Just another New years eve,,,,

Whoa ,, what a year !!  Holy Shit,,,

Let's go back to last year,,, if I can even remember  that long ago,, he I am an old guy and the memory is the 1st thing to go,,

The best part of the year was a 2nd Grandson,, there is nothing better,,, he is such a happy boy, and watching my 1st Grandson grow up,,, he is so smart, and quick witted,,  make me very emotional to think about both of them.....


SO the speculation was that the company that I work for ,, umm worked for was to be sold,,, and that BIG BLUE was gonna get out of the Semiconductor business,,,   and sure enough this other Company GF Bought it,,   The transition was to take place in May,,, that got moved out to JULY 1st,,, and we we re all no longer Beamers,, we were Owned by a company Call Mubadala,,,solely owned by the county of Abu Dhabi.... WHJO cares we still have a job,,,, and I will say that the company bent over backwards for  us old Beamers... SO far so good,,,,  and and I retired from IBM,, ME retired,, wow, now I feel old,,,   except for Collecting that Retirement check every month,,,let hope that keep going for a long time...


Much of 2015 was blur,,, between awaiting the transition in the business, and then doing it,,,

Completed work on my Son's house , although he is getting the roof replaces,, we finished the Siding Outside,, the Stone work inside, refinished the Pool and repainted it,   sone #2 got 2 more Dogs,,, Cant wait to go out and visit them again,, maybe March or April or maybe for my ,,, ugh 60th
My daughter bought a house,,,a beautiful place on the Island, nice neighborhood, cute place mostly redone by the previous owner,, and her and her S.O. have made it their home,  they seems very comfortable there ,,,, It make me proud to say that all three of my Children own homes,,, investing in them selves and in the future of this country,,.   many other things young people do these days and not to say that that it wrong, cause maybe ot right for others to be Traveling the world, or spending  their money in Cars, or Merchandise,,, but owning a home - THAT is an investment in their Future!

Went to few good shows this year,  Southside Johnny, Cowboy Junkies, Joe Bonnamassa,,, all excellent,, Junkies we have seen 5 times,,, and this might have been the best show,,, at a place called  CLUB Helsinki in Hudson,,, was a good dinner and show

I did 6 weeks of Intraveneous IV treatment to treat a Lyme disease  that my Neuro MD thinks is causing the RLS,  because my Symptoms don't match up with RLS,,, and I have to admit that I am Cautiously optomistic,,, I am still on 2 meds for it,,, but the "Attacks" are far less, I keep waiting for the Twinges to be an all out onslaught, it has not happened,,,  in addition,, my insomnia has eases a bit,,, a bit,,,I still have those nights when I sleep  for an hour,,,and then am up all night. But then I have a few night a week that I sleep for 5 or 6 hours, and in the last two years that was a weeks sleep !!  so thats getting better,,,

GOT anew IMac,,, a new Subaru Outback,,,   really great computer,,, and well its a Subaru,, they just make great cars ,,,, this is like #6 if yo count the kids cars,,,

WE re-watched a show call the Power of Song,, the story of the  life of Pete Seeger,,, we actually  were at the premier of this film in Rhinebeck a few years ago.If you have never seen it ,, its worth finding it. Shows you the impact one person can have on a community and the world - he started the Folk music movement,,, and made the Newport folk festival what it it today and right here in the Hudson vally ,, wanted to clean up the rive,, someone told Pete that they used to sail boats on this river that were 100 feet long !!   called Sloops,,, he got the Idea to build one, and sail it up and down the river, to get people to look at the polution that was taking  place in the great Hudson Valley,,,,  most people laughed ,, he needed $150k, to build the boat, this was in the late 60's ,, and I don't  need to tell you that the Clearwater has been sailing the Hudson for over 40 years,,, a few Ironies out of the Movie,,, they Blacklisted Pete - if you dont know what that means - it meant that he could not appear on TV, his songs could not be played in Radio,,, think about that today,,, because he said it was his 1st admenment rights not to answer questions about who he voted for and who he associated with, and were they members of the Communist party -  Joe McCarthy and the House of Rep committe that ruined peoples lives back in the 50s,,,,  Anyway , they let Pete sing and tour Schools and colleges across the country - oh yea,,, those Grade school kids are not impressionable,,,,  out of this came the End of the Vietnam war the Start of the Folk music movement and the Enviromental movement, and oh yea ,, many of those kids grew into adults that supported those same movements,,,  this was a long way around to get to -  the Smothers Brothers who had the most successful show on TV at the time went to CBS and said ,, we want to have Pete Seeger on,,, CBS agreed - although the CUT the Song Waist deep in the Big Muddy from the broadcast,   there was such an uproar over the censorship that 3 months later he was invited back and play that song agin,,,   - in  the 90;s they Gave Pete the Kennedy Center Medal  of Honor,,,  talk about a turn around,,,  it proved the lesson of Turn , Turn Turn,,, a Time to Every Purpose under heaven.... I am looking forward into 2016 and beyond to that Season...........

Happy New year,,,, and time of Peace ,,, I swear its not too late,,,

Predicting the Future

In the Future you  will be able to look back and say that 2015 was the year that I lost myself and started to lose my  life..

It's Christmas eve,,,, was thinking of the past Eve's ,,, not long  past,,just my past...


When I worked for Dave Closson at the Chevron station that was across from Frivolous Sals on Raymond ave,,, we spent all the morning cleaning the Garages,,,,, Floors,,,and walls,,,, and at about Noon we raised the lists to table height,, put plywood sheets on then and table cloths,,, and then as much Beer, liquor and food as you can imagine,,, everyone that came in for gas left after eating or drinking something,,,  and many just came by for the festivities,,,  much of the food was supplied by the Braughhaus,,, and Gil Bastian,.. it was always great,,, and I went back even after I did not work for Dave any more,,,  he was great guy to have as a 1st boss....   All the Bars in town always had free food,, and handed out free drink also,,,,,  Brauhaus, Sals,,, and the Chance in the City,,, and the Dutch,,  I remember getting more than drunk,, going home ,,sleeping it off (as they say) and then going with my friends to everyones house,, for more of the same.. those were terrific times,,,

When we were 1st married and several years when the kids were small the EVE was at the Out-Laws house,,,, drinks and foods,,and Gifts,,,, seems every year we had an Race track that we set up and drove cars around and around,,, one year My F.I.L. got a Radio shack  "Color Computer"  it was all the rage,,,, you could play Pong and several other extremely basic by todays standards ... but then it was the Height of Technology,,,

After we were married and had a few children,, We used to go to Candle light services ,,,Rev Ben did a good job with his service,,, 7pm at the Arlington church,,,,  and my Aunt holding the candle with the wax dripping on her had and going  "ooo,, ow,, oh,,, Ouch"  too funny,,,,

As my children are now older,,,, maybe,,,we ,,,, I         need to do something to make the Holiday more special ,,, wish I had a fucking clue as to what to do,,, Admittedly ,, I am not good at these things..  andI am sure that a COLOR computer,,, or a Race track might not do it,,,  If you are reading this,,,I hope you and yours have a happy , healthy, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year..

I will post up one of my Favorite Christmas Songs for your enjoyment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF2BzUDeTkY

OH Really - ya think ??? well maybe ,, and the horse you rode in on,

1st,,if you have not seen the new Start Wars movie,, go do it ,, it's AWSOME ,,,,, and see in 3D you cheap skate,,,, did I say it was A W S O M E  !


I am cautiously optimistic,,,, I am still taking the Gabbiopentin, and the Neupro patch still attached to one of my,,, BUT ,, but,,, I have not had a massive leg attach in nearly 2 weeks,,,  ok, twinges,,, and I have been prepared for a full out attack each time,, but it has not shown up,,,, now ,, the tru test a month or so,, when I stop one or the other medicines and see the result,,, however,,, If I had to live with the gabbepentin for the rest of my life its far better than the alternative...

Its the Holiday season,, and while it is not my favorite holiday,,, gifts for my grandsons is the best thing ever,,,, and I cant wait to see their faces when they open some of them,,,,   we also did a good thing again this Holiday in that my wife and I adopted a family of 5 , 3 small children,,, they of course asked for toys "anything Frozen" and Lego's and Super heros,,,  it was much more sobering that the mom asked for Winter coats and boots , hats and gloves,,, shoes and clothes,,, my god,,, how can 3-5 yr olds NOT have proper clothes,,, why the F aren't those asshole politic types asking about that instead of whatever their BS agenda is,??    I even collected money for my Peers at GF to adopt a 2nd family - 2 small girls that needed the same stuff,,,,  memo to self ,, Gotta do more of this next year,,, lets say 5 families is the goal for 2016,,,

oh and 2016 will be another - I hope Disney trip with all the Kids and Grandkids,,,stay turned for more on that front

I am not sure,, but I think I have less tolerance for others these days,,, I see Pain in the ass ory ,,, in many people s actions,,,  Right ?? Wrong?? can I help how I am thinking about this,??  I can't anyway,,,  I unfortunately believe that it may come to me making a less that acceptable statement to those who offend me,,, this have manifested it self in a fee situations, where in the past I might have stayed silent,,,   I then hear how they did not mean it , and that is in my head,, and that I cant affect the behavior of others,, here is how I can by NOT having them around ME !

SO a few days till Christmas ,, which is to say Yule,,, Yule log,, not that I have a Log,,, or from what you think I said ??   If you read this Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!   and remember , Don;t piss me off !!