FAN: If A Tree Falls In The Woods....

The Fan Family is off to The Bahamas tomorrow morning via Manhattan Cruise Terminal.

I'll be doing a little thinking while I'm there. I'm thinking our little site here may have run it's course. Even though we get a decent number of hits every day, a certain percentage is for images (like this beautiful Bahamas Beach) and some people stop in multiple times a day if we haven't posted.

I'm tired. Still A Stroke swims both summer and winter competitively and it's time consuming and during the 3 month break between swim I coach her volleyball team. I don't know if Dog is as tired as I am, but if we're only slightly entertaining 15 people instead of 60, it might be time to hang 'em up and just comment the shit out of That's Church, Darwinfish2 and Carpetbaggery. Maybe I'll finally join Facebook. Who knows.

Dog, whatchoo think?

By reading the numbers we do really well some days with people who come and stay and found us from a google search for an article, not for the image, but they are far less than when we posted a few times a day.

Leave us a comment....what do you think? No mercy "bangs". And I'll look at the IP addresses to see if anybody is stuffing the ballot box! Still A While...are you still out there?

FAN: Good News, Bad News

So we spent 4 hours today out in the 100 degree heat at a swim meet and to relax when we got home to the 72 degree house we watched a movie to kill time until we go to the pool when it's cooler this evening.

So yeah, we're bad parents because we dialed up Couples Retreat and it's PG-13, but she'll be 11 in a few weeks and she was on the laptop anyway.

The good news? She chimed right in early in the movie during a classic Vince Vaughn diatribe and said "That guy always reminds me of Daddy when I see him in a movie".

I was kind of proud until she added the bad news....."He always plays a loud mouth".

Hmmmmm. I know she didn't mean it quite the way it sounds, but there is a little truth in everything, isn't there?

FAN: Fin

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I painted the ceiling the last weekend in February and I still haven't put on the new doorknob. It's so hard to find the time to do things, I understand why people pay people to do things for them. This was a major project but I'm happy with the results, the shower doesn't leak and it only cost me about $3,500 instead of $11,000. Would it have looked better if a pro did it? Of course! More than $7,000 better? I think.........not.

FAN: Still A Fan, The Early Years X

This is in the alley behind the house I grew up in. The wall is maybe 10 ft high and there are train tracks at the top. They used to rattle the house but it was cool. This was taken in February of 1984. I was 15. That's Still A Boomer on a visit from Connecticut. Look at the beautiful follow-thru on that "J". I'm sure I swished that. We had a sports filled day as I remember grabbing tennis gear and heading up to the High School courts after we played hoops. I spent countless hours in the alley throwing hard rubber baseballs off the wall and basically playing catch by myself. I devised a game where I pitched from a certain crack in the alley, and then I had to field the grounder, and make the throw to the first which was a perfect angle bounce and I had to be on the "bag" (another crack) when I caught the rebound. Instead of keeping an ERA I kept an EHA (Earned Hits Average) for my game. I know it wasn't accurate because if I gave up a hit (failure to catch the ball without having a foot on the bag) in the first 2-3 innings I would start over. The wall also served as the home run marker for whiffle ball games where the plate was basically right in front of the house. As we got older, hitting the ball onto the tracks was an out which forced you to hit line drives.
I put this picture in for several reasons. First and foremost, it's the only picture ever taken of me where it looks like I might have some kind of muscle definition....lol. This is June 1984 and I was lifting weights a little at this point and eating everything in sight. Yes, we're playing Hacky-Sak, and we all got pretty good at it. I still have that exact Sak somewhere in my house today. I could find it if you pressed me. That's Still A Colt on the left and Still A Fish in the middle, my cousins over for Still A Sis' graduation party. Check out our socks! All high and some with stripes. I'm wearing wristbands for the awful amount of sweat you generate when playing hacky-sak. I'm wearing a Mr. Bill shirt and a rising sun hat which was pretty popular right about then. Was Karate Kid out yet? I can't remember what started that trend. I even had a headband that you tied like that. Our shorts are all those Hill's specials too. Fun times.
This is my sophomore picture in High School from September 1984. Classic Op long sleeve T-shirt. My mom wasn't thrilled that I picked that out to wear. Oh well, she got over it. I see the beginnings of business in front, party in the back - here. I never really had a full-on Mullet. I had like a modified Mullet I guess. It was curly. Naturally. I wear my hair so short today, nobody would ever guess it would be like that if it was long. Trust me I liked the ladies previous to being in high-school but this is right around the time I remember thinking about them and it nonstop. I got through my awkward years Ok I guess, and at this age I was hanging out pretty much only with my boy Chipmunk and if we weren't in school we were cruising local hang out areas for girls. What's funny is I had already met my wife at this point. I didn't really know her yet, but we had absolutely talked at this point. It would be hilarious to go back in time and hear that first conversation. I'm sure it wasn't even one-on-one. I believe it was in a group.
There's a little more Mullet here, but not much. That's about as long as I let it go. I remember at one point I could touch the hair from both sides under my chin and I remember being proud of that for some stupid reason. Check out that leather tie! I'm sure I got this idea from Still A Colt who was older and we dressed up for Church (like you damn young'ins should do today) and we lit candles together every Sunday around this time. Either that or I saw it in Footloose...lol. I remember seeing that movie with Chipmunk and we both ran out and bought shoes like Ren wore in the movie. Huh? Sissies you say? If I learned one thing from Munk and Cornbread - dressing up only helps your odds with girls. To this day I would rather be overdressed at a function than under dressed. Yes, that's a Statler Brothers LP in the background. My mom loved them. To this day, if you put that LP on, I'm sure I would remember some lyrics from the songs. The big hit on that one I believe was "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine". I know much like I'm taking Mrs. Fan to see one of her faves Cyndi Lauper next month, Still A Dad took mom to the State Theater to see the Statler Brothers once. Not sure how he stayed awake...lol. This picture was taken before my band banquet and a date on that night meant sneaking out of the dance portion after the parents left and going down the hall to visit "Johnny Woodruff". There was a huge glass display down the hall and around a corner and I remember very clearly about 5-6 couples lined up against the wall on the other side of that display making out. I remember who I was with this particular evening but I'm not proud of it. Her name will not be spoken here, got it family and or friends? LOL.
Christmas 1985. I remember this picture well. I was going to a party at Still A Rio's house. Not sure where his units were, not even sure he was at this one as it was a couples party. I remember exactly who I was with and I remember exactly which base I ended up at. Is that a Cosby inspired sweater or what?
This is me arriving back home from a marching band trip to NYC where we won best band in class and best drum line in class and overall. Yes, I remember. That's a Don Johnson inspired look I think. We went to see "A Chorus Line" and I ate Chinese food for the first time on that trip in May 1986. I roomed with some crazy people..."Rio"'s older brother Ken, "Chipmunk" and my aunt's pseudo adopted son "Chico" . My aunt was responsible for us too. I probably owe her an apology for something...LOL. Those were long bus rides and fun bus rides. I remember sitting with two different girls but nothing really materialized from either. I hear some people say they hated high school and I just don't understand. I freaking LOVED high school. LOVED it. Would I do some things differently if I could go back? Yes. However, I met my life long friends there. I lost touch with Chipmunk for a while but I see him every once in a great while now and we fall right back into place. Cornbread and I see each other as often as we can and text each other all the time - especially during Steeler games. "Mats" is harder to hook up with as we are never home at the same time, but we email and text as well. I don't keep in touch with any college friends with the exception of "Heff", but I knew him in high school so the rule holds. I can only hope my daughter has a good experience in high school.

FAN: Horrible Confluence of Events

So we're going on a vacation and we're getting passports. Our local Post Office only has odd hours for filing the paperwork and they don't do weekends which is ludicrous. You even have to make an appointment. The next town over has an open door policy on Passport filings at their Post Office.

Still A Stroke was being dismissed at 10:30 on Friday so I worked from home. Mrs. Fan left work on lunch around 11:00 and came to pick us up to go to the Post Office. The night before we got the forms signed and had all the birth certificates out as well as our pictures. We were prepared.

We got to the PO and I realized I forgot my wallet. I was working from home and forgot to grab it before we left and I was being picked up so I wasn't driving. Mrs. Fan wasn't pleased at all. "Go Get It!" There was one group already getting it done and one other couple in front of us. I took her keys and like Micahel Jackson Beat It.

I went two miles down the road and decided stupidly to take a side road because there was construction on the road going back to our house. Less than 2 miles up the side road, IT was closed. I got on another side road that went back to the road I left. I floored it. When I got to the redlight, ........yup........I saw the flashing lights right stinking behind me.

I've been driving 25 years and until this past Thanksgiving I've had a perfect driving record. I got nailed going 81 mph in a 65 zone heading to see Still A Sis. What did this guy clock me at? He was on that side road knowing it was the only way back down to the main road. He was a weasel! I rolled down the window and he asked for.......my license. Stop laughing. I said that's a funny story officer, can I pull into the nursery right here and tell you? No. Tell me right here.

Jackass made cars go around us making the intersection totally unsafe for 25 minutes. I told him that my wife was on lunch and that we were getting passports and I forgot my wallet and was going home to get it and the road was closed. 57 in a 35 and no license or registration so another $75 on top of the speeding.

He wasn't personable, friendly or even polite. He was a tool and he'll see me in court where I will lose and pay the stupid ticket, but I will get back the $75 for having a license and hopefully 0 points.

My insurance didn't go up a nickel from the first ticket as I get an "Oooops" every 5 years. A second "Oh Shit" on top of an "Ooooops" will draw attention if I get points. 25 years! Well, I've been lead footed for 25 years so Karma is indeed a bitch.

FAN: Still A Fan, The Early Years IX

This is Christmas 1982 so I was a fresh 14 years old. Ahhh, my Atari 2600, sigh. The hours I spent with this machine. The first game machine we had was one of the very early Pongs that came with a Magnavox TV. It was black and orange and had 2 paddles, both with wheels on them. There may have been a button as well, I can't remember. It said on the back of the picture that for Christmas I received the stand (not Atari but aftermarket), and ET the game, Megamaniac (by Activision) and a baseball game. Have I mentioned that carpet before? I have? Ok, I'll stop. Slightly embarrassing to admit, but I recently bought a French Blue T-Shirt with the Atari Logo on it from thinkgeek.com. I get rave reviews when I wear it.
Much like I stated in an earlier "The Early Years", I started developing my game at a young age..lol. Even though I was in my awkward years here at 14, I was swimming in the family pool with the hottie neighbor who was a year older than me - so 15 here at the time. Hanging out with neighborhood girls allowed me to gain comfort when talking to girls later instead of having paralysis by analysis. That and I liked it when we braided each other's hair and painted each other's toenails. Ok, that was totally a joke. I was - and still am - all about the honeys. I don't think I came out of my awkward lanky look for a few more years though. Maybe by TEY XI.
This was the first day of school in 1983 and I'm rockin' the Angus Young shirt. I got this from the kiosk in the mall with the 100's of transfers to sift through and then you picked your T-Shirt color and they slapped it on there. Almost comical that my hair there would kind of pass for a 14 year old today. Just let it grow long and don't really do anything with it.
This is around Halloween 1983. It's before Still A Dad redid our kitchen as I barely remember it like this. Well, we haven't owned the house since like 1992 so I barely remember it at all. First, notice the Phillies hat. It's 4 years after We Are Family and I was a Phillies fan already. People that live out here now don't believe me when I tell them that. That's "Harry", a dummy a friend and I made. It's a funny story really. I remembered being at my cousin's house once and he and his friends made a dummy that came down a staircase on a line when the door was opened. They were all engineer types too and it was pretty cool. My bedroom window looked out onto old train tracks which were elevated to about the same height as my bedroom window.

Our plan was to put Harry on a pulley and put a line from my room out to the railing alongside the tracks. When someone was walking down our alley, we would pull Harry on the line and he would scare the walkers! Well, we couldn't get the line tied tight enough to hold the weight and one time he actually broke the line during a test and fell in the pool cover.

We didn't want anyone to know we were working on this plan so we hid him in our basement. We put him in our "cold room" and sat him in an old highchair. My mom kept our Hi-C drink boxes in this cold room. On this particular morning she ran out of drink boxes in the fridge and needed some for packing lunches so down to the cold room she went.

I was sleeping when a loud scream woke me up. Mom went in the room, got the drink boxes, and when she turned around to leave the room a dummy the size of me was sitting in the chair looking at her. I never meant to scare anyone, I was just hiding it, but it was a great story to tell for a long time after it happened.

This was my 15th birthday and I got Metal Health by Quiot Riot, from my GRANDMOTHER! My Grandma on Still A Dad's side of the family was so cool. She would ask me to write down what I wanted and then on Senior Citizen's day at the mall she would go and buy it. Can you imagine a grandma in National Record Mart going up to the register with that LP cover? She bought my Atari console and most of my games for me there because she got a 10% discount or something. I would give her my money and she would buy my merchandise. Nice system.
This is me shortly after my birthday. I used my birthday money and some paper route money to buy my first PC, a TI-99/4a. Check out the tape drive! I didn't own a disk drive until I bought a Commodore-64. The same cousin who inspired me to make the dummy inspired me to buy a PC. He had a Trash80 and I loved going over to play games on it. The US invaded Grenada in 1983 and one of the first computer programs I ever wrote was a war game called "Camp Grenada". I made an intro screen and everything - complete with the song "Hello Mother, Hello Father" beeping one note at a time. The game was simple enough but when I go back and think that I wrote a simple video game at age 15 I only wish to God I could get my hands on it somehow.

It made use of sprites for those in the know. The tank (you) started in the first column of the screen in the middle. Moving the joystick in any direction would add 1 or subtract 1 from the row,column you were in. Pressing the Fire button created another sprite which was a missile at the tank location plus 1 column, same row. It then moved to column + 1 every half second or something. I had sprite trees and sprite enemy tanks which moved at random and if the missile sprite shared the same column, row as an enemy tank sprite a Batman "POW" type thing was displayed and the tank disappeared and you got points. Me making that game allowed me to think about what the code was doing on every video game I've played since. I can't even begin to imagine how complex it is programming a Wii remote with the Sports Resort add on compared to a stick and a button!

FAN: Still A Fan, The Early Years VIII

This picture is one I'm not crazy about. While it's not an insult to bass drummers, they typically aren't as technically proficient as snare drummers or trips or quads in marching bands. They do outrank the cymbal players, but sometimes the cymbal players are hawt. I was asked to play bass drum this particular year because of sheer size. Look how strong I look there! The other dudes on the drumline for the elementary school band were too small to carry it. I was pissed, but what are you going to do? It's actually the only parade in my life where I played bass drum instead of snare. This picture is dated Memorial Day May 25, 1981. Fun times. Not sure what my parents did as the back of the picture states that while I marched in one parade, Still A Sis there was in the Jr. High Band and they marched in another. Makes me want to go to a local parade tomorrow. I just might.
This picture is from September 1981 and my Mom wrote on it "Finally Got His Wish". She got that right. I don't remember one thing about this set other than it was mine and I beat the living hell out of it. A classic 5-piece with only one cymbal. Future pictures show that for Christmas that year I received a new pedal, 2 Camber Cymbals and 2 stands. Also clear Remo heads. I like the fact that I'm wearing Pony sneeks in this one. Again, we've seen it before but look at that carpet!
Christmas 1981 and what male my age didn't at one time own one of these bad boys? I had the Steelers versus the Cowboys. I played with two brothers up the street. The one ended up kicking for the High School team and then my college team. We lived in the same house for 3 years in college. Did anyone ever figure out how to pass with this game? The ball came out so fast we could never keep track of it. Plus, you'd be playing in the living room and throw a pass to Swann - and it would hit him (maybe) and then you couldn't find the damn ball. It would be three rooms over. We would always decide before the game if we would allow passing or not. I'd love to find a set of the Steelers from this game and put them on display.
Wine: The Gateway Drink. I was 13 plus when this was taken, more than 7 years from legal drinking age. Still A Dad....what were you thinking? At least I was rocking the Steelers shirt. I know this can't be the first time I had a sip...well, maybe of wine. Still A Dad started grooming me for drinking beer by giving me little sips here and there. I think he just liked to see my face go sour. He would mow the lawn and be having a cold one (Miller's?) over the fence with Nick our neighbor and I would ask for a sip and it was granted. Still A Mom would shoot an evil eye if she saw it. I'm still not much of a beer drinker. I really have to be in the mood to get even buzzed from beer as I get full very fast from it. I had two last night with my chinese takeout after working in the bathroom all day but I prefer vodka when out at a bar. I would guess in the last 10 years the 10 days I've had the most beer are all Steelers Tailgate parties or poker games I throw at the house.
This one Dog will love as we talk about this band all the time. It's a local fire company band that has some rich history....I believe dating back to WWI. There is typically an age or size you have to be to join so the uniform will fit but Dog was in the band prior to me and had a superb rapport with the director so Dog's father actually had a talk with the director about me and got me in. The shirts wouldn't fit me yet so I had to just buy a blue shirt that kind of matched and I didn't at first march in any parades that were competitive because of it. On this day we were playing at a memorial service at Crawford's Cabin which was on my paper route. I took the daily paper to that house in the background. I believe Dog covered the history of the Cabin in a prior post and really went deep by describing the battle of Jumonville. This was a non-paying gig at the cabin so attendance was light.

FAN: 50,000th Visitor

We had our 50,000th hit about 10 minutes ago! Wooo Hoooo. I wish I knew who it was but I think it was a random visitor, not a regular. It's funny how they found us....they found the image from Google Images of the Steelers Motivation Poster I put together I guess about 7 months ago. The hit came from Chester, Virgina.

I don't know Dog, there are days I really feel like pulling the plug on this. I never feel like I have the time I want to do it right. Isn't it hilarious that some sites get this many hits before 8 AM and it's taken YEARS to get here. I feel good on days where we get a decent amount of hits thinking a lot of people sent a link to it - then I read the stats and see that 12 of them landed on our site simply from an image search.

If I had to guess, from the research I do, I think we have about 30 regular readers out of our 50 or so hits a day. To those loyal few, if you read something you like - forward the link to some friends. Thanks!

FAN: Still A Fan The Early Years VII

Well, the cool toy posts are slowing down as this is the only pic of a few holidays I could find with toys in it that I remember. The Karate Men, Chutes Away which I loved, 3 Revel models, a Star Wars puzzle and Hit 'n Run. Chutes Away the plane moved back and forth on a lever and you looked through a target and released yellow plastic paratroopers by trigger. The object was to land them in the cups on the plate which rotated. It was cool. Hit and run was a lame version of pinball where you simply shot the ball out of a pinball type starter and it would bounce off of one bumper and then go into slots for outs, single, double, triple, etc. The diamond would rotate and you put a plastic player in the batter's box to start. A bar knocked them off into a scoring tray if they made it home on a hit. Another picture from this year showed the Star Wars score LP by John Williams which I actually listened to a lot.
This was my one and only appearance on the mound. I was never made to be a pitcher. I only played organized baseball for 4 years and I mostly played second base, center field or right field. If memory serves me correctly, there was a rule about how many innings a kid could pitch a week and we had a monster week coming up and I was simply eating innings to free up our real pitchers for other games. I didn't hit anybody. Can't remember the outcome of the game at all. My form doesn't look too bad. As I've stated in other posts, I could play each sport enough to not be embarrassed, but even at that age I had no illusions that I was an integral part of the team. The only year I was a starter was when I was 11 and on the minors when a lot of 11 year-olds were already in the majors. I had a good year that year.
This must have struck fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.....me calling for time in the batter's box! This particular at bat was either a walk or a hit as the next picture in the series shows me on third base. I don't ever recall a triple so I assume the picture was not taken right after. I wish I started playing tennis or golf around this time which would have put me further ahead at the games I do much better at than baseball or basketball. I was too small to even think about playing football. I guess I could have punted?
My first real drum! This is a steel Premier snare drum that had to do until I purchased a used set which will be coming up shortly. All I could do was practice rudiments on this thing. RLRR LRLL......lol.
I was in 5th grade here and Still A Sis was in 8th. We were both in the Memorial Day Parade. This wasn't my first parade as I played cymbals as a 4th grader but skipped that picture as it was blurry. You can't tell here but I'm wearing those cool 70's flip up clip on shades. Very cool. To this day I still remember the cadence we used in elementary school. I was in 4 different marching bands and we'll talk about more later as The Dog will have better stories than me about one of them, but I remember every single cadence I've ever played. I even wrote one that the high school used and continued to use for a while at least after I was gone. That's nice validity I guess that it was catchy. I did steal the bass line for it though although I can't remember from where.

FAN: Still A Fan - Roadtrip

I went on a field trip today with Stroke's 5th grade class. I actually volunteered to go. We left at 7 am and got back around 7:30 pm. I had 3 girls in my group and I couldn't have asked for better girls to lead around. They were quiet and respectful and still had boatloads of fun.

We started off at the Capital in Harrisburg, PA. I had no idea how nice this building was. If you have never been there or taken the tour, I highly recommend it. The artwork in the dome is really something to see. Having a tour guide point things out made the dome that much better. I could tell the kids really didn't appreciate how intricate it was or how expansive - but the parents simply couldn't believe it. I could have spent 30 more minutes just walking around it and looking in every nook and crannie. Cranny? Crannie. Who knows?

We saw the Representative's room and again was blown away by the architecture and art. The marble that made up the room was mined in France and the mine was shut down after filling the order for the room. The paintings were very detailed here as well. A Representative who knows Still A Stroke's teacher met us there and told us a little about the room. From there we went to the Senate's room. While still nice, I thought the Representative's room was a bit more stately. We left there and went to the state Supreme Court. Really nice paintings there and one of the 200 grandfather clocks in the building.

After leaving there we went to the Governor's mansion. We got to see his office and dining room and a few other rooms in the hizzy. I also got to answer two questions that the kids didn't know the answers to. There was a grandfather clock there and Harrisburg was spelled Harrisburgh on it. The guide said the "H" was dropped on several PA burgh's at the same time but one kept it.....did the kids know? No....I wish Stroke knew but she didn't so I spoke up and said "of course the great city of Pittsburgh". I also knew the mine that sent an oil lamp to the governor after the 9 for 9 rescue. Quecreek. How couldn't I know....Still A Dad freakin lives right around there.

I have Ed Rendell's pic on here for a reason. I'm not a fan as you know which way I sway and I worked for the city as a consultant while he was in office here. I heard a lot of chatter about the career politician and such but I just didn't always agree with the politics and he seemed like a bully from what you read. I actually rode in an elevator with him once while he was mayor and shook his hand and said "hello". A few years later I rode the train into the city while Mrs Fan was on jury duty and I no longer worked there just to hang out for the day. I went to an old lunch haunt where I used to (cough) place bets (cough) on football as well. I had a great rapport with the owners over 5 years of eating there and I wanted to say "Hi". When I got there Ed was talking to them. He had an office there as the head of Democratic party. This time I actually spoke to him as well asking about a girl I used to know who quit her job to go work for his campaign as he wasn't the governor yet. He told me he spoke to her recently and really liked her and that she was really sharp. He was very friendly and had the ability to make me feel like I knew him, but I am always cautious of that trait in people who want something from me...my vote!

Well today he scored more points from me but I'll still never vote for him. The entire 5th grade was split into 4 groups as we toured the mansion. We were last and were put in a holding tank outside by Barney Fife and Andy. As the first 2 groups came out they told us they got to meet the Governor. We toured the building and were told we had to be quiet near the end of one hallway as he was hosting the Div II Champ Men's BB Team inside.....from IUP. "Booooooo". Ok, so I went to CUP. We used to own them back in the day when I was there at hoops. I was there while Kenny Toomer and Ric Hill were blowing up. Ric used to come to our house parties. Anyway, the ballroom door was cracked open and we got a peak at the Gov at the head table. Kids were waving but he was engaged in conversation. We went out to tour the garden and one mom was upset that other classes met him and ours did not. She was Hell bent on her daughter saying Hi to the Governor.

We walked past a gardener and she asked him if he had any pull to get Ed to come outside to say hello. He said he would go tell the butler. At that moment, the governor and IUP's team came out to tour the garden as well. The went in a different direction and line up for a picture. The butler walked up to Rendell, told him about our class and Ed waved us over. He was very gracious, thanked us for coming, introduced us to the IUP team and us to them. Talked a little about our home town which he knows very well and then made small talk for a few minutes. Our guide said something to him and he commented on the groups outstanding behavior. The guide did tell us parents how well behaved our kids were and that she really appreciated it as not all groups are. Ed even told the kids how much he liked their uniforms and wondered why all the kids didnt have on the optional shorts.

I posted the pic above because that's how I remembered Ed from our meeting at lunch. Comb Over Hello? A little pudgy. Sloppy dress a little. Today he was tan, thinner and wearing a very very sharp suit and tie. I have to say he looked way better today than I remembered him. Also, while entertaining the team he really didn't have to have us over but he did and didn't blow us off at all. He made the kids feel welcome and I appreciated that. Good job, Ed, but you still don't have my vote.

Afterwards, we went to Hershey for the 4D movie and tour but I am so tired from the trip that I have to cut that part short. It suffices to say that my group was so good I treated them out of my pocket to $4.25 milkshakes which made us all bloated for the ride home!

FAN: It's Hard Damn Work...

...being right all of the time. It's exhausting. People begin to expect it, and then you have to be perfect. It was April 10 1979 Spring of my 4th grade year when Still A Dad made us two of the happiest kids on the planet and built a pool. Check the Cliff's notes below for one of the shortest descriptions on any of the pictures I own. Mom had writer's block that day.

FAN: Still A Fan The Early Years VI

This is Muffins on Nov 18th, 1974. This is the dog that made it 17 years even though our first two never made it to one. Muffins was a great family dog...mostly some type of spaniel but still some mutt in her. I'll have more pictures of her as she gets older. When she finally had to be put to sleep, neither myself or Still A Dad could do it. Still A Sis was already living in Florida and my mom had passed. Still A Unc ended up taking her to the vet. It was circa 1991 because I know where I was working at the time and it was shortly before I moved to Philly area. How about that couch with those curtains! 1974 indeed.
This picture is blurry from Christmas day 1974 but I wanted to include it because of the toy to see if any of you owned it as well. I wasn't sure of the name my mom wrote it on the back of the picture, Road King Mountain. It was awesome! The road had what I'll call a continuous string of plastic with yellow BB's on it and the trucks clipped to the BB's. You turned a crank and the entire loop turned making it look like the truck was moving. Very cool stuff.
This picture rocks for several reasons. First, Still A Dad's shirt is priceless. This is 1975. I turned 7 that day. All my friends had the Steve Austin Bionic Man "figure" (not a doll). Funny thing is, they also had the spaceship which opened up into an operating table. I didn't have that so I made my own....out of a Pringle's can...lol. I cut a hole for the face where the window was on the real ship. One day while playing at our great aunt's house in Somerset PA, Still A Colt and I decided Steve had died (for whatever reason) and we buried him. I pretty much remember the spot we did it and I would LOVE to go to that house and try to dig him up 35 years later. I'm sure being made of plastic from the 70's he will last in the Earth about 1,782 years. I wouldn't be surprised though if my aunt dug him up after we left that day and cleaned him back up.....and sold him at the Comet Drive In flea market. This picture also features has Still A Pap - one of the greatest human beings I've ever known in my life.
Ok, for the regular readers here who know this girl, please don't mention any names in the comments. I don't want people looking for her on Google to land here. I included this one to be a little funny and point out that on August 14th, 1976, Still A Fan was already enrolled in the school of the hound. I think I said before I had numerous neighborhood crushes one I hit a certain age, but there were three girls on my side of the street all on the same 6 house block who were close to my age and very cute! One moved away around this time but the other two continued to "torment" me until they got to high school and moved on to older boys because they were both a year or two older than me. Let me state for the record that there is NOTHING better for a young man's confidence and knowledge about how to act with women than growing up and interacting with them every day. Seriously. Look at the shit eating grin I'm wearing! I clearly remember Still A Sis being a cheerleader or something for a local youth football team and having the crew over to our house the first year we had our pool. I think I was in 4th grade and she was in 6th. Those girls flirted and teased me all day and I even remember a few of them kissing me. To this day I remember some of their names. My daughter is in 5th grade and we all know if a boy kissed her now the little son of bitch would come up missing from his backyard. This is my 8th birthday. Again, even though Still A Dad didn't hunt or own guns (then), look at my gifts....an army truck, handcuffs and another assault rifle. Same couch, new curtains? I would venture a guess that Still A Colt, his younger brother and myself spent more hours over our childhoods playing with guns more than with whiffle balls. The basketball hoop was a failed sequel to that plastic field goal kicker. They still sell the kicker today. Makes sense as the football just needs brute force, no touch. How can you hit a basketball player on the head shooting a plastic basketball against a plastic backboard and expect it to go in. I remember playing with this for a day and then forgetting about it. Pretty snazzy slippers, huh?