Gelkote

I was walking past Cherie’s record collection today when my eye caught a most interesting record sleeve proclaiming the virtues of records.  What surprises me is how wordy the entire thing is.  It’s like a PowerPoint presentation gone horribly wrong.

Records Give You More Of What You Want

Here’s How Records Give You More Of What You Want:

• The Best For Less. Records give you top quality for less money than any other recorded form.

• They Allow Selectivity Of Songs And Tracks. With records it’s easy to pick out the songs you want to play, or to play again a particular song or side.  All you have to do is lift the tone arm and place it where you want it.  You can’t do this as easily with anything but a phonograph record.

• They’re The Top Quality In Sound. Long-playing phonograph records look the same now as when they were introduced in 1948, but there’s a world of difference.  Countless refinements and developments have been made to perfect the long-playing record’s technical excellence and insure the best in sound reproduction and quality available in recorded form.

• They’ll Give You Hours Of Continuous And Uninterrupted Listening Pleasure. Just stack them up on your automatic changer and relax.

• They’re Attractive, Informative And Easy To Store. Record albums are never out of place.  Because of the aesthetic appeal of the jacket design, they’re beautifully at home in any living room or library.  They’ve also got important information on the backs – about the artists, about the performances or about the program.  And because they’re flat and not bulky, you can store hundreds in a minimum of space and still see every title.

• If It’s In Recorded Form, You Know It’ll Be Available On Records. Everything’s on long-playing records these days … your favorite artists, shows, comedy, movie sound tracks, concerts, drama, documented history, educational material … you name it.  This is not so with any other kind of recording.

• They Make A Great Gift. Everybody you know loves music.  And practically everyone owns a phonograph.  Records are a gift that says a lot to the person you’re giving them to. And they keep on remembering.

And Remember…It Happens First On Records.

Crate of Records

I accidentally discovered the concept of Ghost Signs today while looking something else up on the Internet. Ghost signs are faded signs on the side of barns and brick buildings. You’ve probably seen them before but never given them much thought. Mail Pouch anyone?

There are Flickr groups and websites devoted to ghost signs in specific towns such as those in Philadelphia and Chicago.

Without thought, I captured an Eveready Flashlights & Batteries ghost sign while on Christmas holiday in WV.

Caboose with Ghost Sign – New Martinsville, WV – December 26th, 2008

More pictures for the cube but this time with a theme!

Bath Time

Crazy Leg

Two Nuns

The Pimp – “View at Red Wood Landing”

While in Louisville for IdeaFest ’08, I picked up a documentary called My Porcelain Past which captures the last day of a 32 year old White Castle forced to close over a lease disagreement. Thousands came out that December day in 1988 to bid farewell, share stories and demonstrate an awesome sense of community. I wonder in this day and age what kind of institution would be necessary to draw the same crowds and spirit.

My Porcelain Past – A farewell party of gastronomic proportions.

The 20 minute documentary is up on YouTube in two parts or you can hit me up for my copy.

The commotion of the holidays is finally behind us and that means time to look forward. No, not Spring or warmer weather but I like how you think. I’m talking about New Years resolutions. The good intentions we throw out at the start of the new year but never manage to keep.

For 2009, I’m thinking I’d like to take more pictures, read more, write more and exercise more. My Dad and Sister Lea are really putting me to shame in latter. I should probably drink less and not snack quite as much. I should communicate better with Cherie and travel back to WV more. In the end, I need to try to be a better me but is that really a resolution? It’s not as sexy as some but certainly more encompassing and perhaps even do able. Enter a book Cherie picked up for my birthday named Life and Labors of Pope Leo XIII.

Life and Labors of Pope Leo XIII – Maurice Francis Egan

The book was gifted on Mother’s Day 1934 but at some point turned into a scrapbook of interesting nuggets pasted within. The eclectic contents include the lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic, an article on a 20 foot wide roadway going up Pikes Peak in Colorado and a snippet of where US Presidents are Buried. The last president noted was Warren G. Harding. The next president Calvin Coolidge didn’t die until 1929 so the yellowed article is at least that old. The book also contains information on poets and poetry which is where I was introduced to Edgar A. Guest.

Picture of Edgar A. Guest and his Poetry

You know I’m not one to regurgitate history that can be found more thoroughly on the web so you can Google Edgar Guest or check out Wikipedia. The point of this post is how one of his poems called My Creed really hits home when it comes to New Year’s resolutions and how we should live our lives. Below is Edgar Guest’s My Creed as pasted into the book.

To Live each day as though I may never see the morrow come; to be strict with myself, but patient and lenient with others; to give the advantage, but never ask for it; to be kindly to all, but kindlier to the less fortunate; to respect all honest employment; to remember always that my life is made easier and better by the service of others, and to be grateful.

To be tolerant and never arrogant; to treat all men with equal courtesy; to be true to my own in all things; to make as much as I can of my strength and the day’s opportunity, and to meet disappointment without resentment.

To be friendly and helpful wherever possible; to do, without display of temper or of bitterness, all that fair conduct demands; to keep my money free from cunning or the shame of a hard bargain; to govern my actions so that I may fear neither reproach nor misunderstanding nor words of malice or envy, and to maintain, at whatever temporary cost, my own self-respect.

To keep faith with God, my fellow men, and my country.

This is my creed and my philosophy. I have failed it often, and shall fail it many times again; but by these teachings of my mother and my father I have lived to the best of my ability; laughed often, loved, suffered, grieved, found consolation and have prospered. By friendships I have been enriched, and the home I have builded has been happy. EDGAR A. GUEST

There you have it folks, the end all be all of New Year’s resolutions. If Edgar Guest could have lived his life to be a better person so can all of us.

Here’s to a reflective and growing 2009!