Another day ...
Things just keep rolling along.
I would like to understand how some things happen. I am watching a new animated series on tv that for the life of me, I cannot understand HOW this ever came to be.
It is terrible. Not even remotely funny...how the hell did this thing ever make it on the air? How do these things happen?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
I should have posted this closer to the actual occurrence but this was one of those moments that needed to swirl around in my brain to filter through the layers before I wrote about it.
Over Memorial Day weekend this year, my adult niece and I, along with a friend, flew to New York for the annual Fleet Week observance. This is where various naval ships from various countries come into port, and the sailors are cut loose for shore leave in the Big Apple.
To sum it up concisely; its a blast!
On Sunday, May 30th, we decided to go "itinerary-less", and started out with doing the obligatory Staten Island ferry ride. From there, we started shopping like there was no tomorrow, which was factually true, because it WAS our last day in NYC.
Well...my niece had found her a few great little dresses in the Village the day before, which naturally meant it was time for SHOES!
We walked all over Manhattan...not just to shop but just to sight see. In so doing, we hit the Diamond District. This is a city block or two stretch right near Rockefeller Center that is loaded to the gills with diamond stores. If you have the money & the stomach for dealing, very good deals can be found!
Over Memorial Day weekend this year, my adult niece and I, along with a friend, flew to New York for the annual Fleet Week observance. This is where various naval ships from various countries come into port, and the sailors are cut loose for shore leave in the Big Apple.
To sum it up concisely; its a blast!
On Sunday, May 30th, we decided to go "itinerary-less", and started out with doing the obligatory Staten Island ferry ride. From there, we started shopping like there was no tomorrow, which was factually true, because it WAS our last day in NYC.
Well...my niece had found her a few great little dresses in the Village the day before, which naturally meant it was time for SHOES!
We walked all over Manhattan...not just to shop but just to sight see. In so doing, we hit the Diamond District. This is a city block or two stretch right near Rockefeller Center that is loaded to the gills with diamond stores. If you have the money & the stomach for dealing, very good deals can be found!
Well....she started looking at some diamond ear rings, just for the sake of looking. We went from $1,500 for the pair to where they were about $400, mostly cause the store we were in was actually TWO competing counters/merchants. They basically got into a price war over the ear rings...lol....and it was really funny.
Each of them had a big calculator that they would key in their "offer", and discretely flash the price to you so that the other merchant couldn't see. It was interesting as to how quick the price came down from $1500 to the $400.
As we turned the corner onto 5th Avenue, lo & behold, there was the Aldo store my niece was looking for!
Now if you want the visual definition of "surreal", walking into that store was it...
It was huge, and jammed packed with hundreds of women on a similar mission as my niece...to find that perfect pair of shoes to match whatever outfit needed it. The place was a gleaming white marble zoo designed to make the most fashion-hating working class blue collar man go to being a gay fashion maven in 30 seconds or less.
And since New York public buildings do NOT believe in a true working air condition system for their patrons, the place was a very toasty m
uggy stale stack of air....with piles of shoes to fight over.I plopped down onto an ottoman/bench while my niece dove head first into the shoe smorgasbord.
And then it happened....
This store, which had one helluva numero uno sound system built in ( no a/c but stereo out the wazoo.....) starts to throb with the ethereal music musings of Lady Gaga singing "Dance in the Dark". For whatever reason, I had never heard this song before. But I can assure you of this, it is now forever liked to my mental image of that store filled with all kinds of people brought together by whatever muse of fashion was working at the register in the Karma Department that day.
All I can say is that it was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end!
Friday, May 07, 2010
Well....another short night has passed and I am ready to face another Friday at work.
I guess its part of the aging process. Over the last few years, I'm finding that I fall asleep around 11 PM each night, and wake up at 4:30 AM. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is because I experience this on weekends and holidays, and even when on vacation.
I just don't sleep much anymore. I don't feel terribly tired or sleepy during the day, but the biggest regret I have is about something I have no control over.
That is....the terrible lack of programming on satellite tv after midnight and before 6 AM every night.
THERE IS NOTHING ON!
Every channel is filled with "paid programming". Isn't that kind of redundant to begin with? After all, a customer PAYS for their cable/satellite to begin with, so the programming is "paid" for initially by the customer.
I know...I know....the companies are double dipping revenues. But I do not buy their argument ( Hell...I already buy their transmissions....) that this helps keep consumer costs down.
Sorry...I don't fall that easily.
With the satellite providers, other than the cost of the initial equipment, not much maintenance is involved. No wires...right?
So...Mr. or Ms. Satellite/Cable Provider...quit ripping us off! Give us some decent high def programming and quit taking us for a ride!
I guess its part of the aging process. Over the last few years, I'm finding that I fall asleep around 11 PM each night, and wake up at 4:30 AM. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is because I experience this on weekends and holidays, and even when on vacation.
I just don't sleep much anymore. I don't feel terribly tired or sleepy during the day, but the biggest regret I have is about something I have no control over.
That is....the terrible lack of programming on satellite tv after midnight and before 6 AM every night.
THERE IS NOTHING ON!
Every channel is filled with "paid programming". Isn't that kind of redundant to begin with? After all, a customer PAYS for their cable/satellite to begin with, so the programming is "paid" for initially by the customer.
I know...I know....the companies are double dipping revenues. But I do not buy their argument ( Hell...I already buy their transmissions....) that this helps keep consumer costs down.
Sorry...I don't fall that easily.
With the satellite providers, other than the cost of the initial equipment, not much maintenance is involved. No wires...right?
So...Mr. or Ms. Satellite/Cable Provider...quit ripping us off! Give us some decent high def programming and quit taking us for a ride!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I admit I watch far too much television at times, but who in America doesn't?
Its relatively cheap, it lets you go mindless for an evening, and its "comfort" food for a mushy brain.
I like to watch a variety of things, and I do like to stay abreast of whatever is the "it thing" at the current time.
"Nurse Jackie" is a real hoot. I love "Drop Dead Diva", and "Project Runway" helps fill the gap most of the time.
"True Blood" on HBO is GREAT!
But....
I DETEST "Treme" on HBO.
There...I said it. I am a traitor to the state of Louisiana! I can never set foot in New Orleans again. Not without hanging my head in great shame and wearing sackcloth with ashes upon my forehead.
I simply do not like the show. I find it "slow", and to be very honest, way too predictable. However, especially after the third episode of the first season, what really concerns me is the divisiveness the show seems to be causing in Louisiana. By this I mean the resentment by New Orleanians to the people of Baton Rouge that it is bringing to the surface.
I've been following the posting in the Times Picayune's website about the show, and I was totally blown away by the really hostile sentiments being posted there by New Orleanians about Baton Rouge and its citizens over what really appears to be perceived slights to New Orleanians in the days, weeks and months after Katrina.
No one can ever understand what those who remained in the city underwent when Katrina hit in August 2005, except for themselves. No one can ever fault the survivors of Katrina anywhere on the Gulf coast for feeling such loss after all they went through, and the loss of precious lives and the disruption of their lives then and as long as they live.
But...
They were given assistance immediately from their neighbors throughout the state of Louisiana,and their friends all along the Gulf coast. Thousands from outside the New Orleans area opened their hearts, their homes, and their pocketbooks to begin to start the rebuilding process then and for the five years that have passed since the storm hit. I personally gave a lot of my personal life to the rescue effort in the immediate week after the storm, and I have never regretted a minute of it. And I saw countless others from around the state doing the same...
And just a few short weeks after Katrina spent its fury on the New Orleans area and the Gulf Coast, a great number of those same people who gave so much to help the Katrina effort, were put under the barrel of a second devastating storm named Rita. A great number of people in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas suffered great losses in that storm, and yet I am willing to bet people in the New Orleans area today probably can't even name that storm, or any of the area that was devastated by Hurricane Rita.
Which is why I am at a loss as to the outright hostility that I am seeing come out of the New Orleans area directed towards those of us that did so much then and are continuing to do so.
I really do not think those feelings were ever deserved, and I am very disappointed to see the vitriol being expressed now.
Its relatively cheap, it lets you go mindless for an evening, and its "comfort" food for a mushy brain.
I like to watch a variety of things, and I do like to stay abreast of whatever is the "it thing" at the current time.
"Nurse Jackie" is a real hoot. I love "Drop Dead Diva", and "Project Runway" helps fill the gap most of the time.
"True Blood" on HBO is GREAT!
But....
I DETEST "Treme" on HBO.
There...I said it. I am a traitor to the state of Louisiana! I can never set foot in New Orleans again. Not without hanging my head in great shame and wearing sackcloth with ashes upon my forehead.
I simply do not like the show. I find it "slow", and to be very honest, way too predictable. However, especially after the third episode of the first season, what really concerns me is the divisiveness the show seems to be causing in Louisiana. By this I mean the resentment by New Orleanians to the people of Baton Rouge that it is bringing to the surface.
I've been following the posting in the Times Picayune's website about the show, and I was totally blown away by the really hostile sentiments being posted there by New Orleanians about Baton Rouge and its citizens over what really appears to be perceived slights to New Orleanians in the days, weeks and months after Katrina.
No one can ever understand what those who remained in the city underwent when Katrina hit in August 2005, except for themselves. No one can ever fault the survivors of Katrina anywhere on the Gulf coast for feeling such loss after all they went through, and the loss of precious lives and the disruption of their lives then and as long as they live.
But...
They were given assistance immediately from their neighbors throughout the state of Louisiana,and their friends all along the Gulf coast. Thousands from outside the New Orleans area opened their hearts, their homes, and their pocketbooks to begin to start the rebuilding process then and for the five years that have passed since the storm hit. I personally gave a lot of my personal life to the rescue effort in the immediate week after the storm, and I have never regretted a minute of it. And I saw countless others from around the state doing the same...
And just a few short weeks after Katrina spent its fury on the New Orleans area and the Gulf Coast, a great number of those same people who gave so much to help the Katrina effort, were put under the barrel of a second devastating storm named Rita. A great number of people in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas suffered great losses in that storm, and yet I am willing to bet people in the New Orleans area today probably can't even name that storm, or any of the area that was devastated by Hurricane Rita.
Which is why I am at a loss as to the outright hostility that I am seeing come out of the New Orleans area directed towards those of us that did so much then and are continuing to do so.
I really do not think those feelings were ever deserved, and I am very disappointed to see the vitriol being expressed now.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Its time for my annual ( almost...) posting!
It is a sunny Saturday morning. The birds that have built a nest in my living room eaves are loud and raucous this morning. I wonder if I could let the ladder down and the cat could ACCIDENTALLY climb the stairs? I honestly would not do that, but I do remember my grandparents doing just that 30 years ago when a bird built a nest in their attic.
As barbaric as modern standards would find that, it was very effective.
It is a sunny Saturday morning. The birds that have built a nest in my living room eaves are loud and raucous this morning. I wonder if I could let the ladder down and the cat could ACCIDENTALLY climb the stairs? I honestly would not do that, but I do remember my grandparents doing just that 30 years ago when a bird built a nest in their attic.
As barbaric as modern standards would find that, it was very effective.
Monday, January 18, 2010
This I do not understand...
When you go to a certain mega-market ( That Which Name Cannot Be Spoken But Is on Every Corner), it is inevitable that you will see weird things. At the least, you will see things that can't easily be explained.
Lately, I can't get over how people are using ( or rather....misusing...) shopping carts when going through the store. I mean, come on...how difficult is it to properly use a shopping cart? You would think that anyone can figure out that using a cart means walking behind it, PUSHING the cart, and putting things you intend to purchase IN the cart. I mean....isn't that why there are handles/grips back there?
Well, this Sunday as I went through the store, I realized that I must have missed the memo/email that the instruction manuals for shopping carts must have been changed. To save everyone time, I've gone ahead and saved them here for all to read.
New Rules for Using the Shopping Cart:
1) Walk alongside the cart steering with one hand only. Not only does this increase the chance of the cart careening all over the aisle mowing down hapless innocent shoppers, you get the added mental boost of knowing that YOU OWN the damned aisle!
2) Walk in FRONT of the cart, tugging it along. Keep in mind that you surrender the mowing down of shoppers as in #1, but with this method when you suddeny see an item ACROSS the aisle that you want, you can abruptly yank that cart across the aisle at a 45 degree angle , block the entire aisle while you reach up and...well...hell, never mind. Thats NOT the item you thought it was...
3) Do a hybrid of #1 & #2... sorta walk alongside but further up the cart, and CARRY items in your arms rather than put it in the cart. No need to overburden the poor dear!
And gawd forbid that these same people try to use the self-checkout aisles.....
When you go to a certain mega-market ( That Which Name Cannot Be Spoken But Is on Every Corner), it is inevitable that you will see weird things. At the least, you will see things that can't easily be explained.
Lately, I can't get over how people are using ( or rather....misusing...) shopping carts when going through the store. I mean, come on...how difficult is it to properly use a shopping cart? You would think that anyone can figure out that using a cart means walking behind it, PUSHING the cart, and putting things you intend to purchase IN the cart. I mean....isn't that why there are handles/grips back there?
Well, this Sunday as I went through the store, I realized that I must have missed the memo/email that the instruction manuals for shopping carts must have been changed. To save everyone time, I've gone ahead and saved them here for all to read.
New Rules for Using the Shopping Cart:
1) Walk alongside the cart steering with one hand only. Not only does this increase the chance of the cart careening all over the aisle mowing down hapless innocent shoppers, you get the added mental boost of knowing that YOU OWN the damned aisle!
2) Walk in FRONT of the cart, tugging it along. Keep in mind that you surrender the mowing down of shoppers as in #1, but with this method when you suddeny see an item ACROSS the aisle that you want, you can abruptly yank that cart across the aisle at a 45 degree angle , block the entire aisle while you reach up and...well...hell, never mind. Thats NOT the item you thought it was...
3) Do a hybrid of #1 & #2... sorta walk alongside but further up the cart, and CARRY items in your arms rather than put it in the cart. No need to overburden the poor dear!
And gawd forbid that these same people try to use the self-checkout aisles.....
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
I really need to get a little better about this. Going months without posting anything is not the way its supposed to be.
I just read a friend of mine's blog about her triplets. She has only really been doing it a few months, but hers is SO much more interesting than mine could ever be. I used to be so much more proficient in writing than I am now.
I just read a friend of mine's blog about her triplets. She has only really been doing it a few months, but hers is SO much more interesting than mine could ever be. I used to be so much more proficient in writing than I am now.