Do you want fries with that...

Well....I finally got a job interview last Thursday and it went pretty well. I can't reveal where the job is or what it is quite yet, but it is out of town but not too far away. It was so refreshing to have someone truly interested in hiring me. In fact, I was offered the job on Monday. I haven't accepted it yet because it is out of town and I'd have to commute, at least for a while.

It is a radio job and it's something that I believe holds the promise for more opportunity than say, delivering pizzas. Although, I don't think the tips are going to be as good as delivering for Domino's.

Stacy and I are talking it over. It has to be good for her too. The kids are all really excited and are encouraging me to accept. I don't know if they are happy I finally may have meaningful employment or they just want to get rid of me.

That's all on that. I need to go answer the door, there's a policeman on our porch....and that can't be good.

That is all...Peters out!

Will work for food and diapers...

After weighing in on what life has taught me and all the experience I have gained as a result I have come to the conclusion that I am not really qualified to perform any kind of meaningful service for any prospective employer.  After being in radio for 30 years and basically not ever growing up, kind of puts me in the twilight zone as a possible employee.

I have had members of my family and select friends advising me on what I need to do to become more employable.  Here's what I've gotten so far.  Plastic surgery...except I kind of like my eyes on the front of my face and my eyebrows above them.  Apparently someone got this idea after seeing Olivia Newton-John on American Idol.  She apparently visited Kenny Rogers' surgeon and now they both look like reptiles.  Not for me!  I don't think breast implants would help either.

Someone else thought maybe I should go back to school.  Forget that right now.  I could barely fit in those desks when I was 12 much less now as a full figured adult.  Besides, if I started going back to school, all the other kids would just make fun of me on the playground and I'd probably end up with a crayon jammed in my ear.

It was also suggested that I just deliver some pizzas.  They claimed they had a friend that is making a ton of money delivering pizzas.  I thought long and hard about that one.  I love pizza!  It would probably be a problem that when I deliver pizza, the pizza never seems to make the entire trip.  There goes my tip!

Apparently the only thing I've ever been good at is radio.  It's kind of like going back to school... 3rd grade.  I 've actually got a meeting tomorrow for a potential radio job.  I can't say where it is just yet but it sounds like a good opportunity with a good company.  After the decisions are made, I'll publish a picture of the guy that contacted me.  It will be him and Three Dog Night.  By the way, I do get a free lunch out of the deal.  I'll just have to remember not to eat the Elmer's glue and things should go well.

That is all... Peters out!

You say it's your Birthday....

Another birthday for a Peters' kid.  Carleigh turned 19 today.  I can still remember the day she was born.  She was a c-section and I got to perform the procedure all by myself.  Not really, but I did see her actually come out of the sunroof as we like to call it and I chewed off the cord.  She was crying when she came out and has been crying ever since.

She looked just like a basketball with ears as I remember.  She was our sickliest child.  She tried to commit hari cari on her big wheel when it got out of control going down the sidewalk to the lake.  The sidewalk came to a T and she just rammed the rocks on the edge of the water and did a complete flip into the lake.  I of course was chasing her frantically and got there in time to grab her by the arm and save her...from getting wetter in the ankle deep water.

She had to have two surgeries on her hip when she was little because she got Perthes, a disease of the hip socket that her mother and uncle both had as children.  She was in a wheel chair for a year.  Lots of sympathy.  She made a nearly full recovery.  She just has trouble sitting on the floor with her legs crossed.  Big inconvenience at sit in protests.

Carleigh is now 19 years old, in college to be a psychologist, works with special needs children 6 days a week and is beautiful and available,  in case you are a young, single guy with high ambitions or a huge trust fund.  Her last and only real boyfriend did her dirty...his body will never be found.  I may write a song about it someday.

So today was Carleigh's birthday.  How did we remember?  A full week of constant reminders, that's how.  Carleigh always claims to be "the good child", but she also claims to be a vodka girl when the discussion turns to controlled substances.  If you get a chance, e mail Carleigh a birthday wish at utopiandream4477@yahoo.com.

Happy Birthday Carleigh!  Now, stop crying!

That is all...Peters out!

Memoriesssss.....

It is sad when someone seemingly so young passes away for no obvious reason.  I have been reading alot about Anna Nicole Smith this week and the mystery behind her death.  I have heard people speculating whether this will be one of those events where you'll always remember where you were when you heard about it.  I'm gonna have to say probably not for me.

The events in my life where I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard about them are few but all were major events.

The first one was in third grade at Hillside Elementary in Omaha.  Mrs. Giesler was our teacher and it was a gray and cold November day when our principal, Mr. Edmonston stuck his head in the door and announced to us that President Kennedy had been assassinated.  We were all told to put our heads in our arms on top of our desks.  School was essentially over for the day.  Maybe that's why I remember it so well.

The next memorable event was in 1977.  I was returning an ugly orange princess phone to the phone company in Scottsbluff Nebraska and as I was stopping in front of the phone company, the midday guy on my station, KOLT, made the announcement that Elvis had died..  It was the day before my birthday.  We then played Elvis songs until I thought I would wake up singing "Love Me Tender" every morning.  I still celebrate Elvis' birthday, January 8.  That is a major holiday in my book!

Then on December 8, 1980, I was on the air on KOIL in Omaha when the news of John Lennon's death came across the wire.  We urged motorists to drive with their headlights on for the rest of the week and then proceeded to play nonstop Beatles and John Lennon music.  They may still be playing as far as I know.

I still remember where I was and what I was doing when the Challenger disaster occurred on June 6th, 1986.  My mother always talked about how she was playing with her dishes on the back porch when the news about Pearl Harbor came over the radio.  I kind of remember the Apollo moon landing in July of 1969 and I remember the summer of 1969 as Woodstock ended on my 14th birthday.  I used to have the coolest army jacket with the Woodtock guitar neck and dove logo on the back.

It's funny what your mind chooses to remember.  I just don't think my mind is going to remind me every year about Anna Nichole.  I don't think it will be long before my mind chooses not to remember my name!

That is all... Peters out!

What a day!

Today is kind of a reflective day for me.  Two years ago I underwent open heart surgery under the skillful hand of Dr. Brian Castlemain.  He fixed my heart as much as he could and then when things started going very wrong in ICU later that afternoon, he saved my life again. 

There is much to be said about near death experiences.  I remember mine quite vividly.  For two years now I have been trying to make sense of that event.  I'm not sure I have accomplished that yet. 

As I was coming out of the anesthesia at about 4pm the afternoon after my surgery I remember hearing a female voice saying that I had no blood pressure.  It is my understanding that that is a bad thing.  All I could see was darkness.  I couldn't move my hands as they were shackled to the bed and I could not speak because of the respirator in my throat.  My cardiologist, Dr. Bissing would later tell me that I was hearing everything because the hearing is the last thing to go.  He would also later tell me that I didn't die because I wasn't ready.  He said he can tell which patients will make it through the surgery and which ones won't simply by their attitudes.  He says some people are just not willing to fight for their lives.

I listened to everything that was going on in the darkness around me but amazingly enough, I felt very serene despite the sounds of urgency in everyone's voices.  Dr. Castlemain sounded somewhat panicked that the anesthesiologist was not there yet.  He was pounding on my chest, adjust tubes in my chest and pushing and squeezing everything near my chest.  I heard a female voice yelling out that something else was failing.  The one thing I remember thinking to myself is wondering if this is what dying was like. 

Then I remember seeing the most beautiful "field of blue" in the darkness above me.  It reminded me of looking up at the milky way on a dark summer's night.  But this color and beauty was indescribable.  The feeling of security and warmth was also quite beautiful.  There came a time when I could no longer hear the panicked voices of the doctor's, just serenity.  Then, all of a sudden I felt the rush of warm liquid all over my neck and chest as apparently the breathing tube was yoinked out of me, allowing me to breathe on my own.  The last thing I remember was panting like a dog and breathing on my own. That would be the last thing I remember until waking up again Wednesday morning, sitting in the chair next to my bed.

There are many things about that event that I have never discussed with anyone and I'm not sure if I ever will speak of them to anyone.  Not for any particular reason, but because I don't know myself what it all means.  Plus I don't want anyone to think that I am more mental than they already think I am.

What I do know is, is  that I want everyone I love to believe so we can all be together,  forever.

That is all...Peters out!