Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Wisdom of Mommy

Momma is headed to Maui on April 12th. I am working on getting her and her best friend, Zelda, upgraded on the Atlanta-Honolulu leg using points and miles and stuff. Our conversation this morning:

Mommy: I believe I might could get some sleep up there in them big seats.
Me: Yeah, they also have better food and hot hand-towels and other ways to spoil you.
Mommy: Really? What else do they have?
Me: Free drinks in First Class...
Mommy: I don't think I've ever had a drink on a airplane except for when I brought my own little bottles!

Look out Maui, here they come!

And, as an added bonus, Wisdom from a Filipina, but *not* the Good Nurse:

I love you more than my luggages!

Finally, Wisdom from yours truly:

When living in Spanish Harlem, it is *not* acceptable to refer to your neighbors as "all y'all Mexicans." In fact, Mexicans represent a small percentage of the population in Spanish Harlem. Just so you know.

Elizabethtown

On a recent, rainy day, I took the opportunity to watch "Elizabethtown," a film ostensibly set in the town of the same name in Kentucky.  Even though there were some errors of fact in the film (there is no 747 passenger service into the Louisville airport), it captured some typical Kentucky personalities really well!

It made me a little bit homesick.

A highlight of the film was the appearance of Paula Deen.  Before the film, I didn't know that she was even in the cast.  But she truly captured the essence of a Kentucky household matriarch.

The main character stayed in a Louisville hotel.  It took me back to the high school years when there were conventions and such that almost always took place in the Galt House hotel in downtown Louisville.  Beta Club was one of my favorites.  Traveling on a big, yellow bus from Scottsville to Elizabethtown was some 14o miles but took at least 3-4 hours.  Maybe this was before the speed limit went to 65 on I-65...

Yeah, I have always been a little sentimental.  As the years pass, I seem to be getting more nostalgic and sentimental.  Maybe it has something to do with advancing age; or the mental processing of the loss of all my grandparents; or maybe I have always been overly sensitive but managed to keep it better hidden.  As I reflect, I seem to recall a conscious effort to suppress my feelings going back many years.  The walls I had built were of the highest-quality construction.  But recently I have worked to open up to loved ones--to tear down such strong walls.  It has been a growing and learning experience for me, and rarely pleasant.  Frequently, my metaphorical hand has been slapped.  Logically, it seems that I should probably reinforce those walls rather than take them apart, to avoid the unpleasantness.  But this is not an issue of what is logical.

It has been said that if we want to know what we dislike most about ourselves, look at the traits we find most annoying in others.  Suppose the converse is also true.  In that case, the things I like most about myself are compassion, kindness, humor, and intelligence.  I like to think those qualities were developed in a small, Kentucky town.  I know I learned them from people I love and I am thankful for loved ones today who reinforce those traits--even in a big place like New York City!  But I still get a little homesick from time to time.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Go This Way!

I don't know that I have made a commercial endorsement before--maybe I have, and just can't remember--but I want to make one now: QuickRX Pharmacy. (I would provide a hyperlink, but I can't find one. And as a disclosure, they may only be in Upper, Upper East Side of Manhattan.)

Recently, I have been counting my pennies. I haven't been out of my neighborhood in over a week--saving that darned subway charge. And the only money I have spent was treating myself to a McDonald's breakfast, for $3.25, yesterday. (When I get to be an old man, people will probably call me stingy because I lived through the big "fiasco" of aught-8 and aught-9.) But I digress...

After filling prescriptions at other ubiquitous pharmacy chains in NYC over the past 7 years, I happened across this tiny pharmacy at the 116th/Lexington Avenue 6-train stop in East Harlem. Prescriptions are their primary business--not hair gel or beer or greeting cards, like other places. And they have the most friendly people I have yet to encounter in NYC retail. I'm always greeted by name when I go in there. They always deliver when promised. And they always welcome me.

Most importantly, though, to me, in these economic times, is the fact that their retail prices are roughly half the prices of the largest national chain and the largest regional chain in NYC. Furthermore, their prices are less than what I found at online pharmacies!!!

Odds are my specific two prescriptions will not match yours. But if you are near a QuickRX pharmacy, it is important to your wallet to try them out. And if you are under a plan that pays 100% of your medicines, like a Crazy Asian I know, then it is important to try them out for their genuine kindness, and appreciation that you chose to take your business to them. (They even once let me take home a prescription free with my promise to return another day because their credit card machine was malfunctioning.)

That's all I have to say about that.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Always Remembered. Always

Forgetting your birthday was the biggest sin in the Gospel According to Sean.
I still remember.
Do the angels in Heaven also consider a Yankee's cap to be "black tie"?
:-)
Happy Birthday!


(SPC on left, Ben in the middle, me on the right. Masquerade Ball 2000, Indianapolis, IN)