Ask Grandstander

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by vtred

Did anything bug you about the Yankee/Indian game last night?

It put me to mind of my worst bug experience. Not too long after the flick Deliverance came out, five friends and myself decided to take a canoe trip on the river where it had been filmed. There was a stretch in Georgia where you could get the boats into the water and a place in Florida where the river emptied into the Suwannee and that was our target run. We found a campground in Georgia to spend the night and this turned out to be the spot where every single mosquito and chigger in the western hemisphere was staging their annual convention. EVeryone you saw was doing what the players were doing last night, batting their hands around in front of their faces to try and clear a visual path. Unlike the Cleveland bugs which merely annoyed by their appearance, these were the biting, stinging armies of pestilence.

This was summer and it was swelteringly hot, but despite this, we all found that it was necessary to seal ourselves entirely within our sleeping bags, zipped closed top to bottom, in order to avoid getting our faces turned into gigantic red welts. That way we only got chewed up by the ticks and chiggers which had already made themselves at home in the bags.

The next morning, the bugs were surprisingly gone. We however, looked like a leper colony. Despite all this, we hit the river and had a lot of fun getting sunburned and sore sholdered from 12 hours of paddling.

[skrable]

you paddled each other for 12 hours? was that scene in the original "deliverance"?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

you paddled each other for 12 hours? was that scene in the original "deliverance"?

Yeah, it was actually a musical number, "Dueling Paddles" which unfortunately wound up on the cutting room floor.

[SugarBaby]

Eaten alive by chiggers! That is just too funny. They dig under your skin and there are only a few ways to get rid of them. Torching yourself comes to mind on occasion.

Did you slap the ticks? And GS, have you ever wondered just what purpose ticks serve in this life? I hate the things. They love me, of course. Blood sucking little pests.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by SugarBaby

And GS, have you ever wondered just what purpose ticks serve in this life?.

I suspect that as with humans, they have no purpose apart from surviving.

[TexasSports22]

Can you please ask skrable to stop calling me during dinner to ask if I want to upgrade my AskG Inc membership?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by TexasSports22

Can you please ask skrable to stop calling me during dinner to ask if I want to upgrade my AskG Inc membership?

No problem. I've gone ahead and upgraded you to Gold Membership and there will be no more calls. Rebilling will take place retroactive to the first of the month.

[phenweigh]

Buddhism vs Christianity

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

Buddhism vs Christianity

All organized religions are tied in terms of credibility. In terms of damage, Christianity has been way, way worse. Buddhism is really more of an airy fairy philosophy mix than a religion.

[Zen653]

Is FrankTV going to flop despite the advertising blitz on TBS?

[phenweigh]

I went to a Korean wedding today. At one point in the ceremony, the groom's strength was "tested", and he did a few very flamboyant push-ups. What's the most unusual thing you've seen at a wedding ceremony?

[LongtimeBravesFan]

Wehrner Von Braun...Nazi war criminal or space race hero?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

Is FrankTV going to flop despite the advertising blitz on TBS?

Based on what I have seen, I certainly hope so.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

I went to a Korean wedding today. At one point in the ceremony, the groom's strength was "tested", and he did a few very flamboyant push-ups. What's the most unusual thing you've seen at a wedding ceremony?

I was an altar boy when I was in grammar school and at that time, the typical tip for altar boys serving weddings was five bucks ro split between the two of us, more if it was some big shot's wedding. This was in Miami and I discovered to my dismay, that the Cubans had their own eccentric wedding traditions. Among them, the groomsman carried 13 new dimes in his pocket and at some point in the ceremony, the groom presents the bride with the 13 dimes, she gives them back to the husband...and then he gives them to one of the altar boys. After the wedding, the groomsman comes by and exchanges the ceremonial new dimes for 13 regular dimes.............and that's the tip for the altar boys, we got to split $ 1.30, a whopping 70 cents each.

While none of the altar boys were happy about this, there wasn't anything we could do about it except to try and avoid getting assigned to Cuban weddings.

Except Paul Goyette. He was assigned with me to serve a Cuban wedding one Saturday, his first. I told him about the 13 dimes business and that infuriated him. So after the wedding, instead of waiting around to exchange the dimes, he decided to punish their cheapness by stealing the ceremonial dimes. He
didn't even take off his vestments, just made a beeline for his bike right after the ceremony was over. The groomsman came around for the dime exchange and I had to tell him that my partner was in the process of fleeing with them.

The groomsman went outside to look for him and spied Paul just as he was taking off. So the groomsman chased him up the street, screaming at him to come back with the dimes. It was an interesting sight, a boy in altar boy vestments on a bicycle, being chased by an enraged Cuban man in a tux on foot, screaming curses at him in Spanish....and they passed right in front of all the wedding party gathered outside the church main door.

Paul got away that day, but of course the Cubans complained and the school put the arm on Paul the following Monday, making him return the dimes and terminating his career as an altar boy.

Note that the entertainment value of all this served as my share of the tip....I got zip otherwise.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by LongtimeBravesFan

Wehrner Von Braun...Nazi war criminal or space race hero?

I think Braun was a scientist who would have worked for anyone who came up with the bucks to fund his research. Germany was his native land, so he worked for them. When the Nazis went out of business, Braun was happy enough to go to work for another power who had the bucks to fund his research. If the Soviets had snatched him, I'm sure he would have been happy to work for them.

So...I would say...neither of your choices.