I read somewhere that in 49 states of the United States you can be fired on the spot without warning. They are what is called "at will states".
This morning I was talking to a friend of mine, who at 63 is thinking about retirement. He shared that last Tuesday he hurt his back, and it's been out of work and seeing a back specialist since.
I told him to get his financial papers in order, to find out if he can live well financially with his current savings until 65. If you have the finances, go and never look back, you are just a number to them, I said to him.
Coincidentally, reading the local news today, I noticed a report about a 63 year old woman who had worked hard her entire life. She announced her retirement, and gave her employer a few months in advance as a courtesy to the company. How did her employer valued her years of loyalty to the company? Her employer fired her on the spot.
I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but I am a cat person. Unfortunately, my landlord does not allow pets in our building.
So even though my landlord does not allow cats, that didn't stop my upstairs neighbor from dating a childless cat lady. At first I thought it was just one cat, but the other day they "greeted me" at the main building entrance door. That is when I realized is not one, but four cats.
When the woman is not in the apartment, they meow and yowl all day long, at all hours. Clearly they suffer from separation anxiety when the cat lady is not around. Very early in the morning or evenings, they dart from one room to the other (having a case of the zoomies) non stop. I can hear them running across my ceiling.
As much as I love cats, these cats are testing my patience.
Had a conversation yesterday with a former co-worker trying to arrange a day to get together at the health center for lunch.
After exchanging pleasantries, and talking about the job, we agreed to meetup next Monday at 12:30pm for lunch. The phone rang, and it was her to remind me that next Monday is Labor Day, and the health center is closed. Now that I am retired, I don't pay attention to holidays much. We agreed to meetup Friday of next week. But I digress.
To keep my favorite hobby and passion alive, went out for a photo walk last night. It was a beautiful night outside. Was the first time picking up my digital camera in quite some time.
For no particular reason, I chose Broad Street facing City Hall in Center City, which is a favorite wedding photography location for Philadelphia couples. A group of young ladies approached me, said they needed to book a photographer, and inquire my price for a wedding photoshoot. I don't shoot weddings, but have a friend who does so I gave them my friend's contact information.
It felt great to go out on a photo walk. It is a great exercise, it gets me connected to my surroundings, and it gives me something to occupy my mind and stimulate my brain.
Yesterday, the nephew of one of my best friend's was killed in a freak accident at a Delta maintenance facility near the Atlanta airport.
A tire exploded as it was being removed from a Delta Air Lines plane and sent metal flying through the air like a missile, killing two people, including my friend's nephew. Luis was only 37 years old. Went to work yesterday morning, to never return home to his wife and daughters.
Please hold your loved ones a little tighter and closer, you just never know what the day will bring.
A pair of astronauts that were supposed to be on space for eight days, are now scheduled to return February of next year thanks to their NASA/Boeing capsule issues.
The astronauts are stuck at the international space station since the beginning of June. Apparently, their capsule developed helium leaks and the overheating of maneuvering thrusters.
In 1969, the movie Marooned, starring Gene Hackman, Richard Crenna and James Franciscus, chronicled the same scenario. In the movie, American astronauts are stranded in space on their return journey from a space station when rocket boosters malfunction.
Some people may argue that colonizing other planets is a way to save humans from extinction. While others say that non-human species or aliens could bring disaster to our planet.
And I am not talking about non-human species like the movie Alien, but invading alien organisms like the ones that wiped out indigenous populations in the Americas. Millions of natives were killed by infectious diseases following the European colonization.
Why are we spending so much on space exploration when we could use that funding to make Earth a better place?
It was long overdue, last night I began to backup and organize some of my files. After spending two hours looking for a bicycle garage photo from the Netherlands trip, I realized I had to do it.
Suprisingly, I didn't start backing up and organizing my digital photography images; I began with my cartoon comic strips. I started using the Bitstrip personalized comic strips in 2012. As someone who spent a big chunk of my childhood drawing and painting, and at the age of seven dreamed of working at Disney creating cartoons, I fell in love with the Bitstrip application.
Since the application is no longer available, I have been recycling different variations of the ones I created twelve years ago and saving them on USB flash drives and the cloud storage. I believe that these comic strips are unique, their captions speak so much louder than text, and they add personality to my blog posts. Don't you think?
Would you believe that a California woman died at the hospital, two days after being hospitalized, and no one contacted the family? I find this strange because the hospital had her medical records and emergency contact information.
It appears that the family searched for the woman for more than a year, including contacting the hospital numerous times. The news report indicates that the hospital transferred her body to the morgue the day after her passing, and later to a cold storage facility while the family was looking for her. The body remained there forgotten for an entire year. In addition, the hospital didn't file a death certificate until a year later.
World Photography Day is celebrated annually on August 19. It is an internationally recognized day for photographers "to share their world with the world" through a single photo.
I consider myself an amateur photographer; I shoot for the love of photography and not just for profit. For the past nine years, this hobby has helped me tell stories without resorting to language. The camera has been the tool that has helped me document my reality, express my emotions and tell visual stories. The images speak for themselves.
In addition, photography has helped me reduce stress in my daily life, explore my creativity, and has served as part of my mental health therapy. Some people have used lifejackets as analogies in a few different ways; photography has been a lifejacket in my personal life.
Ayer, 19 de agosto de 2024, celebramos el Dia Mundial del Fotografo y la Fotografia. Conocido internacionalmente como World Photography Day.
Durante estos nueve años como un fotografo aficionado, este pasatiempo me ha ayudado a contar historias sin recurrir al lenguaje. Al tomar fotos, la camara ha sido la herramienta que me ha ayudado a documentar mi realidad, expresar mis emociones y contar historias visuales. Las fotos hablan por mi.
La fotografia me ha ayudado ha reducir el estres en mi vida diaria, ha explorar mi creatividad, y me ha servido como parte de mi terapia de salud mental. En pocas palabras, la fotografia ha sido para mi un chaleco salvavidas en mi vida personal.
El Huracan Ernesto, a horas de pasar por Puerto Rico y dejar mas de la mitad de la isla sin electricidad ni agua, el presidente y CEO de LUMA Energy, Juan Saca, fue entrevistado por ABC News.
Respondiendo a las preguntas del reportero, el presidente de LUMA culpa a la vegetacion que rodea la infraestructura y los cables de luz en Puerto Rico por los apagones y la razon por la cual mas de la mitad de la isla se encuentra sin luz. Juan Saca reporto que hace un par de semanas LUMA implemento un nuevo projecto que se espera dure los proximos 3 años, que removera la vegetacion de 16,000 millas de los cables de electricidad.
El presidente de LUMA, Juan Saca, alega que LUMA Energy esta hoy en dia mas preparado que nunca para resolver los problemas de la electricidad en Puerto Rico. Enfatizo que Luma empezo a hacer su trabajo en Puerto Rico en junio del 2021. Si LUMA hoy en dia esta mas preparado que nunca, ¿porque se va tanto la luz en la isla?
Si LUMA empezo a trabajar en Puerto Rico en el 2021, ya han pasado 4 años. ¿Porque no implementaron el projecto de remover la vegetacion de los cables de la infraestructura electrica immediatamente, y no hace un par de semanas?
Juan Saca tambien ofrecio el numero al cual la persona que no tenga luz debe comunicarse con LUMA, al telefono 844-888-5862. El problema es que cuando las personas llaman, nadie contesta, o no hay personal para atender la querella.
El reportero de ABC News le cuestiona a el presidente de LUMA, que esta no es la primera vez que una situacion de esta magnitud, ya sea un temporal o un huracan afecta la isla de Puerto Rico. El reportero de ABC News pregunta si el sistema de infraestructura de la energia electrica de LUMA se ha recuperado totalmente en algun momento desde el ultimo huracan que devasto la isla.
El presidente de LUMA, admitio que el estuvo en la isla durante el proceso de recuperacion despues del Huracan Maria en el 2017. Juan Saca revelo que los fondos para la recuperacion de la energia electrica en Puerto Rico no empezo a llegar a la isla hasta el final del año 2020, 3 años despues del desvastador Huracan Maria.
¿Alguien puede contestar porque la ayuda o los fondos federales para reparar la infraestructura de la energia electrica de la isla se tardo 3 años para ser recibida por las agencias pertinentes?
Finalmente, Juan Saca admite que a pesar que LUMA Energy, la agencia de la cual es presidente y CEO empezo a trabajar oficialmente en Puerto Rico en el año 2021, todavia necesitan mucho mas tiempo para poder arreglar la infraestructura de la energia electrica como debe ser.
Dios nos coja confesaos. Mas claro no canta un gallo, Juan Saca y LUMA Energy, no estan preparados para resolver el problema de energia electrica en PR.
Let's all go back to the year 1999. On a romantic Saturday night, I remember taking my girlfriend at the time along with a few friends to a Latin dance club called Stardust in New Jersey.
We checked our coats at the door upon entering the dance club, and headed to our reserved tables. We were both dressed to the nines. She was wearing a fabulous low cut, thigh high, skin tight dress, flaunting every curve she had. I on the other hand, was wearing my Capezio black and white 1950's style wingtip dance shoes, white stripes double-pleated dress pants, white shirt, and a black vest.
My girlfriend excused herself and went to the restroom with a couple of women from our group. “It is a mystery to me why women go to the restroom in pairs or in a group, I don’t think men do this group activity”, but I digress.
In the meantime, the music was blaring, people were dancing, laughing, and having a good time. I just sat at the table, listening to the music while she returned. To make a long story short, girlfriend finally arrived from the restroom, and I noticed she was upset.
"Is everything ok?", I asked. "Yeah, everything is ok, ... who is she?" she asked. I was confused because I had no idea what she was talking about. My girlfriend blurted out, "a woman in the restroom approached me and said, you two make a great couple, you look good together".
By the tone of her voice I could tell my girlfriend was very upset. I tried in vain to reassure her that I had no idea who she was referring to. To this day, I still don't know who that woman was.
An innocent compliment, given to my girlfriend by a complete stranger about us as a couple, ruined our romantic evening. We didn't stay at the club that night, and the relationship didn't last long either.
Last night I was listening to Ariana Ramsey, an American rugby player, winner of a bronze medal at the Olympics, how surprised she was of receiving free healthcare at the Olympic Village in France.
Since her competition ended earlier during the Olympics, she scheduled and received medical appointments for a pap smear, an eye exam, a new pair of glasses and a dental check up at the Olympic Village.
She chronicled her experience on Tik Tok, and explained her shock at finding out that all the athletes had access to free medical services while staying at the village.
"According to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, the Village also offers cardiology, mental health, dermatology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes." - Sports Illustrated.
Ariana Ramsey's was so impressed with the services received that said, "this is going to be my new fight for action, free healthcare in America."
Good luck with that. In my opinion, socialized health care will never be implemented in the United States.
Last night at the supermarket something malfunction at the cash register, and the cashier said their scanner was unable to read credit cards, cash payment only.
I almost never carry cash with me, so I told the cashier to put my items to the side and to take care of the customer behind me, while I retrieved money from the ATM.
By the time I retrieved cash from the ATM machine and returned to the cashier to pay, I was told that the woman behind me had paid for my groceries. I was stunned, took me a few seconds to process. The cashier just kept saying, "she paid for your groceries". By the time I realized what had happened, the stranger was already gone.
So I asked the young couple with two small children standing in line behind me if they accepted if I pay for their groceries, so I did.
When the Covid-19 pandemic traveling restrictions eased up a little, and international travel was re-opened, I decided to visit Paris and booked a flight for the morning of January 10, 2022.
I began to worry because the airline required a Covid test taken 72 hours prior to boarding. After booking the Paris trip, I was unable to find a testing site in Philly that didn't required an appointment, everyone was full. And to make matters worse, there was no appointment available before my trip. I contacted my former supervisor at the health center where I used to work before retiring a few months prior, and they squeezed me in to get tested. I received the online results the next day, and was all set to travel.
Another one of my concerns was that to return to the United States, travel restrictions were a little more strict and now I was required to show a Covid test result taken 24 hours prior to the day of my flight. After arriving in Paris, I learned that Covid tests were available at any pharmacy in the city, results available in 20 minutes, and no appointments required. Cost $26.00 euros, and I was assured that there was a pharmacy in every corner, as illustrated in the top picture. In my broken very limited French, I asked a fruit vendor to take the pic of "moi" waiting to take the test.
To put it into perspective, yesterday I read that two days before Thursday night’s men’s 200 final race, Noah Lyles, the American record holder of the 200 meters, and the third fastest man in the event learned he had tested positive for Covid. With permission of officials at USA Track and Field and the U.S. Olympics, who said they followed protocol, Lyles was allowed to run at the Olympics. Lyles won the bronze medal with 102-degree Covid fever and collapsed on the track after the race was over.
Nowadays, a Covid diagnosis is like just another day at the office.
In 1996, a few days before my 40th birthday, I quit drinking alcohol, cold turkey. Quitting alcohol is the best thing I've ever done for my health.
For a while now, I've been trying to put into words the reasons why I decided to stop drinking alcohol. Drinking had been a part of my life ever since I was able to legally drink. I reckon it is not going to happen; it is too personal for me to share that part of my life.
Quitting drinking alcohol in 1996 was not easy, and changed my life upside down. The one thing I can proudly openly share is that I've been alcohol free for the last 28 years.
The week that I am supposed to start cleaning out the garage, a hurricane decided to make landfall in Florida.
Now we are expecting rain most to the week. Hurricane Debby could bring 6 or 7 inches of rain around Philly each day this week. If it's any consolation, at least I am not in a high risk flood prone area.
Lots of destruction and flooding when Hurricane Debby landed in Florida this morning, including several people who lost their lives. Debby could dump up to 18 inches of rain on parts of Florida and North Carolina through Saturday.
Now the question is how far north Hurricane Debby travels.
