Alphabet words...

For much of my adult life I always used the same old words as replacements for letters when reciting long serial numbers or VINs over poor phone connections. For instance, “A as in apple, B as in boy, C as in Charlie,” etc. It got tedious. So I came up with my own list of alphabet words to use in those circumstances. This was a fun little project as many of these words are some of my favorites.

A – absinthe, alabaster,

B – bullcrap, bipartisanship, belligerent,
     bituminous,

C – chicanery, caterwaul, catheter, crackpot,
     clobber, chortle

D – dreadful, dismal, debacle

E – eunuch, ecclesiastical, epiphany

F – falderal, fatalistic, fisticuffs, frolic

G – gastropod, gorgonzola, gallivant, grotto,
     grimace

H – hoodwink, hideous, haggard, haphazard,
     highfalutin, hullaballoo

I – inconceivable, ignominious, irascible, ilk

J – jibber, juxtapose, jettison, juggernaut

K – kiosk, kibosh

L – lurk, languish, lollygag, lunatic

M – malarkey, malevolent, malodorous, moniker,
     maudlin

N – nincompoop, nocturnal, nebula, nitpick,
     newfangled

O – odious, oratorical, opulent

P – platypus, proton, porous

Q – quarantine, quixotic, quorum

R – rapscallion, ramshackle, rube,

S – skullduggery, scurry, scapegoat, skedaddle,

T – tommyrot, tomfoolery, tout, treacle,

U – Underdog, urchin

V – villain, vaudeville, Vesuvius

W – Whippersnapper, whirligig, whatchamacallit

X – xenophobe, the X-chromosome

Y – yammer, yonder, yin-yang

Z – zilch, zoinks

The problem, of course, is that it helps when the person on the other end of the phone conversation is a good speller. For instance, catheter and caterwaul sound like they could start with the letter “K”. And xenophobe sounds like it could start with “Z”. You get the picture.

To carry it a bit further, this could come in handy if you want to confuse people. You could recite the serial number 59PXPG as follows: “Five. Niner. Pneumonia. Xenon. Photograph. Gnome.”

Go ahead and come up with your own list of words. Why? Because it’s nice to be able to throw out a curveball every once in a while. You might even be able to come up with the name of a blog from your own list of favorite words.

It Hasn't Been A Good Year...

This blog came about as the result of a New Years Resolution. I rarely make them, and even more seldom do I end up following through. But this one was suitably vague and thus achievable. My resolution was simply, "Do More". There ended up being several parts to this, which I'll touch on in future posts, but this post is largely about the creation of this blog, and why it hasn't been developed.

For me, "doing more" involved finally doing some of the things that I'd been thinking about doing for a while. One of those things was to start a blog. I'd thought about this off and on over the years, and had come up with lists of topics that I would like to write about. Hobbies and interests mostly. Movies, books, music, photography, traveling, and motorcycles were all on the list. I did not make a list of things that I wouldn't write about. Frankly didn't feel the need. If I had made such a list though, it would largely have included many of the things that ended up happening to my family and me this year.

My dad found out that he had lung cancer. He had an operation that successfully removed the tumor, but he ended up spending over a month in the hospital due to various complications. He eventually went home, but a couple weeks later had a seizure. He then went to the hospital and found that he had developed brain cancer. Back in the hospital he went and spent another month or so getting radiation and physical therapy. He came home and was doing extremely well until around the Fourth of July he had an hour long seizure, rapidly went downhill, and died a couple weeks later.

While he was dealing with his various cancers, I had my own health problems. I had developed a biliary obstruction due to a rare liver disease. I was severely jaundiced, my bilirubin levels eventually rising to 37. (A level of 1 is normal.) I was refered to the Mayo Clinic and found that I had bile duct cancer. After much back and forth between many doctors I went in for surgery in June. The surgeon found that the cancer had spread beyond the point where surgery would be helpful.

You'll notice that these are not positive things. And I did not want to put sad or negative things on the blog. For even if I wasn't really sure what all exactly I wanted to write about, I did know that I did want to keep it positive and light hearted. So, I didn't put anything on the blog during those months.

I feel pretty good now. Since western medicine can't do much for me at this point, my only option is to pursue alternative therapies. I've done a lot of research on the topic, and everything that I've read says that a healthy diet is essential. So, I've been trying to eat healthier. I'm also taking a large number of different supplements and staying positive. My goal is to prove the doctors wrong.

So, as long as I'm feeling good and am somewhat motivated, I decided to resurrect the old blog. Possibly I'll be better at posting things now than I was when I started it.

Evolution of a Flannel Shirt...

Flannel Shirts, known colloquially as “flannels” to most of the flannel-wearing populace, go through an evolution of sorts over their life spans.

Flannels vary in quality from heavy and warm (these are usually of the quilted variety), to fairly thin and flimsy. Though not as robust, the thinner and flimsier flannels do have the added benefit of comfortable wearability longer into the spring and summer. And though flannels are for the most part put away during the summer months and brought out occasionally on chilly evenings, the thinner flannels can be taken out of storage for permanent use earlier in the summer/early fall than their more robust cold-weather brethren.

Flannel shirts are similar to their very distant cousin the “dress shirt” in that they are of the button-down variety. While some are zippered like many traditional jackets, there are some that have buttons and a zipper, giving this particular variety added versatility and longevity in the fastening department.

Most flannels have pockets; one on the left breast, another on the right. And flannels have additional side pockets. These “hidden pockets” do not fasten, but are ingeniously located within the side seams. Perhaps since all flannels are not equipped with these extra pockets, people have worn flannels for years before learning of their existence.

Like all consumer products, flannels run the gamut from inexpensive to costly. Higher-end flannels are made of better quality cloth and are equipped with replacement buttons sewn either to a tab on the inside near the washing instructions, or below the lowest button on the front, usually facing inwards. Buttons are inevitably lost, and these replacement buttons are rarely used.

Flannels come in different colors and patterns. There are solid-colored flannels that come in conservative red, green, or blue, and there are more gaudily colored solids like yellow, purple, and even pink. However, these are under-represented in favor of the much more popular checkered, striped or plaid pattern scheme.

Flannels are traditionally given on Christmas. A person’s first flannel is called their “starter flannel” and is usually received in their mid to late teens. Starter flannels are often sized one or two sizes larger or they will be outgrown before a full year has passed.

One exception to this rule is if a person from a non-flannel-wearing background marries (or is otherwise accepted favorably) into a flannel wearing family. In instances such as these, a person’s starter flannel is received at a much later date, is correctly sized, and is usually of mid to high quality.

Starter flannels can be worn for all occasions including church events like weddings, funerals, confirmations, and regular Sunday services. In cold weather a starter flannel can be used as an outer layer/shell or as a middle layer between a t-shirt and a heavy winter jacket, usually a Carhart.

After a full year and a cumulative total of nine months or more of almost daily wear, a person’s starter flannel has had some heavy use. It is probably missing a button or two and may have some holes or patches. By this time it has been washed at least twice and is full of fond memories.

Luckily it is now Christmas, and a new flannel is received. A new Christmas flannel is henceforth always known as either the “Christmas Flannel” or the “Sunday Flannel” until the following Christmas. Every Christmas, the previous year’s flannel becomes a “Casual Flannel”.

For the first year, when a person owns but one flannel, it is used for everything, from the aforementioned “traditional” dress-up occasions, to every-day tasks like shoveling snow, raking leaves, or changing oil. But once the second flannel is received, it is used for the dress-up events, and the casual flannel is used for all other activities.

Another year passes and a person’s second flannel has fared much better in its first year than the same person’s first flannel fared in its first year. This is obviously due to the specific roles that the two flannels play.

Christmas comes again and a third flannel is received. It becomes the new Sunday flannel and is often opened while wearing the previous year’s Christmas flannel which at this point evolves into the Casual. The Casual Flannel becomes strictly (and is henceforth called) the Work Flannel, and is worn exclusively while performing heavier manual labor.

A flannel’s third year is usually its last year of usefulness. By the end of its third year it has had up to thirty months of wear and has been washed as many as six or seven times. The elbows are threadbare at best, but usually have been patched several times and are by now unpatchable. Most of the buttons and all of the replacement buttons are now broken or missing. If it was a quilted flannel it very likely isn’t one any more, since much of the inside fabric has deteriorated and the quilting came out at its most recent washing.

In spite of its deteriorated appearance, an owner has a strong sentimental and nostalgic attachment to a three year old flannel, especially during those first years of flannel ownership. In has been with you through thick and thin, and perhaps a family vacation or two. You probably took your driver’s license test in it, and you may have worn it to at least one grandparent’s funeral. You wore it while registering for selective service, and when you voted in your first election. You might have worn it underneath a blaze-orange jacket when you shot your first deer, and your prom date may very well have vomited on it.

Because of this, it can not and will not be thrown away. It is instead put into a closet next to dad’s old work flannels, or into the trunk of a car as an emergency back-up. Due to its delicate state, it is worn sparingly but occasionally until it either is secretly thrown away by a well-meaning but misguided family member, or it simply disintegrates.

The first post...

I've been thinking about starting a blog for an embarrassingly long time. I put it off because I didn't know what I'd name it. I didn't know how to introduce myself. I didn't know what I'd write about. And I didn't know if anyone would bother reading it.

Well, I figured out a name. And that leaves me at step two...the introduction. If you already know me, there's probably not a whole lot to say a this point. If you don't know me, I guess you'll get to know me over time.

What am I going to write about? Well, I have a lot of hobbies and interests. I'll likely write about some of them. In no particular order these might include motorcycles, skiing, travel, photography, books, movies, music, guitars, ships, trains, planes, cars, science, technology, geekiness and absurdity.

As to whether or not anyone will bother reading? I guess time will tell.

Now, why did I put THAT off for so long?