The Terrible Catsafterme

“Sweet Baby” was the pet name that Rebecca Howe (played by Kirstie Alley) gave to her rich lover Robin Colcord (Roger Rees) in one of my all-time favorite sitcoms Cheers. And one of my favorite lines from the show comes about when Sam asks Rebecca how she was going to break it off with Robin. She replies, as she is reduced to comical Lucy-esque tears, “That’s it, sweet baby!” While in London, England on Friday, April 2, 2010, I got a chance to meet the sweet baby himself, Roger Rees – although at the time, I didn’t even know who I was getting my picture with. Read the rest of this entry »

After a week of laundry, packing, and cleaning as I prepared for my house guest who would return with me, I was ready to hop on that plane Friday morning, April 23, 2010, and head to California for the second time this year. The last time I had planned to get to Dad’s house before an early flight, I had botched the alarm clock and caused all sorts of panic – but this time, I arrived bright and early around 5:30am, made it to the airport with time to spare, and was taking off at 6:40, sitting next to a smelly individual on the way. Read the rest of this entry »

Since we had just moved into our new Beavercreek home on Winterset Drive, and in the midst of decorating the house and erecting a new two-car garage, we didn’t do much extensive vacationing during the Summer of 1978. In fact, for the first trip that we took, we didn’t even leave the state. We headed north east to Youngstown, Ohio for the annual convention of the HET (Hudson Essex Terraplane) club – offically known as the 19th Annual Central National Meet. This national meet was held in a hotel district that included a Holiday Inn, a Days Inn, and a Motel 6. Dad is fairly certain that we stayed in the Holiday Inn, where the central headquarters was located.  The dates of the convention were July 26-30, but we probably didn’t stay for all of the days. Read the rest of this entry »