Second post today...read below for more...
He was probably going too fast...he had the car for two days...but he is alive...
Hurts like hell and has a concussion...does not remember the accident and even thinks he lives in Memphis...but he is alive...
Wet, cold roadway...Skidded going around a curve...fishtailed into oncoming lane...got t-boned by a minivan
The other driver is also fine....luckily
The car...well not so much...but it is only a car and he is my son...and I would rather have him then the car any day...
THANK YOU GOD....
Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...
HEY y'all
I have sooooooooo much to do today it is not even funny....laundry...Dr. appt. (He won't review my prescriptions before I move until i see him! ), packing...catching up on things on TiVO! (hey priorities folks!), and...ummmmm....well I have a list somewhere...
OK...went to Chicago Wednesday to corporate office. Got held up at Newark due to weather. we sat on the plane for FIVE ---COUNT 'EM ---FIVE hours. Was supposed to get to Chicago at 9am..finally landed at 2pm!Was supposed to come back home at 6pm, so of course, my Boss..said ..well spend the night...
No clothes.. no toiletries...nothing!
Met all the bosses...great group of me..all the support staff..everyone was excited I was joining.
We went to dinner and killed off 5 (there is that number again) bottles of wine - one a magnum between 5 of us! LOL
Then JP (my direct boss) and I go to the hotel..one of these new fancy boutique places.SO, the front desk says well we hve two rooms left...one is on the smoking floor...JP says no to that.
The other is a suite with a pull-out couch. OK, he says ...
"It is one of our theme suites" says the front desk person..and I start to laugh (well remember lots of wine).
"So, does it have a heart-shaped bed and a champagne glass tub?" I ask..
Front desk guy says no..
"Jungle theme?" says I - sort of kidding....
"Well yes," says he!
So, here is a picture of the front door of the Suite and the living room... the center piece is a water-fall thingy.
JP and I will milk this story for a loooooooooog time!
I just got a call from my Mom as I am writing. Seems they were holding out on me. Dad failed his stress stest on Tuesday and they found 2 blockages and he is in the hospital after having two stents put in yesterday.Supposed to come home today, but they didn't want to tell me because I was going to Chicago and had "a lot on my plate."
ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Leaving tomorrow morning in the car. Hoping to get 10 hours in and then 6 on Sunday.Will be in a hotel room first two weeks and hopefully next weekend I will find a place to live and the following weekend, fly home, load the U-Haul and drive back down.
Should have my laptop on Monday, so I will be able to post, maybe not everyday ..but I will continue to post.
Might not get to stop in at your sites everyday as I have, but I will catch up when I have time, so look for comments dating back a few days on yours!
OK, so I began writing this at 9am...remember lots to do...It is now 1:43pm, and I just got back from the hospital after 3+ hours there.
Matt had a car accident. We do not know details, as he can't remember what happened and the police have not returned my call.
He has a concussion and his legs hurt and that is the extent of his injuried at this time, thank God.
No idea what the new car we just got him looks like - well not new of course, but new for us.
So...not sure I am leaving tomorrow...what they will do for cars...
Does this s**t ever end??????
Anndi loves her luggage...Dana loves her cow (and Taylor)...
I love my vinyl record collection...
BUT I LOVE YOU ALL MORE....
Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.
FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!
Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.
Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...
Today's COUCH SEATING covers many topics...so get real comfyAnd a new day dawns.
And a new day dawns.Rays of light breaking through the dark clouds,
which have covered the earth for long these many months.
A new time…
new challenges…
new goals...
Coming with the knowledge that this journey
will not be without it's potholes, as all journeys do.
Also knowing that the crumbling earth which has existed,
will now be repaved.
Bringing a smoother ride...
New beginnings...
New hopes and dreams.
which have covered the earth for long these many months.
A new time…
new challenges…
new goals...
Coming with the knowledge that this journey
will not be without it's potholes, as all journeys do.
Also knowing that the crumbling earth which has existed,
will now be repaved.
Bringing a smoother ride...
New beginnings...
New hopes and dreams.
V.M.
10/03/2006
10/03/2006
Yes KIDDIES, yesterday at around 4:30pm EDT, I signed my official contract with Inner Workings. Two weeks of negotiations has brought to fruition a new challenge.A challenge that is very welcomed into my life.
Of course, I will be leaving behind, for now, Allyson, Matt, Rocky and Troy and that is sad, but we all agree that the positive outweighs the negative at this time.
I have to be in Chicago tomorrow for a company meeting and then, possibly flying to Memphis tomorrow evening for meetings on Thursday I have been requested to attend.
I would fly home Thursday and then spend Friday with last minute items, leaving Saturday morning for the drive to Memphis.
Next weekend I will try and secure an apartment and fly home the next week, pack the U-Haul and drive back down to move into a new “home."
So, remember, y’all now have a place to visit in Memphis, with a COUCH available at any time.
I was brought up in a home where we always took in wayward travelers around the holidays. Mom and Dad M. always had an open chair at the table for anyone who did not have a place to be…never wanting someone to be alone.So add that to my new learning in S’thern Hospitality and the door is always open to all.
One year Mom & Dad had gone on a cruise and upon their return, learned the ship would be in port for the entire week as it was Christmas week. They had grown to like their Stewards and insisted that these two Italian men, who spoke very little English come and spend the holidays at our home.These two men insisted on decorating our tree, as a showing of thanks for the generosity bestowed upon them. Well, they did the most beautiful tree I had ever seen. They used rolls of cotton to simoutale snow on the branches of the tree, and when it was done, it was like the snow covered forest was in our living room.
I have used this technique over the years on our trees and people always come in and "ooo and ahh" and ask how I learned to do it, and of course I tell the story.
OK…so, yesterday we talked about growing up on Long Island and the fun we had in the 60’s with all the friends and families.Well, I remembered one hysterical prank the parents all pulled on “Uncle Vinny and Aunt Annette”, out neighbors across the street. Mom and Dad grew up with Vinny & Annette and were excellent friends.
Now, as to which of the adults came up with this prank I cannot say, but a few families were involved.
Vinny & Annette and their kids Steven and Anthony were on vacation in the summertime and were due home on this particular day.
Well, what y’all have to know to appreciate this is that the development we lived in was growing by the week, with new homes going up al the time and it was an “up and coming” area.
Well, a day or so before they were to return a sign went up on their front lawn announcing the house for sale and an open house that was to occur on their date of return.
Y’all can imagine their faces, as they pulled into their driveway to find cars out side on the street and all these strangers being given guided tours by their best friends.
I do remember standing on our lawn laughing hysterically.
Ah…youth and fun!
Now…the “teased” trip south with dad.THE COUCH NOTE – Dad M. reminded me that I had posted part of this before, so if it sounds familiar I am sorry and y’all can skip through those parts!
So, the summer I turned 15 or maybe16 (brain fog y’all) Dad was working for Esquire Magazine at the time and he was Ad Sales manager. Some of his accounts included the cigarette companies, who at the time, were still allowed to advertise in magazines.
We had taken our car for the trip, driving through the south. We were in the middle of the trip and on our way into Winston Salem. I remember we had come over a rise in the road and could se the city in the distance. As we drove down the other side of the rise, a car came by us very fast to our right and I laughed because this woman was sitting on the drivers lap with her back against the driver’s window.
I pointed it out to Dad and at almost the same time the sound of a police siren could be heard coming up from behind. AH HA…man was that guy gonna get a ticket….
Ummmmmm…..nope!
The cop pulled US over.
He came over…his big ole Troopers hat tilted just so on his head and informed dad he had been clocked speeding. Dad began to argue and tell the Trooper about the car (that had NC plates - as opposed to our NY plates, btw), and the Trooper wanted nothing to do with it and told Dad to follow him to see the judge.
We followed him to this one room jail (think Mayberry RFD) where this big ole man was seated behind a desk with his feet up on the desk.
Trooper said “Honor, this her man was exceeding the speed limit and is her to pay his fine.”
Now, let me describe, a bit better, the scene. This Judge - leaning back on his chair, feet on the desk - was watching this little black and white TV with a baseball game on (To this day I want to say it was the All-Star Game, but am not certain).
My Dad begins to say, “Your Honor, I was not speeding and the trooper completely let off this couple in a car…"
The trooper bellows “Now Judge, let me show y’all here on the blackboard what I witnessed…"
“No need Billy Bob... (probably not the name he used, but he called him by name and I am using poetic license here), either this man and his ummmm son (my hair was long even then and that was obviously a slam at the young “hippie” in his “court) will be paying the fine or enjoying our hospitality for the evening."
Well, Dad did not have enough cash and had to contact his client in town to bring enough so we didn’t have to enjoy that ummmm “hospitality."
Now during this trip, we would get to our hotel and Dad would have meetings during the day and I would stay behind. It was in Atlanta, GA that I learned of something called “room service" and that they would deliver you food right there by the pool while I chatted up the young women on vacation with their families.Dad and I had a little “educational chat” about the expenses I ran up once we checked out from that hotel!
Then…on the way home, we stopped off in Virginia to visit a family who used to live down the block from us on Long Island.All their kids were older and their two oldest sons, and oldest daughter had acted as baby-sitters for my brother, sister and I when we were younger. Their youngest was about 2 years older then me.
Well, that night the two girls had a party to go to and asked if I could come along. Permission was given and off we went.
Well...remember the drinking age was much lower then and there was booze at the party. Not sure how many Tom Collins’ I had, but it was enough that I got sick at the party and then again when we got back to their house.
The two girls got in trouble over my inability to hold my booze and I got a loooooong talking to for the entire 5-hour ride home, with a head that felt like three Mac trucks were playing demolition derby inside it.
I also got another “lesson” from Dad as we stopped at some real greasy spoon for breakfast and I was forced to eat some runny, greasy eggs for breakfast.
Let me tell y’all, I did not drink for at least another month! LOL
But Dad and I had a great trip and it was on that trip that I fell for the south…interesting since I never made it back there to live....well until NOW!
Another shooting in a school...and this time in an Amish schoolhouse!Violence is everywhere, but I ranted on that yesterday so I will just say, THE COUCH prays for the families of the young women killed.
Here are some disturbing facts taken from an interview given to the Associatd Press:"There's no perfect security, from the White House to the schoolhouse," said Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services consulting firm in Cleveland.
"Since Columbine, school officials have gotten better at preventing student violence", he said, "but authorities can't prepare for every problem."
"When you factor in unpredictable outsiders, when you have a roaming monster walking into the schools, we have to be realistic," Trump said. "There are some incidents you're not going to be able to prevent."
Trump's firm counts 17 nonfatal school shootings so far this school year, beginning Aug. 1. There were 85 the previous school year and 52 in the 2004-2005 school year.
Since Columbine in 1999, the number of fatal school shootings in a school year has ranged from three (2002-03) to 24 (2004-05), according to National School Safety and Security Services. The firm does not track cases before Columbine.
WOOOO…we got a “tip o’ the Tam” yesterday over on the FOTW site…thanks Bro!THE COUCH may be hit and miss the next two weeks or so, but know that--when I can--even it is only two or three lines, I will post to let y’all know what is happening.AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – THANKS TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR YOUR WORDS OF LOVE & ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYERS OVER THE LAST 21 MONTHS.Without all of it, I am not sure I would have made it this far.
And lastly for today… YES KIDDIES, I have used the term y’all throughout…
just practicing…bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa
Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!
Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.
Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...
So, an email went around this past weekend talking about growing up as a child in 1987 and the way kids today could not have survived then.Kind of funny, since it talked about 20 cable channels and Atari-2600 and having to write letters and mail them and the like.
I responded talking about growing up in 1957-1963 (3 to 9 years old) and how we had 7 channels TOTAL - and they went off the air at midnight, and we played board games and did not even have things like Atari and how there was not a mailbox on every corner and the like.
It got me thinking about my years growing up on Long Island. We lived on a corner house. The two homes across the street in either direction were homes owned by people my mom and dad grew up with in The Bronx. Within 5 minutes walk were about 4 other families that grew up in their neighborhood.
Everyone had at least 3 kids it seemed. And we did everything together. We spent every summer holiday at one home or another.
Within the 10 homes that abutted to ours there had to be 25 kids in total.
In the summers we would play outside from the time we awoke till after dark, never having to worry. And the great thing was our parents didn’t worry either.
I can remember one Sunday when our parents all awoke to find their homes empty. When they went to the front doors, they witnessed 10 or so kids all riding their bikes around the street – in their pajamas!
The Fourth of July picnics we had…and the fireworks displays the dads put on…so much fun.
We would play hide-and-go-seek on our bicycles and the boundaries would be the whole development (which extended probably 3 square miles), late into the evening…never a care in the world.
There was a large hill at the back of the development that we called – of course- Suicide Hill and one day I went down it on my bike and lost control and scrapped my arm real bad… So I just peddled right over to Uncle JR and Aunt Millie’s home to get some care.
Yes, there were many Aunts and Uncles – but we were not related to any of them, other then they were our parent’s friends and that is what we called them.
Never thinking anything of it… that was just the right way to address them.
The kids all played together and had fights and hated each other and made up and had fights...I guess just like today, except there were never any weapons in the fights.
Well..until we got older. Then it was sometimes with sticks and bats, BUT never knives or guns.
Today, kids go to school and have to pass through metal detectors to stop the knives and guns from getting into school. And it is not the inner-city, it is everywhere....good towns..Colorado...Idaho...New Jersey...And the gangs are no longer just in the big cities, they are everywhere.
There is a proliferation of Bloods and Crips moving from Trenton into Princeton, NJ. They are in Des Moines, IA and Little Rock, AK and probably in your city too.
All we can do is talk to our kids and teach them that being cool does not mean being in a gang and beating on people.
My friend Coco asked in my comments section what she should do about her boy who is obsessed with guns. She writes:"My little boy is obsessed with guns. I think it is preprogrammed by genetics or something, because I monitor his tv viewing, he has never owned a toy gun and his daycare doesn't allow them either. Every stick he picks up, every cylindrical object, becomes a rifle or a hand gun. So now it falls to me to teach him the reality of guns?"
You can monitor the TV viewing, but that does not mean he does not see the guns. Daycare might not allow them, but he and his friends talk about them in school. Whether it is to play "army men" or "cowboys and Indians" - boys talk about them.
My parents didn't have to talk to us about the dangers of guns...the times did not warrant it.
I had many toy guns...cowboy rifles, Man From U.N.C.L.E. super-guns that were a pistol, but would turn into a rifle...man Napolean Solo was the coolest dude around...Buck Rogers ray guns (the movie serials we watched before the main feature each week, not the Gil Gerard TV show)...all sorts of guns...but they were make-believe and we all knew it.
Parents today need to talk to their kids and explain that a toy is a toy, but that there are real guns and they are dangerous and deadly and should never be touched without the proper training. Video games abound where the main theme is kill-as-many-as-you-can and sort it all out later.
There are also video games where the object is to run down, by car, as many people as possible. Do we have to explain to our kids that cars are not to be used as weapons of death? ...gosh I always hoped not, but maybe young parents today might just have to.
To explain that one is a game and the other is a lifetime in prison.
Or do you just forbid these things into your home? I think this might be the wrong approach.
How many of us have known kids who were never allowed chocolate or soda (pop, tonic etc - depending upon where you are reading this), in their homes and when they finally go away to college they go absolutely nuts and can't stop eating or drinking the stuff?Moderation is the key word here...everything should be in moderation...and parents need to teach their kids that anything in moderation is fine...but when you have too much of anything it is bad for you.
Dad Vince sent me an email regarding the picture of me as a baby in the baseball cap (furthest on the left on THE COUCH). In that email he wrote the following:"Did you know?
The picture of you in the baseball uniform, leading off your blog was taken by Bill Stahl, senior staff photographer of the New York Daily Mirror, which was first published by William Randolph Hearst in 1924.
It had the second largest circulation of all newspapers in the United States.
The New York Daily News was #1.
The Daily Mirror ceased publication in 1963 after a long strike.
The moral of this story; (aside from being a bit of trivia) make friends with award winning photographers while you have young kids -- and -- if you work for a newspaper, consider the consequences before you go on strike.
Dad spent most of his career in publishing with, among others, American Home Magazine and Esquire Magazine, where he was advertising sales manager for somewhere around 15 years (he will correct that statement, I am sure.)His business took him down south much and I got to travel with him one summer...but I will leave that story for tomorrow...
THAT IS CALLED A "TEASER" IN THE NEWS BIZ FOLKS.....
bwahahahahahaahahahhaahhaahaaaaa
Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!
Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.
