Tag Archives: current events

Shameless behavior in Manchester — smile

The Bodyguard UK Halted by ‘Mini-Riot,’ as Rowdy Theatergoers Loudly Singing Along Are Dragged Out via @Variety

#Thanksgiving: Why some push back against the holiday’s ‘mythology’ – BBC News

Thanksgiving: Why some push back against the holiday’s ‘mythology’ – BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63735477

Happy Monday everyone — smile

Happy Monday everyone — smile

Get tested for COVID-19

If you have yet to be tested for COVID-19, you should make every effort to do so. There are many test sites throughout the United States now offering tests at no cost. The test itself only takes a few seconds. Check out the video to see a mobile test site set up by CORE in action in The Lower East Side to get a sense of what’s involved.

If you’re in New York State, you can find a local test site here.

CORE is also providing free testing at various locales across America.

Check with your local health department for the information most relevant to your area.

I just didn’t feel like it

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I haven’t worked on my podcast, or posted a Song of the Day, even though I was fully intending to. I started recording episode 4 of #smileSays, and took a break because I needed to do some fact checking online. This was on late Monday night, May 25 (early Tuesday morning, May 26). When I went online, this was when I learned:

George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin.

Continue reading I just didn’t feel like it

Serving The Lower East Side

Some of you may know that I have been a Team Leader for New York Cares for a while. The last couple of years I’ve been leading projects with seniors and kids. When the pandemic shut everything down earlier in the year, my projects were included in those shut downs. I continued to volunteer from home, making wellness checks on seniors and vulnerable populations via telephone, and providing tech support to students who received iPads from the New York City Department of Education for home schooling. (Full disclosure: I wasn’t actually able to provide tech support to students due to technical issues, but I tried and others did). For the last few weeks, I’ve been leading a project delivering groceries and PPE go bags to tenants at The Vladeck Houses on The Lower East Side.

smile and his Team deliver go-bags and Vladecks’ Residents’ Association President Nancy Ortiz explains the project

If you watched the video, Nancy mentioned that CERT also answered the call, and you saw how we coordinated our efforts nicely. I was invited to tag along and observe a similiar operation that CERT was running on Roosevelt Island this past Saturday. I didn’t take any pictures that day, but others did, so I’ll post pictures here when I get them.

Check out my new podcast

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted anything because I have been prepping my new podcast. #smileSays is now available on the following podcast platforms:

Subscribe now so you won’t miss a thing. I was originally going to host the podcast here, but decided to let Anchor host and syndicate it in the hope of generating revenue through donations or integrated advertising. There was more that went into the decision than that, but I’ll digress for now. I’m going to see if I can embed the episodes on the site as well. The player featuring the latest episode should load here:

If it doesn’t load, or you want to listen to an older episode, you can check out individual episodes in the meantime by checking the sidebar on a desktop or scrolling further down on mobile. I’ll get it to work eventually.

Spread the word and leave me a voice message with some feedback if it moves you.

It’s always something

Since most of America is stuck indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was going to start working on this site some more, since I now have time on my hands. Wouldn’t you know, a couple of weeks ago my computer’s battery swelled up and I had to send if off for repair? I knew the battery swelled because the clamshell wouldn’t close all the way and when it wasn’t plugged in, it would randomly shut down.

I contacted Apple Support and they were able to get me squared away. Since everything is closed, they had to ship me a box with packing materials and I had to send my computer off to them. Turns out the battery problem was a known issue, so even though my Macbook Pro is out warranty, the repair didn’t cost me anything. The turn around time was great too, considering the current circumstances.

Macbook Pro Clamshell after repair
It’s possible to get a computer repaired these days (at least by Apple)

I’m restoring my computer now (I wiped it before sending it off), so hopefully I’ll be up and running by the time you read this. Once I am, I’ll be upgrading the older posts to the new WordPress format and adding some new stuff. I’m sure everyone could use a Song of the Day or whatever nonsense I come up.

Waka Flocka Flame fan chooses concert over marriage, divorces her husband

Damn, he ain’t all that — smile