Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
As realtors, we get inside a lot of homes during the course of a year. Sometimes, what we see is appalling. Senior citizens subsisting on Saltine crackers the last few days of the month and financially-strapped families bulking up on white bread and big generic bags of potato chips and cookies, so called “feel good” nutrition-deficient foods.
Three Cape May County, NJ realtors decided to do something about it and formed a non-profit corporation called “The Free Meal Center”. The goal is to serve lunch Monday through Saturday, plus breakfast on Saturdays. The double meal on Saturdays is targeted at kids, who often don’t have a decent meal after school lunch on Friday until returning to school for free breakfast on Monday.
TFMC takes possession of a 4,000 square foot former restaurant on March 15th, just 12 short days away. We’re still $4,000 short. We hope to be open to the public by Memorial Day.
Check out our website at http://www.FreeMealCenter.com . Perhaps you can see it in your heart to make a small donation.
Thank you for caring.
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: Cape May County blog, charity blog, feed the hungry, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, soup kitchen, soup kitchen blog, The Free Meal Center
Posted in Lifestyle | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 12th, 2010
The big blizzard of February 5-6th, 2010 dumped about 22 inches of snow on Cape May County, New Jersey. The wet, heavy snow paralyzed a peninsula that rarely receives more than 7 or 8 inches of snow in an entire winter. February 9-10th, another blizzard blessed us with another half-foot of sleet/rain/snow mix.
While at one point in the first storm there were 80,000 people without electricity and roads were impassible, we had our own drama. Yes, we also went 34 hours without power, unlike 4,000 less-fortunate that still don’t have power a week later. But that’s not our story.
We saw Fluffy, our 11-year old long-haired orange & white neutered male cat, at the food bowl on the back porch Friday afternoon of the first storm. It snowed through the night and all day Saturday and we never saw him or Rusty, his 11-year old and lifelong best buddy cat. But, heck, it was whiteout conditions so who could blame them for not coming out from under the safety and security of our garden shed.
Sunday afternoon, as we shoveled out, a weary Rusty appeared. We happily greeted him and quickly got him a bowl of catfood and a bowl of warm water. But where was Fluffy, the chowhound of the pair? That boy loves to eat. It wasn’t like him to miss a meal.
By Monday, we were real concerned. Rusty was acting strange, as he had on Sunday. He was standoff-ish, even maybe afraid. He seemed to be sending us a message: Fluffy was dead. We were despondent.
Tuesday afternoon the second storm hit. Rusty had been around all morning and we assumed he sought out his sanctuary under the garden shed to sit out the storm. But Wednesday Rusty never appeared. We called and called for him, but no reply.
By Thursday morning, we were beginning to figure that maybe Rusty was so upset over the death of Fluffy that he too had perished. Kinda like an old couple where one dies, then the other goes a few days later. After all, they were best of friends since they were kittens. They were all they knew, the constant in their lives, along with us two humans.
Late Thursday morning we returned to our house and a couple minutes later Rusty appeared. We were so relieved. We petted him and fed him and loved him. He loved us back. It had been 48 hours since we’d seen him and that had never happened before.
And so Friday morning, as we settled into life with just one feline friend, a miracle happened. Fluffy appeared. It had been seven days. We petted and petted him. He reveled in the attention. We quickly got him a bowl of catfood and twenty minutes later he still had his head in the bowl chowing. Just like old times.
Our drama came to a fitting conclusion. Fluffy and Rusty were back. All was well. And we appreciate them more than ever.
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: Fluffy the cat, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lost cats, Mountain Man and City Girl, Rusty the cat
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Thursday, February 11th, 2010
We just couldn’t stand by any longer and do nothing about the hunger and nutrition problem here in Cape May County, New Jersey. It was time to act.
In a county that has hundreds of multi-million dollar vacation homes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, there is a flip side to the coin. Of 42,000 yearround families, nearly 4,000 households live under the poverty line ($22,050 for 4) and another 9,500 have social security as their sole source of income. The unemployment rate is around 13%, and when you add in those who have basically given up ever finding gainful employment the jobless rate approaches 30%.
As realtors, we get the opportunity to go into a lot of people’s homes every year. In one home we had listed last year, we noticed that the five kids had different colored lips. We soon discovered why. The only food in the house was those frozen sugar-water ice pops that come in tear-away plastic tubes. The refrigerator was empty except for condiments and the freezer was full of different flavored ice pops. It’s sad. In the homes of the elderly, we have seen them subsist on Saltine crackers the last days of the month. They are proud and they don’t complain.
While so many have so much, these others have so little.
This month, we organized “The Free Meal Center” with a volunteer Board of Directors and incorporated as a New Jersey secular, non-profit, charitable organization. By the way, the politically correct term nowadays is “meal center” and no longer is “soup kitchen”. We found a 4,000 square foot former restaurant centrally located in the middle of the county on the main highway, Route 9, and negotiated a purchase price. It has four dining rooms, four restrooms, a large kitchen area, and parking for 40 cars on the 2.2 acre property. We will be able to seat 100 or more at a time.
We take possession of the building March 15 and hope to be up and running by Memorial Day. We will serve lunch Monday through Saturday, plus breakfast on Saturday. Meals will be free and open to anyone who walks through our doors. We won’t even ask their names. Our volunteers will treat everyone with respect and dignity.
The building does need a bit of work. Part of the roof needs repairs, the interior needs painting, the bare kitchen needs equipment, and we need tables and chairs. A few other repairs may become evident once we’re in the building, but its all no big deal. We can do it.
We’ve undertaken becoming a 501(c)(3) tax deductible entity and expect to be approved in the spring. Our website, http://www.TheFreeMealCenter.com should up on-line by next Tuesday, February 16, 2010.
If you’d like to help us help these less-fortunate folks, you can donate through our website next week, or mail a check to The Free Meal Center, PO Box 863, Cape May Court House, New Jersey 08210. We’ll mail you back a tax deductible receipt.
Thanks for caring.
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ 08260 http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: Cape May County, Cape May County blog, Cape May Court House, Feeding the Hungry, Jewell Real Estate Agency, meal center, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, soup kitchen, The Free Meal Center
Posted in Lifestyle, Real Estate | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
The phone call yesterday went something like this:
“Your boy got accused of cheating,” I said, speaking of PGA Tour golf icon Phil Mickelson who also happens to be City Girl’s favorite golfer.
“That’s impossible,” she replied. “There’s no cheating in golf.”
You be the judge. The PGA Tour outlawed golf clubs with square grooves, effective this year. They reasoned that they give the golf ball more backspin, hence lessening a player’s necessity to actually make a skillful shot. So at the PGA Tour’s fourth stop of the year at Torrey Pines GC outside San Diego, tour player Scott McCarron accused Mickelson of cheating by using a square-grooved wedge. At least three other players have used the same square-grooved club this month – John Daly, Hunter Mahan, and Dean Wilson.
The golf club in question is a Ping-Eye 2 wedge. It seems that in settling a court case brought by Ping against the United States Golf Association (USGA), any Ping-Eye 2 iron built before April 1, 1990 was deemed legal. The PGA Tour agreed to abide by the USGA’s concession in 1993. The Ping irons in question were manufactured from 1985-1989. No other golf club company manufactured square-grooved clubs.
So knowing that square-grooved clubs would be illegal on the PGA Tour this year, some savvy tour players scrambled to find the still-legal vintage Ping wedges. While at least Mickelson, Daly, Mahan, and Wilson succeeded, most tour players weren’t even aware that the obscure rule existed. Technically, the four did nothing wrong. They stayed within the rules.
But, golf is known as a gentlemen’s game. What other sport has players call penalties on themselves, even if no one else saw the infraction? They – in most cases – could get away with it, but it’s an honor system. “Gentlemen, honor” – that’s a heavy responsibility. It’s not the type of lingo you’d associate with the NBA or NFL.
Did Mickelson and the others cheat? Mickelson says, “No.” McCarron says, “Yes.” In question perhaps is the spirit of the rules versus some technicality.
Perhaps tour pro Robert Allenby’s take is appropriate. “I think cheating is not the right word. But it’s definitely an advantage,” Allenby said of the Ping-Eye 2. “There’s only a certain amount of players that can find them and I think it’s not right if you’re using them.”
The entire controversy may soon be a moot point. Don’t be surprised to see the PGA Tour find a way to outlaw the Ping-Eye 2 in the next week or so.
How are the players mentioned doing at Torrey Pines? After two rounds McCarron and Daly missed the cut and were sent packing. Maybe that’s a factor in McCarron’s strong accusation? Allenby is three shots off the lead, Mickelson four, and Mahan six shots behind the leaders.
Don’t worry, City Girl. Your boy still has a chance to win again this week.
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: Jewell Real Estate Agency, John Daly, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson cheating, Ping-Eye 2, Robert Allenby cheating, Scott McCarron cheating, square-grooved golf clubs, Torrey Pines Golf Club
Posted in Lifestyle, Sports | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
The movie ‘Avatar” doesn’t have enough “curb appeal”, as we realtors say, to get us to go pay $12 apiece to see it. It’s just not the kind of movie we like.
So when the Vatican gave the movie a thumbs down, it piqued our curiosity. This morning we read a Letter to the Editor in the Atlantic City Press by Sharon Hutchinson of Buena Vista, NJ. Here’s her take on the Vatican’s reaction to the movie:
“As a nontheist, I am amused at the Vatican’s condemnation of the movie ‘Avatar’ as nature worship. A respect for and communion with nature is one of the most positive experiences that a person can undergo.
“The fact is, we depend upon nature for all the necessities of life. The religions that worship land – yes, those awful pagan religions – develop a respect and appreciation for our planet that is sorely lacking in our modern society. The belief that Earth’s resources are put here solely for man’s benefit has led to not only an estrangement from the natural world around us but also the plunder and devastation of the world.
“If I were to choose a religion, it would make the most sense to worship that which provides the necessities of daily living, rather than some ephemeral being who has supposedly placed man above all creatures. The destruction of the Earth and its resources is the result of such mythical and arrogant thinking.
“It is no surprise to hear this protest from the Vatican, as Catholicism and other forms of Christianity continue to lose ground as science and reason grow. That ‘Avatar’ has struck such a nerve is but another sign that religions are aware that more people are coming to the realization that it is the ground under our feet, not some spirit in the sky, that helps to sustain our very lives.”
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: Avatar, Catholicism, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, nontheist, religion, Vatican
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Thursday, January 28th, 2010
It’s kinda sad that so many “twenty-somethings” in America have no clue about how to manage their lives. They make bad decisions when it comes to the financial aspects of surviving and thriving. However, they’re not entirely to blame.
We were both excellent students in school. We did our homework, got good grades, and didn’t cause trouble. What more could a school expect from us. We did our part.
But in retrospect, the schools didn’t hold up their part of the bargain. Upon graduating from high school (City Girl in Philly, Mountain Man in a Boston suburb) it was time to strike out into the great, big world awaiting us. We weren’t prepared.
Like most our age, we had never been taught in school how to manage our lives. We had never been schooled in how to rent an apartment, buy a house, finance a car, pay our utility bills, and set ourselves on a monthly or weekly budget. We hadn’t been taught how to apply for a job, do our taxes, or raise a family. Through 12 years of school, we had never been offered a course on LIFE.
Fortunately for us both, we were quick learners and we each navigated the bumpy road of life. Like every twenty-something, we still made our share of mistakes.
Today’s post-school young adults have had a different experience than us. The majority can’t form a complete sentence. They were more interested in MTV and video games and texting than what we called “book learning”. Much of that can and should be blamed on the parents.
We had three young men – 18, 19 and 20-years old – working for us a few years ago. None were married, but each had at least one infant kid. One had an apartment but was constantly behind in rent and facing eviction. The other two had their kid and girlfriend living with them and their maternal unit - one a mother and the other a grandmother. They had no financial responsibility for house bills as the mother and grandmother – both only semi-literate - had become “enablers”. Only one of the three young men even owned a vehicle.
One particular week, the guys worked long hours and on payday each received about $600. As we paid them, each was warned to spend it wisely. “Don’t blow it,” we said in a big brother-type way. Each had children to feed and clothes to buy.
Monday morning, they each returned to work with big grins. “Guess what we did?” they said proudly. Unbelievably, each rolled up their sleeve to reveal their new $300 tattoo. “You mean you each spent half your paycheck on tattoos?” was our heartbroken reply.
And so it goes. Each is trapped into a life of underachievement and wasted potential and hardship. The parents didn’t have the intellectual tools to give proper guidance. That said, didn’t our educational system drop the ball on several generations?
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: education, family finances, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, schools, twenty-somethings
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Thursday, January 28th, 2010
After owning three successive Dodge Dakotas, we bought a new Toyota Tundra last May. It is a 2009 4-wheel drive pickup truck with the full-sized backseat. We asked the dealer to make three modifications as a condition of purchasing the vehicle. They agreed, then did none of them. No wonder car dealers have a reputation for “say anything to make a sale.”
Anyway, our Tundra was one of over four million Toyotas recalled last summer because of a reported problem with the driver’s floor mat slipping underneath the pedals. Our mat is secured by a big plastic clip and it can’t be moved even with force, so we filed the recall notice in the “if it ever becomes a problem” folder.
Now Toyota has begun a recall of over one million vehicles – again ours is on the list – because the accelerator sticks. An advocacy group, Safety Research and Strategies, has said that since 1999 Toyotas have had 2,274 incidences of “sudden unintended acceleration” leading to 18 deaths in 275 crashes.
We haven’t received the recall notice yet, but even when we do there is no hurry to get out Tundra back to the dealer. Toyota hasn’t yet come up with a solution to the problem. It’s some sort of multiple problem concerning interconnected linkage. It’s not just spraying it with WD-40 or replacing a single part and everything is okay.
Our Tundra is our third vehicle, so we don’t drive it often. We use it to get from our home in Cape May County, New Jersey to our vacation log home in mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It’s 396 miles each way.
We needed the 4-wheel drive in case of snow or ice going through the mountains, and the large size gives us plenty of room to bring along all the tools, supplies, etc that we always seem to need. But other than those trips (about 12,000 miles a year), our Toyota stays parked under cover in New Jersey. We each drive smaller, more economical vehicles in our everyday New Jersey life.
Toyota has put out some warnings of what symptoms to look for in advance of your gas pedal sticking. They say the pedal may gradually become harder to depress, and there may be a roughness or chattering when pressing or releasing the gas pedal. It that happens, call your Toyota dealer.
If the pedal does stick at full acceleration, follow these steps: Brake hard, but don’t pump the brakes, just depress the brake pedal enough without going into a skid. Then throw the engine in “neutral”. While the engine will still be running at excessive RPM’s, it won’t be pushing you along anymore. Don’t turn the engine off until you’re safely stopped and off the road. Got all that?
We’re sure Toyota will figure out a solution to the problem soon, then we can all take our vehicles to the dealer for the repairs. We’re just sorry that we have to go back to the incompetent dealer that we bought it from.
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: Cape May County, Cape May County blog, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, Pocahontas County WV, Toyota recall, Toyota Tundra recall
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Many scoffed 20 years ago at projections that internet retail sales would be a major factor in the future. “I’ll never buy anything on the internet,” so many of us said.
Well, guess what? In the third quarter of 2009, US internet sales were $34 billion. Out of a total of $922 billion in US retail sales, that figure represents 3.7% of all sales being done with a mouse and keyboard at hand in front of a computer screen.
For someone who knows what they want to purchase, the internet is the way to go. It sure beats driving 45 miles each way to a retail store to come away either empty handed because their product wasn’t what you wanted, or with something you paid 20% or so above internet cost.
Forbes recently released its list of retail stores that are in serious economic trouble in 2010. Some are a victim of the internet, some the economy, and some have been trumped by discount big box stores like WalMart, Costco and Target.
Borders and Waldenbooks may be the first to fold in 2010. Amazon.com has stole the show. It’s so much easier to order a book over the internet and have it at your door in a week. But there’s another factor that has doomed the book retail stores. I sell my book through Amazon and 79 other internet sites, plus my own website at http://www.RoadtripBabyBoomer.com . They are printed “on demand” and I make about $5 per book. But to put your book in a retail outlet you get about $1 per book, and have to buy back any they don’t sell at full wholesale price. That often makes authors owe money instead of making it. Hence, the big box bookstores have a less diversified inventory because unknown authors shy away.
Blockbuster is also in deep doo-doo. Netflix and avenues to download movies on-line have made going to the video store to pick out a movie a fading memory. The movie rental business is on its last legs.
Ritz Camera has also been identified by Forbes as a candidate for euthanasia. If you know the camera you want, it’s less expensive and usually less of a hassle to buy it on-line. And really, who needs film developed anymore?
Other outlets that Forbes put on its death-watch list are KB Toys, Zales Jewelers, and Starbucks. The first two are basically victims of the poor economic times. Excessive purchases of toys and jewelry are easily eliminated from a family budget as unnecessary.
As for Starbucks, they expanded too rapidly. There’s only so many yuppies out there. I’m a guy’s guy. I don’t care about a Sumatra and Guatemalan coffee blend, a Frappuccino, a Ski Cinnamon Dolce Latte, or an Espresso Truffle. I don’t know what those are, but I’d be downright embarassed to stand there and order one. Give me a break!
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: internet sales, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, RoadtripBabyBoomer.com
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Thursday, January 21st, 2010
I’m not really one to watch MTV. It’s not my generation. I’m a couple generations past that. So when I read in the newspaper that Italian-American groups were repulsed and offended by the show “Jersey Shore”, it piqued my interest.
I feel qualified to have an opinion about the Jersey Shore (the place, not the show) because, heck, I live here. Our real estate office is located in Wildwood Crest, Cape May County. We’re just four blocks from the beach and the beginning of the 39 city block long Boardwalk. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the population on our island swells from 14,000 yearround to over 250,000.
Our closest metropolitan area is Philadelphia. It’s predominantly Italian and Irish heritage. And it’s a rite of passage for families and their kids to vacation here. It’s also an unofficial “tradition” that kids in their late teens and twenties come here in the summer to party. Party hard! Party hard away from their elders, out of sight of those who might inflict family repercussions.
I have a little more insight than most because I also owned a bar here from 2002 through 2004. Though my tavern was off the beaten track and it attracted an older (30 to 75) crowd, I did become acquainted with many other bar owners and I did make the late night rounds more than once.
Long story short, I recently did catch two episodes of Jersey Shore. It’s about these eight Italian-American young twenty-somethings who come to the shore town of Seaside Heights, NJ, about 50 miles north of us. They have an assortment of MTV-generation names like Snooki, JWoWW, and The Situation. The Situation? Give me a break.
Anyway, they primp and argue at their rented beach house, then go out and drink and carouse, and inevitably come home and be promiscious with a newfound partner. They call it “hooking up”. You can call it what you like.
They also get into fights and do other immature, egotistical things. They are an extreme example of typical summertime behavior. Tone it down a little bit and they’re just like the others who go “Animal House” at the shore.
The Italian-American groups call Jersey Shore demeaning and not reality. “That’s not how our kids act,” is their general feeling.
Bottom line:
Is this behavior the norm at the shore in the summertime? Yes. It’s called “sowing your oats” before settling down to a lifetime of responsibility and 2.3 kids and a soccer-mom vehicle and a mortgage.
Should Italian-American groups be offended? No. Get over it. It’s also Irish-American kids and CEO’s kids and teachers’ kids and mayors’ kids. And your kids!
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: beach, Cape May County, Cape May County blog, Italian-American, Jersey shore, Jersey Shore TV show, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, MTV, New Jersey blog, Wildwood Crest
Posted in Humor, Lifestyle | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Internet gambling in the United States is illegal. It’s cut and dried. But a recent federal appeals court decision just may have given states the option to offer internet gambling within their own borders. In cash-strapped New Jersey, which is expected to have the seventh largest budget deficit this fiscal year of the 50 states, the notion has appeal.
State Senator Raymond Lesniak recently introduced bill S3167, which would indeed legalize such popular games as poker, baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps, slot machines, and more. With New Jersey’s distinction of having the toughest gambling laws in the United States, implementing the on-line form seems a natural and comforting fit.
Currently, there are thousands of global internet gambling sites. They are illegal in New Jersey, in part because there is no way for the state gaming commission to determine whether these games offer fair odds. Many who do still gamble illegally on the internet complain of not being able to collect their winnings. Would you trust a gambling site located in the Philippines or Bulgaria?
The other reason they are not legal in New Jersey is rather obvious – Atlantic City. The state’s 11 casinos generated $3.9 billion in revenue in 2009. While down from $5.2 billion in record-setting 2006, it still is a major contributor to state coffers.
The new internet gambling bill, if eventually made into law, would require all gaming companies to be headquartered around Atlantic City. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission, also based in AC, would be able to monitor the new companies, plus develop “technical standards for approval of software, computers and other gaming equipment used to conduct internet wagering, including mechanical, electrical or program reliablility, security against tampering, the comprehensibility of wagering, …. blah, blah, blah.” Did you get all that?
Internet site operators would pay $200,000 the first year for a license, with a $100,000 annual renewal. They’d also pay a $100,000 non-refundable deposit and another $100,000 towards treating compulsive gambling. They’d fork over a 20% tax to the casino revenue fund and another tax would give money to the New Jersey Racing Commission. No wonder so many groups are salivating over the prospect of internet gambling.
AC Mayor Lorenzo Langford spoke in favor of the internet gambling concept, while casino operators seem concerned that the bill might allow video lottery terminals (VLT’s) and slot machines at the state’s race tracks. The AC casinos are currently paying the horseracing industry $90 million over three years in an agreement that bans VLT’s from tracks.
With New Jersey’s perilious money situation, internet gambling seems like a good revenue producer. The AC casinos will survive because, let’s face it, you don’t have the glitz of the casinos and shows and entertainers and restaurants sitting at home on your computer. And you can bet that the 11 casinos will be the first in line to get those new internet gaming licenses. They see the possibilities!
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: AC casinos, Atlantic City, atlantic city casinos, gambling blog, Internet Gambling, Internet Gambling in New Jersey, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, political blog, Senate bill S3167, VLT's
Posted in Lifestyle, Politics | No Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Let’s face it. Unless you live in rural America and own a large tract of land, there is no place for all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s). Here in New Jersey, with a population density of 1,134 people per square mile, ATV’s are a fish out of water.
New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate recently approved a bill which would regulate ATV’s, while at the same time creating three parks for ATV’s and dirtbikes. Governor Jon Corzine, whose last day in office is today, is expected to sign the bill into law as he packs up his belongings. If he doesn’t give it his John Hancock, incoming Governor Christopher Christie no doubt will enact ATV laws in the near future.
New Jersey prohibits dirt bikes and ATV’s from all public lands, which includes state parks, preserves, utility power lines, and roads. Unfortunately, many riders have thumbed their noses at the law and police regularly have cat and mouse pursuits of scofflaws. Many municipalities, including here in Middle Township, Cape May County where we live, have had to purchase ATV’s and train officers to catch the illegal riders.
The new ATV regulations going into effect would require all owners to register their machine within six months. New vehicles have to be registered to take delivery. The cost will be $50, plus a $10 surcharge to help fund the three riding parks. The fine for getting caught without a registration will be $500. Since the ATV’s and dirt bikes would now have license plates front and rear, police and the public should have no problem spotting unregistered vehicles.
There are 85 ATV and dirt bike dealers listed in New Jersey. There are 25,000 riders, according to estimates. Acquiring three riding parks will probably be difficult. They’ll have to be located away from populations, wetlands, and water. Presumably, they’ll locate one each in North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey. Hopefully, the 1.1 million acre Pinelands will be off-limits in the South.
The root of ATV problems can often be traced to condescending parents, who buy their kid a dirt bike or ATV even though there is nowhere to legally operate it. Soon a bunch of kids are tearing through private property, destroying gates and fences and rutting footpaths to the point that they are unwalkable. The ruts also hold water, making ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. And then there are the idiots who chase deer and other wildlife. Irresponsible adults are as often to blame as teenagers for the many transgressions of riders.
That said, ATV’s aren’t all bad. In West Virginia, where we also own a log home on 19 acres, ATV’s are permitted on any road that is not a “numbered highway”. That makes zipping down to the neighbors for a cup of coffee as easy as hopping on your machine, which many have parked right outside the front door. But West Virginia has just 75 folks per square mile (6% of NJ) and plenty of families own 100-acre tracts. Riding in a National Forest, however, still results in confiscation of the ATV if caught.
Let’s hope that New Jersey’s new ATV laws put an end to the illegal trespassing that so many riders feel is their inherent right. This is a chance to legitimize their hobby.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: ATV's in New Jersey, Cape May County blog, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, political blog
Posted in Lifestyle, Politics | 4 Comments »
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
The debate rages on in America. To have or have not? Health care, that is.
On the surface, affordable health care for everyone seems like a good idea. But then again, so does communism. But implementing an ideal is another thing. Man’s inherent greed, competitive nature, and downright incompetence can turn the most well-intentioned plan into a complete boondoggle. I could have used much stronger language than “boondoggle”.
There is one showstopping point to President Obama’s universal health care plan that most everyone seems to have overlooked. It’s NOT health care, it’s disease treatment. Think about it.
If the government - and society in general - really cared about people’s health, they’d tackle the nutrition situation. Proper nutrition prevents the majority of illnesses. That’s the heart of all our health problems. Eat right and the body will help heal itself. The body is an efficient machine if it gets the right nutrients. Just like your car running on 87 octane fuel. Try running it on 65 octane and see what happens.
So a true health care plan would include education on nutrition. While most Americans will guffaw at this suggestion, we need to all become vegetarians. Ingesting animal products and processed sugars is like, well, putting sugar in your car’s gas tank. It sputters and dies.
But enough on that subject. Let’s get back to this “disease treatment” reform bill.
The House of Representatives passed their version of the bill on November 7 by a narrow margin of 220-215. On December 24, the Senate passed their version of the bill 60-39. The one missing vote was that of the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Since the two arms of government passed different versions of the bill, it will have to be reconciled and voted on again by both houses. If Republican Scott Brown gets elected in Tuesday’s special Senatorial election in Massachusetts, the Senate vote will no doubt end up 60 to 40 and the bill will die. If Democrat Martha Coakley wins, the Senate will most likely still favor the bill.
As things currently stand, no health reform will result in 54 million uninsured Americans by 2019. But the House bill would still leave 17 million uninsured by 2019 and the Senate bill 23 million. The 10 year cost is touted as $1.05 trillion for the House version and $871 billion for the Senate’s. It’s the struggling middle, upper middle, and upper classes that will be footing the bill. This recession has hurt them, too.
The major sticking point for most Americans is that coverage will be mandatory. Not getting insurance coverage will result in some sort of fines or penalty tax. That’s outrageous!
Another taint is that in order for the Senate to get the necessary vote of Democrat Ben Nelson, a former insurance industry lawyer and consultant, they granted the state of Nebraska $100 million over 10 years to cover expansion costs of Medicare. The main beneficary: insurance companies writing policies in Nebraska. There were other abuses, trade-offs, and compromises in both house’s bills.
So we’ve gone full circle. Back to greed and incompetence. Is affordable health care a good thing? Yes. Can we trust the government to oversee it? Not hardly.
Back to the drawing board.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ
Tags: affordable health care, health care reform, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, political blog
Posted in Lifestyle, Politics | 1 Comment »
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
I grew up in North Jersey in the 1950’s in one of those “Leave it to Beaver” families. Dad commuted to work each morning in suit and tie, while Mom stayed home and attended to running the household. She got us kids off to school each morning after feeding us a hearty breakfast and packing our brown bag lunch. We were each given a nickel for our milk container purchase at school, later raised to an outrageous dime.
When we got home from school, Mom was there with milk and cookies, or some other goodie. The house was spotless and absolutely nothing was out of place. The beds were always made to the point of perfection and the hamper was empty. Clothes were hanging on the clothes line in the backyard.
We kids hurried to change into play clothes, then rushed out the door as Mom said cheerfully, “Dinner is at 5:30. Don’t be late.” Needless to say, a nice, hot meal of meat, potatoes, and a vegetable were on the dinner table at 5:30. What a life!
We had one car, which Dad used each day. To get anywhere, our options were to ride our bikes or walk. Mom was not our chaufeur. We kids (mostly me because I was the oldest) were expected to mow the lawn, rake leaves, and shovel snow. No excuses were acceptable.
But that’s not today’s reality. In statistics recently released by the US Census Bureau, concerning families comprised of a married couple with kids under 18 years old, you can see that the American way of life has changed dramatically from the Ward and June Cleaver, Wally and Beaver (okay, Theodore) days.
Two thirds of these American families have both parents working. That’s 17 million families where the kids probably don’t have a June Cleaver to come home to every day. Called “latch-key kids”, they come home from school to an unsupervised house. No wonder they live on junk food, fast food, and watch too much TV and spend too much time playing video games.
Now only 28 percent (7.3 million families) of fathers are the sole breadwinners. That throws the Ward Cleaver model right out the window. Another telling statistic is that in 4% of families (just under a million), the wife is the sole supporter. Maybe that’s why beer sales are up? Just kidding. A lot of that can be attributed to this recession which has eliminated many construction and trades jobs. But does Dad take up the traditional homemaker role? Only in 16% of the families, they say.
In today’s world, a family does without any frills unless both parents are employed. It’s the way it is. But how many kids can never share the memories I have of coming home after school to Mom’s freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies and a loving hug.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Beaver Cleaver, Jewell Real Estate Agency, June Cleaver, Leave it to Beaver, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, real estate blog, Ward Cleaver
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Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
After a three year hiatus, the Ladies Professional Golf Association will once again be staging a golf tournament in southern New Jersey. The gals have been missed.
The LPGA began its 21-year run in the area in 1986 with the Atlantic City LPGA Classic, held at the Marriot Seaview CC. Two years later the venue was changed to Greate Bay CC in Somers Point, where it stayed through 1997. The tournament was moved back to the Seaview in 1998 and it played there through 2006. The event was called the ShopRite Classic beginning in 1992, when Wakefern Foods took over as the main sponsor.
The tournament was pulled after the 2006 event because of then LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens. The coveted date – in early to mid June – is the just prior to the LPGA championship, meaning most of the name players attend the event. ShopRite was pushed aside for a new upstart tournament, Annika Sorenstam’s Ginn Tribute, played in South Carolina. ShopRite was offered an unacceptable September date and the tournament folded.
The Ginn Tribute lasted just two years and Bivens controversial tenure as commissioner likewise was shot down in flames. The tour’s big name players, fed up with Bivens, forced her resignation in July, 2009. Michael Whan, a 45-year old businessman, has just taken over as the new commish.
Tail between legs, the LPGA came back to the South Jersey golf world in November and offered the 2010 date. It was gladly accepted. This year the Classic will be June 14-20, then the next four years are penciled in for the first week of June. The LPGA championship is the following week each year.
The LPGA needs the South Jersey tournament. The tour schedule has dropped from the norm of 30 tournaments a year to just 23 this year, of which 10 are being played outside the USA. The tight economy has made sponsors tough to find. The tour is on shaky footing.
The ShopRite Classic’s biggest contribution to the area has been the giving to charities. In 2006, $1.8 million went to local charities. Over the course of 21 years, about $13 million has gone to local hospitals and other youth, health, and community non-profits. Local businesses also see a gain in revenue the week all the lady pros and spectators are in South Jersey.
Welcome back, girls. Hope your stay is permanent.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCitygirl.com
Tags: Jewell Real Estate Agency, LPGA ShopRite Classic, LPGA Tour 2010, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, ShopRite Classic 2010, South Jersey blog, South Jersey golf
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Saturday, January 9th, 2010
As Easterners, many of the problems of public lands in the West go right over our heads. I guess it’s a NIMBY thing. You know, Not In My Back Yard. Since the issue isn’t in our backyard, we give it little thought. We should.
The federal government, especially the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), institutes policies that are decimating the herds of wild horses and burros in the West. Since 1971, the BLM has “removed” 270,000 wild horses and burros from federal lands and taken away 20 million acres of their range. That leaves just 37,000 animals remaining, but another 12,000 are slated to be “removed” in 2010. The preferred way of rounding up these majestic beasts is to chase them with helicopters – freaking them out in the process and separating mothers from offspring.
Bison are another victim of government interference, this time mainly the State of Montana is the culprit. There is a well-spread myth that the Yellowstone bison – if they wander out of the National Park – will spread brucellosis to cattle. The problem with that argument is that there has never been a documented case of that happening. Never. And the cattle in surrounding areas are all vaccinated against brucellosis anyway. That still hasn’t stopped State of Montana-hired riflemen from slaughtering 6,631 Yellowstone bison since the winter of 1985-’86, including 1,616 in ‘07-’08.
So what is really behind all this genocide of certain species? You guessed it – Western ranchers and the cattle industry.
There are 31,000 ranchers in the West who are utilizing 260 million acres of federal land (yes, you and I own it) to graze their cattle. And they pay a pittance for the opportunity. The cost is just $1.92 per Animal Unit Month (AUM). An AUM is defined as a cow and calf or 5 sheep or a horse. In other words, a cattleman pays $23.04 per year to graze a cow and her growing calf. No wonder it costs $52 million more per year in administrative costs than is collected in fees.
Cattle are not easy on the federal lands. They overgraze the land, leaving behind the undesirable weeds. They trample vegetation and compact the soil, causing erosion and soil loss. They foul streams and wetlands with fecal matter. With the BLM issuing 7.8 million AUM’s a year and the US Forest Service another 6 million AUM’s, you can imagine the impact of nearly 20 million non-native cattle on the environment.
There’s another cost. Each cow produces 600 liters per day of methane. That releases the yearly CO2 equivalent of burning 418 million gallons of gas or 19,263 railroad cars of coal. Yikes!
So what is the bottom line? Western cattlemen feel that it is their right to have nearly exclusive use of federal lands for their benefit. Wild horses and burros and bison be damned. And so the powerful cattlemen lobbyists pressure Western Senators and Congressmen and Governors to make sure that these animals don’t consume feed that they feel is for their cattle. The same mentality leads to the shooting of coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, etc. in the name of protecting their precious cattle.
Something is wrong here!
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Animal Unit Month, BLM, BLM cattle, BLM horse, blog, brucellosis, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, nature blog, political blog, US Forest Service cattle, Western cattlemen
Posted in Lifestyle | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
I don’t usually write about sports. Well, that’s not exactly true. Let me rephrase that – I don’t usually write about sports on this blogsite. I am a retired sportswriter, having penned over 5,000 articles from 1991 through 1999. That’s about 1.4 articles a day, every day, for nine years and eight months. But, that’s in the past.
Anyway, allow me to make some observations about sports.
Sports on television are being started too late in the evening. Last night’s college football championship game between Alabama and Texas started at 9:38pm Eastern time on a Thursday night. None of my buddies stayed up that late, nor did I. Our bedtimes are around 9:00. The same goes for kids, which are the future of sports viewership.
Forget the West Coast. Put games on at 7:00 Eastern, and let the Left Coast folks watch it at 4:00 in the afternoon. That makes a lot more sense and would definitely multiply viewership amoungst the old guys and young kids. Plus, guys in California would have a great excuse to leave work early to catch a World Series baseball game, NBA final, and so on. When I lived in SoCal, I loved to get up on a Saturday morning in the fall and flip on a Penn State football game at 9am. That was great.
The pro sports seasons are waaaaay too long. Hockey starts in October and ends in May, the World Series ends in November, the NBA wraps it up in mid-June, and the Super Bowl is in February. Give me a break! By then, only the diehard fans give a hoot. The casual fan is on to other things.
And yes, you guys ARE role models. Stop the denials. Kids look up to you, and you teach that it is alrght to be moody, disrespectful, not a team player, and, sadly, even a felon. Growing up, my sports heroes were guys like Sandy Koufax, Johnny Unitas, and Jerry West. They were squeaky clean, the proto-typical All-American boys. They didn’t carry guns, get in brawls, and beat their wives, unlike many of today’s “idols”. And then there’s Tiger Woods, who let down an entire generation of kids.
As far as sports for kids on a participation level, that too is slipping. The reason? Parents. It seems like every parent knows more than the coach. And the umpires or referees. How often do you read of a parent assaulting a coach or ref? Too frequently. Other parents scream at them the entire game. What message does that send? It’s no wonder that so many kids start dropping out of sports as they progress through school.
Kids want to play sports for the love of the game. They love the crack of the bat, the smell of a baseball glove or pigskin, the swish of a basketball net, or crunch of hockey skates digging into the ice. The sounds and smells and comradie of sports make it what it is.
So, as we age, we continue with sports by living vicariously as a spectator, rather than an athlete. But who can afford to take the wife and two kids to a game and shell out $500 for tickets and food? So we resort to TV and these ridiciously long seasons and late night games and infinite commercials.
It’s discouraging. Joe DiMaggio, where have you gone?
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, college sports, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, pro athletes, pro sports, sports blog
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Isn’t the English language “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. That 34 letter word, sung so handsomely by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the movie Mary Poppins, means wonderful. It is the longest non-medical, non-technical, non-foreign word in the English language. Did you get all that?
Well, that is unless you consider it not really a word, since it was made up by the two brothers who wrote the song for the Disney movie. In that case, the longest word is “antidisestablishmentarianism”, at 28 letters. Can’t you remember back in the 1950s or ’60s being so smug because as an eight year old you knew the longest word in the English language? That tongue twister originally meant, basically, opposition to the proposal to disestablish the Church of England. Yikes. Not to be outdone, some folks have added “pseudo” to the beginning of the word to stretch it to 34 letters.
In the category of English place names, there’s an 85 letter word for a certain hill in New Zealand. I won’t bother typing it. The two longest words in the entire English language are, well, a bit extreme. There’s a 189,819 letter word that is the chemical name for a protein. And the overall winner is the 280,000 word name for DNA, that molecular structure that embodies life. The word is so long that it reportedly has never been written. Duh.
We certainly have come a long way from the days when cavemen pointed and probably said, “Ugh”.
The evolution of our civilization is directly tied to the evolution of our sophisticated language. As communication became more effective, humans could interact better and progress was made. Of course, earth still had to endure millenia of slavery, savagery, and wars, but in the end things got better because we became better communicators. Ideas were able to be passed from one generation to the next, with each generation improving on the past. Socrates taught Plato, who taught Aristotle, who taught Alexander the Great, and so on. Later on, Leonardo da Vinci was followed by Copernicus, who was followed by Galileo. Continuing the procession of ideas and thought, Darwin was followed by Einstein, blah, blah, blah. You get the picture.
Without the continuing upgrading of language for the past 30,000 years, where would we be today? Schools wouldn’t exist, teachers wouldn’t teach, there would be no books, no pencils, no computers. We’d still be hunter-gatherers, living in small clans and wandering the land. Life would be eat or be eaten, stay warm or perish.
So as you read this, contemplate the 600 generations that improved communication. We exist as we do because the human spirit strived to be better.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: antidisestablishmentarianism, blog, Cape May County blog, communication, English language, Jewell Real Estate Agency, longest English words, Mountain Man and City Girl, real estate blog, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
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Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Maybe it’s me. But I’m really amazed at how the majority of the American public has no sense of correct spelling and grammar.
Since you are reading this blog instead of sitting home on the couch watching Jerry Springer or hanging out in an alley sipping some Boone’s Farm Apple Wine and puffing on a cigarette, you are also probably confounded by how the English language is being butchered.
As a realtor, I am actually getting used to the fact that so many people spell realty as R-E-A-L-I-T-Y. Duh! Isn’t reality one of those dumb shows where people eat maggots or get stranded together on an island?
And how about people who say, “I ain’t got none.” Gee, I didn’t learn not to use double negatives until I was in the fourth grade. Or was it sooner? (Did you notice my use of a double negative?)
I guess our educational systems are to blame. Teachers become babysitters to half the kids, while the other half actually learn and excel. I was always in the “accelerated” class growing up in progressive North Jersey, so I was separated from the dummies after kindergarten and apparently forgot they existed. Perhaps that’s why I’m perplexed by their lack of English fundamentals.
Yet, you would think that after 10 or 12 years of school people would have retained some elements of grammar and spelling. Some people come from the worst possible environment or home life, but somehow they work hard and get college degrees and end up with high-paying jobs. They show that anyone can excel.
So how come some people can’t even fill out a job application or handle a job interview? The answer may be that they concentrated on being “cool” when they were in school, instead of toeing the line. I guess that once again lays the blame on the schools.
I’m not sure what the solution is. More compassion from teachers, smaller classrooms, more individual attention? Maybe more direction from parents, but if they’re half-literate that’ll be tough.
Maybe we better just play taps for the English language and bury it with honors.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, education blog, English language, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, opinion, real estate blog
Posted in Humor, Lifestyle | No Comments »
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
I’m not really the type of guy to make New Year’s resolutions. I guess it’s because I’ve pretty much always been in control of my life. Okay, so I always want to lose weight and I guess that is the one resolution that I might think about each December. But it probably has more to do with the overeating I enjoy from Thanksgiving through January 1st and it’s just a coincidence of calendar.
But, what the heck. Let me see if I can’t take a few things that bother me and turn them into New Year’s resolutions.
I vow to pay no attention to the Nostradamus prophecy of the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Give me a break. There’s no way some dude in 1555 could predict the end of civilization. As the stoned-out hippies used to say, “Far out, I see it, too.” Nostradamus will get the attention equal to Y2K, and fail as miserably.
I vow not to mumble under my breath when I see a woman covered in tattoos. Sure, I think it’s degrading, even belittling. But I’ll keep my mouth shut.
I vow not to make fun of religion. So what if it is a continuance of primitive pagan rituals that fly in the face of science. So what if religion has been the basis of wars and murder for many millineum, and still is to this day. I’ll just consider it population control.
I vow not to complain when a bunch of brats are screaming in a store, “I want that!” and the mother exerts no control, no authority. She’s probably dumber than them, anyway.
I vow not to get upset when the driver in front of me turns without signalling. Or hogs the passing lane while going 5 mph under the speed limit. I’ll just keep driving my beat-up truck that subtly says, “I don’t care, I’ll ram you.”
I vow not to get pissed off when I see a dog tied up to a chain out in the pouring rain with no cover, no food, no hope. Maybe the dog was Idi Amin in its last life and deserves it.
I vow not to speak badly about ALL politicians and our corrupt government system. There must be one politician out there with the ethics of Gandhi.
And lastly, I vow to not take seriously any of these stupid New Year’s resolutions. If I can’t bitch and complain and grumble, what do I have to look forward to in 2010?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, humorous blog, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, New Jersey real estate blog, New Year's resolutions, political blog, resolutions, sarcastic blog
Posted in Humor, Lifestyle | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
The Greater Wildwood Chamber of Commerce is presenting a fabulous weekend of fun at the shore. Starting with Friday, April 25th, Jerry Blavat will be hosting a ’60s Record Hop. What a great way to start the weekend. Grab your honey and dance the night away!
Then on Saturday afternoon there is a Street Fair with free live entertainment featuring “TRU” and The Mahoney Brothers, contests galore, all kinds of street vendors, the Classic Car Show, a Doo Wop Back to the ’50s Tour and so much more. How can you resist?
Saturday night is the Sensational ’60s Concert featuring The Temptation Review, The Miracles, The Family Stone Xperience, and “Tru”. I’ve been to the show every year, and it keeps getting better and better!
The festivites wrap up on Sunday with free entertainment in North Wildwood. For more information, visit www.GWCOC.com or call 609-729-4000.
You won’t want to miss out on this great fun-filled weekend.
Tags: 60s show, car show, Doo Woop, entertainment, Jerry Blavat, Wildwood
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