theme song: it's not easy

I read this weekend that Jeff Conaway died. He was an actor that most people would recognize as Kenickie (Grease in 1978) or Bobby (Taxi in 1978-1981), but I'm more likely to picture him as Zack (Babylon 5 in 1994-1998) or even Willie (Pete's Dragon in 1977). Apparently Jeff suffered a back injury on the set of Grease during the "Greased Lightning" scene, and it eventually led to lifelong problems. Back surgeries failed to correct the injury, and he became addicted to opiates as a way to dull the pain of his injury and his traumatic childhood. The opiate addiction eventually led to his death.

I ended up watching Pete's Dragon again this weekend, in memoriam, even though Jeff was just a minor character in it. There are a few good songs in this old Disney musical. This song is one of two that I remember from childhood. The other one, "Candle on the Water", even received an Academy Award nomination. I recognize the many other songs when I hear them in the movie ("Passamaquaddy" and "Bill of Sale" are still kind of funny), but I remember the message of this one.

He has the head of a camel, the neck of a crocodile. It sounds rather strange.
He's both a fish and a mammal, and I hope he'll never change.

'Cause it's not easy to find someone who cares. It's not easy to find magic in pairs.
I'm glad I found him. I love him. I won't let him get away. 'Cause it's not easy.

You say the head of a camel, the neck of a crocodile. And the ears of a cow.
It's clear that friends can be different. Yes, I understand you now.

It's not easy to find someone who cares. It's not easy to find magic in pairs.
Now that you have him, hold him, treasure him from day to day. It's so easy.

So that's today's theme song. A magic story about an oddball kid who gets to live a happy ending. What little I've read about Jeff makes him seem like the kind of person who hoped in spite of the obvious, so I think we could have chatted together easily about this film and life in general.

rust bucket on wheels

Today, on the way to work, some new "very bad sounds" [tm] were coming from beneath my truck.  After work, I drove it to the mechanic shop to have them look at the problem.  Quite unexpectedly, the bottom of the truck decided to rust out all at once.  Apparently this last, long winter with salted roads was very bad on it.  The numerous repairs are in the $2000-2500 range, and that's not counting the $2000 suspension work that I already knew about since the day that I bought the truck.  I figure the truck itself is only worth about $2000 today anyway, so I'm thinking about leaving it at a junk yard.  I need to decide by morning if I want the repairs.

I'd be happy to spend that amount of money on a new bicycle that could be used to haul stuff around during warm weather.  Good timing, I suppose, since I was already looking for such a vehicle just two weeks ago.  I guess I already have my bicycle options ready to ponder and choose.  I wonder if my "new job title" requires any travel between remote sites?  If not, then being bound to the single site would make bicycle life a whole lot more convenient.  I suppose a few months without having to pay gasoline prices (nearing $100/month) and car insurance would free up some extra money to spend on a 4-wheeled solution for winter months.

The big problem with bicycling in Minnesota is the winter weather.  I just don't see any 2-wheeled solution (gasoline, electric, or pedal) being viable during the long, snowbound winter months here.  If the cities devoted as much attention to bike trails as to streets, it would be a different story.  Usually, though, streets get plowed and the bike lanes become the dumping ground for all of that extra snow.  Streets get crowded as 2 lanes dwindle down to 1 lane because of snow.  Sharing the narrow road space with slow bicycles never crosses the mind of the 4-wheeled drivers.  Not good.

It's the future already.  There aren't any hover cars around, and I can live with that deficiency, but why can't I at least have something sleek and energy efficient and cheap?  I would even settle for a Twike, but one of those costs $16,000 for reasons I can't fathom.  The Kurrent is more in my price range, but I still don't understand why even that vehicle costs $10,000.  Metal and rubber have gotten rather expensive over the years, it seems.  What happened to the cheap electric car that GM promised? Is China holding us by the palladium bits already?