Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The U.N. Is it worthwhile or a P.I.T.A.?

Here we go again. Another annual round of BS. The property I manage is stuck in the middle of all this mayhem. So for a week we are inundated by the Secret Service, FBI and New York's Finest. What a fiasco! they have concrete Jersey barriers all over the place blocking access to our loading dock. Every time one of these alleged world leaders decides to take a jaunt, our truck dock gets shut down. Add to that, all the law enforcement agencies around here are using so much juice that my radio communications has a ton of interference zapping through it.

We had advance notice about this, so I had notified all the vendors that work in the building to get material in the week before if they needed to do work this week. Politically speaking I have no use for the UN. They are nothing more than a mouth piece for a kind of rudimentary communism: take from the haves and give to the have-nots, right! I think they should take the whole place and move it to somewhere like France or Bolivia, maybe even the Russian Steppes. In New York, people are delayed, business' lose money and the "alleged" diplomats just go about town doing what they want with impunity.

On second thought, how's this for an idea? Build a wall topped with razor wire around the UN grounds and a couple of hotels. All entry to and from the compound should be by water. Do not allow them out of the compound. That way, we could go about our business. No vendors would lose money, no traffic would be slowed and the diplomats would be bored to tears and want to leave immediately. I'm only half kidding here. This week is always the week from hell, when the General Assembly goes into session.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

JAMES LEE BURKE

JLB is my favorite author. If you like mysteries, you must read him. He will knock your socks off. He is particularly known for his series of books about a reformed alcoholic detective named Dave Robicheaux down in New Iberia Louisana. JLB has a talent to pull you right in to the story hook line and sinker.

His descriptions of the bayous and surrounding areas of Louisana are incredible. Just the titles of his books make you take notice. I've read them all but here are some samples: Stained White Radiance, Lay Down My Sword and Shield, Black Cherry Blues, Cimmaron Rose, Tin Roof Blow Down, Pegasus Decending, Dixie City Jam, Joli Blon's Bounce; the list goes on and on.

Buy one and you will be hooked immediately.

Friday, September 21, 2007

I'm a Grandpa!!


Here is a photo of my 5 week old grandson Liam and Son Sean. He's a cute little twerp, no? I mean Liam not Sean :-)
I sent Liam a Redskin's Onesy size 12 months to break him in early. Sean and I are Redskins fans.

Curtains


Being the nice husband I am, I took Regina into the city (the place I love to hate) to see the play Curtains a week ago Saturday. I'm actually glad I went. It was pretty funny with some catchy show tunes. The story revolves around a murder in a play within a play and David Hyde Pierce (Frazier's Brother) was pretty funny, though he couldn't sing as well as some of the other headliners. Pierce plays a stage struck detective who wants to solve a murder and help put on the play at the same time. But it was funny and entertaining nonetheless. Afterwards, we went to Arthur's Landing a restaurant in Weehawken that had a great view of the NYC Skyline.

Keeping my fingers crossed.............


We are very close to an agreement to tow the Zuni-Tamaroa from Baltimore to Norfolk. Once we're in Virginia, the fund raising to restore the ship can begin in earnest. She's touched a lot of lives in her 51 years of service. That's why many of us are very adamant about saving her. As the Tamaroa, she saved the lives of 4 helicopter crew during the Perfect Storm in 1991. The "Damn Tam" as she was affectionately known was strong enough at age 48 to endure 40 foot seas and 100 knot winds to rescue the downed aircrew.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Mandy Moore

A couple of months back, I stumbled across samples from a CD that I really liked. It turned out to be a former pop tart named Mandy Moore who has blossomed into a terrific singer with a bit of a country flavor.

I had heard the name before but never her music. I really like her latest album "Wild Hope." There's a little bit of Joni Mitchell and Mary Chapin Carpenter in the album. It's good stuff. The odd part is that for the first time I listened to her early music and I thought it was terrible. Wild Hope though is completely different. Her voice has really matured. Try it and see for yourself. You can go on Amazon and look up the album. The site plays samples of the songs. I hope the recording does well enough to keep her going in the country-folk direction.

USCGC TAMAROA - USS ZUNI




Decided to start a blog and see where it went. I'm new at this kind of thing so don't expect miracles. I'm interested in U.S. History, maritime preservation and I read alot. My favorite author is James Lee Burke. I have a son who's in the Navy and a daughter who works in a Vet's clinic out in Oregon. Another son is still finding himself. I'm a Coast Guard Veteran and proud of it.

My big, huge labor of love right now is that i'm involved with the restoration of the Fleet tug USS Zuni AKA USCGC TAMAROA. I served on board her in 1967 and 1968, so its a personal thing for me.