Family Ties

Yesterday I reminisced about the 1980s television sitcom The Facts Of Life. When you see that today's blog post is entitled 'Family Ties', it's safe to assume that I'm going to be lecturing on the life, times, and economic policies of Alex P. Keaton. I'm not. Although Michael J. Fox gave one Emmy worthy performance after another as the young conservative capitalist Alex P., I'm not going to do another blog posting about foxes (or Foxes) for a while.
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The picture above is of my son Julian who's just about to graduate from high school. He looks more like his mother than me, but in that tuxedo, with the Hollywood window treatment, he's taken on a bit of a Jack Nicholson look which, of course, makes him look like me. Remember the toaster oven image...my shining moment?
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Speaking of the toaster oven, I returned it to Sears. I was just about to buy a different model, a Black and Decker toaster oven on sale for $62.95 from $69.95, but I got cold feet. I just couldn't warm up to the idea of giving Sears more business after the first toaster debacle. My Scottish wallet, which is never wrong, started to twitch, telling me that all was not well at Sears, so I left with my untoasted bread in my wallet. I went to Zellers where the identical toaster was regularly priced at $49.95, then I bought one for $39.95 that didn't have a built in timer. Cue the bagpipes...another victory for the Scottish/Canadian Alex P. Keaton.
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You'd wonder how the identical toaster oven at Sears could be priced so much more expensively. The Sears one was on sale because someone else had bought it and returned it. I hate buying things in already pawed open boxes. The carton at Sears looked like it had been ripped open by angry Quakers. Quakers aren't typically the angry type, but when they lose it, they lose it big time (i.e flipping their bowls of oatmeal).
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I did a little research on Quakers (translation: Wikipedia) and I was fascinated with what I read. I'd suggest that you give the Quakers some thought. Of all the religions/philosophies I've stumbled upon, other than my own, Quakerism looks the most appealing. The real kicker is that Quakerism, known by its proper handle as The Religious Society Of Friends, was founded by a dude called George Fox. The movement was founded around 1650 which precludes Canadian country singing star, George Fox, from having any involvement. Everywhere I turn these days, I'm confronted by Foxes. I don't think that either George Fox is related to Megan Fox, at least not through looks, or jeans. No family ties at all.
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You'll notice that Julian is wearing a tuxedo in the picture above. Tuxedos look great but they serve no real benefit to society other than saying 'hey look at me, I'm more important than you'. I've only worn a tuxedo twice in my life. I wore one when I was getting married (hey, I'm more important than the guests at my wedding), and once when I met Prince Charles. The Prince's Protocol Office dictated that I had to dress in 'black tie' for the event, so I chucked $120 for a rental tux. My Scottish wallet was not happy. There were twenty couples at the the dinner for bonny Prince Charlie, every single male dressed like a black sheep waiting for the shepherd. The shepherd, aka Prince Charles, showed up in a suit, and not a tux...
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'Hey look at me, I'm more important than you'.
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Point Charles.
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Charles wore a tie with his suit. Alex P. Keaton almost always sported a tie in the sitcom. George Fox I had his neck adorned with an ascot/tie. George Fox XIV probably wears a bolero tie (though I couldn't find any images to substantiate my claim). Frida Lyngstad has a TIE fighter. My son will wear a tie for graduation. Shania Twain wore a tie in one of her videos. She looked like a real fox in that video.
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I'm having a real struggle tying up this blog posting with a meaningful conclusion. I've made references to just about everything: numerous Foxes, Alex P.Keaton, Hedonism, Quakers, my son, Prince Charles, Shania, Jack Nicholson, Scottish frugality, and toaster ovens. I left out the Olsen twins...merely an oversight on my part. I'm at a loss as to how to wrap this up so I think that I'll hand the last word over to Michael J. Fox:
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"The laughs mean more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says 'you're cute', I'll say thank you, but I appreciate it much more when the other one says 'you make me laugh so much'."
......................................Michael J. Fox
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"What if those two girls were the Olsen twins?"
....................................................................................attributed to Ian Varty