The End of an Era

As of tomorrow - 9/21/12 - there will no longer be a Howell at the end of 847-8138. We are disconnecting the land line. It feels a little weird to know that in a few months that number will probably be assigned to some other poor soul - who will get occasional phone calls from relatives who won't get around to updating their paper address books! The average time for a number being reassigned is 30 days to 6 months.

It really makes sense for us - there isn't much need to spend $48 a month for the privilege of hanging up on a dozen "unavailable" calls and another dozen calls that we can clearly tell from Caller ID that we don't want to take the call. The answering machine generally has more hangups on it than real messages (along with the pre-recorded robo-calls that are halfway through by the time the machine starts recording).

But as my sister Susan said in response to the email that was sent out announcing our decision to abandon the land line "It's the end of an era, 847-8138 is no more! Wow...I grew up with that number, called my friends, played pranks on unknowing strangers... good times, good times. Farewell 847-8138, you were a good friend to us all." I, of course, never played phone pranks on strangers. Well...maybe once...

Mom shared with me that when they first got that number it was VI7-8138. I still remember when the area code changed from 804 to 434. I think Susan is right, it is then end of an era. Anybody in the market for a slightly used cordless phone system with 3 handsets? Going cheap!!

Random Conversation Starter

Another night - another post - another brain freeze...

Tonight I am going to pull questions from the Random Conversation Starter!

What celebrity do you like to follow? Okay - I don't tweet. It isn't that I don't know how - I just got bored with it very fast. So I don't "follow" anyone. Unless the questions isn't referring to Twitter!! Then the question could be interpreted as what celebrity would you like to stalk?!? I can honestly say that I have never really stalked a celebrity - all of my victims have been regular people! I have encountered a few celebrities through the years...most recently I got to see Susie Fogelman when I was in Chelsea Market in NYC. For all of you who are saying to yourselves "who?" - she is the Senior VP of Marketing for Food Network and one of the judges of Next Food Network Star. I was totally psyched when I saw her at the news stand - but out of respect for her privacy (she was wearing a hat and clearly trying to keep a low profile) I just gave a her little nod and said "Susie" (I'm certain that she understood that I was conveying the message "I really respect your work"). But when I noted my close encounter on Facebook...few of my friends understood my excitement. Ah well.

Who do you have on your speed dial? Speed dial? Everyone is on speed dial now...I just say "Hello Galaxy. Call ***** home/mobile/work" and it happens. Speed dial...how delightfully antiquated! I suppose the next question will be asking how long my phone cord is? Okay, it isn't THAT bad. But how quickly we get used to the new technological advances...I'm even learning how to tell Galaxy to text ***** instead of being frustrated by that dang touch screen keyboard. But I think that if I did have speed dial and could only put 8 people in it (#9 has to be emergency number) then my top 8 would include Mom, Dad, Karen, Denise... well, basically the other 6 people in my immediate family. And then the other two would be....Carl (because I call him a lot and can't remember the actual number) and my friend Toni (because she always gives me great advice and is the best sounding board that I know).

Who is the most famous person you have met? Seriously? I think we covered that in question #1, didn't we? No, Susie Fogelman isn't the most famous person that I've met. There are a lot of local celebrities that I have talked with extensively...from politicians like Bob Goodlatte and Steve Newman...to Hillcats General Manager Paul Sunwall (a Kiwanis brother)...to artists and performers.... But I guess the question is really about the person that most people would know. Also on the streets of New York, I ran into Timothy Busfield. But I think that the celebrity connection that I always pull out of my hat is the fact that I am only TWO degrees separated from Kevin Bacon. I was directed in a musical by one of Kevin Bacon's first acting teachers. He was kind of a jerk. Not Kevin Bacon - the director. This means that all of YOU are now only THREE degrees from Kevin Bacon...since you know ME!!


Last one: What is your least favorite part of the day? That is the easiest question of all. Morning. I despise waking up. Certainly there are lovely parts to mornings...the dew on the grass, the fog rising off the river, the birds singing...the sunrise. And if they could move all of those things to early afternoon - I would enjoy them much more!!

Another hamster beaten!!

Mmmm...Thai....

You can try! But you'll have to pry
the fork from my cold dead hands!

Tonight I had dinner with three Thai 99 newbies. It was a great surprise to me to find out that the reason that this group chose to eat at Thai 99 was because it was my number 1 choice in my "favorite restaurant" blog post. I said, "you people make life decisions based on The Beaten Hamster?" and the reply was "more often than you might think"!


As usual - the food was fantastic. I believe that Patty and Jeff have some new fans! I think that I was useful to the new folks because I eat there enough to help "decode" the menu. It can be overwhelming at first - choosing a dish from the wide variety... Do you want rice or noodles? Do you want chicken, pork, tofu? Want to go crazy and spend the extra buck for beef or shrimp? How spicy do you want it? Do you want something that is spicy and a little sweet like the tamarind sauce of Pad Thai? Or perhaps something cool and herbaceous like the Green Curry?

If all you have ever experienced of "curry" is that yellow powder...you might not realize that "curry" is really a general term for sauce/gravy. There are no less than 5 curry dishes at Thai 99. Red, Green, Yellow, Panang....

I remember one day that my sister Denise and I were eating lunch at Thai 99. We overheard a neighboring table trying to decide what to order. I held out as long as I could (at least 30 seconds...) before leaning over and asking if they would like some help with the menu. They welcomed my assistance and soon we were laughing and talking like old friends. With a few questions about what their likes and dislikes were - I was able to help each of them steer toward a dish that I thought they would like. I still see them at T99 from time to time - and we still greet each other like old friends. They say they have tried most everything on the lunch menu now - and are so glad that they had someone to help them out the first time. As it turns out, they were leaning toward Yellow Curry with Chicken and Pepper Steak. And eventually they did order those dishes on one of their visits there. And they shared with me that if they had ordered those dishes on their first visit - they probably wouldn't have come back. NOT that there is anything wrong with either dish!! They just said that there was nothing "uniquely Thai about them" - and what they had the first day was a unique experience.

One of the members of tonight's little supper club asked me, "how do you know about all this stuff"? Simple. I ask. At least I have learned to ask! And I owe a lot of that new boldness to Patty and Jeff at T99...as I continued to visit, they encouraged me to try something new. Actually...Patty started refusing to serve me Pad Thai two visits in a row...but that DID encourage me to try something different (or go hungry...). I find in most every restaurant, but especially restaurants that specialize in unique cultural cuisines, the staff is very willing to take the time to help explain what is on the menu. I know that Uday at Hot and Cold Cafe will often bring out a special little dish to share with new diners, to introduce them to an ingredient or flavor that they have never tried before.

Many years ago, when Uday was a server at Milan restaurant, I took my nephew Jack to experience Indian food for the first time. I think he was about 6 or 7... Uday took the time to explain every dish on the buffet and to encourage Jack to try a little of everything. To this day - Indian food is still one of his favorite cuisines. His #1 favorite is Thai.

Tonight Patty sent a special dessert out for our table to try. Just one more example of a food lover sharing her special knowledge and passion with new people. Get out and try something this week that you never thought you would...life is short! And don't forget dessert!!

Common Ground

On August 22 I made a rash promise...to post every day for 30 days or be forced to donate $100 to the Romney campaign. I did allow myself 3 strikes - and so far have used 2 of them. Now I find myself with about 5 days left before I can relax.

It is amazing how as soon as I am forced to post...my brain dries up into a tired husk. I am not sure I can squeeze any more creativity out. If I sit with friends, I can regale them for hours with highly amusing stories, pithy answers to the problems of the world and highly sought after intelligent discourses on a vast array of topics. Well....perhaps I exaggerate a bit. Or more than a bit.

Why is forced creativity so hard? I recall having the same problems in high school Creative Writing class. Whether it was an assigned topic or just a freestyle, write whatever you feel like writing about assignment - I spend a few minutes staring at the page waiting for inspiration. Or in this case...a computer monitor (that I can see needs cleaning...which distracts me).

One of the difficulties is that several of the topics that I am currently passionate about...are affecting close friends and I do not wish for the wrong people to get an insight into their situation. On the other hand - I want to be fired up and write intelligently about the situations in Libya and Egypt. But I have not done enough research to make a well-balanced post.

I CAN say that I have read quite a bit about Islam. And in the same way that we Christians would not want to be associated with the horrors of the Crusades - most Muslims are not aligned with the extremists who propose violence in response to the insulting "film" or other cowardly attacks on sacred people and symbols. The youth class at Centenary UMC recently spent time studying core beliefs of many World Religions. Through that study we discovered that in the Islam faith, the Qur'an is more than a sacred text. It is believed that the desecration of the Qur'an is blasphemy. When worn out, paper copies of the Qur'an are not repulped, recycled or discarded.

In the United States, we have such ready access to the Bible, I fear that we no longer treat it with the same reverence. (oh...and in case you weren't aware...the Qur'an references Jesus more often than Mohammed. Mary is mentioned more in the Qur'an than in the New Testament). The youth room at Centenary is a general repository of things that people don't want to throw away...but aren't sure where to put them. So in addition to several sketchy pieces of furniture...we also have about 50 Bibles. They are of various translations and many are in rough shape. Bent covers, torn pages...sometimes they can be found in stacks on tables - or even on the floor. It seems like they deserve better.

Perhaps we can learn some of that dedication to reverence of our sacred text from our Muslim friends. We have a shared history...Islam, Judaism and Christianity all trace our roots back to Abraham. There is more common ground than you might think. And in the same way that we would like to be forgiven the arrogant mistakes of Christian crusaders and missionaries in our past...we need to look past the extreme few to embrace the people who desire exactly what we desire - the ability to worship God in peace. And in our own way.

Well - looks like I had a little passion and creativity left after all.

Summer Fading

The seasons are beginning to change. Today at the river it was chilly enough that several people donned sweatshirts and windbreakers. Tonight's corn on the cob was typical end-of-summer, a little tough and not as tasty. Only a few weeks ago the corn was tender and sweet. As much as I enjoy the end of sweltering hot days - I'm not sure that I'm ready for the dark days of winter.

Fortunately God created Fall in Virginia. It is a time of wonderful experiences. As the humidity fades, the crisp air is so clear that you feel like you can see for miles. As the days shorten, the trees begin to put on their annual show of color. And as the weeks march on - football begins.

For about 15 years I have watched football on two levels - the game at hand, and fantasy football. Because I draft the best players available to me at the time...I pay very little attention to what team they are on. I have even been known to draft players from teams like the Dallas Cowboys! I try to be certain that I have at least one player on my team from the Denver Broncos - and since my best friend is a fan, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With this willy-nilly drafting plan, I sometimes find myself watching a game and cheering for players on both teams. I need my fantasy football team's quarterback to score big - against my fantasy defense? I know that my co-commissioner of league examines every angle and probably has the NFL schedule memorized by July. I just find myself amused by the little conundrums that I create for myself.

I just finished watching a game where I was in the unique position of not having anyone on the field playing for The Hamster Beaters. Although it was refreshing - I was in the tragic position of watching the Washington Redskins give away a game to the St. Louis Rams. Nobody can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like the Redskins. In the last quarter they squandered so many opportunities I lost count. It almost seemed anticlimactic when the Redskin player got a 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after he threw the ball at his tackler in a temper tantrum. Nice. Even his coach just stared at him in disbelief.

I think that I'll go back to "watching" the games between teams in our fantasy football league. Currently, my father's Hogtown River Rats are squashing my sister's Lucky Charms 78-35. Mom and Denise's Perula Boyz are leading Steve Smallshaw's Tank Engines (insert joke about overcompensation here) 47-41...but they are going to have to hope that his 3 players left to play are struck by the flu. Co-commissioner Melva's Froot Loops have a 52-20 lead over the Magical Musickals which is likely to hold out because Andrew's best performer was left on the bench and he has two receivers and a kicker to get him 33 points. That would be magick!

My nephew Jack's team The Gents is hoping for great performance from his kicker in order to come from behind to defeat his great uncle Frank's Maltese Falcons. The Falcons are leading 42-36 and still have the Detroit defense to help add to their lead. On the other hand - the Campbell Crew are hoping that the Detroit defense rolls over and dies because they need the SF defense and their kicker to maintain their 49-26 lead over the team oddly named - That Other Team (which we promptly started referring to as the TOTs). The Tots still have a great chance because their QB Matt Ryan and two of their receivers have yet to play. Oddly, his two receivers are on opposing teams this week - SF and Detroit...so Drew is going to have to cheer for both teams.


Which brings me to my virtual game vs. my baby sister's team Double Trouble. Currently I am in the lead 45-34. But her quarterback is yet to play - and my two remaining players are not likely to be strong scorers. I already lost my first game to Dad's River Rats...I'm not sure I can stomach being 0-2. Perhaps a couple of those high scores that are sitting on my bench could magically change from reserve to active? Hmmmm....

Football is one of the things I have to look forward to now that summer is fading...and in two weeks I'll be at the beach!!

Random Saturday Post

random disconnected thoughts...

- I am working on tomorrow's Sunday school lesson for the Sr. High Youth. We are nearing the end of discussion of World Religions and Christian denominations. Tomorrow is Mormonism. I have 12 pages of research to turn into a cohesive presentation.

- I think that it would be ironic if I skipped posting tonight. Because that would be my third strike in my quest to post every day for 30 days...and because of my self-imposed penalty - I would have to donate $100 to Mitt Romney's campaign.

- It would be ironic because he is a Mormon.

- Those first three thoughts were not exactly disconnected.

- Worked on weeding a garden at the church today. Wire grass may be a tool of the devil...

- I have always said that decaffeinated coffee is a tool of the devil. Because of the cost of the de-caffeination process, they must have to cut costs somewhere in order to make decaf and high test coffee cost about the same. So I assume that the coffee beans are lesser quality. That means that in addition to the fact that the cup of decaf is lacking caffeine...it is also made from sub-par beans.

- Sometimes I am tempted to make caffeinated coffee for evening church dinners and when people ask if it is decaf, to just say "sure". But I know that is wrong.

- I'm having trouble remembering my dreams. I know that I had a doozy last night, but since I didn't write anything down...I can't share with you.

- McDonald's makes better oatmeal raisin cookies than I do.

- I'm running out of random thoughts...better go get some coffee.

- Two weeks until I leave for the beach. It has been a year since I was there...I can't wait!

Chimes Restored

Lower Rivermont Avenue has been strangely quiet for the last couple of weeks. Near the end of August there was a power outage one day - which caused the church's alarm panel to make noise...which caused a member to call my father (property committee member) to check on it...which caused my father to call me to check on it. I am clearly pretty low on the chain of command. I stopped the panel from making horrible noises and then drove out Rivermont Avenue to see if I could find out how widespread the power outage was. Okay...I was going to see if I could find the destruction or mayhem that caused a power outage during a simple rainstorm. I was figuring on finding a broken utility pole attached to a car attached to a texting teenager or something. But there was no obvious cause so I headed back home. As I neared the church I actually saw a traffic light come back to life as power was restored so I stopped in front of the church and rolled down the window to see if the tower chimes would play on time (it was about 5 minutes till the hour).

6:00 came and went...no chime. Darn, I thought...I need to go reboot the computer... So I got out of the car, stopped by the alarm panel to reset it and figured on just a quick two minute process to reboot the computer that runs the carillon chimes. But alas...the computer would not power up. The computer was indeed in a coma. The chimes would not be ringing that night...

It is funny - just a couple of days before, I received an email from the church secretary (the beautiful and talented Kathleen) letting me know that we had gotten a complaint about the chimes. Remarkably, the complaint was made by a gentleman who lives across the river in Madison Heights. At least a mile away "as the crow flies"! He had indicated that he thought the chimes were too loud and he didn't need to be reminded what hour it was. (the chimes ring from 8am to 8pm on the hour and half hour - on the weekends we don't start until 9am)  As I was trying every trick that I knew to get the computer running - I wondered how in the world that man made the chimes fail! In my mind he was like that little mouse that broke the clock chime in that Christmas cartoon!

Of course I know that it is just a case of computers sometimes break. And with our fabulous warranty from BRG Carillon Bell System - all we had to pay for was shipping the computer tower to them. Not only are we really pleased with the system that we purchased from BRG - the support team has been extremely helpful and very responsive whenever we had questions or needed troubleshooting help.

Remarkably, I heard at church council last week that the gentleman from across the river called back to ask about why the chimes has been silent. When Kathleen told him that the system was out for repair he let her know that he hadn't done anything to them! He said that he would enjoy the break...I think that he secretly missed them!!

The computer was supposed to arrive back on Thursday, but the office had closed when UPS stopped by to deliver. Today the dropoff got missed even though Kathleen stayed long past her regular hours - she has been missing the chimes, too! So I was disappointed to think that it would be Monday before delivery was made...and expressed that to the member who spearheaded the original installation (he is missing the chimes because he is currently in New Jersey!). I was promptly told to "go get it" - so I called the UPS Hub (thank God I never erase contacts from my phone) and the helpful Hub Master Carrie (I gave her the title...I think she deserves it) looked up which truck it was and estimated the time of arrival.

I was waiting in the parking lot with Carrie when the truck arrived and the driver even loaded it into my car for me. He said "I'm so sorry I missed you guys. When I saw it I KNEW you were going to need it for Sunday!" He was glad that it all worked out.

Tomorrow morning I'll go install the unit and once again, the Rivermont neighborhood will hear an hourly reminder that Centenary United Methodist is alive! Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors...come and hear the chimes in person. They have been missed!