Thoughts Day by Day

When I arrived at work this morning there was an e-mail from 'M' to all 20 members of my department.  Our boss, a company VP, is going on a cruise to Bermuda on Sunday and 'M' says she thinks it is a good idea for everyone to kick in $20 each so we could buy an NCL gift certificate for the boss to use on his cruise ship.  WHAT???  The boss makes twice as much as I do!  Why should I subsidize his vacation trip?? I decided to ignore the e-mail.  I was not going to contribute.  Besides, solicitations for money in the office for every conceivable reason have gotten out of hand.  I know I have developed a reputation as a cheapskate because I pass on these collection envelopes without giving money.  But I am not the only one who feels that way.  My co-worker 'G' was also infuriated by the e-mail.  I told her I was going to ignore it.  She decided to do the same. End of story?  Of course not.  Around noon I received a second ...

I was an avid theater goer until I moved out east to Suffolk County. Then I stopped because the journey into Manhattan is a long one from Ronkonkoma station. But after years of missing live theater I made a promise to myself to make the effort to venture into the City at least 6 times every year to see a play or musical.  The train ride takes at least 90 minutes.  But I have kept this promise.  This past season (which I measure from Tony Awards to Tony Awards) I saw Perfect Crime , Disgraced , The Boy from Oz , The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time , Aladdin , Don't Dress for Dinner , I Love You You're Perfect Now Change , The Audience , Hand to God and Something Rotten! .  I still have one more play to see this season ( Oliver! )  Four of those productions were at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson.  They provide quality productions and I am grateful they are so local.  One play was off-Broadway. I disliked Perfect Crime .  It was a big...

I have lived in my house for 27 years.  Prior to that an elderly couple lived her for about 25 years. Here in the Town of Brookhaven we have cesspools, no sewer systems.  Cesspools have to be cleaned out periodically and sometimes even replaced at a cost of thousands of dollars. To my knowledge my cesspool has never been serviced in 52 years. The issue of installing sewer systems by the township has been discussed all the years I have lived out here - but it never gets anywhere.  Each homeowner would have to pay around $5000-6000 to hook their homes up to the sewer system - if the town ever builds one - and then pay an annual tax for sewer service.  To my thinking it would be worth the investment.  But the majority of Brookhaven homeowners disagree.  Consequently we will never see sewers here in Crookhaven. Last year I noticed my washing machine, located in my basement, was not draining properly.  Water remained in the machine well.  So I called...