I've mentioned before that I've been playing softball for most of my adult life (weather & season permitting) and I've been phasing this out. I've also mentioned that I enjoy the interaction the games provide even though I've been stuck to the bench like a piece of chewed gum. I voluntarily sit out because the youth movement has taken our team to new heights. I feel I am part of this even though my only contribution is to coach first base and tell 20-year-olds who run like the wind to "take second".. I always look like I know what I'm doing. Well, then again I also send out e-mail game reminders and keep track of who's going to be there and who won't. I lead the team in administrative skills.
So besides needing more exercise I need to keep the Time Killing at an acceptable level. The last 4 or 5 Mondays I've been playing tennis with some other non-employed friends. This includes my wife who IS employed but has Mondays off. Luckily she has taken on the role of my doubles partner. She is a slightly better player than I. OK, since she's reading this, she's much better than I. The good news is I've been improving each week which is good because I like to win. One of the keys is to play others who are at your skill level. So far that hasn't been hard to do.
I can remember playing tennis with my father when he was about my age and he used to complain about having no "life" in his legs. I always used to wonder what he was talking about and thought he was just kidding. I now know what he means since running around isn't too easy. I feel like I have two broom sticks for legs. Luckily tennis requires short bursts unless you're tracking down a lob. I've been trying to play up at the net to cut down my running but now I enter a whole new zone - sluggish reaction time. Gotta work on that. For now I'll let my loyal partner do the running, keep practicing and time killing. Is there any running in golf?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tanks for the memory
How does one kill an entire day and improve the environment? This isn't a riddle. Today was the day we scheduled the removal of our oil tank from underground in front of our house. You can't sell your house these days with a tank underground for fear that it's leaking. No lenders will lend and no insurance companies will insure. The biggest fear of all, however, is IF there is leakage you have to have an EPA inspection along with a cleanup. I've heard many a horror story so naturally I delayed doing this thinking that would actually make it better.. I had heard about people spending up to $75 thousand to clean up contamination.
We had a yard full of trucks including back hoes, front hoes, nasty hoes and about 6 workers. To their credit they seemed to be very coordinated and hit the different areas in teams. It was like an immunity challenge on "Survivor" without the Tiki lights. I tried to stay in the house and let them do their work but my neurosis wouldn't allow me not to check out every rumbling noise coming from the driveway or the boiler room. Overall it was very interesting to see how the job went. It was somewhat what I expected but more coordinated. Certain guys showed up during the day, did their part and disappeared.
Before we could fire up the new tank we had to have it inspected by our town engineer. He was late but luckily one of the tankmeisters knew him and got him to come by so they could continue the project and we could re-gain hot water. We passed that inspection fine and the new tank was filled with fresh oil - Texas tea, black gold..Things seem to work fine and we had minimal damage to our yard which needs reworking anyway..
The main guy told us we should have bought a lottery ticket this day since we actually dodged the bullet and had no leaks in our tank. He said that about 70% of jobs have leaks which require a clean up. Jeeeesh, I am glad I didn't know that beforehand. I would have pictured some kind of crazy hazmat team camped out in our yard checking all the dirt molecules and a taxi-style meter running as they did their sanitizing. So now I guess we SHOULD buy that lottery ticket since one of those wacky megaball, megamondo lotteries is now at some kind of $158 Million dollar level..Just how the hell DO you buy one of those and can you pad your order with a slurpee?
We had a yard full of trucks including back hoes, front hoes, nasty hoes and about 6 workers. To their credit they seemed to be very coordinated and hit the different areas in teams. It was like an immunity challenge on "Survivor" without the Tiki lights. I tried to stay in the house and let them do their work but my neurosis wouldn't allow me not to check out every rumbling noise coming from the driveway or the boiler room. Overall it was very interesting to see how the job went. It was somewhat what I expected but more coordinated. Certain guys showed up during the day, did their part and disappeared.
Before we could fire up the new tank we had to have it inspected by our town engineer. He was late but luckily one of the tankmeisters knew him and got him to come by so they could continue the project and we could re-gain hot water. We passed that inspection fine and the new tank was filled with fresh oil - Texas tea, black gold..Things seem to work fine and we had minimal damage to our yard which needs reworking anyway..
The main guy told us we should have bought a lottery ticket this day since we actually dodged the bullet and had no leaks in our tank. He said that about 70% of jobs have leaks which require a clean up. Jeeeesh, I am glad I didn't know that beforehand. I would have pictured some kind of crazy hazmat team camped out in our yard checking all the dirt molecules and a taxi-style meter running as they did their sanitizing. So now I guess we SHOULD buy that lottery ticket since one of those wacky megaball, megamondo lotteries is now at some kind of $158 Million dollar level..Just how the hell DO you buy one of those and can you pad your order with a slurpee?
Sunday, August 23, 2009
No Internet on Interway
I know I've realized that I (and many others) are very dependent on Internet connectivity. I just had a reminder when we lost our connection for almost 24 hours in a storm-related mishap. Ten years ago that would have been an inconvenience. Today it's a bit more than that. When you realize how many functions one performs with the web - including email - you start to wonder what your options are for these functions AND the all important time killing. Can't do banking, can't order tickets, can't check weather, can't check movie listings, can't read the NY Times, can't certify unemployment. Just like the pioneers..unhitch the horses!!
As a fail safe I can use my iphone which has very reliable Internet connectivity a la Blackberry. I use it to check e mails when I'm away but for me it's a bit clunky trying to return a message that has more than one sentence OR checking the web browser. I think that is generational as my son seems to have no issues with that mini keyboard and can text the Gettysburg address in 2 minutes. And since I was a trained US Navy teletype operator I stand behind my 85 wpm final test with a cast on my wrist (another story). On the iphone I make a mistake every 3rd word. Needless to say, I need my cable connectivity.
As a side note and on theme with time killing I must have spent at least 2 hours trying to re-boot, re-start and analyze the problem with the dead web. For the first time ever I called our cable provider. This was the most automated system I've ever heard. I can't believe the variables they've programmed in there - "If this doesn't work, please say HELP ME RHONDA and we will continue to another step"... It was spooky cavorting with this robotic tech at the cable company, but here's the kicker. I finally got things working after taking a shot at rebooting a second blu ray router I have hooked up BUT before I followed the robot's latest reboot directives I had to Hang Up. This because I have cable phone and as soon as I reboot the modem the phone cuts out. So, use your iphone (or cell phone) to do this. Isn't this where I started?
As a fail safe I can use my iphone which has very reliable Internet connectivity a la Blackberry. I use it to check e mails when I'm away but for me it's a bit clunky trying to return a message that has more than one sentence OR checking the web browser. I think that is generational as my son seems to have no issues with that mini keyboard and can text the Gettysburg address in 2 minutes. And since I was a trained US Navy teletype operator I stand behind my 85 wpm final test with a cast on my wrist (another story). On the iphone I make a mistake every 3rd word. Needless to say, I need my cable connectivity.
As a side note and on theme with time killing I must have spent at least 2 hours trying to re-boot, re-start and analyze the problem with the dead web. For the first time ever I called our cable provider. This was the most automated system I've ever heard. I can't believe the variables they've programmed in there - "If this doesn't work, please say HELP ME RHONDA and we will continue to another step"... It was spooky cavorting with this robotic tech at the cable company, but here's the kicker. I finally got things working after taking a shot at rebooting a second blu ray router I have hooked up BUT before I followed the robot's latest reboot directives I had to Hang Up. This because I have cable phone and as soon as I reboot the modem the phone cuts out. So, use your iphone (or cell phone) to do this. Isn't this where I started?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
You can't go home again?
Took a trip back to the old neighborhood (Long Island). This falls in the category of a major time killer - an all-day affair. When you visit the Island you just expect traffic and we got it. Figured a weekday would be the best bet - was busy but I'm sure a weekend would be worse.
I can recall my parents driving into their old neighborhood (Brooklyn) and pointing out their old haunts. I was born there but it may as well be the Moon for all I know about Flatbush. I just remember the cobblestone streets and my mother nervously driving some kind of monster Buick with Dyna-flo.
As we've done a few times in the past and on this Long Island venture, we visited all our old houses. The constant is that there are changes and in some cases many changes. Even our basic starter home (Cape Cod) is now a new color, has a bunch of skylights, different landscaping, new windows and a significant privacy fence. Overall it looked good and the neighborhood looked better today than 20 years ago when we left. It's just strange to see how little room there is in-between homes. I can recall our neighbor's teen-age son sitting on their back stoop talking on the phone and we could hear every word as he could almost rest his legs on our stoop.
The changes in the other neighborhoods were significant. Interesting what vinyl can do to a home. We visited and photographed my parent's main home which is barely recognizable. It used to look like a combination of the Alamo and a Taco Bell. Now it just looks like an old stucco home trying to be hip and modern. Saw some other friend's homes and they were equally different (except for a few)..
Growing up we spent almost every summer day at either our local beach, in the canal across the street, out in our boat or over at the ocean. The ocean could have been Tobay, West End, Zack's Bay, Gilgo or Hemlocks (an undeveloped cove with great surfing on the ocean side). I guess this explains the current need for constant dermatological appointments. I think I paid the price for a sunburn I got in 1966.
We did drive to Jones Beach during this trip and went to the big daddy of all parking lots (4) and took the long walk to the water - not fully prepared for swimming of sunning. During our days on Long Island we never went to field 4 - too crowded and too much noise. This was our only choice now.
Out of all the points of nostalgic interest, we felt a real resonance when we visited our first apartment. Many memories from 35 years ago - sort of like a "Barefoot in the Park" scenario I guess. A 3-story walk up in this converted Tudor building built at the turn of the century. It had a dumb waiter, no bedroom, a sliver of a kitchen, a pink and black bathroom and a broken front door which was held together with some plastic wood provided by our non-handy landlord. I felt safe though since who the hell is going to rob us and haul our stuff 3 flights down?
The building was mostly boarded up on this day and looked to be under renovation. I was wondering if they were going to go Vinyl.. Vinyl is final.
I can recall my parents driving into their old neighborhood (Brooklyn) and pointing out their old haunts. I was born there but it may as well be the Moon for all I know about Flatbush. I just remember the cobblestone streets and my mother nervously driving some kind of monster Buick with Dyna-flo.
As we've done a few times in the past and on this Long Island venture, we visited all our old houses. The constant is that there are changes and in some cases many changes. Even our basic starter home (Cape Cod) is now a new color, has a bunch of skylights, different landscaping, new windows and a significant privacy fence. Overall it looked good and the neighborhood looked better today than 20 years ago when we left. It's just strange to see how little room there is in-between homes. I can recall our neighbor's teen-age son sitting on their back stoop talking on the phone and we could hear every word as he could almost rest his legs on our stoop.
The changes in the other neighborhoods were significant. Interesting what vinyl can do to a home. We visited and photographed my parent's main home which is barely recognizable. It used to look like a combination of the Alamo and a Taco Bell. Now it just looks like an old stucco home trying to be hip and modern. Saw some other friend's homes and they were equally different (except for a few)..
Growing up we spent almost every summer day at either our local beach, in the canal across the street, out in our boat or over at the ocean. The ocean could have been Tobay, West End, Zack's Bay, Gilgo or Hemlocks (an undeveloped cove with great surfing on the ocean side). I guess this explains the current need for constant dermatological appointments. I think I paid the price for a sunburn I got in 1966.
We did drive to Jones Beach during this trip and went to the big daddy of all parking lots (4) and took the long walk to the water - not fully prepared for swimming of sunning. During our days on Long Island we never went to field 4 - too crowded and too much noise. This was our only choice now.
Out of all the points of nostalgic interest, we felt a real resonance when we visited our first apartment. Many memories from 35 years ago - sort of like a "Barefoot in the Park" scenario I guess. A 3-story walk up in this converted Tudor building built at the turn of the century. It had a dumb waiter, no bedroom, a sliver of a kitchen, a pink and black bathroom and a broken front door which was held together with some plastic wood provided by our non-handy landlord. I felt safe though since who the hell is going to rob us and haul our stuff 3 flights down?
The building was mostly boarded up on this day and looked to be under renovation. I was wondering if they were going to go Vinyl.. Vinyl is final.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Dog days
Got a strange call the other day. I have been in the habit of not answering unknown IDs on my calls but since switching phone service it's not always clear who the caller is. I have to resolve that. I do get a lot less calls (ironically) since switching to the cable phone system - they have nothing left to sell to me.. This call comes in as a recording to alert me to a neighbor's lost dog. I guess it's like a kind of amber alert for dogs 0r other pets.
In the true spirit of time killing I took the time to write down the information and I realized I had no idea who the neighbor was who was just identified as Michael - no address. It did provide a description of the animal and its name (Mackie or Matilda or Merkel). Good thing I was paying attention. I am not a dog owner for many reasons but I do like them and afterall I DO watch Whale Wars and feel sorry for the hunted mammals by those Japanese whalers. So if I can help in this effort I'd feel somewhat satisfied.
There was a web site with the dog's picture. Now this was more my speed. I didn't recognize the dog and I do see a lot of our neighbor's pets - solo and on-leash trotting down our always empty street. I thought if it gave the owner's address I'd have an idea. I would have gone out in the car and done some research - oh really, you say????? Let's be honest, I hope this guy finds his dog but unless this pooch strolls up to my front stoop, rings the door bell and does a Lassie impression I won't be much help.
In the true spirit of time killing I took the time to write down the information and I realized I had no idea who the neighbor was who was just identified as Michael - no address. It did provide a description of the animal and its name (Mackie or Matilda or Merkel). Good thing I was paying attention. I am not a dog owner for many reasons but I do like them and afterall I DO watch Whale Wars and feel sorry for the hunted mammals by those Japanese whalers. So if I can help in this effort I'd feel somewhat satisfied.
There was a web site with the dog's picture. Now this was more my speed. I didn't recognize the dog and I do see a lot of our neighbor's pets - solo and on-leash trotting down our always empty street. I thought if it gave the owner's address I'd have an idea. I would have gone out in the car and done some research - oh really, you say????? Let's be honest, I hope this guy finds his dog but unless this pooch strolls up to my front stoop, rings the door bell and does a Lassie impression I won't be much help.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Hot time killing
The summer finally settled in after thinking we'd have a few more months of breezy, cool days. It's finally hot as you'd expect in August except this past weekend while in Maine the cool days prevailed and no AC required. The Maine weekend was fun as expected and the change in routine was also welcome. The official Woodstock anniversary is this upcoming weekend, however, we did acknowledge the landmark date by comparing notes and remembering that time we spent upstate in 1969..
Back at time-killing ground zero I resist the urge to watch the TV and get going on some of the projects I have which include writing, clearing out the garage for a new oil tank installation and being here for the refrigerator repair guy. Keep moving - even in the heat - is the new mantra.
We noticed yesterday while sitting on the deck that our fake "scarecrow" owl has now become Grand Central Terminal for nesting Yellow Jacket wasps. I had an urge to take the top off to see what was inside but stayed away and will do the deed when the sun goes down - whenever that is.
To enjoy free, heavy duty AC we saw some movies including the new Julia Child (Julie, Julia) piece. Overall it was pretty good but I couldn't help but think about the premise. Julie, a big fan of Julia, writes a daily blog about each one of Julia's cook book recipes which she cooks and comments on. Now this took place in 2002 and I guess blogging wasn't as developed as it is now. God, even I have a blog. Julie was getting a huge response - I guess people like French Cuisine more than time killing commentary. Book publishers and literary agents stormed her voice mail and email after reading about her project in the NY Times. I was hoping for the same thing but all I got lately was a well done on a piece on Woodstock I submitted to Car and Traveler - the AAA monthly magazine..I shall persist..
Back at time-killing ground zero I resist the urge to watch the TV and get going on some of the projects I have which include writing, clearing out the garage for a new oil tank installation and being here for the refrigerator repair guy. Keep moving - even in the heat - is the new mantra.
We noticed yesterday while sitting on the deck that our fake "scarecrow" owl has now become Grand Central Terminal for nesting Yellow Jacket wasps. I had an urge to take the top off to see what was inside but stayed away and will do the deed when the sun goes down - whenever that is.
To enjoy free, heavy duty AC we saw some movies including the new Julia Child (Julie, Julia) piece. Overall it was pretty good but I couldn't help but think about the premise. Julie, a big fan of Julia, writes a daily blog about each one of Julia's cook book recipes which she cooks and comments on. Now this took place in 2002 and I guess blogging wasn't as developed as it is now. God, even I have a blog. Julie was getting a huge response - I guess people like French Cuisine more than time killing commentary. Book publishers and literary agents stormed her voice mail and email after reading about her project in the NY Times. I was hoping for the same thing but all I got lately was a well done on a piece on Woodstock I submitted to Car and Traveler - the AAA monthly magazine..I shall persist..
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Forty years ago today
The year 1969 had a lot going on. You had the bizarro moon landing, the surging NY Mets baseball team who eventually won the world series, Vietnam and the draft lottery and Woodstock. Our neighborhood group on Long Island was graduating from High School that summer and four of us decided to attend this music and arts festival somewhere upstate. I can remember seeing all the posters and newspaper ads for this and figured it would be a great way to see all these performers in one show. It did require camping for a few days and besides sleeping on the beach now and then this was new to me. At 18 it didn't much matter plus I was heading for the military and figured I may want to get used to tent life. (this adventure ultimately influenced my decision to join the navy and avoid tent living)..
Our group of four went up to this town of White Lake, tickets in hand, in one guy's father's brand new Dodge Charger a few days before the concert started. We brought some food but figured we'd just buy food at the concession stands. We got to the site and there were some people arriving. People from all over the country were showing up in all sorts of vehicles. There was plenty of room and we set up camp behind the stage area. As we got closer to showtime the crowd was growing. The campground we selected went from plenty of room to almost no space between tents - just enough room to walk over to the port-o-sans (made famous in the Woodstock movie). This was my first up close and personal look at the hippie nation - painted buses, groups from all over the country, naked swimming and drugs. It was quite a sight and experience.
The shows started that August weekend and I can remember sitting on that hillside and hearing Richie Havens kick off the show. The crowd at this point was really building and by that first night the NY State thruway was closed. I was wondering how our parents were reacting but after all we were part of history. Not eating, but part of history.
The performances were legendary and as I recall the sound (for 1969) was pretty good. We could hear much of the music from our campsite and there was a projection screen so we could see much of it (reversed). We got through the rains and the helicopters dropping food supplies - uncooked pasta and some kind of K-rations. The concession stands were not functional and the crowd had taken down the fences which did make this a free concert - so much for our tickets. We did wonder how the car was - parked on the side of the road or what was once a road.
Having seen most of the acts I think by Sunday with hunger and dried mud as our main motivators we decided to head back. Step one was to find the car which we did. It was in tact and as the music continued we started heading south. I know there was a ton of traffic and I can remember listening to non music radio as we wondered what the world was saying about this event. We didn't stop until we were safely back in our town. I remember wanting to stop somewhere upstate to get some food but we got back to our home town and a familiar diner figuring we'd eat before seeing our families. I remember ordering some food and milk.. I gulped the milk and it was spoiled and I mean LUMPY spoiled. I drank the free water and waited till I got home. At least the guys walking on the moon had Tang!
How does this relate to my Time Killing theme? This August 2009 weekend three of the four of us (maybe all four) will be getting together after forty years. We did the same in 1989 after twenty years which was captured on video tape. We all dressed the part in hippie garb and coincidentally our real estate agent brought a prospective buyer to view our "for-sale home" during the party. To this day, as captured on tape, I think our retro clothing and behavior helped sell that house...That guy thought we were nuts.
Our group of four went up to this town of White Lake, tickets in hand, in one guy's father's brand new Dodge Charger a few days before the concert started. We brought some food but figured we'd just buy food at the concession stands. We got to the site and there were some people arriving. People from all over the country were showing up in all sorts of vehicles. There was plenty of room and we set up camp behind the stage area. As we got closer to showtime the crowd was growing. The campground we selected went from plenty of room to almost no space between tents - just enough room to walk over to the port-o-sans (made famous in the Woodstock movie). This was my first up close and personal look at the hippie nation - painted buses, groups from all over the country, naked swimming and drugs. It was quite a sight and experience.
The shows started that August weekend and I can remember sitting on that hillside and hearing Richie Havens kick off the show. The crowd at this point was really building and by that first night the NY State thruway was closed. I was wondering how our parents were reacting but after all we were part of history. Not eating, but part of history.
The performances were legendary and as I recall the sound (for 1969) was pretty good. We could hear much of the music from our campsite and there was a projection screen so we could see much of it (reversed). We got through the rains and the helicopters dropping food supplies - uncooked pasta and some kind of K-rations. The concession stands were not functional and the crowd had taken down the fences which did make this a free concert - so much for our tickets. We did wonder how the car was - parked on the side of the road or what was once a road.
Having seen most of the acts I think by Sunday with hunger and dried mud as our main motivators we decided to head back. Step one was to find the car which we did. It was in tact and as the music continued we started heading south. I know there was a ton of traffic and I can remember listening to non music radio as we wondered what the world was saying about this event. We didn't stop until we were safely back in our town. I remember wanting to stop somewhere upstate to get some food but we got back to our home town and a familiar diner figuring we'd eat before seeing our families. I remember ordering some food and milk.. I gulped the milk and it was spoiled and I mean LUMPY spoiled. I drank the free water and waited till I got home. At least the guys walking on the moon had Tang!
How does this relate to my Time Killing theme? This August 2009 weekend three of the four of us (maybe all four) will be getting together after forty years. We did the same in 1989 after twenty years which was captured on video tape. We all dressed the part in hippie garb and coincidentally our real estate agent brought a prospective buyer to view our "for-sale home" during the party. To this day, as captured on tape, I think our retro clothing and behavior helped sell that house...That guy thought we were nuts.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Publish or perish
I guess I should be used to being by myself. I am during the daytime but not usually at night. Well, I am currently on my own as my wife is away and I am well trained to fend for myself, however, time killing has taken on a new dimension. I guess it's the tuna salad and Yoo-Hoo in the refrigerator..(solo food)
My theme in this blog has been and will continue to be how a victim of downsizing spends (or kills) time. I figured it would be amusing and unique. I wasn't sure if the theme had been explored and actually wondered if there was a book publishing opportunity - of course I'd have to expand the entries since I cater largely to the short-attention span reader (just like me).
So in today's New York (Sunday) Times there was a full-page article on how employed people spend their time versus how unemployed people spend their time. So much for the uniqueness of exploring Time Killing. The article was interesting as expected. Of course the unemployed spend more time sleeping, watching TV and going out in the afternoon. There was a large graphic showing these differences. Sometimes I think I am graphically challenged since the chart, to me, was convoluted or at least not easy to digest. The key is that there are other people thinking about this topic. I'm saving the page to revisit and show others and maybe get permission to reprint in my book.."MY book".. is that wishful thinking? What will be the title of the final entry?
My theme in this blog has been and will continue to be how a victim of downsizing spends (or kills) time. I figured it would be amusing and unique. I wasn't sure if the theme had been explored and actually wondered if there was a book publishing opportunity - of course I'd have to expand the entries since I cater largely to the short-attention span reader (just like me).
So in today's New York (Sunday) Times there was a full-page article on how employed people spend their time versus how unemployed people spend their time. So much for the uniqueness of exploring Time Killing. The article was interesting as expected. Of course the unemployed spend more time sleeping, watching TV and going out in the afternoon. There was a large graphic showing these differences. Sometimes I think I am graphically challenged since the chart, to me, was convoluted or at least not easy to digest. The key is that there are other people thinking about this topic. I'm saving the page to revisit and show others and maybe get permission to reprint in my book.."MY book".. is that wishful thinking? What will be the title of the final entry?
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