Off Topic: That Was the Year It Was - 2017

It's not only a Sunday, but it's the last day (Sunday or otherwise) of the year. This is my last off television topic photo post of the year. Television fans should make note that The Amazing Race season premiere will air this coming Wednesday, January 3, at 8pm ET/PT. I will be posting about the cast before the premiere and, of course, live blogging the show and hosting the blog party as it airs.

So ... to the off television topic stuff. Between really feeling horrible and the bitter cold this past week, I don't think I took any photos at all. That's a first in years. What I did do for this week's post is go through photos I've taken during 2017 and pick out my personal favorites, one for each month. Then I threw random photos I took of Vincent the Cat just because he's such a big part of my life.

To be honest, I won't be sorry to see 2017 go away. Between the political landscape disharmony, my increasing dissatisfaction with my workplace, declining health and more ... it's not been a good year for me. For years I had planned to retire this year. Health insurance costs, not a benefit for retirees in my company, have made that impossible. Maybe in 2018 I'll have some way to get out of the rat race. 

I even had more problems on the blog this year than in the past. I was about ready to throw the towel in on it with the Big Brother blogging this past summer. I find it ridiculous that people get so hung up on the show that they feel the need to turn their vitriol on "fans" of cast members they don't like. Sheesh. Not only was there controversy, but BB used to be my summer cash cow. I once got paid good freelancing money to cover the shows and live feeds. Neither the ads revenue nor the donations make the work I put into it worth the headaches I had this past year with it.

I am grateful for the friends I have, the roof over my head, enough money to live on without worrying that there will be more bills left than month to pay them in. I've certainly gone through worse financial years in my life. I've also gone through worse personal loss times in my life -- flashing back on decades (scores) of years ago when I lost my parents five months apart. So, it hasn't been a good year for me ... but, in many ways, it hasn't been the worst year of my life, either.

I hope 2018 is a better year for everyone!

January

My train home arrives in Bridgewater as the snow comes down. I must have left early that day because it was still daylight! I probably headed out early due to the snow.

February

Historic train wheels captured in a sculpture at the Somerville Train Station.

March

After snow cover went and before new snow cover arrived, this is a shot of the main building at the Plainfield Train Station.

April

A hawk on the stadium lights at the TD Bank Ball Park in Bridgewater. He seemed to be watching the game.

May

The coolest looking potato beetle (or false potato beetle, not sure which) posed for me at the Bridgewater Train Station.

June

Making eye to eyes contact with a starling.

July

I took so many photos of the Plainfield 4th of July Parade that it was hard to pick just one. So, I picked none. Instead, I went for this photo I took of one of the painted utility boxes in Plainfield. This one is at the corner of Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

August

Gull on a lamp post on North Avenue in Plainfield.

September

The marigolds in planters at my workplace were fun and colorful to photograph.

October

Yep, like birds, the trains and train stations are repeating photo fodder for me. This was taken as the sun was setting at the Bridgewater Train Station.

November

What year would be complete without a moon shot from me? This one is the Full Beaver Moon.

December

The great escape from the rat (pigeon) race. I envy that bird.

And then there's Vincent ...
He isn't always sleeping, mind you. But it's easiest to photograph him when he is! 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - October 8, 2017

Good morning! Since it's a Sunday morning, it's time for my off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. If you're not interested in either, please feel free to check out my previous and newer posts I will put up after this -- they will be television related! You can find my Survivor posts at this link. 

I had pretty much of a sucky worrisome day yesterday with relief only coming in the evening after I returned home from work. As some of you who know me might know, I'm SO not a phone person. I only bought a cheap prepaid cell phone about eight years back because of the lack of pay phones as time went on. I do have a landline -- just a very basic one which even works in power outages. But I've had the same prepaid flip phone for eight years. It cost me about $20 back when I got it. 

It is (was) a dumb phone. Yet, due to today's society and the fact that it can screen calls better than my landline, receive texts and more, I use it for almost all of my online stuff. The number for it is the one hooked into the intercom system to know if someone is at my apartment door for me and more. GAH! Without that number, I'm a bit lost. I also use it as an alarm clock and have stopped wearing a watch because I use it for the proper time.

The phone fell out of my pocket on the train going to work yesterday. I know I had when I got on the train. And, when I got off the train, as the train was pulling out, I went to check the time. OH NOES! It was gone! Now, if I were anyone else at my workplace, I could have either waited for the train to make its next run back to the station with that crew and retrieve the phone. If I worked in just about any other place, I would have access to the internet to at least suspend the service online. 

But ... NOOOO. I had new employees coming in which had me going into work an hour earlier than usual on a Saturday morning. I'm the ONLY one there who knows how to do all the paperwork, the computer programs needed (Oracle and Kronos Workforce Management) and stuff to get them in the computer system and to do the actual orientation for new employees. The one other person who knows it, but does things a bit haphazardly if I do say so myself, is on vacation.

While I didn't have outright banking information or anything like that on the phone, the payment system for the phone is hooked to my debit card. I had just put more money on it and someone could go to town with calling stuff on the phone. I worried all day. And, instead of working an hour extra due to my early arrival, I went home an hour early after doing the orientation for the new hires and the accounting. 

Now, it's been years since I bothered with the Verizon wireless web site. But I had made an account there and managed to get in to it from my home computer. The actual phone account is now suspended and I have a new phone ordered from Amazon set to arrive at my workplace on Tuesday. I can't have it come here as I would have no clue if someone rang my intercom buzzer! I need it by Wednesday as I have a Peapod grocery order coming and they text me. At this time, the worst case is that I will lose my contact list. With the new phone I'm getting (same number), my contacts will be stored on the Verizon cloud -- not sure of the old phone contacts or not. I'll find out.

The phone I'm getting finally puts me in the smartphone world. But I'm still getting a prepaid one. And, while I'll probably take advantage of some available apps, I refuse to be one of those people addicted to the phone. I'm buying the next to cheapest 4G Android phone (Samsung) I could find on Amazon with good reviews. It will still be more expensive than the one I lost. Grr. One reason I never bothered with a smartphone is because I'm cheap ... er, frugal. I'm just SO not a phone person and didn't need the extra expense. 

But one pro to it is that I will be able to take decent photos and video and finally get to have an Instagram account without a bunch of software on my computer to act like I'm posting photos from a cell phone. My dumb phone had a camera, but it was a pain to upload the bad photos to the online Verizon site which is the only place I seemed to be able to make them go and the reason I even had an account on the Verizon wireless site to begin with! Plus, the new phone has a much better camera and I can take more candid photos on trains and such without pulling out the actual camera I carry.

One last thing about this fiasco ... NJ Transit really needs to get more professional staff answering the phones for lost and found. When you call a business representative, you really don't need to hear someone say, "We ain't got nuthin' turned in today." AIN'T GOT NUTHIN?!?! My own workplace has strict standards for greetings and handling business calls. It reflects on the business itself.

Wait ... one more last thing! (Really.) Because losing the phone was all new to me -- I don't lose things and even still have an eight-track player that works -- I did the chat bit on the Verizon Wireless site last night to make sure I could keep the number and suspend the service until I got the new phone. The person I dealt with in the chat was delightful -- polite, not just canned responses, friendly, spelling and punctuation were professional and she did exactly what I needed done. Oh, and she told me it was her birthday. Happy birthday again, Casey! We ended up small-talking a bit while we waited for the computer to bring up my account. She was such a gem!
  
Onto this week's photos ... clicking on an image will open it in a larger version.

Starling in its fall coat

They go from glossy black with highlights in the sheen to spots over the seasons. 

When you see tracks, always ...

... think junkie. Er, um, train. Last night at the Plainfield Train Station as I arrived home from work. I guess I'm just too cynical.

Tiny flowers ...

... in the weeds. Make me feel happy. Make me forget my needs.
Or something to that effect. 

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 25, 2017

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way.

This photo post is a weekly feature on the blog year 'round, unlike the Big Brother which is just a season. Well, of course, last year BB was two seasons with BBOTT online, but ...! Big Brother 19 makes its season premiere with a two-hour show this coming Wednesday, June 28 at 8pm ET/PT. All of the posts I've made/will make regarding the show can be found on my BB19 blog label. I will be announcing the opening of the blog pool later today. I've been waiting for a response back from the person who usually does it. If she doesn't respond by afternoon, I guess I can come up with the random match-ups myself. 

Not much has been going on here -- more heat, more rain and work, work, work. This coming week, I only work four days (yay!) and then it's onto staycation. I really need it and timed it so it covers the 4th of July holiday week, plus the full first week of the BB19 live feeds to get me into the swing of the new faces and twist of the show.

I really didn't get great photos this past week. A lot of the days, it was either rainy or windy. Oh, well ... onto the photos I took this week -- clicking on an image will open a larger version in a gallery setting.

The Stalker

A male pigeon puffs himself all up and stalks female pigeons at the Plainfield Train Station. Kinda like human behavior ...

Burst of orange!

Day Lilies

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Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 21, 2017

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. If you're here for Survivor -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here.  You can find any posts I make about TAR at this link -- The Amazing Race. The season finales for both shows are coming up this week -- how time flies!

In regard to television watching -- I haven't been able to get into this season's Fargo like I have the previous two seasons. I fell asleep the week before last and I actually forgot it was on this past week. I'll catch up with it today. Maybe if I'm not watching it after live blogging a show and at such a late hour, I will be more into it.

So, how is my leg doing? Hmm. I went to the hospital this week for the scheduled follow-up Doppler ultrasound test to make sure no blood clots have formed and to track the progress of the injected vein-collapsing Varithena. The tech performing the ultrasound told me all looked good to him, but the doctor will read the report more thoroughly. My next doctor appointment isn't until June 2nd. I do see improvement. Where I had the bundle of veins like snakes under my skin in my calf, a marked improvement. There is a rather large painful swelling at one of the injection sites, but I'm thinking that should diminish in time. The blisters from the tape are gone, but my thigh still has a lot of discoloring and bruising from that big injection site and that foam roll thing that was so tightly strapped to it in the bandaging.  All in all, it feels better than it did pre-Varithena even at this early stage. But, then again, I have been taking it easy on it although I do my daily walks as recommended.

A shout out to blog reader/friend Leonia and her husband for their graciousness in offering me rides to medical dealings! I try to schedule things I can get to via train, bus and/or cab, but life is so much easier when someone goes that extra mile and offers a ride when you're not feeling well! 

We had our first heat wave of 2017 earlier this week ... in MAY. Grr. The criteria for a heat wave is three consecutive days of over 90 degrees.  One day we maxed out at 97. I don't like the heat. As I get older, I like it even less. I'd actually prefer the cold of winter (sans ice and snow) than hot humid weather. Of course, I'd prefer spring to be SPRING, not SUMMER! 

Onto this week's photos -- clicking on an image will bring up larger versions in a gallery setting ...

Is it a Potato Beetle? Or is that a falsehood?

This beetle showed up as I was shooting mites on concrete at the Bridgewater Train Station. I got a bunch of great photos of him/her. But, upon returning home, I wanted to make sure I knew what it was. I thought "Potato Beetle" but found out that this area also has False Potato Beetles! The way to tell the difference is something about white showing under its wings when it flies. I didn't see it flying, just checking out the concrete for mites or something. So, I don't really know. 

Posing for the camera

The A Team - Azaleas and Allium

It's a good thing I took this photo last Sunday when I went for my walk. Yesterday the azaleas were brown and the allium had passed and was drooping. Berckman Street, Plainfield.

Friends-ly flowers

A row of irises grow in front of the Friends (Quakers) Meetinghouse on Watchung Avenue in Plainfield.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 7, 2017

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. If you're here for Survivor -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here.  You can find any posts I make about TAR at this link -- The Amazing Race.

Another week in the life down. We've gone into a chilly time weather-wise as well as plenty of rain. One day (Thursday) we had nearly three inches of rain! I know that come August we'll be praying for rain. But, sheesh. Enough already. The saying is APRIL showers, not MAY downpours!

I thought it was storming late one night when my apartment building actually shook. I mistook it for thunder. Nope. Just Trump's entourage flying extremely low heading to Bedminster. His golf course is in the next county over, not all that far from my workplace. I know he'll never show up in Plainfield!

Last night when I got home from work, I noticed the yellow caution tapes were lining Watchung Avenue in anticipation of today's New Jersey State Bicycle Championship Race today in downtown Plainfield. If I felt better, I'd go take some photos of the action. This is the second year in a row that we've had the privilege of hosting the race. (And the second year I've missed it.) The weather is a bit chilly and skies are overcast but not really expecting rain. I'd say it's probably perfect weather for it. 

Some of the hall kids have already started again -- not really the ones from the overcrowded apartment in my hallway. I've got some names now -- Brian and Kevin from the third floor, Nigel from the first floor -- and will be calling the landlord's office tomorrow. Last night they were running back and forth (and back and forth) for almost two hours in the third floor hallway. You can hear that all the way down on the first floor when they run back and forth (and back and forth). Plus, when I came home from work one day I caught the three of them with a POGO STICK on the first floor! A pogo stick! That is SO not an indoor toy! I sent them outside with that. I notice that whatever parent(s) had to pay for the broken security glass in the back first floor door to the staircase must have paid for it. There's new glass.

I have just a three day work week ahead of me (yay!). It's not all fun and games, though. On Friday I have to go to the vascular surgeon for the first phase of healing my out of control varicose veins. I don't care about pretty. My legs are too scarred up from knee replacements and more to be "pretty." I just want to feel better! It's more of a treatment than a surgery, per se. I'll be getting Varithena foam shot into my great saphenous vein on my lower right leg. It will fill the vein, then collapse it. It sounds a lot easier to deal with than the old-fashioned vein stripping remedy! I'll be bandaged and wearing a thigh-high compression stocking for 48 hours afterward. I don't know if I'll be able to bend the leg much, but I guess I'll find out. I do have a three day weekend next weekend. So, if I feel okay, I might do something other than nap it away.

Onto this week's photos ... clicking on an image will open it in a larger format. 

I said DON'T ruffle my feathers!

See! See! This is what happens! A starling at the Plainfield Train Station.

The prettiest time of the year

Okay ... autumn is very pretty with its brilliant foliage. Winter is pretty when the world is white and quiet. Summer, not so much as things around here tend to dry out and lawns turn brown, especially in the late summer. But spring is a renewal -- flowers are blossoming and the array of greens is amazing to behold. Yes, it wreaks havoc with my sinuses, but I still love the spring sneezes aside.

Uniquely marked pigeon in Plainfield

All pigeons do not look alike! This pigeon hangs out on North Avenue in the vicinity of the Plainfield Train Station.

Coral-colored azaleas

As seen on Berckman Street in Plainfield

Here I am, but the action is behind me!

As I waited for my train home in Bridgewater last night, a baseball game was in full swing at the adjacent TD Bank Ball Park (home of the Somerset Patriots minor league baseball). Although sunset hadn't hit yet, all of the stadium lights were lit and ready for the dark. I saw a big hawk fly over me and didn't get my camera out in time to catch him in flight. But I saw where he landed -- right on one of the stadium lights stanchions! You'd think he'd be looking for prey and would shun the cheers, music and other noise at the ball park. Nope. He eventually went to the top of the lights and appeared to be watching the game in progress. Now, the crowds there for games usually measure in the thousands and, unless he plans to grab the ball, I can't see why a Red Tailed Hawk would watch the game. He is probably trying to figure out humans, I guess. (More on the hawk after the jump!)

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS** 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - April 9, 2017

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, this is my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. If you're here for Survivor -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here.  You can find any posts I make about TAR at this link -- The Amazing Race.

We had another week of cold and flooding rains. (Yet the drought advisory hasn't been taken down.) Yesterday we actually saw the sun! However, the temperatures were chilly and the wind chill almost required a winter coat. Today is supposed to be leading off a warmer temperature trend. Supposedly, Tuesday's highs might be in the 80s. Now, I don't really want that. I just want low 70s -- I want SPRING, not summer or winter! Sheesh.

My week has been a bit of the doldrums. It seems like I've worked and came home, rinse, repeat. That said, I think I'll just move on to the photos I took this past week -- clicking on an image will open a larger version in a gallery format.

A rainbow over Plainfield

After a horribly cold and stormy day, the sun came out on Thursday creating a beautiful rainbow over the city of Plainfield. I took this shot from inside a car driving on West Front Street headed into town with sun at our backs. No, I wasn't driving.

Whazzat?

It's a hawk

I'm not sure what kind of hawk as it has its feather spread out on its tail. It had been rainy -- he (she?) was probably drying them that way. Red-Tailed Hawks are the most common around here. But, if it has its red tail, it's hiding it under those spread feathers. 

When I got off the train in Bridgewater one day, I spotted a large bird atop the stadium lights at the TD Bank Ball Park in Bridgewater. I was hoping it was a small eagle. They are around but tend to stay closer to the Raritan River.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - March 26, 2017

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, this is my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. If you're here for Survivor -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here.  Remember-- The Amazing Race season premiere will be THIS Thursday, March 30th! I will be live-blogging the show and there will be blog parties!

Let's see ... what's new this week?

Well, the weather still isn't new -- we're still having winter temperatures for the most part although (thankfully) we've had no more snow. Yesterday was the first day with temperatures above the 40s. Today we're back to high in the 40s. March is often like this. But that doesn't mean I have to like it!

On the apartment front: I think Joe, my neighbor across the hall for fifteen years or so, is moving out. I stopped some kids I saw lugging things out during the week. I've never seen kids visiting him. Joe is one who will come out and yell at kids playing in the corridors! Since these were very young black kids I didn't know and they were taking stuff to the dumpsters, I just asked them if Joe was okay. He's in ill health and I thought he may have passed and relatives were clearing out his place. The oldest boy, about 12 years-old, told me Joe was fine, they're his great-nephews and they were just helping him by bringing stuff to the dumpster. Okay, sounds good. Until today ... when I took a bag of trash to the dumpsters. Uh-oh. I recognize furniture out there and the dumpsters (with the exception of one with closed lids and the recycle one) were over-fllled. That's JOE'S furniture! Yeah, he's alive, I guess. But he's moving, perhaps to an assisted living place, I would think. I wonder what the new neighbor will be like. Sigh. Joe and I always got along well. He has even offered to loan me his car if I ever needed it for something.

In other apartment news, the idiot ... um, guy with the loud thumping stereo upstairs has been quiet all week. Good.

In workplace news, a two-year nightmare has ended. It's like a weight off my shoulders, fresh air ... but I still want to retire as soon as I can. In health news, I really have no new news. I haven't been on my feet as much during the workdays and my leg issues feel a lot better. But I still have to have that vascular surgery done.

Onto the photos from the week. It's a bit gull heavy. We've had bitter cold temperatures and strong winds most of the week. So, I only took photos at certain times and some days I didn't want to kill off the camera's batteries with the cold. Clicking on an image will open it in a larger gallery window.

NJ Transit Plainfield Train Station

The main building off of East 4th Street is (of course) on the Newark/NYC bound Track Two side of the station. With NJ Transit, anything train or bus has better shelter on the side that heads in that direction. They're under the false assumption that people wait only on that side and just head home without having to wait on the other side.

Things are looking up?

Well, at least this ring-billed gull is looking up! Corner of Gavett Place and North Avenue.

Hmm ... another one

Perhaps they're waiting for the Rapture? I don't know.

Oh noes!

Snowstorm white and yellow daffodil victims in Plainfield. How sad is this?!?!

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Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - October 9, 2016

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. This is a regular Sunday part of this blog in addition to the television posts. Right now I'm covering Big Brother: Over the Top daily -- you can find those posts at this link. I'm also live blogging Survivor episodes as they air on Wednesday evenings. Come join the blog parties!

But this ain't that. This is this.

Let's see ... where to start? Hmm.

Might as well start with the weather. That's as good a place as any. We had grey drizzly weather a lot again this week, but with a few gorgeous autumn days tossed in to remind us how nice it is to live in an area with four seasons. Yesterday was drizzly all day. I must not have seen the most recent forecasts as I could swear last I heard it was supposed to be nice today. Instead, it's raining fairly steady out there. Oh, no matter. Other than a run out to the bodega around the corner sometime today before dark (yeah, I'm like that), I don't have any plans to go anywhere. I'll just decompress most of the day.

I went to an awards luncheon for my workplace on Tuesday. A paid day off to go to a restaurant with good food, but way too many courses! Oh, I shouldn't complain. But it is like a seven-course lunch there. I'm more used to chowing down a sandwich at that hour! The awards were for longevity in the company. While there were two others with as many years listed for me (25), I was the person in the entire luncheon of over a 100 people in five-year increments with the company ... with the longest overall time served. I worked for the company for nine years, then quit. Then, after five years away, I returned to the company. So, I've actually been there 34 years, not 25. Oy. Talk about being in a rut! (And how old I really am ...!)

Not much else is happening here. Not only have I been in a rut for decades, but I lead a rather boring life of work and home as of late. So, onto the photos -- clicking on an image will open a larger version. I hope you all had a good week and that all have made it through Hurricane Matthew okay!

He will save your soul.

The Hispanic Soul-Savers were out and about at the train station. They're not to be confused with the Portable Religion folks -- the Hispanic ones just walk by me thinking I don't speak the language. The others approach me. I wish they wouldn't. It goes against something deep within me when others try to peddle their faith. If they get into my apartment building, I don't answer my door. Eventually, they go away.

Pigeon photo bomb

As one pigeon posed nicely for the camera, another decided to land right in back of him, thus stealing the glory of the shot. North Avenue, Plainfield.

A pretty flower always brings a smile.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**