rayfallon
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Posts posted by rayfallon
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Picturing Ray with the dogapult doing Underdog.. "There's no need to fear.." *whoosh* as dogapult is released.....
Eh my wife would be using the husbandapult on my sorry butt for thinking of it....
Hmmm...how about a snowapult towards the neighbors yard.
C'mon... you hear the giant S P R O I N G as the dogapult releases, then the little urchin sailing through the sky, heading toward the pool...
You know you want to...
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OK which commercial as I saw it too but can't remember. Weird part is the only part of the game I really saw was the last few minutes and a few times I tuned in for the score. Just up for something funny so watched one of our Jeff Dunham DVDs for the umpteenth time.
Did catch the Dodge commercial with the 90+ crowd. Thought it was a "deep thought" ad until the guy said "Don't B####". Had to rewind the DVR so Kris could catch it and I could hear what I missed after that line (laughing too hard).
LOL no Cruise for us and found out the hard way why house breaking a puppy (avatar) over Winter is a bad idea. You can just see her thinking "Dang, I know the spot is here somewhere but can't smell it. Oh well I can smell it better inside so I'll wait until dad ain't looking." Good news is going out for dinner tonight with the in laws for Kris birthday a day early. After the mess last year it's kind of a victory celebration too.
My method for breaking puppies is related to my method for breaking kittens.
For cats I use a catapult - check wind speed and direction - do the math - aim it for the neighbor's pool.
Puppies you have to use a dogapult, but same general principle.
Make fewer allowances for wind direction, but more for drag.
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normally Ray Upstate NY wins... we won't beat Buffalo this year... but got more than our share...
oh and it's about 90 out just off the Virgin Islands today headed for a day in St. Maarten tomorrow...
I must apologize to Freddie but his place was with his father...
90 - what a coincidence - that's how high the snow is stacked outside my livingroom window (90").
When you shovel you have to pile it somewhere - that window always wins.
I could be in St Maarten tomorrow, but then I'd have to pay to stay somewhere - plus there's going to be more snow to shovel and I'd hate to miss it. (#### #### #### #### !!!!)
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By the way, speaking of "not smart enough" - it's snowing like the end of the world up here again.
I didn't appreciate what I was missing out on in New England while I wasn't here.
Of course, just as Tom has most of us with 46 years, pretty sure he has us beat with snow most years too.
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Ray ... I have to ask ... where did your avatar come from ... I always assumed it was your grandson ... but, last night I saw it used on one of the Superbowl commercials
No idea - found it on Google or somewhere.
I'm not smart enough to make an avatar out of something meaningful.
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46 years is quite an accomplishment.
Congratulations and best wishes for another 46.
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hope everyone is enjoying the winter... all's well here as we await another storm tomorrow into Monday... fortunately, late tomorrow morning Karen and I will be heading south in advance of the storm and escaping for a couple of weeks - celebrating our 46th Anniversary... (yes, she's a saint for putting up with both me and drum corps) Cruising thanks to Bob Cardaneo's Cruise One and good buddy Ken MacLean... see you all after the 15th...
Ya see? This is a wise man...
I go to Puerto Rico - come back - and 3 days later the biggest storm of the year.
Tom times his tour, months in advance, to avoid a storm.
Say hi to Ken MacLean - we had many many good discussions/debates about brass playing, most often about how the judging community could love the way that Sky played - he just about convinced me a few times.
And of course the reality is that I should have been talking about how MY team played - stupidity of youth.
And of course Mr Cardaneo, who was one of the guys judging these groups correctly while I was trying to change the conversation to other groups.
Have a great cruise - put your feet up - put on the 1965 Grey Knight Crusaders and bask a little.
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In case anyone was worried...
I lived through the epic shovel out - took me about 5 hrs.
For those of you that were not concerned at all.
{insert Bronx Cheer sound\
That's all...
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We're not getting much snow here in the Baltimore area... but in solidarity with my friends up North, I made french toast for dinner.
Seriously... I hope everyone up that way stays safe.
It's @#$*ing snowing like a mother@#$*er up here!
Picked the wrong week for @#$*ing Puerto Rico.
I'm a dumb @#$*!
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LOL!!! I wish!!!!
I'm emceeing the Maryland Drum Corps Hall of Fame banquet that day.
Huh! Why am I not in that one?
Oh yeah, The Rebs kept firing me over and over...
OK, forget I asked that...
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Ah, yes. The Russian Tea Room.
There were no spies in there. It was far too expensive for the communist proletariat set. A Czarist hangout, for sure.
I'm setting you up with an appointment to speak to Representative McCarthy - not Joseph, Charlie.
Or the other dummy, Ted Cruz from my abandoned state.
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EEEMMMEEERRRRJENNNCIE!!!! ... EVVVVRREEEEBBBODDDEEE TO GET FRRROOMMMM SSSTTRRRREETTTTT!!!!
... my best impression od Alan Arkin from The Russians Are Coming - The Russians Are Coming ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El03KPUeQc4 (Watch the clip)
I just watched Alan Arkin in Gross Pointe Blank tonight.
He's a funny dude, and an incredible actor.
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Speaking of Roooskies ... does anyone remember the disco/bar/nightclub in Boston called The Mad Russian circa 1967/68?
Man ... what a wild scene for those of us who were able to make it there some nights during the All American Nats Convention, AL Nats or CYO Nats ... wild and crazy coeds from Cambridge in their mink coats and hot pants ... ah yes ... 1967 ... The Summer of LUV!!!!
I was 15 during the Summer of Love...
Probably needless to say,...
No love...
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During the "missle crisis", I was at Xavier High School, an ROTC Military, Jesuit (redundant?) institution in NYC.
They actually "activated" us and distributed M-1 semi-automatic rifles to the student body.
What were they thinking? The Russkies were going to show up on the subway?
And you think the world is nuts today.
Well the thing is, most of you were already carrying zip guns and the like, so they were just making it "official"
The Russians wouldn't have stood a chance anywhere but next door to Carnegie Hall.
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Which reminds me of one of my favorite corps stories: (from corpsreps)
Harvey Seeds American Legion Post 29 Miami Rebels Drum & Bugle Corps
On January 8, 1959, Fidel Castro’s Cuban rebel forces entered Havana and drove the dictatorship Batista regime from the capital and island after many years of jungle-based struggle. Fidel’s staff made the Havana Hilton (now named Hotel Tryp Habana Libre) their provisional headquarters. To celebrate the new power-structure, Fidel declared that the Mardi Gras at the end of February 1959 would highlight the liberation and new government.
Several American newspaper article and columns, magazine photo spreads, and television dramas of that time, featured and romanticized the Cuban freedom fighters, including Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and his lieutenant Che Guevara.
The new Cuban government invited the American Legion Drum Corps to be an honored part of the upcoming Mardi Gras parade.
They provided air fare and lodging at the Havana Hilton. The first evening, the Drum Corps enjoyed the hotel casino and floorshow plus duty-free shop (mostly rum and other alcoholic beverages, same as today).
The next morning, the Drum Corps practiced their stadium maneuvers in the main square in front of the reviewing stand where they would play and march for Fidel Castro and his guests. Along the parade route to and from the square, the Drum Corps observed young men (guessed at an average of about 14 years old) stationed on each and every street corner, armed with Thompson submachine guns. During one rapid wheel of the drum-line during its practice in the square, the bass drummer rolled over the top of a Cuban guard who had previously been asked to move and warned that he was in the line of march (however, he had just conquered a country, defeated an army, and was not about to be ordered by anyone). When he regained his feet, his gun was at the ready and only some fast talking by his officer and some fast marching by the Drum Corps saved bloodshed.
The subject photo was taken in front of the Hilton Hotel and Casino early on the day of the February 1959 Havana Mardi Gras parade. (pic in corpreps)
The parade began at 6pm and it was the longest ever experienced by any of the Drum Corps members, ending past midnight. Each and every unit of the parade performed their full routine in the square in order to curry favor from Fidel. The Drum Corps played for the cheering and appreciative crowds all along the parade route. After the Drum Corps entered the square and performed, everything stopped while Fidel Castro gave a very, very long speech (something for which he was and remains famous). Some men in the Drum Corps understood what was being said in Spanish, whereupon the Drum Corps ordered its color guard to sheaf its colors, and the Drum Corps marched in close-order back to the hotel. The men quickly packed their bags, some called home to Miami, so that all the families could meet the returning airplane, and the Drum Corps boarded their buses which returned to the airport with a Cuban military-police escort to protect them from the frenzied crowds.
That was one of the last times the American flag was welcomed and proudly displayed in Havana’s streets. (Five months later another American corps, the Miami Crusaders, marched in Havana.)
When the plane landed in Miami, the airport was filled with the first wave of Cuban refugees from Castro’s Cuba. The radio and television news was filled with the observed dislocations in Cuba. We were very relieved to greet our father and the rest of the Drum Corps.
Beginning May 1959, Cuba began land reform, including appropriating all foreign land ownership, and forging closer ties with the Soviet Union. Over these passing months, Castro repeatedly denied that he was a communist. In April 1960, American-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process Soviet crude oil and were nationalized by the Castro regime, and on May 1, 1960, during Havana’s May Day celebration (the traditional communist holiday), Fidel declared that he was and always had been a communist. Subsequently, Fidel addressed the United Nations in New York City in 1960 (at which time, Fidel‘s group was rejected by their downtown hotel and they relocated to a Harlem hotel); in 1961, Fidel’s forces defeated anti-revolutionary forces at The Bay of Pigs; in 1962, the world experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro resigned as Cuban Prime Minister in 2008 based on health.
Separately, this parade and photo were the last appearance of many of these men in the Harvey Seeds uniforms. In 1959, The Goldcoasters Drum & Bugle Corps was sponsored by the City of Miami Fraternal Order of Police and the director, drum line, and leading buglers all became the core of that organization. In 1960, The Goldcoasters competed in the American Legion Drum & Bugle Corps national event in Miami and in 1961 it progressed to the AL Drum & Bugle Corps finals in Denver, placing third (3rd).
How did I miss this post? it was longer than "The Old Man and the Sea" which is the only thing I know about Cuba except that they tried to scare the #### out of us all when we were 10 or so.
Commie ########.
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Fran ... Ray doesn't drink anymore ... to balance things out, I don't drink any less ... try to join me at Sky's I&E on March 21st and I'll introduce you to a whole new realm of announcing ... I'll even let you man the Buy Bucky a Beer Memorial Booth ... it will provide you the opportunity to see the world as Bucky did ... but ... you'll most likely need a ride home ...
:-)
Why don't we designate one of these BHoF I&E shows an official Guess Who Union. (I think we would need a first Union in order to have a Re-Union later).???
Sky's would be fun - Boston is kind of far for many - of course Bridgeport is close to everything everywhere.
Or we could just all go to all of them.
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I knew the "commie" hook would upset you ... and all that I can say is that I was one of those nun-riddled, parochial Eastern European waywards who was taught to "hide under your desk" should a BOMB happen to hit ... SH|T! ... my father's Czechoslovakia doesn't even exist anymore! ... anyway ... commie ... salami ... let's get an I&E show going in Havana ... JetBlue can be a sponsor ... and like Hyman Roth said in the Godfather: "... we'll be bigger than US Steel" ...
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Leave the gun...
Take the cannolis.
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Donna and I would like to make the "Renegades for a Day" festivities not sure about Donna being able to get out of work with her new management position...
We are looking into how much $ we'll need to amke that happen as well. I don't remember, do you know when the deadline is to be able to go?
Nah TW - just saw it on one of the other threads I don't read.
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OK, JetBlue was one of the first to fly to Havana over 3 years ago, although to date, only charter flights.
When I got out of the USAF, because of my Top Secret Clearance and the fact that I had been flying in Spy Planes, the State Department put a lifetime ban on travel to Communist Countries, not including Cambridge Massachusetts.
I'm guessing that that went away years ago, but I really don't know.
In general I'm still ###### off at Communists for trying to shoot me down all the time. I get that they're probably still ###### off at me for helping coordinate bombing missions and air strikes, but as my mom always said, "if they can't take a joke, f*ck 'em"
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OK, back from sunny Puerto Rico, red like a balloon, and figured I'd get caught up on everything I missed on "Guess Who"...
OK, I'm caught up now.
Anyone going to the Renegades Chinese New Years Parade?
I'm thinking about it as I fly free and I want to catch one of my daughter's Blue Devils Winter Guard shows this year before she gives up the activity (as if she ever will).
OK, that's all for me - shoveling snow tomorrow for the first time in my 60s - that might not be true - I was 60 when I moved to Texas in April 2012 so I probably shoveled before I moved, but my memory allows me to make unsupported statements all the time.
One of those "The older I get, the better I was" sort of deals.
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Bring back coffee and rum Ray. LOL my last rip I was training some people and left with a document case full of manuals. Had it as carry on because I couldn't lose it, clothes yeah, this no. On the way back it was still carry on but had 10 lbs of coffee (forget the brand) and 2 bottles of Barcardi.
Folks that know me well know I used up all my drink coupons within 3 yrs of returning from overseas. No Bacardi for this boy... errr... old man.
As for coffee, never got the taste for it.
Just going for the sun, and to get Carrie thawed out.
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Heading to Puerto Rico tomorrow to escape this ungodly cold - flying for free of course.
Probably won't be around til next Friday, but we haven't exactly been tearing up Whoville lately anyway.
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No worries; the kids know they can pick and choose what they want to do (including dropping my preferred sports or other activities, which they have done). This one played four years of soccer, is in her fourth year of volleyball (first at the competitive level), her 6th year of ballet, her second year of chorus, her first year of clarinet, does the drama week production when it comes around ... and still has plenty of sleepovers, TV and general goofing off. She will likely take these bi-weekly sessions through April, then maybe attend a clinic/camp during summer if there is an appropriate one around. But she probably won't have an opportunity to actually compete for another 2.5 years, when she can join the high school's marching band. The winterguard options for her are too far away to be feasible at her age.
The only hard and fast rule I've had for all 5 of mine that marched is that once it got to be March, they were committed, come what may, until the end.
I've had a couple of them beg me to come get them about the mid-way point of the season, only to have it turn into the best year of their lives.
They can drop in/out of anything, but not once the commitment is made - once you're on the bus, you're on until everyone gets off.
Gotta have SOME rules.
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Contras/Tubas wanted
in DCP Marketplace
Posted
Isn't there a set of Olds Ultratones with the Kanstul valve cluster on the DCP Marketplace?
They're decent - good instruments.
Don't use the valve rotors. Too noisy and you'll #### off a good player with them.
BTW I'm not disputing the response that says go to the Bb. Just that I saw these G horns recently on DCP.