Thursday

It is Thursday and I will be quiet for a while.

Tomorrow, Friday afternoon my wife and I are leaving for a short trip to Hungary. I usually went for two weeks and more but this time we plan to be there only for a week.

We plan to visit my wife's family and my relations. But primarily we do have some business to do over there and that is the prime reason for the visit.

My wife was there in last December and I was stuck here babysitting. I missed her a lot and I said there was no way she would go again and leave me behind. This time this is a school holiday and Abigail will stay at her brother's house.

I was in Budapest in 2015 and I am very excited about going again.

I naturally plan to visit my parents' grave and see my cousin again. My wife met him the last time and they liked each other a lot. Now, I want to be part of this love fest.

Anyway, this it and I shall surface once we return to the good old US of A.

Wednesday

I just can't stand texting, sms and all that electronic crap. I can climb the walls when I see people walk on the streets or crossing streets without looking up because they are so engrossed in their stupid cellphones.

In our house I am surrounded with this. My wife looks at her phone all the time because whenever somebody writes or adds something to the Facebook she has to know about it.

Abigail would have her phone surgically attached if that were possible. She goes to sleep with it and she wakes up with it. I don't know how she can tolerate the hours in school when they are not allowed to use their cellphones. When she comes out of school the first thing is the phone and it is not put down until she falls in sleep.

She has it ext to her when she eats, studies or in the car.

How did we survive without this in all these years? We used to get messages that were returned in time. Now, if messages are not immediately returned there is hell to pay.

When we go out I leave my phone home more than once. Nobody calls me anyway. Besides, I hate to use my cell phone. I much rather use the traditional phone at home.

I'm old fashioned, what's wrong with that?

Tuesday

Today, like every Tuesday is cleaning day in our house. That means that my wife and I get up early, real earlynin the morning and do the laundry. The building has a laundry room with several washing machines and dryers.

The aim is to get there before other people do so we may be able to do all our stuff. We do laundry twice a week. It never stops to amaze  me how much washables we get each time. Ok, so we got a fourteen year old girl in the house. But she is not sloppy, neither am I. Still we collect enormous amount of clothing each time.

Anyway, today was no exception. Then a young lady comes over to help with the cleaning. That keep  my wife and her busy for the better part of the day. Me, I have nothing to do just to stay out of the way. And, that is not a bad way to spend the day.

Today, I was watching some TV, snoozed a little and did something I very rarely do.

I cleaned all my and some of my wife's shoes. I remember when I was still a kid Hungary and my grandfather was alive he was already retired he was always cleaning his shoes. This kind of stuck in my mind that when you are retired you should have nice clean shoes.

So, today was the day. Besides Valentine's Day it was also Shoe Cleaning Day.
 

Monday

Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. This is a holiday created by St. Hallmark. Nobody ever heard of Valentine's Day until Hallmark decided that it was a long stretch between New Year and Easter to sell greeting cards. So, there is Valentine's Day.

It is like Kwanza. It is an artificial holiday. He lived in the 200s and I don't think he really cared about lovers one way or another. Mainly because he probably was celibate. Or not?

This is again one of those lame holidays when once a year people show how much they love their partners (husbands, wives, girlfriends or boyfriends). What about the other 364 days of the year?

The way I feel if I love someone I show it every single day and not just one particular day a year.

TV is full of Valentine's Day oriented ads and cheesy movies.

I just remembered, Hungarians call it lemonade, Americans call it cheesy. We have been watching cheesy marathons. These are movies where Valentine's Day has about as much importance as Christmas. And that is totally unreal.

But anyway, tomorrow is the day and we will show our loved ones that they are special and we really love them, again.

Sunday

When the WWII refugees came to this country they had one think in common. Find a safe home, build a life and live in prosperity forever.

When the Hungarian refugees arrived in 1956 and after they had one thing in common. Find a safe home, live a life away from political persecution and build a life for their families.

When the Muslim immigrants/refugees arrived their common goal was and is how to destroy this country. They want to blend in society, they have time but the common goal is to destroy this type of life.

When the Koran teaches that unbelievers should be killed, how can they be trusted? More than once families living for years in mixed neighborhoods with children turned out to be terrorists. How these people can be trusted?

Not a single WWII refugee turned out to be terrorist. Not a single Hungarian refugee turned out to be terrorist. But all the terrorists turned out to be Muslims.

So the government can not be blamed if they want to close the borders against them. Only the bleeding heart liberals will see it differently.

When the next terrorist attack will happen they all will blame the government for not doing enough. But right now they all hide behind the Constitution. Infidels should die and in their minds we are all infidels.

Saturday

There are mushy love stories./ Hallmark Channel broadcasts these mushy love stories day in and day out. Now they are adjusted for Valentine's day. Before they were for Christmas. But they always find a reason to air these.

These movies never saw any movie theaters they are just being played on TV. Anyway in Hungarian they are called lemonade. I don't know why but that is what these schmaltzy stories are called.

Now, my wife just loves these stories. In the past few days that is all we are watching. One happily ending love story after another. These plots are so thin that five minutes into the movie one can see the outcome.

My thing is if nobody dies in the first ten minutes it is not worth watching. But the good husband that I am, I'm watching with her. Who am I to complain.

I have to run now because the next portion of lemonade is being served.

Friday

Yesterday's snowstorm is history. Today our area is brilliant with the sun shining and with snow everywhere. Driving is a little treacherous but doable.

It is amazing that nothing is enough for the kids. Yesterday the City gave a day off from school. It was good, they loved it.

All Afternoon Abigail kept asking if schools were to be open today. Because if they were closed for one day why can they not keep it closed for another day just to be on the safe side?

Anyway this morning she had to be strongly persuaded to get up and go to school.

These kids are never satisfied.  They always want more. Abigail saw several very good stage shows both here and in Las Vegas. But now it is Wicked or the Lion King that are the most important ones.

The fact that Lion King tickets start at around $300 has no meaning. The important thing is to belong to that exclusive club where the members saw this show.

And I am required to keep my cool!

Thursday

Today we had the first real snowstorm in New York. Actually in the Northeast. The City was in total panic because the forecasters were pretty sure this snow would be fairly large. And, lo and behold they were right.

It looked so believable that they even announced closing all the City schools pretty early yesterday. Abigail was elated, no school today.

We had a dentist appointment early this morning and I was concerned that the doctor was to be in but he was. So Abigail and I braved the storm and went over. We drove because I just love to drive in the snow. My wife was a little ticked off at me because she is very protective and was afraid that something might happen. Nothing did.

There were really very few cars on the road and they were all driving pretty carefully.

Our street wasn't yet plowed but that is not unusual. We are always the last. Probably it will met before the City will clean it.

At times like this I am glad I don't have a house because then I would have to be out there shoveling.

So, today we are staying in. I'm sure we will find something worthwhile to do.

Wednesday

Just to correct some misunderstandings by some "culture barbarians".

There is aa Ancient Seven Wonders of the World and there is a current one.

The Ancient list includes the Sphinx, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

This last one was built around 200 years before Christ and totally disappeared in the 1400s.

Now, the girls want to build a model reflecting this structure. In my opinion if they succeed it will be  the eighth wonder of the world.

Last night they worked on it for about two hours and succeeded creating a mess but made the base of the Lighthouse. When I showed them a picture of the Lighthouse they said: oh! I don't really think they knew what it supposed to look like because they don't even know its history.

But, where there is a will there is a way. A few more hours and I'm sure they will prevail. It's not due until the 28th so they have plenty of time.

I just hope the clay will last that long.

Tuesday

The other day Abigail announced that she had a school project to do. Apparently the project involves a clay model of a lighthouse. Not any kind of ordinary lighthouse but some ancient lighthouse at Alexandria.

This project is being done together with a friend of hers. Their plan is to build this contraption out of clay then paint it, place it on a base then take it to school.

I had premonition of all kinds of danger. Mainly uncorrectable mess. I forgot to say that the work is to be done in our house. This kind of undertaking should be done in a backyard or in a garage. We live in an apartment that is not equipped to be an art studio.

Anyway, today the girls bought 10 lbs of clay, paint and brushes as well a wooden base for the tower. I am very curious to see what will come out of this because so far all I see is a lots of giggling and no action.

None of the girls have ever done anything like this before and right now it is the blind leading the blind.

Monday

I did mention this before but can't resist saying it again. It baffles me that people can work in fairly responsible positions and at the same time can be so stupid.

Case in point.

My wife and I got married in 2015. Like any married couple there were certain name changes necessary. My wife (very smartly) decided to take my name. It is a very nice name and I am proud that she took it.

Since she had a life before we met there were certain things like bank accounts on her name. Slowly we started to have those changed to her married name.

It is interesting how differently banks work. They all have different rules and requirements when it comes to something like this. I really can't understand it. You go into a bank and announce you want to change your name they look it you like you asked for transferring funds to the Moon.

People get married every single day and women take the names of their husbands. This is the norm. Why is it so unusual to comprehend this?

So, we went into one of the major banks my wife had a joint account with Abigail and asked for the change. No problem, said the woman behind the desk.

After about an hour of filling out various electronic and manual forms we left the branch naively believing that the very important person behind the desk knew what she was doing.

How wrong we were!

We just received the latest statement from the bank and not that the name change wasn't taken care of Abigail's name was removed from the account.

Today I sent an angry letter to that bank complaining about this. We'll wait to see how this will be taken care of.

And that person has a job!

Sunday

I am wondering that at what age do kids start to behave as kind of semi intelligent beings and at what age will they start to take care of their rooms and their belongings and will not depend on their family to be at their back and call 24/7.

When will they realize that they are not the center of the universe and there is a world outside of their limited sphere. I can honestly say that in our case fourteen years of age is NOT the turning point. Since Abigail's 15th birthday is not far I know that 15 is not either.

I can't wait until Abigail will be willing to take care of herself without her mothers interaction. I can't wait until she will be willing to help with chores around the house like laundry, cleaning and cooking.

When will she stop acting like a spoiled princes who wants everything done her way?

Don't misunderstand me. She is warm and loving but if things don't go her way she can be pretty critical and outspoke. As shy and quiet she is in school she is the total opposite at home.

But we love her anyway.

Saturday

Today is Saturday. There was no need to get up early because this was not a school day. We also had absolutely nothing planned (unusual) so we just longed around until well past noon.

In the afternoon did some food and other stuff shopping then Abigail decided that we should go out to eat because at least once a week that is what we should do.

So what good understanding parents do? We agreed and went out to eat. This was no fancy eat out. Just to a neighborhood place that we know and like. And, it has easy parking.

The key to going anywhere where we live is the ease of parking. Within the last two weeks we went into Manhattan and parking there is always an adventure. Living where we do has the chance to go to a myriad of places where parking is no problem.

That is how we become a nation of lazy people. Everywhere we go by car and if we can not park front of the entrance we get upset.

I guess in another thousand years humans will have no legs because they will degenerate due to nonuse.

Friday

My wife and I are considering a near future European trip. Because of that we made some exploratory checking into the availabilities and prices.

I was dismayed at what I found.

Return airfare is not cheap. Where we want to go there are no direct flights therefore changing of planes is necessary.

Flying by itself is accepted but then there is a $35 per seat change each way on each planes. Ok, the connecting flight is only $11. Still, that comes to $46 per person and each way which adds up to $92 extra on top of the flight.

What if I don't want to pay for the seats. Can I travel standing up?

Airlines are gangsters! They get the traveling public every which way they can.

The other shock was when I found out that while age discrimination is against the law in this country, in foreign lands it is permitted.

Car rental companies charge about $10-$12 per day if the driver is over 75 years of age. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

These little nuances are what make traveling a pain in the butt.

Thursday

It is beyond my comprehension what goes on in this country about President Trump.

As far as I know we had a democratic election in which he came out as the winner. The kew word is DEMOCRATIC. If that is the case why the losers object? This is the system here in this country. Somebody wins somebody loses.

Ever since he won the opposition is in uproar because their lame candidate lost. The country spoke now why is this unacceptable.

When Obama won eight years ago the Republicans did everything to derail his presidency. Because he was black and because he was popular and because he was a Democrat. Speaker beiner did everything in his power to deny whatever the President wanted.

Now the Democratic politicians are playing the same game except that they are in the minority. Trump's main strength that he has a Republican congress behind him.

This constant disagreement and disobedience make the US look like a third world country and make the US the laughing stock of the world.

Trump won because he campaigned on popular subjects and because he is not a politicians. Politicians are crooked and do not care about anybody but themselves. And sadly part of this country don't want to notice it.

Hollywood where the biggest bunch of useless people live think that their opinion count. These overpaid self centered bunch of non-talents think they can influence the thinking of the public. Anybody can be a movie star. Most of these people got to where they are in the horizontal position and that need no talent.

Some of these people want to leave this country. Talk is cheap, go! See where can they make this obscene amount of money they are getting here.

Celine Dion could not make in Canada a fraction of what she makes here in the US. Elton John loves to come here to make money. Why he (she) doesn't stay in the UK and lives on what he can make there?

I am sick of everybody constantly complaining about the events. Give the man a break and let him do why he was elected and placed in the White House.

Wednesday

Last night my wife and I went to see the musical show Chicago. Since the show started at 8 pm we decided to have dinner before the theater. W knew a nice Italian restaurant, were lucky enough to get in and since they knew we had show tickets service was fairly fast.

After dinner we drove to the theater, found easy parking on the street and went to enjoy the show.

It is unbelievable how things change from the "good old days". Every theater we visited in the past few years have security check at the entrance. They check bags and pocketbooks. They ask the men to open their jackets. It is a good thing they don't ask to take our shoes off.

I remember years ago we walked up to the entrance, showed our tickets and went in. I am sure those days are gone.

At the Celine Dion concert in Las Vegas they even used electronic hand scanners on the patrons.

But regardless, the show was good. Mel B. of the British Spice Girls group fame was the star of the show and I have to admit she was good. The show ran a little over two hours but because of the entertaining good music time was no problem.

Within the last two weeks we went to the theater twice. Now we will take a little rest until March.

Unless...

Tuesday

In the 1950s there was a kind of monthly beauty peagant where the winner was called Miss Subway of that particular month. Their photographs were exhibited on the subway trains and that was how they got two be known.

One of these women who won the title in 1959 used her talent and opened a retro style diner on Broadway in Manhattan. The interesting fact about this place that it has singing servers. All servers are aspiring actors who are waiting for their big breaks.

In the meantime they serve burgers and other things. The place is very popular, reasonably priced and above all very entertaining. There is non-stop singing of the best and most popular Broadway tunes.

Why am I writing this? Because last night we decided to go into Manhattan and visit this place. We already saw it a few times but Abigail has never been there. Needless to say that after a few initial frowns she immensely liked the place.

We were there for about an hour and a half than walked around Broadway/Times square area before heading home. It was a very nice evening.

Tonight my wife and I are going back to Broadway this time we will see the musical Chicago.

Theater last week theater this week, one can get used to this kind of life.