Whazz Shakin

A REPEAT OF THE NUMBER 2 BLOG IN MY SERIES.

2025-11-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking recently about the 38 years I spent on the job, before retirement. I rose from the cellars of mail boy to the height of what some considered middle management or what I considered lower management. It seems that the correct definition of the position lies in only ones mind. During these years I've watched how management worked and with what machines they brought to the job. At first when the fax machine came out, it was a marvel never seen before..."how did we ever live without this phenomenon" to have a piece of paper transmitted over thin wires to another machine and show up in perfect duplicate. The cell phone was another. I remember seeing men carry this around in a bag hung over their shoulders, what an advancement. Just prior to this only a select few, mainly the rich, had them in their cars. Now, even the street people and children as young as 5 walk around with this instrument glued to their ear. OOHHH how far we have come. I spent 38 years without a blackberry that played music, took videos, pictures and communicated with the world over something called facebook and twitter and work just went on. Now my grandchildren can twix, and text me faster than I can think.

A while ago, a high school classmate of mine emailed me and told me how awesome it would be if I joined facebook along with a whole bunch of other classmates. "Just think, how it could bring all of us closer" was the inducement I needed. SSSSOOOOOO facebook it was, then before you knew it, Twitter started to be mentioned. Just think now you can Tweeter,Tweetree,Twhirl,Twitterfon,Tweetie and Twittererific, Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message including bowel movements of the next generation to my cell phone and every other program in the texting world. Now I carry my cell phone around clipped to my belt for security, and every three minutes or so, I find myself hunched over pulling on my pants to try and get closer to the phone simply because I am unable to get the phone off my belt fast enough. People watching probably now think I am not only old but retarded.

Two years ago, my kids bought me a GPS for my birthday. They say I could get lost every now and then going across the street to get the mail. Little did they know, I was out there just BSing with the other people getting the mail.. this is really a cool gadget and it looks really great on my dash board, but the lady inside is the most annoying,rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "RE-CALC-UL-ATING" You would think she could be nicer. It was as if she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then when I would make a right turn instead, it was not a good thing!!!. When I really get lost, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, I at least know she cares for me. I tried to use this GPS once to see just how it worked. I hooked it up and told it that I wanted to go to the mailbox. In the time it took just to locate where I was at that moment, I had backed out of my driveway, pulled up to the mailbox, reached in and got the mail, closed the window and was back into my drive way. I even helped it along by telling it I did not want to take any highways. A time saver it's not...........

Cordless phones are another great thing, now one can walk around the house talking on the phone, the only drawback is that I have not yet figured out that when I hear the little beep tone how do I put one call on hold, answer the other call, and then return to the first person. I always find myself having to call the first person back.

The world is just moving to fast for me. They even mess me up at the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused but I never can remember to take them in with me. When they ask me, "Paper of Plastic?" I just say, "doesn't matter to me I am bi-sacksual" then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.

Whats next in this world???

THE BEST OF TIMES

2025-09-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

TIME IS THE ONLY THING LEFT

Something I have always said that I wanted to do before that day comes, Is that I wanted to write a book about my life. I don’t know who would be interested enough to read it, But it’s always been in the back of my mind to do. Something just struck me though, that’s what I have been doing all of this time, It’s just that it’s called a blog. If I look back over all the postings of my blog, it’s in essence, a story of my life. How stupid of me to suddenly realize that. Writing that book was the last thing on my bucket list, so now that I’ve settled that, the only thing left is time to enjoy my memories.

BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE

in the past year, several people have asked me what I considered to be the best years of my life. I’ve put a lot of thought into this and it comes down to be a choice of basically three times of my life, My school years, My work years and my retirement years. Of these three categories, there have been some great ups and downs that have to be considered. My school years consisted of basically 12 years. My work years I could narrow down to 40 years and my retirement years so far amount to 30 years. That leaves seven years, five of which I was age 0 to 5 and then they were two years in the military. Just looking over this list, I guess the best times can be narrowed down to the 40 years of working and the 30 years of retirement as the most fun packed years. Of the two, I have to definitely give the 40 years of working the number one spot. The things that I’ve done, The people I have met And the places I have seen, By far still remain deep in my memory. OH, to relive those times.

89, WHERE DOES ONE GO NOW

At the beginning of this post, I’m seven months away from reaching that point of 90. Where does one go now? If I ask that question in a sense of traveling, I think my traveling days are well behind me. And when I mean, travel, I mean, literally transiting the globe. I’m thankful and happy every morning that I wake up and see daylight. Each morning the first questions I have for Margot is “ What’s the plan for today?” And I keep getting the same reply, “No plan we’ll just play it by ear.” In some ways that can be very exciting however, in some ways, it’s quite boring. Not surprisingly, The next question is “what’s for dinner tonight?” The reply, Up to now has always been” Whatever you make” For some reason, the reply is now a choice of three or four really tasteful items. Wonder why the sudden change?

JUST FOR FUN

I went to the doctor last week for my yearly examination and after the examination, he told me that I had thin legs, Coincidentally that happens to be my gangster name. He also advised that I should begin wearing a helmet,in case I happen to fall. That just makes me really feel stupid so now I carry a skateboard. A little known fact is that a woman lives to A medium age of 95 a man has an average age of 85, At 89 I’m contemplating the transition. During this visit, the doctor suggested that I go down to the lab to have some blood work. I checked at the lab and they told me that it would be about a 20 minute wait there were five people ahead of me. That’s when I asked if there was any chance that I could be pushed up a bit because it didn’t sound like I had that much time left. When I finally got in, the nurse, took a look at my veins and says “my God man you’ve got the biggest vein that I’ve ever seen in my life, Which of course made me quite proud as that was the best thing that I’ve heard in the past 60 years “ I got a little nervous with the amount of blood that she was actually taking from me, So I mentioned to her” I hope you leave enough for me to get to my car“ She chuckled and told me that she was leaving enough for me to get in my car and get out of the parking lot. That’s when our responsibilities stops.”

As far as social media is concerned, you can follow me on the bulletin board at Kroger or on “my chart”.

JUST CANT HELP MYSELF

I tried very hard to end this post without saying anything about our present administration. That seems to be an impossibility so I will just end it very simply for all you cult members that may read this post, With a little thought of mine.

The difference between animals and humans is that animals would never select the dumbest one to lead them.

Vito

GETTING OLDER BY THE MINUTE

2025-09-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

It’s funny when you have enough time on your hands and nothing to do you tend to think back over the years. Eliminating those years that I was in high school when I graduated at 18, I could hardly wait until I was 21, when I was 21 I could hardly wait until I was 30, Then reaching 30, I could only wait until I reached 50 this went on for many years after that. Now I’m 89 I sure wish I was 21 again. If for no other reason just to be able to do the things that I did at 21 that I simply can’t do now, what an adjustment to life. But reality has set into this old mind, And I just have to admit that after 60 it’s all downhill. Life starts to make that turn and there you are. Will I reach 90? There Is only one that knows the answer to that and I just have to put my faith into that person and hope for the best. Luckily, I’m still able to get around. I can get up in the morning, I can shower, I can cook breakfast, I’m able to turn the TV on and understand what they are talking about, And best of all I still remember everything that they’re talking about. Sure, I have to use a cane every so often to keep my balance, but I guess it gives me a little bit of elegance. I guess most importantly, I have my wits about me where I can continue writing this blog and it actually makes sense not only to me, but some of those that read it. That’s more than I can say about people that are in very important positions in the world. Those that can’t even put a sentence together that makes any sense. Maybe I should run for president, The hell with that garbage, Just give me an iPad and a little bit of time I’m able to straighten out everything. I take that part back, I’m able to make sense of what I’m thinking of. I’m more than happy now just to be able to think back and remember those things that brought me happiness and fun. Like most Italians, the one thing that brings me joy is La Familia. I wish there was more time to be able to spend with my family but taking any consideration of their lives and doing the things that they enjoy compared to spending time doing nothing with this old man should be their first concern.

I’ve always been interested in wanting to write a story or a book about my life and growing up. Started to do this several times and for one reason or another I gave up on it. Sometime ago, my daughter bought me a book that is basically nothing more than questions and by me writing down the answer, to these questions. It will be my story. Some questions I found quite interesting. When was I born?, How much did I weigh when I was born?, What was popular movies when I was born, who was some of my friends in school? What subjects did I like in school and it goes on and on. All I simply have to do is to answer these questions and magically, the story of my life is written.

One question in particular that I found to be interesting was if I was able to spend my dinner time with five people in the world who would they be? So so many names come to mind. I personally would need two dinners, One with those that have passed on, One with those that are still here. My past on dinners would be with

JFK

Joe DiMaggio

Albert Einstein

Marilyn Monroe

Frank Sinatra

My dinner with those that are still here would be with

Hillary Clinton

Barack Obama

Paul Krugman

Richard Rubenstein

Sebastian Maniscalco

A good conversation for me is to get many many different views on a particular subject. Then I would settle mainly on the best one which probably would come from me, or that’s what I want to think.

Now, I know that dinner with either of these groups is totally impossible, and the actual dinner would be with several additional people, and will go unnamed for obvious reasons.

ON TO OTHER THINGS

There is an old expression that constantly comes into mine during this day and age. It’s just the two word exclamation” Shit happens”. Each and every day that I roll over open up my eyes and see that I’m still on earth that expression comes to my mind. I’m living in the day and age of shit happens. Every time that I happen to turn on the TV, expecting to hear something interesting a bell goes off in my head, shit happens. Things just don’t seem to go the way I personally feel that they should, I have to take into consideration that perhaps in the minds of other people things are happening the way that they feel it should. I don’t deprive them of this thought everybody is entitled to their own thoughts, It’s just that in my view we are presently living in a”Shit happens world” Whose fault is it? I haven’t the slightest idea. How do I fix it? I haven’t the slightest idea. Can I just sit back and live with it? I haven’t the slightest idea, The only thing that I’m sure of is that I have to find that way. In my mind, the only true way to fix it is very simply to VOTE BLUE .

It’s now the middle of September no real rain has started so I guess it’s time for me to get off the couch unravel the hose and water all of the plants out in the front of the house today. They are still blooming and there’s nothing that makes Margot happier than to see blooming flowers. Another old saying that I know” Happy wife, happy life””

That’s it for now my friends I will start another posting in a few days. Meanwhile, enjoy life as it is.

Vito

SPECIAL THINGS

2025-08-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

It’s been longer than I Intended since my last posting and I usually start my postings off, talking about the moron that leaves no doubt in my mind that he is a cult leader, Mr. shit for brains. He is succeeding at driving this country of ours into becoming part of the fourth world. No longer are we the country that people risk their lives to Come to, but now we find that it’s becoming the country that people will leave. I’m now questioning myself on why is it necessary for me to spend so much time talking about someone that I am totally, totally against rather than spending more time talking about things people are interested in. I’m not part of moron 47th Cult As some of my friends could possibly be, and there is no way that I can control that. Since I’m in the autumn part of my life, why spend time wasted on this piece of crap.

ON TO BETTER THINGS

In reading over some of these posts, I’ve come to the conclusion that my fingers just don’t move fast enough for me to type, so I have begun speaking these blogs. That has now led me to learn two things about myself that I was not really aware of.

1. That my New York accent has never disappeared

2. That I totally have to relocate myself in this house to find that quiet spot, Since this machine picks up any sound of anything that happens and adds it into the blog so if some of this doesn’t make sense, it’s because the TV is on and this machine picks up some of that background noise.

Funny thing about that, In our kitchen, we have an Alexa machine so I always know or am able to get the correct answer to a question, when my wife isn’t there to give me the answer. I find it quite amusing to live in a house, with two women eagerly ready to give me what they think, the correct answer is to enjoying life. I use Alexa quite often rather than going to Google. My daily schedule is even set up and Alexa will give me weather, Traffic advisory, Time it will take me to get somewhere, Plus headline news. What a great Life. I no longer have to waste time writing shopping list. I can just ask Alexa to add this to my shopping list and while I am in the store, I take out my phone ask what’s on my shopping list and low and behold, I get the answer. The crazy thing about that is people look at me as if I’m actually talking to my wife on the phone. I don’t know how this is done, but Alexa apparently knows where items are located in the store, I can simply say Maria cookies and Alexa will come back and say isle 8 Lower shelf. Technology is great.

Last week, Margot and I decided to go to the mall and she wanted to take advantage of her 30% discount coupon from Macy’s. While she was shopping, I decided to sit at Starbucks have a cup of coffee and watch the crowd walk past, Being in a old Playful mood I decided to have some fun with a couple of teenage boys that I saw walking past me with their baseball caps on backwards. I stopped them, excuse myself and asked them what store They had purchased their caps in. They looked at me with a curious, look in their eye, Told me that it could be purchased at any store. I continued the conversation by asking if it was a special kind of cap that I had to ask for seeing that the bill of the cap was in the back instead of the front. Again they looked at each other with curiosity in their eyes. I told them that I saw many people walking past that were wearing the same cap, noting again that the bill of the cap was in the back of the head rather than in the front of the head, And that I wanted to buy one of these. They were very courteous when they told me that I could just go in and ask the clerk working in the hat department for exactly what I wanted and that they would be able to help me, Then they started to walk off, giggling under their breath. What fun old people are. I can only guess what their conversation would be with other people further in the day.

SUMMER IS STILL ACTIVE

It’s now the middle of August, still another month to go but I’m beginning to feel the change, especially in the morning hours. I got use to sitting on the deck at 8am, having my coffee, I’m now beginning to feel the change in the weather, having the need for a sweater for an hour or so. Taking a look at the forecast for the next week or so it looks as though I’m gonna be able to sit out there in my bathing suit and have my coffee in the morning that should keep the neighbors occupied. But September is beginning to roll in on us and the heat of August will disappear. I’m wondering how many more Augusts are left for me.

Well, my friends, This blog has kept me occupied kept me thinking about days gone by, And occasionally, what the next days in the future will look like. I’ll still get up in the morning get my coffee turn on the TV check to see What the president administration is up to and then begin my day. Stay tuned for the next blog posting.

Vito

STILL AROUND

2025-07-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

The count is now 161 days and the country is beginning to become slightly better than a third world nation. The orange man and his MAGA CULT MEMBERS are NOT MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. THEY ARE MAKING AMERICA ENGULFED WITH CHAOS. Every day that I am lucky enough To wake up and get out of bed, brings another day of uncertainty. The man definitely wants to be king and rule with his golden wand, The interesting thing is, There are people that actually are dumb enough to agree with him and all his ignorance. What in the world are they Thinking about. Just proves that it truly is a cult leader, leading the parade of cult members with no ability to be able to think for themselves. The sad thing is that they live amongst us.

In my intellectual opinion, Which is far above about 20% of the nations population, Is that the orange man is ignorant of true fact, Lies about everything that comes out of his mouth, Daydreams about ignorance, And has a mental disorder called narcissistic, personality disorder. Regardless of what you may think he is a totally failed business person. All it will take to prove this is to just look back over the businesses that he has started and see if any of them have actually lasted. His airline has failed, His university has failed,His casinos have failed,Most of his hotels have failed,Which just proves my point. He started to riches was created only by his father giving him money, It was certainly not earned. As a matter of fact, he cheated his brother out of his share. He again, in my opinion, if you’re low enough to cheat your own family, then you don’t give a damn about anybody else. He has even gone to the extent of cheating on his first two wives even while one of them was in the hospital, giving birth to his child. How low can you get? Have no fear there will be more to come on this failed person the leader of a cult.

CHEZ VITO

One of my readers have recently asked if I personally have made any of these recipes. A simple answer is NO. Now to be perfectly honest with you, I must admit that I am not really a cook. There are things that I do quite well, However, so can everyone else. I do consider myself an expert in the task of boiling water, My boiling water can be compared only to the best ever. I’m also quite good at making anything that comes from a box where I just add water, oil and a couple of eggs. So the simple answer to any question that you may have is that these recipes actually come from a cookbook where I copy and paste into this blog. I rely totally on you to make it taste delicious. Before I list these recipes, I read the comments about people that have baked them, and apparently the woman that reviewed this recipe said that her husband loved it so much that she makes it once a week. Boooooooooorrrrrrrrrriiiinnnggggggg.

The actual reason why I add recipes to this blog is because several people have requested that I do so and I’m here to grant the wishes ,wherever possible , of my readers

This baked potato casserole features creamy mashed potatoes loaded with Cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream, and green onions for a comforting side dish. Read More: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231699/easy-loaded-baked-potato

BACK TO THE FUN STUFF

I really have to admit how much I like Zoom. After my last zoom reunion with my high school classmates zoom is the only way to go. I suggest more people use zoom when they are trying to get groups of people together. This particular zoom meeting brought back people that I was in high school with 70 years ago. Talk about lasting friendships. On that subject, there are many different types of friendships, There’s the forever friendship which this certainly was one, There’s a casual friendship, which could be a friendship made with your next-door neighbor or a person down the street or even a person that you have met in a different city but still keep in touch with, Regardless friendships are very important to the life lock in individuals. Friendships can also be the kind where you meet someone a dozen years ago, Send them birthday cards or Christmas cards or whatever talk to them occasionally Or it can be the kind of friendship when one might meet every week or two weeks either for lunch or coffee together. But friendships is a necessity of life, if not just for the socializing. Every person needs some kind of a friendship. Have you ever tried to analyze your friendships? Give it a try you might make an interesting discovery.

It now looks like summer has arrived.

Margot’s deck flowers are in full bloom now

And fills her day up taking care of them.

Too bad I can’t figure out how to conserve space and place the pictures side by side. Anyway here’s Margot’s flower patch on the deck.

Well, my friends, enjoy the summer days

Vito

TIME PASSES ON

2025-07-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

It is now 154 days into the new administration. In my opinion, 154 days of chaos. Each day brings a new thought into the brain of our president. Each day that thought changes at least five times. Here again, In my opinion, the man is a total wacko. I still personally believe that those that follow this man and his thoughts Are members of a cult. I get a lot of backwash about this, but that is my opinion and my opinion alone. DJT suffers from narcissistic personality disorder no doubt. It has never been my intention, nor will it ever be my intention To make this blog about a person that wants to make this country, a part of a dictatorship, So on two other subjects.

ONE FOLLOWERS REQUEST

I recently was approached by one of my followers of this blog, and as if it was possible for me to include a recipe in each one of my blogs? I told her that I would try to do that and here’s the first one.

These easy cheesy potatoes are baked in a creamy mozzarella and Cheddar cheese sauce for a crowd-pleasing casserole that's comfort food at its best! Read More: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/272525/grandmas-cheesy-potatoes/?

Hopefully,If you clicked on the above noted navigational bar, it will bring up the recipe for a great tasting cheesy potato dish. Give it a try!

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Today July 2 there was a zoom meeting reunion with my high school graduation group. Nine people attended and it was a blast. It was so nice to see all that showed up. Out of the nine, I’m still in touch with six of them either on Facebook, or email. I have also talked on the phone with a few. It is true, that real friends are forever. It was arranged by Rich Rubinstein, who I believe would have made a great U.S. President. Right after the meeting, I immediately went to my bookshelf picked out my 1955 PATCHES YEARBOOK JUST TO REMINISCE. It seems that Rich was the top of I will class from the freshman year and had the honor of writing, The winning senior essay “THE FINAL MOVEMENT”. A true leader at work. As a thumb through each page of this yearbook, So many fantastic memories were running through my head and here they were 70 years later coming back to life. Oh, what a wonderful four years to look back over. Now at 89 years old, I’m hoping to be able to see these friends a few more times.

Banner We all revere

Fair blue and white

Symbol of you Woodmere

Temple of light

Long May your honored halls

Echo the truth

May you within your walls

Molded sturdy youth

Now the time to part

Oh Alma mater, we

Bespeak from depth of heart

Eternal loyalty

Memories will rise anew

Year after year

Binding us forever to

our beloved Woodmere

Here’s to another reunion, my friends.

THE BLOG LIVES ON

If you like the blog, please subscribe and share it with your friends

Vito

REMEMBER WHEN

2025-06-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

In many of my past blog postings, I have mentioned about how my parents taught me to always look forward, Never look back. I’ve tried my whole life and in some respect that has always worked out. Now comes the time of life when if you look forward, it’s the inevitable, looking back is the fun time of life. So now I have set my life on looking back and enjoying the rest of my life thinking of my past, Hot damn, let the good Time roll.

High school was a good time of my life. I must admit , I was not the greatest of students, and it seemed that my peers were more important than the subjects that I was learning. Junior high school, was where several elementary schools combine their students and they all were sent to the same junior high school. Some new friends were developed new friendships began. The junior high school was only two years of my life.. High school was four years and this was when I really began to show my extrovert and develop friendships, Some of which still Remain to this day. I guess the first big happening was learning to drive and having my dad get me my first car in 1936 Chevrolet with two doors and a rumble seat. I remembered double dating and going to the drive-in movie with two good friends, sitting in the rumble seat which you can say was quite revealing make out sessions for them, but it was always fun. I remember the guys conjugating on the side road next to the school, comparing their cars almost on the daily basis. There was one guy by the name of Joe German who was a motorcycle freak similar to Fonzi in the TV series. My car and sports was a good part of my life. I was on both the basketball team and the baseball team. I remember playing Junior varsity basketball and one day being called up by our coach Harold Hall joined the varsity team however, most of my varsity years were spent sitting on the bench and it was just occasionally that I would get in to a game when we were tons of points ahead of the other team and our star player, Harry Manners, was taken out of the game. I remember the times I would be sitting on the bench and the crowd would begin to shout” We want Vito we want Vito” Perhaps it was because I was the only person on the team that would dribble the ball down to the corner and throw a hook shot which occasionally made contact with the basket, What a thrill. Friday night was basketball night and it was inevitable that after the game many of the kids would head for Shores For hamburgers and pop But many would end up at my house where my mother would be baking pizza for the gang. I remember my dad sitting in his usual seat at the head of the table with his bottle of Reingold beer With as many as eight or 10 of my friends sitting around the table or in the living room, waiting for another pizza to come through the kitchen door into the dining room. THOSE were the days. Now, As far as studies were concerned, I was perhaps a C+ at the very best. Nearing graduation there was a possibility that I would have to attend summer school for English and may not graduate with my peers, but rather in August after I finish repeating English fourth year. I clearly remember four of my friends, taking me into their hands and telling me that they would not let this happen, We were all gonna graduate at the same time. They sat me down and drilled and drilled and drilled differences between nouns pronouns prepositions into my head, And yes, it worked. Thanks for those friends.

I think back to those days now and compare myself to who we have now leading this country. We have a person that I must say, has very little knowledge of anything, Has many failings, speaks like a seven-year-old, Is a convicted felon and has even bankrupt several casinos how can anyone possibly bankrupt a casino? We all know the house always wins. Just think even with my little failing (Not literally) Compared to him, I could have been president of the. United States.

I’m not sure exactly about What this video is, Since I put it in such a long time ago, but I’m sure there was a reason for it and I’m sure that you will like it. Open it up and enjoy.

https://youtu.be/nIhhhmUDYGM?si=gLKJjD0MJ_6zlfkY

Until the next posting, Stay healthy, Stay safe And enjoy life.

Vito

LOOKING BACK

2025-05-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Before I actually get into the real meat of this particular posting, I just want to pass on one piece of how I actually feel about this administration after 100 days. My observations simply point to this administration trying to take over both the legislative and judicial branch of government and placing them under the executive branch..being as narcissistic as Trump is, he’s afraid of going down in history as a one page of a history book. He wants to have a whole chapter of a history book, He’s a very scared man and does not want to be forgotten. Well, Donnie, in my opinion for what you are doing to this country you don’t deserve a paragraph. I sincerely hope that the next president, whether it be republican or democrat, comes in and changes all that you have done back to normality, You have to realize that you do not rule the world, even though you may think so. You cannot go to the Persian Gulf and change the name, you know you cannot go and change things just because your name is Trump. I for one refuse to think of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America I refuse to think of the possibility of the Persian Gulf as the Gulf of Arabia, I refuse to think of Greenland as any context other than Greenland now what do you say about that? For those of you that want to follow along with all of his ridiculous thinking God bless you you may do this, but you’re heading for a cliff and you’re gonna fall over the cliff. I refuse to fall over this cliff with you, sit back and think about what is happening , and once again I am a free, thinking person able to think of things myself and not a sheep being herded, to the slaughter house.

ANOTHER TOPIC

Recently, I was advised that the high school friend had passed away. His name was Skip Seaman. A very close friend of mine and a member of our small group asked me to place this on my blog, hoping that those of you that knew Skip could be informed. Skip…… Go forward and remain in peace. To his lovely wife, Teddy our sincere condolences for your loss.

WHAT IS TIPPING

Something that has irritated me for years is the “tipping “ syndrome. I have always been taught that tipping is done for the “extra service “ performed, except if the person is working for tips only.

My wife has always told me to take the tax double it and that becomes the tip but then again she thinks money grows on trees. Luckily, I have calculated our savings to be able to have enough money to live up to the age of 100 at that point of my life who cares what kind of tip I leave take it or leave it. Now, If tipping is as I understand it for extra service, Do I leave a tip if I go to Papa John’s and order a pizza they make the pizza the way they make the pizza it’s not a special way my putting different toppings on the pizza is that adding extra service? And I’m the one that’s cooking it do I tip myself? If I go to McDonald’s to get a hamburger to take home and eat, do I tip, If I go to the gas station and have to pump my own gas, do I tip? There’s something of interest that I found out about tipping from one of our grandsons, Who for a period of time was a waiter at an Italian restaurant. If you put a tip on your credit card at the time of payment, the tip is shared amongst the waiter, Bus boy, Chef and the owner of the restaurant, however, if you give cash as a tip, then the waiter gets the full tip just something to remember for the future. Another reason for us always to make sure we have a few extra dollars in cash. Now it seems like no matter what kind of a store you go into, it’s Either listed on your bill we posted at the cash register, advising you of the size of your tip. The least amount of tip is now five dollars, and the suggested amounts are 7, 10, or 15. Depending on the total amount of the bill.

Stay safe

Vito

WHATS NEXT

2025-04-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

It’s now the beginning of the fourth month for this administration and the clown circus just keeps rolling along. His new beautiful word “tariffs “ a word that he apparently doesn’t know has caught on and is taking its toll on our everyday life. Prices for food, Cars, or just about anything else that you can imagine cost more for the consumer simply because of tariffs. Now, I guess the reason that Donnie wants tariffs is because he wants to increase manufacturing in the United States. I guess this is a feasible idea but the way I look at it and I’m gonna throw some figures around just as Donnie does I see that there are 10,000 manufacturing jobs now available but only 2000 people looking for this type of job where you simply stand on a line putting things together. A lot of people simply are just not into that type of job so then I ask myself what good are these jobs for the average man. It only makes the manufacturing company rich. To put things in respective order if the manufacturer makes more money than the people working for the manufacturer want more money and the cost for the items made in the United States actually cost perhaps double for the same product that we can import from a country with lesser employee salaries. Makes sense? It simply is mind blowing when each day I wake up and see what this administration is up to today makes no sense whatsoever to me. Anyway, for those that have voted for this administration I hope you are able to see for yourself. The problems caused by that thoughtless vote. We simply need something else just start our day beside listening to the orange man who speaks like a seven-year-old. Ooohhhhh I apologize all seven-year-olds for insulting their intelligence.

CHEER ME UP

I’m in the hospital and I’m completely naked and I have the mask on and the gown that is tied in the back. The nurse comes in and says Mr. Rizzo I’m here to give you a sponge bath and then the doctor will be in to see you, You’ll be OK. Talking through the mask, I asked her “ are my testicles black” She turned to me and said, “excuse me, “ Once again, I said”are my testicles black?” She lifted my gown and said to me “no they are not. “That’s when I pulled down my mask and said to her “you don’t understand “ I said” are my test results back”

FIRST 100 DAYS

The 100 day of the trump administration has officially arrived, I’m sure that all of my republican friends are jumping with pride with all the accomplishments. Hope you let me know which one excites you the most.

As ALL of trump’s statements, today’s announcement took my breath away. Trump said that during his first term, he was asked to get our country under control, now he is being asked to do the same with the world. The only people that I could think of asking him to do this is MAGA cult members, can’t think of anyone other than them, or perhaps I put to much confidence in my fellow man. I know that the republican politicians in congress will not defy him, but that simply is because they have not got the balls to do so, since they most likely will lose their jobs and they know no other job will permit them to sit on their hands, do nothing, and get paid. What a great world we live in.

Several other things seem to be getting some chatter on his social platform.

1- he’s going to start interviewing stone chiselers to redesign Mt Rushmore to include his face, but so far he hasn’t found anyone able to replace the “first “ face with his.

2- he has started to compile his library, which will be located right next to his house at Mar-a-lagoon.

His second coloring book will be ready in a few weeks.

3- the statue at the entrance, will be 6’3” 215 lb. With flowing blond hair beautiful golden tan sculpture in wax, dressed in a blue suit with a red tie and a black overcoat. It will also have a Big Mac in one hand, a coke in the other and a large bag of fries hanging from around his neck.

“HOW DID I LOOK “

One comment about Donald’s upcoming birthday and the parade of his wishes. He called his White House spokesperson into his office in order to brief her as to what he wanted. He explained that he wanted to have the full military all five branches with full capacity Marching. This was when the White House spokesperson interjected and said Mr. President, I know exactly what you want. I had a dream about this last night and she goes into what her dream was about.. she told him that all five branches, the Army, Navy Marines, Air Force, and the space forces would all be present at full strength. There was at his parade of his dreams, 200 bands playing and dignitaries from all over the world we’re riding in open top cars that was followed by the one car where he was, with his Trump flag on the right and the American flag on his left. She went on to describe the crowd of millions and millions of people screaming and cheering his name and children were cheering and yelling and jumping up and down. The bands passed by and finally the Trump auto passed by the reviewing Stand. At this point, Trump interrupted her and said how did I look? How was my hair and she looked him in the eye and said “I don’t know the coffin was closed”

Until next time

Vito

Ooooo

2025-04-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have had quite a bit of feedback from my last blog posting. One I was impressed with is here. Sent from someone outside the USA.

“With so much happening in the US over the past 36 hours, I can’t wait for your next blog.

Finally, at long last , the population is coming out of it’s slumber or perhaps the fog created by Mr T during his campaign is lifting and in the clear of the day people are realizing they are not getting what they voted for and, judging by the protests, disillusionment is setting in. Better late and, I hope not too late, there is movement in the station which hopefully will bring about some lasting change, however, don’t hold your breath. Let‘s hope the quiver in the boots of all elected Republicans created by the voters will be stronger than that of a master bully and grand intimidator.

After all you live by the motto “We the People…….” And may someone this despicable cross any American’s path ever again.

May God be with you in your fight for justice and, with the help of all your friends around the world, you may succeed in ridding yourself of this fish mouthed scumbag that has the audacity to call himself President of the United States of America. Fight America! May God help you to return liberty, decency and prosperity for all to you.”

I’m still taken back trying to understand how congress just can’t grow a pair of balls, and live up to the oath they took to follow the Constitution. It seems to me that they just don’t want to lose their jobs, since they are unable to do anything else, but they will find out the next time up for election, that voters remember. I think I have found the answer to that question. I just asked myself. Someone wrote an article on my LinkedIn, which explains the reason why Trumpy is not getting Any resistance. I’m going to try and copy it and include it in this posting.

This is an Exact quotation and it makes a lot of sense. Trump is definitely known for his retaliation against any person or anything that he disagrees with which makes him feel like he has the power of a mafia boss. The orange man is definitely a danger to humanity and suffers from a disorder known as narcissistic personality dysfunction. Now, the way I see it, beside having this slight mental disorder, he certainly is not a very smart person having bankrupt 6+ businesses, including a casino, which I totally cannot apprehend anyone being able to do. Every time he opens his little round “O” shaped mouth, The only thing that comes out are lies, lies and more lies, Mixed in with a con man type bullshit, Which leads me to believe that his voters either approve of this type of behavior or are of the same making. In a way, I would accept them voting for him for not whining a woman for a president, but after they see the chaos that he is running this country under they would be able to admit to their error , but that simply is not the truth Because when asked they still feel he is such a great president. What a bunch of jerks..

Here’s a direct quote from Wayne Ting CEO

“I’ve talked to a lot of CEOs and many are horrified by the policies of the Trump administration, but all are deeply afraid to speak out because of his policy of retribution. The argument goes: If even our biggest media companies (The Walt Disney Company, ABC News), major academic institutions (Columbia University ) and the leading law firms (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates) are all folding in the face of Trump retaliation, what chance does any single company have to speak out against the excesses of the administration?

This is why most CEOs are staying silent in the face of attacks on free speech, violations of the constitution, enactment of terrible economic policies, and even policies of disappearing legal residents from our streets. What we forget is that these policies have real victims (including our neighbors, employees, and customers), which is also why the silence from business leaders is deafening and disgraceful. It’s more important now than ever to use our voices to advocate against horrific policies that hurt our economy and working class Americans.

I also know companies do respond to economic incentives. Consumers can do their part by supporting companies who reflect your values and by boycotting companies that don’t (Tesla)”

In ending this post, I just wanna say I respect the way that people vote. It’s totally up to them on how they vote and I don’t intend to tell people how to vote.. having said that all I want to say now is, I hope the people that have voted for this administration can now see how their vote has done this.

Let peace be with us

Vito

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TIME

2025-04-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Well, my friends, Another day has passed and another day has now arrived. Here we are together again. The one thing that I must say that, even though it’s a new day and a new time, the same old rhetoric from this half witted leader of our administration remains the same. The man is a total disaster and I use the word man sarcastically. Trump is actually a seven-year-old spoiled brat boy trying to fill big boys pants and the only thing that’s doing that job is The big Mac blubber that hangs around his stomach and thighs. I’m definitely sure of one thing he is a cult, leader, and his followers are all cult members. Every time I hear sound coming from his small O shaped mouth, chills of terror run up and down my body, This person is a total embarrassment and a total rectum, Who most certainly does not know or understand the meaning of the word tariffs.He is a failed businessman, bankrupting any business that he has started, including casinos, which is a total impossibility for any normal person to do. Everyone and I do mean everyone knows anything about casinos that the house always wins. Now, basically about tariffs.

I’ll try to make this as simple as possible. Now you go into your favorite department store and you see a shirt that you must have the shirt cost $60. In order to manufacture this shirt in the United States it will cost $40, However, this store has found that they can buy the exact same shirt in another country and have their label sewed into it and it will only cost $20. So they buy that shirt now there’s a 10% import tariff which makes a shirt now landed in the United States $22, but the store does not absorb the cost. It will simply pass that two dollar increase onto you now that shirt cost $62. Now where the government gets into it is through a tax that is paid by you at the time of purchase for this shirt and that tax whether it be 8% or 10% or whatever simply goes to the local government who will eventually pay tax to the federal government, does that make it more understandable for you? The bottom line simply is that you the consumer is paying that tariff so everything will go up in cost. That’s just the nature of the business inflation is about to rise and the recession is about to be felt by all of us, and in my opinion, the only people that can help fight the inflation or recession are the people in our government.

IF you’re unable to understand that very simple explanation, then I sure am sorry for you.

ON A HAPPIER NOTE

Springtime is beginning to slowly open its eyes. The light showers of April will certainly bring the May flowers. Margot has been planning her deck beautification project. Once the weather becomes warmer, I will wash the deck and Margot will do her thing. As that project gets underway, I will post pictures for your viewing.

Our intention is to spend as much time as possible on the deck enjoying the tranquility it brings, also offers us the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the warm sunshine while taking a little nap.

I recently gave myself the credit of being an author with a book I put together.

That’s it for now.

Come back and visit

VITO

A look at the cover and the contents

NEW YEAR, NEW TIMES

2025-02-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

Well, my friends, Welcome to 2025. A new year and much to look forward to what will this year bring us. One thing certain on January 20, A new person will take over as president of the United States. A person that previously served in that position four years prior today. A person with many past and present contradictions.

I intentionally stopped writing At this point to wait until after 20 January, just to be able to see what this year will possibly bring. Now after two weeks, I can certainly say that chaos is running high for the balance of this year and probably for the next three years if this idiot remains in power that long. Thank you to my Republican friends that were instrumental in putting this person into power. The sad part is that you will eventually regret your move as much as I, since you will also suffer. One thing to remember, though, regardless of your choice, you will always remain my friends. I will never let that be disturbed by a single person. Just don’t ever try to convince me that your choice was a good one and bring me into your cult, and let me be perfectly clear, you are a cult member. Google it if you like. The democracy you got use to is gone. If you think that this was a good move…………….it wasn’t.

LOOKING FOR AN ACTIVITY

I love writing and telling stories and I particularly like writing this blog. I start a posting and if something pops up where I have to leave it, it seems that it’s left for two or three weeks at a time, Which is a problem that I personally have. My interest move rather quickly. By the time I return and look over what I had started to write, I find myself questioning the reason for starting that particular subject. I’m now in trenched into the subject of publishing my own book. I hope I have enough time in life to be able to do that. As the enclosed will show, I have selected a subject, Along with the cover of the book, But I’m still working on the contents. Here’s the example…………

Just don’t know how to put everything in words. Several people that I know, Who I consider a good friends, Suggested that I just leave the inner sheets blank.

That’s your cover just about everything.

Now I’m contemplating the idea of going back to the original blog, And putting all the blogs into a book, But then again, who’s interested in the life of Vito Rizzo?

As I said, in the past, the reason, I even started this Blog was not to turn into a book, but they just show my two grandsons the difference between me growing up and them growing up. As they were growing up, I simply told them what I had to endure at the same age that they were and they just couldn’t believe that things would ever happen that way. I remember very clearly telling them that in the middle of winter when the snow was 6 foot deep I didn’t have a bus to take me to school, or that school was closed I had to walk over a mile in the snow to get to school. In other words, snow days for me meant going to school in the snow, Snow days to them simply meant No school. Wow, what a difference.

At any rate, it’s fantastic to be able to think back into the Past and reminisce about those days gone by. People have suggested to try and keep with present day happenings but I hesitate in doing that simply because The everyday happenings are so political and I’m sure that if you are interested to hear my, feelings A few of you that read my blog now will certainly discontinue. I guess the only thing left for me to do is to run for The Senate, but I love both of the senators from my state, So I guess that rules that out.

I guess the only thing left for me is to continue writing this blog whenever I get a free moment Or so, And leave it at that.

Thanks for reading come back again

Vito

Wtf

2024-12-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

Well, my friends 2024 is now starting to come to an end. What surprises will 2025 bring us, Will we be safe?, No matter what we feel at this time in a way, I can consider myself very lucky to be able to reach 2025. This will be my last posting for this year and hopefully I will start the new year with a new posting and as I tell myself each year, I want to add one posting per month, We will see how that works out. Our daughter Lisa bought me a book, That I find quite interesting. It’s to be able to look back over my years and write down important facts that I can still remember for different questions and I’m going to try to work on this book and share those experiences with you. That apparently is my New Year’s resolution. As in the past New Year’s resolutions last for about 3 to 4 weeks hopefully this one goes a lot longer. At least it’s something for me to do something for me to Contemplate.

I can tell you now that the biggest surprise that we have had this Christmas was opening the door on Christmas Eve to welcome the family together for the usual Christmas Eve celebration, and lo and behold. There was our daughter who had flown in from Alabama to be able to celebrate Christmas Eve with the family as we have done for years and years. Unfortunately, her husband had to stay back in Alabama and was not able to enjoy these festivities with us. The Christmas Eve celebration began as it has For many years with Margot‘s fantastic dinner, including lasagna, baked ham, Caesar salad, and the flow of Wine. After dinner, we head into the living room, gather around the Christmas tree and begin our game of white elephant giftgiving which is always hysterical. We have a limit of $25 per person that is spent on gifts.

Christmas Day produce the other side of the coin where I was taken into the emergency room for some complications, but I survive the ordeal. My children were with me. My wife was with me. For a period of seven hours, I was tested for just about everything that I guess can happen to an old man and the results were passed on to my primary care doctor. I will meet this coming week with a specialist to find out what the results were and what to do about it. Anyway, life goes on and hopefully I’m part of that. Like I previously said, I’m planning big things for 2025. Thanks to my kids for sitting it out through this ordeal.

I found this article and I thought I would include it in this posting as I found it fairly interesting. You can just click on the navigation links and look at it and see what your ideas are

https://trumpisacriminal.quora.com/Will-America-be-able-to-survive-four-years-of-Trump-or-is-it-over-for-America

As I have said in the past, My Republican friends have voted party over reality and whatever happens in 2025 will happen to all regardless of Political consciousness. I’ll be waiting to hear from them about the happenings that they are enduring, By the way, I feel that prices of product will go up rather than down, but that’s only my opinion. Inflation will occur, but that’s only my opinion. Will let it rest at that. But don’t come crying about the situation just remember you help create it. Enough said.

Well, my friends it’s now time to say Margot and I send our sincere wishes to all of you to enjoy a happy healthy new year and I hope you continue to follow my blog in the coming year.

Vito

PINCH ME

2024-11-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

HOSPITAL VISITS

Hospital visits? What a terrible subject to be discussing, I sincerely hope that whoever has spent any time in the hospital found it was nothing serious, and couldn’t be fixed. I For one really do not like hospital visits, But while watching a movie with Margot last night, one of the scenes of the movie brought back memories of a hospital visit that I had to make. In this movie, the medics that were brought in, stopped the bleeding simply by Using a woman’s Tampax to contain the bleeding apparently it’s very Absorbent. It brought back a funny moment that I had sometime ago with a nosebleed. I tried everything that I could think of to stop the bleeding. Including holding the bridge of the nose, for 20 seconds, leaning my head backwards, all of the old witch craft ideas and nothing stopped the bleeding. Margot got me into the car and we went to the local hospital emergency room. Well, it turns out that they were unable to slap the bleeding also so they sent me to the emergency room where I guess what they were going to do was to cauterize the inside of the nose, However, the doctor decided that he was simply gonna give something a try before he went to that extent. He stuck a tampon Up my nose and sent me out into the waiting room for a little bit of time. Low and behold, The bleeding stopped, but all of that time that I had this tampon Up my nose, the little string that hangs out one end of it was able to wiggle around my lips tickling My lips. That was driving me crazy so Margot decided to get some tape and tape the little string to the upper lip, But just the appearance was demoralizing as people now knew and could see for themselves that I had a tampon sticking up my nose with the string tape to my upper lip. The doctor suggested that I keep this in for the next two or three days and then pay another visit to him and he would make a decision on whether and what he was gonna do. What an embarrassment this was until my visit back after three days and the conclusion that he came up with was simply to remove the tamponAnd call it a day.

I guess the moral to the story is to always have a tampon or tampax Available for emergencies, Even if you have to carry a box in your emergency kit that you have in your car. Now in editing this little story, I use the word Tampax End tampon, But I’m a man what do I know? It was just one of those little short things round in shape.

WTF JUST HAPPENED

Well, November 5th has now come and gone. As far as I am concerned, it arrived with hope but at the end of the day, it left with hopefulness. I still have a pit in my stomach and am still wondering if I have confidence in my fellow man, regardless of their political position. It’s like feeling something is wrong with my health and on the way to the clinic thinking that it might be herpes, than at the clinic finding out it is HERPES, AND it’s going to last at least for the next four years.

It’s hard for me to understand how a person twice impeached, guilty of molestation on not one but several women, convicted of 47 felonies and has lead an insurrection by trying to overturn a legal election. A person that speaks like a 7 year old, is a confirmed racist, and the person of lies and misinformation, become president of our country, I guess that’s where my confidence in my fellow man drops flat on its face. Could it be that those voters in favor of 45 are of the same making? Let’s hope not.

I guess the bottom line is that I just have to go with the flow and hope that it lasts only for four years. Someone has told me that they heard that Trump’s doctor feels Trump will only medically mentally last about 2 1/2 years but then we have JD vans who is worse than Trump. I don’t really believe in that rumor but just thought I would pass it on to you.

I know that there are gonna be a lot of changes, And feel that these changes will not necessarily be for the better. I don’t really know if they will really affect people in my age group I sincerely hope not, But realizing what a person 45 is you just can’t tell where it’s going to stop. May not even affect my children who are both reaching the age of 60, but I know definitely that it will affect my grandchildren. I’m closely watching who is picking for his so-called cabinet and so far all the names mentioned are all in my danger outlook. Many of you probably will not agree with me and maybe I’m just a pessimist, But if any of this comes true, look back over this posting of the blog and see that I told you so.

Well, That’s all I’ve got to say about that hopefully in future post I won’t have to bring up his name and hopefully we will now end up under the rule of a dictator.

Stay tuned

Vito

A NEW DAWN

2024-10-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

A new dawn is upon us, and we, the people can control if it becomes sunshine or a tornado. November 5th is the day we can make it happen.

I was going to make this blog, a little political giving you facts that you should be aware of. I have decided not to do that, simply because I believe that anybody that reads this blog is intelligent enough to make their own decision. Having said that, You simply have to feel that the decision that you do make at the voting booth will stay with you for at least the next four years, If not longer if you permit it. You simply have to sit down and ask yourself were you better off than you were four years ago? Are you that able, To think back to the past and come up with a realistic reply? This country seems to be a two-party system country even though there are 10 different people representing 10 different political thoughts running for president. Most people simply vote ideology, but this time there seems to be only one party with a platform that fits all people in the nation compared to the other party, which has a platform that fits only one person, That to me personally means dictatorship. One party seems to feel that all people should have the opportunity to succeed in what they do, The other party is led by a person with a mental disorder called Narcissistic personality disorder. For those of you that do not know the meaning of that, spend a little time looking it up to find out exactly what it means. One side spent a lifetime working for the law, abiding citizens. The other side spent a lifetime working for himself, a Three time impeached person and a felon of 34 convictions. Just a show that an apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree in 1927 Fred, the father was convicted in New York City for marching with the KKK and was also known as a racist, keeping certain people from renting apartments in any of his buildings. Enough about this, Just remember how you vote you have to just swallow it and live with it. Don’t try to blame it on someone else. It’s hysterically, funny to me just to listen to one person, unable to speak the English language as it was meant to be spoken. Totally unable to put together two sentences without having to speak of themselves or something that just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Whenever he says something, it’s either about him, a total lie or some misinformation. There’s actually no evidence of fact. If that is what you want to lead then don’t complain when you learn something different.

GETTING OLD IS NOT FUN

I remember when I was five years old I wanted so much to be able to be seven. When I came to seven I wanted so much to be 12. At 12 years old, I wanted to be 18 and this goes on throughout my whole life always looking forward to becoming something else now that I’m 88 years old I say to myself I wonder if I will become 90. Does this happen to all people or just to me? At 90 years old, would I want to make 95, Good question I just feel very good waking up every morning and seeing the ceiling on my bedroom rather than angels flying overhead. I roll over and I asked Alexa, Alexa, what’s on my schedule and she gives me an update for the next four days. I love it when I go to the doctor and the doctor says OK Vito see you next year, Makes me feel awfully good right there, even though I may have pain all over my body. As soon as I see the ceiling, I immediately throw back the covers and do several of my exercises just to be able to get the feeling back into my legs. I have to sit at the edge of the bed for a couple of moments just to get the dizziness out of my head and then I make a start of my day Brush my teeth, Wash my face comb, what hair I have left, And The day is now ready to begin. I noticed for the past three or four years that I have to begin the ritual of getting up and starting the day identically to the day before just so I don’t forget to do things, turn off the alarm open front door to check to see if the sun is shining Open the Blinds in the living room and start the Coffee. After the coffee is made the next important thing to do is to turn the TV on just to check what’s happening in the world. This type of schedule eliminates me from having to write it down and then looking for the paper that I wrote it on. Also, Alexa is quite a big help and reminding me to do certain things. I guess it’s nice to have a woman in the house that remembers things As good as she does. It’s now getting to the point where I can sit in the kitchen and talk to Alexa and Margot wants to know who I’m talking to, So maybe at this age it’s good to have two women in the house. Wonder if I should go for a threesome. Now, in order to remember what day I’m working in I have a seven day pillbox after I take my pills. I keep that small compartment left open so that I know which day has passed and which day is coming. I then double check this just by peeking over at the calendar and marking off the day on the calendar. What a genius I have become. I build my shopping list for the week simply by giving the information to Alexa and then transferring it to my phone so Wala there’s my shopping list. This system may not work for everyone, but it sure does for me so each, and every person has to build their own system to meet their needs. It my particular case growing old, isn’t that really as bad as it may sound, It just gives me another day of something to talk about when I meet with my buddy for coffee once a week. He happens to be a very good cook and very knowledgeable in world concerns, So as we sit here, sipping our coffee and eating the latest creation that one of us have baked, we have now added Waze to correct the world situation, If they would follow our ideas, it would be a better place in the world. Thanks, Don for all these great conversations.

Vito

Hi

2024-10-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

I’m guessing, that it was about 10 years ago perhaps even a little bit longer that I suddenly became bored with not doing something, So I collected a whole bunch of photographs that I had put them all together in a little movie put music to it and Walla, I had my first movie. Since then, I made several others and you can always go to youtube.com search for Vitoonfilm , And see some of the other movies that I’ve made. Just to give you a small taste of what they may look like, Here’s one about a visit made to a small town in Washington called Leavenworth. Take a look at it and you can send me an email telling me what you think about it.

I don’t know about anybody else, But going through our house we are loaded with pictures. Could be that at one point of my wife’s life she had a camera automatically attached to her finger. Every time one of our kids did something there was a picture of it, and it was set up into a package of three, One set for my parents, One set for Margot‘s parents and one set for us. Pictures of our kids growing up, places that were visited and just crazy things happening at the time. These pictures alone, tell the story of our life.

Now it has become a full-time job going through these pictures and trying to figure out what to do with them. If I was certain that I could finish it, I would probably put them all together put them to music and develop a 15 hour documentary of my life, Wow, what a stupid idea, at my age, it would probably go as an untold story. Finishing it, will never become reality so, I have decided not to begin it. What I need is a hobby that when it ends, It will leave no one in suspense.

LIVING ALONE TOGETHER

sounds stupid? You may think so however this is the life that Margot And I have been living for perhaps the last 12 to 15 Years. We have quite a large home consisting of three levels and about 3500 sq. ft. Up until about two years ago, I had the total daylight basement area designated as my man’s cave. That gave me about 1500 ft.² all for myself. Now that area belongs to our daughter Lisa and her husband where they have redesigned and made it into an apartment which will become their hub while they are in their retirement travel days. That leaves the balance of 2000 ft.² give or take, Available for Margot and I to share, Thus living alone together. We can literally go 8 to 10 hours without bumping into each other, every twist and turn or having to carry on a conversation that eventually bores both of us. I’ve turned one of the four bedrooms into my office, This was previously an area that Margot used as her office when she was working from home. We use our dining room table to work on puzzles, And of course, the family room is to watch TV. Both of these rooms are on Opposite side of the kitchen, this means we can both go to the kitchen make something to eat or just go to the refrigerator without having to have a conversation on what to eat when to eat and where to eat. Since completing puzzles is Basically concentration, we can both work on the same puzzle without necessarily speaking to each other. On the other side of the kitchen since the TV is on, we can both sit in the family room watch TV without the necessary chatting, However, making comments about certain things being discussed on TV has become necessary, small talk is permitted. Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that we never talk. We do talk quite a bit about many different things, Conversation does take place, but not on a basis of a whole day spending talking to each other or feeling that we have to talk to each other, Living alone together, simply means we can enjoy our own space when we want it for as long as we want it, Ideal situation. Having said all this, I do have to admit that there are times I feel a little bit lonely, and I would feel that if something happened to Margaret, I would feel terribly lonely just because I don’t have the possibility of talking to someone. I’m fairly certain that Margot feels the same way. We both get little bits of these pieces now. When I end up going up to bed at 11:15 PM, Margot will End up watching TV for perhaps another hour before coming up to bed. When I get up in the morning two hours before Margot I get a little lonely. Taking everything into consideration, apparently has proven to be quite good for us since we are quickly approaching 60 years together. I think the reason for that is primarily because we simply do not have the possibility of talking with each other, even if we wanted to. It’s even gotten to the situation where I have thought about asking women in our age group, if they would consider moving in with me, no strings attached. They would have their own bedroom and their own bathroom. It would be companionship. Not officially speaking For Margot, I think she would prefer prefer to just be alone, but always with the possibility to having our kids nearby somewhere, especially the grandkids.

Well, my friends, That’s all I have for you on this posting, The next one will be probably at the time of the 2024 election and I will give you my take on what I think about that. I don’t intend to tell you how to vote or what I think of those that don’t vote the way that I vote, But just little tidbits on how I have come to my decision.

Stay tuned

Vito

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

2024-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

We have now been informed that Mr. DJ T has been convicted of 34 felony crimes. Now the question is, what should his punishment be or should he be punished? If it was me or you, we certainly would be punished and more than likely put in jail however, what the punishment will be for DJ T will be long contested by many people in this country.

Even though I consider myself bias and this situation, I do not want to see Mr. DJT put behind the golden bars he so deserves. Instead, if I was the judge, I would place him on the house arrest for a minimum period of five years along with having him sentenced to community duty for that same time consisting of all seven days in each week. The only people I would really feel sorry for in this situation. Are the Secret Service people that he will still enjoy during this period of time. His community service will include cleaning the toilets of the subway bathrooms in New York sweeping the streets of debris in New York and caring for those that need the help in New York especially in the Harlem area. If he is unable to complete any of these chores, the judge should have the power to find him $10,000 per day.

THINGS TO PONDER

Given the age bracket Im presently living in, I find that I now have the time to look back and ponder questions that are still unanswered. Some years ago it became difficult to bend over to cut my own toe nails. It was at this time that I decided to do the unmanly thing and get a pedicure. Much to my surprise, when I arrivered, I found other men enjoying the experience. Margot and I sat next to each other in very comfortable smooth vibrating chairs and was offerered a cold juice drink. As the ladies filled the tub area with water, I found myself wondering what nationality this beautiful woman could be. We each had our own, so as they began the pedicure process , we decided that they were most likely Vietnamese. As they clipped, filed, oiled, scraped, rubbed and massaged the two of them spoke, giggled, laught. I could only imagine what they were saying and laughing about. Probably something like ” look at the claws on this gorilla, I think my clippers are broken, l need a chainsaw, and he’s tickelish so I will continue to scape the bottom of his feet ” ” His legs are so skinny, like massaging sticks ”. ” I will use extra oil on his feet so he will slip and slide in his sandels ” ”hahahahaha” ” these are the ugliest feet I have ever seen. If his toes were any longer they would be fingers ”

Simple truth is, I really don’t care what they say, I enjoy the experience and keep going back for More, but it will always be something to ponder.

DAYS GONE BY WILL ALWAYS BE

No one knows what the future will bring, but we will always know what the past has brought. Growing up my parents told me to always look forward never Look back, However there comes a time of your life when you should look back with the hope the future will be bright. For me, that time began when I was in my fifties. This was the time when I first started to write my blog. I wanted my grandkids to have an idea of just how their grandpa grew up, What I did during that time of my life how I did it during that time of my life and understanding that I did those things as being an only child, but not necessarily a spoiled child.

As a matter of fact, I remember quite clearly how my mother cured me of being a spoiled child, and it began at the age of perhaps five years old. My grandfather smoked a pipe and I wanted so much to be able to smoke a pipe. I remember going shopping with my mother one time and there were pipes that I spotted. I asked my mother if I could have that pipe and she of course said no Vito you’re much too small for a pipe so I figured the best way for me to be able to get that pipe was to simply lie down on the ground kick my legs bang my fist and start to cry and my mother, in order to keep me quiet would simply buy me the pipe. That wasn’t the way It worked. As the other adults in the area could very easily hear my tantrum and my screams my mother would gently pick me up off the floor, take me by the hand and squeeze the hell out of that hand, which made me cry even more. All of those onlooking adults simply felt sorry for my mother not for me. My mother would speak very tenderly to me and say no Vito you can’t have the pipe today, While , she’s so tenderly squeezed the hell out of that hand. Me, Being so intelligent, quickly learned that in order for me not to get my hands, squeezed that it was not a good idea to start crying, banging my fists while , making a complete fool of myself. Thanks, mom you certainly knew your stuff.

A hardy thank you goes out to all the people that reads this blog and I promise there would be more to come

Vito

HERE WE GO

2024-04-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

ZOOM

Today, I participated in a zoom meeting with classmates of the 1955 graduating class from Woodmere High School. What a wonderful time it was as so many of you were all reminiscing about the past but also updating people about what you have been doing from those days to the present. Richard Rubenstein was a fantastic host and gave everyone the opportunity to brag. All the ladies looked well and fit along with the guys. Even though all are in their eighties they spoke about still playing tennis, pickleball and such. What a great class that was and those still around remain diligent in what they like doing to this day. Some had minor problems connecting including oui, but were able to get into the conversation somehow. Modern technology!!! Should have paid more attention when my grandsons were trying to teach me how to do those things. I still remember them, trying to tell me how to get into the Internet. They told me that I had to start by opening windows, My reply to them was if I open my windows will that get me better reception because it was kind of cold with the windows open. It wasn’t long after that, though that I finally found out that they meant me opening the program windows on my computer and there I was finally into the Internet and just browsing away. That made me so enthusiastically competent. Listening to my classmates today brought back so many fun memories of growing up and a time when even though we are just finished World War II, it was so peaceful and exciting. Now when I start to look forward, It seems that everything will be so complicated and involved with things I have never heard of or done before. To all my classmates that shared this remarkable feet of zoom in the visit we had today I hope that some of you still keep in touch it sounds as if you do, And continue to reminisce about all those great days that we had.

Mr. President or may I call you Richard thank you for being the host and I hope you will be there to be the host of many more. let me know when you book is out, And I will do the same for when my book comes out.

As I have said, High school at times was a little challenging for me, Primarily, because I thought I knew everything there was to know and here I had teachers that were trying to teach me things that I thought I would never have any use for, Therefore, my study habits were quite different from what they should have been. Having said that perhaps it was just that I was having too much fun doing other things. Luckily, just before the final test in my final year, Several friends came to my rescue and forced tutored me so that I would graduate when I was supposed to. It was only after I was working for Scandinavian airlines that I realized that some college would become necessary for me to advance, Lucky for me, Scandinavian airlines had a program where they would pay for my college education. It was at that time they sent me off toMalmo, Sweden Where I was enrolled into the university of Lund To study the Swedish language. That paid off big time since I was newly married to a Swedish lady. After an intense course of five weeks, I returned back to the United States and enrolled in Night classes, studying business procedures and worked daytime for Scandinavian airlines. The best education came from the 40 years of working for Scandinavian airlines and getting the opportunity to travel around the world and experience the different cultures that exist throughout this world. That to me was worth more than having to spend days of my life in classrooms.

Once again, let me thank Richard Rubinstein for arranging this zoom with the former classmates of the 1955 class of Woodmere high school. I hope we can do it again soon

Vito

My Ultimate History Crash Course | Robert Reich

2024-02-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends,

This is something that I sincerely believe everyone should be aware of.

I recently saw on TV a program from Steve Reeves, touring Europe, learning about the effects of the start of fascism in the countries of Europe. I found this to be extremely informative, and believe that everyone should be made aware of what fascism is, and how it could affect our lives. I then found this video from Robert Reich, With practically the same situation. Now, I’m not saying that this will happen, but is something that should be in the minds of all of us. What we want our country to look like?

I’m just asking for you to read this and think about the total package. We agree that some of 45’s ideas have merit but you must look at and understand the total package. In my opinion, he is totally unexceptable for the office of president, and is a danger to democracy.

TWO PARTY SYSTEM

2023-12-31T10:08:00.000-08:00

You will see after reading this blog that it was started sometime ago. I had to stop so that I could sit back and reasonably think out all of the cons and pros before I put them in print. It’s a real crazy world that we are living in, Especially the political part of it, but I guess that’s the way life goes on.

I've entitled this posting as " the two party system" very simply because, I believe that this is the only way our democracy can properly work. It gives our country the opportunity to bring us closer together as a society to be able to give both sides the chance to exchange points of views. Having said that, I also believe that the Republican party is in such an array now, that it can no longer be known as the GOP (GRAND OLD PARTY). There is nothing grand about not being able to lead, and they certainly have not the ability nor the capability to lead any longer. This was seen this last week, when the speaker of the house was dismissed. The first time in the history of this democracy. An overtaking of a single man by a group of eight to be able to do this, with no plan for the future. This being explained as the fault of the Democratic party for siding with the 8 person group, and not the republican party How can this be true? What has the Democratic party got to do with the failure of the Republicans? The voters of America, selected the majority of the house to be republican and expected them to lead. After voting 15 times for a speaker, they finally selected a person, that promised to just about anything his followers asked for. The writing was now on the wall and it would take only a single person to dislodge this speaker. He was about to begin stepping on hot coals just to stay in power. Twenty months later, he was ousted by that single fellow republican. From that moment on, I began to hear almost on a daily basis how the Democrats were responsible for this dismissal. I was and still am totally confused every time I hear that, I end up questioning myself on just how are the Democrats responsible?? The Republican clearly hold the house majority 223-212, they only need 217 to select a new speaker, however , here we are over 2 weeks and beginning the third week without a speaker. Without having to go threw the everyday nominations and full house voting I will sum that up with, on Republican member withdrawing his nomination after he realized he could not get that 217 and one nominated person being nominated three time and failing all three time and I must add on each time he lost, it was by more votes then the previous time, finally being voted on by his own caucus, to not run again. Just think about it holding a majority vote count of 223, not being able to get the backing of 217 of your fellow members to be speaker, tells me that the Republicans are totally based on their own ideologies over the American public they WORK FOR. They, the Republicans do not accept the blame for this but rather blame the Democrats for not voting THEIR WAY. They apparently can not see that when the house went to vote, they too had nominated a person, Hakem Jefferies, who BTW received 212 votes now my question is why would any reasonably sane Republican ever think that a Democrat would vote for a dysfunctional Republican over a Democrat, however it's what they want to think.

I CHANGED

As most of you know, I happen to be a Democrat. That has not always been the way it was at one point of my life I was a Republican My first presidential election was for Dwight D Eisenhower. I started out as a Republican voter simply because that’s the way it was. My parents were actually Republicans, and I happen to follow in their shoes however, my second presidential election a young man that I was really into was John F. Kennedy. He seemed to bring about all of the things that I wanted to see in my life. From that point on, I was totally a Democrat and sort of happy that I had made that decision. Some years later I remember the first president Bush made the statement at one of his pre-presidential rallies stating” Read my lips, no new taxes” at that point, I was totally turned off by the Republican party, very simply because six months later, there were new taxes, ever since then, I just could not understand why anybody would want to be directly looked at and told lies. Secondly, the democratic platform has always been more down my ally then the republican platform. Now, I’m definitely convinced, after the recent fiasco in the house, that the Republican Party simply cannot lead.

BLAME THE TOP DOG

I know, For a fact that it is always the top dog that gets blamed for everything as the old saying goes the buck stops here. Having said that, I can totally understand the reasoning that President Biden is getting blamed for everything including inflation that’s just the name of the game in my eyes he’s not the reason for inflation. Now, in no way, Do I want to give the impression that I am an expert in this subject but the way that I look at things We the general public can be the cause of inflation.

THE END OF ANOTHER YEAR

well, my friends I’m ending this post With just 11 hours left to 2023. I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you the happiest healthiest and prosperity filled 2024. In the incoming new year, my goal is to send out monthly updates to this blog, and bring back some of the memories of the past. It will be a very tough politically induced year, so I ask all of you to make sure that you vote giving a lot of thought to your votes, So that we can remain a Democratic nation.

Once again, May peace engross our earth.

Vito

I'M RETURNING

2023-10-04T14:21:00.001-07:00

Well, my friends, After three years of being absent from this blog, several of you have requested that I return and continue on. I have passed this idea around and my family feels that returning to the writing will be the saving issue of getting off the couch and doing something I found originally as fun. So here goes.

A NEW ERA

As many, of you know, the original blog was based around my growing up as an only child to an Italian family. It was to originally show my grandchildren who are both now 27 years old the difference of my growing up and them growing up. Now a new era has to begin. This blog will be based on my thoughts of the day how I compare one day to another in this sometimes disheartening life of ours. I use that word, disheartening primarily because I feel that the times of my growing up and the times now are so drastically different. This blog will now try to give you, the reader some idea on what I think about today’s events. Attaching this blog to the original blog was my idea so that you can go back and read the previous blog about happy times. I hope you will continue to enjoy reading this blog and if you want you can make comments and send me an email. I will read your email, but perhaps will not respond simply because these thoughts on my thoughts, and my thoughts only. I will consider your thoughts, but I am not available for long, drawn out open debate.

MY REPUBLICAN FRIENDS

In 2016 we watched a new type of politics being born. MAGA, make America great again. That alone surprised me simply because AMERICA HAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE GREAT. To me, it was a new type of politics, one that reflected, a Mussolini type of politics. Apparently this was and is still a popular type of politics especially among the uneducated since apparently they are unable to think out things for themselves-------I call this group-------FOLLOWERS. This, in my mind, make them totally part of a CULT, totally putting one person, who shall remain nameless, ahead of ALL, (family, religion) but not admitting to it, or perhaps afraid to admit it. Make no doubt about it, YOU are members of a CULT.

Now known as 1335908, indicted on many, many counts in at least 3 states and trying to wiggle his way out of these indictments, by hoping to postpone conviction and hoping to win the presidency back so that he will be able to pardon himself and his followers cannot see anything wrong with this. They simply cannot believe he has done the things he has done as being wrong. Things that, the normal person is jailed for, almost immediately after doing it. Just goes to show you that there are two sets of laws in this country, one for the normal people and one for the rich or famous.

And anyway those of you that have sold your soul to 1335908, you have made your choice now you must live with it

THE HOUSE IS BROKEN

Yesterday, October 3rd 2023, 8 maverick house members were able to oust speaker of the house McCarthy . Presently we have no house representative for the republicans. My immediate question was very simple, if the republicans are unable to run their own caucus of 218 members, how in the world can they possibly run the country of over 300million. RIGHT they can’t. They very simply blame someone else, a typical 1335908 move. Blame the democrats for not coming to the aid of the speaker. WHY?????? What in the world have the democrats got to do with the republican caucus? Would the republicans come to the aid of the democrat if the shoe was on the other foot. I think not. But ignorance prevails in the republican establishment.

Now, with them recently keeping the government open for 45 day, instead of them trying to get a new speaker and continuing to do the work of their constituents, they take a one week vacation, and they want to lead the country. Ignorance on top of ignorance.

This leaves only one way to survive as a democracy, get rid of all republicans by voting against them. The Republican Party is a total joke and unable to lead.

Vito

A LAST HURRAH

2022-09-19T15:57:00.001-07:00

At this point of my life, I think back about all that I have done, however there are still some things that I want to do but not enough Time left.

People have asked me if I have had any regrets for what I have done, and in all do respect the only regret that I have is not being a better student in high school. My high school days were all about making friends. Studies, played a secondary role and were important enough only to the point that I moved from grade to grade with those friends. I truly wanted to go to college, but grades and money were the two stoppers. My parents could financially send me off to college, but my contribution was more then I could afford. I ended up working and going to school at night, but that didn't work so well. My education actually began when I started my job at SAS. Not only did SAS give me the opportunity to experience different cultures, but it also paid for any formal education that I wanted. Lucky me. That's how it all began, I started to get the formal training I WANTED, in the subjects I WANTED to know about. The perfect solution. Over the 40 period with SAS I enrolled into classes such as...........Business and Corporate law, Real Estate financing, Accounting and Finance, Tax solutions, Building and Architecture, and many other related subjects. I also was sent, by SAS, to the University of Lund in Sweden for an intense course on the Swedish language. That, in itself, was the most fun since I stayed, in the house of my then bosses mother where no English was spoken. The other students in the class were from countries around the world, working for different Swedish companies. Marrying a Swede, did help somewhat over the years, even though she, coming from Stockholm, found it a bit cumbersome speaking with a person with a "Skane" accent (southern Sweden} she swore I was half Danish. Oh, well, that's life.

MY LAST OPINION

Before I begin, let me first say, that what you will read is totally "the way I see things". I am not trying to change your thoughts or understanding, All I want you to do is consider the thoughts, I do not want you to try to change my mind. This is the way, I see and understand the system. If you wish to comment on some items, you are welcome to send me an email. If I , in your opinion , misunderstand something, let me know, I am open to reviewing. Having said that don't try to convince me that your opinion is the correct information.........

The Constitution of the United States divides the federal government into three branches to make sure no individual or group will have too much power:

I'm sure that most of you know the workings of the first two, the executive branch and the legislature branch . The one that I am presently concerned about is the Judicial branch. I have always been taught and thought to be true is that this group of 9 unelected but nominated by the president and approved by the senate people, were to be non-political in their opinions but were to interpret and abide by the constitution of the USA. in handing down opinions. They selected 9 as an odd number so that their would never, be a split decision, resulting in a tie. Now, we know the position is held for Life and I'm sure there is good reason for it, but differ with this rule.

I believe it should have a ten year term limit. Since their job is to be a judge of the constitution, they must be able to interpret what the writers of the constitution were thinking at the time of the writing, as to rights of the people.

After the 10 year term, they will automatically be sent to a court of appeals to serve the for life, while a judge from the court of appeals will then be selected by the President to serve on the Supreme court for a period of 10 years

What we have seen out of this ideologically based Supreme Court is that the six justices nominated by Republican presidents are leaning their values to the right the three justices nominated by democratic presidents seem to lean somewhat to the left, however this is not the first time in history that we've had this kind ideology of Supreme Court. In the late 1800s early 1900s there was a similar

situation. It also leaned to the right and was pro-business, anti-labor and antiregulatory to the point of libertarianism. It frequently struck down state laws based on regulations the court found burdensome or interfering with liberty rights. That theory developed a highly activist court spinning doctrine from general Bill of Rights language and themselves imagining new rights that fit the justices' goals.

THE TIME HAS COME

It is now time to realize that this blog has reached its no return point. Readership over the past two years has spiraled downward and I can only see three reasons for that. 1. people are just not interested in my opinion of the present and future situation, 2. People are no longer interested in my past, or 3 and the most probable is that people are just passing on. Whatever the reason, it makes no sense for me to continue since my original reason for creating this blog has now been completed. The blog has been turned into a book of sort. Now to complete the dedication page and the cover, self publish the book and print out only enough for my immediate family.

My last thoughts, though are to those of you that has over the years occupied some of your valuable time to just open this up. I hope I have been able to give you a little look into my life growing up in an Italian family as an only child.

Thank You,

Vito

MY TAKE ON INFLATION

2022-06-20T12:11:00.011-07:00

I don't know how many of you have looked into something like this.....or if any of you are really interested to but here is my take on INFLATION and the causes of .

When I personally look at inflation, I immediately think of food and fuel, why, simply because I need those two items almost daily.......but this thought is relayed into many more items..........the human is attached to and not willing to give up. It all starts with greed.......greed of corporations, to produce revenue for themselves and their stock holders.

Prices have risen, at a pace beyond all expectations and will never rescind, simply because the public will not let it. We will continue to pay these high prices because we have convinced ourselves that this is something we can not or better yet WILL NOT live without. We will continue to complain about the high cost but are unwilling to actually act at doing something to lower the cost. People continue to drive.....because that's what we do. In continuing to drive we will still drive those big gas guzzling vehicles i.e. SUVs, high powered cars and big flashy car, because that's who we are. You are not going to catch me driving some little 4 cylinder undersized, not noticeable car just to save what we consider a few bucks. Your not going to catch me using public transportation, because I want to go when I'm ready to go not five, ten or fifteen minuets from now.. Your not going to catch me searching out a less expensive gas station to save ten cents a gallon or having to stand on a line for an extra fifteen minutes, compared to the station that I have been going to for years and they know me. I'm not going to give up any conveniences just to save a few pennies...............but I sure am going to complain about it and expect the government to do something about it. Now, ask yourself that most inconvenient question........just what do you want the government to do in this.........our chosen capitalistic society. The government can't tell me what to do. Well, my friends you want to have your cake and eat it too.............then let those businesses raise there prices beyond what they already have, settle back, and complain, and continue to pay the cost.

Same goes for food, clothing, all the way down to your Starbucks coffee. Coffee was once $2 a cup, then it was $2.05. then $2.10 we complained but we had to have it so now that it cost $4.00 a cup we continue to pay. Who do we blame......not ourselves because we are not willing to give it up, we have to have our Starbucks fix each morning and afternoon. So now the greed of the corporations to make more for themselves and their stockholders are placed on the shoulders of the greed our society has built for itself. Now,, you're going to ask yourself, how do I get out of this rut, how do I get back to some kind of normality? Here are my personal suggestions.

1. search out the less costly . Big food stores demand a profit of at lease 40% on all items and that could be increased by shelf location, or brand name. Buy the store brands, search the lower shelves or higher shelves...........not the eye level shelf.

2. when possible buy at a smaller market or Mom and Pop store where the profit margin is usually less, and customer service is greater.

3.buy your coffee at a smaller shop, or a smaller drive thru (try McDonalds coffee) or the small independently owned. Starbucks is known to be over-roasted occasionally to the burnt level. If Latte's are your thing, it relies mostly on hot milk , otherwise coffee is coffee, unless you are a coffee expert.

4.Buy your gasoline at a place that offers other things for sale. i.e. Costco, Some food stores. Ir is usually a few cents less expensive, rather than the EXXON, MOBILE, CHEVRON type places. Most of all drive a little less. If public transportation is available to your work place, take it......you'll save on parking also. ride share when possible. or use delivery services.

Now, of course these are only my opinions and should only be considered by those that are constantly complaining about the government doing something rather then putting the blame on the true culprit........yourself or greedy corporations.

AS LONG AS WE SHOW A WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT............WHATEVER THEY DO.........WE WILL NOT SEE ANY REDUCTION OF ANYTHING, SO ACT AND STOP BITCHING !!!!!!!

GETTING RID OF TRASH CAN BE FUN.

Sweden is known for many things most of all sexy, beautiful women. I grew up hearing " Stockholm , the city of free love". Take it from me, that's not the way it really was. On the other hand, the women are definitely beautiful. I just read the below noted about another Swedish City, Malmo and had to share it with you. I checked it out with a friend that lives there and he has confirmed it. When you click on the below link, it will send you to a redirected page. Very interesting article

https://www.insider.com/sexy

SUMMER FINALLY WITHIN SITE.

I have recently checked the upcoming weather and finally discovered,

summer is in site. Better get out more shorts and T-shirts.

Vito

THE DAY

2022-06-16T08:30:00.001-07:00

I am now single digit days away from celebrating yet another birthday. In this case, my 86th. OH how ever, did I make it this far. I sort of hope it continues on for some more years...................just to be able to write more blogs, and finish my book.

I see that our House of Representatives, have now voted........down party lines........for somewhat of a type of gun control. It's very sad to see that few Republicans can understand, that this is NOT a ban on weapons, just a control of certain weapons. The bill will now go to the Senate, where the rumor is that it will be voted down, here again simply by party lines, neither party really has the needed majority. It seems to me that, the Republicans go down hard on abortions with the excuse that we are killing lives ( unborn lives) in a true sense, but after birth, they couldn't care less what happens to these poor souls, even to the extent that they have voted down putting money into the budget of mental health. Wish I knew exactly what they wanted, but understandable since, they themselves do not know. Very difficult to really understand, the rationale. In these old eyes, the Republican party is no longer the GRAND OLD PARTY. It simply has become the party of ignorance, NO and You do it my way, REGARDLESS !!!! Personally, I don't care if you are a Democrat , Republican or Independent, makes no difference, I just ask for you to use the brain, you were given and to look realistically at both ends of the straw so that you understand the total problem..............before.......... you make any decision. It seems that most Republicans only have the ability to look at one end of the straw.

We are suppose to be a society of intelligent people, working as one to be able to continue to be an intelligent society, and still be able to have an independent opinion.

I watched the Jan6 panel show last night........the first of several more to come. If this isn't enough for some half-brained Republicans to change their mind, I'm afraid they will just go down in history as TOTALLY brainless with the balance of the party.

LIFE IS ABOUT CHANGE

Each day that passes, has now become more then just a day. It has become a chore and is only remembered by ....................what you throw away.

The Swedes have a word for cleaning in the latter part of life. It is called döstädning. It simply is getting everything in order. I use it as getting" RID OF ALL THE STUFF COLLECTED OVER ALL THE YEARS". My philosophy is that if you didn't use it, look for it, or cared about it for the past 5 years, you will not miss it for the next 10. Interesting part is that I have found a way to fill up both my recyclable and my garbage containers for the next 6 months. That way I'm getting my monies worth for sanitation plus I am now able to see parts of my once 1800 sq ft corporate office, known as.........my basement, or lower level of my 3 level house.

Since retiring from SAS in December of 1994 I have started six businesses all of which I was hoping to pass on to either my children or my grandchildren I got the businesses started and then apparently lost interest in each one of them one by one but the remnants of each one of these businesses is still resting on my corporate floor. If I was only able to see in the future and see how much wasted money was going to be put into these businesses I would have never done it. I would have gone back to the golf course so they say.

Of the six businesses that I started four of them had the potential to succeed and become very successful if only the time and the thought was really put into them I regret some of those moves but life is what it is. Now there is nothing left to them except memories and a lot of advertising material that I have no idea what to use it for.

THE DAY HAS NOW ARRIVED

Happy Birthday to me, able to make it one more year. Guess I'll go and have my coffee.

See you soon.

Old Man Vito

???

2022-06-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Living in covid pandemic for the past two and a half years has certainly taught me a lot about myself.

I have adopted the ability to read and investigate. Something that I have passed over for years. Prior to this pandemic, I read something and if it sounded reasonable, I accepted it. If it sounded stupid, I left it up to common sense (and I was usually right). If it REALLY sounded over the top, I simply passed it over as something the conservatives would say. Now, I have found that, by investigation I'm now able to fact check.........and it occupies my time.

I have discovered that after only 153 days this year we have had 233 mass shootings, I ask you and myself, what kind of society do we live in. It certainly isn't the kind, I grew up in. At first, I took it as a republican thing, but now I find it's more a immaturity thing since the act is deriving from people usually under the age of 18 using an assault type weapon. I believe most are children with parents, that don't care, don't know or just turn their heads. Parents of these young people, I would bet are Republican, minimal educated, and screamers for the second amendment , which, of cause most think they know about but apparently read and know little about the three words " to bare arms" . This amendment was adopted by our fore fathers to the constitution in 1791.............that alone should want people to THINK about the meaning. I'm willing to bet that those screamers of constitutional rights have no idea WHY IT was adopted, let along that our fore fathers could even begin to visualize , the weapons of the future. Even as I write this blog, mass shootings are taking place. Two that I have just heard about in Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Now, the total number for this year has just been reported as 242. When will this stop! Why can't our politicians get there head out of their ass and get something done. I keep hearing that it's a mental thing, are Americans that more mentally deficient than people of other nations? Can this be the cause ..............or can it be our hate for one in other? I suggest, very strongly that people take a real concentrated look at the ballet this year and vote out all the politicians that refuse to act on the real cause. If we really feel that it's a mental thing, perhaps the conservatives should rethink why they cut that money from the budget and reinstate it. Sorry friends, to go on and on with this subject but I'm just very afraid of what the end result will be if it continues.

SPRINGTIME DECK

Spring has sprung

the grass has rise

wonder where the boidies is

IN THE MIDDLE OF MARGOT'S DECK GARDEN;

Once again I present Margot's little piece of heaven,.................our deck. Margot is not very happy with the late planting season, but I'm sure she will get over it as soon as the weather improves and she can see her little buds growing and glowing. These were planted about 2 weeks ago but it has been a very raining month with little sunshine to really speak about.

SUMMERTIME

Shorts , t-shirt, sandals. There's just something with sunshine and warmth that brings out the good in people. Seems to make people more cheerful. Don't know exactly what it is. Me, personally, spending 20 minutes in warm sunshine either makes me very mellow and makes me urge for nappy time or it gives me that old..................spring time romantic feeling that I recall from a much earlier time of my life. At any rate, I need sun to beat into these old bones. Then, of course, I ask myself, what the hell am I doing in Seattle?????? a city know for people that carry an umbrella, where ever they go, just in case of a little sprinkle. On my first arrival, it was for the friendliness of the people, and the beautiful , well groomed areas of outdoors. Less and less of that is now in place...............but for me, I am totally hooked onto those areas I still feel safe in. Outside of those areas, I know longer visit or spend time. I once was very compassionate for the homeless, now it's at the point where my compassion has disappeared and can hardly tolerate where we are as a society. Our elected officials, have tried many different ways of handling these situations, however, I see no real improvement, so I have basically resolved to live out the rest of my time, in the best way for me and my family.

Anyway, enough complaining for the day, Think I'll have a cup of coffee and relax on my deck..............until dinner time.

See you all soon.

Vito