Category: San Luis Obispo

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Aaah, it Election Time! sooo… bring on the Attack Ads!

Everyone knows that politics is a dirty business. They say if you ever want a geneological search done on your family… just run for an elected office and someone will do all the research for you!
Fat Bastard for Congress! Running on nothing but being dead sexy!I mean they are already picking on my candidate Fat Bastard saying he was caught wearing a dress… it’s a kilt for God’s sake! But I am sure the slimers won’t stop at this… they’ll even look into the fact that he has many lady friends.

 
Well… you can tell it is election season because the ‘attack ads’ are in bloom! Everyone seems to be watching the polls to see which way the wind is blowing in order to fine tune their political position. This is getting harder and harder for some folks who have tried to fight any effort that would discourage bad guys from coming to our shores. In any event, as the polls suggest, the big issue in this campaign is “who’s gonna make us safer?”

 
This is kinda surprising given the fact that economic and other domestic issues have been so central in other elections. Who could forget then candidate Ronald Reagan asking the rhetorical question,” are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?” Well, the economy sucked with double digit inflation , so we sent the peanut farmer back to his plantation.

 

But that was then and this is now… and it will be interesting to see if folks want to ‘change horses in the middle of the stream?’ For all our sakes, I hope not.  

  
 
In any event , it has been fun to see how the nasty political ads have been poping up… obviously, not about the issues … but about associations. One of the recent innovations has been to use animations… a technique that ad agencies learned years ago make any ad more memorable.

 
California’s Arnold is looking like a hands down favorite in his reelection bid in California… we’re all going to vote for him… partly, because there is really no choice. Local and State candidates are looking into our pockets to solve their budgetary woes… except Arnold. However, it hasn’t stopped some of ‘Fickle Phil’s’ supporters from doing some pretty funny stuff:

Click for Arnold’s Neighborhood

As for me, I just can’t vote for folks who will raise my taxes, place my family in jeopardy or refuse to realize that we live in a world that is getting smaller and more dangerous.

Roger Freberg

 

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Where Have all the Men Gone?

Have You looked at the average university today? Did you know that in most universities the student body is predominantly female?

Where have all the men gone?

Where have all the REAL men gone?

Well, one thing we know is that there are far fewer men in college than ever before… for example, take a look at Cal State University San Bernardino which boasts 80% women… and they are not alone.

If you look at the CSU system you can see a severe drop in athletic participation by men from 65% a decade ago to 46% today.

My Laura wrote an interesting blog along this line entitled ” where the boys are” that discusses the changing priorities and opportunities facing men.

Now, there are males in college… and some of them are ‘men’, but we have to remember that schools today are not male friendly. In fact, the entire system is geared to trying to get men to deny their ‘manliness.’

I am not speaking about walking into the woods and beating drums or any of the many faux-manhood rituals. What I am referring to is the daily expression and encouragement of courage, conviction and initiative that so many institutions in America are working to suppress in boys and young men. Many schools have reduced or eliminated a Physical education requirement… and then try to medicate the rest of the active boys with Ritalin… it’s just sad and shameful.

As for where the young MEN are today… well, a huge number of them are in military service where they find acceptance. Every once and a while you will find a son or daughter of a ‘liberal’ join the military… much to the horror of their parents or adoptive parents. You got to give these young people credit.

I haven’t been in the letter-to-the-editor writing business for a while…  Having lived here for far toooo long, I realized the ring leader of a recent tsunami of leftist anti-war letters appeared to be a hippy dippy college professor… need I say more? His name is Lawrence Houlgate a political gadfly… so I thought I’d have a little fun with him…. and here’s a link to my letter and a copy below:

Clearer view of action

It is always fun to read letters that hit home and watch old lefties scatter.

One can always tell when Larry Howl-gate screams and the rest of his folks deluge The Tribune with letters. I can only imagine them sitting in their bunker — under Che’s picture — writing their latest batch of letters.

Larry, members of our family have been in Iraq and some in Afghanistan, so I’d say, Laura and I have a clearer view of the battlefield than you do. Sorry, you just can’t smoke in a room half way around the world and think you’ve got a clue, cause you don’t. Hallucinations don’t count as facts.

The challenges around the world are dangerous and, boys and girls, sometimes people don’t like you for who you are and there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, Larry, I guess you could convert.

Roger Freberg, San Luis Obispo

 

Anyway, there are so few men around now-a-days… without even the slightest understanding of how to act… don’t look for them in college because few are attending them and even fewer work there.

Ladies, bring home a Klingon or someone who you can respect, love and admire…  a man at heart…. this will make you happy in the long run…. even if he isn’t as handsome as my friend at the top of the page.

KAHPLAH’

Roger Freberg

….other good Klingon sayings:

Oic da shikh jaj – May you ENDURE THE PAIN !
HEGHHLUE’MEHH KAK JAJVAHM – IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE
BATLEH BIH HEGHHJAHJ – MAY YOU DIE WELL
GHHIJ KET JAGHHMEYJAHJ – MAY YOUR ENENMIES RUN FROM YOU WITH FEAR

…and who could forget my favorite:

NOOKH DAHKH YUJE DAH’POLE – WHERE’S THE CHOCOLATE ?

 

 

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Willie Brown, San Luis Obispo & Cal Poly?

Finest display of used bubble gum in the entire world! Dis is high culture indeed!Golly momma, lookie what the big city feller said about us in de Tribuuune!”

Well, the horses and buggies went out and the tongues were wagging when “Bootstrap” Willie Brown was quoted in the local San Luis Obispo paper :

“Willie Brown tells Angelides to stay in SLO, “wherever there are no known systems of technology and communications”…

Not to be slighted the Telegram Tribune which boasts around a full 16 pages on a good day fired off an editorial! Here’s a few of the quotes that …well… shucks… just shows how much corn is growing in some of the ears around here:

“Just us rubes here, Willie”           ( Yee-ha!)

“It’s a simpler life, the SLO Life. And now the rest of the world knows our little secret. Thanks a bunch, Willie.”        
(… there’s several ways to read that, boys… oh yeah.. yeeeehah!) 

“We don’t know about Dinuba or Chico…”         
( frankly, you gotta travel to know about other places, dude)

Now, I don’t kid you when I say that there are folks in these parts that have never been to the big city of New York, fear the bay area and evil Elay … and there are some who have never been out of the county …and are PROUD of it! Hard to believe it’s 2006. Old hippes around here refer to themselves as ‘hobbits’ and this land as ‘middle earth’… get the picture? Frankly, I think too many generations have married their sisters.

On a positive note, many local young men and women see that San Luis obispo county has little to offer them … intellectually, socially or for a future for themselves or their families … and they move on to greater glory. Unfortunately, it’d be really nice if they took some of the ‘hobbits’ with them. Oh ….there I go again being a ‘disturber of the peace.’

Cal Poly.... One of the bright spots at Cal Poly is folks like my wife who teach there. However, if she had to depend on the assets of the university she’d still be typing on a Smith-Corona (remember those?). By the by, I think Cal Poly just got their first computer but I think it’s working on Windows 3.1. They have their issues. 

I am asked so often why my children did not go to Cal Poly? I always answer them by saying,” because they could do better.”

Steve Martin starred in a movie called “My Blue Heaven” that was filmed here. It was about a squeeky clean community filled with federal witness protected felons… ah… the town was named “Friburg”. Hmmmmm…. very funny, boys. Anyway, in the movie, they referred to the town as the ‘place you go when you die’… a good place… but not a fun place…. it wears thin after a while.

Truth hurts.

San Luis Obispo has many charming things about it. It’s a great place to relax… but when you want to put your brain and your body in gear… it’s also great, because it’s only 200 miles from either Los Angeles or San Francisco.

They don’t call it “SLO” for nothing.

Roger Freberg

PS– I have to tell how “Bootstrap Bill” Willie Brown got his name … I was up in Sacramento back in 1991 getting then Senator Ken Maddy and former Assemblywoman Andrea Seastrand to sign a few hundred ‘Welcome Home’ proclamations for the men and women who fought in the first Gulf War… and there… I listened to Willie Brown discribe how he had ‘pulled himself up by the bootstraps’ to the pinacle of greatness that he now enjoyed. It was a good speech… but he wasn’t wearing boots… so this ol’ boy wasn’t too impressed.

The picture atop is of San Luis Obispo’s main tourist attraction… a wall in which one can deposit their used chewing gum… drinking beer with gum isn’t great, so before entering the bar, students made a contribution to our culture… I guess they ran out of desks.

 

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Art and Music in School…. is it gone forever?

Karla taknig a rideOne of the things that left our schools virtually without protest in California is art and music. And those schools that have programs are constantly threatening to cut them back or eliminate them entirely.

Some schools have replaced REAL languages with ‘sign language’. This I cannot understand. Certainly the priorities of many schools are off center and do little if anything to help our children become economically or culturally literate.

The fun thnig about art is that it is the universal communicator… and ANYONE can learn it! One of the things we would do is buy a case of copy paper for our children to practice their drawing….

You don’t need ‘art paper’ to start…. just a lot of ‘scratch paper’. One case of scratch paper costs less than a trip or two for the family to a fast food place and it’s a lot less fattening.

 

Kristin on a ride

 

Another very cool thing about learning to draw is that it is something everyone can do as a family. Part of the fun is that there is so much to draw in the world… and then there are the cartoons that children always ask Mom and Dad to draw… with a little practice, you can be a hero to your kid.

Karen takng a rideWe wanted our daughters to: learn a musical instrument, participate in a team (not soccer) and an individual sport, find an academic interest they enjoyed and develope it, and discover the world of arts and crafts. There are many thnigs to help one become exposed to our world… but this was a start.

On this page I have placed some of Karla’s work — although all of my daughters have talent — and if the horses look a bit familiar… it’s probably because these are the kind you ride at fairs… Merry-go-rounds and Carousels.

If your schools do not offer these opportunities to your children… buy some colors and a box of copy paper and have sme fun!

 

Roger Freberg

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Southern California Trojans — it’s a ‘lifestyle!’

Two Tough Trojans? Laura and Me at the USC-UCLA Game!
Me and my Sweetheart!

The other day I was walking down our town — San Luis Obispo, California — wearing a t-shirt from my Alma Mater and a cyclist ( probably someone training for a local triathalon) passed me by and yelled, “Fight On!”. For those of you not connected to sport, this is a salutory greeting from one Trojan to another! I looked up to see him riding by all decked out in Trojan cycling attire and for one brief moment — I was transported back home to Troy, the Business School and to those I helped learn the art of ‘burn outs’ in weightlifting…. fun times. Oh yes, then, there were the football games! Continue reading “Southern California Trojans — it’s a ‘lifestyle!’”