Accusations of Voting Fraud Cloud Baboon Contest!
In a mysterious come-from-third-place rush, Trail Baboon ballot tallying software “Polldaddy” declared “Rhonda” an unlikely winner in the coveted mascot naming race for a recently launched blog at daleconnelly.com.
“When I went to bed last night at about 9:30 after a day of exhausting meetings, “Blevins” was the winner by a comfortable margin over “Babs”, with “Rhonda” in third place.”
“Once I decided “Blevins” was the winner, that ended the contest because I am dictator-for-life at daleconnelly.com. Unfortunately, my position here is so exalted, I don’t know how to turn off the voting machine, and someone (or some group of people) snuck in and pushed up the number of “Rhonda” votes while I slept.”
“This is unfair, and although I can’t describe why it’s unfair in coherent terms, I’m going to use my authority to overturn the decision. Until further notice, the victory goes to “Blevins” over “Babs”, because it took me forty minutes to figure out how to do that headline in Photoshop. My cheating trumps anyone else’s cheating. That’s the way it is.”
Argue about it if you like.
It was mentioned in the comments yesterday, but since I can’t play it for you it bears repeating that there is a You Tube video of the Austin Lounge Lizards performing the song that gave our mascot his name.
Blah blah blah? Old Blevins is an amateur!
A lot of casual listeners think this song is a condemnation of other people who happen to be boring, but for me the key line is “My memories of that evening fuel an inner mounting fear that I might become Old Blevins anywhere that they sell beer.”
And really, who needs beer? Sometimes a microphone is enough.
Speaking of brevity, here is a compilation of the Commencement Haiku authored by the Trail Baboon community two days ago, arranged in the order they came in. If you are ever asked to be the keynote speaker at a graduation, my advice is to pick one of these and use it. Don’t read them all.
Otherwise, you might become Old Blevins.
When the speaker stops
Life begins for graduates.
Why delay the spring?Some have work’d and strive’d.
Some have just gotten through it.
Good luck to you all.Don’t trust your bosses
Smile broadly and get along
Await your revenge.Cliche. Platitude.
Insert some in this space. Now.
Then you may all leave.Eyes glaze, stomachs growl
Black robes grow hot in the sun.
Let’s go have some lunch.This will not take long
I will not have much to say
Good luck and good bye.One last assignment,
Can you pick the keepers now?
Grade comes much later.Life is what happens
While you’re making other plans.
John Lennon said that.Dear Graduates,
Economy sucks
Good LuckWear your tassled hat
Baboons blow big bubbles
Speech gone from mem’ry.Good day, Graduates,
Good luck and buck up, dear ones,
The sun sets too soon.Two kinds sit here today:
those who will not heed advice.
Those who don’t need it.Ignore silly rules
Party hard young people
Run fast don’t get caught.Time moves so quickly
Try to remember all things
That you were taught, eh?Trained in the garden
By many flower masters
Grow, open, bloom.One piece of advice:
Remember you are special
Don’t forget that ever.Forget about yourself.
Do something good for the other.
Leave each place better.Idealism
Floats like a leaf in the breeze
But you must find work.Now I am smarter
Congratulations to me
Now what should I do?Congratulations!
Work honest, take leisure time.
Spring and you are sprung.You think life’s rough now?
See if you still feel that way
When you have a real job!You’ve made it this far
Your final exam is life
Congratulations!child of the planet
you captain your own ship
enjoy the ride dudehow far you come
now party until you puke
do good work and dieThink this is the end?
Boy are you going to be bummed!
No more summers off…
Trail Baboon 
I’m confused. The poll shows Rhonda ahead. Not that it matters; Blevins was sort of my favorite in the end.
Good day all.
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Good morning Clyde.
Refresh your screen to read a more complete account. We’re scrambling here at election central, and there is a bad smell in the air. I hope this blows up into a major controversy.
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Dale, I was concerned at the first posting that there was no question-now I am thinking the actual fraud is that YOU KNEW ALL ALONG and are just stirring the pot.
This is yellow journalism in the finest tradition of William Randolph Hearst-I’m impressed!
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Not to keep stirring this pot, but I did log on last night before I went to bed and Blevins was ahead at that point…. guess the Rhonda-ites hadn’t made their last storm of the castle at that point!
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Oh, the electoral/supreme court thing-makes perfect sense to me (but then, I have just been figuring out how the (soccer) World Cup works-everything is now clear).
Dale, it’s your blog, you can close the polls when you choose (and really impressive photo-shopping on that headline-it even bends with the paper-wow! You know, you could probably get a job doing that).
Bet Rhonda is going to reconcile with him after this triumph.
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how are you betting for the world cup. looks like brazil but i’m secretly pulling for italy
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I only bet on horses with names and silks I like the look of, but I am cheering for Mexico.
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Laughing. Out. Loud.
Photo is priceless.
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Hi, Cynthia!
Tilde says Woof.
I know, I know; keep this personal chitchat offstage. This is not facebook.
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Woof. And meow.
Keep the Maine contingent of Trail Baboon in line.
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portland ho
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And, of course, Blevins is nowhere to be seen this morning. Can’t wait to see where she (?) turns up.
Thanks for re-printing the haiku. I actually have been a speaker at a graduation; I was the valedictorian the year I graduated. Kept it down to one page and talked about how hard it was and now we could enjoy the fruits of our labor. Used cake & icing metaphors. Did not use the words “dream” or “future” even once.
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to quote either Catherine or Barbara in Robbinsdale
“huh?”
good morning, All you Ba-Ble-Rhonda readers
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When I was in third grade, I voted for George Wallace in our third grade mock election for president. Why? Because I liked the idea that no one else was voting for him, and that I, alone, was For George. (And just for the record, in case I should ever be in line, say, for the Attorney General position or the Supreme Court, my family was horrified; I did NOT get my George fervor at home. This was simply youthful indiscretion.)
Anyway, I have a sort of deja vu all over again reprise kinda feeling this morning, looking at the results.
I voted for Tabitha. I love “Old Blevins,” but I just can’t see this baboon swilling beer and complaining about them crazy hippies.
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the haiku offerings are wonderful. thanks to everyone.
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this was supposed to go at the end but it is appropriate that it got placed here in the response slot of our new english major who penned such a beautiful offering for the collection.
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Oh yeah – trust me, Lisa – that monkey swills.
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Lisa – don’t worry, you’re not alone! When I was in 2nd grade, my parents were big Hubert Humphrey fans. But my very best friend’s parents (who were, of course, way cooler than my folks) were Goldwater supporters. I was quite downhearted when my parents wouldn’t let me put a Goldwater sign in the front yard.
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Technological Oligarchy strikes again–just like in the Gulf Coast, the technology is running the show and the dictator in charge cannot turn off the ugly spilling bilge of what….hideous names.
You should KNOW not to use this poll technology on such an important issue, WHEN YOU CANNOT TURN IT OFF. Now names and votes are spilling into the Gulf-like cyber culture with no hope of containment. This baboon reminds me of our former Veep. Perhaps his/her name is Cheney.
A cyber-disaster.
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kind of like drilling for oil. dale knew the technology was not there is case of a disaster but pushed ahead regardless to deal with the ramifications later if needed. well how embarrassing to discover we are a parcel of scalawags and opportunists. how appropriate to remember cheney in this moment of fixing the results. hail to the big dick.
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Tim, you crack me up. Doesn’t he crack you up, Jim?
If anyone’s interested, Gov. Pawlenty is on the Daily Show tonight. Heard it from Cathy Wurzer, just about an hour ago.
Mike Pengra, if you see this will you check the library for the song, Show Me the Way to Go Home, that Richard Dreyfuss sang in Jaws? (pretty please)
Show me the way to go home
I’m tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head
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so are you able to prove the fraud? can we assume that the flawed hanging chads method of vote counting at trail baboon will be modified for future runoffs?
this is heartbreaking for all died in the wool rhonda supporters. we had her in the sights of immortality and then poof !!! of into the vapors with rhonda. this is democracy at its finest. i didn’t stop to think about the electoral college and super delegates at corporate headquarters. i was thinking it was just us old hippies.
bye bye rhonda you were such sweet music for a blissful moment before riding off into the sunset. you will have a new reference next time i hear your reprise sung by the sweet young voices of the beach boys. hello austin lounge lizards . will old blevens be played mondays at 7:00? in our heads for now lets play it in unison. maybe leave the link to the lounge lizards up so we can reference it as close to 7:00 as we arrive on site.
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Good Morning All
What? Late votes were thrown out. I guess we can’t take this to the Supreme Court. I hope Blevins will not decide to bring back the Bush agenda.
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I think Rhonda is in hiding due to embarrassment at being called Blevins.
I voted late…I wanted to pretend I was casting my ballot from California not Franconia Notch, NH.
To paraphrase yesterday’s Animal Fair lines
The elephant sneezed and fell on the goat
But what become of the vote, the vote? What became of the vote?
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I voted late, too, as did both daughters. We liked Rhonda! And there was nothing to indicate that late evening votes would not be considered! We wuz robbed.
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Oh, no!!! Do you mean to say “Old Blevins” won and that it is a putdown of drunks and bores? How could that possibly become the name of OUR mascot? I demand a recount.
I once worked for a man who held an unpopular opinion, so he commanded his subordinates to prove he was right by running an experiment. When the results were the opposite of what he wanted, he demanded we keep running the experiment until it proved him right. That’s the spirit that made America great. That’s the juice that (with the conniving of a few Supremes) put Dubya in the White House.
Actually, to my mind–if the word “mind” isn’t too much of a giggle at this time of day–this baboon thing has taken on the complexity of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Where’s George Mitchell? I fear the only acceptable resolution of this thing is the infamous Two-Baboon Solution.
Now I’m gonna knock back an OJ on the rocks. Bartender, better make that a double.
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mort says thats fine with him.
bartender buy him one and put it on my tab
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It’s time to stop the finger pointing. Let us put this difficult election behind us. Let us stop whining and move ahead in harmony. Blevins will do his/her best to welcome the Rhonda supporters as we all move forward together to build a better blog and an even greater America.
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spoken like a true blevins supporter
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Does this mean you are reaching across the trail for bi-baboon support of the agenda?
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Har dee har har.
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I feel that if mort were willing to face the hostile paparazzi, he would inform us- “I am not a member of an organized party, I am a baboon.”
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touche
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Sorry to break this to you tim, but that is not how you spell touch.
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i don’t know how to put that thing above the e at the end
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If you’re on a PC, you can type 0233 to get the ASCII character for it. On a Mac, you can press T to get a list of special characters (kinda like us, only more static)…or at least that’s how it works on my Mac (and my work PC – I go both ways…).
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Here, let me try — twoshay`
That didn’t work. What am I doing wrong, Anna??
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Oops – it took out parts that I put inside carats and assumed it was html code. Doh!
Try this: press the Alt key + 0233 to get the ASCII character for it. On a Mac, you can press Option+Command+T to get a list of special characters.
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There is no way this could have worked out better; love the responses; Dale, you sneaky manipulator; you can sort of photoshop everything. I needed the humor, which is one of your best moments all, after a scary moment. Not going to tell it for fear of stopping the wit and humor, and there is both wit and humor here today.
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What if we envision Blevins, the fraud winner, not as an old drunk in the song but as a young woman with a cell phone. Out in the middle of the woods on the Sakatah trail on the edge of Mankato I have the last three mornings at 6:30 a.m. met two young women walking their dogs not on leashes and both talking on their cell phones and ignoring their dogs as they try to become my best friend jumping up on me as I try to ride by. A blah, blah. blah moment of a different kind.
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tell those two women to quit jumping up on you as you try to ride by for crying out loud.
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Clyde Open your browser to the Trail Baboon page. If you see fresh posts from Clyde in Mankato, take a deep breath of relief and take that as proof that you are still alive. Don’t give up too soon, either, for this Clyde guy likes to mess with his name.
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One word, well two words, no 5 words: unleashed pitbull on bike trail. And yes I am still alive.
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Haiku
Loose pit bull on the trail
Accelerate Clyde, go quick
Wear Kevlar gaiters
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Heh Heh Heh. Funny now, not then.
Maybe some green tea will fix it.
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OK ,Steve, I was moved to haiku by this story too, but thought that might trivialize the trauma. Guess I will go ahead-hope you have your tea handy, Clyde-
Lovely morning ride
Unleash-ed pit bull on trail
That cannot end well
So, how many of us are now going around counting our syllables, hoping to strike gold?
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hey clyde where did you underlined name go. i was enjoying the quotes and throwing you a few of my own (or is that why you made it go away?)
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Blah, blah, blah, blah, baboon named after me?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, I guess it’s Old Blevins who should go home.
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you and me jim
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It depends upon which computer I am on. I use three.
1. The one at home should always show it.
2. The first one I turn on in the office is a more secure4 setting which does not allow cookies and things.
3. The other old rattle-trap one in the office is slow to turn on. I am on it now. And my name should be underlined now.]
I like the link but I cannot do cly de names on it once I am logged in, but have not been doing that on the other computer I see. Maybe I will add then as signatures.
cly de pantaloons avec merde
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Using naughty words in French, again, are we? With an unleashed pit bull coming at you, I don’t blame you.
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Lordy, lordy — I love this group. This is absolutely hysterical! Voting fraud, hanging chads, electoral college vs popular vote, Supreme Court decision — you guys have woven it all together here in a multilayered comedy of errors. I am but a simpleton who can’t understand the words/meaning of song lyrics.
I’m just glad the baboon has a name.
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I vote we have a vote on whether to use IRV for all future voting.
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ok irv is the voting tabulator for the all future contests. make a note supreme dictator
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But we haven’t voted on it yet. And first there must be a court challenge and an appeal.
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I think we may have a benevolent despot named Dale.
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Steve, I added a few quotes. Boy do I not really know how to use this!!
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“My cheating trumps anyone else’s cheating” – love that line Dale, but didn’t some celebrity or politician say it first?
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Gets no hits in a search, so must be Dale’s, which is of course not hard to believe.
Rain is moving in here; looks like to stay all day.
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Clyde – that was supposed to be a joke. Apparently it bombed. (no surprise there)
So the pit bull did not like you?
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Sorry, dense this morning.
No the pit ball would have loved, would have thought I was loved delicious.
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Huh?
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I heard “Help Me, Rhonda” and “Old Blevins” both for the first time yesterday, took a look at the glaring orange eyes and voted for Blevins (only had half an ear on the lyrics since I was at work, but the blah-blah-blah chorus made me fall out of my chair).
tim – to continue the thread we started (and to leave Joanne with the last word yesterday like she had hoped)…
Yes, Malaysia is quite the experience. Visitors love Singapore because everything works and people there speak neutral-accented English, but for the outdoors and wanderers off the beaten path, Malaysia has more to offer. I have family in Kuala Lumpur but have not lived there for a decade and frankly am starting to not be a huge fan of the big city – the freeway/billboard complexity is approaching that of Houston, and just last night I had a dream that I was driving down the main road through KL and had to slam on the brakes because there was a Arc de Triomphe-style traffic circle where there was none before. But there is much natural beauty and my husband (from Duluth) and I love Frasers Hill (a highland getaway from colonial times), just in case you ever make it there and need respite from the heat 🙂
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Well, Sudbury will be different than any of those places.
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Yes. But Sudbury has lakes! And rivers just south. Big draw. Hopefully we won’t miss Minnesota too terribly much.
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thanks mn tx i will file it away. help me rhonda and blevins says more about this group than i’ll bet they initially realized. it is perfect representation . kind of like the haiku condensation
help me rhonda blah
trial baboons reinvent life
today here we are
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Mn-Tx… I agree with you, Malaysia has a lot more personality than Singapore (not that I don’t like Singapore… just saying). I traveled there almost 15 years ago and loved the winding roads and the roadside stands. I couldn’t resist all the spices and fruits. (Of course, this was the only time I’ve been stopped by Customs in all my travels and here I was with my suitcase full of plastic bags with various powders in them. Luckily none of the powders were white!) Although I don’t think anything will ever intice me into trying the Durian!
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I would love to try durian — I’ve heard it smells like crap but tastes like heaven. Are they banned in enclosed spaces?
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J – smells like crap is putting it mildly……….
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I STRONGLY advise against trying the durian. Had some that was a candy once-the aftertaste was with me for weeks, it was not a good one.
I like wild game, strong, salty black licorice and stinky cheeses, so I think I am not a flavor wimp-but that stuff-eeeooooooo-not for the western palate sez I.
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The durian is a noble fruit, the King of Fruits in fact 😉
In my personal experience it smells fine up close – but if your neighbour brought some home, then it can get a little hairy. I love me some durian. My husband went to a Vietnam restaurant once (before we met) and ordered a durian smoothie — they refused to let a blondie have it.
Durians are banned in enclosed spaces in Singapore — a country that also banned chewing gum.
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VietnamESE! I meant Vietnamese!
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MN-TX, now that a blog entry made you fall out of your chair, you are truly initiated. Some of us spew coffee or tea that we have begun to swallow…
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I am late to the party, and bereft of original thought. (Hmm – maybe I should be in politics rather than web content…nah. I don’t think I could wear my purple Birkenstocks on Capitol Hill.)
Huzzah for Dictator for Life Dale!
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Note – aren’t Birkenstocks the official footwear of hippies? Tim – do you concur? (just having some fun with you, Anna!)
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I hope so… I own 7 pairs!
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This is so weird — but I could have sworn I heard Bill Kling’s voice do a station ID on Radio Heartland.
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Oops — maybe it was one of the other classical announcers that sort of sounds like him — can’t remember his name. I need to take this cottom out of my ears …
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Was he asking for money and telling you how important you are?
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Joanne in Big Lake Neigh, neigh, neigh! Birkenstocks are a European sandal that became popular in the late 1980s or early 1990s, with a special cachet among nurses and doctors. Too late to be a hippie thing, if you are talking *real* hippies (late 60s, early 70s). The Earth Shoe was footwear item popular in the 1970s. They had a fat toe box and negative heel, reversing most thinking about what makes footwear glamorous. I taught a lot of writing classes wearing Earth Shoes.
No, real hippies mostly wore bare feet. Wannabe middle-class hippies had washed feet. The real thing went about in unwashed feet, as I recall.
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Tis true, steve. Tis sad, but true. Dirtty feet. And as a college friend of mine said, carrying a guitar you cannot play and a book of Satre you had not read.
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Keep forgetting that I want to tell you, the Satre and guitar comment has had me smiling all day.
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Oh yes, I remember the Earth Shoes. Almost bought a pair myself in college, but probably ended up with something a tad more fashionable. Right you are guys.
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Presently I am wearing my Birkies on doctor’s orders (broken toe – so lots of room for said broken toe and a firm foot bed). The current pair has a festive pattern on the straps – they are not the heavy-duty, plain brown variety, but still Birks.
Whether or not my feet are washed (or tucked in an Earth Shoe), I was born too late to be a true hippie, Macalester education not-withstanding. Alas. I can still pretend, right?
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Anna, I think you are an honorary hippie, from what I know of you.
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Does it help my hippie cred to say that I have participated in peaceful protest, including at an Armed Services recruiting station? (Okay, it was the 80s, during the Iran-Contra hearings, but still…) And I have been to a Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie concert (together with Arlo’s son – at the State Fair)…
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Had my first pair of Birks in 1974 (don’t ask me why I remember this), but I was out in the Bay Area, CA.
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I bought my first Birkies a little earlier, maybe 1972, also in San Francisco, visiting a friend who already had a pair. Still wearing that first pair…plus additionals. Got the newest pair on right now.
Go, Birkies!
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What!? I just voted.
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Inconceivable! Voting is closed — must be a write-in ballot from elsewhere. Dale the Beneficent Despot will have to look at it and determine if it’s valid. Did you leave any odd marks? Write in “lizard people” anywhere? Scratch off your first vote and change your mind? This throws a wrench into the monkey. What shall we do?
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No matter what you’ve lost, be it a home, a love, a VOTE,
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!
(I think it was Jeff Esworthy’s voice this morning)
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Yes, thank you, Nils. I knew it wasn’t Starek, Birge, Newhouse, Child, etc., and Jeff’s name wasn’t coming to mind.
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Man, this thing is all over the MAP today! Haven’t seen y’all this rowdy since we did our last goat production…
Dale, thanks for putting together the Haiku — it’s really rather impressive to read one right after the other…
Last time I worked with (for) someone who called herself BD (Benevelent Dictator), it didn’t go so well. But I realize someone else (that I can’t find now) chimed in with the Benevelent part that you call yourself dictator-for-life, so maybe it’ll be ok.
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Found it, ’twas Clyde’s “benevelent despot”…
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Regarding your recent ‘cutting lose’ from the tangled ribbons of public radio, I recently made my feelings (disappointment, confusion, frustration) known to the powers that be in the grand offices of MPR. Seems a station that prides itself on unique offerings would be grateful (thank their lucky stars, even) to have and hold a talent who provided 34 years of conversation, of wit, of heart to said station, and to the people listening at home (and in their cars and in their offices). I’m not sure the exact definition of ‘dunderheaded’, but this decision seemed to fall into that category. Today I received their response, and I can now add ‘shock’ to the list of negative emotions. There, amidst the “blah-blah-blah” and the “blah-blah-blah” was the following item:
“Radio Heartland will continue to be programmed on a daily basis by people who love folk, alt-rock, and country. We are also planning on bringing new talent and new programming to Radio Heartland. ”
New talent?! New talent?! What the for-crying-out-loud heck? Nobody can replace you (pitty the fool who tries), you were the heart and the land of Radio Heartland. Your voice, or no voice, to my way of thinking. Those were the days, let it be, kumbaya.
The letter was signed by one Craig Rhode (Member Benefits – 1 800 228 7123 Minnesota Public Radio/ Classical South Florida Radio American Public Media”)
Perhaps that’s the spine of the problem: How can Classical South Florida ever understand Heartland Minnesota?
As ever,
CNB
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Cindy (and others) As I anticipated, Dale has indicated he doesn’t want us to hate MPR for its treatment of him. I think he knows a face or two that rightfully would be printed on the porcelain bowls of our toilets, but their identity is his secret and will remain so. In my experience, good-hearted people are comically inept at hatred. My mom set out to kill a business enemy of my father’s, using black chants and a bloody voodoo doll to afflict him with testicular cancer. She launched her campaign in 1970, and the SOB lives still (although I’m pleased to report he doesn’t feel very well). We are Heartlanders, doomed by large hearts to be good at caring for goats but clumsy at spewing bile. Faced with injustice and stupidity, we Heartlanders just shake our heads in disbelief and then go waltzing with bears. It is who we are.
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You are so right, Steve. When I wrote my letter to Bill Kling, I wanted to say something just a little nasty, but I just couldn’t allow myself. I wanted it to be a nice, professional, business letter to let him know how I felt — served up with a little shame on the side.
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A voodoo doll? Seriously?
I’m not into revenge or hating much at this stage of my life-I think I have outgrown it, mostly anyway.
I feel like I need to send MPR a break-up letter or something-we’ve both changed, and there really does not seem to be much point in staying in a relationship based only on past history.
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I’m a newcomer to this blog. I never knew it existed… I live 75 miles from St Paul so when TMS went away, it took with it all my joy in the morning. For awhile I tuned in to the local MPR station. I heard the now infamous phrase about ‘only classical music,’ and though I love classical music, my heart was broken. I grieved, alone out here, and have not found anything at all to make me smile in the morning since that long ago December day.
I tuned in to Radio Heartland at work occasionally but I had to keep the volume really low so as not to bother my coworkers and I missed a lot. I read the TB a few times, but not often enough to realize that former Morning Show fans had actually connected on a blog. The whole concept of blogging is cool but new to me.
Then last week I heard Dale say that tomorrow would be his last day! I gasped, “WHAT?” and checked out the blog. And now I can’t stop reading these posts. I could lose my job! This is a serious distraction for me.
I confess to being a parasitic non-member, listener to MPR. (I think maybe “lurker” describes it.) Yes, I’ve lurked out here for years. But I’m also low-income and my budget must be balanced before I support someone else’s and it hasn’t been easy to do. So, I couldn’t threaten anybody with my sustaining membership when they let Dale go, but I cried and cried right along with the rest of you. I tried to express my feelings to someone I thought was a friend and the response I got was something like what must have been in that letter that all of you received. So I turned to this blog and cried, red swollen eyes at my desk at work, a garbage can full of kleenex. They think I’m nuts here, but I thought I might never hear any of Dale’s wit again…
But here he is! It’s really wonderful! You’re such a great writer, Dale. I hope you have some time to consider your next steps and that you go on and on! I still miss TMS but maybe there’s some future that none of us can see yet. I’m sure you know that Minnesota has a number of Independent Public Radio (IPR) stations. Is there some way you could distribute a program to those? I’d even stop buying groceries to support one of them if you did! I’d finally request a song: “Turning Toward the Morning,” by Gordon Bok.
Anyway, here’s my haiku attempt:
I like Blevins but
I also like Bruneau and
Dale in the morning.
I want to be a Baboon. I never imagined myself saying something like that.
Krista
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Krista… I must have been typing my last missive while you were typing. Welcome to the Wonderful World of not getting your work done because you’re checking the blog! Especially now that you have to check the WHOLE blog to see who has replied to whom!
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Welcome. More than one of us here has been in that kind of $ bind.
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Welcome Krista! Pull up a chair and join the club…
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Welcome indeed to this congress, where Dale has wisely ensured that membership is not tied to money.
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Hi Krista!
Thanks for joining us and many thanks for your compliments.
Please visit and comment as often as you like but don’t lose your job over it. That’s no fun.
And always, always leave money to buy groceries. We want you healthy!
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Welcome Krista! You are alone no more.
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krista,
we knew you were out there and that some day you might come in and say hi. thanks for doing it so nicely. the blog doesn’t need to be turned down and i hear productivity and quality of work goes up dramatically if you can incorporate smiles and laughter into your day, so the trial baboon could be presented as and work tool rather than a distraction.
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I totally like this idea…
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OK, maybe not “hate”, but be seriously “disillusioned with” works for me.
Friend of mine got a personal response from Valerie on behalf of Bill… said that the Classical and Current need for resources grew faster, which was a problem due to the poor economy. My friend says “How many resources could the “Current” suck up? All the music sounds the same and every time I listen to it… I want to kill myself.”
Joanne… I know you wrote an actual letter, like my friend. Did you get a response?
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I have not received a reply yet. It’s great to hear from Krista and Cindy Near the Bear and Jean (who voted — late I guess — hope she didn’t get scared away by my attempt at humor).
When I first replied to this about 20+ minutes ago, the entire web site shut down. Hope it doesn’t happen again!
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Thank you for that bit of enlightenment, Cindy.
I think I have just solved my moral dilemma about needing to contribute to what I am listening to. I am realizing that nothing I listen to at this point is produced by MPR. NPR and the BBC and other public stations around the country, yes, but nothing at MPR.
I always hear that a portion of my membership goes to NPR and the national stuff, so I have decided to support a station that still is carrrying things I like as part of their main broadcast, so that kind of programming still gets my vote, and will listen with a conscience that is clean as a whistle to NPR and the BBC, Thistle and Shamrock, etc, etc.
My personal choice is Wisconsin Public Radio, which seems to not have outgrown the things I loved as a grad student, such as Simply Folk, Old Time Radio Drama (which, no, I never heard those shows the first time around, but did hear rebroadcasts doing the dishes with my mother as a teenager and learned to love that humor), Whad’ya Know, etc., etc.
Best of all, I think I can probably listen to all of that online, or heaven help me, switch to listening to podcasts.
Time will tell.
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To the Best of Our Knowledge is available as a podcast from WPR. It’s thoughtful and intellectual, but somehow friendly, too.
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Glad to meet you, Cindy Near Big Bear and Krista!
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Hey everybody…
I’m late too today and it’s been fun to read “…all over the map…” as someone up above said.
You’re all crazy- in a good way… but you sure do make me smile…
No birkies for me; never have wore sandals, haven’t gone barefoot since I stepped on that nail down by the barn when I was just a wee lad… but I have lousy feet too; inherited my Dad’s flat feet… had a pony tail for a while… until I lost too much hair on top and then the pony tail just looked…. silly. I wear earrings; that count for anything?
One old drivers license photo I looked like David Crosby from CSN&Y but that’s just ‘stoned’ not ‘hippy’… (I wasn’t! Just looked that way…)
Was out this morning getting my CPR certification… so I’m ready now if Mort goes down…
(…sorry; is that out of line…?)
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STOP THE PRESS–
OK, now hold on just a minute; there’s more than meets the eye here!
I had this blog entry delivered by email at 6AM this morning and IT’S NOT THE SAME BLOG! THE STORY HAS BEEN CHANGED!
Here, then, is what I received:
(Same photo)
“Don’t believe the ranting of the mainstream media!
Babs was always their darling, but the people had something else in mind, and when the counting was all done the winner of our “Name The Baboon” contest was Blevins in an amazing never-was-behind victory!
It was mentioned in the comments yesterday, but since I can’t play it for you it bears repeating that there is a You Tube video of the Austin Lounge Lizards performing the song that gave our mascot his name.
[video omitted by editor]
Blah blah blah? Old Blevins is an amateur!
A lot of casual listeners think this song is a condemnation of other people who happen to be boring, but for me the key line is “My memories of that evening fuel an inner mounting fear that I might become Old Blevins anywhere that they sell beer.”
And really, who needs beer? Sometimes a microphone is enough.
Speaking of brevity, here is a compilation of the Commencement Haiku authored by the Trail Baboon community two days ago, arranged in the order they came in. If you are ever asked to be the keynote speaker at a graduation, my advice is to pick one of these and use it. Don’t read them all.
Otherwise, you might become Old Blevins.”
[Haiku’s omitted by editor here]
I DECLARE POLL TAMPERING!
… oh, yeah… that’s what Dale said in the first place…. ….. …. never mind.
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Clever, Ben. Very Clever.
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Move over Dale and let me sit beside you:
The HR director of our company sent me an email at 4:30 (picked it up at home) when all know I leave work at 4 saying she wants to make an appointment to drive down from St. Cloud to see me.
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Oh dear, Clyde. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
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Clyde I’m thinking of you and hoping the meeting isn’t bad news.
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Good luck Clyde.
You could always try a Major Major. Climb in and out the window.
I believe the only way you can see him is when he isn’t in.
And pity the poor HR directors of the world.
Nobody is happy to have a surprise meeting with them.
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Clyde… time for another cyber-candle, I think.
And on a side note… tried to explain the Trail Baboon to my book club tonight. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t pretty, especially when I tried to explain the Blevins election.
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Well, if we are going to Catch 22, and I can do a lot of Catch 22, its Major Major Major. That is one of the few parts of the book that translated well into the movie.
Funny how it struck me as odd you did nor know it is a woman. Heh, heh.
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Hopefully there is not too much to read into the timing-I find most people just assume you are on their schedule, not yours-especially when they are at work.
Thinking good thoughts.
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The comment about Dale’s writing struck me. Now is the time to dust off that pen and move it out of the way so you can type up your first novel Dale!
You already have a play under your belt. MonicaCam! I remember just after the play when you and Jim Ed were at the fair. My wife and I watched the show, wandered off to tractor hill and took the skyway. Midway we got stuck and who should be in the cars going the other way making their escape Dale and Nancy in one car followed by Jim Ed and Gus in the next skycar! We discussed monicacam and you seemed surprised that people occupying a skycar would have attended. Well now be surprised that we still remember MonicaCam. You made poor Beth change shirts what 50 times during the course of the show?
Time to branch out a bit.
I would love to read the Bubby Spamdan Murder mystery series. Maybe in the first book the killer leaves an early morning caffeine fueled haiku at the scene of the crime!
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Is Bubby the perp or the detective (I know he can’t be the victim, because, well, then it couldn’t be a series in his name-come to think of it, I can’t really see Bubby writing haiku either)?
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Bubby would be be the detective, trying to solve the murders to impress Gloria.
Unlike most fictional detectives like Nero Wolfe or Agatha Christie who rely on their impressive brains. Bubby would succeed by shear awkwardness. I imagine Bubby leaping from far fetched conclusion to another, but by his tenacious nature (could you stay a sophomore for 20 years?) he always manages to be in the right place when the fates reveal the killer, and takes credit for the work of fate just the same!
For example, if Bubby tried to arrange the common detective ploy of gathering with all the suspects in one room to trick the killer into revealing themselves it would fail in a spectacular way, causing Bubby a great deal of embarrassment. Which in turn leads to a series of plausible but silly events the reveal the killer.
well that is what I read on the dust jacket cover in my mind anyway.
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EAR WORM!!! I can’t get “Old Blevins” out of my head!!! Help!!!
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Sing Rootin Tootin Cowboy Joe-It cures all ear worms!
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As I reread her message, it does not sound very ominous, or she disguises it well. Part of my paranoia comes from the fact that I did three major screw-ups today. Oh, also, came close to getting hit by a cop car who was chasing a car without a siren on. How life comes in bunches. And my wife took another major step downhill today. Sigh.
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Clyde – you’ve had one helluva day. My heart goes out to you as I’ve followed your early morning encounter with pit bull to HR Director meeting. Now that you’ve gotten your near disasters out of the way, tomorrow will be a great new day. We’re all here for you.
Just as a side note — my husband has finally gotten a temporary job. Unfortunately, it’s a 3rd shift factory job. Kind of sucky, but it’s income for now and we’re grateful. If there are any Electronic Tech, Medical Assembly or cell phone retail-type positions you know of in St. Cloud or west metro of Twin Cities, let me know!
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sorry to hear about your wife. in my prayers
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i agree Dale must write a book; i work in a bookstore and i will hand sell it like crazy!
when times are tough people need humor
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Don’t mind me – just practicing my link addition.
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again
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