Vacation, Family and lessons.

Hey Folks.

It’s been awhile, I guess I just needed to recharge my batteries. I took my family to Las Vegas for vacation a couple of months ago. We had a great time. That’s what I expected. What I did not expect was to learn a lesson from my daughter. We stayed at Mandalay Bay. While checking in I asked for a room upgrade. We were given a suite for a small fee. We would have never gotten this if the economy was better. Great room with a full view of the strip. But what I did not know was that all the suites were on levels 60 - 62. There are only 62 floors. And you have special elevators that go strait to 60 and up. Well I’m more than a little claustrophobic. And these elevators don't have lights to tell you what floor you are going by, because first stop is 60. To most people that may be a great thing. But to me I need that little light. It says to me "Vinnie just passed 10 don't panic you can get out on 11 if needed." Well it did not seem too bad till the next morning when my daughter and I went down to get coffee and bagels. Got on the elevator push lobby. We were there in a second. We got our food and we got back on push 60, doors close the elevator goes right to 60 stops. Doors do not open. Now I start to go into full panic mode. I'm pushing buttons, and clawing at the doors and I'm not kidding. I was so panicked that I pushed the panic button. The real one on the panel. What happened, I heard a phone ring. No one picked up. Now I feel like this has been going on for hours. More like 30 seconds. I was just about to have kittens or pee on the floor when I hear. "Dad, calm down. We are Ok and we will be ok." I look at her and I just happen to hit the lobby button. The elevator goes to the lobby and the doors open up and I jump out. My head is spinning. Just then another person waiting for the elevator looks at me and knows something is not right. I said you might want to take another one this one would not open when we got to our floor. He says, “did you use your room card?” “All the suite floors need a room card.” Now feeling very stupid and embarrassed. We take the next elevator use the card and the doors open up on 60. As we get off and we are walking to our room I am over come by the feeling that my wife and I have done something right with this kid. She sees her father in full blown freak out mode and not only is she able not to be there right with me, but she talks me down from the ledge. I said Erica, “how come you were not worried." She said, “I was." "But I knew it would have gotten bad fast if we both panicked." Wow, at that minute I felt proud and very small.

Now we had a great time, but our hotel was at the end of the strip so we did lots of walking. Next time we will stay right in the middle less walking. And since we were with the kids we did little gambling and drinking and more sites seeing and shopping. Theses were just to kill time till later when we went to the shows and going out to eat. We had 2 shows planned. Penn & Teller and Carrot top. Penn & Teller the begging of the week and Carrot Top on the last night there. The week was fun but not a lot of rest which is what I look for in a vacation. We were go go go. Fast forward to the last night, we go to pick up our Carrot Top tickets early. The sales lady says to me, you know this is an over 18 show. So right away I knew I had 2 choices, go and get turned away or pick another show fast. We chose to go to something the kids would get into. We rush down the strip to a kiosk that sells tickets. The only thing we could get that we kind of wanted to go to was Danny Gans. We rush back to the room and change. Now its 6 and show starts at 7. We were all very tired from rushing around all week. I have a sinus infection; my wife has a bad cold. So to say that we were not happy to be running off to see Danny Gans is and understatement. We get a cab to the Encore Hotel. All the hotels in Vegas are very nice, but the Encore was very elegant. Right away I new we were out of place. We were all in jeans and tee shirts and everyone else was dressed to the nines. I felt under dressed for the men’s room. If you saw the men’s room you would agree. So we go in get seated. Not great seats. So you can imagine how 2 kids who wanted to see Carrot Top feel. We were all snapping at each other. No good karma going on. Then Danny Gans came on. WOW. Right away I felt all these bad feelings melt away. He was Amazing. He did impressions like no one I ever saw. Not just cheesy ones. Good ones. He had changed our mood from miserable to joy. He was funny and his stuff crossed all generations. And at one point he stops the show to thank us for coming. It was not a "hey thanks for coming." It was a heart felt thank you. Telling about before he came to Vegas and getting this great theater he was on the road for 42 weeks a year. And when his daughter drew a picture of the family he was not in it. But then she pointed to him in a plane in the picture. So he was really blessed to have this gig and to be home with his family. And even though this was a great show and lots of fun. I learned another lesson. It does not matter where you are as long as you have your family with you. The next day Danny Gans died in his sleep. We had seen his last show. Life is very strange. So to end my ramble. God bless you Danny. You will never know how the man upstairs speaks to you. Sometimes it’s your daughter or a Vegas entertainer.

See ya

Vinny

Friends in low places

Hey folks,

                        I have told you folks before about the characters I have worked with.  Well a person that is the complete opposite is leaving my company. His name is Joel. This guy is a great guy, smart and very easy to get along with.  He is the person no one has a bad thing to say about.  But you know how in the movie unbreakable, Bruce Willis was unbreakable. And Sam Jackson would fall apart if fell down. His opposite, or as I like to say his bizzaro Bruce Willis. (see Seinfeld).  Joel's  bizzaro would be a guy named Rick I worked with at a Chemical company about 20 years ago.  Now I knew he would be a gem the minute I met him. He has every issue known to man. Bad child hood, bad marriage with a built in cheating wife. We were both computer operators. And this was a very small shop. We had 3 shifts so we only had 3 operators. So if someone got sick you were working 16 hours. And with all of his issues he was never late and rarely sick. But when I first started he had to train me on running the different applications we ran, Payroll, Accounts Payable, General Ledger and so forth. Well the night he was going to train me on Payroll he had into a knock down drag out fight with his lovely wife Mary.  I only met her twice.  I called her "Scary Mary".  She was not a good looking gal. My co-worker Tom told me, "WOW, he must have met her at a Rock Fight". Nuff said. So Rick gets the Payroll Jobs running and says "Hey I'm going to lunch". Warning bell should have gone off. One its nine at night and Two I had never seen him eat anything. Just chain smoke Lucky Strikes and down coffee by the gallons.  So when he didn’t return at 10:30 I was very worried, when the phone rings and its John the Head of Payroll asking to speak to Rick. I said he's still at lunch. When John slams the phone and yells  "Dam it."  I said what wrong? He said he must have had a fight with his wife. He is either one or two places drunk and passed out in his car or drunk and at the strip club.  He say's "Vinny can you finish the payroll run?"  I said "No, Rick was training me."  So now he informs me that I have to get him out of the back of his car or the strip club.  I said, "No Way."  Well after a little prodding from John. And this being my 2nd week.  I agreed.  And of course he was not in the parking lot. If I did not have twin babies at home I would not have done it. So I get to the strip club and yes Rick is there up front waving dollar bills like he's trying to get the attention of Bob Barker on the "Price is Right".  I'm pleading with him to come back to work. No way. He say's "Vinny, buddy, have a drink with me.  Tropic Tanya will be out next." So thinking my life had just turned into a Quentin Tarentino movie.  I had a beer, watched the storm that was Tanya and then forcefully dragged Rick out. But he can't drive and won't get in my truck unless I agreed to go to the package store and buy him a bottle of Jack Daniels.  I said 'No Way."  So as I walk into the liquor store, I'm thinking no one is ever going to believe I was not in on this from the beginning.   I get Rick back to work, and not only did he run the Payroll jobs flawless he did a pretty good job of training me. Now I did not mention this episode to my boss for the fear we would both get canned.  But I told all the details to John of Payroll.  About a week goes by and I get called into my boss’s office and he says I just got off the phone with John.  Well right there I was so nervous I think I peed a little. And all he does next is hand me a twenty dollar bill and says, "Been there!" 

So I will go to my friend Joel's going away party tomorrow, sad that he is leaving but will be very happy no cash will exchange hands and I don’t have to say to someone. "Been There!"

 

See ya

 

Vinny

Just trying to get by.

Hey Folks,

My twins will turn 17 on Saturday, and I will tell you that really got me thinking. I feel a little like George Bailey. Because I can't help but think, Vinny you have had a wonderful life. I don't want it to end any time soon but I can't help of think of how happy and wonderful it has been. And this also got me reminiscing about how different my path to 17 was than my kid’s path. I did not have a hard upbringing, but then it was not easy either. I have two sisters and a brother but they are 10yrs plus older than me. So it was kind of like growing up an only child. My parents were depression era folks. And hearing their stories, I want no part of a depression. And their lives were so hard, they had a hard time expressing there feelings. So I think that’s why I say I love you to my wife and kids every chance I can. And I think that’s way I am so much closer to my kids than my parents ever were to me or my siblings. My mother was a very tough Irish woman who I would call more street smart than book smart. She never wanted me to be soft. And she never held her tongue to spare my feelings. If she was in a bad mood, AKA (Hungover). She would let you know. "Mom what’s for dinner? "SH*T". Ahh, bowl of cereal. "Mom what are you cooking?" "Crap". Ahh, another rasin bran night." Mom can you give me a ride downtown? "The Buses on strike." Looks like I’m walking. Now fast forward my my home now. "Mom whats for supper?" "What do you want me to make you hunny?." "Mom what are you cooking?" What you asked me to make last week, sweetheart? “Mom can you give me and my friends a ride to the mall. Sure, do you need any money?" Now my father was not much better. He was a old school Italian. He was not very vocal until you got him mad. I'm not sure what I did, and I'm sure I deserved a good whack, but my father beat me so bad one time my brother had to pull him off me before he killed me. My house now, a lot of threats no hitting. Now that I have painted my parents in a bad light, I have to say for the most part they were good parents. Just not the type of parents you see now a days. My tough Irish mother who never threw me a kind word, when I told here I wanted to join the Boy Scouts went out and bought me every possible Boy Scout accessory. And my non verbal father would do just about anything I asked to make me happy. My parents were from a different time. A depression era, drinking era, smoking era, world warII, Koren war, Vietnam war, time. These are the same folks that instilled in me that its family first. Take care of the less fortunate and walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you judge them. As I sit here and write this I can't believe how much I miss them. They both passed a few years ago. And I always think when times are hard. My parents made it through much harder times. And what my father use to always say when there was lull in the conversation or when he was just lost for words. "Better days are coming or Keep the faith." It took me 47 years to learn but my parents were just trying to get by. Just like me an wife are now. So If you are lucky enough to still have your parents, they may not be perfect but they are just trying to get by. Just like you.

See ya

Vinny

Part Time jobs, Girls and stolen cars.

Hey folks,

I have been trying to get my kids to get part time jobs. But its tough in this recession, which got me to thinking about my part time jobs. I've had a few, but the most fun and most memorable was parking cars at the Harbour House in Lynn. Now this was a hotel/nightclub. And it was only a hotel in that it did have rooms to rent. But that’s were the comparison ends. The word "SEEDY" comes to mind. This was a great part time job for me. No heavy lifting, no real lifting at all. Stand in a parting lot for 7 - 8 hours making sure no one parks in the Hotel Guest lot. And keep the flow of traffic going. I was not suppose to let anyone park in the hotel guest lot unless you were a guest, well unless you "tip" me. Then you were a guest of Vin. Everyone always told me that this place was run by the mob. I never knew for sure but there were things that did point in that direction. Like one night my buddy Dan was harassed and roughed up be a patron of the night club. And the word got around what had happed the night before. And the next night the bouncer "Big Lenny" gave Dan and I both blackjacks. And told us, "If anyone messes wiff youes tonight. One wack on the head, they will go down like a sack of potatoes. Then roll them under a car and I will take care of the rest." No ever really bother us after that. But I was ready with my blackjack, like Barney Fife with his one bullet in is shirt pocket. Did I just show my age? Younger kids see Andy Griffin show. This was a great place to work if only for the all the bands that came. I got to meet most of them. Most were local like "The Stompers, Robin lane and the chartbusters, Luna, The Fools." And this made me a very popular in my high school. Because, I had it going on back then. Not really. I just thought I did, like most high school kids. When I think of myself now and then, I always use a quote by Lenny Clark. "I might not be the best looking guy, but I'm not hurting the national average either." The parking lot was huge. And on nights with good band you might have to park a quarter mile away next to the water. And it was not uncommon for a young lady to ask me to walk her to her car. One night this one girl asked me to walk her to her car by the water. We get to the car and she says her girl friends will be coming out soon and she will give me a ride back the front door. I don't know if it was because I was seventeen or because I was dumb as a bag full of bricks. So we get in and she grabs me. And it was right then I was a 17 year old boy and a 17 year old man. Because, I had the same thought at the same second. First the boy. "Hey she’s touching me were she should not be!!!!" and at the same second as the man "Hey she’s touching me were she should not be!!!" Guess which side of me won out. Well I’m not gonna kiss and tell, well at least not in my Blog. See me later. But that was the best tip I ever got.

For the most part I just worked there but every once in a while I would take a girl out to a show there. When I remember going there with a girl I see it my head like when Henry Hill takes his future wife out to the night club in Good Fellas. People giving me the best table, free drinks and food and everyone knows me. But in reality I think I just got in for half price. Working in a parking lot you help a lot of people break into their cars. Most for locking their keys in there. So one night these two very cute girls all made up with tight jeans come over to me and say they have locked their keys in their Cadillac. Now with that other time I helped a young lady fresh in my mind I could not get the door open fast enough. But this time all I got was a 2 dollar tip. And about 30 minutes later a middle age man comes out and says "Did you see my silver Caddy, it was parked right here!" Well, GULP. I looked him straight in the eye and said, "No sir, but then I just got here. I bet it got towed." I learned a lot from that job. But the one thing I took from it is. When you just helped 2 hotties steal a guys car, who may or may not be in the mob. LIE.

Se ya

Vinny

You can't pick your family

Hey Folks,

You know I seem to be always fighting with my wife or kids. But when I think about it its not fighting at all, its communicating. And it’s more bickering. Or should I say it’s my form of communicating. It was taught to me by my parents. Because we were never really angry at each other. When I first started dating my wife Karen she would come over and she was horrified at the way we talked to each other. My father would yell, I would yell, my mother would yell. And I would storm off in a huff. Then later I would say to her lets go back to my house. And she would say I don't think they want you around, and I would laugh. And she was shocked that when I walked back in the house (most times) there were no hard feelings and all was forgotten. But you have to understand this is the way we communicated. And I thought this is the way everyone got along. I learned a lot when I moved out years later, like meat was very good, and was moist and not dry like served in my house. But only years later did I learn that my fathers yelling, like mine came from a place of worry and fear. A few years ago my son was over weight and his cholesterol was through the roof. And we had to take him to children’s hospital for a check up. And that day I was a bear. Yelling and complain about everything. I told my wife weeks later that this was fear that something was really wrong with this kid that I loved more than anything. She said "Vin, I know". “You only have two moods angry worried guy or happy funny guy.” Now while I think I am a little more complex than that, she is basically correct.

Family in general are all dysfunctional. But they make all the hard times bearable and the good times brighter. Now when I was young I did not realize any of this. I just looked at my family as one big pain in my butt. I remember a time I had just gotten my drivers license. My uncle Anthony had passed and I was asked to drive my two aunts to the airport to pick up my uncle john who was coming up for the funeral. Now being sixteen or so I cared nothing about any of that. But what I did care about was I was going to get to drive my aunt Jenny's new Oldsmobile to and from the airport. That was a win for old Vin. But little did I realize that the real win was spending time with these two old ladies’. We get to the airport and we go to the gate that my uncle John is coming in on and I read on the monitor he will be coming in on a new gate. So I tell the two lady’s in tow to follow me to the new gate. Well once again the monitor tells me to go do a new gate. This goes on for atleast two more gates when my aunt Suzy all 4' 2" of her, looks at her sister Jenny and says loudly "WHERE THE FU*K IS HE GETTTING HIS INFORMATION!" Well I laughed so hard I actually fell on the floor laughing. When Sen. Paul Tsongas is getting off the plane steps over me and my aunts both great him with a "Hello Senator." He might have walked around me but I think stepped over sounds better.

Now years later I don't remember how that car drove or even the smell. But I do remember the felling when my aunt yelled that out. Just like I know how I feel today when I look at my tall, healthy, smart son. Wonderful!

See ya,

Vinny

Doctor knows best

Hey folks,

 

While taking my wife to the doctor this week, (she has a broken toe).  I began to reminisce about all the times I have been in the doctor’s office.  I have sinus and stomach issues nothing major but enough to make sure I spend lots of time at doctors offices.  Now I have an HMO. Most people dislike them, me I usually only need a quick prescription so they work for me. And like most HMO doctors they only get to spend 10 min per patient. So they have that prescription pad in a holster like a gun slinger.  And another thing most people don’t like about HMO's are that you are always getting a new Primary care doctor.  As soon as they get some time in they move on.  But like I have expressed in earlier blogs I enjoy meeting different types of folks so this is something I enjoy.  I know I'm strange.  So this one time I came to the doctor’s office for a routine physical.  And now I find I have a new woman Indian doctor.  Now she was a great doctor for the 6 months I had her before she moved on.  And in that time I learned that you should never get a after lunch appointment because she loved her Indian food, and her breath would burn your face off. So my physical is going well until it comes to check for an enlarged prostate. Now any guys dreads this part. It’s the time when they must insert a finger into the rectum to feel if the prostate is enlarged.  So my doctor say's "Mr. Frasca please drop you pants and underwear and face the table.  So remembering what my brother had told me just a few weeks before, I told her, that’s ok but I know that there is a blood test that can be done in place of this vastly invasive finger test.  She nods and thinking I have just dodged a huge bullet I start putting on my shirt when I hear behind me a sound NO ONE wants to hear.  It was the snap of a latex glove being put on. That’s when I reiterate and I think I was stuttering when I said it. “I, I, want the blood test for prostate.”  It must have sounded more like a plea than a statement.  Then this small very attractive Indian woman says in a voice that sounding like it was coming from a prison guard. "Mr. Frasca you paid for a complete examination you’re going to get one".  And I did.

I have never been good a patient anyway.  I remember one night after working 2nd shift I came home sliced my hand open with a knife, right away I knew I would need stitches. Even though I was in my mid thirties and never had stitches.  So I drive myself to the ER and sit there for a couple of hours because as the ER nurse told me, "we have a real emergency right now you will have to wait."  And I'm such a baby I did not say a word because I was worried when they did see me they would make me pay for being a complainer.  So I get to see the ER doctor and this guy just got done dealing with a multiple car accidents with much blood shed.  He looks at my cut and says  yah I guess it could use a few stitches.  So he starts to administer the Novocain via a needle and I start to moan.  So I moan more and gives me more this goes on for over a couple of minutes. When he final says, "can you still feel that!" I said "I could never feel it, I’m just scared." When he loses it and yells at me "you should have said something I thought you were still in pain so I kept giving you more!"  Needless to say my hand was numb for 3 days and I'm not kidding.  I got 4 stitches by the way.  So I guess all I  can say if you find yourself at the doctors office in the near future and your feeling nervous just think of the of the worlds worst patient,  ME and your experience with be fine in comparison.  

See ya,

Vinny

Introductions and endings

Hey, I'm back. 

Did not think I would stop writing that easy.  Well a lot has happened in a week. My job like most had Layoffs.  Only my company puts a nice tag to it. They call it a RIF (Reduction in work Force).  Sounds kind of nice, almost like a bump in the road.  But I assure you if you are one of the unfortunate folks to get RIFED, its no bump. It’s more like a mountain.   A friend got RIFED this week, which got me to thinking about all the people who through RIF's and job changes  I have come a crossed over the years.   It’s amazing in the twenty odd years I have been gainfully employed how many folks have come and gone and added something to my life.  Some bad but looking back I'm happy to say more good.  And the way a person meets another for the first time does make a big impression.   When I was starting a job about 15 years ago I was in the break room and in walks the Sr. VP. Richard Mann.  He says hi my name is Richard Mann, but I prefer Dick. (TRUE STORY).  I said Hi I'm Vinny I’m the new computer operator.  Then Dick says "Vinny, what are you in the Mafia".  And like a bolt from above, I’m thinking. Did "Dick Mann" just make fun of MY name. WOW.  And now that I think of it no one ever called him Dick or Mr. Mann.  It was always Dick Mann.  Like he was a super hero.  And I’m guessing like me you are right now thinking, thats a super hero NO ONE wants a visit from. 

That job was a good one even with its strange caped crusader.  And most of my jobs have been like that.  Some better than others but I have always thought it was the tapestry of folks that make a job enjoyable or not.  Like the time I was working at Chemical company and the guard at front desk took a likening to me. Now today it would have been called a BROMANCE.  On his part not mine!  And this security guard,  lets call him Jay, because that was his name.   He would follow me anywhere just to keep the conversation going. You know the type of guy. When he was young his parents most likely tied a pork chop around his neck just so the dog would play with him.  And he would follow me into the men’s room and keep talking to me though the stall door.  One night during a fierce thunderstorm he followed me out to my truck. Still talking while I got in and closed the door. I yelled at him, "Jay you better get in before you get hit by lightning". He says "Nahh I have no metal on me". Which I replied "how about that badge that sits above your heart?"  And jay lets just say didn’t know that our company carried dental insurance.  He would down ice-cream sandwiches with no regard for his one last good tooth.

Now you all have had these types of co-worker relationships.  Yah right. Or more normal ones.  But like me if you think back you will find these types of characters in your past employment. 

And theses people are the spice of the boring work day.  So to my friend who got RIFED this week, he is a very funny guy and I will miss him.  But I’m sure he will hook up with another company in the near future.  He added fun to my mundane workday. I wish him the best.

So if you are one of the lucky ones to still have a job.  And you are out with you co-workers having a few after work drinks,  you may be in the presence of a super hero.  Here’s to you "DICK MAN". 

See ya  

Vinny.