GROWING UP ITALIAN

It's very simple, and as I remember, very true.  A very good friend sent this to me, and he is a very good friend (even though he and I are politically on different sides of the spectrum) 

I remember all that's included in this little video, even though some of it did not exactly pertain to my growing up.  I found myself lucky never to have grown up in a tenement, but rather in a house occupied by just my parents and myself, even though I did find it interesting that we did spend.....most Sundays.......at grandma and grandpa's .............with the whole family.

Share this short moment with me by watching this video.  It really reflects the happiness of the day's gone by.....................but never forgotten.       Thanks Ed for passing this on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ZrkOwTKoaLs&feature=share


 

                

THE OLYMPICS.............and .........MORE

This week , I will start the blog off on a happy note and end it .....................well, you might say, a place where I had no intention of going until I heard and read some real antagonizing stuff.

I spent the last two weeks somewhat enjoying the Olympics.....probably because ........MY COUNTRY, came away with the most medals.  Did I expect less.............NO,  but it was close for a short while.  I was a little taken back by the comments of one or two our OUR players but overall, very happy with the outcome.

A friend of mine pasted this little video on to me and I found it to be extremely amusing so I hope you take a look at it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_BnsrWMnI

it will certainly show the range of movement in performance.


ON TO MORE............

This past week, was certainly an eventful one. Mitt Romney,  better know as  WHY MY TAXES? selected Paul Ryan know as  HERE'S THE SOLUTION TO ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, as his running mate for the job of Vice President.  Now that most of the political analyst have checked in with their EXPERT commentaries,   we the people , will have the opportunity to express our feelings with ACTUAL VOTES.. The rhetoric that this selection has caused is both  AMAZING AND AMUSING but true.

On one hand we have Romney, a very wealthy man........as far as we have been told......only willing to offer 2 years taxes as proof of him paying taxes......but later admitting that he has paid taxes......but never less that 13%.  How grateful can one be that all people of this great nation share equally in making this nation GREAT. I also have never paid less than 13%.................my only comment is that after You have paid your 13%  you have hidden away in all kind of legal identities over one billion.....OH OK I exaggerated but only by 100 million.  I, on the other hand, have socked away after my 13% of tax  a grand total of $5.36.  Now just to repeat  ..........that's  Five dollars and thirty-six cents.  Now,  also I concede that you really had to go out and work for this day and night.  Finding a great Tax attorney, a really great financial advisor and CPA and watch over them constantly to make sure that you got all you DESERVED back from the US Government.  Me on the other hand, went out and found my tax attorney, CPA and all around whizz kid...... at the math contest......at our local high school with a promise that if he could keep control of my money.......I would be willing to pay him his salary in Subway Sandwiches.  Romney's guy suggested he hide his money in Switzerland, Cayman, open blind trusts for his kids, wife and housekeeper (housekeeper only to the extent that you carry a 10 million dollar policy on her if she damaged her nails in any way, shape or form from doing anything described as domestic duties)  My guy hid my excess in an OLD sock at the bottom portion of my dresser drawer.  Now , just not to be outdone by the amount of work it took me to gather my fortune,  my day began at 9AM-5PM as a street cleaner sweeping up after the trash left behind by the millionaires frequenting the bars and nightclubs the night before.  I came home after a 30 minute ride on the subway( where I was fortunate enough to gather a whole pack of cigarettes butts for the day) to dinner, change my clothes so that I could be at my taxi driving job at 7PM-3AM driving a limousine filled with all the rich and famous,to the bars and restaurants (hoping that some of them would accidentally forget their doggy bags in the back seat) arriving home at 4AM after that 30 minute subway ride and a quick shave at a local friends house. Slept until 6AM so that I would have time to get up and shower, make my breakfast of 2 eggs, 1 slice of toast and a cup of coffee..........make my lunch ........ a baloney sandwich............open faced.......so that I could have 2 of them and pack my snacks of 25 peanuts.   Only hope that I could find a water hose to wash all this good stuff down.

Not to show favoritism, I must also give a statement of.............my friend from across the aisle, Paul Ryan......an intelligent but ruthless man who want to take all my............entitlements?  away from me.
Makes me wonder what he has been doing in Congress the past decade with only having his name on 2 bills.  One requesting a name change to a Park, for some equally stupid reason.  WOW!!!  some job he must have.  Over 10 years of collecting the public money for a salary and doing absolutely nothing for it.  Talk about being over paid.  Next ............for some unknown reason he has stated over public radio and television how he has never accepted any stimulus package..............until some hard working employee has found out to the opposite.............and where he actually requested it from the Labor Secretary............DUH,   who me?????    Now, to beat all , he is the author of a proposed budget that will turn medicare upside down, halt social security as we know it ,stop medicaid , take up to a decade to pay any part of the debt off and a number of other ingenious ideas.

Now, just in case you are interested....here is an article explaining Ryan's plan

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/08/16/paul-ryan-budget-plan-average-american-family/?a_dgi=aolshare_email

Looks as though, we seniors had better be on our toes this fall and get our butts out there to vote.

See you next week....................

FACEBOOK.......or.......TWITTER???

I'm guessing that it was  about 3-4 years ago, an old friend, Bugsy emailed me and suggested that I get on Facebook...........in order to be able to correspond with my High school classmates.  This was a clincher for me, even though my daughter-in-law had tried to encourage me to join and I always found an excuse for not wanting to participate.  Well, Bugsy convinced me that it would open up a whole new chapter of my life.........good reasoning..........then it was shortly after that he selected to leave facebook............but here I am still on line .  It has proven several different things to me. One being the capability to monitor what my grandkids were doing and who they were talking with..............interesting stuff...........did I do the same at their age?????  NOT!!!  I think I have now been able to convince them that EVERYBODY in the world can see the stupid things your posting including future possible bosses.  I see their postings go from 100 per day down to 1 per week if that..............could it be they have listened to their ...............grandpa................?   NOT !  they just have picked up the all new way of socialising.............Tweeting with some of their twits and twots about doing twanothing all day.   Well, I have drawn the line.............I will not tweet with any of my twits or twots or any other twends.  Facebook is my thing and I find it more and more amusing with the things people discuss.  Where they are going, what they are doing at this exact moment and best of all the amount of brain power they use up  on things they know absolutely nothing about and refuse to even try to sit down and reason things out for themselves.  They are totally relying on what they read  from other facebookers pages and all the nonsense in the newspapers..............who BTW will eventually disappear in time..................or from commercials they see on TV.   The art of being able to sit down with a piece of paper............draw a line down the center.............put the word  PROS on one side and CONS on the other side and reason the problem out is disappearing.  How can people destroy themselves like this.
I especially like all the political garbage I see on Facebook and enjoy reading all the comments just to be able to see how people think and react to present situations. It's extremely encouraging to see so many different thoughts................some of which make me LMFAO!!!!

I'm totally amazed at how it open THE WORLD to people, some you know, most you don't.  I've just discovered that if I befriend one person that it opens all their friends up to my befriending and it keeps going on and on.  No wonder some people have friends up the wing wong.  I personally have 97 friends (after 76years)  while each of my 16 year old grandkids have well into 1800 each.  I once asked them how they got so many friends at only 16 years old.  Apparently they got an idea from the brownies and girl scouts............. set up a table outside the local Safeway food store and took names of other kids who  also wanted to be friends. I'm beginning to really enjoy this ........befriending and defriending with a little click of the button.  I'm meeting people I have actually never met , have nothing in common with them but still talk like we have been friends all our lives.  Is this really normal?
 I can now understand how people can become addicted to this type of social contact........since now I even find myself...............a poor old man with only 97 friends on my facebook...................checking in up to 10 times a day...........................just to see what the rest of the world is doing and thinking, even though I don't really care if they are in the Mens or Ladies room at the local  mall.   Several of my friends seem to have their facebook programmed to their GPS equipped phone and it reports to the world each and every time they make any sudden move. Don't need that.  The only thing I use my Superman watch GPS (that I got out of a box of Wheaties) for is to find my way to the mailbox and back..................without having stopped at my neighbors for a martini.

Having said all that I have...................I am hoping to add another 97 friends to my facebook over the next year.  Only thing is, I want them to be REAL friends and able to discuss REAL things............not just the baloney they might pick up  here and there..................then again there is always email.

 (just got a befriend request from Min-She-Do from Vietnam,  anyone know her?)

See you next week.