THEY'RE BACK

Mary Anne & Steve are home. My father & Michael went to JFK to pick them up & bring them home. Our trip home is tomorrow morning at around 10:00 a.m. All seems to have gone well. I got into a bit of trouble with cousin Larry because of a misunderstanding but I just gave in & got it over with. I was playing around with one of Steve's acoustic guitars a few hours ago & tried to remember how to play one of my very favorite Beatle songs, "Do You Want to Know A Secret". I remembered that it's a bunch of minor chords & a B7 but I couldn't quite figure out the right progressions unfortunately. For the past couple of days, I spent a while putting Playlists on a couple of my websites. Each one is entirely free, unlike most radio stations for the past few decades, of anything whatsoever that I don't like. The kids seemed to have been having a really good time over the course of the past week, but Bridget & Sam were fooling around a little bit too much today & she spilled a can of celery soda on the carpet in the basement. Bridget seems to be turning out to be quite the couch potato these days. If it were up to her, she'd be quite happy to stay up throughout the middle of the night watching TV incessantly.

HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY

It's the single busiest shopping day of the entire year, an absolute nightmare of traffic. I haven't spent a significant length of time outside but I went out for a few minutes to help Michael take his new amplifier out of his car. It was very hard to get it out because it was entirely too tightly squeezed into the back seat. He pushed it into the house on top of his skateboard. He wanted me to go to the store with him to get it but I wasn't dressed in time. I'm still reading that Virginia Woolf book. Besides that the only thing I've ever read by her is the long essay, "A Room of One's Own". Mary Anne & Steve are still having a nice time over in Italy. The last time I got an e mail from them, they had yet to meet Francesco. Today is a very big day for leftovers. People have been frequently telling me for quite a while that I'm very thin but today should just about end my skinny track record. Bridget watched "Ugly Betty" last night. That's yet another of the very many shows I've never bothered to pay any attention to. I've only seen a couple of minutes of it every once in a while. Lately I've been doing a lot of looking around through Youtube. I found out that Paul Mccartney recorded both "Please Please Me" & "I'll get you, two of my very favorite early Beatle songs, in concert a few years ago. I also noticed that in 1977, during their days with Keith Moon, the Who recorded "I Saw Her Standing There".

WEBFOOTED

PAUL MCCARTNEY: PLEASE PLEASE ME

BEATLES: PLEASE PLEASE ME

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

My father & Bridget are watching the big traditional Macy's Parade. Meredith (one of my very favorite game show hosts) Vieira is one of the hosts. I went to a few of them when I was a kid. I should most certainly hope, for everybody's sake, that the cousins in North Tonawanda (& Vinnie, who is now in N.Carolina), are enjoying their big day despite my much_regretted (ahem) absence. Unfortunately, we all stayed up quite nightmarishly late last night waiting for Sam to come home. Michael, on top of that, even kept me up until past midnight watching Jay Leno, & David Letterman's interview with Bill Clinton. I suppose the Clintons are most certainly a more than likable enough sort of a couple of characters. I just can't stand it that they're so far to the left culturally. Mankind simply can't afford to have the agenda of the Culture of Death crammed down our throats any longer. The catch is that W. & his Republican cronies are destroying us with war, corruption & the economy from hell. I woke up with a mild headache this morning. Once again, though, one headache pill did quite a good job of getting rid of it for me. I've gotten Thanksgiving greetings from Miz Kitti, Jo Anne & Eddie so far.

BLOGCAVE

TOMORROW'S THE BIG DAY

Thanksgiving is upon us. My parents, the three kids & I had a nice fattening day today. Besides yesterday's lasagna, there were chili & roast beef. The kids even ate artichokes too. I, of course, drank the celery soda. Michael & I each drank a cup of tea. The weather absolutely stunk all day yesterday, with ice cold rain throughout the day. Sam went back to school today. Besides that, he's been spending quite a lot of time watching soccer & "Scrubs". I've never liked sports. I've never seen an entire episode of "Scrubs" either. I've only seen a few minutes of each of the episodes he's watched lately. I walked Bridget to her bus stop. Michael had an 11:30 dentist appointment. He went out with his friend Jeff last night. He mentioned something today about wanting to go ice skating. Unfortunately, I've never been able to skate. I've been reading that Virginia Woolf book, a little at a time. It's fairly short so I don't have to bother with going crazy. Not having ever been a fan of driving in heavy traffic, I'm quite happy I won't be doing any significant driving this week since the traffic during the week of Thanksgiving is about as unbearably annoying as anybody can even begin to imagine.

THE SIMPSONS ON ABBEY ROAD

TROUBLE WITH THE COUSINS

Recently my cousins & I got the supremely bright (not!) idea to get into a protracted debate about the nature of reality. With our inevitable verve & panache, we spent a few days rambling on about the relative merits of the deontological & utilitarian approaches to morality. Of course, leave it to me (duh!) to give them all my decidedly unpopular views on this kind of thing. Upon my having touched upon an extremely seriously sore spot within our mixed bag of nuts, they proceeded to pounce upon me. I was merely trying to tell the truth as well I understand it. They, of course, entirely mistakenly thought I was being mean & insensitive. Once again, many thanks to my old pal Jo Anne from the old neighborhood. Mary Anne & Steve, in Italy, got an e mail from a guy named Francesco who claims he's a relative of ours. That's just what we need is another cousin. Bridget went to school this morning but Sam stayed home with a cold. He was watching TV for a while, most recently VH1.

NICE QUIET DAY SO FAR

Today's been a really quiet enjoyable day so far. We ate sandwiches(cold cuts) & drank celery soda. The kids are now at school. Cathleen asked for my address so she can send me a souvenir of California. It's been a cold but clear day. I'm very happy to see the rain from last night & early this morning ended. The kids' trip to school didn't have to subject them to all that aggravation. After school, Bridget has to go to a CCD class. I suppose I shall read some more of that Virginia Woolf book. Mary Anne & Steve promised to send me an e mail but so far I haven't gotten it yet. My cousins' current debate has really gotten my brain cells into a state of total hyperactivity. Having taken a grand total of a whopping thirteen credits worth of philosophy courses over the course of my educational lifetime, I thoroughly enjoy a good debate, especially of the kind that allows me to take advantage of those classes. I just got an e mail from Mary Anne. She & Steve are in Rome having a good time. They have to pay for internet access though so we can't expect to keep in touch very much.

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VISITED AUNT NORMA

Today we spent a few hours with Aunt Norma & her family. There was lots of nice junk food there, as well as espresso & anisette. Uncle Larry, Larry, Rose, Eddie & Jennifer were there. So were Gary, Maria, Joey & Tina. Tina goes to S.U.N.Y. Farmingdale, but hasn't gotten any of my old teachers. Tomorrow is Jennifer's husband Joe's birthday, & Lotus' too. Larry is trying to finalize plans for a softball team for the fourth of July. KrissyKrissyKrissy got a snowstorm. Frank, from my Lindenhurst KofC council was at the home. Michael came home for a few hours. He spent a while doing his homework on the computer. Bridget did hers too. Michael's was a comparison & contrast of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" & Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll House". Over the course of the day, I read part of Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" & part of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway". When I went to 12:00 noon Mass at St. Mary's of the Isle Church, I took Sam's cell phone with me. All worked out well. Mary Anne & Steve are now on their way to Italy. They left from JFK.