WOW.................2018

ANOTHER  year under my belt.  ANOTHER year of New Year's resolutions.................that will not go past 2 or 3 months.  What to do................shall I continue to make these impossible to keep resolutions or should I be realistic with myself and make one I can finally keep.   OH, what to do. It seems that all my resolutions are made New Years Eve, usually during the drinking part of the evening..............perhaps that's the reason I make those horrible decisions and then fail to keep them.  This year it will be different.............I'm going to wait until the day or perhaps 2 days after when the vision of plums are not dancing in my head.   That last statement makes it sound like I drink to much.  Not so, I usually share a bottle of wine with at least one other person, usually my wife and since neither one of us like champagne we usually just settle for a glass of wine, click glasses and it's off to la-la land. WOW how times change with age.  Now, having said all that, it is now the 6 of February and I have made my decision as to my New Years resolution.  There will be NONE.  I have decided to start the year the same way I ended 2017.  Weight wise, I am going in the right direction..............down. Financially, I was going up,(until I read the new tax law and found out that it's only a minimal temporary upswing and it's NOT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS. anyone who thinks it is...............you better brush up on math 101 and reading 101) lucky I still own a corporation......to protect some of my assets. I have a great family, most of all a super wife.  One that understands me, encourages me when it's needed and discourages me also when needed. I will simply begin this year with how 2017 ended. I was at the gym this morning doing the usual 25 minute walk around the indoor track. At the end of the walk I noticed a nice lady standing and doing her stretches..............just to start a little dialogue I asked if she had made her New Years resolution, she looked at me with a big question mark on her face and very nicely said..................screw you.
 I'm looking forward to 2018 now. Enough about resolutions, now is the time to look ahead.

Upcoming trip to Puerto Vallarta is on the agenda along with one other trip to use up accumulated miles.  Where and when will that one be........  I am sure Margot will have a lot to say about that, unfortunately my bathing suit is a little big for me and I just can't see any reason to buy a new one, so I have to be careful not to pick to many beach resorts like Margot prefers.  I have not been on skis for about 15 years so we have to consider that snow areas are out also.  That leaves mountains for hiking which just is to much walking or casinos which involves to much sitting., which leaves...................????  I would just be happy, sitting, thinking and watching people..........with a wine in my hand, a sweater thrown over my shoulders and a quizable look on my face. It all sounds nice, but is it really me??

I guess I could join with the rest of society and talk about politics and the mess that has been created to this country since the last election................but that just irritates me to no end, so I will just stay out of that mess. I want these next years to be enjoyable.  Having said that, only one thing left to enjoy talking about.........................and the very thing I started this blog for. Growing up, traveling and friends.  Biggest problem is trying to remember those things in some kind of chronological order. That alone will keep me busy. Each year, for the past 5 years, I noticed that my wellness examination ...............that medicare provides free..................I have been asked to draw a clock and put the hands on it to represent 11:10, along with this I have been given 5 words to remember  and then shown a picture of 3 animals.  I had to tell what 3 animals they were and after about 5 minutes asked to repeat back the 5 words.  So far so good, I have been able to complete the test with flying colors.  I never questioned why this test was being given to me but just relied on the fact that since my mother had Alzheimer's that that might be the reason. Low and behold our President Donny, was given the same test, Donny just has Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  Not necessarily Alzheimer's. Anyway, just thought I would throw that in...............for whatever it's worth.

Now, back to the real world. 

I grew up in a traditional Italian family, the only thing making it nontraditional was that I was an only child, an oddity in an Italian family  but totally enjoyable. My dad was the leader of the house, my mom was the assistant leader. My dad earned the money, prepared the budget,  and made all the important decisions. In fact I can still see my dad coming home Friday from work, with a hand full of cash, sitting down at the dining room table, with a shot glass of whiskey and a quart of Rheingold beer, and his 10 or so letter size envelopes, each neatly lettered with what went into them. Household expenses  which included a sub envelope for taxes, food, clothing, and misc. Another for vacations, and entertainment. The last for auto and misc. He would split up his cash and place an alloted amount into each envelope. I never really understood this way of accounting but just took it for granted that they both lived through the depression and just did not trust banks. When they went food shopping, they shopped as though it was the last meal.......always plenty of food to fill two refrigerators or  one refrigerator and one ice box. My mom always made food from scratch, no freezer food or TV dinners, that were beginning to become popular. The funny part about this style of accounting was.............that my mom for many unknown reasons always found a way to monitor and adjust the budget so as to keep a dollar or two and hide it in a band-aid can or neatly rolled up in a small piece of toilet paper, aluminum foil or whatever was around and hide it in amongst her underwear, knowing my dad would never look for anything there. When I went into the service, my mom found a way to send me a couple of dollars to hold me over.............for what I really didn't know, since the military was quit efficient in taking care of me. So the beginning to Vito's accounting system took effect and it still remains in effect to this day. I always have a few extra dollars to towards the extras in  MY life. The other thing so amazing was that before my dad passed on he amazed Margot and I by handing us a 5 figure amound of CASH in small unmarked bills. I felt like a true bagman on my way to Vegas when going through the airport on our way back home, with  my briefcase of stash.  I often ask myself which envelope did this money come out of??  When my dad passed on, we decided to bring my mom out to Seattle, buy a small condo for her near our house. When we went to New York to pick her up we had decided to rent the house to a cousin. In going through the house we discovered some other small unmarked bills........stashed away in old pursers, hems in her dresses, behind pitchers, in old magazines and just about anywhere we looked. AMAZING how this small amount of money that my dad would so meticulously split into envelopes had compounded over the years..................but....................that's the way it was.

It's memories like this that has remain in the back of my mind and over the years have played a part in our living the life we enjoy.  We have never deprived ourselves or our children of anything. To this day, we still live for the happiness of doing what we do best.  Growing old together !!! We still have lunch dates, movie dates, travelling time, casino time, friends to visit and time to laugh about those days in the past. We try not to think about how the world and especially our country is becoming so unrecognizable from when we were  growing up. The crime, the hatred and the disrespect shown to others.....................but..........................we will endure.

See you all soon with more.............................................Vito   

WHAT TO DO WITH LIFE AFTER ............?

Seems to me, as I sit here day after day that we older people continuously look back in time. It's a far cry from when we were younger where we always looked ahead.  Have you ever asked yourself why?
Start out with when you were 5 or so and how you looked forward to that first day of school. Each year thereafter, you would look to the next year of school and how you would program yourself to this expectation.  Finally, the basic school comes to an end, BUT it doesn't stop ........now you begin to question yourself......work or more school.  First real life transition to think about but it still needs and urges for expectation.  
I, personally tried to compromise and do both....still at the age of 81 not sure if that was good or bad but must say it has been interesting.
I sit and think about days gone by and if all my decisions were good. I never try to think that any of them were really bad.  I got, what I think was just the right amount of formal education ....for me and worked for one of the most fantastic companies that I could ever consider.....................and earned more education in a very special way...............SEEING and DOING  things that many people spend money and time doing on their own.  Regardless of what one chooses  to do, you always have the tendency to look forward.  If you work, you always look forward to that first day of retirement and planning that stage of your life.  If you choose school, you always look forward to that second graduation day and the start of a work career.  Seems we are never really happy but always looking forward.

In over 40 years meeting some of the most fascinating people around the world, visiting sights that were just words in a book, experiencing different cultures and just plain enjoying life, it came to an end at the age of 58. A buyout from MY company that any mafia boss would consider " a deal you just couldn't refuse"  (especially coming from after refusing 5 previous retirement programs.) Then a new part of my  life began. Retirement.  Could not seem to really get use to it, so I ended up starting a company, then bought another company for added revenue and responsibility.  Just was not able to meet all my highly developed expectations but kept the cobwebs out of my head.  Started to loose interest in it after 20 years and finally began to look forward to enjoying the benefits earned. That's where this part of the story ends.

Now a year later of doing...............NOTHING............expectations are beginning to sprout once again. Now, though, physically fit as I might feel, the legs and arms just don't want to admit failure. A friend has put me onto a great after, after, after retirement endeavor. Why not CONSULTING????
Simply choose a topic you consider yourself to be an expert in and teach other like thinking people how to reach their goals using your method and experience. One more expectation, one more try at recognition,   and best of all ...............what do I have to loose?

This morning I really put my head into it and the only thing I could come up with is..............FANATIC SEX or was it FANTASTIC SEX, or perhaps CHRISTMAS FINALLY, SEX. I completely lost all concentration, once I began to think about it.  so I guess it's back to the drawing board.

After all,  I'm 81 years old, enjoy life..... live it with the expectation of ...........one additional day.....each day....and most of all  those days gone by will live on..........in pictures.

EIGHTY-ONE AND STILL WITH A BUCKET LIST.

I guess it was about when I turned 50 and heading over the hill, that I sat back one day......just to see what I actually have done with my life, how far ahead or behind times I was and what I intended to do to make things interesting ................in my old age.
I came to the conclusion that building a "bucket list" might be the way to go, just to be able to keep my mind working. I believe there were perhaps 10 or 12 things that started this list. Now at 81 I have 3 remaining things, two of which I guess I will never be able to do but one that I am working on now.

The two remaining that I just don't think I will ever be able to handle are:

1. participation in the iron man run

2. running with the bulls............unless they were bulldog puppies.
Now that my bucket list has been noted, we will continue on with other things.

WHY AM I CONFUSED?????

I must admit, this can be interpreted as political, but don't take it so serious. This actually started during the Bush years when dubya said that he had looked into Putin's eyes and could see..............."something" Now with all the nonsense from the present administration I ...............opened my face book one day and found the following posting. Now, the question is simply.............how is going to be related to anything?  I just don't have a reasonable answer. I just want to be able to accomplish understanding why people can't figure things out by thinking for themselves.

"   If you take your age
add it to the year you were born
you will get 2017
this happens only once in 1000 years."


I looked at this and began to wonder..................is this REALLY FACT or is it like 90% of the stuff on face book ................exaggeration?  What will happen if I post this , will other people wonder also or will they check it out? I did this with that one thought in mind, "How can people believe all the nonsense we  hear about the administration and still think we got the best slice of bread" My attempt is to basically see if my brain is still active or do I need rubber walls in my house.    Now, I have heard back from some people I consider a hell of a lot smarter than me  but from one that actually showed me something that most people will miss.  Just goes to show you that you can come to good reasoning if you stop for a second think about the problem and CHECK IT out.  Perhaps Trump would have a lot less votes.  It certainly is NOT my intention to make this blog a political writing.  I understand totally, that people did not like Clinton, and that's ok,   I also understand that people were searching for change and that too is ok.  What I don't understand is the lack of voters to totally checkout the correctness in statements candidates made about themselves or other candidates..................... We know that ALL politicians will make all kinds of statements whether true or not.  It is OUR responsibility to prove it correct or incorrect. This past election, this was not done and so we find ourselves in this situation with what I personally consider a poor administration.
Now, back to the original question.  Did you read it carefully?  did you try it? did it work? did you try to disprove the thought? or did you simply accept it and pass it on.  Hopefully , depending on which point you stopped at will  prove how far you actually went to select a candidate that was good for YOU...........but is he?  

things related to the question you should have found.


...(1) It only works if you've already had your birthday this year. (2) Will only work once EVER, unless you have another 2017 in your future. (3) You will always get the year you are presently in when you add the year you were born and your age.,and only after the birthday for that year.



Have a nice day. Check back for more .
Vito

EIGHTY AND GOING STRONG..........For being eighty

Birthdays.......................never really paid to much attention to them since I was 21, but at the time I hit the "over the hill" mark of 50 they had once again become a relevant marker of time. Started to see more and more proof of this once I came onto social media.  Now, growing up birthday's were one of my three favorite days of the year.  Christmas was number one, birthdays and then the last day of the school year.  Christmas and birthdays primarily because it meant .................a lot of presents.  The last day of school meant .....a two month vacation.  I longed for the age of thirteen just because it sounded like a new era for me........being a teenager, rather than just a kid.  Sixteen meant............I could now drive ........alone.  Eighteen meant ..............working or college and 21 meant drinking.  After that I seem, along with many others, to forget about birthdays and they just meant another day for a card attached to a shirt, tie or some other piece of clothing, primarily from your parents. The celebration part seemed to take a vacation   Twenty-nine years later the ugly number of 50 came into being............"over the hill 50" "downhill 50" "better do it now while you still can 50".

Social media seems to have brought back some glimmer of birthdays but only for the years I previously mentioned.  Very little is said about birthdays from 21-50.  Now, I do remember by 50th, 60th,70th and especially my 80th birthdays, that being only 4 birthdays in 40 years. Is there a meaning for this...................I don't know, why ask me?
I do remember my 50th, simply because I had begun talking about "silk sheets" and how that would put spark back into................you know what.   My prays were answered. Someone actually gave me BLACK, SILK SHEETS for a gift.  Now what??
At 60 I was now two years into retirement, people were beginning to talk about, how, after retirement if I had nothing to do, or no job to go to, I would die.
At 70 a grand celebration was made in Malmo, Sweden. It was right after a road trip around Europe and before returning home. People came from Stockholm, Copenhagen to help in this passage.
Most of all my 80th will always be remembered. Margot told me that Swedish custom was to have the person celebrating   this day pay for taking everyone out to celebrate .  I did just that, I called a family meeting to find out where everyone wanted to go for dinner.  We all ended up in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a week long party.  It was well worth it, My entire family with me for this time. Now you have to see the video.

See you all at NINETY,  when I will run with the bulls, or from the bulls or whatever.

(come back soon)

THE PAST COMES TO LIGHT !!!!!

Just so you don't think of me as a palagomist, I will admit from the get go that I did not write this. A friend sent it to me some time ago just to give me some kind of an idea on what to write about.  I just took this list out not long ago to see if there were some things I could add to my list of things that might be of some interest.
As I thumbed through the list it became more and more evident that life is so very much different now......then when I was growing up. No wonder people just shake their heads over what this wonderful world is going through at this time. The longer we live the more things get screwed up.  No wonder our kids and the new generation just can't believe what we tell them about our days of growing up. They probably never thought life could be so great.

WE ARE AWESOME !!!  OUR Lives are LIVING PROOF !!!

To Those of Us Born  1925 - 1955:  

   First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank  While they were pregnant.

   They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

   Then, after that trauma, we were  put to sleep on our tummies  in baby cribs
Covered   with bright colored
Lead-based paints.

   We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,  And, when we rode our bikes,  We had baseball caps,  Not helmets, on our heads.

 

   As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..

 

   Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

   We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

 

   We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

 

   We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And we weren't overweight. 
WHY?

   Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

   We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.  No one was able to reach us all day.  --And, we were OKAY.

 

   We would spend hours building  Our go-carts out of  scraps  and then ride them down the hill,  Only to find
Out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned  To solve the problem..

 

   We did not
Have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were  No video games,
No 150 channels on cable,  No video movies
Or DVDs,  No surround-sound or
CDs,   
No cell phones,  No personal computers,  No Internet and
No chat rooms.

 

   WE HAD FRIENDS  And we went
Outside and found them!

   We fell out of
trees, got cut,  Broke bones and
Teeth,  And there were
No lawsuits  From those accidents.
 
    We would get
Spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand,
And no one would call child services to report abuse.

 

    We ate worms,
And mud pies  Made from dirt,
And  The worms did
Not live in us forever.

 
   We were given
BB guns for our 10th birthdays, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses,made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and
   -although we were
Told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes.

   We rode bikes
Or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just Walked in and talked to them.

  

 

Little League had 
tryouts  And not everyone
Made the team.  Those who didn't
Had to learn  To deal with
Disappointment.

   Imagine that!!

 

   The idea of a parent bailing
Us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! 

 

   These generations have
Produced some of the best risk-takers,  Problem solvers, and
Inventors ever.

   The past 60
To 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..

   We had freedom,
Failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all

 

   If YOU are
One of those born  Between 1925-1955, CONGRATULATIONS!

   You might want
to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers
and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

   While you are
at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents
were.

   Kind of makes
you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it 

 AH.....................THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Come back again

Vito

IT'S BEEN A GREAT LIFE

Some people have written me and asked, what the reason is that I'm writing a blog.....................especially about me.  Who in the world do I think I am.   Well, my friends, this started as a little challenge to life. A way of passing down ...................to my daughter, son and my twin grandsons a little bit of life factors..........that they may not have known about the old man. I wanted it to be just oral and photo vignettes of what life was about growing up in another era.  I wanted it to reflect basically four periods of life.
1. from what I can remember from infancy to collage
2. working years
3. retirement years to present
4. my prospectus on present day issues and my thoughts

I wanted all of this BUT in the humorous light of things rather than the harshness. After all. life is to be enjoyed. 
So far it has worked out that way. I can honestly say that the things I may have thought were bad  when they were happening, actually turned out to be funnier when I really thought about them. I try to relive some of them every time I need to fill an hour of time.  I remember sitting my grandsons down when they were at the age of being interested in what grandpa had to say .........and telling them some of "the stuff".  They would immediately turn to grandma and  ask " Is that true grandma" almost as if they thought she was there for everyone of those days.  I have led  life filled with all kinds of friends and have broken bread with people that some would only be able to dream about.  Sure, there are many things I wish I had done better or differently but I have very little regret for the way things have worked out. Now, I can look back and honestly say "been there, done that and moved on".

When I say.  "grandpa walked a mile to school in 10' of snow."  grandpa did that.......oh sure some might say...............and take that as SOME LITTLE imagination   Right after the snow plow had been down the road and pushed the snow to the side of the road where it then measured 10' it was all true.  The snow was 10' and the distance 1 mile. The comparison is very simple, now a days, the bus will not run in more than 10" of snow and school is now closed for a snow day. Proving      the youth are wimps.

Now, it's time to write that book...................not that I plan on selling a lot of copies..............I just want to have a Christmas gift to give with a bottle of my homemade  Vito's Vino.  What I've tried to do is go back over all my blog postings and put them in some kind of  chronological order.  That is a job in itself.  Seems that the almost 40 years I spent with SAS certainly cries out what my life was totally about.  Second comes my "growing up" years (school)  followed way in the rear is my retirement years. They just didn't seem to catch on................so that's the reason I just dabbled into anything I could get my hands into.  I just find that it gives me just the right amount of time and ATTITUDE to make my life still something to crow about.   I find myself totally involved in fact checking everything politicians are doing...............this administration has certainly increased my mind power to searching out information.  That leads me to the final chapter of my book. Now I have to find a name for that chapter.......................oh so much is going through this mind of mine right now.  It's like creating something of beauty and putting it down in pencil then turning into pen  and finally into the written word .  I have tried to self-draw my photo and it will soon be finished..


 Perhaps I will wrap up this part of my life and begin anew......................then again maybe I should just continue along the same road.



Before I go for this one.   Enjoy the video.  Perhaps I should consider show business.                  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrlKxJ7yQbo

come back again.

WHAT FEELS GOOD FOR ME



One day last week, I decided to take a lite nap just before dinner. I turned the TV on just to have a little noise in the background and found myself nodding off in less than the usual 5 minutes it takes. Twenty minutes later l was awake, my back was killing me from laying on the couch, legs stiff from hanging over the side of the couch so not to get the couch dirty from my shoes. I was more tired, felt lousier than before I started the nap and totally out of sinc. That's when I finally asked myself........"myself, why did I ever take that nap" I really feel tired.now.

This brings me to another part of the day.  Morning........oh what a glorious part of the day, just to be able to feel your eyelashes s l o w l y separating letting in a hazy start of daylight little by little, feeling the warmth of the bed covering close to my stretching body.  STRETCH stretch .... legs reaching for the end of the bed. My feet wanting to point my wiggling toes even further that I know they can go.  Slowly rotating my feet, first in a simultaneously same circle direction and  then each foot turning into opposite directions simultaneously ...........ah  what a glorious feeling..........my arms stretching reaching for the ceiling.......it's  like..........like my whole body is waiting to feel the start of the day, poised to be lifted out of bed and my feet touching the softness of plush carpeting caressing almost hugging my feet as I stand preparing my whole body for the first movement forward.   AH    what a glorious feeling.  That first step, a Little wobbly but well worth it, heading for the bathroom turning on the shower water while I relieve your body of liquids stored up over the past 7 hours, slowly stepping into the rushing  cold water but now feeling it getting warmer and warmer....................goose bumps now gone as you lean into the stream of water and feeling the warm water hitting my head and quickly rolling over my whole body.  The occasional squirt of the liquid soap being released by the automatic soap dispenser.  Finally rubbing shampoo into my hair and feeling it running down my body......................oh what a feeling. Just standing and feeling the water splashing on my face and quickly reaching my feet. I have the feeling that...........what's the rush to leave this................but I know that on the other side of the shower doors awaits the heavy terrycloth towel and the heat lamps to dry my body.............oh heaven. After this the day awaits for me. The rest of the  "waking up" is about to begin. Now dried and almost fully awake, I  let the final stage begin. Smell, the richness of the Arabic beans brewing my first cup of the day. A rich black cup of Zoegas (Swedish) coffee today, two eggs sunny side up, two slices of crisp bacon and one slice of lightly buttered Jewish rye bread.  What more can one person possibly ask for.  I better pinch myself just to confirm I have feeling.  Now to check to see if this was just a dream.  Open the newspaper to the obituary.  Lets see now.  Rizzo,     Rizzo,    Rizzo,    nope  not listed  let the balance of the day begin.

As I look out the window onto my deck, I can see that it is still to early in the season to enjoy my breakfast and my paper there. I must admit, once those days arrive, Seattle the rain capital of the USA turns into heaven on earth. The spot for all my serious thinking takes place on my deck and many of the world's problems are solved there.



It's always so much fun to find and publish a video of some sort.  Here is one that may put some people off but let me say,   NO ONE WAS HURT............it's just funny.

Little piggy

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k1bG2EPGmI0?autoplay=1&vq=hd720&rel=0&showinfo=0&start=82&end=321


Just goes to show you how very concerned people are  about certain things.

come back again