"She has a good face, speaks well, and has excellent good clothes." (Pericles)

Well, the military tradition seems to be carrying on. Granddaughter, PK (Princess Katrina) turned 21 on March 20th and graduated from Naval Boot Camp on the next day. She is an "E-3" with 3 green stripes on her uniform which means she's an enlisted "Airman"...not a seaman...but an Airman! Guess she's following in her grandfather's footsteps. Besides that bit of fate and fortune, she will be assigned to a school in Whidbey Island, WA where I was stationed in WWII after I came back from Europe. Her goal is to be a mechanic on jet engines. After all, she also graduated from Motorcycle Mechanics' Institute in Phoenix. Katrina's dad is a Harley Davidson sales agent in Virginia...he also acts, now and then, as my son. PK had four tickets to the graduation and they went to her dad, her Aunt Robin, who refers to me as "Pop" and her Aunt and Uncle from California. May her career have calm seas and a following wind.

(Picture is USS HIGGINS named for my son-in-law)

Another bit of current news is that I just had another book published titled "Pater Noster in Condoland". It can be previewed by clicking on "My Lulu Shop" at the top of this blog--then clicking "Print to Cart". On the next page just click on the book title and it will go to a page with all the details. It's part of the "buying" experience...but you don't have to buy it...duh. It will be no big surprise. It has 368 pages of all the blogs I wrote in 2007 from August to New Years Day. It also comes with all the comments. Again I will become a famous unknown author. I guess at some point I'll publish Vol.II of the 2008 blogs. History might consider these books as a sequel to my "Memoirs".

This morning I went to the National City Bank to cash in a CD that has been churning out interest for the past 13 months. I had misplaced the CD, but I did have a letter from the bank indicating that the CD would be maturing as of today. So, I went to the teller's window and showed him the letter which had the CDs account number. He went to his computer and then came to the window with a check for the full amount of the CD without asking me for any identification. Anyone might have found that letter on the street and without having to show any ID might have walked out of that bank with my money. Incidentally, I found the CD in the glove compartment of my car after all was said and done. Rhoda just came home from her Hadassah luncheon and announced that she's too tired to cook...so we'll be off to Sweet Tomatoes tonite for soup and a salad. Today is my one month's birthday. Have a good one.

"My watch hath told me toward my grave, I have travelled but two hours." (12th Night)

A few days ago I got my AT&T (formerly Bell South) local phone service bill for the usual amount of $27, but attached to it was also a bill from some other company I never heard of who was charging me for some cockamamie services I also never heard of. I called AT&T and asked them what was going on with that attachment. Their response was that I should contact that company to get the answer to my question. I said that since AT&T had it on their own bill, why should I have to call the other company, but their reply was not acceptable. I entered the company's name on Google and found there were numerous complaints about them; consequently I decided not to pay that part of the bill. This was the second time in two months since AT&T took over Bell South that strange charges appeared on my bill--so I decided to find another phone company and I did. Comcast had a special promotion going on whereby if I had their internet service and cable--which I do--then I could get their digital phone service with unlimited local and long distance service for less than what I was paying AT&T for just local service. Thus to continue making a short story longer, I now have Comcast for everything talkable, watchable, and surfable.

But that's not the end of this Cirque de Soleil show. The guy from Comcast who was supposed to come here between 11 and 2 to install the new service never showed up until 4pm. This being late is nothing new in the State of Florida. It seems everything here comes up late. If your doctor's appointment is at 2pm and at 3pm you ask the receptionist if you are invisible, she says, "Oh, Sorry. The doctor is running late." If you are in a restaurant and if your entree hasn't come for a half hour after you've finished your soup or salad, the server says, "Oh, sorry. The kitchen is running late." In the beauty parlor, according to my wife, if her nail appointment is at 1pm. and she hasn't been called until 4pm, she is informed that the beautician had an emergency hangnail patient and is "running late." In the dental office, you are awestruck when you only have to wait 10 minutes before they bring you into a room, seat you in a chair and claim that "...the doctor will be right with you." Forty-five minutes later, with your teeth chattering from the A/C freeze, you say to yourself, "Oh, he must be running late." Even at the Pompano Race Track, you look for the horse you just bet on, and when you ask the cashier where the horse finished, his reply would be, "Oh, he ran late!" Well, since all this seems to be the trend and the culture in Condoland, hopefully, your "maker" will also run late before he gives you the bucket to kick.

"There was never yet Philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently." (Much Ado)

We were waiting last night to go to dinner with the Herbstmans and their niece, who is an internist at the VA Medical center in New York. I was going to ask her if she does prostate checks, but I changed my mind when I realized Rhoda would have castrated me on the spot. We didn't actually go out to dinner with them because Helen H. called and said they had a change in plans. We also had a change in plans because we had planned to go to Orlando to see a friend, but the friend got sick. When I asked Helen about that change she said they were going to The Isle casino and that we would bypass the buffet there and go to the Deli instead. That was OK with me because I could get a slice of their checkerboard cake--probably the only place in So. Florida that you get that delicacy. However when we got there, Mike H. said he wasn't hungry--probably because he was hot to trot the nearest 2 cent slot machine. So Rhoda and I went to the Deli and I had a bowl of matzo ball soup and some potato perogies, and she had a bowl of mushroom and barley and an order of potato pancakes. For dessert we shared the cake. When we finished our dinner, in walked the Herbstmans with Dr. Ann. They sat down to dine and confessed to losing money. Rho and I left and went to play the slots ourselves. By 10pm she had lost, but I had won--not much--$80.

Friday I went to my podiatrist because I have some kind of fungus on my toes. He prescribed some kind of cream to put on them twice a day. In addition, while showering I'm supposed to brush my toes with "Head-and-Shoulders" shampoo; then when the toes are dried to douse them with Listerine. I couldn't understand why I had to shampoo my toes since they had a fungus, not dandruff; and then to put Listerine on them?? Well, I suppose Dr. Poss knows what he's doing, so I'll so as he says. I have to go back to him on Friday to take some tests to find out what is going on with my neuropathy--the feeling that I'm walking with cotton balls under my toes.

I got a telephone call today from Mel Nudelman who bought my book at the arts and crafts show a few weeks ago. He said he enjoyed the book very much and marveled at the fact that I ran two marathons and coached soccer teams. I thought it was very cordial of him to call and tell me about his reaction to the book. I also gave a book to Rho's cousins, Sandy and Irwin with whom we went out to a Chinese dinner the other night. Perhaps when they finish reading it I'll get some more reaction.

"Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit." (King John)

Yesterday was a banner day on the market; however, I got out of it a few weeks ago when it was clearly on a downward spiral, and settled for a fixed savings at 3%. As of yesterday, therefore, I found my "portfolio" to be about $1800 ahead of the market. Speaking of the market, I call your attention to the blog of November 2nd, 2007 where I mention that gold had reached $800 an ounce! I bought it when it was $400. Wow. But as of today, it is now $1003 an ounce. How 'bout that? Now if you had 100 ounces, you would have gained $20,000 in four months. But you don't have 100 ounces, do you? Guys...you only have 1 measly ounce. So sorry.

I didn't hear Barack's speech yesterday, but I did read the entire manuscript online. I was absolutely intrigued by how Lincolnesque it was. Go ahead and guffaw if you wish, but I prophesied the market and gold. The speech pulled no punches, but was cool and forthright about race relations in this country.

I found the following from today's NY TIMES:

Mr. Obama’s Profile in Courage
NY Times Editorial
There are moments — increasingly rare in risk-abhorrent modern campaigns — when politicians are called upon to bare their fundamental beliefs. In the best of these moments, the speaker does not just salve the current political wound, but also illuminates larger, troubling issues that the nation is wrestling with.
Inaugural addresses by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt come to mind, as does John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on religion, with its enduring vision of the separation between church and state. Senator Barack Obama, who has not faced such tests of character this year, faced one on Tuesday. It is hard to imagine how he could have handled it better.

I've seen and heard many Presidents since 1924, and I have no doubt that this man is the one who can accomplish great things in the White House. I did lean toward Hillary until I read this speech. Obama oozes charisma and leadership from every pore. He is definitely the best speaker since FDR. If he receives the Democatic nomination, don't vote for him at America's peril...and yours.

"A Heaven on Earth I have won by wooing thee." (All's Well)

Well, today I had a "date" with Rhoda. It was quite an occasion since it's been awhile since we had a day to spend together. We didn't quite spend the entire day together because she had a doctor's appointment this morning. But we did manage to get out about 1:30pm. As all things change with the years, this date was not quite like the dates we had when we first met and were "courting". Back then we would go out to dinner and a movie and then go back to hers or mine and listen to classical music. Now our date consisted of going out to lunch and then shopping at Costco; and finally a late movie, dinner out and back home to listen to operatic arias and perhaps watch the gardening show. However, we never made it to the movie because we didn't get out of Costco until 3:30, and since Rho never took anything out of the fridge for dinner, we are planning on pizza. After which, we'll take turns on the computer. Another date shot to hell. (Excuse the language). But I was so looking forward to watching the garden show, and listening to Kate Smith.

While at Costco, I didn't feel like walking around so fortunately we availed ourselves--rather myself--of an available Costco scooter. It was kind of old, and I figured, therefore, we'd get along together. I hopped in, revved up the motor and proceeded to follow Rhoda as she perused the isles to find the stuff on her list. I must say, that driving that scooter around Costco was akin to driving on the LIE or I95. Not only were there other scooters to avoid, but also, wheelchairs, walkers, canes, skateboards and surfers. It was certainly a harrowing experience. Hereafter when we go there, I will refuse unless we have accident shopping insurance. And perhaps a portable horn and rear-view mirror for the scooter.

"Now I feed myself with most delicious poison." (Antony & Cleopatra)

Went out to dinner tonite with Rho's cousins, Sandy and Irwin. Her mother and Rho's father were siblings. We went to China Gardens, and the same old problem popped up...I should say popped on. Every time I put on a clean shirt, I inevitably drop some food on it, and since Rho abhors ironing, it winds up at the dry cleaners. They are making a small fortune cleaning food off my shirts. Rho has threatened to buy me one of those silver or gold bibs to wear at restaurants; but if she ever does, it will be cause for divorce. Nah! I can't survive without her. Right now she's paying some medical bills I know nothing about; she has records of medical bills going back to the year 10,000BC. She knows which pills go into my pillbox. I don't know the names of most of them or their shape or colors. Also she's the only one who knows how to take a scooter apart and put it back together. She his committed to memory the route to the dry cleaner. So, if I can't wear a bib, the only solution I'm aware of is that I should take off my shirt before I sit down in a restaurant booth. What else?

"Be merry, you have cause, So have we all, of joy." (The Tempest)

Well, I suppose I have to confess as to how I did at the casino yesterday--OK--I won $260 on the slot machines. So that was a lot of fun. Unfortunately Rhoda lost. We were supposed to meet the bus to take us there at 4:30 in the Clubhouse parking lot, but as we drove up, we saw an empty bus leaving. Turns out there were 60 people going but the bus that showed up only held 30, so we had to wait until about 5:15 when the right bus came. We wound up at the casino at 6 and we left for home at 10. In between we gambled and then went to dinner at the buffet. The food was excellent. However, for dessert I went out of the buffet to the deli where I bought a slice of chocolate checkerboard cake. This time I didn't forget! It's probable the only place in Florida that makes that cake. I never saw anything quite like it anywhere else but in this casino.

Today, the cleaning crew came at 11am so Rho and I went to the Cardiology Center where I had to have a protine check to see that my coumadin level was at the right place. It was. Then we went in the new Malibu to the Mall at Town Center. That place has grown exponentially since 1982. Most guys could care less about going to malls, but I'm an exception. I enjoy seeing all kinds of people there besides seniors. The young high school girls today wear skimpy outfits with tattoos showing; guys wear baggy shorts down to their ankles with their underwear peeking out. The adults to be seen are of all sizes and shapes; I saw one black lady with the biggest backside I'd ever seen. She was a walking pick-up truck. Then there were the upper-crust rich ladies from Boca Raton with Bloomingdale clothes from fashion designers. Then there were normal people like Rhoda and me. So, normally we stopped and had a cup of yogurt with chocolate sprinkles. It was about 4pm when we got back home and after reading the mail and answering telephone calls, we went to Ben's and I had a "Daily Double"; a mini corned beef sandwich and a mini pastrami sandwich on a mini roll; plus some sour pickles, cole slaw, french fries and a couple of glasses of diet Sprite. And so to home and time to write this blog. If you don't have the time to read the whole thing, just read the last sentence.