Cottony Clouds Cover Connecticut Countryside

Instead of the nasty heat and humidity that we seem to have been plagued with for the most of the summer so far this year, Friday's weather was absolutely gorgeous with low humidity, moderate temperatures, and a sky chock full of beautiful puffy clouds. How could I possibly resist? I couldn't!

The following pictures were taken mostly by Amanda from the back seat of the car as the girls and I went to Canterbury to visit my mother and then again on the way home. Actually, I took the first four from the sunroof while driving but apparently Amanda didn't think that was the best of ideas so she took over the photography duties so I wouldn't drive off the road while in pursuit of a blog post. I tell ya, sometimes that kid has no faith in me!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and having your head back in the clouds with me!

New York, New York - At Last, At Last!

Two weeks ago Amy, my friend and co-worker at American Ambulance, and I rented a lovely little red Jeep Liberty from Enterprise, piled three teenage girls in the back, and made the 2-1/2 hour trek to New York City from Norwich. For weeks Amanda, Cate, and Darci had been looking forward to our trip to the city and the Mindless Self Indulgence concert at Terminal 5. To say that it was all they seemed to talk about would be a drastic understatement! They were excited while Amy and I were probably borderline crazy but no matter what we were all looking forward to a good time.

I hadn't driven down to the city since my friend MizCyn had come out to visit in the Spring of 2002 but I was up to the challenge and actually looking forward to it. Amy had brought along her handy-dandy GPS and stuck it on the front windshield so we had no fear of taking a wrong turn or missing the closest Dunkin Donuts should the need arise for coffee! Bigify the picture to see what I mean!

The drive down was uneventful and we made good time arriving in Manhattan just a little after noon. I had planned out our garage destination using a convenient online system with Icon Parking and - except for the usual Manhattan traffic clogging up the roadways - we had no problems finding our garage with the hotel directly across from it.

After checking in at the hotel and our fantastic experience with Willie the desk clerk, we hiked a couple of blocks down to Times Square where lunch was in order. I had kind of wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe but everyone else wanted Planet Hollywood so that's where we went. I've been to the Hard Rock before and there's one here at Foxwoods Casino so no big deal; I was up for something new! Our waiter, Angel, was almost as friendly as Willie and made our lunch experience very pleasant indeed. So far we were batting 1,000 with the friendliness of New Yorkers!

Following lunch we made our way back to the hotel where the girls wanted to get ready for the concert early so that they could go sit outside of the venue in line with all of the other MSI fans in order to get a good spot in the pit. Amy and I decided that we would get them settled there and then head up to Columbus Circle in search of a David Off store and cigars for Dennis, the paramedic who so graciously allows me to use some of his pictures from time to time. The venue and Columbus Circle were quite close and we kept in touch with the girls via cell phone so everyone was happy.

Following the acquisition of a couple of fine cigars, Amy and I caught the subway back to the venue and made our way up to the VIP area with Cate who opted out of being in the middle of the pit with a lot of other crazed people. I'd have to say that was a smart move on her part as she's a tiny thing and surely would have been crushed in the sea of humanity that was writhing below us! I kept in touch with Amanda via cell phone text messages to make sure that she and Darci were doing okay in between attending to my designated videographer duties.

The concert was everything the girls hoped it would be and after getting the chance to meet up with the band members afterwards we caught a taxi back to our hotel and then walked to an all-night pizza joint for a very late supper before calling it a night.

The next morning we moved the car to another garage closer to the theater district (for a reduced price) and then we hailed another cab to take us out to Battery Park so that Cate could get a glimpse of the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. By that time Amy had gotten really good at hailing taxis and caught a nice mini-van for our trip. Sadly it wasn't Ben Bailey and The Cash Cab but our driver was very nice nonetheless!

Our drive down the West Side Highway took us directly past Ground Zero and the site of the former World Trade Towers. As we crossed under the white foot bridge that was seen in so many pictures following 9/11 and I looked towards the construction site where those two magnificent towers once stood, it's hard to describe how I felt. A tingling sensation started in my feet and traveled all the way to the top of my head leaving me feeling cold and numb in its wake. I had no desire whatsoever to snap a picture of the cranes that worked diligently at the site of the memorial that will eventually take the place of the two buildings that once towered over lower Manhattan. I was filled with an overwhelming sense of dismay that human beings could have done such a thing to each other as I wiped away a tear and looked the other way. Amy later told me that what she felt was angry but I didn't feel that - just an overwhelming sadness. I'm in no hurry to go back there again.

Arriving at Battery Park we walked around a bit while lines and lines of tourists circled all around Castle Clinton and the pathways lining the park awaiting their turn to board one of the ferries heading out to Liberty and Ellis Islands. The day had become hot and humid and a haze hung over the harbor making it hard to see either island from the shore but Cate was glad to have gotten a view of Lady Liberty standing with her torch held high. While we were there I took the opportunity to show Amanda a name inscribed on one of the granite walls of the World War II Memorial that faces out to sea and honors those soldiers, sailors, and airmen who died in the Atlantic Ocean. The first time I saw the name William E. Orlomoski inscribed on this stone I was quite surprised as there is no way that there's an Orlomoski somewhere who isn't related. It's not exactly what one would call a common name! Pvt Orlomoski was a member of the Air Corps and hailed from Illinois where I know my father's father came from but beyond that, I'm still not sure who this veteran was who died defending our nation during World War II. Someday I hope to find out.

After one last look at a skyline that was definitely missing something we jumped into another taxi to make our way back up to the theater district as it was getting close to curtain time for Mary Poppins. Amy had really lucked out on scoring tickets for the show and even though we were at the very top of the balcony in the very back row we had a good view of the stage and the girls absolutely loved the play. It was Cate's very first Broadway show and she was absolutely enthralled; Amanda had seen Beauty and the Beast on Broadway years earlier when her father and I were still married and we took the girls down to see it so this was her second Broadway show but she enjoyed jit every bit as much as Cate did.

The play more closely follows the book rather than the Disney movie that many are familiar with and that I remembered going to see at the drive-in with my parents years and years and years ago when it first came out but the cast was fantastic and the sets were beautiful and eye-poppingly colorful. The highlight of the play had to be when the character of Burt tap-danced to "Step In Time" up the side of the stage wall, across the top upside down, and then down the other side! Cables or no cables there is no way I'd have ever done such a thing were I in his tap shoes! Nor would I have flown out into the audience and up into the ceiling like Mary Poppins herself did at the end of the play!

One thing I wanted to point out about this particular picture is that I did not use a flash when I took it (no flash photography is allowed in the theater) and you might notice that there are quite a few orbs floating around in it. Somehow it didn't surprise me when they showed up as The New Amsterdam Theater was originally built in 1903 and is the oldest surviving Broadway venue. It was the home of the original Ziegfield Follies so no doubt has seen many an actor and actress come and go. Renovations began on the theater in 1993 and it officially reopened in 1997 with Disney's The Lion King which played there until 2006 when it moved to another theater and Mary Poppins opened. Disney spared no expense in renovating the theater and it is absolutely gorgeous. Were I a Broadway ghost it would be the place I'd choose to haunt!

After the play we retrieved our rental car and pointed it north out of the city and back to Connecticut. In the backseat were three very tired but happy teens who had just had the chance to do more in two days than a lot of people do in an entire summer. In the front were two adults we were quite happy to have survived a weekend in New York with three teenagers and were heading home with their sanity intact! All in all, a fine time was had by all!

Believe it or not, this slideshow is still just part of the pictures I took! See now why it took me so long to get this post together?!? I gotta start going easier on that shutter button!

Rocking the Night Away

I know I've been promising you all that New York City trip post now for almost two weeks but as I was going to sit down and finally get it hammered out last night I had a better offer that I just couldn't refuse ... the chance to play a little bit of Rock Band on the XBox 360 with the youngest daughter!

You know how the old Cyndi Lauper song goes ... "girls just wanna have fun" so I took a break from the blog and had some fun with Jamie. I'll get around to that other post - eventually!

A Tale of Great Customer Service

The Comfort Inn Times Square in New York City
Life has been pretty busy since we got back from our trip to New York City so I'm still working on the "official" post of our trip there. This is what happens when you take way too many pictures and then have to try to organize them in between paying attention to real life and getting a back ache and ... blah, blah, blah! Anyhow, I haven't forgotten and will hopefully have that post up before the end of the week but in the meantime I wanted to tell you about one of the best parts of our trip.

Remember awhile back when I wrote a post about the rude service that I received at Gus' Pizzarama in Plainfield? My lament in that post wasn't that there were no free refills of drinks but that the customer service - by the owner of all people - was so absolutely horrible. It has always been my personal opinion that customer service speaks volumes and it's what can make or break a business. I don't expect people to not go to Gus' because of my experience but I certainly won't go back again - which is too bad because they made the best broasted mushrooms ever.

Which in a round-about sort of way finally brings me to the point of this post! New York City has a reputation for being filled with rude people who either ignore you completely or yell "fuggedaboutit!" all the time so one kind of expects that customer service in New York might be somewhat lacking. However I met one of the nicest people ever working behind the front desk of The Comfort Inn Times Square where we stayed on our trip.

Check-in time at our hotel was 3:00 p.m. but we arrived in the city a lot earlier than that and parked in the garage across from our hotel on 39th Street. It was the type of parking where you leave your car and won't see it again until you leave the next day so we had to make sure we took all of our bags out with us. Not wanting to lug them around until check-in time we stopped in at our hotel to leave them in a holding area (I had called ahead and made sure they offered this service, most New York hotels do). At the time we got there, the place was quite busy and Willie, the gentleman on the desk, was up to his eyeballs in phone calls, customers, and walkie-talkie transmissions from other employees. To say the guy was busier than a one-armed paperhanger would be an understatement!

Regardless, though, Willie was friendly and helpful and fantastic. It was only about 12:30 and way too early to expect to check-in so I explained that I simply wanted to leave our bags and we would be back later to officially check-in. Willie was great and got our bags tagged, offered us bottles of water and a map to the city, and pointed us in the direction of the closest restroom. Just as we were about to leave, he stopped us and told us that a room had just become available and we could check-in right then if we'd like. Absolutely! In the meantime, the phone is still ringing, people are still asking him questions, the UPS guy has just arrived with a large delivery, and yet Willie is cracking jokes and making us feel like we're the only ones in the lobby. I was impressed, I really was.

After we got checked in and dumped all of our stuff in our room on the 17th floor (the hotel is 20 stories high with only four rooms on each floor so by New York standards its tiny but it was conveniently located and the price was great with my AARP discount) we went back down to the lobby where Willie gave us a big smile and a wave while he joked about Amy and I taking over for him on the desk. He said that if I was a 911 operator and she was an EMT we were more than qualified to take over as desk clerk but I doubt that either of us could have done the marvelous job that he did! The other employees at the hotel were nice but they didn't hold a candle to Willie.

As Willie was one of the first people that we dealt with on our trip (I don't count the grumpy garage attendant!), his friendliness really helped set the tone for the rest of our trip. There is nothing like being warmly welcomed to a place to make you feel good and enjoy your vacation and Willie did that and more. Because of that, when we got home, I sat down and wrote the following email to the manager of The Comfort Inn Times Square:

Hello,

I wanted to take a moment to tell you how very much I appreciated the personal attention and service that I received during a recent stay at your hotel. The clerk at the desk during check-in, Willie, was absolutely wonderful and one of the friendliest - if not the friendliest - persons that I met during my stay in New York City.

Due to arriving in the city early for the day on Friday, June 27th, we had parked our car at the garage across the street from the hotel and wanted to be able to drop our luggage off so as not to have to cart it around with us. I had called ahead and been told that the hotel offered that service so my friend and I took our luggage to the lobby where Willie, even though swamped in between checking out other guests and the constantly ringing phone, was very friendly and helpful. Just as we were about to exit the lobby, he advised us that a room was ready for us to check in to even though it was barely 1:00 rather than the usual 3:00 p.m. check-in. Rather than just leave our luggage in holding we were able to take it directly to our room before leaving for the day.

During the entire check-in process Willie was professional and helpful and funny - he made us smile a lot and in my book that counts big time! In addition to his help during check-in, Willie also was very helpful in giving us directions to other places in the city and suggestions as to where to go and what to see. We didn't pass through the lobby once without a friendly greeting from him while he was on duty.

I have stayed in New York quite a few times and I have got to say that this was the best experience I have had there yet - mostly due to Willie. I wish that I could say that the rest of the staff was as friendly and dynamic as he was but, even though they were nice, none of them compared to this fine employee of yours.

I hope that you will pass on our appreciation to him for a job well done and should I ever find myself needing a place to stay in New York again and choose the Comfort Inn Times Square, I sure hope that Willie is on duty!

I thought it was the least I could do and I was quite pleased to receive back the following email in return:

Good Morning Ms. Orlomoski,

Thank you for the wonderful letter you wrote regarding Willie and your stay here at Comfort Inn Times Square. Willie is very special to us, as he strives to provide outstanding service to all our guests. He is a great example of what customer service should be all the time. I will certainly share your comments to Willie and the rest of the staff. Thank you for choosing Comfort Inn Times Square as your hotel while you were in New York. We hope to see you again in the near future.

Have a great 4th of July holiday!

David Lew
General Manager
Comfort Inn Times Square
305 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10018

It's the small things like this that would definitely make me go back to someplace like The Comfort Inn Times Square and to recommend it to other people should they be looking for a place to stay in New York City. Also, I'm very pleased to know that the manager of the hotel knows exactly what a great employee he has with Willie. Too often people are quick to complain but then fail to let people know when they've done a great job and I wanted Willie to know that he was tops as far as I was concerned. I mean, hey - if I can complain about lousy service (like with Gus'), I can certainly do the opposite with great service!

Back Up and Running ... Sort Of!

A big thank you to everyone who left me well wishes in my post yesterday about my back being out of whack- yet again! Being that the old cliché "misery loves company" is quite true, it was nice to hear from others who also suffer from the occasional problem with their backs, too. I read the other day that 75% of people have some sort of back problem or another and it's the number 1 reason for people under the age of 45 to miss work. Wow! Apparently I am in good company!

Thankfully I didn't miss any work this go-round though it made for an even longer 16-hour shift than usual as sitting is about the worst thing you can do when it comes to lumbar back problems. To that end, I spent a lot of time standing and pacing around the dispatch center in an effort to keep things more or less loosened up. It's times that like when I envy dispatchers who work in centers who have the adjustable-height consoles which are designed to let you dispatch while standing up. Unfortunately we don't have any such thing at American though Matt, my supervisor, is trying hard to get new consoles that can do that sort of thing approved. In the meantime, Renee gave me an empty box to put my keyboard on which did elevate it up off the counter and actually worked pretty well! It looked pretty makeshift but who cares?!?

Today I'm going to take it easy, try to get around to everyone's blogs, and stay inside and away from the hazy, hot, and humid weather that New England is throwing at us. Ugh! I'm sure the weather, and my back problems, have a lot to do with Hurricane Bertha that is bearing down on the East Coast. I just hope that she isn't the first in a long line of hurricanes this season but ya just never know. Everyone have a fantastic Tuesday!

Hurricane Bertha

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!

Fireworks Over Norwich

Despite the threat of rain all day, last night's Fourth of July Fireworks on the Fifth extravaganza here in Norwich began right as scheduled at 9:30 over the Norwich Harbor while thousands lined the streets of downtown and the west side of town. Myself, Amanda, Darci, Jamie, and her new friend Megan were all part of those thousands as we took up our usual spot in the lower parking lot of American Ambulance where I work.

Not only is it one of the best places to watch the fireworks from but it also gives me the chance to visit with some of my fellow coworkers outside of our usual work setting. While the girls walked down to the Marina where all sorts of food and novelty booths were set up I visited with Andrew and Bethany and their two kids AJ and Lea. They even offered me a tasty hamburger from their grill as well as some of Bethany's fantastic potato salad! Woo-hoo! I actually did get to have a burger and some potato salad for the holiday after all! Thanks, guys!

The only downside to the evening was that the air was pretty thick and the clouds were pretty low so a lot of the fireworks went up into a thick cloud of smoke which hung larger over the harbor with every pyrotechnic that lit up the sky. I was kind of bummed about that as I was using this as my first opportunity to try taking some fireworks photos and I'd even been smart enough to bring along a mini-tripod to steady the camera! Of course, I wasn't smart enough to bring extra batteries and the ones I had didn't have the charge that I thought they did so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. D'oh!

Ah well, the Mohegan Sun casino will start their Wild Wednesdays soon and part of that is the fireworks shot off from the roof of one of their parking garages. Perhaps I can try again then and get some better results as hopefully the weather won't stay like this all summer - hopefully! And I'll be smart enough to bring extra batteries, too!

Hope everyone had a marvelous and safe holiday weekend!

2008 Death Toll for Law Enforcement Officers Rises with Two More Deaths

A 27-year veteran Chicago police officer was shot and killed by a woman who grabbed his gun during a struggle outside police headquarters on the North Side early Wednesday morning, July 2nd. Belmont District Police Officer Richard Francis had responded to a seemingly routine assignment on patrol alone with a woman who had caused a disturbance with a Chicago Transit Authority bus passenger less than a block from his police station. The woman, whom sources say sometimes slept at the police station and was often erratic and incoherent, grabbed Officer Francis' service weapon during the struggle and shot him in the head. The injured officer was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center and pronounced dead from multiple gunshot wounds just before 3 a.m.

Officer Francis, age 60, was described as the quintessential Chicago street cop. "He was just one of those guys who came to work every day, didn't complain, didn't whine and did a good job and went home to his family," said Belmont Area Deputy Chief Bruce Rottner. "Those are the guys who never get in the papers, never get accolades, never get awards, but those are the guys that are the backbone of the police department."

"It's a tragic loss for his family. It's a terrible loss for the Chicago Police Department," Police Supt. Jody Weis said. "It's a stark reminder of what the dangers this department and its officers face everyday."

Officer Francis, a Vietnam War combat veteran who took enemy fire on Navy Swift Boats in the Mekong Delta, loved his job manning "the wagon" on an overnight shift populated by officers half his age. "Life is beautiful," he'd tell anyone who would listen, even when it wasn't. He leaves behind his wife Debbie, two stepdaughters, and colleagues who will always remember him as a hard-working police officer who loved his family, basset hounds, motorcycles and his job.

Residents of Pell City, Alabama are mourning the loss of Police Officer Kenneth (Greg) Surles who passed away on Friday, July4th from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on June 18th. Officer Surles was crossing a U.S. highway on a routine patrol when his patrol car was struck by a tractor trailer. He suffered internal injuries and underwent several surgeries, but had two strokes and had been failing in recent days according to a family friend.

After his accident, Officer Surles had become the center of a community fundraising effort. Friends had staged a benefit walk, a blood drive was planned and police from other towns had offered to fill in so his fellow officers could visit him in the hospital.

On Thursday, Pell City Mayor Adam Stocks closed City Hall on Thursday so city employees could visit Surles at the hospital. Following his death on Friday, Mayor Stocks released the following statement: "These two little girls will never get to know their daddy like they should be able to, yet they will soon learn that their daddy has forever changed a city for the better. When they look back on this time, they will remember how a tight-knit community became even tighter and how their father touched many lives during his courageous battle."

Officer Surles, age 29, joined the Pell City Police Department in 2002. Before that, he worked for the Talladega County Sheriff's Department and Odenville police. He is survived by his wife, Robin, their 4-year-old daughter Makensi and 11-week-old daughter Madalyn.

Thank you to both of these fine officers for their service and their dedication to duty. May they rest in peace and their families be granted comfort.

Rocket Science 101 - NOT!

Not feeling like much of a genius these days? Well, not to fear, there are some people out there who say things that make the rest of us look like candidates for Mensa!

'If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record.'
--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

'Your food stamps will be stopped effective March because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.'
--Department of Social Services, Greenville , South Carolina

'Traditionally, most of Australia 's imports come from overseas.'
-- George W Bush

'We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?'
--Lee Iacocca

'The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.'
--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

'We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.'
--Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instrutor.

'I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.'
--Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.

'Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.'
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington , DC .

'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.'
--Al Gore, Vice President

'I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix .'
--Dan Quayle, Vice President

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: 'I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.' --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.
(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)

'Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.'
--Mariah Carey

'Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life.'
--Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.

Feeling smarter? I know I am! A big thanks to my friend Rhonda for the email!

Two for the Fourth

It was a bit of a soggy Fourth of July here in Connecticut (how unpatriotic of the weather!) so after Jamie and I spent some time visiting my Mom, we came home and I decided that it might be nice to watch a Fourth of July sort of movie. My original choice was going to be 1776 as I was inspired by Jamie of Duward Discussion and the fact that she and her family watch this great film every year on the Fourth of July much like a lot of other people watch It's a Wonderful Life at Christmas.

I have had the pleasure of seeing the play that the movie is based on twice on Broadway - both times with Brent Spiner of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame in the role of the feisty John Adams. In the movie the role is played by William Daniels and he does a marvelous job as does the rest of the cast. If you want to learn more about how our Declaration of Independence came about but want to be entertained while doing it then I highly recommend this movie. Even if you can't for the life of you imagine such a serious topic being done in a Broadway musical style you really ought to give it a go. It's entertaining, it's educational, and it's got catchy tunes like this one sung by Ron Holgate as one of the delegates from Virginia - Richard Henry Lee ...


Unfortunately, the only version of the movie I have is on a VHS tape (I really need to get it on DVD) and when I popped it into the VCR in my room not only did the tape not work but it got stuck! Oh dear ... what to do now? I was really in the mood for a Fourth of July musical!

Fortunately, as I was just about to turn off the TV I happened upon another favorite movie that also puts me in a Fourth of July mood - The Music Man. Not the newfangled version with Matthew Broderick but the original version with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones - a true classic and a wonderful film full of wonderful songs. I've had the pleasure of seeing this play done on Broadway also when Craig Bierko starred in the role of Professor Harold Hill and it was fantastic.

The funny thing about stumbling across this movie (which was being shown uncut and without commercial interruption - yay!) was that while reading a Fourth of July post by Empress Bee of the High Sea earlier in the evening it had got me to thinking about old-fashioned Fourth of July celebrations and how no one seems to have them anymore. To me, this movie is the epitome of old-fashioned celebrations and it always reminds me of the Fourth of July. Besides, Robert Preston is absolutely marvelous in it!


Whatever you did to celebrate the Fourth of July, I hope that you had a good time doing it and if your celebrations take you into today enjoy and be safe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rain clears up for the fireworks display in Norwich tonight!

Happy Fourth of July!

From my home to yours - best wishes for a fantastic Fourth of July holiday!

To see the colorized version, click here!

Hey Bud! Wanna See?

Way back in April (which seems like a lifetime ago now!), I participated in Mo's Manic Monday Meme for the week of April 14th when the word was bud. I posted pictures of various buds around my front yard and one of the pictures that I took was this one -

At the time of the posting, I could not for the life of remember what type of plant that was and had no clue what sort of flower that bud might eventually produce. Throughout the spring it grew and grew and then just last week it blossomed ...

Duh ... it was one of the hydrangeas I had planted a couple of springs ago! I swear, I have definitely come down with early onset dementia or something! Once my memory was jogged by the appearance of this lovely flower it was then that I remembered that I had initially planted three of them but alas, it seems that this is the only one to have survived.

In addition to that lovely blue hydrangea, I have a front porch that is literally covered with other beautiful flowers like the petunia pictured here. I was following around with one of my photo programs a little bit and rather liked the color against the black & white. I'm nowhere near as good of a flower photographer as Claire is but I enjoy taking pictures and then fooling around with them a little bit from time to time. If this keeps up I'm going to have to think about sending in a picture or two for Creative Photography, a contest run by Roger of Idaho Daily Photo that Princess Patti at Late Bloomer Boomer has mentioned a time or two. Not that I think any of my pictures are anywhere near good enough to win but it might be fun to join in.

This picture to the left is the original picture that I had taken before I started experimenting with it. Pretty petunias, aren't they? I thought they were actually rather patriotic for the Fourth of July and they certainly brighten up the front of my house. Plus it smells really nice out there!

Oh, and don't forget that it's not just flowers that I have on my front porch - I also have my own lone tomato plant in a pot that I wanted to try growing this year. It has grown by leaps and bounds but I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to produce any tomatoes when today I found this -

Woohoo! It's my very first tomato and I couldn't be prouder. Silly, I know, but it really made me happy to see it nestled there amongst the tomato plant branches. I just hope it's not going to be an only child!

I've Got a Question - You've Got an Answer

Here in America one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year is almost upon us - the Fourth of July. Just the name alone conjures up the thought of BBQs, parades, fireworks, and camp-outs. Chances are good that most people have plans of one sort or another so today's question is:

How are you spending the Fourth of July?

... And The Band Played On

Due to my work schedule, assorted things to do around the house, and the 294 unread posts that were sitting in my Google Reader when I finally got around to opening it yesterday (ouch!), I have yet to get the chance to do a post about last Friday's Mindless Self Indulgence concert at Terminal 5 in New York City. Truth be told, I am also still somewhat worn out from last Friday's concert but there is no rest for the wicked - or for the parents of teenage daughters it seems - as tonight I will be attending yet another Mindless Self Indulgence concert - this time in Hartford at the Webster Hall Theater along with Jason, Amy, and Cate as well as Amanda and Darci.

No doubt it's going to be déjà vu all over again as I'm sure that the Long Beach, California band Julien-K will kick off the night's musical festivities as they did in New York. The band touts themselves as "Alternative - Electronica - Club" as their musical genres on their MySpace page but, honestly, I'm not so sure about the Electronica part. Now had they described themselves as "Alternative - Loud - Leather Clad" I think it would be more appropriate! I had to wear ear plugs with these guys and have the sneaky feeling I shall need them again tonight!

The next band to take the stage may very well be a local band like it was in New York City. Hopefully they can't possibly sound any worse than the New York local band who played at Terminal 5 - What What Where . That group was absolutely, positively horrible with the lead singer sounding more like a bag of wailing cats than any sort of vocal talent. To give credit where credit is due, their music is marginally better on their MySpace page and they did put their all into the concert but it was a very painful all! Honestly, they couldn't have gotten off the stage fast enough. Oh, and before I get lambasted by hostile fans who tell me I don't know what the blanketdy-blank-blank I'm talking about, I wasn't the only one who shared that opinion - I was with four other people who thought so and have read numerous reviews of the concert that said the same thing. So there!

Now, if the show goes according to Friday night's schedule, the next band to hit the stage will be The Birthday Massacre who were quite good and a definite crowd favorite. I suspect Amanda likes them because of their keytarist! The band originated in London, Ontario, Canada under the name Imagica but changed their name in July of 2002 shortly after relocating to Toronto and changing a band member or two. Their lead singer, Chibi, is very animated and the crowd just loves her. The only problem with this band is that the pit goes absolutely crazy with fans slamming into each other and forming what are known as "circle pits". These areas of the crowd make a mosh pit at a Metallica concert look a tea party with the Queen and are usually started by members of the crowd running wildly in a circle slamming into each other in response to the speed of the music and the beat.

Trust me, these things are pretty scary looking and I was very glad that Amanda and Darci were nowhere near one. People could - and do - get hurt even though audience members will typically try to pull dancers that have fallen over out of the way of serious injury as quickly as possible.

After all of that, Mindless Self Indulgence will finally take to the stage and the crowd will really go wild. There probably won't be any circle pits during their performance as their type of music doesn't inspire them but there will be plenty of crowd-surfing, singing along, and fist-pumping. Jimmy Urine, lead singer of MSI, is nothing if not a showman and again, I am somewhat reminded of Fee Waybill of The Tubes concerts that I used to go to when I was much, much younger!

Kitty will play her heart out on the drums, Steve will wander around the stage with his guitar making faces and acting strange, LynZ will do that incredible back-bend of hers, and Jimmy - well, Jimmy will wear you out just watching him!

Is it any wonder that I haven't recovered from Friday's concert? I'm going to be 50 in just a little over two months - this is no sort of activity for a card-carrying member of the AARP and respectable grandmother! Yet there I will be - once again - not crowd-surfing, not slamming into other bodies in a circle pit, not pumping my fist in the air but probably singing along because of course I know all the words - you would, too, if you lived with Amanda!

Even though the concert will be loud and no doubt the concert hall will be hot, probably the worst part will be Thursday morning when myself, Amy, and Jason all have to crawl into work while the three teenagers who are the ones who really, really, really need to see MSI again less than a week since they saw them last will no doubt sleep in! Doesn't sound quite fair, does it?

Let's hope that these kids realize and appreciate the sacrifices that we adults are making for them and their favorite band but somehow I think that's going to get lost in the excitement of the whole evening. I'm sure, though, that we can manage to remind them later ... Several times ... Repeatedly ... Ad nauseum!

Wish me luck folks, I'm going in again!

June Becomes Second Deadliest Month of 2008 for Line of Duty Deaths

With the death of three more officers in the final days of June, the number of names added to the Honor Roll on my sidebar for this month alone climbed to 13 - second only to the 14 line of duty deaths in January. With each life that I recognize and honor by writing these posts, my heart grows heavier as I grieve with the family, friends, and co-workers of these brave men and women but I was reminded why exactly I do this when I received the following comment on a previous Line of Duty Death post just the other day -

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Honoring Two More Fallen Hereos":

Linda,

I don't think that there is a day that goes by that I don't think of Matthew Thebeau. Although I never knew him personally, I, along with 3 other friends was there, in the only vehicle at the time about 10 ft away from his patrol car when he crashed into the concrete wall. Officer Thebeau was indeed chasing a motorcyclist and was indeed killed in the line of duty. I pray for him and his family. It was quite a traumatic experience. Thank you for this blog.

One of the nine witnesses questioned,

Melissa

Thank you, Melissa, for remembering Officer Thebeau and as to my blog and these posts, you're welcome - I just wish I didn't have so many of them to write. Still, as long as those who have sworn to protect and serve the rest of us meet an untimely death, I will continue to remember them and remind others of their final sacrifices. Now, sadly, I have three more heroes to honor ...

A hiding inmate used a makeshift knife known as a shiv to fatally stab a veteran female corrections officer who was trying to take him into custody inside a Florida prison facility on Wednesday, June 25th. Correctional Officer Donna Fitzgerald was stabbed to death at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Volusia County after she had entered a welding shed, spotted a missing inmate, and tried to take him into custody.

Officer Fitzgerald, who served for 13 years with the Florida Department of Corrections, became the first corrections officer murdered at Tomoka Correctional as well as the second female corrections officer to die in the line of duty in Florida. Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil explained the dangers officers face daily - "The general public does not always understand the dangers our officers face behind these fences," McNeil said. "As correction professionals, we know that each and every day the possibility of death and injury is an ever-present aspect of the job. Yet, when it happens -- like we all are across our department today -- it is shocking and heart-wrenching. We are dismayed."

Officer Fitzgerald, age 51, is survived her 20-year-old son, Kyle Antonelli, who was understandably inconsolable. Kyle's father died from cancer two months ago and he is now mourning the loss of his mother who said was "the best person in my life. She would do anything for me. We did everything together."

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the attack. At this time, no charges have been filed pending an administrative review which should conclude within a few weeks.

A Prince George's County Police Department officer was killed in the line of duty on Friday, June 27th, when he was was struck and killed by a stolen automobile while attempting to arrest its occupants. Corporal Richard Findley, a 10-year veteran of the department, and other officers were conducting surveillance on a stolen vehicle when it was entered by two occupants who then attempted to drive it away. During an attempted traffic stop, the suspects rammed Corporal Findley's cruiser then struck and killed the officer when he got out of his vehicle.

In addition to his duties with the police department, Corporal Findley was a life member of the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department where he had served for approximately 20 years.

Corporal Findley, age 39, is survived by his wife Kelly, also a member of the Beltsville VFD, and two young daughters.

On Sunday, June 29th, Police Officer Gary Gryder of the Houston Police Department was killed when an Asian male in his early 20s, crashed through construction barricades and plowed into three officers who were working traffic control at a West Houston construction site on the Katy Freeway eastbound feeder and Highway 6 around 5:15 a.m. One officer managed to jump out of the way, a second was hospitalized, and Officer Gryder - who was thrown 75 feet upon impact - died as a result of his injuries.

A 23-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, Officer Gryder worked a variety of beats during his career. Fifteen years ago, he was one of the lead investigators to crack the case of two teenage girls who were raped, tortured, and killed by five young gang members. His most recent assignment was to track down parole violators from the department's southeast precinct. Officer Gryder was working HPD-approved overtime when he was killed.

''To lose a great guy like Gary Gryder over something as stupid as an impaired driver, that's the tragedy," said friend Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers Union. In a statement issued Monday, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurt said, "We have lost a good officer and an important part of the HPD family. We will miss him. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to Gary's family during this very difficult time of loss," Hurtt said.

Officer Gryder, age 47, is survived by his wife and 13-year old son Austin.

My thoughts and prayers go to the families of these three brave souls who have more than earned peace and eternal rest.

A Thought on Vacations

So ... ya know how it is when you go on a vacation and once you come back from that vacation the one thing you really want more than anything is a vacation to recover from your vacation so you then you find yourself looking for all sorts of vacation deals so that you can, in fact, take another vacation? Yeah ... that's about where I'm at right now! I haven't even done an "official" post about my last mini-vacation to New York City and I'm ready to go on another!

NOT that I can afford a vacation, mind you, at least not financially but trust me, mentally - I could really use one! Of course with Jamie flying in Thursday night I'm thinking "Good luck with that, old woman!"

Sigh ... anyone got a time share they aren't using that they want to donate to a worthy cause??