NYC's Mayor Bloomberg Bites Off More Than He Can Chew

In my blog post immediately prior to this one I wrote the figurative words: "Choke on it Bloomberg" relating to the Henry Repeating Arms 22 pump action rifle being made within New York City. I suppose the mayor of the big apple once again has bitten off more than he can chew and he again has something else to choke on. This time though it is not the fact that a firearms manufacturer is legally producing firearms within NYC, but rather that a lawsuit filed by New York City against legal manufacturers has just been slapped down by the Supreme Court.

Here is the content of an email sent to me by the NRA. it is about time this country and our courts start to view firearms liability as being a problem of lawbreakers and not of they who legally manufacture or distribute firearms.

"NYC Lawsuit Against America's Firearms

Manufacturers Denied By U.S. Supreme Court

Fairfax, Va. -

On Monday, March 9, the U.S. Supreme Court denied consideration of New York City and Washington, D.C. lawsuits, New York v. Beretta and Lawson v. Beretta, respectively, that tried to hold American gun manufacturers responsible for the acts of criminals. The Court 's order leaves standing a pair of decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and District of Columbia Court of Appeals, both of which found that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), enacted in 2005, prevents these types of lawsuits against lawful firearms manufacturers and dealers.

"Big city mayors conceived these lawsuits to try and litigate American gun manufacturers - who President Roosevelt referred to as "the arsenal of democracy" - out of business," said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. "NRA has always believed the courts would agree with Congress that the PLCAA rightfully stops these reckless and politically motivated lawsuits."

In 2000, New York City, Washington, D.C. and several individual plaintiffs sued gun manufacturers, based on the idea that although they manufactured a legal product, forcing them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees just to prove their innocence in court would drive them into bankruptcy. In addition to being based on a bogus legal theory, these lawsuits endangered American armed forces and law enforcement. During congressional debate over the PLCAA, the Department of Defense agreed with the NRA that bankrupting U.S. gun makers and making us dependent on foreign countries like France, Russia or China for small arms is a threat to America's domestic and international security.

"We are pleased that the courts have recognized the misguided intent of these lawsuits," concluded Cox. " America's law-abiding firearms manufacturers must be protected from reckless suits that have no legal merit."

-NRA- "

I truly enjoyed reading that, I hope you did too.

All the best,
Glenn B

John Augustus Roebling and Washington Roebling...

...father and son, would both be proud to know that their most acclaimed piece of architecture, an engineering marvel, has withstood not only the 125 years since it opened, but also the additional 13 years it took to be built. Of course I am talking about The Brooklyn Bridge - today marks the 125th anniversary of its opening. If you have ever been to New York City and you did not get a chance to see the Brooklyn Bridge, let me just say you missed one grand old lady. It is truly a sight to see, and better yet - if you walk across her span - there are some fine views of New York Harbor, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Statue of Liberty. There is a lot of story behind this bridge, once the tallest structure in the western hemisphere, and for many years the longest suspension bridge in the world. It is an engineering and architectural marvel. Why? Well because it was designed to be built 6 times stronger than necessary, yet during actual construction inferior cables were supplied by a crooked supplier. The younger Roebling (his father having died from disease before completion of the bridge) decided to go with the inferior cable instead of delaying the project. In addition one of the two support towers, the one on the Manhattan side is built over sand, as opposed to that of the Brooklyn side supported by bedrock. Why the difference, because of caisson disease (the bends) - and the younger Roebling was afflicted by it due to his time down in the caissons. He decided to stop sinking the supports of the west tower
down to bedrock level, and the tower is now atop sand, supported only by sand, 30 feet short of the bedrock. Yet despite that, this beautiful bridge still stands as she did on her first day.

I lived in New York City most of my life, and now live not far from the city on Long Island. I still work there, and still sometimes take the Brooklyn Bridge to get to work. It is mot a pleasure to get caught in the traffic jams that routinely happen on this bridge, but it is always a pleasure to see the view from it. Like some other bridges in New York, the Brooklyn Bridge has rail traffic that crosses its span in the form of New York City Transit Authority Trains - the subway (though there the trains are elevated); and I have crossed her that way too. I have also taken a boat ride around manhatan that twice passed under her span.

One thing the Brooklyn Bridge offers, that most other major spans in new York City do not offer, is the chance for the pedestrian to walk across her length. In all my time in and around New York City, I have only attempted this once. I decided to do so, one beautiful sunny spring day some years back, and I made it half way before I had to turn around and get back to court in Brooklyn. Someday though it will be my pleasure to walk across the completeness of her span, and that day is coming soon. Why soon? Well now that I think of it, I had always said I would someday go to the top of the World Trade Center to visit the observation deck and to dine in the restaraunt there. For some reason I always decided instead to visit the Empire State Building when I wanted a grand view of New York City and the surround states. (Yes you can see at least 5 states on a clear day from atop the Empiere State Building.) I figured the WTC would always be there for me. As it turned out, I never made it to the top of the Trade Center even though I worked there for several months. Now I will never have the chance. Before something disastrous can happen to the bridge, or before they close it to pedestrian traffic for whatever reason, I plan to make it across her span at least one time; and I imagine I ought to get my ass in gear before I lose the opportunity. Its funny what we take for granted as a thing that will always be there, I did just that with the WTC; I will not do it again - and certainly not with the Brooklyn Bridge or with my opportunity to walk her span.

If you want to read about the Brooklyn Bridge, try a web search, or look at these links, but let me remind you - the best thing you can do is to visit it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Bridge

http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/brooklyn/

http://nyctrip.com/Pages/Details.aspx?TourID=325

http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbridge.html

http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbridgefacts.htm

All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History - An Era Comes To An End

"In 1957, shortly after midnight, the last of New York's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan." (reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/history)

I was not even 2 years old yet, and something that would fascinate me in later years had already come to its end. When I was young though, there were remnants of trolley tracks set in cobblestone streets throughout much of New York City's 5 boroughs. For some reason they (the tracks and the cobblestones) always fascinated me. Although most have been removed, I would venture to say that somewhere in New York City some of those trolley tracks, and a lot of those cobblestones, still remain - probably covered by black-top; and they are probably one of the reasons for a lot of bumps, and for some of the crappy roads in NYC.
All the best,
Glenn B

Death Wish and Bernhard Goetz - Both An Inspiration

I watched Death Wish last night. Lousy filming, lousy sound, lousy acting (except for Charles Bronson and Vincent Gardenia), but a great plot; and an absolutely powerfully inspirational film. I remember back in the mid-late 70's, and the early to mid 80s, that this movie was played to the hilt on local TV stations whenever the crime rate went up in New York City. If I recall correctly, there was at least one period in there where it was on one channel at least 10 times in a one week period. That was something almost unheard of back then on broadcast television especially considering the fact that the stations all tuned out by about 4AM at the latest. Yes, if you turned on the TV in the wee hours of the AM, all you might get was a test pattern. Still though, one of the local channels, it was either channel 5, 9 or 11, and I think it was channel 9 (don't recall the actual channel call sign - but maybe WXOR or WPIX, or something like those) played it over and over again at the height of a crime wave that had muggings, assaults, rapes, and crimes on the streets and in the subways going through the roof. It was sort of as if this movie was seen as the Great White Hope because in those days most of the crime was attributed, correctly or incorrectly, as caused by African-Americans. Well after a week or two of these channels playing Death Wish over and over again, I guess the bad guys, whatever their race might have been, got the idea that maybe, just maybe, there was some New Yorker out there who was going to take the hint, and who was going to ride the subways or stroll the streets just waiting for some goon to try to accost him and then BANG, BANG, BANG! I know there was probably at least one New Yorker doing just that, hoping for an arse hat to try to mug him, and then he (the good guy) was hoping to get to act in self defense, or defense of another, and would put a stop to the bad guy. Of course I was working my first job as a Border Patrol Agent from late 79 through October 83, so if it was me I would have had to have been on vacation; although after 83 it would have been a different story. In other words no it was not me, but had I been accosted with life threatening force I certainly would have defended myself with the same.

So I am not saying it was me though it could have been me, but I am saying that I know of at least one good citizen who did this quite a few, or should I say several, times. Heck there must have been more than just me one guy out there on the lookout for evildoers. If not, at least the bad guys must have thought it the case, because sure as shootin the crime rate took a nosedive after this movie was played over and over again. I have got to hand it to whomever it was who made the decision to play this movie in what seemed like an almost constant barrage of the senses if only because it was almost a public service message. Besides that is was a message that seemed to work, at least temporarily. Then again, it wasn't just a television fantasy, or the product of the paranoid imaginations of the dirtbags who commit such crimes, because there were armed citizens, and even some real vigilantes, out there. In the mid seventies they were out there with whatever weapons they could bring to hand like baseball bats, chains, clubs, canes, knives, machetes, and even just fists; and they were looking for The Son of Sam. I know, I was out there hoping to find him too. All of my friends were there in 76 and 77 - but all we had were bats and chains; yet I consider him lucky we did not come across him in the act. We would have been richer with the reward, the people of NYC would have been safer without him, and he would have been – well let’s just say he would not have been on a killing spree any longer.

Then, a short time later, in the early 80s there was another guy out there who was maybe or maybe not actually looking for trouble, and who was ready if the worst came upon him. He was Bernie Goetz. That was in December 1984. If Mr. Goetz does not fit, to some small degree, the character of Death Wish's Paul Kersey, then no one does. Bernie Goetz was riding on the NYC subway when he was approached by at least two of four scumbags African-American youths, at least one of whom demanded money from him. After the demand was made twice, Mr. Goetz rose from his seat, drew a .38 caliber revolver, and fired five shots in rapid succession. Here is how the shooting part it is reported in Wikipedia (I don’t put too much faith in Wikipedia but as I recall this part seems pretty accurate, although the part about the screwdrivers is questionable to me – as I recall two of them were armed with screwdrivers and the police found them to have been armed with such, but you have to go to the complete Wikipedia article to read about that at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Goetz ):


"After the second demand or request for money, Goetz rose from his seat, and from beneath his blue windbreaker fast-drew a .38 Special five-shot Smith & Wesson revolver and fired five shots with speed shooting. (Speed shooting is a very fast technique, primarily effective at close range, where the shooter initiates trigger pull prior to the sights being aligned on the target.) In media interviews, Goetz, who had prior firearms and target shooting experience, described how he discharged all five rounds in less than 1.6 seconds. (Some eyewitness testimony stated all shots were fired within one second.) The first hit Canty in the center of the chest; the second shot struck Allen in his back and came out his arm; the third shot hit the subway wall just in front of Cabey; the fourth shot hit Cabey in the left side, severing his spinal cord and rendering him paraplegic; the fifth shot went through Ramseur's arm and lodged itself in his left side. Goetz then immediately looked at the first two men to make sure they were "taken care of." Goetz then saw Cabey moving on the bench and confessed to approaching Cabey and saying, "You don't look too bad; here's another," and then attempted to shoot Cabey again in the stomach, with an empty gun. Cabey, who was briefly standing prior to the shooting, was sitting on the subway bench during all attempted shots. In his subsequent police statement, Goetz explained, "if I had had more [bullets], I would have shot them again, and again, and again." All four men survived, though Cabey was permanently paralyzed and suffered brain damage as a result of the bullet that severed his spine."

Goetz fled. He eventually turned himself in to authorities. At least one of the four youths was reported to have admitted they were intent on robbing Goetz. Even though he surrendered, if Mr. Goetz would have kept his mouth shut, if he would have let the witnesses do the talking, if he would have let the 4 guys he shot do the talking, he probably only would have been convicted of possession of a firearm and never been convicted in civil court. Heck the first grand jury did not charge him with anything but weapons charges, they found he had not committed a crime in the shootings. A second grand jury indicted him but the charges were later dismissed in part reportedly because of the fact that one of the subjects had said they were robbing Goetz at the time of the shootings. The NY State Court of Appeals (NY’s highest court) overturned the dismissal of the charges and Goetz went to trial. He should have kept his mouth shut, but unlike Paul Kersey in Death Wish, Mr. Goetz apparently suffered from Ralph Kramden’s biggest fault: A BIG MOUTH!

It is quite possible, that had Goetz remained silent, he would have even been told to get out of town as had Paul Kersey been told by the NYPD detective played by Vincent Gardenia in Death Wish. Instead of keeping quiet though, Goetz blabbed; not only did he blab, but he ranted. He told police that he wanted to kill the 4 whom he had shot, he said he wanted to murder them. He appeared to be a raving madman. I think in fact he was somewhat mad, but I think that was after the fact, due to the shock of the shooting. My personal opinion was then, and is now, that Bernhard Goetz fired the first shots in self defense, and continued shooting in the heat of the moment. After all was done he was, in my opinion, foolish. Yet he was, in my opinion, foolish for only one thing that he did. He was not foolish because he illegally carried a gun. While I do not condone violating the law, I can understand why someone would want to be armed on the NYC subway system - especially back then because it was worse than the wild west if only because those who wound up getting robbed or otherwise accosted had no way to reasonably fight back. They lived in a society where just about only the bad guys were armed (hmm, just like that today as far as being armed in NYC goes). He was not foolish because he practiced with his gun. The fact is he was quite the marksman, and he was quick too. He knew how to shoot for sure, and if you are going to carry a gun you may as well know how to use it well. He was not foolish because he was willing to shoot someone to protect himself or others from grave bodily harm or death at the hands of people he believed were bad guys. That is the right, and the duty, of every human being. He was not even foolish because he may have jumped the gun and shot these guys before they actually posed a verifiable threat to his life or limbs (though I think had it spelled it out without bravado, after thinking first, he certainly would have explained his way out of the shooting charges as self defense and would have won his civil case). That decision, the decision to fire when he did, was one made under the stress of the moment, and had he kept quiet, the chances are that witnesses who came forward would have supported his side of the events enough, and the 4 youths reported conflicting stories would have discredited themselves enough to have Mr. Goetz not only walk free on the shooting/attempted murder charges, but also walk away with all of his money in his pocket. As it wound up, he did get robbed in the end. No he was not foolish for any of those things; but he was, in my opinion, foolish because of his big mouth by which he wrote his own express train ticket to the slammer on weapons charges, and the sentence was increased after he lost an appeal; and because I believe it was in great part his boasting that caused him to lose the civil trial wherein he lost 43 million dollars. A lot of money. Of course he filed bankruptcy and reportedly has not paid anything yet, but should the he ever win the lottery, he will not likely see a penny of it. The amazing thing is that he was not convicted of the shooting charges (which in fact were attempted murder charges), but only of a weapons charge. Still had his mouth remained sealed, he probably would have not been charged with attempted murder, and would have likely been hailed as a hero, given a parade, given some sort of a reward, never been found guilty of anything in either the criminal or civil cases, and he maybe would have done no jail time at all. Those who lived through that time in NYC can tell you, Bernie Goetz was considered a hero by most New Yorkers. Even the CORE was standing strong behind him. As it was though, his case dragged on for many years, he was subjected to criminal trial, civil trial, a criminal conviction, a jail sentence, and a decision against him in civil court by which he owes someone 43 million dollars. There is one other thing though about which he was not, in my opinion, foolish at all; and I have got to say this one thing makes up for anything he did that may have been foolish in my view. He came out a survivor, and a winner, in a fight for his life because he was prepared to do just that, fight for his life.

I don’t know if those guys were really trying to rob him, I believe though that such is exactly what they were doing. For all I know, they could have been angels, but the record seems to indicate at least some of them were not. The thing is though that, in my opinion, Mr. Goetz read the situation correctly, and he was, as I believe it to have been, in grave danger when he drew and fired; or at least a reasonable person would have thought so. (this case later set new precedent in that 'what a reasonable person would have believed now included what a reasonable person would have believed based upon his own life's experience). Heck at least one of the guys later said they were robbing him, and if I recall correctly three of them wound up admitting such. I do think that Mr. Goetz sort of flipped out after the first shots, or maybe just because he thought he was being robbed, then he fell back on stuff he had seen in movies, and that included his big mouth ala Clint Eastwood characters like Dirty Harry. Lucky for him though, someone, or some few, on the jury on the criminal case must have seen Death Wish. It was an inspirational movie back then; and I am pretty darned rootin tootin shootin sure that Bernie Goetz was inspired by it; and so were his jurors at least on the criminal trial. They were also effected by something else – the crime rates. Read the Wikipedia article in full, look at the crime rates in NYC as compared to the rest of the nation – 70% higher in violent crimes! WOW. NYC needed something, and had Charles Bronson been available to take the place of Bernie Goetz in real life, the city of New York would have greeted him with open arms. Instead Bernhard Goetz, filled in for Bronson when it came to reality. When you think about it, had Goetz never turned himself in (it was imminent though that he would be captured as the police were already zeroing in on him), had he somehow remained free and then returned to New York once things had cooled down, well maybe - just maybe - he would have done it again. Maybe, like the character of Paul Kersey, Goetz would have gone hunting, so to speak, using himself as bait on a regular basis. He would have gone looking for trouble in the hopes of doing something about it. My guess is that if such would have happened, if by some quirk of fate Goetz had played and replayed the role of Paul Kersey in real life, and had kept his mouth shut as did Charles Bronson’s character in Death Wish, the crime rate in NYC would have hit rock bottom, and the people of NY still would be holding Bernie Goetz 'Mystery Vigilante Day' as an annual celebration, and had the NYPD ever by chance identified him, they very well may have told him: "Get out of town", and then just looked the other way.

Yes Death Wish was one hell of an inspirational movie, and it still is today. Bernhard Goetz's actions were also inspirational, so much so that while I was watching Death Wish, I was also thinking of him and the 4 guys he shot. I watched the movie last night, I thought about Bernie Goetz, I thought about my son Brendan Bernhard Bartley (a coincidence to the Goetz name, the Bernhard in my son's name comes from my great-grandfather) and my having taught him how to shoot so as to be able to not only enjoy the sport but to be able to defend himself; and then this afternoon I went to the Westside Rifle & Pistol Range, and I cranked off about 300-400 rounds. No I am not about to take a ride on the subways, armed to the teeth, I gave up riding the NYC transit system, except for rare travel on it, long ago. Nor am I going to, as much as I might be inspired to, go for a late night stroll in the streets of any of the boroughs of NYC taking the chance that I either will wind up a statistic in the mix of some dirtbag's rap sheet or a hero; last time I did something like that (not pre-intentionally mind you) I wound up getting the nickname Ballseye!

By the way, just to let you know: Charles Bronson, he is gone forever, but Death Wish remains an all time classic. As for Bernie Goetz, he and those shootings also remain an all time classic. According to Wikipedia, he is still living in NYC. He has run for mayor and other public office. He is involved in the so called 'Squirrel Community' and he cares for and feeds NYC squirrels (a favorite pastime of many New Yorkers). He still runs his own electronics related business, which is supposedly called Vigilante Electronics (I will have to look him up someday and maybe visit his shop if he has one), and supposedly has not paid a cent of that settlement. I'd be willing to bet one other thing about him, I'd bet that no one has had the balls to try to rob him since way back in 1984; there is just too much of Paul Kersey in him. Oh, and lest I forget, the crime rate in NY City started to plummet after the Goetz shootings, and they then remained in a downward spiral after that. Of course this is not just due to what he did on the subway, but you can bet he and his actions were at least in part one heck of an inspiration for bad guys to think twice. One other thing to bet on, at least I would bet it - he saw Death Wish before the shootings.


All the best,
Glenn B

Road Trip Photos

I guess I had almost forgotten to post some pics of the road trip that Brendan and I enjoyed a couple of weeks back. I can tell you, and I probably already told you, we had lots of fun. We went fishing, canoeing, hiking, sight seeing, snake hunting, caught toads and frogs, and also caught some crayfish. All in all it was a grand time, but I'll let you judge from among some of the few pictures I took. One of the first things we did after arriving was to go and get some fishing done. On the way to the fishing spot, Brendan caught a garter Snake (and released it). It was a nice sized one, but the picture did not come out well. As for the fishing, well the fish were on the small side and few and far between, although we caught several that first day. Brendan is holding a Sunny he caught, then released. A hook loaded with an earthworm, attached to a line with a float, and you can catch almost any freshwater fish in NY.

The next day we headed out to Ausable Chasm for some sightseeing. The hike through the private park was about 3 miles long, and ended with a tram ride back to the parking lot. The chasm was well worth the $34 or so dollars we paid to get in to see it. First I'll post a pic of Joe Cool, then Joe Not So Cool, then scenery shots. I'll basically let the scenery speak for itself, but I will tell you a bit about each shot. The pic of Joe Cool show the Falls at the head of the chasm. The same goes for the next pic, that of Joe Not So Cool. What can I say, I used to be young, and thin, like Joe Cool; but now about 50 extra pounds and old age have brought me down.

Oh well, I guess that is to be expected as one grow older, though I must point out I recently started hitting the treadmill and the weights again. Maybe by next summer I will look more like Joe Cool does here in the weight department - yeah right!

The next series of pics are scenery shots. As you can see in some of these pics, there is a walkway that you take to see most of the chasm. This walkway has been replaced several times over the years. When I was a kid it was more of a catwalk hanging off the side of the cliffs and over the water. Now there is more of a path that was blasted into the cliff face. I guess the reason for this was the floods they had in the 1990s.

Look closely and the shots with the bent and twisted catwalk. That spot is about 60 feet above the water level when the picture was taken. You guessed it, the floods caused the water to rise high enough to damage that catwalk, and tear down many others. At some points, they told us, it reached 90 feet above the level of where it was when we saw it. Talk about flash floods, man that must have been awesome.

Can you just imagine a river flooding to 90 feet above its normal levels. I guess I had never thought of such a thing before, but when you look down these narrow gorges, it is not all that hard to fathom. The flood actually brought down some bridges elsewhere on the river, and they had a big chunk of one of those bridges on display. I would have loved to have been there, observing from atop the cliffs, as that show was going on, and I would probably have been scared as anything that the cliffs would give way to that great force. Note that if you click on the first one to enlarge it, you will notice little people on a catwalk, about midway vertically in the right hand side of the picture. That will give you an idea of scale as to the chasm depth from the top to the surface of the water - and the water is about 40 feet deep (or was it 60) in some places at this water level, so just imagine another 40 feet of depth to the chasm.

Remember that if you want, you raft or tube the river through the chasm. I think it is about a mile long trip. We chose not to, but I think Brendan may have an idea of trying it out when he returns there someday. This was my second trip there, I made my initial trip when I was much younger than Brendan, before I was 9 years old. I always wanted to bring my kids there, now at least one of the two have seen it.

You again can see some folks in the next shot to give you an idea of the size of the place. Besides being big, this place was cool, and I mean it literally. It was one of the hottest days of the year so far, and will probably remain one of the hottest ones. Despite that, there were some shady places in the chasm that were almost as if air conditioned. God, mother nature, chaos, luck, whomever or whatever was responsible, certainly figured out how to do it right as far as I am concerned. I don't know if you can see them in any of the pics we took, but there are also a bunch of pigeons in the chasm. Yes those veritable New York City rats with wings live free and wild at Ausable Chasm.

The last two shots are one nearing the end of the chasm but looking back upriver, and another where the chasm ends and opens up to a wider area of river. Since I don't know if you will ever get the chance to see this in person, I thought these were some nice shots to share with you. I don't know about how you feel after seeing the pictures, but if you are not impressed let me say it is still worth going to see the actual chasm. Walking the trail and catwalks while viewing Ausable Chasm is truly a humbling and impressive experience, well worth the trip in my book.

Even when you come to the end of the chasm, or at least this part of the chasm (as I am not sure if it ends here) the view is impressive. This has got to be one of the most scenic things I have ever taken in within the USA, and I have been to an awful lots of places in the lower 48. it is not anywhere on the same scale of the Grand canyon, but it is impressive in its own right. If you ever get the chance to be in northeastern New york state, then a side trip to Ausable Chasm would be well worth a detour. About the only thing I wanted to do while at the chasm, that they just would not allow, was to try my hand at fishing in the river. I was told - no trout here, too swift. The lady who told me that does not know fish, or fisherman; because even if she had been right, a fisherman is always willing to give in to eternal hope and wet a line.

The next day, our last day in the area, we went canoeing in the St. Regis wilderness area. What a nice place, wonderfully crisp fresh air, lots of deep and beautiful forest, crystal clear water, the chance to see wildlife. Maybe not pristine wilderness, but probably as close as you can get to such in New York. Shame on me, I did not take any pictures while out on the lakes canoeing. I guess carrying our canoe to the launching site from the rental store had me huffing and puffing so much I forgot all about taking pictures. We did paddle around on two connected ponds or lakes, and we fished as we did so. Brendan had some impressive hits from big fish, but they both threw the hooks. What we caught were only a couple of small ones each and that was it. One fish he caught was sucker which to me was quite unexpected in one of those lakes. I had only seen them in streams and rivers before. It was about a 12 to 14 incher. I caught a smallmouth bass, maybe 1 pound in weight (if lucky). I also managed to get canoe knees, despite three applications of sunblock. It wasn't too bad, as you can see I survived. Brendan used stronger sunblock, and he had the last laugh on me. Well at least I didn't fall into the water or anything like that, not yet as far as the trip went anyhow.

We left the area that afternoon and headed west toward the Finger Lakes. I'll write more about that in another rant tomorrow or the following day. I figure this one is long enough to have completely bored you by now, much like was our 5 1/2 hour car ride to our next destination.

All the best,
Glenn B

On Being a New Yorker...

...but all in fun, and thanks to Rita at the Jungle Hut, I had some fun with the following:

You Are 92% NYC

Congratulations, you are truly a New Yorker. You've seen it all, and you're more than a little cynical.

How NYC Are You?

I guess even though I no longer live in the city, working there everyday keeps me in the NYC mind frame, egads! Gotta love those NYC bagels (but not from Manhattan, thgose from Queens are much better).

All the best,
Glenn B