Almost Cut My Hair (because my barber closed)

As the CSNY song goes, "almost cut my hair, it happened just the other day...", the other day I pedaled over to my barber in Elberta for my monthly cut. The guy is an MSU fan and has to be the quickest cutter out there in that he could finish in about five minutes. Very efficient and cut it like I wanted it. It was not to be for my most recent visit, however, as the sign on the door advised that the shop was closed indefinitely. All the Spartan paraphernalia that donned the walls inside was gone as well. Don't cry for me Argentina though as this is probably the biggest drama I have and if that is the biggest drama, things overall aren't too bad. Granted, there aren't many places in the area to get a cut (I tried a place in Beulah but was number seven in line so I walked), I'll figure something out. Maybe friend Jim downstate has his Flowbee Haircutting System (the apparatus hooks up to a shop vac and you can cut your own hair) somewhere in storage that I can use.

Trail Head

Smart Pea Brain

Bird turns the big five months on Tuesday (no, there won't be any birthday parties for a dog) but that little pea brain of hers is making strides over said five months. 

Number one, and most important number one, she is potty trained for the most part and can hold her bladder for the entire night now so this scribe has been able get somewhat of a full night's sleep lately rather than walking outside in my boxers at 2 AM to oversee the process. My 50-something year old prostate normally has to urinate at that time anyway so it wasn't too much of a nuisance (besides rain storms) in addition to the being able to see the many stars/northern lights here in northern Michigan while supervising. 

Number two is pictured here. Whenever the air conditioning kicks on, you can bet your next paycheck that Bird will be hovering over the vent to take advantage of the cool air. 

Good dog; sometimes.

Trail Head

Way Back Machine - back yard carnival

Labor Day was this past Monday and that meant a few things. One, the kids were going back to school the next day and more importantly for the small port town I live in, the tourists were leaving! Yes, they do allow for local businesses to pay the bills throughout the year and most are good people but some can sure be a pain in the back side on occasion.

Another tradition for Labor Day that isn't around anymore was the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon to benefit muscular dystrophy. From Sunday through Monday, it was on the idiot box. Twenty four hours of some really bad entertainment but was going for a good cause. From the telethon, the way back machine takes us to the mid 1970's when it offered kids an opportunity to help the cause in the form of each kid putting on a back yard carnival. You contacted the telethon and they sent you a kit with signs, tickets, badges and tips of how to put on a backyard carnival. Maybe it was a prelude to my sister's public relations career but she was the leader of ours as I recall. We lived in a very large neighborhood in Farmington so getting a crowd to attend wasn't too hard. I can't recall what games we created or if there was a talent show but I do remember that McDonald's was a sponsor of the kits and you could arrange to sell their outstanding orange drink at the carnival. I loved that sugar water! I don't believe they sell it anymore as it was probably not good internally for anyone (it was more or less orange syrup) but it tasted better than anything out there.

I doubt we made much of a donation (betting the parents kicked in a few bucks) but entrepreneurship was alive and well in Farmington back in the 1970's.

Trail Head

Music Player Evolution and do Jackson Browne/Elton John have a side deal with Apple?

On my daily walks with my dog I bring along my iPod, probably not the latest version of the music player, but works for me. We've come a long way on the music player:

First came the basic Walkman with just the radio. You have to fine tune it to get your station without getting static but it did/does the trick. I still go running with this version as it doesn't break as I have dropped it many times without issues.

Next came the tape player version where you could play all those mixed tapes you made from your record collection (I still have my cassettes in a box somewhere in the garage). The only drawback here was the batteries usually started to drain after attempting to listen to the flip side of your tape so Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like An Eagle" sounded like the singer was on ludes at that time.

Next came the CD player version that came along when the compact disc boom was in full force. The positives were the crystal clear quality of the music and it could also be connected to your car radio, if needed. The negatives were as with the tape player, the batteries drained pretty quick and when using it in the car, you got skips when going over bumps.

From there we have the present day MP3 player. Digital music. Pictured is the iPod but most today have them incorporated into their phones. The ability to load/play thousands of songs, it can be used in your car and the battery life lasts quite awhile without needing to recharge. No issues, right? I do have one small complaint/curiosity question. I have close to 4,000 songs loaded into mine and when I put those 4,000 songs on shuffle, a Jackson Browne or Elton John song seems to come up each time I walk the dog. I have no problem with the two as I have a few albums of each loaded but the law of averages, 30 or so songs out of 4,000, how can it be? Conspiracy theory (or fake news) but is there a side deal for the two artists with Apple to ensure this happens?

Trail Head