Icewind's Ramblings

You have the power to change someone’s life tonight . . . a call . . . an encouraging email . . . an idea . . . a contact . . . a positive post . . . or even a smile. And the funny thing is . . . when you do . . . your own life changes too! Ice

Like most people at this time of year it seems like everyone takes a few minutes to think about and review the past year.  I do that now and again but try not to write those “year end reviews” that some people enjoy sending out each year which embellishes all the great things that have happened to them or their family members. Hopefully this will not be that type of review though there may be some exaggeration of a few things since I tend not to really want to go to those things which may have been negative for me this year. As 2012 started in January there was much work going on with me traveling out to many remote Alaskan villages where the company I worked built clinics, water & sewer plants as well as other needed infrastructure so needed in the bush.  Many Natives still do not have indoor plumbing or clean water and I was fortunate to help provide that in several villages. The time of my separation and divorce brought me to a period for the first time in...

I suffered tonight while eating dinner as I sat watching television.  I had been watching the local news which as I did that manly thing of channel surfing I stumbled upon either “Show Biz Tonight” or “Entertainment Tonight”.  They both look the same to me as I never watch these programs but the ‘teaser’ during the commercial gave reference to a pre-Olympic story on skier Lindsey Vonn which I wanted to see. While I waited for the story I was bombarded by a story about John Meyer’s raunchy talk about his former love Jessica Simpson.  Who cares was my first thought, and then I went into wondering who the hell John Mayer is?  Turns out he is somewhat of a singer and had the song from The Bucket List, “Say”.  Yeah that was annoying long before I ever saw the movie with its repeating the line “Say what you need to say” 41 times in just over 3 minutes and 44 seconds.  It was not the neat little ditty like some songs that stick in your brain to help you bright...

I was a late comer to start watching the television series Lost but once I started it has been a nonstop joy ride.  The show has a huge cast that is driven with multilayered characters and storylines.  It has been entertaining and fascinating watching the different aspects come into play and focus. The pilot episode introduced us to the main group and in later episodes through flashbacks their stories and dramas unfold before us.  It seems every one of the survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 is indeed “Lost” in their lives.  Over the seasons we watch as each face their particular problem and the metamorphosis that transpires. Terry O’Quinn is one of the main forces on Lost and over the years he has appeared in some of my favorite shows, NCIS, JAG, The West Wing, Alias, Star Trek TNG as well as many movies.  He is always a joy to watch as his characters have varied widely.  On NCIS in the episode called “Enigma” he played a Marine Colonel suf...

The last several days since I came back to town it has been somewhat trying to sit down and write my blog as several weeks before I left I started watching the television show “Lost”. I missed the first season and decided I would not worry about another program to keep up with so I did not get into all the rage about how good a show this was at the time.  Since then I have been using HULU to watch programs on my computer or my Netflix to keep up with other shows I might have missed.  Lost was one of them that are much better than I had imagined. I am just starting the 3 rd season and hope to get all the way through season 5 by the time the premier of the final season starts on February 2.  It has been like reading a good Steven King novel that you cannot put down.  There are many characters with intricate storylines being developed and it seems plot twists at every turn giving that great unexpected surprise.  Some may be good and a few that we have not l...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, as I hope it is a great day for you! Times have been a little depressing lately for many people in the country so I thought it would be great to give you a couple of laughs today.  It will only take a few minutes of your time . . . about the time it takes to have a cup of coffee so take a break and give yourself a little smile and for me every time I hear or see this it gives me a good belly laugh. There aren't as many classic Thanksgiving episodes of TV shows as there are classic Christmas episodes.  But there are several we remember fondly, including this one. It's the "Turkeys Away" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati that originally aired on October 30, 1978.  Station Manager Carlson tries to come up with a special promotion for the station and, well, you'll see what happens. WKRP in Cincinnati was a sitcom by Hugh Wilson who was a disc jockey for WQXI radio in Atlanta , Georgia in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  I think a l...

An update. The social experiment of neighbors competing and then voting each other out of the neighborhood ended Sunday with the winning family beating out the other families of the $ 250,000 prize money.  Eight families were isolated behind 20 foot high walls and the bickering began and continued for the last seven weeks.  The first thing to happen in the scorching heat of summer in a suburb of an Atlanta Georgia subdivision was the power to be cut off. No air conditioning, no television, internet, cell phone, texting or other ‘modern day’ items to occupy the time.  It’s like a trip back to the 50’s when families spent time together.  There is the family dynamics of spending time together 24 hours a day plus the interactions between the other families playing the game. The neighbors, 5 of the eight families call themselves “The Core” while the others who have not been living there as long “The Outsiders”.  The core group moved in when the subdivision w...

I had the distinct joy of watching Big Brother on television tonight and it was not entertaining listening to all of the chaos going on within the house. I started thinking about these young people who are our youth in America and how they approach things, problem solve, and deal with the inner workings of relationships with themselves and those around them. It was a pretty sad thing to watch the last three weeks as they have no clue what it is like to engage each other with respect, gamesmanship, and trust. If this program was viewed as a job interview for most of these housemates they would be lucky to get any job whatsoever. They could not check the box that says: “plays well with others”. The “How do you establish a working relationship with new people” question could set off an nasty tirade of swearing and first impressions about those they walked by on the way to the interview. If the question comes out as to “what have you been most frequently critic...

I’m not into watching a lot of sports on television like some people I know, after all I grew up in Atlanta during the lean years when all of the major sports franchises to be brutally honest . . . sucked. I was in the stands almost alone during the Braves years before they developed their farm clubs to later become a powerhouse and I was there during those years . . . somewhat jaded but enjoying their success finally. The Flames were great for Atlanta during the 70’s but being a southern city it really did not know what to do with hockey. Ted Turner brought us the Hawks to go along with his Braves but they never amounted to much of anything and the Atlanta Falcons were laughable every Sunday they played always stating in the post game interviews that “they just couldn’t get their head into it” week after miserable week. The couple of bright spots were the majesty every spring of The Masters and the various auto sports races all over the south. One was just a couple ...

Reality TV proves one thing pretty clearly . . . we love to see other people's misery. We take pleasure in it. It's fun for us to see people squirm and interact in sometimes combative ways with each other. If it were a flavor, people would drink it up. That's why I think Starbucks should just come out with a brand of coffee that's not trying to help anyone . . . you know . . . coffee. What a concept! It is hard for me to go into a Starbucks because I sometimes do not know exactly what all that crap is on their menu. There’s double this, latte that, where on their sign board is there just regular coffee? We are in the in-between time for another season of Survivor or The Amazing Race? I can’t wait to see the personal interactions for a new group of people. Yes, and it seems so strange that they both have been on television so long. Not much time to write tonight as I return from the hospital but there may be ...

Bob May, who donned The Robot's suit in the hit 1960s television show "Lost in Space," has died. He was 69. His line to one of the children, "Danger, Will Robinson," became a national catch phrase. One of my favorite programs growing up and “The Robot” was always one of our fun Halloween costumes made out of cardboard boxes and other items found around our neighborhood. I guess this starts to date our lives as more of these actors are sick or have died these last couple of years. Those were simpler times . . . no ipod or xbox to occupy your time, just a stick and your imagination to fight off the bad guys and explore new worlds. Where did those times go as we advanced technology without holding on to the things that made us who we are? It was a stable day at the hospital with my daughter mostly sleeping as her medicine worked and we await more tests. She will see a gastroenterologist hopefully tomorrow for more exams to see ...

Is it just me or do you hate those stupid commercials that seems to come out during the holidays? One that drives me nuts is the Jared’s Jewelry Commercial. One of the actresses in it used to be in the “What Ever Happens in Vegas” commercial and her crooked smile (mouth) makes me nuts to watch her. Now she plays one of the ‘friends’ asking if Mr. Wrong has a brother. I was hoping the holiday jewelry commercial would drop off but it has continued so I will please ask, can we stop with the "He went to Jared!" Ads? Is anyone going to be that impressed that you scraped together a few bucks to blow at a mall store only because the pressure and her pregnancy got to you? A better commercial to demonstrate true love might be, "He went to planed parenthood." Or maybe just say no until after you were married. The most misnamed business ever by the way. No one goes there because they had a plan. They go there because they didn't...

It’s been 40 years tonight that an estimated one billion people either watched or listened to the live broadcast from lunar orbit by the crew of Apollo 8. In retrospect of that flight it fascinates me that all of the engineers and astronauts thought about almost everything on how to blast off from Cape Kennedy Florida , travel across the vastness of space to the far side of the moon but the one thing man had not considered or planned for was something that almost didn’t happen . . . an attempt for the crew to glimpse and record the most moving of sights, as their jewel of a home planet, suspended in the blackness of space, rose from behind the barren lunar horizon. No one had thought about what our world would look like from behind the moon that first time so no scheduled ‘picture taking’ was in the mission plan but by some luck and quick thinking by the astronauts . . . one picture changed how we view ourselves in the world. What I’m talking about is the ‘Earthrise...

I was up late last night working on a couple of things for work and I had the television going in the background. I wasn’t really paying attention to it as it was on mainly to drown out the noise of the washer and dryer going behind me. Yes, I’m still writing from the laundry room . . . it’s great to have an office with peace and quiet so I can put all of my weird thoughts on paper. Sunday nights are usually a busy place in my ‘office’ as there are the final loads of laundry to be washed and dried. The constant folding of towels, underwear, and clothes along with the constant thumping sound of the washer drum as it needs a new belt and will bang the sides of the washer if things are slightly out of balance within the wash drum. It keeps me on my toes making sure it does not throw a belt. Anyway I am at a stopping point in one excel spreadsheet and was about to open another when I stopped to take a sip of my coffee. I will drink a cup or two late at night to he...