Greg's General Store

Several years ago I posted about the classic Hee-Haw skit; “Hey grandpa what’s for supper?” I got to thinking how ironic that statement is for me because I only remember one of my grandpa's and that memory isn’t a very good one. Truth is he never made dinner for us. Truth is he didn’t cook, he only drank. And that is the only memory that I have of him. I can barely even remember when he died. The funny thing is that the original post is one of the biggest feeds into my blog. It is amazing how many people search for that phrase and one of the links takes them here. My grandmother’s did cook though and they were both great cooks. My grandmother Lottie not only cooked for her family, she also used to be a cook for Ormond Elementary School. It was Corbin Avenue Elementary at the time. She also drove the bus for the school. She would get up, fix breakfast for her children and get them ready for school, then drive the school bus, fix lunch for the school children, drive the kids back...

On the last day of 2012, I took a Yoga class. I knew it would be a great way to end the year and it was. During the class just like in most classes the leader suggested that we set an intention. For those that don’t take yoga, what this means is that you pick an object or thought to focus on during the class. It can be an object like a flower or a bird or something less concrete like love or peace. In this class we were told to try and think of an intention to set our focus for 2013. Try as I may, I just couldn’t come up with just one thing. All kinds of ideas were popping into my head for what I want to accomplish in 2013 but there was no common theme to focus on. As in the past, I do want to lose weight this year. I want to get in shape. I want to become healthier by eating better, drinking less, exercising more and minimizing the stress in my life. I would like to do more volunteer work, help others more, and reach out to those in need. I would like to make some new friends and ...

There are so many things in this world that are fake these days. Someone said that you can't put anything on the internet if it isn't true. That in itself is so untrue. I think that 90% of the information on line is fake and the rest is blown out of proportion by the media. I never thought that a day would that you couldn't believe what you read in a news paper but that day has arrived and it came with a bang. So I don't believe anything I read in the paper, on line or anything I see on TV. Especially those "reality" shows. If you didn't already know it, those shows are fake. Yes the people are real and the shows somewhat revolve around their normal lives but they are scripted and those people are doing crazy things just to boost ratings. I also don't believe in UFO's, free things, that Honey Boo Boo will ever amount to anything normal, and I don't believe that the path to Heaven goes through the front door of a church. It can but that come...

They are both emotional releases and sometimes I have trouble deciding which one to do. Yesterday at work, I got into a heated discussion with one of our electricians. Let me give you the background first. There is this pump/motor combination that isn't working and needs to be removed so that I can send it in for repairs. Picture a pool pump that is bolted to a frame with 4 tiny bolts. It really is as simple as that. So the question is who should remove it? An electrician because they do have to remove the wires and they have the technology to remove the tiny bolts and hoses. Or have a mechanic do it but they wouldn't be able to remove the wires legally so they would have to call that electrician to the scene anyway. Case one would take two electricians, one to do the work and the other one to complain about having to work. Case two would take one mechanic to do the work and two electricians to watch the mechanic and then one of them would have to remove the wires. Pretty s...

I am saddened by the recent events in Connecticut. The fact that a man could kill another person let alone a child just baffles me. And now it seems that everyone is looking for answers. Why would a man do this? We may never know the answer to that question but the alarming fact is that these kinds of things are becoming more and more common. They used to happen about once every 10 years, then about once a year and now it seems like about once a week. Is this really the end? Is it going to turn into a big free for all gun battle in our streets? I surely hope not. In the wake of this disaster, many people are calling for gun control. There may be a little truth to that reasoning in that if you were able to take away every gun from every American, there would be no more gun killings. However there would still be sick people and I am sure they would use other forms of weapons. We could take away every knife too and stop knife killings. Of course we would have to take away all forms of e...

As always I am thankful for so many things and not just on Thursdays. Today I am thankful that my wife is recovering quickly from her hand surgery. It isn't easy working all day and then coming home and being Mr. Mom. They will be taking the bandages off next Wednesday but she is already able to do a few things to help out. Thanks for all your prayers. Have a great day, Greg

I read an article yesterday that said a large percentage of the fish sold in NY is misidentified. In other words people are buying what they think is one kind of fish and in fact getting another kind. And I am not surprised. This reminds me of something that happened a very long time ago. My father used to do fish fry’s in Daytona back in the 60’s and early 70’s. It started as a lifeguard thing and was usually at the Daytona lifeguard station in Eleanor Village but he sometimes went to other locations. I enjoyed working with him so I was often his helper. Not only did I make a little money doing it (usually paid in sodas and candy) I also enjoyed the scenery if you know what I mean. The menu was usually the same: Fried Mullet, Hushpuppies, Coleslaw, Baked beans and Iced Tea. Dad’s fish fry’s were famous and there were even articles written about them in the local paper. If you never had fresh fried mullet, you are really missing something. When cooked fresh and cooked right it...