Where stroll they now?

I am sitting at my desktop in my little office in my apartment from which I have, for the past 7 1/2 years, been able to observe the sidewalk in front of the neighbor's house.  When I first started living here, I would daily see an elderly couple come walking every day up the sidewalk together holding hands.  It made me smile thinking how wonderful to still hold hands after so many years together.

A few years after that, I began only seeing the old man walking every day.  Today, I realize that I haven't seen him walking in ages.

I wonder what happened to them.

Graceful

So, I took my walk on the Saranac River Walk today.  This time I did the whole thing (what is finished of it so far, that is).  I walked from the entrance on George Angell Drive all the way to Pine Street.  Rather than double back the exact way I came, since by that time my right Achilles was starting to ache, I decided to walk up the rest of Pine to Battery to South Catherine and turn back toward the other end of Pine, across from Stelzer (where Stewart's is) and pick the path up again there in order to save myself a few extra steps. 

All was going wonderfully as I approached the corner of Stelzer to take a right on the path.  I didn't notice the raised flower bed butted up against the sidewalk that I was about to turn the corner of and I tripped over the bed.  The cycle of the traffic light was just at the point where the traffic north and southbound had just come to a stop and the east and westbound had not yet started going.  My iPod went flying and the earplugs got yanked out of my ears as it did.  Luckily I caught myself with my right foot, the same one I had just stubbed on the raised bed.  I had a full audience at the traffic light.  All I could do was burst out laughing, knowing that everyone at the light had just seen the whole graceful spectacle that was me.  Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. :)

Always a comedian in every crowd

The day after my 25th anniversary of doing the job I do, my lieutenant was charged with presenting me with my 25-year certificate (not visible because of being behind a cover letter in the holder) and pin (which isn't in the picture at all). But feeling there should be more pomp and circumstance to the event, we thought it was best to have the "Superintendent" do the honors.



We had a great laugh while arranging the "ceremony", but an even bigger one when we got a good look at the picture, that is, the placement of the "Super's" hand and the expression on my face.

I laughed until I had tears coming down my face!

Goodbye, Whitney.

It is so very sad that such a brillant talent as Whitney Houston is now gone from us. It is even sadder to see what brought her to this point. Here was a woman with the voice of an angel, who seemed to have the world at her feet. That is, until she could not give herself what see needed most of all, that "greatest love" she had sung about. To me, it was the most memorable song of hers and so sadly contradictory to her life. It had a beautiful message, yet one she felt incapable of living by. Goodbye, Ms. Houston.

I'll be your victim

Recently, Chantelle introduced me to the series White Collar. I think I have died and gone to crime-fighting heaven! Matt Bomer (oops that n is right next to the m, hahaha! I'd like to slip him the n!) is such SERIOUS eye-candy! He has a bad boy/good boy duality to his character that is irresistible! He can perpetrate a "crime" against me anytime he wants. And then, solve it! HAHAHA!

I would never have seen this series if Chantelle hadn't shown me it. I love it because there is an underlying head-game going on beneath the surface all the time. So, it keeps you guessing. The two main characters, Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay) are constantly trying to out-do each other with their cunning, but usually one knows what the other is up to. They are like the same person in two different bodies. There is nothing more sexy than an intelligent man, except maybe two of them trying to outsmart one another.

Anyway, ladies, it is worth a view, if only for the drool session it elicits. Bomer is one hot number if you love dark-haired, bright, creative men with striking eyes. Oh, and the dimple on the chin is like the proverbial cherry on top! ;)

For your viewing pleasure I would have liked to post a video of the show from youtube, but they have all been removed for copyright protection. You can view the series on Netflix though.

Contain the Enthusiasm, Please!

Practically every Super Bowl Sunday I have to work. Sunday is a regular workday for me. So, unless I take some sort of leave, I am a captive audience for the Super Bowl testosterone that inundates the station.

I find it rather amusing how when the game is on the complaints drop down to next to nothing (most of the time...last night it didn't have it's full effect on our clientele). Interesting how you keep the male part of the population occupied with something as mundane as a sports event and half the world's problems seem not to exist. That does not say much for the male gender, now does it? The only other thing that keeps them that occupied is sex. You kind of have to feel rather sorry for them; some of them such simple creatures.

In order to endure the onslaught of the male hormone to my system on game day this year, I decided to bring in snacks to ease the pain. A rye bread bowl with spinach dip for the whooping and hollering, chipotle garlic dip and pretzels for the high-fiving and, the ultimate sedative, guacamole with tortilla chips to mitigate the overall racket.

Here is my game day face. Note the above "medications" in the background.




Phew, made it through another year. You would think that working around so many men would help me build up my tolerance for it. (Actually, I don't really mind it. My father and eight brothers were antibody enough for all of it!)

Oh wait...

and then there is the revelling! Gimme a beer! This is Bubba...

Looking ahead

So, my friend, Margarita, and I began studying for the Federal Court Interpreters Certification Exam (FCICE) a few weeks back. It takes a minimum of 2 years to certifiy since the written exam is only offered in even years and the oral part of the exam is only offered every odd year. I doubt I will be read to take the written exam (which I think is in June) this year. Therefore, I will have to be in this for the long haul if I am serious about it. It would be useful for taking statements from defendants and depositions from witnesses, to some extent. Although, our interaction with the latino portion of the north country population is not all that frequent. Maybe there is more legal interaction in other settings (like family court or through social services). Regardless, both Marga and I find it very interesting and fun (in a geeky grammarian way...lol).

However, the little experience I have so far in pursuing this has made me feel totally inadequate linguistically speaking. Wow! Whenever you THINK you know a little something, you find out just how LITTLE that something is when doing something like this. I have immediately recognized some severe weaknesses in my Spanish language "skills". The verbs and vocabulary will be relatively easy to acquire, emphasis on RELATIVELY, in comparison the language nuances. I know that to help with that I am just going to have to start reading all that I can in Spanish. I have been SO linguistically lazy since I dropped out of my Master's program. (It still pains me to think of that, despite the fact that I believe that all things happen for a reason.)

When I try to see the big picture with this venture, I get discouraged. So, it will be best for me to focus on the parts that make up the whole and the whole will eventually be taken care of. Anyway, I find the parts fun. Yes, I confess I love grammar. My friends think I am a weirdo, but they ALWAYS come to me when they want to know how to spell something or to ask if something is grammatically correct. Well, when it comes to my English speaking friends. I take pride in being able to articulate myself well. There is an audio motivational program called Lead the Field in which Earl Nightingale says that the better one articulates oneself the more likely the listener will feel that person is knowledgeable. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but I feel there is some truth in what he says because he also goes on to say that that projected sense of knowledge has the ability to also elicit a sense of respect from the listener. It is difficult to perceive someone is credible when he/she cannot express him/herself competently.

In my opinion, the concept of the "economy of words" goes very well. It is worthwhile to mention two quotes of Thomas Jeffereson here.

"No style of writing is so delightful as that which is all pith, which never omits a necessary word, nor uses an unnecessary one."

"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."

Essentially, both quotes discuss the same subject: the economy of words. I find it amusing how the second of the two actually puts into practice this economy. I don't if chronologically these quotes were uttered by Jefferson in the order in which I have them. If so, it would be perfect example of putting that economy into practice because he had said virtually the same thing with using fewer words.

I find when I speak and when I write that I have tendency toward such an economy of words myself. I have often wondered why that is. I think it may have something to do with my perception of words as pieces to a puzzle and that the puzzle has a limited number of pieces with which it is constructed. None should be missing, none should be left over. There should be just enough of them. That is not to say that there is only one way to say or write something. It simply means that in order for words to fit well together, they have to be profuse and redundant.

So I think that language acquisition has had its appeal to me for the same reason. It is like a puzzle to try to figure out how to say what you want to say in one language and translate it into another, capturing structure, meaning and nuance and therefore completeing a mini puzzle.

I may never get to interpreter status, but having a study partner for this is going to prove to be so invaluable. It gives me the spark I had in me years ago that, through personal difficulties, had grown dim. So, I am looking forward to whatever I learn even if it isn't used for court interpretation. If I do manage to acquire such a high level of skill, it would be a good "retirement job" to work per diem in the court system (I would especially find criminal cases interesting). It will feed both my love of language and my love of a good detective story!