My friend Beth

As I mentioned last blog I will be moving in a few months. Things have changed a bit since then. I will be moving and staying with my sister for a few months while the apartment I am presently living in will be gutted and refurbished then my landlords will be moving to the first floor because of a health issue with one of them. The stairs are basically the reason. Then I will be moving back to the second floor which is a very very nice apartment. They want me back. Now I still have to get my stuff together and have it moved to a storage unit which wasn't as expensive as I though it would be. I have been going through my stuff and getting rid of all the stuff that I have dragged with me since I first moved out. As you can imagine I have added a lot more stuff since the days. Today I was going through my file cabinets. Which brings me to my friend Beth.
Amongst all the old auto insurance papers. old W2, medical papers etc. I found some cards from Beth. I don't have the heart to throw them away. Beth was special to me. We spoke on the phone several times and she always read my blog and commented, whether it was interesting, uninteresting, silly or just plain stupid. She always had something nice to say and I miss her greatly. It could have  been my birthday or Christmas.

I wish I could have met her in person. She was a lovely and kind person and I feel lucky that she called me her friend. I miss you Beth.

Where have I been?

Well I've been right here actually. I've been busy, you see I have to move. Not right now but within a few months. It's not a big deal except for me of course. I live downstairs in a two family house and one of my landlords has had some health problems the last couple of years and they have decided to move downstairs because of the difficulty in dealing with the stairs. If it was just a matter of swapping apartments I wouldn't have a big problem except for the initial cost of moving. The upstairs apartment is much nicer than mine. Not that mine is terrible it's just that the décor and some of the fixtures date to the 60's. It's very cozy and comfortable, but they want to gut it and update it and that means I've got to go. They offered the upstairs to me when they are finished but that is just impractical. I could live with my sister but of course I would have put all my stuff in storage and who knows how long that would take. And of course having Arlene next door was a pretty sweet deal. So though all this is several months away, I've already started packing and looking. It is amazing all the stuff you can accumulate during a lifetime. What a big pain in the ass! One thing that won't change is that Arlene and I will still be going to Martha's Vineyard in late spring or early summer. If I had the money, that's where I'd live. 

Now apart from all that I'm fine. About the most exciting thing I've done since the last time I was here was go to the auto show last week. As much as I like cars it was pretty underwhelming. I can just go outside and see Fords, Hondas, Chevys, Toyotas etc. They had a couple of exotics but that was it. I wanted to see Ferraris, Lamborghinis and so on. The highlight of last Sunday was the cheeseburger I had afterwards. 

I have messed around with Facebook. The good part is that it has put me back in contact some people that I have known for almost 50 years. I still freak out that I can easily refer back 50 years but I guess it's better than being dead. I have to admit that I still find parts of it a bit silly. In reality who cares if you had a wonderful piece of chocolate cake for desert and show a picture of it. It wouldn't be all that bad if the cake was part of a lovely evening you had celebrating something special. I guess I'm still more of a blogger at heart. I have posted a few things there and have enjoyed some of it like seeing my godchild who has turned out to be a beautiful young woman with a lovely family. She lives in the Baltimore area. The last time I saw her was 1986 when my sister and I went to visit our friends after they moved there. I did get to tour the White House. Baltimore is similar to Boston in size and population but you'll never get me to leave this area. It's my home and despite the loony traffic I love living here. 

And speaking of Boston, below is a video from Late Night with Seth Myers spoofing all the films that were made in Boston. It really cracked me up.      



I'm also looking forward to the football game tomorrow. I know the rest of the country hates the Patriots like everyone used to hate the Yankees. Especially around here. Last year as we pulled up in front of the Pequot Hotel on the Vineyard a woman and here friend pulled up behind us. As we were both unloading our cars we pleasantly chatted. I asked where they were from (somewhere in the Midwest) and she asked us the same question. I told her we're from just north of Boston and here expression changed instantly and she said, "Oh yeah, you got that damn Patriots hat on!" That was the end of that friendly conversation. Hey chill out lady, it's just sports!

So that's the update. I think I'll have another cup of coffee.
I'm outta here.