Rant #2,475: You Gotta Have Heart

Yes, I have been through a hell of a lot since I lost my job nearly seven weeks ago.

Even a scriptwriter could not conjure up a script to describe what I have been through, and the fact of the matter is that you only know the half of it.

I haven't told you everything, simply because there isn't a reason to do so.

But what you have read about, including the current fiasco I wrote about yesterday, is really and truly mind boggling, isn't it?

So now we come to the dawn of Thanksgiving 2019 tomorrow, and everybody is happily getting ready to prepare and consume the big bird, get together with friends and family, watch the parade, watch "March of the Wooden Soldiers," and maybe tune into some football.

And then comes Black Friday ... watch out! Ordinary people will turn into tigers as they grab the latest and greatest items over each other at their local stores.

Me? I would rather talk about the things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Eve.

I am sure that after doing a double take at what you have just read, you are asking yourself, "Based on the circumstances, how could he be thankful about anything?" but let me tell you, I really am thankful about so many things.

And I am more thankful today than ever.

First, I am thankful for my family, who have backed me 1,000 percent in this struggle I am going through now. Without them, I would be literally dead in the water. I truly have the greatest family, no doubt about it.

And I also have great friends, and to them, I am also very thankful. They have my back, and have helped pick me up when I am at my lowest stages.

I am also thankful that I have this forum to air myself out on. As a writer, I am here to write. If I cannot put my thoughts down on paper, or in this case electronically, then I am also dead in the water. And if anyone takes what I say the wrong way, then that is their problem, not mine.

Yes, as the old song by Gloria Gaynor says, "I will survive."

With all obstacles in my way, I will make it through this nonsense thast I am going through right now. I owe it to my friends and family to be strong, to be resilient, and to wake up every day with the feeling and belief that "This will be the day that I conquer all."

Look, none of us know what is in the cards for us in the coming days, months or years. But with the strong backbone that I have--that being a great group of family members and friends--there is no way that I can miss.

Heck, they won't let me miss.

And it is not in my DNA anyway.

So I will survive.

I might not thrive, but I am going to give it my best shot each and every day.

Look, I know that in the coming days and months, I might need a lot of help to attain whatever minor goals I have set for myself, and I just know that I will attain them.

It might be in an unconventional way, but I have to believe that "right will win out."

If I don't believe that, than I am really done, no matter how strong my family and friends are.

So yes, I am extra, extra thankful this coming Thanksgiving that I have the people around me who won't let me fail, and who instill confidence in me that I will one day put this all behind me.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Gobble Gobble!

Classic Rant #1,143 (February 12, 2014): She Is Now On "The Good Ship Lollipop"

When talking about great child stars, we often forgot about Shirley Temple.

Her movies were relegated to Turner Classic Movies, and well, she just wasn't as popular as, let's say, a Jerry Mathers or a Miley Cyrus.

But Shirley Temple was the quintessential child star, probably the most famous and best of that breed.

She has passed away, at age 85, and all of a sudden, that little girl with the little curls has come to the forefront of our thoughts again.

I don't think that today we can fathom the impact that Shirley Temple had on the generation that lived through the Depression.

Starting out in various ripoffs of the Our Gang comedies--she often co-starred with Mickey McGuire himself, another one of the great child stars, Mickey Rooney--she later gravitated to feature films, and that is where she made her major mark.

She was the antidote to the fears that came with living through a time when there was little money around, millions out of work, and wondering where the next meal would come from.

Along with Babe Ruth, she gave the country something to hope for, a distraction from the days of incredible poverty.

And she broke barriers too.

She danced with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson on screen.

Sure, he was in a stereotypical role, but Shirley actually held his hand during part of their dance together.

Whatever the case, Temple was a smart cookie.

Her time at the top was brief, and although she acted from her heyday into the early 1960s, she basically knew when to get out.

She married well, after her money was squandered by family members, so she never had to worry about that end of life. But she wanted to do more.

She became a diplomat as Shirley Temple Black, and represented the U.S. in the continents of Africa and Europe in that role.

She did that for many years, and when the time came, she also was smart enough to bow out, and do it gracefully.

She was once asked if people could believe that Shirley Temple could become a diplomat. She answered, "No, people could not believe that Shirley Temple could become a diplomat. But they could believe that Shirley Temple Black could become a diplomat."

So she had one life split into two.

But what an incredible life she led.

No scandals, no nonsense, no nothing.

Just an incredible life, from beginning to end.

And whether it was "Animal Crackers in My Soup" or "The Good Ship Lollipop," Temple knew when it was time to bow out.

And in death, she once again bowed out gracefully.

She evidently didn't know any other way.

Rant #2,474: Wishin' and Hopin"

That is really a very mild title I put up there.

With what I went through and learned yesterday, if I could put up every expletive I know, that would probably be a more suitable title than the mild one I have placed on this entry today.

Let me backtrack. As of Thursday--Thanksgiving Day, of course--I will have been out of work for seven weeks.

That fact is bad enough. It rips at me, but I am at least content that I have done everything I could to attain another position. Things simply have not worked out for me.

But in those seven weeks, I have not yet received my unemployment insurance payments. I applied right after I lost my job, and actually had to apply three times before it took. One time I applied "after hours," so I found out that this New York State Unemployment website is perhaps the only electronic site in the world that has a time scheme in which to use it. It also rejected me another time for reasons I simply do not remember.

But the third time was the charm, I was able to apply for benefits, and my case was moving along, which should have eventually enabled me to gain benefits as I search for work.

Well, at least I thought that, because yesterday, if I did not know what the word "incompetence" meant beforehand, I certainly know what the word means now.

I have been dutifully applying for unemployment each week that I have been out of work, filling out the weekly form as I waited for unemployment to kick in.

The first bruise that I incurred in the process was that since I received severance--and since for whatever reason, the state considered it to be salary, thus upping my salary even with the pittance I received from my former employer--simply getting severance held me back for a few weeks in getting unemployment payments. I spoke with a few former co-workers, and we all experienced the same thing, so I was in the same leaky boat as others.

That in itself was not right, was not fair, but go fight city hall, go fight my former employer, go beat your head against the wall.

I moved on, continually week after week letting the state government know that I had not found a new job and was still out of work.

Everything proceeded nicely until this week. I tried to report myself unemployed again, but the window allowing me to do this did not appear. I tried at different times during the day to do this, it would not come up, and I figured that perhaps since Monday begins the business week, that I would try again on Monday.

I did do just that, at various times, but I could not get the window on my screen that allows me to do this. I have provided two screen shots for you. The first shows the window that comes up when you sign into your account--and from which you click onto the part that says "Unemployment Services" to gain access to the nest window, which is essentially a sign-in sheet asking you questions about the past week's job search.

The second image I have put up is what I get when I click on that button--not what I am supposed to get, but a message that has nothing to do with what I am trying to do.

I did this countless times yesterday, and the same thing came up. I also actually called unemployment to put in for the week, but after I punched in my specifics on the phone, the message was this: "You cannot apply for unemployment until tomorrow."

After constant tries, I gave up, and decided I needed to take more direct action.

Through trial and error, I found a direct number to speak to a live person at unemployment, and stayed on the line for about 20 minutes to speak to someone. I had to take my son to work, so my waiting spilled into my car, where I have my phone hooked up to my car, so I paitently waited until someone picked up my call.

As I was driving my son to work, someone picked up, I explained the situation, and he suggested I contact the unemployment technical department, or something akin to that, and I refused. The person I spoke to said he never heard of such a problem, and he said that he would have to transfer my call over to a supervisor, who was currently on the phone. After a few minutes, the supervisor actually transferred me over to someone else, and I had to go through this long story again.

The person I spoke to evidently is a technician in that department, and he was very nice to me. He said that he would look into the situation, and call me back in an hour after he had assessed what was going on. He actually gave me his personal cell phone number, and said that he would get to the bottom of whatever the problem was.

I had an errand to run, which is a story in itself that I will leave for another day. The errand took much longer than I expected it to take, and when I finally got home, I had received a call from the technician. I called him back, and yes, he sure got to the bottom of it all--not only the bottom, but literally, the rock bottom of the well.

Read on ...

I have been out of work for extended periods three times in my life: right now, which was preceded by my first time out of work in the late 1980s, when I lost my real estate writing job due to that market falling out on the East Coast, and I was out for a grand total of 18 months, and the second period, which lasted about four months in the mid-1990s, when I lost my job with a security association when my position became a political football between the board members of that organization. The first period of unemployment greatly impacted my impending divorce, and the second came right after my son was born, so when I lose my jobs through no fault of my own, I really pick 'em, don't I?

During the second time that I was out of work in 1995 into early 1996, to supplement my income, I was delivering newspapers overnight as an adult deliverer, a job that I had taken when I was working at the security association, because my pay was so low there that I had to have something to add to it to help make ends meet. I made a grand total of $150 a week doing this, and no, I did not get weekly tips, either--that was straight pay.

So when I lost my regular job, I applied for unemployment, and I kept the newspaper delivery job too, and reported that to unemployment. Remember, in those days there was no Internet, so everything had to be done in person at the local unemployment office, so that is what I did.

I was getting unemployment checks on a regular basis--back then, they paid at the top rate of $360 a week--and I did what I had to do to secure a job while I still performed the newspaper delivery job.

Well, once day I got a notice from unemployment that they "found out" that I was doing the newspaper delivery job, and since the grand total of $150 a week exceeded the amount of money that I could make while getting unemployment, I would have to give up the newspaper delivery job or forfeit my unemployment.

I could fight this charge, and that is exactly what I did. I lost the case during a hearing, and they were going to take away my unemployment, but if I remember correctly, I got one regular job right as this was occurring--which paid me the grand total of $7 an hour--and then right after, I obtained another job, which paid me a pittance but still better than $7 an hour. That is the job that I ended up staying with for the next 23 and a half years, the one that I lost nearly seven weeks ago.

So yes, I lost my hearing, but I ended up winning the war, so to speak--or at least I thought I won the war, until yesterday.

As I said, I lost my hearing, and that really should have been the end of it. Unemployment paid me whatever they owed me, I alerted them when I found work, and the tie to them in any way, shape or form should have been cut right then and there.

However, the technician who is currently on my case told me that due to that case, a case that occured nearly a quarter century ago, it is currently impeding me in getting unemployment today. He said he did not know why, but I can surmise the following: when federal and local governments went all Internet, someone uploaded my case, did not add in that the case was over and done with, and that my case has been open on their computers all of these years.

Yes, a case that began in late 1995 and ended in early 1996 was never closed out electronically by the New York State Department of Labor, and thus, without it being closed out, it is literally blocking me from getting unemployment in 2019--more than two decades after the fact.

The technician said he did not know why this was happening, he would try to fix it, and that I should give it until Friday--the last day that I can file for this past week's unemployment--to see if it is fixed.

Well, if it is not fixed on Friday, then I will be fixed, because I will not be getting unemployment until everything is in order in my account.

The technician said he would do what he could--he even took my survey answers verbally over the phone, presumably so he could add them in when the problem was fixed--and he said if the problem was not fixed by Friday, I should contact him directly.

I have several questions, as I am sure that you have after reading about this fiasco: why was this case--a pre-Internet case--added into the database to begin with. and why was the outcome not included, thus put a final end to this situation? How could such a thing happen? How could this case be an "open" one even though Unemployment itself won the case? Etc., etc., etc.

And then the final question: what happens if this problem is not fixed by Friday--what do I do then?

As you can imagine, many thoughts have gone through my head since I found out about this glitch in their system. I could contact my local legislator, I can contact Governor Cuomo's office, I could contact every media outlet in the region and get coverage on this to make the New York State Department of Labor look as culpable in this situation as possible.

Heck, I could contact President Trump and see what he could do about this.

Finally, I could get an unemployment lawyer and sue the department for not just what is owed me in unemployment, but for a lot more than that due to the pain and suffering this has caused me, knowingly and unknowingly, because I do believe such a situation has and can impact my credit rating and other things in my life and the life of my family.

So while such "sugarplums" are dancing through my head, I am just going to have to grin and bear it right now. The technician told me to intermittently check to see if the problem has been taken care of--it could take more than one day to fix--and I have done that, with the images I have posted having been taken this very morning before I started writing this entry. I also checked a few times yesterday afternoon, and will continue to check through today, tomorrow, into the holiday and of course, on Friday.

If I do not get satisfaction on Friday morning, I think the first thing I am going to do is to contact my local legislator, who has an office right next to my favorite record store right near my house.

Then, all bets are off. I will do, legally, what I have to do to get this thing the right way.

So as I move into the seventh week of joblessness, I still do not have a job, as I am no closer to finding one than I was when this whole thing started. I have absolutely no money coming into my coffers, with no end in sight because of this electronic glitch.

I have lost any hope I have for an end to this torture, and I am at my wit's end at this point in time.

A lesser person would have broken down already.

What, me worry?

Classic Rant #1,142 (February 11, 2014): 50 Years Ago ... In My Own Life

The past few days I have written about the Beatles, and what their presence on the scene did to our world.

I am happy to say that I was around 50 years ago. Some people are embarrassed to admit their age, I revel in it.

As I have looked back at the past 50 years, with the Beatles as the centerpiece, my experience 50 years ago has kind of been in the background.

However, all of this has forced me to look at where I was way back in February 1964 and during the year in general. It was a significant year in what was then my young life.

I was six years old, and would be seven in a little more than two months.

I was in first grade. It is incredible, but thinking back, Mrs. Gold's class at P.S. 165 in Flushing went through two cataclysms in the same year: the death of JFK and the coming of the Beatles. We went from a very low low to a very high high in the span of three months.

My family and I lived in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, where I lived from the time I was about one year old until I was a little past seven. During 1964, in July, we would move to South Jamaica, Queens, to a place called Rochdale Village.

But for right now, we were in an apartment in Kew Gardens Hills.

I had lots of friends there, but I can only remember a few of their names now. Danny, Julie, David, Debbie, and another girl, Carla Maybloom, who used to pick on me endlessly.

She was a big girl, and was something of a bully.

I remember one time running into the house all in tears, because she had picked on me again. My father told me to go outside and let her have it. I was hesitant to do so.

He said to me, "Who are you afraid of, Carla or me?"

Without hesitation, I said, "Her!"

I was very much into comic books. I taught myself to read with them, and I bought them whenever I could. Heck, I had a 25 cents allowance, and during those days, that would be good for two comic books, as they had just risen to 12 cents an issue from a dime a year earlier.

I remember that in school, a pipe burst and we had to leave our classrooms in ankle deep water.

I also remember Mrs. Gold, an old teacher who actually had taught college previously, tripped over the wire of a movie projector, broke her leg, and was never heard from again about 95 percent through the school year.

There was a lot going on in my neighborhood back then.

It was the center of the dope sniffing craze, and every Friday night, the police would herd teens out of the basement of our building, as they were found trying to get high sniffing airplane glue.

About a block away, a beautiful woman named Alice Crimmins lived with her husband and two kids. One day, her kids were found in a garbage dump, both dead, and this led to one of the most horrific trials in New York City history, pitting this absolutely beautiful, photogenic woman against charges that she murdered her kids.

Yes, it all happened about a block away from where I lived.

But heck, I was six years old, not worldly at that age at all--nor should I have been--and my world was pretty much my apartment, my school, and my friends.

That was all to change later in the year, when we moved to a new development called Rochdale Village.

I have waxed poetic about that place, but that is where I consider that I grew up. Kew Gardens Hills was just another step toward that place. It is but a memory in my mind, but I do remember lots of things about it, as I have presented to you today.

When we moved in July 1964, little did my family and I know what we would be facing for the next seven years. But we went in wide-eyed and bushy tailed, as all the families that moved there did.

Now that was an experience I will never forget, and it all started in 1964, which, when I look back, was one of the most important years in my life.

1964 was an incredible year for everyone, too. It served as the true gateway to what was going to happen for the rest of the decade, everything from the emergence of the civil rights movement to our escalation in Vietnam.

So 1964 wasn't just about the Beatles, not for me anyway, although that was a seminal moment in history that no one will ever forget.

1964 was quite a year for me and for the world, and I will never forget it.

Rant #2,473: Shoppin' From A To Z

Happy Thanksgiving Monday!

And I can also say happy Thanksgiving Tuesday and happy Thanksgiving Wednesday if I want to.

This is Thanksgiving week, and I can gobble if I want to--all week.

We have Thanksgiving Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the BIG DAY comes on Thursday, the actual holiday, the time we get together with family to feast, all around that nice turkey in the middle of the table.

But then, we have Thanksgiving Friday--"Black Friday," as it has come to be known as, based on retailers' need to get "into the black" on that day based on heightened sales--and that is followed by the Thanksgiving weekend, or Thanksgiving Saturday and Thanksgiving Sunday.

When I was working, the importance of this holiday was part of an annual article or group of articles that I would write about how the military exchanges--their department stores--performed during the Thanksgiving shopping days, and I would also write another article on how the military commissaries--the supermarkets--would do on the days prior to Thanksgiving.

Yes, this week is supremely important to retailers' bottom lines, but let's face it, they have been promoting their wares and the prices that they will be charging for these items since at least as far back as Halloween.

"Black Friday" has become name that we use for this entire shopping cycle, and retailers have adapted it for their own uses, sometimes even using it to describe what they call incredible deals even during the summer.

It is completely amazing to me that perhaps the best holiday on the calendar, one that has absolutely nothing to do with gifts, has pretty much become the do all and end all of gifts, and represents the beginning of the holiday shopping season, even though that season actually began a month earlier.

Thanksgiving is supposed to revolve around family, and for the most part, that continues, at least for a few hours on the actual day of the holiday.

But many retailers, trying to get a leg up on their competitors and give themselves a good head start for Black Friday, actually open later in the day on Thanksgiving, giving shoppers the opportunity to eat and conduct themselves the right way with their families on the holiday, and then go absolutely crazy later on.

And don't necessarily blame the retailers for co-opting the holiday; if consumers didn't want to shop on Thanksgiving day, nobody would be open, so shoppers are just as culpable as the retailers are for putting a dent in the holiday.

Me, this year I did buy gifts for my family, but the gifts were less than they have been in the past simply because of my situation, which is the same as it was nearly seven weeks ago when I lost my job.

So yes, I purchased gifts, but I did it way before the holiday rush began; no, probably everyone I bought gifts for would understand if I came empty handed, but to me, it made me feel really good to get at least something for my loved ones. And I did not spend a lot of money in doing so, so I both economized and took care of my family, all at the same time.

The best present I could get is a new job, but alas, it is pretty obvious that that is not going to be happening anytime soon, so I will simply go with the flow, do what I have to do, and hope for the best in the coming months.

So while lots and lots of people run amuck during the next few days, I won't be doing that, knowing that at least I celebrated the strength I get from my family by purchasing some small gifts to honor those I love.

It gives me a lot of solace.

And whether I am working or not working, I wonder if those spending thousands of dollars on gifts this holiday season get the same type of solace that I get from purchasing just a few gifts and budgeting what I spend, or do they just do it to satisfy a need, a craving to buy, buy, buy and buy some more.

I wonder ... .

Classic Rant #1,141 (February 8, 2014): That Night, 50 Years Later

Fifty years ago, my family and lived in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York.

And at 8 p.m., we had our old black and white Dumont TV tuned to "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS, as we always did on Sunday nights. Yes, back in those days, families watched TV together. Not every show, of course, but certainly on Sunday nights, it was Sullivan.

There was a wide group of performers on the show, from novelty acts to somebody by the name of Tessie O'Shea, two guys who would become international stars within the next two years, impressionist Frank Gorshin (as the Riddler on the "Batman" TV series) and David Jones, who played the Artful Dodger as part of the Broadway cast of "Oliver" which appeared on this show. Of course, David morphed to Davy Jones, and he had as much to be thankful for on this particular show as anyone did.

Because the headliners of the "real big show," as Ed usually said, were the Beatles.

And once they came on the show, things were never the same again.

Last night, CBS ran a special which channeled the excitement of that show through today's music stars, and although Ringo and Paul were also on this show, sorry, you guys really dropped the ball on this one.

CBS should have gotten together with Sofa Productions, which owns the Sullivan shows, and actually ran the entire one-hour show that the Fab Four were featured in on that night 50 years ago, February 9, 1964.

And to add insult to injury, the new show was taped in Los Angeles about a week ago, depriving it of that live, New York vibe.

This was a total turnoff to me, so to complete my own 50-year circle, I watched that entire, original show, on DVD, just about to the minute that I watched it as a six year old 50 years ago.

As a six year old, I was truly mesmerized by what I saw: these four guys with long hair playing a different type of music and with all the girls yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs.

I just don't think you can get the vibe that was set that very night 50 years ago without watching the original show from the beginning to the end.

Highlights simply will not do.

The Beatles opened the show, but they did not close it, as many people think.

There was some type of European novelty act that closed the show, twisting and turning their bodies in every contortion you can think of.

Even though that was something in itself, they really couldn't follow the Beatles, nor could the guy with the card tricks who followed them earlier in the show. In fact, his segment was the only one that was taped for the particular show. Everything else was done live.

I decided to take some photos as I watched this show, and they really show that everybody who was there was having a fine time.

Whether anybody thought that the Beatles' appearance, their manner, and their music would be world changing back that night is anyone's guess.

But what I saw as I watched this show 50 years later was something incredible, something that we now know changed the world.

As a six year old kid, there is no way I could have envisioned that, and even as a 56 year old, it is hard to fully contemplate that night within its own context.

Sure, I bet the show that CBS did show yesterday night was fine for what it was, but kids, if you are reading this, go to YouTube or get the video of the actual show, and that goes for you oldsters too.

You cannot get the full thrust of what was going on on this show--and why it was so earth-changing--without watching it from the first minute to the last.

Through the cast of "Oliver" through Gorshin through Mitzi McCall and Charley Brill through the novelty acts through Tessie O'Shea, you saw a changing of the guard right before your eyes.

And it was all in spectacular black and white.

John and George are gone, Paul and Ringo carry on the legacy, but back then, we were all young, wide eyed, and ready for anything.

That "anything" was the Beatles, and boy they were something, weren't they?

Rant #2,472: Wedding Bell Blues Take a Letter Maria Something And When I Die, Smile a Little Smile For Me

Usually, we go over the top 10 songs of the week on the Billboard Hot 100 charts during the final Friday of the month, but this week, we are going to push up by a week our look back at what we were listening to on the radio 50 years ago because next week is the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holiday period, and I will be taking a break from writing this column then, as I always do, working or not working.

So without further ado, here are the top 10 songs on that Billboard chart from 50 years ago, during the week of November 22, 1969:

Coming in at the No. 10 spot on the charts 50 years ago to the day was a real Motown classic, the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You." The song continued their string of forceful hit songs overseen by producer/writer Norman Whitfield.

The No. 9 song on the charts was one of the last big hits for Elvis Presley, "Suspicious Minds." It was also his final No. 1 song of his many that topped the chart in the 1950s and 1960s.

Another Motown song came in at No. 8 for the week. Stevie Wonder's "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" jumped up 14 places, from No. 22 the previous week, to attain this lofty perch on the chart.

Another former No. 1 song, the Beatles' "Come Together," fell to No. 7 this week. I remember hearing this song every Sunday morning when I was driven to the bowling alley to bowl in the Rochdale Village Athletic League's bowling league in Brian Canner's car. What a memory!

A future No. 1 tune, the one-hit Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" was at No. 6 this week. The song has lived on in perpetuity as the "goodbye" song in sporting events, sung at home to taunt the losing visiting team.

Another song from a one-hit wonder, the Flying Machine's "Smile a Little Smile For Me," came in at No. 5 this week 50 years ago. This song ended up being placed on more compilations of late 1960s music than any song I can think of.

Blood, Sweat and Tears' cover of a Laura Nyro song, "And When I Die," was the fourth most popular song on the chart this week. The band made it their own with their jazz/rock leanings and the voice of David Clayton Thomas.

Even five years after they debuted on the American scene, the Beatles were as hot as a pistol, and this was thoroughly demonstrated by the strength of the single I just mentioned, "Come Together," the former No. 1 which was slipping as this week came around. So with the "A" side falling, radio stations began playing the "B" side heavily, and George Harrison's "Something" made it up to No. 3 this week. Few bands consistently placed both "A" and "B" sides on the Hot 100 chart, but the Beatles did it here, making this entire single one of their biggest in America.

A singer who placed a few singles on the Hot 100 has his biggest hit this week. R.B. Greaves' "Take a Letter Maria" moved up eight places on the chart to No. 2, just short of the top spot.

And the No. 1 single for this week, 50 years ago, was ...

"Wedding Bell Blues" by the 5th Dimension. This was another Laura Nyro song, that was "popped up" by the California-based singing quintet, led by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. Funny, how did Nyro know that McCoo and Davis would soon marry? "Bill! I love you so, I always will ... ." And the song still resonates today, one of the group's biggest hits.

The highest debut on this week's chart was one of nearly 100 singles placed on the Billboard Hot 100 by James Brown, "Ain't It Funky Now, (Part One)" which came in at No. 71. Brown was known as "Soul Brother No. 1," but the song only reached No. 24 on the chart.

The "Biggest Mover" of the week, the song that rose the most places from one spot to another on the Hot 100, ended up being one of the decade's biggest hits, and one of the Hot 100's biggest hits overall in its history. "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," by B.J. Thomas, the song from the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," jumped from No. 62 to No. 37 this week, on its way to No. 1 during the first week of 1970.

So there you have it--a little pop, a little rock, a little Motown, some one-hit wonders, and the Beatles continuing to make their mark on the Billboard Hot 100.

What more can you ask for?

Have a great weekend, and speak to you again on Monday.

Classic Rant #1,140 (February 7, 2014): The Night That Changed Everything Forever

I told myself that when this date would come, I would speak minimally about it, because the music really spoke louder than any mere words I could put together.

Let me see if I can live up to that goal.

Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964 was an evening that will live in the annals of recorded history as one of the most important, cultural, social and whatever else you might call it nights that changed the world.

Four musicians took the stage of "The Ed Sullivan Show" in New York, played a few songs, put the younger members of the audience in a complete frenzy, and the world was never the same again.

Convention was completely thrown out the window for good.

The Beatles had arrived, and things would never be the same again.

I think it is hard for younger people today--anybody under 50, in this case--to really understand what happened that night.

In the pre-high-tech age, our high tech was television. It was the way the word got out, the way the word was delivered electronically to us.

And that night, it was delivered loud and clear.

Out with the old, in with the new.

A lot of people thought that this was just a trend, and we would go back to the old way of doing things within time.

It never happened.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr saw to that by writing and playing music that put the bar higher that it had ever been, at least in the 20th century.

They also saw to it that every social norm of the previous generations--or at least most of them--didn't matter anymore.

They created a revolution without raising a weapon.

Having been there, having watched this thing unfold as a six year old, I cannot tell you how much this thing influenced everything from that time on.

Our country had been in a collective depression with the death of JFK still so fresh in our minds.

The Beatles brought hope to us, hope for a better future that JFK had promised.

The interesting thing is that 50 years after the fact, the Beatles remain among the hottest commodities on the planet. Their music is still heard every minute of every day, their images still encrusted on our brains.

What more can I say?

It is hard to believe that 50 years have passed. I went from a mere babe to a teenager to a young man to a married man with kids during this period. It is amazing, isn't it?

And it all started with this funny looking guy introducing four long-haired moptops on his stage.

Simply amazing.

P.S.: To see my Beatles Picture Sleeve 45 collection--including possibly the most important record ever released, as shown above, please visit Facebook at this address:

https://www.facebook.com/LarryLapka/media_set?set=a.10203036060400736.1073741834.1181924642&type=1

Rant #2,471: Everybody's Beautiful

Well, it really isn't in my world, at least, but I can say that there are people in this world who are nice, and others who simply aren't.

I know that you those readers of this blog who live in other places and have no idea what I am talking about when I mention my old neighborhood, I am going to try again to tell you about the magical place where I grew up during some of my most formative years--from age seven to age 14.

Rochdale Village, in South Jamaica, Queens, New York, was then a new neighborhood, and I mean brand new, as buildings were rising as residents move into the sprawling development in 1963. Most of us moved in during 1964, and to be seven years old and see the next of the 20 13-floor buildings rise was a wonder, and yes, was truly magical. It was like the toy dump trucks we played with in the still virgin dirt--no grass planted yet--had come alive right before our young eyes.

Thousands of middle-class families--mainly New York City union members--moved into this new neighborhood, and all of these families, in turn, each seemed to contain one or two or sometimes three and four children, all of Baby Boomer age, so it seemed that there were thousands of kids now calling the place home, and in fact, there were, based on the fact that three public schools--two grammar schools and a junior high school--all rose on these new grounds.

The first few years there were nearly idyllic. We thought that we were in our own Garden of Eden, and our parents thought they would live there forever, whites and blacks living together in a way that only could happen in story books or on an episode of TV's "Julia."

Or at least it seemed so on the surface, but underneath, there was lots of bitterness, lots of misunderstanding, lots of miscommunication.

The first residents of the community moved in during a seismic upheaval of our world, just around the time that our president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was murdered. When Rochdale Village--named after the first co-op in England--was firmly establishing itself, its residents also experienced another seismic upheaval, when Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were murdered in 1968.

Couple that with almost seemingly constant teacher strikes and other social changes in society, and Rochdale Village turned into a battleground, of sorts, a predominantly white area existing in a traditional black neighborhood.

One thing lead to another, and most original residents left. Eve had bitten the apple in our own version of the Garden of Eden, and things would never be the same again.

Rochdale Village survives more than 50 years later as one of the most thriving predominantly black neighborhoods in not only New York City but in the United States, and its future, once doubtful, will sustain it into the future.

That, in a nutshell, is the story of Rochdale Village, and that begs the question: Why am I even bringing it up anyway?

The reason is that for whatever reason, the bond between those who lived there survives decades after most of us left there.

My parents still have friends that they are friendly with from the old neighborhood, and their advanced age--my parents are 88 years of age and some of their friends have got to be in their 90s--has dampened the enthusiasm they have in talking to each other and keeping their friendship intact.

As for their progeny, there was something about growing up in Rochdale Village during those early years that was truly magical. There is no other way to describe it.

All of us Baby Boomers are joined at the hip, and I mean firmly joined at the hip, and social networks like Facebook have helped us maintain, or even start anew, or friendships.

Case in point what happened yesterday to me. I will let my Facebook post describe exactly what happened:

"During this period where I am in-between jobs, I have learned that people DO care, and that makes me feel good.

And while I won't reveal the person's name who has my back--I will tell you that the person is a lawyer--that person did a nice thing for me today, which was to circulate my resume among his or her fellow law firms.

Although it has not borne fruit yet, it really made my day ... and what made it even more special is that the person knew me from my old neighborhood of Rochdale Village, South Jamaica, Queens, New York.

I will not reveal the person's name, but this person really did a "mitzvah" today, and I will never forget it, even if it leads nowhere.

There are nice people in this world, and this person is one of them.

Thanks to that person. What a nice thing to do, and it came completely out of the blue!"

Yes, I didn't know the actual person who did this that well, but I did know a member of his family very well, someone who also lived in my old neighborhood of Rochdale Village.

It was this person's cousin, who I knew very, very well. He was one of my best friends, and one of my life's regrets is that I did not keep up the friendship. And the time is lost, as he passed away at a young age so many years ago. His sister contacted me a few years back when she saw that I put up a photo including her brother, and I do miss the guy. He was such fun to be with, and he was so different than my other friends, but a friend he was.

So, my friend's cousin, so small when I knew at least of him but now an attorney, took it upon himself to try to help me, and whatever happens, I am just so happy at what this person did for me.

Blood is thicker than water, and yes, I do feel that everybody who grew up in Rochdale Village at that time--male, female, older and younger, black and white and brown and any other color in the spectrum--we are all connected, we all share the same blood, and this act really gave me a boost that I know will last with me forever.

So thanks to that person, I really appreciate it, and with this blog entry, I hope I illustrated to those who don't know Rochdale Village from Middle Village just how special Rochdale was, whether we are talking about 50 years ago or today.

Rochdale Village lives, and will always live in my heart.

Classic Rant #1,139 (February 6, 2014): It Never Ends

My personal misery continues.

January has morphed into February, I thought that everything would return to relative normalcy, but I have found that it's the same old, same old, when it comes to the luck that my family and I have had this year.

We haven't had any. None. Nil.

The latest negative escapades are again, relatively minor, but they are nuisances that we could live without.

As you know, my car's front driver's side door hasn't had a working door handle in about a month. One day, I went to open the door, and it broke off in my hand. It is still on the door--I was able to get it back in--but it does not work.

I have been trying to get another one ordered through Kia for weeks now.

The first time, I was going in for an oil change, I put it in my online order, even called the place, and they told me that although they didn't do that type of work on a Saturday, I should bring it in anyway.

They did not hook me up with the service department, so, of course, when I brought it in, they did not have the part, but the service manager told me he would order it. He also told me the exorbitant price it was going to cost to get this thing done--nearly $300 for a part that actually costs $26.

Well, several days passed, I did not hear from Kia, so I called them, and they told me that the part was never ordered. I told them the above story, they apologized, but they did not have the part.

The service department person told me he would order the part for me, and he asked me to call again the following week, which was yesterday, to check back.

I called, and guess what? Even he was amazed that the part was never ordered.

He told me, "I swear I ordered this part," but, of course, he did not.

Well, I tried to be calm and patient, but the crux of the matter is, and still is, where is the part?

He said he would personally order it again for me. I told him that that is what he said the last time.

I said that due to my inconvenience, maybe he could do something for me. I was thinking of price, maybe lessening the price a bit.

He said to me, "I will have the part painted, so when you come in, you don't have to wait for that."

Whoopee do.

He also asked me the question of the day. He said to me, "How are you getting into the car?"

Well, I could have told him that I took a saw and made my own sunroof to drop myself into the car, but I told him that I have been entering the car either though the front passenger door or through the back.

Duh.

He has told me to call back to see if the part is in. It won't be, I am sure of it.

Yes, I think it is time to call Kia directly, and I mean their main office. I will have to look the number up.

(I did just that, called them after writing this Rant. I told them the whole story, and let them know that I wanted to be "accommodated," if you know what I mean. I hope that they got that, too. Let's see what happens.)

Anyway, I got up today at my normal 4:30 a.m. time, went into the shower, and found that we have no hot water.

I guess that is just throwing cold water on this whole thing, but I am really wondering what is going to happen next.

It is all nonsense, but these nuisance types of things really tear at you.

It's like whatever can go wrong has gone wrong--what can happen next?

Maybe if I can enter my car like a normal person can I can tell you.

The way it is going, when that will actually happen is anyone's guess.

Rant #2,470: I'm a Believer

As many of you know, my son is into professional wrestling--

I mean REALLY into professional wrestling.

He loves to watch all the shows put on by the WWE, and he also loves the shows put on by the organization that many consider its chief "competitor"--the quotes are used because WWE really has not competitor--Impact Wrestling, which used to be known as Total-Non-Stop-Action Wrestling, or TNA.

I watch all the wrestling shows with him, and while it often dulls my mind--and puts me to sleep in the process--I kind of enjoy it too, because it brings me back to my own youth, my own younger times.

And the joy my son gets from watching the shows, and the bonding that we get watching these shows together, is priceless.

Last night, we were watching Impact Wrestling, which is very much like WWE but on a much, much smaller format and stage.

During one of the matches, our focus was on the wrestlers--which it should be on--but at least my focus turned to the referee.

Referees are an essential ingredient in what goes on in the ring in professional wrestling. Although they are not the focus of the action, and generally stand in the background, they are the ones who begin the action in the ring, they are the ones who decide who the winner is, and perhaps most importantly, they are the ones who must decide, through interaction with the wrestlers, whether an athlete is able to go on in the match and whether a wrestler is hurt or not.

That being said, the referee is as important to the match as the wrestlers are, but people watching the match should really never see the referee unless he is counting down the victory. A good referee is transparent; there but not there, almost invisible to the action, except when necessary.

So we are watching this particular match last night, and I noticed what I thought was a referee on his stomach with his legs hanging out of the ring. Then when the match began, I noticed something that I found truly incredible--

The referee was without legs.

He moved around the ring with ease on his hands and the bottom of his body, and when the count needed to be made, he did what he was there to do, count 1-2-3 and the match was over.

I just found this situation absolutely incredible, and I told my son something like, "This guy proves that you can do just about anything you want to do, if you have the drive and determination to do it."

I think it was a lesson well done and well received.

My son also was very interested, and I told him that I would try to find out more information on this referee after I woke up today, and lo and behold, I did find out some information on Cameron Adamson.

The Canadian referee actually made his in-ring debut during one of Impact Wrestling's show in Canada in July, but last night might have been his first exposure on television.

Adamson was born without legs, but he says he was never treated in any special way--in fact, he said in an interview with Canadian television that his mother used to put the cookie jar on the top shelf of their pantry, and since he liked cookies, he simply found a way to get them.

And he has been "getting" things his entire life. He has a law degree, is a Mason, and works in the Canadian penal system. He uses a wheelchair when necessary, but living out his dream as a professional referee, he does not use one.

Impact Wrestling executives were extremely impressed with his work ethic and determination to live out his dream, and he has been working for them for roughly the past four months.

This is really a great story that should be getting much more coverage that it is getting, which is zero in the American press. I think that what this guy is doing is incredible, and it really shows that when once is focused, just about anything is in their reach.

Whatever you want to say about professional wrestling, it is a global phenomenon, and there is more flexibility in its ranks than in any other "sport"--if that is what you consider it to be"--with the exception of perhaps pro basketball.

Female referees are part of the framework of the NBA, but that is as far as it goes in that league. In pro wrestling, not only do you have female referees, you have referees siuch as Adamson who supposedly have disabilities, and you even have wrestlers who have disabilities, such as missing limbs. In fact, one-legged wrestler Zach Gown is one of the most popular wrestlers on the independent circuit, and has appeared on Impact Wrestling in the past, and he is among a bevy or wrestlers who are missing limbs who are active today.

My son and I became instant fans of Adamson, and we will be looking for him again when we watch Impact Wrestling next week and in the future.

Classic Rant #1,138 (February 5, 2014): More, More, More

I looked out the window today, and yes, we got another bushel of snow overnight.

I watched the news on TV, and traveling is treacherous right now.

I was told at work yesterday that one of the higher ups said that she was "sick and tired" of paying people who were staying home and not coming to work due to the storms we have had.

Well, let me cry over her proclamation.

I would rather be home with my family than take a chance on the roads as they are.

But to work I will go later today, when I can do it, and not before.

Anyway, I think the refrain of a popular song during the disco era pretty much reflects what we are going through in my neck of the woods this winter.

"More, more, more

How do you like it, how do you like it ... "

Remember the song? It was "More, More, More," one of the most remembered--and most notorious--songs of the disco era, by the Andrea True Connection.

Even if you hated disco like I did, you had to have heard or known of this song, if for nothing else than its connotation to the era that it came from.

True was born in Nashville as Andrea Marie Truden, and actually was a singer who had done a couple of commercials once she moved to New York.

But it is what she did to support herself during rough times that made this tune so notorious.

She had somehow glided into XXX-rated films, and was in a movie where this music was used during sex scenes. True had written the song.

The music had such a good beat that the Andrea True Connection recorded it on the Buddah Records label--yes, the same label that spawned the 1910 Fruitgum Co. and the Ohio Express--and the song went to No. 4 in 1976, the year of the country's Bicentennial.

The song was all over the radio, and True's fortunes changed from porn star to hitmaker.

The Andrea True Connection had several followups, including "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing," which reached No. 27 in 1977, but when disco waned, so did this act, and by 1978 or so, they were done.

She tried several musical comebacks, but could not return to her former popularity, although she did make lots of money off the royalties of that song, which was featured in numerous films, TV shows, and even commercials.

She lost the ability to sing due to illness, and died in 2011 at her home in Woodstock, New York.

But that song has "True-ly" outlived her, and you still hear it all the time.

When I look out my window, for whatever reason, that was the only thing I could think of.

But like the disco era, this onslaught we have been getting from Mother Nature will someday end, too.

When is the question, and I hope that it is really soon.

But for now, it really is ...

"More, more, more

How do you like it, how do you like it ... "

Rant #2,469: You Are What You Eat

Burger King's Impossible Whopper has been an incredible success.

The plant-based burger, which tastes more like a Whopper and a real hamburger than other such options in the marketplace, has forced the fast-food giants to reconsider not adding such fare to their menus, and everyone from McDonald's to Wendy's is scrambling to find their own non-meat success story.

Now, somebody who ate one of these non-meat Whoppers is suing Burger King and its parent company, stating that since the Impossible Whopper is cooked on the same grill as its real meat counterparts, it is tainted with meat, and thus, it is not truly vegan as it claims to be.

In a proposed class action, a patron bought an Impossible Whopper at an Atlanta drive-through, and paid a premium price for his meal--which he said he would not have done if he knew that his burger would be "coated by meat-by products."

From the beginning, Burger King has stated publicly that this is how the Impossible Burger would be cooked, right next to real meat products, so personally, I don't see where the patron really has a case.

However, I think where Burger King has erred is that it has not publicly told patrons that if they want their Impossible Burger truly vegan, it can be microwaved away from the real meat products. It can be done by request, and I don't think Burger King has made this plain to the public.

Look, you don't go to Burger King for a healthy meal to begin with, but the Impossible Burger has expanded its menu, and made the option attractive to those who are trying to stay away from red meat or who are truly vegan.

But should Burger King change its entire kitchen and way of doing things to produce a truly, 100-percent vegan dish? That would cost millions of dollars to do throughout the chain, and again, they do offer the microwave option, although some serious vegans would also question that process, because I am sure that real meat products are zapped too.

And even in its advertising, Burger King lists the Impossible Whopper as "a meat-free option," not as a truly vegan option, so it is not false advertising to say the burger is "meat-free," because it is just that. Burger King never claimed it was "vegan-friendly."

Yes, splitting hairs, but there is a difference, in particular to strict vegans and vegetarians.

In fact, Impossible Foods, the company that designed this burger specifically for Burger King, claims that the burger "was designed for meat eaters who want to consume less animal protein," and not for vegans or vegetarians.

So once again, personally, I don't think the case has any merit whatsoever, but where I do find fault with Burger King is that they have not promoted that the burger can be cooked off the grill if requested. That should be made plain to all restaurant patrons, and honestly, I did not know about this option until recently.

But whatever the case, the Impossible Whopper is an unqualified success, perfect for a person like me, who continues to consume red meat but who is trying to cut down on doing so. It wasn't designed for strictly vegan people, so there really shouldn't be such a fuss, but in this world, where people look to get upset at everything, you just knew that somewhere down the line, somebody would get upset at this unique option for a fast food restaurant to offer.

Maybe one day, a fast food place will come up with a truly 100 percent vegan meal for their patrons, but as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Give it time, and as people continue to reject or at least cut down on their red meat consumption, restaurants will respond.

And now that "the word" is out that Burger King's Impossible Whopper is not 100 percent vegan-friendly as some thought it was--but it was never advertised as--the other fast foods will do it one better, and strive to design a meal that will 100 percent please vegans, vegetarians and others who really want to stay away red meat in any way, shape or form.

The challenge to do that is now officially on.

Classic Rant #1,137 (February 4, 2014): "The Pain ... The Pain"

Remember the TV show "Lost in Space?" Wasn't that something Dr. Smith used to say to the robot?

Well, I am saying that to you now.

I thought that the end of January would be the end of my and my family's personal pain, but February has started off where January left off.

My wife worked this entire weekend--which is a pain in itself--so I figured I would be in for an extremely dull weekend, a do-nothing weekend after a real rough week.

Well, that did not happen.

After doing the food shopping in the morning, I was putting away the groceries and my son came into me and said that he had no Internet.

This has happened before, so I figured I would finish putting away the groceries and take a look at the matter.

I did, he did, in fact, have no Internet, and then I checked the very computer that I am typing this Rant on, our lone desktop computer.

Well, it did not have Internet either.

I called our provider, and as I was attempting to call, I noticed that we did not have a dial tone on the phone.

Since we have a "triple play" with our provider, I checked the TV, and lo and behold, we had no TV either.

I used my cell phone, called the provider, and for the first time, I got someone on the other line that I suspect was from India.

I have no problems with those from India, but he had such a heavy accent that I wished my provider wouldn't contract out such services (that is another story for another time).

He had me do a couple of things to try to restore what we had, but to no avail.

And yes, a few times, I had to stop him and tell him that I could not understand him because of his accent.

Anyway, he said that they would have to send a repairman over on Monday. I told him that that was not good enough, I wanted someone sent over today, which was Saturday. I hemmed and hawed, told him that it was Super Bowl weekend and that I wanted to watch the game (hah!), and yes, they did schedule someone to come over.

A few hours later, the technician came to the house, checked a couple of things, and put in a new battery, which he said was the culprit.

Everything worked fine, until the end of the Knicks game that I watched that evening. They lost, and as the game was winding down against the Miami Heat, we lost, too, this time everything again.

I immediately called our provider, and they said that since it was so late at night--after 11 p.m.--they could not guarantee that they could get someone over on Sunday.

I used the old Super Bowl ruse again, but it did not work this time.

They told me to call back on Sunday, and they would see what they could do.

I did just that, used the Super Bowl ruse again, and a technician was scheduled to come to my house to look at the problem on Sunday.

And he did just that.

He said that not only did the battery have to be replaced, but our entire box had to be replaced, the one that the battery sits inside of. He replaced it, bid us farewell, and since then, we have been fine with everything.

Why the first technician did not see this is anyone's guess.

So it was a completely wasted weekend.

My wife came home from work on Sunday, we watched a movie--sorry about the Super Bowl ruse--and we went to sleep.

We woke up the next day, and we had our latest blizzard outside.

The problem was that as I said last week, I had to take the day off to attend to some business yesterday, and we had to go out east to mid-Suffolk County to do so, a good 40 mile trip.

We took my wife's Jeep and somehow made it through without incident. Everything was taken care of, and when we returned, we waited awhile, and then shoveled up everything.

Now the reports are that our latest blizzard is supposed to come tomorrow, followed by another one on the weekend.

Thank goodness February is a short month, but it has not started out very well.

I still don't have a handle to my car door, and who knows when the car place will have that and when they will be able to fix my car. They gave me no assurances on that one, either.

What will happen next? I simply don't know, but I am asking the heavens, please, I have suffered enough, how about some smooth sailing for at least a little while?

I know that is a lot to ask, but really, I have had enough.

Back to work today, back to school for my son, let's start everything over like the other stuff never happened.

It might be a dream, but it is a dream that I can really get into now.

Rant #2,468: Water Fall

This past weekend had a very rough beginning for myself and my family, but it apparently has worked itself out OK.

Briefly, my father took a fall out of bed on Friday night, and he could not get himself up off the floor. He fell in such a way that he put a major gash in his ear.

911 was called, and he was rushed to the hospital, and then to another hospital, but right now, all appears to be fine with him. He did need 12 stitches in his ear, but otherwise, he is OK.

Although the second hospital did not know what caused this to happen, clues which I won't get into now point to his not being hydrated enough, and it affected his entire body from top to bottom. Once he became hydrated, he was pretty much his old self.

He will be 88 in just a few days, and happily, he is home and appears to be OK, but it did give us quite a scare from Friday night and into Saturday morning.

The problem is my father absolutely hates to drink water. He prefers soda--me too--but he was not hydrated when this all happened, as he went from breakfast to dinner hardly ingesting anything, whether solid or liquid.

He has been given the option of drinking seltzer, which he likes, but he complains that it is "not the real seltzer," and while he is right--the real seltzer that he enjoys comes out of those pressurized bottles of yore--the current seltzer is going to have to do.

I hate to drink water too--I so much prefer soda, and for that matter, I have always been a very large milk drinker, too--but due to trial and error, I have found that I, too, need to have water in my system each and every day. So, for the past several years, I have had water and seltzer each day to satisfy that need, and since I am home now for the foreseeable future, I go with seltzer, because I simply like it better. I only have soda with lunch and dinner, and then I am back to seltzer.

And of course with breakfast, I continue to drink milk no matter what I am having for the first meal of the day.

I remember that as a child, my doctor told my mother that since I was such a huge milk drinker, that even if I was an active kid--which I was--I would probably never break a bone in my body, because of drinking so much milk--it made my bones so much stronger.

And the doctor proved to be prophetic, as in my 62 years of business, I have never broken a bone, even when I was active sportswise. This includes episodes where I got hit in the mouth with a ball, slid into a heavy-set catcher head first (I was probably mildly concussed, but that is another story for another time), and various other situations where somehow, I never experienced any breaks.

But back to water ... people carry around water bottles today like babies carry around bottles of formula. There is no shame in having a bottle of water--or seltzer--wherever you go, and it is almost fashionable to do so.

We have tried to convince my father that this is so, but even if the water or seltzer bottle is in front of him, he avoids drinking its contents. He has to be told to drink it, which is not a good situation.

I personally believe that this all stems from the fact that when he was first diagnosed with an ulcer more than 50 years ago, the regimen for combatting it at that time was to drink water, and only water, which he did for many years until the regimen changed, and someone with an ulcer would literally be tasked to try different things to see if they could handle them.

That is how my father got into soda, because he was so thoroughly sick of drinking water that he craved an alternative, and it was Diet Pepsi, no caffeine, which he can drink more than any other person I have ever seen.

Even in my days of heavy soda drinking, he could drink me under the table in comparison.

So now, he is back to water drinking--with occasional soda drinking--and he hates it.

But at nearly 88 years of age, he needs to understand that his body needs water--or seltzer--more than ever, and he must drink as much as he can to stay healthy.

He has to learn to at least put up with drinking water--or seltzer--and let me tell you, it is a real hard sell.

Classic Rant #1,136 (February 3, 2014): Bust ... err ... Best of Ranting and Raving

Here is a Rant from 2010, Rant #331, September 13, 2010. 
And don't forget the update at the end!

"... Sheyla Hershey lives!

Who the heck is Sheyla Hershey?

She was trying to achieve fame for having the largest breasts in the world through implants. Her quest ended last week, when she underwent surgery to have her M cup implants removed due to sickness caused by the implants.

She wanted to become so huge that she actually traveled overseas to Brazil to have the surgery done. Implants as large as hers are illegal in the U.S. In fact, to achieve this size, she actually had two implants in each breast!

So Hershey--supposedly an actress of some renown on Spanish TV-- traveled back to her country of birth to have the operation, but after it was performed, Hershey became seriously ill and has since been closely monitored by a cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Ron Bucek, and an infectious disease expert, Dr. Shazia Gill, in Texas.

Before the most recent surgery to remove the implants, Bucek performed two other operations to help drain the infected areas, and a special vacuum had been suctioning the infection from Hershey’s body 24 hours a day for months.

She was quoted as saying, "I decided to go smaller--a lot smaller. I just want a normal size like a normal housewife has. I know it's going to be a lot of pain on me because I love to have them, but I realize that my family comes first and I love my daughter and son and they come first. Even though I love to have huge breasts ... I'm going to try to live without it. Hopefully I will be done then and be happy and just running around with my kids!"

How wonderful, how gallant, how brave this woman is!

There are photos of her on the Internet. She is not an ugly woman by any stretch of the imagination. I am sure she had a nice figure before disfiguring herself.

But why do this, and do this to such astronomical proportions?

Look at the photos. The woman looked like a freak of nature.

Why did she feel she had to do this? To please someone else, to please herself?

I just don't get it. I don't understand why women do this to themselves.

And speaking as a male of the species, there is nothing more beautiful than natural breasts--no matter what the size. And nothing phonier than fake ones.

So why do women do this to themselves?

I have no idea. But if this woman isn't one of the most absolutely stupid people I have ever heard about, I don't know who is.

She risked her life to have enormous breasts that look phonier than a $3 bill. And she risked the well-being of her kids, who by all accounts, are fatherless, or at least don't have a father in their lives--and nearly didn't have a mother, either.

All for huge breasts!

This woman is mentally ill. I don't know what she spent on these implants, but first, shame on the doctors who performed these surgeries, and second, I hope she has money left over to spend for psychiatric counseling.

She definitely needs it."


Follow-up:

According to Wikipedia: "On February 16, 2011, it was reported that Hershey was in a coma after taking a lethal dose of prescription pills the day before, in reportedly her second alleged suicide attempt in a two-month period, just days before a scheduled breast surgery to re-enhance her bustline back to size 38KKK. After Hershey recovered from the coma, in an interview with British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Hershey is stated as having said that she was allegedly distraught over feeling "so ugly" without her world record implants, but was still considering having a breast re-enhancement surgery done on her by plastic surgeons in Mexico. On February 20, 2011, it was reported by Hershey on her official website that not only were the reports and rumors false, but that she also had a bad reaction to the medication that she had been taking, and that she was fine at home recuperating from treatment for the reaction to the medication.

"In September 2011, Hershey had another breast surgery to reconstruct her breasts, also adding 2500 cc of saline implants, gradually filling them to 4300 cc by November 2011, and increased again with additional injections to 5500 cc in 2012, for a goal size she described as 38MMM. In addition, early 2012 rumors have it that she still wanted to increase her breast size to an even larger size."

Rant #2,467: Bits and Pieces

Yes, today we return to the land of Bits and Pieces, where we cover stories that maybe do not demand full Rant coverage, but that certainly needs at least some mention in this hallowed blog.

So let's dive right into it. Here goes:

Survivor TV Show Tackles Sexual Impropriety: I don't know if you still watch "Survivor," the granddaddy of all the reality shows, but this week's episodes--they had two--dealt with a problem completely out of left field for the series, and it turned what had been the most blase and boring season in the show's history into something way beyond that description.

The whole ball of wax started with one of the older players, Dan, a talent agent from Los Angeles, perhaps being a little too cozy with some of the younger female contestants. He would spoon them when they slept, would put his arms around them during the day, would put his hands on their sides and their hair, and yes, he was kind of leechy and disgusting.

One of the younger contestants, Kellee, a student, took offense to these actions by Dan, and she supposedly rallied the other younger female contestants into complaining about Dan, who all had claimed had inappropriately touched them too. They even did it to his face, and he categorically denied doing so,

'Enter into the fracas the oldest female contestant, Janet, a lifeguard, who decided to take her younger counterparts' feelings to heart--rather than her own game play--basically saying that they were playing more than a game now, it was more of taking a stand against sexual harassment, whether on the TV show or in life.

(In an unprecedented move, the show's producers--including host Jeff Probst--took aside the cast and spoke openly about how they should treat each other on the show. In fact, Dan was taken aside and told that his behavior would not be tolerated if it continued.)

What then happened was what made the shows so interesting. With the exception of Kellee, all the women who had earlier claimed to have been inappropriately touched by Dan reneged on their beliefs, actually sided with Dan, and came down hard on both Kellee and Janet. In fact, Kellee was voted off the show in one of the biggest blindsides of all time--she had two immunity idols, and neglected to save herself with them.

Anyway, now that it was quite clear that the younger women would not be backing Janet--and simply used the charge of sexual harassment as part of their game play--Janet was put on the hot seat, apologizing for thinking that the charges were real and backing these women, who obviously spoke out of two sides of their mouths about what had happened.

Janet did not get voted off, nor did Dan--another contestant, who incredibly spoke eloquently about supposedly "male empowerment" and how the rules between men and women were changing, did get kicked off, adding to the surreal situation.

However, I think Janet learned a stern lesson about life that goes way beyond "Survivor": sexual harassment is real, but it is often in the eye of the beholder. And yes, the chance to win $1 million, or the chance to move on with your career, or the chance to move up the food chain in your chosen profession, often trumps what some would call "sexual impropriety" and others would call "playing by the rules of the game."

Sad, but true.

Disney+ Streaming Service Goes Politically Correct From the Get Go: Premiering this week, the Disney+ streaming service has already caused a firestorm of comments on both sides of the ledger for running disclaimers before some of its movie fare stating that viewers should know that a particular movie might contain various racial stereotypes that might have been acceptable when the film was made, but in the completely stressed-out 2019, are not acceptable.

The disclaimer reads, "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions."

Yes, and the newly branded "racist" movies include such classics as "Peter Pan" and "The Jungle Book."

This is utter PC nonsense run amuck. These supposed "racist" movies are all family fare, and I think most viewers--even the youngest viewers, who are too young to have any idea what the fuss is all about--could see that no harm was portrayed by any of these supposed racist films.

Even more recent movies--like "Toy Story"--have supposedly been scrubbed of any such possible connotations.

And while you are at it, why not outright ban or at least put disclaimers on "Gone With the Wind," "Casablanca," and heck, even "The Wizard of Oz," all of which have some themes in them which are overtly racist or make fun of certain members of our society.

This is utter nonsense by the ultra-PC Disney Corporation, and you just know that Walt Disney is spinning in his grave at the current situation.

Nobody says he was a perfect human being--reports are quite the contrary--but he made family fare for the respective time period that these works came out, and I don't think people need to be told about such things.

But that is the work of the PC Police, who certainly live to tell us what to think, what to say, and what to do.

And while we are at it, let's ban "Oliver Twist," let's ban "To Kill a Mockingbird," let's ban "Tom Sawyer."

Let's ban all books and movies that don't conform to the current intolerant climate, one in which the "good guys"--the police--are thought to be our enemies and the "bad guys"--felons--are thought to be the good guys.

And if you listen to popular music today, how can the PC Police try to govern our viewing habits but give a free pass to our listening habits, where certain music talks about vile and disgusting things, freely uses curse words, and uses the most vulgar of terms as if it meant nothing?

Gimme a break, Disney, give us all a break and let us enjoy something for once without having to bow down to utter nonsense.

My Current Job Situation:

That is all there is for today. Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.