Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack and a Couple o' Miscellaneous Items

Two takes on one of my favorite tunes... Jackson Browne's original version and a cover by Gregg Allman.  Jackson first:

And I had a lover
It's so hard to risk another these days
These days--
Now if I seem to be afraid
To live the life I have made in song
Well it's just that I've been losing so long

I'll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
These days--
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them

And now the former Mr. Cher...



It's a given that the original version of any tune is usually the BEST version.  I don't think that's the case where "These Days" is concerned, as I'm partial to Mr. Allman's version.  His take seems to be so much more soulful than Mr. Browne's version but YMMV, of course.  That said, I was most amazed back in the day when I learned that Mr. Browne was only 16 when he wrote the song.  Precocious?  I guess!  I could only WISH it would've been hard for me to risk another lover at the tender age of 16.  But that all came home to roost in later years.

―:☺:―

Seen this? 

Is that not AWESOME?  The back story is here.

―:☺:―

Finally... we took Happy Hour on the verandah today even though the temperature was a chilly 49 degrees.  But the combination of zero wind and bright, bright sun made sitting outside clad in a black tee shirt and jeans most comfortable... as long as I stayed in the sun.  And I did, Gentle Reader, I most certainly DID.

Yesterday's Wind Storm...

... had some serious consequences in Lubbock:

KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

There wasn't much damage in Clovis or P-Ville — there were power outages in Clovis; here in Portales a church lost part of its roof and highway crews working on our main street improvement project took the day off due to the wind.  I still stayed home, though.

Today?  Clear, (relatively) calm, and COLD... 34 degrees as I type.

My Mom Said Stuff Like This. ALL the Time.

Southern Belles.  God Love 'Em!

h/t: a tweet from Blog-Bud Morgan.

One of THOSE Days

It's not a nice day here on The High Plains o' New Mexico, and this is why:

The wind has actually moderated a bit in the last hour.  Our forecast called for wind gusts of up to 65 mph in the mid-morning hours and there's no doubt in my military mind we got there.  We're living under dust laden, dun-colored skies today (note the UV index: 2/16) and I shall NOT venture outdoors.

Update, 1430 hrs:  Two contrasting pics... today and a clear day, pretty much from the same angle. 

Interesting, eh?

A Blast From My (Almost) Past

So... this photo appeared in today's edition of the Air Force Association's Daily Report:

Air Frame: A forklift off-loads supply pallets from the back of a C-130 Hercules at Cape Newenham in northern Alaska, Dec. 4, 2012. Cape Newenham is a remote radar site that is part of the North Warning System, a string of aircraft-detection sensors stretching from northern Alaska across upper Canada to the Canadian Atlantic coast. Sites like Cape Newham are dependent upon air-delivered resupply. (Air Force photo by TSgt. Brian Ferguson)

The photo brought chills to my spine and grins to my face, alternately.  Why?  Because back in 1977 I had orders in hand for Cape Newenham AFS with a report NLT date of June, 1977.  Cape Newenham was a remote tour and I was looking at spending one year... alone, except for about 80 of my soon-to-be closest MALE friends... in that dreary place.  Fate intervened, however, due to this happy event (from the linked Wiki article):

On 1 October 1977, AAC, after a trial period, implemented a site support contract with RCA Services as part of an Air Force-wide effort to reduce remote tours. Eighty military positions were deleted.

One of those positions was MINE.  I was informed at the very last minute my orders to Cape Newenham had been cancelled and I was diverted here:

That would be Fortuna AFS, North Dakota.  I was prolly the ONLY guy ever assigned to Fortuna who arrived with a smile on his face.

Small Stuff

My key ring is beginning to look an awful lot like sumthin' a GIRL would carry...

Assuming girls have bottle openers, P-38s, dog tags, a utility tool, yadda, yadda, on their key rings.  I think not, somehow.  That said, there's more junk than keys on that ring... five actual keys vs. six other items.

First Report On the Long-Term Road Test

We've had The Tart for six months now.  Or nearly, as it were, coz we're a lil bit premature on the six months thang.  But what the Hell, now's as good a time as any for a six-month report.  We'll let The Tart speak for herself when it comes to the vitals:

I haven't reset any of these numbers since I got the car, so the fuel economy and average speed numbers are from Day One.  The fuel economy has been steadily improving now that she's broken in.  Cadillac claims a 22 mpg combined fuel economy for the CTS, so I can't complain.  I think that number's pretty good, actually, given that most of her miles have been on the highway... at highway speeds, which tend to be around 80 mph or so.  (The "or so" is for plausible deniability purposes.)

I don't have any real complaints about the car and I really shouldn't have any complaints.  I do have one nit to pick, however.  The Tart has an automatic headlight control feature and its default is "on."  I don't like driving around with my headlights on so I have to remember to shut the damned things off every time I start the car.  As I said: that's a nit.  The good news is Cadillac has eliminated the daytime running lights that you see on every other GM car... which is why the default position for the headlights is "on," I'm sure.  But you can defeat it.  I hate those damned DRLs.

And that's it.  The Tart has met or exceeded my expectations in each and every area.  She's fast (enough), comfortable, quiet, reasonably frugal, and an overall joy to live with.  She's also downright freakin' beautiful, mebbe even THE most beautiful car I've ever owned.  (Ed: prettier than this?  Me: Yup.)

All of the above combine to be a collective Good Thing, seein' as how The Tart might be the very last car I'll ever buy.  I say that because I'm a "buy and hold" guy when it comes to cars.  I'll be 79 years old if I keep The Tart until her 12th birthday... which is how long The Green Hornet and I were together.  THAT might could be a bridge too far.

RIP Senator Inouye

From the Usual USAF Source:

Senator Inouye and his wife Irene

Sen. Daniel Inouye Dies: Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), World War II Medal of Honor recipient and the second-longest-serving Senator in US history, died from respiratory complications on Monday at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., announced his staff. He was 88. "Tonight, our country has lost a true American hero," said President Obama in a Dec. 17 statement. Born in September 1924, Inouye enlisted in the Army at age 17 shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. During World War II, he served with the 442 Regimental Combat Team that consisted entirely of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Inouye lost his right arm charging a series of machine gun nests on a hill in San Terenzo, Italy, on April 21, 1945. His actions that day earned him the Medal of Honor. Inouye became Hawaii's first Congressman after Hawaii became a state in 1959. In 1962, Hawaiians elected him to the Senate, a position he held since then. "The men and women of the Department of Defense have lost one of their most dedicated advocates, and I have lost a dear friend," said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in a statement. Panetta credited Inouye for being "one of the most stalwart and effective advocates of the Department of Defense, and a relentless champion of our men and women in uniform and their families." Inouye served in the current Congress as Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, and as head of the committee's defense panel. (Inouye's Senate biography) (See also Clinton statement.)

Senator Inouye was one of the very few politicians with a "D" after their name that I respect.

Not Your Father's Air Force XXIII

But it's a great place to work...

Lucky Thirteen: Airmen voted the Air Force the 13th best place to work in 2012 among the federal government's large agencies, up five spots compared to 2011. The rating is based on the non-partisan, non-profit Partnership for Public Service's annual survey of employee satisfaction and commitment across 362 federal agencies and subcomponents. As was the case last year, the Air Force finished slightly behind the Navy, which ended up in 10th place in 2012 (up from 15th place in 2011.) Unlike last year, the Air Force finished ahead of the Army, which occupies the 14th spot (up from 16th place in 2011). This year's survey of nearly 700,000 civil servants measured factors including: effective leadership, employee skills and mission match, pay, teamwork; and work-life balance. NASA came in first among the large agencies; the Homeland Security Department was last.

That's according to Silly Servants who are NOT "airmen," they're frickin' civilians who work for the Air Force.  Now that we're clear on that... I'm betting the ranking would be a LOT higher if the troops themselves were polled.  It's that ol' "quality o' life" thang... plus the opportunity to get some million dollar views.

Air Frame: SrA. Timothy Oberman (left) and SSgt. Nick Alarcon watch out the back of their C-130H Hercules after dropping humanitarian goods to Pacific islanders on Dec. 11, 2012, as part of the Air Force's annual Operation Christmas Drop flights. Oberman and Alarcon are loadmasters with the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan. (Air Force photo by TSgt. Samuel Morse)

Swag From the AOR

SN1 brought me a couple o' goodies when he came to visit this week.  These thingies:

Larger than life size.

Two takes on the (now) ubiquitous challenge coin.  The larger actual coin is the unit challenge coin; the other is Buck's personal coin that he awards sparingly.  You'll note Buck's personal coin is in the form of a very useful bottle opener that one can carry on a key chain.  That's where this one is gonna live.

I never once saw a challenge coin in my 22-year Air Force career and I suppose there's a reason for that.  From The Wiki:

Besides using coins for challenging, they are also used as rewards or awards for outstanding service or performance of duty. As such they are used as a tool to build morale. In the context as they are used by the modern U.S. military, the tradition probably began among special forces units during the Vietnam War. The tradition spread through the Airborne community, and by the early 1980s also into the 75th Ranger Regiment. As officers were reassigned as their careers progressed, they carried with them the tradition of awarding a unit coin for acts that were worthy of recognition, but yet lacked enough merit to submit the soldiers act for an official medal. Challenge coins were not very common until the First Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991, and have steadily grown in popularity since.

You may remember I retired in 1985, so there's yer explanation.

I'll add the above to my small but highly treasured coin collection, which also includes these two guys:
 

Just by way of explanation... the USS Mason was the last ship launched by the traditional "down the ways" method at Bath Iron Works, where she was built.  Sam was a member of the pre-commissioning crew and spent two years at Bath while Mason was under construction, which is how I came by that coin.  The other coin is self-explanatory.

The Evolution of a Fanboi

So now it's an iPhone... to go along with the iPad and the MacBook Air.

We're wonderin' just how many of these things we'll hear over the next 24 hours or so:



Sigh.

Saturday

Amazing.

Speaking o' critters... Occasional Correspondent Lin sends along some of her outstanding art work:

Heh.  It WAS awful.

What I Did This Morning (Cheesy Videos XXV)

We're in ABQ as we speak but it was NOT a good trip.  We hit snow just outside o' Santa Rosa, it got pretty slithery west o' Moriarty and downright treacherous in the mountains just east o' ABQ, where it was a 35 mph world for the better part of an hour.  Then we dropped down into ABQ and all was right once more.  For what it's worth... The Tart handles pretty well in snow, her driver not so much.  Gettin' old is a bitch.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

So there we were... sunning ourselves in the most-brilliant early afternoon sun, sipping on our second beer, and occasionally drawing on an Isla del Sol of the Churchill persuasion... when Pandora played the Turtles' "Elenore."  Well, that's all well and good, thinks I, but the Turtles are small beer compared to another "Eleanor" that we know and love.  So we went looking on the Tube O' You for our favorite Eleanor... and found it.



I suppose you had to be there, Gentle Reader.  I WAS there, of course, and the song brings back extraordinary memories that all revolve around this girl.  And that particular time, when we drank wine and listened to Lindesfarne until there was light in the sky.  You know there may be more... and  there was.

Next Week's Weather

From a G+ post by Chris Aultman on #EndOfTheWorld.  There's some funny stuff at that hashtag.

More Ramirez

I got nuthin', other than this.  There are a few more union-related toons at the Usual Source for such thangs but Ramirez' was the best, as usual.

In other news... I'm kinda-sorta surprised at the level o' discomfort I'm experiencing following yesterday's dental procedure, which involved installing the "permanent" caps that will hold my implants when it comes time to finish this job.  Prior to yesterday I had what are known as "healing caps" in my lower jaw; they're gone now and the permanent caps are installed.  And giving me grief, they are.  So much so that we exhausted the rat-holed supply of industrial-strength pain killers left over from our last such experience (i.e., Percocet and Tylenol-3).  We're not doin' a whole helluva lot other than sleeping on the couch and seeing life through a glass, darkly.

This, too, shall pass.

Before and After

I got home from my dental appointment and found my new monitor wedged behind the screen door.  So, I did what any normal geek would do and proceeded to install the thing, never mind the fact that I was just about 30 minutes removed from coming out of IV sedation.  But it all worked out smashingly, as you can see.

Before:

After:

That sucker is BIG.

I shall now retire to the couch for a couple o' few hours.

Confusion

It's easy to understand why the kid's confused.  I see tons (heh) of Santas EVERY day.

In other news... I'm up at oh-dark-thirty today coz I have a dental appointment a lil over an hour from now.  This is the penultimate step towards getting the latest in my series of Adventures In Modern Dentistry complete and I can't wait until this is over (next month sometime).  I haven't had a sandwich since frickin' early SEPTEMBER... and then there's the speech impediment.

Enough, already.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

That Lil Ol' Band From Tejas...

Could I get some pie a la mode
When I come in off the road
Do she still have her fightin' gear
Just one look is gonna make it clear
If she would enjoy baby
Really enjoy gettin' it on

Oh, HELL yes!  This brings back some really, rilly good memories of homecomings-past. We won't go into any detail here.

In other news... we actually took the first beer o' today's Happy Hour out on the verandah (and the better part o' our cigar), even though it was only 44 degrees outdoors.  There were a couple few mitigating factors that made it possible: first and foremost, brilliant sunshine.  Second, next to no wind.  Third, we were suitably dressed.  Hell, we were almost HOT sitting in that surprisingly warm sun.

Why Americans Failed the November National IQ Test, In One Panel