Happy New Year! Looking back at 1982

As we all look back at the end of the year, to make amends, come clean, start anew, make resolutions, I'd like to say that NO year has ever been so exciting my my life as 1982, or so I remember.

Out of respect for my Mother and Father, here's what I remember of 1982.

(x) I chose to stay, alone and on my own, in Rhode Island, while my entire family moved to Florida. (1982)

(x) Blew the engine on a pristine 1973 Buick Electra 225, with a 455 cu in engine. (1982)

(x) Crashed into and bought a telephone pole. (1982)

(x) Totaled a wicked "full sized" blue 1973 Chrysler Satellite station wagon.  (1982)

(x) Lost my license. (1982)

(x) Got into a fist fight (and won) with a significantly larger man, over a cup of hot chocolate, only to be detained by RI State Police.  (1982)

(x) Hit a local Constabulary with a base ball bat. (1982)
(x) Went for a one way trip head first down several flights of stairs... several times at the hands of Providences' best. (1982)

(x) Lit off bottle rockets IN the car I was driving, a multicolored 1965 VW Bug. (1982)

(x) Actually floated a multicolored VW bug... on water... only for a moment... pulled it out of the water... and drove it away. (1982)

(x) Unintentionally submerged a green 1970 Vega station wagon.... three times in the same day.  (1982)

(x) Unintentionally peed on a sleeping homeless man in Boston, MA. (1982)

(x) Rear ended a brown van while "sleep driving" my VW 1965 Bug through Harlem, NY ... and lived to tell about it,   (1982)

(x) Walked home from Mystic CT... after my 1965 VW Bug broke down, and no one would pick us up.  (1982)

(x) Spent a bunch of my Summer in Newport watching the build up to the 1983 Americas Cup sailboat races. (1982)

(x) Rented a duplex ranch house, with 5 of my best friends, at the beach, and suffered amnesia for the week. (1982)

(x) Due to my "quest for more stupid shit to do" I lost my girlfriend. (1982)

(x) Personally sold a large Hefty Trash Bag worth of "special" herb. (1982)

(x) Helped a man move his family move his family, over night, before he was found by a special group of ill intentioned Italian people, all with one name, that he owed a significant amount of money to. (1982)

(x) Attended meetings held at Rhode Islands' finest Judiciary Buildings several times in 1982.

(x) Mistaken for my room mate, a Attleboro, MA based arsonist! (1982)

(x) Got "Fired!" from my position mopping floors at a nursing home.  (1982)

(x) Skipped out on a debt to a health club, (1982)
(x) Stole a Christmas Tree, from Boone's Farm, and planted it in Algebra class. (1982)

(x) Dropped out of college. (1982)

(x) Rearranged the traffic scheme leading up to a new bridge construction. (1982)

(x) Was ordered to choose whether to go to jail or join the Navy. (1982)

(x) Joined the Navy with "special herb" stuffed in my pocket. (1982)

Oh!  There's so much more!  But I'm kind of glad that I can't remember it all.

Sure seems that 1982 was pretty interesting year for me, eh?  Seems like I should have moved to Florida... but then again, I would have never met my wife, the very LOVE of my life, for nearly 30 years!


Fortunately for me, I started to take myself a bit more seriously later in 1983.  Its funny how 30 years of collective screw ups can make you a bit more reflective... at times.  So when your kids start really, and I mean REALLY, screwing up, remember that there is hope that they'll turn out just fine.

Campy Out!

Influenza Vaccination Chickens

It is a darn shame that people choose to refuse one of the most simple preventative measures against one of the most devastating viral infections the world has ever known. While it is you're choice not to get any immunization, by choosing not to get the influenza vaccination, you choose to place yourself, and your family, at risk of not only contracting this virus, and the tragedy that may ensue, but you can end up harboring the disease and actually helping it mutate to a more deadlier, more resistant form of the virus.

I'm not exactly sure of the arguments you have against the influenza "shot" or vaccinations in general, but it is your right to refuse the shot.  With that being said, it is also an employers right to limit your the exposure to the company's patrons and public as they see fit, especially during flue season.

Most people have never seen, nor read about the massive loss of life during the 1918 influenza outbreak where between 20 and 50 million people died, and 500 million people were infected.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

See: http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

And from the opposing side:

 http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/the-truth-about-getting-the-flu-shot

I choose to get my flu shot this and every year, as well as keep up on my other immunizations.  When I was in the Navy, I had the "opportunity" to see extreme poverty in Central America, Italy, North Africa, and a couple of other places. It always puzzled me as to how happy and willing these people were to get ANY immunizations we could provide them. We in the US have the ability to read and Devine for ourselves as to the safety of any immunization or medicine.  While it is our right to choose to decline immunizations, medication, or treatment for any reason, the burden on society would be so much greater if the majority of the population followed in those who refuse immunizations steps.  

Do the research... Tylenol kills 500 and hospitalizes 26,000 people each year due to chronic use, and abuse.  Aspirin kills even more people. And here's a real shocker, medical error deaths in America top 200,000 a year making medical errors the 8th leading cause of preventable death in America!  

See: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60520-5/fulltext?rss=yes

So don't get too paranoid.  Just get the flu shot.  My friend, 51, died from complications of the flue 3 years ago.  I have Parkinson's Disease and you can bet your upper arm that I am the first person standing in line each year for the flue shot.

Peace out....