2017 Books

   

Here you go Bob!
  
31 books again.  Just like last year.  I must have a certain reading pace.
   
  

Alice Network, The ***    by    Kate Quinn

Apollo 8    by    Jeffrey Kluger

Beautiful Animals    by    Lawrence Osborne

Before the Fall    by    Noah Hawley

Close To Home    by    Lisa Jackson

Conclave    by    Robert Harris

Goodbye, Vitamin ***    by    Rachel Khong

Horse Walks Into a Bar, A    by    David Grossman

Jersey Brothers, The ***    by    Sally Mott Freeman

Luster of Lost Things, The    by    Sophie Chen Keller

Lying Game, The    by    Ruth Ware

Miracle On Monahegan Island, The    by    Elizabeth Kelly

My Not So Perfect Life ***    by    Sophie Kinsella

Night She Won Miss America, The    by    Michael Callahan

Nix, The    by    Nathan Hill

One Inside, The    by    Sam Shepard

Our Short History ***    by    Lauren Grodstein

People We Hate At the Wedding, The    by    Grant Ginder

Piece Of the World, A ***    by    Christina Baker Kline

Platinum Doll    by    Anne Girard

Pre    by    Tom Jordan

Red Car, The    by    Marcy Dermansky

Riding With George    by    Philip G. Smucker

Say Nothing    by    Brad Parks

Sisters One, Two, Three    by    Nancy Star

Stars Are Fire, The    by    Anita Shreve

Stolen Beauty    by    Laurie Lico Albanese

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty ***    by    Charles Leerhsen

Warrior of the People, A    by    Joe Starita

Worst. President. Ever.     by    Robert Strauss

You Are a Complete Disappointment    by    Mike Edison
    
*** a good read

2016 Running Wrap-up

   

   

    

Personal
   
1,031.9 Total Miles
294 Days Running including a streak of 160 Days
Average/Day = 3.50986
   
Racing
  
April 16   Colonia 5K   24:38.96
July 4   Cranford 4 Miler   32:43
August 4   Colonia 5K   26:25.63
September 5   Verona Labor Day 5K   26:18.51
November 23   Flemington Turkey Trot 5K   28:38.86
  
Coaching
  
Upper School Girls - This was the third season of the Upper (High) School Cross Country Program at Wardlaw-Hartridge and my first as the head coach.  It was a disappointing season.  We started with five girls but only two remained at the end of the season.  Of the 10 meets, there were only two in which all five girls showed up.  One was the Newark Invitational in which we finished 8th out of 8 teams and followed by a 42-18 loss to South River in a dual meet.
    
Upper School Boys - The boys team had an even more disappointing season.  We started with 10 boys and had what looked to be a solid top 5.  Unlike the girls, the boys had the required five runners in many of the races.  In dual and tri meets, the boys finished 0-7.  In the large races, the boys finished 7th out of 7 teams in the Newark Invitational and 9th out of 10 teams in the Prep Schools Championships.  Their best effort was a 34-25 loss to East Brunswick Vo Tech in a dual meet.  At year's end only 3 of the runners remained.
   
The five remaining boys and girls at year's end had the opportunity to run in the State Championship at Holmdel Park.  It was the first time for Wardlaw-Hartridge to run in this prestigious race and the runners ran respectively well.
    
Middle School Boys - This was also the third year for the Middle School Cross Country Program but it was my second year at the helm.  The team consisted of 16 boys; we lost only two 8th graders from the previous year.  Their places were filled by a handful of runners, three of which were good quality runners.  Their record improved to 5-7 this year including the last four in a row.  This year, the entire team was entered in the GMCs (County Championship).  Last year only the Top Seven went to the GMC and then only ran in the Junior Varsity race.  The Varsity Team finished 11th out of 13 teams and the Junior Varsity finished 16th out of 17.  In the season ending Pumpkin Run at Gill St. Bernards, the boys finished 10th out of 20.  Other highlights: 1) two different runners won 3 races as individuals, 2) their best 1-5 split was 1:25 at the Pumpkin Run.  The down side is that three 8th graders will move on to the Upper School team.
      
Middle School Girls - Just like 2015, the Girls Team was the shining jewel of the entire school's Cross Country Program.  There were 11 girls on the team this year and we did not lose any 8th graders from the previous year.  Their record improved to 7-4 this year including the last seven in a row.  Like the boys, the entire team was entered in the GMCs.  The Varsity Team finished 6th out of 14 teams and the Junior Varsity finished 14th out of 17.  In the season ending Pumpkin Run at Gill St. Bernards, the girls won the Team Race with a score of 61 points (5th, 6th, 8th, 15th, and 27th).  Other highlights: 1) two different runners won 6 races as individuals, 2) their best 1-5 split was 1:27 at the last home meet, and 3) the team will not lose any runners to graduation and should be even stronger in 2017.
   
    

2016 Books

      

       

31 books read
   
Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

** Animal Keepers, The by Donn Behnke

Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz

Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny

Dinner Party, The by Brenda Janowitz

* Excellent Lombards, The by Jane Hamilton

Extreme Prey by John Sandford

Five Presidents by Clint Hill

* Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

Great Bridge, The by David McCullough

Hero of France, A by Alan Furst

House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett

** In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

* Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart

Little Red Chairs, The by Edna O’Brien

Margaret Bourke-White by Vicki Goldberg

* Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen

Muralist, The by B.A. Shapiro

* Remembering Bix (RR) by Ralph Berton

Running With the Buffaloes by Chris Lear

Silver Swan, The by Elena Delbanco

* Stealing Games by Maury Klein

Summer Before the War, The by Helen Simonson

Tommy: The Gun That Changed America by Karen Blumenthal

* When the Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi

Whites, The by Harry Brandt  (Richard Price)

Winter Girl, The by Matt Marinovich

Woman Who Ran For President, The by 
     Lois Beachy Underhill

* Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

      

** A very good read
* A good read  
RR  Re-Read

It's Still A Good Feeling

     

February 1 was to be my final mortgage payment.  I have been counting the days until I would write that final check in late January.  I had visions of mailing the check and then burning the mortgage.  But the amount left was not a full payment (only a few hundred) so Chase used escrow dollars and paid off the mortgage for me.  It was paid off ahead of time-- 9 years and 2 months.

2015 Books

  

  

  
Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
  
The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida
  
The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble
  
Once We Were Brothers by Ronald Balson
  
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
  
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
  
The President's Shadow by Brad Meltzer
  
Thank You, Goodnight by Andy Abramowitz
  
The Train To Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell
  
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
  
  

Again

Since there exists a thread on this, just want to let you all know that I found a single dollar bill on the ground during my run today.  Wow, I have no life.  No wonder I don't have a FaceBook account.
  
Also, there will be a list of my books read during the year posted in early January.  This replaces the old list of summer readings since I am now retired and have the luxury of reading year round.
  
There will also be a momentous posting in February.  So stay tuned!!!

Matewan Revisted

See blog entry  August 5, 2007.

8th Annual Summer Reading List

I noticed that there was no list for 2013.  Not sure why since I did do some reading last year but apparently forgot to enter them in the blog.  So anyway, here is this year's list:

• Eighty Days by Matthew Goodman
• The Fallen Angel by Daniel Silva
• Fatal Journey by Peter C. Mancall
• Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
• House Rules *** by Jodu Picoult
• Is This Tomorrow *** by Caroline Leavitt
• Mudbound by Hilary Jordan
• Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt
• Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes To Iowa and other stories by W. P. Kinsella
• The Troop by Nick Cutter
• Unbroken *** by Laura Hillenbrand
• Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

*** recommended

Again!!!

Yes, it happened again.  While getting out of my car at a local McDonald's for breakfast, there on the ground behind my car was a soaking wet five dollar bill!!! 

Not Once But Twice

Yea, I'm still around.  And apparently so is this blog.  I'm still running and within the past eight days I have made two interesting discoveries.  A little more than a week ago, I parked near Nomahegan Park for a late afternoon run.  As soon as I got out of the car, there at my feet, was a drenched $ 20 bill.  I took it home, set it near the humidifier in the basement, and was that much richer.  Yesterday, I parked at Grover Cleveland Park for a morning run, and yup, there at my feet as soon as I got out of the car was a much drier $ 20 bill.  If this keeps up, I may start thinking of retiring.

2012 Summer Reading

By the Rivers of Babylon  -  Nelson DeMille
Chaperone, The  -  Laura Moriarty
Crunch Time  -  Diane Mott Davidson
Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, The  -  Stieg Larsson
Hell Gate  -  Linda Fairstein
Irish Country Girl, The  -  Patrick Taylor
Soloist, The  -  Steve Lopez
Tough Customer  -  Sandra Brown
Wrecker, The  -  Clive Cussler

Oh Happy Day

It has finally happened.  My neighbor's tree has finally been taken down.  Cleaning the gutters will be much easier because there won't be anymore leaves or "whirly-birds" in them.  There won't be a front lawn full of leaves in October.  And best of all my driveway will be free of the little whirly-birds that come down from the early spring to the early fall.  I can almost retire my leaf blower.

Visitor

       
It was becoming apparent that there would be no new posts between my annual summer reading lists of books.  Well, today a visitor ambled  past me in my back yard while reading one of those books.  It was a gopher.

2011 Summer Reading

America America by Ethan Canin

The Doomsday Key by James Rollins

The Last Summer (of You & Me) ** by Ann Brashares

The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Return to Sullivans Island by Dorothea Benton Frank

Shannon by Frank Delaney

Sun Going Down ** by Jack Todd

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs

** recommended

Goodnight Irene

With apologies to Messrs. Ledbetter and Lomax. Didn't get much sleep during the night due to the heavy rain. A little before 4, I began washing dishes, and at 4:10 there was a huge crash. It would have been louder if my windows weren't all super-sealed. There was minimal damage to my fence, but my neighbor had some major damage to his roof and side.

Tree guys came and I was curious as to how they were going to get the tree off of the house. But all they did for the five hours was trim all the small stuff. And that was impressive on its own since the day still presented huge gusts of wind that I was sure were going to bring down another tree. Maybe they'll be back tomorrow with larger equipment.

Elsewhere, the power never went off, the Cable/Internet just came back on after about 12 hours, and there was some water in the basement.

Amy

Four summers ago, I was channel surfing one night as I always do and I happened to stop on Channel 25, WNYE, a New York City public television station. They were showing a small club concert featuring a female singer I had never seen nor heard of. It was Amy Winehouse. She was an English singer with long black hair including a large bee-hive. She had back-up singers and a good sized band including a brass section! But it was the sound that caught my attention--it was refreshingly new. It was a fusion of soul, blues, and a little bit of 60's pop. When the show was over, I went to youtube and watched several other performances by Ms. Winehouse. I found out that she had two released albums, but I didn't know that she was a Grammy winner. I then went to Amazon.com and purchased her second album, "Back To Black".

Just a few weeks after receiving the CD, the first of many scandalous stories about Amy and her drinking and drug-related behavior hit the media. The stories continued for a few years, each one detailing her continued downfall from musical prominence. I always wondered if she would be able to pull herself out of her dark hole and produce another album comparable to "Back To Black". Unfortunately she would not and she died this past Saturday at the young age of 27.

No Gold Watch

In October, 2002, while working at Prudential, I was told that the jobs in my systems area would be going overseas to India (you wonder why I don't watch the show OUTSOURCED). At the time I had 19 years with the company and they were nice enough to "bridge" my years of service to 20. When I turned 55, I became eligible to collect a pension, and I finally decided to do so this winter.

Today, on February 1st, my first pension check was direct-deposited into my banking account. It feels good to be retired, even though I'll still be working 50-60 hours a week as a teacher/coach at my high school.

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!!!!!

Farewell, Old Friend

He came to me a few years ago in a small box in the mail. It was a promotional offer to try the new Gillette Fusion. I had always been happy with my little blue Gillette plastic throw-aways with their twin blades, but the new Fusion had FIVE blades. I threw it in the cabinet under the sink anyway.

Then this past summer as my supply of little blues was almost gone, I decided to open up the Fusion and give it a try. I wish I could remember the exact day that I did so. It must have been in July because I don't remember taking it to Wellsboro in June. Anyway, two blades had nothing on five.

And everyday, that Fusion did a bang up job on keeping my face smooth as silk. But now four months later, the efficiency of the Fusion had finally run its course. It was time to go back to the plastic blues. Farewell, Old Friend, and Thank You for so many great shaves.

(This is NOT a hint for a Christmas Gift of Fusions!)

The Worst Days of My Life

October 16, 1962

October 13, 1973

April 20, 1975

May 30, 1975

June 15, 1977

October 18, 1977

October 17, 1978

January 4, 1980

January 5, 1988

October 26, 1996

October 21, 1998

October 27, 1999

May 6, 2000

October 26, 2000

September 3, 2002

May 10, 2007

And now....November 4, 2009