...aren't words I would use to describe this post. It's been a busy time 'round these here parts. I have become close with the couple who live upstairs. It's almost like family. Well Joe was going into Boston to see a doctor and while he was waiting for his appointment he began suffering chest pains. To make a long story short, that was last Monday the 16th. He was admitted right away and shortly afterwards had quadruple bypass surgery. As of this writing he is still in the hospital. At this point I am unclear as to how he is doing. I have spoken to his wife but she is quite shaken and that was two days ago. Joe's a good guy, in fact they are both very nice people. I hope all works out well for Joe and Joanna.
Now on to the annoyance part of our program. Last year I had a little mix up with the car dealership where I bought my car. I won't go into detail except to say what annoyed me most wasn't the fact that there was one repair they couldn't get right, it was the phone messages I would find on three consecutive days. "Hello Mr. (fill in the blank) this is (fill in the blank) dealership. Would you please call us back. It concerns your car."
Now I am not a genius but I figured out right away that when the dealership where I had left my car, calls me, it concerns my car. I don't have to be told that. Just tell me what the concern is like, "I'm sorry sir, the hood mounted machine guns you requested are still out of stock."
Now flash forward to the present. I have been having a problem with one of the wheels on my car. One tire is leaking air and it's not the tire but the wheel it's on. It's not like the old days, you would have a steel wheel then they slapped a hub cap on it. Unless they are damaged in a collision with a curb they can last forever. They aren't pretty but they're pretty durable. Now if you have a chrome plated alloy or aluminum wheels as most cars come equipped with these days, guess what? Not only are they less rugged but they can deteriorate. My wheels were falling apart right in front of my eyes at least visually. A couple of years ago my mechanic had my car up on the lift for a routine oil change and he looked at my wheels and said, "What crappy wheels! The chrome plating is coming off."
And underneath the departed chrome, it was black and ugly.
They were getting very ugly and one of them wouldn't seal properly. The car itself is in very good shape and hasn't given me any problems at all. It has been rock solid for 5 years. So the decision was made. I had to buy 4 new wheels plus two tires. I poked around the internet and found a rather large chain of tire/wheel dealers who also do routine maintenance. I'll try to make this as brief as possible. I went in to the shop two Saturdays ago to shop for the wheels and tires. I buy the wheels and tires and make an appointment for the upcoming Monday at 8 a.m. 8a.m. Monday I show up and they tell me their truck hasn't arrived it will be there at 9:30. I go home, go back. I tell them specifically put the new tires on the front. Then save the wheel from the drivers side rear as it is only a year old, and save the tire, the better of the two old tires, from the right front passenger side so I can have a full sized spare. I don't want the other 3 wheels. This is all typed into the computer and I am given a copy. I wait 2 and a half hours They tell me my car is all set. Now everybody else's car has been driven back to the front when their done. I can't find it on the lot. Just on an inkling I walk around the building to where the repair bays are, and there it is. I'm not thrilled that they didn't drive it around like the others. I decide to check the trunk for the full sized spare. I see two full sized spares. They are each wrapped with a plastic cover with the company logo on it. I tear into both of them...wait that makes me sound like a maniac. I tore the plastic cover to see if at least they had the right wheel mounted with the right tire.. They didn't. Where are the other wheels then? They were in the back seat. One of which was the only one I wanted to keep in the first place. Then I look at the tires. They were on the back instead of the front.
I'll skip all my grumbling to the management. And the, "We promise to make it right sir!" speech. After that I still had to return in 25 miles to, and I quote, "Have my lug nuts re-torqued."
They're quite torqued enough, thank you.
I shoulda gone to Sears.
I know, this was kind of a long, drawn out, rambling babble. It's been that kind of week.
That's it. I'm done.
I'm outta here.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
This, that and the other.
I could really be all over the map with this one. For some reason there is one post I wrote in 2012 that seems to get continuous hits. No comments just hits. I don't know what's so appealing about it or how people find it. I'm not talking any huge numbers considering the number of people are on the internet. And while my the other stats are quite underwhelming in the 2 to 7 range of hits, this particular one gets 100 to 300 hits a day. It's just curious.
I also went through some of the bloggers I have as "friends" only to find these blogs don't even exist anymore. When I weed them out I will have a pathetically small list of friends. Still here you get to say whatever you want. Putting in a little thought to what you say. You aren't just trading one inane sentence after another while walking down the street staring at your little screen with something blasting in your ears as you listen to who knows what and almost walking into live traffic. There are a lot of distracted people out there.
I was looking at my second camera. My favorite one and one that I knocked the shutter button off and further ruined by trying to fix it. It was 8 megapixel camera probably below average by todays standards but I truly know nothing about cameras. So inside the cameras case was a small plastic case with 4 memory cards. I started looking through them. They were vacation pictures from May/June of 2012. You know where. Some of them I had seen and actually posted back then. Others I forgot about. That was the last time I used that camera. The last one I got cost a bit more but it's like carrying a small suitcase and swapping lens for different shots is an annoying pain. I'm a point and shoot guy.
So went through all the pictures again. The ones I never posted aren't all that different from the ones I have. Still I stuck them together in a slideshow including some others from then that I have posted. It always calms me down when I look at those pictures. The advantages of going early or late in the season. It's like you can pretend you live on this island and it's always peaceful with light traffic. Nothing at all like living near or in the city, for a few days anyway. There were also a few video clips. They were taken the same morning of the sunrise. All pictures and videos are of Oak Bluffs.
The wind has been howling the last 2 days. It's cold. It was cold this morning going to work. We may even get a bit more snow on Saturday morning. Yippee!
Along the lines of the fly incident last week, Arlene reminded me that a couple of years ago there was another bug incident. It was a warm night and I was over Arlene's house...well I wasn't actually over it, I was in it. It was early evening and Arlene's daughter was going out and she suddenly came running up the stairs. She seemed a bit upset. There was a bug on the screen. I was sent to investigate. There was a moth on the outside of the screen. A flick of the index finger and the moth was sent on it's way. Thus the threat was ended.
Well the dryer is calling me.
I'm outta here.
I also went through some of the bloggers I have as "friends" only to find these blogs don't even exist anymore. When I weed them out I will have a pathetically small list of friends. Still here you get to say whatever you want. Putting in a little thought to what you say. You aren't just trading one inane sentence after another while walking down the street staring at your little screen with something blasting in your ears as you listen to who knows what and almost walking into live traffic. There are a lot of distracted people out there.
I was looking at my second camera. My favorite one and one that I knocked the shutter button off and further ruined by trying to fix it. It was 8 megapixel camera probably below average by todays standards but I truly know nothing about cameras. So inside the cameras case was a small plastic case with 4 memory cards. I started looking through them. They were vacation pictures from May/June of 2012. You know where. Some of them I had seen and actually posted back then. Others I forgot about. That was the last time I used that camera. The last one I got cost a bit more but it's like carrying a small suitcase and swapping lens for different shots is an annoying pain. I'm a point and shoot guy.
So went through all the pictures again. The ones I never posted aren't all that different from the ones I have. Still I stuck them together in a slideshow including some others from then that I have posted. It always calms me down when I look at those pictures. The advantages of going early or late in the season. It's like you can pretend you live on this island and it's always peaceful with light traffic. Nothing at all like living near or in the city, for a few days anyway. There were also a few video clips. They were taken the same morning of the sunrise. All pictures and videos are of Oak Bluffs.
The wind has been howling the last 2 days. It's cold. It was cold this morning going to work. We may even get a bit more snow on Saturday morning. Yippee!
Along the lines of the fly incident last week, Arlene reminded me that a couple of years ago there was another bug incident. It was a warm night and I was over Arlene's house...well I wasn't actually over it, I was in it. It was early evening and Arlene's daughter was going out and she suddenly came running up the stairs. She seemed a bit upset. There was a bug on the screen. I was sent to investigate. There was a moth on the outside of the screen. A flick of the index finger and the moth was sent on it's way. Thus the threat was ended.
Well the dryer is calling me.
I'm outta here.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Friend list on Blogger
I was looking at my friends list. The majority were carryovers from Spaces and a few newer ones since I have been on Blogger. Alas most of my Spaces friends blogged for a bit then just stopped. I'm sure there around on the internet in some way, shape or form but I just blog here and that's it. I have thought about thinning out the herd because for most of these people they haven't been around for over 4 years. It's a shame because I really liked them and had contact with them besides just comments on a blog. I have spoken to many of them.
I don't have a very large list of friends here to begin with and if I delete some of the people my friends list would really look pathetic compared to what I see on other folks blogs. I mean 100, 200, 400 "friends" and I have a pathetic 32. At least it looks pathetic compared to other lists. Then again if everybody on these long lists blogged frequently, perusing blogger would become a full time job. And though I am semi retired and have more time on my hands, I can't see me sitting in front of a computer screen for long stretches of time just reading and commenting. Still I miss some of those people. I had a lot of fun back in the days of Spaces. There was one particular group who seemed to know one another though they were living in Pennsylvania, California, and I think Arizona and Hong Kong. I weaseled my way into that group and I shared many a laugh with them. I spoke to them on the phone and I have to say I really liked them all. And things were much looser then. The language and subject matter was a bit cruder and that was right up my alley. Heather, Angie, Sophie and Raven were great fun and I miss them. This is not to say that the people who do show up on my blog nowadays aren't fun, it was just a different group. Believe me though I don't get 15 or 20 comments like I used to I do appreciate those who do show up here and I certainly don't want to put these folks off.
So here I sit on a rather nice Monday afternoon, though I know I won't finish this blog until tonight or tomorrow or next week, I was just thinking about those people that I got to know back 5 to 7 years ago and wondering what's going on with them now. As I said it's a nice afternoon and there is snow melting going on but we have a long way to go to eliminate a total of 8 feet of snow. Side streets are still narrow but I think the worst of it is the pot holes. These are not holes filled with pot, (marijuana for you who didn't come of age in the late 60's and early 70's. That certainly would make it easier to deal with all this crap. Ah the fun of my youth!) but filled with water. You have no idea how deep they are and in some situations they are deep. I know first hand as I ruined a wheel and a tire on my car, and replacing them was not cheap. Around $600.00.
Still the weather is improving and as of today our trip to Martha's Vineyard has been booked. I informed Arlene a bit earlier and her spirits lifted. Not that she was down in the dumps, but her recent injury really bothered her. Still she is progressing and she is very happy that all is set in stone. I don't know how many more times we will go there. This will be the 10th time since 2010 and we have not tired of this place yet and we are so fortunate to have this available to us not all that far away. Last time was the best. We pulled out of my driveway at 6 A.M. arriving at the pier in Woods Hole Ma. in an hour and 10 minutes. The ferry wasn't booked solid and they asked us if we would like to get on the ferry a bit earlier than our scheduled time. Well DUH! By 9 A.M. we were on the island. How can you beat that? We showed up at the hotel and they said our room wasn't ready yet. 11 A.M. is check in time. We said, "Not a problem!" We just walked downtown (about a 5 to 10 minute walk depending on how fast we walk) and go for our now traditional breakfast at Linda Jeans! I'd post a picture of the place except that despite the hundreds of pictures I've taken down there I never took one of Linda Jeans. All I know is Arlene was quite happy when I told her that we were ready to rock 'n roll. That all reservations were set. I am quite happy as well.
But getting back to what I said at the beginning of this thing, I could easily get rid of a good number of friends as they have not blogged in several years but then I would hate to cut ties with these people who I truly liked. Then again in the grand scheme of things these are truly tiny, superficial things. I am grateful for the folks who do show up here.
At this point I have to say It's been almost a week since I started this entry. It's now Sunday March 15. It's almost like a diary. Dear diary today I remembered that I had started a blog almost a week ago. In the meantime I have worked for three days and have four days off. Not bad. Today is St. Patrick's Day. My sister is making corned beef and cabbage and she invited Arlene and I for dinner. My brother in law is Irish, my sisters and myself are Italian and Arlene is half and half. Later on I will go out for a few pops with my friend Dave who is full Irish. Last night I was at Arlene's She told me she had some photos on her camera but didn't know how to get them off. There were some pictures of her daughter and some pictures from the Vineyard that we both took and some of Boston from a harbor tour we took three years ago.
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Sunset at Oak Bluffs
Well that wraps up this long winded, long time coming blog. I'm off to be Irish for a day.
I'm outta here.
I don't have a very large list of friends here to begin with and if I delete some of the people my friends list would really look pathetic compared to what I see on other folks blogs. I mean 100, 200, 400 "friends" and I have a pathetic 32. At least it looks pathetic compared to other lists. Then again if everybody on these long lists blogged frequently, perusing blogger would become a full time job. And though I am semi retired and have more time on my hands, I can't see me sitting in front of a computer screen for long stretches of time just reading and commenting. Still I miss some of those people. I had a lot of fun back in the days of Spaces. There was one particular group who seemed to know one another though they were living in Pennsylvania, California, and I think Arizona and Hong Kong. I weaseled my way into that group and I shared many a laugh with them. I spoke to them on the phone and I have to say I really liked them all. And things were much looser then. The language and subject matter was a bit cruder and that was right up my alley. Heather, Angie, Sophie and Raven were great fun and I miss them. This is not to say that the people who do show up on my blog nowadays aren't fun, it was just a different group. Believe me though I don't get 15 or 20 comments like I used to I do appreciate those who do show up here and I certainly don't want to put these folks off.
So here I sit on a rather nice Monday afternoon, though I know I won't finish this blog until tonight or tomorrow or next week, I was just thinking about those people that I got to know back 5 to 7 years ago and wondering what's going on with them now. As I said it's a nice afternoon and there is snow melting going on but we have a long way to go to eliminate a total of 8 feet of snow. Side streets are still narrow but I think the worst of it is the pot holes. These are not holes filled with pot, (marijuana for you who didn't come of age in the late 60's and early 70's. That certainly would make it easier to deal with all this crap. Ah the fun of my youth!) but filled with water. You have no idea how deep they are and in some situations they are deep. I know first hand as I ruined a wheel and a tire on my car, and replacing them was not cheap. Around $600.00.
Still the weather is improving and as of today our trip to Martha's Vineyard has been booked. I informed Arlene a bit earlier and her spirits lifted. Not that she was down in the dumps, but her recent injury really bothered her. Still she is progressing and she is very happy that all is set in stone. I don't know how many more times we will go there. This will be the 10th time since 2010 and we have not tired of this place yet and we are so fortunate to have this available to us not all that far away. Last time was the best. We pulled out of my driveway at 6 A.M. arriving at the pier in Woods Hole Ma. in an hour and 10 minutes. The ferry wasn't booked solid and they asked us if we would like to get on the ferry a bit earlier than our scheduled time. Well DUH! By 9 A.M. we were on the island. How can you beat that? We showed up at the hotel and they said our room wasn't ready yet. 11 A.M. is check in time. We said, "Not a problem!" We just walked downtown (about a 5 to 10 minute walk depending on how fast we walk) and go for our now traditional breakfast at Linda Jeans! I'd post a picture of the place except that despite the hundreds of pictures I've taken down there I never took one of Linda Jeans. All I know is Arlene was quite happy when I told her that we were ready to rock 'n roll. That all reservations were set. I am quite happy as well.
But getting back to what I said at the beginning of this thing, I could easily get rid of a good number of friends as they have not blogged in several years but then I would hate to cut ties with these people who I truly liked. Then again in the grand scheme of things these are truly tiny, superficial things. I am grateful for the folks who do show up here.
At this point I have to say It's been almost a week since I started this entry. It's now Sunday March 15. It's almost like a diary. Dear diary today I remembered that I had started a blog almost a week ago. In the meantime I have worked for three days and have four days off. Not bad. Today is St. Patrick's Day. My sister is making corned beef and cabbage and she invited Arlene and I for dinner. My brother in law is Irish, my sisters and myself are Italian and Arlene is half and half. Later on I will go out for a few pops with my friend Dave who is full Irish. Last night I was at Arlene's She told me she had some photos on her camera but didn't know how to get them off. There were some pictures of her daughter and some pictures from the Vineyard that we both took and some of Boston from a harbor tour we took three years ago.
Sunset at Oak Bluffs
 |
   This is sunset about a ten minute walk around the corner from the above beach. This was our view as we went to dinner.  |
Well that wraps up this long winded, long time coming blog. I'm off to be Irish for a day.
I'm outta here.
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