is not a "nanny state" law to have a law against using cellphones while driving, any more than it is a "nanny state" law to say you can't drink and drive, or be high on drugs and drive, or have non-working equipment on your vehicle such as burned-out lights, bad brakes, or bald tires. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and you don't have the privilege to endanger me or anyone I love who is on the same road as you while you're yakking on your cellphone.
HANG UP AND DRIVE.
Thank you. I feel better now. (At least, until I see the next person mindlessly carrying on a cellphone conversation while driving.)
Geri Ann
Happy birthday to Bob Newhart
What a class act this man is! And what countless hours of wholesome, genuinely FUNNY, entertainment he has provided for us over the years with "The Bob Newhart Show" and "Newhart!" Not like some of the - well, "dreck" is the best word - that has been on network TV in more recent years. So Happy Birthday, Mr. Newhart, and many more! Thank you for the hours of fun and laughter your TV series have provided to your many fans!
Geri Ann
Geri Ann
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A female Ronald Reagan
Gov. Palin gave a superb speech tonight - In wit, humor, conservative values, and sheer determination, she reminds me very much of my political hero, Ronald Reagan. I sincerely hope that the people such as my co-workers who have been so vitriolic about her selection as Sen. McCain's running mate might reconsider after seeing more of her (although the practical and pragmatic side of my nature tells me that the people who are so vehemently against her won't change very easily).
Geri Ann
Geri Ann
Monday, September 1, 2008
Gov. Palin
Someone pointed something out to me that I find very amusing. Senator Obama created some controversy a couple months back with his comments about people "clinging to guns and religion," etc. So who does Sen. McCain choose as a running mate? A person who is deeply religious, loves guns, and loves to hunt! Interesting! I love the symbolism there!
Geri Ann
Geri Ann
"For Better or For Worse"
It was very sad for me to see this particular comic strip come to an end in its current form yesterday. I've been following it for about 25 years now. It follows the story of the Patterson family - husband John, wife Elly, and their three children, Mike, Elizabeth, and April. The thing I liked about the strip was that, unlike other family strips such as "Family Circus" (which I also love), the strip ran in "real time," meaning the family aged as time went by. You got to see the kids actually grow up, moving through grade school, high school, and college, and we got to see Mike get married and have two children of his own.
I know a lot of readers thought the strip had gone on for too long, and had declined in quality over the past few years, but I personally enjoyed reading it right up to the end. I also loved the quality of the artwork - the children grew so subtly that you couldn't really notice the changes in how they were being drawn until you would go back and look at a strip from six months or a year ago, and see that they, like real children, looked different, and you hadn't noticed the changes! THAT is talented artwork! I wish I had the talent to draw like that!
So thank you for all the years of enjoyment, Lynn Johnston, and I will continue to read the strip in its new form as you go "back in time" and begin telling the story of the Pattersons over again.
Geri Ann
I know a lot of readers thought the strip had gone on for too long, and had declined in quality over the past few years, but I personally enjoyed reading it right up to the end. I also loved the quality of the artwork - the children grew so subtly that you couldn't really notice the changes in how they were being drawn until you would go back and look at a strip from six months or a year ago, and see that they, like real children, looked different, and you hadn't noticed the changes! THAT is talented artwork! I wish I had the talent to draw like that!
So thank you for all the years of enjoyment, Lynn Johnston, and I will continue to read the strip in its new form as you go "back in time" and begin telling the story of the Pattersons over again.
Geri Ann
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