George Michaels

    Yesterday, our Granddaughter Georgia turned two-and-a-half, so Carole & I asked if she could come over for a little visit.  She came over in her little green hoodie, and we just had the greatest day.  Her & Gramma did some drawings.  I took a pass on that.  I’m sure my stick-people wouldn’t impress her.  Then, we watched The Bee Movie…three times.  The third time, she & I both fell asleep.  Gramma stayed awake though, and made sure nobody fell off the couch.

    If you’re still at that stage in your life where your teenagers are driving you up the wall, hang in there.  It pays some huge rewards in the not-too-distant future.

Nobody has ever come to me for fashion advice. And for good reason.  But Monday night, I knew what I was wearing was just plain wrong.  I have worn a Hawaiian shirt with a pair of long pants before, but never with wool socks & winter boots (yes, pants too).  It was our monthly meeting of Parrots on the Grand, our local Jimmy Buffett fan club. And one of our members, I believe Lee Proctor, suggested we ought to wear Hawaiian shirts to the meeting.  Well, it may have looked a little wierd (does a light brown scarf & black leather jacket work with a VERY bright blue Hawaiian shirt?), but it did provide a little mental escape.  As does Jimmy’s music.  Say, if you’re a Jimmy Buffett fan, and wanna hang out with other fun people, we’d love to see you at one of our meetings.  We meet on the second Monday of every month at the Edelweiss. Things get rolling by 7:00.  Most people show up early. And (trust me on this) it’s not a late night.  We’re a non-profit group, and have a few local charities we help out, including the Cambridge Humane Society.  You can get more info about our group by going to our website: www.parrotsonthegrand.com.  Maybe we’ll see you out there sometime.

I got a cute little e-mail from my daughter Crystal the other day about my Granddaughter Georgia, that I just wanted to share.  They’ve been listening to Ray Charles “Georgia On My Mind” lately, and Crystal tells Georgia every time that it’s her song.  Well, the other day, the song came on and Georgia said “That mine song”.  Crystal said “yes that’s right” and she said “Gampa sing mine song”.  So Crystal said “is that grampa singing?” and she said “yep”.  I just hope she never asks me to sing it to her in person.

Thursday night the staff here at CHYM attended one of the nicest retirement parties ever!  Bill Leeson, who’s been here even longer than I have (imagine) is retiring.  Bill’s been a sales rep (excuse me, Account Manager) here for over 27 years.  There were some really nice tributes to Bill.  A lot of nice comments.  All of them, well deserved.  Bill’s one of the most professional people you’ll ever meet.  Always has a smile & a “Good Morning” when he sees you.  One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.  And a great family man too.  When he told us how his daughter surprised him by flying in from England…I gotta tell ya’, I got a little misty-eyed.  Bill…it was an honour to work with you for so many years.  Enjoy your retirement.  Enjoy that cottage & those Grandkids.  You’ve earned it.

Well, that was nice.  For those of us who did get the day off, a long weekend in the middle of winter.  Just a nice little break.  And now…just 4 days ’till the next weekend.  The next weekend of (sigh) winter.

I got so excited yesterday when my daughter Wendy said “Hey Dad, did you see the new Indiana Jones trailer?”  I went straight upstairs to the computer & Googled it!  I’ve been a Harrison Ford fan ever since “American Graffiti”, when he played Bob Falfa.  He drove that mean-looking black ‘55 Chevy, looking to race Big John Milner.  It was in this movie, when Terry the Toad told Falfa that nobody could beat Milner, that we heard Harrison say the (I think) classic line “I ain’t nobody Dork”.  I love Star Wars, and have always been a big fan of the Indiana Jones films.  I’m so looking forward to this new one.  If you’re a fan, here’s a link to see the trailer.  Have a great weekend. http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html

Greeting cards have all been sent.  The Valentine’s rush is through.  But I still have one wish to make.  A special one for you.

That wish is that you try Hershey Kisses with maraschino cherry inside.  It’s like two of the greatest flavours in the world got together.  This might be the greatest flavour combo since Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  You just gotta try them.  Guys: they’re not fancy enough to qualify as a Valentine’s gift.  Well, if it’s part of a combo that includes jewelry, you might be able to get away with it. 

Have a very happy Valentine’s Day.

Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, but I know it’s my own damn blog.  I am soooo tired of cold.  I’m soooo tired of snow.  Good for you if you’re a skiier or snowmobiler.  You’ve waited years for a winter like this.  But after all the snow of last week, and all the cold & winds of the past couple of days, driving in this morning, I heard Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville”.  Suddenly it was like there was a light at the end of this tunnel.  And not like one of those fun tunnels we’d make in the snow as kids.  Because as kids, we all LOVED winter.  I’m talkin’ about a long dark tunnel of winter.  Do we really have to fill the CHYM-FM Jet before we leave?