a.   

Guys:   If you want to meet girls, sign up for this event.  You can get a facial or have high tea, but  what should attract the interest of men is:   “….and much more.”     We don’t usually promote Chamber of Commercials events,  but I like the picture above.   Girls in their summer clothes in February??   Wassup with that?

THE VELVETS  “I”;

b. Re: cell phones.   Do you miss your busy signal?    In the old days, if someone called you and you were on your home phone, the caller would get a busy signal and would have to call back later.

So the busy signal has been eliminated in favor of yet another  rude electronic interruption.

Now, even if you are speaking to someone on your cell, an incoming call will interrupt you and force you to deal with that call.   That’s awkward and stressful.     If you leave your current caller dangling and you try to talk to the interloper caller, there’s a good chance that you will offend the original caller.

You don’t need to answer every call that comes your way.  Half the time they are scams.  Sometimes I answer the phone, and someone speaks to me in Chinese. So I try to order egg rolls, but no luck.

I also dislike text messages because they assume that you want to be bothered the instant a text comes in.  Too many people have substituted actual conversations with texts.  And I use Siri  but she types “dead” instead of “Dad.”

At least an email can be left alone and you can catch up with it later.  But watch out what you type into an email. It cannot be changed and can be used in a court of law.

And what good reason is there to carry your phone wherever you go?  In case of emergency?  How did we deal with that before?  Oh, they trashed all the phone booths.

Well, I guess we must acknowledge that our devices are not just phones–they are computers that serve a myriad of functions, and that’s why we often need to carry them all the time.

So let’s stop calling them “phones,”and then there will be nothing to complain about.

c.  Southwest Florida report:   The iguana population is getting out of control.  The one below was in our backyard.  It was about 2 feet long.   You can eat them, but cook them first.

1/09/20. Ft.Myers Fla. Blogfinger photo.  Leaping lizards!

A small army of landscapers are a constant presence including the constant drone of leaf and dirt blowers. Blogfinger photo. 1/10/20 ©

d.   Blog stats:   650 hits on 1//09/20.   Favorites:   architects North End designs, Last Mile Home, Jean’s Hudson River photo.  8 foreign countries including Norway, Great Britain, and Australia.

e.  HPC meeting Dec 10. 2019  ATTENDANCE:  (You should know their names.)

Lucinda Heinlein __P__
Doug MacMorris __A__
Jeffery Rudell __P__
Jenny Shaffer __P__
Lenny Steen __A__
Joseph Wierzbinsky __P__
James McNamara __P__
Deborah Osepchuk __P_

f.  From the website of the OGHOA:

“The OGHOA North End Committee continues to monitor the progress of the redevelopment process, as well as any activity in the North End for potential negative impact on the quality of life in Ocean Grove.”

So it seems that the Groaners have found no “potential negative impact on the quality of life in Ocean Grove.”    Can’t they think of even one potential negative impact?  Are they all in a coma over there?

Let’s get the BPA to put parking on a shelf and look into this matter.  They are currently the only citizen group with courage and ambition.

g.   Street closures to be granted the Chamber of Commercials:  5/30, 9/12, 5/16, 9/26, 5/2. 10/10.   When is enough enough??  How about granting them two dates per year for street closures.   Then there will be closures for the CMA. Welcome to Disneyland by the shore.

h. Suggestion Department:  Isn’t it time to stop saying “Happy New Year?”   Just askin’.