Daylight Savings Time

All the news that gives you fits. This weekend we again "fall behind." That means we gain an extra hour's sleep to make up for the one we lost in April when we "sprung ahead." The leaves here in Northampton are beautiful, but so is Yosemite. Here are a few photos of me and the missus on Half Dome for your viewing enjoyment as you contemplate this rite of passage. The first shot shows the side of Halfdome that the missus and I climbed on stanchions and steel cables. If you look closely you can see it. The second picture shows us sitting on the top most lip of Halfdome as you can see to the right of my head on picture three taken from Glacier Point. The last picture shows the missus on her way down the cables at an 80 degree incline. This was freakin' awesome!! What better way to be connected to nature. As you turn your clock back, think of all the time that you have actually stopped and heard the sound of the earth as it spins on its axis and revolves around our sun. If you have never had one of those "high" on life moments, then consider going to Yosemite in two seasons as we spring ahead once again. The trek upward is worth the inconvenience!That's the news and my skewed view. What are your views? To paraphrase Pink Floyd, "Is there anybody out there?"

Wedding Photos take four

All the news that gives you fits. Hopefully, this time I can post the three other pictures described in yesterday's blog--"A Good Time Was Had By All.
Here goes. Well it looks like this made it. Anyone who wants more pictures should contact me and I'll make you a photo disc of all 151 pictures. That's the News and my Skewedviews. What are you views?

Wedding Photos take three. part two

All the news that gives you fits.

Seee how this works

Wedding photos take 3

All the news that gives you fits. I think I have one on here.

Pictures. take two

All the news that gives you fits. If you see these photos then the identification would be in the next blog

A Good Time was had by all

All the news that gives you fits. Now many of you are out there waiting for wedding pictures from Jamie's and Kevin's wedding from 10/14 ( a good luck day because it is the day after Friday the 13th) so here are a few. (There seems to be a slight SNAFU--I am not able to load pictures today. Keep looking and one day soon he pictures will be there) Here are photos of a smiling Jamie, the new Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, the proud parents and Jamie's new extended Sullivan family. There will be more to say on another day, but suffice it to say, if you were invited and did not attend--you missed a wonderful day. The weather was in the 60's. a it gusty but not too windy. The food was great and we were able to celebrate. Check out this blog during the coming daze for more photos. That's the news and my skewed views, what are you views?

Let's Go Mets

All the news that gives you fits. This is a photo of how I felt after what I had thought was the greatest team in baseball this year, lost three in a row to the Tigers. They did not just lose, but were decimated! How could this happen?
My lovely wife tells me "It's all fixed." Here I was looking forward to a Subway series like 2000 with my Yankees beating on my brother's Mets and the Yanks get their butts kicked in the ALDS while the Mets sweep the NLDS!!"

So Now I am rooting for the Mets as I am a New York fan and I will always root for NY teams, unlike my friend Peter (see pix from party blog) who hated both the Mets and Boston in that World Series.

Now my hopes rest on the Giants today. They need to play for all four quarters (not just the last one) and have a defensive secondary that works. There is no hope for the Knicks, so I will not be watching much NBA action nor any NHL action (since the lockout). If The Giants don't win against the Redskins today it is gonna be a long winter. It's bad enough that I am last in my football pool.

Some Yankee fans blame A-Rod, The Unit and Torre. I don't blame any of them like my friend Peter does (see shirt pix in this blog) I am looking forward to next year. Hopefully my hopes will not be dashed again. Just when I thought it was safe to have hope again, Matsui and GS returned--I forgot that the Yankees need pitching. It is the same clarion call year after year. Mussina has never proved himself in the playoffs as a Yankee. Wang is the only bright spot in a sea of hittability. It looked like Jared Wright, and the Yankee relievers were tossing batting practice.


So unless you want to endure more shirts like this one (sent to me by my "friends" in Boston) The Boss needs to get better pitching. I feel sorry for Jeter, Cano, Abreu, Posada, Rivera, Wang, Giambi, even the new Yankee Damon. This team used to thrill me, now it breaks my heart. It is sorta like Charlie Brown and Lucy. Every year the Yankees dangle that World Champion football in front of me, only to "yank" it away at the last minute.

That's the news and my skewed views, Go Mets!! What are your views?

You Can't Have Enough Friends

All the news that gives you fits. Well, it seems that I am truly blessed these daze. After 34 years of teaching High School English to seniors (you know--the kidz who know everything--like Mark Twain said, "When I was 18 I thought my dad was the dumbest guy in the world. When I turned 21 I was amazed at how much the old man learned in three years."--who have been speaking English for 17-18 and in some cases 19 years) I was able to retire. At first I was a little upset because if I did not retire at age 55, I would lose half my medical benefits whenever I did retire, so I felt like I was sorta "forced out". But you know what?? I am digging this so much that my lovely wife is a little jealous. She still has four more years (including this one) until she gets "forced out." She tells me how lucky I am and I tell her that "LUCK" has nothing to do with it and AGE has everything to do with it.

So a few of my friends and relatives got together on 9/23 to celebrate this rite of passage. You can't have enough friends and in that sense I am truly blessed. Some of them made it to this blog page. Some had really good reasons (Rosh Hoshannah family stuff) to have missed it, but a few (who said they had to work on a freakin' Saturday) were a real disappointment, but this two shall pass, You can see the party tent--Thank God the rain held off-- and some of Ken's crew cooking great ribs. Of course you can see some of my friends and family.

So I strongly recommend retirement to everyone, just as I recommend marriage. My step-daughter is getting hitched next week-end and you can see in the photo how happy she and her fiance are. They are glowing. So that's the news and my skewed views. What are you views?

PS Thanks to my California buddy, Dr. Len, who could not make the party for obvious good reasons--wrong coast, for explaining to me how to post pictures on this blog.

Life After Retirement

All the news that gives you fits.This picture says it all--"Life is Good." For those of you who made it to the big party on 9/23, this should look familiar. For those of you who missed it due to various and sundry excuses, most good, some bad and a few UGLY (had to work on a Saturday-even though you had six weeks notice of the RSVP date of 9/2 and yet you called to cancel on 9/22--how lame and rude is that. You know who you are! You knew the party was catered and you had to work!?!? Well you missed great food (lobsters, sushi and steak just to name a few) thanks to Ken and the crew at Piping Plover Cafe. I will attempt to add more photos--see whom you can recognize.