The Day the Music Died

It's been almost 50 years since 'The Day the Music Died' - the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper is February 3rd.

This is my favorite Buddy Holly song. A very close second is Maybe Baby, but these words and the performance by Marshall Crenshaw in the movie LaBamba makes this my favortie.

Steve posted about his #1 songs, and I have been meaning to post a comment because I liked alot of the same ones. One of them on Steve's is Bruce Springsteen "I'm on Fire" - that is a haunting song. Especially the part that goes: 'It's like someone took a knife baby edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley through the middle of my soul'. That line is probably my favorite of all in a song. Classic.

40 was easier than 30 and I'm feelin' good!

I'm feelin' good - just like Nina Simone. Whenver I think about feelin' good, new dawn's, new day's, etc. I think about this song.

Had a great birthday yesterday - thanks for all of the good wishes. And to quote Chuck/Captain Kirk, it is definitely the "Best of Times" at least in a personal way. I feel like not letting anything slow me down - and that's a good feeling!

The big day is here

So last night on the way home from work, my car rolled 142,000 miles. And today my odometer rolled too. This is it, I'm officially 40. Actually, I had a very nice surprise waiting for me when I got home yesterday. One of my best friends sent me flowers and I was so surprised! Audrey and I have been friends for 20 years, and I called her and told her how much I appreciated the flowers.

I guess I won't be crawling under a rock today - especially since I have to go to work. I guess I will find out if life begins at 40 - here I go!!! Hope it is a good one.

Forty years ago - gasp!

Forty years ago today – January 20, 1969, my mother said she was watching the inauguration of Richard Nixon and wondering when I would arrive. This was my original due date, so I guess I got a 7 day reprieve on turning 40 this year! Forty years ago today it was also exactly six months before man first walked on the moon. I witnessed it (I’m told) though I obviously do not remember it. My mom said she woke me from a nap and put me in front of the TV so that I could “watch” it with my parents.

I guess I was stubborn then too in not conforming to the due date that had been assigned. I see that was a harbinger of the way I would turn out.

Well, we only got a light dusting at my house overnight – actually it was more of a heavy frost instead of any real snow. But that is ok with me since I needed to come into the office today and was glad that the road conditions were nothing more than a small rain event. If my Grandmother were alive, she would tell me that today would remind her of the day I was born, cold, cloudy, and with flurries!

I really do miss my Grandma. She would have been 100 last year. That is just so hard to fathom that she lived 98 ½ years. I know that there were a couple of times I think she was just too stubborn to die even though she was very sick. My great-great grandmother even lived to be 73 (she died in 1923), and my great-grandmother lived to be a month shy of 80 and died in 1959. I have a feeling these ladies were stubborn too based on things I learned from my mom and Grandma.

At least it’s a week before my birthday and I’m not crying about it. That's a good sign.

For the low price of $11,995 - this can be yours

After my last post and Steve’s comments about my VW, I started thinking about my bug and how much I loved it. I did some searching on the internet for pictures, and there is actually one for sale here in Charlotte: a 1974 baby blue Superbeetle for the low price of only $11,995. The main thing that distinguishes a Superbeetle from a regular one is the curved glass on the front windshield vs. a straight down windshield.

My bug was purchased new in 1974 when I was 5. It cost my parents about $1,500 new. It had an AM radio, a heater, a defroster, a back seat that would fold down (my sister and I loved that on trips), and was a 4 speed manual transmission. When they sold it, they got $3,000 in early 1987. Pretty good for a 13 year old car.

I leaned to drive on this car starting when I was about 14. Mom would let me practice on Sundays in the Airport High School parking lot. There was this great hill in the back that connected the old student parking lot (the underclassman dirt lot) to the front of the gym. That hill was the perfect place to stop mid way up the hill and learn to let off the brake and operate the clutch and gas to avoid rolling backwards.

I really did love that car. I drove it from the time I got my license (April 16, 1984) until I got my first Toyota. My second car was a 1984 SR5 Toyota Corolla. It was a 2 door liftback, had pop up headlights, was red, and had these cool black louvers on the back glass. I remember picking that car up after school on December 9, 1985. I’m pretty sure it was a Monday. My parents financed it for 30 months, and the payment was about $230 a month. I ended up helping out with the payments when I was at Carolina and paid $130 a month to my mom and paid for it to be in the garage as well as paid about half the insurance until it was paid for. After that, I took care of all the insurance, maintenance, etc. I was so glad when I paid it off in August of 1988. I even got my mom to sign the title over to me since I had helped pay for it and was responsible for it.

I drove that car until May of 1991. I had been out of school for a year and bought my first new car, a 1991 Toyota Celica. It was red, but was not a liftback. I really missed my liftback, but in that model, the trunk looked better than the liftback. However, it was not nearly as cool as my Corolla liftback even though it had a spoiler on the back. I never fell in love with that car like I did the bug and my SR5, and I ended up trading that Celica in right after I paid it off on my current Celica, the 1996 25th Anniversary edition you see in the post below. I decided to buy my current Celica while I was on a business trip in Texas. I made all the arrangements while home one weekend, and the car actually arrived in late April, but I did not take delivery until mid-May 1996. It was very expensive as the exchange rates were not that favorable at the time, and I bought it for about $21,600. It was still a deal though as I still had all of my connections at Toyota Center and knew the owner personally. So I got a great deal.

So here’s a bit of trivia, do any of my blogger friends know what all 4 cars that I have driven have in common? Good luck!

Baby, Mama loves you

Well, I washed my car yesterday as it was very dirty so I thought I would post some pictures of my Celica. I still love this car and I have the most fun driving it!

45 + 105 = Therapy

Last night I got in the hot tub and it was about 45 degrees on the porch and the water temp was 105 - Perfect! It was cool without being very cold outside, and the 105 is perfect. I got in at halftime of the Sugar Bowl. Wow, what a game. I don't think Alabama has been so dominated all year. Utah really came to play last night and it showed. I was impressed. The Kentucy/ECU game was crazy to watch. I don't think I've seen such bad officiating in a bowl game yet. And I'm just going to withhold commentary on the Outback Bowl except to say that I can't figure out what the hell is wrong with our team. We just stunk it up badly.

Well, it looks like we're settling into January now, clouds and all. I'm not sure which is worse, the sun setting at 5:30 and the short days or all of the clouds and fog we've had the past several weeks. Good news is I think we're catching up on the much needed rain. Bad news is that it adds to the dreariness. Speaking of dreariness, I've figured out I can work out every other day or so between now and my birthday and get about 13 more workouts in before the odometer rolls again. At least I have some good motivation to ride 8.5 miles per workout and then do all of the arm, ab, leg, hip, and butt exercises. Nothing like having another birthday to encourage me to continue on the exercise front.

Besides, regular exercise and regular dips in the hot tub should be the right therapy for all that ails me!