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I have a special fondness for Neil Diamond.
I know that is uncommon for many girls my age. It all dates back to my childhood when every summer and spring break my family would pack in the old gray van and journey to either Wichita Falls, Texas to Aunt Jo’s farm or Albuquerque, NM to see the grandparents. We went a lot (which is the reason I didn’t see the ocean till a 5th grade field trip to Cumberland Island) and in the many hours that it takes to get from Kentucky or Georgia to Texas or New Mexico we had about five tapes that we played (this was way before ipods or even walkmans).
Our rotation included:
Andy Williams
Sandi Patti
the “Crusin’ Classics” oldies tapes you got from the Shell gas station (which I was thrilled to find a picture of and a song list of each one at this person’s blog)
and Neil Diamond.
I have so many memories of riding in the van down the highway in the middle of nowhere Texas, watching the oil rigs go by with “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” and “Sweet Caroline” blasting from the stereo. Thanks to those trips I know and love Neil Diamond.
Then I read an article today saying he did this:
Ailing singer pledges refunds
Neil Diamond’s offer called ‘unprecedented’Wednesday, August 27, 2008 3:24 AMTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCHAfter a subpar performance Monday night in Value City Arena, Neil Diamond yesterday apologized and offered refunds to the 11,000 people who attended the concert.
Diamond, whose voice was extremely hoarse throughout the show, said yesterday that he is suffering from acute laryngitis. Ordered by doctors to rest his voice, he canceled his two other shows this week — today in Green Bay, Wis., and Friday in St. Louis.
Some industry veterans said they’d never heard of a performer offering refunds because of the quality of the show.
Tracy Tucker, former executive director of Germain Amphitheater, couldn’t recall giving a refund for such a reason in the 14 years of the amphitheater.
“The only time we issued refunds was when an advertised act did not play, for some reason,” she said.
A throat ailment for a singer isn’t unusual, especially for someone such as Diamond, who is 67 and performing three times a week on a lengthy tour.
How awesome is that? He willingly refunded 11,000 tickets to his concert because he wasn’t happy with his performance. The best part was what he wrote in a statement after his decision to do this:
Dear Fans in Columbus,” the singer said in a statement, “I haven’t let you down before, and I won’t let you down now. Until you hear from me again remember, You are the sun. I am the moon. You are the words. I am the tune. Forgive me. I love you. Neil.
I forgive you Neil.
my car in reverse, and a whole bunch of rain, I am now rocking an old Nokia phone circa the 2000-2001 Powertel/Voicestream era. In fact, I get to see the Powertel ‘P’ when I turn the phone on and then display ’Voicestream’ as my carrier. It brings back memories.
I’m infinitely grateful to my mother who never throws anything away for providing me with a temporary phone, and lucky that I was able to find my cell phone in front of my driveway (I knew I’d lost it, I just didn’t know where). I’m also really happy that the SIM card still works, which I was surprised at by the amount of heavy rain we got yesterday. I was afraid I was going to have to create one of those annoying Facebook groups called “Rhonda backed over her cell phone and therefore needs everyone’s phone number.”
While it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a cell phone I’ve grown acustom to (no camera or full color display) its not all that bad.
Pros of the Nokia 8260 :
-It has the obnoxious old school mono ring tones. No more radio version multi-instrument songs for me. I’m going to stand out in the crowd with the original ear piercing “Nokia tune.”
-It has the original Snake game, which I never was able to fully master
-It’s kind of vintage, and I like vintagey things
-It’s not so vintage that its big and bulky like this:
-It’s durable, since I know my mom carried this phone for at least 5 years and it’s still going strong (I’m still going to try to avoid backing over it.)
-It’s a phone, plain and simple
Even though its not half bad, I will still miss my old Samsung phone for a couple of reasons. One, it was a slide phone and I got it before slide phones became all the rage; and two, playing its ring tones (not mono, but not straight up radio songs) was the only way to call my cat. Sounds weird, but he doesn’t answer to his name (even though he knows it), but would always come running anytime I played my cell phone’s ring tones.
But if those are my biggest inconveniences about losing my cell phone, I’ll take them. I’m just glad I don’t have to create a Facebook group.
A message board I frequent used to do “Happy/Crappy” where you had to post something happy about your day and something crappy. I had an interesting evening in Rome (Georgia–not Italy) last Thursday and thought I would recap it in a similar fashion.
Happy: It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon.
Crappy: I had to drive up to Rome that night for a makeup class for school.
Happy: I get to Rome early and spot a Panera to grab a snack and finish up my homework.
Super Happy: Next to Panera is a Gamestop who actually has the elusive Wii Fit that we’ve been looking for all over Atlanta.
Crappy: Panera forgets to put caramelized onions on my panini.
Happy: WiFi keeps me entertained during class.
Crappy: Our teacher does not let us out early.
Crappy: Due to lack of caramelized onions I am still hungry when class lets out at 10pm.
Happy: Spot the golden arches of McDonald’s on my way out of town. (normally this wouldn’t make me happy, but I was really hungry)
Crappy: Sitting in the drive thru for 10 minutes without moving.
More Crappy: Hearing odd clunking noises from the car while sitting in said drive thru.
Sill More Crappy: Seeing ’check engine’ light come on causing me to leave drive thru before being able to get food.
Happy: Spotting a brightly lit BP across the street to pull in to.
Crappy: Having to call my husband and my father because I have no idea what to do about the car.
Happy: Feeling a sense of accomplishment for adding oil and checking the radiator all by myself. (This may not sound like a lot, but for me who knows nothing about cars, it is.)
Crappy: Engine is now overheated and check engine light is still on.
Happy: Gas station has the three things I was looking for before I get back on the road: a gallon of water, hand sanitizer, and a clean bathroom.
Crappy: Have to go inside to order at McDonalds because father does not want the car to sit and idle with a hot engine.
Crappy: The cashier at McDonald’s is very slow and doesn’t seem to understand what a large, regular flavored iced coffee means.
Happy: Said iced coffee and ‘Southern Style Chicken Sandwich’ (AKA McD’s Chick-Fil-A knockoff) are surprisingly tasty.
Undecided: Getting back on the road, I discover the “John Tesh radio show.” Kind of like the male version of Delilah.
Happy: Needle on engine temperature drops from hot to normal after driving for a little while, just like father said it would.
Crappy: Almost immediately after needle drops, car starts making rattling noises and stops accelerating.
Super Crappy: Car goes dead while still driving down the highway, in the middle of nowhere.
Really Super Crappy: Trying to coast a dead car off to the non-existant shoulder while trying to see out the windshield that is blocked with the massive amounts of steam coming from the hood, all while trying to not cause a wreck and trying to locate the emergency hazard lights so other drivers know there is something wrong and that I’m not just a moron for driving 25 mph on the highway.
Even More Crappy: Hazard lights are nowhere to be found.
Really Super Hallelujah Happy: When I finally get over to the right, a big turn lane for a random country road appears giving me a safe place to pull over.
Crappy: Having to call and tell father that while the engine temp is no longer showing hot, the entire car is dead with steam pouring out of the hood on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere.
Happy: Having the kind of father who immediately starts getting ready to come get you on the side of the road at 11:30pm when you’re an hour away.
Crappy: Not knowing where I am in the middle of nowhere (“maybe ten miles from the McDonald’s” doesn’t really help).
Happy: Spotting a sign for the random country road to call and tell husband where I am.
Crappy: Having bad cell reception and a dying cell phone in a time like this.
Happy: Thanks to GoogleMaps, husband is able to find exactly where I am in order to relay to father and AAA.
Happy: Finding the car manual in the glove compartment to try and find where the hazard lights are.
Crappy: Having to stare at the manual for 5 minutes before finding them (Tip: If you have a ‘94 Volvo 850 I HIGHLY recommend locating your hazard lights before you need to use them, because their location is NOT obvious).
Crappy: Now having to wait close to an hour for father and AAA to come find me.
Happy: Actually having some time to do my homework from class.
Crappy: Due to using WiFi during class, laptop battery is pretty much dead and thereby depriving me of doing homework, listening to music or playing solitaire.
More Crappy: Having to hand write homework by the light of the overhead dome light.
Still More Crappy: After a while the battery on the car starts going and the dome light starts flickering with the off beat of the hazards giving the effect of a slow strobe light.
Happy: Father arrives to rescue me from the middle of nowhere!
More Happy: After inspecting the engine it appears that the turbo hose connection thing to the engine broke away and therefore the breakdown is not due to my lack of checking the oil earlier like we thought.
Even More Happy: Ten minutes after father arrives, so does AAA tow truck man. He’s nice and hooks the car up quickly. (He wasn’t really a teddy bear, but the picture is just for visual effect.)
Crappy: Despite it being way after midnight, we now have to lead tow truck man to our mechanic an hour away before father can take me home.
Happy: Having time to chat with father on the way.
More Happy: We arrive at the mechanic’s all right, drop the car off and father takes me home.
Crappy: It is now a little after 2am, and husband wants to leave at 7am to drive to Charleston and I haven’t packed yet.
More Crappy: Due to massive iced coffee and the craziness of the night, I am unable to really sleep at all.
Happy: After a fitful night, I’m able to get up, quickly pack and sleep the entire way to Charleston for a fun weekend.
Overall, while being a crappy situation, I was very lucky that I was able to pull the car over safely when it was dead, have a cell phone, AAA membership and a great father to come and get me. The entire situation could have been a whole lot worse.
I heart the Olympics!
Seriously, is there anything better than watching amazing international competition between the best of the best? Also, is there any catchier theme song than the Olympic song? Think about it….now you’ll be humming it in your head for the rest of the day.
I’ll admit, I’m a bit surprised by how much Olympic watching I’ve participated in thus far. I hardly watched the Sydney or Athens games; in fact the only thing I can remember from them was hearing about some kid named Michael Phelps who was over to take over the world by swimming. And I think its safe to say that he has. (How awesome was that relay?! Take that France!)
Last night Stephen and I stayed up way too late watching the US woman’s gymnastics team along with more Michael Phelps domination and a little synchronized diving. Even though we lost the gold medal to China, watching the gymnastics competition brought a lot of things to my mind. The first is that I am extraordinarily out of shape and inflexible (not that I could have ever done anything more than a cartwheel at my prime fitness level), but I also wondered what I could potentially acomplished if I had even half of the dedication and discipline these young girls have. I am by no means old, but watching girls 10 years younger than you accomplishing such great things can make you feel a little lazy. Especially if you already feel a little lazy.
Watching gymnastics last night also brought back memories of watching gymnastics when I was younger. Like most young girls, anytime it was an Olympic year I would have dreams and fantasies of being an Olympic gymnast (despite the fact that I had never taken a gymnastics class in my life) and then two years later I would switch my mythical aspirations to ice skating (I DID take six weeks of ice skating lessons in fifth grade, but then I had hip surgery which I like to think is the main reason for my lack of an Olympic career).
My most vivid Olympic gymnastic memory was when the games were played in my own back yard of Atlanta. I remember that the night of the infamous “Magnificent 7″ woman’s US team competition I was spending the night at my friend Melissa’s house with my other friend Kate. We stayed up late with her mom and little sister Jill watching girls very close to our age compete neck and neck to win the gold over Russia. The competition culminated with the nerve-wracking vault by Kerri Strug that caused the US to win the gold. (Which by the way I just learned thanks to Wikipedia was the first time the US had won the gold in woman’s team gymnastics.) Watching that vault brings me back to the summer of 1996 when I was 14, yelling and cheering at the TV in Melissa’s living room.
To me, moments like that are what the Olympics are all about.
Looking back on it now, I wish I had paid more attention and taken advantage more of when the Olympics were in Atlanta. I went to only one event, woman’s softball where it was USA vs China. It wasn’t the finals, but it turned out to be the final match-up for the gold (USA won of course). It was a fun experience cheering for your country instead of a particular team. My one regret is that the event took place outside of downtown, and therefore I didn’t get to experience the hub of where everything was happening or see the torch ‘live’. (Did anyone else think our torch looked like the packaging for McDonalds french fries?)
Then again when the Olympics occurred in Atlanta I was only 14 so getting to downtown on my own really wasn’t an option.
Who knows, maybe someday the games will come back to Atlanta and I’ll have another chance. However, ATL may be blacklisted for creating the worst mascot in Olympic history. Oh well.
So in conclusion…GO USA!!!
So this week I am attending a travel show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. However, before I could head up to the land of airbrushed t-shirts and taffy machines, I had to attend my class last night. (Which meant that I missed a chance to go to Dollywood for free Monday afternoon, which was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m OK with that.) 
My class was from 6-10pm. I had to be ready to go in Pigeon Forge by 10am the next morning which meant that I could either drive up late last night or wake up insanely early the next morning. Me being a night owl decided to make the trip last night. After getting home and packing (I’m a night owl AND a procrastinator) I hit the road. I decided since it was getting close to midnight and I had a 3 hour+ drive ahead of me, that I should stop and get some coffee.
The closest thing open to our house with a drive-through was Krystal. I’m not really a fan of Krystal. In fact I know that I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been and I can honestly say that I’ve never tasted one of their ’signature’ Krystal mini-burger things. I’m OK with that too.
In my important midnight search for coffee I decided to venture there again. I asked for a large coffee from the drive-though attendant who proceeded to inform me:
“Right now we only have decaf.”
Um, what? I was so confused and taken aback that I told her ‘no thank you’ and drove off.
Only decaf coffee? Really? Are you telling me that at midnight Krystal has a higher number of customers coming to the drive-through looking for a bedtime decaf coffee nightcap than people who need the real thing so they can stay awake for whatever reason? Don’t they realize that by that time all the Starbucks and trendy coffee shops in the area have closed and therefore they could almost have the market cornered on late night ‘have to get it to stay awake’ coffee runs?
I called Stephen to tell him of my coffee misfortune and Krystal’s caffeine shortcomings to which he replied: “Why didn’t you go to Dunkin Donuts?” Alas! I had forgotten about Dunkin Donuts! Wonderful open 24/7 Dunkin Donuts. I turned around, drove toward the bright neon sign and ordered a large coffee (with a shot of espresso) and a chocolate donut.
Loaded up for my journey I headed towards the interstate and passed by Krystal again. The drive-through sat lonely and empty (probably due to their lack of regular coffee.) I felt like I should go back to them like Juila Roberts went back to the snooty shops on Rodeo Drive in Pretty Woman, hold up my Dunkin Donuts cup and say “Big Mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go driving now.”
However, something tells me it wouldn’t have been as effective as in Pretty Woman. I’m pretty sure the workers at Krystal don’t work on commission. Or care.
So the moral of the story is, if you’re ever looking for coffee, REAL coffee at midnight, don’t bother going to Krystal. Afterall, America doesn’t run on decaf.
