Big Leather Couch: St. Joseph

Showing posts with label St. Joseph. Show all posts

Ruby Tuesday - Ellis Island...Sonny & Brownie

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Tuesday, August 12, 2008 19 Of Your Sparks

Welcome to another addition of RUBY TUESDAY - click on the logo above to head over to The Teach's blog to see all the entries this week.

Well we are getting into the way-back machine today. The summer of 1999, Mom Joan, Dad Vince, Brother Richard and SIL Cindy, Sister Lynn and BIL Kevin, me and the ex and all the grand kids took on New York City for a day. It was a whirlwind that brought us out to Ellis Island (I had never been there), then to the Empire State Building and then to Little Italy (what is left of it, Chinatown has grown and taken over much of what was Little Italy) for a great meal.

Anyway...we went to Ellis island and saw my grandparents name on the wall...(the families have to pay for inclusion).

I got this shot of Matt and his cousins Candice and Joseph. Now remember, Matt is going to be a Junior this year and Candice and Joseph are entering Freshman. If I weren't feeling so good from going to the gym 5 days a week I might feel old!

Not the greatest picture. Working on the old Mac in Photoshop has gotten tedious it is so slow...I have not been able to swing buying the bundle for the new Mac...so as I am doing this post, I am downloading Gimp onto the new Mac. Roger swears by it, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Yeah and maybe the sign is not BRIGHT RED, but it is reddish in color...so sue me!

Coming up this week on DR. BLOGSTEIN’S RADIO HAPPY HOUR:
(Live on Tuesday August 12th at 9PM ET and forever archived at BlogTalkRadio.)

Actress Judy Reyes, best known for her roll as the sassy, no-nonsense “Nurse Carla Espinosa” on the sitcom Scrubs, will hang out with hang out with us on the internet’s wildest Tuesday night party.This week, Reyes trades in her “Scrubs” for tragedy when she stars in the Lifetime Original Event Film LITTLE GIRL LOST: THE DELIMAR VERA STORY premiering on Sunday (August 17th.) The film is based on the incredible true story that made headlines about Luz Cuevas (Reyes), whose infant daughter appears to have died during a tragic house fire. Scrubs returns for its eighth season next month but will now be seen on ABC.

Also this week, 24-year old singer-songwriter, Danny Ross, joins Dr. B and Dangerous Lee. Declared “an earnest piano rocker” by The New Yorker, Ross also maintains a blog named “Danny Blogstein” We’ll talk music, hear some of his tunes and brow beat him to cease and desist using Radio Jesus‘ name in vain.

All that, plus, Vinny Bond drags his Big Leather Couch into the Radio Happy Hour Lounge to chat live with the listeners, Justin the Weatherman reaches new heights in the weather business and we’ll take your calls at 646-652-4804.

Join us live every Tuesday night at 9PM ET. The Radio Happy Hour Lounge-a live chat room during show time-is a whole new reason to make sure you listen live! It’s the show within the show!

I am in an off-site meeting working on plans for our 2009 campaign all day, so if I don't get to visit you, I will catch up Wednesday.

Thanks to all those who left their opinion of the artists we featured on Friday. I am going to try it again this week, only featuring two this time.

These two gentlemen were my first real lesson in the Delta Blues. Freshman year at college working one of my late shift radio shows and just searching through the racks of albums. The names on the side of the jacket looked cool. Let's give it a listen...So I put the needle down on the vinyl and the sweetest sound filled my ears.

I was hooked...Mr. Sonny Terry (October 24, 1911 - March 11, 1986) and Mr. Brownie McGhee (November 30, 1915 - February 16, 1996) on guitar.

This is "Midnight Special", the way the music gods intended - in my opinion...

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Blogs Galore And A Warning

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Wednesday, September 20, 2006 15 Of Your Sparks

Welcome To THE COUCH...Sit on Down and Get Comfy...

"Warning Today's Post Will Not Make You Smile"
(This warning will be explained later in the post)

Welcome to my world...

In the past few weeks, I have added numerous sites for friends who have picked up this blogging thing. I wonder if Blogger has some sort of referral program where you get credit for people signing up to their site.

I also wonder if it would be a better idea if I set up a domain and migrated all my friends there...Blogger is always causing propblems it seems as they upgrade their service...That would be a project I am not sure I can do at this time, but it is a thought for later on someday...

Today we add "It's Just Tez" from our friend Tezero and "AngellZ-Secretz" from our friend Angell. Check them both out when you have the time. Welcome ladies...

Now Angell is on "double-secret probation" because of her cutting remark about THE COUCH in the opening of her posting...so she will be watched carefully over the next months...

But it got me to thinking that maybe it was getting a bit stale here at THE COUCH. Wondering if it should be more personal...or if the various areas I cover from time to time is the way THE COUCH was meant to be formulated.

Since I began I have commented on sports, politics (I do try and stray from that), entertainment, my life, and have done some fiction and even some non-fiction type stories. Now the "my life" things have, unfortunately been down subjects due to the way my life is going right now.

Things still are not getting better. The house has not sold...no offers have arrived yet for a new job...the phone rings constantly with people looking for money that does not exist. Most seem to be understanding, but then you get those who just are plain nasty. This morning I was told "What has all that got to do with anything...when are you going to pay?"

Now, I did hear from another firm I have interviewed with and was told I would be called in for another interview soon. This firm is here in NJ and the position is one I had applied to a year ago. I never heard from them that time. The job was re-posted recently...it appears they made the wrong choice and the person they hired was let go!

So, I did something I am not a huge fan of...I went to someone who knew someone and got my resume hand-delivered to the head of HR from the executive assistant of the CEO.

Are they going through the paces just to say... "Hey, we talked to him" and to ensure they are not called on the carpet? My resume has not changed in a year...so why are they now so interested?

The house is almost totally packed...it is so barren...the wonderful bookshelves in the living room are empty. Pictures are off the walls (I have been told people have a hard time buying a home that looks like the people who currently live there have an actual life!).

My days are barren also. I wake in the morning, shower, brush my teeth (shave every few days), make my way to my computer to check the job emails that never seem to show any hope...then I come here and try and write something that might make others smile and think.

See...that was the real reason I began THE COUCH...to give others a reason to smile and to make them think. whether it is to think "What did that story mean", or "Is that really Tom Cruise's daughter", or "What does a magic number mean" (BTW, Yankees magic number is now one game), or to ask themselves "Why does that group feel that by burning down homes or destroying cars will save the environment"...

My friend Coco, who is a teacher in New Brunswick, Canada has the greatest career. Each day she stands in front of a group of kids who are empty vessels and tries to get them to accept the knowledge she is pouring out for them. She is musically trained, but this year they asked her to take a Reading Class (English Composition...) and she hated the thought...well it appears she is reaching these kids and making them want to learn...

THAT KIDDIES IS REWARDING...

OK, so you say..so get your teaching license and do something about it. You know..if financially I could I would do just that. Maybe once the house is sold, i can think of that...but right now..it seems so out of reach.

I just typed a sentence and then deleted it. Why? because it really illustrated how tight the two rocks I am stuck between are at this time...and I don't think i can be that open here and now...

So...is this what I want THE COUCH to be? Certainly not...

Is it part of what THE COUCH has to be? Certainly YES...

Should i put a disclaimer at the top of the posts when they are going to be this intense...maybe.... something like "Warning Today's Post Will Not Make You Smile"

But then again...do i have it as bad as some people? Absolutely not..there are those out there who don't even have a computer to reach out with or even a home within which they can awaken in the morning...

I sit here now, looking at the screen wondering if I should just delete this whole thing and post something about the shootings of those basketball players at Duquense, or the Pope and his controversy, or music or Pete Rose and his situation or something other then myself...

I hear from friends every single day who are wondering about Memphis or the house or how I am doing and they send their prayers and their hopes and their concerns and it certainly feels good...but it is so new for me. I have always been the one who reaches out to others to help...

It is frustrating...

One friend sent me an article about people trying to sell their homes and burying a statute of St. Joseph in their backyards. By burying a statue of St. Joseph, it is supposed to aid in the dale of your home. In fact, recently on the show "Million Dollar Listing" on Bravo, one of the home sellers who was not getting any offers buried his statue in his backyard and sold his home within a couple of weeks.

Well, I have had one St. Joseph in my backyard and one out by the realtor sign for months...nope...hasn't worked for me.

Again, I sit and stare at the screen...why am I putting this all down...and why does anyone want to read it all?

Maybe I will put that warning up today...and if you have gotten to this part of the posting, you chose to ignore it...

Thank you my friends and family for all of your thoughts and prayers and the crossing of fingers and toes and eyes and all the other body parts....

Things will change...they will improve...maybe today...maybe tomorrow...maybe next week...

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!

Remember .. Nets For Malaria - UNFoundation.org/malaria - find the big SI's Nothing But Net logo ... Or call 202.887.9040. Every cent goes to buying nets to place over the beds of children in Africa to stomp out Malaria. PLEASE HELP.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.

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