The Celebrity Solstice Heads to Thailand

(I believe a user error occurred and parts of this blog were previously posted for a few minutes. It’s confusing being on the other side of the planet!)

The Ship

A few days before we left for this trip, Linda got on the Celebrity website and saw that bids were being accepted to up-grade our ship’s cabin for a suite.  She decided to give it a try and so she made a bid.  The indicator that shows your possibility of getting the up-grade showed “slim to none and Slim just left town”.  But apparently Slim came back into town as we got the up-grade.  This up-grade put us in the front of every line checking in – they treated us as if we actually had money!  Then we got to our room.  “Oh, my goodness!!”  There is a desk by the entry, that opens to about a 12’ x 20’ living area with two large couches, an easy chair and TV.  There is a master bedroom with a king-sized bed and walk-in closet and a large TV.  The bathroom has two entries, one from the master bedroom and one for guest to use by the entry.  Needless to say, we love the room! 

Us, pretending we are rich!

The rest of the ship is like most cruise ships, lots of bars and restaurants, a large event theater and a staff that is very helpful and friendly.  I understand they have a gym here as well, hopefully I’ll be able to find that over the course of the 13 days we are on board.

At this writing we’ve only been on board for two days, so I’ll keep you posted on any of the other features of the ship as we learn more ourselves.

Koh Samui

Lunch on the island of Koh Samui

Our first port of call is Koh Samui, a Thailand island just off the coast of Bangkok.  We tendered into shore and we had a tour set up of the ‘Highlights of Koh Samui’.  We are met by a very nice Thai girl, with a great sense of humor, who will be our guide for the day.  Our bus takes us along the coast on the only road around the island of Koh Samui, stopping at several Buddhist Temples until we arrive at our luncheon destination, a very nice beachside restaurant and hotel, where we have lunch, that consisted of , , , well, I’m not sure what it was, but it was good!  After lunch we are back on the bus and headed to a cocoanut plantation.  Once there, we walk out into a cocoanut tree grove and one of the workers there gives us a demonstration on how to pick, shave, split and harvest the meat as well as shows us how to make cocoanut water.  We are let off by the tender, where I am able to purchase a ‘Thai mask’ for my back bar collection. 

When we get back to our room, our butler has placed a nice fruit basket along with some champagne on ice and beer in the refrigerator – this must be how the rich people live!  I could get used to this!

A typical two-bedroom condo in Bangkok. NOT!

Bangkok We have an all-day tour set up and it’s literally all day, starting at being picked up at 8:00 am and returning to the ship at 10:00 pm.  It is about an hour-and-a-half drive from the port into Bangkok, and we are lucky because we arrived on a Saturday and if it were a week day, the drive would have been at least three hours!!  Our first stop is at the Royal Palace, which is quite spacious and aesthetically beautiful, in a colorful, albeit garish, to us.  Our guide tells us about the history of the kings of this land and some interesting history.  We get back on our bus and drive through the very big, very busy and not-to-beautiful city of Bangkok.  We stop at a nice river-side restaurant for lunch, then get on a boat and visit the royal boatyard where all the past king’s river craft reside on display.  We get back on the bus and visit a few Buddhist temples, and to be honest, we’re not all that impressed with Bangkok . . . until. 

We have a night dinner cruise on the river, Chao Phraya, that runs through the heart of all the fancy hotels and restaurants.  We are on an open-air boat, where we enjoy a delicious dinner, while taking in the spectacularly lit buildings along the river – music and fireworks are included.  A breath-taking evening.  We felt that this portion of the tour literally saved the day and made the long trip to and from the port into the city, worthwhile.  Although it was a long bus ride back to the ship and the driver did get lost on our way, but eventually we arrived back at the ship at 10:30 pm . . . exhausted. 

We spent all of the next day in port and on the ship as we didn’t have any other Bangkok tours planned.  It felt good to relax and explore this wonderful ship.

Next: Good Morning Vietnam!

THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE

By Bob Sparrow

Singapore Airport Waterfall

No, this is not a review of the old Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamor ‘road movie’, although I believe I did get some of my wanderlust from repeatedly watching them growing up. Rather, this is about our first leg of getting to our Asian cruise beginning in Singapore. We departed LAX around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night for a 7,300-miles, 15 hour and 40-minute flight to the Philippines. And apparently we were flying so fast that we flew right through Sunday and arrived in Manila on Monday morning at 5:40 We then had three-and-a-half-hour layover before our four-hour flight to Singapore. Linda and I have had a longstanding practice of not up-grading to first or business class, as we reason that the significant amount of money we would spend to up-grade would be better spent at our destination. I’m thinking that that practice may need revisiting! Actually, it wasn’t that bad as we did have a seat between us on both flights. As always, those of you who are coming along vicariously, have the most comfortable seats!

Singapore: As we watch the weather report prior to coming, we were expecting nothing but rain, but it was clear and warm, and this city is beautiful. Tall, beautiful business buildings surrounded with lots of greenery. When we landed, we were anticipating getting to see the ‘famous’ waterfall in the airport, but the person picking us up said we were ready to go as soon as he saw us. We pleaded for just a couple of minutes to run over and see the waterfall; it was just a few minutes away. The driver said OK, so we got a chance to see the uniquely spectacular airport waterfall. We arrive at our hotel after about a 30-minute drive through the city, which is not only beautiful, but exceptionally clean. We check into the very nice, Dorsett Hotel, then decided to take a quick walk-through neighboring Chinatown (it ended up being about a four-mile ‘quick walk’), which was a most interesting spot for eateries and souvenir shopping. We stopped at a famous food court, called Hau Pat Sat, filled with dozens of great food places and had dinner. I’d tell you what I had, but I don’t know, it was.

We cannot get over how clean this city is; in fact, it is known as “A Fine City”- you get fined if you litter,

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

you get fined if you spit, you get fined if you smoke in the wrong place, etc. The next day, our only full day in Singapore, we had dedicated to cram in seeing all the ‘famous tourist attractions’ in the city – and there are plenty. We started with a Hop on, Hop off bus. We tried to buy passes, but the bus driver just waived us in – not sure why and we wondered if he would let us get off! Maybe he knew something, as within the next few minutes as we were riding on the partially covered roof seats of the bus through Little India, the rain started, and let me tell you, Singapore knows rain. It came down in buckets, reminding us that we were here during monsoon season! It’s no wonder everything looks so green here! So, we “hopped off” for good and had lunch. After lunch, with me trying the local Tiger beer and Linda appropriately having a Singapore Sling, we tried our hand at the local subway system. Fortunately, we got some help from the very friendly people here and managed to make our way to Marina Bay, where many of the tourist attractions are. Our first stop was the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Oh my gosh!!! It is truly one of the most magnificent, no it is the most magnificent, hotel I’ve ever seen. While wandering through the lobby, we met a couple who was staying there at $1500 a night, and they said the breakfast, at $100 each, was amazing! I would hope so! We wandered through the hotel, now festooned in Christmas décor, with our jaws dropped. We then took the elevator to the 57th floor observation deck. The weather had cleared so the view of the city was magnificent. There is a pool on top, but only guests of the hotel are allowed into that area.

The Flower Dome and Cloud Forest

We then headed over to two other amazing attractions in the area, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. I could try to describe how beautiful these two botanical domes are, but I wouldn’t do it justice. I would encourage you to go on YouTube and take a look for yourself – truly amazing! We hop on the subway (now we’re experts!) and stop in Chinatown again for dinner, then walk back to our hotel. Tomorrow we will be boarding the ship. Interesting side note about Singapore: Earlier this year at the United Nations climate talks, Singapore, who has been a leader in water management, introduced a new product, NEWBrew, a beer made from treated wastewater. I had to try one, if for no other reason than when I’m back home and taste a bad beer, I can honestly say, “This beer tastes like piss.” 肆

See you in Bangkok

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GRATITUDE

It’s getting to be that time of year … when we blow right past Thanksgiving and start hanging the holiday lights. Traditionally, of course, before Target and Walmart took over the holidays, Thanksgiving was a time for people to take stock of their lives and give thanks for their blessings.  A friend once told me about a Thanksgiving tradition that I thought it was quite ingenious:  they put the letters that spell Thanksgiving into a jar, then before they sit down to their feast, each person draws a letter and must say what they are grateful for using a word that starts with that letter. I tried this several years ago and it was a fun way to start the meal. I have to confess that the highlight was when our 11-year-old grandson selected the letter “V” and exclaimed that he was grateful for Viagra. Obviously he’d been watching way too much television.

There are a lot of therapists and new age thinkers who encourage people to keep a journal listing everything that they are grateful for on a daily basis. Heck, I can’t do anything every day except brush my teeth and eat, so keeping a Grateful Diary is out of the question.  The concept, however, is a noble one, so this week I decided to combine the two ideas and, in that spirit, create a GRATITUDE list for the season.

G – Girlfriends.  Where would I be without them?  Together we laugh, we cry, we play cards, we hack our way around a golf course, and we create.  They have been, and continue to be, my sanity.

R – Relatives.  I have a wonderful family and I know I’m very lucky that we like and love each other.  We relish our time together and NOT ONCE have we had to have police intervene at a family gathering.

One of my more subdued friends
One of my more subdued girlfriends

A – Alan, my late husband.  Even though he is gone, I am grateful for our long and happy marriage. As the saying goes, better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

T – Tea.  Sometimes there is just nothing like a good “cuppa” to get me through the day.  I will say that since I bought a Nespresso machine a good cappuccino in the afternoon is a real treat. But Gratitude doesn’t contain a “C” so I’ll go with tea.

I – Inspiration.  I am surrounded by very imaginative women who are artistic and talented in ways I never will be.  But they inspire me to improve whatever I am doing.

T – Time.  Somehow it seems I never have enough of it.  How did I ever work? Now I love it when an appointment gets cancelled.  There is nothing like the gift of TIME!

U – Unburdened.  As I’ve gotten older I no longer feel like I “have” to do stuff.  I now say “no” when I feel like it.  This is probably why older people are deemed “cranky”.

D – Dash the Wonder Dog.  Duh.

Dash, The Wonder Dog
Dash, The Wonder Dog

E – Elusiveness.  I am a literal thinker (I’ve taken the test on Facebook to confirm this) but I love that big parts of my life are elusive.  When you think you no longer need to try new things – and fail – life becomes too predictable.  It’s always good to have something beyond your grasp – like losing 10 pounds.

That’s my list for this year.  Next year it could be something entirely different. Although Dash really is the only “shoe-in”.    As word games go, I thought this was a good exercise to go through.  I still don’t think I’ll ever be disciplined enough to do a daily Gratitude Diary, but it sure feels good to stop once in a while to take stock in all of the things, and especially the friends, that make life good.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.  

An Early Thanksgiving at Sea

by Bob Sparrow

Singapore’s Changi Airport

First, let me give a snappy, albeit tardy, salute and a “Thank you for your service” to all those VETERANS out there – who are mostly not given enough credit for their willingness to put the ultimate sacrifice on the line for our country.  It was a most interesting blog that Suzanne wrote last week about our grandfather’s time in the Army during WWI and WWII.  If you missed it, it’s definitely worth going back to read.     

My next blog will come to you, assuming there will be adequate connectivity and sobriety, from the South China Sea.  Linda and I will leave L.A. on Saturday, Nov 23rd, change planes in the Philippines and ultimately arrive at one of the world’s most beautiful airports on Monday afternoon, Nov 25 in Singapore.  Yes, we will entirely miss Sunday! We will shake off the jetlag and spend three days exploring Singapore, hopefully seeing things like the Gardens by the Bay, Flower Dome & Cloud Forest, and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  All the while enjoying some amazing and very different, possibly spicy, food.  

Then we will be boarding the Celebrity ship, Solstice on Thanksgiving Eve.  Thanksgiving Day will be ‘at sea’, but because we’ll be on the other side of the International Date Line, it will still be Wednesday back here, so perhaps I’ll let you know how this years’ turkey tastes a day before you get to taste it.

Celebrity Solstice

Our first cruise stop will be at the small Thailand island of Koh Samui – Yeah, I’ve never heard of it either, but it’s known for its stunning beaches, its iconic Big Buddha, the colorful Wat Plai Laem temple (what ever that is), as well as some interestingly and probably spicy food.  We then head into Bangkok, where we spend two days and have set up tours to see the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, the world’s largest reclining Buddha, not to be confused with the world’s largest ball of twine, which is in Kansas, just west of Manhattan.  Never mind, I guess you wouldn’t confuse those two.  Meanwhile, back in Bangkok, we’ll probably have some more spicy food and get back on the ship for another ‘day at sea’.   

We will be traveling north to Vietnam.  Our first port of call there is Ho Chi Mihn City, or as many of us

POWs at the ‘Hanoi Hilton’

remember it, Saigon, and we certainly didn’t want to Miss Saigon. We have a tour for exploring the Cu Chi Tunnels, well, I have a tour to explore the tunnels, Linda gets a bit claustrophobic so, given her interest in opera, she may be visiting the Saigon Opera House; it’s probably best that I’m missing that as I’m ‘opera-phobic’!  Back on the boat and heading north to Nha Trang. Hold it!  We just received word that due to port construction issues, we will not be visiting Nha Trang, so we get another ‘day at sea’ before stopping in Danang and Hue (pronounced ‘whay’).  We have one more Vietnam stop in Hanoi, where we will spend two days, and have set up tours to visit the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, where captured U.S. soldiers we held as prisoners of war.  We have also scheduled a tour of the military museum there.  We have heard that it is a bit bias in their presentation of the war, but, as they say, winners get to write the history. So we’ll try not to act like ugly Americans and just eat some spicy food, and get back on the boat.

We have another ‘day at sea’! OK, we will now have had four days ‘at sea’ and we should have explored every nook and cranny of this boat, which essentially means we’ve been in every bar and by now they’re probably out of pina coladas!  Now that I think about it, we could probably visit the gym, although web will have no idea where it might be. 

‘Pearl of the Orient’ Hong Kong

Our final port of call is Hong Kong, where we originally had only about a day and a half before leaving for home, but we added another day to see more of the ‘Pearl of the Orient’, and have set up daytime and nighttime tours of this magnificent city.

Then a short 12.5 hour flight home in the back of the bus.

A PERSONAL SALUTE

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson and Bob Sparrow

Grandpa, left, during WWII

Today, as the nation celebrates its veterans, we want to pay tribute to our grandfather, Lt. Colonel Neill Whitman, who was drafted into World War I and begged to get into World War II. We do not have much information about his early life; what little we do know is gleaned from his WWI draft card, completed by him in June 1917.  At the time he was 19 years old and working for Ford Motor Company in San Francisco as a machinist.  He never saw action overseas and toward the end of the war he was stationed in Georgia, where he met our future grandmother and where our mother was born.  After the war he returned to the Bay Area, where his wife promptly left him, and our mother, to return to her roots in the South.

Grandpa, on the left, at his new post

 

Fast forward 20 years – he married a woman named Marg and had two more children.  He established himself as a sought-after mechanic in Marin County, opening his own business in San Rafael, and then closed it to work at San Quentin prison. Years later, whenever we drove by San Quentin the family joke was, “Let’s go see our relatives”, which was alarming to the uninformed and probably started some good rumors.  When World War II broke out he desperately wanted to get back into the Army but was considered too old to re-enlist at age 46.  An old friend pulled some strings, and he was finally able to re-join the Army as a Captain. He was subsequently promoted to Major and by war’s end he was a Lieutenant Colonel.  In a stroke of genius, the Army actually put his skills to good use, giving him responsibility for a large motor base in Britain.  The base, Camp Northway, was located in Tewkesbury, a small town 11 miles north of Gloucestershire.  American forces first arrived in Tewkesbury in August 1942, where a large swath of tents was constructed. Officers were billeted into Northway House, which is where Grandpa lived.  The camp was instrumental in supplying the cars and trucks needed for the invasion of Europe. The townspeople gradually warmed to all of the Americans.  They hosted Thanksgiving celebrations and warmly welcomed the GI’s into their homes.  In turn, the GI’s hosted parties for the local children, raised money for British POW support, and organized large Christmas parties with food, Santa, and gifts for the locals.

Grandpa was very proud of the work the men performed and instilled that pride in the men.  In a letter home, written in 1944, he said, “Not once have these men missed a quota.  And I mean, not once, despite that meaning many long hours and seven-day work weeks.  They know that when the equipment leaves here everything possible has been done to give our troops what they need for the gigantic struggle going on in Europe.”

Grandpa, on the left, with Jack Dempsey

In the late spring of 1944, very quietly and without any mention of it in the local press, the American forces moved south, in preparation for D Day. Very few personnel were left at the camp, and, to some local people, it must have seemed that the camp had been abandoned.  However, Grandpa and most of his crew remained.  In fact, there were so many troops left in Tewkesbury that in the autumn of 1944 that they organized a series of football matches. Local people were curious to see how American football differed from soccer, but found the game easy enough to follow. One match, between the US Army and the US Navy, made the front page of the Tewkesbury Register and Gazette, particularly because it was attended by Commander Jack Dempsey, the famous American heavyweight boxing champion.  We are fortunate to have this photo of Grandpa welcoming Dempsey to the base, although he probably wasn’t too excited about the final score – Navy beat Army 12-0.

In the spring of 1945 Grandpa was sent to Paris to review some of the mechanical bases in the newly liberated city.  We have two of his letters that survive this period, and in them he noted some interesting observations.  The first was about how beautiful – and clean – Paris was.  Part of the beauty he described were the women – smartly dressed, hair perfectly coifed, and make-up applied to perfection.  I’m not sure how excited Marg was to read his rather enthusiastic description of the women, but he was a pretty straight arrow, so she probably just let it slide.

On a more serious note, he made the following comments about some of the Parisian merchants: “The Germans destroyed nothing in Paris.  They were well-behaved and did no looting.  They took over the currency when they occupied the city. It forced a synthetic boom, and all the merchants made lots of money.  True, it caused inflation and has made the French currency unstable, but the deflation did not come until the Germans were gone.  Now is the tough part of the deal, getting the money back where it belongs and, as the boom has stopped, the citizens of Paris are not so sure that we have done anything for them.  We are not heroes to a large part of the people.  In some places they even hate us, as we blew up their towns in our efforts to get the Germans out.  It is stupid reasoning, but nevertheless, it is like that.  The thinking class realize that it had to be done and are for us.” 

Grandpa at the Lodge in Oregon

Upon his return to England he waxed poetic about the English countryside and how happy he was to be “home”.  He even threw out the suggestion that Marg join him, as he would have been happy to spend another year in Tewkesbury.  Thankfully, not long after he wrote that letter the war was over and he returned to the Bay Area. But like many veterans, he sought a quieter life. By then all three children were grown and on their own, so he and Marg moved to Oregon.  Grandpa loved the outdoors and was able to fish and hunt to his heart’s content. They built a fishing lodge, called the Umpqua River Lodge, where they could host guests and show them the beauty of the area. Eventually, as they aged, running the Lodge became too burdensome and they returned to Marin County, where he built a home in the remote town of Inverness.  They both died in 1967 and are buried together in the Golden Gate National Cemetary.

Today we not only honor our grandfather and his contribution to a great cause, but to all veterans who have served our nation so nobly.

 

ONE DAY MORE

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

The musical, Les Misérables, features one of my favorite songs, “One Day More”. It’s a stirring song at the end of the first act, where everyone comes together anticipating one more day until their varied futures unfold.  Kind of like us, today, where we are just waiting one more day until this interminable election is over.  Until then, all we can do is find something to occupy our thoughts and minds. To help in that endeavor, and perhaps bring some much-needed levity, today I’m offering up some humorous thoughts in an attempt to bring a smile to your face and perhaps lighten your spirits.

  • Stressed spelled backward is desserts. Coincidence? I think not. Especially if it’s cake.
  • My boss told me to have a good day, so I didn’t go to work.
  • My goal this weekend is to move just enough so no one thinks I’m dead. This is especially true during college football season.
  • Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow internet to see who they really are.
  • I used to be a people person until people ruined it.
  • I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done. That’s a huge accomplishment.
  • If stress burned calories, I’d be a supermodel.
  • I’ve got 99 problems, and 86 of them are completely made-up scenarios in my head that I’m stressing about for absolutely no logical reason.
  • Some days, the best thing about the job is that the chair spins.
  • God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now, I am so far behind I will never die.
  • If each day is a gift, I would love to know where I can return my Mondays.
  • All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.
  • Do not underestimate your abilities. That is your boss’s job.
  • And for this election season: I’m not arguing; I’m just explaining why I’m right.

In addition to humor, I read that we should read a book while waiting for election results to come in.  Hopefully it won’t take reading War and Peace to get to the conclusion of this craziness.  My fervent wish is that by the end of the week we’re focusing on coming together and instead of politics we spend our time estimating just how much pumpkin pie we can consume on Thanksgiving without going into a food coma.

 

The Incredible Life of Don the Beachcomber

by Bob Sparrow

Earnest Gantt AKA Don Beach

When you hear the name, Don the Beachcomber, your mind typically goes to visions of tropical beaches, tiki bars and drinks with umbrellas in them.  And maybe, if you’re really curious you wonder, was there really a Don the Beachcomber or is that just a made-up name?  Well, both!  There really was a Don the Beachcomber and it is a made-up name, but there is so much more to the story.

I had the pleasure of attending the Newport Beach Film Festival last week and saw a full-length documentary called ‘Don the Beachcomber’.  Several of our neighbors were invited by neighbor, Pam Michael, whose daughter, Britney is friends with one of the producers of this documentary.  It is a most fascinating tale, of which I’ll only be able to tell bits and pieces of it here.

I’ll have a famous Zombie or four!

To set the record straight, the person known as Don the Beachcomber was born in Texas . . . or Louisiana, no one’s quite sure, so much for setting the record straight!  But his name, which we are sure of, was not Don anything, but rather, Earnest Gantt.  At the age of 20 he decided that he wanted to travel around the world, which he did.  When he returned, he got a job crewing on a yacht traveling to Australia; after that he spent a good deal of time traveling around many South Pacific Islands.  In 1933, when he was 26, and Prohibition had just ended, he returned home and opened a bar in Hollywood and called it Don’s Beachcomber, which was tropically decorated and served a variety of rum drinks – he is generally credited with inventing the entire ‘Tiki’ genre as well as the popular drink, the Zombie.  The food at the restaurant was mostly Cantonese, which he picked up a taste for in his many travels.  He is also credited with creating the first pu pu platter. When he ultimately started calling himself Don the Beachcomber, he legally changed his name to Don Beach.  He was a cigar smoking, story-telling guy, who could bullshit with the best of them in his affected British accent.  He thus wooed to his restaurant many of the top Hollywood stars of the time, like Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, David Niven and Vivien Leigh.

Check out the trailer on YouTube

In the mid-1930s Don got married to Sunny Sund, who became a very good business partner, in fact so good, that she took over the entire operation and opened several restaurants without him.  The most famous one was the Don the Beachcomber in Chicago, where she shared ownership with the Mob.  Don and Sunny divorced in 1940, but Don stayed on as a business consultant.

In 1942 with the U.S. at war, he joined the US Air Force and became a Lieutenant Colonel, and while he did receive a Purple Heart for being injured while on a ship that was hit, he was mostly stationed at places where military people came to rest and relax.  With his creativeness, he invented a number of ‘military drinks’, like the B-52 and the Navy Grog to name a couple, which kept the troops happy and earned him a Bronze Star for his efforts of keeping up the morale of the troops.

After the war, he had signed an agreement with Sunny, who was now his ex-wife, that he couldn’t open a Don the Beachcomber in the U.S., so he moved to Hawaii, which was then a territory, and opened a Don the Beachcomber in Waikiki. While there, he created two Polynesian Villages, the International Market Place and a series of Don the Beachcomber restaurants

The OC’s Beachcomber at Crystal Cove

Don married again and divorced again, then married again and moved, with his latest wife, to Moorea, in the French Polynesia islands where he lived happily before passing away in 1989 at the age of 82.

The trailer for this documentary is currently available on YouTube, and the full documentary should be available on various streaming services by the end of the year; I’d highly recommend checking it out.

As a salute to the most famous ‘Beachcomber’, Linda and I, along with Jack & JJ Budd, who we were staying with at their Marriott timeshare at Newport Coast for a couple of nights, went for breakfast at the Beachcomber at Crystal Cove – a great restaurant right on the sand, but unfortunately it was a little too early for a Zombie!!  But I’m going to order one next time I get the chance!

 

AMERICA’S PAST TIME

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

October means only one thing: we are in the midst of the “golden hour” of sports, with almost every major league playing games.  It’s a lovely thing for those of us who want to watch something other than the news.  Perhaps the most exciting is the MLB playoffs.  Not because baseball is intrinsically interesting, but because, in my opinion, playoffs in any sport are worth watching.  My grandmother, an avid SF Giants fan, would sit in her living room with her Giant’s cap on, and listen to every regular season game on the radio.  I did not inherit that gene. I don’t watch baseball or hockey all year until they start playing for the hardware.  Then, I choose a team (sometimes for ridiculous reasons, like their team colors) and I tune in.  On the other hand, I watch pro and college football games even when I don’t really have a reason to root for either team.  I think it’s because football season is relatively short, so each game is to be savored.  I know that all too soon it will be February and I’ll be stuck with basketball and hockey, who start their seasons in October and don’t wrap up until June!  JUNE!  That is ridiculous! My love for football, and waning interest in baseball, corresponds to the national trend: 53% of people say football is America’s sport, compared to just 27% for baseball. But this being MLB playoff season, I thought I’d dig up some famous moments from our former favorite past time.

Babe Ruth Calls His Shot – One of the most famous home runs in baseball history occurred in the 1932 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees. At the top of the fifth inning, Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, with two balls and two strikes, pointed toward the outfield, and when the next pitch came, he hit a towering home run to center field. It proved to be the winning hit for the Yankees.  In the newspapers the next day, ecstatic reporters announced that Ruth had “called his shot,” and that his gesture toward the bleachers was a prediction of the home run. For years there was some doubt as to the legitimacy of this claim, but in 2020 an old radio interview was unearthed in which Lou Gehrig, who witnessed the event from the on-deck circle, confirmed that “the Bambino” really had called the shot.

Lou Gehrig Gives a Retirement Speech for the Ages – Speaking of Lou Gehrig, his career, and his retirement speech, still have a lasting legacy within the sport.  When Gehrig announced his retirement in 1939, it shocked the baseball world. During his career, Gehrig’s seemingly endless endurance had allowed him to play in 2,130 consecutive games (a record that stood for nearly 60 years), earning him the nickname “the Iron Horse.” However, in 1939, when Gehrig was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease ALS (which became commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), the Iron Horse was finally forced to end his baseball career. In the retirement speech he delivered at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, Gehrig told the crowd that despite his “bad break,” he considered himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” This iconic phrase, emblematic of Gehrig’s grace and humility, remains famous today, and his speech is often recognized as one of the greatest in sports history.

Hank Aaron Breaks Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record – In yet another Ruth connection, for nearly four decades after his retirement, he was hailed as the undisputed home run king. His 714 career home runs stood as a monument to his unrivaled power at the plate. Then Hank Aaron arrived. Since his MLB debut in 1954, Aaron had been an extremely consistent slugger, and he led the league in home runs four separate times. The years of steady power hitting paid off on April 8, 1974, when Aaron hit his 715th career home run and surpassed Ruth to inherit one of baseball’s most hallowed records. Aaron’s historic career continued for another three seasons, during which time he added 40 homers to his career total, retiring with a staggering 755 home runs. This record was eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds in 2007, but to this day Aaron remains celebrated as the first player to surpass the Sultan of Swat as the home run champion. And, let’s face it, Aaron didn’t have a hint of steroids in his achievement.

Willie Mays Makes “the Catch” – In deference to my grandmother, I couldn’t end this piece about baseball without including one of the Giants’ best players – Willie Mays, although his most famous play came when the Giants were still in New York, before the team came west and garnered my grandmother’s attention. Mays’ stunning play came during the 1954 World Series — it became known to history simply as “the Catch” (not to be confused with 49er Dwight Clark’s catch in the 1982 playoff game against the hated Cowgirls). Mays made the play in the eighth inning of Game 1, with the score tied 2-2 between Mays’ New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland slugger Vic Wertz hit a long fly ball toward Mays in center field. Mays turned and sprinted backward, making a miraculous over-the-shoulder catch 425 feet from home plate. As if that wasn’t a stunning-enough achievement, Mays completed the play by spinning around and making an incredible throw from the outfield to prevent Cleveland’s baserunners from getting home. The play saved the game for the Giants, who went on to sweep Cleveland in four games to become World Series champions.

Enjoy the MLB playoffs, relish the second half of football season and gird your loins for the endless basketball and hockey games that will loom until next summer.

 

An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse

by Bob Sparrow

Susan, Dennis, Linda and ‘what’s his name’

I spent most of last week in Las Vegas, so this week’s blog won’t give you the typical erudite, cogent presentation on a thought-provoking topic that you’ve come to expect . . . elsewhere!  Linda and I met Dennis & Susan Nespor in the real ‘city that doesn’t sleep’ for some fun and games.  Although we had a lot of fun, we didn’t win at too many games; except for Susan who finished the week with a nice ‘one armed bandit’ win.  Fortunately, I wasn’t in the typically generous mood that comes over me in Vegas, but neither was Vegas.

We had seen it advertised many times, but just never pulled the trigger on going to ‘The Mob Museum’.  But this time we did, so we drove downtown to an old court house building, two blocks off of Freemont Street, the main drag of ‘downtown’ Vegas, for a tour.

Electric chair in Mob Museum

I have to say that I’m not a big fan of The Mob, the Mafia, the Sopranos, etc.  I know, I’m in the minority on that one, although I did enjoy the Godfather books, so I was sort of looking forward to the tour, and everyone else wanted to see it, so I couldn’t refuse.  As it turned out, it was fantastic!

The museum takes up three floors and a basement of this old federal building.  We had an option of three additional paid events during our self-guided tour:

  • Firearm Training
  • Crime Lab
  • Distillery Tour & Tasting

Freemont Street

A bit hung over from being ‘over-served’ the night before, we did not trust ourselves to handle any firearms, so we passed on the first one, but did the other two.  In the Crime Lab we analyzed our own fingerprints to see what criminal had similar fingerprints.  We also analyzed bullet marking to see if we could match them to the right pistol.  We also got to analyze an image of a cadaver that that seemingly had been beaten and had some serious wounds on his body.  Based on the wounds, we had to figure out how he died.  We concluded that we didn’t want to be forensic pathologists.  Without a doubt our favorite tour was the Distillery Tour & Tasting; It may have been the ‘tasting’ that got us hooked.  While we took our seats inside a working distillery in the basement, we were told of the Mobs activities during Prohibition, and getting samples of three types of ‘moonshine’ that was typical of the beverages that were distilled by the mob.  The moonshine wasn’t bad, but it was a little strong!

After the tour, we walked the two blocks to Freemont Street and walked down the middle for a block or two, which was just enough to let us know that it was time to go back to our hotel.

Speaking of our hotel, we have consistently stayed at South Point, which is at the way south of the strip and we love.  It is several steps above of the hotels downtown, but not as big, glitzy or expensive as the hotels on the strip.  It has seven great restaurants, over 120 bowling lanes, movie theaters and a huge arena that features everything from full on rodeos to college basketball tournaments.  And of course has every game of chance that you want.  But, another great advantage of South Point is that it has our favorite act, the Bronx Wanderers, performs there many times during the year in an awesome, intimate theater that doesn’t have a bad seat.  They are a band made up of a father, his two sons and two other members who were the son’s friends growing up in New York.  They play music for every generation, but it is particularly entertaining for those who have experienced and enjoy the long history of rock & roll.  Linda and I saw them for the third time last week and I know Dennis and Sue really enjoyed their first exposure.  They are awesome, if you get a chance, spend the whopping $45 a ticket!!  You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

 

RISKY BUSINESS

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

According to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, only about 29% of US adults lived in a house with a landline phone as of 2022.  That is a reduction of 90% since 2004!  Before I launch into my interest in this trend, you might be wondering, as I did, why the same people who are monitoring Covid and the flu are also in charge of determining phone usage.  Well, apparently around twenty years ago the CDC began to worry about a “new” technology – the cell phone. Because the CDC conducts some of the nation’s most extensive phone surveys — used to produce vital information about rates of immunization, risky behavior, health care use and chronic conditions — they worried that changes in telephone access could distort their results. So, they began to survey both landline and cell phone households. Rather unexpectedly, they discovered a connection between the type of phone used and overall well-being and what they found was surprising: people who have cut the cord, eliminating a landline to rely only on wireless, are generally more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as binge drinking, smoking, and eschewing health insurance. When I first read that sentence, I immediately thought of purple-haired, nose-ring-wearing millennials, but it turns out that the researchers controlled for age, sex, race, ethnicity and income and found it to be true across almost all demographics. Unsurprisingly, the only demographic for which households with landlines still outnumber wireless-only households is the 65 and older crowd.  In other words, me.  And yet…last month even I was driven to finally cut the cord.

Over the past several weeks it’s become abundantly apparent that it’s not good to live in a “swing” state in an election year.  And I’m not referring to the type of swing alluded to in the aforementioned “risky behavior” concern of the CDC. Arizona is one of the 6-7 states considered up for grabs, so we are inundated with ads on tv and we receive incessant phone calls from everyone running for office, from presidential contenders down to the local dog catcher.  I’ve registered with the National Do Not Call registry and with the Cox Nomorobo system, but to no avail.  The factories that pay people to annoy you with phone calls are always one step ahead.  I’d been thinking about abandoning my landline for almost a year, but I was reluctant to do so.  It’s been my home phone number for 26 years and every now and again an old friend will call on that line. Plus, I think when you live alone it’s good to have two numbers so in the (likely) event you forget where you left your phone, you can call yourself.  I read that it is good to have a landline in case of a power outage, but I recalled that years ago Cox changed my landline to VOIP, connected to my internet modem, so it would be useless when the power goes out.  The final straw in my decision-making occurred one night two weeks ago when I got a spam call at 1:20 a.m. I decided enough was enough.  In an “aha” moment in the shower that day I realized I could port the number over to a cell phone and use the settings to mute all of the calls.

            My old phones

I reluctantly went down to the Cox store with my idea.  Reluctant because dealing with any utility company is usually fraught with frustration and complicated service plans.  But my fears were unfounded.  A very nice young man took me under his wing.  I told him I wasn’t looking for the latest or greatest phone; I didn’t even need it to be smart.  What I needed was a dumb phone that was just…a phone.  He directed me to the most basic smart Android phone with just 1 GB of data allowed per month, suggesting that in an emergency I could still use it to text or look up the local office of FEMA.  Of course, it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of my iPhone, but I just need it to sit on my office desk and block political ads. Armed with my new device, I came home and pulled out all seven of my landline phones. Suddenly I felt 20 years younger.

So far, my little phone is doing a great job.  It’s blocking calls like crazy and I’m sleeping better.  Plus, I’m even saving $26 a month. If I use the CDC as an indicator, now that I’m without a landline I can use my monthly savings to binge drink, smoke, cancel my Medicare supplemental plan and engage in risky behavior.  I think I’m going to like not having a landline.