Baseball's Opening Day

Casey Stengel was once asked about how he could manage a baseball team (The Mets) at such an advanced age. He said, "The trick is growing up but not growing old." I might also he not giving up because he managed awful teams which lost 120 games in their inaugural season. I believed he practiced what he preached and also lived by another quote attributed to him when asked about leadership. "The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided." There will only be one Casey Stengel and all the other colorful people who come along after will be compared to him.

The Corner Store

It hasn't been called "The Corner Store" for a very long time. I don't know when it lost this moniker but it doesn't matter as the spot will always be The Corner Store or "The Little Store" to me.

Through the years on my infrequent visits to the Ridgewood area I've stopped into the Corner Store to see its many incarnations. I never stay long as I always want to remember it the way I did as a very young child. Back then there was an owner who ran a meat counter in the back of store and wore a straw hat when he waited on people. He was an old time meat cutter, who had saw dust on the floor, and he dressed the part of a man who knew meat.

I learned many early lessons in economics from time spent in and around the Corner Store. Firstly, it was explained to me why we never shopped at the little store for anything essential. It was strictly a convenience store as the prices could never compete with the local supermarkets or even the Superior Meat Market in the center of town.

The other lesson I learned early was about inflation. I saw the packs of hostess cupcakes go from $.10 to $.15 and then to .$20 and $.25. The same thing with cans of Coca-Cola, packs of Sweet Tarts, and boxes of Milk Duds.

The Corner Store is located on the edge of Midland Park and was surrounded by the homes of kids we went to school with and the Glen Avenue Fire House. It was a safe walk from my house near Willard and one we made countless times with no thought for our own safety. If we told our Moms we were off to the Corner Store they knew what we meant and the path we would follow. The homes in those days were filled with Moms looking out their windows as kids walked by. There were other keepers of the piece like the mailman who lived up the street from the Corner Store and who's mail route took him to all the homes in our Upper Ridgewood neighborhood. He was a kind man who didn't tolerate mischief from the kids in his neighborhood. He had no qualms about knocking on the doors and speaking to parents if he saw a child acting out.

It was quite a different time and we called things by different names than are used today. A mailman like ours would find empty homes or latchkey children today so probably wouldn't even bother with reprimanding the troublemakers. They have called the Corner Store many different names since I was a child but it will always be a place to me where got sweets and refreshments. It will also always be a place I recall learning lessons about life that have stuck with me to this day.

Doug and Tara Married in Ridgewood at West Side Presbyterian

Doug Walker and Tara Farrell were married today at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood. This photo captures the reason why we have reunions. They kindled a romance at our 35th and here they are less than two years later tying the knot in Ridgewood.

BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022 by Ted Polhemus

BOOM! was the first book I ever downloaded as I prefer something perceptible to the touch. This memoir was well worth the change of habit. It helps that I knew all the New Jersey references and had visited their childhood home accompanied by Ted's sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews. I had met their mother a couple of times and had always enjoyed seeing the sparkle in her eyes.

I spoil nothing by saying that the book is both insightful because of the truths it tells, and optimistic in its overall approach. To me, it's the sort of book a hippie writes after looking back on their life and seeing both the good and the bad. Ted is none too judgmental and tells a story that many will come to recognize as partly their own.

Here is the link at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009BBYM08/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

New "Golden Age" of TV

While there is very little I haven't seen in terms of classic television shows from the 50's, at least those which were saved, our new "Golden Age" is going to take me years to catch up on. Fortunately, it can be done without a trip to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. Though if you have never been it is worth the trip: http://www.ny.com/museums/MTR.html

The list of television series which I haven't seen at all or caught up with is extensive. It would take weeks of binge viewing to see them all. It's not that I don't want to see them, only one has just so much time to invest in television before someone comes along and says time to go to work. In the old days it would have been, "time to go to bed."

Here's a partial list from the last twenty years of shows that I want to see at least one episode of:
1. X-Files
2. Freaks and Geeks
3. The West Wing
4. The Wire
5. Arrested Development
6. Lost
7. Breaking Bad
8. Game of Thrones
9. House of Cards
10. Walking Dead

I will compose a list of books that I want to read next.

Cyndy Myer--Best-50-Women-in-Business

Here's looking at you, Cindy!

Cynthia Myer

Ridgewood Moving Services Co., President & CEO

Cynthia Myer, president and CEO of the Ridgewood Moving Services Co., is one of our 2014 Best 50 Women in Business honorees.
The women will be honored at an event March 24 at The Palace at Somerset Park. For more details, click here or please contact Melissa Sullenberger at melissas@njbiz.com or call her at 732-246-5737.

Here is the link:

http://www.njbiz.com/article/20140213/AWARDS/140219792/Cynthia-Myer---Best-50-Women-in-Business#slide