The New York Rangers are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals. I know some of you don't really care and won't read the rest of this blog but I wanted to acknowledge the incredible run they are having.   If you watch one moment...watch this ridiculous and incredible save by NYR goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Because this save, in realtime, is a mere fraction of a second you need to view the entire video. It's only :50 and they show the save in slow motion from different points of view.  

Over my life I have had a number of very good friends. Sadly, they are friends no more. Looking back,  there was no moment of confrontational conclusion or such. They seem to have just faded from the scene. In fact, they still live in the area and at times we endure uncomfortable encounters with them. Joanne and I talk about it and them quite often and can't put our fingers on the fade. Are we in denial?Did we out grow them (or them us)?  We just don't know. Are we alone?

Red light cameras are showing up everywhere. The cameras that are at intersections which are coordinated with the traffic lights to photograph the license plates that go through red lights or commit other violations (like rolling through a right turn on red). Recent reports are that, after a few years since being introduced, revenues from the red light cameras are down and accidents are also down. It makes sense.

Following the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, our Little League re-scheduled its Opening Day ceremonies since they had been rained out the first week of the season.  I always push my teams to have a strong turnout as Memorial Day has always been something that was important to me (one might say, duh, it's important to everyone, but the truth is that the turnout is never as strong as it is for the tree lighting or St. Patrick's Day ceremonies).    

Anna and Emily Lawrence, twin sisters and juniors at JFK High School in Bellmore, recently made an important observation. Too many people, and in particular, new drivers are distracted by their cell phones and other devices. This is serious –people get hurt and some die. Some statistics show that eleven teens die every day because of texting and driving.

Given the meaningful blog Fred wrote on Friday as to the history behind Memorial Day, I’m wondering how most of us spend Memorial Day. For my family, it’s always been about inviting some close friends and family over to, hopefully, enjoy the good weather and our pool. We always order too much food (so I don’t have to cook during the following week) and just enjoy our extra day off.

As my sixtieth birthday creeps closer, my mind drifts to thoughts of catastrophic illness and death.  It is not the first time.  I once had a crush on Janice Zloto.  She had a crush on my best friend.  I wanted to die.  But I was only in sixth grade.  

Over the past couple of weeks I have done a totally unscientific study of how the recent long winter has affected businesses.   There's the obvious ones that were/are dramatically affected; Nursery...sales are down compared to last yearPest control company...owner says it's like we're a month behind.Awning company...two months delayed in sales/service calls