Sad Days....Happy Days

Tom Bosley, the New York Yankees, respectively.

Sure Enough

I drove past the intersection in N-City where my picture was taken and ticket issued. Sure enough there was a camera there. And not the small kind that's elevated high above the road. It was mounted on a small pole on the sidewalk. And to top it all off, there was a sign next to the camera that said:

RED LIGHT PHOTO ENFORCED

Caught!! But still pretty cool.

I got a letter in the mail today from the Newark Police Department. They had caught me running a red light and had mailed me a ticket. The proof was in three photos and a video. Pretty cool. Like watching Youtube. The pictures were good too. I'll show the pics and the video to my one blog reader when I next see him. Looking at the info on the ticket, I determined that it happened on the way to Cross Country practice in northern Newark. I was only going 25 miles an hour but running a red light is still a no-no.

Another cool thing is that I can pay either in person, by mail, or online. Gotta love this new technology!!!

4th Annual Summer Reading List

I didn't post the list on Labor Day as in the past because I wanted to finish one last book in order to pass it along to a family member.

The Bone Garden ** by Tess Gerritsen

Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry

The Clinic by Jonathan Kellerman

The Cure For Modern Life by Lisa Tucker

The Day The Falls Stood Still ** by Cathy Marie Buchanan

The Film Club ** by David Gilmour

Floaters by Joseph Wambaugh

The Girl Who Played With Fire ** by Stieg Larsson

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ** by Stieg Larsson

Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux

March ** by Geraldine Brooks

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

** denotes that it was a good read

As always, these books are available to others to borrow, to keep, whatever.

I Go Crazy Every Year

Now let's see, if I eat a tomato every 27 minutes....

Sad but true. It's over.

On the heels of the Tiger Woods divorce comes another major break-up in today’s world. In the language of “Brangelina”, “Ric-king” or “Bur-rick” has suffered a split. For those who still don’t understand the components involved, the bond between Rick R and Burger King is no more.

For well over 30 years, some say close to 40, Rick has enjoyed spending his breakfast meal at Burger King Restaurants. For all those years, he AT LEAST spent one morning a week at a BK. During the summer breaks the number of visits would sometimes swell to 3 or 4. Why the break-up?

“I’ve had it with them” said Rick R to a reporter. “I’ve spent a large part of my life going to BK as well as a large amount of my earnings”. When pressed for a clearer explanation, Mr. R. continued, “For 30 to 40 years, I have loved spending my mornings at BK, eating breakfast, reading the Daily News, and enjoying their great coffee, especially the second cup. But now two weeks ago they go and replace the Maxwell House blend with some crap from Seattle. It tastes like garbage. But the straw that broke the camel’s back with me was that they took away the re-fills. The self-serve coffee machines had been removed from the dining area”.

Mr. R went on to explain that he thought maybe it was a fluke with just this one BK Restaurant. But breakfast a few days later at another location resulted in the same absence of re-fills. Visits to a third and fourth restaurant settled it for Mr. R. “That’s it. We’re thru. I’m never going back. This is the way they reward my 30 plus years of loyalty? It’s disgraceful”.

This was not the first time that the bond of “Ric-king” had become strained. In the 90s, when BK discontinued their Breakfast Platter meal, Mr. R stopped going for breakfast for about five months. But he came back. “The coffee was good, and I could have a second cup. I had to go back”.

Calls to the Burger King Corporation were not returned.

Gross and Bizarre

Back in mid-January, as the assistant basketball coach for my school's girls' basketball team, I was helping out with a drill. As I attempted to deflect a bounce pass, the ball hit my thumb directly straight on, causing the nail to push back into the thumb. The pain was unbelievable. The throbbing over the next couple of days was even worse, causing sleepless nights. The throbbing was so bad that our head coach suggested that I drill a small hole into the nail to drain the blood and relieve the throbbing. I can seriously say that I came thiscloseto doing it.

Anyway it has taken almost three months for the thumb to start to move towards normalcy. I originally thought that the new nail would simply push the old one out. But today, as I was playing around with it, I noticed that the back part of the bloodied nail had started to rot and had come loose. So I was able to cut away the back of the nail but found that the front was still attached to the the skin. And there underneath the bad nail was a new nail ready to pop up. Pretty cool.

Another Storm - and almost as perfect

Early dismissal today. No school tomorrow. 3 1/2 day weekend. Yippee!!

The Perfect Storm

Unlike last Saturday's storm, all of New Jersey was aware that they were going to get hit with a major blizzard on Wednesday. As a result, my school announced during classes on Tuesday that the school would be closed on Wednesday. And snow it did! 12-18 inches fell on northern New Jersey. Three times I had to go over my driveway with my trusty snow-blower (thanks again Dave). Now because my school is in the city of Elizabeth, it takes forever to clear all of the roads and sidewalks. As a result, Thursday has also been cancelled. Fridays are only half days, so the principal decided it wasn't worth opening for just four hours. Monday is a holiday. Result? A SIX DAY WEEKEND!!!!!