It’s the little things in life that cause aggravation

Do these things make you crazy too?

Wrappers/packaging.

I sometimes like to grab some of those cheese strips that are primarily designed for kid’s snacks. Have you ever tried to find the place to peel the opening apart? It can take forever and use up lots of patience. How about the shrink-wrapped hard plastic things that come package so that the product is protected? It’s so protected you have to use a scissors or sharp knife to cut into the thick paper part or stab the thick plastic around the product. Grrrrrr.

I like to eat uncut/processed fruit. All the stores have it in season and out and except for perhaps grapes that are too small, all others from lemons to watermelons have a sticker of the grower’s assn on it.  Banana’s watermelons ok, but apples or plums, or pears for example – you first have to peel off the sticker if you want to eat the skin. I wonder what would happen if that paper goes in the garbage disposal?

Tech support. It hardly matters what product. Every consumer product seems to have it which is good but all but a very few (Amazon and some credit card companies are the rare exceptions) you get someone in a foreign country that seems like English is their 5^th language! Then they look up your question from a standard list and read you the answer you are probably not looking for.

Spam. All of us have garbage emails coming in all the time. We put up spam blockers, delete what comes in that we don’t know and still they come. Doesn’t take much time to delete, but day in and day out they come in droves.

Friending on Face Book. Someone you know, not that well, or used to know 100 years or so ago, asks to be your friend so you figure sure why not. Too many people spend too much time telling everyone on Face Book every move the make each hour of the day, or so it seems. To look at Face Book and see about the people your really want to keep up with, you have to sort through all the stuff from those who want everyone to know when they are going to the bathroom next time!

The customer or prospect who is very polite when you call, but when you try to close a sale, or make an arrangement, says, “I’ll get back to you.” I’ll call you,” etc. They don’t really want to buy what you have to offer, but are too polite to tell you so you, being an optimist wait and wait for their call that never comes.

How about the salesman who promises you anything just to get a sale and never delivers what he says he will

As per a previous blog, people who don’t RSVP.

If you’re an English speaking American, it’s rare if this one doesn’t get you. Call any government office. Call a newspaper or service center for too many products. Credit card companies etc.  What do you hear? Press one for English. Press two for Spanish. I wonder what Spanish speaking countries have on their answering systems? Press one for Spanish and two for English? Don’t think so!

High speed drivers on highways rapidly changing lanes and not using a directional signal. Tailgaters at high speeds in and around big cities are a joy as well. Then throw in the Kamikaze motorcyclists riding between lanes at high speeds in dense traffic. It’s a thriller!

Anyone who uses public restrooms has had this experience with the sinks. Of course in very old facilities, they still have water taps, but in the new hip places, or remodeled bathrooms (another misnomer – who ever took a bath in one?) have you ever tried to find the sensor that turns the water on in the sink? Same thing in airports and other public building facilities. It’s always a challenge, at least for me. Some of them even have strange soap dispensers. Let’s not go into hand dryers, another joy, but I wish they could standardize where they put those clever sensors that save water and make me crazy.

Have you ever walked into a typical empty chain store at a mall and the 12 year old whose supposed to be helping you, at best, will hesitantly finish her personal call, give you that bored look and then not know anything about her merchandise or inventory. The management of these stores spend big dollars on advertising to get you to walk in their store, and too many of them higher the cheapest inexperience help they can find, and don’t bother to train or supervise them properly. Their loss, but my peeve.

As the song goes, “these are a few of my favorite things.”

 

     

Since this past week end, we have been house sitting in Los Angeles.

The owners usually take a 3-week holiday at this time of year and like to have someone stay in their house.  While having satisfactorily house sat here in the past, this is the first time they have had a dog.

My feelings about dogs are ambivalent. When our children were young, we had several and since we lived in the woods, when they had to go out, they just went. No need to even have a leash.

This time is different.

First, it’s not my dog. Second, the dog lives on a busy street in a residential neighborhood. Thirdly, the owner is emphatic about the dog’s schedule.

This includes a “brisk” 30-minute walk early each morning, followed by specific feeding instructions, and then the same thing around dinnertime.

There are more details such as when to give a treat etc. Get the dog to sit before crossing the street, showing continual affection, brushing him, and on and on.

This task has had an impact on our lifestyle. I have to be out with the dog first thing each day. I have to be sure to be home at dinner time, and most important…..

I have to clean up his excrement immediately after it is deposited!

Having never done this before, and after looking with disgust as I have seen other people for years doing this, I always said that I would never have a dog just for that reason alone.

They showed me the pooper-scooper techniques that they use. Talk about a shitty subject, this was it!

Before we went on duty, my wife and I went to a pet store, and found an array of equipment to handle this task. They had all kinds of apparatus and we bought some disposable device that looked reasonable.

However, the dog owners advised that they used the plastic wrapper that comes with each days New York Times. It’s kind of a plastic tube that is open on one end and closed on the other.

They explained that when needed, to put your hand into the bag (It comes in a variety of colors, to add a little zip to your process), pick up the nice warm and smelly stuff, and then roll the bag down from the top over the hand and it goes inside the bag.

I must admit I was nervous.

The next day, there I was for the first time. All alone on somebody’s grass, a nice hot stinking blob of dog doo awaiting my performance.

The dog even looked at me as if to wonder if I could handle it.

Was I up to the task? I couldn’t leave it. Would the newspaper plastic bag (this time it was in blue) save me from actually touching the stuff?

Gritting my teeth, holding my breath, and being careful to keep a tight grip on the leash with my left hand, I put my right hand inside the bag, bent down and grabbed it.

I can’t describe the feeling. It felt like I was using my bare hands.

I closed my fingers around this prime example of warm dog feces, stood up, rolled the bag down my forearm and hand and lo and behold….

The poop plopped to the bottom of the bag. My hand didn’t even smell, and it was a clean pick up.

I was elated! I had gained a new skill set. It was like being akin to climbing Mt. Everest. I had lost my dog poop virginity!

They said that the bag and contents should then be deposited in any trashcan sitting in somebody’s driveway. I was told this is what everybody did. Who wants to walk for 30 minutes carrying this package around?

I was leery. What if someone saw me? What if they came charging out of their house after me?

I consulted the dog. He offered no advice.

I found a can. The house looked like nobody was home. Like a thief in the night, looking around to see if anyone was in sight, I quickly tossed in my little package and rapidly walked away.

Now that this dog and I have formed a bond of my feeding him and picking up his crap twice a day, we have bonded. We are now buddies.

When I go for the leash, he gets very excited. When we come back from our hike up hill and dale, he runs for his prescribed treat.

I absorb this affection. I sometimes talk to him in our walks. He always listens and never retorts with a discouraging word or negative comment. He listens to everything I say.

He treats me like no human would. I don’t know anybody else who will listen to me like he does.

He forces me to exercise. He forces me to get up earlier and get going each day. The little “stroll” I was told to take him on each evening before bed is kind of a nice way to end the day.

This is why this medium sized Labrador crossed with who knows what, has become my new best friend.

I don’t think I could clean up any other friends shit, but this one is special!

 

 

As you may have read on these pages, my wife and I have spent the past two weeks traveling between Baltimore Md., suburban New York, New York City, and the Atlantic City area on the Jersey Shore.

 

We have had a wonderful time visiting friends and family. We have utilized, as the movie titles went, planes, trains and automobiles, but the highlight of our trip has been the people.

 

It’s always great, and in my view, mentally healthy to meet new people, and I try to do so whenever it’s applicable. However, there are no friends like old friends.

 

In my case of course, as am I, by at most standards, all of my old friends are old!

 

We spent the first week end of our trip with my first cousin, her husband, children and grandchildren. It was great, especially since we only get together, at best, once a year or so.

 

The first night in New York, we had dinner with my wife’s father in law to celebrate his 96^th birthday. He has become a dear friend of mine, and yes, he is an old friend, even though I’ve only known him for less than two years.

 

We wanted to see more of him, but he didn’t want to miss too much work. Yes, I’m serious. This fabulous gentleman goes to his office two or three times a week and works from home other times. That he says, and I agree, is what keeps him going.

 

The second night we had dinner with literally my oldest friend. We have been friends since we were 3 years old and our mothers allowed us to cross the block that was between our two houses.

 

With our two wives, we had so many laughs that the people around us in the restaurants were giving us dirty looks. The travel schedule of he and his wife is so full that we had to work hard to find a date that we could be in the same city at the same time.

 

No retirement for these old friends. They work non-stop at the charity they founded to find a cure for a disease that took their teenaged son so many years ago.

 

When they started, hardly anyone was doing research and now there are centers and research being done around the world. It shows you what two terrific people can accomplish.

 

I had some business meetings on Monday but on Tuesday night, we had dinner with some not so old friends. I’ve only known them for about 35 years or so!

 

Wednesday found us having lunch with another childhood friend who was best man at my first wedding 47 years ago! I hadn’t been in touch with him for decades but happened to see an article he wrote in the Wall Street Journal a month or so ago, so I called him to arrange a reunion of sorts. It was wonderful. It was great to also see his wife who I last saw when we were all newlyweds and so young.

 

We decided to meet at a restaurant that another old high school friend owns. We caught up with each other’s lives, and to say the least, we laughed more than we ate.

 

Thursday was a double treat. First was a lunch with a cousin who I greatly admire and love to be with. He’s the only one I have ever met who can out talk me, and that’s saying something. I wished we lived next door to each other.

 

He had the best anecdote of the whole trip. He has an office in the basement of his home. One day his wife yelled down from his kitchen and asked what he was doing there so long. His reply…”I’m living Don’s life!”

 

That evening, it was back to another old High School dear friend and again, more reminiscing with distorted memories of what we did together as kids, and loads of laughter.

 

The next day found us at the Jersey Shore. I’ve only had this friend for about 15 years, but he is near and dear to me and now my new bride as well. What a great host as we enjoyed a great Memorial Day week end together.

 

Along the way we met numerous people for the first time. It will be surprising if we ever see them again, but it’s always interesting and informative to have conversations with most people you are at a social gathering with and can spend sometime getting to know one another.

 

But the point of this is to never lose touch with old friends. They’re the best. Nobody knows you like people you grew up with.

 

Old friends should be cherished and nourished with continual contacts and attempts to see each other.

 

In my humble opinion, there is nothing as rewarding or nurturing as going back to your roots and keeping them watered for future visits.

 

My wife and I are fortunate enough to be spending the Memorial Day week end in Ventnor New Jersey.

It’s a mile or so down the beach from the fabled Atlantic City New Jersey that now tries to rival Las Vegas as a gambling center.

It can’t. There’s no comparison, and besides having a closer pocket of population (New York and Philadelphia) then Las Vegas has, it’s still in second place in revenue.

But we didn’t’ come here to gamble. We came here to be with our very good friend who lives here. He loves it. There’s no place in the world he’d rather be, and he doesn’t gamble either. In fact, he doesn’t drink or swear or bad mouth anyone or anything. He’s one of the nicest guys I have ever met.

Where our friend lives, people come with their families and friends as part of their summer tradition. Their parents came in the summer, their grand parents came and great grand parents to what once was a grand resort in the early 1900’s.

Many have “a place at the shore” and it has been in their families for generations. Others take summer rentals. Most of the people come from the Philadelphia area and all say “downnshore.” Not down to the shore, not to the beach as it’s known everyplace else, but “downeshore.”

This morning I went out and “walked the boards.” This is another “downeshore” tradition. The boardwalk in Atlantic City actually goes end to end about 7 miles and is said to be the longest boardwalk in the world.

“Walkin” the boards on a beautiful sunny day, along the Atlantic coast I saw all types of Americans.  Old and young, lots of kids, bicycles, joggers, walkers, all enjoying the day.

Our friend went out of his way to entertain us. Wonderful restaurants with great food, some of his fun friends and hours on the beach.

Conan O’Brian appeared at one of the hotels in Atlantic City and my friend got tickets. It was the only disappointing part of the week end. The show was mediocre at best and the tickets were way over priced, but as the saying goes, live and learn.

We had a great time with our wonderful host, and as we have in the past, look forward to reciprocating when he comes to visit us in Scottsdale.

Isn’t that what friends do? Go out of their way to make each other as happy as they can?