So Long "Soup Man"

It probably won't mean much to any of you reading this if I told you that Milton Supman died in New York City on October 22nd. Supman was better known as Soupy Sales. That name may mean something so some of you. I know it means a lot to me.

Soupy Sales was a children's television icon for the later generations of baby boomers who grew up watching afternoon TV in the 1960's.

His noon time and afternoon kid's shows on WNEW, channel 5, out of New York City were some of the first on TV whose humor spanned the generation gap. Soupy was entertaining to both the kids and their parents.

His routines included The Words of Wisdom and reading of the daily newspaper including the want ads and the TV listings. Then there were visits from Soupy's pet: his dogs, White Fang and Black Tooth. Only their paws appeared on camera (a stage hand's arm covered in either white or black fur) and they grunted the syllables of their words which Soupy interpreted. Their appearances usually consisted of a long build up to a corny but funny punchline. Then there was Pooky, a lion puppet who used to sing and swap jokes with Sales.

Of course the most memorable routine of the show was when there would be a knock on the door. Soupy would open it and speak to an unseen visitor, who was supposedly off stage. The two of them would exchange a joke or two and Soupy usually ended up with a pie in his face. That was Soupy Sales legacy. He will always be remembered as the "Pie in the face" guy but his humor was much broader than that.

One time he answered the door, looked off stage and saw a woman wearing nothing but a smile. This was on live TV. Soupy was as cool as a guy could be given those circumstance.

There are several TV legends about Soupy Sales doing or saying things on his shows that were extremely in appropriate or improper. Most are not true. A coupe of them have some substance but have been exaggerated over the years.

Perhaps the most famous is when on a New Years Day program he told the children watching to go into their sleeping parent's wallets and purses and get out "pieces of paper with pictures of men with beards" and send them to him at the TV station. The station was flooded with calls from complaining parents. But according to Sales, "The kids were cool with it." He received thousands of dollars in play money but only 1 real dollar bill.

My dad was the one who was the real fan of Soupy on TV. I was a bit young to really "get him" at the time. Although I've come to appreciate the reruns of the show on video. I knew Soupy from his appearances on game shows in the 70's and 80's. Just this past week I saw him on reruns of the $100,000 Pyramid on GSN network.

I really discovered his comedy and became a fan in the mid 80's when Soupy revamped his career on radio station WNBC out of New York. The radio show had a music/comedy/game show format. It featured the same type of routines as the TV show but with a whole new cast of characters. Those characters were mostly voiced by Soupy's radio side kick, Ray D'ariano. My favorite was the in-house band leader named "Daryl B Mordacum (a play on the phrase "there'll be more to come").

That program kept me entertained and kept me laughing from 10-3 every day for 3 years while I was on the road delivering auto parts each day. Until 1987 when Soupy was fired from the station.

I also was able to come to appreciate Soupy's talents through a record album I bought called "Still Soupy After All of These Years". It's a mixture of some of the classic TV show routines and Soupy's night club act. I really like it. I only have it on tape now but I am going to convert it to CD soon. I also have a book of Sales' favorite jokes he published called "Did you hear the one about". I also have an autographed picture I bought on Ebay.

I didn't find out about Soupy Sales death until I read it in the Entertainment Weekly magazine last week. I was saddened by the news. I read his obituary online and found out he'd been in poor health for the last 5 years or so and finally lost his battle with cancer on October 22nd.

I am and always will be a fan of Soupy Sales. His style of entertaining both children and adults while not talking down or up to either of them will always be something I try to do with the comedy in my ventriloquist act.

Thanks for the laughs Mr. Soupy Sales. You will be missed.

Rewind Recovery Project Complete

On June 11, 2008 I wrote a post announcing that I was going to begin a project to convert all my Rock & Roll Rewind programs, that I had recorded over a 20 year period, from cassette tape to CD.

Since that post whenever I've had the time I've gone to our church and used the equipment in the sound booth to convert the tapes. I am grateful for the free access that I've had to that equipment over this time. I am also proud to declare to you now that after 1 year 4 months and 20 days I have completed my Rewind Restoration Project.

I now have 37 programs (under the titles: Rock & Roll Rewind, Rock & Roll Countdown, Ron Haven's Music Machine, and Rewind Christmas) once again preserved on media, CDs that is relavant to current technology. I will soon be converting once again in the near future. This time to MP3 files to preserve them digitally as well.

In addition I'm going to be moving on to my next music project as well. I'm going to convert the songs on my more than 700 CD collection into digital files as well. This will take a lot longer than the Rewind project but can be done using my computer at home. I'm going to get a special 500 GB portable hard drive to store them. This will give me instant access and portability for all my music.

Listening to the Rewind programs as I have been recording them has made me miss the process by which I chose the music, wrote the scripts and made the recordings. I have so much more music in my collection now that there's a lot more material for new Rewind programs.

However I also realize that I have a greater responsibility to use my time for things that will benefit others and more importantl serve God in the way He wants me to serve Him. There's nothing wrong with writing and recording new Rewind programs in and of themselves. But when the time and effort it takes to produce them takes me away from other things I know should have a higher priority in my life; the things God wants me to be doing. Therefore, knowing thig, spending my time on such a relatively self-centered activity as making Rewind programs, according to God's word, becomes sin. That's something I want no part of.

So I've decided that I'm going to channel my desire to make another Rewind program into creating another Rewind Christmas program. They were always my favorite ones to write, record and listen to anyway. I won't have the time or the ability to complete a new Christmas show for this year's holiday season so I've come up with another plan.

In December 2010 I will celebrate my 50th Christmas season. I also plan on having reached my weight loss goal by then. So to celebrate both of those landmark achievements my plan is to write and record a Rewind Christmas program. I have gotten a lot of new Christmas music since I recorded the last Rewind Christmas program: Christmas In Kentucky in 1999.

So once again, I am proud to announce that the Rewind Restoration Project is complete and that the "CD to Digital Music Conversion Project" will begin soon. And remember, God willing, it will be Ron Havens presents: Rewind Christmas: My 50th Christmas for the holiday season next year.

A Personal Triathlon

Have you ever heard of the Iron Man competition? That's an event in Hawaii where the participants swim (750 meters), ride a bike (20 kilometers) and run (21 kilometers)? It's one of the most famous Triathlons.

Today I completed each of those same 3 activities but of course not in anything close to those distances. I went to the gym this morning and rode 3 miles on the stationary bike. Then I swam laps in the pool for about 1/2 an hour. When I came home this afternoon I walked my dogs in the cemetery about a mile. I would have gone longer but my legs were starting to hurt.

That's by far the most exercise I've done in a single day since my surgery. I got on the bike with the goal of pedaling as far as it is from my house to my church, 3 miles. The 1/2 hour swim is what I usually do. The walk with the dogs, is usually 2 miles but I cut it short as I said.

Until today I've never understood why people train for long distance running or other endurance events. I could never see the reasoning behind it. I mean why work for months just so you can run 26 miles. Why?

Today when I finished at the gym and realized that if I walked the dogs I would have accomplished my own little triathlon I liked the feeling of going just a bit beyond what I thought I could do. I understood the motivation behind achieving the goal of running a marathon. It's the idea of pushing yourself to see if you can do it. The goal of accomplishing something that seems, at first, beyond your reach or reaching a standard set by someone that seems, initially, impossible to you. It brings to mind one of my favorite songs from the Broadway show, Man of La Mancha. The song is called "The Impossible Dream". It's lyrics are about someone going beyond what they seem to be capable of achieving.

In the New Testament the Apostle Paul refers to the Christian life as running a race for a prize. That race is a marathon not a sprint. Also the book I'm currently reading talks about working out your Christian life to get yourself into the spiritual shape God wants you to be in the same way you work out your body so you can be in good shape. The book calls it spiritual sweat.

The insight I realized today regarding the running of a physical race and setting physical goals needs to be applied to my relationship with Christ as well.

Perhaps I need to set a goal of achieving my first triathlon as a Christian. Maybe that means reading the Bible, Praying, and helping someone in need all in the same day. That maybe the place to start.

The Dream Series

I'm in baseball heaven. The World Series match up I've wanted to see for over 30 years is going to finally happen: The New York Yankees vs The Philadelphia Phillies.

Every since the late 70's when the both the franchises started getting into the playoffs on a "regular" basis I've wanted to see the team that was my favorite when I first became a baseball fan, the Phillies, play my all time favorite team, The Yankees.

The Yankees made it to the Series in 76,77 & 78 but the Phillies were beaten in the league championship series or didn't make the playoffs (there was no wild card back then). In 1980 it was the Yankees who faltered in the LCS vs Kansas City, thanks to a devastating home run by George Brett in the last game of the series. The Phillies beat KC and won their first championship. Brett by the way missed a lot of that series due to hemorrhoids. LOL.

The decade of the 80's turned out to be a dark one for both teams as far as the playoffs were concerned. During the Yankees championship and pennant years of the late 90's and 2000's(96,98,99, 2000, 2001 & 2003 respectively)the Phillies were no where to be seen in October.

Then 2 years ago it changed for the Phillies. They made the playoffs in '07 and had become a consistent contender again with a core of young talent that promised a lot for the future. They culminated that potential when they won the championship last season. Now this season they breezed through he NL playoffs and are in the series again with a chance to repeat.

All though the Bronx Bombers were in the playoffs year of the new century under manager, Joe Torre, they lost in the world series in '01 & '03 and had that historical collapse in the 04 ALCS against the Red Sox. After that they lost in the division series each year. They didn't even make the playoffs last season. This year, the 2nd season under manager Joe Giardi, they put it all together and won the AL flag.

Now if you watch or listen to sports talk channels on TV or the radio you'll get plenty of analysis about the World Series which starts this Wednesday night. Each broadcaster has, by now, given their predictions on who they think will win based on strengths, weaknesses, stats and trends. I'm going to tell you my choice based on a couple of factors probably not considered in those "on air" decisions.

In their 3 our of their last 4 World Series appearances in an odd numbered years the Yankees have lost. They only prevailed against the Braves in 1999 but 1981, 2001 & 2003 they lost. This is an odd numbered year.

But let me also point out that in the past sports teams with the motivation for winning to honor the memory of someone close to the team or in the organization who died during the season haven't been very successful. The one example I can remember is the 78 Dodger who wanted to win to honor the memory of their 3rd coach Jim Gilliam. They lost to the Yankees in the series that made Reggie Jackson a superstar. There are other teams that fall into this "win one for..." category but I can't recall them right now. I don't remember the specifics but the general principal stands out in my mind.

The Phillies are wearing a black patch with the white initials "HK" inside them in memory of Harry Kalas. He was their long time broadcaster who died early in the season. I loved Harry Kalas and am sad that he passed away. But with that as part of the motivation the Phillies are on the shaky side of fate. But then again Harry Kalas hasn't really been mentioned much by any of the Phillies during the playoffs.

Weighing both of those factors as arguments for each team to lose the series I'm going to have to say the kind of cancel each other out.

The Phillies are awfully good and I don't think the Yankees pitchers can stop them. Then again The Yankees are very impressive in their home park. It's the first year in the new stadium. The last time they opened a new ballpark they won the series in their first year (1923). I believe history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Therefore I'm going to have to go with my gut and make a prediction. I'm going to say that the Yankees will win the series in 7 games. It will be a great ride and I'm hoping it will end on a walk off hit at Yankees Stadium.

Too Much Mustard

For the first time in a long time I gave the children's sermon during the morning worship service at my church today.

The idea for the lesson came to me about a month ago. I wanted to teach the children how God teaches us, through His word by the writings of the Apostle Paul, not to let our desires, even those which are considered "good", control our lives. The means I used illustrate this for the children came to me only about a week ago.

You see tonight our church held it's annual fall celebration called the "Hallelujah Hoedown". It's an outdoor covered dish dinner with a campfire, roasted marshmallows, lots of deserts, chili, and hot dogs. The fellowship of the church members, the food, and the cool early fall temperatures make it a memorable event each year. I decided to combine a promo for the event with my sermon illustration by using a hot dog and a squeeze bottle of mustard.

I started out by showing the children a grilled hot dog in a bun. I told them it was to remind them about the "Hoedown" that night. Then I told them that I didn't have any breakfast and was planning on eating the dog.

As I made a motion to take my first bite I stopped remembering that I liked my hot dogs with mustard. I got out a bottle of the yellow stuff and squeezed a liberal amount on it.

Then I started talking to the children about desires. I explained what they knew them better as "wants" and how some we had were good and some were evil. I then turned to the dog again and said I really liked mustard and wanted even more. On went more mustard. This time a lot more than I had added the last time. The dog was getting full and condiment was starting to overflow the bun onto the paper plate.

As I talked about desires I continued to "lust" after more and more mustard. Applying squirt after squirt. Verbally justifying each application with the phrase, " I just love mustard". At one point the children came closer to see just how much mustard this crazy guy was putting on the hot dog. I had to implement a bit of juvenile crowd control over the curious bunch of youngsters. After one saturating squirt a little one blurted out, "you're wasting mustard!". I agreed but in a out-of-control manner stated I couldn't help it. I loved mustard.

After it the sound of nothing but air coming out of the bottle made it obvious that I had emptied it's entire contents on the now drenched hot dog I took a long pause. I "came back to the reality" and disappointingly looked at what I had done. I lamented to the children that I suddenly realized that I had let my desire for mustard take control of me. Now I had ruined my intended snack. I could no longer even attempt to eat it. I was separated from it.

I explained to the children that the Bible warns us against letting our evil desires cause us to sin. But then I added that it's not a good thing if we let our good desires, like my wanting mustard on my hot dog , get out of control and rule our lives. Any "want" that's out of control leads us into sin. Just like I was kept from the hot dog by the excess mustard; sin keeps us separated from a relationship with God.

The illustration was overwhelming success with the children. They were astonished and couldn't get close enough to see what I was doing and or had done. The adults in the church congregation got the point as well. After the service and at night at the Hallelujah Hoedown I must have gotten hundreds of "mustard" remarks or comments. I'm sure that throughout the church I will now be known as "The Mustard Man", at least for a while.

I truly believe that the idea for using the hot dog and mustard was an inspiration from the Holy Spirit. As I wrote earlier, I was going to use a picture and the action of adding an excess of brightness to it to get my point across. I give God all the glory for helping me find a creative way to effectively demonstrate what His word tells us about how important it is for Christians to control their desires.

I pray that the sight, sound, and smell of that mustard drenched hot dog and plate will stay with some of those who saw it as a reminder of God's ways in regard His children and their desires.

A Check Up, A Walk & A Movie

Everybody needs a little time away. That's the opening lyric to a late 70's/early 80's hit song by the group; Chicago. But it's really true. Sometimes you need to get away by yourself. Today I used the occasion of my 3 month checkup with my surgeon to treat myself to a little getaway in Nashville.

The check up didn't take very long at all. I had an 8:30 appointment and was only in the surgeon's office for about 20 minutes or so. During that time I got on the scale to get weighed. The receptionist/nurse calculated that I had "officially" lost 92 pounds since my initial consult back on March 20. Also my BMI (Body Mass Index) has gone from 58 to 52. Not anywhere near an acceptable level yet but still much improved.

I only actually saw Dr. Houston (pronounced "House-ton") for about 2 minutes. He came into the consultation room, looked at my chart to see my progress and asked if I had any questions. I really didn't or couldn't think of any. He told me to "keep doing what you're doing." He warned me to resist the temptation to add any new foods and to continue to "keep it boring" as far as my diet was concerned.

Finally I had my blood drawn so an analysis of its components (vitamin levels, protein levels ect) could be made. The nurse told me that as far as the results were concerned "no news is good news". If I didn't hear anything from the surgeon's office in the next 2 weeks about changing my vitamins or supplements everything was just fine. I should just keep going.

I had the day off from work so after I left the surgeon's office I had some time to spend doing whatever I wanted to do in Nashville. I headed off to the Opry Mills Mall. I was going to spend some time there doing some shopping and then going to see a movie.

My first 90 minutes there proved to be a time of redemption for me. Seven months ago, on March 20, after Paula and I had our initial surgical consultation we also went to the Opry Mills. We decided to walk around the entire mall for some exercise. This involved walking from the theater about 500 yards down section 1and then going either right or left and making a "loop" around the mall and back down the same corridor to the movie theater again. I don't know how far a distance it is but I'd say it's anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. Well the combination of walking and stopping in stores to do some shopping proved to be a very difficult task for both of us.

We had to stop and rest quite often. This was true more so for me than it was for Paula. She did most of the shopping. I usually sat on a bench outside the various stores and waited for her. By the time we finished the walk around and went to see a movie we were both exhausted. It was a very sad testimony as to the poor physical condition I was in at the time.

Now let's go back to the future to nearly 7 months later, today. The movie I wanted to see didn't start until noon and I was there about 10:20. I had some time to kill. I decided to try my hand at walking about the mall again.

This time I had a much easier time of it. I not only did I walk around the mall but I actually did some shopping as well. I only stopped to sit down twice. Once was to answer a call on my cell phone from my wife and the second was to sit and rest on a bench; but that was only for about 2 minutes.

It took me about an hour and 30 minutes to make the loop but I took my time and enjoyed the journey. I looked around in several stores including the Disney discount store, a sports teams apparel shop, and the Black Lion flea market area. I also enjoyed looking at the stuff in the kiosks along the corridors. There's a picture the view walking down corridor 3 that the top of this post.

As I got in line for my movie ticket I was tired and a bit sweaty but I was rejoicing inside at my personal victory. I had redeemed my poor performance from March. It was a personal victory.

I went to see the movie "Zombieland". From the beginning it was very humorous and unique, two things I like about a movie. As it progressed it kind of lost it's edge and turned into "just another zombie movie" but overall I liked it.

Before leaving the city I went to the Cracker Barrel just off of Music City drive for lunch. It's one of my favorite restaurants in Nashville. It was a cold rainy day and the warm fire in the fireplace warmed me up.

Also I want to document the fact that while waiting for my food I played the jumping golf tees game that's at the tables of every Cracker Barrel and ended up with just 1 tee left. I was both excited and disappointed about doing it. Excited because I've been trying to do it for years and disappointed because I was by myself and no one could verify that I'd done it. But since I've written it on my blog it's now "officially" documented as the truth.

After lunch I drove onto Briley Parkway merged onto I-65 and headed home. The rest of the day was spent at home relaxing. I really enjoyed my little getaway to Nashville. While it wasn't something I haven't done before the break from the daily routine and the accomplishments that went with it made it a memorable day.

I've Gone Nuts

In the month of October I've gone nuts. Now I realize most of you thought I was already there. But I don't mean that I've gone crazy or progressed to a new level of insanity. What I mean is that I've started craving cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, peanuts, almonds, and every other kind of nut found in a container of Planter's Deluxe Mixed Nuts.

I hadn't eaten any nuts since my surgery until the weekend of the wedding in the Smokey mountains. We took two large containers with us to serve at the reception and they were sitting on top of the counter in the cabin's kitchen all weekend.

A combination of my being anxious for something different to eat and a "hey I'm on vacation" attitude led my hand to venture into the jar for "only a few". Well that first handful led do another and then another. I don't know how many handfuls I had but there were several over the 2 days of our stay. I enjoyed them. It was a "vacation temptation" and it would have been find if I'd have stopped at the end of the weekend.

There was an entire container left over after the reception and we brought them home with us. Now there's really nothing wrong with eating nuts as a healthy snack. They are a good source of protein for the bariatric surgery patient; but they are also a little high in fat. My nutrition plan given to me by my doctor doesn't allow me to eat them until at least 6 months post op because of the carbs and possible difficulty digesting them. I handle them just fine.

Every day since we've been home I've had to eat at least an ounce or two as a snack. They seem to call my name from the kitchen. It's the first time I've been addicted to any specific food since my surgery. I'm pretty certain its a mental thing but I could be craving them for some biological reason. I doubt it but it's possible.

To tell you the truth I really don't know why I've gone crazy over nuts. I was never really a big fan of them before surgery but now I have to have them. Perhaps it's just a passing phase. Maybe over time I'll get my fill of them and the habit will taper off.

The addition of nuts to my diet hasn't hurt my weight loss at all. I'm still losing consistently. I guess I shouldn't worry about it. As long as everything else continues to be going well and I don't eat an entire jar in one sitting; it's perfectly fine. I just wanted to relate my newest obsession with all my readers. I've gone nuts.