IT WAS FORTY FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY...

On this day in 1964, "Yeah Yeah Yeah" music first caught the western hemisphere by storm. John, Paul, George & Ringo, collectively known as the Beatles, first appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show". It was a Sunday. As everyone already knows by now, that one event spearheaded what turned out to be a major cultural revolution. All sorts of bad things can be said of the kinds of undeniably poisonous garbage the sixties have left us with, but the music, especially that of the Fab Four, simply can't possibly be matched. Last night I finished Tom Woods' book & went back to "Emma". The print in his book is much larger & double spaced so it's a lot easier on my eyes. Prof. Woods' new book, "Meltdown", about our current economic crisis, is due to be available on Monday. I don't have to be bothered with any lectoring this weekend so I can completely relax about that. Mary Anne called last night with all the usual stuff. She's visiting Mimi. I just found out on Facebook that yesterday would have been Ronald (the Gipper) Reagan's ninety eighth birthday.

BLOOD DRIVE

I never bothered to show up at yesterday's blood drive over in Wilkes_Barre. It's not all that big of a deal though because when I got to 8:00 Mass this morning at St. John's in Pittston, I noticed, in their bulletin, that they'll be having one on Sunday anyway. I'd rather show up at someplace like that that's much closer. The weather has been particularly cold so far this morning. Yesterday I got a copy, at Barnes & Noble in Wilkes_Barre, of Tom Woods' book "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization". It struck me as so especially interesting that I've already finished over half of it in only one sitting. Prof. Woods & I are on each other's Facebook friends' lists. Once again, last night, I didn't end up staying up late enough to be able to see "Burn Notice" but I shall try to get started on it eventually. Until then I shall simply have to be content with all the old shows & some game shows. Tomorrow is the forty fifth anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. That's always quite a major event for me.

BLACKOUT IN BATHROOM

Today, so far, is turning out to be quite an exceptionally cold day. Yesterday's big highlight was when the light bulb blew out in the bathroom. Things like that can be extremely seriously annoying at night & very early in the morning. I got a call in the afternoon from some woman who wanted me to go to the blood drive in Wilkes_Barre today. I shall not be going because it's farther away than the ones I usually attend. Soon enough there will most certainly be yet another one somewhere very close to here. Today I noticed that the other Michelle, Noreen's sister, has joined Facebook. I made sure I sent her a friend request. I got a message on the phone yesterday from somebody over in New York asking about some stock I have. Because I didn't recognize the name, & I've always been more than a little suspicious about important things, I made sure I looked it up on the internet. It all seems to be legitimate. Last night, on EWTN, I watched Fr. Mitchell Pacwa's live show. Joseph Pearce was on it explaining William Shakespeare's Catholicism.

MILDER WEATHER

In spite of what we'd been expecting, there hasn't been any significant snowfall so far this week. That's always such exceptionally good news. I desperately need a haircut but as always shall procrastinate until it becomes a major eyesore for all concerned. My parents' TV set flipped out completely on them yesterday. They were forced to spend quite a long time on the phone trying to get in touch with someone who could help fix it. Of course, they got stuck with one of those numbers where they spent an interminable length of time pushing different numbers for different things, all the time engaging in a pointless exercise in stupidity & frustration. There's no lectoring on my schedule so far this weekend so that leaves me a little bit less aggravated than I should have otherwise been. The fattening food, to my chagrin, is still available from last weekend & I've been getting truly sick & tired of it all by now. The Facebook people are still quite active lately. There's nothing especially important going on with any of them but they all seem to have something to ramble on about. Mary Anne called last night with all the latest New York gossip.

NO BLIZZARD SO FAR

Lately things have been calming down quite a bit. There are still quite a whole lot of leftovers from the Super Bowl party so I get stuck having to pig out entirely too much. Yesterday it snowed only very little & rained after that. Last night it snowed just a bit more. Of course, the ultimate neighborhood neurotic was out bright & early this morning sweeping the snow in front of his house. I'm pert near finished with "Northanger Abbey" & have been thinking of re reading yet another Jane Austen book, "Emma". Today's the Feast, technically only an optional memorial, of St. Blaise so everyone who goes to church gets to have his throat blessed. Yesterday I saw something on TV about how Barack Obama likes to bowl but his average isn't very good. There's never anything else on anyway so I sat through it. Lately my Facebook account has been getting really active. Brianne has just joined my friends list.

BAD NEWS FOR LOCAL PARISHES

Bishop Martino just broke the big news to the parishioners of the Scranton Diocese yesterday. Among other parishes to close down are Sacred Heart in Plains & St. John the Baptist in Exeter. Surprisingly, Our Lady of Sorrows is supposed to close, except for special occasions & St. Joseph's, the smaller of the two, will remain open. Everyone's shocked about the whole thing. The Super Bowl party went quite well yesterday except that it was entirely too fattening. Everybody left even before the game started. Most of the usual characters were there as well as Dolores & her son Patrick. The only ones who weren't available were Steve & Michael. They were at a fund raiser for the Polar Bear Club. On Saturday afternoon, Mary Anne, Bridget, Sam & I went to Dick's sporting goods store by the Wyoming Valley Mall. I made sure I got a very desperately needed pair of boots. Yesterday I also put my new rear view mirror into my car. Michael called early last night. All has been going very well for him lately. Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow. Winter will linger for yet another month & a half, to my undying chagrin.