Wow...

I feel awful!
I post about him and he dies the next day...
Rest in Peace, Jack...
God bless you Elaine...

Anything in Life is Possible … Make it Happen!

I’ve noticed that Darrin over at Dad’s Dish Retro Blog. (who, by the way, is one cool dude!) has been doing some awesome blogs as of late where he is reminding us of some forgotten folks from years gone by.  What a great concept!  There are so many great entertainers and famous folk from our era that have all but slipped into obscurity, so it’s great to remember them and to even see what they’re up to these days.

When I was a kid, I remember my mom watching TV and using a chair or the table and watching this guy in something like a leotard.  He was stretching, and breathing, and bending and stretching his arms and legs – this was before there was anything even remotely like “working out” for the masses.  Only real athletes did that.

Of course, she was watching the incredible Jack Lalanne.  Many younger people today might only know him as that really old guy who’s on an infomercial selling a juicer.  Jack Lalanne is the original fitness guru.  He is more dedicated to a life of health and exercise than anyone else.  He ONLY eats right, he ALWAYS exercises, and he’s a TOTAL optimist because he constantly lets us all know that we can do the same.  The title of this blog is just one of his many sayings of health!

When he started his show back in 1951, it was the thought that it would be short lived.  It became nationally syndicated and ran for 34 years!  I remember my mom responding to his encouragement of “Get up, work out, and feel better!”  Being kids, we just had fun bouncing around and thinking this was fun and new.  He really was the father of modern workout videos.

He routinely performs feats of amazing strength and endurance every year on his birthday.  You know – little things like swimming to Alcatraz while wearing handcuffs;  Or setting a record of 1033 push-ups in 23 minutes!  (That’s an average of 45 per min.);  Or swimming while towing 10 row-boats with 77 people on board more than a mile in less than an hour.  You can read all about him here.  You can even watch videos from his original show and exercise right along with him!  Grab a chair!  We would all do a lot better if we did only a quarter of what he does!

Ok - I'm done blogging - back to my ice cream.

Is There an App For That?

OK – I’ll be totally honest here.  I’m not much into new-fangled phones.  I use my phone (an old flip-open 10-key design - here it is in all it's blue splendor!) to make and receive phone calls, and occasionally to leave or listen to messages.  I don’t send or receive texts, I don’t surf, email or play games… and I’ve never “run an App” in my life.  I often forget my phone at home and always turn it off in movies, at meals and in meetings.  If I’m in the waiting room at my local car-fix-it shop and I get a phone call, I’ll step outside to answer it rather than subject everyone in the little space to my conversation.

Now, I’m not some anti-technology guy, and I don’t go around rolling my eyes at those with “the latest and greatest”, but it is something to see a room full of people – and it’s NOT just kids anymore – who are sitting together but all doing their own thing on their phones.  I think it’s funny that one of the phone companies has addressed this in a commercial, but only offers to shorten the time you’re on your phone.  And you all know that if it’s faster and easier, it just means that you’ll do more.

 

So – the phrase “There’s an App for that” is very common, but I think that it’s really important to remember things that there will never be an App for:  Building a birdhouse with your kid; Working a puzzle with your family; Taking a walk on a beautiful spring morning; Playing some fun games with your kids in the backyard on a late summer evening; taking a lazy drive, looking at things and talking about them (or singing silly songs)

I’m sure there are plenty of things that you can add to this list.  The bottom line is let’s be free to use and appreciate the technology we have, but let’s make sure that we don’t sacrifice the things that there will never really be an App for.

Aw Nuts!

Do you remember nuts at Christmas back when we grew up?

These days there are bowls of nuts all over at Christmas gatherings.  You can get nuts of all kinds with all types of flavorings.  You can get pre-packaged sets of 6 or 8 sampler cans… flavors range from sweet to sour, from spicy to cheesy.  Nuts range from just peanuts to all mixed nuts to macadamia to other exotic nuts.

Wasn’t so when I grew up.  Not only did we not have many nuts or much variety, they were expensive so we didn’t seem to have a lot of them.  The one thing I remember that we had a lot of that you just don’t see as much today is unshelled nuts.  We had a big wood bowl that looked like a hollowed out piece of wood that would be filled with nuts.  It is exactly like the picture of this one here.  They must have been popular!  There was a little metal nutcracker that we would use to crack the nuts.  There were also little metal pick things to get the meat of the nut out of the shell.  I remember that it was a real challenge to squeeze tight enough to break the shell without destroying the nut inside.  It also wasn't uncommon to pinch your fingers in them a few times.

You don't see many of these around today - it certainly made you appreciate the nuts when you had to really work for them.

Any of you have the same nutty experiences growing up?