Other Entertainment
The Things That Frost Me the Most. - Mike Fak
I have been pretty much a namby pamby lately with what I have been writing so I think it's time to let my curmudgeonly side come out a bit. A lot of things in this world frost my kiester but I only have so much time so here are a few of my biggest "Just how stupid are you people?" gripes. The... Submitted 2 years 259 days ago.
The Eight Year Old Comedian - Mike Fak
I imagine most people don't remember everything they did over the years that was goofy. I seem to have a knack for remembering things so I do have a mental handle on many of my biggest blunders or forays into goofiness that I have done over the years. I recall the first time I did something... Submitted 2 years 266 days ago.
Remembering My Most Embarrassing Moment...maybe - Mike Fak
I'm not sure if I ever wrote that three decades ago I was in the car business for a time. I had a friend who opened a Ford store and he asked me to come on board to help manage the mid-sized dealership. Now in the car business, with lots of dead time to kill, the guys like to play... Submitted 2 years 269 days ago.
I remember in the mid 70s going to a company meeting where then Arkansas Head Football Coach Lou Holtz was the guest speaker. Holtz, who went on to fame at Notre Dame gave a really great presentation. It was lessons on life mixed with very funny anecdotes of his days in college football. One... Submitted 2 years 273 days ago.
The Return of the Newspaper Movie? State of Play Revises a Dying Genre - Dave Dozier
State of Play , the newest offering from director Kevin McDonald (The Last King of Scotland) stars Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. It is a political thriller set in modern day Washington DC with the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan as its vehicle. It is the first enjoyable movie set in the... Submitted 2 years 298 days ago.
The Things You Can Find Under Your Office Desk. - Mike Fak
It's almost Easter week and that means the Fak family in Lincoln is in clean-up mode. We host this holiday weekend and that means we will have family from far and wide coming for the weekend. It also means we have to get the house all straight and clean and that is where my wife excels... Submitted 2 years 311 days ago.
It's Hell When You Want To Be Older. - Mike Fak
I am closing in on 61 years of age and just about nothing works as well as it used to. I can live with that. The reason being if I don't live with my aches and pains it means I'm dead. Right now I can see Social Security money just down the road and I really want to get back at least some of... Submitted 2 years 322 days ago.
Remembering Some of My Aerial Disasters. - Mike Fak
Well, it is officially spring and I am overjoyed that winter seems to be gone. Unlike last year, I am mentally ready to tackle all those projects I didn't do last year. Painting, roof, gutters, all didn't get done last year as I either was running around everywhere or sitting and typing the... Submitted 2 years 325 days ago.
Goodbye to Comcast Hello to Dish. - Mike Fak
When I moved to Lincoln 27 years ago, I noticed almost every house had a huge antenna built alongside it. In the center of the state, we were still about 40 miles from all the big cities so to get reception in our town, a mega tower worked best. By the time I came to town in 1982, there was... Submitted 2 years 329 days ago.
What Idiot Invented the Automated Phone System? - Mike Fak
I live in a small town. Basically it is seven miles long by three miles wide. Maybe it's a little more or less but the point is it isn't very far from one place to another in Lincoln. Traffic is never heavy except for the Rush Minute' we have at 3:30 pm when a couple factories let out. I like... Submitted 2 years 332 days ago.
Now that's a column title that will have Google Search' humming with activity. I say again I can't make up, no matter how many beers, some of the stuff that hits the news. For fun I do a little radio show locally on the Atlanta Illinois WLCN station. I team up with my old television buddy and... Submitted 2 years 343 days ago.
My zaniest IRS and state tax problems - Mike Fak
It's just about that time of the year for all of us to gather up all those important papers and stubs we should have kept together in the first place. Being a do-it-yourself kind of guy, I like to do my own taxes. It means a long day of headaches and head scratching. But going through the tax... Submitted 3 years 9 days ago.
2008-2009 the Winter of My Discontent and Crabbiness - Mike Fak
While I'm in a crabby mood, I thought I would spend some time grousing about winter and all the crap it brings our way. Cold, snow, ice, you name it central Illinois has had more than its fair share this year. I can't wait for temperatures to get to something reasonable like say 27 degrees or... Submitted 3 years 13 days ago.
More of the Things I Hate About Television - Mike Fak
It never fails when I go to a family member's house. I go to turn on their television and nothing happens. Usually there are three or four remotes lying around and being a manic person, I proceed to press every single button trying to just turn the set on. After submitting that I have failed... Submitted 3 years 16 days ago.
The Most Aggravating Things About Running An Internet Publication - Mike Fak
The internet paper I manage is modest of course unless you look at it from a local perspective. Having over 10,000 unique visitors every day in a community of less than 40,000 shows we hold our own and then some locally. There are many little things that can grind on a person trying to get the... Submitted 3 years 30 days ago.
Some Quips, Quotes and Really Bad Jokes - Mike Fak
I imagine starting off 2009; I should do another one of my goofy quotes segments. I have been keeping the stranger ones I have come up with for the last few years and someday, in the far, far future, I imagine I will pop them into a little book. Actually, a few of these quips, quotes and really... Submitted 3 years 36 days ago.
The Ugly Christmas Tree Story and Other Yuletide Remembrances - Mike Fak
My dad used to tell me a story of "The Ugly Christmas Tree" when I was a youngster. I was maybe five or six the first time he pulled it on me and he did it for a few years until he figured I was old enough to know he was buffaloing me. The story sort of went that there was a really poor... Submitted 3 years 62 days ago.
The UFO that came to Thanksgiving. - Mike Fak
In the early winter of 1969, I was in advanced infantry training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. The AIT, as it was called, was the second eight-week-training session a soldier got back then after the basic training was over. I imagine it was to make sure we young soldiers actually knew enough to be... Submitted 3 years 83 days ago.
How Not To Clean a Turkey For Thanksgiving - Mike Fak
I loved my mother dearly. She was a great woman who raised five aborigines and actually saw the four youngest make something of their lives. Yeh, I'm the one not on that list of success stories. For all mom's good traits, there was one that she just didn't seem to ever succeed with and that... Submitted 3 years 86 days ago.
Thanks To An Unknown IRS Employee. - Mike Fak
A while back I wrote how I received a letter from the IRS saying I owed them a few dollars more. I didn't worry about it since they owed me and my family our economic stimulus check. I was certain they would cross check socials and deduct the money they wanted and send me the balance. Well, as I... Submitted 3 years 97 days ago.
A Halloween Story. The Terror of Alta Vista Street. - Mike Fak
Since it is Halloween I thought I would tell you about a terror I faced as a youngster when I was growing up. Around Wrigley Field there was a very strange, one block street called Alta Vista. It actually was only strange and scary to a kid. As it was then and still is considered today, it is... Submitted 3 years 107 days ago.
Time For the Internet To Go On a Diet? - Mike Fak
I am waiting for a new computer to be built for me. My home version, I purchased a few years ago, was plenty to handle the Internet and the tasks I required at the time but my new job has really slowed it down. In order to work at home, several very large programs have been added and it is just... Submitted 3 years 121 days ago.
I am by no means changing my column into a cat anthology. It's just that this event occurred last Monday when I was writing my column about my spoiled cats and it deserves its own place in Fak family cat tales or is it tails. I stopped writing the piece to go outside to the van. I wasn't... Submitted 3 years 125 days ago.
The Gentrification of Stray Cats. - Mike Fak
We currently have two cats in our family. Smirky is eleven years old and Jackson is almost four. The family doesn't have anything against dogs but with our families being up north we take frequent weekend trips away from the house and that wouldn't be fair to either a dog's bladder or our rugs.... Submitted 3 years 128 days ago.
Surviving An Electronically Induced Heart Attack - Mike Fak
Last week the two owners of the paper I work for went on a much deserved vacation. That meant that I would have to post all the AP stories as well as run around town and try and keep the paper looking like everything was fine while they were gone. I got up extra early (4:30 a.m.) and although... Submitted 3 years 132 days ago.
