Sept 20 2009 edition

Fall is one of those seasons that most people, especially those on the east coast, look forward too - especially in New England; whereas all of the leaves begin changing color (yellow, orange, brown) mixed with existing green in the weeks ahead, as the cooler weather approaches. The best place to see that is around New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Out here in Southern California, there is no such thing as fall in September or October, and the latter part of the week will see a continuation of summer as Santa Ana conditions will exist. I think around late-October/early-November is when things start to cool down quite a bit here. The rain season officially begins in L.A. on November 1st and runs through April 30th.
Another good week of College 'ball - all of my teams except for USC won. The Washington Huskies came from behind a 10-0 deficit to tie the game at 10 going into halftime. Then it was all field goals from there - Erik Folk kicked a pair of FGs one of 46 and the game winner of 22 yards with 3 seconds left in the game to give Washington their first win against USC since 2001. He also kicked a 28-yarder to tie the game in the 2nd Quarter.

Everybody else - UTEP, UNLV, UCLA and Notre Dame all won - so this week I go 4-1. The Running Rebels played their hearts out and deserves to win against Hawaii. UCLA and UTEP had easy wins in their games against Kansas State and NMSU respectively. Notre Dame won their game by 3 against Michigan State.

On to the NFL...Houston's old team plays host to Houston's new team - that be the Texans at the Titans (Oilers). As far as the former L.A. teams go, the Raiders travel to Kansas City; Rams play whomever Washington's mascot is today (right now its the Redskins, but it may not be after next week); and the Chargers are at the Murph against the Ravens. Sunday Night Football is the Giants and Cowboys at Tom Landry Stadium (my name for the Cowboys' new facility - Jerry!) and the Colts travel to Miami. This season, Dolphin Stadium is called LandShark Stadium. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not a fan of naming rights to these stadiums. Dolphin Stadium or Joe Robbie Stadium is acceptable - LandShark Stadium is not.

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Just checking out Eldorado's website on line, and see that this school, like others around the CCSD has new policies regarding what you can wear and what you can't. In other words, I can wear Khaki, Navy, White, Maroon, Gold or Black to Eldorado, but not anything else. So if I was in school and wore my British shirt I'm famous for, then they wouldn't allow me to wear it, right? Please...

Be thankful we didn't have to deal with that crap during the golden years of Eldorado. Gina and Brenda will agree with me on this one - back then we could've done whatever we wanted to do, just as long as it was not illegal, and wear anything we want too, just as long as its acceptable of course...coming to school with stuff to wear on the beach is...well just a bit too much.

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A reminder to the Class of 1985: the Silver-Anniversary reunion is going to be in the developing stages real soon. I kicked off this celebration myself on Aug 25, 2009 - on the anniversary of our first official day as seniors at Eldorado - and the celebration lasts through December 2010. Now since I'm in Los Angeles, I can't contribute to anything on a full-time basis, other than communicate via e-mail or on facebook. Pat, Suey and Gina has conducted several get-togethers, including that big one at Agave last August - with another one planned on September 25th at the Aliante Station. Therefore, I would like to have Jim Batemon once again help us get this 25-year reunion going, since he and a few others, most notably Mike Shewman and Leslie Ball, worked very hard to get the 20-year Reunion going in 2005, but unfortunately that reunion never took place.

With the successful "mini-reunions" we've had so far this year - making up for lost time of course - I have a very good feeling that it's going to happen. Planning is very important for any reunion, or any event for that matter. I'm hoping to be out in Vegas in a month's time - for sure in November. With Pat, Gina, Suey, Jimmy, and anybody else who wants to get on board, we're going to make it happen.

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Not much in the flashback department - already talked about Shawn's coda to Eldorado, which occurred 25 years ago tomorrow - so no need to discuss it again. I think the school picture day was right about this time in '83 - and if you look at the '84 Yearbooks, you can see that I had my British shirt. Back in those days, I have to believe there was a new British invasion going on - Def Leppard (bless their hearts; those guys DESERVE to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) was hugely popular back in those days; and they had a concert at this time (I'm thinking at the Thomas & Mack Center, but it may have been at the Aladdin Theater), and all the guys and gals were wearing shirts with the Union Jack Flag. Oh yea, I got my DL at this time 26 years ago - Sept 23. Pat also got his DL for the first time that same day too. It was International Scout time after that. Lydia M called the Scout "The Beast" back in those days - Lori Rock (wherever you are) thought I had a "kick-ass" car...hehe. I loved her spirit - I hope she's doing great wherever she is... I mean, I hope she's doing "GR-8".

Hard to believe that some of these people thought I was driving the same Scout when I took the '79 Scout to school in my senior year. The first one was the '72 Scout, and that was the one we took to Europe in the mid-70s. Hopefully that Scout's still around; I remember somebody fixed it, got new wheels and new shocks to make it look like a true off-road vehicle, and that was back in 1996 or 97.

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I'm limping a little - my left ankle is either inflammated or sprained. I don't know how or why, but it should be OK in a few days.

Week 3 of the L.A. County Fair ends today. Good thing, while I can take a little time off to heal this foot and not put a lot of stress on it. Will have to hold the annual Newport Beach visit off until next week.

Enjoy the games, and have a safe week wherever you may be.

Sept 7 2009 - End of Summer edition

The time has arrived. The summer of 2009 has come to an end. Astrologically it doesn't end until the position of the sun is exactly on the Equator (0° North/0° South Latitude). What it means is school begins the following day, although most areas had their school years begin one to two weeks earlier. LAUSD's school year officially begins tomorrow. Traffic of course will increase - meaning more cars will be on the Harbor Freeway than in the previous four months.

Its been a fun one - of course nothing will ever beat the Summer of 1983 for me - but this summer was filled with some opportunities that I am taking advantage of. Its sort of sad that it has to end with that horrible Station Fire which has destroyed more than 150,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest; right now its more than 50 percent contained. By next week full containment is expected - however, the reprecusions of this devastating fire may be felt if heavy rains occur in this area during the upcoming rain season.

That and the shocking death of Michael Jackson last June were the top headlines from Memorial Day up to now. I'm sure the Jacksons will find a way to move on after this tragedy. MJ was to pop music what David Von Erich was to pro wrestling, and what John F Kennedy was to politics. Three very important figures - all of whom who were able to change the world - all of whom taken away so soon.

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Time now for an 85 Silver moment. The 1984 football season started out promising - first game against Chaparral, we were beat. Merlin Olsen cleat gone - not to be seen again until 1991, the year we won the Nevada State football championship. Sherrill Stephens was the head football coach, as Mike Gutowski stepped down previously. Like him or hate him, Coach Stephens' track record has proven to produce positive results, both in football and basketball. The 84 squad went 3-6 last year; won some key games, and came very close to beating the Wildcats, but Vegas came back and won that game late in the 4th Quarter, which also ended our chance to go to the post season for the first time since 1978. Cary Mitchell, whom came in around 86 or so, proved to be better of course.

Girls Volleyball was inside the Sportatorium with Mrs. Bright as the head coach; Mike Mundt coached Tennis; and if I'm not mistaken, Cross Country meets were held at that time. Golf and Bowling was also a part of the fall season if I'm not mistaken.

The senior year started off great - for me, I was expecting a little bit more. In life, there is a reason things change; sometimes change is good. I was very disappointed that Shawn was not at Eldorado anymore, and a few others like Dan Bennett and Trish Green vacated the premises. And it did affect me in some way - if it was pro wrestling, I could've turned from babyface to a heel (a la Chris Adams during that time frame). I disappointed a few people for some things I've done and/or said that year - perhaps the pressure of that Government class got the best of me. One thing that I wasn't happy about was January 17, 1985. Shawn was in a car wreck that day; and I didn't know about this until seven months later. What's worse is - I drove by this accident on Boulder Highway as I was heading to Henderson to see the Wolves and the Sundevils battle it out in basketball. The good side of the coin is, Shawn's still with us - all is well, and everything turned out right for her. Dan of course came back after 5/22 and we hung out regularly - even Bart joined us for a few misadventures. I'll never forget the day I dived into three feet of water at Lake Mead - got scrapes as a lesson out of it.

Oh in superlatives, I was selected "Most Spirited" along with Britta Carlson. Ha ha - I actually took John Eckert's place in that category. Back in those days some of these yahoos called me "John Eckert's buddy". Ummmm. When I was rooting for the Sundevils, I was rooting for them as Robert Donahoo, not as John Eckert. He had his way of cheering the Devils on. My way was to let the songleaders and cheerleaders do their thing, and allow me to help out the football program with my encouragement and stats too.

There should be one other superlative: Best gang - that would be the HPD crew.

I still say Mr. Jerkdo is a goof. Him and his Commodore computers. At least when I took Data/Word Processing, we worked with Apple II - far better than Commodore.

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The first week of the L.A. County Fair had a good turnout, but I think the first two days didn't generate a huge turnout as it did last year. I don't go back to Pomona again until Friday - and will be there again tomorrow and Sunday; then for the last three weeks I'm there from Thursday through Sunday. So 15 more days to go.

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It is not yet official, but I am going to be coming to Las Vegas next month. The plans need to be drawn out of course, but I am planning to spend at least four, if not five days there in the middle of October. It was a toss-up between Las Vegas and San Francisco, and I decided to head to the place I used to call home. I do love to hook up with some of you when I'm there, so stay tuned as the details have not yet been finalized.

That's it for now. Dan Bennett, if you're out there and on FB, drop me a line. Love to hear from you.

RD