A Vent.

Yesterday’s answer was an easy one that everyone got. The names all had names of cities in them. Let’s try a little bit of a harder one today. A ball, a fish, a cold. What do those three things have in common? The words all being four letter words is not the answer.

Yesterday I got tired of something. So this is Bill vents day. I’m tired of being hit up for donations everywhere I go. Safeway. Wendy’s. Doesn’t matter. At the checkout stand at Safeway when they check you out the question is “would you like to donate a dollar to the, insert name of charity here? And if you don’t you are going to look like a cheapskate to this long line behind you at the check stand.” Then you go to Wendy’s in the drive up window to get chili for your mom and her caregiver so they don’t have to cook dinner that night, when they tell you the cost of the order the additional question is “would you like to donate a dollar to, insert the name of the charity here.” What I want to say to them is “what I would really like to do is to be able to do normal daily errands without being guilted into donating money every where I go.”

Look I believe in charity. I’ve won awards for donating my time to several different charity organizations including abused women shelters, children hospitals and cancer research. I’ve given money willingly to several different charity organizations. I’ve done it from the heart. I do it as often as I can afford. Can’t I just have some peace when I grocery shop or go to a restaurant?

I mean what happens if you are in line and behind you is this attractive woman smiling at you. Oops. That never happens to me. What if you are desperate and this woman old enough to be your grandmother is behind you in line smiling and winking at you? That smile is going away if you refuse to donate a dollar to breast cancer research. And it isn’t just a dollar because it happens every damn time you go to the store. Being responsible for the grocery shopping for two households and with a mother that often leaves items off of her grocery list (staples like milk and bread) that is several trips a week to the store.

So come on retailers and restaurants! Let me shop in peace. Let me order off of the value menu in peace. Let me choose what charity I want to give to. Let me choose when I am going to give to that charity. Let me choose how much I give to that charity. Instead of embarrassing me every time I am paying for my order put a sign on your door “we believe in charity but we appreciate your right to shop in peace and not be embarrassed when you checkout. So we won’t ask you for your hard earned money. However, if you want to donate to our favorite charitable organization please tell the checker when you are at the check stand before he or she rings up your order.” That I could live with. End of vent.

Where do you land on this issue? Do you mind the plea for donations when you are shopping?

Another Sample Question, You Choose The Prize

As of now eligible participants for the contest starting at 7 AM Pacific Daylight Time on June 15, 2009 right here on The Dahn Report are Dona, Pat, DR, Kaye, Mary, Mary Z, Redwhistle, and Bev . In order to be an eligible participant for the “what do these three things have in common” contest you must post a message anywhere on The Dahn Report between now and when the contest starts.

The sample question for today is: What do the names John Denver,Tony Orlando, River Phoenix have in common. The answer is not celebrities. Neither is the answer them all being dead.

As you all know I've really been working hard cleaning out my garage and my house. Trying to clean the clutter out of both my house and my life. I really have found some interesting things and some things that may be good prizes for the contests that I am going to hold here on the blog either monthly or quarterly. I'm thinking of offering one of my finds as a prize for the contest coming up June 15, 2009. However, what I am going to do is let you choose the prize. You can vote on what prize you would like to win in the contest from now until midnight Pacific Daylight Time on May 31, 2009. The prize with the most votes will be the prize offered in the contest. Your choices are:

A. Glassmasters stained glass art "Angel on Bridge."

"Though waters rage below them & dark storms gather above them, two small children on a bridge, two small children on a bridge are unafraidm protected by the presence of an angel in flowing pink and green robes." Size is 8 1/2 oval and includes a chain for hanging. A picture is at the end of this blog entry.

B. Your choice of Gift Cards

Either a $25 Home Depot Gift Card (Fathers' Day is coming up) or a $25 Stabucks gift card.

C. Offer the choice of A or B.

OK today's questions is what do the names John Denver, Tony Orlando, and River Phoenix have in common. And vote A, B, or C as to what prize you would like to win.

Click on the following pictures to enlarge them:

It's Your Day

Sorry, No Sample question today. St. Louis, McDonalds, and a foot all have arches.

As of now eligible participants for the contest starting at 7 AM Pacific Daylight Time on June 15, 2009 right here on The Dahn Report are Dona, Pat, DR, Kaye, Mary, Mary Z, and Redwhistle. In order to be an eligible participant for the “what do these three things have in common” contest you must post a message anywhere on The Dahn Report between now and when the contest starts.

As for today. You know the drill. It is update day. I want to know about everything going on in your life. The pains. The joys. The concerns. The questions. The events you either attended recently or are going to attend. How are you elderly parents doing? How are you children doing? Want to post a nice little message about your spouse because they have been so supportive of you? Go ahead. Want to vent about the health care system, they way customer service is no longer anywhere to be found, aches and pains, or just because you think a you need a goot event and it would be healthy for you to get it all out. Go right ahead. Want to bring some excitement into my life and the blog? Tell me a secret that would curl my hair. Or if you haven't posting lately, just stop by and say hi. If you have never posted come on and introduce yourself!

My week has been mostly cleaning. I'm getting there. I've thrown out tons of stuff. Given tons of stuff to Goodwill. Found some things that would be really great gifts. If you remember I confessed at one time that I collected music boxes. I found two muiscal jewelry boxes, one plays "love story" and one plays "raindrops". I had wondered what happened to those two music boxes. That makes about thirty music boxes that I still have.

Besides cleaning there was one church service, one hot dog barbecue on Memorial Day, one night at mom's, dinner at Rose's with sister, brother-in-law, and Mom, one lunch out with mom, a couple of cooked meals for mom, grocery shopping for two households, a dramatic and touching contact with an old friend, still a lot of hugging from waitresses/ grocery clerks and this week I did a lot of thinking. Sometimes when I think, I do it so rarely, that it causes headaches. I hope to keep thinking so my mind becomes used to me it.

One of the things I've been thinking about is writing. One of the things I found in the great garage clean out of 2009 is a computer program called "Writer's Tool Kit".
I had bought about a year ago and then forgot about it. I've loaded it on one of my two computers and it really looks like it will be quite helpful to my writing project.

That is my week. The blog is now yours. Tell me everything. Post about anything you darn well please. Would love to hear from all of you.

Another Sample Question and Two Amazing News Stories.

As of now eligible participants for the contest starting at 7 AM Pacific Daylight Time on June 15, 2009 right here on The Dahn Report are Dona, Pat, DR, and Kaye. In order to be an eligible participant for the “what do these three things have in common” contest you must post a message anywhere on The Dahn Report between now and when the contest starts. Yesterday’s sample question was “what do car tires, crops, and a roasting pig have in common?" They all are rotated. Between now and when the contest starts I will be posting sample questions for you to cut your teeth on. I won’t be posting sample questions everyday but once in a while there will be a question either at the beginning or end of the blog post. Today’s sample question? What do McDonald’s, St. Louis, and a foot have in common?

There were a couple of stories on the news last night that just had me shaking my head and asking the question, “how could people be that dumb?”. First up is a young couple playing a version of strip poker. They weren’t using a deck of cards, however, they were using rocks. Rocks thrown from an overpass down on to cars traveling on Interstate 5. Every time one of their rocks hit a car, a piece of clothing would be removed. In all before they were caught and arrested fourteen cars were hit and several people were injured. When caught the girl was down to her underwear. The two twenty year-olds are now facing several years in prison. They just didn’t think throwing rocks off of an overpass on to a moving car would hurt anyone. Doesn’t that just make you shake your head?

Another how dumb can they be story? A family got home from McDonalds. The youngest child’s happy meal didn’t have an orange juice in it. The oldest brother went back to the McDonalds who then refused to give the brother the missing orange juice or refund their money. So what did the twenty year-old brother do? He called 911. What did the McDonald’s employee do? Called 911. Who spent the night in jail? The oldest brother for making a non-emergency call to 911. There is so much wrong with this story that it just boggles the mind. Come on McDonalds have you ever heard the words “customer service”? How damn difficult would it have been and how costly would it have been to give the customer an orange juice? Come on oldest brother, just leave the damn store and don’t go back there. Maybe call the manager the next day. But to tie up 911? Even a twenty year-old shouldn’t be that stupid. What makes the story even more troubling is the family of the oldest brother doesn’t think he did anything wrong because the McDonald’s employee told him to call 911. And the family is still patronizing that particular McDonalds. Doesn’t that just make you shake your head?

What do you think of these two stories? Do the two love birds playing strip rocks deserve to spend several years in jail? Did the oldest brother deserve a night in jail and maybe even more time in jail if he is convicted of the crime of calling 911 for a non-emergency?

And last but not least what do McDonalds, The City of St. Louis, and Feet have in common?

Old Friends, Old Finds, & New Contest.

I've been kind of emotional since connecting with my old friend. He sent me a follow-up email about what he was doing, the trouble he had getting to where he is, and what he is doing now. He also wrote one of the most touching things that anyone has ever written about me. I handle my own suffering well. However, when someone else that I know has complications in life I soak up all the emotions around them and suffer right along with them. I'm also terrible at accepting compliments and it is extremely difficult for me to believe that I ever impact anyone's life.

After I lost touch with my friend he went on to have a very successful career in accounting going on to be a tax partner in one of the largest certified public accounting firms in the world. Then as life sometimes does, it dealt him a terrible blow in the form of colon cancer. He fought it, fought it hard. He beat the odds and although he is still on long term disability he is in remission. While in remission he has reconnected with his spiritual side and this last Sunday was the second Sunday that he gave a speech from the pulpit. The title of his speech? "The Image of God, or What Does it Mean that We Are 98% Genetically Identical to Chimpanzees?" He is now coaching, writing, teaching, and mentoring and considering going to theology school. He has turned a tragedy and a near death experience into a message of hope and a mission of doing for others. Still a role model not only for me but everyone he touches.

The touching thing he wrote about me?

"I remember you as a fine gentleman whose water ran deep and whose experiences were quite profound. You were a big part of helping me transition from being a crazy kid playing baseball to an adult building a career and a life. Not sure if you knew it, but you were a major example to me of how a man could be an accountant and still be a man. You also inspired me to expect difficulties and then expect to get through them. Oh, and you were a great example of being open and honest about reality, not regretting it, and not wanting to shut the door on it. I have always been grateful for your friendship and your example."

On to the next subject. I've been making great progress with cleaning out my house and my garages. Throwing things out. Getting things ready to go to Goodwill. Cleaning out my life. Clean out the clutter in my house and maybe the clutter in my life will fly away. I'm at the place now where I can actually see that I have a garage. Found some interesting things. My old Fort Apache set that I used to play with as a kid. Remember Rusty and Rin Tin Tin? Also found my electric sports games. Electric football and electric baseball games that I played with in junior high. Some memorable things about man's first landing on the moon. An eight millimeter movie of the actual walk on the moon. A historical book with pictures from take off to landing. Then there was the book commemorating the eruption of Mount St. Helens. A paper from the day JFK was assassinated. And so on. I really did get sidetracked reading that stuff.

Subject three. A Contest. There will be a contest that will start on The Dahn Report at 7 AM on June 15, 2009 and end at 7 AM on Jun 17, 2009. An eligible participant will be anyone that posts a comment anywhere on The Dahn Report between now and 7 AM on June 15, 2009. I haven't decided on a prize yet but it will be something like a DVD with a season of Friday Night Lights on it, a gift card, or a lottery ticket. The contest will be twenty-five questions. Each question will list three things. You will have to guess what the three things have in common. All questions will be worth one point each. The eligible participant with the most points will be declared the winner. A sample question:

Car tires - Crops - Roasting Pigs.

The answer will appear on the next blog entry.

The questions for today. Has anyone ever told you in writing or in person that you have impacted someone's life? Have you even cleaned out your house or garage and found old treasures? What do the above three things have in common?

Floundering & Old Friends

It was the late seventies in the Los Angeles area. I was floundering. No direction in my life. With the wrong crowd. Partying. Not real happy with who I was. Thinking I wasn't really good enough to have a higher quality life. My refuge was a night out on the down, well several nights out in a row. Did crazy things. On a mission to destroy. A mission to destroy myself.

At the time I was working in Long Beach for a company called "Inter-form". It was a temporary assignment. I had a woman boss named Pat. She was the first woman boss that I ever had and I loved her. She at the time was the best supervisor I had in my life. You could go to her about anything. She also didn't believe in overtime. Her philosophy was give me the employee that can get his or her work done in eight hours, I want that employee. However, she was really good at judging the workload. I was given additional assignments, to many really, so she looked for more help for me. At the time there was a temporary agency called "Kelly Girls". We hired a Kelly Girl. But it wasn't a girl, it was a man that had just graduated from U.S.C.. He was a baseball player. Most Valuable Player in College World Series that year. Voted one of the best players to play in the college world series in the seventies. He would later be drafted in the fourth round by The California Angels, now the Los Angeles Angels, and sign a contract with them. A really handsome dude. Also a very smart dude. Later he would go on to get his Certified Public Accountant certificate and go to work for one of the largest accounting firms in the world. He was also a talented musician. Loved blue grass music. He was friends with some pretty well known people. Anthony Davis, if memory serves me right, was one of the first athletes that Nike made a shoe for. Russ knew him well.

While working at Inter-form Russ and I became pretty good friends. He was fascinated by my story of learning how to walk despite all odds. I was fascinated by his many talents. He took me into his circle. A circle of friends that I never thought I was worthy of. They were just like you and I. Neat people. They just did a lot more fun things then going out on the town. Hoedowns? Had them. Blue Grass hoedowns. Damn they were fun. When Russ went off to the minor leagues he and I formed a business. R.B.I,, Russ, Bill, Incorporated. R.B.I is also a baseball term, Runs Batted Inn. We did tax returns for minor league baseball players. When he was in the minor leagues we would write, he would write a line of a song, and then in my returning letter I would write the second line of the song. When he played for the Angel farm club in Salinas, California I visited him. Attended the games. I stood up at his wedding. It was the first time in my life that I really felt accepted by anyone.

Had I not met Russ I am sure that I would have been successful in the mission to destroy myself. Russ changed my life. Changed my outlook. Made me feel better about who I was.

Why am talking about Russ today? We kind of drifted apart. Went our separate directions. Lost touch. It has been several years since I saw him. Several years since I heard from him. Well, that was until this morning. When I got up this morning there was a message from my Facebook account asking if I was "the Bill Dahn." It was from Russ. Damn it was so nice to hear from him. We are now Facebook Friends.

What person most impacted your life? What person that you have lost touch with would you like to hear from?

On Angel's Wings

Things happen to me sometimes that I am afraid to share for fear that people will think that I am one really weird dude. Well at least even weirder than they already think I am. However, I promised you that I would be honest about what is going on in my life even if you think lesser of me or wonder if what I am telling you is the truth. You already know that I have really vivid dreams but what you don't know is that sometimes I have visions. Real visions. They really aren't very often about the future, more often they are about the past or someone living or not longer with us. They are most often happy visions. Seldom sad ones. Always frightening, however, because you wonder why your sub-conscience is transcending to a higher level.

I saw dad today.

As you know our new minister visited Mom last week. Being blind it had to be a real effort for her to take the time to meet mom. Getting dressed can't be easy for her. The little things that all of take for granted have to be struggle for her. I so appreciated her making the effort to visit mom that I thought I should show her some respect and attend one of her services. So I did today. Put on my pink shirt (NY Times says it is OK for men to wear pink shirts), red tie, fitted suit and headed out for the eleven O'clock service. Abut half way through the hour service is when it happened. That is when I saw dad.

Dad and Mom have been members of the church for over thirty years. Dad always sang in the choir. Sister and dad were blessed with beautiful singing voices. Mom, bro, and myself couldn't carry a tune if our life depended on it. Because this is a holiday weekend there was no choir in the church this Sunday. Well, there was a choir of one. Dad was in the choir box, smiling, singing. Then the vision changed to dad flying out of the choir box. He looked so stunning in his white angel wings as he flew off. First he flew over Mom's house in King City. As he hovered over the house he once lived in he blew mom a kiss and told her how much he loved and missed her. Then he flew South and hovered over a city that I think was Los Angeles and as he hovered over a condo on a beach I heard him say, you eventually will live here. Then he flew off to his home in heaven.

I feel really comfortable now that my dad is happy, wherever he might be, because he was smiling his devilish smile throughout the vision.

Was the vision real? Or did I doze off and it was a daydream? Do you ever have visions or dreams that frighten or stun you?

Today The Blog Writes Itself

Because it is my favorite day of the week. Update Date. I really do want to hear what all of you are up to. How are you spending Memorial Day weekend? Picnics? Hamburger, hot dogs, and potato chips? Organic salads and healthy food? Sleep? Are your kids through with school soon? What about some secrets? Come on we all want to know your secrets and uttermost private thoughts! How are you elderly parents doing? Got a concern or question about caregiving? Would love to hear either. Want to brag about your kids? Awww come on be a proud parent! Any exciting events coming up in your life this week or in the near future? Any exciting events that you just recently attended? Want to vent? Want to vent about that &*$^ idiotic driver that didn't signal? Want to vent about that jackass that crowded in front of you in the ticket line at the movie theater? What about those inconsiderate clueless people that have sixteen items in the fifteen item only express line at the grocery store? Or what about those SUVs parking in a parking spot for compact cars? At work when you took an lunch break and went to the break room had someone already eaten your lunch? This is your day on the blog. The day when you get to choose what you want to talk about. Even if you haven't posted for a while we would still like you to check in, we miss you!

This weekend my sister is here so I am using the time to continue preparing for my dreams to come true by cleaning out my townhouse. I've made tremendous progress. However, I still have a ways to go. In cleaning the garage I found a bunch of 33 1/3 music albums and also some 45s. Now I have to figure out what to do with them. The two local libraries said they didn't want them. I also have an old record player that can play them. Does anyone have any suggestions? Also on the agenda this weekend is two of my favorite things, writing and shopping. Back to writing. At least some exercises to get over writer's block. Also some Internet exploring of dating sites so I can get back into the game. Then shopping. Book store shopping. And maybe even a movie to go to this weekend.

This past week was interesting but like most of my life somewhat boring. And was filled with one frustration. My sister always says they come up to give me time off from mom. Then she plans get togethers every day. They got here late Monday night. The first three days off of my supposedly two weeks off (a two weeks that lasts nine days)? The minister on Wednesday. Taking mom to the foot doctor on Thursday? Do those really look like days off to you? OK, I also went to the foot doctor and had my feet done so that was something I probably would have done anyhow. But it could have waited for a while. At least to the end of my nine day two weeks off. I have a lot to do to organize my life. I was hoping to get most of it done while Mom was being cared for by someone else. Isn't going to happen. However, I do treasure sis because she and her husband do way more then my brother does (which is nothing), to help with mom.

We had a great time yesterday at Spirit Mountain Casino although nobody won any money. The food was good. Love those sweet potato fries. The trip out there was just stunning. Beautiful day, beautiful scenery.

That is it for me. Now it is your turn. Tell me everything. Talk about any subject you damn well please!

Contests, An Amazing Woman, & Sweet Potato Fries

I had so much fun with the trivia contest that I am seriously considering doing some kind of a contest each month or each quarter. I won't be able to offer a prize of a gift card every month but I will be able to do some decent prizes and if I decide on a quarterly contest then I could probably do the gift cards. I haven't made a firm decision of doing the contests yet but if I do it won't always be a trivia contest. Maybe a how well do the posters and readers know me contest. Or how well do the posters and readers know the other posters contest. Or a contest where all of the answers are somewhere on the blog. Or maybe a solve the mystery contest. Or a bunch of who am I questions, where you guess either the famous person or the poster decribed in the question.

Yesterday I met the most amazing woman. A few months ago the minister at our home church quit the church and moved on to a different position as a chaplain at a local hospital. Since he is no longer involved with the church he wouldn't be allowed to do a memorial for mom if something happened to her. Mom has been really worried about not having anyone to conduct the memorial for her, so she has really wanted to meet the new minister at the home church. Mom hasn't been able to go to church for a while because it is just to hard for to get dressed, get in and out of the car, sit for an hour etc. My mom is a pretty thoughtful person. She will often sends cards to people for various reasons. Last month in the monthly church bulletin the new minister had written about the recent death of her dad and it was a glowing tribute. Mom wrote the minister to tell her how much what she wrote touched her. Shortly after she received the card, the minister called. Mom and her had a great talk. The minister offered to come visit mom. She didn't have transportation, I offered to pick her up and bring her to Mom's. The date was set for yesterday. I picked up the minister at 1:30 at the parsonage. The minister has five degrees. She has a marvelous speaking voice. An amazingly positive outlook on life. And she is blind.
Totally blind. I honestly had never helped a blind person before. I didn't really know what to do about little things. Do I let her hold on to me? Do I let her navigate on her own? Do I guide her with my voice? So what I did is ask her what to do. She did amazingly well on her own and when she wasn't sure she asked if she could hang on to my arm. Mom, her, and I talked for a couple of hours and had an amaazing visit. Mom and her connected on a higher level. I'm telling you this is not either your normal woman or your normal minister! He beliefs are not totally in line with the church but they are real and pretty much in line with mine. That is we have to open our hearts to everyone not just those that toe the line with everything the church wants us to. I really, really enjoyed the time with the minister.

Some additional notes about the meeting. My sister and her husband are visiting from Utah for a week. Sis was a great hostess, bringing coffee and cookies for everyone. I was so pleased about that. There was a time where sis might not have participated or interacted with the guest. It was so great to see the growth on the part of my sister.

Also you really never know how what you write will impact people. You never really know who reads what you write. We have a local weekly publication called The Times Publication. If you remember a while back they had a special insert in their publication called "The Potrait of Washington County" where they asked readers to submit creative suggestions about the bests in the county. I submitted a little writing about the best 93 year-old in the county, my mom. It was not only published but on the very front page of the paper where the article introduced the special instert they mentioned three of the over 90 submissions included in the insert and my was one of the three mentioned. Now I find out that the new minister at our home church not only read my submission but was so touched by it that she not only put it on the bulletin at the church but she mentioned it from the pulpit. Color me surprised and touched myself.

On the agenda today is sweet potato fries. Mom, sis, brother-in-law, and moi are going to Spirit Mountain Casino for lunch. It is about a ninety minute drive. We go there for the food. And the really best sweet potato fries anywhere. The also have the cleanest rest rooms anywhere. We do gamble sometimes. Last time I was there was when I won nineteen hundred dollars. I am not gambling much today but I am sure I will take a chance or two. And of course I will eat the sweet potato fries slowly to enjoy every bite!

I hope today you will meet an amazing person, have some great food, have some good luck, and that someone will tell you something you did touched them!

The Winner of The Gift Card is

Dona with 850 points.

OK, Dona email me your address and your choice of Macy's or Starbuck's gift card and it will be in the mail tomorrow!

CONGRATULATIONS TO DONA

And thank you all for entering!

The Right Answers

TRIVIA QUESTIONS

150 POINTS

What age is the world's youngest line dancing champion? Within five years.

6. Siobhan Dunn.

What is the highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle? Within 20 miles.

167.043 miles per hour by Fred Rompelberg from The Netherlands at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

What silent screen lover was locked out of his honeymoon cabin for refusing to carry his bride over the threshold?

Rudolph Valentino

Name the movie the following line was spoken in and the actress who spoke it: "I guess you are attractive in a corn-red sort of way. You can find yourself a poor girl falling for you f - well, if you threw in a set of dishes." (75 points for the actress, 75 points for the movie)

Bette Davis in The Man Who Came To Dinner

100 POINTS:

July 20, 1969 was man's first landing on the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. Can you name the other two crew members that were with him? (50 points for each name)

Edward Aldrin. Michael Collins.. Michael Collins was the one that remained in the ship as Aldrin and Armstrong walked on the move.

What movie's release coincided with protests over the Three Mile Island Incident?

The China Syndrome staring Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon.

What was the last album the Beatles recorded together?

Abbey Road

Who was the first animated character to be banned in East Germany for not measuring up to Marxist principles?

Mickey Mouse


50 POINTS:

Name the man that served the United States both as president and as vice president and wasn't elected to either office?

Gerald Ford. He replaced Spiro Agnew after Agnew resigned as Vice President. The replaced Richard Nixon when Nixon resigned as President.

What singing group starred in "Rock Around The Clock"?

Bill Haley & The Comets

What singing group consists of Laverne, Maxine, & Patty?

The Andrew Sisters

25 POINTS

What feud ended in marriage in Kentucky in 1891?

The Hatfield and McCoys

What year occurred "fourscore and seven years" before Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?

1776. Lincoln was referring to our founding fathers. A score is twenty years. Four score and seven years would be 87 years.

What is the capital of Alaska?

Juneau

What river did Egyptians throw virgins into for centuries believing they would help hold back floods?

The Nile

Reality Bites, I'm Weird

While I am waiting for the contest deadline to expire in a little over six hours I just thouht I would post a fews tidbits.

I hope everyone is having a much fun with the trivia contest as I am. Some of you that thought you wouldn't get any right did pretty well. It has been fun.

Now on to reality TV and this year it really has not matched up to my expectations. The wrong cook won Top Chef. The wrong team won The Amazing Race. The wrong person won The Apprentice. And last night the worse of the thre three remaining couples, in my humble opinion, won Dancing With The Stars. Shawn Johnson won. I was hoping for Mellisa Rycoff. Gilles was definitely the best dancer so I would have been fine with him winning. I wanted Mellissa to win because it would have been the ultimate revenge for the doofus first accepting her and then rejecting her on national TV. Nope didn't happen. Shawn Johnson, Olympic gymnist, has been overscored all season by the judges on Dancing With The Stars. She was Monday Night too. She got a perfect score because they didn't expect her to do so well. Rycoff got a lesser score because they expected her to do better. My problem with the scoring system on Dancing With The Stars is that they don't judge the dancers against each other, they judge the dancers against themselves. Someone that gets high scores early on, on Dancing With The Stars is really at a disadavantage if they make the finals because they will be held to a higher standard than the ones that score low early on. OK, enough with the rant.

Yesterday I had a realaization that my family might be right. I'm weird. My family has often referred to me as being off center. So much so that I use offcenteralittle as a screen name on some sites that I go to. They always say I listen to the beat of a different drummer. OK, yesterday I am cleaning house. When I clean, I really clean. Light switches, fridge, microwave, toothbrushes, containers and so on. I have the downstairs of my townhouse totally clean. Today it is the upstairs. While I was cleaning the downstairs there was a moment where I just stopped and looked down at what I had in my hand. I was cleaining the bar of soap that was in the bathroom. Now that is weird. I clean I even clean soap.

Later in the afternoon I also discovered that I am a little obsessive with some things. While shopping it came on over the store P.A. system "John, can you check, please?" Now a normal person would have just not noticed. I noticed. Starting talking to myself, "it isn't "John can you check, please." damn it, it is "John will you check, please."

Are you weird? Do you embrace you weirdness? What are your obsessions?

The Contest Starts

For the rules read the post from yesterday, May 18, 2009, on The Dahn Report.

The Winner Will Be announced hopefully by 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on May 20, 2009 but definitely no later than 7:00 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time on May 21.

Following are a list of questions. Accumulate the most points with right answers by Noon Pacific Daylight Time on May 20, 2009 and you will win your choice of a $25 Starbucks Gift Card or a $25 Macy's Gift Card.

TRIVIA QUESTIONS

150 POINTS FOR EACH ANSWER (Unless stated differntly at the end of the question):

What age is the world's youngest line dancing champion? Within five years.

What is the highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle? Within 20 miles.

What silent screen lover was locked out of his honeymoon cabin for refusing to carry his bride over the threshold?

Name the movie the following line was spoken in and the actress who spoke it: "I guess you are attractive in a corn-red sort of way. You can find yourself a poor girl falling for you f - well, if you threw in a set of dishes." (75 points for the actress, 75 points for the movie)

100 POINTS FOR EACH ANSWER(unless stated differently at the end of the question):

July 20, 1969 was man's first landing on the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. Can you name the other two crew members that were with him? (50 points of each name)

What movie's release coincided with protests over the Three Mile Island Incident?

What was the last album the Beatles recorded together?

Who was the first animated character to be banned in East Germany for not measuring up to Marxist principles?

50 POINTS FOR EACH ANSWER:

Name the man that served the United States both as president and as vice president and wasn't elected to either office?

What singing group starred in "Rock Around The Clock"?

What singing group consists of Laverne, Maxine, & Patty?

25 POINTS FOR EACH ANSWER:

What feud ended in marriage in Kentucky in 1891?

What year occurred "fourscore and seven years" before Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?

What is the capital of Alaska?

What river did Egyptians throw virgins into for centuries believing they would help hold back floods?

Announcing The First Annual The Dahn Report Trivia Contest

I'm tired of writing about life, elderly parents, love and emotions so it is time to have some fun. There is nothing more fun than contests. So today I am announcing the first annual The Dahn Report Trivia Contest. The winner will receive their choice of a $25 Starbucks Gift Card or a $25 Macy's Gift Card.

On Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 7:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time My Post for the Day will be 15 Trivia Questions of varying degrees of toughness. The harder the question the more points you will get for answering it. The contest will end at Noon Pacific Daylight Time on May 20, 2009. At the time the eligible participant with the most total points will be declared the winner. If only two eligible participants tie each will be given a gift card. If more than two eligible participants tie all of the names will be put in a hat and the winner will drawn by yours truly from that hat.

An eligible participant for The First Annual The Dahn Report Trivia Contest is anyone who has posted a comment on The Dahn Report Blog any time in the last nine months. If you haven't posted on The Dahn Report yet, you can still become an eligible participant for the first annuual The Dahn Report Trivia Contest by posting a message introducing yourself between now and the time the contest starts at 7 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time on May 19, 2009.

The fifteen questions will cover music, movies, history, politics, world records, and any other subject I decide on. The answer to the questions can either be posted on the blog or emailed to me at williamjdahn@aol.com. Remember if you post an answer on the blog you may be giving your competitor an answer they didn't know. Any answer posted on the blog or emailed to me will not be confirmed as either wrong or right until the contest has ended. There is no limit to the number of times you can email me the answers or post the answers on the blog. The key is to get the most total points. You get points for right answers but points are not subtracted for wrong answers.

Good Luck Everyone

Love Vs. Like

A few days ago DR said that in long term relationships it is more important to like the person than love them. She mentioned an incident where an old boyfriend came home drunk and slapped her. The next day she discovered that she really loved the guy but didn't like him and ended the relationship. She then went on to say that both of her husbands were friends first and then husbands. I've been thinking about this a lot and thought it might be a really good discussion subject.

First there is love. Strong passionate love. The kind when you hug her you feel the warmth of her body and your whole body becomes an inferno. When she kisses you, you feel like you have been given a gift more precious than the finest piece of crystal. A gift to hold gently. A gift to treasure. A gift that is to be enjoyed every minute you are alive. A gift that just gets more valuable with each passing moment. Fire.

Then there is like. You feel safe with her. You can talk to her about anything. No judgments. When you hug her you feel the warmth of her friendship but your body doesn’t turn into an inferno. She trusts you with her secrets. You want the best for her. If you breakup with the passionate love she is there for you. It really isn’t fire but more like Ember.

Fire can burn out. Ember can smolder and become fire.

Like and love do have a lot of similarities. Trust is important for both. Consideration is important for both. Kindness and caring is important for both. There are times when it is hard to tell the difference between love and like.

Now the question for the day. Do you agree with DR? In a long term relationship, is liking someone more important than loving them? Can you love someone without liking them? Can like turn into love?

Update Date. I'm Not Memorable. Running Away From Fears.

OK Update Day is here. Well actually it is tomorrow but I want to get an early start because I'm curious about so much that is going on with all of you. You all know Update Day is my favorite day of the week. Talking about myself has really never been my favorite thing to do. But two of my favorite things to do are to learn about others and to meet new people. This is the day when my blog is yours. Truly you can make my Blog yours any day of the week but this is the planned day for it! The day when you tell me what special events you either just attended or are going to attend. When you tell me about your elderly parents and how they are doing. When you vent if a good vent is what the doctor ordered. If you feel that a confession would make you feel better, I'm all ears. Children doing something special? Would love to know about them and what they are doing! To all you new readers and to all the long time readers that haven't posted we sincerely would like to meet you. It may seem like we are a clique but truly the posters here are the nicest, most nonjudgmental, and accepting people you will meet almost anywhere on the Net.

For me, this week fell under the title of "Gone, So Forgotten." The job that I worked on the pay arrangement was to get a third of what they billed on the clients that I worked on. On the tenth of the month I would get a third of what they billed for my clients for the previous month. The tenth rolled around and I didn't get my check. I called them today. I have to hand it to them because of their honesty. The partner was really embarrassed because they just forgot to make my check out. No, "the check is ready you can pick it up." No "the check is in the mail." Instead it was, "I was on vacation and I forgot" OK, so I'm not as memorable as I thought I was.

Speaking of memorable I didn't really tell you the whole story about why it took so long to mow my lawn. My two greatest fears are SNAKES and women. As a man I know I am supposed to be a protective soul. I have saved a few lives in my time. If I were married and an armed robber stopped us I'd take a bullet for her. Faint? Mouth to Mouth I am pretty good at. Chest pains before passing out? I know CPR. Car accident? I'll help anyway I can (then pass out afterward). Scare off a mean dog? I can do that. Defend your honor? Oh, love doing that. On the outs with a mean relative? I'll make the call defending you if you want me to. Carry you over the water to get across the street so you don't get your new shoes or pretty legs wet? I'm there. However, if we run across a snake, she is on her own because I'm outta of there. That streak running away from her? That would be me. Hiding in the tall grass that I was mowing last were were a couple of snakes. Not small snakes either. Not garden snakes either. One was zebra colored. And it was big enough to be a Zebra. At least it seemed that big. The other was sort of an orange/purple color. Upon seeing them I took off for my house, almost run through the door before opening it. Then I waited for a few hours to give those snakes more obviously vicious than a pit bull time to get out of my yard. Before going back out to finish the mowing I did look through some binoculars to the spot where they were last seen to see if they were still there. They weren't. Then it was back to mowing and cleaning the blade every few seconds.

Have you ever felt forgotten? What is your greatest fear? What kind of emergency are you good to go? OK, the Blog is now yours. Fess up and tell me everything going on in your lives.

Are Your Ready For Your Dreams To Come True?

On a post a a while back we discovered that a lot of us here that were caring for elderly parents have lost direction in our lives. That we had quit dreaming. And if we were dreaming then we weren't really ready to do the work required to fulfill our dreams. This following quote is from an email that DR sent my a while back. It is from a song by Larry Gatlin:

"So wake up, dreamer, it's time you realize, The best dreams you'll ever dream You dream with open eyes.

So step out on your faith No matter how small it may seem, It's not a simple matter of one dream per customer,

You're allowed all you dare to dream."

I have some questions for all of you. If your dreams came true would you be ready for it? Would you be prepared for what came with those dreams?

I have several dreams, meet Miss Right, win the lottery, write a book, take more comedy classes. Thinking about my dreams today I came to the stark realization that I'm not prepared if any of my dreams came true. Being a little anal, ok a lot anal, I got to thinking maybe I should start preparing for the dreams to come true. In order:

Miss Right is out there. I know she is. I may have already met her and don't know it. She may havealready met me and not know it. At my age the chances of Miss Right being in the same city as I am are really pretty small. So I am expanding my search to all cities on the West Coast. Which means if I did meet Miss Right and she lived in another city, would I be prepared? Would I be in a position to move? Would I be in a position to have someone move in with me? And the answer is a resounding no. So Today I started preparing. I am cleaning out my house from top to botton. Taking everything I haven't used for a while that is still in working condition to Goodwill. Throwing out all the things that aren't in working conidition. Basically making room for someone to move in with me. And by doing that I am also putting myself in a position to move quickly. Dreams have a habit of not coming true until you are ready for them. Now I will be prepared. It just may take a while.

If I won Powerball this weekend, would I be ready for it? I mean first thing I would do is set up a private foundation. That takes a while because you have to get IRS approval. The next thing I would do is make a list of family, friends, relatives, and chairites that I would like to enrich. All of that would take time and would delay the happiness of sharing wealth. Yesterday I made a list of twenty friends and family and the amount that I would give each of them. That is done. I also searched the Internet on how to go about setting up a private foundation. That process is started. I have my attorney friend on speed dial. I have 911 on speed dial in case I faint *when* I win. I'm getting close to being ready for this dream to come true. I just need the numbers that come up for the lottery to be the same ones that I have on my tickets!

Writing a book? I've been usuing a lot of excuses lately about not writing. I don't have the time. I don't really have the ability to write. My writing style isn't exciting enough. Oh gosh what if I did finish the book and it was published, I'd have to do a book signing tour. That means traveling a lot. Am I prepared for that? This morning I found the diskette with my half written book on it. I have scheduled a hour a day to write. Or at least think about writing. It is a start. It just may take a while.

The comedy classes. Sister is going to be here next week. The Improv class that I attended last year offers a class every Wednesday night for five bucks. With sister here I can go to the class next week. Wednesday night is one of the nights I have to stay at Mom's so that has put a clinker in my plans to attend the classes. However, if I like the one that I attend while sis is here I've decided I will keep attending the classes. Mom will be OK for the few hours that I am at class. I also did some exploring. There are open mic nights at several comedy clubs in Portland. I have no dreams of signing up for those but going to few of open mic nights could be interesting. I've also done some exploring. There is a standup class starting in Seattle in September. They had some of the students on a local news station last night talking about how the class impacted their life. I also did some research and there are some classes that you can audit in the LA area. Before signing up, you audit the class, you don't have to get on stage, and you see if it is something you are interested in before spending the big bucks. It is something you could do on a short trip to LA. I'm actually may fulfill this dream!

Tell me what your dreams are. Then tell me if you are ready for them to come true. If you aren't ready for your dreams to come true, what do you have to do to get ready?

Switched At Birth, Slap Your Wife It Is Legal, And Don't Get Caught Breaking The Law

My creativity has taken a dive into the black hole lately and my life has become a bit boring with just mundane tasks lately so today I am bringing you three news stories from AOL.COM. The amazing, the idiotic, and the informational.

First story up comes to you from my great state, Oregon. What would you do if one day you got up in the morning and discovered you weren't who you thought you were? That you were switched at birth. That all the relatives that you thought you had weren't really your relatives? Read this amazing story at:

http://news.aol.com/article/switched-at-birth/475671?icid=main|htmlws-sb|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fswitched-at-birth%2F475671

I love women. I really do. I would never ever think of hitting a woman and never would allow myself to even consider slapping one. Domestic Violence is huge in this country and it gets worse in a bad economy. We should be doing everything we can do to prevent domestic violence. Not only against women and children but against men as well. Apparently a Saudi judge didn't get the memo. I know the Saudi culture is different than ours but don't you think making it legal to slap your wife is a little over the top? Read the story here:

http://news.aol.com/article/saudi-judge-slap-wives/473908?icid=main|htmlws-sb|dl5|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fsaudi-judge-slap-wives%2F473908


We know we have all done it. We know what the speed limit is when we are on the open road. And we exceed it. We willingly break the law. Now wanting my blog to be partly a public service I am going to inform you how to avoid that costly speeding ticket while you are out on the open road. Read how here:

http://autos.aol.com/article/car-news/10-ways-to-avoid-a-cop-giving-you-a-speeding/20070621101709990001

The questions for the day. Have you ever felt you were switched at birth? How would you react if you got up one morning and discovered that you really were switched at birth? If your husband or boyfriend slapped you would he be able to work normally for a few days? What do you think of the Saudi's judge's ruling? And last but not least do you ever speed? If you have gotten caught were you able to talk your way out of the speeding ticket?

What Size Are Your Nuts? Happy Mother's Day Mom.

From the time I was in the fourth grade until the time I graduated from high school we lived in Klamath Falls, Oregon. My parents owned a Coast To Coast Hardware Store. Mom worked with dad in the store. All of us three kids worked in the store, it was required if we wanted spending money. One Saturday afternoon the store was packed when a man came in, in a hurry and interrupted my mom while she was helping another customer and said to her "I need some nuts and bolts." Mom with her mind on many things and many customers without thinking asked the man in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the store, "What size are your nuts?" The man turned beet red and raced out of the store trying to avoid the laughter that was ringing throughout the store. Yes, mom gets embarrassed when we tell that story. But she laughs. The ability to laugh at oneself. I can think of worse things to be taught.

Mom worked hard in that store. Six days a week. Then, after work she would come home and fix us dinner. We always had dinner as a family. It was almost required. We never had much money in those days but mom kept all three of us kids dressed nicely. Maybe we didn't wear designer clothes but we were always clean and presentable. Mom was a magic maker. She stretched what little money her and dad made to give us a comfortable life. We grew up in one of the nicest houses in Klamath. We always had nice birthdays and nice Christmases. We never really hurt for anything. She supported my sister when she became head cheerleader. After work she would drive the yell squad to the games as a chaperone. She supported my brother when he became an All State football and basketball player. Her and Dad would close the store and take the teams to where ever they were playing that weekend. I was really overshadowed by my siblings. My claim to fame is winning an Opie look alike contest. But despite probably being the less talented of the three children Mom was always there for me. When I had my accident Mom was put in the position of having to make a choice between a dying son and a pregnant daughter who in all likelihood was going to lose her baby. My doctor wouldn't let her to travel to my sister because he didn't think I would make it through the night. Sis lost her baby. Mom has always felt guilty about that but she made the choice to stand by me. I was in the hospital for what seemed like an eternity. Mom was at my bed every step of the way. She slept at the hospital for days. When I was out of danger Mom went to Sis. To make what mom was dealing with even more difficult was that she had only been out of the hospital herself just six weeks after cancer surgery. The time was rough but through that time she taught me a mother's love.

During the high school years of us three kids our house was after school central. Open door policy. Always cookies and milk. Always a warm welcome. Local kids would graduate, go on to either to college or a stint in the military but when they returned to K. Falls they would always return to Mom and Dad's house. How warm? Ronnie went off to the military. When he returned he didn't know my parents had sold the house and moved to Los Angeles. He went to our old house, walked right in, opened the fridge and started making himself a sandwich. Then he turned to see the owner of the house, a person he didn't know and had never met. Oops. Ronnie did explain and fortunately the new owner of the house also had a sense of humor.

Now mom is teaching me how to age gracefully. I know it is hard for her. When you are 93 everyone around you is dying. You lose friends weekly. Sometimes daily. She is in a lot of pain. She has had four heart attacks and four strokes. She keeps on trucking. She gets up everyone morning and faces the day. She reads four books a week. She beats me at Scrabble. She looks young. I always feel her love.

Happy Mothers' Day Mom. This Post is for you. Know you are loved.

Celebrating Moms

When your children needed leadership you stood in front of them, when your children needed friendship you stood beside them, and when your children needed a push you stood behind them.

You have impacted the world more than any politician could. You have loved in a way no leading movie star could. You have given more selflessly than any religious leader could. You accept your children with all their imperfections. You make your children feel important. You breathe life into your children. You breathe life into the world.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Tomorrow I will celebrate my Mom. Today I'm am celebrating all Mom's.

Tell me about your Mom. What has she meant to you? What has she taught you? Also tell me what it is like to be a Mom. Tell me what your children make you feel?

The Day Is Here

The one day of the week when the blog writes itself. Why? Because it is your day! Update Day. The day when you tell me what is going on in your life. Your joys. Your concerns. Your plans. Want to tell us how your elderly parent is doing? Go ahead. Any questions you have of me or the other people here? Ask them. Need to vent? Venting is good for the soul, get it off your chest and give us a good vent. Anything on your mind? We have no rules today. Doesn't matter what the subject is today, if you got something that you need to talk about give it a go here. And this is a great group that is both accepting and nonjudgmental when we get the chance so if you have been reading the blog for a while and want some new friends please introduce yourself. Or if you are just new to the blog we would love to meet you.

Been a good week, not as busy as normal but good. Three days, two nights at Mom's. A couple of meals out for Mom and I. I really think it is important to get the elderly parent out once in a while so they can interact with others. Did grocery shopping for two households. Did my budget. Scheduled my education. Set up my trust. Now this week re-doing my will is on schedule. And last week there was the biggie. I mowed my lawn. Now that may not seem all the big to you but I have to tell you that sometimes being ecologically sound is a pain in the rump. I bought an electric lawnmower instead of a gas one to save on fuel. Electric mowers are great if you regularly mow your lawn and the grass isn't to tall. However, when the grass is tall enough to hide the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and three basketball teams with all players over seven feet the electric mower doesn't really work that well. You have to stop every few seconds turn the lawnmower over and clean all the grass off of the blades. When I first started mowing my backyard Harry Truman was president. I did finish it yesterday. Whew what an accomplishment. The good thing is that I didn't find any dead bodies hiding amongst the grass. The bad thing is there were no wild women hiding in there either. The other good thing is that the lawn looks really nice. And one more good thing is that now that the grass is cut being ecologically sound won't be so painful. Next up for this guy that usually gets dirty doing household chores because the ink from the yellow pages rubs off is to tackle all the weeds taking up residence in my yard.

Next week? Two days, one night at Mom's. A business meeting. Began the process of transferring the title of everything I have to the name of my trust. Basically that is two things, the house and the car. Oregon is now requiring a lot more information to either get a driver's license or to change title on your car. They want a birth certificate. Fortunately, I found mine. I can now prove that I was born. Then I have get to the new will notarized. The reason for the change in the will? It is being changed to what they call a pour over will, where you leave everything to your trust. Then I have to make a list of everyone to contact if something happens to me. Next a list of my passwords to various sites, my bank account numbers, where to get into my bookkeeping file, how to get into the blog, review my advance directive, and so on. Then send a copy of everything to my sister and brother. I've been putting this off for a couple of years now. It is really difficult to think of these things but from my years in business I've come to know how important it is to make things easier for people you leave behind if something happens to you. You just never know what will happen or when it will happen.

I do need to ask for more prayers, vibes, and good thoughts. A friend from another Internet group is undergoing cancer surgery on May 12. Please send whatever you can muster her direction. I know they would be appreciated.

OK, the blog is now yours. Tell me everything. I want to know all about your lives. I also want to know if you are making arrangements for the day you leave this world? To difficult to think about?

Transformation Through Music: Susan Boyle & Playing For Change.

"As a human race we come together for birth, we come together for death. What brings us together in between is up to us. Stop and listen to the universal language of music and bring that positive energy with you everywhere you go." Mark Johnson.

The world loves Susan Boyle and the world is Playing for Change.

For those that have been living in a cave or leading a sheltered life and don't know who Susan Boyle is, she was a contestant on the British version of The American Idol, Britain's Got Talent. This video at youtube.com has almost fifty three million views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. If you haven't seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to take the seven minutes required to watch it. It is the ultimate don't judge a book by its cover. I refuse to say Susan is ugly because I truly believe there is no such thing as an ugly woman. Every living woman has something beautiful about them. Maybe their eyes, their mind, their hair, their figure, their personality, their compassion, their sincerity, their ability to love, their ability to teach, their ability to learn, maybe an amazing talent, or numerous other things that I would classify as beautiful. I am going to describe Susan as not your typical looking reality singing star. I love this video because it is about two of my favorite things, going out of your comfort zone and transformation. Susan goes outside of her comfort zone. She doesn't transform herself but when she begins singing the voice of an angel transforms the audience and the judges from fun making skeptical judgmental folks into fans. Not only into fans but fans that begin questioning why they were thinking how terrible she would be because of her looks. I'm now a fan of Susan Boyle.

Speaking of transformation through music. This morning I was channel surfing while having my morning coffee and came across an amazing story on MSNBC. And another touching video. Imagine a man walking down the streets of Santa Monica, California when he hears someone a block away singing "Stand By Me." He quickly goes over to hear African-American Singer, Rodger Ridley, finish his performance. Inspired by that performance the man that was quoted at the start of this Blog entry, Mark Johnson, went on a mission that lasted four years and took him to all parts of the world. Recording street musicians from New Orleans to the Congo, he and his partner, Enzo Buono, pieced together an amazing version of "Stand By Me." You can listen to this amazing version at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM. If you like this video then check out playingforchange.com. Connection through music. Peace through music. You can also buy both the video and audio version of several songs by these musicians from Starbucks for $12.95. Some may think it is weird that I connect this video with Susan Boyle's video. Not me. Because both videos are about transformation. And the transformation isn't on the part of the performer but it is on the part of the listener. The voice of Rodger Ridley transformed Mark Johnson from the streets of Santa Monica, California to a trip around the world looking for peace and connection through music.

I really try very hard to give credit to people when credit is due. After listening to Rodger Ridley sing "Stand By Me" I remembered that this wasn't the first time I heard the video. The first time I heard the video was from http://satellitesistersblog.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html on December 17. Sister Sheila certainly deserves the credit for being way ahead of the curve on this video. You can also hear this video on their blog at the aforementioned link.

Any transformations on your part lately? Have you ever been so touched by music that you were transformed? What kind of music touches your soul? What kind of music do you like?

Reality

What is your reality? My reality is that I've always wanted a lot of things but never really got off my dead ass to do the work necessary to get those things. Either I am to busy with other things. Or I am to lazy. Or I am afraid if I do the work I will succeed. Which brings me to the second reality. It is time. Time to face the reality that if I want the things I say I want then I will need to do the work to get them.

Which brings us to reality TV. None of the shows got it right. Pat, I am going to ruin Celebrity Apprentice for you if you haven't seen it yet. I will do a five line break between my Amazing Race Comments and The Celebrity Apprentice Comments and then after The Apprentice comments will do another five line break allowing you to skip over them.

Dancing With The Stars is now in the Semi-Finals. They got it wrong. Ty Murray has no business being in the final four and L'il Kim had no business leaving. The final four are reality star Mellissa Rycoff. Hunk Gilles. Olympic medal winner Shawn Johnson, and out of his element cowboy Ty Murray. I do think the judges do consistently over score Johnson and under score Ty so I'm taking those two out of my predictions. The final two are going to be Gilles and Mellissa with Mellissa being the second woman in a row to win Dancing With The Stars. From being rejected by the bachelor to becoming dancing queen, the sweetest kind of revenge.

The Amazing Race got it wrong too. Mother Marcie and deaf son Luke just shouldn't be in the finals. They have ran a good race but the breaks kind of went their way a few times. The other finalists are former NFL cheerleaders Jame and Cara and lawyers and siblings Tammy & Victor. I think the cheerleaders win the million bucks. I really don't want the mother and son to win even though it would make a great story. And who in the world would want lawyers to win? That leaves the cheerleaders for me to root for.






Celebrity Apprentice got it wrong too. Poker playing from Portland, Oregon Annie Duke and arch enemy comedian Joan Rivers are the final two. Should have been Sandra Bullock's main squeeze, Jesse James, and model Brande. I think it was fixed to bring together two women that hate each other just for the ratings. I think Annie will pull this off because she has the evil spirit to win this match. Beside I'm kind of obligated to root for her since she is from Portland. Should be interesting.








Who are you rooting for? What is your reality? As soon as you decide what you want out of your life do you do the work required to obtain it? Or are you like me and just wait for it to come to you?

Cinco de Mayo

According to Wikipedia: (Paraphrased)

"Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico.[1][2] The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.

The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years.[5] However, Cinco de Mayo is not "an obligatory federal holiday" in Mexico, but rather a holiday that can be observed voluntarily.

While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.[8] However, a common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day, which actually is September 16 "

"In 1861, Mexico ceased making interest payments to its main creditors. In response, in late 1861, France (and other European countries) attacked Mexico to try to force payment of this debt. France decided that it would try to take over and occupy Mexico. France was successful at first in its invasion; however, on May 5, 1862, at the city of Puebla, Mexican forces were able to defeat an attack by the larger French army. In the Battle of Puebla, the Mexicans were led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. Although the Mexican army was victorious over the French at Puebla, the victory only delayed the French invasion of Mexico City; a year later, the French occupied Mexico. The French occupying forces placed Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico on the throne of Mexico. The French, under U.S. pressure, eventually withdrew in 1866-1867. Maximilian was executed by President Benito Juarez, five years after the Battle of Puebla."

"in the United States, Cinco de Mayo has taken on a significance beyond that in Mexico. The date is perhaps best recognized in the United States as a date to celebrate the culture and experiences of Americans of Mexican ancestry, much as St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest, and the Chinese New Year are used to celebrate those of Irish, German, and Chinese ancestry respectively. Similar to those holidays."

More than you ever wanted to know about Cinco de Mayo!

Some housekeeping. Some of us were worried that the visit and phone call from Social Security to Pat was a sham. Turns out to be on the up and up! See Pat's post in the hugging thread.

Seconds

First, there is an Internet rumor going around that May 3 is Mary's (as opposed to Mary Z) birthday. Just recovering from tax season she deserves a whale of a birthday so lets all of us wish her a very happy birthday and many more!

Dona also needs our help. We already talked about her sister-in-law and now she had a very frightening incident with her Dad. Yesterday right before dinner her dad passed out. They determined it was low blood pressure. Dona's dad has a doctor's appointment soon so let us all wish Dona and her dad well. Send more prayers, vibes, and good thoughts her direction.

Now onto seconds. Things that happen that last only a month, a week, a day, an hour, minutes or seconds can have an impact on the rest of your life and maybe even have your thoughts go from the fear of the end of your life to what you can do to enjoy the life to come. Maybe you are getting ready to leave your house and just as you are getting ready to start your car you remember you forgot your glasses and have to go back into the house to get them. When you go back out to the car and right in front of your house is a car crash. One that you would have been in had you not forgotten your glasses. Seconds made a difference. Maybe you choose to go into work a different way today and the way you normally went there was a chemical spill. A seemingly unimportant decision and yes seconds made a difference in your life. There are many instances where if we had turned left instead of right, where if we had left a few minutes earlier or later, where if we hadn't stopped to answer that phone call, stayed a little longer at our parents or friends, canceled a flight because someone in the family was ill or maybe just because you had a feeling, a different decision a few seconds or minutes and your life changes forever.

The reason I am thinking about this today is because of what happened yesterday. On the morning news they didn't predict severe thunderstorms in the Portland area. But wow did we have a storm. One they are now calling severe and deadly. It didn't last very long but storms with wind gusts of 50 miles per hour, baseball size hail, rain drops the size of a small van don't really have to last long to knock out power, to blow down trees, or to stop traffic in its tracks. I should have stayed at Mom's and played that one more game of Scrabble that she wanted to play. Nope, I already had lost two games and didn't really want to lose a third. I mean we had agreed to the best two out of three before we started playing. And agreements just are not meant to be broken. I should have broken the agreement because not to do so put me in a very frightening situation. I haven't been that scared in quite a while. I left Mom's and headed the four miles towards my house, on the main highway, 99-W. Got maybe two miles and the storm hit. I'm telling you that it was a complete blanket of rain and hail that covered the car windshield. I couldn't see, completely blinded by the storm. Driving 55 miles per hour down a highway and then magically being blinded is quite frightening. I couldn't see anything in front of me, couldn't see 50 feet let alone an inch. Of course I immediately slowed down and pulled over even though I couldn't see what I was pulling over to. Fortunately is was a safe place to park. Several cars kept traveling even though they couldn't have possibly seen either. But when the storm stopped and the vision returned there were four or five cars that had pulled over right in front of me. Thank goodness for the smart drivers that had the brains to pull over. I'm not sure what the others were thinking. I should have played another game of Scrabble with my Mom. Then the awful fear never would have happened. How happy I was to get home.

In this morning's Oregonian there was a story about a person, they haven't been identified yet, killed when a tree was blown over and landed on top of their car they were making a turn on to a different street. A different turn. One more game. A different way home. A stop until the storm stopped. Slowing down just a tad so that he would have been at that turn seconds later . His or her family wouldn't be in mourning today.

When was the last time that a seemingly unimportant decision impacted your life? When was the last time that a few seconds changed the course of your life?

Hugging. Good Thoughts.

Before we discuss hugging I want send out some hugs, good vibes, good thoughts and prayers to Dona's sister-in-law. In a comment on the Update thread Dona wrote "I would like to ask if I may, that you all could send some good vibes, prayers toward my sister in law. She has had a very rough month. I will just say she is having a hard time living life. I told her about you all here and that I was going to ask for some support of some kind, but I just didn't know quite how without going into too much detail. But I believe in the power of prayer and hope I can count on you all. Thanks in advance. :)" So let us prove once again that we have the power to change things! If you pray send prayers Dona's sister-in-law's direction, if praying isn't your style good vibes and thoughts her way would be appreciated.

Now hugging. When it comes to the opposite sex my middle name (some might say my first and last name are the same) is clueless. I never know what their interest in me is. I miss all the signs. Mostly because I don't know what the signs are. I never have considered myself either good looking or huggable. Average looking at best, huggable if a woman needs a hug and there isn't another man within two to three thousand miles. With the fears of the swine flu I've lately been acutely aware of personal contact. I've actually noticed that lately I've been getting hugged by a lot of strange women. Let me rephrase that, I've been getting hugged by women that I don't really know that well but are familiar to me because I/we frequent their places of business.

I kind of understood the hugs at work on my last day on the job. The receptionist and young T. both hugged me. That was understandable because we went through a maze together, tax season, and survived. Sometimes I think the reason people hug me when I am with mom is because when we are out I treat mom with a tremendous amount of consideration and respect. They see that and want their kids to treat them that way. However, twice Thursday when I was out Mom was nowhere in sight. Unless Mom was hiding under the check stand at the grocery store or was in an emotional tangle with the desert display at the restaurant. I started out the day grocery shopping and when I paid for the groceries the checker ignoring that there was a decent line in her aisle came around and gave me a hug. Having not been out to a nice restaurant by myself lately I decided to take my book and head out for a grilled cheese and cup of chicken noodle soup. While sitting there involved in my reading/eating the hostess/assistant manager came by leaned over and gave me a hug.

I have mixed emotions about the hugging. It felt really pleasant at the time but later I was wondering that if they had contact with someone that had the strain of flu going around then I was exposed. Now I would never think of exposing myself to them. Let me rephrase that too. I wouldn't want to risk causing them any grief so I might hesitate to hug anyone right now. Which brings up a lot of questions that this clueless person was wondering the answers to.

How do you choose whom to hug? Is it a spur of the moment thing? Or is it planned? Is more like a handshake between men? Is it a sign? If it is a sign what is it a sign of? Do you think if you hugged someone it would be such a treat for the man that it be worth him picking up a virus? Just so you know I'll take the hugs and any risks that go with it! Tell me your take on hugging.

Sometimes A Blog, Always An Update Day

Some days the Blog just writes itself, other days I really struggle with what to write. Six days a week I never know which it will be when I wake up, my mind automatically transferring my thoughts to the Blog or me going in search of stories to write about. The seventh day is always easy to write. It is Update Day. Easy to write because it is about you, the poster and the reader. I sincerely enjoy having you tell me what is going on in your life. Your concerns. Your joys. Your events. Your Plans. And although it doesn't happen very often I enjoy it when a new reader introduces themselves and we all make a new friend.

This week I was emotionally connected to my to do list. I think I knocked off thirty some items off that magical list. Bought a new lawn mower. Mowed the front lawn. Now I still have the back lawn to mow. A lot bigger and a little more difficult but I have a date with the backyard tomorrow. Then there was my annual physical that concluded I might live a few more years. I use the word annual loosely as I just don't like the pokes and prods that happen during a physical. My last annual one was in 2007. I cleaned the downstairs of my townhouse. Including cleaning the kitchen and bathroom floors. I have a date with the upstairs Sunday. The upstairs is pretty easy to clean because it gets the least use. I just sleep there. There are three bedrooms upstairs but they all stay pretty clean. Being optimistic I want to be prepared in case a wild woman needing a place to stay shows up at my door. Then I did my budget. That was really hard to do because there are so many unknowns. I don't really know what my royalties from the sale my practice will be until I actually get the check. That should be today or Monday. Then I don't really know how much I will receive from the just completed job because I get a third of what they billed on my projects. I won't know what I earned until May 10. So much up in the air. Including my life.

Speaking of the job. I was called into work this week to complete a job that I had started before April 15. The reason I didn't finish the job before I left was there was a missing document that a third party was to provide. When the firm called me to come in I just assumed that they had received that document from the aforementioned third party. I mean it was in my outlook task list, noted right there what I was missing. There was also a paper note on the file about what I was missing. So being an idiot I didn't bother to ask them "do you have the document I need to prepare the return." Next time I will because they didn't have it so my excursion into work wasn't necessary. However, I handled it in a professional manner. Also focusing on the good. The big boss said to me "You, know it is really good to see you again." He usually never says anything like that. Then one of my favorite people, young T. was really upset about them not checking things out before having them call me to come in. I told him to relax that coming in wasn't near as demanding as being at Mom's.

Speaking of Mom. There were two nights at her house. Taking her grocery shopping twice. Taking her to get her drugs. Taking her out to dinner once, lunch once. Fixing her a dynamite lunch once. Bringing take out home once. Playing several games of Scrabble with her. I'm getting better because I even won a couple of games. Watching Dancing With The Stars with her. DWTS is her favorite show. I actually really enjoy watching it with her. One of the reasons I love DWTS is it is a show a couple generations can watch together without anyone getting embarrassed. The only time I get embarrassed watching DWTS with my over 90 mom is when she tells me she would like to take Gilles out behind the barn.

OK, the Blog is now yours. Tell me everything. All your Secrets! Ask me anything and maybe I will tell you my secrets!