And sitting in with the band tonight, on guitar, Teenie Hodges. Lots of Al Green and Teenie Hodges music tonight.

Hey, what the . . .? Dave is at the desk and a guy running with the Olympic torch runs across our stage. That’s odd. Must be on his way to Beijing.

On our show tonight is Tim Russert. This is how Dave spends his Sunday mornings. It’s the same routine every weekend. He wakes up early; turns on Tim Russert’s “Meet the Press”; has some waffles; and then go right back to bed. At around 7 he’ll wake up, have a Bloody Mary, and then go right back to bed.

Hey, it’s Tuesday. Let’s go talk to Rupert. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Dave asks Rupert if he knows today’s temp. Rupert guesses 80 degrees. DING!
The humidity? 60%. BUZZ – it’s closer to 45%.
Barometric Pressure. Is it rising or falling? Falling. DING!
Wind: I think Rupert said 2 mph. Close enough! It’s 3 mph, and coming from the southwest. DING!
Visibility? Rupert says 5 miles. BUZZ. It’s virtually unlimited at 10 miles.
Did Rupert notice the Blue Angels practicing flight patterns this afternoon? Rupert says he didn’t and just as he said no, one of the Blue Angels came roaring by, shaking the studio like a minor quake.
There is a piece of paper by Rupert’s candy. It’s a small hand-written advertisement for Yankee tickets. Whose is it? Where did it come from? Rupert doesn’t know, or if he does know, he’s not saying. It’s hard to tell with Rupert sometimes. It’s eye-clutter and Dave asks that it be removed.
It’s World Cup season and Dave asks if Rupert’s been following. He says he hasn’t really. But since it is such a nice day and since it is World Cup season, Dave sends Rupert up to the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater Office Building to kick soccer balls off the roof.
While Rupert runs like a bunny to the roof, we got some more show to put on.

Speaking of the World Cup, the U.S. team lost to the Czech Republic 3-0 yesterday. The team, embarrassed by their performance, released this announcement.

Announcer: “The U.S. soccer team regrets its poor performance in its opening World Cup match. We would like to apologize personally to all our fans.
Jeff Thompson and Eddie Zick . . . we’re sorry. We’ll try to make the two of you proud next time. U.S. World Cup Fever: Catch it.”

Is Rupert there yet? We find Rupert on the roof. He has a pile of soccer balls ready to be kicked. His goal is one of the two water towers away in the distance. Can he hit one of the water towers? We will soon find out. Rupert lines up the ball, approaches, and kicks. The ball travels low for about ten feet, hits the ledge, and bounces back past Rupert. He got no height on his kick. His first attempt was unsuccessful. Dave has Rupert sit down and think about his last kick. Maybe if he thinks about what he did wrong, he’ll know not to do that again next time.

It’s time now for the “George W. Bush Immigration Update.” From a May 16th speech, we see the President bark, “Let’s just deport everybody!”

Now he’s talking like a Republican!

Back to Rupert for another attempt at the water tower. Dave offers encouragement as Rupert lines up his next kick. Rupert approaches the ball and kicks. Again, no height, and I think it hit our cameraman in the shin. Dave has Rupert take a seat and advises, “You think about what went haywire.”

Back to Dave who appears to be getting an up-to-the-minute report. This just in. . . . . we are receiving word that we have LIVE footage of Congressman Patrick Kennedy driving . . . . driving home from Home Depot. Do we have a shot? We see a pickup truck racing down the highway, darting left and right. It then spins out and careens off the guard rail. The pickup tips over and slides to a stop. Dave receives further word that everyone is OK.

Back to Rupert for one more kick. A more confident Rupert lines up his kick. He approaches and kicks. The ball flies over the ledge and far westward. It’s a beautiful boot, but sails wide left of the water tower. To Rupert and the audience, they deemed this a success. Now that he’s on a hot streak, Dave has Rupert line another ball up as quickly as possible. Rupert again kicks the soccer ball . . . but it doesn’t get enough height. It hits the ledge and flies backward. Oh well, I guess we can’t all be a Chinaglia.

Back from commercial, we go back once again to our friend Rupert. Again he kicks; again he does not get the required height. It again hits our cameraman in the shin. Dave tells Rupert, “You know, Rupert, I’m not mad . . . . I’m just disappointed.”

HENRI ARNOLD: His name is familiar to wordsmiths and puzzle enthusiasts all over the country. There’s a new documentary film about him, entitled “Mixed Up,” and it opens this Friday in New York. He is Henri Arnold, the editor of the nationally syndicated Word Jumble.
Dave asks Henri how he became interested in word jumbles. Henri says ever since he was a kid, he had a knack for taking words and moving the letters around in such a way that you could barely recognize them. Is there a trick involved? Henri shows by example. He holds up a card with the letters C A R. Obviously, it spells out “car”. But when Henri scrambles the letters, in this case flip-flopping the C and the A to spell out “acr”, you can’t believe that those letters once spelled out “Car.” Henri then tells us about his upcoming movie, “Mixed Up.” We see a clip of his reading some letters from Word Jumble fans. Fascinating.
Following the clip, Henri offers a little test for Dave. Henri will show Dave a word scrambled. Dave will try to unscramble the letters to make a word. We will see how many Dave can do in 60 seconds.
YKS – Dave quickly says “Sky.” Correct.
LBAM – Dave studies and says “Balm.” Henri looks down at the card and says, “No, it’s lamb.” Dave agrees it could be lamb but says it is also “balm” and points out the letters B A L M. Henri looks down at his card again and says with a bit of exasperation, “But it’s lamb.” Dave says he understands but explains that it could also be balm. Henri has had enough. He takes his cards and rips them all in half. “I don’t need this crap!” he cries. He starts to get up to leave and foments, “Are you happy now?” And then yells, “Go ‘Givl’ yourself!” (or in the spirit of this guest, maybe I should have written, “And then he yells, ‘go fukc youself!”) Henri runs off and exits. This hasn’t been Dave’s day.

TIM RUSSERT: From NBC’s “Meet the Press” and he now has a new book entitled, “Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons.”
“Wisdom of Our Fathers” is Tim’s second book about fathers; his first was about his own father entitled, “Big Russ & Me.” It was a #1 New York Times bestseller.
Soon after that book came out, Tim found out that his son Luke, 20 years old and just home from college, got a tattoo. When Tim heard the news, he became quite upset and demanded to see the tattoo. Luke refused to show him. Tim again demanded to see it. Eventually, Luke showed his dad his tattoo. Under Luke’s arm in block letters were the initials ‘TJR.’ Russert explains that his father’s name is “Timothy Joseph Russert and mine is Timothy John Russert.” Luke said, “After I read the book, I wanted you and grandpa to always be by my side.” Well well well . . . that story alone is worth getting the book.
Dave says his son is only 2-and-a-half and Dave is already nervous that his boy will get piercings and tattoos and nose rings and eyelid rings and all kinds of stuff like that. Dave is concerned that if he says “DON’T!” that will only make Harry want to do it more so. And if Dave lets him do what he wants, well, then he just may do what he wants. What do you do? Tim says the most important thing to do is “keep talking. . . . keep talking.” Keep the lines of communication open and always keep talking. Tim’s son Luke is 22 years old now. Wow, so all of Tim’s worries are over? Not quite. Tim says the birth of your child is the greatest day of your life and it is also your last worry-free day of your life.
I think it was Dana Carvey who said the reason it is so exhausting raising a toddler is because you are constantly saving its life. “Look out for the steps! Look out for the boiling water! Look out for the car! Look out! Look out!” It’s true. Another truism is “Little children, little problems.” The bigger the kids get, the bigger the problems can get.
Dave and Tim then talk about Bush, the war in Iraq, what’s happening in Iran, and the business of politics. At one time Bush had the nation behind him in his war on Iraq. Now it has become apparent that much of his backing came from untruths . . . either deliberate or unwittingly. Now the President’s approval rating on his handling of the war is near or below 30%. Of course, the final evaluation of his Administration will not be determined until many years down the road when we hope to have a clearer picture of the outcome of our War on Terror. “Wisdoms of Our Fathers” – in stores now. I’m flipping through it right now. It’s a good read. It helps remind us dads of who we are.

ACT 5: It’s a sad and dejected Rupert sitting alone with his soccer ball on the roof of the theater, suffering a time-out for not living up to the expectations of another. And such is life.

CAT POWER: From her new CD/album, “The Greatest”, Cat Power performed “Living Proof.” Oddly entertaining.

Before we close the show down for the night, we see Rupert punt the soccer ball over the ledge and hit the water tower. Ta da!

And that was our show for Tuesday June 13, 2006. Wahoo EXTRA!

All day long today whenever I heard “Cat Power”, I thought of “Clover Power.”

Two weeks ago, I heard Tim Russert on the Don Imus radio show. He told a whole bunch of stories from his “Wisdom of Our Fathers” book. Great interview. I’ll be checking out the book. It sounds like a book worth reading, if only to remind the dads how important they are in their children’s lives. I kept thinking about my own daughters and realized, “Holy Cow, that’s right! I’m their dad; their one and only dad. I’M THAT GUY!” When I got home that night I bought them ice cream, just in case they want to put me in a book some day.

Hey! Let’s check out Google on Flag Day. I’m clicking over right now to see if they have an American flag over their logo. They have an animated cartoon for every other special day of the year, except last year they had nothing on Flag Day. Did they forget Flag Day again this year? Let’s take a look. I’ll be right back. . . . . .
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THOSE NO GOOD COMMIES! NOTHING! There is nothing on the Google logo to commemorate Flag Day! I thought maybe last year was an oversight; now I think it’s done deliberately. No flag! Hello, Yahoo!

This past weekend I spent putting together office furniture with nothing but a Phillips-head screwdriver. I was very pleased with the Sauder Furniture people for the fine instruction booklet that came with each furniture piece. It really looked like they made an effort to accommodate the amateur builder at home. And I was not the only one who has been impressed with Sauder.
Ed, from Phoenix, Arizona:

”I agree with you about Sauder furniture. I bought a Sauder computer workstation many years ago - biggest thing I ever put together with file drawers, overhead hinged cabinets, etc. Worked great until I moved and it was too big to get out of the house without completely dismantling it. Didn't want to go through that so it was sold with the house. I'm sure the new owners are continuing to get my money's worth out of it.”

Remind me to find out who the Phillips is in Phillips-head screwdriver.

And from Joe Augitto of Hazelhurst, Wisconsin:

“I am required to write technical specifications that a reasonably literate person can understand. Poorly written instructions are one of my pet peeves.
I'm convinced that the reason your directions were understandable (is that a word?)is that they were written in English by someone who actually assembled the furniture. I think most instructions for foreign products are written in Chinese or Korean and translated to English by someone who is not fluent in the language.”

I’ve assigned Wahoo readers to head out to your local tavern and play the Beatles’ Revolution #9 from their White album and observe the reaction from the patrons. You are then to write me and I would relay the story. My first response had none of the above, but it did have a story about Revolution #9, or actually, simply “Revolution 9.” I figured it was close enough.

From Andrew Hoenig of Rockville, Maryland:

”Years ago, when I was selling cars, we had a board in the back where we hung all the car keys. There were 100 hooks, and we hung the keys by the last two digits of the stock number. One day, I was trying to hang up a set of keys that ended in ‘09’. While looking for the right hook, I kept saying aloud ‘Number 9, Number 9, Number 9’. A co-worker was standing there with me and said ‘I'm going to make that your nickname, and I'm going to make it stick.’ And he did. So, for years afterwords, I was known as ‘Number 9’, or usually, just ‘9’. One of the better nicknames I ever had.
It got taken even further. My girlfriend at the time was working at the other dealership. The direct line from there ended in ‘11’. So, whenever she called, they would page me as ‘9-11’. Later, that got shortened to just ‘Porsche.
And that's my Revolution No. 9 story.”

A WAHOO GAZETTE “CUT AND PASTE SPECIAL!”
Hmmm, “9” got me to thinking . . . . how did you get YOUR nickname? In college, I was known as Tequila. I think I told that story once before. Later this week I’ll tell you again how I got this nickname. Let me know how you got YOUR nickname.
This has been a "Wahoo Gazette “Cut and Paste Special!”

Computers are great. They allow you to do so much so quickly. Computers also allow you to delete so much so quickly whether you mean to or not. Gee whiz, a little slip of the thumb and you’re screwed.