monsters in the hood

this morning at about 3 am

(cool lights, huh?)

i'm literally speechless (really, i am)

Woman sues over wrong hair color
By DANIEL TEPFER

BRIDGEPORT -- A Stratford woman is seeing red after learning that blondes don't always have more fun.

Charlotte Feeney filed suit against the cosmetics firm L'Oreal Inc. after apparently grabbing the wrong tube of hair color and dyeing her "naturally blond" hair a dark brown.

But Superior Court Judge Richard Gilardi on Monday brushed off Feeney's lawsuit.

Gilardi ruled that Feeney had presented no evidence supporting her claim of negligence against the hair care company. "The plaintiff submitted no facts, no opinions and no standards to substantiate either of the allegations," he stated.

Feeney's lawyer, David Laudano, said he hadn't seen the judge's decision and couldn't comment. Feeney could not be reached for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Feeney on Aug. 27, 2003, purchased a tube of L'Oreal permanent hair color from a local supermarket to touch up her naturally blond hair.........

if you're in the new england area this sunday

it's the 5th annual knit/crochet for the cure at webs in northampton mass

5th Annual Knit/Crochet for the Cure: October 12th from 12:00pm to 4:00pm

We are once again partnering with the Cancer Connection for this wonderful event. Please join us for an afternoon of knitting, inspiration and camaraderie. We will knit squares to be sewn into blankets for those dealing with a cancer diagnosis. We'll be using Valley Superwash, so we recommend bringing along a size 7 needle, but gauge does vary by knitter, so we suggest bringing an assortment. Spinners bring your wheels! Rigid Heddle Weavers bring your looms! Join us for an afternoon of hope. The event is free, but please register.

FOUR YEARS LATER

that's right FOUR YEARS LATER (that is unfathomable to me. it really is), the police decide to search billy smolinski's truck. i just don't understand who the police were/are protecting (well i am guessing i know who they were protecting, i just don't know WHY). how else would one explain the lack of cooperation, care and concern from the police?

Police Search Vehicle Of Man Missing Since 2004

HARTFORD, Conn. -- On Tuesday, police searched the truck of a Waterbury man who has been missing for more than four years.
Billy Smolinski disappeared from his Waterbury home in 2004.
State police did a forensic analysis of Smolinski's truck looking for evidence such as fingerprints and blood.
Janice Smolinski was sharing her son's story at a missing person's conference in Denver on Wednesday night when she heard about the search.
"All along we had thought there was a problem with the truck, and we still do," she said.
She said his family thinks the truck might hold clues because it was parked in the wrong place in his driveway.
"It was parked at Billy's house at the end of his driveway, and we had brought that to the police's attention at the beginning when Billy first went missing," she said.........

da liebs, at it again

foaming at the mouth while talking about killing people

he's a wad, plain and simple

Lieberman: ‘I Worry About’ Whether Obama Has ‘The Right Stuff To Bomb Iran’»

In an interview with the right-wing magazine Newsmax yesterday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) called Sen. Barack Obama’s worldview “naive.” Asked if Obama had “the right stuff to bomb Iran if it came to that level,” Lieberman replied, “I worry about that“:

ASHLEY MARTELLA: Alirght, Iran has sworn to exterminate Israel as well as attack the United States. Does Barack Obama have the right stuff to bomb Iran if it came to that level?

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN: Well, I worry about that. I worry that Sen. Obama’s world view is naive. Sen. McCain has been around awhile. He’s learned some things. I’ve traveled the world with him a lot. He’s, he will be the kind of president who our allies will trust, but who our enemies will fear. And in a dangerous world, al Qaeda, Iran, Iran trying to get a nuclear weapons, we want a president who our enemies will fear. I don’t believe that Sen. Obama will be that kind of president. I believe he’s naive to think that people like Ahmadinejad and Tehran Iran will somehow become America’s friend just by…..........

unfortunately this comes far too late

to have stopped those idiotic AND DANGEROUS (and useless and stupid and insane) traffic 'calming' islands on asylum avenue between steele and trout brook

west hartford LEAVE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IN TACT (and the police and the schools too). no one wants THAT touched. what we want touched are projects like useless TRAFFIC CALMING ISLANDS WHERE THEY ARE NOT ONLY NOT WANTED THEY ARE NOT NEEDED

West Hartford Voters Again Reject Budget Plan

By JOSH KOVNER And VANESSA DE LA TORRE |The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD - Voters on Tuesday shot down the $213.4 million budget, 6,152 to 4,844, and Mayor Scott Slifka said the council will consider about $800,000 worth of cuts when it meets to pass a new spending plan next Tuesday.

The budget passed in five of 20 voting districts. In June, only one voting district passed the budget.

Pete Lukawicz, 58, a home-improvement contractor, said he couldn't support the budget in this economic climate. It would have raised spending by $11 million, or 5.8 percent, though much of that is in salaries and benefits that are set by collective bargaining.

"I don't mind paying higher taxes for higher services, and I know costs are going up everywhere. I also think that people who work for the town should be paid commensurate with their private counterparts. But the tax increase over the last several years has exceeded the general inflation rate,'' said Lukawicz, a 12-year town resident........

in the hood

VERY early this morn

sorry

wow, i never even thought of this. sometimes i don’t give picture credits if i link directly to a site i got them from. let’s say something knitted if i’m raving about a particular knitting pattern or the finished food product of a recipe that sounds good to me - or something or other. (i'm usually good on the nutmeg grater (most of the pictures there are local and mine) and ravings of a semi-sane madwoman but i guess i'm NOT too good on the reformed pirate

in the future i will make sure to note if a picture is NOT mine. i am normally careful about such things, but i guess i thought a direct link to the person’s site featuring the picture was good enough. my intentions were honorable. i was never trying to take credit for the pictures OR steal bandwith (i always d/l them to my hard drive)

it’s not ok and to those i have offended i apologize. i will be wicked careful in the future.

oh, that's a self portrait of me. of me BY me

oh da liebs

SHUT THE F**K UP

you ignorant sack o' shite. as anyone can tell you, espcially jon stewart and david letterman, mccain didn't hop in his buggy and high tail it back to dc until way AFTER the crisis began. he lied to letterman. he told him he couldn't be on his show becuase he HAD to leave to get back to dc to heal the world. did he go back to dc? not yet. he sat with the vapid ms curic for some kind of interview. did he go back to dc? NOT YET you silly! he stayed overnight in a hotel in nyc. did he go back to dc? well NOT first thing in the morning, but yes, he EVENTUALLY went back to dc to SAVE THE ENTIRE PLANET SINGLE HANDEDY

Lieberman: McCain 'important' to financial deal
By Sam Youngman
Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Sunday that Republican presidential candidate John McCain's decision to come off the campaign trail and return to Washington was instrumental to the bipartisan compromise addressing the financial crisis that was forged over the weekend.

Lieberman, the Connecticut independent and 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate, said McCain showed "characteristic guts" in making the decision to temporarily suspend his campaign last week as Congress contemplated a $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street.
"I honestly don't think that this would had have happened as timely as it did if Sen. McCain had not come back and been a bridgebuilder," Lieberman said to reporters on a conference call Sunday afternoon.

Democrats have blasted McCain's involvement on Capitol Hill, attacking the Arizona Republican for injecting presidential politics into tense negotiations.
..................

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: i don't really care if john mccain gambles or not

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: i don't really care if john mccain gambles or not

saturday in the rain

september 27 2008

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: oh no, paul newman died

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: oh no, paul newman died

follow up to yesterday's posting on first lt. Thomas J. Brown

i never met the man, but i guess this is the sort of man he was:


Fallen Soldier Requested Charity In Lieu Of Donations

(what does THAT say about the man? lots, it says lots about him. i mean in A GOOD way of course)

A few weeks ago, First Lt. Thomas J. Brown and his family talked about what no family wants to discuss. They discussed his wishes in the event that anything should happen to him.
Brown, 26, died in Iraq on Tuesday, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.
He grew up in Shelton with his mother, Carol, and twin brother Timothy.
Thomas Brown asked that anyone wishing to make donations make them to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
His family said he was a charismatic young man who could win you over with his smile, his family said.
Brown played Little League and youth soccer.
“I've been hearing a lot from people calling up and reminiscing. They just said that everyone is taking something away from having known Tom. He's just outstanding moral character, just the person he is -- he's just changed everyone's lives,” Timothy Brown said..........

to the family and friends of First Lt. Thomas J. Brown

my thoughts and prayers are with you. i am so very sorry for your loss and OUR loss in connecticut and in america as well.

Soldier Who Grew Up In Shelton Killed In Iraq

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A soldier who grew up in Connecticut died in Iraq on Tuesday, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.
First Lt. Thomas J. Brown, 26, grew up in Shelton with his mother and twin brother, where he played Little League and youth soccer.
The Army said Brown was shot during an ambush while patrolling in Salman Pak, Iraq, which is about 15 miles south of Baghdad. It is near an old military facility that was once a key center of Iraq's biological and chemical weapons program. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., called Brown's death a tremendous loss.
Shelton Mayor Michael Lauretti said Brown's family will get support from the community......

Lt. Thomas J. Brown

Army Officer From Shelton Killed In Iraq

By DAVID OWENS The Hartford Courant

An Army officer who grew up in Shelton was fatally injured Tuesday in Iraq when the patrol he was leading came under enemy small arms fire.First Lt. Thomas J. Brown, 26, was leading his soldiers on a patrol in Salman Pak, Iraq, according to the Army. Brown was serving with 2nd Battalion of the 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, based in Baumholder, Germany."Ever since Tom was young, he always wanted to go into the military," said Carol Brown, the soldier's mother. Carol Brown said she and her late husband insisted that their son, who is a twin, first go to college. He graduated from George Mason University."He tried working, but he found life behind a desk was not for him," Carol Brown said. So Thomas Brown applied for and was accepted to Army Officer Candidate School. In addition to earning an officer's commission, he earned Airborne wings and a Ranger tab.......

perfect posies

(mums actually)

ah, the end of teh season

as i live and breathe

it's juan mar-teen in a tie!

i NEVER thought i'd see the day

(at the the half door)

aye aye matey avast an ahoy!!!

ye DO know what today be?

ye chumbucket ye!

yes me harties, it IS talk like a pirate day

aye even a bilge rat blog or two like THIS knows what today be!!!

My pirate name is:

Iron Charity Flint

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

picture: the tethered cow

i AM the kind of person who says

i EFFING TOLD YOU SO

i told you here

and

here

and

here

and

here

i told you black and blue square not only emptied the town coffers (where is all of the money we were going to get back so our taxes wouldn't rise????????? how come no one is putting up a stink about that??????????) but would DRIVE STORES OUT OF THE CENTER AND BLACK AND BLUE SQUARE ITSELF. why? the rents keep going up and up and up. the stores jack their prices and NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO SHOP THERE

sit-n-knit was the ONLY reason i was going to the center. they moved a while ago to wintonbury mall in bloomfield. there's PARKING. PLENTY OF PARKING AND GUESS WHAT? it's FREE FREE FREE (on that note, when i went to northampton last month, their parking is quite reasonable. there are no meters at the parking spots. there's a little machine thing that spits out tickets. you put in a certain amout of money and it gives you a ticket with a time on it. you place that ticket on your windshield. how much is it to park in northampton you ask. IT'S FIFTEEN CENTS AN HOUR. yes, you read that correctly IT'S FIFTEEN CENTS AN HOUR. can you imagine that in west hartford??????)

but my peeps i digress. what i wanted to tell y'all was

and like an id-jit i didn't ask if i could name names so i won't

but i digress once again

a store that has been an institution in the center is MOVING. they've found another place in west hartford at far far far less rent. and what else do i have to tell you my peeps? well at least ONE store IN BLACK AND BLUE SQUARE is moving out. yup - has it even been a year? they're going at the end of 2008. there is a very good chance another store is going as well, however i cannot confirm that one.

that's only the ones i know about. i'm sure i don't know about the others contemplating MOVING OUT OF THE CENTER THANKS TO BLACK AND BLUE

way to go west hartford!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

flora

more fungi

the big clumpy ones are growing on the ground right in front of/at the base of trees. the second picture from the top - those are growing midway UP ON the tree trunk (out of the tree itself)

i grew up in the asylum avenue area

my pops and sister and i still live in the hood. both my sister and i (and, as it turned out SEVERAL other people) phoned the town a day or two after noticing all sorts of spray painted hieroglyphics in the street. one of the words said 'island'. that's when we got the scoop. the town did a traffic study (and if they really did one, i was unaware of it. as i said, i have lived in that hood MOST ALL of my life - and i ain't no spring chicken). that's what they used to say they needed those island for TRAFFIC CALMING. TRAFFIC CALMING?????????????????? all i can see is a giant pain in the ass AND creation of dangerous conditions. the day before yesterday NINE CARS CRASHED INTO THE ISLAND BETWEEN PENN AND CUMBERLAND (i don't know about the other islands). my sister observed ALL but the first crash. the islands were NOT properly marked AND the sun was coming down and in the driver's eyes. just think about what is going to happen in the winter. hey town of west hartford, we're on a budget. WHERE DID THE MONEY FOR THE ISLANDS COME FROM?????????????? did you ask the neighborhood residents if THEY thought the islands were a good idea? one more thing, why, the day AFTER the 9 crashes were west hartford police ALL OVER THE SIDE STREETS STOPPING PEOPLE AND 'HEAVILY OBSERVING' people? why weren't they ON asylum avenue?

it's a stupid effing idea. it's a waste of money. when we talked to people 'in charge' regarding the NINE CARS THAT HIT THAT STUPID MEDIAN, there was some talk of people not following the newly painted solid line down that side of asylum. i am bad at directions. it's the side going from quaker to trout brook. well, the line looks like it was painted by someone on acid. it was NOT done very well.

it's all bullshite. THE TOWN DIDN'T DO IT'S JOB

channel 3 had a camera truck out there late yesterday afternoon. they did a little piece on it but i don't believe anyone hit the island yesterday. that doesn't matter NINE IN THE SPAN OF ABOUT AN HOUR the day before last, IS NINE TOO MANY)
http://www.courant.com/community/news/hfd/hc-whdmedian0912.artsep12,0,6967761.story

West Hartford Officials Defend Medians After 9-Vehicle Crash

By JOSH KOVNER |Courant Staff Writer

September 12, 2008

WEST HARTFORD — - Town officials defended the use of "traffic-calming" measures around town after several cars — heading west into the setting sun — struck the new, granite-curbed medians in the center of Asylum Avenue during rush hour Wednesday evening. Police Chief James Strillacci said he viewed the nine-car crash as more of a construction-zone accident, complicated by the glare of the sun, than an inherent problem with the medians, "bump-out" curbs, chicanes or speed bumps that have been installed, or are being built, on at least 10 streets. These include main arteries like Asylum Avenue, Steele Road and Farmington Avenue. West Hartford is about 15 years and $2 million dollars into one of the region's most extensive traffic-calming programs. Strillacci and Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle said the measures have generally had their desired effect — that of narrowing streets, slowing down cars, and forcing drivers to be more attentive. "Asylum Avenue was a drag strip in the 1990s," Mayor Scott Slifka said Thursday. He noted that commuters and others who pass through West Hartford generally don't like the measures, while residents coping with speeding cars in their neighborhoods do............

hey mayor slifka, i take umbrage with your statement about asylum being a drag strip in the 90s. were YOU there? i was. EACH AND EVERY DAY. it was NEVER a drag strip. where did THAT come from? sure, you're get a speeder now and again. that's the same with EVERY street. let's take a side street for example. let's take ummmmm let's say MAPLEWOOD. there are far MORE speeders on THAT street than asylum. maplewood, a cut through street for farmington ave or quaker or boulevard.

hey mayor slifka if i asked the town for the traffic study justifying the islands would you furnish me with one? OR, would i have to get an foi request?
am i pissed? yes i AM pissed (but my sister is even MORE pissed if you can believe it)

picture: The newly installed granite median on Asylum Avenue in West Hartford may be a factor in the nine-car crash on Wednesday. (LORETTA WALDMAN / HARTFORD COURANT / September 11, 2008)

i have been getting a lot of hits lately

on pettibone tavern

i KNOW i read an article in the courant of late saying it was bought AND would be reconstructed and reopened. i can NOT find that article at all. i found a COMMENTS section for the article but the story (mysteriously?????) has disappeared

here is one of my original pettibone posts the fire damage posting

i solved the 'mystery'. seems like the sci-fi channel's show ghost hunters did an episode on some new england murders and included pettibone tavern

it IS inhabited by the ghost of abigail. of that i have NO doubt. however, i KNOW she's not going to show herself to no damn ghost hunters from the sci fi channel!!!

not only should he lose

his senate chairmanship, he should be booted from politics period

Lieberman increasingly expecting to lose Senate chairmanship after Obama attack
John Byrne
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) expects to lose his position as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee if Democrats pick up four or five additional seats in the Senate, according to his aides, who floated the claim in Tuesday's Politico.

According to the Connecticut senator's staff, Democrats are upset about his speech at the Republican National Convention in which he attacked Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Lieberman was the Democrats' vice presidential choice in the 2000 presidential election.

"Lieberman returned to Capitol Hill Monday — his first day back since speaking at the convention — and was greeted by the resignation of his $120,000-a-year legislative director, Joe Goffman," the online political news site reports. "The 66-year-old Connecticut independent has said he hopes to stay in the Democratic fold, although people close to him say he’s increasingly pessimistic about his prospects of doing so."........

Helen Ubiñas nails it

she nails it hard and she nails it so it ain't movin'. a great piece. it's short - READ IT
(some things are acceptable if you're white and the daughter or son of let's say a governor. some things are NOT acceptable if you're browner and the daughter or son of let's say a clerk at a discount store. think about this, what would those rightwingtips be saying if barack obama had a 17 year old and SHE was pregnant. if you don't think they'd rip him and her apart YOU ARE A FOOL)

A Family Values Exception For Pregnant Palin Daughter

Helen Ubiñas
I didn't get it; the way the young mothers refused to talk, how one lied about the baby girl in the stroller not being hers, and why the teenage couple who bluntly talked about the hardships of having a baby when you're just a kid yourself wouldn't go on the record.

It's their business, the young father told me. Why broadcast their lives? People will only judge.

But that's just it — I was there to tell him and all of the unwed, teenage Hartford parents I came across this week that this was a new day. No longer did they represent the face of shame. They were — thank you, Bristol Palin! — the new face of family values.

Didn't they hear?
No matter how hard I tried to share the good news though, they weren't buying it. And who could blame them — they knew better than to think that title would ever apply to them. Before Palin made having a baby at 17 the "tough and courageous" decision it has suddenly become, mostly what rained down on her poorer, darker counterparts was shame...........

i don't care if you're sick of them

i'm NOT.


my sunflowers at the half door

i walked out in my popi's back yard yesterday

and found this growth by a giant stump. the fungi is about as big as a head of cabbage. it grew in less than a week. this year has been grand for mushrooms. i know i see people collecting them in the fields of st joseph's college and i also know people are collecting them on the grounds of where i work.

my grandmother (noni) taught me which mushrooms we can eat BUT i don't' trust myself. i'll leave that up to stop and shop and whole foods. especially after the horse whisperer and his family ate some poisonous ones in europe (and had to have dialysis)

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: that steamin' pile formerly known as da liebs

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: that steamin' pile formerly known as da liebs

turtlecam!!!

the big one bloomed!

they're all bloomed. the biggest one is over 11'. it's amazing. the seeds i used were hart's mammoth


0h and if you're headed to the half door, wait until friday evening. they're closed a couple of days for renovations. new floor, new tile, new bar sinks, new paint (i'm painting here and there, but i didn't start yet) and a new beer cooler (which of course YOU can't see). do stop by and at the least say hola to the sunflowers before they go away

a shout out to richard franzis assistant principal staples high school

in westport. he's BACK FROM IRAQ

(another story on his original deployment from the nyt)

Bound for Iraq: Citizen Soldier’s Parting Lesson

i know we are ALL so very happy to have him home. ESPEICALLY his family and friends AND yes, his high school students