I’ve discovered the fountain of youth.
The best part of this discovery is you don’t have to take any medicines, elixirs or drink from an actual fountain.
If you’re a product of the 60s, you’ll love this flashback to your early years.
Many of us are TV junkies and a television is our gateway to the rest of the world. As TV technology became greater over the last 50 years, the earth got smaller and smaller. No longer were we delegated to getting our worldly news from the newspaper.
Today, we are plugged into our televisions, computers and cell phones to get the latest news.
Working from home has both advantages and disadvantages and you have to have real discipline to get your butt out of bed each and every day to get to your desk. It’s not prudent to take a two-hour lunch and punching out at 2 or 3 p.m. won’t cut it, either.
On the other hand, when you work at home, there is a tendency to stay at your desk for hours before you even think of getting up to grab a beverage, eat lunch or hit the bathroom. Oddly enough, working eight hours often turns into 12 hours.
I’ve written in the past about cutting the cord and taking a break from cable TV or, in my case, satellite TV. In doing so, I hooked up a good old-fashioned TV antenna, allowing me to receive all the local channels in multitude.
With the satellite dish, I was able to receive local channels but not their sub channels. For example, WNEP has Channel 16-1, 16-2, 16-3 and the same with WYOU, WBRE, WVIA, etc. Who knew?
Even if you receive cable, those companies may only broadcast a few of the extra channels.
Often times when I work, I have the TV on as background noise and, many times, I have no idea what’s on. I can write an article or my column with the TV on. Crazy, I know. Many of my peers need dead silence to write, but not me.
A few weeks ago, I was done with the majority of my work for the day when I started channel flipping. I was pleasantly surprised to see the content of shows being aired.
Again, if you’re a product of the 60s, you grew up with shows like “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Bewitched” and “The Partridge Family,” and you love sitting back for a few hours to reach back to your childhood by catching a few episodes of these shows.
My earliest crushes came by the way of Barbara Eden (Jeannie), Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha Stevens), and Shirley Jones (Shirley Partridge).
Come on, when you’re 10 years old, who wouldn’t want a Jeannie to grant you any wish, or be an astronaut in NASA?
Darren Stevens had the coolest job as an advertising executive and had a beautiful wife who just happened to be a witch. “Calling Dr. Bombay, calling Dr. Bombay, emergency, come right away!”
Rock and roll was becoming big so TV execs capitalized on that movement with the creation of “The Monkees” and “The Partridge Family.” Both shows were about rock bands that were all pretend.
“The Partridge Family” show was a take off of the Cowsills, an actual family band.
Growing up, I wanted to be Keith Partridge, played by David Cassidy – he had the looks, the voice and all those girls chasing him!
The Monkees TV show was a quirky show where the characters were silly most of the time. Even though the characters were acting as a rock band, all four were amateur musicians themselves who struggled with the fact they were not allowed to play their own instruments.
Because of that struggle and battle with executives of the show, the show was eventually cancelled. “The Partridge Family” lasted four years and made David Cassidy a pretty big music star, albeit short-lived.
If you’re a bit older, you can watch shows like “Hazel,” “The Joey Bishop Show,” “The Patty Duke Show,” “Laramie” or “Death Valley Days.”
It’s amazing and fun to see how many episodes I remember.
Home stretch
Don’t look now, but Tuesday is Aug. 1. We are rapidly winding down summer and, in a few short weeks, school will be back in session. Did I just hear a collective “sigh” from parents reading this.
The days are getting shorter, fall high school sports teams are practicing and the summer bazaars are coming to an end.
St. John the Baptist Church, Pittston, will conduct its picnic Aug. 10-12, Dr. Jen’s Hope Memorial Ride & Block Party will happen Aug. 13 at Cooper’s Seafood House and the 1st Lt. Jeffrey DePrimo Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Aug. 12 at Wilkes-Barre Golf Club.
Summer closes out with the granddaddy event, the Pittston Tomato Festival from Aug. 17-20. There’s always a bevy of activity like the 19th Annual Miles for Michael Tomato Festival 5K Run & Fun Walk on Aug. 19. Don’t forget the tomato fights and one of the longest parades in NEPA, the Tomato Festival Parade on Saturday, Aug. 19.
Quote of the week
“I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.” – Maya Angelou
Thought of the week
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for the great.” – Steve Prefontaine
Bumper sticker
“A goal should scare you a little, & excite you A LOT. – Joe Vitale
