The Modern Ghost Town

This weekend we received some sad news that was not all that surprising. Our local Borders Book Store is closing. Not like the closing of Linens and Things (Which forced me to look elsewhere for "things" - who really buys all that much linen?), or the closing of the Rag Shop, where I would buy all of my fabric for building puppets, this is not a chain-wide closing. It is just the one on Rte. 10 in Livingston that is closing. The landlord raised the rent. Could you imagine this, the same landlord who lost a VERY busy Old Navy Store, and a Big Electronics store, was now going to be putting up another vacancy to match the dozens of ones that line Rt. 10 in Livingston and East Hanover, NJ?

Once upon a time, some 25+ years ago, Rt. 10 was not the busy shopping center it was built to become. There were farms, swamps and forests. A store was not as common as a cow. Today, there are more storefronts than trees on Rt. 10, and most of those stores have Vacancy signs.

About 6 months ago I was trying to figure out what project I could do with the awesome Flip Camera I received from my ladies for Fathers Day. At that time, I was helping my wife and her business partner put together their Kettlebell Gym, about 6 miles down the road from my office. I spent an inordinate amount of time driving to their place on Bloomfield Ave., as well as going to the Home Depot on Rt. 10. As I sat at the light where the now CLOSED Gibbs College stood, I could see building after building of empty windows. No life at all. A fan of the western movies, it brought the picture of a ghost town. I was waiting for some tumbleweeds of paperclips to blow across the road from the abandoned Office Max, or some outdated auto stickers from one of the handful of barren auto dealerships to ominously slap into my windshield. The same could be said for the stretch of Bloomfield Ave. from Fairfield to Verona.

At this time (not unlike today), everyone was still talking about unemployment, the economy, the so-called stimulus package that bailed out the rich bankers, who screwed up the first time, but did not encourage them to help the little guy struggling at all. I do not usually write songs that are political at all, although I have MANY political opinions, views, and plans. I produce wholesome family entertainment; however, this scene inspired me differently, and became the first project I would do with my Flip Camera. I wrote and produced a music video titled Ghost Town.

I didn't really do anything with it. I posted it on YouTube for fun, and forgot about it, until this past weekend. After leaving Borders, for probably the last time, the family and I drove down Rt. 10 to see that no progress at all had been made. As a matter of fact, there seemed to be more vacancies than ever. So I decided that I would mourn the death of yet another storefront in our area by sharing the music video with you. The lyrics are below the video in this blog.

I am still seeing new construction going up all over Livingtson and the surrounding towns. What makes people think that these stores are going to be rented, while the others stay vacant?

I once I thought, maybe if the politicians see this, they will figure out how to bring life back to our towns. Well. . . they will if it gets them re-elected. =)

The old saying goes, it is the insane person who continues to do the same thing, the same way, and expects a different outcome. As Susan Powter, the crazy spiky-haired fitness advocate from the late 90s put it - STOP THE INSANITY! I say we knock them all down and bring farming back to our area. I'll take a plot!

ENJOY THE VIDEO

Ghost Town

Words and Music by Randy Rossilli, Jr.

©2009

When you live outside your means

And stretch yourself beyond your reach

You’re setting yourself up to take a mighty fall.

You put your faith in Wall Street

That fake money marketplace.

Where in the blink of an eye you might just lose it all.

Another neighbor just put up a sign they can’t seem to make ends meet.

There but for the grace of God, this could happen to me.

CHORUS:

Now this whole place is ghost town

The bank foreclosed and has shut it down

Empty parking lots and vacancy sign are all I can see.

This whole place is ghost town,

The big box stores have all moved out

All thats left are skeletons and monuments of progress and greed

In this concrete Ghost town

I remember when this town

was full of open fields

Seemed like the grass went on forever.

Now the land is empty again

But cracking concrete all I see

Surrounded by barren black top fields

Who decided we needed another new mini mall.

They want to build it next to the vacant one they had to close last fall.

CHORUS:

Bridge:

So they gave out some stimulus, but to where I can’t tell

The rich keep getting richer and the rest seem bound for. . . Well . . . .

CHORUS

In this concrete, black top, empty shop, dilapidated, ruin filled, overgrown, weeded covered, litter trashed, eco-killin, oil spillin, money bleeding, pollution feedin’ Ghost Town.

Bringing In A New Pet - Part 2

I will title this entry - "Welcome to Insanity"

Well. . . we got our first family puppy. We adopted it from a wonderful shelter in East Hanover, NJ - Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter. I couldn't recommend them any more confidently or say enough wonderful things about them as an organization. If you want a new pet, call them: njshelter.com. Holly, the name we finally agreed upon - after Billie, Magic, Casey, Mystic, Lucky (for obvious reasons - people should call ME lucky now) and a collection of names recommended by family, friends, and FaceBook friends - was brought in from a high-kill shelter in Maryland.

After her first two days with us, she might have opted for the fate of staying in Maryland =)

To say that our children are a little excited, would be like saying Shaq is a little tall. Between our girls trying to train them like they see Victoria Stilwell do on Animal Planet, the two cats, $100 worth of toys that the kids want to teach her to play with all at once, and two snow days, Holly's first days have been a bit busy to say the least.

If she doesn't develop a twitch, it will be amazing to me.

As I write this, she is snuggling and snoring on

her rainbow bed at the Nightstand Creation offices, worn out and thrilled that the kids are at school.

We have had some luck regarding the cats. Nala hissed at Holly, but kept her claws in, and Simba came by for a little Catnip fix and got within 18 inches of Holly. I am not sure at this time if they will all be buddies, but I can tell you that I feel pretty confident that Holly does not view them as playthings. She whines and howls (I think there is a little hound in her family tree) for ten minutes at night then goes to sleep right away in the crate. The cats are back upstairs with us and are terrorizing our feet as if nothing has changed. With Holly being only 3.5 months old, we are still trying to find a pee-pee rhythm, so we have had a handful of accidents. I am glad we waited to get the new rugs and furniture. All in all, progress is being made and we are loving her more and more every minute.

Today I put her car harness on and belted her into the car to do morning drop off and bring her into the office with me, which will probably be a very common thing. She was awesome in the car and did not get nervous at all. By the end of the trip, she was curled up on the seat and enjoying Barry Manilow's Weekend in New England =)

I know what you are all saying. . .Rainbow bed, Manilow. . . .You are all correct, I'm bringing her up right! Enlightened, and exposed to the finer things. . . Giddyup!

I'll report on her progress again next week sometime. My next blog will be back to the normal randomness of Parenting, Education, Media, and the like.

Until then. . . .Woof. . . I mean, Peace!

Bringing In A New Pet - Part 1

I remember 10 years ago when we brought home our first child, we had to introduce our daughter to our "original child" our shetland sheepdog, Jasmine. I brought home a blanket and hat with the baby's scent on it and snuggled with the 8 year old dog that we had doted on since we got her.

When my wife and daughter were to come home, my wife went in first and spent some time with Jasmine, then I came in with our new baby. Almost instantly, Jasmine became the baby's bodyguard and we had a fairly seamless transition.

Years have passed and Jasmine is no longer with us. We now have two cats (Simba and Nala), a bunny (Josie), and tomorrow we will be bringing home a 4 month old puppy, Holly. Time to call on the experience 10 years ago.

When you are an animal person, you can never have enough animals around you. My family and I are animal people. My wife fosters and rescues small woodland creatures, the girls and I work on a miniature horse farm in our spare times, we have eight different bird feeders in our yard, we hand feed the squirrels on our deck, and we all can't get enough of Animal Planet. Although we all love dogs, and I have been campaigning hard for one for almost two years now, there is that concern of how the 4 year old cats will respond. It was their house first.

So, for the past 3 or 4 weeks I have been combing the Internet looking for the best sites and videos to help with this transition and to ensure that the transition will be successful. I love my cats, but I REALLY want the dog.

Between my wife and I, we have had enough animal experience to make this successful. This will be a wonderful family project, that I think will also make for a good series of blogs to journal our progress. However, I am not naive enough to think that this is going to go as well as it did with the baby and Jasmine. It will take patience, time, and teamwork to make it happen. A fun family challenge.

So this is the introduction of a series of blogs that will follow from time to time, reporting on our progress, our successes, and our attempts that could have gone better - remember, Edison did not believe in failure, just ways things didn't work. =)

Wish us luck and look for future entries of our weekly series "Bringing in a New Pet."

Why my wife puts up with me, is a mystery even Dan Brown, with the help of Holmes and Watson couldn't crack. =)

What's in a name?

The family and I are about to adopt a dog from our local shelter. I have been campaigning for a dog forever. We had Jasmine for 13 years, and after we lost her 4 years ago we went into mourning. We got our 10 year old a bunny (she was 6 then) and five months later we rescued two cats, Simba and Nala. I am no historically a cat guy, but I LOVE my cats. They are quirky and silly, but a cat is not the same thing as a dog.

Anyway, I have been searching for a couple months, and just recently we went as a family to meet a couple dogs. This week, the wonderful people at Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter met my family and interviewed me regarding the type of dog we wanted. The MOST important thing was that the candidate must get along with cats.

I was going into a meeting on Thursday night and my iPhone started barking. It was Jenn from the shelter calling (I gave them their own ringtone - what a nerd). She told me that she had gotten in from a high-kill shelter a couple candidates that met our requirements. I went the following afternoon and wanted to take her home with me instantly. We cat tested her and we tested her with other dogs. Her first tests were passed with flying colors. Afterwards we hung out and she just chilled by my leg for about an hour.

So I went home armed with some digital photos and showed my wife and then the girls. Her shelter name is Fiona, and I wanted to name her Billie - after the invisible dog on the A-Team, but that was meant to be. What followed was an insane obsession by our daughters (I wonder where they get that from? I guess they had to get something from me) trying to rename their prospective new family member.

It was easier naming our daughters.

How about:

Lacy, Dixie, or Trixie: Where's the stripper pole?

Ethel, Millie, Ester, or some other grandma name? =)

Peyton: why not Montana or Favre?

Hershey: Highway or squirts?

PLUS most of us know an Emma, Zoe, Abby, Jessie, Holly, etc. So you don't want people to think you were naming it after them (some might not find it complimentary)

So I decided to put it up on the FaceBook to see what we get back.

Naming your pet is more of a reflection on the family than it is on the dog. I think that what people name their pets says a lot about them. What does your pets' name say about you? Think about it. Did you name it after a favorite cartoon character, flower, month, time of year, ballplayer, . . . ? I find it to be a fun thing to think about as well as to think about those who you are friends and family with.