I have never spent much time around deaf people. While there are plenty of people in my family that are hard of hearing, I have no family members that are deaf. The people in my family who have the most severe hearing problems have never been so bad off that there was any consideration of …
Author Archives: elvisgumby
Memorable Birthdays
I’m writing this on my 53rd birthday. I am taking the day off from work and will be spending most of it at home alone. I do plan to get out and visit a music store later and will spend time with family tonight. It will be an enjoyable day. I wanted to take a …
Shopping With My Family
Not all stores are created equal. People with different sensibilities gravitate to different stores. Stores try to appeal to different types of customers. Stores do this with the types of products they carry and the environment they try to create. At first glance, Walmart and Target seem to be very similar. But as I look …
Making Ice Cream with Dad
It was a Sunday afternoon. My mother and my sister had gone to a baby shower or a wedding shower. I was at home alone with my dad. It was raining. It was stormy and rainy enough outside that I couldn’t go out and play. My dad would usually have some sort of project going …
Talent Show
When my oldest daughter was in fifth and sixth grade, she school she attended would have an annual talent show. This talent show was held during the evening so parents, family and friends could attend. My daughter plays the piano and plays very well. She would always select a song that she liked from some …
NAACP Banquet
Years ago, my wife was the news editor for the newspaper in the small town where we grew up. Being news editor for a paper like this meant that she covered a variety of events. If a story was going to be written about an event in our county, she almost always was the person …
My SNL Story
I would like to be able to say that I was a fan of Saturday Night Live from the very beginning. In the fall of 1975, I was 13 years old. It was also the days of no cable and only 3 networks. I regularly studied the TV Guide for information about all shows, especially …
Fish Songs
This past weekend, I did special music during the worship service at the church I attend. Most of the time I do special music, I just sing one of my songs. I try to select a song that relates to the scripture lesson for the service or at least the theme for the service. This …
Motel Hell in Huntsville
“I’m sure the Huntsville has many fine hotels. This is not one of them…” In June of 2011, I took a trip to Huntsville, Alabama. There were several odd things about the hotel and the neighborhood where we stayed that I recorded in a series of posts on Facebook. The quote above is the first …
Super Bowl in 2000
I have used a Franklin Planner since the late 1980’s at work. I use it to keep up with appointments and tasks for work activities as well as my personal life. Over the years, I have come to rely on computers and tools like Outlook to manage my time but I still carry a planner. …