Leftovers, squirrels in my computer, busy week, blah blah blah...

For a semi-retired guy I have had a busy week. I've also had my computer crash a couple of times though it seems to be working fine at the moment. This past Monday Arlene and I decided to take a drive north to check out the foliage as it is still only moderate around here. We decided to take the old road north instead of the highway. More scenic and it was until we got to city line between two particular cities. The first one was Andover. Rich people live here. Large mansions set back from the road. Long winding driveways behind tall gates. These aren't just well off people these are very rich people. The next town, which shall remain nameless, was 180 degrees opposite. All of a sudden the mansions disappeared and we had a string of auto repair businesses, including a used tire store, bars, (not that I have anything against bars), pawn shops, pizza joints, sub shops. What happened? The city, who shall remain nameless, was the home of a few famous people. Lenard Bernstein, Robert  Frost, Robert Goulet and Joe Perry, the guitarist for Aerosmith. It was a city that was a big part of the American industrial revolution along with close by Lowell. At one point the city was filled with shoe factories and textile mills. Canals were built both there and in Lowell. At one time these were very prosperous cities. Lowell has made a bit of a comeback but this place looks like it's still depressed. Anyway though New Hampshire wasn't very far away we decided to turn around and go back lest we make a wrong turn somewhere and maybe end up someplace we shouldn't be. We eventually stopped for lunch and decided to come back home. We stopped at the lakes in our city to check out the foliage. It's still in the beginning phase. Still it was a very nice day and I took a few pictures.

Speaking of pictures there are some pictures, odds and ends, that have been on my computer for about 8 years from various little trips we have taken since I got my first digital camera. I have been gathering them up and storing then off my computer. If my computer bites the big one and finally dies I don't want to lose them. There are bits and pieces from the Vineyard, locally both here, and a bit from Boston including the aquarium. I strung them together in a slideshow. The first four were from this passed Tuesday. The rest are just odds and ends from the past eight years.   



While working this past week I was interviewed by a woman from the main office. They want to feature me on the store circular company wide because of my 44 plus years of employment with them. I was hesitant but they really insisted and I decided to do it. They asked me several questions and took a few pictures.
I am curious if I will get some phone calls from people I haven't seen in many years. I did tell the woman about a few incidents that weren't very glamorous. At one particular store I had my car stolen twice and had a knife pulled on me as I worked a late evening shift. I don't think she will use this information when she writes up my little story. Still I have been continually employed by them since 1971 and there was a time from 1971 until about 1999 when it was a wonderful company to work for.  It was actually fun. We went from sixty stores in the Boston area to a low of eleven. At this point we are up to twenty stores and there are more stores planned, or so they say. They also told us in 1995 that by the year 2000 we would have 100 stores and expand into upstate New York. None of which happened. Since then we have been bought and sold three times. So that's my big exciting news.



  So that's it for now.
I'm outta here.