Sometimes...

...I'd like to take an axe to my computer. Yeah I know that does sound a bit violent but it has been a frustrating two days. I have been trying to post and this thing has been running slow. I admit I don't have the best internet service but it seems every time Windows installs a "critical update" my machine just takes forever to do anything. I was trying to upload a video to YouTube and it took 4 and a half hours and then it took forever for the processing to take place. Well it seems my computer was also installing a "critical update" at the same time. Well I finally got the video uploaded. By the way when I upload a video to YouTube it's primarily so I can post it here. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate if people view a video on YouTube but that's not my primary reason I use YouTube, it's because I can upload larger files there than I can here. That's a problem I didn't have back on Spaces. Then again in the world of problems, that's a pretty minor problem. I treat my computer like my car. I really don't care how it works as long as it does work, just put the key in the ignition and the car starts.

So I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving or as my brother in law said, a "Thappy Hanksgiving." I have to say it was a day of many laughs. At some point everybody was the subject of ridicule. It's just the way we (my family) are. Nothing was hurtful and everybody took their lumps with a good nature. Things were certainly toned down from the days of our youth. When we were kids my aunt and uncle and their kids came to our house for Thanksgiving and we went to theirs for Christmas. My mother and aunt were wonderful cooks but the amount of food was over the top. Never mind the appetizers, the meal had had to begin with soup, then there was the lasagna with the complementary meatballs and sausages, Then we had the turkey or ham depending on the holiday. I won't even mention all the side dishes and deserts. All the food was wonderful but it was overkill. I guess it's all part of being Italian and living through WWII. Still I do look back with fondness to those days. I have lost contact with my cousins. Two of them still live in the area, one lives in London and the other has become the family loony. I did see them (3 out of 4) when my uncle passed away several years ago. It was bizarre to hear my cousin living in London, with the combination of a Boston/London accent. It's hard for me to even imitate. It was just as bizarre hearing my aunt and uncle from Australia speaking broken English with an Australian accent. When my parents got married they moved to America (from Italy) though my mother was actually born here, it's a long story, and my aunt and uncle moved to Australia. So our Thanksgiving was quite nice. We have toned the food down quite a bit, though there was still plenty to eat.

I don't have much more to report except I have taken this week off before I lose the vacation time. Being a 44 year plus veteran of this company, even now as a part timer , I do have a lot of vacation time. I just don't take it. And I have to say that when you do they make sure that you feel guilty for using the benefit. When I was fulltime I could have taken 8 weeks off a year but I didn't. Shame on me.

This is not a particularly good week weather wise. It's been cloudy and drizzly though on the whole this Fall has been quite mild. I'm sure we're being set up for the winter. I just hope it's not a repeat of last year. That was one for the record books. Still it's nice to not have to work for 9 days. I can't wait to not have to work at all but that's a little over a year away. In truth I have still not completely adjusted to my reduced workload. Filling my free time is still something new. I had been working fulltime since 1969 and working period since 1968. It's a definite change in my life. Still I am lucky that I am in the position that I am in. Not everybody has been as lucky as I have been. I have a lot to be grateful for.

OK I was talking about here's the video I was talking about earlier. I am almost finished going through all my old pictures and putting them in much better order than I had before. It's been fun reliving all the places that we, Arlene and I and sometimes my friend Dave, have been locally and around New England in the last 10 years. Despite the weather woes that can happen around here, I am a died in the wool Bostonian/New Englander and I don't want to live anywhere else. So the video is a collection of flower pictures.       

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