Barney Miller was fair and thoughtful, and a little flawed. During the run he had a separation from his wife, which they eventually figured out. Barney was always the even, measured voice of reason. I can see why my mom had such a huge crush on him.

Sgt. Stanley “Wojo” Wojciehowicz — it’s spelled just how it sounds — (Max Gail) was simple and kind of dumb, he was passionate and headstrong, but a little misguided at times. His character showed the greatest development as the series progressed.

Sgt. Ron Harris (Ron Glass) was the snappiest dresser, and had a wonderful sarcastic streak. Those three characters lasted throughout the entire run.

Sgt. Philip K. Fish (Abe Vigoda) was the source of every old person joke the writers could think of, which is hilarious to me now considering the fact that he was only 54 when the series started. He was eventually replaced by Sgt. Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg) who was one of my favorite characters due largely to his intelligence and quick, sarcastic wit.

Sgt. Nick Yemana (Jack Soo, who died during the run) was like a walking one-liner machine.

Sgt. Chano Amengual (Gregory Sierra) was a Puerto Rican cop with a strong moral streak who hated seeing his fellow countrymen breaking the law. Chano disappeared from the show with no explanation.

My least favorite character when I was watching the show as a teen was Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey), who became one of my favorite characters upon my recent viewing. He was sarcastic, and a little needy, but was one of the best cops out there.

Same deal with Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory) who I found annoying in my youth. That opinion didn’t change, Luger was supposed to be annoying, but seeing how James Gregory played him made me change my mind.

Honorable mention has to go to Linda Lavin who played Detective Janice Wentworth on several episodes. She played the character with such spunk and drive, and I really wish they could have kept her on longer. But she went on to make the series Alice, and she did pretty well there.

Then we can talk about the cavalcade of recognizable faces who played other cops, perpetrators, and victims who paraded through the episodes. Fans of M*A*S*H (like me) or pretty much any TV show of the era saw so many character actors parade through the ol’ 1-2 — sometimes several times playing the same or different characters.

The show wasn’t just a goofy comedy. It dealt with real world issues, and contemporary themes of the times: nuclear proliferation, gay rights, city and national elections, freedom of speech on the job, feminism and sexism, and did it all without being too trivial or too preachy. Very few modern comedies (many of which I see as just an endless procession of terrible people being terrible to each other) could say that.

My life changed in April of 1981 when my dad died at the age of 50. TV shows weren’t all that important to me then, and that hasn’t really changed much (the notable exception would be the Star Trek franchise). As a result I never saw the last couple of seasons of Barney Miller.

The last three episodes are about the precinct building being sold by the city for development, and the final scene has Barney having a few short flashback memories of Amengual, Fish, Wentworth, and Yemana. Barney turns out the lights, walks out, and closes the door behind him.

And I cried.

I cried for a lot of reasons. I cried because the characters all went their separate ways. I cried because I remembered how my family used to gather around the TV to watch the show. I cried because of my dad.

It’s weird to cry over a show that’s over 40 years old, especially one that I could just start over by just clicking “play.”

Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.

Washington (AP)– The army said Thursday it had received a report that ther Germans were using a new and diabolical booby trap–candy with a piece of thermite implanted in its center. When eaten, the candy melts away and the termite (sic) flames up i nthe throat and mouth.

Two experts in booby trap detection told of the device during a demonstration of weapons and mines at acting Secretary of War Patterson’s news conference.

The Germans also are using the Yankee desire for cleanliness in devising other traps, the experts reported. A liquid soap dispenser is filled with sulphueric acid, or similar material, to burn the hands when tipped up. Another gadget is an innocent looking cake of soap which can be used for some time and then, when the outercoating is worn away, detonates an explosive to blow off the hands.

Trivia

Thermite, according to Wikipedia, is “a pyrotechnic composition of metal powder and metal oxide. When ignited by heat or chemical reaction, thermite undergoes an exothermic reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction.”

A paint can of thermite can burn through a car engine. Even a small amount is violently destructive, as shown in the following video:

I have to wonder how many people fell victim to such a diabolical trap. Nasty.

Mint’s plusses are that we could both get unlimited data, the cost would be significantly less than AT&T, and that the T-Mobile network that Mint uses is far more extensive. I also noticed that even in town I was getting a LTE service from AT&T instead of their promised 5G. So it was pretty much a no-brainer to switch.

At the same time I was looking to get rid of Spectrum Business as my internet provider at work. When I opened my shop in 2018 I needed to get internet hooked up, but Spectrum doesn’t offer their services a la carte, and they force you to bundle at least two of them. Since I already had phone service through AT&T (I had been with them since they were Ma Bell), I opted for internet and TV. The TV box never got hooked to a TV, and yet I paid for it for all these years to the tune of around $270 per month. Mint offers a service called “MINTernet” that costs only $70 per month. All tolled it costs $773.88 (taxes & fees included) for a 12-month agreement which saves me literally thousands of dollars per year. Another no-brainer.

So I ordered up Mint phone and internet. A few days later the troubles began.

A few technical things: my iPhone uses an eSIM to set up service, Kate’s phone is older and requires a physical SIM card–or so I thought. But that’s later… So I ordered a 12-month unlimited data plan for an eSIM phone, an unlimited data plan for a SIM phone, and MINTernet.

The box showed up just a few days later on a Friday. I took the internet gateway out of the box, and set it aside to setup the following Monday as I was anxious to be done that day. I brought the SIM card home, and was going to get everything switched over on Saturday.

The SIM card comes on a larger card that’s about the size of a credit card, and there is a code on it you use to activate your account… or so I thought. I mean, it does activate an account, but I thought it was going to be for both phones. I opened the Mint app on my phone, as you are supposed to do, and entered the code, and that’s when my troubles started.

What I didn’t see was a little link that read “I have an eSIM” and so I took all the steps they asked for for the wrong phone without knowing it. I ported my phone number away from AT&T which put my phone in SOS mode, but was not able to get it hooked to Mint. It was because I was trying to get my eSIM phone to work with a SIM code. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time.

There was also an issue of my phone still being locked to AT&T, which was supposed to just “automatically switch” to the new carrier. It did not. I was on a tech support phone call with them for about 45 minutes before they were finally able to unlock my phone, all due to the fact that I had purchased it second hand off of Back Market. This was exacerbated by the fact that I had already ported my number to Mint.

Mint has an AI chat bot that is very good at resolving technical issues, but even it has its limits and I was eventually connected to a real human. It took some doing, but they were able to switch the SIM stuff to eSIM and I was able to get Mint working on my phone on Monday morning. It took two days.

So it’s Monday, I’ve successfully gotten my phone switched, now it’s time to hook up MINTernet.

The unit powered up, and was getting excellent signal. I could even connect my computer to the WIFI signal and everything, but I wasn’t able to get it connected to my Mint account. It took another tech support phone call and a lot of “enter this 6-digit code” until we finally got it all taken care of. It took almost 4-1/2 hours to do so.

Then we worked on getting Kate’s phone going. It turns out that her phone can also use an eSIM, which is great because all the fucking around caused the code for the card they sent me to become invalid. It only took about 35 minutes to do so. It should have taken far less.

Now, I admit that a lot of this could have been avoided if I had made sure my phone was unlocked from AT&T before I started, and had I clicked “I have an eSIM’ right from the start, but that doesn’t change the fact that this whole ordeal was stressful as fuck.

Ultimately, I am glad we switched everything over. The savings alone makes it worth the time and effort it took, and I look forward to enjoying our new services.

• 35 miles of walking
• 7 breweries
• 4 museums
• 2 cemeteries
• 1 distillery
• Countless restaurants

The highlights for me were the Art Institute of Chicago, and seeing the U-505 at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

I think we’ll start with our hotel, which was on the corner of Wabash and Harrison. You can clearly see the L-train and Roosevelt University, as well as some street murals.

And then we’ll move on to some architecture and street art, as well as a little Picasso (which is actually huge).

Art Institute of Chicago

We spent right around 5 hours at the AIC. I could have spent another 5 hours, but our brains were pretty full and we were hungry. There was a special display of the work of Henri Matisse, and we made sure to get the extra tickets.

It was cool to see so many well known works of art as well as others I’d never even imagined. My absolute favorite, and the one that stopped me in my tracks, was Norman Lewis’ 1942 painting “Multitudes.” The photograph doesn’t do justice to the depth in the colors. The more I stared at it, the more I saw: people, tables, buildings, doors…

Field Museum of Natural History

I didn’t take many pictures at the Field Museum — the exhibits were all so dark. But I did get a couple of good shots.

Griffin Museum of Science & Industry

Our time at the Griffin was limited, but the only thing I really wanted to see was the U-505, a Nazi uboat captured by the American Navy in 1944. It was the only intact uboat captured by the US during WWII. I was a little underwhelmed by the tour, which didn’t go into enough depth (pun intended) for me. Still it was a dream come true to be onboard, and to see how the sailors lived in such a small and cramped war machine.

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison was great. I actually liked it better than Chicago. It’s clean, friendly, not oversaturated with humans, completely walkable, and I didn’t see any rats (saw one in Chicago). I would go back to Mad anytime.

We started at Resurrection Cemetery and Forest Hill Cemetery, which are across the street from each other. Forest Hill is one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever been to.

In our walks we saw a lot of fun stuff, and visited the Contemporary Art Museum of Madison, which was probably the oddest museum I’ve ever been to, and not because of the art. One gallery had pieces enclosed in stained glass boxes, and we both thought the stained glass was more interesting than the art they contained. Another gallery on the lower floor had only two paintings by two different artists. The second floor was in the midst of having a new exhibit installed and was closed to the public. And the top floor open air “sculpture garden” had only one sculpture. All-in-all, Kate said she counted only 21 pieces. It was free admission, but we donated some money anyway in hopes that they will get some more art.

And I’ll end with a few random shots from our long hikes.

We had a lot of fun, despite a few traffic jams on the way, and we both look forward to our next adventure together.

Fish Caserole (1944)

Recipe by Charlotte Adams

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Cooking time

40

minutes

From the St. Cloud Daily Times, May 19, 1944

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Fish fillets: cod or any kind of fish (keep skin and bones aside)

• 2 cups Mashed potatoes

• 1/2 lb. Mushrooms

• 2 cups White sauce (described below)

• 1 Bay leaf

• 1 Carrot

• 1 Onion

• Few leaves of celery

• Salt & Pepper

• Dash of nutmeg

• Dash of paprika

• Chopped parsley (optional)

• 1/8 cup Sauterne*

Directions

• Boil the fish 10 minutes, adding skin and bones, bay leaf, carrot, onion, celery.
• Remove fish, throwing away skin and bones, and bay leaf. Reserve liquid with carrot, onion and celery in it.
• Make a white sauce with butter, flour and the reserved liquid of fish and milk. Add the wine if desired.
• Add spices and cooked mushrooms.
• Grease a baking dish, put the fish in, then cover with a layer of white sauce and repeat until all is used up.
• Top with a layer of mashed potatoes.
• Put in a moderate oven (375°) until potatoes are golden brown (30-40 minutes).
• Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Notes

• * Sauterne is a sweet white wine that is apparently rather expensive. Alternatives are available, and can be found with a simple internet search.

So many missing ingredients and steps. It kind of assumes you have mashed potatoes sitting around, and tells you to add cooked mushrooms without ever telling you to cook them. Not sure if I’d ever actually want to try this, but who knows?

Naturally, a trip to such a major city as Kansas City would involve a cemetery stop or two. The first was an early morning trip to Elmwood Cemetery, which was established in 1872. Among the 34,000+ people buried there are your typical assortment of members of Congress, officers who served during the Civil War (because enlisted dudes rarely attain notoriety), sports heroes, and business magnates, the most nationally famous of which would probably be the Armour family who made “the dogs kids love to bite.” And speaking of dogs, when we first got out of the car we saw a coyote walking by about 25 yards (23 meters) away from us!

To be honest I was a little underwhelmed by this cemetery. By its size and location, the number of people buried there, and the list of “famous memorials” it boasts, I assumed that it would be more impressive. I pictured someplace more on par with Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, with large, impressive columns and statuary. But Elmwood is very much like so many other Midwestern burial places. Not that it wasn’t interesting in its way, or that it didn’t offer a surprise or two.

Union Cemetery, Kansas City, MO

Founded in 1857, Union Cemetery is Kansas City’s oldest. There are over 24,000 people buried there, and the place just oozes history. Three memorials stuck out most to me: George Caleb Bingham, an artist famous for his paintings of working people, and common events. (I’m reasonably sure that we saw some of his work at the Nelson-Adkins Museum.). Alexander Majors was one of the founders of the Pony Express. The last belonging to not just one person, but to a group of Confederate soldiers who were buried there during the Civil War, and who were later memorialized with a historical marker.

The Folgers Coffee Collection

Presented in 2000 by the Procter & Gamble Company in honor of the 150th anniversary of Folgers Coffee, the Folgers Coffee Silver Collection at The Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art comprises more than 100 pieces of 18th- and 19th-century English, Irish and Scottish silver primarily related to coffee.

I do not condone the brewing or drinking of Folgers Coffee, as it is a very poor product that is mass produced. But these pieces were too cool, and hit pretty close to home.

The Sonata

• 1893
• Artist: Childe Hassam, 1859-1935
• Oil on canvas, mounted on board

Combining luminous color, staccato brushwork, and academic drawing, Childe Hassam’s The Sonata exalts sensory and aesthetic experiences. The painting features a pianist having just performed Beethoven’s famously difficult Sonata Appassionata, a score for which she holds in her lap. Her slouched posture, suggesting that the performance has exhausted her, is echoed by the similarly beautiful but fragile-looking yellow rose atop the piano.

The Green Domino

• 1913
• Artist: Albert Bloch, 1882-1961
• Oil on canvas

Albert Bloch is an artist of international and local importance. Associated with the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) while living in Munich, he later served as the head of the Department of Painting and Drawing at the University of Kansas.

The Green Domino, painted in Munich, reveals Bloch’s passion for the expressive power of simplified forms and intense color. The curious figures who occupy this brightly colored, prismatically fractured space are based on character from the 17th- and 17th-century Italian improvisational comedic Theatre del Arte.

I liked it not only for the form and colors, but because it looks like my friend, Jeffrey.

Hollywood

• 1937-38
• Artist: Thomas Hart Benton, 1889-1975
• Tempera with oil on canvas, mounted on panel

Hollywood resulted from Benton’s Life magazine-sponsored excursion to Tinseltown in the summer of 1937. The composition unites various aspects of movie-making, revealing Benton’s fascination with what he called, “the machinery of the industry” responsible for cinematic efforts. A centrally positioned and scantily clad female figure presides over this chaotic universe, symbolizing the quintessential blonde starlet of the period. The background references the musical In old Chicago about the Great Fire of 1841.

Life rejected the painting as being too risqué for publication in a family magazine.

Goodnight Irene

• 1952
• Artist: Charles Wilbert White, 1918-1979
• Oil on canvas

Performing for an intimate audience of one, Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter plays Goodnight Irene, his signature ballad.

White created this portrait three years after the legendary musician’s death.

Water Lilies

List Item List Item

• 1915-1926
• Artist: Claude Monet, 1840-1926
• Oil on canvas

Monet’s garden at Giverny, France, became both a sanctuary and a central motif in his art from 1890 until his death in 1926. Amid the tubulence of World War I, Monet’s Water Lilies served as a form of resistance, a way to transcend the chaos of the world around him.

This thing is HUGE. So much bigger than you’d expect.

Coffee Grinder and Glass

• 1915
• Artist: Juan Gris, 1887-1927
• Oil on paperboard

In this jewel-like still life, the letters “Le J” refer to Le Journal–the Paris newspaper that Juan Gris depicted in lavendar on the blue top of a black table.

Rose with Gray

• 1924
• Artist: Vasily Kandinsky, 1866-1944
• Oil on pulpboard

Kandinsky wrote, “Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”

I dig Kandinsky.

Tea Service

• about 1930
• Designer: Margarete Haymann-Löbenstein, 1899-1990
• Manufacturer: Haël-Werkstätten für künstlerische Keramik, Germany (Marwitz), 1923-1934
• Alpacca (silvered metal alloy) with synthetic resin

Beautiful and functional, yet mass-produced, this tea service’s simple geometric forms embody Bauhaus design and philosophy. Designer Margarete Haymann-Löbenstein was one of the first female students at the Bauhaus art and design school. Her art was considered “degenerate” by Nazi Germany.

Guitar Player

• 1928
• Artist: André Derain, 1880-1954
• Oil on canvas

Painted in rich, warm tones of cream and brown, André Derain’s painting evokes the resonanat sound of the guitar. The carefully balanced composition and harmonious flow of the line, together with the musician’s casual open collar, rolled shirtsleeves, and crossed leg, further enhance this mood of lyrical peacefulness.

From a guitar player’s perspective, his left hand technique is lacking and if he keeps playing that way he will do damage to his wrist.

Saint Barbara

• ca. 1580-1585
• Attributed to Germain Pilon, 1537-1590
• White marble

Saint Barbara was a virgin martyr whose father sequestered her in a tower to discourage suitors. Here she is shown next to the tower, holding the hild of a sword, the instrument of her martyrdom. The missing blade was probably made of silver.

The back of this sculpture is flat, indicating she was meant to be seen only from the front and placed against a wall, pillar, or niche.

And finally, here is a collection of random pieces I photographed with no descriptions…

Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.

Our first stop was the Harry S. Truman museum and library in Independence, MO. I was born during LBJ and started school under Nixon, but Harry was spoken of with respect in our house. My dad would have served under him as CIC during the Korean War.

There was so much more to Harry than I realized or remembered. Yes, he assumed the Office of President of the United States upon the death of FDR. Yes, he was the man who made the decision to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I had sort of forgotten that he was in office during the Korean War (duh. Shame on me, a M*A*S*H fan!), and during the recognition of Israel as a nation. I had also completely glossed over his Fair Deal and the fact he would have been the guy in office during the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the beginning of nuclear proliferation. Suffice to say, the guy really influenced and shaped the 20th Century as I know it.

It’s a shame the Fair Deal never made it very far. I think a lot of the problems the US has now could have been avoided if it had passed.

There are some incredible things at the museum, including a full-sized reproduction of the Oval Office, as well as Truman’s working office at the library, which is fully intact and just how he left it when he died. There’s also the safety plug from the first atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In the same room are 1000 origami cranes folded by a Japanese girl who was suffering from leukemia caused by the bomb years later. That was very sobering.

The museum is located in the middle of an area I would not want to live. Very run down, with lots of boarded up houses and businesses. And then suddenly there’s this magnificent building and museum. Harry and Bess’ graves are there, as well as Margaret and her husband, Clifton Daniel. We were there for a couple of hours, and they were hours well spent.

A brief stop at a dispensary, and we were off to the hotel and our first night in KC.

Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.

Our first night was spent walking around the area where our hotel was located, which was in the downtown arts district. To be honest it was a bit of a drinking tour with stops at the International Tap House (loud. It was so loud), Brewery Emperial (great outdoor seating area), the City Barrel Brewery+Kitchen (kinda meh, but good), Lifted Spirits Distillery (where we had some excellent cocktails), and Grinder Pizza (a punk rock attitude with B+ pizza). I may have missed a stop or two here; blame it on the alcohol.

One of the very cool things about that area is the number of murals and other street art you find. Dubuque, Iowa has that, too. I wish more places did. St. Cloud has some great walls that could be painted.

KC Street Art

Of course, that’s not the only art we saw in KC. The next day, a rainy Sunday, we went to the Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art. That trip is worth its own post.