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built ford tough
12/28/2006 = 05:38 AM

I was a tiny kid when Gerald Ford was president. I have very few first-hand memories of his two years in office. Much of what I know of him came from history lessons far in the future.

I do remember that, when the Weekly Reader elections were held in my kindergarten classroom, I voted for Jimmy Carter. My teacher asked me why, and I thought it should have been obvious. I mean, hello, I'm big and I go to school. I know about sharing and taking turns. Mr. Ford already had his turn. Duh.

Whether or not Ford was a good president was debatable, but everyone seems to agree that he was a good person.

If history has taught me anything about Gerald Ford, it is that, from his pardon of Richard Nixon all the way to the time in the plane (Dave Barry was a witness to this) when he told the copilot trying to make the standard preflight safety speech, "Shut up and let's just go," Ford was a man who had no patience for bullshit and wasn't about to waste his or anyone else's time on it.

I have an awful lot of respect for that.

(So, incidentally, did that copilot, who simply said, "Yes, sir," and they took off.)

I don't hold the klutziness against him, either. I lose my balance all the time. I trip over stuff — hell, I can trip over air — and sometimes, my shoes just slip. The only difference is that he always had a camera on him when it happened to him. You go try to be suave all the time in shiny new shoes when everyone's watching. I'll just wait at the bottom of the stairs for you, shall I?

I don't remember enough about Ford to be sad, which is kind of sad in and of itself, because I know so much more about James Brown, who left a lasting impression on me to the point where I'm sad about his death despite my knowing that he was not always a very good person.

My darling Monty inspired the following:

I wrote something good.
Very uplifting.
Inspirational.

Then I saw the light ...
... only two more syllables
would make a haiku.

On the third day of Christmas, my brother sent to me: Beer.

(Actually, this is his and my sister-in-law's gift to me for being in their wedding. For Heartwarming Day, they gave me a bracelet that they bought in Africa during their honeymoon.)

My first box from the Beer of the Month Club has arrived. Three each of four flavors, so I can share and trade.

I've already had Bad Elf lots of times, because it's been an annual visitor ever since I reviewed it a few years ago. Damned good stuff.

But the others are new to me, so there will be a whole lot of no-medicine-taking going on around here for a while. Should be highly entertaining.

Tags: Gerald Ford, haiku, beer

drinking: coffee
listening to: Frank Sinatra, Witchcraft
sad about: m-eh-r-n's mother-in-law