That’s a Wrap, Jack!

Posted on April 15, 2016April 15, 2016 by Dusty Roads

That about sums up this trip to Las Vegas. Nothing too crazy but still fun and a nice break from reality. The rumor is that our next company convention in January will be in Vegas. I may just have to add a couple of days and stay at Polo Towers again. Maybe I’ll make it to Mandalay Bay and the Shark Tank!

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I think I forgot to mention that we did stop by the Bellagio so I could show Sandy the dancing fountains. I really think I got a better feel for Vegas this trip; traveled around more.

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So now what do I do and where do I go next?

My next scheduled time off is for a short trip in July to Maine but I think I need to find some things to share before then.

This weekend is supposed to be nice but my car is going in for “surgery”. Like me it needs a new “rear end”.

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They said to expect to have the car tied up all day but maybe I can squeeze in a short trip to the pond in Plymouth to see if there are any baby ducks or swans.

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Another project is to learn to shoot in “raw”. (That’s photography speak to anyone who isn’t into cameras.) Well, actually it’s not the photo taking that’s hard, it’s the editing. I’ll have to learn how to edit “raw” photos. That means new software etc. Kind of boring topic unless you’re a photography buff.

But I’m sure I can find something to babble mindlessly about until the next trip. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments. I love getting dialog going.

Cabinets Are In!

Posted on November 19, 2014November 19, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Day 3 and the cabinets are all installed! I picked such simple clean lines. I love them. I hope the plain doors will be easier to clean than my old ones. The cooking grease used to get into the ridges in the old doors and nothing I did would get it out.

They closed in the soffit above the upper cabinets. I didn’t realize that. I thought they were only going to remove the railing and cover the wall in back. OOPS. Oh well, this looks good too. I think I will need to stencil a design of some type on the blank soffit.

Tomorrow will be a day off for them. I have to go to our Foxboro office in the morning, dentist mid afternoon and the Somerville office at 5 pm so no way there’s any time for workmen.

Friday the counter tops go in! Yay! The stove has to be disconnected and pulled out for them to install the counters. I hope they turn it back on once the counters are in. I’d hate to go the whole weekend without a stove or oven!

To New York City Transit System: You Rock!

Posted on September 3, 2013September 3, 2013 by Dusty Roads

On Thursday Humane Actions trumped politics in NYC. Good for you MTA and boo /hiss for Joe Lhota.

NEW YORK (AP) — A former chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and New York City mayoral hopeful says he wouldn’t have stopped the subway because two lost kittens were scrambling along the tracks.

A spokesman for Joe Lhota (LOH’-tuh) tells the New York Post (http://bit.ly/1965AnP ) Friday the candidate doesn’t think shutting down subway service for lost cats is appropriate. But he said Lhota believes it wouldn’t be the mayor’s decision in any case.

On Thursday, the MTA cut power on two Brooklyn subway lines for more than an hour as the two pets scurried around the tracks. The furry felines were finally rescued about seven hours later.

Officials say kittens Arthur and August are being treated in a shelter.

Other mayoral hopefuls tell the paper they would’ve stopped the trains.

I don’t live in NYC or even NY State anymore but I applaud the actions of the MTA and Mr. Lhota would have just lost my vote. If cruelty to other humans, including wars and murders, are ever going to be overcome by the human race, we have to start with the kindness to the smallest and weakest. We have to respect all life.

Sorry, I don’t mean to get on my soap box but Mr. Lhota’s attitude is a symptom of a much bigger problem…that we have the right to disregard all other creatures in our quest to reign supreme.

I’m glad the MTA shut down for an hour and I hope Mr. Lhota loses his bid for election.

Labor Day

Posted on September 2, 2013September 2, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Here it is, Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, the last day to wear white, a day of parties and cook outs and barbeques.

I looked for something new to say about Labor Day but it’s all pretty much the same thing.

The first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade on September 5, 1882, in New York City, probably organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary.

By 1893, more than half the states were observing a “Labor Day” on one day or another, and a bill to establish a federal holiday was passed by Congress in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon afterward, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

We’ve all heard that many times. Whenever you google Labor Day that same history comes up. I wanted something new. I may have found it in the 2010 census. I know , a bit out of date but it was the most recent I could find. So here goes, a few facts you might not have known about Labor and/or Labor Day.

134 Million Americans work from home thanks to Skype and the High Speed Internet.
The average time to commute to work is 25.3 minutes.
76% drive alone to work.
9.7% carpool to work
4.9% take public transportation
155.2 million =Number of people age 16 or older in the nation’s labor force. As of 2012, 53% were men and 47% were women.