Experienced a new way to kill some time tonight..One quirk about living where I do is that we seem to lose power easily. Easily as in a robin lands on the wire?? Not sure but there are more power generators per household than anywhere else on earth. How do I know? I'm guessing but when you lose power as we did tonight for four hours, the neighborhood sounded like a test sight for Briggs and Straton engines..I never got a generator and I wish I had since I conservatively estimate we've lost our power the last 20 years at least 75 times. I think our previous home on Long Island we lost our power once in ten years and that was during a category 5 hurricane.. NOT that I want to move back to Long Island..
In a dark house (not so awful), all alone (not so bad), a little chilly (no big deal), no way to cook (who cares?), No Tv (ok, getting serious now), No internet, (moan) No Water!!! (Sounds trivial? try not flushing)..
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Swine flu - que lastima
As I start out another day of time killing and semi-retired activities I was half watching the TV (People's Court) when there was a "breaking news" alert.. That always gets my attention in this area as you always expect some airline-related event. Not today, however, as the People's Court was cut short with news of a NYC teacher swine flu death. Some poor guy in his 50s who may have had a pre-existing condition which they would not disclose during the press conference with NYC Mayor Bloomberg. The highlight of this was the Mayor's repeating his opening statement in Spanish. It was like an SNL skit listening to his pronunciation. It was like something on Weekend Update. This guy needs Berlitz.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Monument park
Continuing to go to my scheduled softball games - usually 1 or 2 per week. Mother nature has sent a few not-so-subtle messages to limit my participation and that's been a tough adjustment. Running has been my major issue but there are a few others sneaking in. YET, I really like playing and participating I just have to do it from the coach's box with a clipboard - at least I'm part of it and not catching a line drive with my mouth.
Last night was a defining moment in our team. I've been on this team for 20 years and the 5 other guys who started up this team were all standing at the bench while our sons and younger members were on the field kicking the crap out of a fairly decent team and for some reason I felt "this is the way it should be"... The 6 of us standing shoulder to shoulder were aptly described as "monument park".. I can accept that..it's better than the Golden Girls...
Last night was a defining moment in our team. I've been on this team for 20 years and the 5 other guys who started up this team were all standing at the bench while our sons and younger members were on the field kicking the crap out of a fairly decent team and for some reason I felt "this is the way it should be"... The 6 of us standing shoulder to shoulder were aptly described as "monument park".. I can accept that..it's better than the Golden Girls...
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Green thumb?
I haven't been feeling too bloggy lately.. Nothing too amusing, however, I did get involved in some new time killing activity. I always thought I'd "putter" around the yard if I was retired. So far, this puttering is equal to looking out the window after the lawn service finished their job. Ahhhh, a fine feeling of accomplishment. It takes 6 guys about 12 minutes which historically has taken me 90 minutes on my own. It's very efficient..
Today I did decide to do some extracurricular yard work. Detail work that the lawn service doesn't deal with.. shrubs, weeds, tree trimming. I alloted what I thought was a fair amount of my precious time - 2.5 hours. I threw in a garage clean up which brought it to more than 3 hours and at the end of that I felt ------ pooped...(I wonder why?) I thought IF that was my regular job I'd be in big trouble... Unless I was 30 years younger...
About 30 years ago I was working in our first quaint starter home yard. I did everything including tree trimming. Once while my mother was visiting I decided to climb a tree in our front yard equipped with a bow saw to get rid of some branches. Needless to say, I learned my lesson that this is dangerous business. I started sawing away at a medium size branch when it snapped and kicked back and hit me in the face. I was lucky (I guess) as it put a hole in my cheek. My mother and wife were at the rescue with the cotton balls and peroxide. The best part is the get-well card from my good friend Don who captured the moment perfectly with his unique style of illustration. That image of the branch implanted into my cheek reminds me to stay within my yard-working comfort zone (on the deck with a vodka tonic)..
Today I did decide to do some extracurricular yard work. Detail work that the lawn service doesn't deal with.. shrubs, weeds, tree trimming. I alloted what I thought was a fair amount of my precious time - 2.5 hours. I threw in a garage clean up which brought it to more than 3 hours and at the end of that I felt ------ pooped...(I wonder why?) I thought IF that was my regular job I'd be in big trouble... Unless I was 30 years younger...
About 30 years ago I was working in our first quaint starter home yard. I did everything including tree trimming. Once while my mother was visiting I decided to climb a tree in our front yard equipped with a bow saw to get rid of some branches. Needless to say, I learned my lesson that this is dangerous business. I started sawing away at a medium size branch when it snapped and kicked back and hit me in the face. I was lucky (I guess) as it put a hole in my cheek. My mother and wife were at the rescue with the cotton balls and peroxide. The best part is the get-well card from my good friend Don who captured the moment perfectly with his unique style of illustration. That image of the branch implanted into my cheek reminds me to stay within my yard-working comfort zone (on the deck with a vodka tonic)..
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Sports talk
I have to admit with my new found time I have been listening to a fair amount of radio and TV sports talk.. I'm not a fanatic but I do have a strong attachment to baseball. And if you're in NY you get wall-to-wall baseball talk especially if there are issues to complain about. For instance, the Yankees losing their first five games to their arch rival Boston Red Sox..I hated to see these losses but in a crazy way it's been entertaining.. It provides endless fodder for the radio and TV pundits. They are ALL very critical and for some reason all-knowing all the time..
I always wonder how the comments will be the day after a bad game.. Last night the Tampa Rays beat the Yankees in a monsoon and 90 percent of all sports talk was about this. (Forget that there's an exciting NBA championship taking place)..It was close and perhaps some different management decisions would have made the difference..Here's my point - how do all these pundits and callers become Kreskin?.. Granted they can have their opinions but they make their points sound like something other than guesswork.. That's all it is.
Some of the callers are really misguided but one thing I have noticed is there are quite a few broadcasters with speech impediments... It's the Tom Brokaw syndrome..
I always wonder how the comments will be the day after a bad game.. Last night the Tampa Rays beat the Yankees in a monsoon and 90 percent of all sports talk was about this. (Forget that there's an exciting NBA championship taking place)..It was close and perhaps some different management decisions would have made the difference..Here's my point - how do all these pundits and callers become Kreskin?.. Granted they can have their opinions but they make their points sound like something other than guesswork.. That's all it is.
Some of the callers are really misguided but one thing I have noticed is there are quite a few broadcasters with speech impediments... It's the Tom Brokaw syndrome..
Monday, May 4, 2009
Scared smokeless??
Holding off on any more medical time killing commentary.. I just don't like re-reading those entries so I'll wait and do a wrap up when it makes sense.. should be soon, but you never know.
On a related topic - remember all those "quit smoking" ads? The most recent one with the crying child in the airport and before that disgusting lung noises, hole in the throat guy, etc...So the newest one is very bothersome. It seems to run during sports shows but maybe it has been widespread. It's the one with the woman and her damn amputated fingers and toes. She holds up her hands and it looks like she had a lawn-mowing accident. Most of the fingers are clipped off in the middle and you can't get to the TV remote fast enough. (I just did this and switched to a soap opera for 60 seconds until all was safe in missing finger land).. Of course, she says, this was all because of smoking. She had 16 or 17 (she says)..question one: wouldn't you know EXACTLY how many fingers and toes you lost, not just an estimate?? question two: after the first amputation or second or third, wouldn't you throw your cigarettes OUT the FREAKING window???? I assume she kept smoking until she could no longer throw a bowling ball??
A side note -- If this wasn't enough motivation, have you ever seen the price of cigarettes? $50 a carton -- for the crummy brands..I recall during my service years you could get a carton for ONE dollar on the base. Maybe this woman is a veteran?
On a related topic - remember all those "quit smoking" ads? The most recent one with the crying child in the airport and before that disgusting lung noises, hole in the throat guy, etc...So the newest one is very bothersome. It seems to run during sports shows but maybe it has been widespread. It's the one with the woman and her damn amputated fingers and toes. She holds up her hands and it looks like she had a lawn-mowing accident. Most of the fingers are clipped off in the middle and you can't get to the TV remote fast enough. (I just did this and switched to a soap opera for 60 seconds until all was safe in missing finger land).. Of course, she says, this was all because of smoking. She had 16 or 17 (she says)..question one: wouldn't you know EXACTLY how many fingers and toes you lost, not just an estimate?? question two: after the first amputation or second or third, wouldn't you throw your cigarettes OUT the FREAKING window???? I assume she kept smoking until she could no longer throw a bowling ball??
A side note -- If this wasn't enough motivation, have you ever seen the price of cigarettes? $50 a carton -- for the crummy brands..I recall during my service years you could get a carton for ONE dollar on the base. Maybe this woman is a veteran?
Friday, May 1, 2009
Testy from tests
OK, time killing continues...This CAT scan I had confirmed a heart problem which requires yearly monitoring - not so bad and it's what I expected.. Shouldn't affect my daily activities (unless I run a triathlon)..As an unexpected bonus this test showed some other goodies which now requires an MRI.. That will be done next week. I think my DR is ordering all this since I DO have the time.. Maybe they have a radiology/unemployment special? Lose a job and get jammed into a claustrophobic tube for 28 minutes..what better way to spend the day?! Stay tuned..
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