I thought this was funny.
Less
More
Archive for April, 2008
No, it’s not the name of a robot from a Star Wars parody. It’s the model number of the Panasonic tape recorder I got for my 13th birthday.
My Aunt Alvera and Uncle Ray had a neighbor who worked for Panasonic. He could get electronics cheaper than retail, so offered to obtain a tape recorder for me. I was to look at a catalog and pick out the one I wanted. I don’t remember why I chose the one I chose, but the model number has stuck with me for almost 40 years.
I used this tape recorder to interview my younger brother one morning while our parents slept. I used this tape recorder to record tapes to my grandparents in Wisconsin and to play the ones they sent us. I used this tape recorder to record tapes for Jeremy and to listen to the ones his family sent me. I used this to secretly record conversations on long trips in the car and then play them back for laughs.
When Mom and I were sorting her attic treasures I reached into a box and felt something hard. I grabbed it and began to pull it out of the box. Before I saw what was in my hand I shouted, “RQ-209s! I’ve found RQ-209s!”
Sure enough, I held my long-lost tape recorder. I pushed the play button and heard a whirring noise, but nothing turned. I checked the battery compartment and found four 10 year old batteries. I guess I’d found this within the past 10 years and tried it out. I sort of remembered that it didn’t work anymore, but decided to take it home anyway.
I was right, even with fresh batteries, the wheels don’t turn. I suppose it could be the belt and I could purchase one for under $5 on the Internet, but what’s the point? I lost the microphone (this model doesn’t have an embedded microphone) and the AV cord. I’ll probably toss it in the trash before too long, or I could list it on Ebay.
But for now I’ll just look at it — one of my first pieces of technology. It makes me happy just to see it sitting there.
Another thing I found when helping my mom sort out her attic was a tape my brother, Kevin, and I made in 1969. I was 13 and he was 6. I’d recently acquired a tape recorder and was practicing my interview skills.
Transcript:
Dona: Hello
Kevin: Hello
D: What’s your favorite subject in school?
K:Um. [unintelligible]
D: No, first — What school do you go to?
K: Highland School
D: What’s your teacher’s name?
K: Mrs. Varisco
D: What grade are you in?
K: First
D: What’s your favorite subject?
K: [Intake of breath] — What’s– Um — No — Ah — Recess!
D: No! Your favorite subject.
K: Uh
D: Like favorite um reading or math or stuff like that.
K: Math? We don’t got math.
D: Math - yeah, don’t you have arithmetic?
K: Arithmetic Workbook
D: Oh, OK. Um — What do you like to do at home?
K: Play with the tape recorder.
D: Oh, tape recorder? Who has a tape recorder in your house?
K: Dona! I’m talking on it.
D: Oh. Um — What else do you like to do at home? Do you help your mommy?
K: Sometimes
D: Sometimes? Do you help her enough?
K: Mm-huh
D: What do you want for Christmas?
K: [Sigh] Dona! It’s too long to tell and I can’t remember all of ‘em.
D: Say a couple things.
K: Battling Tops, Bang Box, [sigh] - um, more Lego Blocks, and all that stuff, other stuff.
D: Lego Blocks? Um — Hot Wheels?
K: Yeah, except we didn’t put that on the… Oh yeah, yeah we did. And hot wheels and all that stuff, all that stuff. I don’t know what you guys are gonna give me.
D: I do
K: You know?
D: Oh yeah, I forgot, I was going to show you what I got Daddy.
Here I turned the tape recorder off, presumably to show Kevin what I got our Dad.
D: How many people are in your family?
K: Four
D: Do you have any animals?
K: One
D: What’s that?
K: A dog. We used to have a cat named Puff
D: Mmmm. What’s the dog’s name?
K: Jock — and um — but — our friends were taking him to the farm — to a farm — and then he — the window was open — ah — so um — just so much as he — Puff could get out — jump out.
D: Mmmm
K: So he jumped out.
D: Mmm. That’s sad isn’t it?
K: Yeah — but he ain’t dead or anything — got ran over because he’s smart enough.
D: Mmm, huh. Well. — Is there any problems you have with your mommy? What do you call your mom?
K: Mrs. Patr[ick]
[tape was turned off before he could finish Patrick, I probably said something about how he doesnlt call his mom by her last name, but it was not recorded.]
D: [Are there any] problems at your house?
K: No, not much.
D: Um — Does anyone get into any fights or anything?
K: Sometimes
D: Hmm?
K: Sometimes!
D: Like - how -, are they real bad?
K: No
D: Hmmm, who fights usually?
K: My mom.
D: And who else?
K: My dad.
D: Do you and your sister ever fight?
K: Sometimes.
D: Very much? Is it very bad when you fight?
K: No
D: Do you fist-fight or just talk-fight?
K: Fist-fight and talk-fight
D: Do your mommy and daddy fist-fight or talk-fight?
K: Both
D: Really? They do? They punch each other?
K: No, talk-fight.
D: Oh, I was kinda worried there. Um — um
K: Dona! I was doing something.
D: If. Um.
K: Um
[Tape recorder was turned off]
D: Well, let’s see now.
K: Well, let’s see now.
[Tape recorder was turned off]
D: Do you know any nursery rhymes?
K: Um, yeah.
D: Tell me some of them.
K: Hey diddle, diddle
The cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed
To see such sport
And the dish ran away with the spoon
D: Do you know any Christmas carols?
K: No
D: Oh…
K: ‘Cept Jingle Bells
D: Well, just say a little bit of it
K: Dashing through the snow
On a one-horse open sleigh
[something] spirits rise [someone started snapping at this point]
Laughing all the way
D: Mmmm, huh. Very good! Um, well — Gonna have to stop now, so, um.
K: K. you say g—
D: What’s your favorite… What is your favorite stuff for supper?
K: Um, mmm yum mmm, — I’m thinkin’. Ahh — fish.
D: Fish?
K: Mmm, huh.
D: Oh, well, let’s say goodbye –
K: You say goodbye first
D: Bye. And don’t you dare say “Goodbye Dick” [whispered]
K: Goodbye!
D: Ok. \ K: Dick!
When I was a teenager I read teen magazines searching for the secret to popularity. One word of advice that I actually tried one day was to wear a pendant hanging down your back instead of on your chest. I spent an entire school day wearing my pewter “Shalom” pendant backwards. By the end of the day I was not only not any more popular than I’d been the day before, but had been laughed at by many of the popular kids. I concluded the author of the article was nuts. Wearing pendants backwards does not make you popular.
I solidly believed that until today when saw this in a Macy’s catalog. I guess the author of that long ago article was right after all. At least it works for some people:
The second week I stayed in Illinois with my mom earlier this month was spent running errands and cleaning out her attic. We didn’t get far with the attic, but I found a few pieces of my past.
One of the pieces was a bill from my birth. I don’t think it is the full bill, but the bill for part of my nursery stay. I think I stayed in the hospital for nearly a month after I was born because I was underweight (3lbs 9oz).
Two weeks stay in the hospital for an underweight newborn in 1956 was cheap! $72.05
I was born on August 23 and the first date on this bill is September 2, which was for nursery charges. It also lists charges for drugs on September 2. I wonder what drugs they gave me as a week old infant.
Last year, this same week, incidentally, I commented on a weblog post about spring peepers. I’ve been thinking about spring peepers lately, and mentioned to Dean that I’d like to find some singing some evening.
Dean thought about it and then said he knew of a pond we could visit and maybe hear some peepers. I almost said no, but knew that I’d regret it if I just spend the night longing to hear peepers and searching the Internet for their sounds. Besides, it was due to get cold again and this was a perfect evening to walk in the woods.
We got to the park at dusk, but because there was a huge party going on and we didn’t see any parking spots left we nearly turned around and went home. Luckily Dean spotted a place to park. After securing the parking space we walked into the park, along a creek. I saw skunk cabbage, which I’d just read, shares the same habitat as spring peepers, so my hopes of hearing spring peepers began to rise. It was still too light to hear any, I concluded, but darkness was on its way.
A few cars passed us, probably Boy Scout leaders heading to the nearby campgrounds. Another couple, walking their dog, passed us. We nodded hellos and continued walking.
As we rounded a corner onto a narrow path, Dean pointed to a large bird that had just landed on a branch in a tree. I thought it was a heron and began looking for a roost. Dean wondered if it was, perhaps, an owl. We got closer and saw that it was, indeed, an owl. He hoo hoo hooed at us, posed for a photo and flew off across the creek.
After our owl encounter I looked back at the ground and realized we were now next to a pond. We walked a bit further and I heard the first peeper call. Then another answered. They got louder so we sat near the pond on a rotting log to hear them for a few minutes.
We then walked further along the pond and creek. The sounds of the peepers died down as we left the pond area. We walked back after hiking to the end of the trail and by this time it was much darker; the peepers were louder. We paused again to hear them before we headed home.
As we walked past the place we’d originally seen the owl, I looked up and saw it again, staring down at us as if were were intruders. He then hooed at us again. Dean called back and the owl called. This went back and forth for a while.
I vaguely wondered if there were any woodcocks in the area and suddenly heard an animal sound I’d never heard before, it was in the distance, but loud enough to be heard over the call of the peepers and hoo hoo hooing of the owl. It sounded kind of like a cardinal, but I was surprised to hear cardinals singing so late in the evening. When got home I listened to some bird calls, including the woodcock. I think I might have heard the woodcock’s “whistle dance“, but I cannot be sure. Although, earlier, I heard what I thought was the sound of a chipmunk chirping, but didn’t see any chipmunks.
Who knows? I guess I’ll have to go back.
Good news: I got a 25% 33% raise today. (I miscalculated)
Bad news: I’ve gotten 100% less work this week.
Typical.
(being variable part time — I’m not salaried)
If you know me, you know that I am usually an avid sign reader and rule follower. I never park where I’m not supposed to park. If a sign says no trespassing — I don’t trespass — willingly, although when Dean is in the lead I usually reluctantly follow even if it goes against the rules (another subject for a blog post).
That said, I have been known to drive into and park/stand in the “buses only” part of the driveway leading to the kids’ school. At first I wouldn’t, because the signs clearly state “Buses only”, but because after school one can count dozens of vehicles that park and drive along that driveway, I decided that my one small car would not make a difference. And wasn’t it safer for the kids if they didn’t have to walk across an SUV filled driveway? So I began dropping Andrew off at wrestling and picking him up via the buses only area. All was fine until one day when Whitman’s assigned police officer was on his way out the front doors of the school. He looked at me, shook his head, smiled (not in a friendly way) and ambled up to my car. I rolled the window down and he asked me what I was doing. I said I was dropping my son off. He asked if I knew that cars were not allowed in the area. I said something about it being after school and I thought it was OK then (I should have mentioned the fact that usually there were dozens of cars doing the same thing after school, but didn’t). He said that the sign didn’t give specific hours, so it meant cars were never allowed within the buses only driveway. He then made me turn around and drive out the entrance.
That was my second interaction with the police officer at school. The first time I was dropping the kids off in the morning and turned on my blinker to move into the left lane in order to make the left turn lane (not into the parking lot) that would take me out of the lot. Office Aubrey motioned me over to the curb and chastised me for my action. I was too stunned by this to explain that I was actually going out the correct exit. He didn’t leave me room to defend myself anyway.
The other day my husband drove me to pick up our daughter at school after her driving lesson. He drove into the buses only driveway, against my protests that he was going to get in trouble from the school policeman. He said, look around — there were cars parked and standing everywhere along the “allegedly no cars allowed” driveway. Officer Aubrey was nowhere to be seen, although his squad car was right next to our car.
So I’m annoyed about that. The man needs to be consistent. If he picks on a lone woman in a Camry, shouldn’t he be out there telling the men and women driving their SUVs and minivans that they are not allowed to park or drive in the sign-posted buses only driveway? I think it’s a power thing. He can intimidate me but not a crowd of parents. It worries me that he might be picking on the shy high school students rather than dealing with the more aggressive students. And If the Rate my Teachers website can be trusted, here’s an example of his poor judgment, this time directed at a student.
You can see him “in action” in the following YouTube video of this “Senior Prank”. He made a judgment call - “I’m not going after [the modified streakers]. It’s senior prank.” Just like he makes judgment calls about carpool lines - I’m not picking on anyone when there is a crowd. I’m just intimidating the loners.
I remember the buzz about the first Earth Day. I was 13 years old and probably saw posters about the event in my school. I’m sure my best friend, Cynthia, had some involvement in it. Her parents were the most likely candidates to be environmentalists of anyone else I knew. I don’t remember what actually I did for Earth Day 1970, but I must have done something enjoyable because I remember wondering, years later, whatever happened to Earth Day?
The summer before the first Earth Day the world had seen the first image of our planet from the surface of the moon. Perhaps seeing that image made the inhabitants of Planet Earth see our planet as a more fragile place than we’d done before. I don’t remember being environmentally aware until the spring of 1970, but after that I became more conscious about protecting the Earth.
Continue reading ‘Earth Day then and now’
A few evenings ago, after dinner, Dean called the kids to quickly come up to the dining room. They both complied, Clare from the living room where she was studying for a chemistry test and Andrew from the basement where he was playing a computer game. Dean pointed out the window and we all looked and saw a large raccoon on a low branch of the tulip popular, which stands on the easement about 15 feet from the house.
My first thought was rabies. Aren’t raccoons nocturnal? What, other than rabies. can cause an animal that is supposed to come out only at night, to be visible in broad daylight? Dean suggested it had been scared by another animal from its normal hiding place. It did look rather worried and while we watched, it climbed even higher in the tree. Clare ran for the camera to document our visitor and the rest of us scattered to different windows to watch.
At first it continued its ascent of the tall tree, but after a while carefully climbed back down the trunk and slowly ambled over to the house, opened the garbage can lid and began biting at the garbage bag. I opened the side door and after it scurried away, pushed the lid down on the trash can.
Shortly thereafter Andrew looked out the window of our kitchen door and exclaimed, “It’s right outside the door and looked me right in the eye!” Sure enough there was the raccoon, precariously perching on the railing observing the humans who were observing him. Then it reached over, actually sneered in his raccoon way and opened the trash can lid again, with no trouble at all and began pulling at the trash bag with his teeth.
This time Andrew opened the door and the raccoon once again left. Andrew stood outside for a few moments and Clare noticed the raccoon had scampered across the street, possibly to find a garbage can without so many pests hanging around.
Recent Comments