Miamibound
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
It was last February when my Mom and I had both decided that we were sick of Ohio winters and she suggested that we take a cruise in a nice, warm location to help alleviate the painful winter. Subsequently she took an Alaskan cruise in September with relatively short notice and had almost nixed the idea of the winter getaway. But I hadn’t forgotten. As the time got closer and the weather kicked out all of the Ohio warmness that we had enjoyed over the Summer, I began to ask if she had begun making our plans yet. Although both Denise and Ashleigh were invited to come along, they both declined, and she began making the preparations for three. Read the rest of this entry »
It was a little over two years ago that I finally watched the TV series The Addams Family, and in fact watched both seasons of it in its entirety. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but it struck me that without the subtle, optimistic character of Gomez – played by John Astin – the show wouldn’t have been even half as good as it was. From that point on, I became a fan of Astin, and recalled seeing him in other roles throughout the years in such films as National Lampoon’s European Vacation and Freaky Friday and appearances in TV shows such as Night Court and The Twilight Zone. 
I had been sitting on a nice signed photo of James Hong from the TV series Kung Fu since he had signed it in June 1996 at a Hollywood Collectors Show that my friend Bob attended. It only took 14 years until I had the chance to meet him and round out the James Hong experience by getting a photo with him. My interest in James Hong had primarily for his one-shot performance in the Seinfeld episode The Chinese Restaurant, when he portrayed the maitre’d who frustrated the cast by repeatedly telling them that they would be seated in five/ten minutes. Of course, he didn’t call out “Seinfeld – FOUR!” until just seconds after they had given up and left. 
And it’s a darn good thing. Before Megan came around, there just wasn’t anything to report in those frozen months of tedium known as January. Unless of course I was able to sneak in a reunion or two, star in a work training video, play some pool with my cousin, catch Tiny in the act of stealing and hiding her treats, or visit a Chinese restaurant where the waitress pleads to hold Adam. But in the case of 2011, none of those things happened. So I go back to saying, it’s a good thing that Megan is now around to liven up our bleak midwinter.