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

3rd Annual Summer Reading List

American Lion by Jon Meacham

Before I Wake * by Robert Wiersema

Bones To Ashes * by Kathy Reichs

Goldengrove * by Francine Prose

Good Grief * by Lolly Winston

Lake News * by Barbara Delinsky

A Little Bit Ruined by Patty Friedmann

Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Self-Defense by Jonathan Kellerman

Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith

Can't believe that I've had this blog that long.

* denotes that it was a good read

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

Summer Review

FAMILY

Hi - Got to spend a few days with the Illinois side of the family in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Also spent some time helping out my niece and her husband painting a lot of rooms in their new extension.

Low - None

HEALTHCARE

Hi - Now that I'm at that age, the summer was spent taking care of some needed procedures as well as a chipped tooth at the dentist's. The "backdoor" procedure was clean as a whistle and the "frontdoor" one revealed only a minor blip that is being monitored.

Low - The total cost of everything was astronomical. Obama and Congress better clean up health care costs and strengthen insurance plans or else I will be looking for a summer job from now on to offset costs. Now I know why mothers always want their daughters to marry doctors.

GARDEN/WEATHER

Hi - The weather this summer was very pleasant albeit a bit rainy. There were very few 90+ and humid days.

Low - The lack of sun and overabundance of rain resulted in a disappointing crop. Tomatoes were late and pepper and eggplant plants took forever to reach full maturity.

CAR

Hi - My Toyota reached its four year anniversary in early August. It had 61,370 miles and it still runs good.

Low - I took it in for a 60,000 miles check-up. The majority of the work was the brakes and the majority of the bill was the labor. If your daughters can't find a doctor or a lawyer, then marry a mechanic.

RUNNING/COACHING

Hi - I finally got my running stamina up to about 3+ miles a day at a good pace. The good groove was an impetus for a better diet and some weight loss. I also ran in my first race in about 14 years.

Low - There will be no coaching Cross Country this fall. And the chronic aches and pains of old age along with sore hammys resulted in many lost days of running. Lost days were followed by runner's depression, weight gain, and more trips to Burger World for fat-boy breakfasts.

SPORTS

Hi - Watching the IAAF World Championships (Track & Field) in Berlin for a whole week. It was like watching nine days of the Olympics without every other lame event or sappy "up-close-and-personal" stories. It was just plain old running and nothing else.

Low - The return of Yankee dominance in the major leagues. They currently have the best record in baseball. Who will stop them? Please, someone!!