all over again

The plot of the classic movie “Groundhog Day” is that Billy Murray’s character weatherman Phil Connors experiences Groundhog Day in Punxsutawny over and over again, getting things a little better each time. The music site Best Classic Bands (1) today circulated a story on the 2020 Super Bowl commercial Murray made for Jeep. I gave you a link to the extended version of that hilarious commercial in yesterday’s post (2). The BCB article goes into some detail how Murray, Jeep,and the producers worked to keep the commercial faithful to the original movie. As a bonus, they even provide a link for free streaming of the movie. So check it out (3). Just like Phil Connors in the movie, you can’t get too much Groundhog Day!

References

  1. Best Classic Bands – Celebrating the Artists, Music, and Pop Culture of the Classic Rock Era. https://bestclassicbands.com

2. Ike B. marmota momax cometh. WordPress 2/1/24. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2024/02/01/marmota-monax-cometh/

3. Best Classic Bands Staff. When Bill Murray Reprised “Groundhog Day” Role for Super Bowl Ad. BestClassicBands.com 2/2/24. https://bestclassicbands.com/bill-murray-groundhog-day-ad-jeep-super-bowl-2-2-20/

marmota monax cometh

Where did January go? On this first day of the second month, we sit on the eve of one of our most underappreciated holidays: Groundhog Day.  No one takes it seriously.  Banks remain open, no one gets a day off, and the postman still comes.   But this day – a “cross-quarter” day smack between the winter solstice and vernal (spring) equinox – has cosmic significance and deserves greater reflection than just hearing whether that Phil in Punxsutawney saw his shadow or not.  His observations aren’t even that accurate, worse than a coin flip (1).  But certainly, in Michigan it’s guaranteed to be bright and sunny on February 2nd, so of course here come 6 more weeks of winter.  But if you don’t quite know the origins of this charming tradition, and its deep roots in paganism, I urge you to take a brief read (2).

Of course, they don’t look so happy.  They’ve been in bed all winter! Also of course, the forecast for SE lower Michigan tomorrow is bright and sunny, so you know what Woody will be doing!

Once you “get” Groundhog Day, you’ll not want people to mess with it (3).

Now just for fun, indulge in 4’49” of hilarity watching Mr. Murray trying to sell a Jeep at the 2020 Super Bowl (4).

Take heart. The light is coming!

References

1. The Feed. Groundhog Day 2024: How accurate is Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction?   The Economic Times 1/31/24.  https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/groundhog-day-2024-how-accurate-is-punxsutawney-phils-prediction/articleshow/107302395.cms?from=mdr

2. Ike B.  cross quarter.  WordPress 2/1/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/02/01/cross-quarter/

3. Ike B.  don’t screw with my groundhog. WordPress 2/3/22. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2022/02/03/dont-screw-with-my-groundhog/

4. *Extended Cut* Bill Murray Jeep Gladiator ‘Groundhog Day’ Commercial w/ BehindThe Scenes Footage!  David Wilks.  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nEAkPNi9Og

thank U, MSU!

The maize-and-blue faithful here in Tree Town and around the world are emerging from this January in an unfamiliar position.  Instead of losing their bowl game at the start of the month, tucking tail, and saying “wait till next year”, they find their team is a National Champion, first time in 27 years, the twelfth time all told for a Wolverines team over their 144 seasons.  9th year coach Jimmy Harbaugh – All American quarterback hero and Bo Schembechler protégée returned home to restore Michigan Football’s faded glory – and did just that, fielding a team that ground all 15 opponents into paste, including hated rival Ohio State for the 3rd straight year.  He wasn’t on the sidelines for 6 of those contests, but that’s another story.  His team not only beat other teams, they blew up whole programs.  Legendary Nick Saban retired unexpectedly after his ‘Tide fell in the Rose Bowl.  The coach of the championship opponent Huskies, former Hoosier Kalen DeBoer, split after only 2 seasons to take the Alabama job vacated by Saban.  Ohio State’s Ryan Day, whom Harbaugh said “found himself on 3rd base and thought he’d hit a triple”, not only finds himself on the hottest seat in college football, at a school where any season in which you don’t beat Michigan is a failure.  Ryan’s got himself a triple there, with three straight losses to that team up north.  Meanwhile, funds from all Buckeye supporters are pouring in, working on their second multiple of $10 million, for NIL monies to lure prospects from the transfer portal.  To think this school got in trouble for players trading the “gold pants” trinkets they got for beating Michigan for tattoos.  When Ryan thinks of his predecessor Jim Tressell, I’m sure he thinks “amateur”.

All that was missing for Michigan was hearing the lamentations of their opponents’ women. But Jimmy is nothing if not an interesting character.  He and AD Warde Manuel had been dancing over a new contract since before the end of the regular season.  It would have made sense to give him everything he wanted, letting him ride triumphant into the post-season with a symbol of the U’s love for him.  Instead, Jimmy was left to start his annual dance, 3rd year running, with the NFL.  He’d been a successful pro coach with the Niners, leading them to 3 division championships and one Super Bowl, where he famously lost to his brother John’s Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII (2013) 31-34.  Things went horribly south the next season with the Niners management, and he was ready to be lured to greener pastures in Ann Arbor, an orchestrated seduction chronicled in John U. Bacon’s book Overtime: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football (1).

So, after that natty, Jimmy continued to provide us drama.  His speech to the adoring throngs at Crisler celebrating that championship showed a heartfelt Michigan Man, through and through, quoting from Fielding Yost, Bo, his dad, James Earl Jones, and Shakespeare (2).  This did not appear to be a man who was going anywhere.  But the dance continued, Jimmy interviewing not only with the Chargers (where he played 1999-2000) but also with the Falcons.  When the Chargers finally made an offer, 15 days after the National Championship game, UofM AD Warde Manuel finally relinquished and included a clause in Jim’s proposed contract that he would not be fired for any NCAA sanctions levied – something Jim’s lawyers had been asking for since negotiations had started the previous year.  The potential NCAA sanctions had been a double piece of BS since the get go, the first for supposed “recruiting violations” during COVID and the second for “sign stealing”, based on a cell phone-based piece of espionage orchestrated by an overzealous graduate assistant.  They made Jim sit out 6 of his team’s 12 regular season games.  So, when LA agreed to Jim’s $1.5 million buyout – coy on other numbers of his 5-year contract except to say he’ll make more than his brother John with the Ravens ($12 mill/per) – Jim was gone.

The Michigan faithful were comforted by Warde’s quick appointment as HC of 37-year-old offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore, once an offensive tackle for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma.  Sherrone had been on staff for 5 years, starting as tight ends coach and responsible for the entire O-line the last three years.  In the first two years, his line won the Joe Moore award as best offensive line in all of college football.  This past season, his first as sole coordinator of the offense, his team put up 30 or more points in all but three games, playing the smash mouth style Jimmy loves, with just enough zings from the great JJ McCarthy to his talented receivers to keep things interesting.  They ate lots of clock and kept the defense rested. I’m sure Bo looked down and smiled.  Public Sherrone was a joy, passionate, emotional, and all Michigan.

However we got this future superstar coach to Michigan is the basis of the little tidbit I want to share, which inspired this blog.  But to appreciate it, you need a little background, especially you’re not from the state of Michigan.

You see, in this state with many public and private institutions of higher learning, there are only two that play big-time football: Michigan and Michigan State.  The two schools have been playing each other since 1898, when a contest between the two undefeated schools on Michigan’s home turf of Ferry Field left Michigan victorious, winning all the rest of its games to claim their first National Championship.  MSU was MAC then (Michigan Agricultural College) and were the Aggies, not the Spartans.  That new nickname, acquired in 1925 – same year MAC became MSC – may have slowed the farmer jokes from Michigan fans, but certainly hasn’t stopped them!  Meetings were irregular until MSC was admitted to the Big 10 in 1950, replacing the University of Chicago, which had deemphasized football a decade earlier, greatly reducing the Big 10’s output of Nobel laureates.   The state made MSC a university in 1955, their centennial year, and “Michigan State University” was adopted in 1964.

Regardless of institutional names, whenever green meets blue on the gridiron, it’s an epic struggle.  Books have been written on the rivalry (3,4), as well as a very good Wikipedia page (5).  It’s hard to appreciate the atmosphere of game week unless you live around here.  It’s nonstop hype, everybody’s flying and wearing their colors, and jabs to those on the other side.  The many “mixed marriages” test their bonds.  But the underlying current is always good natured and well humored.  Sure, past games have had stings for both sides, and they are not forgotten, but it’s never the source of bitterness or rancor.  The game is played, one side gets bragging rights for a year, and we move on.

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered this tidbit as I looked into Sherrone’s background.  Here goes.   We owe his presence on the Michigan staff to a former Spartoon.  Sherrone’s previous post was at Central Michigan, where he coached tight ends.  His head coach was Dan Enos, MSU QB 1986-1990, under George Perles.  He started his last two years and did pretty well, even beating Michigan in 1990 (the controversial game where obvious interference on Desmond Howard that thwarted a 2-point conversion wasn’t called).  After Dan was canned by the Chips in 2017, Jimmy hired him on to be wide receivers’ coach.  He brought Sherrone with him.  Dan was hired away to Alabama by Nick Saban 6 weeks later, but Sherrone stuck around, fortunately.  So, thank U, MSU!  “Go right thru…”(6).

I’d be remiss if I didn’t confess my own Spartoon near miss.  My adoptive father only managed Haney’s Business School, but was a lifelong fan of the Wolverines, indoctrinating me early so there was never any question where I’d go.  Only when I met my birth family around 15 years ago did I realize how different it all might have been.  Mom had a year in at Wayne State till she got pregnant with me, but all her other living kids have at least one MSU degree, with my sister Di still a volunteer coach for their women’s rowing team.  My birth dad not only went to MSC, he played football there, spending a year as a linebacker under legendary Biggie Munn, until “I got tired of being a tackling dummy”.  My adoptive family pitched in with Mom’s little brother Jim, a proud member of MSC’s marching band at their first ever Rose Bowl.  To assure he’d always be at loggerheads with his nephew, he went and got a PhD at Ohio State!  But like all Michigan mixed families, we still love each other.

And so the great drama that is college football plays on.

References

1. Bacon JU.  Overtime: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football.  New York: HarperCollins (William Morrow), 2019 https://www.amazon.com/Overtime-Harbaugh-Michigan-Wolverines-Crossroads/dp/0062886959/ref=sr_1_2?crid=U9QLXOWLCVAX&keywords=John+U.Bacon&qid=1706617484&sprefix=john+u.bacon%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-

2. Coach Jim Harbaugh: Michigan National Championship Celebration.  Fox2 News.  YouTube. https://youtu.be/WQ5c0-VWYWw?si=iMqrrYwxji9F-bO1

3. Gallagher B.  The Nasty Football History of Michigan vs Michigan State: Why Every Game Drew Blood From 1898 to 2020.  Little Rock: Power Group Enterprises, 2021.  https://www.amazon.com/Nasty-Football-History-Michigan-State/dp/1734431334/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9YHAQGDAI7EQ&keywords=michigan+michigan+state+football&qid=1706622164&s=books&sprefix=michigan+michigan+state+football%2Cstripbooks%2C162&sr=1-1

4. Schinkal P.  The Great Lakes Rivalry: A complete history of the Michigan vs Michigan State football rivalry.  Independently Published, 2021.  https://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Rivalry-complete-Michigan-ebook/dp/B0871PGLJ9/ref=sr_1_7?crid=9YHAQGDAI7EQ&keywords=michigan+michigan+state+football&qid=1706622612&s=books&sprefix=michigan+michigan+state+football%2Cstripbooks%2C162&sr=1-7

5. Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry.  Wikipedia 1/22/24.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan–Michigan_State_football_rivalry

6. Michigan State Spartans Football – Fight Song.  Luthstar.  YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT_ZuY63qKw

Musings I.

My first book of compiled blogs from the pandemic years – there would eventually be 5, all titled Musing through a pandemic – contained my writings on coronavirus, whom I’d personalized as “Mr. Corona” (1). Looking back, it’s not a bad historical record. I got to wear my microbiologist/virologist’s hat as well as my doctor’s white coat. Plus, I was having to live through the BS just like everybody else. In those early months, I was way too optimistic that our scientists’ efforts would beat this bug. Fortunately, SARS-COV-2 went the way of all rapidly mutating RNA viruses and shed the features that made it deadly.

I’m writing this post as I’m about to give a copy of that book to my friend Ana. She’s been involved in the COVID battle from the git go, but as an attorney. She turned her attention from malpracticing doctors to the malpracticing governments and institutions that were hurting people with the measures they instituted to “protect” them against COVID. It was her strong instance that kept me and my wife from getting the jab. I very briefly worked for a foundation she’d help set up to meet the medical needs of the unvaccinated. I bowed out when it started to feel like a job. But we’re till friends, and my wife and I visited her in her redneck paradise panhandle home en route to the Pinellas spit. I told her about my book and she asked for a copy. As I looked over that book for the first time in a year or so, I saw I had not done with it what I’d done with the rest. I include a lot of links in my posts. When you read them on line, they’re easily accessible. Not so in a paper book, although you retain that functionality in a Kindle version. What I will be doing here is listing the book’s table of contents, all titles hyperlinked. I’ll make the URL of this blogpost into a tinyURL and put that in the front of the book. Hence. anyone reading the book next to computer or tablet can access the post corresponding to the chapter, and all the links in it.

Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. My year and a half with Mr. Corona. Volume I. about Mr. Corona. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798530730. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-through-Pandemic-Year-Corona-ebook/dp/B098LML34S?ref_=ast_author_dp

home improvement

I’ve learned in retirement that home improvement doesn’t always have to involve plaster dust, power tools rented from the hardware store, and a pallet of materials on your driveway.  While such might be needed to elicit a grunt of approval from Tim Allen (1), your home is awaiting gentler ways to make it better.  For sure, there’s a place for the dust and big tools.  I moved out of our house for a year to let our builder/designer turn our nice house into a showcase (2).  But in the 18 years we’ve lived in this remodel, room for improvement has revealed itself in very many ways.  In a beautiful place like mine, it’s easy to look past the few flaws.  And with both my wife and I consumed with our careers, who has time to pay attention, let alone act on it?  But come retirement, what’s a compulsive organizer/doer to do?  While I’ve had other projects to work on, I thank God for giving me this home to improve.  In 4 years, I think I have.  With this brief essay, I want to share what I’ve learned, in a step-by-step fashion.

Step one.  Get rid of your crap!  Face it, since the Eisenhower administration, if you’re like us, you’ve been accumulating “special” stuff: nice pictures, certificates from key accomplishments, tschotzkes reminding you of trips and other special times, plus big stuff like appliances you never use or clothes you never wear.  If it’s not something your kids would care to have or that you can restore to your own life, like in a display, get rid of it!  In AA, they provide a “trash to treasures” guide, showing ways your flotsam and jetsam might become useful to someone else (3).  Since many of the destinations are national, it’s worth consulting even if you don’t live around here.  Marie Kondo has made a career dispensing advice about this stuff (4) and M Magnison has written a helpful slim volume on the subject (the one we used) (5).

Decluttering is not a one-time push.  Every boomer should be thinking of it essentially all the time.  Every piece of useless crap you get out to Goodwill is a victory.

Meanwhile, what about the stuff you’ve already got?  Organize it!   There must be stuff you always reach for when you need it and wish it were somewhere else.   Well, put it somewhere else!   If it needs a shelf or a hook to rest on, these are abundant on Amazon and easy to install.  I can’t tell you how many hooks and shelves we’ve put up to put our stuff at arms reach or at least easier to retrieve (6).  Hooks and shelves today go up with glue-backed stuff, so you can leave your electric drill and screwdriver in the garage.

I’m sure that some of that crap is pretty special, eliciting great memories. Well, what good is it doing you in that storage closet?  Why not put it up on your walls so you can see it all the time and share it with your guests?  Frames are cheap and available on Amazon and michaels.com.

The hooks you buy to hang your rediscovered treasures have other uses.  Utensils, shopping bags, backpacks and any other thing with a string does better on a wall than sitting on the floor of a closet or stuck in a box where you won’t even use it.

You, too, can have a very, very nice house, even if you don’t have two cats in the yard (7).

References

  1. LuminaryArts. The Top Ten Home Improvement Grunts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEAoQckYfmk
  2. Ike B.  on Harbal.  WordPress 9/21/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/09/21/on-harbal/
  3. Washtenaw County Trash to Treasure Guide.  Water Resources Washtenaw County Michigan.  https://www.washtenaw.org/281/Turning-Trash-into-Treasure
  4. KonMari.  The Official Website of Marie Kondo.  https://konmari.com/
  5. Magnusson M.  The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter.  New York: Scribner, 2018. https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Art-Swedish-Death-Cleaning/dp/1501173243
  6. Ike B.  hooked!.  WordPress 1/11/24. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2024/01/11/hooked-2
  7.  Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – Our House (Official Video).  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aunVlekXjkE

quaternary

Hello to my dozens of readers and anyone else looking in.

The term quaternary refers to the fourth order in a series.  As a lifelong striving academic, I’m well aware of the quaternary milestones of graduation from high school, college, and medical school.  The rhythm gets fuzzy after that: residencies – at least for internal medicine – only 3 years (unless you make chief resident), and fellowships 2-3 years.  As the academic clock starts ticking, there’s 7 years to get those papers in for tenure. My own tenure clock got pushed to a double quaternary when my committee judged that the first year of my appointment was primarily for training purposes and carried no expectation of academic productivity.  Yet the rhythms of academic life run strong.  Each September brings pangs of a need to return to the classroom, even if those obligations are long past.  Watching our sports teams, we’re aware of the quaternary clock that will determine how long we’ll get to watch these athletes play.  Redshirting, transfers, and early exits change the equation, but we still want to know the class of the hero we’re watching.

Today marks a personal quaternary.  Four years ago, on this day I posted my first blog on WordPress.  This post is my 404th (does that make it a 404 error?).  There have been some ringers, like tables of contents to make a URL for a book, and “shameless plugs” announcing a new Amazon book.  But for the most part, it’s been writing, writing, writing.   I try to make the most of it, bundling some posts into Amazon books by topic, 5 so far (1,2,3,4,5).  The royalty checks Jeff Bezos sends me are pretty meager, but it’s a joy to hand one of my books to a friend.  This particular anniversary marked a self-imposed deadline for including posts in a book that’s not new, but a revision.  My original series of 5 was titled “Musing Through a Pandemic”.  Volume II – “Interpersonal Relationships” – was supposed to have a section “My brilliant career” with all my medical posts.  Somehow, they never got into the original.  I’ve sought to correct that and will be submitting a revision soon. I’ve decided to feed another section – “In this life” – with post-pandemic posts right up to the 4-year mark.  Don’t worry, I’ve excluded anything COVID related.

This blog is a pit stop, not a farewell.  There’s plenty more to write about.  I keep a file full of blog possibilities, and this crazy world of ours offers up plenty more potential topics.  So, like my dear dad liked to say: ”See you in the funny papers”(6).

References

1. Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. My year and a half with Mr. Corona. Volume I. about Mr. Corona. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798530730. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-through-Pandemic-Year-Corona- ebook/dp/B098LML34S?ref_=ast_author_dp

2. Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume II. Interpersonal relationships. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798531225023. 2nd edition to be submitted 8/8/23https://www.amazon.com/Musing-through-Pandemic-Sidelines-Inter- personal-ebook/dp/B098QZJMLW?ref_=ast_author_dp

3. Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. On the Sidelines. Volume III. Indulgences. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798531231062. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-Through- Pandemic-Sidelines-Indulgnces-ebook/dp/B098LY1J8X?ref_=ast_author_dp

4. Ike R. Musing through a pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume IV. Then play on. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798780303411. https://www.amazon.com/Musing- Through-Pandemic-Sidelines-Then-ebook/dp/B09NGZL5TH?ref_=ast_author_dp

5. Ike R. Musing through a pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume V. Foodies! Amazon (Kindle) 2022. ISBN: 9798811634828. Published 8/26/22. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-Through-Pandemic-Sidelines-Foodies- ebook/dp/B0BC5Y7QML?ref_=ast_author_dp

6.”See you inthe funny papers”: etymology and meaning. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND USAGE.  https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/106878/see-you-in-the-funny-papers-etymology-and-meaning

hooked!

They entered our house to help us hang stuff.  120 pictures, posters, and objects later (and that’s just the main floor), I think it’s been a job well done.  But, like a restless army after a war, some have hung around to see how else they might be of help.  A lot, as it turns out.  Turning vertical space into a useful storage area, these little prominences have brought order to places where we never though it possible.  Rather than sing praises of hooks, just let me show you some examples of what they can do.  To illustrate that, let me take you on a tour of our Harbal house. (A more extensive exposure is available elsewhere (1)).

Some hooks were already in place before our recent explosion.  The underside of the shelf in our entryway is penetrated with hooks to hold car keys and other things, such as masks when that used to be required. Around the corner, our hall closet is replete with hooks, hanging i.d. tags, umbrellas, a yardstick, my shoulder pouch bag, and hiking poles.  Hard to capture that with a panoramic photo, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. 

Let’s proceed down the stairs to the lower level to take our first looks.  We don’t like “downstairs” or “basement”.  The house has been zoned R2 (duplex) since it was built in 1958.  Although only one family has ever lived here, 2 could do so comfortably.

First stop is the laundry room, where the seldom-attended counter attracts clutter.  Fie to that, as up on the wall it goes!

Next stop is the lower-level kitchen.  Yes, we have a second full kitchen.  I get to experiment there as it’s mostly out of sight, out of mind.  When we had to demote our wedding-gift acquired blue Chantal pots and pans in favor of our new Granitestone set (2), I saw an opportunity.  I hadn’t hung up pots and pans in my kitchen since I put up a pegboard in my St. Louis apartment in 1981.  But those Chantal pots – stained and battered as they were – still looked pretty dandy hanging up. 

A side wall found a home for roasting pans and such that had languished in cabinets, and utensils in drawers.

Our downstairs oven rests on a chrome Metro shelf.  They make hooks, and we used them.

Back upstairs, let’s turn to the master bedroom.   A blank wall in my walk-in closet becomes a repository for a resting place for laundry I’m too lazy to hang, frequently used shopping bags, my backpack, my CPAP case and frequently used power tools, and a basket to collect most anything I don’t know where else to put.

That closet was no stranger to hooks, as there was already one for my string ties and another for my heart monitor, with discretely placed hooks coming for zip up storage bags once I get a few more sport coats out of the way.

Kathy liked it so much, she found some wall space for her backpack.

Right outside, in our “hall of memories”, came a spot above the window for my cane collection, the prize being the one given to me by the patient in whom I diagnosed and treated his Brucellosis, probably garnering my job.  No picture for this, alas.

Then, across the way, is the master bathroom, and what clutter those attract!  Hooks brought a little order here.

Off now into the living room.  Next to my Ekornes Stressless Max recliner (3) in the living room – my “office” – come 2 little hooks that support my head magnifier, headlamp, little flashlight, and reading glasses.  Just to the left hang our Oontz speaker and string bag that acts as my accessory wastebasket (it’s such a long walk across the room to our main one!).  There’s more around the corner.  Kathy has followed suit.

Kitchens always beg for more organization, and we may have quieted down that supplicant some with our recent modifications.  The bare brick walls beg.  Under sinks can be such a jungle, and we did some clearing out when we had to prepare recently for the instillation of new countertops.  But having an earnest nose under there gave me a few ideas.  Not much to look at but having that good sponge and especially that squeegee makes cleanup of those new countertops a breeze.

The little dangly thing to the far right is a bright thumb flashlight, essential to peering into the depths of cabinets.  I tacked hooks to hold up one of these under onto the doors leading to 2 other cabinets but won’t bother to show you those.

The sunroom we added on in the late 80s is really just an extension of our kitchen, a place for storage and where we pass though on the way to the deck.  Not that it couldn’t use a little organization.

The other space you step into from the kitchen is the garage.  Great organization will be coming to it this winter with new hooks and shelves, even some hanging from the ceiling.  That’s not happened yet, but we’ve taken a few small steps.

So, as you can see, this doctor has a thing for hooks.  But don’t call me Dr. Hook!  There’s already one of those, and he had different talents, including singing about my missus (4) 

Hang in there!

References

1. Ike B.  On Harbal.  WordPress 9/21/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/09/21/on-harbal/

2. Granitestone 20pc Kitchen In A Box – Cook, Bake, Steam, Fry – Complete Set.  Granitestone.https://granitestone.com/collections/sale-clearance/products/all-you-need-20-piece-non-stick-cookware-set-black?variant=40998380372131

3. Stressless Max®. Stressless.  https://shop.stressless.com/en/c/Recliners/max

4. Ronja´s Dr Hook Channel.   Dr Hook – “When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman”.  YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJpzpd-8us

makin’ t-shirts

Ya never know what hobbies might rise to bite ya in retirement.  All that brain power that used to go to the job now is free to take on God-knows-what.  I never thought I’d pick up an iron again.  Heck, all my white shirts were perm press, so I didn’t even need it for that.  But add in an activity that marries that ancient implement with computer graphics and a scissors and you’ve got one of my new passions.  It began with an innocent exchange with my dear friend and double classmate (VHS’70, UM’74) Darai out there in the land of fruits and nuts telling me how she’s making her own t-shirts, and how to do it.   Sounded pretty simpleß, and I’ve been wanting to duplicate that t-shirt I should have bought in the U of C bookstore back in the day which celebrated all 7 of the Maroons’ Big-Ten championships.  The file of the ad I’ve kept since med school days is victim to a recent screen crash, but I’ll find and rescan.  It was a cute ad with a smiling little boy wearing a very baggy shirt saying the things you see below.  Here’s the art that will be on it:

The UofC bar will be arced (need to relearn how to do that), and that Apple purple isn’t quite the UofC maroon. That guy in the familiar pose is legendary UofC halfback Jay Berwanger, who in 1935 was deemed the best player in college football and received the first award from New York’s Downtown Athletic Club recognizing that fact, later named the Heisman.  He was selected 1st in the first NFL draft, going to the Eagles who traded him to the Bears.  Because of salary disputes and his wish to compete in the decathlon in the 1936 Olympics, he never played a down in the pros.  Berwanger’s heroics could not bring another championship to the Maroons, who went 4-4, 2-3 in the Big 10 that season.  Football was disbanded at UofC 4 years later, dormant till emerging as a club team in ’63, which became varsity in ’69 and began competing in Division III in ’73.

But UofC football in its heyday!  The original Monsters of the Midway!  National titles in 1905 and 1913! Amos Alonzo Stagg!  Whose fierce rival was our own Fielding H. Yost (1), with one of their contests inspiring the composition of The Victors! (2), ”Greatest college fight song ever’’ – John Phillips Sousa.

Back to t-shirts, there’s not much to it, really.  Key element is the transfer paper, onto which you print your design to iron on to a blank t-shirt.  Comes in two forms: “dark”, which receives the image as is to be ironed on and “light” in which an 1800 flip gets imprinted and that image gets impregnated to the shirt with the ironing, the paper removed.  The latter is much trickier to use, but can be applied to all colors, whereas the “dark” will only work on white or lighter colors.  I got all the design details of my U of C recreation straight: the curved arch of “University of Chicago”, Jay Berwanger’s iconic Heisman pose, and spacing of all the years of championships.  But getting that to a maroon t-shirt was a dismal failure.  A reattempt awaits my mastery of “light” transfer methods.  I’ve got plenty of paper and another blank maroon t-shirt.

But having gotten the hang of the design process, I took on some other projects.  The t-shirts really should be fresh, new, washed, and ironed.  Fortunately, Gildan cotton t-shirts in all sizes are extremely cheap on Amazon (3).  You probably could pull something from your underwear drawer, but with the effort that goes into the design, you’d like to see the final product looking nice.  I haven’t really been doing this non-stop since I figured out how.  In fact, I’ve only successfully made 8 different shirts since early 2020, embellishing a couple others.

Before I describe the shirts, let me address the peanut gallery.  You say that making t-shirts is not a very manly activity?  Why, it requires 2 power tools – the computer and the iron – 3 if you count the printer!  Can I get a few Tim Allen grunts out there? (4).  And it’s hazardous!  The surface of a hot iron can reach 4000 F (5), and there can be all that steam.  You’re one step away from the burn unit!  Add the combination of electricity and water and there’s also that electrocution thing.  No wonder women have largely abandoned the activity.  But those are risks I’m willing to take for my art.  Once upon a time, the hot iron came directly to board from the roaring stove that had heated it up.  Left unattended, up in flames goes the board and often much else with it.  Such iron mishaps were once such a common cause of house fires that my grandpa – a Grand Rapids fireman – working at #10 Engine House which still stands on 1734 South Division, having opened its doors on 1/22/29, the year Grandpa joined the department – 

invented and patented a device – the Slater Safety Stand – that clipped on the end of the board and provided a safe resting place for a hot iron.

Grandpa advertised the Stand with an informative 4-page brochure.

I don’t know how it sold.  He continued to fight fires till he retired in 1959 at age 60.  Although you can’t find the item on Amazon or eBay or anywhere on the net for that matter, there is a company in the U.K. that’s appropriated my grandpa’s last name while promoting work wear and safety devices (6).  Today’s irons have safety switches that turn them off when left in one position.

So, here’s what I’ve made.

California Health Corps: made up when I read of Gavin Newsome’s cockamamie plan to recruit docs with lapsed California licenses into a corps that would staff facilities for all the COVID patients sure to come (7).  The perk was a freebie 6-month license renewal, and some lowball civil service-type compensation.  Most applicants weren’t eligible, and the need never materialized (8).  My own application was never acknowledged.

I made one for my buddy in La Jolla, complete with his med school on the sleeve.   Since neither of us was ever called up, I don’t know if he wore it into battle.

Rocket Surgery: a beer label turned in a shirt for my dear wife, who was adept at this most difficult of tasks.

Space Camper: another beer label for the missus, who would pitch her tent on Mars on a moment’s notice.

G.O.A.T.:  a tribute to Michigan’s own Tom Brady after his 7th Super Bowl victory.  Yes, he is. My file name for this scan is “Our Tom”.

The table on the back didn’t scan well. Here’s what it looks like:

Next: Deplorable Lives Matter. To what political figure could this be referring?  I’m into my 3rd version of this shirt, recently updated for 2024.  Worn by MAGA-heads in both peninsulas and as far West as California.

Since making the original, I found something better for the back (with apologies to R.Crumb, who has not yet complained):

And since 2024’s not a re-election, I’ve even changed the front a little:

Too political for you?  In the age of COVID, any statement contrary to the Narrative was accused of being political.  But in the summer of ’21, ya just had to.   How better could you express your opposition to the jab than say “I like the nucleic acids God gave me”?  The big picture of Nancy Reagan on the back says it all: “Just say no!”.  I put it together very early into the vaxx mandate push, but it has held up well.

The list under Nancy didn’t scan well.  Here’s what it said to “Just say no” to:

I’ve also ironed on the image of a fierce bulldog onto my Vicksburg sweatshirt, and I’ve embellished my own white U of C t-shirt.  See those later.

After I started writing this post, I went to Ireland for 2 weeks with my wife to celebrate her birthday and my mom’s 90th.  Circumstances there inspired 2 more t-shirts.

I’ve written about my oldest sis Ishka (Jolene).  She doesn’t like my blog, but she liked this t-shirt.  Ishka happens to be the name of a popular bottled water in Ireland, besides the nickname she’s sported since her teens.  How convenient!  But it all goes back to Ish Kabibble!   For a more thorough explanation, see here (9).

For most of the shirts, I’ve lost the files for the sleeve portions.  But not for Ishka!

We all loved Out of the Blue, a seafood only restaurant in the fishing village of Dingle (10).  Younger sis Di (“Jack”) and Mom got one of these.

That map of Dingle on the back didn’t scan too well.  Here’s what it looked like:

Here’s my latest.  Made for Kathy to commemorate our whirlwind August ’22 trip to Phuket (“poo-ket”) Thailand.  The flag on the front is not the country’s official flag, but the flag flown by the ambassador from Thailand.  Kathy and I loved the elephant.

Caught the sleeve decorations for this one, too! 

I collect material for future projects in a file on my hard drive.  I also reproduce designs for friends, as I did with the “nucleic acids God gave me” for my friend and retired nurse Barb last summer.

The “embellishments” aren’t as much work, but the little additions can make a big difference.

Here’s my Vicksburg Bulldogs sweatshirt (proud VHS’70 grad) to which I added the great bulldog logo created long after I’d left the ‘burg.  As you can see, the appliqué fades a little with repeated washing, but can be rejuvenated by a new iron-on.

Here’s what that dog looks like before he’s made a couple dozen trips in the washer:

A fresh appliqué should restore the shirt. I don’t know how many times the process can be repeated.

I bought a simple white t-shirt from the University of Chicago bookstore a few years ago.  All that white in front begged for an addition.  U of C has an awesome crest, a gryphon arising from flames (the Phoenix) and letting out a full-tongued squawk, under the U’s motto: “Crescat scientia: vita excolator (let knowledge grow from more to more, and so be human life enhanced)”.  But in 2012 a maroon monochrome supplanted the original seal, which had been developed by the Boston firm serving as the architects of U of C, approved at a Board of Trustees meeting in 1909, 19 years after the university’s founding (11).  This seal featured the gryphon in glorious multicolor, even more riled up, rising from a golden flame defiantly protruding its blue tongue.   It’s said to symbolize the rise of Chicago itself after the great fire of 1871.   I think they keep it under wraps these days so as not to scare people.  

Guess which one I put on my t-shirt?  I couldn’t resist announcing on the back my particular U of C ties.

So that’s the output so far.

Tired of paying a buck a sheet for transfer paper, I just laid in 100 sheets for a mere 69.95 on Amazon.  Surely there will be more t-shirts to come.  Plus, I’ve got plenty of “lights”.  I may make the “U of C Big Ten Champions” yet.

“Oh, lookie, I just did!” was how this post was supposed to finish, followed by a picture of the facsimile t-shirt I’d managed to manufacture.  Alas, I still do not have the touch with “light” transfer paper, in which a mirror image is printed on the transfer paper ironed onto the garment.  I even spent $80 on eBay for a heat press, which does the ironing thing in a more precise manner.  

This is how serious t-shirt makers do it. Am I becoming one?  Works like a dream.

But it’s been almost a year since I wrote the entire draft for this post missing only the “UofC Big 10 Champs” t-shirt.  I decided not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and hereby release this post.  And remember, clothes make the man (and woman)!

References

1. Kryk J.  Stagg vs. Yost.  The Birth of Cutthroat Football.  Lanham MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 2015.  https://www.amazon.com/Stagg-vs-Yost-Cutthroat-Football/dp/1442248254/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EF8KR2WYKMZ5&keywords=stagg+versus+yost&qid=1704847916&sprefix=stagg+versus+yost%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc

2. Ike B.  Hail Sousa!  Hail Elbel?  WordPress 3/6/22.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2022/03/06/hail-sousa-hail-elbel/

3. Gildan Men’s Crew T-Shirts, Multipack, Style G1100.  Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/Gildan-T-Shirt-Multipack-Black-X-Large/dp/B077ZMKWVM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=19F5OHPXINS1O&keywords=glidden%2Bt-shirts&qid=1656802897&sprefix=Glidden%2Bt-shir%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1

4. Every Tim Allen grunt from Home Improvement.  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQwYNca4iog

5. Staff Writer. How hot does a hot iron get?  Reference 4/7/20. https://www.reference.com/world-view/hot-iron-fff5a227e1dc3f5e

6. Slater Safety.  01772 691 000.  https://slatersafety.co.uk/

7. Ike B.  Come back West, old man?  WordPress 4/5/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/04/05/come-back-west-old-man/

8. Ike B.  What kind of army is this?  WordPress 5/17/20. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/04/05/come-back-west-old-man/

9. Merz C.  The history of “Ish Kabibble”.  Hagen History Center 7/8/22.  https://www.eriehistory.org/blog/the-history-of-ish-kabibble

10. Dine at Out of the Blue.  https://outoftheblue.ie

11. The University of Chicago Library.  Frequently asked questions about UChicago history.   Answers.  Symbols.  When was the University Seal adopted?  https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/archives/frequently-asked-questions-about-uchicago-history/#Seal

natty!

Sing a rousing chorus!(1)

You don’t have to play to feel that way! (2)

The online home for the best Michigan sports coverage – Mgoblog.com – posts two Muppet videos after any very key Michigan victory: the troupe doing two songs that have been staples of the Michigan Marching Band repertoire since before the first post-war National Championship in 1947. And if that third Natty isn’t cause for Muppets, what could be?  So, here they are:

“Hawaiian War Chant” (3)

And, as Carl Grapentine would say, “You can’t have one without the other”: (4)

References

1. University of Michigan Fight Song -“The Victors”.   Hydra.  YouTube https://youtu.be/Ygt0m2_sHgE?si=vyTO8J1nNe0fwcwb

2. It’s Great to be a Michigan Wolverine.  Dennis Butch.  YouTube https://youtu.be/Mnv0sFGwCS8?si=p5tyLZcKISJzcBUX

3. Muppet Hawaiian War Chant.  thecsacredchipmunk.  YouTube https://youtu.be/aTU7nahUw20?si=3CRbffgobt–Nu58

4. Muppets Sing Perry Como’s “Temptation”.  modderfokkertje.  YouTube https://youtu.be/bv5RQyV3OWQ?si=wgNNAUK4lThplXfe