Movies are so tough to figure out. The reviews rarely tell the whole story.
Take Hancock. There was no hype and I only saw a few previews on TV.
The reviews were not very good. I did not plan to see it, but now that I saw it I have to say it was OK. The first half of the film was very good. I thought the last half was a little weak.
Sex and the City did not get very good reviews either. I have not been able to make it through watching the whole thing. The outright hostility towards men is sickening. It's a real feminist movie from what I've seen. I can't imagine the last 30 minutes would have made much of a difference.
The subtext was even more brutal. If you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about.
If you really hate men, you'll love this movie. I'm not sure if the original series was like this.
I seem to remember some bad stuff about men, but I don't think it was this bad. It's amazing how well the series worked when it was only a 50 minute show. Oh Well.
Now the Batman movie is Due out tomorrow and I have seen no previews on TV. I don't know why. Maybe they are counting on work of mouth. I have seen about 30 minutes of this film and it is awesome. If the rest of the movie is as good they have a runaway blockbuster on their hands.
Opening opposite The Dark Knight is Mama Mia!
What can I say about Mama Mia! There are so many bad things to say it's hard to know where to start. let's start with It's a musical. Meryl Streep is supposed to be the young pregnant woman who does not know which of the 3 men is the father. There's a good role model.
Not to mention the fact that she's like 60 and looks like the Crypt Keeper.
This is a movie that I'm sure women will love. And I'll bet every guy dragged to this train wreck will be secretly dying to see Batman.
I wondered what they could put up against Batman, and Mama Mia! makes perfect sense since most guys are going with a date and they default to what the date wants and I'm sure that Mama Mia! will make some money.
I think Dark Knight will be mostly single guys of every age range. Even though there is a love story in the plot line, I don't think women will want to sit through all the explosions, which are freaking awesome. And the cinematography and the choreography are amazing. The timing and the editing had to be spot on for these action scenes to work, and they look flawless.
Hopefully I will feel well enough to make it to the opening night. Right now I feel sick and have been feeling sick most of the past few weeks.
My life is in the toilet and there does not seem to be any way to fix it. I have not enough resources and too many responsibilities and too many people asking for help.
I should not have anyone asking me for anything. I don't get why everyone ignores this.
I feel like every day I get up I have to save the world, and I hate it. And even after people ask for my help, they get pissed because the help I give is not what they want.
Specifics are very important, and if it takes 50 pages, or 30 minutes to explain what is needed, they should take the time and then get the hell out of the way. Micro managing is not an option. If that's the option then they need to say that as well.
And most important, don't get upset if I decline to help because the demands are too high.
I watch professional contractors, who charge 100's of dollars an hour, not follow any of the requests of the people that hired them, do the job badly, incomplete, wrong, not warranty any of their work, and then the same people hire them back again to do more work.
That's insane! It happens all the time. My analysis is the world is mostly made up of people who don't have a clue. They don't know how to do their job and they don't care. They do just enough to get paid.
I like to think I do a good job, but I know I screw up and I have weak areas, and I apologize for my weaknesses, which is more then most do. I am who I am. That's all I can be.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Dark Knight
I've seen a few clips from the new Batman film and OMG, it looks amazing.
The movie will open at midnight on Thursday. Tickets are available on-line.
I would say if you plan on seeing the movie on Thursday, get your tickets on-line to be sure you can get in.
This will be THE blockbuster hit of the summer, hands down. It may even beat X-files sales on it's opening week, a week later.
The run time is just over 2 1/2 hours, so it's a little long, but I think the action is going to keep people interested throughout the whole movie.
The action looks over the top, but the previous Batman movie looked over the top, but played very well. I think I've seen that one at least a dozen times. Michael Cain and Morgan Freeman really add a grounding to the film.
The visual effects are killer. CGI has come a long way.
And if you don't like loud noises, bring ear plugs. This movie is big on noise.
The movie will open at midnight on Thursday. Tickets are available on-line.
I would say if you plan on seeing the movie on Thursday, get your tickets on-line to be sure you can get in.
This will be THE blockbuster hit of the summer, hands down. It may even beat X-files sales on it's opening week, a week later.
The run time is just over 2 1/2 hours, so it's a little long, but I think the action is going to keep people interested throughout the whole movie.
The action looks over the top, but the previous Batman movie looked over the top, but played very well. I think I've seen that one at least a dozen times. Michael Cain and Morgan Freeman really add a grounding to the film.
The visual effects are killer. CGI has come a long way.
And if you don't like loud noises, bring ear plugs. This movie is big on noise.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
DAVE
I was thinking about something the other day and I remembered this guy I used to know. I think his name was Dave. This must be 15 years ago.
I was working at the Mobil station and it was like the 6th real job I had by that point and I was only 22. I think I met Dave through another guy who had a carpet installing business.
Dave was 40 or a little older and life had not been kind to Dave. He had been homeless in the past.
Dave worked at the Howard Johnson's when I first met him as a cook. He was fired from there because of drinking on the job. A friend of his got him a job at the Ground Round. I remember one night he brought in a couple of steaks, frozen and packaged, and was trying to sell them to me. This was around 2am and normally that would seem strange, but many people came in with stuff they were trying to sell over the years, most likely all stolen.
The gas station was in the center of all the bars in the area and brought the worst kinds of people around. I saw a lot more in the 3 years I worked there on the overnight shift then most people will ever see in their life. I would have to say, unless you were a cop working vice or homicide you will never see anything even close. War, if you were in a real war you would have seen things like I saw. I got to see the real side of people and the real evil that dwells inside them.
I don't recommend it. It changes you forever.
Getting back to Dave, on one of the few nights that I had off, and there were only a few in the whole 3 years, the store was robbed. The clerk was beat with a metal pipe and hospitalized for a week. If it were not for the delivery truck driver arriving and grabbing his tire iron and attacking one of the other 2 robbers, the clerk would most likely be dead. On one of the other nights shortly after that, when I took the night off, they were robbed at gun point. So it was a dangerous place.
Right after this time I was nervous to work the shift and Dave came in to sell the steaks. I offered to lone him some money, which he wanted to buy beer. I knew that he had lost his apartment and had moved in with the guy that had the carpet business. he was living in the basement.
I offered to by him a 12 pack if he would stay there, since the station was never robbed when there was 2 people I felt this was in my best interest. This became a nightly thing and I felt that the 50 dollars a week was a good investment to keep from getting my head blown off or my brains bashed in. Did I mention that the police did nothing in either case, even though they caught the robbers both times.
Here is an interesting true fact. A police officer has a 1 in 100 chance of being killed in the line of duty. A taxi driver is 1 in 25. A clerk on the overnight shift at a gas station has a 1 in 10 chance. It is the highest mortality rate of any job. And the lowest paying.
Back to Dave. So I got to talk to Dave a lot and because he was drunk I got truthful answers. He felt that he had been wronged by Ground Round and by this one guy in particular who fired him. I guess he was the boss. Now, I felt that since he had been caught stealing the firing was justified, but that's not how Dave saw it.
So Dave's life continued to deteriorate and he was about to get kicked out onto the street for stealing from the people who took him in. The last night that I saw him He came in and had his 12 pack, then around 2am took another 12 pack. I yelled at him, but I could see he was not in a good place, so I just let him take it. As the night got late he told me that he had a plan to get even with the guy that fired him.
Now people when they drink say a lot of things, and most of it is crap, Drunk Talk. It doesn't mean anything. Dave explained how he was going to walk over one morning, he had no car, and take an empty windshield washer gallon bottle out of the trash, fill it with gasoline and take it over to Ground Round. He would then pour it all over this guys new car and set it a blaze and walk across the street to the McDonald's and sit and watch it burn.
The next night I came in and I reviewed the paperwork from the previous shifts and I saw that pump 1 had a drive off for 1 gallon of gas. I thought it odd, but compared to the usually 20 gallon drive-offs we had almost every day, I was happy it was only a dollar. Gas, a dollar a gallon, yeah a long, long time ago.
Around 5am the newspapers got delivered and on the front page of the paper was a picture of this boss guy's car engulfed in flames with the fire dept trying to put it out. Wholly SH*T was my thought at the time. He actually did it. What was even more amazing about this was that it happened only a few hours after Dave had left the station and he took a 6 pack for the road, so in 6-8 hours he had consumed 30 beers, yet was lucid enough to walk over to the station and then walk the 1/2 mile to the restaurant and carry out his plan.
I did not think this would have been possible, and maybe it is all a coincidence and Dave had nothing to do with the fire, but I can't say for sure. They ruled the fire cause unknown.
Most likely Dave is dead by now. He would have to be close to 60 if he was still alive. I feel bad for him, but I see many of the same injustices in my life and I wonder if I am making accurate assessments of the situations. I think that life is unbalanced and that many people get the short end of the stick, which allows a few to get the long end more then their fair share of the time.
Dave's boss was not on the bottom, but he was not much further up the ladder. I understand Dave's hostility even though it was misplaced. It's hard not to feel screwed over working in any business when you see how the business manipulates all the workers, like chess pieces, and puts plays into motion just by the rules they set up. Stealing is wrong, but from being on the bottom for so long I know why people feel it is justified.
My experience has been that the people at the top steal the most. Maybe not as often, but the take a lot more then their fair share and most of the time legally.
One of my former bosses stole money from every worker, right out of their paycheck. When the Labor Board finally believed the workers, which took about 7 years, they tried to fine him and get our money back. We never got it back and he never paid the fines and the Labor Board was powerless to do anything. I know this guy and he is a criminal. He has done several huge crimes and gotten away with them. Turning him in, even with evidence, would serve no purpose. With his resources he would have the guilt thrown on me and he would walk away a hero.
This is why people on the bottom feel right in taking from their companies, because the company takes from them.
It's easy to steal when the law is powerless against you. I'm shocked more employers don't do it more often.
I was working at the Mobil station and it was like the 6th real job I had by that point and I was only 22. I think I met Dave through another guy who had a carpet installing business.
Dave was 40 or a little older and life had not been kind to Dave. He had been homeless in the past.
Dave worked at the Howard Johnson's when I first met him as a cook. He was fired from there because of drinking on the job. A friend of his got him a job at the Ground Round. I remember one night he brought in a couple of steaks, frozen and packaged, and was trying to sell them to me. This was around 2am and normally that would seem strange, but many people came in with stuff they were trying to sell over the years, most likely all stolen.
The gas station was in the center of all the bars in the area and brought the worst kinds of people around. I saw a lot more in the 3 years I worked there on the overnight shift then most people will ever see in their life. I would have to say, unless you were a cop working vice or homicide you will never see anything even close. War, if you were in a real war you would have seen things like I saw. I got to see the real side of people and the real evil that dwells inside them.
I don't recommend it. It changes you forever.
Getting back to Dave, on one of the few nights that I had off, and there were only a few in the whole 3 years, the store was robbed. The clerk was beat with a metal pipe and hospitalized for a week. If it were not for the delivery truck driver arriving and grabbing his tire iron and attacking one of the other 2 robbers, the clerk would most likely be dead. On one of the other nights shortly after that, when I took the night off, they were robbed at gun point. So it was a dangerous place.
Right after this time I was nervous to work the shift and Dave came in to sell the steaks. I offered to lone him some money, which he wanted to buy beer. I knew that he had lost his apartment and had moved in with the guy that had the carpet business. he was living in the basement.
I offered to by him a 12 pack if he would stay there, since the station was never robbed when there was 2 people I felt this was in my best interest. This became a nightly thing and I felt that the 50 dollars a week was a good investment to keep from getting my head blown off or my brains bashed in. Did I mention that the police did nothing in either case, even though they caught the robbers both times.
Here is an interesting true fact. A police officer has a 1 in 100 chance of being killed in the line of duty. A taxi driver is 1 in 25. A clerk on the overnight shift at a gas station has a 1 in 10 chance. It is the highest mortality rate of any job. And the lowest paying.
Back to Dave. So I got to talk to Dave a lot and because he was drunk I got truthful answers. He felt that he had been wronged by Ground Round and by this one guy in particular who fired him. I guess he was the boss. Now, I felt that since he had been caught stealing the firing was justified, but that's not how Dave saw it.
So Dave's life continued to deteriorate and he was about to get kicked out onto the street for stealing from the people who took him in. The last night that I saw him He came in and had his 12 pack, then around 2am took another 12 pack. I yelled at him, but I could see he was not in a good place, so I just let him take it. As the night got late he told me that he had a plan to get even with the guy that fired him.
Now people when they drink say a lot of things, and most of it is crap, Drunk Talk. It doesn't mean anything. Dave explained how he was going to walk over one morning, he had no car, and take an empty windshield washer gallon bottle out of the trash, fill it with gasoline and take it over to Ground Round. He would then pour it all over this guys new car and set it a blaze and walk across the street to the McDonald's and sit and watch it burn.
The next night I came in and I reviewed the paperwork from the previous shifts and I saw that pump 1 had a drive off for 1 gallon of gas. I thought it odd, but compared to the usually 20 gallon drive-offs we had almost every day, I was happy it was only a dollar. Gas, a dollar a gallon, yeah a long, long time ago.
Around 5am the newspapers got delivered and on the front page of the paper was a picture of this boss guy's car engulfed in flames with the fire dept trying to put it out. Wholly SH*T was my thought at the time. He actually did it. What was even more amazing about this was that it happened only a few hours after Dave had left the station and he took a 6 pack for the road, so in 6-8 hours he had consumed 30 beers, yet was lucid enough to walk over to the station and then walk the 1/2 mile to the restaurant and carry out his plan.
I did not think this would have been possible, and maybe it is all a coincidence and Dave had nothing to do with the fire, but I can't say for sure. They ruled the fire cause unknown.
Most likely Dave is dead by now. He would have to be close to 60 if he was still alive. I feel bad for him, but I see many of the same injustices in my life and I wonder if I am making accurate assessments of the situations. I think that life is unbalanced and that many people get the short end of the stick, which allows a few to get the long end more then their fair share of the time.
Dave's boss was not on the bottom, but he was not much further up the ladder. I understand Dave's hostility even though it was misplaced. It's hard not to feel screwed over working in any business when you see how the business manipulates all the workers, like chess pieces, and puts plays into motion just by the rules they set up. Stealing is wrong, but from being on the bottom for so long I know why people feel it is justified.
My experience has been that the people at the top steal the most. Maybe not as often, but the take a lot more then their fair share and most of the time legally.
One of my former bosses stole money from every worker, right out of their paycheck. When the Labor Board finally believed the workers, which took about 7 years, they tried to fine him and get our money back. We never got it back and he never paid the fines and the Labor Board was powerless to do anything. I know this guy and he is a criminal. He has done several huge crimes and gotten away with them. Turning him in, even with evidence, would serve no purpose. With his resources he would have the guilt thrown on me and he would walk away a hero.
This is why people on the bottom feel right in taking from their companies, because the company takes from them.
It's easy to steal when the law is powerless against you. I'm shocked more employers don't do it more often.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Rainbow
I'm not sure when this was, but I think it was in April. I saw this rainbow that formed an arc across the whole sky. I was not far enough back to get the full arc in one shot.
It only lasted a few minutes, then a double rainbow formed on the left side of the arc.
Pretty neat.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Summer Blockbuster Movie Weekend
It looks like the weekend of the 16th will be the defining weekend for the summer movie season.
The new Batman movie is opening that weekend, along with several other movies, but I think Batman will blow them all away.
I'm amazed at how well the Batman movies have done. Back in the 80's they did Batman with Michael Keaton and there were sequals. Now they re-invented him again. The previous Batman to this one was Batman Begins and it was somewhat different and very good. Morgan Freeman was in it. He's in this one too. Hopefully it will be as good as the previews make it look.
Also opening on the 16th is Houndog, which has been on hold for about the last 6 months. It was supposed to release, but the ton of bad press made them hold off. I'm not sure why they picked the blockbuster weekend to release it. Maybe they are hoping to go under the radar.
There was a big problem with the ratings board. They wanted the key scene in the movie removed, which most likely would have destroyed the movie. The mainstream theaters said they would not run it even with an R rating. So, they decided to go with the uncut version which has the NR rating. I think if this film was actually given a chance it might fail on its' own, at least that's what the critics say.
The only private movie house within 50 miles said they won't be showing it, so I don't think it will do well ticket wise. If you live in NYC or Philly, LA you will be able to see it, but otherwise I think you'll have to wait for the video.
That brings up a topic that I was talking with someone about, that when a movie gets to PPV and video, a lot of times it is edited and loses a lot of it's feel. I know Fast Food Nation they cut the final scene ( edited it ) and it lost a lot just from that little edit. I'm glad I got to see the original print. I don't know what they think they need to protect us from. If you choose to see a movie about the meat packing industry, I think you know going in it's going to be tough to watch.
It would be like going to see The Passion of The Christ and being shocked by all the violence and horror. I actually was shocked, but the movie was trying to make a point and I don't think anyone missed the message. Let the movie makers tell the story and let the people see it if they choose to.
And to all the theater owners, PLEASE TURN THE A/C BACK ON.
It's 90 outside, I don't want it 90 inside as well. It ruins the whole experience.
P.S.: Regal, expect to get a letter from me about this.
The new Batman movie is opening that weekend, along with several other movies, but I think Batman will blow them all away.
I'm amazed at how well the Batman movies have done. Back in the 80's they did Batman with Michael Keaton and there were sequals. Now they re-invented him again. The previous Batman to this one was Batman Begins and it was somewhat different and very good. Morgan Freeman was in it. He's in this one too. Hopefully it will be as good as the previews make it look.
Also opening on the 16th is Houndog, which has been on hold for about the last 6 months. It was supposed to release, but the ton of bad press made them hold off. I'm not sure why they picked the blockbuster weekend to release it. Maybe they are hoping to go under the radar.
There was a big problem with the ratings board. They wanted the key scene in the movie removed, which most likely would have destroyed the movie. The mainstream theaters said they would not run it even with an R rating. So, they decided to go with the uncut version which has the NR rating. I think if this film was actually given a chance it might fail on its' own, at least that's what the critics say.
The only private movie house within 50 miles said they won't be showing it, so I don't think it will do well ticket wise. If you live in NYC or Philly, LA you will be able to see it, but otherwise I think you'll have to wait for the video.
That brings up a topic that I was talking with someone about, that when a movie gets to PPV and video, a lot of times it is edited and loses a lot of it's feel. I know Fast Food Nation they cut the final scene ( edited it ) and it lost a lot just from that little edit. I'm glad I got to see the original print. I don't know what they think they need to protect us from. If you choose to see a movie about the meat packing industry, I think you know going in it's going to be tough to watch.
It would be like going to see The Passion of The Christ and being shocked by all the violence and horror. I actually was shocked, but the movie was trying to make a point and I don't think anyone missed the message. Let the movie makers tell the story and let the people see it if they choose to.
And to all the theater owners, PLEASE TURN THE A/C BACK ON.
It's 90 outside, I don't want it 90 inside as well. It ruins the whole experience.
P.S.: Regal, expect to get a letter from me about this.
Bald Eagles
Since this past winter I have been seeing these large birds along the river, that I thought were hawks, but they looked to big to be hawks and they had a different look to them then anything I had seen before.
Turns out they are Bald Eagles, I kid you not. I'm not sure how many pairs there are, but with the river and the road kill they are thriving.
I also saw a deer that ran in front of my van in the same area. With all the developement I'm surprised to see so much wildlife.
I have not seen any moose this year, but I have not driven through Waterford at night. Usually they hang around by the river late at night. I've only seen one at a time, they apparently don't hang together like deer. They say that the ones that get seen most often are the young males that are looking for their own territory.
Turns out they are Bald Eagles, I kid you not. I'm not sure how many pairs there are, but with the river and the road kill they are thriving.
I also saw a deer that ran in front of my van in the same area. With all the developement I'm surprised to see so much wildlife.
I have not seen any moose this year, but I have not driven through Waterford at night. Usually they hang around by the river late at night. I've only seen one at a time, they apparently don't hang together like deer. They say that the ones that get seen most often are the young males that are looking for their own territory.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
PA
I fell in love with PA on a summer trip there when I was 10, maybe 11. There was a carnival in town and it was fun, but that’s not what made me fall in love with the area. My family was there, and they were being jerks, as usual. My Aunt & Uncle were trying their best to offset my family’s jerkiness.
The carnival was on a side street on the eastern edge of town and the road bordered a corn field. I looked at the satellite views to see if I could find a picture only to see the corn field is gone now, replaced with a housing development.
The sun was setting and as I looked out over the corn field it felt like the noise from the carnival drifted away and there was this stillness and this peacefulness and I just stood there in awe. It was, without a doubt, a religious experience. There have only been a few times in life that I have ever felt that calm, that peace, that moment where it feels like God is speaking to you. Showing you how beautiful the world can be.
The air smelled different, everything looked different, there was an electricity in the air that felt incredible.
I wish every day could be like that.
I felt the same feeling a few other times in PA.
One night was at Dorney Park several years later. I was on the water log ride and it had just gotten dark and the lights had come on and it was just amazing.
One fall, just before my Aunt & Uncle moved away, there was an orchard just down the road from their house that had dropped it leaves and the pattern was so symmetrical and it stayed like that for days, maybe even weeks.
I remember pointing it out. It was like God was leaving the beauty there for everyone to see.
Words do not do it justice.
There was a day, some time ago that I was feeling down and it was a grey day and it had been raining and I was just coming off the highway and making a left turn and I looked to my left and there was this rainbow. Like God saying there is hope. I looked at it and felt much better.
I wish God would speak to me more often, and I wish I was a better listener, but it seems when he really wants my attention He is able to get it. Maybe He just does not speak that often. Or maybe he does and only a few people stop to hear Him speak.
The carnival was on a side street on the eastern edge of town and the road bordered a corn field. I looked at the satellite views to see if I could find a picture only to see the corn field is gone now, replaced with a housing development.
The sun was setting and as I looked out over the corn field it felt like the noise from the carnival drifted away and there was this stillness and this peacefulness and I just stood there in awe. It was, without a doubt, a religious experience. There have only been a few times in life that I have ever felt that calm, that peace, that moment where it feels like God is speaking to you. Showing you how beautiful the world can be.
The air smelled different, everything looked different, there was an electricity in the air that felt incredible.
I wish every day could be like that.
I felt the same feeling a few other times in PA.
One night was at Dorney Park several years later. I was on the water log ride and it had just gotten dark and the lights had come on and it was just amazing.
One fall, just before my Aunt & Uncle moved away, there was an orchard just down the road from their house that had dropped it leaves and the pattern was so symmetrical and it stayed like that for days, maybe even weeks.
I remember pointing it out. It was like God was leaving the beauty there for everyone to see.
Words do not do it justice.
There was a day, some time ago that I was feeling down and it was a grey day and it had been raining and I was just coming off the highway and making a left turn and I looked to my left and there was this rainbow. Like God saying there is hope. I looked at it and felt much better.
I wish God would speak to me more often, and I wish I was a better listener, but it seems when he really wants my attention He is able to get it. Maybe He just does not speak that often. Or maybe he does and only a few people stop to hear Him speak.
The heat continues
I went out around 1:30 today to my therapist appointment and after that I went to the post office, dropped off my sister’s mail, stopped at Office Max, picked up my pills at CVS, then I went to the bank to deposit a check.
I had been running around in the heat for 2 hours and the therapist’s is not air conditioned very well, so By the time I got home at 5 I was really sick from the heat.
I’m still not feeling well. I’m still having heart palpitations. The temp in the apartment started going up about 2 hours ago.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh talk about an editorial by some guy that said that A/C was ruining the planet and was unnecessary. Rush disagreed to my pleasant surprise. Rush read most of the editorial and towards the end of the editorial the writer expressed his views that he loved the heat and did not like being cool.
I’ve noticed as each year passes that businesses use less A/C as a way of saving money. Malls especially are doing this now, making very uncomfortable for both the workers and the shoppers, and even the movie theaters are not turning on the A/C, which is a first. I have never seen this before.
With the summer movie season about to explode, I am wondering if they will continue the trend. I think after one hot and sticky movie that most people would not come back. There have been a couple of big grossing films, like Wanted and WALL-E, but the new Batman movie is due to hit this month as is X-Files and I’m sure there will be other big hits.
I remember the summer of 89 when there were at least 2 great movies released every week. I used to take the 82 bus to downtown Troy where they had the old U/A theater. I think they had 4 screens.
I can’t remember where I was working at the time. It might have been for the payroll company. I didn’t have a car yet. I think I got my first car in the summer of 90 or 91. Boy the adventures I had with the Granada. I drove it to PA soon after I got it. That was a hell of a trip.
I think it took 9 hours. I took the Thruway south to 84 West and everything was going fine. I took 209 south and managed to miss the 209 bypass turn and instead wound up on the business 209 stretch that ran through Stroudsburg. I got a migraine just after I missed the turn and I had to stop several times in Stroudsburg.
Merging onto route 80 with a migraine was tough to say the least, then onto 33 and I could barely keep conscious. I pulled off the Bath exit and pulled into the Mc Donalds. I remember walking up to the counter and asking for a glass of carbonated water. This was back when MCD’s was charging for everything (including water ) and I said you can charge me whatever you want, but the girl looked at me and knew I was in bad shape. She gave it to me and I stumbled to a booth and sipped the water.
After a time, I couldn’t tell how long, I stumbled to the bathroom and passed out. I came to and dragged myself out of the bathroom and headed back on the road. I could have passed out behind the wheel, but my desire to see PA again was so strong I would have risked almost anything to see it again.
I had been running around in the heat for 2 hours and the therapist’s is not air conditioned very well, so By the time I got home at 5 I was really sick from the heat.
I’m still not feeling well. I’m still having heart palpitations. The temp in the apartment started going up about 2 hours ago.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh talk about an editorial by some guy that said that A/C was ruining the planet and was unnecessary. Rush disagreed to my pleasant surprise. Rush read most of the editorial and towards the end of the editorial the writer expressed his views that he loved the heat and did not like being cool.
I’ve noticed as each year passes that businesses use less A/C as a way of saving money. Malls especially are doing this now, making very uncomfortable for both the workers and the shoppers, and even the movie theaters are not turning on the A/C, which is a first. I have never seen this before.
With the summer movie season about to explode, I am wondering if they will continue the trend. I think after one hot and sticky movie that most people would not come back. There have been a couple of big grossing films, like Wanted and WALL-E, but the new Batman movie is due to hit this month as is X-Files and I’m sure there will be other big hits.
I remember the summer of 89 when there were at least 2 great movies released every week. I used to take the 82 bus to downtown Troy where they had the old U/A theater. I think they had 4 screens.
I can’t remember where I was working at the time. It might have been for the payroll company. I didn’t have a car yet. I think I got my first car in the summer of 90 or 91. Boy the adventures I had with the Granada. I drove it to PA soon after I got it. That was a hell of a trip.
I think it took 9 hours. I took the Thruway south to 84 West and everything was going fine. I took 209 south and managed to miss the 209 bypass turn and instead wound up on the business 209 stretch that ran through Stroudsburg. I got a migraine just after I missed the turn and I had to stop several times in Stroudsburg.
Merging onto route 80 with a migraine was tough to say the least, then onto 33 and I could barely keep conscious. I pulled off the Bath exit and pulled into the Mc Donalds. I remember walking up to the counter and asking for a glass of carbonated water. This was back when MCD’s was charging for everything (including water ) and I said you can charge me whatever you want, but the girl looked at me and knew I was in bad shape. She gave it to me and I stumbled to a booth and sipped the water.
After a time, I couldn’t tell how long, I stumbled to the bathroom and passed out. I came to and dragged myself out of the bathroom and headed back on the road. I could have passed out behind the wheel, but my desire to see PA again was so strong I would have risked almost anything to see it again.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Social Security
I had a neighbor give me the Social Security booklets describing part A, B, C & D.
I'm not stupid, but I could barely understand them. they are written in a very strange style that makes them tough to understand.
I spent a couple days going over them and making notes, charts, spread sheets, and what I found was basically this:
You have to pay 100.00 a month for part B, you may have to pay another 100.00 a month for part A, it did not say what the criteria is for wether you have to pay or not.
Then you have to select a health plan. Currently I pay 5.00 for Dr visits and I get 6 a year. I do not pay anything a month for this. I get no dental and no optical.
Under the SSA part A & B I will pay 100-200 a month and Dr visits will be 30.00
Then I have to get a Rx plan ( Part D ) None of these plans are good.
You pay 30-100 a month and the co-pays are 12.00 on generics, which cost 4.00 if you pay cash with no insurance, and 30 dollars or more for brand name drugs ( if they are covered ).
The plan I am on now I get some of my generic for free and the brand name is 6.00
Bottom line, for me the part D would cost me a ton of money and it would cost me money to use the plan vs. paying cash out of pocket.
Medicare reform was a giant screw to old and sick people and I just figured it out.
Maybe that's why the booklets are so hard to make out.
I am hoping I can keep the insurance that I have. I will have to do some asking and see what the rules are.
I could pay 70.00 a month with the plan I am on now and get dental and optical, but there is only one dentist that takes the insurance and I did not like him, even though he seemed OK.
And the eye Dr., OH MY GOD.
I know things have changed, and with managed care you can't do things like you used to, but my Aunt is an O.D. and her office they saw patients 1 at a time. A class act. This guy was jumping between me and 4 other patients at the same time. had zero patience and zero bed side manner.
I'm a tough patient and my eyesight is really bad. I have astigmatism and a lazy eye, actually I think both eyes are lazy and I have bi-focals, and getting glasses I can see out of is really tough.
I don't think this guy could handle it. And in the last month my vision has gotten blurry in both eyes and I don't know why. If I look only out of one eye and focus for a while I can read with the right eye, the left eye is blurry all the time. this change happened suddenly and I'm not sure why. It is starting to worry me.
Maybe it's the heat, maybe it's my neighbors smoking pot & crack & meth, & God only knows what else. I can smell it in my apartment, so maybe it is affecting me.
I have to see my therapist tomorrow, so I have to get some sleep tonight, so I will sign off.
I'm not stupid, but I could barely understand them. they are written in a very strange style that makes them tough to understand.
I spent a couple days going over them and making notes, charts, spread sheets, and what I found was basically this:
You have to pay 100.00 a month for part B, you may have to pay another 100.00 a month for part A, it did not say what the criteria is for wether you have to pay or not.
Then you have to select a health plan. Currently I pay 5.00 for Dr visits and I get 6 a year. I do not pay anything a month for this. I get no dental and no optical.
Under the SSA part A & B I will pay 100-200 a month and Dr visits will be 30.00
Then I have to get a Rx plan ( Part D ) None of these plans are good.
You pay 30-100 a month and the co-pays are 12.00 on generics, which cost 4.00 if you pay cash with no insurance, and 30 dollars or more for brand name drugs ( if they are covered ).
The plan I am on now I get some of my generic for free and the brand name is 6.00
Bottom line, for me the part D would cost me a ton of money and it would cost me money to use the plan vs. paying cash out of pocket.
Medicare reform was a giant screw to old and sick people and I just figured it out.
Maybe that's why the booklets are so hard to make out.
I am hoping I can keep the insurance that I have. I will have to do some asking and see what the rules are.
I could pay 70.00 a month with the plan I am on now and get dental and optical, but there is only one dentist that takes the insurance and I did not like him, even though he seemed OK.
And the eye Dr., OH MY GOD.
I know things have changed, and with managed care you can't do things like you used to, but my Aunt is an O.D. and her office they saw patients 1 at a time. A class act. This guy was jumping between me and 4 other patients at the same time. had zero patience and zero bed side manner.
I'm a tough patient and my eyesight is really bad. I have astigmatism and a lazy eye, actually I think both eyes are lazy and I have bi-focals, and getting glasses I can see out of is really tough.
I don't think this guy could handle it. And in the last month my vision has gotten blurry in both eyes and I don't know why. If I look only out of one eye and focus for a while I can read with the right eye, the left eye is blurry all the time. this change happened suddenly and I'm not sure why. It is starting to worry me.
Maybe it's the heat, maybe it's my neighbors smoking pot & crack & meth, & God only knows what else. I can smell it in my apartment, so maybe it is affecting me.
I have to see my therapist tomorrow, so I have to get some sleep tonight, so I will sign off.
Bills, Bills, and more Bills
No end in sight for the heat wave. ( I swear it was never hot like this for this long 20 years ago). I can remember when we would have heat waves, maybe a week of 90 degree days, but it didn't last for months.
My electric bill will most likely be 400 dollars. That will be arriving around the 15th. My registration I just paid, 63.00. My insurance is due by the 30th, that's 300.
The van needs a tire and that's 120 including mounting and balancing, but I have to take the tire off the car and bring it to them, still have not worked out how I will do that.
Cable/phone/internet will be arriving on the 15th as well, another 120.
I paid the rent and hopefully the stimulus check will arrive before the 15th and I can pay the electric with it.
I still can not believe the relentless heat generated by this building. It's 1:30am and you can feel the heat on every wall and the floor and the ceiling. both A/C's going and it's still 80 in here. The hallway is close to 100 degrees.
My electric bill will most likely be 400 dollars. That will be arriving around the 15th. My registration I just paid, 63.00. My insurance is due by the 30th, that's 300.
The van needs a tire and that's 120 including mounting and balancing, but I have to take the tire off the car and bring it to them, still have not worked out how I will do that.
Cable/phone/internet will be arriving on the 15th as well, another 120.
I paid the rent and hopefully the stimulus check will arrive before the 15th and I can pay the electric with it.
I still can not believe the relentless heat generated by this building. It's 1:30am and you can feel the heat on every wall and the floor and the ceiling. both A/C's going and it's still 80 in here. The hallway is close to 100 degrees.
My Van
My 89 Ford Van, like all older vehicles, has needed a lot of maintenance over the years.
The first repair I did shortly after receiving it was to replace the back fuel pump.
Then I think I had to replace the front shocks. Then a coil and while I was under the hood I did a tune up, new wires, new distributor cap and rotor, new plugs.
With an older vehicle you expect this.
Going from front to back, as best memory serves, I replaced
A spring on one of the headlights. The headlight screws. Both headlights several times. Side marker lights, directional lights, The radiator ( twice )
Radiator hoses, heater hoses, the heater core (front ) Removed back heater core and aux hoses.
Removed A/C lines and condenser that never worked
New brakes and rotor on front, new tires on front ( twice )
New brake lines and hoses (front )
Alignments
New fuel pumps in front and back tanks ( twice )
New starter (twice )
New water pump
New EGR valve
New high pressure fuel pump and regulator.
New CAM for steering wheel
New temp sensor, new valve cover gaskets, new oil fill tube.
New exhaust manifolds ( 2 of them )
New Y pipe on exhaust
New O2 sensor
New catalytic converter
New exhaust system ( everything behind converter including hangers and brackets and muffler) (twice)
3 New batteries
Back brakes
Back shocks
Back bolts that hold back gas tank to frame
(they don’t make these any more, so I had to make a suitable replacement )
Side door parts
Side door window motor
I’m sure there are more things I have forgotten.
The thing is, I know the van. It’s not perfect, but I know what to expect.
It leaks all sorts of fluids, but it gets me around.
I drove it to Binghamton and back and it made it.
Sure, I would love to have a new reliable vehicle, but I can never afford that, and anything used is going to have problems.
That’s why people sell their vehicles and get something else, because it has problems.
The van is big. Holds lots of stuff, and I don’t have to squeeze into it.
There is a lot of elbow room and leg room and it’s up high and easy to see what is going on around me. It's not, as I have loving grown to call them, a clown car.
All the newer SUV's are like those little clown cars that you see at the circus that 20 clowns pour out of. There is no room in them. It's great for the 5' 4" socker mom that weighs 150, but for the 285 6 foot man, forget it. You can barely squeeze in and your leg nerve gets pinched.
I had brisitis in my hips and could not fgure out why. It was due to squeezing into my sister's and my mom's SUV's.
My van is easy to get in and out of and I don't have any pain after driving it.
I need to get it at least 1 new tire and I need to adjust the alignment and maybe it will pass inspection.
The turn signal switch I think I can get to pass and worry about replacing it later.
The first repair I did shortly after receiving it was to replace the back fuel pump.
Then I think I had to replace the front shocks. Then a coil and while I was under the hood I did a tune up, new wires, new distributor cap and rotor, new plugs.
With an older vehicle you expect this.
Going from front to back, as best memory serves, I replaced
A spring on one of the headlights. The headlight screws. Both headlights several times. Side marker lights, directional lights, The radiator ( twice )
Radiator hoses, heater hoses, the heater core (front ) Removed back heater core and aux hoses.
Removed A/C lines and condenser that never worked
New brakes and rotor on front, new tires on front ( twice )
New brake lines and hoses (front )
Alignments
New fuel pumps in front and back tanks ( twice )
New starter (twice )
New water pump
New EGR valve
New high pressure fuel pump and regulator.
New CAM for steering wheel
New temp sensor, new valve cover gaskets, new oil fill tube.
New exhaust manifolds ( 2 of them )
New Y pipe on exhaust
New O2 sensor
New catalytic converter
New exhaust system ( everything behind converter including hangers and brackets and muffler) (twice)
3 New batteries
Back brakes
Back shocks
Back bolts that hold back gas tank to frame
(they don’t make these any more, so I had to make a suitable replacement )
Side door parts
Side door window motor
I’m sure there are more things I have forgotten.
The thing is, I know the van. It’s not perfect, but I know what to expect.
It leaks all sorts of fluids, but it gets me around.
I drove it to Binghamton and back and it made it.
Sure, I would love to have a new reliable vehicle, but I can never afford that, and anything used is going to have problems.
That’s why people sell their vehicles and get something else, because it has problems.
The van is big. Holds lots of stuff, and I don’t have to squeeze into it.
There is a lot of elbow room and leg room and it’s up high and easy to see what is going on around me. It's not, as I have loving grown to call them, a clown car.
All the newer SUV's are like those little clown cars that you see at the circus that 20 clowns pour out of. There is no room in them. It's great for the 5' 4" socker mom that weighs 150, but for the 285 6 foot man, forget it. You can barely squeeze in and your leg nerve gets pinched.
I had brisitis in my hips and could not fgure out why. It was due to squeezing into my sister's and my mom's SUV's.
My van is easy to get in and out of and I don't have any pain after driving it.
I need to get it at least 1 new tire and I need to adjust the alignment and maybe it will pass inspection.
The turn signal switch I think I can get to pass and worry about replacing it later.
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