Cold, Celtic Thunder, Fantastic Four & Jogging

Coughs and Sneezes Spread DiseasesI’m finally beginning to feel human again, after a week of whatever this cold/flu illness was that I had. I’ve still got a bit of cough and congestion and I’m still feeling very tired, but at least I don’t have all those things magnified along with the aches, fever and headache I went through most of this past week.

Last Saturday we drove out to the Back to Nature Wildlife Reserve for Cindy’s Mountain Creek Candles weekly Lake Nona Farmers Market, but it was windy and started raining and the market was ultimately cancelled. We drove back home and I promptly hit the sack and slept for 6 hours, even though I had slept well the night before. I got up for a few hours and then was back in bed at 8pm and slept until 7am Sunday morning. After taking Cindy to the Lake Eola Farmers Market I returned home and spent the day in my chair watching TV shows I had DVR’d and napping. Monday and Tuesday I thought I was getting better and then about 8pm Tuesday evening everything went downhill and I’ve been pretty much out of commission the remainder of the week, only getting up and around for small amounts of time or for necessary family events. Thank you Coricidin HBP, for helping me recover!

Celtic Thunder in kilts 2015

OK, let’s move on to happier subjects. Irish Folk group Celtic Thunder will be kicking off their North American “Very Best of Celtic Thunder Tour 2015” next Sunday evening, February 8th, here in Orlando at the Hard Rock Cafe. My friend Michelle, owner of CitySurfing Orlando, asked me a month ago if I’d like to interview one of the group members for a lead-up article prior to the show and then possibly be given passes to go see the show. So two weeks ago, after coordinating with the group’s PR folks, I got on a transatlantic call with Ryan Kelly, one of the founding members of Celtic Thunder, and we spoke for about 25 minutes. Ryan is a very personable young man and the interview was a delight. You can find the article with the interview here. Cindy and I are looking forward to the concert next Sunday and I’ll be writing a follow-up article about the performance for CitySurfing Orlando that I’ll link to here on the blog when it’s posted.

Most of the current superhero movie hype is for the Avengers: Age of Ultron release in May and rightly so. There’s no doubt this will be another Joss Whedon blockbuster. But 3 months later another comic book movie that may be worth a look at will be hitting screens; Fantastic Four. This isn’t your father’s Fantastic Four, which you may have seen in its previous 2 incarnations. This is a reboot of the franchise but the studio isn’t using the original source material which was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; instead they are using the more recent Ultimate universe Fantastic Four. Changes in their origin (no longer a flight into space but now a trip to another dimension) and makeup of the group (younger and interracial) are just two of the changes we can expect. There are some old diehard fans (I count myself among their number but not in their feelings) of the original comics/cartoons/movies who are upset with the changes. I’m more concerned that they tell a good story using the characters as a base. Here’s a trailer that was just released along with Director Josh Trank and Writer Simon Kinberg giving some commentary.

jogging figure in outlineDriving down Narcoosee Road this morning to take Cindy to the Back to Nature Wildlife Reserve we saw a gentleman jogging toward us in the bicycle lane. When I left her and was driving back to Panera on Narcoosee Road he was running the opposite direction, still in the bicycle lane. On both sides of the road there is a nice, new, wide sidewalk empty of pedestrians, but he chose to jog in the road in the bike lane. I found that odd. Does anyone know why a person would choose the bike lane over the sidewalk when jogging/running?


I think that’s enough for this post.

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Throwback Thursday – Disney-MGM Studios In 2007

Today’s Throwback Thursday is from January 27, 2007 when my daughter and two oldest grandchildren, Mikey and Heather, visited the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World. A year later, on January 7, 2008, the park would be renamed Disney Hollywood Studios.

Ann, Mikey and Heather at Disney-MGM Studios on January 27, 2007

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I Hab A Baah Code

I woke up with a nasty cold Saturday morning. It was to be expected as we had watched Abby a couple of days last week when she could not go to daycare because of a cold she had. Granddad just had to share.

Man sneezing

We did our usual thing Saturday morning of getting up early to get Cindy and Mountain Creek Candles over to the Lake Nona Farmers Market by 7:30 am to set up. It had been raining most of the night and as soon as we arrived another band of showers came through. We sat in the car and waited to see if the weather would clear up or not. The rain stopped but the winds were gusting up to 20 mph and that can be rough on the canopy and candle products, so at 8:30 Cindy decided it wasn’t going to happen and we drove back home, stopping on the way to pick up some cold medicine because all the stuff I had in my bag was expired.

I then slept from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm and probably could have slept through the night but at the time I thought I should get up so I didn’t toss and turn all night. Hah! I did nothing but read  until I fell back asleep around 9 pm and didn’t wake up until 7 am Sunday. After taking Cindy to the Lake Eola Market I came back home just sat in the chair watching TV shows I had DVR’d and napped a little bit until I picked her up at 5. Then I read some more, ate a couple of pieces of pizza, read some more and was in bed by 9:30 pm. Cindy woke me up at 8 am this morning and after a hot shower I was feeling well enough to take a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood with her and Bella.

I still feel a little punk, but am on the road to recovery.

One good thing about the cold was I didn’t feel like doing anything but reading, so it allowed me to make good progress in getting through my re-read of Stephen King’s “The Stand”; about 600 pages or so. I’m now up to page 990 of this 1450 page behemoth of a book. It’s been about 25 years since I first read it and I could remember wide swaths of the story but not all the details, which are coming back to me as I read.

I also thought it was kind of fitting in that the character Frannie has a journal and adds a “Things to remember” section at the end of each entry to remind her unborn child of items that no longer exist since the government-engineered biohazard has wiped out so much of what they took for granted. As I was reading, I was reminded of things which no longer exist 25 years since the book was first published, like Woolco department stores and Gainesburger dog food.

My further thought was that I was thankful that my cold/flu/whatever was not the fatal type that King uses in his story.

Here’s to health!

 

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Throwback Thursday – EPCOT

Six years ago this week Cindy and I were at EPCOT with Jeremy and Wendy having a great time.

Wendy, Jeremy and Cindy at EPCOT. Throwback Thursday - EPCOT

From left to right: Wendy, Jeremy and Cindy at EPCOT.

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Disney Animal Kingdom

disney-animal-kingdom-logo200pxOn Monday, January 12th, Cindy, her parents, and I spent the morning at the Disney Animal Kingdom. It’s been a few years since any of us had been, so it was fun to go back and see the old attractions as well as getting to see some of the new ones.


Here are some photos from the day…

 

 

Crossing the bridge at Disney Animal Kingdom

 

 

Disney Animal Kingdom

Disney Animal Kingdom Safari truck

Disney Animal Kingdom

Check out those horns!

Giraffes at Disney Animal Kingdom

Mama and baby elephant at Disney Animal Kingdom

Mama and baby elephant.

Rhino and baby at Disney Animal Kingdom

This rhino and baby were staring at us like they were going to charge the truck. It just felt like it should be a black and white photo to me.

Fishes at Disney Animal KIngdom

Meerkat at Disney Animal Kingdom

Kimodo Dragon on rock at Disney Animal Kingdom

At first glance, I thought this was my Lounge Lizard brother…

Bat at Disney Animal Kingdom

 

Tiger at Disney Animal Kingdom

“They’re Grrrreat!”

Bird at Disney Animal Kingdom

This bird’s coloring was absolutely gorgeous!

Stilt-walker at Disney Animal Kingdom

Part of “The Lion King” show.

Simba at Disney Animal Kingdom

Simba of “The Lion King” show.

Lion King monkeys at Disney Animal Kingdom

Those crazy monkeys of “The Lion King” show.

Rainforest Cafe at Disney Animal Kingdom

This is what greeted us when we went for lunch at The Rainforest Cafe.

We had a great morning and left just as the rain was beginning in the early afternoon, so our timing was fortuitous.

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Great News For 2015 – Jack Kirby Biography Coming

Jack Kirby at drawing boardMark Evanier, who probably knows more about the man outside of his own children and grandchildren, indicates that he will be (hopefully) completing a biography of the late, great, comic book artist and writer, Jack “King” Kirby this year. Kirby passed away 21 years ago next month.

Evanier writes that he has almost 250,000 words so far and that he has so many details of Kirby’s life that, “I’m thinking of publishing it in two editions — one for folks who want to know the details of Jack’s life without hearing what he ate for breakfast on Tuesday, June 12, 1956 and a fuller edition for those who do.”

Count me among those who do. I’ve loved Jack Kirby’s art ever since I first stumbled upon it in the pages of Fantastic Four when I was 8 years old. As I got older I came to also appreciate the massive imagination of the man and the dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of characters and storylines he created through the years.

Kirby: King of Comics bookEvanier is also careful to point out that this book will not be a showcase for Kirby’s immense collection of comic book art. “That’s what my first book on Jack was for.” he writes of his “Kirby: King of Comics” book published 7 years ago. I’ve owned that huge, coffee-table sized tome that is 224 pages chock full of Jack Kirby art since it was first published and it occupies a place of honor on my bookshelves in my office at Wolf’s Haven.

I truly do hope that Evanier is able to complete and publish his book during 2015, because it would be great to read his Jack Kirby biography this year.

 

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Happy 5th Birthday, Jade!

My youngest granddaughter, Jade, was born on this date in 2010. We’re thankful for technology like Skype that has let us see and talk to her at her home in San Antonio every couple of weeks over the past year. Here’s a photo of me holding her when she was an infant.

Happy Birthday Jade!

Granddad and Jade in 2010

 

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Favorite Comic Book Covers – Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #81

This issue is cover dated February 1968 which means it was actually released in December 1967, as most comic books were cover dated 2 months in advance of their publication.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #81 cover

So let’s get the first and most obvious thought out of everyone’s mind; it was NOT the possible death of Lois Lane that attracted me to this cover. That’s a horrible thought and anyone who knows me knows that (even then, at the tender age of 12)  I think too highly of women to follow that line of thinking. Especially since Lois had recently been revamped into a more feminist mindset in the comics, a welcome change from her former “damsel in distress” characterization of the previous decades.

It wasn’t even that the talented Neal Adams was the cover artist for this issue, though that WAS a major drawing (excuse the pun) point for me as I practically idolized the man’s artwork. His more realistic looking illustrations were extremely popular with fans and DC Comics used his work on as many covers as they could to draw (again, excuse the pun) attention to their books on the spinner racks.

What really drew my attention to the cover, even though I would have bought the book anyway because…well Superman, was that it featured an American space program theme. At the time, 1967-1968, NASA was in the forefront of the news with it’s Gemini space vehicles and the race to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. I was a HUGE fan of the space program and I remember about a year previously answering, “An astronaut” when my doctor asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, lol. So it was a kick for me to see a Gemini capsule floating in space and Lois Lane (admittedly looking very sexy…hey, I WAS a 12 year old male) in a spacesuit performing a spacewalk tethered by an air hose. Yes, Superman is ripping the hose and seemingly assuring that Lois will die in space, but even as a kid I knew that comic book covers were usually exaggerated in order to entice you to buy, or at least pick up and peruse, the book.

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Could You Live Without Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi LogoThe presence of wi-fi and what it makes available to our electronic devices, and thus to us, is pretty ubiquitous. If you have it in your home you take it for granted and when you are out and about you generally assume that you will find a free wi-fi signal somewhere (ignoring the security concerns) that you can use to stay connected. When I bought iPads for my wife and I a couple of years ago, I specifically chose the wi-fi only models because I knew that we would almost always be able to locate a wi-fi signal, if needed, thus saving us money on the data connection model and an ongoing data connection plan like we have on our iPhones. And for the most part, that has been the case.

But the few times we have been without access to wi-fi has been frustrating. Enough so that contemplating a time or place where there would be no wi-fi is disturbing and unpleasant.

So when I read about a town where there is not only a complete absence of wi-fi, the ability to make a cell phone call, use Bluetooth-enabled devices or even send text messages, well I started to break out in a cold sweat.

Not really, but it does make you think.

Map of National Radio Quiet Zone

That town is Green Bank, West Virginia, about four hours from Washington, D.C. in the Allegheny Mountains and, …”is part of a federally mandated zone where a government high-tech facility’s needs come first.” That’s because in 1958 a 13,000 square mile area that encompasses Green Bank was declared to be, by law, the National Radio Quiet Zone due to the operation of a huge government-run radio telescope. The strictest rules are in the 10 square mile area of Green Bank where the population of 143 is prohibited by state law from using cell phones or wi-fi. Landline phones and wired Internet access are the only type permitted.

Which makes it a perfect place for people with a sensitivity to such electronic and radio waves, known as “electrosensitives”, to come and live. And THAT has caused some problems for the residents who already live there.

I hope you’ll read the article; it has some eye-opening information. Personally, I have always thought that “electrosensitives” probably had a valid affliction, since our brains and nervous systems rely on the body’s electrical impulses to function properly. But that’s just me and I’m not smart enough to know if it truly is a debilitating condition.

But I am smart enough to know I’d rather not live somewhere without wi-fi!

 

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Throwback Thursday – Heather And Rowan At Disney Hollywood Studios 2010

Back on January 16, 2010, we took our granddaughter Heather (with her mom) and George and Caroline’s daughter Rowan (with her mom) to Disney Hollywood Studios for the day. Here they are with the Sorcerer’s Hat in the background, a landmark which has recently been removed.

Heather and Rowan at Disney Hollywood Studios in 2010

Heather, on the left, and Rowan with the Sorcerer’s Hat in the background.

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