Can you tell me how to get........

Argghh...well I wrote a nice long blog update post last night and submitted it just around the time my internet went out due to little Miss Hurricane Ida....so here we go again. I'm back from officer training, but unfortunately not under the best circumstance. Ends up the medical problems which prevented the Air Force from putting me on active duty for many months, did prove to be a problem and I was released after two weeks and am in the process of receiving an honorable discharge. Needless to say, I'm disappointed, but I'm a true believer that everything happens for a reason, and I'm sure this has as well.

So, time to dust this thing off...I must apologize for being so completely absent for the past few weeks, and promise to not let it happen again. There are so many things happening in the world right now, my mind is just spinning with rants and raves to entertain and inform with, however...this first blog post will be focused on one of the most significant events of the week....the 40th Birthday of Sesame Street, which was yesterday, Nov. 10th.

I'm sure many of us have found memories of good times up with our friends Kermit, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie and even Cookie Monster. These characters taught me many things that have shaped my life into what it is today. Through Sesame Street I learned my first Spanish (now fluent), gained a fine appreciation for the color green (green's the color of spring, and green can be cool and friendly-like, and green can be big like a mountain, or important like a river, or tall like a tree), and memorized many, many catchy lyrics that I undoubtedly tortured my poor parents with by singing constantly around the house.

Here are a few fun facts about Sesame Street (courtesy Jane Boursaw of AOL Television Online)

The Show:

When creator Jim Henson died in 1990, the show stopped producing new sketches featuring Kermit the Frog. He only appeared in reruns of old sketches until 1998, when he popped up to do a Sesame Street News Flash when Oscar the Grouch's pet worm Slimy went into space. He appeared again in 2001, reporting on a hurricane with Al Roker.

'Sesame Street' has won more than 100 Emmy Awards, more than any other television show in the United States.

Some Muppets were canned over the years for interesting reasons: Don Music, the pianist who banged his head against the piano in frustration, was dropped after kids at home started doing the same thing. Harvey Kneeslapper was cut loose because his signature laugh was too much of a strain on Frank Oz's vocal chords. Roosevelt Franklin was considered to be a negative cultural stereotype (he was the only African American Muppet at the time and was seen mostly in detention after school). Professor Hastings, a teacher whose lectures were so dull that even he fell asleep, was discontinued because ... he was too dull.

'Sesame Street' was originally designed for inner-city kids to help them learn English.

Big Bird:

Big Bird is 8'2" tall.

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994.

Big Bird's teddy bear is named "Radar" after the character from 'MASH' who always slept with a teddy bear.

He's generally referred to as a canary, but reports as to his lineage vary. While visiting 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood,' he told King Friday XIII, "Actually, I'm a golden condor." During an appearance on 'Hollywood Squares,' he told Peter Marshall that he was a lark, and he's also been referred to as part homing pigeon.

Big Bird almost never got Mr. Hooper's last name right, often calling him Mr. Looper or other rhyming words like "scooper" and "pooper" (thus endearing himself to four-year-olds everywhere).

According to the book 'Sesame Street Unpaved,' Big Bird's nest contains a bubble gum dispenser, a clock with no hands, a feather duster, a football helmet, a golf bag with one club, a hurricane lamp, a megaphone, a picture of Mr. Hooper, a Roman bust, a tricycle wheel, a watering can, an old record player, an umbrella, a mailbox, and a pair of snowshoes. Other objects not listed in the book include a small wooden alphabet sign, a jack-and-balls game, a picture of his cousin Abelardo, and a pull-string lamp.

Big Bird's bookshelf contains 'March of Democracy,' 'Preface to Philosophy,' 'Principles of Chemistry,' and 'Shattered Lamp.'

Other Characters:

In 2004, Cookie Monster revealed that before trying cookies for the first time, his name was Sid.

The shoe size of Snuffy Snuffleupagus is 65 GGG.

Some old Bert and Ernie skits showed Ernie having his own bedroom instead of sharing a bedroom with Bert. (Yes, there was that whole "are they gay?" movement there for a while.)

Ernie wears horizontal stripes on his sweater to make him appear more relaxed; Bert wears vertical stripes on his sweater to make him appear more uptight.

The Neighborhood:

The left-side door in the front of 123 Sesame Street has never been opened. Big Bird once tried to get Snuffy into the building; when it turned out that Snuffy couldn't fit through just one door, Big Bird explained that the other door was "locked."

To answer that immortal question, here's how to get to Sesame Street: Take the "R" or "V" train to Steinway Street. Stay on back of train. Walk west on 34th Avenue, three blocks to 36th Street. Turn left on 36th Street. The entrance to Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens is mid-block (between 34th & 35th Avenues).