Each day I hear excuses from people for different things and then the ultimate pity party they are seeking comes out !. Why? I mean lets face it folks  if you have an income, a place to live, and you can eat and get things done, why stop paying your rent? It’s a stupid option to take no matter what you do.

For instance I rent an apartment to a tenet in my basement. The man is supposed to pay 725.00 Dollars a month and 34.00 dollars a month for a DVR Cable Box and Internet use age on my router.  He  was given a parking place and asked not to open certain windows in the apartment due to them being damaged in minor ways. So instead of cooperating in everyway with me and making his life easier and mine too, he doesn’t listen when I talk to him or do what he is told. I mean how many times does a landlord have to tell you don’t open those windows, don’t park your car under pine trees in the winter that has branches that can fall off on it and destroy it?. These are not requests and harassing the tenant, they are made to save him trouble.

Instead I get him parking under said trees and tell him to move his car, he then tries to still open the windows I tell him not to and much more. He put himself thru the screen on the screen door three times, so I hired a man to rebuild it, and he still managed to put himself thru it two more times. He burns up the electric range in the apartment then tells us it was old, yet, it never had a problem in ten years with over people. What 54 year old man lets Q-tips go down a toilet? The lease said no pets, he brings home a dog and won’t remove it. Why push so bad and be stupid?  At least 5 months in a row now, he has been late on his bills to us and when we ask why it is always a different excuse of one type or another. First it was, can I hold back 350.00 dollars from my rent to replace my laptop screen I broke in my truck? Nope. Then it was my car broke down and I need to have it fixed. Then it was my daughter was sick I had to pay her hospital bill, then back to the car I had to have it towed. Now this months excuse was, I didn’t get my lump sum Social Security Disability check so I can’t pay my rent. Too much for me for sure, considering you already get a VA check for disability on the first of each month, and all you needed was an extra 57.00 dollars to pay all of what you owed. Nope

In The end I got a letter from this tenant,  he states he is having financial difficulties and can’t pay his rent and bills, begs us not to take back his cable box which is on my account and not to stop his internet use age also which he can’t pay for either. Plus no rent at all until he gets his check.  Then he goes on to say because he had confrontations with me the landlord and shouting matches he can’t handle talking to me so he calls my wife and sends her  text on her cell phone. Nope.  Then goes on to say the confrontations with me , are going to cause him a nervous breakdown. Wrong answer!

This am, since his rent and grace period for paying it expires today, and I have his letter in hand, I cut off his use age and access to the internet thru my router. Next I shall call a police officer and have him confiscate and return my cable DVR Box to me with the remote and wiring to return to Comcast. From Comcast I will ride to the Marshall’s office and file a Notice to Quit on him legally and have him served to move by March 1st, 2011 or be evicted. I am not responsible for his mental condition, his physical conditions or his inability to pay his bills on time. He cried to me, telling me he is a disabled veteran and he hurts a lot, I looked back at him and told him I am too, and I don’t forget or not pay my bills!. So in the end before February 10, 2011 is over he will have been cut off from his cable box and internet which he says is his only entertainment, plus served a notice to quit possession by March 1st, 2011. I can’t call Comcast or my mortgage company and tell them I can’t pay my bills please don’t take my services away or evict me, he can’t do it with me either. Sorry

Egypt now lays in a state of turmoil and is slowly falling apart as a Dictators lords his way over his people refusing to step down or aside. The Only question left there is will he step down, before his own people remove him with force or not. The people of Egypt do deserve better from their leaders and their government, just as every other country and people do too.

The Middle East has been in turmoil and wars for centuries now, each nation fighting one another and usually it is over borders or religion. Peace will only come when all in the Middle east finally figure out, religion is a personal choice that’s number 1 and number two that all individuals no matter race, origin or country have a right to worship as they please. Wars are fought over borders and religion every day, every where in the world but none more so then in the mIddle east. Sadly, for some reason, the people of the middle east area all seem to think they are better then their neighbors in some way, when in fact they are all just human beings with faults of their own. Wake up folks, you can not totally eliminate a race, creed or culture, without paying for it in a bad way.

Ah well enough on that issue me thinks!!!. It does not pay to rave, rant, or complain about some thing you can not change, but it is worth mentioning so others wake up to it.

Naval cruises as the U.S. Navy calls them span the world, into each and every ocean you can imagine. In each area Americans and their Navy do missions that range anywhere from war to peace, and do them well. Sailors spend long grueling hours, working, refueling, and more at the Captain’s and their countries request and demands. Few niceties are given in return to sailors, because they know they signed a contract and have to obey or end up with a dishonorable discharge, no benefits, that all sucks. So most do their duty and perform at least to a par level. They have to in order to get that discharge that says Honorable or the rest of their life is ruined by a bad one and jobs are impossible to get.

One of the Benefits of being a sailor is seeing the world and traveling from one country and continent to another. How many people not in the Navy or Military of the USA who are Americans get to see other countries and meet other nationals of said countries. Very few unless your rich can do that.

I was in for 16 years and traveled the globe doing my duty, for Uncle Sam, I saw all of Europe, The North Atlantic areas, and South America as well as Saint Thomas and the islands. Each mission of course was long hours and hard work, but also allowed us to have liberty in these port and to interact with the people. Americans are over all, well at least when I served, loved by most other countries. We give, help and support many of the world’s countries, if they are of an open government. We were always looked at as walking diplomats in a way and behaved that way for the most part.

In Amsterdam, the people are indeed very friendly and open , especially sexually and their country is beautiful to see. Then when you enter Europe you face The British and their stiff upper lip style, but they love us still and as the whole world knows they are indeed a big ally of ours. Slowly you drift around the Med touring the countries as you work. Each country is a little different in style, people and culture.  As far as Europe goes Germany is a fun place to go, I spent a year in Frankfurt  injured in a hospital there, the medical staff were great and so were the German people. Hamburg is a wild city and full of fun also, and carries a red light district all fenced in and with prostitution legalized and they carry medical cards certifying themselves healthy too. Most sailors like to brag about having a woman in each port,  because it usually happens that way, they all want to come to American and be American.

But the special cruise, is the South American one, I did it three times. Brazil is a country of fun, wild beaches, Rio and wild times. But, it also has it’s ways, and if you break the rules even an American can get hurt. As I traveled South America, Peru is a amazing country, with amazing people and an amazing culture and history. Peaceful and fun loving, yet serious at time Peruvians are the nicest people I think I have ever met. Very friendly, very open, honest and their country is beautiful.  Peru is also a place of love and caring, it people are warm and loving I know.

The Islands and Saint Thomas area is beautiful also, but a lonely place, while they have their gambling places and such, no big money no big fun is the rule really. But like I said I traveled many places, the worst for all sailors is Cuba and the Navy training base there. The heat is nasty, the temperatures high and the humidity too. And the base has no one really on it except naval support people. One year I was in Cuba for Thanksgiving, when much to our surprise, we have a visit from the country singers The Judds.  I will never forget that it was the one thing about Cuba that year that made one smile. The Judds are great singers of country music and they came to Cuba on a USO Tour to entertain the troops.  They ate on my ship that day, I sat no more then two tables from them. They are two beautiful ladies indeed and friendly too.

But, each trip of cruise you take in the Navy is an adventure they say and for all my years all I did was try to do my job and enjoy what I could.

Onboard every U.S. Navy ship,  there are things they call engineering drills. They are put in place for different reasons, 1) The prevention of damage to equipment and sailors, 2) To teach the Sailors who are engineers how to react to causalities sin the engineering plant and prevent further damage to the boilers, engines and associated equipment.  Every ship in the U.S. Navy back in the days I served had to go thru this training, in Cuba, and the watch teams had to qualify and pass these drills to be certified to run the  engineering plants.  We had Engineering manuals and drills and operating procedures all over the spaces, plus Personal Qualification Standards for each Watch Station and individual.

So, as a engineer aboard a Naval ship, we engineers had times we hated more then others for sure. Especially when these periods of drills and qualifications would come up at least  once a year for us. We knew what it would mean for us, long hours in a hot engineering plant, sweating away and practicing drills will wear any man down for sure. But the U.S. Navy pushes these things to points beyond compare and the sailors who man these positions get injured at times, tired at times and angry too. The anticipation of these drills build from the moment the ships schedule is set to participate in them. Each sailor aboard the ship knows it leads them to Cuba, hot climates , high temperature work and very long hours. Yeah, being a sailor is not always a fun time, but being a naval engineer is worse then the rest of them. We were always the first to report for duty when getting underway and the last to leave when coming home to home port. It is a part of Navy history that engineers aboard our ships give that extra because they have to.

One year aboard a ship I was assigned to, U.S.S Pounce LPD 15 out of Norfolk, Virginia, these drills for engineers came up. The plant was old as was the ship, yet it still needed to be run correctly and the watch teams certified to run it. We were scheduled for Cuba and Engineering Trials and Training in August of that year. We all were not looking forward to visiting Cuba again, first off for engineers the liberty there sucked, and the hours became long drawn out, sweaty work days of 18 hours or more.

As we arrived in Cuba that year, we had a younger crew then normal onboard and knew it was to be a challenge to say the least, for these watch teams to be trained correctly. I was assigned at the time to the Engineering Casualty Control Team or ECCT as I called it. These are the senior Petty Officers and offices aboard a ship who have run Naval Engineering Plants for years and know the drills and procedures well. Our main purpose is to help qualify the watch teams and get us out of Cuba and back into service at sea as fast as possible and in a correct manner.

During this trip[ to Cuba, as I said the watch teams were made up of younger sailors who just came out of engineering schools from the Navy, Their experience levels were lower then most and as we started the drills I knew we were going to be in Cuba for a while for sure. The days grew longer and longer and our period of stay in Cuba grew longer too, the temperatures kept rising, in the engineering plants and we sweat through two or three sets of uniforms a day doing drills. We ran through all the drills once, and we failed to get certified, due to foolish mistakes. SO we did them again, then again and again.  The ship had to be certified to operate the plant, or we could not be sent on missions.

Well after so many times and a long period of time in Cuba that was well over  a month longer then normally scheduled we did finally pass the certification and we were sent home to Norfolk, Virginia our home port. The revenge the engineers came up with happened, on our next mission and voyage into the North Atlantic Ocean and the freezing temperatures. Our mission was sin the cold waters up north and the engineers were still tired of being pushed.

One day in the fire room, the Captain came down and didn’t like what he saw some of his sailors doing. So as a punishment he went back to his stateroom and called in his Chief Engineer. He set up more engineering drills to take place right there on that cruise in the North Atlantic. man, did this make us engineers mad. But, like all good sailors and military men, we did the drills he wanted done, as quick as humanly possible because we now knew them by heart.

Once completed, a boiler man, in our forward fire room decided he had enough of these drills. and He was tired of us all being pushed so relentlessly. His solution would make the Captain think twice, before ever doing such a thing to his crew again. He found the steam valve that controlled the steam to the Captains steam heaters in his stateroom. laughing!.  Slowly each day a quarter turn at a time he slowly shut the valve down, Ultimately he cut the steam off to the Captain’s  state room making the Captain freeze in the North Atlantic Ocean’s cold waters in November. The valve controlling this steam, was located in a very out of the way place in the overhead of the fire room and could only be operated by a hinged reach rod.  To insure no one could open the valve and give the Captain his heat back the sailor destroyed the reach rod!.

When the Captain called down about his heat missing we sent him to another division an told him all was fine in the fire room, this went on for one week in the North Atlantic Ocean in freezing temperatures.  Finally the Captain sent the Chief Engineer to find the problem, and he located the valve but not the reach rod to open it with. In the end a new one had to be created. The Captain learned a lesson, he now knew not to over push. The cold revenge of his engineers against him cost the Captain a few weeks  of very sick time. Talk about cold revenge being the sweetest!. Of course ultimately the Captain never found out who did it and life went on.

As time flies by faster the older you get, you notice aches and pains you haven’t felt yet. Today I turn 55 years old, hard to believe for me. I remember thinking when I was younger and running wild as a kid, I would be gone by 40, but alas fates have me still here at 55. A little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit more aches and pains, but no surprise. Life carries on one way or another, as my step-father said to me before he passed away, Son, I may be gone and buried you see, but don’t you forget me. But  don’t you cry over me, I will be gone one day, and time shall always move on. The days shall pass, the weeks and months and years, and sooner or later like we all do, we all get here. So cry not for me or the dead you see. use the time you have here wisely and live for each day fully and  stay happy and free.

For many getting older is pain and suffering and for few there is the healthy later years. But what ever you do folks as you age, remember to take care of yourself and be smart about how you live. Eat right and stay clean, try to stay lean, and always be nice. ok!

One last Note for today:

The Super Bowl is a coming very soon and the teams are now set!. Pittsburgh’s Steelers vs. Green Bays Packers, two of the winingest teams in NFL history go head to head. Should be one tough contest and a great game enjoy folks!. It will be a day for chips and dips and beer and cheer!

Seems if you own a home especially here in Connecticut on the East Coast USA, you  better be ready for almost anything happening. Gutters go and start to form ice damns, allowing and forcing water into your home ruining ceilings and windows,. Then you get light switches that decide to do big time and blow bulbs out too and have to replace  it all. Then when you finish fixing all that the wife comes by and says, I hate to tell you this but, and the next thing you know your replacing internals on a damn toilet.  What is a homeowner to do? All you can do in Connecticut in winters like this one is keep safe and do the best you can to keep things running correctly, and stay warm.

Connecticut with it’s scenic winter wonderland photos of ice hanging down off of homes, and snow covered trees and more is pretty to look at but dangerous to live in. Ice covered ponds can be thin iced, people fall in and drown, roofs collapse under the weight of snow and ice, black ice gets under snow and on roads causing accidents. Yet we all live in Connecticut anyway, silly aren’t we? Each day is a new adventure and trial so to say.

I have lived in Connecticut, Florida, Virginia and even Pennsylvania, each state has it unique and different problems for sure when it comes to weather, yet each panics when snow and ice hits. You would think the Northern states at least would be prepared each year for these snow and ice storms, but alas they aren’t.  In the Northern states it seems people forget what snow and ice is  until after the first two storms of the season. Why is that?

Now In the Southern States the panic is two fold, over a half inch of snow or ice and people go crazy driving in it and have no idea what to do. Sometimes I wonder why Motor Vehicle Departments in each state don’t ask drivers what to do or how to drive in it all. They should make basic question on driving tests for that.

Anyway, today is Saturday, it is Playoff Championship Weekend in the NFL once more. Four teams are now left to fight for a one shot deal and trip to this years Super Bowl.  In the NFC We have two teams who are mid west rivals and division rivals. Welcome to The Green Bay Packers versus The Chicago Bears. Both teams have fine defenses, yet this game in my opinion, will be a shootout between Rodgers and Cutler. While Rodgers I believe has the better team and will probably get his Packers to Super Bowl 45. The only way Chicago can beat Green Bay and advance is if Rodgers gives up the ball by interceptions or fumbles. Watch the defenses folks, this one can be a war in the snow. The second game will most likely be a one sided game, it matches the Pittsburgh Steelers against the New York Jets. Yes I did say the New York Jets, I know hard to believe, but true. The Jets only chance to win this game and advance to the Super Bowl, centers around one thing defense. If they can get to Big Ben and hurry him and sack him and then keep control of the ball themselves they have a chance. If the Steelers have the ball over 20 minutes in this game it will be Pittsburgh in the big game, mark my words.  The Jets need to use ball control, to keep Pittsburgh’s offense on the bench or sidelines, and run the ball as much as possible only throwing short passes  to keep it going. Otherwise Pittsburgh will ram it down the Jets throat and win.

America’s east coast is being plummeted with snow and ice problems, this January. Each day is a mystery as I keep checking for leaks from my new roof and ice dams. The condition has almost ruined a window and has totaled a garage ceiling so far. No help or rest from it it seems. But as life goes on, there is always something that will get you  no matter what it seems.

Health wise my back and neck injuries continue to ache and spasm for me. My Naval injuries get worse with time as the Doctors said degenerative  conditions do that as you age. The arthritis builds in the spine and neck making it harder to do much at all at times. Ah well as I always have said no sense bitching anymore, because  no one listens anyway and you get nothing out of it in the end. SO you move on and do what you can is all and survive.

Five days from now I shall turn 55 years old , hard to believe considering when I was younger I never thought I would survive beyond forty years old. As a child I had more problems then Jimmy Carter had peanuts on his farms. But somehow I over came  most of them.  I survived seizures, 198 of them in my first 9 months of life, then grew up with attention deficient disorder and hyperactivity which made  my parents almost kill me or give me away, and overcame that by outgrowing it all. Then went on to have spinal damage in back and neck and PTSD problems and still continue on, after serving my country for 16 years. I think I did ok.

At almost 55, give me the 5 days now laughing, I have seen the world, protected my country the best I could and honorably, overcome childhood problems and now adult injuries incurred in service with Uncle Sam’s help of course. I originally dropped out of high school and went to work. Then got my GED, then served my country, got out injured went back to college and got an Associates in Hotel and restaurant Management thru Naugatuck Valley Community College. I won awards in college for different things and they now hang on my wall.  Recently I completed a Writers Course thru Long Ridge Writers Group and got a diploma for that also.  I think for a male who had so many problems I overcame just fine and survived long.

My blog I do when I have time these days, and I may rant, rave, complain, bitch, moan, about politics, economic woes, or health issues, or even mistreatment of Veterans like myself, but I survive.

Life has it’s own mysteries as you grow older it seems and the longer one is around! When I stop and think of the mysteries of life, it’s funny how the biggest mystery is really death! 

No one know why or how people really die, or where we go once we die, but, we all know we all die  or expire.

No one knows what the weather will be either or really why it is so when it changes, we are just forced to deal with what ever happens.

No one can predict who will get sick, or who will be well, no one can really tell.

Wars are fought, millions die at the hands of others, yet people forget what they were fighting over or for, and the wars just continue on, no end in sight.

People have nightmares of past events  and can’t sleep and others sleep soundlessly and peaceful every night.

Why is the only dinosaur to survive the Ice Age, and meteor storms that wiped them out the birds?

Why is it Presidents get shot at only every few years like even even year not odd?

Why is it like Billy Joel said in his song, Only The Good Die young!

Why is it mankind is the most intelligent species on the earth as far as  use of brains and social skills, but we kill each other off like idiots at a shooting gallery for no real reason?

All these and more are mysteries of life that goes on everyday, why? Maybe because like one person told me many decades ago, there are some things mankind can not control or make do what we want, we have to except them and deal with it in the most positive manner and move on. We can grieve people who leave, we can deal with shifts in weather and wars,  but mysteries that come and take away people, change weather, or make people ill or well we have no control over. Why?

Mankind is still the only being on the planet that has a brain and thinks and walks and is supposed to have social skills enough to survive this planets weather systems, at least for life time periods. But if mankind is really the most intelligent species on the planet earth, then why does mankind not help each other instead of war with one another?

America in the 1950s/ 1960s and 1970s, was run and built on a us society, team work and helping others was big. You got a flat tire someone stopped to help you change it, you saw a hungry person you gave them a few bucks and fed  them a meal You saw someone injured or sick you called 911 or for help!  That was those days in America and they were good days, bread was affordable, food was affordable, and so were clothing and medical supplies.

Then came the 1980s and Bill Cosby and The Cosby Show hit the air waves. Bill’s talk to your children, don’t hit your children theme may have been good for physiological reasons and the right thing to say and do, but it stunk as far as discipline and direction for our children and produced the problem people of America of the 2000s.  A child who does wrong when they know they are doing wrong needs a good swat now and then to go the right direction and way. This permissiveness bull, is ruining American society in many ways and producing madmen and maniacs who are killing and hurting others. Sadly America is failing it’s children in more ways then one.

Today American children have cell phones, computers, video game systems and more and can’t get off their rear ends and do a damn thing. The cry when you take it all away from them, but ask them when they last read a book, or shoveled a walk, or helped build something, or even cleaned a car or yard, never will be their answer or oh that was long ago. Their hands and eyes and minds are tied to video games, keyboards and cell phones. They have to keep up with their neighbors and friends in the electronic gadget world of today in America.  Why? What ever happened to work won’t hurt you, earn what you want you will value it more? Sadly, when America’s society started enforcing laws that allow children to file for divorce from their parents, and to get their own parents arrested for spanking or smacking them, well we have gone too far.

I am not saying abuse your children or beat them senseless or something along that way, I would never advocate that. But I am saying there are times when a child needs a good cuff upside their head or a smack on the rear to go straight and do right. What we end up with because of a lack of discipline, are children who demand more for less and when they don’t get what they want, they turn into lazy renters, lazy employees, people who can’t hold jobs or pay their bills, who then blame society and all around them for their problems and sit there and say, well they wouldn’t help me, so I acted out, and did something stupid or deadly to another human being. Sadly this is what happened in Arizona and elsewhere, with these madman and mentally incompetent people shooting others. May we one day realize a little discipline and guidance and teaching go a long way!.

America was built and is still built on the Constitution, The Bill Of Rights, and a society meant to be a We The People Society, which means it is us against the world, not me for me, but us against the world. One Nation joined in efforts to improve it’s own society, to help one another, not just yourselves!.

God Bless America, and lets hope we can help our own by pulling back from wars we do not belong in, and applying  that money and funding to housing our own homeless, medicating our own sick and ill, feeding our hungry. Lets take care of America and Americans first and foremost before we had the world help, lets help ourselves!

Every Year I hear New Englanders here in my own state of Connecticut complain about the winter weather and it’s storms. Folks if you don’t like snow and you hate the cold I think you need to move to warmer climates. Try Florida and get hit by hurricanes, or try California and get Earth Quaked then. I mean basically unless you live in the American south west areas , your going to have to deal with some kind of weather problems yearly.

 

Snow when I was a kid was fun, you could sled, slide, skate and build snow men and have snow ball fights. As you grow older though you get tired of shoveling out. It still is a pretty winter wonderland to look at, but you grow to know it is work to dig out of each time it happens.  Many New Englanders head south or even west in their older years, but why, if you grew up in it you should be able to handle it, but I can see if health reasons apply. Anyway next subject.

 

The madness that overtakes this country at time is deafening yet roars out of the dark each time. Murders mass and public in Arizona and else where why? What madness has America created to deserve what is happening?  The numbers of these incidents grow each year as our population grows and our living conditions worsen. Between economic hard times, medical hard times and stupid society traditions of bullying and racism and prejudice and discrimination, it all wells up under a cover on the kettle that is America and, seems to pop the lid and blow up in our faces more times then ever before in history. Why, is it happening? Mental illness in America is rampant these days because we allow our mental patients who are bi-polar, or worse to roam our streets, instead of putting them away or medicating them. When will America understand it must help the disabled and mentally ill to cope and survive in our fast moving world or more violence will happen?

 

Each day, the madness grows, each day another soul goes over the edge and kills another human being!. When shall the madness stop, when can and will America wake up and realize this is what health care is all about not just the physical side, but the mental side has to be addressed also. Killing Obama’s Health Care Reform is not the way to go, what needs to be done is fix it, so it covers all Americans and both physical and mental health care too at least prescription wise. More people have mental illness in America then anywhere else in the world, and few can afford prescription drugs and medical attention to control themselves, so the lid blow and people get murdered and killed, innocent lives get lost because American’s don’t listen and help. The shootings in Arizona and else where in America should wake some Americans up to the problems we need to face, but if we don’t cover the medication and doctor visits for these bi-polar and mentally ill individuals, the death tolls will rise and so shall the price of not helping them. who know it can be your relative who will be shot next by one of them!