Good guy, bad guy

Whenever I am stumped about what to watch on TV, I can always fall back on Law and Order SUV, a staple at our house. It is on several channels at multiple times of the day and night. No matter when you turn it on you can be sure that our crime stoppers will get their man or women. The actors have changed over the years and I am especially fond of the team of Hargitay ( long hair/short hair) Ice-T and Dino Pino. The stories can get a bit gruesome at times but as we are assured by the announcer, they have been based, rather loosely, I hope, on actual events.

Due to the flood of episodes there is some overlap and in some cases bad taste.
Last week we caught an episode about a conservative Jew whose wife was killed. Apparently it wasn't enough that she had converted to Judaism,  and raised her kids as Jews. The husbands mom, Linda Lavin, hated the fact that her son didn't marry a true Jew. All this was unfolding on the first night of real time Passover. The husband was a weak momma's boy and not a nice man.

The following hour on another station, another episode of L and O and our Jewish widower played a lawyer for a  down and out  kid from the streets. A real mensch

My takeaway from this  SUV marathon
1- I am watching too much TV
2- Even bag guys can be redeemed.... well at least on TV

What's the point?

Instead of sale prices everyone has gone to giving points for a purchase, for signing up for a credit card, for taking a trip and on and on.

What is the point? If I sign up for the Delta card 50,000 points.
Bloomingdales is giving triple points!
Buy a baguette, Points!
Come back tomorrow to leave with the pants you bought today, POINTS!
And what do you do with these points?
My American Express card, a proud member since 1989 has 156,000 points. I don't think I have ever used any Amex points. Like the Italian Lira, may it rest in peace, 156,000= about $200.00.

Why can't they just treat us like friends and family and give me 20% at the register on the day I purchase so that a tie won't cost $145.00. But hey if I buy the overpriced tie, just think of the points I'll "earn"

Stamford Greeters

Dropped the car off for service today and was given a ride home by their car service guy. On the way we listened to Z100 radio. I know the shock jock parade has passed me by as Don Imus, although still on the radio, must be close to 90 and has toned down his routine ever since he bad mouthed the Rutgers girls basketball team. In the brief time I was in the car the "pros" at Z100 hit all kinds of topics like:
putting out after a good meal on a first date, advice for women during their time of the month, and some woman who called in to tell the wacky gang that she thought the stuff on her fingers was chocolate when sit was actually a result of changing her baby's diaper. Lots of information for the 8 minute ride home.

We did have a funny moment that was much more amusing than anything on Z. We pulled up to a light on the service road of I-95. I noticed a NY car next to us with a woman who was looking at a paper, probably directions to her destination. As the light changed she pulled up to a group of I-5 "greeters" who frequent this particular corner looking for day work. She must have thought "oh good, I'll just ask these guys for directions". As they do when they see a car pull over, the hopeful laborers swarmed the car, as they must have thought she was hiring. I'm sure all ended well and she left thinking the next car WILL have a GPS.

Grade expectations

I recently saw the new Tina Fey movie, Admissions, and in my opinion it did not make the grade.
She is a gifted comedian but the movie itself wasn't that funny. I was expecting a laugh riot full of the crazy things people do to get their kids into THE right college, in this case Princeton. Having been a school principal I had similar experiences albeit on a grade school level. There was the,  all our kids had Mrs. _______ , logic,  the anything the school needs promise and the best the annual cannoli bribe, all in an attempt to make sure Johnny or Susie or in the case of East Greenwich,  Chase or Skyler got just the right teacher.  There was some of this jockeying but not enough. One very funny scene was of chart paper where the admission officers would list the death treats and hopes that they would get cancer and die! Nothing like that ever happened at my school, but there were law suits threatened.

All and all a pleasant way to spend 2 hours but I'm sure this film will be on Netflix in short order.

Yesterday we went to the Whitney Museum for some pop-culture. In the hall was a woman taking a survey. With time on our hands we sat down to chat with her. Having seen a post card sized ad for Admissions on the table I thought it was a survey about the film. As we talked I asked about the card  and the woman delivered a line from the movie. I really didn't recognize the line ot her for that matter but J did. Yes it was the mother of the adopted brain-iac in the movie. We talked about the movie and learned about her life as an extra.

Only in New York!

Put the Phone Down!

The sign as you enter the Tully Center, clearly states, SHUT OFF ALL CELL PHONES.
Many gym rats have ear phones and listen to their favorite music mix while they work out.  Given the mix of people at the gym, I'd suspect Stayin'Alive by the Bee Gees is big.

Well until today the rules were being adhered to, no one on the phone, texting or tweeting. Today a woman in her 30's was using a stationary bike and while she was she was talking on her iPhone.  Next to her was a gentleman of a certain age, in gym shorts, circa 1970, with a sweat band (complete with Nike swoosh) knee socks and velcro sneakers. He was reading the NYTimes while he was obviously upset with the woman and her complete disregard for the No Cell rule. He was looking for some authority to blow the whistle on our 30 something but no one was around. He was so upset he missed a cycle on his cycle and almost fell off the seat.

In due time our rule breaker completed her call and then spent the rest of her time multi tasking,  texting and cycling.

I think the No Cell rule is a good one and perhaps there should be a dress code.

Tuesday at 9:30 or at your convenience

As a boomer I share a birthday with TV for the masses. both of us came of age in the 50's and 60's. I remember as a 9-10 year old setting my life around the Red Skelton Show, Tuesdays at 9:30. For those younger than 50, Red was a slapstick funny- man who, on TV at least, seemed to have a heart of gold and a knack for making people, especially my father, laugh. So on Tuesday nights at 9:30, a school night, I'd be given the privilege of staying up late to watch RS with my dad. He would have his chesterfields at his side and I'd endure the second hand smoke, who knew? But it was worth the risk as the boys dad, me and Red shared a laugh.

I was such a Skeleton fan that I gave up my meetings at the Sea Cadets, 'cause they were on a Tuesday. Unfortunately I waited until my dad purchased the entire SC uniform for me before I swore my allegiance the the Red (Skelton) army. I bring up this memory as I just completed watching Netflix series, House of Cards. This 13 episode series is constantly streaming on Netflix and can be viewed at my convenience. I got so hooked on the evil ways of Kevin Spacey that I was watching when I woke up at 6:00 in the morning! While a boomer I have adopted some of the ways of the instant gratification society and could not ration my viewing to once a week for 13 weeks. How far we have come! We now view on demand and on our schedules, not Reds or anyone elses.

This 21st century development has been recognized by several people and was recently the topic of an NPR interview with a person who wrote a book about this phenomenon. i heard the interview yesterday but cannot remember the name of the book or the author, but hey not to worry I'll just google it, go to the NPR website and replay the interview today or whenever.

I also sent my loyal readers a you Tube clip of Red's show in 1961. Don't know if you received it as when it comes to manipulating technology, I'm better with my portable Motorola that weighed 50 pounds, rabbit ears and tin foil.

Throwing the Learners a curve

To keep my mind strong and to stay in the game I decided to finally attempt to learn Italian, the language of my ancestors. Never mind that I had a golden opportunity 50 years ago when I was living at home  but in the 60's I was more interested in Virginia, the girl, than Venice, the city,  and all things Italian.

So last fall I registered at Parliamo Italiano, the language school at Hunter College. Once a week I drive in to NYC to spend 90 minutes learning the language, well at least being exposed to the language. The class is taught by a Roman, Insegnante (teacher). She is very forgiving and to her everything is tutto bene.

I have been diligent about doing the work, I signed onto an online Italian language program, Babbel, and I even bought an Italian Newspaper. Occasionally, well pretty regularly, I cheat and use the Google translation site. I made flash cards, the traditional ones on actual cards and the flash card app on my computer.
I enlisted the help of the Italian teacher at the high school to meet with me on Tuesdays to give me another opportunity to practice.

After 10 weeks I found that I had picked up a few words and phrases but my ability to retrieve verbs in the correct tense and pair them with vocabulary words was in a word, awful.
Was it my age, lack of practice, lack of dedication, I was really doubting my ability to retain and grow.

However I continued with Italian 2, and even decided to take a Saturday Italian course at NCC, the local community college. Little by little and I do mean by little things are starting to turn around. My goal is to be able to converse, well at least order some dinner, next summer when we go to Italy.

As the winter session came to a close last week I realized we're all in the same boat.
Our teacher was absent and she sent in a substitute. Unlike our weekly teacher, she was more free formed in her calling on students.  Our regular teacher went around the room, Catholic School Style, first student does sentence 1, second student number 2 etc. Using this method I realized my classmates had practiced their line and to me sounded like they were really with the program. Once teacher 2 came in and was more random, the dirty little secret was exposed. We were all speaking in foreign tongues, and few of the tongues were Italian.

Signs of my Times

Sign on the local church bulletin board

                 DON"T FORGET,
Men's Alzheimers Group meets this Friday at 8:00
                             AND
Got my first invite to join the Senior Men's Group in Greenwich
"The fellows meet every Wednesday, there is coffee and danish"

Hopefully I won't be attending either for quite a while

Omen?

Now that I have been retired for 8 months, I have decided to look into going back to work.
I applied for a job in a Catholic School and given my resume I thought I'd be the perfect candidate for the job.
Upon reading the qualifications I found out that I was not at all qualified. Having been divorced and remarried I have fallen out of favor with the Archdiocese of Bridgeport and the Church I thought we were beyond that. I guess not. Hopefully Francis and God will be more forgiving as 50+% of Christians are in the same boat with me.
Too bad as I have been told i was a pretty effective school leader.

24/7 Pope

The wall to wall coverage of the resignation of PB16 and smoke signals heralding the selection of Francis1, has provided believers and others with an all pope, all the time atmosphere. Pity the poor agnostics, Jews and other non-Catholics as Roman Catholics surely have had our place in the sun over the last 6 weeks.

Every nuance has been covered from PB16's ground backing announcement (first in 500 years!) to the loss of custody of the Red Shoes, to the pope in the window in the square at the "summer cottage" at Castel Gondolfo, to the white smoke, the first message, front desk confusion over the bill at the hotel, "Mi dispiace non abbiamo un Francesca Papa in questo albergo" (We don't have a Pope Francis registered at this hotel).

The firsts continue; 1st to retire, 1st to be elected from outside Europe, 1st from Latin America, 1st to be named Francis......... today, 1st mass as Pope, and so it goes.

Can't help but think the non-believers are a bit pope weary, I am and oh by the way did you notice that the North Koreans are threatening to set off a nuclear bomb! Now there is some serious white smoke.

You can't make this up

So let me get this straight; the TSA will now allow pocket knives on airplanes and many people are up in arms about this and the potential for "disaster"

While assault rifles are protected by the 2nd amendment and the NRA and their followers are determined to make sure this right is protected for the sake of the Republic, Unbelievable!

PS
Got my first invite to attend the Greenwich Senior men's club weekly meetings, coffee and danish will be served.

Nobody does it better

For old timers games, it is the Yankees
For the peaceful exchange of political power, it is the USA
For Christmas cheer, it is Rockefeller Center
And for pomp and circumstance, it has to be the Catholic Church and the pageantry of electing a pope.

Today they did just that and the white smoke billowed from the chimney sending smoke signals to the world that HABEMUS PAPEM, we have a pope!

The bands, the uniforms, the setting of St. Peter's square, the Swiss guards in their pantaloons and Viking ship hats, all added to the moment. Anderson Cooper was ready to convert on the spot and two young women from Argentina, were excited as they said over and over  "he is a nice guy".

A little problem with the microphone, but for something that happened only 265 times in the last 2000 years you can forgive them for not having a better sound system.

All and all a great day and bound to do wonders for the sleepy town of Assisi in Italy.

Viva Papa

Deal of the Century at Century Village

The 64 year old question that is on the minds of all recent retirees is do we or don't we ...move to Florida?
We have decided that we will not be packing up the U-Haul anytime soon and moving to God's waiting room.

However a report in the NYT this weekend sure makes it tempting, well until you read carefully that the dream condo is in ( fill in the blank)_Village. These gated communities, there must be terrible crime in Florida, 'cause there are many, many gated communities are going at rock bottom prices. The article reported that as recent as last year these cookie cutter condos were selling for $6-15,000. Now that is a bargain until you realize you are a stones throw from I-95, congestion and gated camps filled with retirees of all ages. The article reported that younger people are cashing out their up north homes or apartments and moving to Florida . To paraphrase New Hampshire, to live almost free...then die.
There is no property tax once you live for 6 months and a day in the Sunshine State.

We have been glancing at properties for many years and never did we see a $15,000 bargain. We have visited various gated communities, most with more security than Benghazi, but the price tags have never been less than $250,000 or more.

Perhaps some day we'll move to Florida but for now we'll take our chances and classes in NY

$1500 Suit

When did this happen? I went to shop for a suit for an upcoming event only to find that anything worth wearing starts at $ 899 and he average, in the stores I surveyed is $1299. What are these suits made of?
Regardless of the brand, and brand counts, we are talking about a jacket and a pair of pants! As a long time fan of What Not to Wear I understand that women's clothing has intricate work, special fabric, but for a jacket and pants, with very little variation in style, why the outrageous prices.

Perhaps it is because the suit departments have all but disappeared. Nordstrom's once large department in White Plains has all but disappeared, Darien Sport Shop, same thing, even Brooks Brothers has paired down their suit square footage, but not their prices,  in favor of the more sporty look.

So what to do? I'll keep shopping, hope for sales and see if I can find a suitable suit.

Last Snow of winter?

Woke up this morning to a winter wonderland of white. Where did this some from? The weather reports and the hi tech models didn't call for an event that would last through the night and into the late morning. at best they were looking for 1-3 and I'm watching 4-6 fall on the trees and our new back porch.

You can always tell when the forecast is off, they generally say little about the upcoming event. That is a sure sign that we will get whacked.

The good news is that the boys of summer are practicing 1200 miles away and will be breaking camp in 3 weeks to head up I- 95 but for now a baseball will have to be replaced by a snowball.

Not to be confused with LA Fitness

There is no chance my gym will ever be confused with La Fitness, the chain of gyms that recently appeared on the east coast.

Though I've never been in LA I can imagine it is full of 20 somethings who spend way too much time working out to make sure they keep that buff look

My gym caters to people of a certain age who go to ensure that the blood keeps flowing.
Yesterday I was there and was the youngest of 4 working out on the stationary bike. The guy next to me was tearing it up at 2.4 MPH. Just to show him up I was doing 17.6, leaving him in the dust. I kept that pace for 2- 3 minutes! The average pace was 10.5 MPH. Not quite sure how that compares but I did work up a sweet. After my usual 30 minute cardio I cooled down and headed out. In front of me were two fellow gym rats, one with a cane and the other with a walker.

A gym members nightmare, too old for LA and visions of the future at Tully!

The BBC

Ever since I can remember J has had a habit of needing the radio on during the night to help her sleep. Years ago she'd go to bed with her Walkman, I did mention it was years ago, and enormous head phones.  It was like sleeping with someone with huge hair curlers on her head. I'd turn over to kiss her and fell like I was in bed with an air traffic controller! She did this so as not to keep me awake and i was grateful but it was not romantic. She said it helped her sleep. I thought just the opposite.

More recently we have gone to listening to the radio all night without head phones. She would always say she missed the golden years as a kid when she'd listen to the Red Sox games, boy if that didn't put you to sleep. she also loved to listen to Larry King, when he was so, so much younger and would tell tails that went on for 15 minutes. he Carvel story was a classic and I remember the night he had Fr. Guido Sarducci, on to discuss the new Contest, Find the Pope in the Pizza! My side of the bed is still shaking with laughter from that one.

Nor that we are both retired and there is no timetable or job to run to in the AM we fall asleep to the BBC. British Broadcasting Company, which occupies public radio from 11-5. This is not your fathers BBC with monotoned announcers droning on and on about things that had little or any significance to Americans. The new BBC is upbeat and folks are perky, mainly because they are broadcasting with a five hour time difference. The content is more interesting, even if they continue to insist on calling Burma and not Myanmar but last night they went over the edge. They interviewed an 80 year old guy who has lived with wolves for over 40 years, had a piece of his ear bitten off and not by Mike Tyson and chews their food for them before placing it in their mouths. He also howls and we had a sample of this ungodly noise at 4:30AM. Maybe it's time for earpods for her ipod.

The Routine

As I work my way through my first year of the rest of my life I do find myself establishing some daily patterns. For a very brief moment I was not paying attention to when I'd dress for the day. As a result those rust colored cords were getting a workout. I quickly noticed the onset of a routine and now I have established a more efficient routine of getting out of bed, shower, dress, and going about my business with purpose.

With all good intentions however I do see a few bad habits forming. I check my email at 8:00 am daily. Initially I was excited as the inbox would indicate that I had 15-18 messages. The anticipation quickly waned as I discovered the emails were not from professional colleagues asking for advice or from a school in need of a consultant, instead there are daily messages from J.Crew, Giggles (baby store), the Gap, Groupon, VT. Country Store, Frontgate and a whole host of other "friends".

I must also admit that I find myself waiting for the postman, woman, to come by. I do note when the mail comes, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

All part of the process of my new soap opera, As My World Changes!

Note to Nike

Every week it seems like another athlete is pushed off their pedestal for some indiscretion.  Drugs, Murder, Infidelity seem to be the top three reasons why our larger than life superstars fall from grace.

I would suggest to Nike that they reconsider their ad campaigns and stop promoting these guys, and it seems to be all guys, as heroes. Despite all their accomplishments on the field they can't seem to understand that despite their talent, they and we all put our pants on one leg at a time.