Conrad Rippy is my new favorite name! Thanks for the info on the racer threads Mama Tiger. I had just assumed that they weren't up yet. You know what ya get when you assume...

When my grandfather died, it was sudden and none of us were prepared. He was cremated and then I think he spent a couple of years in my mom's closet. Last I heard, he had been moved to my grandmother’s house and was in a cedar chest.

Thanks, DuchessKitty. I have a nice photo somewhere of my grandfather with Conrad Rippy when they were in high school together. A handsome pair of young men indeed. I've been hearing about him all my life so it didn't sound that weird to me till you pointed it out, but it does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Someone here said they wanted a Viking funeral. I actually went to a Viking funeral once, or the family's version of one. The guy had already been cremated, but they put his ashes into a small boat and all the family members put mementos or notes into the boat, and they took it out into the water and set it on fire. Unfortunately, this was in southern Maryland and the tide was coming in, and the wind and tide started blowing the boat towards a bed of very dry reeds. They ended up having to paddle out in another boat and frantically douse the flames before they sent half the coastline on fire. Oops!
:-)

Edited because if I'm going to use a smiley, it should at least all be on the same line

Bill Cosby did a bit on funerals which I'll have to paraphrase, because I can't find it anywhere online:

I always figured that was kind of the point of the open casket. It hits you in the face with the fact that the person is really gone, because what you're looking at isn't him or her anymore, it's just a body.

My Familial Funereal Anecdote: When my great-uncle died a few years ago, his favorite horse had died just a year or so previously. My dad went out to where he buried the horse and dug up a bone to be cremated with his uncle. (According to his wishes.) The amazing thing was that the funeral home guys didn't even bat an eye. They must handle all sorts of unusual requests, until after a while nothing surprises them.

ETA: I consider Reagan one of the two greatest presidents of the last century -- the other being FDR, despite his penchant for socialism. I wouldn't have a problem with putting him on Mount Rushmore -- not replacing anyone, but as a fifth face, showing the continuity of great US leaders through history -- but I'd hold off ten years or so. Doing it right now makes it look too much like partisan politics: "Hah, our side's ex-president is on Mt. Rushmore; yours is probably having his mug shot taken somewhere!" Let the historians work the guy over for several years, and then decide how to honor his legacy. There's plenty of time; it took 60 years to build a WWII monument.

I tried my best to subtly persuade my boss (who is a Republican and ought to have fallen for it) that we should close on Friday out of respect. He told me I was smirking too much. Unfortunately I work in a library -- well, not really unfortunately, I like working in the library -- but anyway, like most public libraries, we are loath to close. I've had to come in during ice storms and blizzards to open up and keep the place running, so the death of the Gipper won't give me a paid holiday. Drat!

I knew about Reagan and the ATCs, but did he have it in for government contractors, too? Since I'm a federal contractor and not an employee I have to either burn a vacation day for Friday or take leave without pay. Grrrrr.

DC/MD/VA students will be in school until August 1 at this rate, what with snow days and rain days and "partly cloudy but it might snow in some part of the area" days, and now this.

I don't have any really good funeral stories, except that my sister and I sang "Lullaby of Broadway" at my dad's graveside. It was impromptu, but no one in the family blinked an eye. I get strange looks when I tell the story, however.

Caught up on my reading, so here are a few items......

Chocolate Boobs - easily done. Go to a candymaking store, get a boob mold, some melting chocolate, and some chocolate coloring paint (to be completely realistic). Using the paint, paint the nipple and aureola onto the mold. Melt the chocolate (white or brown, to taste [pun intended]) and pour it into the mold. Sticks may be inserted to create lollipops. Allow to harden, and enjoy! BTW - you might want to shop some of the other x-rated molds available, too.

JLo's wedding Did you know London bookies are already giving odds that it won't last until the end of the year?! Sadly, I wouldn't take those odds.

Dead Presidents Society Also sadly, we have three very old presidents waiting in the wings, who will now probably want an equally large send off. I read today that so far, this has cost the DC district $2.3 million. And it's not half over yet. And I totally object to the St. Reagan cult that's being built up. I liked the guy, hated his politics, but they're making him sound like the "Second Coming". The up-side of that is that the Shrub-in-Chief can only look bad by comparison.

Tiger Mama, I agree with you about the jobs. Another thing is, the employer thinks it is filling a particular job that exists and has been vacated by someone or is new and has been designed by someone. In either case, once they’ve filled it, the abilities, skills, and passion of the person who is in it changes it, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically.


Amen Sparky1. My mom passed in March from Alzheimer’s and she was a wraith. It was an open casket, and the funeral home did an amazing job. But really, she hadn’t looked like herself for years.

And I can’t say how I’d grieve anyone until the time comes. It is different with each person, our relationship, and how I’m doing in general when it happens. I do know that for my dad, who was married to my mom for 59 years 9 months (it was in the obit that way, yes, my dad is obsessively precise, he’s an engineer, he really can’t help himself) the treatment of her remains was the very last thing he could really do for her. And for him, it was still her.


DariaG, we laughed SO hard picking out the casket. My dad and older brother had picked one out the day mom died and called me saying they thought they “might” have made a mistake. When I heard the words “blue metal” I told them I’d be out first thing the next morning. We now refer to their first choice, a metallic blue shiny-chrome-handled bullet-nosed number as “the NASCAR casket.” My sister-in-law and I picked out a simple cherry casket that much better suited my mother’s Calvin Klein sensibilities (and didn’t clash with the lovely turquoise dress she’d chosen when she first knew she was ill).

I was a bit annoyed at the closed market Friday until I realized that it was traditional and they even did it for the disgraced Nixon. But I was glad to hear Jeff Greenberg give a little “hold on, the reality and the myth aren’t meeting here” thing last night. It was very respectful, but very accurate.

I don't expect Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford to have major blowouts. They are both remarkably modest and self-effacing men, particularly for former presidents.

Is it wrong that when I saw this, my first thought was "What did Reagen have against Steve and Dave?" Then ... oh.

My gut instinct is to agree with this. Carter is immensely modest and would probably rather have the money donated to Habitat for Humanity, and Ford probably also recognizes that he was never actually elected President, so will be more modest to respect that dimension of his presidency (I'm absolutely not knocking his presidency by any means by this, just pointing out that his historical situation probably calls for more conservative arrangements).

It's my understanding that Nixon himself expressed a wish that his funeral be modest. I'm sure part of it was the whole Watergate/resignation thing, but I also think it had a little to do with the fact that he was a Quaker.

It better not be JenEx because I thought the exact same thing. And I didn't even know what it really meant until I read backwards in the thread. But then, I'm just a Canadian...

I wonder if there is protocol or whatever for a State Wedding? All these state ocassions as of late have been all sad and what not. But then again, I guess the president would have to be single and get married while in office.

Well, all the former presidents except Clinton apparently have their funeral plans on file with the appropriate department (Monuments?) in Washington. I wonder if those plans are a matter of public record, or if a FOA request would work. Silly Clinton, thinks he'll live forever maybe.

As for the obsequies, they're beginning to pall. ;)

A cow-orker walked in from the break room today all self-important and puffed up with news (he's like that) and said "Air Force One just landed!" and repeated himself several times. The rest of us reacted as if he was announcing a plane crash or something, then relaxed with a collective "Oh. Right. In Washington." Meanwhile, I'm thinking "Are you kidding? Forget that - they announced the Race teams today!!"

As for funeral plans - my dad was cremated in his shabby old robe and slippers, with his favorite pipe in his pocket. Some distant relations from a different (very different) religious persuasion showed up at the funeral. They were appalled that there was no open casket, and that he'd be cremated after the service. My mom was appalled that they'd had the bald-faced effrontery to ask about it, being relative (heh) strangers.

Living and working in DC, I can say that 90+% of the people I've come across are happily planning long weekends and have no plans to attend any downtown events whatsoever. I really think the "holiday" has quite a bit to do with this being an election year.

While I'm reaping the benfits, my boyfriend is hating life. He's a bus driver and is ready to go off on somebody due to all of the random street closings.

The horse bone reminded me of something:

My mother had a dog that she got when I was like 13. After she died, my aunt took the dog and loved it a whole lot. Well, the dog died in an unfortunate big dog/little dog incident. My aunt had the dog cremated. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I loved the dog too, but to this day, and I'm thinking it's been about 8 years now, I get all squicked out seeing the urn next to the Yorkie's photo sitting right there in the living room...on the side table...right next to the candy dish.

Not exactly clear why, but the Governor of Iowa (whose name has been linked to the "short list" of names as a possible running mate with Senator Kerry) announced today that state government employees in Iowa would not get Friday off as a state holiday, unlike the banks and the federal government and the financial markets. Given the late Ronald Reagan's strong Iowa connection (Dutch Reagan was a radio sports announcer here before he left for California and acting), I was surprised by that one.

Maybe it's because of Reagan being from Illinois, but our Governor said we have to keep our flags at half-mast until July 3rd. I don't think we kept the flags at half-mast for that long for Sept 11, for crying out loud.

chocolate boobs?!?!!!?!?!??!?!!! OMG...my bf would love that. I think. He always says he'll eat anything if its got chocolate. Poor guy wants to try a low carb diet...it'll never work for him....besides, I'm starting to like his cuddly self!

the border collies go home today!!! Don't get me wrong, I like the pups, but they've been here since Sunday night. I'm ready to be back to TWO dogs and not FOUR!!! Their dad laughed at me when I told him that I feed the one in the garage...his food is sweet potato and fish (special diet due to major food allergies) and it reeks to high heaven. I will not let that food in my house!!!

I was working in DC when Nixon died and remember getting a holiday then too, and he was being buried in California. That day of mourning was called by Clinton and there wasn't an election in sight. Of course Nixon had all that impeachment thing going on too, so there wasn't the same "Will the sun rise again?" vibe.

I think the days of mourning are more a general repect thing. Like the guy or not he was the president of the country, freely elected.

The Nixon day was beautiful. My friends and I enjoyed a long hike, great picnic and toasted the dead dude, declaring that this was one of the better things Nixon had certainly ever done for us.

I work part time as an obedience instructor at a local kennel. In addition to training and boarding, we handle cremations. We had a client who lost 2 Great Danes at the same time and wanted them put in one urn-so they'd be together forever. We ordered the biggest one we could find and tried to put the cremains of both dogs into it. I came into the office just as one of our staff was pouring the ashes from the bag into the urn. There wasn't quite enough room in the urn and some of the ashes spilled on the counter. We were trying to tamp down the cremains already in the urn to make everything fit when one of the kennel cats that roam the office decided at that moment to fly off of the file cabinet and onto the counter. Right into the pile of cremains. When Simi landed the pile went poof-ashes everywhere. He left little kitty paw prints behind as he strolled casually out the back door. I know it's disrespectful but we all lost it and laughed so hard we cried.

Word. At my office, 3 people put in to take Monday off, thereby getting a 4-day weekend. The Zzard and I are going hiking in the Shenandoah Valley tomorrow instead of Saturday as originally planned.

I'm still happy because the whiney-ass is leaving the office, but another young staffer who's also leaving for grad school and whom I mentored, dammit! pulled an enormously boneheaded move that indicated a complete lack of understanding of office politics. First rule of departing: don't burn bridges with the boss. Second rule of departing: don't assume your mentor will side with you instead of the boss. Because she won't.

Naw, it's not wrong - I wrote the sentence and I almost thought it meant Steve and Dave!

I'd just enjoy my 3-day weekend a lot more if I could get paid for being off on Friday. Since I've probably only got another six weeks in this job (thanks, Shrub, for consolidating gummint IT departments and finding yet another way to screw the contractors) I'd like as much of that six weeks to be paid for as possible.

Ah well, unemployment will give me more time to keep up with the boards!

Well, I work for local government, so no time off for me on Friday. My lucky sister works for the feds though.

By the way, are there any posters in my SW Virginia neck of the woods? I'm thinking about the TAR premiere and would love to view with some other fans. I'm about 3 hours away from D.C. though. If this is not the right place to ask then I apologize.

Catching up on several things, since I went to bed early last night:



Your cow-orker was wrong. It's only Air Force One if the sitting president is aboard. I heard the plane more properly referred to by the news as "one of the 747s that's used as Air Force One." (There are at least two that I'm aware of.) But if the sitting president goes aboard a two-seater Cessna, it becomes Air Force One.



Probably protocol dictates 30 days for a dead president, whereas there was no planned protocol response for 9/11, obviously. I'll be interested to see how long flags around here stay at half staff, though. (As an aside, Louisiana state offices appear to be remaining open tomorrow, even though this was fertile Reagan ground, being a seriously conservative state.)



Do not get me started on Shrub screwing gummint contractors! Papa Tiger's company has had to make HUGE cutbacks in what you would think would be critical programs, such as forcing layoffs of something like a third of the IT staff that runs the computers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center -- which you would think would be something important, given all the wounded soldiers that pass through there. Papa Tiger wasn't working in a gummint job here in New Orleans that he got laid off from -- it was a private industry contract -- but his company does a huge amount of it and he's struggling to find ANY job. The only people that have the funds to hire right now are jobs that (a) hold high security clearances (which he held, but 20 years ago, and they want a current Q clearance) and are (b) directly homeland security-related. Which means the military hospital program, that he worked in for a number of years, gets screwed and even though lots of people want to hire him, nobody has the funds.

[/rant] I'm sorry, but this administration has its head up its ass when it comes to how people are treated. It really, really sucks!

On a more cheery note, anybody else down my way to have a TAR premier party with? I'll host, if you don't mind a couple of large and over-enthusiastic dogs!

WHY is it not tomorrow yet? WHY IS IT NOT TOMORROW YET?!?!?!

The last day of work before a vacation is fucking HORRIBLE.

Also: AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGH!

Is tomorrow the Ireland trip? (You should totally look up a Daisy Callaghan when you're there and ask her if she's a wench.)

Ireland? Oooooh, I'm jealous! If you get a chance to go out to the Dingle, think of me.....

Nope-- tomorrow begins 10 days in LA (where, coincidentally, I do have a friend named Daisy whom I will see). Mmmm... beach.

In mid-July, I take off for 10 days in Dublin (where, also coincidentally, my closest friend's last name is Callaghan). Mmmmm... beer.

I'll make sure to call them both wenches, though, Rachel-- just for you.

Has anyone tried these Ice Breakers Liquid Ice things? It's like a small peppermint man just came in my mouth. It's gross, I still can't get the taste out. There so cute though.

Good. Because, you know, it's all about me!

And hee piperdown!

Bitch.

Whoops, am I typing out loud again? Have fun wtf!

have a great trip wtf. Don't forget the sunscreen!

So between this and the upcoming 3 months in London, are you basically just a NYC resident in theory only at this point?

Seriously, echoing Dougintx's sentiments! (Even though the brat gets a paid day off tomorrow while I have to work, so I'd be less likely to bitch were I him!)

Ew?! Guess I won't be trying those.

The Listerine Pocket Packs aren't bad.

Yeah, I kind of like the Pocket Packs. Just be careful how many you put in your mouth at once. I wasn't paying attention once and grabbed four or five at once. I almost choked. It was a bit overpowering, to put it mildly.

Hey, what is the name of that gum that used to have the liquid center? Infinitely more disgusting. After the little peppermint man does his thing, he expects to hang around for a while. Eww.

I like the Altoid strips. Curiously strong.

Mr. McGee, I'm in Charlottesville, VA. About 2 hours SW of DC. Think I'll be watching at home, sitting on my lazy ass all by myself. Well, unless you count Feline ThatGrrl. I think it's all that activity on screen; makes me happy to be able to just stay put. And I can lurve and hate just as easily from the comfort of my own couch.

Heh. Basically, Dodo. I always take off as much as I can in the summer because, as much as there is a ton of fun stuff to do in NYC then, the city itself? Is just so fucking GROSS. For those of you who've never spent a summer in the Big Stinky Rotten Apple: imagine the dirtiest, smelliest pile of garbage you can envision. And then cook it. NASTY.

*throws away that application she was thinking of filling out for Head of NYC Tourism*

I always liked it when I got a business trip to NYC in September or October, because that's when the odds were best of getting the kind of crisp, clean, mildly windy day that makes you want to splurge on cabs and drink expensive cocktails (Well, actually, pretty much any day is that kind of day for me, but you know what I mean.)

Have great trips, wtf!

And I remember that liquid center gum, too. We called it the Cum gum. What the hell was the real name? Speaking of gum, did anybody used to make paper chains out gum wrappers? It involves a rather intricate folding process, and I don't think that the paper used nowadays is sturdy enough to support the process any more. Sigh. another fun activity lost to progress. At any rate, my mother ran across a big box of antique gum wrappers saved, for reasons unknown, from my youth. Do you all remember Blackjack gum? Teaberry gum? All those sour fruit gums? I loved them.

Ah, Teaberry gum! Remember the "Teaberry Shuffle"? I barely learned any geography because my classroom that year looked out over the football field, and the band was out there practicing the Teaberry Shuffle every day during that class period. Looking back, wow, it was dorky!

Squirt. And, yes, it was nasty.

I loved teaberry gum. My favorite flavor in the world is cinnamon, and I always ranked that gum as being a close second. And yeah, we made those paper chains from gum wrappers. We also made chains from those little white flowers that grow with clover.

Thanks, Rachel RSL! *smacks forehead* How could I have forgotten Squirt! Even the real name sounds like "Cum Gum" (tm Hildy).

Hee. All this talk of old types of gum (Clove Gum, anyone?) reminds me of that apropos of nothing line from Twin Peaks: "That gum you liked is coming back into style."

ETA, forgot about Freshen Up, Dodo. I'm pretty sure it came later. I'd already learned my lessen with Squirt and didn't bother with the second one.

Freshen Up Gum. Haven't thought about that in years.

OK, so here's something kind of random. Saw Mean Girls last night, and there was a shout-out of sorts in it for me. One of the characters was named after a friend of mine from college; it's an unusual name and he was a stage manager at Second City for most of the 90s, including when Tina Fey was there. So knowing the real life person, it was hysterical to hear, "She's making out in the projection room with [friend's name]!"

ETA: Huh! Maybe there was more than one squirty brand? But that's the one I was thinking of.

I used to love making gum wrapper chains so much that I would get my mom to cut any otherwise-to-be-thrown-away work papers (she worked at home, so this isn't quite as weird as it sounds) in into wrapper-sized pieces with the paper cutter so I could make chains with them too.

I thought we had too much time on our hands - but this guy is worse!

Gum Wrapper Chain

If you click on build - he shows how to do it, if you're like me and never learned.

You can still get Teaberry and Blackjack gum some places, particularly in the South -- when we drove down to Alabama last year to visit relatives, my mom was thrilled to find it at a couple of convenience stores and at the Cracker Barrel in town (where we ate, like, every freaking day because it's the only restaurant my grandma trusts). By the time we left for home my mom had, like 30 packs of the stuff stashed away in her luggage.

Dodo, turns out you were probably right. Very likely it is FreshenUp gum I was thinking about. I turned slighly OCD for a minute there and went searching for any references to Squirt Gum. Nothing concrete. However, I did find out that the tagline for FreshenUp was, "The gum that goes squirt." Pretty unlikely that there was also a gum out there called "Squirt." I'm betting that my friends and I just called FreshenUp "Squirt." Gee, so glad I can sleep tonight. :-)

Heh...I did my own Google search for Squirt Gum too! All I really saw were places to buy novelty gums that squirted when you tried to chew them. I was starting to feel odd for not remembering Squirt at all, although I do remember Squirt soda.

Another old gum that I used to love...Fruit Stripe, complete with manic multicolored zebra mascot. And all these nostalgia candy sites are really making me crave some Bottle Caps.

The jingle for Freshen Up gum was
Freshen your breath with freshen up gum. The gum that goes squirt
Jingles get lodged in my brain and do not leave. Anyone want to hear the jingle for Glo-worm, the Fonzie doll, or anything else that was advertised during Saturday morning TV as I was growing up?

My Freshen Up gum story is name droppy, but it's something that could have happened to anyone. When I first started working in NYC, I hadn't figured out what to do during my lunch hour. It was a really hot late summer, so I took to going to the hotel across from my office, sitting in A/C comfort and reading. One day as I sat there, I realized I was sitting across from The Edge of U2. I didn't speak with him, but needless to say I was back the next day. I didn't see any U2 people, but I found myself in the middle of an argument between Larry Mullen Jr's mother and two younger siblings. One of the kids ate the last piece of 'squirty gum' and the other was complaining to the mother that there wasn't any left. The mother was very exasperated and sent them to the newsstand to get another pack. I don't know if it's only in my memory due to the tone of her voice, or if she actually said aloud "Jaysus, your brother's a millionaire, go buy another pack of gum!"

Wow, that was a long trip down memory lane for that story. Sorry.

Cum Gum. That is fucking BRILLIANT.

Apropos of absolutely nothing, but while we're on the topic of famous people, I found out something last night I thought you'd all get a kick out of. My family was sitting around playing Balderdash and we got on the subject of movies. It turns out lo some many years ago when we lived in Detroit, my parents managed to wrangle out a couple of invites to the world premiere of The Rosary Murders. And while there, my mother, who had slammed back a couple of chardonnays and was feeling no pain, went up to Charles Durning and asked if he'd like to dance. Mr. Durning was reportedly very nice, but turned her down because he was already dancing WITH HIS WIFE.

So, yes, my mother was snubbed by veteran character actor Charles Durning. That just kind of tickles me.

Dave Matthews was roundly ignored in the restaurant where I was having drinks on Tuesday (part of being a Charlottesville native is ignoring Dave whenever you run into him; we all know him in some capacity, so it really doesn't make any of us special at all). Literally no one disturbed him, although he was there for an hour, seated in full view of the world beside the restaurant's front window. Still, pretty ballsy to presume people will leave you alone, to the point of sitting beside the front window. He's actually a pretty nice guy. Gives a ton of money to various local causes (saving a local skate park, a local food bank, school music programs, etc.).

ETA, I remember purposely putting two different flavors of Fruit Stripe in my mouth at once. Every. Time. Hee. Ah, youth.