Rise and Shine --- Huh?

Good Morning and I wish I had the $2 back!

So, this video is the most-watched clip in the history of YouTube.



This is the most downloaded tune on Spotify



Here's one I never heard until two days ago (despite it being like 30 years old)


Having heard all three, I fear I can never go back.

Rise and Shine --- Give snow a break

For the last two days, we've been hearing about this 'WINTER STORM' that is supposed to be around the area today.
"Watch out," we were warned from the talking heads, "this is going to get nasty. Winds. Rain. SNOW."
This morning, I woke up and looked out the window. Nothing on the streets. Nothing on the car. Nothing on the lawn.
OK, I thought, maybe it's just a little late.
Got into the office and turned on the morning news programs.
I was hit over the head with "Team Coverage" of the winter storm. One guy was standing on the street talking about how it was so dry out there.
Now, I don't blame these people. They are just doing the bidding of some higher power.
It's to the higher power I am pleading.
Please stop this dumb storm coverage stuff. To say you have "Team Coverage" on something that might just leave a coating on the ground makes your whole staff look stupid.
It's not like we don't overblow some things, but, come on, to have your reporter ask an official if they expect any delays when it's no more than a little mist, well, one can only laugh.
Or cry.

Rise and Shine --- Lights, camera, action

Good Morning and did you hear the news stations using that 4-letter word this morning?

Maybe I'm in the minority (and a look around the neighborhood says I am), but I can't pull out the Christmas decorations until December.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's nice to see the lights on houses. It's cool to see some of the new decorations people have purchased. I just can't do it.
I can't go into the back of the garage and pull those boxes out. Heck, I just finally put away the rest of the Halloween stuff.
The Christmas stuff? We are looking at this weekend or next (that's right, next!).
It's not that I don't like decorating. Someday, I want to be motivated enough to have a Griswald house. I want people driving past to slow down and take a look. I want the neighbors to knock on the door and say, "Wow, you really got me into the Christmas spirit!"
No matter when Thanksgiving falls, though, it won't happen until December.
Then I start thinking of the electric bill and, well, maybe it won't happen until mid-December.

Rise and Shine --- Sales? No such thing

Good Morning and wouldn't it be nice if we could one day get away from the political debate?

So, while watching TV last night, I saw several commercials talking about Black Friday sales. One, I think it was for Macy's, said Black Friday was already here. All right, I'm hopping in the car right now to get some overpriced perfume.
I worked for Macy's over the holidays for a few years. I met some amazing people who have a great work ethic. I met some people who were more interested in texting than working.
Whatever. That happens everywhere.
What I started to notice, though, was there was no such thing as a sale. The prices for the clothes and kitchen stuff pretty much stayed the same throughout the season.
Sure, if you wanted to sign up for a Macy's credit card, you could get it a little cheaper. For the most part, though, it was what it was.
If you wanted to pay more, you could find high-priced items. If you wanted something reasonable, it was there as well.
So, when you head out next Friday (or Thursday night I now see), just know there is no rush.

Rise and Shine --- Survival

Good Morning and here we are again.
So, late last week I was fortunate enough to check out the new Titanic exhibit at the Franklin Institute.
There are plenty of the usual things you expect, like pieces of the ship, jewelry, clothes, plates and other items picked up on the ocean floor.
What struck me, though, where a couple things, one visual and one thoughtful.
Those who put the exhibit together recreated parts of the ship that actually can make you feel like you are climbing aboard an ocean liner. The grand staircase made famous by the movie is there (they even had a fake ship captain and passenger walking down the steps). There is a first-class room and a third-class room. You can see the differences between having money and not were just as far apart 100 years ago as today.
There is one area where you are walking down a recreation of one of the ship's hallways. It's fascinating and eerie at the same time.
While I was driving home, though, something hit me. All these material things survived at the bottom of the ocean for nearly 100 years. There were postcards that actually look like they might have been purchased yesterday. There are full men's suits and more bottles than at a bottle shop.
If the Titanic went down today, I guess in 100 years they'd find a bunch of dead iPhones or laptops sinking into the sand. We wouldn't get the photos or the writings.
Blogs don't survive in salty water.
Will we be a lost society because of it? Will future archaeologists just joke about the cloud just floating away?
Something to think about.

Rise and Shine --- Oh, those commercials

Good Morning and, man, I'm glad tomorrow is election day!
Seriously, the next time I see Tom Smith's mother, she better be starring in the Estelle Getty role of a 'Golden Girls' remake. By the way, Tom, you are the single most annoying candidate in about 100 years and there is no 'w' in 'Bob.'
One more time I hear Mitt Romney say he's going to personally create 12 million jobs I might just crack. I don't care what Colin Powell thinks. I certainly don't have any interest in Bucks County or New Jersey.
Is it just me or have these political ads just been about the worst ever? There's no break either. It's one after the other after the other.
I just saw Bill Clinton campaigning for Kathleen Kane, followed by the Mittster telling me about jobs. By the way, Mitt, if the White House is going to create 12 million new jobs, isn't the government going to get a helluva lot bigger?
They are all just bad and annoying. I didn't think I could get any more annoyed until I saw the Pennsylvania Lottery commercial with the guy going around giving scratch-off tickets to his friends as Christmas (sorry, Holiday) gifts.
"Hey what a great gift ... you cheap bastard!"
I think I'm going to DVR all my shows until the end of the year.

Rise and Shine --- Storm chasing

Good Morning and how about that Sandy!
So, while talking about the upcoming 'SUPER STORM,' I mentioned at the breakfast table Sunday I was going to become a storm hunter.
You know, those people who drive around in SUVs and get some cool video of tornadoes and hurricanes.
"Good luck with that," said the teenager.
"Uh, I'm not going with you," said the 7-year old.
"Yeah, right," added the 10-year old.
OK, how about if I just do storm hunting from the backyard? That would be safer.
"Like anybody's going to pay for that," came the quick retort.
Yeah, but it will be better than driving into work through a storm. I could set up a camera under an umbrella and sit there as Sandy comes in.
"First, the umbrella would blow away," came the 2nd-grader's logic. "Can I watch TV?"
OK, so my first attempt at garnering excitement didn't go so well. Let's see what happens tonight.

Rise and Shine --- Movie night?

Good Morning and how about those Giants!



The movie viewers in the house range in ages from 13 to 7 (almost 8). Up until this weekend, I didn't think that matter too much.

After all, we kind of all agree on most movies we watch. There is a lot of animation and mostly dumb comedies that are family friendly. You know, like those goofy Eddie Murphy movies with talking animals or the latest Pixar fare.

So, while riding around Saturday afternoon, we were talking about movies we could watch later that night.

How about Abbott and Costello Meet Dracula? That's a good one for Halloween!

"No, that's stupid," said the 13-year old.

Yeah, but it's funny.

"I want to watch 'The Terminator,'" the teenager continued.

Well, I think that's a little intense for the little guys. What do the other kids in school watch?

"They are watching 'The Terminator' or 'Friday the 13th' or good movies like that," came the complaint. "Nobody in school watches Abbott and Costello."

Well, that's their loss. I'm trying to show you some of the classics.

"They are just dumb. Nobody watches those movies. Nobody watches 'Duck Soup.' Nobody's even heard of it."

Now, as a way of explanation, a few months ago we were looking for something to watch and we stumbled on a showing of the Marx Brothers' great movie called 'Duck Soup.'

It's a major anti-war movie and it's laugh-out-loud funny, like most Marx Brothers movies. Apparently, though, it's lost on the teenage crowd.

Well, I said, maybe we should invite some of your friends over and watch 'Duck Soup.' We could even have some pizza.

"Nobody will come over. Nobody wants to watch that. Nobody's even heard of those movies. It's embarrassing."

OK, I'll call your teachers and see if I can come in and show the movie during school.

"Ahhhhh..."  

Rise and Shine --- Holiday overload

Good Morning and welcome to the only place on the Internet you want to be!
Like mostly everybody else, I like holidays. OK, that's not exactly the pull-you-in kind of opening loyal readers are used to, but I thought I would throw out some truth.

What I don't get is how we've advanced the holidays so far that there are pre-pre-pre-Christmas sales in July.

I like holiday shopping the old-fashioned way. Which means, I want to think about Halloween in October; Thanksgiving in November and Christmas in December. (We'll discuss Arbor Day some other time).

So, while thinking about how to decorate the house for Halloween this year, I went out to a couple of local stores over the weekend.

That's when I found out I was behind the times. Halloween had been reduced to one aisle in most places. In one store, Halloween had been reduced to one end of the aisle and most of that stuff was broken.

So, I went home and pulled out the box of decorations before I thought, "Wait, I have over a week until Halloween. There's no rush."

So, I'll start to put the stuff up this week (as long as I get help from my helpers). Yeah, I guess I'm late. By the time I get all the ghosts floating the witches flying, I'll probably see commercials for bathing suit sales.

Rise and Shine --- Dealing with it

Good Morning and, really, frost today? It was like 70 yesterday.


Everybody deals with things differently. Some people go into a funk when something happens. Some people just ignore it. Some people try to find solutions.

So, when my Mom was rushed to the hospital after falling and banging her head, I didn't know how to feel. Should I rush down there, you know, just in case it's really serious. Should I wait around for updates. Should I just plug ahead.

After a couple of minutes of thinking, I jumped in the van and drove as fast as I could to to the hospital.

Once it became apparent she was OK, I couldn't help myself but try to find the humor in the situation.

Actually, we all did. We thought it was funny when the nurse asked if she used a worker.

We thought it was funny when the nurse was shocked Mom was still working full-time at 70.

We joked about getting one of those Hoverounds with the goofy commercials.

That's how we do it in our family. Try to find the light side and, bad taste and all, try to laugh a little bit.

Rise and Shine --- Politics and sunshine

Good Morning and, you know, sometimes you have good weekends and sometimes you have GOOD weekends!



Usually I leave this political talk to legends like Spencerblog, but, with another presidential debate just a day away, I'd thought I'd chime in on the subject.

OK, here goes: I hate political ads.

They bore me. They make me want to not vote for the person in the ad.

The worst this year are the ones being blasted on our TV screen by Tom Smith. Look, I don't know Tom Smith. Seems like he could be a nice enough guy, but, really, I don't care if you worked in the coal mines. I don't care, Tom, that you started your own energy company. I do know, Tom, like most corporate owners these days, I'm sure you're not paying your workers what they are worth.

That's neither here nor there, though. What I really want to know is who is swayed by these ads? What are their target audience?

Are there actually some who are watching TV, see a Tom Smith ad that says Bob Casey is a career politician and think, 'Hey, he's right. I never thought of it that way.'

Who you vote for should be based on what these candidates really stand for, what they really believe. Hey, I know it's hard. You are basically begging for your job every couple of years, but, come on, get out of the commercial business.

Rise and Shine --- Soundtrack for the week

Good Morning and how about that rain?!?

Here's a little music to get you through the week (Yes, you're welcome):

Rise and Shine --- Shiny, red apple

Good Morning and here we are back again in the same place.
It's always kind of cool during the changing of the seasons.
You know, when you can catch the first whiff of flowers in the spring. When the grill is going (and the mosquitoes are biting here in Delco) during the summer.
Now that we are really into fall (I don't care what the calendar says, fall starts Oct. 1), it's apple season.
OK, OK, now that we have year-round deliveries to super markets, we can get apples any time during the year. It's the fall, though, when they seem to be the best.
So, it being the first weekend of fall, we all were looking forward to some fresh apples. Well, at least I was, the rest wanted to hunt down the perfect pumpkin.
We jumped in the car and went out to Linvilla Orchards (seems like everybody had the same idea Saturday). That's where we picked up four different kinds of apples.
The next morning, breakfast was apple pancakes, apple doughnuts, apple cider and apple coffee (yes, there is such a thing).
So, after eating it all, the first comment I got was: "Dad, this is good and all, but I'm kind of sick of apples."
Get used to it. Apple tacos Tuesday night.

Rise and Shine --- Stupid, but what if?

Good Morning and welcome back to the cool side of the pillow.




So, after much hype, the new TV show 'Revolution' premiered last week. The second episode is on tonight, I think. (It is Monday, right?)

Anyway, I checked out the show mostly because there wasn't anything else on Monday night. The premise, for those that stick with pro wrestling, is somehow all the power was lost around the world in one fell swoop. The lights went out, people went crazy, the whole world became the wild, wild west.

There were some cool shots of an overgrown Wrigley Field and stuff. The acting was kind of pedestrian, but, you know, we aren't looking for Oscar winners here.

If you buy into the fantasy that something like all the power going out at once and nobody can fix it, well, then it's not so bad. Sure, it could never happen.

Then again, as my Firefox browser shut down for the fourth time already this morning, I got to wondering where we would all be without computer access, cell phones and the rest.

Imagine if all the computers went out around the world after some kind of virus. We'd actually have to, gasp, pull out the vinyl to listen to music. We wouldn't know Bobo down the street was heading to the store. There would be no quick reviews of Wawa coffee.

Uh, I think we'd survive without Wrigley Field being overgrown, but you never know.

Rise and Shine --- YAWN

Good Morning and there's something about these rainy days that just make it too easy to go back to bed!




I remember these kind of days (since they didn't come all the time) were kind of cool while in grade school. Usually, we'd get dropped off by the bus and start running around until the bell rung.

We would race, play football, talk about the Phillies game or the latest edition of Sports Illustrated.

Rainy days, though, we were forced inside. We would wait in the cafeteria until the bell. Since nobody wanted to look uncool and carry an umbrella, we'd all be a little wet.

Somehow, though, those mornings with the rain coming down outside hold more memories to me than the ones spent running around outside.

It's probably because that was the days when we were always outside. We'd wake up on, say, a Saturday morning, eat a quick breakfast, then jump on our bikes.

Now, I have a hard time convincing the children to get outside. Ride bikes? Only if it's a miracle.

Rainy days today are celebrated because there is no choice. Back in the day, it was a welcome break.

Rise and Shine --- Doesn't make sense

Good Morning and, whew, that was a full weekend!


So, the violence continues to escalate in the Middle East.

What apparently was the catalyst to all this was some goofy looking movie made by an anti-Muslim filmmaker.

Not only does the movie make some in the Middle East angry, but it also looks badly made. Just watching the trailer, it's pretty obvious the actors weren't even saying the lines that showed up on film.

While, I wouldn't tell anybody their religious beliefs are wrong, I fear that at some point, the film will be just an excuse.

Unfortunately, we live in a world were violence just escalates. It doesn't slow down.

After a while, it's just the reason used to destroy things for the sake of destroying them. A week from now, there might be gangs still attacking embassies, but they probably won't remember the reason.

Look, here people turn over cars and light them on fire when their team wins a championship, so we shouldn't be pointing fingers.

Sometimes, though, cooler heads have to take over, right?

Rise and Shine -- Take your trains and ...

Good Morning! I had to put my heat on in the car this morning. It's too early for my tastes.



I'm sure you've all seen the commercials where a punch of people walk in front of a too-small screen to talk about how taking SEPTA is only way to get to a game.

Uh, no SEPTA. I tried it this past weekend. It was as horrible as I remember.

Now, I've given SEPTA plenty plenty of chances. I took the train down to the Live 8 concert. Then saw as they put too few trains on the line and had people actually jammed in the doorways to get home.

I jumped on SEPTA to take in the Phillies parade in 2008 (We getting another one this year?). After getting pushed and pulled all over the place, I felt it would be easier to walk.

Now, there wasn't much going on in the city this weekend. I had tickets to the Temple/Maryland football game (the 7-year old had been begging to go). Instead of driving down, I thought it would save some money and fun to take the train.

Uh, no. You can get by the rude attitude of the workers selling tickets. You can get by the train schedules that haven't been updated since the 1960s. What you can't get by, though, is the filth.

Have the trains on the Broad Street Line ever been cleaned? How about the stations for that matter? Do we really need the recordings to announce the next station to sound like a drive thru McDonald's?

From now on, it's back in the car.

Rise and Shine --- Nothing at all

Good Morning and, what's that you say, Fall is here?


So, we are a week into school and already I'm told there's been nothing going on.

Here's a typical conversation after the bus pulls away:

So, how was school today?

"OK"

Just OK. What did you do?

"Nothing really."

Nothing? You didn't learn anything new. You don't have some stories to tell about your new teachers?

"Nah. We didn't really do anything."



Now, I can understand the first week. Students and teachers are checking each other out. Both are still trying to shake the cobwebs of summer away.

This conversation could happen (and probably will) in December or April or June.

I know, I know, I'm sure I did the same thing many eons ago.

I would like to know, though, what's going on. Just give me a little bit. A small morsel would be enough to satiate.

Just don't ask what I did at work.

Rise and Shine --- Keeping it alive

Good Morning and when the Phillies are playing Game 1 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park, remember you heard it here first!!

So, we ran a story last week about the incoming college Class of 2016.

After getting over the fact they were born in 1994 (really? 1994?), there were some interesting trends.

For instance, if you didn't think we've morphed into a TV (or more likely video) society, then you'd be shocked the Class of 2016 get most of their news from "The Daily Show" or on YouTube.

According to the study, they have always lived in cyberspace. Computers are as likely to be as opened as the front door.

This new class of college students have probably never purchased a CD, let alone an album. Everything is quick hits, including music. I would imagine the song "American Pie" would be turned off the first time they went to the "levee, but the levee was dry."

Anyway, I've taken it upon myself to keep these old timey ways alive.

First, though, I had to take a quick survey. Having nobody from the Class of 2016 around, I had to use a member of the Class of 2021.

OK, where do you get your news?

Blank stare.

OK, where do you find out what's happening in the world?

"From you."

Good. Go to the CD cabinet and pick out something to listen to.

"That's all right."

Well, then, how about answering me this, who is Bill Clinton?

"Dad, I'm reading. Leave me alone."

I'll try again later.

Rise and Shine --- Those were the days?

Good Morning and isn't it nice to have the air conditioning turned off?


So, when the mosquitoes became too much Sunday night, we went inside and snapped on the TV.

Since I had control of the remote, I was able to bypass the usual fare of shows that melt the brain. OK, OK, all television melts the brain, but some make it go quicker than others.
Just to see what kind of reaction I would get, I stopped on PBS, which was showing a rerun of an old Lawrence Welk show.

After a couple of minutes, "What is this?"

It's an old TV show. My grandmom used to like watching it.

"Why are we watching it?"

Because it's a slice of Americana. They don't make them like this anymore.

"These people of weird. Isn't there anything else on?"

Nope, this is on every channel.

"I'm going to go read."

So, there you have it. Lawrence Welk is helping this generation of students keep up with their reading.