Always check for a pulse
Technology not all its cracked up to be
The Front Page
Morning Update
Monday, May 3, 2021
By Ken Tingley
Years ago, my wife and I were visiting the Hill Country in Texas. We made a trip to President Lyndon Johnson’s ranch where we stopped and visited the grave of LBJ.
I remember asking the park ranger where the First Lady - Lady Bird Johnson - was buried since I didn’t see a head stone for her.
“She’s up at the ranch,” the woman said. “She isn’t dead yet.”
And I considered myself a history expert.
I did it again this week.
While visiting Cooperstown this past week, we stopped by a downtown business that used to be run by a couple we knew. I wrote a story about their business venture years ago that was eventually published in Sports Illustrated.
After browsing for a minute, I went up to the register and told the woman how I knew the couple from years ago, and while I knew the husband had passed, I wondered if the wife was still around.
She looked back at me puzzled.
“No, their both still around,” she said. “I see them in the supermarket all the time.”
“Well,” I’m glad to hear that,” I responded. “Can you tell them I’m glad they are not dead.”
Boom box
It’s what I call the sound track to my summer.
On weekend afternoons, when I’m puttering around the yard, I like to listen to the Yankee game on the radio. With games routinely running well over three hours, the only way to appreciate baseball is while doing something far more constructive.
I was splitting some wood a couple weeks ago, so I downloaded the YES app so I could hear the game while I was working. I complained to my wife that I preferred the radio broadcasters, so she found a radio app for the Yankee games that worked inside the house, but when I was digging in the yard this weekend, it wouldn’t work. It just wouldn’t connect. So I tried the YES app, and that didn’t work either.
I was a bit disgusted.
By my wife saved the day a few minutes later, parading out into the yard with a 1980s era boom box that had been sitting somewhere in the house. She dug out six D batteries - Are D batteries used for anything these days? - and I happily listened to the rest of the game after positioning the antenna.
I didn’t even need an app.
Happy retirement
When I retired last year, I got an email from Fort Ann soccer coach Rich McCabe wishing me well.
When I was in sports, I got to cover a lot of Fort Ann soccer since they were always in the post season and usually fighting for a sectional title. Fort Ann dominated games to such an extent, you never knew if their goalie was any good because he was never tested.
McCabe’s record was sensational. I seem to remember that one of the big reasons Fort Ann residents voted against a merger with Hudson Falls years ago was because it didn’t want to lose its soccer team.
Later, McCabe decided he wanted a bigger challenge and was about to leave for Adirondack Community College to coach its team, but it cause such an uproar at the school he was convinced to stay.
In recent years, McCabe found himself coaching the sons of the kids he coached when he first started out. I think he decided to retire before he was coaching their grandkids.
Please vote for my book
I’ve been writing this newsletter for the past few months. Thanks for all the positive feedback. I will also keep you updated on my other writing projects.
Next up is a collection of my columns from my years at The Post-Star. That book will be come out in July. In preparation for that, I urge you all to go to the below link and vote for book so you can be updated on its progress.
Thanks again for all your support. Please vote HERE.
