On Thursday Aug 18th, WICC’s Ann Karrick hosted Prill Boyle and Chuck Scott talking about sundry business pet peeves - hence the following five audio chapters from said interview … BIG THANK YOU to WICC, Ann Karrick, and Prill Boyle for permission to share … to be continued cs
Chapter 1: Ann Karrick introduces the pet peeve theme plus the on-air guests … audio clip is approx 1:49 minutes
Chapter 2: Chuck gives AT&T a virtual whirley - why is it that permisson marketing is so hard ..??.. audio clip is approx 3:20 minutes
Chapter 3: Prill talks about SPAM - what kind of friend are you ..??.. audio clip is approx 5:05 minutes
Chapter 5: Breaking News and predatorial pet peeves ..??.. audio clip is approx 3:00 minutes
PS - Here is a picture of the unwanted AT&T phone books that Chuck talks about in audio Chapter Two - so much for permission marketing … There are about a dozen other similar mailbox drops like this throughout the condo complex and this picture was taken the first night AT&T contractors forced their liter onto our private property … One member of the Board of Directors told me that it cost the Condo Association over a $1000 last year to remove this trash … This year after five days and some nudging by you-know-who, the Association Management called AT&T and demanded they come pick up their trash … The woman on the other end of the phone representing AT&T stated that their contractor responsible for this was off-the-map and that she would personally round-up some people to help her collect the unwanted books - which they did - so Kudos to Corporate Responsibility
On Thursday August 17th Roger Scott, a local resident of Ridgefield Connecticut, teed-off with a drive on hole number five with a seven iron and Calloway ball that resulted in a hole-n-one at The Ridgefield Golf Course on Ridgebury Road.
In keeping with golf tradition, the person who scores a hole-n-one is supposed to buy drinks for everybody playing on the course that day and indeed, Roger Scott’s hole-n-one secured celebratory beverages for all. As added luck would have it, Mr. Scott also had hole-n-one insurance coverage as part of his Men’s League dues, thus was able to celebrate in good cheer with fellow golfers knowing his lucky drive wasn’t going to break his recreation budget.
When asked about his good fortune Roger replied, “Well at $4/bottle for Corona Beer and lots of golfers that day, the Hole-n-One Insurance was a stroke of good luck and like an extra mulligan.†Mr. Scott went on to elaborate on his tee-ing off, “It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest drive I’ve hit. Kind of low trajectory but was front and center, and I saw it hit the front of the green and roll but did not see it drop in. When I walked up to the green, I was bummed that I did not see my ball on the green at all and thought perhaps it rolled off the back fringe and would have to chip and scramble to save par. But another golfer said he saw it go in, so I walked up to the pin and low-n-behold, there was my ball sitting at the bottom of the cup - it was kind of surreal, and yes, I won that hole.â€
Roger has Irish DNA and comes from a long line of golfers who have taken to enjoying the links around the world. In fact, Mr. Scott is the third Scott in the family to have scored a hole-n-one. First, his father scored one in the 1950s and then Roger’s son, Chuck, scored one playing for the Ridgefield High School varsity golf team during the FCIAC playoffs in 1981. Chuck did not have hole-n-one insurance back then but got lucky in that it was on a Monday and the club house was closed. Makes one wonder about the Luck of the Irish.
When we think of the imprisoned “people who have committed crimes” we conjure up visions of hard-looking individuals, vile in nature, locked in cells surrounded by prison guards. Yet, there are other prisons that we all create for ourselves. Like the prison guard who oversees the captive, our consciousness is the gatekeeper of our soul. Thoughts of inadequacy, fear, hate, low self-esteem, self-pity, racism, addiction, loneliness, grief, and anger keep us in prison as much as the inmate in a jail cell.
I know about both kinds of prison. I have been physically imprisoned for the past twenty-four years in a maximum-security facility for women. For the first ten years I was also in an emotional prison that kept me in a constant state of denial, depression, guilt, hatred, self-loathing, shame, anger, bitterness. These ever-present thoughts defined me, and were just as confining, tormenting and frightening as the steel and barbed wire that enclosed my physical body.
Those first ten years in prison, I was very angry. I felt that an injustice had been done to me because although I was found guilty of two counts of murder in the second degree for the stabbing of an elderly couple, I actually did not stab anyone. I did not feel fully responsible for their deaths, even though I was part of the crime that led to their murder. My anger was expressed in many self-destructive ways I used drugs (readily available inside these walls), had a sexual relationship with a guard (which led to the birth of my daughter, now nine), and let my feelings of self-loathing define me. A state of gloom not only penetrated my essence, but also filtered out into the lives of those I encountered.
I knew that deep within me there was an exit from this prison that I myself sealed off and nailed shut. I knew this door was the key to my freedom and serenity…that it would open the floodgates of understanding and compassion that would bring me peace…but fear kept me from ever attempting to break all the way through. Abhorrence at the crime I had committed, self-pity and shame shackled my judgment and dealings and weighed me down as much as any ball and chain. I detested myself and couldn’t believe that I could ever find anything resembling inner harmony. My pessimistic beliefs, habitual patterns of interaction and the circumstances of my environment told me I would never break away from what I was, who I had become.
Nevertheless a tiny voice deep within me was at all times calling me to look through that barred door saying seek me, come closer, break through, take a risk. My longing for transformation started progressively, that weak inner-voice slowly gained strength. Hope peeked out at me through a fracture in the barricade. Gradually, I chiseled away at it, bit by bit, and as each fragment fell I learned more of what I desired in my life and my soul cried out for more. I began to see that I had a choice to continue being the way I was emotionally or to seek something better.
First I had to face the enormity of my crime. I looked inside myself and hated what I saw. I went into therapy and with the help of others I began to take responsibility for what I had done. My actions had caused the death of two people and the pain of many more. I vowed in my heart to never perpetrate violence again in any form or fashion on another being. This is something I live by, something I teach my daughter. Mostly I saw that I had to change from who I was to who I was intended to be the person God had wanted from the start, a person who loved and respected life.
I began to appreciate that I had to do the correct things with my thoughts and actions and reactions. I didn’t want to be a ’statistic’, I wanted to change and grow. I began to read everything I could get my hands on. I enrolled in college and got a B.A. I took, and then taught, parenting classes, helping myself and others understand the impact parents have on their children and the positive influence they can have even while incarcerated. I became a tutor and mentor to other inmates with long sentences, telling them the story of my struggles, helping them to take responsibility for their lives and to find a way to use their time in prison in positive ways. It became important to me to greet people with a smile and kind gesture, to do what was right, make constructive choices, and love others because love was within me.
I stepped all the way through the entrance of my self-made prison. I knocked down the door through honesty, education, self-knowledge and service to others. I crossed over and basked in the warmth and love I found on the other side to comfort, conduct and instruct me.
I have been wronged in my life and I have done tremendous wrong, not only in actions but also in thought, in the world and on a spiritual level. God has enabled me to actually look at myself and work on my faults, to turn my shortcomings into tools I can use to enhance others’ lives. God showed me how to love and how to forgive…others and myself. I don’t see my life as a botched mission any longer, I don’t let strife linger in my heart anymore. I have found peace in the most unholy place, prison, and I know this peace is a blessing from God.
I have been transformed by the renewing of my mind and that gift is free to all. Once I believed I was no good and that I would not amount to anything, but now my mind is renewed and I know otherwise. What you think and believe is what you will become. Loving others brings love into your life, allowing goodness to flourish, transforming pain and anger into luminosity, overflowing joy, happiness and love. If God can redeem me he can do the same for you. I am liberated and at peace and giving my life over to good, in thoughts and actions. Praise God for his mercy and love that lies within you. Unlock the door and watch the prison walls disintegrate into pieces. God bless you all. Let freedom ring.
Roslyn Smith
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
Bedford Hills, New York.
Note About Dog Pictured
The pictures above are of VanDyke - at the time of these pictures he was a guide dog in training and these pictures were taken at the kennels at Guiding Eyes for the Blind.
VanDyke has since gone on and graduated and is working with his new partner in the Greater Boston area. Chuck and Katie Scott were his puppy raisers and Katie has a wonderful song in his memory that has been played at several guide dog graduations.
Another friend sent me the following YouTube Links and they are worth checking out as they illustrate a growing problem in that Bump Keys make it easy for the bad guys to break into your house or office without detection … bad enough to have one’s stuff stolen, but worse is that insurance won’t pay because there is no evidence of a “break-in†…
From Friend:
Look at these - someone has found out how to make locks obsolete!! The first video is a report from the Neatherlands — now it is in the US. Once on the internet the bad guys have a new tool…. be aware everyone -
So then I emailed another friend and got back the following:
> dude - these videos are pretty wild if true ..??..<
It’s probably true. Did you ever use lock picking tools? It works the same way. You jiggle a “pick” (like the bump key) inside the lock and wiggle, and it doesn’t take much effort to open any lock. When I moved into our last house in xyz [ed.] one of the upstairs deck doors was locked with no key. I borrowed a lock picking set from a friend and had the thing open in 30 seconds. Then I was able to replace the lock with a new one.
1. “Be a fundamentalist, make sure fun always comes before the mental. Realize that life is a situation comedy that will never be cancelled. A laugh track has been provided and the reason why we are put in the material world is to get more material. Have a good laughsitive twice a day and that will insure regularhilarity.
2. Remember that each of us has been given a special gift - just for entering. So you are already a winner!
3. The most powerful tool on the planet today is Tell-A-Vision. That is where I tell a vision to you and you tell a vision to me
4. Life is like photography. You use the negative to develop.
5. As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles tend to get caught between our ears, causing a condition called truth decay. So be sure to use your truth brush and mental floss twice a day. And when you’re tempted to practice tantrum yoga, remember what we teach in the Absurdiveness Training Class: “Don’t get even, get odd.â€
6. If we want world peace, we must let go of our attachments and truly live like nomads. That’s where I no mad at you, you no mad at me. That way, there will surely be nomadness on the planet. And peace begins with each of us. A little peace here, a little peace there, pretty soon all the peaces will fit together to make one big peace everywhere.
7. I know great earth changes have been predicted for the future, so if you’re looking to avoid earthquakes, my advice is simple. When you find a fault, just don’t dwell on it.
8. There’s no need to change the world. All we have to do is toilet train the world, and we’ll never have to change it again.
9. Everything I have told you is channeled. That way, if you don’t like it, it’s not my fault. And remember,enlightenment is not a bureaucracy. You don’t have to go through channels.
10. Finally, if you’re looking to find the key to the universe, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is - there is no key to the Universe. The good news is - it was never locked.”
—–
The above was forwarded from a friend and attributed to the following site: Swami Beyondananda
The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue. - Anonymous
Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. - Ann Landers
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. - Ben Williams
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. - Josh Billings
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. - Andy Rooney
We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made. - M. Acklam
Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. - Sigmund Freud
I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. - Rita Rudner
A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. - Robert Benchley
Anybody who doesn’t know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. - Franklin P. Jones
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. - James Thurber
If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise. - Unknown
My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That’s almost $21.00 in dog money. - Joe Weinstein
Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul — chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth! - Anne Tyler
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert A. Heinlein
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. - Mark Twain
You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, ‘Wow, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!’ - Dave Barry
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. - Roger Caras
If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them. - Phil Pastoret
Okay, no bull - if you were an entrepreneurial farmer, how would you go about selling your cows? Perhaps the clues to entrepreneurship can be found in the DNA of our respective birth nations - read below and let me know
Traditional Capitalism
* You have two cows.
* You sell one and buy a bull.
* Your herd multiplies and the economy grows.
* You sell them and retire to greener pastures.
American Capitalism
* You have two cows.
* You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public buys your bull.
Chinese Capitalism
* You have two cows.
* You have 300 people milking them.
* You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, arrest and detain (without trial) the journalist who reported the number of cows.
Egyptian Capitalism
* You have one cow.
* You keep telling people you have ten.
French Capitalism
* You have two cows.
* You go on strike because you want three cows.
Italian Capitalism
* You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
* You break for lunch, toasting to the warm sun and gentle breezes.
Lebanese Capitalism
* You have no cows.
* The Syrians have one cow.
* You convince them to sell the cow to the Kuwaitis with a 50% profit.
* The Syrians are satisfied with the 50% they made.
* The Kuwaitis are happy because you arranged a good deal for them.
* Your commission is worth TEN cows.
New Zealand Capitalism
* You have two cows.
* That one on the left is kinda cute. Russian Capitalism
* You have two cows.
* You count them and learn you have five cows.
* You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
* You count them again and learn you have 12 cows.
* You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
Saudi Capitalism
* You buy one thousand cows.
* There is no grass, just sand.
* You buy European grass for them.
* You hire one foreigner to milk them and 100 Saudis to watch him.
* The milk costs you 500% more.
* You call it WATANI (homeland produce) and sell it in the local market.
Swiss Capitalism
* You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.
* You charge an outrageous fee to others for storing them.
* You wonder how the holes gotta associated with your cheese.
CoolTea Capitalism - Part A
* You have two cows and a pasture you enjoy.
* One of the cows starts a wireless internet service in your pasture.
* The other cow becomes a goodwill ambassador.
* Pretty soon, all the cows are connected and happily influencing the dairy industry for better milking conditions, natural fertilizers, lower fences, and inspiring the rest of the world to honor the cow lineage akin to respected levels held by most of India's residents and/or others who share Ghandi's bovine sensibilities
* And so the milk churns for greener pastures et al.
CoolTea Capitalism - Part B
* Shifting climates and polluted environments inspire above-ground hydroponic farming.
* Cattlemen follow the money and wrestle-up record hydroponic farming profits.
* Disney hydroponic specialists become high-paid in-demand speakers at growing conferences.
* Beef Industry Merges with Hydroponic Growers Association Intl.
* Mad Cow, Bird Flu, Chicken Whatever, give-way to hydroponic growth markets winning consumers and investors alike.
* Country Fair Bovine Stars outplace those at Academy of Awards, Grammys, Oscars, Tonys, etc - mooo!
And finally, Hollywood Capitalism
Courtesy David from ClearLightPictures
* You have two Celebrity Cows
* You hire Peter Jackson, give him a half a Billion $ budget to make a blockbuster, A Tale of Two Cows
* After a year of shooting in New Zealand, AToTC doesn’t test well with audiences so you spend 18 months doing Special Effects work at ILM to create CG Cows.
* The Cows do a lot of press junkets, Leno/Letterman and the Daily Show, etc…
* The movies bombs at the box office, but rakes in DVD sales, especially in India where they love Cows. Indian iTunes download mirrors crash under the load.
* You break even, but the Cows sign a $200M contract for the sequel.
Car jacking, that violently sudden process whereby a car owner is separated from his ride, usually at gunpoint and sometimes lethal, was once the subject of many a media headline when the crime first gained popularity in the 1980’s - perhaps in tandem with the first wave of inner city drug epidemics. However, today car jacking is common to our culture and no longer generates media headlines, but merely appears as another listing in the police blotters, at most.
So what happens when one is witness to a Reverse Car Jacking? Yes, a reversal whereby a car owner is reunited with his car based on a sudden act of love, perhaps even a violently cheerful act of love by a complete stranger. An act whereby the car owner is perhaps guilty of the crime - e.g. lack of gratitude, racial profiling, self-centeredness.
The following is an eyewitness account to a Reverse Car Jacking that took place in downtown Ridgefield, CT, during the late summer of 2005. It did not make any media headlines and occurred at such a speed that even my sidewalk companion did not fully comprehend the spontaneous act of love witnessed. Even I did not fully understand what happened until it was over, since I had never heard of a Reverse Car Jacking. But, then again, I live in Ridgefield, CT - an area known for being family-friendly and rich with smart, caring, sensitive people dedicated to community and old-fashioned values. And yet, even in this New England Yankee backdrop, I was not prepared for what I am about to share with you now. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. But it was true, and I did see it.
It was a beautiful Tuesday evening in August on Main Street as my wife and I were out walking our Guide Dog Puppy in Training, VanDyke - a wildly loving eight-month-old male Labrador at the time. His toasted-marshmallow coloring and winning tail-wagging personality has always been a huge hit with strangers on Main Street, especially families with little people. And this evening was no exception.
As my wife was distracted handling VanDyke on his leash and looking left towards some store windows, I just happened to be looking to the right side of Main Street. We had just passed the library walking south towards the Chez Lenard hot dog stand, across the street from CVS and the Cortina Shop. It was here that the Reverse Car Jacking took place.
While the summer sun was starting to give way to the evening twilight and a gentle breeze, musical sounds from the live concert behind us in the park resonated off in the near distance. To understand the balance of this account, it is important to understand whence the music came from as its harmonic backdrop is significant to the Reverse Car Jacking.
Since 2002, cultural town leadership has been sponsoring summer concerts on Tuesday evenings in Ridgefield’s downtown park, Ballard Park, under the umbrella of CHIRP (i.e., Concert Happenings in Ridgefield’s Parks). These CHIRP events bring in a wide variety of musical talent from many genres (e.g. country, folk, Latin, solo acoustic, jazz, rock, etc). On this particular evening, August 23rd, they featured a band from Mexico, Sones de Mexico.
Now most musicians will confess that whenever they gig, they like to invite their family, friends, and groupies to be part of the audience to share and support. And while we can talk about globalization, the truth is that different cultures and different regions still retain differences in appearances, manners, sensibilities, et al. And August 23rd was no exception.
The concerts typically start around 7 PM and end around 9 PM. No dogs are allowed in the park - thus my wife and I were strolling by, but with appreciative ears listening to the Mexican folk grooves bouncing along Main Street. Coming down the opposite direction on the opposite side of the street was a young tribe that looked out of place in Ridgefield. They had colors and oversized clothing that might have been more at home in an urban hip-hop environment, but that was just an outside observation. They had some women with baby strollers, some older grandparents, and a mix of others, but mostly appeared to be in their late-teens / early-twenties.
There was one young man, seemingly typical for the hip-hop crowd. Baggy pants, hooded sweatshirt, a tad gruff, short cropped hair, but a huge smile. He seemed to be very much enjoying the wonderful evening stroll as they appeared to be heading toward the park concert. Their garb suggested to me that they shared kinship with part of the band. I say this not to stereotype, but in part because Ridgefield is also one of those places whereby it is more common to see SUVs, blonde hair, Wall Street Journals, and cafe lattes than it is to witness hip-hop types. Note, I’m also not referring to the junior high school-ers who tend to stroll Main Street after school mimicking a pseudo hip-hop look, but I digress.
The man whom I mentioned caught my eye because of his genuine joy for the evening. And it was while observing him but for a moment, that I spied him commit a Reverse Car Jacking.
While I had been watching across the street, I saw another man, one who was a typical white bread, uptight, Wall Street-er, get out of his car - a nondescript, beige four-door sedan - could have been a Mercedes as easily as a Lexus or a Camry, as they all tend to blend in these days. He parked his car in the last spot on the side opposite me and was walking in my direction (yes, jaywalking) and seemed really moody.
All of a sudden, I see his car rolling backwards, about to go right into the traffic lighted four-way intersection, and at the same time, I see our hip-hop hero jump down the small hillside, fly down the street, open the car door, one foot on the inside of the driver side, the other foot hopping on the outside of the door trying to stop and/or steer the car to safety.
The grumpy middle-aged white dude turned back, was aghast to see his car going backwards and that a hip-hop dude was now behind the wheel, and rushed to his car. By the time he got to the car, the hip-hop guy had found the parking brake and brought the car to a stop. He got out of the driver’s side, leaving the door open for the grumpy guy to take over.
The smile and pride that the hip-hop guy had was undeniable and radiated more glow then the setting sun. He proceeded to bow to the grumpy guy, much like a Tibetan Monk might do, with both hands folded in prayer-like manner, a big smile, and a gentle leaning forward from the hip, as if to say, "Blessings to you, and you’re welcome." With that, he proceeded back up the hill to reunite with his tribe. You could see them all clamoring with excitement and honor as they continued to stroll into the park to hear their friends play.
What really got me, though, was the reaction of the man who almost lost his car and caused an accident or seriously hurt someone by his carelessness (or lack of proper car maintenance).
He never smiled, never said thank you, but instead was this stiff reptilian who just got in his car and sped off. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe he was preoccupied and was scared. Maybe he had heaviness in his heart from recently losing his job or having a sick wife, or perhaps was diagnosed with dreadful disease himself. I know not what stopped him from showing gratitude. A smile would have been great. A thank you even better. Perhaps reaching into his pocket and providing some beer-n-pizza change for his car-saving friend, even better still. But none of this happened.
As he drove away, I noticed he had NY plates. Maybe it’s just me, but over the years, whenever I’ve heard or witnessed obnoxious traffic behavior (e.g. hurried honking, cutting in front of others, illegal parking, speeding, flipping fingers, etc.) almost always there is the NY license plate common denominator.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen said bad road manners with CT plates too, it’s just that I’m reminded of a comment heard on a Hawaiian dive boat about how New Yorkers (and others from the East Coast) are tweaked. "Chuck, whenever anybody comes out for the week on our dive boats, we don’t talk to them for three days. We leave them be since it takes them a couple of days to shake their NY tweakedness. After about three days they become human again and we can talk to them then, but usually not before then."
One of our Nations great literary minds - I believe it was Ralph Waldo Emerson - stated that man looses his civility the further he moves from the land (e.g. the closer to NYC). And while there is a lot to love about NYC, one of the things I love about the burbs is the occasional sparks of humanity that thrive out here, like the Reverse Car Jacking witnessed on August 23rd, 2005.
Mahalo
—-
This essay was written by Charles R. Scott and originally published in the “Ridgefield Press” May 18, 2006.
On Thursday Aug 18th, WICC’s Ann Karrick hosted Prill Boyle and Chuck Scott talking about sundry business pet peeves - hence the following five audio chapters from said interview … BIG THANK YOU to WICC, Ann Karrick, and Prill Boyle for permission to share … to be continued 
cs
… There are about a dozen other similar mailbox drops like this throughout the condo complex and this picture was taken the first night AT&T contractors forced their liter onto our private property … One member of the Board of Directors told me that it cost the Condo Association over a $1000 last year to remove this trash … This year after five days and some nudging by you-know-who, the Association Management called AT&T and demanded they come pick up their trash … The woman on the other end of the phone representing AT&T stated that their contractor responsible for this was off-the-map and that she would personally round-up some people to help her collect the unwanted books - which they did - so Kudos to Corporate Responsibility 
On Thursday August 17th Roger Scott, a local resident of Ridgefield Connecticut, teed-off with a drive on hole number five with a seven iron and Calloway ball that resulted in a hole-n-one at The Ridgefield Golf Course on Ridgebury Road.
