Good Grammar Part Two

Last year in my March third and my September thirtieth posts I wrote about how I believe good grammar is going the way of the dinosaur. I mentioned several examples of how people who should know better are using poor grammar. I still believe that is wrong. I strongly believe we are dumbing down not only our youth in schools, but the adult population as well. In my September 30, 2013 post, I stated, "Those are just two suggestions. I have many more. I will save those for another post." 

Well, this is that post. You may reach those sites by clicking on these URLs:

http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-happened-to-good-grammar.html

http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2013/09/are-we-dumbing-down-our-young-people.html


A few days ago, I posted this graphic on my Facebook page in the form of a test, and asked people if they had passed it. I received several comments agreeing with me and giving me examples. I would like to share both the graphic and some of the comments made in response to it:

My comments started out with one from Laurie in Maine with this, "… I see them all spelled wrong every single day but I have learned to let it go! I realized it was making me crazy to see it … now it just doesn't. All I have to care about is if I spell it right!  Makes for much less stress inside me!

Amy from Worthington wrote, "I also notice it a lot. My Mom was a stickler for good grammar, and now, so am I. I still cringe when I hear it spoken!"

Then I stated, "I have learned to pick my battles." What I meant by that was there are certain times I will correct someone because they have told me they want to change and they appreciate my teaching them. Other times, I just consider the source and have given up on trying to change someone's bad speech patterns. I figure they will learn in due time; and it may sink in sooner or later.

Another situation will happen when I do not know the individual and figure I am not going to change his or her behavior by correcting her or his grammar. Like I said, "I have learned to pick my battles."

Amy then followed with, "I never say anything to the offender, but I mentally thank my Mom."

Jeanne commented, "An advantage of working at school, I passed easily! However, I agree with you about picking your battles!"

Angela from Ireland, then stated, "Thank you Mike! Please send this to everyone everywhere; these are all errors that make me unreasonably upset on a daily basis. Becoming pedantic in my old age."

Eric, is now teaching in Egypt for two years along with his wife, Donna, wrote this, "Don't you guys get it ... Mike will NEVER stop picking this battle. And he shouldn't! …" He followed that with,  "Us old farts have to keep the language alive if we possibly can."

Eric also said, "Teaching in the Minneapolis public schools for 30 years has caused me to take a hit being able to speak proper English … but keep on fighting the good fight my friend!"

There were a couple more, longer quotes from Eric and other teachers; and I started talking about other grammar mistakes that bothered me until I got a quote from Di in New Zealand who stated she passed my little grammar test with flying colors!

My last post was this, "Another grammatical faux pas that really bothers me is when people split their infinitives! I get especially annoyed when professionals on the TV news or sports broadcasts say something like, "They play that way, still." That is just wrong! One would think professional journalists never took English Composition 101."

The thing I found remarkable about my Facebook post was how I had received Comments from three different continents and Likes from approximately fifteen states. I love the fact the Internet can teach all over the world! I have Facebook friends from five continents and I do not know how many countries are represented by people that read this blog either on Blogger, Google+ or other means of Internet transmission. I do know my website has been visited by people from well over one hundred countries!

I also do not know how many people have bought my book that live outside of the United States. I believe that is kind of cool, and incredible to think someone halfway around the world is reading this post right now!

I look forward to your comments and any grammar related issues that cause you pain to hear!

Later,

Mike

Memorial Day

What does Memorial Day mean to you? To many people it means the unofficial start of summer, opening the cabin, spending the weekend getting away from the grind, fighting traffic, making last-minute plans for the weekend by getting the boat ready and making sure the campsite is reserved.

Of course, there are variations to that stereotype of the modern suburban family today. Memorial Day means something completely different to me. Coming from families both maternal and paternal who have served extensively for generations in all branches of our military, Memorial Day takes on special meaning.

I am almost certain you have seen the famous statue or likeness of raising the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima in the South Pacific. If you have not, this is what it looks like:

Click on the image to make it larger:

This is not the actual flag raising. It was a depiction of the actual flag raising taken by Associated Press photographer, Joe Rosenthal. There are five Marines and one sailor in this photograph. 

The actual flag raising had the infamous Pima Indian, Ira Hayes and my great uncle, Claire Smith. They were two of the Marines that actually raised the stars and stripes on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. This photograph taken on March 23, 1945 won a Pulitzer Prize for Mr. Rosenthal.

The irony for me, in this photograph and the memory it has engendered for millions of people all over the country is it is not the actual raising of the stars and stripes. Ira Hayes and Claire Smith both ended up unrecognized, poor and alcoholics. That is the reality of war.

Another reality of World War II is we are losing a veteran of World War II every two minutes! That is not to mention the veterans we lose every day from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, exposure to Depleted Uranium in Iraq I and II and in Afghanistan.

You can see the numbers for yourself at the National World War II Museum website by clicking here. If that does not work, click on this website: http://www.nationalww2museum.org/honor/wwii-veterans-statistics.html

On the other side of my family, my great uncle Harry Wytock, recently passed away at age 94. He served thirty-two years in both the Army Air Corps and retired as a colonel from the Air Force in 1974. he enlisted in the Army Corps in 1941. After the war, uncle Harry was discharged to go to college. After he finished his degree, he went into the Air Force. Because of his rank, he will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery sometime in September or October. His wife, Florence (Patrick), is there waiting for him.

It is hard for me to believe it will take that long to arrange a funeral and burial. I understand because of the number of men and women who are being laid to rest in Arlington every day; it just shows us how big of an issue we are dealing with.

With all the news we hear lately about how far back the Veterans Administration is, is it any wonder it is taking so long to bury all of these veterans that served their country seventy years ago?

 As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Upgraded To An iPhone

Several days ago, I received a notice from Verizon telling me I was eligible to upgrade to a free iPhone. I was skeptical at first because I have tried using them at other times with no success. My manual dexterity just is not good enough to touch the buttons with my fingertips, and I did not think I could use one.

I know they have voice recognition, email, a camera, the Internet, and several other useful apps. It also has hundreds if not thousands of apps I will never use; but, the offer was too good to turn down so I decided to go for it. Does anyone use their level app on a construction site or to hang a picture? When I got it home and looked for the operating instructions, there were none! How am I supposed to know how to run my new iPhone if I do not have any directions? Everything comes with directions. I even got directions with my new toaster! A toaster is much easier to use than an iPhone!

You know how men never ask for directions when driving and never need instructions on how to do anything, which is why there are always a couple nuts and bolts left over after you have put your child's new bicycle together at Christmas! Well, I am not one of those men. I thought I could at least get some things right on my own; but it was not to be. So far, I did get a cover because I could hook my lanyard in to make it easier for me to hold and pick up if I drop it.

There was already a phone call on it when I managed to turn it on; however, I cannot figure out how to answer that voicemail. I will get it; it is just going to take some time. I have not had a chance yet to go to the Apple site and see if they have directions on how to operate an iPhone with voice recognition. That is coming right after I post this blog. Wish me luck!

I liked the flip phone I had just fine until it stopped working last week and I was unable to take part in a weekly conference call I usually do from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Fridays. I found my phone was not working on Thursday and decided I may as well take the plunge and get with the newest technology.

Besides, I think a $750 phone for free is a pretty good deal, even if I cannot use it. I could not use my old phone anymore either. What do I have to lose? If nothing else, I will ask some teenagers to help me figure it out and have them show me how to use my newest toy.

At least now I will look cool carrying around my new iPhone! I just hope no one asked me to make a call for them!

I always talk about lifelong learning, change, growth and development, critical thinking and all the skills I am going to need to figure out how this thing works. If anyone has any suggestions, or helpful  tutoring sites, please leave a comment at the end of this post. I would appreciate it.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. If you have not read my last post and the very moving comments, you really should take a few minutes and read it by clicking here: http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2014/05/witnessed-killings-at-kent-state.html

WITNESSED: The Killings at Kent State

I know I do not always get my post in on the correct day, but the story remains the same. I just watched this CNN special "WITNESSED: The Killings at Kent State" and it brought back a lot of memories. I am certain if you were anywhere near your teenage years or above in 1970 you remember the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s with the events at Kent State on May 4, 1970.

It is hard to believe it has already been more than forty-four years since the Ohio National Guard killed four Kent State students on Blanket Hill on the campus of Kent State University. It all started five days earlier when President Nixon announced his invasion of Cambodia and the ramping up of the Vietnam War.

Many people felt let down because Nixon had said he was going to de-escalate in Vietnam and Cambodia. Instead, he makes the announcement how he is going to escalate the war and bring in more American troops to advance on areas along the Vietnam and Cambodia borders. I like this chart he showed on a nationally televised presentation. It shows just how far we have come in forty-four years of television graphics and technology:

What happened when Nixon made that statement about advancing instead of de-escalating it made the divide we all ready had between the Vietnam supporters and the antiwar movement.

The students at Kent State University were just the tip of the iceberg of students all over the country who were outraged when Nixon called them "Bums" in an article in the New York Times shortly before the end of April. Students and antiwar supporters all over the country were outraged and incensed at that event. It was starting to throw fuel on the fire of the divide it was happening in the country.

There is always been a debate about whether or not an order was given to the Ohio National Guard to fire upon the students. According to the special, a recently enhanced recording shows the Guards were ordered to open fire on unarmed, innocent, fleeing students. Four students like dead and nine more were injured. One of those students was shot in the back and remains paralyzed to this day. O will get back to them later.

In an interesting epilogue on the video this statement occurs:

The 28 national guardsmen who fired their weapons signed a declaration of regret for the incidents of May 4th, 1970 …  but have never apologized for their actions.

I find it interesting how only sixty-seven rounds were fired and it has caused a debate to this day about how the event should have unfolded peacefully.

At no time in history has a branch of the United States military fired on innocent civilians with live ammunition.

The four students killed were Allison Krause, William Schroeder, was shot in the back; Sandy Schreuer, had been walking to class, and Michael Miller shown in this iconic, Pulitzer prize-winning photograph as Mary Ann Vecchio screamed for help over his dead body:

Click on the image to make it larger:

I remember watching Walter Cronkite tell us on the news that night about the terrible massacre on the Kent State campus in Kent, Ohio. I had never even heard of Kent, Ohio before. That shows you how naïve I was to my world outside of Worthington, Minnesota.

The thing that was so disturbing to me about Nixon ramping up the war and sending more troops in was he won election in 1968 telling us he was going to end the Vietnam War. He was lying to us way back then. He had no intention of stopping the war and withdrawing our troops.

As always, I look forward to your comments. I specially look forward to your comments if you will remember that time and how it affected your friends and family and especially you.

Later,

Mike

Racism In America

I do not usually post this close together, but some events have happened the last couple days that have elicited some very strong feelings and the need to write in me. Please indulge me.

First it was Cliven Bundy, the wealthy Nevada rancher who is feeding his cattle on federal land, not paying federal grazing fees for more than two decades like thousands of other ranchers do, and saying things like, "Black people were better under slavery," to telling reporters over the weekend he recalled driving by a public housing project in North Las Vegas, Nevada and seeing 'at least a half-dozen (black) people sitting on the porch, they didn't have nothing to do. Because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?'"

He added, "They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because he never learned how to pick cotton. And I've often wondered are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They get less freedom."

All the while Mr. Bundy claims he is not a racist and states we need to have a, "Serious discussion on racism in this country," he continues to make statements like these and lives his life like he believes he should by not paying his taxes and living off the government.

In the video I saw of him talking about how he was so against the government intervening in his affairs and how we didn't need the government, he was riding his horse proudly displaying an American flag! That to me is the epitome of hypocrisy!

The next story I want to discuss concerns an unfolding daily and getting better every time I watch another report about Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his remarks caught on tape by his girlfriend, V. Stiviano.

Everyone knows our justice system presumes innocence until proven guilty in this great country. As we all know, with 24/7 cable news stations, social media, smart phones and yes, even cameras everywhere, there is very little we can say or do that is not scrutinized in the court of public opinion. It seems everything we say and do comes back to us in ways we never expect in the form of a video, text message, instant message or email. Some people do not even have a cell phone yet! Can you imagine? What did we do before cell phones?

The point is Miss Stiviano has numerous recordings of Donald Sterling's tirades about brown and black minorities and his apparent hatred for anyone whose skin is not the same color as his.

According to the NBA.com website, 76.3% of their players are of African–American dissent. That is the highest of any of the major sports. The NBA has led in that category for many years.

Here is an interesting chart on diversity in the NBA. Click on the image to make it larger:

If Mr. Sterling does not want his girlfriend to talk to, have her picture taken with or bring to an NBA game which he owns, I wonder why he wants to have anything to do with owning an NBA franchise with only 19% white players and allegedly made this comment which was recorded by Miss Stiviano, "I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? … Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?"

It has already reached the highest office in the land and undoubtedly one of the biggest sports fans in the country when President Obama was speaking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. According to the Associated Press, he said, "incredibly offensive racist statements," before casting them as part of the continuing legacy of slavery and segregation that Americans must confront.

"When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk," Obama said when asked to respond to the reported comments from Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

It will be interesting to see how these two very different cases play out. Thank you for letting me vent. Both of these guys disgust me. It is a sad state of affairs when we still have to be talking about racism in America in 2014.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Wrigley Field Is 100 Years Old!

The first game ever played in Weeghman Park, which was later named Wrigley Field when William Wrigley, Jr. bought the stadium from Charles Weeghman after the Independent Federal League folded in 1915. The Independent Federal League was giving the American and National League a run for their money and paying customers, but its original eight teams could not keep up. 

That game was played April 23, 1914. Please forgive me as I missed the exact date by two days. The Chicago Federals and the Kansas City Packers played the first game ever played at the new stadium, which was built for $250,000 in 1914. The Chicago Cubs moved into the stadium in 1916, where they have remained ever since in the second oldest ballpark in major league baseball just a couple years newer than Fenway Park in Boston.

Here is a photograph of the stadium just after completion in 1914. The seating capacity was 14,000 people. Click on the image to make it larger:

Wrigley Field has undergone many changes and growth since this picture. Most notably the planting of the Ivy covered outfield wall in 1937. Obviously, there have been other additions including the centerfield scoreboard which is still operated manually and updated inning by inning of the other games going on and additional seating to get it to where its capacity is today of just over 41,000 people.

In February 1914, workman tore down a few old seminary buildings on the corner of Clark and Addison on the North Side of Chicago. By mid April they were ready to play ball. That is amazing when you consider how long it takes to build a stadium today! Of course it is like comparing apples to oranges, but just think of the comparison in construction techniques and size of stadiums.

I wanted to give you a little history behind the stadium because it is now a Mecca for Cubs fans from all over the country. People who have attended games in Wrigley Field tell me the atmosphere is like no place else! I have heard stories about how fans and players alike feel differently when they walk or roll into Wrigley Field! I find that incredible. Can AT&T Park in North Texas make that claim? At a cost of $1.8 billion, Jerry's World, as is affectionately known and is now the largest stadium in the country is the epitome of opulence and Jerry Jones arrogant ego!

I know people that will take their children and go to a three-game weekend series in Chicago to experience three days of baseball in the confines of beautiful, old Wrigley Field.

I have mentioned my attendant, Robert, in previous blogs. He grew up in Chicago and tells fondly of going to games in Wrigley Field. He said his greatest memories revolve around the taste of the hot dogs, hoping to catch a fly ball with his tiny glove, and most importantly the sound of the bat hitting the ball and trying to watch it fly over the Ivy covered wall.

He has not been at a game in more than three decades, but those memories remain vivid.

We have all heard of the Bucket List. One of the items on my Bucket List is going to Wrigley Field and experience a weekend of baseball in this cool old stadium. Fenway Park is another one on my list. Of course, I love watching baseball. If you are not a baseball fan, you may not feel the way I do. However, you may still like going to Wrigley or Fenway just for the experience.

Here is another photo from the outside of Wrigley Field I enjoy:

Matt Snyder wrote this on CBS's Eye On Baseball two days ago. Obviously, he grew up in Chicago and still writes for the Cubs:

"If we could leave the business end out of things, the across-the-street rooftop gatherings are also part of the equation.

And, of course, there's the ivy on the brick outfield wall, which isn't yet grown out this season, given that it's still April. By the middle of the summer, though, the ivy will be a full, beautiful green, just as it has been since Bill Veeck decided to plant ivy out there all the way back in 1937.

Those features alone are worth a visit for non-Cubs fans at least once. Wrigley is a bucket-list type stadium.

Every baseball stadium has a potpourri, but Wrigley's is so endearing. It's like a mish-mash of peanut shells, stale beer, brick dust, freshly-mown lawn, hot dogs, popcorn and hope. Yes, hope. Our good friend Andy Dufresne taught us hope was a good thing long ago and Cubs fans would be wise to embracing this mantra years later in the great Wrigley Field. Hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.

For generations of Cubs fans, though, it's so much more than the look and smell and even, yes, the necessary hope. Wrigley Field is a shrine. It's home, in a way. It's where we first heard bleacher bums chanting "left field sucks!" and "right field sucks!" in taunting fashion directed at each other. The view of the outfield when first emerging from a tunnel in the grandstand with the ivy and scoreboard as the backdrop on a beautiful summer day cannot possibly be described or matched. It's just so perfect; so gorgeous.

Each of us has a childhood memory that stands out above the rest — mine being that I saw an Andre Dawson homer that didn't count in his MVP season (the game was rained out before the fifth inning was completed and eventually restarted from the top). I went home and made sure to grab No. 8 in Little League because I wanted to be like the Hawk.

Similar stories could be told through the years about players like Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Derrek Lee and a host of others. Or pitchers like Fergie Jenkins, Greg Maddux and Kerry Wood."


You can see his passion for Wrigley and the Cubs.

There is just one more thing to say, "Play ball!"

I look forward to your memories of Wrigley Field. As always, I look forward to your comments even if you have never been to Chicago or Wrigley Field.

Later,

Mike

7 Seed Versus An 8 Seed!

If you are following the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, you know tomorrow night's championship game matches two teams that were not supposed to be there according to the tournament committee who sets up seeding the brackets.

This year's tournament had many upsets and many great games! There were a record overtime games, with five overtime games so far, four of those happening on the first day. All in all, it has been an exciting tournament to watch even with everybody's brackets being busted to smithereens! I do not think anybody would have picked Kentucky or University of Connecticut, or as they are better known, UConn to win the whole thing. Warren Buffett's offer was safe after the second round.

But, I do not really want to talk about The Big Dance in this post. I would rather address that other tournament and who won it on Thursday night! That is correct, I want to take a few minutes and discuss our own Minnesota Gophers and their National Invitation Tournament Championship and what I believe it means to the program, the University, the head coach and recruiting for next year. A first-year coach has a 25-13 record, which is officially the most wins by a Golden Gopher basketball team, loses only three seniors, wins the NIT in only his second year as a head coach, has his mother and Hall of Fame coach/father cheering him on from right behind the bench is quite a feat!

But first, let me give you a quote from junior point guard DeAndre Mathieu who looked as he was close to crying as well as beaming a huge smile right after the game. "I can't stop smiling. It's like the best feeling. I know it's not the NCAA tournament, but this feels so good … Were going to all hopefully have a big summer and hopefully make a run in the big-boy tournament next year."

Granted, the NIT does not carry the prestige it used to before the NCAA tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 32 teams to 64 teams to 65 teams and now, 68 teams. However, you cannot take away a national championship trophy from this group of student/athletes, coaches, trainer and manager in this picture: 

Click on the picture to enlarge the photo:

It was fun watching the confidence and self-esteem build in these players as they won all five games in the tournament! It was especially fun to watch the underclassmen play three good games at Williams Arena as they came into their own.

There were times we wondered if they were going to make it to New York, but as each game developed and players came through in clutch situations, you could see them growing as basketball players. That is what a coach wants to see!

In the final game at Williams Arena, senior guard and team co-captain, Austin Hollins played a key role down the stretch to win that game and send them off to play at least one game in the Mecca of Basketball, Madison Square Garden (MSG). As it turned out, they narrowly beat Florida State in the semifinals in overtime 67-64 to go on and beat Southern Methodist University in the championship game 65-63.

Both games in MSG were hard-fought, back-and-forth, good games with several mistakes on both sides; but, in the end our Golden Gophers won a close game by only two points! It was fun to watch!

First-year coach Richard Pitino was only hired in April and did not have a chance to get a good hold on recruiting some top-notch players. Now, with a national championship trophy in tow and five of his top seven scorers returning, he has some positive building blocks to show new recruits.

I am looking forward to next year already. The Barn will be rockin' again come November. I cannot wait!

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

March Madness Rolls Into April

March Madness is alive and well in both the men and women's college basketball tournaments! My bracket was busted way beyond repair when I picked the wrong early upsets like picking Ohio State over Dayton. Three of the twelve seeds upset the five seeds, and that has never happened before. I only picked one of them right. I had Michigan State winning the whole thing. That was in the NCAA Men's Tournament. But that is not what this post is about.

I want to talk about who is still playing basketball in April. If you are a Golden Gopher basketball fan like I am, last night's game was a real nail biter. Bobby Knight was the analyst and could not say a nice thing about the Gophers almost all night long. He really got on Richard Pitino for the way he handled the last play of the game and the last play in overtime.

On a side note, years ago I asked Coach Knight what he thought when he brought his Indiana teams into Williams Arena, better known in these parts as The Barn. He told me he loved playing in The Barn because his teams always beat the Gophers! I have another Bobby Knight/Bill Musselman story but that is irrelevant to this post!

I want to talk about how there are only two Big Ten teams playing yet in April. Wisconsin is in the Final Four. The other Big Ten team to be playing for a national championship is our own Minnesota Gophers tomorrow night in Madison Square Garden for the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

Granted, the NIT is not The Big Dance they wanted to be playing in, but with a win tomorrow night they can still hang another national championship banner in Williams Arena!

Had they gotten into the NCAA Tournament, they would have been a low seed and probably be watching that Final Four like every other team in America except for Florida, Kentucky, Wisconsin and the University of Connecticut, better known as UConn, on Saturday.

I think playing these extra five games has helped the Gophers tremendously! The younger players have five more games of experience in which to build their confidence. Joey King has played very well and you can see the self-confidence building in his game. DeAndre Mathieu has shown the entire country just how quick and fast he is. I have watched him grow into a very good point guard, which the Gophers have needed for a long time. Mo Walker has also shown a tremendous increase in his presence around the basket and his ability to shoot from outside the Paint. Andre Hollins has also shown what he is capable of doing on any given night. He still needs to be consistent, and hopefully that will come in his senior year. I am anxious to watch them play next year.

Whatever happens tomorrow night the Gophers can call coach Richard Pitino's first season a successful one. Granted, they didn't make the NCAA Tournament, finished only 8 and 10 in the Big Ten conference, but could end up with a 25 and 13 record and a national championship. That spells a successful first year for me.

Another fun part of watching the game last night was how much the announcers talked about and showed Rick Pitino during the game. It was fun to see him sitting behind his son watching him cheer for the Gophers. I am sure there will be more of that tomorrow night in the National Invitation Tournament Championship Game in Madison Square Garden in New York City! That is fun to say!

Go Gophers!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike Patrick U of M '80 Basketball Season Ticket Holder for thirty-three years!

What Is In A Name?

I have been mulling this question over for the last few days. On Wednesday, I had to call technical support for my computer because it was remotely hacked and things were not working right the last couple weeks. It finally got to the point where I had to do something.

I called tech support and got some place in India with a man named Jeff Wilson. That was obviously the American name the company had given him because he told me people did not understand his real name. He handed me off to his supervisor whose name was John Wilson. Where did the company that sent those American jobs overseas come up with those two names?

The interesting thing about the encounter that took several hours was the whole time as both the Wilson boys were operating my computer remotely I had a difficult time understanding their East Indian accents. I had to ask them to repeat themselves several times because I could not understand them.

It got me to thinking about names. I have always been fascinated by names and wonder why parents name their children the names they give them. You have to admit there are some very creative names out there!

Since my name is really two first names, Michael Patrick, people often have a difficult time wondering if my name is Michael Patrick or Patrick Michael. That is why I go by Mike. It makes it much easier to distinguish my name as Mike Patrick because Mike is not a common surname. I have never felt like a Michael. I have always been Mike. That is not to mention some of the nicknames I have been called. People often call me Pat as well.

I have collected a large number of people with two first names ranging from James James to Ahmed Ahmed. Yes, some parents decided to give their baby boys the same first name as their surname. When I knew James in college he referred to himself as Jimmy James.

I have pages and pages of people with two first names and several friends who have two first names. You know who you are. My collection contains names like Newton Arnold, Dylan Avery, Leslie Hope, Janet Lucy, Allen Luke, Yannick Noah, Jordan Paula, Colleen Raye, Brooks Robinson, Angela Rosa, Iris Rose, Blackwell Stephanie, Doris Victoria to William Zane. I think you get the picture.

When someone names their son Robert, does he go through his childhood as Rob, Robby, Bob, Robert or something else? Does he change his name, as he grows older from Rob to Robert?

One night at a Gopher basketball game, I asked one of the broadcasters what years he played for Ohio State? His name in college was Jimmy Jackson. Now he goes by Jim Jackson. I asked him point-blank, “Jim, I remember you as Jimmy Jackson in college, when did it become Jim Jackson?”

Jim said, “When I turned 40, it became Jim Jackson.”

I asked him, “What happens when you turn 50?”

He replied, “Then it will be James.” He cracked a little smile after that comment. 

I also think it is interesting how names become cyclical. Many baby names today are the same names their grandparents and even great-grandparents were given. It is interesting to think the most popular male baby name in America today which is Jacob was not popular thirty to fifty years ago when Michael was the most popular. Jacob is an old name that is making the rounds again.

I also find it fascinating when the same name can be used for either gender. Nonspecific gender names like Shirley, Sam, Alex, Casey, Brett, Bailey, Cody and Casey, to name just a few are fairly common.

 

A quick Google search lists Mohammed as the most popular male given name in the world today. It also lists Sophia as the most popular female given name worldwide.

I guess the reason I posted this was I find it fascinating what parents will name their children and why? When my parents named me Michael Arlin, my paternal grandmother had a fit! She said, “You can’t call him Mike because we used to have an old draft horse named Mike, and I don’t want my grandson to be named Mike.” That was my grandma!

She also had a thing about our initials. She believed one’s initials should spell a word, like my initials spell the word MAP. My father’s initials spelled ALP. Dad’s given name was Arlin Lloyd Patrick. My mom wanted to name me after her younger brother, Robert Michael Smith, and so that is where I got my name.

I know many names have meaning in certain native languages. I believe that is cool when a baby boy or girl is given a name that means something special in the parents’ native language.

One thing I do not understand is where some names come from today! We can all think of that certain name or names we have never heard before and wonder where or why the parent or parents gave him that name! I also find it interesting how some people will go by their middle name. Another thing people do is put their first name as an initial and then add their middle name and go by that. I have never understood that phenomena. Why not just drop the initial at the beginning?

 

Then there is always the spelling of a name. I have seen Michael spelled Mikael, Mychal, Mychel, Mical, Mikkel and Mikel, among others. 

Have you ever thought about where your parent(s) got your name? If you have, I would like to know about it. If you have not, maybe now you will? This is simply food for thought. Take my rambling for what it is.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of my Irish family and friends, and those that wish they were Irish! Growing up with a name like Michael Arlin Patrick, I was always told there are two types of people in the world. They are the Irish and the people that wish they were Irish!

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I have no reason to believe any differently, especially today! I have had more fun over the years playing with that quote then you can imagine. Most of us know the story of St. Patrick, so I will not take up your time with retelling it again. Besides, there is always GOOGLE!

Most everyone knows the stereotype of the drunken Irishman or woman and how he or she likes to drink their Guinness. On St. Patrick's Day much of that Guinness and other beers are turned green in honor of this unique holiday. The irony in that stereotype and the author of this post is I have never drank a beer in my life, green or otherwise!

I have only had two drinks in my life and can honestly say, "I just do not like the taste of alcohol in any form."

I remember back in the mid-70s and early 80s when I was coming of age and asked if I wanted a beer at a party or in a bar, I politely replied, "No thank you." Then, someone would ask me if I was a recovering alcoholic? When I told them, "No, I just don't like the taste." They would always tell me you have to acquire the taste.

Before my accident, I never would have drunk because it would have been breaking training regulations. I was not about to do that! After my accident, I never imagined doing any more damage to my body than had already been done. It was an easy choice. Plus, there was the issue of how would I be able to handle my van getting home from wherever I was? It was an easy decision to make, and still is.

The main reason I never drank, smoked marijuana or did any kind of illicit drug before my accident was I did not want to let my parents down by breaking training rules that would make me ineligible to play whatever sport was in season.

I tell a great story in my book about how during one of my many hospitalizations I was prescribed a muscle relaxer called Marinol whose active ingredient is THC. Yes, That's right, the same THC found in marijuana. My doctor gave me a five-milligram dose, and I laid there and laughed and laughed and laughed!

Friends and family would come to visit me or tell me over the phone I should have tried marijuana way back in college when they were all doing it and having such a good time. They told me now I knew what I was missing!

The irony in me getting that Marinol was it happened roughly six months after Dad died in 2006. I have often wondered how he would have reacted to see me lying there giggling uncontrollably!

Like many stereotypes, there is someone that breaks the mold about the Irish and how much they like to drink. I am one of those people that break that mold. I would be remiss if I did not tell you I am proud to wear that moniker! 

As I grow older, more and more people are telling me I am getting more sarcastic. I know that is true. However, I have developed a sarcastic wit about me a long time ago and also wear that quite proudly! I have some good mentors that have taught me that skill over these last many years. I have a feeling you know you are. Thank you for that gift! 

Here is another picture I would like to include in this post in honor of all my sarcastic mentors out there:

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If you are going out tonight and having some of that green beer, please make sure you have a designated driver so everyone gets home safely. Enjoy your evening.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

My Uncle Ed

My Uncle Ed was laid to rest yesterday beside his loving wife, Mabel. Although, everyone called her Tabby. For as long as I can remember, most everyone called him Ralph or Ralphie. Ed was the sixth child of my maternal grandparents Joe and Erma Smith. Ed was born in 1945 and after graduating from White High School in tiny White, South Dakota he enlisted in the Army.
 
Four years later, he found himself in Vietnam where he had volunteered to be a door gunner. He flew eight missions in the most dangerous position one could have in combat. For those of you that do not know what a door gunner is, they were the guys on the doors of the helicopters firing machine guns into the jungle as the choppers came in to rescue the wounded and other soldiers after an encounter with the Viet Cong. Only 8% of door gunners came home!

We have all heard the phrase, “I’ve got your back.” Being a door gunner is the epitome of having your brothers in arms backs! Door gunners saved many lives and had an incredibly high mortality rate because the VC were aiming at them! The enemy knew if they could take out the door gunners, they had a much better chance of survival because no one would be firing back at them.

Ed never talked about his experience in Vietnam, but talking to my other uncles, reading about the war, and talking to other people, I have learned more than I ever care to about war. You may have heard the famous General William Sherman’s statement to the Mayor and Councilmen of Atlanta before he burned the city to the ground, “War is hell!” If you have experienced battle, you know all too well what that statement means. If you have not experienced combat, ask someone who has and see what they tell you — if they are willing to talk about it. It will make you think twice about wanting to serve in a battle zone.

In May 1967, my grandma died very unexpectedly. Ed’s two older brothers who were active military at the time and had some high ranking connections, got Ed out of the Army on a hardship discharge to go home and help grandpa run the farm. There were still four younger siblings living at home and grandpa needed help. Fortunately, Bill and Bob were able to use their connections and get Ed out of his military obligation.

After several years of being out of the Army, Ed reenlisted and served sixteen more years to retire from the Army with twenty years of service. Between my mom’s seven brothers, they have a combined eighty-two years of military service in all four branches of our Armed Forces. I have always contended you cannot find many families that have made that much of a commitment to serve our country from one generation of young men in one family.

To a man, whenever I bring that up, none of my uncles think it is such a big deal and other families have done more. That may be true; but I believe eighty-two years from one family is pretty impressive!

Sometime in 1969, Ed was struggling with what today would be called survivor’s guilt and probably PTSD. He was in Marshall, Minnesota and called mom to tell her he was thinking about taking his own life because he felt he could have done more and he should not have left his buddies back in Vietnam.

Mom asked him if he had enough money to get a bus to Worthington. He said he did and he came to live with us for a year. That school year we had thirteen people living in our house! Besides my mom and dad, my four siblings, (Chad had not been born yet), two uncles, four renters in our apartment in the front half of our basement, and me we had a Baker’s dozen under one roof.

One of our renters was also a Vietnam vet who had combat experience with a K-9 unit in Vietnam. He would share some of his stories and kept us mesmerized for hours listening to his experiences with his dog in a combat zone. The four renters we had were all college student/athletes and my mother fed all of us that year. She charged them one dollar for lunch and a dollar and a half for dinner. We went through one hundred pounds of potatoes every two weeks, gallons and gallons of milk and more food than you can imagine. It was like living on Walton’s Mountain!

We had to eat in shifts because thirteen people would not fit around our dining room table. You just hoped if you got the second shift, there was still enough food left to fill your stomach.

Ed did several different jobs that year starting at Campbell’s Soup Company where he worked a number of jobs I do not want to describe. He did not have enough money to buy a car, so he rode my brother’s bicycle to work that fall. 

By winter, he was working in the Worthington Co-op gas station pumping gas, checking the oil and doing all the things full service gas station attendants did back in the day. He also worked in the shop doing car repair work. It was during that time he bought an old Studebaker for $50.00. I will never forget that Brown Studebaker with the bright red rims coming to pick me up from basketball practice to give me a ride home after he got off the shift from the co-op.

One day, Ed did 180° turn on the street in front of the playground while Chuck Peterson and I watched from inside the school door as we waited for our rides. When Ed drove up on the curb a little bit, rolled the window down, and yelled, “Come on Fat Cat, the hawk’s a bitin’!” 

Chuck looked at me and wanted to know who that was. I said, “Oh, that’s just my uncle Ralph!” 

For those of you that do not know what the euphemism, “the hawk is biting,” is all about, it refers to the wind is blowing and it is cold!

Ed’s younger brother, Terry, also lived with us that year and the next while he went to the junior college in Worthington. It was during those two years Terry became more like a big brother to me than my uncle. Before that, Terry, Dee and Tim who are the youngest three siblings in mom’s family were more like cousins then aunt and uncles. They still are.

After a year living with us, Ed enrolled in the vocational school in Pipestone, Minnesota and studied carpentry. I am not sure exactly which year he decided to go back into the Army, but at some point, he reenlisted and served his duration to retire after twenty years of service.

It was in the Army he met and married Tabby. They have one daughter, Amanda, who is married and lives in Mifflintown with her husband, Guy Bowman.

I know this is turning into a long post, but I want to share one more story about my relationship with Ed.

In 1995 I started a youth oriented business in White I called Prairie Woods. The whole idea of Prairie Woods was to recycle old or waste wood and make unique products out of the material. We also got a job taking down roughly three hundred ash trees and sold them as firewood. I hired Ed to come back from Mifflintown and help me run the business in the lumberyard in White. I was going to turn an empty lumberyard into a source for local farmers to buy used wood from barns we had torn down, products we were building like feed bunks and storage sheds. I wanted to give the young people experience and responsibility in product design, manufacturing, marketing and various aspects of running a business.


Here is a picture of part of my crew sitting in some of the Adirondack chairs we had made from a kit I got from a friend who was doing a youth project here in Minneapolis.

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How is that for a motley looking crew? There is not a lot of diversity in White, South Dakota. These boys and the rest of my crew knew how to work. I would like to think I helped them in some way to develop into productive and responsible young men and women.

Prairie Woods failed due to a number of reasons. Ed went back to Mifflintown to be with his wife and daughter. Even though that business venture failed, I had a lot of fun teaching those young people new skills and being around a project that was the right thing to do. Plus, I love the smell of wood!

I could go on and on telling you stories about my uncle Ed, but I think you get my point. I will miss him and appreciate the fact I got to talk to him about two weeks ago for a while one Sunday afternoon. Little did I know that would be the last time I got to talk to him?

Life is like that. We never know when it will be our time.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Talk About Going Viral!

In the grand scheme of the Internet and when a YouTube video, statement or Tweet goes viral, this is probably no big deal. However, to a small town in southwestern Minnesota where I lived when I had my accident this site has grown by leaps and bounds in a matter of a few weeks!

If you know anything about my history before my accident, you know we moved a lot. My dad always got a better job with a little more pay in a slightly larger town, in an area of the upper Midwest in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Each coaching and teaching job gave him challenges and opportunities the previous one did not.

By the time we moved to Worthington, Minnesota in February 1969 when I was partway through the eighth grade and not yet fourteen years old, we had lived in seven other communities and sixteen different locations. We never lived in one spot more than eighteen months! Six of those years were in two different trailer houses in five of those towns, and I use the word towns loosely as one little community, Farmer, South Dakota had only seventy residents!

Worthington was by far the largest small-town we had lived in and offered all the amenities a young teenage boy could want. There was a YMCA complete with a pool, basketball and paddle ball courts, and weight room, Dad taught and coached at the local junior college and I had free-run of the athletic facilities when Dad would take me with him to his workplace, a lake across the road where I could go fishing and swimming at one of the beaches, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a local famously named drive-in, an A&W root beer stand, a golf course and even a daily newspaper. Worthington also has a beautiful park system with a bandstand that had Wednesday night concerts all summer long and a wealth of attractions for my growing interests. We did not have a McDonald's, but we did have a Quick Stop!

A few weeks ago, someone started a Facebook page entitled "Growing Up In Worthington, Minnesota What Do You Remember." As of right now, there are 4,343 members with 162 new members. When I joined about ten days ago, there were roughly 2,200 members!

People are building new relationships, rekindling old friendships that went away as people went their separate ways after high school, learning facts and long forgotten pieces of their past. It is creating a community of its own. Personally, I have had more than two dozen people asked to Friend me on Facebook. Some of them are people I never knew, and others are folks who had fallen out of touch over these many years.

People are putting their high school graduation years after their names and posts are drawing hundreds of Likes and Comments. Yesterday, for instance, was my B squad basketball coach's seventy-ninth birthday. His son put it on the site and it grew to having well over two hundred Likes and about the same number of Comments from his former students wishing him a Happy Birthday and sharing their experiences from having him as their teacher.

People are posting pictures of historic buildings that no longer exist. One friend posted a thank you note to all the patrons he has had at his business and within a few hours there were several hundred Comments about his store!

Here is the current Cover Photo of downtown Worthington circa 1900:

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I know this is nothing compared to when a video goes viral and gets one million hits in one day, or Ellen sets a record for retweets of a picture from the Oscars and over two million hits in one day, but this site has been fun for a lot of people to learn and relearn the history and share memories of people from one small town in the southwestern corner of Minnesota.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. I am guessing someone will put this blog post on the site, and it will be interesting to see what sort of reaction I get to it.