Welcome Back Kotter was a t.v. show that aired between 1975 and 1979. I was 8 when it started and 11 when it went off the air. I loved that show!
Back in the day I was an avid letter writer. It wasn’t uncommon for me to write a letter a day. Probably around the age of 10 I decided that it was high time I wrote the cast of Welcome Back Kotter to tell them how much I loved the show.
Well, you know that John Travolta probably got the most fan mail. I was very democratic and sent letters to everyone: Epstein, Horshack, Washington, Barbarino, and yes, even Mr. Kotter.
I actually had the idea that if I had only sent a fan letter to two of the actors, they would somehow discuss the mail they got, and if two of them said “I got a great fan letter from a girl named Biz in Chicago” and the other actors would be confused why they didn’t get letters from me too. They may even question their acting ability just on my lack of a fan letter!
Of all five letters I wrote, only Horshack sent me an autographed picture. On the upper left hand corner it said: “To Biz: My Number One Fan!” It was then that I thought, maybe I was the one and only person to ever send a fan letter!
So when I read that Horshack, or Ron Palillo died yesterday, the memory of him being the only cast member to reply to my fan letter flooded back to me – and I gave him thanks yesterday. 
Have you ever sent a fan letter before?
My morning was so busy yesterday. Not kidding it was 11:45 before I realized I never ate my breakfast! So it was quick – since it was close to my workout I ended up only having one blueberry pancake and one homemade breakfast sausage – this mini breakfast came in at 240 calories, 13 fat, 7 carbs, 1 fiber and 24 protein.
And yes, if you are wondering, a bottle of hot sauce is usually within arms reach at all times. 
I decided to do the bike at the gym while reading my book. I set the bike for 34:00 minutes and wanted to see if I could bike 8 miles in that time. I was intently reading my book, but I was making sure I was pedaling pretty quickly. It wasn’t until I saw I had 5 minutes left that I looked to see actually how far I had to go, and I was only at 6.5 mph!
So I put my book on the floor and pedaled as fast as I could. I came so close!
With my cool down, I got in 8.5 miles.
Lunch was half a cup of my Cincinnati Chili, 1/2 cup of kidney beans and 2 cups of spaghetti squash. 311 calories, 7 fat, 47 carbs, 9.2 fiber and 18 protein. I didn’t eat lunch until almost 2!
It was so nice outside yesterday. I ended up making burgers, but ended up doing them on the Weber so we could just sit outside and relax while the coals heated up. I was only grilling two ears of corn and two burgers, but I ended up with way too many coals – hate when that happens!
My burger: 1/2 a bun, 1/3 pound burger, American cheese and two slices of bacon, with corn on the cob. My burger and corn was smeared with this delicious mustard:
Dinner comes in at 499 calories, 22 fat, 34 carbs, 3.8 fiber and 20 protein.
It was after dinner that I realized I’d only had about 1000 calories for the day since my breakfast and lunch was so low in calories. Tony threw these chips in our basket the last time we were at Bed Bath & Beyond:
OMG, so good! Except my flavor was jalapeno ranch – I need to find the buffalo wing flavor – stat!
I actually have the day off of work today! My Mom is dropping her car off at our mechanic to have him look at it – he is the most honest, reliable mechanic we’ve ever run across – if you live in the NW suburbs of Chicago, this is your guy. The only caviat is that he might fix your car the same day, or it might take 4 days, so we’ll play it by ear – she may have to rent a car for a few days.
So we’ll go to Goodwill and lunch – hanging with Momma Day! Perfect way to break up a work week.
Stats for Tuesday:
- 1242 calories, 44 fat, 129 carbs, 15 fiber and 68 protein
- 8.5 mile bike ride total
- 63.4 miles to go for 100 miles in August
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JULIA CHILD!!
Today she would have been 100 years old! Thank you for your amazing contribution to how women cooked – you took the mystery out of it, made mistakes in the kitchen just like the rest of us. A try inspiration!
Make it a great day!
I’ve never written a fan letter, but there is an indie band that I like a lot and have seen in clubs in a couple different states quite a few times (they have a pretty good following) and at one point a few years back I made the lead singer a bracelet. (It is embarrassing even talking about it – I can’t remember what my train of thought was, but my husband encouraged me in the idea. I am pretty sure I imagined him actually wearing it and thinking from time to time “a cool fan made this for me” – ha!) Anyway, I made it, and at the next concert we went to I waited until the band came out afterward for drinks and I went up to him (with husband in tow) and we shook his hand and told him what big fans we were of their music, and I offered up my handmade bracelet (wire and metal and ivory-type carved charms – very cool 😛 ) and he was very gracious about it. He said it was awesome or something and asked me to put it on him, and I was so shaky I had a really hard time! We got a picture with him and I was SO freaking excited! Side note – I have never seen him wear it at a show. Ungrateful rock star!
I loved Julia & Julia, it inspired me to do my own cooking challenge.
I remember that show but I can’t remember what it was about only that I watched it too.
I’ve never written a fan letter but I did enter a contest once where (if you won) you could ask a question at a Dutch singer on the radio. I won and when I got him on the phone I hardly knew what to say. I was around 15 years old and so nervous 🙂
I am kind of addicted to the website: http://www.legacy.com and go on just about every day to see who died.
Um, I may also read every obituary in my Sunday paper too – my husband still thinks that is weird!
Wow – I had no clue Horshack died. Where have I been? I used to love that show.
Not sure I ever sent a fan letter to anyone. How sweet that Horshack did & sent a picture!
I definitely sent fan mail but no one ever replied. Rude! I would have loved to have gotten one.
I definitely sent fan mail when I was a kid! I am so excited a new goodwill is opening less than a mile from my house! I hope you had fun today.
Score! We spent about an hour there – I got some good stuff – more glass containers with lids for my pantry and a new skinny glass pitcher for my fridge. 😀
I enjoyed that show too and I was sad to hear Horshack died. How diplomatic of you to write to ALL the cast members. Very thoughtful indeed. When I was a kid, I loved ALL of Judy Blume’s books. All other writers and their books paled in comparison. I wrote her a letter and she sent me back an autographed photo and a nice personal note. I still have it.
I think I read about every Judy Blume book – by Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is still hands down my favorite. 😀
Totally forgot about that Biz! And I think you had it hanging up in our room??! Next to my picture of Tom Selleck that said “total fox!” – good times! I was sad to hear he passed away, he wasn’t that old!
I think I kept it for a while, and then felt cheated that John Travolta never responded and I ended up tearing it up and throwing it away. The Tom Selleck poster, however, survived for years!
I don’t think I’ve ever written a fan letter, I like that you wrote the entire cast…too cute! Your burger looks so tempting. My lunch cannot compete…lol! Enjoy the day with your Mom 🙂
Thats so cute! I’m pretty sure I wrote fan mail to one of the boy bands when I was younger…never heard back 😉 Those burgers look just perfect and I want that mustard. Way to kick it into high gear at the end of your gym trip whoop whoop!
I’m pretty sure I once wrote a desperate letter to Hanson asking them to come to my birthday party….no big deal!
I could see you doing that Errign!
What a great fan letter story! I used to send them all the time, but they were mainly to bands. I actually sent a fan letter to Oprah once and got a response, which was pretty awesome.
Happy birthday to the amazing Julia Child!
What a sweet, sweet story! I wrote a fan letter to Lionel Ritchie when I was in high school. I offered to play for free in his backup band. OMG – I just wrote that on the internet!
That kills Lori!!
I adore that your young self wrote to the entire Kotter cast! I was sad to see Ron Palillo had died…it’s hard to see young characters from our childhood gone.
I wrote a fan letter to Betty Ford, after she’d appeared on the Mary Tyler Moore show. She wrote me back and I still have that letter!
Hope you have a great day with your mom and come up with some fabulous finds at the thrift store!
Okay, you are going to have to blog post about why you wrote a letter to Betty Ford – that is kind of a strange “fan” letter to write! 😀
I don’t think I ever wrote a fan letter–well I might have written one to JTT back in the 90’s, but I’m not sure if I ever sent it–if I did I never got a reply. ha
Love me some Julia Child!!
Can I assume JTT is Justin Timberlake?
Jonathan Taylor Thomas!! Haha from Home Improvement, I loooooved him!
Loved Welcome Back Kotter!
Biz I love how you usually start out your posts with a story. It’s fun! I don’t think I’ve ever written a fan letter.
P.S. I started loving hot sauce!
Thanks Maggie – and um, its about time about the hot sauce! 😀
A bottle of hot sauce should always be within reach! 😉
Have a wonderful day with your mom!