50th Reunion Closing Observations, Kinkyman climbing

As I had mentioned in my previous post the Littlefield High School class of '57 had their 50th Reunion this past weekend and it was quite an eye opener. Since I had not seen the majority of these people in the past 50 years, it was like meeting strangers, but these "strangers" who knew our past. When it was all said and done I came away from the weekend events with a great feeling and assurance that my early life was spent in a great part of the country, with a bunch of great people. While I know a few of these classmates stayed in the home town, most did not and settled throughout the world. Initially I thought this might be a sad thing for the home town, but then after thinking about it I changed my mind. I decided that if good people spread themselves out amongst the population of any town or city or country and lived good lives, while setting good examples, it was almost like a missionary program of some kind. Maybe this is getting little deep, but it really is true. Good people, raising good children, providing leadership, providing industry, providing intelligence, providing integrity, providing honesty, etc., etc., then it is spread amongst whatever population is out there to gather it. That is how I saw our class, just good people out there doing the things that our parents taught us to do, to be good citizens. A few years ago when I was in New Zealand competing in the Ironman triathlon I noticed that the people of New Zealand were really nice people. When I inquired to one of the locals of what I had noticed and ask, "why are you guys such nice people?" They replied, "because we were taught to be this way!" It then dawned on me this weekend that the class of 1957 were taught to be good people, then left home and went out into the world to exhibit this same kind of lifestyle. So, class of '57, take a bow and continue on!! If there are any serial killers out there from our class just continue to stay in hiding so you won't tarnish our good image.

Working the South Plains Fair "Kinky for Governor" was an interesting two days. Since I had never worked for a candidate before this was a new experience. What I found was there are a lot of people going to vote for this very unusual character. He has gathered a following that has surprised many of the experts and is moving up in the polls as we speak. He is a breath of fresh air and very non-political in a political arena. If I were able to talk with him and ask him how he feels about all of this I think he might say, "It beats the hell out of me!" But, I think that today people are just tired of the typical political bs and the huge amounts of money that are spent on campaigns. The money either coming from family or special interests groups. Neither of these sources are available to Kinky. He is getting the money to run from the sale of t-shirts, books, cash donations, etc.

Some Kinky quotes: "May the God of your choice bless you" or "I support Gay marriage, they should have the right to be miserable as the rest of us" or "You can take the politicians to the water, but you can't make them think" or "Save yourself for Kinky" or "Why the Hell Not?" or "The illegal immigration solution for Texas-divide the border from Mexico and Texas into 5 different sections with 5 Mexican generals in charge of each section, give them $1,000,000.00 in cash, and everytime an illegal immigrant gets across the border take $5000.00 away from the General in charge. This will stop this problem very fast." or "What's the big deal, being Governor of Texas is like being in charge of a giant chili cook off." or "How hard can it be?"

The main thing is, GET OUT AND VOTE!

Recently I have had people ask me, "what do I take as a supplement to my diet?" Well I take a few things every morning and I will make a complete list in a few days. But, one that I have added in the past few months is one that I will mention today. The product is called Juice Plus+. These products provide you with the proper nutrients from a pill form of fruits and vegetables. My experience is that I feel more energy after taking them and I know they are giving me the fiber we all need. Their web site is, www.got-health.com. By recommending these products please don't think I am on the Juice Plus take, I just know I see a difference and they make diet sense. Check it out if you feel so inclined.

greerman

50 years is half of a century, Picking on Kinky, Tooara!

Thinking back 50 years ago is really hard to do, but some things do come to mind, i.e. no computers, no DVD's, no CD's, no cell phones, $.25 gasoline, $1.00 prime time movies, $15.00 hotel rooms, no e-mail, no war, etc. But this weekend a very surreal thing has happened that brought back all sorts of memories, all good I might add, and that is the class reunion of my 1957(we are celebrating it in September 06 because the reunion is also to honor the Championship football team)senior class. This has been a weird experience since most of the people, with a few exceptions, I have actually not seen during those 50 years. So, even though we had name tags on it didn't seem to matter to my memory, I just didn't recognize them. It turned out to be something like being in the twilight zone. I finally gave up on trying to remember people and just said, "Okay who are you and where have you been?" People would come up to me, re-introduce themselves and then start telling a story of something I did 50 years ago. One lady came up and said,"I was in typing class with you and she started telling the story of how I use to be such a smart elec with the typing teacher, and make her leave the room crying." She also said that one day I was typing(manual typewriters back then)one day and threw the carriage back so hard it flew off of the typewriter and crashed into the wall. Funny thing is I do remember doing that and I explained to her that I remember being a smart elec and actually I still am. So, that is the way the evening went and it was real interesting to see former classmates after 50 years, even though after this weekend I probably will go another 50 years before I see them again. The very few(2) that I see now, infrequently, will continue but I am sure the others will fade off into wherever they go and I will fade off into wherever I go, and that will be it. But, one thing I do know is that the 50's happened to be a great time in history and these times will never be replaced or repeated. When I think about not seeing these people for this length of time and really not even knowing their whereabouts or what they were doing in life it made me wonder why this happens, etc. But, I guess the simple answer is that after high school we go off into the world, with different interests, meet new people, establish a family and then lose touch. While I know that at the end of this weekend, we will all go back to where we came from and what we were doing, and not see each other again until the next reunion, there are a few that I would like to have a friendship with now. They both live in Texas, but that is easier said than done, since they live so far from the great South Plains. But, maybe it will happen by phone or e-mail and hopefully we have revived old friendships into the modern world. Tonight we will have the conclusion dinner of this reunion and I will report back to some of my final observations. But, one thing I would point out now is that, for sure, I have seen more different models of hearing aides than I have ever seen in one room. Since I need one real bad myself I am hoping I can get some ideas on helping my hearing, and others around me are wishing me luck.

As part of this reunion I created a new event for the weekend, called the '56 Wildcat Triathlon and invited all of my classmates to take part with me. This would have been a very large 65-69 age group(about 120)to say the least. It started in Ransom Canyon Lake at 6:45 a.m. with a 1 mile swim, then the bike headed to the old home town of Littlefeld on Hiway 84, for 48 miles then the run was 7 miles into the main street of Littlefield(pop 6500 and shrinking)with the finish line at the City Barbershop(the barber that owns it cut our flatops in '56 and is still cutting hair). My finishing time was 5:18 hours, while all my classmates were invited I was the only one that competed, so I finished both first and last. The encouraging thing was there were 3 of my former classmates waiting at the finish line, so that was a glad happening. Oh well, maybe on the next reunion more will participate.

Well my candidate for Governor, the Kinkyman, is receiving huge criticism from his opponents. What this means is that he is making a dent in this election to the point that he is now being taken seriously. So, typical of the Democrats and Republicans they are dipping into their millions to do everthing they can to discredit the Kinkyman. The big guys created a new industry, called Opposition Research, that goes back into a persons history to find anything bad they can about the candidate. In this case they have gone back as far as 30 years to find things that might make Kinky look bad. Fact is, this is one of the reasons regular citizens don't run for office. If you do, and you start to threaten the system as Kinky has, you're going to be attacked. Heaven knows I felt this same thing, on a very small arena, when I announced I would run for the USAT board. One of my so-called friends(no longer)did his best to throw trash on me and about me, only to have it back fire on him and his candidate. So, there is justice out there and hopefully the Perry/Bell slime campaign will back fire on them. Remember, Harry S. Truman, remember Minnesota!! Long live the ordinary citizen running for office!!!

Well for right now the thoughts of organizing the association for armadillos and racoons(TooAra-The Organization of Armadillos-Racoons of America) in the canyon area has come to a stand still. It seems that they are more content with the area and the residents are feeling the same. Their attack on the yards, looking for grub worms has ceased and they are back to eating whatever they use to eat before the grub worm epidemic. Fact is, the last one I saw had a big grin on his face. We are happy for them!!!

Off to other causes!!

greerman

Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, Kinkyman, a new Bushism

What was God thinking when he put in our minds that there should be a sin city? You say, well wait a minute you can't blame that on God, to the contrary the good book that quotes him quite frequently says, "Don't do all those things that go on in sin city!!!" At the same time he gives us the brains, thoughts, etc., to create a venue where we can go and sin, legally. Yep, the state of Nevada set up their statehood with a government that protects three things: prostitution, gambling, and the mining industry. Well man has created this perfect venue that draws over 1 million people per year just through the Las Vegas airport. It has more passengers go through it than any in the USA, and they are there to take in the Mormon Tabernacle choir(Mormon settles actually established Las Vegas in the beginning), NOT!!! They are there to lose their money in many various forms(there is only a 2% chance that you will win, so the other 98% builds these billion dollar monuments to sin city), watch or consort with naked women, drink adult beverages, and seek adult entertainment. Believe me, this is not Disneyland!! After this little foray is over they return to the airport, still stumbling and looking like absolute sombies!! Wow, God, what were you thinking? The good news for me is that I was passing through to St. George, Utah to offer my services as as expert triathlon witness for the State of Utah. It was a great trip and I hope my services were useful to the case and that all of the pertinant facts were explored.

From there I returned to Lubbock for a night, then off to Omaha, Nebraska for a packaging trade show. Wow, what was God thinking when he did Nebraska, what a beautiful city and state. To think this was the same God that did sin city, oh well he also gave us an ability to make a choice. So, after traveling the entire USA for the past 40 years I have seen most of these choices. The diversity just in our country is extremely diverse and there is something for all of us. Then it was back to Lubbock for me, Wow(again), what was God thinking when he did the South Plains and Lubbock, Texas? Some will say he went brain dead, some will say this is a great place, some will say another offering for diversity, some will say stick it I like trees, some will say stick it, I hate trees, some will say take the wind and shove it, some will say I love the Yellowhouse Canyons!! Regardless, there is something out there for all of us and I am proud and thankful I have had the priveledge to experience it and continue to do so.

Kinkyman: Well I ask if I could help with the man's campaign for Governor and was invited to help work at the Fair booth next weekend. This should be interesting since I have never helped a political campaign before in my life. They only ask that I wear a Kinky For Gov black t-shirt. It will be interesting!!

Kinky says: "I smoke as many as twelve cigars a day, and I expect to live forever. Of course I don't inhale. I just blow smoke at small children, vegetarians, and anybody who happens to be jogging by."

New Bushism heard on CNN Press Conferene last week, this one is fresh: "The economy is good, Americans have more money to spend in their pockets." From Greerman-Spend in their pockets, what the hell does that mean? While the news conference was set up in the Rose Garden for the Bushman to defend his proposals on re-writing the 60 year old Geneva Convention, he took the liberty to tell everyone how great of a job the administration is doing for the USA. He came out swinging at the questions ask by the press and was described as belligerent by one of the senior correspondents. Of course the Iraqi War came up and it was pointed out that it had been going on longer(5 years) than World War II lasted. We were assured by the President that there was no civil war going on in that country(don't know what it is called when they are killing each other along with our own troops)and that even though the enemy tactics had changed, the US is adapting to these changes. Again, what the hell does that mean, since there is no positive results or a resolution to end this debacle in sight?

So much for this serious stuff, now off to celebrate my 50th anniversary on graduating from Littleflield High School(the same high school that saw Waylon Jennings walk away without graduating and become an international country and western star). I will see people I haven't seen since that 50 years has lapsed. Should be interesting. I am also doing a '56 Wildcat Triathlon from Ransom Canyon to Littlefield in the morning, with a 1 mile swim, 44 mile bike and 7 mile run. All my former classmates were invited to join me, but no takers at this time. It would be an interesting 65-69 age group.

Disclaimer: On my previous post I had some typos and have not been allowed by the computer to correct them. I am working on it readers, believe me, but also bear with me. I do know how to spell but sometimes these things think for themselves and get stubborn.

greer

Target, Part II, Off to Utah, Kinkyman

This will be a short post, not because I don't have anything to say,which is never the case, as everyone knows. But simply because I am off to the airport for my consulting work concerning a triathlon related accident in Utah. Will report on this when I return.

Went to Target again last night to pick some stuff up I had forgotten the other day. Going to Target two times in one week is like going to the dentist two times in one week, OOOOUUUCH!!! Got my 5 items, go to the express 10 items or less, attendant standing behind the check out electronics(no smile on her face), guy next to her says, "this station is open!" But when I go to set my items on her scanner(doesn't that sound a little erotic?) she looks at me with a stern face and says, "my station is not open!!!" Oh well I am just another one of those obnoxious consumers who come into buy and help keep the doors open, so this woman can stand behind the $15,000.00 check out electronics scanner and tell me the station is not open. Got to love this modern world of, "the customer is always right mentality!!" My dad is rolling over in his grave right now just hearing this being repeated. His favorite words were, "the customer is always right!!" At least I did get to check out at one of the stations for people with over 10 items, and I didn't infringe on their space.

Also noted this morning in the newspaper: A large drug company(Kline) is having to pay a $3.4 billion, yes I said BILLION, penalty to the IRS, and get this, "it is not affecting their quarterly financial statement or their cash flow, they had tucked this away from previous profits in order to pay the fine." Can you imagine the profits these companies make off of sick people, or people who are not sick but are misdiagnosed and made sick by the doctors pumping bad medicine in them, and then having enough to pay billions out of the petty cash!! Disgusting to me and makes me want to stay real healthy!!

Also, in the same paper: Some guy writes, "I never saw a skinny cook!!"

Kinkyman for the day: Your are a hardcore Texas if......"You have a toilet seat cover in the shape of an armadillo." "Your children are named Austin, Houston, Dallas, Travis, and Maria." "Your biggest culinary decision is barbecue sauce or salsa."

Kinkyman also says he will never get married, he says he is already married to Texas!! My favorite candidate just keeps getting better!!

Next report: The Kinkster is a guest in the White House, even smokes a stogey while there!!

greerman

Targetman, Some Kinky things, misc.

Now a days shopping in the modern stores is something to behold, whether it be the new breed of employees or the new breed of automation. The employees now all wear some kind of smock(blue at Wal Mart and red at Target, etc.), have a name tag with a title of some kind, i.e. head stocker for produce, head of cereal department, office supply audit manager, etc. While these observations seem to bug me on a daily basis, when shopping, the other things that really bug me are the electronic things that are suppose to be there to assist you and make your shopping easier, but sometimes just do the reverse. I went to Target to buy some plastic, Rubbermaid, storage containers. These containers will hold some of the stuff left over from Buffalo Springs, valuable enough to keep but they also venture over into the nearly "junk" category. While the ad in the paper looked fairly simple and straight forward, i.e. Rubbermaid storage containers, 60 qt. capacity, on sale for $7.99. But what I found when I got there was at least 15 other choices and they all resembled each other. But, also what I found was the capacity thing was not always in quart capacity but in gallon capacity. So, I had to sit there and compute the capacities to see if I was comparing apples to apples are apples to grapefruit, etc. On top of that the 60 qt. dude I went there for was hidding some place in the store and I couldn't find it. As a last resort I decided to seek out the red vested plastic storage container manager to see if they could possibly locate what I came for. Turns out the manager has a little electronic gun that she shoots a scanner line over the bar code and it tells her, BINGO!!, this is the container Greerman is looking for. Since I needed 20 and there was only 5 on the shelf I ask her if she had 15 more. Of course now the answer is, well that is not my job but I will consult with the back of the building warehouse manager, who also has one of those magic guns, a red smock, a name tag and title, and he will advise if we have anymore in stock and then will bring them to you. In the interim I found my enthusiasm growing for these plastic containers and started looking at all the different models available, turns out I found another container similar to the one on sale but it had a 66 quart capacity and it was only $6.99(not on sale, go figure). Now as the back of the building manager was charging at me with the 15 containers I had to work up the courage to tell him I had found a better deal. The good news for Target is that I found the better deal in their store, not at Wal Mart. He was very nice about and even said, "well it doesn't really matter since I needed to put these out on the shelves anyway." So, I gathered up my 20 containers, placed them in the basket and was real proud of my $1.00 per container savings. While I have never been a shopper, but rather a buyer, this little time to shop paid off. I also witnessed technology in motion since no one even had to think or count, they just shot that little red line onto the bar code and it did the rest. Now the real challenge comes in, I went to check out at one of the 21 different registers. Funny thing here is that only 4 of them were manned, so then I got in line to check out. Then I started calculating what it cost to put one of these electronic registers in and knowing that figure is from $12-15,000.00 each I figured they had over $300 grand sitting there with over two thirds of them not doing anything. Then my mind went even further off the radar thinking that everytime I go into a store like this there are registers sitting vacate and lonely, with no attendants or customers at them they are bound to be lonely. Then I started computing 100 modern stores like this in Lubbock alone with over two thirds of their registers sitting there doing nothing and this computed to over $25,500,000.00 dollars of wasted hardware and money. Why not put this all together and donate it to the Buffalo Springs 70.3 and we will offer prize money like the sport only dreams of. But then reality surfaces and the lady manning my check out station becomes available(the reason for the delay was because her scanner was not working and you know if this stuff doesn't work they can't check you out, since that would require thinking and actually reading, which they just don't have to do nowadays since they have a little gun that does this for them). Finally she puts the gun to my bar code(I know this sounds somewhat sexual but since it is a family blog it is not the case at all),it calculates my cost, sucks in my credit card, spits out a receipt and I am out of there. It has gotten to the point for me now that if I successfully buy something in the stores and walk out without losing my temper or chewing a vested employee out I have won for the day. While customer service will never be what is was in the "old" days I guess I really can't blame those that wait on me, since they are only doing what they are trained to do, and work with that equipment that they are given. So, get over it greerman and get your own vest and bar code gun if you don't like it! Welcome to the modern world of shopping and buying!! One last note on shopping. I have gone into some Dollar General stores lately and find that even though they say everything is $1.00 that is really not the case. There are many items over $1.00, so beware when that sign on the front of the building tempts you to shop with them!

For the past week I have been doing my due diligence on the Texas governor's race. The current governor did a triathlon last weekend in the hill country, another candidate is called a real softy, while the other two are really making the waves, one is a "grandma" and proud of it and the final one is just plain "Kinky." Turns out Kinky Friedman(self proclaimed as the only Jew in Texas who doesn't own any real estate)is really making a run for the office and even though all the experts say he has no chance(they said the same thing about Harry S. Truman versus Thomas Dewey for President, one election a long time ago)he has really made a name for himself. He has become my candidate, even though one of my Lubbock friends is helping with the "Grandma" campaign. So you non Texas readers out there will have a better appreciation for my man here are some of his famous quotes from Kinky Friedman's, "Cowboy Logic": "Never eat a sandwhich bigger than your head." or "You're born alone and you die alone, so you might as well get used to it." or "Always respect your superiors, if you have any." or "I'd probably be a Buddhist if it weren't for Richard Gere." or "I believe that Willie Nelson is the hillbilly Dalai Lama." or "The art of writing fiction is to sail as dangerously close to the truth as possible without sinking the ship." or(in conclusion for today) "My the God of your choice bless you!!"

Another former Govenor of Texas said the following: "I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region." or "And so, during these holiday seasons, we thank our blessings..." or "And there's no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail." Yep, you guessed it Bushisms at their best!!

Within my most creative abilities I am committed to presenting the most up to date and modern version of: "Did you ever wonder?" For example, did you ever wonder how long you actually sit at a red light? Did you ever wonder what the average time you stand in a line, for anything? Did you ever wonder why people speed up to go through a red light only to have to stop at the next red light, while you pull up beside them. Did you ever wonder what happened to the convenience store concept?

Off to swim, watch high school football,

greer

Another reason to love the sport of triathlon, the good people!

We just returned a few days ago from Colombia, MD for the first annual IrongirlMD triathlon. Also, we took an extra day to take the tourist look at our Nationals capital. The triathlon went off in great fashion with over 1800 ladies being registered is was quite a show. Just to think a few years ago women only represented 15% of the sport, now close to 40%. Does this mean that there will be no men in the sport in another few years? Don't think so, but my feeling has always been that the more people that come into our sport the healthier our population will get. Simply stated it is truly a healthy lifestyle sport and you can't help but be healthy if you only do minimal training. It was also good to see young fathers taking care of the kids while mommy competes. I had the opportunity to visit with one of these fathers from Towson, MD, Donald Discepolo, who was watching the kids while mommy did the swim, bike and run thing. He was very nice to talk to and very supportive of his wife in this endeavor. Which brings my other point to this blog, man are there nice people associated with this sport! Along with meeting Donald, we also spent time with our new friend in D.C., Michelle Jezycki. She works for the Senate side of the Government and took the time to show us around the Senate floor and other interesting areas of where she works. This was a very interesting tour since the staff led tours are much better than the tour guide type, plus we knew Michelle and that made it even better. What a nice person she is and we felt our country is in good hands, if only a fraction of the people are as nice and dedicated to their jobs within our government agencies. Not only does she work for the government in her day job, but she also has started her own travel agency specializing in triathlon related travel. Through her hard work we will be able to offer our athletes a better travel alternative to the events we produce. Her company, www.tritheworld.com, is the up and comer in the industry. Look for it on many of the major triathlon event sites. The best thing is that she is a very honest person that will spend your travel money like it was hers' with an attitude of "you will get the best deal possible." The other good thing here is that this is not a paid announcement, it is from our heart and knowledge of Michelle that we offer this opinion.

It was also good to see our long time friend Robert Vigorito(Vigo), the race director for IrongirlMD and long time race director for other events in that area. He is the king of race directing in that part of the country and as one competitor told me, "he is the best race director in the world." Can't argue with a satisfied customer, since my dad always said, "the customer is always right." We had a good visit with Fred Sommers, race director for some major races in Florida and one of my favorite people in the sport. He produces the Great Floridian Ironman distance triathlon. Since I have done this race three times I would say it is one of my favorites. We had the opportunity to work side by side with Judy Molnar, Irongirl head cheese and that was fun to tug the carpet together one more time. We are all looking forward to the Irongirl series for 2007 and seeing it grow.

In conclusion, this trip kept my interest and enthusiasm up for the sport, but also gave me further motivation to study the American Presidents more. To see all that the founding fathers did for the country and us, really makes you stop and think. What the hell is going on now and is that what they were thinking of? I really don't think so, but I also know that it was stated by more than one of these great men, "democracy only lasts and continues to grow and prosper if it is treated with honesty and repect, if not then it destroys itself."

Long live Kinky, the new leadership for Texas,

greer