For my friend Beth.

I haven't paid much attention to Blogger the last couple of weeks due various reason including a very finicky clothes dryer, and a very uneven work schedule ( one day a 5 a.m. start, then a 1 p.m. start) etc. However I have been thinking about Beth. Her surgery is on the 23nd of this month. That is tomorrow. As you know, if you know Beth, she is a wonderful person, and speaking personally, she has been so kind to me. All I really want to say is please keep Beth in your mind, heart and prayers. We all want her to have a speedy recovery. So hurry back Beth. You are missed.

Just some things

There are things going on 'round these here parts. There's the marathon bombing trial about to begin soon and who knows what that will entail. An old case has been re-opened after 49 years. I don't know how well known this was across the country, but in the early 60's Boston was terrorized by the "Boston Strangler". The final murder was in 1964. Albert De Salvo admitted to the police that he was the strangler and later recanted. He was never brought to trial. There were 11 victims over a two year period. He was arrested and tried for other crimes and was killed in Prison in 1974. Well back then they didn't have DNA testing but they did save some DNA from the last victim in 1964, on a blanket. Back then they didn't have a definitive way of examining DNA. For all I know DNA was unknown back in the early 60's. Well a few days ago, the police were watching a relative of De Salvo. They waited until he finished drinking some bottled water and disposed of it. This was all in public and it was disposed in a public trash bin. They took the water bottle and found the De Salvo DNA. It was a match to the old sample (taken from the saved blanket). Now they have exhumed De Salvo's body for confirmation. I do remember those days. I also remember the awful movie they made with Tony Curtis. 

Then there's the Whitey Bulger trial. The headquarters for the Irish Mob was across the street from where I worked back in the 70's. It was a bar/lounge. I was in there once. It was Christmas Eve and one of the guys said, "Let's go have a drink before we go home." And that's all that happened that night. I had no idea who owned the bar. I worked in the supermarket across the street. Well back before the market was built the land was the location of a movie theater. The previous gang boss was gunned down right in front of the movie theater across from his "headquarters". The guy who took over was in charge when I worked in that neighborhood. I even had a dealing with him in the store only I didn't know who he was. He wanted a party platter with an assortment of cold cuts. It was near closing time so I politely refused saying we were going to close in 15 minutes. He was very soft spoken and polite. He then said, "I'll be right back."

Within a minute the night manager rushed down the aisle like his pants were on fire and said, "Whatever he wants OK!"
Well OK. I later learned who he was. Whitey Bulger ran this guys operation in South Boston. When the big guy was arrested for trying to fix horse races and racketeering in 1979, Whitey Bulger took over. He ended up being a snitch for the FBI and so did some of his former associates who in turn started snitching on Whitey. I'll tell you there's never a dull moment.

Problems with my dryer has made it a real pain the last two weeks. Sometimes it will work properly and other times it will run for about 3 minutes. It's only 6 years old. Other than that, IT'S FRIKIN' HOT! Not to mention the humidity. We have a chance to hit 100 this week. What else have I been doing? My misfiring dryer lead me to go looking for the owners manual, which led me to find documents and papers that were just taking up room. This led to the rearranging a couple of file cabinets...and so on. What have I started?

Enough blather,
I'm outta here.   
  

I dare you not to laugh.

Listen a good laugh never killed anyone but this clip from the Carol Burnett Show might come close. It seems they were trying to get through a Mama's Family sketch and Tim Conway begins to tell a ridiculous story about a circus elephant and it goes on and on and becomes more silly and convoluted. Carol Burnett was always stressing how you should never break character and she, well you'll see. They are trying to play Pass Word and Carol's character is supposed to say, "Go on Mama."  Stick with it to the end. Vikki Lawrence nails it.

I'm outta here.