Many Questions

A couple of days ago, the Other Family Human and I drove past the Glendale Hilton. In the parking lot in front of the hotel was an oddly shaped vehicle, identical to the one in the picture beside these words. I was driving. "Did we just pass a big Oscar Mayer Wiener on wheels?" I asked the OFH. She affirmed that we had. We were stumped. What was it? A bus? Could you ride in it? More importantly, did they sell hot dogs from it?

So, we were glad to see that the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, as it is officially known, was featured on the front page of today's Glendale News-Press. I scanned the article. I was hungry for information and, curiously at 7:00 a.m., for a hot dog. I was dismayed that the paper used the Wienermobile for nothing but a photo op. They showed the vehicle itself, and a picture of two Glendale natives taking a picture of it for their Facebook page. There was no accompanying article, no explanation of what the darn thing is. Irresponsible journalism. If it wasn't for Wikipedia, I would know nothing of the Weinermobile. But here's what I found out with a few minutes research:

The first Weinermobile was created in 1936 by Carl Mayer, nephew of the eponymous Oscar. There are seven in existence today. They exist solely to advertise Oscar Mayer wieners. They are driven by recent college graduates who get the job for one year and one year only. There are 300 people walking around the world with the dubious distinction of Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driver alumni. Wikipedia did not mention what they do now. And no, Oscar Mayer wieners are not sold from the Wienermobile. In that case, I suggest they park them closer to grocery stores.

A Fungus Among Us

Something weird was growing in the pot with the cherry tomatoes. I watched it for a few days and then brought it to the attention of the Other Family Human this morning. "Did you plant any mushrooms on the balcony?" I asked. She had not. I brought her out to look at them. They looked just like the fancy Asian mushrooms that go for $6.99 a pound at Whole Foods. "Don't even think about eating those", said the OFH, "it's really hard to tell poisonous mushrooms from the other kind". I pulled them up, all right, but I left them in a bucket right next to where they'd been growing. If I can't tell them apart from the fancy mushrooms they sell at Whole Foods, maybe the eggplant-eating rodent will make the same mistake. Heh, heh.

Tim Barry's Garden

In the Green Room at the Wiltern Theatre we waited while the nephew prepared himself for their concert.  A couple of other people, friends of the band, stood around chatting when in walked a really tired looking guy named Tim Barry.  Come to find out he'd just gotten off of the stage at the Wiltern Theatre two performers before the main attraction -- The Gaslight Anthem.
Tim fell onto a couch, looked around, and said a simple, "Hi."
And then without questioning or prompting he started talking about how much he missed his home in Richmond, Virginia.
He hasn't been there in awhile.  He planted a garden, as he always does.  This year's garden is one of his best.  Friends come by to pick his produce.

"My neighbors are really enjoying my garden," he said to us.  "I miss my garden."
On Tim's website, http://www.timbarryva.com he quotes Robert Lewis Stevenson:  "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel's sake.  The great affair is to move."
Except that Tim misses his home and his garden.  He yearns to pop open a can of beer and sit with his plants.  It's not easy being on the road but when the road is most of your life it's where you need to be.  Even when with every part of your being you miss your garden.

Gaslight Anthem Tonight at the Wiltern

Good guys really can finish first.

Remembering Plenty

It's really easy these days to focus on what we don't -- what we've lost, what we need but can't afford, what we wish we could have but don't.  We hear daily on the news or read in the papers or on blogs about how the country has lost one more thing -- one more seemingly honest politician, one more celebrity gone to seed, one more drop in the value of the dollar.
We begin, perhaps, to see life from the vantage point of deprivation.  When that happens it's all too easy to begin to deprive ourselves or important self care that perhaps just a few years ago wouldn't have seemed beyond our grasp.
I'm not proposing that we put on blinders and pretend that during the past few years there have not been significant changes in the way we live and in the way we hope to again live one day.  I am proposing, though, that we find something each day for which we are grateful.
Gratitude won't improve the economy or make crooked politicians honest.  It will, though, help us get through a rough time because we are not so focused on loss.
Give it a try.
Today or tomorrow at the latest start saying, "I'm so grateful for ....." and then find something for which you are truly grateful.  I'm pretty sure you'll find quite a few things.  I know I do.

My New Pal

My new job involves a great deal of driving, and I thought I could make it work with my good old Thomas Bros. guide. After three weeks of getting lost all over in cities I thought I knew rather well, I finally broke down and bought a GPS. My new pal and I started out together today for the first time. I decided to do whatever it said, whether or not I thought I knew better. I input the first address, which my information had told me was in North Hollywood. My new pal choked, and offered me a few similar addresses. I had to pull out the Thomas Bros. to determine that the address for which I was looking was across the street from North Hollywood, but was actually in Los Angeles. Great. My new pal is a stickler. Of course, now that I had looked at the Thomas guide, I knew where I was going, but nonetheless, I followed my new pal's instructions and he got me there just fine. Relations between us were going quite well until I got an emergency call which took two hours, from noon to 2 p.m. Once it was over I was quite hungry and headed for a favorite Thai restaurant a mile or so away. My new pal informed me that the restaurant would be on my right. I was pretty sure it was on the left, but it had been several years since I'd been there, and I figured it might have moved. I was driving in the right lane when the restaurant appeared on the left, exactly where I had thought it was, and my new pal announced, "Approaching Thai BBQ on your right" as I passed it on my left. It's bad enough that I can't tell left from right, but when my GPS can't either, it's a bad sign. I went around the block and back to the restaurant parking lot before my new pal could even finish saying, "recalculating". And I made him pay for his own lunch.

Rock On

We are about to make our annual visit to a rock concert. We do that every time The Gaslight Anthem plays Los Angeles. Three years ago, we went to a scuzzy bar in Glendale and they were the opening act. Then it was the Knitting Factory, and then the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theatre. This year, they are headlining at the Wiltern. I e-mailed The Nephew and asked if we might have backstage passes. At the Knitting Factory, we got stuck in the mosh pit and we haven't yet recovered from the experience. He replied that our VIP passes would be at the box office, and would we like to attend the taping of the Tonight Show on Friday? The Gaslight Anthem will be the musical act that night. You bet we would like to. So tune into Jay Leno on Friday night to see a great rock band. Pay particular attention to The Nephew on drums. And look for two older, but very enthusiastic, fans in the studio audience.