I haven't watched a minute of these Olympics. I just don't care about them.

I found something that gets rid of the itch. Rubbing the area of the bite with rubbing alcohol works (is that why it is called rubbing alcohol?). I guess people know about that but I just found out about it on a message board.

I had a free hour this afternoon so I watched the birds in my backyard. The usual Mourning Doves, sparrows, and crows stopped by. I am not sure what type of bird is in the first picture. It is about the size of a sparrow but has a black coloring under its throat.

About a month ago some guy at the checkout spent a long time examing my $20s for counterfeits. Pissed me off and I emailed their corporate office. A guy from the store later called and left a message that he would call back. He never did. Since then they haven't checked my $20s. Today I am at a cashier who I have been at many times. She does the same counterfeit check (which is bogus because some of the older 20s don't have security features). I ask if that is a new policy and she says there are many counterfeits. I ask like I am serious if the store would prefer if I brought $5s and $1s. She ignores me. I get home and call the store manager. I tell him I have a comment on this new policy. I say I have no problem if that is the store's policy but the selective application is a problem. He doesn't acknowledge that it is even a policy and apologizes and says he will talk to the woman. People should learn not to f with me.

Don't it make you wanna go home now
don't it make you wanna go home
All God's children get weary when they roam
Don't it make you wanna you go home

Don't It Make You Want to Go Home - Joe South - 1969

Youtube - Video

You can always dance with yourself and you might have more fun.

Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol (1981) -

Youtube - Video

I took a walk in a place I haven't gone to in a long time and saw three completely white pigeons.

This is the cat that visited tonight.

My next door neighbor's landscaper came today. I am watching them and they leave grass clippings and debris on my sidewalk and driveway. Only one guy is still here and there is no sign of the leaf blower guy coming back. I go outside and wait for this last guy and go up to him and say you are going to clean this up right? He is like yeah yeah in spanish and I say good because last time I had to sweep my driveway. He cleaned it up.

I think I mentioned this before that shady door to door salesmen go around the neighborhood, usually trying to sell some home improvement service. Today my bell rings and then there is urgent knocking on the door. I grab my pocket knife and open the door and this young muscular guy goes into a pitch about windows. I stop him and say I am not interested and close the door. This guy keeps talking at me through the door like he is challenging me. I open the door again and say I told you I am not interested in whatever you are selling now get off my property. This time I slam the door in his face. He gets into a personal car and leaves. I am glad I have my knife ready. You come onto my property and pick a fight with me when I ask you nicely to leave and you might find yourself getting stabbed.

Sometimes you can only experience freedom when you completely surrender.

Cheap Trick Surrender

Youtube - Video

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come on come on we'll dance all night.

The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer in the City

Youtube - Video

I am almost finished reading this book. The woman who wrote it spent a year doing different things to achieve a higher level of happiness. I think there is something to her idea of consciously trying to be happier. It's like that old saying attributed to Lincoln that people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Gretchen Rubin is an author and former practicing attorney. She wrote books on JFK and Churchill, and is not a professional self help author other than this book. I wasn't familiar with her work before this book. In the middle of the book she makes an offhand comment that she had just been elected to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). It really has nothing to do with the book, but I think she mentioned it for those of us who are familiar with conspiracy theories about the CFR. Basically that it is one of the groups running the world. Did she mention it to let the reader know she is one of the elite and knows what she is talking about? That's my guess. Anyway it is a good read.

"Take advantage of this high-energy cycle. Your confidence grows, and so does your luck. You can pretty much accomplish anything. Don't forget to sleep."

Meredith Marakovits is a reporter on the Yankees' YES network. If you google her name, the third result after wikipedia and her twitter is......my Meredith Marakovits youtube.

In a cemetery, Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, Queens. I decided today to walk through this cemetery which is next to my old high school. I passed by it for 4 years and never went in. Today I was in the area and walked through it. It has a small pond and there was a duck swimming in it. It is a non-sectarian cemetery and has a statue of a goddess. Interesting stuff.

My a-hole neighbor across the street got out his leaf blower and blew all the crud off his sidewalk into the street and then like a snake kept blowing it further onto my side of the street until all the crap is now next to my car. The guy has been doing stuff like this for years. He is one of those fake friends that try to avoid you when he sees you then gives you the phoniest smile. So today while he was still out I pulled out my own leaf blower and blew all the stuff back onto his side of the street. I was just waiting for him to say something and I would tell him that I am tired of sweeping up his leaves and debris from my side of the street for years. I didn't do this before because I don't want confrontation but obviously he has no respect for me anyway so what do I have to lose.

This morning I decided to watch Pink's video of "Who Knew" on youtube. I don't think I had seen that video before and I liked the song and hadn't heard it in awhile. Shortly after I was in my car and I turned on the radio and "Who Knew" was playing. I had definitely tuned into the Who Knew vibration today.

P!nk - Who Knew

Youtube - Video

The one eating is the cat that I fed this morning at 3 AM. She brought along a friend tonight and they shared the food. I am not sure of the relationship between the two cats, I think they are just friends.

This is a sports website created by Dan Abrams who is a legal analyst for ABC news. I uploaded a radio host's (Mike Francesa) monologue on the Colorado shootings:

http://www.sportsgrid.com/media/mike-francesa-torture/

I pulled into my driveway this morning and this cardinal flew up on my fence, and I took this picture from my car. I hadn't put out any food yet and they let me know. I give them a "squirrel and critter blend" made of corn, sunflower seeds, and a few peanuts. The squirrels like it and the birds love it too.

I just woke up at 3 AM and looked out my back door. The cat I have been feeding came out of the shadows and I poured her some cat food. I was glad to see her.

Matchbox Twenty - 3AM (Video)

Youtube - Video

Today's Colorado shooting gets me thinking about the randomness (?) of being in such situations. I am particularly interested because I was at the scene of the last two such shootings in the New York area. What are the odds of something like that? The first one was the 1993 Long Island Railroad massacre when a guy shot up a commuter train killing six and wounding 20 or so others. I was on that train and got off just before he started shooting. I heard the gunshots as the train left the station. The other shooting was at the Empire State Building in 1997. It was a Sunday and I was at a seminar in the building next door to the Empire State Building. I didn't witness anything but I was next door about a half hour before the shooting. Sometimes I ponder such things but really there is no logical answer. Was I there for a reason? Was it totally random? Did I escape death? Is there some reason for being close but not being harmed? Is there some meaning in it for me? I guess the only way to think is that maybe there is something left for me to do in this life. I don't know for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Ferguson_(mass_murderer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Empire_State_Building_shooting

Today I was returning cans to the supermarket. I didn't need to shop but I just wanted the receipt for the next time I shop. While I was there a shopping cart rolled into the roadway a good way away from me. Nobody moved it for about 5 minutes. It wasn't blocking traffic but it was a nuisance and hazard. As I started driving away, a middle aged Chinese woman was leaving the store with a small bag. I was watching her from a distance and she stopped and moved the cart off the road. There was a slight slope near the door where she put it and it rolled back onto the pavement. She walked back to the cart and this time pushed it back and left it inside the store. Her actions lifted my spirits, seeing somebody going out of their way when she didn't have to.

The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket

Youtube - Video

I look to see if there are any changes in quiz room ops and there is a person named Ninja Skillz there. Who is this person? I haven't been in quiz room much recently but I never heard of this person unless it is somebody who changed their nickname.

There will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You'll still be the one.

I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky.

MacArthur Park - Richard Harris

Youtube - Video

100.2 in the shade before noon.

The hit songs of 1999. Some great stuff but I didn't know most of the R&B stuff.

Hit songs of 1999

Youtube - Video

Yardbarker is a FOX sports affiliate. They linked to a couple of my youtubes about Mike Francesa which were posted by a blog called Bob's Blitz, which is one of my youtube subscribers.

http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/articles/mike_francesa_outs_steve_somers_then_gets_owned_by_a_mets_fan_re_nick_swisher/11010737

Breaking Bad is a cable show that I have never seen. I click on one of my youtubes and youtube added a 30 second trailer for the new season of Breaking Bad before it plays. Here is the youtube. Embedded videos don't run ads.

New Order - Regret

Youtube - Video

And this is the song - Wear Your Love Like Heaven

Wear Your Love Like Heaven - Donovan

Youtube - Video

This is hilarious and very true.

Jack Webb Schools Obama on Democracy

Youtube - Video

This is a short story on his Night Shift collection. It is a non-horror story, and most of his best work are not horror stories. It is about a guy and his sister. When they were kids the used to climb a ladder into the rafters of a barn and dive into piles of hay. One day his sister is climbing the ladder and it breaks and she is caught dangling over the bare ground where she would be killed if she fell. Her brother sees this, tells her to hang on, and he gets the idea to haul bales of hay under her. When he has enough he tells her to let go. She falls and is surprised when she lands safely in the hay. He says didn't you know there was hay there? Why would you let go if you didn't know? She says she trusted her brother enough to know what was best for her.

They grow up, move away from each other. The sister gets involved with bad stuff. The brother gets a call that his sister killed herself jumping out of a window. Then he gets a letter in the mail that was delayed because it had been forwarded due to him moving. It had been written by his sister telling him that maybe she would have been better off if she hadn't lived that day in the barn. He sees this as a call to him for help, and when there was no reply she took it as a sign that her brother was OK with her plans. Because the letter got delayed he couldn't tell her to hang on until he got there like that time in the barn.

I went to the home where my family was living when I was born. We moved when I was about 3 and I have no memory of that home. While I have no conscious memory of it, I must have some subconscious memory of the place that was my home for the first 3 years of my life. It is in Brooklyn and I never thought about visiting there until today. It is a multi-family home in an old brick building. There was no parking nearby but as I drove by, a car was blocking the street so it forced me to stop directly in front of the building for a couple of minutes. I got some good pictures of it. It was synchronicity that a guy left his car in the street forcing me to stop right in front of the building.

There is a small storefront a couple of blocks from me that I found out is a Jain Temple. I had never heard of the Jain religion, but a quick check on google finds it is an ancient Indian religion. I like some of the philosophy behind it.

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

I bought premium gas for my Chevy Cruze for the first time today. The manual says it only needs regular and with the high gas prices that is what I have been using. I read on a Cruze message board that premium gets better gas mileage for this car. Most cars don't get better mileage on premium, but the Cruze is turbocharged so maybe it might make a difference. The car's information center keeps track of average gas mileage and since I had the car it averages 26 mpg. This most recent fill-up I got 24 mpg, so I will see how much mileage I get on the premium.

I saw this black squirrel this morning. I can't remember ever seeing a black one before.

Today I was looking for an old document in some papers I have and I came across the phone number and address of Chandra. She was 19 when I met her and I was a bit older but she was, at least physically, my dream girl. Not everyone would think she was that good looking but she met my mental image of what my dream girl looks like. Somehow the universe aligned and she suggested we have dinner sometime. Was I dreaming? Well a few months later I was visiting her in the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan, west 43rd street and 9th avenue where she was living with her musician mother. The relationship was off and on for about two years, mostly off. One of the last times I kissed her this song was playing, only it was not just my imagination.

The Temptations just my imagination

Youtube - Video

Gavin DeGraw - Not Over You

Gavin DeGraw - Not Over You

Youtube - Video

An occasional door to door salesman rings my bell. They are usually home improvement companies of some sort, or an occasional company trying to get you go change electricity providers. In other words, the majority are scammers. Whenever my bell rings when I am not expecting anyone, I grab my handy pocket knife just in case it is someone up to no good. Sometimes you read about robbers getting into someone's house. I live in a very safe neighborhood but on the off chance someone tries something it is good to be prepared. I didn't even buy this knife, it was a free gift when I bought something by mail order. But now I keep it handy around the house.

Anyway today my bell rings and it is a young guy with a badge with his name and a company name of Vivint. He goes into a long and slow presentation about home security. I give him a minute then tell him no thanks and he keeps talking. I close my door and I hear him still giving the sales pitch with the door closed. I googled the company name and it is a real company but has a lot of complaints about their misleading sales pitches.

For the one who got away.

Derek And The Dominos - Bell Bottom Blues ( studio version)

Youtube - Video

I have been talking to this woman named Renee on the phone every couple of months since 2009. She had emailed me from a yahoo group I belong to. We had never communicated on the group itself though. She is older than me and married, and lives about ten miles from me. I have no intention of meeting her nor do I think she wants to meet me. But she is so easy to talk to. It doesn't matter the topic, we seem to have stuff in common to talk about. She knows some of the people and places I am familiar with, and watch some of the same TV shows. While we have had completely different lives, it is like we are on the same mental wavelength. A couple of times we have had been on the phone over 3 hours on a single call, and I am not much of a phone person. Talking to her is effortless. Hours go by like minutes. It can be 3 or more months between calls but I think that works better and keeps things fresh.

One one of my computers the Java update balloon appears everytime I start the computer. I go into the Java settings and uncheck the box that looks for them. But the changed setting never is permanent. I do some research and it is a bug that you have to go into command prompt mode and start the program that way. Command prompt mode is the old DOS command line that looks like c:\ where you can enter DOS commands. Luckily I still remember enough DOS commands as my first computer was DOS. So with a few cd (change directory) and dir (directory) commands I started the Java program from DOS and made the changes which look like they took.

I watched a documentary about David Berkowitz and the Son of Sam killings on youtube that was part of Discovery's Deranged Killers series. I think it is very likely that he wasn't the only shooter. He is now a born again Christian and has his own website that someone maintains for him. Who knows if he is sincere but that is the life he has been living for 25 years now. He even has a mailing address but I don't think I will be writing him.

http://ariseandshine.org/Contact-or-Link-to-Us.html

This is the documentary. One of the early victims, Joanne Lomino, was shot about a ten minute walk from where I live.

Youtube - Video

Actually I have nothing to do with the Party Monster, aka Michael Alig. He was a club kid who murdered his roommate in a drug stupor and then dismembered him. But I do have a connection of sorts with him. In 1996 when this murder happened, I had a mutual friend with Alig. I was friends with a girl who was a bartender at The Limelight nightclub where Alig worked as a promoter. She knew him very well and I was good friends with her.

Ludlow Street is a street on the lower east side of Manhattan. I was there only once. I was thinking that maybe that was the last time I was really happy. But no that is not exactly right. I think more accurately it was the last time I was with someone who really cared for me. I found this song that captures the mood of Ludlow Street, with a song of the same name.

Ludlow Street - Stuffy Shmitt

Youtube - Video

The male cardinal I am feeding is very intelligent. It makes an effort to communicate with me I think to thank me for feeding him. After eating he flies up to me about five feet away and tilts his head and chirps while looking at me.

A few years ago, I think in 2008, I saw a bug stuck in a spiderweb in my backyard. It was a very large bug, like the size of a bumblebee. I don't remember if it was one though. I took a stick and broke up the web and the bug got free. It soared into the sky and over the roof of my house. The sight of it flying over my roof is one I haven't forgotten.

No Doubt - Spiderwebs

Youtube - Video

Where I live this is the season of landscapers, or as I think of them, suburban terrorists. They arrive like a guerilla army with a half dozen illegal immigrants with 200 decibel leaf blowers and mowers. Today I am driving down a wide street and there is a guy with a leaf blower in the middle of the street blowing crud in my direction. He was lingering in the middle of the road so I thought I would play along with his game. I kept driving, not very fast, but toward him. As he gradually moved to the side of the road, I ever so gently steered toward him. Almost imperceptibly but definitely toward him. I was not going to hit him but I wanted to make his heart race a bit since he thought he was king of the road. When I passed him I wasn't that close to him but I had him leaning against a parked car. He looked back at me with a wtf look. Now I don't usually do this nor encourage it. I wasn't even the slightest bit angry at the time. But I was up for a game of chicken and demonstrate to him a little bit about the law of cause and effect.

Last year on the July 4th weekend I made a video driving on the Long Island Expressway heading into Queens toward Manhattan. No particular reason, I just tried it out to see what it would look like. I had no plans to make another one this year, but I was on the expressway this morning and said why not? It was lightly raining, but little traffic. Normally this highway is filled with cars and trucks. I added a live recording by Bruce Springsteen of his song "4th of July, Asbury Park" which conveniently was about as long as the video. I guess I went about 7 miles and exited the highway where my old college is. Last year's video was made on a sunny day, so that was nice, but this year I went further down the highway....

July 4th, 2012 - Sandy

Youtube - Video

It is time for me to renew. I forget what the benefits of it are, plus the euro now seems strong against the dollar. I remember when the dollar was worth more, now it is like $1.25 or more to a euro.

One more entry in my best moments series. This was late spring or early summer of 1996. I was walking up Broadway in lower Manhattan on my lunch hour. I see a crowd of people on the sidewalk but I can't see what they are looking at. I thought it was somebody doing a sidewalk performance which is not uncommon. I look over some heads in the crowd and there is a young guy face down on the sidewalk having a seizure. It didn't look like an epileptic one as it wasn't very violent but he was shaking all over and occasionally banging his chin on the sidewalk. I don't have any first aid training but I got this feeling that I could help him. I eased my way through the crowd and I kneeled next to him. I had no particular plan in mind but I put my hand on his back and started rubbing his back. Within a few seconds he stopped shaking and soon got up. My reaction to myself was holy crap I did that. I don't know what had happened, maybe the seizure was ending on its own, maybe my touch changed the course of the seizure, maybe it was just the unexpected nature of what I did. When he got up he looked a bit stoned so my guess the seizure was drug related. Soon after, cops and an ambulance came. The guy didn't want to go in the ambulance but I talked him into it. One of the cops thanked me.

I can't really explain why I got involved. I don't usually if I have no idea how to help. But that whole scenario was almost like I was watching myself. I remember everything about it from my mindset as I was walking up Broadway until it was over. The only thing that stands out was at that time in my life my mind was clear. I just had this sense that I could help him. I never told anyone about that but I think it is important to remember those times when your highest self shows.

This was the late 90s. I was with my friend and headed to my car in the parking lot. A guy got out of a minivan and said he needed help starting it. I looked inside and there was a bunch of handicapped kids inside who he was transporting home after bowling. I asked him what was wrong and he said the starter wasn't engaging. I am certainly not a mechanic but I try to help when asked. I got in the driver's seat and tried to turn it over. It would catch for a second then stop. I figured it was a loose wire inside the ignition, so the only thing I could do was keep trying. I did this for about 10 minutes and my friend was like let's go. It was late in the day and nobody had cell phones with them so I just had to keep trying. I mean if this wasn't a test from the universe with stranded handicapped kids - how could I walk away? I tried turning it over another five minutes and finally the minivan started. That was a good day.

I was stopped at a light and on the cross street there was a young hispanic guy in a motorized scooter. He was waiting to cross the street. I looked closer and he had no legs. But the thing about him was that he was moving in the scooter very purposely, going to wherever his destination was. I didn't feel pity for him but awe at his determination. My thought for today is if you have two fully functioning legs you should find something to do like this guy with no legs apparently has found.

This youtube of mine is now over 25,000 views. It had about only 500 views when Kevin Smith tweeted it the early morning hours of last Thanksgiving. (Still seems odd to say that last sentence.)

Dave Loggins - Please Come To Boston - good audio quality

Youtube - Video

I met this Chinese woman one Friday night. I think it was September 13, 1996 if I remember correctly. She was about 10 years older than me but it can be hard to guess the age of an Asian woman. She was my good friend for 3 years. I never thought of her like a girlfriend but boy did I feel comfortable hanging out and talking with her. I don't even remember what her Americanized name was. Her real name did not easily translate into English but it was pronounced like the letter "O" which is what I called her. She was one of the great people I have met in my life. Once she asked if I would go to Thailand with her where her parents were living. I never seriously considered it, but how great is it to have an Asian women ask you to go to Thailand with her?

Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok ( Original Music Video ) HD / HQ

Youtube - Video