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.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Spare time
I've commented on my declining abilities in playing softball and accordingly I have reduced my playing time. I do like physical activity which is really a productive time killer. Working out and swimming at the gym fills some of that time but it's not what you'd call fun. One day I'd like to take up golf but it doesn't come naturally to me. That doesn't seem to stop the majority of golfers I've seen at driving ranges and golf courses.
So what else is out there? Basketball (never that good - too much running); Hockey (you need ice and huge gloves); Lacrosse (not a weekend sport for the middle aged); Soccer (foreign to me); Tennis (possibly..played recently and did OK. Would like to play more doubles)..There are other "sports" like jogging, boxing, karate & dodge ball - but who cares?
So that takes me into one of the possibilities. Our 3-person family was together this weekend to celebrate a birthday and we decided to go bowling!! Yes, bowling. Mmmmm, time killing potential I think. We actually have the equipment as we had been on leagues years ago and there are a couple of local bowling alleys. Caution - when you go to "open bowling" on a rainy weekend you may have a few kids to deal with. The lanes are now controlled by computer scoring and automatic "bumpers" that pop up when one of those cute six year olds KICKS the 6-lb ball down the lane. They don't always reach the pins. I used the kids' free-for-all behavior as an excuse for my mediocre performance, however, I still did have fun.
Not thinking of joining a league or anything drastic but I would like to find some time to go bowl when the median age is over 14. I guess you have to go at night but then I've seen they turn out the lights for midnight bowl. I'm not sure if you can consider this a sport as you can drink alcohol while playing and it actually improves your performance. Speaking of which I have to mention our family's youngest non-regular bowler bowled a 144 (ok, not a great score but he had 5 strikes)..Damn, those bumpers really work!!
So what else is out there? Basketball (never that good - too much running); Hockey (you need ice and huge gloves); Lacrosse (not a weekend sport for the middle aged); Soccer (foreign to me); Tennis (possibly..played recently and did OK. Would like to play more doubles)..There are other "sports" like jogging, boxing, karate & dodge ball - but who cares?
So that takes me into one of the possibilities. Our 3-person family was together this weekend to celebrate a birthday and we decided to go bowling!! Yes, bowling. Mmmmm, time killing potential I think. We actually have the equipment as we had been on leagues years ago and there are a couple of local bowling alleys. Caution - when you go to "open bowling" on a rainy weekend you may have a few kids to deal with. The lanes are now controlled by computer scoring and automatic "bumpers" that pop up when one of those cute six year olds KICKS the 6-lb ball down the lane. They don't always reach the pins. I used the kids' free-for-all behavior as an excuse for my mediocre performance, however, I still did have fun.
Not thinking of joining a league or anything drastic but I would like to find some time to go bowl when the median age is over 14. I guess you have to go at night but then I've seen they turn out the lights for midnight bowl. I'm not sure if you can consider this a sport as you can drink alcohol while playing and it actually improves your performance. Speaking of which I have to mention our family's youngest non-regular bowler bowled a 144 (ok, not a great score but he had 5 strikes)..Damn, those bumpers really work!!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Triple play follow up
You may recall from a few weeks ago I was bombarded with calls to sign up for Optimum on line's phone service. I gave up at that time and signed up and was told "you ain't gotta do nothing"..well, not completely true. Two weeks after that call I had a visit from the Optimum/Cablevision installer which brings me into today's Time Killing.
You always wonder before a service man shows up how the call will go.. I had my doubts that this cable phone installation would be as smooth as they promise. I had my visions and of course most didn't surface. The truck pulled up at the end of the promised time frame (which is OK as he called earlier)..I was prepared to do Nothing even though I had in my pocket a schematic of our cable hook-up scenario (my son prepared this).. I didn't show the guy right away as he said he had to do a special hook up with a second modem in the garage. OK, here we go - holes in the house, split cables and electronics subjected to the elements. Turns out that we didn't have to do that since I did find the elusive phone jack outlet in the living room. I felt like an idiot that I didn't know where our phone jacks were - jeeeze, that's my job. Turns out the installer was relieved and appreciative as he had been arguing with the dispatcher about having to set up this special garage scenario..This made me sweaty as at that moment I had no tv, no phone and no internet..I knew to be patient but the sales promise of not having to do nothin' wasn't quite accurate.
I found jacks, I ran wires, I moved furniture, I logged on to the web for the tech and cleaned up.. OK, big deal. I couldn't just sit there and this guy had a very good disposition and handled many of my inane questions with patience and assured me all will be well. He also had a thick Irish brogue which gave the whole thing a sense of lightheartedness as in "sit down laddie, you don't have to do nothin.'"
You always wonder before a service man shows up how the call will go.. I had my doubts that this cable phone installation would be as smooth as they promise. I had my visions and of course most didn't surface. The truck pulled up at the end of the promised time frame (which is OK as he called earlier)..I was prepared to do Nothing even though I had in my pocket a schematic of our cable hook-up scenario (my son prepared this).. I didn't show the guy right away as he said he had to do a special hook up with a second modem in the garage. OK, here we go - holes in the house, split cables and electronics subjected to the elements. Turns out that we didn't have to do that since I did find the elusive phone jack outlet in the living room. I felt like an idiot that I didn't know where our phone jacks were - jeeeze, that's my job. Turns out the installer was relieved and appreciative as he had been arguing with the dispatcher about having to set up this special garage scenario..This made me sweaty as at that moment I had no tv, no phone and no internet..I knew to be patient but the sales promise of not having to do nothin' wasn't quite accurate.
I found jacks, I ran wires, I moved furniture, I logged on to the web for the tech and cleaned up.. OK, big deal. I couldn't just sit there and this guy had a very good disposition and handled many of my inane questions with patience and assured me all will be well. He also had a thick Irish brogue which gave the whole thing a sense of lightheartedness as in "sit down laddie, you don't have to do nothin.'"
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