Sunday

We like to shop at Walmart. I really don't care if they are against unions or if they don't treat their people right.

That is not my problem. Nobody is holding a gun to their heads to work there. I only care about our budget and there are many items that cost less than in other places. It is my money and I spend it any which way I think is right (for me).

Down in Daytona Beach I saw Walmart Supercenter that was fantastically equipped. It had everything from auto repair through food through pharmacy and electronics and clothing. Everything a person needs under one roof.

Here in New York I only knew one place not far but it didn't have nearly as much stuff as the one in Florida. We went there several times because their prices for household stuff were still better than anywhere else.

Now, that changed today. We found a Walmart Supercenter only about 6.7-7 miles away. I don't know why I never looked in that direction.

The place is gigantic. A well equipped supermarket with fresh fruits and free meats. Household things, paper stuff, electronic and clothing and pharmacy and many more things.

One shopping cart is just not enough for a weekly shopping. But we had a good time, bought lots of things mostly what we needed. And decided that from now on this is our favorite store.

The Waltons ned our money for sure.

Saturday

Yesterday, Friday was a pretty good day around our house.

First the elevator that was out of commission all week long finally was put back in service. My wife and I went down (and up) several times during the week out of necessity of course and even though they say walking stairs is good for one's health it was a nuisance.

We were very glad that finally civilization returned.

The other good thing and unexpected thing was that the body shop called and told us that our car was ready.

At 3 pm we picked up the car and man, it looked great. The replacement parts were nice, the car was prepared almost as when we took it out of the showroom. Needless to say that we were very happy to see our baby.

No complaints against the rental car but it was BASIC.

With no elevator and no car of ours we realized how lazy and spoiled we became. Now that we got our car back it didn't take long for us to get used to the "luxuries" that we got used to.

After Friday's "exciting" events today, Saturday was just a regular and normal eventful day.

I just love those.

Friday

Last night we went to see Cats. It's been playing on Broadway for years starting in 1981but I never had any inclination to see it then. I'm sorry I missed it!

Last night was great. The music, the performers were totally entertaining. I always thought it was a kids type show. And how wrong I was. It is a show aimed at adults. Still, Abigail immensely enjoyed it. Last night she went to sleep humming a song and this morning woke up to it's music.

I read somewhere that a good musical is where people humm a song upon leaving the theater. Well, this one really qualified.

After the show we went out to eat and it was after midnight by the time we got home. The beauty of the late night driving that it took us very little time to get home.

Over all we had a great time.

Thursday

I will not have time to sit down and write today because we are having a cultural program.

After a long hiatus we are going to see a Broadway show with Abigail. I will tell about it tomorrow.

Wednesday

Yesterday, Tuesday we had such a busy day that I just couldn't get toast down and write. Today is different.

Abigail went iceskating with her friends and we had a few, actually about five hours to ourselves. But there was no relaxation to the weary. We just did errands which included food shopping.

Since there is still no elevator in the building we had to schlepp everything up the stairs. But hopefully because the day is not yet over there will be no need for any further going down.

I know we are spoiled and there are people who live in buildings with absolutely no elevator but that is not us. We have one and that is not operating is just a nuisance.

It's the same thing with our rental car. It is a nice little car with good pickup, comfortable and it takes us wherever we want to go.

But it is a basic car. It has nothing extravagant in it that we are used to. Like GPS, automatically dimmed rearview mirror, left and right lane watch, rear camera as well as a rear guard, electric seats, cruise control and several other things that we got used to.

This reminds me how it was to drive about 35 years ago. It is a good thing that it is not standard shift.

Monday

Today is Monday and looking out the window it is pretty dreary evening. Heavy rain and wind and nobody in his right mind is on the streets.

Well, nobody except us. My lovely wife decided to go to a Chinese pastry shop and get some pastry. So, what does an obedient husband do? Gets dressed and goes. We went out. I don't wish this weather on anybody.

Our tiny rental car braved the elements but if the water were to be a little higher we would had to row.

To add insult to injury in our side of the building the elevator is shut down for the week for repairs. No elevator until Friday 5 pm.

We live on the third floor but the building has a lobby floor which makes us four levels up. Waking up and down is not a joy so until Friday we have to seriously weigh the necessity of going out. Fortunately we love our apartment and staying indoors is not a burden.

Because of some tests in her school Abigail is staying home until next Tuesday.

Peace and quiet will be a myth in this household for a while.

Sunday

Today was a very good day.

We got up around 11:30 am after having a good night sleep and then...

That was it we didn't do a single thing. Actually my wife cleaned the apartment with me operating the heavy machinery (vacuum cleaner) but outside of that we just enjoyed the non-doing-anything part.

Abigail decided that she would cook dinner for us was not discouraged and she worked very diligently at preparing a garlic chicken breast with mashed potatoes.

Hate to admit but it was good.

Other than assisting her endeavor we just loafed around and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Sometimes that is also necessary for a good life.

Saturday

Thursday night around 7:15 pm we were on our way to visit a friend when at the highway entrance just before entering the mainstream somebody hit our car from the rear.

It was a young lady who decided to start moving before I did. Fortunately nobody got hurt with the exception of our car. Being hers a little shit Volkswagen and ours a big strong suv our car's rear was damaged while hers not at all.

My wife and I were pretty pissed because getting into an accident, no matter how small is not very exciting.

Upon getting home I reported it to our insurance company. Friday morning our company called and  told us that the other insurance company (GEICO) accepted all responsibility for the accident.

Today we took our poor "little" car to a GEICO place where they record the damage and being a body shop told us to leave the car there until it is fixed. Through Enterprise they provided us with and-cost rental and now we just have to wait until the work is done.

GEICO called us later today and told us that the damage was about $3,500 and it will be totally fixed. No timeframe was given for the job but since we do have a rental I really don't care.

I used to be with  GEICO for over thirty years but recently I changed to Progressive because they cost les. But I am still amazed at the efficiency GEICO works at.

My car is a Hyundai SantaFe SUV. The rental car is a Hyundai Accent. In the SantaFe we are sitting high in the Accent we are looking up people's a. hole.

Friday

Today was the inauguration of Donald Trump as President. I tell you honestly, this was the best show on television.

We were watching it on C-Span because they show you what is happening and there are no commentators who would non-stop keep explaining what was what we just saw. They assume everybody is stupid and explanations are constantly needed.

Why was this a good show?

Because the ass kissing that went on on a grandiose scale was beyond belief. Trump made it and they have to accept it.

Hillary Clinton was there and she really behaved pretty civilized. I'm sure she was telling herself that this should have been her event but that just didn't happen.

The fact that about 50 congressmen boycotted the event because of some civil rights issue was not even noticeable. Nobody really cared. According to the statistics the turnout was record breaking.

Nobody cared what the media was saying, nobody cared what the opposition was saying people went in droves just to be there and to show their support.

I am sure we are looking forward to some interesting and different times.

Thursday

It is amazing how kids live in their own world. Abigail lives in her own universe. Nothing interests her if it does not involve her.

She is convinced that she is the sun and the world revolves around her. Totally oblivious of anything else that is happening and if it not fun and games.

Tonight I dove to her school to pick her up and take her home. Her last class is over at 3:45pm. I was almost at the school when she called me and asked if it was all right for her to go over to her friend's house and play.

To answer no was not an option! She didn't care that I could have stayed home and not driven to the school because she didn't need a ride to the friend's house. She didn't care if we had other plans for the evening. She just cared about herself.

In her mind she is the queen and our only purpose in life is to serve her every whims and desires.

What a world we live in!

Tuesday

As I said yesterday the work started pretty much on time. The bad thing about a job like this is that there is nothing to do for us. We were trying to stay out of their ways but could not disappear. The minute we disappeared they were bound to ask something.

The other bad thing was that since every piece of furniture was under plastic covers we had absolutely no place to sit. This by itself was more tiring than anything else.

But regardless of my complaints work proceeded slowly but surely. No matter what we complained about we were assured that they would be done by Thursday pm.

The most difficult task for us was that the two bedrooms (Abigail's and ours) had to be unwrapped and made sweepable and rewrapped the next morning for the workers. We eventually overcame this by asking them to finish these two rooms first.

I had to go down to Home Depot several times to buy additional materials since we were supplying it.

Slowly ever so slowly things started to take shape. Doors were hung, hardware installed, walls prepared and finally painted.

By Thursday noon they were almost finished. A few more hours and by four pm they packed up and left. We didn't want to believe it that it was over.

Now the cleaning begun. My wife had somebody come over and help on Friday and they worked from dawn to dusk and longer. But at the end we looked around and decided it was worth it.

My wife spared me from the heavy lifting and I felt bad not allowed to pitch in as much as I should but I sincerely appreciated her concern for my well being.

Today, a week later we looked back and remembered what shape the place was a week ago.

Monday, January 16, 2017

When God created women he equipped them with sensory perceptions we men lack.

They see things we do not see, they hear things we do not hear, they know what we think when we don't even know what we think. And al these and more make the super to us.

But it is fine. These make our lives easier since we don't have to make any major decisions at all just live with the consequences.

Sixteen months ago we moved into a brand new apartment in a nice apartment house. It was painted and it was clean. We lived here all these times very comfortably until...

Well, one day my darling wife liked around and decided that she wanted the apartment painted, the base moldings replaces as well as all thirteen doors that we have.

I said sure darling, whatever you want, hoping for a nuclear holocaust that would make this plan obsolete. But it didn't happen and a week and a half ago my wife decided this was the time to do it.

On Friday we spoke to the super of the building and he made arrangements for the work to start on this past Monday, the 9th.

The weekend was spent buying materials like doors, hardware, lumber and paint and also moving every piece of furniture into the middle of the rooms and covering them all up. This was no easy task since we do have a lot of  stuff.

Monday morning arrived we got up at the crack of dawn and begun to wait for the workmen to arrive. On gets very anxious at times like these because one wonders if they will really come or find an excuse for not showing up.

One year I went through something like this. We were expecting the painter. Took the apartment apart, moved the furniture an sat and waited for hours for the painter who never arrived. It turned out that day was agree holiday and they forgot to tell us that the painter was supposed to be off.

So one can understand my anxiety at waiting for the workers. But it turned out fine. At 9 am they showed up and started work as promised.

More tomorrow.

Thursday

I am not a superpatriotic person but there are things happening that burn my insides.

We are living in a democratic society that is governed by a constitution. That document might not be perfect but still it is one of the best in the world. It governes life in this country and like it or not that is what we have.

So, there was a presidential election in November and Donald Trump won with a considerable electoral majority. As in every election there are ones who vote for the other candidates and like in every election there is a winner and there are losers.

But I have never seen anything like what people who are against this winner do. They act like hurt teenage girls. "I didn't get what I wanted so I want nothing now."

Some people voiced their discontent after the election like Robert DeNiro who said he would move to Canada. Good, don't let the door hit you in the back!

Others like the Canadian Celine Dion and the Brit Elton John refused an invitation to appear at the Presidential Inauguration in Washington.

It seems that this country is only good for asking enormous fees for their appearances but our democratic system is not to their liking. Not to accept a democratically elected president is about an un-American as spying to an enemy country.

Not accepting a democratically elected president (for me) is equal to trying to destroy this country.

Wednesday

I forgot to mention that we had a very nice New Year's Eve celebration. We went out to diner with family then stayed home and waited for the ball to drop. My wife's son and his girlfriend were with us and with Abigail present there was the five of us.

That's about the size of a group I like. We talked, we laughed and at the proper time we drank.

Watched that dumbs ass show on ABC, Dick Clark's New Year's Eve. It was forced, it was phony and it was boring. But lacking anything else the TV had it on. The biggest bore on that show was Mariah Carey.

Her only talent is wearing enormous decolltage. Her lip singing and prima donna behavior is something else. Maybe her talent is that she gets away with it!

When midnight approached we all stood up raised our glasses and toasted the New Year and wished all the best to each other.

By 2 am the New Year being two hours old we went to bed. Another New Year's Eve down the hatch.

Tuesday

Pain, pain, pain. There are several types of pains that may bother men.

I used to tell some ladies in my office that they say childbirth is painful. I once got a paper cut under a fingernail and that was pain of the first order.

Today my wife cut my toenails. She always insists on cutting my fingernails a nd toenails. I really don't mind it at all.

The fingernail procedure went on ok but the toenail reduction hurt like crazy. My wife knows no mercy. When she decides to do something she does it no matter how it hurts. And hurt they did.

I only winced at the start but as time went on I was almost in tears. It is very peculiar how sensitive a person's toes are. It isn a good thing that I only have this on a month or so. I can't see how women can expose themselves to such torture on a regular basis.

The difference is that men have it done out of necessity women have it done out of fashion, pride or just the want to look nice.

Monday

There is nothing wrong with a clean environment. I love to live in a clan apartment where every inch of the place is impeccably clean.

I have to say that all that is because my wife is a very clean person. Every single day we do a minor go through the apartment cleaning it up. She cleans the bathrooms while I do the vacuuming. This last thing is not mandatory but just to be fair I volunteered to do it.

I always believed that a good husband should contribute to keeping the house. And that also involves some physical work. Thus, I volunteered to operate the vacuum cleaner. I figured that was a more manly task than cleaning the bathrooms.

I mean, us men were made to do more complex tasks and in this house the vacuum cleaner falls into that category.

So, this afternoon after returning from our food shopping it was time to do the cleaning. Abigail was doing the dusting, my wife the supervision and bathrooms et moi le operateur de aspirateur.

After that we are going out to dinner.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Today is the first day of 2017. I really can't tell the difference between the last day of 2016 and today. So, what is the big deal? We just have to write a different date on the checks we send out.

But I remember tp 1999 to 2000. The Y2K craze. They (the smart ones) were convinced that the Earth will stop rotating around its axis and all civilization as we know it will cease to exist. There be no Internet service, computers will stop working, there'll be no electricity and in short nothing will work.

What happened just proves that even those smart people don't know everything about computers. And that makes me feel a lot better.

1999 came to a close and 2000 rolled in. Nothing, absolutely nothing happened. Every piece of intelligent machinery kept on working like it was just another day.

The only ones made money out of this were some computer programming companies who sold specialized software just in case something was to happen.

The change from yesterday to today went on unremarkably.

The only thing was that my birthday got to be a day closer!