Blogzilla

Well I'm glad it's all over. Working in retail makes the holidays tough. I'm just glad I don't work in a department store. It's bad enough in the food business. I suppose for myself the most irritating thing was the Christmas music. It started shortly after Halloween and continued right up to New Years eve. How many times can you hear Jingle bells in an 8 hour day. How about six times all by different artists. I don't know why but the song that annoys me the most is Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano. I don't know why this one just grates on my nerves so much. Still I had a very nice Christmas eve and day. The New Years week was busy and that's good for business. I was moving continuously right up until I punched out at 4 o'clock on Dec 31. I didn't do anything on New Years eve. I got home and reveled in the silence. I didn't turn a radio or television on for a couple of hours. On Sunday morning I went out to breakfast with my lady friend. It was such a beautiful morning. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature approaching 50 degrees at ten in the morning. After a filling and very satisfying stick to your ribs breakfast we decided to take a little walk through the center of town and behind it where there are beautiful homes as well as historic home built in the 1600's and 1700's. It was quiet and beautiful as I suspect most people were home sleeping one off. I wish I had brought my camera with me. We walked by my old high school, which is now condominiums and just off the center the city. As we circled behind the old school we saw all these wonderful old homes. I am going to do this again preferably on a Sunday morning, bring my camera, photograph some of the things that surround me that I take for granted including the house where Amelia Erhart lived for a few years with her sister until she moved to Boston to work as a social worker. Her sister died in 1998. She was an English teacher at my old high school. There's a rich history of shipbuilding here as well. Not only that, rum was distilled here as those same ships brought back sugar cane from the Caribbean on their way back from Africa. Why Africa? Because they were bringing back slaves. Not one of the prouder moments in American history and yet there's no denying it happened. There is still evidence of the slave trade with a wall built by slaves in the 1700's and a still standing slave quarters. I have shown pictures of this in the past. So one of these days I will drive around town documenting all these interesting places and put a little movie together.

DID YOU KNOW that beginning on January 1, 2012 incandescent light bulbs will begin to be phased out? I came across this fact on the radio a few days ago. The law was passed in 2007. I'm not sure where I stand on this not that it matters where I stand. I suppose it's all to do with energy efficiency but it does seem like our right to chose, letting the market dictate things has been taken away. Below is a chart from the U.S. Enviormental agency showing how things will go. The incandescent bulb will disappear completely in 2014.

       

Phasing out incandescent bulbs

A 2007 bill prohibits the manufacture and import of most low-efficiency light bulbs starting Sunday.

Incandescent bulb	Phase-out date
100 watt	Jan. 1, 2012
75 watt	Jan. 1, 2013
60 watt	Jan. 1, 2014
40 watt	Jan. 1, 2014

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

OK time to change directions with another song parody from Tom Doyle. In 1976 Canadian singer/songwriter had a hit record based on the tragic sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald on Lake Superior called "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald". Well Tom changed the lyrics. It has nothing to do with the original song. Only the music remains the same. The subject matter is completely different.

 I have made one resolution this year. I'm not making any resolutions. I you all are well and the new year brings you good health, happiness and peace.

I'm outta here.