- Alex McKenzie
- Personal
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Autobiographical Anecdotes
>
- Breakfast - 1940s & 50s
- Those Were the Days - 1950s
- Building Underwater Gear, 1950's
- Can't Let Go - 1953
- The Turning Point, 1957
- Mexico, October 1965
- Bilbo Baggins 1971
- A brush with death? 1977
- What I didn't do, 1979
- Brazil 1996
- Family Dinner Time
- Forbidden Fruit
- Solo Sailing Incident, ca 2000
- Joel Nichols - 2013
- Manatees, January 2014
- Motorcycle Incident, June 2014
- Time is a Thief, 2015
- Never Too Old to Learn, 2015
- Two Weeks in Rockport MA 2015
- A Fork in the Road - 2016
- The Winos
- Smooth Stones
- Change
- No One Would Have Guessed ... - 2017
- What I Discovered ...
- At This Time of Year ... 2017
-
AMC Trail Crew
>
-
The Trail Crew in Appalachia
>
- With the Trail Gang
- Recovery of the Old Bridle Path on Mt. Lafayette
- The Trail Spree of 1929
- Webster Cliff Trail 1912-1914
- Trail Bridges
- The Story of the Mahoosuc
- 1939 trail report
- June 1940 trail report
- Dec 1940 trail report
- 1941 trail plan
- A Vacation With Pay
- 25 Years of the AMC Trail Crew
- Five Thousand Trail Signs
- The AMC Trail System
- The Pace of the Grub-Hoe
- 1953 trails report
- 1954 trails report
- trail report - call for volunteers
- Trail Erosion
- Ethan Pond Shelter
- An Early AMC Trail Crew
- Great Gulf Shelter
- The AMC Trail Crew 1919-1964
- The Evolution of a Trailman
- Trail Crew Thoughts
- Trail Design. Construction & Maintenance
- Of Mules, Mice, and Madison
- The Green Plate Special
- 1980-81 trails report
- Trail Blazers
- White Mountain Trail Crew - 75 Years
- 1960 Trail Crew Resignation
-
The Trail Crew in Appalachia
>
- 2017 Summer Trip
-
Autobiographical Anecdotes
>
- Professional
- INWG Documents
- Family
-
Alexander A. McKenzie II
>
- Mount Washington >
-
LORAN
>
- Crusing the Labrador
- Acquisition of Canadian sites for Long-Range-Navigation Stations
- Sites #1 and #2: Loran Memo #108
- LRN Site No. 3
- Report of Construction at L.R.N. Site #3, 8/10-11/5 1942
- LRN Site No. 4 (Bonavista Point, Newfoundland)
- Supplies for Site 4
- Drawings Left at Site #4 by A.A. McKenzie
- Site 4 Letter of March 24, 1943
- LRN Site No. 5
- LRN Site No. 8
- LRN Site No. 9
- Test Plan - Eastern US
- LORAN - Part 1
- LORAN - Part 2
- LORAN - Part 3
- End of LORAN
- Genealogy >
-
Alexander A. McKenzie II
>
- Photos
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Europe 2015 -first half
>
- Barcelona April 2015
- Pont du Gard France - April 24, 2015
- Nimes France - April 27, 2015
- Aix-en Provence - April 28, 2015
- Cote d'Azur - April 29, 2015
- Vence to Gourdon - April 30, 2015
- Eze France - May 1, 2015
- Milano - May 3, 2015
- Parco Burchina - May 6, 2015
- Ivrea & Aosta Valley - May 7, 2015
- Torino - May 9, 2015
- Europe 2015 - second half >
- Indianapolis Art Museum - July 2015
- Ringling Estate
- Oak Park 2017
- Frank Lloyd Wright in Florida
-
Europe 2015 -first half
>
- Edit Website
Imagine That
Imagine That!
It was late at night, October 23, 1965.
I was drunk.
I sat on a hard bench with Bob, Doug, and John.
We were in a dark suburb of Mexico City. There was at least one armed guard outside the the building!
There were two naked women on a huge bed in front of us pretending to enjoy each other, and a pimp standing behind us encouraging us to "join the party"!
My libido level was zero. I was only wondering whether I would get back to my hotel without being mugged.
Bob, Doug, John, and I were all young computer programmers in the FORTRAN compiler group at Honeywell, near Boston, MA. We each made more money than we needed. Someone, probably Bob or Doug, suggested that we fly to Mexico City for a weekend to see the Formula One Grand Prix auto race, and we all agreed it was a great idea.
We arrived in Mexico on Friday, sleepy and hung over from a "going away party" thrown by some of our co-workers on Thursday night. On Saturday we visited some tourist spots. In the evening someone suggested we find a place to view ecdysiasts and we all agreed. It turned out that this plan was not so easy to put into practice. "Stripper" did not seem to be in the English vocabulary of the various taxi drivers we encountered, so we resorted to trying to describe the activity we were looking for. We ended up visiting several theater performances. Rather than something like the Folies Bergere, these theaters offered "folkloric" shows with ensemble performances by women wearing feathered costumes. At each place we felt obliged to have a few drinks before moving on.
Finally we found a taxi driver who seemed to understand us. Instead of staying in the center of tourist activity he drove us away from the bright lights and the crowds. Finally he stopped on a dark street at a gate watched by a man with a handgun. The driver and the guard exchanged a few words; we were then escorted through the gate and around a darkened building to a doorway in the rear. Upon entering, it was obvious we were in a brothel. We were immediately "encouraged" to purchase a dramatically overpriced drink. We tried to explain we were there due to a misunderstanding; we were looking for a "show", not for prostitutes. But the floor manager assured us that a "show" could be provided. A long bench was located and moved to a bedroom, and we were led in and seated on it. Two women entered, took off their robes, and tumbled together on the bed. But this was a striptease without any "tease", and it didn't do any more to excite my friends that it did for me. We drank our drinks, paid our bill, and somewhat contrary to my expectations, got back in the taxi without incident.
The auto race was an enjoyable experience. It was the first win for Honda, with American driver Richie Ginther. Race cars to that point had been powered by engines with a deep-throated roar; Honda's engine emitted a high-pitched scream; anathema to traditionalists. This was the only 1965 Grand Prix race not won by a British driver in a British car. The beginning of a new era in auto racing.
Imagine that!
It was late at night, October 23, 1965.
I was drunk.
I sat on a hard bench with Bob, Doug, and John.
We were in a dark suburb of Mexico City. There was at least one armed guard outside the the building!
There were two naked women on a huge bed in front of us pretending to enjoy each other, and a pimp standing behind us encouraging us to "join the party"!
My libido level was zero. I was only wondering whether I would get back to my hotel without being mugged.
Bob, Doug, John, and I were all young computer programmers in the FORTRAN compiler group at Honeywell, near Boston, MA. We each made more money than we needed. Someone, probably Bob or Doug, suggested that we fly to Mexico City for a weekend to see the Formula One Grand Prix auto race, and we all agreed it was a great idea.
We arrived in Mexico on Friday, sleepy and hung over from a "going away party" thrown by some of our co-workers on Thursday night. On Saturday we visited some tourist spots. In the evening someone suggested we find a place to view ecdysiasts and we all agreed. It turned out that this plan was not so easy to put into practice. "Stripper" did not seem to be in the English vocabulary of the various taxi drivers we encountered, so we resorted to trying to describe the activity we were looking for. We ended up visiting several theater performances. Rather than something like the Folies Bergere, these theaters offered "folkloric" shows with ensemble performances by women wearing feathered costumes. At each place we felt obliged to have a few drinks before moving on.
Finally we found a taxi driver who seemed to understand us. Instead of staying in the center of tourist activity he drove us away from the bright lights and the crowds. Finally he stopped on a dark street at a gate watched by a man with a handgun. The driver and the guard exchanged a few words; we were then escorted through the gate and around a darkened building to a doorway in the rear. Upon entering, it was obvious we were in a brothel. We were immediately "encouraged" to purchase a dramatically overpriced drink. We tried to explain we were there due to a misunderstanding; we were looking for a "show", not for prostitutes. But the floor manager assured us that a "show" could be provided. A long bench was located and moved to a bedroom, and we were led in and seated on it. Two women entered, took off their robes, and tumbled together on the bed. But this was a striptease without any "tease", and it didn't do any more to excite my friends that it did for me. We drank our drinks, paid our bill, and somewhat contrary to my expectations, got back in the taxi without incident.
The auto race was an enjoyable experience. It was the first win for Honda, with American driver Richie Ginther. Race cars to that point had been powered by engines with a deep-throated roar; Honda's engine emitted a high-pitched scream; anathema to traditionalists. This was the only 1965 Grand Prix race not won by a British driver in a British car. The beginning of a new era in auto racing.
Imagine that!
Written as an assignment for the writers' group at The Fountains in June 2014. The assignment was to start and end with the phrase "Imagine That!".