Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 2 of 39

Sunday Stealing Asks Your Name

What’s your name? Who’s your daddy?

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Impetua loved a good meme and enjoyed playing this one. Let’s see if you feel the same.

Sunday Stealing Asks Your Name. What Is Your …

1. ROCK STAR NAME (current pet and first car)? Example: If you have a dog named Max and your first car was a Chevy Malibu, your rock star name would be Max Malibu.

This is incredibly difficult in that I have never owned a car. Moreover, I don’t remember makes or models of cars, including when I was growing up. Likewise, I know the make of our current auto, but not the model. (There was a recent NYT Connections; the only Pontiac I could name was the Firebird.) My ex, when I was in college, had a Volvo 140 series, I think? So I’m going with Stormy Amazon, because the previous line of Volvos included the Amazon.

2. RACECAR DRIVER NAME (the first names of your grandfathers)?

I had three of them, so Clarence McKinley Raymond. McKinley was interested in racecars.

The Guiding Light

3. SOAP OPERA NAME (your middle name, town you were born in)?

Owen Binghamton, which is a REALLY good soap name! I used to watch the soaps with my maternal grandmother and her sister after school (Edge of Night, Secret Storm) after elementary school.

4. WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM NAME (your parents’ middle names)?

Elizabeth Harold? Harold Elizabeth?

Actually, long ago, certainly by high school, I developed my spy name, which was George N. Rowen. It contains most of the letters of Roger Owen Green. Also, the name I was most likely mistakenly called was George. There’s some visual similarity between George and Roger, which made me think that when trying to remember someone’s name, certain people go through a mental Rolodex.

5. ROMANCE AUTHOR NAME (favorite flower, favorite season/holiday)?

Lilac Thanksgiving. OBVIOUSLY, I need to start writing romance novels.

Also, I need some name songs:

Time Of The Season – The Zombies

The Name Game – Shirley Ellis

I Got A Name – Jim Croce

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Sunday Stealing Is Artificial

Essential American songs of the last 250 years

Since it’s the 4th of July weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. On us all! The first question came courtesy of AI. Sunday Stealing Is Artificial.

4th of July Questions

1) If you could attend a 4th of July fireworks display anywhere in the United States, where would you choose?

I want to be somewhere with a great sightline, and not a lot of people setting off their own incendiary devices. In Albany, I used to have a great view in my former church’s parking lot on Lark Street. About 12 years ago, my daughter and I loved the view from the field behind Albany High School. But on the way home, only a half dozen blocks away, I felt as though we were going through a war zone. So, sadly, I settled for watching it on television.

2) What book are you currently reading?

Nothing. I’m doing a book review on Tuesday, July 7, at 2 pm at the Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Ave. The book is African-Americans in the Wyoming Valley, 1778-1990, by Emerson I. Moss. I picked this book because I have an ancestor, and indeed, a whole family to whom I am related, mentioned substantially in this book. Preparing a book review involves rereading, taking notes, and the like.

CCL

3) What have you been listening to?

Last week, CBS Sunday Morning offered up Essential American songs of the last 250 years. The presentation featured Sara Bareilles singing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” made famous by Aretha, and Jon Batiste performing “Georgia On My Mind”

Here’s the Spotify roster. Lists like this always generate a certain controversy. “Where’s X? What about Y?” The missed choice I read about most was “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver. A guy named Mike Smith had a list of 15 alternatives; I totally agree with Midnight Train To Georgia, probably 16 Tons, and El Paso.

4) What shows or movies have you been watching?

I finally watched Idiocracy, an absurd 2006 film which is becoming more believable by the year. “Corporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he’s easily the most intelligent person alive.” Will stupidity win out? One fan on Rotten Tomatoes wrote: “The most prophetic movie ever created. It predicted Trump’s America in an amazingly accurate and satirical way!”

My wife and I are FINALLY watching The American Revolution. We’re 2/6 of the way through the Ken Burns documentary. It’s amazing how little we knew about the period between Lexington/Concord/Bunker Hill and July 1776.

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Sunday Stealing: Meme Schmeme – Part 2

friends

Cheri is a blogger from the beautiful state of Georgia who didn’t often participate in memes but stole this one because “for whatever crazy reason” it appealed to her. We did Part 1 back in October. Now let’s do Part 2.

Meme Schmeme – Part 2

Complete the thought:

I LOVE TO have enough time in a day to do a little of this, a little of that. It is usually tied to playing CDs. I’ll write a blog post for one album, then wash the dishes and straighten up for another, then work on library stuff and bill paying for another. I might take a nap, or watch recorded television. As my late buddy Dustbury used to say, we are magpies, attracted to the next shiny thing.

Some recent albums played: Wildflowers – Tom Petty (Honey Bee); Robbie Robertson, eponymous (Somewhere Down The Crazy River); Guero – Beck (E-Pro); Surf’s Up – Beach Boys (Feel Flows)

I SOMETIMES will read three or four newspapers in a row because I get behind. There are usually stories, especially local ones, that I had missed online. And I like to read the funnies; yes, I could read them online, but that’s less fun.

I FEAR the loss of balance of power at the federal level of the United States. Congress took steps to push back against the executive branch’s unfettered war powers, then folded. “The high court’s decision to strip Haitians and Syrians of their protections from deportation had immediate ripple effects for immigrants and their employers.” And know that the Haitian aspect is racist – “they’re eating their cats.”

So far away

I MISS having friends around to talk with regularly. My besties are in Austin, Boston, and the Mid-Hudson. Or deceased. There is the telephone, I suppose.

I CRAVE a Porterhouse steak. It’s been years. Decades?

I CHERISH quality time with the kid, who’s all grown up. Every once in a while, she’ll let on that I didn’t totally wreck her growing up, including when we went out to dinner this past Wednesday.

I AM IMPATIENT WHEN I muck up something. I made an appointment to meet someone from a national library at my local library at 10 a.m. But because of my ongoing allergies/cold/flu, I went back to bed after breakfast and didn’t wake up again until 10:45. I am really annoyed with myself.

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Sunday Stealing Goes to the Mall

This week’s meme is inspired by Melanie at This Ain’t New York. We’re indulging in a little retail therapy. Tell us what you would pick up at each stop. Sunday Stealing Goes to the Mall.

Shopping Day. What’s on your shopping list from …

First, let it be known that I HATE most shopping. I remember one winter that my wife was going to buy me a coat. We went to J.C. Penney, and I tried on two coats. The second one fit and looked fine. “I’m ready.” She wondered, “Don’t you want to keep looking?” “NO!” Did I mention that I hate most shopping?

1. Target or Walmart, or other superstore?

My disdain for Walmart is well-documented here from 2013; it’s too big, as I was reminded the last time I went there. It is the largest supercenter in the United States. Target has been subject to a boycott, described here. A Costco is coming to the area on August 6, and it will have a massive footprint.

2. Dollar Tree or Dollar General, or poundstretcher/99p store?

Dollar stores tend to creep me out, with a bunch of stuff that I don’t really need. If I really need to shop, I’ll go to Lodge’s, a downtown Albany store that’s been around for nearly 160 years! I wrote about it here in 2018. The last time I went there, I bought socks, shirts, and sunglasses.

NOW we’re talkin’!

3. Best Buy or any other electronics/appliance store?

I have gone to Best Buy for electronics and, more pressingly, to get stuff fixed. The last thing I bought there was a boombox with a two-year warranty; it works better than some cheaper ones.

4. Book/music store?

I used to LOVE to go to record stores in Albany. Blue Note, Strawberry’s, World’s Records, et al. Last Vestige is the only one left, as far as I know, because I ain’t going to Walmart et al.

I went to several bookstores as well, but my favorite has long been The Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza. Oh, I was reminded that my good friend Norm Nissen, who worked there and provided great book selections, died ten years ago this very month; I miss him a lot.

Bonus question! Where do you want to stop for lunch?

There’s a stretch of places less than two blocks from my house: Junior’s (especially between 11 am and 2 pm), Cafe Madison, and others. Also, across from the Washington Avenue library, the Iron Gate Cafe.

Sunday Stealing – Doing It for Ourselves

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

This week we aren’t stealing, we’re contributing! These are questions suggested by our “usual suspects.” They were entertaining, which isn’t a surprise because our participants are bright and fun. Thanks to everyone who took part.

DIY Meme – Doing It for Ourselves

The obvious song.

1. Would you rather have every traffic light turn green or always get the best parking spot? (Kwizgiver)

As a person who takes the bus a lot and doesn’t have to worry about parking as often as most, clearly the latter. And of course, I’ll always choose green anyway.

2. What’s the most difficult thing you have ever done? (Gold in the Clouds)

Physically, it might have been crawling/hobbling down a mountain in Utah in 1994 with what turned out to be a torn meniscus.

My contribution

3. What information do you know that you are proud of/happy about, but others say, “Who cares?” (Roger)

There are so many! It’s faded somewhat, but I could tell you a state by its telephone area code, which remains a geographic identifier to this day. I wrote about it here, and someone I knew well said, “You must have too much time on your hands.”

But the big one is knowing all of the U.S. Presidential terms by year, even those who died in office. So I know there were three Presidents in both 1841 and 1881. This is useful when examining the history of wars, recessions, land acquisitions, and similar events.

4. What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to? (Myra/Mevely)

There’s even a well-regarded book about it: When Bad Things Happen to Good People. And I think even more about the converse, about seemingly good things happening to arguably bad people.

5. What small, ordinary thing brings you disproportionate joy? (Country Dew)

Rainbows, fer sure. As I’ve noted here, we have a rainbow-creating front door, and even little rainbows cause me indescribable giddiness.

6. What time do you go to sleep/wake up? (Annie)

Oh, geez, going to bed sometime between 10:30 pm and 2 am, depending on how much is running through my head. Up at 5 am to 7:30 am.

7. What is your favorite sleeping position? (Lisa)

On the side. I need at least two pillows.

8. Describe your personal Utopia. (Pandora)

No more wars, no more hunger, a clean environment and we can teleport.

9. Imagine that you have a machine that can create any new invention for you based on your description. What do you ask the machine to create, and why? (Plastic Mancunian)

A miocroplastics/PCB vacuum cleaner that would suck up large bodies of water to separate the bad stuff from the good. You could have them at water treatment plants. The why is that too much of our water is potentially or actually dangerous to us.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.