Thursday

In our house we have Time Warner provided cable/Internet/telephone service. The service is far from good but acceptable. Also since we have TV sets in every room our monthly bill is not small by any means.

Living in an apartment house in New York we really do not have too many choices as far carriers go. But in our neighborhood Verizon came up on the horizon and today we found out that our building is wired and ready for service.

So the other day we sat front of the computer and tried to find out what would service cost using Verizon.

Surprisingly the final cost was less than what we currently pay but not by much. What really upset me was that I spent an enormous time trying to find a telephone number to contact their costumer service but with no result.

I can't fathom that an organization like them have no costumer service. Time Warner has good service and they respond to all phone calls.

Also, their service include a new telephone number (landline). Now, I have this number for over fifty years. I'll be damned if I will let them change it to a new one. That was what I wanted to ask from their non-existent costumer service.

It is very easy to advertise,it is another thing to back up the claims about excellent service.

Old Friends

The other day my wife introduced me to the intricacies of Facebook. Not to all of them just a superficial intro. But I still found it totally interesting and amazing. I'm sure I will never ever user it but it is still good to know that there is no way one can hide in this world.

I decided with her help to search out old friends and acquaintances. I was lucky because I was able to find a few old schoolmates I haven't seen in decades and I do mean many decades.

To tell you honestly it was difficult at first to recognize some of them from their pictures because they look totally different than I remembered. But looking for some familiarity I think I succeeded recognizing most of them.

I wrote to them and introduced myself like I was an a blind date. Hoping they remember me. So far there are no answers but I hope I will get some response and that might permit me to reestablish contact with "long lost" friends.

I mean, they say this is a small world. So, if it is that small let it be easy to find each other again

Tuesday

Last night was the night America watched on and only one program. The first presidential debate.

It was promised to be interesting and it promised to be entertaining. It didn't disappoint me at all. At times it was funny and most of the times it was entertaining.

I'm not sure these two are requirements for a presidential debate but never the less they were. What they were not was informative and serious.

An hour before the debate was Dancing With the Stars and I am not sure if DWTS was as entertaining as the debate.

Both candidates are very knowledgeable I'm sure but they spent most of their times bashing the other person. Neither came out and explained their plans, their intentions in a clear and understandable way.

Hard line Democrats and Republicans will vote the party line regardless what their parties' candidates say. This circus was aimed at the undecided but according to the smart ass commentators neither said anything that would sway the undecided.

And, regardless that these candidate are convinced that him or her is the best selection for President it is not up to them but up to the voters.

It is us who will decide on November 8 who the next President of the United States will be.

Sunday/Monday

Hungarians are a curious type of people. Wherever they go into the, we intermarry  world, wherever they wind up they try to assimilate.

Maybe it is not easy in Africa or Asian countries but in other places it is not impossible. We learn the language, we learn the costumes, we intermarry and thus assimilate.

Assimilacio is good but we shouldn't lose our national identity. But that is what exactly happens here in America. At least in New York.

The other day I had the opportunity to read a Hungarian newspaper that is published in Toronto. I was very surprised to see how much Hungarian activities are going on.

Toronto has Hungarian restaurants, Hungarian stores and Hungarian churches. New York has almost none.

There are some social clubs (one that I know of that claims to be Hungarian but their main occupation is the twice weekly card games). Being Hungarian is not important to most of them besides the fact that some of them still don't speak English.

There are some suburban areas around New York where there are some Hungarian clubs but their existence is very limited and it appears to me that their programs are kind of forced efforts.

In the building where I live there must be another Hungarian because there is a Hungarian decal on his car but I don't know who the person is.

There is a New York paper in Hungarian but it is a piss poor effort since it does not publish anything of interest rather it plagiarizes articles from other publications.

This is a  sad thing. It would be nice to see other countrymen once in a while.

It was a very interesting phenomenon that in 2006 on the 50th anniversary of the 1956 October events there was a special night at Carnegie Hall in New York. The place was really filled. People came in buses from all the surrounding areas near and far.

I was really surprised to see that many Hungarians in one place, in New York.

But after the evening was over they all went back to their own places never to be heard again. This is what is sad.

I'm not insinuating that we shouldn't live our own lives but it would be nice once in a while to get together and may be enjoy a Hungarian show or a Hungarian movie or eat some Hungarian food (in a restaurant because at home I am thankfully satisfied).

Saturday

When we moved into our new apartment and had a ceiling fan installed in the bedroom. There was a problem finding the connection box and it resulted in chopping out a fairly large hole in the ceiling.

That hole was gaping at us for almost an entire year. We finally decided it was time to fix it and called the guy who did a lot of work for us at the time we moved in.

This was a kind of "warranty" work. Today he came over and very nicely plastered up the hole. In about two weeks we will paint it over indwell have a nice ceiling to look at when we wake up.

The guy was our former building super where we used to live so for an hour or so we exchanged gossip about the happenings in the old building.

We found out that our old apartment was renovated and sold to a Chinese couple who already live there.

Life goes on.

Friday

Yesterday on Thursday at 10:21 am Fall started. The day was a nice sunny very un Fall like day. I was expecting that after 10:21 am the leaves would change color and by the afternoon they would start falling.

I mean that is what fall supposed to be, isn't it?

I was very disappointed when none of these happened except it got even warmer for today. Where is Fall?

Something else.

Today w had a nice easy day. We didn't do much. Taking Abigail to school for 9:45 isn't really that bad. It lets me sleep until about 7:45 and that is good.

So, I took her to school then we were home doing this and that. There is always something to do in our house.

We bought two new printers and yesterday we set them both up and now we have these new printers that make our computer work a lot easier and more pleasant.

If we live in this age of technology at least make use of it.

Thursday

I missed two days because we had pretty busy times and just had no chance to sit down and "create".

My wife's daughter was visiting us from Florida between Tuesday and Thursday. It was a good deal on JetBlue and we decided to invite her up to the Big Apple.

Fortunately the weather cooperated and we had a pretty good time being together.

She arrived Tuesday afternoon and we spent some god times together. Had dinner in an Asian buffet. Later in the evening she went to see her brother and they went off to see a movie. Abigail didn't go because she had homework and kids don't go to the movies on school days.

Wednesday we went into Manhattan for  a short visit but escaped very quickly because the UN General Assembly was creating all kinds of traffic problems. Back to the nice and quiet Queens.

Afternoon we did a little shopping then went to a nice American pastry shop. Yes, there are American pastry shops!

In the evening dinner at home, watching TV family style then turn in early because she had an eight o'clock flight this morning.

That meant I had to get up at 4:45, make the coffee and put myself in a presentable condition. At six we left the house to the airport, we saw her through the checking in process then came home.

Abigail is off to school and we are just lingering around the house trying to get our balance back. This is not jet lag it is just fatigue.