Hello on Friday

Dear Friends,

Another day went as planned in Curleyworld, and there were no bumps in the road.

I did forget that Linda had a body maintenance procedure at 10:30 AM, but everything else during the day went well.

My first task of the day was to straighten the small storage area that we have in the basement so that Linda could get at Christmas labeled buckets, and so that we could get at shelves which have household and food items. It took me close to three hours to do that task.

The next task that I attacked, before my afternoon nap, was to dispose of three televisions, and one VCR. I went off to Best Buy with the electronic items in the back of my car. I go in the store, and the customer service representative said that there was no coupon deal, but that he would take my stuff at no charge at all. A Best Buy person came out to my car with a cart. We loaded the electronic stuff on the cart, and that was it. I have two more televisions to dispose of, but I am going to wait until the spring to do so. I have an older television, but larger than the one which was there, in one of the spare bedrooms, and another clunker in the screened in room on the deck.

Linda did some recreational shopping after going to a movie with her girlfriend. The saw the movie about the life of Herbert Hoover.

Our pasta supper at home went as planned too.

It was just a pleasant day in the life of a retired couple.

Politics – There was a report that Mr. Cain’s wife never knew that he had a 13 year “friendship” with another woman. Aren’t the wives always the last ones to know when their spouse is engaging in extra curricular activities? I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr Cain’s wife might file for a divorce one of these days whether he continue on campaigning or calls it quits.

Sports – I watched a rebroadcast of the acceptance speech for the new manager of the Red Sox, Bobby Valentine. He seems like a pretty good guy. In the minor leagues, I didn’t know that he used to be a roommate of the infamous Bill Buckner who inadvertently let a ground ball go through his legs during a World Series Game against the New York Mets which ultimately let the Mets win the World Series. I hope the new manager can turn around the attitude of the Red Sox players. Bobby Valentine was given a pretty talented team to work with.

Radio Talk Show – My radio talk show host had two days of what I call “Education Speak”. He had on some representatives from the one Catholic High which we have in Pittsfield as well as representatives from a Catholic Elementary school. Yesterday he had the Superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools, and representative from the School Committee. For several days this week, it has been a lovefest about education. Both systems do a pretty good job of educating children. I did want to call up when the Catholic representatives who were on the radio. I wanted to ask them what they do with students who don’t want to play by the rules set forth at the Catholic Schools. I know what the answer since I was a teacher in the Pittsfield Public Schools which is to “Send the child to the Pittsfield Public Schools!” The Catholic High School does a wonderful job for children who want to go off to college, but what if you are student who likes to work with your hands, and who are not into academics? The answer once again is to send him to the Pittsfield Public Schools which has a good deal of vocational education opportunities. What if you have children with special needs? Once again, the Pittsfield Public Schools have programs to deal with these children. The Catholic schools have the luxury of expelling children who don’t conform, but the Public Schools must deal with such children or create a program. Am I implying that Public Education is a dumping ground? You bet I am! I witnessed that for 36 years as a classroom teacher.

Continuing on with an education theme, I was in my car heading of to see dad at the nursing home when a caller to my friend’s radio program got on the line. This is a person who is blind, and has a “seeing eye dog”. The caller said that he and his dog were being harassed by middle school students as he walked by the school. He endured the harassment for several days before he called the Principal of the school. The principal of the school called for an assembly, and had to teach and chastise for the behavior of a few students. My first thought was don’t parents teach their children to respect handicapped people. We were taught at home to not mess with people like the person mentioned above. Harassing a special needs person is not part of my psyche!

Social Calendar – I think today might be the “Do nothing” day which she has been longing for all week. I am pretty sure she will be able function when she wants to function.

I will be attending a wake this evening. The wake is at St. Mark’s Church. It is for the father of a UNICO brother. The UNICO brother is also a City Councilor for the ward which Linda and I are located in. I am guessing that they are having the wake in the Church because of the expected huge turnout. The Italian Funeral home is too small to handle a huge crowd. Parking would be a real problem too.
My friend’s dad was a popular man, and he is the one who owned the East Side Café which is now run by his children. The obituary in yesterday’s local newspaper was a very enlightening one because I knew the man, but not much about his background. When I would see him at the East Side, or at the Italian American Club, he would always call me “Curley”. He always asked me how my mother and father were doing when I ran into him. We UNICAN’s will be having a prayer service at 6 PM. No matter how large the line is, our group will cut in and do a quick prayer service. Mario Capitanio was born in 1927 which means that he was a year younger than my dad.

Well, I am up early which means I will be off with the 4:30 AM crowd at Retro Fitness. I probably shouldn’t use the word crowd because at 4:30 AM there might be all of 10 people. The grunter is there every day at this time. I wouldn’t know what to do if I had as many muscles as he does.

Have a great weekend.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad