Hailwood1965

The doctor stuck his hand at me, and said, "Congratulations. This is amazing. How did you do it?". I shook his hand and looked momentarily at his wide smile and the clear sincerity in his face, he really wanted to know how I did it and wasn't just being supportive. I knew then that I had never been closer to death in my entire life. How I did what? As men age, their physician will be constantly feeding them numbers gleaned from blood and urine tests, index numbers based on your weight and height and explaining how these numbers impact your mortality. My Dr has been on my ass for the last two years to lower all the usual numbers and to get and keep moving. I did all that, but honestly didn't move too far off the infamous 'Dean & Evan' diet. He gave me the usual regimen of tests yesterday. When he returned to the room he was smiling broadly and clearly happy with the results. BP: 110/68; LDL: 57; blood sugar, medium normal. When your mom walks into your room...

We had to bring my wife's iPod into an Apple Store for service a while back and I found myself amused by the reaction the staff gave it. This is the second generation white iPod with 10 gig of capacity and FireWire connection. She had an original iPod which died, and was replaced by this one. I'd assume that this unit was purchased in 2002 or so. She uses it occasionally and somehow it has survived for eight years. It was locking up, so an appointment was made with a tech and we brought it in. I would not say that traffic stopped at the Genius Bar when I brought this unit out, but it did slow. The young woman helping me, stopped her troubleshooting in minor awe, saying she'd never seen "one of the originals" in her time at Apple. She brought it over for each of the other clerks to look at and hold, they all expressed an appreciative "woooow or whoaaaaa". They each clicked the screen and held down buttons to see which firmware it ran, etc. I'm not su...

Here is another class picture from my past. This is the third grade class of Burnside School circa 1971 (?). Front row: Bill Lampman, Dean Adams, Walter Jahnke, Troy Cantremeberlastname, Brian Dietrich, Paul Bemis. Second row: Tammy Erikson, Denise Eggness, Julie Cantremeberlastname, Tammy Schultz, Julie Cantremeberlastname, Dawn Kuhl, Kent Sands, Eric the Dentist' kid, Bill McCaughtry. Third Row: Kim Sears, Diane Quie (?), Julie Montey, Julie Campbell, Liz Taylor, Darrel Bruer, Doug Kruse. The teacher, if I recall, was "Miss Lowe". This shot was taken in front of the old Burnside School on Hwy 19. It's the same school that my mom went to in the early 1940s, my sister and I went to and the new Burnside is where my kids go to school today. Doug Kruse is putting a brave face on it in the picture. This was the year that he announced to the entire class that I was still unable to tell time (I could not tell time on an conventional clock until 8th grade for some reason) in...

Took the two lads to the local almost fast food place for dinner two weeks ago. It was cold and the restaurant was almost deserted, just us eating our fries along with two older fellows. Mid-meal I did my usual recon around the place to see if any of my wife's relatives or my ex-girlfriends were on site, the latter which would possibly help determine which exit we used. Ninety-percent of the time that we eat at this place we see one of my wife's relatives, and as for ex-girlfriends ... My visual inspection confirmed that we were nearly alone in the restaurant but my gaze fell on one of the old fellows sitting alone in a booth by the window. He looked to be 65 or so, thin, and wore his jacket over his shoulders, not taking any chances with the heat. He did nothing to draw attention to himself, but it was difficult to look away. His face was like a dishrag and he had a nearly visible pall of sadness around him. He looked defeated. Each time a car went by or someone walked into th...

The good thing about having three sons spread about in age is that for the foreseeable future there will always be someone around to endure my love for odd movies. Kipp, 10, now, is on the verge of not being able to take "One Crazy Summer" one more time and I can understand that. He's seen it at least 40 times, and John must have watched it with me at least that many times when he was a pre-teen. And with John, being we were alone for so much of his early days, I watched The Lion King with him, no kidding, at least 70-80 times over the course of three or four years. Right now the movie I have protected on the DVR and will watch a few minutes of when I get a chance is 1951's The Creature From Another World . This is not a film from my younger days, as way back then we only had 4-5 channels and why would they televise a cool old movie when Mel Jaas could host Bringing Up Baby one more time? I was fascinated with comic books and monster movies when I was a kid, especial...

When you have three kids, you burn through so much milk you may actually be better off owning a cow rather than buying it. Of course, that isn't true, and that opinion comes from reality. I have owned cows. I have no idea how dairy farmers make any money at all. Anyway, the milk that we provide at no cost to our kids is the stuff with seemingly the least amount of chemicals put in it post-udder. This milk is not available at a grocery store here in Red Wing; you have to get it at a small gas station on hiway 61. I usually get up at 5:00 AM or so a few mornings a week and run down, buy milk, maybe a newspaper and bring it all home. A small gas station at 5-6:00 AM is a different world than it is throughout the rest of the day. All of the customers in a small gas station at 6:00 AM are on their way home from work (third shift) or on their way to work, and a great many of them are what they now term "the working poor". I stand there, with them, in the shirt that I slept in,...

I found this the other day. A picture of the fifth grade class at Burnside school in Red Wing MN circa 1973 . I can name quite a few of these kids, even today, what, 36 years later: Front Row: Julie Something, Tyrone Hansen, Brian Dietrich, Paul Finholm. Second row: Troy Schellfeffer, Laurie Schmidt, Julie Savage, Karen Coplin, Judy Something The teacher Mr Nordsomething. Dig those shoes. Third Row: Bob Lyndsey, Pat Flyn, Steve Gordon, Erik Something, Gayle Something, Bobby Niesen, Dean Adams Fourth Row: Diane Something, Michelle Something, Doug Kruse, Kent Sands, Scott Kuyath, Karen Kizer, Denise Something. This was taken in the gym at the OLD Burnside school, which is now the home of Red Wing Software . Both of my eldest kids went to Burnside, as did I, obviously, and additionally, my mom went there when the school had just opened and most of "Burnside" (it used to be a town next to Red Wing) was just a field. Three generations at one school.