Mass Shootout at a Pathmark Supermarket in Old Bridge,New Jersey,USA

Like a bad rewind of a movie, once again, another place has been hit by a mass shootout care of a lone gunman ,this time at a Pathmark supermarket in Old Bridge,New Jersey, USA  which is 24 miles SW of Newark, New Jersey’s port city.

Before 4 am Eastern Time today,as employees of that supermarket were working inside restocking shelves in preparation for the supermarket’s opening in a few hours’ time, a mass shootout occurred which prompted a call to authorities. The aftermath produced 3 fatalities including a lone gunman believed to be a disgruntled employee. 2 supermarket windows were believed to be broken in for accessible entry.

Investigations are still ongoing but I couoldn’t help but think that exactly 1 week ago, a similar shooting by a disgruntled former employee gunned down his former employer near the Empire State Building in New York City.

Taking a tally now of the mass shootouts since July this year at the ff places: Aurora Colorado moviehouse,Sikh Temple in Oak Creek,Wisconsin; Texas A& M campus, Empire State Buiding and now this here in Old Bridge,New Jersey. The last time a mass shootout at a supermarket had happened was on Jan. 8, 2011 in Tucson,Arizona at the Safeway Supermarket where almost a dozen people had died and 1 congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was gravely wounded but survived.

5 shootouts almost within 1-2 weeks’ interval  from each other? Life is really that expendable now? Makes one think that gun access and use has really been quite free and lax this time.

Advocates for gun reform? Don’t hold your breath! As long as some folks think that they can settle their problems directly by just using a gun to drive a point will be very hard to control.

If you strongly believe that changes will be made as far as use of  guns are concerned, then pigs can really fly this time.

Josie

Life and Its Changes,Surprises,etc.

They always  say that sometimes, the best laid-out plans just don’t turn out to be the way that we all expect it to be. Life can give us a curveball and we just have to adjust and make the most of the situation that’s presented to us. It’s like that popular quote: When life gives you lemons,make lemonade out of them.

If I were to quote what that character Forrest Gump said; “My Mama said that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get until you open it.”

The one thing that’s consistent in life is change. It’ll always be there in all shapes,sizes,consistencies,colors,etc.

Perhaps,that’s why life is considered to be not boring and always full of surprises for us.

There is a reason for change to exist in our lives.The answer may not hit it right in our faces just yet but when we look back later on, it”ll all make sense. As they say, things happen for a reason.

Savor the moment and make the most of it. Enjoy the ride!

Bonjour!

Josie

The Electric Fan As We All Know It Nowadays

As the summer season continues to wind down, the heat wave is starting now to gradually dissipate. Before that, I had to buy a fan at my local Walmart and was faced with a lot of choices as to what kind of fan I should buy. It comes in all shapes and sizes but one thing’s obvious. I have to choose between a tower fan vs. a propeller fan.

We are all familiar with propeller fans since childhood.The plastic or metallic mesh cage that holds the body of the fan in place( with the propeller blades spreading out from that body like the petals of a flower) assumes either a circular,square or rectangular shape. If it’s the 2 latter shapes, it’s called a box fan. With 2 cages together side by side, it becomes known as a dual fan. If there’s a plastic or metallic clip below the base of the fan, it becomes known as a clip fan. A small-sized fan is loosely called a desk fan since it can just stand by itself on any desk’s or flat surface.

With all the  aforementioned fans, at some point of use, one has to remove the cage and manually remove the lint that accumulates among the propeller blades.Also depending on the size and shape of the fan, it would determine how much space it’ll take up in any part of your home.

Taking all of these into consideration as well as pricing(depending on the brand) , simplicity of use and less upkeep, I decided to buy a tower fan for the first time.

I got one at a very good price but I decided to try one at a small size(10 inches) which was a good portable size to carry around. Very simple to use by adjusting the fan strength from low to high by just sliding the power lever. Less upkeep needed since there’s no need to clean out any lint. The propellers are arranged in such a way face up and there’s no removable cage  to be seen. My guess is that the tower fan is structured this way so that less cleanup is involved. The tower fan is cylindrical in shape and can stand vertically by itself which results in taking up less room space, considering that it’s slim-looking too.

Fan strength is impressive and acts almost like an air conditioner in a way.

All these types of fans come with an electric cord and socket which is why of course, they’re called electric fans in the first place.

What can more can I say?

Keep cool literally, mon ami!

As I had always said, the heat is still on but slowly starting to wane as time goes on.

Josie

Neil Armstrong, R.I.P., Godspeed!

When I heard the news of the death of  Neil Armstrong, the US astronaut who first walked on the moon’s surface on July 20,1969, I felt that another era has passed before all of us. He was the original moonwalker. (My apologies to Michael Jackson).

Mr. Armstrong had just celebrated his 82nd birthday on August 5th this year and 2 days later, had undergone coronary-bypass surgery for blocked coronary arteries. Accdg. to a released family statement, he died from complications of that surgery. He died  on  August 25th.

He was very passionate about the continuance of the space missions to the moon and would be a public advocate of it from time to time. He was known to be a very humble and private man accdg. to those close to him  inspite of his world-wide fame. This was proven when he spoke those famous words: “That’s a small step for [a] man, one giant  leap for mankind”.

His trip to the moon was in a way, a watershed moment for all of us. Even though we’re now following up on Curiosity giving us live video feeds on the planet Mars’ surface, the moon voyage was still a big catalyst for all other space endeavors to come. His spacecraft called Apollo 11 will be forever linked  with that voyage.

It made us all believe that anything’s possible and attainable . Even the late US President John F. Kennedy had high hopes that the US can send a man to the moon someday. Sadly for him, he didn’t live long enough to see his dream come true but I have this hunch,mon ami, that he knew that it did happen after all, once he was already stationed in the afterlife.

To Mr. Neil Armstrong, R.I.P.Godspeed!

As you go to meet your Maker and to the heavenly skies,stars and galaxies above, I’ll be playing this Frank Sinatra classic just for you, Sir,….its title is “.Fly Me To The Moon”.

Au revoir!

Josie

Mass Shootout at the Empire State Building,New York City

Here we go again as usual, folks!  It’s beginning to sound like a broken record. Since  the last shootout in US soil(i.e. at Texas A & M campus) last week, this time, it’s at Gotham City, I mean New York City. In the Empire State known as New York, one of its  most famous tourist attractions  is in the borough of Manhattan which is part of New York City. We’re talking about the Empire State Building , located at 34th Street and 5th Avenue.

Security has always been tight there especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and so needed with the daily heavy influx of tourists trying to go into that building to get a good view of the entire city and neighboring New Jersey , Connecticut,Long Island,Staten Island and parts of upper New York State. That building has been the scene of so many tourist photos, movie film shootings and even marriage proposals, mon ami.

Initial reports stated that  outside the entrance of the Empire State Building at a  little past 9 am ET(rush hour)today, a lone gunman was seen  with  a 45 calibre hand gun, running down the street and in the process,  shooting passers-by..  2 security guards reportedly  confronted and chased the gunman away and the NYC police took on the chase and eventually shot  the gunman very shortly after. Total so far of 10 people were shot.From that, total of 2 including this gunman are dead which leaves 8 wounded as of this time. No links to terrorism were found so far. Among the 8 wounded, 6 were sent to nearby  Belleview Hospital which reported all 6 injuries as non-life threatening.

The body of the gunman is still at this time outside the entrance of the Empire State Building and cordoned off around it as a crime scene.

Upon today’s press conference with the NYC mayor and the NY state police chief, the backstory was that the gunman(53 y/o Jeffrey Johnson) earlier was at a fashion apparel store about a block away from the Empire State Buiding. At  that store, he shot someone on the head and fled. He reportedly was spotted by a nearby construction worker who then notified 2 security guards who were both stationed at the Empire State Builiding. From there, the whole subsequent shootout at the Empire State Building then ensued.

Mr. Johnson allegedly shot a 41 y/o former employer inside that fashion apparel store with a handgun hidden inside a black plastic bag that he was carrying into that store.Motive apparently could be related to the fact that he was laid-off from that store due to corporate downsizing in light of the current state of the US economy.

Investigation is still ongoing and some details could still change later on.

Essentially, the topic of gun violence can’t be changed nor denied again,folks.

Gun control ,gun use and 2nd Amendment rights will be discussed again, probably to no avail as usual. As I had said earlier, it sounds like a broken record.

I used to live in New York City some years back and I can tell you this. NYC will survive this. They already survived 9/11,mind you.

As the song goes, the city has an Empire state of mind.

Josie

Telegrams and Typewriters…. Are They Still Around?

As the high tech era continues to expand everyday, there are certain equipment that’s probably becoming more obsolete and  possibly, extinct by now.

Take first  the telegram. In the olden days, you had to send one with as less words as possible because it’s expensive.It also takes up to 3 days, I believe, to receive a telegram message. With the fax machine, email and text  messaging now at our disposal, I doubt very much that the telegram’s around anymore at all, considering the aforementioned modern gadgets are less expensive and less time-consuming to send messages.

The typewriter on the other hand, I believe has dwindled in number since we all can type on our computer keyboard. But I believe that there are still some purists who still are in possession of one and is willing to make copies of their typewritten reports by using  (gasp!)carbon paper. Is even carbon paper still around too? If there’s any typing mistakes, one usually uses either a typewriter eraser strip or Wite-Out(white correction liquid) to remove such mistakes. The Wite-Out nowadays is used for other non-typing purposes.  On a computer keyboard, we just rearrange the words and  “erase”  a mistake by punching the DELETE button before printing the manuscript out clean as a whistle. Less messy too! No white paste or liquid on either keyboard nor one’s fingers to be seen for that matter.

Yup. Things that were considered fancy and advanced before are now considered obsolete.

Credit that reality to the everchanging technology landscape which surely will still be around after we’re all long gone from this world.

As the saying goes,some things will remain consistent in its existence: death and taxes. I would like to add this word to the mix: change.

Food for thought,mon ami.

Au revoir!

Josie

Dawn Blue Dishwashing Liquid–Original Scent–Savior of Animals from BP Oil Spill Grease

I watched a  recent documentary about the role of Dawn dishwashing liquid–original scent–(known as Dawn Blue )specifically in cleaning up the animals ( that inhabit the Gulf coast) from the oil spill grease that polluted the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The oil spill leak was from its oil wells that were located within that Gulf. (c/o BP, also known as British Petroleum).

Accdg. to the environmentalists, only Dawn Blue is effective in cleaning up the grease  from those animals like those seagulls and pelicans for example.They say that the longer the grease sticks to their bodies, the quicker they’ll die. Probably because Dawn Blue was created in its purest form with the essential cleaning chemicals to effectively remove grease from dishes. The other varieties of Dawn dishwashing liquid come now in various scents and colors but are not as effective in cleaning up the grease from those animals. Perhaps because they made the chemical composition of such dishwashing liquid milder so that the various  fragrances could come out.

If I can, I’ll try to keep a bottle of Dawn Blue around. You never know.  A stray animal or even a pet may get  an oily ,greasy sheen and could use a good shampoo. Not only would they get cleaner but you also save their lives in the process.

I’ll never look at a bottle of Dawn Blue the same way again,that’s for sure.

Bon jour!

Josie

Life Can Be Fleeting at Times

Just recently, I saw a very familiar face in my town’s  newspaper’s obituary section. It was quite a shock for me to see her face since I never had imagined that her life would end so quickly. She was only in her  mid-50’s. The obituary stated that no viewing will take place and in lieu of flowers, to donate to a charity in her memory. Her death was reported as sudden with no known given reason.

Since I never informed her family that I will be writing a blog about her, for privacy purposes, I’ll call her Rona in this blog.

I’m really at  a loss for  the exact words as to what to say but I guess, I’ll write from my heart instead.

Rona was a very funny,vivacious ,smart and kind lady who always sees the optimistic side of life. I used to work with her during my volunteer work in a downtown agency for the municipal government.

Having her as  a working colleague was a treasure and made the whole volunteer experience quite enjoyable for me.

Life can be fleeting at times like in this case. It’s so surreal. It seemed like only yesterday that  I was chatting with her and now today,she’s gone!

As I had always said time and time again, make the most of everyday ‘coz we don’t know when our life will exactly end.

She was also quite a tech whiz, always up -to-date with the latest technology news.

I’ll really miss her. Godspeed, Rona!

My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

Au revoir, mon ami!

Josie

“Americans Only” Shopping Hours at Costco –Bellingham,WA ,USA?

I had recently seen a telecast and online news item regarding a Facebook petition by some disgruntled  US-based customers of Costco in Bellingham,WA ,USA to have their Costco branch implement an “Americans Only” shopping hour rule . Reason was that they were upset that everytime they go to their Costco branch , 2 specific items have already ran out of stock, i.e. milk and gasoline. Blame was  placed on Canadian shoppers who travel down the US-Canada border and had allegedly bought out these 2 items in bulk at this particular Costco branch before those other aggrieved US shoppers arrive.

Really? What happened to free enterprise? The economists keep saying that to liven up the economy,aside from job creation ,the retail spending has to be robust to which in turn will induce more manufacturing and create more jobs to help keep up with the supply and demand of wanted goods and services.

To all those disgruntled US shoppers of Costco in Bellingham,WA,USA,please listen up. Don’t blame it on the Canucks who come to your neck of the woods to shop. They’re not hurting you. They just came to shop. They didn’t come to steal or vandalize your local Costco.Besides, how are you  all sure that the Canadians are the only culprits? Could it  possibly  be one of your own too?

Any grievances you may have, it’s best to address it to your local Costco branch. Possibly , that Costco could implement some rules like limit number of purchases per customer for example. Same goes with the gasoline fill-ups in their respective gas station.

Also,if you can, you may need to go at other days or hours when these Canucks come down to your turf to shop.  Clue: They usually come down on Saturdays to make it the start of a shopping weekend. If you really only have Saturday to shop , try to come just before the store opens. If there’s a big crowd already there, there’s nothing you can do but make a beeline for the milk and gas first, as soon as the doors open.

Just don’t expect your local Costco to start insisting that everyone has to produce either a US passport or US green card  before shopping during Americans Only hours. I find that to be a civil rights violation to put it mildly.

Please look at the overall picture. Some tend to look over the forests and miss out on the trees.
It wouldn’t look good on US tourism either. It will give people the wrong idea that the US doesn’t welcome visitors nor their tourist money which I  think can  partly help the fledging U.S. economy.

Also bear in mind that everybody has the right to shop anywhere with a few exceptions that may involve endangerment to self and to others.

And for your information, not all Canadians can or in some cases, won’t even  like to go down south to shop. Considering the dollar exchange, price of gas,costs of staying over in a hotel( unless you have friends to crash through),don’t think that there’s  a stampede of Canadians ever ready to be in US soil anytime. Now   for those Canucks who are already down on your turf and zealously bulk-buying for bargains, I’m so sorry if it annoyed you . But think of it this way, they’re no different from you folks in trying to deal with a struggling economy by watching their wallet. Some items are also expensive here in Canada, mind you . And since they’re all driving in from a great distance , they’re making sure that they get their money’s worth(considering the price of gas!–in Canada, we’re charged by the liter unlike in the US,it’s by  the gallon as you know).

When you folks travel up to Canada, I’m sure that you would want more bang for your buck when purchasing anything up north. Admit it!

I have a hunch that your Costco branch deals with the situation this way: A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. If there’s an actual purchase transaction right before their eyes, they’ll grab it without second thoughts. I can’t blame your store either because in the retail business, it’s very hard to predict how many shoppers will enter a store per day. This in turn will determine whether a shop breaks even, earns or even lose a profit or business altogether.

Lastly, remarks made  from some of you calling these Canadian shoppers as “rude” is quite unfortunate and childish. I just hope such words were only uttered in the heat of feelings of anger and frustration.

Please bear in  mind that  Canadians  though they are known to be  mainly polite and laid back, when antagonized significantly, they know how to be assertive and fight back too like you people.

Peace!

Your friendly Canadian neighbor,

Josie

Acadian Day (August 15)

Today, in my neck of the woods, we’re celebrating Acadian Day(August 15). It’s mainly celebrated for the past 400 years+  by the Acadians, (a group of French-Canadians here in Canada) as their day of national pride and identity. Some of their  French -Canadian counterparts left Canada centuries ago and have settled in Louisiana,becoming as we say now, Cajuns.

It’s a holiday like no other as if it’s their independence day in a way.

Their cuisine reflects centuries of  history as they struggled as new settlers in Canada. The way they made their dishes speaks of practicality yet charm as it exudes uniqueness  in character and flavor.

Regular Acadian dishes like Acadian pea soup,chicken fricot( a form of chicken stew), apple dumplings,headcheese( pork head/pork hocks cooked  in a way like ham),meat pie and poutine rapee(boiled  and peeled  potatoes made into a ball with pork stuffed within it) for example are usually highlighted today.

Lively celebrations are rampant today as well. French music abounds as well. Kite flying beckons and the Acadian flags are all around!

Bonne Fete Acadie!

Josie