Total Page Views

Friday, October 12, 2012

Biden's Malarkey and The Trip to Erie

Hey kids! I'm on twitter! Feel free to follow me....

@PeterJFelice


Now that that is over with, didja catch the vice presidential debates last night?? I watched a little of it, but it was really difficult seeing a man of Joe Biden's age resort to such immaturity and lack of professionalism. I mean, laughing at scoffing at his opponent on serious issues does not reflect who I want to take the oval office if something were to happen to the president. The liberal faithful love it. Which I also don't understand, they heavily criticized Romney for his 'behavior' last week. Sure, he probably could have lightened up on the moderator - but he was DEBATING. That's what you do during a debate! Sheesh. It makes me want to vote for Romney simply to do what I can to keep that joker out of office.

Joe Biden is living proof that God has a sense of humor. 


What a great meme! I'm gonna have to save this one and use it for future arguments.

So I briefly touched up on my grandfather's passing last week, but I didn't really talk much about our trip to Erie. It was a long trip. Two of my brothers, my future sister-in-law, my sister, my girlfriend and myself all piled into the new Chrysler Town and Country, or as Paul called it 'a mini-spaceship that looks like a van', and made the eight hour trip to Erie, PA.

Oh...and yes, the van we took was pretty awesome.



We did pretty good on the way there, only had to make two stops. One for gas and snacks and the other for lunch. But we added a third stop on the way home because Paul and I forgot to use the little musicians room before leaving the lunch stop.

I'd like to take this time to call Whitney, Mario's fiance, out. She posted this picture as we were getting ready to leave for erie.


And then about five hours in, I took this picture.....


Gotta love Karma!

Despite the circumstances, it was great to see all of my family members that I hadn't seen in years. My grandmother seemed to be doing well, considering she had just lost her husband. On the way home, Paul and I were discussing getting all of the grandkids on a telephone rotation to call my grandmother to make sure she is ok. I'm hoping we can do this as it would probably mean a lot to her.

Now here is a rare picture. Minus two great-grandchildren, this is all of the descendants of my grandmother.


We're a crazy bunch!

The funeral was a beautiful ceremony. I got to give a speech about how my grandfather would also start a conversation with me by telling the same joke. Everytime he would see me he would say 'Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete fell of, who was left?' Giggling, I would say 'Repeat' and he would repeat the joke. The most astonishing was when he lost his memory due to dementia and couldn't remember who I was when I went to visit, but when I started the joke myself and said 'Who was left?' without hesitation he responded 'Repeat.' It was a really neat story, and my family seemed to appreciate me sharing it with them.

My brother Matt also gave a speech about Poppa's background and his experienced in the Navy and as a Carpenter. It was also a nicely delivered speech.

Following the church service, we went out to Heaven's Gate Cemetery and my grandfather was laid to rest following a 21 gun salute. I had never seen a military funeral before so that was pretty neat. And my uncle Joe gave us all shells from the salute that we could keep as souvenirs.

 

After the ceremonies had concluded, we went to my Uncle Joes for a mini-family reunion. During that time, I felt it necessary to show Alison the Erie Bay as she had never seen it before. We took a trip out there and got some good pictures of the bay.


Seeing the way the clouds were formed and the shining sun reflect on the water like that really filled me with hope for my grandfather. It was such a peaceful feeling and I felt happy that he was now walking with God in heaven. He will definitely be missed.

And this concludes todays 'picture blog'. As always thanks for reading!

- PJF










Thursday, October 11, 2012

Be More Happy

Well, by popular demand I am continuing the F-Sharp blog. It took a dive back in May for no apparently reason other than I had lost interest in writing. That being said, it was a great tool to use to keep my family and friends up to date on what is going on in my life and also a good way for me to vent out frustrations with all things from politics to sports. So this is one of hopefully many entries that I will be posting in the future.

First, a tribute to my grandfather who passed away last Thursday. He was a WWII Navy Veteran, Carpenter, Winemaker, Volunteer, a son, a father, a husband, a brother, and so much more. We will certainly miss him.

Joseph Nicholas Felice
July 27, 1927 - October 4, 2012
Rest In Peace

In recent news, it seems there has been a lot of debate over a recent move by Norton Healthcare to require its employees to get flu shots to protect their patients. Yes, you read that right. To PROTECT THEIR PATIENTS. Those evil bastards are wanting to try and keep people with weak immune systems from getting the flu. This move has been deemed by many as being 'unconstitutional'. Really. So telling a company that they can't enforce a policy that takes strong consideration for their patrons and is not illegal is constitutional? I mean, if the government was sending agents into your house with needles and injecting you against your will - yes, that is unconstitutional. But we are talking about a competitive company wanting to keep their patients from getting an unnecessary and unwarranted illness. I say if you don't like it, then find another job. The flu shot won't kill you, and at worst it may make you sick for a few days. And if does, well then you have a law suit on your hand - good luck with that.

This actually brings up a point that has been irking me for many years. In recent times, I have been able to make observations about human cognitive abilities and it has become apparent that it is a human natural trait to generate anger. It seems that people enjoy being angry more than they do being happy, and because of this they will find reasons to be mad. Don't believe me? Try standing in a McDonald's lobby and compare the number of complaints, or unhappy people there are to the number of compliments or obviously satisfied people within an hour during lunch time.

Ok, lets take this idea a step further. We are talking about a corporate fast food chain. Greasy, less than perfect food, usually smaller and less appetizing than advertised on TV commercials or menu screen pictures.  But at the end of the day, you are being fed. You don't go home hungry, and the original purpose for going to a restaurant has been completed. But you feel compelled to complain that it took ten minutes for your order, the fries weren't hot, something on your sandwich wasn't right (barring food allergies of course), etc. Here's a thought: Take a spear, and try and hunt a deer for dinner. We should be so lucky to have what we have, yet it never seems to be good enough. This reminds me of a classic Louis CK interview with Conan O'Brien which I am posting below.



He has a pretty damn good point, doesn't he?

And we've all done it - myself included. But perhaps this is a good life lesson to us as humans. Maybe we should make it our goal to be as happy as we can every day. Imagine how much better life would be if people stopped trying to find reasons to be pissed off, and concentrated more on appreciating what we have.

Politics is a great example of this. Politics is all about finding reasons to hate the other candidate. Twisting his words and creating memes geared at implementing the belief that he/she is the spawn of Satan. I laughed at the ruckus that stemmed from Mitt Romney's comments about cutting spending from PBS. Instantly, people created an anti-romney campaign that suggested Romney was against Big Bird. I wonder how many of those people have actually donated money to PBS to keep it on air. Or how many of those people give two shits about Sesame Street, or have even watched that show since they were young children. But because their opposing presidential choice said it, it infuriated them. There really isn't anything logical about that.

Be more happy. Say it to yourself. Every day when you wake up. Be more happy. I'm gonna try this, and see if it helps even me.

Ok, now that I'm done with that rant how about a funny picture?


Just kidding. Nothing really funny about that picture, but people seem obsessed that today's date happens to be consecutive numerals. Ok....for reals now.


I think I need to print this out and put it on my wall.

Sports Update:

The reds just lost and will be going home, allowing the Giants to move on to the NLCS. Hopefully the Cards will follow cincy in two more losses to the Nationals. Really, I'm just tired of hearing from their fans.

Louisville Cardinals - Rocking it with a 5-0 record! Saturday at 11 AM (what the hell kinda time is that for a football game??) they will be facing the very inconsistent Pitt team on the road. If Pitt brings their normal game, I think it will be a pretty solid victory for the cards. And this time, we won't have to swim there (hopefully). However, if Pitt decides to play at their best - Strong and Company could be in trouble. Here's hoping to 6-0! Go Cards!

Indianapolis Colts - Not quite sure where we will finish this year. We have a very good QB and a decent running game, but we're a very young team and the chemistry isn't quite there. Coach Chuck Pagano is expected to miss nearly the entire season as he battles leukemia and the entire team has rallied behind him. And they showed their support by stunning the Green Bay Packers in a thrilling rally from an 18 pt deficit. The largest lead the packers have blown since 1957. 1957??? My Dad was 7. He's now 62.

Chicago Cubs - Eh.....they weren't the worst team this year. We're still rebuilding.....not much hope for the future when you barely win 60 games, but I'm confident they are working on a plan.

Music Update:

Superhero Symphony - Rehearsals were going well for a while, but given the challenging brass parts for that piece along with Tchaikovsky Symphony #4, Dr. Goldstein and I have decided it was in our best interest to push the premiere date to April 21, 2013. The good news about that is that we will be able to spend more rehearsal time and push for a much more solid performance.

That is...unless the world blows up in December.

Coming Soon: Scenic Impressions, written for my girlfriend Alison Durbin. I'm not gonna say much about it now, but feel free to listen to the second movement available on my soundcloud.



I'm also currently applying to graduate schools. The three choices I have are in the following order...

1. Michigan State
2. University of Maryland
3. City University of New York

So this is it, the first blog kicking off somewhat a fresh new start of blogging for me! I will do my best to update it daily, but no promises!

 Thanks for reading. :)

- PJF