It's a Thursday Three day!

It has been more than 2 years since the last Thursday Three and every member of the Axis of Weevil has been mourning the loss of this meme ever since. But today, in celebration of one AoW member's upcoming birthday, in complete surprise to everyone on the internet, there is a T3 post at Possumblog! Hurray!

Terry's questions?

ANYwho--since we’re coming up on Thanksgiving, answer me these nonqueries:

1. What one person are you most thankful for this year?
2. What one thing are you most thankful for this year?
3. What one event are you most thankful for this year?

AND, as a big fat bonus unquestion:

4. So, how’s it going? How’ve you been lately?

Now the hard part- I need some answers to these questions. Lemme see...
1. Excluding the BSU, who would be just too easy to put at the top of the list, I have to really think about this one. I think I might be most thankful for my brother Mark for his listening and following when he heard a calling to become a minister. It was a real privilege to hear him preach a few weeks back and to see how loved he is by his congregation. I'm also very thankful for our pastor, Susan and all the people at St Peters that have made us a part of their church family.

2. The one thing I'm most thankful for? I suppose that would have to be Fish Slayer, my aged but very capable boat that I was able to purchase this past summer. I have really enjoyed the hours I've spent fishing with friends in this humble boat. It's great therapy and stress relief for me to be on the lake fishing with friends.

3. A single event that I'm most thankful for? Another toughie. I think it must be the vacation trip we took to the midwest last May to see our grandbabies. We had a wonderful time playing with them after such a long absence and we are already planning our next visit. Additionally, the BSU and I got to see my mother and grandmother over Mother's Day and attend church with Mom. That weekend was pretty special.

And the bonus question? Well, it's really going well, thanks. My family is healthy and happy, I'm pretty close to healthy except for my back that has been acting up again lately and I've lost 20 pounds over the summer. My grandkids are smart and cute. I did loose a beloved cat this summer to unknown reasons but I believe we will be adopting a new kitten tomorrow to add a little spark to our household. I'm working and glad to be even though friends all around me are retiring. So thanks for asking.

Thursday Three time!

And apparently, the Thursday Three writing staff has the same vacation plan as the Car Talk Puzzler because this week's TT is the season finale with no promise of summer reruns. So I guess I better jump in and play today or miss out until the fall season. So here's what Terry has for today's TT.

THRILLING, ACTION-PACKED edition of the Axis of Weevil Thursday Three!
Okay, it’s not thrilling.
Nor particularly action-packed.
In fact, there’s really not much of a theme. But that’s what you get when you assemble your program from stuff you find wadded up in the trash can.
But it’s the only thing we got, SO--
1) If you could hang out with a famous living person for a day, who would it be, and why?

Well I really like hanging out with my Dad and all my brothers so if I could, I would spend a day hanging out with all of them doing something manly and brotherly. We all get along quite well and in spite of our many diverse interests, we share plenty of interests too and I think we could find a way to entertain ourselves without too much trouble. You might expect that whatever we chose to do it will be noisy because we like things that go BANG! and vehicles that roar. We're going to get dirty, you can count on that!I think it would be great fun if we could all attend a racing school like this one or this one as a group.

If I could hang out with someone that wasn't family for a day, I choose Mario Andretti. He has been my hero since I was in grade school and before he won the Indianapolis 500 in 1969 and I followed his racing career throughout the world. I came this close- (hold your index finger just 1 inch from your thumb here) to having a black and gold Lotus Formula 1 car tattoed on my arm in 1979 after Mario won the World Championship. So, I'm a fan. Everything I have seen about Mario in recent years sounds like he continues to live an interesting automotive related life, even if he isn't racing anymore. I think he must be an interesting guy and I'd like my chance to just see what's in his garage.

2) What sort of plans do you have for summer vacation?

Well, Brother Tim and his GF Rhonda will be here in two weeks, for a week, so I'll be taking a few hours to hang out with them. They want to go hiking and mountain biking whitewater rafting and Tim wants to do some shooting. Later, the BSU and I will be taking the annual pilgrimage to the Oregon coast with the camper for a weekend of eating and relaxing with the spouse's sisters and their family units. Since this year I won't be trying to write term papers and study for finals, I'm hoping this year to take a few extra days and maybe visit Crater Lake or some other part of Oregon that we normally don't explore.

3) Blake or Jordin?

I'm sorry, who are these people?

Thursday Three time!

The tradition continues at Possumblog.

This week we again delve into the places of our childhood for the “Halcyon Days of Yore Edition” of the Axis of Weevil Thursday Three!

Take a moment and journey back to your childhood and answer the following three questions (ably supplied by an actual college professor) by either leaving you answer in the comments below or a link to your blog.

Tell us about how it was when you were growing up—what was your--

1) Favorite restaurant.

This is pretty easy- I loved going to Big Boy to eat, for two reasons, though the franchise we frequented was Azar's, not Bob's. First, I almost only got to go there when I was out on a trip with my dad and it was just the two of us. Big Boy was his favorite place for a Brawny Lad sandwich and so when we were out, we often stopped there for a late supper or desert. Desert was the second reason I loved Big Boy, I loved the Hot Fudge Brownie sundae. It was a square cut stack of chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, coated with hot fudge and a big dollop of whipped cream. That desert was my favorite, and that and a Big Boy comic book made for a real treat when I was a kid.

2) Place to spend time, but not money.

Tougher question than the first one and my answer isn't just one single place but rather, my favorite place to be when I was a kid was anywhere I could go on my bicycle. I loved being able to go places on my bike and summertime usually meant getting out and going someplace when the chores were done. There was a park in Fort Wayne, Shoaff Park that hugged the bank of the St Joe river and in the park there were trails to ride and a tiny pond with fish to irritate with a pole, a hook and some Bacos Bits as bait. Later, when we lived in central Indiana, there was a concrete bridge out in the country where the water flowed over instead of under when the rains came and that was a favorite summertime haunt. If the water was high it was fun to speed up down the hill and ride through the water making big sprays, when the water was low, it was a pretty dandy place for an afternoon swim.

and

3) Place to go that DID cost to get into.

The Fort Wayne coliseum, in the winter time, to see the USAC midget racing, indoors! This was usually a birthday trip bacause the winter indoor midget series came to our home town twice each winter. This was exciting stuff, watching heros from the Indianapolis 500 starting lineup competing in front engined, alcohol burning midgets battling it out on a Sunday afternoon on a racetrack the size of the hockey rink. It was loud, the fuel fumes gathered in the rafters and made my eyes burn and I got to see Roger Ward, Parnelli Jones, Mel Kenyon, Al Unser and many other race car heros bang wheels right in front of my seat. Apparently, racing in Fort Wayne continues indoors, I found these pictures from the 2003 Rumble. Check out the pictures, I told you it was exciting!

Down and Dirty Thursday Three

From Possumblog, its Thursday Three time again. Here's Terry-

Okay, no time for long-windedness and literary flourishes--answer these questions, NOW! GO! RUN! Get your keyboard and leave a comment or a link to your blog.
1. What are you supposed to be doing RIGHT NOW? (Aside from answering these questions, of course.)

I probably should be working on yet another series of PowerPoint charts for a simple program to update several Technical Orders to include some upgraded software for a countermeasure set. There's no particular rush though because the redlined Technical Orders haven't been received from the responsible organization and that same organization hasn't even made available the previous software update. I don't have to do very much, really, except go through the hoops of briefing the contract methods and configuration changes, then implementing the documents that get the contracts underway to make the changes to the books. Pretty boring stuff actually.

2. How long is it going to take you?

How long? Lessee, the charts will take a couple days to actually create. Then I wait on several other people to fulfill their obligations- that might be several weeks. Two different days to brief the charts, then a couple more days to get the [electronic] paperwork accomplished and finally, a couple more days of waiting on the Contracting office to do their magic. When will my involvement in this particular effort be complete? Summertime probably.

3. What do you have to do after that?

I'll have to follow up on a couple other programs that are plodding along to make sure there's no snags that are going to pop up while I'm gone next week. Its also Lunch With Mellisa day, Later I have to take Son Noah's laptop to a guy for a tuneup/repair and tonight is guitar class. I also have a draft post that maybe I'll get finished today.

Thursday Three and Chamber of Commerce Day

Its Thursday Three time again and this week Terry must be trying to decide where to take his summer vacation because he wants to know about our hometowns. As usual, the questions are followed by my answers. Terry- come & visit but plan on more than one hour!

1) If you only had one hour to show a visitor something interesting in your hometown, where would you go?

Ogden has a wonderfully restored Union Pacific Train Station at the end of Historic 25th Street. I'd take a visitor to the train station for their first visit. There's some old trains sitting outside that one can view and inside there's a miniature train store and the Union Grill restaurant. There's a nice display about the construction of the Union Pacific railroad and its completion at Promontory which is just a few miles up the road. There's a gem and mineral museum inside and a collection of antique cars too. But the real attraction of the station is the John Moses Browning memorial museum and in there, a gun enthusiast can really get lost for an hour or two. Although it has been relocated from its original location in Morgan to the museum, JMB's actual, original workshop is on display. There a number of prototype and first models of JMB's gun designs and displays of how far and wide his influence spread in the small arms industry. This is holy ground for anyone that loves firearms and its worth a look.

2) If you then had to find that friend a great place for a quick bite to eat, where would you go?

Well there is a fine eatery, The Union Grill that the BSU and I visit occasionally for an extended Friday lunch and a visitor would be mighty well served to have their one Ogden meal there. But if time allows, I'd walk my guest down Historic 25th Street about 3 blocks from the station to Roosters Brew Pub & Restaurant. This is another of our favorite Friday eateries and it has very relaxing dining indoors, or outdoors on a beautiful patio when the weather's nice. We once sat just a table away from Ogden's mayor, Mathew Godfrey while he schmoozed some out of town folks over lunch.

3) Now that you’ve entertained them and fed your friend, it’s time to send him on his way. You’re not sure which way he’s going, but he’s got a fast red convertible, and you want him to see something nice as he drives. What route from your home to someplace else, either to the north, south, east, or west would you recommend to him as the most scenic drive?

The most scenic road to travel out of Ogden? Highway 84 heading east towards Wyoming is probably the most scenic road to travel. Inside the first hour you pass through Weber Canyon, see Devil's Slide as you enter Morgan Valley, follow the river as it passes through low lying farmlands full of cattle, horses and sheep and enter an stark area of beautiful red rock canyons before arriving on the high desert plains that lead into Evanston. That road probably packs more of Utah's unique scenery into one short trip than any other, though there are many more scenic trips to take if you can manage more time.

Thursday Three Time!

It's an "On the Fly" edition this morning--no time yesterday or this morning to do any sort of deep thought or induce any cleverness into the process, so here's you a slapdash, thrown-together-at-the-last-moment set of questions, guaranteed to be neither entertaining nor insightful!
Everyone is free to play along, of course, although you might not want to. But go ahead anyway just to stay in practice.

ANYWAY-

1) What is the last product you recommended to a friend?

In my case, I think the last thing I recommended to a friend wasn't a product but a service; guitar lessons, in this case, to my friend and fellow blogger, Carol. She was looking for a new opportunity for aggravation and so I invited her to join me for group guitar lessons. We did attend last Thursday and since its Thursday again, there's another lesson tonight. I'm afraid I might have steered Carol wrong with this particular music teacher and group though since I wasn't too impressed by the first episode. This instructor teaches kids almost exclusively, and her music room is cramped and overflowing with stands and instruments and sheet music. The chairs are too close together, there's no place for coats or cases and it is generally a mess. One of the kids belongs to the instructor so he knows a little more than the others and he can't be shut up from showing off his knowledge of everything in the room. Another (really) youngster sat there with his guitar on his lap, a blank look on his face and not so much as a single clue why his mother had dragged him into this house. Based upon appearances, there must be a LDS Sunday School merit badge for learning guitar at an early age. I wasn't too impressed with the first lesson but I'm paid up through February so unless it becomes too painful, I'll keep going.

2) What is your favorite section of the grocery store?

The fresh produce section is my favorite section, for the bright colors and textures of the selections. Like Terry, we don't carry home too many of those exotic veggies but they are pretty to look at. I also enjoy reading the information pages about the different fruits and veggies that are available. The base commisary where we shop has an automated cooling spray system that announces its pending wetness with recorded thunder sounds and lightning flashes of stobe lights. It’s a little unnerving the first time it happens, if you aren't aware. Now its just entertaining. I'm pretty certain they should implement recorded animal sounds above the various meat sections as well, just for fun.

3) Joe Biden--lunatic, or idiot?

Yes. Of course here at WE there is another name I apply to people like Joe, its Dumbass!

Shiny Things for the Thursday Three!

With the new year comes a new Thursday Three and today Terry's asking about new stuff, new activities, shiny things and old things that just can't be discarded. Here's the questions and my responses.

1) What new thing would you like to attempt in the New Year?

Well, as I wrote in my New Years post just down the page a ways, this year I want to explore some artistic avenues. I want to learn to make music with my dulcimer. The music doesn't have to be good enough to please anybody but me, but I'd like to be able to play some music that doesn't come from a shiny, spinning disc in a machine.

2) What one new thing do you really, REALLY need (not want, but truly need) to have?

Wow, this is a hard question! There's just not very much that I really need that I don't have already. I'm not too shy about buying something when I find a need for tools or toys so there just isn't much I need. Actually, (and some of you might think this is a want, not a need), I need a 45 caliber, semi-automatic pistol with the number 1911 engraved somewhere on its slide. I sold my Ruger P345 before Christmas and now I don't have a 45 caliber gun in my locker. A man needs a 45 and I've decided I must have one in the design that John Moses Browning sold to the US government nearly a century ago. I'm thinking that the newly introduced Taurus version of JMB's famous gun will make a fine addition to my locker and enhance my well being.

3) What grungy old ramshackle thing do you have that you should replace with something shiny and new but just can’t bring yourself to make the switch?

This month, January 2007 brings the 25 birthday of my brown wool helmet liner hat. The hat's actually older than that but I've happily owned and worn the hat for 25 years now. What's it look like? Remember Radar O'Reilly from the television show MASH? It’s the same hat that Radar wore probably every episode. The BSU hates it and I've pretty much relegated it to duty out in my shop or when I'm working at the ski resort. Its really not pretty and I have other hats that I wear out in public but I'm not getting rid of my brown wool hat.

So that's it, my Thursday Three. Play along here, in the comments or over at Possumblog, home of Terry and the Thursday Three.