Drinks

I recently criticized Abigail and her "cohorts" that how they are preoccupied with drinking. Don't misunderstand me, these kids are not trying to be alcoholics, they are just on the doorstep of adulthood, or legal age and what is the best way to celebrate it than drink alcohol. To drink once a week or twice a week at a party will not make alcoholics.

These kids will drink until they get sick and eventually, they will stop doing it. Most of their drinking is just bravado. To show their friends who can drink more without getting sick. Fortunately, Abigail has a very low tolerance to this, so we are not worried.

There is a Hungarian saying that "the priest preaches water while he drinks wine". As a father I am upset about this and her mom and I try to show how bad this thing is but naturally, to no avail. Peer pressure is stronger than anything.

I remember when I was her age or even younger by few years, when my parents were not home my friends and I invited our then current girlfriends to our apartment on Saturday evenings and we always had some alcohol purchased by us available. Or if we went to other parties, some drinking was always part of the program. Nothing serious, just enough to make us feel grownups.

So, how do I have the right to criticize when I also did this? I have every right! Now, I see the errors of my ways and that gives me right. Also, since I am the father, I can criticize anything. Not that it means anything but still.

By the way, the legal age in Hungary at my time was 18. So, I could go to any liquor store and purchase. And I did.

SCOTUS

There is a small political scandal is brewing, where else, in Washington. There is a Supreme Court justice who is supposed to accept hefty financial gifts and he sees nothing wrong with it. Clarence Thomas is the justice who has a Texas billionaire friend. This friend had invited him and his wife to a very swanky, all expenses paid vacations using his private jets.

In addition to the vacations this justice also got into real estate deals with his friend where he made buckets of money. A SCOTUS justice gets paid $265,000 a year plus expenses and have lifetime jobs. Very few people in this country can claim such assurances. But this guy wanted to make more money. Well, no one can blame him for that.

But the problem is that he sees nothing wrong with this, he sees no conflict of interest when there was a case front of the court involving his friend. He was nominated to the Court in 1991 by President Bush and naturally now the democrats are asking for his head. There are loud cries for his resignation. But as far as the news show he stands strong, sees nothtouchabing wrong with his actions and shows no inclination to resign.

I really have no comment about this, just find it funny that the usual Washington witchhunt finally reached the "untouchable" Supreme Court.

Good country, America!

Robin

This is Thursday. This was the day Robin was kind of reborn. Reborn because he gave away most of his body coverage, his hair. It was the monthly beautification with his favorite beautician. He bevaved very nice. I guess he eventually got used to it. The lady never had any complaint.

Actually, when he used to be done in the store I was able to watch other dogs being worked on. All sizes small to big ones and every single one behaved admirably. I guess they were too scared to do anything. So, they just stood there, dumfounded not realizing what was happening. Thew results were that none of them ever complained.

I guess Robin fell into the same category. No complain, behaving civilized. Now he looks nice, clean and quite skinnier than before. He is very healthy, and the result is that his hair grows back fast. Already has the next appointment four weeks from now.

I think he realizes that he looks better because his behavior reflects that.

Primary Physician

We have what is called a "primary physician" who is supposed to be responsible for all our health needs. The family is using the same lady doctor whom we see once a year for our periodic checkups. In addition we also see various specialists as necessary.

Since all our doctors are within the same organization, access to our health files are easy, so every doctor can see the entire medical history. The result is that they do not prescribe duplicate lab works because they can see the results of the previous ones, they also see all our medications and this way they don't have to ask us. 

What I find in a way funny is that every time I or one of us sees a specialist and there is something outside of his or her realm, immediately they suggest seeing the primary physician. They are all elevating the primary physician to a height that makes her seem better than the rest of them. In reality, I don't believe our primary doctor is as good as they make her out to be. And this is scary.

At my most recent annual checkup my primary physician suggested that I take Vitamin B12 tablets, which I did. Apparently, people who have cancer should not take this vitamin. The result was that at my most recent blood test my B12 level skyrocketed. I have skin cancer (mild) and all my doctors are aware of it. Now, why my primary did not know this? My hematologist immediately stopped me with the B12 vitamin and ordered new blood tests two months from now to see if the increase was the result of taking the vitamin or God forgive something is lurking in the dark.

When things like this happen, we are apt to lose confidence in the doctors' ability to diagnose problems or remember our prevailing conditions. When I will see her, I will be very cautious to accept any suggestions she might give me.

Ages

The way I see it, being old or older might just become fashionable. This might be the new young. Biden, at age 80 just announced that he would be looking for a second term as president. If he gets elected in 2024 he would be 81, by the time his second term is finished he would be 84. Even now he is not fully at his faculties what does he think he will be at 84?

One thing might happen is that old would be the norm. The people just love to imitate or copy others and when they see the leadership at that age they might just rethink their attitude towards old age. The other side of the coin is that Biden might give up halfway through his term (if he is elected?) and pass the baton to laughing Kamala. Then we are in real danger.

Right now, the world is not taking the current president very seriously. What would their attitude be in later years? And what would their attitude be towards laughing Kamala? In their campaign (2024) video they claim things they did. What they did was we have Ukraine, high prices, inflation, soaring crime and illegal immigrants taking over the country. And this is just a short list.

I am not 100% sure Trump is the answer but certainly better than the current one. If he is good the problem is that he would only get one term. Not enough to do too much good things.

Anyway, with Biden deciding to go for the second term allows us older people to plan ahead. There is always the dream.

SOMETHING ELSE:

I heard a saying from a Hungarian comic: an opinion is like a fart, better to hold it in!

Tee shirts

I like to wear tee shirts. They are comfortable and easy to maintain. I have long sleeve and short sleeve ones. Just now, I changed from the long sleeved ones to the short sleeve ones. And guess what, the temperature changed, and it is cool again. But I am stubborn and will stay on my decided route.

But here is a for me interesting fact. Every single one of my tee shirts, regardless of their values have a stain at the top of my belly. At first I couldn't understand this "phenomenon" but then I realized the cause. Scientifically speaking if my belly protrudes my jaw line it is a good possibility that since I am also a slob there will be food dropped while I am eating. Also I like to talk while eating so the chances are greater that some food will escape from my mouth.

Occasionally I notice it and then I try to wash it out but most of the times I notice them when I put a clean shirt on. These stains are vicious buggers. They can ruin the most expensive clothing items. Imagine wearing a Hermes tie that costs as much as a house. Eating something good and zaftig and you drop something on that tie. Only a good scissor can remove that spot and the tie is as good as dead.

This same fate applies to top brand tee shirts and polo shirts. That is why I don't buy expensive stuff. This way I don't have to be extra careful and won't be sorry when the inevitable accident happens.

I can also eat the way I like to eat, without any reservations.

Weekend

Here is the story why I didn't write Saturday. It was a very busy and confusing day which left no spare time for my hobby.

We did major laundry, cleaned the house. That took quite some time during the day. Then Abigail had a major entertainment program that involved us. And that took until almost midnight.

She was invited to a birthday outing by a not close friend from college, along with ten other people. Abigail never says no to an invitation even if it is not from close friends. So the program was that they were going to a restaurant for dinner at 8pm. Be there for about two hours then the over 21s (all girls) were going bar hopping i.e. drinking. Like I said before, I don't understand this obsession about drinking. Just because they can.

Abigail, being under 21 was not taking part in the second part of the program. The restaurant was way-way downtown in Manhattan in the East Village. So, we drove her there and waited. It was about 8:30 by the time they all the girls got together and went in. My wife and I and Robin went to walk around in the neighborhood because it was too far to go home and come back for the appointed hour. So, we just sat in the car and waited. In the meantime, it started to pour but we stuck it out.

Around 10:15 she sent a message that it was almost over. 10:45 it was still not over. Just before 11 she finally came out a little pissed that she was the first one to leave. It is never enough! By the time we got home it was almost midnight.

I'm afraid to think what will happen when she will be over 21.

What parents won't do for their children.

Saturday

As the master and ruler of this blog, I have the right to make any changes I desire. So, this said I will skip Saturday the Sabbath and this week will write on Sunday. Understood? 

Conversation

Good conversation is an art. Talking to someone and keep the conversation going is not easy. When two people are talking there should not be long pauses while each one is thinking about what to say. If that is the case, don't even start conversing. The most important element of a good conversation is showing interest in each other. Show interest in what the other party is talking about, raise questions and possibly offer careful comments.

My Mother was a great conversationalist. Her friends loved her. She knew how to engage people into conversing. She listened and commented and offered careful advice. Not knowing in advance how things will turn out in questionable situations, advising is a dangerous thing. "Warring" parties will make peace and if one takes side they both will gang up against him or her.

Don't smother the other person with personal issues. Nobody really cares about these things. I hear Abigail's conversations with friends and each and every one of them only talk about themselves. When we inquire about something relating to the friends, she never knows the answer. Her response always is: how should I know.

They do not care about each other, each one is only talking about themselves. If we try to explain the reaction is: you are too old, this is the now way! Well, if this is the now way, they can keep it.

Crazy weather

A few weeks ago we hit record or almost record high temperatures. It was unexpected but welcome since we are getting used to the crazy weather we are having. At that time my wife decided that since Spring and the accompanying warm weather are here to stay it was time to replace our warm quilted sleep covers with lighter ones. and she proceeded to do so.

This means we all got our lightweight blankets. As Julia Roberts said in one scene in "Pretty woman" big mistake!

Soon after that the weather changed, temperatures went down and in the last few days the heat came on in our building. Now, I am cold in bed under my cover. I objected to my wife, saying I want my quilt back because it is uncomfortable, but she is undeterred. What is done is done, live with it says she.

The blanket she gave me is very light weight and half the night I fight with it. It bundles up or just slips off me. I hate it but it seems I have no voice in how I sleep. Thank you, Mother Nature!

More religion

A little more about religion.

I know that there are fanatic believers. These exist in every denomination and they do believe theirs is the right path. I, personally have no issue with these as long as they do not become violent, cause havoc and they do not force their beliefs on others.

The forceful conversions in the Middle Ages were not what God wanted, I am sure, but the catholic church went ahead with it, anyway. I resent being stopped on the street and asked if I were Jewish. It is nobody's business. My response usually is, "get a job"!

Aside from certain national clothing I really don't like when people go overboard to show their religion. That supposed to be a personal issue and don't shove it down my throat. 

There is this Pillow Guy on tv whom I intensely dislike. He claims to make better pillows than anybody else. His merchandise can onsly be bought online because nobody carries them. He is an ardent Trump supporter and because of that he lost a chunk of his business after Trump lost the election. I also believe he is on the right of the right.

Well this guy goes out of his way to show that he is Christian. In every commercial he makes sure that the cross hanging from his neck is visible outside of his shirt. This is what I resent and this is why I will never buy his product.

Now, I'm sure that when he reads this he will have sleepless nights but hey, this is my choice.

Religion

I have nothing (much) about religions. People should believe whatever they want. Most religions based on the belief of one God. That is fine with me. The thing is if God is there and understanding why is there a need to worship in different languages?

Why was Latin the dominant language of the Roman Catholic church? Why Hebrew is the dominant praying language of the Jews. Moslems pray in Arabic to Allah. In different languages God has different names but it is the same God. That means He understands all languages and there is no need for the mysticism of the Latin language or the Hebrew.

In reform synagogues praying goes on in Hebrew and English. That means God understands both. Then why bring Hebrew in? Why the prayers can not go on the particular country's language since God understands it all? I have a serious problem comprehending this.

Since I am not that observant, I turn more to the reform services but do not like when they mix English and Hebrew. Why? With Hebrew I believe they want to keep that mysticism about the religion. It probably worked in ancient days when the priests were ruling over the people but now it is not so in our civilized society.

Going back to Hebrew. Is the language in the prayer books are the same as the spoken language of Israel? The same language applies to the Koran. Is that same arabic as the spoken Arab language?

Just curious.

Granddaughter

Well, the spring break is over. It was nice while it lasted. Abigail is back in school and things are going back to their usual pace.

Last week we made a lightning trip to Florida to see our new granddaughter. The trip was short but sweet. We managed to see her. She is adorable, she is beautiful. Too young to be annoying! Sleeps most of the day but when she is up, she is cute and sweet. She is my step granddaughter, but it doesn't matter. I still love her. I'm just sad that I shan't be around to see her to grow up.

Besides seeing her, one of the other events was that since we flew down there this was Robin's first flight. I am not denying that we were more than a little nervous about how he would behave, but he was a good trooper. Not a sound came out of him, and he just sat very calmly in his carry-on bag on the floor. We were proud of him, too.

Since the family knew we were coming and it was my wife's (their mother's) birthday, they surprised us with two tickets to a Jewish/Passover concert. Yakov Shwekey and Israeli singer Akiva appeared together in Orlando. The performance was front of a full house and it was fantastic. The crowd was brought to their feet and danced by many of the songs. I have never ever seen such enthusiasm at a concert.

The weather in those couple of days was miserable. Cold and rain. One day I put my shorts on, saying I am in Florida and I should dress accordingly. Didn't work out exactly as I hoped for. I was cold, wet and I also caught a cold that I am now suffering with. But it was for a good cause, to see the continuation of the family (my wife's, not mine).

My wife is very bravely wearing the grandmother title. now. She is not the white haired, all forgiving type but still she is a new grandmom. I am sure in time she will get used to this designation. I mean she has three children. 

Sunday

 Sunday, still on break!

Spring break

Abigail has spring break in her school. The whole world is having spring break. So, why shouldn't I have a spring break. I work "hard" throughout the year and I think I deserve some time off. Ok, so I gave me time off. This is one of the perks of being "self employed".

I shall be off until the end of next week, I think.

Have a nice Passover and Easter you all!

Trump, again

Tuesday, the 4th of April was a historic day in New York City, in Manhattan. That was the day when the first ex-president was arraigned in criminal court. In this country's history no former president was ever arraigned in court even though none of them was an angel. 

Donald Trump had the distinguished honor of being the first one. The circus surrounding this event was unbelievable. Every tv station carried his every move. Commentaries varied depending upon whose side the commentators were on. But regardless they mostly agreed that this was an unprecedented event. The Manhattan District Attorney wants to make a name for himself. 

The D.A.'s name is Bragg. So he can brag about what he did. He swears this not a political move but I don't think there is a single person who believes it. There is a democratic female governor in Albany and there is a black female attorney general in Albany and they are both out to get Trump. Oh, and there is a democratic black mayor in New York City.

New York is worse than the wild west ever was, but the democratic leadership is more occupied with Trump than making the City a safer place to live in.

Monday midday Trump flew in from Palm Beach on his plane, went to the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and holed up there until the next day when he was driven downtown to court. Evry inch of these moves was shown on life tv. After the hearing was over he went to LaGuardia Airport, got on his plane and sad goodbye to New York. 

I don't blame him. There was nothing for him to stay here for. Interesting fact that while they want to cut his political aspirations at the bud, his popularity grows by leaps and bounds. 

Good country, America!

  

April 4

This is an edited copy of last years' remembrance of April 4.

This past Tuesday was April 4. During the Soviet era that was a national holiday in Hungary. That was the day when the soviet army liberated Hungary from the Nazis. Actually, while Budapest was liberated in January, the last of the Germans were kicked out of Hungary by April 4. Once the regime changed this day stopped to be a holiday.

Now, here is my take on April 4. I was in the Budapest ghetto from December 1944 until about the middle of January 1945. The ghetto was surrounded with a wall, no exit, no entrance. The few access openings were guarded by armed Hungarian nazis, the Arrow Cross thugs. On that particular day of January 1945, we awoke to a very quiet day. No noises, no shootings, nothing. Very eerie. Some brave elements went toward the wall and noticed that all the guards were gone. Once we heard that we started to go outside the wall. Scared and careful.

Not a person in sight. Suddenly a truck approached. It was a Russian military truck loaded up with bread. It stopped front of us, and they started to distribute the bread. At that time we were starving and the bread was welcomed wit thanks and tears.

After we went back to our living quarters, packed up and started to go back to our homes. We all had our homes from which we were taken earlier by the nazis. As we were walking on the street we came up a line of Russian soldiers, blocking the street, with knives in their hands. Oyvey, I would have said if I knew Yiddish. Naturally we all got very scared.

What these soldiers did was that they cut the yellow star of David off our outer garments that we were still wearing. They made us understand that this was of no importance anymore, we were free.

I know that the soviets did a lot of bad things in Hungary but as far as I am concerned if they didn't liberate us at that time I would by dead. For me April 4 is still Liberation Day.

More cars

Yesterday I listed all the cars I owned and also the ones I am or was associated with. A long list , built from memory. It was not an easy task but I was able to do it. I don't think I missed any. If I did it was unintentional and also a car that did not leave much impression on my.

Today, my friend responded with a list of his own. Also, a very impressive list. Not just because of the cars and the details he was able to present but also because he did it from memory. This just proves that even though we are the same age his memory is better than mine.

Interestingly, there is a car auction company by the name of Mecum. They can be frequently seen on tv on some sport channel. They auction older and rare cars. Many times I see older cars of the years I owned one and I am stunned the prices they command. Granted, they were kept in excellent shape and were upgraded many times. Unfortunately, I always lived in an apartment and had no space available to keep the extra cars. 

But that's life. We never know what the future might hold for us.

My Cars

I thought I would list all the cars I ever owned or were associated with as long as I remember them. I don't want to take a chance that in the future I would not be able to recall them. So, here they are:

My first car, a used             Pymouth -  bought in 1961 but I don't know what model it was                                               

My first new car    1964(?)Mercury Comet                                                                                                                                1968      Mercury  Cougar, 3 speed manual transmission                                                                                            American Motors Matador  I always believed AM was underrated                                                              Pontiac LeMans                                                                                                                                              Ford Mustang                                                                                                                                                Ford Tempo, the biggest lemon I ever had                                                                                                    Nissan Maxima,  4 speed manual, my first non-American car                                                                      Jeep Grand Cherokee, leased about 4, one every 3 years                                                                              Hyundai, Santa Fe, leased about 4, one every 3 years                                                                      2017    Hyundai, Santa Fe            

I stopped driving in 2017 

                                2018     Hyundai, Tucson                                                                                                                              2021     GMC, Terrain

Looking back, my favorite car was the Mercury Cougar. It was second model year, it was manual three speed transmission and even it was small it was still very comfortable.

The worst car I ever owned was the Ford Tempo. Lemon does not describe it fully. Whatever could go wrong on a car it did on my Tempo. I sold it after about three years.

Every car is connected to some memory. Some good, some not that good. But that's life.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                           

Sunday

 Sunday!

Innocent until proven guilty

It is a crying shame of what goes on in this country. Friday, a New York City (Manhattan) kangaroo court indicted former President Trump because they claimed he paid money to a prostitute to keep quiet about their encounter years ago. 

Never ever in this country's history an ex-president was ever indicted. The Manhattan district attorney, who is a democrat wants fame by doing this. Instead of fame if they can prove that this was totally politically motivated, he might even lose his law license. He kept saying that this was not a political issue and he wanted to show that nobody is above the law. There is not a single person who would believe that this was not a political issue. The other side wants to prevent Trump to run for the presidency in 2024. 

From the day he announced his intent to be the president Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts were against him. Trump was not part of the old boys' circle so, every democrat was against him. But he still won and that really bothered the pelosi woman and the others. Now, they put a senile old man on the throne and made the country the laughingstock of the world. Biden and his family is getting away with lying and cheating but that is not even looked at. Nancy Pelosi's illegal financial transactions are not even looked at. But Trump did a minor thing, and they got this joke of a district attorney to indict him on some trumped up charge.

This is so political that even the blind can see it. I would like to know why the current ruling family is any different than Fulgencio Batista was in Cuba. He was crooked and extremely bribable. He was in the hands of a foreign government. Is that any different than the standing of the current ruling family here?

It is sad and shameful of what goes on here. And all in the name of justice and protecting the people.

Good country America??????