Scooter Chronicles

Alright, here is the second edition of “Ask Scooter Anything”. I only had two participants this time around, but they asked a lot of questions.

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Roger asked:

What do you watch on TV? HOW do you watch TV? Live, or on tape? How much does Nigel watch?

I am going to sound like a typical guy, but I watch sports mostly. Though lately I have even found myself not watching that. During the hockey season, that is another story. I do like watching the Discovery Channel shows or other of the same type of channels. If I am surfing, I will stop on such things like “MythBusters” or “Extreme Engineering”. Marcia and I used to watch a couple of shows all the time (like “House MD”), but usually find ourselves just flipping through stations to see what is on. We have lately been watching a lot of “MADtv” in syndication, moving away from our “That 70’s Show” obsession (though we both still love it). We rarely tape things, though recently taped the debut episode of “Heroes” because we wanted to see what it was all about.

Nigel probably watches too much TV. He does it through osmosis when we watch. Though a lot of times when we are watching we try to put him in his walker. He is preoccupied with it then to watch. I would say that he usually does watch about 2 hours, with a Disney show or two in the morning (like “Little Einsteins” or “Jo Jo’s Circus”), then an episode or two of “Classical Baby”.

Who’s the first girl you kissed, and when?

Trisha Sabato during my senior year of high school. (I was a late bloomer.) It was in October or November of 1987. I was over at her house just visiting, and I kissed her good-bye.

Where have you traveled outside of the US and Canada?

I have been over to Europe twice. The first time was in March or April of 1996 to Belgium for work. I was tied to a project for Ford that sent me to many of their assembly plants over the course of a year and a half. One was the plant in Genk, Belgium. We flew into Amsterdam, Holland on Sunday morning and spent the day there. Then drove to Genk (about three hours) on Monday morning. During the middle weekend, the guy I traveled with and I drove to Cologne (Köln), Germany on Saturday, then Brussels, Belgium on Sunday. On the way back from Brussels we saw signs for a race track and decided to go find it. It turned out to be Zolder where the Belgian Grand Prix had been held in 1973, 1975 through 1982, and then again in 1984. It was also the track that Gilles Villeneuve died at during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

The next time was to England in August of 2000. I traveled with Marcia and her sister Paula who were singing for a church choir from Bethlehem, PA. We flew into Gatwick and were bussed to Exeter. We were there for a week. The choir sang at the famous cathedral there. It was a rather small town, but filled with some good pubs, and one very good pizza place (if you can believe it). Also to note, during our first night in Exeter, Marcia and I went for a walk down by the river. I asked her to marry me during this walk. Then a couple of days before we left, we stayed in London. The afternoon we got there, we met a friend of ours through the Yes fan club that worked in the area. We met at Belgo Centraal, a really good Belgian restaurant. The following day we made the trip to Wimbledon and the Hard Rock Cafe, but that was about it. We didn’t have much time while in London to see much else.

Who is your favorite musical solo artist? Group? Why?

OK, I am going to start with group first. And that is a tie. Those being Yes and Rush. I got into both in the early 80’s, and Yes was by accident. “Owner of a Lonely Heart” from their “90125″ album was a number one hit here in the States in 1984. I like the band Asia at the time, and when I bought “90125″, I saw a bunch of old albums and that Yes had been around a while, and that Asia member Steve Howe used to be in the band. As for Rush, that came from MTV and the talk of older kids in school about how cool they were.

They give me different scopes in music. Yes has done things that Rush could never do. Long compositions that are so beautiful musically and lyrically, with reprises, almost like modern symphonies. Rush is more straight ahead, but their ability as musicians was something that they flaunted in their younger days to show off, yet it produced great music. Lyrically they are far superior then any band recording (in my opinion), though very methodical and based on themes. Yes was more beautiful, but most of us still don’t know what Jon Anderson was singing about half the time. As I said, Yes has done things that are far superior to the material from Rush. However, Rush is much more consistent. I can count the amount of songs that I dislike by Rush on one hand, where as I can count whole albums that I dislike of Yes’ material. There are some other bands that are up there on my list, like Weather Report, King’s X, and Steely Dan.

Solo artist? Tough call. I have enjoyed just about everything I have heard of Duncan Sheik. He writes catchy tunes with good pop sensibilities, but not sounding like pop songs and selling out. If you consider Pat Methany as a solo artist, then he would be a top choice as well. He is just an amazing guitarist.

Will you ever try out for a game or reality show? If so, what? And when?

I don’t like reality shows. I don’t watch them, and probably never will. To me, sporting events are the best and only kind of reality shows I will ever watch. I have always loved “Jeopardy!” and have been told that I should try out for it. (Especially by my ex-wife.) But I seriously don’t think I could cut it. I guess a lot. However, I do know that many of the questions are basic questions, but only if you know the material. Like many of the medical questions I never knew, my ex-wife (who was a registered nurse) always said they were easy first year stuff that even nurses are taught.

One other that I had thought about was “Stump the Schwab” on ESPN. My friend Andy tried out about a month or two ago, and I was tempted to go with him. He missed the cut by a couple of questions, and I probably would have to. The problem is that if it’s hockey, baseball, or tennis, then I would be OK. Everything else I would be lost.

How many dates before you kissed Marcia? Before you knew you loved her?

The strange thing with meeting someone online, and living about 8 hours away by car, is that you don’t really date. Though we did finally go on a date after talking on the phone, or chatting on the internet, after about 3 to 4 months. But we didn’t kiss for another two days. It was also at this point that I knew I loved her.

When will we get out of Iraq? Afghanistan? Will Iraq still be one country in 18 months?

I think if a Democrat is voted into the Oval Office next time around that we will be exiting Iraq and Afghanistan very quickly. Though “quickly” to me means around a year or so. If a Republican is elected, then it would take even longer, but eventually would be done by the end of their term. I honestly think that this is Bush’s War, and not the Republican Party’s. However, I don’t really follow politics as closely as I should, so I may be missing something.

As for what happens in Iraq, again I don’t follow it that closely. But I got a funny feeling that Iraq would not be one country for long. Especially if the US pulls out in the next year. (Don’t see that happening.) It is a shame that so many lives were lost, but it’s even worse to have it part of it fall apart after.

What is the dumbest thing you ever did in public?

Well, first let me count all the stupid things that I have done in public. ; )

I think the dumbest thing I ever did in public took place at the Hard Rock Cafe on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto during the summer of 1995. I was in Toronto with my friend Kevin. It was a get-away for me since at the time my ex-wife and I had separated. I needed time to have fun and take my mind off of things. However, I was still in a surly mood at times. So I am waiting in line to buy something from the store, about three people back. And each person in front of me is taking a long time. One was trying to pay with a different currency (not even US dollars), and another was going through all the t-shirts and sweatshirts. When it was my time to come up, I choose what I wanted and pulled out my credit card. It was then that I was told that the computers were down and they would only take cash transactions. They had never mentioned that the whole time I was in line. I wasn’t happy. And not being in a happy mood to begin with, I said something bad. There was no reason for it, and I didn’t purposely say it. It just slipped out. (Though there are no excuses to say such a thing regardless of the situation, but I am just trying to give you my frame of mine.) Mostly because I had been using the word in my discussions with Kevin to help describe my level of pain over what my ex-wife had done. I am still very embarrassed that I ever uttered that word in public like that.

How often do you vote?

Not nearly enough. I used to vote for every election that was held. That included the school board. And I don’t just mean the district I went to and lived in first when I came of voting age because my Dad was running. Even the second district I lived in I voted. But with moving around I have not done it enough. Since moving to Pennsylvania I have only voted twice; the two most recent Presidential elections. Part of the reason I haven’t voted is the amount of dislike I have for ANY politician. I have usually voted for third, fourth, and fifth party candidates just because I hated both the candidates for our two major parties. And part of the reason is that sometimes it is really hard to decide. I tend to be more conservative, but really am pretty much in the middle. I favor neither party. Though I did vote for Kerry in the last Presidential election, and he was the first Democratic candidate I voted for, for the Oval Office. (Just for the record, I haven’t blindly voted for Republicans either, since I voted twice for H. Ross Perot.)

What is your favorite reference book (movie guide, almanac)?

Call me a typical guy, but it’s the ESPN Sport Almanac. I refer to it quite a bit. Even Marcia wants me to pull it out when we start talking about baseball or tennis. Though there are web sites that are a lot like almanacs that I do use. The IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) and Wikipedia (though you have to take things with a grain of salt) are two.

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My sister Jenn asked:

What is the best childhood memory you have?

Wow! Now that’s tough. I think with the frame of mind I am in now it was our time with Grandpa Glonek. I did enjoy all those summer days playing baseball. but then again I had to do it with David Pantano and it took us too long to figure out what a jerk he was.

If you could look anyone up from your life who would you look up and why?

Not sure. I would like to know how Kevin is doing. Though we did part on some bad terms. I would be interested in how the other guys from the cross country team from high school are doing, like Curt and Mary (if they are still together), Dave, Rob, Eric, Rick, George, and Chuck.

What is your favorite song?

Too many to choose from. I can break it down a bit. My favorite Yes tune is “Close to the Edge”; Rush is “Red Barchetta”; Steely Dan is “Aja”; Weather Report is “Black Market”; King’s X is “We Are Finding Who We Are”, to name a few.

Who is going to win the Stanley cup in ‘07?

Tough call. And I usually make a choice before the season starts. Been doing that for years. Only once correctly predicted the Stanley Cup champ before the season started, that being in 1996 with the Avalanche. Though I did get close the following year saying that the Flyers would win, but they lost to the Wings in the Finals.

This year I am going out on a limb with my pick. I am gonna say the Anaheim Ducks. Sure, they may not be “Mighty” anymore, but they certainly were better then expected last year, and have only improved on paper. They will beat the Buffalo Sabres in the Finals.

What profession do you see Nigel having when he grows up?

Not sure really. If his fascination with mine and Marcia’s mouth and teeth continue, I would say dentist. But as long as he has a good job, that pays him well, and he is happy with what he is doing, then it’s good by me.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

Another tough question. I would like to try living in England, mostly for the weather. Sure, there is a lot of rain, but it is relatively cool during the summer, which I would love. And if I had a fire place and all my books (and more other good books), then the rain wouldn’t bother me too much. Plus there is a lot of history there, and I would be closer to the rest of Europe to see more of the history. Of course that is if I had time away from work.

Of the places you have vacationed, which was your favorite?

I would say that London was my favorite. It was an actual vacation. Unfortunately we didn’t stay long enough to really enjoy it. I would loved to have spent more time in Amsterdam as well, but that was also for work. And of course, Toronto always is a great place to go.