The Cell Phone Meme

I haven't responded to a meme ia a very long time, but when I saw this one created by Mimi the Queen of Memes, I had to do it. I find cells phones and their kindred thingies to be... well, just read my responses in this meme:

1. How important is a cell phone in UR life?

Not important at all! I only own one in case of emergencies, such as my car breaks down so I can call AAA or I fall so I can call 911.

2. R U addicted to UR cell phone?

Definitely not!

3. R U a texter, an emailer, or a photo sender?

I have never in my life written a text or emailed from a cell phone or taken/sent a photo.

4. In the normal course of a day, about how many times do U touch UR cell phone?

Maybe once. I usually have the damned thing turned off unless I have given that number to someone such as the Direct TV dude who is now in my apartment,

5. R U guilty of distracted driving?

No! I never turn the damned thing on when I am driving.

6. What is the 1 app never invented that needs to be made for UR cell phone?

Something to block all incoming text messages and all but callers authorized by me.

7. What annoys U the most about cell phones these days?

Other than that they exist, it's looking in my car's mirror and seeing the driver of the car behind me talking on a cell phone as the car speeds toward the rear of my car.

The Wisdom At 21 Meme

This meme has been sitting in my files for quite a while. I decided to finally do and post it because the snow is still falling outside.

The Wisdom At 21 Meme

1. Find the nearest bookshelf of your favorite reads, cookbooks, tech books, magazines. It doesn't matter. This will work for all print media. If you don't have seven books lined up on a shelf, grab the first seven you see around the house.
2. Book #1: Turn to page 21. Read the 21st sentence (you may have to turn the page).
Write it down.
3. Do the same with the first seven books or articles you see. The sentences will make a paragraph. You must write them down in the order you found them. 4. When you are finished, read over your "story" and title it.
5. Show us your bibliography at the end of this meme. Hmmm...I wonder if we'll be surprised at the reading material we may find.

They both seemed more sophisticated to us, so we thought we should bring these two sophistications together. My heart was with him always, but my values ultimately led me back home. "Whooee, here we go!" yelled a kid in a baseball cap, and they gunned up the truck to seventy and passed everybody on the road. And I cried for Alcatraz in your dumb hollows O tower clenching my Pan's foot with vivid hoard of Dannemora. Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! If I had a Green Automobile I'd go find my old companion in his house on the Western ocean. There was plenty of mad action, senseless destruction, orgies, brawls, perversions and a strange parade of innocent victims that, even on paper and in careful police language, was enough to test the credulity of the dullest police reported.

1. The Beats: A Literary Reference. Matt Theado, editor. Carroll & Graf, Publishers. New York, 2003.
2. You'll Be OK:My Life with Jack Kerouac. Edie Kerouac-Parker. City Lights. San Francisco, 2007.
3. On the Road (40th Anniversary Edition). Jack Kerouac. Viking Press. New York, 1997.
4. Ode to a Coit Tower. Gregory Corso. in Beat Poets. Edited by Carmela Ciuraru. Alfred K. Knopf. New York, 2002.
5. Howl and Other Poems. Allen Ginsberg. City Lights. San Francisco. 1996.
6. Allen Ginsberg: Selected Poems, 1947-1995. Allen Ginsberg. HarperCollins, Publishers. New York, 1996.
7. Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. Hunter S. Thompson. Random House. New York, 1999.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/

Productive Days & a Neat Meme

Wednesday was a long and productive day.

My physician, Claudette, came by my house at 9:30 AM and was so excited about the progress I have made toward good health that she literally danced around my living room! I am now off of another prescription drug! I am walking much better, although I still need to carry a walking stick, "just in case." I almost jumped up and joined Claudette in her dance!

Wednesday also brought me Cassandra, who is replacing Tasha as my homemaker/health aide. Cassandra and I didn't get off to a happy start: she made several invalid complaints, such as that my oven doesn't work. It does, but she did not pre-heat it before she put the fish in to bake. Her complaint not only had me checking the fully functioning stove for a non-existent problem, but I ended up eating fried fish, which is not what I wanted or need to eat.

Thursday I was alone. I liked that! I also baked some corn bread to prove that there is nothing wrong with my oven. I really liked that! The corn bread is yummy!


The day ended with my completing a really neat MEME that Carol placed on Facebook. The instructions are simple:

Here are the rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. They don't have to be the greatest books you've ever read, just the ones that stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Copy these instructions and tag 10 (or more) friends, including me—because I'm interested in seeing what books are in your head.

Unfortunately, I didn't obey the first instruction. I found it hard to limit myself to fifteen books that have always stuck with me. I kept removing and adding books for half an hour, until I finally forced my self to accept the list as complete. Below is the list that I published:

• THE BIBLE (NRSV translation)
• MEN OF IRON by Howard Pyle
• EXODUS by Leon Uris
• THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR by Dan Millman
• SIDDHARTHA by Herrmann Hesse
• AWARENESS by Anthony de Mellow
• ARE YOU RUNNING WITH ME, JESUS? by Malcolm Boyd
• FIRE IN THE BELLY by Sam Keen
• ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
• DUBLINERS by James Joyce
• MARX AND THE BIBLE by Jose Miranda
• IRON JOHN by Robert Bly
• HYMNS TO AN UNKNOWN GOD by Sam Keen
• THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein
• GONZO by Hunter S Thompson

If I had been required to list 150 books, the task would have been much easier!

A Bitz ob Ebertang—I mean, a “Bit of Everything"

Please Notez: Alex’s Bloggie Thingie

All of the writing that I haz been doingz in Alex’z personae sometimez haz me writingz likez Alex whenz I aint Alex. OK?

 

Alexicon, Alex’s Blog

Van Gogh’s Ear Award

Presented to Nick’s Bytes by Akelamalu

A Question about Cat Behavior

Alex is the first cat to have owned me. I have been the master of many dogs, but I have learned that dog and cat behavior is very different.

For example, when I would offer any of my dogs a doggie treat, it would be out of my hand and into the dog’s mouth in a fraction of second. It was usually literally woofed down and the canine would be begging for a second treat.

It isn’t like that with Alex! Alex refuses to accept a cat treat—even his favorites—from my hand. He wants to place them before him on the table or my (our) desk. Furthermore, he doesn’t want me to just haphazardly put them down; he wants me to line them up, side-by-side, so that the can eat them one at a time without moving from where he is sitting. I do not understand his behavior.

Also, Alex never begs for treats—or anything else.

Things That I Have Done

I found this one on Akelamalu’s blog. I don’t think that I have done it, so…

 

The bold items are the ones I have done.

 

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World)

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France \

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching-porpoises

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby (fathered two)

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

My thanks to Squirl for this one:

119 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

This was fun! Thanks Hipparchia!

visited 7 states (3.11%)
Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project

Note: states = nations

7 (More) Things that I Don’t Think You Know About Me

Jessica tagged me, so here goes:

 

• I once wrote a (very long) rap song and used it as a sermon. I can remember no parts of it.

 

• When I was two years old I had a nasty reaction to sulfa drugs and have been listing it as an allergy all of my life. Dr. Mike prescribed me a medication that contains sulfa. I hesitated taking it until I checked out all of the possible reactions. Monday I made the leap; this far I have had no adverse reaction. Therefore, I do not believe that, after 60 years, I am still allergic to sulfa.

 

• When I was in high school the baseball coach nick-named me “Triple-Temple” because I hit more triples than anyone else on the team.

 

• My maternal relatives “force fed” me when I was a child. My grandmother supposedly said “Skinny babies die” and my mother and aunts then took it  upon themselves to make me eat. They would, for example, hold my nose closed and when I opened my mouth to breathe, put a spoonful of whatever in it and hold my mouth shut until I swallowed it. I have had problems with obesity since I was 5 years old.

 

• When I was about 15, a buddy named Ted and I won the Louisville Junior Doubles Bowling Tournament. I misplaced the trophy many years ago.

 

• Alex has recently developed the habit of sitting in front of my computer until I bribe him with kitty treats to move to another part of my desk.

• I had my tonsils removed twice. The first time was by traditional surgery. When the tonsils grew back, they were “burned out” using x-ray treatments. That is (thank God) a procedure no longer used. Because it was used on me, I must have a thyroid scan done every five years due to the possibility of developing thyroid cancer.

MEME: Seven Best Albums (Blogger Album Project)

I was tagged by Carol and so…

THE RULES:

1. Post your list of the seven best albums, the seven bloggers you will tag, a copy of these rules, and a link back here.
2. Each person tagged will put a URL to their Blogger Album Project post along with a list of the seven best albums in the comment section here.
3. Feel free to post the "I Contributed to the Blogger Album Project" Award Graphic (found here) on your sidebar.
4. Post a link back to the blogger who tagged you.

Here are my seven favorite albums and a sample song from each:

 

1. Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Volumes 1-3

Forever Young

2. Capella Gregoriana: Lost in Meditation—Meditative Gregorian Chants

Psalmellus—tecum principium 

3. Miles Davis: Birth of Cool

Budo

4. Classic Folk Music from Smithsonian Folkways

We Shall Overcome ~ Pete Seeger

5. Frank Sinatra: The V-Discs—Columbia Years, 1943-45

Long Ago (and Far Away)

6. The Best of Leonard Cohen

Famous Blue Raincoat

7. Peter, Paul, and Mary in Concert

If I Had My Way

I never tag; if you want to do this meme, following the directions above. OK?

Just for Fun: A Meme from Mimi & Other Stuff

Something Special
(If you haven't seen this you have missed a great video)
(I must thank Bill at Digital Dharma for emailing the first 2 videos of Connie Talbot to me and exposing me to this wonderful 6-year-old)

Mimi asked me to do this one. The rules are simple (I’ve done this one before: Google your first name with the word needs behind it and post the results.

Here are fifteen of my Google results:

• listen nick first u need to let your hair grow out then dye it black and spike it up in the back it will look awsome. ...

• Nick's on Wilson is applying for a 4am license, and needs signatures of residents on Magnolia, Racine, Clifton, and Wilson…

• Nick needs a sex life.

• nick needs help. nick needs help. nick needs help.

• But man, this Nick needs to blow off some steam, loosen up, get less serious and more....more....well like a college student. That's why I'm sending Nick to Hawaii to catch some tasty waves and babes. Merry Christmas Nick.

• Nick Needs a New Notebook. What Notebook Should I Buy?

• NICK NEEDS MEDS

• Nick Needs Another Old Car!

• Nick needs 1966 404 "C" Cabriolet parts/info help.

• NICK NEEDS TO SHAVE OR PLUCK/WAX HIS BROWS OR SOMETHING... HE LOOKS LIKE THE CAVEMEN FROM THE INSURANCE COMMERICIALS!!!! I LOVE NICK BUT I CAN'T TAKE HIS ...

• Nick needs a Keeper!

• nick (needs a hug) doesn't have a personal statement currently.

• Nick needs a good home!! My good friend, Tina, has such a big heart. She has rescued several dogs and helped place them into good homes. ...

• Nick needs a Woman in his life. He needs to say goodbye Chelsea. Chelsea is nothing but a cheat and cheap tramp. She does not love Nick. Nick needs a woman ...

• Our 4 month year old white/grey kitten, Nick, needs a new loving home since I am almost never home due to my new job to give the proper care and love Nick ...

OTHER STUFF

I have so many LOL Katz in my files (and I’m emailed 5 or 6 new ones each day) that just posting them on Mondays will never deplete them! So, just for fun, below are a few new ones.

Having recently completed the 1,000^th Blog Post celebration, the next in line for Nick’s Bytes is the 100,000^th Visitor. As of this writing, the visitor thingie (on my sidebar) reads 99,154. If visitors come by as usual, that means that visitor Number 100,000 will be by within the next week or so.

Please take a glance at the visitor thing and, if you turn out to be the 100,000^th visitor, please tell me about it in a comment to Nick’s Bytes or in an email. Thanks.

MEME Reprise

The Bachelor at Wellington has invited (sounds better than tagged, doesn’t it) me to do a MEME that is similar to Five 5 Five 5 Five MEME I completed on June 5^th. I am challenging myself to do it again without repeating any of the answers I used in the other one.

What was I doing 10 years ago.
Ten years ago I visited Tucson, Arizona, for the first time and spent a week at a desert retreat center taking the first certification course to be qualified as an intentional interim minister.

Five of my favorite snacks

Five things on my to do list today

1. Telephone son, Nick: Today is his 37^th birthday
2. Telephone son, Rob: Today is his 33^rd birthday
3. Figure out how to access external hard drive E
4. Give Alex his every-other-day medicine
5. Write a blog post for today

Things I would do if I were a billionaire
Same as last time: give 99% of it away (Some things just don’t change)

Five (more) jobs that I've had

1. Assistant Night Club Manager
2. Battalion Adjutant
3. Battalion Intelligence Officer
4. History Teacher
5. Chairperson, City of Cannelton (Indiana) Historic Preservation Commission

Five bad habits of mine

1. Trusting folks who then lie and steal from me.
2. Falling in love too fast
3. Falling out of love too slowly
4. Forgetting to take care of myself
5. Rushing in where even fools fear to tread

Five (more) places I've lived

1. Elizabethtown, Kentucky
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Kutzberg, Germany
4. Webster Groves, Missouri
5. Cannelton, Indiana

Five random things people wouldn't know about me

1. I injured my shoulder so badly playing high school football that I couldn’t play my senior year.
2. My first dog’s name was Boo-Boo.
3. I commanded the University of Kentucky’s Pershing Rifles Confederate Squad that defeated Ohio States’ Pershing Rifles Union Squad in a mock Civil War battle twice while under my command.
4. I was voted Most Likely to Succeed my senior year in high school.
5. As a pastor, I have officiated more funerals than I have weddings and baptisms combined.

Five CDs that I'd have to have on a desert island
Kingston Trio: Greatest Hits

Gordon Lightfoot: Gord’s Gold

Phil Ochs: Pleasures of the Harbor

Harry Chapin: The Gold Medal Collection

Peter, Paul, and Mary in Concert



People I want to get to know better
See the Exceptional Blogs list on my sidebar

Six Unspectacular Quirks of Sometimes Saintly Nick

Pink got tagged to do a MEME. Pink advised me to sit on ice to keep cool just before she tagged me to do the same MEME. Therefore, with a cool ass, I can get my overheated brain in gear and offer you these simple eccentricities for your erudition and amusement:

Six Unspectacular Quirks of Sometimes Saintly Nick

• My favorite color is green: at the moment I am sitting in room (my library) painted green, wearing green shorts (no shirt: it’s too damned hot for a shirt), with a green candle (which is not lighted because it is too damned hot in here) beside me on my desk.

• I seldom allow others to know how intelligent I am or how much I really comprehend about something; as Sun Tzu suggested in The Art of War, I always keep some wisdom in reserve, just in case.

• I am an extremely easy mark, willing to give my last dollar to someone who claims to be in need, even when my gut tells me that I am being conned.

• I always sleep in the nude, no matter how cold the temperature is.

• I enjoy driving around and getting myself lost: I have discovered some really neat places and people while lost and I relish the challenge of getting myself un-lost.
  
• • 

• I have more books than will ever fit on my bookshelves—and I have read all of them.

Five 5 Five 5 Five

Kcinnova listed me among the five in the last of the 5 below, so I’m playing Five 5 Five 5 Five, too.

What were you doing 5 years ago?

Five years ago I was the pastor of Christ Church (in Louisville) and attempting to establish a program for homeless women and children.

Five Snacks I enjoy:

1. Pretzels

2. Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

3. Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

4. Yogurt mixed with peaches

5. Pop corn

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire…

1. Give 99% of the money away

2. Re-purchase my home

3. Travel and more travel all over the world

4. I haven’t the slightest idea

5. Same as above

Five places I have lived:

1. Louisville, Kentucky

2. Lexington, Kentucky

3. Marlow Heights, Maryland

4. Schweinfurt, Germany

5. St. Louis, Missouri

Five jobs I have had:

1. golf course greensman

2. bartender

3. army officer

4. social worker

5. clergyperson

And finally, 5 people I want to know better:

Carol

Rimshot

Maxxo

Pink

Bucky

(and everyone else on my blog roll!)

Ya’ll come back tomorrow for:

The Association MEME

I was invited by Jessica do this MEME:

Association Meme

If I were a direction I’d be… left

If I were furniture I’d be… book shelves

If I were a liquid I’d be… Barons de Rothschild Lafite Cabernet Sauvignon Le Dix de Los Vascos

If I were a sin I’d be… forgiven

If I were a gem/stone I’d be… a ruby

If I were a metal I’d be… steel

If I were a tree I’d be… an oak

If I were a fruit I’d be… a peach

If I were a flower I’d be… a rose

If I were weather I’d be… warm

If I were a music instrument I’d be… a 12-string guitar

If I were an element I’d be… gold

If I were a colour I’d be… green

If I were an animal I’d be… a cat (Alex has taught me a lot about being a cat)

If I were a sound I’d be… laughter

If I were a lyric I’d be… Just when I thought all was lost, you changed my mind

If I were a song I’d be… Ally Ally Oxygen Free

If I were a perfume/cologne I’d be… English Leather

If I were a music type I’d be… a protest song

If I were a feeling I’d be… joy

If I were a book I’d be… M. Scot Peck’s The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace

If I were food I’d be… a chocolate milk shake

If I were a city I’d be… San Francisco

If I were a taste I’d be… chocolate!

If I were a scent I’d be… Flying Dutchman Aromatic pipe tobacco

If I were a word I’d be… complex

If I were a verb I’d be… a verb

If I were an object I’d be… flexible

If I were a piece of clothing I’d be… Indiana Jones’ hat

If I were a body part I’d be… eyes

If I were a facial expression I’d be… a smile and a wink

If I were a cartoon character I’d be… Bugs Bunny

If I were a movie I’d be… Jesus Christ Superstar

If I were a geometrical figure I’d be… a circle

If I were one of the 4 seasons I’d be… Spring

If I were a sentence I’d be… To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Wanna Peek into Me & My Life?

The following is posted because I was tagged by Lady Di Tn. I’m not tagging anyone; if you want to play with it—it is rather fun—please be my guest. If you do decide to play with it, please kindly let me know so that I may have a peek into your life as you are about to peek into mine.

A. Attached or Single: Single (divorced) except for the leash attached to me by the furball

B. Best Friend: The Rev. Dr. R.H.D., although I’ve not seen him in much too long—he’s in Michigan & I’m in Kentucky

C. Cake or Pie: Pie, of course

D. Day of Choice: Sunday—although I deeply miss creating and leading worship services

E. Essential item: Oxygen!

G. Gummi Bears or Worms: Neither—both are yucky! (This question reminded me that I done this MEME before:Gummi Bears and Worms are double yucky)

H. Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky

I. Indulgence: Alex the furball—No, he isn’t an indulgence, although I certainly indulge him.

J. January or July: Warmth always beats cold

K. Kids: Nick III (37) & Rob II (33)

L. Life is incomplete without: helping others

M: Marriage date: March 21^st, 1970/divorce 2000

N. Number of Siblings: One little sister

O. Oranges or Apples: Apples

P. Phobias or Fears: Dudes carrying guns

Q. Quote: When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

R. Reason to Smile: Alex’s antics

S. Season: Spring, of course.

T. Tag: Anyone who wants to play this game.

U. Unknown fact about me: I went sky diving—once!

V. Veggies or fruit: Fruit—I am addicted to sugar

W. Worst habit: I am much too trusting of others, which is absurd because I also have a streak of paranoia running through me.

X. X Ray or ultrasound: X-ray was once used (when I was 4) to “burn out” my tonsils after they grew back following a tonsillectomy.

Y. Your favorite food: New York Strip Steak grilled by me.

Z. Zodiac: Aquarius, naturally.

BONUS: My "theme" song

And I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish that I could break
All the chains holding me
I wish I could say
All the things that I’d like to say
Say ’em loud say ’em clear
For the whole round world to hear
I wish I could share
All the love that’s in my heart
Remove every doubt
It keeps us apart
And I wish you could know
What it means to be me
Then you’d see and agree
Every man should be free

I wish I could live

Like I’m longin’ to live
I wish I could give
What I’m longin’ to give
And I wish I could do
All the things I’d like to do
You know they’ll still miss part of you
Yes sir...
And I’m way way over due

I wish I could be like a bird up in the sky
How sweet it would be
If I found out I could fly
So long to my song
And look down upon ihe sea
And I sing because I know
I would see you
I sing because I know
I would see you
And I sing because I know
I would see you
To be free yea