Hello on Thursday

Dear Friends,

I am off to a late start today due to my sports watching and listening. My dinner after my UNICO scholarship meeting didn't happen, but that was okay because I had a chance to watch the Red Sox, and Boston Bruins. The Bruins were winners, but the Red Sox failed to win their extra inning contest.
The Red Sox game never ended until 2:45 AM. I was listening to the game on radio hoping that I would fall asleep. The game started at 7 PM. There was a two hour rain delay. The Red Sox were two runs behind, and they tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth inning. They finally lost the game in the 13th inning.

I don't know how these ball players can be rested and ready to play for today's 1:30 PM game.

It is a balmy 42 degrees right now, and we aren't supposed to get out of the lower 50's. I had to turn the heat back on. Oh Darn!

I never got a chance to talk with Linda to find out how her BONCO session went. She will fill me in when she wakes up.

I am the only one socially engaged this evening. I will be attending a Neighborhood Watch meeting at 6:30 PM. Linda does have to pick up a few items at a grocery store, and that is it for her commitments.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Every Mexican restaurant in the county is celebrating the event in some form today, but I am not sure if Linda and I will be doing so.

It is good that President Obama is not going to release the bloody body photographs of Osama Bin Laden. The terrorists will use the photos against the big, bad Americans.

Politics at the local level -- The war of words from the mayoral candidates in Pittsfield are just about ready to begin. We will hear the typical rhetoric of: Cutting the waste in government, reducing taxes, maintaining a strong fire and police department, and a commitment to public education, fixing our pot hole laden roads, addressing the gang and drug problem, etc.
I want these candidates to tell me where the waste is. A good portion the the city budget is the salaries of the employees on the municipal side as well as the employees in the school department. There is also a large unfunded liability with respect to retired municipal and teacher pensions. What I am trying to say is that I want these candidates to tell me how they are going to accomplish the above mentioned goals with so little funds left over once you pay the salaries of the city employees.
The price of everything in our lives are going up. This means that the price of running government is going up. I want to see how many of the candidates promise us that they won't increase taxes if they are elected Mayor. Even a nominal increase has to take place just to keep the services which we now have.
The scenario which I described will be repeated throughout the nation in all sized communities.

I am watching the Today Show as I am composing this email. They have a American lady from Oregon that went in for oral surgery, and came out of the surgery speaking with a British accent. She has been speaking with this new accent for over a year, and she will not return to her normal American accent. She is one of several documented cases of this happening. She has been tested to see if she could be faking the accent, and the new accent was found to be real. I go to the dentist so often, could it happen to me?

The Brodeur Lad continues to do well at his home after his kidney transplant. When he went in for some blood work tests the other day, the tests showed that his body is accepting his new kidney quite nicely. He is also relieved that he doesn't have to go through dialysis three times per week. He still has a while to go before his body returns to completely normal, but everything is heading in a positive direction. When the positives outweigh the negatives, it can certainly lift anyone's spirits.

It is hard to believe that Mother's Day is this Sunday. Mother's Day for us has changed dramatically over the past few years since my mother has been in a nursing home. Linda and I used to host a Mother's Day cookout (sometimes a cook in depending on the weather). We would have my parents, some Aunts and Uncles who live locally, and my sister and her family at the cookout. This year it is just Linda and me. I am not sure what we are going to do on Mother's Day. Has this day for us turned to just another day of the week for us? Oh Darn!

Well, I have to get dressed. I might have to go into a storage bucket and retrieve a moc turtle neck that I put away a week ago. I had a chill all day long on Wednesday, and I don't want to spend another day feeling that way today.


Have a great Thursday!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad