It's about time....

Last Summer, the city of Middletown had a "brilliant" idea. They took the section of High Street that runs through Wesleyan University and messed it up. High Street was a straight-as-an-arrow street and they decided to make it all squiggly and narrow in an effort to slow motorists down .

This was also attempted a few years ago on Westfield Street in front of St. Pius church. I have even heard the city snowplow drivers complaining of how ridiculous it was on Westfield St. The first winter they dug up all the new curbs with the plows.

All they succeeded in doing on High Street was making it a better obstacle course for all the drunks and the punks with their loud souped up foreign cars. They eliminated several parking spaces, and made the apron of our driveway into a small pond.

The project was started last Summer, and was to be completed by Winter. Well, they never finished the final grade of the apron of our driveway, or removed the old storm drain they eliminated. Every time it rains, the rainwater collects at the foot of our driveway. My neighbor had to "trench out" a ditch to the old storm drain (now in the middle of the grass) to drain the water out of the driveway.

I had been planning on calling the city to complain about this unfinished mess. Today, when I was arriving home from work, I saw a couple of city cars parked out front, and some guys were taking measurements of something across the street. When I inquired about the situation to one of the workers, he pointed me out to the head of the city Department of Public Works, who actually spent a few minutes discussing this with me.

He informed me that the contractor wasn't finished with the job (it was never "signed off" as they say in the biz), and that they were waiting for the gas company to complete work up the street before doing the finish work and paving the street. Was I getting "lip service?" I hope not.

A Pirate Looks at 40

OK, it's official...I turned 40 on Monday. Mike asked me if I made any "resolutions." I don't believe in resolutions much, I never really do them on New Years, so why should I do them when I turn 40. I don't really feel any different, it's just another calendar day.

I just said that "I'm going to keep learning and growing every day." It took me nearly all of my 40 years on this planet to realize that everything I do, be it good, or bad, something is to be learned from it. I've realized that for many years, I wasn't looking at everything that was happening around me and learning and growing from it.

But now that I came to that realization, I have a heightened awareness of all the events that I can learn from each and every day.