An Old Memory, and Other Odds and Ends

Back when I was in elementary school in the 4th grade, in Titusville Florida, I had a morning teacher and I had an afternoon teacher.  The morning teacher was Mrs. Tague and the afternoon teacher was Mrs. Allen.  I don't know why it was set up that way but it was.  I can't remember what each one of them taught aside from Mrs. Allen teaching English.

All classes were in a portable building.  Oak Park Elementary School was a bit on the overcrowded side.  Titusville's population had boomed from 6000 to 29000, largely due to the space program at Cape Canaveral.  My dad worked on the Apollo program as did several other fathers, and Brevard County had to build new schools to accommodate what was then a growing population.  Oak Park Elementary School was a recent construction; Madison Junior High School was built right next to it and it too was a little on the packed side.  In Madison's first year they had to take in the sixth graders; the year before that Titusville High School was so packed that they had a morning session for one group of students and an afternoon session for another.

Anyway, for some reason I got to thinking about this one song from that time period.  Mrs. Tague taught PE (Physical Education, that is) in the afternoons and on most afternoons there was a record player going round and round and this one song that I remembered was played a lot.  My thinking was that it went "Mary Mary, quite contrary" and it had a real catchy hook to it carried by the bass line.  The girls enjoyed dancing to that one.  I would look up from my desk in Mrs. Allen's class and see that, and wonder why Mrs. Tague's afternoon class was out there having fun while I was in this portable having to do other stuff.

Well, for some reason, I got to thinking about that song a few months back.  A Google search failed to turn up who did that song.  I would think about it every now and then.....for some reason that hook must have really grabbed on to me.

While driving back from Todd's house this morning (I went up there yesterday and stayed the night) I got to thinking about that song again.  Who could that have been by?  I got to thinking it must have been done by the Monkees.  They were really big on TV back then, it seemed as if all my classmates watched that, while me, my favorite TV show was "The Invaders".

Anyway, once I got back home, I decided to do a YouTube search on that.  First I brought up Michael Nesmith's "Cruisin'"......that one had a catchy hook to it too.  A search of Wickedpedia (can't resist calling it that sometimes!) brought up that Mr. Nesmith wrote some songs for the Monkees in an effort to be taken seriously as artists.  And then I tried a YouTube search on that "Mary" song.

For the first time since 1968, I listened to it!  Another childhood memory!  This time around, I learned how the memory distorts things after a few decades.  I thought that bass line was really heavy, but it wasn't.  Also, the song didn't say "Mary Mary, quite contrary".  It instead said "Mary Mary, where you goin' to?".  As I was listening to it for the first time in 40+ years, I'm thinking, is one of those verses going to say "quite contrary"?

Nope.  That never came up.

I also seemed to remember that the music would stop during that song, and then start up again.  It didn't do that either.  OK, if I had been the record producer back then I might have had the band do it that way, but that's not how it happened.  I always thought it would be neat to be a record producer and I think being a record producer would be a better job than being an engineer, but those weren't the cards that I drew.

But getting back to that song, I've found myself re-listening to it some more.  It apparently wasn't the best known song by the Monkees; two more got way ahead of that one in terms of public recognition.  Still, I think it's a good song, very 60ish, and I still like that hook!

The link below has this song.  If you wish to listen to it, click on hit, but if you want to come  back to this blog you'll have to hit the "back" button unless you have a creative way of opening up a new tab or a window.

Mary, Mary

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I wanted to post last weekend about Harold Camping's rapture prediction.  No, I didn't think for one minute that there would be a rapture, though I couldn't resist jokingly posting a comment on one forum that "Harold Camping seems to have disappeared".

This isn't the first time that Dr. Camping has made a rapture prediction.  Back in 1994, he said it would happen that year, and when it didn't he became aware of a "math error" that he had made.  When it didn't happen last weekend, I read conflicting posts on what he had to say about it not happening, but my understanding is that Judgement Day is now on for the 21st of October.

Anyway, what I would have said is that Harold Camping, for as many years as he's studied the Bible, should know better about making these kinds of predictions.  Christ himself told us that He didn't know, and neither did the angels of heaven.  So what can Harold Camping know that Christ can't?

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Yep, I drove up to see Todd, Annette and Amber yesterday.  It was a good visit as always, and Annette continues to display her talented culinary skills.  As long as I've known Annette I've known her to be a great cook, in addition to being intelligent.

This morning we were chatting on the back patio.  She told me that I've changed, and for the better.  That was an interesting comment, and I think she's right that I changed.  For the better?  I would hope so.

I didn't ask her just how recent this change was, but it must have been over the past year and a half.  I have noticed that I don't get as stressed out about traffic and left lane hogs like I used to.  At least, I haven't recently opined to anyone that left lane hogs should be beaten as I've been known to do in the past.

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I'm going to call it a post right now.  I really thought I was going to write more but I feel the urge to take care of a few other things.  I'm going to have to fire up the BBQ grill before too long; beef ribs were prepped a few hours ago and I'm going to give these guys two hours of cooking time.

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.

Good News, for a Change

Like a lot of people today, I woke up this morning to learn that Osama bin Laden is no longer with us.  He was taken out of commission by the Navy Seals, in a mission that was greenlighted by the White House.  Although I am no fan in any way of the current White House occupant, I will give him kudos on this one and I hope that it's an indication that he will approve similar missions in the future as the need arises.

Kudos also go to the Navy Seals for a job well done.  I haven't had much of a chance to digest all of the information that's out there, and I'm sure that more information will emerge, but I am really grateful that we have these kind of people on our side.

I am going to say this:  we, as a nation, need to be prepared to fight terrorism as long as we are a nation.  We have two choices.  We either fight terrorism until the world comes to an end, or we surrender.  Surrender is not an option.  Also, relaxing the fight against terrorism is not an option either.  It was this way before yesterday so the killing of bin Laden doesn't really change anything as far as the war on terrorism goes.  We fight this war one day at a time.  We keep our guard up one day at a time.  We don't consider the war "won".  We instead resolve each and every day to never give up our fight for our freedom.

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Some other good news to report.

I came in to work one week ago to learn that I was being assigned to a new business effort.  This will continue for several weeks, provided that this new effort is funded by upper management.  I am also challenged with keeping a new boss happy and the feedback I've gotten from him so far is very encouraging.

The project itself has its own unique set of challenges, but to be honest, I actually welcome these kinds of challenges.    I'm learning quite a bit and I've had to use some brain cells to figure out a new type of system, that is, new to me, and what really makes it tick.

I'm having fun.

I really am.

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Spring has arrived in southern Arizona, and I'm seeing a lot of cacti in bloom.....that is, the cacti that are out in the desert.  The only cacti in my yard that has bloomed are the prickly pear in the back yard, which have reliably sprouted new pads each spring.  The prickly pear that's on the other side of my back wall not only sprouts new pads but also blesses us with the appearance of yellow flowers.  That prickly pear is much more mature.  I don't know how old a prickly pear has to be before it blooms with flowers, but I can tell you that a saguaro won't bloom until it's about fifty years of age.

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I have finished reading what a lot of people call the "Second Foundation Trilogy".  That's the three novels written about the Foundation that Isaac Asimov first wrote about.  I didn't think very much of Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford, but Foundation's Chaos and Foundation's Triumph by Greg Bear and David Brin, respectively, were both good reads.  Both fill in a lot of backstory with the latter doing an excellent job of tying in not only the Galactic Empire series of novels by Asimov, but also the "Caliban Trilogy" authored by Roger MacBride Allen.

One minor criticism of Foundation's Triumph:  it pre-supposes that you've already read the original Foundation trilogy as that premonitions of the events covered by them are introduced.  I'm not sure that the author should have done this, but with the original Foundation trilogy having been in print for nearly forty years it's not like there are a lot of readers who will read the second trilogy ahead of the first.

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That's going to be it for now.

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.