Translate

8/28/12

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.



                




8/20/12

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....................






8/7/12

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.

7/31/12

IT'S DAYLIGHT ..........SO WHAT


JUST REMEMBER if you want to read this in another language you can.....just by clicking on the note above and on the left .....then choose your language.

**************************************

This past Thursday, I had lunch with a few of my followers, better known as peeps.........if I was age 50 or less. One of them, Sam, noted to me that I always seem to be sitting on my deck, drinking coffee and reading my morning issue of the newspaper.  Well, Sam,  just one word about that........At my age.....and one day you will also be there.......your best thinking will happen before the clock reaches 7AM. The morning seems the best time to be able to at least think kindly of all that matters.........before the day begins to listening to the bullshit news about how everything is either going tits up or in the crapper.  The only savior to that is lunch of Cajun chicken or salmon strips over a bed of Sweet Spring Baby Salad..........and a glass of water, or perhaps an Arnold Palmer, or a VERY DRY Martini.........which is very rarely consumed since it only gives away the result of the night before activity...................usually comes once a year...................................on Christmas day.

Here it is, now 3PM sitting on my deck.........having a bottle of water with Crystal Light lemonade flavoring in it..................uugghh!!!  Just saw a little baby bird zig zagging overhead and trying to land on the railing of my deck.  Guess what he wants??   FOOD.   Now, he is still to little to know that he has to grasp his little feet around that plastic rod of the bird feeder and he will then be able to eat as much as his little tummy can hold.  Seems he is a Republican sympathiser and just wants his mommy to fly around gathering food for him and then come back to feed him.............he's making a slave out of her and just to prove it I took this photo.
 
The Old and the weaker feeding the young fat cats........in this case,  fat birdy.  OOOOhhhhh if he only knew.....that someday the circle will be turned and he will have to do the same.......or perhaps not.  I wonder if she is aware of.........outsourcing.

AAHHH, that's really unfair of me..............but I warned you.......that's what happens if I am forced to do anything in the PM hours.....without a decent 20 minute nap.

Now it's planning time for dinner and a night of entertainment.  Shall I look at ...................reruns of the Olympics, now that I have read all about who the winners are.............which is pretty stupid.  Shall I plan on watching another Mariners game or just be happy with what Margot has taped from "THE VIEW"  or"THE DAILY SHOW" Guess I'll choose the later since anything past the 8th inning is read about in tomorrow mornings paper.  With getting up early it automatically means going to bed early.  How things have changed from days gone by........when daylight hurt my eyes and the nights were long and adventurous.

Now just to stimulate your funny bone, check out these two videos I got for you. I cant remember what they are of..............but I'm sure they are funny since I put them on this page as soon as I saw them.    Have fun and see you again.................................early in the morning next time!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_hzrB_FI4

Talking about  food.  You may have to skip past the commercial in this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

which one was the best????

7/8/12

WHO? WHAT? WHERE?............................

Sometimes.................. I find that sitting and thinking about days gone by ......puts  many confusing things into this web of a mind. Only very small bits of information get pass at a single time.  This simply means I must constantly go back to add the little bits of info that does not pass through on schedule. It's ..........like.........saying.........  like the advertisement on TV..... where they speak of having a .................vaginal mesh...............I can only picture this as a little metal screen sort of thing that has blocker characteristics ................so in a way it would be a brain mesh........if moved a Little ......north.....in the body.  Does that sound realistic?? only some information slips through.

In having spent a few months short of 40 years with SAS airline, I am sure that I have not only met but have become friends with some of the most prominent people on earth......................but ..................I can't remember...............who they all are.............  I do know that as I search old shoe boxes of items collected over the years that I have located little pieces of paper with names and telephone numbers of all these folks, the only question now is.... were these names and number notes ........................made by me....................or are they actual priceless autographs with Hollywood invitations to visit them when travelling around their town?  I must admit that I always did have the kind of personality that enticed people to just want to be around me.......................but I can't remember...............WHY.     With age, one tends to loose a little bit of memory............almost to the extent that your   RAM  has to be upgraded every so many years even though your processor can remain stagnate or to put it in layman's terms..................... you want to have sex.........but forgot how................or WHY......I guess one might consider this ...............little forgetfulness..........good since it now activates the brain and forces one to think...........and then act.

 Some say, that, in your later years it's good to learn, another language..............really?  Did I do that well with English during my earlier years that I can now process enough brain power to learn..............a second language?   SAS, had sent me to Lund, Sweden (University of Lund)  to study Swedish............that was fun and I did meet people from around the world.........even China......that was there for the same reason.  Did I learn any Swedish?  guess I did although my wife, who was born and raised in Stockholm admits to this day, that I speak no Swedish at all, simply because Lund is in the southern part of Sweden called Skona , which was apparently part of Denmark and the TWANG  that resulted in the 2 different languages is called skonska, and not readily understood by the uppity part of Sweden (or at least they don't want to admit it). It can only be compared to our own.................above and below the Mason-Dixon line.  Even though we can understand the belows......we  born and raised Northerners pretend the "trailer-park"  language is only made for those belowers.   Anyway, I do admit, I had trouble in high school with adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, nouns, pronouns and all the other words but I can still put a sentence together, even though I'm still not sure if I have the proper amount of adverbs, nouns etc. involved in the breakdown.............some say I still have  "run-on" sentences,  is that a result of run-over sentences?
TRUE STORY:    I remember, just arriving back for my course in Lund, ....... I was sitting with the flight deck crew during their pre-flight briefing.  Now, this is the part of the operation where the flight deck crew discuss the planned route, weather en-route, expected differentials that may take place during the route, fuel requirements, diversion cities, if needed etc. etc. etc.  The SAS crew for the, most part could be made up of a combination of pilots from the three countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.  That particular day, the Captain, was Danish, first officer, Swedish and just to confuse the issue the second officer was Norwegian.   The three languages, even though having similarities, were different in the "counting"  The Danes seem to count backwards,(after they reach 20)  what I mean by that is when they come  to  twenty-one  that  would be 1 +20, whereas the Swedes would be similar to English.  The crew had decided to add fuel because of some uncertainty in the weather at their destination (Copenhagen) and the Captain, testing my new knowledge, gave me his decision as to how much fuel he wanted..........................in  Danish.  WELL, believe me ..............."all ears" (as my boss was called) was present in the background especially when I had to radio it forward to the fuelers................just to make sure the numbers that I heard, that I interpreted and that I passed on were.............THE SAME!!! as the Captain said and she had heard.    Astonishing......they were.........I had learned a second language or perhaps a third since I now understood Danish.   Achievement complete!!   I must also admit, at this time, that I do UNDERSTAND more of the language then I can SPEAK..............because of all their rules of using adjectives, nouns and pronouns etc.  When is'" A"  apple  different from "THE" apple......Oh my brain is hurting !!  better have another cup of coffee, better yet a glass of wine.

(just a note:    NOW  for all that speak another language, you may now read my blog in your NATIVE TONGUE.   Just under the heading in the upper left side of the page you will see a drop down named  translate.     click on that and pick a language .   Give it a try)

I have recently been asked by Margot to upgrade her cell phone to something...................easier to use.  I tried to explain that ..............that meant downgrading not upgrading  so here is the model that I got for her (after 6 months of searching).

f
for some unknown reason, things seem to work so much better when you are use to them. Texting is a little tricky on this puppy.......but we will get it down..............eventually.

Just have to get use to the ..................party line effect..........which is considered an option with "SCOOP TELEPHONE COMPANY"


More to come on the advancement of technology.  Guess you can order this phone from;

Someoldfartitems.com  if the page is still listed.  If not perhaps it will be opened soon.

Have a great week.

7/5/12

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER..........

Well,  here it is  July 5th and the first day of Summer for us, Pacific North westerners.  Seems every year our summer arrives...............from out of the blue on this day.............iso the official day sometime in June........ Just to back up this thought,  I can now advise you that ........this morning was the first time this year that my heating system did not automatically turn on at 0800 and at 60 degrees.   WOW !  that in its self is an achievement ....................just the thought that my heating bill could be under $100 for the month brings a BIG smile to this face.
Now, as I thumb through the newspaper, I can see all the important issues of the day help shaping this into a day  of.......... 5 on a rating of 1-10, one being the worst.
Our beloved Seattle Mariners baseball team loosing yesterday to Baltimore thus loosing the series,  well the good part is that they have a day off today..............sssssooooooo   they can't loose.

Our Seattle sounders soccer club tied with Salt Lake City  0-0  seems kind of mute but just can't explain how teams can tie at  zero.  Seems to me that they should at least play until someone scores ....A .....point,  or perhaps they just get so tired that they have to rest,  I can understand that with all that damn running up and down the field,  then again I take a look at our clubs manager and the poor bastard needs to go on a diet, since he looks like he swallowed a few of the soccer balls. 

Steve Nash was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the LA Lakers to firm up the back court with Kobe,  question is  why do they think a 38 year old guy will firm up anything  is beyond me.

Moving forward from section C to section B pg 10.......... I see that our local temperatures will be in the 80's for the next 5 day.........at least,  so I guess that means that I will just have to rest ...........sitting on my deck..........drinking a lot of fluids.   Either the Lemonade Crystal lite  or perhaps my Doctors suggestion....................a glass ......................or 2  of red wine..

The taxi fare from Seattle city to the airport will go up from from $32 to $40.  Guess this means more people will be using Seattle's new transit service.

Now, the main section.  Fires in Colorado are now 80% under control.............what does this mean? 
From what I understand , people are still being evacuated from their homes.......guess they are still in that 20% zone. (Does that mean the 80% portion are in the mountains?)   The suspicion is that they started from some people at a target range.  Another reason to restrict weapons...............of those unable to read and to reasonably be able to interpret the 2nd amendment.
The rest of the nation under a cloud of extreme heat entering the 8th day of temperatures over 100 degrees.  Ask yourselves now..................could you be convinced that this is GLOBAL WARMING?????  OR  is this just another man made phenomenon ?    To use a term of the day............WHATEVER  dude!!!!!!!!
Boeings competitor  Airbus is building a factory in Alabama................guess the French are looking for another .......................vacation playground.

Boeing beefing up 737 production in Seattle

and, of course the news breaker of the day..............Romney now thinks the Supreme court was correct in saying the  penalty fee (which his election committee, just yesterday said penalty was correct) is now saying that it is a Tax.  Does this now mean he raised taxes in Massachusetts with his program? (which is the same as Obamacare) but he denies that..........seems he has a problem understanding the difference if there is one.    OOOHHHHH, I am getting a headache over this ...........one day it's this......... next day it's that...............first make up YOUR MIND,................then make up mine.

Margot please get me another  Merlot   crystal lite!!!!!!!
Best thought is ...........................It's summer time,  where the hell are my shorts and sandals??????    
          

6/27/12

THE BIG AND THE BOLD!!!!

Well, my friends.........looks as though summer is beginning to peek around the corner in my little home town.  This morning is absolutley beautiful, sun shining brightly, warm air with a slight breeze, coffee, newspaper and my trusty laptop.  This is what life is about.  Sitting on the deck at 10am.........just thinking.  

This past month was a time for celebrating within the confines of my mind.  Lunch in Sweden with my guy friends, coffee with an old (and I don't mean that in age old) but in time old friend, my gig at Rubarber Jazz club in Stockholm,  baseball game for my birthday with my whole family (daughter and her spouce, Son and his spouce and twin boys grandsons and my wife)......a day to remember.  Midsommar party at a friends lakeside house.  Tried to take pictures of everything that happened so here goes with a few of them.
""The big and the bold.""   Typical of Swedish for Midsommar celebration and the drink of the day for my May Luncheon with........."the guys"     Beer and Aquavit.          The beer is used to cool down the effects of the Aquavit........of course

The guys............or better known as,   the family of friends (2 missing) plus  one never forgotten.




Play Ball !!!!!



Bryson, Cormick, Grandpa, Grandma,   Mariners lost  but still a GREAT DAY !!!


Midsommer (longest day of the year) at Lynn's    .................another day to overeat and overdrink.


The midsommar pole..........time to dance...........the frog.



or something like that.

Can hardly wait for July to start and life begins to slow down for a couple of months

Not to let you off the hook for listening to a little of my political ranting,  how about this sent to me from a friend.


The Wonder of it All

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.

2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.

3. The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.

4. The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.

5. The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

And....

6. The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

THE AMAZING CONCLUSION:
The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your
balls become.
Therefore, one might conclude, there must be a ton of people in
Washington playing marbles!


PS This also should include those with little "common sense".

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