Kaaterskill Falls

Today I ventured off onto a trail near my home. I thought I would take some nice pics to share with you here as I promised I will. Extreme green is in full effect! The trail leads you up to the top of a mountain along side a creek with beautiful waterfalls. If you stay on the trail (which everyone does) you cant really get the best view of the falls and so I strayed off of it in-order to get the most vivid shots of the waterfalls and its splendid beauty. I realized this probably isnt the best path to take as the side of the creek is still a little icey. Fuck it I said. I live dangerously and dont really care if it leads to my demise as this brings me much pleasure and not too many things do. I nearly lost my life today. As I was climbing atop a large rock in the middle of the creek I lost my footing. Its absolutely amazing how quickly your brain reacts and lifesaving mode kicks in when your life is threatened. The second my left foot lost its footing I realized my right cannot support me and so it did too. Before my body hit the large rock I already thought about how deep the water
below was and it was just about as deep as my height. My body hit the large rock and I slid down it. Adrenaline immediately kicked in and so I didnt even feel the freezing cold water that completely engulfed me. The water was dragging me and there was a steep fall just about 30 feet away. I realized the sooner I get out of this mess the better so I grabbed a branch that was conveniently sticking out next to me and pulled myself out. As I learned from the Discovery channel I immediately took off the sweater I was wearing which was soaked with freezing water and tried to dry myself off the best I could with it. I like to be modest these days and so I was going to wear my Carhart jacket but it smells of cow shit from the farm I work on. So i wore my $600 Spider jacket that I picked up a year or so ago. Thank God I did. My camera was in a waterproof pocket when this happened as was my new blackberry cellphone. This saved it from being ruined by the water. These little adventures bring me much joy and so I am far from discouraged. Rather Im glad I experienced what I have today. As my older brother once told me, eveything is relative, if it werent for that freezing cold water I would'nt much appreciate this crackling fire I sit beside. Life and its repetetive grind is damn boring and these new adventures are a crisp and refreshing delight for me. My right knee aches a little bit thats it. I will not change my lifestyle for all the riches in the world. Today the Kaateskill falls has gotten the best of me but I shall return next week to conquer it! Enjoy the pics below.

The Good The Bad And The Ugly

Deer Like General Tso's Chicken.. Right on my front lawn

Paul Mcmahon

There is a small town around here named Phoenicia that I like to frequent. It is situated 15 minutes from where I live. I went there last night to eat at a place I like called Brios. They have brick oven pizza that is quite tasty. As I was leaving wondering what I should do with the rest of my night as it was only 9:30 I noticed a light on in some art gallery on the second floor of a duplex I was passing. I saw people walking about inside and said hey what the hell. I parked and walked up into the place. I walked around and looked at the abstract art inside. There were also some beautiful oil paintings of landscapes and such that I must say were exquisite. As my walk around the place was complete, I noticed a small bunch of friendly Phoenicians (maybe 15-20) sitting and listening to a man playing his guitar and singing. What drew me to that room was this mans angelic voice. His voice and lyrics have a keen likeship to the beatles. He is more of a genius than John Lennon. His voice is absolutely amazing. I grabbed a seat in the middle of the small crowd as if drawn there in a trance. This man sings and conveys his thoughts of the world in an amazing and vivid way. He moves his lips and strokes his guitar to produce music that is enlightening and refreshing. He sings from his heart about the same stuff I write about here in my blog. This man is a diamond in the rough. He is from Woodstock where there are many artists. He though, might just be one of the finest singers I have ever heard. LITERALLY. I sat entranced not able to budge from my seat until he finished. I dont think I blinked once for the entire hour that he was singing I went and introduced myself to him. I asked him if he has an agent and he said no. I wondered why he isnt popular and why I haven't heard of him. I asked him if he would travel to the city for events and he said yes. I really do hope to introduce people I know to his beautiful music. I got his number and bought from him 2 cds which I have listened to and love. I cant believe he is not on the radio and as popular as the beatles as his music is BETTER!. I know this sounds extreme but its true. I am so truly glad to have been introduced to this mans music. Fate led me to this place and I found an amazing singer whos music I will enjoy listening to forever. Paul, you are the fucking man! He has a myspace page where you can listen to a couple of his songs. http://www.myspace.com/paulmcmahon Listen to his music. Promote him. The world needs to know of this genius. There are many people up here that dont have the knowledge or the resources to get to where they need and deserve to be and this man needs to be on the top of the charts. Lets help him out...

Albany And Its Treasures...Also Shots From A Museum There.

Current Events

So the secret service has called me thrice this week. It seems its fraud season and spanish peope down in Miami are using good folks credit cards to order tvs and other things from my website. When special agent Eric S (lets just say) called me on monday and said he was from the secret service my mind began to race and i said what did I do now? He chcuckled and said he was calling about a certain order I had. The day prior I called a customer to let him know I suspected an order I had was fraudulent. Normally I just put these in the cancelled bin and dont bother with calling and hassleing myself with even informing these people. These days though I try to do whats right. Also, these fuckers click on my links and I pay for that. So the owner of the card said yeah some guy has been trying to use his card to buy lots of things online. I can tell when its fraud cuz they put on the order the correct billing address and then they add an alternate shipping address which in most fraudulent cases is in Miami. The spaniards down there are true scammers. So I asked the secret service guy, isnt your job to protect our shmuck president (not with those exact words). He said they are the ones that handle credit card fraud. He asked me what info i can provide and I gave him the guys IP address and phone # and the address he requested the item to be delivered to. I then suggested I send him an email stating the item has shipped and he should be there to recieve it on a certain date and time. The agent was happy with this suggestion and I shared with him the date and time the stupid shmuck will be there to pick up the tv. I initially told the card owner to call the police and report this and so he did. I also told him to share with them my # so if they needed any more info i can help. I expected a sheriff or maybe even the FBI to call but definately was surprised when the secret service called. I hope they got the fucker. Yesterday I treated myself to some rack of lamb at a steak joint nearby. It a classy place with a guy playing a piano and it is very relaxing. I brought my laptop hoping they had wifi and they did. From there I got some work done and updated the pics you see below. The head chef came over to ask how everything was and I explained i love their raqck of lamb and their Mother Milk Beer (which is the darkest they have). His name is Crest. Its weird but everyone around here has weird names. I guess mine fits in well. So this guy is around my age we chatted for a bit about how bland the party scene is around here is and he suggested I come out with him and the other guys from this steak place on sat night. He introduced me to the other chefs which are all guys around my age as is he. They seem cool but who knows. I guess Ill go out with them to this party in Woodstock in the same place I've been once where the people were very friendly. The girls outnumbered the guys 5 to 1! I'm glad to be making new local friends up here. They, like me moved up here after having enough of the race in NYC. I can relate with them. So to end this post I would like to share with you an email I sent some lawyers after they threatened to shut down my site because of (Infingement) They asked me to pull down all sony products (which I dont sell anyway) from my site. It is from a law firm that was retained by Sony. Let me first say that I never was scared of lawyers as I get threatened by many of them regularly. I also hate them because they chose a career that they thought will bring them prestige and respect. They get this from stupid small minded people. Actually even good people respect some for all the wrong reasons. Some good people respect the wealthy only because they are wealthy. I think this is the stupidest thing in the world. It is the hard working simple people that fix our lamp posts in the street or milk the cows for the creamm in our coffee that I beleive deserve respect. Anyhow here is the email:

Dear sleazy lawyers, all Sony products have been removed from our site. You can now take your accusations of infringement and stick them up your ass. Thank You.

HERES ANOTHER FROM AND TO A CUSTOMER TRYING TO THREATEN ME: iTS A LONG CONVO WITH MANY EMAILS SO I WILL JHUST PUT HERE THE PERTINENT STUFF. HE WANTED ME TO MATCH THE PRICE OF A IRREPUTABLE COMPANY:

FROM HIM:
Ok, here's a link to webpage for the company mentioned:

http://electronicsshowplace.com/product_info.php?products_id=94854&network=pricegrabber

Also, you can do a pricegrabber or google search and find a number of places that sell and ship for $100 cheaper.

Finally, please show me on your website where it discloses that I would be charged a 10% processing fee. Your site mentions a 10% processing for post shipping cancellations, but this order has not shipped. Let me warn you now that I am an attorney for a living and I will not tolerate any attempt to scam me. I want this order cancelled immediately and if you attempt to charge me 10%, I assure you that I will escalate this matter. Please confirm ASAP that this will be done and we can end this now with no further inconvenience to either party.

Jeff

FROM ME TO HIM:
Jeff, your threats dont tickle our fear whatsoever. If you are an attorney, first let me say im sorry to hear that you chose that profession but we still will have to follow our policy. Second under our cancellation policy it states clearly (under our sole discretion) We notified you of these charges and you oked them. Attorney shmatorney we deal with them all day. Trust that I am not here to make things difficult for you. The company whos link you provided does not advertise on any reputable websites. I can find you a company that will sell it to you for $700 less than us. But, you will get an open box or refurbished set. All we do is try to get people the best price and some dont appreciate it. You know, I work on a farm from 5:30 in the morning until 9 not for the money as I do not take a penny from the owner of this farm but because I love animals. When I bring the hay fro the cows there is look of appreciation in their eyes. We get you the bottom line lowest price possible and then you threaten us. Unbelieveable.

I truly am sorry that you had to be inconveninced here but you were charged for the tv already and we pay a fee to do that. I might be able to get the fee lowered for you but not by much. I think if you understood who it is you are dealing with you wouldnt care to threaten me. Im a good guy. I dont scam people. These are just the terms that had to set to cover us from fraudulent orders. Dont take offense or get angry. It isnt worth it. We deal with many people everyday and im sure you are a great guy (regardless of the fact that your a lawyer) Just let us know how to proceed or if you prefer you can use the number below to call me.

HIS RESPONSE:
I'm shocked that this is how you respond to customers. All I have tried to do is purchase a TV from your company on the terms and conditions that you advertise on your website. Maybe I overeacted by throwing out the attorney line (which I am), but you have to understand that I was not happy to see your email with a reference to a 10% processing fee for cancelling the order. I cannot find a disclaimer anywhere on your website for such a fee for a pre-shipment cancellation. Is such a disclaimer exists, please send me a link it.

So I ask you, respectfully, please let's cancel this order, not charge any processing fees and let's be done with it. I'm honestly not trying to be difficult, I just want to resolve this amicably.

Thanks,
Jeff


I cancelled this shmucks order with a 7% fee instead of ten and he was happy.

I leave this song on repeat while I work (Album version sounds better)

Happy Days

HOW COULD YOU?

By Jim Willis, 2001


A man in Grand Rapids, Michigan took out a $7000 full page ad in the paper
to present the following essay to the people of his community:

When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You
called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?"- but then you'd relent and roll me over for a bellyrub. My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more Perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day. Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on Your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" --still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy. Then the human Babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I
might hurt them, and I spent most of my time Banished to another room, or to
a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of
Love." As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch--because your touch was now so infrequent --and I would've Defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and
together we waited for the sound of Your car in the driveway. There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf. Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers." You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my Dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all Life. You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?" They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind-that this was all a bad dream...or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself--a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" Was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of You and wait for you forever. May everyone in your Life continue to show you so much loyalty.

A Note from the Author:

If "How Could You?" brought tears to your eyes as you read it, as it did to
mine as I wrote it, it is because it is the composite story of the millions
of formerly "owned" pets who die each year in American & Canadian animal
shelters. Anyone is welcome to distribute the essay for a noncommercial purpose, as
long as it is properly attributed with the copyright notice. Please use it to help educate, on your websites, in newsletters, on animal shelter and vet office bulletin boards. Tell the public that the decision to add a pet to the family is an important one for life, that animals deserve our love and sensible care, that finding another appropriate home for your animal is your responsibility and any local humane society or animal welfare league can offer you good advice, and that all life is precious. Please do your part to stop the killing, and encourage all spay and neuter campaigns in order to prevent unwanted animals.

Jim Willis

Politics...

“War President,” a recent likeness of President Bush made up of photographs of soldiers killed in Iraq. And he never went to a single one of their funerals!

....

I lye on my bed staring up at the ceiling today. I am contemplating how I can save my lost dog. I think about the sparsely spread flyers we put up around our neighborhood and how they will do nothing to find him. I cant help but feel helpless. I hate this feeling. I am extremely saddened by his disaprearance and I know not what to do. I know, inevitabely, i will have to deal with this feeling again and it scares me. He grew up with my little sister and I remember so many times that he put smiles on our faces. I can at least say that the last few times that I seen him I gave him uncommonly more attention than I normally do. This is because he has been getting old and something told me he wont be around for too much longer. Having fri night dinner with my family and not having him nudge my leg for food was a grim reality check. I dont care if he is a dog or a brother. He is family and I love him nonetheless. Today I was awoken by my cell phone ringing none stop. I have my office calls forwarding to it and it rings constantly. So the first person i spoke to upon opening my eyes today was a customer with a NY #. He asked why I have an old tv model still on the site and after explaning to him that many people still search for it and thats why we still have it he called me a dipshit and hung up. I knew my day would suck if I didnt get retribution so I called him back and said Im gonna trace your number and kick you in your fucking ass! I then felt a little better but also realized I just did something illegal. I was scared for a second until he called back. He called and said hi im the guy you just threatened on the phone. I was about to aplogize for doing so when he cut me off and said listen man Im sorry about talking to you like that but my girlfriend and I broke up and I guess I released my anger on you. I said its ok we all do these things and proceeded to take his order. I mention this because I cant count the amount of people I must have made feel like shit when my exgirlfriend and I broke up. Its not right. I'd love to release the anger I have for losing my dog on someone but I wont. Its not fair. Helplessly, all I can do is eat it and hope he is happy unlike in the thoughts that swarm in my head.

Lucky Boy

I have been around alot of animals recently but its one that I miss and thats my dog Lucky. We lost him a few days ago and since it's been a few days now I dont think he's coming back as he has when we lost him once or twice before. He doesnt have a collar. Its because of shear irresponsibility that he now has been kidnapped and is probably miserable with whomever has him wether they stole him or thought he was lost. So long my little friend....

Truesdell's Farm

I'd like to jot some things down here about the owner of this farm I work on for future reflection. Gary Truesdell, owner and current "operations manager" if you will, of Truesdell's Farm. This man has'nt a clue about really anything other than what he does. The internet is nothing more than something he hears about on the rock n roll station he leaves on while working. Haha its so great knowing there is no chance he'll ever read this. If he was one I'd call him a dumbshit piece of crap bastard. Truth is tho he's a good guy. He runs around and completes his regimen every morning like clcok work. When i first asked him if I can help out he was like "there aint no sick days here" Chuckle Chuckle. Took like 4 tries until I convinced him to let me work there. What I respect most about this guy is his roots. Since 1749 his family has been milking cows. Which is now nearly completely automated. We dont actually milk the cows. His origins are apparant. Next to the barn on his 700 acre property, which is on Truesdell Rd, rests his parents and many generations marked with tombstones. One of them, Eleanor Truesdell, is the closest to my car where I park it behind the barn so they cant see it. It reads Eleanor Truesdell 1812-1869. The holacaust smeared my family origins all over poland and germany. Their extremely simple, modest and hard working people. Its people like them that live and die unnoticed. They do only what tehy know how to do and thats farm. I wake very early and contemplate daily why the fuck I bust my ass for free in this place. Certain aspects of it seem insane for me to do. I, however, have always been very practical. I have tried many times to join gyms and ended up making donations to them as i never actually went or when I did I would chat it up with someone I know and leave early. Here, just like in the military you have a regimen and you must do your job or the livestock die. You shovel shit, you carry and spread heavy loads of hay for the cows, you sweep to make sure the area beneath the cows and all is clean, I go around with and constantly fill a wheel barrel with sawdust that i scoop with a shovel and throw around and under each cow. Its tough but its a great workout and I love gaining knowledge.