Small Town Car Wave

Here in small town USA a simple movement of a person's hand can make a person feel good inside. This simple movement is a wave of a hand. As you drive along in your family car or farm pickup you wave to passing cars or to people out working in their yard. It is something that doesn't take much thought or effort, but is a common occurrence. It is a friendly gesture to another human being. Whether you like the person or not you wave to be nice. Most of the time you don't even know who is in the other car but you put your hand up to acknowledge their presence. I am surprised they don't include it on the driving test when you turn 16 years old. "That will be a point deduction for failing to wave at oncoming vehicle."

Most of us in small towns have driven a car before we were 10 years old anyway and know all about the hand wave. However, it is a habit that is broken when these patrons leave the friendly confines of the 800-person metropolis. I am just now getting back to it after being away for so long.

As you progress through the years you tend to develop your own type of wave. There are many kinds out there and here is what I refer to them as.

The most common is the simple straight hand wave I call "High Five" or "Indian How".

Another popular choice is to have your hand at the 12 o'clock position and raise your index finger. This one I refer to as "Lazy Bird" or "Solo Point"

"Giant bling not included for most people"

Similar to the last one is the two finger wave from atop the steering wheel known as the "Deuce Hello" or "Boy Scout Salute"

A second two-finger option is the peace sign that I refer to as "Hippie Wave" or "Left-Handed Scissors"

For the exuberant personality you get the fast side to side wave with a big smile known as the "Happy Happy Happy" or "Fool's Gesture"

Of course their is always the rude middle finger gesture but that is a more popular wave in New York City and not used to say hello in small towns.

Those are the most common types of car waves. Some people develop their own wave such as myself. I wanted to put my own stamp on my car wave. What I do is start at the 10 o'clock position and with my index and middle finger on my right hand I do a sweep motion across the top of the steering wheel to the 2 o'clock position.

Now I know people in the city can't even fathom why someone would want to wave to a complete stranger but maybe that is one reason why our world is being flushed down the toilet. People being friendly to one another through a wave of a hand or shout of good morning is how people should treat each other. I once did my car wave in North Carolina and got a stare from the passerby like I was an alien who just rode a meteor from Mars and landed in the street. I believe people should act this way just as they should wave to someone who lets them in front of them during heavy traffic or someone who stops and lets them walk across the street.

Roy to the World

On Saturday at around 4 a.m. my grandfather, Roy Wayne Blevins, passed away in a hospital in Aurora, CO. He was 89 years old.

We knew he was in grave condition in the hours leading up to his death and this was extremely hard for me as I was 1,000 miles away in Texas and had my dad and stepmom with me. It was the night before I was leaving Austin to move back home to Colorado. The main reason - to be able to spend more time with family, especially my grandparents. I never got that extra time I was hoping for with my Grandpa but nonetheless a big part of who I am is because of the kind of man he was. This blog titled "Roy to the World" is about the man he was as a husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, cousin and friend in the 32 years I was able to be around him. 

I have so many fond memories of my grandfather and it would take forever to describe all of them but hopefully these few short stories will help sum up my feelings. 

On the exterior he could come across rough to people who didn't know him. He had a tendency to speak his mind no matter what the situation. He did not like being around big crowds of people and was not much of a socializer. One of the funniest stories was he was sitting on a bench in the mall and a lady asked him to move because the bench was reserved for the children who were waiting to see Santa Claus. My grandpa abruptly replied "you can kiss my ass!" While that was him being honest in that situation, for most of the time he was as caring as could be. 

There were numerous people throughout the years that he helped out. Despite being in his 60's and 70's he would shovel snow for the elderly neighbors next door, fix things at their house, take care of animals, take them goodies my grandma made and pretty much do anything to help them out. I saw him do this extensively with the Oldhams, Ms. Poole and his brother Bruce who was never in good shape after surviving a plane crash. He never accepted anything in return. He was just doing what he thought was the right thing to do. This is something I have seen a lot from my dad and grandma as well and led me to volunteer my time at Children's Hospitals.

He was also a very loving husband to my grandma Juanita. The two were just a few weeks from celebrating their 66th anniversary. That is an unreachable number for my generation with so many people rushing into marriage for a variety of different reasons and then divorcing at the slightest sign of trouble. My grandparents loved each other and made it work even though things weren't always perfect. Some examples of this love is my grandpa telling my grandma she was still pretty after all those years in the hospital last week. He set aside some money without her knowing about it in case he passed away first so that she would be taken care of financially. He also taught me manners and how to treat a lady. One time we were walking down the street in a neighboring town of their home and he told me "When you are walking on the sidewalk with your girlfriend or wife you should always walk closest to the street." I asked why and he said "If a car drives by and splashes a puddle then her pretty little dress wouldn't get ruined." I have never to this day heard anybody else talk about doing this but my grandma says he always walked closest to the street in the 65 years they were married.

When I was little and with my grandparents, I always wanted to be with my grandpa no matter what he was doing. He was very smart and really interested in finding out how things worked so he would tear apart fans, clocks and other things to try and fix them if they were broken. I had no clue what was happening but I would stand by him in his shop the entire time and watch him. If he was laying on the carpet taking a nap, I would lay down next to him. When he was working as a locksmith I would go spend an afternoon with him at work and watch him make keys. I am not a cowboy at all but my grandpa loved watching western movies and it made me as happy as can be to this day to sit with him and watch westerns because all I wanted to do was be with him. 

Camping trips were some of my favorite times with my grandpa and dad. We would find sticks and turn them into walking sticks. My grandpa would make toast and jelly on the camping stove which I still love to make at home. He always tried to scare us or probably warn us about bears in the mountains. The best memory I have is when it was just me and my grandma and grandpa and we went to a cabin on a lake. We were sitting outside on the porch steps and he taught me how to play the game mumbley peg. It is a simple game played with a pocket knife but I loved playing it with him and I probably asked him to play that entire trip after he showed me. 

Growing up I loved sports. Most of my family was not really into it very much but my grandpa liked to watch football, especially the Broncos, with me. He would also go in to the backyard and play with me as much as he could. He would throw the football to me and let me make diving catches or hit pop flys with a wiffle ball bat so I could pretend like I was an outfielder. I didn't have any brothers but my grandpa would always come out and play with me in the yard.

With my grandpa passing at this time of year it is especially tough because he loved Christmas. He always told me that the two of us were going to try and catch Santa Claus when he showed up at the house. We slept next to the tree the night before Christmas with cookies as bait. Although sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and think I heard something we never did catch him but it was something we did for a long time. My grandpa really loved opening gifts too. He would shake and rattle them to try and guess what he was getting. He never really wanted much but he sure did love anything he got. I don't know how Christmas is going to be without him but it just won't be the same that is for sure.

My grandpa enjoyed drinking his coffee, old instrumental music (he did not like music with people singing), reading and watching westerns, having a nice yard, a good chocolate milkshake, building and fixing things in his shop, the local news, my grandma's cooking (like me he loved pancakes) and helping out neighbors and family. For anybody who knew my grandpa like I did, he was one of the sweetest, most caring men there is and will be greatly missed. 

Election Day

In the spirit of election day, our office decided to host an election between our monkey and fish to determine which one would become the official mascot of our office.

The back story to these two is that they really despise each other. The monkey has been around since April while the fish (Sir Chester Wilson Marbles III) only came into existence a couple of months ago. The fish immediately started stealing attention from the message-giving monkey, thus causing an all-out battle between the two. Death threats emerged from the monkey towards the fish, while the fish returned sarcastic laughter at the threats.

Come halloween the two each chose to dress up as the other one.

The monkey dressed up as a dead fish in a fish bowl ...

The fish dressed up as a stupid monkey

That brings us to the present. The campaigns got off to a fast start using social media. Both hit up facebook. The monkey just told people to vote while the fish presented its beliefs and issues in a well thought out ploy. The fish obviously had the better campaign and immediately gained a crucial edge in the online votes. The monkey relied more on its personal connections for its campaign. Having known staff and students a lot longer and putting its face out there more often, the monkey seized this edge to garner a majority of the written votes. Final tallies were ...

Monkey - 15
Fish - 14

The fish held a 10-4 advantage in online votes while the monkey carried a dominating 11-4 in-house vote.

With the win the monkey gains its own twitter account. You can follow it at -     MonkeyvFish

The monkey was ecstatic and here is the acceptance speech I gave for it.

With every elected official there is a chance of assassination but in this ongoing battle to the death there was that chance long ago. Stay tuned to what happens next in the classic tale of monkey vs. fish.

The Monkey's Tale part one

Back in early April, morale was down around the office after one of the worst weeks of the year as far as number of hours worked for everybody. I alone worked 100 hours that week and our student workers put in a ton of time as well with every sport in season hosting 1-4 days of events over a four-day span it seemed. I knew the best way to get them through the week was the promise of a party when it was all said and done. I talked up this party pretty good all week so when the next Monday rolled around I knew I had to do something good. I took a few hours off of work and hit up my personal stash of party items from Oriental Trading Company and made a trip to Party City to arrange some fun.

Enter the Monkey

Part of the plan was to have a pinata and the best one I found was a monkey holding a banana. This was the time for the Monkey to shine. It was its destiny to be beaten until broken. It is what it was raised to be and now it was time to fulfill that dream.

Hung by a string from the upstairs balcony it floated in midair awaiting crunch time. It was full of joy and candy as a mixed bag from the grocery store was emptied out into its insides. One hour went by, two hours went by, three hours went by and then finally a flock of students came around the corner with a plastic bat in hand.

The first hit drew no candy and the monkey laughed and taunted the students as if it were mocking them for not getting him on the first attempt. The next student the same and then again nothing. Finally the whacks took their toll and candy exploded from a hole opened up beneath the back of the head. Alas with candy in hand the students withdrew from inflicting pain and went on to discuss where they were going to go for the after party party.

The Monkey survived but was it a good thing? Over the next few months the Monkey sat in the student work area, each day reliving the torture and being mocked by not fulfilling its destiny of dying a good death as every pinata should. Just like Lieutenant Dan in Forest Gump, pain swelled up for not continuing the family legacy which for the Monkey was perishing at a party. The Monkey's mother, father, brother and sister had all suffered an end to its existence but not the Monkey.

Seconds lasted minutes, minutes lasted hours, hours lasted days and days lasted weeks as time stood still for the Monkey. At the end of June he looked around and something was happening. Things were changing and items from the room disappearing. Then all of a sudden the Monkey was whisked away from its spot on top of a bookshelf, thrown in a box, hauled to another building and placed in an area that looked like a conference room.

After noticing glaring looks from passerbys, a feeling of being disliked was added to the feeling of shame. His time in the room was shortlived, however, as he was soon moved into a room next door.

Deciding to make the most of his time and stop feeling sorry for himself, the Monkey chose to pass on wisdom to people walking by with short messages such as chinese proverbs or intelligent sayings.

Things were going great for the Monkey as he became fond of his three best friends in the video office. He started to see all of them wearing headphones a lot and so to fit in decided to put headphones on himself. The messages were well received and the Monkey turned his sad, despressed lifestyle into one with joy.

Then one day a new member of the office was introduced and things turned again for the Monkey. A Beta fish named Sir Chester Wilson Marbles III came and started getting all the attention. Instagram photos were now being taken of the fish instead of the Monkey, days would go by without messages being posted and the fish was being fed. The Monkey never received food.

The fish laughed at the Monkey for all the attention it had taken away from him. Every day the fish would swim back and forth laughing away. This drove the Monkey crazy and hatred swelled up. The Monkey knew that the only way to make things right again was to kill Sir Chester Wilson Marbles III. As seen by the fish chalk outline the Monkey's message is getting across.

This story to be continued .....
   

What is up with my 30's birthdays?

So far I have experienced two birthdays in my 30's and neither has been all that great. Yet at the same time both have been special in their own way.

For many years in my 20's I chose to not only celebrate Sept. 18 on my real birthday but I chose to celebrate for seven total days in what I called a birthday week. I wanted to go to dinner, to a movie, bowling or just hang out with friends at home with a few cold beers each day for seven days. Why celebrate for just one day? That was my thought but long gone are the birthday weeks and I have paid the price for the dismissal of the week-long celebration.

A lot of people dread turning 30 years old. I for one welcomed the opportunity as I considered a leap into the grown up world finally. I thought with a new decade of years would come a growth in my career, mind and overall life. In some regards that has happened I guess. On my 30th birthday I was driving six hours in my blue truck to complete my move from North Carolina to Texas. I was starting a new job at UT with hopes of taking a step forward in my career. I was totally wrong on that looking back over the last year but I won't get into that much. This past year has tested me in many ways and I have failed in some but the experiences has made me feel more grown up. I no longer party like I used to and certainly think more about my health and finances than ever before. I miss the old me but felt these changes were necessary.

Back to my actual 30th birthday. Moving and driving to an unknown place with so many questions rushing through your head is not an easy thing to do. I was not only changing jobs but packing up and moving halfway across the U.S. to a new city, new state, new timezone and a place I knew nobody all after having just a few days to make a decision to move or not. Add on to that I was leaving a place where I had developed some really great friendships and had a great job. It was not easy to do but felt like I could move up in the business by doing it. Leaving my friends was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The two days prior to leaving weighed heavy on my heart and made me depressed. It would last for several months which was a sign I shouldn't have left in my mind. This made my birthday even tougher as I had planned a reverse surprise birthday party which was my way of giving back to all my friends as my own birthday present. Canceling the party and not spending my b-day with them was rough.

A few things really turned my birthday around however. As I was having breakfast in a  hotel in Longwood, Texas, I received a call from my friend Ashley, one of those friends I had left behind in N.C. I answered and it was her aunt singing me happy birthday. I had gotten to know her aunt and other members of her family through their generosity of having me to their house for Thanksgiving and a summer weekend at the lake. This turned a frown upside down in a hurry and made the environment in old blue for the six hour drive look more like a unicorn prancing on a rainbow than a ship lost at sea on a drury, rainy afternoon. Before I had left I discovered I had family in Austin and planned to meet them for dinner when I arrived. This cheered me up even more as they came to a place down the road from my hotel, bought me dinner and even brought birthday treats. Family always makes things better no matter how well you know them and for me family is the most important thing in my world. So what wasn't the best birthday I ever had turned into a pretty good one with those two things and the numerous texts/calls/emails I received as well.

One year later I am more settled in and not moving when I turn 31. Things were a lot different from a year prior but I was adjusting to life in the 30's no matter how different it was from my glory days in 20-29. Par for the course I got called in for an early meeting at work. Whenever I get called into a meeting it is never a good thing so I knew that was bad for starters but I also missed out on my chance at stopping for a chicken biscuit, one of the few pleasures I look forward to anymore.

Things picked up after the meeting as Margaret, our administrative assistant, had hung a happy birthday banner on the outside of our office. I quickly forgot about the meeting and moved forward with my day. Many calls and texts later had me walking on sunshine. After work I went with some friends to a local establishment for some trivia. Just prior to leaving I had a sharp pain in my chest but I thought it was because I was still at work at 6 p.m. on my birthday. I dismissed the pain and went to have a few beers and hang out with office mates.

Two beers, 15 missed questions and three hours later the pain in my chest had increased and became more frequent. I complained vocally and must have caused worry from my friends. They insisted I get it checked out and since it was by my heart I didn't fight the idea. We ended up finding a hospital nearby and both Michael (Tomko) and Mary went with me to the ER. I felt guilty going to the ER when I was certain it was probably nothing. However, you shouldn't mess around with pain near the heart of all places. Over one hour in we were still making fun of my hospital gown as I sat in the lobby. Then I finally got called into the hospital exam area. At this time Tomko took Mary home but I really appreciated the concern and worry she expressed for me for the two hours she kept me company. As I went through more tests Tomko returned and met me in the exam room. An exhausting four more hours went by before I was dismissed just before 4 a.m. Tomko was by my side the entire time and luckily good news came from the tests as it turned out to be a weird muscular injury where muscle broke down and seeped into my blood. Not the best way to end my birthday. Usually you would think being drunk as a skunk would put you in the ER if anything would on your birthday but not this time. It was still a decent birthday, however, because of the support of friends during a time where I was pretty freaked out. Thanks so much Tomko and Mary!!!

I hope the remaining birthdays in my 30's are a lot better but no matter what happens on them I will walk away with a smile as long as I have friends and family doing the little things to make them special.

The Great Turtle Race

Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare, the Aesop fable where the hare kept saying how fast it could run and beat the tortoise easily but the tortoise won anyway. This brought the saying slow and steady wins the race.

Well there was no hare in the race I witnessed on Friday night. It was all turtles - six of them in fact - in what would be some of the most exciting and unpredictable races ever.

Little Woodrows in Austin provided this entertainment for a large crowd of turtle racing enthusiasts. Ok maybe they had never seen a turtle race before like myself but the energy in the place was outstanding. First let me explain how this works.

Six turtles, all with great names such as Pearl Snap, Frank the Tank, Boris, Turbo, Testudo and Soup, are placed in the center of the ring inside a bucket. Prior to the race you get a raffle ticket and can pick which turtle you think will win. The raffle ticket is placed in the numbered bucket matching the number on the turtle. If that turtle wins a ticket is drawn from the bucket and a prize awarded.

At the start of the race the bucket is lifted leaving a mad dash for the first turtle to cross outside the line of the circle. The champion is not crowned right away as a turtle has to win twice to be declared the winner. It could be two quick races or as many as seven to name a winner.

Once the bucket was lifted it was utter chaos. One turtle sprinted out to the lead, turning around and heading back to the middle. A turtle jumping in front of another turtle to cut off the path of victory. Three turtles barely moving a muscle and wanting to climb inside their shell because they can't handle the spotlight. This is where you see what turtles are made of. Turtle races separate the best from the rest. 

For a look at how great this is check out my video.

Turtle racing goes all the way back to 1902 when the first turtle race was held in Chicago (Thanks Wikipedia). It was dubbed the "Strangest race ever run" by the Chicago Tribune. Apparently Longville, Minnesota's claim to fame is they are the Turtle Racing Capital of the World so I need to make a trip there one summer. They have been running turtle races since the 1950's.

Now that I have witnessed this wonderful spectacle I plan on going back again and again. The Little Woodrows by my apartment does it every Tuesday night and the one downtown is every Friday night through the summer. Come visit and we can go watch the turtle races together!

Walk a mile in her shoes or run 3,000 barefoot

Does everyone remember the song by the Proclaimers called I would walk 500 miles? Well I read a story about a girl who is doing a lot more than that. She is running across the United States. Not only is she running across the country but she is doing it barefoot.

Rae Heim, an 18-year old from Iowa, is running barefoot from Boston to Huntington Beach, Calif. She left Boston in April and plans to get to Huntington Beach in October. She started out just to do this and prove to people that she could run but it has turned into a fundraiser for Soles4Shoes, a charity that supplies shoes to needy children.

I think about what she is doing at 18 years old and then try to think about what I was doing at the same age. I was a freshman in college, wide-eyed and driven. I tried to get my hands in about as much as I could including being a sports anchor on TV, calling high school football games on the radio, writing a movie review column for a newspaper, singing in a barbershop choir (that one might surprise some people) but those are all pretty minor compared to running across the United States to raise money for a charity.

Now I hate running. Well it isn't so much that I hate running but I hate how my legs feel during and after runs because they are carrying around my beer gut that I spent years in heavy training to achieve. I also have the lung capacity of a chipmunk and have to stop every little bit because I am breathing harder than I am running.

All that aside I would love to do something like what Rae Heim is doing. Maybe the answer is not running but I have thought before about doing an around-the-world trip. Doing it in 80 days is not near as much of a feat as when Jules Verne dreamed it up so that angle is shot. I do like a lot of the ideas from the story though so my twist that I would like to do is pick a sum of money (maybe $10,000) and do an around-the-world trip in less than that amount. It would be challenging and I would have to be creative in finding ways to move about but fun none-the-less.

Until I get the money, or more importantly the time ,to undertake this challenge I will be left admiring what an 18-year old from Iowa is doing this summer. She started out running about 40 miles per day until she twisted her ankle and cut it to about 20 per day. She stops and rests for a day or two every now and then but a 3,000-mile run is nothing to sneeze at no matter how you break it down.

If you to want to follow Rae's journey here is the website I found ... http://flavors.me/raeainslee