This is about Candy Bars I have known and loved. I’ll give you the Top 10 of my life. It is about candy bars only, not Good ‘n Plenty or Chuckles or Junior Mints, Raisenettes or Goobers. The Sugar Daddy doesn’t count either, although you could consider that a candy bar on a stick.
It’s my list so it really has only candy bars that I like. If it has nuts there’s a decent chance it’s on the list. If it has chocolate and nuts be surprised if it isn’t on there. Some of the candy bars have been around almost as long as I have and some have only been around a few years.
One candy bar that has been around since I was a kid is the Bit O Honey, which did not make this list. If you are over 50 and can remember the commercial with that six-headed creature that sang, “Bit O Honey goes a long, long way, if you have one head it’ll last all day,” then your brain is officially as full of useful stuff as mine. Big Hunk is not on my list either. Big Hunk of what?
Oh yeah, and just what is nougat? I’ve never known and as I was writing this I was tempted to look it up on-line, but had the will to resist. There are some things I’m just not meant to know, like that line in Elton John’s Rocket Man that goes, “I’m a Rocket Man, burning out the da da da da da da.” I could find out the real lyric but feel that it would ruin the song for me.
Anyway, here are my Top 10 All Time Candy Bars:
10. 3 Musketeers – Chocolate filled with, is that nougat?
9. Hershey Bar with Almonds – Good chocolate with nuts.
8. Payday – No chocolate, but lots of nuts.
7. York Peppermint Patty – Chocolate, and I also really like mint.
6. 100,000 Grand – Good chocolate with caramel and crunchy stuff.
5. Baby Ruth – Chocolaty, chewy, and nuts.
4. Oh Henry – Like a Baby Ruth but I like the chocolate better.
3. Mr. Goodbar – See above, but I like this chocolate even more.
2. Snickers – Good chocolate and nut taste and the best real snack
candy bar.
1. Chunky – Really good chocolate, nuts and raisins. I’ve loved this
one since I can remember.
Please don’t be offended if I didn’t include your favorite, I just don’t like Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, they have peanut butter. Whatever that is inside a Butterfinger makes my teeth ache, and so on. Hey, remember when candy bars only cost…oh, never mind.
Open wide for Chunky.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Old and Older
George Carlin was just in El Paso doing a show. I missed it because I was out of town but I have seen him twice here. This isn’t about whether you’re a George Carlin fan, though I find the vast majority of those who appreciate his humor to be male. My wife doesn’t like him.
What I’m discussing here is the joy one gets when following the career of someone you like over a long period of time. I became a Carlin fan back in the 60’s when he still wore suits and was on Ed Sullivan and Mary Tyler Moore. He was just funny to me. When he changed his act to include “dirty words” and anti-god and government rhetoric, he was still funny.
I’m fifty-four now and Carlin just turned seventy-one. That means I’m much younger than him and will likely outlive him and be very sad when I hear that he’s dead. As I get older I find that celebrity deaths bring varying degrees of sadness. Just today I saw that Dick Martin of Rowan and Martin passed away. My thought was, “That’s too bad, he was pretty funny in his time.”
Some deaths of the folks you grew up admiring get to you. I was very young when John Kennedy was assassinated but kind of understood the importance. When his brother and Martin Luther King were murdered I was a little older and I better understood what those deaths meant to the country.
Then there are the dumb celebrity deaths, mostly from excess. Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison all died within a year of each other. Why do these people have to drink and drug themselves to death? You had John Belushi, River Phoenix and the list goes on.
When you’re watching the Oscars or Emmy’s don’t you pay attention to the “Who Died This Year Segment?” Okay, I’ve never heard of many of the Costume Designers or Cinematographers but when you see someone you recognize, but didn’t know had died, don’t you turn to who you’re watching it with and say, “Hey, I didn’t know he was dead?”
I think the most common celebrity that people from my age group are surprised that he’s not dead is Ernest Borgnine. I don’t know why, I just always think he’s dead. Then I hear about him doing something and I’m happy he’s not. I will be sad when he goes.
Someday my obituary will be in the paper and someone who I know won’t see it and will be surprised when they hear about it. That’s fine, I love surprises.
Keep George and Ernest in your thoughts.
What I’m discussing here is the joy one gets when following the career of someone you like over a long period of time. I became a Carlin fan back in the 60’s when he still wore suits and was on Ed Sullivan and Mary Tyler Moore. He was just funny to me. When he changed his act to include “dirty words” and anti-god and government rhetoric, he was still funny.
I’m fifty-four now and Carlin just turned seventy-one. That means I’m much younger than him and will likely outlive him and be very sad when I hear that he’s dead. As I get older I find that celebrity deaths bring varying degrees of sadness. Just today I saw that Dick Martin of Rowan and Martin passed away. My thought was, “That’s too bad, he was pretty funny in his time.”
Some deaths of the folks you grew up admiring get to you. I was very young when John Kennedy was assassinated but kind of understood the importance. When his brother and Martin Luther King were murdered I was a little older and I better understood what those deaths meant to the country.
Then there are the dumb celebrity deaths, mostly from excess. Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison all died within a year of each other. Why do these people have to drink and drug themselves to death? You had John Belushi, River Phoenix and the list goes on.
When you’re watching the Oscars or Emmy’s don’t you pay attention to the “Who Died This Year Segment?” Okay, I’ve never heard of many of the Costume Designers or Cinematographers but when you see someone you recognize, but didn’t know had died, don’t you turn to who you’re watching it with and say, “Hey, I didn’t know he was dead?”
I think the most common celebrity that people from my age group are surprised that he’s not dead is Ernest Borgnine. I don’t know why, I just always think he’s dead. Then I hear about him doing something and I’m happy he’s not. I will be sad when he goes.
Someday my obituary will be in the paper and someone who I know won’t see it and will be surprised when they hear about it. That’s fine, I love surprises.
Keep George and Ernest in your thoughts.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Giving Me Gas
My family and I just drove from El Paso to Albuquerque this past Saturday, a total of 530 miles round-trip. It cost $98.00 in gas. That averages out to fifty-four cents per mile. When I go to work each day it’s twenty miles each way. I am spending about eight dollars a day just to go to work.
Because of the price of gas, everything is going up. If a truck brings it, the price is higher. Diesel is over four dollars a gallon. Anything you buy at the grocery store is up in price, from milk to corn.
Anyone who got a raise in pay for 2008 has seen that raise disappear in the inflation avalanche that has hit all of us. That doesn’t take into account all of the people who have lost their homes due to those adjustable mortgage rates. In some towns one out of a hundred families have lost their houses.
I’m happy to have a decent job but these days you need to earn more just to stay even. It has never been this bad in my lifetime but the government says it will be fine. I do believe that they are wrong. The country is in for a lifestyle change like never before.
Now that I’m old enough and smart enough to pay attention to things like property taxes and retirement funds and my 401K I see how little I’m going to have when I retire in, hopefully, eleven years. Like most folks, I didn’t really start studying all this until I hit fifty. Now I’m all ears. Not much money, but all ears.
How bad has it become? I just read an article that says the price of having a barbecue has gone up seven percent. Is nothing sacred? That’s for your typical hot dogs, hamburgers and side dishes barbecue. Ketchup is up over eight percent. I like a charcoal barbecue so I’m thankful for that. Anyone check the price of propane lately?
I’m not going to go all old-codger and start reminiscing about when gas was twenty cents a gallon and a movie was a dollar. That was when I was making minimum wage, and at the time (1969) that was $1.10 an hour.
It’s simply when you get a little older and you’re staring at what your income will be for the rest of your life that you realize what you’re getting, or not, for your money. Unfortunately, these days that’s not much.
So long, and save up.
Because of the price of gas, everything is going up. If a truck brings it, the price is higher. Diesel is over four dollars a gallon. Anything you buy at the grocery store is up in price, from milk to corn.
Anyone who got a raise in pay for 2008 has seen that raise disappear in the inflation avalanche that has hit all of us. That doesn’t take into account all of the people who have lost their homes due to those adjustable mortgage rates. In some towns one out of a hundred families have lost their houses.
I’m happy to have a decent job but these days you need to earn more just to stay even. It has never been this bad in my lifetime but the government says it will be fine. I do believe that they are wrong. The country is in for a lifestyle change like never before.
Now that I’m old enough and smart enough to pay attention to things like property taxes and retirement funds and my 401K I see how little I’m going to have when I retire in, hopefully, eleven years. Like most folks, I didn’t really start studying all this until I hit fifty. Now I’m all ears. Not much money, but all ears.
How bad has it become? I just read an article that says the price of having a barbecue has gone up seven percent. Is nothing sacred? That’s for your typical hot dogs, hamburgers and side dishes barbecue. Ketchup is up over eight percent. I like a charcoal barbecue so I’m thankful for that. Anyone check the price of propane lately?
I’m not going to go all old-codger and start reminiscing about when gas was twenty cents a gallon and a movie was a dollar. That was when I was making minimum wage, and at the time (1969) that was $1.10 an hour.
It’s simply when you get a little older and you’re staring at what your income will be for the rest of your life that you realize what you’re getting, or not, for your money. Unfortunately, these days that’s not much.
So long, and save up.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Oh Boy, It's Election Season
Yes, it’s that time of the decade when we choose our next President. What fun. We have a former POW who seems more than willing to go to war, perhaps because he was a former POW. Then there’s the Demo candidate who promises nothing except change but is not specific about what those changes will be. Finally, we have Hillary, and don’t forget Bill. It’s a package deal.
When was the last time that a President did anything that had a real effect on your everyday life? Okay, Bush gave us some money back on our taxes. That will fill the car a few times as oil rises and the dollar shrinks. Other than that, has a President done much to make your life better?
All the candidates make promises. “I’ll lower taxes.” “I’m going to bring the troops home.” “Gas prices won’t go any higher on my watch.”
What none of them bother to add to any of these statesmen-like statements is, “If Congress will let me.” Most of the time they won’t. A President can’t make legislation. Why is it that none of them mention that?
So, how do you choose the next Leader of the Free World? In my case, I go for the entertainment value. John McCain and his young(er) wife just don’t appear to be much fun and I have a gut feeling that it would be a boring Presidency.
Barack Obama and his potential First Lady might be interesting. He comes off as intelligent and she appears to have the potential to say some really goofy and inappropriate things. However, that’s only one of them who ranks very high on the entertainment scale.
Hillary and Bill Clinton. Now we’re talking top-drawer fun potential. We already know what Bill is capable of doing; remember those golden tabloid years of his Presidency? Now if he does something stupid he can always say, “Hey, so what? I’m not the President.” If Hillary is half as entertaining as Bill was we could be in for a real treat with both of them in there. We might even have a White House wedding with Chelsea. Think about that all you ladies out there.
Will any of these candidates bring down gas and food prices, improve the way the world looks at us or have any direct effect on you and your family? Not likely. Will any of them improve Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid for the retired or soon to be retired? When cows sing.
I urge my fellow Americans to choose a President who will at least be entertaining. Why not the funniest? Yes we can.
Make sure you vote.
When was the last time that a President did anything that had a real effect on your everyday life? Okay, Bush gave us some money back on our taxes. That will fill the car a few times as oil rises and the dollar shrinks. Other than that, has a President done much to make your life better?
All the candidates make promises. “I’ll lower taxes.” “I’m going to bring the troops home.” “Gas prices won’t go any higher on my watch.”
What none of them bother to add to any of these statesmen-like statements is, “If Congress will let me.” Most of the time they won’t. A President can’t make legislation. Why is it that none of them mention that?
So, how do you choose the next Leader of the Free World? In my case, I go for the entertainment value. John McCain and his young(er) wife just don’t appear to be much fun and I have a gut feeling that it would be a boring Presidency.
Barack Obama and his potential First Lady might be interesting. He comes off as intelligent and she appears to have the potential to say some really goofy and inappropriate things. However, that’s only one of them who ranks very high on the entertainment scale.
Hillary and Bill Clinton. Now we’re talking top-drawer fun potential. We already know what Bill is capable of doing; remember those golden tabloid years of his Presidency? Now if he does something stupid he can always say, “Hey, so what? I’m not the President.” If Hillary is half as entertaining as Bill was we could be in for a real treat with both of them in there. We might even have a White House wedding with Chelsea. Think about that all you ladies out there.
Will any of these candidates bring down gas and food prices, improve the way the world looks at us or have any direct effect on you and your family? Not likely. Will any of them improve Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid for the retired or soon to be retired? When cows sing.
I urge my fellow Americans to choose a President who will at least be entertaining. Why not the funniest? Yes we can.
Make sure you vote.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Recorded Music Through the Ages
Remember back in the day when cassette decks came out and you could cheaply record your, or your friends, albums? It was a great time for us music collectors as we now had portable music and could even play it in the car. Ah, no commercials and only songs we wanted to hear.
I don’t include 8-Tracks here as they were terrible to play, fading out of a song, a click like a gavel and fading up to finish the song. 8-Tracks died a deserved quick death. Reel-to-Reel tapes offered better sound but were not portable like cassettes.
The record companies were scared to death of the effect that these recording devices would have on record sales but Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Michael Jackson all sold a bazillion albums.
Fast forward to 2000 – and Napster. All of a sudden we were able to get just about any music for free on our computers. Type in a song name or an artist and there it was to be downloaded and put on a CD or MP3 player. If a band came out with a new CD it was available on Napster in days, if not hours.
This time the recording industry’s fears were well founded. No one sells fifteen or twenty million CD’s anymore. The biggest selling acts might hit sales of four or five million and the music companies are dying and being replaced by companies who share everything with their clients from live shows, merchandising and sponsorships. It’s a whole new world.
Napster has gone legal, but there are still plenty of sites to get music free. Is that good? Would you want your work given away? One can rationalize taking someone else’s work all they want, but is it just plain stealing?
Imagine if you could get any author’s books for free, a place where it cost nothing to read Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy. Oh wait, there already is such a place. It’s called a library.
Rock on, and wait for what’s next.
I don’t include 8-Tracks here as they were terrible to play, fading out of a song, a click like a gavel and fading up to finish the song. 8-Tracks died a deserved quick death. Reel-to-Reel tapes offered better sound but were not portable like cassettes.
The record companies were scared to death of the effect that these recording devices would have on record sales but Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Michael Jackson all sold a bazillion albums.
Fast forward to 2000 – and Napster. All of a sudden we were able to get just about any music for free on our computers. Type in a song name or an artist and there it was to be downloaded and put on a CD or MP3 player. If a band came out with a new CD it was available on Napster in days, if not hours.
This time the recording industry’s fears were well founded. No one sells fifteen or twenty million CD’s anymore. The biggest selling acts might hit sales of four or five million and the music companies are dying and being replaced by companies who share everything with their clients from live shows, merchandising and sponsorships. It’s a whole new world.
Napster has gone legal, but there are still plenty of sites to get music free. Is that good? Would you want your work given away? One can rationalize taking someone else’s work all they want, but is it just plain stealing?
Imagine if you could get any author’s books for free, a place where it cost nothing to read Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy. Oh wait, there already is such a place. It’s called a library.
Rock on, and wait for what’s next.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
WHEN YOU KNOW YOU’RE 50
Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Bob and I’m 54 years old. That sounds like I just introduced myself at an AA meeting. Hi Bob! The writings here will be aimed at those in my age group, to share our common experiences and interests. You younger folks will find this blog a sort of living history and can find out what us older people think of you and what you are up to. Really old people, and you know who you are, will get a kick out of what us youngsters think.
For my first topic I thought I’d start with exactly when you know you’ve turned fifty. It’s not the gray hair, it’s not the aches and pains or the kids moving out of the house. No, it’s when you get your first letter from AARP, which is approximately eighteen minutes after your 50th birthday. Do I need to tell anyone what AARP stands for? If you’re too young to know, do what you do best and Google it.
When I got my first letter from AARP I laughed, crumpled it up and threw it away. AARP? Why, I’m years away from retirement I still have all my teeth and have no body parts in imminent danger of failure. This is for reeeeally old people, not for a merely mature man like me. You toss it and forget it. Then, in my case, I went to a restaurant and found out I could get a dollar off because I was 50. Aha! Did I take my dollar off? Heck yes. However, since I didn’t know about this discount until I was there I was still not one of those people who keep track of where every oldster price break exists.
I kept getting those letters from AARP, it seemed like a couple a month, and I kept trashing them. Then, one day at work I stopped by my Human Resources office and asked the nice lady if she could go over my retirement options with me. I do want to be somewhat prepared. The HR lady told me to go to the company website. I did, and found that I could get my monthly retirement benefit estimates for any age that I wanted to retire. My retirement money at age 65 did not thrill me.
That night at home I got out my last Social Security statement and saw what I was entitled to when I retired. I also checked my wife’s statement. Then I added them to my retirement income. That was just a bit disappointing. Okay, it was more than disappointing. What to do?
The next letter I got from AARP, I opened it. I read it and paid attention. I asked around at work and found a few people who had joined. They all said that it was worth it. Upon further investigation, there are a lot of good benefits to joining AARP. You might actually be able to afford insurance and prescriptions when you retire. There are many discounts on many items. Their newsletter articles actually speak to you in a language you can understand. So, my wife and I are seriously considering joining AARP. Does that make me old?
I just looked on their website and it only costs $12.50 a year to join AARP. And look, spouses are Free! Oh, Honey!
Stay young and stay tuned.
For my first topic I thought I’d start with exactly when you know you’ve turned fifty. It’s not the gray hair, it’s not the aches and pains or the kids moving out of the house. No, it’s when you get your first letter from AARP, which is approximately eighteen minutes after your 50th birthday. Do I need to tell anyone what AARP stands for? If you’re too young to know, do what you do best and Google it.
When I got my first letter from AARP I laughed, crumpled it up and threw it away. AARP? Why, I’m years away from retirement I still have all my teeth and have no body parts in imminent danger of failure. This is for reeeeally old people, not for a merely mature man like me. You toss it and forget it. Then, in my case, I went to a restaurant and found out I could get a dollar off because I was 50. Aha! Did I take my dollar off? Heck yes. However, since I didn’t know about this discount until I was there I was still not one of those people who keep track of where every oldster price break exists.
I kept getting those letters from AARP, it seemed like a couple a month, and I kept trashing them. Then, one day at work I stopped by my Human Resources office and asked the nice lady if she could go over my retirement options with me. I do want to be somewhat prepared. The HR lady told me to go to the company website. I did, and found that I could get my monthly retirement benefit estimates for any age that I wanted to retire. My retirement money at age 65 did not thrill me.
That night at home I got out my last Social Security statement and saw what I was entitled to when I retired. I also checked my wife’s statement. Then I added them to my retirement income. That was just a bit disappointing. Okay, it was more than disappointing. What to do?
The next letter I got from AARP, I opened it. I read it and paid attention. I asked around at work and found a few people who had joined. They all said that it was worth it. Upon further investigation, there are a lot of good benefits to joining AARP. You might actually be able to afford insurance and prescriptions when you retire. There are many discounts on many items. Their newsletter articles actually speak to you in a language you can understand. So, my wife and I are seriously considering joining AARP. Does that make me old?
I just looked on their website and it only costs $12.50 a year to join AARP. And look, spouses are Free! Oh, Honey!
Stay young and stay tuned.
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