The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

Although politics and religion are not completely off-limits, classmates are asked to be positive in their posts and not to be too repetitive or allow a dialog to degenerate into an argument. 

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Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Bob Fleming

Hollis - You remember my description of my father.  Very touching. Thanks for calling him back to mind for me.   (Read to the end Hollis, the best part is last.)

My mother forbid my father from teaching me how to box.  Probably best, since I would not have done well. 

Nevertheless on a few occasions I would stand in front of my father and kinda shadow box or play fight with him.  Always good natured, never in frustration or anger with him or him with me. Fathers and sons do that oftentimes. 

Dad could both flurry (multiple combinations of many right and left punches ) and pull his punches (by not extending his hands, tap me rather than hit me) at the same time.

I remember distinctly that when I was 12 years old, he flurried and hit me 8-10 times before I could even begin to throw a single punch.  Bobby Fleming TKO'd 30 seconds into the first round.

Fred Zeiller was no slouch on the boxing bag and was quite powerful too.  His oldr broher Howie was an excellent amateur fighter and regularly competed and won while figthing ABOVE his weight division.

I once went down to the Astrodome to watch heavywieight champion Larry Holmes in a public workout the day before his championship match.  He did a "warm-up" on the punching bag and the heavy bag as part of his workout.  It remains the scariest single thing I have ever seen in my life.

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But my father's greatest skill was this.  Often he would stand on his head in our living room for 10-15 minutes at a time and carry on a conversation with Mary and I while we ate supper.  I believe he did it to entertain my mother - who laughed to tears watching her children talking with him as if this were normal in all families.  How about that?

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Steve Keene

Bob F.,

Steve G. will let you know who is welcome to visit with him.
 

To clarify something, what I said about Steve G, with the round the Bend comment was not a direct quote but my attempt at wordplay on the gist of Steve G.'s feelings toward Tommy as I perceived them.  In other words, I would not have a problem taking a trip with you or Tommy as Passengers, but it would be prudent to find out if Tommy was welcome to visit Steve G. before  a group of us showed up there with him in tow.  Steve G. as you know can be temperamental and I would hate for none of us to be seen over the presence of one.  In the picture, Alford is the blond at the head of the table.  I am between David and Hull across from Tommy.

Hollis,

You or Sandra would have been welcome to sit in my 16 year old lap, but I would have been too shy to ask you in those days.  These days neither of you would attempt that because it would make us uncomfortable for a variety of reasons

David Cordell

Bobby F,

Upon closer inspection, it looks like your seating position was an exception to your norm. There appears to be a right hand clutching a drink next to your excellent left arm. And there is someone on Lowell's right also.

Hollis,

Did it occur to you that no girls wanted to sit at our table? Or maybe that we wanted to sit with them, but they dissed us? On the other hand, maybe they saw the sign at the end of the table, next to Steve Alford

Kurt Fischer

Steve:

I was thinking back to old times when I first started working for Arthur Andersen.  While working downtown for a while, we would frequent Sol's Turf Bar.  It was a bit on the edgy side, but you seem to have some experience with edgy places...   The bar was dark and was usually busy.  In the back were a number of tables always frequented by "old men" (of course, now we are lot older than they were) who just seemed to be on the bad side.  Always playing gin rummy and talking in low tones.  We would go to the bar in order to order a ham sandwich.  There was always a large black woman standing next to a full ham.  She would carve off large chunks of ham and create one of the best ham sandwiches I had ever had.  

So, were you familiar with Sol's?

Wayne Gary

David,

"Amazing Grace"  sn one of the 3 most translated songs of all time along with "It's a Small World" and "Silent Night".

It was fun being at the game last where both the Varsity and JV Eagle basketball  teams beat JJ Pearce Mustangs.

In the picture I will not be there because back I was not one of the "CooL A group".  I still had fun then. Now I hope to get to know all of the class better.

Steve Keene

Kurt,

We wpuld eat at the Blue Plate or a hamburger dive NE of the red courthouse.  We also would jump in a vehicle and go to lunch as the traffic was not terriible in those days.  We ate at Lowry's, Joe's Seafood, Normas in Oak Cliff and El Fenix downtown.  We also sometimes went to the Oak Cliff Country Club and had lunch in the card room where the gin rummy games could get expensive.  I still go to Joe's Seafood on I-30 today.  I have learned to bring my own sour cream for the baked potatoes.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Wayne Gary

Steve,

I have often seen Joe's Seafood but never gone in.  Next time you are going to go , let me know and we can go together. I am continually looking for small dives to go to.  I like supporting the local owners.

Bob Fleming

Professor Heyn:

I want to return a favor; do you remember when you recommended that I read Willa Cather (O Pioneers and My Antonia)?  You were spot on.  I now have a recommendation for you.

Last wek I finished The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles and I want to alert you that he has put in his bid as the author of The Great American Novel.

The book is a coming of age story, an adventure story, a road trip, and a retelling of Huckleberry Finn and the Odyssey all rolled into one.  While he is at it, the author tips his hat to Walt Whitman (Song of Myself) , winks to Jack Kerouac (On the Raod and Dharma Bums) as he goes by, and nods to Henry James.  Not too bad.

Imagine this -

An orphaned Tom Sawyer as a young man recently released from a juvenile reform school; Huck Finn (the son of an alcoholic, neglectful/abusive father) more realistically depicted as a brilliant young socipath; Becky Thatcher as a budding 1950's Iowa feminist; and good old Jim as their faithful sidekick (and interestingly a man who has returned from World War II in Europe and who is in the middle of a 10 year quest to locate his wife and son.  Sound familiar?)  Oh . . . and don't forget to pay attention to the budding African American juvenile gang and established Puerto Rican car theft ring who combine to come to the aid of our heroes and save the day.  And . . more con men, broken down carnival/vaudeville has-beens, strip-tease artists, and flim-flam men than Mark Twain can count.

All of our heroes riding the rails and driving the highways of America.  And at the moral center of the story, an 8 year old boy and younger brother who occasionally enlightens and educates the older youth and adults by reading a chapter from his favorite book . . . Professor Abacus Abernate's Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers. 

And yes at the end, they all pile into a car and "light out" from New York City to California (not Indian territory) on the 3,000 mile Lincoln Highway (America's first coast to coast highway).

A first rate tonic an cure-all for our times. 

Bob Fleming

Steve K - I accept your advisement and counsel and now am prepared for a trip come what may.

David, we were mistaken about my placement at the table; nevertheless your observation on a left-ahanders habits are correct.  (Further down the table I also spot Pat Cowlishaw(partialy obscured like Steve K) and Jimmy Baker.  And for the record, occasionally girls did sit at the table with us (brave indeed).  I know because I remember that Candy Jones sat across from me on a couple of occasions.  Among my more fortunate days in high school.

Lance - I stand corrected.  You are right; I am a conservative; formed by and loyal to the institutons responsible for my spiritual formation-  the YMCA and the Catholic Church.  I was not formed by nor am I a team mmeber loyal to either R's or D's.  I did very briefly speak with Brene recently.  As you can magine; she is as busy as a one-armed woman in a rock fight.  Her book on Leadership recentl came out and I have browsed through it but not read it.  The woman is as advertised - daring, unique, insightful, and direct.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Okay, Steve and Wayne: If I ever return to Texas, could we meet up at that I-30 seafood dive?  I 

B Fleming:

I so appreciate the recommendation.  I've taught Homer, Twain, Whitman.  And who doesn't love Kerouac?  Well, prob someone, but not me.  I've been reading the Gamache mystery series by Louise Penny since early November.  Novels four through twelve.  Dude, her Quebecois characters and setting are the best.  The other day the NPR Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan recommended The Latinist - a mystery about a grad student's travails with her advisor who is sabotaging her career so he can keep her as his adjunct. I ordered the book and should receive it about the time I'm finished with Louise Penny novel thirteen.  

David Cordell

Saw the nationally ranked RHS Eagles stomp the Pearce Mustangs last night, 71-42. The Eagles have one guy who has already committed to Arkansas and another who committed to Kentucky. Highlight of the game was when the Arkansas guy made a steal and had a breakaway to the basket. He threw the ball against the backboard and caught it in mid-air for a monster two-handed dunk. I'm sure most of the guys on our Eagle basketball team could have done that, but I think dunks were still banned at the time. Ahem. Yeah.

The gym looks nicer than when we were students. Mainly, it's paint. Purple and gold everywhere. Below, Phil Fielder, Phil Dyer, Wayne Gary, David Cordell at the game.

Wayne Gary

I just read where Senator. Warren has said the Dems in order to get the Mellinnial vote the have to buy them by giving up to $50,000 in federal student loan forgiveness.  I guess this is their "legal' way to buy votes

Steve Keene

Hollis,

It is a date.  I think most of the guys sitting at that table were discussing the cute girls and how we might connect with them .  Nobody was smart enough to declare it a gender optional zone for fear we would disclose our devious plans to the girls.  The other dynamic in play here was the fact that every guy thought he was God's gift to women in his own mind and his talents in that area were unrecognized by the others.  A man's biggest fear was not women, but being ridiculed by his friends if he got shut down.

Guys like Cordell, Zeiller and Baker had it made in the shade being star jocks, mascots or cheerleaders.  The rest of us had to scramble to prove we were worthy of a second glance.

David Cordell

Balderdash, Steve. You always had a way with words, a great sense of humor, and those bedroom eyes. (So I am told.) Besides, our class was full of date-worthy girls. There are very many whom I wish I had asked out.

Separately, can someone tell me how 5G would improve my life. I'm not a gamer. I don't have a problem with phone reception. Does it reduce data usage? If I get a new phone is it worth it to get  

Also separately, I want to sing the praises of the common squirrel. Whenever I walk Little Becky the Dog, we always encounter squirrels. Becky has learned that I won't let her chase them, but they are smart enough to seek the nearest tree anyway. But what's especially smart is that they invariably take a corkscrew path around the trunk to the back of the tree before the big ascent. By the time a dog can run around to the back side of the tree and catch sight again, the squirrel is half-way to the top. If the squirrel weren't to go to the back side, well, the dog might just leap up a few feet and have a squirrel dinner. I suppose it's a Darwinian thing, but I prefer to think that they are just clever.

Wayne Gary

With all the talk about the lunchroom picture I found this in todays paper.

David Cordell

Bill was a bit embarrassed and told the doctor he had trouble getting an erection with his wife and she was getting frustrated.

The doc checked the man's blood pressure and other vitals. Then after a thorough examination the doctor said he wanted to check with Bill's wife.

He took her to another cubicle and asked her to disrobe. Then he told her to turn all the way around slowly.

She did as instructed. He then told her to raise her arms above her head, then bend over, touch her toes and cough.

Finally he said, "Ok, good. You can get dressed now, and I will go talk to your husband".The doctor went back to the other cubicle and said to the husband, "Well Bill, you can relax, there is nothing wrong with you. I couldn't get an erection either.

See  picture below of Bill and his wife.

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Lowell Tuttle

David C.  you’ve probably decided on your 5G question.   I just got two new phones.   I turned of my Google Pixel 1 and got a Motorola Edge +, it’s 5G.   Bought my wife a Samsung A 12, 4G.  She is ecstatic with hers but only because her prior phone was about 8 years old and the battery was swollen.

5G doesn’t apparently work too well through walls.  So, it downshifts to 4G.

The Motorola was 800.  The A12 Samsung was 180.   If I had to do it over, I would have bought two A 12’s.

My Motorola is slippery and the apps don’t work too well while charging.   I googled that, and no phone apps are supposed to work well while charging, but I never noticed it before.

I personally think the best phone is the one you don’t like to use, so you are not on the phone all the time checking scores, e mails, texts, and porn.

We used golf genius for tournament scorekeeping in golf.   I would be on data for that most of the time, but if I came across someone’s broadcasting network, ATT or Xfinity would try to make me log on to that network and block my data broadcast inbound.   So, I would have to go to settings and un check the wifi button and then remember to check it again after I finished.   Also, that app didn’t work while charging.

I did get a weather tech phone cup holder for Christmas and I liked that.

But that is to be taken a little lightly, as my other Christmas present I like was a yard gnome…He’s looking at me right now.

You can also google Dwight Silverman, the long time tech writer for the Chronicle, even from when you lived here, I think.   He's does a lot of phone q and a.

Lowell Tuttle

how funny.  I just mentioned his tech articles and went back to reading the Chronicle business section and this was what I saw...

PERSONAL TECH

AT&T, Verizon 5G about to get much faster — for some

DWIGHT SILVERMAN Personal Tech

Courtesy Apple

The iPhone 13 will be compatible with the new 5G services of AT&T and Verizon.

Dwight Silverman

Google Pixel will be compatible with the new 5G services of AT&T and Verizon.

AT&T and Verizon wireless customers, listen up. Your world is about to change in the best way.

But to take advantage of that change, it’s going to cost you. If you care about how fast your smartphone talks to the internet, it is going to be worth it. Remember these three words: C-band is coming.

Next week, AT&T and Verizon will switch on new spectrum on their respective networks that will bring their 5G service closer to the hype the telecommunications industry has been churning out for years. It will fill in a big hole in AT&T’s and Verizon’s offerings, and finally make them competitive in 5G with T-Mobile.

This is great news for their customers, many of whom have been wondering why they’re not getting the super-fast speeds they’ve been promised. While C-band will mean a big upgrade in speed, most 5G phones don’t currently support it.

Yep, if you bought a 5G phone in the past couple of years, you’re going to have to replace it to take advantage of what’s coming.

And it’s coming Jan. 19. The rollout of the radio frequencies used for C-band was supposed to happen sooner, but a dispute over airline safety caused a delay. Airliners use C-band spectrum for some altimeters, and the Federal Aviation Administration was concerned 5G would interfere with those instruments.

Telecommunications companies agreed to a delay, and will carve out C-band exception areas around airports, allowing for the start date next week.

For AT&T and Verizon, C-band is critical, a last piece of the 5G puzzle for which the two paid a total of $80 billion in the 2020-2021 auction of spectrum by the Federal Communications Commission.

Currently, those providers only offer 5G service in a low frequency spectrum known as sub-6, and a very high one called millimeter wave, or mmWave. The carriers have a big, national footprint for sub-6, but in most cases, it’s not much faster than LTE. In some instances, it can be slower.

They have a smaller footprint with mmWave, which offers the OMG!! speeds. But mmWave has a hard time passing through objects, even foliage. It has been consigned mostly to open-air locations, including parks, sports stadiums and concert venues.

Verizon also has been building mmWave service out into dense residential areas, including many in inner-loop Houston, for its 5G-based home internet service. C-band will be added to the home service as well.

C-band sits in the middle of the frequencies AT&T and Verizon use, filling a big gap. It promises speeds approaching those of the lower range of mmWave, and significantly higher than sub-6.

T-Mobile, in its acquisition of Sprint, acquired a good chunk of similar, middle-band spectrum and has been hustling to build it out, including in Houston. T-Mobile says its 5G service covers 200 million people in the United States. AT&T and T-Mobile have some catching up to do.

“While T-Mobile has probably the best ubiquitous fast 5G service, its market share of 25 percent still trails both AT&T at 45 percent and Verizon at (29 percent),” said Mark Vena, CEO and principal analyst at SmartTech Research, which tracks consumer tech trends. “To maintain and protect those shares, it’s critical for both AT&T and Verizon to embrace C-band as quickly as possible because it can provide wider coverage and higher speeds.”

Wicked fast

T-Mobile customers with compatible phones have been experiencing impressive speeds with that carrier’s mid-band service. With my iPhone 13 Pro Max, I’ve gotten peak speeds of over 600 Mbps download and 90 Mbps upload in tests when I see the in the phone’s status bar the “5G UC” icon, the indicator that T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum is in use.

The average is closer to 300-400 Mbps down and 35-50 Mbps up. With its sub-6 5G, speeds range anywhere from the low double digits to over 120 Mbps down, and from 2-25 Mbps up. Clearly, the mid-band makes a huge difference.

What’s even more interesting is that I see decent speeds with just a few bars on the phone’s signal indicator when connected to T-Mobile’s mid-band. With only two bars, I’ve had download speeds in the mid-300s.

So, what can AT&T and Verizon customers in Houston expect when the C-band switch is flipped? I talked to representatives from both carriers to find out.

First, it depends on whether those users own a C-band capable smartphone. Right now, the only compatible devices out of the box are Apple’s iPhone 12 and 13 lineup; Samsung’s Galaxy S21 lineup, Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 and Galaxy A13; and Google’s Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Other phones may be capable with a software upgrade, but neither AT&T nor Verizon spokespeople would name them.

Those with capable phones should see indicators in the devices’ status bar at the top of the screen. AT&T users will see “5G+”, the same designation for its existing mmWave service. Verizon users will see “5G UW” (UW is UltraWideband), also the carrier’s signifier for mmWave.

Owners of C-band-capable phones will see noticeably faster speeds. Verizon says to expect outdoor downloads approaching or exceeding a gigabit per second, with indoor speeds around 300 Mbps or better. An AT&T spokesperson didn’t not provide specific speeds, but analysts expect them to be comparable to Verizon’s.

Neither carrier will charge extra for C-band access. That said, you need to be on one of the carriers’ unlimited plans to get access to 5G of any flavor.

Cloud in silver lining

That’s the good news. Here’s the bad.

A lot of early adopters, hungry for AT&T’s and Verizon’s promised high-speed nirvana of 5G, went out and bought 5G phones in the past two years. Those early handsets don’t work with C-band. To get access to those speeds, they’ll need to buy a new phone. (Pro tip: When looking at the detailed specifications for a smartphone, check to see if it supports the band designated as N77.)

I asked both carriers’ representatives if there would be some kind of trade-in or upgrade deal. Verizon left open the possibility, saying that, “historically” the company has had “enticing offers” around 5G phones. AT&T has an existing trade-in program.

But analyst Vena says that AT&T and Verizon are going to want to get customers onto C-band as soon as possible, which means deals on compatible phones will abound.

“We might see a level of carrier subsidization for new smart-phones that we haven’t seen in years,” he said. dsilverman@outlook.com twitter.com/dsilverman

Steve Keene

Lowell,

At Carl's Corner I back up to the freeway, but my 5G broadband which I spent an extra $500 for at Verizon for my I-phone 8Pro Plus comes in by Pony Express.  To watch a streaming movie during peak hours, I watch an equal amount of circles rotating as I do broadcast content.  As an example, at peak hours a 1 hr episode of 1883 at 9:00 at night takes more than two hours to watch.  Verizon did not tell me that the Texas 5G that comes in through Pony Express means 5 Gallops per minute on delivery times.  In addition, my unlimited plan generally lasts three days and then I operate on reduced speeds for the rest of the month.  I assume they need to buy a new horse, since the old one only lasts three days at 5 Gallops per minute.  The other irritating thing is watching a basketbll game on EDPN+.  Generally the ESPN app gives me the final on the game at the bottom of the screen, before I am able to stream the first half.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

David Cordell

Thanks, Lowell and Steve.

Not sure that 5G will make any difference to the Cordells. TV streaming operates on wifi. If we download something to the phone, we are probably at home on wifi.We're not gamers. Using Waze and Google maps in the car hasn't been a problem. We used less than 3 GB of data last month.

If I were in a hotel and wanted to stream a movie on my phone, would it make a difference? I don't know. 

David Cordell

Cross the River Styx to Hades, sailing away with this song.