Category: Uncategorized


>More on Today

>With all the running around Saturday I forgot to go to the library. Sunday I had to catch the train before it opened. Today someone from the library called me. It was in response to an e-mail I sent about being on the waiting list for a book I requested. Apparently since Beacon owns the book, and I am picking the book up in Beacon, that puts me on a ‘preferred list’. I’m second on that list, I will probably still have to wait a few weeks for the book, but I have all the other books I requested, which I forgot to get on Saturday.

During the course of the conversation she mentioned my books needed to be picked up today or they would be sent back. “GULP” There was no way I could get there before they closed. Even though I felt horrible today and wanted to come home early, I wasn’t sure I could get anyone to come get me or take me to the library afterwards. She did me a ‘favor’ (I think) by checking them out for me and I will just be able to pick them up tomorrow. I have a couple of theories why, one being I don’t know how much work it is for them to take the books off the shelf and send them back or two, of all the books I have requested, this is the first time I haven’t been it to get them. Anyway, hopefully I will able to get my books tomorrow.

>Yes, I am somewhat of a pessimist so I was wondering how long it would take for me to fall behind in my writing and here it is the 10th of January and I only have 8 posts for the year. I need to do better. I think part of the problem is I start thinking about all I have to do, I have to write in this blog, I have to write a review of ‘The Flight of the Sorceress’, I have to write a review of ‘Woo Lae Oak’. When I start thinking of all those things, I get a headache and have to go lie down. Excuse me for a moment.

Saturday Gwen and I went to see Yogi Bear. I didn’t really want to, but I promised her I would. It was entertaining. My mindset was that it wasn’t going to be a great movie. So I wasn’t expecting more then it was. Gwen actually helped me with that, she asked me, “Is this like Looney Tunes? A movie that’s just funny, no real plot?” And when I said yes she nodded her head, “That’s o.k., I like Looney Tunes.” I do too, except I don’t have to pay for Looney Tunes!

Sunday I went to the city to meet Em. I had made an appointment at Halo, the salt air place.

Halo Air Salt Rooms
An Alternative Treatment for Respiratory and Skin Discomforts.

There is more information on their website, click on the name Halo and you will go there. It’s a safe link, I put it there myself. I always check links before I publish my posts.

Then we went to the Korean Restaurant, Woo Lae Oak, which I had a coupon for. Very good, but very expensive. I haven’t written my review yet, it will be up hopefully within the week. Then we came home. I went to the store and Em mopped the floor which meant I had to take my boots off when I came inside and then I forgot them so this morning I had to run upstairs to leave. I still made the train but forgot my food, so I was in a pretty bad way today. Back to last night.

Fred was downloading Beatles songs. He wanted to get the whole box set, but can’t afford it right now. So he was downloading the songs, then playing them and dancing to them. In all it made for a fun end to a day that started out pretty crappy.

>Did you know?

>You can borrow e-books. I knew you could borrow them for the Kindle, but I didn’t know about other e-readers (I have a Sony e-reader). So I started looking around on my library site and yes, they offer e-books for borrowing. You download them like you download audio books. Unfortunately, the book I mentioned in the last post is not available for borrowing as an e-book, just as an audio book.

Then I wondered if there were other places you could borrow e-books so I googled it and found an article in the NY Times. It even has links to places you can borrow e-books, such as the NYPL. They don’t have Room available as an e-book either, just as an audio book. So I am stuck waiting for the ‘hard copy’ to become available.

I also wanted to mention that I tried to post about going to the library last night, but for some reason Blogger wasn’t working. That is why I have two posts right in a row here.

>Someone recommended this book to me. I am not recommending this book, I have not read it yet. This is the summary of the book.

Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue
To five-year-old Jack Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it’s where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack but to Ma it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination ingenuity and fierce motherly love Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it’s not enough…not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan one that relies on her young son’s bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work. Told entirely in the language of the energetic pragmatic five-year-old Jack ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

I have read another book by Emma Donoghue called Slammerkin.

There were some other books I wanted to read so I went online and requested them from the library. I got e-mails about the other books but not this one so I checked on it. Apparently, I was not the only one that got a recommendation about this book. There were something like 76 requests, but only 34 books. I got the bright idea that maybe the NYPL (New York Public Library) would have it. So I went online there and put in a request, there were 93 requests but more books. So I requested it. I was told I couldn’t put a hold on the book, there was ‘something wrong’ with my card. My card expired on 1/1/2011 and I had to renew it in person at the library. Oh crap. Now when was I going to be able to do that?

As it turned out, Wednesday morning my alarm didn’t go off. Stitch told me he wasn’t sure if this was the Wednesday I worked or was off so he didn’t wake me. I got ready and he took me to the train station, but I told my boss I would be in at noon and used the extra time to go to the library. After I renewed my card, I went on the computer and put a hold on the book. I stopped to chat with two very nice ladies that work/volunteer at the library and told them what I had done. One of them said, “You know they’ll both come in at the same time.” Then there was a flash and they started to look around, “Someone is using a flash.” Flash photography is not permitted in the library. So I asked them if they want me to go hit the person with my cane. To which one replied, “YES! VERY HARD!” Nice to know I’m not the only mean old lady.

>I have no idea

>Why do I procrastinate? It is never a good idea. I procrastinate at work and instead of one pile of work to do, now I have three. Three very large piles of paperwork that has to get done.

Writing here is also one of those things. I even had an idea of what I wanted to write, I had a couple of ideas. When I came downstairs, I turned on my computer and put Sims3 in. (Sims3 is the devil you know) Then I turned it off after my girl got pregnant, but I didn’t save it cause I really didn’t want her to have a baby. But I still didn’t come here, I started reading posts on other forums I am a member of, when I finally came to this blog, instead of signing in and typing my blog I scroll down to my blog roll and started reading the recent posts.

Of course by the time I got here, I had completely forgotten what I was going to say. Something about Twitter and Facebook and Sept. 11, 2001.

So you can blame my crappy writing on my procrastination, don’t blame it on the fact that I have been up since 4:45 after only getting 3 hours sleep. I need a nap. Unfortunately, that’s all I will get before I have to go back to work.

>Sims 3

>Is a computer game, called Sims because it is a game that simulates something. DUH! In this case it simulates life. You create families, or you can use the ones that come with the game.

Recently it was on sale at Target so I bought it. I put off for a long time because of the price, it was $50 for a long time and because I tend to play such games for hours and hours. Just a tad obsessive. I promised myself I wouldn’t do it this time. So now I have 11 minutes to finish typing this post so I keep my word that I will post everyday. This is not the post I intended to write. I also was going to go to Target and get oatmeal. So Sims is sucking me in.

Also, I got the app for Words with Friends and am playing that with some people from Twitter. I am losing quite spectacularly.

What else was I going to say? Oh yes, D and Tigger are going to Vegas tomorrow. In order to make life easy for them, I am getting up at 4:45 a.m. so I can catch the 5:32 train so Stitch can drive them to the airport. I’m not really wonderful, I just want to have breakfast at Starbucks in the morning since I forgot to get oatmeal.

>A New Start

>This is not a new blog I know, I have writing here for 4 years and I have made 1,160 entries. But if you look at my archives, which you don’t have to ’cause I’m going to tell you. Last year (2009) I had over 400 entries, this year I had less then 200. I don’t know why exactly. Maybe I have been spreading myself too thin with Facebook and Twitter etc.

It has got to stop, I like writing and the more I write the more I have to say. I always thought that if I wrote down everything I thought about, eventually I would run out of things to say. The exact opposite happens, as I write, more thoughts come to me. So I have come to the decision to get back to writing here. My goal is to try at least a post a day. I am trying to start today, because if I start tomorrow, that would make it a New Year’s Resolution and I don’t do those.

>This has been a stressful year. I am not sure I am ready to welcome 2011, but I am definitely ready to say goodbye to 2010.

On the surface things didn't look too bad, but the underlying stresses of the many things that happened have taken their toll and I am tired. My best friend's husband had surgery for prostate cancer. She's my best friend so what affects her affects me.

Plus she had her own health problems and possibility of surgery to remove a goiter. She didn't have to have it, but my sister-in-law did. Of course no one in my family could be bothered to tell me until after the fact.

Then the governor said he wanted to lay people off. Then he said he wouldn't, then he said 'surprise! I was just kidding we are going to fire people.' Does anybody wonder why I made the hashtag 'govdaveisanidiot'?

This year is over and I am more than ready to say goodbye to 2010. I only hope and pray that 2011 is kinder to us. By us I mean me and all my friends who suffered in 2010.

Sent from my iPod

>December 8, 1980

>

Detail of the Dakota

30 years ago most of the USA heard the announcement by one of the most famous sports announcer on what to some was the most popular sports show, Monday Night Football on ABC. It’s still playing. Frank Gifford had just offered a bit of color commentary on the play that had just been run when Howard Cosell interrupted him…

“Yes, we have to say it. Remember, this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City… John Lennon, outside his apartment building on the west side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all the Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take.”

Link to Howard Cosell announcement

Lennon’s death lingers for those who were there

Em and I were going to go to Strawberry Fields. D was going to be out of town and she was going to take the day off. His plans changed, so ours did. I have to settle for this tribute on my blog.

Capital Punishment

Capital punishment does not always mean the death penalty. In New York capital punishment is life in prison. In Connecticut capital punishment is death. I have always been, and will always be opposed to the death penalty. This is my personal opinion, it is not a political stand or a religious belief. My religion states that a government has the right to put a citizen to death.

Every once in while a case comes along that tests some people’s opposition to the death penalty. Such as the home invasion of the Petit family in Cheshire, Conn., on the morning of July 23, 2007, which left Dr. William A. Petit Jr. severely beaten. His wife and daughters were brutally murdered.

Steven J. Hayes is one of the men apprehended by police for this crime, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. But he will not die for years, if ever. Death penalty convictions carry with them automatic appeals. This is one of the reasons I am not in favor of them.

An article in the NYT talks about a new thing that is being included in the appeals. A service I not only know and love but some say am seriously addicted to. Twitter.

Cheshire Appeal Will Point to Twitter Here is a sentence from the article:

“One of the most provocative is that the intense reporting on the trial — including mainstream reporters’ extensive use of Twitter — created a “circus atmosphere” and such widespread, instant saturation with inflammatory details that the jury was improperly swayed by public passions.”

This sentence led me to tweet the following:

Steven J. Hayes is a child-raping murdering dirtbag scum of the earth that deserves to be tortured. Is that provocative enough for you?

It was provocative, it generated this response: “woah .. tell us how you really feel !!! ~ @blair33185

@blair33185 I think they should put him in a jail cell with hardened criminals that are fathers of 11 year old girls.

What I didn’t say is I would really like him to have “Child Rapist” tattooed on his forehead and then have him put in General Population at Sing Sing. But he wasn’t convicted in New York, so he’ll be in some sissified Connecticut jail until he gets a needle in his arm, if that ever happens.

Yes that is a little harsh. But will Dr. Petit really get closure from Mr. Hayes death? Will it bring back his wife and daughters? Will it make the pain of losing them any less intense? I think not. The only thing that will heal his pain to get his wife and girls back.

It’s not a perfect world, if it was a perfect world, men like Steven Hayes wouldn’t exist. Women and girls wouldn’t have to worry about being raped and murdered. So we have to settle for hoping that he and his partner never walk the streets of any state again whether in prison for the rest of their lives or with their lives snuffed out by the state of Connecticut.