Piecing Together Hollywood ’95
Friday, May 25th, 2007
I’ve just spent well over an hour scouring photographs, documents, and collapsing inward inside my own head trying to piece together my trip to Hollywood during the Summer of 1995. If I had to do it all over again, I would be sure to keep some notes as to what I did on an important trip like this. For example, in the picture at left, I have no idea why I’m posing in this doorway! When it comes down to it, the dates aren’t all that important, but they are nice to know. Fortunately, I have enough memories and photos to keep the trip alive in my head for the time being as I try to record what we did. Read the rest of this entry »
Dave, Jimmy, and I spent Thursday, February 15 at Disneyland. It was my fifth time there and 2007 was now being touting it as “The Year of a Million Dreams.” Since Dave is an employee of some merit at Disney (remember the great tour?), he is capable of getting in his guests free of charge. This is a great perk for him…and us as well. Of course, it wouldn’t matter. Spending the day at Disney with Dave is treat enough, as he knows many of the ins-and-outs of the parks. 
I’m never really sure if people are as impressed as I think they should be when I tell them that I once met the original “Buckwheat.” The date was Thursday, July 31, 1980 and the event was the Our Gang Mixer in the Sierra Room of the Los Angeles Hilton at the Hollywood ’80 Sons of the Desert convention. All I had with me at the time was my little blue autograph album so this is what I had him sign. You might say that as far as I’m concerned, meeting Buckwheat is one of my personal claims to fame. So bear with me as I relay the details just one more time… 
Tim White came along a couple of years or so after I was hired at the Beavercreek Kroger in May of ’89. He was in the ‘next generation’ of the bagger elite. I was hesitant to include him in our ‘ranks’ – that of Jon, Larry, James, and me, mostly due to my own pigheadedness. But I soon learned that Tim was a very nice and funny guy, who in turn enjoyed my sense of humor. He liked the nicknames I came up with for the other employees and customers – and he really appreciated anything that could get Jon riled up. Jon never grew tired of saying how angry he was at “that Tim White!”