Useless Information

My blog reading and writing has suffered this week for a variety of reasons—some technical and some organic. Among the organic reasons is our brisk social calendar that began with opening night for “A Christmas Carol” last Friday and continuing through a series of seasonal parties almost every evening.

Tonight was the first night we got to stay home in nearly a week, so we celebrated by sitting around in our pajamas and consuming half a dish of stuffed cabbage rolls that Pat and I threw together for the first time as tag-team cooks.

On the technical front, the Mustang is spending the night in the shop, but we’ve been reassured that the idle problem was a minor glitch that could be repaired for less than $100.

The wireless network “issues” are still driving me crazy, and my notebook still refuses to connect to the internet although it can see the local area network. I’ll be darned if I can figure out what I did to cause such problems.

I looking at buying a bigger hammer…

I’m so delinquent with my reading that I didn’t realize that my blog buddy Rich over at Blind Chick Racing had tagged me with a “Meme” called “Useless Information.”

In order to show a little respect to Rich and not upset Glen Reynolds and the other blog gods over at Pajamas Media, I feel obligated to follow suit—so here goes:

Here are ten things about me that will have no impact on the world whatsoever:

1. I am the proud owner of 18 harmonicas, tuned in 11 different keys (A,B, Bb, C,D,E,F, low G, high G, A minor, and E minor) and I can play 17 of them quite well.

2. The chromatic C harp that was given to me by my lawyer friend Chuck Camp (Chuck died of heart problems in 2000) is over 40 years old and it still escapes my ability to master it. Someone call John Popper or Lee Oscar…

3. I’ve only owned seven cars in my 31 years of driving—a 1974 Honda Civic, 1977 Chevy Camaro, a 1972 Audi Fox, a 1984 Chevy Blazer, a 1984 Pontiac Fiero (don’t EVEN get me started complaining about that car,) a 1989 Nissan Maxima, and my 1995 Chevy Suburban that has over 181K miles on it today. I like to drive my cars until the wheels fall off, and none were ever totaled in an accident.

4. I’ve had a number of speeding tickets in my day when I was young and stupid, but I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket since 1993 and I haven’t had an auto accident since 1985.

5. I can take a pile of balsa wood, some tissue paper, and twenty feet of ¼ rubber band and build a model airplane that will take off and fly out of sight. No kit, no drawings, just a sharp knife and some super glue. I could do it when I was ten years old also.

6. I’ve climbed into the cockpit of a Cessna 152 and flown around for a couple of hours by myself. “Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man…LANDING is the first.”

7. I’ve never jumped out of a perfectly good airplane (skydiving). I learned how to fly so that I could stay safely inside and LAND the dang thing if I needed to.

8. I’ve captained a 21’ boat on a fishing expedition 18 miles offshore into the Gulf of Mexico and returned to the same marina hours later, much to the surprise of my girlfriend Pat.

9. I’ve flown to the Bahamas in a 1948 Grumman Mallard seaplane, landing and taking off on the water.

10. On that same Bahamas trip I made two dives in the “Shark Dive Rodeo.” In this event, they feed the sharks a giant square block of frozen fish parts suspended between a buoy and an anchor on the bottom in the sand. Picture 150 sharks and 70 divers hanging out in close proximity. No one got bit, and I have the video tape to prove that I was there.

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen…

Ten things about me that have absolutely no impact on anybody, anywhere, any time.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program already in progress…