George Aar

Ooops. The Jim I knew was a HVAC guy. He kept all the AC and heating equipment running. Also did trapping as a hobby of sorts. He'd be in his mid-fifties now I'd guess.

I knew Jim when I was on staff at hq, '87 - '89. Jim left WayWorld then and moved to Little Rock, Ark. IIRC. Haven't heard from or of him since, but...

Just an aside, I've never gotten the whole concept of "Home Cookin'" (as if that's a good thing). Not that I'm trying to knock anybody's abilities, but, I much prefer "Restaurant Cookin'", uh, that is, if they have a fer-real chef doing the cooking. I don't care who they are, amateurs never measure up to what a real pro can do. And I've even seen restaurants that advertize that their food is just like you'd get at home. To which I can only say "HUH?" If I'd a wanted a home-cooked meal, why the hell did I go out to eat? Anyway, for regional cooking the PNW is probably most noted for seafood, though I can't think of any particular thing that's region-specific. Oh, we've got some oddities that are pretty good. Geoduc is about as tasty a shellfish as God ever created. And Dungeness Crab is pretty good stuff. Yeah, we've got King Crab too, but I've never been all that taken with it, Dungeness being much tastier. Other than that we've got a pretty eclectic mix of styles. Classic French and Italian is pretty common as is Thai and Vietnamese. I guess the only really regional food thing we've got going is our coffee, though Starbucks is hardly worth the effort IMHO. For steak, I think the soutwest has got a definite edge. The best steak I ever had in my life was at an old restaurant ('Lil Abner's Tavern) just outside of Tucson. Lordy, they raise some good beef around those parts. The upper Mid-west, where I come from, doesn't have anything I can think of to distinguish itself. Maybe Pasties? Dunno. And if there is a hell, I'm quite sure I'll be spending my meals there eating butter beans, collard greens, poke salad, and the other slop that all those sweet southern ladies tried to feed me when I lived down south. Lord have mercy! Somebody help those people!

Oh my, I LOVE brussel sprouts. Never had a bad one. And no matter how you cook 'em, they turn out just fine. I think my final turning away from pea soup was when I was driving through the central valley in California on a particularly hot and uncomfortable day. All along the roadside there where billboards advertising "Pederson's Restaurant" and their famous split pea soup. I dunno, but the idea of eating hot, split pea soup on such a gawdawful, hot and icky day, well, it just pushed me over the edge. Split pea soup? Ugh...

Belle, I dunno about anywheres else, but around here Sri Racha is pretty easy to find. Just about any Asian deli has it. Of course I go to Uwajimaya (a local Japanese super market chain) a couple of times a month, so I'm never without...

Hey! Who ate my pizza?!

The best seasoning for everything: Sri Racha Pepper Sauce, they serve it in Heaven, I'm certain... Spike, OTOH, is politically correct nonsense. A favorite of the counter-culture, new-age cuisineophiles. In other words, it's bland, boring, and is only endorsed when somebody is trying to prove how enlightened they are. You want a good salt substitute? Try SALT, nothing else comes close...

Really good pea soup? Sorry, no such thing. Just like "really good eggplant" or "mighty tasty rutabagas". It's a contradiction in terms...

I just heard a guy flogging his new book today on the radio. A biography of Walt Disney. It's got a little of the Jerry Springer stuff, it seems, dysfunctional childhood, abusive father, and that sorta stuff, and then the author goes off into psychoanalyzing a dead man, the obsession with manufacturing reality and the like, but... it sounds like a good read anyway. I might pick up a copy. You heard about it, Hiway? Oh, and re the copywrite issues and whatnot, after 60 years, isn't this in the public domain?

Here, maybe I can fill in the void a little: Thousands of planes landed safely today. School was held without any gunshots being heard all day in most every town. And millions of fuzzy little bunnies didn't get run over by any mean 'ol diesel trucks. Better? BTW, I was in New Orleans about 8 weeks after the storm, and I've never seen such destruction ANYWHERE at ANYTIME. I was in Mobile for hurricane Frederick in '80, in Sylmar for the Northridge quake in '94 and in Kobe, Japan for that quake a year later, and been through a dozen or so floods around the PNW. They were like a lipstick smear in comparison. Southern Lousiana got seriously f-ed up, buddy...

Yeah, I've been down this road too, Bliss. 'Cept I didn't stop. I kept going on to question "Who says the Bible is God's Word?" I didn't get any satisfying answers to that one either.

I can't say as I'm much of a fan anymore (maybe he could recycle "Candle in the Wind" ONE more time?), but I do tend to agree with his opinion here as well. Seems I get along fine with religious folks as long as they're not wearing their "vestments" so to speak. Once they start getting holy on me, it's time for me to say my goodbyes. Religion is just plain icky, ain't it?

Sudo, Re: "the middle one" Yeah, I was always a Mary Ann kinda guy too...

Yeah, but did you call the lizard the next morning?

O.K. Clay, I'll write reeeeal slow so you can understand. I said nothing about planning, preparation, financing, saving for a rainy day, etc. All of those are wonderful things that we should all do more of. I was simply pointing out that there are real, life-changing events that we have little or no control over. Big things. Things that can and do bring all that planning and preparation to nought. And for all our efforts the "control" over our own lives then becomes minimal. If we happened to live enchanted lives where none of that stuff happens, well, wonderful. But there's no guarantees. Yeah, it's not the fun, formulaic, "believing equals receiving" pablum we lived off of during our WayWorld tenure, but it's the reality we do live in, like it or not. I tend to prefer reality over pipedreams. I'm funny that way...

So then, you're all safe now right? Nothing to worry about fer you, right? Everything's under control...

Well I googled the name and all the results say I got the last name right, but the first name is a bit fuzzy. Some have it Neil, but the majority say "Neal". Wouldja believe I actually had the album at one time? My tastes have improved since then, REALLY!

I talk to him once a week or so, doesn't live too far from me. Check the Issaquah (a Seattle suburb) phone listings, I'm sure he's in there. He still sells real estate, his wife is still teaching school. The kids are mostly raised and out of the house now.

And the really big, all-encompassing, far-reaching events in our lives we have little or nothing to say about. Like, what country you were born in, was there a war going on, what kind of parents you had (if any), did you have any birth defects, abnormalities, how intelligent you are, how wealthy was your family (or poverty stricken), did you get proper nutrition in your formitive years, did you get a reasonable education, will you get a life-altering disease in later life, will your life be cut short by accident or catastrophe (flood, famine, earthquake), lots of that kinda stuff. And how about if some terrorist has planted a dirty bomb in your neighborhood? Lots of stuff to screw up our well-laid plans and our "built" believing. And there ain't squat you can do about any of it. I've come to the conclusion that fate is one capricious mutha#$%&er and it doesn't matter one whit how much we pray, believe, or how many herbal teas we drink, it can all come crashing down in an instant - or not. We have far less control than we'd like to think...

I hear a Neil Hefty theme coming on...

Well, lots of things are in short supply, but there's always plenty of stupid to go around... (BTW Dot, hideous cretins they may be, but the ceiling fan part of the story is B.S.)

Just a hypothetical question here, What do you suppose the odds were of a mediocre talent in "the Corps" getting a real hot-shot position in the WayWorld hierarchy simply because his wife had a helluva figure and LoyBoy wanted to have a go at her? Just hypothetical you understand...

"Remember, remember the fifth November Gunpowder, treason and plot I know of no reason that gunpowder treason should ever be forgot..." So, how did you celebrate? Blow up some municipal buildings? Burn a few effigies? What's your traditional GFD dinner?

Sorry guess, we're on the same planet, but definitely inhabit very different worlds. I still don't really understand what you're trying to communicate. Are you trying to make a distinction between what is actual and what our perception of that is? That's all I can make out. And I try my best to follow the dictates of my hero Ambrose Bierce "Seek to see things as they are, not as they should be". I try real hard to live in the real world. Warts and all, it's all we've got. Hiding behind some concocted spiritual "verities" eventually will catch up with us all. Might as well make peace with reality...

Well, how about the post previous to mine. Oh I understand the words just fine, it's just that they make little sense the way you strung them together. O.K., my difficulties are in understanding what you mean by interior perspective (I assume we're not talking about home decorating?), exterior perspective, and shared perspective. Sorry, I have no clue what the hell you're talking about. Of course, that's nothing new fer me. Reality is not dependant on what any of us believes. And faith, no matter how warm and fuzzy it's content, is no guarantee of truth...