Category: Life

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Findlay Youth Baseball always a fun time

A friend of mine posted a note on his blog about the upcoming youth baseball season in Findlay. It gave me a chuckle. Like the youth soccer program, the baseball program was something we did when I was a kid. All my friends were in it so I did it too. It was also a good low cost way to have fun in the poor economic times my family lived in.

I played in the junior league for my first time out at organized baseball. I had a new mitt not even broken in when I went to the try outs. Being a youth league the try out was a mere formality as if you showed any skill they put you on a team.

When I was 13 I moved up to the Major Youth League. I was drafted into the GM Red Sox. Many on the team were classmates and friends I had known since elementary school. Our coach was the Phys Ed teacher at Glenwood Jr. High – Mr. Nichols. I played outfield and batted 9th and even then I stunk. My fielding was good. I could throw the ball to the infield but I couldn’t hit for crap. During my two seasons I had two base hits. Now why wasn’t I on the All-Star team at the end of the season…..

The funniest bit happened the year i found out I needed glasses.

Mr. Nichols was trying to help me in my batting. During practice he called me over and held a ball in his hand.

“Hit this out of my hand,” he said.

“What?”

“Hit the ball out of my hand.”

So I took my stance and swung away, smashing the bat into his hand. I heard some curse words I never heard before. What he forgot to tell me was not to take a full power swing but to go slow and so he could see my swing. Instead I nearly broke his hand and I wanted to fall over dead right there.

Ahhh, memories.

As Mark says in his blog post:

I would hope that you will encourage your kids, grand kids, nieces & nephews to join in the fun that is Findlay Youth Baseball. And, it isn’t just for kids. Adults can volunteer to help out as well. Umpiring, coaching or keeping a score book for the team of your little ball player are ways you can positively impact the life of a youngster. I promise you that it is very rewarding.

FYB: a new season

Yes, indeed.

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Witch Mountain one of my favs, hope the new one is good too

During my childhood, one activity we could afford on a regular basis was going to the movies. On March 13th, Disney comes out with “Race to Witch Mountain (2009)”, which is a retelling of “Escape from Witch Mountain (1975)”. “Escape” was and still is one of my favorite films from the 1970’s.

In Findlay we had the Jerry Lewis Theater (later called Twin Palace), Cinema World, and during the summers we had two drive-ins – the Millstream and the Findlay Drive-In (I think that was the name. It was located across from where the present Liberty Benton High School is now). When I was even younger we had the old State Theater downtown where I saw “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)”.

“Escape from Witch Mountain” starts out with the haunting theme music and the superimposed images of the twins Tony and Tia running from dogs and it doesn’t let up. Donald Pleasence was one of the bad guys. The special effects look dated today but for little kids before Star Wars came out they were wild.

Tia was played by Kim Richards and I still have a crush on her to this day. Kim was the smart girl next door who had a decent career before she decided to leave acting to raise a family. She recently returned and one big role was playing Christina Ricci’s mom in Black Snake Moan (2006). Kim has a cameo in the new Witch Mountain film. She has been compared to another Disney product – Lindsay Lohan (in a good talent way). Little known fact is Kim is Paris Hilton’s aunt.

Tony was played by Ike Eisenmann. Like Kim, Ike showed up in all kinds of movies and TV shows in the 1970’s. He moved into voice acting for animated films. He also has a cameo in the new film.

Disney started remaking their old live action films. “Herbie the Love Bug” was fun if a bit off and reading the press on the new Witch Mountain film had me worried. I’ve seen the trailer and seeing they aren’t just redoing the old film makes me feel better. I also learned that the source book by Alexander Key was much darker and more hard core sci-fi which also helps. The original was pretty sugary since it was Disney and the director of the current movie said Disney had no problem with a darker retelling.

If [Director Andy] Fickman has his way, the film will be accessible, but bold. “We want this to be a movie that anybody can go and see and have a great time,” he says. “But I wanted to feel edgy, too. It’s dark and creepy. I went back and read the original Alexander Key book, Escape to Witch Mountain, and it’s a very heavy sci-fi novel. It’s all about questioning authority, hiding in plain sight, and you don’t know who to trust. I loved it. I respect what they did in ’75 at Disney — they had a coat rack attacking people — here we just wanted to make it more intense.”

When asked for a film that he’d compare Witch Mountain’s tone to, he surprised us with the 1982 Eddie Murphy flick 48 Hrs. “The humor in 48 Hrs. came from a very natural place, but the movie itself was a very dark in tone adventure. And that’s sort of where we land. It’s also very inspired by ’70s action movies. The camera angles, the zooms — the way the action was shot.”

Set Visit: Race to Witch Mountain – Part One

But my heart will still be with the 1975 version. Here is a clip of the first 6 minutes of the film:

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Selective Service at the Drive Thru Window

Not much bothers me in general. Especially at the drive thru window at a fast food place. I don’t have a problem if the food takes too long. It doesn’t bother me when the car ahead either has 30 orders to get or wants a hamburger with certain condiments where I know I’ll be pumping more carbon in the air from my car engine. The only thing that does bother me is if it seems I am being treated differently by the staff. Last night was another example and it made me write this post.

Occasionally I will visit a fast food burger joint near my house between 11 PM and Midnight for a snack. I won’t name the place but they are known for their Frosties. I don’t go every day but enough to pick up on what I think is strange treatment from the staff at the store.

I’ll drive up to the menu board and place my order. A nice Hispanic woman will take the order and have me drive around. Sometimes there will be a car in front of me but a lot of times I will be the only one in line at that hour. The order taker is dressed like she is the shift leader and I can see the manager working the second window.

I’ll come up to the window and the order taker will leave the booth and the manager will appear to take my money. Then I drive up to the 2nd window and the manager will hand me my food.

If there is a car in front of me the order taker will take their money, see me, leave the booth, and the manager will take my money while I see the order taker hand the first car their food. Then when I pull up to the second window the manager will give me my food and see in my mirror the order taker taking the money from any one behind me.

I’ve gone to this location many times at different hours of the day and this only happens when this particular order taker/team leader is working.

I don’t know why she does this to me but it is obvious she doesn’t want to take my money or give me my food. If she is afraid of germs then she is in the wrong business.

It just pisses me off and I had to vent.

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Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!

Today marks the 200th Birthday of the man who forwarded the concept of Evolution of species, which is a basic foundation of the science of Biology. Evolution is also a flash point in arguments between people with different views on religion. Even though Evolution has nothing to do with religion or religious beliefs, it has been used as a scapegoat for some people’s beliefs that might conflict with the results and facts of Evolution. How did we get there?

One problem has been a misunderstanding of the term Evolution. In science Evolution’s basic definition is: a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations.

That’s it. Nothing about monkeys turning into humans or “survival of the fittest”, which have been claims used against teaching of Evolution. All it means is to describe changes in a population over time.

Darwin called his idea “Natural Selection” and by that he meant species changed over time by adaptation controlled by the environment they lived in. Species that adapted appropriately passed their genes on to the next generation while those that didn’t adapt eventually died out. It isn’t that one species was “better” than the other only that one adapted better than the other and was able to pass on its genes.

Natural selection also infers that species can come from a common ancestor since it had to start some where to get to that particular point in time. There is strong evidence that Humans and apes share aspects that suggest we came from a common ancestor. At one time there was some species that then split into apes and another branch split into Humans.

That’s where religious people get upset. They fully believe that God created all the creatures on the Earth and if Evolution is true then it puts that idea into jeopardy.

The religious people are the ones who make it an issue. Darwin never cared about all it ALL began. All he did was forward the idea of how species got to where they are. Nothing in the study of Evolution is meant to be anti-religious or to intentionally contradict the story of creation. Many scientists support Evolution and consider themselves believers in a God.

However since Evolution, like all science facts, are tentative, there could be information collected soon or in the near future that solves the ultimate mystery of how it ALL got here.

That’s the promise of science – learning the answers to all the questions we have about the universe in which we live.

A tip of the hat today to the man who got the ball rolling – Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882).

Some links for further info on Darwin and Evolution

The Origin Of Species: 6th Edition

Charles Darwin bio

Charles Darwin Day

FAQs about Evolution and the religious debates

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Octo-mom being selfish and careless

Modern medicine amazes me sometimes. Diseases once thought deadly have been tamed. Pills are available to treat all kinds of ailments that use to shorten how long we live. One also needs to be amazed at all the work done around genetics. But sometimes just because science can do something doesn’t mean it should. Just like the development of nuclear weapons, using science to have children you can’t support on your own is stupid. Nadya Suleman, who delivered only the second living set of octuplets ever born, made the wrong choice to have more children especially because she had no job and six children already at home. That’s what bothers me.

I think that if a woman wants to have a child and the only way to do it is by insemination then that is her choice to make, but she also has to consider, just like when conceiving children through intercourse, some serious questions.

Can I properly support children – do I have a job, one that pays enough and provides enough insurance for health care. Or am I in a relationship where that support can come from my partner or adds to my support.

Do I have enough home support – do I have enough time and stability to provide emotional support and love to my children. If I am married is my marriage supportive enough to maintain a stable household.

Is this right thing to do at this time.

When I heard that Nadya Suleman had no job and six other children at home, I lost all respect for her. She made the wrong choices. Children just don’t need a loving mother. They need good health care, food on the table, clothes on their backs, and a stable home. When the only parent has no solid foundation for any of that then the children can suffer.

I know there are women who want a child and aren’t able to have them for one reason or another. More power to them if they use medical science to conceive or if they adopt. Most people I know who have gone this route are proud parents and the children well taken care of.

And don’t think I have these concerns about women. I also think the questions apply to men. I once knew a guy who thought his manliness was confirmed based on the number of women he got pregnant. When I heard that I wished he could be castrated. But that is just me.

People like Nadya Suleman give parenthood a bad name.

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