Had a Nice Call Last Nite...

[Sandy G]

...From our very own D-Ray. After we got over the usual niceties-Him callin' me a Reactionary Bstrd, & me retorting that he was a Liberal Stooge, we yakked about EVERYTHING from Soup to Nutz. We were worse than 2 old women, burnin' the line up for an HOUR & A HALF, yet it seemed no more than 15-20 minutes at the time...Most enjoyable ! Tried hard to sell him on the idear of comin' to Tennessee someday, maybe I succeeded...Hope so, anyhow...All in all, it was a MOST pleasant way to top off a pretty good day..Lauriann had her monthly Nurse's Meeting/Dinner Soire', & at LA's suggestion, I took out Bethany's aunt & her mother to the local Chinese eatery, afterwards we went on a little "buggy ride" thru the country, as it was a lovely evening. Next time, I'll call D-Ray, & bend HIS ear for awhile...(grin)

[JCricket]

I'm envious. Nice to have such good friends!
Thanks for sharing.
Mark

[JJIII]

Two class acts... Probably pretty far from each other politically but still able to enjoy each others company. Both assets to this forum.

[noonereal]

in support of visiting Tennessee, I was once told that Nashville housed the most beautiful women in the US, turns out this is indeed the case

[merrylander]

Not all of them I married the most beautiful one right here in Maryland.

[Sandy G]

I dunno about Nashville havin' more pretty gals than other places, but I remember going to Knoxville about 10-15 w/my buddy John the Veterinarian to UT-He's an alumnus there, and of the vet school, too- & was BLOWN AWAY by all the gorgeous gals there...I said, "Dah-Yum, John, we gotta come down here more often..." He went to see one of his profs at the Vet School, & it was like dyin' & goin' to heaven..."Tens" strollin' around EVERWHERE...It was also remarkable in the number of TALL gals, too...I'm 6', & felt SHORT...

[Fast_Eddie]

Nice. Great story. That's what it's all about.

[Sandy G]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the equally as nice-and unexpected-call that I got from Chas here awhile back. He's apparently the kind of fella whose efforts this country was built on-a small businessman, in his case, a contractor who works a small crew. His type are frequently forgotten in the struggles between the gummint, Wall Street, & the huge megacorporations. They have virtually NOBODY to speak for them in congress, yet they're the ones out there w/their butts on the line every day, trying to make ends meet for themselves & their crews..Takes a LOT of courage to do that nowadays...

[finnbow]

D-Ray and I had a good conversation a few months back as well. We'd seen each other a bunch on the AK Music Forum and then here and realized that we were kindred spirits of a sort. IIRC, the conversation focused on the trials and tribulations of our college age kids.

FWIW, my oldest son called today to report that he finished his last exam this morning. He graduates this Saturday from Virginia Tech. He'll be heading off to a very cool job where he'll be living in Seoul and travelling extensively in Korea, Japan, Alaska, Hawaii and the South Pacific. Not bad for a first job.

[d-ray657]

Now you guys watch out. You know I see through BS pretty fast.

One of the things that makes this place and AK special is that the participants tend to look through the subject matter to see the people behind the comments. I was amazed at how generous members of AK were with the huge amount of knowledge that many of them bring to the table. Same thing here. We have many here who are willing to not only talk, but also to listen. Some of what people say here makes you sit up and listen.

When I first started posting here I got a bit carried away by partisanship and rhetoric. I got called on that, and I'm glad I did. I didn't realize it at the time, but the target of my rhetoric (and not the one who called me out) was someone that I had met personally as a result of AK, and someone who I knew to be a very generous and likeable person. We still have some pretty strident arguments, but keep that rhetoric away from a personal level.

Sometimes, it seems like new posters have a hard time breaking in here, and it worries me some. If they are driven away, I am as much as fault as anyone for giving them a hard time; and yeah, I admit to giving those from the right a harder time than those from the left (although Noone and Zeke might disagree with that. ). On the other hand, I do see where the members here have established our own set of standards, and those standards boil down to engaging in a reasonable conversation, no matter what your point of view. That, and being able to take a joke. We don't always meet our standards, but I see the effort.

Thank God that the standards have not eliminated verbose blowhards, or I wouldn't have anywhere to post. Rather than my apologizing every time my post gets long, I know you guys have learned to just consider the source. Anyway, thanks to everyone for making this such an enjoyable time-drain for me.

Regards,

D-ray