Happy 65th birthday to Van Morrison.

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It's been about 2 months since I started putting music and videos on youtube, and my channel now has over 10,000 views. I have to admit that I like getting a lot of views. This is my latest one set to the Beach Boys' "California Girls".

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This is from Rhonda Byrne's new book, "The Power":

"When you fall in love with life, every limitation disappears. You break the limitations on money, health, happiness, and the limits of joy in your relationships. When you fall in love with life, you have no resistance, and whatever you love appears in your life almost instantaneously. Your presence will be felt when you walk into a room. Opportunities will pour into your life, and your slightest touch will dissolve negativity. You will feel better than you thought it was possible to feel. You will be filled with unlimited energy, excitement, and an unquenchable zest for life. You will feel light as a feather, like you're floating on air, and everything you love will just seem to fall at your feet, Fall in love with life, unleash the power within you, and you will become unlimited and invincible!"

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There are some kisses that you never forget. Not that they were necessarily so great, but sometimes unexpected and the surprise factor makes them even more memorable. This is a story of two such kisses.

When I was in my early 20s, I was working for a company on Long Island. It was a small company, and a few people liked to go out for a drink after work, or sometimes even spend the whole evening out at a bar or restaurant. I was working for a woman named Barbara at the time, who was only a year or so older than me. We didn't get along at first but then the VP of the group I was in cleared things up and we got along great after that. This girl was in the group of people that liked to go out, and she would always invite me to go out with them.

One of our main hangouts was a bar, now gone, called "North Landing". At the end of the evening, we would usually leave the bar together and get in our own cars and leave. Of course, the proper etiquette is to give the females a goodbye kiss. So there I was, giving my female boss a long embrace and goodnight kiss outside the bar. It seemed a bit strange to have that level of intimacy with my boss, but that was her personality. That situation made those goodnight kisses with Barbara even more memorable.

A second memorable kiss was outside the same bar one night. There was a group of people out that night, and I ended up sitting in someone's car next to a woman named Christine from the company who I didn't know and had not spoken to that evening. We were leaving and saying our goodbyes, and suprise, this woman who I didn't know, leans over to my and kisses me goodnight. It was a total surprise and a very welcome one. Getting a kiss from a stranger was a delight, and I think of it still today.

I think of those kisses sometimes when I drive by the location of that bar, and I took a picture of it today. These kisses happened on the corner of this intersection, where the old bar was then located.

It is called "The Power" by Rhonda Byrne and I am reading it now.

This is from the introduction of the book:

"When you wake up each day, you should be filled with excitement because you know the day is going to be full of great things. You are meant to be laughing and full of joy. You are meant to feel strong and safe. You are meant to feel good about yourself and know you're invaluable. Of course there will be challenges in your life, and you are meant to have them too, because they help you to grow, but you are meant to know how to overcome problems and challenges. You are meant to be victorious! You are meant to be happy! You are meant to have an amazing life!

You were not born to struggle. You were not born to live a life where the moments of joy are few and far between. You were not born to toil in your work five days a week, with fleeting moments of happiness on weekends. You were not born to live with limited energy, feeling exhausted at the end of each day. You were not born to worry or be afraid. You were not born to suffer. What would be the point of your life? You are meant to experience life to its fullest and have everything you want and, at the same time, be filled with joy, health, vitality, excitement, and love, because that is an amazing life!"

Let us not weary in doing good,
for at the proper time
we will reap a harvest
if we do not give up.

I don't remember the name of the movie, but this song is on the first CD I ever bought. The girl at the register congratulated me on my good taste in music. :)

I also uploaded this song to youtube from that same very first CD I ever bought.

Save it for later - The English Beat

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I have some old slide photos that my father took when I was growing up. I bought a scanner to put them on my computer. It was fun looking at old pictures that I haven't seen in a long time. This is me at 10 years of age, and I don't remember being that happy, but I guess I was.

Looking at this photo reminds me that I am the same boy I used to be.

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Whenever God Shines His Light - Van Morrison

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I like some of these designs, like the DeLorean, the Bricklin, and the RAV4, and don't hate some others.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/10/1028_50_ugliest_cars_of_past_50_years/index.htm

Can't beat the internet for what you can find. Just saw this picture of my punk rock gal pal when she was starting out in the music business. Man I never would have thought I would spend so much time with someone like her, but I did, and will never forget that time. This picture definitely captures the beginning of the new wave/punk rock scene (she is on the right, not the dude lol).

Larry King interviewing Sarah Palin about quiz room.

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I heart Lana20:

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I thought of this metaphor based on something this summer. It was so hot and dry for most of it that my lawn turned almost completely brown. Not just patches of brown, but about 90% or more was brown. I would have guessed that it was dead. But I started watering it everyday for the last few weeks. Much of the time it looked like I was watering a dead lawn. But I saw a few blades here and there turning green, then more and more of the lawn turned green. Now I would say that more than 90% is now green. Sure some of it is crabgrass, but the lawn has come back to life. Which reminds me of another thing that sometimes seems dead. I'm talking about dreams of your heart that you once had, maybe long ago, that seemed to have died. Maybe they have been gone a longtime, and for everything seemed like they were dead. But maybe, just maybe, they are dormant. With a little consistent nurturing, you see small signs that those dreams are still there, and like the lawn, are slowly coming back to life. Before long, those dreams are back in full bloom. Maybe like the lawn, it is not exactly like it was before, but who knows, maybe it is better than it was.

And it was one of the hottest summers ever in New York City. My girlfriend was Dominican. She spoke very little English, and I only knew high school Spanish. We could talk enough English/Spanish to communicate but we didn't have long and involved discussions. It didn't matter. Talking is overrated.

I spent much of the summer exploring the streets of Manhattan with her. If you were in Manhattan then, and in the area of Chelsea and midtown you might have seen us. We were the Latina and white guy who were always holding hands. This is what was playing on the air all summer.

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So my friend's record now has 8,000 views on youtube. I found this picture of her I guess from around 1980 when she was in a group called "Walter Steding and the Dragon People", and she was performing at the Mudd Club alongside David Byrne and Deborah Harry. She is the girl on the left and I have to say she looks stunning, and just the way I remember her 15 or so years later.

And here is the video when she was in the group "Dominatrix" (though someone else lip-synchs the vocals).

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

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I found this picture my father took in November 1970 of the World Trade Center being built.

Those that "get" Van Morrison, and those who don't.

Here is another video I uploaded to youtube.

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This is the first actual music video, that is a song with a performance, that I put on youtube. It is a crude video but a magnificent song.

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I found a clip on youtube of my former gal pal who did the Dominatrix song. She recorded the vocals of that track but wasn't in the actual video. Before she made that record she was in a group called "Walter Steding and the Dragon People". This clip is from the movie "Downtown 81" which starred the late artist Basquiat.
My friend is dressed in black on the keyboards.

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I found this butterfly wing on the ground. I don't know what happened to the butterfly, but the wing is beautiful

It's not an issue of religious tolerance. No one is stopping mosques from being built. But to put one in ground zero is just not appropriate and Obama should know better.

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I made tributes to my 2 alma maters, Queens College for undergraduate and Hofstra University for graduate school. Fun times!

All pictures taken by me, January 2010.

Queens College:

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Hofstra University:

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Now that I know how to make youtube videos, I took one of my favorite songs and added pictures of pretty girls. The song is asking if a girl could be the "one", but how to choose?

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I made this video from pictures I took at my alma mater, Queens College.

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This is the first youtube I made using just pictures set to music. The people are personalities who have been on WFAN, the all sports radio station in New York City.

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Here in New York City there is a story every week or so of someone supposedly committing a crime based on someone's race, religion, sexual orientation. The newscasters solemnly report these crimes as the most heinous acts that could be committed, even if the crime is a taunt. I do not condone such activities, but is it better to be assaulted or murdered by someone who only wants your money? Then a week or two ago, a black man killed 8 white people in Connecticut because he believed the company, not necessarily the men he killed, was racist toward him. Not a single word was mentioned that this killing was a "hate crime" despite it being perpetrated soley based on those men being white. Such are the times we live in.

Championship fight around 1980 between John Tate and Mike Weaver. Tate had won the first 14 rounds, then Weaver knocked him out with a minute remaining in the fight. One of the most devastating knockouts ever.

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I do not condone this behavior.

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I upgraded my DSL service with Verizon today. They try to push their FIOS service so much that it is difficult just to get them to talk about DSL. They are like timeshare salesmen who won't take no for an answer. I must have said 5 times in a row that "I appreciate you are trying to sell FIOS, but I do not want it and won't change my mind". I finally did get what I needed but it wasn't easy.

I made this youtube using low-tech and high-tech means. I still have a cassette deck that I use to record music off the radio. This is a special version of this song that I taped when it was played on the radio. So I played the tape on my stereo and recorded the "movie" on my basic digital still camera, and the uploaded it to youtube. The quality is OK especially at the beginning, but fades a bit toward the end of the song. But there is something about this song that I find dream-like. This version has a fun intro with the singers talking for the first half minute or so.

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The videos I have uploaded now have over 3,200 views. I am fascinated that they got this many views. Youtube has a feature called "Insight" that analyzes the views. Right now, about 78% are from males. How they can tell that I don't know since computers can be shared. And most views are from middle-aged people which makes sense since I mainly uploaded songs from the late 60s to the mid 90s. Newer stuff seems to be harder to get past copyright, and I guess most of it has been posted by the artists or others who know how to get past the copyright issues. Again I don't know how they know the ages, but I guess that is part of the tracking that is done when people visit different websites.

She's got the 60s girl group thing going on here.

Nikki & Rich - Cat and Mouse

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"For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."

I posted this song in my blog about 2 weeks ago. It is an all time memorable recording, and the guy who made it just passed away. RIP.

Sunny - Bobby Hebb

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Know that today is the day that I prayed for.

Make myself valuable to somebody.

Say "than you" and "please".

Not lose an hour in the morning, then spend all day looking for it.

Tackle a problem bigger than me.

Compliment someone.

Look for miracles coming toward me and by me.

Get to better know God by reading His Word.

Make a small improvement in some area.

Help someone who has no opportunity to repay me.

Change my thinking from TGIF to TGIT - "Thank God It's Today."

Choose to love God and celebrate people.

Do at least three things that will take me out of my comfort zone.

Know that the devil hates this new day because I'm up again.

Die to myself.

Give thanks for my daily bread.

Leave others a little better than I found them.

Observe that every day the earth praises the Lord.

Rise early because no day is long enough for a day's work.

Not be afraid to ask for help.

Give my best time of the day to communion with God.

Live by the Golden Rule so I will never have to apologize for my actions tomorrow.

Know that the place to be happy is here - the time to be happy is now.

Take small steps to conquer a bad habit.

Evaluate my actions not by the harvest but by the seeds I plant.