A bit of this...a bit of that.

I'm not sure what direction this blog will take. This blog may be finished tonight or it could be done in a couple of days. It may depend on how lucid my thinking is. Tomorrow we are having a dog and pony show at work. What that means is the president of the company is stopping by. Since the store I'm in now is relatively new (6 years. My last store, the building the store was in was built in the late 1800's.) we have a conference room. So what happens when the president visits? Suddenly there is payroll enough to have 8 extra full time employees (I hate the word associates. Too politically correct for me.) to put up all these phony baloney displays. This is not what really goes on. You barely have enough time to get the basics done. I'm surprised the management hasn't asked us to sing "Everything is beautiful" when the prez strolls by. It's all such a crock and you know what's in that crock. All the store managers from the area will be there as well for some big meeting. More than likely I'm sure Mr. President knows, if he has an ounce realism, that all this falderal is a big load of crap and one big ass kissing festival. 

I just visited Beth's blog and she said she cleaned out a closet. That inspired me to clean the closet directly behind me. Anybody interested in any audio cassettes? How about a couple of portable cassette players? The biggest problems are old computers and all the ancillary things, speakers, monitors and keyboards. You can't just put them in the trash any more. It costs money unless of course, you are clever. The city wants me to go to city hall and buy a sticker to put on the computer so you can put it out on trash day. Well it seems to me that if I pay the money, put it out on the curb then somebody comes along and takes it. I've essentially given somebody a free computer and donated $25 to the city. I will try and be clever about this. At some point I thought I would need 100 file folders. That was 15 or so years ago. I forgot I had them. I didn't need 100 at all. I have a box labled magazines It's been sealed shut for 20 years. I haven't a clue as to what's in there. I also have a fairly large comic book collection. These won't be just chucked out. There are some very valuable books including Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four #1. I started collecting in 1963. I sold a bunch of lesser books at a flea market but there are about 3000 of them and I think it's time to hit the flea market again. I won't be selling the valuable ones there but I have plenty of books that I would sell on the cheap just to lighten my load.To sell the valuable ones I will have to find other avenues. I remember thinking about 20-25 years ago that these books will help me during my retirement. Some books that cost me 12 cents are worth thousands of dollars if you can find the person who wants to buy them. That's the hard part. I have to research this further. 

Blog Part Two.
I actually started this blog several days ago. At this point it's Monday afternoon. I have been out running errands and I also stopped by my old store to see some of my friends there. I spent 11 happy years there. My immediate boss there and I have been friends for 30 years. In fact it was a place where we had all been together and  friends for all 11 years. Lots of hugs and handshakes. I along with others were shipped out for, I'm guessing here, payroll reasons. Though I think I'm correct. Anyway it's a beautiful day today as it was yesterday. Yesterday I took my lady friend out to breakfast and to work of some of the tasty fair we went to the Mystic Lakes for a walk. There's nothing mystical about the lakes. It's the english variation of an old Indian name Missituk. There are two lakes seperated by a dam. Everybody else had the same idea. People were out walking their dogs, fishing, playing soccer and like us, just walking the shore line or the park area. Of course I took my camera though there was nothing unusual to be found. I still took pictures though and even made a little video.

I live in a congested area and yet somebody had the forethought to set aside large tracts (at least for Massachusetts) of land for recreational purposes. These lakes and the river of the same name are in my town and others, flows out to the harbor where it meets the Charles River in Boston Harbor. Depending on time of day (ie "traffic") I can make it here in 10 to 15 minutes. Years ago I used to fish here though at the time though I wouldn't eat them. Then again I'm not a fan of fresh water fish save for maybe rainbow trout. The lakes and the river were polluted years before because beyond the lake another river (who's name I can't remember) that flows into the lakes from the north had tanneries and other industries on it's banks. In the mid 80's a movie called "A Civil Action" starring John Travolta (Remember Him?) was made. The cancer rates near the river were quite high and it was notorious court case in the headlines around here every day. Then in 2001 there was another movie directed by Clint Eastwood called "Mystic River" based on a Dennis Lahane novel. It wasn't a fun movie but a good one. Good enough to win an academy award. But I have digressed. Here's the video from Sunday.

    
 Okay I have gone on long enough. This entire blog has taken much too long to produce. It's time for me to get back to my closet cleaning situation. One thing has led to another and now I have moved on to another closet. Throwing out stuff that I have lugged around 40 years. I don't have a lot of storage to begin with but I am begining to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Okay enough.

Oh by the way the president of the company never showed up. What a waste of time and money.

I'm outta here.