All posts by tim

i sell stuff, i love my family, art, music, political involvement, intellegent discussion, low stakes card games, guitar jams and a hat that fits just right.
The Baboon Congress

hats

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today’s post comes from tim.

hats are my love 

i have even given it the true test and i still am a hat guy. i made it a business.

i buy and sell hats on ebay

when i was a kid i liked hats. then i grew up to be an adolescent and i liked hats still but i was lucky to grow up in hippy days so me and arlo guthrie got to wear hats together, then hair dryers came into vogue and hat hair was not cool. i had big hair and was wearing suits with creases on the pant legs and crisp white shirts and then as styles changed and casual fridays became casual lifestyle in general, my bald spot turned into a baloney ring as all my hair went away. my hair length went einstein to mr clean over this time frame and hats came back. about 15 years ago i started buying stuff on ebay and the end result was that i fell back in love with hats and i started in on a mission to become the hat guy and today i am the hat guy. i am primarily a fedora guy. a fedora is the humphrey bogart kind of hat, but there are variations in fedoras,  pork pies is the jazz mans hat ala charlie parker, snap brim is the tom landry rob petrie kind of hat, homburg is the winston churchill, class act kind of hat, straw optima is charlie chan

then there are specialty hats… bowler from laurel and hardy and charlie chaplin,

boater from maurice chevalier or gene kelly, caps like a british racing guy, smokey the bear has a campaign hat just like teddy roosevelt, and then we go to western, lbj’s cattleman’s crease, hopalong cassidy and his gus style, roy rogers and the marlboro man offering that cowboys classic look…

today i see a movie and the hats are just there for most people. i am distracted by them. i go to a play at the guthrie or the musical at the different venues around town and i see hats that are not the right hats. they are close but this play took place in the fifties and the brim size on a hat in the 50’s was 2 ½ inch to 2 ⅝ inch and they are wearing a 2 ‘ that didn’t come into fashion until the 60’s. or why would a classy guy like that wear a cheesy hat to go with the nice suit?  

i love the westerns where the hats are a dead giveaway as to the true identity of the character. every now and again they have a hat that doesn’t fit at all but usually the hat tells all.

do you have any in depth knowledge that goes unnoticed by the rest of the world?

The Baboon Congress

tub time for tim

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Header image: “Rubber duckies So many ducks” by gaetanlee. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons

today’s post comes from tim

life forms habits. when these habits are disrupted for whatever reason it can be traumatic. it can be annoying it can be revealing.

my habit back to the mid 70’s when i first bought my own house and didnt have to be worrying about others i the bathroom in the morning has been to take a long soaking bath with music tv cigarettes and a pot of french roast. reading the news paper and getting my day in order. an hour, 5 cigarettes and 4 cups of coffee was the usual agenda. newspaper could be finished in that time with the tv blasting out david hartman or diane sawyer in the background.

80s brought a new era where smoking had to move outdoors and the day started with one cigarette on the front porch and up to the tub with the paper coffee and switch form tv to radio in the morning. it was still tub based but the activities were becoming the driver.
the 90’s brought mpr and swimming pool i quit smoking and started raising kids and dealing with the rat race but still the bath in the morning was the respite to start the process.

i moved into a house in the 2000’s with a big old whirlpool tub in the bedroom and i found a late night soak at midnight or an early morning bath at 5 were wonderful ways to find a little peace and quiet and a time to work out the trials and tribulations of life. my kids picked up the tradition and there was a steady stream of soakings clocked on the hot tub.

our new house is a nice house with a main bath for the upstairs bedrooms a master bath with a shower off our bedroom and a bath with a shower downstairs for the bedrooms the boys use down there. so there is one tub. it has the typical set up and when you fill it up the drain lever up by your toes it drains o the bottom of that thing the lever sticks out of. did i get bigger or was it always set up so your torso sticks out of the bath water about 1/2 way. the tub was a morning hot spot with people getting ready for school and by the time it cleared out i was looking at a later start to the day than was ok.

my wife suggested that we look at a hot tub and i jumped at the thought. i found one and enlisted my boys to help me move it. no way… it weighs way too much and is way to difficult to move so i hired tub movers and when they dropped it off i took their cards for an electrician to wire it up and found it was a thousand dollars to wire it up. so plan be went into play. got a buddy who has a brain for electrician kind of stuff an away we went. 3 nights of pulling wires through pvc piping and gluing corners and lengths of pipe to the side of the house with circuit breakers and breaker boxes being placed where they needed to go and zip zap there was a tub in the back yard. its my new respite and gets used a time or two a day for a highlight of my day at 5 in the morning at midnight when its 10 below or 20 above i haven gotten to do it in the heat of summer yet but i bet it will be ok with lemonade

i find silence and reflection are the current mode. i need time to think and reflect and found a way to get er done.

rub a dub dub

the day starts in a tub

and life is a place to be

no butcher no baker

no candlestick maker

just the moon and the stars and me

what makes life work for you? 

The Baboon Congress

ten event tim

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today’s post comes from tim

i was out walking the other day with the dogs and remembered that the spot where i was walking is the spot where as a 14 year old steve gross and i ran full speed in a moment of youthful exhunerance to celebrate life and the moment at hand. steve was a great track star and was the anchor leg on the 440 relay. on this particular day i beat him because i had the gods of physical nature allowing me to open it up to my full potential . i was a baseball guy and track always looked like a lot of work the people in track enjoyed it but it still looked like a lot of work. baseball was skill stuff with a theme and i loved baseball. i realized that in track i could do some things well but never the best in the world. there were faster guys, stronger guys, guys who would always be better than me at a particular event but what dawns on me the other morning is that i am a decathlete. jim thorpe in the 30’s , bob richards in the 60s bruce jenner in the 70’s all did it and i loved them for it. the decathalon is a series of events that add up to the best all around athelete possible. i was recalling the great feeling of being able to run so well on that day. i knw was quick but didnt realize i could run fast enough to beat steve ever…

The decathlon is a two-day miniature track meet designed to ascertain the sport’s best all-around athlete. Within its competitive rules, each athlete must sprint for 100 meters, long jump, heave a 16-pound shotput, high jump and run 400 meters — all in that very order — on the first day. On the second day the athlete runs a 110 meter hurdle race over 42 inch barriers, hurls the discus, pole vaults, tosses a javelin and, at the end of the contest, races over 1500 meters, virtually a mile.

my aha moment while out walking the dogs was that i am not a sprinter or a distance runner or a discus thrower or a high jumper but i am better than ok at all those things and when factored into the equation in the big picture i was a great combination of all the above guy. so it is with life. i am not the best at anything but i am pretty good at a bunch of different things. i have been asked why i dont focus on one area and become an expert at it and i always reply that i just cant to it. i need to check out all the options. i know a lot about a little and a little about a lot. i hope to be able to make that work for me in the overall big picture of life.

when i was young it had to do with math equations, bike riding and being able to hit a baseball, as i grew older it switched to being able to perform expected tasks for the people i worked with and trying to find a way to better myself in areas that interested me for enjoyment and goalsetting.
as i settle into my pattern i hope i have a program set up where i can maintain the required bobbing and weaving and find a way to make the world a better place along the way for myself and others.

if i can stay one step ahead of the devil and find a little joy along the way it will be a good race.my decathalon has less to do with atheleticn prowess and more to do with making other aspects of life work.

what are your goals for 2016?

News, Poems

what am i saying

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Header image of epic poet Homer is from Homer and His Guide, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), portraying Homer on Mount Ida, beset by dogs and guided by the goat herder Glaucus.   This image is in the public domain

Today’s post comes from tim

at concerts by daughters singing songs of the season
wondering if Muslims and Jews see the reason
that Donald is finding what Adolph would find
that solutions are easy if you disregard humankind

more dead in 5 weeks caused by hand guns it’s true
than have died due to terrorist since 2002
the NRA lobby owns the congressmen souls
with contributions gleaned from assault weapon holes

this ho ho ho season needs a bit of rethinking
while claiming peace love and unity what are they drinking
the world is messed up circa 2015
we’re right and were left but theres no in between

Americas crying out for a solution that works
get the others to think like me the stupid old jerks
it may be the most interesting of election
and cause centrist minds to rely on reflection

even if Hillary isn’t your lead pipe cinch
if the choice is tea party she’ll do in a pinch
Donald  Ben Ted and Marco have the pundits all pacing
troubled times we live in and the problems were facing

when news is for revenue instead of for knowledge
presented for grade school instead of for college
capitalizing on fears of the ignorant masses
looking through blinders not  rose colored glasses

the doors swinging open for change to occur
fixing problems by voting for him or for her
it’s never been easy being a tightrope dancer
can we put aside bickering and work toward an answer

the news is the thing that repeats in our ear
it’s driven by rating  points soars when it’s fear
how about working to find answers to whys
instead of the posture that points fingers and cries

I hope we find closure with the best woman or best man
poor republican candidates becoming inside out yes men
or Donald who seems to enjoy shock value tactics
making political gymnasts do poll response back flips

the front page of world papers as the USA pigs
haven’t been seen since w left after he finished his gig
Donald Ben Ted or Mario all are so lame
Hillary should take it with match set and game

republicans stop while for whom the bell tolls
when decision popularity is measured in polls
the worlds a mess and Fox News a main reason
we all hate it again when its campaign news season

instead of 8 minutes before weather and sports
news has become cancer prime time with warts
the world is connected with social media dude
so get used to the idea of politically rude

Obama found out and Hillary will too
that an agendaed opponent hopes that you get screwed
they’ll do what they can to make straight lines go curving
then site your inaction as why they’re deserving

I think Donald Ben Ted and Marco will rewrite the Way
Americans view the right to vote on this day
it’s no longer a privilege that makes you feel proud
it makes you resort to a whimpering sound

I hope the world heals, be a shame if it doesn’t
the possible wonderful mess that just simply wasn’t
here’s hoping that holiday cheer will promote
the view that a pleasant feeling will emote

if only we try to let concern stay on track
and stop trying to heap ugly stuff on your back
if hatred and fear are the topics we lead with
it’s sadness and division we can be guaranteed with

look to the people who want to make good
on the promise to their kids hat life will be good
the golden rule spoken is all that need to be said
peace on earth to your fellow man now go to bed

The Baboon Congress

instant inspiration

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Today’s post comes from tim

i remember hearing about , i think i even read the book by amy tan about the travelers to myanmar   (burma… siam) where the story came to her in one sitting and she simply sat down at the desk and out it came from her brain to her fingers to the page to our published finished product. well it was a pretty good book and i think the bridges of madison county came about the same way if i remember  the way that story goes… it seems a bit hokey but the truth is the magic is in us and the release is the thing we all search for.

i was watching monday night football last night and one of he running backs who was having a great night had been asked why he is doing so well this year and he said he just quit thinking about running and let his legs run. i think that is the way it is with life and with all great things on the planet. you dont need to over anaylize them , you just let them go and kind of follow along like water down  the driveway to the curb to the hill to the drain pipe on the corner. if it is engineered correctly and life often times is… we can wake up,  let the flow carry us as it should and hopefully the destination is a more ideal setting than the drainpipe on the corner but the destination has likely been charted to be no surprise by the steps we take.

my sons two favorite movies are good will hunting and shawshank redemption. he can watch these over and over again. in one the hero is a smart guy who does his job and the end result is that the bad guys turn out to be the heads of the prison and he escapes from their suppression and they get caught and in the other the hero is a guy who is super smart and has the challenge of figuring out his way in the worlld. his role , who he loves and how he faces it with the help of another person who struggled in a similar fashion.

it is interesting where the stories and lessons of life take us. where our fingertips  take us  if we  let them. it is automatic as can be. this is not the best damn blog entry ever written but it took my fingers little time to get it down and out the chute.

what would you write if the word you just typed couldn’t be taken back and the next one was coming up whether you liked it or not? how would the stories unfold if your fingers took over for your  brain? automatic writing 101 anyone?

start with the first  word that enters your mind and follow it with he next and see where it takes you. fun stuff this mindless drivel

produce. maybe you will be better.

ready set go!!!

The Baboon Congress

tim tackles time

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today’s post comes from tim

my 28 year old son made the comment the other day that his friends who were giving him crap about not being available as much once he got into a relationship was seeing the other side of the equation now that they got involved in a relationship and are now not able to get away themselves.  he laughed and mentioned that he was going to try to put together an event that would call them together so they wouldn’t lose the friendships out of attrition. i was about to suggest that he set it up for every two months because the every month get together is too easy to miss. if its every two months the missing of oen meeting makes a 4 month void which either is a big deal or the premise was wrong to begin wit.

this got me thinking about time chunks. if a year is 365 days and a season is 90 ish days long and a month is 30 and a day is 24 hours…. what does it say about the decisions we make regarding the comings and goings of a time chunk?

i love the christmas feeling of goodwill and the side of people that comes out to greet the season. i got to thinking if christmas were every  6 months it would lose its effect. the time is perfect for a renewal without feeling harassed.

the seasons are perfect 90 days of spring followed by 90 days of summer followed by 90 days of fall then  winter to be done in order once again next time with a variation of the glob to be realized during and after it is experienced. fall 2015 has been mild, winter has been easy on the shoulder hunchers and downright mean to the winter outdoor enthusiasts. if summers warm got issed the way winters cold is mieed this year we would have wailing and gnashing of teeth. . people in san diego and equador lose the urgency to do it today because the time of this cycle is real.

our book club meets every 2 months because every month  is too often. my card palying group plays once a month because we need one  night  a month to call our own the group is not particlarly close but has an appreciation for the celebration of coming together once a month for reknewal and commrodarie in the name of the time gods.

if a day was 12 hours long and the planet sun a little faster so the day of work play and sleep had to happen in a 12 hour instead of a 24 hour frame it would be schitzo. if the day were 30 hiurs long would it be nice to have a little more time to ge tthngs done but what would we do with the extra 6 hours?

there was an experiment i read about ears ago where they locked people in a building with no references to time and had the days and nights blocked out and no clocks radios or references to time in the traditional sense. you could watch a movie but not on the normal 7-9 agenda you normally do it would be when you wanted and when it was over the next thing on your calendar would come up. sleep would go as long as it needed to and only as often as you demanded it.

how often would  you do what if you were the timekeeper? 

The Baboon Congress

On Flight 666 to HEL

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today’s post comes from tim

i am superstitious.

i heard the comment that i never miss a day on the blog and sure enough i missed two days in a row for the first time in however long because of the stupid busy schedule i had in front of me.
i went to the saints game the other night with my kids and my son said the pitcher had a no hitter going through 3 and sure enough the next pitch was hit for a bloop single into right, then later he said the pitcher had not had someone get a good swing at it the whole night and the next pitch was a home run for the bad guys.
we won the game but only because my son shut up. im convinced.
i will not do the number 666 or i will pass on an opportunity if it is there or be suspicious if it shows up.
13 gets my attention
heres a news item  remember from a while back when a friday the 13th happened.

(NEWSER) – Would you board flight 666 to HEL on Friday the 13th? For superstitious travelers, that might be tempting fate. But Finnair passengers on AY666 to Helsinki—which has the 3-letter designation HEL—don’t seem too bothered. Today’s flight is almost full. “It has been quite a joke among the pilots” says one Finnair veteran, who will fly the Airbus A320 from Copenhagen to Helsinki. “I’m not a superstitious man. It’s only a coincidence for me.”

The daily flight AY666 from Copenhagen to Helsinki falls on Friday the 13th twice in 2013. Some airlines, like Scandinavian Airlines, take superstitions seriously and don’t have a row 13 on board. However, the negative connotations are a relatively new phenomenon for northern Europeans, and Finnair and other regional carriers like Norwegian and Estonian Air keep row 13. As one expert on comparative folklore points out, “Less than 100 years ago, the number 13 did not have this sinister meaning; it’s quite recent in the north.”

id knock on some wood, turn around 3 times and throw some salt over my shoulder. my kids say break a leg before they go on stage, i notice baseball players who wont step on the line going on or off the field.

you?

The Baboon Congress

Down in the Data Mine

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Today’s post comes from tim

my dad told me that you could tell everything about a person by his watch. today a lot of people dont wear watches so if you wear a watch that tells something and then what you wear tells more.but i have noticed tht there is more than one way to tell a persons outlook on life.

shoes do it. you can tell exactly who a person is by their shoes.

shirt pants /outfit to a great degree this is true. the multi millionaire i coffee with freqently is a low low low key dresser but i am pretty certain when he goes to visit with his big customers and gives coprorate presentations he doesnt wear shorts and a t shirt.

your car. almost everything about a person is spoken in their choice of car. if you dont have a car that tells more than enough to tell what you need to know. as i get older i notice peoples choice in glasses, group affiliation.

as data mining has become a hot topic and how much you want people of entities to know about you it becomes how apparent and transparent you become once you start tracking/ observing/ charting for business related promotional based processes.

when i first got started in sales fingerhut was a pioneer in doing studies of who bought what. if you bought a blue set of sheets with teddy bears on them they were entered into the mega computer as blue and sheets and teddy bears and they would file that away and see if it made a difference if they sent blue or yellow or red to you on subsequent offers. then they would try teddy bears and see if they hit pay dirt and then sheets and towels and see if they could get a handle on you there. it was early test process that today has turned into the most sophisticated art form of predetermined market selection and focus where the demographics rule the beast instead of the other way around

it is a little disconcerting on your travels through life to realize that target can call out to you to inform you your brand of dog food or paper towels is on sale as you walk by them. its good to know when lyle lovett or bob dylan are coming on tour but my wife gets mad when the iphone calls out to me as we go by the trip joint. thats supposed to be a private guilty pleasure not one that gets broadcast.

custard birkenstocks autoparts record store food co op sporting goods organic tea how do you stop it once it starts its odd to realize that the next 5 things you do/ look at/ think about and act in any way on/ are in the loop forever more.

big brother was a scary unthinkable entity when i read orwells 1984 in 1969 qand thought about the fact that it was coming up pretty soon and certainly none of this stuff would be true.

wrong again buffalo breath. its all there with a variation on a theme. its interesting to look at the world though different sets of eyes. like who would buy that apple i watch anyway? and who doesnt do cable tv or texting? its a new world out there. think of what has changed in the last 40 30 20 years, and whats coming up…

i always thought 2020 was way out there. now 2050 is just around the corner.

whats coming soon at a theater near you?

The Baboon Congress

recipe for a successful blog

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Today’s guest post comes from tim

i remember seeing an article in a business study where they said that as companies were going through growth and trying to solve growth issues and deal with the ways to work best, they always broke down into manageable groups. 15 or 20 people is what they came up with as the right sized group.

more or less is possible but 15 to 20 is optimal.
i thought when i typed in “recipe for a successful blog” that i would get a lot of peoples ideas on how to do it.
it appears many people try to get a big blog with lots of followers to sell stuff or create big numbers for analytic wowsers but no one is doing it to have a group that works like a social entity.
we seem to have created an odd confab here on the trail.
the test came this summer when the idea of if we could create out own little self sustaining model was made part of the recipe equation. clyde in the midst of ailments and pain, has turned out post after post that amaze and impress. we have a cole porter of the blog venue we all visit daily. an o henry of the internet, a picasso of the world wide web. sherrilee has shined, renee is making opera in grand forks an awaited revue, linda and plain jane jom and edith will throw one in. jacque from her hotel room, steve from way the hell over there, cynthia from the past and joanne from near extinction have returned to make us smile. wessew came out of nowhere, the guy in the hat occasionally caroline , lisa are you really retired? bill thanks for explaining clydes punchlines.
(bill we need a guest blog) ben and dale have been known to make a contribution from time to time. mig and bir are all over the place and show us its ok to write guest blogs and ok not to also.
music, food, theatre, art, poetry, animals, family, the 60’s the 70’s the space program, reading suggestions, gardening tips, advice and philosophy,
i guess when i stop to think about it there is no wonder there is not a recipe for a successful blog on the google and safari search lists. its like the right pie crust if its not there you dont bother and if it is you take another bite and another and swish the succulence around in your mouth for a minute to savor the moment and then hit that invisible tick mark to remember that this is the place to come to get pie.
charels kerault retired and then died, charle osgood took over and is getting old and will leave the cbs sunday morning family to another helmsman in the next little while, cbs knows what their show is and it is now apparent that the show will shape the voice as much as the other way around.
we’ve got this damn blog thing down, does anyone have a good pie crust recipe? one for apple and one for quiche please
The Baboon Congress

Naming Planets

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Today’s guest post comes from tim.

I am feeling like the true corner on the trail is turned when we all have to go through space news heebie heebie a with the news of Pluto on the radio, on the network news and no one to tell us the baboon side of the equation

We baboons have our odd little niches. Goats, baboons, space, Ethel merman, state fair, books, gardening, cooking, haiku… Seemingly disconnected but a common uncommonality we share and are left flapping in the breeze while we go through our next phase.

I heard a person talking about how the mo on Pluto was poppycock today and that the dweebs who proclaimed it no longer a planet were the mall cops of the universe flexing their proclaimed expert status muscles to change the rules on what we can celebrate as an official planet.

It used to be Pluto was a newly found wonder and the dudes who ran the mega telescopes in the 1920’s welcomed as the unveiling of the new dawn of space brotherhood in the planetary oneness. Then it was proclaimed that with our new telescopes we could see more dwarf planets and the more and before you know it in addition to Pluto we could add Huey Dewey and Louie, sleepy dopey sneezy happy doc grumpy and bashful

Hey you’re the new planet in the universe! What are you going to do? I’m going to DIsneyworld !!!

What else do you think would be good planet naming criteria?