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Posts Tagged ‘True Conversations at Blogfinger’

 

By Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC,   Editor at Blogfinger.net

 

Scene:  I am standing in front of the coffee display at Quick Check  (sometimes called by me, “Slow Check.”)

There is a Quick woman behind the display.  She is in charge of  coffee. The dispensers are all on timers, so the coffee can be fresh, so she has to stay on top of the situation.  The competition is stiff what with Wawa nearby, down the Rt. 33 road to the Ocean; as opposed to the yellow brick road to Oz. (See Elton John below)

The Quick woman is observing my indecision.  I can tell you one thing, I will never drink that sissy flavored coffee.

Me:  Hmmmmmmm?

She: Why don’t you choose the coffee with extra caffeine?

Me: Why?

She:  You can get a buzz.

Me:  Why do I want a buzz?

She: You will enjoy it.

Me: I won’t get buzz from that coffee; I will get a rapid heart beat.

She: No you won’t.

Me:  Are you a cardiologist?

She:  No. You are so serious.

Me: I select the regular blend and pass on the buzz.

She: Have good day.

Me: I was thinking of one of my partners who would get a tachycardia (heart racing) with even a couple of sips of caffeinated coffee. And he was a cardiologist and he was always very careful.

By the way, for those of you who are prone to tachycardias, there is an effective  rapid acting beta blocker. (most are slow acting) which you can take as an emergency if your heart starts to race or skip.  It is metoprolol tartrate 10 mg.    Ask your doctor.

 

ELTON JOHN  from his 40th anniversary celebration of this album “Yellow Brick Road,” one of the most famous albums in music history:

 

“So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can’t plant me in your penthouse
I’m going back to my plough.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eggcetera breakfast and coffee shop. 8:30 am Monday morning. Ft. Myers, Fla.

 

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor@Blogfinger.net

Scene: I decided to try this breakfast place—“Eggcetera.”  I like the name, and the front entrance looks inviting.  So I suspect that they are a good place.  I walk in at 8 am.  It’s a cavernous breakfast and coffee restaurant; but no customers are there.  A waitress appears, and I jokingly say to her “Do you have a table for me?”

No smile and no customers, so I am concerned.

She takes me to a remote table far to the left, off the photo.  I ask if they have bagels.  She says, “Yes.” So I say, “What kind?”  And she says, “Plain.”  OK..  I ordered plain, toasted twice;  –the empty ceramic green coffee cup on the table was 6 ounces.

Here are some more of our conversations:

Me: Do you have Wi-Fi?

She:  Pancakes

Me: (louder suspecting a hearing disability)  Do you have Wi-Fi?

She:  Pancakes

Me:  Uh  OH!  That’s the password!

Me:  Can you please pour my coffee into my travel coffee mug?  (Mine has three insulating layers and stays hot for a week.)

She:  No

Me: (hesitating)  I guess I can pour it myself….    (as she fills my  6 oz cup, I know that I will not  succeed and will spill coffee all over the place)

Me:  Can you please get me a cardboard cup so I can safely fill my travel mug?

She:  No.  You can ask the cashier.  I get a Styrofoam cup from the cashier.  I fill my mug, but still spill some on the table;  So I steal another napkin from the next table, keeping one eye out for the waitress  (Do you recall the waitress in “Five Easy Pieces?”)

She:   —brings the bagel. It looks pale and unappetizing . It comes with  one small prepackaged cup of cream cheese, good only for half the bagel.

Me:  Can you please get me another cream cheese?   (She brings it , but I find a $.75 extra charge on my check)

The bagel was the worst; the coffee was mediocre.  By all indications, Eggcetera should have been an excellent place. After all, it has a winning name and it looks great. But it turns out to be a  losing proposition.

The bill was $7.19. Out of guilt I gave a $1.00 tip.  At Wegman’s I pay $2.70 for a superior coffee and bagel, and with no tipping.

 

Moral of the story:  Don’t judge a book by its cover, and as Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name?”

 

CAMILLE:  “Le Festin”  (tr. the feast)   from the soundtrack to the Disney film Ratatouille.

 

 

 

 

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Our doctor’s office. It is a treat to go there. Nov. 7, 2019. Paul Goldfinger ©

 

Paul Goldfinger, MD

Years ago doctors had their offices in houses.  Sometimes they lived in the same building.  You would walk in and sit in the living room. There was something reassuring about that; now they are all housed in sterile and often scary office buildings.

My internist has his office in a beautiful Victorian home near Ocean Grove. He’s a personable guy, the sort who makes you feel comfortable.   Then when you leave and step outside, especially on a nice day, you just take a deep breath and resume your life, hopefully with some optimism.

So I was walking up to the doctor’s front door as an elderly couple stepped out into the sunshine.  As I passed them I heard her say,  “So….do ya wanna go to the diner?  You can get pork roll.”

But, you know, leaving a doctor’s office with encouraging news can really result in a sudden desire to have something wonderful to eat–a celebration of still being alive. Who cares if pork roll isn’t on your diet?

THE CAMBRIDGE SINGERS  AND JOHN RUTTER.   “A Gaelic Blessing.”

 

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Save our environment. Photo in Ocean Grove by Moe Demby, 2015. Blogfinger staff. ©

Save our environment. Photo in Ocean Grove by Moe Demby, 2015. Blogfinger staff. ©    Updated and re-posted  from 2016.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.  2016.

Scene:  Neptune Township Mother Ship.  I am at the counter occupied partly by the Assistant Land Use Administrator–George Waterman. On the counter are some educational  fliers.  One of them seemed interesting: “Solutions to Stormwater Pollution.”

It said, “Stormwater pollution is one of New Jersey’s greatest threats to clean and plentiful water, and that’s why we’re all doing something about it.”

It also said, “Pollution on streets, parking lots and lawns is washed by rain into storm drains, then directly to our drinking water supplies and the ocean and lakes our children play in.  Fertilizer, oil, pesticides, detergents, pet waste, grass clipping: You name it and it ends up in our water.”

PG: (thinking)  “It says, ‘Easy Things You Can Do Every Day to Protect Our Water,’ so what about Wesley Lake?”

GW (walking over to the counter where I am perusing his flier)   “What have you got there?”

PG  (handing it to him)  “George—What is Neptune Township doing about dirty street water runoff?”

GW (smiling; he removes all copies of the flier and jokingly begins to walk away)  “I think we should dispose of these.”

PG:  (With a name like Waterman they could give him that job……)

 

September 24, 2018 update by Jack Bredin and Paul Goldfinger, reporting from Blogfinger.net:

In the past, someone changed the tax map to show a new name for Wesley Lake:  “Wesley Detention/retention basin.” No one at the Township, including the Wesley Lake Commission and the Township Committee would admit to doing this, but someone had to tell the Tax Assessor Bernie Haney to do it, and one would need a resolution from the Committee to make that change; but there was no such resolution.

We know that the dirty water street drainage comes down Rt 33 from Neptune Boulevard and then is carried north into A. Park  by a pipeline via Rt. 71 into the Lake.

The Rt. 33 drainage is the responsibility of the State since it is a State road.

The Rt. 71 component is a County road, and the big pipe that drains into the western end of the Lake is the responsibility of the County.

No wonder the State DEP and the County have been quiet on this issue.

It now seems that the Neptune change in name was done to help developers justify the dumping of dirty water into Wesley Lake.   The polluters of Wesley Lake are the State, the County, Asbury Park, and Neptune Township.

The Township should immediately pass a resolution to return the official tax map name to “Wesley Lake,” or be accused of being complicit in helping the North End Redeveloper subsequently  pollute the lake even more.

 

RUSS CARLYLE with BLUE BARRON  “Garden in the Rain.”

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Did anyone ever take you to the cleaners? Paul Goldfinger photograph. Ocean Township. c2014. ©

Did anyone ever take you to the cleaners? Paul Goldfinger photograph. Ocean Township. 2014. ©

 

Eileen brings her sweater to the little mom and pop Korean cleaners. It’s a  Tuesday.

Eileen:  Please clean my sweater.

Little lady behind the counter:  When do you want to pick it up?

Eileen:  Thursday

Little lady:  No—Friday after 4:30.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM  from the show “Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”  Album “Putting it Together.”

 

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