Jeff Wheeler (1942-2015)
Jeff Wheeler died last Friday. In 2002 a massive stroke left him unable to speak or walk and he spent the past 13 years in an assisted living facility in Kennett, MO.
When I applied for a job at KBOA in 1972, Jeff set me up in a studio with some copy and a tape recorder for my audition tape. I got the job and he showed me what I needed to know to work at a small town radio station. We worked together for most of the next dozen years.
I never met anyone who knew more about music. He built and maintained a huge record library (with double-entry card catalog) for the radio station. Like many in markets that size, Jeff did everything: DJ, news, sports, commercials, etc.
The stroke that took Jeff’s voice (and mobility) left his cognition in tact. He understood what other said to him, he just couldn’t respond.
A few weeks (?) after his stroke, Jeff’s wife died suddenly of cancer. That, my friends, is some Old Testament shit. I doubt anyone knows how Jeff really felt about the hand he was dealt ‘cause Jeff wasn’t talking. Never again.
His daughter and brother-in-law got in touch to see if I had any recordings of Jeff. Like a lot of radio guys, Jeff never got around to saving air checks and such because, well, he thought he’d always be working in radio.
I found an hour-long “History of KBOA” Jeff produced in 1976 and pulled out 4 minutes they played during his funeral. First time in 13 years anyone had heard Jeff’s voice. First time ever for a few, I suppose.
What you could hear in those few minutes was how much Jeff loved what he was doing. How much he liked talking on the radio. And you could hear how painful it must have been these last 13 years to be unable to utter a word.
But he’s back on the air now. Somewhere. Probably. Doing play-by-play, the county spelling bee, Trading Post, the Hometown News. Never sounded better.
Sofa Saga
Hattie and I mourned the loss of our beloved sofa which was to be replaced by a new one with “more contemporary lines” and more in keeping with new paint job. It’s the grey one below.
They (the decorator lady) brought this one out after I nixed the first one they showed me. I couldn’t find the courage to nix TWO sofas so I sat on it for 20 seconds and said okay.
When we got it home, I discovered that if you sat far enough back to sit comfortably, my feet didn’t reach the floor. (It was like being four years old again) If my feet touched the floor, I had to recline about 45 degrees to reach the back of the sofa.
The decorator quickly pointed out this wouldn’t be a problem with lots of little “throw pillows” on the couch. I hate decorative pillows. On a sofa or a bed.
Fortunately Barb — and her sister — agreed with my assessment, the new sofa went home, and the old sofa came out of the basement and back where it belongs.
The End. (music up, roll credits)
Old Home Tour
I don’t get back to my hometown much anymore. Still have friends there but the 5 hour drive seems longer every time I make it. I was there this past weekend and killed a couple of hours looking at some of the houses where our family lived when I was growing up. My first thought on seeing these is, how can they still be standing?
No.1 is on Holt Street and is the house where — as I recall — we got our first television. Probably around 1951.
No.2 is on West 9th and I’m guessing we lived there around 1952-53. I attended first grade just up the street a few blocks.
No.3 is the first house our family owned. 1955? A nice little 2 BR home where my brother and I grew up. It has fallen on hard times in the years since I sold it following my father’s death.
No.5 (on Lester St) was my grandmother’s home back in 1957. And it wasn’t a new home then. She lived with our family for several years after she sold the farm where my mother grew up. Bought this little house around 1957 and it was an older house then.
Seems strange to me these house are still standing 60 or 70 years later. And that people are still living in them.
Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream
Amazon: “Smartphones have to be made someplace, and that place is China. In just five years, a company names Xiaomi (which means “little rice” in Mandarin) has grown into the most valuable startup ever, becoming the third largest manufacturer of smartphones, behind only Samsung and Apple. China is now both the world’s largest producer and consumer of a little device that brings the entire globe to its user’s fingertips. How has this changed the Chinese people? How did Xiaomi conquer the worlds’ biggest market” Can the rise of Xiaomi help realize the Chinese Dream, China’s bid to link personal success with national greatness? Clay Shirky, one of the most influential and original thinkers on the internet’s effects on society, spends a year in Shanghai chronicling China’s attempt to become a tech originator–and what it means for the future course of globalization.”
A few excerpts:
The mobile phone is a member of a small class of human inventions, a tool so essential it has become all but invisible, and life without it unimaginable.
There are only three universally personal items that someone will carry with them no matter where they live. The first two are money and keys; the third is the mobile phone, making it the first new invention added to that short list in three thousand years.
The number of mobile phone users crossed 4.5 billion last year, and because of dual accounts, there are now more mobile subscriptions in the world than there are people.
A smartphone is as different from a standard-issue Nokia 1100 as a computer is from a typewriter.
Mobile phones are a funny product, midway between commodity and luxury. They are a commodity in that everyone needs one. They are a luxury in that a phone makes a significant personal statement.
Status is a bigger feature of the iPhone (in China) than in the U.S. Electronics stores display phones running Android with the screen facing out, as usual, but iPhones are often displayed case out, to show off the Apple logo.
Nokia went from being the world’s most important mobile phone company to an also-ran in three years, collapsing into Microsoft’s waiting arms after another three, a generation of dominance undone in half a decade
If you make something that appeals to 5 percent of the Chinese population, you have a potential market the size of France.
William Gibson: The New Cyber/Reality (2010)
Runs 20 minutes. If you enjoy Gibson’s writing, you’ll enjoy this interview. If you’re not a fan, probably too long for you.
Goodnight
Running Geese
Ten Good Ones
Busyness is a kind of debt
“Having zero clutter is an entirely different experience than having a little clutter. The psychological effect of reducing any type of mess to zero is profound. It feels like a noisy fan has shut off. Now I love the feeling of being at zero, and I never want to be far from it. Every neglected possession, unanswered email or open browser tab is like a little hook in your brain. There isn’t a huge difference in how it feels to have six of these hooks in your brain versus having eighty, but there is a vast difference between having some and having zero.”
David Cain expands on this at Raptitude