#700

Hey - this the 700th entry in the celery Consciousness blog,,,, how about that..

I  will attempt to make it epic...

The State decided that I am not qualified to get unemployment - but I am in the process of discussing that with them - hey - frankly if I am not qualified - so be it,,,, 

Remember this from last time ??  Well the State has now removed all my disqualifications ,,, and they say they are Paying me retroactive back to the Last week in  November - So far so good. but I have not seen any payment as of yet and my Status on the Web app is still the same.  We will see what is what ..... It is a positive step for me that they said they will pay...

In what seemed to be a bit of a downer for Christmas eve...  as for the 1st time in several years we were not going to my sons to be with them and the FAM and the Grandsons .... we could no come up with a place to go eat,, everything sounded BLEC....I  saw a small notice in the Town of Woodstock community page that Santa was to arrive on the Village Green about 5pm on Christmas eve , and heard on 'DST that the Colony Cafe - right there on Rock City Road was opening at 5pm for a live band, and drink and food.   We decided to go.  Well - we had the absolute best time. There were by my guess 1500- 2000 folks in town  WOW   - they closed that part of the street that goes past the Green. There was a Choir and a Brass Band that played on the porch of the Dutch Church (its right on the Green) and most of the people there sang along to the Carols.... Santa arrived at 5:10 - escorted by Fire trucks and a Couple of Floats with bands playings,,,  he made his way to a spot on the Green and gave out stockings to all the kids there - with small toys and Fruit and candy ....  We walked up to the Colony and got a table right near the Fire. Ordered up some beers and nachos - the Colony Cats - 4 local guys played till about 8pm - doing more Christmas carols and a few rock songs.. So what initially looked like a bust of xmas eve turned out to be terrific,, and I know what we will be doing NEXT year !!  GOING BACK

Christmas day was more of a zoo than usual  - with the boys getting more gifts than ever !!  Might have to re think this for next year,,,   Some gifts of course,, but maybe we can buy them a collective present  - a playhouse - or such.  Oh and food for probably 30 people.   aside from what everyone brought and everyone brought an appetizer, dip , dessert,  and a Side dish, pasta ect  of sorts,..   My DIL was not going to do much - well - except a Full spiral ham, a 1/2 a turkey,  about 5 pounds of Ribs,  a Soup and a Mull Wine/Cider.   yea just that.... along with what looked like 10 pounds of  Polish Meats and Cheeses.

Got my interview /  fingerprint date in mid January, from the DCSO for my Pistol permit ,, - so starting to look for what kinda gun I want,,, Leaning toward a Sig Sauer 9mm. Nickel plated... and looking for a Public pistol range to go shoot at.

Ok - that's all for today,,, maybe get ya another entry before 2018 just to recap my year , retirement and all that,,,

I'll Leave ya with this one,,, at least a candidate from my Song of the year - Band of Heathens,

and this one,,,,Gregg Allman and Jackson Browne

I sit before my only candle, but it's so little light to find my way
Now this story unfolds before my candle
Which is shorter every hour as it reaches for the day
But I feel just like a candle in the way
I guess I'll get there, but I wouldn't say for sure

Tis the Season to be Jolly - Fa La la la la ,,,,,, la la la la,,,

What are you Jolly about ???

Listen - Things are going along pretty good,,,,   we are blessed -if I can say that - to have 2 new Grandchildren on the way.... one very soon,,, like weeks, & another in several months.  So there is that ! Can't wait,, -- we Know that the 1st is a boy,,,  not sure yet on the other,,,, don't care either way..

The State decided that I am not qualified to get unemployment - but I am in the process of discussing that with them - hey - frankly if I am not qualified - so be it,,,, 

I am keeping busy in the winter months with a few projects,,,   Loft Bed for the Grandsons. a little ladder for their playroom,,, and finished the toy crates,.... Buildings  a table for the play room also that the Air Hockey table will sit on,,, but shhhhhh   Santa is bringing that...

I dunno why actually  but I feel pretty good that this is the first year in about 30 that I will not have to "ask" people to work on Christmas eve or Christmas day,,,  and that "ask" means that someone is going to work it's just who ! And every year it's the same deal...........of course almost no one wants to work.   And the Argument that I loved was that NO ONE should have to work on Christmas Eve or Day, and when I asked what their Family did on xmas eve - I get the Answer that they went out to Dinner !!  Ummmm  Who the F - cooks that dinner and serves that dinner and cleans up - are they in the NO ONE group or they are just someone else !!! DOH !

To my Pre retirement life for a second,,,, I do miss the contact with the friends and colleagues that I had during those years. Phone calls and Meetings - I will try to make some contact with those folks before the New Year just to say hello...  I was glad to see one of my Peer managers took up the organization of the toy drive for some local families that I headed up the past 5 years or ro,, and the Cookies for the Troops  that we did also....

Let's move on,,,

Yankees get Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins ....  what a Deal ! Glad to see that they are back to being the EVIL EMPIRE. Brian Cashman has done such an excellent job over the past years getting young talent to bolster the Farm system ann then making smart trades for other talent. Now can we get a pitcher - I know we signed CC - but that still leaves one spot in the rotation,,,  

The Line up should be awesome:

Gardiner - LF 

Hicks / Ellsbury - CF

Judge - RF 

Stanton - DH

Didi - SS

Sanchez - C

Bird - 1B

Torres/Torress - 2B

Torres - 3B (or if they resign Frazier) 

so that Hitters 3 - 7 are 25+ Homeruns guys ,,,, can't wait.

The rotation : Tanaka, Severino, CC, Gray,  Montgomery ,, and you have Chance Adams, and Justus Sheffield, and Albert Abreau that could all get their opportunity to pitch in the BIGS in 2018,,,

The Bullpen I think is set , Green, Warren, Betances (gotta get his head on straight), Shreve,   Kahnle, Robertson, and Chapman. that has to be one of the Best on the League..

Pro Football- don't really Care, sure I'll watch the playoff games,,, but seriously,

College Bowl Games " got a few good ones here. and let me say 1st and Foremost - I am hoping Alabama Loses and Notre Dame  - Loses ! 

Would like to see ARMY beat San Diego State on Dec 23.

Oklahoma St .v Va Tech should be good one -  Dec 28

Cotton Bowl - Ohio St .v USC - Dec 29 

Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on Jan 1 

Georgia - Oklahoma.

 Clemson .vs Alabama

Winners of those play for the National Championship on Jan 8th.

The POTUS continues to be a DICKHEAD - 

OH yea he KNEW that Moore was  not going to win the Senate Seat from Jones in Alabama - right so why did he promote him ??

On the  Anniversary of the shootings in Sandy hook elementary School that took 20 innocent lives,this Jerk wad Hosts the Head of the NRA at the White HOUSE !! Now it was not the Fault of the  NRA that the shooting in Connecticut took place but Jesus Christ - WTF is wrong with you.. Be similar to hosting a dinner for  the Premier of Japan on December 7th.

He continues to promote himself at these Rally's where they all might as well line up to kiss his ass.  And you need to keep noticing that this is all compared to Obama and Hillary and Bill,,, Nothing he does stands on its own,,,always the comparison to the Democrats.  He has - by the Politifact folks count told 108 outright Lies/Falsehoods since he has been in office - 10 months and to make sure I am doing what he does, Obama told 18 in the 8 YEARS of his administration, Its so blatant that the tRump apologists that I know believe them - yes - these are paole tha tI know have more sense than this,,, but have gotten so used to it - they quote the lies and actually believe them. We must stay strong against this monster , and push to have him Impeached .

https://impeachdonaldtrumpnow.org/

Ok,,, if you are still reading this,,,  here are 2 Music Videos  - not that anyone watches them!

Can you predict the Future?

Well, well, well,,,    A return to the days of the EVIL EMPIRE  !!   Adding Giancarlo Stanton to the Team,,, 1st, - what will be John Sterling's home run Call ?!  yea,, that's probably not the 1st order of business..  GianCarlo - Unloads ! Stanton - hits it a TON !  hope he has better ones than that.  #2 - Will Romaine trade Stanton for the #27 ?  what will Giancarlo give in return ??  a car ?? Cash ??  Does he even care about the #27 ??

and let's say right up front,  - WE STILL NEED A PITCHER !! Maybe 2 starters unless you resign CC

so - let's look at the 25 man roster that we know.....

Pitchers - 12
Dellin Betances
Luis Cessa
Adrolis Chapman
Sonny Gray - Starter
Chan Green
Jordan Montgomery - Starter
David Robertson
Luis Severino - Starter
Masahiro Tanaka - Starter
Tommy Kahnle
Adam Warren
Chasen Shreve

CC ??  Garcia ???

Postition players - 13
Austin Romine - C
Gary Sanchez - C
Greg Bird - 1B
DiDi Gregorius - SS
Chase Headley - 3B
Ronald Torreyes - 2B
Jacoby Ellsbury - CF
Brett Gardiner - LF
Aaron Hicks - CF
Aaron Judge - RF
Giancarlos Stanton - DH - RF

Tyler Austin, Tyler Austin, Todd Frazier, Glebber Torres  ???  all Infielders

The Line up  is probably  - the New Murders Row?? Sanchez at 6 and Bird at 7.....??  I expect both to hit 20 -25 homeruns this year,...  so that really makes this a long lineup.... I will be who do you pitch to ,, Judge or Stanton and then no rest with DiDi , Sanchez and Bird...

Gardiner - LF
Torreyes/ Austin- 2b
Judge - RF
Stanton - DH
DiDi - Ss
Sanchez - C
Bird - 1b
Headley/ Torres - 3b
Hicks/Ellsbury - CF

the Music year in Review

Greetings,,

This has been quite the year for Music ... hopefully its trend that we saw more live shows this year than in most past years...  Started with Jorma Kaukonen ( Daryl's house) ,  then Amos Lee (Paramount theater) ,  the Wheels of Soul tour - that's the Wood Brothers , Hot Tuna - Electric , and the Tedeschi Trucks band, (SPAC) - Doobie Brothers and Chicago - (Bethel Woods) , Willie Nelson (Mid Hudson Civic Center) , Hot Tuna Acoustic - Cohoes Music Hall,,  then many Live Lunch Hours at the Utopia Sound Stage - WDST in Woodstock- Barnes Courtney, the Ghost of Paul Revere, the National Reserve , Ryan Montbleau, Thomas Winn & the Believers..   I will get to our Choice of the Best Live show in a few ,,,

1st - the Songs of many were silenced this year,,,,  in no particular order - and these are the ones that I can remember and Google  has provided....

Chuck Berry
Tom Petty
Walter Becker
Greg Allman
J Geils
Jim Nabors
Tommy Keane
Wayne Cochran
Davis Cassidy
Della Reese
Mel Tillis
Malcom Young
Roberts Knight
Fats Domino
Charles Bradley
Brad Gentry
Glen Campbell
Chris Cornell
Don Williams
Larry Coryell
Al Jarreu
Geoff Nicholas
Butch Trucks

Back to the Best Show - we agree - (now that's unusual in itself)

from the Small show perspective - all were very good,,, but I think his performance of  "Fast Cars" put Ryan Montbleau on the Top of the Live Lunch Lounge concerts. 

And the Best BIG show - although was in the Capitol  Theater in Port Chester , not exactly a BIG arena, is Amos Lee...   followed closely by Tedeschi Trucks band...  even I thought TT was  a little long winded in their jamming,,,   specially on back to back songs that featured Derek, and the piano player for several minutes,,,, but make no mistake - that was an outstanding show !  I pity the Fool, Learn how to Love, Soul sacrifice,  Ain't wastin Time - no More and Will the Circle be unbroken excellent.

Amos Lee was just terrific... from Spirit, to Violin, Jesus , Sweet pea, Keep it loose , Keep it tight, that little girl in the audience asking for Southern Girl and him taking a minute to remember it was a truly genuine moment,   the 3 song encore of  the Dead's Franklin's Tower, BLack River and of course the highlight Windows are rolled down,..  Even my wife was surprised how much she enjoyed the show!    so we look forward to seeing Amos again in 2018 !!   Along with a BIG arena show of maybe U2  or hoping for the Rolling Stones

The Hap Hap Happy est Christmas since Bing Crosby tapped danced with Danny Fuckin Kaye

Well the holiday season has started off with a bang  !

The Festival of Lights was Friday night in the City of Poughkeepsie....

and last night - Whoa - SinterKlass fest and Parade in Rhinebeck,   Bethelwoods had their annual fest and Christmas Shopping / outdoor  extravaganza and Woodstock did their traditional Holiday "Open House " in the town ,,,, wandering from shop to shop getting some food and Drink along the way,.....

We managed to get to absolutely NONE of them ,, but it is neat to read in the paper and online of all the fun and festive activities and all the Holiday Spirit.  (you can wave your sarcasm sign here)

Yea - so there's that ..

Perhaps today will be better in that we have tickets to see Hot Tune tonight in Cohoes at the Music hall there , so we have to sorta go,..  it's a small venue and we have great seats to see Jorma and Jack. We started the year seeing Joram at Daryll's House in Pawling,,, and ending the year with him will be great.   I will get you a concert rating at nearer the end of the year as we had a terrific year of Music with Jorma, Willie Nelson, Amos Lee,  Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Tedeschi Trucks band, wood Brothers, Ghost of Paul Revere, Ryan Montbleau,  The National Reserve,  Barns Courtney, Tomas Winn and the Believers, and a few more I can't remember right now. 

I have decided to not put lights up for the Holidays this year,,,  we have the Peace sign in the front of the house , so I have saying that -  that is it.  I made my self nuts last year with lights on some of the trees that strings kept going out on and I needed to replace them.  I think we will do the Columns in the font as candy canes and maybe more ribbons,,,, but thats it,,, no stress ..

On Facebook,, I have started to post Christmas / Holiday songs  - one song per day,, obvious songs I think are good,, and maybe just a bit off the beaten path,,,

Yesterday I started with The Mavericks and Feliz Navidad,, and kept that non english deal going with Sissel and Pavarotti doing separate version of O Holy Night,,, and added a Joe Bonamassa version - that was all instrumental. 

so to keep you up to date ,,, here they are ...

I 'll check back in a few days with the next songs,,, I will do one per day till the 25 ,, hope you enjoy...