Big Night at the Rock...

This is the view that rarely, if ever, they show of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in NYC -- pre-season as it's being set up.


And, these are the skaters at the overpriced rink at Rockefeller Center, also pre-gala event. It's indeed a lot of fun, but the hourly fee to skate is a bit prohibitive unless you're deadset on skating there.

So, am I skating there? Am I watching the tree as it's lighted tonight? Nope! I'm home. The special is on TV now, but I'm switching in a few minutes to 'Lost.' What can I say? I can always go see the tree with merely humongous crowds instead of gigantic colossal wave of humanity crowds. I need my 'Lost' fix.

In other things, I'm very discouraged with AOL these days. Oh, yeah, I've been discouraged before and, as long as I stay a member, I'm sure to be discouraged again. They say they understand the member complaints about the banner ads, yet the ads remain. The disclaimer added today is not the answer. The correct thing for them to do is to remove the ad banners from AOL Member Journals, while keeping them on the free AIM Journals. They royally screwed up with this move. As it could be said, "They done did do us wrong."

Since my TV blogs have followings, I'm thinking of moving them into a paying sort of venture. I love writing and I love writing those blogs. There are opportunities outside of AOL Journals where I can receive payment for doing what I love. Would I be a sell out for commercialism? I dunno. Now that AOL Journals for paying members have ad banners, I'm a pawn for marketing and AOL is making money off of my writing and any popularity my TV blogs may possess. Heck, if anyone's going to be making money off my writings, I should at the very least get a cut.

'Lost' is on. Must watch!

Fa La Jolly Elf Socks

Above: A holiday window all done up Lower East Side Style (NYC) -- Lava lamps, screaming skulls and hookahs, these are a few of my favorite things. ;-)

Below: One of the animated windows at Macy's on 34th Street (Midtown Manhattan) as in 'The Miracle on 34th Street Macy's.'

'Tis a wondrous culture clash....!

However, right now, instead of Christmas, it's feeling more like 'Sometimes I Feel it's Raining All Over the World.' It's warm, in the 60's Fahrenheit, and stormy right here right now. Thankfully, it didn't start until after I got home from work and was inside for the evening. Yay! Thanks for small favors!

Anyone who knows me knows I take NJ Transit commuter trains to work. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm one of those evil anti-cellphone kinda gals. Tonight on my way home from work there was a young woman who was not only talking way too loudly on her cellphone, but she also said "know what I'm saying" - "you know what I'm saying" in between about every fourth word she uttered! Ack! Two pet peeves wrapped up in one in this girl! Plus, she was loud! I so wanted to look over the seat back at her and say, "Yes! I know what you're saying. The whole world, or at least this train car, knows what you're saying! We can't miss what you're saying because you're so DARNED LOUD! Shut up!" Then, in my fantasies, I grab the cell phone and stomp on it.

Alas, all I really did was give her a dirty look when I got up to exit the train. Or, would that be detrain?

You don't want to hear my thoughts about cellphone use in restaurants, theaters, stores and other public places. I don't want to know your personal life. I can't imagine who you must be talking to on the 6:40 AM train or why you can't go an hour without gabbing!

Snippets and Prisms in the Sky

It's not really a rainbow as it wasn't raining. The prism of light you see on the right is as viewed, with the sun on the left. I took this shot in Bridgewater, NJ this past Wednesday afternoon about an hour before sunset. I was mesmerized by the prism, but the shots of it alone didn't show balance. Or something. ;-) It was cool. I love seeing these things in the age of digital cameras... which mean I always have a camera with me!

Another holiday weekend is wrapping up for most of America. It's not so much for me as I worked both Friday and Saturday so I didn't travel to feast with loved ones. The closest relative is about 400 miles away and to travel that and back in one day, then go into work early the next morning... it's too much. I did my solitary feast thing and had a good day with it.

I didn't go to stores for the big sales, either. Eww. I don't like the rush of humanity... or lack thereof, at least when thinking humanity. I hate crowds; I hate waiting and I'm really not thrilled with the general public out in public places, especially masses of them. I'll find my bargains online or at quiet times like a Wednesday morning or an early Monday evening. I tend to avoid malls on the whole even though I live in the Land of Malls -- New Jersey. If I want to suffer the crush of fellow humans, I'll go into Manhattan. At least it's good street theater there as opposed to NJ shopping malls. Plus, I can carry my camera and take pictures without a second glance as so many have cameras in the city. Around here, taking pictures of people gets noticed and I may have to see those same people again.

On and off all weekend I've been listening to Q104.3's Top 1043 Classic Rock Songs. Good stuff, lots of memories for this aging child of the 60's. As always, each song takes me back in time, at least in my mind, to where I was and what I as doing at the time. While I'd love for my knees to be good again, I treasure the times in which I came of age. In many ways, it feels like I never grew up, although I don't do some of the crazy things I did in my youth. (Or, as they say around here, in my "yoot.") I'm admittedly a bit jaded, but I still have those hopes and dreams... "hang onto your dreams, my friend. If they end, simply pretend you can build them again..." -- apologies to Paul Simon. I guess I do a lot of pretending and the years keep going on.

The holiday season tends to be a bittersweet time for me. I lost both of my parents five months apart when I was young. My brothers scattered across the country and there has been no "home" to return to for decades now. Yes, invites, but it's not my family and it's not the same. I've come to peace with it over the years and know that I'm thankful for what I have. However, with such focus on families, it's not always easy when you have no family, per se. People don't really think of it when they ask if you're going home for the holidays. Some people have no home in that way of thinking. I have my own home that I cherish in a solitary kind of way, but even so... the holidays can take a toll on the state of mind front.

So, I take a trip back in my mind to the days when I thought Santa's elves were the dark spot I could see in a light bulb, spying on me to report back to the Big Man. Back to the days when I would awake well before dawn with excitement and thrills for the day. Back to the days when I believed the world would never change and I would never age...

Ice, Ice Baby

From early this morning, this is what happens when the landscapers don't turn off the sprinklers and temperatures go below freezing. Ice, ice, baby!

The weather has been so weird here -- an unusually dry stretch at the beginning of summer with horrendously high temperatures and drought warnings. That was followed by a monsoon season that flooded areas. Then, for November, it was the warmest one on record until just a few days back. Now we're due some snow for overnight and into tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! It should all go away as the temps go above freezing in the afternoon. Snow this early in the season around here never sticks around, not even if it snows a foot. It would be gone before Santa's big night. I hope the weather doesn't put a damper on the Macy's Parade in the morning. Nope, I won't be there. I often go the night before to watch them inflate all the big balloons on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but it's too darn chilly out there and my knee wanted to be home, warm and cozy. So, here I be.

I have to work Friday and have no relatives within several hundred miles, so it's going to be a restful, peaceful kind of day for me. I'll do my luxury bath thing, relax, watch the parade on TV, get caught up with some taped shows, read, mess around on the computer and have a good time indeed. I had a few invites from friends, but it's a family day. My own plans suit me just fine. I bought a small boneless turkey breast with apple cranberry stuffing and I have all the makings of a nice little feast for one. Well, for more than one as when I go and cook like that, I plan for leftovers. I started my restful holiday with a nap after returning home from work tonight. :-)

I hope all who read this have the holiday they want... whether it be with family or friends, watching football and eating a hearty feast!

Gray Day, Not Much to Say...

This is a shot I took of the early morning skies over Plainfield, NJ today. Yep, a storm is moving in -- a classic Nor'easter, albeit mostly rain. It may end as a wet snow, plus snow squalls are a possibility for Thanksgiving Day. Oh, well.

My cat is weird. Actually, both of my cats are weird. No, they're not eccentric like I am, just weird. As I type this one cat has her face in my empty sneaker pushing it about the floor. The other one tends to go into Halloween cat mode with the arched back and puffed up tail jumping across the kitchen sideways. Odd, odd cats. I should mention these aren't kittens. They're both 12 years old; they'll be 13 next June. Weird, weird cats.

Thankful stuff:
1. The on and off again elevator was working when I came home with my arms full of groceries after work today. Phew!
2. I panicked early today at the balance listed on an ATM slip I received. Apparently the printer is going and the first digit of my balance didn't print, but it is indeed there. Phew!

Gripes stuff:
1. The Aliens Upstairs decided to vacuum their hard wood floors at 9 PM this evening. Where is their Roomba? After all, that roaming about is what first made me decide they were aliens! It's a lot quieter than the actual vacuum.
2. AOL still has its ugly nasty ad banners on my AOL Journals.
3. My knee hurts today. I'm guessing it's the weather. I have to go back to the orthopedic surgeon in a few weeks for a follow up appointment. It's certainly not bad enough right now to be taken out of work again or have immediate surgery, but I'm popping Aleve on a regular basis. I still have the heavy duty pain pills, but that's a last resort. I can't take them and function at the same time.

That's all she wrote...

Sigh...

I call this shot "Doo Doo Doo Lookin' Out My Window." This was taken the day before yesterday from my living room and its almost full wall of window. Since then the leaves have been falling like rain and I can totally see the House of Women In Business Suits Who Drive Luxury Cars next door -- barely visible in this shot, the white on the lower left.

I miss J-Land. I'm taking my stance, but I wish it had never come down to this. I feel I must stand up for my principles and I honestly like a lot of stuff about Blogger productwise so much better. I've felt violated by AOL before and I feel that way again. They don't care about paying members. It's sad that a company can care so little about the folks who have supported it over the years. I don't believe when they sell ad space that they promise any certain areas and ads go wherever. The wherever doesn't need to include personal blogs of paying AOL Members. I link my AOL non-blog page using the members.aol.com format instead of the AOL Hometown addressing, thus sparing my Jackie's Stuff page from banner ads. They could do that sort of thing for Journals. Will AOL listen? They rarely do. I guess we'll see.

In other Gripes:
1. Do NOT put your feet on the train seats, idiots! I have to sit there! Have you NO common sense? (Inspired by a person trying to be oh-so-cool with her IPod and Converse sneakers all over the train seat the other day.)
2. Another train Gripe -- Dang! If you want to talk to each other, sit together! Stop shouting across the aisle to each other! I don't want to hear you!
3. An Apartment Building Gripe -- Sheesh! The elevator has been on the blink on and off for three days! What's its attraction to the basement? Some of us have bad knees! Don't fix it so it works a few hours, just fix it!

Other Stuff:
I watched the NBC 'Dateline' show about the death of John Lennon this past Friday night. It's hard to believe it's been 25 years, or will be next month. In a way, I have a tie to that night. I was downsized by my company along with the guy who took the famous shot of John signing Mark David Chapman's album. Yep, the photographer who took that photo and I were downsized and I haven't seen him since. He took the severance package and left the company; I was offered another position and a raise. That was about 10 years ago -- I had just been promoted and relocated to New Jersey when the ax fell. Being a Stranger in a Strange Land but with a company I've been with pretty much since 1977, I took the position offered and I still work for them... still in NJ. (Whatever!) But I have no clue where Paul Goresh, the photographer, is these days. I hope life is being good to him. They mentioned the shot and showed it on 'Dateline' but didn't mention his name, nor interview him. He actually talked quite a bit to Chapman that evening. Paul was a non-dangerous Lennon spotter and shooter (camera!) those days. I've photographed the Dakota building myself, but never people who live there. It's a very intriguing building. 25 years post-Lennon. Life goes by way too fast...

Still Playing Around

Yep, I'm still playing around with all the settings and formatting here. I've changed the comments settings to Allow All so folks don't need a Blogger account to comment. (Sorry about that, Bill.)

I've started a Blogspot 'Survivor: Guatemala Take 2' blog leaving links on my featured AOL one (which is still featured). This week may see the 2-Faced Baseball and my 'The Amazing Race 8: Family Edition' blogs coming to Blogspot as well. To be honest, as I get more used to it, I actually like the formatting and a lot of other things on Blogspot more than the AOL Journals product. However, as a ten year member who's usually positive about AOL, I would go back if they take the horrendous ad banners down.

I don't eat Quiznos; I've never been in their doors. I have ongoing battles with the Bank of America and treasure my Wachovia account. On principle, I just can't support any of the companies featured in those crass annoying ad banners on my AOL Journals. So, here I am.

Meanwhile, in life itself, it's shocking that Thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday! Yikes. I remember when I was a small child time moved so slow, especially as the holidays approached. Nowadays, I blink my eyes and another year is gone. The photo featured here is one I took of John's Meat Market in Scotch Plains, NJ. It's a fantastic place with some of the best and friendliest customer service I've ever seen. It is a bit costly, but the butchers take great care to make the customers happy. (Unlike AOL -- I had to get that in there!)

Oh, my knee! With the advent of chilly temperatures, my knee has been acting up some. No, it's not as bad as pre-surgery. I can tell it's a mix between the arthritis and residual operation/missing cartilage woes. I'm not in pain all the time or anything -- I just have to be careful. If I pivot, watch out! Ow! But I'll live. And, it's certainly better and more dependable than it was. Note: I will not be running any marathons. Additional Note: I never wanted to run any marathons anyway.

The bad thing about AOL J-Land spreading all about is that I have to gather the links to reconnect with all my friends. I've been a bit scarce this week, but I'll be seeking y'all out and getting my feeds going to visit your new bloghomes.

New Jersey Bike Riders are Nuts!

Even the squirrels have an attitude. "Yeah, I drove the bike into the building. You gotta problem with that?"