All Roads lead to ...

If you check Google, half the directions on the Woburn/Stoneham line seem to mention the local Friendly's Restaurant.

The only problem is, that place closed several months ago and all signage was removed. Now construction equipment has turned it into a hole in the ground. So much for the lost souls on Montvale Ave.

But there is a silver lining, they are replacing it with Wendy's Restaurant. Let me know as soon as I can get a Frosty...

Round two

D.L. Hughley noted how many New Orleans residents were religious, and chose to stay behind during Katerina while putting their faith in God:

Sometimes God sends the weatherman to say there’s a Level 5 hurricane. Sometimes Al Roker is God.

If Katerina did nothing else good, hopefully it told the good people of Texas to get out of the way of Rita.

Y'all Come

For one brief shining moment in my teens, I was on the rolls of the Skaneateles Fire Department. (I never did anything useful before leaving for college, so don't bother to applaud).

Like most departments, they were part of the mutual aid system for NY State, where neighboring departments assist each other during major alarms, be it at the scene or standing by at the requesting station in case of a second unrelated alarm. The slang term for a really big alarm was Southern Mutual Aid (Y'all come).

Alas, Katerina adds new to meaning to this. As reported by the Wall Street Journal's Evelina Shmukler and Peter Sanders reporting from Mississippi's Gulf Coast:

It's easy to get a little lost in Mississippi these days. The influx of rescue, law enforcement, utility and other support crews from all over the country can mean some surreal moments. On Interstate 10, a Miami police cruiser flies by, lights flashing. A New York Police Department vehicle drives down the beachfront road in Gulfport, as does a search and rescue crew from Salt Lake City. The North Charleston Police Department is directing traffic in North Biloxi. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer sits across from the Harrison County emergency operations center.

Change of Season

Every August, a crisp breeze blows in for a day that reminds me that fall will be here soon. We had one such breeze on schedule a few weeks ago.

Now fall is on the doorstep, asking when it can move in.

All of which introduces that if I want to clean up my personal physical act this year, it's time. I've started walking and riding the exercise bikes again (excellent), taking my blood pressure (looks good), and weighing myself (not good, but I have a baseline).

The first goal is (as always) lose 10 pounds, and the second goal (as always) is drop 25 to 240. The as always part is the biggest problem, but at least I've stopped the 15 year trend I had until 1998 of putting it on and never taking it off.