Cool T-shirts and civil-i-tees

I've recently started a small on-line shop selling various t-shirt and gift items. Have a peek if you like. I'm focusing on a line of shirts Celebrating a series of quotes from George Washington based on an old book on rules of civility. I'll post more when I get a chance. Thanks for looking.

Is this rude?

Living in Nassau County we have the good fortune of being able to call up the sanitation department and schedule a "big pickup" of items larger than what you would put in your usual trash. This includes mattresses, dishwashers, carpeting, and more.

This morning my neighbors put out items for a big pickup. From what I could see it looked like a lot of old office equipment. Later on I noticed the neighborhood snoop had strolled down the block to take a good look at this trash up close and personal. She stood there for a good five minutes staring at these peoples trash. She then started walking home but turned around to stare a little longer.

I suppose there are many worse things a neighbor can do, but really, is this kind of scrutiny necessary? This snoop is known to ask way too many personal question and accost workers who are working at her neighbors houses. She also likes to tell anybody who will listen, exactly how much her neighbors are paying for private school and other fees.

I think she should just mind her own business.

Do you think this will lower my taxes?

I live in an overpriced Long Island Heap that we pay dearly for. Each year our taxes have gone up because the property values around us keep going up. Each tax dollar spent is another dollar I don't have to pay some rip-off artist to come re-side my house.

My only choice to end the madness was to file an appeal with the tax assessors office to see if I can get a break. I told them I think my house is about $40,000 less in value than they claim. I backed this up with recent local sales that I found on Newsday.com rather than their "comparable sales" on mynassauproperty.com. On the Nassau site all the properties listed sold for well above what my home should be valued at and well above what I think they are worth. One tiny house on a tiny lot just sold for about $500,000. It's also on a busy road. I just don't get it.

Anyway, the appeals website also let me post photo documentation to prove my case. I"m going to post one picture of my siding that I included. We really really need to do something about it but we've got to wait for some more $$$$.

The photos I took look incredibly horrible because I took them at night in the pouring rain. I'll only post one for the sake of privacy though.

The time for appeal ended on March 1st, but when we all get reassessed again, I think we get another chance next year. I really think they are robbing the community each time they raise our taxes. Every dollar the county takes is another one I don't spend on local business services like gardening service, home enhancement and more. When will it all level off? I think I'll have to move.

Sadly neglected blog

Having made the attempt to start a second blog suited for my newest role in life as a mother, I have dropped off the face of the blogging earth. Actually my baby began crawling and then walking and skipping naps giving me no time to blog.

With that said, I'm trying to turn over a new blogging leaf and get with the program. I hope to be a more active blogger with more useful information about thing on and around Long Island. Happy belated New Year!

Town of Hempstead offers cooling center's for the hot weather

Following in the footsteps of NYC the town of Hempstead will open cooling centers for residents on August 1st and 2nd.

So if you air conditioning conks out or of LIPA fails you, you can check out this link to find out where to go to cool your heels. (other than the mall)

http://www.toh.li/content/home/important.html

Free Counseling Online for Long Islanders

I've been moaning about how nasty everyone seems to be around here lately and perhaps some of the people I encounter are in need of some mental health help. Good news!! There is free online therapy available and it's anonymous. I think this is a really good service and it deserves more publicity so people who need it know it's there. I read about it in a local paper. Have a look around the website. They also do phone counseling.

http://www.licconline.org/LICCcounseling.htm

Finding Day Care in Nassau County

I found this free service online that helps people find day care. It's only a referal service and takes no blame if they day care you choose stinks but it is FREE. This may be a useful starting point for anyone needed child/infant care.

http://www.childcarenassau.org/

Amusing link

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Long+Island

It seems the posters on urbandictionary.com have been having fun insulting Long Islander's... pretty amusing stuff.

Update

I think I mentioned this a while back but I had a baby in November and that has been limiting my blogging time. I hope to update soon with some reviews of doctors, hospitals, insurance plans and buying baby supplies. Thanks for reading and I hope to blog more soon.

Boycotting Super Stop and Shop

I've taken the big step. I've been searching out new supermarkets because it seems every Stop & Shop I visit is full of rude employees and foul fruits (and veg). I have discovered 2 nice Waldbaums, one in Merrick and one in Levittown. Both seem clean, pleasant and friendly. I did stop at a Pathmark in Seaford and I have to say it was worse than Stop & Shop. The whole place looked pretty grungy.

I hope Stop & Shop feels the pain now. They consistently employ rude, ignorant, chip tossing people. I know the wages must be low, but the basic standard to maintain employment must be at least to be civil.

When I'm not feeling like a pauper I go to Whole Foods in Syossett. That place is the Disneyland of Supermarkets. I wish I could afford to shop there everyday.

Super Stop & Shop

Super Stop & Shop
2450 Jerusalem AvenueNorth Bellmore, NY 11710


They have some nerve calling this place "super" anything. I had to run in here yesterday evening for a few quick items. I found the store to be a complete mess. There were reckless teen employees moving around palette sized loads of produce on mini fork lift devices that I had to navigate past. The "fresh" produce aisle was appalling. All the fruits and vegetables looked picked over, old and undesirable. To top off my brief shopping experience I encountered yet another robotic Long Island supermarket employee.

I know working with the public can really stink so I always try to be nice to people in customer service rolls. I greeted the employee at the check out by saying, "Hi, how are you?". She glared at me and said nothing. I then asked her if she would kindly swipe the "house" card because I didn't have my discount card with me. Again, she glared and was wordless. At the end of ringing me up she tossed my potato chips down in a way that was certain half of them cracked.
At this point I chose not to speak either and glared back at her. That actually seemed to help because she said "thank you" as she pulled her pen back out of my hand after I signed my bill.

Why are people so RUDE around here? Where is all the civility? What happened to everyone?

That's my last vent of the month. Look forward to more complaints about various Stop and Shop locations on Long Island. I have a particular fish monger to pick a bone with.

I'm 27 years old at heart...great news!

You Are 27 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Century 21 Department Store

Century 21 Department Store
1085 Old Country Road Westbury, Long Island 11590
http://www.c21stores.com/long_island.asp

I stopped by here today to try to pick up a gift for my Dad's birthday. There are certainly good bargains to be had, but you really need to pick through some ugly stuff sometimes. Often times the "ugly stuff" isn't the merchandise but the other customers. I nearly called the police while I was on line today to report a possible child abuse (teenager abuse) incident. A hideous woman was shouting at her teen daughter and took a swing at her with her shopping bag. The girl shouted back that she was trying to be helpful by pointing out a bargain. The mother then charged out of the store with two depressed looking teenage girls behind her.

The scene was very distasteful. I wonder what happened to the Long Island of yesteryear. People said hello, thank you please and refrained from beating their children in public. I'd love to know where I can afford to move to and still be near NYC. We can probably move just about anywhere. Recently a Levitt home I know of was sold for $510,000. Levitt homes are the basic econ-homes that were built post WWII to accommodate the needs of the returning soldiers and their growing families. I believe they originally sold for somewhere around $5000.00 in the late 40's and early 50's.

So my point is, we could sell our so-so home for a bundle and move on. I could then have nicer bargain outlets to shop in and hopefully avoid public beatings. For some reason the average customer there today seemed to be wearing faux fur, ratty looking hair and bright red lipstick bleeding into the cracks of their lips. YUCK.

Televisions Top Turd Tom Cavanagh

OK, who hired this guy to star in anything??? By mistake I stopped on CBS this evening and discovered a pilot episode of a new show called "Love Monkey". First of all... PHEW... Stupid name. Second of all, I cannot stand this guy Tom Cavanagh. He has no appeal at all. I watched about 20 minutes of the program before I had to go yak.

CBS says about the show:

"LOVE MONKEY, based on the best-selling book by Kyle Smith, revolves around Tom Farrell (Tom Cavanagh), a 30-something up and coming single record executive who is navigating the tumultuous and highly amusing waters of work and dating in New York City. Tom's got it all until he gets fired from his job and is dumped by his girlfriend, all in the same day. "

Perhaps it's because I've grown up in, lived in and worked in New York that I found this show so annoying. It was filmed and acted as if New York was being portrayed by people from Nebraska. Nothing against Nebraska, but I know that when you come from somewhere else you have a different perception of the City.

Perhaps it's because CBS just stinks and has been promoting programming for old farts since I was about 7 years old (that's as far back as I remember). I think CBS should just throw in the towel and stop putting out new programs. Instead they should make themselves a full time infomercial station selling Depends Undergarments and Sleep Number beds.


P.S. Putting this guy in a CBGB t-shirt doesn't trick me into thinking he's a New Yorker

Adopt a Lab/American Pit bull terrier mix

Name: Silas

Age: 6 months

Sex: Male

Breed: Lab/American Pit bull terrier mix

Location: Flushing, Animal Haven Shelter

This guy is beyond cute and looks like he needs a good home with kind owners. Please consider adopting your next pet. There are way too many animals in our city pounds and local shelters. To adopt Silas please visit the website: http://www.animalhavenshelter.org/. If you aren't ready to take an animal home just yet, consider Animal Haven's Sponsor A Pet Program.

Contractor Crapola (Service Magic)

Way back in the early days of this blog I talked about using Service Magic to find someone to fix my bathroom tiles. We need to have the whole thing re-wall boarded and tiled. Everything else in the bathroom is in fine working order, but the tiles are original 1950's tiles and the wall is starting to give way.

Well the first try with Service Magic was fruitless. No Contractors that seemed well qualified applied. We had someone else in who we got from a friend but they seemed to being going for the hard sell trying to get us to put in a new tub etc. Sorry .... not in the budget.

I tried Service Magic again a few weeks ago and found someone we liked and the price was right. After meeting a few others we called him last week and left a message to say we'd like to award him the job. I could not believe this was the same guy who came to our house.

Here is what I wrote on the Service Magic feedback form:

We did not book the job with XXX-XXXXXX Construction for four major reasons:

1. Three weeks after receiving our original quote the owner was unable to recall any of the information he gave us in his proposal. Having taken two days to respond to our call awarding him the work he seemed to try and bluff his way through the entire conversation.

2. He was unable to provide a committed start and finish date for the job. He basically gave a vague answer saying sometime next week, but he'd let us know on Friday about working next week. Given our schedule it is next to impossible to arrange to have this kind of work done in our home without a committed start date with at least 1 weeks notice.

3. He finally admitted that he did not know how long the job would take and how many workers were required. For a professional contractor, we could not give work to someone who could not accurately estimate a very simple job.

4. Rather than apologize for not having notes or not being able to recall the details of the job, he adopted a "take it or leave it" approach and blamed us for taking three weeks to make a decision. This attitude in the end made us conclude we did not want to work with XXX-XXXXX Construction. Surely it wouldn't have hurt him to ask for a follow up visit to refresh his memory of the work rather than trying to guess?

This Joker basically called us without any notes on the quote. He didn't even remember how much he'd quoted us. When he was here he told us it would take 3 days and 1-2 workers depending on the day. He knew everything that needed to be done then... but because he seems to have no record keeping methods whatsoever he has now lost the work. We might not have been so aggravated if he had just said, sorry I lost my paperwork on the job, can I come back out and have a look the job again. That we could have accepted. We will not accept him blaming us for taking 3wks to make a decision. Like everyone just decides to spend $$$$$ just like that.

Today we were expecting yet another jackass to come and quote the job. Guess what??? HE NEVER SHOWED UP. It's Sunday afternoon and we sat around waiting for another contractor to show up. He didn't even Bother to call. I'm guessing these guys must be raking in a fortune and can afford to treat potential customers like crap. What is the world coming to???

You know you're from New York When....

Just got this in an e-mail from a friend. Thought it was amusing enough to post:

1. THERE IS NO NORTH AND SOUTH. IT'S "UPTOWN" OR "DOWNTOWN." IF YOU"RE REALLY FROM NEW YORK YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONCEPT OF WHERE NORTH AND SOUTH ARE.... AND EAST OR WEST IS "CROSSTOWN."

2. YOU'RE 35 YEARS OLD AND DON'T HAVE A DRIVER'S LICENSE.

3. YOU RIDE IN A SUBWAY CAR WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING JUST BECAUSE THERE ARE SEATS AVAILABLE.

4. YOU TAKE THE TRAIN HOME AND YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE ON THE PLATFORM THE DOORS WILL OPEN THAT WILL LEAVE YOU RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE EXIT STAIRWAY.

5. YOU KNOW WHAT A "REGULAR" COFFEE IS.

6. IT'S NOT MANHATTAN; IT'S THE "CITY".

7. YOU CROSS THE STREET ANYWHERE BUT ON THE CORNERS AND YOU YELL AT CARS FOR NOT RESPECTING YOUR RIGHT TO DO IT.

8. YOU MOVE 3,000 MILES AWAY, SPEND 10 YEARS LEARNING THE LOCAL LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE STILL KNOW YOU'RE FROM BROOKLYN OR THE BRONX THE MINUTE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH.

9. YOU RETURN AFTER 10 YEARS AND THE FIRST FOODS YOU WANT ARE A "REAL"PIZZA AND A "REAL" BAGEL.

10. A 500 SQUARE FOOT APARTMENT IS LARGE.

11. YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALL THE DIFFERENT RAY'S PIZZAS.

12. YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE MISTAKEN IMPRESSION THAT ANY HUMAN BEING WOULD BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND A P.A. ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE SUBWAY.

13. YOU WOULDN'T BOTHER ORDERING PIZZA IN ANY OTHER CITY.

14. YOU GET READY TO ORDER DINNER EVERY NIGHT AND MUST CHOOSE FROM THE MAJOR FOOD GROUPS WHICH ARE: CHINESE, ITALIAN, MEXICAN OR INDIAN.

15. YOU'RE NOT THE LEAST BIT INTERESTED IN GOING TO TIMES SQUARE ON NEWYEAR'S EVE.

16. YOUR INTERNAL CLOCK IS PERMANENTLY SET TO KNOW WHEN ALTERNATE SIDE OF THE STREET PARKING REGULATIONS ARE IN EFFECT.

17. YOU KNOW WHAT A BODEGA IS.

18. SOMEONE BUMPS INTO YOU, AND YOU CHECK FOR YOUR WALLET.

19. YOU DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE LADY WALKING DOWN THE ROAD HAVING A PERFECTLY NORMAL CONVERSATION WITH HERSELF.

20. YOU PAY "ONLY" $230 A MONTH TO PARK YOUR CAR.

21. YOU CRINGE AT HEARING PEOPLE PRONOUNCE HOUSTON ST. LIKE THE CITY IN TEXAS.

22. THE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT IS A MAJOR TRAFFIC JAM, NOT AN HONOR.

23. YOU CAN NAP ON THE SUBWAY AND NEVER MISS YOUR STOP.

24. THE DELI GUY GIVES YOU A STRAW WITH ANY BEVERAGE YOU BUY, EVEN IF IT'S A BEER.

“Well, Excuuuuse meee!”

Being that I'm still heavily pregnant and going stir crazy waiting to give birth, we decided to take in a film last night. We went to see Shopgirl starring Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman. The film was only half the entertainment. Being that I'm a bit wiped out etc. we figured we would go out early and see the 5:45pm viewing. BIG MISTAKE.

Our first tip off was the huge line of sluggish seniors at the sales booth. Being technologically able, we dashed off to the side where two automated sales machines are located. My husband waited patiently on line behind one person using the machine on the left. As that customer stepped away my husband stepped forward for his turn. Apparently there was a problem with the machine on the right and "bitchy hemorrhoid harboring Long Island Lady" literally BARGED in front of him without so much as a word. My husband pointed out that "excuse me" or other such niceties would be in order. He is always a gentleman but is know to point out when people are just damned rude. The "lady" got in quite a snit and bitched that the machine was not working and he noted that it was fair enough, however communicating that in the 1st place would have been much more appropriate than her aggressive and rude behavior. HRUMPH... and all this bitchiness directed at a man supporting a HUGE pregnant woman.

After our ticket purchase we proceeded to purchase the popcorn and soda, which is being sold to us at a 40,000% mark up from the actual cost of corn and soda. Even though we got there at a reasonable time, hardly any seats were free. It seems all the old-timers had come to see this film and they like to get their seats early. I really don't have a problem with old people, but this bunch was really uptight. They're definitely an older crowd than the baby-boomers. I like most baby-boomers.

I never saw so much seat-saving, seat-switching and general maneuvering in a theatre before. We must've seen about 3 different couples sit down in front of us and then get up and go somewhere else. Finally the film began and after the 1st ten minutes, the grouch behind us said "I don't like this movie". His whiney wife said, "YOU picked it!" The whole time this dumpy duo continued to bitch about the film. It was PATHETIC. They should have gotten their dusty asses off their seats and out of the theatre. BUT NO, we had to listen to their ongoing commentary.

We ended up with 6 elderly people in front of us who also bitched through out the entire movie, but it was harder to hear what they were saying because they were in front of us.

I think these guys were all so pissed off because they failed to read the movie review. The film is a DRAMA and I think most of them presumed that because Steve Martin starred in it, that it would be one big laugh after another. It wasn't. It was also probably depressing to them because the 60year old Steve Martins character gets to hit the sack with a pretty 20-something girl. Certainly not a possibility for any of the crowd in the theatre last night.

I thought the film was great. Really great. It was very nicely filmed and totally captured the weirdness of how life turns out and how certain moments in your life can imprint on your brain forever.

Once the film ended it was yet another drama exiting the theatre. These old timers seem to think the aisle is a place for socializing, not a path to exit. They lingered and chatted and dawdled and lingered some more. Grrrrrr! At least the grouch behind us wasn't in the way. He'd jumped out of his seat and left his wife in the dust long before the 1st credit rolled.

Be warned, don't go to an early viewing of a film starring a baby-boomer actor/actress unless you're prepared to cope with any of what is mentioned above.

You've got to love one of these guys!

It looks like Animal Haven has just brought in a litter of puppies!

Names: Yukon, Rosebud, Bonsai, Polkie, Zippy, Vaughn, Peyton, Wranger, Eli
Born: 9/19/05
Breed: Shepherd/Husky mixes
Location: Flushing branch

To adopt one of these pups, visit the website: www.animalhavenshelter.org. If you aren't ready to take an animal home just yet, consider Animal Haven's Sponsor A Pet Program.

Happy Halloween!!!