Hello on Monday

Dear Friends,

I left the house first on Sunday. I acted like a human sump pump once again at a friend's home. The water coming into their basement is decreasing. I only took out 5.5 wet vacuum containers of water. I am passing the reins of water removal to another friend of the family from Dalton. Oh Joy!

After the water removal, I never left the house except to pick up a pizza around 7:15 PM. I did overdose on Professional Football from 1 PM until after 11 PM. I finished reading a book on the Ipad while doing so. The Red Sox lost another one too. It was unbearable to watch the Red Sox give up so many runs. They will be lucky if they make the playoffs since they are playing so awful.
I can't wait to see how the New England Patriots play this evening at 7 PM in the first of two Monday Night Football games on national television.

I had a particular interest in watching many of the games yesterday because I am participating in a weekly contest through a Boston Radio Sports'
Channel on line called WEEI. Half of the teams which I picked to win in week one lost. My selections weren't even based on point spreads. All I had to do is pick the winning team of each game. If I picked them very well, there is a chance that I could win two Patriots tickets. Well, the way I picked teams during the opening session of professional football would be a good indicator that I would never win a pair of tickets which they give away weekly. Oh Darn!

Social Calendar -- I have a UNICO Board Meeting at 6 PM. I think that Linda is not socially engaged at all. She definitely needs a day of rest with no one bugging her.

Post Office -- I got to thinking about my Unionized Brothers and Sisters who work for the United States Postal Service, many of whom will be facing layoffs. I have had great experiences while using the services which they provide. Many Curley's past and present have worked as Postal Workers. When sending mail or packages across the nation and all over the world, we are still the least expensive of any countries that I am aware of. With the age of electronics, people are not sending out hand written letters in the numbers which we used to do. You can send an instant message to anyone in the world by just by hitting the send button on whatever device that you are using. Often, we get invited to parties by way of an "E-Vite". Half of our household bills come on line, and you can pay them that way even though Linda likes to write out checks. We still get invitations to weddings and bridal showers in the mail as well as "Thank You's" sent by the wedding couple (usually the female). Sending Christmas cards has almost become obsolete. You can even send condolence comments on line when a person makes the obituaries instead of hand writing a sympathy card to the family.
When our son was attending the Air Force Academy in the 1990's, they suggested that we parents send letters to the Cadets to help alleviate the stress of being isolated, and the stress of military life. I remember writing a hand written letter to our son on a daily basis no matter what we were doing. I remember being of the beaches on Cape Cod, and still writing these letters. Now, I compose something on the Ipad or Laptop, and the message gets sent to Afghanistan as soon as I hit the send button.
Well, it sure does look like something has to give if we are doing things electronically instead of by sending letters in the mail. What I fear is the urge to privatize. Privatization to save a few bucks ends up costing more in many situations. Of course, conservatives promote the concept instead of working to tweak the current system to make it more efficient. What I also fear is the little town Post Office falling by the wayside. We have a lot of communities in the hill towns of Berkshire County which rely on their hometown Post Office. Since Pittsfield is one of the two largest communities in the county, they might have to drive to Pittsfield to fulfill their Post Office needs. Oh Darn!

Well, I have to do some quiet activities.
Have a great week at work, school, or play.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad