Upstairs Bathroom Project

We decided that the bathrooms needed upating.  Since we cherish peace and quiet and are constrained by a very modest fixed income, we are not in the mood for a noisy expensive renovation, involving hammers and chisels, dust, banging and sawing, plus weeks of not having working facilities.  So, we have elected to do a minimalist project.

The old large wall mirror and an ugly medicine cabinet were removed with the aid of my friend,  DMc, who also  installed new drywall and plastered the hole like a pro.  I spent the remainder of last week scraping and patching, sanding  the walls and ceiling, and painting.  The part that DMc did looks smooth and straight, the sections that I did still look like a painted over moonscape. 

New floor tile will be laid over old tile, and the wall tile will be painted by what they call electrostatic method.
Makes old wall tile look like new, according to the brochure. 

9:10am  Project has started off well.  Plumber came on time. He is removing the old toilet and vanity from upstairs.  These will be replaced by new fixtures next week.  Since the new tile is going over old tile he needs to raise the flange by 1/2" (whatever that means).  

9:25am  Tile guy, Paul,  arrives.  Starts setting-up his saw and stuff. 

10:10am  Plumber leaves.  He promises to come back next week July 5th to install new fixtures.  Time to go to Lowe's and get the new toilet.

The Reason To Care When Sleazy Pols' Private Lives Become Public

WASHINGTON -- Andrew Breitbart says he is "not a fan" of Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) for the same reason he doesn't like ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner: Both led sleazy secret lives that could have compromised the public trust.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/andrew-breitbart-david-vitter-weiner_n_880868.html

I think Mr.Breitbart has made an excellent point; he condemns political sleaziness by any public figure regardless of party affiliation because it opens the figure to the risk of blackmail. 

 Conservatives who call themselves patriots, despite personally being draft dodgers and tax evaders, hypocritically condemn only the liberals when they get caught.

Likewise, those who (like me) gave liberals like Clinton and Frank a pass for their dalliences, were wrong.   These could have developed into dangerous or harmful  blackmail situations, compromising the security and trust of the people.

"We Got Him"

I'm glad that they finally caught Whitey Bulger.  Now, maybe I can go out on the beach wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap without being followed by FBI agents or AMW viewers looking for the reward.

I kinda think it would have saved the taxpayers some money if they had just sent in the Navy Seals to capture, kill and bury him at sea.  Also there would have been some sense of justice to know that he sleeps with the fishes.

On Second Thought

Update: 

 I just had a visit from the good daughter -- the one that did not move 2000 miles away with 2 of our grandkids. 

She brought me a fathers day gift of a bottle of 12 year old Maccallan single malt scotch. 
Perhaps I was wrong about the no gift policy. 

Fathers Day Thoughts

Research shows that 90% of all fathers were not thinking about children at the time of conception.
This is a salient fact to remember when your sullen adolescent whines about how awful life is, "I didn't ask to be born."

The perfect squelch, "Hey, I know what you mean, I didn't want kids either, to tell you the truth, I was just there for the sex." 


I am not a big fan of Hallmark Holidays.  I don't want gifts and cute cards.  Justy be nice to me all year round. 

Shocking Headlines but no News.

The juicy topic on all the talk shows these days is Andrew Weiner's weiner.  It permeates every discussion at the bar, in line at Starbucks, and, probably, church suppers as well.  (Some think it is an Obama  conspiracy to get the public's mind off of the awful economic outlook.)    Comedians are having a field day. 

Last week, it was the big shot International Monetary Fund guy,  Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had his political career wrecked because a hotel maid has accused him of of sexual assault.  A while back it was Eliot Spitzer's horniness that became newspaper fodder. 

The list of powerful men who seem to be thinking with the wrong head is long and tedious. This does not seem to happen when women are in powerful roles, or perhaps they are just more circumspect.

People seem to be shocked and offended that a high profile politician would be so idiotic as to let his sexual escapades become so public. 

 But I have to ask, "Is this really News?"

The other question is: Who is next?

D-Day Thoughts

 A few years ago, as part of our trip to France, we visited Normandy, where the allies landed 150,000 troops on this day in 1944.   9,000 Americans were slaughtered or wounded on the beaches by the entrenched Germans.  But this hard fought victory was the beginning of  the liberation of Western Europe from German occupying forces.

Standing at the cemetery where so many men were buried under stone white crosses (or stars of David), it was one of those "Holy Cow" moments when you suddenly realize the enormity of the casualties and the sacrifice of so many brave young men.

In 2007, the area around the bunkers up on the cliffs was open to tourists.  Walking around, I was amazed at the elaborate fortifications that have survived.  When I asked one of the guides how the Germans had been able to construct such defenses, he reminded me that they had been an occupying force for over four years by June 6, 1944.

Despite my exposure to history classes in school and subsequent reading about the war, I had forgotten that the French had been hopelessly outgunned at the beginning of the conflict and had conceded defeat after only a few weeks of battle in 1940.

I have tried to imagine how I and my fellow citizens would have reacted to an occupying force.  Would we have capitulated in fear to the conquerors or would we take to the hills and forests like the Resistance?
=====================
I am also reminded of the line in the movie, when Tom Hanks exhorts Private Ryan (Mat Damon)  to
"Earn This!" -- to live a life that would be worthy of the sacrifice that so many men gave their lives for.

By their deeds we must measure our own lives.

3rd of June

Funny, I woke up today with this song running through my head


No, peeps, Billy Joel did not jump off the Tappan Zee Bridge.  Please pay attention!

If you consider the lyrics of the song, you are forced to conclude that the mother was the most clueless human being who ever walked the planet. "Child what's happened to your appetite?"