» On 7/01/2024 12:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
My Olympian Goddess Infatuation. 

Since NBC will soon cover the 2024 Paris Olympics, I decided to write down my brush with an Olympics that took place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

After serving my stint on the NBC NY Page staff, I married a Page colleague and moved to the Los Angeles area - North Hollywood, to be exact. We lived in a crappy little one-bedroom apartment with a headstrong schnauzer named Gracie. But we were happy. For a while, anyway.

During the 1984 L.A. Olympics, I worked on a security team in the Olympic Village at the University of Southern California campus. Activity on the USC practice track followed a very regimented schedule, so all the teams could get some workout time. And my security station was right next to that track. The U.S. had boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, so the Russians and their allies wanted to return the favor. Romania was the only Soviet Bloc country that opted to attend the L.A. Games. Which meant the Romanian team got a lot of positive attention.

But I was interested in only one Romanian. Doina Melinte was a real beauty. She moved like a gazelle and had a derrière like a Georgia peach. She specialized in the middle distances which I had run in high school and college. So whenever the Romanian team arrived at the practice track near my post, I couldn't resist the urge to stare at her. All the Olympic athletes were like gods to us mere mortals, but Doina was my own private goddess, and I put her on a very special pedestal. While she was working out, my gaze never wandered.

When the track & field events started a week later, over at the Coliseum, I got myself transferred to the stadium floor, so I could watch my goddess compete from trackside. Doina advanced easily through the qualifying heats, and ended up winning a silver in the 1500-meters and a gold in the 800. She never knew I existed, but I was so proud of her. I still have a Romanian Olympic team pin to commemorate my unrequited infatuation with an Olympian goddess.

Doina's 800m victory (3:19 video)

Romanian team pin:


Doina in high school:


28Jul1984 to 12Aug1984: providing airtight security, in the Olympic Village and on the track, for 8 bucks an hour.
(A cute little blue beret topped off that khaki outfit.)

Labels: acbpage

 
» On 6/30/2024 12:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Franken v. Tartikoff. 

Al Franken was a writer and featured player on Saturday Night Live during the time I worked as an NBC Page. One week, he wrote a wickedly funny "news commentary" sketch that satirized Brandon Tartikoff, the soon-to-be-president of NBC's entertainment division. Following rehearsals, word quickly spread throughout 30 Rock... and we all became painfully aware that Tartikoff wanted to be in the studio audience. Uh-oh.

After Franken performed his sketch during the live broadcast, he ran over to me and frantically asked, "Where was he? Where was he?" I replied, "Did you happen to notice the guy sitting directly in your sight line, just behind the cue cards? The guy who walked out when the sketch ended?"

But instead of firing anybody, Tartikoff (1949-1997) performed on SNL the next week in a sketch that skewered Franken. Classy guy.

Labels: acbpage

 
» On 6/06/2024 04:52:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Facebook Suspension, Catch-22. 

When I tried to log on to FB this morning, they gave me a big popup: "We suspended your account." When I clicked on Why, they said: "We don't allow people on Facebook to pretend to be a business." OK, that was obviously not my transgression, so I clicked Appeal. They wanted my mobile number, so I gave it to them. Then I clicked Send Me A Code. They said: "Code not sent. Try again later or use a different mobile number." I tried both, but no dice. Hmm.

[tap images to enlarge] [my suspended FB account: https://facebook.com/alancb ] [Thanks for your help!]



FB article: Account Integrity and Authentic Identity

FB article: My personal Facebook account is disabled

UPDATE: FB apologized, following my Appeal, and I'm back, after being forced to (1) download Meta's Facebook app onto my phone, (2) download Meta's WhatsApp app onto my phone, (3) record a video selfie for WhatsApp, and (4) take a photo of my driver license for WhatsApp. But before reinstating me, they felt like they had to issue a threat:

Stop FB Hacks/Clones/Trolls!

 
» On 6/01/2024 12:05:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Seizure World POW camp. 

When an email blast announced that our Main Gate (1 of 3) was closing for nearly 5 days, very few residents paid attention. Plus, now that the snowbirds are gone, many of the main drags inside our 960-acre (388-hectare), 55+ community are dug up for repaving, so it's like driving through a war zone. Even though we've all been given maps+dates of the reconstruction, the oldsters can't figure them out, or rely on their usual shortcuts anymore. Plus, using a GPS often leads to street blockages. The ensuing confusion has been quite entertaining. Yep, it's one helluva show, which led to the following exchange in our Google group...

>On Sat, May 18, 2024 at 9:27AM XYZ wrote:
This may sound stupid, but how do I get help to read the map that shows how to escape from this place on a daily basis?!

>On Sat, May 18, 2024 at 9:37AM Alan wrote:
LOL! Sorry, there is none. You'll have to dig your own tunnel. 😉

>On Sat, May 18, 2024 at 10:34AM PQR wrote:
My son and I spent about 30 minutes finding a way out Friday afternoon.

>On Sat, May 18, 2024 at 3:12PM Alan wrote:
Careful! Keep your eyes peeled for Colonel Klink.

 
» On 5/01/2024 12:05:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Facebook CLONE Wars. 

ASK AL: "I just got a second Friend Request from one of my Facebook Friends. What should I do?"

AL SEZ: "Compare the new profile with the old one, then report the new profile to Facebook. They respond very quickly, and will usually zap the unauthorized CLONE in a matter of minutes."



You can then post the following message on your Friend's Timeline:

I've received a friend request from your clone, but I reported it:
https://snzltr.blogspot.com/search/label/fb
and if your other friends also report the clone, Facebook should remove it soon. However, the cloning could continue happening (and confusing/annoying your friends), unless you change "Who can see your friends list?" from Public to Friends:
https://facebook.com/settings?tab=privacy&section=friendlist

UPDATE: If your Friend was HACKED, send this link to her/his EMAIL address: https://www.facebook.com/help/203305893040179
and take these steps, on their account page that has been hijacked by a third party:

Labels: fb

 
» On 4/22/2024 12:05:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
What's in YOUR wallet? 

Some people have lotsa cash and/or platinum cards, black cards, or titanium cards, in their wallets. But my wallet contains - in addition to the normal collection of ID/insurance/credit cards - a few unusual items with sentimental value: treasured photos, odd licenses, a special press pass, etc. (full disclosure: I also carry scans of the stuff below in a Wallet file on my phone 😉). [tap images to enlarge]

1976-77: I completed two marathons (story). This photo was taken during the first, NYC 1976, just before I lost the will to live. I still have no f*cking idea why I put myself through that again, for Boston 1977. 😉
1977: I qualified for my first FAA license as a sailplane pilot. Then I earned three other licenses, in 1978, 1981 and 1990. In 2011, the agency sent me these cool plastic cards, when they replaced the boring old paper licenses. The new design includes portraits of the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, on the back. The top certificate is actually 3 Private Pilot licenses: (1) Airplane, Single Engine Land; (2) Glider, Aero Tow; and (3) Glider, Ground Launch (the round blue DoT logo/seal means I'm qualified to fly by reference to instruments). The bottom certificate is simply a Ground Instructor, Basic. They say we never forget how to ride a bicycle, due to muscle memory, which is why my right hand never forgets how to fly the control stick in a sailplane and my left hand never forgets how to fly the yoke in an airplane. But if I switch hands, my performance drops off markedly. 😉 Stories: The Last Lesson and French Equivalence.
1977: This is a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Class A parachutist license. My skydiving logbook says I currently have 45 jumps, and I only broke my arm once, during jump 35. 😉 Stories: The Thirty-One Dollar Man and Vertical wind tunnel tips.
1978: Upon first arriving in Manhattan from France, I was so broke that I had to sell a pint of blood to buy a road map of the city, in order to avoid getting lost while driving a cab. Story: Hack. The cabbie job naturally led to a position on the NBC Page staff. 😉
Forty years later, the corrective lens restriction had been removed (radial keratotomy), and I had progressed from taxis to motorcycles ("L" endorsement). This plastic card is duplicated in Arizona's Mobile ID. But in the app, my head swivels from side to side. It's REALLY creepy. 😉
1989: I got my SCUBA C-card when my brother Chris invited me to go diving with him, near his home in Florida. We swam with a manatee and did a cave dive at Crystal River Springs. Later, down in the Keys (story: Deep Thoughts), I enjoyed playing with the fast-retracting Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus), which probably inspired the Helicoradians in Avatar. One of the trip's highlights was visiting John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the United States, and watching a school of tarpon swim in a hypnotic spiral during the courtship ritual known as "daisy chaining."
2003: My lovely wife Anikó and I added some useful experience to our résumés, by working on a pyrotechnician team. Story: Cone of Concussion.
2006: While serving as the Online Editor for Palm Springs Life magazine, I covered some memorable events. This press credential allowed me to photograph and interview my favorite comedian, the late Tommy Smothers. R.I.P.

 
» On 4/01/2024 12:05:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Zoomiversary #4, 03April2020 - 03April2024. 

The first ZoomFest was among four members of our Westfield [MA] High School track team. We've kept in touch over the years, but the pandemic brought us a lot closer together, in a series of semimonthly Zoom meetings. The group quickly expanded to six, and then ten, regulars, and often included special guests, like our spouses, partners, kids, pets, and even our old coach. The next get-together is this coming Friday, with participants Zooming in from Lakewood Colorado, Mesa Arizona, Philomath Oregon, Suffield Connecticut, Niwot Colorado, Fougères France, San Diego California, Virginia Beach Virginia, and Swampscott Massachusetts. Special thanks to Jim Gusek, who sparked the whole idea, and to COVID-19, for creating this unexpectedly welcome side benefit.

Remember the old TV shows from the 50s and 60s, when a group of guys would get together for Poker Night? They smoked cigars, drank beer and told dirty jokes. Well, some of us see the ZoomFest as Poker Night, without the cigars. 😉

--1968-71, top 2 rows, L-R: Jim Gusek, moi, Patrick Kamins, Michael Rood, Bert Cashman, Robert Grace, Michael Kay, Stephen FitzGerald, Bruce LaPointe, and Bill Walthall.
--5 decades later, bottom 2 rows!

Founding members of Westfield High's Cross-Country team in the Fall of 1968, L-R:
Al Baird, Coach Reign Rix, Jim Gusek, (Bob Grace), Dan Fountain, Bert Cashman, Mike Rood.

WHS Track, Spring 1969, Row-Column, Front-Back: Bert Cashman 1-1, Bob Grace 1-2,
Mike Kay 2-2, Al Baird 2-9, Bill Walthall 2-10, Steve FitzGerald 2-12, Mike Rood 3-1,
Bruce LaPointe 3-2, Jim Gusek 3-9. (Pat Kamins graduated in 1968.)

Glory Days, Friday Night Lights, Facebook posting, 05Apr2024 ZoomFest, 1969 track records

Labels: whs, z4, ZoomFest