Category: Orphans

Late night. Thinking about the late Warren Zevon and the great songs he wrote and sang. Oh, and if you don’t know who Warren Zevon is, you probably won’t know who Hunter S. Thompson is. He’s the dude in the photos. Geez, learn some history!

Perhaps it is because I haven’t worked so steadily over the past month as I have this week but I am damned glad to see this week end. There are several reasons for that, not the least that the baby powder I put under the insoles of my diabetic shoes didn’t help all that much the squeaking when I walk. The powder did fly out of my shoes like they were  packed with a kilo of cocaine — great when you pass by federal marshals most days — not that I’ve ever had any cocaine in my shoe. Since these are black shoes, they carried a good coat of white dust until I wiped them clean several times today.

Other reasons exist why I am happy to see the weekend. I worked last weekend on a freelance project. So it has been a couple of weeks since I had two days in a row off. So here we are.

Let’s all just share happy thoughts for a good weekend and a better new week. Perhaps someone, maybe me, will win the lottery. Or maybe we will be struck by lightning, I think that is more likely to happen. But the main idea is to have fun doing what you do. I don’t know if it’s possible to have fun while being struck by lightning. Ben Franklin is always pictured as if he were having fun flying a kite with a key on the end during a lightning strike. Of course, I don’t suppose he really got struck. Despite the sound what I say is not cynical. It is not facetious, my friends. That’s from right here. (Thumping my chest where the heart always resides except in reality — Oops, sorry for the slip up.) Have a pleasant weekend.

My friend Sally in Western Massachusetts e-mailed me this link to a story about one of our local TV weathermen, Nick Kosir, the “rapping weatherman” on station KBTV-TV, Fox 4 in Beaumont, Texas. Hat tip to Sally!

After looking at the station’s Web page they are tooting their own horn some more since “American Idol’s” Ryan Seacrest mentioned Kosir on his Tweeter page. I should be as lucky.

I had heard through some local blogs about this very white, 26-year-old guy who breaks into a rap every once in awhile while doing the weather on the station’s morning news show. I told Sally that I don’t get up that early. Actually, I sometimes do but I don’t watch their newscast. I don’t watch it at 4 p.m. or 9 p.m. either. It really takes a lot to pull an hour-long local newscast and I don’t think the station is quite there yet. Plus, 4-5 p.m.? Who watches local news then? The folks at Fox 4 shouldn’t feel bad. I don’t watch the combined local NBC and ABC stations either (the same company owns both.)

My preferred local news is CBS affiliate KFDM-TV Channel 6, which I have more or less watched since Ralph Ramos left the NBC station when it was still located in Port Arthur, many, many years ago. KFDM is by no means perfect. It is far from it. It is more like the process of elimination.

I doubt the rappin’ weather guy will get me to watch his station more. I mean, I’m not watching it now. Nick Kosir maybe will become famous, or will get his 15 minutes of fame from this. Good for him if that’s what he wants. Me, I just want the weather and I’m getting to the point where I really don’t need a TV weatherman to tell me what the weather will or will not do.

As it is with Channel 6’s weather team, they do a fairly good job. They have been here for awhile. Greg Bostwick, the head meteorologist has been on the job for 30 some-odd years. He, James Brown and Kerry Cooper are pretty solid. They’ve been through quite a lot now, what with several bad hurricanes under our belt. Like pretty much all, longtime TV weathermen, Bostwick gets a little cocky every now and then. But I would definitely rather see and hear him prior to a hurricane than getting a forecast in rap. For one thing, I am into weather. Secondly, I’m not into rap, unless it’s a decent parody.

Enough. I didn’t really want to discuss my feelings about the local newscasts. They all try. It’s a very difficult business. But lots of local news, especially small-market where everyone comes to go somewhere, pretty much sucks.

more about “Ray Stevens-The Streak“, posted with vodpod

Ed note: If you have no idea what the headline is paraphrasing, play the above video. Or “Don’t look Ethel” if you are offended by (the idea of) people taking off their clothes and running around places nekkid as a jaybird.

Actually, this post has nothing to do with streaking. I wish it did because it’s a much more interesting subject in my mind than squeaking shoes, of which I’m about to speak, write, say. Whatever. You will probably like the video more than my post. Or not. Or you might hate both.

I have noted here before that I received two pairs of diabetic shoes from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Let me clarify: The shoes aren’t diabetic. I am. They are shoes made for diabetic people. I really didn’t know how big a deal feet were in the diabetic world until being diagnosed with Type II diabetes. But they are a big deal. That is because your feet regulate your sugar and if you get too much sugar you are supposed to suck your big toe. There is a whole big explanation here. But diabetics and medical people who give them care tend to obsess over feet and with pretty good reason.

My diabetic shoes squeak. I figured they would eventually stop squeaking with some wear. They didn’t. The shoes don’t squeak all the time, just  walking on certain surfaces such as highly waxed floors. The floors in my office building are like that.

The shoes didn’t come with any instructions so I searched the ‘net. I found a lot of different suggestions, everything from waxing the bottom of your shoes to using WD-40. I tried the WD-40, and while it works on just about everything else on Earth, it didn’t stop my squeaky shoes.

I finally found a phone number for the company — Aetrex, in Teaneck, N.J. —  and while waiting awhile on the phone to talk with someone, I was told of “Foot.com.“ It looks quite extensive for those who have various foot conditions. As for foot fetishes, I don’t think they can help you.

Eventually I talked with a nice lady who apologized for my squeaking shoes and made some suggestions.

“”One is if you take out the insoles and put baby powder in the footbed and then put the insoles back in,” she said. “Also, you can get a candle and take the insoles out and put wax from the candle inside the footbed.”

I will try the powder suggestion and see if it works. The candle, I don’t know. I am too worried that since I likewise have the shakes (benign essential tremors in my hands is what they call it — yeah, I’m a mess)  I might end up torching my shoes. Hopefully, these suggestions will work.

A man shouldn’t squeak when he walks. Or he shouldn’t squeak,  period. I look forward to being squeakless, squeak-free, asqueak, squeaky clean.

Charlie Rich said it best: ” … no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.” Now Al and Tipper are splitting up after 40 years. See, I just said “Al and Tipper” and you know who I’m talking about. It’s not like Madonna and her latest squeeze breaking up. These are allegedly the pair whom the best-seller “Love Story” was based upon. Yeah, I know, I know, and Al invented the Internet. The pair was married 40 years. That is a long time. Think about it. Think about the divorce statistics. It’s certainly not unheard of, huh my brothers? But the fact that more marriagse don’t last is, in the abstract at least,  sad. Tipper might have been living hell to live with, or vice versa. Why did I mention Tipper first? You make the call.