Fortunately, Bob was in much better shape. Lauren talked about her parents and her co-workers, and I told him what hard time I was having finding a better job. Lauren only picked up three CDs - a swing collection, a big band collection, and a 60's rock collection - but I found eight records and three CDs. Bob was even nice enough to drive us down the Black Horse Pike to Tang Asian Cuisine, despite his complaints about the road work near Audubon Crossings that seemingly sprang up overnight. (I know it wasn't there when we picked up Lauren yesterday.)
I tried the Tang Asian Cuisine buffet shortly after they opened in early March and loved them so much, I had to share them with Lauren. They were just as good this time around. I had chilled mussels, barbecue pork, sweet and sour chicken, bacon-wrapped crab sticks, steamed vegetables, broccoli in teriyaki sauce from the chicken and broccoli, and steamed green beans. Someone in the kitchen was really on a cheese kick. They had delicious appetizers made from several different cheeses mixed with clam and fresh diced vegetables loaded in a clam shell and creamed spinach topped with several cheeses that was incredible. They even had a small cheese pizza. Had the amazing mocha mousse cake slices, along with slightly dry cake roll.
After lunch, we headed into Audubon Crossings, starting with Goodwill. I ended up with three CDs. Lauren found a practically-new pair of black and purple New Balance sneakers. The lady behind the counter was hilarious, teasing us and happily making jokes and obviously having a ball, even when Lauren's sneakers didn't have tags and she had to get her manager to find the price.
We were in and out of a few stores next. I found nothing else of interest anywhere. Lauren picked up a box of cold brew concentrate pods that didn't require a machine to make at Marshalls and a gorgeous black and purple flowered dress for work at Ross. Dug around the clearance underwear bins at Lane Bryant again, but didn't find anything this time.
We made it to the Acme around 3:30 to pick up snacks. I just bought a Coke Zero and a box of those yummy new Made Good Mornings soft bars. Lauren got a bag of Chex Mix, a container of blackberries that were on sale, Diet Pepsi, and cherry strudel bites.
Since we got rides to Abbie Road and Audubon Crossings, we walked back into Oaklyn. It wasn't a bad day to hike off all those calories from the buffet. The sun was out, the sky was a pale blistering blue, and it was hot and very humid, probably in the mid-80's. We even passed a few people waiting for the bus or out for their own walks.
I was originally going to treat Lauren to ice cream at Phillies Yummies, but I didn't know they're closed on Mondays. Common Grounds Coffee House was probably the better option on a hot day anyway. After our walk, we badly needed drinks. She had a Cinnamon Mocha Cold Brew she said was incredible. I went with the Elderberry Peaflower Lemonade. Oh, yum. After I stirred the purple top into the lemonade like the barista suggested, it was perfect, the right combination of sweet, tart, and earthy. It really hit the spot.
Oh, and between Goodwill and Abbie Road, I came up with these records:
Two K-Tel collections, Starburst and Reflections (the latter still in its original plastic!)
Rupert Holmes - Pursuit of Happiness
Michael Nesmith - Infinite Rider On the Big Dogma and From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus
Soundtrack from The Rise of Skywalker and a soundtrack collection for the musical movies Best Foot Forward, Going Hollywood, and Too Much Harmony
And these CDs:
1988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment In Time - Collection of songs written for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, including the hit Whitney Houston title song
The Great Songs of George Gershwin
Bernadette Peters - Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein
Little River Band - Greatest Hits
SPF 16: Summer Party Favorites - Collection of summer-themed songs like "Summertime Blues," "Summertime," the theme from "Hawaii 5-0," and "Hot Child In the City."
Soundtrack from Lilo & Stitch
Since it was only about 4:30 when we got home, we decided to play a few rounds of the Password game I picked up in late December. The game comes with cards with words to describe, a holder to reveal them, a spinner, and a pad for keeping score. Since we're not Betty White and Allen Ludden, we opted to just do a practice run and not keep score. It's a lot harder than it looks to describe a word without saying the word! I have to hand it to those two and Richard Dawson in that 1975 tournament episode for making it look so easy. We had a lot of laughs with the stuff we came up with to describe everything.
After we played both sides of two cards, I figured we could watch the professionals do it on my Best of Password collection. I began with an episode I'd seen several times before, but is both hilarious and historically significant. Betty and Allen announced their marriage during an episode in 1963. They were joined by their friend Jack Paar, who tossed out a few quips about their nuptials. He accidentally blurted out a word, then made up for it with an excellent Lightning Round.
The next episode was even funnier. We had a Rat Pack reunion as Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford were joined by Janet Leigh and Polly Bergen. Davis just couldn't sit down, and Lawford just couldn't get the clues out. They were absolutely hilarious playing off each other. Allen said each of the losers had to write checks for the winner's choice of charity. You should have seen the looks on everyone's faces when they had to write those checks! I'm not sure poor Janet Leigh ever won a game.
Moved back to 1962 for a regular episode featuring James Mason and a very young Jane Fonda. Anyone who's seen her in the past 60 years knows that Fonda is no dope, but despite not seeming very interested in the proceedings, Mason still did very well. His Lightning Round was a little tougher, as he moved pretty slow there.
I finished the night on YouTube honoring Pat Sajak, who will be retiring as host of Wheel of Fortune after 40 years this week. Boyish Sajak began as a DJ in Vietnam. He would later host radio in Nashville and his native Chicago and moved into television as a weatherman in Nashville and Los Angeles. Merv Griffith was so impressed with him there and with his handling of two unsold game show pilots, he held out for him to replace Chuck Woolery on his Wheel of Fortune.
Sajak joined the show late in 1981, three days after Christmas. Fortune had always done well in the ratings, but was never a blockbuster. Ratings bumped up a bit after Sajak came in, enough for Griffith to try a nighttime version in 1983. That finally put Fortune over, along with the addition of beautiful model Vanna White to turn the letters. She and Sajak were such a team, they've continued hosting on the nighttime and celebrity Fortunes ever since and would continue to host the daytime Fortune until Sajak left for his own talk show in 1989.
Sajak occasionally appeared on other people's shows, too. He briefly got his only shot at hosting Match Game when he took over for a question during an episode of Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. He was on the very first episode of Super Password with Gloria Loring and would appear regularly during its run. He appeared on Password Plus with Betty White late in 1981 before he even started Fortune to promote the change of hosts.
Sajak turned up twice on Fortune's "sister" show Jeopardy! He was a celebrity contestant with Terri Garr and Ed Asner in 1993. On April Fool's Day 1997, he turned up to host Jeopardy, then played Fortune with Vanna while Alex Trebek got a chance to host Fortune (and not badly, I may add) and Pat's wife Leslie turned letters.
I have to admit, I miss gathering with my family to watch Jeopardy! and Fortune, the way we did in the late 80's and early 90's. It was one of the few things we did as a family. We looked forward to seeing Pat and Vanna turning letters and introducing some of the most challenging puzzles on television.
Relive a few fond memories of your own as you guess puzzles and answer trivia one last time with this weatherman-turned-beloved host!
1 comment:
OMG, play "Pursuit of Happiness" next! It has some of my favorite Rupert songs, including the individualist "Show Me Where It Says" and "Town Square"/"The Old School" ("The Old School" makes me cry).
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