sparquelito

Wait; My fluorescent lights tell me that electricians are the devil. I'm getting mixed signals here. 🙁

Oh man. Prayers to his family. 🙁

This entire story strikes me as fishy. 🤔

You're a damned fine looking man, Sarge. Tommy too. That guy at the register, eh, not so much. 🙂

I wish the OP would adopt me. I have always wanted to be taken care of by a rich step-daddy. 😐

I'm just curious about your own experience with the new LED light bulbs, versus the old incandescent bulbs. Some people swear that the new ones last many times longer than the old conventional ones, but that has not been my experience. I find that the LED bulbs crap out just as frequently as the incandescent ones. For the record, I have had my house checked out from top to bottom by a qualified electrician, and everything here is up to code. Thanks in advance. 😐

I am with you on not flying anymore. I don't care if these two feet never leave the ground again. Re; the white gravy for chicken fried steak, I can PM you a nice, easy recipe. You will love it. 🙂

I have heard the name Dale Carnegie before, but I must admit I know nothing about him, or the classes you speak of. I'm just a lucky guy, with a fairly guarded but vaguely optimistic viewpoint and life philosophy. This is it in a nut-shell: High hopes but low expectations. When you apply that philosophy to your dealings with other humans, especially coworkers, then you will never be hurt or let down by sorry behavior. Instead, you will be ready for the nonsense perpetrated by the larger population, the whole while delighted and happy about the truly good people you meet and encounter along the way. 🙂

I have been lucky I guess. I did work in a toxic environment many years ago. 2004 to 2007. Left that place eventually because the entire shop suffered from a lack of integrity. The work was Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case management. It was mostly lethargic Government Servants drawing a fat paycheck for doing nothing, to be quite honest. And the handful of us who did all the work around that place were expected to look the other way (and not discuss) the rampant time-keeping fraud, laziness, and double-billing the foreign customers. I dutifully reported, in writing, everything that was going on there, and was retaliated against. Put those people in my rear-view mirror, and never looked back. The last 15 years of my working life I was having a blast. 2007 till the end of 2022. I worked with a great team of guys and gals who operated with integrity, energy, and good humor. The mission was Aviation Flight Test and test support. Company parties and gatherings were a blast, especially since I was the musical director for the place, on top of my Operations duties. We always put together a live band to play the annual sports-fest on the river, the after-work team-building beer-drinking gatherings at the pub, or the big Christmas party in the large hangar. There was no competition, except among the junior engineers I guess, because we all had our unique jobs and skill sets. I made a lot of lifelong friends there, and even though I am retired now, we get together for lunch all the time. Sometimes life hands you lemons, and you have to figure out how to make lemonade. Other times life hands you peaches and cream, and life is great. Luck of the draw, I guess. 😐

I was born on an Army base in Alabama, and spent many pivotal and important years of my life all across the State of Alabama, but I can hardly lay claim to being a Southerner. * I was an Army Brat, and traveled all over the globe * I never hung around long enough to acquire a Southern accent of any sort That said, I do love grits. And white sausage gravy over biscuits. But when it comes to the stereotypical attributes that we assign to Southerners, I sadly come up short. * I have never had sex with my cousin * I never once burned a cross on anyone's lawn * I have played banjo a number of times, but I really suck at it and, * I still have all of my original teeth, and they look pretty good. It's complicated, I guess that's what I am saying. 😐

Very good point!! Yes, he was a pioneer of the early American rock and roll, as we came to know rock and roll. He and Chuck Berry certainly. Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis. But you are right. His music after the Army was mainly film scores and pop nonsense. Now. In The Ghetto? And Suspicious Minds as well? Powerful songs. But not rockers. So we are in agreement, sir. 😐

Allow me to explain what American gravy is all about. Well. Jeff Foxworthy and friends will technically explain it to our friends from across the pond. 😐

Such an interesting, talented guy. Very expressive face! 😐

Rest in peace, Mr. Garcia. Funny, but I never once thought of the Grateful Dead as a rock band. Extended jam/ country shuffle/ boogie / psychedelic music combo, yes. But not 'rock' as in how I came to know rock. But what do I know? 😐

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY thinks that what happened in 2020 came from a wet market. 😐

Good God. 🤨

Brits, the ones I worked with anyway, were fond of the term, "barbeque" when it came to describing a cook out or grilling of meats. But I'll stand by for the definitive answer from the real experts over there across the pond. 🤔

God, how I love fried spam with eggs and white sticky rice. 🙂

I love chilled pickled beets, on the side of a good salad. And Brussels Sprouts are fantastic, if prepared properly. Love them. 🙂

I have to deal with the Japanese Beetles this time of year. They are indeed a pest, by the very definition of the word. But I feel sort of sorry for them. The Japanese beetle has a one year life cycle, 10 months as a white grub and 2 months as an adult. It emerges from the soil as an adult in late June and is active through July and August. The peak period is July. So. Two months alive as a beetle, to do whatever it is that they are gonna do. Tragic. 🤔

Thanks, CROWB8. It's funny you mention the comparison test. I just this morning set about it, with the last of the sauces in place, and a really nice hunk of leftover steak and fried potatoes from yesterday's lunch. It's pretty simple, and there were no losers as far as I'm concerned. Daddies - Wonderful. A little sweeter than I had anticipated, and less savory than the HP Sauce. But still wonderful, and just might be best on the side of some fried chicken. HP Sauce - Excellent. I have had it on the side of a few different dishes this week. All around excellent, and darned if it doesn't taste more and more (to me anyway) like a combination of A1 Steak Sauce and Heinz 57 Sauces. A1 Steak Sauce - I grew up with this stuff, and I can recall having it next to grilled steak and/or hamburgers as far back as the late 1960's. I first had it in a restaurant back then in Kansas City. A tender rare steak (in my world today) only needs a tiny splash of quality soy sauce on the side. (Aloha Shoyu is my favorite.) But a tougher cut of steak, one that was grilled medium or worse, gets A1. Heinz 57 Sauce - A very strong tinge of mustard is the hallmark of this sauce, and that's why it goes on the occasional hot dog, especially when I'm too lazy to grab both the ketchup and the mustard. Goes well with sauerkraut in that regard. Thanks again to all my brethren from the UK for turning me on to HP Sauce and Daddies. I love it that I can find new flavors and explore new culinary horizons, well now into my 60's! 🙂

Ketchup is a funny one. Sparingly, on the side of home fries (Bratkartoffeln)? Yes. All over eggs? God no. I once prepared a really five star meal for my wife and one her friends from work one evening. Filet Mignon, medium rare, bow tie pasta, gently stir-fried garden-fresh squash, and a German cucumber salad. I mean, it was fantastic in every way, and sauced/seasoned to perfection. We got seated, and my wife offered a brief prayer, "God bless our troops overseas and our sailors on the seas. Now let's eat!" Everyone started to dig in, and then our guest politely asked if we had any ketchup. I warily responded, "Yes, in the fridge?" I did not offer to go get it. She cheerfully got up and said, "Great, thank you. You stay put, and I'll go get it." She came back, doused everything down with about a half bottle of ketchup, and chirped, "Fantastic! Just right!" My left eye began to twitch, and I contemplated diving across the table and stabbing my wife's friend in the throat with my fork. But I held my composure, and quietly enjoyed my meal with a nice glass of Black Opal Shiraz. The things I put up with in the name of polite gentility and (of course) avoiding prison time. 😞

Five years ago, I was at work on the airfield, going about routine business. My cell phone rang. *brrriiing* "Hello?" "Hey, Mr. Sparkman. Are you here yet?" "Where is here? And who is this?" "MAJ Jones. I'm at the Flight Simulator at Fort Campbell. You're giving me my Instrument Check Ride today?" $#1T. I was scheduled to give a guy his check ride in the sim. Today. At Fort Campbell. 178 miles away, or 3 hours by car. I had forgotten. "Oh crap. How many hours do you have the device scheduled for?" (Our Staff Officers normally schedule six or eight hour blocks in the simulator at a time, to catch up on all their training minimums.) "I need six hours to make my time. Wait, are you not here??" "I'm on my way. Just continue to log time and practice your maneuvers. I'll be there in two and a half hours." "You forgot me???" "I'm on my way. Keep flying!" I hopped in the Subaru Baja, and began hauling-*** up the highway. I made it there in two hours and thirty eight minutes flat. I was doing 85 miles per hour the whole way, and Nashville traffic was kind to me. I got there, delivered some lunch and a drink to my Staff Major examinee, and sat down at the Instructor Console. The Major flew his instrument mission brilliantly, and passed the check ride with flying colors. He laughed about it, I laughed about it, was all had a good laugh about it. I was still laughing as I drove the 3 hours home again that afternoon. At an admittedly more leisurely pace. 😔

She was a unique song writer, and a very tortured soul. I do hope she's at peace now. 😔