Adaptations

I've been to two "good luck in your new pursuits" celebrations this week. One was for a coworker who found what he hopes is a better-paying job with more opportunity to pursue his passion. And the other was for a swimming teammate who is returning to her hometown so that both she and her husband can continue their paths toward achieving their goals. It's sad to see them go (especially Becca, who is our fastest backstroker), but it's also exhilirating to see people strike out toward new challenges.

Becca had us sign her swim fins so she'd have something to remember us by. That's WAY cooler than a mere greeting card. I know she'll come back to swim with us during some future visit, and it will be fun to catch up and learn about her progress. She and her husband are both outstanding people, and are destined for great things.

Of course, we ALL have adventures in front of us. Among the people sitting closest to me last night were Desmond (off to climb a 14er today), Cliff (about to swim the 21-mile length of Lake Tahoe), his wife Julie (starting an exciting new job next week), and Sammy (competing in a World Championship pentathlon event in a few weeks.) And that's just the ones who sat next to me.

Me? Well, I'm arranging for my trip to Seattle. I'm planning to swim an open-water race while I'm there, visit the Space Needle, and hopefully get to hear Tanner's band perform their latest compositions.

In the meantime, I owe you a quiz answer. And here it is:

Row 1: TC. The fellow on the left is Roger E. Mosley, best known for his role as T.C. on "Magnum, PI". The initials T.C. were short for Theodore Calvin. The guy on the right is Jerry Mathers (no relation to Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem), who is most famous for playing "The Beaver", whose full name was Theodore Cleaver...which could also be abbreviated as T.C.

In the second row we have William Conrad and Harry Morgan, shown from publicity photos for their roles on "Cannon" and "Dragnet". Conrad's character was Frank Cannon, and Morgan's was Frank Gannon. Close enough, if you ask me.

The dudes on row 3 are both "Sergeant Carter." The one on the left is Technical Sergeant Andrew Carter (played by Larry Hovis) on "Hogan's Heroes", flanked by Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter, played by Frank Sutton on "Gomer Pyle, USMC."

The crown-wearing hippie mermaid on the bottom row is the Starbucks company logo. I'm sure there's some significance to why an overpriced coffee vendor is using a half-fish chick to adorn their cups and stuff, but I haven't bothered to look it up. Next to her is Dirk Benedict, shown in his role as a character named Starbuck on the first TV show that attempted to capitalize on the success of Star Wars, "Battlestar Gallactica." Most of the show's props were reused a short time later for the utterly silly (but somehow enjoyable) "Buck Rogers" series.

Extra credit if you can tell me who did the voice of Buck's robot sidekick Twiki.

Was Twiki the worst robot character ever invented? Oh my goodness, no. Twiki was an abomination, true. But his horridness didn't begin to approach the complete and utter stinkitude of any of the robots in Disney's science fiction disaster, "The Black Hole." And I know you won't believe me when I say this (unless you've seen the movie), but the stupid, stupid, stupid robots in that movie were actually the best part of the film. But even with the stellar vocal talents of Slim Pickens and Roddy McDowall, this movie taxes the very limits of human tolerance. I have been known to endorse some pretty bad space movies (I actually enjoy "Plan 9 From Outer Space", for example), but if anyone ever invites you over to watch their DVD of "The Black Hole", you should immediately terminate that relationship.

And I guess that's all I have to say for today. Next topic: Pancakes.

Enjoy this embedded clip, and have a great day!