It was nearly midnight, the eve of September 5th, less than 36 hours before my wife’s 30th birthday. She had begun having contractions about 4 hours ago, but having received a good dose of pain killers, the contractions seemed to have subsided for now. It had looked like our first child might be born on the 5th, but now all signs pointed to a September 6th birthday.

While Mary rested, I watched the hospital television. To my amazement, the episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy gives birth to her baby was on. I’ll always remember that.

Tomorrow, or rather in a few hours, Jay turns 10. It went by so fast, and there are so many things I didn’t get to do with him yet.  I hope I have the chance to do some of them, while they’re still of interest to him.

What I can say, though, is that I’ve loved every moment I’ve been able to share with him so far, and I feel so lucky that he is my son.

We often call him the greatest birthday gift my wife ever got, and to me he’s simply the greatest gift she (or anyone) ever gave me.
-Scott Copperman-

Murky Memories: My first trip to Chilis was in 1983. I was living in Englewood, CO at the time. Chili’s was this awesome place that had dozens of different types of hamburgers, and not much else. There was the Chili’s Trip, the Oldtimer (with or without cheese), more than 20 others. The Englewood location was one of only a handful, and it was a special place to go.

You can see in the Wikipedia entry that the founder of Chili’s sold the brand and his 20 or so locations (primarily in the southwest) at around that time. And while Chili’s has become a thriving restaurant chain, it’s not the Chili’s I knew and loved. It’s okay… but it’s not the same.

The same thing happened to “T.G.I. Fridays”… two years earlier, I had first eaten at a Friday’s restaurant in San Diego, CA. Potato Skins were a speciality, and all different varieties were offered (Pork n Beans, Parmigiana, the traditional we all know now with cheese and bacon)… but I digress.

I miss the old Chili’s, and I tell anyone I go there with about how it was… “back in the day.”

-Scott Copperman-

Murky Memories: It was 1986, and the Crisis on Infinite Earths had just changed the DC Universe. Where Marvel, at the time, had more grounded and believable characters, DC was the home to a Superman who had super freeze breath, super ventriloquism, could push planets, etc., . Until Man of Steel
#1 came.

Man of Steel was a reboot… with a more simple, less powerful, Superman. The origin story changed considerably, Superman’s abilities differed, the roles and nature of the supporting cast changed as well. And it was for the better.

As much as I dislike reboots, this one helped the character and accomplished its goal. Well done, DC.

-Scott Copperman-

Profile at the CandyBlog: Chunky

Murky Memories: Chunky Bars were most commonly found wrapped in silver wrappers and they had raisins in them. At the time, that was a big turn off for me. But there was another, hard to find, variety… wrapped in gold. It contained nuts (pecans actually) instead of raisins.  I thought it would be outstanding (since I didn’t care for the raisin filled silver one but loved chocolate covered peanuts)… it was all right. I’m not a big fan of Nestle’s chocolate over that from other companies, but it was okay.

Little did I realize it would soon vanish from the Earth.

-Scott Copperman-

Murky Memories: I’m nearly 40. And I know this song by heart.

Hey, what are we doing out of the bottle?
This is dangerous.
A little kid might come along and think we were candy,
And that would be awful because we’re medicine.
He might even eat us!

No-no-no-no!
This is serious.
We could make you delirious.
You should have a healthy fear of us.
Too much of us is dangerous.

Verse 2:
No-no-no-no!
Doctors tell the pharmacy
Types of pills that you will need,
And he knows the harm that we can be
If we’re not taken carefully.

Chorus:
No-no-no-no!
We’re not candy (believe us),
Even though we look so fine and dandy.
When you’re sick we come in handy,
But we’re not candy.
Ohhhh no.

There’s a timeless truth to what these pills have to say… it’s a shame they’re not on TV anymore.

-Scott Copperman-

Murky Memories: Ah, Sizzlean… or as it was refered to after a subtle name change “Swift Premium Sizzling Bacon.”

To be honest, I never actually ate it. It wasn’t “REAL” bacon, so we weren’t allowed to go near it. It always looked good though.

There’s considerable debate over what Sizzlean actually was. Some say it’s “facon” in the way a chicken nugget is reconstituted mean in the shape of a… well, a nugget. Some say it was an early form of turkey bacon. The majority seems to feel it’s a form of beef bacon.

Either way, it wasn’t pork. And if it’s not pork, it’s just not bacon.

-Scott Copperman-

Sony Walkman

Time Magazine’s Brief History of the Walkman: Click Here

Murky Memories: I won a Sony Walkman by having two matching halves inside my Nestle Crunch wrapper in 1981.

There’s actually a great deal more to the story. I had ridden my bike to the local 7-11, lied about it to my parents, and been spotted on the way home by my father as he drove home from work. I won a walkman, but lost access to it for several weeks.  Pretty cool though.  It was about a $100 value at the time.

I’m a big fan of cassette players. That’s where I invested my money, and I was such a passionate fan of the medium that tried to save up for a DAT machine believing that CDs would have the same flaws of LPs and that the future of portable music would be in cassette form.

Ha, little did I realize.

My original Walkman lasted a long time. And in 1995, I bought Aiwa brand portable cassette players for the groomsmen in my wedding. It’s still fully functional and used by my kids (or it was until they got Zunes). It’ll always have a home, because I have a whole box full of cassette tapes, which I can only play on that little Walkman… or Walkman-like device.

-Scott Copperman-

Play a Flash version of the Game: Dark Tower

Wikipedia Page: Dark Tower (Game) entry

Murky Memories: In the early 1980′s, I wanted this game so badly. None of my friends had it, but it looked so cool on TV, (maybe not so much now) but as a D&D, Zork, Wizardry, Risk playing teen – this game looked amazing. And all of a sudden it was off the shelves. If you didn’t get it in year one, you weren’t getting it.

Tonight, I found the flash version online and played five games. Great fun.

-Scott Copperman-

Najical’s Sifl and Olly Archive: Click Here

Murky Memories: Sifl and Olly were featured on MTV for a few years, and often overshadowed the videos played on their show.

Calls from the public, Chester, Precious Roy, Rock Facts, and more make this a show that should still be on the air.

-Scott Copperman-

Federation Heavy Cruiser SSD

Wikipedia Page: Star Fleet Battles Entry

Murky Memories: Dominic Cianciolo and I used to play the Commander’s Edition of this game in the early 1980′s.

At the time I was very into the new Marvel Super Heroes game, Dungeons & Dragons, Car Wars, Toon, and the video games Zork and Wizardry, but there was something about this game that just hit a nerve. I loved it.

Sadly, I can’t find my rule book or the box which I thought I’d tucked away for my children to enjoy one day. I do, however, still have my folder of information about Captain Jacob Flynn and his ship, the USS Trident. Captain Flynn and his first officer, Cartho Tallvac, were heroes not unlike the great Captain Kirk and his crew.

I’ve just learned of a variety of online versions of this game, I may have to find the time to play a bit this summer.

-Scott Copperman-