Friday, December 18th, 2009
Did you see this “study?” (that’s right, click the word “study”)
As you can see, people from Connecticut are the second least happy in the nation, only to be followed by people from New York (gee thanks New York). I knew there was a reason why I yell all the time. Finally, I can say that it’s not my fault. My mother used to ask me why I was mad so much. Back then, I really didn’t have any good reason. Now, I just usually say that the human race has let me down. In actuality, it’s the unhappiness of all the people who surround me. I guess they are rubbing off on me, because it’s certainly not my fault. Wait, perhaps it’s the other way around…hmmm.
I’m not sure I really buy into this study. There is really no rhyme nor reason the states fall where they fall. Here, take a look at the full list of states. It just doesn’t make any sense. How can you have Vermont two spots away from Texas. There are no similarities between those two states. The rest of the list is just as bad.
Here is a message to the author of this study: Who are you to tell me I am unhappy? Do I sound unhappy? Why don’t you come over here and tell me I am unhappy to my face. Then we’ll talk about how unhappy I am. That’s right, you $%^&.
Just kidding.
I will tell you this – There is one thing that makes me unhappy. It’s when people who drive minivans tailgate me. We seem to have a little problem with that over here.
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Saturday, January 31st, 2009
This was something I was totally unaware of, so I am guessing many of you are unaware of it too.
After the tennis clinic this morning, I stopped by Whole Foods to grab some sushi. I also got some ice cream and whipped cream. I have been jonesing for a warm brownie sunday. I mean, I really want one. I explained this to Laura in great detail last night. Ruby Tuesday makes the best one I have ever had, but I am not at Ruby Tuesday, so I have to handle this myself.
I got what I needed and was ready to go to the checkout counter, when I realized that I was a little thirsty. I usually just drink water because buying drinks is a huge rip-off, but I figured that since the sushi was going to cost so much anyway, what’s wrong with treating myself to a little juice? I walked over to the juice area and lifted my hand to pick up a small “Pom” pomegranate bottle. My hand got about half way to the product, when I noticed that the little bottle cost $3.89. What??? That was out of the question. Then, I saw another store brand pomegranate drink and actually picked this one up. It was only $2.99, but still a very small bottle. I decided to put that back down when I saw a 2 quart bottle of black currant juice for lest than $3. That was more along the lines of what I was looking for. I basically bought it because the label said that black currant is high in anti-oxidants.
Currant Affair - Black currant juice
After I left the car and started driving, I cracked that bottle open and gave my new juice a taste. It tasted different, but pretty good. I continued drinking for the rest of the ride.
When I got back to the house, I decided to do a little research on the health benefits of the black currant. As it turns out, the black currant is a pretty healthy food to eat.
Now, let me be clear – the black currant is very healthy, but the drink that I got has a lot of sugar in it. I’m sure if I spent a heck of a lot more money, I could have gotten a more “pure” juice. For my purposes, this did the job.
You can read up of the blackcurrant over here and check out the health benefits here, but let me just tell you that it has an extraordinarily high vitamin C content, good levels of potassium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin B5, and a broad range of other essential nutrients (I got that from Wikipedia). It treats diseases, ailments and aches. From what I read on Wikipedia, it’s pretty neat.
I really wish you would read about it. There is a long story about how the black currant was banned from being grown in the U.S. because of the threat it was to the logging industry. It’s pretty interesting reading. Who knew that a fruit was banned from being grown over here? Now that it’s back and grown in New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Oregon, it’s getting some traction again, but still remains fairly unknown.
Well, there you have it. A new food that is really good for you. Next time you are in that expensive juice aisle, you might want to check out the black currant.
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Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
As you may already know, my personality type parallels that of the great adventurists of the world…Richard Branson, the Wright brothers, Ranulph Fiennes, etc… Yes, that’s right, my story will most likely have its own Wikipedia page someday. I don’t see how it couldn’t. With all the exciting tales I endure throughout my days (usually within an acre of land), I am sure I will go down in history as one of the greats.
Okay, let’s come back to reality. I’m just a guy who likes to write from time to time.
I had a grand thought the other day. I was walking and thinking about how I hate Winter. I don’t really have a problem with Spring, Summer and Autumn, but Winter is hard for me.
One problem I have with Winter is with the lack of daylight. That bugs me. Last week, I had to rush back from playing tennis so we could go for a walk up the road before it got dark outside. It was only 3:15 in the afternoon. That’s annoying. I always hated the dark. Not because I am scared of it (which I’m not), but because people go inside and hide when it gets dark. It’s like the show is over and everyone goes home. That’s depressing. Also, the dark stops me from fiddling around outside. It forces me to go in and wind down for the next 7 hours before I go to sleep. I have always hated going to sleep. Who ever thought that I would be as old as I am and still fight about going to sleep.
Another problem I have with Winter is the cold. Things don’t grow in the cold. I can’t go to the store and dream about what I am going to plant next when it’s cold. I have no visions in my mind. It gets a little boring. Also, as you may have noticed, there are fewer pictures to take because I am doing less and things don’t change that much. I am sure I can take pictures of a dying lawn, but I am sure you would get sick of that.
I remember when I used to live back in my home town in the house I grew up in. We lived on a great road that had a nice amount of walkers that would use it for…well, walking. I like to chat it up with people, so I would spend a lot of time sitting at the end of my sidewalk, waiting for people to walk by. Since this would happen from May through October, I accomplished a fair amount socializing. I’m not sure if the walkers appreciated it, but I sure did.
I always remember the times when I would go out to the road, look up and down, and realize the season was over. There was no one walking and there would be no more walkers until the next season. That thought would always be felt in my stomach.
One more depressing short story and then I will get to the point, I promise.
As some of my readers will agree, the lake in my home town was the bomb-diggity when we were growing up. I have no idea if people still use the lake for swimming today, but when I was a kid, it sure was the place to be. From June 27 through September 3, I would pretty much somehow end up at that lake to swim…every day. My friends and I walked, rode skateboards, rode bicycles…whatever, to get down there and hang out.
I usually had the best times right in the middle of July. Everyone in the area had somewhat committed to the fact that the beach was where it’s at. I remember my friend Brian’s mom showing up in her station wagon full of people, Russell’s mom showing up in her maroon Pontiac and some people even walking. You know, those lucky people who lived close by.
We would all do our thing and swim all day. I remember swimming back from the raft one day and standing up in the shallow water. My lungs were starting to hurt because I was so water logged. I recall looking up past the sand at the big tree that stood near the clubhouse and watching the wind blow the leaves. Everything was kind of hazy because my eyes were so used to being open under the water. This is the era of zinc oxide sunscreen and turtle hunting (we would let them go). This was also the era of Ocean Pacific t-shirts and wondering what the people over at the town beach were doing. Man, I would probably be happy if I could just live those days over and over again for the rest of my life. It really didn’t get any better than that. But, things just refuse to stay the same.
One day, late in the season, I decided to go down to the beach. I knew there wouldn’t be many people there because the sky was a bit cloudy, but I gave it a shot anyway. When I arrived, the place was empty. I was completely alone. I decided to walk past the fence and take a stroll to the end of the dock. I thought I would just hang out until someone showed up. All I really needed was for a few people to come by and we would get something going. Well, no one ever came.
I decided to take my shoes off and hang my feet in the water. I untied my sneakers and finally got my socks off. I walked over to sit at the edge of the dock, but when I looked at the water, I was horrified at what I saw. Little specks of “lake” were floating around beneath me. It was turning. That was the sure sign that the season was over. Once the lake turned, it was time to go home to return only when it was warm again the next year. For anyone who remembers those days, you’ll also remember that school was about to start soon as well. That always gave me a sick feeling.
At that time in my life, I was too young to realize that Winter was just a short hop, skip and a jump away. Now, I understand that the time between the end of the Summer and the beginning of Winter is short…very short. Time seems to really fly by these days.
These are just a few of the memories that have moulded me into the person I am today. I have a strong sense of my past and I truly miss things. I guess when it comes to weather, I prefer to play. I really, really like to play. Laura always looks at me like I am crazy for the words that come out of my mouth, but when I think back and daydream about all my best friends and me riding our bikes as fast as we could down the Road to get some pizza at the corner, I get a little sad.
Maybe that’s why I never liked the idea of high school reunions. Seeing everyone so different would probably break my heart. It’s a reminder of how much we’ve changed. Worst of all, it’s a reminder that much of my past is never going to happen again.
Okay, time to get back on track. I just love it when I look up after a half-hour and realize I wrote absolutely nothing I had planned on.
Back to what I was thinking during my walk the other day. I decided it was time to come up with a plan that would take me away from the Winter blues I experience every year. I had to think of what types of activities I like to do during the Winter. Well, writing on this blog certainly is one of them, but unfortunately, that doesn’t get me out of the house. Playing indoor tennis is most definitely going to help, but what else have I enjoyed in my past that I really got a kick out of? Ahhh, snowboarding.
Back when I was living in Binghamton, my friend and I decided to buy snowboards and all the equipment that came with them. We bought the boards, bindings and boots. I also got all the apparel that made my days on the mountainside comfortable. I always said that if I stayed warm while riding on a snowmobile at midnight in mid January, that was good enough to stay warm while snowboarding. Luckily, I still have everything I started with.
When I first started snowboarding back in 1997, I was hooked. You couldn’t stop me. Since I was in college, I was flat broke, but somehow I always had money for a lift ticket. That first year, I went to Catamount, Hunter (about 10 times), Scotch Valley, Jiminy Peak, Greek Peak and some others I am sure I am forgetting. I remember that I would be able to snowboard for 9 hours straight. The next season, we went to all those mountains again as well as a few others, like Stratton, up in Vermont. It was awesome.
Rob and me at Stratton Mountain in Vermont
After I graduated college and moved to Atlanta, there was no more snowboarding for a few years. I guess my body lost its snowboard-ism, because the next time I went snowboarding up at Bristol Mountain, near the finger lakes of New york, I went with an 18 year old kid. He was on fire and I only made it down the mountain twice. I felt like a smoker of 40 years. It’s amazing how fast the body can fall apart.
I called a few friends over the past couple of days. One of them is a skier who is willing to learn how to snowboard. The other is Rob. Rob told me that he will hit the mountain with me. I am sure that it won’t be too often, so it shouldn’t conflict with his busy schedule.
I think this will make for a more exciting Winter. At the very least, it will make some some really neat pictures of various mountain tops and ski trails. I bet you can’t wait for that.
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Friday, November 23rd, 2007
Along the same lines as the post right before this one (and an earlier post), this is a video of the wooden covered bridge located in Woodstock, VT.
I was standing on the bridge with Laura and I decided to take a short video. It’s not the greatest, but it does give you a good picture of how nice it is up there. Nice and quiet, that is.
Here, take a look…
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Friday, November 23rd, 2007
I wrote a post a while back about Laura and me visiting the Silas Griffith Inn, in Danby, VT. The Silas Griffith Inn is a very nice bed and breakfast in the most peaceful place you could ever ask for. I took a bunch of pictures, which I included in the old post, but I also took some video.
Before Laura was ready to go outside, I snuck out and took a walk up the field behind the inn. At the top of the hill and over the other side, there is some sort of a quarry. I thought it would be pretty neat to share it with you.
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Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Ahhh…my first audio book. I don’t know how Laura finds these things, but she does.
I like to think of her sitting at her computer, very studiously analyzing and contemplating my psyche. “Who is Jay?” she would ask herself. “What makes this guy tick?” In actuality, she probably sees what is popular that day on Amazon, but we try not to think about that.
I can’t get over the clarity of the new stereo I installed in my car today. Just a moment ago, I walked outside, across the driveway to it. I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The radio came on so I could hear 95.5 WPLJ, down in the city. I changed the channel to 100.3 Z100. It’s remarkable how clear the radio receives the signal. My old one never did that.
I opened the package of the audio book, “Wandering Home – A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont’s Champlain Valley and New York’s Adirondacks,” by Bill McKibben. I really didn’t know what to expect. My mother has been raving about audiobooks ever since she lived back in my home town. I think they helped make her drive everyday to work in Danbury a little bit easier. She used to say, “My car can steer itself on the trip to work. That’s how used to it I am.” I think she really believed that at times. Well, when she told the story, she sounded very convincing.
I pushed the CD in the brand new slot. Everything is so shiny. The radio stopped and the CD started. A very faint, but clean guitar sound started. It got louder, and then a very soothing voice, that introduced himself as the author, Bill McKibben, began to speak. I though, “Ooh, this is going to be good. I listened for a few minutes and turned the key back, so the sound stopped. I didn’t want to ruin the first part of the story during a time when I wasn’t focusing on it. I turned the key forward, so the CD turned on again. Yup, it picked up right where it left off. This was going to work out fine.
So what’s the story about? Well, Bill’s website tells it like this…
“The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.”
That’s not all, you can read the rest here.
As you can see, I am quite excited about using my frontal lobe even more than I currently am. It is going to be nice to break out of the mold of NPR and bad local radio. Yeah, it’s going to be nice.
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Thursday, October 5th, 2006
One of the benefits of my daytime employment is perks. I earned a trip to Vermont, which I took with Laura. We stayed at the Silas Griffith Inn, in Danby VT. We stayed for 2 nights, which is not my style. On vacations, I usually show up and go home. People laugh about that…so this was a long trip for me. Lately, I have been learning that it usually takes about 3 days for me to unwind, so I have been trying to extend my trips. I worry that if I unwind too much, I might not want to come home.
We drove North in the dark of night into Vermont and made our way through Bennington. We continued on Rt.7 when we noticed fewer and fewer lights. It’s like we were heading into absolute nothing. We saw signs for Danby coming up in only a few miles and began to worry. There was nothing out here…how can there be a bed and breakfast? We finally got into Danby and it was pretty much a little one road town. Up on the hill to our left was the Silas Griffith Inn. We went in to meet the most personable people. After chatting for a while, we headed into Rutland for some sushi. We had a good dinner and headed back to the inn. Luckily, we had the pick of the inn because there was only one couple there. We had the biggest room in the house…Silas’ room. The next morning, we were delighted to see the most perfect weather we could’ve asked for. It was about 40 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
The inn offered great places to sit and think…
I immediately began to unwind and forget about the world. Vermont has a unique characteristic about it…the silence. If you need to get away, Vermont is a great place to go. Stress slides off you. If you live in a very busy place like NYC or LA, this will take some getting used to, but give it a chance. We ate our breakfast and walked around the grounds a bit. I couldn’t remember the last time I walked through a field. It kind of made me think about what the heck I was turning into if I hadn’t walked through grass in years.
We really didn’t have any plans for the day but heard that Killington and Woodstock were nice places to go…so off we went.
We drove North through Rutland and made our way to Killington. We made a right into the area where people party for weeks at a time. Since it was early in the season, there weren’t too many people around. I saw a little road that went into an area with lots of Hemlocks and cabins. We pulled in that road and stopped for a few pictures at a small stream…
Then, we continued to head towards the mountains. There are a few there that make up “Killington.”
Since there was some snow on the summits of the mountains, there were some lifts open.
After taking a ride through the area and stopping in some lodges, we headed out towards Woodstock. I pictured some little town like all the rest. Main Street, etc… On the way towards Woodstock, we stopped at a Vermont mall. This was basically a barn type building with a cluster of small stores inside…a food store, art gallery, etc… We purchased some wine, syrup (of course) and some ROCK CANDY!!! When was the last time you had rock candy?
By the way, who takes better pictures than me? I didn’t think so…
We made our way into Woodstock and were pretty surprised. This town is extremely inviting and VERY clean. It is the epitome of the quintessential Vermont town. Notice how there are no ugly thick black wires hanging of the sidewalks and roads? Hmmm, there’s an idea. I have always wondered why every town doesn’t do that, but no, they have far too many excuses.
We walked around for quite a bit in the peace of Woodstock. There were people just strolling around, looking in windows. It reminded me so much of when I was a kid walking home from school on an Autumn day. I would get bored and sit on the side of the road or climb a tree. It sounds strange, but that was the pace of this place and it seemed like you could do those types of things. We popped in a few stores and went in a coffee house to get some coffee. Then, we made our way down a small trail to sit at the side of a river that ran through town.
There were a few unique items on the sidewalk meant for tourists like us…
One thing that really impressed us was the quality of the condition of the older homes in the area. Woodstock definitely has some money. I think the last time I looked, there were about 2 houses for sale in this market.
Lastly, as it started getting darker, we walked across the town’s covered bridge. Of course, it was in great shape. We hung out for a while looking at a field downstream. I was very temped to walk down there to take a nap. Man, this place was relaxing.
So, Woodstock Vermont makes its place to the top of our list for great towns in America to visit!
PS – Ya ever wonder what it would be like to live in Vermont? C’mon, we all have had that dream once or twice…or just to walk to your mailbox in the Autumn. It’s so simple…
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