5 thoughts on G. Willard Finney, 1918-1988

The brothers Finney, George Willard to the right and Claire to the left, circa the 1980s.

5. Twenty-two years ago today my dad, G. Willard Finney, died. He was born a few days after World War I ended, survived the Great Depression on an Iowa farm and loaded ships as a seaman in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

4. He sold hardware and other goods. He stood behind every product with nothing more than his name and a handshake.

3. He was the father of four boys the old fashioned way and a daughter and another son through adoption. He loved his children without hesitation, encouraged them to be individuals with only one stipulation: Be the best you can at whatever you choose.

2. He enjoyed growing copious amounts of tomatoes and cucumbers in his garden, eating Breyers ice cream from the carton with table spoons and Hawkeye football games.

1. A fisherman and hunter, he did his best to understand his last son, a homebody without athletic skill who preferred cartoons and comic books to Boy Scouts and 10-point bucks. He once attended a "Doctor Who" convention at Iowa Public Television and, by all accounts, enjoyed himself. I miss him everyday.

5 reasons why this blog hasn't been updated recently

There are five Victoria's Secret models in this photo. This blog is random lists of five things. These women have nothing to do with the subject of this post. So what? You're not even reading this caption. I don't blame you. If I weren't writing this caption, I wouldn't be reading it either. Just look at the supermodels. It will all be over soon.

5. I was busy doing any other thing.

4. I got lost in a three-way with my favorite deadly sins, gluttony and sloth.

3. I could only think up things in groups of four or seven.

2. So much Internet porn, so little time.

1. The same reason I never get anything else done: Too fat to live, too lazy to die.

5 random quotes

5. "I decided it is better to scream. This pitiful sound, which sometimes, goodness knows how, reaches into the remotest prison cell, is a concentrated expression of the last vestige of human dignity."

-- Nadezhda Mandelstam (1970)

4. "It was around two decades ago, in the city room of the Boston Evening Transcript, that I first became aware of the elongated-yellow-fruit school of writing. The phrase turned up in a story ... about some fugitive monkeys and the efforts of police to recapture them by using bananas as bait."

-- Charles W. Morton (1954)

3. "Institutions of learning must come under this rule: By their fruits ye shall know them. A practical education is that which gives the mind the most power and adaptability. The credentials that your young and hopeful alma mater will soon confer upon each of you can only give you an introduction to the world of letters and of actual life. They can serve you no further. In whatever of the varied vocations of life you may engage, as well as in general society, you must work out your own destiny."

-- George Carpenter (1884)

2. "Heroes are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials, or none at all."

-- Gerald White Johnston (1943)

1. " I don't know, I'm making this up as I go!"

-- Indiana Jones (1980)

5 people I want around in case of a zombie infestation

1. The Incredible Hulk

2. Thundarr the Barbarian

3. Wonder Woman

4. Snake Eyes

5. Doctor Who

5 random thoughts while waiting for laundry to dry

5. I wonder what Joey Lauren Adams has been up to lately.

4. Now that my favorite El Aguila Real is closed down, I hope Juan will sell me that Modelo beer poster with the sexy soccer babes?

3. Why isn't "Thundarr the Barbarian" on DVD?

2. How can M. Night Shyamalan still get money for movies?

1. That gal from the "Adam-12" episode (Joann Pflug) on Retro TV last night looked like Angelina Jolie, even though the episode aired more than a month before Jolie was born.

5 times and places I'd visit if I had a time machine

5. May 22, 1963, Yankee Stadium, New York: 
    Mickey Mantle almost hits one out of the Stadium -- all the way out

4. May 16, 1966, Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England
    Bob Dylan called a Judas, plays it really f****** loud

3. Feb. 1, 1982, Studio 6A, 30 Rockefeller Center, New York
   "Late Night with David Letterman" debuts

2. July 20, 1969, Tranquility Base, the Moon
   Man walks on an extra terrestrial surface

1. May 21, 2011, Planet Earth
   The day radio preacher Harold Camping says the world will end

5 favorite scientific properties

5. Entropy

4. Friction

3. Kinetic

2. Potential

1. Boyancy

Five topics that should be banned from all public discourse

5. Religion

4. Politics

3. Bodily functions

2. Weather

1. Your children/pets

5 zip codes I've lived in

5. 50311

4. 50273

3. 50317

2. 50320

1. 50310