I blog a lot about Halloween and Christmas, but not really about Thanksgiving. So I decided to change that with the next couple of Way Back WhensDay blogs. The first goes back to the year I was born (1973) and the first airing of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
When I was a kid, we would always go to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents would gather around large tables in the basement and share a home cooked meal. It was tradition. But as we all got older, and the kids went off to college, got engaged, and eventually married, tradition started changing. Now, family members are scattered around the country, and some years we improvise the celebration.
But there has been a constant in my 40 years on this planet, and that's the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. I've watched the 30 minute classic every year for as long as I can remember. As an adult, it takes me back to my childhood, being carefree and knowing that we'd have a couple of days off from school. Back then, that was a big deal. Everything seemed so right with the world.
Dinner is served...
I still get a kick out of how bossy Peppermint Patty is and how much of a pushover Charlie Brown is when it comes to dealing with her and Lucy. Charlie Brown becomes the reluctant host of a Thanksgiving meal, that only a boy and his pet beagle could come up with. If you recall, the menu for the day included toast, pretzel sticks, popcorn, and jellybeans. The gang dines on a ping pong table with mismatched chairs. It's not exactly what the Indians shared with the Pilgrims, but the point is that Charlie Brown opened his home and his heart to his friends when they needed somewhere to go. Eventually, the Peanuts gang heads over to Charlie Brown's grandmother's house (or condo) for a more traditional dinner.
That leaves Snoopy and Woodstock alone and of course ready to cook their own meal. The duo comes up with a feast worthy of the first Thanksgiving, including turkey, the trimmings, and some pumpkin pie. So time and distance may get in the way of celebrating with everyone in the family each year, but this special cartoon is a Thanksgiving tradition in our house. They just don't make cartoons like that anymore.
Confession time: I'm a big chicken when it comes to crawling under my house. Why would I ever have to do that? Well, I was cleaning our master bathroom to surprise my wife, when I picked up her wedding ring (Why wasn't she wearing it? Good question...) it slipped out of my hands and bounced on the floor and right down a small hole where our bathtub sits.
The hole of course was big enough for the ring to drop through, but I couldn't reach it (refrain from the jokes). That left one solution, enter the crawl space and military crawl across the length of the house. Those who live in southern Illinois know we have had quite a bit of rain in the last few days, which left a muddy mess underneath the tarps left by the builders. As my body pressed down the plastic, muddy water oozed out and drenched me. By the time I made it to the end of the house, I was frustrated to find that the opening to the bathroom wasn't big enough for me to fit through, until I saw the actual opening. Wheeew....
I made my way through that space, dodging the hanging PVC pipes and various wires, praying that I wasn't going to get zapped in the process. I worried if I did that my kids would come home to find me dead under the house. After a few minutes of searching, I spotted the ring, snatched it up and made my exit ala Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, just in crawling mode.
My other big fear besides electrocution was finding some kind of critter under the house. We've had cats under there before, but luckily this time around no sign of skunks, mice, or raccoons. As you can see in the picture, I was a muddy mess at the end, but I knew I had to get that ring. Happy wife, happy life.
My friend Jeff Rose writes a very successful blog on finances. He's been featured on national (and local) television and has recently written and published a book called "Soldier of Finance." Last year, he started a grassroots movement to make people more aware of the importance of life insurance. It was a project I had a little fun with while helping get the word out. Now Jeff is helping people break their bad habits or at least create some good ones. I read his post and watched his video on the Bad Habit Destroyer and thought this is something I needed to be a part of too.
Over the course of 21 days, I plan to develop better habits. Call it an early look into my New Year's Resolutions. If you haven't already clicked the link to Jeff's site that I posted in the opening paragraph, do that now. You'll find a downloadable chart to keep track of your progress for the next three weeks.
An apple a day....
I have plenty of bad habits that I'd like to break, but there are also things I think I can do in my life to implement positive change. So instead of saying I'm going to cut out sweets cold turkey, instead one of my goals over the next 21 days is to reintroduce more fresh produce into my diet. I used to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables throughout the course of a day. Lately, I've stopped. October through the end of December is a bad time for me in terms of letting my sweet tooth take over my life. I go from eating Halloween candy to the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving (along with all the other delicious foods) to Christmas cookies throughout the month of December.
So the first goal in my 21 Days is going to be to get at least the five daily recommended servings of produce every day, including the weekends. Right now, you should be getting between 5 and 13 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. In addition to eating all that extra produce, I want to be more consistent with my exercise schedule. I do 60 push ups each weekday morning before going to work. I'm going to bump that up to 75, and carry it over into the weekends too.
Doing some DDP Yoga
I recently accomplished my goal of running 500 miles in 2013. My new goal for running is completing a half marathon, which is happening in February. I've got some work to do to train for that, but in addition to the running, I am going to focus more on doing DDP Yoga as well. I've started it twice now, but as they say the third time is the charm.
I hope by getting this habit destroying program in place now, I'll be better adjusted for the changes I typically try to make in the New Year. What habits do you want to change? Let's work together and share our progress in three weeks. Don't forget to download the score card on the Good Financial Cents website. Good luck!
I'm starting a new feature here on the blog. Each Friday, I'll look at a wrestler from the past and talk about three opponents I wish that star would have had in their career. I'm kicking things off with the late, great Andre the Giant. He faced many legends in his career including Hall of Famers like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Even though he only had a reign as WWF tag team champion, Andre is among the best in the history of wrestling.
1. The Undertaker: The Phenom and Andre probably crossed paths a time or two in the locker room of the WWF. Both appeared on the Wrestlemania VII card as the Undertaker beat "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and Andre was in the corner of the Big Bossman in his quest for the Intercontinental title against Mr. Perfect. Taker's arrival in the WWF came as Andre was winding down, in fact, he had already retired from in ring action by that time.
Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez
Photo courtesy: WWE
Undertaker proved early on he could handle giant challenges, including his feud with the Giant Gonzalez in 1993. He took it to The Big Show, Yokozuna, and Vader through the years too. But in his prime, Andre was a nearly unstoppable star. It wasn't until 1987 that Andre was pinned for the first time in his match against Hulk Hogan. The Ultimate Warrior is the only other superstar to hold that distinction. I think in their primes, these two would have put on a helluva match, and the Deadman could have taken Andre to the limit. Would Undertaker have enough to put Andre down for the three count? Of the men I'm looking at today, he has the best chance of achieving that nearly impossible task.
Yokozuna
Photo courtesy: WWE
2. Yokozuna: Arguably, Yokozuna and Andre are two of the WWE's greatest big men of all time. Yoko could do things no other 600 pounder I'd ever seen do in the ring. If ever there would have been an irresistible force meeting the immovable object it would have been in an encounter between Andre and Yokozuna. Despite his record with wins over Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and The Undertaker, I think Andre would have reigned supreme in this contest. The ring would have to be reinforced for this showdown too.
Big Show vs. Andre (2K14)
Photo courtesy: WWE
3. The Big Show: This match has actually been down on the WWE 2K14 video game. How cool would this match have been as WCW was promoting The Giant (Big Show's gimmick back then) as the son of Andre the Giant. A classic father vs. son feud, right? Andre was Big Show's current age 41, when he wrestled Hogan at Wrestlemania III. Obviously, Andre was nearing the end of his career (and life) at that time. Big Show is clearly more mobile and appears to be in better shape than Andre was back then. But if we're going for a match while Andre was in his prime, I'd give the edge to him, beating the man who once claimed to be his son.
It's hard to believe that 2013 marks the 30 year anniversary of the Cabbage Patch Kids. I never owned one of the human versions of the doll, but I did have one of their pets, known as Koosas. Yes, I'm actually admitting to that. I'm going to probably embarrass my brother with this story too, but here goes.
Growing up, I loved stuffed animals. It only seemed natural that I would add one of the popular Koosas to my collection. Our dad won a cat Koosa in some kind of drawing at the bank we used. For whatever reason, my brother and I both wanted it, but somehow he ended up getting it. So I asked for one for Christmas. That year, I opened up my very own dog version of the Cabbage Patch Kid pet. Since it was the holiday, I opted to name him Starr (yes with two R's).
Not the real Starr, but it's his twin.
Starr had short brown hair on the top of his head with brown skin. He had big blue eyes and came with a pair of red overalls. Like I mentioned, I was already into stuffed animals, so he just joined the dozens of other ones in my collection. I can remember attaching a dog leash to his collar and dragging him around the house.
These animals looked just like their Cabbage Patch Kid counterparts, but somehow it seemed more masculine to have a dog or cat instead of the baby doll. I don't know what, but there was something alluring about the Koosas. I don't remember them ever having their own cartoon or cereal like their counterparts, but they were a fun part of my childhood.
Cats to go
I kept Starr for years, stowed away with my other stuffed animals. A few years ago, in a purge, I put him in a garage sale. I had checked out eBay to see if the Koosas were selling, but they really weren't, plus it had years of wear and tear from the many adventures we'd gone on. (Did I just say that outloud?) None-the-less, I'm confident Starr found a good home with another kid in my community who may someday grow up to write about his fondness for this blast from the past.
In 1987, I was a freshman in high school. In the fall of that year, the announcers on WWF Superstars started hyping a new pay-per-view called The Survivor Series. It would air on Thanksgiving night (against the NWA's Starrcade event) and feature teams of five taking on each other in elimination style matches. Heavyweight champion Hulk Hogan would captain a team against his Wrestlemania III challenger Andre the Giant in the main event. It was a concept I was in love with before ever seeing the show.
Because it was the 80's and there was no Internet and I didn't have the ability to watch the show live, I waited patiently until Monday afternoon at lunch after the long holiday break to find out what had happened. I had a friend named Bobby who watched the event and described how Hogan's team lost. I was shocked by this to the point that I didn't believe it. It wasn't until that following Sunday when the results were announced on Superstars again. I couldn't wait for the WWF to release the show on Coliseum Home Video, which was how I watched most big events back then.
Tag team elimination
Photo courtesy: WWE
I was captivated by the action. The fact that there were 10 tag teams to participate in the tag team elimination match is something that blows my mind considering today's environment. There were 10 women wrestlers competing in their own match. The Intercontinental champ The Honky Tonk Man led a team into battle against the "Macho Man" Randy Savage. I loved EVERYTHING about the show (except Hogan's team losing, but I was a mark back then).
Each Thanksgiving the WWF would serve up another exciting Survivor Series pay per view. The card remained stacked with elimination matches. Yes, some of them started to feature guys who you wouldn't normally see on PPV, but I still loved the concept. The team sizes dropped to four, but there were more matches added to the card. Then in 1991, the company added its first singles match to the show. Hulk Hogan lost the WWF title to the Undertaker. Again, another shocking evening, but I think that match set a new precedence for the Survivor Series pay-per-view. One that I do not like.
Survivor Series 1992
Photo courtesy: WWE
In 1992, not only did the WWF move the PPV to the night BEFORE Thanksgiving (which I don't begrudge them as I would imagine the wrestlers, announcers, referees, managers, and crew members would rather have the holiday at home), but the company dropped the elimination match concept. The main event featured Bret Hart defending the WWF title against IC champ Shawn Michaels. Razor Ramon and Ric Flair teamed up against Randy Savage and Mr. Perfect. There was just one elimination match, which was incredibly lame as The Natural Disasters and the Nasty Boys beat Money Inc. and the Beverly Brothers.
Survivor Series 1993
The "Doinks"
Photo courtesy: WWE
I rejoiced in '93 as the team concept returned (even with the "Doinks" on the show). There were no singles matches, just one traditional tag team match that featured the Rock 'n Roll Express against the Heavenly Bodies. Up until 1998, the Survivor Series featured a couple of non-elimination matches, but for the most part, the event lived up to my expectations. It was 1998 where there were NO elimination matches. The concept was replaced with the Deadly Game tournament to crown a new WWF champion, which ended up being the Rock.
The elimination matches returned a year later in 1999, and that concept stuck around, but the singles and traditional tag team matches outweighed the usual Survivor Series matches for many years. In 2008 and 09, there was an even number of elimination matches and traditional matches, but things shifted again in 2010 in favor of just one or two elimination matches.
The King's Court
Photo courtesy: WWE
Another change I didn't care for was the changing of team names. The cool team names from the early days like The Dream Team (captained by Dusty Rhodes), the Visionaries (captained by Rick Martel), and the Enforcers (captained by The Big Boss Man) simply became Team Triple H, Team Randy Orton, and Team Umaga. Boring...
As I write this on November 12, there have been no announcements of elimination matches for the 2013 Survivor Series. John Cena is defending the World Heavyweight Championship, Randy Orton is defending the WWE Title, and a few minutes ago I got a WWE text message saying the Wyatt Family would be taking on CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. I'm going to remain positive and tell myself that there will be at least ONE traditional Survivor Series style match at the pay-per-view with the same name.
I understand wanting to have title defenses and other matches on the show. But in my opinion, the Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble were those two pay per views every year where the unpredictable could happen because you never knew for sure who was going to end up in the ring together. I think the WWE could keep the current storylines in play and just have the element of the elimination match thrown into the mix, so Survivor Series isn't just like every other pay-per-view or episode of Raw or SmackDown!
I've used my Way Back WhensDay blogs to talk about some of my favorite things from my childhood. My favorite videos games growing up included Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and today's submission: Q*bert. There was something captivating about that little orange creature with a giant nose and no arms.
The point of Q*bert was to get him to hop around a cubed pyramid, changing the colors of each block before advancing to the next stage. To add to the challenge, different monsters would appear and try to thwart the effort. Q*Bert never talked, but muttered inexplicable phrases as he went on a mission. Different symbols appeared in a speech bubble over Q*bert's head. I always imagined he was cussing over the nerves involved in all the hopping and the frustration of the evil doers like Colly, Ugg, Wrong-Way, Sam, and Slick. Those guys would try to force Q*bert (who the player controls) over the edge of the pyramid.
Q*bert arcade game
Q*bert is another one of those video games we'd play at the skating rink or local pizza restaurant. Eventually, it was released for the Atari. I still remember playing it at one point on a little black and white TV at my grandma's house, which made it next to impossible to do, since the goal of the game is to change the blocks into different colors.
In 2012, Q*bert caught my attention during the movie "Wreck it Ralph." His appearance in the film was brief, but brought back fond memories of playing the game in the early 80's. Hopefully he's appearance sparked the interest in the next generation of gamers.
I think it's safe to safe that Q*bert will go down in history with my other favorites Pac-Man and Donkey Kong as one of the all-time great classic games.
