Manic Monday - Tradition

The word of the week at the Manic Monday Meme is 'tradition' but rather than write about an old tradition, I thought I would make mention of a new one that Jen and I recently started at work on those long 16-hour shifts we spend in the dispatch center every Sunday. Some of you might remember that back in October I journeyed down to New York City to attend a live taping of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and, because it was Movie Week, I came home with a free three-month subscription to NetFlix which has turned out to be a pretty darned cool thing to have as it has become invaluable on those long Sunday shifts.

Jen and I now have what we call "Chick Flick Sundays" and in between 911 calls, routine transfers, and the other aspects of the job, we watch three movies to help pass the time. So far we've watched both Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version) and Sense and Sensibility, Made of Honor, Enchanted, Hair Spray, The Importance of Being Earnest, P.S. I Love You, Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, What a Girl Wants, Love Actually, The DaVinci Code, and a whole bunch of other movies that I can't recall right off the top of my head. I know for sure that we've watched every Colin Firth movie that we could get our hands on because - yeah, we're shallow - we both adore Colin Firth!

It's turned out that this new tradition is a great way to pass the time on Sundays and we've decided that when my current free subscription to NetFlix runs out, we're going to split the cost to continue it. After all, why stop a good thing?!?

Oh, speaking of good things ... or in this case not so good things ... we watched Mamma Mia! this past Sunday and I've just got to wonder who on earth ever told Pierce Brosnan that he could sing? Oh my aching ears! The movie was a lot of fun, though, and it was darned hard not to sing along but I didn't want to ruin the movie for Jen as singing is not my forte! Though that didn't stop her when we were watching The Sound of Music later in the shift!

One last thing when it comes to our new "Chick Flick Sunday" tradition - no men are allowed in dispatch unless they are dropping something off or making a copy of something - some traditions are just more sacred than others if you know what I mean!

Manic Monday - Tree

Morgen chose the word "tree" for this week's Manic Monday Meme and rather than post a picture of my little fiber optic Christmas tree in all of its two-foot glory again, I thought this might be the perfect chance to use a picture that I took this past September while out doing some cemetery touring in the dark.

What looks like a small white dot in the middle of the picture was actually the moon - believe it or not! This picture was shot with my older camera, the Kodak Z712, in the area of Yantic Falls, a place I've posted about several times in the past and will probably post about again in the future!

To see more trees, be sure to check out the Manic Monday Meme - I'm sure there will be at least one or two Christmas trees in the mix!

Manic Monday - Candle

In keeping with the holiday season, the word of the week at Morgen's Manic Monday Meme is 'candle' and there is probably a lot I could write about candles being that I love the glow of softly burning candles as well as some of the fantastic scents that places like Yankee Candle can come up with.

Vanilla is always a major favorite as are a lot of the Christmas scents that they put out this time of the year. My cousin Amy tells me that the "Christmas Wreath" ones smell just like a fresh-cut Christmas tree and transports her right back to 1974 when she was just a kid and Christmas still held all of its magic and wonder. Funny how scents can do that to us, isn't it? I gotta get me one of those!

This post isn't about the wonderful glow and scent of candles, though, it's about one of my very favorite sights at Christmastime ...

As many wondrous Christmas lights as there are out there, nothing catches my eye more than a house that has a single candle in every window. To me, that just says Christmas, especially here in New England where old-fashioned houses abound. This particular house is located on Broadway near the Park Congregational Church that I featured in last week's post; I thought it looked just absolutely beautiful so naturally had to take a picture!

Be sure to check out the other 'candle' posts at the Manic Monday Meme and may you have a glowing day!

Manic Monday - Light

Due to my whacked-out work schedule lately, I haven't had a chance to participate in Morgen's Manic Monday Meme but with things being semi-back to 'normal' I thought I would join back in with this week's theme of "light". How lucky for me that I actually had some pictures dealing with light that I took last week when I was out freezing my fingers off in an attempt to take some night photos. I knew they'd come in handy at some point!

This first picture is of the Park Congregational Church which sits on the corner of Broadway and Crescent Street right across from Norwich Free Academy where Amanda attends high school. It's a very pretty church which was established in 1784 and, if you've been a regular reader for awhile, you might remember this church from my Steeplechasing in Norwich, Part III post (which was inspired by Princess Patti's steeplechasing escapades in her part of Connecticut!)

Even though there's nothing particularly spectacular about this shot, I figured it fit the theme of "light" as not only is there a lovely light post in the middle of the picture but there's that lovely beam of light emitting from the floodlight to the right. Oh, and just for the record, I love the blue door on this church!

This next picture is one I took of the Christmas lights in downtown Norwich near the courthouse and looking towards Franklin Square. Again, there's nothing spectacular but the Christmas lights strung across the road fit the theme of "light" quite nicely.

The lights really do look a lot prettier in real life than they do in this picture but at least it gives you a bit of a glimpse as to what downtown Norwich looks like around Christmas.

As I've said, I'm still experimenting and learning when it comes to night shots with the Nikon but I'm hoping that once I learn the nuances of light and exposure and all that good stuff a little bit better then I'll have some better pictures to show you. In the meantime, Travis said he didn't mind if I experimented on you folks!

Be sure to see who else lit things up over at the Manic Monday Meme and have a wonderful Monday no matter where you are or what you're doing!

Manic Monday - Bounty

If you've clicked by here from Roger's Creative Photography Contest blog looking for my entry for the week, there was a minor mix-up with Mr. Linky and you can find that post here if you'd like! If you really wanted to read about Janet Evanovich's great books then please read on!

The Manic Monday word for the day is "bounty" and even though I think this is supposed to have something to do with Thanksgiving, the first thing that came to mind for me had nothing to do with Turkey Day as I immediately thought of Stephanie Plum - my very favorite fictional bounty hunter!

Stephanie is the creation of author Janet Evanovich and is the protagonist in 14 books starting with "One for the Money" and currently ending with "Fearless Fourteen" as well as four novellas that are written "between the numbers". She's been described as a combination between Dirty Harry and Nancy Drew with out of control curly brown hair, a fast metabolism, a penchant for something sweet when things start to go wrong, and a family that is even crazier than she is! In short, she's a true Jersey Girl!

Living in an apartment complex full of elderly neighbors in Trenton, New Jersey with her hamster, Rex, Stephanie is definitely what one might call a "crap magnet" as she finds herself in more impossible situations than you would ever think possible and yet they're all so darned funny that I constantly find myself laughing right out loud. Having lived in New Jersey myself during part of my time in the Air Force, I can easily picture the scenes in the books and think I even know which mall it is that Stephanie loves to go to when she's in need of some therapeutic shoe-shopping!

A lot of the comedy in the books comes from Stephanie's sidekick in the bounty hunting business, Lula - a plus-sized former hooker who constantly attempts to shove her size 16 body into size 10 spandex - generally with some sort of animal print! When she isn't helping Stephanie screw up an apprehension or threatening to shoot someone, Lula is working as a file clerk at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds which is owned by Stephanie's slime-ball cousin Vinnie who hired Stephanie on as a bounty hunter when the secretarial position she originally wanted was already taken by Connie. With her car about to be repossessed, Stephanie really needed the job even though she had no idea how to chase down the people who had skipped out on their court appearances and Vinnie needed back so as not to lose his bail money. Funny thing is, throughout all of the books, Stephanie never really gets better at being a bounty hunter but the situations get funnier and funnier.

There is no shortage of adventure, laughter, and hot men in the Stephanie Plum series and with any luck there might actually be a movie out before too long. From what I can gather the front runners for the role of Stephanie are Sandra Bullock and Ann Hathaway with the role of Lula being perfect for Queen Latifah; unfortunately I wasn't able to find out who they might be considering for the roles of Joe and Ranger though I'm sure there's a poll or two out there somewhere with fans asking that very question!

If you've never read these books, I highly recommend them as it's an excellent series and very fun to read. Just don't blame me if you find yourself craving Tasty Kakes or donuts while you're reading!

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Manic Monday Minions and have a great day!

Manic Monday - Colorful

The first Manic Monday word for November is 'colorful' so I thought - well, why not take a few of my remaining foliage shots from the local area, make a nice collage, and use it for today's post? Obviously, that's exactly what I did! Unfortunately, this year's foliage was a little on the 'odd' side as far as the timing of each tree's color change went and nothing seemed to be changing at the same time but we still did have some lovely autumn colors even if it was patchy at times.

All of these pictures were taken from the Mohegan Sun side of the Thames River (on my way into work last Monday) except for the colorful rock cropping at the top; I took that picture from the parking garage right outside of where I work at the Tribe. I think for a bigger view you can click on the collage and it will take you to a larger size but this is the first time I've used this format and I could be wrong, though I hope not!

I hope everyone has a very colorful Monday no matter what you're up to; be sure to stop by Mo's Manic Monday Meme for more colorful choices!

Manic Monday - Ghost

The word of the day over at the Manic Monday blog is "ghost" and I bet you think I'm going to do a post with pictures like this one -


Nope, that's not the moon hovering over that grave as the moon was somewhere behind me and up in the trees so we'll just have to leave what that really is up to our imaginations. And yes, I was actually out in the middle of the cemetery when I took this picture but that's a story for another day as, believe it or not, this post isn't actually going to be about ghosts per say but about a ghost of a different kind - The Ghost of You to be precise. Feel free to listen to the video while I expound a little bit and see if I can instill a little music appreciation here!


On June 8th, 2004, My Chemical Romance released their second studio album titled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge which produced four singles - Thank You for the Venom, I'm Not Okay (I Promise), Helena, and The Ghost of You.

The Ghost of You is a song about loss - whether it be the loss of a love, a family member, or a close friend. On the fourth day of its release, the video for the song rocketed to number one on MTV's music-video countdown show Total Request Live and benchmarked the changes in My Chemical Romance's musical style, fan-base and overall image paving the way for their next album, The Black Parade.

There are those who claim that MCR "sold out" from their earlier alternative rock image to one that was more pop punk or emo but I really don't think that's the case. Just because a band finally reaches some form of commercial success doesn't mean that they've forgotten their roots completely. Mainstream popularity is not a bad thing though there are those who seem to think it is. Apparently those people are the same ones who also love the title "starving artist" and figure that no good comes of anyone who can actually make a decent living off of their chosen art-form. Anyhow, I digress ... back to The Ghost of You ...

When MCR did the video for this song, they "shot a movie and just edited it to be a video" in Malibu, California over the course of two days. The video closely depicts the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan and the invasion of Omaha though most of the video takes place in a USO setting where the band is performing at a dance. In a scene at the bar, Mikey (the band's bassist) seems to be reassuring his brother Gerard (the lead singer) that he'll be okay and that there's nothing to worry about as they spend one last night out before heading into battle the next day, however that's definitely not the case. Many of the scenes are prophetic of what is going to happen during the invasion.

As the band members storm the beach, Mikey is shot and despite efforts by Ray (the band's guitarist) who plays a medic in the video, Mikey dies on the beach with his eyes wide open. Gerard stands in shock as he sees his brother die and then has to be restrained as he tries to run to him screaming - though, of course, you don't hear that, you just see him screaming. This is definitely loss of the highest order and it's hard not to feel Gerard's distress and pain.

Overall the video is very moving and the song is, in my own humble opinion, one of My Chem's best. Having a fan for a daughter, I've heard all of their songs many, many times over and even though their earlier music is good, I think they definitely grew as a band and as storytellers through songs like this. Now if they'd just put out a new album ...

While we're waiting for them to do so, don't forget to go check out the other participants in Manic Monday over at Mo's Manic Monday Meme blog and see what other ghostly-goings-on are going on!

Manic Monday - Bite

How convenient that Mo picked this week's Manic Monday word to be 'bite' as it gives me the chance to do another post on the series of books I just finished reading. After all, the word 'bite' regularly comes to mind when thinking of vampires and regular visitors will know that I've been reading the very popular Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer; the young adult books which tell the love story of Bella Swan, a mortal teenager, and Edward Cullen, a teenage vampire in the small town of Forks, Washington.

After more or less plowing through the first two books in the series, Twilight and New Moon, I jumped right into the next two books, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, finishing the last book yesterday evening. I think I got to book four as fast as I did because Bella managed to annoy the heck out of me once again in book three and I wanted to make sure that things worked out right in the final book! I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing when you want to reach through the pages of a book and strangle one or two of the characters but I was ready to do that with both Bella and Jacob constantly throughout book three and wasn't sure which one I was more irritated with! I don't know how many times I told Amanda that Bella didn't deserve Edward while she complained to me that Edward was too perfect. Huh? Too perfect?!? Is she nuts?!?

As I've said before, though, I don't want to give too much away to those who haven't read the series yet but are thinking about it even though I feel like I was probably one of the last people on earth who hadn't read it! I'm sure there are probably two or three people out there who haven't read the books but that's hard to believe when you look at the amazing fan-base for the books and the number of people who are chomping at the bit for Twilight the movie to be released next month. Yeah, yeah, you can count me in on that one! I am intrigued to say the least!

It's funny, I had never given much thought to vampires until I read these books as I was never a big Anne Rice fan, but now I'm beginning to think it might not be the worst thing in the world to be bitten by a vampire and become an immortal. After all, they have incredible strength so I'm sure I would no longer have back problems; they don't eat per say so that would cut way back on the grocery bills as well as time-consuming trips to the store; they're incredibly beautiful which would be nice to be for once in my existence; they can run like the wind and never get one of those annoying stitches in their side or feel like they're sucking pond water after about an 1/8th of a mile; and they don't need sleep so I wouldn't be tired all the time and would have a lot more time for blogging! Granted, there are a few downsides like that whole bloodsucking thing but there are apparently ways around that. Overall it sounds to me like the advantages outweigh the disadvantages!

Of course, the biggest advantage to becoming a vampire would be the possibility of finding my one true love and soulmate and sharing a bond that could never be broken. That would certainly be worth a bite on the neck, right? Though with my luck when it comes to love, I'd probably find myself wandering eternity all on my own wondering where that soulmate was and how to find him. Hmm, I wonder if vampires have their own sort of eHarmony or Match.com? Perhaps Vampire Singles Dances?

I don't know ... maybe this is sounding too much like my current mortal life ... do I really want to do that for all of eternity even if I could leap over tall buildings in a single bound? Hmmm ... Well, there is still that 'more time for blogging' thing to think about!

Don't forget to see what other people took a bite out of over at Manic Monday while I see what else the library has in stock for other vampire novels. Now that I've been bitten by the vampire bug I need to read more - but no Anne Rice, please. Her books scare me!

Manic Monday - Moon

I haven't done a Manic Monday Meme in quite some time but how I could possibly resist this week's theme of "Moon"?!? I just couldn't, especially considering that I just finished reading Book 2 in the Twilight Series that I mentioned last week. New Moon is the follow-up to Twilight, the young adult fiction story that Amanda and her friends thought I should read before the movie version is released on November 21st.

The Twilight Series was written by Stephenie Meyer, born here in Connecticut yet raised mostly in Arizona, and Twilight was her first ever novel which has obviously achieved huge success and a major following of teenage fans plus at least one 50-year old as I am totally hooked! Having finished Twilight last week I had to wait for Darci to bring New Moon with her from New Jersey for me to read as I couldn't get my hands on it at my local library due to the overwhelming demand by other avid readers.

The four books in the Twilight Series tell the story of Bella, almost your typical American teenager, and Edward, your definitely not-so-typical teenage vampire - two souls who find themselves completely and totally intertwined with each other after they meet in the tiny town of Forks, Washington. As a complete and total sucker (no pun intended) for a good love story, I find myself really enjoying the books and am totally looking forward to the movie's release next month.

Having admitted to getting a bit annoyed with the character of Bella in Twilight, Amanda warned me that I was going to like her even less in New Moon but that turned out not to be the case at all. Not to give away the story to anyone who hasn't read them yet but does want to read the books, in the beginning of New Moon Edward leaves Bella for what he thinks is her own good as obviously being involved with a vampire has its down sides. Bella is understandably devastated and acts accordingly.

After finishing the book I asked Amanda why I was supposed to be more annoyed with Bella and she said that it was because of the way that Bella handled Edward's leaving. She thought that Bella overreacted but Bella's reaction was something that I could completely and totally understand having been there - done that - eventually survived that with a broken heart of my own that I thought would never heal. As I tried to explain to Amanda, until you've lost someone that you love more than life itself, you probably couldn't understand the hole in her heart and her life that Bella was obviously experiencing and that Amanda saw as an overreaction. Teenagers!

Unfortunately I could totally relate and perhaps that's why Bella had my whole understanding and sympathy and why the book had my almost undivided attention (well, in between phone calls and radio dispatches at work) and I was able to finish it on Saturday! Thankfully Cate brought books 3 & 4 - Eclipse and Breaking Dawn - with her this weekend so I am able to continue following the love story without interruption this time. Well ... expect for those darned phones and radio transmissions at work as well as needing to take time to sleep, eat, shower, and maybe blog a bit!

Even though the Twilight Series is categorized as Young Adult, I would really have to recommend it to anyone who loves a good romance with or without a supernatural twist. Oh, and if f you aren't into vampires there are some werewolves thrown in for good measure in New Moon. I'm quite curious to see what else shows up in Eclipse!

Finally, as a last touch for this Manic Monday Meme, I just had to post one picture of the moon taken during last month's Rhode Island beach vacation. Kinda looks like something a vampire might like, doesn't it??

Be sure to pop on by the new home of Mo's Manic Monday Meme and check out the other entries for this week, too!

A Really BIG Manic Monday!

If it's Monday then it must be manic at It's a Blog Eat Blog World, blog-home of my friend Morgen who is the host for the Manic Monday Meme where each week Mo gives his minions a word and then we scurry about and do our best to come up with a post based around that word. This week Morgen reached into his bag of words and pulled out the word "BIG".

Hmmm ... what to do for that? Here in Connecticut, the weather Sunday evening was about as perfect as you're going to get in New England in August with moderate temperatures and low humidity so I asked Amanda if she wanted to break away from the computer for a little while and head out in search of "BIG" with me. Once I mentioned the search would include ice cream that was enough for her to put up an away message and throw her shoes on!

After jumping into my trusty Mazda, I pointed it East and we took a drive out of town on Route 165 heading towards Griswold where one can find one of the biggest attractions on a summer day in this part of Connecticut ...

Buttonwood Farm first opened for business in 1997 making their own ice cream from their own dairy cows right there on the farm and to say that it's absolutely delicious would not be doing it justice!

This is my big double-scoop waffle cone with Almond Joy and Coffee Mocha Crunch ice cream.

Here we have Amanda's big cone of Chocolate Silk and Chocolate Almond Fudge and, as you can see, she had already taken a big lick out of it before I grabbed the camera! Who can blame her??

This place draws a pretty big crowd!

Some of that big crowd likes to eat their ice cream underneath the big gazebo next to the ice cream stand.

In addition to the fabulous ice cream, a lot of people go out to Buttonwood Farm to look at their acres and acres of beautiful sunflowers. Each year they plant thousands of plants for people to come and enjoy. When the big blooms are cut, the bouquets are sold for $5.00 a bunch with 100% of the proceeds going to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The program is called Sunflowers for Wishes and it's a big fundraiser for the non-profit organization that is devoted to making wishes possible for children with life-threatening medical conditions.

People come from miles away to see these big sunflowers and to take pictures of them - just like Amanda and I did and who can blame them? Aren't they beautiful?

While we were admiring the sunflowers, Amanda was startled by a very big ant that was climbing on the stone wall next to her. She shrieked and took a big step backwards but then decided a picture was in order!

There were some big clouds hovering over the sunflower fields so, of course, I had to take a picture of them along with the big sun shining in the sky!

On the way back to Norwich I noticed that the corn was getting pretty big so I pulled over to take a picture of it, too, as this post is all about BIG, right?

These ears will eventually get bigger but for now that was more than big enough for a picture for this meme!

Before I continued on to find some more "BIG" pictures, I dropped Amanda off at home as she wanted to get back to her latest big obsession - World of Warcraft. She used to play it awhile back but the file was too big for the computer and I had removed it but after she took off some other stuff and reloaded it last night it didn't seem to take up as much room and she could go back to working on her characters.

This is Amanda's Druid Night Elf; she's only a Level 12 which isn't too big but I'm sure that will change once she spends way too much time trying to level up.

This one is her other character which is a Level 6 Undead Rogue, doesn't that just sound lovely? Hey, Asara, any of this sound familiar?!? I know that you're definitely big into WoW!

After dropping Amanda at the house I continued on my hunt for the next "BIG" thing next stopping at the old Norwich State Hospital grounds which is right up the road from my house. I was very careful not to actually go on the hospital grounds as they are clearly marked "No Trespassing" with big signs all over the place but I figured that the security guards that roam the place in SUVs wouldn't throw too big of a fit if I was just on the edge of the property using a zoom lens. I didn't see any of them to tell me otherwise so I figured it was okay but I didn't take a big chance and dilly-dally too long!

Built in 1904 and covering over 100 acres, the Norwich State Mental Hospital for the Insane was one of the biggest mental health facilities in the State of Connecticut until it closed in 1996. The patient population was at its biggest in the 1950's with over 3,000 patients and rumors now abound that the grounds and buildings are haunted by some of the lost and tortured souls who were treated here. The place is a big attraction for local ghost-hunters, or wanna be ones!, and that's part of the reason for all the big security. This picture shows the Administration Building which was obviously quite grand-looking but is now falling apart big-time as it sits there abandoned and neglected.

This picture shows the back side of the same big building pictured above. I took it from a vantage point across the Thames River in one of the big parking lots of the Mohegan Sun Casino.

Speaking of the Mohegan Sun Casino, that would be this place - the second biggest casino in the world and literally sitting in my backyard! That big shiny building is the hotel with the casino sprawled below it. I used to work here as a blackjack dealer back in 2002-2003 and will be going back to work here soon as a part-time dispatcher for the Mohegan Tribe at their Public Safety Complex once I get through with my background investigation and all. No doubt I'll fill you in more on that in future posts!

Did I mention the Thames River? Ah yes, I believe I did! That would be this big river! I took this picture from the Mohegan Sun grounds looking towards Norwich. I live on the right side of the river as you're looking at it and work on the left side just across from the Marina at American Wharf (which my big boss also owns!). I've yet to get them to put in a zip-line for me so I could just skip the whole driving commute but at least I only have about 1-1/2 miles through downtown to get there. That really helps big when it comes to saving on gas!

This is a slightly different angle of the big river that runs south for 15 miles through eastern Connecticut. The Thames (rhymes with James) River is primarily a tidal estuary along which is located the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London and a U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Groton. The river forms at the junction of the Yantic and Shetucket Rivers in Norwich and ends at the mouth of the Long Island Sound in Groton near Eastern Point Beach where I have taken fireworks pictures.

Finally, I had reached the end of my "BIG" journey but on my way back home I saw these beautiful big red clouds floating in the sky over my head and how could I possibly resist taking a picture of them? I couldn't! You may have noticed that I am a big pushover lately when it comes to clouds!

I hope you enjoyed this "BIG" journey through my little part of Connecticut! If you'd like to see what other people thought of when Mo said "BIG", be sure to check out the Big Linkies at It's a Blog Eat Blog World!

Manic Monday - "Bug"

It's definitely the middle of summer and nothing says that better than the word "Bug" - which also happens to be the word of the week for Mo's Manic Monday Meme at It's a Blog Eat Blog World. Mo picked this word in conjunction with the first day of Doodle Week where the theme for Monday is "Doodle Bug". I've seen Doodle Week around but I tend to studiously avoid it because I doodle about as well as I sing ... which is badly ... but I know a lot of other people not only participate but do a grand job of it, too!

However, just because I don't draw or doodle doesn't mean that doodles are out of the question as I have daughters who love to draw. To that end, for this week's Manic Monday post I appealed to them for some help - after all, teenagers are experts when it comes to bugging people and certainly they know what a true pest looks like! Right?

Per my request (plea?), Jamie came up with this cute little guy here who most definitely qualifies as a Doodle Bug!


As for Amanda, she seems to know the true meaning of "pest" as her "buggy bug" is a bit more detailed and sinister looking which definitely qualifies in the overall bug department!

So there ya go, Mo, now you can say that you've been "bugged" by a couple of teenagers yourself!

If you want to see what's bugging other people on this Manic Monday then be sure to check out the linkies at Mo's Manic Monday Meme!

Manic Monday - "Stripe"

Our host of Manic Monday, Morgen at It's a Blog Eat Blog World, declared this week's Manic Monday word to be "stripe". My guess is that it was in keeping with the 4th of July holiday and the stars and stripes that decorate our beloved American flag. As a matter of fact, I was kicking around the idea of doing a post about the flag and its origins but then a new idea for a post struck me ... literally ... right in the middle of my lower back.

See those blue stripes over there in that picture? The little black arrow is pointing to one of them. Those are called spinal discs (or intervertebral discs if you want to be technical) and those are what keep your vertebrae from rubbing together and causing all kinds of pain. Someone once described a spinal disc to me as a jelly donut and said that they work great when the jelly stays inside the donut but when a disc becomes herniated then the jelly (or nucleus pulposus) slips out and back pain incurs at the point of herniation when the protruding discs presses on a spinal nerve. In other words, if the jelly donut gets squeezed too tightly then the jelly all seeps out the sides making a horrible mess!

I have two of those herniated discs in the L4-L5 (lumbar) region of my back - i.e., my lower back. In addition to that I have a genetic narrowing of the spine (stenosis) and, just to make things even more interesting, some arthritis has decided to get into the act, too. Oh lucky me! In August of 2005 (the 17th to be exact), I underwent surgery after missing two months of work because I could barely move from Paint A to Point B as the herniation in my back had gotten to the point where it was causing major sciatic pain from the bulging disc that was sitting on my sciatic nerve.

During that very long two months I wanted to amputate my own leg at times as the pain was so bad I could hardly stand it but as my doctor explained it to me, even if I cut my leg off the pain would still be there as even though the pain was being felt in my leg, it wasn't in my leg but was from the affected nerve in my back which ran down my leg. Wherever it was, it was the worst pain I have ever had in my life and I wouldn't have wished it on anyone - including either of my ex-husbands!

After three trips to the emergency room in the back of one of the ambulances I normally dispatch to other people, my doctor was finally able to get the pain down to a dull roar with a combination of three different medications. Those kept me sane until surgery at which time my doctor performed what is called a "laminectomy", a procedure that surgically removes a portion of the lamina (part of the spinal canal's bony roof) to take pressure off of the nerve root. It didn't fix my herniated discs but it helped me to feel a lot better - most of the time.

I still battle back pain off and on and have learned that I definitely have physical limitations. Standing for long periods of time is not considered a very good idea, lifting heavy objects is out of the question, and if you want to know if it's going to rain or if there's a major snowstorm moving into the area I can be just as accurate as any of the weather forecasters on our local news channels. Sometimes I don't have to do anything at all out of the ordinary to get that electrical jolt down my back which indicates that I am going to be hobbling around like Quasimodo for at least several days while a stripe of pain runs across my lower back and down one or both of my legs.

And that's exactly what happened early Sunday afternoon and became the inspiration for this post - one that I could have happily done without! I had gone to the grocery store to get some much-needed groceries as I was doing Mother Hubbard proud but the girls were not handling the lack of food in the house very well. When I got home I was putting the groceries away and knelt down in front of the refrigerator to stack up yogurt containers and as I went to stand up I felt that old familiar pain across my back and knew right then that I was in trouble. Again.

After numerous muttered curses, I popped a couple of Aleve and hobbled upstairs to lie down until it was time to take Darci to the train station for her return to New Jersey. Following that I limped into work and did my best not to aggravate things overly much there though it was painful every time I had to reach to switch radio frequencies or answer the phone. As much as I would have loved to stay home and babied my back until I felt human again, I work for a company that isn't overly generous with sick time (we get 3 days a year) and I simply can't afford to take any unpaid time off. The worst thing is I have to work a 16-hour shift today and I'm not any too sure how well that's going to go as no doubt the stripe of pain across my lower back caused by the herniation of that other little stripe shown above is going to get wider as the day goes on. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to it.

So while I'm sitting at work and cringing every time I have to move, I'm sure there are lots of posts out there with less painful versions of "stripe" so don't forget to check out Mo's Manic Monday Meme.

I'll try to limp around to everyone else's blogs soon but in the meantime ... ouch!

"Night" Falls on Manic Monday

When I saw that Morgen at It's a Blog Eat Blog World had declared this week's Manic Monday theme to be "night", I actually did a small happy dance as I had just gone out the night before and taken some pictures around town which I planned on using in a post at some future time. What a delight that I was able to use them so soon and for Manic Monday no less!

In addition to the pictures that I had taken (like the one of the flag outside of dispatch), my friend Dennis had uploaded a few to his Flickr account that he had taken from the roof of American Ambulance, where we work. Night photos all around - woohoo! Morgen, you couldn't have chosen a better theme for this week - thank you!

The three pictures below were taken by Dennis with his Nikon D3 and show the view of the Marina at American Wharf as well as downtown Norwich from the building where we work. Dennis told me he took these pictures around 11:00 p.m. or so and in the second two you can see the Strawberry Moon that had risen over Norwich. That moon was the reason I had been wandering around Norwich in the dark, too, but I wasn't able to get any shots of it myself. Oh, and just to show what a short commute to work I have, my house is located almost exactly below that moon!

So, what was I taking pictures of while waiting for the moon to rise that night? First off Amanda, Darci, and I stopped by the Hebrew Cemetery in Preston which is located just outside of the old Norwich State Hospital grounds. Even though I used to be scared to death of them when I was younger, cemeteries at night don't bother me in the least anymore and I actually like to take pictures of them to see if I can capture any sort of phenomena on the pictures - like orbs. If you look closely at these pictures, you can definitely spot orbs in places and they aren't reflections from a flash as I was using the camera on night landscape mode and there was no flash.


Just as a side note, when I took those pictures I was standing outside of the cemetery wall so don't think I was wandering around in there aimlessly at night. I'm not that brave or that disrespectful.

After deciding that the moon was apparently not going to show up in the sky anytime soon, the girls and I climbed into the car to head across town in an effort to see if we could see the moon closer to the river. While en route, Amanda decided to play around with the camera a bit ...




Unfortunately, once we got to where we were going by the side of the Thames River, there was still no moon so I ended up with just this one shot of Norwich as you view it looking up the river towards the harbor and the marina. The white tower is Norwich City Hall which actually looks quite nice lit up at night.


Chances are, that picture would look a heck of a lot better if I had Dennis' Nikon D3 but sadly, the best I could do was my own Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS. All things considered, I think it does okay though I think from now on if I need a night shot or two, I'm going to ask Dennis to get them for me!

If you'd like to see what other people are doing in the night, be sure to check out Morgen's Manic Monday Meme at It's a Blog Eat Blog World where each week it's a different word for us to play with. Go ahead and join in next week - you know you want to!

Manic Monday - Under

Over at It's a Blog Eat Blog World, the Manic Monday Man himself - Morgen - has declared this Monday's word to be under. Having not had the chance to do a Manic Monday post in awhile, I thought I would take this week's word under consideration and see what I could come up with. I was leaning towards a song post considering I hadn't done one of those in even longer than I hadn't done a Manic Monday post and almost immediately the perfect song popped into my head! -

The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb
Now believe it or not, I was still pretty young when The Rolling Stones first came upon the music scene in 1962. The band was formed when original leader Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by singer Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. Formed in London, England their music was originally based on rhythm & blues and rock & roll.

The group set out on their first UK tour in July of 1963 (when I wasn't even five years old) and shortly after the British Invasion hit the shores and ears of America when they performed their first US tour in June of 1964. In bassist's Bill Wyman's words it was, "a disaster. When we arrived, we didn't have a hit record [there] or anything going for us." On their second US tour in the autumn of 1964, the band played on The Ed Sullivan Show (a major showcase for new talent at the time) but you can bet your bottom dollar my parents didn't let us watch that performance!

During both of these tours, the group was mostly performing cover songs and not playing any of their own songs yet. Even though there had been a single or two released earlier that was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it wasn't until December of 1964 that their label, London Records, released the band's first single with Jagger/Richards originals on both sides: Heart of Stone and What A Shame. The "A" side, Heart of Stone, went to number 19 on the US charts. Shortly after that, the band stopped doing covers and concentrated on their own work.

Under My Thumb was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1966 and first appeared on The Stones' album Aftermath, their 4th UK and 6th US studio album. It was never released as a single but was still one of their more popular hits even though it set a lot of feminists on edge with its lyrics that celebrate a man's struggle to get out from under a pushy and dominating woman. In a 1995 interview, Jagger had this to say about the song - "It's a bit of a jokey number, really. It's not really an anti-feminist song any more than any of the others .... Yes, it's a caricature, and it's in reply to a girl who was a very pushy woman." Jagger may have been referring to a model named Chrissie Shrimpton that he was dating at the time as she has been cited as an inspiration for the song. Personally I'm not sure that's exactly the type of song I'd want to inspire but maybe Chrissie didn't mind!

All in all, The Rolling Stones have released 22 studio albums in the UK (24 in the US), eight concert albums (nine in the US), and numerous compilations; they have had 32 UK & US top-10 singles, 43 UK & US top-10 albums between 1964 and 2008; and have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. Last year they hit the road with the highest-grossing concert tour in history and they show absolutely no signs of slowing down. I'd have to say that these guys are certainly under no one's thumb!

For more Manic Monday posts, don't forget to visit Morgen at It's a Blog Eat Blog World and look under the picture for participants!