Olympics and other Random Musings

Well, I have to admit... I have been watching a lot of Olympic coverage this weekend. Maybe it's because I have an HD television now, and things look frickin' SWEET in high definition!! Or, maybe I'm just tired of watching the same reruns over and over...

Anyway, I was very impressed with the opening ceremony... pretty cool. I spent a lot of Saturday watching Women's Volleyball... (again, HD rocks!) late, I found myself watching and cheering for the Americans in the swimming competitions. There is a 41 year old woman who helped her relay team bring home a Silver medal... (it got me wondering if I started now, could I get ready for London in 2012?)

I think the Chinese Olympic organizers were using a "remix" of OUR National Anthem when they played it tonight for Michael Phelps... they cut off the opening notes, it seemed like the first portion of the anthem was repeated one or two times too much, and it cut off abruptly when it got to the "Land of the Free" portion... probably all unintentional, but to an old Radio guy like me, hearing audio screwed up like that made me want to find the number for their control room hotline and set 'em straight!

So far, it appears we're kicking tail in Medals... as of 11:30 CDT Saturday, we lead all nations with 8 medals.

Watching the Olympics reminded me of the Atlanta games, watched from the relative comfort of my apartment in scenic Ridgeland, Mississippi. I was sharing the apartment with another radio co-worker, and my parents were in town for a visit.

I have to pause for a moment and tell you about the roommate (to protect the innocent, Let's call him "Tim Knox.") Tim's tastes in music were pretty good, but somewhat simplistic when it came to movies and TV. He used to stay up late watching what (by his own admission) was the "Funniest Movie of all time: SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT... part TWO. (yes.. the one with the Elephant) He would laugh out loud at every gag and pun as if he were seeing it for the very first time... When it came to TV, his viewing habits were not very deep.

"Tim" had never watched the Olympics on TV before... my folks and I sat in the living room with him watching coverage one evening, to which "Tim" reacted with total amazement. He thought it was pretty cool too.

So, the USA wins some medal (I think in a men's gymnastics event) and the National Anthem plays. "Tim" is REALLY wowed by this, and poses the question "Do they play the winner's National Anthem after evey medal?" to the room. My DAD, (who's sense of humor would not make the "Top 25 List" of his known attributes) calmly looks at "Tim" and replies "They'll play this anthem again when they give out the next medal, and keep adding National Anthems to each medal ceremony... so by the last evernt of the games, they music at the last Medal ceremony is a 90 minute concert!" Needless to say, he believed every word my dad said, and a few days later asked why he was only hearing one anthem... (Dad told him they had to "Edit for Television.")

Ahh.. MEMORIES.

Some Random stuff now:

For several weeks now, by the time I get to work every day, I seem to have a random song stuck in my head. There's no pattern to this either... for example: This past week, the songs have ranged from "Counting Blue Cars" by Dishwalla, to "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" by the Partridge Family to "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender to Friday's "Rush" by Big Audio Dynamite II. Don't ask me WHY this is happening, but the IPod in my head appears to be stuck on "shuffle." (Damn You Steve Jobs!)

I do have a solution for this problem though... years ago, I was in Nashville at a Country Radio Seminar, sitting at a table chatting with Country singers Doug Stone and Skip Ewing. I was discussing buying Doug's ultralight aircraft when a song got stuck in my head. I mentioned this to the guys at the table, and Skip Ewing told me he had the perfect remedy. Skip said in order to get ANY song out of your head, all you have to do is SING the gospel hymn "Amazing Grace" to the tune of the "theme from Gilligan's Island." (I'm NOT KIDDING.)

It WORKS. You DO have to sing out loud, but NOT loudly. (and so far, "Amazing Grace" has never gotten stuck in my head as a side effect) Try it sometime. It usually takes me 2 verses...

I have finally started getting out and sampling local restaurants here in Ponca City. Friday night, I went to our local airport for a taste of "Enrique's Mexican Restaurant." It's located in the terminal building, but not in a secure area, so the public can come in and eat. The cool thing is that private planes are constantly landing and pulling up right next to the door, and people pile out of the aircraft for a taste of Enrique's cooking. in the 90 minutes we were there, 4 planeloads came in to eat, and the farthest ones came from Dallas, TX. The food was decent, but not as good as I had been lead to believe.

I am still working on plans for Dad's 80th Birthday... it's August 30th.

The following Saturday, September 6th is my Fraternity's 40th Anniversary at Arkansas State University, and I am planning on making the trek over to Jonesboro for the first time in nearly 8 years. I'll meet another Alumnus in Fayetteville, AR and we'll share the ride across northern Arkansas (probably stuck behind 300 RV's headed to Branson with their left blinkers on for 78 miles straight!) It will be good to see all the guys from college again...

I had a lot more random thoughts, but since I didn't jot them down quick enough, they've now gone... probably soon to be replaced by another random song...

Til' next time, I'll leave you with this thought:

"Frankly, I'm suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion
on a complicated issue." - Scott Adams (1957- )