Saturday, December 31, 2005

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope you have a happy 2006.
Don't make yourself any New Year's resolution which you might consider later to be unreasonable.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

MERRY CHRISTMAS and/or HAPPY HOLIDAY!!!

There! That should take care of every one - but me.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

You Gotta Have a Profit

I know someone who is in the commerical-making industry. Now, his company is putting together the details for a commercial for a certain auto company.

His company is working for an advertising company, who in turn, works for the auto manuafacturer that will be in the commercial. A couple of days ago the advertising agency was insisting that all for the commercial making company employees that are in the creative force of making the commercial fly down to Miami for almost a week and have a series of head banging sessions. The cost that would be a over couple hundred grand.

They compromised and agree to come to them for probably a two-day meeting which will dwindle the cost of the meeting down to about 10 grand.

Who do you suppose would pay the $200+ thousand or the $10,000? Not the commercial making company. Not the advertisors. Not the auto company. It must be the consumer again!

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Evolution - Fact vs Theory

In Georgia, some Christian organizations are demanding the right to have stickers put into biology text books that state Evolution is just a theory, not a fact. They claim they have the right to have the sicker there because of Freedom of Speech.

OK - Does that mean they won't complain if stickers are also put into the textbooks of religious backed shcools saying a Divine Creation is just a theory, not a proven fact?

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Ga


The Johnny Mercy Family Plot


If you ever go to Savannah and want to see a creepy old cemetery with hanging Spanish moss in the ancient bent trees and glorious tombstones, ask for directions for Bonaventure Cemetery.

Bonaventure Cemetery is only a few miles outside of town on the edge of the Wilmington River. Back many years ago before it was a cemetery it was a rice plantation.

I visited the cemetery two days in a row last February and tried to view each marker and was impressed with the vastness of the huge cemetery. I think I read it is about 400 acres.

I found several surnames I am researching and two of those were relatives I found out later.

Overlooking the Wilmington River, which probably flows into the Savannah River or the Atlantic, when I was there, had dolphins playing out in the blue waters. I did not know they navigated themselves in rivers, but there they were.

I hope to visit Bonaventure again. And if you visit you will see it is full of sights that you will remember until it is your cemetery time.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

My Old Paper Route Deleted off the Earth

Last week I met Anna for lunch (see my other blog, 12/10).
As usual, I was much too early. My old paper route territory was nearby, so I decided to give myself a self-guided tour of the old neighborhood.
When I was about 13 I delivered The Atlanta Journal to this area. It was mostly duplexes and apartment double levels, with four apartments per building, and the building looked something like a Monopoly Hotel, in dimensions. I think on three streets there were a total of about a dozen of these big 4-unit buildings.
I was in for a shock. Only a short time ago, the apartment buildings have been bull-dozed away. I read the local papers and I knew it was coming with their new urban renewal project, but so soon? I wished I had taken some pictures to re-affirm my memory of the area.
A corner apartment, now gone, was across the street from where I picked up my bundle of papers and folded them. In the apartment on the bottom left was the Godfrey family I remember. Mr. Godfrey was a slim sad looking creature with big glasses. Mrs. Godfrey was happier looking. She always had her kids near her. One time her sister was visiting and flirted around with a friend and I. She and her sister Mrs. Godfrey showed us some black and white photographs of themselves sitting on a grassy bank with their dresses pulled up above the knee. We wanted to see more and they teased us in saying they had more that showed more and someday they just might show them to us, they taunted.
At the time my father was the Chief of the Marietta Police. One day when he came home from work he told me Mr. Godfrey was found out in the woods dead. He had blew his head off with a shotgun.
The next day on my paper route I noticed a lot of cars in front of their apartment. And the next day the apartment was empty.
On up the street two apartment buildings and I remember collecting the weekly paper bill which was 47 cents from an apartment of a single lady in her 30s. I was in the downstairs hallway collecting, the hall front door leading outside was in bad shape, not able to shut, when WHOOSH!!! A blast of rainy wind blew in and blew the Miss's housecoat opened. I saw for the first time what men work for and die for, the love spot with a patch of pubic hair. I was in shock. I told my friends. They wanted to know all the details and exactly how "it looked. I even illustrated "it" for them on a sheet of Blue Horse notebook paper. Next collection day I had at least three, maybe four, friends standing with me when I knocked on her door to collect. One friend made sure the outside door from the hallway was good and opened if a blast of wind decided to pop itself in. No luck.
I had a simiular incident to happen on a house with small frame houses. Just about the same plot, a gush of wind parted her housecoat. This time I kept it to myself because it was embarrassing on the first on - I'm sure she knew what all those beady kids were waiting to see.
Sadly, not that it has anything to do with the neighborhood, but this lady's husband's brother owned a very successful machine shop in town. The machine shop owner committed suicide years later. So, I suppose there is a message there, success doesn't always mean happiness.
On my brief driving tour of memory lane I also noticed a lot of houses with a bit red OK painted on them. I suppose the red OK meant it is OK to bull-doze it. One was my where my grandmother and aunt lived at one time.
It seems to me that it would more time-wise efficient, instead of writing "OK" they would just put a big red "X", which would save paint and time. I guess as long as you don't do it in lamb's blood it should be OK.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

My other blog

At one point a week or so ago I tried to add to this blog and couldn't get my post posted. I thought I waited too long and in was no longer active.
But now, I don't think that is case.
In the meantime I launged another blog, which I have been dabbling with. If you want to check that out:
http://ethunter1.blogspot.com/

Thursday, December 08, 2005

this is a test

I just want to see if this blog is still active. I tried sending something a few days ago and it didn't work. Well, here goes!

Monday, December 05, 2005

Silent communication with music

This past Saturday we went to hear the Cobb County Symphony Orchestra present their annual Christmas concert. As expected, they played a lot of Christmas music and they were very good.
We were ones of the first one in and thus got to sit up fairly close, maybe three or four rows from the performing artists.
We were close enough to to study their expressions, facial and body. Two violin players, a gray haired man and a thin blond woman, had a little joke going, I could tell by their facial expressions and body movement. As a matter of fact, at times they were trying to keep from spilling and beans and giggling uncontrollably, or so it appeared anyway. When they stood up at an applause time I was mildly amused that the blond lady was about a head taller than the gray headed man. There was a black female cello player who really got into her work. She seemed to be in a trance as she sawed away at her instrument with her whatever it is. It looked that she was so focused on making dramatic beautiful music that if she had changed her focused and decided to fly she could dart around near the top of the room and do all sorts of Peter Pan types of stunts. But, she was in all her mind and body concentrating into making this music, then, her thing she saws away at the cello strings, hit her little light weight music book stand it it toppled over. But the female siting next to her, caught it, raised it back to sitting positon, without either of them missing a beat. After the incident the black girl kept looking and smiling at the girl who caught the stand to show her gratitude. Another twosome, which I am not sure what instruments they were playing appeared to the an odd-couple. The man was dressed like all the other men, wearing a black penguin tux, he appeared to be in his 60s. The girl, appeared to be in her early 20s. She had on the black outfit all the other females were wearing which I think silk looking shirt and pants. But, she was sitting on her crossed legs, showing white and black striped socks - which took away from the formality look, but added to her rebel or outlaw look. They were kidding each other in silent body language as the violin couple.
Three groups of chorals or choirs (what is the difference?) sung. One group had teenagers. It appeared that