If You Don't Call, My Phone Won't Ring.

How to reach me.

Cheesy Anchorman Generator

My anchorname is Walter St. John. Take The Cheesy Anchorman Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Cheryl Jones Gives Good Weather

From 1977, its Total News 9 Weather.

Travel Update

I'm in Virginia today with the family. It's our summer vacation. We spent yesterday on the mall in Washington, D.C. where the weather was mild and breezy. Our day began at the White House at 8:30. On the way over from the hotel, our Pakistani cab driver shared his philosophy and family. He was quite enthusiastic about his views, to the point where he overshot our destination by a block so he could finish his thought.

The White House tour was the shortest of the day, a self-guided look at a few of the "public rooms" on the first floor including the East Room, the Blue Room, and the Vermeil Room, which used to be the billiard room. The kids were underwhelmed, but it was cool to see some of the presidential portraits.

We walked to the natural history museum and waited outside about 30 minutes for it to open at 10am. It was worth it. They've got some cool exhibits including the Hope Diamond. In fact, they have an extensive section on minerals and gems. It included a display of Herkimer Diamonds, aka black diamonds, from Herkimer county, NY, where my mom's mom's folks hail from. We checked out the mammals and the dinosaurs. This was the kid's favorite stop.

We worked our way east along the north side of the mall, cut through a sculpture garden, and entered the dimly lit confines of the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution are on display. No flash photos please.

After lunch at the hotel, we walked to the Capitol, where a congressional intern guided us through some of the sites like the Rotunda, the hall of statues, the crypt, and a Senate debate on the war in Iraq. Mrs. Jones liked that part.

We ended our day by catching the 5:06 commuter train out to the suburbs where the brother-in-law collected us.

Today: miniature golf.

Remembering Root Boy Slim

Root Boy Slim, AKA the Lenny Bruce of the Blues, died on this day in 1993. I didn't know much about the man. He was another oddball in a stable of unique performers that had albums in the stacks at KJHK. Learn more about him at his Wikipedia entry. He and his band did a novelty blues song called "My Inflatable Doll" that garnered air play, especially from Rob Leichter and Mike Chitwood during their "What's Your Problem" show in 1984. It was a collegiate favorite with lines like "She whispered, 'your the first', just before she burst". Good clean fun.

I'm not sure where Root Boy will be remembered in the cavernous Pantheon of alternative music. Somebody edited his page to associate his Wikipedia entry with "Frat Rock", and that's a bummer. Oddly, the Frat Rock link doesn't have a wikipedia page associated with it. Cowards!

When I think of Frat Rock I think of Hootie and the Blowfish and The Smithereens. Then again I didn't spend much time in fraternity houses so I don't know what groups characterized their listening preferences more than other bands , but I'll bet it included Spin Doctors and Jesus Jones. I visted a friend at the SAE house once in 1982 and one of the brothers walked around with an inflatable doll. There's probably a connection.

I purchased an inflatable doll in 1995 - strictly for business purposes (Hey, I got a receipt!). We did a radio gag at KFKF in the aftermath of Hugh Grant's prostitution arrest where I parked myself in a station van (with the inflated love doll) and gave clues to my location during the morning show (I was in parked behind the Ranchmart Theatres here in Johnson County, KS). The first person who found me got a prize pack that may have included the doll. If not, I'm sure we donated it to charity.

Do You Care: Son of Carmack

Most Kansas Citians my age (40 and up) remember local TV reporter Stan Carmack. But do you care that his son John became a giant in the video game world and is now competing for the X prize?

My Bug Man

Esau Formusoh is my bug man. He comes twice a year for the silverfish and the spiders. He monitors our place for termites. I highly recommend him. We don't have termites and the silverfish and spiders are rare visitors these days. He helped my mom get rid of a huge colony of ants in her attic and I told my friend Tony about him after bees appeared in Tony's basement. He also earned a Ph.d in bugs. I guess that makes him Dr. bug man. I call him Esau to tell you the truth.

My bug man is getting popular. His picture was in the Lawrence Journal-World today.

The Pedaljets Return

This post is long overdue. The Pedaljets were one of two top local bands in Lawrence during my college years (1983-1988, with the other being the Micronotz). All hail The Pedaljets myspace page complete with songs, a concert video from a reunion gig earlier this year, and a video collage of mementos.

Yesterday in Lawrence

The Jones family visited the KU Natural History Museum yesterday. I hadn't been in Dyche Hall in 19 years. The place is elderly and the taxidermy appeared well-worn, but the Bug Town exhibit and the live snakes were hits with my crew. We dug the dinosaur fossils too.

I wandered down a back hallway and stumbled upon a locked door that led to the ichthyology department offices. I peered through the door's thin window. The hallway looked dusty and forlorn. But there were lots of fish posters on the walls and office doors.

My son remarked that people walked more in Lawrence and declared that he wished he lived there as we parked the car in the new lot next to the student union. He asked why we didn't walk when we prepared to motor downtown for lunch. It was a beautiful day. I told him the walk down Mount Oread is splendid. The walk back might tax him.

We ate lunch at Tellers where my daughter had a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. We saw four sorority girls in matching black cocktail dresses drinking bloody marys. At one point three of them ran out into the street and hugged a young man in an untucked button down shirt, ball cap, and flip flops. They shouted "Logan" and made much drama and fanfare about spying him from the restaurant window. He declined their offer for a bloody mary. Afterall, it was 1:30 in the afternoon and he wasn't wearing a cocktail dress.

We paid our tab and hit the sidewalk. A missed Kodak moment: A young man, perhaps homeless, held a cardboard sign that read: Ninjas killed my family, need money for Karate lessons.

I saw my old friend Art Hadley having lunch among the throngs of visitors. He reminded me I invariably ran into somebody I knew when we used to go out in Lawrence with the Audio Reader gang in the late 80s. Odd but strangely satisfying that I ran into the man who remembered that about me and he shared that bit of trivia with my family. Normally you have to wait until your funeral to hear those quirky little anecdotes. Not in Lawrence. It beat the hell out of Oak Park mall.

Fun (or at least a few minutes) with Math

Attention all aspiring savants and rain-people - Behold the Doomsday Algorithm.