More "Top Moments" of '09

You know how newspapers have their top stories of the year? I decided to issue my top moments of the quarter. At the end of the year, I'll submit my top 10 list. So, these were my top moments of the last three months:
Trip to Ecuador. To celebrate our upcoming 25th wedding anniversary, we decided on a special trip to the Galapagos Islands wrapped with a visit to the mainland. The cruise took us up close to blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, tropical fish and sea lions. We learned about the geology and the botany of the islands, as well as the zoology. The Andean highlands at the end of our trip were amazing. I'd definitely return there to hike. Another highlight: straddling the equator.
Watching a nephew graduate. My older brother's son graduated with honors from Boston University with a degree in psychology and is working in Boston (maybe Cambridge) now. My brother and his wife threw a party for their son, his roommates and friends, and their parents. At least 50 people attended. I don't get too many chances to see that branch of the family, so I was very excited to be able to share this milestone with him. Here's a sign that we (the older generation) are in good hands--none of those kids at the party were drinking light beer. I didn't see any light versions of Bud, Miller, Coors or Amstel. That's good. 22-year-olds should not be fixated on calories or carbs. There was only premium beer in the cooler. Now, it could be that it was the parents who bought the beer, and that their kids were mooching. If that's the case, then I retract that "good hands" statement.
I started volunteering at the Chicago Botanic Garden in May. I'm in the fruit and vegetable garden (or fruit and veg, as we call it). Last year I was in the model railroad garden. I decided I needed a change. So far, I've given out zucchini and tomato plants, worked on the tool-sharpening cart, manned the compost station and talked about edible flowers. I like the interaction with the visitors, and I'm learning gardening tips and techniques (like the sharpening).
Reading more good books. I liked "The English Patient" and "True North." I just finished "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. Very, very good. It's a graphic novel about his father's survival in the Nazi death camps.
Writing this blog for year. I made it through one year of blogging. Thanks for reading. This is my 214th post. That's about equal to writing four days a week. I can usually find something to blog about: a movie we saw, a meal we ate, a book I read, or a silly anecdote from my "yout."
See Top Moments of 2009 (so far) for highlights from the first three months.

The year of a blog

I started this blog on July 1, 2008 when I returned from riding in the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. My first posts were about GOBA. Since then, I've written about movies and books I like; family; travel; fashion; gardening and other topics. You can see the entire list, What I've Written About, on the righthand side.
The url for "What I Like" begins "beelohgee." I wanted to name it "myblog" or "theblog" or something equally clever. Those names were taken. (So much for thinking myself original.) I ended up with beelohgee, that is, the letters "Be", "El", "Oh" and "Gee." I quickly realized how unwieldy it is. And it's not that intuitive, either.
I blog under the name "B. Logger" because I want to maintain some anonymity. I have another blog which I use for business purposes, and there I use my real name.
I wanted to learn how to use Google Analytics and Google Ads. Analytics allows me to glean information about traffic to this blog. For instance, it identifies number of visitors, repeat visits, length of time, country of origin, and other information. Don't worry: it doesn't identify individual users, so you can continue to read me anonymously.
After one year of blogging, "What I Like" has earned a page rank of 3 out of 10 on Google's rating. Just a couple of months ago I was at 2. So I'm moving up, thanks to your readership.
One bit of info that interests me from Google Analytics is called "Top Content." That report shows the most-viewed blog posts. Here are the top 10:

1. Simply Red Valentine's Day gallery
   
2. Key Ring Thing
   
3. Porter, the raccoon
   
4. Galapagos trip (day 1)
   
5. Vera Vade
   
6. Family (any postings with the label family)
   
7. Mail order food
   
8. Slumdog Millionaire
   
9. Birthdays
   
10. Travel (any postings with the label travel)

My Valentine's Day photo gallery is five times more popular than the second topic on the list. Can it be true that pictures of Scarlett Johansson, Pink, Simply Red, King Crimson and Heart resonate more than my book reviews? I know that just by referencing this page, it will continue to draw readership. Maybe I'll start a separate Valentine Day's blog.

Sunday breakfast

This was a perfect Sunday morning. Clear skies, warm and dry, and a cool breeze blowing through the kitchen window.
Instead of the usual fare (an English muffin or a bowl of Cheerios), I pulled out all the stops and made a big breakfast. I turned on the radio and tuned into the Country music countdown. I felt like I was 23 again and in my first apartment.
Back then, I used to make a big pancake breakfast (by way of Bisquick) with bacon and coffee in a stove-top percolator (the kind with the little glass knob on the lid). I tuned into Casey Kasem's top 40 countdown, with its long-distance dedications. My friends were listening to more sophisticated music, but I loved that show and rarely missed it. (We saw the movie "Away We Go" last night. Maya Rudolf tells her boyfriend John Krasinski that he is using a""Casey Kasem" voice.)
This morning, I pulled out the old cast-iron skillet which I had acquired in my senior year of college. I shared an apartment with two other guys and we found this rusty old pan in a cabinet. We split up after graduation and I acquired the pan. I read about how to care for cast iron, how the pan has to be "seasoned" first and how to scour it with salt to clean it. That pan has served me well for 30 years.
We bought potatoes at the farmers' market yesterday. They are small--about the size of a golf ball. I quartered three of them and browned them in the skillet for five minutes. I found half of a roasted onion in the fridge and added that to the pototoes. Then I moved the pan to the oven to roast the potatoes for 20 mintues.
Meanwhile, I chopped up half a yellow pepper and sauteed it in another pan until soft, then I tossed in a couple of soy sausages. I prefer the Bocas to the Morningstar Farms. When the peppers and sausages were done, I melted butter in the pan, and poured in four whisked eggs. I added a handful of shredded cheese and folded the omelet in half, more or less. I know better, but I was impatient this morning. I didn't let the pan get hot enough so I didn't get a good "crust" on the eggs.
I arranged all the food on two plates and garnished them with farmers' market strawberries. Delicious! We'll be at the ballpark later, watching the Sox beat the Cubs (we hope). This breakfast should keep us going at least until the third inning.

That's unfortunate

From today's New York Times (June 26, 2009): "The Glory for Christ Football League in Georgia grew out of a desire to provide an option for young men who are home-schooled but cannot play in local football leagues." Photo: Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times

The summer of '74, redux

I heard from Fred, my Cape Cod camping buddy. He filled in some of the gaps in my memory. We agreed to the trip the night of our senior class party, not the prom. He had a Toyota, not a Volvo. And we did see each other after that trip. He visited me in college in Evanston, and I spent a spring break with him in Galesburg.
Stay tuned for more thrilling tales of yesteryear!

The summer of '74

Lately I've been haunted by my high school classmates. After graduation, I went to college out of state and never returned. I lost track of many of my classmates. Since I started a Facebook account, I've been easier to find.
Maybe haunted isn't the right word. I do enjoy re-connecting with them. This time of year I also remember my prom. Prom night 1974 was the last time I shaved my upper lip. I've worn a moustache ever since.
At the prom, my friend Fred said, "Let's go camping on the Cape next week." To me, that came out of the blue. I was surprised at the invitation, because while Fred and I were friends, we weren't great friends. I wasn't much for spontaneity at the time, but I accepted. We packed our camping gear into Fred's car (a Volvo, I seem to remember) and lit out for the Cape.
As I recall, we camped in a state park in Orleans. During the day, we hit the beach. At night, we hit the bars. I remember being impressed by the long-neck Budweisers. The packaged liquor stores (the "packies") didn't sell this shape. We cooked on a gas stove. Once I split a hot dog and melted cheese in the seam and wrapped it with bacon. Fred thought that was great.
Then we went to Martha's Vineyard to see Fred's girlfriend, who was babysitting, I think. We were there the same week the movie Jaws was being filmed. I remember seeing the rented Avis trucks on the island. They had been modified thusly:


Did I see Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw or Steven Spielberg? Maybe. I don't know. They could have been sitting next to us in a coffee shop. I wouldn't have known. The novel had been a big success, but the movie, the actors and the director were not yet big names. The film was released a year later, in 1975.
At night, we slept on Chappaquiddick Island, made famous five years earlier by Ted Kennedy's automobile accident. He survived and a young aide drowned. The ferry ride was about 100 yards. Fred and I walked down the road for awhile until we found a house. It was vacant because the summer season had not yet started. Since we were 18 and had no regard for private property, we pitched our tent in the yard behind this house. I felt a thrill at trespassing, since I was a bit of a goody-two-shoes.
After a week, we went home. I had such a dark tan that it lasted well into October. I hadn't shaved for a week either. Somewhere under that tan was the making of a moustache. I left my lip untouched and shaved everything else.
This week was one of the best experiences of my life. I felt totally free. No school. No work. No money worries. I haven't seen Fred since. But I did see Steven Spielberg, just last month actually. He received an honorary degree from Boston University, where a nephew graduated with honors.

Blah, blah, blah

Radio promo for the new TV show HawthoRNe: "Jada Pinkett Smith as you've never seen her before." Well, I've never seen her, so I guess they are right.

TV news today: A little bit on the contested election in Iran. A lot on missing jewels from a Lindsay Lohan photo shoot.

At the movies: 3 we saw recently

Just saw "State of Play" on Sunday. I was surprised that it was playing in only one theater around here. It seemed to have disappeared quickly. We enjoyed the story and the cast (although I still can't believe Ben Affleck as a U.S. congressman.) Excellent cast: Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniel, Jason Bateman, Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdam. It's an intelligent film, and no car chases (though Crowe drives fast in his old Saab.) Be sure to see it. We're going to get the BBC series, because I heard that is excellent, too.
We rented "Charlie Wilson's War." Go see this, if only for Phillip Seymour Hoffman's first scene. He's great in this, maybe the best actor in the cast. This is based on the true story of Wilson, a congressman from Texas who funds arms for the Afghans to use against the Soviet army, which invaded the country in 1979. After the Afghans defeat the Soviets, Wilson is trying to get $1 million appropriated to build schools there. He's denied. Billions for arms is OK; a million for schools is not in the interests of the United States Congress. History proves otherwise. Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks. Julia Roberts is outstanding. There are the young charmers, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, who are reunited again, but not as sisters as in the delightful "Sunshine Cleaning."
A while back we saw "The Merry Gentleman," directed by Michael Keaton and starring him and Kelly Macdonald. This is a very small movie set in Chicago. You know it's supposed to be serious because there is not much dialogue, and when there is, it is punctuated by long pauses. I haven't made up my mind about this. I like the story and the characters. The acting was sound, although Keaton was reverting to some of his "Beetlejuice" mannerisms. Those long silences were offputting, and the ending comes abruptly. Overall, I'd say rent it. You'll have to because it's long gone from the theaters.

Reading list: The Tall Man

Chris Hurley arrested Cameron Doomadgee for being drunk in public and cursing him. The prisoner hit the policeman in the jaw as they entered the station. They fell down and 45 minutes later, Doomadgee was found dead in his cell. Medical examiners saw that his liver was nearly split in half. Someone or something had supplied sufficient pressure to cause the liver to press up against the spine and rupture.
Author Chloe Hooper tells this true story from 2004. She follows the lives of Australian policeman Hurley and the Aboriginal Australian Doomadgee. She gets into the history and the anthropology of the indigenous society and the police society, the "black fellas" and the "white fellas." This book is a good example of journalism and of story telling.
The country has really treated its native peoples poorly--forcing them from their ancestral lands, separating child from parents, forbidding the speaking of native languages and writing paternalistic laws that kept the aborigines from enjoying full civil rights. The excellent 2002 movie Rabbit Proof Fence covers some of this ground.
This book examines race relations in one small town in Australia. But the incident stands in for the bigger picture, too. It's sad that so many other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, have maltreated their native peoples and minorities so recently. This isn't ancient history; this stuff has occurred in our lifetimes.
I would say that if you were half-way paying attention to this book, by the time you come to the jury's verdict, you will not be surprised. London's Telegraph newspaper reviews the book here. and the website solidarity.net.au reviews it here.

Beach-combing technology for the 21st century

This is Hammacher Schlemmer's new treasure-hunting sandal. Instead of wearing headphones and waving a wand over the beach, you just walk, and the sensor on your calf beeps or vibrates when it locates something.

I don't usually post products here, but I found this interesting, in a geeky sort of way, and mildly humorous, in an Onion sort of way.

The Sunday stew

From a caption in our local weekly newspaper: Second grader Maya Miller discovers a rotary phone at the History Center. When did rotary phones become history?

Ron Howard (Opie, Richie Cunningham, etc) is a grandfather.

The temperature at the ballpark Wednesday night was the same (48 deg. F) as on Saturday afternoon. In June.

Relief pitchers used to ride in golf carts to the mound. Now they walk or run in from the bullpen. When did the change occur?

A scene from Shrek the Musical was on the Tony Awards show tonight. I wonder if that play will be this generation's Fiddler on the Roof (which is the first musical on Broadway I saw)? Or if the revival of Hair will be this generation's Hair? Or if the revival of West Side Story will be this generation's West Side Story?

The boys from Billy Elliott really were winning. Earlier in the day, Katie Couric interviewed them for the CBS Sunday Morning show. She reminded them that soon they will be too old to play the part. (Right back at-cha KC.)

"The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse." Jacqueline Kennedy, quoted in the July 2009 Real Simple.

Koko Taylor, Queen of the Blues

Koko Taylor died June 3 at age 80. She was the queen of the blues. When I was 18 and 19 years old, I listened to her sing in Chicago's blues clubs, especially Biddy Mulligan's on Sheridan Road in the Rogers Park neighborhood and Wise Fools on Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. This was in the mid 1970s.
I interviewed her in person and on the telephone for a journalism class project. This was the first and only time I interviewed an international recording star. That was the extent of my career in music journalism. Somewhere in a trunk in the attic is my paper. I'm pretty sure I received a good grade, but I never published the interview.
She answered her own phone, which surprised me. In fact, I was surprised even to have her number. I must have received it from her record label, Alligator Records. Once when I was in Boston, she performed in a club there. I told her I spoke with her in Chicago and she said she remembered. I think she was being nice to me.
Her big hit was the Willie Dixon song "Wang Dang Doodle." I loved the names of the characters assembling at the union hall for the big ball: Automatic Slim, Razor Toting Jim, Butcher Knife Toting Annie and Fast Talking Fanny.
This photo of her is by Doug Fulton. There are more pictures of her at the Bob Corritore website. And if you poke around a little, you'll find great black and white photos of other blues singers.

Dean's list

I had an instructor in journalism school who wrote obituaries for a newspaper. One question she always had to ask was: "Was the deceased a survivor of the Titanic?" To me, that seemed like an odd question, but the right answer certainly would have produced a great lead.

You have to remember, this was more than 30 years ago; I was 19 years old. To me and my fellow students, the Titanic disaster was ancient history. (As for future history, the blockbuster movie wouldn't be made for another 22 years. Leo DiCap and Kate W. were in diapers and nappies, respectively.)


If my instructor is still writing obits, she will no longer have to ask that question. Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the sinking, died May 31 at the age of 97. Ms. Dean was eight weeks old when the ship sank. She lost her father. About two weeks later, Ms. Dean's mother sailed back across the Atlantic with her two children. Imagine getting on a ship after that tragedy.