Downtown Westhampton

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment.”

He was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?


Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart mouthed young person who has been taught to blame everyone else for the consequences of their own actions.

Today I go for my first hypnotherapy session. I need to stop smoking, eat better and have some of the stress eliminated from my life. I spoke to several people before deciding to proceed with this and everyone says it works. This is the first of three sessions so wish me luck this afternoon. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I won’t have had a cigarette and I will feel much better about myself.

http://www.endofworld.net/

From Phone Call to Divorced in Under a Month

Well after 17 years I finally took the plunge and filed for a divorce last Monday March 1st. I am going through mixed emotions right now but I feel like I have made the right decision for myself. Many of you know or have known that I haven’t been happy in a very long time and a change was needed in order for me to be happy. I certinaly hope things will be good from here on out for the both of us. Right now support from my friends is needed more than anything in the world, please try to understand and don’t bail out on me.

 I ended up coming out of this in pretty good shape. My final deposition was on the 15th so now I am just waiting for the final decree which should be here within 3-4 weeks. Now, on with my new life.

I saw a greeting card the other that had a great picture of a woman on the front.  She was dressed in a crazy outfit with a wild hat and feathers.  The caption inside the card said “Be Yourself … Everyone else is already taken”.

Did you know that many people secretly believe that just being themselves isn’t quite good enough?  It’s the mental version of keeping up with the Joneses.  If I were (fill in the blank):  thinner, prettier, had a great haircut, were smarter … then (choose one):  people would like me better; I’d have more fun; I’d be better at my job; I would be a success … I would be happy!.  Hmmm.  Would it surprise you to know that these same people you admire and want to be like, want something you have too?  Maybe it’s the sparkle in your eyes, maybe it’s the way you throw your head back and snort when you laugh, maybe it’s because you dance like no one is watching, and just maybe it’s your admiration reflected back to them.

Nobody’s perfect.  Thank goodness we’re not … I mean what’s the fun in that?  But if we’re accepting of the dents and dings in others, shouldn’t we accept that in ourselves?  So, be yourself … everyone else is already taken.

We are having a very bad year so far. Phones are not ringing, e-commerce sales are down, all in all things do not look promising. We closed the year two weeks ago with sales down 25-30% for the year. We were told we have five months of reserve money left to operate on. Maybe I’ll sell my internal organs…yea thats the ticket

Over the past year I have focused on reuniting with high school friends and reinforcing friendships with people whom I have known for years. And I have learned that many people have no understanding of what constitutes a true friend.

Advancing communication technology and social media tools are beginning to change our perceptions of friendship. Many people become collectors of names, often tagged as “ friends” on social networking sites and other electronic communities. I found Facebook great for finding my old high school buddies and people I played music with or met while playing music.

Last year I started a Twitter account and didn’t really use it until it got a lot of hype on the national and local news. Through the use of twitter I have met and connected with some very talented and well known people. I now spend more time on Twitter during the day now than on Facebook. I get breaking news as it hits and I get the scoop on the weather faster as well as having fun tweeting with my fellow “tweeps”.  Ironically, we share detailed insight into our lives, our fears, our aspirations, and visions with total strangers. These days, we seem to place more importance on popularity and achievement, especially as competition for jobs and positions intensifies. Building friendship has been replaced with building connections. Today, if we have one person in our life that we can call friend we can consider ourselves lucky.

Humans intrinsically want and need friends, but most of us either have no knowledge of how to be a friend or the ability to recognize what constitutes a true friend. So, here are five questions to ask yourself to help identify not only how you might be a better friend, but what essentials one should look for in a friend:

1. Do you genuinely like the person and does the person truly like you? Friendship requires mutual admiration and a sincere enjoyment of being together.
2. Do you share common values and interests? In other words are you like-minded? Friendships require a common set of values, or an interest that is shared.
3. Is your friendship based on trust and mutual respect? You must consider yourselves as equals in this regard, for without these two important ingredients, no real friendship can develop.
4. Is your friend truthful? A true friend is someone whom you can count on to tell you the truth—even if it hurts.
5. Would you be willing to make a sacrifice in some way if your friend needed it and vice versa?

If you can answer affirmatively to each of the above questions, you are well on your way to a rewarding and fulfilling friendship. If not, you now know areas that may need to be re-visited or strengthened in your relationship.

Finally, My parents always said that friendship is priceless and if you have someone you value as a true friend treat them as you would want to be treated, with kindness, respect and diginity. Life is way to short these days for any type of drama or any other Bull Shit. Now get out there and enjoy your friends!!!

If you need a laugh today, then  this should do it! 

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible. This is amazing and brought tears of laughter to my eyes. I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand  what we are teaching???

Through the eyes of a child:

The Children’s Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas.  The Bible says, ’The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. 

Anyway, God said, ‘Give me a light!’ and someone did. 

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve.  Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet. 

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one badapple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden…..Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn’t have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except forMethuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham.  Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

 After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast.  Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston.  Moses led the Israel Lights out of  Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh’s people.  These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

 God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.  Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor’s stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses’ best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies.  Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David..  He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot.  He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines.  My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets.  One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. 

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament.  Jesus is the star of The New.  He was born  in  Bethlehem  in a barn.  (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, ‘Close the door! Were you born in a barn?’ It would be nice to say, ‘As a matter of fact, I was.’)

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus.  Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man.  He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot.  Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus.  He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.  He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum.  His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

———-You must share this delightful story! ————

 1. The honeymoon stage: You were expecting to lose power and you’ve
prepared by stocking up on a variety of scented candles and aren’t you
glad you did?  Because candlelight is so romantic and makes your home seem so
warm and cozy during a nasty storm. And it’s the perfect time to catch up
on your reading and spend quality time with your family away from that pesky
TV.

  2. The rugged stage: The power is still out and the food in your freezer
is starting to thaw. But that’s okay because you can fire up the grill and
cook all that meat before it spoils and share it with your neighbors. This
makes you feel rugged and outdoorsy. You delude yourself into thinking that
electricity is for wimps and living without only makes you stronger, like
those pioneer families who tamed the wild frontier. You forget that
frontier families didn’t have looters, broken traffic lights and curfews to contend
with.

  3. The panic stage: The ice in your cooler has melted! You immediately
jump in the car and join about 200,000 other people in search of ice, hitting
every store in a 50-mile radius only to find their supplies have long
since dried up. On the radio, you hear a report that a store a half-hour away
has ice. You floor it towards the store - but horror of horrors! Your fuel
gauge is on E! Oh why, oh why didn’t you fill the tank before the storm?? Two
hours later, you find yourself at the end of a 200-car line at a gas
station with 10 bags of ice that you paid $50 for melting away on your floor
boards.

 4. The anger stage: You can’t take it anymore. You’ve eaten enough
processed squeezie cheese, drank more than your share of warm beer, taken
too many  cold showers and spent enough “quality” time with your family to
last two  lifetimes. You begin lashing out at anyone within earshot.
People in the line waiting for ice, at the gas station. The neighbors you happily
shared your grilled food with only days ago. You begin to suspect the
neighbors with generators think they’re better than everyone else with
their fancy electricity. Their lighted porches seem to mock your less luminous
living conditions. The people who have electricity tell you, “Be patient
because the power workers are working as hard as they can to restore your
power so stop complaining.” You consider punching them, but decide to
invite them over to smell the rotting contents of refrigerator instead.

 

 5. The primal stage: You’ve stopped showering altogether. Your eyes are
narrowed and small like a mole’s eyes. You hiss at sunlight. You no longer
heat up your cans of soup and ravioli, preferring to eat your meals cold.
Instead of reading, you entertain yourself by drawing stick figures on the
wall and banging pots and pans together. You speak to your family in
grunts and clicks. You begin to fashion to your clothes out of carpet remnants
and your once upright posture is so bent over that now your knuckles drag
clumsily along on the floor when you walk. Your new favorite saying? “Fire
good.”