{"id":2037,"date":"2011-12-26T17:43:43","date_gmt":"2011-12-26T22:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/?p=2037"},"modified":"2012-01-07T11:48:23","modified_gmt":"2012-01-07T16:48:23","slug":"christmas-i-was-santa-claus-for-a-day-recent-running-around-and-living-to-150-past-life-regression-in-asbury-park-should-i-get-hypnotized-on-tv-a-9-11-lecture-at-monmouth-university-cloudforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/christmas-i-was-santa-claus-for-a-day-recent-running-around-and-living-to-150-past-life-regression-in-asbury-park-should-i-get-hypnotized-on-tv-a-9-11-lecture-at-monmouth-university-cloudforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas: I Was Santa Claus for a Day. Linda Chorney (Grammy Nominee for \u2018Best Americana Album) Recent Running Around and Living to 150: Past Life Regression in Asbury Park (Should I Get Hypnotized on TV?), a 9-11 Lecture at Monmouth University, Cloudforce NYC, \u2018Nothing for Christmas\u2019 Movie Premiere in Red Bank. How to Make a Nasty Virus? December 26, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Linda<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Linda<\/a>

A Christmas tree a few blocks from Asbury Park NJ<\/p><\/div>\n

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Once again without dwelling much, I apologize for the gaps in\u00a0 blog timeliness. I needed to give Linda Chorney<\/i>(Grammy Nominee for Best Americana Album) interview\/BLOG exposure time because of her exceptional achievement. \u00a0I met Linda this summer as a by-product of Facebook and social networking.\u00a0 Love her music and spirit. Fierce loyalty is a wonderful rarified quality. So I express myself. I even tried sending my words of Linda Chorney<\/u> introspection off to Los Angeles and a media institution but alas, they\u2019re more interested in inane and banal and guest celebrities who fight on airplanes.<\/p>\n

Oh by the way a wonderful music video to watch starring Linda Chorney:<\/p>\n

Linda Chorney video<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Linda<\/a>

Linda Chorney and me in between NJ Discover TV shoot. behind on frig door is perhaps largest collection of R Rutgers magnets in central jersey<\/p><\/div>\n

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Sometimes I feel like(when I deal with people who rise to the ranks of senior editor and whose cerebral centers of imagination and intellect has shriveled up to resemble an indigenous California prune) like on old man on the Caspian Sea, in a leaky old wooden row boat. I dig the Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water on earth.\u00a0 I suppose if this senior editor would\u2019ve given me a shot, because my words matter, I might have vacationed this summer on the Caspian, fished for old bottles with messages inside, perhaps one from my friend Linda Chorney.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

salt kills<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

scrooge and ghost of Christmas present.<\/p><\/div>\n

So it\u2019s a day after Christmas and all through my house not a creature is stirring. A cooking show is on in the den. Prodigal son went to visit best friend, passing by the place that makes chicken nuggets in packages of five, and does not use ground up frog legs as filler and does not flavor fries with a meat stock. But I don\u2019t approve of advertising sea salt. Salt is salt and it kills. Meanwhile there are 46 million Americans on food stamps and many Port Authority (Lincoln Tunnel) cops who work overtime make over $200,000 a year.\u00a0 I know when I find that inviting worm hole and slip through and get a chance to do it all over again with a few tweaks, of course I\u2019ll come back as a Port Authority cop and never give up being away at college, living in an apartment with a bunch of guys, partying and growing, in order that someone close might have that same chance. Blood is thicker than water. No it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s a fixed roulette game in Atlantic City. Forest Gump\u2019s mom said, \u201cLife is like a box of chocolate. You never know what you\u2019re going to get.\u201d The words work for familial confections as well.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

(Blood pressure machine helps you live to 150)<\/p><\/div>\n

So what\u2019s the deal with this dude, virologist Dr. Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, who wants to publish a paper describing how he can make a virus that can kill millions? \u00a0The paper he\u2019s written \u2014 along with another one on H5N1, with comparable results, by a team led by virologist Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Tokyo \u2014 is currently under review by the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, which could recommend it not be published, but has no authority to block it. And I want to be an old man on the Caspian Sea and some readers of my blog might think I\u2019m not all there.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a weekly blogger and my readership has grown exponentially. But almost on a daily basis, I\u2019m evolving into a variety of journalistic pursuits and I\u2019m being pulled in wonderful directions so my blog has been bounced. But I\u2019m back blogging, like the ghosts inside the television on Poltergeist which, by the way, has me contemplating busts of homer and movie projects. I love cryptic on the day after Christmas. Cryptic is nice; so is rice. This is fun stuff Mrs. Miniver. Here we go. A not so bumpy ride into streams of consciousness over the past few weeks; some folks call it whitewater rafting which I do every summer now with a gang from Rutgers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reading Steve Job\u2019s bio and of course am haunted by something (oh wow. Last words?). Hard to explain but he was an awesome presence on this earth. Yes, I wish I went to high school with him in California. \u00a0Sad to see Christopher Hitchens, Vaclav Havel, Anne McCaffrey, Andy Rooney, Gil Scott-Heron,\u00a0 Arthur Laurents, Dwayne McDuffie; all people of words and ideas who passed in 2011.<\/p>\n

Now to my being Santa Claus; Some 20 years ago, a few weeks before Christmas, while I was in the throes of my optical eyeglass salesman career, I got a phone call from Jersey\u2019s largest independent optical chain store\u2019s buyer. She started off the conversation by asking me what I was doing on the following Tuesday night. I\u2019ve learned those phone words uttered by family, friends or business associates usually mean major imposition, perhaps picking someone up at the airport or attending some drone\u2019s honorarium dinner. I replied back without a moment\u2019s hesitation as Pavlov has been a hero of mine for decades, \u201cOh next Tuesday I\u2019m leaving for the Soviet Union on business. But what did you have in mind?\u201d I was curious. \u201cWell Calvin, we had an executive meeting to plan our corporate Christmas party and we tried to figure out who could be our company Santa Claus and everybody screamed your name.\u201d I was intrigued how a tall lanky brown haired eyeglass salesman could be imaged as a Santa by corporate executives. In a few moments, I announced the cancellation of my Russian trip and my willingness to be Santa to 200 employees provided they suit me up the right way, with a strapless white beard and stomach enhancement. And so a few days before Christmas, at least a hundred optical employees sat on my lap while I carefully interrogated each one to determine whether they were good or bad and if bad, then how so and then I presented each with their company holiday wrapped gift, an all-purpose monogrammed umbrella; a functional protective utilitarian gift. I was in communicative heaven, basking in the joys of versatility and holiday spirit. No one saw anyone kissing Santa that night; my enthusiasm was unbridled and it felt uplifting wishing everyone, \u201cA Merry Happy Healthy (which I\u2019m doing right now). I was invited back the following year with no planned Russia trip. Bottom line; I was a good Santa.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

Tides Hotel in Asbury Park. scene of past life regression lecture<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Linda<\/a>

Tides Hotel lobby. magical 1955<\/p><\/div>\n

A few weeks ago, I journeyed to Asbury Park\u2019s Tides Hotel where Lorraine Valente gave a lecture on past life regression. The hotel was curiously transporting me back to 1955. I heard the Everly Brothers singing, \u2018Bye Bye Love.\u2019 A fireplace warmed and bar invited; a sumptuous crab cake sampling was offered to guests. Who does this anymore? In the fifties, they washed windows and checked oil and tire pressure. The Tides really had me back to 1955. Lorraine Valente carried me to old America before Columbus. Between her and my friend Ruth from Seattle, an accomplished psychic and the longings and strange feelings I\u2019ve had for a long time that seem to emanate from Sedona, Arizona, I need to further explore my Native-American past. Here\u2019s the deal, since I\u2019m a reporter\/journalist for NJ Discover TV. Down the road a bit, I\u2019ll have Lorraine or James Guinta hypnotize me on camera and we\u2019ll all go exploring. I\u2019ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

(Speakers for 9-11 Lecture(incl Gov Kean) coming down steps at Monmouth University in Wilson Hall. Same steps from movie Annie.)<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

(Award winning photographer Joel Meyerowitz commissioned photo from 9-11 on display at 9-11 lecture.)<\/p><\/div>\n

A few weeks ago, I was at Monmouth University at a \u201c9-11-A Ten Year Perspective\u201d Lecture. Former NJ Governor Tom Kean spoke eloquently about his time as Chair of the 9-11 Commission. It occurred to me while I was absorbing Kean, that perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to a politician is to be thinking \u201cI can\u2019t tell what political party affiliation he was.\u201d Of course it simply means that his words and deeds translate to what\u2019s good for the people. I love Tom Kean (never realized until now what an amazing caring public servant). He said the commission made 41 recommendations and 10 years later nothing has been acted upon. Surprise surprise. A heckler stood up during the question\/answer period and said he was a former cop and had heard that the dust from the WTC had traces of explosives. Kean calmly reminded about all the conspiracy theories. Finally, after fifty long years, I got to talk to Governor Kean as I interviewed him on NJ Discover TV. Then I made an informal presentation which was quite emotional for him. I\u2019ve been carrying around, holding securely, a picture of Kean\u2019s father, Congressman Robert Kean and me standing next in the Capitol rotunda from 1957, as part of a Boy\u2019s Club of Newark trip. He was rather touched as I was.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

Mark Benioff speaking at Cloudforce<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

crowds heading to breakout sessions at cloudforce<\/p><\/div>\n

On November 30th I was at Cloudforce 2011 at Javits, New York City along with 5000 other followers of Salesforce.com and Mark Benioff learning about cloud computing so that once again my cerebral outposts are enhanced. This constant running around absorbing is part of what I\u2019ve been blogging about for two years; living to 150 years. You need to expand and grow if you\u2019re going to be around; it\u2019s that simple. What did I come away with?\u00a0 Mobile, cloud computing and social networking is the future. No more bricks and mortar or wire hangers.<\/p>\n

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\"Linda<\/a>

scene from cloudforce. dueling software? banjos?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Linda<\/a>

scene penn station nyc on way to cloudforce<\/p><\/div>\n

Red Bank, NJ. December 1st. Clearview Theatre. I took a TV cameraman and interviewed the director\/writer Sean Guess and actors and Danny White who performed a song for the movie, \u2018Nothing for Christmas;\u2019 which had its world premiere that night. It was a stirring, emotional and surprisingly well-acted movie along the lines of \u2018It\u2019s A Wonderful Life.\u2019 I pinched myself. Look where I was, mixing it up with writers, directors, singers, actors.<\/p>\n

This living to 150 gig is working; it pushes, motivates and drives me, mostly because I\u2019m not even close to mid-life age as we speak, as long as I\u2019m subscribing to going for the top rung. \u201cYou got to believe,\u201d was the 1973 NY Mets battle hymn. It\u2019s Monday afternoon. My wife is calling from the den, \u201cCalvin, I haven\u2019t seen you in weeks with your running every day. You promised a nice dinner after Christmas.\u201d She\u2019s right. I keep running, dreaming, writing and reporting so I\u2019m blogging down for the day. Sugar plum fairies dancing around, stockings drying out in the nearby laundry room from recent indoor tennis, a story heard earlier about some new breed of dog that chases creatures not stirring, even a mouse. Pavarotti is now singing \u2018Adeste Fideles\u2019 on YouTube. Did I ever blog about watching Pavarotti for three straight hours singing \u2018Adeste Fideles\u2019 from Montreal in 1978? Well here\u2019s the link.<\/p>\n