OK, That's Enough!

After returning from seeing Spectre last week it seemed as though we were watching the results of an evil genius in Paris Friday night. Very sad.....

We saw a trailer for the new Star Wars movie, take a close listen:

Whoa! My father has it? I thought he got killed...............................which would mean my father had it. Should be fun, I'll start camping at the box office tomorrow. If you need me call the pay phone at the corner, and let it ring for a while.

Some neat pictures of my brother and nephew from a training flight last week:

No I know what you're thinking: they didn't let him fly it or go up and down the yo yo, as a matter of fact I don't think they let him touch anything. What an experience!

For Throw Back Thursday I found this picture in a cigar box in my office; a Liberty ship that had to be cut loose while in tow around Hatteras. It was in the mid 70's when the FO and I went "fishing" down there and got caught in a helluva storm, that might have been the time the Bonner bridge broke. I remember going across some boilerplate they put down where some sections separated. Great memories............................

Maybe

And you know what? I think that's about all I have to say. 

OK, So one last piece of advice, it's not always about you..............................or me

Bond.....James Bond Bond Bond James..............

Old family joke there, when the kids were young they tried to imitate James Bond, Niece Kristi couldn't quite master the introduction and therefore whenever we discuss James Bond we always call him...................got it?

Spectre: Well it is a Bond movie so that means a lot; but nowhere near Skyfall or Casino Royale. There were some interesting twists throughout and a truly evil bad guy spoiler alert (it is the return of Blofeld once again) The chases, scenery, etc. were as always amazing, but the girls were just so-so. Yes I know I'll get in trouble for that, but there are some shots of Vesper......oh Vesper Lynd. What does Vesper Lynd and Jay Riley have in common? No fair answering that one Jay, I know you know. Anyway as risky as 007 makes it, I have to keep reminding myself that he will make it to the end of the movie. SWMBO commented afterwards "he certainly tears a lot of stuff up." The opening scene from Mexico City is classic. Enjoy. 

In industry news this week, and you're going to think I made this up but I didn't:

Sony puts Betamax out of its misery.

Assumed to be long dead by many, Sony has officially announced an end to its Betamax tape format. Sony will end production of the tapes in March of next year, 40 years after the product was introduced into the market and 30 years after it became more-or-less obsolete.

“This will make the final shipment of all our memory media for Betamax,” Sony said in a Japanese-language statement. The company made its last Betamax video recorder in 2002.

Betamax is best known for its role in the videotape format war that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. Sony’s Betamax was pitted against JVC’s VHS format. The latter eventually won the war, with consumers adopting the VHS format en masse.

Last year, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai praised the Betamax and the standards it set way back in 1975. “Watch whatever, whenever,” he said. “This idea still resonates and defines everything people desire and expect even today.” [via CoS]

Yes, that is hard to believe, but true story. 

If you read this blog regularly you know I enjoy the noise of a combustion engine, especially one which delivers high performance. The motorcycle I ride has a torque-y engine, especially at speeds up to 100 or so, not the top end speed of the four cylinder "flying bricks" BMW builds, but extremely responsive at 0-60 (4.0 flat). I digress............Anyway, as much fun as it is to ride, the "noise" just isn't there, but I have found a low cost solution:

And I'll bet we all know who plays a trombone, well actually a couple of guys who do.

Speaking of the FO I found a picture from his childhood the other day, he loves to fish more than anyone I know; as a matter of fact he will not stop fishing to do "the essentials" sometimes.

Elizabeth had a birthday this week and I got to enjoy dinner Wednesday night with the birthday girl and Jackson. Looks like she had a boo boo:

OK that might have been a few years ago, but a great picture of her and her mom attending to her. Happy birthday young lady, we love you

Happy birthday Shorty Simms, beat Macon. If you want to get to the good part zip ahead to 1:15, Jackson's last game

We went to 28379 last week and saw a

And this week:

Photography is so easy, no just got lucky with a couple of shots.
Next week: BigFoot!
Speaking of BigFoot, guess where he is today?

Your tax dollars at work..............this goes with landing on an aircraft carrier a few years ago, wonder what his next adventure will be?
Mine? Supposed to take a couple of days off next week to ride the bike to the mountains, but rain looks to be in the forecast Wednesday and Thursday so earlier today I scrubbed that trip. Maybe try for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday of Thanksgiving week?
And an old friend in Glen Burnie is retiring so maybe I'll run up there and visit with him once more, and meet his replacement? Who knows?

Ohhhhhhhhhhh You Can't Rollerskate.................

No pictures this week, sorry. I got a camera this week, my first SLR in 25 years but I haven't learned enough about it to post any pictures. I know you're disappointed. But I'm heading to Rockingham for the weekend, yes I am a lucky guy, so I'll try to get some pictures of my grandkids thereby making SWMBO the happiest gal in the whole USA.

I've always told my sons that one bad call doesn't cost you a game; I've been corrected by them twice now. I'm not much of a football fan, or even a sports fan anymore, but what happened in Durham last Saturday night is a plain old rotten shame. Knowing what we do now, Coach Cutcliffe, his staff and the entire team should have taken the field to knock down each and every Miami Hurricane they could find. And to make it worse, the ACC suspended the entire crew, including the guys in the booth. But give Duke the win? No. But then again, it shouldn't have come down to that play, Duke didn't play well, but also didn't deserve to lose that way. OK, one picture, the officiating crew last Saturday night before they took the field:

Funny?

And speaking of bad/good/no calls, who watched Martinsville last week? Who is going to watch NASCAR this week? That was a sorry thing to see (Kenseth-Looosanus) but NASCAR could have taken a proactive move by a short visit to the # 20 trailer sometime over the weekend before the green flag: "You know Matt we're sorry about your not being in the Chase because of what Looosanus did to you in Kansas, but if you deliberately take him or anyone out who is in the Chase, well we're going to park you. Get it? Sign here, and here and here and here, OK, I think we're good" That would have gone a long way to preventing stuff like this. But then in the end #24 won and punched his ticket to the final four race in Homestead. As I explained it to SWMBO if I'm on his crew I go to work on that car Monday morning......good luck Jeff. 

Elizabeth and Jackson went to see a Chinese acrobatic show last weekend, I understand it was a lot of fun. Reminded me of halftime at a Bullets, ahem excuse me, Wizards game we attended several years ago. This young lady provided entertainment:

Don't miss the end. I've been to two goat-ropings and a state fair and I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. It's hard enough for me to pull up to a stop light on my motorcycle without having an ankle give way, much less ride a unicycle, much less with one foot, much less.............well you get the idea. And BTW, the BMW has been repaired and it is the garage stall ready and willing and even eager to go. I'm trying to configure a Blue Ridge Parkway trip before it gets too cold. 

Heard the old "Calhoun say he don't want the ball" bit on JohnBoy and Billy this morning, still very funny and well-told. I remember getting an intentional walk one night and being relieved because I wasn't having a good game............................not a good character trait, but at least I'm honest about it.

Our church secretary sent me this video yesterday and said it reminded her of me. I took it as a compliment (kinda always smells like gasoline, Royall Lime aftershave.....maybe Scotch) so here it is: 

Thank you Susie. I love the sound of a big block push rod engine, but over the past 40 years or so I've migrated to the free (high) revving engine noises. Heck I like anything that makes noises like that (WHAT????) Yes, I know, wish I'd used protection all those years. And also, no real biker will ever admit this, but that Honda 50 cycle makes my heart skip a beat, what a great cycle!

Which gets us back to the title, ladies and gentlemen I give you Conway Twitty:

No wait, Roger Miller, enjoy

Words to live by...............................
In the office again next week, and then hopefully a couple of days in Tidewater VA next week.
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