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adventures / Friday / friends / photo / swimming / Twitter — Comments Off on Check your egg rolls for bugs and the store owner for guns
7
Feb 14

Check your egg rolls for bugs and the store owner for guns

We’re at Walmart. There are two checkout lines open. And each line has about 20 people in it. One of the two lines is for the Express lane, which is more a state of mind than an indicator of progress or even a goal to which anyone abscribed. Such is your lot in life at Walmart. I’d say late at night, but increasingly, this seems to be the case no matter the time of day you’re there.

So The Yankee goes to the other line, figuring one of us will have to move eventually, because Disney World doesn’t stay stagnant forever, and the winner can call the other person halfway across the store to the other line. By now I’ve made friends with the young couple in front of us. The Yankee’s line starts to move. She waves me over. Our new buddies come to. The girl says to the boy, “They have to be first … ” and he says of course.

About this time two other families slink into that line. And my new friend says “Actually, we’ll be behind them.”

And his date, a charming young woman, says “No we won’t, we’re going in right after him.”

To which I said, “Yep.” So I fell in line behind my wife. This couple fell in line behind me and four people with tons of stuff had to wait because, By Walton, we’d all been there for an interminable amount of time.

Maybe the place was in shock about the massacre in the Valentine’s Day part of the store:

animals

I broke my swimming goggles today. I’m always struggling with them in one way another, fighting the creeping water or exasperated at the slowly accumulating fog. Even if I wanted to swim non-stop I’d be stopped just so I can see. I’m forever closing one eye or both and just guessing. So, somewhere in a bad swim today, I pulled up and pulled on the straps, and broke them.

The nicest thing about the googles was that there was plenty of strap, because this is the kind that allows for a strip of the rubber to go around the bottom and the top of the back of your head. I spent a long time trying to reconfigure them today, finally got it to work, and found that it was no better.

Oh well. It was a lousy swim anyway, even by my poor standards.

This afternoon I had a nice meeting with industrial designer Chris Arnold. We are trying to tease out a few interesting things to explore in the journalism world. This conversation goes on and on, which means there is a need to refine some ideas. But Chris is a long-time Twitter friend, and it is always nice to get to spend more than few moments in passing with thoughtful people.

We watched the live-on-tape Opening Ceremonies with friends at a party. Some people dressed up as their favored nations. I think we all told each other we were Canadians. One woman wore a ushanka, with the standard Soviet pin, and she did so without irony. There were artists there, so they were thrilled with the constructivism, which was neat to see. One of the art historians there was a woman at the party from Belarus, and she got to hear her national anthem and gave us some context for some things.

I promised myself I’d limit the number of things I said about the Opening Ceremonies, so I’ve limited it to the above and just a few tweets:

The two overly annoying phrases that NBC developed for their embarrassing coverage: “This is highly idealized” and “pivotal experiment.” I’m not sure whether they were talking about the Soviet era or themselves.

Things to read … because this part of the daily post is always pivotal, even when it is quick.

You can admit it, you can’t wait until these become ubiquitous: Cruise Ship’s 80-Inch ‘Virtual Balconies’ Livestream the High Seas

The kindness of strangers always awes us: Snow can’t stop the Southeast’s largest kidney transplant chain at UAB

This is a regrettable portmanteau, but a fine read: Rise of the Platishers

A record month here, the coldest in a generation: The Alabama Climate Report

The Snowden era of journalism:

Snowden has prompted a free-for-all among journalists itching to tell America’s surveillance secrets, an important generational shift as the nation faces years of growing debate about privacy in an increasingly wired world. The litany of stories come not just from the handful of reporters with access to the former NSA contractor’s treasure-trove of documents but also from competitors eagerly searching for scoops to move the dial on what has become one of the biggest stories of the decade.

“For years … it was like the number of articles to come out on NSA you could count on the fingers on one hand,” said James Bamford, who has written four books on government surveillance. “Now it’s almost impossible to keep up.”

“What we’ve seen with the Snowden revelations is the impact that putting documents out there really has,” added Siobhan Gorman, a national security reporter for The Wall Street Journal, during a recent panel discussion hosted by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. For example: You can have a robot vacuuming your floor, not unlike the Jetsons. That’s existed for some time now. But no one really wanted a Roomba until you saw it as DJ Roomba on Parks and Recreation. Anyway: Technology? We haven’t seen anything yet.

Headline of the day: Birmingham restaurant owner accused of shooting at customer who complained of bug in egg roll.

Let’s not eat there.

Friday / friends / photo — Comments Off on Photo week – Friday
24
Jan 14

Photo week – Friday

The sign at Price’s Barbecue House, where we enjoy breakfast on Fridays:

sign

We just beat the rush today, because that’s the kind of charmed little thing that happens sometimes. It seems to happen more often if you notice them. Think about that for awhile.

Swam this afternoon. Got in 1.22 miles, or 2,150 yards before they kicked me out. The pool closes at 1 p.m., apparently. The sweet little lifeguard didn’t have the heart to tell me, but some guy behind me, unseen and unknown with a little too much bass in his voice, gave me the news. So I got out.

Next week I’m getting over the 2,650 block.

We attended a dinner party tonight. A room full of academics. Everyone had a speciality. And almost all of them were widely different than anything I know about. This is good, you can learn something at a very broad level from people who know things from excruciatingly precise points of view. So I asked appropriately broad questions and let people go on a bit about their passions. People are fascinating, if you ask questions. You learn all sorts of things.

Tonight it was comic books, coat hangars, building demolition and a lot of art. The party was a welcome party. A friend is having a friend stay for a while, so she must be introduced to people. The new lady focuses on 19th century Russian art. I know so very much about 19th century Russian art, let me tell you.

So we discussed artists, external factors like the technology — which she is really interested in, I learned — and things like varying cultures, infrastructure, religion, the Mongolians and Bolshevism.

We went to a dinner party and discussed art. That’s life.

friends / links / running / swimming / things to read / weekend — Comments Off on Pink and purple
18
Jan 14

Pink and purple

Yesterday was something of a trying day. We were holding vigil with friends all over the country as their little girl fought for her life. This adorable little 3-year-old suddenly got ill. It seems the first hospital missed something big and by the time the next morning rolled around bad had gone to worse and now tragic.

It has shown the best of us, though. People who are hurting for their friends now suddenly dealing with this huge hole in their world. And strangers who are generous because they read a good appeal and they saw a few beautiful photographs. Folks who empathized, maybe, because it could have been their child. In two days the Internet has helped raise almost $50,000 for that family’s hospital bills. You people are quite remarkable.

We’d ordered some things on Amazon to have shipped to them at the hospital. And then suddenly the facts on the ground made the shipment seem inappropriate, so we tried to cancel them. Four items were in the pipeline. I called Amazon, and Rachel told me that they have a half-hour cancellation policy. However, she was able to cancel three of the orders while we were on the phone. This, I thought, was great. The fourth item, though, had already passed Go. She contacted the merchant and the shippers this morning and got that item stopped. Amazon and Rachel didn’t have to do that, but they did. And she called to tell me about it this afternoon.

(Also, we spend so much time complaining about customer service, we should compliment the good examples, too.)

We ran today. I got in 4.25 miles, chasing The Yankee around the local running trail and down an adjoining road. I outran two horses. Of course they were being walked, slowly, but let’s not concentrate on that.

Also, at the pool yesterday, I swam 1.29 miles. Swimming is supposed to be mentioned in yards. I count it in laps. My online tracker uses miles. It was 2,250 yards if you’re interested.

Most important was that I did half of that freestyle. That’s 1,125 yards. My shoulder isn’t limiting me. Muscle fatigue, that’s a different story. Also, there was an Olympic swimmer on the pool deck. And I was told that my stroke looked good.

The Olympian didn’t say that, but it is pretty awesome when it reads that way, right?

Things to read … which even Olympians care about.

Alabama looks for next generation of farmers:

Farming and forestry are big business in Alabama. Combined, they account for nearly 12 percent of all of the state’s economic activity.

But after generations of change, the state’s bell cow industries may need some nurturing.

Over the past half century, the number of Alabama farms has dwindled from about 250,000 to around 60,000. Large farming operations have thrived but many medium-sized, family farms died away, said Alabama Cooperative Extension System Director Gary Lemme.

Department of Justice finds conditions at Julia Tutwiler Prison to be unconstitutional:

The U.S. Department of Justice said today that conditions at Julia Tutwiler Prison violate the Constitution, citing what it called “a history of unabated staff-on-prisoner sexual abuses and harassment.”

DOJ sent investigators to Tutwiler last April and reported their findings in a 36-page letter to Gov. Robert Bentley.
“The women at Tutwiler universally fear for their safety,” the report stated.

The New York Times’ Most Popular Story of 2013 Was Not an Article:

Think about that. A news app, a piece of software about the news made by in-house developers, generated more clicks than any article. And it did this in a tiny amount of time: The app only came out on December 21, 2013. That means that in the 11 days it was online in 2013, it generated more visits than any other piece.

I’ll repeat: It took a news app only 11 days to “beat” every other story the Times published in 2013. It’s staggering.

You don’t know them, but do a little dance — or a few burpees, she liked burpees — for ZB and her parents. Pink and purple were her favorite colors. Wearing those might be a nice touch.

football / friends / links / things to read / Thursday / video — Comments Off on Mouth fist! Fist line!
16
Jan 14

Mouth fist! Fist line!

We bought our first Girl Scout cookies of the year. Our friend Jeremy’s daughter is a Girl Scout. This is her first year. So he called and asked if they could drive over. This is good timing because we are usually visited by the most entrepreneurial young lady in the troop. She goes around selling to restaurants and dessert places.

Sadie, Jeremy’s daughter, beat her to us. We’d also promised to buy from another girl. So we’re buying a lot of cookies, but this is a good experience for the kids. Plus, cookies.

I turned on the exterior lights. A bit later Sadie rang the doorbell. Jeremy has stayed in his car. We discuss the cookies. It was in the 30s, so I invited her in, because we are friends. Sadie, who has the most ironic sense of humor you’ve ever seen on a child her age, says “Let me go ask my dad. For ‘safety.'”

She made the air quotes, which made my day.

So I filled out the forms. We had a good chat about why I invited her inside, why people shouldn’t invite her in, why she should stay at the door and why asking her dad was a very good thing. I’m sure they discuss that when they hand out the Girl Scout sashes, but you can never hear the safety lectures from too many different people.

We sent her across the way to sell cookies. Since they had cookies in the back of their car we collected ours and then removed the rest. They almost drove off without their supplies, until mock guilt at our pretend theft got the better of us.

But we were thiiiis close to establishing a black market for cookies.

Tonight we watched an episode of the seventh season of the Cosby Show. It guest starred Red Buttons, a comedian and composer. Buttons played the local hardware store owner. He was all worked up about a traffic accident that happened a decade prior. Turns out Buttons’ daughter wanted to marry the son of the other guy in that old car wreck, whom Buttons’ character is still mad at. That role was played by the great E.G. Marshall. If you let that scene play out, below, it is rather touching, with Cosby just sitting back watching two old masters work.

Buttons first movie was in 1944. He was still on TV in 2005, before dying in 2009. Marshall got his start in 1945 and worked until his death in 1998.

They first worked on the same project in 1947. This episode of the Cosby Show was shot in 1991. Fifty-four years in between. Of course, almost 23 years have passed since this episode aired …

Things to read … from this decade.

Goal Post kicker going home with family:

The fate of the animated, neon placekicker who welcomed generations of Anniston residents to Goal Post Bar-B-Q had been uncertain since the place closed in September. But this week the Calhoun County icon found a new home — just 2 miles down Quintard Avenue — with the family that established the famed restaurant in the 1960s.

If you like iconic neon, this story is great news. It is quite a shame that the old barbecue joint shut down, but at least the sign will live on.

Tornado impact minimal in north Alabama in 2013; second-fewest twisters in last 6 years:

Tornadoes in 2013 had a minimal impact in north Alabama and for the second straight year, there were no deaths attributed to tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service office in Huntsville.

The weather service today released its 2013 statistical review of tornadoes, which reflected that north Alabama saw its second-fewest number of twisters since 2007.

It was, the story notes, the second year in a row that the area had only two of what are considered “strong” tornadoes.

NSA collects 200 million text messages daily in untargeted sweep, British paper reports:

The program code named “Dishfire” collects data, including communications from people not suspected of illegal activity, and conducts an automated analysis. Among the data collected: Missed call alerts, details of border crossings derived from network roaming alerts, names and images from electronic business cards, financial transactions and travel details.

And, finally, something more amusing than all of that from across the Atlantic, bad British football commentary:

No doubt this will be a hit at Alabama, where they think their team might probably should be in the Super Bowl.

Auburn / family / football / Friday / friends / history / memories — Comments Off on Better than perfection
3
Jan 14

Better than perfection

The thing about the football bowl system is that it gives you time to dream and fret and be exposed to endless amounts of hype. It also lets you reflect. I wrote most of the list below at about this time in 2011, the last time Auburn was set to play for a national championship. It was to be their first appearance since 1957. There are people in Jordan-Hare Stadium who waited all that time to watch their beloved team achieve that kind of success. And now we’re going to see them try again for the second time in four years, which is remarkable.

Football is an important part of the culture here, but Auburn is not a football team. Auburn is a community, a history, and sharing in a common experience. Auburn’s biggest dream is realizing her potential and Auburn’s greatest potential has always been her people.

Jordan-Hare

And we’ve got a lot of people.

I want Auburn to win for:

A teacher – One of my favorite high school teachers, an Auburn grad.
A girl – She was a big part of the reason I chose to apply to Auburn.
Mr. Ethridge – Who gave me my scholarship. He died in 2009.
Dean William Alverson – He helped raise that scholarship money and was my academic adviser. He retired just a few years ago.
My roommate – He and his family, all Auburn people, and all nicer to me than they had to be during my first two years at Auburn. He’s going to Pasadena, and no, I’m not jealous.
Chadd – A friend of more than 15 years, he gave me my start on air, was always full of advice, helped me build an incredible professional foundation. He’s never asked for a thing in return.
For Jim and Rod and Andy and Bill and Paul – Auburn athletics wouldn’t sound the same without them.
For an old man – I sat next to him during the 2004 season. He said simply, “I went to school here when it was API.” He was impressed by that perfect season, and I’m sure he’s amazed by this season, too.
For my wife – She was undeclared until I brought her to her first game but she’s been an Auburn woman ever since. Now she teaches at Auburn and is the director of the public relations program.
For the family in Section 52 – They adopted us and let them sit in their section for years. They remember the Barfield years.
For the Browns – Another strong, proud, kind Auburn family that have been indescribably good to us over the years.
For Shug and Doug and Pat and Terry and Tommy and Gene and Gus – And for all of their coaches and players and staffers, the people fans really mean when saying “We won.”

New additions to the list:

For the Hallmarks – Adam sat through last year and celebrated through this year. He’ll watch this BCS game shivering in some pub in Alaska, on his way to his new duty station.
For the tailgating crew – War Drunj Eagle.
For The War Eagle Reader – which loves like no other. War Eagle forever.

Mostly, I want this team to win for this team. We’ve seen great years, and this has by far been one of the best and most entertaining in many respects.

I wrote this, one of the few good football things I’ve written, before the 2011 BCS game, when everything those guys played for seemed to be more about everyone else. Now, I’m eager to celebrate a great season — I’ve said for the last three games, that we were going into the stadium to congratulate a team for a great performance this season — for the guys actually in the blue and orange.

Much has been written about this team turning around last year’s 3-9 effort. Less has been said about what these guys have gone through. Some of them are national champions. Some have two SEC championships. They’ve also changed head coaches. Some are playing for their third position coach. Some of them have lost parents. Others have had children. They’ve lost teammates. They’ve battled cancer. They’ve stuck together and demanded so much of themselves.

And still Heisman finalist Tre Mason told reporters: “We owed them that. Putting them through last year, we owed them a season like this.”

But, no, this is about them. They’ve succeeded beyond the wildest expectations of everyone but themselves. They’ve always believed.

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