Still Pissed

I haven't blogged much lately. Mostly it's because I am too lazy. I'd rather be on facebook or playing games on Pogo.

Also, it's because I am still pissed off. I'm especially pissed that there is a republican in office where Ted Kennedy was. Really, what were those voters in Massachusetts thinking?

The polls all say that the Masshole voters are upset with the slow process of getting us out of the mess from when that Idiot Bush was in office.

What I want to know is this: Why weren't you people pissed off for the 8 years that Bush was ruining our country and the world?

So, I'm still pissed. Not at Obama, I'm giving him as much time as he needs to get this effing mess fixed. I think he's doing all that is humanly possible seeing that our economy was on the brink of collapse when he was elected.

Warning, I'll probably post on the blog again soon and I'll still be pissed.

Bridge Woes

Talked to an engineer with the town today and, unless there is a miracle of money, the bridge will be completely out until sometime next spring. The town has started working on the steel frame, but the decking will not be put on until after April 15th of next year.

Yes, that means Patrick won't be able to walk over it to get to work. So now he will have to ride his bike over a mile in the dark both ways to work because of a 20 foot span.

I'm pissed about this. Finally, finally I had him in the perfect location. This took years and many moves and much money (mine, not his) and now he's back to riding his bike on dark windy roads with no lighting.

Tomorrow, I will go over and check this bridge situation out and see what the options are! There has to be a better, safer way for him to get to work besides me taking him and picking him up each day, which would be impossible to do on some days. Geez, I'm really pissed. Just about takes all the enjoyment out of the fact that we've had a dead end for months.

Bridge Work

I knew this day would come, but I was sure hoping it would be later.

They're fixing the bridge! The wonderful, broken bridge that has made my road a dead end since May 1st!!

When the bridge was first closed, I was upset. But after a day of realizing that barely any cars were coming down the road, I was in heaven.

I heard some noise from there today and thought that maybe work had started. Patrick confirmed it when he got home from work. He had to ride all the way around. Probably over a mile instead of just a few feet.

Let's hope now that they fix the bridge quickly so that Patrick won't have to ride the loooong way to and from work in the dark! Because, yes, of course, now that we've moved the clocks back it's dark in the morning when he goes into work and dark when he gets out of work.

And the whole reason for moving here was so that he would no longer have to ride his bike in the dark!! So much for the best laid plans.

Is This Less True Now?

I was watching VH1 Classics tonight, which is something that I do quite often. They show concerts and I watched a John Lennon concert from the early 70's.

One of the songs that he sang was his "Woman Is The N-word Of The World" and the audio cut out when he sang the N-word. He stated before he began to sing and play that "Yoko had said this to me in 1968 and it took me until 1970 to dig it" or something to that effect.

I honestly don't know what to think about that. It's such an awful word. I think I remember that the song was banned in some places...

Mostly I wondered what John Lennon would think of that? Would he be upset that his artistic message was changed by the omission? Or would he be glad that his song about women's subservience to men was still making people think, and who cares that it's been changed?

Either way, I thought many years ago that it was a song with a powerful message and I still feel the same way.


Woman is the Nigger of the World
John Lennon

Woman is the nigger of the world
Yes she is...think about it
Woman is the nigger of the world
Think about it...do something about it

We make her paint her face and dance
If she won’t be slave, we say that she don’t love us
If she’s real, we say she’s trying to be a man
While putting her down we pretend that she is above us

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you don’t belive me take a look to the one you’re with

Woman is the slaves of the slaves
Ah yeah...better scream about it
We make her bear and raise our children
And then we leave her flat for being a fat old mother then
We tell her home is the only place she would be
Then we complain that she’s too unworldly to be our friend

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you don’t belive me take a look to the one you’re with
Woman is the slaves of the slaves
Yeah (think about it)

We insult her everyday on TV
And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
When she’s young we kill her will to be free
While telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumb

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you don’t belive me take a look to the one you’re with
Woman is the slaves of the slaves
Yes she is...if you belive me, you better scream about it.

We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance

Blah

blah

Seasonal Flu

Here are some healthy habits that everyone can follow to avoid the spread of germs this flu season:

- Frequently wash hands with soap and water, or an alcohol-based cleanser

- Refrain from touching the eyes, nose or mouth - the virus can only be caught in the membranes of these body parts

- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze and dispose it in the trash

- Cough into your elbow or tissue

- Avoid contact with people affected with cold and flu

- Use a germ-killing disinfectant to clean surfaces

- Stay home from school or work if you become infected with the flu

This info should also help to keep the H1N1 swine flu away.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Bill Maher wrote a column for the Huffington Post that was right on target - all about just how stupid so many Americans are.

I know, I know, but as I've said many times; Stupidity Should Be Painful.

Funny, though maybe that's why I'm always in pain. HaH!

Just wish I didn't care so much and could get away from watching and living the news.

Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html

Life Sucks

Fatty's wife Susan died on the 5th and he has written a beautiful tribute to her. She was very brave and spent over 5 years battling this awful disease called cancer.

With all of the truly awful and horrible people in the world, I have just one question. Why?

Why a nice woman with 4 young kids? Why not that guy in Pawtucket who is accused of raping his 4 month old daughter. Why can't cancer find him and make him suffer for 5 years or even 10 years?

I realize that I will never understand everything that happens, but it sure would be nice to know why every now and then.

You can find and read his blog in the column on the right of this page.

Take A Minute

On the right side of this posting you will see a list of blogs that I follow. I've never met most of these people, but because they blog, I know them.

Stop by for a minute, if you can, and visit with Fatty at Fat Cyclist. His wife is desperately ill with cancer and isn't going to be with him and their 4 kids for much longer. Any words of encouragement you can give him will surely help him to get through this unimaginable time.

If no words come, that's okay and certainly not unusual. At the very least your problems will pale in comparison, as mine do.

Vacation Over

Bob and Don have now arrived safely back home in NY and once they get over the 8+ hour ride home, I hope they have time to think about what a good time we all had. Bob drives a late model Cadillac and I got to drive several times over the past few days which was quite a change from my car, I can tell you.

When I bought the Volvo new it had quite a few bells and whistles on it. Since 1994, a lot more bells and whistles had been invented and Bob has them all in his car. There's a compass in the rear view mirror. A dinging bell to alert you if you've left the blinker on (which I think should be mandatory on all cars!) The passenger side mirror turns down towards the curb when you put the car in reverse. There's lots of others things, I just can't think of them now.


Here's Bob and Don outside my house last night. I caught them by surprise and got a good shot, I think. Don sure likes to read. He always had a book, newspaper or travel guide handy.

Much of their visit was spent driving around (when we weren't eating, that is) as there had been a lot of changes since Bob moved away in 1997. The entire downtown area had changed. The Westin, Prov Place Mall and, especially, the highways. There have even been a lot of changes since I was in the city on a regular basis just 3 years ago!

We took a ride by Bob's old house and I decided to post a picture of it to keep all this info together. This was a gorgeous fixer upper which Bob and Richard worked on for years. Had many a good time in that house, I can assure you. It's where I learned to use a mouse also.

Bob and Don had a day without me as I needed to stay home and sleep on Friday. They went to Newport and did a tour of The Elms and then went to Theater by the Sea for dinner and a show.

On July 4th, we headed to Narragansett to Iggy's for chowda and clamcakes, clam strips and fish and chips. It was a gorgeous day and the line wasn't bad at all. When we got back to my house we watched A Knights Tale, which was pretty good. They headed to Bugaboo Creek for dinner and I skipped dinner that night.

Yesterday was shopping and the ocean for the guys, then a return trip to Apsara's for dinner, a cruise through RW Park and back to my house for our goodbyes.

I had a really great time. I knew that I had missed Bob all those years and having him around reminded me of the great conversations that we've always had. Now that he's got his TMobile phone, we can talk free, so there are many more great conversations in our future!

Vacation Continues

My trust in human-kind has been restored.

Pete, the Volvo parts guy who I met through Craig's List, came through for me with the catalytic converter. Whew, is all I can say. I didn't think he would take the money and run and I was very glad that he didn't think of it either!

It is now being safely stored in the back hall of my house.

Our "gastrointestinal" tour of Rhode Island continued yesterday with Bob and his nephew Don. We went to Caserta Pizzeria for lunch - having had Wimpy's and a Pig in the Blanket. We also made a quick stop at Palmieri's Bakery so Bob could get his favorite pepper and wine biscuits.

We headed to Woonsocket to pick up the car part and on the way home stopped at Pearl's Candy and Nut shop in North Smithfield. OMG!!! My jaw hit the floor when we walked inside and it pretty much stayed there the entire time. Every kind of candy that you've ever had, loved or dreamt of is in that shop. All lined up so neatly literally from floor to ceiling. Bob found the pebble candy that he had wanted forever. I found the fruit nougat candies that I had been thinking of the for past several weeks (go figure) and we had a great time. Don was smart enough to stay in the car.

Bob brought some DVD's with him and when we got back to my house we watched PS I Love You which I very much enjoyed. Somewhat predictable, but very amusing and clever. Some of it was filmed in Ireland, which was just beautiful.

Last night for supper we went to Richard's Pub for calamari and a Reuben sandwich, which Bob is unable to get in the milquetoast food area of NY state where he lives.

Today, I was in a coma and didn't hear the phone when Bob called. I'm enjoying a quiet time home alone for now. Just too beat to think about going out! Having a great time though.

The Longest Storm

What is with the weather? I think we must have gotten 4 or 5 inches of rain today. The puddles in my front yard got so big they merged into a single pond. Several times. And the thunder and lightning lasted from 7 am to after 3 pm.

I really wanted (and needed) to color my hair, but I couldn't even take a shower we had so much lightning - it just wouldn't stop long enough for even a quick shower.

Chelsea slept over, so it was nice to have her here. She couldn't get over the amount of rain either!

I had dropped my car off at the mechanic's on Monday. I have been picking up parts for the car; muffler and tailpipe, headlight, blinker and a few other parts that I don't need now, but will probably need in the future. Kevin was having trouble finding a catalytic converter at a decent price. He could find a new one for $815, but I really hated to spend that much money.

I called a couple of guys that I know in MA and one of them gave me a price of $450 so Chels and I got picked up by Veronica, went to Warwick to get my car, then off to Woonsocket to give a guy I barely know $500 to pick it up for me in Worcester!!! Of course, I had to have a little chat with him before I handed over the cash, just so he knew that he was going to have plenty of trouble from me if he just took the cash and didn't get the car part. I almost hate to say it here, but I don't think he's up to anything, he does seem like a decent guy. I've met some of his kids and his wife over the last few months as I've gotten other car parts from him. So, we'll see what happens.

I haven't even gotten to the most important and best part of the day. During all of this rain and running around, my friend Bob Stevens was driving to RI from upstate NY!! It's been 12 years since we've seen each other and once I was back in Warwick, I got a call from him that he and his nephew Don had just crossed into RI from CT!! I told him that instead of heading to my house, to go straight to the motel6 since I was just down the road.

I hung out with the kids for awhile and then headed to motel6. Bob and Don were waiting right out front for me! It was so great to see Bob. A little less hair and a lot more gray, but other than that, it was my old friend. I couldn't believe that it took me years to track him down, he called when he got my note 2 months ago, planned the vacation right then and here he was!!!

I got to drive his car - a 2 year old Cadillac! It was great, so smooth after my car. On the way I asked if they had heard about the man who was kidnapped from the motel6 a couple of days ago!! We had a good laugh over that. I couldn't believe that I recommended they stay at the same place where this happened!

We headed north to Providence to go to Apsara's, an Asian restaurant that Bob and I have been talking about for the past 2 months. The food was as good as we remembered and we had a nice little feast.

Then I took Bob and Don on a quick tour of downtown, which had drastically changed since 1997! And then back to the motel6. When we pulled in there was a police car roaming the parking lot and while in the room we saw him again. When Bob walked me out to my car a few minutes later, there he was again. I was very glad to see a police presence, though Bob had said that if anyone kidnapped him, they'd give him back. I agreed, Bob is such a curmudgeon.

Remembering...

Tim Russert

It was one year ago that Tim Russert of NBC news died. One of his favorite sayings was "What A Country" and what a year this country has had. I still feel sad after a year because of the impact he had on me. His demeanor, sense of humor and integrity was something I much admired and I miss. There's a lot of press on how the mainstream media has a 'love affair' with President Obama - if Tim were still here, and I so wish he were - he would be the one journalist who would treat our President the same as he treated everyone else, with respect. Tim's wife and son have shown remarkable composure in this past year and I admire them for that.

Julia Langello

This past Thursday, the 11th, was my birthday. As I do every morning, I was looking through the obituaries at projo.com and I saw a name that I knew I would be seeing before long. Many years ago, I met Julia Langello while I was working for ADT. My job was to place a 'I've fallen and I can't get up' type unit at her home. She was 91 years old at that time and was one of the nicest, sweetest women I had ever met. She lived with her daughter who worked full time and was concerned about her mother.

When I got to their house, Julia was waiting by the door for me. I knew the moment I saw her that there was something special about her, (really, look at her picture and tell me she isn't one of the cutest grandmother type women you've ever seen) and I was so very right (for once!)

Even though she was elderly, and had lost her right eye at some time, she was a spirited woman whose mind was as sharp as a tack. She wanted the unit placed in her bedroom because she spent much of her time in there. As we sat on her bed, we chatted a bit while I set the unit up.

She told me about her family, her late husband who had died quite some time ago, and her life as it was at that time. I explained the unit to her as I plugged it in and tested it. Unlike many other seniors, she understood how it worked right away and that left some time for us to visit before I had to leave.

She called me a couple of months later and I went back to her house and swapped out the unit because it was acting up. So, we had time for another visit while I was there. A few weeks later she called me as she was trying to reach her grandaughter Melissa, who worked for ADT in Florida. I tracked Melissa down and asked her to call her grandmother. And so it went. Julia and I spoke on the phone several times over the last few years and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Whether I was helping her or just chatting with her, she was just the sweetest woman. So, I was sad to see her obituary on Thursday. Last night I deleted her number from my cell phone. She was 96 years old. I'm sure her family will miss her dreadfully. I know I do.

Ann Grady
My first real boyfriend was Eddie Grady. I met him through my best friend Beverly Sardelli's then boyfriend, Bob something. This was 1972. Eddie had long wavy hair and boy did we like to make out. No matter where we were, we were always trying to get somewhere so we could kiss. One of our favorite places was under a big shrub on the grounds of the Aldrich mansion. We loved it there because no one ever knew we were there.

I don't recall why we stopped seeing each other, but we remained friends. We saw each other in school and for years after, he would come to our house each Christmas day for a visit. He wanted to be a fireman back then and today he is Deputy Chief of the Cranston Fire Dept..

In today's projo.com obituaries was the notice of his mother's passing. I had met her a few times and, of course, as a 15-16 year old, I was scared of her. She was a single mother as Eddie's father had died when he was younger and with two daughters as well as Eddie, she had her hands full.

I have a really clear memory of going to his house one day and we were up in his room. The walls were covered with posters and he had the black-light on, the windows were covered with aluminum foil (no idea why, but it seemed to make sense back then.) We were kissing, as usual, and his mother threw open the bedroom door making us both jump and his front tooth hit my front tooth which chipped. To this day, I often think of him when I run my tongue over my tooth chip.

Shortly after 9/11/01 I won at auction, a bid on two firefighter rememberance artwork in frames. I gave one to the EG fire department and the other I delivered to Eddie's (he's called Ed now) office in Cranston. He wasn't in, but I left it for him. I'm so very sorry for their loss.

Letter To Editor And Town Officials

May 11, 2009

I was dismayed, but not surprised, when the small bridge over the Hunts River on South Road was closed on May 1st because the surface of the bridge had dropped.

Living just one house away from the bridge, I have been constantly amazed at the amount of traffic on South Road since I moved here. On a daily basis there are assorted sizes of trucks traveling through the neighborhood, many of which far exceed the capacity weight of 12,000 pounds posted on the signs at either end of the road.

I would presume that the daily traffic has taken its toll on the bridge. However, the real culprits who caused the beginning of the end of the little bridge, in my opinion, are the logging trucks that National Grid used when removing hundreds of trees to make way for the power lines that were added in the fall of 2007. The logging company cut a wide swath of trees all the way down to South County for the high voltage wiring that was installed at the end of this massive project.

On a daily basis, once the tree cutting was started, empty logging trucks would travel over the bridge, line up on South Road, right in front of my house, and wait to be filled with the cut trees. Then, once their trucks were filled, they would then travel right back over that bridge. I can’t even imagine the weight of one of those logging trucks empty, never mind once they were loaded with trees.

During that same time, National Grid was also trucking in large railroad ties that were laid down in the marsh areas and used as temporary roads for the other heavy equipment that was used to install the huge stanchions that the wiring was eventually added to. These railroad ties looked to be approximately 12" x 12" and they were very long. I’m sure the weight of moving them in and then out again put much added stress on the bridge.

Now, having read the article in the Journal yesterday that stated the Town of East Greenwich would be financially responsible for the repair and/or replacement of this bridge, I’m pretty peeved that the taxpayers in the town would be required to cover the damage that National Grid no doubt caused, or, at the very least, contributed to.

The work on South Road by National Grid started during the last week of October, 2007 and continued through the end of January, 2008. The reason I know these dates is because I have a blog and I blogged about the activities that took place right outside my windows. I also took some before, during and after photos that I used in my blog postings.

You can see that there is no doubt in my mind that National Grid and the logging companies that they used should be responsible for some of the cost of the bridge repair. They ignored the posted weight restriction signs on a daily basis, and that, along with daily traffic, has now caused the bridge to fail.

I hope that the town has some success in getting National Grid to accept their responsibility in all of this.

Random Thoughts

Here's something that I never thought I'd ever say; I feel bad for Mike Tyson. His little 4 year old daughter died by accidental hanging and, no matter how I feel about him as a person, no parent should ever have to go through that kind of loss.

I love our (my) president. That's something else that would seem to be pretty foreign to me. Each and every day I watch the news, or read the internet, or just think about what President Obama has to deal with, how much he's already started to get done and how much work is still ahead. I like his choice for Supreme Court; a strong, smart woman who just happens to be a minority.

After having total diarrhea of the mouth lately, Dick Cheney seems to finally be shutting up. Let's hope it lasts. Even the GOP is turning against him.

Lil, Jason, Kyle, Chelsea and I had a seafood feast Saturday afternoon. Chels took a picture of the food which I will try to post soon.

Miserable cold and crappy cough since Saturday - thank you Mike for the germs. I'll try to return the favor sometime soon.

A 5 year old girl is missing in Michigan - how does this keep happening?

I love my dog.

Four Forty AM

Every morning, exactly at 4:40 the birds start tweeting outside! Not at 4:39 or 4:41, but 4:40 right on the dot. It's almost like an alarm goes off somewhere in nature and wakes all the birds up.

I noticed this last year as well, and may have even blogged about it. Now that I'm on the 2nd floor I'm much closer to the tree tops and hear them even better. Thank goodness they don't get the birds inside started, they wait for sunrise.

Something to look forward to. Chirping and tweeting birds.

Castle Looking For King, Queen or Princess

It's finally happened!

The Castle is now for sale, and I couldn't be more excited. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Warwick_RI_02889_1108993027

It's listed for $120,000 which isn't much more than my father bought it for back in 1976.

However, it's not in move-in condition as it was then. This house needs some serious attention. The present owner hasn't lived there in a couple of years. The copper was stolen out of it not too long ago. Some of the walls and ceilings have fallen down. The kitchen is just as it was, along with some of the carpeting, when my father sold it in the late 1980's.

The good news is that the house is a one-of-a-kind dwelling that could again be a showplace. The built-in furniture and shelves are absolutely gorgeous and they would only need to be cleaned and polished once the other work had been completed.

I'm so glad that I can finally do something to help this house get into the hands of someone who will love it.

It's Not Delivery...

it's DiGiorno's!!!

Okay, you know those TV commercials, I'm sure you've seen them. I always wondered if it were true, but never tried one.

On Friday night Vanessa and Jae were here. Vanessa had been craving DiGiorno's for a few days, so her way here (to visit) Veronica picked up a supreme DiGiorno's pizza and we heated it up. O M G! That pizza is absolutely delicious. I mean really, really, really delicious. The veggies tasted really fresh. There was a good amount of toppings and the crust was as good as fresh dough.

DiGiorno's is so much better than the Domino's pizza's I've ordered lately, for sure. Vanessa said they were only about $7 which is a bargain if you've ordered a pizza from just about anywhere lately.

Today Patrick, Emilee, Matthew and I went to BJ's. Thank goodness Matthew remembered that I wanted to get DiGiorno's pizza while we were there, because I forgot to write it down. And if I forget to write something down, it certainly doesn't stay in my memory.

We got two 3-packs, so for about $25 I got 6 pizzas. Three supreme and three pepperoni. So the next time Vanessa and Jae are here, I will be able to offer them a choice of which DiGiorno's pizza they want to eat.

I will never order delivery pizza again. Really.

Buying Minutes = Contentment (for me at least)

I just spent a couple of hours on the phone talking with my friend Bob Stevens who I have found jst two weeks ago after losing track of him when he left Rhode Island and moved back to Pennsylvania in 1997.

We've had a few phone conversations in the past two weeks and I cannot explain how happy that makes me. We've lots to catch up on and each and every conversation covers a little more ground.

Bob doesn't have a house phone, just a cell. I'm not sure how it works, but he buys minutes to add to his cell account, and until I came along he was doing just fine. The other night he bought 900 minutes and I'm afraid our two conversations since then have used up most of those minutes. He may be broke before long if we keep talking!

After we hung up tonight, I was thinking that I should just buy another phone to add to my T-mobile account. It's just $10 per month with unlimited T-mobile phone to phone. I could give him the phone and then he wouldn't have to worry about buying any additional minutes. I'm going to have to mention this to him when we talk next!

Again, the words are hard to find to describe how I feel now that Bob is back in my life. Somehow it seems that my life is more complete now or just more correct, I'm not sure how to put it. All I know is now that I've found him I'm never going to lose track of him again!

P's And Q's

There is a benefit, I find, to living on a road where the bridge is closed.

No cars!

Just a few times today did people drive down to go to the bridge. They then turned around and floored it to go back.

Other than that, it's been very, very quiet.

I like quiet.

Peace and quiet.