I have one set of cardinals that come to feed in my backyard. The male cardinal is very social and will fly up to me if he sees me.

Thursday, May 31, 2012.

The Smiths - There is A Light That Never Goes out

Youtube - Video

He is so cute I had to give him a few peanuts.

Recently I got the idea of walking across this bridge which is now part of a park but was originally a part of the Long Island Motor Parkway. I have driven under it many years but never thought of crossing it.

So today I was in the area and as I passed it decided today was the day to do it. I parked and this is the first sign on the trail toward the bridge.

Then there is this winding trail through the woods. I was wondering if I was on the right path.

But sure enough the bridge came into view.

Looking down from the bridge:

So I did walk across that bridge. Will I get another idea to do something? Maybe.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge (Lyrics)

Youtube - Video

Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah

Waiting For A Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl - HQ Video

Youtube - Video

I take it as a sign that there is a God.

Religious and psychological advice is that we need to forgive those who have hurt us, not so much for their benefit but for our own. I agree with that but it is not something where you can just say "I forgive so and so" and it is over and done with. You still have the hurt and the anger despite your words. It is like standing in the sunshine on a 100 degree day and saying "I am not hot". It is a form of denial of reality. I think forgiveness comes slowly as times goes by but I am not sure it is ever complete for certain hurts. Some stuff, even bad stuff, is relatively easy to forgive. Other stuff is not so easy but maybe at sometime you get over most of it. I don't know for sure.

The Heart Of The Matter with Lyrics - Don Henley (studio version)

Youtube - Video

Here she is tonight.

This is the rain gutter on my neighbor's garage. There are plants growing out of it and I believe they are from acorns that fell in the gutter. What probably happened is that leaves turned into compost in the gutter and then when acorns fell into it they took root.

I guess this song has been out awhile, but I just took notice of it a week or two ago. So for me, this is the song that will remind me of this summer.

Fun.: We Are Young ft. Janelle Monáe [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Youtube - Video

I have gone to the beach many summers, but the summer I was 25 was really my definitive beach year. I was working on Long Island and I set a goal of going to the beach seven times that summer. The first week in June, that Thursday was forecast to be one of the best days of the year. So I took a single vacation day and went to the beach Thursday, and back to work on Friday. My boss was pretty cool and let me take days off on short notice. The next week, Thursday was also forecast to be a good beach day. I continued this through the rest of June, taking every Thursday off and going to the beach. I did this through July also, every Thursday at the beach. I went all of these times by myself. I didn't mind going alone. When you are generally happy in life you don't mind being alone. My streak continued into August and I went to the beach ten consecutive Thursdays. None of this was planned in advance. I would ask for the day off usually on Wednesday. Of the ten days, eight of them were great beach days, and two were so-so. None of the days were rain outs. I had hooked on to a good streak that just continued. It was also a good way of getting a tan because I tanned only once a week, and never burned. The next year I tried to get another streak going, but it didn't work out. The days I thought would be good turned out to be raining. I couldn't duplicate the magic of the previous summer. I guess that was good in a way, it makes you look to create new magic instead of trying to recreate the past.

4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) - Bruce Springsteen (Studio Version)

Youtube - Video

It has been raining most of the last week. Yesterday was mostly dry and I did a little work around my house. A branch was leaning on the telephone wires over my garage. The branch looked dead but it was still attached to the tree. I climbed up on the garage roof with a hand saw and cut off the piece that was on the telephone wires. I then grabbed the rest of the branch and yanked it off the tree. I admit it makes you feel strong to rip a ten foot branch off a tree even if it was already half off. Today I think I will be a couch potato. I went out and got some newspapers, as well as a bunch of free local ones and the Village Voice, which is also free. So that is my Sunday morning.

Sunday Morning by Maroon 5 with lyrics

Youtube - Video

I noticed there was an error in the information on the fan known as "The Chief". They had the wrong date of death and age for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_New_York_Rangers

Outside my front door a bunch of bees were feeding on a shrub. They didn't mind at all if I got a few inches away from them and took some pictures. Here is one:

I look in my backyard and there is a cat's head sticking out of a plant. Too cute!

This is a site run by USA Today. I made this youtube yesterday of a sports radio broadcaster saying baseball player Ike Davis has "jungle" fever, actually meaning "valley" fever. Woo-hoo!

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/05/24/mike-francesa-thinks-ike-davis-has-jungle-fever/

I have been watching this show since it started a few years ago. It really has evolved into a dysfunctional family more than a modern family, unless the message is that the modern family is dysfunctional. For example:

The two gay guys are fixated with getting another child even though it seems they can't manage the adopted kid they already have. Plus they use the exaggerated stereotype of making both of them prancing gays.

Sophia Vergara is married to Ed O'Neill but there is no explanation why. There is no chemistry between them. Even if it is a sugar daddy marriage you would think they would develop some chemistry. It might even be fun to be married to Al Bundy, but Ed O'Neill just acts very old and tired.

The only standout is the ever clueless Phil Dunphy. He is the well intentioned guy who always screws up but doesn't totally blow it. His wife is hyper and seems never to be happy. There doesn't seem to be any real affection in this family other than what Phil Dunphy might imagine there should be.

The season finale ended with the gay guys not getting the kid, the older daughter going away to college (and off the show?), and Sophia Vergara finding out she is pregnant.

Yesterday I was browsing findagrave.com again. Maybe it seems morbid but I think you can learn something about life by learning the life stories of those who have passed on. It has many famous people but more regular people than famous. I was browsing a cemetery on Long Island and there was an entry for a 24 year old girl who died in 2005. It made me wonder how she died so I googled her name. What I found first was something more interesting than how she died. She had posted a couple of poems on a poetry website a couple of years before she died. I later found that she died of cancer and the poems were of a personal nature and did not mention an illness. It made me sad that she died young and her dreams in her poetry did not come true.

I went back to findagrave.com where you can leave notes in memory of the person. I left an anonymous note that said "Remembering Melanie, poet". I think that might be how she would like to be remembered.

My recent stock picks haven't done well, but I bought some Facebook stock today at 33.50. That is down over 10% today and maybe it is oversold. I'm a little nervous though.

It is a portion of the first parkway in the U.S. called the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway. It is no longer an auto road and much of it has been demolished but certain portions still remain like this bridge overpass in Queens. I have passed by it many times but never thought about walking on it. The roadway is now part of a NYC park and I think I know how to access it. I'm not saying this is a must do kind of thing, but it would be kind of fun to do. If I do accomplish this, then I might set another goal, I am not sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Motor_Parkway

Here is a video of me feeding him this morning.

Squirrel

Youtube - Video

Ending the game...
QuizBot: Rankings:
QuizBot: 1. darkbluewhale (141) 2. sam!! (84) 3. *luca (35) 4. vortex (31) QuizBot: 5. xanax (15) 6. mr.jones (7) 7. hava_nagila (5) 8. amazing! (3) QuizBot: 9. rosiered (2)

Who Says You Can't Go Home by Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles

Youtube - Video

I planted a number of Mexican Daylily bulbs a month or so ago and they have started sprouting. I don't know much about flowers but these flowers are supposed to bloom for only one day but there are enough buds to last for weeks.

I am feeding a pair of male and female cardinals. They wait for the food in the morning, and here is the male cardinal waiting today.

This may be the best song about the joy of rock and roll, driving with the radio on.

Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers - best version? you decide

Youtube - Video

Many youtubes don't play on an iPad I guess because they use flash or something like that. You would get various messages like you need to download flash (which you can't do) or a message that the video is unavailable. Further complicating it is that iPad comes with a youtube app which I don't like as much as the regular youtube page. But I was always able to play many youtubes on the youtube page anyway. But the last couple of days, no video seems to play on the youtube page. I just get a black youtube screen with no message. But I can play them if they are embedded in site like this or on a message board. Strange.

It was about this time of year in 1998, and I was chilling with a lady friend in a club in Tribeca in lower Manhattan. After a couple of hours she mentioned that she felt like she was coming down with a cold so I offered to get her some orange juice for the vitamin C. I found a store nearby and went to pay and the clerk looked at me funny. He says to me do you know you have lipstick on your face. I didn't know, and felt embarrassed for a second but then I felt like telling him this ain't just anyone's lipstick, this is lipstick from a rock star. How could I be mad? She loved to kiss and I loved kissing her.

Kiss me - sixpence none the richer

Youtube - Video

Last week I told the newspaper that I wanted a different delivery guy because the one who was delivering the paper was giving me crappy service. My neighbor gets her paper everyday on her doorstep. I get my paper near the curb, on the wet grass, in piles of snow in the winter, etc. So for a week I had a different delivery guy, then this week the old guy came back. Today it was raining in the morning and he puts my neighbor's paper inside her screen door. I have an awning but he didn't leave it under the awning but on the ground and the paper got soaked. I called the newspaper once again and said don't ever have this guy deliver another newspaper to me. They promised they wouldn't but that is what they said last time. Sometimes things are out of your control, but I am paying for this service and I am not going to take this crap anymore. One more slip up and the newspaper is cancelled for good.

Some songs have the ability to put you into an altered, higher state of consciousness. This is one that does it for me.

Reap The Wild Wind - Ultravox -original

Youtube - Video

Reap the wild wind.
Reap the wild wind.

Reap the wild wind.

A finger points to show a scene. (Take my hand. Take my hand.)
Another face where mine had been. (Take my hand. Take my hand.)
Another footstep where I once walked. (Take my hand)
Take it all.

Chorus:
You take my hand and give me your friendship.
I'll take my time and send you my slow reply.
Give me an inch and I'll make the best of it.
Take all you want and leave all the rest to die.

Reap the wild wind.

A footprint haunts an empty floor. (Take my hand. Take my hand.)
A fading coat that I once wore. (Take my hand. Take my hand.)
Oh, desolation where I once lived.
I have seen in times gone by.
I have felt a different shadow on the wall,
A stranglehold on a certain feeling.

(Chorus)
You take my hand and give me your friendship.
I'll take my time and send you my slow reply.
Give me an inch and I'll make the best of it.
Take all you want and leave all the rest to die.

Reap the wild wind.

Reap the wild wind.
Reap the wild wind.

You take my hand and give me your friendship.
I'll take my time and send you my slow reply.
Give me an inch and I'll make the best of it.
Take all you want and leave all the rest to die.

Reap the wild wind.

I think this is the same one I have been feeding since last year.

My Cruze needed some service plus some warranty problems needed to be fixed. They have a girl who emails asking to set up appointments, so I made one through email. I told her in 3 emails that I needed a loaner car. She said come on in. I get there today and the service guy first off is trying to upsell a package of things like inspections and a brake adjustment for over $200. My car has 7,000 miles and I doubt the brakes need a $200 adjustment. Then when I ask about the loaner car he acts like he doesn't want to give me one. He makes a phone call and says one is on its way. I'm like cool, do you need my drivers license. He says no, show it at the car rental agency. This guy was sending a van from a car rental place to pick me up and bring me to a car rental agency to rent a car there. I said you have to be kidding. The whole point of a loaner car is the convenience, not driving me to a car rental place and waste my time there like I just got off a plane. I raised a bit of a stink with the general manager of the dealership and then they got one of the service guys to drive me home. Before this, my experiences with the dealership was very positive but this was a real bad one. Now I will see if they try to stick me with some bogus repair charges. I am in a pissed off don't fuck with me mood right now.

This is a song that sounds good the first time you hear it. These lyrics stand out for me.

Saturday I'm running wild
And all the lights are changing red to green
Moving through the crowd I'm pushing
Chemicals all rushing through my bloodstream

David Gray - Babylon (With Lyrics)

Youtube - Video

Kiss Me Deadly - Lita Ford

It ain't no big thing
but I know what I like
I know I like dancing with you
and I know what you like
I know you like dancing with me

Lita Ford - Kiss Me Deadly

Youtube - Video

That the future is open wide...

I'll Stop The World and Melt With You - Modern English

Youtube - Video

That is just wrong. As a general guidline, if you can carry on a conversation with your kid he is too old to be breastfeeding.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2012/05/10/16-million-basquiat-sets-new-world-record-at-phillips-art-sale/

Around 1998 I was friends with this mystery girl who turned out to have been a minor rock star in the 80s. She could tell one amazing story after another. I found out after I stopped seeing her that in the 80s she was good friends with the artist Basquiat. She never mentioned him to me by name, but one day we were cuddling and she told me a story about a friend of hers who died young. Putting the pieces together now I am pretty sure she was talking about Basquiat. If so, I know the untold story of how he died. Here she is with him at the 20 second mark.

downtown 81 3/5

Youtube - Video

I am walking in my neighborhood this morning and I see an animal run in front of me then stop on a lawn. It is a rabbit. No big deal except this is not an area with rabbits.

For instance, my newspaper delivery guy. He throws my paper far away from my door, in piles of snow in the winter and on wet grass. However he leaves my neighbor's paper on her doorstep every morning, so with him he is doing this on purpose. A couple of years ago I thought maybe I should be tipping him, so I added a 30% tip to the bill. The service got worse. I stopped tipping. Then he leaves me envelopes with his address looking for tips. I decided last year he would get no more tips. Today he left another tip envelope. That was it. I had enough. I called and cancelled the paper. They said they would try to resolve the problem, but I said the only way I would continue to subscribe is if they gave me a different delivery person. They couldn't commit to that. This is really a very small problem in the scheme of things, but it is like a tiny pebble in your shoe. Every morning it is a small aggravation that starts my day with a thought of annoyance. I had been dealing with it for years but today I just took action and exercised my power to say FU to the guy.

If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

And I realized I was near where my grandfather was living when he died. He died 22 years before I was born so I knew little about him, but I got his death certificate last year so I knew his address when he died. As I was driving in Brooklyn I saw the street where he lived, so I turned onto it. I drove a mile or two looking for the address, and as I got near it there was some open parking spots on the street. I parked and got out and there was the building a few steps away. It is a 3 story building that I guess might have been considered a tenement, albeit not all that bad. It looked like it was in a time warp and it seemed like it probably looked like it did when my grandfather lived there. I could picture my grandfather walking up the steps to the door. He died suddenly when he was 42 from some heart problems with complications from the flu. I think he might have died in that building, which makes the building even more significant to me. I took some pictures and then later I googled the address. Real estate websites say it was built in 1930 but it looks older to me. I am glad I saw it.

An eagle has been chained for many months to the perch just outside his cage; so long has he been just conscious of the fact that he is bound by the little silver chain which holds him, that he has given up all efforts to escape, almost forgetting, perhaps, that the power of flight is his. One day a link of the little chain opens, but, living so long in the consciousness that he is held in captivity, he makes no effort to escape. The freedom of the heavens is now his, were he only conscious of his power. But day after day he sits sullenly longing for freedom, but remaining a captive still. One morning, however, he ventures a little farther out on his perch than usual, when suddenly a strange consciousness is his - he sets his wings, and the captivity which has held him for months will perchance know him no more forever.

- Ralph Waldo Trine, "The Greatest Thing Ever Known", 1898

I was listening to part of last night's Coast to Coast radio show which was about Dark Shadows. It had an author and an actress from the TV show. At the end of the show they mentioned the author's name, Frank Borzellieri. He is from Queens and my old girlfriend Beatrice was good friends with him because they lived in the same area, a neighborhood called Ridgewood. I don't know if they were romantically involved or not. I do wonder what life would have been like if I had married Beatrice as we often discussed. I guess things work out for the best in the end.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2012/05/04

I just took this picture of this gorgeous butterfly outside my door.

Bob Lind - Elusive Butterfly

Youtube - Video

There is new light green growth on the evergreen bushes now. Looks nice.

Some people think this is a weird song that doesn't make any sense. He sings that somebody left a cake out in the rain, and that he doesn't think he can take it, because it took so long to bake it, and he'll never have the recipe again. I think the meaning is that the cake is a metaphor for something great that was in your life, whether a job, a love, or some other success that you lost ("someone left the cake out in the rain"). Then he thinks that he can't deal with that loss because he worked so hard to get it ("I don't think I can take it because it took so long to bake it"). Then the crusher is that he thinks he has lost the secret to create it again ("I'll never have the recipe again"). But then he turns optimistic again and thinks he can have something great again "There will be another song for me, for I will sing it, there will be another dream for me someone will bring it". It's a great song to listen to in a down period in your life.

Richard Harris - MacArthur Park

Youtube - Video

I passed by this scene this morning, and a few minutes later heard the song below on the radio.

The Primitives - Crash. Music and Official Video Original.

Youtube - Video

If you were on someone's mind when they woke up today?

We Five - You Were On My Mind [Excellent and Best quality / Original upload]

Youtube - Video

On another site, somebody recommended a sci-fi movie called "Seconds" with Rock Hudson. Through the miracle of youtube, somebody uploaded the whole movie. I may watch it.

Youtube - Video

So I was back at Staples and Lauren was there, this girl who has always acted like she was attracted to me. First time I saw her I asked a question about something and she got girlfriend close to me. Next time I saw her she started telling me some inside joke about something going on in the store, which I had no idea what she was talking about but I laughed with her. Another time she locked eyes with me across the store. Once I didn't see her and was at a different cashier and suddenly she appeared out of nowhere to talk with my cashier. Then a month ago she opened her register just to take me. So I saw her yesterday and at first didn't recognize her from the back but it was her. She rang up the sale very efficiently but a little cold. No eye contact, no attempt to make conversation. I felt like saying, "Lauren this is me Sam, don't you remember me?". I figured I had one last chance, that is if she would look at me when she gave me the receipt. Would she or wouldn't she? Well she looked me in the eyes and smiled for a split second. I guess I can't make a complete break just yet.

James Blunt - You're Beautiful (Video)

Youtube - Video

I once get a driving lesson from a professional driver. Years ago Ford was running a promotion where they invited people to test drive some of their cars on closed tracks. They set up pylons in the Meadowlands parking lot and the instructors would teach you how to navigate around them at various speeds. It was run by the Bob Bondurant school of high performance driving. It was free so I went. The instructors would drive the course and show you how to brake and steer around the pylons at speeds not that fast but much faster than you would think you could. They would have you drive and at the last second tell you what manuever to make. If you missed you would only topple a pylon. I thought I did OK on a couple of the runs, and one of them even earned a "pretty good" from the instructor which relatively speaking was high praise. The instructors also did a little showing off, doing stuff like a 180 degree spin like you see in the movies.

"This is the law of prosperity: When apparent adversity comes, be not cast down by it, but make the best of it, and always look forward for better things, for conditions more prosperous. To hold yourself in this attitude of mind is to set into operation subtle, silent, and irresistable forces that sooner or later will actualize in material form that which is today merely an idea. But ideas have power, and ideas, when rightly planted and rightly tended, are the seeds that actualize material conditions."

This is the day your life will surely change.
This is the day when things fall into place.

This is the day

Youtube - Video

The NY Times started charging for accessing its website awhile back. It used to give 20 free articles a month, then they cut it back to 10. I found that if you use Firefox and start "private browsing", the limit doesn't apply. Of course I do not endorse such a practice to avoid paying.