RIP Walter Herman

"Wally Herman died last night."

Five little words. I've heard them before, lately it seems news from home is less and less about the day to day and more about "so and so is engaged", "so and so got divorced", "so and so is dead."

It's like only seeing relatives on the holidays, you just hear about the big events. Not a big deal necessarily, we busy people, you get the highlights. The thing is, I was all ready to launch into my normal reaction: ask about some minor details, gossip about how soon it was or it was about time, or she must be pregnant...but this time it was different.

Wally Herman was part of my childhood. Growing up I was attached at the hip with his son Chad. When I heard about Mr. Herman passing, all of these memories came flooding into my head. I am very happy to say that they were good memories, great memories. Chad and I had a great time growing up together. Actually, I think it may have been more about the fact that Chad had a great time growing up and I was just along for the ride. You see, Chad was an only child, he had all of the toys, the jerseys, the action figures, the gaming systems. I was always down to go to the Herman's, I could remember times I walked in and Chad had basically the entire set of WWF Wrestlers in a laundry hamper and he would pour them out on the floor like nuggets of gold, we would dive in with a vengeance. One time I could remember, apart from the action figures, Mrs. Herman had bought about 5 pounds of gummy worms and they sat on the floor in the loft of their house begging for my attention. hey, as the fat kid growing up, gummy bears were a big deal!

As if the toys and gummy bears were not enough, the Herman's lived on Gages Lake, and had boats and later on Chad got a jet ski! Mr. Herman would race around the lake with us on a tube, it was the god damn time of my life.

All of this was possible, of course, because Wally Herman owned Wildwood Service on Gages Lake Road. Wildwood Service was a towing and mechanic company that had been around long before Chad and I ever showed up, and Wally Herman had been known around the county long before he had Wildwood Service. You seen, like my father, Mr. Herman grew up in Lake County, worked there, started his family there and never left. Actually he and my father went to high school together, my dad was a year older. That was the same high schoo Chad and I both graduated from. Having left Lake County and also having lived in different areas of the world, I can really appreciate coming home and seeing the same people that I had seen in my childhood, the people that were there growing up. If they weren't there when I came home, it wouldn't feel as much like home.

Wildwood Service and Wally Herman were part of home. Chad and I would spend hours in the shop, there were endless things to play with there, and consequently endless ways to get in trouble. On more than one occasion, Mr. Herman would come out of his office, cigar sticking out of his mouth as it had since he got out of bed that morning, and give us a proper lashing, but it didn't bother us too much, we could just go on to the next attraction. Besides, who is going to stand up to a guy that actually owned a junkyard, and drove around the big Tonka-esque trucks that we could only play with in their miniature form.

Those trucks were a staple in our county. The cursive red Wildwood Service on the doors. I could be anywhere in the county, see one of those trucks and give them a wave like it was a member of my family behind the wheel. I could call their phone line at any hour of the day and they would answer, most often it was Wally. Any time of the day or night, they would be there. I witnessed it first hand too, on sleepovers at the Herman's, the phone would ring and you could hear Wally pick it up, then some commotion downstairs, and soon enough he was out the door to go pick up some new wreck. It was people like Wally Herman, companies like Wildwood Service, that made life a little easier for the rest of us. And Wally never asked much for it, he never made you feel bad for making him come out in the middle of the night because your cheap ass didn't fill the tank.

As the years went by, alot of things changed in Lake County but Wally always had Wildwood Service. He sold off most of the mechanic business to some of his employees, he expanded the towing company, but not much changed. You would still see Wally in town, driving around one of his new auction purchases or sitting in his office at the shop as you drove down Gages Lake Rd. As I reached drinking age (or maybe a little bit before that), I would see him up at Jesse Oaks, mixing it up with the other locals. He would always say hi, we would chat, and he would go on his way.

Now he is gone, and it makes me sad. But at least I got to know Wally, and I got to know his son, who is a great guy and I hope he picks up where his father left off. I need Wildwood Service to be there for alot longer, it just wouldn't be home without it.

Oh Google you are so witty

Thanks to Johnny for this clever little tip, now get back to work!

1. go to www.google.com

2. click on "maps"

3. click on "get directions"

4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)

5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)(hit get directions)

6. scroll down to step #23

I am sure we are here...I think

Last Sunday Katie and I went up to Harriman State Park to hike, that was about the extent of our planning. The information available on the internet for park maps, trails, directions, etc. left much to be desired so we basically got a general idea of where the park was and just went up there. We entered the park at the southern end and drove up Seven Lake's Drive north to Tiorati Lake.

Apparently it was the last day to buy keys that let you enter many of the ponds and boat launches in the park so there was a rush on the information center that we found. We also got there at about 12:05 and the information center was closed from 12-1pm so it felt we were just about doomed at the start. There was a woman standing outside having a smoke who informed me of the lunchtime closing, and had just told the same thing to a couple eager boaters. I didn't want to be rude and point out the fact that the transaction I was looking to enter with her would take all but 2 seconds: she hands me map, I hand her $4. She recommended that I look at the map posted on the wall to decide where I want to go and if I wanted a map for myself I would have to wait until 1pm or drive to the next information center and buy one there. A bit annoyed but trying hard not to show it and immediately be slapped with the "New York City-ite" stigma, I walked over to the map on the wall and try to make sense of this park and plan our excursion. After staring angrily at the map for a few seconds, I considered just taking that one, and jiggled the lock that enclosed it in it's Plexiglas housing. No luck.

Two minutes later the ranger rounded the corner of the building and came up to me. She explained that they were working their little park ranger tails off with all of these boaters and needed a break from it for an hour, and she was just waiting for them to leave before she could run in an grab me a map. Much appreciated, I understood, got my map.

After a quick review of the park, we got our bearings, found where the Long Path (LP) and Appalachian Trail (AT) ran through the park. Most people know about the AT but the LP is a trail that runs north from New York City up to the Adirondack State Park I believe. I had never hiked along the AT (or the LP for that matter) and wanted to give it a go so we mapped out a loop to hike and set out on our adventure.

We found pretty quickly that the trail markings are not easy to identify at first and if you don't remind yourself to keep checking for upcoming markings, you will quickly find yourself lost in the woods and remembering the first time you saw the Blair Witch Project. I don't know why; I have seen a lot of movies with people being lost in the woods and slaughtered, even Grizzly Man gave me the chills to some extent. Ok, so maybe it didn't, but I figured I would make reference to it because I thought briefly about how whacked out that guy was; that gave me the chills. For some reason though, Blair Witch just seizes my thoughts and the hair stands up on my arm. Anyways, this happened to us within the first 10 minutes of hiking. We were following the trail, designated by blue paint splashes on trees, walking along a seemingly well-trodden and carved path and next thing you know, no splashes. It didn't take much for us to find our way back but this was only the first time we kinda sorta got lost, and certainly not the last time we took a wrong turn.

There were some beautiful views, we made friends with some deer, ran into some rough weather for part of the day but for the most part it was a great trip. I won't bore anyone with the details because for us it was great but a relaxing day walking around in the woods is not the best story when retold. Bottom line I guess is that we had a good time, we will go back, and we will be encouraging some of you to join us, whether you are "outdoorsy" or not, you will enjoy yourself.

See below the loop we made, of course I mapped it in Google Earth when we got home, also in a Google Pedometer tool online. The pic is from Google Earth, my new best friend.

Do it Rockapella!!!

I am hoping I am not the only one that planted myself in front of either the television or an Apple IIgs growing up to watch/play the game "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego." And if you know what I'm talking about, you know Rockapella, the a capella group that opened and closed the television show.

Well folks, here you have it, Rockapella, in all of their glory. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, this is a video of grown men doing things grown men should not be doing and quite possibly the best close-up beat box drum solo of all time...enjoy.

Oh and you may be asking, "How and why did you look this up on YouTube?" Because I was just informed that one of these guys is performing at a theater near me in Brooklyn this weekend, I had to look him up.