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next door for parades and mutual aid
 Not much really happens during the week for me. It’s generally SSDD: go to work, come home, watch TV (usually a ballgame or the History Channel), and hit the Internet, unless there is a fire department meeting. This weekend was interesting for me.  Yesterday we got a fire call for the Islip Fire Department to send one engine to the town just north of us, Brentwood, to assist them is controlling an apartment house fire. I responded to our substation – the North House – and since we are about a mile and a half closer to Brentwood than the Main House, we figured that we would go. Not so. A couple of superstars and others got on the Main House’s engine and got to go. We sat around talking and watching TV. At least an exhibition baseball game was on – the Mets and the Dodgers. After about an hour of sitting around, we got ordered to stand by at Brentwood’s main station, which we did. I got to talk to several Brentwood firefighters who did not make any apparatus, and we all got to watch the rest of the Mets-Dodgers game (  the Mets won, 1-0). Finally, 3 hours after Islip was first called to help on mutual aid, we were sent home.  Today I marched with the Islip Fire Department band in the annual East Islip Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. This time the weather cooperated with us, as the temperatures were in the 40’s, the sun was out, and there was low humidity. When the parade was over we headed back to the main house for some corned beef and cabbage, and Irish music.
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3.3.08 02:36
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sick day; overtime; old cars; bowling
I did not get a chance to post anything last weekend, since I was a bit busy and it was basically visiting my folks and watching baseball and basketball games. In the last week a few interesting things happened besides the usual SSDD. I managed to make my fire company meeting last Monday the 10th, but somehow started to feel queasy when I got home.  In the morning my stomach seemed like it was burning and I was heading to the bathroom for the firm of many trips. Somehow I caught a nasty virus and it knocked me out, to the point of falling asleep at my computer terminal. I called in sick at work, since I knew I would be of no use to them in the shape I was in. Surprisingly, I felt better on Wednesday morning and was able to go to work. On Friday evening I was the only one left at his desk around quitting time (5:30) when a partner and her secretary came by to say that an invoice has to be sent to a client by the end of Friday evening, as the client has a budget deadline and the firm needs to get paid for the services it rendered.  The only problem was that to finalize it, I would have to edit scores of time entries. While it was not my client, I decided to help out. Why not take care of the Firm, since they took care of me last month by giving me a job when I needed one. So after 5 hours of editing time entries I finished the invoice and gave it to the partner. She was quite grateful for what I did in accommodating the Firm. Then it was a walk to Penn Station and the 11:32 train home. Somehow when I got home, I managed to spend some time on my computer accessing my e/mails and other sites. On Saturday I went with the Islip Fire Department to the Brentwood St. Patrick’s Day parade. Normally we don’t march in that one, but this year the chief of the Brentwood Fire Department was the Grand Marshall, and as a courtesy to him, accepted the invitation to march.  I am glad that we did, as the march was invigorating, and in front of us was an old car club with some of the beauties: § Two 1957 Chevrolets, § Several 1950’s Fords and Mercury’s, § A 1953 Oldsmobile, § A 1930 Model A, § A 1938 Chevrolet, § A 1936 Ford, § A 1929 Essex, § And several 1960’s beauties. I was also able to talk to some of the cars’ owners and the topics included the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City (near where I grew up) and then Shea Stadium and its replacement, Citifield. In the evening Ellen, Eileen and I went bowling with the St. Mary’s Bowling League. Unfortunately, this month I did not do as well as the last time, getting only a 110 average, but still had fun.
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16.3.08 12:20
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spontaneous generation; two new web-pages
Yesterday morning I went to church at my local parish, Saint Mary’s in East Islip. It’s also Palm Sunday because Easter is on the 23rd, the second earliest day that it could fall on. But whatever day it falls on, Palm Sunday and Easter (along with Christmas)  prove that there is such a thing as spontaneous generation – where people suddenly materialize without going through the normal biological processes. The auditorium where the 12:15 service was held was packed, mainly to get their palm fronds. I told myself that they came out of the woodwork! There were people whom I know that I never saw there in all of my years as a member (since 1984). Other than watching some spring training games (like the Mets vs. the Tigers, and the Mets won) I spent most of my time on the Internet at home.  There weren’t even any fire calls. I managed to create two new web-pages. There is one on Yahoo Geocities that salutes my hobbies, and its URL is http//www.geocities.com/altoona43/hobbies.html. I used another provider, an English outfit called moonfruit, and created one that salutes my somewhat cynical nature. Its URL is http//:cynicalbilly.moonfruit.com.  When using Yahoo Geocities, I had problems with its Page-Builder software, where it seems that it just stopped working in the middle of a project. Has anybody else experienced this?
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17.3.08 23:48
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bad threes; St. Patrick; end of an era
 Bad things seem to come in three's, and yesterday was no exception. At work I got two e/mails (actually the whole firm did) saying that two relatives on coworkers had died - the sister of a partner and the mother in law of a secretary. Both of these ladies were around 80, so they did not die young. It still did not brace us for the worst, when the manager came into the room to tell my supervisor and me that our coworker, who sat in our room, had died. He had not been at work for about a week and a half, and we had gotten worried. I had stayed late Friday, almost a double shift, to take care of one of his partners. So the announcement by the manager confirmed our worst fears. Our hearts go out to the families of all three.
 Since was St. Patrick’s Day, I wore a green tie and green corduroy pants, and even headed over to 5th Avenue to watch part of the parade.
 In the evening was the fire brigade meeting, and my company had the kitchen along with all of the probationary members. We did not serve corned beef & cabbage,  but something more American – hamburgers & French fries!
 This morning when walking to my office, I saw on a neon news bulletin in Times Square that the Los Angeles Dodgers played their last spring training game at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. They had arrived in 1948 as the Brooklyn Dodgers, and continued to train there after moving west. Now with more fans coming to watch their teams in spring training, the Dodgers’ owners decided that it would be easier for the  West Coast fans if the Dodgers trained in Arizona instead.
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18.3.08 23:21
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18; disappointed; Afrikaners
Since my last entry nearly two weeks ago my daughter Eileen turned 18 (on March 19th, Saint Joseph’s Day), witnessed more spontaneous generation, got upset at an upset, met a friend and some of his friends from South Africa.  There was also a meeting of my ambulance corps, but that is every 4th meeting of the month.
   I cannot believe that my daughter just turned 18 years old. It seems like only a few years ago that we had her in a stroller or in an infant seat. Time certainly does fly. While she is home schooled, technically she is a senior at Islip High School. If she were mainstreamed, she could enlist in the armed forced in June and we could not stop her. However, since she has autism she could not be accepted. Last Sunday was Easter and I saw more people come out of the woodwork for the 10:45 Mass at St. Mary’s. It was so crowded that I had to sit in the kitchen that adjourned the auditorium. Of course, we won’t see most of these people for 9 more months now.
Later in the day we all went to visit my mom & dad for Easter at their home in Queens. Since we all would be eating in, I did not go for a walk but did watch some of the March Madness. The game I followed most closely was the Georgetown-Davidson game, since the team that I was rooting for to win it all was Georgetown. At half time, the Georgetown Hoyas had a good lead,  but in the second half Davidson gained on them to win the game and eliminate the Hoyas. So like National League baseball fans used to say in Brooklyn, and often still say in Queens, “wait until next year”. The next day I met my friend who is a university professor at John’s Pizzeria in Greenwich Village.  He was in New York for a conference, as were several of his friends and colleagues from South African universities.  We all enjoyed great brick over pizza, and cokes, at John’s and I got to talk to several of the South Africans. From what I gathered, the country has changed drastically since 1994 when apartheid ended. Several of the South Africans spoke Afrikaans to each other and it was the first time that I can remember hearing it spoken first hand. I also got to talk to them about cricket and rugby, as well as South African wines, which are quite good ( but I am still biased toward Long Island wines, though). After dinner we walked up 6th Avenue so they could get to their hotels and I could get to Penn Station. The Red Sox and Athletics already played two official games in Japan. Today the first of the North American opening days occurs when the Washington Nationals’ new ballpark plays its first official game (there was an exhibition game between the regional rivals – the Orioles and the National yesterday). Later this year I hope to take in a game there. 
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30.3.08 21:59
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