On Hurricanes and Retro Things

Good afternoon! I did not have the strength to post anything most of last week. On Tuesday, our peaceful lives were interrupted by an earthquake (on the 5.8 Richter scale) originating from Virginia. Then, we were awaiting the dreaded Hurricane Irene. It was promising to be the worst storm in 50 years. Irene turned out to be more a tropical storm than a hurricane, and yes, some of my friends are still without power. But the media made too much hype out of the whole thing. Nobody knew that Al Qaeda's #2 was killed on Saturday! Both events just made me mentally exhausted.

Matthew's place of business was insistent that he come in last night despite no subway or LIRR. He wound up taking the Q60 bus to work, and it took him two hours to get there. Fortunately, subways were up and running this morning.

Today's Newsday Cryptoquote, authored by that empress of etiquette, Emily Post (1872-1960), contained some good old-fashioned common sense:

"The single essential ingredient of good manners is a sensitive awareness of other people's feelings."

This is also known as emotional intelligence, and is unfortunately, something I see less and less these days. You can find several of these stories on the hilarious site, Etiquette Hell. There is also the matter of cyberbullying. This to me is worse than bullying back in my day. In my generation, at least the kids did it to your face. These days, these kids are cowards and hide behind their computers. I think cyberbullying has resulted in more suicides than the in-your-face kind. Emily Post's legacy still carries on through her great-great grandchildren, Anna Post and Lizzie Post, both authors of books on etiquette.

Gail Grabowski's puzzle, called "TV Prime Time," had some decent theme answers today:


19A: 1970s music recordings (EIGHT TRACK TAPES). Remember those? In the '70s, this was considered the latest in modern technology. The Panasonic recorders were so cool. However, there were several disadvantages to the 8-track tapes, the biggest is that you would have to go through an entire track to get to the song that you wanted to here. CD players made this so much easier!

36A: Social Security ID, for one (NINE-DIGIT NUMBER). There has been a crackdown on the use of SSNs as one's primary identification number, the greatest reason being identity theft. Many schools provide their students with separate ID numbers. Other 9-digit numbers in our lives include telephone numbers and ZIP codes. I don't think the 9-digit ZIP code ever completely caught on.

47A: Two-wheeler with gears (TEN-SPEED BICYCLE). I begged and begged my parents for a Schwinn Varsity 10-speed bike beginning in 8th grade. All the "cool kids" had one. But nooooo, they were two expensive with four mouths to feed! I was stuck with the bike I had had since 6th grade with the banana seat and the "sissy bar." I finally got my wish for my graduation from middle school, but I had to settle for a Ross bike. The store where I bought (Brands Cycle and Fitness in Wantagh) it is still around! Anyway, I rode the bike until I was able to get my license.

I am on a "staycation" this week, and I will be going back to my regular hours at work next week. Tomorrow, the boys and I will probably go to the Highline.

Almost time to make dinner. Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick