A Cheezburger Milestone

This morning, before work, I checked out my page on the Cheezburger Network. There is a statistic box that tells how many different people have put one of your funny pictures into their favorites. I have been watching that number for a few weeks. It has steadily crept toward the 5,000 mark. When I left for work, it was at 4,999.

When I got home from work, it had risen to 5,010. As I type, it stands at 5,017. I've only been a member of the Cheezburger network for a little over two years. To have over 5,000 different people think something you did is good enough to favorite is quite an accomplishment.

This is the LOL that put me over the top. It has been favorited by 41 different people. I got the idea from a text that a friend sent me.







As I was checking my total out, I discovered that this picture had just made the front page of "So Much Pun":





That makes my 76th front page picture.

Wild, Whirlwind Weekend

Sorry about not posting for a bit. It has been a bit crazy around here. Thursday was our 27th wedding anniversary. On Friday, Lady Nottaguy-TYG took me to the Horizion phone store and got me a new cell phone.

Those of you who know me well, know that I don't like change. I've had only three phones before this new one. Once I learn how to use it, I don't want to get a different one and start the learning process all over again. This time, I got a smart phone. I should be pictured in the next Horizon advertisement: Smart phone/ Stupid user. Things aren't as bad as I pictured it could be. I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I also love to play Angry Birds.

Saturday found us travelling to Dublin for a bible quizzing tournament. We got there at 9 AM to help set up. By the time the tournament was over, it was a little past 5 PM. There were 19 junior teams and eight beginner teams. Our grandson, "The Boy", did well. He posted a 71.67 point per quiz average. That would have landed him on the "All-Tournament Team" if his team had won one more game (teams had to win a minimum of two game to make ATT). Both of his team's losses came on the final question. He did get a ribbon for Honorable Mention ATT. He also got a ribbon for highest score in a quiz and two second highest scorer ribbons.

Sunday was church. For us, that an all day event.

Monday, I didn't have to work. At my company, if you have Friday or Monday off, You don't have to work Saturday (if Saturday is posted). They wouldn't give me Friday off, but they would give me Monday (OK?). I spent the day with Lady Nottagut-TYG and "The Girl" (who wasn't feeling well). When "The Boy" got here from school, he spotted the bag from Horizon, that my phone & accessories came in. He looked in it and found the booklet "Master Your Device". He said "You don't need this, all you have to do is ask Mom." LOL

Flashback Friday # 174

The Spanish Class Field Trip

Hola, Todos los personas. Beinevedos a Vienes escena retrospectiva.

No, The whole post isn’t going to be in Spanish. Good thing. Mi Espanol es muy malo. Even if your Spanish isn't as bad as mine, you’ll enjoy this story about a Spanish class field trip.

My teacher, Senorita Frijol, caught wind of a special matinee showing at a movie theater in Columbus . It was Cervantes’ “Don Quijote, de la Mancha ”. Not only was it the most classical Spanish movie ever, it was completely in Spanish with no subtitles.



Now, If I had been in Spanish 4, It would have been a great experience. I had not yet finished Spanish 1. I was lucky I could ask where the bathroom was (Donde esta el cuarto de bano). Watching a movie in a language you don’t know is confusing at best.

We all piled into the bus and made our way to Columbus . As we piled out, Senorita Frijol gave each of us a ticket with a seat number on it. All of her classes were sitting together, unlike some of the other schools that were there. I made sure that my best friend, Bart, got the seat next to me. If we couldn’t understand the dialog, we could come up with some of our own.

During the movie, the girl sitting on my left (Bart was on my right) kept complaining that she didn’t get it. “A movie like this is good for only one thing, making out.”

Every once & awhile we caught a word we understood. “Hey, that guy said dog.” “She wants water.”, and “They just said Hello” were heard in whispered conversations. Even though we didn’t understand all the dialog, the “jousting the windmill” scene cracked us up. The girl on my left said “I don’t get it. A movie like this is only good for making out.”

When the movie was over, and the house lights were coming up, the girl on my left said “What a waste of time. I didn’t understand any of it. A movie like this is only good for making out.”

Do you think she was trying to tell me something?

All Dads of Daughters Need This

A Trip To "Cheezy Rodent"

Friday I played hookey from work and my wife & I made a trek down to Kentucky. We took my truck, which rarely leaves town. We were going to pick up two armchairs from my oldest daughter, Lady Lemon. It also gave us a chance to get some "Lemon squeezings" from our grandkids.


We were going to spend Friday night & return home on Saturday. Once we got there, we discovered that Prince Zesty & Princess Pinky had been invited to a birthday party at "Cheezy Rodent" (for those new to my blog, I don't like to use real names. I think you can figure out where we went).


Zesty was off to the races with tokens in hand. My daughter was able to keep up with Pinky for a few minutes, but due to "circumstances", tired out quickly. Grabbing a handful of tokens, I set out to try to keep up with a two year old that could wear out the Energizer bunny.


When she sat down on a ride, I was able to snap off a few pictures.

Flashback Friday # 173

The New Pinto

Greeting one & all. Welcome again to the ramblings of an old man trying to write about his youth before he forgets it.

I've mentioned in this column before that my parents had a penchant for picking cars that have dubious mechanical issues. I remember the day when the last new car that we purchased while I was living at home rolled into the driveway.

I had come home from school (via the schoolbus) and set into getting my chores done. It was getting late in the afternoon/ early in the evening and Mom & Dad hadn't gotten home yet. I began to worry that the car had broken down (I can't even remember what car we had at the time).

Not much later, I herd an unfamiliar horn honking in the driveway. Around our house, If you were driving by someone's house, and wanted to tell them something, you stopped at the house, honked your horn and one of the kids came out to see what the message was. Since I was the only one at home, I went out to see who it was.

As I rounded the corner of the porch, I saw a red car in the driveway. I didn't know anyone with a red car. I got a bit suspicious until Dad opened the driver's door and asked how I liked it. I was a bit confused. Then Dad said they had just bought it in Westerville that day (BTW- If you're in Westerville now, Allen's coin shop is now in the location of the car dealership that sold my folks the Pinto).

Mom said that she had wanted to get a blue one, but when she got in the car to start it, it wouldn't turn over. She refused to try it again with the reasoning that since if it wouldn't start at the dealership, it wouldn't start when she got it home.

I was quite thrilled. I would be driving soon, and that car had my name written all over it.

One Man's Trash Is This Man's Treasure

You never know what you might find sitting out to be picked up by the garbage truck. The other day, my wife spotted something across the street as we were leaving the house. The next morning, it was still there. That was a sign that I needed to go investigate it. It came to find a new home in my house. What is it, you may ask?


It is a vintage Bobby Hull tabletop hockey game.

I'm assuming that it is from 1968/69 since there is a placard from the Oakland Seals. In 1970 they were renamed the California Golden Seals. None of the players are wearing helmets, including the goalies. The last maskless goalie was Andy Brown who retired in 1974.

How's That Again?

Here's a couple of funnies that I've heard in the last couple of days:

On Saturday, Sir Gattabout was over showing us a website set up for a cousin that had a double lung transplant. He was going to come over sooner but we weren't at home. When he asked where we were, Lady Nottaguy-TYG told him that we were at a marriage retreat. "Marriage retreat?", he asked. "Is that where you get married and back out of it?" (this comes from someone married twice & with military background)

Tonight, "The Boy" informed us that he knows how to dunk cookies without getting any crumbs in his milk. "I dip them in Mom's milk when she's not looking". Do you know how hard is is to drive when you ROFL?

Flashback Friday # 172

Black Pete

Greeting to all those who have ventured this way once again.

The subject of today's post isn't a person. I tend to personify inanimate objects (a trait that I have had as long as I can remember). Anyone who has know me for any length of time has heard me talk to items ranging from cars to can openers.

Getting back to the subject at hand, Black Pete is a knife that was given to me by Sir Gattabout while he was in the U.S. Army. He didn't really give it to me, he traded me. He had given me a Barlow knife & sheath for Christmas. A few months after that he asked if he could have the Barlow back because he could pack that as a personal weapon during the many times that his company went out on maneuvers and training exercises. He told me he would give me another to take it's place. This is what he gave me:

I named it after a villain in several Disney cartoons because it looked somewhat villainous.

Black Pete was the "pocket knife" that most other boys my age carried. As you can see, it's not a pocket knife by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, it will fit in your pocket, but it's a classic fighting knife. It went with me most places, except school. The one time it did go to school with me, I almost got in a whole heap of trouble.

The rivet that held the blade onto the handle had come loose. This made the blade wobbly and unstable. One of the guys in my science class, Terry,(whom you will hear a little more about next week) said he could fix it. He had a relative that was a gunsmith and had learned a lot from him. I bought Pete to school and slipped him to Terry. A few days later, Terry said he had fixed the rivet and slipped Pete back to me. I put him in my coat pocket in my locker.

During my Freshman year, I had the worst possible gym class. It was the last class of the day. You toted all the stuff you were going to take home to gym with you because there was no time to go to your locker after class and still catch the bus home.

This particular day, we finished our activity and hit the showers. Hurrying through the showers, we grabbed up our stuff and scurried to the buses (some in various states of not quite all the way dressed). As I was running down the hall, and almost to the side door (which was closest for me to catch my bus from gym), Pete flew out of my coat pocket and landed at the feet of the shop teacher.

I scooped that knife up like Brooks Robinson scooped up ground balls at 3rd base and kept right on running. I heard a voice behind me bellow "I don't ever want to see that here again, understand me?" I didn't even look back.

Family Pictures At Work

This week I began my 24th year at the my place of employment. When you've been someplace for 24 years, you accumulate things. One of the things I have accumulated over the years is pictures. Here are some of the pictures I have in the proximity of my desk in my department. (there's some glare on some of them. I tried to get a better picture, but from my vantage point, that's as good as you get.)

Flashback Friday # 171

Cadillac Crunch Time

A hearty welcome to one and all. It's good to be back. I debated which narrative to spin for you this time, and since there's been a lot of gloom on the Flashback Friday post recently, I decided to go with a light hearted story for today.

Those of you who have read this blog for a while recall the pool table that Dad bought. The neighbors of the folks that had the pool table were good friends of Dad's best friend, Chuck. Both the father and the son had the same name, and the first name rhymed with the last name.

But I digress. The Dad of this family had a Cadillac that had some major mechanical issues. They were such that he was going to enter it in the upcoming demolition derby at the county fair. Back then (late 70's), the prize money was $200 for the winner of the derby.

The kids spray painted slogans like "Hit me" and "Crunch" on the car. The only thing that needed done was to take out the windshield & windows, which was going to be done there at the fairgrounds. There was a nearby auto parts salvage dealership (aka junk yard) that would buy up all the glass from the cars. If you took it out beforehand, there was a chance it might get broken in transport.

The Dad got into the car to drive it up onto the trailer. He started it up and put it in drive, and the car wouldn't move. The transmission had given out. Even with all his mechanical knowledge, he couldn't get the car to move. Great, there goes the prize money. He could sell it for junk, but he had another idea.

There was an upcoming street festival in town. This particular Saturday, the main street was blocked off and food vendors and carnival games dotted the street. He may have missed out on the demolition derby prize money, but the entrepreneurial spirit ran deep in him. He towed that Cadillac into town, and charged people 50 cents for three swings with a sledgehammer.

I personally spent $5.00 taking whacks at that car. I had gotten there a bit later in the day due to working that Saturday with Mom. I was told that the windows & windshield were the first to be smashed. By the time the day was over, the car that he was going to sell for junk anyway proved to be more valuable than one would think. He got the same price for the scrap value, but with the money that was brought in from smashing it, it came out to more than the $200 he would have won if he had won the derby.

New Years Resolution- A Month Later