20-Word Fiction (6 of 10): Mexican Lunch Date

Greetings from the Denver Public Library where we are blasting the 1968 Iron Butterfly song "In the Garden of Eden" and no one seems to mind, not even the 94-year-old woman reading a "National Geographic" magazine.

Of course, we are kidding, we are not in Denver, but we will go ahead and recommend La Loma for any of you visiting the Colorado capital as Google says it's a great place to do Mexican, and of course, they are 100-percent accurate..........:)

Here is today's 20-Word Fiction piece which does revolve around lunch, perhaps "Washington Post" food critic Tom Sietsema will like this one:

"She's ordering a taco salad. Cool. Okay. What do I want? Ask the waitress. Bad idea. It's a first date."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/tom-sietsema

https://www.denverlibrary.org/

10 for 10 (4th Entry): Say Hi 2 a Calico Cat...

Greetings to our blog readers in Turkey, Slovenia, and Mexico....

We are continuing our trying to catch up series of blog entries with one dedicate to the calico cat, a popular breed of cat here in America and perhaps the world.

No, we don't actually own one.

There are many cats available at animal shelters here in virtually every community in the United States.

Today, we are choosing these three at random:

http://www.hsaconline.org/ (Humane Society of Alamance County (Burlington), North Carolina

http://plannedpethoodrockymount.com/ (Franklin County Animal Shelter in Rocky Mount, Virginia)

http://foothillsanimalshelter.org/ (Jefferson County, Colorado Animal Shelter near Denver)

10 for 10 (3rd Entry): Love Those Zoo Animals

Greetings to our blog readers in Saudi Arabia, India, and France....

Alas, we are running way, way behind in our efforts to post 10 entries in honor of our 10th anniversary of blogging, which is on Sept. 21st.

Life has been crazy and zany lately, and I promise our good friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, that it is not due to watching hours of the '70s English sitcom "Are You Being Served?" on Youtube.

Here is a link to the Denver Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo and the North Carolina Zoo (in Asheboro, NC, near Greensboro) in case you want to see a giraffe or another zoo animal of your choice in real life.

http://www.denverzoo.org/

http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/

http://www.nczoo.org/

http://www.zoo.com.sg/ (A link to the Singapore Zoo for our world audience)

Our Top Ten Favorite Best Picture Winners: Of Course, The Godfather is Numero Uno

Greetings to our faithful blog readers in Bolivia, Honduras and Malta.....as well as those of you in Warm Springs, Virginia, where there is 15 inches of snow on the ground!


Here is yet another entry to our blog. Today, we look at our ten favorite Best Picture winners as we prepare for Oscar Night in which J.K. Simmons will very likely win a Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as a militant, megalomaniac band teacher in "Whiplash."

But, there should be some surprises and some close races. It is reportedly a toss up in the Best Supporting Actress race between Emma Stone ("Birdman"....) and Patricia Arquette (Boyhood).

The American broadcast of the Oscars will occur on ABC affiliates across the country, including WCVB-5 Boston and KMGH-7 Denver as well as around the world and even on planet Neptune:)


Here is our top ten:

1. The Godfather. 1972. Francis Ford Coppola

2. Annie Hall. 1977. Woody Allen.

3. Schindler's List. 1993. Steven Spielberg

4. All Quiet on the Western Front. 1930. Lewis Milestone.

5. The Godfather, Part II. 1974. Francis Ford Coppola

6. On the Waterfront. 1954. Elia Kazan.

7. Midnight Cowboy. 1969. John Schlesinger.

8. Lawrence of Arabia. 1962. David Lean.

9. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. 1975. Milos Forman.

10. The French Connection. 1971. William Friedkin.

Honorable Mention: "The Last Emperor," "West Side Story," The Departed," "The Apartment," "12 Years a Slave," Unforgiven," "Ordinary People"......

http://www.oscars.com

http://www.wcvb.com

http://www.thedenverchannel.com

Traditional Mother's Day Quote from Joan Crawford

Every year on Mother's Day, we like to quote Joan Crawford. For many years, the Criterion Cinema in New Haven, Conn., screened "Mommie Dearest," a 1981 film about Crawford starring Faye Dunaway on Mother's Day. Yesterday, the Denver Film Society screened the picture with Rutanya Alda, the then-child actress who played Crawford's daughter. Today (Sunday), the family film "The Parent Trap" with Hayley Mills was shown at the Film Forum in New York (Crawford was not in that film).

Here is her quote:

"I, Joan Crawford, believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I spend."

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.denverfilmsociety.org

http://www.joancrawfordbest.com

http://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com

Little Thinkers (7 of 16) Ludwig van Beethoven

Greetings to our blog readers in the Czech Republic, The Bahamas and Laos (?!, well, we have gotten at least one hit from there before).

Tonight, we quote the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, whom us Generation X'ers became familiar with in some part because his music is featured prominently in Stanley Kubrick's film version of "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), which was originally a novel by Anthony Burgess.

Those who like to listen to classic music on the radio may want to tune to the American daily public radio series "Performance Today," which airs on WFDD (88.5-FM; Winston-Salem, NC), and other public radio stations.

For those who want to see classical music up close and personal and happy to reside in the Denver-area, The Colorado Symphony is offering a companion concert series this weekend to the Denver Art Museum's "Passport to Paris." Among the pieces that the symphony will perform will be several from Frederick Chopin.

Here is our quote from Ludwig van:

"Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit your own errors."

SIDEBAR: Those of us on the east coast probably didn't get a chance to watch the University of California-Santa Barbara Gauchos (10-5; 1-1 in the Big West) win their home game versus the Long Beach State '49ers (5-12; 1-2 in the Big West)  by a score of  64-51. The Gauchos were lead by Michael Brayson (soph. Sacramento, Calif.) who scored 13 points. His teammate Alan Williams (jr. Phoenix, Ariz.) had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. For the visitors, Mike Caffey (jr., Corona, Calif.) scored 21 points. The game aired nationally on ESPN-U.

http://www.wfdd.org

http://www.coloradosymphony.org

http://www.ucsbgauchos.com

http://www.longbeachstate.com

Quotes from the Little Thinkers (4 of 16): Frida Kahlo

Greetings to our blog-readers in Denmark, Italy and Hungary (we seem to be more popular in Europe than we are here in American, well..........perhaps!).

Today we quote the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who died at a relatively young age when she was 47. There is a very popular restaurant in Antigua, Guatemala, called Frida's. Apparently, getting a seat for a Duke University men's basketball game in Durham, NC, is easier than getting a seat at Frida's.

Recently, we saw a Frida Kahlo Little Thinker doll alongside the likes of Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali at the Denver Museum (if memory serves us correctly) where there is a currently an exhibit of French impressionist art (ie. Claude Monet) until Feb. 9th.

One may also be able to find a Frida Kahlo plush toy at the Corcoran Art Museum's gift shop in Washington, DC, where an exhibit entitled "Mia Feur: An Unkindness" in underway. The museum's web site describes that exhibit as 'an examination of the relationships between human infrastructure and the natural world."

Here is our quote from Frida Kahlo:

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."

 
http://www.corcoran.org

http://www.denverartmuseum.org

http://www.fridakahlo.com

http://www.fridakahlofans.com

http://www.visitguatemala.com

Apocalypse Now 2: The Republicans on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Yes, for the very first time in the history of "The Daily Vampire," we are using four images as the U.S. House of Representatives in Congress, which is controlled by the likes of far right figures, such as Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va., pictured top), is likely to close down the federal government.

This means that real-life Ranger Smiths (middle image, from "Yogi Bear") and the actors in the Ford's Theater production of "The Laramie Project," about a riveting anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming, may not go to work when the sun rises in the morning (this is just speculation, especially with regards to Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, though it is a national park).

So, here are some tweets from the right and the left and maybe even one or two from the center:


1. LOLGOP: "If House Speaker John Boehner is really going to ofer a clean bill, all Freedwomworks is going to break loose."

2. WXII News (NBC affiliate in Winston-Salem, NC): "Panda cam at the National Zoo to go dark in shutdown."

 3. Southpaw: "The Speaker just did an impression of the President of the United States on the House floor."

4. DenverPost: "#CoFlood: Colorado National Guard flood work could be delayed by shutdown."

5. Ford's Theatre: "'The Laramie Project' is so real. It'll be a real treat to everyone who comes to see it,' Cokie Roberts."

6. WashingtonPost: "Employees who witnessed the Navy Yard shooting will be exempt from shutdown furloughs."

7. Philly City Paper: "Republicans succeed in taking away the Liberty Bell because of Obamacare or something."

8.National Review (a conservative publication): "Obamacare's operating system might be fixable; it's faulty economic logic sure isn't."

9. Markos Moulitsas (liberal editor of "The Daily Kos"): "Reminder: Obamacare more popular than shutdown, Congressional Republicans."

10. Huffington Post: "Government shutdown looms after moderate GOP rebellion fails."

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://www.dailykos.com/

http://citypaper.net/

http://thehill.com/

http://www.c-span.org

http://www.fordstheatre.org/

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

UPDATE: Oct. 1, 2013..........It now appears that Ford's Theatre will not be able to perform "The Laramie Project" at the Ford's Theatre because the theatre itself is a national park and the U.S. federal government has shut down. The matter is made more confusing by the fact that the theatre, as a stage group, is private. Ford's Theatre put a Facebook message up that it was looking for alternative stages for the production of the play, which was well-praised in the DC-media. Our sincerest thoughts go out to the actors, stage-hands and set designers as they work through this difficult situation.

7 Words in Turkish (6 of 7): Oysters

Greetings to our blog-readers in Argentina, Belgium and China.

Even though I am 90-percent fluent in Turkish (or maybe just 89 -percent), I didn't know the Turkish word for oysters; it is ISTIRIDYE; I am not using all caps because I've gone insane or towards political extremism, but rather because the Turkish word for oysters is hard to spell. And, we certainly didn't want to eff that up.

For some genuine underwater laughs, we recommend the "Sherman's Lagoon" comic strip. The Sunday edition of the strip is carried by the Sunday editions of "The Washington Post" and "The Denver Post" as well as other newspapers throughout the United States (see link below).


http://www.shermanslagoon.com

Virtual Postcard from Ohio_ Jungle Jim's

Today, we are contiuning with our series of the eight states that we have been to with a Virtual Postcard from Ohio from Roanoke, Va., to Denver, Colo., with an image of Ohio even though we actually just missed going through there.

This photo is of Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, Ohio, near Cincinati.

The place is a theme park of food that was established in 1971; according to Wikipedia this place has the largest collection of wine in the United States! http://www.roadsideamerica.com

http://www.junglejims.com

Virtual Postcard from Kentucky-Mammoth Cave

We are featuring a Virtual Postcard from Kentucky (we featured another VP from the Bluegrass State last November) with an image of the world-famous Mammoth Cave National Park,which is 87 miles away from its nearest airport in Owensboro, Ky.

Kentucky is one of the eight states we are featuring in regards to our rather lengthy Thanksgiving road trip (which concluded yesterday, but we go back on Tues.) was from Roanoke, Virginia, to Denver, Colorado.

Among the highlights of the day was a discussion about food dishes which are actually made from the super-sweet Captain Crunch cereal which all of us who grew up in the '70s are well-acquainted with; these dishes include Captain Crunch fried chicken and Captain Crunch french toast. Somehow, I suspect that Dr. Mehmet Oz (Dr. Oz), a fellow Turkish-American who has reached celebrity status as a good health advocate, would not recommend either of those platters.

It was also fun to watch the Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade from New York on tv this morning, among the highlights were seeing Kermit the Frog, Sonic the Hedgehog and McKayla Maroney, the American Olympic gymnast who has now become a meme for her famous disappointed facial squint.

And, we are happy to report that our good friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, deep-fried a turkey for the tenth year in a row without doing bodily harm to himself. That is indeed something to be thankful for!http://www.kentuckytourism.com

http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com

http://www.mckaylamaroney.com

Quote of the Day_ D.H. Lawrence

Today, we continue our quotes of the day with a quote from the English writer D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930); his most famous novel is "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (1928), a rather controversial steamy novel which we presume can be found at the Tattered Covered Bookstore in Denver, Colo., one of our personal favorite independent bookstores.

Here is the quote from Lawerence:

"Never trust the artist. Trust the tale."

http://www.tatteredcoverbookstore.com

Things We Learned on Web Today: What is a Mittconception?

Since it's a Saturday night, and all us here at "The Daily Vampire" are suffering from some sort of brain parasite that one can only get from cats (this is a joke; though there was an article this year in "The Atlantic" about a Czech scientist who thinks he's discovered such a parasite), we thought we'd try to have some fun.

For starters, we learned the following term from The Urban Dictionary: Mittconception. This a fundamental belief of Mitt Romney, based on mistaken understanding of an issue (one of many).

And, we read some of the following tweets on Twitter. Many are related to yesterday's tragic gun shooting at a cinema in Aurora, Colo. Some are somber; some are serious.

Here they are:

@MaryLowyr1: "Possible solution to gun controversy: Assault weapons stay legal, but only women can buy any of them."

@WSOC_TV (tv station in Charlotte, NC): "Trooper: Alcohol, drugs a factor in 3-vehicle crash."

@MichealIdato: "People killed in one year by guns: Australia: 35, Germany: 194, Canada: 200, USA
9,484. #theatreshooting"

@DenverPost: "UPDATE:  "Friend of #theatreshooting victim Alex Teres says he was 'one of the best men I ever knew.'

@JapanTimes (in reference to North Korea's new dictator, the son of the late Kim Jong II): "Kim Juny Un invites dad's chef back."

http://www.urbandictioanry.com

http://www.twitter.com/clcgoddard

http://www.current.com

http://www.japantimes.co.jp

http://www.mittromney.com

http://www.facebook.com/NotoMittRomney

@Current: "We have to stand up and demand this from our elected officials, if not now, then when? Colin Goddard* on gun laws."

*-Goddard is a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre which happened in April of 2007.

Quotes from the Composers- Antonin Leopold Dvorak

We conclude our Quotes from the Composers series with a quip from the Czech master Antonin Leopold Dvorak (1841-1904). The Romantic-era composer is perhaps best-known for his "New World Symphony" which will be performed by the Colorado Symphony in Denver on Friday (coloradosymphony.org).

Dvorak's famous operas include "The Devil and Kate" (1899) and "Rusalka" (1900) and "The Slavonic Dances" is another one of his famous symphonies.

Dvorak was friends with fellow Czech composer Leos Janacek (1854-1928) who is known for his famous opera "Jenufa" (1904).

And, we learned that "Classical 24" which gives classical music to affiliated NPR stations around the country will be broadcasting Dvorak's piece "Humoresque" at 4:36 pm (a mere half hour from now).

Fellow night owls may be able to catch Jean Sibelius' piece "Pelleas and Melisande" at 11:06 p.m. tonight. We featured the Finnish composer here yesterday. "Classical
24" airs overnight on WVTF, 89.1 FM (Roanoke, Va.) and WFDD, 88.5 FM (Winston-Salem, NC).

This quote from Dvorak is a rather simple one:

"Mozart is sweet sunshine."

SIDEBAR: The term Turkish opera may indeed seem like quite the oxy moron, but composer Okan Demiris did bring many great Turkish operas, including his most famous work "Murad IV" a reality. I was fortunate enough to see a performance of "Murad IV" at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul way back in 1991. Alas, "Today's Zaman" reported in a June 19, 2010 article that Demiris died at age 68 from a heart attack this summer, leaving many musical treasures for generations to come behind.

Things We Learned on Twitter Tonight- Right Wing Talking Head Whinning

According to a Lauren Smiley column in "San Francisco Weekly" that we saw via Twitter, ultra conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage who may well be the most extreme one of them all (and he ironically lives in the Bay area), is in a big spat with his employers Talk Radio Network.

Savage apparently wants a professional divorce, but it will cost him about $4 million.

The two parties appear to be heading to court.

And, speaking of court, we are going to refrain from going further into what Smiley talked about because we don't want to get sued! (We make zero dollars and zero cents for our work here, and that goes for our Honduran intern Javier too!).

According to a small article in the Greensboro, NC, alternative "Yes Weekly" from my friend Brian Clarey (who unlike Javier is a real person) the right-leaning blog Lowcountry912 in South Carolina was sued by Righthaven for apparently publishing a column from "The Denver Post" in its entirety.

The incident was also the subject of an entry in a local Denver blog (Broke in Denver).

So, with that in mind, we are going to read some old "Pogo" comic strips now....

Happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday from Roy Rogers

Yes, of course, we are aware that cowboy singer/actor Roy Rogers (1911-1998) is no longer with us, but why should that stop him from wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, as it is now in Mumbai!

It is still only 6:08 p.m. in San Francisco where author/blogger Christian Lander who hit it big with his first book "Stuff White People Like" will appear at Books Inc on Chestnut Street on Dec. 2. Lander then travels to nearby Berkeley, Calif., on Dec. 3 to visit Pegasus Books.

Lander is also going to visit two of my favorite bookstores in les etats unis early next year when he stops at The Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., on Wed., Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. He then ventures just outside the 303 area code (whoops! We stand corrected Denver IS in the 303 area code) to visit the Tattered Bookstore in Denver on Jan. 13, also at 7:30 p.m.

But, for you red state folks who obviously stumbled upon the wrong blog, fear not, my dear mom's home state of South Carolina which just elected one of Sarah Palin's crazed mama grizzly cubs for governor in Nikki Haley is having tax-free buy as many guns as you like day for the gun wacko Yosemite Sam-types who are eagerly going to sneak across the border from the Charlotte-metro area and stack up on some ammo.

One such place is Aim Right Guns and Ammo in the border town of Fort Mill, SC, (yes, we wondering if the name suggests a political message too) which features photos of a local kid who took out a Bambi Quentiin Tarantino-style.

If that doesn't satisfy one's gun lust, there is Nichol's Store just down the road in Rock Hill, SC, which will open on Black Friday, which is also Tax Free Day for all your glock and magnum needs, at 8:00 a.m. sharp.

However, if you're a conservative guy who prefers a night of good music to a deer-hunting trip to West Virginia, you can enjoy Roy Rogers Jr. himself (well, there are some liberals who like country and western shows, I suppose, but I imagine they have to keep wery, wery quite around their Elmer Fudd buddies) will be performing at the Mickey Gilley Theatre in Branson, Missouri, until mid-December.

But, irregardless if you're a fellow booky liberal intellectual type or if you're a right-wing maniac who likes to get his ass up at 3:30 a.m. to shoot woodpeckers, we hope you have a fun and safe Thanksgiving/Black Friday....just be sure to wear blaze orange if you're going to walk in the woods in South Carolina!

Things We Learned on Twitter Tonight- Pot Arrests in Colorado

According to the Twitter site DenverNews (from an article originally published in "The Denver Post") six men and a woman were busted in Fountain, Colo., on felony marijuana charges today.

Police arrested the suspects, ages 18-23, after finding more than $150,000 worth of marijuana in a motor-home.

The suspects told the fuzz (Fountain Police Dept.) that trying to refine the pot into hash at the time of their arrest.

As for Cheech and Chong, the American poster-boys for cannabis, the '70s comedy duo are going to be performing in Tulsa, Houston and San Antonio next week.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of another highly addictive substance (coffee), Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks will be speaking at Hollins University in Roanoke, Va., on Monday at 7:00 at dupont Chapel.

Things We Learned on Twitter Yesterday PM- Colorado is the Fittest State

Folks in Boulder, Colo., are probably cheering today but not because of an achievement from their beloved University of Colorado (mascot pictured here), but rather because the state of Colorado was named the fittest one in les etats unis.

According to a tweet from "The Denver Post," Colorado was the only state with an adult obesity rate of less than 20 percent. Colorado has just a 19.1 percent adult obesity rate.

Mississippi was the fattest state for a sixth year in a row with a 33.8 rate of obesity.

As for my two states, Virginia has 25. 5 percent rate of obesity while North Carolina has a fairly high 29.4 percent rate, which placed the Tarheel State in the top ten as they are the tenth fattest state in the country.

Happy Father's Day from Robert Reed

We actually meant to post this much earlier in the day, but I was working on my exam for students at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Roanoke, Va. (not actually where I work).

But, Happy Father's Day to all. Alas, my father Mehmet Gokbudak, a Turkish immigrant, died of a heart attack at age 62 in 1983 when I was just 13 years old but we remember him fondly. Perhaps, this entry is a bit ironic because he didn't like us watching "Happy Days" (as we discussed in an earlier entry) but he had no such qualms with "The Brady Bunch."

The series which starred Robert Reed (1932-1992) lasted from 1969-74, and it featured Florence Henderson and as the mom. Unfortunately, Reed died from complications due to AIDS, but there are many fans of the show who will never forget him.

I had expected many web sites and blogs dedicated to the show, but some of the ones I had found borrowed the Brady Bunch but they had nothing to do with the actual show (like some blog that has vampire in its name, but nothing to with Christopher Lee movies!). One of them was actually from an evangelist family in a place like Twin Falls, Idaho.

But one legit Brady blog features a 'guide to morals, themes, and definitions' of the show, which makes one think there might be someone writing a term paper on the sitcom as if it were an Akira Kurosawa film!

We leave with this quote from Reed, who was apparently an H.G. Wells fan:

"I've always thought of science fiction as being, at the same level, as 19th century business."

GIFT IDEAS FOR DAD: Well, it is really too late for this, but if you live in Denver, you may want to give him a cupcake from The Big Fat Cupcake located on 129 Adams Street which boasts that it won the 2009 Colorado Cupcake challenge!

PSA- Save PBS (So, We Don't Have Watch John Denver Specials!)

Actually, contrary to the title of this entry, there are many songs from the late folk singer John Denver (1943-1997) that I enjoy, but let's face it a PBS special with a live performance of his song during Pledge Week is about as painful was well a Lawerence Welk PBS special (irregardless if it airs during Pledge Week or not!).

Earlier in the week, my local PBS station UNC-TV, which broadcasts all over North Carolina even though it is based in Raleigh, aired one such John Denver special. We believe it was "A Song's Best Friend," but we can not verify that as we honestly changed to channel to a rerun of "Ghost Whispherer."

Amazingly enough, I saw a copy of the John Denver record "Poems, Prayers and Promises," (pictured here) which features one of his signature songs "Country Roads" for ten dollars (?!) at Duke's Antiques Mall in Lexington, Va., a few months ago.

We do happen to love PBS and UNC-TV, which aired an interesting segment about the Charlie Poole Bluegrass Festival which is taking place in Eden, NC, this weekend. The festival featured the Durham, NC-based band Carolina Chocolate Drops a few years ago right before they made it 'big' nationally.

Tonight, WUNC-TV is airing another Pledge Week special "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body" with Dr. John Amen at 9:30 p.m. This guy is apparently very popular with PBS stations because we found out that another one of his specials "Magnificent Mind at Any Age" is airing tonight at 11:00 p.m. on MPT (Maryland Public Television). So, perhaps a person living in Kannapolis, NC, can phone their sister living in Hagerstown, Md., and compare notes.

But, Amen's shows are not airing on every PBS station in America tonight as KBDI in Denver, Colo., is not going to air any of his specials tonight. However, the same station is going to air "Celtic Woman: Songs from the Heart" at 7:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. (Mountain Time, of course). So, you may want to ask your brother in Aspen to tivo it for you!

SIDEBAR: Kudos to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning their first Stanley Cup since 1961 thanks to an overtime goal from Patrick Kane in overtime last night during Game 6 against the Philadelphia Flyers in the City of Brotherly Love. My cousin Erroll Gokbudak, who grew up in the Chicago 'burb of Skokie, Ill., is assuredly most pleased. He can now go back to watching "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS like the rest of us!